Dartmouth School Committee Meeting, October 21, 2024

001e e e band and e [Music] come in good evening everyone I'd like to call this meeting of the Dartmouth school committee to order for Monday October 21st 2024 would you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance alance to the flag of the United States of America the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please be seated well happy Monday everyone welcome to the uh October 21st edition of the dma school committee meeting uh hope everyone had a fabulous weekend just a reminder before we get started to please uh for those of you uh in the audience please silence any cell phones or electronic devices a roll call please Chris Oliver here Elizabeth Coughlin here Kathleen Amaral here Mary Beck here John noones yep Thank

002you very very much looks like we are all here also just another reminder that this meeting is being videotaped by our Dartmouth High School media department for a re rebroadcast on Dartmouth Community television channels 9 on the following days Wednesday and Thursday at 5: Friday at 6:00 a.m. Sunday at 8:00 a.m. uh Saturday at 8:00 a.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. also the meeting will be rebroadcast on DCTV channels 18 on the following days Monday and Saturday at 12:00 p.m. and Thursday at 300 p.m. and as always you can also watch us uh at youtube.com dhsv media thank you everyone uh at this time uh the school committee has allotted 10 minutes for anyone wishing to speak on any of tonight's uh agenda items yeah seeing no one approach uh the microphone uh we're going

003to uh move on uh to the next agenda item approval of minutes the regular session minutes of October 7th 2024 were included in your packets so moved second motion by Mr nun second by Mrs Amaral on the motion any further discussion chairing none all in favor I I opposed motion carries un unanimously uh next up would typically be our student representative report uh unfortunately our student rep could not be with us here uh this evening uh due to some other obligations uh so we're moving on into Old business uh continuing discussion of the FY 26 uh budget I'll turn this over to Dr sabba Maguire um thank you Mr Oliver and I'm going to turn it right over to Mr Kylie who I know has been putting in uh some uh really a tremendous effort

004in preparing the budget not only this one as you know but we'll continue to remind folks that we just closed out um last year's budget working on and working on this year's budget and the following Year's budget and so Mr Kylie is going to update you as to where he is thank you Dr sa McGuire so brief update um we've been working with our administrative staff in the schools um to help create the budget plan um for fiscal year 26 um we have a budget subcommittee meeting scheduled for Monday the 28th at 5: so um we will our plan is to have some preliminary numbers for you uh for discussion again really just as uh very preliminary and um not fully reflective of where the district is going to go but um enough that we

005can move the conversation forward and and begin to you know create a plan so um we'll be doing that Monday so and so just to add on to that as Mr Kylie mentioned we've been sitting with principles we've sat with every principal at this point we're also working at the central office level to talk about the needs of the district um obviously throughout is especially as it relates to curriculum and instruction what you're going to hear about uh us talk about where we are tonight you'll hear an update so lots of meetings going on so it's um not just Mr kyy behind closed doors although he does a lot of that uh kind of work that he needs to do but at the same time it's also about getting out and talking to folks in

006the schools to see really what the needs are so that when we present our budget it's definitely a needs-based budget and then we go from there so thank you thank you thank you actually thank you both any questions for uh Mr Kylie or Dr saber mgu and we'll be looking forward to meeting uh with the both of you at the budget subcommittee meeting on Monday yes thank you thank you uh next up under new business uh we have the superintendent evaluation and I will turn it over to uh Mr Nunes yeah thank you Mr chairman uh yes we've been talking about the superintendent's evaluation and uh unfortunately I think as your'll saying goes everybody's familiar with uh the the gentleman named Murphy and his laws and anything that can go wrong uh will go wrong

007um mine I had computer issues mine sitting in there type of deal um with the holiday and every you know people out of town in schedules that just literally got away from us and we were unable to to get the together nobody's fault nobody's issues it's just the way the schedules all work Mrs Amaral and I have been talking and uh we will get together this week and uh put it together and we'll have it for uh November 4th so my apologies to the committee to the superintendent but problem thank you I understand it wasn't ready and it's you know we need to make sure this is right because this is an important document so agreed we'll take care of it great thank you no thank you for that update Mr Dunes thank you both

008for your time uh I certainly understand that things can get away from you Mrs Amaral and I just want to thank the committee for submitting their um their evaluations to us very thoughtful based on the word count visually but when we get together we'll we'll mitigate put it together we'll modify excellent thank you thank you uh next up uh we going to turn it right back over to uh Dr s McGuire for superintendent goals so um hopefully you received the packet in your Friday update and at the same time we're going to put it up here for our present do I need to do something I do have this how how do you make a full screen it's the one I just put it on yeah where is that there is there you go this

009is what we call in the field quiet waiting wait time very important in the field of education so thank you you did a really nice job school committee um so uh again it says goal setting an evaluation I look forward to the November fourth meeting but at the same time I thought it was important that we move forward with having an opportunity to present to you what goal setting looks like for the 2024 2025 school year um so as we've discussed in the past goal setting is meant to be a collaboration with the school committee and it's to develop goals that are based upon our core values our vision Our Miss Mission and the long-term needs of the district and so hopefully as we go through this this evening you'll see that those um items

010are those very important I think the the focus of our work is reflected in the goal in my goal setting now the goals are meant to serve as a starting point for the evaluation process and what I'm excited about if you can say excited when you're connecting it to evaluation is being in this place um this year as opposed to last year where I was putting up goals and not really sure where I was going with them and at the end of the year when I looked at them I thought oh wow well we really did have a road map to to meet those goals and again in collaboration with our school committee and the successful attainment of goals really does depend upon collaboration between principles our central office our district leadership team and our

011Educators in the field so all of those are important folks that contribute to the realization of goal of actually meeting goals um so for goal one for this year I am proposing that by May of 2025 the Dartmouth Public Schools will be fully engaged with implementing the 2025 through 29 District strategic plan and that will be in alignment with the proposed timelines that are outlined in the published plan we actually had a meeting today with the folks from TLA who are putting together the final touches on our plan and we expect to have that ready to publish by mid November making a few small tweaks uh to things like the letter and actually some other uh some other just additions that we wanted to make for instance we wanted a photo of the school committee

012so we have a photographer here this evening thank you Miss Dr t-bo and we're going to get some photos so that we can make sure that the that you are reflected throughout the uh District strategic plan as well so the plan itself will be presented to the one Dartmouth community in variety of forums to build a CommunityWide understanding of the Mission Vision core values theory of action Focus area objectives initiatives and action steps and we'll talk about how we're going to report out to you on an ongoing basis as we get further along in the superintendent's report um so next we have the implementation of high quality instructional materials and so this is one of our priority go goals if you remember and it's about increasing access for all students to high quality instructional materials

013and alignment with the district strategic plan and this should result in growth and achievement for all students using multiple measures and at some point as we start to talk about those measures we'll be introducing you to the different the various measures that we use whether those be formative or summative assessments and talking about what we mean when we use that language um so for goal three I have the participation in year two of the new superintendent induction program um this year I have to say I'm happy to see that part of the work that we're doing together is around data analysis we have a very clear focus on instructional leadership strategy development and it's about engaging in the work with other superintendant new superintendents and experienced superintendent it's a nice balance in the space and

014it's really uh important I think an important part of the work for me has been the opportunity to collaborate with my superintendent coach as you remember Dr Marin lacroy who's been a wonderful support and just this past week she was with us at our principal's meeting and so she does spend time in the district and does have a good understanding of the work that we're doing here um so next again like I said to you earlier a little bit different from last year um when this wasn't part of my um introduction to the superintendent goals but this year as we put our packet together for you as school committee members we did look at the ratings for each one of the standards and what I've done is similar to what I submitted to you uh

015for this year's evaluation and that is just in red I've taken certain uh certain indicators and I've just made the font red so that you could could see that that this was would be a focus for us for this year and hopefully what you you'll see is that these uh highlighted indicators are well aligned to the district strategic plan and so the very first one is ensures all instructional staff design effective and rigorous standards based units of instruction consisting of well structured lessons with measurable outcomes that's directly connected to the idea of bringing in in high quality research-based resources that allow teachers to do that and to have that type of curriculum at their fingertips to help to assist them in their instruction um next I have for standard two again similarly environment if you

016look at one of I'll just pick one out it's about developing and executing effective plans procedures routines operational systems to address a full range of safety health emotional and social needs and so I ask that as we're presenting through the superintendent report and you'll hear us actually chiming in saying this is an example of this so we're trying to make those really direct connections to the work we're doing to the not only to the evaluation process but more importantly to the standards that we all recognize are the standards that do in fact represent the work that you want to be happening in your school district um next we have St standard three which is around family and Community engagement again one of our clear Focus areas um and not something we lifted from this page

017just something that came up organically as we did this work with our district strategic planning team that this was an area of focus aligns perfectly here and here we have um again sharing responsibility I'll just choose one of those that I've highlighted and read continuously collaborates with families and Community stakeholders ERS to support Student Learning and Development at home school and in the community and again as we're talking about this you'll hear us referencing referencing these standards um and finally standard standard four which is around professional culture um I just would I pick one out and I'm going to go to 4E shared Vision successfully and continuously engages all stakeholders in the creation of a shared educational Vision in which every student is prepared to succeed in postsecondary education and become a responsible Citizen and

018Global contributor um hopefully as you and I know that you've read through the district strategic plan again a few of you participated in its development this language aligns well with the language in our district strategic plan and making those very again clear connections I think is is really important as we move through this work and so that is it for the this year's um proposed goals and focus indicators and so I think the committee does take a vote on this Mr Oliver if I'm not M yes that is correct so thank you very much thank you Dr Sab Maguire uh questions comments from my colleagues Mr n yeah thank you Mr chairman uh thank you Dr saber Maguire these are very concise and uh accurate you know things that we have talked about you know

019and Mr TBO and uh Miss poo have talked about you know especially with the uh curriculum you know bringing new math new you know Elementary items into into it type of deal in the high school so this really starts bringing it all together great so thank you for that you anyone else no I will I will just uh share my thoughts in which um I think this is very well aligned um I appreciate how it's been broken down and the indicators that you shared with us um and I appreciate moving forward how it work to tie in uh when you're presenting and at different points in time uh that this is an example of such and such an indicator so I have no concerns I'm excited to uh continue moving forward great thank you Mr

020chair will entertain a motion to approve the superintendent's goals for 242 school year 2425 so move second a motion by Mr noon second by Miss Beckwith on the motion any other discussion J hearing none all in favor I I opposed extensions motion carries unanimously thank you for all your work on that thank you all right next up we have the MC a resolutions discussion so if you remember everyone at the uh last school committee meeting I I asked if the committee would be interesting first of all we could have get a volunteer to represent the dart school committee at the uh annual uh Convention as well as the delegation assembly and uh Miss Beckwith uh she uh respectfully accepted the requests or volunteered so uh we certainly appreciate that so what I'd like to do

021is first of all did everyone have a chance to look through them uh for the most part notes at home okay you know so there there is obviously a lot of wording on this um so if the committee is okay with this I I really don't want to read the whole res resolution for each one of them um I we can certainly discuss I obviously have a discussion if you'd like the uh for those of you watching at home for those of you in the audience this is where um the Massachusetts Association of school committees each year uh at the annual convention they put together uh they have a resolutions committee and they will uh put forward resolutions to all of the uh districts in the state that are part of masc which is I

022think just about all of them with the exception of maybe a half dozen districts that are not part of masc in which uh the districts are then they bring it back to their to their committees we the Committees have a discussion across each City and municip uh Town municipality in the um in the state and then we elect uh a delegate which we did and they will uh take that back to the delegate assembly where they will um vote on our behalf um and have conversations uh at that assembly and then the idea is masc is a uh Advocate they Advocate on behalf of um School committees across the state on Beacon Hill and they will uh they'll certainly uh do that on our behalf to try to get the the uh House and Senate

023and all of our elected officials to uh hopefully take a take a stance on some of these actions one way or the other so with that any questions all right right resolution one development of of an alternative to the high stakes mcast test this this resolution was sponsored by the m masc board of directors and my understanding is the way it's read and please jump in if you feel differently is that this is a resolution that's looking to completely uh dismantle the mcast and come up with a different assessment tool does anyone understand that differently than what I just stated yeah so this is a little bit different than the article that's out there right now because the article one of the questions I forget which question number uh but the question actually says thank

024you uh Dr tibo is uh for making uh the mcast requirement for graduation so for those of you watching that question has to do with the mcast requirement for graduation all this is is this is a resolution that uh School committees across the state are are just voting on to see if they can uh move it forward one way or the other uh for Advocate policy advocacy at the or law advocacy up at the State House questions thoughts comments I guess I'll that uh first and foremost from the get-go I have been one who uh for the most part has been opposed to the mcast okay from you know to make it a requirement for graduation uh I remember having a very serious discussion at a school committee meeting with uh Mr King and Dr

025Kelly when he was superintendent Mr King was the principal and just saying no you know I do away with it because you know I think of in all seriousness I think of myself personally and I'm a lousy I know the material I'm a lousy test taker always have been type of deal so to make a test the wherewithal for somebody to graduate and and something of that nature no you want to leave it in there as a base and such I'm fine with that but not as a graduation requirement if they're looking to revamp you know and change the tests around I'm all for it okay so my understanding is that this would just put another St they would develop another type of tests or another type of way of of assessing the students uh

026this has nothing to do with the graduation requirement because that's already on the ballot yeah um so I'm unclear I I agree with Mr Nunes that um it should not be a requirement for graduation but that's not the point here um could there be a better test I mean it's just a a data point um what do they think they need to improve on maybe I didn't read deep enough but um how did they think that they were going to make it better and I'm sorry I didn't do enough research on that did anybody else get um um understand what they hope to improve certainly it's not going to replace a graduation requirement but no is it going to capture uh gained knowledge better so so one of the things on I'm go ahead Mary

027I'm sorry no I'm I'm still reading through okay again one of the pieces that I will say that's in here is that it urges the state this resolution would urge the state legislature to launch a comprehensive evaluation to investigate the extent of biases pertaining to mcast testing and make those results public so that is part of it as well um there also suggest testing the mcast has restricted the curriculum and narrowed the focus of Education yeah you're teaching to the test versus teaching exactly that's that's my interpretation so they want to create a test that's going to be broader broader um less biased yeah I could live with that um and more considerate of all types of Learners that's my interpretation see I could live with that me too okay so unless there's any other

028discussion I would just add um I don't I don't think I've ever been unclear about my dislike for I don't think I've ever been unclear about my dislike for mcast however um an alternate test right um is an alternate task with its own with it with its you know since this this is SE separate from the discussion around having it be an additional competency determination and I guess it does include the assessment of uh the study we all like studies right um of any potential biases of biases but it it does also sort of talk about the purpose of this to um to really redefine what the what a successful system looks like like here in Dartmouth one Dartmouth it really talks about public education nurturing and supporting students from once they enter our doors

029at three years old in preschool up through uh graduation and and and that isn't necessarily what mcast does currently and again separate from the discussion of it being the ballot question um you know my my apprehension is that how long is this study I don't know if you have more to share on that and and um just the reality that another formal test is is going to be the same sort of nature of having its flaws and its and its benefits um what it doesn't suggest a timeline it says put a moratorium on immediately and the second thing is it doesn't say another test it says alternative so again it's it's fairly vague as a lot of resolutions are to make things a little more complicated she thanks my my other cons my concern I'm

030not a big mcow fan uh but my concern is it will we're just coming we're finally out of the pandemic a couple of years we're finally getting solid data are starting to get solid data and if we were to put a moratorium on the mcast and they do studies that's going to put you know will that stop progress in districts as far as reporting out reporting those reporting that those data analytics so I'm ahead Mr n yeah just to to to follow up on that and I understand where you're coming from with that uh Mr Oliver but I think you know it would then behold uh behoove uh desie to uh to come up with something or to work with you know Mas and the superintendent Association to see what they can come up with

031for some type of test and or testing that is still going to keep you know tabs on how all our students are doing type of deal I mean you have to you have to challenge the students I totally understand that and and such but you can't have them and again just me uh you know thinking about oh my God am I going to you know what happens if I don't pass this test you know and how many times am I going to have to take it and such so that that's that's my concern okay so what is the committee's pleasure do we want to officially vote on these or do you we just want to I don't know because I've this is the first time that I'm in my memory that we're doing this and

032I agree with you there because we've never done this we've never never done this before to my in my knowledge so and and I hate to say I'm not as prepared as I should for this discussion um and if indeed it means that we would not use mcass in the interim while they're developing other things I would be I would be against like stopping mcast tomorrow because I agree with you Mr Oliver that um we need to see where we've been and where we're going I'm all for them developing a better test with less biases but um we need something to use in the inter room does anyone know if U while we're I'm I'm there if we can offer an amendment to any of these resolutions I believe I would assume you could at

033the assembly that you can yes so I'm happy to offer a resol uh an amendment that says we don't want to enact a more atorium but we are for looking into Alternatives I would support that that' be fine yeah I would support that yeah I'm good with that okay I'm just think Mr chairman I'm just thinking uh if we put a call into you know if if Miss beckworth is able to or somebody puts a call to Glen coocher and that and just see what the what the process is for putting amendments on the floor with these resolutions sure that'd be great you know just okay so do any need for an official vote here or no didn't think so I don't think so okay I'm good so we're we're good with that okay so

034vote Yes if there's an amendment if there yes yep to amend the moratorium so there's no moratorium no Amendment vote no or abstain choice is yours no seriously give me too much power John yeah okay yes yes because things could change on the floor y yeah things could change on the floor so and you're representing us you're representing us and however however it comes out okay yeah I'm good all right if you read these and have other thoughts just email me and let me know all right thank you uh resolution two increase compulsory attendance age sponsored by the Brockton school committee so it is my understanding that currently and you please correct me if I'm wrong uh the current age to sign yourself out of school is 16 it is it is 16 years of

035age um this resolution would increase that minimum age to 18 so whereas a growing body of Research indicates that increasing the minimum School Leaving age to 18 not only increases High School graduation rates but also significantly improves the life outcomes of students who otherwise would have become dropouts comments questions uh everyone has it as well in front of them that's the I'm I I think you should be in school until 18 unless you've tested out yeah agreed I support that agreed agreed we're all good on that we're all good on resolu simple we're all good on resolution two uh resolution three safe storage of firearms sponsored by the Framingham school committee so this was an interesting one essentially the way I understand this and please anyone uh interject is that uh they're looking that uh

036uh where is it it's a long one too it is so it looks like the district they're looking for a resolution that will allow the district to the districts to have to put out some kind of um notice to parents about uh safe Firearms firearm storage practices is that correct yes M yes superintendent and principls would communic Comm unicate to parents Guardians of the importance of securing firearms in the home certainly couldn't hurt sounds like it would help okay so correct me if I'm wrong this is this would be like for at home this has got nothing to do with in okay nothing in school nothing in school okay no that's yes the answer in that case yes so just I'll read the first one uh whereas safety and well-being of our students teachers and

037staff is a top PRI priority in schools and keeping them safe from the threat of gun violence should be the responsibility of all adult stakeholders at each of our school sites and then it goes on whereas whereas whereas um so but that's that's the gist of it what Miss Beck what Mrs am there there is noting um and I think it's like the last paragraph before the reference um yes data that says that talks about um gosh okay getting old my eyesight is terrible uh collaboration with uh law enforcement I I just I put forth like what what if for our district this looks something like um something embed into our already occurring natural collaboration relative to school safety perhaps it's could it be something that we um document within our plan in add addition

038to maybe there are other things that we want to remind folks about that might be helpful relative to family and Community engagement um you know as opposed to just this letter from the superintendent talking about I don't know yeah just wondering if when we put when central office and the schools put their student handbook together there can be a reference in there to it uh you know more so as as a reminder to parents and Guardians about you know gun safety and making sure they're they're locked they've got the trigger locks etc etc that would be something that we can work together on for sure you know with the you know with with the help of the police department and you know that I'm sure they they would jump on that in a hotbeat y

039just so the way this resolution is written right now are we in favor of it or are we thinking it needs to be amended or against it I think I think it's okay where it is my personal opinion I'm in favor I'm in favor as well I mean I I am in favor of it it's it's just as someone who if you have a firearm safety if if you have a Firearms identification card you have to take a firearm safety course these are things that unfortunately like really people should already know it doesn't hurt to reinforce it doesn't hurt okay and some of our families may have illegal firearms and they haven't taken the course and they don't have their whatever you know let's it's we're just educating the families I I don't think it

040can do any harm no because it's just another message it's just another source sure and I think most parents would not be offended that they're being told to do something they know they're supposed to do yeah yeah and it's encouraging encouragement yeah I I don't disagree I just also think that for us to think about it it sort of opens the door for us to think about other ways to document different things within our health and wellness or within our safety planning such as this Firearms reminder if you do this is what you need to do if you have prescription drugs you this is what you need to do so health and safety Wellness sort of remind ERS it just inspires for me like thinking more globally about ways in which we can help communicate

041to our families and our community um some good information okay I'm I'm fine with that y okay uh resolution four school bus stop arm surveillance act and enforcement Penal penties sponsored by the PE school committee essentially uh I'll read a few of these whereas it is against the law in Massachusetts to pass a sto school bus with a stop AR extended in flashing lights while student passengers Embark and disembark on the bus unless witnessed by a police officer the penalties for passing a sto school bus are minimal the danger of the passengers is extraordinary and can prove fatal so at the end of the day uh we are looking therefore be it resolved that the massach masc calls on the Massachusetts legislature to enact legislation to pass into law the ability for cities and towns

042to install on all school buses Live digital video detection monitoring systems for the purpose of enforcing violations against the owner of a motor vehicle whose vehicle failed to stop for a school bus from required to do so by law I'm in favor of that yes I am my only my only thought and I'll put my finance hat on for a second here is what's the cost per a bus and here you know yeah when the bids come back you know oh yeah and by the way we have however many buses and it was $500 a bus so is you know an extra charge sure but the overall concept is perfect I don't have a problem with it and I I don't have a problem with it ex except that as long as it's clear that

043it's for this purpose and not used you know we're collecting information that should only be used for this purpose and and I would add I am in support and I and I do like that and I also would add um and I because I don't see it in here um Public Notices that this is an effect and what by that I mean um I do not have off street parking in my tiny little postage stamp property in Dartmouth uh and uh a nice young man sideswiped my brand new car and came to the door my husband on a Saturday morning and let us know and while I like to presume that he his intent was to that he felt compelled I also do realize he probably thought we had a door camera um and so

044knowing that those cameras are there would also deter the bad activity not just catching them after the fact sort of prompting them by um that accommodation to know we're watching you you need to abide it's good for the safety of our students but also there are cameras on you and we'll get you for this purpose for this purpose for specifically purp yeah so are we so so does that need to be an amendment is that clear that it is just for this purpose or does that I verbiage have to be added yeah it does say for the purpose but it doesn't say the sole purpose it doesn't say the sole purpose now I could yeah I would be all for it if it was clear that somebody couldn't request the footage for to use for

045some other reason well I think it goes under the same circumstance I don't know where it is with uh Freedom of Information Act request maybe Mr Kylie can help us out with this can anyone request video just anyone request video um off any of our uh Transportation Fleet um good question I I don't know if any of that would fall under the freedom Freedom of Information Act it may um we already have video cameras on the buses and obviously we utilize those and we have a system in place to address folks who pass school buses um pretty effective one I think I mean there is already a fine for passing a school bus um up to $22,000 and and you can lose your driver's license um so I mean I'm going to say I mean

046this may improve things I I don't know um we don't get a lot of cars passing school buses but the darmouth police are um excellent at uh typically when folks will go to the extent to pass a school bus it's not the first or only time that they're going to do that it's a usually a pattern it's usually in a specific location and somebody who is anxious about getting to work on a daily basis or something and uh pretty typically they can the the police department enforces that um and can can catch them um if you have a repeat offend there which so um you know just so you know we we are uh actively enforcing enforcing that rule I don't know I suppose that it may be public information okay I'm fine I'm good

047I'm but I'm good with the resolution as it stands as it stands yeah I can offer the amendment of sole purpose yeah and and I agree also again with Mr Nunes the cost is an issue of course there should be no cost that we should be worried about and we're talking about the safety of our students right um um no I'm it I'm not did I that part you're absolutely right it's but it's just in this day and age of budgets it's one more thing it's one more thing you know that and such so that's again my my sense I'm for it just so it's clear for it's only for that purpose okay agreed resolution five aligning taxing Authority with the required local contribution would you like me to read this out this one's confusing

048it is a little confusing and um and we can certainly if there if they're too confusing we can just certainly skip over them and we don't you don't vote on them um take a look did you have any no I and again I you know I've got to go back and reread it okay so where we can talk about it whereas Massachusetts General law uh Chapter 70 establishes a required local contribution which defines a minimum appropriation for education and whereas one element of determined the required local contribution is local effort from property wealth determined using municipalities equalized valuation and whereas the ability of municipalities to raave revenue is constrained by prop two and a half which limits the increase in Levy limits by 2 and A2 plus new growth and whereas the state the total

049Statewide required local contribution in fy22 was six uh yeah that's 6 B 827 m673 657 and it goes on um and then in uh FY 23 it was 7,166 7 bill1 166 M 74429 ultimately a 4.97% increase whereas the total Statewide local contribution in FY 23 uh was in all right I've already I'm going to skip over that whereas the total Statewide required local cont contribution in FY 26 was 7 bill 566,000 y25 preliminary chapter 78 and net School spending requirements released by desie is projected to be 7 million 7 b969 m443 1892 an increase of 5.3% so whereas increases in required local contribution in in excess of 2 and a half% strains the budgets of municipalities without excess Levy capacities I think we can all agree on that therefore be it resolved that the

050Massachusetts Association of school committees calls for the enactment of legislation that would increase a municipality's levy limit by the amount of increase of the required local contribution in in excess of 2.5% granting the municipality the ability to raise revenues mandated by Chapter 70 so confusing but okay so they're looking they're looking for a they're looking for a way to get around two and a half for uh for the uh for the for the uh tax limit yeah the the uh local contribution increase that's what they're looking for can I defer to to Mr Kylie it's a pretty complicated proposal and this is not even though it sounds um quite specific it really isn't um so in terms of its impact on us I don't believe it would have any impact on us um anytime soon

051at least probably the next 10 years or so at least um what they're talking about is districts that are at the levy limit which we are not um so I I think there's no impact for us um I mean looking at prop two and a half um sure that's I mean that that could have an impact but this actual change would not have a direct impact on us in the short term and I if you mentioned that I I miss it who Arlington School Arlington Arlington Arlington's good mind what's hell doing now okay so I so the way this is written right now to the best of your understanding Mr Kylie without putting you on the spot this would not affect darmouth in the short at least the you know next I don't know probably

05210 years or so at least we it it should not yeah but in 10 years it may benefit us may maybe maybe there a lot that yeah who knows um good Lord what's the committee's pleasure it would be an exception to prop two and a half um how about let's just abolish prop two and a half put a resolution forward can we do that 5921 would go bu eyes thank you I I understand where they're coming from type of deal but I also wonder how many communities this would impact or would be able to take advantage of it type of deal okay uh me personally I personally I'm going to you know abstain on that one I would try to spend a little more time on it and talk at our next school meeting on

053it I because I I am not clear on this one at all yep okay we can time so yeah we we can take it back and if we want to you know do one or two more and then take the rest of the next meeting you know because there's a lot here yeah well I mean it this is the toughest one yet for sure Mrs ameral yeah I what what I think of when in reading this is you know yes it it's not going to affect us um right now but is it going to hurt us eventually and but what I mean by that is all of the work that we're putting into collaborating with our town and seeing us as one Dartmouth and part of the bigger picture and recognizing that there are real

054other issues going on in our town is this would this hurt us um and put us in a position that uh requires the town to yes fund us at a higher level that's great but at the cost of something else that's really important in town as well I think we're doing a great service by bringing everyone to the table engaging folks within our strategic plan and letting them see themselves in it Council on Aging other entities um and town Administration we've got representatives from our finance committee here who are really invested in in what we're we're um in our in the content of our meetings and what we're doing as a body um and so that just is my concern is while there isn't an immediate impact it could it it it may impact so

055I would just concur that um perhaps his dialogue that Mary hears that can inform how she approaches it or we bring it back okay I further disc I would say let's decide on November 4th meeting okay yep that's fine so we'll take resolution six back we'll take that back up that's five I'm sorry five six is the next one we will take a resolution five thank you Miss Coughlin all right resolution six support of legislation to improve the physical health of rural School Comm uh districts whereas rural school districts in Massachusetts face daunting threats of their financial sustainability and thus their ability to provide rural students with the same quality of educational uh opportunity enjoyed by students in other parts of the states I should mention this is sponsored by and makes sense the community

056the districts uh the school Committees of deer Deerfield suterland Watley and Frontier Regional School uh whereas the Commonwealth has rightly touted the state's significant increase in funding educ uh following the passage of the 2019 student Opportunity Act however the most needy Rural and declining enrollment districts have received less than 1% of that increase in funding so uh uh therefore be it resolved that masc urges the legislature to pass comprehensive legislation encompassing all recommendations from the legislative legislative Commission on the physical health of rural schools report sustainable future for Rural schools thoughts comments questions there was a number of things that in the middle of that but I don't want to bore the committee that's going to come back to number in my opinion comes back to number five with the uh the levy limit in

057the cont the local contribution to the budget that's what that's how that I think is coming into blade those are all and Al you know those are all small towns out in West and pot out you know Amherst Springfield way so it seems like everybody is hurting financially Y and some schools are pushing for how they can help themselves right whereas we need uh a comprehensive solution that can help all schools in the Commonwealth um I'm not saying that the rural schools in our Commonwealth don't need help I'm just saying that there really needs to be uh a change in the way we fund schools Sy across the board systemically um because we're just going to have more and more resolutions that are certain school districts are going to be asking the state for more

058money for this because of their particular AB issues you're certainly right because I how much money has the Dartmouth School District received from the student Opportunity Act since 20 essentially none right that's what I mean right exactly L we're not that we we're you know we're a suburb um I was going to make a joke about I think parts of Dartmouth could be classified as rural Ral oh absolutely yeah I mean we are a big town for sure we are yeah and um and you know this sort I I wish this was broader to to include um was a student Opportunity Act a move forward and a good step sure yeah did it hurt us sure um and so I I I just don't feel inclined to support this resolution unless it included other elements

059of those that were left behind because of the student Opportunity Act who have real pressing um issues yes we have a low tax base yes to a lot of different things but we also are in need and um we have high needs and uh um I just don't I just I feel like this is too narrow of a FOC Focus to the point that you just made everyone's going to be coming to the table me no me that's they' they basically I think they have to get their legislative their legislatures you know to work you know to get the state to to help them out type of deal I agree I yeah that's above our pay grade that would be a no vote for no no yeah no okay almost there all right we're going

060to do one more and then our student rep has arrived okay very so we're going to do just one more and then we'll we'll call a quit for tonight on the resolutions we'll take the rest back up next week this is a big one this next one uh resolution 7 fully adjusting chapter 78 for inflation sponsored by the Everett school committee uh so at the end of the day uh if I look at this correctly whereas a legislative change is needed to one fully reflect recent inflation in the Chapter 70 definition of the foundation in inflation index and two eliminate the cap in future years so as to restore the purchasing power of District Foundation budgets to reflect the intended resources allocation of the student Opportunity Act therefore be it resolved that masc calls on

061the Massachusetts legislature to advance legislation mandating inflation index catch-ups to Chapter 70 Foundation Aid that fully accounts for realized inflation that has occurred since the passage of the S SOA be it further resolved that masc work with the Massachusetts legislature to ensure in future years where realized inflation is above 4.5% annual inflation cap in subsequent years inflation index catch-ups are made to chapter 78 and that realized inflation is used in the formulas to calculate chapter 78 in perpetu uh perpetuity perpetuity peret perpetuity that's a tough one perpetuity forever forever that's right forever um so it's my understanding that we don't get a lot of help from Chapter 70 minimal I mean it's so it's $10 million it's not insignificant um that the town receives but um I mean in in terms of this uh adjusting

062Chapter 70 for inflation makes a lot of sense um my guess is that the the legislature would then just distribute the funds differently but that would benefit us in that um we would at least get it adjusted for inflation as a oppos to the 1% or so increase that we've averaged uh you know over the last 10 years so um it's something be better than what we've gotten yeah okay sounds like a Yes sounds like a yes I mean I I my only concern is we become dependent on the legislature with the distribution of funds and how they're making you know so well we're we're relying on the law they passed for prop two and a half for how we can raise funds so we're kind of stuck with that and yes if we can

063get more funds from the state yep I'm for it I would I would maybe like to see next year a resolution to strike down prop two and a half okay maybe we the Dartmouth school committee could sponsor sponsor an our resolution amend I like that it's not drafting but okay all right I'll put my lawyer had one there you go thank you everyone for your time and consideration for those resolutions uh we'll take resolution five back and we'll continue on at the next meeting to finish those off uh next up we are going to go back to our student representative report and my apologies I do not have your name in front of me so if you could introduce yourself tell us a little little little bit about yourself and what is happening at dmouth

064high school all right my name is Elizabeth O'Neal and I am a senior at Dartmouth High I am vice president of student council and I play sports and I'm involved in clubs and a little bit that's been going on with Dartmouth is the upcoming trun or treat that student council is hosting it's on Saturday from 3:30 to 5:30 all is welcome we have advertised it to the elementary schools middle school and we're hoping it's a good turnout it's our first one and second we have a 5k for the class of 2025 on Sunday at 10: a.m. it's a great opportunity to come show up for your seniors and I don't know it's a good time it's fun it's Halloween let's get in the spirit I guess um for upcoming events we have November 12th the

065NHS volleyball tournament it's traditional it's always a good time yeah um tomorrow night we also have showcase for our seventh and eighth graders who are looking to further expand their education at Dartmouth and like any questions or anything they should go to Dartmouth showcase and there's going to be people there to help them out and we have a blood drive for October 29th sign up it's a great way to help save lives it's I don't know it's a good thing to do it is we have our PSATs Thursday for the 10th graders for who want to advance into potential placement and the 11th graders for the National Merit Scholarship yeah and we also have some senior nights coming up girls soccer is tomorrow Tuesday show up I guess like gotta rep our seniors that's I

066mean I'm a senior I'm playing like com support and we also have um football I think is upcoming and November 1st yeah that's exciting um we also had our freshman elections this year and it was a record number of applicants we actually did so well I think this year and I'm it's going to be a great future I think for them and we also have oh Sports every team is in postseason eligibility and our pink out game we had on Friday I think it went really well I was there it was a great time we raised money and yeah let's see our band performed on Saturday and Friday and they placed first go band I don't know much but you know I I know they're [Laughter] good and our NHS has chosen the lighthouse animal

067shelter as their charity I think it's a really good cause and that's all we have so far that's upcoming for DHS great thank you thank you very much for your introduction and your report questions comments no thank you that was wasent good job J thank you thank you as I say always you're more than welcome to stay but we understand you have some other obligations so you're also welcome to leave as well and uh do your homework or anything else that's going on sorry guys it was really nice to meeting you but I do have a lot of homework we think you made the right decision thank you thank you thank you thank you all right circling back here looks on the agenda the next up is the smck Southeastern Massachusetts educational collaborative quarterly update

068so I actually just uh sent this off to uh Miss gther to uh for it out to the rest of the committee so you have it but I will just uh brief everyone as you know I am on the uh the smck board of directors uh we meet six times a year and um we're supposed to report out to our school committees our own committees um quarterly so at the last meeting September the board appointed Ys truly uh from the Dartmouth school committee to be the chair of smck for the 24 25 school year and Michelle Smith thank you Michelle Smith for Marian to be the vice chair Mr John Nunes was reappointed as to the position of collaborative Treasurer um and Jack LeBron was welcomed as the new board rep from matapa three members

069Mr CER Mr Shay and Miss Smith were were appointed to review and sign warrants on behalf of the board board approved three recommended policy revisions to the smck employee handbook the board approved updates the fy2 spending plan in Revenue project projections as of September 30th the smck spending plan totals 13 m938 47 two of the collaboratives Vans were declared Surplus the board reviewed the findings of a DDS quality enhancement audit that had been completed in July on the collaborative sale adult program resulting in very high compliance and quality ratings in the renewal of the program's day employment and residential support licenses the FY 24 Financial audit is underway and the results will be presented at the next board meeting board received confirmation on the Cab's recent experience with the Desi financial review pilot the draft

070of which has not been finalized received uh the board members were given desie information and collaborative board member responsibilities they approved all the board approved all actions uh all staff actions that occurred the director informed the board that the clar is due for a Desi midcycle program review this coming winter the student services director updated the board in current enrollment referrals and waiting lists on the correlation and the correlation with unified Staffing vacancies the collaborative new Early Childhood public Day School located in the far north end of New Bedford is also now open which is uh wonderful wonderful uh the director provided a brief legal and legislative update and the uh FY 25 Board calendar was approved uh and moved forward any questions on the SM quarterly update and I I will say that uh

071it's they're constantly looking in ways to grow uh last year they opened up their new uh Center over and new the Dartmouth Side in New bford industrial park and they also have their new Early Childhood Program over in the North End CU as you can imagine with the way things are going postco is that there are is a need for a lot of referrals thank you very much thank you uh next up we have a school committee policies section A foundations and basic commitments a second reading and vote comments questions concerns we discussed this at the this policy at the last school committee meeting mhm make a motion that we approve the uh school committee policy section A foundations and basic commitments second we have a motion by Mr nun second by Miss Amaral on

072the motion any further discussion J hearing n all in favor I opposed extensions motion carries unanimously thank you everyone uh next up we have superintendent update date great thank you Mr Oliver so if you remember at our last meeting we had the opportunity to share the district strategic plan and again I want to thank you all for your support it really meant so much to all of us um even you know those folks that were part of the planning process um it was just uh such a collaborative effort and when we have a moment to like step back and take a breather you say oh wow we really did accomplish a lot in uh kind of a short amount of time but the time I I don't want people to think that that we rushed

073it because it was not a rushed process we truly took our time and it was partly because the district strategic planning team members agreed to meet over the summer as well and so we knew it was important to launch the district strategic plan in the fall and so what we're looking to do moving forward is as part of the superintendent update we have thought about restructuring how we report out to you as a committee um Mr Oliver made a great recommendation to put on the the actual agenda what the focus areas are that we're going to be reporting out to out about on a regular basis so we're going to we're trying that out tonight and so what you're going to hear from the US this evening is just that we've broken It Out by

074um by Focus area and so with that we're going to start off with uh teaching and learning as our Focus area number one and I'm going to invite Mrs Pavo and Dr t-bo up Miss poo is going to update you on where we are with our literacy pilot and some other things and then Dr t-bo has some things that are going on at the middle school and the high school uh level related to teaching and learning thank you Mr noes you mentioned it before and I was like just you wait I've got a little bit more for you tonight talking about our Pilots but under Focus area one teaching and learning uh initiative one talks about ensuring vertical and horizontal alignment of our curriculum instructional practices prek K to2 and um action steps one and

075two are talking in that under that initiative about the development and implementation of a curriculum review cycle as well as identifying and piloting and implementing highquality research based curriculum prek to 12 and so um I just wanted to give you some updates on things we've done sort of in service of those action steps our pilot um as Dr sa McGuire mentioned is in full swing our folks actually switched today from El education and started uh ckla and um they've done a great job they really have been a very very diligent and really just thorough group as a matter of fact they are uh headed hitting the road on Friday we're heading to barington Public Schools who um uses El education and has graciously invited invited us into their one of their elementary schools to see

076eel in action and then talk with teachers after that ask questions debrief speak with their leadership and their coaches about what they see um and then we are hopefully going to be doing the same in Barnstable which is using the other program so they really are just um just I can't I can't emphasize enough how diligent and seriously they take the process um and I'm very very very grateful for their dedication to the cause um also sort of in the service of that action step we have our um our uh I'm losing the word I'm looking for we put out our sort of um email to folks asking for volunteers to work on our curriculum teams and at the elementary level we have curriculum teams in all four core subject areas and they really do

077a lot of that work in the curriculum review cycle they are revising reviewing and in the case of ela piloting and looking for uh new high quality instructional materials that align to the standards that are in alignment with what we're doing um at the elementary level and then under under teaching learning initiative 2 which talks about designing professional development learning opportunities and that are relevant and support professional growth for all Educators and staff um on Wednesday of this week we have an after school meeting where our elementary folks are um going to be engaging in the first of a seven-part series on the science of reading um last week we met with a consultant from teaching Learning Alliance uh our elementary assistant principles and coaches are doing a train the trainer model where the facilitator

078comes in and works with our folks build the capacity within our own team and then we take that information and go out um we are grounding our work in uh the book called Shifting the balance it's um shifting from a balanced literacy to a the real true core science of reading and really hoping to build the understanding and the why so that as we bring in a new literacy program it's not just a new program for the sake of a new program it's grounded in research it's grounded in why the knowledge-based program supports the science of reading and the Brain science of how students learn how to read so I will turn it over to Dr tibo to talk about some of the work going on at the secondary level thank you Mrs P so

079similar to the elementary level there are several uh curriculum Pilots that are underway at the secondary level starting with um darmouth Middle School who is piloting open SED um which is a science program uh an inquiry based Science Program um so our associate principal Sarah Dias has taken the lead along with all of our science uh teachers at the middle school and they're piloting um one module uh in the science uh areas so that's underway I spoke with Mr Rossy today who um said it's going well teachers are really buying in um and Mrs deas is doing a nice job with that also at darmouth middle school and darmouth high school where um we have our Spanish pilot underway with uh the somos curriculum which is a competency or proficiency based uh curriculum so it's

080a little bit different way of uh more language instruction uh from your traditional grammar based um approach and so they met earlier this month um right here actually uh in this area um it was nice the teachers uh reported that it was nice to have time to collaborate you know especially our Middle School and High School teachers together um you know so uh again that's the horizontal and vertical alignment piece um and so it's nice to see and I just want to thank uh Mrs Hillary Souza who really took the lead she modeled some of the uh activities that um both her and um Senora Chamberlain have have done with the new somos uh curriculum so we appreciate uh they work on that uh finally at the high school in terms of curriculum Pilots um

081we have Algebra 1 geometry and Algebra 2 underway with Carnegie Learning um and as I mentioned the last time I provided an update it is a tremendous amount of work uh that our teachers are engaging in planning work um anytime you know you're implementing a new curriculum you're learning the curriculum you know early in the year you're still learning your kids and your students and so there's a lot it's a heavy load on the teachers and we certainly appreciate their hard work they work working um you know in addition to uh Miss uh chavier here at the high school being in on-site support they're also working with a Carnegie math coach Patty shut um who visited for three days um in October during her visits she visited classrooms observed our teachers and and the instruction

082in action met with our teachers to debrief afterwards she facilitated a common planning time with our teachers focused on um you know making some key decisions around uh pacing and open sequence related to the Carnegie um learning math curriculum in addition to that miss biringham our instructional technology specialist has been a tremendous support as well because matthia which is the um uh interactive AI component of the math instruction is very Tech heavy very tech-based um and so having Mrs Bingham here on site is a tremendous support um in terms of integrating the technology which is a good segue for the next piece I wanted to to mention which is uh Mass Q last week we had several Dartmouth High or Dartmouth Public Schools I should say um Educators who presented at the conference and so

083um Mr Oliver was in attendance and he certainly got to see some of them but I just wanted to um thank and give a shout out and let the community know that you are well represented by your dooth public schools Educators they're rep they're well respected throughout the state and so Mr Eric Bosworth um M Laura Gardner vosi Sandra chica Jess brittingham um they all presented on various topics related to technology integration so um like to recognize them and of course one of the highlights was Miss brittingham who presented the marriage of technology and curriculum with a spe special guest comedic performance by none other than Mr gashaw who served as the uh justice of the peace to administer the wedding ceremony for technology and curricul so you can imagine that um so in all

084seriousness it was each of those presenters did a phenomenal job and represented Dartmouth Public Schools uh very well um I wanted to also provide an update to the uh committee on I had mentioned earlier this year the Playbook initiative that we'd be applying once again um to be part of that exciting work we did apply I want to thank tier rad uh who was one of the trainers last year and also Audrey ker who's uh one of the trainers this year along with Tad they really those two students really had to work quite hard to submit several uh essays as part of the application process um we will find out I reached out to uh the project 351 on the Playbook initiative today actually and they will be announcing on Friday they'll be notifying which

085districts were selected so fingers crossed um hopefully we'll be selected to participate again also want to thank um Mrs Chamberlain um Mr Rossy down the Middle School Miss chavier here at the high school um Mrs Masari Mr Garcia and Mr Sullivan all of those Educators had a a hand in the application process so it's quite a collaborative effort and we really appreciate their hard work um I don't want to miss anything a couple just two other things we have a bit Expo tomorrow at darmouth uh Middle School where members of the high school business information uh and technology department are going to be traveling down to the Middle School to kind of help uh engage with our middle school students so that they can see what some of the opportunities are here at the high

086school so it will be things like um you know Mr pra's program our computer science uh program some of our engineering programs with you know Mr Martin Mr Brodsky robotics it's that kind of a Expo so that our middle school students can start to see all of the different opportunities that are available to them here at dmouth high school which is good coordination for tomorrow night which I know our student rep just mentioned but we have our showcase evening here at the high school tomorrow night uh I believe it's 5:30 to 6:30 um and that's open to the class of 2029 in the class of 2030 which is our grade seven and our grade eight which is a little bit scary my oldest is in the class of 2030 and that seems so far away

087just a short time ago but they're about to be freshman in just two years so um I think oh one other thing that we wanted to mention we we shared today the Dartmouth Public Schools leadership fellowship program which is a uh opportunity again aligned to our strategic plan but it's an opportunity to help us grow and develop leaders within our Dartmouth Public Schools it's open to any educator who wants to um be part of that can can apply um but the benefit of that beyond the pdps and um you know some great leadership experiences they'll work closely with a coach from the Lynch Leadership Academy who's also partnering with the uh administrative team and and leadership team um in the district to to do some professional learning work with us I think that's it that's

088it thank you thank you so I just want to take a moment just to thank you know obviously there's a lot of hard work going on in the district and our teachers who are piloting and our our curriculum this a lot of hard work that goes into piloting new resources and so we just can't thank them enough for being willing to kind of step out of your comfort zone um you know because we get used to doing the things that we've done for a while and these the folks that are really uh willing to kind of take a a step and hopefully lead us forward because we know that we have to address this as a school community so thank you to both Ross and Katie who are doing doing a great job leading those

089efforts out in the district um so this past week uh we held our principal meeting and we had a district leadership team meeting both focusing on leadership teaming with the DT District leadership team we focused on the district strategic plan uh something that's really important to us is that everybody starts to um have a really deep understanding of what's in the plan and so we're going to be a broken record for a while about that uh going out to schools going out to uh we have a family Forum I'll mention that again uh on Wednesday evening but in addition to that we added a component to our meetings with our principes where School leadership and in this past this case of this past week Mr Rossy was able to share information with the principal and

090central office leadership team about the middle school and then we split up and we visited classrooms and it was a really powerful experience not only for uh for us as central office leaders I mean we get into classrooms quite frequently but at times we don't get into sort of you know a a variety of classrooms depending on what our area focuses in the district and we are able to visit um many classrooms I think our teachers were welcoming uh they certainly didn't appear to be intimidated by the uh the uh sort of um what's the word barrage that's probably not the quite were quite the word I'm and I'm sure Mr Rossy had them uh quite uh they knew we were coming um but again that's the type of work that we're going to continue

091to do as we each one of our principal's meetings is hosted in a different school and so we're going to give the school leadership an opportunity to talk about what's unique about that their particular school and get into classrooms and I have to say uh the elementary principles how exciting was it for them to get into classrooms see some of their former students um making those connections the kids were super excited to see them and then for Mr sheay to see his future student body and so making those connections really incredibly important so we'll be doing that throughout the school year um also with the approval of the district strategic plan I want to mention that we're moving forward with uh designing the template for our school Improvement plans and that will serve as the

092basis for our schools to develop their own individual school plans but will be very closely aligned with the district strategic plan the high school will be the first one out because they're actually going through a neas visit and they need to be able to develop and present their Strate their school Improvement plan and in turn we'll be inviting them to school committee as you have in the past to uh to present their strategic plans their school Improvement plans to you as a committee and so I said said we're going to split it up by sort of our Focus areas so Mr Kylie knows that I moved budget and capital Improvement up because we didn't want to end on it and sadly he said I know I always feel like I'm you know giving the downer

093information but um just before he jumps in I just want to mention that we are still and I'm going to use this section to update you on where we are with Personnel moves and we're still in need of an elll teacher at Dartmouth High School to be shared with Dartmouth Middle School just a reminder that we put out a job ad for a substitute just last week and we we did put it un under uh substitute teacher preference for an El teacher but at this point we really do need a certified teacher to start working with our students because they deserve and they need to have the services that um there that we are actually required to uh to provide so with that monitors substitute teachers esps custodians all those things we're still hiring so

094keep that in mind and then Mr Kylie I know has an update on town meeting and to talk a little bit about Capital Improvements thank you Dr sa Maguire so um we were pleased that um last week at at town meeting uh we received support for all of our Capital Improvement um articles that were on the warrant so technology Hardware replacement bathroom Renovations interior and exterior painting Energy Efficiency projects and music equipment and generator replacement so all things that we're getting going and uh and starting on and while we're doing that um we're also beginning preparations um we sent out I sent out some uh preliminary information to the administrators in the district about um beginning to prepare the fy20 6 through 35 Capital Improvement plan um a 10-year plan so uh we're we're starting

095that process and we'll uh we'll move forward and we'll keep you posted as we as we develop that plan so great thank you all right we're going to move on to a little bit out of order but safe and supportive schools so I'm going to invite Mrs denisio and Mrs redlon up they're going to talk to you about some of the work that we have going on in the district related to safe and supportive schools are my pictures coming I'm nothing without my visuals um so I'm just here to share actually a little bit of good news um last Friday October 11th Dartmouth Public Schools was named uh unified Champion School District um this means that our schools at each level will fulfill the requirement of being a Special Olympics Champion school there you go

096thank you um in order to receive this designation a school must demonstrate whole school engagement with activities that promote respect and social inclusion inclusive youth leadership encouraging students with and without disabilities to take leadership roles and provide various opportunities for Unified sports only nine districts in the state of Massachusetts have received this designation so it's kind of a big deal um and pictured here you see John Bro U Mike Capello and Ashley Co Coker Pier Pont who work tily SLE to support Unified sports in the district and actually they were presenting at a conference and were sort of surprised with this award before their presentation so it was really a very cool thing for um Dartmouth and just more evidence that we're already starting the work of being you know an inclusive School District um

097and of course there's always more to do so just to show you a little bit more of what that looks like okay so here are some pictures of teams from last year that are either currently getting going or will be going on in the spring so this was from our Special Olympics day last spring at tab Academy with our elementary students has some more fun activities that they were doing and this is the Middle School UniFi bot so this is last year's yeah but they are currently they have a jamere coming up next week so that will be fun and then last year's Middle School UniFi basketball [Music] team the high school's unified bowling team which I'm really excited for to watch this I've never seen unified bowling so and then they are unified basketball

098team am all right okay I'll just leave it out um and then coming up on November 7th we'll have a unified athletes day or our unified athletes here at the high school will host the preschoolers from kushman and Potter for young athletes day so the unified um PE class and unified athletes have created this whole day for our preschoolers so they'll come up here they'll do some activities and then head back so that should be a really fun time for them um and then shifting gears a little bit away from the Unified sports but under safe and supportive schools so we are creating a district crisis response team um so this will include members of central office representatives from each school from nursing social workers administrators as well as representatives from Dartmouth fire and Dartmouth

099police so our first meeting will be on November 6th so we're going to start there do some info Gathering see where everybody's at and and then we're excited to share out updates as we get going thank you thank we we also just want to mention that we had more uh interest in joining the district crisis team than just about any team that we've had um that we've created in the dma schools so people obviously are committed to engaging in this work and if you remember last week we talked about how this team would then drive the work at the school level so we'll continue to develop what that is going to look like and present to you as that becomes clearer Mr Kylie you going to add something um sure just related yeah thank you

100thank you Dr s Maguire so just in terms of safe and support of schools this Wednesday um October 23rd we'll be advertising for Design Services for the Dello and Potter school fire alarm systems so we did um preliminary study work already um just to have an idea of what the scope of the project is uh and we'll be moving forward with design so um we will be uh the the packets will be available for um for designers to um ask for the request for proposal and then submit to us um in a couple of weeks so so October 23rd though it'll be available to be requested so th those are the kinds of things that kind of go unnoticed in a school schol district and yet at the same time we recognize that again making

101sure that we have effective fire detection systems and fire alarms and the appropriate Safety and Security protocols in place are really critical on a daily basis of ensuring that we do in fact provide a safe and supportive environment for our students it's certainly helpful as well for not only us but our community members to hear hear y and thank you Mr Oliver and then um closing with family and Community engagement again our fourth Focus area and I have to say boy was Dartmouth a busy place this weekend right Lots going on lots of great things going on that involve the community and so there are many ways in which we want to be intentional about how we engage the community and our schools this past weekend um beginning with Friday afternoon and into the evening

102the soccer players were uh recognized the seniors at their game uh followed by the senior girls at the volleyball game uh both teams won um so that's really great news uh we also had the seniors from the Council on Aging at our football game they had a nice little section for themselves and I have to say again I'm so impressed with their stamina because they stay through the whole game from beginning to end I Just Want to Thank A couple of people Nancy Amy Andy Rebecca brager they're they're the ones who really made that happen and the relationship between the cheerleaders and the seniors is just so sweet and seniors I don't mean the senior students in this case I'm talking about our seniors that are part of the Council on Aging and it really

103does set a powerful example of how we're connecting Generations in the Dartmouth community and if you remember that is something that's part of our vision our mission and our vision um that same evening just across the street actually across the field uh we had oh by the way the football team won too and it was a statement win that's what we call that kind of win against yes um so Mr Rossy was impressed that I knew that lingo so the the same evening just across the field Quinn hosted its most popular ever Trunk or Treat event um Dr Thomas sent me photos and it is impressive uh but there were as many many as 40 cars there that evening and many family staff and students showed up again the photos were incredibly impressive um at

104some point I'll share them with you if you're interested because people really do invest a lot of time and effort into creating this just um incredible Halloween setting in the parking lot of our elementary school and so other schools are following suit you heard our our students talk about our high school students are doing this on Saturday but the Dello and the Potter are also planning Trunk or Treat events uh Dartmouth this weekend uh hosted the World band competition this past Saturday evening um I know Mr noones is going to talk about that but I have to say it was an incredible evening I made a joke to the crowd saying I had to tell a few people they said what are you doing Saturday evening and I said well I'm going to a high

105school bin competition and I had some sympathetic looks and what I said to the group that I had the opportunity to speak to on Saturday evening was it was a wonderful evening like showcasing so much talent and there was all on the field with of course I'm going to say the greatest Talent being our dartmouth's high school band and I know Mr Nunes will we'll talk about how they how they turned out but I do have to say pulling up to football is also a little intimidating if you're looking for a parking spot and the band pulling up to the band competition if you can imagine was even more so it took me a while to find a parking spot Mr NS but I I will remember next year to make sure you have a

106spot Reon well that isn't no that that wasn't my that wasn't my reason but I'll take it um but no it was but it's really fun to see how many people do turn out is more is my greater Point here um so again an inexpensive evening of music and there was uh somebody who actually sang um really incredible evening so as far as our I have to mention our multimedia students um Mr parate who does such a wonderful job encouraging the students to get out there and be noticed uh but the media students placed in top three for a couple of categories of the mass do video contest um they are going to attend the awards ceremony on Wednesday to find out exactly where they placed the students had to write and produce a 30

107to 60 second video uh about uh uh for the local community about having empathy at intersections and on the roadway and I think that that's a particularly relevant topic for all of us not just here in Dartmouth but throughout the state uh we also found out just today that one group of media students placed in the top 24 for the annual MIAA sportsmanship essay multimedia contest they had to produce a video answering the question as a high school student you are a role model for younger athletes who look up to you why is it important to display good sportsmanship to younger athletes provide three examples of demonstrating good sportsmanship on and off the field so really great relevant questions for not only our older students to think about but in order for them to Mentor

108our younger students um so there is an expo tomorrow morning as you already heard we have students uh very involved with uh lots of different things and I think the important thing to remind you us all of is that the Showcase is tomorrow night there's lots of the High School showcase there's lots of great things that happen here in Dartmouth and certainly at Dartmouth High School and we want to encourage our Middle School families to come to the high school to check out what we have to offer here because we want our Dartmouth students at Dartmouth High School and so with that oh in the community forum is Wednesday evening um that will be here at the high school in the auditorium is it at 6 or 7 6 that's 6 p.m. but we' put

109that out we want to thank uh we want to thank mag Olia through um our town office who is helping us to put the word out so that it goes beyond the school district but also includes community members who may be interested in hearing more about our plan and so that's it for this evening so thank you you thank you questions comments I I just want to comment on um thank you for really bringing to life um um you know that each person within your like central office leadership team serves such an intrical uh critical purpose yes um and often I I mean I haven't really heard any criticisms of late but you previous to your tenure we are used to hearing from principles and it's so valuable but then there's like that one step

110back that really helps really impact you know what others are doing and uh it left me thinking gosh like we are how does how do you all do it all that you're doing and um it's not just sitting at a desk and answering a phone it's really just playing a critical purpose and thank you for bringing that to life thank you we have an incredible team here in Dartmouth and um central office leadership is certainly much talented did dedicated go above and beyond and beyond that our entire District leadership team um you know we we are very fortunate here to have such a committed group of of folks thank you well thank you Dr sa McGuire and uh I do I I do like the format as well yes you it was helpful to put

111that on on the agenda too so thank you it out you're welcome uh report of the chair I um I think I've spoken enough this evening um so I have uh nothing more to share uh so I will uh turn it over to my colleagues okay uh yeah the you know uh our student rep talked about it as did Dr sa Maguire but we had our home band competition Saturday night we had 13 bands yes it was packed was packed there was no doubt about it uh everyone enjoyed themselves type of deal uh we got the high score for the night 938 we took first place took all the captions and such uh headed off to uh stoen Saturday night for the Massachusetts Rhode Island state championship was scheduled to be on uh somewhere around

1128:00 and such and then you know the following week we've got senior night on November 1st and then on Saturday we head off to uh metti for national championships that we go down to every year we'll you know go down and come back so uh I don't have a time yet they've got a block set up somewhere like between 4 and seven you know our division's going to be on and then Awards right after so it won't be a late night thank God you know to come home right and such we won't do that and I just seriously I I you know and I'm going to embarrass him but that's all right I just want to thank seriously Dr T for uh coming down to uh the uh Madera Feast grounds uh last week uh

113we had a number of students uh in from uh High School in the Madera Islands uh from uh Santana which is a village and uh they were Champions they did some microbiology design I'm not going there that's way over my that was way over my uh my my uh my expertise type of deal but they explained things like get the opportunity to you know get Dr TBO down to our Museum of madaran Heritage for him to take a walk around and then you know see some of the the the pictures and you know the artifacts and things that we have from from Madera there so I just want to you know and good uh was a good evening so thank you sir that's all I have Mr chairman thank you very much Mr n anyone

114else all right well with that uh the next regularly scheduled meeting of the school committee is scheduled for Monday November 4th 2024 same time same place at this point I I will entertain a motion to adjourn so moved second motion by Mr n second by Mrs zal on the motion any other discussion all in favor I opposed meeting is adjourned good night everyone good