Dartmouth School Committee Meeting, March 6, 2023

001[Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] school committee meeting for Monday March 6 2023 to order if you stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please thank you if you have any cell phones pagers beepers electronic devices if you would put them on silent please I would appreciate it roll call please miss Gunther John Nunes yep Mary wait yes Kathleen Amaral yes Shannon Jenkins yeah Chris Oliver here thank you okay so at this point we've allotted uh 10 minutes on the count on the agenda for public comment if anyone has any public comment we ask you to please keep it to three minutes to give as many of your colleagues as an opportunity to speak because I will hold it to the 10 minutes hi good evening I am carried to Jesus English language education

002teacher at Demello and Potter schools thank you for the opportunity to share our concerns many of our colleagues have come before you to speak about important issues regarding money tonight we are here to speak about the important issue of time specifically the time between 8 45 start for elementary teachers and the 905 start for students when I began teaching in Dartmouth 21 years ago students went to the playground starting at 8 45 until nine o'clock at nine o'clock the first bell rang students lined up outside their classrooms teachers let them in in school began at 905. Dartmouth Administration started implementing changes to this practice about 10 years ago resulting in an inconsistent mishmash of practices across the elementary schools in the district there have been many iterations resulting in the erosion of community building among

003students and among staff morning playground time is the only time of day when students get to come together as a whole school it is also the only time during the school day when all staff except those on the rotating duty roster are available to work with each other consult on shared students plan Student Activities and school events and give and receive advice Etc this morning time is especially important to the work of reading and math interventionists related service providers of Occupational Therapy Physical Therapy speech and language English language education teachers and special education teachers these non-classroom teachers get 70 minutes less prep time per week despite having seven eight nine sometimes even 10 groups each day of varying grade and academic levels we are not included in CPT time there is no time built into

004our schedules for Consulting with classroom teachers or other interventionists regarding shared students these 20 minutes before the start of the school is vital to our being able to connect and communicate with the many classroom teachers of our students and with each other Instead This valuable time is used sitting in classrooms to provide classroom teachers coverage standing in sometimes empty hallways or being assigned unnecessary duties for the sake of everyone having a duty 100 minutes per week per staff member is spent just on morning duties all of these staff members then do it again at the end of the day for afternoon Duty for an additional 50 to 75 minutes per week per staff member that is approximately three hours per week per staff member on duties returning to the practice of outside playtime in the

005morning would be beneficial to our students as well our current practice of students doing seat work at their desks or on their Chromebooks until 905 just adds to the current concerns of increased screen time in sedentary Lifestyles and decreased social and emotional skills furthermore giving back this morning time for teachers to use productively comes at no monetary cost to the district thank you for your consideration in this important matter foreign ER co-president at Dartmouth Educators Association I'm just recognizing on tonight's budget that um you have an old business item of um talking about the budget and would just like to ask you to um uh let's see recognizing that Dr Gifford has just left the district and that I know I know you're aware that she was one of the highest paid superintendents in the

006state as well as the highest uh salaried individual in the town recognizing the need to get a very qualified superintendent just please keep in mind that um this town needs a good superintendent someone that's going to do a great job but we want someone to come here to work for our town um not to come here just for an exorbitant salary so um please just keep that in mind when you're considering the budget next year and thank you very much [Applause] okay we'll move on approval of minutes regular and executive session uh Mr chairman of February 13th I'll move approval of the regular session minutes for February 13th second second then we'll buy you Dr Jenkins second by Miss Amaral on the motion any discussion hearing none all in favor aye aye opposed I have

007to abstain welcome back by the way I'm sorry thank you good to see you thank you the executive session minutes of the same night Mr chair I'll move approval with the stipulation that they be held until the matter is under consideration are finalized by Dr Jenkins second by Ms Amaral on the motion any discussion hearing none all in favor aye aye opposed motion carries unanimously okay our student rep is unable to be with us tonight due to a previous commitment everything is okay it's just he has a commitment so we will move on Spotlight sure all right Mr Kylie thank you Mr Nunes we're excited to welcome Mrs Correa and Mr Hill tonight for our Demello Spotlight on kids um and I think they have some special guests they're bringing with them we do we

008do so hello and thank you so much for inviting Mr Hill and I to talk about the demell school tonight while our goal today is to Spotlight a new and very exciting initiative that we've launched at the Demello School this year we'd like to begin our presentation with just a brief overview of what we've been working on for the past six months first and foremost I know I can speak for Mr Hill when I say that it is a complete honor and privilege for us to work at and lead the Demello School our community is made up of a talented and dedicated staff who puts students first hard-working students who make us proud and positive supportive families with whom we partner every day we are lucky and it is a joy this year we continue

009to focus on addressing learning loss from the pandemic particularly in the areas of literacy in math at the beginning of the year we invested a good amount of time meeting with grade level teams and interventions to look at our data and instruction in order to identify areas of strength and weakness and make adjustments out of those meetings came our decision as a school to commit to several initiatives around literacy oh I'm sorry I'm not I'm not even advancing my slides you missed the picture of the building in front okay so uh the first thing uh yes the first thing implemented across the board was a return to daily targeted small group phonics and comprehension instruction during the reading block which sounds like something we should have been doing the whole time but due to the

010pandemic and social distancing constraints we lost sight of a little bit so that is something that we decided as a school to bring back in full force starting at the beginning of the year um we also decided to provide grade levels with professional development tailored to their specific needs keeping our focus on small group instruction in mind and knowing that our first grade team had received guided reading training during the 21-22 school year we expanded this work to grade two this year with two full days of guided reading PD facilitated by A literacy coach additionally our third grade team engaged in a two-day professional development also provided by our coach on text complexity and how teachers can effectively select and utilize various texts to support students reading development and finally as you know the district

011has been piloting the fundations reading program in grades one through three this year the consensus of our piloting teachers is that this program has already had an incredibly positive impact on our students reading and we are currently supporting our first and second grade teachers as they're already preparing for full implementation next year in addition to our focus on small group instruction and reading professional development our Demello School literacy committee has been busy at work on many initiatives to promote reading throughout our building and Community last fall the committee partnered with our first grade team on first grade literacy night a camp out themed family night focused on read alouds and sight word fun in February we celebrated World read aloud day with virtual author visits to each of our classrooms our literacy committee also organized

012our annual bookmark design contest as well as the full return of blankets and books a designated time as the name suggests when students and staff simply curl up with a blanket and a favorite book to read for a while looking ahead our literacy committee has planned many engaging reading activities as part of our demelo March Madness month we are also looking forward to welcoming a local local Storyteller and in-person guest readers to Demello this spring as well as hosting another Bingo for books event um getting towards the end of the year so stay tuned for more details on that moving on to math we continue to focus on the full implementation of the bridges program with consistency and integrity this year we felt it was important for all teachers to deepen their understanding of the

013components of the program as well as the number Corner portion of our daily lessons our incredible math coach has taken this Challenge on and she has modeled number Corner lessons for each grade level team over the first half of this school year this month she will begin modeling all other components of the program for all teachers in grades one through five in addition to working hard in bridges our students have also developed devoted 60 to 80 minutes each week this year to completing challenges in St Math our computer-based programs that develops students conceptual understanding of math puzzles through math concepts through wordless puzzles this year we are focused on targeting positals to the individual needs of students and it is no understatement when I say that Demello school is obsessed with st math and its

014lovable and supportive penguin mascot Gigi whose picture on the slide if you get to visit Demello you will have the opportunity to walk down our Hall of Gigi's where students have designed and decorated images of this beloved penguin last month we challenged our students to complete sixty thousand puzzles in St Math by February vacation our students had exceeded that goal by completing nearly 80 000 puzzles and now we are preparing for a celebratory visit from GG it's very exciting to recognize the hard work that all of our students do looking ahead we are starting March Madness which engages our classrooms in a friendly competition to see who can complete the most puzzles each week during the month of March the students are already buzzing about which class might go all the way and win the

015tourney again stay tuned uh and so that is what we've been working on in terms of reading in math at Demello and I'm going to turn this presentation over to Mr Hill who will talk to you about our Community Partnerships as well as PBIS at Demello good evening everyone all right so in terms of looking at Community Partnerships and projects on the slide here we have had the opportunity this year to partner with the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra and are happy to announce that this year's learning in concert is entitled symmetry in shapes and sounds so here students are learning to recognize that symmetry surrounds them in their environment in music and architecture of their school buildings and even in their own backyard and in fact today our third and fourth grade students have the

016opportunity to visit the zitarian theater to listen to the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra as they Incorporated symmetry into their music um with the grade 5 holiday hope project so in keeping with Demello Traditions our fifth grade once again has adopted families to support through the holidays as part of the New Bedford Child and Family Service holiday hope campaign um looking at so we talked a little bit about the November Symphony Orchestra bullet two um demelo Elementary is partnering with the Harvest Harvest Farm South Coast y to plan an Arbor Day tree planting ceremony so the Dartmouth tree committee will be donating a tree to plant here at Demello school and as part of the ceremony students particularly in fourth and fifth grade will be participating and sharing some artwork or poems in addition to that

017PTO and the hard Harvest Farm South Coast Y and Demello will be working in building garden beds at the demillo school to incorporate gardening into their science curriculum to start we're thinking of starting with wildflowers and we'll see where it grows from there okay uh for our PBIS uh at Demello we've refined our leader of the pack each week uh every classroom teacher will assign a student to be leader of the pact so paw prints are sent to each classroom where each student in class will think of and write a positive comment about the assigned leader of the pack paw prints are then hung in the main hallway for everyone to see at the end of the week paw prints are then sent home to be shared with their families leaders of the PAC students

018are also announced during Miss Korea and myself our morning announcements okay in addition to PBS we have our students of the month so at Demello we've designated specific character traits for each month of the school year so for example perseverance is dedicated for the month of March so classroom teachers will observe their class for that month and the student that most resonates that character trait will be awarded student of the month each month Demello will hold a student of the month ceremony where parents grandparents Guardians have the opportunity to come in and watch their child as they are announced student of the month families also then have the opportunity to take a picture using our green screen facilitated by our very own Liz fosey and lastly we have we've Incorporated Community meetings into the school

019year so to help reinforce and teach key characteristics of who we are at Demello which is to be respectful responsible and safe Community meetings have occurred like I said throughout the year with various themes in the slide here you'll see our fifth grade student council performed a skit for the entire School focusing on what it means to be respectful so using input from our teachers which could be observations or collecting Behavior data that is what drives our community meetings and here at Demello we are continuously working with our students to to provide them with strategies to help improve their problem-solving skills their ability to communicate with each other to best resolve peer conflict in a safe respectful and responsible way so as a segue to help build those problem-solving and communication skills I'm going to

020turn it over to our very own Liz vosi who has done an amazing job in creating and organizing our weekly stem activities at Demello which in all honesty is why we're here and what we're here to Spotlight so I'd like to turn it over to Liz if I could hello my name is Liz vosey and I'm the instructional technology specialist at Demello and Cushman I have the awesome opportunity to work directly with staff and students to ensure the safe and effective use of Technology this rule also gives me a unique perspective of the student and staff experience two years of covid protocols had a major impact on authentic opportunities for communication collaboration and cooperation for students and staff last spring teachers identified a need for direct instruction and practice with some of these soft skills

021like perseverance problem solving and curiosity we had also been looking for opportunities to increase the rigor of our digital literacy standards so we began planning for this program to launch in the fall that would provide students and staff with opportunities to learn and practice these targeted hard and soft skills one major goal of this initiative is to provide students and staff with shared experiences to build community and to support a school culture of collaborative teaching and learning so we launched stem teams this fall these teams meet once a month and each team is made up of three different grade levels teams are divided into smaller groups of three to four students to complete challenges each stem team meetings begins with an introduction to that day skill and an explanation of the tasks that will be

022completed students then have time to complete the tasks with that intended goal in mind so far we've practiced communication with Lego building and storytelling collaboration with game design problem solving with Hot Wheels challenges and perseverance with parachute design we're planning bridge building coding and 3D printing design in the coming months the hard work and encouragement of demello's teachers and staff have supported the success of this program so far some of our amazing teachers have agreed to share their perspective of stem teams in this video so we're going to hear from mysterious Miss Gamache Miss travassos and Mrs kudo it's to communicate with younger students for example recently we did a stem project where they had to move a Hot Wheels car from one end of the table to the other without touching it and and

023they were able to both communicate with their third and first grade Partners but also allow those younger students to come up with an idea that might not have worked and let them try it anyway yes okay so the one thing I love there's many things I love about stem teams but one thing that I love is when we were making games board games with the kids watching them work together to go through the whole process and create the board game starting with planning it out seeing what they could do then the planning and then giving it a name coming up with their rules they had to test it and they got to create it and then they got to play it and it was a great way of collaborating with the older and the younger

024kids together and being making everybody feel included throughout stem teams students learn to collaborate with each other they learn how to problem solve and to have patience our younger students are able to have older role models and learn ways of communicating when creating parachutes students were able to explain which ways they thought the parachute should be built and although they may have had different opinions they were able to come to an agreement and test out their models our students really look forward to stem team Fridays teams complete this as a fifth grade teacher it's been really great working on sorry about that as as teams complete their tasks they track their conversation planning and progress using iPads teachers also circulate around the room and recognize students who are modeling these skills by giving them stem

025Champion tickets and at the end of each meeting we choose one ticket and announce a stem Champion for that day the champion and their team are recognized and share their success with the whole group their picture also goes up on our stem wall of fame we're so lucky because we have a few of our stem Champions here with us tonight to talk a little bit about their experience with stem team so first we have Adeline Scott who's the second grader in Miss Reynolds class and she's one of our stem champions foreign and I am in second grade at the middle school my seven teams are great because I love solving problems and figuring things out and inventing my favorite challenge so far was the Hot Wheels cars because we got to be creative our La

026our best solution was to tape string onto the car and pulled across the table my team is on the stem Wall of Fame because we used collaboration to try everyone's ideas great sweetheart next we have made first who's a fourth grader in Miss marky's class my name is Maeve and I am my name is Maven I am in fourth grade at the mallow School stem teams are great because I love doing Hands-On activities and using my imagination my favorite challenge so far was the parachute design because we got to make parachutes and test them by sending them up to the ceiling my team built parachutes with the strings attached in different spots and we found out that parachutes work best with the strings attached on the outside edges my team is on the stem Wall

027of Fame because we don't give up when something doesn't work on the first time and we cheer for each other [Applause] and now we have Bennett Kirchner who is a fifth grader and Miss kobeck's class and one of our stem champions hello my name is Bennett and I'm in fifth grade at the middle school stem teams are great because it teaches me how to be a good leader and I get to work with younger students to complete fun challenges my favorite challenge so far was the game design challenge where we practice collaboration my team created dinosaur game where the goal was to reach the prehistoric plane players had to dodge dinosaurs and could even find shortcuts swing with gorillas Through the Jungle my my team is on the stem Wall of Fame because we use

028every team member's ideas to develop our game and even though we had different ideas we were able to talk about them and agree on a solution we want to thank you the members of our school committee for your support and present you with these stem Champion medals that we designed and created with our 3D printer thank you Isn't that cool well it's it's it's ours it's our stem leader Mrs Bosey who designs them and sometimes you walk into our office and there's no one there but the 3D printer is going and you know it's it's stem Friday is coming up um uh we are here to take any questions that you might have about all things wonderful at Tamela School Mr Oliver no I will just say thank you for your presentation it was very

029thoughtful and well put together always like to hear from from your students and I really enjoy hearing about the uh the monthly stem activities that after school that take place so no uh overall I I thought it was very well put together and it's nice to see all the happenings that are happening at the Mellow school so thank you to you both yeah I was just like when my colleague's comments it was great thank you to our students who came out tonight they were great spokespeople for the stem challenges and I just think it's really great to see them working on teams on these creative sorts of problems so awesome thank you yeah thank you very nice I just to see the little ones like Bennett is in fifth grade when did that happen but

030um thank you so much yes you know thank you and again I remember you know back when uh Miss Korea had my daughter and you were doing you know stem projects on Fridays and so it all comes full circle and again like I love the emphasis on as I see it you know trying to re as part of this like trying to you know regain those soft skills it's so important and such you know I just remember even going into schools with Junior Team at last spring it was something that many teachers mentioned to me is that you know they were seeing it was you know a lot of challenges around trying to do group work and so celebrating the skills that make groups successful and that's that's amazing and they're having so much fun

031so thank you and we'd like to welcome you any Friday any stem Friday 1 30. this is Elsie or after come in and you can see maybe up to two groups working on different projects it's literally the highlight of the week I think for the students and the teachers yeah all right that's great thank you thank you thank you thank you foreign okay thank you Mr noon so um at the last school committee meeting uh we had some discussion around the 18 to 22 transition program when we were talking about the budget we have Mrs Townsend Mrs jodwin Mr Shea Mr bro Miss Coke or Pierpont here who've prepared a a thorough presentation for you and you'll have an opportunity to ask questions and find out more about the program that we proposed thank you

032so much I'd like to thank the members of the school committee for having us here tonight um I wanted to share a little bit using the slideshow and before I do that introduce my esteemed colleagues who have really been the most amazing group of people to work through this process because it is a very detailed process that we've worked um you know collaboratively over the past couple of years so this is Coker Pierpont Mr Shea Mr bro miss jodwin here with me um so I'd like to share with you a little bit of the history and kind of where we are and where we've been and then I'm going to have my colleagues answer any of your questions so just to begin a little bit about why now um as you know you know we

033we always when we're creating new programs or thinking about new programs you always have to ask you know your why um so the reason you know why now and what has really brought us to bringing it through the budget proposal this school year students really drive the transition planning process we feel very strongly that students of all ages but especially in transition age should have a voice and a say in their services as it relates to special education and our students have independently expressed a desire to stay closer to our school community and in-district transition program would allow students to receive the quality education for all in the least restrictive environment that Fosters both Community Connections in and around Dartmouth the location that we're looking at within the Dartmouth High School that's being designated for

034this program has ample space to provide both independence from the students who are enrolled in DHS as 9th through 12th graders and also opportunities to connect with familiar staff members as an example through related service providers who would be familiar faces students will have a stronger connection to dartmouth's extracurricular programs Special Olympics being just one example which could Foster a deeper connection to extracurricular programs after students turn 22 after they've aged out of special education so there are many programs many components to a robust transition program this is you know pretty full but certainly not exhaustive list a good transition program should have functional academics as part of the day pre-vocational and Vocational skills and opportunities to Foster those opportunities to Foster independent life skills career exploration supported employment experiences as well as Community connections

035and volunteer opportunities so each one of the the Stars on this slide are topics which are very large broad topics which have been discussed at length over the past few years as we've developed the program that made it forward to the budget this school year so this is our linkage to our 2022-23 district priorities as you know we have three priorities district-wide fostering a sense of belonging providing appropriate instruction and monitoring understanding so under the first bullet we have that students would have a opportunity to build upon the sense of belonging which is really strong in the grades 9-12 program Mrs Coco Pierpont does a wonderful job building that sense of belonging through the school community and this program would allow them to use what they had in terms of that sense of belonging and

036expand upon it with a new space with a new teacher so still addressing some new faces but also building upon what they already have providing appropriate instruction is going to be focused on both the academic piece which is academic functional reading and functional math lessons as well as direct instruction in those life skills in the pre-vocational skills so um getting ready you know all aspects uh from you know waking up in the morning and going through the day whether it be opportunities for meal planning meal preparation um you know getting ready we really very much want a space that includes almost you know mock rooms you know throughout to practice you know any sort of skills that might happen in a kitchen or a bedroom or a living room and there's different life skills with

037all of those activities and we've thought through that and you know we have a plan for that finally to monitor understanding the transition planning form is our key tool once students turn 14 they're required to have a transition planning form which is developed as a guide to kind of Monitor and at the end of each IEP cycle we take a look at their transition planning form and based on what they have gathered and what they've gained and they make a new transition planning form and that's how we kind of monitor progress as well as the IEP document itself feedback okay it's okay all right um so this is my nuts and bolts Slide the wh questions if you will um so who will the program serve it would serve students who are ages 18 to

03822 who received a certificate of attendance upon the completion of their 12th grade year what will the program do it's going to be a transition program that aligns with our mission and focuses on all of those subtopics of functional academics pre-vocational independent life skills Etc where will the program be housed it will be housed at Dartmouth High School in the a planning Suite as well as various Community sites because some aspects of the program do require students to be out in the community and doing practicing skills there the who of the staff would be a certified special education teacher preferably with a transition specialist endorsement and two teacher assistants I have two separate planning slides one is to separate out prior to September of this year and one that more thoroughly talks about what we've

039done since September so going right back to November of 2020 that's when building base staff began looking at other indistrict programs looking at some ideas and whether or not there might be a need here in Dartmouth on a district level we held conversations from June of 2021 through August of 2021 in addition to holding preliminary meetings beginning in October 2021 through March of 2022. we took our group on the road and visited in District transition programs on in April of 2022 and that was also when we began how we were going to logistically work this into the budget in in a way that made sense since September of 2022 we have held monthly meetings at Dartmouth High School I won't read them to you but these are all the dates of our previous meeting starting

040in September we have completed the following bullets to date the name of the program so I Should Have Spent A Little More Time On My First slide which is titling the program so we are calling the program Atlas which stands for advancing towards life after school and while you know we love the name and we've fallen for the name it did take some time to develop that and find the perfect acronym so um so we're really pleased to to bring that forward um finalizing the space and how that space might be utilized was happened during those meetings we have developed a pro is still being fine-tuned but we've almost finished the job posting for the special ed teacher to be hired for this position we've looked at Transportation options for how to get community outings

041scheduled we've talked uh preliminarily about construction projects or any facilities projects that may be needed but we're actually going to be looping in Maintenance and Facilities in Mr Kylie in future meetings as well and we've looked at opportunities to either use donations or grants for Furnishing the space I know that I have volunteered my dining room set to to go to the dining room space so there's there's one one down but our next meeting is tomorrow so this is very timely we are meeting again in our monthly schedule tomorrow morning we meet in the a planning Suite in the space that will be or we hope will be the atlas program so that we can kind of really absorb as we're talking and meeting um just visualizing it's a little easier when we meet in

042the space a little bit about our goals for the future and this is you know by the end of year one we expect staff in the program to be very well versed in the individual needs of the first cohort of Atlas and they're going to make adjustments based on how that first year went for each student by the end of year one we would want those compute community-based experiences to have a card at least once a week in the first year through either District provided Transportation or demand response Transportation or both um we think that in some ways both would actually be a more robust way to give students opportunities for transportation and at the end of year one uh reviewing program needs and making changes by the end of the year too we would

043hope that students would continue to receive receive that individualized instruction and have an opportunity for up to three days a week of community experiences through volunteering project-based learning or supported employment and as always as is the end of every year review those program needs and make changes if necessary by the end of year three we hope that a really strong trajectory has been built that develops a profile of an atlas Student who is 18 to 19 versus a profile of an atlas Student who is 20 and 20 or through 22 with the hope that the students who are ages 22 to 22 have increased supported employment as they're getting closer to that age out as well as by the end of year three discussions about the viability at that point and just investigating tuitioning in

044students from neighboring districts um and then as always reviewing all program needs and making changes if necessary and that's at the end of every year so before I turn it over to my esteemed colleagues for the questions I I want to preface the question the question answer section and I'm going to step away and not come back there they will be taking over at this point um by prefacing to say that every question that you have that at least to my knowledge you've already had or have had either discussed you know whether we've you know chatted um you know through individual questions you've asked or through public meeting questions are questions that I myself had as a director I just want to be very transparent I had the questions and I can tell you um

045that it is the folks behind me who are going to be answering it for you who were the ones who answered it for me so I just you know you're in very good hands um any questions that you have regarding the program I'll just ask as each question is asking and one of them will step up and and answer those for you thank you again for your time we appreciate it well [Laughter] um thank you um first off I want to say something really important is that you do have exemplary staff here we're very lucky I've reached out well I think I reached out through somebody else Mr Capello to I'm not going to cry but share my appreciation for being bearing a witness to um you know the reality that the students that you

046serve are often um their needs are complex yet I don't want to give away it I would I was able to Bear witness to a situation that could have gone a certain way and I saw my son in your care you know it wasn't my son but I just I was putting myself in the shoes of that individual and the way in which you all sprung into action offering the respect and dignity um to this student was top-notch and uh and I reached out at that time to share that my appreciation for that Mr bro I think I've known you for many years when you were in college and on Saturday mornings very early yeah if I may say Bridge what a state university has an incredible child cpdc program a child physical development program

047that my son had been part of up until the pandemic um it's for students to receive some really great that's where he that's where my son learned how to dribble a basketball and a little bit ride a bike with he still needs help but um so Mr bro was dedicated uh just for way long before you know employment here okay so and then I do want to say that Ashley I hear from parents all the time and um you know when you're an excellent teacher and the students and the families trust you um you know with you know sometimes students can't even tell you when their nose is itchy and parents are protective and it's really hard to trust um and I know that parents trust you so I just want to preface that thank

048you for saying all that I've been there I have many many wonderful staff who I never wanted to leave and are still part of our life so um but with that comes I my my reasoning you know for questioning is just um you know my inbox the next day was like what but I probably was the least the person that you would least think to ask questions and it wasn't because I didn't think that that you guys are awesome and I that there is a need I was worried with the budget and I was thinking oh my gosh I don't want to start something I've seen as I said last meeting not go well and um I wouldn't want that for Dartmouth not because of intending it to not go well um and so I

049just had a couple uh points so I do have a question and I have a couple more things to say but has there been any discussion about partnering with like UMass Dartmouth for some space um you can just even do a yes or no or or would it would there be a potential of some sort of part I'm just thinking like Massachusetts is the first in the nation to pass the law to entitle students with intellectual disabilities you know to college right um in leveraging that in some way not necessarily UMass but BCC or another University and and we we've talked about that you know not obviously not in year one um but you know Bridgewater has a wonderful program the ice program BCC has the Macy program which is you know another program that's

050very similar um and you know we want students to have those opportunities to be able to explore colleges and in a college environment and um you know those Partnerships are definitely a piece of all of this this program isn't something that can just be done here you know in some ways it's so much more of a community program than um in a community-based program in terms of really leveraging some of the Partnerships with Community businesses Community volunteer centers um as well as the higher ed as well and so with that so that was my other worry was just oh gosh how can one teacher and one ta how can they build these Partnerships I mean is that is it going to be slow going has there been some work like I I can't imagine that

051that's an easy task but an important one and obviously one that you have in your trajectory so yeah and we're lucky that we we already have like a lot of um sort of relationships with businesses whether it's been through Special Olympics or a Unified sports programs we we have a lot of connections out in the community already and so that's sort of what our main focus is is keeping our students in our community um you know when they've gone to outplacements they're not really in Dartmouth anymore and they've built such a sense of community here in Dartmouth that we want to continue that we want them to have paid employment within our own Community um that's sort of like the goal yeah and when we look at it from Special Olympics right I mean the

052both of us are involved with Mr Capello you know obviously and um we just look at the the large scope and sequence and when Mr Capello first started here back in the early 90s he has that group of students that's still every spring come back to unified practices and then they are here for the school day games and they travel with us to Boston and you know my aunt's one of them she just turned 50. so that group of people at that age is is present unfortunately in the last 10 to 15 years we've lost a really big group of those kids and you know we're certainly doing our efforts outside of this program and its creation but to get an 18 to 22 program here but then to get a 22 plus program for

053Special Olympics because we want that to continue so in you know collaboration I know Beth mentioned it on a slide that's just one of the many facets that we're looking at for Community Partnerships to like Ashley said really make this something that's long lasting can I just I'm sorry to occupy a little bit um what I what I was happy to see like your goals of increasing the community you know and we know any day Anything Can Happen my own son loves to go out in the community he's actually 19 and he's in transition transition program and he he washes windows at an auto mechanic store um and he loves it and he throws tires around but sometimes it's difficult for him to leave his school because he has some preferred staff and that sort

054of thing so there goes my other being such a great teacher and having people not want to leave you I like that you're in your your plan to increase and sort of separate a little and not that you're going to be the teacher but maybe you are I don't know but you might apply but I like where I am thanks but um yes yeah but um because the reality is you know I as a parent you know I I know a little bit more because I work in the field but there's that Federal entitlement that end date of the day you're 22 you no longer are in that school building and so unless they perhaps they could gain employment here and still stay here as an employed person but increasing those outside opportunities to kind

055of soften the blow that's something that we've decided because that age of 22 is a hard stop and that can be really difficult for families we want to set the families and our students up for the most success possible when they reach that age of 22. so that's why we want to make sure that they have that paid employment out in the community and they're out in the community as much as possible so that it's not a huge you know shock to them when that 22 years comes and then last real phase phase out right yeah there are two transitions here they're the ones where they're going from Ashley's program into what could be this program and that's the other thing you know we've talked a lot in the last few meetings is this was

056coming to budget proposal and being you know pushed out here that this when you think of the IEP process that eye is individualized and we understand that not every student is going to fit into this program you know and that's it's we're not closing doors here we're not we're hopefully opening more doors by having this as an option for students as they approach 18 but that first transition is 18 and they're going to come into this program and yes it is going to be building based for the most part and we're starting to establish those connections and make sure that everyone is comfortable getting out into the community or can access the community and then from really 1920 and into that 21st year you're hopefully transitioning them more and more so that this is a

057fulfilled um you know IEP transition plan and and services collectively are all met when that 22 day comes they're ready for you know that real world and so with saying that you know I know we have the annual resource Fair where the all the money that comes on we typically Deb the treasurer Deb August has we funded some bowling clubs and some other unified programming perhaps I could talk to the CPAC and we could help fund some of the needs for um yeah that would be amazing fantastic but from the May event and you also have my wheels turning with my you know Vision planning and my colleagues in the field and and offering and collaborating and partnering and perhaps like having like MRC the next gen program like the staff and I'll come in

058and talk and for a CPAC meeting maybe I can have a panel come in and some of my folks for from DDs or you know so I'm thinking of of what I can do in that in that realm to bring people in to um because you don't know what you don't know and there are so many little nuanced pockets of supports and programming that um it's all in my head so I'm happy to partner in it opportunity I know you know obviously the past session was there were some reservations and questions and they were rightful right we totally understand that and like Beth said it's all the questions that she's already asked yeah yeah I think um to give you all a little bit more scope I mean this was presented to Ashley by a

059family so this is family driven needs driven uh does it have the opportunity to be a great monetary aspect you know and cost neutral of course but this is family driven and it was back in 2020 so I mean there have been years and a lot of site visits and a lot of effort in planning and data collection that have gone into it because we hope that you know through this it's collaborative and that you can give us ideas we can give you ideas and then at the end of the day we're working together to make this a really good program for our community not only for now but for years to come right I'll pass it over to somebody else now sorry thank you so I thank you I think this presentation was great

060you know I think as part of our role here we need to do our due diligence to make sure that it's not that we doubt you but that's what we're here at this table for and I don't really have a question but I just want to make a comment you know we hear a lot of conversation in our community about do we support equality or equity in our schools and this is what Equity looks like not every 18 to 22 year old needs to have a fully supported educational environment but Equity requires that some of our students do and that we do right by that and so I just want to be clear about this this is what an equitable education looks like and so I'm happy to see you doing this and moving toward

061that and I thank you for all the work that you put into this okay no no problem not not trying to rush no I'm good Mr Oliver thank you Mr chair thank you everyone for your presentation this evening I certainly appreciate it um having been on this smack Board of the chair of the spec Board of Directors for well over 10 years now I'm very familiar with the 18 to 22 transitional programming and I do have some questions some some concerns some questions and I have no doubt that this group of talented individuals will be able to answer them for me uh so it's great to see that it was it's homegrown that it was a family that came came up came to this group to have this discussion um I'm all about keeping students

062here in Dartmouth if we can right that makes the most sense it's the least restrictive environment it's in a it's in a place that they know so a couple of questions that I have is first of all who there's obviously there there are some changes happening right now with our special education director who's going to be overseeing this program moving forward because they'll obviously they'll be a special education teacher there'll be Powers but who will ultimately be overseeing the logistics we'll be overseeing the logistics of the program yeah so um I'll speak as the building principal but um as someone that's been I joined in late I'm not gonna lie I can't I started last year they had already spent a year having these conversations and I joined in obviously it's housed at the high

063school um it will be a partnership between the um as the facilities of us we're going to be responsible for it as the program basis of it it will be a central under central office supervision on that side of it so we'll we will it'll be a shared role when we've talked about this is that it'll be in my building it'll be will be responsible for all the facilities the support of it as in the supervision of it it does fall more in that that central office New director um between Lori and the new director okay so stay right there right I'm not going anywhere so you might be able to answer my next question so obviously one of the key pieces of any 18 to 22 program is the important importance of getting getting

064students out or these yeah these young adults out into the community right for job experiences for any number of things so what is the plan for a One Transportation into who's going to be it's not just Transportation there's the logistics around the transportation as this program goes so do we do we have a vehicle secured yet because my here's my concern right yep if we're going to be opening the goal is to open this program next school year is it's in the FY 24 budget right so the goal is to open this program next school year so in my eyes I want to make sure that any students because I assume the intention is going to be to bring some students from back into this program or is it just for new students so it's

065just going to be our newly graduated students that's going to grow the program so one of the advantages of starting next year is it's a small cohort yep where potentially now again John said it the eye is the individualized right so there's potential for students that is potential when we give all options if if our option is chosen or not but that's what we're looking at and one of the reasons why we want to start with this year coming in is because we know we have a cohort of of small group students that allows the teacher a year to really build those Community connections as we spend there as we spend that time one of the things that we talked about is there's a year one two phase for the students in there and then

066there's the two that the 20 to 21 22 week student right so those first two years are really working on and we I'll get to transportation in a second everyone probably coming back to it is working towards those building those building out like how to fill out a resume how to get yourself employed the other side of the communications is working with the outside Services whether it's Ada services or whatever in our proposed budget there is a proposed budget for a vehicle in that that still keeps us at net zero right now in in what we're spending and what we would spend on four students versus not so that is part of the the job qualifications and I'm trying not to stop you but you said four students was what we're looking at potentially potentially

067and again everything's individualized right so like I can't guarantee a number on that side of that so I want to be very careful with that but there's potentially four students that could be there and that's where we kind of get to that and that zero is in but in our budget there is a plan for a for a vehicle for whoever will be the teacher to do and that'll be part of the job description as well the driving around in in with the Tas as well great thank you thank you for that question and we do want our students also so yes we do want the vehicle side of it but we also really want them to be able to contact those services that can transport them as well too we want them to have

068those life skills so after they leave us when they're 23 there is no vehicle right so we want them to be able to get on the phone set up for a doctor's appointment a haircut any of those supports that is out there certainly agree yes of course certainly I agree and I think that's something to work towards for sure but I have no doubt that you'll need some kind of transportation for these absolutely um and uh last but not least we talked about a dining room set being uh maybe don't maybe donating uh however is the intent obvious the intent is to start this program next school year uh maybe this is a question from Mr Kylie um I have no doubt I have the utmost respect and um confidence in our maintenance department but

069obviously these students need life skills right so will we have an area ready to go by next school year yeah we're actually meeting about it tomorrow we've looked at the space preliminarily it's a great space it has a lot of positive points for a program like this okay it has office space already built in it has several large areas one large open space it has a conference room that's sort of like a natural classroom type space already in it it has a kitchen so it's a great space for it um I think that you know we're going to talk about specifics I I think it's doable absolutely um I'd like to note that the vehicle you already approved a request for a vehicle in the capital Improvement plan so that's up at Town Hall we've

070not met on that yet my understanding is that they're talking about by the end of March having the initial meetings on Capital Improvement plan requests okay so that you know certainly your support on this program will help determine uh you know our push towards towards hoping to you know secure that vehicle the funding for that vehicle and the capital Improvement plan process but um we also have monies built in to the operating budget to support this program and to get it up and running as part of this proposal so I I think we can do it yeah no I'm I'm happy to hear that in from my point of view you certainly have my support um yeah it's just obviously a lot of questions when I on when I was when we were at the

071budget subcommittee meeting when we first heard this I really had no idea that these meetings had been taken place we were never I don't believe we were ever briefed on any any of the surroundings around the 18 to 22 program so it's certainly this presentation in my eyes was certainly very helpful so I have no other questions thank you thank you thank you what's that Chris Barry Oh no I just wanted to say again like first of all an excellent presentation I think it's you know again I'll just second with my colleagues I think it's such an important program if we're able to offer and it sounds I mean the amount of work that you've already put in and just you know for seeing all the the potential challenges and the thoughtful um you know

072survey of the area that you're going to have and everything else and the life skills I think you know again like it's it's certainly much needed I am a full believer in trying to keep our students here and again like just you know having those Community just everything we talk about is being like inclusive and bringing our members of our school community and making them feel truly a part of Dartmouth and again we don't want to lose that you know and so you know I'm you know thank you so much for like you know articulating this program and all the work you've put in and you know I think it's an exciting opportunity for our families and you know again I always defer to miss Amaral and these you know questions and I appreciate all

073my colleagues questions but um you know again like I'm I'm very pleased to see you know that we'll be able to do this for you know these students so that's great thank you definitely no I just I would I can't tomorrow I have to leave really early for the state house a big important event um legislative advocacy day um I would love to join a meeting like I'm not even like school committee we don't design programs we do not design curriculum that is not our purview uh we'll just say but um just worker in the Human Service field yeah for sure I would love to join at some point just to even yeah and and to jump tips and you know people to contact whatever whatever and absolutely to jump on Mr Oliver's comment too

074like um it is scary because it's a great responsibility right like and we understand that great responsibility we are taking our students that we have said you are now a graduate of Dartmouth High School no matter what that term means your graduate Dartmouth High School and we're preparing you for the future so we understand the weight of the great responsibility and that's conversations that we've had throughout this whole process is that if we're going to take this on we're going to do it right and we're going to do it the best for our students and there's not a better to campaign for students than you're going to talk about right here so I think with that Focus that we had from the start is that this is for our students no other reason that we

075understand that it is scary and it's a great responsibility and we understand that we're taking that seriously all set Mary Kathleen okay good a couple of quick questions I have and as like Chris I'm the treasurer for smack and I've been there 18 years now as as the treasurer so kind of familiar with that transition program and such so you know know a little bit about that but my thought go I go back to you talked about your uh visits to other buildings in transition and that type of deal what was good you know did they tell you what was good what was bad what's the pitfalls that type of deal yeah so um back in 2021 we had had preliminary conversations as a group already and a lot of the questions that you've asked

076were ones that we answered and I Echo what Ryan said because we understand the importance of this and we want to do it right so a lot of those questions were addressed first and then it was okay why don't we try to go see a couple of these programs and what they look like and it was a fantastic experience when we were able to glean the good and the great and realize that there were some things that they might have done in their process of getting started that we don't want to come in you know near and hopefully not have to go through some of the hurdles that they did but um old Rochester's was the space the space was the takeaway from them because they have a setup sort of similar to this a

077planning area and as Mr Kiley alluded to a little bit the areas it's not like we're doing construction or anything it's pretty much set up it's more cleaning up the space and making it suitable we've started I've started the process of looking at donations whether it's through donor's choose which Mr perotti is excellent with or if we're you know simply looking at Grants which we've had in the past with Community success in getting Furniture brought in I know Ms Townsend is a great donor already we have to thank her but yeah the space at Old Rochester was great and we thought that there was a lot of potential here in house for the space that we have decided on um and then Seekonk their space was brand new but a lot of what they're doing

078with the setup of it whether it's curriculum they have a therapeutic room which was unbelievable there are just so many things that we were able to take away and say okay this is what we want to sort of come back to the table debrief on and now craft how we can make this something that will become Atlas um you know a year and a half later that's now where we're at and um a lot of the things that we saw were like hurdles that we sort of tackled head on was the transportation that you had brought up Mr Oliver um you know or has a difficult time with the transportation and we realize that that sort of limits the amount of time they spend out in the community we see because so many of my

079students have gone on to smec we see the importance of creating a community-based program so we knew that transportation is going to be a huge thing that we need to make sure that we secure so that our students can be going out into the community to really get those life skills old Rochester has connections with BCC and although transportation is a difficulty they still make it happen they've been really fortunate and you know Dr Jenkins you know this college level classes right now there's a lot of variety whether it's in person online and orrs use that to their advantage with BCC where their students are auditing classes in an online manner again we've tackled the transportation piece head on so hopefully we're not closing doors whether it's Partnerships with UMass Dartmouth or BCC or Bridgewater

080so those are opportunities for our kids in the future one last question that I have when they go out to work are they working like a regular school day I eat you know eight to two or you know nine to three that that type of deal yeah so we talked about sort of the hours of the program that right now it's best to keep them the regular High School hours so start at 7 30 in the morning so maybe they can start out with some academics in the morning and then they go out for a few hours into the community whether they're doing job shadowing or volunteering or they actually get paid employment um and then as their years progress in the program their time spent out in the community increases throughout the day so

081ideally we've said and this is sort of like a view of Mr Shea's too is that your typical senior year in high school like he wants kids to be out in the community as much as possible whether it's working or whether it's doing dual enrollment it's the same thing for the atlas program we want our students to be out in the community sort of showing off the skills that they've been able to learn while they've been with us here very good thank you anybody with anything else thank you thank you posting yeah oh yeah the last thing to add to about this kind of idea of Community Based right is we also want to Foster what's already been established here so we've met with the Union just to try to talk through again some of

082the hurdles in Seekonk we're Union based and they had a really tough time getting this approved union-wise and one of those sticking points were the hours Mr noon so they went with a totally different setup there I think they're nine to three or nine to four which was really tough to get approved by their Union so we realized all right maybe that's a hurdle that we don't want to explore we'll go 7 30 to you know 2 15. um but you know we've talked a lot about the space and the copy machines are down there there are bathrooms down there so you know making sure that it's accessible for the faculty that need to access it but also then creating opportunities uh Ash and I were learning Partners back in the day when that classroom

083did uh it's not Meals on Wheels meals to go meals to go and it was district-wide so bringing something like that back because again you're teaching them the life skills of cooking and communication and how to get an order and it's what they've already learned through Cafe Tuesday but now we're just kind of changing the format of it we've talked about opening a copy center where teachers can you know back in the day when we were students you were a departmental assistant it was the best class there can't say it was very rigorous but again bringing back that aspect of community these students already know these teachers and the staff members and the students here so why not Foster that by having a copy center available so I just think you know we're also brainstorming

084a lot of these things through and that's the best part about being able to hopefully collaborate is we can continue to kind of set up what we truly think will be most successful I do miss the meals to go Mr bro one of the other things though is that we don't want to make this seem like it's a one size fits all that you know this program you know if they're doing cooking that everyone has to participate in that every child you know every student is different um and so you know we want to be able to provide opportunities that speak to the interests and the um the strengths of the students so I just wanted to make that point yeah just one last time I just like I do with that sense of belonging

085I just so appreciate it because I do have a a student who is out of District right now and probably wouldn't be a camera well who knows but um uh and and he just has such Pride for this town and I mean I there is not a time that we do not drive by Quinn Elementary Demello where he says basketball he he shoots you know his sister played degal there after and went there to school but he just thinks she played basketball there um you know he wears his class he's a senior and he wears his class of 23 shirt and with such Pride um go by the middle school the high school here we joke do you want to go to school like he it's such a sense of belonging even for a student

086that is not in District right now um and that's because of of the incredible folks that he's had support him and you know I've spoken of my son who he does not have words but he does say cup hello I think we all learned to say that quickly in this District he does say that so so at any rate I just appreciate that about Dartmouth Public Schools perfect thank you thank you very much good luck thank you everyone thank you laughs standing on our heads how to flip it there we go there you go good thank you Mr Shea all right uh old business superintendent search update Mr Oliver sure I will take it Mr hardy here also he is here Mr hardy is here uh thank you Mr chair thank you uh Mr Kylie

087um we met we had quite a week last week it was a marathon week uh we met many nights um Katie you can come on up too um I apologize that's all right she was sitting on Kitty as you know Katie and I were co-chairs of the committee and I would like to start off with taking the opportunity to thank all the members of the search committee it was it was a great group uh we certainly had some a little some debate some healthy debate back and forth but we are all very respectful um and you know at the end of the day uh we came together and um we made some decisions so I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank uh Eric Bosworth uh Sandra chica Kate genther uh Kyle Grandfield Dr

088Shannon Jenkins Mary Lynch uh Katie paveo Kyle Ross uh Peter Rossi Trudy Santos Ryan Shea and Renee Vieira am I missing anyone I think that is just myself that's all right good job so um I'm gonna pass this down before we get started uh just one page okay this is uh the memo uh do you want to say I will be happy to read this um if oh it's up to you I'll be happy to read this book sure very good evening everyone uh this is from to the Dartmouth school committee from the Dartmouth superintendent search screening committee 13 candidates submitted packages for the position of superintendent of schools in Dartmouth Diamond search Community reviewed all the applications and after a series of preliminary interviews and much discussion voted to submit the following candidates to

089the school committee for consideration as the next superintendent of schools the candidates which are listed in alphabetical order are Dr Jason DeFalco current superintendent of schools at the Blackstone Millville Regional School District in Blackstone Massachusetts Dr DeFalco has has held his current position since 2018. this previous positions include Deputy superintendent chief chief academic officer in New Bedford and the building principal in Southbridge Somerville in Worcester he earned a master's degree from Worcester State college and a doctorate in P PK 12 school leadership from Johnson Wales University in Rhode Island Dr Robert Girardi Jr superintendent of schools the new Shoreham School District Block Island Rhode Island Dr Girardi has held his current position since 2021. he was previously the finance director at Minuteman vocational school and superintendent of schools in Maynard you're in the master's degree

090from Providence College and a doctorate in educational Administration from Boston College Dr June Saba McGuire assistant superintendent Brockton Public Schools Brockton Mass Dr saber Maguire has held her current position since 2022. previously previously serving as Chief academic officer executive director of Elementary education and principal as well as teacher all in Brockton she earned a master's degree from Cambridge College a certificate of advanced graduate study which is referred to as a cags degree from Bridgewater State College and a doctorate in educational leadership from Boston College fourth and certainly not last Andrea B Schwab Dr Andrea B Schwab assistant superintendent in the Wareham Public Schools Dr Schwab has held our current position since 2014. previously serving as principal and assistant principal in Falmouth as well as an assistant principal ship in Duxbury she earned a master's degree

091from Salem State University and a doctorate in educational leadership from Northeastern University all four of these candidates have been contacted a very eager to continue in the process I'd like to start off by thanking you for your time Mr hardy certainly uh it was great to have you there and walk us through the process as always the cookies are good the cookies were good thanks to Katie absolutely um I guess uh I'll just start off and Katie please chime in or Jim um you know we had a some very good candidates come come in for interviews um and it's all about as Mr hardy said to us it's all about fit the right fit for the district and we felt at the end of the day that we we believe that we should send four

092names forward to the full school committee giving everyone the opportunity these four candidates for a second interview and um to take place take part in the the site visits these are well qualified candidates all with your unique personalities and I look forward to uh to meeting them all again and taking this to the next uh to the next level well Katie would you like to add anything no um well yes so I would like to Echo your thanks to the members of the committee because it certainly was quite a time commitment and really everyone was just so prepared and really committed to the work and I really appreciate that I think you know we were very clear that our our charge was to take a look at the candidates and bring forth names that we

093felt we would like for you to dig deeper right so it's a your job now is to do with a deep dive we had a cursory glance and great first interviews and these are folks that we would like for the committee to get to know on a deeper level so I again just want to say thank you to all of you for your faith in us and thank the committee for their really good work on this agreed and Mr hardy could you go over next steps with us oh sure so yeah of course I told the search committee this that night but again I want to publicly thank them for their efforts we calculated somewhere between 35 and 40 hours commitment into this between the preliminary meeting where we did all the training reviewing the

094time spent reviewing the 13 application packets the time spent preparing for the interviews the time spent in the interviews and the time spent after the interview is deliberating it was it was a lot of work done in a very short period of time with most cases after everyone worked a full day so they did a great job and every candidate they interviewed or every candidate they talked to walked away with a positive impression of the Dartmouth Public Schools they thought the committee was engaging they were listening they were active participants in the interviews and every candidate felt good walking out the door and that's a very positive plus on behalf of the district so you can thank them for representing you in a Stella fashion the next step in the process would be scheduling site

095visits for the candidates to come to Dartmouth if the committee was going to go on site visits to the districts of the finalists and then when would the final interview interviews be gonna have I need a kind of sense from you when you want to do that who would be willing to go on-site visits uh what days in the coming weeks would be absolutely terrible to bring a candidate into this District because of things going on like I don't want to bring a candidate to a district on a professional half day things like that so I think person first and foremost thank you everyone much much appreciated uh I think the first thing we have to to figure out is uh when we can do the next round when we can you know have the

096candidates in-house because I'd like to bring usually correct me if I'm wrong Jim is you bring the candidates in-house uh for a tour bringing that and then uh have like the final interviews that night that's typical you know so they only have to come in once they're on they only have to come once and and that type of deal uh my thought was that at this point just because of the way circumstances have worked out that we have the candidates in uh for our next meeting which is we're going to move something we've got to do some changes move I can't bring I bring the candidates in for a site visit and the final interviews on Monday March 20th okay now that would then move our next school committee meeting to March 27th because we've

097got to have the budget hearing Mr chairman yeah bring all four candidates into the district the same day trying to get there at this point right so either either like the you know for discussion purposes or go you know get two in on the 20th and two in on the 21st Shannon so I'm just going to fall on my sword and apologize to everyone I know we had looked at the week previous I have been called into a work trip that I that I cannot get away from so I will apologize if this throws off everyone so it does you know what it moves it back a week I understand I just wanna I just want to make it clear that everyone's comments that the committee was really great um there was actually a lot

098of laughter in the room which having served in search committees is not usual and so I think there was there was good relationships and everyone came and got and they really did I think show Dartmouth off um everything that's great about this community so it was it was a really good committee to work on and thank you to Chris and Katie for for co-chairing the committee and and making sure everything ran smoothly so the 20th and the 21st works for me I will make that work oh wait a minute the 21st is 21st is candidates 21st as candidates so can we are school committee yeah so the school committee candidates can we go Monday and Wednesday sure although I will note I won't put this on Kathleen looking back at our our materials I remember

099I had to miss my very first candidates night because we scheduled we had scheduled uh the interviews for that evening and I was like look right if I'm not at the interviews like what am I here for I'm not going to put that on you I'm happy to do Wednesday but it's definitely precedent there so we're looking at the 20th and the 22nd 20th and 22nd we'll hold them in the auditorium do we want to do it here do we want to do it in a smaller venue we're going to do it in the High School auditorium does that work it's in the evening it's in the evening it's available I already stepped that far ahead all right yeah they're on it Mr Nunes thank you okay uh Mr news without me 6 30 at

100the same time or what kind of do uh you want to do how typically an hour say having done varying times last week um I you might want to move that up a little bit yeah well if you do two interviews each night yeah if you could do six you'd be a lot better off okay yeah because you're looking at probably six to seven fifteen seven two seven about seven fifteen then do 7 30. so do you have a break in between yeah plus a buffer time yeah just in case a question sure so you're going to ask the same questions to all four candidates that was gonna die well for um for the semi-finals interviews we they the candidate the the screening committee all asked the same questions of every candidate right I understand

101where you're going though but they typically suggest well I think you could do them all on the same day well here's my here's my thought is and I'm going to have a discussion with Mr peratti on this if he wants to tape it by all means but it doesn't go out live and it doesn't go out that was going to be my suggestion Mr Nunes is that the the Monday interviews would be broadcast Wednesday uh while the Wednesday interviews are going on well no they'll be broadcast on Thursday but Shannon I'll just off on an alternative um I've done this in searches that I have run at UMass Dartmouth that we give the candidates the questions in advance um it allows the candidates to prepare and you know I had people on my search committee

102like we can't do that everything's going to be canned but what instead we found is that some candidates gave us really thoughtful answers and if we're asking for examples of where you built curriculum do I want to know someone can think in 10 seconds is that a qualification on a job or is the qualification that this person could prepare and we hear their best answer and their best responses so the other option is to Simply give the candidates the questions in advance I'll just put that out there I'm an advocate for that I think it we see the best of candidates when we do it that way I don't have a I don't have a problem the night of the interviews having the questions on the table for the candidate now I know what you're

103saying I know what you're saying and I'm telling you what I'm saying okay I understand what you're saying now it's my turn I'm saying they have they have the questions there and they're able you know as they're being read they're able to follow along yeah that's what we did we gave the questions to them as they showed up yeah that way they can you know you know if they get not they get hung up but you know they can go back and just kind of glance at it type of deal so because the other go ahead what else so the other thing we have to think two things we have to think about so what have we decided on that it's not clear to me on that what's that have we decided to give them

104the questions in advance or put and and just let the interviews be streamed or we decided to just put them on the table I think we have two Alternatives there and we haven't discussed one we're not going to stream the interviews I don't want the interview streamed I I no no offense Mr news but I think that's a decision that the committee makes okay I don't want the interview streamed because I don't want if we don't give them the candidates the questions but I also don't want the candidates watching and being able to sit here and say oh yeah that's a good idea I didn't think of that or Boy did he fall FL he or she fall flat on their face that you know the boy did way off I don't know I I

105just would prefer to have everybody cold out of the bikes Chris we have a consultant in the room I'd like to hear his opinion um I see both sides of this I do believe that having the interviews broadcast particularly since they're not all done in the same day may give an unfair advantage to somebody interviewing later in the process simply from and it may happen anyway simply if there's a print media person in the room who writes up a summary in the in the local newspaper so it may be unavoidable um I mean there's only really one way of guaranteeing that is do them all in one day but that's now you really kind of talk about a Saturday in order to be able to pull that off um uh as far as you know

106there's no right way or wrong way as far as conducting the interview generally speaking to help avert the problem with preconceived questions or being able to see the other questions my recommendation is always you have at least one question you're going to ask everybody else everybody that's your Baseline question then you tailor the rest of the questions based on the candidate you're going to get their application package you're going to see their background you're going to see where they've worked their job experiences and then you tailor two questions to that candidate so even if the candid even if the next candidate hears the interview the questions you're going to ask the second candidate might be different than the first candidate they might be similar but they might be different but you have that one question

107you've asked everybody that's your Baseline that's your point of comparison between the four um there's there's a lot of uh positives to Dr jenkins's method I've seen it work I've seen it work greatly I've seen it where you couldn't have told the difference whether they got them ahead of time or whether they got them surprisingly right in front of them because people still stumbled out of the box and you know a smooth interviewer isn't it isn't going to affect them at all if someone is good at con or good at participating in interviews whether they you give them to them ahead of time or you give them to them that night it's you're going to get the same thing um what it does help is the people who don't interview well but have a lot

108of knowledge and you kind of get to get a sense of really what their thought process is because they've had time to think about it so there's pros and cons to both neither one is wrong neither one is right it's really a matter of preference for the community I do like if I still have the floor yeah I do like the fact of having each candidate have each person asks once the same question to everyone and Taylor the rest I do like that um it's fine I have a copy of the questions the screening committee asked so all four of these candidates did well on these questions well they wouldn't have been brought forward to you so it'll kind of give you a baseline of knowledge going forward if they bomb these then they wouldn't

109they wouldn't their names wouldn't be in front of you though some did better on some questions than others but that's you know that's the nature of the Beast I don't have a preference yeah Mary I guess I just have a procedural question you know and again I you know regularly was not the last meeting that you know we had but um when it comes to you know let's say like because I I actually would defer and lean towards Shannon's idea at least with one question I think because I would like to see like what their thought process is and have that preparation but secondly you know if we were what is the process of like creating questions among ourselves do we meet an executive session ahead of you or like how does that I guess

110that that's one of the things that I'm curious about because when you mentioned having you know perhaps two questions that are unique to each candidate like when will we devise those like you know again we do that as a group or just individually and so that's what I'm trying to understand yeah does let me run into it is doing it as a group you have to post it well that's what I would assume so that's why um so what what we did with the search committee uh process was that people submitted their questions to me I compiled them into this document which I'll pass around because thank you um giving Katie a graceful way to yeah go sit down again um the um they submitted their questions to me I compiled them into a document

111like this okay okay well actually it was this document and then when people had duplicates I contacted them I contacted them directly say hey look we have three questions about this okay right do you want to go with your alternate question or somebody could somebody sent me a really great question or two really great questions I'd really like the second one answered do you mind asking that one I think I did that with Dr Jenkins um so uh and then that way you're not discussing together so it's not a meeting we don't meet the definition of meeting with the open meeting law because I'm not a public official okay that's what I was observing and then the other part is so ideally with the site would you want this I mean by dealing from procedure

112would we want to have the site visits I'm assuming before we're meeting and doing those final interviews so sometime in the next two weeks it would be whoever is going on the site visits should ideally yeah I was going to talk about your visits in a minute okay all right all right so I'll defer that thank you until we get through this part of it okay um so I'm assuming Mr Nunes that you that people will if there are two side visits in a day we're going to start them in different locations and kind of reverse the schedule well didn't you know hadn't gotten that far to be honest with you okay that's the Hardy only because of the I didn't know how you know that if we want to have three or four type

113of deals so might you know if it was three I was thinking you know one you know for discussion Monday Tuesday Wednesday you're you know that that type the you know three days that way type of deal uh you know with with four of them and one of them having to go to Block Island type of deal you know that's you know taking a ferry and catching you know what time is the ferry college that that would be that one that's probably just the one and done and again I have never been to Block Island and I don't know what the ferry schedule the other the other option is um do it over the fall you know resume or zooms um we can set up a series of zooms during the day and you can

114log in from wherever you are and yeah I can meet with people face to face there the uh do we have to do that with all the candidates if we do Zoom or can we do just the difficult to reach ones we have a very fixation at UMass Dartmouth who's treating everyone absolutely the same so that's why I'm asking that that's okay in my opinion the only one that is difficult is uh Block Island no distance I did speak to Dr gerardi about that he he actually mentioned the because it's winter so the ferry schedules sometimes it's you know but he he's the one that mentioned impossible you know either phone interviews or Zoom interviews okay um so it's it's something he was open to and realizing that the circumstances but I also realized that

115you know he he's only been in Block Island for a year um you may want to talk to some people from a previous District as well so yeah but we could set that up so Chris she ran up a good point Jim that he's he was only on Block Island for a year and is it worth just doing these all in Zoom so we have an opportunity because I have participated in these before on zoom in which you you speak to the colleagues that may not be in their current district is that something that you've seen done yeah I'm also probably because in the past couple of years with covet and that type of deal I did a lot of search on Zoom start to finish I wouldn't be surprised you know the hang on

116Shannon for one second okay because going back to Mary's Mary's question what I had thought about and hoping that everyone would agree outside is included but was you know post a meeting for a workshop on Bush Street to talk about questions and that type of deal but if you know that's what you want to do you can do I know I and that was that was my thought I hadn't thought of you know that type of deal so I don't know if you want or if you want to with you know if you want to you know ship them to Jim get the resumes and ship them the gym I'm good with that too I parked I personally I'm in favor I like the way that worked I'm in favor of just like creating them

117this way it saves us the having to meet and post another meeting um I'm hoping that somebody doesn't you know I know I got you yeah I got you yep absolutely I'm good my other question to you Mr chair is what are your thoughts on reversing or maybe we're already thinking about this having having us go to their site or via Zoom next week Shannon well I want to ask because I think I maybe saw a shaking of a head in the audience about the question of Zoom site visits and I think I remember discussion in the committee that people were Keen to go to the sites and I'm seeing some nodding of heads over there um and so I would I know I'm putting this out on people to do that but I think

118there was somewhat they really wanted to get there's a feeling that you get when you're in a building and you're walking around and you get a sense of community and culture when you're in a place that you don't get on Zoom um so I I don't I'm not recommending we do fairies and whatever we do so I'm for Block Island but if we can for the other ones I would I would I think we would like to have people go into the building the other thing that I will add is that we had a request that we add a teacher to our site visit that they asked if we would bring that to the committee for consideration we haven't had a teacher in the last round go with the um the group to the sites

119but that was a request from some of the committee members one of the things that I will say is when we went to Dr Gifford's site visit there was no real visit we were set up in the conference room at central office in Falmouth and we didn't leave that conference room we didn't get a chance to walk around I don't know how prevalent that is in the schools but we didn't get a chance because let's face it we're going into their territory oh there's there if this if this person isn't a superintendent their superintendent a lot of their staff is certainly they frown upon Outsiders coming in to see them right and I think it's a good I think in some ways it's a good practice but it also um it's it's a hindrance to

120some extent and this is a perfect example was for Dr Gifford in which and Jim was there we sat in the conference room and she and people came to us um to be interviewed you that's that's how it's usually the ones I've been on in in my tenure it would basically you know in in a conference room and you go from there they bring lunch in and right you get a chance you know and you're you're absolutely right you know I mean we're going there because we want one of their one of their employees one of their you know we hope is one of their best employees to come work for us as you know a superintendent type of type of deal and you know they're going to kiddingly you know hopefully they'll get sit

121there and they'll kid you and they'll say okay so what can I tell you that won't so you won't take him or her type of deal you know that type of deal but you're absolutely right I think we need to go out and we need to get uh you know get a get a lay of the land type of deal when we go into this these communities type of deal Jim I even Block Island I mean the ferry schedule really isn't bad you're eating is stuck in Block Island no it really isn't that I mean obviously if it looked like really bad weather you wouldn't go it's in a March March Yeah well yeah you pick your days but if um our current interim superintendent but there are there's pretty I'm looking at it too

122pretty frequent on the high-speed Ferry out of Point Judith it's really not that bad yeah so schedule wise so it could be done we'll see what week are we looking at just to confirm [Music] well if you wanted them done before your interviews you're talking about next week right yeah that's what I'm thinking you're talking about you're talking about next week or uh do you have a problem with that nope I mean you're not here Shannon anyways I don't I have okay so I probably wouldn't say visits yeah and I think we do two just two school committee members anyways right so someone else wants to go in my place I've already had a chance to interview the Committees I'm fine with deferring to one of my colleagues to attend the site visits okay okay

123yeah so yeah I mean we've got uh you know well we don't we're not going aside from Block Island we're not going it's not that bad because I've got commitments Thursday and Friday night next week but we'll be back in plenty of time for that so I'm good these will typically end right about the time the school day ends so 2 30 3 o'clock yeah that's when they normally we get there at you know you know eight nine up eight nine o'clock yeah yeah it's like a deal so all right so I just want to confirm so it's a full day for each site visit by and large like yeah you know and we'll we will do uh we do two two member two school committee members at each site visit yes if two committee

124members are able to go right no more than I guess no no no no no no no yeah okay no Who's got what so who's a I mean I'm out all next week yeah I know you're wrong I can make myself available one maybe two of the day is tops I can make you're probably looking at I got three Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday we could if it if different people go I mean if there's only two School communities total but if if there were like four of you available on a given day we could do two visits that day split it up yeah yeah I'll have to see if I can get coverage because I'm teaching too so it might be problematic for me but well how about if how about if we do this

125how about if we plan for a Monday Tuesday and Wednesday and then for discussion purposes we do uh Dr gerardi's by zoom on Thursday does that work I'm most available Monday and Tuesday most available Monday and Tuesday um yeah so um and anyway so there'd be determination of who else do you want to bring with you right um well I would and again I'm going to put my experience hat on here I'd like to have if Mr kiving wants to go and I'd like to have you know the high school principal just and again this is just me the high school principal and the middle school principal okay I'm a teacher and you want to be in a building right you don't want to be at central office we want to be in a building

126yeah please okay we want to be able to you know get up what's up or both yes we can spend time or a boat no no not a boat not a ferry boat or in both you know visit the central office I would I do agree with Dr Jenkins that I I would like to see a teacher as part of it as well the perspective can we flip back to them coming here yep um so if two are coming on Monday and two are coming on Wednesday do we want to schedule the site visits so that they're kind of doing this one starts like at the high school one stops at an elementary school and you kind of work their way well behind the grades yeah one of the that's one of the things that

127Mr Kylie sent out was the uh scheduled the last time and that's exactly what they did ships in the night as they say yeah okay and just so the committee knows and I'm sure Mr Kylie is aware but this is paveo offered to do whatever is needed to win the candidates for those site visits here um to to help them out so thank you Katie good thank you okay okay so I'll convey convey to the candidates the two interview nights and the two side visits tonight see which ones work into their schedules accordingly and let them know about the site visits for next week yep yep hang on to the high school are we going to do a student panel as well yeah when they come here and do we want the same student panel

128or if possible if possible okay so I'll do the same I'll do basically two half day field trips yeah because that way when you get feedback from the students they they have that same okay yeah yeah good question Mary um so just like anticipating on Thursday so if you have a zoom in the past are there's also full day like how do you like again I'm just trying to think again in terms of like when I can you know offer assistance that might be the time like typically how long is that I mean it seems to be sitting usually the zoom session the zoom ones are signif significantly shorter because there's no travel time between right particularly if you're going from one place to another so there's there's no real travel time involved okay um

129it's the same groups of people but they're typically shorter periods of time all right so let's do let's do this and I would suggest that if if any school Community member wanted to go on a visit but couldn't stay the whole day but you could do a half a day of it try to do it okay Okay so I'm available I'll make myself I can make myself available all four of them so that's that type of deal so it's like but who go ahead I was just going to say so for for Mr Hardy's purposes yes I'm just trying to get we're just scheduling them Monday through Thurs what are we doing how many days Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday is the zoom quite honestly if more than two want to go you can get around

130that by simply posting it that you're you're going on a site visit Quorum of the school committee is attending a site visit you just can't deliberate while you're there yeah as long as it's posted that it's a site visit you're good to go okay yeah good okay we would Kate would need to know soon yep because if it's Monday unless we posted by Thursday yep so who is it go ahead I could do Tuesday you can do Tuesday okay I could do and you can do Tuesday okay and John I'll just check back with you yeah check back with me all right I'll take with admin all right so it's just Wednesday we're looking out well I'll do I'll do what I'll do Monday and Wednesday so we've got two okay very good I'll definitely

131aim to be there for the Thursday the zoom I'll figure that out somehow so I think I'll be able to do that we'll do that from work well that's what I'm thinking that's exactly what I think and Thursday is my like easier yeah so if I miss it you know if you can just send me a list when it's finalized if who's attending what days so that I can give it to the will do yeah candidates and as soon as they get confirmation of the dates and a schedule together for you I will send that back through you to the members of the committee thank you I'll also send you oh actually Kate could probably give you the four application packets yeah can we get can we get those when how quick back do you

132want the questions I mean I know we need them for the 20th well um yeah I would say probably Wednesday next week okay and I would ask you that would be the 15th yeah pair one that you're going to ask for every candidate and identify that question and then the two more with a third may be possible in case we get duplication but if there's any duplication or if there's too much of one category I'll call you back and I'll send you an email back saying hey you know I'm getting five questions on Budget Finance and nothing on leadership style what do you decided did we need to decide whether or not we're going to send any of those questions ahead of time or is that something we have to decide now yeah that we've

133got to the site now so we know do we want to send the standard questions to everyone and then leave the other questions in reserve that would be like you're saying that we should ask the same questions of everyone we can give them those questions and then all those other questions that we might ask that we're going to vary we could hold back which would be five questions yes for everyone that's the same which will give you some level of preparation on the other question that's a hybrid yeah there you go yeah I like that I'm fine with that okay okay I will acquiesce okay I'm not but that's fine so we'll send them we'll send them the uh the main question instead of the one standard one and we'll go from there okay okay

134all right cool beans so the only other thing we have to decide depending on winning no stream ing no here's the whole thing that's fine no I'm gonna if that is I'm gonna have that discussion with uh Mr Karate after the meeting is not going to be you know he wants to tape it that's fine but if it's not going out it's not going to get hacked I'm going to make uh a plea to anybody to please do not post anything on social media things of that nature I will also again reiterate as I have done numerous times but you know now that we have the finalists you know number one there will be no public comment that night number two to my colleagues just remember now that these names are out the phone calls

135and things of that nature will start thank you very much and this decision is eyes and eyes alone remember the committee has any questions for me about any of the candidates please don't hesitate to give me a call directly I'll be more than happy to share any insights we may have um you the search committee members are free to discuss their personal thoughts with you excuse me but um they're Bound by confidentiality they cannot share what other people thought they could only share what they thought very good anything else from Mr thank you no we're good yeah thank you so much all right thank you thank you very much Jim thank you appreciate all the work [Applause] okay uh all right so we've got two school committee members uh Mr Kiley Mr Shea Mr Rossi

136I'd like to go you know do we want a teacher and who do we want or how to how how do we go about that I mean I'm I for one and with all due respect I'm not gonna sit here and say I'd like you know Miss Jones or Mr Smith or that that's I would I have I would leave it to the choice to maybe Mr Kylie or Mr Kylie Mr Shea yeah or Mrs uh Mr Rossi you know I I think it may be worthwhile I don't know if she's available but Mrs paveo to attend if she's available okay she may not know that we're should we seek seek volunteers who are interested in participating in that process sure that's fine okay to my attention would it be the same person for all

137of them yeah because you're getting it you're gonna you're getting it you're gonna help for everybody involved that's a lot of good commitment so one from each building I'm just thinking I'm just thinking about the kids yeah right yeah for four days yeah yeah exactly especially you know especially next week you know yeah I gotcha one from each grade span like the high school someone in the high school someone from the Middle School yeah from elementary yeah that would be that would work okay you know send them in and let Mr Kylie Mr shade Mr Rossi go about that's fine I'm good with that all right nice job everybody seriously good job okay all right so since we're talking about searches oh yeah button and again these interviews will be in the middle of the

138uh the High School auditorium you know nobody's crowded there's one all right uh old business people like still uh pupil support service at search update I guess that's me um and please Mr Nunes fill in any gaps I I really I think the the biggest update is that our committee met and uh we I feel that it was a lively and engaging group and um where um Mr Martin LED myself I co-led uh oh wait oh um you know the the the the day and it the evening and it went well I think people contributed their um thoughtfully and that sort of thing I felt it was a it was a good meeting um and we are spending it was just posted today that we're spending Saturday I heard that all day all day Saturday

139uh interviewing and um I believe the goal is am I getting ahead of myself nope you're fine okay is that uh at least we'll deliberate post interviews um with a break for some lunch and uh we will deliberate and our uh intention at least as of the time we met was to bring forth three uh candidates um at our next meeting am I missing anything no no you're right on you're right on right on right on target was I mean we had undoubtedly like the the superintendent search good Lively uh discussions talking about how many questions we were going to have and it it just it was like one you know this and then it led to another to another to another you know so we got we got where we wanted to be okay

140type of deal so it uh it was and again it was well-rounded uh collaborative effort yeah collaborative effort I mean pros and cons type of deal so it'll be exciting great thank you yeah thank you when we get back we will hopefully have and seriously we have what six good uh six good viable candidates yes awesome which is like because all you can ask for okay anything else on that with anybody thank you okay thank you no problem the rest of the community here we go all right FY 24 budget okay so um the major development since the last time we talked about the budget was the the governor's proposal on state aid which I had sent to you all and was underwhelming at best it was a one percent increase to Chapter 70 funding

141uh actually a little less than just under one percent increase so we get about 10 million dollars in Chapter 70 funding from the state you know less than 20 percent of our of our budget and the increase was 99 000 so that was the lowest we could have possibly gotten the lowest of any District in the state um you know when you look at it per pupil so it's not a good situation and uh they followed that up with the town's um state aid being equally dismal so um very little increase coming to the town side so you know when that happens obviously like a one percent increase is basically a step backwards so let's face it with with inflation and the way everything's working it's it's a loss so that's not great um I'll

142be meeting with Mr McInnis on Thursday afternoon to talk a little bit more about where the town is and their side of the budget I I think that they are hoping to have um have us in for some discussion with the finance committee towards the end of the month a little later than maybe we usually go but um but I think hopefully by the end of the month we'll have that discussion we have depending on I guess the 27th will be our budget hearing and another opportunity for you to for you to have more discussion on the budget at that point so we will have had a couple of opportunities before we before we go um before the finance committee but hopefully I have some more information this week from the town as to where

143they are in this process that's an important piece of this questions comments before Rice that huh it's disappointing expected yeah it's surprising expected but disappointing but thank you yeah what is to me very disappointing and disheartening and again I realize it's the governor's budget but it hasn't been changed so it hasn't gone through you know the house of the Senate the Committees in that type of deal when you take a look and you look at you know never mind I can't do the cities because there are a whole different uh Dynamics and that type of deal but when you look at the town of fave and you know that picks up six hundred thousand dollars more in chapter 70. type of deal and then you look at you know the town of Acushnet and they

144pick up no disrespect Mr Oliver I know you work there not anymore not anymore and they pick up 600 000 you know and they have fewer schools and less students in a smaller budget than we have it is very very disheartening so I will say this I will probably wait to see what comes out from Ways and Means and uh at that point if there's no change I'm going to ask that we bring our state reps in we bring Mr Marky and and have a discussion with him as to what in God's name is going on because you know it's not uh not helping at all in my opinion so Dr Jenkins you know I don't disagree with you that is disappointing but from a state calculation right compared to other towns we make less

145effort in our taxes we have a lower tax rate we can afford to do more in their eyes right now they've never tried to bring an override to this community so right but that's the calculation and that's what we're being told by the state right if you're not going to support your schools your public services why should citizens in other communities do it right and that's the message we're getting and until people in this community receive that message things aren't going to change right we have to make more effort it's got to come from us so okay all right anything else on a state budget no okay very good all right new business superintendents update you should say introsive windows only enter them we'll give you the superintendo oh that's fine one of these other

146fine folks is going to take that role in a short short amount of time so yeah um a few things so um I know Mr Nunes has some stuff to share with you so I'll try and not steal his Thunder the Dartmouth tree committee reached out to us regarding the trees in front of uh in front of the middle school on Slocum Road which are horrific like the ones that are standing on outside or on the other side no on our side so the ones that are along the middle school parking lot on Slocum Road yeah yeah okay so they're pretty bad and um we've taken a number of them down through the years and they're interested in uh assisting us with uh planning for adding some new trees there so we were happy to

147we actually John Bernat um our facilities manager actually met with them today with uh with boy Knowles the arborist uh and um they had they have I guess lots of plans for trees from what I understand obviously including at the Mellow school which was one I I didn't know about um so we're working with them we're also working with uh New Bedford VOC um they are interested in a project at our Middle School on the um the let's see that would be the East fence line regarding lighting uh that light that light the fields you've shut them off a few times when they've been left on so they're interested in participating with uh with their electrical group and have kids work on it so um John Bernat also at a licensed electrician that's what he's

148you know prior to being our facilities manager that's what he did for a career so he's going to work with them and uh so it seems like a great project uh we have the Dartmouth High School AP art show starting on the 10th at the Dartmouth Cultural Center 404 Elm Street so on the 10th they have their opening reception from five to seven they have other hours following that um it's actually there for from the 10th through the 25th um so there's quite a bit of opportunity for the community to go out and see see some incredible art Dartmouth High School also has tedx happening uh Friday March 10th during the school day so that's going to be live streamed on DHS TV media if anybody wants to tune in and see some TED Talks

149um we have MCAS coming up at the end of the month so we're busy with that dartmouth's finest is on the 17th St Patrick's Day Dartmouth dartmouth's finest tickets are going on sale next week and I just wanted to mention because Mr priority perrotti has worked so hard and we mentioned uh his his donors choose efforts get get highlighted earlier so I'll just mention that he's involved with a grant that was received along with temple Mitchell from the Middle School a mass Q Grant to outfit a TV studio at the middle school so um they've received the grant they're using some hand-me-down equipment from here that they've been able to replace that Mr perrotti's been able to replace so it's another exciting project for us yeah that's that's about it all right very good any

150questions for Mr Kylie oh great thank you okay thank you for all your work yeah I think yeah I think all right a couple of things that I've got uh boys basketball is in a round of 16 tomorrow night they're up in Charlestown they're playing the number five seed uh at 6 30 so we wish them well I mean all our sports teams this did absolutely excellent uh I saw the other day a gentleman that runs a thousand meters beat the school record yeah type of deal so you know congratulations to him uh the music department is having its annual Pops concert uh this Thursday night at seven o'clock uh doors open at 6 30. they're also having their annual uh winter indoor show uh on the 18th that Saturday starting at two o'clock we've

151got some 35 or 40 groups going uh uh we've got our JV color guide is performing uh then on the percussion side and wins a wins group and then percussion and the two sets of awards and such so I will be schlepping out invitations and requests for people to help hand out two sets of awards I'll get you the times type of deal if if you're able to able to do that uh there was a big article in the New Bedford standard times about our art students that got those silver key Awards or whatever you know congratulations to them thank you very jealous when I see what these students can do with that I can't draw a straight line with a straight edge so I wish that uh I'm going to put this out to

152my committee uh the high school TV I think we also have met Ryan orruta he wants to do an interview with the school committee candidates you know one at a time type of deal but the same set of questions I don't know Muslim and Sam are all how you feel about that okay that's fine I mean I'll let him let him reach up I'll let him reach out to the candidates and set up a time just we'll just need to let um front desk the security yeah you know that it's of course coming in a type of deal so schedule get us get us scheduled with them I'm just thinking of that okay uh all right that's all I've got anybody Dr Jenkins um so I have been tasked with asking the school the school

153committee if we would be willing to once again sponsor a team for the def spelling bee this year as long as I don't have to spell out that is my policy as well Mr hands um I assume everyone's okay and I'll follow up I just always want to make sure I do these things in open meeting great I will let them know and I will when is that and I don't I don't remember I'm not on the I'm not I'm not on anymore so um it's coming up in April I will have the date for you at the next meeting April 12. okay yeah I was about to look it up April 12th thank you I most likely will be on it awesome oh hey great okay thank you somewhere okay uh yeah same as

154last year's I think so I will follow up with you all um just I just again I'd like to do these things in open meetings so no no no no thank you no problem okay Kathleen yeah uh so I with my school with my special ed uh parent advisory Council hat on uh typically the month of February we do our survey which then we present is presented to the school department uh but because of the Department of Elementary and secondary education doing all of their tiered focused monitoring um and surveying our parents as well we shifted and moved that and so parents received a text and there is notification in the weekly backpack a flyer with the link for parents to um and Guardians to complete the survey uh and that will be open until

155the end of the month at which point then we'll we'll schedule um it's my counterpart Deb or someone to come in and or myself to to share the results of that it's a great opportunity for families to uh just provide input as to their their satisfaction and in terms of the services and supports that their students their children receive and then on March 14th so it'll be a very long day for me at Potter School we have the special at parent advisory Council from six o'clock to 7 30. we have a workshop that we've had before it's about anxiety in children and adolescents and so um Sarah Rogers from balanced Learning Center in Fall River will be here to talk with parents and she's very generous with her time and she offers some tips and

156strategies and it's a great it's a great workshop and it will be at Potter School on the 14th so that's all I have that's great we good our next meetings and meetings are going to be March 20th and 22nd uh at 6 pm and that's for our superintendent interviews finalists type of deal and then we will be meeting on the 27th which will be out we're just going to move that school committee meeting one week back that's also going to include our budget hearing okay that okay so I'm just just a quick question sorry um so when we announce like so after our deliberations is there like a time frame that typically we would announce the uh whoever we've chosen probably do that on the 27th okay give us time to and then chew on

157things yeah all right great thank you that's my thought provided that way all right so at this point in time material will entertain a motion to adjourn into executive session for an update on collective bargaining and pending legal matters and not return to open session so moved second move by Mr Oliver second by Miss Wade on the motion any discussion hearing none roll call vote please miss Gunther yes thank you very much enjoyed your week be safe and happy St Patrick's Day [Music] foreign [Music]