Dartmouth School Committee Meeting July 20, 2020

001[Applause] well good afternoon everyone I like to call this meeting of the Dartmouth School Committee to order for Monday July 20th 2020 roll call miss Gunther Chris Oliver here Shannon Jenkins here Mary wait Mary is new everyone knew Mary wait here Kathleen Amaral yeah John Nunes yeah I think that's everyone thank you very much mr. good sir as a reminder for Governor Baker's order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law 30 a section 20 the public will not be allowed to physically access this School Committee meeting the meeting will be conducted remotely members of the public can access this meeting via livestream at youtube-dot-com forward-slash d hf TV media in addition the event will be rebroadcast and DC TV channels 9 and 18 on the following days Wednesday and Thursday at 5:00 p.m. Friday

002at 6 a.m. Saturday at 8 a.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. the School Committee reserves the right to implement additional remote participation procedures and will notify the public of these procedures as soon as practice practice involved I would like to take this opportunity to thank once again mr. Perrotti for his support with conducting these remote zoom meetings and we wouldn't be possible without him in the support of his students during the school year excuse me that being said at this time we have allowed a few minutes for public comment miss Gunther have you received any any emails on public comment not at this time perfect so as a reminder we will revisit the public comment section towards the tail end of this meeting and anyone wishing to comment on tonight's meeting on any of tonight's

003agenda agenda items can do so by emailing Kathleen Gunther at Dartmouth schools dot org at this time I'll entertain a motion to approve the regular session minutes of July 6 2020 as I make a motion that we accept the regular session minutes of July 6 2020 mr. chair I'll second that motion but I'd like to make a minor modification miss Wade noted on the minutes is both being present and not present so if we could update that that would be great all right there's nothing of substance think so I think we can just approve it and Kate make that change it's not a big deal for those that it Thank You Kate for taking care of that so I have a motion on the floor by mrs. Amaral a second by dr. Jenkins on the

004motion any further discussion hearing none roll call please miss Oliver yeah Shannon Jenkins yes Mary wait yes Kathleen Amaral yes John Nunes yes Thank You Kate everyone I'm next up on tonight's agenda we have a presentation I'm going to turn it over to dr. Gifford and a presentation on curriculum relating to anti-racism equity and diversity Thank You mr. Oliver so tonight we are going to have director of teaching and learning Traci Oliveira presents some of the things that the district is already doing to ensure that all of our students throughout the district are supported are treated with respect that we acknowledge and value all people and I just want to say that as we continue this conversation we will be looking forward to the fall however school gets back in service here and what more

005we can do and take a real thoughtful look at the Dartmouth public schools curriculum initiatives etc to see what else we can do - as I said ensure that all of our students feel respected welcomed supported in our district so with that I'll let reefy take over and present what we are currently doing right now to get fit and good evening everyone I'm just gonna take a minute to share my screen with you so today I'm going to talk about our culturally responsive education so I broke this presentation up into two parts so what we're currently doing and then how we're increasing this work around the diversity in light of what's happening current events in our nation and I also looked at the diversity in two ways one explicitly how it's taught in our standard

006so I first went and looked at social studies and health started pulling out exactly where we were looking at it and where we were teaching it and then I also looked at places where we integrate cultural responsive education into other standards where we just kind of try to go after those more than one standards at the same time so I think I can change this to start with what is culturally responsive education so it really requires individuals to be culturally competent so we're looking at this competency compensate to have an awareness of one's own culture and also views about differences and the ability to learn and build on other people's culture so what a community norms around culture what is standards - what are the standards how the things different within families and try to

007be understanding and accepting of all that it's critical in this work that educators have a knowledge and a capacity to serve all of our students we want everyone to find their place within our curriculum educators have to be developed in understanding of students abilities and their school committees and their school communities and to ensure their their experiences in school or farming to who they are but also who they bring to and who they who they are and what they bring to the community just trying to do multiple so when we talk about curriculum I always have to bring it back what we're talking about so we're talking about the whole I want to say the whole gambit so what are our units our lessons we lay out for what teachers do every single day and

008every single week what assignments do we have what activities are we having kids do what projects the students working on and then also what books and materials and videos are kids accessing in class and also what do we send them home with so it's really important and one thing we've strive to do over the last few years especially is to fill our libraries and what our kids are working on with a very diverse books activities assignments to really understand what the world is like and to understand other people's perspectives one interesting thing that has Dessie has done that I personally felt was they really hit the nail on the head is when they came out with the new history and social studies framework they built it on three pillars so they built it on the

009content standards what we were used to saying in our history and social studies standards then they also linked it into standards for history and social studies practice and that was kind of like what does this look like what skills do we want kids to do not just the knowledge but what do we want them doing and understanding then they also linked it to the literacy standards the history and social science so that was always part of our literacy standards but it just brought it to light so when I talked earlier about places where we talk about diversity and racism it's not just in our history standards but also comes out in other places especially in reading and writing because we filled our classrooms with books about diversity and we'll be getting into that a little

010bit more but this was a great kind of philosophy that does he came out with that really worked in helping us to expand some of what we're doing in our classrooms when I first added this task of putting together I pulled out the social study standards and I just started pulling out any words that went with diversity culture racism I was quite honest a little overwhelmed by how many words were there and how much we do do in it so this is just a little picture of all the different words all the different subjects categories units that we do kind of focus on this so I'm gonna break that down for you a little bit and I also have the little heart on the other side for social-emotional learning and that just came from my

011health curriculum so if I start with social-emotional learning I'm very proud and pleased to say I think it's something that Dartmouth does very very well since dr. Gifford has come here we've always had a theme across the year and has you all know it's always been you matter i matter kindness matters really homing in on that social-emotional we are all one here which we are accepting of everybody I think a unified program is one that's just grown throughout the years and it's just a strong example of how we incorporate everyone into our box and accept everyone we've done our second steps programs also address that PBIS I think buddy benches is another great example how we are trying to really be an inclusive community in our schools and how we teach that [Music] so I'm

012just gonna go quickly over the next two slides I know you've got these ahead of time and this is just the content areas for history and social studies so that one pillar I talked about earlier they really broke them up into categories across grade levels so as you can see the the ones in red really have a strong focus on diversity and strong focus on coaches and we start we really start in kindergarten with how will we a community and how will we work together and then in second grade we talk a lot about the cultures of different cultures of people but in third grade we really start honing in in Massachusetts what are the different things in Massachusetts what how does Massachusetts came to be we really even dig into Dartmouth and our third

013grade standards which is just one of those fun things where we see what what do we have in our town of Dartmouth what are some things that we do and if I go on to the next slide it just goes into grade six and seven really focus on world geography and ancient civilization grade-eight really takes over the civic life at Massachusetts government and one great thing that the new history standards did is really almost put in a civics course that each of our students will kind of participate in in great so we took all of our middle school standards and we kind of squished them into grade 6 and 7 and they built civics course for our grade 8 students and at the end of grade 8 they do a civic project which you'll be

014hearing more about has our year unfold but it's a student-led project about how they can change the world or how they can change their community or what they're looking to do so that is a great example of how we're trying to put some of this ability to change into students hands the other kind of pillar that we were looking at that I was talking about is what we call the history and social studies practices so there's seven of them and I just pulled one out right now which was called determine next steps and take informed actions and as you can see in bold starting in grades 3 and 5 they really start talking about diverse peers so how do we engage in academic discussions respectfully with diverse peers and then in grade 6 and 8

015you can see how it builds upon that and kind of moves up to 12 to 12th grade so we want to explore questions or problems in the form of classroom discussions or essays or research papers and we've really dug into a lot especially in our elementary schools about the essays and research papers and writings where we've incorporated books which I'll talk about in a little bit more but we've kind of had that discourse in our classrooms about diversity and race so this was just a guiding principle which I when I was doing a research into pulling this together a little bit I went back to this guiding principle because I just thought it was interesting when these came out a few years ago that they really still a hammering in that bold sentence where we

016must tell the histories of individuals and groups and honor that life of people and where it is still an ongoing struggle to achieve a perfect union so we're still working on that and that is a guiding principle of what we kind of go by if I look at that third pillar that I talked about for the history and social studies standards would they integrate the literacy this is just I don't know if you've heard about it we've done a lot of work around this with our teachers called windows mirrors and sliding glass doors so I'm just gonna play a little bit so she can explain kind of what that philosophy is when we're trying to pick the curriculum materials that we put in front of students we look for books that really provide a conversation

017and dialogue so I'm gonna let her explain I'm hoping you can hear though books in which children can find themselves see reflections of themselves I wrote a piece maybe 1990 it was published which I called nearest windows and sliding glass doors and and I think that's that's really why we children need to see themselves reflected but this can also be Windows and and so you can you can look through and see other worlds and see how they match up or don't match up to your own but the sliding glass door allows you to enter that world as well and so if that's the reason that that the diversity needs to go both ways and it's not just children who have been underrepresented and marginalized who need these books it's also the children who always find

018their mirrors in the books and therefore get an exaggerated sense of their own self-worth and a false sense of what the world is like because it's it's becoming more and more colorful and diverse as time goes on so I think that's why so how we've gone about that bringing that philosophy into some of our classrooms and one of the reasons we adopted the units of study from Teachers College in Columbia University is because they strongly believe in this cultural responsive education so they re-examine a lot of their curriculum to emphasize this and their work I think kind of was on the forefront a couple of years ago about how they were doing their mentor texts and their read Aloud's so you can see on the screen right here some of the books that we read

019that is embedded into our curriculum in our elementary schools that really bring about conversations for students can around the diverse worlds so they're centrally within the reading and writing workshop and we and we do not support teachers with these books and we support them about having the conversations with students around them that's at an elementary school and at a middle school they've been doing a lot of work to do the same thing as you know they had the bridge home Panama I can never say like um come in to speak has an author the kids really ate that up the eighth grade curriculum add a layer of complexity because they started reading the tell-tale heart by Edgar Allan Poe and they really started bringing in other authors that kind of married his work and explore

020their backgrounds to affect their voice and style of writing so we've really opened up I think what students are reading so the one on the and up in the corner what to the slave is the 4th of July they really study that in depth and analyze that speech that was written by Frederick Douglass in eighth grade and at our high school I have to say mr. Higgins has done a really great job of actually taking out some of the classics around American and British literature and going to more of a thematic system which should allowed more voice in reading so which is great because we want kids to have a choice in what they're reading and he pulled in a lot of books that went around this topic and every single grade now has a

021level I mean a novel or a play with diversity in mind and on the screen you can see some of what they do grade 9 does dear Martin and grade 9 and 10 have been exposed to the thirteenth great democracy democracy about mass black incarceration in America and from the feedback I've gotten the students have really enjoyed that and they've had some very good conversation grade 11 - Sula by Toni Morrison and then grade 12 does less by Andrew sangria so I was growling I think that myth public schools has a great growth mindset we're always trying to pull in new things so in light of the current events happening in our world we kind of did stop and think what can we do to bring in more so this actually happened prior to the

022events but we all loved it that Mallos school got added that diversity grant whether going to establish a diversity library for both students and educators they have plans to have family nights and they're going to create a portrait wall on the entrance of the building the family pictures in collages we have now I'm hoping we can still do this we don't know what returns school would look like but we do have Adolph brown booked as a keynote speaker coming in September where he really talks about implicit bias and what does it look like and I don't know if anyone has had a chance to hear him speak we have had a chance and he is quite I'm gonna play a little soundbite from him I think with summer coming to an end teachers and staff

023at half-hour Horsham School District are gearing up for another school [Applause] class today was on understanding neuroscience science behind how we see things what influences what we see and I started it what we see because that's important before what we teach the morning was filled with laughter and fun but also focusing on how every student deserves a good education [Music] I came in as a student so that was a that was basically a young man who is grieving a young man who was not a thug but a young man who dressed in such a way that he wanted to push people away because all of his prior relationships were let down some disappointments dr. Brown shared his own personal story and teaching our staff that we all have backpacks so I should have started with

024that was a soundtrack of a school system I kind of doing a retake about Edith Brown and what he did but that was a presentation that he'll be doing with our staff in September and it is a powerful powerful presentation about not to judge a person when they're walking in and what you see and he is story of where he came from in life and where he ended up is a very powerful one and he he thanks educators for it and he says that's what kind of made him push on to where he would go he says he straight he he lots of time straddled having one foot in advanced ed and one foot in juvenile detention so he talks about that and I'm super hopeful we can make that happen in September if I

025go back to what else we've done is we've spent a large sum of money increasing diversity text in our libraries we have some fabulous library media specialists who have put together great list of books that can be available for students and staff we've also once again will Higgins also changed the AP English language composition course for the summer time where he all 80 students will be reading the world between the world and me which is a letter written by a black journalist to his son so they'll be reading that and discussing that through that course over the summer time and we also increased books in our elementary units on an interesting story was one book that we use is home of the brave as a mentor text and we really did find that some of

026our students wrapping their heads around the the theme of the book of refugees and what it was like coming to the country so we were very happy to be able to get some picture books which kind of described that situation to our students and a little bit of a fashion of pictures and storytelling so that we would plan to pre read them prior to jumping into home of the brave and then we did so blue sky white stars was grade one we got four when we celebrate holidays the name Java grade K and this is a rope for Grade three migration migration unit same thing for DMS they got a couple of more books to add to their literature circles that they're gonna be starting this year goes by Jewel Allen cants refugee and part

027qualms Alexander's rebound I think I miss those names a little bit and the last thing that we're doing is at Dartmouth high school we are having a summer book club and it's a virtual book study to support staff and admin to have conversations about race to ensure that every student feels safe and supported and also to understand staff members perceptions and feelings so we've started it we're in the middle of it and so far I think it's been a great experience of reading and learning from our colleagues so that's the end of my presentation and I will just stop sharing my screen and open it up to any questions you might have I think I did that you did Thank You mrs. Oliver first of all wonderful presentation I appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into

028it that being said before I turn it over to my colleagues I'm gonna ask that we just keep it around the questions from this is all of our around her presentation and know that all of us have received a number of emails over the the past weekend or regarding our Native American symbol and how that ties into this agenda topic but we can be absolutely circle back around I will allow discussion on the tail end of this but right now if we could just discuss our ask questions of mrs. Oliver directly related to her presentation around equality diversity I would appreciate it so we can start with whoever would like to go first and let me I can't see everyone at this point I'll turn how about I turn it over to Kathleen em all

029Thank You Traci for that presentation like that was you know quite interesting and exciting and hopefully the keynote speaker is something that can happen because that's an important for all of our staff I'm quite interested in that as well honestly but this is just so important and and I like how you know we highlight that we are a district with a growth mindset so it's not so much what we're doing wrong what we're lacking it's like how can we improve how can we get better and and seeing as we are a district of I don't know if this demographic is correct but we're eighty seven point seven percent white it's really important that we create those opportunities to - for those windows and those sliding glass doors so that people you know that's it that's

030it that's a that's a percentage and there are people behind that percentage so of course there there are lots of different people but ultimately we are predominantly a white community and it's really important we step outside of ourselves and anytime we can and it's great to start you know with our youngest learners and moving on up and encouraged to see the changes that have been made all throughout um so yeah thank you those are my comments for now thinking it again tomorrow dr. Jenkins I thank you Traci for for putting together that presentation and you know one of the reasons why I'm I wanted to highlight I asked to put us on the agenda and give the full attention to it is because I know that we are doing a lot and I know you

031know through conversations with you and dr. Gifford and miss Roy there's some confusion sometimes when we talk about all all students matter and everyone matter is because today's political discourse that can be a little touchy right um but I think it's so I think it's important to note that when we say all kids matter it me it really means that and then what we're doing in this curriculum is highlighting so many different cultures and ways of living and that's what we mean by that not that any one group you know we're trying to downplay issues of race and racism but that in our curriculum we really are providing those windows and those doors into a variety of different cultures and so I think it's really important um you know we talk in as social science

032practice right about being clear with your definitions right and because sometimes we're on the same page but we're not talking about things in the same way and so I really want to highlight that that when we go out and we talk about all kids matter you know all cultures matter it is not to downplay issues of race and racism it is to highlight that we are literally teaching kids about all of these things and so I hope that the community sees that through your presentation how it is woven throughout the entire curriculum and then to miss a Meraz point in your point right I think this is great and I think as we continue to work on this you know we always can ask how can we do better and I'm excited for us to

033continue that work once we figure out what fall looks like to start working on those sorts of things Thank You dr. Jenkins anyone else this is wait you got me I got ya know again like Tracy it was fantastic it's so exciting to see what's happening and one piece that I thought you you know we mentioned I'd love to hear more about is the student ownership of you know especially but the civics projects that are gonna happen in eighth grade I think you know we've seen you know students are really like they want to express their voice they want to feel empowered and I you know it's starting you know more and more through these discussions and third grade through the book clubs that are you know happening so I'd love to hear a little

034bit more about the direction of those projects and you know do they include volunteerism you know you know how those will look and as you know again I know we have a lot to iron out people between now and like I said the fall and you know how this will look but I'm I think the the student ownership piece is really important yeah so I'd love to tell you more about them but the funny part is that they've wholeheartedly student-led so as much as I want to not admit this but being the control person of wanting to put things out the topic of what students are gonna do is student-led so until we have a 8th grade students and we let them pick what they're going to do and we unpack it for them we

035don't really know what it's gonna look like so the teachers have been trained as to what to do it they went up last year and they they found templates and found ways to guide students through it but we really need our students in front of us to kind of pick the project which is so exciting and yet it's just Jo they're gonna do it so we're gonna we're gonna see how it goes so we certainly will update you once we once they once they tell us what they're doing what's all great Tracy thank you thank you Thank You mr. chairman just Mike congratulations great presentation it's obvious there was a lot of thought that was put into this it's great to see what we're doing in our system with diversity for all our students in

036all our grades I mean from kindergarten to 12 and my hats off you know to the administration and also the teachers that have done the training to to make sure that they present these in an or correct in proper manner so thank you very much for that Thank You mr. Nunes yes mrs. Oliver I will agree with all of my colleagues I think this is really important that we had the opportunity and I think dr. Jenkins for getting this on the agenda for for showcasing and highlighting what the dot in public schools is doing for you know for our curriculum I think it's it's so paramount right now we're in such a tough tough spot as a nation and I know that I want to show that all students matter in Dartmouth and what we're

037doing to be extremely inclusive and always looking for ways to to be better I think that's I think that's so important so once again thank you for the presentation I have I have had the opportunity to hear and learn about dr. a Doc Brown and I think that's a wonderful if you can if you can get him in in the fall my son's like you already have them scheduled that is a wonderful opportunity for the staff and a great growth expense for them especially around implicit bias so thank you thank you thank you everyone so he is scheduled to come I just wanna say that in where 20 with is it a virtual presentation can we pull it off in person but if not he we have made arrangements that he can come for 21

038September of 21 to do an in-person presentation so one way or the other we're gonna get him here and that that's exciting so nothing personal before you go I have mr. Nunez his hand raised just a question I mean all things being considered if he's able to hit the shooter that's something like the school sponsor is that or at least nope that was one of our that we had a plan for our back to school PV day that we normally have the second day that the day before teachers students come I'm sorry um we had it planned for that day so he's still scheduled we just got to see what phase the state is in and what it will look like so we've been in contact with them and he's more than happy to work

039with us or come next year or do it virtually so we have lots of options which makes me happy okay beautiful thank you great thank you everyone thank you so that being said one of the things that I'll address is that a number of the are all the committee members have received a number of emails over the past weekend regarding the Gottman Indians and the use of the Native American symbol in asking us to please consider revisiting and changing it and they they asked to basically be addressed during this agenda item that being said I'll allow my committee members to share their thoughts and their prayer I will actually like to start off with this this was originally presented in the fall this past fall at that time the committee decided not to take any

040decision on it one way or the other however you know my responsibility the School Committee member Dom it's just like my colleagues is to you know to obviously look out after the best interest of the students in this town but also represent our constituents throughout the tower I think that's important that we listen we allow everyone to have a voice at the table and you know we share their voice through public meeting and that being said you know I I'm really torn about this issue I know one of the things right now is that one second dr. Jenkins one of the issues right now is while I can appreciate you know everyone's passion around this issue and for every person that has concerns around the diamond Indian there's someone else that I've spoken to that

041is completely they look at it as a source of respect and pride in whay derogatory however at the end of the day right now I see this committees number-one priority moving forward as how are we going to educate our students in the fall and reopen schools I'm not a I'm not opposed to revisiting this issue and you know and rolling it into maybe our equality and diversity committee when school reopens because that's something that though I need to see happen I want to see happen but I have serious serious concerns and I need to my personal opinion is that I think we need to allow the DA to public schools administration to focus right now on how are we going to open school the the number of hours in the time that it takes to

042to put out these three different plans that the Commissioner Riley is asking for in addition to I have and I'm sure some of my other committee members have serious concerns about what the FY twenty-two budget is going to look like there is I had I reached out to dr. Gifford in our athletic director mr. Kiley earlier today about just in the event that we were to look at rebranding ourselves the financial implementation of simplifications of that is it's in the tents it's not over a hundred thousand dollars to look at rebranding ourselves that's not to say that that's not a reason not to do it however right now I think our committees focus should be on how we gonna get our schools open and I agree let's let's put this on the table and revisit

043in the fall I'll open it once school opens dr. Jenkins I think I'm possibly in my position clear out I am NOT a fan of the mascot I do not believe that money is a consideration we can always make a vote and if we don't have the money delay the change I think what this moment in time is telling us is that is not enough to be non racist we must be anti-racist and anti-racist means doing the hard work of opposing problematic issues in your own home and in your own community right this is tough I get it we've heard from a lot of people but that's what being anti-racist means it means putting in and doing the hard work we have been the Indians for a while right that is not reason to keep

044it all right I will sleep soundly at night knowing where I voted on this and I may lose my office for this I have decided I do not care right I have heard from members of the tribe that they are opposed to this even if some are in support of this I have heard from some that are opposed and to me the fact that this is painful to them means that I am want to put in this work I'm fine with putting this off I don't think we should make this decision tonight because I don't think this was clearly communicated on the agenda that we are going to be speaking about this but we need but in the work on this and at least make the gesture of changing that name right it may take

045a while for us to rebrand us because it costs money but we need to put in the work to do the right thing here and that's my position thank you dr. Duncan I can't see everyone again there wait yes I have to say that I completely agree with dr. Jenkins you know this is you know I came into this office unopposed I'm aware of that no one had really asked me where I stood on this issue but you know when I went to that meeting in the fall I was pretty surprised that there wasn't a conversation that was going to be held that this conversation was shut down I know where we are you know again I agree a priority is getting our kids back in school but you know we just listen to Tracy

046go over this rich curriculum which is designed to be inclusive and we also have this the eighth grade project which I again I noted that you know it's empower students to make change and I had at least five students reach out I mean who our current students who said you know I don't want to wear the mascot I feel humiliated and I and to me and my own children feel that way which is it's it's tough like and I because I even said to my son and I need to bring him into this but you know he's young and I said well what do you think about this changing and he said you know it has to be done it's wrong like and again they went through the D'Mello system where they were told you

047can't sit indian-style we don't use that terminology anymore you know we don't use the wording and we correct them we use the word Native American I know there's a lot of change around that name it's not just the name but I think there's a complexity and I did like you know we all had people from who reached out to us on both sides and I actually thought there were a lot of compelling pieces that were of information that was shared to me by people who wanted to keep the symbol and they're very concerned about the history and that we don't want to forget that there were people who were here who were had a rich culture but I'm not sure that handing someone a t-shirt with a symbol of the name Indian and a mascot

048really informs them about the diverse nature of those cultures so I think we know I agree it's our shank jenkins our priority and i also agree with Chris our priority is to get the kids back in school this is a stressful time for so many families we need to do that but we also need to make sure that we don't forget that this is a very important opportunity we want to be you know so many schools are in the same position they're looking at this and Barnstable and Braintree I think we need to be you don't want to be the people who dragged their feet on this issue especially when we're talking about you know we're embracing inclusivity like you know we need to really make a statement that's that's how I feel about it

049so that's thank you thank you mrs. Wade them all thank you yeah I think I think number one we've got to get our kids back to school we've got a we've got to figure out a plan that works for families there's a lot of people I'm kind of in the lurch and teachers and administration trying to figure this out a lot a lot that we have to tackle however I I do think we should add this and other things to our equity and diversity committee you know it I don't feel like you can talk about one without the other and it does deserve a consideration in that dialogue in that way and what may come of it I mean the reality is though to no matter how you feel about it like you said Chris

050we're hearing from people we're hearing from a lot of people who are in support we had that public hearing in the fall and then you know nothing came of that something needs to come of that one way or the other because you can't talk about anti racism and not discuss the reasons behind why people are in support or not in support of of that logo with that said you know the reality is - we might be pushed to change this sooner than later the the 16th of March the legislation actually passed this through to the joint committee the Ways and Means Committee and so whether we like it or not whether we're for it or against it whether we want it to change or not the reality is they have until December to actually make

051this a law and so kovat has has made a lot of impact in in the legislative you know timelines and such and this is one thing that we may be pushed so at a minimum I think we should include this in our conversations around that committee to do better I also think you know we need to think more globally around disability with that as well and so I have some ideas to me for the table for that but I certainly would support us bringing this up in that forum address thank you mrs. ml mr. noodles do you have any thoughts oh sure Thank You mr. chairman I appreciate everybody's comments I think everybody knows where I stand and I've always stood on this so that's not going to change but you know it's funny before

052the meeting sided I wrote a couple of notes down on a pad just so I wouldn't forget about them in case this did pop up and one of them you know following up on us Chris's yeah we've got a first and foremost we've got to think about what we're doing you know come August 27th with school opening and what we're going to be doing where the kids going how are we getting in there what are the classes going to look like and everything could type of deal and the other thing that I had written down and I had thought about this you know when this all started over the weekend was as your comment what's the cost of doing everything and what you know where does that money come from in the budget that we

053don't have you know and then we're not going to have in the next couple of years the way this pandemic is panning out in the moment so I mean everybody knows where I stand I'm not changing my vote I'm going to be perfectly honest with you and I mean I'm happy being an Indian I've always been an Indian and will continue to be an Indian we do it respectfully we do it with pride you know we don't talk in a negative with the raga Torrey way about them and we act very kind to them so you know leave it leave it the way it is my two cents thank you Thank You mr. Nunes thank you to all my colleagues on the committee you know with all that being said like I said earlier once

054we figure out how we're gonna get school open and get our students educated I think that globally not just around the Dartmouth Indian but around equality and diversity we need to get a committee off the ground in Dartmouth I think that's extremely important I would like to see and I'll be happy to you know take some comments for my colleagues I would love to either see the dotted Indian be rolled in to that committee on how we move forward with it ultimately this is just my opinion on it take it for what it's worth I would like to see some kind of formal presentation made from a committee whether it's this committee or if we have another one made up of all stakeholders students parents faculty school committee members presented to the school committee and

055then a formal vote be taken in the fall after school is is reopened come se October November to make it get both on the record as to how we going to move forward are we going to rebrand ourselves or are we going to stay the Dartmouth Indians that's that's just my thoughts is I don't know if anyone has their opinions on whether or not it's a good idea or a bad idea I just think as a the chair of the committee and as a just a committee member like all of you I would I would love to be able to be presented with everything around this topic because I am I could go either way on this I'll be quite honest with you so I think dr. Jenkins had her hand raised first or we'll

056go with a you Shannon yeah I've been talking a little bit to my colleague listen who was at our our meeting last time who talked about this who's the chair of the n-double a-c-p of New Bedford um he's been in communication with some local tribal leaders about this and he's also a Dartmouth resident and he has indicated that he would be willing to help us do some of this work so I haven't asked that you know he'd be included because I think he's a great resource and he has volunteered to offer his time I'd be happy to pass his contact information along but he has told me that he's willing to help out on this great thank thank you dr. Jenkins this is waiting I just wanted to say that Chris I agree completely I

057mean that was why in the fall I was just hoping for more of a discussion and just to hear and then I've looked into it I researched and you know but you know to your point I think we need to hear from all the stakeholders that you know parents you know alumni and have that presentation plus you know if there is a removal of the name what are we going to do to really you know and present that history in a different way so that you know we can you know celebrate the people who lived here if that if that's our choice if we're deciding or put in the position of deciding that we want to abandon this name how do we highlight make sure that those that history is remembered so I agree crest

058I think that that's you know an important and in a good way to approach it Thank You mo yeah I just to reiterate my my support of this as well is you know to you know to be clear last year nothing came of it but you know I was chair at the time and we did make a few efforts dr. Jenkins actually passed along some names were in vote on anything and to have a big committee last fall but we we did reach out I mean I I think two or three times to a few different people and I don't feel like they maybe they didn't feel that we were serious about it but I think rolling it into a committee where it's a broader conversation where this is an important part of it that

059it will get done there will be some file through there'll be people tasks so I think that she dr. Jenkins my opinion is is to welcome the voice of you know her colleague from the n-double-a-cp to help us move this along as well for this topic as well as the other pieces of the puzzle that we're going to be tackling within that committee okay Thank You Duncan sorry something flashed up here um so I reached out to some tribal members and I've also heard through my colleague with aha yeah I don't think some of the tribal leaders were willing to work with us or communicate with us because we had voted to not hear their opinion right and it's you know when you say hey we don't want to hear your opinion and then you

060reach out and say so what's your opinion it's not surprising sometimes when people say I'm not present seem like you're interested in working with me so I'm hopeful that if the committee is willing to say yes we are doing this work that tribal responds you know tribal representatives leaders people from these tribes will be more willing to sit down with us because then it shows that we are serious about doing this work as well [Music] thank you dr. Johnson that mr. Nunes you know Thank You mr. chair I just just thinking is everyone's been speaking I just become a little bit concerned with the time time frame that you've talked about Chris and the only thing that concerns me is the fact that we don't we're not sure what's happening with school as this moves

061forward and I don't want to see as boxed into you know September October November and you know everything's hitting the fan and we're not able to do that and all of a sudden everybody comes back and says we'll see you people are dragging your foot feet and you don't want to do it because you said you'd have it done by October and here it is November 1st etc if you understand what I'm saying I just want to make sure that we don't box ourselves into a time frame sure no no I and being able to because of not being able to meet Coco with 19 net cetera et cetera nope I thank you for those comments and thinking about that mr. Nunes uh that being said why don't we do this why don't we think

062about and I would like to see this on the our nickel committee agenda why don't we if you could Kate or dr. Gifford add an agenda item around of and no one really answered me whether or not this should be a separate committee or rolled into the Equality Diversity Committee that were already looking in about forming are we okay with just one committee exploring all of this because I think some of these same stakeholders would be valuable and exhibit both the the broader picture dish in any of the Dartmouth in the end I think yeah okay so why don't we have formation of equality Diversity Committee on the next agenda aya and let's be thinking about who do we want as far as stakeholders go off the top of my head I think to school

063committee members to school department representatives some community members but but less some at the next meeting let's take a formal vote as to who we're gonna put on this community on this committee to really explore not only the Dartmouth Indian but also you know how the Dartmouth schools can do better because let's face it we can all do better with with this I'm just everyone is everyone okay with that any nope time with that I'm good with that okay so yeah I won't this way we won't tie ourselves right now to any timeline but let's get it formally on next the next meetings agenda let's create a committee and then at that point we can you know get the ball rolling and decide you know who's going to be on it and how to proceed

064and then ultimately at some point depending on what school looks like in the fall in and I don't know I have my own concerns about that of what schools going to look like in the fall but you know let's not tie ourselves to any timeline but let's just be committed to exploring this process and following it through and ultimately I'm taking a vote on this so I thank everyone for their thoughtful therefore thoughtful words and their statements around this topic once again thank you - and this is next up under old business superintendent's update on matters related to were affected by kovat 19 in dr. Gifford Thank You mr. Oliver so as you know I don't want to rehash things you do know but we are in the process right now of developing the three

065required plans for return to school to be submitted on July 31st we've met with teams of teachers and admin throughout the district just to get initial thoughts etc right now we have a small group just drafting we're trying to wrap our head around what kind of what this looks like even on paper just the appropriate things to include in the plan etc so we're drafting that including the return to school full return to school with restrictions of course safety restrictions which the buildings have worked on for us and they're each built in each building taking into consideration the feasibility study spacing that we would have to do the desks etc as you might require you know we're looking at either three-foot to the six-foot we're trying to take into consideration all thinking and to use

066many non-traditional spaces such as the auditorium maybe the cafeteria our closets to put kids and teachers in as we split kids up and teaching staff there's also a lot of other repercussions about that especially at the high school level we're trying to brace up break up the courses and the qualified staff this appropriately licensed staff to teach those various classes so there are a lot of things to think about in any kind of return to school plan we're also investigating a hybrid plan which a couple of comments you know a couple of suggestions were which we actually put on our survey week on week off alternate day etc so we're just brainstorming how that would look so of course that would be like half this coming in on one time at one week or one

067day and then half working at home and vice versa so we would break students into cohort groups of course with that we have to consider special education placements and transportation as well the third one as you know is the remote learning plan right now we have individual we met with um teachers who wanted who volunteered to be on what we're calling the remote learning task force and they're working very hard with their levels so we have an elementary team a middle school team and a high school team on tweaking and enhancing our existing remote learning plan with more robustness if that's a word schedules grading that kind of those kinds of things that we really need to step up our game if we were to go completely remote so we're working on that we're putting

068together a draft plan we also have set bargaining dates so because anything we decide we obviously have to bargain and negotiate with the Union so we're meeting with them this Thursday I wanted I think I sent you an email that if mr. Nunes would be willing to sit on that if the committee has no problem with that you can talk about that as he did on the other teams so that's where we are with the plans being developed what I'm thinking is if we I really have to clarify from the Commissioner which someone asks that our last Commissioners meeting but I don't I'm not quite sure we got the complete answer if we do not come to agreement with the Union as you know this is a very very short window of time to get

069this done and come August 10th when we have to submit what we call our final drafts if you will our final plans and make a decision as to what plan we're going to implement do we still implement it if there's still no agreement so I have to look into that a little bit more and get more direction but what I was thinking was on our next meeting which I believe is August 3rd we can have more detailed about what that hybrid plan is looking like and some of the highlights from the remote plan as well so we have more of a formal kind of presentation because we do need school committee support for whatever plan we think we would implement come the middle of August so we'll bring that forth again um excuse me dr.

070Griffin gonna copy right there you know if you had said by the middle of August that we need to get school committee up that you would need to get school committee approval on okay do you know or have any ID here for our parents that I may be watching or may watch this when our parents when are we gonna have a final decision like when a parent's gonna know because I know well I've gotten that question a lot as far as when are we gonna know what the fall is gonna look like it is in I think I know the answer to this but if you could just share it with with us yeah yeah we are not gonna know until like I said about that second week in August and that's recommended by um

071dusty you just don't know what's going to happen with the virus itself so I think we'll have a better sense what we can I'm hoping you can hear me I just got a connection unstable but hoping everybody could hear me we lost you for a few seconds there but you back I'm back okay good what we can say is I would imagine by the end of July I think would be able to at least share with parents if we would've come back hybrid what that would look like so I think people will have a better sense okay they're doing if they do hybrid my child might go every other day or every other week or whatever it is so we'll be able to do that in a couple of weeks um we also people call

072we sent a survey yeah I just wanted to quickly go over a couple of those responses and we will be putting that back on our Facebook page we we wanted to put it up with a little bit more explanation than just the graphic cuz I think it caused a little bit of confusion so we took it down and we're going to explain that a little bit better and put that up so just overall we had 2,400 2,400 27 responses some parents split between secondary and elementary level pretty evenly and if folks were told if safety measures were in place would you want to return in full at 60% said yes in person learning 30% hybrid and 10% remote and again parents didn't have much information at this time we're hoping that you know we'll have

073more for them coming up the top two choices of what a hybrid would look like very evenly split was the week on week off and the alternate days if if it was in person full in person 74% of people said they would come that they're looking to come 21 percent maybe and 4 percent no I mean those are a little bit rounded of course we still don't have the transportation guidance that's supposed to be coming this week and bussing people said that 46 percent said they would ride the bus 32 percent no and 22 percent undecided we also researched a little bit about internet access so about eighty-nine percent said they had good internet access because we're looking again to will we have enough devices which we would we would have enough to give everybody

074that needs one a device should we have to go remote and only 4 percent 4 percent said they didn't have it so again in Dartmouth we're very fortunate with that staff surveyed 358 staff members answered and it was six to three percent were teachers and of that number extremely confident of returning to school was 50 percent so we have a lot of work to do on that you might have seen on Friday night we received guidance of deci seems to be putting things out on Friday nights now protocols for responding to cofee scenarios and it's about a twenty page document so we need time to sift through that it's the one if a child tests positive what if a child has a temperature what if a staff member gets it what do you do with

075the class but do all of those things so there's a an extensive guidance document that been sent to us that includes about self containment and etc etc so we'll be sifting through that as we make on more decisions and again hoping really hoping that the transportation guidance comes if not tomorrow very very soon because no matter what we determine it we're hoping that it's better than the initial thought of transportation that we can really get our kids to school so that's kind of it on the work we're doing around coal bit right now and if you ask me we still say we don't know we don't know thank you dr. Gifford for that update around the cove igniting a situation that's going on globally and then also how we're dealing with it locally I want

076to thank you and your team being an administrator in other district I know the time and effort that's going into creating these plans and the amount of stakeholders and staff and people that are involved in these volunteer groups and just not knowing and as the information changes every day it's you know ultimately I I want to assure the parents in town that safety you know the health and safety of students in town is first and foremost as well as our staff our teaching staff and our faculty you know that that's that's also extremely important and we want to make sure that if we're going to reopen in some way shape or form for in-person instruction we're gonna do it safely and we're gonna make sure that everyone has had a chance to share their opinions

077and their voices but also we've got to look at what the state is sharing with us and the guidance that they're giving us to help make these decisions so thank you dr. Gifford any of my colleagues have any comments dr. Jenkins oh you know I've run into a couple people and shared this with dr. Gifford he said we're going back to school face to face in the fall and so what did I miss like I checked my email and they're like no it was in dr. Giffords LeFort letter I just want to remind people about close reading skills right that um I think it may be it's potentially like optimism and projection like we all want our kids out of the house and back in school but I think it's important to set expectations that

078we don't know what school is gonna look like in the fall and I'll be honest my personal opinion knowing all of this stuff is I just don't really see how we can be um we're dealing with the same challenges on campus I don't see how we can be fully face-to-face you know five days a week I want that's my personal opinion but I want to put it out there because I people have really strong opinions on this I get that and I don't want to set people up for disappointment um in the fall we have I know in our campus and I'm sure this is true in the schools we have a lot of people who are at high risk for kovat in in our workforce right and so we have to figure out how

079to address that we have students who are high risk students who have family members who are high risk so thinking that we're all going to be able to be there all the time I to me seems very pie-in-the-sky and I just want to put that out there so people aren't hearing oh yeah that fully face-to-face plan and they don't listen or read anything that comes after it um you know I'm just really hopeful given how numbers are going in other parts of the country that we do manage to do some face to face and so I will take that opportunity to remind everyone to continue to wear their masks right because we need to be vigilant about the things that we do that are not essential and so that the things that are really important

080right like schools um have the space to be able to do that so we all have to continue to be vigilant so we can send our kids back to school safely [Music] thank you dr. junkie agreed mr. Nunes thank you miss Thank You mr. chairman through you to either dr. Gifford or mr. Kylie or miss Royce I mean like the gift that tom was talking about the fact of you know staff being split and classrooms being split I mean oh is there a potential that or argumentative take at the last minute we have to go looking for additional staff depending what we're going to be doing and you know do we have the money in the budget or what are we looking at yeah at this point the only we feel and if you're talking

081like an in the full in person which I have to agree with dr. Jenkins the probability of that seems unless something drastic happens with the virus or whatever seems pretty um not probable for a full traditional regular here we are we're back to school if we were to do a hybrid method we believe at this point and just looking at what a schedule might be that we would have appropriate staff so we wouldn't see that if we were to do a in person trying to split the schools up in different rooms etc that would be a problem with staffing so that's one of the reasons it's really not really not we're not seeing that as an option that really would work for us just for what you just said mr. Nunes thank you dr. Gifford

082just a couple comments uh you may have seen because it's has happened on social media folks are asking if the infographic was including the special education survey results I'm assuming it probably did but I don't know no no actually I was asking miss Townsend she would be bringing a presentation on that next meeting just so fantastic fantastic because the other the other big piece that you know is being talked about in the special education community about students who already received special education or those who may come back to school with additional needs and so you have kids coming back and we don't know how this has impacted them we know that the you know the abuse in the numbers are really down of folks kind of reporting abuse and so that's very concerning but just

083the impact of you know a broken down the schedule not being what it once was or the worry and the concern and students coming in with an extreme level of social emotional needs or learning differences compared to where they were prior to March so that's a whole other element on top of how do we get back to school then it's like well what do i students look like and and and and really taking inventory of what their needs are now versus pre kovat so there's a lot there's a lot and I really commend you and the administration and and teachers for sharing how they feel about going back and also just planning for what's to come whatever that looks like thank you wait yes um I also want to you know tag onto that and

084say you know it's a tremendous amount of work it's overwhelming it's you know completely you know constantly a moving target so it's it's an impressive well you know what you've been able to do with and assimilate all this information one question people have asked me parents have asked me do you anticipate that if there is a hybrid or full back-to-school model adopted that there still will be an option for those folks who don't feel comfortable can't medically go back to school to access the virtual Academy of some sort is that what you're thinking is a great question we're looking we're hoping the state they were looking right now into a learning management system which is would be a remote learning platform for students that like you said are just cannot come back to school or

085choose not to for whatever reason it is so that's another piece that's another piece to the pie of how do we then keep those kids engaged in education so yes that would be another would not be homeschooling they would still be our students then correct correct correct we still have a responsibility to those kids okay thank you I I don't I I don't know if he spoke to this I apologize if he spoke to this in the past but could we could you speak dr. Gifford to uni here a lot of family saying they want it they're opting to homeschool homeschool my understanding of that is that not to recommend folks kind of jump to that at that point in time if if if a family is not already sort of prepared and in that

086mindset of homeschooling this is not the time to start and am I correct in saying that if they did opt that and write a letter of that plan for their future that would be that would mean less less of this tiny bit of funding that we're looking forward to to kind of disperse through what we can offer is that correct yes that's correct and you you're right I wouldn't recommend if people and of course they called miss Royce office if they're looking to do their own homeschooling and I'm sure we wouldn't recommend it by give us give it a shot with the learning management system my thinking is and we've discussed it with our team is especially if we have teachers or staff members that can't come back as well to kind of like we

087did the Flip program at the high school perhaps where we had a supervisor that monitored those students on like an ingenuity and other platform but to keep in touch to keep connected to keep them moving I mean we don't want to just put people on a remote learning plan and forget about them either so yeah there's a lot to think about with that anything else for many of my colleagues thank you thank you everyone and thank you dr. Gifford for updating us on that next up on their old business is the MAS C resolution anti racism and I know that we had in our agenda at the last meeting and we asked for this presentation on our curriculum and what the Dom Public Schools is doing you know that being said I've had I've had

088some time to think about this and I'm just wondering if it's the committee's pleasure whether or not we vote this as is or I would maybe like to see a Sun this to the policy subcommittee and let's adopt this for Dartmouth as far as how it specifically fits our own resolution and how you know we we feel on this as a as a committee and as a school department so I'm not sure what the committee's pleasure is on this if we want to take a vote as it is or if anyone feels that we could send this to the policy subcommittee for how it fits into Dartmouth perspective mr. Nunes Thank You mr. chairman I know you and I had a discussion on this two weeks ago and I also had a I could would

089like to give it about this but way this policy is this resolution I followed this resolution is written a way I can support it I mean I look at you know what they want us to do and what we're unquote you know saying just as I think twice in instances flies in the face of everything that we do do or that we be as a district want to do and I think this underlying issues if we try to do what they're looking for for this resolution to say so oh oh this is you know can we some of this in a policy baby but as this representation stands right now there's no way I'm going to vote for it I'll be honest with you Thank You mr. Nunes gladly I'll gladly give you the ones

090that I have problems with if anybody's interested any other committee members their thoughtfulness well I'm in support of doing what you say Chris and reporting it down to the policy subcommittee but you know I think in all fairness you know we should here and have a dialogue if you know mr. Nunes is uncomfortable with certain you know portions of it you know we're weighing in and as a committee it seems that we something we should talk about you know maybe we take it step by step sure thank you on this is wait dr. Jenkins did you have your hand raised yeah you know I personally have no problems with anything is how it's written but I do think it is committing the district to certain steps and so I do think we need the input

091of the administration so I would personally go for it in its present form but I do think the administration needs to review it and provide input on what we're doing in each of those areas and what what things might be might be difficult if there are any so that's I guess fine with me thank you dr. Jenkins that being said yes I'm sorry did you have your hand up I keep going back from speakers view the gallery view and I'm missing pictures did you have your hand that made mr. zero no I mean I completely agree with what dr. Jenkins just said I mean I I support it as it's written but I do think it does you know lend itself potentially especially with mr. News's Britany students bringing up some concerns or just apprehension

092that this go through you know I think through the policy committee in my opinion Thank You mr. news yeah no they're not concerned they're not apprehensions their concerns so everyone is aware Thank You mr. Nunes that being said I'd like to send this down to the policy subcommittee to have an opportunity to have some open dialogue with the administration I'm not sure if we have an opportunity to for the policy subcommittee to meet before our next meeting to send it back to us but I would I would ask that this be sent down to the policy subcommittee for review with them and the administration and for them to provide feedback to the full committee at a later date you need a motion on that mr. cherrick so I'll move that I sure I'll take a

093motion so I have a second second I have a motion by dr. Jenkins a second by mr. news on the motion any discussion share hearing none roll call it's Gunther miss Oliver yep Shannon Jenkins yes Mary wait yes Kathleen Amaral yes John Nunes yes yes thank you miss Gunther next up under old businesses town child to review appointment so as you remember I had brought this to the full committee after receiving an email from our County Administrator Town Administrator mr. McGinnis and I did hear back from him after our last meeting I had asked him about whether or not it had to be school committee members and it does not need to be school committee members it just needs they need to be obviously live in town so it could be any one of us

094if any one of us is interested on being on the Charter Review Committee or we could appoint someone to the Child review committee I'll just remind everyone that licky I like mr. McGinnis had said that it is a time commitment on that what sounds like right around a year from the time that it starts in the fall to the following I think all Town Meeting so right now is anyone interested in on the Charter Review Committee so that be that being said I do have someone in mind I'm not sure what the committee will think about it and I haven't had an opportunity to reach out to her yet but I was just thinking about retired principal Brooks from Potter's school on whether or not I know that she has a obviously a vested interest

095in this town being a principal for all these years for the Dobbins public school as well as the Town Meeting member and the town resident so even if the committee is okay with that I would be more than happy to reach out to mrs. Brooks that she to see if she was willing to accept our appointment to the Charter Review Committee I'm good I'm good dr. Jenkins no I was gonna say I'm good with that as well I mean I was thinking that we I think mr. noon said that last time we had a school committee member and a member of the administration I was sitting here trying to think through an administration who lived in town but a former member of the administration you know is administrative team is good because I do think

096there are a lot of technical things that the way things work that we want to be careful if we're talking about changing the Charter that someone knows how that works we need to have that sort of person at the table so I think that's a good idea to propose to have her do that yes perfect so that'll be one of our appointments if she's willing to accept it does anyone else have any suggestions [Music] dr. Banton I'm gonna snacky I have accepted you all at my University I can't I don't have the time and the space and this new role to do this um I don't know if anyone else on the committee would be able to do it I don't think we have to go to every single meeting but I do think you

097know lots of times the Charter Review I know my husband was on it last time there's talks about sort of profound shifts to the structure of power in town government and so I think it's important that that one of us could just be there at least some time to be able to sort of I don't want to say guard our turf but you know a little bit right make sure that the changes that are made don't have a negative effect on the school committee and the school's know that that's really next one point and I just I wish I could commit but I just can't but I see mrs. wait with her hand raised well it was so here's I mean I what I will say is my concern is that I'm so new um

098I have the trainings that are going on so I just want to make sure that as I'm you know going through all the right protocols so I'm happy to I will do it you know what I'm happy to help but again I you know I am a newbie so you know take it for what it's worth you know I have a lot of one of the job trainings in front of me so um you know with all the the trainings that are happening in the next two weeks hopefully I'll get on the page a little bit more but um you know I'm willing to take that one I guess is what I'm saying but just give me a little license here as well cut you a little slack it's what you're asking for yes please

099thank you a lot of slack if you volunteer to do this right across the room thinking oh God thank you very much Mary I speak for the committee when I say I we appreciate that and yeah no app absolutely will will cut you a lot of slack thank you thank you already have and I appreciate it I don't think we need a motion on this do we need a mode just because okay just because I I need to reach out to mrs. Brooks first at all hopefully she'll accept with the light and I think and I honestly think that she's a good resource being a member of the school community for so many years and knowing what goes on in the school the pop so thank you everyone for that under new business superintendent's update

100dr. Gifford okay we have a couple of things other than kovat just want to let you know that the chair of the Finance Committee has reached out to us looking to meet with some members of the budget subcommittee upcoming dates we let her know that probably much how it's August and we'll come up with some dates and hopefully we'll have some more information from the state on the budget at that time some of us the central office and number of the principals attended the virtual conference for the mass executive Institute last week and I'm not sure if any of you did get to attend any of the keynote speakers but it was actually came out much better than I thought it was going to be and folks did a really nice job putting that together

101we just received word yesterday of today that we received a $12,000 summer vacation learning program grant we submitted an application for to offer a four-day camp in February and April for like STEM related enrichment activities so we did receive that grant and we but you know be looking for teachers in the future to get that program ready and I think you might have heard that the MIAA has you know tentatively said on September 14th date for sports again who knows and I don't know what it looks like but that's all I know is that they they're trying they have a task force that continues to work we also in and I'm not sure if it will take I don't know what the weather is tomorrow but we were supposed to start we were supposed to

102start a strength and conditioning session for our kids with some of our coaches and supervisors this week at the fields at the stadium three sessions of students obviously a bright number of students socially distance etc just to start some strength and conditioning but it was cancelled for today because of the heat so I'm not sure you know whether we'll be going I don't know what the weather is tomorrow but that's in the works and we to get the kids out at least enjoying some of that as I said mr. Townsend will be at the school committee meeting next week to kind of talk about the special ed survey results and we've also applied for what we call a remote learning grant it's a tech grant mr. Oliver you might know about that one I'm not

103sure I'm not sure if we'll have a chance it is the one based on need but we had to put forth on some of the data that we have about our families who have internet who have devices etc so we put in for a grant we'll see what happens and that's about it for new things thank you dr. Gifford yes I had heard about the tech grant and it's wonderful to you know any any little bit helps right so thank you for all of that that's exciting that at least they're working on a tentative sports date whether or not that will come to fruition who knows but I appreciate the fact that they're working towards that for under new business on the report of the chair a couple of things one thing do we have

104our our meeting scheduled for August yet do we have anything on the books for August yes so I haven't had an opportunity to take a look no I guess there it is our next meeting so our next meeting with August 3rd I'd like to know the committee's thoughts on whether or not we should return to in-person school committee meetings in the event you know we are looking to try to get students and staff and faculty back in person and I think it's it's important that at some point we we look to return to in-person sessions I'm not sure of August 3rd would be you know it's the best date but anyone anyone care to share their opinions on it about - Jenkins I'm always willing to share opinions no I think we should remain virtual

105because here's why to be doing as a community every single thing we can do virtually again no bars no right like indoor stuff so that we can stop the spread of this disease to allow for our schools to open right that's our position on campus right every work that can be done remote should and shall be done quote so that we can prioritize education so in my book I know people like to talk about the optics I don't care about the optics what I care about is getting our kids and our staff safely back in school and if that means you know we can't meet in person that's fine with me I will you know I don't go to bars and stay away from people because I really really want my kids to go back

106they're killing me here no seriously though I would vote that we stay remote because I do think that's what we should all be doing remote as much as humanly possible thank you dr. Jenkins but I have no doubt you you will share your opinion mrs. Wade yes she convinced me so yes I think we should do it remotely good job Shannon like she makes a great point you know we and she talks about the optics but there are optics to continuing you know in this fashion as well and showing that it's actually workable and it's also I think very user friendly for people who have gotten used to this you know the zoom meetings and able to follow they can see all of us and I think it again you know it translates keep it

107going so I think Merritt miss Wade is also as as desperate as I am to get her kids 60 girl take her perfect thing this is wait let's take a bet on who's really ready to have the kids come I think I've got it I'm distracted right now due to it but no I completely 100% agree that I I would want to stay remote Oh mr. Nunes go ahead yeah no I have no I have no preference either way I mean we can set it up in the library or somewhere you know with the the 6-foot distance and you know wear the masks and everything we want to continue to meet via zoom I'm good with that too so it's kind of obvious Chris that however which way you are I was thinking about it

108were outvoted so I think we're sticking with zoom no and I am honestly I'm okay with that I unit yeah I just wanted to give the committee the opportunity to share their thoughts so thank you for that and while I have you mr. Nunes you had asked me to and I forgive me I I was i spoke to dr. Gifford this afternoon and I forgot to pass along on your question to her so dr. Gifford may not be prepared but go ahead I was just wondering died to give it we attacked about the remote and the makeup exhibit makeup test as part of the remote learning plan back in May and I think I asked this back you know in May or something if somewhere down the line we could get a an update as

109to this number of students that actually put in for the makeup test especially in a high school and you know what if any of them actually did take those tests I did get that information from mr. Tebow and now I don't have it in front of me so that's fine get that out to you soon that's fine no problem I'm good with that yep my apologies mr. Nunes for that that's a - that's a minor problem for us mr. you referring to the MCAT no no I was I was referring to I was referring to students you know who need who wished to make up a test because you know they got a 60 five on a test and we take the test and get a 75 maybe they get up a B instead of

110a C+ just as our for instance no those are the makeups I was talking about that I'm particularly interested in the conversation about em cast ask because I'm we're in a really odd situation in my family but my son has never taken i'm cast because we were away in the spring of his sophomore year he was supposed to sit for it in his junior year but then pandemic happened and so now he's going into a senior year never having taken the MGS which is a requirement for graduation so he is there any idea what the MCATs will look like I would assume there are they gonna have a full testing in the fall like maybe you don't know yeah but I'm slightly panic because I know he can't graduate if there's not a fall test

111because the spring results don't come in I'm soon enough and I'm sure there are some students who say didn't pass their their sophomore year who are in a similar situation like they need to take the test in order to graduate [Music] dr. Gifford or this world I see miss Rory I think she wants to be looking at are on mute er yeah we we don't have the we don't have the full plan yet but I know they're considering making adjustments I know folks want to it to be waived but they haven't had a decision yet in a normal year you know there's always the requirement to take the 10th grade test but in a normal year there would be a November makeup as well so I don't know what will be there and whether they'll

112offer that so we'll keep you posted thank you Miss Roy all I have are do we have any public comments for the tonight's meeting we do we have an email from David Aaron's and you write I hear people discussing putting the decision of rebranding to a diversity committee instead of holding a public meeting virtual or otherwise can we hear can we have this answered clearly will there be public hearings on the mascot Thank You Kate is there any other public comment no okay so I will I will leave that as we are we have the item on our agenda next meeting of the creation of an equality committee and at this point in time we are there's no plan for a public a public meeting or any kind of public meeting that's not to say

113that may not happen but right now there is no plan on that until after we hear from our newly established hopefully the next couple of weeks our newly established committee that being said our next meeting date is August 3rd at 4 p.m. at this time I'll entertain a motion to adjourn singing I move so I got a I got a motion by mr. Nunes do I have a second a second by mrs. wait on the motion any other discussion rojo it's Gunther your Salah bird yeah Shannon Jenkins yes Mary wait yes Kathleen Amaral yes John Nunes yes this meeting is adjourned thank you everyone for your time have a great night thank you [Music] everybody Jim you got any warrants so you're gonna be good right now one of the