001Good evening everyone. With the time being 6 PM on Tuesday, October 28th, 2025, I will call this meeting of the Webster School Committee to order. We'll start with the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> [clears throat] >> As a reminder, this meeting is being recorded both video and audio and will be posted on the school district website. First item on the agenda this evening is discussion and approval of the minutes from the October 14, 2025 meeting. Have a motion to approve those minutes. >> So move. >> Second. >> Have a motion, a second. Any discussion? >> Desire, please pull the committee. >> Yes. Yeah. >>
002Yes. The next item is the discussion and approval of the executive session minutes from the meeting on October 14, 2025. We have a motion to approve those minutes. >> So move. >> Second. >> Have a motion. A second. Any further discussion? Right. Please pull the committee. >> Yes. The next item on the agenda is a superintendence report. Good evening, Miss Pingley. >> Good evening. Thank you. It's nice to see everybody tonight. Um I will start with a personnel update. Uh there are no retirements at this time. As far as new hires, I want to welcome to the Webster School District Alicia Blair. She is a preschool teacher at Park A and Lada Palino who is a par profofessional at Park A Elementary. We do have a couple of resignations to announce. Uh and Angelica Gomes
003Liddell, school adjustment counselor at Webster Middle School, has just resigned. Uh there are no transfers at this time and as you can see, we still have a few vacancies. We have been working at um filling some of the paraprofessionals and ABAs over the past few weeks. We still have a way to go, but we are slowly making a little bit of progress. Are there any questions about personnel? No. Moving on under management and operations. Um I'm going to talk a little bit about scheduling. Uh Webster is participating in the Desi redesign cohort which is geared to support um scheduling around EL students and L students with disabilities. Um a team from Webster Middle School including Miss Peterson along with Dr. Patty Mai. Uh we have a representative from special ed, Miss Sarah Reen and a
004counselor also from the middle school and myself um who will be attending these sessions. There are three in-person sessions. It also comes with um some coaching for us, some one-to-one coaching on the district and some online uh a couple of online meetings. Um I'm not saying there is a problem with the schedule and the way we operate at Webster Middle School. We've been doing it for many years, but this is an opportunity for us to look at how we're servicing our L students within the schedule and our L students with disabilities. make sure we are using our schedule to the fullest capabilities um and checking to see if there's any adjustments that we could make to make operations run smoother. As you know, a middle school schedule is very difficult to navigate. Um especially when
005you have a five and six, which runs more like an elementary and then a seven and eight who runs more like a high school. So, you've almost got two schools within a school. Um, and when you're trying to navigate all of those along with all the specials um that you have, it can prove to be difficult. So, this is just an opportunity for us to take a pause step, make sure we're looking um deeply at all angles of our schedule. We're making sure that we can operate and it's an opportunity for us to have some specialists come in and take a look, some outside specialists who don't know Webster, who don't know our schedule, and to just make sure that we are functioning and all of our um targets are aligning across the schedule. So,
006I'm excited about that opportunity. Um, and we held our we had attended our first meeting today, which was held at Holy Cross. Um, so it was a good meeting. It was a full day session. And then tomorrow uh or last Wednesday on October 22nd, I attended the Wister County Superintendent Association meeting. Um during that meeting, uh we had a presentation from a Jeffrey Turjan from Mass Hire. Um superintendent reached out to him um to talk about we're all having difficulties hiring par profofessionals and ABAs. Uh it's not just Webster that's struggling to fill those positions. it's school districts across the county are having a difficult time filling those position. So, uh, we reached out to him to see if there's something that they can do differently to help support Webster to help support all of
007our surrounding communities in getting the word out there and hiring in our area. So, there's going to be some um collaborative work with Dan. He's going to put it on his board, his bulletin hiring board um to see if that's something that will help bring in candidates for those positions. Um we're trying to be creative in the work in bringing in um par professionals uh because we know the need is there. It's great. Um and we're hopeful that this will maybe help the process move along a little quicker. Are there any questions about that? No. Um next for you tonight, I have Miss Debbie Rivera here. She is our director of curriculum instruction. um she's going to give a report about the work and the structures um around surrounding curriculum that are going on in
008the district. Miss Rivera and don't pull that close. >> Thank you. You guys hear me? Okay. Okay. Um so I wanted to provide a quick overview of uh not only the science curriculum review process uh that we have started last uh spring but also what are some of the areas that our district instructional leadership team has been focusing on. uh and also an update in terms of um onboarding training for uh our parah educators or par professionals. So right now as you are uh aware we have been um for the past several months we have been engaged in the review of the science curriculum for the middle school. Um during the spring semester of last school year, we uh selected two curriculum to pilot for the fall uh semester of this current year. Uh those
009two were amplified science and open seding of the two curriculums uh basically started last week. Um I believe uh in most of the classrooms started on Thursday or Friday of last week. So this is very recent and we're going to be engaging in piloting both curriculums in the next uh semester. So this is going to be ongoing until uh I would say mid uh spring semester uh 26. Um right now uh in terms of the process uh we are ensuring and we have uh provided a teachers that are actually uh engaged in the piloting of the curriculum with training from both of the vendors or the curriculum uh companies in order to ensure that they are fully prepared in order to implement the curriculum and also so that they can continue receiving uh support in
010terms of what are the different resources that are available for each one of the curriculum. Next slide. Uh the other uh work that we engaged in during the spring semester was basically creating a rubric that not only met the department of education standards for highquality instructional material but also a rubric uh for evaluation and review of the curriculum that meets the needs of our specific student population. Uh these are the standards uh or the domains that we will be focusing on uh during the course of the pilot uh including uh the alignment of uh the standards to not only the curriculum frameworks per the department of education but also phenomena uh in order to help the students engage in the learning process. uh also the application classroom application is the curriculum uh engaging our students.
011What are the resources that are available for not only the teachers but also for our students and what are the different types of assessments that are included as part of the um review process and also for each one of the curriculum uh and very importantly um culturally responsiveness and equity. How does our curriculum each one of them support the specific needs of our students and uh particularly students um with special education services or uh you know special needs and also EL students as well slide. So our next steps is going are going to be to basically uh continue going through the pilot process. uh we have a committee that it is actually made up of teachers and members of the Webster Middle School uh community and we will be meeting on a monthly basis. We
012have continued meeting since last year in order to ensure that we are having those conversations. We are looking at all of the uh specific criteria for the rubric and the standards and having conversations in order to identify if the teachers uh that are piloting the curriculum need additional training. The other area in terms of curriculum and instruction that we have been focusing on is through the work that the district does through the district instructional leadership team. And uh during our meetings this year, uh I I would say that I'm really excited and happy to see how things have been going so far. Uh our Dill team which is composed of all administrators um from each one of the schools and central office have been meeting and preparing for the year uh from the beginning. And
013one of the things that we have talked about has been how do we make connection uh with between all of the different components the instructional leadership components for uh Webster public schools to ensure that everything that we do is centered on the instructional priority for uh Webster public schools. Um all the work is done through walkthroughs. We are connecting uh our instructional priority to not only ILT meetings but also CPT meetings, common planning time meetings and also our professional development cycles and um sessions that are being provided to staff during the full day PDS and of course feedback which is super important. Um, we have created a a system of feedback as well that we will be sharing with our teachers after the walkthroughs in order for them to not only uh request specific feedback
014after an observation but also we have an ongoing process of feedback uh within our administration team as well. So one of the main three areas that we have been focusing since the beginning of the year uh which is a couple of months ago uh has been the instructional priority of the implementation of these strategies which are basically qu uh questioning strategies academic discourse and checking for understanding. We have been incorporating not only training and professional development to um each one of the buildings and staff in each one of the buildings and teachers uh but also we have been incorporating uh this instructional practices within professional development uh our walkthrough tool and also uh any other sessions and feedback and other components that I'll talk about in a little bit more. So again, uh this is
015all connected also with coaching which is super important that we have that consistency uh taking place not only through the work that we do on a district level but also on school uh level as well uh and also through as I mentioned before CBT and we align the PD as well and walk through. Well, I wanted to just note that I think it's important that we're starting with the top one and then we're focusing on that for, you know, a couple of months and for mastery and then we're going on to the next. So, it's not like we're doing all three at once. We're building we're building throughout the year. >> Thank you, Mo. >> And then uh the last component uh for the update is the power of professional on boarding and training. So
016uh one of the thing the things that we wanted to build in in our professional development uh was ensuring that we were providing Paris um with the necessary content and uh knowledge uh that can help them begin the work at each one of the schools. And we know that this is an ongoing process. they are going to be going through the uh you know uh learning experience and how to better support students. Um but also coming into you know education and supporting in the classroom without having any background knowledge can also you know make it a little bit more u difficult uh for them to learn because they're coming in basically without any um information or knowledge or experience. Uh and that's just some of the uh parro educators that we have um you know
017we hired through the process. Um so one of the areas that uh well a couple of the areas that we have been focusing on whenever we have a new parah is by providing them with an onboarding training which is a full day uh professional development or training session and uh I listed the different modules that we talk about. uh all of these modules are uh supported and recommended by the department of education. So we make sure that we are not only providing them with the information and knowledge of what it is to work at Webster public schools, but also what additional information would be helpful for them to know once they start working at a school district at a school with students directly in the in the classroom and how they can actually uh better
018support uh our student population as well. So in terms of our next steps, we want to continue uh again following through with building based supports and coaching. We want to continue connecting uh the work that we're doing uh through uh not only through coaching but through CPT also um PLC's and grade level uh meetings and planning times or common planning times. Um for the training for the paras we have created also a feedback form that we are sharing with the par educators after they complete the onboarding process so that we can continue um monitoring whether you know what is the effect the impact that uh the training is actually having on them and if this is something that they find to be useful as well. And then um we're going to continue again with the
019pilot uh the science curriculum pilot for grades six through eight. Uh and we will provide additional uh updates as we get closer to the end of the pilot. Um and any other updates uh in terms of any additional um onboarding um sessions or updates to that effect. Any questions? through the chair. >> I think my only concern because >> probably they were still using the same >> science curriculum that I used and >> there was a huge issue in um reading comprehension and reading levels of the material that were given. So I hope we're really looking at that. Yes, absolutely. So, the rubric uh it is designed through curate to the through the department of education and uh standards alignment. It's all related to reading comprehension and it meets all the different standards for effective
020uh not only instruction but also learning. So it will measure whether the uh curriculum is meeting the needs of our students, whether they're would be making progress not only based on um studies, but that's the whole purpose of piloting it. We want to make sure that our students are uh receiving the supports and um the areas and the strategies are being implemented that meet their specific needs. Um um our currently our curriculum our current curriculum does not meet high quality instructional material and the reason why we um you know have to make sure that we are updating all of our curriculum. This is probably uh one of the last few curriculum that we have to update and uh we're really excited uh because both curriculums that we have chosen for the pilot have been uh
021rated as high quality instructional material um per the department of education not only the curate reports but also ed reports as well. Uh, and I know that a lot of the districts in Massachusetts uh are using one or the other and those have been pretty much the top two um science curriculum and I think everybody's really excited and changing the routines and ensuring that the students are receiving the instruction that they need. >> Thank you, Deb. >> Thank you. All right. No questions on that. I will move on into other updates. On Thursday, October 26th, I attended the Southern Worester County um collaborative meeting. This meeting was changed from in person to virtual. So, thank you for that. Um I appreciated that. Um for the Southern Worester County, I also sit on the policy subcommittee
022with uh three other superintendent. During this meeting, we looked at updating the billing, internal control, and field trip policies. So, those will be updated. In addition to the policy review, um we uh also reviewed a draft collaborative financial report which was received on October 10th, 25. Uh the report was very good and um I can give you a highle overview. Um overall uh everything was met. There were two areas that were only partially met. Um criteria 7 and criteria 9. As you can see in criteria 7, um it went back to fiscal year 20 and 21, our COVID years, um the expenditures exceeded the revenue total because some of the revenues didn't come in due to COVID. So there was some adjustments over the years that was not a big concern as um the collaborative
023is in a financially good position. So we were good there. Um I wanted to point out criteria nine. Um so what they did during the review there is as you know from time to time I bring things to the board from the collaborative. We look at the annual reports. We look at quarterly reports um and how we post them on our agenda can make a difference because with the what they did is they went and they pulled up member districts agendas to see if things were clearly posted, if things were um in minutes spoken about. Um they didn't pull all member districts. They didn't even tell us who they pulled, but they did say uh in a couple of school districts they were not broken out on the agenda or they didn't see a lot
024of discussion about uh the presentation about the annual reports or quarterly reports being given to the committee members. So, it's important you know there's a reason why we do what we do, right? Um so to make sure that we are posting those things in a way that they are visible and that um we acknowledge them during our meeting. Um so that way the collaborative gets credit for those. Um it's important that it's a check and balance that committees um who are member districts of collaboratives understand how the collaboratives are being run, how they're doing financially, how they're doing operationally. So that's our job to come back and report to you as superintendent. Um and so it's just to make sure we're we're all going to do a better job at making sure we're doing those
025things um and posting them accordingly. so that everyone is aware. And then the other section under criteria 9 was um annually we evaluate the board of directors and um manage that annually that we do what recently uh which we did not know or I did not know. It is our responsibility to also um evaluate the treasurer of the collaborative. It's a little different or difficult because a treasurer is a part-time person typically for the collaboratives. They're not always at meetings or anything. So, evaluating them can be um you know tricky and for us to to figure out but we will definitely do that. We will be looking at a tool. Um it goes for both of the collaboratives that we belong to because we also belong to the central mass collaborative. So, um I know
026the same thing came up for them this year. So, I think since the new regs came about for the collaboratives year years ago, I think they're really starting to dig into them now that they've been operational. And so, we will take care of that moving forward. But overall, um the collaborative is in very good shape. And I definitely want to give a shout out um to the director, Arnold Lunwal, and the finance director, Lena Travinsky, for their efforts. They do a wonderful job managing the collaborative. We're fortunate to have them and I just wanted to give them a shout out because I think they're doing great work. And that concludes my report. >> Thank you. Are there any questions or comments from the committee? >> Next item on the agenda is the business manager report.
027Good evening, Mrs. Ktos. >> Good evening, everyone. I'm going to start off with the renovation project and updates from that. And I'm really pleased to let you know that the water infiltration remediation has been completed. the additional testing um has confirmed that the results are favorable. So that's really good news. Um so since we got the report last week, the team started mobilizing and the architects have issued the affidavit to the general contractor. The general contractor was reaching out to the building inspector today to get him in um hopefully tomorrow or Thursday. We're extremely hopeful that the inspection will be positive and that we will get occupancy. So, if that gets signed off on this week and everything goes according to plan, we will be occupying the space starting on Monday morning. So, that's really
028>> that one more time, >> Monday morning, November 3rd. Um, again, pending, we have a couple dependencies we got to get through this week, but if we get through those, all is favorable. um some of the other activities going on relative to the auditorium as there's some final cleaning going on in there. Um especially because they were in there doing remediation, making sure that's all cleaned up and of course some of the paperwork that goes along with closing another sort of subphase of phase one. So working on the lead certification um documentation as well as the substantial completion form which is issued to the GC to sign off on. So, all of that work is in progress and um looking very good for next Monday pending the inspection. So, >> keep our fingers crossed. I
029know the kids are ready. They've been asking. So, when we walk around lunch, they keep asking when are we going to get to get in the auditorium. So, fingers crossed everything goes well for Monday. >> Yep. So, very exciting. So, um other activities related to the renovation. So on phase two, we continue to finish up this roughing phase, getting the building sealed up. Um those activities are going on and we're also preparing for um Veterans Day when we're going to do the power cut over so that section B connects into the new panels in section C. That activity will happen then. Uh continue uh miss monitoring of the schedule is going on to make sure that we're remaining on track. Um as of this morning's um we have a weekly what they call an OAC
030meeting. That's owner, architect and contractor. Um we meet weekly and we get updates and as of this morning we are still on schedule but um it's a heightened awareness topic because we need to monitor this closely because planning for the move is really the next big thing that we're we're talking about. So with that said, those planning activities for February break are in progress. Both activities and meetings are being scheduled. Just as a reminder for this move, we are um going to be moving people into section B once it's completed. We'll be clearing out all of A section. So, classrooms, adult ed, the main office itself will move into section B and the whole district office is moving out as well. So, we'll be going into the modular classroom. So there's a lot of activity
031that goes on relative to move planning and getting that orchestrated as well as the planning that we need to do for some of the classrooms that are moving into the modulars. We have science is moving into the modulars. So, we're making provisions for what type of um chemicals they can use, which will be household chemicals in there due to the ventilation, but getting some uh demonstration tables and some portable sinks for them in there and getting that all ready and aligned so that we they can hit the ground running once they get into the modulars. So, that's a lot of work and a lot of planning going on. Um we'll also be working on shortly kicking off the uh additional activity with the third party who did our technology installation. Uh they'll be coming back
032in as well to get B section up and running and then we have cut over activities that we need to do to get that section of the building um connected. A lot less complicated than phase one. Phase one we were cutting over our fiber line from charter. It was a brand new setup. So, this is certainly uh easier than a I don't want to say easy um but less complicated than it was for um excuse me, C-section. That also means we'll be finding a new home for our meetings for a few months as we're not going to be able to use this space. So, you know, hopefully we'll have some nice new space and be someplace that we can use for our meetings. Um but we'll have to regroup and find a home for us
033also on Tuesday nights. I also think I want to give and it's perfect that Miss Peterson's here and that we may be getting our auditorium. Um but a lot of the inconveniencing we've done around here. Um you know we forget of the impact that it may have had on the Webster Middle School, they have been very gracious in sharing their space for the past year and a half. Um I don't think there's been an instance where Miss Peterson has told um Miss Neves that no you can't use that space or or you know we have a problem with that or anything. There has been such collaboration between the two schools and um Miss Peterson has been very gracious with her space and her availability and moving kids uh when she needs to. So I just
034wanted to say thank you because we talk a lot about the high school but we don't talk how that may have impact other parts of our district or our our middle school. Um, so, you know, thank you for allowing us to use that space um and inconveniencing them so we can, you know, make things happen for our high school kids and they're not losing out at the same time. So, I appreciate that. >> Well said. Any questions about the renovations >> through the chair? Um, I guess my only concern is since the auditorium has been an issue, had a problem area, are they going to periodically check that area um over time to make sure it stays and it doesn't continue prop up again? >> Yeah. So, it it'll be on its own warranty in
035that section and parts of that. So, as part of the warranty, we do continue to monitor. I think the thing that we're fortunate with here is that it is a phase project. So, we still have the GC on site. So, when things happen, we can quickly mobilize to get things remediated. You know, I think we had a minor leak in the gym um that we were able to get remediated as well because they're right on site and they can get the roofers right over there to get it remediated. So, that is one of the benefits of a a renovation project. Um, but it is all under warranty and we are continuing to monitor and if something does come up, we're reporting it immediately, getting it on a list to get it addressed. Absolutely. Um, and
036then for other updates, I wanted to circle back. I didn't realize that Aiden was not going to be here this evening, but I wanted to circle back to one of the challenges he raised at the last school committee meeting. Um, one was it was essentially about students being super hungry. um if you're a student athlete and you have to go from lunchtime until the end of the day with your with your game. So, one thing I did confirm in speaking with the food service director is, you know, in terms of lunches, you know, we are meeting the highest caloric um uh allowance that we can for the age group. Uh just wanted to let the students know and we'll follow up with Aiden individually. Students can come up and they can take as much fruit
037and vegetables as they want. That is certainly certainly not a limitation that they have. Um, and they can certainly entertain purchasing a second lunch. You know, all our lunches are free, but if you do look to get a second lunch, it's we do have to charge for that, and it is $3. Um, and the other thing I wanted to make the committee aware of is after speaking with um Kelsey Sanders, our food service director, uh, Miss Neves, and then, uh, Tony Pronto, our athletic director, what I did learn was they actually already had a process in place for the athletic teams to get snacks after school. um and the coaches just needed to submit in what they needed on a particular day and then we had it ready in the cafeteria for the students to
038to take and and have. Um and so what I did learn was two teams were taking advantage of that. So we just wanted to make sure that all the coaches knew and were aware that that was available. Um and in addition to that um Mr. Pronto let me know that oftentimes a lot of the coaches supply their own snacks as well. And they do that um really self-funding it out of the goodness of their heart to do that for the kids so that they're wellnourished and they're not feeling weak after going a length of time without eating and then obviously expending energy um on the field at an athletic event. So just wanted to report back on that and see if there were any other questions or comments on that. >> Do we know if
039Mr. Pronto went back to the coaches since our last meeting to let the coaches know. >> Yeah. So, um he did remind them that it is it is available, but some of those coaches were already providing stuff on their own, too. >> Um so, they are all well aware of it. Um and they are taking it two of the teams were taking advantage of it, but some of them were buying their own snacks. I think another part of it is sometimes the the student athletes don't like the snacks that are being provided by the cafeteria. >> Good. Any other questions or comments for Miss KTOS >> through the chair? >> Yes. >> As far as the snacks go, is that only for the high school? Is it also for the middle school athletes? >> We're
040doing also for middle school. So, I know that the middle school football team was taking advantage of that and picking them up. So, yes. >> Great. And then the other question is is just I think that that might be good to put in that coach's handbook that we had um where we had reviewed that with the coaches information where um saying that that's something that they can utilize and that they're encouraged to utilize it just so that everyone knows as new coaches come on board so they don't miss that piece. That's a good point. And then the other thing that um um Kelsey was going to look into came up from Mr. Pronto was looking into little pickle packets. I guess the kids really like the pickle juice when they go to the game. So
041that's one of the snacks she was going to um take a look into. Um and as well as um you know, I think last year we had a student that had some allergies. Um but now we can get back to serving bananas again. And so that's always bananas and pickles tend to be the two um big items that would be great for student athletes after um you know performing in a game in an event. So okay and that's all I have this evening. >> Thank you Miss Ktos. The next item on the agenda is the principal report. Good evening Miss Peterson. >> Good evening everybody. Okay. Um I wanted to you hear me? Okay. Uh I wanted to update everybody on attendance. I know that's something I bring to the committee often. So um in
042your packet should be some things that uh Miss Moronz provided for you. Um so the first page in that packet is uh this year's up yeartoate attendance. Um and this was pulled last week. Uh so currently um as of last week in October we were uh running an average of 94.4% 4% attendance rate which is pretty good. So um if you look at the pink piece at the bottom last year at this time we were at 93.1% and in the previous year 2324 we were at 91.4%. So our overall attendance is um is steadily increasing and you can also look at the graph above. Um you can see the dark blue line is our current year. Um you it does kind of have the same trends as last year with um the highs in the
043beginning of the year September and we are steadily starting to dip. It is flu and cold season unfortunately um we've had a lot of dismissals and staff illnesses as well. So just a reminder to everyone out there to wash your hands and keep keep healthy. Um the next page represents uh at the daily our daily attendance year to date. So um starting at the top uh it goes from August 28th to October 17th when this was printed and you can see um these are actual numbers of students who were absent. Uh so uh on October 17th we had 46 students of our 500 and what's our Mo you just told me earlier today 520 something 540. Yeah. [laughter] Um our worst days you could probably guess what those days are. The 64 and 69 days
044absences are our half a days. Um and so we spent some time last week, a very significant amount of time last week with the school council um reviewing this data as well and trying to once again come up with strategies for our half days. Um you know it is a a continual issue and the consensus seems to be that it is about child care at the elementary school. um in terms of uh our students starting earlier. So um it's getting the kids it's not about getting the kids home in time to get their siblings. It sounds like it's about it's just as easy for a parent to stay home for half a day rather than to take a half a day off is what is the information I'm getting. So we kind of brainstormed some
045things and again it's just food for thought at this point as we think about our calendar for next year as um for Mrs. Pangelie but you know once again we talked about eliminating half days um which I reiterated that half days count as full days so that's why we do half days. Um we talked about uh it was suggested that maybe we look at doing some kind of extended day for the elementary students. Unfortunately we have budget coming up so we need you know that will cost money to keep paras who would be the ones staying with students because our half days are for PD. So we we talked around a bunch of things which I can pass along at some point but just so you know we are looking at those things. Um, and
046then the next next stapled page, it might be I don't know if yours is stapled. I apologize, but it might be easier to unstaple and kind of look at it across. This is the really great data, I think, is our chronic absenteeism. And so, um, it goes from 23 to current. So, in two years ago in 2324 at this time of year, we had 34.4% 4% of our students already chronically absent. Last year it was down 10% to 24.3 and currently we're at 16.6. So that is a that is half half the amount. Um and of that 16.6% when I look at the names in the top five there are reasons for those. Uh it's not that you know stu those students are skipping school. there are there are legitimate reasons. So, we are definitely
047continuing tracking attendance, looking at attendance. Our counselors and admin team are continually meeting with families to support them um and following our protocols. Uh we're also um Mr. Moreno, our assistant principal, has a focus of looking at tardiness as well. Um so, um those are some things that we're looking at. And then the last page is um by week. Uh this graph however I could not pull this out only for the middle school. So this represents Park A and Webster Middle School. Um so you can again see the the um by week where where we have higher numbers and lower numbers. So Fridays are another tough day. Um and then so uh but you can see the graph at the bottom again, you know, kind of up in September starting to come down, but we're
048climbing back up to 94.2. So, um questions about attendance. Um so I wanted to present some other data to you this evening. Um we uh have started uh really diving into our MCCAST data. Um so last week at department meetings um we uh each department looked at their specific data. So English, math, science and civics. Um so they kind of dug a little deeper into that. Um we uh our instructional leadership team this afternoon took that information that department meetings uh called out and we're supposed to be um streamlining that a little bit. Uh I was at the conference today. So uh I'm not sure what the results of that are yet, but when I go back tomorrow I will see what Mr. Moreno um created for us for that. Uh so we are looking
049at that. But I also wanted to report some good news about MCCAST. Uh at the middle school, we did have um four students who uh met ex who actually exceeded in English and math. Uh so in math, excuse me, in English we had two students. Uh one in currently in seventh grade, so in sixth grade math exceeded and one currently in eighth grade, so uh last year's seventh grade. So and then in math, we had three two additional students plus a third that was also the English one. So we had one student exceed in math and English. and then two and two for the English and math. Does that make sense? Okay. [laughter] Um so, um so we're very excited about recognizing those students, which I honestly haven't figured out how I want to do
050that yet because middle school students are a little um picky about uh having that publicly recognized. [laughter] So, I want to make sure they know that they they are doing well, but I also don't want to embarrass them. So, we will figure out something to recognize them. Um, any questions about MCCAST at this point? >> Do the chair. [snorts] >> Um, I just for I feel like we saw something about MCCAST. I don't know if it was for um when we were looking at curriculums to use for the piloting where we saw how our we performed on MCCAST and science but do we do we get a report on how we um performed versus like in in relation to the state? >> Yes. >> Okay. And one of the things that um uh with civics
051in 2324 our students took the civics test but it wasn't counted because it was a um a pilot and so we didn't get any results from that which I wish we kind of did because we don't have any comparison data either. So we have 2425 which gives us some important information but it doesn't really show us uh growth. Um so which I guess it wasn't it wouldn't be a valid test in 23 24 because they were testing it. Um so I get that in terms of of that. Um so that's that's what we're working with. Um next I wanted to talk about some upcoming events. Um so um on November 10th, which is the day before Veterans Day, we will be doing our annual veterans ceremony at the middle school at 1:00. Um I think
052we have a speaker for one of our staff members has somebody who should be coming this year. Um so we'll do our normal gathering in the um uh gym and um hopefully it will be as good a ceremony as it usually is. Um we have been partnered with um a nonprofit organization called Mala's Kids. It's M A WLA apostrophe s kids and the Seven Hills organization. Um we are going to be on November 18th from 4 to 6 presenting a um school community event um called Thankful You Are Here. And so Mala's Kids is providing everything. Um they are their purpose is to bring joy and connection and a sense of belonging to the families of uh Webster schools. And so they will be taking over our gym and have a bunch of tables, nine
053or 10 tables, uh, with different activities for students of various ages. Uh, face painting, arts and crafts, um, games, dance circles. Um, they are also going to be having a couple of tables where they will be giving away items. Um, so any family who is in need of clothing or hygienic products, um, they have, I think, a whole table full of teddy bears that they've collected. So, um, that we are looking forward to having that as a connection for um, our school community. And then we had, you're going to be approving, hopefully approving later, a donation. Um, we had one of our staff members put out a um donor's choose posting and to help us uh get some more books for our our uh reading uh roar reading. And so she requested graphic novels because
054that is a big kind big um uh push from the kids. it's always on our list of what they're requesting. Um, so we uh have received or will be receiving 43 graphic novels at totaling $631.75. So to thank the donors who um help are helping our kiddos read. Um again, I just reiterate how exciting this is for me. Um I went to Savers Saturday and um didn't buy anything for myself but spent uh almost $50 on books. So um but I don't mind doing that because I just love seeing the that they're so excited to come in and ask, you know, did you get this book yet or can you get this? So um it's just a great thing to see. Um, and then I want to recognize um Kate Birdie, who as you all
055know is one of our most fabulous teachers. We bring her name up often. Many of you have been in her classroom. Um, Kate Birdie and the um students um and the staff from the Bartlett Project Lead the Way attended a 18 um convention last Monday. And so the Webster district, so not just the middle school, but the high school, too, have uh been awarded what's called the student cup. So I'm going to read what um Michelle sent Kate who then sent me. So the student work cup is a traveling trophy. The student work cup is presented to the school district uh who school or district who leads our community in sharing and celebrating student work. Webster public schools has demonstrated outstanding student engagement across project lead the way programming and student work. Both the middle
056and high schools participated in all three student events last year which were student solve student industry connects and the applied learning showcase showing a strong commitment to hands-on realworld learning. They exhibit student work throughout their buildings, in trophy cases, on bulletin boards, and even in windows, and host district-wide showcases at the end of the year to highlight students across all schools. Educators also actively encourage others to join in the fund, spreading enthusiasm for Project Lead the Way throughout the community. And I believe the the actual cup is uh at Bartlett High School right now. Oh. Oh, I thought you were reaching it down to get it. >> [laughter] >> Yes, there are several pictures. The cup is about this big. It's like this wide. So, um it's Oh, there we go. >> Just forwarding several
057pictures. I think you were there, too. I wanted to also add that um our students also won the grand prize uh for the manufacturing matchup uh competition at the Gillette Stadium. last Tuesday. So Monday, uh they um you know, Webster was awarded the cup and then on Tuesday the students actually won the competition and they won the grand prize for their invention. So that was amazing. And and then in addition, Miss Birdie has been appointed the middle school was appointed the middle school lead for Project Lead the Way. Um and then she is also one of three model teachers. And so what that means is um they are they are um having open classroom. And so uh anybody else in the state who is starting project lead the way uh can come and see Kate's
058class and see how she organizes and gets the class working. Um and uh um there are very exciting things going on with project lead. Great. Kate does uh Miss Birdie does a wonderful job. And if you've ever been in our classroom, um you can see how engaged the kids are and she really gives them the confidence to be able to speak to the work that they're doing, which I always find so impressive at that age because a lot of times kids don't want to talk about the work that they're doing. So, um, great. >> I came back on. I just want to say thank you and it's great to just see that, you know, the district, the educators, and the students are all um getting recognized for the hard work they're putting in through that
059program. Um, it just shows that um it's a new program, but obviously, you know, over the last couple years, there's been a lot of recognition about the students taking part in it and getting a lot of credit for that. So, that's great to see. Any other questions or comments for Miss Peterson? >> The chair. Um about your book donation. Um just to add that because I had done it. If you order books, like a set of books from book lovers gourmet in town, she usually gives a discount for the school system. >> Good. I know. Thank you. >> It's a good local resource. >> Perfect. Thank you. through the chair. >> Yes. >> I just want to thank you for all the work you've done on attendance. It really shows the amount of time you've
060put in. Um those numbers are pretty amazing. Um you cut it by half. So that's really great that you're doing that for the students and um it's nice to see, you know, such big improvements and all of that paying off through the chair. Um, in addition, I I think I've talked about this before is we kind of have I post daily the the grade level and what their percentage is. And I started doing that just forformational purposes for the kids to kind of start seeing it. But they really have gotten into kind of the competition aspect of that and they really come in if I forget to put it up like they get they get really upset about that and they so they they really look at that every day and they they calculate it
061in their head and they they see who is ahead. So they they have really taken some ownership in in it as well >> through the chair. >> Yep. Um, I just I think we I've we've mentioned this before and we've kind of talked about it. I know Mrs. Nevice isn't here. Um, but I think our PLTW and the work that Mrs. Bigalow and Mrs. Birdie do like is very unique to our district. Um, and we've talked about, you know, how we can commun that communicate that to the community because I think, you know, our community sometimes has a misguided opinion or about us. Um, and I think we need to find a way to maybe highlight those positives um, more in maybe a way that's uh, accessible to them. And I know we've talked about
062the Stonebridge Press and how they aren't necessarily writing things anymore, but they accept um, articles from us. So, and I and I've seen some um from Park A, but I think what we have going on at the high school and the middle school, like this is such a big deal um that you know, maybe getting that into a newspaper so our community can read it. >> I know that's being worked on. >> Okay. All right. So, maybe I'm jumping the gun, but like anything, you know, and we do send things over, but we they don't post everything we send. So, that that >> is another thing. Yeah, we do try I do try to social media when I can. Um, and I'm really happy about the work that they're doing um, this fall with trying
063to get the word out about our programming here and what the high school has to offer and getting a jump on the K, you know, on the um, Bay Path and the information sharing with all the schools and the community of the work that we're doing. Um, so we're working on it. Um, and we we are definitely I know um Miss Bigalow is very excited and Miss Birdie to share what the kids are doing and what they're doing and the work that's happening and I know Miss Nez is planning to come talk to you next meeting about some of the work that's been going on. So, um it is exciting and I'm really proud of the work that the district is doing and that the staff are doing. Um they're amazing. Our students are amazing.
064And there are so many good things that happen that sometimes, you know, um are clouded by one or two posts on social media. >> You're the chair. >> Yes. >> Just to add, it might not be a bad idea to continue um this thought is with this particular award and everything they did. wouldn't be a bad idea to do um a presentation about that at a selectman's meeting. >> That gets it out to the town more. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Thank you, Miss Peterson. The next item agenda is our student representative update. Um Aiden can't be with us tonight, so I believe we're going to hold off on his update until the next meeting. the next >> um >> through the chair. >> Yes. >> Just quickly um because I know um
065and it was brought up the unified um basketball team and he was going to talk about that this evening. Um I looked at the athletics website. Not easy to find schedules for our sports. It's a you know they're not posted on the district website that I found. Maybe I'm just not It's I I did email Coach L and he did send me the um the website that is used I think kind of by everybody. The >> arrider >> arbiter. >> Yes. So I'm able to like see the schedules now for all our sports, but I don't Unified Arts isn't on that. Um >> yeah, I'm not sure that they >> right. talk to the >> and if they don't like but um if we can add that I know our packet has that like a
066um a list of events though anything like that that's not you know accessible like through a website um I like to know those things because I do go um so just you know when the next game is are they still at Oxford >> they were at Oxford they had a home game >> oh no way all right last Yeah, I saw that. >> Yeah, >> you don't have to show me now, but maybe just or tell us now. But >> it's on the page. >> It is. >> Okay. Yeah. I I do >> under department. >> Okay. Yeah, >> good. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> They're doing those scheduling separately. So, it's not an arbittor with the >> Could you send us Yeah. >> the information about how to see the again to be able
067to see the uh >> games? Okay. Thank you. The next item under old business is the third and final reading of several policies. Um [clears throat] there any comments concerning those policies? I believe we can vote on those tonight. Correct. >> That is correct. We can vote on them and you should be able to do it in one motion, but I would read each policy um in the motion. So, do do I have a motion to approve the following policies? Policy KDCB, district website and social media. Policy JJ, student use of technology in schools. Policy I JN DC, acceptable use of digital resources. Policy I JN DB, use of technology and instruction. Policy JN DBR, Webster Public Schools acceptable use policy. Policy I JND, Access to Digital Resources. Policy EHB, data and records retention. Policy
068EHA, district security relating to technology. Policy B A, use of electronic messaging by school committee members. Policy KDC, community use of digital resources and policy GBE, personnel use of technology. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Have a motion and second. Are there any other comments? Hearing none. Desire, can you please pull the committee? >> Yes. Motion passes. The next item under new business is the discussion and approval of superintendent 2025 to 2026 goals. >> Thank you. Um so in your packet you have a template of my goals uh for this coming year. Um, I did add a couple new goals this year and left three of them the same as the work is continuing. Um, for the first one, instructional leadership, that is an ongoing goal. Um, as you know, that was partially met and
069that is something that we as a district are still working on. So, I can't uh I I can't remove that at this point. I think it's something that we need to continue to work on under management and operations. Um, I don't feel like at this point in time I could be taking the renovation project off or budget. We know that the renovation is an ongoing task that um is going to be on our radar for another year and anticipating a tight budget season um is something that I think needs to be a top priority for me during this um year during this school year. Um, but I did want to add um on to my goals for the year. As you know, I have been attempting to look at our policies that has been high
070on my radar this year. It has gone um ignored for many years uh for a very long time. And so we I am starting the process of updating the manual online. So putting it into a format that is accessible, easy to look at. um that we can update as other districts. So, it's not just one booklet. It's going to be by section and by policy. So, things will be easy to find, easy to read. So, I'm looking at doing that and updating that and then starting to go through at a regular basis, coming to the school committee with policies that we can update. You know, the goal would have been to do it all at once because they're so far um there's so many and so many of them are outdated. Um, but I feel
071the work needs to happen. I'm not sure what funding is going to look like next year. And if we get into a system where we're constantly looking at policies, updating policies, um, and replacing them, then we can start working through a lot of the policies that we need. Some of them are pretty easy to update and others might take a little longer where we're going to have to have committees behind the scene looking at policies and adjusting before we bring it to the school committee. So, um, so that is a goal for this year. I plan on working and continuing to bring policies to the school committee for approval and update. I will be updating the website with the new format for um our policies to make them a lot more accessible and easy to
072get to. Um so I'm looking to do that for this year. And then the second thing that I am working on is we have been working on our strategic planning for this year. Um we've started that work. It's not done yet. Um so I'm looking to finalize our strategic plan and start the implementation um of that plan this year. So those are the two things that I think are high priority that I needed to add on um including [snorts] you know continuing the work on budget and um the renovation and then the instructional. Any questions or comments from the committee concerning superintendent's goals for this upcoming year? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to accept the goals as presented. >> So move. >> Second. >> There's a motion in a second. Any further discussion? Desire,
073would you please pull the committee? >> Yes. Next is the acceptance of a donation of classroom supplies from Donor's Choose to the Webster Middle School. I know Miss Pearson already went over this. >> Is there anything that you would like to add? >> No, I'd just like to thank Miss Sergeant Terry for going out there and getting the books. I know the kids will love them. >> As always, we'd like to thank um all the donors. Um it goes a long way to helping our students. Do I have a motion to accept the donation of classroom supplies from donor's choose to the Webster Middle School? >> So move second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Desire, would you please pull the uh committee? >> Yes. >> Next on the agenda
074is the discussion and approval of the creation of a budget subcommittee. Yes, thank you. So, um looking at the upcoming budget year, uh this is not something we have done as a district before in the past, but anticipating um that it could be difficult and already starting those conversations earlier this year. Um I think it would be helpful if we put together a subcommittee. I'm not sure of the meetings that we're going to have yet or how often uh what the commitment we'll look at right now. Um but I think it's a way that we can be a little more transparent um with the school committee have those discussions where we don't have to you know have the tri board meetings. So if there's smaller meetings that we need to have with the town we
075can meet with our representatives and their representatives and meet more frequently uh internally here. Also on the school side we could meet more frequently to discuss any challenges or directions or thoughts or ideas that we would like to share. as you know this is going to be a process that we are starting now and it's going to continue right through um you know May town meeting um so I think just it would set us up to be a little more successful this year and to help with the communication and especially help with the communication on the town side um if they do something similar I'm going to talk to the town manager and see if he's interested in doing that also on the town side um because there may be a need that we might
076need to discuss a little more frequently um thoughts about what the budget's going to look like. >> Obviously, we're going into interesting budget year, so makes sense to get as much input as we possibly can through the entire process. >> Are you looking for two members of the committee? >> I think that would be great to start. Yep. Yep. >> Um are there any nominations at this time concerning members for this subcommittee? I'd like to nominate um Vice Chair Adamopoulos for the budget subcommittee. >> Motion. Do I have a second? >> So moved. >> A motion, a second. Any further discussion concerning one nomination? Desire, can you pull the committee? >> Yes. Thank you for that. Um, do I have a nomination for a second committee member? Um, I would make a motion to have
077member Melot on the committee. Um, I believe she brings a lot of background that could be very helpful to that process going back for a period of time. So that I'd make that nomination. >> So moved. Second. >> A motion is second. Any further discussion? Desire, you please pull the committee. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you very much. [laughter] >> You too. >> Thank you both very much. >> Um I think the next thing on our agenda is the review, transfer, signing of warrants, bills, payroll, and vouchers. >> Yes, we're skipping over the executive session. We do not need that. So yes, that's it. Yep. They're all on the Do >> I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So move. >> Second. >> Motion a second. Any further discussion? Desire, please pull the
078committee. >> Yes. Thank you everybody.