001Good evening. I would like to call this special meeting of the Board of Education to order. The next regular meeting of the Board of Education is on Wednesday, April 8th at 7:00 p.m. For the chairperson's tonight report tonight, um thank you all for being here tonight. I want to give an update on the fiscal 2027 Board of Education budget process. The Board of Finance meeting on Tuesday, March 31st will be a working session to discuss the Board of Education budget and the Board of Finance will then vote on the Board of Ed operating and capital budgets on Tuesday, April 7th. Thank you everyone for your participation in the budget process this year. We really appreciate your support. Uh now we'll move on to public comment. Good evening. If anyone would like to participate in public
002comment, please approach the podium and wait to be recognized. Once recognized, please state your name and address. State your name and town of residence for the record and note that you have up to 3 minutes to comment. We have no public comments this time. Okay, we'll move on to the superintendent's report, Dr. Byrne. Good evening and thank you for joining us for the March 24th Board of Education meeting. Today, Dr. Fedigan and I, along with the team from across the elementary schools, attended the newest session of our science of reading court. The focus on today's section was vocabulary development and it was a very informative day. Congratulations to Kylie Best, our student board member, and the rest of the cast and crew on an amazing run of The Lightning Thief last week. If you didn't
003have a chance to see it, uh Kylie was outstanding and did a great job in her role. Our grade eight students will begin the exciting transition to Darien High School this week when they visit the high school on Friday. They'll hear from students, teachers, and administrators and have the opportunity to learn about the more than 70 clubs offered at the high school. Next Monday at 7:00 p.m. at the Depot is our second book club meeting and we will be discussing more than just a game, which offers an insightful look at the high-stakes world of modern youth sports. And that concludes my report for this evening. Uh okay, student student representative reports. Hi uh Ryan. Yes, so we are nearing the end of our third quarter with it ending a week from today. Uh hearing what
004Dr. Burns said, our theater three our theater 308 production, The Lightning Thief, was a major success with a nearly packed house every night. And uh lastly, our April 7th uh SAT day for juniors is nearing in the next 2 weeks and that's it. Thank you. Uh we'll now move on to presentation, discussion, and possible action, starting with the elementary schools update and uh Dr. Burns is going to kick us off. Sure, thank you very much and and we are excited to have our five amazing principals with us tonight. So, if we go back to our last meeting, we had a chance to hear from some teachers about how the professional learning efforts in literacy this year have impacted their instruction and what they're focusing on in their classrooms and what they're seeing with students. What
005we're going to hear about tonight is this world of consistency and alignment that we now live in. So, some of the structures that you'll hear about tonight are now structures that you would see in all of our K through three classrooms across all five of our schools. So, this really focused work and this literacy work, which is our highest priority on the instructional side this year, uh is making improvements across the board in our uh reading instruction. And I'm thrilled and appreciative to our five principals for being here to talk with us tonight. So, take it away, gang. Can you Can everyone hear me? Okay. I'm short, so the microphone has to be a little short as well. Good evening and thank you for giving us the opportunity to present an update on kindergarten through
006third grade reading. My name is Natasha Torry, and I'm the principal at Royle School. I am joined by my colleague Paula Bleakley from Holmes, Ryan Betts from Tokeneke, Chris Melillo from Ox Ridge, and Ross Cooper from Hindley. Tonight, we want to clearly articulate why this work is so essential, and how it serves the foundation for all future literacy learning in the Darien Public Schools. I began my career in education as a first grade teacher, and then literacy specialist. So, as a building principal, this work is also near and dear to my heart. We will anchor our presentation in the March 11th Board of Education meeting, where our exceptional teachers shared their learning with Into Reading, our primary instructional resource for reading, and illustrated what high-quality literacy instruction looks like in their classrooms. You heard how
007the implementation of Into Reading aligns with our literacy framework, and saw firsthand how these practices support students every day. This evening, we'd like to take a step back and focus on the five essential components of reading instruction. These components, while visible in classroom practice, are important for us to define explicitly. Our goals tonight are to clarify what each component is, explain why each is critical for developing foundational reading skills, and build a shared understanding of what these components look and sound like across Darien's kindergarten through third grade classrooms. By grounding our work in these essential elements, we ensure that every student receives consistent, evidence-based instruction that sets them up for long-term literacy success. So, on the slide, you'll see a quote from author Kate DiCamillo. And her quote is a reminder that reading should be
008offered to children as a precious gift. And this speaks directly to the heart of our kindergarten through third grade work. While we focus on building foundational skills through the five essential components of reading instruction, our ultimate goal is to ensure that every child experiences reading not as a chore, but as something joyful, empowering, and accessible. By providing consistent, evidence-based instruction, and supporting our teachers with high-quality materials, we create the conditions for all students, regardless of their starting point, to develop both the ability and the desire to read. This quote captures our schools and families' shared commitment to nurturing confident, curious, lifelong readers. Kindergarten through third grade reading has long been a district priority, and we continue to work to ensure that every early learner develops the strong foundational reading and writing skills needed for success
009in grades 3 through 12 and beyond. Our approach is grounded in the science of reading, and emphasizes explicit, systematic instruction across all five essential components. Phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Each day students engage in a comprehensive literacy block that includes whole group instruction, small group differentiated teaching, and targeted invent- targeted interventions, excuse me, informed by ongoing data and progress monitoring. Teachers use aligned materials, structured routines, and evidence-based practices to create consistency across classrooms and support growth for all learners. Throughout the presentation tonight, we will highlight what both teachers and students do during daily reading instruction and how these efforts collectively build the foundation for strong lifelong literacy. So this slide was part of the March 11th presentation and the science of reading slide outlines how children learn to read and emphasizes that explicit,
010systematic instruction, and phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. For students in kindergarten through third grade, it ensures foundational skills are taught clearly and sequentially. The science of reading has long guided our approach to early literacy in Darien. Providing the evidence-based practices we rely on, regardless of the specific resources or programs we use. So now at this time in the presentation, we will each unpack one of the five components. So on the slide, you'll see that I'll be talking about phonemic awareness. And phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds or phonemes in spoken words. Phonemic awareness is a foundational oral only skill that supports later phonics decoding and spelling. Phonemic awareness is most critical in kindergarten and grade one with targeted support is needed in grades two and three. So
011proficient reading, it all starts with phonemic awareness for our littlest learners. And Mr. Maroney, I think I'm paraphrasing here, but at a previous board meeting, you noted that we have to get early reading instruction right and you compared it to hockey. You can't play the game well if you can't skate. Phonemic awareness is that skating for our students. If they don't have a strong command of hearing and manipulating sounds in words, the rest of the foundational components simply won't make sense. It is the essential first step that allows everything else in reading to build successfully. During phonemic awareness instruction, teachers provide brief, focused oral lessons in which they model sounds using explicit and systematic routines such as say it, tap it, blend it and incorporate multi-sensory supports like hand motions. They guide students through targeted
012practice offering clear, immediate feedback to help them accurately hear, identify, and manipulate phonemes. During phonemic awareness instruction for students, students are actively engaged in hearing and manipulating sounds by listening to and repeating phonemes. They're also blending sounds to form words and segmenting words into their individual phonemes. They practice adding, deleting, and substituting sounds often often using movement such as tapping to represent what they hear. All of this work is done orally without print to strengthen their ability to recognize and work with sounds as the foundation for early reading. So, I'm going to briefly show you what this looks like in practice. You might remember it from one of the videos on March 11th. So, as a teacher, I would say cat. At. So, as I say each sound, I tap a finger. At. Then I
013blend it together. Cat. Now, I'm going to make one small change. I swap the for Pat. So, this is phonemic awareness, students hearing, changing, and blending sounds to make new words. And now Paula will talk about the next foundational reading skill, which is phonics. Thank you, Natasha. So, our goal tonight is to help you to understand these five different components from the way teachers and students experience it. So, I'd like to play off a hockey analogy as well just to build in that direction. Just as hockey players build from learning to skate to mastering puck handling, passing, and shooting while skating, understanding phonics is the next phase of learning to read. So, we move from just hearing the sounds and manipulating the sounds to now we're going to connect all of those sounds to visual
014symbols. So, phonics instruction is explicitly teaching the relationship between sounds and letters or letter patterns. Phonics principles are also taught in a systematic, explicit, and cumulative progression building from simple to more complex. And I'm going to try to walk you through that this evening. This slide shows what the teacher and the student might be doing during phonics phonics instruction in the classroom. And our highly skilled teachers also shared some great examples of this at the last board meeting. But to round this out, I'd like to provide a high-level view of how phonics phonics instruction progresses from kindergarten through grade two, the years when students are focused on learning how to read. There should be a one-page reference titled systematic phonics progression in your materials that you received as this component of reading instruction can be
015a lot to take in and there's a lot of jargon. It might help you to follow along as I walk you through it. So, you want to take time to find that. In general, the majority of learners are ready for instruction along the continuum that I'm going to describe. However, there are times where kids are not quite there yet and those students would receive intervention. So, in kindergarten, um after mastering phonemic awareness, um and while mastering phonemic awareness, uh the focus is really mostly around the fact that each sound is represented by a letter. So, letters represent sounds and teachers have students practice matching letters and sounds and symbols. Students also learn that there's a predictable connection between how sounds and letters work together. So, they helped teachers help students to blend and segment sounds
016to read and write what we call consonant vowel consonant words. So, like Natasha said, cat. So, when she tapped, they were hearing the sounds in cat. The next step in phonics is to connect those sounds to letters. So, we say, "C, that's a C. A, that's an A. T, that's a T. Cat." Um and so, that, although feels simple to us, that's a lot of work for our five-year-olds and something that we spend a lot of time on in kindergarten. Um at the end of kindergarten, we begin to focus on uh one-syllable words and consonant blends. So, we we do that at the end of kindergarten and into first grade. And in a a blend, you can hear the sound made by each of two letters that are together. For example, the word clap, you
017can hear the c l and then ap. So, you can hear the c and the l in the word clap. So, our kindergarteners then can put those two letters that are working together with a consonant I mean with a vowel and another consonant. So, it feels like a consonant vowel consonant word, but now there's two letters at the beginning. Then, in first grade, we increase the complexity of how letters and sounds work. So, sometimes a single sound is then represented by more than one letter. Those are called uh they're consonant digraphs where two letters work together to make one sound. So, for example, ship. The sh makes the sh sound. Um or math, the th says at the end of math. In first grade, they also work on consonant vowel consonant silent e words, which
018we call magic e words. Um and magic e we say makes the vowel say its name or it's a long vowel. Um so, for example, the word tote, you can hear a long o in the word tote or shake. Then, first and at the end of first grade and into second grade, we add more complexity relating how vowels work. Um and so, students learn that vowels can work in teams to make one long vowel sound. For example, in the word rain, a and i makes the a sound. Or in the word sleep, e e makes the e sound. Um they also learn that vowels can work together to create a diphthong where your tongue slides from one vowel position to the next and we can hear two sounds in that situation. So, for example, the
019word oil, you can hear the o i l oil. I've never been good at that one. Um or fluid. And then uh in first grade, they also learn that when the letter r follows a vowel, it changes the vowel sound from what you might expect it to say. So, for example, the word art or corn or march. And then finally, in second grade, we move on to the last part of phonics, which is um being able to read multi-syllabic words. And those are longer words that are made up of shorter parts called syllables. Um and they can be decoded, read, or encoded, spelled bit by bit using what students know about those words. So, for example, they might read a compound word like cupcake. So, they can sound out cup, they can sound out cake,
020and they can put that together. Um they learn prefixes like r e in reread or d e in decode, and they learn suffixes like i n g or ness in kindness. So, we just wanted to kind of walk you through that because that's a lot of the work that gets done between kindergarten and second grade. By third grade, we're reinforcing a lot of that, but by by that time, most students are pretty competent in phonics. Although it's still taught in third grade, um but they're moving in third grade from learning how to decode and read to reading to learn. Um So, developing strong phonetic understanding is essential for students to develop accurate and automatic word reading. And now, Ryan will show you how students use their knowledge of phonics and other information to read fluent.
021Thank you. All right. Hello everyone. Okay, so um just like Paul and Natasha had, I've got the slide up there for fluency. You'll see a definition at the top, then you'll see two columns, one describing what teachers are doing to build fluency and one describing what students are doing to build fluency. I'll read the definition and then add some color to it. Uh so fluency is defined as the ability to read text with accuracy, appropriate rate, and good expression. Fluency is an accurate indication of overall reading ability and has a correlation with reading comprehension. Um in simpler terms, fluency is where the rubber meets the road in reading. And um as a hockey player, I'm going to jump onto that hockey analogy and as well. Um in hockey terms, it's when a player can uh
022move from thinking about skating and thinking about stick handling and putting it all together and playing the game, if you will. They're in that flow state. They're focused on the game. They're not thinking about their feet. They're not thinking about their hands. It's all together. Um reading works the same way. At first, students are focused on decoding, figuring out each word. But with practice, the brain reaches automaticity. They can read smoothly and even begin to anticipate what's coming next. Um in sports, we have the eye test. You might see an athlete and you say, "They can play that game. I can see that." In reading, it's the ear test. You can hear. You know what fluent reading sounds like. It's smooth. It's got a natural uh expressive tone to it. It's not choppy and robotic.
023Um students build fluency through repeated reading of familiar texts. If you have little children, you might remember they bring home uh the same book over and over again, then they bring home another book, and they've got two or three, and they just read those books over and over again. Um and that helps build that automaticity, that smoothness, helps the brain begin to anticipate there's another word coming. Um and over time, that repeated reading of the same text, that those skills can be applied to a new text that they haven't seen before. We call that a cold text. Um and once students are fluent, their focus shifts to what matters most, understanding what they're reading. Um and really, you know, as Paul alluded a minute ago, once they can read fluently, we begin to build that
024bridge from learning to read to reading to learn. And now I'm going to pass it over to Chris, who will talk a little bit about vocab. I'm also height impaired, so look at the mic. Just want to talk vocabulary, and vocabulary development is a key component of literacy instruction and supports the students' ability to comprehend text, communicate ideas clearly, and access learning across all subjects. A strong vocabulary helps students make meaning from what they read, and express their ideas with greater precision, and engage more confidently in discussion and writing. In our schools, teachers intentionally build students' vocabulary by explicitly teaching word meanings, and the morphological components of words, such as prefixes, the roots, and suffixes. Instruction uses high-impact, research-based strategies that promote active engagement and repeated practices, and includes teaching words in meaningful context, using
025student-friendly definitions, visuals, concept maps, and exposing students to rich vocabulary through read-alouds and content-based texts. And many board members came to Uxbridge to visit the classrooms, and you saw our teachers using those high-impact strategies that included audio, visual, bodily-kinesthetic, tactile, um learning many ways, much of it active, out of their seats, so just not reading definitions and trying to understand them, rote memorization, but really trying to embed that learning, um so that, like the hockey analogy, that it becomes second nature to them. Students reinforced their learning through collaborative activities such as card sorts and matching exercises. Then it helps them deepen their understanding of language and apply new vocabulary across reading, writing, and content areas. Although my colleagues have chosen use hockey as an analogy to explain the science of reading, I'm just going to
026say that the vocabulary used in a hockey game is probably not appropriate for this meeting here. So, I'm going to pass it over to Ross, who will provide a summary of comprehension. Thank you, Chris. So, in our classrooms, literacy instruction is intentionally designed to develop thoughtful, strategic readers. Teachers create learning experiences that help students see reading as an active thinking process rather than a passive task. They provide clear, structured opportunities for students to engage with text in meaningful and purposeful ways. By making their own thinking visible, teachers help students understand what proficient reading really looks like. This transparency builds confidence and gives students concrete strategies they can apply independently, which is one of the goals of what we do each and every day with students. Instruction is carefully scaffolded so that all learners can access
027complex texts and ideas. Teachers also create a culture where curiosity and questioning are valued as part of the learning process. As students are exposed to increasingly complex language and ideas, they're supported in making sense of subtle and nuanced meaning. Students in turn take ownership of their learning and actively engage with what they read as opposed to passive consumption. They learn to track their thinking in ways that make their understanding visible to themselves and to their teachers. When confusion arises, students are equipped with strategies to work through challenges rather than disengage. They are encouraged to reflect upon their thinking and refine their own their standing over time. Writing and conversation are used as tools to deepen comprehension and extend their learning. Students build confidence as they share their ideas or respond to the thinking of others
028rather than just reading independently. They're also reading in pairs and groups and working and writing in groups as well. Uh through these experiences, they develop the skills and habits necessary to become independent critical readers who engage with a wide range of texts. And I think it's important that we understand that when we're talking about this, whether it's reading and writing and literacy and learning in general, we're talking about not just a certain subset of learners and students, but all students could reach this potential. And now I'll pass it over to Paula to bring it on home. Thank you. Um so, in summary, um high-quality literacy instruction is the cornerstone obviously of our elementary schools. Um and science of reading really does ground our approach. Um foundational skills such as we described tonight serve as the
029building blocks of teaching students how to read. Phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension. Once these skills are established, instruction can then shift toward helping students to use their reading skills to learn. This work continues throughout their time in school and beyond. Thank you. And at this point, I think we're can open it up for questions. Thank you very much for this very helpful presentation and thank you all for being here. Um Uh I just have one question initially just about science of reading because my children were in kindergarten in like 2012. So I think there was a time that Darien schools did not teach phonics and phonemic awareness or they used to and then they didn't and then they did again. And I think one of my children went through that period where they didn't
030get the phonemic awareness teaching. So I'm just curious what the evolution was and how long we've actually been using science of reading specifically. Um I'm assuming that the Into Reading with HMH is based on this as well. So if you can just address that. >> Absolutely. Yes. So um I came in 2012 so or 2011 2012 so I can speak from then on, but I know soon after I got here we implemented Foundations and Heggerty. So Heggerty is the phonemic awareness part. The whole program of Heggerty is phonemic awareness. Um and then uh the phonics was through the Foundations program that we were using. So those two components were a part of what we do um or did then. Um and then the vocabulary work was done through the read-alouds. It was not a formal
031vocabulary program necessarily, but it was done within the context of what teachers were teaching. Um and it was also done through the content areas. Um In terms of fluency, that's something we've always worked on. Um you know, repeated readings. I'm I'm sure that your kids were doing a lot of that. Um I don't know that you can get away with teaching kids to read without it. Um and then the comprehension work was something we've we've always been doing quite deeply. You know, kids are turning and talking, discussing books. They're in book clubs. They're doing a lot of um stop and jots when they're reading so that they're writing down their thoughts or ideas as they're reading. So, so the components have all been there, but they weren't in one program. So, the HMH program has
032all of those things blended together. Um so, that's why the professional development has been so important this year because it's a shift from programs that we were familiar with and knew how they worked um to learning a completely different um way of connecting everything together. So, um those half days that we've had, I know have been challenging for families, but I can tell you that for our teachers, it has been a lifeline this year. So, learning that there's so many materials in this one program. So, so in the past when we were learning Haggerty or Foundations, we had 2 years to learn Haggerty, 2 years to learn Foundations. Now, we're learning all five components all at once in 1 year. So, the teachers really do need that time. Not that they don't know how to
033teach those things, but they have to learn how to teach those things using the new materials and the new way of connecting everything. Do you want to add on? Okay. Great. Thank you. I want to open it up to board questions. Joanna? Thank you. Um I have two separate questions about classroom libraries. Um the first is I was at the last CDSP meeting and a lot of the uh PTO chairs brought up that there was uh the the district was looking for decodable texts. There weren't enough decodable texts in each classroom. Um, and I'm wondering, is that something that's not provided in HMH or just a resource that hasn't been discovered yet? Um, so we have lots of decodable texts. The problem in elementary school is that our kids get really good really fast and
034they need lots of books. So just having five or six decodable books at a certain decoding level isn't enough for a child who can go through that in maybe a couple weeks. And so the teachers are really looking for lots and lots of decodables. But do you want to add on about HMH to it? I think it's also similar to what Ryan said about um, fluency and automaticity. You want to have a lot of different titles to be able to go in and read and practice with. So that's just building on what Paula has said. So certainly HMH has decodables and we have decodables um, that have been in our libraries that again line up with those phonics skills. So if you're learning the short vowels, if you're learning the blends. So that way once
035it's taught then you have you're able to apply it and generalize it in that decodable in that decodable text. So that's why it just makes sense to have as many different titles as you can. And then when you pull a small group, so students that are working on the same skill then you have multiple titles um, of that skill. So we do have the you know, we do have decodable texts, we have HMH readers, um, and we have some other um, series of decodable texts that students and teachers have access to. Okay. And I think um, for those of you that may not know what decodable texts are, they are texts that are aligned to each of those different phonics skills that we were talking about. So if I'm learning about CVC words and I'm
036reading a decodable text at that level, that book is going to have lots and lots of CBC words in it, so I get to practice that a lot. Um and so that's the reason for needing so many different books because there are so many different stages um that they're moving through and then you know, we need multiple copies to do the small groups with. Does that help? Yeah. Um and I guess this is a question we can come back to uh I don't know, next budget cycle or just in general, like, you know, is this uh something that the board should be supplying or funding? >> Yeah, I think Amy, I I know you have some plans with some text, right? Some decodable text. >> Yeah, so one thing we know um that sometimes books
037go home and they don't always come back. They might be found under beds, you know, when we clean rooms before summer break. I was saying um when we met with CDSP, I have a a calculator that I think our new puppy chewed. So, we'll need to go back and uh from one of the set again. So, one of the messages that we want to get out there is that the decodable texts are absolutely intended to go home. Those are meant to be in children's hands and we understand that there is a normal cycle of replacing those. And the board, I know, it has said many times, "Tell us what you need." So, that we'll continue to do. We also um have some funds available for classroom libraries. We want to make sure that we have
038decodable text in classrooms and also classroom libraries that are beyond those decodable texts because we're talking about the joy of reading and it's important for children to have access to those as well. So, one of the things that we're taking a look at is the classroom libraries and thinking about how to have um a replacement cycle so that we can ensure that those are robust and and we're keeping an eye nobody is getting a thin library. So, we do have but we do have money included in this budget for more decodable texts, more for library books and that will be something that you'll see every year. Should be added. Um can I And then my second question was, and this is based on my experience with kids in elementary school, so it's been a while.
039Um they used to have just right books. Um that to me that was very uh much part of the um Teachers College Workshop um method. I'm wondering do you still do that? Do kids still get reading levels or is that totally gone? So to Amy's point, we use a balance of different types of books. So we still want to sit down next to a reader and assess what their skills look like in a book. Um and while those books might have that letter assigned to it, the letter it was meant to assign um features of the book. So whether that's patterns, whether that's sentences that go on to another page, um whether it's um longer paragraphing or or things like that, skills that children need to to have to be able to read those types
040of books. So while we're teaching the phonics progressions and we want students to also be able to decode for those phonic skills, then we also want them to be able to apply the skills into more natural texts. So it's a balance of both. So we're still assessing to see how children can um read fluently, accurately, and comprehend in a book that makes sense and matches them as an independent reader along with matching them to a decodable text where they can practice those skills as well. So it's a balance. It's a balance of both. I don't know if you'd add on to that. Yeah, and I mean just to build off of fluency piece and comprehension piece. I mean we're always trying to match readers with the right text, right? Like just right enough, the Goldilocks,
041you know, sort of uh analogy of like not not too hard, not too easy, just right. Although repeated readings of easy text is is a good thing. Um, you know, I think one of the challenges we have here in our district is our kids are really smart good readers and sometimes they can read really fluently and not comprehend some of the more nuanced messages and more complex texts. So we're always we're we're sort of measuring two things. Do they understand what they're reading and are they reading with enough accuracy and rate fluency to to get through it comfortably. Um, but yeah, just right books are still something we think about matching the reader to the text. And I'll just add one more thing. A lot of those decodable books don't feel real. Because there's so
042many words that are carefully chosen um and contrived to fit whatever decodable skill they're working on. While they're way better than the Dick and Jane books that existed a long time ago, um the the ability to really infer and get deep meaning out of stories is not always there. You don't get as much imagery, you don't get all of the other pieces of literacy that we want to be teaching. So our presentation tonight is about teaching kids how to read, like how to break the code and read, but that comprehension piece and all those other levels of understanding don't always show up in those decodable books. So you need the other just right books to do that with. Thank you. Katie. Um, thank you so much for this and thank you for your answers. The
043a lot of the explanations and the depth that you guys are going into the books and why they're different and how they um this is some of the best conversation that we've had in a while. So I really appreciate it. Can you talk to me a little bit about how the five of you are talking and working together through this new um curriculum and maybe what opportunities there might be for your teachers as well to be talking outside of their building. Um, you know, just to that whole piece of consistency across the district. What does that look like for you? Um, we work really hard to be aligned to ensure that we're in lockstep and that the messaging is clear and in the same. We all participate in the same professional development that our teachers
044are involved in. We're active participants in that and, you know, we're we're lifetime learners as well, right? So, I'm I'm an old man. So, I've been I've seen the reading wars shift from basal readers to whole language to balanced literacy to science of reading and probably back again. Um, with that being said, um, it's important that we stay up to date on the research. So, we meet regularly. We meet once as a team a week. We also meet again with, um, Dr. Fetiggan and, um, Jen Falcone, um, also weekly. And on our agendas, we talk about where we are, where our teachers are, um, where we can be better, what our observations are when we go into classrooms. We also implement, um, our instructional rounds where we go in and our teachers learn from each
045other. Um, so, it's a lot of communication. It's a lot of meeting together. It's also, um, messaging, um, and ensuring that our messages are aligned so that teachers aren't hearing different messages from any one of us. Um, so, you know, we're learning it as well with our teachers and we roll up our sleeves and do the work with them. Um, and really we model the learning and, um, and try to stay in line as a five schools but as one message that comes out from all of us. Thank you. And I'll I'll say it to you, you know, we had we had a trainer at HMH at our school today and she gave us our district a glowing compliment and said, you know, I go to a lot of districts and I never see the
046administrators when I walk in the building and she said it's so nice to come here and have not only the principal but assistant principals around the table. You know, we were in an office so that our meetings and you have to address things but um she said she just said it's it's really nice to work here and be partnered with you guys because you have a real commitment to the work and so, you know, it's just a testament to to how we work with our teachers and work together. And we do have the the time where our teachers come together as grade level groups from across the schools during the professional learning days, during the early release days that we've had this year and they do work collaboratively on the same topic with the coaches
047from HMH. So like on a professional learning day, all the second grade teachers from the district will be with an HMH coach for a period of time and then we rotate. So third grade would go and they they talk across and amongst themselves. We also have the pacing guide which you know, they can they they email each other, they text each other. They you know, so they're making sure that everyone's staying on pace within a a certain window or two. So. Thank you. Other board questions? Bill. Um first off, I I think it's amazing. I so I have a fourth grader and uh the idea that from kindergarten to three that you can progress them so quickly is is nothing short of astounding. Um so I've seen it first hand as well. Uh I I
048did want to um piggyback off of Joanna's point uh about books. And and maybe I'm not hearing it correctly, but if if there were a need for more books of any particular type that you wanted, I would not for one for me want you to wait for a budget cycle. I would be more than willing to do a special or supplemental request for whatever resource you need. >> Watch out. But wait, just for books? And and this that's why we're here. So, yeah. We appreciate But I don't know if I I'm probably getting cured up right, right? So, No, I don't know. We're we're good. I we'll tell you if we need absolutely. >> you have find a receptive audience. And then and I think what happens is that the teachers will share their needs
049as they come up and then we sort of have to look across the system. Sure. Sure. And it's also a first time through with the new resource. So, there's things we're learning that we need to have more of that we budgeted for and we're we're getting our hands on. So, we appreciate that. >> That's that's great. So, this is kind of semi-personal question. My son talks about foundations and I still don't have a good talk. Can you What have you please explain? What is foundations? I don't Foundations is just the name of a program. It plays It's fun, but it plays off of foundational skills. But it is a phonics program. So, the the slide that I talked about where they go from kindergarten up through second grade, Foundations is the phonics part of learning
050how to read. And that goes all the way up through third grade because there are still some multi-syllabic words that they're working through how to figure out and a lot of morphology. So, you'll see that. And it and it goes into fourth and fifth grade, too, but um Foundations itself goes up to third. Okay. It was always one of my favorite app words, cat. Cat. I remember that one. Thank Thank Other board questions, Sarah? Thank you for this. Um, curious, we've talked about K through three literacy for years. Talk to me about four to five. What's going to happen? What do you see happening? What needs to change? Um, we just love to to I feel like K through three is in a really good spot now. So, what's going to happen when these kids
051that are now have, you know, a different foundation with foundation. How do you How do you anticipate changing four or five? What do you see happening? Right. So, Um, so similar to how we did a deep dive in reviewing all of this work for K through three, the next step is working with um, Dr. Fettig and a team across the district to um, look at a core review three six. So, just to your point, you know, what's working, what are foundational skills that are really important in K through three, and then as we shift to looking at, you know, grades four and beyond, what are the foundational skills that need to be taught in fourth and fifth grade, but then also what to need what need to be built on, which you've heard tonight is
052the comprehension or writing about reading, analyzing texts, summarizing, you know, those sorts of skills. So, we're in the work right now meeting as a district team. Um, you know, there's a steering committee and a core review team. So, we're also linking that to our high quality instruction document. So, also all the components that make sense for how to teach along with what to teach. We're doing that that work now. Um, so that way as students move up with this um, new resource in reading, it's it's aligned and coherent and meeting the needs of older learners as well. Great. And I love that you said three to six. So, there are middle school teachers included in that. Yeah, that's intentional, right? And so, you can imagine next time it'll be five nine. Right. Right. And so,
053um, the only other thing I would add to that and thanks so much Natasha and Paula have been on the um the steering committee and the core leadership team leading that work from the beginning since we got the waiver. Um, one of the things that we're going to do is also connect the K3 instructional framework to 4-5 because children's reading progress progresses differently in those upper grades as we've talked about tonight. Um and really we have a number of teachers that are on that committee who are really invested in the work and we have a third-grade teacher there who's able to carry the work forward and talk about that experience. The other thing is um with regard to vocabulary, we were at the caps convention today or conference today and it was all about vocabulary.
054And I was sitting next to Natasha and Natasha said, "We're doing that so much better right now." Like this is like it's like I'm feeling really good about this, quote unquote. So we know that and there were many things, you know, I'll talk to teachers about the certain skills that kids are having because of the scoping sequence. They're having They're doing those things with regard to vocabulary and even grammar in English language much sooner than they were before. So that's going to require us to look at the scoping sequence, the curriculum documents. And again, these are resources and so we need to make sure that we're responsive to the pace in which our kids move in Darien. Could I just stop for a moment? Um I just want to make a just a statement around
055the science of reading and the program. Um if the program was actually Well, first of all, we're all readers here around the table, right? So we know all learn how to read prior to HMH coming aboard. And why I say that is that the program is the program is the program, but the reality is that reading is taught through high-quality instruction. Now, the program is the materials that we use. The focus is really on what practices we're doing to ensure that our students are getting what they need. And HMH does a really nice job of bundling the the materials that are necessary to promote that. But, we are ensuring that the high-quality instruction is happening in 4th and 5th grade also. So, when we have professional development, for example, at our schools, we've kind of
056leveraged our uh staff meeting times to implement at implemented as time for professional development. So, you would come to Oak Ridge uh the first Friday of uh of our uh month when we have our staff meeting, we're we're we're having professional development during our staff meeting time. I I don't need an agenda to go if I can put it in an email, I can give it to my teachers. I don't need to have a meeting to tell them that. But, to provide them with some PD on really high-quality strategies, that's really going to move students forward. So, you know, eventually we're the the district's going to look at um you know, whether we move to a different program or not, and and that may make sense because then there's a through line K-5, but in
057the meantime, we're ensuring that the high-quality instruction's happening in our 4th and 5th grades also. Thank you, Dennis. And I'll just add, I know Dennis, you asked me this question directly a while ago, is the program is any program the answer to our question, which is not the case. It's teacher skill and teacher knowledge. So, programs are resources and giving our teachers the support to develop those skills, to know what to do with it, that's the key. And and just remember, HMH was chosen because it was the resource that had the most things bundled the way we thought made sense for teaching kids how to read. But, in 4th and 5th grade, we're not necessarily teaching that as much anymore cuz most kids can read by then. So, the focus is going to shift on
058now you know how to read, how do you read to learn, how do you read well, what do you do with those skills? Um so, that may require a different type approach. So, we want to be open-minded about where we head next. Other board questions? Dennis. Yeah, so just with in full transparency, I have no idea I have an awful skater, so I I I can I can play floor hockey fairly well, but skating is not my forte. Um and and just a point about books and kids bringing books I I just don't it made me recall something. When my daughter was in kindergarten, she brought home The Rescuers every day from September until November. My birthday was November in November, and I said, "Can you please bring home a different book for Dad cuz
059I'm really tired of reading The Rescuers." So, she came home, she's beaming, she's like, "Dad, I got a new book for you." I'm like, "Yeah, what I'm so excited to read it." She pulls it out of HER BACKPACK. RESCUERS DOWN UNDER! SO EXCITED. ANYWAY, I WAS LIKE, "YOU need to find another section of the library to look for a book." But um but seriously, question for me in in phonics and fluency, do we also teach tongue placement and how to speak and how to correct children on on ways of speaking and you know, th your tongue goes at your teeth and d your tongue goes at the roof of your mouth and so on and so forth, or is that only for special learners who need who need help speaking? Sure. I would say it's
060both. So, the best example I can think of is that um there's like there's hard th and soft th. So, the and then um three, right? So, you might explain the difference between the hard th and the soft th and then anything beyond that you then might talk about you know where your tongue goes or your or the breath or or things like that and then certainly beyond that initial approach if it was more specialized or if it was more articulation based you know that would be something that's more more specialized but certainly that's also when you talk about th or when you talk about those letter names and letter sounds first place to do it even we try to clip sounds so you say instead of ca so there isn't that a at the
061end so that helps with the pronunciation that helps when you have to write it or read it so there are those beginning things that you're doing in terms of that but anything beyond it might be more articulation based I'm not sure if you want to add on or if Shirley have anything to add on to that okay I think also the modeling that teacher does so when we you know what during I don't want to talk about COVID but I'm just going to give an example when COVID had happened and teachers were using distance learning and putting books on video video does not although they're nice to look at students don't get to touch the book feel the book turn the pages which way do the pages turn reading from left to right but also
062the annunciation that the teacher is doing during that read aloud is a learned experience for our children right so we take it for granted when we read to our children but they're picking up on tongue placement mouth movements um really all of that seeps into the learning experience I never want to go back to video learning I just don't you can't replace teacher um but that read aloud experience that many of you have with your own children, uh is is a learning experience for them, uh not just how to read, but how to enunciate. I had a second question as well. >> Yes. How do we How do we I don't know if you guys have ever seen these YouTube videos. There's this guy who has a whiteboard and just puts up simple words like
063here, h e a r, and then he and then he crosses out the h and puts b, and the guy's like and it's it's him but in a different he's like, "Bear?" No, he's like, "It's beer." And he's just it's very hysterical, but how do we deal with the discrepancies of here and bear and wind and wind and so on and so forth? And there's so many discrepancies in English that I I don't remember my kids learning them, but how do you how does how does the program work with with the I mean when it's easy, it's easy, but when it's difficult, it's very confusing. We do have a lot of whiteboards, individual whiteboards, and the board learning walk, we actually saw kids doing some work on their whiteboards, but that that they might go
064on YouTube someday with their individual whiteboards, but So, so um a lot of it's done it starts with phonics and phonemic awareness, as Natasha and Paula have so eloquently put it. Um the majority of the words that students um learn at the primary level that are one syllable actually are more regular than you think, but there are some irregular words. So, um what the research tells us is to first teach the parts of the word that might be more predictable, like you were talking about like wind and wind. So, you would start with the w and the, and then after that, you would code that and say, "Okay, this is what's predictable. Now, let's focus on what's not predictable." So, you're first solidifying the regular, and then you're going to the irregular, and then students
065map the sounds to the words as a I'm sorry, the sounds to the letters as opposed to simple like rote memorization, which would be more of a whole language approach. Um I'm trying to think what else, but that's really And then there's also high frequency words as well, which factor into it, and some of those words are irregular, and the same thing would be done with that. So, like a word the would be something that's used all the time that would be irregular, or the word of would actually be irregular, and those are words that teachers would interweave into the curriculum um very early on because it's necessary for students to learn them both for the reading and the writing. But, the focus with all of that is to focus on the regular um sounds
066and letters first that are phonemically accurate, and then after that focus on the what's inaccurate. But, there are very few words at the primary level that have more than one irregular sound, if you actually think about it. So, it's not as irregular as we would think in the English language. Did I get that right? Yes. Are there other board questions? Katie. Um this is maybe for Eric and Amy first, and I apologize for not asking in advance. Um I did notice that the materials today said K through reading, um but for the literacy, are we are we talking about writing as well today? Uh not tonight with the first That's coming separate. Okay, then I will hold my questions. All right. Uh I did Oh, sorry, Greg. Um thank you thank you all for the
067time and materials. Um when you think about the the program, are there any like shortfalls, issues that you would highlight that you've identified either the program itself, the materials, the implementation? I know we're creating sort of standards across any any issues that you see across any of that? Outside of shortage of books. As Chris said, any program is going to have things that aren't as good, and and I often think my husband's into audio, and he talks about how if you buy a system that has I mold a cassette player in it a CD player in it a radio in it all in one component. It's never as good as if you buy separate components, right? So when I think of a program that has everything in it, you're getting everything but it may not
068be the best of everything. And so our teachers don't know yet because they have to live it for a while and they have to see how kids respond to it. But the good news is they're highly skilled and so they're going to bring in things from other approaches or other things that they know and weave that in with the HMH program. So I think I can't identify anything specifically right now that that I would be worried about but I do think it's important for us to remember that there's a lot in the program but it may not always be the the best way to do it and so you you have to really judge that and figure that out with the learners in front of you and then adjust. I don't know if that feels
069like a dodge or if that's a No, that's and it's helpful because as as we think about going forward, like sharing those best practices, the Ascent teachers are bringing additional resources and like that's where that connectivity is going to be so critical and that communication is going to be so important amongst you all and amongst the teachers. Yeah, you know and it's it's a lot like what Chris said. It's really about developing the skill sets of the teachers for instructional, you know, capacity because programs come and go, things change, you never know if a program goes out of business or something. So we're all we're we're invested here and in investing in our people, not necessarily the program. So as shortcomings emerge, you know, we'll have the capacity to adapt. Are there other board questions?
070That's great. That's that's a I I love hearing that. Thank you. Thank you very much for this presentation and I'm sure we'll be excited to see more when we get more to the grade four five level after you've done that work. So, thank you again. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Okay. All right, we are now going to move on to the consent agenda. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Joanna seconded by Dennis. I'm going to go through the items on the consent agenda. We have approval of minutes, the February 26th financial report and proposed transfers, of which there are none currently. Proposed Board of Education policies 6840, graduation requirements 5130, attendance and truancy 5020, child abuse and assault response policy and reporting procedure 6930, parental access to instructional material and
0714400 social media. Additionally, we have the acceptance of contemplated gift for DHS band Nola trip. Acceptance of contemplated gift for Hindley teachers lounge renovation. Acceptance of contemplated gift for DHS boys and girls ski teams downhill ski timer. Acceptance of contemplated gift for DHS boys and girls tennis teams tents and roller roller bags. Acceptance of contemplated gift for DHS football teams coach headsets. Acceptance of contemplated gift for DHS girls film lacrosse film services. Acceptance of contemplated gift for DHS boys lacrosse film services. And community reports and personnel report. Is there any desire to have discussion on specific parts of the consent agenda. Joanna. Um the um memo on the curriculum committee. Um and I also I watched the um meeting. Uh it was mentioned that they're working on the schedule. I feel like this is something
072that we've been talking about at the middle school for a long time, trying to give kids more choice. Um and since we have this middle school presentation coming up, it would be great to really understand why we've been talking about this for so long but have made no progress. Um particularly when it comes to music and arts and the ability for a student to lean harder one way and another, you know, otherwise I'd have to wait all the way till they get to high school to do that. You can add that. Thank you. Um other board members asking for discussion on specific items. So, um I will just reiterate there were no transfers in the financial report. Um and I want to thank all of the different organizations and individuals who have provided these extensive
073gifts to our schools and various teams. So, thank you very much um from the Board of Education um in your support of our schools. With that, um all in favor of approving the consent agenda. That is unanimous. Thank you. May I have a motion? Oh, wait a minute. We have Follow up action. Public comment? Follow up action. Oh, follow-up action item. So, as a follow-up, we'll have Joanna's request to add the middle school Board of Education agenda of the discussion of the choice um that was covered in the curriculum committee. Thank you, Joanna. Uh followed by public comment. Good evening. If you would like to participate in public comment, please approach the podium and state your name and town of residence for the record. And please note that you'll have up to 3 minutes to
074comment. We have no public comment at this time. Thank you. May I have a motion to adjourn this meeting? Joanna, seconded by Sarah. All in favor?