001That's >> we should be somewhere. >> Okay. Good morning everybody. It is Friday, March 20th. This is a special meeting of the Darian Board of Education's curriculum committee. Our next meeting is April 9th. Um today we're going to talk about uh the DHS STEM credit change that we've already touched on a little bit um in the larger meeting and then our update on our tri-state consultancy visit. So I will turn it over to Dr. Burn or Dr. Fedigan, whoever wants to take it. >> Good morning everyone. Yes, thank you. We just have these two items today. Okay. Um the first item DHS stem credits will probably be a very quick um overview and discussion because this was already discussed previously at the board table and also um at the policy committee subcommittee and so we
002just wanted to bring this back because it is a curricular item in nature and just um to just uh ensure that we don't need any further clarification. Um as a reminder we'll talk about how this is really helpful for our students. It's a student- centered decision making this modification to our credits and I want to thank in advance um Christian DACA department chair for science 612 who um can also I guess help us walk through the presentation of the why but really quickly um there is a nine uh credit STEM requirement in the state of Connecticut as a reminder and our students were traditionally having one credit per science course because of the seat time. Thanks Cass. Oh, she gave it to me. >> Because of the seat time, um, students are actually having two
003minis in addition to their regular course, which is different than any other semester or fullyear course. So, because of the additional seat time and to balance the rigor of the course and and actually the student learning experience, there's the proposal to add the additional um credits, the additional 0.125 credit. And this is really because we have our students who are taking traditionally most students at Darian um high school take four years of science and four years of mathematics. When the Connecticut um graduation requirements were revised, the state's intent was really to help children have more access and more flexibility in their schedules so that they could um pursue different elective courses so that they could explore career pathways and have more flexibility. And actually sometimes in some districts the opposite has happened. So, one of
004the tensions here that high schools around the state are trying to kind of resolve is how do we ensure that our children are meeting those credit requirements and also still having that flexibility as they should in high school to explore lots of different things. We know when kids go to college, they often change their major several times, right? And change schools in fact. So, we want kids to have these experiences when they're younger to be exposed to more. And so this was really again a decision that was based on student experience because of the way the high school credit um the high school schedule works with the 8-day rotation. The proposal is for a fullyear course that um with the additional 0.125 credit being that we're now talking about a full semester course at the
005end of four year students would earn five credits. So this would be five of their nine required STEM credits. They would also earn the four for mathematics. And then there are other opportunities through the elected courses um that are really interdisciplinary in nature where they could also receive additional requirements. I would just add there are things in addition to um the graduation requirements like personal financial literacy which are incredibly important but yet again another requirement. We agree that it should be but the more requirements you make it just reduces the flexibility for our kids. So this is um a really good move for our kids. We've again discussed it at the board table previously and I know Mrs. done was here and answered a lot of questions that the board had um that evening. And
006so this is just a general um overview. And I guess the final note to make is that with regard to GPA, this um decision will be made retroactively. So the students that are at Darian public high school now would have the same benefit from the additional 0.125 credit and this will not affect um anything to do with GPA. There will be no effect on students weight. So um that's really the quick overview and I don't know Mr. document if you have anything to add from your perspective as the current chair. >> No uh uh nothing substantive but uh in regards to the GPA I know there was a lot of um conversation and questions around that at the policy table. Um and we really felt as a department that increasing the weight of the GPA
007would be um not only disproportionate but also not be aligned with our purpose of this policy to begin with. and and if we created a situation where science had a a higher weight for their GPA, it would, you know, our students are really competitive and and so, you know, the same students that we're trying to help with this and allow them some more flexibility in their schedule may choose to do the science because it has a higher impact on their on their GPA. And that that's just not a choice that we wanted our students to have to make. and and we felt that um you know the benefit of having that extra credit um and not increasing the GPA impact was was a way to do that and really give our students the best environment
008to make the choices that they want to make and and that are based on their interest and not uh based on um a positive impact or a greater impact on their GPA. So, that's just the one sort of addition that that I can make and happy to answer any questions that um that you may have. >> Okay. >> Thanks, Christian. Um I don't really think that I have We've talked about this a couple times and I think it makes a lot of sense. Is there any negative to this that you can see? No, I I think it really benefits all of our students and and not only the the students that have been sort of um struggling to to fit in their interests, but it it helps our students who already take four years of
009math and four years of science and gives them further opportunity to explore their interests that that they may or may not um you know uh may or may not have been doing in the past. So, I I think it's a really a win for all of our students, not just the students who have struggled in the past, >> and it's typical throughout the state. This is Yeah. We wouldn't be the first to do this. >> Thank you. Other questions? >> No. >> Okay. All right. Thank you, Christian. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, our next topic is our tri-state um update. It's hard to imagine that our our official consultancy visit for the visual performing arts was two years ago, but it was. It's also really impressive to think about what has happened since
010then. And Colleen um and I and Dr. Burn met with some other administrators and staff members really recently with um the tri-state directors and members who were on that consultancy visit from other districts um throughout Connecticut and actually New York. And it was a really proud moment for Darian public schools. It was also a moment to reflect again on things that we think we have accomplished and also to kind of highlight some areas of the work that remained for us. Um I do want to note before I turn it over to Colleen that her leadership in this work um especially you know if we recall in 2020 2024 it was kind of a tumultuous time with regard to just budget and staffing and some shifts in leadership throughout the district. And I just want to
011recognize her leadership. Um it she has made it look easy but the idea of bringing two distinct departments together who are both let's just say the visual performing arts people are typically rightfully so very passionate and the way she's brought them together as a really cohesive visual and performing arts department and the way they are growing one another and their each of their relevant areas of expertise to improve programming for our kids is really quite impressive. Um and our kids and our in our community are the beneficiary of that. So tremendous work has happened. there's more great work to be done, but I'll turn it over to Colleen who will highlight again some of our reflections from that visit. And then the last thing I'll note as I turn it over to her is we
012are, believe it or not, scheduled yet again for another tri-state visit. I had to keep playing with my mind with uh the scheduling of this because the way you do budget and schedule things out in schools, you're working over across multiple years at a time. But this visit will be in April, not this April, April 2027. And I know I imagine Dr. Burn will look forward to talking with our administration and the board about potential topics. There are a lot of interesting things to study in the district. So, it'll be another great opportunity. And I'll turn it over to Mrs. Thompson. Well, thank you so much for that introduction. It is also hard for me to believe that it's been uh it's been two years since we had this tri-state visit. Uh so, this is
013just a a quick um update on the agenda that we went over uh at the virtual visit. I'll kind of do a bit of a reader's digest version of that um just to remind those of you who were here during the visit and the new board members um what this visit was about. Um so just a quick recap um we uh the tri-state team visited prek through 12 music and art theater classes, interviewed teachers, administrators, board members, community members, and examined evidence. And we used what's called a consultancy model. So it's a three-day visit to provide feedback on our visual and performing arts program. and it's based on the essential questions that we posed and then an analysis of the of three of the consortium's eight indicators. Uh we had a steering committee that was
014led by myself and Jacqueline Samos and it consisted of arts teachers and school and district administrators and it included a lot of collaboration before, during and after the visit. Uh so just a reminder of our essential questions. We wanted to um them to examine how we provide access to a cohesive innovative arts education program. Uh we wanted to examine how we provide enhanced experiences for students who demonstrate gifts and talents in the arts. And we wanted to examine how do our arts offerings align with the competencies of the vision of the graduate. And then we also um had them look at our programs through the lens of these three indicators, curriculum and instruction, equitable support for student needs and shared vision and environment for change. So their report was organized in that way and so
015was our evidence. So um since the visit in the last two years uh we have had quite a few uh leadership transitions in the district. So, I talked to them about we have a new superintendent. We have a new director of elementary education. Several building leadership changes. Kate Dumulis is now the principal. She was on the steering committee as the assistant principal at the high school. Um, we also had uh some shifts in our arts leadership structure. Um, my position was uh relo reallocated to from director of music to director of visual art and music and Jacqueline uh transitioned from department head with release time uh into a full-time teaching role. Uh so as Amy alluded to um kind of the elephant in the room during the the time was it was right during our
016budget season where we were talking about uh staffing for visual um for visual art and music. And so those visit members um were here during that time and so they had some questions about the outcome of that. So um I shared with them uh kind of what ended up hap happening. So um we did have a reduction in visual arts staffing from 13.8 FTE to 12 FTE and music from 20 FTE to 18 FTE and this largely impacted uh teachers at the elementary level. Um the big highlight is that despite reductions, programming was preserved and classes continue to be taught by certified content area specialists. And that's really important. Um and then I just talked to them about the things you already know about the elementary schedule restructuring. Um and how the music teachers are
017now teaching um just kind of a different load. Um, and I described how we reassigned some teachers to increase the and that that meant an increased number of students for the teacher, but it maintained programming for our students. Um, and so we continue to collaborate um to talk about how to distribute those itinerant teachers effectively and uh we've also improved I think because of this our scheduling processes and timelines. It's we start scheduling early. we've already started looking at our schedule for next year um as a team and um we're doing that more collaboratively than we've done in the past. So those are some things that are happening now. Um another positive is that Kate Deulis at MMS has done a great job of incorporating PLC time for middle school art and music teachers. Um
018that's not happened before. So um we're reaping the benefits of that. Um so we did highlight that we've had sustained student and program success. Our outcomes remain strong. Um we were named a best community for music education for the fifth year in a row. Our students are well represented in uh regional, state, national ensembles. Theater 308 uh has won multiple awards including best classical musical for layiz. And our visual arts students um continue to earn scholastic art awards um and have their art um exhibited in very um prestigious places. So these outcomes uh reflect the resilience of students and professionalism and adaptability of staff. Um and ongoing evaluation of staffing adequacy will continue as program enrollment remains steady and elementary enrollment um increases slightly. So we're going to keep looking at that. Um access and
019equity was a highlight. Um they the tri-state team um highlighted the inclusive nature of our arts programs and we continue to be diligent about authentically including all learners in our classes before and after school programs, ensembles and performances. Um this raised some awareness um at the middle school level. Um there are students who do not have uh room for music in their daily schedules. Um especially those who receive special services. Um, now that we've highlighted this, we've been even more diligent in making sure there's access for those students through before and after school music ensembles and teachers advocate for students to stay in the program and offer unique scheduling options uh for students so that they all have access to the arts. In the uh in the report, we were encouraged to consider assessing the
020degree to which before and after school music programs limit student participation. In our first year of responding to staffing reductions, we piloted a new elementary scheduling model that moved uh elementary instrumental lessons to a rotational rather than a day of the week schedule and moved full ensemble rehearsals to within the school day. Um this ended up creating more challenges than benefits. And so we quickly re-evaluated that and we did move back to the before and after school model and this was based on widespread feedback. So the community um agreed that that was a better way to go and so we sometimes you know look at recommendations, we tried things and then we realized what works for our community. Um we uh highlighted that we do have many enhanced opportunities for our advanced students. Um I
021already really talked about that but that includes festivals, internships, awards, AP scores. Um we continue to uh look at um how we can make sure that all students have access to AP and honors art pathways. So we've um expanded some opportunities for students to earn um to kind of earn prerequisites in the art classes and um it's they also spoke about our STEM credits. And so it's kind of important that we're having this conversation together today um because they uh they did um want us to look at uh whether credit requirements were limiting student access to high school arts classes uh particularly those high performing students who were feeling pressure to take more AP classes and courses outside of the arts to fulfill their STEM credit requirements. And we now hope that with this um
022if if the science lab credit moves forward that um students across the spectrum of learners will have um equitable access to arts classes and more classes across um their uh high school experience. Uh yes vision of the graduate. So um they were very um complimentary of how the art, music and theater classes emphasize the vision of the graduate in unique and innovative ways. Um I've highlighted that in um some new courses we've proposed and we are making um you know so for example some of those um some of those tenants that might be um harder to recognize are very visible in the visual and performing arts. Um and we're making uh unit level vision of the graduate connections and that's embedded in our curriculum design. So um that becomes you know something that is is
023really just integrated into the program. Uh so we've had some exciting uh facilities updates. Um so at our elementary schools we're all are in the final stages of construction. Several of our art and music teachers have already been able to move into their new spaces and they will the rest of them will be doing so soon. Um so that's really exciting. Uh we had the major technology upgrade in the auditorium including the video wall that was highlighted so well and all of the tech that went into the lightning thief uh that's in their run right now. um that's a a very visible um way to to demonstrate those upgrades and we're excited that there is the proposal underway for some new spaces at Middle Sex Middle School. So those are all uh positives. Um we've
024had new courses, ensembles, and programs throughout the district and new and enhanced community partnerships. Um we've continued our partnership with Blues and Beyond. We're bringing them into the middle school this year. Um, and you can see, uh, DHS happenings just highlighted our, uh, Blues and Beyond presentation for Black History Month, which was really exceptional this year. We had a break dancer and, um, really made some great connections to, uh, English, social studies, music, visual art. It's a truly interdisciplinary program. Um, another exciting thing to highlight is that last year we hosted our first ever arts commitment ceremony, kind of similar to our athletic signing ceremonies. And so this honored DHS seniors pursuing arts studies in college. Um this was very successful and we're going to do this again um this year, April 29th. We'll talk
025more about it, but it's a great opportunity for students to come put on their college swag and uh have a photo op to show that they're pursuing um arts at the college level. Uh some areas still in progress. Um they talked about theater leadership. Um my role is visual art and music. Um, the MMS players in theater 308 are still considered clubs and are overseen by building administrators. I am a a strong advocate for theater and I'm a strong liaison between the programs. So, um, that is kind of left as it is for now. Um, they also mentioned uh balancing instructional time between preK through 8 visual art and music. Um, students currently receive uh quite a bit more instruction in music than visual art. Um there are also elective opportunities in elementary and middle
026school music that don't exist in art. Um so we're going to be uh continuing to work on that. Um again at the middle school level, Kate and I are working really closely on some ideas for um giving some students uh some enhanced opportunities for electives and we continue to look at our scheduling. Our elementary art uh moved to 60inute classes once every six days and that's been really successful. So, it hasn't changed the amount of instructional minutes for students, but it's really kind of improved the quality of those minutes so that they have more sustained time uh to work on their projects. And teachers and students are um really saying that that's been uh very beneficial. Uh and there are several other um recommendations that we believe are important but have not yet focused on.
027And so those are things that are works in progress. two years. Uh seems like a long time, but we're doing our best to look at all of those uh areas. Um they did mention strategic plan. Um a lot more uh visibility for the arts and the strategic plan. That's uh a little bit more of a a central office thing than it is in my lap, but um we've talked about that and I'm sure that will be a little bit more of a focus as we revise our strategic plan. Uh curriculum completion, we're in great great shape there. doing a lot of great work with curriculum. Uh we continue to advocate for student voice and on in access to our programs and that was important in some of the recent decisions we've made especially in credits.
028Um students were really um helpful in uh helping us understand that impact there and we look forward to continued partnerships, program evaluation and advocacy. So, that was I tried my I had a lot more pages printed out than I spoke about, but I think that covered everything. >> Thank you, Colleen, for the great overview. Um, I just want to pick at the the prek to 8 theater piece, and I'm wondering if now that we have the facilities where there is access to the stage, like I'm thinking about homes, how there was never really a stage because it was a storage vessel. Um, is there are you thinking about doing, you know, like a third grade play or incorporating some sort of more theater into the daily um, curriculum instead of just having it be a
029separate thing? Like, could you >> I I would love to talk about that. Um, I I don't know that we've found the opportunity yet to um add additional school day arts minutes, right? So, um, as we as we continue um, looking at that, I' I'd be happy. There's creative ways to do it, whether it's through a, you know, a a some sort of ELA unit or something where you do some theater involved. Like there there are ways to incorporate theater that they're not necessarily siloed. >> Yes. Hopefully we absolutely think about that. >> Other questions? >> Nothing. All right. >> Well, thank you. Absolutely. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. There's some good work being done in that department. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Um, all right. Moving on to public comment. >> There
030are no members of the public present for public comment. Okay. And they have a motion to adjurnn.