00111th and in accordance with board education policy as a senior member of the board I would like to call this meeting to order for the purpose of electing officers pursuant to board policy I will ask for nominations in a second and vote for each pos each of the following positions chairperson vice chairperson and secretary we will nominate and vote for each person separately and in order so may I have a nomination for chairperson I'll nominate uh Robin Nelson >> do I have a second >> I'll Okay, >> thank you. Are there any other nominations? Hearing none, I think we're all set to vote. All those in favor of electing Robin Nelson for the position of chairperson, please indicate by raising your hand. That is unanimous. Congratulations, Robin. May I have a nomination for vice chairperson?
002Robin, >> I'd like to nominate Greg Grahamling. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any other nominations? >> Seeing none. Um, may I um All those in favor of electing Greg Graham for the business of vice chair, please raise your hand. >> You're not going to vote. >> That is unanimous. Congratulations, Greg. And may I have a nomination for secretary Joanna? >> I'd like to nominate Katie Lublin. >> And is there a second? >> Second, >> Greg. Any other nominations? Seeing none. All those in favor of Katie Lublin as secretary, please raise your hand. That is unanimous. Congratulations, Katie. I will now vacate and hand it over to Robin. [laughter] >> You need to adjourn. >> Oh, meeting adjourn. All those in favor of adjourning the meeting. Sorry. So, I'm not in this chair.
003[laughter] >> All those in favor of >> Greg is >> that is unanimous. [laughter] Nice work. Done. >> Do you want I'll swap with you. See you later. >> Greg, you should go over there. >> I'll swap. >> There. >> Well, we'll put it. >> I need I don't think I've ever sat on that side. I'm gonna I'm >> getting to you first. Also, you don't need [clears throat] >> I would like to call this regular meeting of the board of education to order. The next board of education meeting is on Tuesday, November 25th at 7:30 p.m. Now, moving on to the chair report. Um, first of all, I would like to um thank my fellow board members for your support and for the opportunity to serve as chair of the Derenne Board of Education.
004It is a privilege to serve this community and I thank you all for this opportunity. It is with great pleasure that on behalf of the board, I extend a warm welcome to our newly elected board members, Jonathan Dunn and William Brennenberg. Jonathan Dunn is a Derenne native and graduate of Derenne High School with 21 years of experience in asset management. William Brennenberg joins our board with more than 32 years of service to our country as a West Point cadet, Army officer, and career in the FBI. On this Veterans Day, we thank you for your service. You both bring fresh perspectives as new board members, which will be a valuable asset to the board as we continue to work on our shared goals and vision for our district. I also would like to thank Katie Lovelin
005for your continuing service on the board. your experience both on the board and in volunteer roles serving our community on the Oxridge building committee as co-chair of Oxridge PTO and on the executive board of CDSP will continue to help guide our district in achieving our priorities in support of our students and schools. Finally, I want to thank our new superintendent, Dr. Eric Burn and each and everyone of our nine board members for your dedication and commitment to our students that this role requires. Dennis Dave Brown, Sarah Parent, Katie Lublin, Greg Grahamling, Joanna Walsh, Jonathan Dunn, and William Bredenberg. I am looking forward to working together with all of you under the leadership of Dr. burn as we begin another year dedicated to serving the students and families of Derenne and the important work of collaborating
006together to develop the strategic goals that will guide the next five years for Darion public schools. Thank you. Now moving on to public comment. Public comment. Good evening. If anybody in person would like to participate in public comment, please appo approach the podium and wait to be recognized. Once recognized, please state your name and town of residence and note that you have up to three minutes to comment. Please note the time with the chair. We have no one to participate. Okay, we're now moving on to superintendent report. Dr. Burn, >> thank you. Good evening and thank you for joining us for the November 11th board of education meeting. Uh welcome to our newly elected board of education members, John Dunn and Bill Verenberg. Also welcome back to Katie Lovelin who is reelected to the board
007and congratulations to our new board officers. I look forward to our work together on this Veterans Day. We pause to express our profound gratitude to all the brave men and women who have served and protected our nation. Your sacrifice and dedication embody the highest form of citizenship, teaching us all lessons in duty, courage, and selfless service. I'd like to specifically acknowledge and thank Board of Education member Bill Renberg for his distinguished service to our country. May we all take time today to honor our veterans and their families. Thank you, Bill. I spent my morning at Veterans Day celebrations at Oxbridge Henley and I was so impressed by the programs delivered by the students and it was an honor to meet a number of veterans from the Darianne community. We had programs at all of our
008schools today honoring our veterans and I truly appreciate the school community's appreciation for all those who have served our country. One last plug for tomorrow's fireside chat at 7 p.m. at Holmes Elementary School. The program is open to all in the community. It will be an engaging and formal discussion centered around the three C's of our vision of the graduate communication, creativity, and curiosity. And thank you in advance to all who've submitted questions. And finally, I'd like to thank all the representatives from the town of Deranne and our DPS parent organizations who took time to meet with me and the board over the past few weeks to learn about the new budget process. We had very good discussions and heard some helpful suggestions and thank you to the members of the board for taking time
009out of your busy schedules to join those meetings. And that concludes my report for this evening. >> Thank you. Um, now we have student uh the student representative reports. Rya, >> uh, so our students are well into the second quarter. Uh, we have a PLC day on Friday and our girls field hockey team has their state semi-final as we speak right now. So hoping for a big win from them. To Miss Nelson, Mr. Gramling, and Mrs. Loveland, congratulations on your new positions on this board. This board has done great things with you guys on it, and see no reason why those cannot continue. Uh to Mr. Freeberg and Mr. Dunn, uh congratulations on joining us on the board here. And yeah, just great to have you guys here. >> Um to briefly add on to
010Ryan, I just want to say that today it was announced that the second musical will be Tick Tick Boom, which is very exciting. And then um this Thursday, November 13th, uh the play Almost Main will have its opening night. So get your tickets. >> Thank you. Uh now we'll move on to president presentations, discussions, and possible action. Um presentation and discussion on fall update on the strategic plan. Dr. Burn and Dr. Fedigan. >> So Dr. Fedigan's going to do most of the heavy lifting for tonight, but I I did just want to share with the board. So, um, in thinking about all of our conversations around governance and, uh, being in that strategic position as a governance team, we've modified the presentation from what you've seen in the past. So, I I hope you'll appreciate
011that. But we've also already started to think about and begin a planning process for our next strategic plan. Um, a few things that I could say about that is one, uh, we will have a plan that is very much aligned with the core mission of the school district and the work that we do. Um, we will develop it internally. Um, and we have the expertise here to do that. We don't need to engage an outside consultant and we will socialize it and share it with key stakeholder groups within the community as we bring it forward. So, by the end of the school year leading into July 1, um we'll have a very robust process and a very pragmatic, specific um strategic plan moving forward. As I've shared with the board before, I live in the
012world of the one to three page strategic plans. I think we make ourselves very clear. We know what our job is as a school district. that plan is going to reflect that job with the vision and the mission of the school district driving that work and the vision of the graduate being what we strive for. So, it will be easy to see the links between the strategic plan and what we bring forth and our uh vision of the graduate. So, there's lots more to come. Amy and I have spent some time talking about this and we're excited about the process, but we're really most excited about the expertise in house that will help us develop a terrific plan moving forward. So, take it away, Dr. Fedigan. >> Thank you so much, Dr. Burn. And again,
013congratulations to our board members who may have switched seats and those that are new at the table. Really looking forward to working with you all. Um, in your board packet materials, you received a memo and the memo outlined that the purpose of the strategic plan is really to provide an update to talk about what our refined strategies are, to talk about our action steps and any evidence that are early indicators of our progress at this point in the year. For those members of the board who are returning, you'll recall that we last took a look at the strategic plan during our July retreat. So, we've been busy. It's been a very busy start to the school year. And the way this presentation is outlined is to really serve as a highle overview of that strategic
014plan. And what we're going to do is focus on three aspects. The key momentum of the work, which is really what um establishes what our priorities are for the work, the early indicators. So those are markers that are our ability to illustrate or demonstrate where we've made progress to date, and then our path forward, which is really identified the next steps for the work ahead. So I will um give a broad overview of each goal area and just talk about kind of the big picture um aspects of our work that have kept us busy to date. So goal area one is enhancing teaching and learning. I was saying to the board members that are um we had today orientation that's my favorite goal and the whole reason why we're here is really for teaching and
015learning and to support great outcomes for our kids. So um the early indicators of this work are we are working on classroom observations and ensuring that our administrative team is thinking about highquality feedback models and really thinking about how to calibrate the feedback that we're providing to staff. So you have a call with the educator evaluation plan the whole goal there is to provide high quality feedback in writing and um in conversation with staff and to provide coaching. So we want to make sure that our staff across the seven schools are having consistent high quality feedback. One of the things we did for example this afternoon was engage as an elementary team thinking about our instructional framework for K3 literacy and how we take the components of that and align that to look fors in
016a classroom and types of um feedback that would be high quality and consistent across all of the schools and classrooms. um you know that we're implementing our new K3 literacy resource that the board approved last spring and so we've engaged in a lot of professional learning um including on our early release days and during PLC time to really get to know that resource and most importantly to study instructional practice because remember the resource is just a tool. Um we really have to be thinking about what is our instructional practice so we can be responsive to the children's needs in front of us. We're very excited about the Orton Gillingham Academy, Shirley and I. That's a joint effort and um we had our first academy of general education teachers and special education teachers get started in
017this past year and we will continue um this is a spoiler alert in the budget to ask for some funds to continue that so our teachers can experience the practicum and that really is around um supporting science of reading and a multiensory approach to teaching children how to read. Um we are also thinking about our expansion of edup planet. So um I want to extend gratitude again to the board for um providing the resources to expand our use of edup planet. That's remember where we store our curriculum. And the reason why that is so important is this will allow our curriculum to be visible and transparent for families. By state statute we have to have all scoping sequences for all courses and all grade levels completed by the end of the school year and we're
018on track to do that. Um, additionally, families will have access to the stage one documents, and those really refer to what are the essential questions, enduring understandings, and core knowledge, skills, vocabulary that we would expect children to know as a part of their learning across the units. Um, we've had to really introduce that educate um first at the secondary level because previously only a very small number of people had access to that resource. So now the entire staff because of the board's support has access to that resource and parents will have access as well. Um if you we'll talk about this more during curriculum curriculum committee meetings but if you go to the website and you go under district information teaching and learning you can see the entire blueprint is there and you can access
019curriculum for every discipline and all grade levels. If you went into mathematics, you would see K through grade 12 so that you can see the continuum and the progression of learning. So that's exciting work. Um really our path forward is to think about how we want to um build and establish a very strong continuum for literacy instruction. So we've talked before about the fact that K3 literacy is what is legislated, but we know as a district it's incredibly important to have an articulated curriculum that supports our our readers and writers as they move up through the grades. And so we will take our time um being really intentional and in this next year ahead, beginning now and into the next year ahead, thinking about study of 45 and piloting so we can make sure that
020we have resources that are aligned and best meet the needs of our learners. Really excited about our work in MTSS, which is multi-tered systems of support. Again, that's work that Shirley and I are engaging in together with our teams. And the purpose of multi-tered systems of support is to ensure that all children receive high quality differentiated supports in their core classroom experience. And that those students who need additional supports would receive them at what we call tier 2, which is increased intervention, small group instruction. And then tier three really is around um increased frequency and duration of those interventions. And we'll be talking with the board more in great detail about that in December and talking about how we're going to be looking at data, our processes for making sure that we have consistency across
021the schools um and what the framework will look like. Remember that is really a framework that supports all children and the whole child. It's not just children who have service or intervention. It's every child um and the whole child. We are also thinking about revising the assessment calendar. As we mentioned before, when we think about implementing a new resource, we want to make sure that when we think about curriculum resource instruction that our assessments align. So, we want to look to make the assessment calendar more efficient and remove any redundancies and do a gap analysis to see what we might be missing. And so, you may hear a little bit more about that as well during the budget process with regard to universal screener. Um, the other piece is I just wanted to mention again
022that the science assessments, one of the things we're looking at is ensuring that we're matching the assessments that go along with the NGSS assessment, summit of assessment that students take at the end of the year. um so that we're embedding those IAB their interim assessment blocks that are standardized testlike circumstances um and opportunities for children within the units of study so that they're they're not just seeing that at the spring at assessment time that they have practiced throughout the school year in that work. Can I continue on with goal number two? Okay, >> Greg has a question. >> Greg, I just >> Is it on? There we go. Can I just ask a quick question? I know um uh just really follow up in terms of intervening, just a quick check in. Uh I know
023we've talked about like there's some professional learning days built in. How are the teachers doing? Are there any like early indicators in terms of like how they're adapting? How's the integration going? Are they getting enough professional learning too much? I know there's a lot of like shared best practices amongst the teachers as part of that process. Um how is that being received so far? So this year um it was really critical to have that time um for our staff especially at the K3 level to really shift our focus to the science of reading. And so we're very grateful for that time in the academic calendar. We know that that was a one-year need. Um we've this past veteran uh this past election day, I'm sorry. Um the staff had some experience with coaches from HMH.
024And when that happens, Dr. Dr. Falconee and I are really designing what the instructional experience should look like for our staff so that it matches and best meets the needs of our learners. There was really positive feedback about that full day. One thing I will say is every district that we've spoken to and we know this from our experience has said what I would wish I could tell my earlier self in like September and October was just wait because by January you're much more familiar with the resource. there are so many resources within interreading to support the needs and differentiation for all of our learners and there's a lot there. So part of that is the teachers learning the resource well so they can match um strategies and match what they tools uh to meet
025the needs of their learners. And um we've really benefited from having the teachers have that time to collaborate. And I should also add that we're thoughtfully using our time during PLC meetings to continue that work so that we're unpacking units which means we're taking a look at the modules what are the learning goals and talking about what is the instruction that's going to match that so that that's consistent across grade levels. Yeah, I that's really helpful update and I think that as we go forward that's a really good thing to track in particular as I know that we've thought about well what will this look out as we roll this out to older grades to make sure that if there's learnings ways to make it more efficient >> um that we keep that in mind
026and as we track it just thinking ahead like towards the second half of the year like making sure that we really do need those PLC days and time away from the classroom for the teachers. >> Yeah. And one of the things that I would mention is we are going to regroup um the steering committee as we had as a model in our K3 work and we're going to approach that as 36. The reason why we want to bring grade three teachers into that is because they have this vast experience from what we've just done with the K3 literacy resource and we want to um include sixth grade teachers be because we want to ensure a really tight connection between the elementary level and the secondary level. So, agreed. And our literacy work needs to extend
027up through the upper grades um for reasons that we've spoken about here before. >> Joanna, >> um just building on that um uh steering committee, the when you first put it together, it lasted like two years. There was a lot of time that teachers left the classroom to do some of the work that they were doing collectively. Is this steering committee going to look a lot like that or do you have a different process in mind? So the reason why that was we received feedback from the state in December. So we really only had effectively the last five months of the school year. So that's why it seemed like it was two years. So we use the beginning of that time to engage in district study and then that following year was when we did
028the pilot and then everything has to kind of fit alongside the budget cycle. So that's the reason why it was beyond one year. Um, no. What what we'll do is we're going to have a process where we begin to look at resources um after we've done a district study this year. We would hope to pilot next year and then we would see a recommendation in the following budget cycle knowing that we need to do some internal work to ensure that our students as they move currently from grade three to four are supported and have strong alignment in their their learning experience um because it's a different resource that's being used. The other thing as far as teachers taking time out of their classrooms and we know the impact to instruction and that's certainly something we
029want to avoid. I do want to say that it was a very powerful professional learning for experience for teachers to have that during that time. Great collaboration across the levels. They often don't get enough time for first grade teachers for example to talk with colleagues from the other four schools. Um and so that that was something and their their commitment to the work was incredible and we should really note that again. they went above and beyond and they often met outside of the school day on their own time um because they just were so committed to the work. In the year ahead um when we're thinking about how we're going to build that, we'll use time in the mornings um before school starts um primarily to engage in that work. >> Are there other questions
030on goal one? If we can do goal two. >> Okay, moving right along. Goal two is fostering a culture that promotes wellness, diversity, and inclusion. Um, something that's important to note is and the uh board members that have been on for a lot longer would know that we did have a diversity, equity, and inclusion report um that was developed by a large committee. The the key indicators or considerations of that report have been embedded and integrated into the strategic plan because we want to ensure that we have we're looking at one plan and we're making connections, making the work more coherent. A lot of that um those considerations had to do really with having a strengthened MTSS process to make sure that we're advancing learning for all for all kids. And so you'll see that
031there also it's it's around the climate piece and ensuring that we have learning environments that are really supportive of all students so they can thrive. The early indicators here are um we're we've implemented a new or we're implementing now a revised K5 progress report and that was something that we did in collaboration with DEA. And so there are um so you know anytime you implement something new like that you want to make sure you have a feedback loop so you can understand are there are we getting blisters anywhere? Is there anything that's causing um concern? And so we've gotten some great feedback. We'll have the initial implementation. We have parent guides that are companion documents. So, we'll help our families at home understand the learning progression and how those uh rubrics work. And then what
032we'll do is we will bring that committee back together again during PLC time or in the morning before school starts so that we can get feedback from each of the five schools and make any revisions as necessary. Um we want to make sure we streamline that process so it's efficient for teachers while also maximizing the communication to families and giving families the information they need to understand where their kids are. Um the school climate committees have all met. We're very grateful that there's a lot of parent participation. Each of the schools by statute has a school climate committee um made up of a school climate coordinator, typically the principal, various members of staff. Um in in many instances when it's appropriate, students will participate in those committees, and then we have a full district-wide committee
033that's overseeing what happens in all of the schools. And the function there is to take this the data from the school climate survey that is issued to students, families and staff and develop a plan for continuous improvements again so we have environments where all kids can thrive. So um the path forward I've already kind of discussed those things and we'll just know that the school climate planning cycle is iterative and every you know the the survey is administered annually in the spring and so uh we will share that data as we have done before with the board and the board will and all everybody will be able to see the plans that are established as a result of that data on the school's websites >> and I will just say when we spoke about uh
034when Dr. dad was here and presented a few weeks ago. We talked about what report cards used to look like. Um, I could not find one of mine, but you should definitely ask Amy because she's got she got some good scores in self-control and getting along with others. So, you should definitely take a look at Amy's old report card. >> I appreciate that, Dr. Vern. I had the opportunity last week to go through some old family things and boxes, and I did find my kindergarten report card, and I'm sure it will appear in a curriculum committee presentation [laughter] at some point. Um, and so one other thing that I would mention here really to add on to that point is the universal screener for MTSS. So remember that multi-tered systems are support of support is
035really important not only to have children have conditions where they can excel academically. But in order for kids to be ready learners, they have to regulate their emotions. They have to be ready to to manage their emotions, be their best selves, um, and be ready for learning. So that's part of that work when we say whole child, right? because we want children to be able to excel inside the classroom and out. And um you will hear during the budget cycle likely more um information about a universal screener for that. I've written to you before through Dr. Burns communications where the state was paying for that screener before and they are no longer. So that's something that again we'll talk about um in upcoming meetings, but it's something that's really important if you want to really
036have an MTSS process and adhere to that with fidelity. You're looking at academics behavior. You're looking at the whole child. >> Okay. >> Dr. again just [clears throat] one question just for our new board members. Restorative practices and what that is. I think might be helpful. >> Thank you for calling my attention to that. Restorative practices are um report it's a statute a statutoily expected um opportunity for staff to work with students when they have challenging behaviors in the classroom so that there is not just a consequence provided but there's an opportunity to restore harm and to think about consequences that would be appropriate and would have a more long-term effect. Right? So we want to it doesn't mean that there are not consequences that there's a misunderstanding about that there are appropriate consequences just
037like you know for working with your children at home and then there are also what we call teachable moments where you want the child to take beyond the consequence or you know a punishment if you ground your kids I don't know or take their cell phones away whatever you might do right we want children to take something deeper from that so that they can transfer that skill um it is statutoily required that we train our staff in restorative practice practices um annually. Everyone has to have that training and Dr. Dad supports that in her role here. So we don't consult out for that. >> Are there questions on goal two? >> Okay. >> Thank you. Doc um Dr. Burn is often talking about goal three developing a balanced definition of vision of the graduate and
038how all of our work should really anchor back to this. And so a highlight here is um it's required by state statute that each student in grades 6 through 12 have a student success plan. And the purpose of that plan is to form a triangle between the student, family, and the school system where everybody is aware of what the students strengths are, what their areas of interest are, and to help them develop a plan for post-secondary success. That's really ultimately what that is. We um I've mentioned before at this table, we have worked to do as a district to refine that a bit. Um really parents would have access to those plans through Navvian. So you can expect additional communication forthcoming and likely presentations at the curriculum committee level uh to talk about how parents
039will do that and how we're going to make those more robust. Um we're also making sure that as we revise curriculum, we're always revising curriculum with special educators at the table simultaneously because we want to ensure that we're planning for the needs of all kids right from the root with core instruction. And so, um, one of the things that we're also trying to do is being very mindful that when we're writing curriculum, we're making connections not only to the standards, the content standards, but also to the tenants of the vision of a graduate because we want children to be able to apply their learning in situations beyond the classroom, right? We want children to be able to think creatively. We want children to ask many questions and be curious. We want children to have excellent
040communication skills to be able to make a point effectively and hear a point from another. This is really important for their post-secondary success. So, it's not to take the place of the standards. The standards are the floor. They're not the ceiling. The standards are the basis um of what every child should know be able to do at every grade level. But, we need to make sure we're making those connections to vision of the graduate so that kids can transfer skill and apply within the classroom and beyond. Um we're also thinking about with regard to um the vision of the graduate and thinking about student success plans, how will we store and measure progress there? This is something that we often talk about at the board table. Some metrics are very easy to quantify. Others are
041more qualitative data. And so one of the things that we're looking at and you'll hear about during the budget process is how in fact will we collect these artifacts of student learning that demonstrate progress toward vision of the graduate for kids as they move up through the grades. Um think of it as like an academic scrapbook if you will, right? Um so we'll hear you'll hear more about that as um time rolls on. I don't know if there are any questions about goal three. >> Joanna, >> uh thank you. So, is there a difference between a student success plan and um a transition plan for a student with an IEP? Do you want? >> So, the transition plan is goals starting at the age of 14 that are required as part of the IEP and
042those are goals. A student plan is for all students. >> Okay, great. So then when we talk about uh transition programming um I would love to hear maybe in the future about how we are not just you know some of the stuff that you've already talked about that will be coming from the budget but um you know any sort of professional development you might have planned um surrounding how to write transition goals. You know what this should look like for families starting in 8th grade or 9th grade. Um, I know as a board we've talked before about having um a transition program kind of like what they have in New Kanan like the launch program where you go and um you know there's goals that are specialized for each student and it helps them from
043the transition from high school to um the community. So, you know, I I I would like to hear not just about that in the future, but also about, you know, how we're including all of our students with IEPs in these transition plans. >> And we'll certainly an opportunity um Joan to do that as well as some of the professional learning that's already going on for teachers. We're learning about mapping and working with our teachers. So, we'll we'll certainly either have the opportunity at a presentation or certainly in memorandum from from Dr. Burn. >> Um Dr. Federan, I do have one question on the student success plans. First of all, what is the anticipated timing for that? And in terms of budgeting, do we need addition or is there a placeholder? I would assume if we
044needed additional technology platform or is it an add-on or I guess we might hear more about that. >> So, we currently have um this a system called Naviance that probably you're aware of if you are a secondary parent really au parent who has children at DHS um will be able to do really this work through that platform. I think that that platform has been largely underutilized to this point. Um we do have some student goals already in there. So it it we're just underutilizing it. And so I have um a meeting within this week with a rep from Naviance and some key players in the district including Kathy Auster, director of school counseling um to really learn how we can maximize my direction to Naviance is I need to understand how we can leverage this
045tool for this purpose. It can do it. And so we're also going to be connected um with them as we move forward so that we can connect that work to our MTSS process as well. Like the all of these pieces need to connect. >> And what would the timing be is or do we have an estimate? Yeah. >> So we already we already are using student success plans. Um I think we have to expand our communication with families and just make them more robust >> and be more explicit about the fact that the students have these. >> Okay. So, it's really in further development and I this is something that at a curriculum committee meeting we can expect to hear more about more detail. >> Great. Thank you. >> Oh, Dennis. >> So, I have
046a question on and I guess this goes to Dr. Burn on vision of the graduate. So, we we've heard that our strategic plan is has a shelf life of five years and we're at the expiration date. Is the vision of graduate have a shelf life as well because it was created at the same time or is that written in stone and that's and that's our ten commandments that we move forward with or will that be revised at some point? >> So I I think we should always be taking a look at all of our documents. I would say just, you know, if I think back to the opening of school and the comments I made to the staff, the research is pretty clear about the skills and attributes that live within the vision of the
047graduate that this is what our kids need for success in the world today and beyond. So I think as a document it was so well done initially that sure we may have some tweaks along the way and and that's something we should look look at but it really uh is is a north star I believe based on where we are as a system and what the the world the business world the international world is telling us our kids will need to be successful beyond high school. Oh, Katie, >> thank you. Um, just one quick comment. I just wanted to say, um, Amy, that I really appreciated when, um, you mentioned how you currently feel that Naviance is being underutilized. And I think that that type of efficiency and that type of creativity about what do
048we have and how do we get more out of it? You know, what what might we be looking to build up and are there any tools for that? Um, that's really exciting. So, I just wanted to highlight that and say thank you. I'm excited about it, too. >> I wish I had my kids were younger because it's underutilized where I was before, too. And so, um, it's going to be a wonderful opportunity. Think about how neat it's going to be for parents to see that progression 612. And my dream is to grow that actually prek12. We wouldn't be using Naviance with our littles, but we can we can think creatively about how to do that to support transition across the, you know, elementary, middle, and high school, too. >> Great, Greg. >> Yeah. Just a
049quick followup on Thenis and, uh, Dr. Burn, thank you for the comments on that. Um, I agree just reooking at the vision of the graduate, I think there could be some tweaks. I think that we as the board should just take another look at it given we're doing the strategic plan. I know when I first joined the board, and I hear you say this word a lot, there's a a key word that I think about when I think about Darion as a whole, which is the word excellence. It seems to be missing entirely from the vision of the graduate, which is a surprise to me. So, I think certain little tweaks like that I think could be helpful just as we go and visit the strategic plan overall. other other questions. >> Yeah, I just
050I just would like to echo Dennis and Greg on this issue. Um I think it's probably a good time to, you know, whether it's a a couple nips and tucks or whether it's a deep dive, I think we really need to make time to look through this and make sure the current board is comfortable um that these this really is our northstar moving forward um as we do the work in the five-year plan. So hopefully we can consider that when we scope out the work moving forward. >> Yeah. Thank you. Uh, yes, John. >> It's always up. >> Oh, okay. Sorry. >> New guy, new guy is in terms of expanding the the software or the platform for that program. Is that something that we've already paid for and is not using to its full
051capacity or is there additional cost associated with more uh capabilities? >> So, there should not be additional cost in this next init initial implementation of what we're trying to do. I think that we're, you know, many times these programs also these software programs they develop their software and new add-ons happen and they're a part of what you have but maybe it hasn't been introduced or you haven't had professional learning for it. So I think some of that has happened and it's also about just being really consistent with expectations and having clarity around our expectations with staff and communicating what you know to parents what they can expect to see. >> Thank you. Are there other questions? Okay, we can move on. >> Okay, thank you. Goal area four is expanding the professional capacity of staff
052and I know there was a lot of discussion um and a driver I think in the recent budget negotiations around teacher retention. So this goal um largely connects to those things and it involves things uh and strategies on our part like having staff involvement um strengthening teacher capacity within the work having teacher voice in the committees and you've seen that with K3 literacy. That very same thing is happening with our MTSS work and with our PDK committee which is the educator evaluation committee. Um we're also making sure that we're giving high quality feedback not only to classroom observations but as teachers are setting goals and we're reviewing those midyear and end of year. Um something that I think is really special about Terry public schools is that we don't consult out for our the bulk
053of our curriculum writing. I we've actually been doing all of that here including the play-based learning with the expertise of our staff. And the reason why that's important is then the curriculum is more responsive to the needs in front of us. It's written by our staff for our children. And Darianne creates opportunities for teachers to collaborate. And I think it's some of the finest professional learning because it requires teachers to understand their grade level standards, what came before and where kids are going to a grade level, right, that they didn't teach earlier or where they're sending their kids to. So that's really important. We also you're very supportive as a board within the budget to help us send our staff out um professional learning. So we do that at times. We also have staff that
054we are able to send out for professional learning experiences who are actually presenting at regional and national conferences which is excellent. So our path forward there is really um I know that Dr. Burn has me mentioned about implementing classroombased instructional coaching model and some of that is thinking about efficiency. How can we be really efficient to provide um feedback to staff and coaching embedded support um without taking time away from instruction because that happens right there while the kids are in class with the teacher and the coach and also thinking about how we can be more planful with our time during the school day um to grow the capacity of staff. So we'll continue to administer that the climate survey because that provides an opportunity for our staff to provide feedback to us about their
055experience working in the team in Darian public schools. We had last year an aspiring leader cohort and Marge and I have been talking about uh taking this year off because if we have that every year we likely will run out of people. Um but we're thinking that next year we'll we'll likely bring that up uh back up again. And something exciting is you know we have had folks who have completed that program and then have recently been hired for administrative positions in district. So that idea of uh career trajectory and um retention and helping people grow their careers here in Darian is excellent. Um we also are thinking about our launching an inservice professional learning plan. I know this was something that was also discussed during negotiations. That is incredibly exciting um because it's an
056opportunity to also be efficient with time and money with teachers being able to experience inservice to get credit um for their experiences with professional learning. So we'll want to be really developing a robust professional learning plan, thinking about micro certifications for staff um and really thinking about the areas that we see within our strategic plan where we want to grow capacity of staff and offering programs in those areas. So that's going to be very exciting uh work in the year ahead. >> Are there questions? Uh Katie. >> Um thank you Amy. Can you talk a little bit about um the fourth bullet developing a professional learning plan and what that encompasses and how um some of the other aspects kind of fit into that in terms of you know the coaching model and the inservice
057and some of those other pieces. What does what does the plan mean? So one of the things that we'll be looking at I think is thinking about um you you know we have the full days. So what the plan would be is making coherence uh and what our strategies are between those full days um the PLC days that the high school will continue to have and thinking about um there are structures within the school day for example grade level meetings um PLC's a plan should really connect the dots between all of those experiences we want to be planful we also though want to provide an opportunity for staff to have choice in their professional learning and so I think that part of our effort with the Ped committee will will be to create more opportunities
058for that. Additionally, we want to make sure that the professional learning plan ties very closely to what the teachers goals are in their goals in. >> So, would it be fair to say then that um this bullet talking about developing the professional learning plan is really kind of a review of all the existing practices and and then what they're what what we want them to be going forward and how we will develop and change and modify and evolve. So that is um that's actually an expected function of the PD committee. >> Okay. >> So the PC committee, the professional development evaluation committee is not only to help support the development of an evaluation plan, but should also be helping to um make really important strategic decisions about professional learning in the district. So that would
059be continued work of that committee and that would take time to to really to really work with that group to ensure that it's consistent and coherent across the levels elementary, middle and high. >> We'll continue to refine that. >> So PC will be will be a part of developing this learning plan. >> Yes. Yep. And Marge and I co-f facilitate PDK with um Barry Pollock. Okay. Great. [clears throat] >> Are there other questions? Okay, we can go into goal five. >> Okay, great. I just would add one other thing. The the credit um for professional learning Katie will be something and we think about developing a robust like catalog of experiences for staff. Ped would be involved in that as well. Yeah, that yes goal area 5 is enhancing systems to promote efficiency, coherence and
060communication. Um clearly Dr. burn has m been making great efforts to um strengthen communication across the district and if you recall we used to have a separate communication plan and the strategies within that plan have been embedded and integrated into the strategic plan. So again that there's coherence between all of these aspects of our work. Um the website there was a launch of the redesigned website earlier um in the year. The board has approved um the diligent communities resource and platform to help organize and communicate what happens here in the boardroom. Um Dr. Burn has released a new Darian public school student and staff parent and guardian district emergency information guides which is really critical and important information for parents to be familiar with. Um uh we've also Dr. Dr. Burn has launch launched the
061Darianne difference which is the monthly newsletter and he'll be having a fireside chat. Here's another plug for that Dr. Burn tomorrow. Um and so those are all really exciting opportunities. Um again we'll be thinking about inviting parents to parent universities uh throughout the year. We've scheduled the first one which will be later this month on K3 literacy and then we will schedule um the remaining three sessions throughout the year. So you can expect soon a communication on dates and topics for those. I know one of the things that we've been talking a lot about, for example, is executive functioning and supporting growing um our community understanding of what that is and how parents can be supported out. >> I actually had a a request from one of our colleagues today wanting to select a topic
062for one of those nights. So Tim Tim Maguire is uh very interested in getting his hands on one of those nights or evenings or afternoons whenever we're doing them. >> Excellent. And to that's a great point. What we're what we are trying to do with the dates actually and I've mapped them out is we try to pick different days of the week because everybody's calendars are different and we'll do them at different times so that people will have more opportunities to attend at least one and we'll make sure they're recorded too so that families who aren't able to attend whenever they are or who want to reference them later will have access to do so. >> Um I have [clears throat] a couple questions on this. Um, first of all, with the board docs, diligent
063communities, do we know when the board would be able to start using that? >> I think our target was January. Uh, we have a meeting with them this week, right? Um, yeah, we have a meeting this week on that process. >> Okay. And then educated 21 approximately when would that be ready for parents to be able to access? >> So, it already is. it's already ready for access. But one of the things that we talked about in earlier today in the board orientation is um supporting communication out to families. And so we'll think about whole group opportunities to do that perhaps through some of Dr. Burn's messaging. We'll think about also opportunities to do that um at the school level um and likely even classroom level. So there everything is already available when you go
064to the district website under teaching and learning. You just click uh the curriculum blueprint. >> Great. Are there other questions on this goal? Greg, >> just a quick one. Um, and I don't know if it necessarily goes into what the initial intent of this was, but just um I think we're doing a great job with Eric's leadership in terms of communication with the community um at large and you know throughout the faculty and everything like that. um communication also should apply to the board and I'm wondering if we shouldn't put that on the topic list of things that we want to also attack and revisit and make sure that we're also generally how we're communicating with each other is um top-notch as well. >> Other questions? >> All right, we can move on. >> Okay,
065thank you. Goal area six, improving school facilities for student safety and access to learning. And um certainly Rich if there's anything from facilities you want to chime in on, but I did appreciate earlier today that Mr. Brenenburgg also said to me, but all of that affects teaching and learning, right? Which is an excellent point. Um so as you're aware, we're engaging in a study for MMS. The board um has recently approved uh funds for a comprehensive safety and security audit. So that's something that Dr. Burn has shared with us and um and the timeline for that. we will um be thinking about with that MMS study the connection to teaching and learning so that with um whatever is discussed there will be recommendations that directly support what's happening in classrooms from the perspective of staff
066and students um and the path forward is really completing that study and sharing findings I don't know >> and that's coming up at the next board meeting we'll be hearing from KG&D the architects who have been conducting that study and and that same night we'll have uh demographic uh study as well presented. So two important pieces for discussion. >> Any questions on this goal six? >> Okay, let's move on. >> And then goal set uh seven, improving technology to support teaching and learning. And um something that does to me uh stick out in our current strategic plan is just the notion of ensuring that we're using technology to create efficient operations for staff and student learning. We do know that we want to have a very um clear and careful balance of of how we're
067using technology, especially with our youngest learners. And so thinking about how to be innovative while also ensuring that children have access to books and hands and that they're engaging in play is in is incredibly important. Um, and on that note, I should also say that through last year, through the um, past budget cycle, the board's support of the play-based learning equipment has been outstanding and we've been able to purchase, you know, the kitchens for the classrooms, the sensory tables, all different kinds of blocks and so um, those are really being enjoyed and it's amazing what our kids are doing with those. An early indicator here of success is about the library media studies curriculum K5. And something that um while Mr. Magcguire, Tim and I weren't here when those spaces were designed, something that's critically
068important is thinking about how do we leverage those spaces so that they're really like 21st century and they're that they're really um learning commons for our students. And so there are maker spaces there and we want to make sure that the curriculum we have matches what is possible in those learning environments. So that's something that we're working on. um and the scope and sequence is done for that already. K5 and the path forward um making sure that we have our district technology council that is um continuing to look at AI guidance you know that that that technology is so rapidly changing um we Dr. Burn has mentioned before, you know, we just want to be very careful and cautious um with what we introduce uh to our students. We're very careful to ensure that everything
069that we use is vetted first through student data privacy. Um we want to make sure that we're helping our students and staff understand how to use AI as a tool. So that's new learning for everyone. Um we're also going to be thinking about providing staff access to staff resource uh technology resources and tools. Um and I know that comes through the budget process. And something else is thinking about how we maximize our use of Aspen, the student information system. And um I know that for one for one example um it sounds silly, but instead of mailing out the Smarter Balance assessment scores, we can do that from Aspen. So when you think about the the um postage, you think about the time of the people folding, putting putting everything in the envelopes, it's really not
070necessary and it's better to have an electronic record of that anyway. So we're we're thinking about how to use that to make our work more efficient. >> Are there questions on goal seven? Sarah, >> it's not necessarily a question, but more of a request. I would that the conversations that I have with community members are increasingly about AI and the use of AI. So I would just like to, you know, suggest that maybe through our curriculum committee meetings or through larger settings of continuing that AI conversation at this table and in front of parents is is >> and that that was the topic that Tim would like to uh get his hands on. one of our parent university sessions for so >> and you can anticipate that that would be a curriculum committee presentation as
071well >> and it would have to happen you know >> more than once because the technology the technology >> it'll change from one meeting to the next >> I actually I think I agree what others have said also about making sure that we're revisiting the skills that are needed as part of vision of the graduate and that AI and even if it's a focus group or some kind of a committee to look into what are the forward kind of thinking plans that we might want to have as part of our new strategic plan. With regard to that and what students will need to be successful, >> we we've also talked to Tim a bit about uh updating the district technology plan. Um so we've had some early conversations around that. >> Great. >> And we
072do have a district technology council that meets regularly of folks that are highly motivated to be thinking innovatively about technology and how it's used as a tool to support teaching and learning. um and not as a crutch or as a replacement. So that that is continues to be um our work. >> I know yeah colleges are also kind of putting together focus groups with their professors and everything just to kind of figure out how do you use this for the staff and the faculty as well as what you do within your curriculum and for your students. So I think >> for high schools obviously you know it's it's a rapidly evolving technology but the better that we can work on that I think our students would be more equipped. But I think that's a great
073because we want them to be prepared. They're going to be using technology out in the world. So, and thinking about responsible use also. >> Are there other questions on this area? Okay. Oh, Greg. More just an overarching. I mean, we we've sort of just gone through this update on the strategic plan. It's kind of weird to think. It was exciting to hear Dr. Burns say that he's already thinking about a strategic plan that would start in January. Um, that means that we only have what, seven weeks left on this plan that we just got. >> No, no, no. Start in July. >> Oh, July. >> Yeah, we'll start it really working on developing it out in January. >> All right. I was going to say, yeah, >> no, we've got till June on this one.
074We don't >> have a lot of time left on this one. >> Um, I am very interested and I think most of folks on the board have not gone through a strategic plan as demonstrated my by my ignorance on the timing start. No. Um so it will be very helpful to understand how you think about that process, how you plan on iterating with board members with input on that process. Um you know as we go through it. >> Absolutely. Looking forward to it. >> Dennis. >> Yeah. And for me I thank you for this. This is really helpful and I I like the condensed version but I'm struggling with the condensed version and the full version and um thinking of racy responsible accountable consulted informed. It feels like we're being consulted and we should be
075more accountable and responsible for this strategic plan. And and the point that I'm making is, you know, with the budget coming up, we have elements in here. Should we have some time? We have, you know, in in the full document, there's a little red, green, yellow traffic light that tells us where we are on track. But I'm wondering, you know, if we get to the budget, maybe we take this to a higher level. And it's if you know, you request X number of dollars. If we give it 2x, do we get there twice as fast? Do we get there? Do we get double the results if we give you more money? And and try to have that level of conversation as opposed to just this is where we are, this is where we're going, and
076let's try to think a little more ahead and try to build that into this. >> We'll do. Excellent. >> Are there other questions or feedback? >> I had one on uh seven. Amy, we talked about using it as a tool for students. Are we going to be thinking also of the flip side of using it as a resource for teachers to help free their time up from some mundane tasks to spend more time with students? I don't know if that's on the road map as well. >> Are you um talk are you talking about with AI or with edge planet which >> well I think edge planet seems fine where where that is in the track as resource for understanding um you know the benchmark what we're teaching to. I was just saying like, you
077know, I've seen where there's tools where you take an exam and the AI will grade your exam for you. And of course, there's always exceptions and you can always have a discussion, but you know, are we considering those tools and the make things easier for the teachers as opposed to just giving resource to students. So, I'm hoping that's part of the conversation as we move forward. >> Yes. Yes, it absolutely is. Um, there are really amazing things that you can use uh AI for to provide students feedback. So we want to again be thinking about how to be innovative, thinking about how to make our um work more efficient so we can be spending more time instructionally meeting the the needs of the kids before us while also having a very careful balance um to
078make sure we have strong relationships, make sure that the teachers really do know their students and are progress monitoring with their own eyes. But that is definitely um essential part of that discussion. Dave, >> awesome. Thanks, Amy. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. Other questions? and and as Dennis mentioned, so the appendix is a link to the full strategic plan with the color coding system that that the board has been using in previous years. >> Okay. So, if there are no other questions on the strategic plan, we can go to um the consent agenda and I will just run through quickly the items on the agenda. Um, approval of minutes. >> Motion. >> Do the motion first to open it. Um, >> thank you. >> Motion to approve it. Second, then discussion before the vote. >>
079Um, I'm going to make May I have a motion? Wait. >> Yes. Motion to approve. >> May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Dennis. Sarah. Okay. So, uh, is there any discussion on the consent agenda? And I'm going to run through the items on the agenda. Approval of minutes, acceptance of contemplated gifts for Henley projector screen, acceptance of contemplated gift for homes bike racks, and board committee reports. Um, I know I have one question just for clarification on the homes bike rack gift. Um, is it says it's a $6,800 gift, but there's it's just a $2,000 cost. So, my question is, is the installation cost $4,800? I was just curious about why that was so high, if anyone knows. >> That's what it says in the in the description of it is
080that it's for the installation and the actual thing. So, both of the gifts, whatever the difference is, is the installation of the >> is it bolting it to the school or something? Is that or concrete? >> I think you need a specialized mat. Um, you know, I actually had asked CDSP about this earlier and there's just a lot of steps and um I don't know if Rich knows more about it from the facilities perspective, but it's not just sticking it in the ground. >> Usually you have to get the concrete up and then you got to pour concrete. Um, so it's bringing [clears throat] in those tools from the outside vendor to do all the work. >> Okay. Thank you. Other questions on >> I just wanted to in general thank both Henley and Holmes
081and our PTOs in general for always pitching in and, you know, getting us these nice staffs. I agree. These are great gifts and I thank the PTO's for helping to provide more for our schools. Um, are there other comments or discussion on consent agenda? >> Okay. So, may I have a >> motion? Vote to >> everyone in favor of voting to approve the consent agenda. >> That is unanimous. >> Did Dave vote? >> Did Dave We didn't Dave voted yes. He hit the wrong >> You disappeared for There you are. You're back. [laughter] >> Okay, moving on. Um, follow-up action items. I don't believe we have any follow-ups. Um, and then we'll open it up for public comment. Good evening. If anyone in person would like to participate in public comment, please approach the podium
082and wait to be recognized. Once recognized, please state your name and town of residence and note that you have up to three minutes to comment. We have no public comment. >> Okay. Uh we will May I have a motion to adjourn this meeting? Dennis seconded by Joanna. All in favor?