001Good evening. This is the May one meeting of the policy and instruction subcommittee. And um our first thing on the agenda is to do the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Um I had let you folks know that um I felt our experience with the um the reading program uh had suggested we really needed to kind of work on some curriculum things. So, for the foreseeable future, we're going to be kind of doubling up on things that um Dr. Drito needs us to look at and then also some curriculum stuff. Um I would like to have the curriculum stuff if possible done in time for September or
002October at the latest. And by that I mean actually adopted as policy. Um so I had emailed out and asked if folks were okay meeting in in July as we did last year. I heard from Sean that it was okay. Um what about the other folks? Is that doable? I'm fine with that. Okay. I'm fine with that as well. All right. So um I will talk with Dr. deto and we'll put our heads together for a couple of dates and then send them out and you guys can tell us which ones work. Um I'd also like to get another meeting in this month so that we have some things ready to go to the board um as soon as possible if that's doable. Again, if it works, you know, if you can do it, I'd
003be grateful. If you can't, we can't. Um I say as long as it's after Basket bash. Um, and the next two weeks are pretty busy with stuff going on the schools when it's towards the end of the month. I can definitely do it. Okay, Terry. I'm flexible. Okay. Um, I am not flexible because I'm old, but I am available, so we'll work that out, too. All right. So, we've agreed to schedule a couple of extra meetings. Sean, you should um send Jimmy uh coaching schedule. So that way that's another thing we can try to work around. That's not a bad idea. Games. Yeah. Well, it's Yeah, I'll send it to you because I know May is crazy like baseball, soccer, awards at night, concerts, like um one of the things that had concerned me surrounding
004the um reading pilot was that we didn't have um anything like an established protocol to um vet supplies like textbooks and programs and things like that. Um and I'm I'm used to that. I spent five years doing that work toward the end of my career. I think that there um there it exists wasn't necessarily used for this event but um I'm getting different information from different people. So we'll bring everything to the table of whatever exists in whatever form so that then the committee is fully aware of what potentially has been shared. Well, we'll look through that, but I have been seeking is there a different knowledge based on different levels? Where where is everybody in regard to this? Well, um you would know more about that than I would. Um my experience in the
005district is that um there wasn't anything. um which either means it existed and everybody ignored it or it didn't really exist and there's nothing in policy that addresses it. And that's one of my goals is to have policy that clearly outlines a um meaningful set of steps to engage in when doing that. It will not involve us having anything to do with actually writing curriculum or selecting textbooks or anything like that. That's not our purview. But it will provide uh and it may be it may be in the form of regulations that get adopted with policy. It will provide some structure so that things are done appropriately and consistently and there's something folks can point their fingers at. No, it all makes sense. I'm working with the adins. Um like you had once said, there's
006no benefit to having policy if it's not being followed. So let's just make sure if there is pockets of knowledge, everybody needs to be on the same page and they there needs to be the oversight to make sure that it happens. Um and it's it might be, you know, slightly different. building a to building is potentially um what's happened. But yes, we are all on the same page that coherence is what we are striving for. And and the concern I have is that since there is nothing actually in policy, um there's nothing that anybody who wanted to push the issue can point to. Um, we ran into that with your predecessor. Um, they ignored policies, but in a couple of occasions, I was able to cite policy and force the issue and get things to
007be done correctly because there was something that was there. Uh, and I'll I'll just say what I've always said. I'm not worried about you. I'm worried about who comes next and which board comes next. Yeah. No, this is it's beneficial for the staff and for the entire district to have protocols that are reliable and that makes sense. So, there are samples out there and so Jim did provide some samples and we're going to make them our templates. So, I'm working with the admins on that and then it'll come to the committee so you can see it. that will be part of the work to really get completed um in the summer simultaneously with policy. So I wanted to just reiterate that and um one of the advantages aside from just the normal advantage of tailoring
008it to meet the specific needs and and expertise in this district. One of the advantages um is that we'll be able to tailor the forms I was able to provide were specifically a textbook adoption evaluation tool and a textbook adoption recommendation tool. But there's a lot of things that need to be vetted now. It's not just textbooks anymore. Um and you know things like the reading program, like uh major software. network. You'll hear me refer to this and um I'm going to cite it or explain it now and if you ever forget, you're not sure, just remind me. You'll hear me say things about trade books. That's the stuff that is used to support curriculum. And it's a term in particular that we English teachers throw around because we have novels and, you know, short
009story collections and all this other stuff. Generally speaking, that never goes through a board approval process, at least not in my experience. Um, it it's something where uh administrative personnel and teachers are allowed much more direct control and it's more appropriate. Well, it's also supports the curriculum. So, once you've already approved the curriculum, you know, they're we're purchasing materials that support that curriculum, right? And uh but when we talk it's one of the limitations just like we're never going to be involved in actually developing curriculum or selecting textbooks um or programs or whatever. We're not going to be involved in deciding what materials teachers ought to use to support those things. That is the uh purview of the administrative staff headed by Dr. Drio here. So, um that's just a little background. Um did anybody
010did everybody get a chance to scout through um the documents the policy documents that we distributed? All right. First question. I asked Todd this or Sean rather this already. Um is there any feedback from this different format? Is it better, worse, irrelevant? Terry, what was that? In full disclosure, I didn't get to all the policies this week. So, it happens. I I know what you've been going through. week. Um, as far as the as far as the format, I um, is there a reason her volume's so low? Hang on a second, Terry. We're gonna see if we can turn you up because I don't know how others are feeling, but I'm having a hard time hearing you. Can you speak now, Terry? Sure. Is it any better? Oh, it's way better. I found the button.
011I found the volume control from your house. I'm like, it can't be me. I just got broadband installed. Okay, good. All right, great. Um, even if you haven't read all of them, if you've read even one, uh, how do you feel about the format? Is it workable for you? Do you like the performer one? Do you have a preference? I like I like the format. It's definitely, you know, it it's a change, but I I like it. I I can I can deal with the change because it's all in one place. I'm not going back and forth between documents. So, for me, it's easier. Okay, Jackie. Um, I can work with it. Um, at reading through it, I just kind of read through the stuff that's not crossed out, and if I have any questions,
012I go back to the other stuff that's crossed out and colored and can know where it came from and why. But I use the the list of call the key um after and I just read through whatever works. Yes. So all right be a learning curve but I can work with it and I'm fine with it. Okay. Good. Um this was Dr. Jabrito's suggestion. Um it it took a little while for me to kind of figure out how to make it work. Um, when I did, I thought it was probably better, but I also thought it was a significant change and I ought to get some feedback from people before we decided on it permanently. Um, I like that it saves paper. We don't have to read the same. I don't have to let three
013different versions to like Yeah. go through. I always use the the meme of it's always sunny with Charlie at the corkboard with like the lines and the texts and the and the sticky notes. Like it's all in one place. So, I like it. Good. Okay. Um the first policy on our list 6140. This is um instruction and curriculum policy. Um and if you've read through things, you know, anything in blue is the um cape version. Um anything in green is stuff I'm suggesting we add. And um there wasn't a whole lot I don't think from the original policy that was um in the cave policy. So other than legal references actually. So um any questions, concerns, thoughts? I have a few but I can wait. Go ahead. Okay. Um, so my first initial question I
014I read through but probably not to the point that I could have to not ask these questions is does this policy require that all parts of curriculum is fully approved like mandated that the curriculum is approved by the board of ed before implementing. Technically it's state law. So the answer this is a required policy because it's legislated, right? No, I understand it's pol the the policy, but does that mean that any aspect of curriculum goes through the board before happening in in the in the again state law says yes. Okay. Now for the record um I personally don't expect and I don't think I'll speak for Dr. agree on. She'll correct me if I'm wrong. I don't see that um if a teacher comes up an idea and wants to tweak something that they can't
015do that. I would not want to hamstring them that way. Lessons that support the curriculum. So the curriculum provides really the direction right the right the scope the sequence the standards alignment assessments. So daily lessons is where that flexibility happens because my next question is where is the line that staff teachers and admins need to see permission. So in my brain that is visual. The curriculum is the bones that get sorry the bones bones of the body that get approved and the muscles the joints the skin are what the what they fill in based on the bones that we approve. Okay? Because I just want to make sure we're not um coming across as implying that our current curriculum is problematic. We're just tying up loose ends on the process is problematic. The curriculum is
016not necessarily problematic. Okay. I just So what our teachers and our teaching and our students are learning is not problematic. We're just rectifying and tying up making it very neat with a bow that the process going forward is very straightforward for introducing anything new or any changes or for reviewing. Yeah, I would I would put it this way. I am personally not aware of any specific curricular problems. Um I'm all I'm not in a position to say there are none. I haven't evaluated every bit of curriculum in this district. You know, I can't say that. But I'm not aware of any problems. I am aware of problems in process. Um, and that's what we're trying what I'm trying to shape is just um get things into what I think would be a more typical, more
017professional setup. And Dr. Drio is correct. She said it before to me personally and she said it tonight. If people are willing to ignore policy, then the policy doesn't mean anything. where it comes into the where the rubber hits the road then is if there's someone who wants to make things work correctly, they have something to hang their hats on if they want to object to something that's going on. Um, your concern is that the board has never seen correct? Not since Patty's been on the board, not once. And that's mind-blowing to me. So I just and that right there that the board for that many years has not asked for or looked into or seen curriculum. That doesn't mean that policies necessarily were being ignored. It's just that there was no direct con like
018connection, communication, understanding between the board, the admins and everybody to be on the same page. State will always be more systematically and deliberately. It's the district employees are to come to the policy committee, not that the board members on the committee going that direction. It really is. Right. Right. I just I think I'm just trying to clarify for my own like personal feelings is that when I hear a statement that policies were being ignored, my jump to is that who's ignoring them? Like are we blaming the teachers ignoring them? Because I don't think that's what we're trying to say. He's just saying that as employees, we have to adhere to the policies that when you get hired, you have to adhere to policies. People get into trouble when they don't adhere to the policies. And
019that's all it's I think that's all I'm hearing is the policies were in place. Whether it's policy or it's legislated, it wasn't happening. It's also in in the um teachers teaching contract that the board of ed has to approve curriculum. But the prior superintendent did not operate in what I would have been what I would have seen in my experience in my years in education. It was what he did was very different and very kind of loosey goosey. I don't see that as being a criticism of the teaching staff. um they're just doing their thing and which is what they're supposed to do. Um and the superintendent is respon is responsible for all the staff and the teachers. So they can be doing their thing and if they're not held accountable by their supervisor, it's
020supervisor. I mean it's superintendent's responsibility. Yeah. So this is like almost like like a like a fresh start like starting going forward like we're not reprimanding punishing looking down upon anything that's happened in the past we're just like you know what what we can only do what we can do going forward and this is our way of show and giving everybody the opportunity to really update curriculum so that when it does come that they feel like we recently worked on it and they're presenting what's up to date as opposed to just getting everybody lined up come and maybe there are things that we can improve upon. Yeah, exactly. I can tell you that Dr. Drio gave me access to to the curriculum. I haven't had a lot of time to look at it, but I
021have looked at some of it and what I've seen has been fine. You know, there there really from my perspective there is no needed nor intended criticism of teaching staff in in any of this. Um, this is, like I said, it's a it's it's a an effort to systematize process. That's all. I just think it's Thank you. I think it's important to be like abundantly clear the reasons why we're addressing this now because I can see how a conversation about now we need to regulate curriculum could be misconstrued as we need to fix some problems. No, I think people just didn't know to the community. They know like we're understood. Um, that's all I have for that one. Okay. Anything else, Jackie? No. Okay. Terry, do you have anything you want to talk about? Uh,
022the only thing I noticed was on page three. Hold on. Um, I'm not sure if this is a typo or not, but I'm assuming it is. In the second paragraph, in the sentence that is uh reading in establishing and approving, should that be and in establishing and approved. I was going to say an approved or not approved. An approved curricula for the school district and establish either change approving to approved or I think it probably I think initially I was probably thinking and and mistyped it. Um but I don't really care how it reads. That's right. You know what if Doc if you've got a preference just tell me and I'll put it in there. I think it should be and approving because if you keep reading on establishing and I mean either way it's
023fine with me. Make it be established and approved curricula or and approving curricula because the board of edatically correct in establish right in establish right now if it says in establishing and approving curricula for the school district the board of ed due consideration I thought it was in establishing and approved curricula for the school district the board of education will give due consideration to that sounds that's fine with Yeah, I'll make the change. Yep. Um, and you can see, just for the record, uh, the line before that that I was deleting, um, it does have, um, establishment. Yeah. So, I I, as I've said in at various times, I try to stick pretty closely to what's in front of us. All right. Um, thank you, Terry. Sean, anything? No, not on. This seemed pretty straightforward
024to me. All right. Can I have a motion to send this forward to the full board? Some moved. Second. Any discussion? All right. All in favor say I. I. I. I. That concludes me. 40. All right. The next one has to do with special education. Um, by the way, the more I go through these policies, I'm finding things that have not been updated in 20 years. So, that's another thing, Jackie, that's part of a response to your concerns. It's just a matter of catching up to work that was never done. Right. I just I can see speaking for myself personally having a response that was just from emotion of having this come out after our last month's meeting with the reading curriculum initially before thinking through it. My personal thought was that this was in
025response just the reading curriculum and I know that I thought she thought through it. We discussed it. I realized I was only thinking with my animal brain, but I wanted to make sure that anybody else in the community that heard it that may felt the same way unders like fully understood. I don't think your concerns are unfounded. Um, and I I won't lie to you and say that that did not create a bit of a fire under my butt. However, I had been trying to get curriculum to be working properly pretty much from the day I got on board. um because it was clear to me that it was an issue. I actually met with the person who was the superintendent at the time um and asked him to give me access to the curriculum
026and he was initially going to do it and then he got mad at me and he wouldn't. All right. So, um this one is on IEPs. This is another one that was, if I remember correctly, painfully old. Um, so same routine. Tell me if you got any questions or thoughts. Terry, you want to start with this? Uh, one question that didn't jump out at me in this really quickly on page three in that top paragraph where it discusses the the parents guide to special education. Um, y the district typically does send that out at the beginning of the school year, but I'm wondering if we should update that language. Um, because as a courtesy a lot of times if our uh PPT is later in the year, our district is kind enough to send out
027a notice with that letter. Um, that's usually provided. Um, so for example, I just had one this month and it was nice to have that sent to me as part of the the notice. I think that's pretty much standard operating procedure in most districts. It it was in mine. Having said that, I certainly don't have a problem adding that that in to the policy to to uh make it sort of a a clearer mandate if folks want to do that. Yeah. I also had a PPT in the last month and was delighted to get all of the information sent to me afterwards. So like I had it all in one place with everything on there. It helped ease my concerns actually. Is it right here? It says at HPPT. Yeah. By law, they have to.
028It is true. Yeah. I'm glad we're following. Well, I'm just saying at like I had a meeting in March, right? And then it wasn't the end of the year, but like right after the meeting. Yeah. This just says annually. It doesn't say um never mind. Yeah. Annually, the guide and rights and then they have five days after to get you everything all the everything from that meeting. Okay. Yeah. So, that's something that we absolutely have to do. Well, we're doing it. So, I know. That's great. That's great. So, again, we're revising this policy just to be in line with the law, not because something is wrong. And um I if somebody wants to suggest a change to the language, I don't have a problem with that. And it's starting to sound like people think maybe
029we don't need one. I I'm mildly confused. After rereading this, like I said, I just skimmed through this very quickly. After rereading this, it or it does say that the information is going to be provided at each PPT. So, that covers it. Yeah. Okay. Um Sean, anything? I didn't I didn't have any uh changes to the actual language or anything. I was just there was a couple of gists of the like formatting grammatical stuff. I don't know if that'll stay like that, but that was just as going through all the uh other ones. And then when you get on to page three, it's just all sudden changes like every other policy where it has it's got a a and then it'll be indented one, two, three. And these are all sudden Roman and I go
030silly stuff. But all a sudden it's Roman numerals. That's not silly stuff. That was your original. That's the original. And what's going to happen, and you're going to see this on other things, too. I tried correcting this when I uh when I use Word, I I got this advice from Dr. a burrito where it can take one document, take a second document, put them together, do all the work for you. And it it does a lot of work for me, but it also makes it impossible to make changes, including things like format, without it then marking the changes as if it's part of one of the original documents. It's very screwy. So, what will happen on something like this and also um in all likelihood on other documents you're going to see tonight and in
031the future is that I or Kelly are going to have to go through make a copy of the document and then use the copy to correct the formatting. Gota point though that Sure. I just It's just uh just something I noticed. It is It is weird. I I spent over an hour trying to figure that out and finally decided, okay, the great gods of Microsoft don't want me to do this. Gotcha. Okay. And this is from like 2012, so maybe they were using Roman numerals at that time and now Kate is not. Yeah. Right. So that was something. And then same thing on and again if that's what it is. It's like on page five. It just seems like the paragraphs were broken up where it has spaces. You know, this applies got a space
032students under and then it's just got all these weird spaces in between. And then like all those little broken Yeah. All that stuff underneath it. That's exactly the section I was just talking about that I spent an hour on. I finally gave up. So again, I did. I'm not kidding. I spent an hour on. I believe you. I can tell. Yeah. And at least that shows you with a fine tooth comb to even be pointing that stuff out. But no, no, you're fine. But so yeah, other than that really there's absolutely no, you know, change to to the verbiage of anything. Just try to standardize the stuff as we go along. Um I will um Yeah. Okay. When is our next full board meeting? The 14th. We have plenty of time. We have time. Yeah.
033I will um correct this stuff. I may um I may send it out and just say people put your eagle eyes on this and tell me if I missed anything in terms of formatting or grammar like you said, anything like that um before I give it to Kelly for a final um because I don't want her to have to waste time doing and redoing things. Um what uh also just silly question probably from myself just not knowing is uh in that same with the Roman numerals where it just says a representative of the local education agency who is called I was just that's that's a special term and and I think it's part of the law we're an LEA school districts Connecticut refers to us as a local education agency because you know a district
034might look differently depending on the who they serve and but it everyone's considered an LEA. Got it. Gotcha. I just wasn't and and it's something useful to help you understand what she's talking about. There are districts, for example, regional district number four, which only operates at the middle school and high school level, and the towns that feed into it, have separate districts just for their elementary schools. And um yeah, their local education, like I said, the LEA for the for the grade three kid is different than the one from the grade nine kid. Even though Yeah, it's bananas. They have the same zip code. Yeah. Wow. Okay. All right. Um, any other questions or discussion? Not at this time. All right. Um, hearing none. Can I get a motion to send this one forward to
035the full board? So move. Second. Discussion. Hearing none. And we get a vote. Please say I if you want to do that. I. I. I. I. Okay. This one's going forward, too. Cooking right through these things. Um, see, it helps all this. I'm sorry. All this be separate. It helps. I just noticed that some are have page numbers and others don't. Like this next one there are. But it was great to have page numbers on the other. Um, that's just me missing it at some point. Um the others have page numbers. Yeah, there there are a couple I didn't get it. You said page three. We all went to page. It is help and printing on Well, that's why a lot. Yes. The fact that they're individual it's really easy because as opposed to the
036running document where you were like which getting confused. The only thing um which is a bit of an issue and this was my mistake. Um I had promised Chris Eard I'd send all his stuff to him before the meetings. Yeah. And with the separate documents and not having a Google share available. Yeah. It just didn't occur to me. So I will I saw him I I saw him attached to your email. I thought Oh, maybe I did. Maybe I forgot. I actually verified to make sure Okay. that he So like I saw Okay. All right. I guess I forgot that I did that. I will just say I appreciate, you know, in your email just I only say just um that you referenced at like the end like okay, we're this one, this one, this
037one, this one, and that one because then I would made sure that I wasn't missing any. So I appreciated that. To be honest, I was working on so many of these things uh so rapidly I was losing track. Yeah. I made that list so I could keep track of. So when there is one Yeah. And I thought, well, if it's helping me out. Yeah, just this is that email. So, for the next meeting, we're going to be digging this one, that one. That was okay. Good. I could go through and make sure I found them all. All right. Now, um the next one bounces us back into curriculum stuff. Um and it's the same kind of thing. Uh what's in blue is um CAB. What's in green is suggestions from me. Um, red striketh through
038is suggest is deleted by the program, you know, because it doesn't match up with the cave doc. Um, and the only thing I think I really made much change on, I did this a few days ago, so I might be missing something here, but I think the only thing I really made significant changes on were um just making sure that it wasn't just textbooks that were getting vetted and approved because it's, you know, it's not a hundred years ago. We're doing a lot with a lot of stuff that is not just textbooks. And it doesn't mean that a supplement that's used for a week in a classroom has to get approved, but if it's a major support to the curriculum, um then it needs to be. Uh the other um changes which uh they're not
039in green. This is where there's italics in blue with a double strike through. If you look at the um second paragraph on the first page, they were suggesting a twothirds majority vote um of all the board members. I'm saying a majority vote of the board members in attendance. Just to be clear, I'm sorry. We're looking under instruction right now, right? Uh yes, sir. Yes. And and the reason for that is purely practical. Um if if we don't have everybody there, does that mean we can't, you know, if a couple of people disagree, does that mean I just I don't want things getting held up for silly reasons? Teachers put too much time into this stuff. And also, if there's members that aren't participating in meetings, should we have to put everything on hold in order
040to support something? There would be that. I have a couple questions mostly for my own clarification again. Um, do we have a process for eliminating because it says so at the end of that paragraph we're talking about um, the board preserves the right to have specific items eliminated for just cause. What do we have that process? And if so, what is that process? There is a policy if we're trying to get rid of materials. Okay. Do we need to update that as well or going through as quickly? There might be outdated old text things that the board of ed actually use taxpayer money to purchase. There is a process to Oh, we want to purge this type. Yeah. So, we will definitely Okay. I make sure that that Well, I mean, I'll even look into
041it aligns with the same the same process of implementing and bringing in should be similar to removing. Typically, what happens if you're removing something is one of two things. Um, it's just painfully old and no longer appropriate. And there is in many districts there's a policy for how you get rid of old stuff. Um, in Wallingford when I was there, they could make a motion to donate the books which were then shipped off to Africa. Literally, they would go to a charity that would take them for poor people in Africa. Um, if it was material that might be, you know, we have a a riding lawn mower which is really old, but it still runs. They need a new one. Okay, we'll dispose of this and then it would be put on a a list
042that would be provided to the public. and people could make bids on it and buy the stuff. That's one way things get. The other is if if there was a community outcry for some reason. Um there's typically a procedure, and I'm sure there is one here, but I haven't found it yet because I just haven't gotten that far. Um there's typically a procedure where uh there's policy for how parents can find objections to a particular instructional piece of support. Um and then there's a process for that. Um I am pleased to say it happens very rarely. Uh, I in my entire career, I think I dealt with that one time. I wasn't even a teacher, but I was running the curriculum council in the district I was in. And we had um somebody complaining about
043this one book that was used in the middle school. And the teacher met with me and said, you know, are you going to defend this? And I said, well, let's be clear here. No, I'm not going to defend this book. It's garbage. I don't know why you're using it. I will defend the idea that the parent doesn't get to just pick and choose and make everybody follow their preferences. And there was a discussion and I'll never forget this. There was a discussion during the meeting um about um censorship and you know a lot of holier than now. We don't believe in censorship. And I waited till they took took a minute to get a breath and I said, "How many of you would give a Playboy magazine to your third grade kid?" Oh, you do
044believe in censorship. Gotcha. So, there's a lot in between. I hold cards. It's censorship and that's what we and and I don't disagree with that. But there are some people who draw lines that are too black and white, right? The nuances is all the messy stuff in the middle, which is what I'm trying to get to. So I guess I think what my question was which doesn't have to be answered now because I can go back and look at the policy is if something came so far that it came to the board to vote whether something get removed or not. We have a policy for that that would line up with a majority vote of all the members board in attendance. I don't I'm not going to lie to you and tell you I know
045that. All right. Cool. I'll I it may be something we're gonna have to work on just like we're working on a lot of other stuff. Um so may I Sure. Um so this is double-sided. So the third page under instructional materials number one where it has individual project. Do you see where that starts? When you continue reading it talks about industrial arts, homemaking. We don't really have homemaking. courses like I wonder if we can update the language to career and teched. This is straight out of cave and I have no problem with you making changes. Career and teched. Yeah. Like these projects um a career in teched will kind of encompass CTE encompasses all of that including culinary arts, family consumer science which maybe was called homemaking. I'm not sure exactly how far back because
046that was not when I was in school. Um, it was called back when I was a kid. Home economics. Yeah, this is called homemaking. I need that class. I'm just saying I I I think I think I repressed the knowledge of what it actually said. It was too old for me. They put that adult education. I need fresh pressure. Okay. So, I would think CTE would cover because all careers, you know, are under What about where it says art courses? Art courses, too, because I think it's visual arts is what they're really talking about where you have these hands-on projects. Um, but CTE art courses, I it's fine. Industrial arts, CTE art courses, we can, but just the homemaking was a little strange. I I don't disagree with you. Like I said, this is cave
047language. Um, but we can do career and tech education and art courses. Okay. Should we because the arts are not typically under CTE. They're under the performing arts, visual and performing arts. Steam cover that like they added an A to STEM. So, it's science, technology, arts. No, because Right. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about very specific um projects where like in math you wouldn't necessarily be doing an industrial arts project with tools and things like that. That's what they're trying to refer to here. Um so all right. So I'll make that change if you guys want. That's not a problem. Um anything else? Uh I guess just on the last well on the text page the last page just the last pretty much the last sentence I was just curious according
048to I mean we talked about it earlier which seems like a contradicted according to state law the board of education will make final textbook selections. Yeah that's true. That's why the reading I was just I was just like the approvals. Yes. That's what they mean by selection because we're not selecting them. That's why I thought you just mentioned earlier that we weren't selecting approving. So in a way by approving is why they're using selecting. Yeah. Will the final textbook? I don't have a problem with changing that to approval because I think that's certainly my understanding and intent. The only question I wonder is since they're citing state law, do we need to ask a lawyer if that's a problem? I just read it. It sounds like we're going to be picking textbooks. I mean, that's
049just the way I agree with you. I agree with you. Um, it's We'll approve final textbook selection. Yeah, I like that. We'll approve text. Um, I like that better. That's great. Perfect. Good job, Jackie. Anything else? Good. All right. Um, hearing nothing. Can I have a motion move to approve this to go to the full board? So moved. Second. Second. Okay. And um Can we get a vote, please? All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. Okay. Um, it just occurred to me. I have not been writing down, which I usually do, who is making which motion. Have you done that? It's It's okay. It's on It'll be on the Yeah, I made the first one. It'll It'll be in the Okay. All right, we are cooking through these things here. Um, this
050next one is one of the ones that um, Dr. Drito asked us to take a look at. And let's see if you guys have any questions or concerns. This is on the surveys. Well, you know what? Yeah, that's right. Um, any questions or concerns? [Music] Just on page Well, I guess it would be two. Okay. Um just a simple tiny grammatical I think where it starts under the red note the term survey where that's crossed out says prior to administering a survey the board and it's it's I got that circles too but then it's blue was added or so it's like the board orange uh yeah I don't get that that's a cave error that and you can tell I was crossed out the right thing, right? Yeah. It could be a typo on their
051end. I think it is. So, like here's an example of policy that was not being followed. That's a problem. Right. So, the the survey on emotional well-being needed to have letters go out to families in advance and they've been doing that for a couple years without that going out. So, so this year is the first time, right? Exactly. That's something that we want to make sure that we're adhering to. And then can we just add um because we use parents pretty much everywhere else, but that number one underneath what we were just talking about, political affiliations or beliefs of the student or the students parents. Yeah, we could do that because it's keeping it consistent because at the bottom it was acting as our guardian. Nope, that's fine. Anything else, folks? Just actually on that
052same area. I just kind of wanted to talk through it because I wasn't sure. Number five where it says critical appraisals of other where so this is saying in addition no students may without perm take a part in a survey you know or evaluation that reveals information concerning. So, I was just wondering when it says critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have close family relationships. I was it does it have to say like I'm just with if it struck out with whom have close family relationships if it just said critical appraisals of other isn't that like critical appraisals of other individuals itself? Well, why does it have to be close relationships? It's not unusual. um for schools to survey and teachers. I used to do this. Um I surveyed my students and asked
053for feedback. Um and they were encouraged to fill the surveys out and they did them blind, meaning I had no way of knowing who had said what. So they had every right to be critical of me. We're not in a close personal relationship. And in that regard, it's probably not something anybody needs to worry about. I don't I'm not gonna lie to you. I don't know that I even understand that whole thing. I've never encountered it, but for whatever reason, it exists in and it had to have been in K because it's in black type and it's still there. Can we take out family unless we're willing to start defining what family is and just have it close relationships? Because I think that's the language from the law. That's why probably like that I don't
054relatives for some reason but like close like relationships with rel like there I don't know something must have happened for them to put it in to me like relatives and family aren't always let me ask you guys a question circle um if we can find out that it's legal would we agree delete that whole thing. Number five. Yeah. So, it could it could literally be revamped as uh or that reveals information concerning conflicts of interest because that's essentially what it's saying right there. No, it's very different. How so? This I think and I could be wrong. Like I said, this is a little weird to me too. Um, to me this sounds because if it was conflicts of interest, they would just say that it's a very common legal term. Um, I think this has
055to do with we don't want to mess up families and get into conflict with them. And that's not conflict of interest. That's interesting conflict. It's a little different. Sure. I would, like I said, I would have no problem deleting that if it's if it's legal, but we'd have to ask the attorney that. Um, I wouldn't want to get I can ask the attorney. You want me to ask? I don't want to move this. Yeah, if you don't mind. No, I don't mind. All right. I don't mind. But we're not moving this one. Well, no. What I was just going to say is uh could we agree that we will move it forward either with that line if it's required or without it if it's not? Okay. You got it. Yes. Okay. All right. So, can
056I have a motion to that effects? Wait. I have one. Oh, go. Oh, I'm sorry. One one section of this um the way that it's written is a little bit confusing. It's on Well, there's no page number. So, the third page, it's in blue. This is Cabe's language. And I think it could be tightened up a little bit. Um because uh this this it reads as the line that says for surveys not funded in any part of by the federal government, parents or guardians need not give written consent but must instead be given prior notice of the survey with the opportunity to op their child out of participation if survey elicits information yada yada. It's legal ease. That's why it sounds like any of the eight areas that we were just talking about. Right? So
057there in my mind as I was reading it, there's a little confusion between opt out versus prior consent for surveys. And what I'm suggesting is because it's all written as one sentence, it might be easier to break it up and say something like for surveys funded by the federal government that include any of the eight protected information areas that prior written parental consent is required. Period. And then for non-friendly funded surveys involving the same sensitive topics, parents must be notified in advance and provided the opportunity to opt out their child. I'm not sure that that's exactly that way. You're you're kind of because leaving it the way that it's written, it just it's kind of convoluted. And some might interpret parental consent means you were given the opportunity to opt your child out, but you
058didn't opt them out. Therefore, you gave consent because the information was sent to you and you had the opportunity to say, "I do not give consent." What I think I would suggest if you want to break that up would be the following. For surveys not funded in any part by the federal government, parents and guardians need not be given written consent. Period. However, they must instead be given prior notice of the survey, blah blah blah. Yeah, that breaks it up. Yeah, that's I'm fine with that. Okay, because I think that's I think it's a whopping of a sentence. I remember when I read it the first time, I I think I read it two or three times before I felt like I knew what it was saying. This this has to be a sentence that
059Jim Franchesy cannot stand. You know, it's funny. You're right. I didn't like it. But I was just trying to blow through so much stuff. I spent a lot of time on this. All right. And and just sticking on that same thing, just questions. Sure. because you maybe it's because I have a note right here as far as on that this the paragraph above in that same the parent garden parents guardian shall have the right to inspect that paragraph how do parents know two weeks in advance of the survey like so it says such request I know this is just a question to me or such request shall be made in writing the response to be at least two weeks in advance survey to So if they need to be so we have per policy that
060you'd be sending out notifications of a survey being given. Is that what it is? I think that's what Dr. Drio was referencing before about not happening is now happening in advance. So then they should know which would then make I think that's what she was addressing. Is that what um what that tells me though the law says you you are supposed to inform families they should know that their children which would give them the opportunity to give the two week or at least ask what is it about what are the questions because we do get parents that did that this year and they were then okay like here are the questions this why we feel it's important at least you're sure you're you're not shunning um the guardian you're action engaging in communication. Yeah. Um
061I agree with you and although it does tell me that I need to go through and look at 6141.11, right? Um and make sure that we don't need to make changes for that one. All right. So, can I have um a motion to send this forward to the board on the basis of the um edits and the potential edit of of uh item five as agreed. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All right. Can I have a vote? signify you support it by saying I I I on this policy. Okay. Six. We we talked about it but Oh, it's an old one we went through. We just did. Yeah. My apologies. Sorry. 6159 page two. Okay. 6159 page two. Okay. Underneath that red cross out paragraph where it says a parent of a child. Yeah. Maybe
062a parent or guardian of a child. Yeah. My apologies. All right. Can can uh we have a motion to agree to that uh change since we approved something slightly different? So moved. Second. Second. All in favor? I I I Okay, good call. And one more. Two more. Two more. Two more. Two more. This one is like little so it's so short I forgot it was there. All right. Um policy 5125 student records. In all honesty, I did not have an opportunity to really read through this. So, it'll take about three seconds. This is the thick. Oh, we're Oh, I'm sorry. We're not doing the money. Do you want to table this until our next meeting? Do you guys need time? I would ask that if it's not like a time if it need like I
063will take the time to read it now be discussed now I know some I mean we've agreed to have an extra meeting I think we can work so this can wait I it it needs to get done but I don't think it's a crisis thank you that's what I was trying to ask no all right so we'll we've agreed to table that one um and I'll get that on our next agenda instead and then last thing pardon I promise I'll be prepared with that next day. It's not a problem. If worse comes to worse, Dr. Dabrio will write you a pass for missing your homework. I picked it up this morning. Okay. Um, last one. Business and non-instructional money in school. That's good. Keep in mind that other one, the policy is only a few
064pages. These are all like regs that are after just so you but it is one of the ones that's over 20 years old. I just wanted I I got it. I had an opportunity to I skipped this and saw this and was like, "Okay, don't." Thank you. You know, you guys have all been so efficient all year long. There is no way I'm complaining. Um All right. So, the thing about monies, um and this may uh interest you. We once had a department chairman who kept $3,000 in cash in her desk over the summer and was then shocked to find it gone when she came back to school. Honest to God. Honest to God. She is now an administrator in the district. Okay. Interesting. That's that's why to have anybody She did get slapped pretty
065hard for that. She got a letter of reprimand, I think. Anyway, questions, discussion for me. Looks good. Um, so this pertains to when you're collecting money like a PTO event or right or not a PTO because that's kind of cool. So this is just the this is like they had a dance or they had some event. Yeah. They're bringing in money sports activities, right? People are paying. So whoever's like sponsoring it is the one that's so the district school district spons sponsored then this requires but like again a random example the PTO sponsored the dance at the elementary school so the PTO dealt with the money themselves responsibility okay right on the challenge here page two um and that's a little hard to follow but the third paragraph in no case shall cash be left
066overnight in schools except in safes provided for safekeeping of valuables and even then no more than $100 should be so kept supposed to go that's the concern is um if they have an evening event And is is this really legislated that it's a $100 because it's in I don't know what's legislated. That one is a real I think that's in I mean that was in the cave language. I I didn't invent that one. Um the thing the only thing I can say is because a bank isn't gonna be aware of well that's why saying the use of a have a procedure for after bank you know making bank deposits after regular banking hours procedure but like the fact that it says but you're not going to put it in the safe that's the weird it's
067just weird how well the expectation is you know you've just done Uh, for example, the school play at the high school. There have been a million people. There's $37542. Take it to the bank. Boom. Saturday night. Hey, Paul. Um, I'm in the middle of a policy meeting for the board of ed. I'll call you back in a little bit. Thanks, ma'am. I will. Bye. To Yep. If I can. I mean to me when I read it and I was thinking exactly of that example say there was $300 $400 and and that was it. I didn't see any problem with them some it's a procedure or it's just known that you're taking that money and you're driving four minutes down the road to Liberty Bank and you're depositing it in the night dropbox. And what that
068does in having this as $100, it deters and it gives everybody the sense that there is never money at the school for any way, shape or form for somebody to break in for money. Well, we would need a debit card. Like we need an ATM card, I should say. Um I believe in order to do that. Oldfashioned bank isn't. I mean, yeah, you deposit you could deposit cash right into a a night deposit box. I think I I mean, into the ATMs, you could deposit cash. All right. You know what? I appreciate your TM card. Yeah. Because I didn't think of the fact that there was money in the school breaking in. My initial snap reaction was, isn't the money safer being it was collected at the school, put in a safe at the school
069versus a person taking several hundred on their on themselves at night to the bank's deposit? Like what has a larger margin of error or event? I think this one is worth also looking into. I was just gonna say I think I'm gonna table that same scenario. You googled it. You're right. You're right. I think Guys, guys, guys, hang on a minute. Go ahead, Terry. Nobody talking. Googled it. Liberty Bank and Mudas does offer night drop service for deposits. So that will allow Is that where night drop service regular business hours? Okay. Does that So, you're thinking that doesn't require an ATM card. It would have to No, it's the thing where you pull it open and you put it in and you close it. I think you don't need a card. It's a deposit slip
070in the envelope. Yeah, the deposit thing and it shoots that still exists. Go to Webster Bank. All right. So, does our our school uses our district uses Liberty in town? We don't have to like cross the bridge or like go to a different town right next to the That also just like brings like verify because um it's it's a reality. It's kind of tough who's responsible then at night to go maybe the $100 the advisor, you know, it's very clear that that's not they might not be comfortable the administrator. they might be more because if they're used to during when school's in session, you give it to um the administrator secretary who might do the deposit but well and that it was but yeah and and it it typically would be the principal unless or
071or the assistant unless that person's not attending the event and that does happen for example when there's a play with multiple nights they don't stay every night. Yeah. And then the the uh advisor for the function takes over. Okay. you were in the middle of talking. I just want to make sure you finish it. I'm sorry. No, it's okay. Oh, I was going to say I mean if we 100 I mean I still I still like it just for the mere fact of it just in it descentifes or whatnot that you know there's no money in a school there no chance you know kids teenagers whatever have get that idea out of anybody's head you know do we change 100 to 200 what's 200 to 300 you know but but still I think it's good
072to have that and it should just be the mindset to get it out of the school immediately. And just like to the other point is a bank, you know, somebody might not want to do it at Well, that's what happens at a bank. They have to take it and they go somewhere else at night or a lot of places. I don't know. I just So, um, folks, make my mind up for me. Are we tableabling this? Are we moving it forward? Do you want to move it forward uh with the understanding that um we're just going to make sure that there is in fact a night depository that doesn't require an ATM card and that we won't move it forward if there is if they need one because you can't I don't know that you
073want to give everybody an ATM card because you'd have to give them the code that validates the card. That doesn't seem Yeah. you know that doesn't seem if we can vote to move this forward with the understanding that our concerns that are just information we need are answered we'll keep going but if it we find out that you do need a debit card or like you know there's something here then we'll not so just get more information we could always table it at the full board if we realize that it's short it's sweet but if we get it and we have what we need we can move forward. Yeah. All right. So, there are two that we're getting info on. Only one is being tabled. 5125, correct? Student records. And I would also request on
074the one that I'm checking on surveys 6162.51 where it has um students parents that it also be students parents. that same request on page two of 6162.51 under number one. Um, yeah, we got that already. We got told about that. Okay, I have the note on. Okay, but you were somebody that was a different one, but somebody said write it down. Just add thank you. All right. Um, so if I remember correctly, Sean's gonna send me his baseball schedule. Um, you can write it down. It's Tuesdays and Thursdays. I mean, really, it's every Tuesday and every Thursday at 6 PM and the games are no big deal because they're always Saturday. So, I was thinking of adding a Saturday meeting. Oh my god. between baseball and soccer. Now, I would just like to say that
075as much as I love all of you, the real impediment to doing that is that my wife would kill me. Oh, and I will say the only reason I didn't even bring that up is because like right now I have three great other coaches on my team are handling the practice and here you are which is why I'm able to be here. So, I wasn't going to say that because I could make it happen, but if we could stay away from it, but you didn't and I did. So, it's my fault and It could also be during like busy. It could also be during the day. Yeah. Um, so all right, Dr. D and I will put our heads together. I will work on this stuff. I will probably share uh what I get done
076for one last look before I release it to Kelly to be sent forward. And any other questions or concerns or anything like that? I just want to there was one uh Jim that I wanted to mention and maybe we can make it part of the review for 5125 uh for next goround. Um uh what and it's in relation to some of the information that was uh shared with us um when we had that hearing the other night for the budget. Um I thought it was Oh, right. you talk to me about this. Yeah. About the student uh the letters and all that confusion that surrounded whether or not they should be read, this that and the other. And it got me thinking that perhaps maybe we should have um a a piece or an addendum
077as part of 5125 that kind of addresses that. So, if if um we have students that are under 17 at the high school that want to submit things for public hearing um and want to include their names, then if a if a if a teacher hands that over, we don't want to have a FURPA violation on our hands. So maybe including some language to address that and then also including maybe a parental form in the policy itself that um they families can use just like a that wasn't um that's very interesting like a districtwide like general permission like that was a school that was not a board of ed um event. No. Um um and it was a student who brought that. So somebody gave it to the student. It wasn't an actual teacher that
078came forward and said, "Here are my students, you know, writing." Um so that's an interesting one to process. Um I when we talked about it um I kind of came to the conclusion that um that was really an issue for the board of finance because we weren't releasing information and it was somebody else from the public, a resident who came forward and shared the letters. And if it's a 15 or 17 year old student and they speak at a town hall, they have to state their name and address. Yeah. An address. So in theory, they would also It's reading it from a letter that was submitted is no different than it being said out loud for that. Okay. Well, now you're going to um be talking to the attorney briefly anyway. Maybe just ask them
079if we have any exposure on that. Okay, we'll do because I would think that that would be a five minute conversation because I hope it builds momentum that students are speaking at these meetings because those students I know that before I was on the board speaking at those I was shaking in my sandals. Like it takes a lot of guts and bravery to not only put your thoughts out ahead of time but to actually stand up and speak. like bravo. I'm so proud of those students. Agreed. No, it's I I was also, but I I did talk to one of the kids, one who seemed to really have her her stuff together and tell her, "Listen, the English teacher and me can't resist asking you to pass this on." Insulting the people you're talking to
080is probably not a good persuasive technique. Nope. says you. Yeah. Says me. I I think, you know, we all if we take our feelings and our guts out of what we're trying to say, then we're all just robots. So, I think a little bit here and there is okay. And if it's not the got to do it while you're young, just can't get away with the pain. Oh, I just I was literally talking about it from an instructional point of view. past purpose, audience, other responses. Um, I think we're done. Can we have a motion to close out this meeting? So moved. Second. All in favor? I take care. Thank you.