001Yeah. Amazing. Okay, it is 6 pm and I'd like to call the East Line Board of Ed special meeting to order for Monday, December 15th. is to everyone who can rise and rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Um our first order of business is special recognition. Uh we have a special special recognition tonight. Uh we want to honor our board our superintendent who was named the superintendent of the year for Connecticut for the state of Connecticut. Um wonder [laughter] we had to uh we had to submit the agenda. um after Jeff uh reviewed it uh to the kind of recognition on Got nervous there
002for a second like a second you don't have anyone here. Uh, no. So, so this really um it it it's, you know, Jeff really exemplifies what it means uh to be a superintendent. He has been fantastic for the town of East Line, our district, our students, our teachers, their staff, our administration, and the partnership that he has had with the board of ed is is amazing. And we want to take a few minutes to recognize you, Jeff, because um just amazing at what you do for the town and graduated from the high school, this school, and your uh put a lot of time, effort, and and commitment to TV slime. So, we really want to recognize you for everything you do. So, thank you, Jeff. Thank you. got to get it farther away to read
003it. You know, >> that's wonderful. >> Thank you so much. >> So, can we get some pictures? >> Absolutely do. >> Absolutely. >> Speech, too. >> Yeah. Yeah, you know, I mean, I uh I said it at the Japax uh >> um you know, really, you know, the name has my award on it, but it's it's because of the people that you know are in this room, the initiative team, >> the kids, >> yeah, >> it's it's everybody really. We've got an amazing team that we've built here and we want to keep that going. >> Absolutely. >> Yep. And we will um and we'll continue to do great things for our student. unexpected. >> Caught me off guard. That was a good >> We know how you love that. >> Yeah. >> He wanted a
004good chance to Yeah. >> Let me introduce my family. By the way, this is my wife, Jen. >> Hey, you in that. Thank you. >> My uh my mom and dad here and Bob Newton, my in-laws and Dennis Rod and uh my three daughters, Holly and >> Emmy, Emmy and M. >> Thank you for letting us have maybe one with mom and dad. Oh, okay. >> Hold on. >> I don't think this for a living. >> One, two, three, smile. >> We take one more. One, two, three, smile. You guys, I think we'd like to say as board members, thank you so much for sharing your dad with us, your son. We are We are so blessed to have him. >> Thank you. >> I'm going to Grant. I'm going Grant, why the table in
005here? Can I put the agenda over here? No, we're using >> Take a picture. Steve. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. The meeting really >> I love [laughter] a picture of the superintendent. >> He doesn't know. Sorry. Now look at me. >> 30 second rule. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. research. >> I like online. Yeah, the rest of my husband Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. All right. All right, I got two slices of chocolate. Donald People wear We're going to have some kids are going to have some He's the princess. He is really Christmas. I know. >> Thank you so much for coming. That's right. That's right. surprise. >> I know about I love That's funny though. answer your question. >> Okay. So, our next order of business um is public comment. Any public comment? Any public comment? Any
006public comment? Okay. Hearing none, move on. We now have um consent agenda to approve. you know, we did not um the minutes were not ready for uh this consent, so we're not approving last week's minutes. They'll be into and then that will we'll include those in the next uh agenda. Does anybody want to make a motion to approve the consent agenda to approve the consent agenda? Representative the So Lisa made the Oh, there is um sometimes Carissa has trouble hearing who's making the motion and who's um seconding. So I will try to >> because I'm mumbled. >> Well, no, no, it's fine. I'm gonna No, no, it's not. So, I'm going to try to uh repeat that as well. Also, Alisa made the motion and um the Vic seconded. Um all those in favor say
007I. >> I opposed. Consent agenda passes. On the consent agenda, we had Thanks. So, we had a um a donation um in the uh donation of a decommissioned 2014 ambulance from the AMR, the American Medical Response um AMR. So, appreciate that. That's going to help for our EMT class. And then we had some uh revisions of dates for our out of country field trip to Europe and then we had a bunch of policy first readings in Madison. Um moving on discussion action items. We have our elementary principles uh here to give their update and I think they brought some guests as well. It's nice and turn over to right over Mr. Provos. >> All right, great. >> Um so thanks for having us tonight. Um we have a few things uh we'd like to uh
008show you this evening. We're going to split up the three um pillars and um Nyanic Center is going to take the first one grant. So if you want to move forward so we have a student belonging and experiences we're going to talk about high impact teaching and culture and climate. So um for Nanic Center we are going to do the student belonging and experience. Um this is the presence point u residency visits that we do. Yeah it's going to I think it'll be a crowd-pleaser. Um we did this prior to um COVID um and then obviously with some of the concerns um that came forward and then even from the few years after that. So we started back again um this year. Um so we're going to take you through um what the trip looks
009like and how it's impacted um both of our students and uh the residents and um and the community. So, um, Grant, if you want to just go forward one more for me. Uh, and after that, one one more. Um, so there's the focus, um, student belonging and experience, promote and strengthen positive relationships between students, um, as well as between students and staff and students. And part of that also includes um, community outreach. And so Nyanic Center, um we are fortunate to be able to walk downtown um and take advantage of some of the um community uh events that occur and also um get our students involved in the community um of Grest Point. So without going too much further than that because I don't want to take your thunder away, uh Christine Desar, Carrie Wiseman,
010they are here, second grade. Um we also have a few students um parents and we have um some residents that are going to talk to us a little bit too. So thank you guys for uh being here. >> So pressing point and night there we go backwards. Um so we have been doing this for since 2013. Um, so it started with my own little kiddos going to Crescent Point to see somebody special to them. Um, goodness gracious. Um, so my kids I would bring and the residents loved them. My daughter would actually help feed the residents and they just smiled everywhere we went. We could never get out of Crescent Point fast enough like, "Oh, let me see your baby. Let me see your baby." So I left and I thought, "You know what? these
011residents deserve young kids. So, I went back to school and we had been kind of doing some things like making a wreath for them or sending things before we started officially visiting. But in 2013, um all of the first grade and the second grade classes would have a rotating schedule. And back then, which seems like forever ago, we would go once a week and we would just rotate. It would go first grade, second grade, first grade, second grade. Currently, we just have second grade going, but we do hope to grow this to second and third grade. I think it's more developmentally appropriate, and I think that those third graders still need to build that community and connection with the elderly. Um, so the goal maybe this year, boss, we can go um second and third
012grade and just rotate. So, we're really only going one time a month right now, but they would have exposure once a week if we were to be able to do that. And we were recognized I think as a grade one two team in 2017 for this as Viking valors. So it has been luckily for the kiddos and the residents and you're going to hear all about that in our slide. >> And that special resident was Carrie's mom. So that's how this whole idea started was a visit with Papa. >> Yep. So, here are some pictures of some of our students in the newly renovated Crescent Point um lounge area. So, go back one just for a second. Sorry. You're going to hear you're going to see some slides. You're going to hear some videos of
013some of the people that work at Crescent Point and how they feel about these visits and some of the residents at Crescent Point and how they feel about these visits. But um I go once a month and Carrie goes once a month. So twice a month right now they're getting visits from second graders. We leave the school, we walk down Hope Street, we arrive um through the side door and when they walk around the corner, they walk into this big living area space where all of the residents are already down and out of their rooms and waiting for us. And I can say the first visit that we had this year, I had a few students who don't really like to talk or speak in front of the class whole group and are kind of
014quiet readers. So I was a little nervous that they'd walk around the corner and be completely overwhelmed and that's not the case. They walked around the corner and they all just dispersed to different people in the room and they all just started reading and they read the book that they choose and then they rotate to another resident. So, it's for about 20 minutes that they read and they just take turns switching and going around and reading to different residents. And the smiles on the student faces, the smiles on the resident's faces, and the smiles on the adults in the room just speaks volumes. So, I believe the next video is a clip from our I enjoy having the kids come to read to us and I think they enjoy it too. It's good experience and
015it gives us great deal of pleasure. Thank you. >> Some more pictures of the current second graders reading to some of the residents. This is a quote from the program director, Rebecca. Um, the residents love the program so much off camera. They also kept saying how respectful the classes are and how much they believe this program will continue to help students later in life to help with public speaking confidence in giving presentations and building that level of uh comfort level of working with others. Thank you again for all you do to make this possible. Rebecca, so lovely, lovely person. Um I actually walked in today. We delivered a um handprint snowman that we made from all the second graders. We traced hands and cut them out. And it was just a snowman that was decor
016decorated and said um with love from your NCS friends. And as I walked in with the snowman, two of the residents said, "Where are the kids?" So they are so excited when we show up. >> Oh, I thought it was wonderful. I love seeing the kids. I would like to have them come back every week. So she only comes out of her room for the students. >> So that's she doesn't come out to each only comes out when the students come. So obviously she is very excited for them. >> Oh, sorry. [laughter] >> Some more photos of some of our current second graders reading. And as I look around at some of the faces, there are a few former NCS parents on the board of ed. So, I'm sure you can remember the days of
017Crescent Point visits. >> To tell you that I cleaned out An's bedroom this weekend and I found her pictures of reading at Crescent Point. So, it's kind of funny that you mentioned this today. I did found all her pictures when she used to read. >> I think it's a wonderful thing both for us and for the children to uh and the children are wonderful when they come in. they it's good for them to see older people and uh talk to them >> and I think it's wonderful. I think it's good for the kids and it's wonderful for us here. Just thank you very much. Oh, absolutely love it. I so look forward to it. They are precious and I can't get over how well they read for their age. They're just delightful. It makes my
018day. So, right here, you get a motion. I know, right? Full circle moment. Just a few years ago, I was in first grade myself and I was at Lily Behe and I had a teacher named Mrs. Ren Stella and in 2016 when we were bringing our second graders to Crescent Point, she introduced herself to me and she said she used to talk to us all the time about how she used to be an elementary school teacher. And I said, "What was your name?" And she said, "Mrs. Ramastella." I said, "You were my first grade teacher." >> Wow. >> And so now I'm bringing my students to Crescent Point to read to you. So it happened to be my turn on the day that they were celebrating her 100th birthday. >> So these are photos from
019that day. So it was just >> very heartwarming. So, this is another So, right now we're just reading, but I hope to in the near future we would do balloon toss, which is something I did with my father-in-law and people up in the memory care, and they just loved it. It's gentle and everybody could participate. So, these students, if I look, I think they are all freshman in college right now. Um, so that is old present point right there. And playing balloon toss. We'll bring that back soon. And aside from reading, we also sing patriotic songs with them. And uh tomorrow we'll be going to sing some Christmas carols. Um the next person coming up, we have a couple parents and a couple students who would like to speak on behalf of our Christ experiences.
020These awesome parents that we've had a gift that they've been able to walk with us and experience it. So we are honored to have them. Good evening. My name is Ella and I and I am in second grade. Thank you for letting me speak today. I would like to tell you about a place I enjoy going to going to called Quant Point. I like Quin Point because they take good care of the residents and the people are very kind. When I visit, I get a chance to learn from the residents. They have lots of experience and they help me when I I make a mistake. I also like singing to the residents. It makes them smile and it makes me feel happy too. I think this is important to our community because it gives the
021residents a chance to share their life experience and tell their stories. It helps kids and adults welcome each other. Thank you for listening to me today. My name is Maril Carus and I'm so proud to be her mom. Um, [clears throat] I'm here today to support the wonderful work that Miss Speisman and Miss Disha continue to do for our students and our community at large. I had the privilege of visiting Crescent Point with the students about a month ago prior to Thanksgiving and I must say that what could have been a very simple outing turned out to be one of the most educational experience I've observed. The learning began right in the classroom. Miss Wisman had the students lined up and ready to go, discussing and pre-teaching the skills they would need for what was
022coming next. Each student proudly carried their book as they walked beautifully from the classroom to the exit of Niantic Center School. From there, we walked together to Crescent Point and every moment became a teachable one. From recognizing traffic patterns to understanding where to walk to learning how to behave safely and respectfully as a group. As a teacher myself, I know the importance of transferable skills for young people, especially in a world that is becoming increasingly technological, where essential soft skills can sometimes be overlooked. Miss Wisman is ensuring that our students are prepared for social interactions beyond the school setting. When the students arrived at Crescent Point, they were warmly greeted and every students greeted their hosts for a fact. I noticed an incredible amount of eye contact, smiles, and genuine respect for new and a
023new and unfamiliar environment. The students eagerly sat down with their reading buddies, and my heart truly grew. Watching them interact with such maturity and grace in what could be a challenging situation for many of us was truly beautiful. They formed real connections with residents and genuinely enjoyed their experience. What stood out just as much as was how reciprocal this partnership was. The residents were deeply engaged with our students and taught them so much simply by being present and participating. The holiday season can be especially difficult for both our elderly and our youngest community members. Our children are full of excitement while many seniors can feel disconnected or overlooked. I have never seen a more beautiful example of our youth teaching our elders and our elders teaching our youth. I am deeply deeply grateful to have
024witnessed this experience and I sincerely hope this partnership continues to thrive for Niantic Center school and the students it serves. Thank you so much. Thank you. Hello, my name is I am seven years old and I am in the class of Mr. >> Go ahead. >> Don't request point was important to me because I was able to read to the elderly and it made them mad. This was a special time because I was able to practice my reading. At first, I was looking, but when I got used to it, I was I'm excited to go again on Tuesday. >> I'm Gabby Joy, family timely advised mom. Uh, as a teacher and parent of school age children in our town, witnessing the second graders reading to the residents at Crescent Point was truly a special experience.
025Thank you both to Mr. Shaw and Miss Widman for coordinating these visits. When I visited with Levi's class, I witnessed a heartwarming display of intergenerational connection, bridging the gap between some of the youngest and oldest members of our community. For the students, this interaction was a powerful lesson in empathy, compassion, and respect. It moved their learning beyond the classroom and demonstrated the real world value of literacy, and maybe even more importantly, the value of service to others. For the residents, it was clear that simply listening to a child's voice and sharing a book provided moments of joy and cherished companionship. To me, the experience underscored the profound benefit of simple, beautiful acts of shared humanity. I am so pleased that Levi and his second grade classmates have the opportunity to participate in such acts. Thank
026you again to Mr. Shaw, Miss Weidman, and Mr. Provost for allowing students these experiences. So, that concludes our presentation. Um, thank you for listening to us and giving us the opportunity to share this wonderful experience. And we're open to questions or comments. >> I'm just glad it's back. >> I I missed it during co I know my youngest Charlie, she missed doing it because she heard the stories from her siblings how they used to do it. So, I'm glad it's back. I was literally just telling my husband, I wish that we would go back to Crescent Point again. The kids loved it. So, I'm so glad you guys are It was adorable. They actually had a trunk or treat at um Crescent Point. Did either of you go? So, we had a lot of our
027kids go and they said, "Miss," we filled their buckets by just showing up in our in our costumes. So, we got an invitation to kind of a special event that took place on a Sunday and many of our students went, which was wonderful. >> Thank you. Well, thank you. I used to volunteer at Crystal Point and I know that the elderly, the residents there just really appreciate any kind of outside contact and and feeling not so isolated. Some of them don't have people there that don't have family. So, they're filling a void and filling that gap. So, thank you for that very creative think. >> All right. Good evening. Uh so the second part of our presentation uh we will be providing an update about our high impact teaching at elementary level and how it
028connects with the board's goals uh to support achievement and growth through the use of high level instructional practices. And in the past you've seen you know my versions of a Socratic seminar and seen it come to life. So really the purpose tonight is to um talk about where we've been where we are and where we're going for those instructional practice. So, I'd like to welcome Kim Hill and Melissa, our literacy coaches, consultants, um, to talk about the progress important work. >> Good evening. I'm Kim. I'm at Nic Center. So, tonight, we can go to the next slide. Thank you. Okay. So um our elementary improvement plan centers on high imping strategies which are instructional practices that research shows have the greatest positive effect on student learning and achievement. Built on the work of prominent educational
029researchers John Hav and Anita Archer. Our approach provides consistent highquality learning experience across grades all grades and subjects. We maintain high standards while individualizing support for each student through research-based strategies such as explicit instruction and formative assessment that prepare students for the future. John Hadtie's extensive meta analyses identify which teaching methods produce the largest gains largest learning gains. His work ranks educational interventions by their effect size, essentially measuring which strategies move the needle most on student achievement. Practices with high effect sizes are considered high impact. Anita Archer specializes in explicit instruction, a systematic approach where teachers clearly explain concepts, model skills, provide guided practice, and check for understanding throughout lessons. ELPS integrates explicit instruction at all levels and formative assessment as well into both whole class and small group settings. Recognizing that continuing to increase
030elementary teachers knowledge and competency in small groupoup math and literacy instruction will directly improve student outcomes. The second oops actually go back side. Thank you. So in terms of coaching cycles, the instructional coaching model that we have at the elementary level and across the district, the district's professional learning approach is grounded in a robust body of educational research. As I mentioned, we adopted a student- centered co model in 2021 to systematically build instructional practices across all schools, providing teachers with the sustained support necessary to transform their classroom practice. This coaching model ensures that high impact strategies are implemented consistently and effectively, creating a system where high academic standards apply to everyone while instruction remains responsive to individual student needs. And research presented at the recent International Dyslexia Association conference that we attended in October demonstrates
031the power of pairing professional learning with coaching support. As you can see from the visual shared on the screen, when participants receive ongoing coaching support in their classrooms focused on professional learning content, 95% of teachers shift their practice leading to improved student outcomes. This stands in stark contrast to traditional professional development meth models where you go, you listen to something, you you come back and you don't necessarily see that transfer of skills without coaching support. Our student- centered coaching cycle enable teachers to apply professional learning around explicit instruction strategies. Through this model, teachers internalize high impact practices through guided application, ensuring sustained implementation with future student cohorts. Each coaching cycle is designed to build capacity that extends beyond individual students to longterm instructional improvement. So our st student centered coaching cycle process is both systematic
032and responsive. The teacher and coach collaboratively review student data to determine specific needs and establish a cycle focus based on that evidence. Every cycle includes professional learning components aligned to those student needs connecting high impact teaching strategies directly to identified student learning needs. The ongoing coaching support in the classroom ensures teachers successfully transfer their learning to practice which is why we see such strong results in our student outcomes in any of our cycles. This the third part of that slide curriculum fellows. In the last several years, we've selected curricula such as foundations and witten wisdom because it they align to our explicit instruction principles. Our curriculum fellows are currently developing implementation guides for each module of wit and wisdom. These teacher leaders have been developing a deep understanding of our knowledge building curriculum as they
033make targeted decisions about when to modify lessons with these district-wide elementary improvement plan goals in mind. They collaborate with instructional coaches and administrators to support implementation across grade levels. and fellows work along alongside their grade level colleagues to strengthen delivery of explicit instruction with particular focus this year on wit and wisdom implementation. They serve as a bridge between district leadership and classroom practice ensuring that instructional vision translates into effective daily instruction for students. And finally on the slide, learning walks. Learning walks are another focus in the 202526 elementary improvement plan. These walks provide structured opportunities for peer observation and collaborative learning and focus on authentic classroom examples including wit wisdom lesson delivery and small groupoup instruction techniques. By observing colleagues in action, teachers enhance their application of high impact teaching strategies and see these practices
034come to life in real classroom contexts. This approach fosters a collaborative learning culture across buildings and grade levels. Next slide, please. So, our work this year centers on four key focus areas that directly improve student learning. Differentiated instruction ensures every student receives the support they need to progress to progress with equitable learning. We're building knowledge through curriculum that's accessible to all students while providing hands-on opportunities for concept building. Student engagement makes learning active rather than passive. Uh and in terms of measurable go growth benchmarks, unit and module assessments, progress monitoring, they allow us to adjust instruction in real time. So these outcomes are supported embedded by embedded professional learning and data analysis through the comprehensive structures that we have such as student centered coaching cycles, bimonthly teaching and learning meetings, multi-ter systems of support, cross
035building learning walks, half-day professional development sessions, Wednesday morning collaborative time and also school improvement team meetings. Together, these create a system where teachers continually continuously learn and improve their practice directly translating to better outcomes for students. And the next slide um oops for that please. There we go. Okay. So, um, as you can see, um, so this kind of just gives you, um, a overall vision of where we've been and where we're going. Um, and I'd like to direct your attention to the far right column, which is where we're at. We've done this our implementation phase. Um, where we have years of professional learning embedded in daily practice. At this point, our literacy leadership team completed year-long state professional development sessions, focused on structured literacy for both classroom and small group instruction. We've continued our
036student centered coaching model and establish a focus on structured literacy and small group instruction per state recommendations. The Connecticut State Department of Education now recommends actually that district statewide adopt a coaching model to support student outcomes. So, the research validates this approach. Coaching programs produce meaningful improvements in both instructional practice and student academic outcomes. Teachers who receive coaching coaching implement practices more effectively. Quality coaching leads to significant gains in student learning and student centered coaching directly correlates with improved standardized assessment performance as well as schools with consistent job embedded coaching show higher growth rates in reading and mathematics. And our in-house data reflects this. Typically 70 to 90% of the students in coaching cycles meet proficiency standards in what we're measuring. And I'm going to turn it over to Melissa to talk about our partnership
037with a new teacher project and ongoing work. Hi, I'm Melissa. I'm the literacy consultant in coach ater school. Um and just just to kind of give um the board a picture, this is through the lens of literacy, but the same good work with this high impact teaching strategies are also occurring in math. So we're talking about literacy and this graphic here is the journey that literacy has taken um because we have some state legislation and some initiatives that we we were kind of um after attending professional learning in the past um have moved forward um but just to know that this is also happening kind of in the math arena as well um but we're going to focus on literacy um so um so this year especially we are have some professional partnerships that are
038really helping us with our high impact our teaching strategies. Um, one of those being continued collaboration with Great Minds. Um, great minds is the vendor for Witten Wisdom and we've had some really fantastic professional learning opportunities with Great Minds um through their their instructional culture and their site visits. And so what that allows us to do is is kind of two parts. Um in our school improvement plans um you will see that we have as a district at the elementary level across all three buildings targeted um some teacher teacher indicators um for implementation of our knowledge building curriculum of wit and wisdom. Um those include setting a purpose for learning, um setting and maintaining clear directions and routines, executing lessons efficiently to focus on learning goals, and holding high expectations for students and allowing for
039productive struggle. The idea that it's important that children persevere and work through challenging tasks that we kind of find a balance. We don't want we don't want children to feel frustration, but they also need to engage deeply um and really really um that that struggle can be very important into their problem solving abilities and their deepening their thinking. Um so we have the support of great minds again this year um to come in and what's what's been really fantastic about this um is that it's helped us refine and um family talks about this sometimes too moving from um implementing with fidelity to integrity and really understanding the learning goals and the intentionality in what we're teaching and making sure that our lessons are targeted to that. Um we also have opened up um so we
040we go through each of the three elementary schools at various points in the year. um each school has a day that we'll go into classrooms and observe and it gives us um really good feedback but also helps us deepen our own understanding and we're opening that opportunity up to teachers this year so that teacher leaders can kind of emerge and get into each other's classrooms. It also allows um our partnership with great minds allows us as coaches to support our curriculum fellows like Kim was talking about in making some of those adjustments when they're thinking about what are the learning goals for our knowledge building curriculum. Um they we can support our curriculum fellows in making some of those instructional decisions to make sure that our find is really focused on what gives the kids
041the most the most effective um instruction. So that way we are really leveraging our teacher leaders in various grade levels in various buildings. Um another partnership, so that's one professional partnership we have this year to support our high impact teaching strategies. Another that is specific to literacy is a partnership um with the new teacher project. Um and this was actually an opportunity we got through the state department of education. And the new teacher project partners with school districts and states to implement highquality instructional materials and develop capacity with a broader goal of ensuring um that students have access to grade level learning, strong instruction and really high quality materials um and resources for academic success which is a direct alignment to what we are doing as a district in terms of our high impact teaching
042strategies. Um so this partnership is supporting the implementation as Kim mentioned um our coaching cycles this year. So we kind of are balancing two balls. Um we have our knowledge building curriculum and our core curriculum components in terms of heernium and foundations which you've heard us talk about in years past. But we also and that gives us a whole class instruction. But we also need to meet the needs of our the needs of our readers um individually in our small group through research the science of reading. And so um that instruction is called structured literacy. And so our partnership with the new teacher project is helping us get a sense of our current state of small group instruction at all three elementary schools. um and then think about how we can utilize their research and
043their feedback about um to refine our lookers about what does structure literacy look like in our elementary classrooms so that we really do have um are supporting teachers in implementing those high impact teaching strategies. Um and we are also taking what we're learning through the nature new teacher project and embedding that into our coaching cycles. So we use something called the resultsbased coaching tool to document our cycles and to plan for them. Um, and so the work of the new teacher project is informing those choices as we as we plan our targeted coaching cycles with teachers in classrooms like H mentioned on the slide. Um, that really push that that idea of professional learning to actual practice. Um, and then another opportunity we had that was absolutely fantastic. Um, we have a district literacy leadership
044team that Kim mentioned and we had the opportunity to go to dyslexia con which is the international dyslexia association's national or international really conference um in Atlanta and our literacy leadership team is comprised of there's a few people in the room um him and him but also um we have classroom teacher representation we have special education teacher representation um we haven't received anybody um getting Well, my whole building was Yeah. Um, but we had the opportunity to go down um to the conference. It was, sorry, this is very nerdy, but it was very exciting because it was the year that they just revamped the definition of dyslexia, so we could be in the room with the people who are the researchers as they were. That's an aside, though. I'm sorry. Um, but it it it's
045really supported our high impact teaching strategies in two important ways. One was well, three. One was that it validated and provided clarity around the initiatives we already had going. So when you look at that road, it was just very validating to hear from the researchers and the clinicians who are doing that action research that the path that we are on is supported by their research. Um but it also gave us as a literacy leadership team um insight into what our next steps might be. So where is where are we going next through the lens of high impact teaching strategies in the area of literacy. So honestly, like an opportunity like Dyslexia Con is just such an important it's such an important chance because it allows us to all be in the room and hear those
046messages and think about what is our long-term vision based on the research. Um, and also the reality is we have classroom teachers there. We're in coaching cycles in classrooms every day. And the research we were able to turn key and bring back to our buildings and embed into our coaching cycles. So all of the high impact teaching strategies as well as this research research supported instructional strategies we were able to like I know Kim is in a coaching cycle in fourth grade right now took um took some from a session at IDA about um text structures and has embedded it into a fourth grade cycle. We were at sessions about um supporting the vocabulary development of our multilingual learners and were able to embed that into I'm embedded it into a coaching cycle um I'm
047right now in second grade. um and also some some work we were doing at Lily Be Hannes in fourth grade classrooms. So um really some exciting professional learning but also thinking about how we're leveraging that professional learning in support of those high impact teaching strategies in the area of literacy. You just look so excited. >> It's hard for a script. It's hard to say. >> Yeah. >> The opportunity to fail, the opportunity for them to just build that capacity. I know we talk about that, but doing that deeper dive of why is this difficult? Why am I struggling? And and you know, that's where we worry about AI, right? because the kids are developing their neuropathways and establishing and doing that work and and plowing through it and you're probably just giving like a little
048bit of a thread of information so that they can do that. So supporting them that as much as you well not as much as you can but minimally so that they could do it and continue to survive. And I think that that perseverance giving a better vision of the graduate >> that they are capable of tackling these challenges and working through them. And you know as elementary teachers we talk a lot about um high standards, high support, right? We're there. We're teaching the executive functioning skills and the social emotional or the emotional regulation pieces when it's feeling frustrating but but that you can do it and there are strategies to to work through some challenging things. >> Exactly. And we've seen we've seen that happen now. We're see we're seeing the successes of them really,
049you know, putting really challenging [clears throat] high quality materials in front of them and them working through it and finding success. >> I love that. >> And if they struggle, we just adjust. We adjust and we move forward in a different way. It's so cool. I was in a third grade classroom this afternoon and we were reflecting on um how their speaking and listening has evolved since the beginning of the school year and they could talk to they could speak to the idea that you know in the beginning it was uncomfortable but now we're getting we're used to being able to add on to each other's ideas and provide evidence to I mean they it's coming from them awareness of their own. >> Do you find that they're being repetitive in what they're saying? Like
050somebody will say something the other person will say the same almost exact thing. Are they learning to >> Yeah, we have to teach that. So, yeah, we we teach it to that. We talk about >> because sometimes I mean honestly, you saw us at product seminar last year around this time. Um, and it's a skill to listen to. If Kim is speaking, >> not only am I holding my idea, but I'm thinking, does Kim's idea fit with mine? If I engaged my idea, so we're teaching into all of those pieces. >> That's really I was in a fourth grade class this morning in um small group. And so if not, we give immediate corrective feedback and we talk about what we saw and what we noticed and what we need to change the next time.
051So it's an ongoing evolving process. >> For sure. Yeah. >> Gives us a nice little lens into what you're doing and it helps inform us I think is important. So thank you. Appreciate that. I just want make a quick comment just I love having people come who are so passionate about what they do that it's clear that you know you're not just given a presentation you're excited about what you're doing. So you're not just here checking the box. You're you're all in and it's clear it's easy to see that. So >> we are lucky to have people like you. So appreciate >> the most exceptional individuals right here. True gems. >> That's an AI. [laughter] You know, >> a Gemini. >> You picked up on that. >> All right. Lily, the name is Ben up
052here. We are going to be talking about um the culture and climate work happening at the elementary level. Uh I am joined by my colleague um Cheryl McGee who is a current third grade teacher and um third grade team lead. Um Cheryl is a current 092 candidate and as part of her um program is uh taking on a leadership role in terms of our rolling out of a very exciting initiative um that we're going to talk a little bit about tonight. the um presentation that we are going to share. Grant, if you'll slide over to uh the next slide and it's linked there um is one that Cheryl helps lead um at our faculty meeting um most recently. So um we'll sort of kind of go through the the pieces that are relevant for the
053board's um consideration here this evening. Um but uh with that I will um I'm going to go over to Cheryl. >> Hi. Um so our initiative based on um the goal is to create a block of time during the day in which the whole building stops and um 100% students and faculty go in and we switch classrooms as you'll see you'll see the model and it's an enrichment cluster is the um Yukon research but it's when basically after school programs we don't do a lot of that at the elementary level so it's really that in the middle of the day. And it's a once a week, six week, five to six week block. And our vision for this is we want learning through meaningful and interest based exploration. So they get to choose where they'd
054like to go within the building. And it's an opportunity for them to explore their own passions, um, build confidence, strengthen relationships with peers and staff, and then foster joy. And the reason why we decided to implement this is based off of our school climate survey results and it's also backed by research out of feed. >> Thank you. Uh this is just there's a couple slides here that show uh last year's school climate data from the spring and this one is I can talk to trusted adults at school. We weren't too bad but we want to increase the score as much as we can. Then next one. Thank you Fran. Uh most students get along well. This one was a little bit lower. And this is probably because, you know, in the elementary school, they're stuck
055in one classroom and they're stuck in their grade level. They only go out to recess lunch. That's the only opportunity. There's no opportunities to mix grade levels. And this would really give us that opportunity to mix grade levels with peers and different teachers, teachers they've never had before. And uh the last one, there are a lot of extracurricular activities for me to get involved in. at the elementary level. There are certainly not as much available at like the middle school and the high school. So, this pulling through that this was just um for our staff as if they wanted to continue and read about it and watch some videos. This came right out of Yukon. So, we don't have to click on those. But this is the background to where all this rearch research is
056based in Yukon. They are called enrichment clusters and we decided to um call it explore block for us to have a unique name. If you go to the next one, it gave I wrote a little bit of an overview. So really what they are, they're interest based multi-age groups of students and the adults. They'd be led by staff members. Either they can do it to choose to lead it by themselves or in a team or even a group of three. So the staff member would choose an interest that they like first and foremost. So that this wouldn't be work for them. This would be fun. So it' be a fun 45 minute block of the day where they explore their own interest and hopefully students have the same interest as them. It's open to all
057students. We want 100% participation. Every student and every teacher, every staff member, pair of professionals, everyone involved and students will get an opportunity to choose their personal interests. And as you'll see, we're going to do it once a week for a five, five or six week um time frame to see how it goes in the spring. And these students will act towards, you know, building something something creative, uh maybe a little performance and within their classroom. And hopefully hopefully next year is where we're looking for them maybe to share out at a schoolwide assembly. This year we're going to start small and grow bigger and bigger. And the purpose is we're promoting creativity, problem solving, and it's going to also help those connections with peers and teachers outside of the normal realm of their one
058classroom. And it provides enrichment for them, opportunities that maybe they struggle in the regular curriculum. This may be where they shine and where they can choose. >> I'm not sure what >> um and these are all the benefits to our school community. It's building confidence in independence in students, creativity, not only for students but for teachers, collaboration, um enhancing our student belonging, increasing engagement, positive community identity, and I know um Brian has done this in school, >> both school districts that I've worked in previously, we've done some version of this. Um so you're going to see actually some sample uh course offerings, one of them from my alma mater uh and Chester who was kind enough to share those resources with us. Um and then Cheryl through her work um supporting all of this uh
059found some other examples through MIA uh Yukon school. Um so I can just also speak from personal experience. I I ran a school store uh um academy they were called and um it was a tremendous um learning experience that was really kind of natural and free flowing. um required, you know, obviously some initial planning, but like once it got started really kind of drove itself and was um uh you know, it driven by what students were interested in doing. And so what ended up uh happening in that um in my academy typically was we would we did them also twice a year. So the you know the fall we would launch um the school store and it was more around um you know branding and ordering things and more kind of logistical things and then
060the second half was um turned into like an advertising um you know in Richmond cluster where we were making commercials and sharing them out of TV. Um I can also speak to on the administrative side um in Sherman where I came from too we called it XP. I needed something that was similarly named. So I will take uh the blame for the uh XV uh acronym there because I I could not code it in a different way. Um but it was when we looked at the attendance data, it was not even close. The the highest attended school day um were days where we ran these and then when we specifically asked students, that's what they said. Um the the staff involved in these also loved it. Um you know, you get to team up with
061people of like mind. uh have you know similar benefits um and really you know you can't do it this justice right you you you can only uh inculcate you know student interest and engagement through your natural um curiosity and sharing out of your own passion um and it's just you know it's a win-win for so many reasons. So, it's something that we're really um excited about. Um you know, and again, Cheryl has done a really nice job so far working uh to you know, get everybody um you know, it's a general understanding about what it is that we're doing. Um but the benefits, you know, don't even fit on the page. So our goals are to explore interest and trust um strengthen our relationship support the school climate overall encourage staff creativity and it will
062be equitable for all. So I we kind of went over this five to six sessions. We're going to um target start date is the week after April break when we get back and about 45 minutes per session. And these are all of the things that make this course successful. Instructor passion is number one. you pick something you absolutely love and that's one thing um you'll see we have a few that we came up with. Um and then clear um expectations, hands-on experimenting, hands-on creativity, really studentto student bonding. These are more from the staff as this is what we uh do. First question, what are you passionate about? Write a list of the things you absolutely love and what feels fun and what's sustainable for five to six week period that you can do um for
06345 minutes and find someone who would want to do it with you >> or you and we uh presented as K to2 maybe a 2 to three or three to four and I teach third grade I can decide to do a K to2 band I don't have to stick to just having a three four or a two Great. Um, decide on the group size and think about the resources that we already have. What can we actually use? What do we have sitting around that we can utilize? What can we maybe have students bring in? Reusable items. And then, um, our space needs. This classroom's good. Maybe we need the gym. U, maybe it's something we want to hold outside, maybe like a garden club outside. So, thinking about that. And then, of course, safety. And
064our course outcomes. There should be one to three clear outcomes by the end. And there should be opportunities to create and explore throughout those five to six weeks. And at the end, there should be some sort of culminating moment. What is that? We're thinking backward design that will help with next year. There should be some sort of project or a design or even a game if they want to play a game, learn the rules of it, and showcase it next year in an assembly. And these are just some sample ideas. And there are more um where I took them from. And this has worked in New York City, worked in many different school districts. And you'll see lots of ideas that I give out, but quilting, there's photography, you could play soccer. I love Disney.
065So, you'll see a few slides. I You can put Disney something in there. Write a newspaper article. Fishing, just chess, teaching chess, strategies, all of that are great ideas. It's so cool. And to make it easier, you can use AI so that as a teacher you don't feel this is something else should you know should use >> you should it will really take a lot of time off of it. So we already have we you we have magic school. We can use chat in Gemini. It will help you so much to create a a five to six week as you'll see a few examples to help you greatly. And I didn't even think of some of the ideas that chatb gave me and I was like oh that would have taken me probably like three
066months to think of. So um we created actually Ryan created some prompts but uh telling it you know generating a course idea how the outcomes and then we want a five to six week session and you can keep going Grant. This is a really long one that we put in there to copy and paste super easy for everybody. And then here are some the first few are what Brian put in. He put in cooking and I think he put sports and music. Yep. And these are some of his results. And it's >> it was pretty pretty interesting too. This is something I didn't ever run an enrichment cluster on, but I taught ESY for years and this was exactly what I did um in ESY. And so had I not had a colleague that, you
067know, told me this would be a good idea to run with, you know, chat would have helped me reduce that too. >> More cooking. And then I think it goes into sports. Sports and then music >> again. Really the purpose here is just to illustrate to teachers, you know, we've got a lot of um uh a lot of help now in the AI space that um can make this even lighter lift. >> And this one is mine. Oh, that last one. Grant, can you go back to it? Sorry. >> The one before it. Um this one is the one I'm actually going to do. Uh this I love Disney, so I put in Disney and I put in journalism because I used to run an afterchool journalism program in my prior district. So, I was
068kind of juggling between those two, but this one really stood out to me when I put in it. They could be imagineers in training. And I [clears throat] we can just get park maps and have them, you know, map it out. Creativity, make menus of food, put prices on it. You can go so many places. And I was looking at all the things I would need. I can use construction paper. I have it. You know, all of that. We have markers. We have crayons. So, use what we have. And then as the years grow, maybe we expand and have them actually build, which would be amazing. And really, you can just keep growing on it. So, this is actually the one I'm going to u do um with a colleague of mine who also loves
069Disney. I think it's just perfect. And then there's one other one just engineering, STEM, building. Uh these are just further prompting for AI in case teachers are stuck, they can just copy and paste that in. So, we um are rolling this out now and then we're coming back in January and having teachers come up with some ideas to make sure we don't have 10 of the same and that you know if there are two teachers we realize love quilting we should probably get together and do it together. it's a lot easier to run something together and then um by February I will make a course catalog once all the teachers have what they want with a little bit of little snippet uh line in there and then the background work will happen where I place
070we place all the students and um we're hoping to implement for April right after April break >> I think elementary schools are on a different somewhat different timeline in terms of roll But very similar >> and I think >> this is for us is more >> nuts and bolts for our >> everybody. So >> yeah. Yep. >> Super important. >> This is really cool. So it is at all three elementary schools. >> We'll be at all three elementary schools. >> We want to see the pictures and video next doors. >> Yeah, >> but I want to come. It's looking at Bill a little bit of you know what alpha schools and what alpha schools trying to do at other not the two hours the other hours. >> This sounds very similar. So if you start
071looking at what alpha schools do which is a whole different concept on schooling. >> They do academics for a certain amount of time and then they do other stuff. and what you're talking and it really engage and the students choose kind of what they do and what they're excited about and it really as you're talking it really sounds very close to what they're doing and I thought that's really excit it's really exciting >> making school fun is part of piece of the puzzle >> so it's great >> thank you Okay. Um only slightly maybe um okay so let's um so we're going to do we have discussion action item we do have our committee list so I do want to touch that and then after that maybe we'll make a motion to postpone executive session
072until our January meeting because we just we can't do it justice I mean we're already over So um so moving on to discussion action items, we have the um 2026 for East London board committee list. Um so um for the most part it's didn't nobody really seemed to want to change. I think one thing that's important we're all on one committee of the standing committees and but they're less than f each of them are less than five. So if anyone's wants to attend other meetings in general, you can go and participate and um engage. So that that we're we're open to do. Um and that's why we do keep them less than five. Um that then allows us to um pick and choose if we want to. Um so what we've done is we've added
073Steve into the open areas and I think those will be great. Um for the finance committee we've changed that the chair will now be steel will be the chair. Um, Bill will stay as the chair of CCI. Policy will stay um with Elisa on policy. And other than that um there's really no other changes. Any questions, comments? Any So, does anyone want to make a motion to approve the committee list if the one change would be that Kate would be chair of F on this list? We'll make a motion to approve what you just said that the committee sated with the change into the bill. >> Great. That was do I hear second? Second by Vic. Further discussion. All those in favor say I. >> I. Oppose. Stain. Motion passes. Okay. So now uh can
074someone make a motion to postpone the executive session to the postpone >> January 12th >> 206 Kate I hear a second Elisa further discussion all those in favor say I >> opposed staying okay so we'll postpone executive session to the next our next meeting which is January 12th. Uh can I get a motion to adjourn our meeting? >> Motion to adjourn. >> Kate made a motion to adjourn. Alisa seconded. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. We are adjourned from our special Eating.