2025-09-24 RSU 5 Board Meeting

001and justice for all. Okay. Do I have a motion for consideration and approval of the minutes from the September 10th, 2025 meeting as presented, barring any errors or omissions? Danielle, thank you. Valerie, thank you. Oh, and there's M. Great. All right. Uh there's a motion and a second. Uh any discussion? All those in favor? >> Great. None opposed. I don't believe there are any adjustments to the agenda this evening. Correct. Nope. So, we will move on to item six, which is good news and recognition. And we will welcome uh Moon back as our board rep this evening. and take it away. >> All right. Um I guess it's kind of been a very short I guess kind of start to for the school year. So not a ton has been happening, but I guess so

002far um at the Southern Main Classic for cross country, the girls won and the boys were on a rough. So that was very good. The the boys and girls team and then uh tomorrow actually the student leadership group from high school is going on a field trip uh down to Portland to meet with other student leaders like leadership groups from Portland and Bangor. That's pretty cool. And then I guess right now we're kind of in the heat of um college and so for the junior class we have opportunities to meet college representatives. So we're getting seeing schools in like University of Rhode Island and Southern Maine and so it's just learning about the opportunities that they provide which is really cool so far. And then we also have scholarship opportunities like the Coca-Cola scholarship program.

003And so it's definitely quite cool to and I guess kind of scary change I guess almost but it's pretty cool. >> And then lastly um tonight in honor of Theo Ber's life and raising awareness around mental health the boys soccer team will be holding a moment silence at today's game against Gley. I actually just got a picture from the girls team. So the girls are also playing Gley and um my understanding is is that the active minds clubs in both schools got together and did something at both schools which I thought was wonderful for for Theo and his family and and the senior class. So >> all right, thank you Moon. Uh we will move on to public comment. Going to go out on a limb here and say I think we don't have any

004public comment yet, but you never know. We do have another opportunity at the end of the agenda. So we will uh move on to item eight which is report from the superintendent. >> Good evening everybody. Can you hear me? Okay. Um so as I begin tonight, first thing I'd like to do is acknowledge my predecessor Jean Sarapa who will be finishing up with RC5 by the end of the month which is not that far away. Um, Jean has been incredibly gracious to me in setting me up to be successful here. She's been giving me advice. She's been giving me support. Um, she's been giving me her time and her presence. And she has been steadfast, thoughtful. Um, I can't express my appreciation deeply enough, and I'm sure I speak for many people here. So, Jean,

005you're listening. Thank you. Um I next thing I wanted to talk about are some new expenses that are coming up in SPE that are not coming up that are here with us right now in special education and I want to make sure that the board is aware of these. We are paying for these right now through reserve accounts. Um these are based on specific student IEP needs and increased case loads. Um we have had to take on a teacher of the deaf and that's four or five hours a week. We're also um paying for uh 30 hours of speech language pathology and this is due to increased student case. that is in addition to a one-to-one nurse that we are we had the board had approved the position to be hired but we did not

006have a candidate so we've had to contract for that service. Um so in total that's $247,200 that we're spending from the reserve account to meet these needs. And these again are for student needs. And these students we presume will be here with us for quite a while. And so as we look ahead to next year's budget, we'll have to take those needs into account and budget. >> Um I want to take a few moments to set the stage for um Assistant Superintendent Museo to talk about the transition to assume responsibility for providing special education services for early childhood that will become every district's responsibility by 2028. So, as you know, that also includes us. And what that means is beginning at age three, school districts are going to have to assume responsibility for providing child

007find and free appropriate public education or faith for 3 to 5 year olds. Right now, that responsibility does not begin until age five. It's going to have to include three and four year olds by 2028. So, That intersects, of course, with the prek structure that we already have. We do already have prek for foury olds. Um, as you know, we have half day sessions in each of our elementary schools that go down that far in grade level. Um, I am told that thinking behind the half day structure originally was that it would serve twice as many kids potentially. Um we have reason to believe however that actually the half day structure may present a lot of barriers to families who really need full day because of their family lives. So and it also has implications

008for this new responsibility that I mentioned to provide special education services for three and four year olds. And I wanted to give an example of that. So hypothetically, suppose that a three-year-old came to our attention who lives in the district who may have delays in language and social emotional development. This is not an uncommon scenario. So if that student for whom we are now obligated to provide special education services were in a half-day program, that half-day program might have about two and a half hours worth of instruction in it, but it also has snack and it has nap time and it has transitions. And if you have to add into that speech and language services or any other services, it's really hard to make all of that fit. And Some children to have their needs

009met will need to be in the least restrictive environment possible which may mean with a group of neurotypical peers. So there are lots of pieces to this responsibility that we will have to figure out over time. A full day setting which we don't currently have may provide longer and more consistent exposure to peers for practicing social skills or communication. um it might have more time for embedded therapies um and it might just be for some children a more developmentally appropriate case. So um as I mentioned this is a state mandate for all districts to assume this responsibility by 2028 at the latest. Some districts have stepped into that responsibility earlier than others. Um there have been districts in York and Kery that have already stepped into this early. Um we can take a look at

010what other districts have done and learn some lessons from that. Some of the things as we look at that that we're seeing is that this is a huge responsibility for districts. It's something new and it takes dedicated leadership. So we will need to think about how to set up a leadership structure in our district as we assume that responsibility. We need going to need to think about the funding for this and where it comes from over time. As you will hear in greater detail tonight from Erica, um in the beginning, the state offers support for a lot of things, but over time that state support dwindles and it becomes our responsibility. Um and we need to figure out how we can be flexible to meet the needs of the kids and have this be integrated

011into our overall system in the most seamless way possible. Um we have decision points to make about when we join a cohort of districts that are implementing this. Um we have two op we have two options next year or the year after and by that time we're at 2028 and we would need to have started the work and be fully into it. Um for me as I look at this right now there's some important next steps that I want to bring to your attention. We are very much in the conceptual stage of this. I think my first step now is to bring this formally to the board as we are tonight to make sure that it's on your radar. We have a lot of decisions to make over the next couple of years. Um you

012may remember a conversation I had with you um just before I started work here about how data should provoke questions. So some of the questions that come to my mind as we look at this are how will we make this work with our facilities? I don't know the answer to that yet. I I don't suspect anybody does. We need to take a really good hard look at how our facilities could work and be adapted to meet this need. Um I would suggest that that calls for a facilities study. So that's one of the things we'll have to dig into over time. I still need more information about exactly what costs the state will cover and when that funding sort of tapers off. We have I have a big picture understanding of that now but we

013are digging into this and we want to give you better answers for that. Um and I also want to lean into what other districts have done around this and gain from their experience and grow our wisdom from that. Um I believe we will need to form a whatever road we take we'll need a dedicated stakeholder group that will be able to weigh these options and make recommendations to you. Um, and I also would like to give you an opportunity, multiple opportunities, but one starting tonight to pose your own questions and to keep coming back to us for more information. So, this is a heavy lift for the district. It is a very big it's a it's a very big responsibility that we have to take on. Um, but the good news is that we do

014have time to do it in a thoughtful way. So, for the moment, I'm going to pause before I leave this topic, and I'd like to ask, what questions do you have right now? I may not be able to answer them right now, but I'll take them in parking lot format, and we can certainly make a point to circle back to them. I'm wondering if it makes sense to hear the other presentation just so we don't preempt uh questions that are going to be answered just because we haven't we didn't have this uh to review ahead of time to know what's coming. Um I mean unless people have really high level questions. >> I guess the only question I had is from the math around how many years we have to do this because my understanding

015is we have to be doing it by July 128. So we have we could start in July 126, we could start in July 127, or we could start in July 128. So there's sort of three start dates, right? >> Not that I'm advocating to push it out to the very last minute, but that is an option. Those are there are different levels at which we can step into the work. Um there are lots of complexities to it. Um Erica has a presentation tonight that will answer that in more specific detail. Um but that is something we will have to figure out is there's different levels to step into it which is the most advantageous for us. >> Right. >> I guess I'll say that the invitation for questions is not a momentary one. It's an

016ongoing one. >> If you don't ask now you don't get to ask. So >> I think there are going to be a lot of questions and I'm asking a lot of questions right now. So, we are in the phase of educating ourselves and we we all need to do it purposefully now because it's time to it's time to think about what we're going to do and get this done. Um, I wanted to say a bit about the budget engagement process. So, as I'd mentioned to you, I have taken an approach this year to make sure that staff voices are heard in um shaping the priorities for next year's budget. Um the first step in that process was to email staff with an overall picture of some of the factors we know about the budget. IC

017the board on that email so you saw what they saw. Anecdotally the feedback to me on that letter has been very positive. Um people have appreciated the sense of understanding it gives them about the environment that we're working in. Um, with respect to the budget, I've asked administrators to provide me with a summary of their existing practices for soliciting the voices of their staff and we'll be presenting that to you in a summarized way so that you have um knowledge of what that is. We have engaged in listening sessions with the staff, but those are ongoing now. Um, so far I've met with uh I've met with a group at the high school. I've met with a group at Mor Street School and I've met with the tech team and I have more of those

018meetings scheduled over the next few weeks and it certainly has been really good conversation and interesting to hear what the staff members have to say. I've definitely gained some insights from those conversations. After that, I'm also going to be putting out a district-wide survey that has basically the same conversation points that the um listening sessions are framed around so that staff members who don't have an opportunity to attend those can weigh in. And when all of that feedback is gained, uh I'm going to make sure that it's summarized and put out in a transparent way so that everyone, both the board and the staff and the administrators and the community can see what the themes and the feedback are. I don't know where any of that goes in terms of putting the budget together. Um,

019but I'm glad to at least have conversations going around that. Um, I wanted to talk about strategic planning. So, as you know, our strategic planning process is also moving forward. We've partnered with the great schools partnership. Um, right now we are in the phase of gathering community feedback about our strategic plan. Um, I thought I would take a minute to just repeat what that's about. We are at the stage of envisioning what our graduates will think, know, understand, and be able to do. We're developing the vision of a graduate. And that is the backwards planning point from which we would think about everything else that goes into the strategic plan, whether it's what we do with our buildings, what we do with our curriculum, what we do with our professional development, and on and on

020and on. So, we have begun community listening sessions. We had the first one on Monday night at Palville. There were, I think, 14, 15ish participants from the community. Really rich conversations. We have another one coming up this Thursday night at 6 o'clock at Durham Community School. We have one this coming Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Freeport Community Library. And we have one at Freeport High School on Tuesday the 30th at 6 PM. These listening sessions are for anyone who lives in the community and you can go to more than one. You don't have to live in Durham to go to the one in Durham. You don't have to live in Freeport to go to the ones in Freeport. Um the purpose and the hope is that they will be as inclusive and widely attended

021as possible. So please, if you're listening, I hope you'll make it a point to be involved in the process. And there is also a survey available on our website through which you can enter your feedback. Um, I wanted to just close these remarks by saying that I am continuing to try to be visible in the schools. I had a really entertaining day in Durham Community School today when I was serving lunch and standing next to Mr. Pitten and many of the kids felt had their minds blown by looking at me and Mr. Pitten right next to each other and I had several comments saying, "Are you Mr. Pittton's father?" And at one point I did say grab the microphone and introduce myself to seventh and eighth grade and said yes hello. I'm Tom Pittton. I'm

022Mr. Pittton's little brother. And there was a reaction. >> Was it from Will? >> There was a reaction from Will as well. There were also some comments that we like the parent trap. The movie The Parent Trap with the American Twin and the British twin. Anyway, it was it was good fun. Um I love I love seeing kids. I got to see every kid in Durham Community School today by serving lunch. So that was super um you Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So um the budget process comment about the um districtwide survey that's for staff. Yes. >> You said there after the listening it would be a districtwide survey. >> It's a staff survey. >> Okay, great. Just confirmed. >> Thank you. All right. So, we will move on uh to item nine, administrator

023reports. We will start with uh finance with Good evening. Uh included in your packet uh is our first look at the um revenues and expenditures spending for the July 1 through August 31 uh time frame. Right now uh we are about um 15.8% collected. Um I just want for those new board members, we actually collect our town assessments on a monthly basis. So um we take the full amount that the um when you look at the budget documents, there's an amount that each um each of the member communities actually pays, but they have it's spread over a 12-month period. Um and uh state subsidy also comes in on a monthly basis. Uh and then our expenditures um our expenditures on this report it gives you uh a year-to-ate column which is actually funds that have

024been paid out. Um and then an encumbrance column. And the encumbrance column largely is mostly salaries and benefits that we're anticipating paying over the um the school year. Uh not to get too far in the weeds, but um a teacher contract runs from September to August. And so this number is is inclusive and why you see it seems lower on the year-to date numbers. Um because annually we acrew teachers salaries that we pay over the summer. So we record that expense in June. Um and then in the months of July and August we pay out those salaries for the teachers. Um but the so the incumbrance column includes that full 12-month period um which will get paid out in July and August. Um but for accounting purposes we recorded as of June 30. So um

025we're not under spending at this point. We're kind of on track for where we always have been um because really we're only paying um year round staff that um in that year-to- date column. A lot of the ordering um is done in the month of of August. So when we see September's that's when you'll see that we've paid for the maj majority of the supplies and stuff that have come in um in order in the preparation for school. Um so this is just an early look. Right now we are um expended and encumbered about 81.3%. And there are no areas of concern at this time. One thing I will mention on here is that um different from previous years, the capital projects fund is actually um we voted to to work on some of the

026life safety items in that bucket. Um and so that's um that that that project is working. The majority of that has been expended. Um um but it all has been encumbered. So it is the full that full amount is reflected in that number there. >> As far as the local budget goes >> questions for >> Thank you. >> Do we want to jump back to support staff hires? >> Yes. Sorry, I neglected to mention that we did have hired some support staff. We've hired Peggy Hmel as a bus driver, Christine Lions as a Freeport Middle School edtech, Alyssa Hurling at Durham Community School as a point 4 edtech, and Julia Julia Gchall at Durham Community School as a 6 edte. >> Thank you. Love to see bus driver and edtech positions getting filled. That's wonderful.

027>> Preach. >> All right. So, we are going to move on to our update on the More Street School and goal review with principal uh Julie Anderson. >> Good evening. So, I'm super excited to be here and present these goals um tonight because I'm super proud of the work our team has done this year. We t like as you can see in the review we tackled a lot and we accomplished it all which there is I don't think there's been another time that I've been able to come here and say that there's often been distractions that have um and sent us in different directions but you know we really focused hard and kind of worked together especially our leadership team um around leading PLC's to to achieve our goals really. So um I'm going to

028walk you through the goals we set last year because we've set a foundation for work will continue this year. So um data points change but the goals effectively stay the same and there are some places where we'll be lifting that work this year but primarily the goals and the action steps will stay pretty similar. But I thought it might be worth just kind of anecdotally talking through how impactful the the strategies we implemented have been. So that first goal around reducing our chronic absenteeism, we were hoping to get to less than 10%. Um having seen an increase over time, particularly after COVID, and we got down to 7.2%. And that was um largely due to a very um intentional effort to communicate hard with parents about how important it is that children are at school.

029Um we were very clear on what kinds of things would be approved and not approved and when we um you know we have clarity around if you've already had a 5day vacation and you're asking for another one you're not going to get that approved the second time which probably means that our truency numbers have increased because um five consecutive days unexcused absences or seven days in total that are unexcused used meets the truency criteria. We definitely had families with children who had were having a second vacation that wasn't approved that would then mean that they've hit those numbers. So, there's definitely some continued work to do, but I think we've started that strong education for parents about what is and isn't important. And you know, the research and data supports early habits being strong for

030longerterm success for um students as they start to make their own decisions about being at school or not. Um one of the things that I think definitely like we would like to see that 7.2% reduced next year and even further, but the reality is when you have small children whose first experience are at school, there are illnesses that are just inevitable. And so it'll be interesting to see how um whether we can continue to reduce that. There was certainly a period of time where there was a lot of sickness going around and it was just hard to kind of keep kids at school. Um but I definitely feel like you know there's been a change. We've we are connecting with families sooner. we are like alerting um families that they're they're approaching the chronic absenteeism

031um rate and how impactful that is on learning. >> Can I just ask you a quick question just because we have we do have new board members. Could you give us the definition of what is product absentee is it? >> Yeah. So I'm looking So Amanda Mazda, our assistant principal is sitting out here and she actually owns like the attendance um tracking and data 10% >> 10%. So missing 10% of >> day. So right. Yeah. So right now with such few days of school, it doesn't take much for you to hit that criteria. If you've had two days out, you're getting close to kind of hitting that criteria already. So monthly families are getting communication, hey, your child's already hit 10%. And if children have a high percentage of absences due to sickness or whatever,

032and then there's a planned absence request coming in, it might get denied. Um the other part to our attendance goal was so that like really thinking about increasing our ways families can engage which leads into our second goal. Um just so that families feel better connected to the work we're doing and how important and what they it is and what they may or may not value. So that was kind of dovetailed into our second goal which was to increase our family engagement opportunities. The data point I used was the um the board's parent satisfaction survey which isn't sent every year. So it's hard to kind of see whether we've made gains um with that data point. And if you for those who were here last year, we had a pretty high level of satisfaction, but

033there were comments um from families that really were looking to engage more. And what we reflected on was kind of postco we hadn't returned to ways to bring families back into school. So this year we went at it with gusto and um we committed to um a grade level opportunity every trimester and also other like support staff offering different things and ways for families to connect. So our goal was to offer a wide array and then hopefully catch different um types of families, different needs that families have. So, our care team, we're offering just a very casual conversation during the day to just have parents who want to come in and just chat about how hard it is to raise children today and just things they might be puzzling with that we can either support

034or just facilitate a discussion where other parents are feeling may or may not be feeling the same way. What ended up happening with that group, which was pretty cool, was new people to Freeport came to those. So they then were able to connect with each other and who knows what I know phone numbers were exchanged and you know different connections kind of happened and we we um led a couple of parent information uh more like education nights particularly around building resiliency executive functioning skills how to kind of support and pro promote those things at home which build um strong foundations to for independent learners which is what always our goal is. Um, and then as I said, each grade level opens their doors for a different experience or content where families could better understand the

035work we're doing in classrooms as well as come and kind of share that experience at school with their child. So, um, we had a lot of attendance. You know, there was just opportunities for families to come and experience a PE lesson, a library lesson, a STEM lesson, just to come and really be at school with their with their children. So you'll see in your packet kind of all of the things we offered across across the year and really that like so beforehand we were really only doing the kind of open house at the beginning of the year the parent conferences like things that would typically kind of anchor our communication with families. The other part that dovetales with that is one of the one of the things we we've been really thinking about the types

036of information that teachers are communicating with families um so that we can better encourage fam families to support children because what we're learning a lot about is that repeated practice is super important for long-term gains and children holding their academic success. And so if families can engage in that practice at home, the likelihood of them carrying kind of benchmark scores they end up with across the summer and and sustaining for a really solid result is is much higher. And the feedback suggested that those were definitely a place that um parents felt was super useful. So then our um our third goal has been a consistent goal for us around kind of growing and increasing our data. Um, which is always what we're trying to do. We want to get all of our students to um

037the expected benchmarks at the end of each year. And one things we we've really talked about as a team is, you know, not trying to prevent the gap from the get-go. The gap if you can close the gap in prek, you know, the the knock on doesn't doesn't happen. And um so we're really thinking about and what we've talked about and things you'll see in our data is sometimes we lose ground going into second grade. The complexity of learning in second grade is so much greater and we've had a lot of conversation at school this past year around you know we cannot le like second grade teachers have complex work to do already. We can't also have them have to catch up the ground that was lost prior. So, we're building on lots of different

038things. Um, we're really thinking about keeping our expectations high for all learners. Um, and you know, once we believe children can, children believe they can too. So, it's it's really thinking about um reaching beyond like one thing we have talked a lot about particularly in reading and math. We have benchmarks to the end of the year in reading. But the reality is if you're not actually reading at that reading level in maybe February, you will not be solid at the end of the year. So we've we've really tried to kind of raise our expectations of where we hope children to be working and practicing which has had great results in particularly our reading data. Um, one of the other pieces that we did that is something we'll be building on more this year is, uh,

039we focused hard on our habits at work. One thing we had seen prior to doing this was a lot of kind of passive learning in terms of children kind of being entertained by their teacher in some ways. And so we focused refocused on habits of work and using fourstar rubrics. So essentially, you know, the goal is that three is kind of meeting the expectation. This is what it looks like to be an engaged learner. What is your job? And then um you know, you're going to be working towards four star if you can do it. So it's really a a system by which you co-create these rubrics with children and then they're leaning on it for goal setting like where are you now? Where do you hope to be? And how can you you know

040what how can I help you make that change? So, we did that across all of our habits of work in all of our classrooms, across settings. It was definitely a place that allowed all of our um teachers, no matter the content they teach, to kind of have this cohesive approach. And then our special educators adjusted that for their students. Um, and it was a definitely a place where we really kind of came together and now this year we're building on how we can use those rubrics in other ways to really think about cognitive engagement. um our so these same practices were what supported um all of our instruction. One other key piece I want to highlight was we made a shift in kindergarten um to start the year. One of the things I think um

041I mentioned last year was we recognized that our prekers are not all leaving prek with all of the executive functioning and social emotional skills needed to then be successful in K. And so for the first six weeks of school in kindergarten where we are building stamina and started to establish routines, all of our kindergarten team have put a play work an extended play workshop into their day. And the the hope with that time is that children are learning about making a plan, playing together around the same topic, um taking roles, um thinking about what other materials they might need. And what we saw in this, so the idea is once children can do that, they will become stronger writers because the process of play mirrors the process of writing. You make a plan, you try

042it out, you revise it, and you um flow through the cycle again. And what we we have just moved kindergarten to first grade writers that we haven't seen before. They are so strong. They look like what we were getting in first grade and and we have a data point of one. So it's like hm was that a direct result? I think so, but we'll have to see as we continue to to have that practice. It certainly helped with early kind of social emotional things that um teachers can coach into as they think see things arise. So the model replicates the workshop that we do for literacy and math. So there is some foundational work that also is beneficial there. Um and then the teachers would think about a mini lesson depending on what they observe

043and then they'll they'll go to that uh station to play. Um so our math data we managed to meet our goal in our reading data. So increase by 5% with our with our benchmark in both data points that I had highlighted. Our math data we did not but we did um grow in so many ways that maybe it's not reflected in this one math data point. We did a lot of PD around really thinking about growing our mathematicians as thinkers and thinking about how they use tools, how they can explain their thinking in a representational way. Um, and then be able to talk about what they're thinking in math in a way that kind of becomes transferable as they build their math skills and their fluency. Um, we'll continue that work this year. Math is

044definitely on the top of our our list. Um, as we put a lot of our energy into literacy, we saw that growth last year. Math will become front burner and continue that to deepen that work. We've already had a professional development day districtwide for pre-K2 math. And then there's another one upcoming pretty soon to kind of build on just deepening teachers understanding of the math progression at the early early grades. Um okay. So the other part too that dovetales is um we have uh we continue our responsive classroom work which has been well established in our schools. Paul White has been a consultant who's been coming to coach our teachers. He's coming tomorrow. um we've added time across all the schools for him to specifically kind of come and coach in and in a kind

045of customized way so that we can respond to the needs in our schools. So this year those goals all continue and um and if you look in 2526 I've highlighted in bold the kind of places that we're just lifting and adding under each of those goals. So um we under the attendance goal again we can we hope to reduce that but at least maintain it would be um hopeful and then we want to proactively increase our partnership with with families who have been identified as chronic absentes and sometimes when families got their communication there was some conflict around you know tension between us wanting kids at school and parents believing their kids shouldn't have been there for whatever reason. Um, so we're trying to like get ahead of that kind of thing and really just

046better understand what barriers might be and how we can better support that communication and connection. Um, and then Amanda will be attending the count in summit um, at the MPA and then hopefully so all the assistant principles are doing that. So hopefully there'll be some collaboration opportunities around that for us to think about some things differently um, if we haven't already been doing them. um we'll continue our family connection work because we felt like it was so successful. One of the things that I recognized in the survey that we sent and the comments that um that we received was just in general there is a recognition that we're not going to please everybody like it's not going to suit everybody's schedule and we recognize that but I think continuing to offer lots of opportunity means

047that we're going to satisfy many um people across the across the board so that hopefully um we need to engage lots of people. Um, the other thing that that we're thinking about and exploring is just different ways to engage parents as part of our team in decision- making ways. So, we haven't really kind of dug into this yet, but it's a curiosity that we want to explore and just, you know, we've had um parents engage in interview teams sometimes, but not all the time. We've had parents engage in certain things like as we um it's a while ago now, but as we developed the playground, parents were very much involved in that process and things. Um but we're just going to explore ways that we can kind of bring parents to the table versus just

048engaging with it on with their students. Um and then the other things are in the data uh in the academic data ones is just expanding on and continuing the work we've already done. Um and and you'll see a thread where it's kind of specific to increase math within that. The professional development is focused there and um and then we're building on those fourstar rubrics that I had already talked about. Our PLC's have been phenomenal. So that's our professional learning communities where our teams meet weekly to really just focus on instruction and student learning and um there's this leans on Hadtie's research which is actually the foundation for all of this work and um really thinking about knowing that impact. So at those meetings, teachers are bringing either student work to analyze and um collaborate around

049or they might be bringing a puzzle or practice where, you know, they're not sure about something and a colleague might help. Um they might bring a video of something of themselves teaching for feedback from their colleagues. um they might plan together and really unpack things really thinking with a lens of you know our our learners who might need to grow more than a year which is always a challenge. Um so that that's kind of work that our PLC's will be deepening and um we've already started we had our team leaders observe each other to kind of grow their practice across our school. Um, and then the other place we're focusing is really thinking about as we're getting much closer with our data to the 80%. So effective tier one instruction is should grow 80% of

050our kiddos or more hopeful. Um, and we're getting closer to that mark. And so we're thinking about ways to dig a little deeper into the students who struggle or are further behind need to grow more than a year in a year. So, how are we setting goals that feel realistic to make that extra accelerated movement for those students? So, those are the kind of ways we're focusing and hoping to grow um more of our learners questions for me. >> Our high school parents allowed to come to the K2 about how it's hard to be a parent. [Laughter] >> Thank you, Julie. Um questions for Julie. It's a lot. I was just curious um if there's any any studies on like a root cause analysis of the parents who are um creating chronic absenteeism, if there's

051some sort of rubric to try to determine if if it's common reasons or if there's any way we can meet the families where they are. If there's like I'm just speaking as somebody who works an hourly job. um sometimes it's hard to get that vacation time during school vacation and so you're getting that vacation time in off peak hours because everybody wants those weeks. So I'm just wondering if there's been any um studies on if that's the reason or if there any other reasons what we could do to try to meet those where they are. um we haven't done necessarily what a deep analysis but there's definitely p there's some patterns like I said like your first vacation won't get approved like we acknowledge that that there are some families who that's the only time

052they can they can go and take it but your second one maybe could do you know we'll we'll adjust and have those conversations uh there's a variety of patterns I I don't I think it shifts depending there's a lot of variables that that play in that's why We're just trying to think about different ways to connect and find out from individuals and our numbers are pretty are low way lower like our list is much smaller so it's easier to kind of engage at a more personal level with some of those families. >> Can you remind us what the precoid numbers were for? >> So I had a feeling you'd asked this and I was like I'm so I don't have time to go find that number. Um I think they were not that low. Not

053as low as 7.2%. >> Do you have it? >> Yeah. >> So, while she's looking that up, um my other question is is uh you mentioned that truency is probably gone up as a result of not necessarily approving both five day vacations. Um, so does it make sense to look at them sort of together to see are we just shifting people from chronic absenteeism to truency or I mean it sounds like we're not because you said the list is smaller. I presume regardless of which list you're on you're getting a phone call so we're not just shifting them back and forth but I'm just wondering if it makes sense to to truly grasp you know attendance. Should we be looking at both those numbers? >> Yes. So those both of those numbers are included when

054we talk about chronic absenteeism. >> Oh okay. >> So the >> the reason why we I might kind of name truency as a separate thing is because it tends like that that's you know there's there's procedures and things around that that we need to follow and then that is also reported to the state. >> Um so but it but uh where truent students are included in >> they're already in. Okay great. So we're not we're not not capturing some kids because they're in a different >> Yeah. And the trouble is too we might see improvement because once you hit that criteria for truency we're having a meeting we're doing things we might see change but they remain true whereas the chronic absenteeism is going to shift >> shift in and out depending on how many

055days of the year we've been at school. >> So don't take a five day vacation in October as well. Yeah. I think she has your number. >> 1819 was 7.26%. >> Okay, so we're right back. >> Okay, that is that is huge improvement. Like that's incredible. >> It feels good. >> I mean, it's almost half, right? I mean 13 seconds changed to seven. >> Yes. >> Yeah, it felt great. >> Yeah, congratulations on the improvement in the reading scores >> on the math number since I can tell you already. kind of dig in on what needs to happen to bring these scores up. And of course, one number, like you said, doesn't capture everything that's going on in the schools, but I'd like you to elaborate a little bit on what you think maybe led

056to the so that >> to the dip. >> Yeah. To the dip. So that you're think you kind of understand where your thinking is about what's going to happen in the future. >> Yeah. So I I I don't usually include our longitudinal data but I thought this kind of tells this answers this question. So if you if you look at that data that I included um you will notice so I often report out on school-based data and obviously we're digging into okay which cohorts are strongest who needs more support how are we growing different different um groups. But if you look at the math, which is on the second sheet, the smaller grid, because we've only been using this data point for three years, um we had a particularly strong first grade group transitioning into

057second for this year. And there are many variables as to whether you might maintain that. And it that second grade teaching team were pretty much all brand new. um either new to teaching, new to the school, new to the grade level and so you know whilst we try and support and keep everything up and floating you know sometimes you can only keep so many things on your plate. So their leading data was strong that's kind of really where they lifted that as a team and like this year would be like that math that math growth. Now also you know we can think about that strong first grade group particularly and sometimes and I don't have the answer to this but as Tom said earlier data like promotes more questions um sometimes we are tracking particularly

058with our reading data and I'll be I haven't done this yet but it would be interesting to see like how many so this is a spring data point how many of that 95% stayed where they needed to be across the summer. So potentially, I do have the data. I just don't have it in front of me. But how many of those 95 kept that level of math coming back to the uh the new school year? I think it did dip. So, you know, it's not like we're trying to maintain 95, but they did they dipped. And and as I said before, second grade work is complex. There's a lot of pieces to it. and and the if the foundation is not super strong, then it can it can shift there. But that that really seems

059to be that dip from first into second seems to be the the place where we lost those. >> Thank you for congrats on reaching all those goals. I love to see that you have utilized video and other observation strategies to provide peer feedback. Is there any other sort of mentoring opportunities for the teachers specific to math that they can take advantage of in district or out of district? Yeah. So we have um we have inschool strategists and now we used to have literacy and math strategies separate. Now we have instructional strategists. Um the decision for that was for many reasons. One of which is um when you have new new teachers, they're getting feedback from a lot of people. So they're getting feedback from admin, they're getting feedback from their mentors. So they do have

060new to teaching, new to district have mentors. Um and then they're getting feedback from at that time a math strategist and a literacy strategist. So it's a lot of who who am I supposed to be pleasing today? Um so we kind of consolidated that support um into an instructional strategist. So that's kind of a mentorship too. We prioritize people in different ways for different reasons but um that's that's our our work. We know like generally primary teachers will lean literacy like that will be a favorite normally. And so we're trying to kind of really think about ways we may be giving inadvertent messages to kids about math without even thinking about it. So quiet time is a practice at our school and oftentimes the choices are read, rest or draw or write. So now we're

061like, "Oh, math needs to be a choice at that time too." Just like these, let's up the kind of um interest level and how we value math as a school and adults and and things like that. I know that's a small kind of piece, but those are the kinds of conversations we're having. So I feel like one of our goals also was about building collective efficacy. So that means you know teachers working together as a whole team sharing responsibility for all kids and you know celebrating that together and and I think that is something we've really strengthened. So when we think about mentors, teams of teachers are mentoring each other all the time. You know, we're trying to encourage, we have certain, you know, some people do it more than others, but there is a

062culture growing in our school of teachers just walking into each other's room and being okay with it. And um and we're valuing that and promoting that as something we are interested in. And there's just conversations all the time happening around, you know, how we can do better. Other questions for Julie? >> Thank you. >> All right. So, we will move uh to our next administrator report. We have the CDS update which uh Tom alluded to. Oh, yeah. So, the the uh the packet is in your purple folder cuz it wasn't uh it did. Yeah, exactly. It's a new color scheme. >> Yeah. Are you are you going to project up here? Yeah, I'll do that as well as um >> need to lower those lights just went out. So, good evening everyone. I'm Erica Mateo,

063assistant superintendent. Um my colleagues Julie Nickerson and Ted Dalton will introduce themselves a little bit more later in the presentation, but as you requested in the last meeting, um we are sharing with you and per Tom's briefing earlier in his report, um some information regarding our necessary response to programming for early childhood education. So that's what we're presenting for you this evening. And I wanted to just start with kind of a purpose statement um for our work that we've dug into to this presentation um for you tonight. Presentations intended to briefly define what is required, outline our options to meet the requirements, and offer preliminary information about funding options involved in assuming this responsibility to identify and serve 3 to 5year-old students with special needs in 2028 from child development services. So, this is coming

064to us from CVS. So just to paint a picture of where we currently are um we have three schools that support prek we have eight half day sessions. Um when four years ago I think now we will Lisa Demick and I came to the mic to ask for an early intervention team that was supported. So that means we currently are able to serve um students within our program who have IEPs. So, we have a special ed teacher, we have a speech and language therapist, we have an occupational therapist who solely work with our four-year-olds in our pre-K program. Um, and so currently the number is 12 who are serviced within our prek programs. Um, there are others who are being serviced maybe in their daycare setting. They have chosen not to come to prek and

065they're serviced generally by CVS and through a kind of consultant. um model like they will have an itinerant speech and language therapist going to to serve them or they might be in special purpose programming. So we have 12 currently being served within the district and there are 14 served through CDS outside of our school and then two known students who have IEPs who are not getting service. Um, one of the one of the things um that I will also say is kind of that was primarily the reason we came to ask the early intervention team in the first place was because students were not getting service even within our schools. So now we're able to do that. Um, and there are currently children in the community who are not not being served. So we would

066take responsibility for that. Currently we are not responsible for any three-year-olds. We don't have three-year-olds in our program here at school. Um, so that is they are in the community and being serviced by CVS. Um so just to offer you the mandate specifically I won't read the whole um legal section that comes after but to summarize on July 1st 2028 on July 1st 2028 uh RSU5 will be responsible for the identification and provision of special education services to learners age 3 to five which is not currently in our scope of responsibility. I'll give you a moment. >> Okay. So, I'll introduce my colleague Ted and he can introduce himself in more detail regarding our options. Hi, my name is Ted Dalton. I'm Erica said, I'm early childhood special education coordinator um couple other schools and

067I came here to roll sleeves with this team to look at what um we've done. Uh clearly there's some great things already happening free in addition to what Julie has already outlined. I think it's really important to know that we're doing a lot of work in in the middle of teaching it special work um working in the summers with the community getting kids just to know and families to know what's available. So there's a lot going on here. It's a great foundation. Um and there is like there are for all district. There's a big list for July 1st 28. It's a lot in there. Um and there's a few for next year. There's a few paths, a few options for people in districts um to to use to get to um uh your goal, which

068is, you know, you want the wheels on the bus to get rolling July 1st, 2028. Um there's some ways to build the bus right now. Um so first option is that the district could assume responsibility for child find and providing special education services free and appropriate public education to all three to 5 year olds living in residing in the district limits. Um there's a and I'll go into a bit more about that but I want to outline there's a second option to do the same thing but only do that with four to five year olds. The third option is to kind of start where you are, use what you have, which is really good and do what you can um without any support from the state. So, back to the support um for next year.

069Uh the state offers some significant financial and technical assistance to districts that want to sign on. Um it's through an early adopter program. Uh started two years ago. They're currently this year they're in the second cohort. So starting in September 2026 there's a detail between July and September that I won't get into yet starts the third cohort. Um and DOE is working with people now with districts now talk about options for cohort three entry. There needs to be a commitment at some point within the next few months from a district if they want to join. So have that background knowledge. Uh the financial incentive comes in three buckets. There's a per pupil budget allocation and it's based on the student child count quarterly. So and it's paid quarterly. So the real benefit of that is

070you're going to be able to build a budget through an individual contract with the DOE that um best serves your students. and you'll get 100% funding for whatever budget that you agree to this and that. So through that uh usually the big cost of staff um materials, supplies, equipment uh these are some things that other districts have had to pay for. Um there are examples of of budgets. Uh didn't bring them here. pretty grainy, but um it's really important to know that other districts have done this, are doing this, and it's also very individualized to the district. So, you know, RS5 is going to work on a contract under this funding formula that would um meet their specific need. So, that's one option. So that under that funding bucket and option B, you would only

071take on responsibility for four to five year olds. The funding is less because you have less students per student. Now the second um important funding uh bucket is high allocation cost. So you've already got a per pupil cost um which is worked into a budget that you agreed upon. If a student for some reason with really high needs either moves in or required one student that you already have requires more um that money is uh paid for whatever increase you have is paid for. If you have students move in between child let's say between October 1st and January 1 since you have a account on January 1 that number goes up. So students go up funding goes up. they really want this to work, right? Because they have to hand it off. And you uh

072districts have like that distinct honor to serve their youngest and most vulnerable learners. So, it's really like you get to do this. Um so, this is where it gets exciting. So, you can, you know, access some pretty solid funding. Um, and there's one there's a third third bucket that I think is timesensitive because it's a limited fund and once it's gone, it's gone. Currently, there is a a fund um that will pay for structure, equipment, and materials for a district that join the cohort. Each year, I've hear that the uh the dw says this may go away. This may go away. go away. So, it's going to eventually it is it is a finite pool of money as opposed to would you sign on for a fairly adopter cohort 3 that funding will not go

073away. It's written in law and until July 1st, 2028, the law would have to change for that to change. Again, the the structure, equipment, funding, which I've had some experience with. The state comes through um they'll pay what they need. You'll agree, they will order it, they'll have it delivered, and they'll come in and set it up. That it works. It's really helpful. Um and so you know those those are options for next year as an added important piece of information they will do that early. So and the idea is that they said you can enjoy this stuff this year kind of free of charge and have it ready to go. So the idea you can prep this year without assuming official responsibility until September 1st. um early allocation. If you wanted to get started

074hire hiring people, they'll take the first allocation of of money, first quarter, give it to a district early so they can as early as April the uh they're asking about January now, but at least April so that you can start hiring, make a plan, get what you need done. So there's only so then we can move to 2027. uh that year. There's only two options, right? You can access state funding for three to five year olds. There's no more four to 5year-old option or continue on your path through five funding and efforts and and then July 1st, 2028. However those paths have taken you, it's there. It's yours. And um that's the fun part. Once this decision is made or however you decide to do with the fun part, you get to start creating program.

075All the creative things are done already. It's it should be a lot of excitement. Um the communities that I I've been involved with. Um it's been really important to get some investment. Um I'll give one example just so you can kind of get a scope. Um we had some um community daycare share with our our transportation department a car seat training. Um these little things just get people involved in the mission and it starts to bring home you start to see you know what does it mean to serve the youngest most vulnerable learners and you know what does that impact make later you know I think research been pretty clear that earlier start it'll come soon better for families Oh, sure. >> Yeah. >> So, the ones that I outlined in the first um these

076next three slides kind of outline what I was already just talking about really. So, this is the first option. second option that so I think maybe at some point um so essentially um all main districts are mandated to identify students with disabilities and find which is our child find responsibility and provide free and appropriate education to 3 to 5 year olds by July 28 which is what how we frame this already. So there are um this will be a piece that that is something for us to really think about. Right now we screen which meets kind of our child find uh responsibility children who are coming to us. So people who are deciding to come to our prek, we're screening them and then we might refer them to special education at that time if we

077if there's a need that's flagged. And then currently CDS are responsible for doing the evaluations and um you know following that process through. So once we expand or as we grow, we're going to need to literally find children who might not be have been funneling through our schools. Um, and we'll have greater responsibility around that. So that kind of process we're going to need to think about differently. um that will all be part of kind of how this decision goes because really right now we screen our four year olds in February and March before the upcoming school year. So we're really thinking about two year olds to get ahead of the three-year-old piece. So there's like a really big scope as to where this this kind of is going to take us. Yeah. So this

078um this chart just really explains that there is a requirement also. So another layer to this is that it isn't necessarily just taking responsibility for the special special education part. Special education is a layer that adds on to a general education program. Um, so children who need time with typically developing peers need a general ed education program to to be able to spend that time. Right now, our programming is fully inclusive. Um, and anyone with an IEP is in is fully in our four-year-old program. Um, and so the expectation is that a four four-year-old program is at least nine hours a week. Currently, we have more hours than that. Um, but then And then for a three-year-old program, six hours a week, but that's that will be the same across those three years. I think

079the rest actually um so we'll then when we join a cohort and whatever decision that that becomes the responsibility then will shift to us for all of the three to five year olds. And again, just so that there's an understanding, there's pieces that we do, but we don't do it all. So, in our K12 special ed, we are responsible for all the paperwork, all the um assessments, all the evaluations, um all those piece. So, this will mean we're taking all of that from CDS. Right now, we are we provide service, but we are not doing all that administration part. Um so, that'll be another layer. will be legally responsible for all the complaints and anything that comes um on the the backside of um any lack of provision which currently it's easy to say oh

080CDS you know it's that that that will be our responsibility um and then this freedom to design and implement and maintain plans to meet that mandate and again the money is there's a transition money available so then just to kind of wrap it up. Um these are kind of the the kind of key parts. We have options. We'll have that responsibility. The special funding, as we've heard, is available for the next two years and then it will become part of kind of the typical funding. Um and we've always talked about early intervention being best and then also kind of starting this process earlier is just going to help our current systems um versus kind of tackling it all at once. And the idea is we spend now you pay less later. Starting challenges is who

081knows what that will look like. Um we were able to hire phenomenal people on our own intervention team. um because I do think people working in early childhood which has very specific certification um you know are currently employed by CDS so we're looking for kind of employment in in schools but many schools have already hired from that pool so it's completely new tricky um just your last two slides are a series definition. So, some of this terminology might be new to us or to reference back and so that you know who we've been working with so far to assemble this and vet our own understanding which is developing. Um, this is uh this is the list of people involved so far. They have their fingerprints on everything we've shared this evening. happy to take any

082questions. >> Thank you. Um I'm just wondering in terms of size, is it just like the other grades, whoever registers the number or is it similar to how we do prek now and there's a maximum? So currently our gened programming is capped at 16. We can only take 16. Um I'm not sure I have the full answer to your question. I'm not probably not the person sponsor. Um so I guess that will be a question for us. Are we taking everyone who walks in the door? What we will have to do is take everyone who has an IEP. And >> and there are there are so many variables that would play into that. There are ways and I think that folks up there can speak to this better than I can, but there are ways

083that we can step into this. So, for example, it is possible for us to assume responsibility for those children who have IEPs, but not have them in our schools. We could be pushing our services out to daycarees that are in the area. However, with that said, those daycarees need to meet certain conditions by the state and then on a child by child basis, depending on what the child's needs are, that child's least restrictive environment might be a full day setting with neurotypical peers. And so, we need to take that into account. We need to have something to offer them in that area. Can I say that relatively well? So, um, there really is a full pallet of of options that we have to sus out as we we need to see what we need to

084partner with the providers in our community. We need to take a really good look at what we would be able to provide. Um, I think that you heard a lot about staffing needs right now. A need that is prominent in my mind is space. I I just don't know at the moment where we would do this. Um that we would have that's something we would have to figure out. >> Can I ask y So my understanding is by beginning this implementation sooner, we would be entitled to more money from the state. But the downside to that is that we may not actually have the time to put together an actual plan with the infrastructure and the staffing and everything that we need to make this happen smoothly. So that's the struggle or the challenge I

085should say. >> I I would say that at this point we have a year essentially uh and that the state has expressed confidence that they can support us in arriving there ready um as ready as other districts have. Um we have access currently as of this week to the sync network which is the CDS um network that shows us who is coming to us and who has been identified. So we have all of the information about what is um what is the current level of need. That said it wouldn't be a light lift and we would need I think Tom spoke to the um Superintendent Gray spoke to the um need for some administrative oversight specific to this programming level. So, did I hear you say that we would need to commit to option one

086in relative short order though? >> Yeah. And >> yeah, I think um February asked for the latest for commitment. >> So, we would have to have the the uh primarily the space question. um as well as the funding questions nailed down and confident that we can do this let's call it three months October November December four months January >> y I my experience is that you going a little later but that's stated deadline >> right so so this is July like July one kits show up >> right >> so yeah so you would assume responsibility on September 1st they've decided they'll keep them through the summer program I think actually that the most immediate need would be staffing and the oversight of the program because with space not that I'm sitting here recommending any particular

087action at the moment but there are sort of the long-term and the short-term solutions. So a shortterm solution could be we join a cohort for that year. We have um administrative and clerical support. We have staff ready to be pushed into the kids where they already are in the community, but we may not be ready to bring all of those kids into our facilities yet. And we have to think about that part. >> So, it's responsibility, not actual services in our in our like in our schools. That's what we're talking about. >> And it can be a mixed model. >> Yeah, I think it does. >> So, we could take we can support this many but not everybody. So, we >> Yeah. I will say that um just to tag on to that question if

088I could that um you have a year to prepare to do that work then it starts um so that there's a lot of technical assistance that helps um it's really hard to to well actually overstepping there I want to tack off that I have an opinion Exactly. I think sort of what I was going to ask is if you all have a recommendation for us or if um um I guess where where the end point is for the board to be engaged in this decision or if you have the decision bring it to us. >> Thank you for asking that. So at the moment I don't have a recommendation for you. I feel that Um, we are all in the stage right now about really learning what the mandate is and what the options are

089and I to my knowledge the board hasn't yet heard as as direct a presentation as this yet about what's coming up to us. So that seems to be the place to start. Um, I do think that over the next like in short order we need to have continued conversations about this and we are most I want you to know that we're on it. We're really part of this as a priority to try to figure out what works the best. >> Thank you. I really appreciate that. This presation is really really helpful. I think you laid out options. Thank you so much. >> So option B for next year is that essentially what we're doing now but basically taking that ownership piece away from CDS, right? If we're already providing services to the four and five

090year olds we have, right? >> Yeah. So when you saw that chart, we're doing 12 year old 12 of the students out of 28. Um so we would then be responsible for those 14 and finding these two that aren't served yet. Uh there may be some increased child fine and there we have 15 kids in referrals. So we would be responsible to do what we're doing now with an increased amount. >> Right. Yeah. I'm sorry. I I didn't ask my question correctly. So, in terms of the services we're providing to the current four and four and 5-year-olds that are in our school, this is essentially an expansion of that same program, right? We take over the ownership for all the kids. Um, presumably they might not all still come depending on depending on their circumstances

091and daycare options. And I mean, I know I lived in district, but I my kids went to daycare out of district because there wasn't an option in town. So, I couldn't have done I couldn't have sent them even if I wanted to um for that reason, right? So um but in terms of kind of the services we're delivering that's what our early intervention team is doing now >> I'll just add yes and right so that partially there is a population of ch children with special needs who are not serving so if a child needs more than what we would kind of call a resource level so that means they spend most of their time with typically developing peers If children have more significant needs, so would in kind of K12 programming, they would be more

092like in an FLS program. So they have less time um >> functional skills. >> Yes. Sorry. Yeah. So they have less time in a in a general ed classroom. We are unable currently to serve that level of need based on what we have in our schools, >> but we would be required to under this program. >> And some I think an import one important point about that is through this allocation part um they'll if we have to pay for a special purpose school if your district would um or build a classroom that it's 100% paid for by this allocation. So either we do it or pay for somebody to do it for now but just that's important >> that's in the structure and equipment bucket. >> No that that's in the the full the full

093bucket that that one will last both years. The funding bucket is here until it runs out. I think a few things that I I would be ready to strongly recommend that we consider is that whatever this program looks like going forward, it will need more staffing. We need to plan for the staffing. The most prominent example I can give you right now is in uh special services. We could not we can't meet this mandate with the current level of administrative and clarable oversight that we have. So we have to anticipate that that will have to provide that and it would be advantageous to have that piece in place as early as possible as we have to start finding children identifying children and providing a level of need that we're not currently responsible for. Um, and

094then the other piece that I would strongly recommend regard no matter what the end product looks like is that this isn't something that if we do it thoughtfully, we can just sort of tack on to the front end of the school system. It it it needs to be integrated. It it will affect every level of the system the way that it fits both in terms of the spaces that we use and the people that we hire and budgets and our programming. And we need to be thinking as we put this in place to get rid of the best longterm solutions. >> I'm wondering if you can speak more about what that administrative role that would be special program. >> Off the top of my head, it would be it would be in it would be

095either an early childhood program coordinator who would be nestled in of the formal title is director of special services I believe or director of instructional support I can't remember exactly the words that we use here but it would be working with Aisha it could be framed as an assistant who had primary responsibility for early childhood um that's a high level of um thank you so much for that presentation was and I want to preface it by saying it was super clear and I really appreciate how well organized it was and I didn't follow it. So everything else is just my brain trying to catch up. Um if just I guess if we're not going to do this just be clear but if the board were tonight to say like absolutely we want to go with

096option A 26 27 what does that mean? like what does that mean in terms of how that impacts the conversations about the budget cycle? Um what does that mean in terms of how much we can know now in terms of money that we'll be able to get from the state? Like just what does that I I just can't wrap my head around like what that really means. >> So that I can speak to that small piece just through experience with another district. So what happens next would happen if you decide to do that. um you'll sit down with the financial team at the state and they'll run down what you have for an allocation and your proposed budget. So you'll say this is what we need and they'll say okay usually um you know there'll

097be some back and forth and then >> you're just saying okay to whatever we need. There's actually anouou component that gets negotiated between the district and the state. Um, and our legal counsel would be involved in that in that arrangement as well. So there's a financial >> you should know that although there is significant state financial support for the setup end of this after 2028 that support is gone and the cost becomes ours and we are we receive funding at the level of EPS reimbursement which is about 25% of the cost. So full disclosure after 2028 this is going to be a a driver of our budget. >> So that 100% number is a big one for you for this district in particular. So that's you know 75% for two years that you're getting that

098wouldn't >> I think the big limiting factors right now Colin and others feel free to chime in. Um, I don't know where we would house this right now and our spaces are tight and we're going to have to get really creative and very deliberate about how we tackle that and I don't know how much time it takes us to make a good decision around that. So that that's one one thing where a play for time might be helpful. Another is um if I return to staffing, as everybody knows, we are struggling to fully staff some of our special education roles. We're down six and a half edte as it is. It's really hard to find edte. Um and the service providers don't just grow on trees either. So the these are big pieces of the

099puzzle that that will be hard to be real challenges. One thing I think that might be helpful is for my brain think about the money um is what are we leaving on the table if we push out a year, right? Like so what's the maximum we could get versus what would we get in the second year? Um I'm interested in knowing like what is considered a reimburseable expense is the if we have to bring in an early uh childhood education coordinator to support the IEPs and admin support is that covered or is it strictly like face-to-face services? >> Yeah, perfect answer. Yes, it is covered. You know, if you assistant director, wherever you put it as and that is why they offer the early allocation so that you can hire somebody like that. You can

100hire an extra admin assistant through the database transfer bringing a lot into the K to2 fold. So there is an example of budget that I have that's been sanitized that I can offer potentially but it kind of one district what they got through the allocation what they worked out to theirou it can show you gives us idea gives people ideas and what what was actually paid for but it'll be you know you don't have to read anything you don't want to do either >> and that's all fit into that 100% that all is allowable then there is additional special allocation that's dwindling by the month um as districts who have joined prior cohorts are utilizing it for things that go above and beyond that. Um so equipment um facilities modifications so accessibility features things like

101that that might um be in it like extra to that 100% allocation. >> So 100 isn't really 100 plus whatever else you might need. >> 100's like then spend it. Yeah, the extra >> and just to give a scope of technical assistance, um the state's already offered us some dates to come and look at just to do a site walk through and say, "Hey, we could do this for you, you know, without a commitment." >> I was going to ask that if the technical support might help us with the discussion about space and where and >> they're they they will be generous uh at a certain level and then they will focus their attention on those who are members of cohorts because a great need there across the state. So their um their technical support

102will be pretty um abbreviated for those not yet in cohorts. >> And does that 100% in 26 27 drop to a lower percent in 2728? >> No, it's 100 up until they join. >> Okay. So we don't leave any money on the table going pushing it a year. >> But we do have to go three to five in the second year. We can't right the the four to five is gone >> and the the special the extra money could be gone. >> Yeah. >> Right. Probably >> people who we would want to hire might have already been snack. >> So what do with the sanitized sample budget that you mentioned presumably there's some um heavier lift in the initial years of pro of starting programs like this like startup cost you know capital expenditures. What

103which of that is in the 100% which of that is in the extra bucket? And do you know like a percentage of how much you're spending in the initial years versus later years? >> I do not. >> Thank you. I'm not sure that's transferable between districts. Yeah. Because it's based on student count. >> Uh so within a year you're going to have within a year you're going to have changes between quarters. within more kids are identified. There's 15 in referral right now. Some of those are three year olds. >> I guess just to make sure I'm asking the question clearly like in terms of maybe like infrastructure, >> right? So presumably there's going to be some costs that are related to just getting facilities up and running period. It would that be in the 100%

104or would that be in the extra money if there's some available >> to some extent though? >> Yeah. So physical um I think one way is pretty close. So if it's physical um it's private special allocation. >> If it's infrastructure you know staff and patterns that would be 100% >> like the oneoffs versus the um equipment that stays fixed in the classroom. Those kinds of things are in more the 100% range and then the additional the oneoff sorry that additional funding >> for readiness. Yeah, I I guess just on the on the space side of it, um I guess I guess I got a couple of questions around that. One is um don't tell Jen that this is an idea, but like if we moved the high school out of the high school into like

105all of the vacant um store fronts in uh in downtown Freeport um and therefore had this building uh available um >> to fill a three-year-old. >> Yeah, exactly. >> It's fun. Um what like what is like if that if we had that space then then B are you are you saying that basically we could as long as we could find the people to staff it? um we could get a lot basically the all of the funds necessary to get this space tricked out for those for the three and 5 year olds. Uh we wouldn't have to we wouldn't have to add anything else to the budget for next fiscal year. Is that accurate? >> No. >> I'm not comfortable saying that. Well, then what? Yeah. What's >> so far? So, if they for instance, you

106walk through the um the kindergarten classrooms uh in the states. Oh, we could offer you some of these smaller furniture if you're going to have a three-year-old rotating through. Um you know, you don't have a EDA entrance, you know, that can help with that sort of structure. Uh give you some toilets that are lower to the ground that um I just I don't I wouldn't say no. It's just not within my scope to say how much of a retrofit they're going to do to a building. >> I mean, I think at the moment I trying to I don't want to overpromise anything and I I just don't know the answer to that. >> You think my high school idea is not going to fly. >> It's career education. >> Yeah. You know, I guess why

107I'm asking is I guess I really don't understand the difference between saying we need a new space in new space to handle this in September versus a year from September in terms of like are we talking about like what are we talking about? Are we talking about um a number of trailers? Are we talking about a a new structure that we're constructing? I guess that's where I'm just confused as to what is it >> could be a reconfiguration. >> How are we going to know that between now and or not. >> I think Tom made a good point about mixed delivery. That's what a lot of um so if we looked there were seven three-year-olds on the list right now. There's going to be more but um so there are kind of a few options

108that I've seen around there's itinerant meeting. We're sending our people into daycarees. We're inviting students to come into our programs that are here for research. Um, and some districts are doing that by providing transportation because a lot of parents can't leave at 10:00 a.m. to bring a kid to another building to do an hour of speech therapy and then bring them back. So, there's they have bought a van people for a district that's happened. I think you know once you decide as a group and have some clarity on what you want and how you would want to deliver it. >> Yeah. So here here's what we have. We'll take we'll join here because they want us to wants districts to do this for all these reasons. >> Yeah. Because they don't want CDS doesn't want

109this responsibility anymore. So the sooner we get them off of that that list the better turning to them. Right. So >> and also I think two years right now is not all that much to be ready for July 2028. You know, we're halfway through the early adopter program as a community, as a state. >> Has um uh any districts partnered with other districts to I mean, in terms of the number of kids, it could be a lot of effort for not a ton of kids potentially. Like, is there a way to pull the kids? >> Partnerships are possible. I mean, not that you want to ship three-year-olds too far. I mean, the same issue with kindergarters, I guess. >> I'm just picturing the vans they're buying full of car seats. I mean, these are little

110toddlers. These are three-year-olds. >> It's fun. We're at work. We do it. It's a lot, but it's fun. And a lot of parents do want to drive, especially if you're in the morning. >> That's just my experience around the district. I just have to say I really appreciate your positive attitude around this and how this is fun and we have the privilege of of serving these sweet little three-year-olds and foury olds. So, thank you. >> I think that that's a that's a really good point. This is this is a lot. We don't know what it's going to look like yet. I honestly believe it's good for kids. It's good for kids and families. We can do a better job with it than doing and I don't mean to cast shade on CVS, but we're just

111better set up to meet that need. Um, we got to get from A to B in a pretty short amount of time. >> So, I have a couple questions on definitions. Um, is a three-year-old considered a three-year-old for this coverage? Is there a specific date that they must three? Is there a possibility of us serving two-year-olds to meet the three-year-old October 15th? >> Yeah. Like when is a three-year-old considered a three-year-old? And the other one I had was um is there a possibility that we would have so many IEP students in four or five that we would have strictly IEP students being served for? >> No. Second question. Um so there are there would be 20 right now as it stands there would be 22 24 um across the whole district. So um that the

112whole unless you decided to put them all like 36. >> So we have eight and a half classes of 16 a piece. I know they're not all full but how many prekers we currently have. Do you know when a three-year-old is a three-y old? >> So they they join on their birthday. >> Okay. >> Which means it's rolling. >> Yeah. >> So a 2-year-old couldn't show up on the first day of school if their birthday was October 1st. >> Yeah. >> And they don't come um one thing I think is they don't come as a surprise. There's three meetings. Uh I think it's two years, three months. There's three meetings between two and three which they kind of get introduction basically um evaluating and then you know where they're they're supposed to have on their

113third birthday. So for instance I have kids in referral now that we've accepted but they won't turn three until about November so they can come to school for them. >> I just want to tag on to that because that is an example of where we need additional administrative support uh to structure that onboarding um to make sure that all of those appointments are scheduled with families in the environment that is most fitting. Um, so there's like just a lot of logistics that begin before the child actually enters school and three-year-olds come into us, would come into us, will come into us in a in a um in rolling fashion throughout the year. >> Did the other thing I hear was um around shifting our current prek to have to be full day as opposed to

114the current half day. That's that's not a requirement. >> This is these are the minimum uh service requirements in the on this slide. Um >> that is and we currently exceed we yeah we currently exceed these. >> Okay. So like if I'm reading that right for a three-year-old it's an hour and 12 minutes a day. Well, that would be up to right depends on depends on the top. >> Yeah. Typically, they run through it to be in two days or three hours. >> Okay. So, it wouldn't necessarily have to be like what we have for prek now, which is five days, half days for everybody. >> No, but part part of the picture may be that there are advantages to having some full day settings available. So that may be something we want to consider

115as we look at this child situation. >> So that's three year olds. There are there is two sorry um there is one case talked about there are some full day students that if it's written in their IEP they need a full day program. Um those are generally just special purpose schools. So students with the highest needs. >> So are we talking out of district placement for three-year-olds >> for Yeah. Either one >> that still exists in this >> that still exists but we are currently not paying for that. >> Yeah. >> Right. And you won't be till 2028 either with cohort or not. Right. The cohort will pay for that >> but we're still responsible for the child portion. at that point in 2028. So becoming practiced in that work is very important. >> I'm

116wondering more about the finding part of this and the different steps. So, if I was a parent with a two or threeyear-old who I had developmental concerns about, I would probably go to my pediatrician first with my kids doctor and they would then refer me to CVS probably and I would probably wait a really long time. Um, this is like current situation. And then eventually maybe I that child would get an IEP and be either served through CVS or through the district. What will happen going forward is that that pediatrician would maybe refer us to the school district. Okay. And then >> this database. >> Okay. Yeah. Can you tell? Okay. So that the same database. So that um ties in I was saying it's going to become what we do now for K to

11712 referrals that will prek and child find child for three year olds which you're talking about would come to us directly so or to whatever issues sorry I'm dealing this elsewhere so um >> you're a collective us tonight it's fine >> okay thank you so you who would say, "Hey, you're here. Here's a contact info for for your school. You can get connected." And that's a big part of I think I know really community community engagements. Um, and we want to spread awareness like we wrote some we wrote letters to pediatricians like, "Hey, we're doing this. Um, come see us. We have a link now just like CDS did but on our website all the system stuff is you know we'll get some support to build out or just build out what else you know

118answer your question I I think I meandered but come to the school for >> so just essentially eliminate CDS's involvement at all >> so then is there a concern that we would not find children. >> So there's still it's a concern that we would miss children that we would have to be doing some more searching going to daycarees going to >> Yeah. I again fun [Laughter] earlier like we had a different definition >> and you can do it Cara. >> I mean that's currently a concern. Um, currently there are kids I I can say from my own experience when you're moving from um I'll put that back up in a minute, but when you're moving from um um CDS referral into a school-based system, um we have found as many as double once the word

119is out that we have the ability to serve. Um so the numbers can as much as double. um it doesn't mean we are able to serve all of those needs, but it is currently the case that not all children are being found and or served. And that's part of the motivation um that a community-based organization like a school district with its resources colllocated to serve these needs is a better model and it does happen in other states as well. So when do you think we will have an accurate estimate in terms of how many students we may have? >> You have it. >> That is that data is as of this week. >> Does it seem strange that the four-year-olds there's 20some and the three-year-olds there's five? >> I mean is it just they're not

120identified yet? >> Yeah. They keep going to the doctor and those developmentally appropriate milestones are being measured and these referrals come in and there is a rolling >> and you've got a really good early that's starting to see them when they're four starting to see. >> Yeah. The likelihood of four year olds being in a program is high. So, you know, they're not all getting referred from their pediatricians and things. Sometimes it's whatever childcare providers they're at now are also making those referrals. So, you know that it's not surprising that that number's higher as fours. Also, you know, there's a lot of room for let's wait and see when a child is three versus four, you know, and then you start to see patterns develop and you're like, ah, yeah, no, this is this is

121something we need to take a look at. Um there are you know however hard we um work at our child find you know there are still children who show up in kindergarten who have been next to you know the reality is that there will be you know either families who are not don't go to pediatricians they are not engaged in the community who suddenly realize their child should be at school or they're connected with someone and they come okay we got to get a referral moving quickly. So I think just that is a reality. >> Yeah. I mean for me the the full day versus half day is a huge question because that doubles the space and the staffing requirement, right? Just strictly going from half day to full day. I mean we cut our

122capacity in half unless >> it doesn't have to be all one or the other. Well, I know, but like, you know, but understanding understanding what that looks like or could look like, you know, I don't know how we undertake the the facilities without knowing what we're trying to find space for like and and maybe this is just because this is all for me anyway very new. So, my brain is like spinning in circles here. um circular >> with the the minimum and max hour requirements notwithstanding an IEP that would require a full day. >> It's it's possible though that it's maybe it's a whole day but it's one day instead of two half days, right? that where it wouldn't necessarily be an actual double potentially >> potentially. I mean, but I know when we and

123Julie jump in because I forget or misrepresent things on occasion. Um we we used to have half day prek and you were a Tuesday Thursday or a t or or a Monday Wednesday and they alternated Fridays and they found that consistent fiveday instruction was better even like half the time but every day for consistency with the with the kiddos. Um, I'm not sure if that thinking has changed where we I mean I would think it'd be even more important for this this group of of kids for that to be true. But >> yeah, I think it's clear that we wouldn't want to go back to part-time full day. Um, I think if we're talking full day, we're talking five day full day. I mean, it definitely is beneficial for children to be at school every

124day and more so for our children with IEPs. But is there is there a threshold? Like, you know, I'm thinking of a three-year-old in a school all day. Yes, >> that's long. >> They have nap time installed and snacks and movement breaks that are developmentally appropriate. I Ted runs a three-year-old program. >> Yeah. I So, um, fulltime for for three year olds, half base even the special purpose schools, unless they're district. We have special purpose classrooms and they're full time. is 15 hours a week and you know tough on that but a lot of having extra program with three-year-olds hasn't having meeting the requirements 15 hours seems to work really well and some of these kids you know they get an hour speech right so six hours of gen inclusion is plenty work on the

125hour specific goals of take turns turn taking right it's hard to do if you don't have some other I think that's the thinking um and CDS has really admitted they don't really have a school right they have a special ed service so they don't have places you know that's been a challenge for them and that's where the district stuff on >> that's helpful because you know in my head full day is 8 to 3 when our kids are in school but that's not necessarily bold time for a three-year-old. So that's helpful. >> Yeah. Again, thank you so much for all of this. I I have a thousand questions, but I'm not going to ask them because I think I'm just going to ask question, which is how do we make how do as a district

126do we make this decision between now and I'm going to just ch I'm going to use that February >> um uh date like how do we do that? what is our process for um I guess either evaluate like doing further evaluation of either this the students that we would need to serve the administrative capacity that we would need the space requirements um how is that going to happen who's going to do it take a stab at that I I think it's important to I hope this doesn't come across as dismiss it at all not intend to be. Tonight's not the night where we have to every we have to know everything. Um, tonight's the night where we have to grasp the problem. I think the next step is to get much more specific about what

127the funding from the state will be so we can make an informed decision about do we jump sooner or we jump later and also we need to have a stakeholder group that I think is looking at all of the options that come before us. So I think If we kind of break the work into chunks, to me, those are the two next steps. Develop a stakeholder group and get more specific information about the funding that's available and then come back to the board with some of that information in a short term. I'm not talking months from now. I'm talking like next month. >> Yeah. The the opportunity cost for me is a big one. Like what do we lose by pushing out a year? you know, if there's if it's a bucket of money that's

128going to be gone before we get to February anyway, we lose nothing. If it's, you know, there is a real opportunity that there's still money to be had and and we're going to have to do these things whether it's this year or next year, then, you know, that might that might compel us to do something sooner. For me, that's important. Kelly, >> no, I was just going to add in sort of in the stakeholder group discussions Part of that will be the big pieces of facilities because you say that's a really major obstacle that we need to think about in terms of the streets. >> Exactly. And some of those conversations could be really sensitive and I think that's where there's also a decision about the timing of our of how we proceed. I would

129predict that when we really get into facilities and I should add another step doing a walk through with folks who can really help us look at our facilities and see what we can manage manage it. >> Yeah. How quickly we could move all the high school kids to LLB for internships. >> Um >> let me see if I could get back to my Oh yeah. So um >> I think the facilities piece depending on the options that we end up seeing before us could be sensitive and when you have a sensitive topic to talk about the amount of time that you have to talk about it and invest in bringing people along and and considering the options is an important factor in the timing of the overall decision. So that's a piece that we'll need

130to get clarity on over the next few months. I think the facilities tool will help us even envision in general what are the options in front of us >> and our facilities tour is scheduled for October 1st. >> So they gave us Yeah. So and I met with um the woman that will be coming to do that on Monday. She offered a few dates the principles and other people were able to do October 1st. I need to get back to to um the DOE after this meeting and just you know give a little rundown um but hoping that they can come on that day. Um you know know that what what's been accomplished so far and uh let everybody know that but they will be quick in their turnaround what they're going to offer through

131the special funding. So again, you know, somebody might want to focus that, but let somebody else want to join in on that for some other fun. >> It gets better. >> Oh, no. I'm not >> there's there's volunteering. >> You mentioned that there are other districts you could talk to as well. >> Yes. >> Learn about what has worked for them. There's been a lot of work in the greater Sobago group to which we belong uh around this around sort of resource sharing and idea sharing. There are also and any number of other districts that have jumped onto earlier cohorts. Um in some cases the that has not gone well. But for some of those other districts um you know it's hard work. It's really difficult to figure out. So we have examples to learn

132from. Um, and I'm actively in the process of trying to tap into that collective wisdom. >> Um, I'm just curious if other districts Well, I would imagine that there are districts out there potentially um that already have full day prek that this is I I know this is already going to be a heavy lift. >> The district that came from has full day prek. So the transition for them is going to look probably much different than for us. And I guess I'm wondering about that piece if if we want to have fully prek option for all children eventually. That's a >> I think that's an important piece to consider. >> Full because there's a different proposition between having a full day three-year-old program and having a full day fouryear-old program. And you know, we currently

133have the the half-day four-year-old program, but as we look at the bigger picture, it may make sense to think about is full day four-year-old programming a good option. And is now the time to integrate that into an overall approach? I I don't know the answer to that, but it's worth asking the question. And certainly, yeah, I think that's a good point that we want to have that conversation now when we're thinking about facilities and space and you know to say, okay, we could accomplish this now with the number of kids we have now and the half day programs we have now, but if we think that the plan is that we're seeing that maybe full day is a better option for four-year-olds, we want to be thinking about that in advance of getting there going,

134"Well, it just made sense when we did it, but we didn't think it all through." The other thing I'm just going to throw out there um is that you know this is a huge undertaking and I appreciate I mean this is just a huge undertaking for this what you gave us tonight you wouldn't mind implementing so thank you for that uh for your quick turnar around. Um but we also have a lot of other large undertakings on the plate this year. This isn't in a vacuum the only thing that you know I have full faith uh in in our team to deliver miracles. They do it all the time. But um I also don't want to, you know, drown a new administrative team in the district who is undertaking a, you know, a very meaty

135strategic plan process and a variety of other things across the district. Um I just I just want to, you know, kind of look at it from a global perspective too that this would be a really heavy lift if there was no other heavy lifts on the plate. I say that >> I really have to give a lot of credit to the people you see >> right there. Erica and Julie and Ted have done an incredible amount of work and their their knowledge about this is far more granular than mine. So I'm really leaning on them and they've done a fantastic job >> and we don't want to burn any of those people out. So >> I just got a thing. I would just wonder if we had budget to bring Ted to every meeting just

136to kind of be like generally positive like kind of looking for it just encouraging. >> I like the boss tone and the mighty mighty boss tones. The guy just dances >> the fun. >> Are you saying you need him to dance? >> That might be best one. How much money? I'm not volunteering to fill that role, but I did have like a positive thought that I thought would be interesting to share, which is when I think of Julie's presentation about this data, when I think that this is going to happen at some point, to me, I get excited about the additional data that we'll get from it. So, team excitement. >> Yeah. And I do want to give, you know, props to the, you know, uh, well, Lisa's not here anymore, but Julie and Will

137who came to us several years ago, even probably at least a full year before we actually did it about the need for servicing kids younger and, you know, accessing the the gaps before they become >> vast. So, um, so good job seeing the future. You saw what was coming down the pike. >> Yeah. No, I mean it is this is exciting. It's it's a lot of moving parts, right? But to have to have just kids sooner in our schools, I think it's beneficial to everybody and you know families and you know students and it is exciting. It's it's you know it builds on what we have started to to create and recognize the need for. So >> it philosophically aligns with kind of what we've already been doing, right? I mean so that's good. We're

138farther along the path than some people on that route, I'm sure. I had not been on the job for 48 hours before I was in Julie's office with her giving me a rundown of why we needed this now. So, um, she's been very dedicated to this work >> for a long time. >> Okay. So, we can expect some updates in the next month or so about site visits and funding and >> we might get an update every board meeting. >> Okay. Right. Your your board your your superintendent reports are just going to keep getting longer. feel like we want updates on strategic plan, we want updates on CDS. >> Just out of cur, this is this is an actual question, not I mean they're all actual questions. Where do I look online to find the

139information about where the funding that CDS has been getting for this >> is going after it goes away after they no longer have that responsibility? >> That that is that is an excellent question for which we do not have an answer. We don't have an answer because it like it had like the answer doesn't exist like the >> it's a >> not this is not for you I'm not this not for you like >> legislator >> I've received no communication about this at all >> I mean theoretically speaking it probably I mean it is coming from the state which funds CDS which also funds subsidy it will run through the EPS maybe it's reallocated there I don't know Or maybe they didn't have it to be >> or they didn't. Right. Well, >> much >>

140or not enough. Yeah. >> So, so me and Michelle that then we were serving these additional kids once we have the funding formula that we get of the money we get from the city. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Like I guess I guess like again an honest question is like what where do I find the information about what funding CDS got last year for this work? Like what line like what line item is it under? >> I mean I guess I'll just say I I couldn't give that specific answer but but as someone that is familiar with the state budget is really an extremely difficult budget environment right now. know there was a shortfall last year and so I would say if there's any risk of any of these funds going away at all. Um certainly

141like the money being taken from CVS is just it's just gone it's gone into other programs. It's gone into so many other places. There are so many things that need funding right now um that just don't have it and it's really unfortunate. So, I think I mean I know we're not looking for an answer tonight, but from my perspective grabbing as much of that money like while we can because there's I think there's no guarantees and we know for sure it'll be off the table right by 2028 and >> yeah I don't >> 100% level. >> Yeah. And I don't know if DOE is giving any confidence about whether that money will definitely be there until 2028. >> Yeah. It's written into the law. >> Yeah. Hopefully that wouldn't change but great. Yeah. things up

142first. >> They could change the law. They could change the law and >> that have happened as part of >> right. So they go, you know, we'll pay you for this. And then you go, okay, in in good faith, you do it because they said they would. And then they're like, oh, sorry. Just change our mind. >> Would also be a breach of theou that >> So yeah, what I mean, what does that mean? >> Well, means you wouldn't be legally on the hook, but your kids would still need all this stuff. >> The people we'd already done the work. We'd already brought the kids in. which is what you want really why you want to do it anyway. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Uh how's everybody feel about that? But I think we all need

143to process a bit more. Okay. >> Are you up again? >> Do you need a drink of water, Erica, before we >> move you on to the next one? I >> I'm just encouraging her to encourage you all if you come up with questions before the next meeting, >> make sure to send them email. >> Yeah. As you're thinking of these things, >> I can begin to assemble an FAQ um with your questions so that we can just show those uh you know for for our purposes and for public history because we will have a lot of >> questions. Yeah. And I Yeah. And I'm sure they will be a lot of the same questions stuff from a variety of different folks. So yeah, that's a great idea. Thank you. Okay. While it seems hard

144to believe, the next package from Erica is actually even bigger than the last one. So we'll let her get started on that. Are you going to uh project that one up as well? >> I will. Yes. And I think it might be better to view on the screen potentially. >> Um but it's totally up to you. Okay. So, we will move on to 9D, the beginning of year achievement data. >> You don't have to move if you don't want to. I can keep you out of the screen. >> No, it's okay. We can't see it. >> So, again, um I I learned this habit of introducing myself every time I'm at the podium from um a last position. And in case anybody's watching at home, I find it sometimes helpful to redo that. So forgive

145me and direct me if that's not your preferred method. Um so Erikica Mateo, assistant superintendent, you had asked me in the last meeting to offer a beginning of year um data overview for you. Um and I shared that I would be able to do that at kind of like the surface level. And so uh this presentation tonight is really a look at where we ended last year. Um, Julie did share in her earlier presentation that it's like what we refer to as endofyear data. Um, sometimes we we throw out an acronym because we're known for that. We call it EOI, but I will try not to do that. But, um, so we're basically looking at where we ended last year so as to inform the work that we are launching into this year. Um so

146with that I I would like to I actually before I advance the slide I just want to acknowledge the incredible work that has hap happened in this district to date. This is an this feels like a very advantaged starting place. It feels like a very strong starting place. Um I think uh a lot of districts would prefer to be in your position when they start their year looking at the data from the year prior. So um it is with that position that I offer you opportunities for growth. So I will just start with I guess I don't expect here um I just want to start with some attendance data. I'm going to try to offer you three years of data so that you can see a three-year trend line on on these pieces. Um but

147with regard to um attendance, this is at our aggregate level. So meaning all of our schools are brought together to demonstrate where how we're growing in the area of reducing chronic absenteeism and truency. And you can see our accomplishments on the top there. The average daily attendance rate is also increasing while our chronic absenteeism and truency is decreasing. of the positive one. Really excited about this one. Um, as a former athlete myself, this feels really strong to be able to show you how much um, extracurricular participation we have our kids engaged in here in RSU 5 across the seasons and the grade levels and the programs with community programs being a major partner in that. This is that in a visual. Same information. Okay. So, here's where we start getting into academic achievement data. Um,

148I am um again I'm focused in these data sets on our end of year. So, how did we finish? So, did our kids meet or exceed grade level expectations? and wherever we landed, what is that telling us about what they need next? So, our K5 number sense screener is not that many years old. Is it three years oldish? >> Number screener K5. So, I have three years of data for you. Um, and you will see that in numbers. So, you should have this yes in your paper as well. Um, so these are just quick assessments that um we utilize to look at grade level content mastery and um understand how our how our students are um performing up against the common core state standards for math. There's an assessment rubric for each task and then

149um this is administered and scored um knee to me with kiddos in the classroom. It's not a computer. It's adaptive. This is that uh same data but um at grade level achievement across our grade levels on the left there. You can't see it on the screen, but 160 is the population total. happy to take questions. So, math K5, this is reading K5. We use benchmark assessment for our K5 readers. Um, that's a need to assessment. We administer that through our um strategists and specialists in our building. So our classroom teachers are partners in that work but it is delivered sort of objectively by a by a third party within the building. This is how we are performing across three years across five grade levels spring and year. This is another way of looking at that

150same data set. I don't know about you, but sometimes it's helpful for me to see things the same things represented differently. So, if I didn't hit the mark, I accept feedback. >> Can I just ask these um uh this isn't following the same cohort. So, it's not like I would look at the red >> over here and then move to the next color. It's the same. Red is the same grade. Okay. >> I want to make sure I answer your question correctly. This is following. So, these would be the same kiddos spanning 22, 23, and 23. >> Oh, so they are cohorts. Yeah, that that would be the the children moving through. >> Oh, wait. >> So, the same kid would be on the >> No, my apologies. This is I pulled these data from

151our state report and this is end of year. Yes. Yeah. First answer. >> You would take a third grade and then you would jump to the fourth grade and then you jump to the fifth grade to see the same >> and these are the same data we reported to the state of Maine in our annual comprehensive needs assessment. So this is our proficiency trend for benchmark assessment or reading as measured by benchmark assessment. Okay. So when we get into third grade and I know we're cutting kind of like back to third grade because we just talked about K5. It is best practice to have two measures. Um so it is definitely not uncommon to see two measures um across K5. So beginning in third grade um we administer the NWA assessment. The state also participates

152in that now with its throughyear overlay on that. I won't get into the throughyear piece. I'm going to just keep us in what we know with the NWA. Um the there are their RIT score. We're familiar with the RIT score. It's a three-digit number that our kiddos get um up to twice a year. And um this is going to offer us a um perspective as to how they perform compared to national norms. So this is our NWA map. data for our third through 10th graders. On the left at the top are the national norms references. I will note that these are the 2020 norms. They have been updated to 2025 as we launch into this academic year. So, if you were to look these up online, you might find two different norms. That's just that's

153too much information, but potentially I don't want you to think there's a conflict. Um, grade 10, I will put an asterisk on that because the item bank is fixed and it doesn't behave the way that we knew NEIA to behave in the past. So, um, I would like to place an emphasis rather on 3 through 8 knowing that our grade 10 data does exist on the date on the state's dashboard. On the right is how we've performed up against those natural arms. The dotted lines are those benchmark um per the norms and then how we're performing compared to that benchmark. the benchmark is placed at 42 to 60% achievement. Um, and so this is this is what you're probably accustomed to seeing. I think you're probably accustomed to seeing us perform at this level. So,

154we're slightly above benchmark. Um the way that Noia is divided in terms of achievement zero to 21% achievement is going to be that lowest range highest need for intervention. What we often call tier three intervention. Um from 22 to 41% is the next highest need. what we often refer to as tier 2 intervention. 42 to 60% is that benchmark level. So those are kiddos who are in our tier one setting um and who are advancing to meet these you know at or above expectations. The challenge that we have next is Noia places career and college ready benchmarking at the 61st% or higher. So I just want to acknowledge that we haven't previously been looking at these data in that manner. We haven't previously been been elevating the conver you know like that that challenge to

155ourselves to the 61st or or better. And that is really where we want 80% of our kids at at that level so that we are trending from the earliest grades to um that meter meet or exceed the college and career benchmark. So my next pieces are going to show you how we compare against those benchmarks. I think this might be easier in the next visual. That's the same. So this leaves us opportunity for growth in math. and we will move up to high school assessments and see how this translates with college board assessments as well. I'll move on to reading again. This is our grades 3 to asterisk 10. Our performance is strong. >> Yes. Did you want to stop me? >> Yeah. Can I ask a question about is it we should be comparing

156against that 61% of college readiness is there can you tell us more about why that's what we should be doing? >> Sure. uh the the testing body, the Northwest Evaluation Association, that they have done the research to determine the predictive level of success when a child um crosses our stage and heads on to the next stage of their whether it's technical training or um or it is to a two or fouryear institution postcary. So these it's a predictive indicator and we'll get we'll see it more in the college board's um college board has its own cuts in their in their um data as well. So this is what you're accustomed to seeing that um you know 42nd to 60th range where our kids are doing meeting that benchmark level well right and and when we

157look on the state dashboard slightly different with the throughear overlay but you typically see this kind of achievement. So this is probably what you're accustomed to seeing. This is then that 61st% cut as it relates to reading broken down third through Asper's 10th. And here is how that looks in a visual that is similar to the >> So, is it fair to say that the 80% that we're shooting for isn't even on the chart because we're so far below it? >> Not yet. We're not there yet. Yeah. >> Because that's what you said we should be shooting for, right? 80%. >> 80% of our kiddos, our hope is that they're at 61st% or better. >> So, right now they're at the Third graders are most prepared for career college readiness. >> They're doing great. >>

158Yes. Yeah. >> I have a question. >> Yeah. >> Um >> I think I know how to ask it. Um, how on average, how much higher than the benchmark would we need to be hitting in order to be achieving this? I guess I'm trying to just I'm trying to translate between like >> we have that benchmark >> number and then we have these this number which I think which I think I think you you're right that is what we are used to seeing is sort of how we >> um compare with that benchmark but like >> again I don't I don't know if I'm asking the question correctly but >> I understand um maybe this one um this shows us our total number of students and then I had shared with you. That range of

159like 0 to 21 and then um 22 to um 41 and then 42 to 60. Here's our 61st to 80th and that's how many kiddos are landing in that range. And that's what um Noia refers to as high average. And the high average trend line. >> Oh >> yeah. is what we're what we're seeking for 80% of our students. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> I'm sort of curious if this is the goal, how many or what percentage of schools are actually meeting that goal of 80%. That's pretty far off from where we're at right now. >> So the 80% mark is a reference to multi-tered systems of support. That's um that's 80% in the base of tier one instruction. And to Julie's earlier points, then focusing the 20% your attention on intervention in that remaining

16020% to bring them into those tier one opportunities and optimize their outcomes. I don't know how many districts specifically are um are accomplishing that level consistently at every grade level. um you will see how this impacts outcomes on those high school assessments as well when we get there. Um so it is truly seeming to be predictive of the outcomes. It's it's uh research to predict. I I guess I guess I would follow up on Kelly's question though. It just I mean it seems like um if 1% of of uh school districts in America are hitting that um that seems like that's helpful to know, right? Uh because >> um or if it's 60%. that those mean very different things in terms of I think in terms of of where where we are in relation to

161that or how or what our aspirations might >> be. I think maybe >> I just speaking sorry >> maybe >> I just wanted to speak to the question about or the the the comment about more of our third graders are on track to be college ready than high school kids. And this is just this is not informed by any observation I've made in this district yet. But as somebody who's been in high schools for a heck of a long time, it is incontrovertibly true that the older the kids get, the more they blow off these tests, especially the NWA and high because the the scores don't really mean anything for the high school kids on an individual level. They're not accountable for these scores at all. And there are increasing number of kids who just

162fill in blanks. Now, I can't say for sure that that's what's happening, but I can say it happens a lot. So, that just something to consider. >> Yeah, I think the 10th grade asterisk is very important. >> The item bank is also fixed for those students. It's a different test. It behaves differently and kiddos interface with it differently. I'll move on to some of our high school data. So the PSAT and SAT um I can repeat this later in the presentation. We have made our 10th grade PSAT assessment optional. Our fall our fall 11th grade PSAT is supported by the school and so it's like scheduled and it's like just kind of how we do business. Um, our spring SAT for our 11th graders is standard operating offering and then it is an elective option

163again for our 12th graders. So, you're going to see some participation rates that mean things in the data sets. Okay. So the college board benchmarks their predictive indicators of college readiness um at uh meeting or exceeding um with meeting or exceeding at um at demonstrating a 75% probability of earning at least a C in first semester credit bearing like 100 level coursework in post-secary. So if you meet or exceed their benchmarks then then it is intended to be predictive of uh a likelihood to successfully persist in 100 level coursework. Um ERW is how it spits it out in the test and on our spreadsheets and that is um English reading writing. I will note that writing is no longer a component of the state's assessment. So writing is a strength of ours in this district

164and it does show in these data. So ERW grades 10 and then grade 11 and then math for 10 and then 11. That's how that's table is organized. >> So can I just add the math? Those are very similar colors to me. >> Is is 11 the top line? >> Um Oh, sorry. >> Yeah, no worries. Um, so what Kelly was asking about is on the right side of the uh slide there, the math trends piece. Um, so our um the darker line is our 11th grade and that's um on the top. So that top line and then the lighter blue line, my apologies, clearly my artistry is not as clear um as it could be. Um but then grade 10 um is that lighter line trim. So when I talked about our mandator sort

165of SOP uh participation, this is what that looks like. Um like who takes us up on that? That changed last 23 24. So we we moved from being a all school all-in both years to an elective and that's what that is showing you participation rate. Something to consider for your trend analysis. So this is the PSAT and that is that um 10th grade optional 11th grade fall. Right now, we're going to move into the SAT. So, the benchmarks for SAT are like these three-digit scores. Um, and they have uh they're cut at the 75% or they're sorry, they're in indicating that 75% chance of um of earning a C or better if you have like at at least at this level. And that er again is English reading writing. So the um if you're looking

166at reading, the darker line is 12th grade on the top and the lighter red line is 11th grade on the bottom. And if you're looking at math, the the darker line on the top is 12th grade and the lighter line is 11th grade on the bottom. Again, 11th grade spring is the is the standard operating when we do SAT. Not all kids participate in SAT because it's no longer the state assessment. >> Um, just so I know, these are not predictive. They're not predicting that they're going to get 75th when they're at when they're in that first level of college. >> Oh, sorry. They're not like So yeah, >> there's there's a big difference between the 11th and the 12th grade. >> Yes. >> So they're saying that the the 11th grade students if they

167were currently enrolled in a college course, a 100 course, 75% of them would get a C or above if they had a 480 or higher. They're not saying that in two years when they get to a first college course. >> Do you know what I do? >> You understand my question? I'm sorry. >> Like the the the previous ones the K through8 were were predictions >> whereas these ones are not predictions or is there really a big difference between our level of rates? Um they're all predicting this um that the basically the Lexile and numeracy levels of students are trending in a direction that is predictive of career and college readiness. The different assessments cut it in different places. Yeah. I guess the way I would think of it, I would hope that one extra

168year of school would push you a little bit higher towards college readiness so that more people would be at that 75% >> yeah predictive level, >> right? Um, but we're not we're not produc we're not creating an environment where all of our 12th graders are participating in the SAT and the SAT is not um is not mandated by the state any longer. For many years we were a we were administering the SAT as a state as our high school assessment. At that time it was done um in 11th grade. The federal mandate is 10th grade. Our state was behaving with an exception. And so that's why you see Noia sitting in 10th grade because we're meeting that federal mandate. SATs living more in 11th and 12th grade where it belongs. Um so it is still

169there but elective. >> Yeah. But whether or not it's an elective, an extra year that the 12th graders, it would kind of make sense that they might perform at a higher level just because they've had that extra education. >> And these may be the kiddos who are really trying to get a higher score, >> right? The the 12th grade does not is not mandatory. It's an elective. >> Yeah. And nor is the 11th I mean kids could not all of our kiddos participate. But I I think the the concept that kids that are probably more driven towards high performance on the SATs are going to take it multiple times as opposed to all right, I'm going to go to school. I'm going to take it once. I'm going to get my score. I'm going to

170move on as opposed to really high like I need the very highest score to potentially get into these whatever schools. They're probably more likely to take it again which could >> impact the >> Yeah. And um there has been mixed messaging in the post-secondary marketplace about the value ad of this particular assessment. There are many schools who communate communicate very clearly that this is not necessary any longer. So like that's um it is some mixed messaging. Um but we are we have it housed here at the high school still and I think that's a benefit to our students. um how how often is you know something you may want to so I'm going to to this point about participation rates I just found this helpful myself to look at it this way um so 11th

171grade is the lighter line on the top that's that's how many of our kiddos are that percentage of um our kiddos are participating and then um and then our 12th graders and forgive me I don't know why the two green pieces are still on there. >> You have to take both, right? Like you can't just take the math. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I don't know why it was like >> um so can I make kind of a reasonable assumption that the 11th grade results here are more like our true mean? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Absolutely. Because our participation rate Yes. Good observation. Thank you. for your trend analysis. Um, not every kiddo wants to participate in the um, Were you about to say something? >> I was just circling the 25 point drop

172in 12th grade math. >> That's a big one. Um, not every child wants to participate in a standardized assessment. Um, not every family finds this, you know, of high relevance or, you know, um, it it might not be that, you know, they're right. Some of them are right. Some of them this is not the the thing they need. >> Um, I personally standardized assessment. This makes me so uncomfortable because like there are so many other ways to measure and demonstrate mastery and growth. These are the pieces that get on the state dashboard that we get measured up against that do have a predictive quality um statistically. So like this is um it's real and it's um not why we do what we do but it's there science. This is a tricky one. Okay. Because the

173state transition to next generation science standards a little bit late in the next generation science standard game and didn't offer districts a lot of support in doing that. Um this assessment also measures sciences in an interdisiplinary matter which means that at every grade level at which science is measured um fifth 8th and 11th three times in a child's educational journey not with the same assessment if you're a child in that journey in this state um added deltas all over the place um then you are taking an Earth, life, and physical science assessment that also contains engineering components in the physical sciences. So, you're taking an interdisciplinary science assessment. In elementary school, that has typically been our approach, but oftent times in schools, it becomes departmentalized as early as middle school. Right? So then if you're

174taking an assessment that is interdisciplinary, but you're learning in a in a in a discrete sciences coursework sequence, this is not aligned to measure what's actually happening in your classroom environment. So I really want to cautious caution us looking at these data that we're not too heavy in our judgment on what it's showing us because we are doing a lot of really good work in science and it's really hard to demonstrate on this particular assessment. >> Could I just come up for a second? >> Might need some positivity from Tom. >> Um well you're you're not going to get it because I'm just >> No, not you Tom. Ted, >> Ted, >> we need test. >> I'm just going to be blunt. >> This is not a good assessment, especially at the high school level.

175And again, this means absolutely zero to the kids on an individual basis. >> They're pulled out of class. They have a they miss a bunch of class time >> to take an assessment that is not really well calibrated to what science actually means. >> Um, I would take it with a grain of salt. >> Thanks, But it does appear on the state dashboard. >> It does. >> So, um this is um how we do. >> I've seen a lot worse, >> less positive. >> It's not head level positivity, but Okay. >> So, from an education standpoint, sorry. >> Yes. >> What can you do to change a ridiculous assessment? >> Not much. >> Well, I mean, can we lobby our local legislature to be like, "Hey, what's going on with this thing?" So I have

176um had the opportunity to participate in uh requests for proposal with the state with our state assessments both in the sciences and the math and the reading and all of these different instruments. I have been at those tables. It is driven by federal compliance. we can we can grab a better assessment, but it's the federal compliance pieces that are really at the end of the day kind of telling us what we can and can't do, which runs sort of up against what we know is best. Often, um, for example, the main throughear assessment kind of locks in on at, below, or above. It's only looking to determine if our kids are at grade level below or above. Not really concerned with well where are they and how much do they need to grow and like

177what would be most it's like not asking those questions our traditional use of noia we do that. So that's why I'm asking us to stay in the realm of like our traditional use of noia we can take that three-digit score we can disagregate it into all the areas of learning in that content area and we can take action in our multi-tered systems of support. the main three-year data doesn't offer us that information. That's not what we need to lean into. Um, with science, um, it will probably be back up for proposal and we will probably be at the table having very similar conversations. Um, like takes advocacy. I don't know that the state loves having afraid to say it's terrible. >> Please keep sitting at the table. >> It's an important place. Yeah. And while

178you're there, ask them where the money for the CDS is. >> Um, >> I think Laura has questions. Um, with regard to that, um, if you give us some insight into, um, when we're looking at this data, how reflective it is of student ability and student achievement versus how closely the curriculum matches to what the test is testing. Great question. Okay. Um, all of these data sets that you have just seen are aligned to the common core state standards for math and ELA. Um, I'm saying generically ELA because some of them are specifically reading. um our programs largely that we have adopted I mean as far as I can tell are aligned with the exception so far is all of our sciences are not aligned right because our sciences we have to transition we would

179have to transition everybody to a fully interdisciplinary model to meet this expectation. Um, that's not to say that the work that we're doing isn't next generation science standard aligned. I we're purchasing those resources. We are doing that PD, but it isn't lining up to the assessment and the assessment doesn't drive what we it really doesn't um this is a byproduct of an assessment need that we have. Um that said, our getting clear about what are those at every grade level expectations is a next level of work per what per the assessed standards. So like getting really clear about that. Um, the programs are doing a good job of lifting a lot of that and the assessments are obviously measuring it, but us gaining additional clarity on some of those end of year expectations is the

180next level of work. Did that answer your question? >> Here's a pretty happy one. Oh, it the line makes it look bad, but it's actually really really good compared to um what you know some other districts are facing. These are scales. >> Everything is above 98. >> Yeah. I mean some districts hover below 90 consistently. >> Below 90. >> Yeah. The state average is 88% I think. >> Yeah. So go us. Yeah. Here we are headed. >> Greet science. Oh, >> we'll just graduate anyway. >> Um, so co years definitely impacted graduation rates. The main state diploma factors into this. There's a lot of stuff happening behind the scenes. I am I serve on our boost uh committee at the high school. Like this is really we lean into this work as a district. This

181is taken really seriously. It was one of the first meetings that I attended here. I was really proud to be part of that team. So we do good work in this area. >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean this is one where we have had, you know, principles and and superintendent like reaching out to families like, "How can we get you what you need to get done and and to the point where you can you can graduate on time?" I mean, I don't know. I don't know if that happens in every district, but I think it's really cool that >> I will say that I'm very impressed with how it happens here. >> Yeah. >> Chris, >> um, do we have data on like a secondary education rate? like how many of our kids go to college

182or how many of our kids go to technical schools. >> I don't have it in this presentation, but we do have that. We we track things um like how many kids engage early in dual and concurrent enrollment. We track obviously advanced placement participation. Um we do um the once they metriculate it's harder to follow. Um data sharing is not simple. They're not sub 18 years old. their engagement is critical in that process at that point. So >> if you pull the um previous the data scorecard presentation, it's always the second meeting in January, I believe. >> Um you you can see some of that data is in there >> and I do have it in our comprehensive needs assessment that we do every year as well. So if that's something of interest, I'm sure. and

183maybe it would be appropriate to have the high school here that a couple of demographic pieces that I think um would be relevant to know going into the school year. Our multilingual learner population trend uh that number is as of this week. So I did say most of the data was end of year last year. I followed this into this year for the purpose of planning. And then another data point um is the trend of um McKini Vento. Those are students who have um demonstrated a need to insecure housing. And that is that is all I have on my sort of quickly assembled data over. >> Thank you. Erica questions. I know we were peppering with questions while she went along. >> Is that sort of the the the high numbers at the beginning of

184this chart? Are those the um the new mayors in our district? >> Yes. >> Uh well, some of them were. Yeah, for sure. >> Yes. So, once they moved, they had the ability to continue to come to Freeport Armor Panel. Oh, mostly Freeport um through the end of the following year. Right. That's how Mckin Vento. >> So, Mckin Vento is determined best meets best interest of a child. Best interest of the child determination is made. it's done on a case-by case basis. Um, high schoolers, we really want to support them persisting in the environment in which they started high school if possible. Sometimes that's not possible. >> Um, I just wanted to say thank you so much for this data. that's just really um insightful or provokes a lot of insight I think as Tom

185likes to likes to say a lot of questions um and I guess I'm wondering based on this if either or both of you have thoughts about um work going forward and I guess I'm thinking a little bit um to our conversation that we had committee meeting this morning where we got a little bit of a preview of this and had a little bit more conversation about that that maybe might like to hear a little bit. >> Um shall I take a >> I'll follow you. >> Okay. So um last year um probably across the year there was a call for um from our staff to look at our math programming. So that is a starting place that was recognized last year. Um we have convened that committee. We have started that work. It is a

186research-driven, research-rich like engaged process at this point where we are not specifically looking at materials. We are talking about like what is the um what are those grade level expectations? What are the pathways we need to be offering to kiddos to get more kiddos across that line of career and college readiness? Um where does it start? How far upstream? What are the interventions? multi-tered systems of support early often you know um so yes that was pro that was initiated last year with the math programming committee I have worked with um our building administrators at the end of the year and um we looked at what does it mean for recognizing those endofear expectations in the form of standards articulated to the same ones that are assessed so that work is underway as Did that answer

187your question? >> Any other questions? >> I think the only thing I'd like to add to respond to your question is I I haven't had time yet to dig into the curriculum very deeply. Um, when I look at data like this, where my mind and soul have always gone is all the things that that data doesn't show us. It does not show us how our kids write lab reports. It doesn't show us how many of our kids are artists. It doesn't show how many of our kids can work with other kids to solve a problem. And on and on and on. when I think about the the attributes of learning that for me personally are the most valuable, those are the things that I I fall back on. And so I would just encourage us

188to consider to continue to look at the data points that Erica has so thoughtfully put together and consider what all the other things that we want our kids getting out of school that would not show here. It's just one of the reasons I really appreciate the sort of the extracurricular page and the the activities and the groups and because that all kind of plays into that these are numbers on a page. >> Yes. >> But it doesn't tell the full story. >> Absolutely. I think that also um leads into our strategic planning too and the metrics that we choose will be really important to show achievement and progress my brain like after 9:00. Um, I just wanted to add that I um I know we'll have our committee reports later, but that I was really

189impressed when we met this morning with Erica to talk about to to take a look at this and um talk about curriculum and the plans that are in place around the math curriculum. So, I think I just wanted to share that, you know, if you have community members watching who are looking at this data and wondering about it. Um um I feel that we have a really strong plan in place to um move forward with a math curriculum that meets our students needs and improve um achievement in the future. So um I just wanted to share my appreciation and confidence in that and say we have just a really great insightful presentation to the members of curriculum committee about that this morning. >> Thank you. Can I just ask uh one more thing? Um thank

190you so much Eric. This was really this was awesome. Um is it fair to say that um when the board is presented with the budget request in January, January, um that um we could have a conversation then about whether any of the whether any of the gaps or um that are identified here um are in any way kind of addressed from a budgetary perspective. um in terms of um either cuts or additional um monies um which would then leave us with I guess the knowledge that at least within the next year or so anything that we're trying to do in terms of meeting some of these um uh responding to some of these this information um is happening um just with existing budget and with existing staffing and with existing curricula that we have purchased

191etc. Is that a fair thing to say? >> Thank you Erica. Made you stand for a long time. All right. Um board comments and committee reports. So board information exchange agenda requests. Anything anybody wanted to share? Danielle? Um, so I'll share a little bit about the curriculum meeting that we had today. So I agree with Mora. It was a great meeting um with Erica and um Anna was there as well and I think we came up with a really good work plan of um great things that we're going to um address throughout the year with the math being on there is a big one and the budget of course of what we need to do to support that. Um and in the past we've always met just twice um a year. We have monthly meetings

192now that have already been set up all the way through June. Um, and the public can obviously join um to listen, but I'm very excited about it. Um, it was it was really a great uh great start I think to the meeting. So, thank you Erica for everything. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Any other Yeah. Um, I wanted to ask again about um the opportunities for movement, just making sure that didn't fall off our radar that had been in our last strategic plan. I know we had conversations around following up on that. And I know that Tom and Erica don't have a lot of other things going on, so we've got plenty of time to do this. Um but I just wanted to remind the board that um in our prior strategic plan we had not

193addressed the opportunities for movement that had arisen. So um and I think there's been some great work done like um at Mass Landing they walk a mile every day which is fabulous. like I love that my son gets an extra mile of exercise a day and Emily has come and told us about all the positive impacts of that and um just wanted to remind us of that and then think like wonder if there's some learning that could come from massing I think we just shared and opportunities throughout the district >> it's a good point around you know I I think I think a most of the big pillars from the last strategic plan had been talked about addressed not dealt with, but because some of it will continue forever, right? But um but that was

194I think one of the big areas that didn't that really didn't get um maybe the attention we had hoped. I don't think it's due to the fault of anybody. It's just there was so many things going on and um and it's a good it's a good call out to make sure you know well one is it are there other things from the original strategic plan that are still important to us that we want to try and make sure we continue to capture and work towards or maybe our philosophy has changed on things and you know sitting at desk for eight hours way to go. Um >> no absolutely not. Um, so yeah, thank you. Thank you for that call out and I would encourage all the folks that are working on the strategic plan um

195to keep those types of things in mind. Danielle, >> I was wondering if we could circle back and talk about the start times of schools. Again, I know that's been brought up by the community. Um, and I think Jean did a little bit of work on that, but you know, we got busy with the strategic plan. So, I didn't know if that was something that we could get back together with obviously our schools that we do region 10 with, but something that we could talk about again. >> There there Erica and I just went to a Drummond Wood legislative update extravaganza last week in Augusta. Um, and one of the items that they they brought to our attention is that there is actually that was a resolution by the legislature for districts to explore that

196issue. So that's that's been brought up for sure. >> Yeah, it was one of those things that because of region 10, we really all all three districts would have to be on on the same page to make that happen. And there was some initial like, yeah, we're interested in considering that. And then when we were like, "All right, let's consider it." They're like, "Oh, no, no, not die now." So, uh, yeah, just in the spirit of, you know, don't let it just die. Um, continue that conversation. >> Yes. Um, I was wondering if we could hear from Kelly at some point in time soon about um the health insurance options that I know the the gentleman who's come and mentioned at various times. Um, if there was any opportunity for cost savings and that or

197if that just wasn't something you could pursue or I think at some point we said, "Oh, we'll look into it and hear back." But I was just wondering when we'd be able to hear back. Um, I think he had a very specific request to for us to seek a bunch of claims data from our from our insurance company. Um, and I don't think we've I don't think we've done that. Um >> I thought that he was maybe I misunderstood but he was suggesting we look at other >> yeah he basically said if you can give me all that claims data I can get you a number >> was my understanding of of the conversation. Um and you know as members of that trust we would be entitled to that information whereas an individual insurance broker

198would not. So I think that was the request. I don't know um I know for um this is probably this is probably a finance committee question and certainly you know we we publish those um agendas as well and we could certainly make you know make sure you're aware of it if you're interested in hearing more about the health insurance fees. I don't know how it um obviously there's contractual obligations with our our contract says I think we actually list the the program we use now or similar right so there is I think some flexibility if we found something that was materially similar um we could switch it um but what I don't know is where we are in a contract as it relates to ability to put it out to bid I know we've had

199this conversation about the property and manage uh property and casualty insurance like you have to tell them by July 1st if you plan to go out to bid in the next year. Right. So, I don't know if this it's similar to the health insurance or not. Um but certainly something we can put on our finance um we're working on our finance work plan as well. So, thank you for that. >> Yeah. Um, just in addition to that, it seems like we had a conversation on the finance committee last year that we were going to look into other districts and what they were using just to compare. And I'm not really sure what kind of work has been done towards that end yet, but that was part of the conversation back then around the health insurance.

200>> Sure. >> Yep. Um also I think just to be clear or at least to clarify my understanding we did not make any commitment to any particular individual or company to evaluate something so that uh that individual's company would be evaluated as the sole other option other than what we are looking at. Oh, absolutely. >> What I recall we agreed to would be more along the lines of what Kelly was just suggesting of just understanding a bit more what are our options >> um so that if there is uh a local company that is interested in um in bidding um that they understand um what that landscape looks like. So just to clarify that it's not we're not providing we're not looking to provide any particular information to any particular company right now. >> Absolutely.

201Yeah. I mean something like a insurance that is that would clearly be covered by our policy around you know sending major things out to bid um with a very clear laid out process on what that looks like um how many different providers it goes out to etc. Thank you for the clarification. You guys are chatty about board information at 9:35. Anything else? All right, I'm gonna throw it to Kelly for facilities and operations. >> I feel barely coherent at this point. >> All right, so we had a meeting on September 10th and there were a number of items discussed at that meeting. Uh first of all, Glenn, talk to us about the new leech field that has been installed at Panel and uh it is at now at completion. So good job for getting that

202done. Um just to kind of go over some of the numbers, they did have to remove swing sets in order to install the leote and level the ground. So they had to install some new ones. that added a little bit to the cost, but the whole entire project still came in well under the $450,000 that we authorized from capital reserves. So, um that is good news. Um update on phase one projects. Um there was a very extensive list, some of which are completed, some of which are still in progress. Um the lighting project, we are still waiting on the status on materials and that's kind of the big hold up there, but we're hoping to get started on replacing our lights in the buildings midocctober perhaps. Um Glenn Reynolds also gave us an update on

203the vehicle and grounds equipment replacement. Um, there was a number of pieces that were purchased over the summer, um, including a 2025 F354 pickup, a John Deere mower, a couple of, um, mowers that were swapped out for something that is not going to be available for 2020 until 2026. So, there's a little bit of change, but overall, we're still well on budget. Um update on requests for proposal for the tennis courts. There's definitely a big push to try to get our tennis courts replaced as soon as possible. We do recognize the need to have that work done quickly. And so at this point in time, we Glenn is working on putting together and sending out the RFP for the engineering work, which is the first step that needs to happen. um so that we understand

204the scope of work that needs to be done for the tennis court replacement. So that's that's on on his list of things to do and may have actually already pinned in by now. And finally, the big piece here is the turf field update. Um our field maintenance supervisor Jason Chisel gave the committee update on the status of the turf field and the track. And the short version is that we are on year eight of this track and field. It feels like just yesterday that was a brand new track and field, but it is already year eight. We are already out of warranty. And um we are already looking at needing to make sure that we are in compliance with the concussion standards and making sure that our um that our turf is is um safe

205for our players. So, we're we're looking at maintenance um plans to help us to reach anticipated lifespan of another 4 to 6 years safely before we have to do a full replacement of the turf, which will be quite costly. We want to push that off as far as possible um obviously, but that does mean that we're going to um make sure that we're doing yearly testing to to ensure that that's safe. And apparently that has just been completed, the GMAX testing, and we did pass. So, we're doing well um for now, but we are keeping an eye on what needs to happen to make sure that that still remains safe for our players. Um we do know that there are portions of the turf edge that are collapsing and need maintenance right away um to

206ensure that they are safe and they're draining properly. Um as of the moment when this meeting was happening, that was an estimated $10,000. Um, in addition in addition to that, they estimated that there would be another 9,000 needed to restripe the track. So, um, I think we do have an update from Michelle. They have actual better numbers on that now and she'll give us an update on that shortly, but we will be needing some money from our capital reserve fund to fund this work on the track and field that will be happening hopefully next month. I'm sorry, Kelly. You said that was for the the stripes on the track and then also replacing the Nike grind. >> Uh, no, that will that that is actually for some curbing, some collapse edging that's kind of around

207the edge of the track that's going to need to be repaired and that is something that has to happen right away. >> Okay. And the this thing where it says it's losing its pliability, could you explain what that what the Nike Grind is? I'm assuming >> Okay. So, yeah. So, the Nike Grind is um like a kind of a ground up shoe sle material that goes underneath the turf to keep it soft and cushioned for the players if they once they hit the ground. Um, and that has over the course of the eight years sort of started to dry rot. So, it's not kind of doing its job as well as it used to. But the way it's explained to us by Jason is there's also a cushioned pad underneath the Nike grind that still

208does some of that work. Um, still keeps up absorbs impact. So that Nike brand will need to be replaced, but there is a plan to put something to kind of use something else to kind of give it get us by until we have to do a complete replacement. >> Okay. So it's not included in the cost, but as you said, this it was tested for safety and Yes, that that is not included in the striking and the curving cost and it's not something we're looking to do right away. Yeah, it's several hundred,000. >> It's it's it's changed a lot in the eight years since we put it in at that point. The desire of the district was to go with the Nike grind because it was uh virgin rubber pellets as opposed to a lot

209of other turfs at the time were using groundup tires which has the metal from being a tire at some point in its life. Um which leeches up metals and it's there was safety concerns and so at the time um Nike Grind was the option to not have to use the tires. Um so which was I I still think was a good one. Um, you know, it was a relatively new product, so there wasn't, you know, 8 years of of data on how it would hold up. Um, you know, our expectation on the track was 10 to 15 years uh when we did this. Uh, I can't I almost fell out of my chair when he said we were in year 8. Um, I too think it thought it was yesterday. Um, but uh so there

210are other there are newer materials now that are options. Um, so that are not quite as awesome. >> Yeah, I think the way it was explained to us is that when we get kind of close to not passing that GMAX testing, um, there is a material that's similar or the same material as the pad underneath that we can sort of use to fill in to get us back to that um, above the GMAX testing limit until it's just absolutely necessary for us to pull everything out. >> Right? to replace the the grass, what looks like grass, the turf, and then the infill. So, the Nike Grind is the infill. All the little any anybody who's had a kid who plays out there, the little black pieces that come home in their socks, that's Nike Grind.

211>> Um, and you know, when it first went in, it kind of looked like little like rubber pieces, and now if you pull it out, it looks more like little rocks. It's just less pliable. >> Yeah. So, is this something we should be saving for? Starting to save now. Do you have a reserve account? >> Uh, we do have a reserve account for the track and field set up. Um, I mean, I don't think at the current save rate cuz it has varied a few times over how much we've um uh put in it each year. Um, it also is set up to replace the track um which um has generally has a longer lifespan than the turf. The turf is usually about 10 years. The track is usually about 20 years. Um, but I

212would say that um, while we are putting money aside, we are not putting aside at a rate that we would be able to fully fund a full redo of the turf in four to six years. Is that fair to say, Kelly? >> Yeah. Uh, at the end of this year, 280,000. >> Yeah, we have 280,000 at the end of this year. >> And how much was it? Uh, well, the full I mean, it's not really fair to say we would have because we I mean, we have a $600,000 retaining wall that we wouldn't need to redo. Like, there's a lot of parts that wouldn't need to be redone. So, I couldn't tell you how much just the the carpet, if you will, and the infill was, but we'll get those numbers sooner than they >>

213Any other questions, Erica? >> All right. uh policy call. >> Uh thanks so much. So on um June 11th, the policy committee met for our first um meeting. We met via Google uh meet online as we um as we do we meet virtually. Um the I'll give abbreviated summary of our um activities. It was a longer meeting, but I'll give an abbreviated version of that. Um the the core that really we were um uh uh Erica was u kind enough to invite April Perkins who's the director of multilingual programs um for the South Portland schools and formerly the main state director for multilingual programs um to come and just talk to the committee a bit about um legal statutory requirements um regarding ESOL um and how those relate to um our existing policies uh board

214policies um which are uh IHVA the program for multilingual learners is what is where that is um currently housed um and also how that relates um to our requirement to have a loud plan. Um so we had a very helpful conversation about that. there was no action that was taken on that and there was no there was no revisions made um to that but we're going to be continuing to explore um uh both IHPA and also the and its relationship to the the required lab plan as well. Um we are uh um Tom did a amazing amount of work to to generate um a uh work plan that we're we're continuing to look at to to see how we're going to approach um addressing both the uh I mean you alluded to the um how

215did you call it extravaganza? >> Extravaganza. >> Yeah. extravaganza that you went to to understand the um the uh legal changes um that we need to make sure that we address from a policy perspective. Um as well as um making as big a dent as we can um in our um log of uh regular uh 5-year um on average uh review um of our existing policies. Um, we did spend some time also talking about uh policy JIC K um bullying. Um, and it notes on the for anyone following along at home um or for you here at the table um it notes here that we that I'm I made a motion to to bring that policy as we had discussed it to the board. Um but we um as we uh do uh sent the

216policy to um to council and they had some additional thoughts that we're going to be taking into consideration um at our next uh committee meeting. So that is not we're not bringing that before you tonight. Um there's also a list of other um policies that uh were tabled. Um I'm not going to list those, but just to say we have our work cut out for us this year. Um but we're very uh looking forward to getting the work done and very um glad to have um Tom as our uh leazison to the administration uh to work with us on that. So we'll take any questions. Um >> how many policies total are you thinking you're going to need to update because of legal stuff or just up? >> I haven't gotten that number yet, but

217Tom, >> um there's quite a few. Um, so well, Colin, you were extremely gracious and I appreciate it. Um, I did start out with high hopes of developing developing an ambitious work plan to get through a just kind of a backlog of policies that should be reviewed. Um, I'm going to have to rethink that because we we it there's a lot of work to do. Um, but I can tell you some of the important new policies and based on new statutes that have just come out that we're going to have to prioritize. Like, um, there's a new law on the restraint and seclusion language in schools. That means we need a new policy. There's a new law about temperature guidelines in schools, which will require us to have a policy. Um, I can't remember anymore

218off the top of my head, but I walked out of there with a manual of a whole bunch of things tagged for policy. So, yeah, we we've got a lift, >> right? And I think but also just to I mean again, it will be there is there will be labor involved in that. But just to be clear that that is also why we have a lawyer um who is who is who are they are experts uh in this. So, we're not going to be working from um just our >> blank piece of paper, >> a blank piece of paper or just from our like gut sense of maybe how we should change them. Um we're going to be working with the advice of and and uh copy that we're going to be getting draft language.

219We're really getting um from uh both and also from uh MSMA as a way to understand um kind of what is recommended in response to those policy changes. Um we are I mean I will say that um we do have on our radar just for everyone we do have on our radar the question of the cell phone policy. Um we are required by I'm trying to remember the date that we have to have it done by >> July 1. We're required to have a cell phone policy. So, we will before July 1 um be bringing a cell phone policy uh before this board um that may or may not address any of the um questions that have arisen around changes we might make to our actual uh protocol when you say it that way. Um

220but we are also will kind of remain kind of um kind of keep assessing as we go forward and then we have the different meetings over the next couple the presentations over the conversations over the next couple of months um how much we might um I don't know kind of where we might move that in in the process or or what kind of work we have to do because that would probably be one where we would have we would have draft language we could we could borrow from other districts but we would have to make it a little more more bespoke. depending upon what we decide to do. Um, does that answer your question? >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> As Colin mentioned, we don't have any policies for review tonight. Um, so

221we will move on to new business. Um, just two quick things. I'm actually going to go out of order. I'm going to go 13B. Um, as Kelly mentioned, uh, when we were meeting with Glenn and Jason, um, about the track and field needs, um, there was some, uh, um, urgency around trying to get, um, the repairs done around the edge of the track to prevent more almost a collapse in sections. So, uh, they are safe to be using. They were using them tonight. Um, but it's really uh preventative to avoid um more expensive repairs down the road, which um Jason thinks would would likely happen if we do nothing. Um, so there was a request and as Kelly mentioned, um it's kind of two parts. It's it was $9,000 for the restriping of, you know,

222the lines that go around the track and then um originally we thought it was about $12,000 for that curbing. We have since gotten bids um and the uh recommended bid is is a bit higher once they came in and actually looked at what the specific work that needs to be done. Um so I'm going I'm looking for um a motion for consideration and approval to expend up to $28,000 for maintenance of the track and field from the capital reserve fund. I have a motion for that and we can talk about Thank you, Kelly and Chris. Um yeah, so that 28 would cover our actual um bid prices for for both of those pieces and they could um our understanding is both of them could be done before the winter gets here um to protect that

223asset. Anybody have any other questions on that piece? I just want to be just because we're coming up on 10 and that is an actual vote and I want to make sure we get to that in case you all vote no that you want to leave before we get to it. I'm making you decide. Um, all right. No other questions than all of >> Oh, yeah. >> Um, this striping is that just the one like we didn't put it out to bid or just one company or >> uh I believe there was two two bids for the striping there. I I had people that do it. So, um, some of the stuff is a little specialized, but yeah. And just because of the dollar size. So, our policy requires things over a certain threshold have

224to go out to bid and it's a public bid and a public opening and all those fun things. things under a threshold. I want to say it's 50,000 25,000. >> Double. It depends on what it is. >> Yeah. Right. Okay. Um so this one wouldn't have required sort of a full bid process anyway. I don't believe. But um we did get a couple of quotes um just as is prudent. Um and that and that was the price that came in. >> Good question. >> That's good. >> I'm ready. >> All right. All those in favor? Great. None opposed. Uh the only other thing that we have on the agenda for this evening other than public comment for all the folks in the crowd um is the MSMA fall conference registration form. So in your packets

225is the pink page. Uh the um the 2-day conference is in Augusta at the Civic Center on the 23rd and the 24th of October. I highly encourage folks to attend. Uh if you would like to go um just let uh Jimmy know by the 3rd, which is next Friday, that you'd like to attend and she will get you signed up and the district will cover the cost for you. Um on the back of that page is just sort of a preliminary list of the offerings. So you can see there's, you know, things from legal discussions about, you know, collective bargaining to first amendment rights in public meetings to AI in schools. there is a wide variety of topics that they cover. Um and uh you will you will not walk out of there without learning

226a great deal and the um the keynote speaker uh which is always the first morning um is always really really good. Um so I unfortunately will not be there this year. I am in Denver that weekend. Well, good. So you can go hang out with Tom and I imagine Erica's probably going as well. Um, yeah, particularly for new board members, I highly encourage if you can make it work, even if you can only make one of the two days work because of work scheduled, kids scheduled, whatever it might be, I think it's still worthwhile. Um, so if you can go, please let Jenny know by next Friday. >> Do you know if Ted's going to be there? >> Uh, Ted left. >> Yeah, echo that. I think, yeah, I mean, if you can possibly go

227even for half a day, um, go. It's just it uh as I think I was saying maybe to Valerie that I think just being in a space where you're surrounded by people who are doing nothing but thinking about schoolboard things and all are sort of on that same frequency is just a real benefit to just being in that space um uh for a couple of hours. So I really highly recommend going >> it's a great point. In addition to all of the the actual clinic offerings, it's really good networking with other board members. So basically folks that go are board members and superintendents and assistant superintendents typically who you're going to find. So >> the coolest people around obviously. >> All right. Any questions on that? If you have specific questions feel free to reach

228out. Happy to happy to answer any questions that I can. Um all right then. Uh not seeing anyone here for public comment but I'll pause. All right. I would take a motion to adjourn. Everyone knows that. I think it was Steph and Anna. All those in favor? >> Great. 958. Thank you.