School Board/LC Budget Workshop

001e e e set good all right um good morning and welcome to the uh Wednesday March 19th um Scaro board and Leadership Council budget Workshop so I will turn it over to Kate and Diane oh yes okay I'm sorry Mr kaher I'm here miss Leon here miss linstrum here miss Peterson uh she's been excused Mr rockenstein here Mr tarpinian here m h in late yes um I just realized as well that we um we didn't adjourn last night which usually we um so we're carrying over to today so if someone can just remind me today we need to adjourn yes I would appreciate it thank you um when everyone please join me for the of Alle pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one

002nation God indivisible andice all right now I'll turn it over to Han good morning everyone we're excited to be back with you uh this morning um uh our leadership team is excited to share with you uh their pieces of the upcoming budget uh and as we talked about last night one of the things um that I'm really excited about is because we have been providing ongoing education um and more reporting to the board throughout the year during the Schoolboard meetings and having these special presentations by our building leaders I think that will uh assist us today in really focusing in on the things that pertain to the budget um I know in years past we've spent a lot of time giving overviews of the school or explaining where we are with programming and initiatives and

003um one of the huge points of Pride uh for our team for me is that you know our leaders have done a great job regularly communicating that to you at our board meetings and so I think that will help us this morning in terms of really focusing in on our priorities um and for our team you all have copies of the budget books so last evening was really a high level overview um of where we are as a district how we compare what we receive for um for GPA and what our per pupil expenditure costs look comparatively speaking um I talked and um we planted some seeds for some of the things that you all are going to be talking about today we shared some data around around um mtss uh with the board and

004so um everything that we did last night was on the non-instructional side of the house and this morning we're going to focus on everything pertaining to instruction so one shift for people who have been in our budget meetings before is we generally don't hear from curriculum and special education at this meeting we uh in the past that's been done in the evening presentation and as Kate and I talked about um what made the most sense as we moved forward we really felt like to have a total instructional look in one Fell Swoop made a lot of good sense um because I think we'll hear some themes repeated um so with that I think we will jump right in and get started with Katie is there something else Kate before we get started want to comment

005I think all of our team has been taking their notes on our little paper sheets but if you happen to want to be digital you can go into the agenda and there's not Pages um to type into as well but Jenna just said this is one time they don't have to have their Chromebooks so kind of nice right super okay so I'll just jump in really quickly with some fast facts around curriculum and instructions speaking specifically about our assessment achievement this is really a reminder from the presentation that I did last June 6 2024 so if anyone's watching and wants to dig more deeply into to our assessment data that can go back to that meeting to see um many more slides about how students performed in the 2023 2024 school year but in just

006looking quickly at our state assessments which are standardized assessments um given um in two two key areas the main threeyear assessment covers reading and math and the mea Science assessment covers science um when we look at the main threeyear assessment on average 82% of our students in grades three through eight and 10 who take the assessment scored at or above reading um above grade level expectation in the area of reading which compares to an average of 65% of students across the state and in math 77% of our students scored at or above grade level expectation as compared to 47% of students in science I'm sharing the eth and uh 11th grade science facts 72% of scbo eighth graders uh scored at or above grade level expectation compared to 44% on average in the state and

00766% of 11th graders as compared to 36% on average across the state so to just highlight a few um really big successes in the curriculum Department this year we are in year two of implementation of oural curriculums mind up is our K2 curriculum that was a one-year implementation with um teachers really digging in this year more deeply through their plts and so they are working together in smaller groups to dig deeper into that curriculum in unique ways so for example um there's a PLT who's looking into how interactive read alouds can um I don't want to say improve but can like really supplement the up curriculum because there's a lot of use of Mentor attacks so bringing in instructional practices that help uh students with their literacy skills and with their comprehension while doing is

008one you know one example of how they are using their plts to dig deeper into mind up and with ruler that's our third through e8th grade curriculum and they're in year two of implementation it's a two-year implementation for that program the first year was really focused on teacher learning the second year is where we start to really build out student learning and their focus has really been on the tools this year and I think you'll hear more from both Wentworth and the Middle School um about the success of that but that's been a really positive addition to our district one of the things that I think we should take a lot of pride in is we have begun a systematic review of curriculum across the district following a cycle that I built out my in

009my first months here um this year last last year we focused on social studies and health and PE social studies really continued into this year particularly at K5 where some standards writing and some revision of the units needed to happen in order to improve the vertical alignment and the clarity for teachers um we just had a meeting yesterday with third fourth and fifth grade teams and I can say as of yesterday at 3:30 um the topics and standards essential questions and vocabulary are all solidified for the coming school year and I'm excited for us to spend some time this summer building out units and lesson plans so that when teachers come back in the fall they'll have um a curriculum they can turn to with a lot of clarity so that's really exciting we have

010a lot going on um this year in two key areas that began review English language arts and World Language um K12 teams have really dug into the ELA um work K five is um meeting regularly through this spring 68 has been meeting all school year uh they have really worked on um digging through the standards to ensure that the things that we're currently teaching are addressing all of the key areas of literacy that we see in assessments and then in World Language we really talked about our vision of the program as a whole um the world language program here is really robust um and so we really looked at like what is our vision over the next 5 years not just pedagogically but in the ways that we provide Pathways for students through language another

011thing I think we should take a lot of pride in is we've really begun to dig deeply into our data discussions we collect uh robust data here and so bringing that to teachers and having conversations about how we can look at data and make decisions about instruction has become a really um important part of the practice and we're solidifying that into something that's predictable and regular and on schedule so I'm really excited about that and then there's been a lot of work in professional development um so last summer um we had the main Outdoor Learning initiative grant that you've heard about U Middle School Educators dug into that PD opportunity and it resulted in field experience opportunities in addition to the integrated studies it resulted in um field experience opportunities with sixth grade studying invasive

012crb species uh speach in eth grade getting a field experience around um geological change at Fort Williams Park and so we can say like one of the great things is like all sixth graders and all eighth graders got to benefit from those experiences that teachers engaged in IND and seventh grade is working on theirs as well and then we made a little bit of a change to how we onboard teachers with curriculum in the past they were invited to a whole day um particularly at the elementary level to be shown um what curriculum we use K to 5 um they'd spend half the day with Ela and half the day with map and with the support of the instructional coach team and administration we changed the day to a um what we call the Scaro

013public schools welcome Symposium we invited all professional staff so K to 12 matched them with coaches or Mentor teachers we had a special education teacher join us to ensure the special education staff had somebody to connect with and really built a day around um not just the curriculum but providing opportunities for them to ask questions and get to know the people that they'll work directly with and that was a huge success and then just a lot of work happening around curriculum teams as well as um our inservice professional development we just had that on Friday and it was um a wonderful opportunity for all K12 Educators to come together and learn during the morning they had a choice of 20 to 22 sessions they could choose from over three um each of three sessions and

014so they were able to make choices that were just right for them in order to engage in their learning and that was really successful and then looking ahead um you know I feel like we're really in a place where we want to stay the course and continue to see the work become predictable and and regular and systematic so our our goals and priorities continue to be on curriculum review next year we'll begin to engage map and visual Performing Arts in their reviews as we continue specifically Ela I think World Language and social studies are in a place where we'll revisit in a couple of years um they seem to be pretty settled and then we are going to continue to look to using data to lead student centered discussions and that's a regular practice that

015we're working to build across The District in support of multi- system of support um so really ensuring that we take look a look at all students to provide um opportunities for all of them in instruction we'll continue to be strategic about our professional development and aligning that to the practices we want to implement as we review curriculum and we'll continue to support summer programming so in addition to the summer reading Academy and Middle School uh Connections Academy um just supporting the high school department with uh high school credit recovery options as well that's where we S I forgot which to you really shouldn't put me in Char right so I think we're we're moving into the K primary school section K2 section but we also have a little info about and I can jump in

016there so um again um as you recently heard um at our prek Workshop um we have successfully had a prek pilot this year with the St shooting stars program um it has been a grant-funded opportunity through the doe and uh that Grant will continue for the coming year we don't have a a total price tag of what that grant that we will be receiving is yet Kate and I have a meeting um coming up um with the doe on that um because last year in the first year uh there was some money provided in the grant for some startup costs so um we'll be backing those out so we don't have an exact number on that yet but it should sustain the program um so that there're not any local funds that will be expended

017next year um for the state guidelines we have had 16 students in our uh pilot classroom receiving programming five hours a day five days a week with uh to staff again all according to regulations um the curriculum that's being used at shooting stars is aligned to the main Early Learning and Development standards again when you sign on um for uh public prek you need to make sure that you're hitting all of the requirements in chapter 124 and we've been really careful and thoughtful about making sure that we're doing that um students were selected in a semi- random lottery I say semi- random because we really wanted to make sure that we had um first of all a uh reflection of the demographics that we have in our schools K to 12 but then also that

018there was representation um from uh the different segments of our community right so we we wanted to be careful about making sure that the majority of the students weren't from one of our neighborhood School locations um um our prek programs as I said require one adult uh for every eight students uh and those are strict limits that the state adheres to and again um just like everything else you hear us talk about um it seems like everything we do here in Scaro is an all-in initiative that you know takes many hands and I think this is another example of that um our Nutrition department delivers uh lunches uh to shooting stars every day just like they do with our K2 schools um and provide snacks for that program and um uh we do not provide

019transportation um uh that is not a requirement um for public prek and uh again because we are starting out small and at one location and as you've heard us talk about our transportation um Department uh we are certainly not in a position right now where we can add any additional responsibilities um in that particular Department Department um but we are excited um I think that uh we could not have anticipated how successful um this uh particular venture has been for us uh very few bumps um and we just have an amazing partner in Ru at shooting stars and so we're excited um for that to continue and to be able to continue to receive grant funding um uh I know that all of you know this but for the benefit of others who might be

020watching the budget Workshop um just a reminder that there is not um currently any additional State funding to expand prek at this time certainly um I think we are really deliberate about keeping our eyes on any opportunities uh for funding for prek and for anything else quite frankly um but um that is not something that is available at this time so we'll continue uh to watch and monitor what that looks like uh I think the long range plan for prek here in scarbro um is dependent upon space availability um and there are a lot of big decisions I know that um the larger Community will be making in the coming year that will help us uh to uh get more information about what um that means for Cho choices that we might be able to

021make for in the future right that turns us over to primary school then they go to kindergarten so we used to sit here proudly and say all learning starts here in K2 but it doesn't now it [Laughter] starts most people it still starts in kindergarten um so I feel like all year long all we've done is talk about K2 schools and space and population and things with the building committee so I apologize for the repetition and the what feels like the same kinds of things but um so just some fast facts about K2 we have a multitude of languages spoken at home um when I looked this up I was shocked to see all the ones that I wasn't even sure where they were or originating from um so there's some North African and East

022African languages that we've not had in the past um pardon oh you just went too fast ignore me yeah okay um and it's just been such a an amazing opportunity to welcome these families into our community um and as Diane has already said the backpack program to Bringing people food to helping them with their house household goods to through main needs our ml program and not to steal any of christas Thunder is amazing it's supporting the whole family not just the student um so I think we can be um really proud of the efforts that all of the staff are putting in to welcome kids into school I've said this once I'll say it a million times more I can't imagine it's hard enough to take your 5-year-old to school when you are born in

023this town speak English as a native language Can Read All About It can go visit it can hear from your neighbors what it's like I can't imagine putting a 5-year-old on a random school bus with strangers to take them to a place you may not know very well and can't call and ask anybody about and trust that we will get them back to you safely and hopefully feeling a little bit more comfortable and a little bit more um capable every day and successful every day and I think that is something we do very very well and I couldn't uh be more proud of the staff at all three schools for putting out all that effort on with our multilanguage families um we do have 85% of our students performing on our above grade level um

024in Reading as the spring of 2024 I ready Administration as um Katie said about that's well over the state average and we should be very proud of that 76% of our students performed honor above grade level in math in the spring of 2024 again that's really impressive and and um shows the hard work of staff and families uh 49% of our or 18 of the 37 Primary Home rooms are in Portables there are four Portables at Pleasant Hill 10 at a corners and four at Blue Point um it's again it's something we've talked about a million times I don't need to tell you anything more about that uh 4% of our students have 504 plans currently and 20% are on IEPs and nearly 24% of our students receive Social Work Services Social Work Services we've

025been very fortunate for the last 18 to 20 years to have full-time social workers at the three K2 schools they really uh wear a variety of hats between being special education social workers and meeting kids needs on IEPs as well as regular social workers and running friendship groups groups and worry groups and helping kids transition into school and feel welcome and safe so um there's a lot of kids who are anxious these days because of all lot of things that are going on and the social workers are really there to help them feel secure and safe and they do an amazing job at that um so going to be a little bit repetitive again we've been um implementing the Mind Up curriculum for two years now last year was our sort of pit baue in

026the water year with staff and students this year it's um been rolled out pretty um completely we also um have been able to Pilot the prek version of mind up because uh kindergarten teachers felt like some of the prek lessons were more where kids were and they would meet their needs better so we've been you know experimenting with um different levels to try to meet kids where they are and help them help them become self-regulating Little Learners so we're really excited about that um and the early intervention teachers added at each school again I feel like a broken record these positions have been School Changing Life Changing um I know it probably doesn't it's not a well explained title but our early intervention teachers are similar to maybe a bridge or uh a teach teacher

027at the other schools where kids who come to school without School Readiness skills who come to school with um deficits in knowing how to wait or how to go to the bathroom by themselves or how to be in a room with 18 other kids and three other adults or one other adult how to be on a playground with 120 kids all of those things that kids don't all come to school with and are having bigger reactions to um these teachers are there to support the kindergarten classrooms um they're there to help kids learn these skills in small groups they're eventually right now at a Corners we're finally getting kids in for academic reasons prior to this it was strictly safety and social emotional learning reasons um and they've just been phenomenal at keeping data on

028how many kids like the one at my school may not have seen as many students it may maybe the blue pointer Pleasant Hill one has but that's because she spent an inordinate amount of time with two or three children who have needed a lot of support for long periods of time during the day because they come without any sort of identification or support plan through CDs so it's just it's just the way we get them into school and we want them to be stay here we want them to be safe and we want them to be the best student they can be turn the rest over to Discovery yeah so that's a great segue actually talking about the high needs that we see with students coming into the K to2 schools and um you know

029as an was saying those early intervention positions have really been instrumental um one of the things that we've established this year and are looking forward to continuing to implement are the data teams that Katie was alluding to earlier you know of course over the years we've always been looking at our data and using it to Target instruction for students but this year we have stepped that up a notch to create wider teams that are made up of not just administrators and teachers but those early interventionists the instructional coach team members of the curriculum Department to come together and really look at along with our student support professionals you know looking at that whole school data from a higher view looking at the reading in the math looking deeply into um grade level data and specific

030individual student data so we can really Target instruction together and that team approach I think is really key and having us uh an ability to put our brains together about what are the trends that we're seeing with students over time and what are the instructional areas where we're seeing gaps for students that we can either bolster our curriculum or bolster our instructional strategies and um so those those things have been really um a great addition to our practice to widen the way that we look at data together as a team uh so we're looking forward to continuing with that as we move forward um the second thing that we're super proud of as Diane was mentioning is our implementation of our first prek classroom here in Scarboro so we were able to provide for 16

031students that early experience in school so when they come to us in kindergarten they have some of that experience under their belt in some cases some of those children hadn't had a preschool experience or even a daycare experience before so um that's really something that we're proud of having done this this school year and moving into goals priorities for moving forward um as we've talked about so many times um postco we're just seeing um we and we continue to see students who come to us for a variety of reasons with a variety of needs that are quite heightened as an was talking about earlier sometimes their experience is pretty limited coming into school and the school environment in and of itself is bigger and wider and just different for our youngest Learners and so uh

032we do see students who come to us with academic needs that are higher uh with Behavioral or School Readiness needs needs like um self-regulation for example being able to really integrate into a classroom um and so sometimes those are social emotional needs and we've really been um focused on thinking about how we can broaden what we we offer to students in terms of proactive guidance support so that may look like increasing the number of um student small group lunches that we can offer where students come together with small peer groups to um really talk about some of the things that are um most challenging for them whether it's uh integrating with peer relationships and navigating friendship issues or maybe it's um growing in confidence to be a full participatory member of a classroom um so

033lots of different um things that are addressed in those important small lunch groups and um one of the things too that um we look to provide at increasing levels is support around small group testing when we're assessing students some are able to take those assessments within a regular classroom and some really benefit from a smaller setting with fewer distractions and fewer students so of course that requires an all Hands-On deck approach with our staff so those are things we want to continue to make sure we're providing for students going forward um back to the data teams I talked a little bit about that a moment ago but really um thinking about that wider team that we use to review data um is one one portion of that but the second piece of that is really

034a structured um protocol that we've established and implemented here we've actually used it in leadership team to look at data but we've also used it in our 3K through two schools to look at data in a really um specific protocol so that um staff really get used to how we look at data together and that allows them to know what to expect when they come into those meetings and know how to be prepared prepared to engage in those meetings so we're looking forward to continuing to not only um utilize that protocol but continue to tweak it to meet our needs and our students needs as we look at um the kinds of supports that students may need uh thirdly enhancing Safety and Security in our school buildings is always Forefront on our minds and through

035um the school board advisory committee work over the last several years you've you've heard us talk about this a lot um Safety and Security in terms of um our hope and and want to enclose vestibules at all of our um Lobby areas has been on our minds for for sure um and in addition to that um looking at um the concern that we have that 49% of our K through2 schools are in Port able temporary classrooms they're in intentions to be temporary use classrooms and some of those are not connected to the buildings and so that's a great concern as students have to leave an enclosed the safety of a building to go Outdoors to access another part of their day so that's a concern for us um additionally in terms of safety in security

036the three k through two schools could really benefit from additional cameras in different locations at the different schools obviously but interior cameras as well as exterior cameras so that's something that we want to be looking at going forward and those are in the CIP part of the budget so just as yeah follow up go ahead sorry um and really lastly I would say that um as we look to Welcome All Families whether they're new Mayers or families who are new to town um we really want to work to create those welcoming inclusive safe School environments where everyone feels not only welcome and included but also supported and that means families too so we are continuing with our Partnerships with um main needs as well as um project Grace to um also work with our Nutrition

037department through the backpack program making sure that the people who who we are serving in school have their needs met and so when they come to us they are more ready to learn and access the programming that we're providing to them so and one and one followup that I would just add is like um my observation that I think it can be really challenging when you have um you know three sites that are trying to provide the same type of programming and um I think that our leaders have work together really well to make that happen um and to be really consistent across schools I think that the addition of um uh the leadership stipended positions that you that that were added into the budget um in the past couple of years have helped you

038to kind of uh develop a different type of governance structure where everyone's voices are really being heard and that with you know the change to how you're looking at data more system systematically and you know includ including a diverse group of people at the table to think about what student needs are all of these um loop back to what we were talking about last evening which is um the the types of intervention and support positions that we've been able to um make happen in the district and and so it's really exciting to watch those prior Investments grow right and really start to make an impact on what's Happening for our kids um when I see the data that the academic data that you shared right and then I think back to the number of students

039that were serving through intervention um we're not missing kids right when we say that 76% of our kids are grade level and then we have these different types of support positions we have academic support and student support and we have guidance right um and MLL services and special education we're really trying to kind of come from all different fronts to make sure um that student needs are being met and you know it's it's it's really great to watch that grow and develop um they're doing an excellent job with that yeah and one of pieces that I would just add that I didn't mention earlier is you know our our data review process is really helping us to home in on the students who are beneath the 40th percentile for ELA or for math specifically um

040and differentiation of instruction happens in all of our classrooms so teachers are providing tier one instruction which is the instruction that all Learners get but they're also providing some some tier 2 differentiated instruction for students who may need a little bit more um in addition to that you know at blueo we have 56 students who've received really targeted instruction to meet their specific academic needs and that's kind of a combination between what they're getting in in class as well as what they may be provided through student support as pull out Andor pushin um instruction and at a corners that equivalent um number of kids who've received support is 61 students and at Pleasant Hill it's 32 so we're we're making sure that no child is falling through the cracks and we're really um proud of

041that work I I would add as I'm listening that that the the deliberate secl curriculum is another piece of that puzzle too because instead of being reactive to a child's behaviors or struggles you know we're being proactive and giving them the tools up front which has got to improve their access to academics as well right it's fun it's been fun to see that impact and in conversation with students hear them conjure up that language that they've learned yeah it's exciting to see right go to what yes right so continuing on up the K to 12 or prek to 12 Journey um next next up is Wentworth and they say all you know the learning starts at K2 it all begins here and then I like to say all roads lead to Wentworth so this is

042this is really the first school where all of the students come together in one you know larger school but I feel so proud of the work that we do to kind of have the Best of Both Worlds at Wentworth It's a larger school um with all of the opportunity safety and beauty that it offers but also feels for students stents like a smaller school once you're inside Wentworth and connected with your teachers and team and cohorts and learning communities so I'm going to kind of emphasize some of that throughout this presentation and attempt to not be repetitive to some of the things that you've already heard so um right right as you walk through the doors at Wentworth one of the very first things that you see is our learning Commons which is what we

043call the library and um just some circulation data there and I think it's really um impressive and kind of speaks to two different things on any given day that you check our circulation data more than 80% of our students have materials checked out um and that I think speaks to the fact that our kids are engaged and readers and are excited about that um and I think it also speaks to the fact um that we've really worked hard to build our collection and ensure that it meets the needs of our students so the collection development and management in the learning Commons is something that we're really really proud of um the circulation is like the highest um across the district and the kids are so so engaged with um with the materials there um I

044included just you know these are some of the things that you find around about um school ratings and things like that and um I am proud of this because it represents um there are more than 288 elementary schools in Maine and it's not just based on um not just based on proficiency like academic proficiency but also diversity and student to staff ratios and a lot of other um data points so I think that that's something to definitely be proud of and really that speaks to what our students are telling us very consistently in the Panorama survey data that our relationships are very strong at Wentworth more than 92% of students which is like um a very high nationally normed rating for um relationships feeling strong and connected at school um and in communities transitioning to

045what we offer after school this is something that you're going to hear a little bit more about um in the next slides but we've really built this co-curricular after school club offering and for anyone who has a child at Wentworth you know it's like a big hustle to get signed up but we're really continuing to grow that so that there is an opportunity and something for everyone so there are 12 different types of clubs at Wentworth but those different types of clubs are offered over 40 session offerings um so there's a diversity in um the opportunity but also the amount and um number of times it's offered so that allows for there are over 700 participants like over 700 enrollments in co-curricular clubs which is pretty remarkable um at a third fourth and fifth grade

046school um and let's see the next thing that I want to talk a little bit about is our garden so I know fr's little um Zoom photo is up there but if you see it on your screen the upper right hand corner is a picture of kids in the school garden and um that's just something thing that again at at when we moved to Wentworth to the current Wentworth school it was such a blank slate it was a chainlink fence over a piece of like partially grown in Grass Mitchell remembers he was there and now it is just this thriving Outdoor Learning environment with um every amenity that you would hope for a garden to have and all of our kids are participating in that work um the past growing season we hosted 168 classroom

047visits so that's something that we've really um grown to pun intended I guess um because previously it was more so students were getting access to the Garden if their teacher was really comfortable doing that kind of work and with the addition through some contracted Services money like a very small investment has made this huge um impact because having a contracted services teacher out there who's offering like a set of lessons or a DIY lesson throughout the growing season that rotates on a weekly basis has expanded the access for all students so 168 classroom visits is um remarkable um equally and that's them with the carrot Harvest um and we're really uh it it's really wonderful for students to be able to see like something that they plant from seed nurture grow weed Harvest and then

048is used in our um fruit and veggie bar in the cafeteria I mean that whole you know seat to Plate process to be able to experience that at your school is really special um also equally proud of the work that our kids are doing in coding stem and Engineering all of our students participate that's something unique for an elementary school to have that as part of our um you know weekly Ally Arts rotation I think it speaks to the level that students achieve by the time they reach you know middle school and high school that they are really coming with this super strong foundation in stem um that they're engaged in the engineering and design process that they are coding they are doing robotics we are starting our first like robotics League team this year

049too um and that they're 3D printing the other day um a student was um playing with a fidget at lunchtime and I was like oh that's a really cool she was like oh thanks I 3D printed it oh cool I wouldn't know how to begin to do that that's really awesome you're nine so um it just really really remarkable what these kids are capable of and then echoing what Katie already spoke to our proficiency um for students who are at or above State expectation in mathematics and reading continues to be really strong and I think speaks to the commitment to all of these other fast facts you know all all you know success be gets success and they feel really supported and engaged and um part of something that is special at Wentworth go to

050the next slide continuing my brag Journey on our school you've heard a lot about our um whole school ruler imp implementation already it was really a main focus of the um Boe highlight presentation that Gabrielle and I did this past winter so I won't get too too much into it but just in summary we selected the ruler materials to use last year really focused on the adult component of seal um I'm just really giving cliff notes for you too Kathy because I know that you'll just say ditto um because this is something that we're using at both wedworth and the middle school so last year focused on the adult portion of seal and then this year really rolled it out for our entire school and it has become such a Central Foundation for all of

051the work that we're doing um I think the um the collective efforts last year led to something very special this year in the creation of community day because Community Day is taking place um as you know on all of our early release days it's meeting a lot of different needs um we use that day as the anchor for the focus of ruler for the month um and rolling out what the new topic and focus and emphasis will be and then we carry that work through our in-class secl lessons build it into the morning announcements really just try to infuse it throughout our school day but on those Community Days um we begin with a whole school assembly to rule out the topic and the thing that is um kind of a TW fur or a

052three-fer on community day is not only is it um super focused on this very important foundational work but it's also running a completely different schedule which is a grade level schedule and that's not an opportunity that students at Wentworth had previously had because we've so purposefully created our vertical um teams our vertical learning communities with third fourth and fifth graders together um to create create that like School within a school feeling and that smaller school um connection um which we maintain has enormous benefits for students um but then building in this regular ongoing opportunity for students to also see if they're in third grade in the green Learning Community they're seeing the third graders from red and purple and blue um and spending time with them and it just has um been wildly successful so

053we're very very proud of that work this year um and you'll hear a little bit more about what we're looking forward to in our goals um portion for for um the next slide um the next thing uh this was this was an investment new in this year's budget so um I've received a lot of flack from my colleagues about calling it a win teacher but I stand by the name um it stands for what I need and truly the um professional who's in that role has embraced it and um created something beyond my wildest dreams and Imagination of what this um this role could do for our students and for our school um it's been an absolute um game Cher for us at Wentworth and so um the teacher and I'm going to use her

054name because I I think she really deserves the shout out Michelle mcferson has um stepped into this role and she was a classroom teacher and a Lead Teacher previously she's really familiar with all of our curriculum across the grade level so she's able to just step in and meet students right where they are she's joined the academic support team and um really is connecting regularly with all of our Support Services to just fill in the gaps and to meet really specialized and unique student needs um to make sure that we're really catching each student EX ly where they are so she's doing a lot of work similar to what I I heard from um K2 around their early intervention teachers so students who are new to the district um either if they're from Old Orchard

055Beach right next door or if they're from central Africa they need support moving into a brand new school getting up to speed on you know just speaking Wentworth really and um and getting up to speed on the curriculum and the expectations and feeling gaps and all of those supports and that looks different student to student and requires a different amount of time depending on what those level of needs are um so she's supported students new to the district um short-term and long-term students who've had um limited or interrupted formal education she's really done a lot of support for those kiddos um helping out students who are going through uh chronic or acute Health needs so students who've been hospitalized or have miss school for those types of reasons she is supporting students um who maybe

056are working through some school avoidance or chronic absenteeism for a variety of reasons and giving a lot of additional support for executive functioning and social emotional learning for students at like that tier two and even tier three level so to to at the time of putting this presentation together um she had had 70 students on her case load for short or long-term support so really a big bang for the buck um and she's doing a wonderful job and I'm excited to see to continue to grow this work um and then last year we also were able to add a um 1.0 FTE classroom teacher just to maintain and meet our class siiz goals that's not you know new or revolutionary work but it is work that matters and is important and um our range at

057Wentworth the target range is 18 to 22 students and we've been able to stay within that range with the addition of that classroom teacher which happened to be at grade five this year you know anytime that the ratio is lower you're better able to um you know Foster that improved academic performance make those connections it's just more individualized um opportunities uh when we stay within that range and it's critically important and then finally I spoke about this a little bit um in the highlights but expanding our opportunities for students to access like high quality after school co-curriculum club programming it's another opportunity for kids to like oh let's go sign up for chess club we can see each other after school so just those social connections but also just practicing um getting them ready for

058the super high participation once they get the upper to the upper grade levels um that I'm sure you'll hear about from mrage but just a lot of opportunity for students to start um getting involved and getting engaged beyond their typical school day and extending that learning so not only were we able to add more sections more um variety of clubs to make sure that there are you know again 700 discret opportunities for students so everybody could in Theory sign up for one um one Club um but the budget also enabled us to add a co-curricular club coordinator who has really helped um with not only like ensuring a high quality programming but there's just a lot of nuts and bolts when you have little kids after school I don't know if you would assume this

059but they don't always remember what their after school plan is and sometimes they might like take the bus when they were supposed to stay up so it's just a lot of like checks and balances and calling home and making sure that they're where they're meant to be um verifying attendance communication with families supporting that sign up process which is the first time that families are engaged in using um Orbiter and you know signing up for like a club in that way so it requires a lot of support Logistics communication and adding um adding that support just in a small stipended stipended position has made a really big difference um in the quality of our programming I would say I I did like Fuzzy Math and um looking at all of the stiens for all of

060the advisors plus the stien for um the advisor the coordinator plus you know just materials and that sort of thing it's right around a $30,000 total investment um to impact 700 kids throughout the entire year plus there's um a little bit of Revenue offset because there is a fee so it's um a low dollar amount for a really big impact and I think that that's um a success of the co co-curricular Club programming at wwor and then goals and priorities um I don't think anything is going to be shocking or new information um I spoke about the learning Commons already the left hand side is a quick picture of our learning Commons which is um a beautiful and thriving in robust space I took that one after school so it's empty [Laughter] but um last

061year after several years of advocating for um a dedicated librarian for K2 and a dedicated librarian for Wentworth school we finally were able to get that into the budget last year and we were so so thrilled at doing that and our um current K to 5 librarian um shifted her Focus to be just kada 2 and so we tried mightily to find a a qualified amazing librarian to um come on and take the lead at wedworth um and it's a position that we've waited a really long time for so it's not a position that we're willing to compromise on um and and we've been unable to find a qualified candidate to this point it's already retis I think we're going to go for like hopefully fourth time or third time will be a charm here

062it's read vertis I think um in a better timeline because um as you know the budget was kind of passed pretty late in the game last year and then to go out with a new position at that time it it's just tricky timing um for somebody you know a qualifi experienced librarian to leave their District at that time so we're really hopeful for this year to have somebody in that position full-time to start the next school year um Meg who Meg Blakemore who was the K to 5 Librarian Is focused on k 2 but she has stayed on in kind of overseeing some of the Wentworth pieces too we've stayed very status quo with a strong team of um Ed tecs in the Lear in Commons who should be commended for the work that they're

063doing so we are we're you know we're doing great but looking forward to really moving that work forward and accelerating all of the potential that exists within that programming um so that's a go and will be an area of focus for next year um expanding the learning opportunities to increase increase emotional intelligence through ruler next year will continue to be a focus you know we'll be in our year two implementation so we've got all of year two implementation with students year three at wedworth so we've got all of these foundational pieces in place and now next year we'll be really looking to differentiate for each of the grade levels um because now the the next year's fourth and fifth graders will already have that strong foundation and what are the signature tools what is the

064foundational work of ruler and next year will be even further integrated into their academics and integrated um across content areas uh even more so than this year so that will be a continued goal next year and then um staying focused on refining our integrated student support and response systems through mtss you heard a lot about that from P to 2 and in curriculum so I won't um be repetitive but we recognize like there are a lot of um amazing and meaningful interventions currently already taking place we're very proud of our you know data and our response systems to ensure Universal screening and monitoring to ensure that we're meeting all students where they are this year we've been very um intentionally focused on that tier one instruction like my kk2 colleagues mentioned um and next year

065we'll be continuing to kind of bring that work forward and really diving into a more systemic approach to Da examining our data and um implementing interventions and supports um and not ju not in addition to supporting our students who may be striving for grade level expectations but really moving students who are at and above grade level expectations at that same Pace um so making sure that we're very focused on exactly where students are and moving them forward so those are some of the goals for next year and I think that is it all right Mar I think this is time for questions for all three of our presentations all right frla do you have anything I don't all right what about question yeah um going back on the wi teacher sounds like it's been a

066great thing to have my wondering is one wi teacher enough because 70 on her case load seems like an astronomical number to me um so yeah is is one in enough I mean no Jenna no um of course like more support is for more students right 70 is not like at this discreet moment she's had um a lot of short-term interventions too so that's SP 70 students over the course of the year so she's not like currently carrying 70 students that she's trying to meet the needs up on a daily basis um that's over the course of this year still really impressive and a heavy lift um you know we have we did discuss that um you know adding an edtech to support some of the interventions that she's like specifically designing just to um

067you know spread the support and just engage more students in that learning it's just not the budget year to do that right now but something that we'll continue to Monitor and do our best with and moving forward and that I think we have um some opportunities across that tier 2 support team to really lean in and engage and work together and that's something that I didn't anticipate happening to the degree that it is instead of creating a whole separate um admissions team and system system for the wi teacher instead she's engaging with the existing admissions teams processes and then deciding collaboratively okay where are this students needs best met okay can this be done through literacy support or do I need to pick up pieces of it so it's been um you know not just

068party of one she's infused herself with a full team so it's similar to like the conversation that we were having about like what's happening at to right like what we're finding is you know because of the number of different types of support positions we have now we have like this Think Tank if you will right and everyone can kind of wrap their arms around figuring out like what is it that this student needs um and again right like your maiden voyage um this year and so I think you know lots of great inroads um and I'm sure like that will get ref find As you move to year two and you know kind of land your feet on the ground a little bit yeah it's been really interesting to me because I had a conversation

069with the K2 folks when we were doing some of our assessment of Staffing and who's doing what and and how are we using the folks that we currently have and and particularly these new ads that we've had in the recent two budget cycles and it's just so cool to have I'm going to use the toolbox analogy right because you know I could be a wrench you could be a screwdriver would you like to be a I'm sorry I I shouldn't make stupid puns but um but the you know point being that you have all these folks with these different approaches different backgrounds different tools um you know not that we're not all having the same kinds of PD but it's just so interesting to have that yeah we're not operating capacity right right one of

070the exciting pieces about that too that I would add is that we're so fortunate that our student support team at K2 in particular is so skilled and so flexible and they're communicative with one another so that where a need emerges it's met by someone on the team who's ready willing and able in terms of time and skill to address the need so that's been really exciting to watch that develop amongst the team well I think um to build up of Jenna's question we we started this conversation Y and I don't think it's any secret for anybody here I think you were sitting at the table or behind me you know we fought very hard for that position and it was one we almost cut and it wasn't until you said to us that um this

071is keeping kids out of the special education program that we went to bat with Council and you saw the outcome and we fought for your one of Chris's positions as well that was going to be cut and so I think when we think about this our conversation last night was um certainly budget dollars aren't the end all be for what we're talking about right with these interventionalist positions the wi position and you know I know you're you know making light but maybe it is the name I don't know but um in when we're talking about the budget there is a very real um savings with these positions and it's really really important that we um know that data going in because um I think it makes it easier to build a case for yes I

072would need another win teacher or yes I do need another interventionalist because this is what happens with but this one teacher who has seen 70 students how many of those 70 um were able to be um uh their Cas is able to be managed through the tier support versus a special education program and so if we have that number um I would like to know that number um I don't know if you know it off the top of your head but maybe as we like go on that is the data I would like to know and same with the interventionalist positions because if you are um I know this is a tough budget year I really really appreciate I will say this right now in front of all you I really appreciate that you're considering

073the community and you're considering the ask and you're looking at this as a um is this the year for us to really add in or is this the year that we really take a look at making due and I I I personally appreciate that with the caveat if you need something tell us tell us and give us the data you are really good Kelly with data it is one of my most favorite things about you so I I'm telling you right now if you need something and you can say this particular teacher saw 70 kids which kept 50 out of special education program that saved us X number of dollars and we see an upcoming intake and we think we need another one tell us okay yeah thank you I think that that like what

074you're saying makes perfect sense but it's tricky because it's children that we're talking about it's hard to know like I don't I it's hard to be able to have like a crystal ball know like if not this then that right and the other thing that I would say and again you know Chris can certainly jump into the conversation too but I think that the reality is that you are not going to avoid every student from getting from not requiring special education right what we have done over the past several years is to build these robust intermediary steps and supports to help us us get more information about is this just a lack of skill and if we build that skill and filled that Gap that student will be able to be successful or is there

075something else at work for a student right right I think what you're doing is you're at you're placing them where they need to be you're working it yes you're working it as they need it yeah what would you say Chris yeah I would agree with all that and I think the the one thing that is uh really hard to predict is the uh you know the nature of the kids that are coming in to join us right and there will there will be some kids who will respond really well to those interventions and those are kids that we can keep in the general education setting and their least restrictive environment you know those are all great things you know all the reasons why those are important um and then you know the number of kids

076we have that don't respond as well to those interventions that's the part that's hard to hard to predict and that's where we would look you know to the special education services for sure but absolutely and it's also really helpful for us in in more clearly defining the work that we are doing with kids in special education right if we have really strong interventions before we're at the referral phase right because that could mean um less time in special education with a particular student and it could also mean kind of less time overall right if we have a really clearly identified Gap in a need and we've got a great definition of that you know our interventions can be more effective and our goal for for most kids is to eventually get them back out into

077that that general education system to do so so having that Foundation I think would help us do that work a little more quickly and just to add to like 70 is a lot and granted it's not all at once in one classroom like she's not supporting 70 kids individually I mean all by yourself our numbers may look a lot smaller even if you added all of them together at three schools but the amount of time people spend with kids can be very different too so where you might see five kindergarten on one of my teachers case loads she could be spending three hours a day with some kids waiting for them to be regulated enough to safely go back into the classroom so that's a very different story than you know teaching somebody who came

078from older Beach how to speak went worth ease with learning communities and that kind of thing right it's a very different there's different needs that are some kids need half an hour and some kids need three hours a day and some you know it's just never of position too that it is for some students you know 30 minutes twice a week for three weeks right for some students she's really delivering a tier three intervention and spending you know a lot of time with um those individuals and to have that flexibility in a gened position that's what I feel like has been a huge game changer that she's not solely focused on one specific content area but like Jack of all trades super glue Silly Putty all the analogies right um so it's been it's been

079really successful and I think just like um solidifying the processes and the supports and the house and all of those pieces this year like we're in a really great position to just move forward with what we have next year um and strengthen it and and then you know you know me I'll come back to the table if we so just as a time check we're running about 20 minutes behind and I know we do have a hard stop at 11: because we have another meeting with a different person so I have two questions and I'm gonna really try to not ask a lot of questions today um okay um I don't know if this is Katie or if this is Kelly but is this the first year we would have test results after adding in

080the appointment days at the start of the year no this is this the second this is the second second time okay so we have two years of data since we added those appointment days in um can we go back and look um maybe maybe this is like a for your presentation in June but um can we go back and look at the numbers prior to appointment days and the um numbers post for the two years that we have the reading scores in particular as well I'm talk I'm thinking have they increased since those appointment days have been added um the numbers are really good but this is again um when we talk about at this at the calendar calendar time when we talk about creating those appointment days you know I know they're not always

081easy for parents but this these are the things we can fall back on right like yes they're not easy and maybe it's an inconvenience but these are the gains we're getting right and so um I would I would love to have have that up possible we can look at that and build out a few other data points too like how many more units are accomplished and that kind of thing so yeah that all of that data would be really nice for us to have and then my last question um is for um K2 um I I know we talk a lot about building um we started talking yesterday about the in between you know we knew when this didn't pass last year we needed an in between solution something to to bridge the gap um

082and I just want to ask you as I'm looking so Monday night um which I know you were there an there is some new charts and new information that came out about um enrollment so we have in 2028 29 school year you're expected to have 8117 kids um based on live birst across K2 um and if we add a contingency it's 842 and so um is there any place that you have on your current campuses to place those not of course not understanding which school they're going to um where where would you put those kids the three to five you mean no that's well that's 200 more kids than we have now corre so across three schools you know I I don't know I don't know where they I mean they all be in a

083home room somewhere but the home rooms would probably be at 25 instead of 18 and and but no space no space under property to add to absorb 200 students not currently thank you any other questions all right well we are going to take a short break we have some great snacks for everyone um and then when we come back we will start with special services e e e y great we're back all right so I'll start off with some uh fast facts and I know we're a little bit behind in time so I'll be fast with my fact so overall a slight increase from last year in the number of students who have IEPs were at 16.7% 479 students total uh just the shade under 300 students that have a Section 504 accommodation plan it's

084a little over 10% of our population and then this is a number that we talked about last year on combine those two groups uh we have 778 students who have been identified with a disability uh through either an i or 504 plan uh and this represents 27% of our student population so again 27% of our kids have been through an evaluation process that has identifi a disability and we are providing either accommodations or direct programming to support students around uh that disability uh we also have uh Gates program under special services uh currently 7.2% of our kids are participating in the gates program we have 116 students identified as multilingual Learners that's about 4% of our population and as you saw from the K2 slide a lot of different languages represented um right now we

085have about 23 that's a little bit of a moving Target depending on who's coming and going uh 11 students right now uh qualifying as homeless under Kenny vento and then we have um 50 students uh project projected to enter kindergarten in the fall that currently have IEPs through CDs and uh this is a number that we spoke about last year as well when I think we had 51 or 52 uh these are the highest numbers that we've ever seen if you go back a few years you know typical year for us would be between high 20s and low 30s uh so another significant increase this year uh in terms of um successes and accomplishments um uh one piece of work that we've engaged in this year is uh working with our teams around trauma informed

086uh instruction so this is been work we've done with our K2 team we've had 29 staff uh participate in monthly trainings with uh Dr Rebecca Bickford Dr Bickford is a both a clinical psychologist and a certified bcba um she us the director at Margaret Murphy Center for Children downo uh she's been a great resource for us uh especially in terms of bringing evidence-based practices and traing uh to our staff uh so that's been um a great project for us this year you'll see that as a you'll see that as a goal when we get to that slide for next year as well uh Kate was so excited she jumped right ahead um another uh success for us this year we had a new special education position ww worth that we brought on board last year

087as a part of the budget process and that has really uh increased our flexibility around targeted instruction around um evidence-based science of reading programs for kids um particularly with deficits in decoding and reading fluency we've talked about in the past that this is a big need for us um and this position has really helped us to uh both identify groups of kids that can work together effectively and also identify the different programs that we need uh to help those students make progress uh one size does not fit all and as you can see from this slide uh we have a number of different programs that we using um we're very fortunate we have a uniquely skilled uh group of teachers that went wereth to deliver this instruction and this additional position has really allowed us

088to uh use their talents uh most effectively um another big uh area of uh accomplishment for this year for us has been the use of augmentative and alternative communication as well as looking at assisted technology so as you know or may know you have an aat specialist and she is uh providing training to staff um I think we have on the slide here about 45 to 50 staff this year a lot of that work is around working with kids who might use an augmentative communication device as really their sole means with communicating with the outside world um we talked last year and you'll see the next B here is around our functional life skills program but we've had a significant increase in the number of students in our functional life skills programs in starbor over

089the last year and this position has been really critical in identifying the right device for kids uh they are complex and they require uh training initially and then as kids skills develop right we need to go back into the software and update so this position has really been instrumental in doing that effectively that is a huge part of our functional life skills programs because a big thing that we are working on with a lot of kids is using language instead of behavior to communicate needs right and so I really can't overate the importance of this position and the work that she does uh she also does uh evaluations for identifying auen communication devices both for kids who were new to us this year uh and also for kids who might need something different and she

090is on tracked complete 24 of those avows those are aows that we used to contract out to pine tree um in the past so um so great work happening there and then um our last reest is um as I just mentioned we opened a new uh functional life skills program at Corner School this year uh with eight students and that is a that is a big a big job and we have been super fortunate uh again with the staff we have in that program they've done a fantastic job of uh building that program up this year from scratch uh again these are kids who are getting um work on basic communication skills some kids are getting work on self-care um it's just uh a very complex group of students and um it's been a really

091successful year in that program and so really big big kudos to the group a corters and an as well for her help in getting that program on so so that's our uh that's our successes and accomplishments and then our goals for the coming year um our goal of course number one goal is always compliance and um as I mentioned a minute ago we've got another big incoming kindergarten class this year so uh at this point we know 15 students uh entering K that currently have edtech support um on their IEP uh for the students we know about currently have one toone support needs and we believe they'll require a functional life skills program there's one student we still have to go visit uh to find out for sure uh the other students receiving adult support

092are getting that inclusive settings and a regular classroom setting at 3K um they'll continue to do that support in the fall when they come Jo us and um the other piece to know about here is that uh of course every year we have kids as an I think mentioned earlier that come into kindergarten that have not accessed any Services through CDs so they may not have been identified with a disability we have kids who uh may not have participated in any type of preschool program um and so the last uh two years we've had four kindergarten students across the K2 buildings um who have been identified for special education services and have required edtech support as well so um you know we have to be realistic I think in building in and thinking about the

093those support needs the compliance piece uh the other piece around compliance for the fall is our uh speech and language numbers so again another really big group coming in um we have 30 five kids uh they're going to be receiving language Services that's a total of 39 service hours and uh we don't have a lot of kids graduating with a lot of time so that's another challenge for us for the coming year to um the next uh goal and priority for us is uh the work that we've been doing with Dr Bickford we're going to continue uh doing that work next year and um uh a part of her work that I didn't mention a minute ago has been working with our two K2 social life skills programs to uh kind of enhance and develop

094our evidence-based approaches in those two programs to build consistency between the two programs as well and uh this coming year we're going to have her uh work with our Middle School uh socialized skills program um as well and then uh another uh priority for us related to the budget is looking at um reading instruction at the middle school so as we just talked about a minute ago um we've increased our programming for reading at Wentworth last year through the budget this isn't an additional position but this is looking at a different reading program um we have a really solid uh Foundation now at the middle school in terms of how we're doing our instruction around basic reading skills how quickly kids can read how well they can break words apart the next step for us

095I think is to identify a program that we can really uh focus in on uh reading comprehension right as kids are moving into that reading to learn uh you know phase certainly by middle school for sure so uh bringing this program on board will help us um have more consistency across our resource and targeting comprehension piece and as you can see from the slide we have a pretty large number of kids who are getting all of their uh Ela instruction in Source grp right now 62 kids currently at the middle school so this would impact um a lot of students and uh that is yeah those are our goals and priorities that's some fast talking all right okayo Middle School n you'll see our first four fast facts are data um as Katie shared um

09672% of our eighth grade students on last year's mea science um performed at or above compared to the state we actually have had some other middle schools in the state reach out to us to asked to come in and visit observe and talk to our science teachers about our success and last year's um assessment data in ela reading we had 82.5 students at or above um grade level and then in mathematics 54.6% of our students score at or above grade level and anytime we look at our percents you know we are looking to increase them and that really speaks to a lot of the data work that we've been doing as well as our mtss um process and in math we have several years ago um you approved through the budget an additional um student

097support edtech that IT Tech is focusing on mathematics our math interventionist also teaches four co- talk classes we have one sixth grade one at seventh and two at 8th grade and so again when we look at that data we're looking at it in screening any student below um proficiency putting in those supports and then you know we're also looking at how are our kids doing towards standings standards and learning goals in each of those subjects where are we we very strong what are the areas that we really need to focus on um and also our Bridge teacher is the equivalent to the wind teacher at Wentworth and our Bridge teacher works very closely with students in mathematics and reading um for students who might be out with a concussion and have missed class and just

098need to come in for a short period of time for instruction um so those supports have just been game changers as you know Kelly has said and then in our Panorama data that is from this winter very recent data um 87% of our students reported favorably on support of relationships and then 79 with self-management panor also has a category called somewhat I somewhat have a relationship that does not go on the favorable side so when you look at that data you know you see a lot more kidss who do have a relationship but they haven't rated it quite as high um with Panorama data we still have that area um that we've seen in the last few years on emotional regulation and so that is an area that we'll continue to work on and that's

099one of the reasons why we chose ruler curriculum um to work on that area and then of course we're always looking at our you know how we're doing with our Communications and looking at our January we had a, 886 um visits to our family newsletter which is actually up from last year and um when it comes to our learning comments again as Kelly said and you know that the checkouts and the digital checkouts our numbers are up but a lot of that is the work of our librarian really working on that collection and bringing in um current books award-winning books the way they display the books um and so that has gone up okay we move on to successes and accomplishment I shared this information um at the board presentation in December um so if

100anybody wants to go in there's a few there was a clip um from um one of our main Outdoor Learning and some pictures and things but with our chorus the addition of the part-time position last year we do have an increase of 150% um of students taking chorus our chorus teacher is working with a 100 students we have 50 at the sixth grade 15 and 7th and 35 and eth and this L first concert that they had it was the first I was sitting in the audience just this is the first time that we've ever had just a Middle School chorus concert and it was really for me a big moment and exciting but I'll put out a shout out on Tuesday March 25th at 6:30 it's our alltown chorus concert and it is amazing

101it's um second grade through 12th grade so if you can get any performance I would um highly suggest that you get to that one and your chorus is rehearsing where our chorus is in the cafeteria um and then they do go into the band room for the sixth grade the sixth grade with 50 students because that teachers on a preparation so they can use that but no they share the cafeteria with the percussion teacher right so you know so that's just a great example of some of the limitations of programming that we are able to offer um are constrained by uh the building space that we have or do not have yeah then for our intervention period during R the teacher that our French teacher has been very kind to let him use that room

102it's at the end of one of the Wings and so it doesn't it has a permanent wall so the kids can sing and play the instrument it doesn't the sound doesn't go into the next classroom and then the French teacher doubling up with the other French teacher for that integation BL and then we have had our um second year of our ruler implement presentation first year being um with the teachers this year it's with students and we the lessons take place on Mondays during Crew That's um smaller group groups of 12 with all of the staff and their kind of advisory groups and the members on the seal building committee they cover and teach those classes if there's a staff member out so I've been very fortunate to be able to teach some of the

103ruler lessons on Monday and if I'm not teaching I ask to be a part of a group and the students welcome me into their group as we're doing the lesson so it's very nice and it lets us as members of the building committee you know just have a real pulse on how the lessons are going um so we can make adjustments for next year but we've been focusing on the tools this year the charter the mood meter the best self and then the blueprint um I did want to just U remind everybody of What ruler stands for so ruler is really building building that emotional intelligence um recognizing recognizing that you're having an emotional response understanding what is it am I angry or am I sad labeling so what you know really identifying and then

104expressing and then regulating do I want to change how I'm feeling what strategies can I use or do I just want to stay here where I am um then we've had of course our main Outdoor Learning Grant which has been amazing um the grant was really for some materials but also for professional development so this past summer we had um all three grade levels work on um developing units the sixth grade teachers partnered with the Gul of main Research Center to create a unit on crafts for all sixth graders to experience and they did their field work at Higgins Beach the seventh grade um integrated learning team has partnered with the Scaro Land Trust Pineland Farms the wells National research reserve the University of New England um and they've created units on Forest exploration Maple

105sugaring and maple syrup production the science of snow and extreme weather and history and the Estuary and I will say they've already collected buckets of um the setp and um one of the teaches is GNA take it home now and um turn it into n Sy yeah they they've been talking about okay how can we get some equipment here to be able to do it on our grounds but that's next step and then all of our eighth grade students had the opportunity to perform their field work at Fort Williams on geology and then our movement break in recess so we've really been fortunate this year to be able to go out many many days and I will tell you it is wonderful now that our snow is melting because it was challenging with the big

106snow Banks because middle school students love the snow and to play with the snow and F the huge piles like no no you don't want to have wet socks for the ne the rest of the day I'm sure Kelly and primary see the same thing with love of snow but that's great and I will say when we've been doing our building tours that's one of the things that would be lovely is if we could have an actual area that was designated for recess okay so goals and priorities um next year for ruler we're really looking to then um expand into the grade level lessons and so sixth seventh and eth grade will continue to um keep the tools alive but also um really dig into some of the units in the categories of community safety

107and climate a unit on emotions matter a unit on self and social awareness unit on personal values and emotional regulation and then a unit on empathy and perspective taping and again as Kelly mentioned building that also into the core classes more I'm seeing you know bits of that here and there with um you know the our school Charter posted um I've heard teachers say okay how do we be our best selves when we're working in groups and then they they take you know all of those characteristics and and um students you know know that they need to be good listeners respect others opinions so that's been great okay our Ela curriculum so this year they've really worked at uh with Katie leading um looking at the units that they have looking at the NWA data

108you know what are the standards and learning goals that you know we're strong in what are the areas of growth and they have identified non-fiction um as an area to grow and so next year um springboard is no longer available and so they will be looking at really high quality um curriculum materials and um piloting that next year and again looking at next year we'll have our data on our main assessment to to look at and then we've really worked hard on attendance um you know and decreasing our chronic absenteeism so I think you know we really found before Co we were down below 10% at the middle school um and that's been a goal it's a state goal that were below 10% um last year as of the end of February we were at

10915% chronic absenteeism rate and now we're at 11% but again we are trying to get lower than that and there are some organizations that um have um resources for us to use Count Me In and attendance matters and we do have a district attendance committee and we've been looking at the communications that we can add to our um Family newsletter at on The Big Picture level but also all of the communications we make with individual families to help with support and again some of those supports can be our Bridge teacher and our tier 2 supports because you know oftentimes there's a bar for students who you know coming into school and it's that they need um you know that extra support and then of course our mtss system continuing to work on that with a

110big focus on data digging into the data at all different levels but one of the areas that we've started to work on is also students looking at their data so we been developing some protocols for students to then be shared their NWA data they can see their strengths and see their areas for growth and then working on some goal setting you know ownership like why are we taking why are we taking this test why does it matter and because it does it informs our instruction and I think this past we we um also did a winter nwaa um test this winter and students more than ever were like how did I do how did I do um because we did we surveyed students to ask them some questions about test taking I think it that

111really made them think about you know the importance of the test and what works well for them for testing and we implemented some of the things they wanted gum so we sa everybody some gum um but they did they asked afterwards so a lot of teachers have started that goal setting but we want to put that protocol in place we're gonna keep going through the sections and then have questions coming up all right good um so a lot of this I apologize to the board because a lot of this will probably be data that you've seen before um since we've shared a little bit with you for various reasons over the course of this year but um at any rate um always good to revisit it um brag talk ask those kinds of things about

112our data so um fast facts this slide has um indicators of of various things with the high school I think some of it is programming um and then some of it is what of our what our students are up to and how they're taking advantage of our programming so um one thing I thought might be of interest to the board is on average a lot of so what I did with this was I I tended to look back a little bit I think I'd like to show Trends as opposed to just showing this year compared to last so um a lot of the data that's put before you here is since Co um which is sort of like a BC moment if you will um it feels like an education so um looking back since

1132021 um we're in the throws of our course registration process now um if you're not familiar with high school operations this is a a multi-month process it really starts in January um unofficially um but it really ramps up in February March um um and to give you the size of our our programming we have 6,500 course requests plus sometimes that's 66 6700 course requests that come in um but we have 6,500 on average that come in annually during the course registration process so it's always a joy for us to to take all those requests and try to assemble a schedule that that meets as many needs as possible um I thought that might be an interesting data point for folks to know in terms of what students do with those um with those courses um

114they're doing a lot of awesome things which I think is great so we've got on average 38 students taking um dual enrollment credits every year so we have a number of um opportunities um through local universities and um community colleges um we manage a couple of different Partnerships and programs with smcc USM um where students can go to um a college a local college or university take a course there have it count as both um High School Credit and as college credit so it kind of opens up the transcript um our biggest one um is the spring ahead program um and typically we'll have um around two dozen seniors or so each year um take a full course load at smcc so four courses four college courses um and they graduate with um if if

115it's successful they graduate with a semester um of credit which is awesome um another interesting data point at the school um in the past couple of years um high school students Scaro high school students have performed 104 points better on average on the SAT than national average um which I think is astonishing and if you look at it year to year that number is actually increasing the G is growing um this year compared to last year um but again I think it's a good indicator of where our students are at in terms of postsecondary Readiness um another thing I wanted to call out was uh this past year we received recognition from the College Board um an honor roll silver distinction um for the strength of our AP programming um a little bit of data

116about that we've got 23 AP courses at the high school um last year we administered 677 AP exams um to over 300 students um those are scored on a one through five scale um and typically three is the cut point for being eligible for college credit and our average score for that was a 3.4 um which is outstanding three usually on any given test um the average score for a year is right around three it might be in that 2.9 or maybe that 3 you know one range but once you start to get outside those standard deviations you're doing really well um and to so to have I think a 3.4 average over 677 exams is just outstanding um so the health of our AP programming um I think is really really good um couple

117other things I wanted to call out on average so this is again based on the last few years 89% of our students are going to two or four year colleges our graduating students are going to two or four year colleges um which is again outstanding and then about 10% um entering the military pursuing a technical certificate or entering the workforce um the state the last publicly available um data point that I'm aware of from the state was 2022 um so as a point of comparison in 2022 54% of high school graduates in the state of Maine we're going to a two or four year college um we're sitting at 89% for this past year which I think is awesome um and then lastly um I wanted to provide um a panorama data point as well

118um I didn't include it from this year because we haven't really dove in as a staff yet um into this year's data but um it is up a tick this year um I think they're at 89% um but in 2023 24 um 88% of students reported that they have supportive relationships and that was a figure that put us in the 90th percentile nationally um that's been a big point of focus as you've heard from everybody else um it's been true at the high school as well um to really reconnect kids um and to make sure that they have strong connections um either at home or at school to make sure that that partnership is is working well with them um and so I'm really really proud of 88% I think it really speaks to the

119the dedication of our staff to kind of re-engage with kids coming out of Co over the last couple of years um in terms of successes and accomplishments um there were a number of things I wanted to share with the board that I think are um again are points of Pride for us at the high school um attendance and treny so as you're aware last year um we were dealing with the implementation of a new state law um regarding chronic establishing chronic as absenteeism um and last year our data point so this is sort of the first year where we've got good data points um before and after um last year at the high school this is as of at the end of the month of February um we had 19% chronic absenteeism and 3% trenc

120um this year I'm really pleased to report that those numbers have decreased which is a good thing so we're living at 14% chronic absenteeism um and less than 1% treny and to to give a big shout out to the assistant principal that's a huge credit to them um they work tirelessly to intervene early um they're on those numbers all the time they're talking to families talking to kids um and so it's it's no small thing for those figures to be down 5% chronic absenteeism which is again excused absences so that can be a hard one sometimes um but even to have the treny rate coming down too is outstanding um so we're super proud of that um we're also really proud of um the graduation uh rate and the post-secondary placement for the class of

1212024 um the grad rate for last year's graduating class was 96% um which is 9% higher than the state average last year um and that's actually up a couple of percentage points for us over the last couple years so that that's great um and then again 90% of the class of 2024 went onto a two or four year college so we were right in line with our um averages which is awesome um in terms of curricular accomplishments um we had a level Services ask last year but we did um have a couple of curriculum asks um so that we could meet those level services so I did just want to call attention to to um we reup on a um on a subscriptions for our math curriculum um we use a couple of problem-based approach

122curriculums um in our Algebra 1 and geometry classes um if you ever get the opportunity to go in it's really exciting to see there's a lot of math talk there's a lot of small group discussion there's you know problems get solved um in a Hands-On kind of way sometimes there's movement it's a really Dynamic mode of instruction and so we were excited to continue it we piloted this work um I want to say three or four years ago and we're really excited about the curriculum the curriculum outcomes um and so last year we asked to continue with that and again the dynamic in those classrooms is is really really fun to see and I think catching more kids than we than we otherwise would um if the instruction was a bit more of a traditional

123model um we also reup on our uh with a subscription in our world language Department last year um and I think we Contin continue to see success there um one of our barometers for that is a couple years ago um we grabbed the bull by the horns for the Seal of biliteracy which is a state recognition um something that the state of Maine instituted um a couple years ago I want to say four or five years ago but it's sort of a trend across the country nationally to have these they call them seals um basically the way it works is the state identifies um assessments uh that students can take um and if they do well on those assessments um they receive a steal a seal of biliteracy we actually do it as an endorsement

124on the transcript but what the seal certifies is that these students are proficient in multiple languages typically sealed by literacy it's two languages but every now and then we do see a case especially where um somebody might be coming in with a background in multiple languages we do see a case where somebody gets seal earns a seal in multiple languages it's a rare case but it does happen every now and then um but last year we had seven students in Spanish achieved the seal by literacy which is really really good um and uh super awesome to send them off into college and into the world with the ability to speak two languages it's also something we're providing for MLL yes yeah so we're trying to figure out we have students who are what's interesting right

125is the dynamic is um you know we have a lot of native English speakers who are learning Spanish or French or Latin um we're also trying to figure out ways to flip that so that we can honor the fact that we've got students coming in who are non-native English speakers and that's where their work is um and so we're we're trying to work through that um some kids come to us and they they're their you know their native M language might be Spanish or Portuguese but their writing skills or their reading skills in that language um might not be as good as their oral or their listening skills in that language so but we are trying to close that Gap so that we're we're honoring the fact that it's not just about you speak you

126you know speak English first and then you learn another language it's the fact that you're bilingual um in any two languages that the state will recognize through the seal um we also last year um we were again it was level services but it kind of reflects the reinvigoration as Kathy was alluding to of the music program K12 um as all of you know it took a major hit during covid um but the energy around it right now is super exciting and contagious um so last year we were up a little bit in our music department ask from the board or from the community I should say um because we've what we've been seeing is that students are um really growing um and we really want opportunities to Showcase students um and that costs some money

127we have to get them to some of these competitions and things like that um so just as a reference point um we had 46 Banning chorus students which at least in recent uh memory was a record number I don't know if it's a if it's a record number you know from 10 15 years ago but certainly in recent memory um we had 46 Bandon course students participate in the district one honors Festival which is awesome um and then we actually had 12 12 Coral students were accepted to All State also an extraordinarily High number we actually had one shs Coral student who was accepted to the acda that's the American coral Directors Association national competition um so Mr moer will be going with that student to the national competition which is great um and again

128that's in due that's in large part due to us being able to support those opportunities connect kids to those opportunities um couple other successes and accomplishments um so dual yeah dual enrollment programming um so just to give you some sense of that so on average we have about 38 students um that are doing dual enrollment early college credits um we are down a little bit this year in that regard to 29 students but again these are super huge opportunities for kids to graduate um because many as 12 credits in a year um and I think as many as 18 credits over their High School career um another thing I wanted to call out um we continue to sort of work um with our CTE Partners um that is Westbrook Regional Vocational Center and Portland Arts

129and Technology High School um to serve kids who are interested in those programs um that's happening on a couple different fronts so on the paths on the CTE side w RVC and paths um those programs continue to work with Industries to try to increase dual enroll and and local community colleges I should say to increase dual enrollment opportunities but also to increase industry certifications for those students who are graduating from those programs um so again just as a data point we've got 19 members of the of last year's graduating class who graduated from high school with a total of 55 industry certifications and 62 dual enrollment credits through CTE Partnerships um awesome awesome awesome work for those kids um and then effective this year um we also worked with CTE in response to a law

130that was passed um last year around integrated credits um this is an old idea that's new again it's had different iterations over the years um but the basic concept is that students go to these CTE schools they and then they take they um you know they might go to electricity and then some of their electricity programming can count towards some form of Core Credit at the high school perhaps science or English or something like that um it was really exciting to see this work unfold and it unfolded quickly last year I would say so so much so that we're actually a year ahead of the law we didn't we had until this coming fall to implement what we felt like we were ready last year um CTE worked with some instructional coaches I think they

131made really solid recommendations um for what credits should count and how um we looked at that felt really good about what they put forward um we actually put forward a couple of local recommendations because we saw some places where a CTE program matches up really well with some of our programming over at the high school um and again we want to honor the work that kids are doing um so as of now we have 48 um high school students that are on Pace to earn 41 integrated credits which is again really efficient for them opening up opportunities for them this is really a great way to catch kids who are interested in CTE but are potentially a little bit behind because CTE is is such a driver of a schedule they go there every day

132for two blocks of an eight block schedule overall um so because it's half of their schedule we really have to make sure that they're in a good position in terms of graduation um this lets us maybe send a kid who we had to worry about was just a little bit behind that we otherwise would have might have had to find another path or cut off all together because they needed a way to recoup credit and CTE and allow for that so that's super exciting stuff the other thing um that I wanted to report out on um we had a capital capital investment last year at the high school um to convert um a partial storage closet and then um a single office space in the allpurpose room into three conference rooms um it's been a

133struggle the last couple of years as programmatic needs have changed and student needs have changed um we've really found that we've needed some smaller breakout type spaces for folks um those areas have become really competitive between using them as meeting spaces using them as testing spaces using them for you know to hold somebody for a disciplinary reason um and so this has really sort of given us some Breathing Room in terms of small group space so we are super excited to get that project done um and it's been a real success are those rooms are getting regularly used at the high school which is awesome um and then one last data point I wanted to mention um along the mtss lines um like everybody else will continue to do that work um at the high

134school um as of now we've got 122 students um so for us that looks primarily like students that are scheduled into the study center um and students that are accessing Social Work support and we've got 122 students gened students um that are accessing um mtss supports at the high school um and I think um you know are really benefiting that there's only a handful of kids that are accessing both sides of that um so in general it's kids that are getting some academic support or they're getting some social work support but we're super excited to that and I think it's been a been a really solid year on that front um goals and priorities so our mtss goals um for 25 26 um you know as a high school one of our you know key

135part of our of our strategy to helping kids um be successful is really to make sure that we have programming that reflects student interests and that provides opportunities to them that we think are worthwhile so um we continue to S of look for look for ways and some of that's driven by you know State the state letting us know what economic needs might be some of it is driven by um you know local needs some of it is driven by um you know High student interest areas that we just aren't meeting right now um but we continue to look for um to develop programming and educational opportunities and learning Pathways for all students um that are consistent with 21st Century College and Career expectations and other words we're preparing kids to go off into the

136world and be successful in the ways that they want to be successful um we also um this year we've taken some steps towards um examining our data culture at the high school um for us I think the major hurdle was wrapping our heads around all of the data that we have um we certainly have the um you know we certainly have main through year we certainly have I ready at the ninth grade level um we also have mea science that's sort of the standardized testing that everybody does we also have our AP level data advanced placement data that we get reports on we have sat PSAT data that we get reports on we have you know classroom level grades and assessments so um wrapping your head around all of those data points and how they

137all line up and what they might all mean um was a really significant investment of time um and I think we've come out of that kind of noticing some things and having some interesting questions and so at this point um we're talking with staff about you know how what are some things that are valuable to you here's this you know here's this ocean of data um what fish might be most useful for you to to look at um because again if you look at the whole thing it can be overwhelming and and paralyzing at the same time um terms of facilities we continue to explore ways to adapt existing spaces to meet 21st century programming demand uh programmatic demands one of our challenges right now at the high school is pretty much every space that

138we've got um as far as classroom or um office space with the exception of a couple of conference rooms um is full um so if we look at we're looking to add things that usually means we have to identify a space for it um it's not just as simple as you know I want to do something I want you know we can't just put somebody in a room teacher needs a room a home base at least if it's not a classroom so we continue to explore ways and that's sort of on the same timeline as well what might we be looking to do and what space could we tap to kind of support that um and then uh reaccreditation we're it's a swear word at the high school but I'll say it anyways um we

139are sometime in 2028 um we will be up for reaccreditation that's something that we do every 10 years we haven't um been told if it's going to be spring or fall of 2028 which um I'm eagerly awaiting because it matters a great deal whether it happens in the spring or fall for us um but uh we have have um a number of tasks that we have to do to get ready for that um and it's actually something that's starting this year um so we have a training I think that takes place yeah next Tuesday I'm told um next Tuesday about um sort of what the layout is we work with um Nas or the New England Association of schools and colleges which is sort of the big um accreditation uh business I guess I would

140say or the big accreditation organiz ation um they really are kind of the gold standard they've revamped their process a little bit this year it used to start two years out now it's starting three years out um and so we're kind of we've been doing our homework but we're eagerly anticipating um meeting with them to learn more about it um but next year we'll be um next year we'll be doing some work towards that we'll have a meeting with them sometime after that work is completed and then we'll be gearing up to host sometime in 2028 so it's a big process um but it's also Al a tremendous opportunity to take a look top to bottom as a whole school at what we're doing in relation to you know really important standards of success in

141terms of school performance um and so in looking at you know looking at the standards that they've given us to this point um you know I have high hopes that we'll score really well um and that will perform really well but there'll always be areas of improvement so um I'm anticipating that as well eight eight and with that we will move to Athletics and activities with Michael PE I'll try to capture two slides in one here um so certainly um one of the things that we talk about in out school activities is participation rates because it's a good measure of you know indicator of a strong uh program and so over the past since 2016 Maine's participation rate in athletics has dropped by 13.1% while ours has continue to Trend up if you look at

142page 56 and 57 of your of your budget book it it charts out all that uh data for you um but certainly our trend has continued is has been continued growth um and after school activities with a little blip during the co years and that's held true for our F school club programs as well um we obviously have quite a few multiple sport participants which is why that number exceeds 100% um but those students still have to be dealt with as if they're new students each year you know so each season so um it doesn't you know doesn't matter to us they're they're a different um student if they participate in another season same with clubs as well we have um not as much carryover in club programs most of that uh kids might do

143one or two things but there's not as much carryover as there is in athletics um so we're we're proud of those numbers I provided you all that information so I won't take the time now to dive into it we're also proud of our booster clubs it's very very difficult to manage over 20 different booster clubs and over 500 different Volunteers in those booster clubs um that raise a substantial amount of money to offset our um you know any any shortfalls in our budget but um we're in a really good position right now with our booster handbook and managing those uh people um and and the work that they do and um I think we have a good thing going there I think it's I think right now it's the best um way to manage booster

144groups is to have individual groups because they're the ones that that's how they can raise the most money um to support our programs U and at the end of the day that's the that's the primary function of the booster group is fundrais um we have approximately 120 coaches and Club advisers at the high school another 45 at the middle school so it's a large um group of people that all have to be treated just like any other employee has to be treated um so it's it's it's a lot of people um interestingly enough Jordan gave me some information about uh our coaches our athletic coaches having over 1,200 years of experience between all of them um which is another indicator of a successful program is to um have a high retention rate um within your

145within your staff our athletic trainers continue to work hard um and last year they saw they had over uh 6,000 student contacts um good or bad I guess depending on how you look at it we're we're actually over that already this year we're we're already at over 7,000 contacts now the good part of that is that students are coming to the athletic trainers expressing some concern about something or wanting to do some Rehabilitation or or something along that line it's not always an injury um the other side of that is student preparedness for a particular season and so that's one of our goals and why we transitioned um people with our strength and conditioning coach um and we took that position and look to somebody that had those very specific skills um and that very

146specific training and we've really transformed that whole whole area um in terms of helping with student preparedness for for Seasons I think you can skip the next slide somehow you got all these cool transition I I didn't do that I know no nobody did that so that this slide here continues our discussion about the um success and accomplishments I think the addition of our club activities liaison has been a huge success like Mr Crosby said about the Wentworth kid needing that support after school we also find it high school and Middle School that they need that level of support as well sometime to make sure that they're in the place they're supposed to be in and doing the things that they're supposed to be doing and so um I think that that the addition of

147that person um this year has really helped us improve efficiency as you saw it's a large staff with a small administrative team to support that and so this person has really been invaluable um that um and I think also um the maintaining our goal of continued push to have the budget support those essential components of the program um has kind of been a a a success point at this at this stage we have some gaps to fill certainly in terms of Staffing and supporting that but we've made made some great strides in the last 15 or so years in terms of getting to the point where you know we can honestly say that we can at least do the basic things we don't do all the extra things but we can at least do the

148basic things to run our current programs um the addition of our Perry weather system we continue to try to improve those efficiencies as well and that's really related to a safety issue a weather system is a great tool tool um we actually put in our policies related to weather items and it actually sends um coaches for example text message and say okay you've got to not practice today because the temperature is this or um you know whatever the case may be it's a very sophisticated program that um that that that we use you've probably seen the hardware out on either the tur field up on one of the post but um it's a great program terms of our goals and priorities we want to continue to uh figure out ways to keep our programs fresh

149and have students continue to be involved in those and we think you know communication and Outreach one of the things that we're considering right now is a sort of Step Up day for 8th grade parents um to talk with them about you know what it's like to participate in after school activities at the high school level um and have a panel of coaches and advisors and what the expectations are and so we feel that that would help improve our communication and and student Readiness for participation at the high school level um we we continue to look at ways to leverage technology to improve our efficiencies um in our department and in terms of um each each Co each athletic coach for example is required now to have about eight certifications to be able to coach

150and so to track all those and where everybody's at at you know what time of year they have to do their certifications is is a job for sure and so we look at opportunities in terms of technology to improve that also there are changes in technology as you know so for example um a company called Arbiter just bought out family ID and bought out our school our school is a schedule program that we also use for facility scheduling for our district the another company has bought them out there's going to be significant changes so we're researching right now programs that um we might be able to transition to um to help help help with that we're testing a couple right now um Unfortunately they have some bugs the one that we're testing right now so

151we're um we're testing some others and hopefully be ready hopefully be ready for the fall season um with that not only on the facility schedule side of things but also on the athletic scheduling side of things people have really the nice thing is people have really come to rely on that that communication tool um and so we want to keep it going with the least amount of um anxiety as as possible and so like I like I mentioned before we continue to have a goal of of strengthening our strengthening our financial situation and um continuing to to find ways to um you know bring bring in those things that boosters of funding that we feel we should be funding um so that's the very quick version I know we're on the to one questions from

152the board so can I just say I think in the interest of time we've got a little segment that's about the talking points and takeaways and I'm going to give that for homework um if there are things that you want to add into that document it's linked into the agenda for today it's open to everybody as an editor so if there are points that came up during these conversations that you want to continue to um reflect on or get more information about you can use that document and um we'll get to a a finance committee meeting right right away next week so we'll we'll keep that momentum moving forward um I did did take a few notes in there from some of the things that we said already so Q&A for our crowd questions actually

153had one thing I forgot to add just try start with an a yes so when I was talking about the staffing needs um I realized that uh I wanted to share with you this morning just the the changing nature of what we do and how that could impact what our needs are and within the last three weeks we've had um four students transfer uh into the district one has started the other three are uh will be starting by the end of the first week in May and of those four students three are going to require uh one to one at tech support and one is currently in an out of District placement at their current school um so these are the kinds of things that can happen at at any time uh for us and

154our obligation of course is when kids come in with an i we have to implement that I so um so just a heads up that that's something that we're working through right now um and uh again that's the you know we could have two kids move out next week and go in the other direction too it has that hasn't been happening yeah pretty significant impact for us I think I'll I'll add that to um my comment which is about the items in motion yeah because that that is not reflected not reflected in Chris's current first reading budget and so in in the past in recent years we've been lucky enough between first and second reading to have numbers work in our favor right like something comes down something goes up we'll know uh what our

155Anthem rates are in a few weeks right so if those come down a little bit then we have the capacity to kind of hold the line on where we are but also add back we may need two or three more ed Tech positions right so we Chris and I talked about and and strategically it didn't really make sense to change the first reading budget but it's a really good example of what happens between first and second reading as we get better information yeah because that's not only the Ed Tex it's the added District placement too right so both would be in and items in motion yes and again remember these are required ads because they're part of special education so we can't self- select not to fund those right right we should know for sure

156by the ended up first week in April if the families are in fact going to be here that's when we'll know so I'm I'm not hearing anything to suggest that they won't but just know a couple of them hav officially arrived one has started and and actually I mean this is a great time for them to come because we're in the middle of the budget process yeah there'll be plenty of times when we've passed a budget and a kid will show up in October right and there's not really anything you can do budgetarily except to flex you know within what you've already been appropriating so you know but it's I I my feeling about my favorite quote items in motion that's going to be exciting this year items on a roller coaster perhaps that's a

157choice word that's a good question all right so I derailed that um back to questions for folks here no all right so um it'll be me I'm going to go to you first Kathy um so that same chart that we just mention I mentioned earlier to um P2 um I need to flip back up to it because I canot to look at the place space um when you look at the number for you I can find one not for you when I mean you I mean the Middle School um it is roughly 300 as I'm looking I'll just tell you I know the number is roughly 300 additional students to you um and that would be your and these again are based on um live bursts that have already happened in Scarboro and it's looking

158out up to 10 years and so for the Middle School the enrollment um is looking to go to 923 and 20 and 3435 if you add the contingency um that would be 951 students and so what we also heard on Monday is you already um adding six an ADD lunch next year so you'll be at six lunches um the portables for the sixth grader likely at capacity already if I remember correctly so um what what do you anticipate doing with 300 extra bodies um well let's see everyone a lot of people would lose classrooms and be on cards World Language um Alli to arts and then if you could find a classroom who actually where a teacher had a prep for them to go into you might be able to do that but you'd have

159some space as you know I mean you'd have to bring back all the lunch Lounge along with the six lunches and then that would be less room in the cafeteria to probably have a an additional group of students so I mean you I don't even know through Crea measures if you sugarco they saying you don't have a solution thank you P are current work into the hallway yeah and I I I want to say that like these are good things as let me tell you where they are in the building process next week is when they're anticipating to go down to two solutions and so um the reason I'm asking you these questions is because as they move on one of the big drivers is dollars of course because the building projects are expensive but

160it's how do you prioritize the work and how do you make it how do you make a most physically responsible decision and so um the middle school is on the table Wentworth is on the table the K2 schools are on the table and they're trying to reconcile all of these moving pieces and so my intention after this is to um just bring the building committee along with this discussion right so that they kind of know these facts going in because I think it's one thing to read a number and to say okay we're going to have 300 more students here and 300 more here and I haven't even gotten to you yet but what do you it's one thing to read it but it's another to say those are actually tiny humans and what are

161we doing with them right that's a different story um okay is chorus during the day yes okay so when you have six lunches what happens to chorus that using the lunchroom so they will have chorus first or second period before you know the lunch start so those are open for the cafeteria and then I will have to try to see with a preparation if a music or band teacher and if not I'm going to have to move into a classroom space and look for a classroom space that has the least amount of um noise distraction so does that mean a class will have to go on cart next year potentially the chorus teacher not the well the chorus teacher needs a classroom are you displacing a teacher from the class classroom go there for that

162period yeah just for that one period so it wouldn't be the chorus teachers classroom got we have done this many times throughout the years with different numbers we have had all four of our world language teachers on carts when our enrollment is higher right so right now they are able to have a classroom because of the renovation of two of the science labs and that our numbers are lower when the numbers grow someone in that position health teacher World Language goes onto a cart and they use the classroom of a teacher who's on a preparation the teacher on a preparation moves into another space um to do their work like in the learning Commons or you know an area and do we have um I don't I feel like I something's in the back of

163my brain but do we have have numbers when when we move teachers to carts and yes I I I follow you why we do it but when we do that what is the loss and instructional time can be up to 10 minutes when your the classroom that you're using is over in the sixth grade you know portable so right now um sixth grade health is on a c and so it's um they tra travel from the gym one side of the building over to to the sixth grade Portables to use one of the classrooms so that's the teachers time that's we're not we're not amending the amount of time for the class to happen right I think um I think the point around teachers being on cart that's the most problematic is you know I

164I think back to um a great statement that one of our teachers Robin Viola made to the board I believe it was last year or the year before when she made the comparison between um a cook in a kitchen and when you're baking something in your kitchen you're going into all the cupboards and you're getting all of your ingredients and you're doing all the things but if you had to then say make those blueberry muffins um uh at another location a teacher has to make sure that they have everything they possibly need with them in a bag that they can carry right and so they don't have all of the ready resources they don't have um you know things up on the wall that they can point to or what have you because it's not

165their homebased classroom right and I um so it's not so if I hear you right correctly it's not necessarily lost instructional time to the children but it's lost Effectiveness yeah maybe that's a better efficiencies right I can't tell you how many times I noticed teachers in observations flexing to meet student needs in the moment and grabbing materials oh I noticed this need with these students and there they there will be a loss for students in that lack of flexibility right right they don't have every resource with them that they might have in a in not and not to mention the fact that what she's talking about are some specialty programs like chorus requires I'm just trying to Envision A Chorus moving into a classroom and having a quality program well I'm trying to imagine that

166in the cafeteria but that's not right having having any yeah it's just not the same opportunity for students um okay I think I I think I can put this together okay then one last just thought um is there any thought about adding on to the movement breaks and have you noticed any um change in behavioral moments I'll say so do you mean to make them longer yeah like is there a possibility of doing that to add on or maybe adding a second one well so right now they're getting up to the sixth and seventh grade well eighth grade all so they're getting up to 20 minutes of movement Break um I think it would be really hard in our schedule to increase that so um they tend to eat very quickly and usually they have

167some extra time at their end of their lunch so it's an option you know you can stay in and um continue to sit here especially when it's cold some kids decide to just stay in for a while or you can go outside so then they have an additional 10 minutes so um after about 15 minutes they're able to go out and of course we gauge that on the weather and the the temperature if it's um there's a time frame of a temperature that we take five minutes off of the movement break and don't let we only let them go out for 10 minutes when it's Bel between 15 and 20 degrees and have you noticed any decrease in behavioral concerns I think it's more focusing I mean they we certainly do still have um conversations

168with students during movement break you know expect on they are very creative you'll so but I you know it's just that getting their energy it's easier to come back and sit um we are employing some of our mindfulness when you come back you know you're pretty hyped up even lunch kiddos you know they've been chatting and things and just take some deep breaths and some exercises to get them that's good I would consider that a win for Behavior yeah yeah yeah all right I just have two more one is a comment Mike um the 7,000 trainer student contacts um and that what you mentioned was really um resonated with me the purpose of the strength and conditioning coach to help with um student prep because I think what sometimes we forget is these injuries can

169be lifelong right and so um I really appreciate the addition of that because what you're doing is helping them um you know I think we all think about adults we all say stretching is not necessary right and so um teaching them the proper and appropriate ways to work with their body and to prep for a season they're not coming in cold as huge and I wonder if you're going to see those numbers come down yes I agree with you it's good that they are going to the trainer but I do wonder if what you'll see from that higher is a decrease they more proactive yes like in like a um a preventative care almost so that's really that excited to see that and then my last comment is thank you to all of you I

170what I think is really um awesome about this is we get to hear what awesome things you guys are doing and um I know we ask a lot of questions and we we wonder about things but the numbers and the data and the achievements are really really impr so thank you oh and do you want to tell them about this oh oh you're pass I apologize we're having a senior citizens dinner appreciate apption dinner that's what if you're curious to or have someone who wants to attend some wants it is very popular I think they're all aware of it because we've been asked to have groups right um student groups participate so I there shouldn't be new to anyone on um I just put up the last slide on here Shan we're reminding you we

171have to adjourn yeah oh yes I already forgot but the the last slide in the slide deck for folks who are going to be watching or viewing this is a current list of all of our upcoming meetings in the budget process um they're uh I'll put in a pitch for the budget website which will be updated I've got the framework of it already built I'm going to be linking in a bunch of documents today we'll have more conversations at the board meeting on Thursday night which is our first reading you'll get to hear some of these things again um but I I would say with a caveat that some of these times might change um and so folks shouldn't just rely on this as their calendar forever because the calendar does get updated um for

172example I think our finance committee meeting was originally six but we've moved them moving them to five so people can go to the ASAC meetings so we we've been flexing a little bit so I would ask people in in the community if they're looking to see one of these meetings that they double check the time before they tune in all right if there are with no objections we will adjourn at 11:12 thank you so much thank you