001We use it to make datadriven decisions. So this is very important work that we're heading into for the next two months almost. And then finally our we continue to work to engage our community with Prop O. We our goal is really to make sure all of our community is very well informed as they head into April 7th to make their decision. We've had coffee conversations. Um we have one March 24th at the center of Clayton. We already had one. This is will this will be our second one where any community member can come in and learn or ask questions. And then we've had Glenidge tours. We've already had one. We're having and we had one earlier today. I could not attend it, but I know some some of board members went, so we appreciate that.
002And I think that was the largest turnout we've had so far. We had like almost 12 community members coming and um learning about the needs firsthand. So that's good. And then school events are ongoing. We have a lot of parent teacher conferences this week. So, we're trying to be as visible as possible, having tables set up, information out there for anyone who has questions just to stop by and be well informed. So, that is our goal. So, we will continue to do work on that. And then finally, tonight we have two presentations. We have the social studies presentation where they're going to propose their long range goals for the social studies curriculum. Paul Hilchure and Dr. Gargano will be here. And then we also have the text study. And so Luke and Melena will be
003presenting information about that. So it's going to be a fun-filled evening. And now I'm going to transition right away to recognizing our own and I'm going to make it super official and I'm going to go to the mic and stand there because I've written out some stuff that I actually want to read tonight so I don't miss a step. So I'm going to walk over there. So hold tight. I'm assuming this is working. So, here we go. Okay. Good evening. Tonight, we have a chance to recognize and thank our board of education for the time and dedication you give to our schools and community as part of the Missouri School Boards Association Month. Serving on the board is a volunteer role and we know that takes a lot of your time, thought, and leadership. We're
004incredibly grateful for the ways you support our students, staff, and family. As you can see, each of the buildings and the athletic depart department has like put a collection of items for you as just a small token of appreciation. So, that's on behalf of all of us for you. And then also in your baskets, there are cards that our students wrote. And as tradition, I always like to pick out a few and read them to you. So, I have three that I'm going to read out to you. You're adorable. Okay, the first one it says, "Dear Clayton School Board member, thank you for supporting students. You do a pretty good job. Keep keep at it." The next one, thank you for supporting our schools, helping with funds, and supporting our education. I hope that you
005enjoy this card and you like all of my drawings. So you have illustrations and it says, "I don't know what you really do, but without you, my education would not be the same. You underlined push and make it better." And in parentheses, it says, "Do you get snacks?" You do. You do. They do. They do. And then the student says, "I have an awesome school district and school, but you make it underlined even better." And so, thank you for everything. And that happens every single day. I love school. >> Isn't that Frank? I know. I love it. Isn't that just adorable? Okay. And the last one, it says, "Dear school board, thank you for using up your personal time to keep this school alive. You help all of us learn. You make a difference. Thank
006you again for keeping this school alive." So that is on behalf of this. And then finally we not finally but the next we have a short video which is like two minutes just to show you our appreciation again on the screen. Um I think they're an organization that meets I believe on every other Tuesday. I have absolutely no idea. I think the school board like gives us all the materials we need for school. >> Maybe the board that votes on which teachers they're hiring and what to put in the school curriculum. >> I think that in their meetings they talk about how they can make the school district even better than it already is. But that might not be possible cuz I honestly think it's one of the best districts in Missouri. I would vote
007on giving every single class a pizza party every Friday. Swap weekends and school days. Making lunch food better. >> We all watch Harry Potter. >> Thank you, Board of Education, for all of the countless hours you put in to serve our Clayton students and our broader Clayton community. >> Thank you, Board of Education, for volunteering your time. We really appreciate the support of all of our Clayton students. >> We appreciate you. Thank you, Dad, for your service on the board. >> I appreciate and love you, Dad. >> Happy board appreciation month. >> So, again, um whether our students realize it or not, you do an incredible amount of work behind the scenes to support this district and we are deeply grateful for your service. So, a heartfelt thank you to each of you in your
008roles. Tonight also marks the final board meeting for Stacy Seiwok and Kim Hurst. And I would remiss not to reflect on some of the progress our district has made during their time on the board. Stacy, you joined the board in 2019 after many years of service to Clayton as both a parent and a community volunteer. As a former educator, you consistently kept students at the center of every conversation and reminded us of our shared responsibility to ensure Clayton remains a place for everyone to grow as learners in head and heart. Kim, you joined the board in 2020, though your commitment to Clayton began earlier through your service on the district's finance committee and your support of community efforts such as Prop E. Throughout your tenure as treasurer and vice president, you remained a strong steward
009of the district's financial health and helped ensure our decisions were again grounded on what's best for our students. As a student who wrote a card few years ago said, "Thanks for taking care of the money. We appreciate you." Together, you Stacy and Kim have helped lead Clayton through moments of both progress and challenge. Allow me to share some of those highlights. During our tenure alone or during my tenure alone with you, you supported and guided the implementation of our strategic plan and the profile of the Clayton graduate, soon to be called profile of the Clayton learner, made important investments in safety and security, including the addition of a third school resource officer, the creation of a director of safety and security position, and improvements in safety infrastructure across all of our buildings. You also supported
010the development of a wellness center which is one of the one of a kind in the state of Missouri and a key resource to support our students mental health and well-being. You helped guide the renovation of Clayton High School library which has become a vibrant hub for all of our students and if you ask our students it is the place to be. Your leadership also helped guide important policy work and long-term planning, including the two-year tech study that we are going to hear about later this evening. Let's also recognize your impact on the fine arts. Through your support, our programs continue to grow from new chamber orchestra and choir opportunities at Widown to expanding choir and visual arts offerings at Clayton High School. and not to mention all of our theater programs that continue to
011engage students and both on stage and offstage. Your tenure has also been marked by significant academic progress in our classrooms. You supported strong instruction first through expanded phonics in K5 rewritten elementary social studies curriculum and the adoption of K8 math resources. You strengthen student support systems through MTSS and tools like educ while deepening our social emotional learning work around Character Strong or with Character Strong. And you championed innovation through partnerships like myai with WashU programs like amped and geometry and construction and real world learning opportunities like global STEM squads. Because of your support, Clayton High School has also reached the highest level of student participation in AP coursework and exams ever with 947 tests administered with a 91% pass rating. And let's not forget your support of our athletic programs. Clayton has won 10 state
012championships in the past 80 years. 10 in 80 years. Remarkably, eight of the 10 have been in the past four years. >> That's right. That is exactly right. >> You That is true. You also helped guide the district through some inc true. >> It is. It is. You also helped guide the district through some incredibly difficult and unexpected moments like navigating the pandemic, engaging in complex coms around, and most recently leading us through the May 2025 tornado. In each of these moments, your steady leadership helped our district move forward and emerge even stronger as a community. And now, as your service comes to a close, you leave us in the midst of another important chapter. Your thoughtful work over the past two years on the long range facilities master plan has helped bring us to
013a moment we now are in, Prop O. On a personal note, both of you were part of a board that hired me as a superintendent. Your trust, support, and confidence in me have meant more than I can fully express. You pushed me when needed and supported me every step of the way. Not many superintendents can say that and I stand here proudly as someone who can. You truly mean the world to me and I sincerely hope the relationships we have built will continue long after your service on the board. Thank you for everything. Everybody. Oh my gracious. Well, since it's my last official board meeting, I wrote up a little something, too. So, good evening, everyone. I've heard it said that serving on a school board is like being a parent. Now, I need to
014put on my glasses, though. But with 200 more kids and significantly more paperwork, I will miss the camaraderie, but I admit I'm looking forward to being demoted to civilian status. I'll start by thanking my family. I see that Molly is here. Welcome back for spring break, Molly. Um, serving on the school board does involve a little bit of time away from family, and I want to thank them for supporting me the last six years that I've served here. Um, every board member has an equal position regardless of whether they are designated officer. Vice president though might have been my favorite officer position. All the prestige without the public comment desk stares that the president endures. The treasurer's job is to ensure the district finances are secure. I've been treasur for half of my time on
015the board. John, who is also about to retire for the second time as a CFO of a school district. I want to sincerely thank you and the entire finance and accounting team for being my partners in fiscal crime fighting. There's a fair degree of complexity when it comes to public school finances, but John and I leave you with balance statements, clean audits, and a robust fund balance that we expect our incoming CFO and future board treasurer to guard like dragons protecting a horde of gold. So, it's been an honor to serve with everyone who's been at this table, past and present. And I see Frank Hackman is in the audience today, too, who care enough to spend their time never losing sight of the true bottom line, which is our students and the community we
016all call home. I'm confident that the new board members who will be sworn in next month will work closely with you, Nisha, to ensure Clayton remains a top school district for academics, the arts, athletics, and the long list of things our very very accomplished students are recognized for long after I'm gone. That includes you as a student rep, by the way, and all the other very accomplished student reps that have sat here at the table with us. And last, but not least, thank you to everyone who cast a vote for me and put me here six years ago. I'm walking away with fond memories and immense pride in what we built together. >> Thank you, Ken. Okay, that was really nice and hard to follow, but I also wrote a few words. Um, like Kim
017said, um, although my term as a board member is not yet officially over and will definitely not be over until at least April 8th and we still have a lot of work to do, this is our last public meeting or my last public meeting. So, I would like to say just a few words reflecting on my time in this role. Um, as Nisha said, I was elected in 2019, which was on the same ballot as Prop E. And as Leo so eloquently pointed out to me, concluding my time on the board with the very hopeful passing of Prop O um would make the perfect bookends to my board tenure. At my very first board meeting in 2019, my very first vote was to approve adding a student representative to the school board. And I'll never
018forget it. Ensuring that student voice is part of our discussions has been one of the most meaningful aspects of this work for me. It feels fitting that tonight we are voting to amend the student rep policy which reaffirms our commitment to elevating student perspectives in everything we do which is another perfect bookend. As many of you know I began my career as an educator and with a master's degree in school counseling. It has meant so much to me that during my time on this board for the past seven years we have prioritized both academic excellence and the social emotional well-being of our students. It has been the perfect balance that reflects and utilizes my own education and professional experience. I come from a family of public school educators. Both of my parents were teachers, as
019are both of my sisters-in-law, my brother-in-law, my aunt, a few cousins, and my mother-in-law was not only a teacher, but also served on the school board in the small Missouri town where my husband grew up. So, education is obviously a passion for me and my extended family. Serving on this board of education has been a deeply fulfilling extension of my entire family's commitment to education. I am especially grateful to have served alongside each of you, Kim, Jason, Chris, Pam, Leo, Ben, particularly over the past two years during my time as president. Each of you has supported my leadership, challenged my thinking, taught me a lot, and made even the hardest work feel meaningful. And yes, we have fun together, too. I am also profoundly grateful to you Nisha and your outstanding team of leaders. You
020are an exceptional leader both visionary and inspiring and it's been a true privilege to lead this work alongside you and to witness firsthand the remarkable ways in which you have re-imagined education to best serve our students. The past seven years have gone quickly actually and have been incredibly rewarding. In many ways, I feel I have received far more from this experience than I have given. But I sincerely hope that our students and staff have benefited from my service. Thank you to Nisha, to my fellow board members, to this entire community, and especially to my family, my daughter who's here tonight, for supporting me in this role over the past seven years. It has been a true honor to serve you. Thank you. Okay, I'll start. Um, we we can't let this meeting go on without
021also saying something um to these two amazing women. Um, I'm going to try not to get emotional. That probably not going to work because Pam's emotional. But we've got a whole meeting. We've got a whole Yeah, exactly. We've got a whole meeting to go. So, I'm going to keep I'm going to keep it together. Maybe later when we cake again, I'll get into the details of But I just want to say that these two women right here are incredibly wonderful role models to me personally. And what I love about that is that you're also incredible role models to all the students. I just I I think about that. I think about, you know, if they watch these, you know, meetings and if they if you interact with them, etc. you're just fantastic um people for
022our in community to know and to be able to um be touched by your wisdom and your kindness and your leadership. It's just been phenomenal for me and like I said for the whole community. So, I will kind of leave it at that for now, but I just want you both to know how much you'll be missed. Like so much. It's going to be really really hard without you guys, but we will do just fine. And um you'll only a phone call away. But just know that um you're always here with us. You're welcome. >> I didn't have anything prepared. >> I don't want anyone to feel. >> But no, no, absolutely. >> I wasn't prepared either. >> All right. You're better at this than I am. Um, I just think there have been some
023difficult times in the history of this board and um, you know, Pam and I came in through a tough race and this has become a really cohesive, effective board and I think that's truly a testament to both of you and um, I I think you handled uh some things with immense grace and I really thank you for that. That's very impressive. >> Well, I'll go now. Um Kim got me into this whole mess. First of all, no. Uh seriously, I I you know, I think uh both of you uh have shown myself, I think everyone else at this table like what it really looks like, what what excellence as a board member looks like, leadership, you know, expertise, but open to uh hearing voices and building consensus. So that's really what it's about. So that
024legacy you guys bring will continue on. I guarantee that. Thank you. Okay, I wrote well we all wrote each of you more personal notes so I'll save that for the writing. Um, but to let the community, all the people listening know, as a board, we underwent a training and an evaluation of board dynamics. And to summarize, the Missouri School Board Association representative who works with boards said that we were amazing. So, I mean, that's like the summary. And the reason I'm sharing this here is that it really is the leadership of Stacy and Kim that has brought us to this place. Um the legacy, you know, the wisdom that you all have cultivated in your six and seven years on the board and the way that you shared it with us will leave a legacy
025here. And I truly believe that you two have um changed the way that the Clayton School Board will function moving forward. So it's enduring. Thank you. Um trying to think of something. I'll say some other things offline, but um I I just you know in the Right. I I'll just say uh here publicly that um you know this is a board and Leo touched on a little bit. This is a board that really has gone through a lot of almost like eras shifting. If you think about the recent past of the school board to where it was 5 10 years ago to where it is now. Um, you know, there's one era and we transition to this era and and as you know, this is a highly functioning board as as the state has told
026us, you know, as Pam has reminded us, as Leo has said, and um, without the two of you, I I'm not sure where we we would still be here, just for the record, but I don't know, I don't, you know, it's not really clear how effective we would have been and and this has really turned out to be a really great group. Um, and leaves a high leaves a high bar for for the next folks coming on up. So, um, so thank you guys for that. >> Thank you. I have faith in the next ones. So, >> all right, let's get to business. >> So, I'm going to turn it over to Nina for our student rep update. Well, I would also really quickly just like to thank the board. It's been such an honor
027to work with all of you this year and I really appreciate all the guidance and support you provided me. You all are such great role models. So, yes, thank you so much. >> Thank you, Nina. Okay. So, I'm going to talk a little bit about the technology studies that we did. So, on December 11th, a group of fellow high school students and I from principal's advisory club had the opportunity to review a potential new device for the upcoming school year. The team from Apple was very open and knowledgeable throughout the session. We spent about a half an hour and a half asking questions, sharing feedback, and exploring the devices features. We had a similar opportunity to evaluate a different device on February 11th. Both sessions were very enjoyable and informative, and the members of the
028principal advisory club brought many thoughtful questions and ideas to the discussions. Throughout the process, we had several opportunities to share feedback about the features we felt were most important to a new device. Some of the qualities that were mentioned the most included portability, ideally lighter than our current Chromebooks, the ability to keep multiple tabs open at once, and faster loading speeds and a strong battery life. Um, I had a great time getting to know the team at Apple and working with the amazing students on Principal's advisory club. All of them always provide such great feedback and have so many ideas and I'm so excited to hear about what the results will be. >> Thanks, Nina. I'm so glad to hear about that experience with the students trying out different devices. Thank you. That's great. Um,
029okay. Now, we're moving on to agenda item 5.1, which is Dr. Gargano and Dr. Hellshshire and the social studies curriculum. Good evening. Um, I'd like to first start by introducing a couple people to you. Um, so first, Dr. Paul Helchshire is um, our social studies coordinator. And uh when I was reflecting on Paul's retiring this year and when I was reflecting on this and he and I have talked about this um he is one of the two coordinators that's um that was in place when I took my role. Um so he and I have been together for a long time. Um he was I remember when I came into this role he was really integral in helping me um adjust to the role um and being really willing to um be open and help support
030me in that transition. Um, I also want to say that he's um, one of the coordinators who really embodies what my philosophy of our teaching and learning team is. Um, so I always say I'm a generalist and our coordinators are specialists. Um, Paul has some of the deepest content knowledge um, that I have ever seen. Um, so the work that he does with our teachers, the work that he does with our students has just always really impressed me. Um, and I don't claim that I'm a social studies person. Um, and so I value his insight and his um, talent in that area tremendously. I would also say that Paul is somebody who has always pushed my thinking. Um, and so I I like to have people on my team who support me, but also who
031push my thinking um, to push us to be better. And so as a consequence of Paul's work, um, he's challenged us to be better. He's had us really think very differently about social studies, particularly over the past couple of years. Um, he's challenged himself also. Um, so things that he wasn't always familiar with, he's put himself into elementary classrooms and helped support the not only the content knowledge of the teachers but teaching the students. And I remember when we first talked about that being a part of his role, he was like, "Okay." Um, and I think he's done tremendously with that. Um, so Paul is leaving us with a department in really good shape. So thank you publicly for your work. Um, I also want to take this opportunity to introduce Mark Solomon. Um, our
032he's a seventh grade social studies teacher. um at Widown and he is taking over as our new social studies coordinator. Um and so he's inheriting a department in in good shape, but I also think we're putting our department into really good hands. Um Mark is a really strong leader. Um I've had great opportunity getting to know him both when I was at Wound as well as um through my work within this role and I think he's going to take over um and while he has big shoes to fill, I think he's going to do great um in supporting us. So thank you to you also. So, um before we get into the social studies, okay, before we get into the social studies part of this, I want to um spend a couple minutes because this
033is the first curriculum review that we're doing this year. So, to get us reggrounded in what we're doing um and what we're talking about. So I always like to start with our profile of a Clayton graduate, soon to be our profile of a Clayton learner um because it grounds our work and this is surrounded by our three goals of our CESIP. Um tonight we are going to focus specifically really on goals one and two um within our CIP. So when we think about the the commitment to educational growth for our learners and thinking about the experiences that we provide them in a teaching and learning environment as well as that idea of ensuring that all of our learners um see themselves within the curriculum that we're teaching. So I think as Paul talks through the
034work that that um he and his team have been doing, you will see um evidence of that work um and the equity work within the district. So the overview of our self-study process is that it is a two-year self-study. Um during that time we ask the committees and the the departments to revise their enduring understandings. So enduring understandings are are big ideas um that ground the work of of that department in that curriculum area. So we ask them to go through and review those and make sure that they still represent what we believe um about that content area. They're intended to be long um enduring um pieces of work that really ground us um and our work and allow students to see that learning outside of just the content area. So transferring that learning beyond
035um we also spend time reviewing the curriculum and the resources that that we use um in our teaching and learning environment and we uh again ask you to reapprove all of that social studies. Tonight it'll be social studies, all of that curriculum. Um during the the first year of the self-study, each department presents to the teaching and learning advisory council to gain input. Um so you saw in the report the the information that we solicited from um that uh subset of parents. And then um oftentimes the team there's a little bit of choice here of what that work looks like, but sometimes it includes site visits, sometimes it includes surveys or other kinds of um input. and then data analysis um particularly some of the departments when they're coming like English you're going to see
036a whole lot of data um when they come forward social studies we don't have as much um of that data what we're going to ask tonight for uh the approval is their long range goals so they'll have four years to implement um those long range goals the financials that are attached to those goals and then like I said a reapproval of the of the curriculum so I'm gonna hand it over to Paul >> thank you I Three quick thank yous. Uh starting with my partner to the right. Melina has been so supportive in this role and great about communication. She works so many long hours. I can prove it because I get lots of texts at night. Um I want to thank the committee that I work with. Uh my K12 committee uh is a
037representative from each grade level and we meet on a monthly basis to to go through the board review but also to consistently assess. So without naming all of them um just an amazing group of teachers that really make it happen. And then lastly, sincerely, and it's not the timing tonight, but I want to thank all of you. Uh whenever I teach government, uh this is my 25th year in Clayton, 31 overall. I probably taught government 20 times. Uh we always use board of education as an example of a local example of getting involved in your community, right? Not everybody's going to run for a senator, but you can do things in your local community. And the board has always been super supportive of me in social studies. Somebody mentioned eras. I've been through many of
038those board eras. Uh this is my 18th year in this position. It's my third board report. Uh and so thank you very much for what appears to be a very friendly uh environment to be able to go through that. Sincerely though, thank you for for your time and the energy that you put into this that uh I have two kids. They're both in college. They went through the district. I know it's hard to to leave kids when you do those, you know, those sorts of things and and I know that you're doing it for the right reasons. So this we'll start here with our enduring understandings. Uh we wrote these in the last board report and then came back to revisit them. In my mind, it's kind of like uh what do we believe? What
039are our main ideas? What are our overarching kind of directions? And so, as you read through these, they're a little wordy. There's basically five aspects of social studies. So, when you go through each of them, the first one is culture. Uh the second one's really history, then geography, civics, and economics. And they may not look all that different than other districts except for the first, you know, three or four words. We've chosen those very, very carefully after much deliberation. So engaged, there was discussion, should this go around, it changed to empowered, but we stuck with engaged. And then global citizen that that in the 21st century, we're preparing kids for an international world. And the word citizen was specifically and deliberately used there as as a huge part of public education to get kids involved
040in citizenship in in so many different ways. So I'm going to walk you through and kind of paint a picture here. uh six years ago, five years ago, coming off of COVID, uh I did not intend my last go-around to be a major revision. Uh a group of elementary teachers are meeting with me over the summer uh which frequently happens. We had great representation from a long a large group of teachers, diverse group of teachers and the goal at the time was to revise grades one and two that we saw a lot of overlap. The teachers were saying there isn't enough challenge. There were some specific economic units that sort of repeated itself the way the Missouri standards were set up. So once we got into this conversation and really got deep into it, we
041went way beyond just first and second grade. There really four things that we were thinking. One, a greater alignment to the Missouri standards. We teach the Missouri learning standards, but ours were a little bit a skew just in terms of how we had done things, and it had been that way since the 1990s. We found that teachers coming into the district from different school districts didn't necessarily match third grade here, third grade there. Uh secondly, there was consistent uh feedback from teachers that we wanted more meat. We want more content. We want social studies to not just be a superficial feel-good community sort of thing, but to really push in terms of our thinking. 25 years ago, people said, the research said, you know, kids in first grade can't abstractly think about history. We're now
042teaching a history unit in first grade. It's schools. It's the history of schools. I do little activities of before and after. We have pictures of all the schools from 30 years ago and present, but it's history. It's it's really the abstract concept of thinking about things from the past. So number one, we wanted to align with the Missouri standards. Number two, we wanted to challenge our students a little bit more. Number three, as mentioned, we had some overlap. But really, the heart of this is is, you know, this is 20202122, the time period of George Floyd, and the district had lots of initiatives and conversations structurally, hiring black teachers, reducing some barriers to students in AP classes. And I've always felt social studies is really the heart of a lot of that social justice. Why
043don't why don't we just dive in? Why don't we embrace it? Why don't we teach some of that hard history that uh maybe at times I know when I was growing up wasn't necessarily taught. So when we think about those kind of four elements, that's where we started making some changes. Kindergarten celebrations is still pretty much the same. The teachers are so responsive to the kids in front of them. The celebrations year to year may look a little differently if there are students that are here from China or from Mexico for different things. We're celebrating cultures and learning a little bit of geography. First grade, like I said, we added a unit in terms of history. Second grade was a pretty big shift, that expanding horizons model. But just as an anecdotal example, not to
044take too much time, when we said we were going to do St. Louis, let's really do St. Louis. So, we took on a small piece of Mil Creek Valley, an area of St. Louis where we had an African-American thriving population that was displaced. We were able to collaborate. I'm a big soccer fan, a soccer coach. We were able to collaborate with St. Louis City, right where their stadium is, is where Mil Creek was. And so part of their kind of PR campaign, but also part of their their history and things like that, we incorporated into second grade. Second graders like myself love soccer. We start going through these sorts of changes and we realize we didn't want Missouri history in third grade just to be a typical Missouri history. When you learn when you look
045at the Missouri learning standards, they they suggest things like Dread Scott and teachers got together and say, "Okay, we're supposed to teach Dread Scott, but we haven't taught enslavement. We're supposed to teach Lewis and Clark, but but nobody talks about the indigenous peoples. So, we're doing Missouri studies in third grade, but we're doing it really from a global perspective. And this is really that influx of the learning for justice standards. So, these this is basically a framework that says why you do social studies or what are the underlying kind of reasons at a deeper level that get into this. US history in in fourth grade, it says a thousand. and we go, you know, Cahokia, what a wonderful the the the museum unfortunately is closed. We haven't gotten there for a couple years, but what
046a wonderful local resource in terms of starting American history with the people that were here in our backyard, fifth grade, some big units on civil rights and so forth. So, the learning for justice standards really was something that the teachers, myself, and the committee said, "This adds a little bit more depth to what we're doing. It's not woke history. It's not revision history. It's it's our country's history. It's the things that we're looking at." When we got through K5 and we started to put some pen to paper, then we said, "Oh, wait a second. Hold on. See that fifth through seventh grade sequence that's really going to kind of be." So, we kicked around the idea of another year of US history, maybe review in the middle school or something like that. And we saw
047it as just an amazing opportunity. Most of my background is in non-western history. I teach the AP world history class here. And so, we got to get something international in there. So, people in places is geography, but it's it's not place geography. It's not the memorization of capitals like we did when we grew up. It's human geography. It's it's why people move and where people live and those sorts of things. Now, keep in mind, we do have some location geography. Very important for me that every sixth grader knows their continents, their oceans, their cardinal directions, all of those things. So, I'm I'm pretty old school when it comes to the content, but it's really more about cultural exposure. Then, when we got to seventh grade, and again, this was done kind of in a series
048of discussions. Again, we thought, what a wonderful opportunity. Massachusetts passed a law and said, "We need every middle school kid to to study civics. I've taught high school government." is high school, I hate to say it, almost too late sometimes, right? To to introduce these concepts, to think about civic identity and things like that. A lot of my high school kids kind of say, "Ah, it's it's rigged. It's against me. Why would I, you know, that that cynicism, unfortunately, is sort of caked in. Some of that's being a teenager." But we also felt like this was a wonderful opportunity. So we reached out and in each of these we've had help from from collaborating partners and different groups but one in particular the de democracy knowledge project up at Harvard took on the Massachusetts law
049and said okay if we're if we're going to do this in Massachusetts for eighth graders let's really really do it well. They spent five years on this curriculum. We haven't done the whole thing but we took bits and pieces of what kids are doing in Massachusetts and eighth grade and spread it to our our our seventh grade students. So, that's a kind of a little bit of a of a of a picture of the changes. When we think about what we're asking you to approve in terms of long-term goals, I I basically summarized the first one of those that we want to align more closely with Missouri learning standards. We're not abandoning that, but we're looking at learning for justice as as some of that depth. I'm very very proud. Um, we had a speaker
050in third grade the other day, somebody else who came out of Harvard who's working at UMSL right now, and she said, "You know what we should start doing in the future is is teaching persons of color in a positive light prior to enslavement." And and all the third grade teachers kind of chuckled and laughed and they raised their hand. They said, "We we teach the ancient civilization of Benin in third grade." Every K through fifth grade class has an introduction to West African civilizations, different civilizations, so that we can see persons of color in a positive light before we start moving into enslavements and these sorts of things. Moving on to the second goal, which again is is elementary and and and middle school. So many times when districts talk about integrating in literacy, it's
051the loss of social studies. It's it's it's for minutes and and social studies kind of gets put by the wayside. We we are in in some ways the fourth discipline but um my job for the last 18 years is is making sure and Meline has been very supportive and so have all of you. So the integration with literacy is is not a loss of social studies. It's using literacy skills. If we're going to read non-fiction, right, let's read non-fiction that lines up exactly with what we're doing already in social studies as opposed to something different and distinct. if we're going to do some some narrative writing, let's do the narrative writing as an assessment of our learning for social studies itself. So whereas the first goal is is is is well in the works and
052and and we really need the next four years to add assessments. And you read about the different things we're hoping to to build, that second one is is relatively new and and we're looking at how we give kids choice still even when we have common reading assignments. and and there's some things that we need to work on uh as social studies teachers. Uh the third is uh mostly at the secondary level and uh my my visual was taken unfortunately out of the slides. I'm very proud of my visual. Um it it it's basically a four-part circle. So the inquiry model is is kind of the current pedagogical approach to social studies. It's not cutting edge. It's not brand new or anything like that. A lot of things in education just get rebranded. But essentially what
053we're looking is four parts. And the first is inquiry. How do we get kids to ask good questions? So many times in my education, the teacher stood up and said, "This is what we're going to learn, and this is the way that we're going to learn it." So, we don't do inquiry daily, but some units and some days and things like that, asking kids to ask good questions. The second piece of that, I think, is what I'm most proud of, and that's the evaluation of sources. So, as kids get their information from Tik Tok and as we we we have so much on the internet, it's it's increasingly significant that we work on media literacy skills. And so that second comes out of Stanford. They have a digital inquiry group, civic education group that now
054has changed a little bit, but essentially 612, we have three overarching questions that become more and more nuanced by the time you get up to APs. the the the the first question is um you know what is the the source of information who's behind it and so when we think about who's behind it in a primary source document in AP class that could be the author for so much online thing it's who who is putting this information together online we have exercises where we give kids two websites and they have to dig in and look right it may say it's an environmental website but if you dig a little bit dig deeper you realize it's actually funded by an oil company or something so question number one is who's behind the information. Question number two,
055I mean those are real things that we, you know, train kids for. Question two is what does the evidence say? And then three is is is this idea what they call lateral reading? What do other sources say? So the research at Stanford suggests that kids, and they're they're talking Stanford freshmen, spend a majority of their time reading straight through a website. And we've all done that. Click, click, click, click, click. It's very simple, but it's very powerful. lateral reading is no more than 10 minutes on a site before you open another tab and you begin checking that information against something else. So the inquiry cycle and I'm getting detailed because I like this stuff. I apologize if I'm taking so long. The inquiry cycle is question then evaluate your sources notetaking still something we need
056to work on college prep those sorts of things. What are we doing for homework? What are we doing in class etc. And then the last one is is our CER, claim, evidence, reasoning, which again is not new, but what I'm proud of in this particular goal we started working on is aligning what does that look like? A CER in sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade, nth grade, 10th grade. So we're using common language all the way through. CER is used in science, it's used in literacy. We want to be able to to collaborate inter departmentally or interdisciplinary with this sort of language because really when you think about showing your learning cer is a major way to be able to get to that particular learning. So the last goal then when we think about that
057is the impact if we go back the impact that this is going to have on 8 n and 10. are 8, 9, and 10 is our world history three-year sequence where they do early history and then kind of ninth grade is is up to and including the Civil War 1877 and then 10th grade is is kind of mostly 20th century 1877 to the present. I love and I'm proud of our integrated approach. In the 90s when we did this, we were one of the only districts that I could find that that truly taught us and world history combined. Again, going back to this engaged global citizen, when you look at this, we're not 100% sure. I'm just being honest on what impact that's going to have. We had a lot of discussions coming to you
058saying, "Here's 8 through 10." We're just not sure what 8 through 10 is going to look like until these kids metriculate their way through the system. So, it it looks like on paper they're going to have less US history. So, we're going to have to build up some US history and some narrative around that. It looks like because I'm in the classroom every day, geography and civics is going to be way farther than where it was before. So in some ninth grade units on the American Revolution, maybe we can compact some things or shorten some things. So the fourth goal basically is suggesting that we're going to write assessments. As Melena said, we don't have a lot of state assessments or mandates or things like that to really make sure that we're evaluating at each
059one of those steps what the kids know, where are the deficits, and then how do we make those changes to do it at this point, I think, would be a little bit premature because we're trying to see once a kid comes through this new sequence, what is it that they've had, right? Not every fourth or fifth grader is going to remember everything that they have in US history. And and like all good curricula, this cycles. This kind of goes through and spirals as we work our way through. So those are our four long range goals. I've talked about a little bit of this already. Um how is this going to make us better? Right? Learning for justice provides a deeper, more critical approach. That word critical can be controversial, right? We're asking kids to really
060assess the role of Native Americans, um black Americans, of aspects of history that maybe have not necessarily in the past been looked at authentically. Some people, some places call it hard history that there's there's challenging aspects of our history that we want to expose kids to and get them to think about. Um, again, removing the overlap is a is a was the initial catalyst when we started doing this. Sixth grade, geography, human context for the world. Seventh grade, I talked a little bit about civics. It's not uh Mark is a seventh grade teacher. It's not a traditional American government high school class pushed down to seventh grade. It's very much around civic identity and student um responsibility and engagement. It culminates with a big project where they have to choose something to get involved in
061their community. Keep going all the way through. I think the literacy, you know, uh integration will help us quite a bit with common language. There's no reason that that literacy skills can't be used in similar assignments and such. the inquiry cycle that I'd mentioned before, the four parts, my my little diagram that got pulled out of the uh slides there. Uh pushing for curiosity. Good. Oh, good, good, good, good, good. >> I've been teaching for 31 years, so this is my uh Canva production right here. I'm very proud of that. You you can't teach old people new tricks. Uh Frank's in the audience. I've been around so long. I had Frank's youngest kid both in class as a sophomore and on the soccer team. Frank Frank's youngest for his Eagle Scout project uh built helped
062me. We went in on spring break and did a a bookshelf together. Uh his son said, "Hellry, you got a lot of books and you need to be able to put them somewhere." So, I just want to shout out to my guy Frank there. um think thinking about the inquiry cycle again common language argumentative writing claim evidence reasoning and then the last one up there says that uh systemic measurements right so so um how do we write assessments where we'll get a a really good sense beginning middle and end of eighth grade so that then we're able to make those curricular adjustments I'm not here to make future predictions but I think what we'll end up seeing is the shift of some time periods some units those sort sorts of things around uh a little
063bit to make sure that we have the final product that we want going into 11th and 12th grade and keeping a lot of the APs and those sorts of things there. So, closer alignment along the elementary buildings still continues to be a challenge, right? Getting nine teachers on the same page and having the same resources and have field trips and things like that. Collaborating with the literacy committee, Mark will have lots of meetings with Julie and the literacy committee to be able to come together. high school teachers in this eighth through tth grade kind of assessment have also acknowledged that more students are coming in uh more than ever into the high school with pretty significant reading needs. And so as individ as teachers instruct in non-fiction and assign writing and continue to have rigor
064there, we need more training around reading and those sorts of things. We don't get a lot of reading training itself. And then and kind of repetitive, but the systemic monitoring of the impact. K7 is underway. Uh hopefully if you have kids in those grades, you hear good things. I hear good things from the teachers and the kids in the buildings that I'm in. And then we'll come back and kind of monitor that and keep track of what we need to be able to change. >> So, what questions do you have for us? >> Thank you. Um who would like to start? Go ahead, Leo. >> I sent you a couple questions by email and you gave me an answer and um even though this topic is super near and dear to my heart and I
065would love to talk about it more. Maybe we don't need to do it in this open meeting. But um I you know I do think that nexus between history and uh civics >> that American history presents I do think there's room for continued development on that and that's an area of a lot of interest for me. >> Yeah. I have to say that reading your 19ish page report was like so fun. So, thank you >> as said by no one ever before >> and I mean it like the so great. So I just want to start by saying that I am incredibly impressed by the work that you did, the extensive professional development that you all underwent um as collaborations with other school districts and as you spoke about Stanford and all these other places
066locally and nationally is you are the reason Clayton is Clayton. Thank you. Um, I love the collaboration that you talk about between literacy and social studies and the elementary and middle schools. Um, I love that you spoke about um, media literacy, something we need so much. Um, I really appreciate your very clear plans for future work and the curricular changes um, and not rushing into it after making these K7 changes. So, I want to just start by saying how incredible you I I also asked a lot of questions and I'm not I'm guessing it was you, Dr. Holshire, who directed me to this website, the educating for American Democracy. >> And there's one it was a very long website and I did the wrong thing. I read the whole website rather than lateral reading or
067>> don't tr don't trust your sources. But I just wanted to like read one line, one of their bullet points that I just felt like would ground all of us in something beautiful. >> One of the thing, one of the goals that you were bringing here is to cultivate civic honesty and patriotism that leaves space to both love and critique this country. >> And there's so many good ones, but I just I wanted to call that out. Okay. Um, so my questions as I just said that I appreciate your clear plans and not rushing into new curriculum, >> I also have concern >> about not about the we're just going to wait and see >> for the eighth and up. >> Um, and so is there something in the meanwhile? >> Yeah, 100 100%. I
068share your concern. April 7th, we have a PD day and eighth and nth grade is meeting. last summer eth and ninth grade met like to to really think about what that change looks like and how that transition and so their discussions around student expectations reading writing and then what the curriculum will look like. We have changed one unit already between 8th and 9th grade this last summer for this year and then this summer we're going to get back together and kind of look at that. So Mark can, you know, kind of Mark's been on the committee for a long period of time and I'm not trying to cast this off, but I think I I I I share your your exact same concern. I mean, if you could go back through PD days, we had
069multiple plans up and we looked at multiple options and we just I didn't because I was the one who put the proposal, the draft proposal together, I didn't feel comfortable making a huge shift. But you're exactly right. As we see here, we responded to teacher and student needs as soon as we saw those that were evident. And so this year's seventh grade going into eighth grade, immediately we're going to look at those assessments and figure out what we what we need to do. The the I don't know if I call them sticking points, but kind of the the areas of deep consideration are do we keep US and world history together? Right? That's kind of a unique blend. Um and it can be difficult at times for kids to think about globally, thematically, comparatively at
070the exact same time. So that's going to take uh you know some some deep consideration assessing kids um surveying kids in this process. I don't know how much you write the report but I don't know what kind of sense you we brought in former students. We had a full panel of former students and current students and we asked them what do you remember? What do you not remember? What do you like? What do you dislike? all of those sorts of things to kind of get to what you're saying. So, I share your concern and I felt safest with the idea of not making a radical shift until we had a better sense of kids coming through the program, but we're not going to wait four years to to make a change. Those are literally going
071to be ongoing. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, I asked this question that like my son who is a sixth grader, >> right? Never. So, anybody who's got sixth graders now, when they were in fourth grade, the US map was taught in fifth grade. When they got to fifth grade, it was taught in fourth grade. >> And so, he doesn't know it. And um, >> and I'm sure there's other things. And I'm sure you could tell me all of the things that were missed. So, I would love to hear how you're going to catch these holes. >> Um because you know what the holes are, >> at least some of the holes. >> Yeah. So, so going back, we created some bridge units um as we be as we made those those changes themselves. So, there
072were many units that are not the same as a full course year, but some many units were created as as kids went through that initial transition. in terms of catching those holes. You can have on paper in fourth and fifth grade, we cover these things. But but quite honestly, until they get to eighth and ninth grade and and getting a sense of what they remember, what they don't remember, how things were covered, we're I'm currently in a position to try to assess those students. Right? So, when we talk about assessments, we're talking about tests. you're talking about um concrete knowledge like place geography, like historical presidents, those sorts of things to get a sense of where the kids are and then you know carefully but relatively swiftly make changes as as that could be that
073could be three years from now divorcing American history from world history. That could be a separate approach if we feel like the US history narrative needs two years to to truly get there. Um, somebody had mentioned, you know, the interaction of civics and and and and history and those sorts of things. So, until those kids get through, I don't know if we have, you know, I think I think I'd be dishonest if I said here's exactly where we're going to be, right? So, I I feel like the the most cautious and the best approach is to assess those kids, write those tests, figure out where we are, and then make those changes. I'm very fortunate K12, but especially at the secondary level to work with a lot of teachers that have a lot of content
074background that are well read that understand their their their history so that we can be relatively agile in in making those changes. >> Okay. Um you mentioned in the document the focus groups that you did and you just referred to them, but you also had some with parents of current students. um and talking about this shift from memorizing like we all did >> to in I'm just going to say your inquiry cycle. >> Um and then you also spoke about ninth grade being very content or at least students in nth grade having a difficult time in that transition to the heavy content compared to eighth grade. And so I'm curious because I love the value of inquiry and I also feel like there are some things that need to be memorized. >> Maybe I'm wrong.
075>> Um but I think that's an important skill. >> Agree. Yeah. >> And our kids don't memorize much of anything >> except the multiplication tables. So I'm wondering um how do you meld those two? >> Mhm. Yeah. >> Because I understand the shift. Sure. Yeah. Um, so the teaching and learning council, I think what you're referring to, the way that we set that up was the the initial setup was to reflect on on your own social studies education. And I hear constantly we're doing parent teacher conferences right now. I hated history and I love it now. Right. So, so what is that? Like I'm not one for throwing teachers under the bus, but you know what I mean? Like what what happened in those particular classrooms? And I think a lot of people suggest that
076it was just sit and get and memorization, right? So I totally agree. I'm a I'm a content person. I think that there are things that we should know, right? When we had the the the profile of the graduate or the profile of the student or something like that, my feedback was it doesn't say anybody needs to know who Lincoln was, right? And and I support all of the district initiatives, but I I'm on that side in terms of content. There are things that kids know need to know to be citizens, right? Beyond just where to register to vote. In terms of the eighth to nth grade transition, I think, and I only teach social studies, but I think it's it's it's um something that's wider than just social studies. So, what we're trying to do
077in our little realm is have the eighth and nth grade teachers get together as much as possible and close those gaps, right? So, so 8th grade is a long year. What are the expectations in in first semester as opposed to second semester? and how do maybe we beef up a little bit of those second semester expectations so that then when the kids come in in nth grade. This particular group of ninth graders have a lot of reading challenges and so we're also operating at a time period where the teachers feel like the the reading and writing skills maybe it's COVID maybe it's a hundred other factors but those are areas that we um as social studies teachers not English teachers feel responsible also for a huge part of that. So closing that eighth to 9th
078grade gap I don't think is anything that's unique necessarily to social studies but by frequently getting those teachers together um talking to students as they're coming in the hope is that we can continue to have those really high standards in nth grade but at the same time the the the compacting of some things or the the intensity of nth grade might need to change a little bit by having less units that that the the the real curricular challenge and I don't think this is unique to social studies is is content and skills and how you blend those content and skills so that kids are prepared. There are very few kids some but there are very few kids that go on to become politicians or city managers or whatever his kid does. The majority of us
079do other things, right? We're not training historians. So the reading and the writing skills are are an absolutely essential part of the the content that goes into that and and some of this is curricular but some of it also is is making those sorts of adjustments as well. >> Thank you. >> Um I guess my final thing is for if you could just speak for the whole community to hear about DBQ and the micro DBQ because I think it's >> wonderful. >> Yeah. So, so DBQ's been around longer than I have. It's it's the the main kind of heart of AP history classes. So, in our our main three history classes are world and US and and uh Euro. There are plenty of other classes like psych and econ and things like that, but that's
080kind of the traditional basis of a lot of those classes. A DBQ is anywhere from five to eight documents and one question. And what kids have to do is sift through those documents to find patterns, cause and effect, similarity differences, things like that. But yeah, but but exactly but but also when we go back to sourcing, source those documents. Who's the author? What's the context? What's the purpose? What's the point of view? All of those sorts of elements. So it's really higher level thinking. The the in the report, the idea of doing the the micro DBQs are so that it doesn't have to result in a massive essay. It can be 15 minutes at the start of class where two things are put in front of kids. We're doing more and more visual primary sources
081at the elementary level. So let's just I talked about the history lesson. Let's just look at two different pictures and how could we could think about and compare those sorts of things. So it's it's higher order critical thinking around primary and secondary documents that are hopefully getting kids to be able to kind of see patterns in history and be able to analyze information. >> Thank you. >> Sure. Thank you. Okay. So, uh I think the work is great. I think the revamp that you did even as you're exiting stage right here along with me is great. Um uh the I had a couple questions. So, in order for our students to be engaged global citizens, how are we incorporating current events into the social studies curriculum K through 12? um it, you know, how how
082do you guys do that as a team to make it age appropriate, especially given all the things that we're seeing unfold in history real time today? >> Yeah, great question. Um, at the elementary level, um, sometimes it's what the kids bring up, right, to to to be real and to be honest in the world we've lived through in the last 15 years, a lot of times those teachers need to be prepared right there for that kid that comes in and said, "I saw this on television." Right? So, some of that is unscripted and and it's in responding to the needs and the things that kids see in a way that's age appropriate and our elementary teachers are just masters. I know we said we were focused on the first two, but the social emotional learning
083that goes into those things that are essential as they get to the middle school, it it definitely is a little bit more scripted and it's incorporated. Mark is is always consistently showing um the the what's it called? CNN 10 that there are all kinds of kind of high-paced, relatively short six to eight minutes, you know, and it brings up all kinds of different questions and issues that that that are age appropriate. The high school, we have a current events class, but the teachers tend to, depending on the class, kind of pick and choose when there are spots. Lunch conversations will off often be, did you talk about this? Did you talk about this? How do we handle those things? frequently when things come out um I'll shoot out emails and sources the night before so
084we know that kids are going to come in having questions about Israel, Iran, Venezuela, you know what I mean? That that sometimes it's where is Venezuela, right? Just just so so teachers have those resources so they may plan a lesson and sometimes it goes in different directions and you have that secondary slide set to say, "Okay, let's pause for a second. Where's Venezuela? Who is the leader? What happened?" and be able to walk those through those things. So I think it's a combination of of sometimes it's a consistent approach in a class like civics is very much built into that and then sometimes it's um kind of responding to the news of the day. >> And then my other question I think it's great by the way that you're moving civic values up to seventh
085grade because I I agree with you that I think if we wait till high school it's too late. Um, you know, one thing I I don't know if this is if you you guys have thought about this or as you think about what happens then after you introduce civics in seventh grade, but I think that there's a civic community give back component that we could really enhance through starting a middle school and through the high school. So, a lot of um other high schools in our area make that a intentional part of uh the curriculum here. I think in the high school we don't kind of really see it as intentional until senior service day. And I'll just tell you uh by observation of um participation that's not really fully participated in. >> Um but
086I think again starting that civics lesson in the seventh grade hopefully will increase the participation as you guys are taking this wait and see approach to see then what it looks like you know for 8 n 10 11 12. But um you know if there's an opportunity to make a a like a civics day um not an optional participation that's kind of like something for the seniors to do now while the juniors are taking like their SAT class I think or their SAT exam I think is when we do it. I think that um that would just be a suggestion that I would I would ask that you maybe take into consideration because I think it's it is a big part of again becoming that engaged global citizen and it starts with what we do
087in our backyards right here. Um and then the last thing is um as a soccer coach for many years and you can answer this maybe later but Franklin's how um soccer explains to the world the unlikely theory of globalization. It's a great book. Everybody should read it. >> So, >> yeah, just to comment real quickly, I my heart's in the exact same place. So, my teaching first my teaching career started on the Navajo reservation. Then I was in the Peace Corps in East Africa. We finished June 2nd and I'm flying to Malawi to volunteer for the summer. So, that community service element is is a huge part of what I perceive as the need incl. And I think it's a little bit at this point outside of my purview, but I would love to see
088service learning incorporated more in terms of what we're doing because I I think it's it's a just an incredible opportunity for kids. Um yeah, Frank Frank For's book. I don't know if anybody would comment or whatever, but the the the the thesis essentially is despite globalization and international lenses and things like that, we are all deeply deeply parochial at heart and and it's being represented by right and we have the World Cup coming up and all those sorts of things. But yeah, great book. >> Jace, >> I mean, my my one question was the current events question. So, uh you did a good job. Thank you for that comment. Yep. Uh >> and and just to go back because I think I I might have missed like like a really really good 80minute traditional lesson
089also includes some relevancy to today. Right. So so current events sometimes can be a planned eight minutes at the beginning of class but often >> right so so most of my career I've taught AP history. So so you know 10th century China is hard to kind of connect but we try to look at things either at the beginning or the end of class. we used to call it the hook at the beginning, right? Or kind of the wrap-up. So, a lot of times it's it's it's embedded in the lesson itself to be able to kind of make that present day connection. >> I think um you know what has come what has clearly come across in the presentation and your comments is uh the emphasis on critical thinking and you know um not teaching children
090what to think but how to think and then make decisions for themselves about how they view the world, how they view themselves as a citizen. And if you look at the the attributes that we have up here on the board about what makes the profile of a Clayton graduate or I guess soon to be a Clayton learner. Yes, thank you. Um you you touched on many if not all of those in some way, shape or form here tonight. So I really appreciate the alignment of where we're going with as a district and and the thought put into this. So thanks. U Ben >> um I think um one of the things that occurred to me um listening to your presentation is >> the um uh the fact that you mentioned maybe perhaps less in the
091way of US history I guess kind of traditional curriculum is interesting because I feel like um at least with a couple of my kids again this is just my own experience uh some of revisiting some of the same themes over and over again I guess. Yeah. So you're nodding like you're recognizing what I'm talking about. I feel like it kind of takes the sucks the life out of some of that. Um so I love I mean even if it's obviously you're going to go over certain things based on state standards or other things >> but like just doing them differently, you know. So that sounds like that's what's that's very cool. Thank you. Um the other question I had and this is kind of just like a tactical I guess or or maybe maybe it
092shows my age but um what about the uh what about the the beloved term paper like are we I mean I don't hear much talk about term papers but I could maybe just missed it but uh I feel like that's sometimes that was a traditional tool right in social studies is that something that we still do because and the reason I ask it is around sources and around writing reading and writing skills which I think that tie is so critical. We've been talking a lot about that at this board. So, >> I I really do like this group. This is great. What a great question. I could I could be here all night. Yes. So, so our our traditional term paper it >> What's that said? No, whatever. Our traditional term paper, right, was at
09310th grade at the end of this consistent sequence. In 11th and 12th grade, kids choose a wide variety of electives. We got 18 different electives and things like that. So, we chose 10th grade, okay? And we chose the 20th century class. And so forever in a day it was pick an event, an idea or an invention that has changed history and then you got to go out and get 10 sources and you write a paper. Anyone imagine the issues with that? Right? In the age of AI, it is almost impossible. Right? So, so our 10th grade PLC, and I've taught 10th grade for a number of years, said, "We still want everything that you're saying, the inquiry, the sourcing, the complexity of taking a wide variety of sources, and then sharing your information." So, we
094went, I'm not crazy about this, but we went from the written term paper, six to eight pages, to an oral presentation. Okay? So, an oral presentation, a student has to know what they're talking about. they can use their notes and things like that. But in the age of AI, it's not something that can be quickly downloaded. Now, we've added to that we talk about kind of um some new initiatives that didn't make it into the board report. We're trying as much as possible to make connections with WashU. So, that is launched with some undergrads at WashU coming to our 10th graders to explain their research and how they go about it and how they do it. And then our audience for our 10th grade students is WashU kids who come over and then critique their
095oral presentations and things like that. So they're presenting to history majors at WashU. I I feel like we're missing out on some of the writing, the written component, but I feel like we're also addressing the reality of AI and still keeping a lot of those integral skills. So when we think about that spiraling of skills, it's that 10th grade that we're hoping the kids have done all of these things, the cycle of inquiry numerous times, do numerous ways along the way. And so in 10th grade and and I'm proud to say that's a that's a college prep paper. You know what I mean? That's when I went to dismet Jesuit, that's what we did in English class at the end of 12th grade, right? that that that level of research to have for our 10th
096graders, I think is is is and I would love to invite you guys when they do that this spring that that it's really pretty impressive. >> Thank you so much. Yep, >> Chris. Last but not least, um I'm really impressed with I loved I did I really enjoyed reading the report. I thought it was fantastic. I really did. I loved the um um feedback you got from parents. Um, I'm so happy to hear that you got it from students, too. Um, I I love where we're going with this and how the changes you've made are exactly um in line, I think, with this profile as well as our values as a district. So, I'm I'm very pleased to see that and I really appreciate your efforts to do it because I know it's not easy.
097So, um, way to go on doing that. It was the right thing to do. Um, and the other thing I'll say is one of your recommendations was your first your last one was you want personalized individualized inquiry and it said curiosity leads them to their their own sort of pathway and that's kind of an amazing thing to think about. Um I think I've thought about that in science you know sort of but to think of it in social studies I think is really powerful too because I do think that um we are hoping to build global citizens and part of that is knowing themselves and what drives them and therefore sort of tapping into that and saying okay then go do this with you know this is what you can do with that. So I
098I really appreciate that part of what you're doing in a social studies um setting. So, um, I also just want to throw out there that I love the electives that you have in social studies. I know that my kids have really enjoyed them. I think it's, um, such a good idea to give them that kind of choice. >> Um, and have different types of and realizing it's all is social studies, but there's so many different aspects of it and I love that we offer all of those. Um, >> I'm assuming we get really good um, turnout in most of those. Yeah. Okay, great. >> Social studies get more APS than any other discipline by far. Exactly. Wasn't even close, >> right? Because it's just such a nice broad and this I love that we offer
099so many, you know, gender studies. Who knew that we offered that? I didn't know till now, but >> that's fantastic. You know, um, philosophy we offer, right? >> Um, sociology. I was trying to say those both at the same time. >> But all of that is just incredible and I'm really happy that our students have the ability to take those types of classes. Um, so yeah, that's all. Thank you very much for everything. We're sad to see you go. >> Um, thank you for everything you've done for for this district. >> Thanks. >> Yeah, >> Nina, do you have any questions? >> I really really quick things. So, first I would just like to say that Mr. Solomon's seventh grade social studies class and the CNN 10 is like the sole reason that I'm so
100interested in current events today. And I still watch CNN 10 every day that I can. So, I think that Clayton is doing such a great job of incorporating current events. And then And then second, um, you guys talked about so many amazing learning objectives and something I think is super valuable. Right now in my AP gov class, my teacher, Miss Hartman, every day we obviously have our lesson, but on the board she says like what our learning objective is and like what we should have accomplished by the end of the day. Not like in the terms of like you should know what year this happened, but more like I should, you know, like you should be able to identify why this happened or like the cause and effect. And I think that's super valuable. Um,
101and I just if there's any way that that could be kind of something that's brought up to other teachers across different grade levels especially, I think that's super helpful just for learners to be able to see like, okay, here's what I want to be able to do by the end of the day. Like here's why I'm doing this, not just like learning all these facts like here's, you know, and then that I feel like that also helps with like the document based questions and stuff. That's really helpful for then being able to incorporate what you learned into like later projects. But yes, you guys are doing such a great job. History is like by far my favorite subject. I mean, talk about civic engagement, like you know. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Um, Nina,
102I always learn something from you. You always say something so insightful. Thank you. That was great. Um, >> so, um, I always go last and inevitably this happens often, but my questions were all answered. So, I just want to say I also was fascinated by the present the presentation and, um, and what you shared with us ahead of time. I was hanging on every word you said tonight. I I really truly find this fascinating and I appreciate so much how thoughtful and intentional these changes were truly and I can like sense it in your passion but also it just makes so much sense and that feedback you got from so many different stakeholders and teachers. It just um I appreciate the thorough way you went about this and the thoughtfulness and the recognition that you're
103still kind of figuring out there might be some changes that still need to be made. So that flexibility I also appreciate so much. So thank you for all the work you put into this. Um I also was going to mention but Chris did that wasn't in these long range goals but the choice of social studies courses at our high school to me is like a small college. I am like when anytime I talk to anybody else at another high school and I talk about that I am so proud of our social studies department and the type of courses we offer. And um I think it's especially special for students who maybe didn't don't do great or don't enjoy studying history in certain ways to pick a specific subject and learn history that way. >> I
104have one of my own children did not enjoy history but took the sports >> class and did so well like loved it like got the best grade in social studies he had ever gotten because he was learning it through sports. So just as one example. So I I just >> I love that for our high schoolers as well. So, congratulations on your retirement. Congratulations to Mr. Solomon for taking over. Um, as we're both retiring, maybe we'll see each other in Nashville. >> Go Commodores. His daughter goes to school with with mine. And I know you guys saw her there this fall, too, I think. >> At the Missou game. >> Yeah, at the Missou Vanderbilt game. Yeah. Anyway, so maybe we'll see each other there. But congratulations and thank you. This was so impressive. I
105appreciate it. Thanks, Isn't that so great? Okay. >> Oh yeah, we need to read the motion. Oh my god, I totally forgot. >> Chris, I got all >> was such a fun presentation. I forgot we had to excited. I move that we approve the revised social studies review goals, the district written social studies curriculum, and the financials as outlined in the report. >> Second. >> Okay, it's been moved and seconded. All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? No. Okay, the motion passes. Congratulations. >> Yay. >> On the new goals. Good work. I think that's the first curriculum review THAT GOT APPLAUSE. SO, JUST SO YOU KNOW, SO >> now um >> now Dr. Garganigo will be joined by Mr. Haidider to um review part the first year or the first part of a
106two-year self-study in technology. Okay. Um like before we'll start with what grounds our work as a system. So the profile of the Clayton learner um surrounded by our three goals of our CESIP. Um we've highlighted within goal two sort of where we feel like this falls within our CESIP. Um and so generally when I talk about goal two I have educational growth highlighted. Tonight I don't have educational growth highlighted. I have equitable, personalized, and individualized learning experiences um highlighted. So, I think as we've engaged in in this work around um technology, one of the things Jeff and I used to talk about this, Luke and I continue to talk about this of this philosophy of the purposeful integration of technology and teaching and learning. Um and that it's not even though tonight's presentation is a
107lot about devices, it's really not about devices. It's more about the the the work that we do with those devices um in thinking about our profile of a Clayton learner um as well as our thinking around empowered learning. Um and so a lot of our focus this year with technology has been um how can we use it as a tool to empower students um in the work that they're doing within the classroom. So, a little bit different from the other uh self-studies that will come to you this spring. Um we are coming halfway through a study. >> Yes. >> Um so, we we wanted to make sure that that everybody is kind of aware and grounded of why we're coming um this early um as opposed to having everything sort of tied up in a
108nice neat bow for you. Um because it's not tied up in a nice neat bow and you'll find that as we talk through this. Um but we you there was uh Senate Bill 68 um came to fruition in the um I think in the spring last year or in the summer. Um and uh the board policy that we talked about devices and what that was going to look like. So personal electronic devices at that time and we made a decision of a one-year sort of hiatus of of kind of dealing with um students bringing their own devices to the high school um in particular. And so we knew that we needed to study and and really have some um thinking about what what our device fleet would look like from the district moving forward because
109we knew that Chromebooks were were not no longer adequate for the the things that our students um needed to do within the teaching and learning environment and also that we were um relying on personal electronic devices to help with some of that teaching and learning. So um that's what accelerated our pace. We're also acutely aware of House Bill 2230 um which is the the one that's going through right now um being discussed within the legislation about um the amount of time that children particularly our youngest learners are on devices and so that has influenced um some of our thinking and will continue to influence our thinking and Luke and I have had a lot of conversation about that. So you'll see some breadcrumbs of that. You're not going to see that tied up in a
110nice neat bow though. Um but we are working on that. The other piece that we knew um as we were talking about what needed to happen with with district devices was the sense of um the infrastructure and the ways to um sort of align some things within our system. So Luke will talk a little bit more about the fact that we have multiple platforms um that are operating right now and so his team has a pretty heavy lift with those multiple platforms and those decisions were made purposefully the last time that we did a technology study. Um but we think we've outgrown our thinking at that time and so our um so our thinking has shifted uh and some of that is influenced by the the need to have some consistency um across the system.
111So across the entire district and then like I said before this idea of connecting everything to teaching and learning. It's not about devices. um tonight's going to feel about devices. And I think we're um we feel like we have to sort of overtly talk about that, but knowing that that isn't really the purpose of our work. The purpose of our work is how children use um these tools um to help advance learning. Okay, I feel like I've said enough about that. Um so, the input that we sought um through this first year and we have really accelerated the pace um of of all of this. So we've gone very quickly with this work and in in order to do that we also cast the net pretty wide. Um so our technology committee is one of
112our largest committees in the district. Um we invited probably about 55 people um to it. There's about 40 that come with consistency. It's representative of teachers uh K through 12. It is um there's administrative represent representation on the team. Ben is a part of the team. Luke and I um lead the team together and all of our educational technologists are also a part of it. So it's a very large group. Um some of those teachers also are coordinators. So they represent a larger bigger um broader perspective um within within that work. We've also Nina talked about this. We've sought some input from students, particularly the principal advisory committee, um, and they were really integral in helping us really think through um, what tools, not only what the tools are, but like the ways that we
113could be using the tools more purposefully um, within the classroom. And one of the things that I think was really fun, and Nina and I have talked about this, but what what was really fun for me was to watch the the students interacting with these devices and thinking about the possibilities of of things that could happen with them that just haven't been able to happen with the the fleet that we've currently had. We went to the teaching and learning advisory council. Stacy reported back on this. Um we talked through Or was Chris at that meeting here. No, Stacy was there. Okay. and we talked with them um uh really about soliciting some input from the teaching and learning advisory council about from a parent lens what is important for us to be considering and thinking
114about. Um some of some of that um the breadcrumbs of those conversations are going to be evident in work that we're continuing to to do that we know we need to do. One of the most um sort of uh overt pieces was the us making some some pretty concrete decisions about when we would send devices home and also um helping parents to understand why we would when we make that decision, why would we be sending them home and for what purpose? Um so having some really clear guidelines about what that would look like. Um so we felt like that was really valuable input that that is leading some of our work actually through the end of this year. Um, and then Luke has worked with his counterparts in other districts to really get a sense
115of like where are other districts um, thinking of going with their fleet. Um, and how does it integrate with teaching and learning? >> All right. Well, good evening. Um, I just thought to myself as I was sitting in the back, I was like, you know, I don't know how I drew this card, but I get to start on the tadada moment, which is kind of fun. Um, it's super exciting, right? So, like I don't know how I I drew that card, but um but it is it's really exciting. I think you know all of this work culminating back to last summer. It was a charge of you know the board and students and staff and and and everybody in the school community to look at these onetoone devices um and and student devices just in
116general across the board. And so, uh, we took that charge and it's been a great, um, it's been a great process, um, working and getting feedback from all over the district and beyond. And so, uh, so it's great to kind of land here. I'm going to talk a little bit through here at the very beginning just to give you a little bit of background on the proposal and then we'll go in a little bit deeper as we go throughout the proposal itself. Um, so K through five, we are recommending that Apple iPad would be the device for that. Just as a little bit of background, our K through2 um already utilizes iPads and they match the number of kids. So it's it's an iPad is available for every student that would be in every class.
117They sit in uh carts u that exists in classrooms um and are utilized as needed. So really the K through2 component of this doesn't vastly change. Um, a lot of these devices really are on cycle already anyway and so some of these devices would be uh being cycled uh regardless of the fact. So that is the K32 component. Not much would be changing there. You know, when we got feedback um it really uh the feedback came back that it was the right device for what they were using it for. Um and and and being able to kind of uh work with kids to do some of that discovery and things like that. But also um there are some other components that we'll talk about here in a minute. Um three through five feedback came back
118pretty uh pretty across the board. You know creation of of of things and in doing some of that work really became evident in um in this group. We also saw that our third grade teachers talked a lot about um the fact that uh there was that transition time going from second grade and then having to retach students in third grade to a brand new device. um there was some loss of time and a little bit of frustration trying to get through. Uh so we really just heard that consistency would really be helpful in this case. Um six through eight um one thing that I will say about the feedback from 6 through 8 is it was pretty universal that Chromebooks were just not it. Um and so, uh it became very evident very quickly, um
119hearing from students even at the at the middle school, um that they were looking to be able to do more and and have more opportunities, you know, things like the front-facing camera and beyond, which we'll talk about, um here in a minute as well. And then 9 through 12. Now, this is the fun one for me because this was one that really our students really kind of pushed some thinking um when we got together with them. You know, our students are awesome about that. they they were able to kind of give us some insight that we we really even in the committee hadn't really thought about. And so it really challenged our thinking to be to be okay, let's find the right device for these students that meet all of the needs. Um so we
120really felt like the iPad by itself wasn't going to meet the need. Um and so the iPad Air was chosen as a more professional device. In fact, the chipset that has now been released that the uh students would be getting uh should that be chosen to this evening um was released last Wednesday and it's more powerful than um most of the MacBooks in the district. Um, and so it gives a little more space, uh, more professional case. Um, and we still achieve a lot of the things that we were hearing, mobility, um, the weight of the devices. We wanted to achieve that. You know, keyboards that were were more professional in nature, um, and being able to do a lot of that. And so, and then the last thing that we kind of land on
121is the stylus, um, that we would be making available to every student. So when we think about that connection of teaching and learning with this um one of the things for us both in the last cycle that we did um in thinking about our fleet and then also with this is like why is this the right device for us? Um so how does it meet the needs? So we um a lot of times people come into committees with a preconceived notion of what they want us to do and students come into a meeting and they have an idea of what they want us to do and so we've pushed back um to say let's talk about what we what we need something to do as opposed to I want a MacBook or I want a
122dot dot dot. Um and so what we think about when we think about like why are these the right devices? Um when we think from the K2 lens, um a lot of so all of our assessments that are standardized are on a device. Most things at that level require a touchscreen because it requires children to manipulate things. So pre-ereading skills, children are not yet reading necessarily. They need to be able to manipulate things to show us their their knowledge and their understanding. Additionally, this idea of like documentation with a camera. So when we think about your teaching and learning experience, like what are ways that we can document things with cameras and then mark them up. So we have evidence like within math classrooms of things that have been really awesome of kids having some
123agency and some voice and choice in that, but then also being able So taking a picture of some some geometric shapes that you might see around the classroom and then marking that piece up um to be able to show their learning. So no need for a keyboard at that point. Um and and really no need for anything different than what has already existed. um teachers work really purposefully around how to use the technology and there continues to be um conversation and a value placed on the importance of a balance between a device and physical materials. So thinking about manipulatives, thinking about actual texts um and those kinds of things. So not having children learning how to read on devices and and those types of things. As students age up in the system, the text the
124tasks that are required of them become more complex. Um, so in three through five, the reason why we're looking at the integrated keyboard as a part of the case really is because keyboarding becomes a part of the curriculum. So if you think about our curriculum, we're learning how to print um K1, we're learning cursive in second grade, we're learning keyboarding in third grade. Um, and so it becomes a it becomes a piece that's important for that. We also um continue to ramp up our expectations around writing um on assessments. So you think about like a performance task where now they're their writing versus um some of that manipulation of of materials in K2. And then the idea of creating um Stacy referenced this when we when when we came to the teaching and learning advisory
125council and I even have a little sticker on my computer that talks about the the creating is bigger is bigger and better than consumption. Um and so that we're really trying to focus on within this idea of empowered learning. Um not just consuming on the device but using it for a purpose. um and using it in that sort of sense of like presentations or the kinds of documents that continues to amp up um six through eight um with the with the increase in writing um creating with the tools. And then we talked about like in world language classrooms this idea of being able to use the device to record so and get sort of instantaneous feedback um is a really important tool as we're building proficiency um within languages. And then 9 through 12, some
126of the examples that we thought about were things like within science, um we had actually at at one of the meetings that Nina was at, we had a science teacher who talked about the fact that like when when we have a device, this is how they used to use phones, um of a science lab where they can capture something on video and then really spend time digging into that lab and unpacking what that means and what do you see. So if you think about a physics lab or something like that when you're thinking about pendulums because when I think physics I think pendulums um that then you can capture that on video and really sort of think about um periods and those those kinds of things with that. Again recording um our Globe students have
127talked a lot about the the sort of lack of a of a like their Chromebooks are not great um for being able to record their interviews. Um, and then thinking about this larger screen. Um, so um, so a standard iPad having having a smaller screen that the high school students really do need something that's larger. Um, and the keyboards for longer writing tests. When we visited with the high school students wanted that they were in the process of writing a pretty big paper. And so a lot of the feedback I think that was what was on their mind of like make sure that the tool is something that allows us to be able to do that piece. >> Yeah. So, so I think uh it'd be important and I think u Molina hit on it
128a little bit here. Um but I'm I'm going to just speak to it again. You know what the process really looked like when we got together with um the committee is that we really did we started with this idea of okay what do we just want kids to be able to do and let's focus on that because I think everybody around this room um like Dr. Garganino Gargano just mentioned is that if we were to sit here and I was to say, "Hey, choose a device that would be right for kids," we'd all have some preconceived ideas that maybe this would be it, this would be it. But we really didn't want to start there. So, we spent all that time um getting to this point thinking about, okay, what are the things and the
129support that we need to or the sports to develop some of those skills? And we started there. And then when we kind of developed that that skill list, we then moved into the area of okay, let's let's talk about the attributes of a device that could support that before we were even talking about a device itself. And then we moved into that last really rung of being able to choose a device based upon um you know what those attributes really really were. So when we look at how we how we benefit um you know really what we were really learning is that the creation tools that were going to be available um to the iPad and the iPad Air were going to be significantly greater um than we we saw in any other device. Um
130and I think we experienced that when Apple was here. We experienced it across the board um with the committee and and and so it was really positive with that front-facing camera and and the mobility and all of the things augmented reality. There was just so much more available to our students for those aspects. Consistency as I spoke to earlier was a we really do benefit here. It allows us really to uh make uniform not only the experience across students as they go from grade to grade to grade, but even from a standpoint of it allows us to be consistent um in in professional learning. It allows us to be consistent in the management of the devices that if I'm switching grades or something like that, that experience doesn't change. And we've had a lot of
131that that really was producing when we got feedback um some frustration across the board. Um, built-in accessibility for all learners. This is huge. One of the things that Apple does really well, and if you use Apple products, you may or may not be aware, um, but some of the accessibility options are unmatched by any other device that's out there right now. They are really putting a lot of development into, you know, whether it be something as simple as text to speech or other auditory uh, ways to control the device. there is so much available um that we'll be able to utilize for our students across the board. And then my and then the fun one uh management and safety, right? I I love it as the technology person. Um being able to do some of
132this work um better on behalf of our students and parents across the district is important to me um and important to our team and and so being able to provide windows in to how devices are being in or being used being able to provide a safe experience across the board and manage devices well um is going this is going to provide us that opportunity. This transition gives us um some opportunity to move some other things across the board um as far as technology is concerned to really meet this need in a way that we would feel um is appropriate across the board. So talking about the budget component of this and I'm going to go through uh and give you a little bit of background about what we're doing now and then also how this
133looks across the districts um and talking about the budget implications as a whole. So currently um as of last year we moved into um touchscreen Chromebooks and started in an early cycle of that to bring those devices into the district. Um that does the cost of last year's devices. We anticipate that this device cost was going to raise probably quite a bit because everything has been going up. Um, and so we would expect that that would be a much I wouldn't say much higher, but a higher price going into this upcoming year. You know, typically what we've learned about Chromebooks across the board is that after a full cycle of a device, they really aren't worth very much at the end. Um, Chromebooks after four years of use don't serve as much of a resale
134item. Really, most of them are surplused at very minimal amounts. um just because they don't they don't they don't serve that they don't have that return on investment like other devices have. So that kind of gives you a little bit of idea what we're doing now. So the iPad changes the game a little bit because a standard iPad actually comes in underneath what we are actually paying for a touchscreen Chromebook right now. Um and so then as I mentioned earlier as we move into a more professional device like the iPad Air for our high school students it does take that price up per unit a little bit more. Again, we felt like this was a a really solid move, giving our students a lot more opportunities and uh things available to the iPad Air that
135aren't available on the iPad by itself. One of those would be down the road we would uh we could look into Apple intelligence that is available on an Air um but not available on a standard iPad. Now, as obviously we still have another year of a tech study talking about the AI components. we still got a lot of work to do. Um, and so, you know, but we didn't want to find ourselves in a spot that we had not taken advantage of an opportunity to make sure that all possibilities were available to us throughout this upcoming cycle. Um, iPads historically have retained about 30%. I'm going to show you an example of that um of their value when being uh surplused after four years. Um, and so uh we'll we'll look at that. Overall, that
136typically reduces the net life cycle cost. So that just means by the bringing that back into the funding of what we use from a year-to-year basis to fund our device purchases. So an example of this, we we took a uh the step and went ahead and took our current fleet that is existing at K through2 that would be being surplus um some already and then some within the year and we're able to take that and actually quote that as surplus now. Um so giving you an idea showing you that these devices do carry um that value beyond um the cycle and give us an opportunity to really recoup some of that cost at the end. kind of demorate demonstrates that secondary market value. Now again I think it's important to note that this al always
137will assume that Apple retains their value but historically we have seen that across the board for years um and that hasn't changed off often. So um or really at all. So when we look at the total cost breakdown, this is kind of a slide that gives you a little bit idea what kind of we're seeing the case cost um again you know really um diving into the air and uh being the most expensive device there in total um but offering all of the um all of the attributes that we really wanted to see for our students and and giving them a more professional experience and then some of the ROI as we go through that um on what the devices are worth afterward. Um, in totality, we have not probably seen even close to a
13810% from our Chromebook, but there are situations in which that could be the case. So, what does that look like when we talk about a four-year cycle? This is what we see across four years. Um, and so this would be every device in the district. This is a full cycle of every device all the way from K all the way to uh 12th grade. And so this would exist over the next four years. So that is essentially broken down by four. Now what that looks like as far as Apple and the opportunity that we have in front of us, that is a total cost there o over four years because the full cycle would be four years. Apple has offered us a three-year 0% financing which breaks down to that and then on year four
139basically we would finalize that um buyback and bring that overall cost down to very similar to what we would see now. So if we were going to look at how that exists over the next four years, we would anticipate that as long as the value of Apple holds that we would really be very close to if not in the positive cost neutral by the end. again always assuming that there is that um value at the end of the cycle. >> So the things that we know that we still need to do work on um and some of these are this year um so pending the decision of the board um if we were to move forward with this we know that we have to start really planning out what our professional learning would look like
140and that would look like student learning as well as adult learning. Um, and so we we've said oftentimes like the worst thing we can do is give you a device that doesn't work. The second worst thing we can do is give you a device that you don't know how to use. Um, so we know that we have to do some learning um in in that way. And so as we develop our year-long professional learning plan for next year, that will be a component um of this work. And then what does that look like for children also? Most of the edtes are already starting to have some conversation about what that looks like in classrooms um as well as what that professional learning for staff looks like embedded within the classroom. So it's it's not really
141effective um if we want to really focus on this idea of integration of technology and teaching and learning. It's not really effective for us to sit just in a space and teach you how to use a device. It's more effective for us to be in your teaching and learning space and think about how we use those devices purposefully. Um we also know that um and we referenced this earlier with the teaching and learning advisory council this idea of like age appropriate technology use guidelines. So both what does that look like within our classrooms as well as what does that look like when we make a decision about when devices go home. So whatever grade level that is that we make the decision that the devices would be sent home that we would also be helping
142parents to understand the purpose of why we're sending them home and what we would be expecting children to be doing with them while they're at home. Um, so that seems to be a pretty big gap right now. Um, and so I think we can we can address some of that, but also having some conversation about what that looks like in the classrooms. So just because we have access to devices doesn't mean that we have to be using devices all the time. So that sense of how do we make sure that like that allocation of time within the classroom um has uh a healthy balance of um physical materials, physical manipulatives, real books, those types of things um and access to to devices. AI is something that's really big for us. We have um about two
143years ago we developed some temporary sort of guidance around AI and haven't done a lot with it since. Um, and our teachers are asking for more help with that, both from a teaching standpoint of like how teachers use AI, but then also from a standpoint of like what's happening with students um, within classrooms. And then I if we make this move, one of the things that we think is important is to really explore the idea of a learning management system um, that's more robust than Google Classroom. So, a way of being able to manage things um, with students um, that also can lead into where they're going. um because the majority of them are going to college where learning management systems are a good um part of that. >> Yeah. So the device is and
144the management component of this uh just a couple of things uh that we're thinking through um right now. Number one is the need for MacBooks still to be available. Um we have always maintained this um we've always maintained kind of like an additional fleet um that has been available when certain needs arise. We have it. we do feel like there will be need um for MacBooks across our high school and so we have already kind of begun the process of really allocating resources to be able to fulfill that need um and to be able to provide students when needed whether that's um if they're doing work in Adobe or um there are certain science courses or physics courses that may need those components um that are only available on a MacBook that they would be
145available and so we have already kind of started that process and what that looks like. You know, the the cycle itself we've been working through as far as the management specifics are concerned. You know, Google really does remain um as a mainstay within the district. It doesn't change. Um one of the main comments that we got when um going around to the schools and talking to staff was, is it going away? Well, actually, it really doesn't change the fact that that is still going to be a component of what we do and what we have within the district. So Google actually remains the same. Um as far as that's concerned, you know, um the repair and components like that will be working through as well. Um Apple Care is part of this um purchase just
146in general. Um there is some really great um reasoning for that. It really does provide a turnaround of of a device much faster than what we are currently experiencing um with with repair right now. Um, and so it also then allows us to actually keep a fewer amount of devices. And so we can move down to basically almost just about 5% of extra devices to be able to have to keep on hand to use as lease devices when students um have a device mishap, we'll say. Um, and so we'll we'll uh we'll be we'll be uh working through sign kind of that process. um be talking about what that could look like in the future and developing some of that. You know, it also kind of changes the look when we talk about um the
147bring your own device. We knew that that was on its way out. Um and so we knew that we also had to make sure that any device when I go back to CHS MacBooks, but that would be across the board. um with devices not being a able to be on campus any longer uh we had to make sure that the devices that were on campus and available to students met every need and so that was a major component in the study infrastructure. Um we've been doing a lot of this work. This is not work that uh we could have wait or we could have waited on. We have to do this pretty early on in the process to be able to make sure we're ready um for any type of device deployment to this magnitude.
148Um and because we are talking about an entire cycle here uh change over and so we've been doing this work um working on filtering making sure that uh that is a reality that is going to be a working reality. the the the best thing um to be working on right now we have felt like is let's just make sure that when these you know if these devices were to launch day one um that they work exactly as we intended and so um that a lot of thought gets uh put into that a lot of work on behalf of um our teams um in moving forward um should this be the direction that we go so >> so what questions do you have for us >> when Start with Ben because he's on the field. >>
149Everyone's looking at me >> and he could shed some light on some of this work. >> Um, absolutely. >> And ask questions. >> Um, well, and thank you because I feel like I got quite a few of my questions already somewhat addressed at least. Um, thank you for that. Uh, it has been a really great great uh privilege to be on this committee. So, thank you for having me. I guess I would say um you know just to uh experience because again I have some background similar to Luke uh in terms of being it in school. So, it's just great to be back and hearing like learning from specialists, technology specialists, of which we have some great ones, and then also some of Luke's staff and then all the teachers. It's just um you know,
150it it shows you just how complex actually everything really is at the end of the day. Um so, I guess a couple things I want to make a couple statements. Um you know, uh the Chromebook is really a what's called a cloud device. You know, it really is dependent upon connectivity. um it can't do much without it. Um and so, you know, in terms of it's really kind of night and day between an iPad and a Chromebook. Uh Chromebooks have their place. They have especially uh because they've been traditionally inexpensive and easy to manage. Um and I think also I mean my my sense is that coming out of COVID, you know, there was a lot of rush into it because we needed devices. We needed them quickly. um and and be able to manage
151them whether they're wherever they go. Um so I think just to understand that like an iPad can function independently um of a network especially in a very intentional way um with apps that can run independent of having any connection to the internet for example. Um I think the other thing some some folks like well the how could how good can the keyboards be right compared to a traditional laptop? Um, yeah. Um, and I gotta say I, and again, I'm I'm I'm actually not an I'm not an Apple guy at all. I'm I'm a I'm a PC uh Android. I know. I'm I'm a weirdo. Yeah. So, >> weirdo. >> You're the green tech, >> but um what wait, what's happening here? Um No. So um so what I would say is the the keyboards are
152have come a long ways like the the traditional sort of keyboard that you know uh comes with a tablet you know I think in the past were kind of cheap or whatever they are not cheap anymore and they also are totally seamless like there's no moisture getting inside those keyboards so there's like they're basically waterproof which I can tell you the Chromebooks are not water you know so I'm sure Luke can tell you many stories many stories So, um, and then, uh, what else did I want to say? I mean, I think the form factor that's been mentioned a couple times, the weight, I mean, I, again, I pick up my kids backpacks and it's like, oh my gosh, like, you know, uh, chiropractor, here we come, you know. Um so I just think that
153that experience um and this is true for you know I think all levels of course it is is really important like how people feel about being able to be productive and get right after their task versus like you know it it just matters. I mean like small things that we experience that we don't like how they work um you know add up to like a lot of frustration and distraction. So I think there is something to that. Um I guess um let me review my um so I guess I did want to Luca you mentioned that it makes sense to me that we're kind of looking at this now. First of all we we asked to look at this as soon as you could possibly do it and I think in the time spent when
154you've received the task you've done so much um and uh so I appreciate that. Um, I guess you know I understand now you're saying that you need time to to get ready for something this big, right? It's big. Um, so I'm just curious how what are maybe some elements of that preparation that you foresee? >> Yeah. And and there could be some there could be some um there could be some assistance that we may need in deploying devices when the time would come. We are actually doing um some pretty I'd love to be able to tout uh some of my team that is really thinking outside of the box on how to be really smart and efficient with making a sign in and making deployment and being able to hand a kid a device and
155go, "Oh, I can sign in and I can do these things." And they are really putting a ton of effort in making that super seamless. Um and so we are we are really pushing forward and we we believe that um we have some really great work being done. Um EMTT Barry who is uh part of our team has has really dove in to making the student experience uh good and and uh and he's probably listening to this right now going what what did he said? But he really he's he's really put a lot of thought into it. So to that point, we're we're really thinking through the experience of how it gets to a student. Um and we'll be working with our team and working with the buildings to to facilitate what that's going to
156look like um going into next year and into the fall. Um we have some ideas um and so we'll be flushing those out. Um it there could be an opportunity at some point to um just for the sheer movement of as many devices as we're talking about looking into that. But for the most part um we're we're pretty confident that with some of the new processes going into place with identity management and with being able to provision the devices uh that we're going to have some good options. I think also like from from my lens what I've seen happen since Luke has come into this role and with his team um we because we have sort of a fleet of iPads already he's already been doing some work in in streamlining some processes that the
157teachers um will talk about how quickly now a child can get into um a program. So like putting Clever on the devices allows a kid to very quickly scan a QR code and get into what they need to get to. whereas before we had, you know, children typing in long passwords and things like that, forgetting those passwords and like that eats up instructional time. Um, so some of the things that that Luke's team has been able to respond to um from questions from staff and and and things that they're wanting, they've been able to make happen. Um we also have a pilot group right now um that we call I empower and it's this sense of like thinking about the iPads in this integration of of empowered learning and they've been piloting some different kinds
158of things with the devices as far as like management is concerned as far as like teachers being able to deploy something to students very quickly. So now we're assured that everyone is on the same thing. Um they're not over here um somewhere on the internet where I when I need them here. The iPads have allowed us to to do some of those things and Luke's team has helped us to be able to do that. From my lens, that's super important as far as like maximizing time in in the classroom and focusing on instruction versus um spending time getting them into the to the device. So, I I just want to say like from from my lens, I think that's been really important work that his team has already been doing. And so, I see it
159continuing to happen if the fleet were to >> expand. And I think at one point too like um Ben you and I had talked about you know one of the things that we do see is that um when somebody needs an application or something like that we very early on we realized that it was we were really inefficient. Um a teacher would need something they would need an application a software of some kind and it could be a month before that full process took place. Um, we were able to take that process, reinvent it, redesign it, bring it digital, and now we're seeing it in sometimes a matter of just 48 hours. Um, and being able to turn that around in in in just a magnificent fashion. So, we've been putting a lot of thought
160into this early on that, you know, to try and make this as efficient. Efficiency is super important to me. So, trying to to to make it a good experience. Can can I jump sorry can I jump in here because you're you're bringing up the concept of change management with the tech system and I don't want to have to have us go back to that topic. So you know let me just pipe in with one question. >> Yeah. >> So um I get that there's a lot of process changes that happens with the teachers and within a school. It strikes me listening to all this that communication with a variety of stakeholders is going to be really important in the change management aspect of this including not only teachers and administrators but parents, guardian, you know,
161families, people at home, whatever it is like and and that a lot of that communication is going to have to happen over the summer. So, have we thought through the communication aspect to change management and and what's sort of our viewpoint on that knowing that it's still a work in progress? Sorry, Gina. >> Oddly enough, we've already been working on some of that communication. So, like some of that has already been taking place in some capacity that we're getting ready to, you know, roll it out should need be. Um we've been also developing a lot of uh documentation as part as far as okay if we need to if I need to find this information on how to do something as well is it going to be available to us and so we've been developing
162a lot of that documentation on top of all of this um in in an effort to really communicate this one. >> Okay. And the one thing I would say just listening to the last couple comments before I I uh interrupted um the one piece of advice I would give you guys that you didn't ask for but here I am so I'll give it to you is um you know let's get the core product out and working first. You know, it could be my interpretation what you guys say is there might there are a lot of add-ons and bells and whistles that you can put in over time, right? And what we wouldn't want to do even if you rolled out here are the great new Chromebooks. You know, shout out to my uh Pixel brother
163uh Ben over there. Uh but um you know, just get it working correctly so everyone has a really great experience and then over the course of time you can add all the bells and whistles that it can do with these devices. >> Yeah. That's that's really good. We have we had even talked about a status monitor of being able to monitor the core things of what we would expect them to be able to do so that everybody would know where everything is at in that expectation to be able to do that. So that's really good. Really good. And I just have a couple more things. Um uh you know I could go go on and on. Um >> can I I'm sorry. Can I let Nina ask her a question because >> Oh yeah, please
164go ahead. >> I'm sorry Ben. >> Go ahead Nina. It's very very quick. I was just wondering about the extent of your like lo of the loaner devices that we would have because I'm wondering for things like I'm sure there's a lot but maybe like NWA testing or I know there's like a school administered SAT test. So would these be things that could be t like I'm just really curious would these be things that could be taken on like this new iPad Air at the high school or would Okay, that's really cool. >> Okay, so that wouldn't be like a something where every student need to get like a separate Okay, that's great. Yeah, wonderful. Thank you. >> No, that's a really good question. Yeah, that we definitely had to spend some time on that.
165She does. We always ask questions. >> Ben, >> sure. >> Good night, Nita. >> Um, I guess one of the things, um, that's so as in the spirit of course of some of the legislation of late, um, you know, the fact that we still and it's understandable why we still have, um, uh, kids who bring their own devices to high school, uh, my son included. Um, do you think would the expectation be for next year or some other time where we would go ahead and be able to make that no longer possible? I mean, and and and a related question to that is I would imagine that any uh any issues that we may have on the high school network could also be related to the fact that we have a whole army of rogue
166devices essentially, right? Um, so and also back to the intentionality and what is not happening on these because you really don't know what is happening on a device that a kid brings to school potentially, right? So I I just want to see if we could touch on that. I I know that is the at least the uh the spirit or intent of some of this, but curious what your the roadmap for that. >> Yeah, so the provision so the provision for uh bringing devices was really just for this year and so that does come to an end. Um and and and probably to the point of that it it is it is a healthy end. Um we do believe that if we can provide the right devices, we limit the distractions. Um and and there
167is a lot of availability on these devices to be able to really um be safe and secure and and eliminate those distractions. So to that point, yeah, there is there is not a whole lot of insight that we get other than some base filtering to a student's device that they bring on campus. This changes that game quite a bit. Um because now we have devices that we have oversight in completely and those exist on our campus with, you know, complete control really. Um and so yeah, that that would be um that would be the end of the the bring your own device. >> There we go. I also envision that the that the roll up out of that would be us partnering with Dan and his team really to think about like how how is
168that communicated to families? How is that communicated to students? So similar to the personal electronic devices, I think it's going to be a parallel kind of approach >> um to things that that will have to be monitored that we will have to remind CH. So like Dan and I had a conversation the other day that like after spring break is a good time to remind children of like what the rules are, right? Um, so, so I think it's the it's the same kind of stuff and we've already begun talking to Dan about what what that might look like. >> Okay. >> So, can I ask the obvious question of will we be allowing kids to link their personal phones up to these devices? >> No. No. That's the right answer. >> Yeah. because you do
169know that with all of the bring your own devices that is exactly what is getting through the filters. >> And part of this process, and I know the kids probably don't like hearing this, but part of this process is actually doing some of that work. Things that need to actually be really uh uh managed and secured. Um, and this gives us the opportunity to do that. >> And then do we do do you have more questions? >> No, I'm I'm done. Thank you. >> Okay. Should I just ask my next one? So, the durability of these just, you know, the iPads versus the Chromes or the Chromebooks, do we think from a tech perspective that they're just as good or you're not worried about it because of the Apple Care warranties? Sounds like the keyboards
170are probably better because they're waterproof. But just in general, like they're going to get dropped. >> Absolutely. >> They're going to get kicked around. We know this. So, >> yeah. No matter what, uh, devices in the hands of students, um, we have to think about all of those things. We do anticipate um and and did spend some time doing some studying of devices and um rates of damage are much much much lower on iPads than Chromebooks >> and they are much lower than MacBooks. And so um and so this this really from the from those studies have shown even some of our uh uh third party friends that do some of the work and repair and devices have all said that there is a a lesser percentage representative really of the 5% buffer that we'll
171be having on hand to be able to meet that need. Um and so uh you know we we do believe that also Apple Care will play a huge role um because Apple Care does give us the opportunity to really get those devices in and back pretty quickly and so that that is a role but uh and there there will definitely there will definitely be breakage. We we understand that we do feel that the cases that were chosen were chosen um with that in mind as one of the reasons. Um, you know, cases are a big deal in this process because they really have to meet both the the security of the device need but also be able to meet and not limit the use of the device. And so there there is a fine line
172when considering cases for that. But we do feel like we'll be be able to meet that need. So, kind of in a followup to that and more from a guess a treasure question perspective, like a lot of schools charge a like a security deposit fee or an annual tech fee to kind of offset some of the cost of damages that wouldn't be covered by something like an Appleare warranty. Have you guys considered that as you enact your second year of your study or as you roll these out? Is that something that >> or if you you know uh you maybe that as since we're rolling this out so quickly for the next school year and you know the good faith is that we're covering the Apple Care warranty, but should you return a device that
173is clearly been mistreated correct that you know there'll be a deposit fee before you get your second device that covers the cost of the next Apple Care warranty. I mean, I think there's probably some things to consider around that that actually makes this even more financially attractive and durable even beyond the return on investment numbers that you put in. I totally understand that the Chromebook becomes like a paper weight. But you know there I do think that uh when based on the important communications that have to go out to families when families understand that there is some skin in the game for you to have this um enhanced uh technology device that is going to support your child's learning when it is used in an age appropriate manner for the right classes and all the
174other things you engage in second year. um that we do expect that you treat it like a the valuable device that it is. >> Yeah. And that actually has been an active conversation on what that could look like. Most often seen in schools as like a self- insurance. >> Um the idea being is that it's a deductible per breakage. Um, currently we have some very what I would call loose parameters around intentional damage and being charged for intentional damage, but our goal would be to really um unify that messaging and come up with something that is is is more wellknown >> um because I don't think across the district that is a that is a really wellcommunicated item. And uh this is an opportunity I think for us to really um really detail what that
175should look like moving forward and a conversation that we will be having moving into next year. I was gonna say Ben and I talked about that same topic a little bit and something else that I thought about in addition to a maybe a monetary financial skin in the game is you know the kids and parents sign that contract um maybe looking at that again and putting some more responsibility in there about you know and you know you're signing like you know a contract that if you were to damage it or more than once or whatever anyway just maybe that might require another look as well our consideration. >> That's it. Good work. Thank you. >> Okay, Leo. Sure. >> First of all, thank you. Uh I can tell this was a lot of work. Um
176and it's true. The board asked you to do this and they asked you to do it in a hurry. And you know the big part of the intent of that was getting rid of the individual devices and glad to see that happening. Uh it's a big deal. I wanted to I always feel in this conversation I always want to reassert the context that technology use changed in our district and every school really really rapidly in a unique situation a few years ago and we're now I view this process as partly going back and looking at that and thinking about whether that was good and whether that should be unwound perhaps or altered. And so it's just really important um and I think you're doing this to kind of avoid the path dependency of this is
177where we got um and you know we got there because of some very specific circumstances. You know I had three kids in elementary school when COVID hit and they all suddenly had devices 100% of the time at home but they wouldn't have that even now under our current practices. A kindergartenner wouldn't have a device at home. So that's important to think about. Um Melena, you articulated kind of a a philosophical approach. I think you used the word purposeful. Could you could you say that again? >> The purposeful integration of technology and teaching and learning. >> So is that kind of the the philosophical approach that you've taken to this work and the district's approach to technology? Yeah. Is that I don't want to put words that really started when Jeff came into the district. we
178we made a really um concerted effort to tie the two departments together. >> And so then when Luke took over, we continued to feel like that's a very important part of our work is to tie tie the two departments together. Um that because I don't think either of us ever wants people to think that we have devices just to have devices. um that that it really is about like how can we um be focused on this idea of empowered learning through the use of something that allows us access in in different ways and everything, but we still have to have really purposeful conversations about what that means. Um and and I think we have a lot of conversations both with one another, with people in the community, with teachers about what does that mean on
179a day-to-day basis of like what children are doing on these devices. Um I I think you know Paul talked a lot about when you were talking about like memorization and that kind of stuff of like being a little old school. I'm a little old school too, right? Like a book is important, right? Um, writing with your with a pen and and those kinds of like those are important things that we still have to value within our classrooms, but then there's also this thing that that allows us opportunities that we that we wouldn't necessarily have if we didn't have um those devices. And so it's really like I use the word balance, but I think sometimes balance indicates like equal. That's actually not what I'm trying to indicate. It's more about like when we think about
180the pi, what is the allocation? And that shifts from day to day as well as um you know, it shifts from unit to unit or or what we're focused on. Like there are times where a child like a a kindergarter in our in our classrooms could go a week without ever touching a device, but it's sitting in the classroom. Um, but also having the the availability to to use it when we need it, especially for, you know, I'm big on like maximizing instructional time. Um, when we are trying to do a standardized assessment and we don't we like we have the luxury of having these devices available, we can very quickly test kids very quickly and then move into what we need to do with instruction. if we're moving those from from classroom to classroom
181and thinking about that kind of stuff, we can't have the same sort of like um in the- moment response to things. And I think that idea of like maximizing instructional time is so important to to like my philosophy of teaching and learning. And I think our teachers share that philosophy and I know Luke shares that philosophy with me. We have we there's a professional development that we do that has an image of a pool and we talk about like the use of technology within the pool and we in that image we also have a person standing outside of the pool. >> Um and the and the the purpose of that is to say we are never going to tell you that you always have to use technology to do dot dot dot. We're going to
182tell you that there's times that you're not in the pool. Um and and that's important. Um it's important. So, so like when we run professional learning, we oftentimes will reference that that image of like it's moving back and forth from the shallow end to the deep end and what are children doing with devices and sometimes you're not even >> Thank you. >> Yeah, I'll climb down off my soap box. >> We all got to get on a soap box from time to time. Uh could you go back one slide to the kind of next steps piece of it? >> The still to be determined that one. >> Yeah. Um, I want to go through in particular those three bullets under guidelines and systems. >> Let's start with AI and I'm just kind of curious what
183the what the current >> may I mean you spoke a little about this but what the current practice is or if there is a coherent current practice. I mean is there an expectation that kids will encounter AI at a particular point in their education in our current system or is it uh left up to individual teachers and I understand this may be codified over the next year but do we know what this situation is now? >> Right. So we um we have a document that we developed a couple years ago that starts with a series of belief statements and those belief statements are tied to the profile of the graduate and one of the first statements that it talks about is that AI is here and it's here to stay. Um but that that we
184have to that like some of the next statements talk about so then like what is our responsibility as educators to help children to understand those those tools. Um I I think there there historically within our system there's a certain level of autonomy that that teachers have. >> Absolutely. >> Um and and that we trust them with that level of autonomy. So that looks different in different classes. So there are some classes where and we've given sort of sample syllabus language that could be used. Um and some of that none of that language does it say shut it down. Um but the but the language does speak specifically to um sort of this idea of academic integrity. Um and so like if if if one is going to use something this includes the adults in the
185system. If one is going to use something like that that you have cited it that you have made it obvious th those types of things. We've also had a lot of conversation with teachers about what are the tasks that you have children do. Um so the if you create a really robust task a child can't go to AI to to to complete that task right so if and and when we think about the competencies of the profile and the way that we develop tasks if there are things that that allow the the child to put themselves into that work you you can't have a a computer generate that right you um those types of things. So we've we've been putting some shape to it in that way. We have teachers who would say to us,
186"Give us much more guidance and lock things down." We have teachers who say, "Open it all up and and let us go." And and everywhere in between. And Ben's been a part of some of these conversations on the committee. They're really difficult conversations. >> Sure. Um, a and also I I think some of what was interesting to us with the teaching and learning advisory council was um I had a mental model of AI and when we were talking to that group I realized that the parents didn't have necessarily the same mental model of AI that I had. Um so we sometimes look at AI as something that can allow us um to explore something a little bit differently or whatever. um we have teachers who who think specifically around this academic integrity piece and cheating
187and and that type of stuff. The parents never really mentioned anything about cheating. Um it was it was much more about this sort of like not really knowing what the possibilities are with this and it's sort of this unknown entity. And so that kind of changed some of my thinking too of like what what is the work that we need to do within our community as a whole to to understand this piece also with the adults. We've spent some time really thinking about um this is going to show my old schoolness again too. Um like AI can be a tool that can help you to be more efficient as a teacher. I I didn't have that available to me when I was a teacher. So I sit there and think we should be writing lesson
188plans like this. Um and so So that has been sort of a a a growth point for me also of like what are the possibilities and the capabilities with some of these things that could help us to be more efficient and also help us to create tools within a teaching and learning setting that could allow us to differentiate in a very different way. Um so there's all these things for us to explore and we don't have it figured out. >> Yeah. >> Um but we're trying. Um and and and I would um sort of I guess sheepishly say to you that our first um like blush at creating a a tool and guidance is not a good tool and guidance. So so the teachers have said to us this really isn't helpful. Um and and
189we did present it like we had the teaching and learning advisory council actually look at it and give us some feedback. we've had the committee look at it and give us some feedback and we don't know what to do with that feedback because it's all over the place >> um because this is one of those things that not everybody agrees on and so that is a really hard piece for us to know sort of how to move forward. We're talking to other districts about what that looks like in other districts too. Um but I I don't know where we're going to land on that. >> Yeah. I mean, as someone in a profession that, you know, has a lot of people trying to get us to use AI all the time, uh, it's a really
190good way to make big mistakes is what I could tell. And, >> you know, at some point you got to teach people what it really is and not, you know, what it glossily appears to be. Uh, so they can avoid those mistakes, you know. But I don't know what where that falls. I agree. I I think one example of something that has that has broadened our horizons. So there's a tool called snorkel which is an AI tool um that when we think about our world language teachers and like the idea of building proficiency and everything like that, children need to write, they need to speak, they need to do all this stuff. Teachers need to provide feedback on all of those things. If like if you think about an elementary Spanish teacher, an elementary Spanish
191teacher teaches 350 students. There's no way they can give that kind of feedback like immediate feedback. Snorkel has been a tool that has been that has allowed some sort of instantaneous feedback to children so that now the teacher can focus on conferring with these kids. These kids are also getting feedback. It's not the only way that they're getting feedback. But it has maximized that thinking around the teaching and learning environment that I'm like all right now we're like maximizing instructional time. >> Um move up next bullet. age appropriate technology use guidelines. >> And really I think you know the conversation we should have here right now is about at the elementary school >> and um you know do we have any clear expectation about when devices will be set sent home by grade level? That's
192one question. >> Right. So we're doing some work with that right now. So currently um devices really don't go home keystage one K12. um there's it's it's a little autonomous with teachers and and different kinds of assignments three four five and that looks different across the buildings and looks different um in those spaces. So what our goal is um is really to lay on the plane um on on what that looks like K through five um before the end of this school year. Um so we're engaging in conversations with teachers right now about like if you are sending devices home, what are you sending them home for? So, like us really getting sort of a sense of like what's the status quo right now? And and do we really believe that's necessary or is there
193a different way for us to to to be doing that? Um I I I think all of us can agree that the longer we wait to send a device home um the the more helpful it is to the families, right? Um and if we can accomplish those things without sending the device home, then I think we're good with let's not do that. We have not decided what that grade level is right now. Um but we're engaged in in pretty significant conversations with teachers about that right now. >> Yeah, there's a there's a component to this too that is is technological in nature. Um when we do decide whatever age group that would be taking devices home, what does that look like at home as opposed to here? You know, what kind of uh guidance do
194parents get or have? That is one thing that we heard from parents quite a bit. Um is that these devices are coming home and we don't know exactly how to deal with them. Um and so we've been working on uh some of that throughout this transition as well from the technological side. The what um what resources um what windows into the things that have been done on device what ability maybe even at some point to um restrict off hours at home. So we are we are working on that um as a part of this as well. So thank >> did you just say that you can like you could shut it like if they take it home you could like shut it down at a certain time. >> We is that what you just said
195>> that we are working on that capabilities to see if that would be a possibility moving into next year. Yeah, it was great. >> So, and I really everything you just said I really appreciate. And when you said it earlier, I'll just you said, you know, we're talking about when we take them home and explaining the purpose of doing it, but everything you just said is really important to add to that. It's not just the purpose of doing it. It's um you know, when this device goes home, especially the first few times it goes home, >> helping the parents understand how to manage that within their own home. And it can involve, you know, sharing best practices with them. Maybe it's shutting it off, but maybe it's explaining to parents when it should be shut
196off. You know, that kind of thing really helps, I think, understand how the, you know, the school and the home are relating around this technology. Um, and then the learning management system. Um, so you said, you know, something more robust than Google Classroom. Can you just expand on that a little? >> Um, on what I mean when I say something more robust? >> Sure. >> Um, the the Yeah. The the So, when Google Classroom came into this district, it was a consequence of COVID, >> right? >> Um, and and a need for for teachers to be able to deploy information to students and students to be able to hand in things to teachers. And that was really as far as we were trying to go at that point. And and actually at that point I
197was the one who was actually entering all the students into the Google classroom. >> So like I have I have no interest in doing that anymore. >> We actually have a much more we actually have a better way of doing that and everything. But it it's um so when we think about some of these other tools, I think they allow us a a different kind of flexibility. And I think honestly we're really thinking secondary um when we're talking about an LMS. it it's um like the the need for something more robust I don't think is a is a need at the elementary but I do think it is a need at the secondary um and my own children I've watched them use an LMS um to not only use it as a as a way
198of moving sort of digital paper back and forth um but also as a way of of interacting with the content of their class in a very different way um and and those are the things that I think we want to explore we have a lot of teachers when they come from other districts. They're surprised by the fact that we don't have especially at the high school, they're surprised by the fact that we don't have a more robust learning management system and they are often pushing us um generally in one direction. Um but I think we want to address this the same way that we've addressed the device piece which is like we don't have a mental model of which one we want to we want to use. We want to make sure that it meets
199the needs of what the teachers um feel like they what like what they need. And that requires us having those conversations with the teachers to really understand those needs. And we just haven't had time yet to do that. And I don't foresee that happening before the fall. I think that's a year two piece. >> Um can you go well maybe you don't need to pull up the slide on the inputs. >> Yeah. >> Um you know there's a piece here. There's parts of the system that interface with the home. We've talked about that. And I I wonder whether your inputs um you know are are capturing that that perspective fully. You know where is the where is the the home parent perspective in this coming in? I mean to what extent is and and what
200point in this is it coming in? >> Yeah. Um so the teaching and learning advisory council is really the vast majority are all parents. Um this when we met with them um exactly what you were describing was exactly what we were we we were talking about. um a lot of really good conversation um when we met with them on what parents are what their viewpoints are on devices and how they're used and how they're being used at home and that um and so we spent and got a lot of just I think really solid feedback um for guidance in this whole process through that item how many >> it I mean the the the actual committee is pretty large who shows up is about >> 10 to 20 um at any given time and they
201represent parents pre-K through 12 um and then there's two administrators on the group. The the the one thing that the way that I describe the group and I describe the group to the group this way um because when the coordinators come to present to them I say they are a very kind group but they're going to push us. >> Yeah. >> And they're going to push us hard. Um and they do they they ask us really difficult questions. They tell us stories. Um so so the the stories that we heard as a consequence of devices they also are really good at um when we are not clear with what we're saying pushing us to to articulate that better. So we in in the technology piece an example of this is that we kept talking about
202management of devices and we kept talking about a teacher being able to deploy something and and everybody being in the the all the children being in the same space. that did not mean anything to them and it it actually for whatever reason scared them in a different way that I was like no no no no this is actually a good thing. So it but they they're willing to say that to us like we don't know what you're talking about like stop talking like educators and talk like you know parents um and so I I actually really value that group um and the way that they push us but it is a hard group. Um there's like I I don't think we've ever come out of a meeting and been been like like you know your
203head hurts because they're pushing you to think and I think that's actually the sign of a good committee. >> And then one more. I think when I read other districts that your your comparative work is primarily with other public school districts. >> Not entirely. Um no we we there were there there were some considerations um given that we have um some schools around us even in private schools that it would be fitting >> luck it's not that I think they're necessarily doing anything better I just think broadening our perspective is good >> and u we do get compared with all kinds of schools in the area and so keeping that broad perspective in mind is good that's what I've got thank you >> thank you >> thanks Leah Pam you want to Thank you. I
204trust the two of you. I respect the two of you and I'm guessing by extension your teams as well. So, I just like want to start by saying I thank you. Um what we're being asked to vote on tonight is not like all this other stuff. It's like do we say you can go buy all those things in terms of like what device? I trust you. I I don't care. I trust your research and your work. Fine. What the question that I want us as a board to focus on is why do we need to purchase onetoone devices for I'm going to say K5 68 high school yes please go tomorrow that's my perspective right the high school yes I really question onetoone devices in K2 like so much and in 35. So I I'd
205like for us to have these conversations and I think the thing that is sitting me in it are these two graphs. So um do you know NAPE? Is that like a common thing? >> Okay. I didn't I didn't know about it. >> The assessment >> the Yeah. National Assessment of Educational Progress. >> Fourth graders just took it. >> Oh and then they'll take it again in eighth grade. So what I've learned is that this assessment happens in fourth and eighth grade around the country and it has been the same assessment and the same scoring rubric since 1992. What they have done is what the social scientists have done is that they have looked at when onetoone devices have rolled out in districts which has happened in different places around the country at different times of
206year. And basically this is year four. It happens in reading and in math. Like this is 1992. This is like the year that they go in one to one devices and they can see this in all these school districts and scores just like go down and then here's grade eight or yeah grade eight obviously that we can like talk about correlation and causation. I don't want to have that conversation although I'd happily have it. Um onetoone devices is not necessarily good and I don't think it is good for learning at the especially at these younger ages. So that's the conversation that I would love for us to have. >> Can I ask a clarifying question? >> No, of course. >> When you say onetoone devices, what does that mean? >> Oh, question. I think it
207what I understand that that means is that every student gets their own device that is theirs. And then in our district currently in third grade, it starts going home every day. In some places it starts going up. Not not all third graders take their >> Okay. The the reason I asked that question is is because I think when when we initially developed the the fleet of of devices, we we developed it to say that we would have the number of devices available or to to equal the same number of students that we had basically. Um but that we would not provision them in a onetoone way. Um so the one to one at that point was only 9 through 12. Um and then as a consequence of COVID that changed and the only reason we
208were able to do what we did during CO was because we had the number of devices available to to be able to do that. >> Okay. >> Um I think we we would say that um really currently 6 through 12 we have our devices set up in a way that's that's what our mental model of a onetoone is. So kids have their own device. It's in their possession all the time. Um, and it and it goes home. >> K through five, we have the number of devices to be one to one, but they live in carts. Um, and they don't live in the kids backpacks. They don't live in in those kinds of things. Especially in K through2 classrooms. They're they're not in their desks. They're they're in charging carts. And the teachers are having
209the control to be able to say, "Here's when we're going to go get the devices to do this." So that feels to us that feels different than than a than a one to one because I think oftentimes people's mental model of a onetoone is a kid has control of the device at all times and it goes wherever they go and that's not actually true within like when kids go to specials they very often don't have their devices with them. You mean elementary? >> In elementary, right? So, so to us, the K5 piece, we wouldn't call it a one to one. We would call it a the number is the same as the number of students, but the way that we use it is not a onetoone um kind of approach. That's what we would say.
210>> Yeah. And there are components I think that are important to think about this too. There are some things that just are required. you know, when we talk about assessments and the state, we talk about certain resources that are really only available on on devices because that is really the age in which we live in. Um, and so there is definitely that component of >> of being able to have those available from an efficiency standpoint and being able to say that we're not, you know, running wacky schedules all day to try and accommodate losing class time, switching from place to place to place. And so being able to do some of that really is is is important. I think the way I have have begun to approach this is having been in this space now
211um prior and for many years I've gotten to see kind of the evolution of where we've gone. you know, CO did happen and CO kind of thrust upon us, I think, some of this um this work that both technologically we weren't ready for and and the availability of the technological components to be able to correctly govern. So, I can start by saying that um which is as we've began to have this what I consider to be a really good conversation. I mean, these are things that, you know, we want to consider and we want to push on and we want to really look at. Um, what are the tools to be able to really do that more effectively and to bring it to a space that really kind of has a a safe landing space
212and a productive efficient landing space across the board. So that means we are meeting the the needs appropriately um that require a technological component um but then also really really being intentional about that use when when they don't need to be used they don't need to be there so um there are those components I think there's a reality we have we we have a lot of educational components that require some level of device um and in which case what does that look like we want it to be the type of um of device that we have correct management and support and and uh and we want to do a lot of procedural thinking around what that actually looks like. Um which I I really do believe is the work that we're really setting up heading
213into. Um especially as this conversation I would say you know across the nation really begins to ramp up more and more. Um this is not a conversation that is unique to us. It's a conversation that is being had everywhere. Um, which is really healthy across the board for education and kids. So, >> I was just going to say I misunderstood that onetoone elementary thing also until our last teaching and learning meeting. The table I was at, we break up into small groups. The table I was at had the same question and kind of conversation and one of you, I don't remember which, explained it just like that. That like a second grader doesn't have an iPad that's solely theirs >> ever. Like even when they grab it from the cart, they can take any one
214like they're not. So it's it's >> they generally do grab the the the same one because things are stored. >> Well, they can keep and teachers can probably keep track of them better that way. But um but I also and the people at my parents at my table also had misunderstood what one to one meant at that age. So I appreciate you bringing that up because I hadn't thought to bring that up but because it allowed you to clarify that again. And I think that helped um when you explained that at the teaching and learning committee at my table as well for the same reason that everyone I think was picturing like a first grader having their own iPad just like a ninth grader does which is not the case. It's just lives in the
215cart and there are enough for each student basically for assessments is the one of was one of the main times you mentioned that each kid would need it at the same time. >> Yes. You mentioned that like I think you were talking about a keystage one kid or classroom that some teachers might send them home and some teachers never send them home. Something like that and you were talking about two. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, you mentioned teacher autonomy in that and it made me think about what we read in the social studies presentation that we just had which was kind of surprising in a way of taking away teacher autonomy is that what they're moving towards in the social studies department is every teacher teaching the same things and giving the same tests and
216using the same rubrics And I can see the value in that. Uh, and so I just wanted to say like one of these things that the district, our district values itself on offering or giving to teachers is their autonomy and what happens in their classroom. But I do think that with techn and I know that I feel very aligned with the values that both of you are speaking about um or I hear my values reflected in what you're saying. Um, I feel like this is a place where I have concerns about that kind of teacher autonomy that some teachers, whatever key stage they're in, can send them home and others don't that I think that there should be guidelines. >> So, I think that's what we're trying to get to with the when when we
217talked about the work that we still need to do this idea of like the age appropriate technology use guidelines as well as the which includes when their devices are being sent home. I I I think we we are aligned in your thinking that that we need to actually make a decision about where is the point in a child's career in the district that we're going to say Adoise is going to come home with you. Um and and that and and that right and and that the that the the level of auton I do want to clarify one thing about social studies because Paul would be upset if I didn't that the the the the alignment that we're trying to have like horizontally within courses. There is still agency and autonomy that teachers have in the
218how that they teach. It's just not in the what they teach. Um so so we are aligned in what we teach. We're aligned in how we're going to assess. we're aligned in what we're using as the assessment and what we're using to provide the feedback. But but I don't want like this is a very strong belief of mine that I do not want every single ninth grade English classroom to look exactly the same because they have different kids, the teachers have different talents, all those kinds of things. But we do have things that we have to agree to. So I call it defined autonomy. Like we have given you a sandbox and now you can play in the sandbox, but you can't come out of the sandbox. The the same thing I think is the
219the vision of what we're trying to do here um is to say we're going to define the sandbox. We haven't landed that plane yet, but we are going to define it. And whatever grade we say like this span of grades, they're not going home. They're not going home. Um and right now that's true K through two. Um they don't go home. um three through five is where we've where we currently have had this level of agency and that's the place that we're having the conversation to say does that really need to happen um I think where the natural break was there was the device changed so all of a sudden it gave us something to say oh I don't know maybe a Chromebook should go home right and as a consequence of COVID I I
220think there were some practices that were put in place that I I'm not so sure we can't roll back um and and that's the piece that we feel like we need more time to be able to have that conversation with teachers to say, does it really need to be going home or is this an old practice of of something else? It tied into that conversation is a conversation about homework. Um, so like when should children be doing homework outside of school is also in like all of that is all tied together in like what what is our district philosophy on that? So, so we look at that as we're gathering information. We're going to make a decision and then we're going to implement the decision. We just can't tell you what the decision is right
221now because we don't know. We're still gathering the information. >> I appreciate that you're looking at that though because now that the device won't change, >> right? >> That might that decision might change. >> Can I just clarify when you say and you said this too, now that the device won't change, does that mean if we go iPad everywhere then is that what you mean? Yeah, that's what I meant. Yeah, consistency >> there. Yeah, there's consistency there. So then the the the ramp up in in third grade, it doesn't >> it's not iPad, right? And and everything like that. I don't I I mean I'm not sure that that's actually what influenced the when it went home. Um there's just a like we talk in keystage as educators and so we make different decisions for
222by keystage and at this point we have we have given a a certain level of agency um that that now we're considering whether that you know whether that needs to be the level of agency that that teachers have in this. >> So one of the questions I had asked you was why do we have to buy K12 all of them at the same time? Why can't we like roll them out in phases? The answer you gave me was right now we get 0% financing. I think you gave me a two-part answer. We get 0% financing. So financially it makes sense if that is the answer I would like to see a difference in finances of not zero you know what would be that different >> yeah and there's more and there's more to that answer
223too like we really part of our K through2 would we be on cycle anyway and really within a year all of those devices would be on their normal cycle out and so all this does in in addition to that is bring everything on to a on cycle across the board so that it's predictable across the board with all the same device and and that so like there would be a there would be a a portion of our K through2 iPads that are already on their way out and so with that being said it it would make more sense to go ahead and bring everything to a universal cycle at the same time. >> I think that's also easier for Luke to do it. >> Right. So, I was just going to say I think that
224was the second part was >> if you don't do that then you're doing iPad and Chromebooks and that's >> a lot for a department to manage. >> Yeah, it brings everything under a a very predictable process. >> Can I cut in? Sorry. Can I have a I'm just gonna ask all my questions weaving them with everyone else's questions tonight. So, hopefully that saves us a few minutes. >> It's good. Yeah. >> I One of my questions was on the Thank you, Chris. One of the questions was on the financing part of this. Should the board expect every four years a huge a an abnormally large cash outlay for the initial payment of the next generation of devices that we buy? >> So really what you're seeing is stuff that's already really budgeted across years anyway.
225Um because we actually do have a cycle in place right now. And so this is while you're seeing it, you're seeing the full fouryear cycle component. Um and so really what we're doing is we're saying yes, we're getting all the devices here today. Yeah. >> Or this year I should say. Um but really we're not doing anything different over the next four years with the budgeted amounts that are being put out >> because we're financing it over four years. >> Yeah. So so really those amounts are are budgeted across years regardless of of whether or not it's a pod of devices here and then a pod of devices the next year. We're just saying all the devices at once and then breaking that up over the four years that we would be working on that.
226>> And so really, and this is fine, but just to say this in case someone is here in four years, the answer is we we have certainty be certainty about the financing for four years. Four years from now, Apple might say, you know, our financing option is less attractive and you're going to be asked to approve everything all at once. >> Okay. >> Yep. Yeah. And then and then >> it's just important for everyone to like for some of us to hear that >> we it could party. It could also be there's a lot of ways to do it. Um, this might be John is >> special guest star John Brazil. >> Special guest John, >> longtime listener, first time caller. >> We can purchase it all at once and finance it through a third
227party if necessary. Uh, so that our cash flow is over a four-year period. We can always manage the cash over multiple years. >> Right. >> So up till now we've basically been on a let's for simplification we replace 25% of our devices every year and we pay cash for them. We can replace 100% at once and pay cash over four years to the same have the same cash flow effectively. >> These are capital improvement dollars um that come out of fund four. We allocate dollars over there for this purpose because they're multi-year assets. We use Yeah, we use the life of the asset. >> Okay. >> Did Pam, did you have more questions? >> Yeah. Uh, >> those were >> special >> good questions and really helpful answers. I felt like that really that answered
228a lot of my questions and helped me my thinking here. So, thank you, Chris. Do you >> want to finish this? >> Oh, did you have more? Sorry. >> I just have >> Keep going. >> I I just have one. >> Go ahead. Go ahead. >> Thanks. Thanks for inviting me. Um, it's getting late. It's only going to get worse from here. So, um, my only comment is, and this goes back, I don't know, maybe like 30 45 minutes ago, but >> yeah, I'm hungry. >> Sorry. Um I part it was a comment about that this this you know we asked you guys to accelerate this part of the tech study this came out of the cell phone discussion and that there was this aha moment of oh maybe some of our hardware >> yes
229>> you know requires people to bring their own devices right and now you're saying that's going to go away >> the other part of that it has to be enforced right and and I this is just for the administration broadly speaking you you know, we, you know, someone's going to have to enforce that. There's going to be change management around that, too. And I just think that's worth saying out loud. >> Yep. >> That's the piece that we talked about that we're partnering with Dan, >> right? And I and I heard that and I appreciate it. So, >> and some of that becomes natur from a technology standpoint, the ability to sign into wireless can go away. Um, and so then it becomes >> it it really becomes a a very difficult process that you
230would >> a whole new share of >> Yeah. I mean that that alone is a big deal. So I'm I'm most likely finished. So thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah. That hopefully they're not listening this. >> Yeah. They're marching on the uh marching on the office tomorrow. >> And there's plenty of other schools that do that. >> Yeah. I mean that's not an I mean, I we know schools that do that, so um I'm sure you could talk to them about how they communicate it. Anyway, >> uh >> Chris, your turn. >> Okay. Um great questions. Um thank you for uh answering all of them because it really did help me. I like to know the process by which you came to these conclusions. That's really important to me. So, I appreciate knowing um what you
231did to who you talked to, everyone that was involved. Um why you know you came to these conclusions is super um valuable to me. Um one of the things that also is valuable to me is that you do as much research as possible. I talked about this with, you know, cell phones, you know, um in terms of talking to other districts, what they did or didn't do and that kind of thing. So um when I when I talk about it in this context, what I mean is how much time do you guys get to spend? I say get to because you're really busy and I already know that there's so many responsibilities, but how much time do you have to spend get to spend um uh sort of require yourself to spend I would say
232um on trying to really track for our kids whether or not using devices and and what even despite what they're used for, but in the classroom as an educational tool is a benefit or a or a not benefit to their to their learning. >> So, um I maybe I'll answer first from my end. >> So, so one of the things that I think we believe as a as a central office team is is our presence in buildings is really important. Um, and and that is a philosophy that we hold as an entire team. Um, and and so when people ask questions about what's happening in classrooms, I feel like we can speak intelligently to what's happening in classrooms because we're in those classroom spaces. >> Um, and and I would say that that the majority
233of the time what I see happening with devices is the is what we're trying to really focus on with this idea of this purposeful integration. Um and and and I and I do truly believe that teachers are putting a lot of thought into why they're using a device and and why that's a why that decision is the decision that they come to at that point. That doesn't mean that we don't also then have conversations about like let's unpack that. So, um, one of one of my, um, like if I was going to define my role in the district, the top role that I would define is a coach. >> I spend a lot of time coaching. Um, which means that I spend a lot of time asking questions. And if you ask anybody in this
234district, they're going to tell you that I ask a lot of questions. Um, and really that's about helping people to be introspective and helping people to and helping me to understand better why people make decisions, but helping them to understand like for them to be able to articulate why they why they make those decisions. Um, and and so sometimes we have to have hard conversations about like this doesn't like to me as somebody coming in from the outside this doesn't necessarily feel purposeful. Let's talk through it. Um, and and so I I think we are engaging in those conversations and having hard conversations. I've been having conversations. So, we're in a budgeting process right now. I've been having conversations with coordinators about why um are we spending money on certain tools, right? So, there are
235some tools that we have used like when we implement a new um instructional practice or something like that, we will often provide um funding towards tools that could support a teacher um with those tools. At some point, we have to sunset some of those things. like you now have the talent to be able to teach those things. Do you still need those tools? Um so those are conversations that we're having. Um and and sometimes it depending on where people are in in that learning journey may need mean that we need to continue to to fund those tools. So um a teacher teaching a phonics lesson um could in early in their journey around phonics use a um a recording or something like that. somebody else um doing that work >> um because they're still on
236that learning journey. At some point we need to sunset that tool because you now have that talent. And actually we would say that we believe that students learning from humans >> um like in the space is better than learning from a recording. But sometimes we have to use those tools as a a as um something to help um you know as an aid. Yeah. >> You choose to you don't have to. So, right, but right and and we're being very deliberate about those decisions and that may look different across classrooms. That's the my defined autonomy, right? >> Um but so, so I think we spend an inordinate amount of time in classrooms and I think we spend an inordinate amount of time having those conversations with teachers, not just about technology, about everything. Yeah. >>
237Um about teaching and learning. I can spend all day talking about teaching and learning, right? Um that's why I knew what I wanted to do with my career because I can spend all this time talking about it and and and thinking through it and helping teachers to think through it in in a more deliberate way. And so that's what I see my role as as being with this. Um and I think us collectively as a central office team spend a lot of time thinking about those things. We talk about these things in meetings like we'll bring up things that we see in spaces and like why is that? I don't I like my um philosophy of leadership is you don't have to agree with every decision I make but you should understand the decisions that
238I make. >> Exactly. Um, so I, so we should be able to explain those things. If a teacher can explain to me why they need that tool right now, okay, but then how can I help you so that we don't have to use that tool three years from now or something like that, right? Right. And how can I help you to continue to grow? Our whole philosophy of of of teacher support is around continual growth. >> Um, so that's a long answer to >> Yeah. >> I think we are being very deliberate about this. >> Yeah. Okay. But it And that's fantastic. I I really appreciate that and I believe it wholeheartedly. I've seen it in practice with I I I know that's who you are, Molina. It's it shows through. Um it really does.
239Um so would you say that um you talking one-on-one with those teachers about why that tool is important at that moment and them being able to articulate it and you being able to say that makes sense. Um would you say that's um the only type of research you're doing though? I guess because that's very one-on-one and that's great, but what what about the broader understanding about devices as they you know edtech in general and how that affects kids long term? we know more and more as we know as we use more and more tech right so >> I just want to know again I always want the right people at the table you guys are educators which is amazing but you don't have time to sit here and study all the studies that have come
240out about this however that information is important so I'm in addition to local you know understanding of what what's happening I want to know that you guys are aware of and are keeping track of and are holding in priority of knowing, you know, the data around technology in our classrooms. >> I think it's super important too to to to kind of just state that, you know, as educators, we spend a lot of time with other educators outside of the district. Yeah. Um working through workshops and all kinds of different work um specifically on certain topics sometimes, sometimes open, you know, conversation. Regardless, we we do network a ridiculous amount to have these conversations. Yeah. >> Um and and that is important because we're all really more in the same spot than sometimes we even realize.
241Um there you know what I would say just to add to some of this that I do think is important. I spent a lot of time in the buildings talking about this um especially towards the end really almost talking to probably what would be every educator in the district. And what I would say is that most of our teachers are very very uh they want to have this conversation as well. They're not afraid of it. Right. >> And so like I think there's some there's some there's some real power in that. There's some there's some real um things to be excited about because it's not something that I think >> you know it's it's it's going to be one of those things where just as our team is like hey here's what's got to happen.
242They want to have that conversation alongside us. And so that's huge. >> Yeah, it is. I totally agree with that. >> Okay. Um, so, so in my eyes, because these conversations are constantly happening and because you value them, um, and because we know that technology constantly changes, one of the things that I keep thinking about and I've talked to Jason about, I've talked to Ben about this now. Um, doesn't it does it in your eyes make sense for us to have a technology committee that exists all the time rather than just during this study? >> You know, Ben and I and we were having this conversation like, wow, will we be done in two years? >> Exactly. You know, you just said my whole point. >> Yeah. Will we be done in two years? I
243mean, there there is a lot there is a lot. >> You won't be done. >> Yeah. There is a I you know, I think everything, you know, with technology is constantly changing. Um, and so, uh, I think, you know, when we wrap up that second year, there's a there's probably a very good chance we're like, well, we need to continue this work for this reason or that or the other. Um, I don't think we're afraid of that. You know, it does exist probably in other areas. >> Model for like all other departments have a curriculum committee that's standing. When you're in self-study, you have a bigger committee and then go to a smaller committee. So, I think that could be a model that we continue >> in the same way that we have because the
244other the other piece is coming out of this two-year study, we're going to end up with long range goals. We need somebody to help us implement the long. The two of us can't >> Exactly. Yeah. >> Well, and technology is just always changing. So, there will always be a new topic >> to study and and discuss. >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay, great. I love that. Um I I just really like, you know, we do a lot of things in an evergreen model and I would say technology certainly has to be one of them. Um so just having a set you know all these different stakeholders at the table to um you know look at our practices um understand best practices by you know maintaining an understanding of you know current you know trends and understanding is
245really essential for us as we go forward. So yeah um okay the other thing I'm going to ask is in the second year of this study and andor in the technology committee that will exist afterwards um one of the things that I think is important is in addition to talking to these folks these parents at the teacher in learn is to maybe do a full survey of all parents in terms of really understanding their attitudes towards technology. um not you know how much do do you know how much your child does or doesn't use it in their class uh what is your expectation expectation about their use in class do you you know I I I really would like you to as an administration to understand where parents stand on this issue um because if
246we don't if we don't ask in advance we're going to get told later anyway you know what I mean that's what's that's what happens so um I don't know what you're hearing now and I'm glad glad that you have this subset of parents, but I'm just wondering out loud whether or not just a bigger wider um outlook at all the parents at the different levels and just a really a better understanding from parents point of view how this technology is seen as a positive or maybe not so much as a positive. I mean, you're going to get the whole range of answers, right? But it'd be great for you guys to have that understanding and watch how that trends over time with different things that you roll out, etc. Um, okay. Uh, let's see. Um,
247I think I said them all. Oh my gosh. Did I really do it? Um, yeah, I think I did. Yeah, I I appreciate you listening to all those ideas about, you know, continuing this work because it it really is. Oh, one last thing. of course um AI is another reason why a text tech um committee should be I mean whether that's just part of it or a subset of the tech I just we are really going to like you said Moleno we don't have an we don't have a set like we're going to start it here and we're not going to do it here and we're we're going to allow it in this we got to do all that so this committee is essential for doing that right I I don't want just the two
248of you to be sitting at the table doing that right so I agree I think I think with AI especially, you know, it's time for a committee to really, you know, be able to manage on a consistent basis and and come up with our values, our systems, you know, in around how we teach what AI is, how to use it, what it's for, what it isn't for, you know, our those are just essential parts of um just like civics now or understanding how important that is. understanding of AI and technology is just as important now and we need to understand how to integrate it into our curriculums from K to 12. So that's my soap box. Thank you. Um the one one minor thought I had and it is minor and I'm sure you thought
249of it is when you said the students will be provided with a stylus >> like I see those being lost so fast. >> Yeah. It would be the >> I mean most kids can't keep track of their pencils. Like so >> I just want you to consider >> Yeah. No, >> the cost of those the necessity of those the replacement. >> Yeah. We we have a we have a model um we have another school district that will probably follow in this model >> of providing of providing the first one and then making it available for somebody to get should they lose their own. >> And they're not necessary. Are they necessary to use it or you can use your finger? >> Oh, you can use your finger. Okay. You could really use any stylus, right?
250But um >> I just was like >> the first one we would >> those are gonna get lost. So um >> everyone um >> in fact we could get them really >> everyone around the table asked such great questions that um all of mine have been answered. But I do just want to thank you again which has been mentioned for um listening to the teaching and learning committee that very clearly said we need more parent communication around expectations for devices at home and also for listening to us as a board last year and this fall when we adopted the personal electronics personal electronic device policy and the law went into effect that we realized if we that we're like violating our own policy like if we're letting our kids are bringing their own devices to
251school because our devices aren't meeting the needs. So thank and we asked you to quickly come up with a solution and you did. So I really do appreciate the quick work you did in researching and figuring out what the right devices are so that this one-year peri so that we figured it out in this one-year period and can now be abiding by the our own policy. So thank you for that. Um yeah, go ahead. thing. I was really happy to hear that um there are no time. Did you say this? Um this is the way I inferred this that really the only time that in K through two that every kid has a device at the same time is when they're doing assessments >> Across the grade level. Yeah. Yeah. There's no time during instruction
252in K through two where the teacher says everybody get out their iPad and they do a lesson >> in within within a classroom. That may be the case, but not across all three classrooms would not look the same at at any given time. >> Okay. But there are lessons that are given on an iPad that >> there there aren't I I would um so I would I would be cautious in how we phrase that because I I'm not sure that I would say that there are lessons that are given on an iPad. There are things where it's like we're we're engaging with the device. All of us are engaging with the device at the same time based off of dot dot dot. >> Okay. So, what I'll add to what I was saying that that
253committee could possibly do is really help um us get an understanding from our um because what I would like to if I was a parent, I'd say, well, how much are they using it? And then I thought to myself, do our teachers even understand how much they are using it? So, one of the things that I think is important for us to be able to say, you know, and have out there in public and be transparent is our students do use it this amount. They and it's for these reasons, right? I I I just wonder if we have a time you know, because I think if we if we said it's eight hours, you know, a week, maybe that's way too much for our parent group and they would say, whoa, we don't like that.
254So, those are the types of things that I'm thinking about is um you know, the amount of time spent on a screen is part of this discussion, you know, um in terms of understanding what our parents how are what they want with our, you know, technology use. >> I think that's what we were envisioning when we talked about the guidelines. Like the guidelines aren't just about the home piece, it's also about what does that look like within the within the school setting. Great. >> Yeah. >> Are we ready to read the motion? >> Has everyone asked all their questions? >> I mean, I guess my question I would love for us to like to hear from people on is there a reason that we would say no, let's do this in two parts like let's
255not do how whatever the all of it. Let's not do all of it. Now, is there a reason to not do that? I would say my understanding is a couple reasons not to is one the financing deal we were offered and two is the deployment >> reason to do it >> right >> well and also having a consistent device across >> the cycle the replacement cycle that's what I'll say >> is there a reason not those are the reasons >> right >> is there reason for us I came in here thinking I didn't want this for you. I think >> Yeah, they gave really good. Yes, you guys were very helpful in helping us understand. >> So, yeah, I I don't think I don't see a reason not to unless anyone else does after hearing
256them tonight. >> I don't either. I I mean I do think >> I I am I I do really want to hear from you how many minutes we're using where the entire class is using an iPad or just individ you know I just I do feel like part of the second year of this study needs to really understand the amount of time that the kids are on a screen and us being able to be transparent about that and and be able to justify that etc. I mean I I because I agree I'm hesitant when I think of you know I I don't love the idea of a kindergartener on an iPad. I just don't maybe half of America does and maybe you know half of America does. I don't know. I just for me there
257are you reasons to use it. It's purposeful and it's fantastic but it also doesn't have to be there. So I want to know like I just want to hear the justification for for using it and I want to know the amount of time. So, because if it's 15 minutes a day, that's very different than if it's, you know, two hours a day. >> And I think you'll hear that year, too. >> Exactly. That's what I'm saying. That's what I need. Like I >> You won't >> I won't. That's why I said you won't. >> No, I think you'll come back for that presentation. >> But I I I feel comfortable making this vote tonight, but knowing that that's what I need to hear in the future, right? Does that make sense? >> Yes. Absolutely. >>
258And just to say this explicitly because I know this is true. Just to say this explicitly, whenever we if we vote to approve this, you guys are looking at all that lower grade age appropriate decision making with an open mind. You're not because we voted for this here today going to be more inclined to use these devices that we've purchased. If you go through this process and you look at it and you say, >> you know what, we shouldn't be using uh we should never have a situation where everyone's on an iPad in the classroom. You would make that decision even though we bought these devices. Right. >> There you go. >> Yeah. Absolutely. In fact, that's a great A great closing statement, Leo. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Now, will you read the motion,
259Chris? >> Yes, I will. Everybody ready? >> Yep. >> Okay. Where is it? Um, I move to approve the purchase of student and staff computing devices from Apple in the approximate amount of $1,655,000 less the value of any device buybacks to be financed by Apple at no interest cost and payable over three annual installments and further amend the FY2025206 budget to fund payment of the first installment if it becomes due prior to June 30, 2026. >> Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. I think we've asked all of our questions. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you for all your work and research on that. Great. And great job answering our questions, too. Okay, we're moving into policy. Um >> um >> the first policy is a first and second reading
260tonight um for the student adviser to the board. Um we're doing the first and second reading tonight because we need it approved prior to selecting the next student rep to the board. So um Chris, why don't you read the motion and then we'll see if we have questions. I move that we approve policy JFBB, student advisor to the board with the recommended changes. >> Second. >> Okay. Did anyone have questions or comments about this one? >> My only wondering is on um number 10 says meet with students of diverse identities from Clayton High School, White Middle School, and all Clayton elementary schools on a regular basis. The only school that seems to be missing from that list is early childhood, which I don't believe that our student rep engages with currently, but is there any
261reason or occasion where that would you would want to include that or or the adults or the educators >> at the early point. It just seems like we >> don't we listed everybody else but not them. But maybe it's maybe that's intentional because of the age group of the children at the early childhood. It's a qu it's an open question. I'm not advocating that we need to include them or not. It's just we should be thoughtful about why they aren't there. >> Good point. >> It wouldn't be the student rep's role to meet with the parents, >> right? >> But the students, but >> I'm sure Nina would have no problem running over the families that are hanging out there for 30 minutes. >> It sounds delightful. >> We all love doing that. So my
262only question is do you just you know and the and the early childhood center >> or just change it to all of our schools or you know >> Yeah. I mean, do we think it's realistic that high school student board rep would meet with >> early child? And maybe that's the reason why it's not there. >> And I don't even know if it's appropriate. >> That's the other >> that's why I asked the question, but >> So, are we all I think it's a great question, but are we all okay leaving it off? >> Yes. >> Do you think that's best? >> Keeping it off. Okay. >> But at least it's raised the question. But I'm glad you did bring that up because I hadn't thought about that. >> Yeah. Um Pam, >> the only
263other point that we had is that number 11 was changed and I don't know if that was pointed out to everybody. Um it did say represent the views of all students while participating in board meetings and Stacy and I suggested to take out the word all because that's just not realistic. >> Great. Um okay. Any everybody okay else okay with it? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? No. Okay, that motion passes. Now the second reading of policy KH, the public gifts to the school. We read that motion, please. >> I move that we approve policy KH, public gifts to schools with the recommended changes. >> Second. >> Okay, that's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? I would make a quick comment. There is edits from the from the first reading >> and
264there was one edit explained in the narrative that was presented to you. There was a couple more edits that were made today. >> Okay. >> One of those is to the title of the section that formerly said gifts to the district foundation. That now says gifts to the Clayton >> Clayton Education Foundation. Good. Thank you. The second edit is the definition of the word gift uh which was truncated to just really refer to donations bequests etc without the ending part that said to the foundation of the district. It's really a correct corrected definition of that term doesn't really change the meeting but it's how a definition should be written. So with that I think we've enumerated all the uh the edits. Thank you. There any other questions or comments about this second reading? >> I'll
265make a comment. >> Go ahead. >> Um on the wellness committee, we're doing we're working on the um trienal assessment and we're about to you'll hear about it next month. And um one of the things that you when you go through and you talk about all the various things that are you know required of you know by law for us to think about in terms of health and wellness on our campuses is um it came up that you know should we have in policy that we wouldn't accept gifts from places like you know Marboro you know I mean that kind of thing and I I really thought about it >> cigarettes Marlboro. >> Yeah, Marlboro. >> Not a common occurrence. Another common occurrence in New York. >> Like, we're not going to take, you know,
266Jack Daniels is not going to be a sponsor for our soccer field is what I'm saying, right? I'm just saying, >> but I don't think so. I mean, that's why I'm bringing it up. We It the actual guidelines that we're supposed to be following it, it says like, "Do you have And you know, we don't have to do this. We could just get a no on this part of the survey, but it says, "Do you have a policy around, you know, not um promoting things that are unhealthy?" Basically is what it said. Not those words, but basically that's what it is. And and so I thought about this policy when I was when we were going through that. And I would say number three is appropriate for the school environment. I would hope that would
267include that we would of course never take a donation from Jack Daniels, but I just want to throw out there that um it is something that the people that think about health and wellness in schools have thought about >> is you know let's think about who we're accepting gifts from because we wanted that to be appropriate and and promote health and wellness versus the opposite. >> And it does say >> and the way we deal with that is that we bring those to you. They're on our donations are here so that the board can accept or reject those and that would be one of the considerations. >> Exactly. >> Yes. That would >> and it also says in deciding whether to accept it, the superintendent and the board have to, you know, agree >> exactly
268>> that it's appropriate. So >> Exactly. >> Yeah. I feel fine with it. I thought about it a lot but I just wanted to point out that that is you know health and wellness comes into everything all these policies including gifts >> and that's great it should >> all those in favor >> I any opposed okay that motion passes and just one more is rescending policy FFA because it's been merged into it's been merged um into policy KH so we read that I move to rescend policy FF FA Memorials on Facilities and Grounds. >> Second. >> Okay. Any questions or comments about why that's being rescended? All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. That passes and Okay. Sorry, now I lost my place. Okay. Oh, now we're moving to consent. Will you
269read that motion, please? >> I move that we approve consent agenda items 7.2 through 7.9. Um, before we vote, I just want to read about a donation, um, which we always do publicly out of consent. On behalf of the district, the board of education would like to thank the Reynolds family for their generous donation of $1,200 to the social worker discretionary fund. So, thank you to that family. Very generous donation. All those in favor? >> I Any opposed? I just have one comment on the so the I just wanted to point out the cooperative boys volleyball scholarship. So that's yet another example of our cooperation with other school or sponsorship. >> Yeah. >> Um it's another example where our schools are cooperating with other schools to give our students opportunities that they otherwise wouldn't have
270because we don't have the participation numbers that we need. So, um, we've seen this now in girls field hockey, in our football program at the high school, and now in boys volleyball, we do it also in academic programs like Catalyst. >> Um, so it's, you know, it's a good thing. So, even though um, you know, we can we we have all these opportunities to give our kids the existing opportunities that we're expecting to have when they get to certain levels of the school. And I appreciate that the district um through Steve Hudson and um you know through you Nisha and in the case of Catalyst through the curriculum coordinators and everybody else the the pre-professional track stuff that's happening um that we still have those. Yeah. So thank you for pointing that out. Yeah. Right.
271>> Um wait did we vote or not? >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I Okay. Any opposed? Okay. Consent agenda passes. So, now we're on board communications. I will start with Ben or Leo on CRSWC. I think you had a meeting. >> Yeah, we had a CRSWC meeting. Couple items on the agenda. We had a good uh discussion around replacing the the scoreboard or the the swimming timing system um that's used for competitions. and uh expect that may come up for a vote at our next meeting, but we had a good conversation around it and uh >> of course um and uh you know so everything's going great. >> Okay. Anything to add to that, Ben? No. Okay. Um Chris, did you have a governing council meeting you want to tell us about that?
272>> Yes. um the governing council meeting. Several things. First, um we got a pack update, which we always do, but this one um what they're trying to do is restructure pack. They found that many participating partner districts don't have a a very robust pack within their district. So now the the pack at SSD is trying to do a better job of sort of centralizing all the pack and having so there's going to be some outreach around that and some more discussion, but they're really trying to reinvent that program so that it it touches more families because in certain districts it's touching no families. So they're trying to really help that process. Um, we're lucky that we have what we have and each district can continue to have whatever they want, but they're trying to do
273a better job of making sure that every family in SSD is aware that there are is a parent, you know, committee that they can go to for um the other thing we did was we oh, they discussed the FY25 audit was clean. So, that was great. Um, that was good good news to hear. and we did the um board of election the SSD board of elect board of education elections um one is was contested um and we have to vote again even though we voted three times never changed so we got to vote again in June and we'll do that but um otherwise we have um some new board of board of education members over there and that's it right >> thank you um I had a PTO council meeting um I would They they
274they talked they are still kind of in continuous talks like with Gina about the new website and how to use their um you know each PTO has kind of a web page within the school and they're adjusting to how to use that with the new website. But I think that um the new website actually as they're realizing is going to be much more useful and user friendly for them to push out information. That was part of the conversation. I would say the other part was around Prop O and how PTO's can help support Prop O. Um they ultimately all decided um each school kind of had different feelings about it, but they decided as a collective group that all each school's PTO is doing a um DO D O U G for Prop O night.
275They are doing a mod pizza fundraiser night or day and night I should say. I think on March 31st, you might have seen it on social media where they are donating. Mod Pizza will donate a percentage of the proceeds to Prop O in name of all the schools PTO's. So, um I think it's great that as a collective group, they've kind of all decided to do something together. Um, I also wanted to highlight a few of us went to the Celebration of Black Achievement, which is just an in I'm sorry Cameron's not here um to hear this, but those of us that attended I think would all agree it is a really great event. Um, I would love to work on getting more people there because I actually would feel bad that more people didn't
276see this. It's really great that we highlight our own black alumni and their successes and they are so proud. Oh, and our current students and current students. The alumni are so proud to have come from Clayton High School. They each every year talk about that a lot and they have such great memories and relationships with teachers and specific me specific memories of classes and teachers and that got them to where they are today. Anyway, and yes, we involved our students from elementary on up in the program and and I just think it's great. So, um thank you to those board members that attended that as well and community members. And also just wanted everyone to know we had a great meeting um with some former board of education members to educate them on Propo O
277and took them on a tour of Gayfield to see the facilities there. um which I hadn't actually toured the facilities yet either. So that was eye opening for me as well to see the needed changes over there. Um and it's always great regardless to engage with former board members. Um like we like Dr. Heller mentioned Frank earlier I think >> because you're almost one >> because I'm almost one but I think you know they have such historical knowledge um to share which is valuable. So I always enjoy getting together with that group. So that was good too. Anything? Anybody else attended? I don't think so. Okay, we can adjourn. Chris move that the board of education adjourn.