001All right, I've got 7:30 on the clock. We are going to start our educational services committee meeting. Apologies if I misspeak. I've been running policy for the last year, so I might uh trip up on the language sometimes. Uh but with that being said, it looks like everyone's in attendance and we're going to move on to our first section of the agenda, which is public input. Uh the board is going to allow for public input on anything that is included on the agenda or that would be agenda for this committee. Uh we allow two minutes per person to speak. Um we do ask that people would fill out a card and uh would state their name and address when they do come up to the podium. If anyone would like to speak now, please uh
002go ahead. >> Good morning. My name is David Burn. Watertown School District has clear policies for evaluating instructional materials. Those policies emphasize educational value, age appropriateness in alignment with curriculum standards. The 57 bus meets those standards. It's supported by professional educators, librarians, [clears throat] national literary organizations because it helps students develop empathy for people different from themselves to think critically and analyze complex situations. These are skills that are essential for adulthood and citizenship. Removing this book would not protect students. It would limit them. It would send the message that difficult conversations are too dangerous for school, that our students cannot be trusted to engage with real events in a guided age appropriate way. This book asked students to think about race, gender identity, harm, accountability in the juvenile justice system. These are real issues affecting
003real young people across our country. Discomfort or fear of complexity is not a valid basis for removing curriculum. Complexity is not inappropriate. I urge the board to uphold its own policies, trust the professional judgment of our educators and our librarians, trust our families, and most of all, trust our students. Our educators are capable of doing their jobs. Our community is capable of engaging with challenging material without retreating from it. And our students are growing up in a complicated world. It is our responsibility to help them be ready for it. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Morning. My name is Mary Edstrom Fox, 208 William Street, Watertown. This is regarding the question about the wind ensemble piece that has been recently added to the agenda. It's mostly an educational expose. Fascism definition from Google Gemini which
004searches and summarize the entire internet as of today. Fascism is a far-right authoritarian and ultra-istic political ideology characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, and forcible suppression of opposition. Emerging in early 20th century Europe, it prioritizes nation and often race over individual rights, aiming for social economic regimentation and the creation of a people's community. Quote, key components of fascism include ultra nationalism, placing the nation above all else, often rooted in the myths of rebirth from decadence. Cult of tradition, rejection of modernism in favor of an idealized romanticized past. Fear of difference. Exploiting fear of outsiders or minority groups. Obsession with plots proposing that the nation is under threat from internal and external conspiracies. selective populism, claiming to represent the will of the people while ignoring individual rights. Note, while often aligned with conservative values,
005it differs from traditional conservatism through its revolutionary desire to create a new forced social order. Fascism comes in all shapes and sizes. >> Excuse me, Mary. Uh, I would ask you to wrap up your comments at this time. That's been two minutes. >> Fascist attacks on musicians have historically involved violence, censorship, and intimidation to silence descent, particularly in authoritarian regimes. Examples include attacks on artists during the Chilean honta such as targeting of lost pino boys in 1984. Protest music contest. Historically, musicians who openly oppose fascis fascist or authoritarian ideologies such as Woody Guthrie who wrote, "This land is your land. This land is my land have been targets of state or fascist aligned intimidation. These actions demonstrate a broader pattern of using physical violence to suppress artistic expression that challenges or fails to support >>
006fascist ideology. >> Thank you, Mary. >> You're welcome. >> Anyone else like to speak? >> Good morning, Barb Weiss. I live in Watertown. I'm going to make this short and sweet. The music department followed your procedures that you set up. Parents were given significant information. they were given time to do the process. You need to you need to honor your own process and let the music department do their job. Thank you. >> Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak? Hearing none. Uh with that, we'll move on to the next item on our agenda, which is the spring act 20 assessment window update. All right, I'll let you guys take it away. >> Yeah, and I invited Dasha Kyler to join us. She is one of our elementary instructional coaches as well as the uh
007district reading specialist. Um and we're just here to share the information regarding um the spring as web assessments. As you know, um we are required to um sorry, I'm just trying to pull that up. Okay, we are required to do the AI this year based on act 20. Um and we are closely tracking that data. This is our first year with a oh second year sorry with as web plus assessment um and for any student below the 25th percentile um we are um actively engaged in writing a reading plan for them to boost their literacy skills. Dasha, I'm going to just turn it over to you so I don't steal all your comments and then I will add some um if I think of any or if the committee has any questions for us. >>
008Well, I think Jenny kind of summarized it really well. Um she's pulled up the data. I know you've also uh received it email. So, you can take a look at our uh data for this year. Um 4K isn't required to do testing in the fall or uh the winter is not an incomplete assessment. It's just an initial sounds. It isn't to test like it is in the spring. So that's why you do not see data for 4K in those two areas. I guess um I'll turn it over to you. What questions do you have about it? >> Go ahead, Dan. What happened in first grade that Okay, >> I wish I could say there is one root cause. Okay. Um remember kindergarten and first grade there's a composite score. So that means students are taking
009about four different subtests to get that 25th percentile where second and third grade are doing what's called an oral reading fluency which is measuring how many words they read per minute. And it's a real simple it's one test you know there's a direct correlation. So, um, looking at first grade a little bit, it it could be a wide variety of factors. Um, sometimes it's they didn't score well on one of those four subtests or it's they're not uh big enough. You know, these are six and seven year olds and, you know, when they read or name letters, they they may do it at a pace that's like this versus like, hey, do it as fast as you can because you have one minute to get, you know, the whole page right. So, um, it may
010just mean that they're not quite as automatic with that skill yet. They're still taking their time and processing, which kind of tells them to do as a reader, right? We don't want them just to speed read and not understand what they're doing or make careless mistakes. So, I guess I wish I could say it is one root problem or one test that was a factor, but it was one of these. It could have been multiple things and really we're not sure yet um how to measure which one of those subtests is the most important. You know, like is there one that relies that relates really well to that composite score or are they all treated equally in that composite score? >> Same followup. >> Go ahead. >> Um so what do we do now? I
011mean how will we and we're going to be watching them obviously but >> yes. So because we did this assessment in April, we still had, you know, six or seven weeks left of school. So to update our reading plans, um students who maybe had now fallen below the 25th percentile. So like we had kind of those kids who maybe were skimming at like the 27th percentile in winter now were like, "Whoops, the 24th." We've made sure that we've scooped them up. We've notified parents, given them the reading plan. We're progress monitoring them weekly. We've got them in really strong interventions. Um, we may have changed some interventions like maybe they were in a group of like three and now like their score isn't improving. Let's put them in a group of two or a group
012you know oneon one or double dip them with reading core if possible. So we we've made adjustments for those fragile kids that we want to really make sure that they're getting a really strong finish this year. I do think a highlight for me when we take a look at this um we want to have less than 25% of our students below the 25th percentile. In theory, we'd like to have 0% of our kids below the 25th percentile. Um but I am pleased to see that in each one of those areas um we are seeing fewer than 25% of our kids below the 25th percentile. Obviously not um wanting to maintain that, always wanting to work for improvement. Um, I also will just point out that that line with third grade, if you remember correctly, if
013we have students who have not exited their reading plan, we need to offer intensive summer school. Our principles and third grade team are working through the process right now to be in contact with families about uh the stipulations as it relates to third grade. Um, and just it's we're brand new to that process this year. Um, and so always looking to um improve that process as well. But that's the line that will be offering intensive summer school program. Ideally in the future, to your point about first grade, what we would love to do, and I think we're looking at the third grade as sort of a pilot this summer, but maybe in future years, trying to provide more intensive summer school at an earlier grade level so we can boost kids up and out um
014rather than waiting till the third grade. By policy and by law, it's at third grade and beyond that you need to offer that intensive summer programming. We're going to see how it works this year. um and hopefully implement that at younger grade levels in the future as well. >> Any other questions? >> Go ahead. >> Not having been here on the board for last year at this time, is this an improvement from last year? Just what you expected uh when you see from winter to spring to see improvement. So how does that gauge over time? >> So I Oh. Um, so it it is significantly better than our spring percentages of a year ago. Um, for example, we had like 30% of our third graders on reading plans at the end of third grade last
015year. And as you can see, we've got, you know, 19% this year. So it is each grade, every grade level has seen a decrease in number of reading plans this year compared to last year's scores. >> Good. I was hoping to look at it that way. I thought >> Yeah. I do want to point out a caveat is which is that as web readjusted their norms um hadn't readjusted them previously. So in some ways it's not apples to apples that makes a difference. >> Um but I do feel like in each grade level besides first grade we have seen an improvement um from fall to spring and typically what we find is improvement from just generally with assessment an improvement from fall to winter and then sometimes a a dip back in spring again. And
016we really only saw that in first grade this year, which I think is a combination of factors. I think the new literacy curriculum is very closely aligned to the assessment. And I think our teachers are um becoming more familiar with the assessment and understanding how to help support kids with that. Um so I think those factors are playing a role. >> Good. Thank you. Any other questions? Um, the only question that I have that's similar to questions I've asked in the past about literacy assessments. Um, is there any way that we could reach out to Ames Web or we could um kind of break out the data so we could see at other percentile break points where our student population is at in these early literacy categories, you know, like at like how many kids
017are at or above the 60th percentile or the 85th percentile or things like that. Just out of curiosity. >> Yep. And that's absolutely true. we had pulled together. >> Sure. Thanks. >> Is there any data point in particular you're looking for or like if we did 255075? >> Yeah, that would be fine by me. Yeah. Um just out of curiosity besides that I think it's uh it's it's good. I always appreciate getting an update on this. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Have nothing else. So if we have Yeah. If we have any further questions, we can move on to our next discussion which is HMH into reading updates. >> Yeah. This is something that um we had added um when we had adopted that we would just be doing um check-ins throughout the year about
018HMH into reading. If you remember, this was um uh the first year of implementation. The board roughly a year ago adopted HMH into reading. Um and so we just wanted to review how the first year of implementation has gone. If you remember, we're in our first year of HMH into reading at the elementary level and second year of bridges math. So we've been asking our teachers for a pretty heavy lift at the elementary level in addition to a complete change in assessment as well as a complete change in some of the online resources that we have used in the past. So our elementary teachers certainly have been busy and dedicated to their students. Um this just outlines what we have done for professional development on professional development days. Um, we worked with an HMH trainer
019in August and this is where we had the day where the staff came in early August and swapped out their March staff development day where they did their initial rollout training. In October, we had another HMH trainer come in, worked on uh knowledge, language skills, vocabulary. And then in February, we followed up with comprehension and small group instruction with that HMH trainer. Um, we had the opportunity to have an HMH coach come in November. Um, we set up visits at Douglas and Shurers, the elementary principles and the elementary literacy coaches and I kind of followed along. Um, we observed in classrooms, sort of debriefed together about what was going well, um, what our next steps might be. Our staff has been involved obviously on their, um, PLC time on Wednesday afternoons, um, collaborating and sharing
020problem solving a little bit. Um and really working on aligning our assessments to the essential standards that we had worked on a bit ago now. Um and then obviously we're really working on implementing that science of reading. Um this is very very very clear that that explicit systematic phonics instruction on that day in November. was like really really clear when we went from um like kindergarten through I believe we went through like fourth and well we were in a fifth grade classroom too and you could just really see the scope and development of those um skills um in fifth grade really working hard on vocabulary pieces understanding roots of words um really just integrating that fluency vocabulary and comprehension um and then we just all noted is that that foundational skills instruction was just much
021more um consistent across grade levels and across schools in our district. So um next steps for 2026 and beyond just understanding that differentiation within the curriculum um small group instruction and really targeting that instruction to the skills that the students need. Really wanting to revisit our focus standards and our standardsbased grading. um obviously always continue our instructional coaching to refine our instruction um and using that data to drive our instructional decisions especially as it relates to that small group work and then really increasing our alignment across our grade levels. So those are our goals for 2026 and beyond with our implementation. >> Go ahead. Um any teacher comments that are not worthy or they feel? >> It's a good question. I think um to be honest, there were some bumps in the road techn technology-wise
022when we first got started. Um we have an amazing team with Ashley and our instructional coaches in supporting our staff in making sure that the technology was not getting in the way of the instruction. Um I think I've mentioned this in the past, a lot of our platforms have um across all of our curriculum have um more uh technology based. In this case, it was teachers like using a presentation or a slideshow mode. Um, so I think that was a little bit challenging. Um, I do think our teachers are noticing our alignment to science of reading. As you remember a year ago, we had completed the um ACT 20 reading training keys to literacy and I think people are really noting um a correlation between that and our our instruction instructional. Well, Da Ashley, what
023would you add about teacher comment? No, I would just say that feedback is that it moves quickly. Um, and so that's been an adjustment. Just that like pacing piece has been an adjustment. Um I do I classrooms with teachers that teachers do say I never knew my kids to know this much about you know like these kids know soft and bars and they know when to use it in first grade where they in the past they may not have. >> Um so I think that repetition that's built in to our curriculum of always kind of reviewing those old skills um helps kids remember it better. So I I have heard that yes, that has really helped. Um if like any new curriculum in this day and age, it's really dense. There's a lot to it.
024And so there's a lot for teachers to figure out. Um and there's a lot for us as coaches to help support and kind of, you know, find the for the trees and the forest like these are the big ideas we really need to hit upon. So that will be one of our charges here next year. >> Yeah. We should have never left phonics. The uh I imagine the teachers are doing professional development every chance they get a break to talk to each other too and they're sharing ideas and stuff. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> And I'm fortunate enough that I can be in lots of different classrooms and in a school or you know even within a grade level. So like when we get together I can be like hey know you should you know
025this worked really slick in so and so's room. there might be something you want to try whether it's you know a transition piece or just some you know um a lot of the science of reading ideas are based on [clears throat] repetition and and routines which is really great for a lot of kids but also by the spring the engagement can sometimes wither a little bit because we've been doing this the exact same way since September so being able to share some of the ideas of like well I tried it you know even something simple I tried it with a dry erase board versus a piece of you know, like things like that that just kind of try to keep kids engaged and just sharing ideas of what's working with, you know, across the grade
026level. >> Great. You asked the questions I would have asked and you said a great thing. I didn't the teachers didn't know they could learn this this quickly, this early [clears throat] >> and I've been there and done that in the schools I've been in and that's so true. So, I'm glad you're seeing that. Thank you. >> Yeah, that's great. >> Yeah. Do you have any questions, Christina? >> I'm getting caught up on everything. >> A couple more weeks and then I'll be in. >> Yeah. No, I agree with David that Dan's questions were were as good as it gets. Um I I don't think I have anything else to ask at this time. Um if we don't have any others, we'll move on to our next item of discussion, the 57 bus book discussion.
027Um this is this was brought up by Dory Hoffman [clears throat] at the last fiscal meeting. uh it was purchased under tech and we just wanted some more context about the uh reason that that was purchased. >> Okay. And I'm gonna turn it over to Jason. >> Sure. Thank you. I uh since fiscal uh did some research and I wrote down six things that I've learned and so the first thing was that this book was connected to our purchase at a Denver charter school. And the reason it shows up as technology is that it's processed through the uh office of technology innovation data. So the purchase was stored. [clears throat] I spoke to the lead teacher of Endeavor just for more context and learning from myself. So Judy Miller is the lead teacher there. She
028purchased the book due to student interest >> and she uh Judy wants to read the book before it goes on the shelves of Endeavor. And when I spoke to her, she had not read it yet. It was actually at her home. So, she wanted to do that. She did say that uh it came to light because a student had used uh this book from a different source and other books as part of a project. And as we know that endeavor is a projectbased learning environment and that project every project at endeavor really is a reflection of collaboration between staff student and family things that I worked on that I learned since fiscal any questions from the committee. Uh the only question that I have is um and it's maybe it would be more of an
029action item since the teacher hasn't read it yet. When we do get to the point where the teacher has read the book, maybe we could do a followup and find out what the findings are. >> Any other thoughts? >> Okay. Um well, nothing else. We can move on to our last item on the agenda, the spring concert, controversial issues in the classroom policy 2240. Um little bit of context. Uh over the weekend, we started receiving uh messages and communications from uh people in the district uh whether it was parents or or others who were concerned about a uh a song that's going to be played at the upcoming uh concert on May 18th. Um they were concerned about one of the items that had an opt out uh an opt out form that went along
030with it. And uh so we decided to put it on ad services just so we could get a little bit of context about the song that's being performed, how it was uh how it was selected, any additional materials or lessons that went along with that song, things like that. So whoever wants to start, >> I'm gonna throw it over to Mr. Bull again. >> I can start us off. Certainly it's a collaborative effort. um spent time with Jenny Jason Whitaker Reed uh yesterday and for me it was just helpful to create a timeline and so everyone should I believe this is a board docs and uh there's hard copies and so use this as a platform for discussion knowing that Reed is also here to help me and answer questions and so I'll just walk
031us through this timeline and pause where there may questions or further context from Reed or Jenny or anyone and so does everyone have this right here and so really started with uh spring of 2025 so like a year ago so uh there's um at that time some conversations and thinking about the the fourth coming year and so at this time a year ago there was u music selected for the following year. And this specific piece of music was selected for the in the notes section there for those those reasons. It reflected advanced rigor and skills. Many of the students that would play this selection have been part of the music program for years. So we want to continue to increase the rigor of the skills that are required. uh did align with curricular goals and
032identified standards. Uh from the instructor Reed's perspective, the music was interesting interesting to listen to and that it was dis different from other selections that this group had navigated prior. Again, just remembering that these students have been part of the program for multiple years. Uh then we uh fast forward to October of and there was a draft draft draft letter to families developed by Lee and shared with the high school principal. I believe that is also in board docs. Uh I don't believe it's dated but the first letter that went out to families is this one. It's in board docs. I believe you have hard copies as well. And so reed drafts this letter, shares it with uh principal Whitaker and then there's a discussion between uh Mr. Whitaker and Superintendent approves the letter being
033shared with families. So that's in October. Uh in October again, uh this letter, this first letter goes out to all families uh via Skyward and Rooms. And shortly thereafter, uh, late October, early November, there are three students, I think, representing two families that request an opt out option. And then one family just has some questions that they have would like answers to. And so Reed follows up with uh those uh three opt out uh students just saying, "Hey, I received your opt out request and we have some time. So please look for further communication and conversation as the year progresses and then connects with the one family and has questions. At that time that family decides not to opt out. that those conversations with different families really sparked the creation of a second letter uh
034that I think is pretty comprehensive. I believe this is also more docs and part of the handouts. So this second letter then goes out late October, early November um just u based on the conversations to further clarify and offer context to let me pause there if there's any questions or read if I missed anything questions thus far. All right, we go I'm going to flip the page here. So if you're looking at electronic scroll down there in um late October, early November again, uh students then get the audio recordings of uh the music just to start listening to the music. I think that's pretty uh typical and progress to learn music piece. In January of 2026, uh then the sheet of music is actually purchased. And so, um, JW Pepper, I learned, was a major
035or the largest music distributor in the United States. And so, that's purchased from JW Pepper. And there's a number of things purchased at that time. And two of them are the mother of a revolution which according to JW Pepper's website rating scale is rated at a medium uh difficulty level. And then for the alternative piece uh the purchase is made of a movement by Rosa and that's rated by JW Pepper as medium or advanced. >> I'll clarify that wasn't that wasn't a purchase. That was something we already had in the library. >> Okay. Thank you. Any questions on that? Then in February, uh students receive sheet music to identify for spring concert. And then those students just requested an alternate opportunity received that, you know, different piece of sheet music to start learning and and
036playing. February, there's also a time where uh Reed then works with the students that have that alternate piece to collaboratively develop a plan for practice in class time. uh uh what support looks like and what assessments may may look like and that happens in February um February to May really have been focused on stylistic fusion and that's really learning the skills needed to play the music and stylistic fusion really is part of that that first letter and it speaks to blending concert jazz and and disco and so from what I understand is that's really just developing the skill skills needed to play the actual music. And so that's been going on from February to uh May. Also, uh that time period, uh Reed has been doing regular check-ins with those three students that have an
037alternate piece of work to be played. Uh really collaboratively talking about the assessment, checking in on the progress, whatever support is needed. um and then uh decided that the assessment of that will come from either recording uh of them playing that music or uh or demonstration of that uh directly with me. Uh there's also some time dedicated to collaboratively thinking about what the spring concert will look like. So when this uh when the uh mother of resolution is played those students will just uh be asked to the plan is to leave the stage for the time where others are coming and going and read is talking so they can do that discreetly as possible. uh early May also the playlist is finalized. That playlist I believe is also in Gore docs. Um has four songs
038for the concert band and four pieces for Wind Symphony. Uh so that's also in Bordox and I believe you have a hard copy. As of yesterday, the name of the concert had yet to [clears throat] be determined. We know that the concert is scheduled for May 18th for that event as the broadcast. And then the last piece here is really if you look at that first letter, there's other components or goals representation in music, music as activism, historical context, and emotional communication. Those pieces will kind of turn the attention of of Reed and the students kind of now to May 15th to really bring home the understanding of this piece of >> Reed. U what did I miss and what was mine is pretty pretty well documented there. Why did you feel it was appropriate?
039Like if you have complaints from parents, why are you picking music that you thought or you knew that other parents were having issues with? Why did you feel like it was a good idea to continue with it? >> First, I'd like to say that there were no complaints from parents. >> Well, you had three people opting out. >> Um, three people opting out, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're complaining. Um, in my opinion, um, since then, by the way, new information, uh, a conversation that had happened, uh, just yesterday, actually, uh, two of the three students have opted back into learning and rehearsing the piece in class since, uh, since we've begun. So um you know part of my job is to not only ensure that students are learning the skills they need to be
040successful and that is physical skills of playing an instrument making music um but also all of the other skills that they're learning in their other coursework combine into what we do in music. I think uh Mr. Burn spoke very eloquently at the beginning. Uh it wasn't about my topic, but the words that he was saying about how we help students to to grow as responsible citizens and participants in society, I think I think is important. Um but aside from all of that, my the trickiest part of my job is to select music that will resonate with students that will based on the way it sounds engage them. Just like if you were to look at a piece of art, if you go into an art museum, there's going to be a couple pieces on the
041wall that resonate more with you. You're just something about it you connect with. You might not know anything about that that work other than what it looks like. And in our case, the students might not know anything about the piece of music other than what it sounds like. And my job is to pick music that is varied so that I've got a great chance of hooking at least every student up with one piece of music that means something or resonates with them at the end of the concert say that was my favorite piece. 15 years after graduation they can think back to a concert they performed and said you know what that one that was my favorite piece I ever played on a concert. They might not even know why, but it connects with them.
042And so this piece specifically or any piece that I select is designed to uh be varied in style so that it might grab some of the students in the classroom in that sense. Does that answer your question? >> So when you're personally picking out these music is what you're saying. >> Sure. I do make the selections. >> Okay. So, you put a lot of thought and effort into everything that you picked up. >> I do. I use a lot of resources to help me make decisions. Yes. >> Okay. >> What uh what additional material were you using to help students? Uh I think let me see if this uh develop personal interpretations that consider creators intent. When you're talking about the creator's intent for this piece, what was the material that you were using? >>
043There has been none at this point. >> Okay. >> So, up to this point, our study of the composition has simply been the notes and rhythms on the page. We are learning the skills to be able to perform that composition. We are just now getting to a point where we're going to start exploring the composer's intent. Um and and really the larger picture is how artists of any kind um anyone in the public eye really uses their skill, their talent, their position to inspire them to create something. We don't have to agree with what was created or why it was created. uh to be able to enjoy what was created. Um and I think students learning and understanding that and discussing um sorry I don't have my technology with me. Um, you know, learning and
044and and discussing how artists can tell stories, I think, is is really important. Um, and so to this point, again, there's been no additional materials. The students have received a recording and they've received the music itself. Um, so would you mind sharing with us what the what the composer's intent was with this piece of music? >> Sure. The composer uh Omar Thomas uh a worldrenowned up and cominging composer um young composer um composed this piece uh on commission. So there was an organization that uh a college that decided they wanted piece of music written by Mr. Thomas. And so they reached out to him and said, "Would you please write us a piece?" um here are some of our thoughts and away you go. And so he composes a piece based on what he believes
045to be a important uh moment in American history. Um and that is the Stonewall uprising, the Stonewall riots, the Stonewall movement has various names. Um this was a get my page. This was a I guess you could call it a social justice movement um in uh the 1960s, late 1960s, 1969 in New York City um uh involving um gender rights, gender equality uh at the time. and uh he felt so moved by that bit of American history to compose a piece of music that in his mind is is celebrating that moment in in our American history. >> Thank you. >> Go ahead. >> Did you did you find that from the consult with Jada Peppers? >> Did I did I know that ahead of time? composers in terms of uh what they were thinking about
046when they wrote the piece. Maybe it doesn't maybe only talks about the technical aspects of the piece. In this case, there's no technical information. It just talks about the the history behind why uh he decided to write what he wrote. Um from that point I'm cross referencing uh lists for merit. So there's a Wisconsin uh school music association uh list of music that is um agreed on by a panel of uh highly regarded music educators throughout the state. Um this piece is actually on the class A list which is the most difficult level of that list. Um, and it's well known that any uh by by educators around around the country, really every state has a list uh that music on that list is of high quality and um and offers amazing opportunities for students
047in the classroom. Um as as side note, another state uh listed is Indiana nearby. Um it's on their prescribed music list at the highest level of grade five. So, it's a piece of music that's gaining uh traction since its debut in in 2019. >> Follow. >> Go ahead. >> Well, when I read this, uh you had a consult with them asking for an alternate piece. Is that Do I read that Craig? >> Uh can you explain consult with >> Well, there's a bullet point that says consult of JW Pepper. >> Yeah, that No, that's the wrong that's the wrong verbiage. Um, I didn't con consult with Pepper. Pepper is simply a music distributor. It's a website. You go online, you can find millions of pieces of music uh for all sorts of ensembles all the
048way down to solo selections. >> But you were looking for an alternate piece. >> No, I was not >> for the for the students who had chosen to opt out of this. >> I selected that piece from our library. We already had that. Um, I wanted to select something that was at the same uh difficulty level [clears throat] that hit many of the same learning targets um that are a part of uh the piece in question. Sure. Well, um we definitely appreciate Oh, sorry. Go ahead, David. >> Just curious, you said two of the three opted back in. >> Can you say why they opted back in? Uh well there was a student uh of the of the three one of them um just yesterday uh did not per our classroom expectations excuse herself from
049rehearsal um when we pulled this piece up at the very end of rehearsal yesterday and um I couldn't catch the student at the end of the rehearsal of the conversation. So, I reached out uh to the parent and I said, "Hey, I just wanted to let you know that your child didn't excuse themselves today. We were within the last few minutes of class. It was it was not I didn't feel in a comfortable position to call them out in front of all of their peers and make a big scene. So, I made sure not to say anything about the piece other than the notes and the rhythms on the page. There was no disc as there has been no discussion about >> the other content uh regarding the composer's intent yet to this date. Um,
050I felt pretty confident and comfortable that it wasn't going to be a huge issue um to not suspend what we were working on for those five to seven minutes at the end of class and destroy our our focus in the classroom. So, I said I reached out to the parent and um he said that back in uh November we must have had a misunderstanding uh that his in intent was not for the students to be pulled from uh the learning of the piece in the classroom um dayto-day. he did not feel comfortable with them performing on the concert. >> Okay, that's what I was just saying. >> So, uh we've uh further communicated back and forth uh yesterday evening and um we've come up with a solution that works for his children. Um they'll participate
051in the learning of the piece in the classroom discussions. Uh but for the concert again, we'll we'll make it a nice way for them to very discreetly uh move around the stage and and just go off into the wing during the performance. So, >> and the other one, >> uh, I've had no communication since the original opt out, um, back in the end of November or excuse me, end of October. >> There was two that opted back in. >> Yeah. The third uh, that student has just been uh, leaving the classroom when we work on uh, this selection and they come back when uh, when we're finished. for the second person who opted back in. In other words, there were two you talked about. One that opted back in, another one opted back in >>
052recently. >> Those two are siblings. >> Oh, okay. All right. >> Same family. >> All right. Got it. [clears throat] >> So, there's two in one if that makes sense. The two have come back. >> Sure. Um, so are you playing are you having the the children play the the alternate piece at the concert? >> That would not be uh that would not put them in a position to succeed. Uh, three musicians playing a piece that's written for 40 uh isn't going to be very meaningful. Um, and uh it was not my intent to have the entire ensemble play that alternative assessment. >> Thank you. So, they'll participate with with the rest of the concert. And that was laid out um I believe in my first communication or the followup communication only >> and they're
053going to record what they the alternate pieces. >> Correct. It will be it will be yes, they well now it will be just the one student who will be recording the alternate uh material. Uh I will have the two students that are opting back in for the rehearsals. they will uh perform that individually as a play test. Um our our grading is based on performance at the concert. That's our public assessment. And then we have our individual assessments where students play along with a recording and a click track. So they put on headphones uh or over a speaker uh and they record themselves playing through sections of the music uh from all of the selections and then they're given a individual assessment grade based on that. So all of the students will have that individual
054assessment uh except for now the one student who is still continuing to opt out of learning the music. >> What did the parents say to you as to the reason they wanted to pull their children? >> Well, one student uh or the one parent um I I'm not going to go into exact uh detail because I don't recall I haven't read the email since late October. Um it was a pretty personal attack. I'll be I'll be honest. Um at that time I did include communication with uh board president uh Wartman. He was involved in communication as well. Um I was uh trying to make sure everyone aware was aware of what was going on um in that situation because of of what happened this weekend. Um and and that traction uh on social media can
055be a strong thing. And uh back in October I was concerned about what that might what might come of that. uh at the time uh when those parents started responding. Um of the two communications uh one was very um professional and the other was not. >> Go ahead. >> Um when you chose this piece, >> yes. >> Were there alternate pieces you were also looking at? >> I would say get yes and no. Uh not necessarily in this context. So when I start researching music, I've already I have a current list right now. Uh it's kind of a running list. So as you as like if you're if you're reading a book or watching a movie or TV show and you talk with someone, they say, "Oh, have you heard this piece or have you
056have you read this book? It's fantastic. I really enjoyed it." Well, then you put that on your list. And you say, "Oh, maybe sometime I'll read that book or maybe I'll watch that TV show." And so I have a current list of of material. Um, and I usually begin looking at the following year with with that material in mind. Um, and I select some things off of that list. And then as I start kind of building what each concert is going to look like, uh, very loosely, I start to fill in the gaps with music of a very repertoire, right? Um, so the idea being that um, we want some things that are um, smooth flowing and lyrical. We want some selections that are more aggressive. We want some selections that fit into certain categories
057or buckets. My goal is to try to fill all of those buckets to make sure students are getting that wide range of of uh content or or exposure to different styles of music. And so I would say no that there was not another piece on the list that would have fit into this bucket. If that makes sense. >> It does. Um, so one of the points of discussion uh when this first came up was about standards for music education. And it seems to me that there was some confusion between what I see on the second or the back page of your opt- out form, which look to be the state standards, and the >> uh key topics on the front. Can you clarify for me whether any of those key topics on the front are
058are state standards? I was not able to find those in the state or the federal standards, but I might have missed something. >> The topics on the front, >> yes, >> are a more descriptive way. I would I would personally say that personally say that those fit with inside of of the umbrella of the standards themselves. Sure. >> I don't have the document yet. >> Yeah. An interpretation of the more general standards. >> Correct. I was trying to kind of generalize and give a little bit more detail and and I think what I've learned through this process is that I probably should have gone into even greater detail as I did in that second letter out to families um to really lay out what will and will not be discussed and how this would be
059handled. Um I think part of the initial uh um concern from some of those families was because my initial document didn't give enough clear information. Um, yeah, and I I do think uh absolute credit where credit's due. I think that you did a great job adhering to the controversial issues policy with the way that you sent this out, the timeliness of it. I I really appreciate that personally. Um, so, uh, any any other questions from the committee? Want to give you guys plenty of time. Um well, so my concern is that although uh it is a great thing that we have a controversial issues policy, um and I think that that's uh I think that was a great victory for parental rights and uh I'm glad that we're employing it and we're employing it appropriately.
060I do think that having a controversial issues policy does not preclude certain material from being inappropriate for a public school, you know, a neutral public school. And my concern with this piece in particular as I was reading about it is that it's described specifically as a celebration of Marsha Johnson who was a cross-dressing prostitute who threw a brick at a police officer. I just don't know that we should >> that is a generalization and not not the whole story. I >> I understand that there's debate over that, but this is I mean this is pretty well established. Um would would you what part of that would you disagree with? That was a very very quick summarization of the event itself. >> Well, I mean I I'm not sure. So it's fine. Carry on. >> Yeah.
061So I I think that uh having a piece that celebrates Marcia Johnson who was an individual who engaged in crossdressing, who did engage in sex work. I think that that's pretty well established. Was was a prostitute. And during a raid on the Stonewall Inn, which was being run as a speak easy and uh and and uh you know, a location where the uh the mafia or the mob could uh traffic drugs um chose to throw either a brick or a stone at a police officer. I I think that there is an issue with having a piece of material or curriculum that is is is celebrating that kind of activity. Although I do think that we should be thinking critically about these things, we should be learning about these times in American history. I think that
062there's a difference between critical thinking and I guess you could call it critical theory or potential indoctrination. And although there may be, you know, there there may be good intent behind this piece, there may be good intent behind selecting this piece. Um, and the piece may have a great deal of complexity. It might might be great. I haven't listened to it. Um because to [clears throat] me I'm uh to me I'm more interested in the the background of the uh the reason for writing it because of the state standards that we're talking about with the uh intent of the creator of the of the piece. Um I mean I like disco. I like uh it sounds like it's a very good blend of of genre disco and jazz and things like that. However, the subject
063matter it seems like it's not appropriate for for a public school which is supposed to be uh which is supposed to maintain neutrality. Um that's what I say. Go ahead. >> Uh could you characterize conversation you had with President Wartman since we weren't privy to that? >> There was no conversation back and forth. It was more stuff more so um my looping in uh Principal Whitaker uh [clears throat] Superintendent Burke and and President uh Wardman at the time. I wanted them to know um I looped them into the parent feedback that I had gotten um because I wanted them to know what was happening at the time. Um I had followed the policy. It had been approved by both of those people to move forward. At the time, President Orman had no concerns whatsoever about
064me moving forward uh with this. And uh I guess one of the reasons that I'm wondering why we're here is why now two weeks before the concert and why why was this not in discussion in November? >> And I completely agree with you there. I think it should have been a discussion a lot earlier. I'm completely in agreement with you. For myself, this is not something that I was privy to until this weekend. Um, I was very apologetic with Jenny and with Jason. I think they can vouch for me. Um, I felt a little bit bad about asking you to even come in today because I was like, "Wow, we're turning it around this quick, you know, asking him on Monday." >> Yes. I'm also giving up full class period for students four days before
065an assessment. >> I I I agree. I think this is something that probably should have been discussed earlier on when it rose to this level and it was this kind of uh it was this kind of piece with this sort of subject matter. Um, so, uh, I I appreciate the the further context about how it was handled originally and perhaps this is something that we'll look at either in policy or in uh, uh, probably in policy when it comes to controversial issues. Maybe it'll be part of our administrative guidelines for how we handle those things and we'll have a little bit more a little bit more context on that. Um but uh any any other questions though before I >> I do and just I I ask that you just if you can please um
066with this music in your classroom what was the conversations with the children about the history? >> There were none. >> They never talked about what the music >> there have been. There have been none to this point. >> And you didn't talk with anything about them about what this music was about? >> No, I did not. >> It was just the notes. Correct. >> They've received the music. Uh the only uh the only further or deeper information they would have received about the piece of music is if they would have gone off on their own accord to to learn more about it, which I obviously have no control over. Um I presented the piece of music. We've been listening uh we've listened to a recording as an ensemble and we've begun working on preparing the
067piece. There's been no conversation about Marcia P. Johnson or any of the background information, nothing about the composer's intent. I think I made it very clear in my document that I sent home to families that at no time during our discussion were we going to be focusing on um personal opinion for or against in support of um the composer, the composer's intent or the subject matter uh presented in the piece. Um, I guess my biggest question, if I may ask back to you, um, is is how is a piece of music inspired by this event different than ones based on other social movements? Um, other than the fact that this piece of music touches on what one could consider a buzzword or a a very current hot topic, >> I feel personally when you're talking
068about certain things like this, this should be taught in history class, not as a music that's celebrating, no different than I can't go to a Christmas concert and hear words about Jesus Christ anymore because we have to be catering to all religions. Um, I just personally feel that there there's places where this as history should be taught, but when it comes to music, it should be uplifting. It should be celebratory. As parents, all parents, all children should be able to go to a concert and feel welcome um and and be uplifted as a parent. to be a parent that spends taxpayers money. Our taxpayer money goes to the school system and you feel you have to pull out your child and you don't feel like your child can be welcome. I think that's a discredit
069to even one child. Um I I think it's wonderful that you picked it based off of music. I just don't feel like that was the proper thing to do was to remove other students or make anything uncomfortable. Sorry. learning is uncomfortable. Um, there are like six statements that you just said that I'd love to respond to, but I've now lost track of all of them because I've just started thinking about the next one as you went. Um, and and this is maybe not the venue for me to to respond to those. Um, the the board created a policy. I followed that policy. students were given the opportunity to choose a different subject matter essentially some alternative material if they chose to do so and and that's what happened um I've made it very clear that
070uh none of the subject matter was going to be talked about in a biased manner uh the historical event much like any other social action event um think Rosa Parks in the Montgomery bus boycott think uh Sonic the falls women's rights um wounded knee all of these other bits of American history um would be presented in the same way in a very uh nonbiased historical focus. Here's how here's what happened in the event done. Now, why would the composer want to use that event to create music? What might have inspired them? Um to your point of of history and music, I think I think you might be missing the broader picture of what music is all about. And that is music in education ties in every single other subject area. That is our job. That
071is the hardest thing that we have to do is to teach math in music, to teach science in music, to teach history in music. Um, and that's why we find that students that participate in music score higher on their standardized tests because they are using all of that information they've learned from all of their other studies in one spot at one time. And and I think that that it is 100% my job to be teaching history in music. >> Yeah. I mean, personally, uh, and I think really what it comes down to is that this piece in particular is not a piece that teaches history. This is a piece that arrives at a preconceived conclusion about the nature of the event, about the nature of the individual. It's a celebration of Marshia Johnson and what
072Marshia Johnson did at the Stonewall uprising. It's a celebration of the Stonewall riots. And that is really where that problem comes in. I I I would be interested to see what people's perception is of the Stonewall riots. I I I've talked to plenty of people about it. I've heard plenty of sides, but it does not seem to me that the Stonewall riots are viewed like Wounded Knee. It does not seem to me that the Stonewall riots are even viewed like the Alamo, which I think is uh maybe maybe a closer comparison where you've got a complex political setting and um you've got multiple views on what should have happened or could have happened. Um >> are you aware that the Stonewall Monument is a national monument in New York City? >> Yes. Uh, can you
073please explain the relevancy of the Stonewall monument being? >> You're saying that this you're saying that this uh this event of American history does not measure up to some of the others that we've listed. Um, I would argue that it does based on the fact that our national government has created a monument to honor or maybe honor is the wrong word to represent that moment in American history. Does the government does what the government chooses to honor always indicate that that is an honorable thing? >> That's an fair statement. You you would say that anything the government chooses to honor is therefore honorable because of the government's recognition of it. >> No, I'm not necessarily saying that. I'm saying you might have your own personal opinion. And that's I think the biggest thing is that
074we're not getting my my goal and intent with this selection was not to get into personal opinion. >> Um that is not that is not the position. Um, and and I would personally feel offended if if all of you uh would be making judgments on my opinion of the matter based on my selection of the piece. >> No, certainly not. What I'm uh what I'm concerned with is the fact that this is a piece that celebrates Marshia Johnson and the Stonewall riots and that the students are excuse me that the students are being tasked with participating in a celebration of Marshia Johnson and the Stonewall riots for the completion of a grade unless they choose to opt out, walk out in the middle of class and potentially be peer pressured by the rest of the
075students who do choose to participate. That would be my concern personally. I think we're it's fortunate that we haven't gotten to, you know, the actual cultural context discussion because I think that that becomes far more complicated. I think that potentially parents and other members of the community would become much more upset after that happened. Again, like I said, I totally agree. I think this should have been discussed last September when it was brought in. Um, but I still think that this is probably something that we should get out in front of instead of uh uh passively uh allowing to go through at this point. Again, this should have been talked about half a year ago, but we would be doing it a service if we weren't going to reconsider this piece being performed and continuing
076to be practiced by the students at this point. Sir, >> uh we actually only have one public comment. Uh I'd be happy to speak with you after the meeting though. >> Um >> any uh further comments or thoughts from the committee. I would just request that if the decision is made that one of you from the board come directly to my classroom and explain to the students why their work is not going to be continued and um performed given the fact that board policy was followed to the to the letter. >> Any further thoughts from the committee? >> I have no further questions for read. >> Okay. Um, it would be my recommendation to move forward uh potentially to a uh I suppose we would want the full board to talk about and vote on
077it, but to move forward to a special board meeting that uh this particular piece be pulled from the uh upcoming spring concert. We will discuss further how that is communicated to the students. Um that would be my recommendation. Uh do I hear any agreement or disagreement on that? >> I can agree with that. >> Yeah, we'll discuss it further. Okay, move it forward to um I suppose we'll talk to the rest of the board, see if we can set up a time early next week for the board to discuss that. I'm not sure. What are your thoughts, Jason or Sarah? >> So, I'm just hearing I want to clarify that we would schedule a special board meeting uh next week um to have a further discussion around the planning of this piece uh in class
078and at the concert. Yes. >> And we do so next week to allow that decision and communication plan to be executed if there is a change uh prior to >> Yes. >> Unless there is a more expedient path we could take. I'm not sure if uh you guys have any recommendations there, but that seems the most expedient path to me. >> If if we're looking for the full board's insights and feedback, I think that's the only way. >> Yeah. And I don't think we have uh I don't think we could in good conscience do it without a full board discussion on the topic. >> So yeah, we'll move that forward. That'll be an action item for today. >> All right. Um next portion of the meeting with the action items. I had two um follow
079up on the bus 57 book with the teacher after she had an opportunity to read it and then the special board meeting to discuss um this spring concert selection. Were there any other action items from today? >> Um the uh pulling out the data from the act 20 assessment. >> Yep. >> Uh breaking it out 2550 75 100. >> Thank you. I'd have gotten that when I did the maths but I didn't get it. censorship >> with that. Uh any further uh agenda items for next month? >> Yeah. Um the piece where we're trying to figure out how we can recruit volunteers at each school. I hoping that principles could give us some contact information, parents, grandparents that we could contact, >> that's one of the even playground supervisors, you know. >> Sure. >> And
080then um it's been a bit since we had an update on bullying uh and our response to bullying. I'm not necessarily looking for a data breakdown, but maybe another discussion of approach. I know I've continued to hear about those things. So perhaps if not for June, then for July, but I would like to see a discussion about uh how we approach that, making sure that we're uh that we have a uniform application and that we are making sure we follow through on those things. Um, and maybe also talking about how we communicate that most effectively to the affected families um, when we're dealing with that because I do think that that becomes a difficult a difficult piece of information to get out there. >> And an update on the captain's club. So, >> any other
081future agenda items? >> Yeah. All right. Well, uh, our next meeting date is going to be on June 9th. Do I, uh, well, actually, I don't know. We can just call it adjourned at 8:40 a.m. All right. Thanks for coming in, guys. Thanks for coming in, Ray.