001forward to whoever. >> All right, it's now 5:30. Um on Wednesday, February 11th, we'll go ahead and start the planning committee and we'll start with the public comment section. Um public comments will be limited to two minutes for committee meetings and you can discuss anything that are specific over uh the committee. So any discussion about the referendum will be allowed because planning does cover the referendum. So whomever would like to go first please. No, I don't think there needs to be a microphone in this. >> Okay, so I'm Michelle Boutnik, address 429 Indian Hill Road, Watertown. >> Um, so I ran out of time last night surprisingly and I have a few things to talk about. that does include the referendum. But first, I want to start off with some impactful words that um I
002wish I could have shared last night um during the school closure listening session. This is from the Watertown Daily Times from about a year ago from Jason Gold. The students and staff and parents at Lincoln Elementary School embodied these ideals referring to the strategic plan and are pioneers in the area of STEM education. we are all proud to think in STEM and realize the impact on learning will carry into middle school, high school and beyond. Um, so I'm going to tie to the referendum. Um, should mention I'm also on the referendum volunteer group. Um, so I do have some insights and awareness um, from those efforts as well. And I think the million-dollar question is what is the long range facilities plan? How is this impacted by the referendum failing or passing? What does this
003mean for our budget year one, year two, beyond? Once these questions are answered, you can make educated decisions about closing a school. The messaging has been that a past referendum, a successful referendum, could slow the closing of schools, including how fast Lincoln would close. Why does this matter? Closing Lincoln right before the referendum will have a negative effect. They're losing trust in communication from the district and the board and threatening the success of the referendum. I'm working to better understand the budget items at play, but I do know as of the December meetings, various budget board meetings, fiscal meetings, um when discussing the $4.5 million referendum, it was discussed as a path to keep Lincoln open for one more year. And so the numbers must be viable in that instance uh if referendum passes. The
004next question for why one more year because you must do everything in your power to extend education benefits to our children which includes not removing them from a successful program in their community where they thrive. Why else does one more year why else is one more year important for Lincoln at this time? Because in addition to closing the school, other consolidation efforts are underway that have not been ironed out. Because of this, our Lincoln students could end up moving from school to school to school to school. And I shared last night is of my daughter. She could be in four different schools in four years. And that's very um possible. I can walk through the scenario if you want me to. Um we need to think critically about how is consolidation in the consolidation how
005we can limit the amount of moves on all of our district students. So you know doing some type of slow phase approach might not be the best idea. is a waiting a year until everything is ready to go. Then flipping the switch on seventh grade, eighth grade moving, uh deciding what you're doing in your sixth grade programming and that could impact those Lincoln students who would have one additional less move way easier. And I can you can think that through um as well. But that's what I want you to do is think about all those moves that can happen on the different options that you um so I guess my point is timing is everything including the timing of your vote on whether or not you close LinkedIn or keep it open. This discussion can
006be tabled. It does not have to be decided in February. Everyone found out it was a consideration for closure about 16 days ago and this was news to the administration at that time and some board members. Administration said it can wait until April. Please pause and give the decision the time it deserves. Timing is everything. Going to end with some more meaningful words. Um this was also in the large town Daily Times from Dr. Derek Berg. Lincoln Elementary School's exceptional STEM programming led by an outstanding staff fosters creativity and problem solving, inspiring students to excel in science, technology, engineering, and math. Their innovation approaches innovation approach equips students with real world skills and a passion for challenges of our future workforce. Lincoln STEM has made Watertown a leader in education. Thank you. >> Thank you.
007Jill and I did send an email um just with some pictures and some information that I was going to talk to. Um, so I really agree, sorry, your name is Michelle, with what Michelle said. And after watching the listening session last night, um, I thought it was incredible the idea that came up to extend an excellent program to sixth grade since it's already been a discussion to move seventh and eighth grade to the high school. And so I wanted to offer the ideas um that I kind of brainstormed today. And I do apologize that I'm not more put together, but with less than a day's notice, I was trying to just get my thoughts together enough to come and talk to you. So, um, the first thing that I wanted to bring up was that
008LEAP is an agricultural school and our classrooms go beyond our walls. We really need to consider the entire 7.2 acres of our square footage when we're looking at the P numbers. Um, I know that when we did the leap listening session, it was very hard to hear that we're 50 whatever it was, $51,000 per student is what the breakdown is at the current P model. Um, so if you look at the 7.2 acres because we utilize the entire space of our grounds as well as just our building, that actually converts to 313, um, 632 square ft. And that would take our cost per square foot dropping from $288.98 down to $8.14. And when you divide that by the 57 students that we currently have, our cost per square foot per student drops from $4.58 per
009student down to 14 per student. So that would put us actually at the lowest on the list of the schools in the district for um the PR figures. And since it's important to speak to the fluctuating enrollment rates throughout the district, I have updated the PRA figures to show the current enrollment numbers. So, um, if you look at, I believe it was the second picture that I sent you guys, it talks about the maintenance costs per student per square foot. And if you take the current enrollment rates at the different schools, um Webster actually went down a p a penny. So they're at 37 cents per student per square foot. Douglas is also at 37 cents per square foot per student. And Shur is at 59 and Lincoln was at $1.47. And then if you
010take into consideration the square footage of our land, our students were at um 14 cents per student per square foot. So um another thing that I looked at after listening the listening session last night was ideas on how we could not close the two fantastic programs that we have at Lincoln STEM and LEAP, but look towards expanding them and trying to do it the most fiscally responsible way. um the only school in the district that is large enough at this time to take Lincoln STEM as an entirety um which would be their uh do you guys have 4K 4K through what would be coming sixth grade next year. Um so I just used their figure of what they have this year. I'm not sure how that would look for their upcoming 4K students, but they
011currently have 131 students. And um Douglas Elementary currently has 163 open seats within their building. So, I sent you a picture of the P Douglas Elementary layout, and I gave you two options of what I thought would be I have no idea how the building works, but I found what would be seven to eight classrooms that I figured you could squeeze those students into so they could stay together as a school family. Um, again, I don't exactly know how the layout of the school is. I just selected areas that we could try to put those together. You could offer the Lincoln STEM program to some of the current Douglas students. So, you could expand the program, make their class sizes a little bit bigger to make it work. I assume that they would utilize the
012gym, um, media room, art room, music room in rotation with the current Douglas students. And then I also sent you a picture of the Lebanon Elementary School floor plan and we looked at expanding to 4K and sixth grade. So we would be adding one additional classroom which we would use our multi-purpose room. So we would be using the exact same footprint of the school. So we would have 4K and kindergarten together, first and second, third and fourth and then fifth and sixth. I offered the idea of mobile art and music class that would come to the classrooms for the students instead of them going to the multi-purpose room. if we needed additional space, especially for art, since that needs larger tables typically, they could utilize the gym because they don't have gym on the same
013days that they have art. So, that was my suggestion. Um, but just some food for thought. If you guys were considering um moving seventh and eighth grade from RMS up to the high school, that could close down RMS, which has the largest um over $21 million needed for remodeling and repairs. So that would be something that you could utilize. If you wanted to take it farther, you could move the ESC into the Lincoln STEM building which would be emptied and you could offload this property. So that would be option for getting some revenue into the district. So those are just my thoughts. So thank you for listening. >> Yes. Thank you. Is there anybody else? No. Okay. All right. So, then we're going to move into the interimm co-s superintendent goals and feedback process. So,
014I sent an email um out to the board. Um it was decided that we are going to put Jason and Sarah on the dates process. Um so the dates process is essentially have Jason did you have an opportunity to look at the video? It's okay if you had >> okay so a brief overview of the date process. It's it's three-step three-step process and step two is repeated twice. So the initial step would be goal setting. So Jason and Melissa would work on setting some goals um for them to work towards. Um they would bring those goals to the board. The board and um Jason and Sarah would discuss the goals that they set. We would then move forward with you know solidifying those goals. And then there would be two check-ins throughout the year. And
015throughout that six throughout the check-in time, they would put in documents into the DAPE system to show that they are meeting or achieving the goals that were decided between the board and the co-inter superintendent. Uh that would happen twice. And then the third step would be at the end of the calendar year there would be a summitative evaluation where we would review all the artifacts put in there to see if they met or exceeded um the expectations that were set between them and the board. Now I'm assuming you guys already have some sort of goals you're working on or working towards for this year. >> Yes. >> Okay. So Sam, were you in the meeting when they discussed the dates part of the process? If I don't know if you were or if it was
016just Jason, Sarah, and Craig, like how you did you discuss how you'd integrate those current goals into like the states process goal? >> No, we did not. We just talked about bringing it to planning for discussion. >> Okay. So, I guess we're discussing how everybody feels about that. if like if we need to go the dates route right now or if we're comfortable with leaving them with the current goals that they have in place and then um if we're still in this situation come potentially the I'm are yours school year to school year your current goals are they or are they like calendar years >> the school year >> okay so then if we're still in this situation come um August September when school's rolling back around again if maybe then we want to discuss
017potentially moving to the capes process thoughts feelings please let me know >> yeah I think that because we're in an interim position and they're in interim positions I think that we should take a slightly different approach I think we can implement dates in the future but I think for now since we're partway through a school year since we're dealing with several other uh elements I think we can still have meetings but I'd rather just meet with uh Sarah and Jason and talk about what their goals are where they're at just kind of have that discussion because instead of giving them another thing to do. Coming up with additional goals or getting used to a whole new interface. I think that would be fine. >> Okay. >> I think they really have enough on their plate
018right now. but possibly adding just one goal to their current goals that they have. you know, one that would be mutual such as reporting to the board kind of like they're doing now, but having it written there to to show achievement because I think uh Sarah had asked whether she wants us to communicate how often maybe just kind of narrowing down how often they communicate to the board. Okay, just a thought. thoughts, guys. >> I agree with both those. >> Okay. Um Jason, would you mind how like what do you think would be because right now I personally feel like the focus is on referendum planning. I think that administration and the board kind of knows what the immediate focus is. I'm not sure if we need to, but I'm open to how you feel
019about it, Jason. I'm >> sure. I I agree with Sam. Well, I don't think DAPES is appropriate right now. Okay. >> Dapes is more appropriate when you started on uh the cadence of the school year. >> Okay. >> I do think that Sarah, if the model is like I think still following the model of goal setting, getting some feedback, one or two check-ins between now and the end of the school year, then end of year. I think that's an appropriate cadence. Just not using >> Yep. I also believe that you like my goal right now I think in front lines it's called a program program goal >> so it's around we're going to talk about soon but around the development of uh data systems and cycles >> I do think and I don't know what
020Sarah's are or is but I think some commonality and making sure that we're all on the same page on those goals would be really good right >> like a miniature version of Dave's all >> right right but homegrown Yeah. >> Um, so that excuse me. I I think the what Sam, Craig, Sarah, and I talked about is just being really clear about uh what what what the intended are for our work and then getting feedback along the way. And I don't think tapes is needed for that. >> Okay. Uh, so I have a suggestion. Please tell me if you think it's poor. We're already going to have a special board meeting on Monday after HR that's going to go into close session that is going to discuss um >> staffing already. Do we want to
021add a discussion in that close session? uh if you and Sarah are both available to discuss to just get an understanding between the board and you two of what if we want to add an extra goal or what kind of cadence we want for the tension so everybody's on the same page or do you think that that's not necessary and that could be like communicated at a Friday leadership meeting with you Sam Craig and Sarah >> I don't think close session is needed you know Sarah's out of the district right now for the rest of the week I think Sarah and I connecting around what our current goals are if there is one or two that are common I think that's a great idea >> and then we can bring it to either planning because
022we'll have one next month >> as just well this is what we're thinking >> and then um move to like close session when we talk about artifacts and evidence and >> okay >> that's good >> all right I'm not do you have to give artifacts now Jason like Okay. Okay. I just didn't want to add an extra layer of your already if you don't know naturally do that. >> I think you know again time for Sarah and I to think about what this looks like. Bring it to uh this committee in March and then the check-in I think is appropriate to be close session because hopefully we're getting feedback >> and then we can think about what's the cadence of those check-ins uh during the next planning committee. That gives us time to flush out
023the goals. >> Okay. >> And then get some feedback about the goals and cadence in the next planning committee and then get them scheduled. >> Okay. Perfect. I'm good with that plan. How's everybody else feeling about that plan? >> Sounds great to me. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, I just want to make sure I understand what's going on. We're going to reconvene this discussion next planning session with um after you and Sarah touch base and collaborate on your goals. >> Yes. My goal. My goal would be for us to have some some draft goals for that time so we can get some quick feedback and then think about when that closed session is to give feedback about the progress artifacts and pieces >> and if any of those goals are the ones that you've been
024working towards throughout the rest of the school year. I mean feel free to bring you know some information about where you're at currently because that helps us get into the swing of it a little bit faster. >> Sounds good. Okay, let me make sure nobody's raising their hand here. Okay. Um, does anybody else have anything to add to the discussion? >> Well, just that those goals would probably be very modest considering the workload they're both under. You know, our expectations are >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. Then we're going to go to B data system processes. I'm not sure if that's going to be Jason or Chris leading that up. I >> think yes. >> 13. Um I guess I think some context and history is important and then kind of turn it over to
025Chris and then answer any questions. We do have some questions that we want some guidance on. And so just for context and history, Chris and I are in our third year together working around a lot of things including how we use data. And so when we talk about data, we talk about a studentdriven data informed culture that we're trying to really build towards. And so the first year that we were together, we did some data meetings with the board. those ended up being uh three hours in length. I don't think anyone was real excited about the length and kind of the format. And so since then we've kind of revised our system each year. And right now um we are at a point where I I feel really good about what we're doing and uh
026Chris Mallaloy has spearheaded all this work and so I will speak a little bit more and turn over with Chris. We have identified there's There's some documents linked there. But we've identified data sets by month that we look at. I think that's really important. We also have created this monthly cycle by which we share data with certain subgroups. And so for example, first Monday of the uh of the month, uh we look at some really high level district data with the district leadership team. Uh that following Tuesday we have a large cabinet. Large cabinet is like all the administrators, supervisors, coordinators, direct the whole uh group and we do similar but it go it really looks at both school and district data. We do an activity founded in understanding the data um and thinking about
027how we celebrate but also what are we going to do about the data. So it's it's actionoriented. And then this year we've also added a data team. So there's a document there linked link just uh outlining the why, what, how. And so we have at least one uh person on the data team from every building. At least one. And we meet uh whatever this Thursday uh second two second Thursday of the month. They really we replicate the activity that we did with cabinet and really pushing them to think about what are the action items stemming from this data. Let me turn it over to Chris. Would I miss Chris? >> Um, so first of all, him saying that I'm the one that has spearheaded it is an exaggeration. I feel like we've really worked together
028with the plan for how to do this. Um, he I think came up with the idea of maybe having the monthly theme and then I put the data cycles together. I picked what we were doing each month. Some of it based on what we were presenting to the board already. So then making sure then everyone had seen it before it's being presented to you and then in part preparing them for questions and answers that they could give you. So um this will be changed next year because some of the data when I chose it I didn't realize when I was going to get certain pieces but it's always going to be a work in process. Um I feel like the having the focus has been very very good for us. Uh it helps our building
029leaders have someone else in the building that's on the data team. We made sure that we had representation from buildings and grade levels and um different areas to try to get many voices and then really pushing both groups to have actions and then wanting to get to the point where we were ready to share this um with the board on a regular basis as well what we were talking about. I think one of the things that Jason mentioned is the three-hour meetings we had. It was too long. It was too much. And so we t thought that more of an overview of what we were talking about might be appropriate. So the last document that um Jason has for us in there is the data update. So we weren't sure what the plan was for
030what you guys were wanting. So I gave something that is um a highle overview but you guys might want more which is okay but I just wanted to show you what my thought was. So I put in there what we did do in both January and February. In January, we looked at the student growth uh percentile. My vision would be to tell you about the data we were looking at. Some of it is stuff you have seen in the past. The student growth percentile is probably not something you've looked at before. So, giving you the definition of it. Um, as part of it, we always celebrate when we find something good. You can see the trophy. We celebrated the Endeavor school who had um a really high student growth percentile for their building in ELA.
031And you can see the 4ft trophy. Then of course Jason B picked out >> and then we look for opportunities where can we do better um we ask the administrators to find that we ask the teachers on the data team and then we really push them okay we've identified but what are you going to do um to help us in this work for improving all of our schools. So, I gave you a couple of the action based on the data. Um, I'm finding that it's been very exciting for me this year that we leave the meeting and I'm asked for more data. So, they're wanting more so that they can do the action items that they are looking to do. Um, I was at the um Lincoln Elementary presenting the same data. They wanted very
032building specific share this data with our building so we can help our students. Happened in January with that student growth uh percentile data. And then in February we did discipline data um where we looked at um suspensions and the different type of referrals. This is data you've seen and looked at before. So a little less definition for that for you. But then we um looked at things that we could celebrate, identify those and then um the opportunities of like really what can we do to help these kids if they don't get to the point where they're getting a suspension and how can we support them in our buildings. Um, it was another time where I had I think I literally had to say during the cabinet, I need you to email these requests to me
033because I'm not going to remember them. Like it wasn't one person, it was two. It was like in eighth grade, we want the um eighth grade referral data. They were our lowest group last year and they're our highest group this year. What's going on? What's the changes that are happening here? So trying to give you like a little summary of the actions that we are seeing in the buildings and then at times there's data then that we look at the end of the month to see like did these actions affect things discipline data student growth percentiles those aren't going to be things that we're going to see a lot of changes within a month right we see that over time but there are times where um last year we identified chronic absenteeism as something and
034like one building reduced it by like 4% in one month they were meeting with those kids that were not coming into their buildings and trying to find actionable ways to um get them there and to let them know that they were valued and that their learning was important to all of them. So that is what I have um as a starting point for us and just wanted your feedback on what you want us to share, how often you want to share and I'll kind of turn it back over to Jason now for the other pieces maybe forgot. >> So as Chris mentioned this is just draft draft draft right? So, couple things that I think would be helpful for Chris and I is one is any feedback on this draft draft draft uh document. This
035this would be the document that comes to the board. Okay. So, any feedback on this is one. Two is uh would would this be the data be brought to the planning committee or the full board? So, love feedback on that. And then the last piece I think about is like what month do we want to start this? So those are the things that were would be helpful for this slide. >> And questions if you have questions about your data systems. >> I think it looks pretty good. Um I would say it's always difficult to figure out how much data is too much data, how much data is not enough data. I would think if we're looking at um I I like the way it looks and I like how you're focusing on a specific window
036for a month. I think that that makes sense. I would say if we're looking at the data cycles if we have a way of presenting overall um I guess like uh building benchmarks like the benchmarks for how students are doing overall in their studies in the buildings. I know that's a super broad view. Um, but academically speaking, I think that's something that I would at least like to see at certain points depending on how easy that is to pull. Obviously, you don't make sweeping decisions based on one piece of large scale information, but I know that that's starting for something that I would be interested in seeing. Um, but I love the I love the format for your data update and I would prefer to see it at a full board meeting generally, although maybe
037there's a case to be made for touching on it at a planning meeting or planning would probably be the most logical place for it. >> Yeah, I I don't want any more data than we can use. And um I think I think we're getting it often enough. Wouldn't you say so? I mean that We're not asking for more faster than when we're getting it. But the question is always what can we do with this data? And a lot of those answers you can't really answer. Can you say why is this why did this increase? Why did this >> well no we can't answer it for sure but we can make changes to try to affect the data moving forward. And that's what we're asking for. I was at the last meeting when we looked at
038the discipline data like before I gave them two minutes. I'm like on this document you are writing what you're going to do with this data and sometimes I've asked it and I've gotten few responses. I was very excited to I I mean it was 20 different responses like I'm going to do this training with my staff. We're going to go through the nonviolent crisis interventions and the different things we can do to deescalate things in the classroom so that we stop things. So there's a lot that you can't necessarily say what caused it because there's so many variables, but you have to try something, right? One change at a time and see what changes it moving forward. >> I would kind of like to know those responses, wouldn't you? >> From the >> Oh, yes.
039I highlighted some of them. Those are the action steps. I put in there what I thought there was common themes, right? Like seven different teachers were basically saying the same thing like they were going to do, right? I I can make the list longer to be a little bit more inclusive if you want, but I really tried to include in the action items the things that I saw that I thought actually made a change. Like there's things that they're doing that I don't know whether or not they work, but there was things that I felt like after I presented to the Lincoln staff, I mean, there was a follow-up email from one of the principles or one of the teachers that asked for, can I see our forward data for the last few years? I
040want to see like the patterns over time. They're asking for more because they're thinking about the data that we have and how it can um be used to change the schools for the better. All of the schools are doing that. Like there's not a single school that's not asking for more from me. So it's great. Okay. >> But if we want to expand the list, I'm definitely willing to do that, you know, um for the action items, make the document longer. I mean, that doesn't take any time for me. I just have to, you know, collect it from the staff and they're doing it already. So not a problem. And wherever we start doesn't mean that's where we'll land, right? Like we could start with something and get feedback and change it. But um so
041>> one I have a question. Does student rounding that you and Sarah do um primarily? Is that reflected in May in the data cycle or is that reflected a couple places? >> No, that would be in May. part of the student engagement data. We talked about including the student rounding in that part right there. Um we'll have both pieces at that point in time. We shared it last year. I want I don't know if we did it at the full board or that was done at the end of the year at Ed services where we shared that data specifically on just the student rounding. >> So we can add that certainly. We talked about that being you know put together with student engagement. Just a reminder that um in the spring, nope, in the fall,
042Chris and I talked to uh 30 60 90 about a hundred middle school students and what we do is look at look for patterns in the data. Then we share that out with all principles. So that's been shared. Um two weeks ago we included elementary rounding. So, we do 30 students at grades three, four, and five um total at all the buildings and we also look for patterns and then push that data out. We'll do that April at the high school and then we'll have a comprehensive kind of look at the data of patterns. So, we'd be ready to share that um in May. I that was so good when you shared with the education services committee because to hear the kids response the students responses and things was just really yeah >> very helpful.
043>> It's separate but we also talked about uh parent rounding next year as well. >> Yeah. >> So we'll add um we haven't really fleshed out the plan but we will do parent rounding when we talk to parents that are building next year. >> And this was just one you probably will do this but add for the data update putting the year because >> Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. >> Sure. >> Okay. So, I agree with Sam on the full board meeting. I think if we're going to spend the time to present the data to the board, we should present it to the whole board so the whole board gets a picture of what's going on. Um, I'm currently good with the data cycle. I like that you guys are just you already assume it's going
044it's like a living document. It's going to change over time depending on what you find out as you dig into the data. >> Um there's nothing specific I want to see like you and I discussed at WASPY. Chris, I'm really looking for you. You see the data every day. You see the expertise. It's more uh I was looking for wins to be presented to the board or areas that we've shown improvement whether short-term or long term so they can you know the community can readily access it on the YouTube recordings or whatever maybe I other than that I just prefer it to be at the full board meeting the data presentation whether it's in the form of this document that's just dis able to discuss or if you or Jason comes and presents. It doesn't
045matter. >> Thoughts, guys? >> I agree. >> That's good. >> So, this is what I wrote down. Full board meeting every month. We can it'll just be part of the cycle. >> Uh my question is uh I think full board meeting in February is 23rd. I'm wondering if March would be a time to start. >> I think March would be best. I think that February is already pretty long, right, Sam? >> Yeah. All right. >> Thank you, Chris and Jason. >> Yeah, it's awesome work. >> Awesome. >> So, we'll bring that on March 23rd and we'll probably bring multiple months there just to get us caught up and kind of the flow, but then every month thereafter, we'll bring one month's worth of data. >> Thank you. Thank you, Chris. All right. And then we'll
046move to referendum 2026. Jason or Melissa? >> Yes. This one as well. So really A through E, I think on my document here is just some updates. Certainly any questions that you have, but we want to keep you in the loop. And then fresh off the printer, Melissa has a draft of mailer one that we would love some feedback. and feedback along the way is certainly um is desired. So the first is the FAQs and so most weeks our leadership team meets uh on Wednesdays and talks about a lot many things around the referendum and typically every Wednesday we also talk about FAQs. >> Thank you. >> So uh the FAQ's document is colorcoded with purpose. So, I'll just walk you through this and if you have questions, please stop me. But it's a long
047document because we've been working on these FAQs for a number of number of weeks. And if you scroll down, the green FAQs at the bottom there have been on our website for at least a week. So, that's our color core. Green has been on our uh starting really in June or July, we started FAQs, kind of a soft roll out. Yellow has been approved by the leadership team. Leadership team is Sarah, uh Melissa, Lynn, Jenny, Morris, Margaret, and Jason. We meet every week, most weeks. Uh yellow has been, you know, the team has a chance to look at it and review and revise it. And then the the top uh no highlighting is on the agenda for next week. And so those would turn into yellow next after the team has taken a look at
048it. And so again, just keeping you in the loop. Again, these end up on our website and we'll also end up kind of pushed out via social media. Anything I missed there, Melissa? >> Any questions? >> Please. I Okay. I had a couple edits for They're the yellow guys. So, it's just it's literally com commas or a space thing like it's >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, I I wrote the page and >> I can take those. And just for clarity, it's important. I should have said this, but yellow is is my attempt at word smithing and then Melissa corrects all my errors. >> Just just for transparency. >> So, thank you. But thank you. >> Sure. Just just a space enough. >> Sure. Appreciate >> it. >> Any other questions or comments about FAQs? >>
049I think it looks great. Um I think the main problem with an FAQ is when you're swimming around in the subject matter. It's real hard to come up with your own frequently asked questions. We already know it so well. So I mean obviously we're always I'm sure our ears are open and if anyone's asking us a question, we're hearing that more than once. Absolutely. >> We're uh we're considering putting on there. So I think that looks I think it looks good so far. Thank you. We move on to the next one. We have a We've talked about this group before, but we have a referendum volunteer group. I think we're up to 20 volunteers right now. >> Very cool. >> That group will have did meet in January and we'll meet February and March. And
050so fe in January when we met, we did a number of things. The first thing we did was go over this draft draft draft slideshow with the group that were now being used for our formal presentation. And we really wanted to do that for two reasons. One is to get feedback like that slide doesn't really land, you know, just give us feedback, but also make sure that there was a common understanding of the language and the words. And then we uh talked about what volunteers can and can't do, right? They can't advocate. They have to be factual to share um facts and literature if they have questions to just funnel them our way. And then the last thing we did was gave uh we had packs of flyers in stacks of 50 and we had
051cards, the little cards that we gave out in stacks of 20 and asked them to take as many of those that they're comfortable distributing like in the next 30 days. And so I don't know how many we walked in there. I would say a third of about 2,000 of those things they took. And so that group is now distributing the these uh cards and the flyers. And we have some that have said, "I'm out. I need more." So >> Okay, nice. >> We have some volunteers that are now setting up formal presentations for us, which I am grateful for. So Melissa and I are going to Emanuel in early March and presenting. That was a volunteer that said that. And so in February we'll meet again. We'll do a little bit of education. They ask
052for like some polling data so they can really target some areas to where they want to put the literature. Give them the next round of literature and we'll replicate that in March. So questions about the volunteers. when you when far actually it's when you're doing your presentations like do you adapt it to where you're at or you kind of have a regular standard format? >> Sure. We we have a standard slideshow that we walk people through and I guess we kind of we kind of gauge our audience a little bit on how much time we spend on certain topics over others. But we're trying to be really consistent slideshow. Um you know sometimes it's nice to you know obviously want larger groups and more people to hear our to hear what we're talking about. and
053asking a smaller group, you can have a little more conversation around it too. >> And when you're doing the screen like like it's depends the place you're doing it at is what you're you project them. >> Yes. Yes. So So last night we were at Webster, so I was able to use the screen down in the library media center. So I shared the the PowerPoint presentation. Yeah. We have a lot of opportunities coming up that are more meet and greet where we don't have a screen handy and those are just going to be talking more, maybe walking through the flyer with people. Yes. Yes, >> but we're trying to be on the same message as much as possible because there's a lot of us giving the presentation, so we're trying to make it so we're
054not talking about different things at each, you know, each time. >> Thank you. >> I like Melissa mentioned, I feel like the number of audience members governs the coverage, right? For example, yeah, said she had four last night at Webster. >> Um, Monday afternoon, I did the slideshow here with all the clerical staff of the district. So, this room was full. So that's just a different different number of people. So it feels a little different, >> but as Melissa mentioned, the messages are the same. >> Just the intimacy of the the conversation kind of guides. >> Do you feel you're seeing new faces, Melissa? Yes. Good. >> Yeah. What's nice too is when we when we speak at different places, usually there's at least one person, if not two, who asks to be added to
055our referendum volunteer team. So we recruit people. That's great. >> So there's a cosmopolitan mix. pretty much. Yeah, absolutely. Good. >> Is that a type of ice cream, Dan? Just kidding. >> Um, I'm going to move on to the next. Uh, you know, we talked that I think at a planning committee several months ago about, you know, potential vendors to help us with strategic planning and then we the board gave us some direction on partnering with a videographer, a local. And so again, Melissa is doing the heavy lifting. So, thank you Melissa. But we have our first video that's really ready. Pretty close to ready. >> And that video is I don't know how how many minutes or seconds. >> Three minutes. Zero. >> Yeah. >> And that the the goal of that video is
056to really live beyond the referendum. Um so I think the shelf life would be two or three years. start sees that kid graduated three years ago, right? And so we have to be mindful of that. >> But it's about the district and so that one's really ready. We've talked about doing some sharing this week and then a full launch next week Monday. >> And then please correct me if I say anything wrong, Melissa, but last week Friday, we Melissa worked with our partner and we captured some testimonials that specific to the referendum. I have not seen any of that. I don't know if >> I have not yet. >> Okay, so that's a work in progress, but will be coming soon. >> Okay, nice >> questions on videos. >> All right, great. Thank you. Uh,
057next is just a reminder that we have posters, flyers, andformational cards. Uh, we joked with the volunteers that we wanted to litter the city figuratively, not literally, but we're pushing those out, right? Melissa's driving around on time have them up. People have them and we'll continue to push those out. And then we have February key messages which is just another way to frame our our why, what, how, and that we again have pushed out to the staff via email, stakeholders via email. Our reference and volunteers took piles of those and then we're working on the March key messages now. >> Okay. So that'll be just the next iteration. Then I'll turn it over to Melissa for mailer one, please. >> So the mailer, this is a printed version here in the office. It's going to
058be sent out in something called every door direct mail. So it's going to be 12 in by 9.6 in. So it's going to feel bigger than this, but this is just how I laid it on to publisher printed. So it it, you know, it's got some funky edges to it. >> But this is essentially the approved flyer material. >> Okay. on the inside. So, you have all seen this before over here. Um, on page two in the bottom, I just added a little more of kind of, you know, how schools are funded in paragraph form for people to read. We have the ballot language. I made sure there was a link to the community uh change and projections report by MD Roers. And of course, this is all we've been sharing in the flyer. Um,
059Craig drafted a great letter for the front and I wanted him to do something that was like really reaching out to the community and highlighting a couple different areas and he did a great job of that and then the back. Um, this part has to be intentionally blank in the back. Um, but then here I wanted to make sure we're listing all of our um, these are all of the sessions that like we are in charge of. We are hosting we are the host locations for so they're all here. Um and then um QR code logo again. And then Jason just wanted me to add a little more verbiage kind of you know trying to trying to reach out to people who don't have kids in school and to you know send home again why
060why supporting public schools are important. >> Okay. I think it's nice we'll have our um central office team look at it. Everyone has a copy in the central office to go find you a code. I've looked at it a lot. Um so they'll review it on Monday and then um the go-ahehead comes out of planning commission to proceed, central offices proceed. Then we need probably about 10 to 12 business days turnaround time with our printer. So the goal will be to have these hitting mailboxes the last week of February. >> That's good timing. >> And then we are planning to send a reminder postcard out hitting mailboxes that last week of March, early April. Should should you take shers off then because >> it is >> Yeah, I might I might >> because otherwise it
061looks like >> Yeah, I was thinking about that today. Yeah, I'll take that one off. >> Sorry. >> No, sure. Just timing wise. >> That second mailer that Melissa mentioned, the postcard would be very, very few words and a lot of uh please vote, right? That's the goal of that. And so I think we have spring break the last week of March. So that would hit homes while we're at spring break. >> Very good. >> Excellent. Yeah. Looks very nice. >> Craig's wife writes a good letter. >> Any questions or questions or concerns, guys? We just need to decide like make take a vote if we approve it and then >> essentially. Yeah. >> So, um, everybody in favor of it, raise your hand. >> And if you do have if you take a look
062at it, you know, this week, I think our we really want to get it to the printer on Monday afternoon. So, if you >> find some error or what suggested revision, please just follow it to Melissa. We'll take that. Uh I feel like we're like a week behind what our target date was, so we want to move on this, but >> I feel good about the timing of it. >> Okay. And I'll get an email out to the whole board as well. It's uh is there a digital copy? >> I can send you a digital >> just and I'll get it out to them that way that after it's approved, somebody else might see a mistake that we miss and just so everybody's all on the same page. So tonight I'll get an email out
063to or once I get it from you I will send an email out to the board to just ask them to take a look see if they see any grammatical grammatical right grammatical errors it's on the agenda but we also last year we did some please vote videos that were like 30 seconds so we'll plan for doing that as well I think um those were our most viewed videos last year leading up to the referendum was, you know, like Brad Clark, I'm the principal of Webster. Please vote April 1st. >> Okay. >> So, we we had a lot of uh views on that. So, we'll do that again coming up here. Those will also probably go out uh starting spring break. >> And I do have an electronic copy of Craig's signature, which I'll drop
064on here, too, so >> Oh, nice. Um, is it possible like at these meet and greets, like I I like the please vote videos too, but do you think at the meet and greet somebody could pull out an iPhone and like have community members saying please vote and we could add it to the Facebook page or something like that where it's like you came out, you know, >> I'm out at the Thursday, March 5th Riverside Middle School referendum information sess session. Please vote. I'm Miss Smith or something, you know, right? >> Yeah. I carried around my phone and we have a stand. >> Make sure you film that landscape. >> Yes. >> And just ask them to introduce themselves, who the who they are, how they're connected to the district, and then please vote. >>
065Yeah. >> So, absolutely. >> With the bowling league competing in the background. >> I did not do that. Melissa gave me some guidelines for backdrops. >> Backdrops are very important. >> Well, I mean, it could be a bowling wing. Maybe they're cheersing and you hear all the, you know, make people think like, "Yeah, it's fun to vote. Let's do it. >> The only other thing I want is uh I think here we usually think about who can do the next board event in 60 seconds. I don't know if we want to talk about that. >> I think it's my turn. >> Oh, it's it's painless. >> I know. Super easy. >> I thought you were going to do it last time. >> I did. I traded because uh why did I trade? I was I
066had something else going. >> Yeah. stage fright. That's what it sounds like, Dan. >> Yeah, go for it, Dan. It's easy. I got something else going again. I'm so No, I'll do it. >> Okay, >> we'll do it same way the next day. The next >> 8 a.m. >> Thank you. >> Okay, I think we're done with that. All right, so then we have present action items. three. >> Okay, >> Sarah and Jason will work on uh some goals, draft draft draft goals, one or two that are combined and perhaps our current ones and be ready for March planning. And then March planning, we'll talk uh we'll talk about the goals, but we'll also talk about the cadence of like check-ins. >> Okay? >> And then the last one I wrote was data cycles. We'll
067start in March. >> Okay? Okay. We'll do it at the full board meeting and we'll do those every month. First month we might do multiple months but thereafter be one month's worth of data. >> Okay. Perfect. >> Anything else that I think that's everything past action items? >> So it's just um that people for sure send in their >> you know their corrections so that it can be out for sure by Monday. >> Thank you Linda. Okay. And then the past action items, I think most of them are already taken care of. >> I think G is the only one that we would make sure that you and I put that on the next agenda for March. >> Yes. >> And Dan did meet today. Your subcommittee met today. Yep. Okay. our subcommittee. >> True.
068>> All right. So, future agenda planning, we just kind of went over that, right, Jason? >> Yes. The only thing that I would add as far as that goes, it's not exactly an action item. It's contingent on what happens at the board meeting. But regardless of what happens during the board meetings discussion, I think that there's it's probably best to already have it on the books that we're going to have some conversations here about either Lee or Lincoln or both or another option. So maybe like a district footprint discussion. I don't know what you would want to call it, but >> planning. >> Yeah. At planning, I would think. I mean, of course, there's going to be HR discussions as well, but I think that it it's it's a it's it's vitally involved with planning
069as well. So, let's let's keep that in mind for the next one, too. >> Would we also put uh that subcommittee work on in March as well? >> Well, the subcommittee is working on the board of education surveys. So, um I'm thinking that the the board of education surveys would be on in March, but I don't you're still in the middle of it. So, I think they plan on bringing it back once it's completed. And I don't I we'll touch base at the beginning of March to know for sure if they've went through. >> We're going to be asking other board members who aren't on a subcommittee to submit questions they'd like answered on the survey. So, we would need a little bit of time to get those >> and I can talk. Sounds great.
070>> All right, then. That's it. I'll adjourn at 6:26, guys. Under an hour today. >> Right on. >> See, Dan, >> so what? >> We just can't win. But yeah, I think I think she beat us by