001e e e good evening and calling the meeting to order welcome to the West Harford Public Schools regular Board of Education meeting it is Tuesday December the 3rd Charlotte may you please call the role Mr gagnan present Mr Goldman here Dr Harris here miss maramon here Mrs nazarella present Dr Thomas farus here Mrs yagaloff present student representative Sarah granquist here and student representative Alexis Newan here thank you and Alexis me please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and with that we do not have a revision to the agenda and now it is time for public Communications this is where we're able to hear from you
002your thoughts your questions your suggestions each individual is allowed 3 minutes to speak we ask when you go to the podium to please share your name and your town of residence please be mindful of Charlotte who will hold up a yellow card when you have one minute remaining in your time and when your time is expired you will see a red card we ask for you please to respectfully conclude your sentence and take your seat with this being the first meeting of the month we are receiving comments on both agenda and non-agenda items for our awareness for this evening the agenda includes several policies that will be reviewed policy 5690 5620 5635 and 5210 also staff reports and board discussions relating to mental health and wellness update as well as a financial report and approval
003of the minutes we will begin first by those speaking on agenda items I do have a list here so I'm going to start with who on the list only one name so far so Brendan Callahan this Isa that's all right uh hi good evening my name is uh Brendan Callahan I'm a West Harford resident um my wife and I have two daughters at Duffy um we have a lot of gratitude for the Duffy Community uh we think Christy lvery is a tremendous principal and we felt so much love from all the teachers at Duffy uh we also know that it's a values driven leadership uh from the administrators here in this room uh as well as this board of education that helps to support such Excellence so thank you all uh I'm here tonight to
004share a concern about the extended school year program our younger daughter Charlotte is in the Intensive academics program at Duffy and she qualifies for full day esy uh I want to share a little bit about Charlotte so she's a a wonderful daughter she has a beautiful smile she has curly hair that everyone always gushes over uh she loves to write her scooter uh and she loves to read books with her sister Charlotte also has complex needs uh stemming for multiple diagnoses learning learning is difficult for Charlotte speech has come slowly she has challenges with fine motor and gross motor development her vision is impaired she is one functioning arm uh but the other did not develop past her elbow Charlotte requires a onetoone pair professional it's a powerless feeling as a parent to know that
005we don't have the knowledge and the skill to meet all of Charlotte's needs and to ensure Ure her growth as a learner we depend on the expertise and the care of her team at Duffy for this reason summer is a struggle for Charlotte and for us our older daughter can access a wide range of enriching programs over the summer but Charlotte cannot she flails without her routines she faces social isolation she regresses in so many ways two summers ago West Hartford cut esy from 6 weeks to 4 weeks many years before that esy had been as long as 8 weeks the trend line here is alarming a 50% gut gut a 50% cut that leaves a gap of six weeks for the most vulnerable Learners in our community We Believe this decision was Guided by
006staff recruitment challenges and not by the needs of students with the most intensive needs we ask for more creative problem solving in this case to expand esy supports for students like Charlotte thank you thank you is there anyone else who would like to make a public comment I'll ask again we shall pause on Public Communication now moving on to na non-staff Communications and reports this is where we're able to hear from our student Representatives let us first begin hearing from Sarah sharing about Hall over the past few weeks at Hall we've had some exciting events last weekend was the hall Conor football game which as always had an amazing turnout and we are very excited that Hall won continuing our four-year mayor's Cup victory streak last week teachers participated in a fun Secret Spirit Week
007each day teachers would all dress up with a secret theme and students then had until 7th period to guess what that theme was out of the students who guess correctly one student was selected each day to win a prize right now we are in between the fall and winter sports seasons and the winter season kicks off on Monday officially but many teams are starting their practices this week on Friday Hall has its unified theater show students have been working hard all year to prepare for this production and rehearsing every night this week the show will have an Olympics theme and we encourage all community members to attend and support unified theater on Saturday Hall safe grad is hosting a shop the Halls event in the cafeteria from 10: to 3: there will be many local
008vendors in the event will raise money to support the safe grad event at the end of the school year the hall corers our select choir group are continuing their annual telegram program you can pay to have a group of corers come to your your house or event and sing Christmas carols while dressed in some fun costumes coming up next week Hall Alum Zack Rous who is the lead researcher for the anxious generation will be hosting an event on the 12th from 7:00 to 9:00 on the 13th Zack Rous will be visiting both Hall and Connor to talk with students we are looking forward to hearing about the important topics such as mental health from a hall Alum thank you Sarah Alexis please share what's going on at connard after much excitement last week with our
009spe secret teacher spirit week and Thanksgiving break Connor is ready to have even more fun in productivity in December two weeks ago the screeners screenagers event hosted by Rebecca Sean in the community of concern at Bristo went extremely well with around 70 participants there were many effective conversations about the impacts of phone usage to hear more you can attend a discussion with the lead researcher from an informational book titled anxious generation which details the impact of smartphones on students mental health here at Town Hall on December 12th additionally we are proud of the students that attended the event hosted by one Community last Monday to represent conard and its values our 10-Minute Plays production was very successful and garnered many crowds two weeks ago great job to everyone that participated the Black Box will be
010used once again for a show by Parachute our improv troop on Thursday December 12th at 700 p.m. with free admission there's no reason not to stop by and watch the talent of these young Stars also additions for our School Musical disaster will be taking place this week we are eagerly waiting for the show's opening in March and wish everyone auditioning the best of luck Connor's Winter concert including choir orchestra and band will take place on December 18th and it will include various long-standing musical Traditions that each of the groups have with the ending of the football season most of Conor's fall Sports have concluded the only team left is girls cross country who will be sending two Runners off to Nationals in San Diego in 2 weeks to do this they had to place within
011the top 10 at the northeastern Regional this past Saturday congrats to live and tou Sherry on this accomplishment despite the Unlucky result of the Conor Hall game two Saturdays ago we'd like to thank our security team and custodial staff for their dedication and effort towards keeping Conor a safe and clean environment not just that day but throughout the whole season we'd also like to thank the senior class board for providing concessions for football games all season and on behalf of the entire student body thank you to Chick-fil-A for making an appearance and passing out awards for free nuggets which was great as winter sports start this week we anticipate lots of success for our teams and wish them the best of luck starting last month the junior class board began organizing holiday helpers again for
012the past 15 years the Conor Holiday Helper program has sponsored students in need during the holiday season this year the program is sponsoring over 60 students from Conor and Smith as well as other schools in the community Conor students teachers staff Conor Community classes teams and community members have come together to support this worthy cause lastly today there was an instructor that came in to teach teachers how to do martial arts in taii we'd like to thank the Chinese Department department for organizing this event and the Conor current our school newspaper released their fall Edition which covers many powerful issues and topics there will be a parent principal Forum at 6 p.m. in the seminar room on the December 12th for those interested and finally Conor's National Honor Society will also be hosting our annual
013Pajama Day in support of the Connecticut Children's Medical Center on Friday December 13th so donate if you can thank you Alexis thank you both very much thank you now we shall go to unfinished business which we do not have any of now on to new business where we have a motion by Laura Thomas farguson Jason gagman and Gail Harris to accept revised policies as a first reading seeking a motion that the Board of Education accept as a first reading the following revised policies which were reviewed by the board policy subcommittee including 5690 Suicide Prevention and intervention 5620 immunizations 5635 recess and play based learning and 5210 admission entry ages is there a motion so moved thank you Gail is there a second second thank you Jason discussion so teammates once again we have several policies
014before you and these are ones that will help us remain being compliant with regulations and statutes that we are obligated to uphold full transparency these are policies that are already in practice this is a way of ensuring that our paperwork reflects what is being practiced but nonetheless any questions or comments or suggestions you may have as this is a first reading Shannon um just a minor question under the immunization policy uh it actually names a specific person and I just haven't seen that in policy because you'd want to I would think make it kind of Timeless so I didn't know if the position should be named as opposed to the person no the statute actually um requires us to name our uh our nurse practitioner for that someone for the district who would who would
015be contacted for any questions and that is Carrie Anderson does it require an amendment every time that if that person changes or it's it's an administrative piece that position doesn't change however okay um we this is the second one we've had in the 16 years I've been here so okay we're good all right thank you any other questions yes CLA um with the uh school age um before F to be turning five by September 1st um there's nothing in the policy about waivers is that still being offered do we know what's what the state has put forth what I I believe that the waivers are situationally based it depends on the assessment results and so it's not a wide use usage that is I believe that um families that request for their child to be
016an exception uh and to be waved there is certain uh procedures that the district applies and if they meet those uh criteria then the waiver is applied but they first have to go through the assessment process it w it was my understanding though that that was um part of the roll out of the program but then in two or three years it would not be a part of the program but I guess is it now continuing it is I will have our teammate Jason so the the state has kicked that around I think at initial level but there is no pending litigation that would kind of fix that that transition period so for now at least the waiver period is is going to stay as part of the law that's what I and we'll continue
017then to follow our process with that that we put in place other questions or comments yes Ethan the uh write up was very helpful again Andy so thank you that was all compliment all right nice okay that's all right i' like to see all right any other questions or comments All right so again this is a first reading it will come before us again for a second reading at which time we will vote on those policies now moving on to staff Communications and reports where we'll have our superintendent report so we see a different face here right now uh Mr superintendent Vice is not here we have the wonderful Dr Morrow who is here to report out on the district's behalf thank you passing it to you absolutely thank you um just a couple of
018items to share tonight in collaboration with the town of West Hartford the West Hartford Police Department and the uh US Department of Justice the office of equity advancement co-hosted a very successful United against hate program on Thursday November 21st at the Town Hall uh us attorney for the District of Connecticut Vanessa Roberts Avery provided the keynote and a panel of law enforcement professionals at the federal state and local level engaged the audience in conversations around thoring hate crimes and hate incidents uh as far as an update on the contract negotiations uh as we said with the teachers union uh that these have been completed the teachers have recent recently ratified the current t uh tentative agreement for 2025 26 through 28 and uh we be providing a Public Presentation to the board in the upcoming
019meetings for that it either the next one in December or January dependent upon the the timing of that um what else do we have as Sarah mentioned Hall High will uh High School will host the 2024 United theater a unified theater event on Friday December 6th at 7 p.m. uh Olympic Games theme with student groups representing a variety of sporting events no ticket is required ahead of time however donations are welcomed and suggested and that's what I have thank you so much any questions or comments regarding our superintendent update Claire um I I'm just curious so it at that public meeting is when the um new contract and details of it become public and not before then it will be published as part of the board packet but yes that's when that's when it's shared
020and presented uh Liz Julio uh jul Julio and myself will uh provide information on that okay okay other questions or comments regarding our superintendent update all right thank you so much Dr moo and we're moving right along Ong to staff reports and board discussions where we now will have the mental health and wellness update and as teammates come to the table we'll pass to Dr Murrow to provide introductions please they need no introductions no uh we have Melissa cabier our executive director of pupil services and Kelly Brouse the assistant director of pupil services and the topic tonight is really giving an update on the important work that we're doing with mental health and some of the metrics that we use to track uh to track that work during the school year both with students and
021with our staff well good evening I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break um happy to be at the board table tonight presenting and welcoming my colleague for the first time to the board table Kelly brous who's joined us former leader at one of our buildings and stepped in to people services this summer um but it feels like a much longer time that she's been working with us um her leadership her commitment her unwavering support for our students has really been such a great addition to the department and so we're so happy to have her leadership in this work and um have her here presenting with me so welcome um and as you know I do like to do this presentation every year to share an update on Mental Health and Wellness particularly at this
022time of year while mental health awareness month is September I feel like situating this presentation in December as we're in the middle of the holiday season is just a good good reminder for all the services we offer for our students in our schools and the layers of support that we have but also as a reminder to the adults um that mental health and wellness is really important and it's important that we take care of ourselves and that we also model that for our students and I really like to draw the connection between our mental health to our physical health because even the healthiest of individuals get sick sometimes and that's true of mental health too is you know life gives us experiences and sometimes we need a little extra help getting through through those different
023experiences that we might have across our lifetime and so knowing where those resources are how to access them and and who might be available in a school or in the community that might be part of that support network becomes very important so in tonight's presentation we want to give you some updates and some new information on drivers and the work uh around mental health um what the district's been doing and how our Trends look um how we Monitor and what we're seeing for our students and then how we're partnering with some Community providers what our clinicians are doing and what this work will look like moving forward so just some background um we've really seen you know this is not a West Harford thing but more across the country and really ac across the globe
024that mental health um was on the rise with concerns and needs really spiking before the covid pandemic so that Trend predates the pandemic and then we know that the pandemic certainly was a factor that created social is ation and some other components that really impacted individuals mental health and even the access to mental health organizations during that time of closure where a lot of organizations closed and then the need um presently has continued to become strong and um we're good news is I am seeing a lot more Community engagement around um Mental Health Services a lot of new people going into the work around mental health a lot of new practices opening in the the local area which is positive but really you know as a school system over the past few years we've really
025been responding in lifetime to what our students needs have been um when Esser funds were allocated to the school district we made a lot of strategic decisions around how we could leverage those funds to really enhance our staffing and support our students through that difficult time of school closure and post um return after that and so we continue to monitor our student Trends which we will'll discuss tonight and monitor how our clinical supports are matching those needs and what we might be able to do in the future to continue to be preventative and responsive to our students so some of this work really involves Suicide Prevention and intervention um we we review our um our policies our practices and as you heard in u the previous report you know one of the policies is up
026for you know revision um and we also have internal working policies and procedures around how staff panel reports and concerns our evaluation tools that we use and preventative measures that we have in place and we'll talk more about the layers in the curriculum um later in the presentation but really the CSD came out with some guidance last year in the it was 20203 relative to the fact that they were using their suicide Advisory Board to really look at preventative measures tools and resources and wanted to put out some guidance and so last year in the spring as we were working on our internal manual and our clinical team was looking at different assessments they came out and said we will give you some assessments and then they landed on the Columbia Lighthouse suicide severity rating
027scale which was timely because we were um that was the assessment we were um planning to select so it worked out perfectly and so we have moved to a new evaluative meth method and that's um all of our clinicians were trained at the end of last year we continue to have meetings around coherence and understanding the evaluation and scoring just so that they're connected in a professional learning community about this evaluation um one of the things about this evaluation that's different some than some of the other evaluations it's endorsed by a lot of different um reputable groups of mental health professionals and it can be used and applied really widely so um the training is completely free there's a whole website with all the resources this is the tool that's recommended in businesses and um
028in the medical world and for schools so um police fire um community and so uh We've undergone all of that training and we've updated our Suicide Prevention manual and as you heard the policies up for revision as well so we've been engaging in that work and similarly um we've been working on our crisis intervention manual which really um has a district lens and so we have a district crisis team that meets quarterly looking at our policies and procedures and really the goal on Focus this year is really around making sure there's coherence and Equitable practices across all of our schools schs so that we have a Common Language common expectations and that the teams are meeting regularly at the school based level um around all of our policies and practices for crises and so what
029one of the the major pieces of work that we've been focusing on with that group and with our district is revamping our um one of our response protocols our safety assessments so just like you heard Melissa share about um when a student is making an expression of harm towards themselves you know our suicide model that we used to assess risk um we do have a new model that we've been working on and we've been rolling out to to assess when a student has an expression of harm towards others will refer to that as a threat so that might be um at Young ages a picture a piece of writing and it might be a verbal expression towards a peer towards a staff member we take that very seriously we know that it's a huge responsibility
030of ours to ensure safety when we have um a report of that nature we also know that most often underlying some expression like that is a mental health need and so um we've always had a very comprehensive safety assessment that we've used a proactive risk assessment tool is what we used to use um but over the past year we've been moving towards um something called the SE stag it stands for the comprehensive School assessment threat um guidelin guidance guidelines guidelines and it's by Dr Dewey Cornell out of Virginia it's been used for a couple decades now but this is out of guidance from the csde and it's been a really um I really see it as a great new approach because it's very consistent we've had um I'll go through the training and then explain
031why I really believe in this this approach to our safety assessments back in the spring um we had Kim Myers who's the state trainer she trained our core team and then right on Election Day I joined the entire clinical staff so they think there's 46.8 maybe we were looking at numbers today um as long as well as some PD and a member of our youth services Bureau um we were all trained by Kim Myers on Election Day and then we also had training with our principles um because it's a really comprehensive approach so it's it's a a series of questions that when when we're receiving a report that a student has made some kind of expression of harm a threat that they're being responded to in a very strategic comprehensive calibrated way um with multiple
032people who are well- Tred a clinician and the building principal um to make sure that they have a trusted adult there that we're getting to the root of what's behind that expression if it if it has any substantive nature to it that that requires a higher level of response um if it's something that is really an expression of frustration and or something going on socially that we can then respond to through our other measures um so I I think it's been a great great new um level to our work as far as ensuring the safety of our entire community and really getting to the mental health needs of our students and so we'll be fully launched we have one more training planned and then by January um this will be a practice that we're using
033across the district and and I just find it to be a very calibrated comprehensive student centered approach so one of the ways that the district measures and tracks data is by monitoring the risk assessments that have completed been completed and we've tracked this data for a long time over time so we have a great um repertoire of the data of our student data and so what you see here is that we've had an increasing Trend with some variance um during the co years where we see a little bit of a dip and you know I'm hesitant to say that there's either a decrease or a stabilization because it's so slight from last school year but we'll continue to monitor that it looks like um the numbers from this year are exactly where they were at
034this time last year so we're seeing some consistencies and we'll take a deeper look in the trends but you know we we're really seeing just um the slightest little bit of of decrease um or possible stabilization there and you know really um what we're seeing is as we're doing assessments this is an opportunity for us to really make those connections with families so anytime a risk assessment is completed our clinicians are making contact with parents they're connecting them with resources they're asking more questions to learn more about their child what they might be experiencing connecting them um with Community Resources if not or maybe following up with a provider if they already have one so that there's a continuous loop um and maybe it's services for the interim or maybe it's situational so really just
035tracking that and following students um as we collect data um one of the other things we're able to extrapolate from this data is is where these referrals come from and so referrals can be made to a clinical team member from the students themselves from staff members from parents and caregivers um another student might you know share something from um about their peer we see them come through Anonymous alerts um and then there's other which might be like an outside provider or clinician calling into the school or a Community member who you might be a family friend who might have some knowledge that they want to bring to somebody's attention you know we still see that staff continue to be um our key and and kind of um the most referrals come from our staff who
036are you know connected with students and understanding when there might be something of concern that comes up but one of the trends that we've actually seen over the past few years is that students have been self-reporting more so I think last year's percent two years ago their percentage was at 18% and so now we're seeing a little bit more um student self-reporting which I think is a real positive trend you know we're really seeing over the years that um there's a lot more open discussions about mental health and wellness there's more accessibility uh uh two resources in different formats you know I heard it in the student update we have a presentation coming up for the anxious generation I heard it at our last Board of Ed meeting where you know um Teresa and her
037team were talking about Affinity spaces and some some of the Community Partners were mental health providers that are just part of the work and I think that the accessibility and destigmatization around mental health has been a real win um we're seeing a trend where um other students are encouraging their peers to get support and I think that is attributed to the conversations around understanding risk factors warning signs and how you can be a good friend and support a a peer who might be going through a difficult time and connecting them with the right resources and so those are all positive Trends in the in the numbers and we we are happy to see that peers are helping peers and it really demonstrates some feedback to us around some of the curriculum based measures and tools
038that are part of um the work that we do to really support um people connecting with these Mental Health Resources and then what I did here was I pulled the last three comprehensive school years to pull data around the level of risk assessed within the number so taking just a deeper look at what are the risk levels in the total amount of risk assessments completed and one of the reasons this data becomes important is because while we're seeing a little bit less overall risk assessments we're actually seeing a different Trend within that Trend which is that the risk level of the risk assessments has been a little bit higher so we're seeing that when we're conducting a risk assessment um while the majority of risk assessments are still in the low risk category we are
039seeing more in the medium high and emergency risk category and those require a little bit more followup depending on the risk level it might be connecting with out outside agencies outside um Services it might be a followup or check-ins with a clinici in Direct Services or it might be um accessing some community- based or medical services which in might include um we have the the Urgent Care Centers now for mental health and wellness or and sometimes there are really um serious situations where we're involving you know mental health professionals you know at the hospital hospital so we do uh track that and so it's just something for us to monitor as we look at you know where our students what do they need how do we program appropriately for them with our mental health professionals
040that you know we're looking at the total number and then also the risk factors associated within those assessments so while we know this information about our students and and what need is in front of us what's really exciting to talk about is what we're able to do for our students and I think our response you know you heard us talk a bit about our reactive strategies the assessment tools we might use when um a need is brought to us but there's so much we do proactively and that's really at the heart of what is helping our students achieve at the wonderful levels that we're able to celebrate here at this table during other presentations as well um so you know I want to start by just sharing it's important to know that even at the
041curriculum level in our general education classrooms one to two times a week starting as early as kindergarten they're having lessons around Concepts that are supporting their mental health things that help them build coping strategies self-management skills interpersonal skills um optimistic thinking so those are built right into our curriculum with the second step program which is a research-based model it carries into the secondary programming with our health course course curriculum um and then in addition to that you know we're also very lucky to have um the addition or the to to have been able to keep our school counselors this year three of our school coun at the elementary level so those counselors have been assigned to the schools with higher um higher needs based on the the density and the reports that we're able to
042observe through the data um and they're doing both general education lessons for the whole class as well as pullouts where they're able to Target students who have identified needs from the from the classroom teacher around a specific skill that's going to help them develop those strategies we we truly believe that there are teachable skills um to to help students combat Mental Health challenges that naturally e and flow as they grow um I think one thing that I definitely want to highlight about our counselors um is that having their presence in the building both at the elementary and secondary level and having that contact with the students is so important because we want children to be able to go to a trusted adult a familiar adult when they are having you know those moments in their
043life of mental health needs so it's hard to go to a stranger and talk about it but to have these opportunities that are naturally w into our curriculum and our core experiences for students create even more of a bridge for them to access help when they really need it um you know in addition we're doing incredible professional development and I think it's it's really wraparound and it's breathed into everything we do I mean including our Equity PDS when we're talking about a sense of belonging it's that relationship and making sure that there is a trusted adult for every child and that they're building a sense of community and taking care of one another and that's why we're seeing the increases in students ad V ating for their peers when they see something or hear something
044um and feeling destigmatized about talking about this with trusted people and getting the help they need and that's that's such a wonderful growth I think in just Society in general that that our children are comfortable asking for that um and then we're really working on expanding Community Partnerships we're happy to have this we have a wonderful relationship with the bridge they come in they provide additional Counseling in addition to our um you know Provisions that are done for our students who have uh counseling and sessions with our psychologists built right into their IEPs and their 504s things that we have identified as needs we get to to provide additional supports um through these Partnerships Social Services um Hartford Healthcare with our iol program for students that might need temporary longer term care um you know
045and we also have the drug alcohol and tobacco um program through wheeler that's been an incredible partner we've just this year been able to really utilize them to support students um with those specific needs so I think that we're seeing really wraparound supports that are proactively embedded in our curriculum and in our programming in addition to reactive measures that we take consistently and collaboratively um to get our students exactly what they need and and then in addition to what we do for our our students we really want to be partners for our community and for our parents and making sure that they know that if there is something going on they can come to us we have resources available but we need to know about those those needs that they might be seeing in their
046home because if we don't know about them um we might be missing a great opportunity to connect them with a resource um or or just offer support in some way and so that's something that we're definitely asking of our families to come to us and to see us as partners and and to destigmatize you know this work further um there's some great resources that have been developing over the past year and a half in the state urgent crisis centers there's four in the state now one is right down the street right over the line in Hartford um and it's really a wonderful resource for our families we've discussed um here and I'm sure in years past you've heard us talk about younger children kind of having disregulated behaviors not having those coping strategies and when
047they're in those moments of what we'll call crisis families can take their children right to these centers that are really um clinically clinical environments not Hospital environments and receive care immediately they they um they as the students are are calming and and finding comfort in that environment they can then do assessments and provide them to services within 24 hours so we've really been working to encourage our families to utilize some great community supports as well um what else did I want to talk about we're also I know we talked a little bit about you know the offering next week which I'm so excited about the anxious generation and really um looking as a community at at that social media piece and how that contributes and how we can proactively support our our youngsters growing up
048you know with this as part of what affects their mental health but I think something that I want to point out that ties into this is a a big message in the anxious generation is the importance of um the communal approach and you know not doing it in isolation and so I really encourage our community to continue talking parent to parent educator to to parent you know educator to educator and really encouraging one another to just have those conversations so it's it's not as stigmatizing um because if we can all work on these things together our kids will be better for it and I we're clearly seeing that as we we look at the trends in the data anything I didn't touch on here okay you know and then as we just go forward I
049think we're really looking to continue monitoring the needs as we move to the full use of our safety assessments that we discussed and being able to capture information in that way I think it will really help us articulate any further Trends to to guide our reactive work but also our proactive work and what else might be needed I think um you know we're definitely seeing that our our clinical staff you know we allocate that by not only the hours that are allotted through IEP um services so we calculate all that and we make sure that those hours are in the day but we recognize that they're really needed to respond as well and and provide um all of those things we talked about tonight that might not be able to be captured on paper so
050so that drives you know our future Staffing decisions as well um and then we are working really hard to explore future Community Partnerships um we have been in conversations which we hope to share this spring um particularly to programming for our students who might not be able to access all I mean our town could not offer more when you look through that wreck desk right but um can all of our students ask access those programs and that's something that we're really committed to because we know those relationships and perhaps non-academic experiences offered in this town um it may not be as possible for every child to join and we need to make sure that we're creating more bridges for that so that's something we've been working on as well um anything else no okay go
051ahead yeah the last thing we just want to share is that we had the great opportunity before the board meeting to um go over to the Noah Webster Library where they did a grand reveal of their mental health mural which was so well attended did it was a beautiful celebration we weren't able to stay for all of it um but what a beautiful mural and you know a representation of the student work in the mental health World um do you want to say any more about that I think it's just a reflection that our students are invested in what it means to have um good mental health and to talk about it and to to support one another when you look at the messages that they chose to you know Adorn the the walls of
052our library with it really speaks to this generation and and how invested they are in taking care of one another so it it was such a be there was music there were speeches it was incredible so um I encourage you to go over to the teen room if you get a chance over at the library next door so I think we're ready for any questions you have any for us all right boy thank you so very much teammates questions comments regarding the report we received I have a couple okay Latoya thank you I just have a couple of ones hopefully they're um just quick um so my first one is um the risk assessment does it also include um like self harm in other ways so like cutting and things like that okay cool um
053and then um I had a question around support I add had two more questions one is around support for school staff I know we're centering this around our students but um just thinking about just I know in my own professional experiences with doing some of my trainings with counselors and stuff like they are also going through a lot too and then they're working with students that are going through a lot so just wondering about uh what what supports might be in place for our our school staff around mental health such a great question thank you for asking that because I thought about um that we didn't include that in our presentation it's a little bit in our report but annually we provide Mental Health Training for all of our staff so that's an annual training
054PD requirement but also for our clinicians I think your point is Salient because I you know our as mental health professionals they're interfacing with students who are at times in crisis and that can be very hard as an individual and so we've been really trying to connect as a professional group of clinicians and have the professional development time be together both around the assessment interpretation of data how they're responding what tools and interventions are we using um and then I'll just also Just Dub tap and say that you know as part of our annual messaging to staff you know Julio is always messaging that we do have an employee assistance program for our staff because again you know while we're talking about students mental health we just want to also just acknowledge that as adults
055it's also an important message to send when we acknowledge and take care of ourselves and so um we do have that available for our employees and we do make sure we message that so that they also know what resources are available for staff awesome thank you and then just one final question um around the social emotional learning piece um and I know there are some some things being talked about in high school um one of the things I thought was so great at the elementary schools was all the social emotional learning stuff you see it on the walls you see it on the floors you see it everywhere in a big part of the culture and I do notice as the kids get older you see less of that on the walls and stuff and
056kind of less so I think what I'm wondering is how like what is it looking like to build that social emotional learning on top of each other as the students advance so that it's still as important for them to think about those Concepts when they're a junior in high school you know just as it was important for them when they were in third grade does that make sense it does it you see less of that on the walls and more of it in the curriculum and so as students get older you know we have second step um you know for our younger students and then it transitions to our health and wellness curriculum which is very robust and so then it's in the classroom more so than it might be although I have seen at
057different times like I know in September for mental health awareness the the high schools and the middle schools did do a pretty big event and there was a lot of messaging around it so there will be times where you see it um there's also a really great student prevention work group that goes through the town and some clubs and groups around mental health awareness so we see it in those pockets as well but it lives more in the curriculum when we get into the secondary schools but still definitely a focus awesome thank you and thank you for all the work that you're all doing and just supporting and normalizing um you know mental health support I think what it's doing for our kids especially because we do have such a high achieving District um is
058that dude like therapy is maintenance and when they go to college like they'll it'll be a regular thing for them like I can have a therapist while I'm in college the whole time to support my journey so I think y'all doing a great job with setting that Foundation of normalizing it now so it can just be a regular part of life so thank you other qu yes Jason so thank you again um for for all you're doing I'm always impressed with the the just sheer amount of resources that our students and our families have um I've got two questions the first one kind of dovetails off of um Latoya's questions about umal so you talked about second steps and how that moves up through Through the Ages um how do we measure the success of
059this so you talked about seeing some of um I think at one point mentioned success and seeing some Trends in the data how are we measuring the the success of this I'll take part of it but feel free to jump in so there the metrics that we're using right now are around our risk assessments and then also obviously there our classes and teachers are kind of taking the temperature we have some screeners that we use as well so um we like to think about mental health you know we have services available for all students so all students are receiving curriculum in tier one instruction and then we have students who have more um specialized clinical needs where they might be receiving counseling as part of their Section 504 plan or part of their individualized education
060plan but we do have mental health services available for all students so one of the other ways that we can measure that is by looking at the density of Clinical Services being offered through plans and also the amount of students who might be accessing Clinical Services without a plan so we have that density data to understand you know what are the trends telling us relative to identification of a clinical need under a disability category and also who might be accessing Clinical Services I'll use the counselors for example through a tiered intervention that might be short-term in nature or might be um situational specific that they still have a need but it might not be a long-term standing need where it might be required for a long period of time and so we're able to actually
061disaggregate the data both ways and look at look at it that way as one of the metrics um for giving us some feedback around that I just think from the building level also there's other metrics that our principles might be looking at to really assess over time how their how their students are doing things like um attendance right is a big one certainly when we're seeing a chronic attendance go down that's telling us that students are feeling more equipped to come to school and be ready to learn um and also discipline or office referrals you know we take a close look at that we look at it both um in terms of you know you can look at it through sub subgroups through um all different lenses to really understand your population at a building
062and think about you know what's working and where are students really showing a need based on the level of response we're having so that you can you know really think proactively as a school team about what else might be done so I think there's some other you know metrics that might not be something that gets presented kind of at the 30,000 foot level that's really driving some great work at the buildings as well right I I think that's important because you know our gut tells us you know there's a real need here right we all see that and and at the same time it's also telling us that these programs are are fantastic but I think it's important to also have that data that says yeah this confirms what we've we've all been thinking um
063so things like I think looking at you know instances of disregulation in the classroom things like that I think those would be important um my other question is that um I've had the great opportunity to spend a lot of time in in a great number of the schools recently on some tours and and have gotten to interact with teachers and administration and students and I know for a lot of the schools that um parents and and kids especially first generation Americans face a lot of language barriers um others um will face also a lot of financial barriers um to accessing the schools in general right that to be able to communicate is really important um if you don't speak English it it can be really difficult but there are a lot of great programs in
064place that we have so we're reaching those families what about for these Mental Health Resources uh you know are there you know ways to get around language and financial barriers yeah so we have some wonderful Community Partners um you know to name one I think about Vivian at the Board of Health who's you know constantly partnering with us to identify families that she can support um you know with translating to access like local local resources like that and then we have our internal teams as well who support our our buildings and we obviously have translators and you know and we translate materials to send home and teachers have just you know blown me away with the level of um ease that they do that with now just to communicate home but I think that we've
065also invested um you know our district funds as well and making sure that that we have specific people to serve in that liaison role for our families um so they they might visit the school with the family they might serve you know and ask questions um and then communicate for the schools to those families to make sure that they know what's available to them and why because I think um it's not just about that translation of communication but also um cultural differ and expectations that one might have from what their experience was um and how communities might offer resources in different ways um and they might mean different things to different people right and so um being offered a resource could mean something totally different than than the way it's intended by our school team
066you know as as help assistance um you know a step forward and and it just might be taken a different way so I think our Liaisons do a great job of trying to create context as well um and that's an important factor in in reaching those families and and ultimately it comes back again to everything you know Teresa Wrangle talks about with sense of belonging and just all of the opportunities that our schools create to even if um you can't understand everything you're saying when you can invite a family in and have pizza at bingo at school with them you know those sense of belonging and those connections make it easier to to help families access what they need because of the relationships and I'll just piggy back off of that and um just say
067you know going back to our Partnerships we are so fortunate that we've had this long-standing partnership with the bridge um where we do fund um West Harford funds free private Mental Health Services in the schools for students um through the bridge and so we've had that relationship with them for a very very long time um they're a huge um partner in support for us and um we've also over the years because of Language and Cultural reasons have um really researched and found different individuals who have um practices and might be Portuguese speaking for example so we can connect families with somebody who is a provider in the mental health world that does speak their native language because as Kelly said that becomes really important so we we really are trying to remove any barriers that
068families might face in accessing Mental Health Services and so we do have a list that we maintain um and we even have um you know providers who are so great that they're willing to do those meetings virtually families are open if you know Transportation or commuting would be a factor um and so we've really worked to really find community members who might be able to fulfill that need so that we don't have any access issues for our students and our families so that's been really helpful and then um I know Kelly talked about it a little bit we have the Institute of living at both high schools and that's a private clinic and last year we started a pilot with the bridge with a private clinic at the middle schools and um that provider is
069completely booked across all three middle schools um with the bridge and so we've continued that in a real partnership this this year and so I think that's also helped to remove the barrier of afternoon um appointment slots for students who are looking to to access Mental Health Services where their providers were booked between after school hours into the evening and then families had um a struggle connecting with and getting a mental health provider so that's been a really great partnership with the bridge and The Institute of living and so you know we'll continue to monitor that but you know we'd love to expand in the future if um the right providers are part of the team so um that's just another great way for us to support our families other questions or comments Ethan this
070is more for future um just looking at the statistics would it be possible to look at it per capita or percentage of students because question I had is as the numbers go up is it how does it relate to the population of the student body and then also um I'd be interested in looking at it High School versus Middle School versus Elementary you know is there something happened in one of those groups so yeah absolutely we could definitely make a note of that and do that for next time since you do this annually I figure you can till next year absolutely y so thank you very much thank you gaale uh yeah thank you for the presentation um my question is more related to something that you touched on and our student Representatives touched on
071a little bit as well um regarding the trends of the Mental Health crisis that seemed to coalesce with the um Advent of smartphones and internet and social media um and I think there's a growing body of evidence that's that's starting to link the Mental Health crisis um with with smartphones and with social media so my question is and and I think you touched on a little bit but I was wondering if you could just elaborate a little bit if there is anything that we're doing in the schools to try to educate students and to try to help them um with essentially the addiction to social media and and cell phones which I think is driving this Mental Health crisis in a big big way yeah I think um I think you're right research is really
072starting to show as we get more research right you know technology in some way ways is still so new and as we get research and research studies it's really starting to link some of those components together and so we have been actively spreading health and well Wellness campaigns around technology use in just this year um all of the schools really implemented a stricter cell phone policy which um you might be living right now and I found it interesting actually in the beginning of the year um it was even a point of reflection as a mother myself um when we were talking about you know the statistics around who students were tex texting most during the day and it was their parents and I was guilty um but it it's just another good point of reflection
073to kind of stop and pause and think about how technology has impacted our students how we're using as a society and so the schools have a bunch of different workshops that have been happening and we've actually been partnering with the community quite a bit on that so we have a number of groups um the community of concern um we have um student advocacy group and then also West Harford social services and the youth Bureau have all been partnering around workshops and opportunities after school and in the evenings and then they hosted I'm going to forget the name of the event that happened earlier this school year but they are trying to put out bigger campaigns and partner with us around messaging around positive use of of Technology having healthy boundaries and setting limits um and
074so we're really trying to to do that in the schools and model that with our cell phone policy as well so that we're using it for educational purposes and and teaching kids how to navigate um all the things they have access to okay thank you so what is the stricter self film policy you know I'm not as I you know Andy you maybe maybe our student Representatives can tell us more I'm not as um probably well versed as you guys are um I think basically what it is is after after like your lesson ends in like a Class A oftentimes like in the past few years like most students would just kind of take out their phone and kind of just sit and kind of catch up with what they missed within the 45 minutes
075of class but now um we're not able to do that because a lot of teachers have or a lot of teachers are using like phone pockets and like are very like they're all told to report um I think report anytime a phone is out and like so that it's like an immediate like write up and everything so it kind of scares students and forces us to have like actual social interactions at the end of class and everything I don't know if you have anything else to add yeah it's kind of what Alexis said it's just you can't have your phone out unless the teacher said like it's allowed to be out for whatever re for educational purposes for whatever reason and I also agree I think it's something where like last year like I would
076have gone on my phone at the end of class but now it's like no I go talk to someone and I actually think it's a really positive thing and I'll just add to roll it out um I got to witness our intern principal at Hall deliver one of our town meetings so she met with each grade level as an as an entire group right in that first week of school and and really talked about what the expectations were they had some nice visuals and then she she said hey I'm telling the teachers they have to report it so you heard it from me and so I think in both high schools they did a really nice job of rolling that out um and making sure students heard the same message and it was clear to
077the teachers and I think we've heard you know certainly higher reports of Engagement from teachers but I think even from the student I've been able to hear how they realize they can focus a little more you know your mind just isn't always wondering because you know nobody's using it during those times so it's amazing to just see that link and I think you're spot on with the research as well I think we're going to see a lot more of it you know in the coming years and and hopefully we'll all learn from it right other questions Claire yeah um thank you so much for your presentation um I was very happy to see the increase in in self-reporting and that the stigma down and also the success of the counseling being used um within the
078high school and the middle school um the cell phone policy how different is it from elementary to Middle as anyone know so at the elementary level they're not allowed to have cell phones at all there should be no phone use um and so typically um historically I can speak that it used to come to the office if it was at use and the parents would have to pick it up I think at the middle school it it mirrors the the high school where it just needs to be away um and out of sight okay a few more um so I was very impressed with the Conor Brothers um organization um but I I feel in general like teen rooms and youth groups within churches and these places where kids can be themselves and be together
079and um I wondered about uh gender sexual it alliances the GSA clubs um I feel very strongly that that club could be for a child who um might have two mothers a child whose uncle has transitioned it could be for allies for people who just don't like the teasing that they hear and want to show support and um there are right now I think in 2015 11% of our youth identified as lgbtq that number is now 25% and the suicide rate is four times the level um it's also the second leading cause of death suicide in uh 10 to 14 year olds so there's a real concern I have especially with um some of the political things that are happening um states that have transgender laws there is a high increase of of uh trauma
080cases um so do you know much about what the district's doing in order to offer this um safe space for allies and people identify as lgbtq I can say that we definitely have safe spaces I you know I know Teresa would be able to identify a little more clearly what those look like than I might be able to but what I can share with you is that we have layers of clinical support and and there are definitely groups that are more vulnerable as you're pointing out and so that is our hope as we design our clinical supports we have clinical supports for students who have plans but then we have clinical supports that are available and accessible to any and all students for that exact reason you know a student who is exploring identity might
081need clinical supports and it's available to them and it doesn't have to fall under any type of plan it's just available in the millu and I know that there are and I don't know if you're aware of any of those groups that are running but um you know I know that we do establish Affinity spaces and ways for students to connect and to build relationships with that sense of belonging really at the Forefront um one more question um I know your purview is special education so this is a mental health is a broader picture and and a larger um from a practical standpoint is the mental health services and that all part of the special education budget even though they're not mandated Services correct yes so pupil Services itself oversees the clinical teams because we
082manage Monitor and supervise our clinical staff but when we are programming we program for the whole district for all of our students so that will you'll see that in my budget line item when we propose the pupil Services budget but those supports and services are geared to all students and so you know we really talked a lot um you know we have different departments in in the board of education but we're still one team and so we provide services just like the curriculum office provides curriculum to all students all students are general education students first pupil Services is looking at all students also and we're really um working together in concert to kind of say what are all of our students needs and so we might supervise clinical but we're recognizing that the trend isn't
083just for identified needs who students who have necessarily disabilities but students who might have short-term or interm U mental health needs that might not have a disability but might need access points and so really you know as we look at data and we're assessing student needs we're really being considerate of all students in the district so that when we're making um proposals for the board to consider whether it's you know around Staffing or programming that we're being thoughtful of not just students who fall under special education but all students who participate in the board's program okay thank you other questions or comments yes Latoya um just a couple things I want to say one was um about the um just thinking about what what CLA was saying about the um the Affinity space um one
084thing I I do want to highlight is um in my household the GSA Club at Hall is like raved about as a favorite favorite Club um for students that identify and allies um and so I just want to say kudos to that because it is a it is a club that I know that um lgbtq plus students attend and also students who are allies and there's a lot of flexibility around um participation so like if you can't come every time but if you just want to come to one meeting a month or what whatever the case is there's a like an open door policy for students who who want to come and be a part of it um and I I didn't know that before but I'm getting that information obviously from my my child
085and so it's really cool um so I I wanted to just shout that out um and then the other thing I wanted to say about the cell phones um and I'm saying this because I know our meetings are recorded and other people can see it and I think that parents have to hear like when it comes down to the cell phones like we also have to check our own behavior um it's hard to set boundaries around cell phones and technology with your students um you know and then when they come home to you like like you're like this the whole time and so I think for us um in order to support the schools um in this effort of like we need to be healthy we need to have healthy boundaries with this um our
086part in supporting y'all is we have to do it too we are also addicted to the phones too and so we can't just say it's the kid so I think we need to really check ourselves and um join our our students in those healthy boundaries like hey everyone in the house is off of phones EX amount X time I am not going to be texting you during the school day cuz I also was guilty of that um I was like why did I think my kid like isn't busy with school like what and then mad like when she doesn't respond and she's like Mom I have school so you know I had to check myself too um and so I just wanted to say that um that that's the way that I think we as
087families need to show up in support with the district around healthy boundaries we got to do it too so thanks for that other questions or comments all right I also thank you very much for the report and I Echo all of the questions and comments that teammates have have made I what what's top of mind right now is we got to do it too with what was just shared and very much appreciate the emphasis on being proactive in self-care and recognizing that mental health applies to us all um and that is something that I strongly believe and and thank you so much as well for promoting D stigma izing it also I appreciate also the questions regarding the metrics that are giving evidence to the work that's being done how it's working and I'm thinking
088of that as we are it's December and we know we have January February and then March budget season and there was some talk in terms of budget line items and how that accounts for the work that's being done and this presentation certainly gives Credence as to when it's working let's have it to continue to work and just want that to be to of Mind in our conversations as we talk about our budget and we certainly want to do that supporting our young people all the more so thank you so very much for all that you're doing and that is beautiful the picture uh from the mural wonderful thank you so very much you and as transitions take place we shall proceed with the agenda now moving on to routine matters where we shall receive our
089financial report seeking a motion that the Board of Education approve the financial report for the period ending October 31st 2024 is there a motion yes I'll make a motion thank you Ethan is there a second second thank you Shannon discussion so hello Liz wonderful to see you here and I believe this evening the report will be the inaugural report will be given by Jason passing it over to you Jason yeah all of a sudden I feel like there's a math test about happen and having flashbacks um so so I think I'll start by saying and what's important to me is there no surprises um bad or no surprises good so everything is is pretty much as as was budgeted so I think credit to to Liz and her team um for the general fund total
090expenditures to date of 49,1 187,188 38,800 $56 we currently have a $65,000 Surplus in the general fund most of which is being driven by a 50,000 current Surplus uh and transportation costs um that is something that that we should be uh watching uh throughout the rest of the year um it's expected that with the special education Transportation costs that that that Surplus um could could Whittle away pretty quickly uh the grants funds there's a carryover authorization total of $ 4,913 as of October 31st uh with anticipated additional Wards pending special program fund is expected to achieve a surplus for the 2425 fiscal year uh with an expected 96,000 in interest income uh nutrition services uh earned an operating profit of $81,300 in October of 24 uh seeing an up tick in Daily student lunch count
091um which on a personal note I was fascinated by because this tracks what actually happens in my own household which is you start the year off with great expectations of you know packing that lunch every day and then by October um they are certainly buying uh in interest income through October for the nutrition services uh for month end is uh October uh $ 66,1 161 so we appear to be on track as a band of October all right thank you any questions or comments regarding the finanta report shared with us all right seeing none all of those in favor say I I I I any oppose any abstain the eyes have it thank you Jason thank you Liz thank you Ethan you're part of that team as well thank you now moving on to approval
092of the minutes seeking a motion that the Board of Education approved the minutes of the regular Board of Education meeting of November the 19th 2024 is there a motion so moved thank you Latoya is there a second second thank you Jason discussion any suggested edits or comments seeing none all of those in favor say I I I any oppose any abstain the eyes have it moving on to information and reports board members do we have any Communications and reports from other organizations or boards seeing none yeah passing the mic not a a liaison opportunity but just a notification from the parent leadership training institute plti which is an amazing program that's offered District by district and West Harford is really fortunate to be able to offer it for the 13th year they got budget approval
093um and it's uh launching January 4th and so applications I believe are live I'm just looking at the flyer um and we'll start in January and it's a free 20 week uh session for parents um it's hosted at Charter Oak International Academy um and it provides for child care as well as meals um I think we have three alumna of the program here Claire Lorna and myself and cannot speak highly enough about how much opportunity it brings in terms of becoming kind of a catalyst for your community and an advocate in so many different ways um and the time just flies by so uh definitely take advantage of it uh if if you're interested um there is a an application online and Katherine Dean is the point of contact and her email is West Harford
094plti gmail.com for any information and we can be sure to share that as well um if anybody uh needs some followup but happy to talk about it with anybody who is interested because it is fantastic thank you Shannon and Claire and I were smiling and nodding right along with you wonderful program any other reports or discussions all right now moving on to information reports we did that already now we're on to Future business announcement to Future meeting dates our next meeting will take place on Tuesday December the 17th 2024 regular Board of Education meeting here in room 3:14 at 7:00 p.m. followed by Tuesday January whoa 21st 2024 regular Board of educ oh that's right 2025 thank you Jason yes I'll repeat Tuesday January the 21st 2025 at 7:00 here in room 3:14 do we
095have a request for any future agenda items seeing none do we have any visitors who would like to make a comment seeing none we do not have an executive session therefore seeking a motion to adjourn no moved thank you Shannon is there a second second thank you Ethan meeting adjourned e