May 28, 2026 - Board Meeting

001At this time, I would like to call to order the May 27th, 2026 meeting of the Harford J1 School District Board of Education. Can I have a roll call, please? >> Present. >> Blender >> here. M >> here. >> This is a meeting of the board of education in public for the purpose of conducting the district's business and it is not to be considered a public community meeting. There is a time uh for public participation during the meeting as indicated in the agenda. Any district resident or parent of a currently enrolled student wishing to speak should have filled out a card located on the sign-in table and given to our board secretary. At this time, we're going to say the pledge of allegiance board. Let's give everybody an equals catch. >> I aliance to the

002flag 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. >> Thank you. Um, consider approval of agenda. The agenda notes the board's mission that we will support our community through dedicated governance, leadership, and stewardship so that our students achieve. It also states our values and expectations as a board in governing our meetings. The purpose of the agenda approval is twofold. The first reason is to verify that public notice has been given according to state statute 19.84. Hoffman, has the meeting been properly noticed? >> Yes. >> Thank you. The second reason for approval of the agenda is to consider tableabling an item or to rearrange the order of events. Was there any thing to consider or is there a motion?

003>> I motion to approve the agenda. >> I second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. Item number four is our citizens delegation to be heard. Were there any people wishing to speak? None tonight. Item number five is our district administrator's report. So, I'm going to pass it over to Dr. Voos. >> Thank you very much, Miss Wil. Um, very first thing for district updates is our orphan enrollment application period came to an end in April. Uh throughout the spring, Miss Ethan and I made phone calls to families who had uh submitted applications to open and roll out. Uh about I would say we were able to contact about half of the 75 or so families who had applied. Um so not everyone. Uh we were able to get some

004information though. Um, Miss Hoffman has been able to draft all the letters both for those families who applied to come into the district as well as those going out. And so those either have been or will be sent this week. Uh, the next thing that I wanted to talk about is the end of school year events. So, we've had a lot of different things going on. Um, last week we had a Hartford area Chamber of Commerce tour at Central Middle School. That was very exciting. So part of the Hartford area Chamber of Commerce, we do what's called a learning walk. We actually modeled that after the walks that have been occurring at Central Middle School. So this was the third one held by the Hartford area chamber. And the first one was at Quad Graphics,

005the second one was at Manasha, and the third one was at Central Middle School. So um I see a lot of Central Middle School staff here. I want to let you know that Dr. Regodska did an absolutely fantastic job uh representing the school district and representing Central Middle School as did Mr. Stevens, Miss Gity and Mr. Flynn who are also here today. Uh so the three of them spoke in addition to Dr. Aatska and then uh together everyone was taken on a tour of our facilities. So, we were able to see the teched space, the art space, um the uh orchestra space, band, we went to the library, we visited several classrooms, uh we looked at the gymnasium, and the feedback from the day was outstanding. uh just serendipitously. I ended up having two more

006meetings for the chamber later in the week last week and I was still hearing comments not made to me but made from members to other individuals about all that they saw and witnessed at Central Middle School and how proud they were. So that was really exciting to hear and great um great press for us. And then beyond that, I also received a couple of emails last week of how can we get more involved at Central? How can we support the school district as a whole? So, it was very exciting. Um, also at the end of last week, we had our end of school year celebration. So, we reflected on how we dared greatly this year. And then we celebrated all of our staff members who had their years of service as well as eight retirements

007in the district. Um, those eight retirements had over 225 years of service when combined. So, a huge celebration for all of them. Uh, and uh, a nice tradition at the end of the school year being able to recognize everyone. Uh, Central Middle School was in the Memorial Day parade. I was going to say yesterday, but Monday. Uh, so the band did a fantastic job. Um, tomorrow night we have the band concert. Last week we had orchestra. Uh, the orchestra concert did they did just a fantastic job. Not only did the students sound fantastic, but they also had skits in between everything to tell the story of the music that they were playing. And I don't know whose idea that was, but it was very well done. And then after that, we'll have choir. So, one

008each week uh up at the middle school. Uh grad walks are early next week at all of our buildings. So, those will happen from the high school um to our our schools. And then we have all of our promotion ceremonies uh and just end of year celebrations. Um Rossman and Lincoln are at the beginning of the final week of of school. And then centrals is the afternoon of Monday, June 8th. So again, board members, we do ask that if you're able to attend that that you would um be represented there. So if you could just let Miss Hoffman or I know, that would be great. Um, so I will tell you lots of learning still going on. Lots of fun and excitement as well as engagement in the classes. So it's been a nice end

009to the school year. Very fast pace. No one will lie uh or argue with that. It's very fast-paced, but it's exciting work. Thank you. If that includes my report, that's great. I will say as a parent, it is coming fast. [laughter] Today she was like, I got new reports and projects, too. I said, well, that's good. Good learning. Good learning. All right, we're moving on to our discussion. So, our first item in our discussion section is our spotlighted learning with people services. So, I'm going to pass it over Denise >> and I'm just passing the mic. So, >> thank you all for coming. So, I'm gonna turn it over to this Austin team services. >> Yep. There we go. So, we have I'm going to let you guys introduce yourselves. Um, so role in building.

010>> I'm Kimmy Osterman. I am the school psychologist at Russen. >> I'm Ally Marorrow. I'm the school counselor at Central. I'm Sarah Wolf, the school psychologist at Lincoln. I'm Jade Walner, the school counselor at Lincoln. And I'm Becky Kger, the school counselor at Rossman. Okay. So, what's the importance of well-being instruction? So, first, for a moment, I would like you to think of your brains in two parts, an upper and a downstairs. Our downstairs brain includes things such as well-being instruction, which helps students access their upstairs brain, which includes academic achievement. So well-being instruction is super important because it helps students access their upper brain. So it includes school safety and climate. So we're seeing an increase of student perceptions of school safety, increase teacher reports for being safe and responsible behavior, and reduced disciplinary

011actions. It also increases student academic engagement. So we're seeing them participate in the classroom more often and we're also seeing a reduced absenteeism in truency. And then it also increases students character traits such as responsibility, self-management, self-efficacy, and a stronger demonstration just to be successful throughout their life. So we're going to talk about our different levels of well-being. We're going to start with our tier one practices. Uh you'll see our character education, which we've been implementing for the past couple of years. Um, and then our mandated lessons that we do each year across the tier one level. We also have our assemblies, the Lincoln, the Rossman rendevous, and our central character ed assemblies. New this year, we added our student well-being survey and our teacher strength and needs inventory as well as our schoolwide behavior

012expectations and routine. So, all those kind of drive our next level for tier 2. Okay. So, when we're talking about tier 2, we mentioned the strengths and needs screener and the well-being survey. We are progress monitoring students three times a year. So, fall, winter, and spring. And we're using that data to drive our tier 2 groups. So, as you can see, we have five different groups for K through five that we're utilizing. Lincoln personally had 89 students that took part in the tier 2 supports. So that's really exciting that we are able to access that many students. And then we're also utilizing the behavior and and attendance supports such as the CSTs and ASUPS, check-in, checkout, social stories, and attendance support plans. All right. So then we have our tier three, which is our most

013intensified supports for students. So for those students that participated in tier 2 and maybe didn't see as much progress as we would have liked to have seen, then we gave them the option of participating in tier three. Um and so you have your tier one, which is your general education population, your tier 2 smaller group, and then your tier three intensified. So more times than not, this is myself or the school counselor working with a small group of students, no more than two to three. Um and so based on the group that they were participating in tier 2, they might receive that support more individually again within that same character trait. Um or it might be a different character trait just based on the need again that was identified through that well-being screener. Um so

014sometimes we also increase the time just depending on what their need is and the availability of ourselves and of the student. And then we're also providing our family resources if they would also like to engage in the learning with their child and support them at home as well. All right. So then just to share some positive impact that we saw through that well-being survey that we um rolled out this year to students. Um from fall to winter across the district, we had an 11% increase in students that are on target for all of our designated skill areas, which is really great growth to see. Um, we also had a vast majority of students in our elementary and middle school buildings who were able to identify at least one trusted adult. That was something that we

015asked students on the survey. Can you tell us one trusted adult or more? And a lot of students were able to identify more than one as well. Um, at Rossman in particular, we had no students that were identified in spring on their survey as high risk, meaning they were feeling good about things. those skills were built and they were um reporting that on their surveys. Um at Central from fall to spring, there was a 10% increase for students who reported that they can resolve conflicts with others, a 7% increase in students reporting that they can ignore distractions. And then at Lincoln from fall to spring, we had a 13% increase for students who reported that they can resolve conflicts with others, and a 14% increase for students reporting that they can respect others belongings and

016personal space. So across the board doing the survey we saw a lot of growth from our students and a lot of change from fall to spring as well. So then we're going to start looking at next steps. This is kind of a a level set of where we are right now and what comes next and that is to really take a look at continuing to refine our current system. So, what are those things that we would look at that would make us take pause and say this student in addition to the screener, this student would benefit from this tier 2 support? The more systems that we have in place to make those decision points very clear for staff, for our support um staff, for parents, the better we are. So, it comes down to our

017process. So the team has been doing a lot of really good work this year putting together a resource map of all of the different intervention options that we have. Um and it helps us to identify some holes as well, some areas that we could use strengthening in for stu student specific behaviors or areas of need. Um so looking to expand based on that resource map in that area, looking to expand some of our resources for tier three. So that means as Kimmy mentioned um two small groups, two or three students or sometimes even on an individual basis. So it's when we're really targeting oftentimes specific behaviors. Um sometimes it's ones we see and that are really loud and visible and sometimes it's the ones that are not that we don't see. Um and then continuing

018to utilize Next Path and learn all of its capabilities. It's an awesome tool for us and I don't think that we know half of what it can do really digging into that and making sure that we use all we have so much data like that we don't need to collect more we have it just using it more effectively and making the the systems and those decision points more efficient. >> Okay. Um, then we just have some student and teach teacher testimonials up here and I won't go through and read each of them, but some of the positive takeaways from staff and students. We're enjoying in the curriculum some of the songs and activities that they do. Um, as part of that tier one instruction, students really like the hands-on aspects and teachers really like that

019traits carry over from grade level to grade level and monthtomonth as well. Um, if you want to click to the next one also. um just continued too. There's some visuals as well from um teachers classrooms kind of showcasing how they utilize the program at a tier one level in their classroom as part of their classroom decor and also a reminder for students. Um and then also just some student testimonials as well on the side there. Um they really enjoy the program as well. These are some of our teacher testimonials from central. A lot of our teachers have seen growth in our students working collaborative collaboratively together which has been really great. So they've seen a lot of growth in connecting with each other, working in groups. Um they've seen a lot of growth in them

020engaging in our lessons. U so the teachers love it. The kids have been very involved and I feel like it's grown each year we've used it. And those are some of the decorations we've done on our doors. And then our character traits of the month we post in the hallways as well. Thank you. >> Thank you for coming and particularly at this time of year when I know there is a lot going on at school and the kids are probably crazier than normal maybe. Um do we have any questions about about this presentation? >> Um the lady in green I'm sorry I forgot your name. Um you said at Lincoln 89 students participated Um, so all students don't participate in all tiers >> forever. So I have worked their way up throughout school year. So

021maybe I got 30 in fall, 30 in winter and then the major spring. Yeah. >> And they were identified at that time as needing additional support in whichever area that was. >> Yes. either they selfidentified on their well-being survey or their teacher identified them as needing support from their results from screen. >> To Barb's question though, all children get the tier one support. That's the program that we kind of the framework that sets it up. How can you just explain to us how the well-being surveys are distributed or how how that works? Yeah. So, um, at the elementary level, it is our third through fifth grade students who are surveyed as part of this. Parents are allowed to opt out at the beginning of the year for this or as students come in in those

022grade levels, they receive the opt out option as well. And then students take it's a 20 question inventory um, in their classroom with their teacher and it's just through Next Path as a glimpse. So, they're able to access it right there. And then students that are opted out as well have no way to access it if they would even click on the link. So, it's just for our students third through fifth who opt in. >> And ours is the same. It's through Next Path. Um, but it's for sixth through 8th. So, every grade will do it. >> Okay. >> Do they opt into I'm sorry. >> Yeah. Sorry. It's the same opt out procedure. So, once they're opted out at the beginning of the year, they don't have access to it. >> Okay. >> I

023This isn't a question, more a comment. I appreciated that some of the students I don't remember if it was teacher students reported in these quotes about um m or it was a percentage they could mind each other's property better and like know that there's a boundary um feel feel that they have a trusted adult from being a parent I know there have been times in the past where there's a distraction in the classroom that then makes learning harder or focus harder and so I do feel like this is most I don't know if there's data to support this but I would imagine this is strenthe ing the students ability to learn, retain, and move forward in their academic career. I mean, that's the whole purpose of this, right? >> So, out of those 20 questions,

024I'm assuming there's something that flags you guys to tell you there's an issue in that area. Is there an other area where the kid can actually then also say like, I'd like support in here, or I'm very frustrated with something that's going on with them. So, that's also another way that they could reach out to you even before they just come to your your room, right? Like it's on the computer program like they could actually address some of their own concerns. There's like a box or something that they can fill out. >> So, there is a box on the bottom. >> Okay. Um our last question that we ask students is asking them if they know of any peers that need additional support, but a lot of students do utilize that to say, "Hey, actually,

025I need a little bit more support in this area." So, it's kind of a a twofur in that way of if they're like, "Hey, this friend of mine really needs support." Or actually, "Hey, I'm the friend that needs support. >> I don't want to take away." Okay. >> No. >> Um I think I said this before where past I remember my middle school years, even some of my elementary where we were very quick to label put labels on kids as naughty and like end it there basically, right? or just just you're misbehaving that gets you to the detention room. So, I think this is a a step away. I I believe this is a step away from labeling kids too soon. Correct. Correct me if I'm wrong. Just trying to preface my question because I

026might not ask my question correct. A lot of my questions were answered in the presentation that I failed to see the link for this one. I'm sorry. But, uh I just had a couple one more. So, in tier three, they have more one-on-one time and that's with the identified students for the survey. Correct. Okay. And then is there is this I don't know if this is the right question or if I'm asking it right, but is this supplementing their income to like spend time with them or what is it giving you more one-on-one time >> or staff? Yeah, because if it's one-on-one time, again, I'm I don't know if I'm asking this correctly, but if it's one-on-one time, we're they're already on our, you know, we already pay them to do one-on-one time, don't we?

027>> Yes. >> So, I'm just I want to clarify for everyone like what are we what additional one-on-one time does this give you in in in addition to like what we're >> You mean in tier three? Are there additional schools within tier three? like it's it's more one-on-one time. >> We're paying them. >> So, let me respond to the question I think and then I'll give you time to talk about what tier three looks like and how that differs from tier 2 intervention. So, our our team members um we actually have policy against creating supplemental income through our own role. That's board policy. So, when we talk about additional one-on-one time, that's not paid via private counselor or anything like that. Um, and if there's something beyond the scope of what our team can handle,

028we refer that out for a different uh counselor or therapist. We're talking about um simply having more intensive instruction in that specific area. that's still part of either the large group, the the smaller group, or the one-on-one that our team um has the capability of offering within their own schedules during the school day. So, they're still working their same typical hours, >> right? So if you talk about what that looks like for a tier two or three student so so tier three for oh sorry to the online people um so tier three it functions very similarly to those students that are participating in tier three reading intervention where we're meeting with the teachers to kind of see what time makes the most sense within their schedule then obviously within ours. Um, so for tier 2,

029for us specifically at Rosen, we were doing those tier 2 groups over the lunch hour, so it was about 15 minutes. And then tier three, we're extending the time just so that we can get the full lesson in and those supplemental activities as well. Um, so you're looking at between 20 and 30 minutes for that tier three instruction within the school day. >> So tier three comes with the cost, right? I mean, know it's late. It's probably later, but I'm just asking for if it's more one-on-one time. >> what's included in the cost? >> What's in the And I don't know if maybe Jen you can speak. >> Maybe later this discussion. I don't know. I'm just >> It's a fair question. There's a different thing that we're asking for in the action item later

030tonight budgetary wise. Yep. And there's a different cost to tier three comparative to >> Yeah. to >> And we can go into that now since we're Is that >> I don't think I think that's connected to this. >> Yeah. So what the what the curriculum provides is the the lessons and the groups that they're talking about at they provide the guidance and the curriculum for them to run those small groups. So I'm guessing six to eight students in those. So think about it like a funnel, right? And you funnel you funnel down. So then what that offers twofold actually. This program helps um it helps take a look at some of the the things that students have identified and match. There's a whole host of interventions that are out there that we can utilize for

031students um who have various behavior challenges if it's a performancebased deficit or if it's a skill-based def. So it's I know the skill, I just don't use it all the time or like I really don't have any idea how to focus in the classroom. And so it when we took a look at that resource map, this has the ability to provide more guidance in building those skills with the idea that we don't want this to live forever. We don't want a student to have the needs of having to have one-on-one instruction or support throughout their school career. We want to teach them the skills and then maybe we need we kind of go back up that funnel. So it provides it also does a really nice job of providing some of the collaboration and um

032some of the tools for team members to work towards with their teacher. So this is what we're working on. Um this is the skill for let's say being able to monitor my body when I am sitting in the classroom so I'm not all over the place. And here are some checks that we can use for that. Here are some things that the classroom teacher can look for. maybe the same words to use so that they're reinforcing the same behaviors and then also the resources to loop the family and hey this is what we're working on this is how you can extend that learning at home so it it it granulates down >> okay yeah good I think it's just all good for us to hear like I said >> there you know when you talk

033about social emotional learning seal there's a negative uh context out there in the world depending on which where you So, I think it's all I think it's just good for us to talk about it and explain what we're asking, what we're going to essentially maybe approve, maybe not approve, but um I appreciate your explanation and I I agree and again I I'm in support of not labeling the kids too soon like we did before. I think this helps with that. So, thank you for your excuse me, thank you for your discussion and your answers. Thank you. That's all I had. questions. Thank you guys so much. Oh, yay. >> Thank you. >> Sarah actually Okay. >> Our next discussion item is our administrative report on buildings and grounds. So, Mr. Perol, >> good evening. Um,

034as you heard in the administrator's report tonight about all these wonderful activities we had the have at the end of the year, band, orchestra, choir concerts, elementary year-end programs, middle school recognition that require setups on our for my team and uh keeps us quite busy along with all the other things that we have to do during a a normal day. Um, the the other things we're working on is summer school prep. We have to get material down from storage. uh get that all um ready for the summer school teachers, get that into their uh classrooms, get some of the classrooms prepped because we're we do our summer school at the middle school and uh we have little kids, so we have to use smaller tables and chairs. So, we have a bunch of rooms that

035we have to make accessible to those kids. And last but not least, the uh we're gearing up for our summer cleaning, which is probably the biggest thing that happens during the summer. and then the projects that we have to either finish up or some of the new projects that we have for this year's. That's my report. So, if there's any questions. Yes. >> Landscaping back to Lincoln. I'm very sad about only plants that were left. >> Um it's the the problem with the plants. It's very difficult to keep them weeded and uh so >> the um uh it it's a possibility. I can't rule it out, but for right now, we're going to mow mow the grass. So, >> any other questions for Mr. Carol? >> Any struggles or challenges you see facing? >> No,

036nothing out of the ordinary. I mean, um just the the norm school struggles. >> Okay. >> A lot of lot of new kids on it on the crew, young kids. So, that's that's what that's what it's all about. So, >> timing is probably the biggest thing. So again, finishing a school year um this year in particular with generators and having power out for a little bit while they're hooking those up and then uh just coordinating everything getting done um so that we're ready to go at at the middle of August. So just a lot of stuff to do in a short window of time. So Mr. Carol's got everything chartered out in terms of when things are getting done and we should have everything done and ready to go to have a much better launch

037of school this year than we did last year. >> Great. >> Reselling the equipment. >> Um it's it's the auction is in the works. It'll be listed fairly quickly. >> We have some other things that we're trying to put on there as well. So we're trying to kind of consolidate all the things we're going to put on surplus auction. Thank you, Mr. >> Appreciate it. >> Clap clap when clap when he's done in August. >> Also, >> clap when he's done in August. >> Expect you to clap later for us. [laughter] I'm teasing. Okay. Our next item on the agenda is the school improvement plan reports. So, I'm gonna turn it I don't know which of you is going first. Ele Okay, I'm gonna turn it over to Dr. Regatska Central and then we'll move

038on to elementary. >> Oh, we got the whole team. >> We do have the whole team today. Well, not even all of the whole team, but this is a a good chunk of our >> uh building leadership team at VLT, my favorite sandwich, in case anybody wanted to know. >> Yes. Um we have Mr. Stevens, our associate principal. Miss Ramy, our dean of students, Miss Radkkey, eighth grade ELA. Miss Burbanet, sixth grade ELA. Hannah Gilbert, seventh grade social studies, who also did a great job on the learning tour um presenting and our students did outstanding talking about discourse. U Miss Caneli, eighth grade math. Miss Marorrow, who we met before, Mr. Flynn, our coach, Miss Garity for choir. So, um, we are super excited to give you a little update on where we are for

039our school improvement plan and we'll be passing the mic all over the place here. Um, so the first thing is about goal number one and I think Sarah, you're first. Um, so, um, what we had this year is, um, one of our initiatives was about, um, increasing student discourse in our classrooms, having the kids do a little bit more with talking, with being able to share in class. Um we definitely are still trying to work after COVID of kids not talking out loud and not talking to each other. Um so character strong helps with that but also um finding the staff to have other ways that they can get kids talking. So I was given the opportunity um to do a leadership opportunity in my classroom of teaching about Socratic seminar and what a Socratic

040seminar is, what it looks like. Um, we did a fishbowl activity with all the certified staff in central and then in four different sessions they came in and then were able to participate in one themselves. Um, and I think the thing that is hardest for teachers is you can't step in. You have to let the kids talk it out and use the skills and the norms that they have to be able to be confident speakers and to get their ideas across in a respectful way. Um, so I think it was a good opportunity to find ways of having the kids have that leadership as well. All right. We also um worked on continuing our continuous feedback structures with one-on-one meetings. Um so I met with all of our staff people. I know I've talked with

041you about those before. Um but I thought this was an interesting piece of information from the first time I started doing one-on- ons uh way back in 2024. I think I don't remember exactly when it was. It was a while ago. Um, we saw a 40% increase in positive shifts towards growth and people valuing coaching, observations, collaborations, and these one-on-one conversations. So, that was really exciting. Um, and just example there of how I share that data out with staff um, after I've met with everyone or what the themes are. All right, goal two, develop well-rounded future ready students. We have Char talking to us. So, I co-chared the peer-to-peer committee this year, and one of the things that we wanted to do was find ways to get students more involved in school activities and bring

042them to the forefront. So, we took the display case that is in our main hall and gave it a new purpose. Uh we we got together the members of the committee got together with all the club leaders and supporters and had them put up a poster talking about their club showing how students can be involved in that and how to join in. And we at the end of the year we have uh created a calendar so that we know next year which clubs and activities to display right from the beginning of the year including three new clubs that or activities that we're going to have a math science club backyard games and esports. >> Okay. So using student data uh we use as web in our ELA classes and in our math classes. In ELA,

043AS is used to identify student needs, focusing on the areas of reading comprehension, reading fluency, and vocabulary. In math, we use Ames web focusing on the concepts in the applications. And using the student data allows us to create small groups to individualize attention towards students with what they need to focus on to show growth. So, she's still and he is very, by the way, Mr. Munch is very excited that this slide is making the rounds again in front of a group of people. Um, so just to piggyback off what Kristen said, it's one thing to have all that wonderful data on our kids, but it's another thing to actually use it. Um, and so one of the things that we did earlier in the year is we had some professional development. And it's really starting

044from the beginning to get people comfortable with classroom management and systems and things that we need in place so that we can build those small groups. And it's not just, you know, thinking about our lowest kids. It's hitting the kids in the middle to make sure that they're up to snuff with the standards, but then also differentiating up for higher kids as well. Another one of our goals this year is highlighting student voice. So, we gave numerous surveys throughout our year, our school year on engagement as well as the well-being survey we just spoke about. So, this is just another example of how we survey kids and seeing if they like being in school, are they do they have pride in their school? Um, and just highlighting their student voice and giving them that opportunity

045to speak for themsel and then we use that data moving forward. goal three was around safety and engagement. >> All right, so I'm going to talk about the Wildcat Welcome Squad. Um, so this was new to CMS this year. I'm really excited um about it and next year it's going to be an official club. So, yay. Um, so let's talk about it. So, it is a group of student leaders who help create a welcoming and inclusive environment for all students, especially incoming and new students. So like sixth grade or as newcomers come to Central throughout the year, they give tours, they do all that stuff. So in August of last year and we're going to do it again in this year, students participated in a leadership training where they learned how to help students like

046open lockers, recognize when a student may be lost or struggling, and ultimately guide students throughout the building. So we did like a scavenger hunt. You can see on the picture here, we've got them practicing opening up their lock or like lockers with combinations because even though they have done it for years, it's a good refresher. Um throughout the year, um the squad members participated in character strong assemblies, created kindness posters, which you can see up on there as well. Um, and just ultimately has it started off with a lot of leadership opportunities and growth that I've seen in students and sixth grade throughout the year. They're like, "When can I join? When can I join?" And so I've gotten a lot of emails through those sixth graders this year and we just sent out our

047new um application this year and we already have about 60 applications. So I'm very very happy with that because it is very a positive atmosphere for students. So yeah. Another way that we have increased student leadership and engagement has been through our character strong assemblies that is aligned with our charact character strong curriculum. Students have worked really hard this year at creating videos that we show at those assemblies and they're modeling peer-to-peer how to do the expectations at school and what the traits look like while we're here at school. The beginning of the year they didn't love it. They were a little embarrassed but once they saw it they were super excited and kids like ask me can I be in the next one? So, it's been really exciting. They've also helped lead out different

048activities during those assemblies. Um, and really I do some talking during it, but it's a lot of peer-to-peer conversation during those activities and discussions with them so that they can learn from each other. And it's been a highlight this school year. Uh, another club we've had this year is our peer mediation club. Uh, we have had over 60 peer mediations completed. So I have a members I have approximately 30 members who were trained in September on how to help others resolve conflict. So if students are having a conflict or I'm talking with kids and I think it'd be a good suggestion I encourage them to do a peer mediation where they'll meet with two other students and help them problem solve. Uh in since fall we've had 40 a 10% increase from kids who said

049they were able to resolve conflicts from fall to spring. Another thing we've worked on this year is building positive behavior systems for our students. So each month we've focused on a different area that we've identified as a school of an area of growth for us. And we've challenged the kids and set a goal for them to meet that by the end of the month and they've worked really hard at holding each other accountable during that time too. We've done ice cream socials this year. We've had staff for student volleyball games. We have a basketball game coming up soon. We had a popcorn party where Jordan and I made [laughter] a lot of popcorn. But they've been really effective and we've seen a decrease in those behaviors that we don't want to see. And the students

050have been really positive about it, too. We also have worked on proactive attendance strategies. Over the summer, Miss Morrow and I met with incoming sixth grade students that we deemed at risk for attendance and we started building that relationship with the central staff and that family. It was really a good time for us to learn about any barriers too that we can address right away with them and smooth that transition for them from the elementary school to the middle school and we found them really effective as well. We've also had some incentives targeted around attendance and tardies as well. That's where the popcorn came in. But they've been really effective as well. >> Yeah, Mr. Ramy and I learned buy the popcorn, don't pop the popcorn because I think we made like 300 some bags,

051but I think we saved some money so I think Mr. Majaras is happy with us. So, um, I get to speak on attendance. I I think we kind of heard all the amazing things. So, I I definitely think all those things play a part in reducing our chronically absent students. Um, starting with those meetings that we identified students that were at risk heading into the school year and targeting those sixth grade families and really building that relationship in a positive way. And for our office level team looking at attendance in a little bit of a different light more traditional of starting with Miss Morrow to the dean to me and kind of working its way up more task force of we're taking a look at all of our kids at risk and just trying to

052really speed up the cycle of reaching out and continue to outreach to families. we've built and met with families as far as creating more short-term goals, too. And I think the um the percentages really speak to that. I think the clubs and all the amazing things that we do in the building, too. And just the culture that uh we have going on in the building speaks to it and I'm really excited to see um us continue to reduce our chronically absent student rates. um as really proud of the percentage reduction but still an area of growth that um is at is at the top of our list. >> We have four which is connection. >> So back in April um our committee decided that we were going to do a door decorating contest that was

053focused on the theme of the month which was kindness. So every Wildcat at Central was going to be decorating their door. The students had to work together to collaborate and decide what they wanted the theme of their door to be. And then every student in the Wildcat did have some part in the creation of their door. And it was really nice to see the kids all come together. Everybody taking ownership with the door decorating. And as you guys can see, the doors turned out really great. The kids put a lot of effort in and it really brightened up the building for the month. So this was a really positive experience for the kids. And then we did have voting on the favorite doors. So that was given to the parents, it was given to the

054teachers and for the students to vote. So everybody had their voice heard uh with our door decorating. All right. So I'm going to talk about two things that we were able to do. The first one are the discussion pods. Um so this is another studentled learning environment. What I was able to do was um I invited parents, guardians, staff members to come in and facilitate a conversation um with our middle ages unit. Okay. And so they were able to become the students. The the students became the teachers um and we use something called snite skills. So um they were able to use those presentation skills um throughout this entire activity along with the gallery walk. So snite is stands for stance, name, information, tone of voice, and eye contact. Um, so it's something that we've

055been practicing all year. Um, so that was really great involvement. And then that kind of goes along with our gallery walk. So we had about 100 plus um, vol or people to come in, which is again parents, guardians, staff members to come and watch students present. Each student at minimum presented five times. So it really really um was student oriented and it ultimately just a great experience for not only our community members to get involved but also for our students. Uh we also had for the first time we had uh families come to our quarterly awards m much like Rosman and Lincoln used to or still do um where if your kid was getting an award you get an email and then you surprise them by showing up and we had families RSVP to this

056and it was a very very big success. So, next, um, we got some feedback from all staff on our current school improvement goals to help us develop our new school improvement plan, which we'll be working on this summer. Um, but some of those the themes were pretty clear. We want to do some stuff with our um, character strong reboot. Keep working on the community building in our school. keep working on student voice, small group instruction, behavior, and attendance. So, a lot of the same themes that you just heard, but different strategies. Um, and now you get to see for the first time revealing in public our theme for next year, speak it, learn it, and live it. We worked on that on Friday as well, coming up with some ideas and some posters that we're

057going to get some kids to make for us. So, thank you to the BLT team for sharing tonight. That was a good BLT. Do we have any questions? [laughter] I want to make one comment also because I forgot earlier and we are here all for our kids. That's why we're all here. Um, but Mr. Grbeck does need to leave a little early tonight because one of his kids is a senior and has a tire concert tonight. So, he is going to leave us a little early and I didn't want him to feel awkward. So, now I've made it more awkward. Any questions? She's updated you when the things are. So, we're continue. I had a question though, but didn't esports. Uh, I don't know who mentioned it. >> Where are we at with that? >>

058Just curious where we're at with esports. >> I heard someone mention it. >> Yep, it was mentioned. We are, um, planning on offering that in the upcoming school year. >> That's a club for after school. >> After school club. Yep. Yeah. once a month that they'll meet after school like our other other classes or our other clubs do as well. >> Okay. Uh >> does everyone know what esports is? >> I don't. >> Okay. >> So, it's actually gaining a lot of popularity with kids um going to college on scholarships for esports. Um we won't be training anyone for that in the middle school, but it is an option for some kids. It's basically playing video games, which they're all into. So we were hopeful to get a group of kids together that may not

059find other avenues of being involved in clubs to connect with each other in a structured way in a way that is like we won't be playing violent games or anything like that but and some of the structure will be dependent on u the adviser and how they want to kind of organize that. I would imagine that they'd be doing some competitions with each other. Um, but once a month, get together, play some games, be social, >> build a connection. >> That's I've seen it structured before competitions within the groups or maybe like I know the high school has esports. Not that you would compete with them. Maybe, I don't know. >> You never know. >> Yeah. So, uh, the welcome squad, I thought that was a great idea. And then, thank you, Mr. Mr. uh

060Stevens presented it, but it was a team effort with the with the kind of hard conversations for the attendance. So, even those short-term goals with family can be, you know, you know, it can be offputting to myself if I had to have that conversation. So, thank you. It was going to be difficult. >> Yes. >> Was anything surprising on student voice? Um, and when I looked at the percentages, uh, I wasn't truly shocked. I know is a very hard year. They're kind of like checking out but kind of not checking out. They So, um I was a little surprised at the numbers, but did you guys see anything that we're concerned about? >> No, I feel like they're for the most part they're trending upwards. Um I do usually anticipate that eighth grade will go

061down by the spring, but they didn't go down in all the categories, just some of them. Um this is uh this is so we do the December survey that's a big long one and then we just took out a couple of the questions and did it again in um March and I don't know in the winter and the spring. I don't remember what the dates were but so we've done some of those questions three times. Um, I just want to comment that I really enjoyed I got to go to the quarterly award ceremony and um, when my oldest was there, that was not a thing. I really appreciate it being able to come in as a parent and just be part of the community for a little bit and see all the kids. I mean,

062I I just thought it was a great addition and I think it's a a good direction for the middle school. >> Enjoyed it. >> It was very wellreceived and a lot of parents got some nice photo ops, too. So, >> yes. Any other questions or comments? Thank you guys. Oh, Mr. Four. >> I don't want to age myself, but when I was growing up, we couldn't have done this door decorating because I went to a one room school. >> No, you would have won. You could have done it. You could have been the winner. >> Who's going to see it then? >> Everyone if it's one room. >> Only the kids. >> They were beautiful. The doors are really awesome. They did I don't know. Yeah. >> One more round of applause. >> Shake the

063hands. It's not just it's her. Good job. >> Good job, Mr. Pridemore. The door decoration champion. >> Thank you. hard. >> Thank you. Whatever that Wednesday is >> looking what >> I just realized. Yeah, it's not in my >> You have to be there soon. >> Not tonight. The middle school fire. I was like, "Oh, that's not in my calendar." >> Yeah. >> Hello, Lincoln. >> Hello. >> The floor is yours. >> Thank you very much. Um, I'm going to apologize to Mr. Grobeck out of the gate because, you know, I'm the most verbose out of all of us. So, I'm going to try and keep it really short tonight for you. Um, we've got a couple of things that we want to um present for you this evening. You've heard from Jade and Sarah

064already, so we're going to talk a little bit about uh their component of this without having them come up and present again so you don't hear sort of a double dip of that. But our team, as you can see, is up there, and you've got that in your presentation. So, as we move forward, what you'll see in the Lincoln presentation tonight is essentially a tale of two cities. You've got what we presented on earlier this year, I think in January or somewhere like that, which is in black. And then the blue is the update for the end of the year. So, you've got a comparison side by side rather than us just sort of rehashing everything and trying to remind you of what we talked about back then. But the KPIs were up there and

065as you can see, this was kind of the first one we talked about. Initially, we were talking about the rapid cycle feedback and the changes to the evaluation system and what that meant for us. Uh, one of the things that frequently has come up in our building, particularly from support staff, is that visibility piece. Um, and we were a little concerned about that with the sheer number of evaluations and meetings and check-ins that we had to do. Um, but one of the things that I've been really happy and pleased about is you can see the the little mobile cart there on the top right hand corner. So, at least three times a week, our staff, whether it's uh par professionals, kids, uh our our certified staff see me or they kind of hear me because

066it's a little loud, but they hear me first, then they see me. And you can see me just out in the hallways just working rather than being in the office. So, it's an access point for everybody in the building, whether it's kids or anybody else, to check in, say hello, ask questions rather than trying to track me down. But the uh the good feedback that we had about rapid cycle as I finished all of my meetings, every single staff member that I met with all 22 that we did summitives with this year, every one of them preferred it to the old system. Every one of them in was really excited about the ability to have strong feedback throughout the year rather than waiting until the end of the year and then getting that one sort

067of big hit at the end of the year. And that was that was good for me. I as as Dr. to be a low boss and I discussed last summer. Very very apprehensive about this system. Um approximately 240 was my total for the year with check-ins, meetings, and everything like that. But it was extremely smooth thanks to the staff and how they were able to schedule appropriately and how we were able to get through and have really really strong intense meetings, but they were on time every time. um with I think the exception of two in the year which we just couldn't get done. We did those at a different time but just not the scheduled piece. Um the last picture that Dr. Regatska had which had those kind of sticky dots on it was

068something that we did as well. We were third. Dr. Buouie and his team did that a couple of weeks ago but that was really looking at a PLC self assessment. So when we have our teams really dig deep and ask sort of difficult questions as Ian mentioned before that's where you get the feedback. So, where do we where are we at in terms of our professional learning communities [snorts] in the building and honest discussions about how each team member feels about that? So, we've got some really good feedback on that, including some pieces on wants, wishes, and wonders for next year. I know Dr. Buoie did that as well. So, we're kind of looking forward to dissecting that data a little bit as we move forward. Um, the top right hand corner, uh, Mr. Nar

069is going to talk a little bit about that when we get to attendance, but that's our links lucky kernel component and some of our book uh vending machine winners there. And it's not any of my presentations unless I squeeze one of my kids in. So that's Liam at the uh really really amazing and I have to say it again. I know Juliana is still here, but the musical this year absolutely fantastic. Uh we're really proud of uh our kids that went over and took a look at it, but also looking at kids from our building that participated. Um it was just awesome. So what are we doing in terms of getting our kids prepared? So again that left-hand side we talked way back a few months ago about how we develop student data and use

070that to develop our groups and our meetings rather than just basing that on emotions or what we feel that kids need. And I know that Miss Warner talked about that at length in her presentation earlier on. But that importance of taking what kids are saying and how they're feeling and then changing our group structures to meet those needs as opposed to us just saying, "Well, I think Neil needs this or I think Joe needs this." Because most of the time that's correct. But what we found is a lot of the not a lot of the time, but some of that time we're completely off base and what kids say they need is not what we think they need. So that wellness survey and how we've driven that has been really really important for us to

071take a look at the data that we're seeing and how do we react to that throughout the year and the data you saw from Jade's presentation before 99% of the kids that took it for us have a trusted adult in the building which is phenomenal and that 11% growth across district in terms of some of that feedback and moving the needle has also been great. Uh, Miss Wolf talked about um or I talked about Miss Wolf in the data collection tool back in January. We're looking forward to next week and our new data meetings and using some of that feedback as well. The tool has been very well received. Uh, Mrs. Moltter, Mrs. Stark, and Mrs. W and Miss Wolf has really worked hard on getting that done. The most important part of that for

072me is the plus delta for the feedback. What do people like? What do they want to see changed? Or what do they think we can do better? And overwhelmingly, the response to that change in how we present data has been super positive. And that's something that we're very proud of. We want to listen not just to what our kids are saying, but how do our staff create those those environmental questions and change that process um through feedback, which is what we want them to do, right? We want to give them positive and actionable feedback that we can then change our process on. And Joe's going to talk a little bit about attendance. I know that's come up throughout uh all three or will come up throughout all three buildings tonight. Again, I just want to

073remind the board it's not just a Harford issue. It's a it's a statewide issue and probably a nationwide issue as well. But we are really really really happy with our group of four. We are our building leadership team as well, the BLT as well. Um, but we're really proud of some of the data that you're going to see in a second. Um, when Joe presents on how we've been able to, uh, change some of that process and what how our kids view attending school. We're always going to have families that maybe don't view it as as important as we do, but we're continuing to work that process to make that change. So, Joe will talk a little bit about that in terms of attendance, and this is some of that data that we wanted to

074talk about. >> Thank you. If you look at the 24-25 school year compared to the 2526 school year side by side there, um I'm excited. Chronic absenteeism was at 25.2 last year. We're down to 20.6. I actually looked at that this morning and we broke under the 20% mark. So, I was very excited. We were at 80.2 to um not being at risk for chronic absenteeism, which I don't know if you know that means they have made to 90% of the school year. The state defines chronic absenteeism as missing more than 10% of the school year. For in a standard school year for us, that would be 18 days. So once they miss 18 days for the year, they're going to fall into that chronic absentee list. Um so excited to see that number getting

075better. Um, it's very exciting and attendance is not uh, you know, we're going to make 20% gains because 90% isn't great for an overall building. We're at 92.2 last year. We're at 92.7 right now. That.5% growth is reason for celebration. It might not seem like a lot, but if we can climb that.5%, that's over 400 less absences than a year ago for our students. So, we're looking at every little growth we can get and keep pushing it up. I I keep saying to the kids, we're going to strive for 95. That's our goal. Let's get to that 95% attendance mark. That's really what we want to hit and that would put us in a top tier in the state if we could get to that level. So, just those small percentages are going to make

076the difference between being top tier, mid-tier, low tier. So, it's really those small growths are a reason for celebration. In our district comparison, um you can see we're right around where that district range is. We did improve this year from 74.8 to 79. Like we said, we're above the 80% mark now. Uh we do have a little bit of work still to do on our minority races with attendance, but you can see it has gone up from 75% to 79 on target and for our um white students, 81% to 87% on target. So, we're extremely excited. I'll tell you a little bit about some of the initiatives that we've done this year. So attendance has always been a focus, but you know, I feel like I spent most of my time really focusing on just

077the chronic absenteeism and not rewarding and promoting attendance schoolwide. Um, and that's something a little bit different that we did this year. So besides Lynx Lucky Colonel, who I have to give a shout out to Mrs. Rumler who works in our office, her artistic ability is amazing. So she made that bulletin board for us. Um, we're picking two students each week at random and if they are present, they get popcorn and their whole class gets popcorn. We go in, we make a big deal of it, the class cheers, they cheer for the student. Um, and we are 100% hit rate on the students that we pull randomly actually being at school. Um, our attendance in the last seven weeks since Links Lucky Colonel has really kind of kicked in and gotten into high gear is

078up 2% from the seven weeks before that. So, a 2% increase in just that time is huge. Um, and that was about a 93.8% success rate, which would be a percent higher than we are on the year over the last seven weeks. So, some of those initiatives are starting to kick in. We always tell the kids, you never know, tomorrow could be Link's Lucky Colonel. You got to be here. If you're not here, you can't win. So, and then the students who are in the class also win. As long as you're present that day, you get a little bag of popcorn. The kids love it. It's exciting. We also introduced this year we're doing little backpack takes. Um each month is a different color and if you were perfect attendance for the month um you

079get a certificate in your classroom. We recognize you at Lion Eyes. Those kids stand. All the other kids are now seeing oh look we had almost half the school with perfect attendance this month. Last month we were over 200 kids with perfect attendance out of our which was over 50% of our building. So that was super exciting. And it was great to celebrate at our lion eyes. And then we also did this year if a class was 95% or higher as a class [snorts] for the month, they got like an extra 20 to 30 minute time with myself, Mr. Hanlin or Miss Wolf or Miss Walner. Today we took out a fourth grade class and a fifth grade class who had 95% attendance last month and we took them outside to play a game of

080kickball against each other for 20 minutes at the end of the day. Huge reward for them. They love it. It also incentivized teachers to keep promoting attendance in their classroom because who doesn't like 20 minutes to themselves as we take the kids and go do something fun with it. So, a lot of the things we're doing has really helped I think kind of push that needle forward and we do have suggestions as I'll work with Miss Een um over the summer and with the rest of the team with Mr. Stevens and Mrs. Aoff and everyone else on working on how can we make attendance better. Myself and Mrs. D are part of the Washington County truency task force. Uh we met last month and we're meeting again tomorrow for our second meeting on looking at

081it as from a whole county and what can we do to improve. >> Thank you Joe. That's good. So uh KPA number three was that prioritize safety operational excellence. Um we're pretty tight on this in our building. So there wasn't a lot of change that we needed to make. So we're very very proud of what's going on. the the picture up there talks about glass ball and rubber ball. Um glass ball tasks are those that are really important. You know, it's it's fragile if it's dropped. Um the consequences can be kind of serious. You can't put those back together. They're hard to fix. Or is it, you know, rubber ball tasks? Is this something that can bounce back if we delay it? Um if it's dropped, is it really going to make that much difference?

082So, when we talk about safety in our building, we talk very much about is this a glass ball task or is this a rubber ball task? Is this something that we can put off and it's going to bounce back or is this something if we drop this it's critical and we need to get it fixed and fix it fast. So that's just the picture that's up there. Um we still have our Monday meetings with uh Miss Walner uh Miss Wolf, myself, Joe and Mrs. Een. Unfortunately with the SRO removal um that lost part of our process for our Monday meetings, but we still have HPD uh come through and do walkthroughs. Officer Zen was there on Zens was there on Monday. He and I had a lot of uh conversation on what that looks like

083in the building and some ideas for uh patrol officers and what we think that they can do within the building and what we think their priorities are in in regards to again making sure they understand where exit doors are, what numbers they are, what side of the building it's on, all of those kind of things. We did talk in January about that standard reunification me uh method. Rossman and Central took that on. We are still working on the standard um response protocol. It's not quite there yet. We don't want to rush it. So, we're going to I'm going to take the summer to really take a look at that and see what that looks like within building. How can we simplify our crisis plan just a little bit? That's all that is. But Harford Fire

084Department have been involved in a lot of the drills we've done. When we talk about blocking exits, I just want to make it really clear. We don't actually like physically put things in front of the exit. We'll just use a piece of tape um like caution tape. But our students know if they see the caution tape, they can't go out. They've got to find a different way. So, we often do that. We actually have one coming up this Friday. We're going to be blocking an exit this Friday. I'm not sure if HFD are going to be able to come, but they certainly in they like the fact that we change those drills up so it's not just get it done, move it on, write the appendix. And and when I talk about new fire equipment,

085um we had some teething issues with that at the start after the construction. But the thing I said about benefiting all students is in some of our classrooms, it's a verbal command now. Um, so some of our special education students who might have vision issues, who may have mobility issues, they actually hear it through the uh the auditory piece in their classroom rather than just the strobe and siren. So that piece helps a lot of our students who might need some of that extra support in terms of coming out. It's a calm voice. It's quite a strange sort of AI voice in a way, but when you hear it, it it really helps uh some of those students transition out of the building as well. I'm going to hand this over for for Joe to

086talk about the community partnership piece. Um, particularly the home visits and some of those pieces. He already talked about the truency task force, but just some other pieces that we're talking about with the community. >> Thank you. I'll I'll skip over some of the attendance stuff that's on there, but because I talked about that. Um, but a big part of attendance really for some of the students who are really struggling is going to do that home visit. um it doesn't always have the longl lasting results that we want but it has been very effective in the short term go there talk to a parent because I do think sometimes it is not just the student [snorts] at the elementary level attendance is I'd say 90% parent and we do have some parents who are struggling

087with different issues you know we have a couple parents who we know they just feel better when their kids are here with them that makes them feel good and makes them feel safe and sometimes we have to work through those. So, we have done home visits. We've done home visits for students um on the spectrum who just really struggle leaving their safe place and coming back to school, but as soon as they walk into the building, they are like, "Oh my gosh, I'm having so much fun. School's not so bad." And they but they do struggle. They struggle to get out. So, myself, Miss Walner, have done uh visits this year to multiple students and we'll continue to do that in the future. And we're doing that for every time someone's absent. know, but if

088we have students who are really struggling, a home visit sometimes can help break the cycle, get them back into the building, start building those strong routines and structures again. Uh we continue to use local agencies when we need to. Um I don't want to use Washington County or you know, Hartford Police Department as uh you know, a hammer when I'd rather be using them as you know, a support. It's not like we want to punish families who are not bringing the kids to school. We want to be able to work with them. So, it's really my last resort is go to the Hartford Police Department to have them do a citation. Unfortunately, sometimes we do have to do it. Um, I'd much rather work with Washington County if they can provide resources to help a

089student or help a family who is struggling. Um, another thing we're looking to do is still support that central and huhs, encourage relationships between the buildings, between the schools, between the kids. Um, so we're always looking to do that. being present in the community. That's a really important thing to me. Not only as assistant principal, but I'm also the community coordinator for our building along with Mrs. AOF um and Miss Ramy and Mrs. Perfect for our district. So, together as a team, we're working on all of those community events and making sure we're present whether it's the community fair or the multicultural fair or um family night. I don't Were any of you able to attend family night this year in September? I mean, it was amazing. It was the first time we did it

090as a district. If you get a chance to come next year, I strongly suggest it. It'll be hosted at Central in late September, I believe, the 25th or 26th. It was a great event. All of our buildings coming together and just celebrating the start of a school year, um, playing games and having fun together. You know, the community fair bring is bringing in all the different people from the community in order to work with students. and let's show all of our students all the different things there are to do in Hartford. So those affiliations might not be affiliated with us, those organizations aren't affiliated with us, but they are really, really important to our students. So if we can connect the organizations with our families so they can see all the different things they can

091do, that's important, too. Um, we're looking at measuring family participation at conferences, um, as we want to make sure we keep bringing in those, especially in our second conferences. We really want to make sure all families know that that is an option and get them in the building also. Thank you. And the last couple of slides again, the uh one that we presented back in January, these were the next steps for myself and also for the building. And if we go to the next slide, Joe um well maybe the next slide >> maybe. >> Um thank you. [laughter] So really the feedback that we've been talking about is based on our two Gallup questions. So when we talk about Gallup, our role is also not to say we do it once or twice a year,

092then we forget about it. So one of the things that we had come back to us at Lincoln was about recognition. So we're really really looking at what does um where are we looking for our staff next year in terms of recognition. We frequently come high in certain things, but it's making that linked to within the building as well. Rapid cycle um as I mentioned the new reading curriculum. These are all things that the principal is going to be overseeing. But in terms of building, our attendance initiatives have already made strong impacts on our population. We're looking forward to what that can do next year and just some real clarity in decision-m um behind not just our pride of Lincoln but also within a lot of the processes within the building. I have pride of

093Lincoln up there in the rollover because it was one of my favorite memories so far this year. Um it was just a small thing but it actually was it works so much better than I could ever have thought. We had our students who were in our current Pride of Lincoln group stand at the front of a lion's assembly and then Miss Walner had the new Pride of Lincoln members come up one at a time and take the certificates from the old members shake their hand and stay at the front as the changing of the guard. So sometimes it's surprising how little things make huge impacts and that was something that I think made a huge impact this year. We could have just done it in classrooms or just taken it put them in mailboxes, but

094to celebrate it and to celebrate the roles of those students as leaders in the building was something that I think is really really important. So that's where we've done we've done a lot this year. We've got a lot to do and a lot to look forward to. But certainly celebrating small gains and celebrating those small victories is something that we want we really want to push next year rather than just the large things that happen. So thank you. I know it was a lot there, but I know you don't have any questions. So, I'm just going to hand it over. >> I just have >> if you have any questions, be more than happy to answer. >> Yeah, I just have a comment. Um, I it was very disheartening to see in the previous presentation

095about the basically onethird chronic absent absences, but um, of course that did go up. But then I would I also liked how how you put a positive spin on this attendance slide here. >> Yeah. And I think Bob 4.8% I looked at looked at that for chronic absentee and then what are not at risk. So I like the positive spin you put on >> and sometimes it's just how we present. So that's that's straight out of next path. Um all buildings have access to that. But I think what you find is that the students that we experience um with chronic absenteeism and their families, they get passed on to the middle school too. And so they experience the same families, the same students and they go through the same process. So what we're trying to

096do at the elementary level, I know Dr. Buouie and I have tried this for for many years now, is change behavior, change attitude, change system for those students so that when they do get to middle school, um hopefully we've made that impact on them so that the middle school doesn't have to start fresh with those students and those families. One thing I would add too is that while both schools have represented it differently, and it'll be interesting, Rossman, to see if you've presented it the same or differently, um, they've grown about 5%, both buildings have. So, there's been growth in both buildings this year. >> Yeah. And as Joe mentioned, sometimes 0.1.2 doesn't sound like a lot until you break it down to the actual number of absences that that is. So, 400 less absences

097for a year is is pretty phenomenal. It's still not where we want to be, but it's it's a big game. Yes, >> go ahead. >> Well, you answered one of my questions. Uh I know of another district who used home visits to encourage parents to get their kids to school. That made a big difference. And uh so I would encourage you to, you know, keep doing that. I don't know you send the principal out or who >> it's it's usually Joe so eight the assistant principal and either cycle counselor so they never leave by themselves there's always two because we're very conscious of the safety aspects of that as well if we're going into somebody's environment they're standing at their doorway we want them to know what we're there for and a lot of the

098time it's not an accusation it's just what can we do to get you to school and there are times when the kid just sees us and they jump straight in the parents and they get to school. >> I remember last year one of my surprise visits simple middle school. Um, one of the kids I sat down at the lunch for lunch with the kids. I didn't eat anything, but not that I was afraid to touch the food, but I just didn't have anything. They're just too busy talking to the kids to really eat. So anyway, one of one of the four kids that the sitting at had no clue why he was even there. So he he saw no benefit to being in school whatsoever. So that that was kind of he would have been

099a good candidate for for a home visit, but >> yeah, >> he's that was a year ago, so who knows where he is today. >> And what you'll probably hear from us next year as well is the phrase context over content. So if we can provide the why for students, the content generally follows that. So if we can provide the context for why they should be at school and what they're going to learn when they're there, then there's a buyin from students and so the content follows. >> I would also say though that getting him in school at least is where that context and content all has to happen. So it's positive if he was at least in school and then we have the opportunity to to create an impact. Um, I also just wanted

100to clarify one thing because you said earlier we had 5% growth but not 5% growth in how many kids were absent. It was actually 5% decrease in the absenteeism and a 5% growth in how many kids were not at risk for that. Okay. There were just it's been created it's been presented two ways. I was like I just I just want to make sure everyone's aware. >> Yeah. As as was mentioned it's it's hidden but at are not at risk is kind of the piece. He could have probably highlighted that for you rather than just wept at it. One more comment if I had to. I was at the Memorial Day raid in Hartford over the weekend and saw the Central Middle School band play. They did a very good job and uh I saw

101Barb and >> we're gonna we're gonna end up with Lincoln here and start with Rosman. >> Thank you very much. >> I can't. Sorry. with a theme happening. >> Two more times. >> Rosman, take it away. >> Thanks for being >> Thank you. Uh we're last school to go tonight. Um thank you for inviting us to share our school improvement plan. Um our May review. I have with me this evening is Miss Tasha Vogle, our instructional coach, Mr. Rebecca Kger, our school counselor, Mrs. Avar, our assistant principal, and myself. Uh I'm going to hand this over. Mrs. Vogle will lead us off with the first goal of investing in people, recruiting, retaining, and developing. >> This is year two with having an instructional coach. So, some of the highlights that I had accomplished this year,

102I continued to coach and support teachers and teams. Um, some ways I did that this year is around our data meetings that was mentioned um earlier with Central as well as Lincoln. But we do do data meetings three times a year. Our next one is actually going to be next week, Tuesday at Rosen and then Wednesday at Lincoln. But with our data meetings, we talk a lot about reading and math. We talk about those students who are struggling, how we can support them through intervention. This spring, we're actually going to be talking about those students who are struggling and making sure that we're starting off our year with intervention as we start with September as opposed to waiting till later. We also talk a little bit more about enrichment. How can we support our students

103with enrichment activities? Some things I did this year when it comes enrichment was creating different test cards for enrichment students. I also do a monthly newsletter with Miss Stark at Lincoln and I included some enrichment activities for both reading and math this year with our um newsletter, too. And then we talk a little bit more about how we can continue to support our students who are on level. Uh we support students with RTI. Some ways I did that this year was really talking a little bit more about those struggling students in math because we don't really have an interventionist with math. Our teachers are supporting them in our RTI. So I've been working with teachers on doing different assessments in the area of math so they know exactly where their struggles are so they can

104pinpoint to close those gaps. I also had again supporting with those enrichment activities. I supported our teachers with different classroom management procedure, classroom management strategies and class procedures really to help them to better handle their students in their classrooms. Um, and then again just some additional assessing with them. New this year was learning walks. Uh, Dr. Regaska talked about that a little bit with the middle school, but I'm trying to do that a little bit more at Rossman. So, I started off this year by doing learning walks with kindergarten. Kindergarten had a chance to observe each other with guided reading. and I supported in their classrooms while they went to see another teacher and then we did a debrief after everybody was done and even our most senior staff was able to take away something

105with that which was fantastic. I also did this with fifth grade. Uh fifth grade had an opportunity to um observe math lessons with each other and again not just look at math but also look at how procedures are in place with their students. how are students collaborating with each other as well as how the instruction is happening uh with our ELA pilot and I'll talk about that in just a quick moment but our third grade team had a chance to observe a teacher that was piloting so they could see a little bit more about those new curriculums and then some other teachers had a chance to visit other classrooms too to look at different content classroom management and then class procedures. I continued to support professional development with the science of reading but also in

106the area of math. Uh this year we continued with our Cox campus modules. In fact, we just finished that or most teachers finished that in on Friday with our exam, but we continued to support with the modules, but also our support with CISA. So I worked in collaboration with Katie Malter as well as Laura Dearing, our CISA representative, to talk about what are the best ways we can continue to support our teachers with modules we've been doing. It's one thing to watch it on a video and talk with their teams, but it's another thing to look at a team both within our district. So Lincoln and Rosen as well as the grade level teams. So how can we take these skills we're watching and put it firsthand in our classrooms. Um we also had an

107opportunity to work with um our consultant from math insights with our special education teachers. So we worked with Sarah Brown with math math instit insights and our teachers had a chance to do some peer observations in special education in the area of math. They looked at standards mapping. So determining what standards students need to be at if they're supporting second grade for example and then what are the standards that support them back like basically going backwards. So if they need to know this what are the areas that they're lacking so we can continue to close those gaps. Um and then looking at some more standardsbased resources for our special education team. And then finally uh one of the biggest things I supported with since February was our ELA pilot. Um I worked with all of

108our teachers. We had 12 teachers between Lincoln and Rossman who piloted. We had one teacher at per grade level at Rossman and one teacher per grade level at Lincoln. And I was truly involved with that quite a bit where I worked with all the different teachers. I talked to them, collaborated with them. Um was really a sounding board when things were not going well or were celebrating the things that were going well. Um helped them to find different resources. I had time to dig into some of those online portal portals so I could find different resources that they might need to support their instruction. So the ELA pilot was a really big part that I was working with, not only with the training behind the scenes, working with Katie Malter, but also working with our

109staff. >> Thanks. Um, in regards to retention, I just wanted to also add that we continue to recognize and celebrate with our students each year. Uh in the lower right hand corner, you'll see a picture of our support staff team. Um there's a lot of new additions to that team dressing up as Uno cards. Um synonymous with the game that that they tend to play, I'm assuming, but um so the kids really love that. U we also have uh I think they're called underground spirit days if I have that correctly. You know, I'm aging myself here or dating myself. Uh to the right you have a uh they were underground dressing up like the principal. So that's Mrs. Ratley. to the right. Um, stunningly looks a lot better than I do, but you know, maybe

110a younger version of me. Um, I've also worked with the PTO over staff appreciation week and the family members and the students had an opportunity to send in positive thank yous to the staff during appreciation and every staff member, pair professional to teaching staff uh were recognized on the wall with postits and the parents came in put that up um for the staff members. uh over to the left as you know from earlier on and from other presentations that we've been intentional with developing our professional learning communities. Um we set aside time professional development August and then we set a time every Tuesday month where teams can meet over intervention in reading and math and working together around four essential questions. And basically they're looking at students assessment uh how the lesson went and asking

111themselves what do we want students to know? How do we know they learned it? Um what do we do if they don't learn it? And what do we what do we do if they already know it? So those have been really intense conversations. Um as stated earlier for Mr. Hanland and Dr. Agotsska on the left hand side you see is uh some large sheets of postits there. They did a little self assessment on how they felt they u executed a professional learning community community when they met in their intervention blocks and after school and so they rate themselves from developing all the way to um distinguished there. So they've also on the left hand side they'll mark in red there that you can see things that they thought they did really well this year and

112on the green side on the right hand side more like things that they want to work on for next year as we grow in our professional learning communities. Um as mentioned earlier part of our Gallup uh Gallup survey talked about materials was a big thing and so on the right hand side we also did an activity Mrs. Vogle Mrs. Zaf and myself went to each of the teams and we talked about wishes, wonders, and wants. Um, I'm sorry, wishes, worries, and wonders. So wishes is more as like if you could have something, what would it be other than like a staff member that you know we can't control? Maybe something for your classroom or certain materials that you're looking for. And if we don't have it, then we could definitely work in towards showing you

113how to get it and then so that it's not an absolute no, but we could definitely work towards it. And so there staff gave we gave staff the opportunity to list things that he wanted and a lot of it was reading reading curriculum. So uh so I think they're really excited about that. We also talk about wonders and worries. Wonders are things that you wonder about what's going to happen like am I still going to be in second grade next year or is my team going to change or what happens when I have a retirement? You know who's my new team member? So those are more wonders. Um worries are certain things like that they lose sleep about at night like um things like well they didn't really have a lot of worries so to

114the point where they're losing sleep more so like I think the biggest thing is for the if the reading curriculum was going to be adopted and then how soon can I have that material in my hand will I be able to look at in the summer what does PD look like in August so those things like you know they're they're excited about it but still worrying about like oh my god That's a whole entire new curriculum that we're learning and we're teaching and not only in a tier one level, we're also doing a tier two and then also looking at a tier three. So, so those are things that um we're we're taking all that data to our pack leaders this summer and we're going to develop a new set for next school year and

115then some of the things that we're addressing right away so that we can alleviate some of our wonders and worries for the staff. Um, that brings us to developing well-rounded, future ready students. >> So, this may be something small, but this is how we started our every day at school with morning announcements. It's a really nice way to have a soft touch. Um, we we it kind of touches on all of the parts that we're focusing on. Investing in people, future ready students, safety and operations, family and community, but it's really about developing well-rounded future ready students specifically. Um, we utilize our purposeful people curriculum for the monthly character theme. There's a little blurb inside of that program that specifically um is designed for morning announcements. Um there might be a just like this example

116highlight some thing going on in the community like our multicultural fair was happening that week. So we can give a shout out to that keeping it on everyone's radar reminding students to add it to their assignment notebooks and for teachers to be aware of it too. Um we have a word of the week we started this this year where that's kind of it's a special way to celebrate language and to bring literacy to students collectively across the building. It defines the word. It adds a jingle to the word. It gives an example of the word. And we also have a bulletin board right outside of the front office so that it's a visual picture for staff and students as well. We give shoutouts for attendance um and cafeteria things too. And I'll touch on that

117a little bit later. So I won't spend time on that now, but we always do a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. And then there's a words to inspire your day before saying stay tuned for the pledge of allegiance coming to you. and then um which classroom it will be hailed from for that morning um for our attendance improvement plan. So, thank you to pupil services for talking a lot about all the ways we we look at barriers for what's keeping kids from coming to school. So, that's really the why that digs a little bit deeper into the needs of each individual family. But some ways that we've incentivized attendance this year is that we have grade levels with the highest percentage of perfect attendance for the week receive a

118traveling trophy. And then again, as pictured here in the slide, there's a bulletin board outside of the front office that kind of names the percentage of each grade level for the week. The winning um grade level wins that traveling trophy. So um we add it to the morning announcements as you heard in our monthly rendevous. We'll talk about how many per grade level are coming to school with perfect attendance and then our overall which is a big celebration each month too. Um, of course we name those perfect attendance and then the responsible attendance awards at the end of the year ceremony which is already coming up. And then we've added that top picture, the congratulations example. Um, we did a raffle drawing. So then one student per grade level is part of a raffle if

119they had perfect attendance for the entire month and they'll win something like a hot chocolate in a travel mug which was very exciting for children. And then we have free um gift certificates that we received from Domino's Pizza that we were giving to children to who earn those perfect attendance awards. So we all utilize Next Path in our district. So our our slide looks very similar to Lincoln's and that's great because we're all using the same data our then and now. So last year students um we had 87.5% of students were not at risk and this year we're at 90.6% of students who are not at risk which is very great gain. Um our average daily attendance last year was 94.4% but we're up to 95.1% for our average daily attendance. So we're trending upward.

120all of the initiatives we're we're doing with children, all the ways we're engaging families is really um establishing a comfort with school and that is shown in our data. And then this is over um over years. So again something we've we're using from next path. So that a average daily attendance rate over years since 2022 you can see is increasing. And then that chronic absenteeism rate is steadily going down which is I think thrilling. 21.8% in 2022 is is alarming although that was believe coming out of that pandemic time but 9.4% 4% is much much improved and we'll continue to work on that and this is all right I won't spend too much time on this but still related to that developing well-rounded future ready students we have that purposeful people curriculum that we talked

121about earlier um at the tier one for that whole classroom instruction for all students in our building to receive that um we also have our tier 2 small group intervention based on student need um just like we talked about through that teacher report or that self-report and then this year with the addition of the student well-being survey for students in 3 through 8th across the district, but three through 5ifth at Rossman, which just helps to lead to that datadriven development of small groups and then support students well-being by indicating where a need is present for students that we can target that specifically. >> Thank you, Miss Kger. And again, I'll give a shout out to pupil services who just like with attendance concerns and barriers, there's a lot that goes into the work for supporting

122children to find um ways to meet their needs behaviorally. And I'll I'll say again, as we were talking about recently with our 4K welcome for families, that not all behavior is discipline, right? We want to make sure that we're meeting the needs of children and seeing them as whole humans. We use um restorative schoolwide intervention chart which is a pro part of the character strong purposeful people curriculum but we've modified that so that it reads specific to Ross Elementary School. We use it when we meet with staff. Um whenever we're making behavior decisions I'm always leaning into policy. We are always leaning into policy, code of conduct, administrative guidelines to make sure that we're being equitable, but we are but we also make sure that we're finding ways to meet the needs of children, too.

123Like the pupil services group talked about that beautifully about intervention time with children um and just kind of finding ways to meet them where they're at. Um I f we follow up with next path entries daily whenever there are incidences and behaviors. those are talked about. Even if teachers aren't specifically asking for us to follow up with them, they're always on our radar. We're always connecting with teachers and children. Um so they're all aware that we are also aware of the behaviors as they get entered into Next Path. Uh we have weekly behavior meetings as an office team. Um grade level teams we meet with and then as a district we meet um several times a year. We are watching for trends and supporting where needed. So those child study teams, um classroom management strategies

124for teachers, we might be talking about specifically in our grade level meetings. We might be bringing executive functioning strategies to those conversations, things that might be necessary for the children they support in their classroom. And then there's still the the grade level incentives for classrooms who have um done well with their behaviors all month and all year. Thank you, Teresa. So, moving on to prior prioritizing safety and operational excellence. Mr. Hanland talked about it earlier. I think he used um glass ball and rubber ball. Okay. Yeah. Um so we also do uh the same drills as all the the other two buildings and working on the same processes um from bus evacuation to fire drill to um safe two safety drills a year and tornado uh fall and spring as well. Um we've done some

125unique things that we didn't this year we did not um put caution tape on the doors but we do plant people in the wrong areas. So then when they do attendance we'll take Mrs. Kester and we'll put her in kindergarten or we'll put her into second grade or fourth grade and then we'll see if they when they take attendance they'll announce her name. So we'll we'll do things like that to make sure that everybody's accounted for when we take attendance. I'm happy to say that we're usually out of the building within a minute. Uh and then our attendance is taken around three minutes later and everybody would be accounted for in in our drill situation. Um we going back to a sustainable budget. Um over break I sent Dr. Vo was a video and a

126picture of this huge crane dropping a big generator uh on a pad outside. It was so neat. I thought it was the size of the old district trailer basically. But uh it's exciting to see that go in all three buildings and that'll be the next project this summer. looking forward to some blackout time in the building. Uh some peace and quiet. Um over to the left you see kindergarten. Also, Mr. Majeras also make sure we do our bus evacuations at the beginning of the year. And then for uh helping with the budget, we work with our PTO obviously this year on fundraising for field trips and busing and then also um you as you know the book vending machine with the rotary. So that also helps the budget. And tonight you'll see a donation from

127a former teacher and and how to keep that funded through the rest of um the time we have the book vending machine. So um handing this back over. Okay. Um again all of these tabs really all of our goals lend are always reasons why we're incentivizing or doing the work that we're doing at school. So something also small but cute. the cafeteria incentive. Most of the behaviors that happen inside the building happen during those less than structured or transition times. Um the cafeteria being one of those places we always know our is a very loud space to say the least. Children should be eating their food, talking responsibly with each other, cleaning up after themselves when they're done. And those are um ways that they can be respectful, responsible, and safe at school. And that's

128a practice skill that they can bring with them throughout their lives. So, we also have a traveling trophy for grade levels who show the most growth um with cleaning up after themselves in the cafeteria this year and who um really show the most appropriate volume. Uh we partner with Mr. Mitter and Mr. Sun in maintenance at school who are always in the cafeteria as a constant and they give me that feedback each week and we add that to the morning announcement and we send a traveling trophy around and it is making a difference I think. Absolutely it is. Uh as we go to our last goal, strengthening our school home community partnership through communication and engagement. Uh just have some few photos up there. Um we wrapped up the year with our second walk to

129and from school organized by Mrs. Raleley and the H club. Uh those are always nice events that we meet downtown and walk to school. Not only do we encourage physical activity, but we also go through safety, crossing the street and looking both ways as well. And then also uh having somebody with you at all times. Our kindergarten team invited the parents back for Ready, Set, Grow. Um it's special themed activity where the they share um their favorite stories and show off their creative crafts. Um highlighting parts and parts of a plant and what it needs to grow. Our first graders invited the parents in for their annual animal showcase where students and parents enjoy reading and their animal project and writings through the year. And then finally, our art show. I mean, it's not like

130the one with Mr. Majeras's and Mr. Hanland's picture on the last slide, but um this is a slide I think it's it was on the front page of the daily news and um it's always one of those things that even when I go early when I drop off the cookies or see people go in and out, everybody's always competent commentating on it. So it was it was another successful event and it's it was engaging and it brought the entire community in. Okay. And this is our last slide. So strengthening home school community partnerships through communication and engagement. We know that children and families who feel safe at school want to come to school. So this helps with attendance um and behaviors. When you're excited about school, you you're proud of your school and you're proud

131of yourself when you're acting accordingly in those spaces. So things we talked about all night are some of those community coordinator engagement opportunities like the family event, science fair, history fair, community fair, multicultural fair. our family book study, which we're planning for already for the summer months, and then our spectacular family night that kicks off the entire school year. Our parent informational series is always something we're inviting feedback from uh families on on what topics they want to learn more about. Uh targeted outreach for attendance. We call families that soft touch from Miss Kger first. Um letters home, home visits when needed, meetings to support attendance for students and find out those barriers, and then our continued partnership with Hartford Police Department and the county whenever it's needed. Um those community partnerships like charitable organizations,

132the child smile, blessings in a backpack was new this year, which was really special, Shop with a Cop, and Toys for Tots. So all of those things really wrap up all the good work we're doing as a school and as a district. And that's what we have. So we invite questions. >> Question just a comment. I noticed Thailand is one of the countries that you doing customs whatever with my military career I spent a year in Thailand so I can I'd volunteer right now to be part of your presentation at least I can explain it from a military standpoint what we did over there and uh this was during the Vietnam War so >> Mr. Pridemore, if you would like to have a table at the multicultural fair next year to talk about Thailand, we

133would love to have you there. [laughter] >> Sure. >> I do have one one question comment. We talked both both Rossman and Lincoln both talked about ways that we are doing these these things now in the elementary schools to really set up for success at the middle school. And I that has really been like a light bulb for me over the last 18 months. I think seeing my own kiddo transition and I think it's super important because um the middle school is the culmination of both of those schools. One thing that like was touched on a little bit is behavior. And I feel like there was conversation around a year ago about behavior in fourth the upper elementary, right? The fourth and fifth grade. And trying to find some more commonality in how we uh

134incentivize or hold accountable when kids don't meet expectations or when they do meet those expectations and making them maybe a little more um similar to what's at the middle school. So there's a little bit more of an introduction to it. Um, I didn't hear a ton about that. I know it was just a conversation, but I for one would really love next year to see a little more coordination between elementary and middle school when it comes to behavior and how we're incentivizing or holding accountable because I really as a as a I'm speaking as a parent and I'm speaking as a board member. I feel as though if we can lay the groundwork for that behavior expectation and and what is the word I'm looking for when you hold the kid account of it like

135what the consequence is that's the word consequence in fourth and fifth particularly I feel like it would benefit us more and it was something that was discussed so my one request is could we see some more um specific attention to that in these improvement plans next year and some more collaboration between the middle school and the elementarymentaries and how we get the fifth graders is more prepared to transition to six. >> Yes, >> thank you very much for that. >> Just to you. So that's I'm happy to hear because it's really um both to elementary but also middle school would have to coordinate. >> Yeah. And I would say school does not need to respond. That's something we can absolutely include next year and I know that Miss Een and the assistant principles have been

136working on that so we can incorporate that in either to the midyear report or the end of year report or to both. And I think it goes into the developing future ready student piece. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. >> Good job. Good job. even >> I did. >> All right. Our next item up for discussion is our elementary school schedule updates. Um, do you want to speak to that? >> So, I'll turn it over to Miss Malter to just provide you with a brief update about the changes that have been made at the elementary level for next year. >> Perfect. Yeah, we're actually really excited to bring to you the proposed changes that really involve both short-term and long-term planning, a lot of collaboration that really center around the question, how can we

137provide the best um the best learning experience for kids every day? Um, and so before I turn it over to Dr. Booie again, commandments to share what those changes are. It's so important that we start why. Um so schedule changes really are designed to increase the collaboration um within our grade level teams um to strengthen the response to intervention or RTI support for students and really above all to provide students with more opportunities to do their best every day. You may have seen in your board packet um there's a visual of our why and also laid out there are the new instructional minutes um for English language arts um moving from 120 to 125 that wasn't an error on the board doc so it's 125 an increase of five minutes in math 80 minutes science

138and social studies 50 minutes RTI 30 minutes Dr. will speak a little bit more about that. Character education 15 minutes and for specials moving from 30 minutes to 50 minutes. Um Dr. will share a little bit more about what that looks like for RTI. >> Yeah. So when we talk about RTI talk about response to intervention support and we look at intervention, we're looking at every level in these scenarios a little bit later in time. So sometimes when we talk about it, we always focus on just so you know the focus on all three levels. Um there's an increase uh list of the staff when they they need to decrease time there. Uh so we increased it by 10 minutes going from 20 to 30 minutes a night time. Uh this gives them the need

139to gap deliver instruction and support and meet students needs academically. Um we increase special time up to 50 minutes. Um, historically in the past was 30 minutes three days a week. Uh, music was 30 minutes two days a week and then AR was 60 minutes one day a week. Um, and reviewing the schedule, we felt like we're losing a lot of time transitioning. By the time a teacher takes a student to class, student gets settled, 20 minutes later they get back up and then the teacher comes back down and then has to move to the next classroom. Um, so we're viewing a lot of districts around us. We've been visiting a lot of school here and we have 30 minutes of instruction as far as physical education. So we're going to do an ABC location

140of 50 minutes. So the teacher would take art and then you would go back 15 minutes later to bed you have music the next day and just um um like I said the benefits would increase the engagement time you're not losing a lot of things to passing every 30 minutes and teachers by time they get there back to their home that gives them more of safe lack of time um the way we were establish those times they'll still get a prep planning day of the week but they'll also learn as well twice a week unpacking reading materials that we're going to be due on Monday and then other the other day let's just say Monday west Wednesday Friday planning Tuesday we'll be unpacking materials uh Thursday we talk about intervention data and then also unpacking

141new intervention data materials in both reading math and seeing how the best for less rigorous conversation they'll establish agendas will be invited to it especially be part. So that allows us opportunity the minutes allow us to spend more collaborating moving on to jump into a little bit sorry >> thank you Dr. Um yeah, I think one of the important things to talk about is um when we presented this to staff last year, we were very very conscious of their feedback and the the biggest thing we took to staff is an uninterrupted walk of time. uh our our schedule for many many years with the especially with the music fired component of a rotation the 3030 um teachers would take them down drop them off and then essentially 20 minutes later we'd be packing up to

142go back and get them to transition them to the next special come back and so you can kind of see how that that interrupted time does not allow them to dig into anything. So they were very open to a change in the schedule if we could make it work. We feel like we've come up with a very very nice uh change to what they had and as Dr. Buy said that that 50 minute block is uninterrupted and so we want to leave it up to teams a little bit um in terms of how they want to structure that time. Handbook says 150 minutes of prep. So that's essentially three of those 50-minute blocks. Um but the other two can be the RTI discussion or the unhappy literacy. When you sort of space that out over

143the month and think about it in terms of maybe eight sessions they get for RTI or for literacy. We we really think that at the moment if we can get some planning done beforehand only a couple of those will be needed for RTI because the those times will be set. We'll run six to eight week blocks then come back and rotate through. The most of that is going to be that ELA training, unpacking, looking at the standards within adoption. So number one, we think that that uninterrupted time is critical. Number two, having them have built-in time for that curriculum sort of piece rather than having to find it after school Tuesdays or wherever it is where it's just not very practical to do that. We've seen that over the years that 3:30 4:00 is not

144the time to be doing indepth unpacking of standards for so we really think that it's a good system. We've got it in place. They could do the data analysis piece. We can be in those meetings or use our building teams to go through those meetings. Excuse me. um whether that's an AP principal site counselor so we get to as many of those meetings as possible to make them as fruitful as they so part of the things that we're working on as we continue looking at the structure is um what do we want them to look like from the agenda standpoint and what notes etc we're doing in terms of documentation so we that so we're happy with where we started um listening to the staff members what they needed and I think that we're we're

145pretty happy with what we've got as a product um that we can move out so that they have everything that we've sort of promised them um plus that uninterrupted block which is what they were prying out with um so we feel like we can achieve a lot of the same goals by this particular ABC schedule what that looks like especially for um the certified staff in classrooms but the other thing that we're very cognizant of as well is at the elementary level um you know I they're not used to 50-minute walks for specials as well. So, what that looks like for music, what does it look like for gym? What does it look like for arts? Um, so we're that's kind of our next evolution as well. We feel like schedule-wise we've got it down.

146So, now how do we support AFA and those consistent changes? So, that's the next thing that I think and I will be working on is we've got the other core pieces in place and we're ready to go. >> We're very excited. The proposal is very student centered and it really honors the and the building bolts that you saw today. >> It's awesome. Any questions? >> I [clears throat] have a question not related to this, but I guess maybe for Amy because was there actually something that we were supposed to be able to look at here? >> Yeah, the the the clickable link is suddenly it was working earlier because I had I did look at it >> because it's always prevail. go back to the attachment one that she has made one and then click

147on each section. That's how yeah the other one disappeared. But yes, basically what they said was everything that was in that. >> Yeah, I figured I'd have no problem with that. But um I mean I think it's wonderful because I know that that is something I've heard when I was a parent in the elementary schools is like the transition times and you know it's just it was clunky, right? So I'm excited for that. I am nervous that the is there going to be enough time for the special teachers to have their breaks to them because obviously they have all their children plus. So I was trying to figure out how that would work with their times adding that additional minutes. >> Their their prep time right now structure is going to be that first of

14840 minutes of the day. >> So um there'll be small breaks throughout the day but essentially their structure time remains the same and it's every morning at that same time first. >> Okay. So they'll have their break. >> So they can do they'll still there as well. So again, we've tried to be as as understanding of that as possible and I think one thing I didn't mention I I briefly in 10 seconds this is a systemic thing as well. So we take the information we get from rounding what we hear from rounding as we come back as a group what is what are all the get from rounding that's part of that process which is to consolate time how to structure this. So I feel like we'd be very receptive to what our teachers what

149our staff said through the rounding process and that's what we're trying to do with I would also I would also add um is that it's hard to for professional learning communities it's hard with only one person in that area so it also upwessgest they're not anx necessarily because they're a one person essence. So, >> right. >> Well, and that's what I was wondering because I know that Tuesday or whatever you know that long day was >> that's not is that going away then? So, they don't have so that's still mandatory that whatever day of the week that extra half an hour. The hope is by getting this in place, most of that work is done during the school days. It frees up some amount of time >> and frees up the time to actually have

150collaboration, which sometimes just never get to happen because there's problems. So, >> awesome. >> Oh, perfect. >> I think it's a good how they found. >> I think it's a great step because I I know that's been frustration for years for a lot of our staff. So, thank you for that box. >> Thank you. It's exciting. Our next item for discussion is policy technical revisions. The next three topics are all policy related. Uh first one is policy technical revisions. There were a fair amount of them. Dr. Vos, do you have anything to add? >> No, just all of you had the opportunity to review those over the last month and I met with each of you individually to respond to any questions that arose. So if you do have any additional questions, please let me

151know. Again, um the technical revisions and the administrative guidelines do not require approval. Those are just notation to you. Um would you like me to move forward and talk about first readings? So, with the two policies that are new policies for us, those are not being acted on tonight. They will be acted on next month. And so the first one on student identification numbers and cards, uh we actually spoke about uh this earlier this year and providing our middle school students particularly with the student identification cards. Um however, there is statutory language around including suicide prevention hotline information on the VAT. So that's really what this is. This policy is about that. Um and it's not a requirement. It just says that we are able to do this if we choose to. So, um this

152is something uh that we will likely do. And then policy 6608, it's accountability and oversight of fundraiser dispersements. So, this talks about um both our fundraisers as well as crowdfunding. You can see that everything regarding crowdfunding has been stricken from the policy. It talks about student organized fundraising which falls under the purview of the district. So it's custodial [snorts] fund and then parent group organized fundraising. So think of your PTO etc. So that's outside of the purview of our district. It's non-custodial funds. However, it references both indicates that one is a custodial fund, one is not. And then because it references dispersements, which is just the fancy name for gift, that still falls under the policy 7230, which is about gifts, bequests, and breads. So um those are the two new policies and if there

153are no questions then those will go to action uh in June. >> Excellent. We are going to move on to our action items for the night. Our first action item is the middle school science adoption. Middle school science teachers highlighted open thy ed units through classroom implementation. Student feedback surveys, teacher collaboration, professional learning opportunities and site visits to neighboring districts. Feedback from both students and teachers demonstrated increased engagement, stronger participation, improved opportunities for inquiry based learning, and greater accessibility for diverse learners, including multi multilingual students. Is there a motion? A motion to approve the middle school science adoption of open sed 2627 school year at a cost not to exceed $20,46. >> I'll second. Any questions? >> So, if I could just add and if Miss Meltter has any other additional commentary, uh, if you

154looked at the attachment, she included what the pilot process was. So, this was a lengthy process that also included opportunities for feedback from families, uh, students, staff, and the community uh, through our community fair earlier this year. And then in that process, she also accounted for what the identified needs were in our current instruction. So that way we knew what we were looking for. Um she gathered feedback from students and staff and then included different strengths in the program that was being brought to you today for approval. >> And I heard good feedback from particular students who I spoke to. So >> I must say I'm really excited about this recommendation and it really was a thorough research process that involved a lot of key players including Mr. Dr. Fat Scott our science committee you

155know they identify those needs and it's exciting to see that open sighted has has those core features of inquiry based learning handson opportunities to differentiate and some of that student feedback we heard things such as I'm I was the the learning and I love that I didn't have to be on the computer and so that feedback really was a testament of reassurance that this is the way to go and so our team's very very thrilled. Um and weororked with some other districts who are using it. We did a site visit and so we know that that networking will continue with the the implementation process. >> And you did have another piece on the multilanguage, right? there's like that's that was a big thing that I was excited about because I think teachers struggle a lot

156to like how do I help >> those kids and having instruction already built in is just interest very very excited about the features here and notice as well >> if there are no other questions can I have a roll call vote >> Don >> Hi >> Aaron I >> Louise >> I >> and I'll vote I. >> Motion carries. Item number two is the English language arts adoptions. Throughout the review and pilot process, committee members analyzed how each program supported rigorous literacy instruction, student engagement, vocabulary development, comprehension, and evidence-based writing practices. The committee determined that the recommended resources of my view and my perspectives demonstrated strong alignment to these literacy priorities and the district's instructional goals for student achievement. Is there a motion? >> Motion to approve the adoption of the K8 English language arts

157curriculum of SAS my view or KI at a cost not to exceed $124,5318 for three years and SAS my perspectives for 6 through 8 at a cost not to exceed $88,14866 for six years. I'll second. >> Any questions or comments? >> So before I turn it over to Miss Milford, I would add that you've had the opportunity to look at the attachment she included which shared much like with science the process that we went through which was thorough. You heard Miss Vogel speak about it as well today. Um but beyond that, you'll see a significant amount of data that shows the the rationale for choosing FAVIS um both at the K5 and the 68 level over our other opportunities um just because of the student data that we saw along with other um information. >>

158Yeah. And again, key players in the room who've been a part of the process, our principles, our instructional coaches, and the commitment of the committee really stands out to me. Um during our last ELA committee I referenced the word integrity and I think it's important that I use that word again doing what's right not easy. It was because of that very thorough research networking needs assessment evaluating all before they select the two programs to pilot that did us so well because the outcome was we landed with two program resources that number one aligned to our district goals, number two aligned to our priorities and three aligned to the three shifts, which is what we were seeking to do. And so it was so exciting to sit and look and say, well, both of these programs

159are strong, which one is going to provide a greater impact for our students? And it came down to that question of which one's going to provide that opportunity better? Um, and that as you can see in the data, slightly above um was SAVIS. And so we're really excited about the opportunity um to move forward with this program. Um and just A big thanks for the commitment from our our teachers, our committee um our teachers who piloted and again showed that integrity and took the time to do the work um to reassure you know recommendation >> and I apologize I didn't ask her when we had this it just thought I just thought about it now obviously with act 20 this is a program that goes really well with it because I know we're still obviously

160mandates we have to follow those procedures. So does these both these programs really kind of help encompass that act 20 that we also have to do? >> Both programs fit the criteria for act 20. They're both on the list for DPI in regards to act 20. Um what I wanted to add to that is um heard is one of the resources we use for even awareness and in talking to other districts who have adopted status. They use that integrity right alongside and it has shown really significant gains and so that's something that our team will look at during the implementation process as well. >> I have a roll call vote please >> Aaron >> I >> Louise >> I >> Don >> I >> and I'll vote on motion. >> Item number three is the

161practice resources license renewals. These renewals for ISL for the middle school and NOI maps for elementary are practice programs for math, English, language arts, science, and social studies. Is there a motion? Motion to approve the renewal of ISL practice program license at a cost not to exceed $11,17.50 and Moy Max practice program license at a cost not to exceed $7,274. >> I'll second. Any questions or discussion? >> So these are both practice programs that are currently being utilized already. So this is just a renewal for you to approve >> and it's for one year at a time. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. And this is so much better than what we had very I I hear great things about both of them. So I'm glad that >> if there's no other questions. Can I have

162a roll call vote? >> Louise >> I. >> Don >> I. >> Aaron >> I. >> And I'll vote I. >> Motion carries. Item number four is character education renewal. This is the annual renewal of the character strong and purposeful people tier one and two curriculum with the request to extend that current supports to include tier three materials which was discussed earlier tonight. Is there a motion? Motion to approve the character education renewal with character strong for purposeful people at a cost not to exceed $17,490. Looking for a second. I will second the motion. Any questions or conversation? >> Um I just thought that uh I know last year I was kind of, you know, on the fence about this, but uh I don't know. I just think that um spending um $17,500 on something

163that at you know teachers and staff can set examples for character education without spending $17,000. Um to me it's another step, maybe I'm wrong, but maybe it's another step between uh character education and and then they go If you eliminate that, they go from bad behavior to the principal or wherever they go for this. So, I just think it's a unnecessary step in between the two. >> Could I ask you a question, Barb, because I think um I appreciate your comments and I agree in a vacuum teachers and staff could could teach the characters. I would I would agree with that comment. They're all great. My question is >> teach it. It's just >> even demonstrate it. even demonstrating or hold kids accountable. But my question would be in a district even in one school,

164how would you recommend or anticipate them to do so consistently or all use the same approach or all teach in the same way or or all have the same framework for it? And so then how do we how do we how do we ensure that each student is getting the same kind of education across a building or our district? Um, I don't know that you can >> because I think what you said earlier is true regardless. The teachers and the staff have to be the ones demonstrating teaching, holding accountable. But what this does for, in my opinion, a very reasonable $17,000 is provide a framework >> in which if I were a team member or staff member, I could then use these tools and this framework to then educate the kids and have a system

165behind me that I know is proven and works. I'm asking this because I am, as I said earlier, I'm quite passionate about behavior and it being so >> through the district and I think this is um again I'm speaking as a board member. I'm also speaking as a parent currently and and hearing some of the things I hear. I think this is an extremely valuable and costeffective program that allows our teachers um and our staff the tools that they need in order to do what you just said, which I agree needs to happen. Our teachers and staff need to hold everyone accountable and and teach this. I think without this we are as a board doing a disservice to our to our teachers who we're trying to retain and bolster. >> Did I see somewhere

166that uh this is the third year that we've had this or am I >> believe that's correct. >> Okay. So what did we have before this? Any program or just >> what I feel like there was something >> this was this was a breath of fresh air. I do recall that because what we had prior to was >> I'm not remembering if there was anything >> and I apologize. I'm looking out of the room and we're all a little new to this. Um Katie and I have only been in our roles for three years. Jen has just replaced um Miss Conneely. And so I don't have that historical context, but I know that purposeful people was um implemented at the elementary level and character first and character strong were implemented at the middle school level.

167However, Character First is no longer offered for free. It used to be a free resource. Now it is not. Um, and so you heard all of our counselors and sites talking tonight about the benefits that they they've seen. >> Great presentations. Yes. >> And so I would say that with that presentation was the evidence or proof that this has been a program that has been successful and works. And so the request is being made to in addition to tier one and tier 2 add that tier three so that way we can continue to support the the needs of students who um needs need the most assistance or support. >> First year was 2021 by the way. >> Thank you. I will also say two things. When I was a kid, I don't know what you

168watched when you were a kid, but yes, I had my parents and I had relatives model and write, but I also had Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow and other shows that also helped me. And what we're saying is this gives another tier for kid that maybe doesn't want to talk to their parent or maybe doesn't have a great relationship with their teacher. Now they're seeing something else that maybe triggers them. The songs I hear it all the time like the songs that are sung. It's like you just you remember that just as a kid. I'm sure there are songs that were sung too that you're like you remember. And so this is just another way to help incorporate that. I also think we have to remember that we were in we were in a pandemic

169and these children, especially in the tier three, my child is one of them, a seventh grader, they lost a lot. They lost that conversation and that how do you be a good person? And it it just was lost. And how do we help get that back? And if we can spend $17,000 for you have 1,200 kids. >> Like figure that what is 30 cents. I'm not a math person. I have to get out of um divided by our kids. But like when you look at the difference of how much money you're saying you're spending per kid so they can get maybe one more thing in life that just makes them realize that I am a good person. I can be a good person. Um this is how I can do it because of that repetition.

170And sometimes teachers try to do it, but this forces you to get something every day. And I think that's what we're lacking right now in um children today. They just aren't getting that consistency that maybe we had when we were kids because people are rest people aren't around anymore. Parents are working and it's just different. And I think we have to remember that every child is in a different situation. And if they can get something from school, from us that makes them be a better person, I think it's worth every single one. >> I would add one other thing which I am for everything you said, but for me, I also think there is that correlation between classrooms being manageable and behavior being being positive and kids encouraging each other that allows all of them

171to learn better. And ultimately, our job here is to develop future ready, well-rounded students who are also academically proficient and performing in a way that is trending upward. What I will say is from my time on the board, it has been trending that way. I can't directly say it's it's it's attributed to this introduction in 2021 if that was the first year, but I I do think that it has been helping our kids to be to be better people and also to perform better academically. >> Aaron, Don has a comment. >> Go ahead, Don. First of all, I got my discipline and whatnot in the military, so I didn't necessarily need a special course, but I did have the opportunity to have a live presentation on character first, which is one of the programs that'll

172be eliminated. I view it as a much superior program than uh the current character strong. >> You've seen a program in Character Strong as well or just on character first? >> Just on character first. >> So it could I mean it's a it's a it's an iteration of it. It could be also positive. >> Could be. I know it's probably easier to use character first, but I don't know what the incremental increase they now want to charge for their program rather than >> to my know increase this year is because we're adding a tier three, but that's because we have some students who have a higher need and need additional intervention. So this is again like listening to our to our staff and teachers about what the needs are of the students so that we

173can put tools in place to help them. >> Well, I still [clears throat] view character first as a better program. So that's >> I I'm I don't mean to be problematic. I just I dislike you saying that you think it's a better program when you just said you haven't seen a program on Character Strong. I I guess I would also add that everything that's been presented from our counseling from our people's services lens has been on character strong andor um purposeful people and so we can see that the data is there that shows that it's working. U Miss E, if I can turn it over to you for a minute. Yeah, I would say one of the things that you heard the team talk about a lot tonight is really developing a cohesive system and

174being able to utilize various data sorts to be able to make decisions very easily and very quickly. Um sometimes teams everywhere can get really lost in admiring a problem and when we have data sets and resources to be able to work with students that are very decision point. So in if a then B. But I I think Barb when you were talking about you know that kind of direct behavior to consequence >> I would really much rather love the principles to be dealing with being the instructional leaders and not having to deal with those behaviors. So the the cohesive system that we're really looking to to put in place and continue to refine and build helps so that I hope we don't get to the place where we have I mean behaviors will exist but

175I would like to see those be minimal students then aren't losing attention right they can focus in the classroom teachers can do what they do which is teach in the classroom rather than having to deal with or address student behaviors that may be creeping up. So I I think this is one of those situations where whatever the reason may be after the p pandemic I mean there are a whole host of reasons I think you could say that student behaviors have increased um it's a little dose of prevention really in that tier one we'll get the majority of our students will provide them a level set of like oh here's what it means to manage my body when I'm sitting at the desk and I um without a device if I hadn't been able to

176do that. And in tier two is a little booster like I might need some reminders or I might need to know what this looks like in a classroom or in lunch or at recess when it's a little less structured. And then that tier three is really dialing down to an individual. So, I guess what I would say is as we're looking at making this be a system and having the language match rather than pulling in having teachers and people who support our students with more intense needs, having them just kind of pull random things from their bag of tricks. It all works together. So, that'll be I would also say for the last five years I've been on the board, we've been talking about this. Almost every single board meeting someone has presented on these

177things. So I I'm concerned when Don you say you're not familiar with it when we literally every almost every meeting someone is talking about these programs that we've been using. So I'm just kind of shocked that we're having a conversation about this. Do um are there do you have any other questions, Barb? Do you feel >> Oh, but I appreciate all the comments to try to sway me. >> Did it work? >> That's uh is it the tier three specifically that's bothering you or is it the the whole of the thing? >> I'd have to say the whole thing >> even though we've had it and it's shown really positive results. >> Oh yeah. Um, like I said, I I just really believe that we can eliminate the 17,500 and just have it um, for

178lack of a better word, just emanate from everyday uh, examples and and um, that's it. I guess >> I guess my last comment would be as a as a as a parent who who who has a first row seat, front row seat to it, um I think it's super important and valuable and um I'd ask you to consider moving forward with it. >> I'm assuming one more question comment. if for some reason this would not pass their cut back. >> So, I will tell you that um it's if we were to just use tier one and tier two, it's actually underneath my spending authority. So, that could be done. We're bringing it to you today because we do know that we have work to do in this district. You've heard all of the celebrations from

179each of our building teams about the things that are going well. However, we still have a lot of work to do. And part of that is ensuring that our students are coming to to school every day ready to learn. And part of being ready to learn is also about how to acclimate and be focused, be respectful. Um, and that comes through teachers being able to consistently share those traits across every single class versus being inconsistently done um through the the school building. So this provides consistency um as well as a playing field and exemplars that all students can reach for. And one of the things that I shared during the board prep meetings is that society is very different today than it used to be. And so this provides a nice road map, a nice

180template so that way again our staff is able to deliver this to fidelity um across the board. And the the ask specifically for tier three is because we do have some students whose needs are not being met. And we want to make sure that we're not only meeting their needs, but we're also supporting the rest of the students in the classroom who can be impacted and their learning can be impacted by the behaviors and actions of others. [clears throat] Our mission is to serve all students, all their needs. That's our That's our public school part of our mission. I think with that we should take a roll call vote. >> Uh Don, >> no. >> Aaron >> I. >> Louise. >> And I'll vote no. >> So it's a tie. So that will not pass

181right now. I'm going to suggest that it comes back again um next month. >> Okay. Is there additional information that you'd be seeking? Um, one of the things I would recommend is uh we could bring perhaps the um units or like the summary of what's included in tier one, tier 2, and tier three. So that way you can see the additional information or how it gets more complex uh each round. And then again, like I said, tier tier one and tier two actually falls underneath my spending limit. with under $10,000 for that. So, um that's something we can talk about too. Uh if there's an issue with tier three, >> I think I'd also like to see not for me, but um we've had students talk about it like if there are teachers that would

182be willing to um make a statement or something on how they've seen the growth from their classrooms using the program. so that we have that data because again it doesn't matter what we say but if the teachers and the children are saying oh my gosh I feel so much better you know and I I really feel like I can control myself or like that's what you want right you you're asking for people to be well-rounded people right if that's your concern is that you think that they they're not or you feel like a teacher can just straighten them up. >> I just feel that there's a behavioral problem. They should go right from the teacher to wherever they go next. And >> and there's one principal. >> So, >> and there's more children than there

183was when you were in school. >> I'm going to suggest this. I'm going to suggest that we we've now moved this to next agenda. Um, I would like each of us to think about what we want to see and say email to Dr. Vobos about what additional information we want on this for next meeting. >> I would actually discourage that. >> Okay. >> Um, we've talked about it here. I feel like I have a good understanding of what people are looking for and I'll work with Miss E to put that plan together for next time. >> Okay. Sounds good. Let's move on to item number five which is professional development for the 262 27th school year. The professional development is planned for teacher and support staff for ongoing implementation and refinement of district approved programs

184while enhancing academic programming and instructional practices that support student achievements. Is there a motion? Motion to approve the 2627 professional development at a cost not to exceed $100,000. Second. >> Any questions? >> So, um, Miss Malter's budget in the past, um, has been higher than this. However, Mr. Majaras, myself, and Miss Malter have been speaking and given the budgetary situation. Um, we talked to her about some parameters this year. And so, we met several times to talk with staff members about what the most meaningful um, professional learning is that they're getting. She uh typically gets feedback after each of the PD sessions. Each of our principles also is involved with professional learning as our coaches. Um two of which are here this evening. So next year um out of the entire template that you were

185sent, the first page is the mostformational. We're looking at continuing some of the um education that we've had in the past. math insights which is a lesser contract than last or than this current year educational epiphany with Dr. Dicki. So if you recall, he started with us with literacy. We've moved into differentiation. He was actually approved um by the school board already to work with us. So it's it's been approved. It just was budgeted in the next school year. So that's here. our continued service uh with CISA 6 scooter education which is almost a train the trainers model and will help us continue working towards our continuous improvement action planning that we've been looking at the past year and a half. And then the last um three are all for the professional development that is

186needed to successfully implement the curriculum that you took action on earlier tonight. >> There's no questions. Can I roll call vote? >> Aaron >> I. >> Louise >> I. >> Don >> I. >> And I'll vote I. >> Motion carries. Item number six, the school fee schedule for 2026 to 2031. Annual fees have been reviewed for the next 5-year fee plan. The recommended schedule helps plan and maintain a balanced budget. Is there a motion? >> I motion to approve the 2026 through 2021 of school B schedule. 31. 31. Yeah. I'll second >> any questions. >> So, I'll talk about this quickly. Um, this is the first time I have had my hands on this. Um, previously Dr. Smiths had done this for the district and because it's a five-year cycle, this is my first time

187um, presenting it to you. I used his methodology that he had in place for several years before I was here. And so, I maintained similar increases. Uh, however, he moved things by 50 cents uh, increments at times and I kept it at a dollar. So, instead of moving things by 50 cents each year, I waited two years, held and then did a dollar increase. Um, clubs, athletics, and forensics, we know that um, athletics are new to Central Middle School, so worked with Mr. Stevens and Dr. Agata on what the fees should be for those. Um, we came out with the $30 and $60. The reason that there's the difference and the reason Forensics is included in athletics is because of the travel and the busing that goes along with that. Um, last month you approved

188the camp uh for sixth grade. So that was said at a previous board meeting and so I used that as a baseline. Dr. Regatska had already calculated that out based on real costs that we experience. So then I added an annual um dollar increase to keep up with inflation. Uh and then in terms of technology costs, in speaking with Mr. Rajlog, those uh prices have increased pretty significantly over the last five years. As we know, technology changes pretty quickly. So, in the past, it was a $25 charge. This year, we're looking at um $35. And you can see that I've kept that $35 consistent across all five years. Um so, very specifically, you cannot charge to recoup the cost of the device. Um, but you can charge to support its functionality and maintenance. So, what

189this is is it's a fee that partially covers software, general wear and tear, maintenance such as labeling the the Chromebooks, any damage repairs that we need to take care of that are accidental, um, cleaning supplies, etc., and then to also bolster our fleet of loaner devices. So, um, that is that resulting technology application fee. And then um you'll see the lunch prices at the bottom of first page and how they're blank. Our lunch prices are taken annually. You'll see that as the next action item where Mr. Majaras has submitted all of that information. So if you approve both of these this evening, Miss Hoffman will add the lunch prices to uh this spreadsheet and then this would be placed in the parent student handbook that's approved annually. Does that happen immediately? >> Does what happen

190immediately? >> Price increases. >> It would happen for next school year. >> Next. >> Yes. >> There's no other questions. Can I roll call vote? >> Don >> I. >> Aaron. >> I. >> Louise. >> Hi. >> And I'll vote I. >> Motion carries. Item number seven, as Dr. Dr. Bos just mentioned was the food service prices increases for 2026 27. The recommended food service prices include increases $3.25 for elementary, which is a 15 cent increase. $3.50 for middle school lunch, which is a 25 increase. $5 for adult lunch, which is a 30 increase. $1.75 for student breakfast, which is a 20 cent increase. $2.85 for adult breakfast, which is a 20 cent increase. 50 cents for extra milk, which is a 10% increase. and $2.25 for an extra entree. Is there a motion? >>

191I motion to approve the food service prices for the 2026 27 school year as follows. 175 student breakfast, 285 adult breakfast, 325 elementary lunch, 350 middle school lunch, $5 adult lunch, 50 cent milk, and 225 extra entree. [clears throat] >> I'll second. Um, so one of the questions that came up, excuse me, during the board prep meetings was, "How do we compare to other districts?" So I just pulled up um some of the Hartford area school districts to see how we accounted for and we were right in the middle. Um, which is a safe place to be, but Mr. Majeris is the one that works on the calculations and tries to ensure that this is a set price that will >> help support our food service program for the year. >> Any questions? >> This

192is also starting school year, right? Yeah. >> This is just a comment. Even uh we typically did our raw fries at MJ's across the street. They raised all our meat prices. >> All prices are going up. >> We had to jack up that. >> Yeah. >> Two. All right. I don't know if anybody is always on a Saturday. All the Can we have a roll call vote? >> Well, the hamburger and and grats have gone up. >> Yeah. >> Enough to raise the price on a hamburger to $5. >> Do you have a question about the prices for the school lunches? >> No. >> Okay. >> Just put it into perspective. >> Okay. Thank you, Don. >> Okay. Erin, >> I. >> Louise, >> I. >> Don >> I. >> And I'll vote I. >>

193Motion carries. Item number eight is the property and casualty liability and professional insurance renewal for 202627 school year. RSM and Associates, an affiliate of Robertson Ryan Ryan and Associates and EMC Insurance, the underlying insurance carrier, have been solid long-term partners for these lines of insurance. EMC insurance is a premier insurer of public schools and has a school specific products and expertise to help mitigate risk. The total premium increase is $15,767 or 6%. Is there a motion? >> Motion to approve the renewal of the property casualty liability and professional insurance with RS Stumbler insurance at a cost not to exceed $280,82. >> I'll second discussion. So during all of your meetings, we talked about this briefly, but because Mr. Majeras is the expert, I'm going to turn it over to him to provide you with some

194additional context. >> Thank you. Um on your handout, the actual last page of the handout um which uh are assembler puts the detail of each policy together and then provides a summary at the end. I do want to point out that again if you were comparing the 25 26 um individual policy amounts um across the way from last year to this year you'd see that um in most cases the premiums are the same um maybe slightly higher or actually slightly lower. So one of the big drivers is our property um and casualty insurance. If you see there again, our buildings um and our personal property represent $125 million uh in total value. And um while we saw some increases over the last couple years, we're actually seeing a decrease in the cost of that for

19526 27 which I think is a positive. Um the next largest category we have um is workers comp. And while we're seeing an increase there, which is driving the essentially the entire um difference between last year's quote and this year's quote, that's um largely dependent on accidents and things that happen with our workers. Um while we can certainly do things to control our environment and make sure that our people are um have a safe environment to work in and also are practicing safe practices as they work. Accidents do happen. Um you know we we have slips and falls and injuries. There are student um incidents where our adults are working with children and they may get injured by students and their activities. And so um rates are set by the state. And while over the

196last decade um workers comp premiums um in total AC across all business lines have gone down and uh for 25 26 they're still expecting workers comp overall across all business lines to be going down. Um what we've found and that uh insurers in the state have noticed is that school workers comp premiums are going up. Um again just different things that are happening inside schools with accidents and injuries. Um it is not it's not just uh our school district. Again the rates that are set by the state the rates are going up in 2026. Uh EMC does have good practices and tools that we can use including things like the online nurse line uh on call nurse line. So when our our employees are injured, uh they are instructed to contact the EMC on call

197nurse right away to report their accident or injury and that person will help them um make sure that they get care that they need and document the incident uh so it can be as well managed at the insurance company level as possible. Um they also do a loss kind of mitigation um review with our district and their clients every so often. We had one of those in spring. One of the things that are coming out of that is a return to work um kind of program and and looking at what those practices and procedures are. We just got some emails from an individual at EMC. Uh I've reviewed them. I'll review them with Mrs. Navar. Uh once we've both had a chance to review them, then we'll schedule a call with that EMC person and

198talk about again what some of their recommendations might be so that after our people have had an injury that they're coming back to work safely and don't reinjure themselves. But a lot of again a lot of workers comp is just happens to be what incidents we have. and um you know the last year we've had some incidents and that coupled with an increase in those rates um is leading to a higher premium for next year. Not necessarily a lot we can do to control that, but we'll try as best we can to control that. But if you look across auto, you look across um crime, the the general liability, a lot of the premium costs again are the same. linebacker. What I would say is while that went up $1,200 or something off of 18,000,

199um you know, that helps protect our um employees and our officers. And so, um, there certainly have been more incidents in that involve, um, protection and coverage as it [clears throat] relates to, um, making sure that district uh, activities and the people that work here are are insured in case there's lawsuits or other things. So again, since the number of incidents are up, it's not surprising that the premium for uh that kind of coverage is going up. So again, generally very happy with the way things came out. Certainly not necessarily as happy with workers comp. We do get a a premium dividend um at the end of every year, which is about 17% of our premiums paid back to us. So, we'll collect that um premium rebate at the end of this year and and

200they've committed to giving us that premium dividend next year as well. So, um while this is the gross cost, our net costs will be less um by um the $78,000 um times 17%. So, how about a I don't know eight $10,000 rebate coming back to us. >> I'm so I'm miss. >> Um because we >> because we're doing the things that they believe >> they would want us to do to at least try to mitigate incidents. So again, if they were looking at our environment and we weren't necessarily doing things to um try to reduce claims overall that obviously EMC is getting from every uh insured agency that they're insuring um because we're doing the right things, they're willing to offer that dividend, policy dividend to us. >> Thank you for that, Mr. Majaras. Are

201there any questions? There's not. Can I roll call vote? >> Louise >> I. >> Don >> I. >> Aaron >> I. >> And I'll vote I. >> Motion carries. Item number nine is our consent agenda. The consent agenda includes approval of minutes, bills, treasures report, and personnel recommendations. Is there any request to pull an item from the consent agenda? Seeing none, I have a motion. Motion to approve the consent agenda. >> I'll second. >> Uh roll call vote, please. >> Don >> I. >> Darren >> I. >> Louise >> I. >> And I'll vote I. >> Motion carries. Item number seven is that the board meeting reflection and feedback um is in your packet. And don't forget to fill yours out for tonight. And I would look for a motion to adjourn. >> A second.

202All in favor? I. >> Any opposed?