Testing one, two, three. Testing mic two. Testing. Testing. Testing. Testing. Testing. Testing.
Testing. Test. One, two, three. Well, It's It was testing. Testing. Testing. Testing. Testing. Testing. Testing. bumper sticker
window. Talk to whoever you're with children if you don't drive otherwise. But with no further ado, I will turn this reception over to its intended its intended participants and I would like to invite up the principal of ACES, Mr.
Anthony Colonino to welcome our [Applause] students. Very excited. Very excited. Creativity, what a great great character trait. We have lots of creative students. Uh I think we're up to 618 at ACES now. So we very busy. This is quite
an honor for our two students. So the first one I want to recognize is Jonah Loo. Jonah is very creative. Jonah, so I'm going to read this about you. I know you already know this about yourself. Jonah is very creative. His favorite subjects are steam and art
because his creative ability can shine through. His favorite project this year, which he was just telling me about, was a house he created for one of his stuffed animals out of recyclables. Jordan. Yeah. And I make a lot of cool stuff for
my Yes, he does. [Applause] Come on back out. You want to take a picture? Taking a picture. I think mom's gonna
All right. And then we'll take one with the whole group. Thank you, Jonah. Thanks, Jonah. Uh, and the next student is named after one of my favorite flowers, Dalia Sinclair. Dia Dia, second grade student. Oh, this is the wrong one. I brought I
brought the right one. Hold on one sec. Sorry, wrong. Let me get the right one. Sometimes principles make mistakes. Dalia displays creativity each day, even with their choice in clothing. I see those clothing choices.
Dalia is unapologetically herself, which is the definition of creative. She completes work from a different perspective than anyone I've ever seen and truly puts her own authentic spin into her responses, whether they be written or verbal. She is true to
herself by displaying her creativity in everything she does, even sentence writing. Comparing apples to oranges is Dalia's forte, but it gives her listeners readers a different lens to see the world. Congratulations. Congrats.
[Applause] RCS focused on the character trait of honesty. During our morning announcements, our students are reminded of our monthly goal and given examples of well perseverance but also honesty. In addition to our teachers including monthly theme and lessons and
activities, RCS has two students this month who are outstanding role models for this quality. So I would like to invite up here to join me. Brady is a member of our third grade class and his teacher has nominated him for consistently demonstrating an
outstanding attitude and work ethic in the classroom. He's a hard worker who approaches every task with a smile and a positive mindset. His upbeat attitude is contagious, inspiring those around him to make the best of it no matter the challenge. Brady is honest, dependable,
and always willing to help others. He sets a strong example by following classroom rules and by treating everyone with kindness and respect. We're proud to recognize Brady for his leadership and positivity and dedication. We're very proud of Brady and his positive
impact on our school culture and [Applause] [Applause] my second student is not here this evening, but I do want to um read his write up. So, Connor Nicholson, Connor's
a member of the second grade class. His teacher says that Connor is a wonderful second grader in my class who always exhibits hardworking skills and tries his all tasks at hand. He's a great friend to his peers who often helps younger grades with SC math and enjoys working with others. Connor always
follows the school and classroom expectations and is quite a role model in our class. We're very proud of Connor and his positive impact on our school culture and climate. [Applause] Good evening. We have representatives
from the fifth grade uh this early evening, late afternoon 5. Um and so we have uh core values of perseverance, respect, and integrity done every day at the middle school. And first up to uh receive an award and be repres uh
recognized by their teachers is Olivia Bishop. Come on up, Olivia. Here's what your teachers have to say about you. Olivia is one of those students who just gets it. She's incredibly task oriented and focused, but what really sets her apart is her
heart. She con consistently goes out of her way to support classmates. And just as often, she checks in with teachers and staff to ask, "Is there anything I can do to help?" That kind of initiative and kindness is rare and powerful. And Olivia gives her best every day. She's
caring, hardworking, and not afraid to be a little silly. I'm hearing giggles a little bit up here when the moment calls for it. Her positive energy lifts everyone around her. And she sets an incredible example for others to follow. Congratulations, Olivia. You make our
school a better place. What kind words? Welld deserved. Congratulations, Do they want the bumper sticker combo when you're old enough to drive? Um uh we also have a student I don't believe is uh with us, but we'll
recognize him anyways, Chase Wickline. Um he's also in grade five. Chase is someone who brings energy, humor, and heart to our school every single day, writes his teachers. He's not shy about asking for help. And in doing so, he models something
He usually stra struggles in I wonder. Do you have I don't see it. I didn't see I don't know if I Okay. Yes. Everybody all set? Okay. Okay. Good evening. We'll call the
Athl Rosen Regional School Committee to order for Wednesday, May 21st. First line of business is the Pledge of Allegiance. Frank, would you lead us, please? I'm going this way. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. The approval of minutes for April 16th. Is there a motion? Okay. Second. Okay. uh discussion or
clarifications or comments. Seeing none, all those in favor? Everybody. Okay. Public input. Nothing. Okay. Thank you. All right. Earlier this evening, there were recognitions for
students. Uh from the high school was Nicholas Leblanc and Blake Sprag. Arms was Olivia Bishop and Chase Wickline. Aces was Jonah Lahoo and Dalia Sinclair. RCS was Connor Nicholson and Brady Nally. And the subway scholars were
Landon Collins and Rally Anderson. Student representative report. Um, at the beginning of I'm Alana DuPont. I'm from the high school. The highlights are at the beginning of
April, two seniors, Emily King and Ethan Oiki, participated in the Mass State Science Fair at Gillet Stadium. Emily King was one of the second place overall winners and Ethan O'Ki won one of the GRIT awards that was sponsored by Shark
Ninja. A group of students have been working on reviving the high school's newspaper. At the beginning of April, the first volume of the newly revived newspaper, The Athal Advocate, was published. The second volume was released last week. This effort was
spear spearheaded by freshman Caitlyn Rossi and sophomore Piper Bailey. Recently, eight students from the high school were selected to showcase their artwork for the 39th annual MWCC Regional High School
art exhibition and competition. One of our students won the best of art award and three others were selected as honorable mentions. Currently, the senior art exhibit is currently on display in the front foyer of the high
school. The amazing work of Shan Kelly, DJ Floyd, Karina Tibol, Kiza Tam, and Matthew Drizz Drizzwell will remain on display through next Thursday's class day event on May 6th. High School
received notification that we had received our second innovation career pathway designation in the field of communication. Additionally, on May 6th, we hosted the ASVAB test for any 11th and 12th grader interested in learning more about their
aptitude for different jobs connected with the armed forces. On Saturday, May 10th, over 150 students enjoyed the junior senior prom at the Colonial Hotel in Gardener, followed by the after prom party sponsored by the parents of the
class of 2025. On Monday, May 19th, the vision of the graduate steering committee held their most recent meeting where they where they have started to focus on four main compet competencies which include
skilled communicator, empowered individual, active citizen, and critical thinker. Next steps will be to collect additional public input before hopefully bringing forward to the school committee in the upcoming months. AP testing session is
just about completed with over 100 students, which is 25% of our school population, enrolled in at least one AP class with over 140 exams having been completed as of today. Last night, 20 students were intro
introducted into the Athl High School Pqua chapter of the National Honor Society. And lastly, next Friday evening at 700 p.m. on O'Brien Field, Athal High School will
hold its 150th graduation ceremony where 101 students will receive their diploma from the class of 2025. taken my graduation survey to please do so. I need ideas for a speech. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.
It's up to you. You can stay all night if you'd like. Okay. Under new business, uh there's no first of all, there's no unfinished business, which is good. uh new business, school choice participation. you should have the uh list of uh
openings that are available um for the next school year and um they are for the public's knowledge uh ACES no school choice RCS kindergarten 4 first grade zero second
grade two third grade zero fourth grade five fifth grade 1 at arms fifth grade 10 sixth seventh and eighth zero at Athal High School 9th has three, 10th grade three, 11th grade 10 and 12th
grade four. Is there a motion to accept? Second. Okay. Discussion. Okay. Seeing none, all those in favor? Okay. Opposed? None. Okay. Thank
you. All right. Moving right along. Uh MSBA update. Um first, uh Matt will uh have a discussion regarding the initial compliance certification process. Sure. So, I do apologize. I thought that it
was in here. Um the initial cert the initial compliance certification is simply a list of regulations that the the uh MSBA sends to the district that we've reviewed. TJ myself have reviewed it. The principal uh Dave has reviewed
it and we it's us agreeing to comply with their regulations about their program which is they have it outlined very specifically what the steps are. One of the important steps is to develop a building committee which I believe Lee
will speak to in a bit, but um the certification has to be signed by June 1st or May 30th, sorry. So it has to be submitted by May 30th. What I was just thinking of is Lee, maybe it makes
sense while the belltobell instruction conversation is going on, I'll print out a cop I'll print out copies so that I could get it to the back to the committee and then we could maybe execute it at toward the end of the meeting. Okay. If that works.
I don't know how much you want to say or how much you want me. Whatever. Whatever you'd like. I just have two points out there. Okay. So, I can an update. Um Lee, myself, TJ, and Dave King have been meeting regularly on phone on the phone
at least once a week to talk about what the process is entailing and what our next steps are. Um we had a good conversation this afternoon uh with Lynn Welsh who we've now she does the municipal finance for both the district and Athl. So, that was a really good
conversation today that we had and I believe uh we were tweaking an invitation so that uh Lee was is going to be sending out an invitation for an all boards meeting on June 4th. And our hope is to have an all boards meeting
there at the high school. And what we'd like to do is in addition to having conversations about what's happening with the process, we're going to give some tours and update folks on what's actually happened and is happening in the building with respect to the facilities. So, we thought it would be a
good idea to give some of the select board, finance, capital, whoever wants to come some exposure to what really is the building and what the problems are so that we can have some more candid conversations when we when we come back to the meeting. But things are moving
along very smoothly and I think we're in a good place right now. I would agree. I think um couple just a couple of things. Uh one regarding the all boards meeting as Matt said, we are looking to schedule this. I will be
sending an email out tomorrow uh to the chairs of the uh municipal committees um you know and officials uh so that they can notify their committees uh June 4th at the high school. Uh probably in the cafeteria would make sense. Um and then
you know we'll go from there trying to build you know some momentum and some rapport uh to kind of uh get everybody on the same page. I think it's very important um and I really wouldn't expect anything different from the
process but we need to have concise, accurate and transparent information for the people who are going to um you know be a part of the process moving forward and ultimately I think it's important that we give the voters of Athlon
Royston their choice uh on how to move forward. So, you know, from the conversations that Matt and I have been involved with and Dave and TJ, um, you know, it looks like we will have a lot of good information for the all board's
meeting, uh, and we'll move from there. So, I I I hope that they will, you know, attend. I know that I think Athl has a select board meeting June 3, but we'd like to get in and get done um with this type of meeting right up front because
we are under the 270day clock now. Um we were accepted in uh May 1st officially into that program. So we have two 270 days now uh including the compliance certification and a couple other documents to move the feasibility study
to um you know whatever of that's going to be um you know but ultimately funding. So we have 270 days to do that. Um also we've had kind of a brief introduction to the building committee uh setup. the building committee uh has
changed um what the makeup is. Uh the MSBA has changed that. It's a little different from what ASUS was. So I will be reviewing that a little bit more. Uh and then um hopefully uh by the next meeting I'll have more information u to
move forward with that. Uh other than that, any questions or concerns about the MSBA project uh program? Go ahead, Bobby. You are going to have it on the 4th of June, right? And the time is at six o'clock. Okay.
Thank you. Okay. ASUS staffing configuration. Excellent. Uh I would like to not only invite up but officially, I believe, introduce Mr. Anthony Colanino to the school committee. I'll let you do most
of the introduction and and talking, Mr. Colanino. All right. Thank you so much. Appreciate the uh I don't know doesn't need to be on. It's fine. I'll use my principal voice. Uh I'd like to do an update on staffing for you. Um let me start with the interim principal, me. Uh
so I've been here since way back when mid February 5th I was hired. Um I do appreciate the opportunity to be here and to be at ACES. Previously I'd been a fifth grade teacher and a principal for 17 years in the Eastern Massachusetts metro Boston area. For 10 years after that, I
consulted across the country, 40 states, over a million miles, working with schools and school districts. I really enjoyed that, but I have to be honest, I miss being in school with kids, teachers, parents, trying to help solve problems, improve teaching and learning. So, I'm super excited to have the
opportunity, and I thank you uh for the opportunity. Just some other updates along the way. Some you may have already heard about, but Brandy Brown has moved from her role from uh assistant principal to now to uh director of elementary curriculum working with Dr. Kennedy uh the coaches to uh strengthen
professional development and coaching model for this year and next year. Um we have our second admin assistant, Jennifer God Talbert. She joined us helping the school, helping me stay organized, helping me with my calendar. She's a great addition. Uh we're
currently in the midst of finding and filling for that assistant principal role. We had some interviews. We're hoping to fill the position by next week to have have a finalist announced by then to uh to fill that role which is integral to the building. Some of the
things I learned right away. ACE is a big place. It's uh almost a high school and it feels like a high school sometimes. We have over 615 students right now. Uh we have uh wonderful students, wonderful staff. We have uh lots of joy and fun each day and we also have a lot of challenges and
complexities that we face each day. And one thing I I'm really grateful for is the level of staffing that we have. We have four counselors. We have three three deans that serve two and a half as two and a half deans in that capacity. And we really need those people for the social emotional support
of our students. We have we have some students that have some pretty big feelings, some pretty big behaviors. and we're there, myself and the deans and the counselors to respond to help those students so the teachers can teach. So it's great to have that level of staffing and support throughout the
building for our students, for our staff, for myself as the building leader. So that's very encouraging. So in my role in the last almost four months um talking to Dr. Kennedy, talking to Mrs. Brown, we're looking at an opportunity and an opportunity
through our new curriculum. We have a new math curriculum called bridges that's really built to differentiate uh the teaching for the teacher so the students can learn at their level their appropriate level. I was just in a first grade classroom today not there for math but all that teacher wanted to talk
about was the new math curriculum bridges and how wonderful it was and how it was working. She's piloting the program with a handful of other teachers this year. So excited to adopt that program uh next year. And because of that that adoption and that programming,
we were looking at our math interventionists. We currently have two on staff. One is essentially unfilled at this moment and our second math interventionist is really interested in going back into the general uh curriculum, general education curriculum as a grade level teacher. So, we really
see an opportunity as having some found money, I would call it, into really filling that dean position, that second one that you started in January, and maintaining that position. As I said earlier, the deans, myself, the counselors, we respond each
day, every day. Uh, some days throughout the day. That was one of those days today where all of us were in action, all of us were moving, all of us were responding to students throughout the day. And I love that part of my job. I get to interact with students, learn about them. I had a little person today.
I learned what dinosaurs he liked while I was corresponding and interacting with him. So that builds a relationship with that student. And when that student shows big behaviors, I can interact on a quicker, more effective level and get him back into the learning so he or she
are not disrupting the learning. So I I I really see that as an opportunity. I talked to Matt about it and uh we're in agreement that this would be uh good for ACES, good for our staff, and really good for our students. To be clear, as he mentioned, Anthony,
Brandy, and Cindy have all had conversations amongst themselves. I've met with each of them individually and discussed what their thoughts were on what's happening in the building and what direction we need to move in. And everyone has agreed the new math
curriculum, we really need to focus on the teachers using that curriculum with efficacy because there's a tremendous amount of intervention work and differentiation built into the curriculum and that's why we purchased it. So as Anthony mentioned with with
that opportunity, we've seen the social emotional needs at ACES. I've been trying to introduce as much as I can to support the schools in those areas and as Anthony said with 650 almost 615
students right now they can use the additional support and it's been working well um to the committee. It would not be any change to the budget. It would not require any it does not require any type of vote candidly. It's simply a
staffing decision. But because of the nature of the position and that it has been a conversation of ours, I wanted to make sure that we came and presented this to you guys directly just so it was right up front and you know so that next year no one says wait a second what how
did the dean stay? It's like no it this was planned because we have resources that we can shift right now. So this really is just for information. We we're certainly hopeful that the committee supports the the idea, but I want to assure you that I've spoken to Cindy,
I've spoken to Brandy, as Anthony mentioned, and this is everyone is in agreement that this will be a good direction for ACES to move in. So, does anyone have questions for either Anthony or me? at the start of school year. How are we
helping them? There is there is embedded with the program and so they had training and yes at the start of the school year we have specific PD scheduled for them as well like an entire full day of PD. I don't want to
misspeak. Brandy has that part of it scheduled out, but it's definitely part of and I would thank the committee because one of the things that we've been talking about with respect to the PD calendar is how fabulous it is to have those four days up front so that we
can get that time and really drill into the things that we need to before the start of the school year. So, that was really helpful and my administrative team and our leaders are really taking advantage of that. So that training will h be happening during those first few
days and then there'll be continued support through throughout the year for them. are doing. You say that it's built into the curriculum now. How how is that? So, these interventionists are pushing into classrooms. They're not they don't take any kids out. They're
pushing in and they're assisting trying to help kids with whatever piece of the problem they're, you know, they're struggling with. This curriculum has additional activities and intervention practices that are built in for the
teachers to try to implement themselves. Um, so it really runs the gamut of learners and which makes it appealing to the district. You know, we want to make sure we're getting everyone access to the curriculum. Thank you. Thank you.
And and and candidly, this is, as many people have heard me say, I don't stand on ceremony, right? If we need to pivot, we pivot, right? This to me in my conversations with our leaders, this is the right move for ACES for now and
while we will evaluate it, we'll continue to watch the students success with the new curriculum and see how the teachers feel with respect to those interventions and then we'll we'll make decisions accordingly if as we move forward, see if it's working. Anyone else?
Thank you. Okay, up next is Belltobell um presentation uh regarding smartphone free environment. I'm going to invite up Mr. King and Mr. Webster and I will
All right. Now, I am going to start tee it up for Jason. He's going to take it after I do a brief little introduction. But about two months ago, Athl High School and ARMS started what we call alignment meetings between administration trying to get in sync
between the two schools. And one of the first topics that came up was cell phones. So, I'm going to start by giving you a brief little review of what the current practice policies are at Athal High School and the middle school. I'm not going to read them all, but the
general practice at Athal High School is that students can have cell phones. They can have cell phones on them. They need to be off in a way once their class starts. So, the responsibility for that is on the student and on the teacher,
right? Um, so it's it's a collaboration between those two individuals. If the student doesn't put their cell phone away, the teacher participates in trying to get the student to put it away, which can be a daunting task. Uh can be a
challenge, can be immediate conflict in the classroom. Um so that's that's been happening since cell phones came out. We have been with this policy. We have used a couple of different devices along the
way, including a device called the yonder pouch when we asked the students during class time to put the pouch in the back in put their cell phone in a pouch for that period of time, but they could take it out, always take it out at the end of class and
always use it during passing time, during lunch, uh, and and manage it on their own and manage it with the teacher. Um, at the middle school, they pretty much have always had the policy that cell phones should not be visible
during the day. They should be off and they should be away. Um, and that isn't always happening as well, but that's kind of what their practice has been. So, in our conversations, we talked about how our cell phone how our cell phone policies are going. Um, for us at
Athal High School, it it has been a big challenge. I'm going to give you some quick a quick quick little snapshot at what it looks like at Athal High School last year. So that's the bottom part. We had fif 1600 referrals, conduct referrals that came from the teacher.
Now this is beyond beyond what the teacher has done in their classroom. This does not reflect what the teacher has done in their classroom. I bet you could do five times what that number is right there. what the teacher has done in the classroom to try to get cell
phones to be away. But last year alone, there was 335 times where the teacher has exhausted everything that they could possibly do to get the cell phones away and to create a high level learning environment. Last year that was 29% of the referrals that the
administration had to deal with came from cell phone issues. This year alone through today's yes yesterday's date that number is 715 referrals and our teachers I can tell you our teachers are doing the same exact thing that they were doing last
year asking them to put it away being patient setting expectations in the classroom and 39% of those referrals that come into our administration are a direct result of cell phones. So when the high school and middle school
started having conversations, it was clear we needed to move towards an environment that allowed the teacher to once again teach and not be a tremendous distraction from their duties of teaching and the learning environment
itself. So in the end in our alignment meetings, we felt we needed to be more aligned with the middle school than we currently are at Athl High School. So Jason had been doing a bunch of work and had been researching the the notion of a bell-to-bell cell phone policy. So I'm
going to let him take it from here as he's done most of this work. Thank you Mr. King. So we had submitted this to you uh in paper form and we have the presentation here. Uh this is similar to what was shared with the uh policy
subcommittee as well as far as uh our work towards uh a bell-to-bell policy. Um so just kind of actually I got to do this too, don't I? Here we go. Uh starting with the why, why are we looking to do this? Um just to take a
step back for a moment, David mentioned some research that I had done. and I attended a conference that included uh some principles from schools from all over the state who had implemented a bell to what's called a bell-to-bell policy. And that means at the beginning of the day when a student comes in uh to
uh do attendance uh for the school day, part of their uh attendance ritual is um securing whether it be a yonder pouch or perhaps there's kind of like a what we call a mailbox kind of approach to put away the phone so it's secured. uh until
the very end of the day. It's put away. That's it. They don't get access again um until the end of the day when they are dismissed from the school day. And so those are the two points uh of focus. And uh in talking with hearing from and talking with these uh educational
leaders, uh as you'll see here, all of the results from this kind of approach have been positive. And really the best way I can summarize it is it puts the emphasis back on the learning. um and it minimizes distractions. So, we're going to get into uh the detail a little bit
here, but I just want to kind of uh establish that to to begin the why uh broken into two things as far as academic performance and and also some concerns uh with the cyber aspects of uh smartphone technology. As you can see, cell phones can make it harder for students to focus and pay attention.
Students who use phones during class tend to perform worse academically and uh students without access to uh phones perform better on exams. They're not as distracted. They're able to focus. Um and as you can see as far as the the bullying and cyber bullying, these unwanted behaviors, cell phones can
increase the likelihood that kids will be bullied or become bullied themselves. Uh and it can be a problem for students who have access to these phones. Many times I've had conversations, perhaps you can relate, where back in the 80s and 90s if they had these kinds of technologies available so easily to to
my uh to me and my classmates, I I don't know how we could have gotten through. It's difficult enough as it is to have a difficult day as a student, but then to if you can imagine putting yourself in their shoes, going home and still having access to communications with other
people that also aren't mature enough yet. pre-adolescence, they don't have that frontal lobe. They're making kind of reactionary decisions online and the kids are seeing these things all day. Um, and that's difficult. It's a lot to put on a kid. Um, and so that was part
of what drove our discussions uh as a leadership team. Uh, mental health, uh, it can lead to anxiety, depression, other mental health issues and can lead to depression or even suicide. Um, also concerns with cheating. I think I was talking to one
of the administrators who had uh mentioned a student that was looking up during the school day on the on their own phone how to cheat I I think on an English uh test or something like that or you know so it can happen instantly. Um and it's really difficult to be able to uh monitor that as a teacher even
with the uh technology we currently have in place. Uh access to questionable content. They can give students access to questionable content. Um kids are learning kind of all about fake news. what is a legitimate resource online? There's a lot online that is not
accurate and the kids don't have the ability to always determine what is uh accurate information and what is not. Um it goes on from here. School disruptions, uh you know, the the the ringing or vibrating of these phones can disrupt classes. Uh social skills, if
I'm putting my Oh, thank you. I didn't I keep forgetting to hit the button. Um, if I'm putting my school counselor hat on, uh, it's really difficult if students are focused on these smartphones. They're missing out on interactions with their, uh, peers. Uh, teens who are addicted to these phones become less interested in these social
activities. Um, and then family communication. Uh, teens who are addicted to these phones can have weakened, uh, family communication. I'm just going to point you, you can do that. So, the schools that I spoke to directly, who had tried this and spoke at length about their
experience are here. Um, and there are links connected to the the work that these schools did with their policy and with uh how they implemented uh these bell-to-bell uh protocols. East Boston High School, Brockton High School, two big schools with a lot on their plates.
They chose to take this on uh and both principles were talking about how the first couple months it was a challenge to build that into their routines in the morning, but the results, the benefits just completely outweighed any concerns that they had. and they talk about kids
that are more engaged. Their heads are up and looking around as they're transitioning between classes. Um it's just it's they all said that it had a lot of benefits. The their scores go up, their ability to focus. Um it it's just it's all positive. Um Wakona is another
regional uh high school out our way. Pioneer Valley, I spoke at length with their superintendent, high school principal, as well as uh dean of students about how um even a demographic that's a little bit different from ours, they might not have had the same
uh volume of concerns with negative behaviors. However, they still saw the need to put the focus back on education and also recognizing that these students really they're not old enough yet, mature enough yet to be able to handle these responsibilities. They also saw um
nothing but positive benefits from from these policies. uh and they too shared similar they used the um the yonder pouch approach. Um it is expensive. Uh however they decided to try that approach and and they also had their their teachers their staff also
modeled um while they still were able to have access to their phones. They showed visibly with their kids look my phone is in the pouch. I'm not accessing it and if I do I step away and it's not in front of the students. It is separate from the education and once again they're putting the focus back on the
learning if you could. Thank you. Um again we've been alluding to this but it minimizes distractions, improves dialogue, students are more engaged in the learning, increase student productivity, fewer problems and issues with social media getting in the way of learning. Um I would say my admin team
uh at the middle level uh at least 50 60% of what we work through as far as unwanted behaviors they are touched upon the uh social media aspect the uh the communication aspect of these smartphones and and the
texting and things like that. It just it gets in the way and it breeds all of these unwanted behaviors. The um you know bathrooms, graffiti, things like that. what's happening between classes, kids leaving the class to go to the bathroom, they take their phones out, they have their uh you know, their Apple watches or smartwatches. All of that is
personal smartphone technology um that's involved uh with this kind of thing. Um another important piece uh to look at is uh from the attorney general and actually Mr. Arrow shared this with me uh and I I passed it along. It's a
toolkit. um state uh state after state after state uh they're starting to um basically implement these same kind of strategies. New York uh starting next year they are saying that K12 kids can't have cell phones in their schools. Um
and so Massachusetts is really getting on board and starting to talk about here are some concerns that are related directly to cell phone technology um and what we can do to start addressing it. Um, and so it's it's something for you to see, but it really the thing that touched upon uh that I should say
touched me the most is that we're really in the middle of a uh a crisis with our youth mental health. Um, uh, 95% I think the the statistic was 95% of all kids are on their phones at least three hours a day. The majority of them will say
that they're on social media constantly. And I I think as communities start to peel this apart and and look at different aspects of uh social media of smartphone technology, they start to realize how as even parents we've relied
upon the p the pacification aspects of technology going on a long drive with the kids. You want don't want them kind of screaming and and you know fighting with each other. give them a you know um a smartphone or an iPad and they're quiet but they're not practicing those
social skills that are so important especially at the middle school level. So I'm biased at the middle school level obviously but as our uh admin teams were talking between the middle and high school we just all came to the same agreement uh that this is something really important as we're looking at things like the the vision of a graduate
and all of the links from kindergarten prek really all the way through grade 12. This is an important piece which brings me to a survey that we put together. Um 169 community members uh responded thankfully uh to this community survey of two questions. The
first here before you showing this uh 81% uh of those responding felt that smartphones did create a substantial distraction to the learning environment in school. And then uh there the second question involved more qualitative data
as far as if you could tell us a little bit more about how you feel about smartphone technology. And it's it's tough to read I realize from where you're sitting. Um but basically most responses didn't totally support a total ban on the student phones. However, there was widespread support for limiting or
restricting the usage uh during class time to minimize these distractions. And I think that's what we've been trying to do uh as uh educational leaders. We've been trying to minimize the distractions. And what we're learning is that minimizing it is really difficult.
It's difficult to police. It's difficult to uh keep track of. And especially when you have kids that aren't just they're not supposed to be mature enough yet to handle this kind of responsibility. It just it gets in the way of our progress of our education. Jump on that please.
We are not do not have a total ban. But we are not successful at it because it requires every single adult, every single student in our school to buy into that and be able to manage
their emotions, manage their addiction, be able to put that away every period. We We do not see a way besides continuously put that burden on the teacher to
possibly do this. The student is not able to do that. It lands on the teacher. I don't feel like it's fair for our 39 teachers, academic teachers to be the to be responsible to manage that. They're teachers. They should be
teaching academics, not trying to coers a kid to put their cell phone away. So that's that's where I stand in the I think it's an administrative problem that needs to be addressed with a policy that the schools find a way to manage
that policy without the teachers having to be burdened with that. And we're both uh lock step really with both of our schools uh in that approach. And really what this uh has the potential to do is to free up our teachers to be able to teach. A lot of
the work we've been doing instructionally involves time, time on learning. Uh, and we're starting to find ways to use uh, the data available of this time in a more meaningful way as we're communicating with families. And I think this all is connected uh, when we
talk about uh, you know, how we look at student work, how we try to improve instruction. And if a teacher is spending time stepping in and addressing these uh, different distractions, it takes away from their learning. So really this is a way for us to be able to support our teachers to put the like I said
earlier put the emphasis back on uh on the learning. Um and so just the the thing that I felt was important here we've been touching upon the different uh reasons as far as why a bell to pel approach would work as far as the academic disruptions behavior addictions and such. The fifth uh bullet college
and career readiness I I feel is important. We're we're all trying to get our kids ready for the real world. And in most professional settings in college, whether you're getting ready for trade school or or going into the workforce, a point was made that individuals are expected to be engaged from the beginning to the end of their
work period, their workday or their school day. And this bell-to-bell kind of approach helps us prepare our kids for the real world so that they can have a job. They can stay. Obviously, we all have, you know, our focus. I think the focus of a typical kid is like 10, 15
minutes, probably some shorter for, you know, middle school principles, but they have to start practicing responsibility. They have to start practicing and getting ready for the world that they're we're getting them ready for, and we feel that this uh would be able to do that. So, um Dave is queuing me to to
continue on here. So, our goal here is to present to you this important information. We need your support uh as we uh prepare to um you know look at this possible move. Uh we feel that it's a very strong statement to show that we
are dedicated to educating our kids and keeping them safe both uh physically and mentally. Uh and so that was why we felt it important to meet with the um uh policy subcommittee and then uh with their encouragement we were able to uh meet with you and talk tonight. And so
we ask that in order for us to be able to move forward and um join with the community, uh we we need your support in doing so. So with that, any questions or comments, please? I was at policy subcommittee meeting when Dave and Jason presented
this. Um, one thing that was touched on in that subcommittee meeting that wasn't highlighted here is the the role of the student teacher relationship and how that constant disciplining and taking away their, you know, most prized
possession, you know, not only creates a classroom disruption, but also impacts the relationship between the student and the teacher and that also contributes to an inability to learn from that teacher. So, you know, that like we've spent a lot of time and money doing like the
social emotional learning and connection building for for teachers and this kind of just is in that realm too and I don't want that to get lost on anybody here either. So, the decision that has to be made in real time, do I take that
on? Do I want my relationship to erode or I do I just let it happen? And when I when I let it happen, um they're on their phone. And then when I go in as the principal, I have two choices. Now I've got to say, do I want to get on the teacher's case about it or do I want to
get on the students case about it? Right? So it's it's a mess. It's a complete mess. I understand where the teacher's coming from. It really needs to be something that we join together and say this is what we want our classrooms to look like. any more
information, bring it on June 4th so we can have it and we can go over it because I know you guys are really going out there and getting the information and especially now where we have our governor who's saying they have to be
removed. We we really need to do something. And I know I did call MESC to find out if there was any policies. They don't even have a policy. So I would like to start probably drafting
something if we could to to prepare for the committee and bring it and so that we can talk about it. Maybe we could do some of that at our next meeting. And because we're going to be having also the other meeting at six o'clock, maybe
it'd be good idea to go to the media center at the high school. We can I can have it there instead and everybody it'll be much easier for everybody. Does that sound good with everybody? Policy subcommittee agreed that we would
remune 4th to discuss this after this presentation with the greater committee. So that was scheduled for 4:30 and then we have the um all boards meeting scheduled for 6. So Bobby, excellent point. If if Kylie is okay with it, we could definitely relocate to the high
school. Anybody Does that sound good? So anybody who wants to come to that meeting is more than welcome to come. I did want to share just a little bit more information. I mean even in my review of the survey a and everyone knows this
without reviewing a survey a lot of parents and a lot of people have concerns. The biggest concerns that get expressed repeatedly and again this isn't a simple answer that it just stops all the questions. But the first concern we see is I need to be in touch with my
child on their way to school or after school and they have athletics. They can't not have their phone. We agree and understand, right? The phones are not being taken away from students in their travels. They would be secured during
instructional time and then returned to the students at the end of the day. So when they come in, they would have their cell phones on the way in, they would have their cell phones on the way out. The other piece that is always expressed as a concern is what if there's an
emergency, right? Every training that I've ever been through and I I'm I'm not sure what our local authorities will say. I've been Alice I I was a trained the trainer for Alice. I've I've done this work in other districts. I've never
heard public safety say they encourage cell phone use during emergencies. Our families and our parents, I understand, want that sense of security to to think that they're in touch with their kid in the event of an emergency during school.
But the reality is if there were an actual emergency during school, for example, an active intruder, the use of cell phones is completely discouraged. Kids can't be calling parents because parents are then going to be trying to
rush all through the streets, get to whatever place they think they need to get to and block the traffic for the actual law enforcement. They tie up pe they tie up dispatch lines. Phones ring when kids are in a lockdown situation
because people are texting them or calling them because they're trying to find out what's happening. There is very there have been in my experiences no circumstance that has been an emergency or could be considered
an active emergency in a school setting where a cell phone would be beneficial. Um the other concern right there are students that need these devices personal devices to monitor blood sugar levels or for other medical reasons. Those are obviously exceptions to to
certain rules if they're required for medical reasons, then they would be limited to that use and they would certainly be acceptable. Um, and again, the last piece is how could we ever get in touch with our our our children, right? The schools all have active phone
lines. There's four branches of phone lines minimum coming into each main office. And we have an entirely, you know, digitized phone system across the district. You're going to be more likely to get in touch with a with a student if
you reach out to the school and say, "Can I get my child? I need them to either leave or I need to talk to them about something." there are adults that are in the building that answer the phones and we will get access to students as needed. So I just want to
share those are some of the major concerns that were coming from the survey and they're understandable but they're also pretty easily explained. Um I will say tomorrow I have a meeting with the safety the public safety
officers for the for this community. So, we're meeting police chief, fire chief, and some other participants, and then we're going to have a conversation tomorrow just so I can ensure that they are on the same page as as we are. Um, I've said I've not really heard
conversations otherwise, but I do also understand I mean, and I understand this from your perspectives as well, we enter into a political issue because we're not sure how the community might feel. And
you know to Jason's point earlier I saw it on the screen. This would not be a situation where we just pull pull the switch you know and say ah it's all changed. We need to invite the community in. We need to explain ourselves. We
need to explain the process. We need to get people to understand why we are all feeling that this is the the right direction for the district to move into. And if nothing else, I will say it is coming down the pike from Massachusetts
state legislation. I would imagine it will be unavoidable entirely. And I will say this, if COVID taught me anything, it's don't wait for Desi or the state to do anything. We need to take whatever actions we feel are appropriate when
we're faced with a situation. And this is a this is a mental health crisis. And if we don't do something, it will continue to get worse in this district. And I think we have the power and the people to to curb the issue here. So,
just want to share that. Thank you. If we could uh just go back to for a moment the uh you have a copy of the uh initial compliance certification uh for the MSBA for Athl High School. Um
this is a document that spells out pretty much expectations of the district's role and how we move forward and um you know steps along the way. So, uh, if there's no objection, uh, to me signing it, I hope not. I already have.
Um, are there any questions or, you know, if you want to officially move it, you can. Okay. Motion made and seconded to move forward. Um, again, this is this is the stat of the process. um you know that we
have a responsibility of the school district to bring forth to the town's uh votership or whatever um you know in the name of the students of the district how we get there where we go that's you know a process that will unfold but uh is
there any discussion about the certification seeing none all those in favor thank you all right under communications you do have um technology report and you
also have the uh district enrollment um update that you normally get uh on a monthly basis. Any questions about either? Okay, seeing none. Financial statements and approval of accounts. Nancy,
I wanted to give you an update on fiscal year 25 budget as we're coming close to the end of the year. So, At this point in time, I anticipate utilizing all the revenues that were allocated to the 25 budget
when you approved it except the allocation with school choice. So when you approved the allocation with school choice, it was approved with $500,000. Um, currently that's expensed at 28,218.
So, this is one of the accounts that we wait to the end to see where we stand to kind of balance everything with the general budget. Um, and I'm hopeful that we won't use the whole 500,000. Um, so the main I'm going to
start with the large overages. I've covered them, you know, in my meetings throughout the years, throughout the months, but the main areas of the overages are in special education. They're in med medical therapy services,
paraprofessional staffing costs and transportation. Transportation for out of district transportation, foster care and mckin vento. Alto together it comes out to an overage of about 1.1 million. The good news is is that we have been
able to offset these overages with savings in unfilled staff positions. We are have a savings right now in utilities with heating and electricity. We have a savings with our benefits with what was budgeted
in out of district tuitions with reclassing some funds to circuit breaker. So that comes out to 1.1 million. So luckily the overages right now offset the savings that we're having. Um, one thing I did want to bring to the
committee's attention is that we do have a new out of district tuition that we will be splitting 5050 with DCF. The split amount is for $182,938. Yeah. Yeah. Depending on the time frame that the student starts for this fiscal
year, it'll be between seven and $10,000. So this obviously will be an increase to the fiscal year 26 budget. Um but we might have potential move in movement within the out of district tuitions in 26 that will hopefully will help offset
this cost. So what I plan to do at the June meeting is to review the 26 budget where we stand and how it will be covered. But I just wanted to bring that to your attention at this point in time. Just want to remind people these
excessive special education costs, these are typically the types of things that we can get reimbursed through circuit breaker for. And that would be a hope. But what ends up happening with that is we don't get those reimbursements till after we've filed the claim for the
year. And that goes into next year. And actually the district uses the funds from the prior year always so that the money it's collecting through the course of the year is already banked and ready for next year. But so I guess my point is we will hopefully see an increase in
our reimbursements because of these additional costs. However, to NY's point, we're not going to see them in the next month and we're not going to be able to fill our holes with them. So that's why we need to move around some funds. we might see
extraordinary circuit breaker um depending on how that plays out for next year because this tuition is coming in now. So it might help us with next year with extraordinary relief. But this year um I also wanted the committee to know we did receive extraordinary relief
funding in the amount of $75,235. It wasn't tremendous, but it was definitely something that will help. So, um, I applied that to out of district tuition from the general fund that will help offset offset
expenses. So, that that's my update on the 25 budget. Um, if anyone has any questions, are they coming into the district? Is it just new? I can't go into too much detail. No, I'm just wondering like is it something that we're going to look forward to next year
as well? Like is it a long-term placement type situation? Yeah, the student is high school age. Okay. uh eighth grade I think actually now that I think about it um yeah the one of the parents lives in town and has lived in town for quite some time
and um no no I just wanted to know financially the the financially is it something that we're anticipating continuing the students already here that's what I was asking okay thank you y thank you so much thank you Christie
Sorry. Sorry about that. And then the two other items I have were the committee. One was the transport transportation stabilization fund. So that was uh $100,000 that was put into the account at the close of last fiscal year. But
due to the uh financial status that we're in right now with such an overage in the budget, um I would like to transfer that 100,000 to offset the transportation overage. Is there a motion? All those in favor?
Okay. And the second one is the Washington DC field trip for the high school. So the high school is requesting approval to allocate $9,500 from school choice funds to cover transportation costs for the upcoming
Washington DC field trip. Um this is due to a budgeting oversight by the coordinator of the field trip. The these transportation expenses were not included in the original planning. So given the proximity of the trip date, it does not seem feasible to request
additional funds from families at this time. Um I also included for you is the breakout for the forecast for circuit breaker. So currently we're at a yeartodate expense of 28,218. So this would bring it up about
$10,000 bringing us um year-to-ate balance of 1.3 million. Even if we hit the 500,000 expenditure that was originally bud budgeted, we'll still have one million um left in the fund at the end of this fiscal year.
Any discussion? Okay. All those in favor? Okay. Opposed? None. Thank you. Okay, moving on to the reports of the committee. Uh, I have nothing this evening. We did discuss the all boards
meeting. That was the only thing that I really had. Uh, budget and finance. Tammy, do you have any It's always great to follow. Yeah, great job. Thanks, Nancy. We do have two meeting minutes in your packet. So, that was that facilities.
Not much to report. Negotiations. Have you guys met or anything recently? No. Okay. All right. Academic excellence. We've been mentally preparing through negotiations. Okay. We all have been in communication. Okay. uh
public relations. Okay. Policy sub. and I hope that everybody can make it and then we're going to have the other meeting afterwards. Committee member referrals. Let's start with Tammy.
Um no, just um the graduation is next week, so please um if you're going to go, there's a seat saved for all the committee members. So, make sure that if you're going to go, let Jody know or let Matt know that you'll be there. You're also welcome to class day, which is also next week. Um, it's great to see all the
kids get their awards. The high school does an excellent job putting that on for them. Um, and the only I had a couple referrals from last time, but I was looking at um, Matt's um, we have to do his review. We don't have anything um, set up for him for goals. So, I just want to make sure we do move on that.
Um, and then I just wanted to say thanks to um, David and Jason for collaborating the two schools in this district together. I haven't seen an admin team do that for these two schools and bridging the kids from middle school to high school is super important. So, thank you for doing that.
David, I'm sorry that I I appreciate all the work that you guys have been doing. Thank you very much. We got to make it safe for the children and that's that's the most important thing in my heart and soul is
to make it safe for them. And if that we have to remove the cell phones, so be it. it. We're here for education and education only. We need to do that. Thank you. And thank you, Matt, also.
I move to the agent. I move to journ. Get too excited. Let's move. Let's go. Frank, you only get two seconds per meeting to see. I got