and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Wonderful. Good evening everybody. >> Good evening. >> Great to see everyone. Um well, this
meeting is being livereamed by Chumps for Teleia and it's posted to the CPS website for interested community members to access and watch. Inerson public participation will be taking place tonight in accordance No, we don't have anyone signed up tonight. Correct.
>> Correct. >> Okay. with the Chsford School Committee public participation policy and anyone who does come and speak to us in the future during the public input portion of this meeting uh would have notified the superintendent's office of their
desire to speak and has been provided with these guidelines and upon request written comments received no later than 12:00 p.m. on the day of this meeting today will also be read and made part of the record of the meeting during the second public comment section. Has
anybody received any input that we need to read? >> No. >> Wonderful. Okay. Condent agenda. We have our first order of business is approving the minutes from our meeting of April 28, 2026. Has everybody had a chance to
read them? Any corrections? Okay. I'll entertain a motion, please. Susan, >> I move that we accept the um meeting minutes from the April 28th, 2026 school committee meeting. >> Okay. >> Second. >> All in favor?
>> I. >> Wonderful. We have a second set of minutes. Um and that is from the May 5th, 2026 um meeting. Everybody had a chance. Any corrections? All right. And I believe um John
>> I wasn't there >> is going to abstain. Okay. So I I'll entertain a motion. >> So I move that we accept the um minutes from the May 5th, 2026 school committee meeting. >> Thank you. >> Second.
>> Thank you. All in favor? >> I. >> Wonderful. >> And our CHS representatives are still with us. >> Yep. >> Wonderful. You know, it's wonderful to see you. All right. How's it going? Any good news? >> It's going very good. We have a lot of good news. So, senior week is happening
this week. Uh, yesterday was Hawaiian day. Today was school spirit day. Tomorrow is throwback day with the year being 2016, which makes me feel old that um when I was a throwback and I was alive. Uh uh Thursday is college day or
future plans day, you know. And Friday is jersey and sundresses day uh paired with the senior barbecue. Uh the class of 2028 uh pickle ball tournament is coming up on May 29th at 2:45 p.m. So if you want to go, if you like pickle ball and you like prizes, if you think you're
good, you should go. Uh the line 24-hour relay is coming up on from May 30th to the 31st. And junior drop shadow was today. >> Oh, that's wonderful. Wow. A lot of going on. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. And some events. Um the CHS dance team hosted uh one of their fantastic
spring showcases last uh Friday on May 15th. And uh prom is coming up quickly for seniors on June 3rd and following that is graduation on June 6th. And then our junior catillian was a huge success with everyone having a wonderful time.
Uh celebrating the night with lots of music and my favorite the food. Um, and then a big congratulations to both the boys volleyball and the girls lacrosse team for having uh winning the MVCs. And another congratulations to senior Gable
Gray for being featured in Little Sun for ranking among the top javelin throwers in the entire nation. >> Saw that >> in the entire country. That's phenomenal. >> Yeah. >> Wow. Okay. And Richie, the food was the favorite part
of the >> for sure. Okay. Was it raining that day? >> Um, it was. It was a rainy night. Um, we got in there, it was like it was getting poured on, >> but it was still good. >> Y had a good day. >> Dr. Hersh, any other good news? Anyone? >> Um, yes. We have just I'm going to be very Parker specific. So, the Parker
Middle School had their Parker Pride Run this past Sunday. It was very well attended. Kids always have a blast doing that. And then, um, the Parker Middle School will be singing at the Woo Socks game for the national anthem on Thursday this weekend. >> Oh, that's singing and playing instruments. and playing instruments.
>> Is that the sixth grade? >> The whole >> sixth grade mom and me would not >> bypass the band's contribution. >> No, we are. >> Is it fifth and sixth grade together or just >> uh I think it's just select. It was auditionbased sixth graders from all
three music ensembles. >> Anybody else for good news? Wonderful. Okay. So, our next order of business is that we have spotlights on the departments and we have a whole team of wonderful people here today.
>> Parker update. >> Oh my gosh, how could I skip Dennis? >> I am really sorry. >> You could skip me anything. >> No, I don't want to. It's really important. So, we've got the Parker Middle School update. That is correct. Um so last Wednesday our project manager
architect along with superintendent Lang on our manager Karin met with the MSBA facilities assessment subcommittee present our project. I wasn't able to go was during school day. So I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Lang to talk a little bit about that meeting and how it went. >> Um yeah I'll be brief. So we this is
another kind of milestone u event for us after we had the uh the full ed program you would approved at the April meeting. um that in combination with the latest um preferred location being Parker and the preferred um grade four to six configuration went before kind of a
subcommittee of the MSBA uh board. Um and we u had about a 20-minute presentation we did on the project. Uh there was a 20-minute Q&A on their part. I have to say um it was an excellent meeting. It honestly probably couldn't have gone uh better. Linda and Joanna and Amy uh joined us on the call in case
they had any questions. They had no significant questions for our uh submission which was great. They had a couple of just recommendations as we move into schematic design just to keep for uh you know in in the the forefront of our discussions and uh deliberations but it was a great uh meeting. So uh
that group now recommends us to the full MSBA board meeting and we're going to be doing that the last week in June. Uh so once we have the full MSBA board um approval to go into schematic design in formal cost estimating that will take us from then through October and then we uh
go back to the board in October with our actual project to get um approved in their eyes and then we spend October to January educating and informing the community about the project and why we would like their support. Um so this past week was a again a big milestone. Um they're recommending us to the full
board in June. Um so that should hopefully go as well. >> That was a lot. >> That was a lot. That was a big big hurdle to come over there. >> That happened then. And so when is the next meeting? >> The end of June. Oh, the next building committee meeting or uh Thursday we have a building committee meeting and then
>> we have a public college public >> forum on the 10th. >> Wednesday the 10th. >> Wednesday. Okay. Great. And that will be again at the Elks. else. Yeah. >> And at 6 7 >> 6 >> at 6:00. >> Oh, no, no, I'm sorry. 6:00 is the um we're doing a school building committee meeting before it. The 7:00 is for the
public. >> It's public session. Okay. It's moving right along. It is. >> Yay. >> Um so, next is the big wigs. Here we go. So, we've got the spotlights on the department and I have been looking forward to this personally. Um special
education chips is here. We also have social emotional counseling, all those important things. And we have nursing as well, right? Peggy's coming. All right. So, we're going to start. Amy Reese. >> Thank you.
>> Okay. And you get to introduce your team. >> Thank you. Um, so student services is here. And just as a reminder, we uh student services encompasses special education, social emotional learning and school counseling as you said, um school
nursing and section 504. So today, >> all under your department, >> all under here. And so today, Amy Matson is with us, our assistant director. Um we have Megan McGherk, our coordinator at Chips Preschool, and Shannon Bishoff, um coordinator of social emotional
learning and school counseling today. >> Wonderful. >> Hear from hear from a bunch of us today. It's a lot. >> Am I doing it wrong, >> Linda? Am I doing it wrong? >> Left or right? >> Oh, there we go. Okay. >> So, we have a bunch of topics that we're
going to kind of cover tonight um just to um because it's encompasses a lot of areas. So, we're going to go over a little bit of our special education data um for the district. Megan's going to talk a bit about some highlights at CHIPS at the preschool. Um we'll talk a bit about our special education programs
in um in the district and Shannon's going to talk a bit about our social emotional updates for the year. Um and I have a little bit of information from Peggy I'm going to share on school nursing and um we have some information about our Desi coordinated uh tiered
focus monitoring that took place um this winter um and we got that report um out in March. And then Amy's going to share a bit about our strategic plan work that we've been doing um encompassing our areas and equity. Um and then we're
gonna talk a little bit about our um our case um collaborative doing a um program review um at our elementary level. Um so Amy's going to share a little bit of information about that and then we're going to have some updates about our new CPAC. So it's exciting. Uh >> oh.
>> Oh jeez. Did I do that? It's like I'm running the presentation. >> I'm gonna be in charge of your >> It's a good thing we have Linda. >> So, just to kind of highlight, I pulled a little bit of data. This is taken from our October one reports that the district submits every October, the big
DESIE report. Um, so that's what these specific numbers had come from. So, just kind of highlighting back the past five years going back to 2021, you know, we've seen an increase in student enrollment um across the whole district. Um and we've had seen um pretty good
significant increase in students um eligible for special education services. So um you know from 2021 we went from 800 about 839 students on IEPs to up to 1,081. So it's gone from 16 just under 17% to
up to 21% um is our is our population um receiving special education services. I will say that's in line with the state. um back in 2021 the day it was around 17% and they've seen an increase in the overall state average as well as up to around I think I put that on there 21.1
so we're right in line with the state percentage on that but we have seen significant increases which obviously has um you know led to students needing more services >> try do you want no
>> oh was this next slide >> nope we're going to go All right. So, now I'll talk about CHIPS. Um, so I'm the coordinator at CHIPS. Um, I like to say I have the best job in the student services department because I get to work with the the littlest kids and introduce them to the Chsford public
schools. Um, so an overview of our program right now, we have eight classrooms. Five of our classrooms are inclusive classrooms. So those are set up with a maximum of 15 students, eight community students up to seven students on IEPs with identified special needs.
We have two intensive classrooms. Um those are um substantially separate ABA based classrooms for students who need more support. Um primarily students on the autism spectrum at the young age that they come to us. They don't always
have an autism diagnosis yet, but they're kind of exhibiting the characteristics of autism. Sometimes they're on the waiting list for an evaluation. um and our school evaluation team identifies them with the IEP team as needing a higher level of support than our inclusive classrooms. And then
we have one classroom that is an inclusive intensive classroom. So half of the day it's substantially separate ABA based instruction and then the other half of the day it's still got that ABA support. The paraprofessionals are ABA
trained. The teacher um is ABA trained and has a lot of background in ABA. We bring the community um peers in for half of the day so the students can generalize the skills that they're learning in the small group into um a
larger classroom. Um so right now we have just about 200 students enrolled >> just about half on IEPs um which is kind of the model of our program. So we do have a higher ratio by design. Most of our students attend 2, three or four
half days a week. For our students on IEPs, that's determined by their IEP team based on level of need, what kind of services, and how many services they're requiring during the day. For our community students, um it's by um
sign up and parent request. We do tend to offer those four day slots to older students first, the two-day slots to younger students. Um, and we usually fill up sometime and we typically have a waiting list by September. So, we're pretty popular program in town. I might
have covered what's on the next slide. >> All right, I give up. You >> need to put that up. >> Okay. Take it away. >> I think I covered most of this. Um, so in all of our classrooms, our communication, our motor, our behavior supports are really embedded into the
classrooms. our speech therapists, our OT's, our PTs spend a lot of time in the classrooms um delivering services in there whenever possible. Um as I mentioned, our intensive classrooms use an ABA based methodology and most of
the students in those classrooms as they transition to kindergarten transition into our sale program. Um most of our students in the intensive classrooms when they first start with us are in that traditional half-day preschool program, which our program is. Um, some
of them we find need more than a half day based on their level of need and the amount of service they require. So sometimes their um, IEP team will decide to extend their day a little bit longer. >> So, and then my favorite, the pictures.
Um, so one of the highlights at CHIPS is we have some themed hallways. Um, during the year they're always a highlight. all of the teachers get together um and decorate the hallways and Oh, they went they went too fast. >> No, that's okay. Um we have Under the
Sea and Space Week. Those are the ones the teachers do. And not only are they decorated, but they're like a really great sensory experience and a really great learning experience that all of the classrooms can access and participate in. Um and then the PTO does
one. They've gotten into it now. That one's not up there. the um because I didn't have any pictures from them. They do a winter wonderland, but these are some events that the PTO helps us with. Touch a truck is one of them. Um and book of the month. They've helped us start a book of the month program where
every month we have a book that every classroom focuses on. We do activities um that are common. I go in and read the book to all the classrooms. They hear it multiple times. Um one of our teachers set up a sensory walk um for all of the classrooms to do. We have activities in
the hallway while kids are transitioning. So, those are just a few of our highlights. Um, and our PTO is wonderful. I have to give them a plug. They are small, but they are mighty and they put on a lot of great enrichments for us. Um, and Sue is our PTO rep uh PTO representative. So, you know, all
the great stuff that they do. This is great. So to shift to our special education programming, much like u Megan had said at the preschool, um we have um students that are qualified for IEPs. Um the focus on those goals tend to be focusing on skills. So they're really
skill focused. Um and you know, communication goals, academic, motor, social, emotional, social skills, behavioral are some of the examples. Um and those are provided by um a range of professionals. Our special
education teachers, related service providers, PCBAs, psychologists, counselors, social workers and our services um they look like we have consultation services where it could just be the professionals are consulting on a specific student and um a lot of
times that's helpful when we're ready to generalize some skills. So um they'll work across with all the par profofessionals, the teachers in the room so they can carry it across the whole day instead of just in one particular um service time. Um we have inclusion obviously where we strive to have as much of our services in the
inclusion gened setting. Um even with the new IEP that we've had um implemented the few years now, the focus has been um really keeping students in the general ed setting. So that's that's been a focus. But then those students that require it, we have some targeted
specialized instruction in small groupoup pullout or in our specialized programs. So to highlight our specialized programs, we have um the sale program which you heard a bit about or a lot about last week, our last school committee meeting from Harrington. Um
and that's our autism um specialized program. The bulk of it is um we'll get into um talking a little bit more specifically um but more more of that pull out substantially separate um services. We have our PAVE program um or at the lower grades called functional
academic um where we have students with um you know students that require that more functionalbased curriculum. And then Strive is our therapeutic program. Um social emotional students that maybe are at grade level, don't have academic needs, but have some um emotional or
behavioral regulation skills that are are need to be targeted. And then we have our language based program which is at the middle school level and that's targeting students with specific learning disabilities um specialized in reading and writing um such as dyslexia.
So to look at our sale program, it's stands for um students achieving independent learning. Um it runs the gamut of preschool um from the intensive, we call them the intensive rooms at chips all the way up to students who that stay with us 18 to 22 or move, you know, we provide
programming for. It's substantially separate. as the principles of ABA um and primarily focuses on our students with autism that really kind of need more that discrete trial onetoone instruction for a lot of academic um or skill building. Um so we have it at
THIPS at Bay and Harrington at the elementary level those two elementary schools at Parker for um grades five and six um and then at Chomper High School which we refer to as our NET partner program because we have a partnership with NEC um New England Center for Children at the high school level. We
don't have a classroom right now at at McCarthy. Um and that's just because we had a little bit of a gap of students that required this programming. It was at Parker when Parker first opened as 5'6 and now it's at McCarthy. Um and then next in the next coming years we'll
have to shift and have um programming at McCarthy as well as the Parker students move up. So I put a little graph in for the sale program to kind of help um see the the numbers. Um, we have a lot of students
at the lower levels at CHIPS and at the elementary level um that are requiring programming and I think CHIPS has 22 students. Biome's at 19 with two classrooms and Harrington has three classrooms at 25 students at the moment.
Um, and that was a the elementary AK to four obviously. Um, Parker has one classroom with eight students this year. Um, um, as I said, McCarthy doesn't. And then we have two classrooms at Chford High that have um 12 students um there.
So in the coming years, we're anticipating, you know, those lower grades really kind of needing to move into the middle school. Um so um which we'll have to increase some of our services there for for this programming. Um
>> are you are we allowed to ask questions as you go along or do you want it at the end? >> Maybe at the end if that's okay. Okay. Is that that make sense? >> Um can you go back two slides though >> just so you can see at the bottom I did put the total number of students for the school year in each program. So we have a total of 83 students um across the
district right now um requiring the our sale programming. And then our PAVE program is our life skills functional program. It's for students with um developmental delays or intellectual or multi multiple um disabilities.
um needs um that substantially separate um programming that focuses really on functional skills. Um and as much you know as possible we have a considerable amount of those students included in the gened either for specials sometimes science and social studies um where we
can really make that inclusion time meaningful. Um and then we start to focus as they go through middle school into the high school and then the 18 to 22 when they go to valley um really focusing more on the vocational skills um embedded into
the day. So as I said our stride program is our social emotional program. We have um our elementary program at South Row um and then Parker and McCarthy and Chford High. So we have that continuum going all the way up to high school. Um
there's a range of social, emotional, and behavioral supports um for those students to be successful um in their academics and to really access their school day. Um and we've really had um a lot of success with um students being
included as much as possible in the gened setting. These are our students who really are learning academically on grade level and um that that piece and just needing the supports in that gened setting for um behavior regulation. So we have 40 54 students currently in that
program in our language based program which as you remember we've kind of increased each year as the grades as we started the program four years ago now we have grades five through eight covered with that and that first cohort will be kind of moving to um the high school next
year. Um a lot of students have made great success with their reading skills. some of them have um been able to um shift out of having the specialized reading and we'll have other supports at the high school as well. Um and so our program really kind of mostly focuses on
some ELA pull out in a small group taught on grade level um and a language based approach um for reading and writing um and comprehension. Um they're included with the special educator going in to co co-e and work in the gened
setting for mathematics. Um and then they're supported with language- based um you know strategies across their science and social studies as well with um specifically trained pair of professionals who work within that program. We partner with um Landmark Outreach um for consultation and
support. So they come out um every six eight weeks um spend time in um the classrooms and with the GenEd teachers, the special education teachers, the paris um you know to help strengthen and support our program. We have 26 students
in that program. And I'm going to turn it over to Shannon. >> Thank you. I have promised my team I will be not long-winded tonight because sometimes I can be when I'm talking about social emotional learning. Um so um I do want to just kick off by um just
really singing the praises of our greater district team. when I'm here talking to you and family members and students at home, um I'm representing a greater district team that works tirelessly to support students and families. So, I just want to give a little shout out and sing the praises of
our great district team. Um, in pulling a highlight of topics, I tried to pull topics that I thought families from home would benefit from hearing about again. Um, remembering that they're out there, um, and sharing, um, avenues and ways that they can access resources. Um, the
first being Cartwheelare. Um, we're going into our third year of partnership with them. Um we have a small partnership of 25 referrals and what Cartwheelare is is a virtual mental health clinic meaning that all um services accessed are through a virtual
platform. But the reason why they're a very special partner is that it provides immediate access for our Chsford families and students that need either one-on-one counseling um consultation from psychiatry parent coaching um or parent and family counseling. They also
launched this year a specific wraparound approach to school avoidance which we've just started to refer families to. Um so we're really really happy with our partnership with them. The quality of care is outstanding. Um we are nearing the end of the year and we've used I
think we have one referral left. Um, and they also they do um take private insurance, but they also allow us to do proono and refer families for free if there's uh any needs there. So, um, again, if families at home are
interested in learning more about that, please reach out to your school counselor. You can find my name and contact information on the website as well. Car Solace is a little bit different. Um, people get them confused sometimes. um they both start with C so sometimes I say them out of context but
Caralace is a um greater referral resource that we use. We have unlimited uh partnership with them. So as many students, families um family uh immediate family members of our students um our colleagues around the district um
their immediate family members can use this referral resource and they're constantly expanding as well. Um they provide support and services for individual therapy, um psychological evaluations, um partial hospitalizations or inpatient
hospitalizations and um they recently expanded to uh BCBA support as well as um basic needs. So um support with finding housing, food and security. So they're they're expanding and trying to meet the needs of families
um on a regular basis. The wonderful thing about Care Solace is they support our families 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of be the year. And they also have bilingual um clinicians that can receive contact from our families. So we've been really happy
with them. Um if you look at our data um and our usage, which we can do with them, they provide a platform for us, we see that families are accessing after school hours, which makes us really happy. We want to make this as convenient for families as possible and as accessible for families as possible.
This year we um we as a clinical team referred 137 cases. um those were in partnership with families and then there were 101 anonymous searches meaning on our district-wide um Chelmsford specific care solace page families could research
and um get connected and refer themselves instead of going directly through the schools that provides a little more anonymity for families, confidentiality, privacy. Um so we really like that Carousol offers both of those options for families.
College Affordable. We are on our third year partnering with them. Um they partner with our high school team, our high school counselors, and they're a nonprofit and what they do is they support families that are have students applying to schools and help them
navigate the financial aspects of applying to schools. Um they do appeals for families. They help them fill out the FAFSA for families. Um and they offer this special bridge to equity program which our counselors can refer specific families to. Um where they
provide free of totally free of charge um students that are first generation college students um families who experience a language barrier and access to technology. Families experiencing extenduating financial or personal hardships. So we're allowed at Chumsford
to refer 12 families although they've never said no. we've pushed pushed that a little bit and they've taken 13. Um so it's just been an incredible partnership. Um we meet once a month with them virtually for about 15 to 20 minutes. Um they provide webinars on a monthly basis to families. So starting
sophomore year, families can jump on a virtual link and start to learn about the process, learn about the timeline of high school and when they should start thinking about um applications and um the financial process. So, they're kind of soup to nuts. They help our families.
They have been an incredible partner. Um, a couple highlights with professional development. Uh, one thing our clinical team has engaged in throughout the year is our middle school grades 6 through 12th has focused on my
cap, my career and academic planning. This is a statewide initiative. Um, and we've had it at high school for a long time, but the emphasis this year was really starting in sixth grade. And what's wonderful about my cap is it brings meaning to learning for kids. They can start to think when they're in
middle school, at Parker, at McCarthy, you know, why am I learning the skills that I'm learning in the classroom and how can this be applied to careers? So, we start having conversations about what a career is and um how to write a resume and what that means. And so we really
want to match students with um their areas of interest, their aptitude for certain skills and then bring meaning to it um to to the students. So we worked really hard, our middle school counselors, our high school counselors partnered together on two different occasions this year doing professional
development to create a map for kids and how we can integrate this um through the social emotional learning that we are already doing in the classroom. Um there's overlap in in some of our health content. Um, so we're trying to thread this conversation through multiple multiddisciplinary
um, places. So that's been a wonderful um, growth this year, especially for our middle school team who it was a little bit newer for them, but they're all excited. Um, the three areas, as you can see up there, um, personal and social, career development and education, academic and college and career
planning, the STEP program, um, just want to highlight that. Um we've had it at the high school for a number of years, but we just completed year two at the McCarthy school. Um our program grew this year. At the McCarthy school, we supported 16 students throughout the
year and at the high school 36 students. And what the step classroom is is the student transition education program. And it supports students that are returning to school after a hospitalization. Um that could be from mental health needs or it could be from
medical needs. So the idea of this classroom is to catch the student up at their readiness. Um so there's a lot of partnership between classroom teachers and the team that works in STEP to um make sure the students are keeping up
and uh catching up with the work that they may have missed and then slowly integrating the students back into the classroom at their readiness. on occasion um if a student needs to use the STEP classroom for a longer period of time um through childf find um we do
refer students for special education um evaluations. So that's where there's a little bit of overlap but other words the STEP classroom um we consider it an intervention classroom. It's not a program. So it's access accessible to all students gened special ed.
>> One can I just say two other quick things? Um, uh, one thing I just want to highlight is that we've continued our partnership with Pathways to Restorative Communities. So, we're continuing to do work with Restorative Practices. We just finished year two with our partnership
with them. And next year, um, thanks to the support of our central office, we are going to continue a third-year partnership. Uh, one of our goals this year was to do a training at McCarthy because they haven't had a training yet. So, we have that in the works for planning as well as consultation hours
to support other schools. So, we're really excited to continue our work with restorative practices. And lastly, I just want to mention a partnership with Riverside Trauma Center. Um, we just finished up a two-year training um a trauma-informed training on suicide
prevention. So, our entire district clinical team participated, social workers, counselors, and psychologists um all the way from CHIPS all the way up to um high school. So, it's been a great two-year partnership. Uh this year allowed us to have a lot of coaching and
consultation time following a bigger training that we did last year. So, I just want to highlight those two things. And then before I hand it back over, I just want to again say to families at home and students, um, everything I've just talked about is accessible to you and to please reach out to your school
counselor or any adult at school teacher and we can get you connected. So to focus and shift to our school nursing, Peggy had put a few things together for us, our nursing coordinator, um, and as everyone can recognize, Fenway Park. Um she was using
the analogy even though we would hope they maybe play a little bit better these days. Um if we look at the size of Fenway Park, it holds uh 37,755 seats if um the stadium's full. And this year up until this presentation in in in
May, um the health district offices at all of our schools have seen 38,12 students um which would fill Fenway Park plus a little bit of an overflow. um just kind of helps with an analogy there. Um so she just has a little bit
of statistics there. Um the district enrollment that's more of as of now not so much the October one. Um as I said the 38,100 um visits um of those a high percentage 95.6% almost 96% of those students will
come to the nursing um clinic and then be able to return to class. Um so they're able to remain in school. um there's just under 16,000 medical um medication administrations that happen in the school setting with our school nurses um and health treatments of again
it's about 16 a little over 16,000 um and in addition our school nursing um um department conducts the mandated school um screenings for certain grade levels um that occur and there's about over 10,000 students that that is um has
occurred this So to totally shift gears and kind of go into our DESIE um coordinator program review um they Jessie comes out um twice um in the six-year cycle. So um every
other every third year um they do group A and group B. So we participated this year in our group B cycle. Um and so that self assessment we had to kind of look at the areas that they were looking for compliance and pull together a whole
bunch of our um practices, procedures, etc. and upload that for a self assessment. And that happened um for the civil rights area last spring and then in the fall for special education. They came this past January um in end of
January for an on-site visit. So they were here in the district um in a bunch of our schools um and spent the day there and then they kind of looked at everything, worked with us as well and put together our our final report. So these are the areas that group B kind
of focuses on. So what they were um across both civil rights and special education. Um so it kind of focuses on lenture um of our professionals and professional development. Um it has a parent um student community engagement component. Um it looks at the facilities
and classroom observations when they were in our schools. Um overall oversight, time and learning and um making sure everything has equal access. So those are the big overarching areas. So the um civil rights um the highlight
of the civil rights um there was a number group B kind of has many more civil rights areas than special education. Um, and every single one of our civil rights areas were found to be fully in implemented and in compliance. So, that's the great news. Um, there's a
I'm not going to read through each of them, but we looked at a lot of practices um and uploaded a lot of our um our documentation for that. And then you go to the special education. So, as I said, there was a
lot of civil rights areas looked at. Uh there were 10 special education areas in group B. When we do three years from now, group A that has many more special education areas. Um so they looked at child find um you know um our parent advisory council, our CPAC, assist of
technology, looking at the IEP implementation. Um there's one for making sure the district has an administrator of special education and that I am licensed in that role. Um it looks at teacher and related service providers lensure. um and um
registration um of educational interpreters that we have that available for like IEP meetings and can provide that for students and families that need it. Um overall professional development um that the district has has engaged in. And then again our special ed facilities
and classrooms and that um they looked at doing program reviews. So we had submitted our district management opportunities review there and talked about the one we're doing this spring. Um we were compliance fully implemented in all of them um with one minor finding
for partially implementing under the special education teacher lensure. We had one student one only one out of the 80 some odd special education teachers we have um that has had Dusty's kind of shifted a little bit and had changed the license. So there was a lensure that was
um early childhood with and without disabilities and now they're requiring to have like a moderate special lensure with that as well. So um we've kind put in the information for the corrective action for that and the person is on her way to getting that lensure and that
should be wrapped up by the end of the year. And something that is new and I'm going to give a lot of kudos to Joanna and her team and and Donna on this is um for the first time Jesse started doing um IED part B fiscal um monitoring um of our
grants, our federala grants and um we they decided for the first time doing that they were going to lump in with all districts that had group B which we won that lottery and it was us this year. So, um Joanna and her team with a little bit of help from me had submitted um
countless information and uploaded it for this particular audit. Um and again, it looked at our 240 entitlement grant which is our big special education idea grant, the 262 grants, which is um early childhood that is for CHIPS. And then
sometimes the um DESIE gives us the 274 grant which we've had over the last couple of years um which kind of focuses on a target professional development area or new initiative the state's coming out with um and CHS submitted all
those documents and um they in by the due date in March and we were found fully in compliance um and no action was needed on that. So, that was great news. And in fact, a little kudos, Desi reached out to us to see if we wanted to participate in one of their um panels
for other districts to kind of talk about the process with that. So, that was a good thing. All right, it's me. So, I'm going to talk a little bit about the equity area as part of our strategic plan. Um this is a fairly broad area, but we've done
some really um I think important work in it that I want to highlight. Um, the two main areas I'm going to talk about really connect back to that special ed opportunities review um that DM Group completed in 2023. Um, so there were
some key findings from that opportunities review. Um, and one piece that really jumped out, I'm sure you've heard this topic before is our um, work with our PAR educators. So, as you know, we've done a lot of work around um kind
of reframing and relaunching the roles and responsibilities of the PAR educator. Um and we've continued to work with building admin to make sure that they are refreshing and reviewing that document um with their educators and their
buildings. But another piece that um we really wanted to focus on um was around onboarding. So, um, I think what we were kind of seeing when we looked at the special ed opportunities review was that when we're hiring new paras, and this is
a district that does have quite a few parah educators there, we didn't really have a consistent process for bringing them in. So, they would go through HR, but if you were assigned to Baym or you were assigned to Parker, um, you know, you kind of arrived on the first day and
there wasn't really any sort of like runway. So earlier this fall, um Megan and I actually were part of a working group um with Diane Kerry and then three pair educators in Chelmsford um and we met um very regularly. It was terrific.
It was very focused work and we identified kind of three tiers of an onboarding process. Um so we're really excited to launch that. Just a couple of highlights are we've developed a PAR educator guide book um that we're
excited for HR to share with new hires that's really kind of a soup to nuts you know sort of what do you need to know about Chelmsford um you know everything from technology to school calendar to who do you go to all those sorts of things um as well as another piece that
we're excited to launch is a PAR educator peer mentoring program um so This would be pairing a new hire with an existing PAR educator. And we have a few points of criteria. Um, and that person
would really be, you know, sort of just kind of like a peer coach, a little bit of a a peer that a new hire can go to those first couple months on the job. Wouldn't be replacing, you know, the work with a liaison, the work with a special education teacher, but just kind
of that job alike person um those first couple months. So, those are the two big highlights um from the PAR educator work um that again I just kind of want to give a shout out. Megan was on the committee and the other committee members um cuz it was just really
focused work and I think um we're excited to launch it and you know really get some good feedback. Um and then the next piece is um what Amy had talked about. So the other piece that we're excited about um we're sort of probably
toward towards the end of it at this point um is a program review that we're doing um with case collaborative. So again coming out of our special ed opportunities review um one of the key findings was really looking at the
elementary levels um and looking at sort of where our special education services being delivered. Um, and what we were finding was there was a lot of pull out happening at the elementary level. Um, and so we really wanted to take a deeper dive into learning kind of what's the
decision making um what's the process, what's the consistency or lack thereof so that we could hopefully, you know, implement some recommendations. So case um was all excited about this. They've done this with other districts. They
were great. They gave us some real guiding questions. Um they've done everything from virtual focus groups. They've done surveys. They've been in the schools. So they've really taken a good look. um and are trying to identify, you know, some trends that
they're seeing. Um and then they'll be able to give us that in a report that we then are excited to look and see what action steps um we can then implement to ideally like Amy said kind of have our special ed students in the general ed
setting as much as possible really you utilize our special education teachers um and have that consistency across the buildings. I will just add to that. One of the other things they were looking at is our SST process. So, all four of the elementary schools kind of shared what
that looks like, some of that paperwork for that pre-referral um SST um process there. So, um we can kind of have some, you know, consistencies um with that as well. And then hopefully some of this work with some of the other stuff we've done will help guide us into our next
year action steps for our strategic plan. >> Okay. Oh, I just Do we want to add about the schedule sharing piece? I think it'd be good with the DM group. Yeah, I would. Do you want me to? >> Yeah. No, the other piece I >> um is it's not a slide. Yeah. Um is part
of the um the work with DM group was um when they did the special ed opportunities review was a schedule sharing component. Um, so professional staff could go in, it was, you know, a login they had and and really um kind of track their schedule for a week. And
then DM Group used some of that um that data to put into the special ed opportunities review, which is where we learned where kids were spending time, where special educators and related service providers were spending their time. Um, and we have done a lot of
work. We've done a um the PAR educator piece. We've done a lot of work with the new IEP and really working with our teams around the importance of of general ed setting. You know, it's not always just a go to pull out and really being thoughtful about that. Um so,
actually just this week, um we're doing another schedule sharing and so we're excited to get that data and hopefully see some changes with um some more time with inclusion. Um so we can really kind of see you know that compare apples and apples and see um all the work that
we've done. Excited for that. >> And to kind of wrap up um just a little update on on CPAC. So um at the end of last year we had had um our board members had moved on for various reasons. So we had started the year really without a CPAC board. Um I had
reached out to the federation for um students with you know children with special needs and Lesie Lesie who kind of spearheads the CPAC with the district piece had agreed she came out to do um a presentation for parents kind of about the role of a CPAC and the process for
that it usually takes about a good year to get um it up and running and an interim board in place. So that was kind of our first steps which took place in December. Then we had some multiple meetings um we had a meeting with all parents. We had multiple meetings with the parents that were expressing
interest in helping get this interim board off the ground. Um and we that got, you know, down to a group of um parents who have stepped forward. I think there's five of them. >> Um and we did some more intensive work with um meetings with them to kind of
get an interim board in place. And so I'm happy to say we have >> an interim board um for CPAC. this um this board will kind of stay in place through all of next school year. The goal is to have you know the they've um done some updates on the the Facebook
CPAC jumpstream page um and some you know some their getting their website that um was once up and running going um and this their information is available there. Um so they're going to work to set up regular meetings. We'll schedule
them out for next year. We're going to schedule some workshops as well. And the big ending piece is our next which is for all parents. Um we've sent out um messaging and I'll do we'll do a reminder at the end of the week. But we have um first CPAC meeting with the
interim board on next Tuesday evening at 6 um30 26th virtual meeting, right? >> Virtual meeting. Yeah. I mean they're talking about both and maybe doing a bit of a hybrid. The virtual has been really successful because the feedback from families has been
>> that it's easier for them to be able to listen in and andor participate. And I will say since >> we've had more virtual meetings, the participation has been um much increased. >> Yeah, a definite thank you to our families. I think when we were working
on the DESIE review, um, we were under the impression that we may have to fill out some paperwork for a CPAC waiver because we didn't have an established CPAC. But then when we actually went back and looked at the outreach and whatnot, um, that wasn't the case. And I
think the meeting that Leslie Leslie did to kind of talk about restarting a CPAC, we had almost 50 parents attend virtually. So, I think a real thank you to the families because parents really do want to be involved. So, we're excited for that.
>> Parents make a difference. >> A great partnership with families in the district >> and then families give input as well. >> You had over 50 people respond. That's amazing. >> That's super. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Dennis. He was our liaison. I don't know
if that stays, but was at least >> Yep. and attended our meetings as well. So >> yeah. So and that's coming up to us coming up here. >> He'll report on the calendar >> and the leazison. >> So that's student services. So we've been busy.
>> Yes, you have been busy. Very very busy. And and I know for example I know Sean Shannon gets involved in so much more than this but that was a limited thing. What you guys presented was a summary basically of everything that's been
going on and it is pretty intense. Um, anybody questions, comments? I won't. >> I have I have no questions for you this time. >> I want to tell you I I am really impressed with even in the past year how much you've done. I've always asked you a lot of questions and I feel you've
been responsive to all of them >> and you've taken action on them and um I think it's wonderful. You know, we put a lot of this in perspective. When I was a kid in school, no one got services like this at all. Even my own kids, you know, one generation ago, only a few of these
things were in place. When I retired nine years ago, most of this even wasn't in place. And then the number of things you've done to increase what's a out there for our kids is fabulous. I think of the needs of the kids that you serve, they're very, very
complex and very, very varied. And I hear I hear from parents who are frustrated, scared, even dissatisfied. But if you really look at the work that's been done, I mean, they may not have that perspective to see how much so much of this is so new and yet you're
providing for all of these different, as I said, varied and complex needs kids have. Um, and it's wonderful that we've been able to bring so much of this in house. So, I have no questions for you. I'm really pleased to hear about >> and and I do think also a big like kudos
and shout out to our special ed staff from you know our department all the way to Paris. I mean, to your point, I think, you know, years ago, if you were a special ed teacher, more than likely the students in front of you had maybe more
of your traditional learning needs. And now, as a special ed teacher, your you diverse of um disabilities and needs that students have. So, I think just a shout out to the staff we have as well. But that kind of goes to being able to
keep a lot of our students in our community with with their um with their peers and and those that they live in the community with as well. >> Yeah. >> And it's been a support from central office and school committee as well. >> Thank you,
>> Diana. >> Um I agree. when we have 21% of our students identifying as needing special education services, um that is a big percentage of our students. Um and that
has grown through recent years. And so I think it's really great that there's still um such an emphasis on doing everything better, not just keeping up with it, which is wonderful. Um, I was
also really um delighted to hear all of the data and information you shared. So, thank you. I always like hearing about um all of the different pieces that fall under this very big umbrella of student services. I had one question. Um, so
this is a really like in the weeds question. It's about a specific thing on a specific slide. Um on the integrated moni monitoring review civil rights slide um CR17A it says use of physical restraint on any
student enrolled in a publicly funded education program. Does that mean that we have to be able to offer physical restraint? Does that mean that we have an approved protocol? Does it mean that
I I'm just really curious what that check mark means. >> The check mark means we were found in compliance with Desi. So >> So it's a compliance thing. >> It is a compliance. So we have criteria that we have to meet >> according to Jessie. Um there's logs that have to be filled out. There's
details about um you know if and when it's used. We have procedures and protocols that are kind of written out. So all that gets uploaded. So they review all of that to make sure it hits all the criteria as well. Um they also went when they visited um this has been happening for the past four years now
anyway in the reviews when they come out to the schools they speak to the building principles and they speak to the BCBAS in the building and they talk about that and they review the you know the the every year we have to put um a certified for the district any restraint log it's a desi form that gets filled
out um and submitted and they just make sure that we're actually doing that in real time if and when it happens. Um, so it's meeting all that criteria. >> So we're we're in terms of those processes and protocols, we are in compliance with all the things that Dusty is looking for.
>> It the way it was written, I was like, does this mean that they're just checking that we do this? I wasn't sure what it asked for. >> Yeah. Every check there kind of meant they they reviewed what we submitted in the self assessment or they reviewed and looked at, asked questions, got stuff back from us or saw when they were here
on site and they were found to be in compliance. >> All right. Thank you. Uh I just wanted to say uh great work to the whole the whole team. Uh one thing that I caught during that is I'm really glad that you are working with kids that um may have ideiations uh on the on the
suicide children and kids a lot of the kids around that are around now went through COVID and they've had you know their own social emotional issues and concerns and I feel like in a lot of districts that's an under um it's an underdisussed topic. So I'm glad you kind of approach it in a in a front
front facing way and thank you for your work. >> Yeah, just again a compliment to all the programming. Um I also like the fact that um we've taken the findings from the special ed review and really put them into implementation especially with the par professionals and the roles responsibilities
um having this now kind of orientation program that's going to help. Have you found any improvements already in some of the things that we've been doing um in terms of just people understanding their roles and how the you know the main teacher and the par professionals
are are collaborating that type of thing? Have you find anything yet? >> Yeah, we did. I I I I think we have and and even when we're in buildings and stuff, I've been in meetings or or talking with teams or we had consults and stuff and and I've had gened teachers, you know, talking about the
shift in the role like, you know, of the par. So there's I I'm I'm seeing glimpses when I'm out there of that understanding which is the work that was done by district but also the principles at the levels that are continuing that work and and working with that document and re re reviewing it you know because
I think in one of the things was like a lot of times if kids were absent and they came back in the parent in the classroom might have kind of caught them up on miss lessons and things like that and I'm hearing them talk about a shift in practice and a shift in what you what's happening so that because that was one of the things that had popped up
um that there was doing some direct instruction of first-time instruction. I mean, review and repetition is fine, but that first knowledge and I've really seen that as a one of the bigger shifts I think that I've heard. >> Yeah. And I think the other piece was last year. Um, so 2425 school year when
we had the professional development sessions. Um, we had an exit ticket and these were targeted for par educators. We had an exit ticket at the end of each and they had um the same questions and it was really targeted right back to the roles and responsibilities. So we were
tapping into like not only you as a parent educator, what's your understanding? Are you feeling confident, but what is this looking like in your daily practice? Are you feeling like there's some change? And it was all extremely positive. Um the other piece that has always been a big ask and so
we've worked really hard this year with some of our PD time um is around building in some of that collaboration with special educators because as we know time is what we don't have right so you know trying to build that in um and that's been really positively received
as well so I would say yes overall >> the year but it's something we got to continuously reinforce and continue to do in you know in practice. Yeah, >> that's wonderful. Um, me personally, Megan, wow, chips is amazing.
>> I couldn't agree more. >> Do we find that the children you haveund and >> 97? >> Now, do all those 197 children transfer over to first grade to Caden Garden? >> No, not at the same time. Um, because we
have kids from 3 to 5. They come to us right out of early intervention, a lot of them. So it's usually about a third um of that every year. Some as little some years are a little heavier, some are a little lighter. This is about an average year. So about a third of that population will be moving on to
kindergarten this year. >> H it's amazing. Now how is CHIPS funded? >> Um >> how does that work? Oh well I I mean we are staff the majority of it you know staff is in the local budget um for um
that we have a revolving fund as well that kind of supplements some of the materials and curriculum and um a little bit of our um >> you know our staffing I think our our part-time social worker maybe is part of that and then the other piece is we have
that 262 grant when I talked about the fiscal monitoring of that that is a little bit of um federal you know federal funs that is specifically for preschool. >> Wow. Combination. >> It's It's an amazing program. It really is. Now, Shannon, I'm going to ask you a couple of things because I want you to
talk more about social emotional learning. Um, I know you dealt a lot with the services that you're providing that we provide as a district and opportunity to reach out through different systems to get assistance. But I also know that you're running a
curriculum in the school for social emotional type of learning. Um how has that been and at each level? How is that working? >> Yeah, so it's going very well. Um we have a specific intervention block. It's a social emotional learning block um
that we have K up to grade 8 um all the way up to McCarthy. And we're using a virtual um I mean a digital curriculum called Second Step. Um, it's an evidence-based curriculum. They're a nonprofit, um, which I really like. Um, we get a lot of outreach from for-profit
companies trying to sell us new curriculum, but we've been really happy, um, with just how, um, it's specifically aligned to the castle curriculum and expectations around that. Um, at the high school, we use something called Character Strong. And so, we have, um, a
block designated as well to social emotional learning in high school. And we're working really hard to partner with our high school students um taking their feedback. We're trying to, you know, draw themes from the social emotional curriculum to support their transition as they transition from high
school to young adulthood. Um so we're looking at ways like maybe senior year where they can do like a civic project or something like a passion project to use the skills that they've learned through the social emotional learning. So that's in the works right now. So our counselors are partnering around that and um again that's based on student
feedback. >> Yeah. Because I I just think I've always felt that um it's the whole person definitely the whole person and the intellect is only one part of that needs to be educated. There's so much more. So
um wonderful this I have really enjoyed the presentation. Any other questions, comments, anything else? And I want to thank you so much for taking the time to come and present to us. Um, >> yay. >> Thanks everyone.
>> Thank you so much. >> Please pass a water. >> You want a water? Whichever way they need. >> Stretch your legs. Stretch your legs. >> Yeah, because there's no pass. >> No, no one can pass. >> Just take a moment while we transition. And
>> no, I got one. >> Good night. >> Good night, guys. Thank you very much. >> Good end of the year. >> Um, we are moving right along. Item number three on our agenda is um fiscal
year 2026 recommended one-time budget purchases. >> Thank you. Yes. Third up tonight is a continuation of some budget recommendations that we had um considered over the last couple of months. Um a few meetings back in March, we had approved just under a million
dollars worth of some one-time uh purchases utilizing some of our uh expected and anticipated uh extra revenue at the end of the fiscal year. Um we've worked since then to kind of refine some quotes. A lot of it is dependent on being able to get product
quickly and and whatnot as the uh school year concludes. uh we had to get some additional quotes for some of the physical work that was going to be happening within the schools. And uh tonight before you is a list of another $250,213 of uh some one-time purchase
recommendations. Um so I'll kind of collapse these together for you a little bit, but one of the big numbers uh kind of relates to um South Row uh the library. As you know, this summer we have a lot of work going on at South Row with interior roof ceilings uh being
done in the building. The exterior roof is being done. One of the things uh Bill Silver and his group have done each year is try to update one of the elementary libraries. >> And this year we figured if we've got so much activity happening in South Row anyway, let's just actually get the library done at the same time. We've
done Bay and we've done Harrington. Um so South Row was up next. So, uh, the first item, the second item is all kind of related to, um, actually the third item as well, the, uh, South Row, uh, library and, uh, trying to get that, um, up to speed to give them a new one like
the other elementary schools. >> Then we have, >> I'm sorry, can I just ask a really quick question about that specific one before you move on? >> The wall removal, does that mean it's >> Yeah, it's very funny. So, you know how in some of our buildings um we actually
have um these temporary walls u that are in there. So, like at McCarthy, >> the like a divider wall. >> Um ironically, there's a dividing wall at the south row that's splitting the library from the computer room. >> Um it it was in a frame, but it's basically just drywall. It's not like a
fixed wall. So, we're removing that wall so that we can actually open up the space and make the library bigger between the library and the computer room. Oh, so they're going to be combined into a single room. >> It's going to be like a much bigger uh room and it's going to be all completely outfitted with new uh furnishings. >> Oh, interesting. Okay.
>> Yeah. Um so, so again, we've been kind of um putting up walls because we've had those dividing walls. We wanted to remove the accordion walls, but on this one, we're actually taking it down to just open up the space. >> Um then we have some uh furniture at the high school for um the school store.
going to try to do some upgrades to that particular building um at Chumpswood High School as well. We need some additional electrical outlets run to the um um the new I'm sorry, the name of the room is escaping me. Kind of the wood shop down in the uh basement.
>> Um just some smaller items from Brian Curley. Uh some different door openers and closers at uh Bay. Um another major project at the high school. This has been requested for years. Um we're finally able to kind of get around to doing it. This is refurbishing and
remodeling the interior um nurses suite in the building. Um it's kind of a funky setup now where the students go in and there's a um kind of like a glass wall that separates the front from the back. It's going to be completely taken down, remodeled the whole space, but there is
some uh new flooring going in, some asbesus abatement in the old flooring. Again, we've got walls going down, going up. Um but that's going to be a complete rehab of the nurs's space at the high school. Uh and then just a couple of smaller items. Uh we've been having some difficulty with the uh loading dock door at South Road. So just putting a new
door in over there. Um Harrington as well looking to do some new um furniture in the uh CHS engineering classrooms. And then uh we usually just have a little standing line item. As we're doing some of these projects in the schools, we try to get rid of um just
some of the debris and some of the old stuff that's been hanging around. We'll kind of purge even as teachers are cleaning out their rooms at the end of the year. It's just a good opportunity to do that. So, we uh just contract for some random dumpsters to just be able to kind of get some of that old stuff out of the buildings. So, there's just a line item in there for that. But the
total uh recommendation before you tonight is um 250 213 and this would uh again continue some of that onetime spending. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments? Okay,
hearing none. Um Susan, a motion to approve. I move that we approve the fiscal year 2026 one-time purchase recommendations totaling $250,213 as presented today. >> Second.
>> Okay. Susan >> I. >> Um Diana >> I. >> Okay. John >> I >> and Dennis. >> And Mia is I. So it's everybody says I uh unanimous here. All right. We're
moving on to number four, and it's our uh fiscal year 2026 recommended budget transfers. >> Yep. So, I'll ask Joanna to walk you through these. Um these relate primarily to those one-time purchases that we just approved, moving money in the correct locations to be able to u make those
purchases. >> Thank you. Yep. So, there's uh three budget transfers on the memo. And the first one is uh requesting budget transfers from eight desiccate into um
four desic categories to cover this $250,213 for the onetime purchases you just approved. Want to take these one at a time and then >> Sure. >> So that's the first one. >> Any questions? All right. If there are none, then I'm
going to ask for a motion, please. >> Okay. I uh make a motion that the that we approve the fiscal year 2026 local operating budget transfers totaling $250,213
for the chumps public schools as presented. >> Okay. Could I have a second? >> I will second that. >> Wonderful. Um and we do have to do roll call I believe. So Susan >> I >> Diana >> I >> Dennis >> hi. >> John
>> hi. and me is I again we are unanimously passing this next one. >> Thank you. The second one is um to we're recommending that we prepay fiscal year 2027
out of district special ed tuitions in fiscal year 2026 for um up to amount of 1,870,75. And just as a reminder, a refresher, we did the prepayments last year and that's
part of the reason why uh we're favorable um overall in our budget and we're recommending to do this again for next fiscal year. Uh Amy Reese and her um secretary reached out to the different private schools and
collaboratives and um this is the amount uh she thinks she can get to. >> Okay. >> Do we just do prepayment with Valley or do we do it for more than Valley? We do well uh actually we do the least amount with Valley um because of the credits
and it's just kind of another level of estimating that is um it's doable but it might not be on the button. Um and we want this to kind of be right on the mark like you don't want to do it with a
student you think is changing a placement or you think is moving. you want to do it um that so we do it with the private um placements so that would be up to three months and then for the collaboratives um up to the whole year
and for Valley we're actually only doing five students um who are um um Amy's very sure that they're going to be there and for the whole year and it won't complicate the credits too much.
Wow, it's a process. Anybody else? Any other questions? Okay, so hearing none. Could I have a motion, please, Susan, for this one? >> Okay. I move that we approve the fiscal year 2026 local operating budget
transfer totaling up to1,870,75 to fund prepaid out of district tuitions for the Chster Public Schools. >> Second. Thank you. Um and >> I >> Diana >> I >> John >> Hi. >> and Dennis.
>> He is I. Here we go again. We've unanimously passed this one. We go on to our third. >> Thank you. >> The third one. We've done this one in the past too. Um so we budget for um the retirement incentive. So in the future
fiscal year. So if somebody is of the eight or nine teachers who were retiring, a few of them are eligible for the 25% um retirement incentive because they were hired before 2008 and they let us know by November. Um so some of these
teachers have requested that they receive their payout in July and some of the teachers requested they received the payout in January. So this is recommending that for those teachers that have requested the payout in July, which is fiscal year 27, we pay for it
in June, which is fiscal year 26. Um we also have some funds in this um category because we did this last year. So the budget transfer amount is $51,380.
However, the total amount that's going to be paid out in June if you approve this is $100,683. The reason I say that number is because if you approve this then we will be favorable in that account in the fiscal
2027 budget. >> So there's like 50,000 still in account and we're adding another 50. Okay. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Staying ahead of it. Bu little question. It buys you a little wiggle room as we get into next year. >> Mhm. It's It's kind of varied to be
hearing fiscal 2027 already. >> I know. >> Yeah, it really is. All right. So, any other questions, concerns? Susan, if I could if you >> I move that we approve the fiscal year 2026 local operating budget transfer for
$51,380 from the accounts noted um to the employee separation cost account as presented. >> Second. Okay, Susan, >> I >> Diana >> I >> John >> Hi, >> Dennis. >> Hi.
>> And for me is I and thank you very much Joanna for all this. >> Thank you for the approval. >> Thank you. All right, we are moving on. Item number five on our agenda is literacy and mathematics intervention and supports. Dr. Arsh, >> floor is yours.
>> Yes, is mine. So you have in your packet a lengthy report. It's about seven pages. is I'm going to just try and give you, you know, the summary of what's in here, the meat of it. And um so I think there's been a lot of conversations just about more so about literacy, but mathematics as part of this as well. And
as a district, obviously, we emphasize just that early identification of students that might need some additional assistance in academics, whether it's literacy or mathematics, could be both, um depending on the child, so that they can we can look at closing some of those learning gaps for students. So, I broke
this down a little bit with um ELA first and I'll talk about math afterwards. So, the district in general is just really for ELA trying to focus on those literacy skills. So, closing those um those foundational skills such as phonics, right? Those that your first
early skills, the decoding, your fluency, um looking at how we're going to inter how what type of interventions students could have to then boost them up a little bit further and then any high needs learners. So the district it right now the district employs 12 dees
re certified reading specialists in the district. So our reading specialist this is a regular ed initiative. So this is beyond special ed right. So special ed has its own piece in this but reading specialist is a regular ed service. You do not need to be a special ed student to see a reading specialist in the
district. So we have 12 currently in the district. And what they try to do is give we call it double dose meaning you're getting your instruction from your regular ed teacher but then you'll also get additional instruction from the reading specialist. It shouldn't be separate from what's happening in the
classroom. So right now I gave you a breakdown. We typically have two um reading specialists at all of our schools until you start getting to McCarthy and the high school where there'll only be one reading specialist thus giving us the the 12 reading specialist together. These reading specialists combined, the 12 of them see
366 students. This is in the current school year. So that's how many students are seeing our reading specialists for additional support in reading based on the criteria which I'll talk about next. So a reading specialist is usually doing like a small group literacy
intervention. They're doing explicit reading instruction. So very targeted skills, decoding, fluency, comprehension, you know, all the good things that go with reading. um they do progress monitoring. So they're seeing how these students are doing as they're giving these lessons to see if they need
to continue with reading support or if they can then, you know, kind of exit out of the program because reading is not like you stay in there forever. The whole goal of going to a reading specialist is to see the reading specialist, remediate those gaps, and then go back into regular ed without
additional supports. However, doesn't mean you can't go back in. So I don't want people to think that this is a class that you're staying in forever. The hopefully the goal is to move you forward. Um so we look at the students that are below the benchmarks to identify them. And then in addition to
the reading specialists, so those are certified DESIE teachers, we have reading interventionists, so and tutors. So the interventionists are at our title one schools. And right now our title one schools are Bayam Harrington and McCarthy Middle School. and I'll talk
about them when we get to some of the math pieces. We have reading tutors at our other elementary schools. We have a total of 8.5 reading interventionists across the district. Harrington I split in half because they're doing a little bit of a different model. I'll talk
about that later. So they have right now for reading interventionists they have two and a half and it's because as a title one school they're required to have more than some of based on the poverty level. But there is typically about two reading interventionists at the school in addition to your reading
specialists. And of those reading interventionists for those elementary schools, 153 students are receiving intervention. And again, the goal is to have them go in, remediate some skills, exit out, perhaps they have to come back. But this is it's basically a fluid
system. You should be it es and flows based on the children's needs. So they're not in there like it's not a it's not a a sentence that you stay in there forever. So moving forward in math we do not have math specialists because it's not a desi license. Um we have
mathematic interventionist at our schools and this is where I was talking about McCarthy. So at our we have for interventionists at all of our schools we have a total of 10.5 again Harrington having more than the other schools based on their um status for title one. And
their goal is really to kind of look at again those foundational number sense and algebra and algebraic um equations because those are your two found foundational schools K uh skills K through eight. Um and they provide again targeted intervention for those students
that are needing that support and as a group they work together too and they actually work with our math specialists that we have that are supporting our teachers as well. So there's a lot of data that goes involved. They meet as a group. Um, they also meet with the ELA
as well. So, they're not just math only. They actually work together as a a functioning intervention group. They meet with Kelly Rogers often. Katherine um Richards who is our math coordinator. Kelly Rogers is in charge of um Title One. So, she is making sure that those
schools have the the um the amount of coverage that they need. So as a group they really talk about like what are some of the interventions that they're doing across the board students that they might be seeing. So it's a it's a it's a kind of it's a great functioning group. They they're really fun to work with actually. But um in for mathematics
so those 10.5 interventionists are seeing 232 students across those schools. And again we have interventionists and tutors based on if you're a title one school or not. And then to be part of some of these
programs, we h obviously have clear expectations and um criteria for going into these programs. So what I did in this report, it it depends on what grade level you're in as to what of the criteria they're looking at or combination of. So I listed the 13
criteria that may be used, but this goes K through eight. So, it actually goes to the high school, too, because we have the one reading specialist that's up there that uses um a very different testing than some of the elementary and middle schools. So, there's a list of 13 different criteria that can be used.
They're not all inclusive. It just depends on what grade level you're in. So, for example, obviously, if you're in grade, you know, eight, they're probably not looking at the phonics piece because that's probably in place. So, that's like the best example I can give you. So even though phonics is a a piece of data
that we've used to see if a child needed reading, it most likely wouldn't be for your upper grades based on the child's needs. And then in mathematics, there's two different criteria. If you're an elementary school student or if you're a middle school student. So the elementary is looking obviously at your ready
diagnostic. They're identify at those domains in um number and operation and algebraic thinking. Um, there's also if we're looking to see how the intervention worked for those students beforehand, if it was working or do they need more because sometimes
it's the intervention isn't working and you need to move forward with maybe looking at a study team to see if their child needs some additional supports. And then working with the teachers and getting their classroom recommendations as to what they're seeing in the classroom. And then for mathematics,
again, we do use the I Ready data, but we're looking at that tier 2 and tier three at risk piece for the data that we receive from I Ready. Um, we have MCCAST scores at this point when they're getting into the middle school years, their current grade because they're receiving an actual letter grade opposed
to a standardsbased grade. And then again, talking with the teachers to see where the concerns are and what they're seeing. At McCarthy, we've been really targeting because part of our um strategic plan is to increase those students in grade eight. So, we've been looking at our grade level eight
students specifically and having them have after school intervention time because it works with their schedule and also getting them home with buses um based on the they have a very complicated schedule at middle school because they have to get to all their other classes. So, it's been working out
for us. We have a total of 23 students that are seeing those interventionists at well tutors, whatever we're calling them. It's which which are our actual teachers um working with those students after school. So in general, I know there's a lot of talk about the literacy
and what what we're doing, but we do see a lot of students beyond special ed. I think most people when they hear students aren't doing well in school, they're thinking special ed, but there's more to it than just special ed there. And our teachers are actually very skilled in tier 2 interventions within
their classrooms. So a child may not be going to a reading specialist or a math interventionist. That teacher would be working with them in a small group. So it's even there's even larger numbers, but it's just hard to quantify exactly how many students in the classroom are in a tier two for a teacher rather than
actually seeing our interventionists or reading specialists. Um, one of the things I put in here because I know there's a lot of talk about the data and how our students haven't been doing well. It's not even just in Chsford. I've been hearing this on the news nationally. Um, there has been some
there seems to be this big pinpoint around 2017 and it is a very pivotal point. So in uh in 2017 that is when the MCCAST actually changed from the legacy test which we were all familiar with when you had the needs improvement
proficient advanced to the next generation testing that everybody has not to be confused with next generation science standards and that is when they change the actual standards for ELA and mathematics. So that is the in the English world we call that the inciting
incident. right now. Here comes the rising action. Um, at that point, that's when we transitioned into the new testing and that is when we when accountability changed. So, they did a lot of like what they call equal percentile linking. Don't ask me to get into the mathematics on it. I'm not
going to be able to help you with that, but that is where they were able to say if they did this before, this is what it would look like now. But then in the middle of all of this, we ended up having COVID. Then we weren't tested. Then all of a sudden the proficiency levels went up. So we were doing better.
Now they they raised the bar higher on us. And when we had the modified testing, we had students that were taking MCCAST at home right somewhere in school. It was the whole, you know, mask be you know far away from each other. Then we came back to the next generation
testing which is the test that they really wanted to come out with. Um and then after that I forgot this part too. We have a new testing company too that was we're in year two of the new testing company. Then they removed the graduation requirement. So we're not even really sure when the students are
taking at the high school. We won't know that for a few years on are they actually taking it seriously or are they hearing oh this test doesn't count right and then um moving forward we just found out that they're going to redesign the ELA test. So I think what makes it a
little frustrating for though and it's not just chumps. talk to my peers. What we find a little frustrating is that we we're missing out on that trend data, right? I don't feel comfortable with a three to fiveyear trend data because there's been so many changes in MCCAST to find out where our students are
really lying. So, we're really focusing in on our internal benchmarks because we know those. they haven't changed a lot for us and it at least gives us something that we can be actionable on in the middle of a school year, not waiting till the end to find out, oh, kids can't do this. Now, we actually
look at that stuff. So, just I wanted that to be a consideration when you when speaking to people or you hear conversations or you hear things on the news because again, this is not just a Chumsford thing. This is nationally. We're hearing this across the board that students are not performing as well, but
there's a lot of factors that go into why they're not performing well or we don't really even have all the answers based on our state data. So, that's just my little aside, but as a district, I mean, we will be definitely moving forward with, you know, refining our um
literacy programs with intervention and math. So, I wanted to mention Harrington. So, for example, typically at the schools, especially at your elementary schools, somebody would be a reading interventionist or a math interventionist, and they could see kindergarten students, grade two student, they could see a combination of
three, four students because they're just focusing on that. Harrington wasn't finding as much success um with that way of scheduling students. They wanted to try something different, and this is the first year they're doing it, and we're kind of excited to see how it comes out. They have the interventionist, but they
assign them to a grade level. So, you may be doing math and ELA, but you are only at first grade. So, you really get to know those teachers, the students, because it is hard when you're flipping from grade level and then, well, this teacher would like to see it this way, and this teacher would like to see it
that way, and this student is in this grade level. They actually become part of the team. So we're going to see we'll have to wait till we get our final data to see if they saw some movement with that because the other schools are very interested in that model as well. So that's why you see like the two I gave
it 2.5 2.5 but those interventionists are actually math and reading interventionist but at a grade level rather than a grade span. Does that make sense? >> So we to be continued, right? We'll let you know how that goes. Um, but it was great that they were thinking outside
the box to make sure and it was helping them for scheduling too because it is hard because you just heard from special ed that we don't want to be pulling kids out of the regular ed classroom. There's only so much time in the day. So pushing may not be appropriate for some of the students. They may need to be pulled
out. So scheduling that is very difficult. It's probably easier to do it when the person's on team with the students. And then obviously we're going to be trying to strengthen those um initiatives with the with the special ed staff to make sure that students are not being pulled from multiple services
because you don't you can still be a special ed student and receive intervention depending on what your IEP goals are. So you might have a student that has an IEP goal for math but they might need a little bit of support in reading. So they can still see an interventionist. It all just depends on what that student needs. and then um
just really looking at that subgroup performance and then looking at our data to see if the model is working >> and any refinements we have to make. >> Okay, thank you. Any any questions? >> So, first of all, I just wanted to express my appreciation for the level of
detail um and information gathered on these seven or eight pages which I really appreciated the opportunity to review over the last couple of days. Um, I had a couple of specific questions that are more kind of thinking about
long-term planning for things that are directly under the purview of this board such as budget. Um, do we have any information coming from the teachers and and particularly I guess the reading specialists about whether the um
services that we are offering are adequate to what the demand is. In other words, do we have enough reading specialists for the level of need that we're seeing? Um, do we have, you know, the right um type and number of math
interventionists? I know we don't have a technical math specialist um to meet the needs that we're seeing from students or is there any tracking being done for students who probably are below grade level but aren't being served because we just don't have the staff capacity for
it is there anything like that that you know >> yeah they so it is basically based on the criteria right so the current staffing meets the criteria and that criteria has ebbed and flowed over the years um I've looked at I like I said I listed everything. So, let's just take
reading because they have more um assessments than mathematics does. >> So, I've looked at, you know, how it's changed from, you know, year over year and how they're making sure that they're not missing students. So, they do change that criteria because they were like, "Oh, well, we really didn't need to see
this these students because they didn't really need our services." So, that's from the reading specialist. I can only speak about the reading specialist at this point. So, they have changed the criteria. So based on our current criteria that we have now, the staffing levels are good. The other piece here is
that the interventionists are actually funded through title one grant money. We have we have plenty of funding for that, right? They where we get a little stuck and we have enough interventionist right now is um getting people to actually apply for the positions too, right? So
it's not a money issue. It's sometimes a people issue for us. Um but with a lot of persistence and a lot of um marketing we do end up getting some very very well-qualified interventionists and that meets the need based on the title one
grant. Right. And then as a district um anybody that we're funding through the operating budget as a tutor is very well funded. So yes we we the money is not the issue. It's getting the people that are available to do the positions.
>> Right. But at this point, we we don't have kids who are on a waiting list to get reading services or math services. That was sort of my >> and and it and what I said earlier too is that you're not stay you shouldn't be staying in these interventions. It's not
like a full year piece. It some kids are let's call it what it is, but at the end of the day, you're really hoping that they reassess at mid year and then okay, these kids are ready are positioned to do well. let's, you know, release and then let's bring in the next group. And
that's and it's going to change every year based on the students and how many are coming in. >> Um, and then I know the way that at least I'm going to go back to reading for a second. The way that it's described, um, is that the kind of intervention students are getting from
reading specialists is sort of increased dosage with the same kind of instruction that they're getting in the classroom. What happens if there's a student in let's say fifth grade who um their primary area of need is around say
structured things that aren't necessarily being taught in fifth grade. So, for example, maybe they're behind in some of those um phonics areas that aren't taught past, you know, the end of foundations or um you know, there's some
other fundamental things that they're um that are holding them back when they're in older grades. What kind of support services are available for students like that who don't have an identified IEP but might require more structured literacy support? the um the the reading
specialist would be the ones giving them that type of support. But most likely if we were in fifth grade and let's just take phonics, that student would probably have already been referred to the student study team and was probably in queue for special ed and specialized reading at that point because that would
be a very large gap for a fifth grader to not have their phonics skills in place. However, if it is something that is like more targeted like their fluency or um you know they have ident because there are students with that have um IEPs that do see the reading specialist
too as well. Like we don't you know it's not like you can't go into that but most likely they have a specialized reading program. Um the reading specialist would be the one doing more of that intense targeted instruction not the interventionist. the interventionist really should be supporting the
standards within that classroom and making sure that student gets retaught the lesson or looks at it a different way or approaches it a different way. So I would say it would be the reading specialist that would be seeing those students. So when the need is there, the students are able to receive instruction
in areas that may go beyond the explicit curriculum that is for their >> that's that's the real goal of the reading specialist because they are a specialized person that should be remediating a a a learning gap where the interventionist is seeing a student
that's just they're right on that cusp, but they need that little bootleg up. need a little bit more instruction to >> they need it retaught again or um maybe need a quick lesson on some type of a foundational skill whether it's mathematics or to then be able to do the
lesson right they they missed a piece that won't let them get to the actual lesson but it's not that they're so far behind that they couldn't get to that they just might need a quick remediation of that or retach of a specific skill >> okay >> so like when you think number sense
right they might need a quick refresh on number sense in order to then subtract, multiply, divide. >> Great. All right. Thank you. And I the last thing is a comment. I am also eager to hear how things go at the piloted
program at Harrington. Um I happen to have a friend who's one of the interventionists in that program and I was curious because I know that's not what is happening at some of the other schools. So, I've been kind of paying a little bit of attention to that and I really I hope to hear how it goes
because um I can see the benefit of integrating more of these staff into sort of the um the grade level experience and having them although they don't come with the necessarily the same background as let's say a specialist
would for ELA they will get to know the curriculum and materials at a greater depth would be my inference at least. >> Yeah. if they're working in a given grade level. >> Yeah, that was that's going to be interesting because it I can see how it makes sense and then we I just think
people were used to the traditional model and there was a lot of conversations around that. I'm like yeah let's try it. Let's see what happens. And there was some there was some you know pangs about that too with some of the teachers too like they were like what's going on that's why we're going to get a lot of that anecdotal data that we don't have right how did that work?
>> Well I look forward to hear seeing what the data say. >> Okay >> thank you. Any other questions? >> Thank you for putting it together. >> This is it. Thank you. >> And just thank you. This is exactly what I was hoping to get. >> Yes. >> Just all of this in one place. >> Yes. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. No problem.
>> Thank you. >> Okay. And Dr. is still >> still here. >> Still here. And she's going to continue now with a different presentation >> on the K through six literacy curriculum pilot update. >> Yep. This is just a a quick update. Um
he'll stay on literacy. Um, so we did, if you remember, I gave the presentation just on the whole adoption process, what you would do no matter if it's literacy or math. So we were able to put together this spring was our goal was to put together the team to start reviewing some of the different curriculum
products out there for literacy to pilot for the 26 27 school year. Um, this was a group of 15 people. It was K through six with teachers, admin, coordinators. We had our vendors come in and we were very purposeful on which vendors to bring in. So we looked at cur Jess
Desessie's curate list and we were also making sure that we were incorporating more of a vertical alignment of products. Right? So there's many products out there that could be on the curate list. However, we were looking for one that would take the students K through six rather than chunking it up
like this product does K through two and then this product does a three through five. Uh, and also being mindful of the fact that down the road hopefully our fourth graders will be going into a new building with our five six teachers, right? So, you don't want choppy
curriculum products um for that reason as well as when you're learning like the the vocabulary that goes along with a program. It is so much easier for the receiving teacher to have students that have been trained with that vocabulary rather than being like, "Oh, you used to
call this this. Now we're going to call it that." right is helpful for the students. It's helpful for the teachers. It just makes it a little bit more seamless. So, we had brought in five different vendors to um with the actual presenters and the account managers to present their products to us. We were in
this room. It's great. We had great lunch. Um and we spent a full day with these vendors to just and a lot of the material. They sent us all the material. It's all sitting on my side of the um building right now. and we had the teachers go through it with them to kind of just get an overview of what which
products would be good for Chumsford to take a look at. So we did that um back on March 25th. Now what happened was timing is everything for the Chumsford public schools. Um one of the things I've learned is that curate when they approve programs they approve it for six
years. A lot of these programs were approved back prior to um 20 like 2017 to 2020. So I'm like, oh, what does that mean? So many of these programs come have come out with their newer product and they're in an expedite um process
with curate and have received their approval at this point. So what we found out is that um Wit and Wisdom, which was one of the products, their product was a 2020 product and was cancelelling out because it's now 2026. So they had
already had their new product called Arts and Letters. So we had to call them back to bring us that one because we weren't going to look at a 2020 product, not at this level of detail and cost for a district. So we group grabbed the group again on the 30th to look
specifically just at that um one product which is arts and letters which is the updated version of witten wisdom for anybody that's familiar with these products. So that's just a little aside. So we had the five groups come in and then we just did a quick after each
group we did a quick like um you know plus delta kind of conversation. and I took notes, but then I sent out surveys so people could give individual um feedback because sometimes it's kind of hard in a large group to give your feedback and you know not want everybody
to kind of hear your side of the story. You want to have your own personal feedback. So after we after I went through the surveys, um there was there was some you know definite yeses and nos. One of the nos was the um K it was CKLA, right? So it's core knowledge
language arts. that program did not it didn't it received the lowest ranking from the group which was very interesting and then what we found was wit and wisdom at the time because that was the first survey I sent out that received the highest rating and the
other three were this equal it was right in they all received the equal one so I was like okay we knew that CKLA was out so we immediately removed that program as one of the ones to look at as a district and we were originally going to go with four products right and to say
let's just look at them all right however after some conversations with the vendor which was the account manager and I actually confirmed it with one of the deputy commissioners at Desi um Holton Mifflin Hardcourt which has in two reading they're they have a 2025
product but their previous product given the new rubrics that des look at these products wouldn't have met muster so that I was like huh that's interesting so you have them on your list. However, if you were to take your
current rubrics right now and put it as an overlay on their 2020 product, you wouldn't approved it. So, I was like, "Wow, okay. Well, we're not going to look at that product." So, we are we decided to go with three, which is actually typical for a district to be
looking at three products, but we were originally going to go with four because there was that even score across the board. So right now and we're going to be starting this because I actually have the products on the way going to the pilot teachers. So we're going to be looking at three products for the school year starting with professional
development this summer. We actually have a date. I'm speaking to the teachers tomorrow. I told them to please hold off and wait till I spoke with the committee. We're going to be looking at um three programs. The first one is arts and letters by great mind which is the updated version of wit and wisdom. Um,
we are looking at EL education at you see two publishers here because they have two publishers. Very weird. That's a whole another story. I'll have to do that as another presentation. But we have a publisher that will give it to us. And then Wonders, which is by McGra Hill. And what we will do is we will
start with the get the materials in now before the end of the school year so the teachers can have it in hand. They will um come for professional development over the summer. So we have eight teachers for each program going across board. 29 teachers. Um and then we will also provide them additional
professional development on our half days um through the school year and and ideally in a perfect world if all goes well because last time we went into COVID when we were doing a pilot um but we're going to be positive right now and um by February 2027 we will have a
decision on which product to use and purchase moving forward for 27 and beyond. Okay, any questions? >> I I do have one question. So, I know that um Desessie's list included some products
that were kind of holistic curricula that covered everything from phmic awareness all the way through reading comprehension. while others were focused more on the comprehension side and could be paired with existing products that
did the foundational skills. >> So I know Chmsford has been using foundations for a lot of its foundation foundational skills as well as >> um Hegy. Um, so I'm just curious if these curricula that we're piloting
would be sort of standalone cover replacing all of that or would they be complemented by the existing phonics and phmic awareness curriculum that we use. >> So two of them so arts and letters and e are the two that um have a separate
product that you would have to purchase. So those two will be what you were saying like they will complement the current foundations. Okay. because there was a lot of I mean I heard a lot from the elementary teachers and not even the ones that reviewed the products. There was a little bit of a you know buzz at
the elementary level of like why are we not getting rid of foundations? Are we getting rid of foundations? That a lot of that was happening. I'm like well we're going to have to see which products we have to decide that. Wonders is the one that has the um phonics that's integrated in. However, they have a crosswalk document with foundations
because I think they're very well aware that many districts use that. If you go on, now this is old information when we all had to fill out what we were using for products, but Desi has like what they call a heat map of like who's using which products. If you look at that currently, and again, we filled this out
two years ago. Um there were like 148 districts using foundations. Like foundations is >> big in Massachusetts. So, um what we're going to do for Wonders is um kind of came up with our own little plan. It's going to be great. Um we are gonna
actually typically we have like a group of teachers that work together. We're actually going to take two K teachers and two grade three teachers and we're going to do like our own little um experiment with it. We're going to have some teach wonders as is with their phonics and then have um the other teach
it in combination with foundations because we felt like if a student in kindergarten didn't get foundations because I was very concerned about like well if the program is not good for the phonics I don't want to have kids go through it and we have this group of kids that we have to then remediate. So,
we felt like kindergarten students, we could if there were any glitches within a program, they're going to receive foundations in grade 1, two, and three. Your current third graders, which are our second graders right now, would have already had K12
in um with foundations. So, one year of like a different program that has a crosswalk to it, I don't think we're going to do much harm. Is that is am I making sense? Do you see what I'm saying? >> Yeah. and and for all that we know and hear these wonders is you know a high
quality curriculum too. So the chances of it >> and the fact that they they have a crosswalk document with foundations if something were to go really ary I think it would be easy to jump back into foundations >> the crosswalk would help with that >> I would be hearing from the teachers immediately if something was not right
and so I I'm going to I have a lot of faith in the fact that who would be doing these pilots. So that was kind of our way of is this program working very well without >> affecting students because I did have a big concern about that and um we were trying to figure out how we were going
to do that. So that's but the other two they have two separate phonics programs. We're just going to stick with >> so we would stick with our existing phonics and use this to replace the pieces that fontis and penel used to cover. >> Thank you. That's helpful to know. And I um I had spoken with a few educators who
were as you just noted really reluctant to stop using foundations and felt really strongly that that was a positive component of the existing array of programs we have. So >> um thank you for sharing. >> Thank you. Any other
>> I have a comment. >> I'm I'm really glad to see that our teachers want to have product that has authentic literature. I have seen samples of some of the science of reading products that are really much more so decodable based and I could not imagine students beyond first grade
having any engagement with them at all. So some of them while they may be approved for science of reading are terrible as an overall product. So, I'm glad we're not looking. >> That was a big That was a big push in general because we have a lot of great literature already in the district that they were like, "Well, wait a minute. What we don't want like a scripted
program or something that has stories, but they're like generated by a non-author." >> Yeah, they're And some of them are truly awful and not engaging at all. So, I'm really glad to hear that. I also like the idea of keeping foundations and perhaps he too. I don't have a lot of
confidence in putting all our eggs in one basket for one program and one publisher. I like the idea of having something we know has worked and then something a little bit different and and use them in tandem with each other. I I like that idea. So, I'm glad you're considering that.
>> Any questions? >> Yeah, just a question. Those these all these pilot programs, the publishers give those to us for free, right? Or not making the same. No, that that would be great. That used to be the case. Apparently that's changed. Um
>> um no Wonders, they're not charging us. The others are charging us. However, I've been on the phone with them a lot. >> Okay. >> And they it's amazing how the price changes. So there is a a a cost to it, but it's not devastating. And we we have all set for it. I have plenty of money
in my curriculum adoption line to purchase them. >> Yeah. Cuz I always thought Yeah. They want you >> It's more student material piece. They're not charging us necessarily for the teacher pieces. It's more of like there is a lot of some consumables and you know um um products that come with
it, right? So yes, we do have to give we do have to spend some money to get them, but that's changed over the years because it was always for free. >> But here we are. >> So >> your bigger companies can do it for free. I think a lot of these like the other two are not as like the not your
Hotton Mifflin, your McGra Hills, your Heinman. Those are the big the big people. The I call them big box stores. >> Okay. >> They have more leeway. They can write off more. >> Glad we have the money. >> We do. Yeah. You're all set. >> Okay. Good. >> All right. So, first of all, this is it is a tremendous amount of work. I saw
the room filled here with all of the different samples and so on. Um kind of truly amazing. Um to me it's always inspirational to look at um how teachers know how to teach and
they can look at at these products and really understand how they will develop the the students skills and um and you know and they're willing to give it a try and to make sure in your thinking about you know the end result of this.
So it's really really important. Thank you. Thank you for continuously updating us on what's happening with that scheduling uh that schedule that was set up. That's important too and I think people are reading a lot about you know the science of reading literacy all of
this and concerned about whether we have the right we're going in the right way and it we are going in the right path. So thank you. Um all right we are moving along. We're in item number seven. Um,
>> you get Dr. Lang who's going to present to us. >> Finally get I finally get to talk. >> I am so excited about this particular report. >> Well, you've been asking about this for uh for for quite some time. Totally excited about this. had a little bit of time to um to put together um just like
kind of a 10-year overview on demographically and enrollment wise um how the district has really changed and how it um you know is only going to continue to um to change over the next number of years. >> I think this general information is important to just generally set context.
I think it's also important obviously when we talk about our enrollment and our enrollment projections around the new school building project. Um there's going to be another uh kind of piece of this work because this is a lot of just specific data around the enrollment itself, the demographic itself. But then because we've seen these changes over
the last 10 years also, we have invested significantly in increased programming for our L students, our special ed students. Um so there'll be another it's going to take a little bit of time. I'm actually going to work with DM Group on this, but kind of a financial report to also kind of frame what the district has
been spending funding on the last 10 years and then what are we going to need to spend funding on going forward um to help us as we get into our new strategic plan. So, it's all going to really I think come together nicely. I'll have a little memo for you at the next meeting on that. U but this was the first p part
of it I didn't want to hold until we got everything. So, I figured we would share this tonight. I threw it up on the screen. I don't have like a PowerPoint, but I threw it up on the screen just in case anyone from home is watching so that they can at least see some of the numbers. But, um, you know, overall district enrollment wise, uh, again,
pre- pandemic, we were very, um, stable, uh, in the district. We, like a lot of other districts in the state, uh, saw a little bit of a decline during the pandemic. Um, we saw our home school numbers jump um, pretty significantly during those couple of years. And then after 2020 when we came back from the
pandemic um our numbers certainly have um uh come back as well as we've started to see some enrollment growth. Um so again I think we're we're at the point where over the next 5 to 10 years we're still projected to grow another um
depending on the projection 3 to 400 students um which is significant because we've picked up the other 100 plus already um since coming back from the pandemic. So overall, again, we're a little over 5,000 students, but I think what you'll see is is just the pretty significant change in the racial and and
demographic profile of the district. So our total enrollment of uh students back in 2015, 78% of our district was classified as white uh within our report. And you'll see that that number actually dropped down 10 years later to 62%. So that's a pretty uh significant
jump there. Our Asian population of students, you know, doubled in the last 10 years, growing from 640 up to 986. Our black students uh rose pretty significantly uh again more than doubling from 105 up to 225. And then we
also have um our Hispanic and Latino students um significantly growing uh 229 up to 483. And then Desi has also started to record multiple races. Uh so when you look at the um kind of the chart on the second page that summarizes this, you'll see that pretty significant
uh change in enrollment. Yes, our overall enrollment is up from 49.87 to 5128, but again it's those shifts within the enrollment that's um I think pretty telling and you certainly see that when you're in our um schools and you're visiting classrooms. >> Yes. And in our graduation as well
>> in graduation, we we'll see it at graduation. Um, also of significant uh note is the linguistic diversity of the uh students. Um, and you'll see that in 2015 uh just under 10% of our students or 490
in the district uh their first language was not English. That number more than tripled in the last 10 years. So we're at 30% of our students in the district who have a first language of not English. Uh again, that's very uh notable. um as well as
our L students increasing um and I actually came in 2015 and we had about 150 uh L students in the district and that has nearly doubled up to 268. So that again is just a pretty significant change in our overall student um
population. Um what's very telling uh the Desi when we see some of the different reporting that comes from them talks about a district's high need population and they take into consideration students whose first language isn't English. um economically disadvantaged or lowinccome. That used
to be like our free and reduced lunch count. We don't really do that anymore, so they just called economically disadvantaged or low-inccome, our English learners. And then our students with disabilities. Um Amy had actually touched on this uh when she was here. But we saw go from 16.3 up to just under
21% or pretty uh notable growth. Again, our L population had a steady increase. our um lowincome students nearly doubled, you know, from 9.7% of students in 2015 up to almost 18% of students um these years. And then um again, our what
was most telling to me was the um um again high needs numbers overall. 25.9 going up to 37.2% of our students would fall into one of those three categories. So that was pretty significant. Amy touched upon this in her uh report and again I think it'll be very telling when
we look at the financials because I know that's where we've been putting a significant investment of dollars. Certainly our uh total students have uh grown in special education from the 16.3 up to 20% or almost one in five students in the district um are on IEPs uh and
have disabilities. But you'll also see uh the number of students that are being educated within district has increased significantly. So the number of uh full inclusion students in our district back in 2015 447 uh has gone up to 715 or you know about
a 250% increase in students there. Our substantially separate classrooms increased uh as well 34 to 75. Um that again kind of speaks to those substantially separate programs that we've added. The uh sale programs at our elementary schools buy them and
Harrington, our uh life skills programs, our strive program. Um these are students that you know maybe 10 years ago we might not have been able to meet some of their needs and they may have been then looking at out of district placements but we've been able to as you'll see in the chart below um you
know we've actually reduced our private school day placements by about half um down 19 students and then our overall out of district placements uh have also gone down significantly up by a third. We had 24 less students in the category.
Um, again, I think the last chart uh for me just is certainly not surprising, but we've seen just a dramatic increase, you know, a more than doubling of our students on the autism spectrum, K12 in the district in the last 10 years, our students uh qualifying with communication disabilities. And again, I
think some of our communication language based programming at the middle school level has certainly helped, but again, that's why our numbers are high because we have those students staying in district as opposed to going out of district. Um not really surprising that post pandemic also we've seen students
with just an increased complexity of health related issues and certainly um social emotional um issues as well and needing extra support services. So, um, again, overall, I think, you know, a big takeaway for me is just, and you you had asked this a couple of times to kind of
frame the situation, but the demographic of Jumpsford and I think to Johnson public schools is certainly changing. And, um, you know, for a positive, I think diversity is good and I think you see that when you're in your schools, but I think having this data also is just helpful. Again, as we're talking about
budgeting and we're talking about the new school building project and we're talking about services and where we're allocating funding, um we do have to keep these things in mind. So >> again, this is more data now. Uh the second phase of the report will be more financial. >> Yeah, >> I think it even goes to things like
recruiting and uh you know, our staff and um >> yeah, definitely >> making sure. >> Thank you. >> Have a good night. um that there's compliance and so on. And it it can add a huge layer of uh the needs within our
district to meet um you know these particular increased needs of our students and our families. Um we part of it tonight was the social emotional component and the outreach directly to the individual. You can see it already
and how it has to be offered. So, I think that this report is really, really important. And I remember um the last time when I was running for school committee, um realizing that I really think quite a few of the folks in town
may not realize how different our school system is in terms of the the students that we're serving and the families and their needs. And I think the reason a lot is in Charmsford because we have families who have been here quite a long
time and may still picture things in the same way. Um, and not intentionally in many many times. It's just that that's what happens, but it has changed substantially. Um, and I really thank you for putting together this report and I'm looking
forward to the next component. That's really interesting to be able to use that that way. Anybody else any thoughts, comments? >> I just I appreciate the report. Thank you. >> Eye opening. >> Yeah, this is a great report and it does show a lot of the growth of the town and
where it's headed and um I couldn't be more pleased. But >> I actually just wanted to make one more comment which was just to say um that I am really excited in some ways to see
the growing diversity of our schools. It was an asset that drew my family to Chumsford, that our children would be in schools with children who did and did not look like them and whose families were and were not like their own. And um
and I think, you know, I know we're thinking for very important reasons about the budgetary implications for where our services are going for, let's say, some some high needs populations, making sure we have the right staffing in place. But I also wanted to note that
some of this to me reads like an asset that our our community has where we have the richness of such a diverse community that is growing. >> I agree. >> Yeah. >> And a lot of districts in Massachusetts do not have growing populations either. And I to me that part of that is a
testament to our schools that are drawing people to this community. >> Thank you for pointing that out. Number one, overall district enrollment. We that is not what's happening in a lot of districts. What I'm hearing is reports of schools consolidating, especially at
the elementary level um because they don't have enough students to put in those in those school buildings with us. That's not what what's happening. So that is a testament. And um the other thing I did want to tell you is that
when they were doing the report uh today on the special ed programs and so on that we have I think um since I've been on the committee I've seen how there's been vision in the budget and in the positions created and so on over the
years to increase the programs that we are providing and that has added tremendously to the richness of what we can offer. has a district. So, >> um so that's been really really terrific >> um in my opinion. Anybody else comments
and so on? Great. Okay, we are Thank you again for doing that. This is this is a night with a lot of information but wonderful stuff. >> Okay. Uh we are moving on to the 2026 27 student enrollment updates.
>> Speaking of coming up, >> you're getting a lot of data tonight. So, um what we end up having here is I always report to you after we do have a good night >> after we do the um the spring enrollment for um kindergarten registration and then we also have some students that
come to us just for first grade. Um this is just a snapshot as of yesterday as to where our enrollment goes. Uh we didn't actually have too big of an enrollment in the um in the spring. Uh the April numbers, most of the students ended up coming in during January enrollment, which is fine. And then we have a a
handful of students that just kind of walk in because you still can between now and the start of the school year come in anytime you you need to and register. Um so you'll see the number on the far right 331 overall students who are registered for kindergarten in the fall. Um at the bottom of the first
column you'll see like biome has 82 and then it works its way across to the right. Um, these are just numbers that we uh we track as we as of right now when we budget, we always budget to start with four kindergarten classes at each of our schools. And I'll watch these numbers. If we have a trip up into
the, you know, 90s, uh, we'll start having conversations about potentially having to add um a fifth section of kindergarten at these schools. But as of right now, if these numbers stayed the same, we would just operate with the four kindergartens in each of the schools for the fall. Um, I'll give you
another update probably as we get into the summer months. Uh, just in case anything changes drastically. Uh, internally we look at the data. Jane, our central registar does a nice job of giving us a heads up if she's got like an onslaught of registrations and the numbers change significantly, but um,
I'd certainly let you know, but this is something that we track and overall I think we're in good shape uh, as of right now for the fall. >> That's great. Can I can I just ask a really quick question which is so I I believe I might be wrong but I believe the past several years there's been a fifth section of kindergarten at Baym
>> specifically. Um does that have any staff retention implications if we have one less kindergarten group or does that staff member potentially move? Um so if we ever have a situation and again biome
is is um typically has had the five sections. There have been years where they dropped down to four. So if we ever drop down to uh four we have to just take a look at the staff that are there. Um we have to see if they were hired permanently where they hired like an interim because sometimes if we have a bubble we might just hire an intram type
teacher. Um if it's a professional status teacher or teacher that's been in the role for quite some time. Um, if we have a a section somewhere else in the biome, you might have like a retirement or resignation. We might flip a person as long as they're licensed into a different class. We try to keep them within the school first if they're going
to be displaced. Um, if we can't um take care of them at the school, they might have to jump into like a district-wide opening. Um, but, you know, we would we would try to hold on to the person and they just might need to be flexible and be used somewhere else. Uh, help us out somewhere else for the year. But um
biome is I I am a little surprised to be quite honest with you with the number being so low. So I'm not going to do any kind of quick action on that. We're going to wait until we get a little bit deeper into the um um probably June to just kind of figure out what to do on that front. >> Harrington appears to have the highest
number right now, >> right? >> Yep. As of right now, they've got 86. >> If I had to guess, it looks like it's possibly because it just seems like fewer CHIP students were going to buy them. Yeah, the chips differential each year
does throw the numbers off. Um it it that's just based on geography though and addresses, but um by I mean has had years where they've been over a hundred, you know, and they've had a class that has like 105 110. So it is a little surprising that they're low, but we'll we'll keep um we'll keep watching it.
>> What are we typically at over the summer? Another >> 10 students. Another >> I'd have to look back to your philosophy. It honestly fluctuates so much it's it's hard to to guess. >> But um if the numbers trip up into the mid9s or so is when we start to look about potentially adding another
section. >> Okay. >> So um at this point in time I believe we only do we have one school or two schools with um 5ks this year. I know Bay has >> I'll have I'll have to take a peek. But
anyway, we would work with those staff to try to utilize them within the buildings. >> Okay. All right. So, thank you very much. >> You're welcome. Everybody okay on that? >> Terrific. >> All right. Um, so our next item is
transportation program registration. >> Joanna gets very excited about this report every year. >> Share her data. >> Okay. So, we're going to talk about buses. Uh, the first memo is this year, what's happening? And then the second
memo is um rates for uh next year. No change in the rates is what we're going to recommend. And then the third memo is just a little flyer of how families um would go about registering for the bus
uh which they need to do every year. Okay. So for this year um we're going to talk this is the big yellow school bus. We have 3,642 students riding the big buses. We have
29 of them and they make three runs. They start at the high school and then go to the middle school and then go to the elementary school and then uh do the uh same in the afternoon. And uh this is I think the highest number of
students we've ever transported. Uh the fees for the bus um are um in the little chart below. If everybody um has to pay a fee except
K to6 over two miles. Okay. Mhm. >> And um I'll just so the everybody understands the fee, we'll get to it, but you know, if you register early, it's $175 for the year. Um and that just pays for
part of the bus service. The district funds uh the remaining piece through the local budget. If you um want to ride the bus, you need to register even if you don't have to pay a fee. And this is so uh we know
where you are. We know how to do the routing. We know how to pick the bus stops. Um and then you're going to we'll we'll remind you starting in June uh to register. And then we suggest that you register early to get the discount. And
then it just also helps us uh with our planning um for the routes for the year. The second page is just the little um chart of families who registered early. So last year it was we got to a great start.
Over 2,000 um riders registered in June and then 840 in July. And then this is where it gets a little hard to do the routing when you know close to 700 students still uh register late in
August. So, we really encourage you to register early. We want to know if you want to ride the bus or not. >> Um, we will, um, we still have our transportation coordinator, Peter Balis, and he does all the routing and works
with the bus company. We have a software program that does that. And then the data is fed into X2. So families can go on the busing tab and see um what your bus number is, what your bus stop is, what time they're going to be there in the morning, what time they'll drop you
off in the afternoon. And then we will also um mail you a bus pass um in mid August, closer to the start of school. The second little chart says um how many buses are at each school and the average count of the student on the bus. Just
remember the big buses can carry 83 students. So, um we have the capacity on the buses. The reason we have so many is the time. It takes time to go and pick you up and bring you to school. And um
that's why we need 29 buses. >> So, we're going to mail the bus passes. Our goal is um in August and we can only mail it to you if we uh know who you are and then I think some of you members have come in when it's
been bus pass mailing day and everybody in the business office helps out and gets those 3600 bus passes out on time. And then the last page is just a reminder of all the things we've done when we brought the transportation uh
decisions in house rather than just uh relying on the vendor. So we create our own routes using the software. We mail out the bus passes. Um we remind everybody you must register uh to ride the bus. It's online. You go on to my
school bus which we use that platform for um lots of registrations and fee collection. And then um we still if you have um concerns you want to bring up to us about the bus, you can still contact
Peter Kalis and we'll try to work through those uh problems quickly and resolve all the issues. Um and that's about it for this year. Wow. >> Any questions about this year?
It's very thorough. Well done. Any questions now everybody? Okay. So, we we'll make a motion to accept these fees for the for the year. >> But we didn't present the fees yet. >> Fees are next. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> You're right. I'm I'm already looking at the fees. Sorry.
>> It's another memo. >> Sorry about that. Sorry. >> It's okay. Um, so the next memo is the fees we're recommending for next year. And these have been the fees for many, many years. >> It is. Um, so what we're recommending is
if you um register in early in June, the per student fee would be $175 for a maximum family cap of 400. If you register in July, the standard fee,
which is $200 per student and a family cap of 500. If you register in August, it goes up a little bit and that would be $225 with a family cap of $500. And then we
added a few years ago a halfyear registration. If you register February 1st or beyond, it would be $100 with a family cap of 500. So no change to the fee structure is
what is being recommended. Just to reiterate what Joanna said, these fees don't even come close to covering our overall cost for transportation. We haven't raised them. I I've been doing this. This is my 10th year and I don't remember the last time we raised them and the transportation costs have
definitely gone up in those years. So, we really try to keep things affordable for them. >> These costs were here when I got here. So, you know, this is going on year 12. We haven't adjusted the uh the rates and the the bus rates as you indicate just continue to get higher per year. So, this is just covering a smaller and
smaller percentage of the overall cost of the um transportation, but we I think we've kind of viewed it as if we can do that and it's not really like another kind of tax or fee on the families, then that's what our kind of goal was. But um yes, I mean we're certainly we haven't adjusted the rate, we're low when it
comes to like other communities who do charge for a rate. I've looked at other communities and we are doing really well for families here by keeping these costs the same because a lot of the surrounding towns charge a lot more than this. >> And I've been hearing of the impact of
the gas costs. Does that impact our contract in any way? >> We do not. In the current contract, there is not a fuel escalation clause. So, we know our rate for next school
year >> and that contract is in existence until >> this we're going into year five >> into year five. Okay. Well, we now have all the information on our fingertips here. Thank you. All right. So,
will any questions, concerns, other concerns? Okay. So >> we will >> I move that we adopt the transportation fee structure including the regular early late and halfyear registration rates for the 2026 202
2027 school year >> as presented here in the memo dated May 15, 2026. >> Okay. >> Second. >> Wonderful. Um and this one because it involves money. I'll do a roll call. Susan. >> Hi. >> Okay. Diana. >> Hi.
>> John. >> Hi. Dennis and I will be an I and thank you again Joanna for all the all the fine work here. Um we are moving on to item number 10. We have a new schedule for warrant signing and just I believe
we are still doing it with one person signing the warrants. >> We need at least one person more people come in but >> but we just need one signature. Okay. >> But if two people came in and said signed it it would be fine if three keep you know still >> I'm okay. >> I'm okay with this personally. Everybody still okay with that as well? >> Mhm.
>> Terrific. So, uh, do we need a motion on this one? No. >> No. Joanna just shares the schedule with you and I'll put a copy in your Dropbox just in case you ever looking for it, >> but it's more just to kind of let uh people kind of plan. I don't know if you put it in your own calendars or whatnot, but just sharing it with you.
>> Okay. And this is really nice that you said thank you to us, but also your office does remind us and send us an email and so on. And I personally have appreciated the cooperation uh among us saying whether we've gone or
not gone to sign. So that is truly appreciated. Thank you. >> All right. And we are now into the personnel report. >> Thanks. And this is going to be our last um report of the evening. Uh we just have a detailed report for the month of
April just listing some of our uh new hires. And then we had a few resignations and we had one assignment uh change or transfer within the district. So just keeping you up to date with the um personnel moves within the district. >> Can I just ask on the resignations?
Seems like a lot of our social workers have >> moved on. Any particular reason or >> um No, if I had to um guess well the the chips position is a part-time position. Um, so sometimes people do look to take a full-time position if they have one.
The um, uh, Miss Courier, who's been at Parker, I believe this is her third year in that school, um, is just leaving for different opportunity. Um, and then, um, Miss Dutcher, I believe, is leaving for
>> uh, I think she's going to take some child rearing. >> Yeah, it it was like a a family type. >> Just coincidental that they all happen. >> Yes. And I actually think a couple of these potentially will come back when they're in a position like where they can. One I think is definitely just some child rearing. Uh but when the job opens
they will come back to us but no it is a little bit uh >> moving out of the area too. >> Right. >> Oh is that what happened >> with no with the I think with chips I think. >> Can't remember that. >> Okay positions we've already filled or back.
>> Yeah. So overall we're actually doing um very well position wise as of yesterday. Um we just had one position left in the district that we had an offer out for that hadn't been um the person just hadn't gotten back to us yet. So um yes, we'll have some um long-term subs. We'll have some maternity leaves, things like
that that we have to fill for the fall, but as of yesterday, we were down to just one uh job that we were still looking to fill. So the um the social worker has already been filled at Parker. Um I have to find out about um Chips. I hadn't heard about that one yet. And um I think uh Shannon just sent
the paperwork over for um the replacement of Shan Duchess. So uh things are are moving along. We're in a good good spot hiring wise. >> Okay. Well, >> do you know how many I'm sorry. >> Go ahead, please. >> You know how many retirements we're having at the end of the school year? >> Joanna does.
>> I think it's eight or nine. >> Okay. >> I know you always tell them when it's time, but it's not time yet. >> Okay. for me. Um just a comment on the social workers is um after the report we heard tonight and the report you
provided to us as well on what's happening demographically and so with within this our our district um the role of the social worker is more and more important. So um they provide a service that's I've I've run into some
situations where the social worker was involved and it made the difference. It was night and day. So >> really truly um just important. >> Okay. No field trips. >> We don't have any field trips. >> All right. So we are into >> liaison reports.
>> Okay. >> I can share. I uh got to spend some time with the Parker and McCarthy PTO's last week and um it was great to see the awarding
of a few scholarships. I think they had like 80 applica. It was it was a very big year for scholarship applications. So, and and a real honor for the ones who were able to win. Um
they are both busy as usual at Parker. We heard a lot about um the Pride Run which happened this past weekend and I got to uh go to that and it was great. Um a lot about transitions happening.
These middle schools are dealing with a lot of both ends of transitions. They're they're the schools dealing with the most transitioning. So, a lot about stepups for fourth graders, for sixth graders, for eighth graders, going to different schools in and out. Um,
and, uh, Parker has been having some spring socials and is preparing for the We Are Parker celebration coming up next week at McCarthy. Um, it's been very heavy MCCAST for eighth graders. Eighth
graders get a lot of MCCASTs um with civics, science, plus the math and the reading. Um so I think they're happy to have that behind them. Um and um
dance coming up, just lots of uh great things happening. I got to enjoy the Showboat last weekend, which is the talent show for both middle schools. and uh it was wonderful to see the talent on display from these uh young people. So
um kudos to both schools for that. And finally, just a note that for the middle schools this week is staff appreciation um because they were trying to avoid when MCCAST was happening in the school. So although many of the schools
celebrated like teacher appreciation week is kind of statewide is the first week of the month. Um, we're really excited to be celebrating the hard work of the staff at Parker and McCarthy this week. >> That's great. Anyone else for the zone
reports? >> I do. >> Let's see. I went to the chips PTO meeting. >> They, as always, have so many wonderful enrichment things. Um, we'll talk about the ones that are coming up. They have field day this week on Thursday and
Friday. They have goats from Chipin Farm coming for the kids to hang out with on May 28th and their ever popular Touch a Truck Day is coming up on Wednesday, June 3rd.
>> Um, and then the school year will be over. They were able to elect a new slate, so their board is in place and ready for next school year. So that's great. Then I went to Harrington PTO also was able to um they've got some
changes um coming some people changing roles some people leaving um a new um PTO president but they are also in good shape for starting off next school year. Uh they are presenting two scholarships
to former students. They'll be um they each student is getting a $500 scholarship. Very very nice. So that they'll be getting that really soon. And I think all of their enrichment activities are completed for the school
year. So that's that. I also went to the Council of Chford Schools meeting last night and they're going to have quite a bit of change, but they now have a slate of um officers to continue as well. >> Yep. Anyone else on leazison reports?
not not current, but um I will attend the CPAC meet the new board next week. Um we have a building committee meeting on Thursday. I unfortunately have graduation, so we'll have to rely on Superintendent Lang again to give us updates there. And then just as an aside is um because I have nothing else to do.
I also volunteered to be on the town manager screening committee because I thought we needed a perspective. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Cool. So we had our first meeting last week. um they're taking in they opened up uh for for resumes and things and we should have that closing next week and
so next the 28th will be our next meeting and be opportunities for public comment if anybody wants to come in and offer their opinions of what we should see in our new town manager. If any of you have comments please feel free to send them to me. Um they'll also
accepting um written comments can Aaron Cunningham who's on select board is the chairperson of that. So, anybody wants to uh contribute to that? Great. >> Thank you for doing that. Oh, yeah. >> Um, now for me uh council of schools uh
Susan went I I had my daughter's graduation so she uh did the report uh on the school committee but I was also present and yes they have a new slate. I would like to also just mention that um
Melissa Brennan, Lisa Bryant, and Ginger Cook are uh and Amanda Qualison to an extent are leaving. Uh big thank you to them for any of the work and all the work that they did put in to the council of schools. Uh council of schools is a
really important entity that many people may not understand, but it brings all of the PTO's together under one uh group. And it was really interesting to hear because both Susan and Dr. Hersh were there yesterday and they have a even
longer perspective on the council of schools than my understanding of over the last eight years. Um the other thing I wanted to mention is the high school PTO. Uh they are we heard that they're running the pickle ball tournament at
the end of this month. They also have their drop off locations set up already for any people folks that are donating for the um the after prom and they're going to do their end of the year staff appreciation coming up as well. So just
to let folks know that. Okay. So that's me and um everybody else all set? >> Yep. >> We are moving on. Any new items that you want to um bring up? The only thing I'm going to mention, Dr. Hersh, is I've
been wondering about graduation requirements and if anything's changed on that, but you know, just for the future to keep that in mind. I think there is something coming up on it, so I just want to make sure. And um I do thank you very much for that report. That was really great. Thank you.
>> Just one other thing. I I noticed on one of the newsletters that we're switching communication platforms. So, if you could just get an update of what we're switching to, why we're switching, that type of thing. >> Sure. Um, Bill Silva is going to be coming to one of the two meetings in June. So, either the next one or the one
after. And I know he can touch on that. But, we've been using historically Blackboard Connect as our um system to do like roocalls and phone calls and things like that and it's going away. So, we had to switch to a different uh provider to have a new service. So, Bill put a group together to look at
different um companies that do that kind of a service and selected parent square. So, we're going to be rolling that out. Um there's a bunch of communications that are going to go out to families just so that they notice the difference. But when he comes in June, I'll make sure he touches on that. >> Great. >> And the system actually is pretty cool.
It has some um extra enhancements and functions that'll integrate into like some of our communication with individual clubs and teams and sports >> um and families. So, um, he can touch on that when he knows it more than I do, but he can touch on that when he gets here in June. >> Okay.
>> Thank you. Anybody else? Thank you. So, we have no other public comments. No public comments. And I will take a motion to adjurnn. >> I move that we adjourn. >> I second. >> All in favor? I I
>> Thank you everybody. Thank you.