Evening, Dambers. I'd like to call the January 12th regular meeting of the school committee to order. Would you all please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it
stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. The mission of the Danis public schools creating supportive environment where all learners thrive. this point we're ready for items of interest to the superintendent and the
school committee and the community. Uh, anyone have any public comment? Paul, >> good evening. Paul Pollock, uh, member of the HRC Human Rights and Inclusion Committee, Danverse. Just here to remind everyone since we're on TV also that we
have the upcoming Martin Luther King celebration MLK move like King which will be held at that Danver High School in the atrium this coming Monday a week from today on Martin Luther King Day. That time is from 3 to 5. There'll be a
brief uh social period with light refreshments served followed by an opportunity to view all the art and it was prepared by the students and we'll have music and things to do for both the uh youngsters and
families and whoever shows up. Everyone's invited. You don't have to have a child in school. You don't have to uh be a member of a committee. Just it's for everyone in the town. Come one, come all. Thank you very much. Any questions? >> Did you say three to five, Paul?
>> Three to five. Yes. And again, I think I might have said it last one. Thanks to the school department for all their help and putting on this for the town. Thank you very much. >> My apologies for everyone. Uh, is anyone recording this meeting?
>> Anyone else with public comment, Julie? Hi everyone. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. My name is Julie Baldock Defilippo and I'm the chair of the Dammer CPAC. It's good to see everybody tonight and happy new year. Um I think tonight we wanted to just speak to an item on the
agenda um that we heard from a lot of families at the Smith school in particular about um which was the recent um false alarm lockdown um at Smith and highlighting the the unique impact that such incidences can have on kids that
already have higher needs um and those families navigating those needs. And so we heard from a lot of those parents. Um these aren't new concerns to us. We we hear a lot of concerns from those families specifically at Smith. Um from a range of things whether it's safety to
if students are being appropriately placed in the least restrictive environment um inclusion supports um and so and a lot of other different things. Uh so so we've been working to support those families um and navigating those uh instances. And I know that you're
considering updates today um to the safety uh the safety protocols. Um and if it's not already considered, I hope that you can pay special attention to the mental health needs um the needs around emotional well-being and uh
counseling response that come along, you know, unfortunately with these uh incidents, but also proactively need to be in place. Um, and then I just lastly wanted to acknowledge and thank the staff at the Smith School. Um, I can say as a school social worker at a nearby
district that when these things happen, we're often called upon to be the response while we're part of what happened and it can be really stressful. So, I hope we can find ways to support um the staff there uh in taking care of themselves and managing stress. I think
kids do well when adults do well and so it's very it's vital to you know the continued success in all our programs and dammers. Thank you. >> Anyone else with public comment? >> Um I would like to uh recognize the passing of a longtime Dammer High School
teacher. uh friend and mentor uh Andrea Daly. I was not her student directly, but I did work with her several years when I was um at Dammers High School. So, I want to recognize that. She was a great lady.
>> Thank you. Seeing no other, we'll move on to to the agenda. Uh information from the >> Mr. Shannon one a quick comment on the person on Zoom. >> Go ahead, Josh. Thank you. Uh I I just I know we're in
the in the uh the process of creating the budget um which will be I think we're going to be doing some budget work next month uh at our meetings and I I did want to just take a look at it and just offer some suggestions as our uh Dr. Bar and Kristen and our principles
and department heads are starting to to think about different things that they're going to make requests for. And I I think the um the easy thing to do is to think about headcount and things like that that we would need if we're down headcount. One of the things I would challenge everybody that is putting in
uh proposals is to think a little bit more strategically and I I'm thinking uh specifically around some different things that we've done in the past, meaning uh you know how we tried to bolster the and we continue to try to bolster the the special education program so we can keep more more kids in
district so we're not having um you know to to spend all that money on on district placements. So, I would I would just ask I would challenge everybody, I guess, to to think a little bit more along those lines and see how can we actually move the district forward in different ways,
whether it's just propelling the district into different levels and and and getting recognition in and succeeding more or if it's uh any way to to do some some cost cutting measures. Um meaning if we add certain things that
we'd be able to save money in other ways. So, um I I just wanted to just add that as I know that that things are in process with that and if anybody has any questions about what I just said, feel feel free to ask. But those those are just my quick comments. >> Thanks for that, John. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. And I just want to since we're on the subject of the budget, the budget workshop will be on January 26th. >> I had one item of interest. >> Go right ahead. Um, I want to uh thank uh Superintendent Bower and staff at the
high school, high school principal, teachers, students for what was a really terrific visit with the uh commissioner of education, Pedro Martinez last Friday. Um, I thought it was so well planned. I thought the students really
acquitted themselves well and um and the teachers as well. You can tell that there is a real energy at the high school and uh I think it was a good visit and I have to believe that um that Mr. Martinez was impressed favorably as
he should be because it was really a uh big step forward for us. Thank >> I'd like to add to that. Uh thank you Eric and Sean uh for being there and thank you to Principal Strauss who helped organize the high school staff that attended as well as we had a great
panel of students. Uh we had the town manager Jill Cahill there and u we have to thank Janet Ingram for putting the uh the work behind the scenes to make it just really click. To your point, Josh, um I so appreciate you saying that because we are trying to be as deliberate and strategic and
really the purpose of the commissioner's visit was Sean and I heard him speak at a conference in November and one of his highlight items is really, you know, preparing the workforce for the future, success after high school and all the things that we've been talking about.
And we are looking for ways creatively to be strategic um you know making sure that all students have opportunities when they graduate from Danvers High School but also showing all the residents of Dammers that the high school has many things to offers and
there's certainly some parallels with other uh tech schools and such that that we offer. Uh but we need to do things that highlight that and our students spoke very highly about early college. They spoke about pathways. our staff, they spoke uh passionately about, you
know, working together and really providing opportunities and certainly the collaborative piece was important. The commissioner was impressed, town manager was impressed, but it is a piece that uh we really need to be very conscious in what we're doing because in our goal moving forward is obviously to
support and increase services, student services. We've made so many strides, but we also have to improve student achievement and that's something that we need to be very deliberate about. We know resources are very limited, but we're working really really hard to maximize them. Um, so I I do appreciate
the shout out, uh, Mr. Crane, and it was a great visit and certainly knowing moving forward that, you know, um, we're going to tap into some some items that we can certainly connect with our local colleges as well to give a better opportunity for our students.
>> All right, moving on. Uh, information from the superintendent. First item is student representatives report and Nate, you're up. >> Hi. Um I'm all by myself today, so please bear with me.
But um this past weekend there was a wrestling tournament and we had four students place in the top 10. We had Drew McMahon plays third, Ian McMahon plays fourth, Dylan Kenny plays fifth, and Logan Jackwiz plays sixth. Uh we
have the Move Like King event on January 19th from 3 to 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at DHS. Please join us for student art exhibit and musical selections and interactive community building activities for all ages.
Um, at DHS we have midterms coming up starting on January 20th and going through the whole week. We wish everyone luck on their midterms. Jazz and a capella night is on Thursday, January 15th at 7 o'clock. And we it
will feature the seventh grade, eighth grade, and high school jazz bands. The DHS concert chorus, Falcon Eyes, and Skyward as long as Hawks and Harmony from HR. And finally, the Harmony Northshore Barberhop group will also be performing.
Uh, also over the past weekend, we had the Northeastern Districts Festival and we had five members from the concert band. We had Chase Richmond, Kayla McKinnon, Piper Brett, Alejandro Woodier, and JJ Murphy participated.
>> Thank you, Nate. And, uh, we do we wish all our students good luck on their midterms. Um, Since you mentioned achievement, I got I I just want to take a second and say I'm seeing some of the schools coming in already that our students have been accepted to, but we're not even in
the thick of it. It's very impressive. So, cheers to everybody and uh keep up the good work. >> Thank you, sir. Um that one item that I want to bring up is Principal Strauss. We have some recognition that we want to
share with the school committee first before it goes public. Principal Strauss. You're up. >> Good evening everyone. Since I got here, I've been talking a lot in regard to telling our story because I don't think the Danverse High
School story has been told adequately over the years. nor do I think our story in regard to what our achievement has been or is going to be has been told nearly enough. And we saw a lot of that when parents
came to us in regard to open house. We didn't know this existed. We didn't know these programs. We didn't know we had all these programs. Superintendent and I Bower and I were disappointed to see that Danver High School is not ranked in the top 100 schools in the Commonwealth, which to
some only appears to be a ranking, but when parents look, it matters. So therefore, I'm excited to announce that for the first time in history, Danvers High School has received a silver medal from the College Board for our excellence and improvement in advanced placement, both
in regard to student success and student opportunity. As I said, this is the first distinction of this magnitude and a major data point in determining our state rankings. It's important. It's important to understand that AP success is based on the
foundational work of every teacher, K12. This is not a high school award alone. This happens because of what happens starting in kindergarten. And so therefore, it's truly a school and is distinct and a district recognition that's vital as we grow our b our brand.
There are four levels, platinum, gold, silver, bronze or actually five levels because there's no distinction. 60% of the schools in the Commonwealth receive no distinction. So this is a really important measuring point for us. Platinum, which very few schools
receive, or gold is our goal. Very few area schools have received this and the full list will be out at the end of the month. But I think it's important for you to understand what the qualifications are. There are three of
them. Number one, college culture. This is about the percent of students in the graduating class who took an AP exam at any point in high school regardless of their score. To avoid pressure on students to take large number of APs, only one AP exam per student contributes
to the indicator. We received a silver in this standard. to receive gold. 65% of our students need to take one AP course before graduating and we currently are at 58%. We believe for 2627 we will be at 71%.
Second is college credit. The percent of students in the graduating class who scored a three or higher on any AP exam in high school. To avoid pressure on students to take a large number of APs, only one AP exam of three or higher per student contributes to this indicator.
We received a gold in this standard. 35% need to earn college credit in order to receive gold. We were at 39%. When we reach 50%, we will be at platinum status. And a third is college optimization. the percent of students in
the graduating class who took at least five or more AP exams in high school where at least one exam was taken in either the ninth or tth grade. Because research finds that six or more APs do not improve college graduation rates beyond the optimal total of five such
courses, no exams beyond five student beyond five per student contribute to this indicator. The honor role also recognizes schools that encourage students earlier on their AP journeys. so as not to overload them with AP courses. We received silver in this standard. 9% of our students took
advantage of this and 10% is the threshold for gold while 15% is the threshold for platinum. We are ready for next year at platinum because of our AP um research diploma. So, so we will be at platinum for next year. This is a big
deal for us and I think it's something we need to applaud. I think Paul Howerin would would be well suited to to write something. But I'm really proud of this for our staff. They deserve it and for our students. >> Thank you.
>> That is uh exceptional news and and thank you for for sharing that with us. >> I I said Mike, not Mike, but >> but I see that it's on. I love this. Um, it's actually something, not specifically this, but the recognition
of the work that we're doing since day one when I was on the school committee. Um, I just want to know, are we putting up a banner at the high school? Is there a badge that goes on the website? Are kids going to get t-shirts? Are we going to put something across the highway downtown?
>> So, I'm going to put some pressure on the superintendent and say, "I have a budget for you, so I can't buy anything." But teasing, but certainly there are banners that come with this that we can purchase um that permanently go up in the school. There will be one inside the school. There's also
something that we can put outside the school when people enter. Um there's a lot of things that we can do. There will be a badge that goes on our website. Um this uh somebody said to me, "So what? This is a big deal, a very big deal for
us and something we we should really applaud. I I applaud it. And let me know if we need to start a fundraiser. >> Well done. That's fantastic. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Alan.
>> Mr. Shannon, if I could just make a quick comment on that as well. >> Sure, Josh. >> I I think I think that's unbelievable. any any way that we could um we could bolster that and and to put it on website, Instagram. I know uh Dan uh is
is pretty apt adept with uh social media. Anyway, we can get this out there is fantastic. So that's congratulations to Mr. Strauss and everybody involved. That's great. >> Thank you. And one of the comments that uh principal Strauss made which is important is though although you know
the award comes to the high school it is a K12 actually preK12 because that preparation to get us there and I think it's important we'll find a way to get the banners and get the word out and we work on getting a press release but we wanted to share with school play first. >> Um
>> well and quite honestly it's it's a community >> yes >> award especially um you know recognition to our families. We've said for quite some time that education works best when families are in partnership, a positive partnership with with the schools and
vice versa. And and I think we're starting to see some of that as well. So congratulations to everyone. Okay, moving on. If I could have uh principal powers come up, we are just going to uh give an update in terms of
the Smith uh elementary u lockdown system. uh we actually had our on the invite list Jim Sullivan our director of technology he played a pivotal role in terms of uh a lot of the changes brought forth to improving the system but he's
he's actually out sick but um first of all before we begin I do echo what uh what Julie said in terms of recognizing the staff recognizing um the leadership of principal powers because you know uh certainly just giving my own personal
feelings and not this was not a drill right it was a mishap with the which we'll talk about but until that's determined it's the real deal so when I approached the scene I saw principal powers taking control of what was happening the students knew what to do
but the staff they were cool and I I know there there was certainly a lot of adrenaline flowing that we we'll talk about that debrief uh but the students were were unbelievable and those there were some very challenged under challenging circumstances But I want to thank and um applaud our
staff, applaud principal powers for her leadership, but also the first responders that came. Um so I think the big thing about this whole situation is that when I came in as superintendent, there was an incident that occurred that spring uh that came
off the heels of the um the lockdown uh scenario at at St. John's Prep. Then there was a the false alarm at Smith. We've had a couple situations with this lockdown alarm that quite frankly um is not tolerable. It just it just can't
happen and it did happen. Um and what I really want to talk about is the fact that there was um concerted effort to make sure that this doesn't happen again. Um so there were a lot of layers to this piece. uh number one priority is to ensure that the staff uh they're in a
good place to ensure that you know they're comforted and certainly sitting in with principal powers debriefing with them. This was a this was tough um and and knowing that you know we we have a social worker that works with staff and students at the uh Smith as we do our
Oliver schools. Certainly know that our DTA team was aware of this which they do have an opportunity to come and help. Um but seeing the emotion on our staff and in this I just I can't sit here as superintendent to allow this to happen again. Um so the first thing that we did
was once we worked with the staff was you know notify the town. Joel Cahill came over the the next day we had a meeting with her uh the police chief director of public works our director of uh technology for a district and the town as well as principal powers and we
sat down and just basically said the very same thing like this can't happen again. I can't sit here in this chair as superintendent to allow this to happen again. We know there have been issues with the system. It's it's at a point where this has to be uh there has to be something done to this and we we can't
allow this to happen again. Um so I have to say there was a lot of collaboration that came into play. Um certainly everybody understood the tone of the seriousness of this and an action plan was developed. The first and foremost was really the activation
of that Smith alarm was a complete inadvertent activation. There was a there was a fob that was placed by the gymnasium that unbeknownst to us had a cover over it that although it wasn't touched flash by it activated the system and I can't believe within 5 years that
didn't happen before. So first and foremost that was taken offline uh and re readressed um right away and at that time the town tech technology department and the school along with the guidance of our uh town manager said you know
whatever resources are needed this has to be addressed. So a major piece of work was done over the December break and quite frankly we already have uh lockdown notification system called informcast. All of our buildings have this. Um, we all we've been working with
this. In fact, I was notified of the lockdown. I was over at Thorp that morning through Informiccast. It goes out to the police, goes out to all the stakeholders that need to know, all the staff. So, we already have it. So, it's like almost an overengineered system as it is at Smith on top of the
Informiccast. So just to cut to the chase, uh the decision was made to um decommission the system and move it to Informiccast. So it was able to do all the things that the lockdown system would do under the
reliability of Informiccast. Um and that that to me is was a comforting decision that was made because you know that gives us greater control of the system. So if there's a a lockdown that needs to be activated, we utilize Informiccast, the same thing
will happen. The voice will come over the intercom. The staff will have direct notification. Uh we're getting it to put on all the clear touch panels. But at this point, you know, trying to figure out which contractor was responsible for the alarm systems, the multiple piece.
We just made this decision because number one, we already have it existing in our buildings at Formiccast. So now we have it set up there and it's also now we have the um the dist the stress buttons uh that certainly would lock down the Smith has a little bit more features than the other schools. I don't
want to give it all away but there are certain features that are above and beyond our schools have in terms of windows and shades and such that still can be activated. So we feel much more comfortable um with this. But I do have to say that um the number one thing was
that um you know for the safety and security of her staff and students number one thing is to make sure that the uh information the technology works as it should work. So um we know there's a little bit more work that needs to be done in terms of the um clear touch
panels in all the classrooms that would notify um but we're we're in a better place today. The other thing that's important to note too is that um working forward was communication, right? Because I have to say that our Smith families showed unbelievable grace
during this because as a parent myself knowing the stress of what I what I saw and the great responsibility that we feel for all of our students and staff, you know, I can't imagine being on the other side as a parent uh and going through what the parents have gone through and we we put together the as
best communication as we could. It really tested us that day where we had Jim Sullivan came over, I came over is we have our procedures. Violet ran the building piece. Um, and we put together quick communication off of that which we knew wasn't enough, but our number one
job at the scene is to make sure that the students and staff, they're taken care of. Then we follow with the communications and um, I do have to commend the Smith families because they did show enormous grace on this. Um, and we put out further communication to inform the community in terms of what
work was done, the collaboration. Um, and you know, we're moving forward with that. So, um, I'm happy to have Jim come back. I took his notes and everything that he was going to say, but we were all in this. Principal Powers was there as well December 29th with Jim, the
town. And I also have to commend Sergeant Smith. He's our lead resource officer who was part of all the testing. Uh, as well as Chief Levelvel. Um, and I think we're all on the same page. I know we're all on the same page. And, um, I just I just can't say enough about the
Smith community. I'm, you know, from the district side, I I can't go more than apologize deeply for this, but also know in my seat, again, there's no way that this can be tolerated to ever happen again. Um, so we're trying to we took out as much of the human piece as possible, and we feel confident with the
system that is in place now. So, I'll leave it there to see if anybody has any questions. I know Principal Powers, I just bring you up and I didn't even give you a chance to speak or say anything. >> I pretty much said everything that was in my notes. Um, but I want to re reiterate what the superintendent said. So, a couple of
things. First and foremost, I have to on behalf of the Smith School thanks police department. Um, our IT, the district IT as well as the town IT. Um, I want to thank um the superintendent Bower for his support throughout this process. DPW
But the two most important pieces that I want to make sure that I reiterate is how grateful we are to the students and the staff and the families during this process. And you might be wondering why the students. The why the students is
because the seriousness that they took from all the drills that we've had and all the you know unfortunate false alarms that we've had with every single one they are taking every single one of these um instances seriously and that's
why the drills are so important because our students know what the protocols are. So I want to thank our students especially for taking this process seriously and really following the directions of the adults. We always say during the enhanced lockdown the most
important thing is is that you're listening to the adults directions and that is exactly what they did. The staff was tremendous again knowing the protocols knowing the steps knowing what to do. We have um a communication system
not just through Informiccast but also through our texting um that we're able to we have a chain that we're able that I'm able to communicate with the staff. So that was incredible. And also I just want to thank our families. Just like the superintendent said, although as
stressful as that was, the support from our families was tremendous. And I am going to get emotional because this process was very emotional for us on this last instance. Families were incredible. There were we received many
emails together. And although there was a tone of how could this happen again, there was also a tone of we understand, we're behind you and we will do everything we can with you to make sure that this doesn't happen again. So I just want to thank the Smith community
because they were incredible. I've also offered a few of our families that they would like to come in to kind of walk through with me. What does it s What does it look like? What does that mean? you know, when the when the doors lock or where the when we have our special
accordion door in the library, what do you you know, what does it look like when students are physically um in a safe spot in the classroom during a lockdown? So, again, I have invited families to come and take me up on it um after school hours. I'm happy to show
them what does that look like. Um following that and just like Dr. Defilippo said um our students were um very stressed over this last incident. With that being said, our social worker Michelle Gra did an outstanding job
meeting with students as needed. Whether it was a family that reached out and said, "Can you please check up on check up on my student or re us as as the adults in the building realizing the children were having were stressed over this particular situation.
M Michelle Graths went out of her way um and also making sure that our students were taken care of. So, um really grateful to the collaboration with our social worker, our team chair, our special education department, making sure all of our
students were okay. Um over the break, just like the superintendent said, Jim Sullivan, um his team, the town it as well, we came in on and he spent they spent most of the day um at Smith School
on December 29th making sure that we're able to um transfer the alarm to the Informiccast system. And that is where we are as as of today. So all lockdowns and notifications are now triggered through informiccast. The voice
notification will now come from not um informcast alerts. When a lockdown or a building evacuation or a shelter in place is triggered, Informiccast um sends out communication to all staff in the building via text as well as an
email. And in in in addition, it shows up on everyone's um school phone in their classrooms that we are in a um enhanced lockdown or or um what the directions are. So, three different notifications are being sent out. At the
same time, it automatically alerts the Dammer Police Department um communication. The DTAG team is notified immediately and um neighborhood neighborhood um non-dammers public schools schools are also notified. Um
after on the first day we came back after vacation which was um Monday uh January 5th um after school hours the staff and I and Jim Sullivan um came over. Dammer um Sergeant Smith came over as well and we did a test through
Informiccast so that the staff could hear the voice notification um and so that they're hearing a new voice come through um using Informiccast. Um just like superintendent said, communication with families,
communication with staff has been on point and of course um I have not received any other followup necessary from the staff. Meaning like meaning after that test that we had, staff did not reach out to me and say I need more
information or I need more. um information did come out to the staff um in regards to informcast and how um how to put the app on your phone, how to utilize it. So um and again if staff if
staff needs information on how to utilize inform cast that's obviously available. Um that is where we are as of today and the support has been tremendous and just grateful for everyone um and helping us during this um this situation that we had our last
situation >> and I just want to add two more things if I can before any questions from the school committee um you know as Vleta referenced their DTAP which is our district threat assessment team that's comprised of social workers clinical psychologist the police principles many
of them have been neck trained which is state level high level crisis. We always inform them in case there are any situations that need a higher level of care. There was no need for any threats in this because we know that it was an accidental uh um turning on of the lockdown system. But that's also part of
our debriefing and we have a district threat assessment, excuse me, district safety meeting um on the 26th of January that will debrief more of this. We also have our leadership meeting in early February where we've been working on the reunification and larger scale things
will will review this as well. Um and the DTA team I'll meet with them at some point just to debrief as well. So there's multiple layers of not only this piece the getting the system in a good place but also the background work to you know question like things there are
items that we know we can improve a little bit on and improve in some areas. Um but I would say that more importantly the uh human element students staff uh and the families uh so grateful for all their their work and support. >> Well, thank you for that update from
from both of you. It sounds like you on top of it. Any questions or concerns? >> I would just say um from everything I'm hearing, it sounds as though this wasn't something that could have been expected until it happened.
>> Correct. It wasn't as though this was something that, you know, happened before, came close to happening before. And so, it's one of those things that you don't know what you don't know. And, um, this is obviously an incident that
no one's happy about and certainly uh the impact on the children and the families. We never want it to happen again. Dan's right. Um but it also sounds as though there was nothing in the preparation or expectations around
that system that we knew about that would have led us to expect that this could happen. And um you know there's a an adage in um air travel if you're a pilot that you know something comes up you aviate, navigate and communicate and
you know keep the plane flying, figure out where you're going and communicate that. And it sounds like from what I'm hearing you all sort of did that the immediate response was very appropriate with concern for the students, family,
staff, etc. Um then you sought to figure out okay where do we go next and what do we do and you're communicating that to the community. So, you know, as one member of the school committee, both to the superintendent, certainly the staff at Smith, um you guys did a terrific
job. And I think it's um it's also proof or a demonstration that the training and preparation that you've done, thank God, this wasn't the real event, but it gives me some comfort to know that we're ready
in case something like that were to happen. And I guess the only question I might have for the superintendent really is is there anything that we've learned from this particular event that we can apply to any of the other schools? >> I would say that unfortunately the
testing of the informcast went very well. Um extremely quick notification on that part. also a protocol about having the principal be charge of the people directly because they're most familiar, but also having two from central office
to be there because you need somebody that can just overall >> coordinate with the police, coordinate with with the principal, but also we had uh Jim Sullivan came with us as well because he knows the technology, but he's also able to have a cool head to get some communication out uh which was
as quick as we could the families. So those are things that reaffirmed a lot of the things that we're doing. But we also know that in terms of communication that I think it just went out by email. We need to make sure on that broadcast they can hit the the phone as well as
the email uh in case somebody is at work >> and they might not be able to check you know their email so they have all that in the broadcast. So that's reach my teach which which is a new system that we communicate with. We're no longer Blackboard. Um, so we're working on that
piece too where to make sure all those areas are checked so you get the multiple communications for families because I did get feedback from one who's a teacher in another district that you know couldn't check their personal email. Um, and I felt badly about that but certainly learned that we need to make sure in the heat of moment that all
three of those areas are checked for that communication that goes out. >> So I mean um we didn't want the event to happen. It's truly unfortunate that it did. Um, and so you take what you can from it, make corrections that you can
from it, and um, and try and prevent something like this from happening in the future. So, no issues from me. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for what you did. >> Thank you, Mrs. P. >> Thank you so much.
>> Okay, we'll we'll segue on to the next item. Uh we actually have our outstanding nurse Jim Janelle that's here tonight and just really want to go over three areas that um for safety um updates health and safety. So
please take it away. >> Did you hit the little red button? >> Oh, did that do it? Okay. Thank you so much for having me tonight. Um, I just wanted to share a few updates that um, the nurses have been working on this year. Um, our goal is always to support
um, safety and wellness and emergency preparedness for all of our students, staff, and visitors that come to our schools. Um, we're pleased to share that the Dambridge public schools have purchased brand new AEDs for all of our school buildings to replace our current
models. Um, these updated devices ensure our schools are equipped with reliable, up-to-date, life-saving technology that reflect our ongoing commitment to health, safety, and wellness. Um we have they will be delivered um this week and the representative will meet with each
nurse to give a quick demo of that particular model and we have a agreement with the company that will help um they supply replace all the batteries and everything and it is a new model that is like state-of-the-art and really user
friendly and they can actually monitor um the the device online because normally now the nurses check every week to make sure that the battery life is there. Um, but they can do that remotely now. So, that's a new added feature. Um, so yeah, so we're very happy. We have 13
devices that we just purchased. Um, we have a a couple um a couple at Smith, a couple at the middle school, a couple at the high school. The um athletic department have have a few, and then there's one in each of the other elementary schools. So, we're we're really um happy to have have all the new
devices. Um, another update is uh we have a nursing grant through the Mass Department of Public Health that we um maintain and to we try to think of ways to spend the money to um do good things with it. So, one of the things we did
was we created our own CPR training program. So, we had a few of our school nurses um become instructors through the American Heart Association. So, that and with the grant money, we purchased all our own mannequins and training equipment. So now we can train our own staff. Um so I'm really proud of our
nurses and so far they've trained 68 of our staff members um so far and we can continue to do that um as needed and it's voluntary for the um and free for all the staff. So we're happy to have our own program now so we can get more
people um trained. And then the next thing we've been working on um re so narcan or nlloxxone it's to help um treat an opioid a suspected opioid over overdose and our school nurses we've all
had narcan in our offices to give as needed um for the for years but recently the state um just changed it so the nurses can train staff to be able to give um nlloxxone or nan
in an emergency. Um kind of just like we train we could train teachers to give EpiPens that they've now said we can train them to give Narcan. Uh which is helpful because um when the nurse isn't in the building now on you know weekends
or at you know events at schools um after hours um then Narcan will be readily available um for any trained staff to use. Um, and so Dambers was a recipient of the opioid settlement and they were trying to think of ways to
spend that money. So the nurses we've been working with, Judith Ryan, the Dammer's public health nurse, and Dr. Mclofflin, our school physician, and we kind of came up with this plan that we can um they'll be purchasing us uh it's called the locks boxes. And so it'll go a box that's mounted on every on the
wall near every AED and it will have Narcan available. So in the event of a suspected opioid opioid overdose. Um, someone who's trained can grab it quickly and and help someone um at any time. So, it wouldn't be locked in the
nurse's office anymore. It'd be available. So, yeah. So, we're have those are our latest updates. Um, yeah. Do you have any questions? >> Any questions? Um actually um you know I I think that
being prepared for possibilities, you know, um everybody hears opioid uh overdose and they automatically think recreational. You know, it could be someone who just had um knee surgery who accidentally took too many. You know, it could be a parent there watching a game
or something like that. So to have that there in precaution, I think is fantastic. I think that's a good use of resources. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Yeah, the AEDs and the um CPR training too. I mean,
especially the AETs, they really can be lifesavers and we actually saw that here one time, God, probably 13 or 14 years ago, right here in this room. And uh so I'm big believer in having a accessible. Um, as I'm reading
this, is there and you may have said one per elementary school and then two in the upper levels or >> Yes. So, um, Smith School since it was part of the the new school plan and since it's such a large a big school, they have three there. Um, but each of the other elementary schools, we all
have one and then there's two at the middle school, three at the high school and then the trainers um have a couple so that they can take with them to >> Sounds like we're reasonably well covered. >> Yeah. Yeah, we are. So we really the nurses and I we really appreciate the support of the district to purchase
those for us because it it really it really matters. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um one other question I had um being a coach. Uh I know we have a few sites that are school sites. Is that something
that could be on the radar for future um like out here at the Twi field or at the softball diamond or at Thorp school where there might be tryyouts for lacrosse or something like that? Um I coach soccer at Georgetown. Our field is separate from the high school and if I ever had an incident I would have to
either get on a golf cart and go find one or um be lucky enough to be the coach at the time to have a portable. Um is that something that we have access to or is that something that could be on a radar? That's something that we've brought up. So, I think we're we'll be
looking into that. Um, we have talked about that. Um, the tricky part is is you have to have it um it can't freeze and you can't really just leave it outside. So, we have to kind of like it's not like we can just leave it, you know, mount it outside um at those
places. But, um that is something we've talked about. So, we'll look into that um more. But, on another notice of Dearest Girl softball, um I'm on the board for that. We did just purchase one for the snack bar at Great Oak, so that will be available. Um, and we've given
the coaches the code to get into the snack bar for that. So, that um should be covered for down there, but it is a good point because we want we want everybody safe everywhere. So, thank you. >> My past life, I was an athletic trainer. Oh, and very happy to hear all of this
share. >> Oh, good. Thank you. Thank you for having me. >> Thank you. Okay, moving on. I'd like to invite our director of student services, Christina Ryan. Um, she's going to provide an update of our student services and as
we're getting into budget season, we did talk a lot about cost analysis in terms of we know that there's been a lot of investment in the programming and certainly we're at a point where we put a lot of investment in and just we thought we would share a lot of information in terms of our major program.
>> Great. Thank you. Good evening everyone. >> So we thought we would start by giving an update on really where we were and where we're headed because I think that's important before we come to the workshop next week or two weeks from now to really give you an idea of what we've been working on. So for next year, our priorities continue to be refining and sustaining our vertically aligned
specialized programs while ensuring that we have staff that can meet our evolving student profiles. Also, we want to solidify the team chair model as a key leadership role. And by doing these pieces, we will expand in district capacity to make sure that all students can have an inclusive experience within
their home school. Next slide, please. Okay. All right. So, we have four branches of our specialized programs which I wanted to highlight today. First is our embark program and embark stands for empowering minds by achieving reach and key outcomes. This was previously known as a learning
center and we have a section at our prek at Riverside, also at Smith, the middle school and the high school. Our RISE program is next and that stands for resilience, inspiration, support, and empowerment that was previously referred to as our therapeutic learning center or drive at the high school. That program
is currently housed at two of our elementary schools. Smith has a fifth grade cohort which will be transitioning to the middle school. We also have a cohort at Thorp Middle and High School. Our SOORE program stands for strength, opportunity, achievement, and responsibility, and that was previously
known as our languagebased program. We have two elementary cohorts. One is a great oak elementary and one is at Smith and then we have a middle school version. So, as our students are progressing to the next tier, we want to make sure that we always have a program strand for them to enroll in. So,
currently we have a middle school branch. So as those students transition to high school, we will be talking about that moving forward. Our stride program is next and that stands for success through readiness, independence, determination and excellence and that was previously known as the intent the
learning center as well that is currently at Smith the middle school and the high school. So, our programming priorities and improvement, you will see here, we are so fortunate, appreciative that the town really invested in our programming last year, and so all of our year one
priorities were really able to occur this year, which was incredible. So, if we look at our embark and stride strand, this year, we were able to hire a full-time elementary BCBA to solely support that programming. For next year, we would like to hire an elementary SLP
and a half-time nurse. Those are two positions that we currently are using contracted services as well as grant funding to support and we really want to make sure that with grant funding maybe not being always something that we can rely on, we really want those to be part of our budget. For year three, we really want to hire a transition specialist at
the high school level because that's really a missing piece of the puzzle. So, as students are enter exiting middle school, entering high school, we really want to make sure that we are focusing on a pathway for college career readiness as well as vocational skills. And that's something that currently if students really need that level of
support, we're having to utilize an outside resource. And so that's something to out of district programs have that we would love to be able to have here in Danverse. For our RISE program, our goal is to have a full-time school psychologist and a special education teacher at each
level. And so this year we were able to hire an elementary school psychologist, a school psychologist at the middle school, and a full-time special education teacher at the high school. And so next year we'd like to continue that and hire an elementary BCBA. Currently again we're using other funds
to be able to contract that service and we would like that to be part of our budget. In addition with our fifth grade cohort leaving Smith and transitioning to the middle school, we want to make sure that staffing follows from elementary to middle school so that we would be able to have a special education teacher at the middle school
and a full-time school psychologist at the high school which would really help complete that program. For year three, we would like to hire a BCBA at the secondary level. So, as students exit our elementary strand, we want to make sure that they have the same level of support and structure. For our SORE program this year, we're
able to hire two special educators, one at the elementary level and one at the middle school level. Next year, with our fifth graders continuing to sixth grade, we want to make sure that that we have a special education teacher dedicated to that position. In for year three, we want to make sure that we have a speech
language pathologist who's really dedicated to that program. And looking at other programs that are in neighboring districts as well as out of district placements, that's really a piece that's missing from our strand. Administratively, this year we were able to hire three team chairs, two at the
elementary level, one at the secondary level. And for next year, we would like to hire two more to really complete that cycle to have one at the elementary and one at the secondary level. And a common piece that people often say is why do you need more team chair people? And one of the main reasons is there are always
going to be students who will require a higher level of support and out of district placements, but we shouldn't be sending students to out of district placements because our paperwork isn't pristine. And so when we make mistakes with paperwork, that often costs out of district placements. And so that's really been a piece that we really want to highlight is we want to make sure
that we have somebody who's really managing that so the students can remain here who absolutely should be here. Any questions so far? >> Yes. >> And correct me if I'm wrong, was it the Reebus Consulting Group that spoke at
school committee a few years like just in the last year? And wasn't one of their recommendations to consolidate these learning centers into one building? So on the slide I saw that we still had a spread of learning centers
and behavioral students um like spread out around the schools. Are we working towards that recommendation or we're are we not going to follow that guidance? >> No, we are and a piece of that was allowing students to graduate from their home schools. So on one of the previous
slides we really talked about last year. So there were two elementary schools where there is a program that is solely of fifth graders. So a couple years ago, the decision was made that students wouldn't have to leave their elementary school while we were trying to consolidate programming. So as those fifth graders move to the middle school,
we will then be able to consolidate. >> Okay. So what grade did that start in? >> So this year those students are in fifth grade. And and for full transparency, I specifically ask because of like some concerning >> emails from parents about behavioral
issues in second, third, fourth grade and students weren't moved where there was an expectation. So, are we doing it only from fifth grade or can you clarify if we're waiting for students to graduate from the school that they're already in or are we looking to
consolidate? That's a two-part answer because part one was prior to our arrival, families were given the option of the program is going to be at X school. We would love for your child to attend. If you choose not to, you can remain at your home school until your child graduates. So that happened before
we arrived. So now when we're looking at where the students are currently located, we are making sure that new students entering the program are only entering at one school. >> Okay. is I do understand that but I don't know if I agree with it because that's not what
the guidance the the consultants gave us and I don't think that was made clear to the school committee if I could. >> Yeah. Go ahead. Okay. So in terms of the specialized programs they will be consolidated. The last strand is the um formerly known as the learning centers
excuse me the therapeutic excuse me the the rise program. So when that was done three years ago as we start to make that move, there was one cohort that was left at Smith that will fully age out and and then it will be just Thorp where that
Strive program will be will reside fully just at Thorp. >> But the way that that was presented and not to be argumentative, but I just I just want some clarity because the parents did bring this up. >> We as a school committee were again we brought in consultants. There was an
understanding that what we were doing was inefficient, not effective for the children, but yet we haven't done it and we're not going to do it until all the kids >> No, we are. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. >> No, go ahead. >> Yeah. No, we are. So, any student that
is identified under any of these programs, that's where they'll be housed. So I don't know if if this is is the decision or discussion that students that are not identified but students that are in these programs this is where they reside in terms of attending the
schools that >> so there will not be therapeutic centers like for example at the Smith school they'll be transitioned to another school >> that's it this is the last year with the grade >> okay this is the last year we're doing it >> so moving forward I'm sorry Dr. Yeah, because because what she said was they will stay until they graduate.
>> Sorry. Uh till grade five. So when we just to give some historical context, I think this is important. >> Yeah. >> So when we were we were consolidating because that is what what was suggested >> um there was a lot of a lot of emotion with um allowing the students to finish
out at Smith. Uh I met with um and that's when um actually Eric Oxford was on board the elementary myself. We met with Violet and their staff and really really wanted that the group to to have the opportunity to finish in their school and we made that decision to allow that to happen with just that
particular program. And I know we also at Riverside we allowed a cohort to remain but that is since move out of Riverside. So truly after this year in terms of the rise program Thorp will be the elementary base. So we've now moved
everything. It's just one more cohort of that students that are left. >> Okay. All I ask is that we have transparency with the school committee because that was something that was discussed and presented and when it didn't happen, as you know, parents have reached out and are, you know, what
happened. We're not supposed to have this. You know, things are supposed to be moved and it just never happened. So that's the clarification I'm looking for. So this is the last year regardless of grade where going forward all students will be all all these
programs will be centralized. >> Exactly. So next year the rise program fully will be at Thorp Elementary. So all students that are in that program will be at Thorp. >> The RISE program. >> That's correct. >> And Embark and Stride will be at Smith
and Soar will be at Great Oak. And the reason that Embark says Riverside is our preK program. Is it Riverside? All of our preK. So we have some students that are that are identified in the Embark program at that age. Um and then once they are in
kindergarten enough, they would then move to Smith. >> Okay. And and one more question, all of these programs of themselves like fall outside of that guidance to try to house things in one building. So we'll just have like specific programs that'll
be dedicated with within one building if and and that complies with what the yes what they advised. Okay. >> So the goal will be instead of referring a student to an out of district program, we would be able to refer a student to an IND district program. So you might be at one elementary school and the program
that really best meets your needs is at another one. And we have a process for really making sure that those profiles align to be able to make that seamless for families. And this seems it's not all elementary. Um, in regards to the middle school specifically, what are the most
important needs that you have? Because there there's also still some contention around my is my child receiving enough of the services. So again, we've talked a lot about, you know, improving the program, but we're still missing and you've
highlighted some of those. Could you just highlight like some of the critical needs >> at the middle school level specifically? >> Yeah. Yeah. Specifically middle school or high schools. I think the elementary school seems to be covered as long as we you know start to consolidate the students but from the middle school there's also talk of like a a lack of
resources for our sake for the budgetary sake sake I would love to know what's critical and what we need to prioritize. So I would say at the middle school level we really need to prioritize our rise program because last year in the absence of really having a program that really met all of our students needs.
That's when students exited and had to complete extended evals in other settings which means up to 40 school days. We're conducting an evaluation in a separate setting that's outside the district or placements. And so that's really the priority because middle school is scary to families. And so making sure that we have the programming
to meet students needs. That's the piece of the puzzle that we need to finish. >> Okay. And is that to full-time staff at the I see HR HRMS? >> Yep. >> Is the year one need going to satisfy
everything that you need? >> It already happened. This is year one. So, we've already done all of those things. >> Okay. Year two, it looks like you need another. So, can you clarify year one wasn't enough? Like, if you were to get everything in one year, what would it be? Like, what are you missing to be fully >> If I had gotten everything in one year,
it would be everything on the slide. But knowing budgetary implications and the financial obligations, we had to prioritize. >> Yeah. Like maybe in a follow-up meeting, let's break that down. I mean, let's get everything up in one in one shot and try to figure this out because I do
understand, but I think the the notion of trying to be budget conscious and I'm only going to ask and we went through this and I think in past years in school committees, let's just put everything out upfront. Let's let Fincom and our town people decide >> what we're going to spend money on as
opposed to being proactive because these are critical needs and parents are on edge >> and they're really taking this seriously. So, I think it's on us to just be upfront about exactly what we need. And I think as a committee and as a town and and Fincom and all those
guys, they can make the final decision because I think it's it's too important to, you know, tiptoe year to year to year because we're going to miss something. >> And if we do miss something, >> I'd rather be in a position of this is what we've asked for, >> right? >> But we didn't get all of it this year.
Maybe we can get get it next year as opposed to all right, let's just hire one and put it in the budget knowing that that's not enough. >> True. >> Okay. >> Absolutely. So, I would say year two and three that would be everything that we need, >> right? >> Let's put that budget together and look
at it. I mean, again, maybe we have the money, maybe we don't, but we have to we have to ask in advance upfront. We can't tiptoe into this. It's too emotional. Well, your point's well taken into the lines with what Josh said at the beginning of the meeting. And quite
honestly, a lot of our conversation over the last year or more has been about getting special ed in a place where we want it. So, I I don't think we have any problem here. We're in agreement with it. >> Oh, no. Absolutely. Absolutely. I just see a three-year plan and if
I don't think we have time to wait three years, I mean, we have to ask for what we need. If we don't get it, you know, then we can look long term, >> right? And that's right. So, >> unless it's about scaling. >> No, no, no. And and certainly trying to knowing I'm just going to be honest with
you, coming in and realizing the needs were so great and being able to we had a a huge ask the first year and that was basically just to stabilize as we're trying to consolidate, but knowing we we thoroughly need more, you know, needs and we we did a lot of work last year to reallocate and move things around. So,
right now we're in year two. Um, but we haven't put on our support staff that's in here too that we're working through our current budget that we've been able to utilize some additional funding, but that's not in here because we need that as well that we currently have. We have
a number of IAS instructional assistants that support that we have to to make sure the programs run. Um, and I think that's the big piece is being able to look at what we have, but not at the expense of not insuring because as Christina will tell you that we were
close in a few situations that, you know, a few more items we would have been able to possibly keep a few more students here and that's that's not good. But I also know that we've made a lot of strides that we kept we've kept a lot of students here. We had a number of moveins >> that were able to satisfy. Uh but point
we'll take >> and last point I'd love to see the analysis on moveins move outs where we netted because that's also part of the risk profile of the budget that we submit. Three years is an eternity for a parent
especially in middle school. That's the entire middle school experience. So they don't have time to wait. So they should know upfront you know what we're doing. You know, a three-year plan for them should be something that's fully upfront. You know
what I mean? But we should also present the budget as if we go all in and it costs a million dollars, we save 1.5 or 2 million from out of district placements. That's that's the kind of approach that I think everyone would love to see. And parents need to make
that decision up front as opposed to putting their kid in middle school and saying, "Where's my support? Where's my help?" and it's not coming. So, I might as well leave and then they're gone for good. Thank you. >> Next slide, please.
>> So, this is why it matters. So, in each what we did is I looked at each of our programs strands, how many students are currently in those programs, and if any one of those students were to leave at this moment in time, how much how much money it would cost for them to be placed in an out of district placement. So, these numbers range from public
placements to private placements. So for our embark students, if any of those students were to exit right now, we're looking at spending $198,852 to $239,599 per student. So I think we are one of many districts
that faces that at that moment in time, you're talking about one student. It's like we don't have enough to be able to hire x amount of staff. It's only one student, but it's one student at that moment in time. But if that student is in third grade, we are spending that money every year with inflation until that student graduates or remains in
that placement until age 22. For our RISE program, that total per student is $164,851 to $219,599 per student. Our soar program that tuition
transportation would cost $ 104,000 to $143,000 in per stride that ranges 165,000 to roughly $222,000 per student. >> And that's right now.
>> That's right. as the inflationary pressures go and certainly uh the different reimbursements and hopefully even just that grant piece with the IDA grant this year and having the reduction you know these are all real important facts >> and I think in previous year the thought
was okay it's only one student and then with circuit breaker reimbursement we don't feel that hit but that isn't necessarily the case anymore and that isn't a guarantee that that reimbursement will always be here for us and so we're constantly relying on that as opposed to saying instead of spending $200,000 per student. How could we
reallocate that funding to have a program here and and potentially tuition students in to that program? We are one of many districts who are currently facing that. And so when I have meetings with our other colleagues, they're saying we would rather be able to send our students from a local town to
Danvers or vice versa instead of having to put students on a bus and attend a program that's almost an hour away. >> Just one more question. I'm sorry if I'm jumping ahead here. Maybe it's not part of this or maybe it's different. Um, wasn't there an
initiative to attract out of district students into Danvers due to our programs? I think we were partnering with someone or >> Sorry, I'm bringing up old stuff, but >> No, no, you're not. Um, if I if I can share. Um, in terms of the
transportation, we were partnering with the Northeast Consortium. Oh no, not that specifically with special education like something about hearing and >> right. So initially we we did we were looking at um a heart of hearing program to bring that in and when we did a cost
analysis with this we found that we really needed to put our resources back in this direction. >> All right. Thank you. And we also I also met with directors from other towns to see if that was a need because if there were students in local communities who had that need, we would be open to exploring that and there really wasn't
that need. So I wanted to highlight here are trends and so what you will see as we build specialized programming and the numbers are starting to go down. So these are the numbers of students who have been placed out of district per year and our efforts are paying off. And so we want to continue to decrease the amount of students who are exiting our district by
investing in our programs. >> If I could through the chair, you know, one of the things that I know all superintendents we've talked about is being able to franchise, right? As Christina mentioned, if if we have a program that's appropriate for a student of the district, you know, it's cost effective, but we can't do that at the
expense of, you know, putting our own program into stress. So, if we're able to build capacity and be very selective, you know, just the return, if you just saw the the pricing of that, you know, that certainly is how some districts have been able to get ahead and and add
additional resources, but we couldn't put our own programs um that that are prepared to do that. So, you obviously need space, you need staff, you need rooms, cohort. And if I could go back to one point that you made, Gabe, uh Mr. envelopes I'm sorry that I agree with
thousand% is the continuum of services that we talked about a couple years ago. So families that are at the elementary level seeing what is the pathway for my child you know not only grade three four we got that covered five but the middle and the high school. So, um, and and
really it gets into how do we prioritize moving forward. You know, we've made a lot of strides because the elementary is very close and we've gotten some further analysis through constellations, an outside group that does a lot of behavioral work, but we also know that we need to do some more work at the
middle and high school. And that's why having a team chair at the high school next year aside from an additional elementary will allow to continue to build the programmings because I I agree with you. we all do is as a parent you want to know like what's it what will it be like for my child as they move
forward you know how how will it look when my child is 18 19 20 21 22 so that is a critical piece so um we're getting very close in some of them uh currently a lot of work to do and the unknown piece though is as I said you know we
we're moving forward we've kept a lot of the um support program that we need or our instructional assistants that aren't on here that we have some of leftover grant funding but that's going to run out. So we have to position them because the programs will not function without
having that additional pair of professional instruction assistant for support. So >> next slide please. >> Another one. >> Yes one more. >> So why in district programming matters? We already talked about a lot of these pieces but really we want to reduce the
reliance on costly out of district placements. We want to stabilize spending amidst variable state reimbursements. We really want to keep our families and communities really impacted in a positive way. So when students are here, they're connected to their community, their peers, their
routines. When they are in other placements, especially at the secondary level, students at high school level want to participate in things. They want to be part of extracurriculars. They want to do sports. And if their school is 45 minutes to an hour away, they're missing out on some of those opportunities. and there are day-to-day things that happen at a high school
setting that they're not necessarily a part of. And so that's a piece that we want to be cognizant about. Program stability and growth. We want to make sure that we are continuing to target our training and consultation to strengthen our programming in future opportunities. As Dr. Bower said, we want to make sure that we're at a place
where we do have the capability to potentially tuition students in from other districts. But we want to be cautious about that because at any moment in time if a family moves into Danvers and we certainly don't want to say, "Oh no, you can't attend this program because we have two students from this other town." So we really need to be thoughtful about that. But we're
very very close to making these pieces happen. >> Any other questions? >> Can I have one more thing? I'm sorry to u the other part too that I think is important. So you know as we get moving forward we would be able to under controlled circumstances offer tours of
the programs. might be helpful if the school committee is available to come in and see u some of the programs in terms of where they are. I know Violet of Principal Power is still in the audience and juggling the two programs that will exit out will make a huge difference in the building. Uh but I have hats off to
that that staff and the great work that they're doing at Smith. But just being able to see, you know, how the programs function, I think would be important and so we'd offer that up as a as a visit opportunity. >> Thank you. Anything else?
Yeah, Mr. Chairman. Oh, sorry. Okay. Um, I think this is difficult to absorb sometimes in the context of part of a regular meeting. So I hope we can consider at some point maybe a you know a workshop of an hour and a half or so
where we could actually talk about hey what is the embark program the rise program sore and stride and I agree going to actually see them in action would certainly be important as well but really to understand hey what disabilities are we dealing with at the
embark program that and what are we it's just within the context of trying to put it inside a regular school committee I think it's more difficult. I don't know if anybody else agrees or just don't. I understand. But >> because I'd be happy just to have a good long conversation with you and uh and
learn that way. I'm fine with that, too. >> Sure. We'd be happy to do that. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Just uh let's give a quick update of the policy subcommittee uh back in December. Um I just wanted to to highlight you know we we've been quite
busy um moving policies improving policies connect with our uh strategic plan where we need to provide the base so our educators uh staff are supported as well as family and students. Um so we we've gone through quite a bit. Um just knowing that moving up uh
reconsideration of curriculum materials will be on the docket for tonight. uh field trips. There's not not changing the policy but just we've improved the procedure which we'll discuss visitors to schools and then looking for the inclusive policy of the packs making
sure that the policy wording is very uh very delineated for CPAC and LPACS uh and then we did say that we would have a Narcan policy that will be presented next month. So, we've made lots of strides and again I wanted to be clear that this all connects to our strategic
plan because we need that base to ensure that you know we're allowed to um keep pushing academic excellence as well as supporting all students. So, anybody has any questions but certainly we'll continue to work. Uh we will have an audit uh next year. It seems like we've
done a lot of policies and we have more on the docket but we do plan on um going through a full audit of our school committee policies next year. there's a question, but that's all that I have for the update. >> Thank you.
>> Next up is Mr. Landers, our Danvers representative to Essex Tech. >> Always a pleasure to uh come in for my annual update with you folks. Uh before we before we start on the Essex Tech, Eric, I think your idea in terms of as
you know full well the finance committee which I'm also a member of was very actively involved in the planning to try to bring many of those same programs back into and I think there's a commitment on the part of the finance committee to support that as best
possible and I you know I can't speak for all of us but I think we would be more than happy to once again do another one have those maybe roundtable meetings with the three groups with the finance committee, the the the select
board and the school committee as it relates to that one particular issue might have some value to it. So this is a recommendation. >> You know, I love meetings. >> Don't we all? So, in regards to the Essex Tech, um
there is some substantial uh movement and issues in play right now. You may very well have have heard some of the stuff in regards to the changes to our admissions policy. Um at this point right now in terms of the
application process, there's really no different in regards to that. Our DERS numbers, I think we had 130 kids who had applied. That's Danver students. So that's kids from Danvers, not just necessarily from here at the at the Holton Richmond. Um that number is a
little bit below where we probably were last year, but my guess is is we're going to be probably around the same numbers in respect to that. So in terms of of of the process of those kids coming, you know, making that application, that's the same. The
admissions process is going to be very different. and that admissions process is going to be based required by DESIE which is going to be a lottery system. Um I think that there has been some misunderstanding on the part of perhaps some parents a belief that somehow we
here in Danvers or the or even the school committee at the Essex folk tech was the people who were sort of behind that particular process and that's not the case. Um I think it would be fair to say that the school certainly the school
committee at the Essex folk tech um was not in favor of that particular process. I know personally I think I'd expressed this to you folks and I've expressed it a number of times both publicly and privately to other folks. um it is not going to be something that will be beneficial I think in the long run and
and it certainly will not gain in my estimation what its desired effect was which was to add diversity to the student body. I think that the one thing that I'm very proud of both as a member of that school committee and definitely
as the admission subcommittee was the efforts that have been made over the course of the last two or three years to reach out especially to communities and to try to bring in a more diverse student body. And I think that diverse student body is reflected in the fact
that the Essex Vogue Tech student body is more diverse than probably all of the 17 sending communities. maybe not Salem, but pretty darn close and certainly better than most others. And that's going to that's going to basically go by
the wayside, I think, as a result of this. What we've in the admissions subcommittee, I think there was a there was a strong commitment on the part of everybody to a concept that we needed to have two very important things with any
admissions process. We needed to have some degree of shity in regards to what's going to happen moving forward with this. We because if you think about how lotteryies work, you know, if you've
got and I think we we're probably going to have I think somewhere in the range of about it was I think it was somewhere in the range of about six or 700 applications for the roughly no I'm sorry it's about 2 to one. So, it's probably going to be
closer to 800 applications for the roughly 400 admission spots. Um, you know, Damas could get a hundred kids if you just open it up to a straight lottery system. Um, PED could get 400
kids and you just can't have that type of a of an unexpected increase in student enrollment. Um, you could also get the opposite, right? you could get a year where you only get 25 kids from dams despite having 130 140 kids who
apply. So, so we wanted to get some level of shity in regards to that. We also had an issue which dealt with the fact that the small communities which have very few applications, they have to pay anyways. And so from a fairness standpoint, there was a desire to have
some level of minimum so that those so that those those schools would those communities would have at least some some some people who would get in. Um there was a lot of back and forth over the course of the last year. Ultimately I think the the program that they've
come up with is based on a three-year enrollment average. That is going to be difficult because our enrollment has actually gone down consistently over the last four or five years. So the number that they're at
right now for Danvers would be a minimum of 60 kids per year because of the vague reason I won't go into it's a little bit complex that that number could be as high as 67 or 68 kids in a year. Um, if I can interrupt, sorry,
>> but in terms of the cost per district, why the predictability is important, how much per child do we pay for them to attend Essex Tech? >> It's $18,000 a kid. So, and and as we've talked about before at, you know, at Nauseium in terms of this, I think especially at the finance committee
level when we've dealt with this is, you know, we have a degree of what I would describe as excess capacity here within, right? We could take back a hundred of those kids and it wouldn't cost us a dime to do that here at Dampers High
School. We get about 25 kids a class. They would just be melted in and you wouldn't have to add teachers. You wouldn't have to add staff. Now, of course, the question that comes up is, well, why can't we make cuts? Well, that just isn't how it works, right? These classes have got enough room. Couldn't
take back 250 kids, all of the kids that are up there. But, but that's about $1.8 8 million that we're spending that we if those hundred kids came back here we would not have to spend. So the real question that I that I know you know
superintendent and I have had lengthy discussions about this is I think it's fair to ask are those kids best served by being up at and they and their families believe it and they do and they and they serve them very well up there but um when you see these increases so
if you were going to see our number go from 240 or 245 and if we added an additional 40 kids up there. You know that now all of a sudden we're talking about a $750,000
increase and no ability to control it. Now to put that in perspective, you just watched a whole lot of slides about money that we need to find to be able to do something in this district that's really important. If we've got to spend that $750,000
for kids who are going to go to the to the AE tech school, um it's got to come from someplace. And I'll just leave it at that. So that's the really important part of why we want some level of cost shity in terms of what goes on. Long
story short, um the I think it would be fair to say that the four biggest sending communities, Beverly, Salem, Danvers, and Peodyy have have through their superintendent, their mayors, and their town managers have asked that the
numbers not be based on prior years enrollment, but be based on your percentage of the total eth grade population of the 17 sending districts. So in essence, what in in essence what would happen would be I think in Danvers
the numbers were about 9% of the total. So if there's going to be 400 kids that would be applied, we would get 36 of those spots. That that would be the fair number because that represents what our percentage is in comparison to the other sending districts. Um that has not been
something that has been wellreceived as of yet by the the school committee. But again, the four biggest sending communities, their mayors and their superintendents have sent a letter asking for that to be put in place. Unlike your school committee where you
each get one vote and the Essex folk tech school committee, we get votes based on the number of students that are there. So if you take the votes of Danvers, PED, Beverly, and Salem and you combine them together, they have actually more than 50% of the votes
between them. So arguably, if if the four biggest sending communities want to impose a different formula for it, there is at least in this limited basis, it would change
because our numbers would go down. that could happen. I don't know if that's going to happen. Again, I don't I don't have to vote the way I'm told to vote by I'm I'm actually again, as you know, I'm appointed by this by the moderator and and and confirmed by you guys. Um Pat's
never called me once and said, "I need you to vote a certain way." Um I don't know how I'd necessarily handle it if she did. I think she knows not to do it. we're usually in sync on these type of things, but um you know there's no requirement that those that those members do that, but that's where we're
there. There's another very very substantial issue which is in play right now which gets rarely into the weeds but is very very unfortunate or very disappointing and that is is that Desi has given a preliminary ruling that the
hundred rough seats that go right now to out of district what I would describe as out of district agricultural students so about 500 kids a year are accepted 400 of them come from the 17 sending districts If you're a kid from Dambers
and you get accepted, you have an ability after you go through the the um uh the sort of the discovery period to go into any one of the 25 programs, whether it's an agricultural program or it's a traditional vocational technical. However, there's about a hundred of
those agricultural spaces each year that go to kids from the from the rest of the state and and I'm going to tell you the bulk of those kids come from Lynn and Lawrence and Haveril and Ree and Everett and again communities that have
substantially more diversity and when it's even and when I say that our diversity in our program is much better than most of the sending districts it's in part because we get we get a lot of kids from from Lawrence and Lynn in
Hville. Um and and that adds a tremendous amount to the diversity of the program. Desi has made a decision that those spaces need to go to the sending districts first. If that happens, and we're fighting it,
the superintendent is fighting this. But if Dusty stays firm with that, what that means is is that Danver's kids will not be competing for 400 seats. They'll be competing for 500 seats. And we can anticipate if that does happen that that
our number of the the percentage of the 130 kids who apply who are accepted will be substantially higher. And that that you probably would see anywhere from 70 to 75 kids potentially from Damas in just the first year. and that alone
would increase our numbers probably by 60 kids. So, um you know, again, it's not something that the school wants. The school wants to continue to to to afford the opportunities that that school provides to those kids from all across
the state, most notably the other the other county areas which traditionally have gone to the Essex Aggie. Um but Desi at this point has made a determination that that's not how the statute works and there's a is a negotiation going back and forth right now. I wouldn't even know how the
applica the admissions process would work quite frankly if that happens. But full disclosure that is out there right now and it and it could have a real lasting and substantial impact in terms of a community like Danvers but all of the sending communities at this point.
>> Mike, let me ask you a question. Um what's in your opinion what's the appetite of the four large ascending districts >> to impose a percentage into the into the format?
Is there any is there any feeling of >> I'm sure it's been discussed. So, is there any >> Yeah, I would I mean I I'm not going to not going to say how I think people would necessarily would vote, but I I think that um those I have made that I have I have
made that motion for three years as we've been dealing with this and we've made that motion dams as a general rule that that that admission should have been based upon your percentage as a as a as a district in the to overall um
component of those 17 districts. Um, and that has been I've been a vote of one with that every time. And so I wouldn't anticipate that the folks from
those communities will change their opinion of that. They've been supportive of this. You know, they've been supportive of the idea of needing cost certainty. Um, this is however the first time that I would tell you that the mayors and the superintendents have been as adamant about this as they have been.
And in the situation with all three of those communities, it is the mayor that makes the appointment straight out. Just it's a mayoral appointment. Um, Bever's position is up this year. I do not know what Mayor Cahill did in regards to
reappointing um the Beverly representative. Salem is up next year with me. My hope is, as you know, that I will not have to come before you ever again in regards to this because, as I say all the time, I am the only one there who does not want
to be there. Don't I have no stake in that g that game whatsoever. Um but so Salem and Danvers would be next year and then puberty, which is really the key, Pebb has 10 votes. We have we have
we have six votes. Um, PEBB has 10. So, um, I I I don't I don't put again I don't want to speak for anybody, but it would be very surprising to me for Beverly to Pe to support that. >> And no matter who the appointee is, they
they don't have to vote in alignment with the mayor. >> No, we're once we're appointed, we're independent. And I don't even, you know, it's again, this gets into a legal battle. Is the power to is the power to appoint the power to to uh remove, >> right? I don't I don't know the answer to that,
you know, and I and I'm again I've begged Pat to remove me and she and she won't listen to me. So the uh but yeah, so I I I think the the short answer is is I don't ant I don't anticipate that it'll it'll go anywhere on next meeting,
but it'll be brought up. >> Any other questions? >> I have uh one, I guess. Um, first of all, thank you for the update, Mike. Appreciate the work you do. Um, are there plans that you're aware of for any additional
um, vocational schools either locally or, you know, within this part of the Commonwealth? It sounds like there's enough interest that, you know, if we had more seats, they could be filled. um not necessarily, you know what I mean,
not at Essex Tech, but if the opportunities in other districts were were higher, they could probably be filled based on the interest, but is there any discussion about that from the state standpoint? So, so we we have as a
school committee, which again, and full disclosure I've voted against every time, but and the only one who's done this, but we have put a a U building the school building fund um request in
to I believe increase I mean I think ultimately they they'd look to increase it by as many as 300 students would be if they could if they could. I mean again it's very difficult to be able to it's a different situation but on an annual basis I think that that the
number of seats that are there have been increased incrementally by probably 30 or 40 seats every year for the last five years. So we've probably seen 150 additional seats. There are smaller projects that are being done which will increase capacity up there. Um, in terms
of a, you know, I I do believe, I think I've I've said this before, you do get to a point where the size of that school concerns me in regards to whether we get diminishing returns for that type of a program. >> And so I I don't disagree with the idea
that would be better served by adding another school someplace else and not having a 30,000 seat school up at up at that location. But I I at this point right now, I think if you're going to increase vocational technical seats in Essex County, they're
going to come by an an increase of the facility up there. And again, we're also the we have the the additional issue of being the host community and it and and that has its own set of issues from a standpoint of traffic and parking and safety and right and all of those things that we deal with. So you sort of
anticipated my next question which is I remember a couple of years ago the then the superintendent coming before the select after finance here and saying oh no you know we don't have any plans to expand and then very quickly it seemed like oh there there were I was hearing
about we're going to do this to add some seats and that to add some seats and part of the issue was look every time you add seats you potentially add more dam students and then you add more cost to ders Um, so how many additional you think 150 seatsish have been added or
could be added? >> I think I think over the last five years I would probably guess that there's been at least 120 seats total. >> Um, I think over the I mean I think again it depends on what what reception they get from the state in regards to
it. But but one of the things that I do know is the the additions and the and the improvements that have been made to the facility, which I applaud the efforts that they make. It is not like us trying
to do it here in the Danvers public schools. the they can take a million dollars and basically do what we pro would probably cost us for a number of reasons $5 million, >> right? >> Because they can use and and it's great
educationally if you're a kid who's in HVAC. >> It's wonderful. You're in a position to be able to to do all kinds of work on the campus and it's great work. It's it's it's, you know, going to get you in the union when you get out. Um, so you've got that. You also have a
situation where after their second year, kids are only generally on campus for half time. So, so if you're in some of those programs, you know, whereas we here need 30 seats for 30 kids. >> Yeah.
>> You know, they they can at at Essex Vote Tech, we can we can basically take those 30 seats and probably transfer that to 60 kids. >> Yeah. Make it 60 kids over the last two years. >> Yeah. and and and again a lot of the stuff that goes on does not require the same
level of public bidding and that we deal with >> on it as a result of that. So again I I mean I think that's probably fair to say that that and again it's to applaud the effort that's been made by the administration in terms of doing that. It's been a master stroke in being able
to make some of those changes and improvements over time. So >> yeah, I mean the concern that brought all of this to the four years ago was that um Ambers had a lot of uncertainty in terms of what it would pay year to year to the tech
and any money that goes to the tech in theory, you know, could be used for educational purposes within the district too. So there's a there was that push pull and I think we were looking for fairness at the time. Um but it seems like the push pull still could exist
too. >> Oh and and I think the the more important thing is is that again if we if if we see some expansion which we'll see and we see desi hold firm on the idea that basically all
2,2100 kids are going to come from the 17 sending districts. Then we're talking about probably an area being in a range of five and a half or$6 million a year of our expenditure
which is what we spend on our fire department of you know police department. It's a it's a substantial amount to educate 300 kids many of who could again >> potentially be returned back into the system. And I know again I know that's
not something the parents want to hear because they're convinced that that that's that's the only place far right but as we've said before you want to go into a nursing program you want to be an engineer there's going to be sacrilegious because I'm a school committee member there but I think you
know where my art is. >> Do you want to be an engineer? Come to Danvers High School take AP science and math courses and then go to college out of that. you're gonna be you're gonna be better off, you know. But >> thanks, Mike. >> Thanks, Mike.
>> All right. Thank you, guys. >> Oh, >> sorry. Oh, >> I asked you. >> Thanks. Hi, Mike. How are you, Mr. Lopes? Go right ahead. >> Hey. Um, I I definitely hear all the concerns about the lottery. I don't know much about it, but really curious to see
the impact from the first year. Um, I think the most that just in while you were talking and doing some research, it seems to be designed to I I'll carefully use the words because I mean this is just from what I'm looking
at is to remove the perceived exclusionary practices of taking students that are, you know, performing better, have higher grades, and have economic advantage in regards to doing all the interviews and and and things of that such. And I think that's something
that we've discussed and debated even with our former town manager in regards to you know not only are Denver students going to Essex Tech but the some of the best students were going and I think that's counter and I still will hold stand on that that it's counter to what
a vocational program should be. Some of you know coming from you know the city of Boston seeing you know friends who hated school didn't go but ended up at you know the Wakefield folk, I can't remember the name of it. Yeah,
Northeast, they're plumbers, they're electricians, they're doing amazing work. Um the again, the numbers are going to be coming up, but just as you've just said, you know, there's thoughts of expansion, there's thoughts of, you know, doing
some of this other stuff. I I get that if the school becomes bigger, it it'll open up more seats for dampers. If they're doing a lottery, maybe it opens up more seats for Dambers. I just hope that this lottery will accept the students who most need the vocational
education and we can keep doing what we've done with our silver and gold for gold. I think we're doing what we've always said we're going to do because we can't control that is make dampers attractive and and the students stay here. What I would like to know and it's
what we've discussed over many years is and you haven't mentioned anything about it is the partnership between Danver public and Essex Tech and Exchange of Students. Is that still happening? Are we still meeting with the superintendent?
I know we've expanded some programs in vocational tech. There was conversations about half day. None of that's been in the update. So, I'm hoping you can share anything on that. So yeah, thank you. And as you know, because you you you we were
basically in a position to be able to I think what we described is try to reset the relationship that we had with the school in regards to us as the host community. Um, you know, I I think that that I can I can speak for for the
superintendent for for Dan superintendent that um there has always been a desire to be cooperative and to find areas where we can best serve each other. Um, give you I think I give you a
good example. One of the things that that that we had spoken I know about at one point was the idea that we have those AP classes. So, what if what if we afford to to the kids from the vote, if you want to take an AP class, you can
come take it at Danvers High School and we, you know, maybe a trade and and we're going to be able to identify some kids who didn't get in initially who were really going to benefit and let's try to get them into a nighttime program. And um uh I can just tell you
that that the folk has added their own AP programs and they have a number of AP programs that they afford to across the board with their with their students. Um, I'm not going to for a minute say that that
that the FTECH administration is not willing to be cooperative in regards to those things, but I can say that we have not seen a lot of cooperation from that standpoint. And um, there really isn't a
whole lot of need for them functionally to cooperate, if that makes sense. That's not to say they're bad people or that they don't care about the students or the Denver students or any of that other part of it. That's not true. Exact opposite. But um you know I
think the the focus is to maintain the school up there and um their attitude is is the local sending districts got to take care of their own programs. Well, I guess
thank you so much for that brutally honest answer because I think that really reinforces what we've always talked about. Is it genuinely in a vocational school or is it going to continue to draw advanced placement students? >> So, if I could through the chair. Yeah,
I'm done. >> I I agree a thousand% Mr. velopes that the intent of the lottery system because I know in my experience as principal, assistant principal, number of students were not able to attend Essex Tech that I know would have been perfect based upon areas that needed to go to school
well, grades and things of that nature because they just weren't interested. Um, so I'm hoping that the lottery does open up those opportunities. Um but there are parallel programming and certainly we'd be open to offering up you know because we have the advanced placement but they have duplicate
programs but we part of our argument to the uh Essex Tech is that we're not against vocational education and that has to be very very clear but we also know that we have an obligation to all Danber students and not everybody can go to Essex Tech. So if that is not predictable, then we'll lose resources
that we can invest in maybe partnering with other local districts that have vocational programming. We know Salem and PED do have vocational programming and so does Gloucester. Uh we do know that the afterdark program uh we just weren't able to get it up and going with is Tech where they take the class in the
morning here and go there in the afternoon, but that's not off the table. But um we said if if we lose that ability because the resources are gone, then that doesn't do anybody service because there will be many more students here that can benefit from other programming that we could provide or
partner with their local communities. So >> Josh, you all set? >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Mike. >> Thanks, guys. Good to see you guys. Thanks. >> Unfinished business. >> Okay. Um, thank you, chair. Just uh
going back to uh second readings. Uh we have three policy that we recommended for first reading in December. We'd like to bring back for second reading in January. The first is the uh school the school food and nutrition meal modifications
um as well as the uh norms and beliefs removal because of that really is a redundant policy and then access the buildings and grounds. So for the the first um piece you know for a second reading you know the
recommendation is to move forward with the u food modifications and meal program. We have a second. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I I >> All opposed.
>> I uh the next is actually um the removal of the school committee norms and beliefs uh due to the redundancy. Um and certainly we already have protocols that are in place and those are things that we should be able to adjust and and move
every year. Um and there are a number of examples that are already shown. So the recommendation is to move to remove uh policy BDA- school committee norms and beliefs for second. >> Any questions or concerns? >> So move.
>> Have a second. >> Second. >> All those in favor please say I. All opposed. >> I And then finally, um the policy access to buildings and grounds, it's just to
really be very specific in terms of who has access to buildings and grounds during the school day and during non-school hours. So the recommendation is to for second reading policy ECAB access to buildings and grounds. >> Any questions or discussion? >> So moved.
>> Second to have questions. What what specifically Oh, in case you read it over again, something struck you as you run the other second here. Thank you. I I think I just have a a clarification
question on that in regards to I mean those seem pretty obvious but I know that the grounds school grounds and the buildings are maintained by the facilities department for the town. Um, and I know in policy meetings we discussed, you know, bringing control
with extra or external people to have the school committee and the superintendent control that is that separate from this. It runs in conjunction with this. So certainly um you know for those that are approved to utilize the buildings and grounds
outside of school hours, we collaborate with the buildings and grounds uh department. So for example, if we've been foraying into some rentals and we work closely with the DPW, but certainly there's uh the recreation department. So we all have to collaborate because we
know they're community buildings, but we want to be very certain that we not only protect during the school day, but also specific purposes for out of school hours. >> Okay. And I say that because I've been an advocate to ensure that rentals are controlled. >> Yes. >> At the superintendent office, revenue
goes to the superintendent office. I know we have like parks and wreck things which are town and community focused but I think a concern was there was some outside events happening maybe free or not but they were just outside of the control of the school committee or the superintendent.
>> Right. >> So this this firms it up and just I I think again we have a great partnership but this protects us regardless of >> okay thank you answers my question. Anything else? So it's been moved and second believe it
has. >> All those in favor please say >> I. >> All those opposed. >> I business. >> The first item um really doesn't require approval. It's just to notify the school
committee that we're looking for a change of protocols and procedures and this pertains around uh student travel and field trips. So primarily out of district uh overnight and out of state
type of travels. Um so basically we took existing policy JJH and created a checklist that we reviewed with their attorney. We found that and honestly what I'm familiar with is when there is an outofstate
out of the country an overnight trip it's personally brought to the school committee for a presentation of approval. There should be the opportunity to ask questions. Um currently that goes into the consent agenda. Um but I feel very strongly that there should be an opportunity to bring this forward because you know there are
a number of items that go into those types of trips and quite frankly it's a high you know it's a great experience for our students and staff but it's also a big liability for our district. So um we we need to ensure you know there there's I share this with you in the
folder but um school nurses uh must be part of this to review and sign off. uh we need to ensure that all students if there's certain physical accommodations that the trips allow for that. Um and certainly if there's international travel that we ensure that u if a nurse
care is required that you know a license in another country may not be the it's not the same as in the United States. Certainly timelines also making sure that um there's accessibility compliance. So the number one thing that's important is really the educational purpose. So, there's a
purpose and I know it's listed, but we need to be very clear that it aligns with our curriculum goals. Um, and and certainly if there's any missed classwork and time in school that that's described thoroughly. The other piece too is just following the planning um guidelines, right? Ensuring that they
give plenty of notice. But number four to me is is is really important and it's important to everybody, but it's and it's in our policy is the financial plan, right? So, some of these trips, they're very expensive, right? there's transportation and lodging and um all
sorts of things, but honestly that there has to be equitable access regardless of the ability to pay. Meaning that if a student has a demonstrated financial need, there has to be something built into the trip that would accommodate for that. So, and I'm not saying that that's
not happening, but there should be that that should be very clear. And then the question is how is that done, right? because this the school district doesn't have a line item to cover that, right? So that has to be clear and that's part of you know bringing that forward that
should be explained. the fundraising that's required. You know, what is the fundraising and how will that support the trip? Also, the required number five, the school nurse has to be involved with this to review like who will be traveling, you know, what are
the needs they may have, but also there's a layer of um you know, the things are reviewed before it gets to you that I think is important. Obviously, the equity piece, our attorney was very clear in saying we must ensure that all of our trips, if there are students with um that have
needs, medical, health or accessibility, that they are met in accordance with the law. I'm not saying that's not happening, but that needs to be outlined very clearly. And then the other piece too that I I believe number nine is that the school trip is always school sanctioned. It can't be privately
organized. We won't sanction that school committee. That's the wording. But also, It's important that conflict of interest is all set and signed, sealed and delivered and that if there are any incentives offered by a travel company that those applied directly to defay the trip cost. So we would be very clear on
this. Um my previous experience as principal is if we have for example the French exchange program, you know, I would sit as principal with the teacher or the facilitator to guide them through um in terms of and then the school committee has opportunities to ask
questions such as, you know, what is the financing financing plan for those that may not be able to afford and certainly how do we know that all accommodations are met? What's the trip insurance and and other items? How does this correct connect to the curriculum? And we want to be supportive of opportunities to
travel. But I believe with that being said that to me this is at a high level that it should be you should have an opportunity as a school committee to ask questions uh to ensure that we follow everything. >> Questions on this update?
>> Let me ask you this. So, are there items in the checklist that are not already contained in policy? I think it was JJH. So I essentially yes there there are a couple that are a little bit more
explicit in terms of um the 504 like for example an item six. You know there is a piece about not excluding based upon disability health related needs but the attorney was very clear in ensuring that if any students are 504s or anything
specific to an ed plan that that is that has been noted and reviewed. And certainly the other piece about the school nurse. Okay, >> that has to be very clear on that piece. >> Um, I guess the way I look at it is this. We have a policy JJH the process
um for approving out of country or out of state field trips I presume goes to the superintendent you will before it gets to us and you don't say yay or n. >> No, you are. >> No, I said before. Pardon me. Excuse me.
Uh, yes. So there's a whole piece that would be uh work the principal, assistant superintendent, the nurse gets to me >> and then I see all that is and then all right, you're ready to go to the school. >> So it seems to me that if you as a superintendent want to use a checklist
like one you presented to decide whether or not you are going to recommend this trip or approve it and then pass it on to us. I I I applaud it. I don't think said, I don't think we need to approve your use of it, but um I think to the
extent that this is a tool that you want to rely on, I'm all for it. Yeah. Whatever you do. Thank you. >> Um just as someone who has uh organized field trips and whatnot, uh there's only one real small question I have on number
four, the financial plan, uh where it's asking, um I'm assuming most of this is on the chaperone or the organizer of the trip. Um were it mentioned substitute coverage costs identified? Is that something just like giving a providing a
list for the chaperrons at our school faculty so they can provide or is that on the um the educator to come up with the amount to build. So for that's a great question. So this is really more in line with you know the
DC trip for example you know those types of trips but traditionally the trips that are out of the country typically will happen outside of the school you know like during February break or April break or December break um or you know
because there is there are costs identified with that so that's why working together like and that's why then it ties back into you know how long you are you know we try to avoid as being out of school. >> All right. So, yeah. So, that basically so it's they would present to you what
the timing of who the people were going and it would be a collaboration for a couple of these. >> Correct. Thank you. >> Gabe, you all set Josh? >> Yeah. Good. It's clear. >> Okay. Uh the next four items really pertain to
um the challenge curriculum and this goes back to when we had the the book challenge and just the realization is that the current the policy that we have really focuses around library materials. So uh we said that we would go back work
with our council uh look at other districts what policies do they have uh and our attorney came back with four recommendations. Um and just to highlight really being able to have a separate policy for any challenged instructional materials versus the
library materials that's separate being very clear on matching the challenges that might be related based upon the recent uh Supreme Court case Mimmude. Um and so it it opened up just some clarification some refining. So I'll go
through it piece by piece. Uh I I asked uh assistant superintendent Anderson to to if there's any clarification questions as well. Um, we've shared these with our we knew this was a draft and we shared this with our uh DTA. I'll
share this with the faculty as well just so that we're all on the same page. So, there are four um policy revisions and changes that we're asking for first readings. So the first one is um it is
the challenge instructional materials JR and and really the current language really is around materials with voluntary library. We know we need a separate policy and and really just focusing on instructional materials remove
references to library materials. So the recommendation is for IJR instructional materials to be moved forward for a first read questions discussion. Start start with a motion. Um so move
move to approve. >> All right. So you have the motion second now. Is that any discussion? >> I look through these, Mr. Chairman. I guess the comment I would have is the same for all based on that Supreme Court decision. We obviously have to come up with a
process and a policy. Um I think this is certainly this policy seems workable. it seems to make sense. The issue is all right, we we sort of have to see how it works in practice. And it may be in fact that
there's no that we don't ever have a challenge. And that's great, but um I don't think we'll know quite whether it works really really well until such time as we've actually had a challenge and had it go through the process. So I
think it's a starting point for us. Absolutely. >> Practice when we're challenged again um in three ways. One is obvious that it's um taking apart the library materials with
instructional materials. Um but the second is that it allows for a much quicker turnaround for you know parent has to come in challenge the material formally meet with the principal and
someone in my role or the curriculum director. Um and and we know what to do right at that moment. de facto. You know, we know that we have to provide an alternative experience for that child only if the family so chooses and then
we have a very small committee that makes a recommendation to you and then we um come back to the family. So, we could even do it within one year which we were not able to do this year. So, everything that we did around all
American boys actually pertains to next year uh in the couple of years after that. So for me it's very clear to the whoever is administrating the policy um practically on the ground we can do it faster and it's clear what we what we're
supposed to do. Yeah. >> Are we taking all these recommendations separately or all together because they're all part of the same policy? Correct. >> No, they're four separate policies. It is a four. >> Correct. Yes. >> Right. My motion would only refer to the I believe the first one was the
challenge instructional materials. >> Correct. Yes. Okay. >> Anything else? All those in favor please say I. >> I. >> All post. So the next is the uh library material policy that's existing. It's just
basically tightening up to clarify that the library resources are voluntary in nature, right? And the distinction from instructional. So it's just adding that other layer in there. So it's really not changing much to this policy. Um and just just ensuring that the challenge is
evaluated through you know criteria based on board of education versus PICO which going back way back before superintendent school. Um but just it's just a cleaning up and clarification that the library resources are separate from instructional materials. So the recommendation is for I JL challenge
library materials for first meeting. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Second. Josh second. >> Any questions? None. All those in favor please say I. I >> opposed.
>> I >> All right. And then the next two policies, um the attorney said that while we're at it, we just want to be very clear that uh policy IMB, which is teaching on controversial topics, um is
just basically uh cleaned up and and tightened up. And the expectation is that materials are presented in an objective neutral manner consistent with our goal of exposing students to range of perspectives. Um so just just a little bit of tightening up. Um and
that's the recommendation for a policy IB teaching on controversial topics for first meeting. >> So move. >> I have a second. >> Second. Any questions or discussion? It just in reading this one um and I guess
it's for the superintendent and assistant superintendent. Um this leaves a lot more room just by its nature for subjective opinion in terms of what a parent might think how it was presented versus how the teacher might think it
was presented. So I see u responding to issues like this will be more of a challenge. The policy seems to me is the best it can be. Do you see that as an issue too? >> In practice, I don't see it as an issue.
Good. What we um what folks in schools normally do is if you're providing an objective view, it means you're providing more than one perspective. So, for example, if you provide an editorial uh from a newspaper, you're going to
provide multiple editorials that show different viewpoints on that same topic. If that makes sense. And that's pretty standard practice. >> Anything else? >> Hearing nothing. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All opposed.
>> I. >> Okay. And the last one is just um student exemption from instruction on religious grounds. Um so basically it took policy IHM-R. It's been revised um because it was too narrow initially was to health education
as the opportunity to opt out um certainly it's been added with change in the Supreme Court Mimmude versus Taylor just to reflect um on the basis and objection based on religious values and beliefs the student and also
you know it has a request process teacher responsible principal also guiding principal so really provides um certainly a much tighter process for us if we're challenged and this is actually for the benefit of all all parties. The recommendation is for first
reading of policy IHM-R motion. >> A second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Second. >> Hearing none. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed.
>> I. >> Thank you. Order of business. the minutes. >> The uh secretary moves to approve and release the minutes from the December 8th, 2025 regular meeting. >> Second.
>> All those all those in favor, please say I. >> I opposed >> consent agenda. Motion to approve personnel memo surplus materials fundraising requests. >> So
>> second. >> Any questions? Any any discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> I. >> Any communications? Anything from the legislation? Um Sally
Karns uh tells me that she's going to be here on the at the next meeting I believe on February 9th and she said to um to uh have some material for us then. Okay. Appreciate that. Anything else
from any of the subcommittees? >> Uh I was remissed at the beginning of the meeting. I like to thank our partners from DAT for helping us with this broadcast. And again, our next meeting is January 26. It's a budget
workshop. That's about it. I wantain a motion to uh >> motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All those in favor, please say I. I. I. >> Good night, Davis.