##VIDEO ID:fY084JqVTTc## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e school committee meeting um I'd like to first open with the Pledge of Allegiance thank you all for your patience coming out of an executive session and a little bit of technical difficulty but um know let me open up with our danber Public Schools mission statement um Danver Public Schools is a dynamic community of independent Learners dedicated to respect responsibility creativity in P in the pursuit of academic and personal Excellence this meeting is being broadcast on Danver Community Access television and uh is anyone in the audience uh recording the proceedings okay no one is I now call the meeting to order and um we'll start off with items of interest and the sake of today I'll flip things around I'd like to open up with any Community comments anyone from the community has any comments please state your name my name is Paul poock I live in Danver at increasing four and I'm also the chair of the human rights and inclusion commit and I just want to um promote January 20th mlc day and the ceremonies that will be held at the danas High School everyone's welcome parents families uh the program starts at 4 o'clock well actually the program doesn't start at four o' the social part of the program starts at 4 o'clock somewhere approximately close to uh 15 minutes of five we will begin and hopefully wrap it up somewhere around 5:30 encouraging folks to stay in linger and socialize um the school system along with Mr Bower and I know Mary wormers have been working very very closely with that program for the last three months it's a combination of song speeches food and whatever okay but it's in honor of Dr King everything we we do is in honor of Dr King celebration so we welcome everyone hope to see you uh on the 20th which is a week from today I guess Monday yeah all right any questions at all thank you very much no I'll just add I was at the event last year and it was excellent I mean it was a a pack house it was really fun for family and everyone of all ages I thought everyone your your team and in the schools did a absolutely excellent job so looking forward to it this year if I can make it over there in time we're not taking attendance so however we've been at the with the schools now since I believe around 2015 if I'm not mistaken so it's it's one of our better better moves one of our probably our top one or two events please everyone that sees this program come on over thank you thank you anyone else in the community okay um items of interest from the school committee okay n we will proceed to uh superintendent Mr Bower thank you chair Lopes um for superintendent update start with the wonderful student representative report we have recognition of Highlands Elementary in their work before the holidays project 351 representative and family to be recognized our transportation operations coordinator David puler is here tonight just for an introduction uh quick review of the budget timeline update and then communication so we'll begin with our wonderful student rep Representatives report um so we have just a few updates uh for this month uh mainly because we were out of school for almost two weeks um and we've been incorporating updates from elementary schools lately but uh for this month we just have updates from the high school um so our first update from the high school um we had our annual trivia tournament and that is through the community blocks so we started with um each Community block had two rounds of just preliminary trivia um and then the winnings from those Community blocks went into um the semi-final tournament they competed against their other peers um in their grade and and then whoever won from each grade whatever team won um they competed all together with um themselves and then we also had a bunch of teacher teams so it was good to see the teacher participation as well um another thing that we had was a blood drive in December um and that went really well we had a bunch of students participate in um and then finally so last week these two Junior students uh Lily Delano and Jack cronis held an assembly um for 10th 11th and 12th graders um for their Deca project which is ms4 Ms which is an organization that spreads awareness for multiple sclerosis um in their assembly um they educated us on what exactly multiple sclerosis was but they also featured uh two guest speakers um that got to share their own personal experiences um it was really interesting um to see and hear about how it impacted their life and it was really well done um by both of them is that it okay any questions or comments oh as always Julia and Olivia thank you so much for sharing that and uh we'd love hearing the updates from the school so looking forward to the next one when we have a full month of academic activities so thank you so before we begin with recognition for Highlands I I do want to give recognition across the district um and I try to note in our update the wonderful um community service opportunities that our schools follow through with uh all of our schools the elementaries they rais money for the uh disaster relief for the hurricane that hit in the late fall um they all have they really just amaze me with their civic mindset and giving back to others so I think really we should be very proud of our schools we should be very proud of our students uh who are advocates for making a better world as well as our staff and our families for supporting this and I think we're very blessed as a district to have um that mindset which I think is awesome but tonight we did want to bring forward Highlands Elementary they've done another outstanding job uh not only for toys for tods but for emergency assistance uh donations and without stealing anybody's Thunder I was going to call forward principal bky uh we also have Kelly budro and edu ganowski uh key members of the Highlands team just to give a little thumbnail sketch and receive recognition for their school and their wonderful efforts uh thank you thank you for having us here this evening uh specifically uh edu and Kelly they're the ones who put this together uh Mr ganowski has been doing this for 28 years and uh you know consistency is definitely his middle name he's uh really an amazing piece of Highlands in the Highlands Community and also Kelly bedro who's our new social worker this year who is formerly a fifth grade teacher uh she really uh has really been the connection for our EA program and our EA students and uh can't thank her enough for all of the work that she's doing uh not just with this program that you're recognizing tonight but along with everything else that she does throughout the day they really are the uh key to to the Highlands Community and I'll let them speak if they so choose to um thank you for having us um first of all the the teachers at Highland School is a huge part of the programs that Kelly and I run um obviously uh John is a huge part of it too we have a just about a monthly meeting um every month we come together and we talk about how we can help the community and it actually goes right along with our new social studies uh curriculum um Kelly you were there the other day when we were talking about it and um kids really make good connections with helping their Community out um also too I want to recognize U firefighter uh Adamo ferio he runs the Toys for Tots for Danver and um this region and so uh prior to that was jimmmy Brooks um and he and I would connect and now it's ad damoo and I connect and we have a monthly fund you know fundraiser for Toys for Tots um kids are so excited about bringing in a gift you would think that they were keeping it and they get to share it with their classmates they get to share with their teacher and they get to put it in the Box um so it's been uh a joy of mine to do this every year um Jan Collins who worked here a million years ago when I first came to Highlands she ran the program it was a little bit different uh it wasn't Toys for Tots per se but it was we called it adopt a family it was a we ran it through the People to People food pantry and it was a little bit different but same idea and now we do it with the uh firefighters and d and all the firefighter come in kids love seeing the firefighters uh firefighter dammo says a few words and the kids absolutely love it so um we're just happy to do it so K says that he hates the microphone when I told him me had his feet tonight um just thanks for having us we just look to really lead by example so we're just hoping the kids are Lo looking and watching but just short and sweet thank you thank you so much any comments from the committee thank you for bringing that to our attention know great job congratulations um you reminded me that prior to uh the holiday break Mr L and I lucky enough to take FL of the Highland and uh go up school and I'm sure it's consistent from what I hear other people be other school the the level of Engagement of our staff and the care that they have have for our our students was incredibly impressive so uh I thank you directly for that and to all the of our staff and all the schools for that for that level of care it really is appreciated and uh you know the community should be grateful for that so thank you I would just say um thank you for what you do and thinking ahead you're planting the seeds with these young people people that yeah it's fun now and they're going to realize it's fun later too and all through their life perhaps be uh people who will give back to their community and the people around them so it's um a great lesson you're teaching that isn't found in textbook thank you um no it's definitely my daughter goes to Highlands and and she can't speak highly enough of the community you know going on uh with between the teachers and the students um in fact her teacher asked her what is one way your dad helps uh some nights meaning here and she said he sleeps so just throwing that out there but uh edre you mentioned uh Jan Collins worked there millions of years ago she was my fifth grade teacher so it wasn't that long but uh we definitely you know we love being a Highland family and you know we we appreciate all you guys doing thank you so much okay um little little bit of a PSA I want to Echo everything that they said again thank you so much for everything that you've done um but it really is consistent with I I I believe all of our schools here in Danver in regards to the community Spirit but to what Mike Shannon mentioned earlier like being in the building seeing the energy of the students seeing the engagement with the teachers walking around with Mr orky and just really you know looking at the operations internally is incredible I meet so many Highlands families who say they love being a Highland family and no offense I love that but we have Smith families who love being a Sith Smith family we have families who love being a great Oak family so my PSA is if you're a parent get in the buildings see the students if you're not from Danver get in the buildings because Mr Bower and before her you know Mrs Warner were absolutely fantastic with letting the committee get into the buildings and walk around and see how things happen on a day-to-day basis so I'm actually not surprised at all but I want to thank you for continuing that excellent so we really really appreciate it thank you for sharing all right okay uh moving on we have recognition um we have our project 351 representative this year principal Colin Tony if you can come up with John Beasley uh who's one of our students the eth grade um it's an outstanding program and I'll have principal col Tony give you a little um background about project 351 and if John wants to speak I'm sure he has a speech ready to go uh good evening John and I are thrilled to be up here uh so I'll talk a little bit about 351 and then I'll talk more about our process here at the middle school and more importantly just talk a little bit about our nominee John um so if you're not familiar project 351 was founded in 2011 by former Governor Deval Patrick with a focus on young people leading change in their local communities each year an eighth grade ambassador from each of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts as selected by Hometown Educators but demonstrating the values of kindness compassion humility and gratitude um so project 351 begins every year with a h launch kickoff day in January with a one-day celebration of Dr Martin Luther King Jr uh and it's a Statewide Unity effort around youth leadership uh this year the launch day um will be January 25th uh in Fel Hall and it concludes at the John F Kennedy Presidential Library Museum um from there after the launch uh so really a full year of students receiving enrichment training and mentorship to help them build not only local um service projects here in ders but also kind of regionally uh up here and across the state so John will be part of a network about eighth graders which I'm excited for him to participate in um there's currently 5,229 project 351 alumni which John will be joining soon we're really excited for him to do that um our process was probably late October I put out um um an opportunity for all of our staff not just eighth grade staff but all of our teachers who've seen our eighth graders through um really reflect on who would best represent Danver and Holt Richmond uh and so I got many nominations um but one student stood out um amongst them all was nominated the most from our staff and that's John vley um so let's give John a little nice round of applause I just want to read um some of the comments that came through because this is really such an honor and such I was telling John's family it's really I think the most important recognition we can have in our school and kind of piggybacking on that that Civic mindset that comes out from the elementary school so um just a few comments John's maturity and ability to work with diverse groups of pairs make him a great candidate for project 351 John always displays Integrity his optimistic and positive attitude encourages those around him he works well with all students John's contribution in the class involved being a model for others with his work ethic his willingness to take risk and respect for all perspectives during class discussions John has consistently demonstrated empathy and kindness to others and is well respected by his Pairs and just for me personally I got to know John last year as I made my way around the school in my first year and he stood out to me as kind of a quiet modest leader but when we uh named him in front of his classmates a few months ago the place erupted uh with chairs from his classmates where he spoke volumes so without further Ado I just want to congratulate John publicly congratulations John he doesn't have a speech oh I was waiting for a speech John is it okay if I ask you a question can you step up to the mic well what do you think I'm I'm really excited for this opportunity and it makes me really happy to be able to participate in something like this because as a person I try really hard hard to be a modest kind person and leader and i' like to thank my mom and dad for raising me that way and I really appreciate all that they've done for me and all that this school has done for me as well and one more question what do you want to be when you grow up um I'm G to try to pursue a career in like it because I like working with computers and it's a flexible like schedule for me because I don't like going in the office that much but I like work I like my house so I rather I I like it gives me an opportunity to work from home any other questions congratulations John I um I knew last year's uh representative for for project 351 it's a great program so um it's it's a it's a great thing to to be a part of and take away as much of that as you can and and learn from it so congratulations uh Mom and Dad congratulations nice job uh do me a favor keep him humble please all right johnk congratulations and I mean I don't I might be stealing Mr B thund there oh goad um I I just want to say in the few minutes that you can stand there I can tell that you're going to represent our community as well and your parents should be very proud of thank you for doing what you're doing and have fun doing it and I tell you this John you're GNA learn so much about leadership clearly you already have that sort of f in I think because just to get to this point get by people whove you they see you as a leader you should be proud I know your folks are proud and things you learn now whereever career you choose they going to really work thank you and congratulations yeah and congrats again I was going to say would the parents be okay taking a picture and capturing this moment we'd love to get the parents up if you guys don't mind should we all GA up there yeah yeah yeah let's go this way ready one two yeah that was excellent thank you thank you next order of business uh our transportation and operations coordinator David Fifer I'd like to bring him up for an introduction and just to give the committee a quick overview what he's been doing as he's uh I think that on the job maybe two months two months so just to give a a little background we're very fortunate to have David uh join our school district he comes with a lot of experience from industry and transportation and knowing this scen area that we need to address in order to maximize the resources he's hit the ground running um and I don't want to take away what he'll be sharing with you but happy to bring him back for further updates and you'll see him at the budget time as trying to navigate multiple Transportation items within our district but he has hit the ground running and we're very glad that he's here so um floor is yours David thank you Dan um yes um well my name is David pulsifer and uh I think I started y October 28th was my first day and uh started off uh driving a bus I do have my license for that too and uh you know got acclimated uh with you know the district um I'm I've been uh actually on the danver's contract with Salter before coming here so I'm familiar with the town um and the school system on some level um and you know I really en enjoy um being able to play a role in providing students with Transportation right they need to get to school uh they need to learn that's one way to get there right um being in this role here I've seen a lot on the special education side um you know the big bus is kind of you know slow and steady right um kind of the same year after year but special education from what I've noticed um just looking at some of the numbers in the district it's you know quadrupled over the last several years um so I hope my goal is to take some of that Transportation knowledge um that I have and uh kind of consolidate and look at some of what we're doing now you know the district has not had a transportation specific person right and I think so what's been happening is that just you know been doing what you got to do get the kids to school and and some of that on all that's great because again in school there is some cost oversight I see um you know looking at our vendor compliance you know there's a lot of moving pieces you know the a of District request comes in uh Transportation sets up a student you know they contact the vendor that vendor has to have their background check their this you know their ques and all that stuff run um you know we have to make sure that every year we're backchecking them making sure that our records are right so there's a lot of layers to the transportation from getting to school safely and all that stuff um looking at our DPW Vehicles you know the town of damis has 10 vans in the lot four of them are currently running right now I think three of them are you know ready to go three additional I think there's like three that are maybe like in process process to go out but you know that that's a I see potential I don't know you know what you know we're going to try to hire some drivers we're going to put some ads out right and see what we can get from the community U kind of coordinate with the BBW maybe do some kind of job fairs um we need to bring in uh more District bands to offset that high inflation of uh special education costs and then it's really like a 50% increase going with an outside vendor you um recently uh I mentioned the Dan R interview I said you know we should try throwing out a survey uh to the district you know and what would that look like so we discussed it and said hey let's let's shoot for five stars right and see what we get so originally uh we started out I was thinking just special education Transportation so we sent out have like 140 students I think we' got like 30 replies back from the families then we said why don't we push it out to the whole District you know get some other feedback so um we pushed it out on Facebook I believe and we got it another 30 and then Dan put it out in the email uh his Friday email before break Thanksgiving break and we got another 30 so we got about 96 um replies you know so not a bad Baseline on that and then you know some of the key you know some of the key things that came out of that survey you can probably go to the next slide Dan okay um you know some positive things uh the communication uh one of lot of the things we got with kind um kind drivers who maintain good relationships uh with children you know I mean so some of the van drivers you know that you know our drivers and District drivers actually got a couple good comments you know and same with our outside vendors that hey like you know they love consistency right they love a friendly face it's it's important to you know get a reliable driver behind especially with the special education department um some of the negatives that came up was uh you know substitute drivers you know on both ends on the vans you know there's a lot of they have driver shortages too and and on the big bus um as well so we had some you know issues with with that and when you get a substitute driver you know they miss stops and you know do things like that and that just you know makes parents you know upset and things like that and you know we don't want we want it to be as good as possible right so always keeping a good eye on that um you know safety measures through safety measures came up you know there was some comments about car seats and things like that so just you know just again going back to vendor compliance you know uh how are you how are they doing like who's checking up on our our vendors so there's a lot of things um to tackle in transportation but just you know piece by piece and and uh like I said focus on the goal is uh transporting it safely right and hopefully reducing costs while we're doing that um y so no you know three 81 days I think I counted as today you know into the school year and uh you know what I'm you know first few months I've just kind of like took everything in you know had you know met with the staff and you know student services got a lot of input on on the special education side of things uh mckin vento students we have a a higher number of uh EA right students um in this in the district um at the the hotels and stuff so you know just making sure that our vendors are compliant now you know I'm reaching out I I've made a um you know vendor checklist and I'm going to send it out to them you know or get a roster of their drivers and stuff like that and be able to you know meet with human resources and make sure cies and everything else are in place um you just saw in the news right the the governor and they doing checks and their staff didn't do cores right things happen so just overall just making sure doing the right thing um you know hoping to get a couple drivers hired by February that would be good good test to see where we who we uh can draw and help and um you know one of the things I found out is that there's no standard operating procedures for you know Transportation on on like hey like when a student gets an out of District IEP it needs Transportation you know what is the process how does it flow you know it it comes to transportation and how do you put it out to bid what what are you looking for um things like that on that end looking at invoices and pricing know trying to get a baseline on how we can consolidate that stuff and so there's a lot of system processes in um that we're going to kind of put on paper so that if someone else you know has to take over or something they they have a visual um probably by April I believe the reset for special education list comes out so then that's really a good chance to say okay these you know these hundred students you know how can we consolidate The Roots how can we improve them to make them more efficient than what we are doing now currently um which kind of rolls into checking out our vendors towards the end of the year you know like anyone else like like you know I keep a complaint log so when parents call I save it so the vendors are getting multiple complaints for late pickups you can call them on that and address that um and then by the end of the year we'll be looking at FY 26 and uh you know what we you know what we going to do for roots and if there's any adjustments and things like that so you know my goal is to just provide the school committee the town of dver with a clear you know visual what Transportation looks like to D you guys have any questions um first of all welcome aboard thank you I love the organizational aspects of what you're bringing to the position from what you've said um couple of questions one what is the employment Market looking like now because we know really since um since Co it's been difficult to find drivers for us and we think industry at least that's what it Hur so you how are you doing in terms of being able to find drivers and bus monitors well I'm based on my past industry before I came here I mean they spent a lot of money on on bringing in help right on Big Bus and and special Le it's it's not easy out there right there's a lot of competition there's a lot of anybody can get a van and and pretty much start a 7D business right right for the most part right so um I think it's about Community involvement you know like getting out to the schools you know trying to get the memos out principal saying you there's got to be some you know people in town that that want to help help that's kind of I think the target target line is to try to reach we're a district you know we want we want drivers from Danver Community right we don't want to driver from from Salem not that you know just just it's not economical for someone to drive from Salem to Danver you know half hour to do two hours of work so they really have to focus in town and think God just really focusing in the community so um the only other question I have is are you going to have a role and Dan jump INE are you going to have a role in working with other districts in terms of the um special education transport to see if there are deficiencies of scale we can work up uh sure um so last year as you know we joined the the Consortium in terms of the uh Transportation program yep uh where we're looking to pool our resources we've submitted all the information in terms of all of our runs in terms of the the needs that we have so they're breaking this down now to see if they can consolidate routes and we can basically cost share sure um and that we're hoping can get launched I know Pam Crum has done a lot of work our business manager uh with Consortium as well talking with neighboring districts how we can particularly with the Consortium but other other District placements that are close by keep in mind there are a lot of requirements that may be necessary in terms of monitors and any health situations um but they're looking hopefully as a as a group The considerable savings um which we're happy to at least keep it level uh so that's coming and David has been working with Pam uh as well as Christine Christina and her Special Education team to look at like ways we can work great reduce the cost thanks yeah I would I would say like it's not just like he said about Dan said about the Consortium I mean you know it's a great thing what they what they're doing it makes perfect sense to me but it's also reaching out to you know the sister districts in our community too and kind of like get a transportation you know coordinators like meeting like checking like I want to reach out to these other districts as well so thank you okay you're welcome okay guys all right have a good night thank nice meeting you all thanks David like I said you'll see David back at the budget time he's been working closely with uh Pam and our student services and work on that and I just wanted to provide a quick update on the budget timeline where you know we'll begin we've been beginning our work and have begun our work uh the budget subcommittee will meet January 22nd 6:30 it's a virtual meeting um and one of the things that we're working on is our slides um that will take place in our AC meeting which administrative council at the end of January submit them to the school committee on the 29th so we have an opportunity to review our budget slides for the presentation for the budget workshop on February 3rd uh we want to give you enough opportunity to review the slides and we'll have the same format as before as did last year for each department will make a presentation in terms of their needs uh from salary to non-salary positions uh Pam Crum and myself will do the opening in terms of like where we're standing in and all those pieces and obviously have an opportunity for dialogue with the school committee in each uh presentation right we'll have our elementary present as a group our middle school high school transportation and student services will all present as well and that's really important for us because the feedback from that Workshop will help us make any adjustments that committee deems necessary and we look at ways we can improve uh what we're looking at for Budget asks and bring it back to the subcommittee again on the 13th and review that one more time uh and then Pam after that feedback will put together the budget book for the school committee on the 14th which is right before February break so that way you have an opportunity to review the budget book and our hearing is February 24th that's when we'll meet discuss the budget and look forward to push the final number onto the town um and then once that happens then we'll make the presentation on March 15th to the select board that's Saturday morning we already confirmed that with Rodney at the Town level uh Pam will work on the budget book once it passes you the school committee um she'll I think get that out on March 3rd I think then once that goes to the select board then we'll move on to fincom which is sometime in April I don't have a date yet and then by that point we'll go to town meeting in May so that's the budget cycle as we see it we've been doing a lot of work Mary and I and Pam will be meeting with all of our directors and principles over the next two weeks just to really comb through all of our personel work through um all the non salari ass but really look at maximizing our resources and obviously prioritizing our decisions as we bring forward a presentation of the workshop so I just wanted to just give you those dates just to make sure that you're informed as well as the public and I make sure that in the update that they have those dates um you know those are we're starting the budget workshop at 6 a little earlier because there's more dialogue that just anticipating more time with I was just going to say I I think I've seen this budget process evolve over the past several years and I do think that we landed on a pretty good open communication and we're all able to to put some give some feedback so I do think that this is a strong system that we have set up so nice job of that thank you um great feedback from the school committee and we look to refine that even further this year and um just to make sure that we're able to present all of our needs and I think it's important that you hear all the multiple voices because ultimately when we put together the budget it's not just you know us turning it over with the school committee because it is the school committee's decision on that point I think it's important to hear all the things that go into it so we like that part of thank you okay then we're going to move on to the next piece um is requested in the previous uh school committee meeting just looking for some communication updates uh we did reach out to our our legal for guidance on student privacy and transparency you know when faced with disciplinary issues or items of um big events like what can we share with the public about student incidents and disciplinary actions I did forward the uh legal brief from our from our torney but I just boil it down and some some talking points here and I just want to note that with our communication it's certainly one that we want to make sure that we are cognizant because when you deal with situations like this um you have very vulnerable situations here you have families that are on both sides uh so it's really important for us to be timely with our communication and that's an area that I want to make sure that we're working with our principles and all of our directors and just be as transparent as we can but knowing that we have to protect student rights um and and it may not make people happy sometimes with decisions and what we can share and can't share but I think that's an area that we need to really focus in on to make sure that um even if it's an update that we don't have all the information just to let people know that we're working on it um because you're you're you're you got to put yourself in the shoes of those that are on the side that are your child may be facing discipline or been involved in a serious situation and it's very sensitive and I think it's really on us as a district to make sure that we are on top of that and and sensitive to that as well um and obviously we're balancing complying with federal and state laws with student privacy there's some recommendations in here from from our attorney and again we'll keep working on this and we have a school committee policy in terms of public complaints and chain of command that we'll talk about and I know Gabe and I had an earlier conversation in terms of just sharing with families like if there's an item that's that is boiling up like what can they do for a chain of command to start that process of communication right and I think as as a district you know this is something that we we always need to review uh in terms of making sure that we provide that with the public in terms of this is happening you know where do I go and who do I talk with um so obviously you know not to go through all the items but we balance with fura student records and then certainly knowing that we have to be very careful about the restrictions about releasing specific identifiable student information now directory there's exceptions in terms of that like the student directories that are out commmon um which families you know it's just common knowledge about some items but very specifically um when you're dealing with student rights we have to be very mindful of who is sharing the information and how we disseminate it and that's really our our major responsibility and that's where it gets to be challenging because you know like I said there's very sensitive items that occur very sensitive topics but have to we have to make sure that we have our mindset to communicate as well as we can um and look at what we can share you know there's limited disclosure of what we can share only with written consent from a student's parent or guardian and who has access to the sensitive information it's authorized School Personnel you know those that have a specific uh need to work with a student such as administrators teachers and counselors and then the legal exceptions like God forbid there's a major health or safety emergency court orders that come into play and public records requests and when public records requests come out we do obviously have a process we work through with our attorney just to make sure that things that are redacted that don't identify students um in Student Records um you know public records exemption is is a challenge and we work with our attorney closely on that um and then certain limited items of Boolean cases which which are very challenging as well in terms of identifying who's the target the aggressor you know and we share with parents you know basically you know as it pertains to the child specifically uh and a notifications of principles have to comply with privacy regulations as well um and that gets to be challenging because certainly that goes back to the piece of you know what can we share and what can't we share um I'll show you the recommendations that come out but I think the challenges are really clear is that the public interest in school incidents must be weighed against privacy rights of students and we have our obligation to protect the rights of students while maintaining transparency as best we can and that's a challenge uh again um you know an area that we we need to continue to work on with our our leaders but also communicate with the the community as well the policy the the kdb uh this is just part of it basically gets into the nitty-gritty of records and the protection of Records the recommendations for Public Communication the best practices educating the community and provide training for our staff you know handouts or information for parents and Guardians and explanations about privacy laws that's an area that we can definitely work on with our staff um certainly provide more information to the community and explanations about privacy laws I think that's always important you know and it's just when do you do that and when do you make the reminders about these things it shouldn't just be if something pops up in the community or something specifically in a school it's just good practice and I know that uh working with um our leadership team those are areas that will'll continue to try to refine more for our staff in terms of you know what how can we educate the community on these items when they do pop up um certainly General statements so if there's something major that happens always acknowledging The Incident That's critical you know I want to assure the community that appropriate actions were taken but certainly emphasize you know the limitations we have on privacy and that's true with um when dealing with specific individual items that may occur at school level you know being able to to acknowledge um and and work with families um and certainly you know it's always a difficult when you're on the side where um something may have happened to your child or on that other side where you want to know all the information and um you know unfortunately we can't share the specific you know items that occurred on the other side of the discipline or actions we've taken but just really you know acknowledge and certainly reassure that we've taken the appropriate actions uh to the best of our abilities um and then certainly the public statements in response to incidents things that arise the high-profile incidents you know providing a general statement confirming our response but also without violating privacy regulations so it's really a it's a balancing act um that that we face but I think the most important thing is is that although you know the policy uh protections govern the releas of student information you know I think we need to make sure that we do the best that we can to increase transparency and I know you know when working with families um if there's something that can't be shared you know it's it's the response in how we do that to Ure that we we are understanding of the situation we're following the procedure as best we can and not just dismiss and say sorry we can't talk about it but be able to talk about what we can what we can I think is an area that we can always work on from a leadership standpoint and again always take into account that you know there might be things case may take a you know several days to solve sometimes so there may not not be mediate information but being able to you know just not let somebody hang and just come back and say we don't have things quite finished yet but we're working on it we'll be back with you right returning calls and making sure that and we do but making sure that we are Vigilant about that piece um but also be very clear about you know reasons behind restricted information sharing I think is important again that that is uh an area that uh we can work on for sure uh again it's balancing privacy public interest and the legal requirements which this is not a mystery but I think it's all the issue of having those discussions when dealing with sensitive issues but also goes back to informing the community like what we can and can't do and again it's not that we're not doing things but just trying to our best to protect students or protect protect everybody um and I wanted to pull out the piece about the complaint process overview and I know this is actually in our um policy man right policy K which is to ensure efficient hand in of by appropriate staff members uh resolve issues so if a complaint comes out you know what is the process right going through the proper channels it's timely which is key uh and respectful transparent process and then proper documentation followup so really you know and this is basic this is right out of the the policy manual but if there's an item in the classroom you know certainly reaching out to the teacher uh you know whether construction Learning Materials something that may have happened um because the teacher is the one that is working with the item working with the child for sure um you know and and certainly if there's a situation we hope that it's resolved at that level and usually most things are resolved at that level but if not that knowing that if that's unresolved then moving it to the next level which would be the building administrator to share that piece and me working with the building administrators make sure they go back tie the teacher in to see if if you know whatever resolution there is we work on making sure that that works and then obviously if that's not resolved at the building level then it would come to the superintendent level um and then we work on more of a comprehensive plan to resolve at the building level then if not then bring in the school committee if the complaint's not resolved at the earlier level so that's all right in our policy um this might be hard to read because there's a lot of words and I apologize I tried to cut it down um and I'll continue to work on this with with our team and work with the school committee but even breaking this down further for you know conflict resolution um at all steps so this could be in athletics it could be something that may have happened in the classroom or just in general in the school but helping identify and clarify what is the nature of the item and then being able to initiate contact and who's the appropriate person the family should reach out to right request the meeting right request the time propose the time to meet in person or phone whatever is convenient for the family um you know collect relevant information and then prepare for the meeting to make sure that you have key key points of things you want to discuss and then work on a solution based focus on this uh have the meeting you know share your perspective uh clearly explain concerns and then collaborate on Solutions again this is always you know uh something that's important being able to work on this together to collaborate to come to a resolution and then once a resolution is made then just following up and making sure that things are summarized and there's a window there for families that they can check to make sure that things are monitored um and then you know when to esal things aren't working where they should be then you move through that process um and again this is about being able to work together more effectively that's the bottom line uh to resolve conflicts in a constructive Manner and knowing that you know decisions are tough and sometimes people may not agree with everything but we need to do our best communicate effectively with families um to ensure that their their child is getting the best that they need at that time so um definitely open for more work in this area but this is what I wanted to share as an update so um you know knowing as a principle and as assistant principle being on both sides when deal with sensitive issues it is important to you know to show empathy to make sure that from from the administrator standpoint that doesn't mean that we're not following our guidelines but staying consistent with that uh but it's always a vigilance on our end to make sure that we're always in a good mindset that we're communicating effectively with families any comments or questions yeah I just um it seems to me from what you said think you get this finding ways to disseminate the limitation in terms of what we can share to all the parents in the district and the community generally is really key even if it means I don't know if this would be something for the handbooks something for an email dissemination to people in town um because in the world of social media we all know what happens first of all anything that we have to anticipate that anything that comes up is going to find its way into the U into the public um and that it may or may not be accurate the problem is it'll spread like wildfire but it may not be accurate information so number one we let people know the limitations of what we can say but then as you pointed out be as transparent as possible when it comes up and uh I think all we can do is try and get ahead of the news as it gets out or the information as It Gos out or the disinformation as it gets up and it seems to me your plan sort of anticipates all of that but it is a real challenge because you know we we talk about it as something that we understand and we're used to but for a public that is demanding and may be concerned about an event things just tend to spiral and in this this world now people want to know everything and they want to know it right away and uh that presents some real challenge for all of us well it it does if I may chair um in terms of you know putting yourself that empathetic view putting yourself from the parents standpoint I'm not talking necessarily something that's at a a broad level but something that may have happened in the classroom or with another student and understanding that you know that's that's their child and their concerns and we have to make sure that we acknowledge that but also make sure that we're consistent but also as you said to explain you know our limitations communicating and and that's really tough and I remember as principal assistant principal it's hard when you're just saying we're following we're doing the best we can and you as a parent want to know like what has the school done and taken actions and you share what actions that may not be necessarily discipline based or or what might be resolving there's some specifics that you won't be able to share and that was always a tough thing but being able to be very clear on that but but trying your best to be as empathetic and communicating in a timely manner is really really important I appreciate on the overall picture you're trying to be systematic about those a great approach right because you're looking at right you have if it's an issue conflict between two students trying to trying to make sure that you protect because they are students uh and also um you know at my level just protecting the district as well so just you know anything that seems to be at a level that I we need to consult with our attorney we do you know um but that doesn't mean for everything obviously the building level things like that I was just going to say I think it's good to put this in writing because I I think a lot of these are it's obviously a case-by case basis right we're going to inevitably see a lot of conflict one way or another some some very small some some on the larger scale that can unfortunately make it its way into the news or something hopefully not um anytime soon but it is a tricky balance I I but I I you know a lot of the stuff that you put in here does make sense and you know one of the things I that stuck out to me is the the escalation right the chain of command a lot of things can probably be solved at that teacher level they don't necess necessarily have to hit the nuke button and go right to the top right you can just kind of you can kind of work your way up but I I can I can just Envision a lot of parents that have a kid or it might be a very sensitive issue and just might go right to to Dan Bower or right to the school committee on that so you know hopefully on a case-by Case basis if something can be solved at the teacher level I you know I would encourage people to do that and I'd like to add on that one too 100% so the whole key with uh the conflict resolution you know the chain of command is not to limit you know actions or limit you know solving a problem it's actually to make sure the problem gets solved because you know again putting my principal hat on it you know if things come to me you try to make sure that those that are directly involved can answer those questions to work child but a lot of times if you're in the middle as the administrator you're running back and forth to get information and time is all collapsing right and then messages get lost through right direct conversation so um and that was a challeng at times too to explain I'm trying to solve this but sometimes when you move up too far it can get in the way of effectively and quickly solving it but we do have measures in place like if doesn't doesn't make it then there's another level where we can come to some resolution so I think that's always important to point out it's not to hinder it's actually to is effective but I I do take your point about you know reminder and it goes back to communication at the beginning of the year or at some point to communicate to our families and and our staff like these are the expectations right well thank you for addressing this and such a timely way I know I brought it up last week and um you know I I think we forget that we do have a community of people who do follow our meetings really closely and after bringing that up I I can't say how many parents came up and said wow that was really great and I did get some follow-up items and to Echo what Josh said I love seeing this in writing and this isn't really addressing you know the bigger public things it's really about classroom specific you know one to one type of event um but I mean even a suggestion here would be if something does happen in the classroom this should be an email packet that goes out immediately like even once a parent raises an issue issue almost an acknowledgement of thank you for raising the issue this is the process even if even it if it has to be emailed hundreds of times or 10 times back to the same parent is is absolutely fantastic um and and I think there's still um and I know we haven't touched on it but the gray area where you know isolated environment one classroom a clear understanding of who the parties are and and hoping to resolve things there and even though it has to be escalated but there's clearly instances where parents know who's involved no matter what so this isn't talking about a public thing but even when that happens to your point of letting the parent know that you know something is happening as opposed to the blanket like I can't share anything I hear you and there's no followup so I think this is a a great first step I think it shows respect and Clarity for you know privacy the parents the victims and um I maybe we still have a way to go but this is this is a great first step so thank you for you know taking on the new business item that was brought up and and really taking the time and and giving a detailed response and action um that we can all follow up on and build on so I appreciate it and if I can add share on that piece um in terms of improvement working together you know you know um one of the things that we do every year is we meet with our attorney just to cover the bullying harassment Title 9 changes which that there have been changes and it's actually changing again but also uh working in terms of you know communication and working with our team as well um and F further work because um unfortunately you know when when you aren't receiving information you put together your own narrative but but I think you know knowing like what is happening just in a general standpoint and working individually to do the best that you can but um we we definitely have work on our end and certainly want to continue this and I'm happy to report out further as we go along to any updates and changes but even on this last piece with this uh just the resolution guide you know again this can apply to to all like the Athletics I mentioned um you know other entities within our schools as well sorry turn on the mic um now we're moving on to new business and we have the monthly budget report good evening good evening uh so this evening's or this month's ble TR report um reflects one I guess substantial change from the last month which is that it includes a more comprehensive uh projection of some of our special education expenses for this year um I think the transition to the new accounting system resulted in a delay in um sort of gathering all that data in one place and then me accessing it appropriately so um the tuition is forecast when we consider the other places that will pay the tuition but out of the operating budget right now we're looking at about a $67,000 shortfall um and in the transportation um SE uh area of the budget for special education we're looking at about $400,000 um which is a kind of a shocking number on its face but I will also say that I do think in in some ways there is a good news story to be told in that if you were to look at last year's December budget report um those two things together were $963,000 in the whole and this year it's less than 500,000 between the two so I I do think that it represents um kind of a a leveling or a curving um almost a lowering of of the increases that we've seen um but we still have challenges um as as David pulsifer um mentioned earlier in the meeting um I'm hoping that these numbers can still come down particular the transportation ones um as as we go to hire drivers for the vans that we have access to that the district or the town and therefore the district own um we may be able to provide more of the IND District transportation to preschool students for example with Town drivers as opposed to having to contract it out so um I'm hoping that these numbers will come down over the next month or two um particularly the transportation one but I still think that the context of where we've been over the last couple of years um while it's not good news it is um not as bad as it has been in the past the other thing that I will say is that the district is still waiting for the first payment from the state in emergency assistance funding um that was scheduled to happen in December it hasn't come yet but it is Promised so I check the state vendor web site um here periodically to just see if I can see something scheduled I don't see it yet but we do expect that that is going to be available to help us to um address some of these budgetary challenges that we continue to face so if I can add on that piece which um we've had contact with desie over the weekend we had a call today with um a representative Ken as well as the Desi contact we've work with that runs the emergency assistance programming so we're looking uh later this week or early next week we'll receive the email to start the process of that allocation um which you know will certainly offset a lot of this in terms of the homeless transportation and the added Personnel um and then in addition if you know one of the things we're looking for is the conditions as the shelters are changing and and the conditions are shifting there's still a commitment to funding not only this allocation but looking to continue the the daily uh funding that we're looking for for the remainder of the school year and that's we're waiting for confirmation with the supplemental budget that's been filed uh so there's a lot of Advocates that that are working to ensure that funding you know maintains to the end of the school year right because things are moving quite rapidly uh but we count on this because students may move to other schools if we're the school of origin they wish to stay or any homeless student they have the obligation and right to we cost share with districts and it's it's a lot of work that Pam and our transportation and as well as just our budget operations are looking to make sure that we work on this but uh and again we talked about circuit breaker is the other mechanism to help offset this which we used last year so you know and I look back to last year's budget report as well and certainly you know we look for the encouraging news which if you look at you know some of the special education piece kind of waning down that's good but we have used more contracted services this year because we're trying really hard to build our special education programs and we've utilized constellations for our Learning Centers as well as our therapeutic um fact of doing professional development for us on Friday um with our administrative instructional assistance but also they're providing a lot of guidance to building the programs so we're investing we've taken every penny from last year and and again these extra fundings uh will help make this work so overall you know we we as Pam alludes to and points out that we have other mechanisms that will be able to cover this um so once we get that update of the funding I'll will certainly let to committee I will also say that the assistant superintendent has been writing a lot of Grants and every time I get a notification of another award it provides an opportunity not only for the district to do more but to also take what we had already planned to do and pay for it in a different way so I'm very grateful whenever I get one of those notifications and for her hard work writing those grants I I mean I'll apologize for the math but I mean I I think the the glaring item on this is is looking at costs that are just completely almost completely out of our control 60% of the overage is transportation where the superintendent the school committee the town literally have no control of whatsoever um outside of the efforts that we're putting in and investing in for special education to try to hopefully offset this I mean it's it's it's been you know we're still 400k over but to your point last year was almost a million dollars um over and um I think it's just something that you know hopefully at the state level we can hope for for more support around but it's I mean I'll say personally as a as a Committee Member and as a resident you know know doing everything that we can and then year over year it's never fails Transportation tuition out and again we are putting in the investment and and putting in the effort as a committee to try to offset this but um this is just something that is just continues to run away from us so I mean thank you for the level of detail and I look at the budget which looks almost pristine outside of some contract adjustments it's year-over-year transportation and and I think this you know district is doing everything it's can to to stay within the budget within its control and it's so disheartening to to see that and we got to try to continue to figure out a way to to combat this and those are my comments and I'm sure others have something to share um very quick question on the the issue with homeless Transportation emergency assistance are we still transporting anyone or have they moved families out of the hotels now no we are still transporting um uh homeless students that are at the hotels in a variety of ways some of them um well they they may have moved from the hotels and been housed in another Community but they want to return to Danver for the rest of the school year okay and so we trans we share the cost of the sending Community to bring them back to dverse um that works in both directions um so sometimes we're paying for the transportation sharing with the district where the student wants to return to but they're being housed in ders um and then yes we do have our yellow buses going to the hotels and there's all kinds of Transportation going on okay thank you a point of clarification though those funds are expected to come from the state we're waiting for reimbursement for transportation of emergency students so there I mean there are different buckets and there are different we have all kinds of mechanisms um not the same for every student um that kind of falls into different buckets uh there's the there's a state process that typically would reimburse a district based on our filing of our end of year report the following year so you have to provide the payments in fy2 24 and they will reimburse you in fy2 um because of the unusual circumstances associated with the emergency assistance program the state is sort of advancing that reimbursement at a quicker pace for some of the students and so we file a report a couple times a year we did it twice last year we're doing it at least once this year where we basically report those expenditures early and they give us the reimbursement early to help us actually close the books so that we can pay for everything this year that we need to be able to pay for but then you can't double dip you don't get those we still report the expenditures but you don't get the reimbursement a second time um so that is one source of uh the money another source is the $104 a day per student that wasn't captured on our Chapter 70 that money is available for basically whatever educational purposes we need it for and that will include Transportation it did last year when we had that money I did use some of it to close the year paying for some of the transportation that we had had to pay for and if I may chair um we're still waiting for the Chapter 70 allotment this year we'll find out by the end of January where that is um so we're hoping for an increase in that piece last year we were very close to moving to another section of the Chapter 70 funding which would have brought more money and funding into our our community so we're waiting to see what that will be so we're anxiously waiting see hopefully there should be an increase on that thanks for the clarification on that no one else thank you P all right thank you okay additional new business items um the superintendent recommends approval of the Denis High School 2025 2026 program of studies and uh there's a presentation I'm ready and uh typically if I may shair principal tomorrow and high school team would present this principal dearo um probably doesn't mind if I say this but he uh was very under the weather uh he's back in the saddle today but we said get the night off I've played principal before and Mary's been very much hand inand with the high school so we're going to present the program of studies and as we note there's only one uh vote required because we're not setting policy for this uh and the program of studies as you know is the actual piece that guides programming at the high school level um and working with Peter and his team um they really are not looking to make many changes next year except to add a few courses so the the most of the program of studies from last year will carry over um really the the main highlights for the committee uh I I think it's very exciting some of the courses that they're looking to offer uh we have a description uh of each course and Mary will jump in as needed as well because she's worked hand inand with the high school team but when I look at this from our position looking for ways like what can we do for programming that can engage students that's relevant to students and really matches what's happening not only in the community but in the greater world all of these really answer that question so I think these are really really Great Courses and some really good thought has gone into this um I think the big piece too is offering another AP course AP seminar which is an English course so as you may note I believe we offer a 22 High School which is a very healthy number of advanced placement courses I think there's only 27 or 28 total in the AP family but we we would like to add another one next year the seminar which in itself um falls under English but the good thing about the seminar which which I think is very important is that it's being able to take information from multiple sources and synthesize to um you know do presentations oral written and visual all the 21st century skills that are really important for students but at a very high level of advanced placement level um and this is a um an English class um which which is great so being able to offer this I think is another opportunity for those that might think outside of the box of students right that may look at complex problems and break it down into small pieces collaboration communication all those things that that are critical but done under the lens of ela so this is a very exciting course I'll go through them and if there's any specific please uh feel free to reach out to Mary myself on this uh Project Lead the Way as we know this is a huge part of our Pathways and this is the applied learning the experiential learning that's so critical and I think we're building another course called aerospace engineering I would Lov to have taken this course right um and this also can fulfill an engineering or science course so we have our traditional offerings for science but this is one that fills that need as well and there's no prerequisite for this which is important to note so that it's really open to a wide variety of students which I think is fantastic but just getting into you know space flight and uh aerodynamics and all those things I'm not going to go through the whole list but I look at this I'm like this would be really cool class to take it's a high level science it's applied learning it's in the pathway to me this is um again the boil it down really I'm very proud that they they're offering that we'll offer this class I'm sure it'll be a very positive class and the next one under uh science environmental science pathway which is new pathway is recyclable energy which um as we know is is is a broad context but something that students can take to really learn more about recyclable energy to apply as they get into the pathway for environmental sciences and I think this exposure is really really important uh the only prerequisite is is biology um because there are some Concepts that would apply but that's for college prep and honor so it's not meant to keep kids out of this uh it's a semester based course so I I think it's really exciting and really timely because as you know we've gone solar as a district uh the next batch of courses I think offer up really those who might be more civic-minded and in social justice uh Community connections um really building restorative communication healthy relationship skills this is under health and wellness semester B course um I think this one is really like just helping kids understand the role of bystanders how to intervene and really how to be an upstander as well um and that fits well within the health curriculum as well and then uh a full year-long class of confronting bias working towards Equity um really this is a neat course because it's really one that it's under technology or Fine Arts I think they're just trying to find a spot for it but really confronting bias and working towards Equity again that more civic-minded lens um which you know I think this would appeal to a lot of students regardless of where they want to go in life I think it's it's a great opportunity to offer this course and at the end as you know our Visual Arts are very strong at the high school we're very blessed with such outstanding teachers and programming but the Arts production which basically allows now to get into a more Hands-On variety of everything from the logistical piece of Music Theater and art so it's more of a broad piece very Project based approach uh again that's open to all students there's no prerequisites to take this um and you can get honors credit as you notice for some of these depending if you if you want to own up to that some so Mary I don't know if I left anything out I did I used to do this back in previous existence but I don't know if if you have any specific questions before discussion and hopefully mooving to yeah I mean I'll I'll go to a motion and then we'll open up for discussion okay so um motion to approve the superintendent um approval of the Danver High School 2025 26 program of studies second discussion um these are all elective courses so students can take them if they want to take them and I when it comes to electives to the extent that we can increase our offerings I say the more the mara because some of these things are really going to cite students that's terrific so more we can give our students I agree I think the the more these are really really cool courses and and I think the the one thing that I would just ask is that we find a way to get this work you know from the millions of people watching us tonight I think we should try to get the uh get the word out to you know the middle school kids right as they start to look you know where it's no secret that we have a tech school in our backyard and and a great Prep School in our backyard too so to to really get the word out about how how great these cool courses are I mean I can see some kids really you know grabbing onto some of these like an aerospace I mean I mean that's it's just really something very unique that that we should try to you know advertise or find a way to to promote so nice job of I think a broadening of the curriculum is great agree with Eric more more the area because um when students select courses based on interest the learning becomes deeper and more impactful so I'd love this trend to continue every year as we go tap into skills of us staff interest of us staff see what what else we can than um so a friend of mine had asked me about uh how we keep kids from going to the tech which I would never want to do per se but uh I think that his point was when we were in high school he was Dam isum we had wood shop things like that a diverse um set of studies for extracurricular not extracurricular within the curriculum but uh I think these classes would as Josh was touching upon would raw interest um you know because with a great school like Tech in in our boundaries a lot of kids are going over there because the presentation at the 8th grade from what I understood is like something new whereas our presentation of the high school is it's we're continuing going the same way I think something like this will jump it to to build some excitement there's a lot of things in here that I think student can grasp and uh find interesting and new so I'm really happy to see that we're expanding um I I guess my question is is you know specifically for Aros space and engineer I think all of the courses are fantastic but um when I think of like aerospace engineering I'm pretty certain I saw that Ron does a pretty decent donation or contribution to uh Essex Tech and I don't know if there's if there's any partnership or crossbreeding of uh content between us and them and and to his point it's not about keeping kids out but is there an opportunity to maybe collaborate with some of these courses even if it's friendly like a friendly a andd competition or something just something to kind of bring kids together but this is all fantastic so I'm I'm all for it if I may chair um and Josh you bring up a huge point where you know yes we're a compr comprehensive high school but just looking at the opportunity so you know you have your traditional science track for example biology chemistry but but here you you have options where you can take engineering you know where you may find your way through and we have a curriculum night coming up which I think is important I know we're looking for ways to inter act and get the middle schoolers up at the high school to walk through the electives and Sean you mentioned you know we have a tremendous shop but we have a cad lab right next to that we manufacturing advanc manufacturing so uh the more we can promote this because a um students may not know where they want but we we certainly provide those opportunities and we are we're going to go over to the tech I think uh the 28th of January to talk you know what collaboration can we do further for facilities and stuff um because you know we have to work together there's a there's a lot of opportunity here but I think at the end of the day um I'm excited because I know you know kids have options U for this and we're really diving into that applied experiential learning where it's hands on and they're getting into it and like you said Mike it becomes real it's relevant to them yeah there's hard work here for sure but at the end of the day I think that's what we're trying to do to so our kids are prepar when the I'm just going to add that when brought up Ron that uh we are part of like a career pathway program with the Department of Education so like the science courses that are listed up there are part of a engineering pathway or environmental pathway and when when we committed to doing that work we're committed to making external partnership so raon could be somebody that we go in our now in our engineering since we're offering this type of class we could reach out to raon now and Mak a part of our awesome that is absolutely exciting um and now we're ready to vote all those in favor of the curriculum say I I I oppose none motion carries on to special education update thank you for your patience good evening good evening tonight I just wanted to take a moment to provide an update regarding four areas that were highlighted within the special education audit those being special education programs and Continuum of services students with disabilities profile instructional assistance and short and long-term planning for special education we hired constellations Behavioral Services to conduct an audit of our Learning Centers prek through 8th grade and what we are working on now are creating program descriptions entrance and exit criteria and Staffing patterns for these programs our next steps are to have an audit of our therapeutic Learning Centers which actually span K to 12th grade so that is a different branch of our Learning Centers that we really need to identify what therapeutic supports interventions and staffing needs to look like for those programs and that will be conducted this spring we're also looking to redefine our language based program we started by dissecting the existing student profiles of students currently enrolled in our program with our consultant from land Mark Outreach we also held meetings with our elementary teams to look at the master schedule to see if there are any revisions we could make to the schedule for this year as well as next to really maximize service delivery for our students currently we're creating program descriptions as well as entrance and exit criteria for our elementary and middle school programs because as our students are transitioning from elementary to middle school we want to ensure that we have a program that meets their needs we are this really applies to literacy so we are looking at analyzing the current Staffing members that we have in our district and what training or certifications they have in regard to literacy and then really looking to ensure that staff at each of our buildings has the necessary skill set and training to meet the needs of our students and if not how are we going to change that for next year all my slides might have been different okay no that's okay the next one is about instructional assistance so our assistant directors have created a process for tracking our instructional assistants and they're currently analyzing those positions to determine whether or not we should be reallocating those positions for different qualified staff members for next year which might be bcbas or it could be special Educators that's okay in looking at short and long-term planning our out of district coordinator is really analyzing the profiles of students who are currently out of District District as well as the trends for students who might be in process for potentially leaving our district our assistant directors are really looking at the current number of students on IEPs in the impact of regular education interventions as well as supports for those students and how that impacts the referrals to special education to really get a bigger picture for our district and lastly we are looking to utilize Medicaid funds for a funding source for our district so this is something that hasn't been done in the past or it might have been done a long time ago so the first step is really training our staff so we have a a thirdparty billing system that we use and we have trained our related service providers in what the program entails the requirements and the students that fit their profile we've also trained our office staff within our office who would be part of this claiming process and next we are really looking at ways to utilize our existing platform which is power school as a way to submit claims within the system part of this process has really been informing families of what this process and program is designed to do and so we have started digitizing those forms and sending those electronically to families so that they have an understanding of what this is about Dr B also included um some information in one of his weekly updates that really tried to Showcase what this program is designed to do any questions yes I think my question might fall under your shortterm planning category I actually received a call uh from someone who had received a communication from the other department about uh doing some I read I read testing um outside of a subp sub separate um environment which was outlined in their IEP they they were looking to maybe have the testing done in the regular classroom and uh we're looking for the parents approval via email is that is that something could I guess could you explain like where has that Fallen to the planning that's going on right now sure I ready is an assessment that currently is being used at the middle school and so I'm what I'm wondering is when what time of day that assessment was occurring and really part of that is thinking about the students IEPs their accommodations but also time of day and depending on the setting so I don't know the logistics of how that assessment was administered but those are conversations that we can be having at yearly meetings when meet with families to talk about those are accommodations and for what assessments are they being implemented and are there times in which those aren't implemented and why could should app parent be agreeing to something like that via email where it changes the conditions of the I I guess is my question and I this is as far as I know but that's how it appeared to me that's a tough question for me to answer because I don't have all the specifics so I don't know if there was a meeting I don't know if there was a phone call and sometimes we try to get in touch with families and for whatever reason email might be a last resort but no I would prefer to have that as an inperson meeting thank you uh Christina thanks for this uh question on the the I think it's kind of out of the box thinking about using the Medicaid funds which is kind of a cool thing to do generate some Revenue are there other insurances we were able to bill for is like only Medicaid okay all right thank you you're welcome um just um first of all the use of the Medicaid funds that we recover that's I assume for physical therapy occupational therapy that we can build to Medicare literally using those as a funding source terrific idea um secondly all of this the fact that you jump done this after the audit makes a lot of sense if nothing else because we're coming into budget season and I have to believe that um a lot of these items a lot of what you're looking at won't at the very least will have some reallocation consequences we're going to do this and not that and uh the fact that you've jumped on this so quickly because the audit wasn't that long ago um I appreciate uh the speed with which you're addressing the issues here so keep it up and I'm sure we'll see the results of this in budget time thank you um everything everyone else said I I guess for me specifically and I don't know if you have any projections of what the district can um save by leveraging Medicaid I do not have a projection because the first step is to make sure that parents understand the process because I need their permission to be able to submit claims so that's what's currently happening now okay this is new to families because it's hasn't been something that we've been doing so when they get an automated email they're wondering is the spam what is this and so those are the pieces that we're working on now so we're talking about this at Team meetings to make sure that families know that this is something that is applicable awesome this is fantastic great idea one more question um and that was Wonder thing about like um in regards to Future planning I mean is there a sense of there are clearly students who will eventually be out of District I know that there's an effort to recognize who and potentially where and what program can mitigate it but is there also the ability to kind of futurecast of what and that's what I would really not right now but I I think it's a great great content for the budget planning session so we have an understanding of how to plan and how to inform the community of you know future expenses and planning like that so thank you for that this has been a very refreshing update you're welcome thank you time questions coming no and the committee I I'll bring back you know we talk you know because the audit was huge just trying to break it down into actionable pieces you know and and the public deserves to know the information we're trying to do more will come out in the budget piece um and certainly I know that we have two of I like to point out Derk money and Mar del La Cruz are here our elementary and secondary assistant directors who've been instrumental in working with Christina to bring change and and working directly as they say on the ground floor with with special education so appreciate that aneli what cost she's not here tonight but she's not here tonight but I wouldn't be able to do this work without the three of them have been a great team fantastic thank you so much and compeny determination update okay um oops sorry if that was a late add on that hopefully that work yep okay so for company determination there was a um a document in your folder but also here's the accompanying uh slideshow just to really cut to the chase so as mcast was eliminated as a graduation requirement each District now is tasked with creating a compens determination policy for the local graduation requirement so not to get confused like we already have our local like graduation requirements but we need to have a base level competency determination that says the students have accomplished this in conjunction with the graduation requirements now they can receive a Danver high school diploma so all public schools have to create the competency determination policy this has to move quickly actually I'm not asking for policy approval tonight but we wanted to bring this to the board's attention because we're going to come back in February with more specific language um but we have to do this and you know we're going to boil this down where honestly um we have to get this done because the class of 2025 we have to have this in line the good news is that many in the class of 2025 as far as I know they've already passed the mcast so that really right now is their compens determination so they're fine to graduate um but we really need to focus in on like what is the compeny determination like what what is their policy so we have done research with other districts um all the superintendents and directors were all talking like what are we going to do here um and we're looking to keep it very simple based on our our cor subjects that um would meet the compy determination so you know two core science courses including biology passing grade uh 9th and 10th grade math minimally algebra one in geometry and then 9th and 10th grade ELA courses with passing grades that would be in itself the compens determination our courses are aligned with the Massachusetts standards so if they've done passing work they've completed this then they would then in turn have their compy determination couple that with our graduation requirements would be enough to receive the Dam's high school performance I'm going kind of fast but it's really it's not is is complicated so I apologize I really rushed on my presentation so that the heading is incorrect here um I know but the students who do not meet this requirement again our I I believe the class of 2025 they've all met that but we have to have a mechanism in place for students who do not meet this requirement for the comping determination so then we need to Monitor and support the uh Juniors and seniors to make sure they pass the class in relevant subjects or make up the coursework from grades 10 and 11 that meets the standards of the curriculum plan that's one piece and we also have to look out for those who left school prior to 2025 without meeting comps requirements I.E not passing the mcast so we have to be able to work with anybody that that was the case it's very few and you know all the this is the thing that we're looking for uh Desy guidance for and basically we we really on our own as as a district as all the other districts like they gave us the guidelines now we need to work on this and reach out to those who have not completed this and be able to offer this and work with them um so that's in a nutshell so basically what is it what do we have to do what does compeny determination mean and then for those that achieve it great and then that who do not then what remediation are we going to take place and that's as simple as compant determination based on now there is not an mcast graduation require so we shared this with our High School uh staff today Mary has been working with our high school principal Peter dearo and and working with his team so they're going to be working back with the the solidify this in the more of a policy that we can bring to you in February for discussion and ultimately we need to get this approved kind of quick because it's for a timely basis but um I think we're in a good place Mary I don't know if you have anything you'd like to add probably more than I needed to so just for context Mr chairman so what happens is the ballot question eliminates the mcast requirement it does not eliminate the requirement the students meet the framework requirements correct and so what we're really doing here is sort of an alternate demonstration that they have met those requirements that's that's the only real change mcast we still have to meet what the state says we have to meet that's right so now you get into local control which is our local governance and determining what makes a student successful and we deliver these Baseline courses that would provide the competency to carry on coupled with you know we have our our overall graduation requirements as well but the this is the Baseline so IE somebody that might move in from out of state we get that happen so how do you work on this piece so the retake of mcast really is not there right and I think we we will still have mcast because that is a measurement of assessment that will continue and I believe they'll still offer to soft because it does tie into the atam scholarship which you know a certain score a student can receive I believe it's tuition free $3,000 a year scholarship it used to be free but used to be free to stay call so again uh we don't want to complicate this issue and and know we have experts at our school level that will finalize this and we'll bring forth you know something very similar we believe to the policy draft that we Shar a second which is in your drive with and the biology R test in February still be open to the kids to retake it just so that they could qualify for that scholarship if they want to so you'll see the mcast being offered then R test so that kids have opportunity to be eligible that's uh a really interesting con hearing it really for the first time for me you know I mean I'm a I'm a science guy and so it's nice to biologies in there but my my my brethren from the dist are slowly lacking once again that's that's my first tick but um you know you mentioned keeping it simple and I think it's a good place to start because maybe not so much in this District although we run moving in and out especially in you know High numbers and verban setting that's going to be a logistical night so be able to like you said to keep track of those kids help fast that that minimum Inc um I appreciate bringing up that point and I don't want to to mean you know the the quality that is required to show competency by by simplifying it I we just know that we've had a system in place right right and we feel that you know it's effective the courses that we offer uh and because they're aligned with Frameworks um and we'll still have the accountability of the mcast too but um I you know we don't want to overthink this in the sense that we have a process in place because ultimately we're dealing with you know our students and and our families and just to reassure like we have a plan and we're ready to go this doesn't mean that we can't refine over the years as we go forward I I like the fact there's variability with that second science class if this will be settle on like we have the Baseline biology um which is really kind of a Gateway but then student may go engineering or they may use a different which is great um you know and sometimes too the math you know that might change at some point but again keeping a baseline I think is most efficient appreciate you saying that I taught history myself there are headaches we don't even know what com it's possible thank you next item is the uh search process for unfortunately an assistant superintendent saddest part of the evening the saddest part of the evening I had to say that out loud well this um as you noted we provided information community that uh great Mary warmers is uming to retire and stated intent to retire um I have to get ready for the reality myself um and there will be opportunity to celebrate all that she's done for a district although I don't know in one celebration if that's even possible but we'll keep you post that there is something planned for Mary um but again um she's very humble and and I had to limit my comments to very she made me limit I wanted to go on and on but um that just tested her great work and I don't want to embarrass her any further but um the reality of the matter is that we need to work on this this is a school committee hire so the reason I wanted to present this out tonight is that we start laying the groundwork but we just want to receive you know permission to move forward with the process and then order to bring you the finalists to do the interview here and then you know work to make the decision but um as we've done this we put together a search committee composition that is broad-based um we're looking for a lot of stakeholders it's a fairly large committee which I think is important because the assistant superintendent is more than just curriculum and you know teaching and learning as you know the ability to write a massive amount of Grants I don't know how she does it but also navigate a lot of the items um and really to work in conjunction there's a lot to being assistant superintendent so it's a key hire uh we have Julie panak and Christina Ryan will be the chairs of this of the first level search committee and again it's a cross-section janets collect um those that have put inquiries in for those who' like to be part of the committee we're meeting tomorrow to sort through that and then reach out to those um to see where the composition is and let those know if they're in or or if they um aren't being able to work on this particular part I do need to add the fact that we're going to add you know I'll put out a survey as well for what you're looking for in your next deant superintendent I need to frame that that that people may not even know all the things that that that Mary does and it's kind of hard to put that on paper but um we want to get the feedback to help guide this process as well so ultimately we look to have a meeting this week to really start to vet through you know the resumes we have over 32 in the in the pool right now and some really strong applicants for this position um and we're actually getting an early start on this right now is when the superintendent hires go then usually the assistant superintendents follow than the P principles but we didn't want to wait because this is such a big hire plus we want to bring somebody that can then work with Mary and transition through the spring as well as possible um we're looking at the January 22nd and 23rd for the first round interviews and then from that that that committee is going to be charged with bringing forward to the second round you know three finalists um that we will then have a second round of interviews reference checks and then bring the final round to the school committee with your approval uh either on February 10th or 24th just depending on where that falls the 10th is the next regularly scheduled meeting but the 24th is the budget hearing but we could do do that on either depending on what works for the committee schedule but what I'm asking for is permission to perceived forward with this process um and I know that at this point we have a school committee member that would be on this first round that way they can help inform the committee as we go through this process so that's where I wanted to leave it at this so Mr chair if we deny permission is marf to stay I think that's fantastic idea I figured maryer Jem you know what you mean to this community so I'll I'll stop I don't want to embarrass you either but um it's like Hotel California you can never [Laughter] leave okay um motion to Grant I'm trying to figure out how to word this motion to proceed with the search process for an assistant superintendent second I'll um you make the motion so and I'll make the all right all those in FA oh discussion when you uh write up all that Mary does you please make sure you put in Van Driver as well small engine repair all those in favor I I I oppos None the motion carries all right and now to uh order of business um we have the consent agenda uh motion to approve the homeschool request field trip request and Personnel memo sove oh what that'll be can I get a second first I'll second it all right discussion um so I had a question I know I I talked to about I didn't see it in the agenda but last week the basketball boosters wanted to proceed with running the snack bar and I know uh they had submitted but they thought it was too late to make this meeting is that something that we could you got it today okay they they mentioned to me last week that they put it in last week I just want to make sure before okay all right okay that's perfectly fine just wanted to make sure that I was in the know of what I was asking thank you okay any other discussions all those in favor I I I oppose none motion carries a minutes Mr secretary I move that we approve the uh minutes I move that we approve and release the minutes from the December 9th 20124 regular meeting I'll second all those in favor I I opposed none motion carries uh Communications do we have any communication items I hear none uh anything from legislation yes um got an email from Sally Karns our state representative and uh let's see she said uh it happened that Dan and I were both in the emergency shelter call earlier today U superintendent Bower was excellent friendly but clear about the district's needs and expectations and she's also scheduled to appear at our February 10th meeting with Senator lovelyy and she'd be happy to discuss anything we'd like um in terms of the school budget please know that both Joan and I continue to let uh budget writers here at the State House know how dependent our school districts are on both Chapter 70 and transportation funding there's recently been filed a supplemental budget that we're watching closely we are confident that payments will be made through the end of the school year the regular budget process will begin soon and we'll be um using the best possible funding for Chapter 70 the circuit breaker and transportation um an act relative to strengthening Massachusetts economic leadership as students parents and teachers and guidance counselors contemplate next steps for danver's high graduates we're investing in the Life Sciences industry and the clean climate technology sector as well as this bill which is quite extensive happy to share more in the 10th um the educator the economic development Bill also includes Provisions for an educator eill educator diversity it allows the department of Elementary and secondary education to develop an alternative certification process or teachers who may face challenges passing the educative certification exam but and otherwise demonstrate their competency as teachers this change will help Massachusetts diversify the K through 12 educat Workforce there's also funding for Library conu uh construction Mass Works infrastructure and Ai and systems across the state uh they also passed bills related to healthc care policy to address what happened with Steward Healthcare and uh they pass a legislation to make drugs for chronic conditions like asthma hypertension and Di more affordable uh final note Falcon eyes wowed the entire state house when they came to perform at the grand staircase in December people throughout the building came to listen and the group was absolutely Stellar so says our State Rep wow thank you so much for the detailed update um subcommittee leas on updates anyone have an update okay I hear not oh I hear Mr power sorry it's okay chair just a couple quick updates our safety uh District Safety Committee will meet Monday January 27th at 3 o'cl here at Old Richmond our um policy subcommittee which wasn't able to meet in December I'm looking to reschedule that um back to back with our budget meeting if possible January 22nd a virtual um I'll send that out to the committee we have a few policy items including companies determination but a few others that have come about that I wanted to discuss in that meeting um Danver cares the next meeting is February 3rd uh at 2:30 at Danver high school and deep is coming up a meeting Wednesday as well and then CPAC uh Christine and Ryan has been working with CPAC to uh connect with them involved with strategic planning so if there's more information I'll be happy to share that with the committee and then the last but not least the Consortium the NEC uh we have a meeting on Friday just to talk about negot iations they're going in the contract negotiation so there's a team um and and we'll meet on Friday to talk about where that's going so keep our fingers crossed on that danver's car is February 3rd Monday February 3rd thank you Mr bow um with that I'd like to put out a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second all right all those in favor I I I oppose none good night ders our next meeting will be February 3rd and that will be the budget Workshop thank you good night