Welcome to the Monday, September 8th, 2025 meeting of the Dennis Shar Regional School Committee. Please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Great. Uh, our student liaison are playing sports. We have they have a volleyball game tonight and a couple other sports playing. So, um, our student athletes cannot be here tonight.
Uh so we'll start off with our reports and discussions. Uh we have Mr. Brian Bagington Smith, president of the Lewis Bay Research Center. Uh is going to discuss with us a partnership with Dennis Chararmth Region School Committee. Let's make sure the green light's on. B.
There we go. Boy, you can really tell when it works. Uh I want to uh I want to thank you uh for the invitation to come here and speak with you. Uh this is something that has been ongoing for some time. Uh and uh and we're making some very
significant progress. Uh and uh it's my hope and it's my objective uh for the Dennis Yarmouth Regional School System main campus to become the flagship uh for uh sustainability, resiliency, and helping our kids prepare for the 22nd
century. Uh so uh uh that having been said, uh I guess we'll go right into the presentation. Uh, as you can see here, uh, I'm with the Lewis Bay Research Center. Uh, and we've been actively engaged in science,
offshore, uh, uh, science and, uh, and resource development for, you know, the past 25 years. Uh, and, uh, what you're seeing there is a, uh, is a barge uh, that is installing the, uh, Fiddlehead Rock monitoring platform in the middle
of Lewis Bay. Uh that was back in 2006. Uh now uh what is uh what is going on right now uh is uh is related to these two images. Uh now if you look at that on the right you
see the Earthshot prize uh with Davidboro and on the left uh is uh you know sort of our our local boy John F. ity. Uh and uh it was that comment uh in his uh
speech uh that got me going on this path uh you know sort of do what you got to do uh and reach beyond your grasp because that's that's where the future is made. Uh and uh that's basically what's going on now. Uh the reason I
mentioned the Earthshot prize is because uh the Earthshot prize was put together by the uh by the British crown uh the the king of England and Prince William uh and it was designed uh to facilitate and to embrace the concept of JFK's
speech. Uh and that is you know instead of it being a moonshot let's make it an earthshot. Let's get our stuff together and let's save the planet that we all share. Uh and uh that's basically where things are at. Uh the exciting part
about this is that uh our project the Dennis Yarmouth Regional School Ecoampus uh has been accepted by the Earthshot prize uh and has been um categorized uh as a Earthshot project. Uh so we are in
the process of competing for that. uh and uh I think it's a very exciting thing for the kids because the kids are wondering how things are going to be in the future and and you know how do we deal with these issues uh and that's what this is all about. Now, um I I have
to sort of throw this out there. Uh I I travel around in some interesting circles. Uh the uh the National Academy of Sciences, uh you know, uh top level stuff. Uh and as a result of that, uh you know, a lot of the publications that
are coming out sort of giving us the the latest information on on where we're at, uh are uh are giving us kind of a of a serious picture. uh and that is that uh that we're currently in a scenario uh
where our planet is uh is in a shift uh as a result of uh as a result of global warming. Uh and this shift could be very catastrophic. However, if we mobilize and if we act, then we should be able to
mitigate some of this. And in fact, uh, according to, you know, some of the soothsayers in the in the market, what they're saying is that this isn't a a dilemma. This isn't a crisis. This is an opportunity. Uh, and we've got to take that opportunity and and pursue it. And,
uh, that's basically what we're doing here. Uh, as you can see here, this is a map of Cape Cod. Uh, now the big circle in the center is basically where we are right now, uh, the DY eco campus. Uh we're working to uh to bring uh um these
scientific centers uh to uh to the Cape. Uh and in doing that, we've identified three locations. Uh the DY eco campus uh the uh a project in Forestdale and Sandwich called the Sandwich Green Project and we're working on the Pamet River project. Uh, and these are to be
able to help kids across the Cape to be able to uh to to participate in this in this new venue and this new opportunity. Uh, so went backwards. There we go. Uh, pardon the the rough image here. Uh, this was created before
the actual middle school wasn't done. So, uh, so it's a little bit crude. Uh, this was back around 2019, I guess. you know, just before COVID uh and uh and we were putting this together to facilitate where we were going and what we were
going to do. Now, uh during that period, we've been working with Rotary International uh and Rotary International has categorized this as a as a major project uh of of interest. uh and uh as a result of that we formed a
collaborative initiative with a group uh for from the uh from the Susuana River watershed in upstate New York. Uh and we'll be knitting together a relationship between the new New Root Charter School in Ithaca and the Dennis Yarmouth Regional
School System to share information and to share knowledge back and forth between the two regions. Uh the uh the idea here uh is to is to create an experiential learning platform uh that allows students to be able to uh
to get some hands-on real-time uh advanced science uh in the in the venues that are going to be required for our the the challenges of this new reality. Uh and uh and as you can see uh you know
sort of we're we're into that right now. Now this some of these slides are from uh a major presentation that I made to Rotary International uh their SRAG group. Uh and basically what we're talking about here is is community
resiliency and sustainability. Uh and uh you know how do we get there from here? Uh well the way to get there from here is you have to look at things from a systemic standpoint. You have to look at things from the viewpoint that everything's connected. Uh so you need to do more than just one thing. uh in
order to be able to deal with with this multifaceted crisis. That's what we're doing. Uh that's what we've been up to for the past 20 years now. And uh basically what it boils down to is that the new reality is going to be based on uh this this everything is connected
concept because it is you know as a result of the internet and and the worldwide web everything is connected and uh and that future reality is artificial intelligence and and uh and being able to uh to utilize that tool uh
in order to be able to effectuate these things. Now, it's not just, you know, the in institutional buildings and the and the the commercial buildings, but what we're really talking about is having to deal with all of these things right down to each individual home
level. Uh and uh and it's all it's all in play. Uh now, I mentioned the sandwich project. Uh this is uh is the site plan for that project. Uh and basically it's a it's a net zero affordable housing project uh that will
be able to provide somewhere in the order of uh 300 350 uh uh affordable workforce housing units uh when it's constructed. Uh the the facility is uh is going to be a net zero facility. No
water, no energy pollution. It's all renewable energy powered. You can see there's a there's a fairly significant groundmounted solar project there. That's also going to be an agotics installation which means that it's actually a farming operation that captures the value of the of the solar
energy uh and uh and that will be used in order to power uh the entire development. Uh the wastewater system treats to advanced tertiary level so that all of that water is actually uh able to be used as a recharge resource
to recharge the aquifer because uh water is going to be a crisis in the 22nd century and we've got to start to deal with it today. And that's what this is all about. Uh infrastructure- wise uh you know this is smart communications. The street lights communicate with each
other. Uh they have sensors that can tell us what's going on throughout the neighborhood. And that that that includes being able to have sensors that will sense for CO2 and dissolved oxygen. It's even got sensors that will listen for a gunshot or a loud noise and report
that something's going on. Uh we this is this is the future. Uh and if we embrace it and if we help our kids understand how to apply it, then they're going to be in a lead. And that's that's really what my objective is. Now what you see here uh is uh on the left is the the
infrastructure cluster what you might call uh and that's the water wastewater recycling system. Uh now the building on the right is uh the reason that this slide is in here actually is that that building is uh is a uh is an open
plan uh steel span building. Uh the roof of that is 250KW. So the so the building becomes a a renewable energy platform. Uh now at the school what we're going to end up doing is the central core which is the central area there which is
10,000 square feet would be used for classroom space laboratories and that uh the two wings that you see would be used for agotics uh um hydroponics uh and uh and urban agriculture uh which are going to be important elements for our future.
And by the way, the kids at DY are are doing a heck of a job with that. I am really really proud of what they're doing. Uh but this will give that uh that facility uh a major uh uh uh amount of classroom and laboratory uh
capabilities. Uh one of the things that we're working with now and is already being applied with the uh with the agricultural project over there in front of the high school is uh new technologies. This is uh you see here is something called biochar. Biochar is a
uh is a basically it's a wood product. Uh and uh and what ends up happening is that uh that by creating this uh you sequester carbon. Now then you can take that that biochar material and it can be mixed in with the soil. It it actually
can increase the overall productivity of the soil by as much as 300%. uh it does that because the biochar acts as a sponge. It absorbs water and it also has an affinity for attracting nutrients. So when you put the nutrients
down in the ground to feed the plants instead of it just percolating through and going into the groundwater as it normally would, the the the biochar takes it, holds it and releases it slowly. And that's how you get that that yield. As a matter of fact, uh we've been seeing some remarkable things. It's
not the only place where it can be used. As a matter of fact, we're using it uh in some experiments over at the school. And what we're doing is mixing it with different building materials uh concrete uh asphalt. Uh basically what it does is it turns what was a what was a potential
pollutant source into a clean energy source. Uh so it's basically again solving for that carbon issue. Uh and uh and this is you know 21st century 22nd century technology. Uh what you see there uh is an algae photobioreactor and
a hydroponic system. That's the kind of stuff that we're going to be doing in that in that new building. Uh and actually the the uh the the image below there uh shows the uh the algae uh
hydroponics and uh and um the uh the algae pool. What you see above there in that little portico that looks like a like a solarium, that's actually all
photovoltaic glass. So that is a greenhouse, but it is a it produces its own energy. Uh so it's a pretty cool thing. We've already we've got seven panels over at the high school right now that uh that were the uh original units
that were tested by UL for that product which we'll be will be installing over at the school which is kind of a cool thing. Uh again uh one of the things that needs to happen is urban agriculture. Uh we need to expand green space. Uh we need to uh enhance food
security. uh create a higher circular economic value for our communities which will result in healthier uh and more vibrant communities. Now uh this is the last slide uh and the reason it's the last slide is that uh uh Rotary
International I'm I'm a member of the cadre of technical adviserss for Rotary International uh and uh and we are committed uh to uh to education uh eliminating climate change and pollution
eliminating polio uh uh bringing about economic development uh I did say education right uh and uh and and uh you know uh vaccines and uh and eliminating uh you know the threat of uh of polio
and other problematic diseases. Now I mention that because Rotary International has 1.2 million people that are members of the organization uh and we spend a lot of money uh hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Uh
and uh this project is a major project for Rotary. Uh so we're going to see a lot of activity, a lot of support uh from Rotary uh with what we're doing here uh at DY. So uh that's kind of the overview. Uh I will uh be happy to come
back and get into more details about the specifics of it. Uh but uh but this was uh kind of the first opportunity that I had to come in and actually kind of introduce you to what we're doing. Uh and uh that was what my purpose was tonight. And uh Mark, thank you very much for for orchestrating that and
putting that together and all of your support. Thank you so much, Brian. Um I almost understood every word you said, so I appreciate it. I don't always so I appreciate that. Um anyone any of the members have any questions for Brian?
Mr. Morris, the newness of the projects are impressive because you're making getting success and making changes. But sometimes when we have a new project such as in in the in the country for
sustainability, sustainability for oil fracking for example, which leads to new oil and new earthquakes, uh you almost have to anticipate in advance what are the negatives that somebody will bring up either because
you're so successful or because it it occurred late at night in a bull session. where they thought of things that may not have been public domain. So I think you're taking the show on the road even though this road starts here
is is superb. Thank you. I should mention that Brian and I have been supportive friends for a number of years. So it's not that he's new to me,
but his ideas are new. Thank you. Thank you, uh, Miss Landers. Thank you very much. Um, I guess my big question is I'm a little bit confused about where we are in this process. Um, you know, I'm looking at plans and
drawings and specs and um, you're talking about this, you know, these classrooms and what we're building. And so I just where where are we in this process? We've had a uh a memorandum of understanding in place since 2019.
Uh and uh as everyone knows uh right after 2019 we got hit by CO and CO derailed everything. So realistically we're just coming back in uh in the discussion with DY. Now that doesn't
mean that the whole discussion has been stagnant because I think you can see by the by the presentation you know uh it takes quite a bit to get into EarthShot just to be someone that they
will even listen to to be chosen and selected as an EarthShot company. uh not necessarily guaranteeing you $1.5 million, but but guaranteeing you that you're going to get the support of the Earthshot
uh organization and that it is something that they view as an important evolutionary step that we should be pursuing. Uh so it's uh I have not stopped uh doing what I'm
doing uh because uh that's what I do. Uh but uh but um what I'm doing today is uh is we have uh Mark and I have have just uh signed an extension to thatou
agreement. uh and that that uh is kind of the official relaunch of the program. Uh so a lot of a lot of investment has been made in what we're doing and what you see before you. Uh and uh more is
going to be put in. was Landers. And so this um New Roots Charter Schools in Ithaca, New York, y already exists and already has this program running and we are
duplicating that. No, New York Charter Schools is a is a member of the project green schools group. Uh they're a nationally acclaimed green school. Ithco New York is a community that is one of the few communities in the United States that
has gone absolutely net zero. They they have they have gone to to sustainable development. Uh and the new roost charter school is following that path. Now they they were not doing this. They have asked us to come and work with them
to replicate what we're doing here there. So this platform that we're talking about here is being picked up and supported by rotary to replicate it over there. Okay. So this is this is starting on
Cape Cod. This is this is the breakthrough location. And uh by a point of information uh I was born at the Cape Cod Hospital. I went to Ma Margaret Mallal school. Uh I was uh in fifth grade when I went there.
Uh, and actually that was the year the thresher went down. Uh, uh, that was, uh, that was the year they opened the the Margaret Small School. I went through DY. I had five letters in gymnastics. Try to figure out how you do that. Uh, and, uh, and, uh, my
professional background, uh, I've been to Washington DC. I've worked with the Clinton administration. I've worked with Noah. Uh and in all of those roles, what they were doing was asking me to help share my vision with them. Uh all I'm
doing here is bringing that vision to my home to make my home the place where it starts and where we take this to the rest of the world. Miss Lenders, last question. So I don't think I
realized at the beginning when you mentioned this earthshot prize that that is what funds a project this project and if so how do you if we don't get the earthshot prize this there's no fun I
how does the funding work for this I can let Dr. Smith answer some of that as well. Oh great okay whoever. Yes. So, and I think I want to because Brian's not giving himself credit for some of the small things either, like so like this is the the big picture vision,
but I also don't want to lose sight of stuff that so just take the community garden, which we all can celebrate as a success and win for DY. It wouldn't have happened without others and Brian. So Brian and Lewis Bay research was a
integral partner and so like a lot of the stuff that he displayed here is a smaller scale version of action steps that have been successful in bringing um it's not 100% net zero but it's getting us in that direction right and and and bringing hands-on learning experiences
for our students and again was brought through this partnership uh is it hydroponics is that the right term right so and as a part of that connected piece we actually have a small hydroponics lab that's being developed inside the
school at the high school, right? Again, through partnership with Lewis Bay. Um, and then he mentioned the glass panels which is being replaced at the greenhouse, right? So, we're having these smaller scale opportunities that are being developed where this is I
don't know somewhere on the one of the first slides it was like think big, right? So, then this is like the earth shot, the dream shot, whatever term you want to use. Eventually it and we've talked about this like this is our dream. Our dream would be like the DY has this place where this is happening
on like a a huge scale like like like nothing else that none of us have ever really experienced where our kids are having this experiential learning and then you know where we're tying in the whole campus in a way that's not only making the campus um uh net zero but is
then also just creating an opportunity for our kids to get this hands-on learning experience on how this all works, Right. But yeah, there's there's to your point, this is like a a from a logistical standpoint, a thousand hurdles we still have to get over in order to get there, but we we don't want
to then show up like at the end of the day and you all are like, "Hey, where'd this come from?" Um, so this is this was, you know, Brian and I, you know, I and I this predates me, right? So I I was getting caught up in in meetings with Brian and now figured this was a good time for you all as a committee.
And and the reality is I we don't know. It's been two years that Brian and I have been having this conversation and we're here. I I don't know. I don't know how many of you all will still be on the committee by the time we get this actual
actualization. I don't know. But we we still it felt like this was the right time. Um there is some momentum building and felt like now is the right time. Now, I I I might add that uh that and it's just I'm I'm just mentioning this.
I'm not, you know, kind of claiming it. We were authorized for a $1.3 million economic development bond bill appropriation in 2022. However, being authorized
is not getting the money. Uh so but that is on the books that is on the books and it is valid until for four or five years. Uh so so one of the things that is an important thing for us to look at
is hey why don't we collaboratively reach out to the state house and say where is it you know I mean you know gee this is a great project uh you know we've got we've got a huge opportunity to to really set a new standard you know
so so how do we get that facilitated and at the same time Uh I showed you that development that is going on in Sandwich right now. That's something on the order of a hund00 million. So
that's a project that we're involved in. So uh we are not going to be going begging to do the things that we're talking about doing. Uh but in a sense what I'm here for this evening uh is a
follow on to the collaborative spirit that I have found with Mark uh with Thomas with uh with with Phil of course uh and that is let's let's let's circle the wagons uh because I'll be honest
with you those slides that I kind of put up there where it says there's no avoiding it climate change sea level rise all of these issues These aren't issues that the kids don't see. These aren't issues that the kids don't worry about. These are issues that
are front and center for these kids. And the kids are asking, "What can we do? How can we take care of this?" And that's what this is set up to do. This is to set the standard to say not woe is
me. This is the greatest opportunity to be presented to humankind and we need to embrace it and we need to lead. Yeah. And just to follow up, all of these things that are are currently happening are in the process in the high school. Uh it's just not happening on
the size and you know scale that we hope to have one day. Um so some of these things that we're talking about are again being on a smaller scale whether in a classroom or a greenhouse or the front of the DY school. Um and the hope and expectation is with the correct
funding we can build a facility to do this all in one place uh you know in a larger scale that the you know entire Cape can benefit from. Um, and there's been a lot of uh work through funding and different organizations as as Brian
talked about who have donated these items or purchased these items through grants or through um different funds for the school district um in order for our students to be a part of it. Um and again the hope and goal um or the earth
shot, you know, the the idea is that, you know, we we can win this prize and be able to make it. But um all the things that Brian and the school district have been working on are showing that we're interested in it.
We're we're utilizing what we have. we're we want to build it as part of what DY is and then prove to them that, you know, if given the opportunity, we will continue and and do everything we
can. So, so Brian, I appreciate you, you know, explaining this and and letting us know. Um because we could get the call that we we won the earshot and you guys would be like, what are you talking about? We have $1.25 million to build something on on our campus. So, uh we
appreciate uh all the stuff you've done. Um the community garden is definitely, you know, driving by every day. Seeing the abundance of stuff growing is a is a great thing and I know Ava who's who's playing volleyball right now, um has,
you know, talked about it and, you know, is really passionate about it as well. So, to see that the students are are passionate about where they live and what's important is important. So, so thank you, Brian. Thank you. Thank you. I look forward to working with you. And then we'll move to the next item and
Dr. Smith will present the strategic plan and then the action plan presentation. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Uh so I'm going to present uh the 2025 2026 uh action plan
for the strategic plan. So, uh, just start as a reminder that we, uh, have three strategic, uh, objectives that span a five-year gap starting with last year through 29. Uh I'm not again I'm
not going to read them to you but we have three overarching uh strategic objectives large the first one being largely focused on academic achievement the overall achievement for everyone uh as well as a focus on eliminating achievement gaps. The second one is
focused largely on our operations as a district and how we improve operations and then or and our effectiveness as an organization. And then the third one is around developing uh a long and short-term uh facilities needs plan.
And the the development of an action plan is how do we take these big things that are fiveyear plans with really big goals and objectives and ideas and then narrow down and say okay so what are we actually going to do this year in order to move towards these big objectives. So
first uh in March I think it was you know I gave a mid the committee a midyear action report or progress report. So f first I just want to wrap up last year before moving into next year or this year. So just as this we're going to start with a progress report
for last year's action plan. So where did we end uh with last year's action plan? So we uh first just a quick reminder of the key. So dark uh DY green is we met or accomplished it. Uh the
yellow is it's in progress. The orangey color behind schedule and red we haven't started it. And so under that first objective we focused on two of the uh initiatives. Uh again there multiple initiatives
under each objective and these were the two initiatives that we focused on last year. And then they had action steps uh for us to accomplish. And this is where you can see that we ended up at the end of this summer, which is largely most of it was
accomplished. There's a couple of things that are still in process. Um which is the this school year really some of the things that we accomplished just need some follow-up communication at the school level around what our expectations are, which is really will continuously be ongoing quite frankly
around what does good quality instruction look like. Um and then as we work um and you'll see some parts of that again this year um in this year's action plan, but uh what what is a good quality professional learning community
look like at the school level and and then will we start to see those practices in place as we get out into the building. So again, that's sort of ongoing continuing monitoring. this next initiative. Um, ultimately,
uh, we determined to pause it and quite frankly I determined to deposit. Um, and that's because this, and you'll see sort of when we get to the lessons learned at the end, uh, and I'll describe this in a little bit more detail when we get to the end, but this initiative isn't
really the right fit for DY right now at this time. And I'll explain that um when we get a little bit further along, but we just weren't ready for this type of a focus. We have need to have a different focus area. So this we're putting this
particular initiative on pause. So then the next is we move into our our uh second strategic objective. Um we had three and uh under this that we used that we had for focus areas. So um one
focused on student data, the second one on telling the DY story and then the third one on developing a set of core values for the district. So the data initiative is completely uh uh accomplished. Uh the team did everything
that it was supposed to do uh in there was a subcommittee in charge of this and it's ready actually for launch. So you'll see a um sort of a next step for this in our this coming action plan where now it's about implementing this team had to determine
um you know what we're using how we're using and then then find a um sort of a better essentially have found a better way of doing it and they have determined that and so now we're going to be into launching and then improving data literacy that uh as we head into this
next year. The next was uh around um the communications uh or improving the or telling the DY story. So again almost everything was accomplished here. Um you know a large you know big part of this was hire hiring the communications and community relations coordinator position
and then a lot of this work got handed off to that role. Um so you see Leela was very busy last year got a lot of things accomplished. Um and then one is still sort of us figuring out um as a district um how each school is telling
its story. Um and then how are we celebrating successes um and um really um building out that consistency as a district. Um so that's still an area that's still in progress. Um you'll notice each this year a next step that
we're taking. We worked on streamlining our district level. um for example, our social media accounts. So this as we step into this year, each school is now going to have at least one social media account. Um and so again, we're we're just continuing to move these things uh
forward. And then the last one was the development of the core values which um this went through an entire pro it was this one was behind schedule last year but I was able to ramp it right up um right at as we get to the end of the year and you all voted in August to approve the new uh core values. So we
were able to bring this one across the finish line um right at the end of the year. Uh so then that brings us to the third strategic objective uh which is around the capital improvement planning and as I've mentioned multiple times you know
the change in staffing uh with our uh assistant soup for finance and then um having an interim in place and then uh now bringing Susan on board. This this whole objective has definitely fallen uh pacing a little bit behind where we'd like to be. So you'll see several things
here that either haven't been started or are behind schedule uh and you'll see that reflected as we get into the next um next year's next year's plans. But um but we have made some progress. Um we
have got some things done. Um we actually were able to bring in another retired person to get some things done. Plus some things have been done um even just in the short time that Susan's been on. we've been able to get some things accomplished and and chip away at this as well as the next piece which is
focused on the financial side. We have some things in progress. Nothing really done yet, but we're starting to make some headway on this that I'm I'm confident that we're going to be much further along with this um by the time we get to the mid midpoint. Well, again, it's it it'll look a little bit
different, but it's not a ton different because again, we didn't make a ton of progress. All right. So, uh I want to just share as well some some some early signs of the success
we've been having. Um as it you know some signs that all this hard work is paying off that and and I'm not not here taking any credit for any of this because I don't do any of this stuff. Right? So everything I'm about to show you I don't do any of this work with the
kids. So um this is all hard work that that the teachers are doing with the kids or that the principles are doing with the teachers that ultimately are doing it with the kids but it is worth celebrating. So first thing here is three years of MCCAST data in grades um well you're
looking at either in blue 3 to five or um just grade three and this is our math data. So this the reason we're focused on math is this is where we've had the most consistent over the last multiple years the same curriculum we've had consistent PD and we focus mostly at
five K to five but this is also where the kids are coming up through the system right so the kids you know you now have third graders who've had multiple years of this the PD they had it in K they had I mean the curriculum they had in K they had it in one they had it in two now they're taking the
MCAST in three and what you see is three years in in a row of consistent improvement in the aggregate on the math score three to five and you see again the third graders who are the ones you see even the most marketed improvement on the math
um this is another way of looking at the data uh which doesn't go back it goes as far as 23 24 but this is actually the second year I think of implementation of uh the math curriculum and you see so while we're still even in this year
lagging the state average. What this is looking at is compared um our increase in the percentage of kids meeting or exceeding the state average was more than the increase of the state
average. Right? So the state uh went up by like one percentage point where we went up by 5.6 percentage points. So we had a much bigger increase than the state did on our aggregate score. Now some people don't believe in MCCAST.
So this is looking at our other data point which we have internally which is our MAP data. So this is fall to spring data. So we assess three times a year. So this is taking the kids comparing them from when they first get assessed in the fall which will happen
shortly to when they get assessed at the end of the year. And the top number is, and this is broken down by aggregate by the grade level. So the top number is their growth score. So a 50% growth score is roughly like a year's growth in a year's time. This is nationally normed. So it's like if you're 50th
percentile, you're like right in the middle, right? You're doing uh you know, as good as half the country and not as good as half the country, right? You're just right right about doing averages of everybody else. So you'll see. And then the bottom number is achievement. So
again, you'll see in the fall, the number on the left is where did their achievement rank again. So where were they percentage-wise compared to the rest of the kids who took that assessment again, it's a national norm versus where were they in the spring. And you'll notice two things. One, the
growth in every single grade level, and it'll be the same when I switch slides because this goes all the way up slides when I go all the way up to fifth grade. You'll notice every single grade the growth is above 60%. In some cases it hits almost or actually in some grades it goes above 70%. And then every single
grade the achievement is higher in the fall than it was in I mean excuse me higher in the spring than it was in the fall. Meaning the teachers are having a positive impact on the achievement of the kids that are sitting in front of them. Right? So they the kids that came
in in the fall had one particular achievement level and they left with a higher one which seems intuitive but it's not. the data doesn't always say that same thing, right? Because again, you're you're comparing their achievement to everybody else. So, so they their achievement grew more than
the national average. So again, you see that here and in some cases, you know, it's significant the percentage, you know, you look at that fourth grade, it's 11 percentage points that they grew compared to the national average by the impact of those fourth
grade teachers. those fourth grade teachers made that move on those kids. And then at the high school, this is uh the the blue is the percentage of or excuse me, the number of kids. So the number of AP tests taken. So in 2023,
the high school got an award for access to AP. So that was already a high number. And over the la next two two years after that, they've continued to increase the number of kids taking the AP exams, while the percentage of kids getting a
score of three or better continues to stay essentially the same. And so what that ultimately means is you've got for I should have looked at my slides before I stood up here and I don't have it in my notes but I think it's like 90 more
kids or 90 more tests are as scoring at a three or better right so because more kids are taking the test and the percentage is largely the same so more kids are scoring at a three or better um so the high school continues not so if
if they were just pushing more kids into the the exam then and and kids were bombing, you'd see the percentage of kids dropping down that are scoring a three or better. And then the last one, this one I whoops, I just got like two days ago. So, we have a uh a strategic
plan outcome that's specifically focused on this one, which is to increase the percentage of students that uh the state gives us a um a particular marker to look at um for our students who are in our English development program, right? It's our English language learners.
Um the state essentially uh I don't know who came up. I'm sure it's based upon something and I probably should know this before I stand up here, but the is a it's like a six-year span that students are expected to to develop
English, right? To go from a newcomer with no English to be English proficient. And so essentially what the state does is they the first time the students take the access test which is the test that students take to determine their English proficiency. They take that score
whatever they get and then they divide it by six and they say okay so then in year two they should get to here in year three they should get to here so on and so forth until they get to year six. And and if a student is makes progress,
the progress that's expected, then they get a they get a thing called making progress and we get a report back about what percentage of your students are making progress and what percentage of your students are not making progress. So we have goals set um around uh because it was an area that we had
identified that we were not doing as well as we should have been doing on the percentage of students that were making progress in their English language development. So, we are on target for our our goal um for making and in in all
the ones that are yellow, we're actually ahead of schedule. Um but again, for the la last two years, we're on target for our strategic plan outcomes. So again, these are all signs, early signs that the strategic plan is producing the
outcomes that we're looking for. All right. So, as we head into next year, um, a couple of things that were different in developing this. So, I spent some time reviewing progress on
the year one action plan and set the priority actions for year two. So, this was a little bit different than the first year. So, the first year, and this goes back to sort of why we had to put one on pause. So in the first year it was really important for me to
ensure that everybody was empowered in the process and I still believe in that. Um but I think we got a little a drift in a couple of things and a and not necessarily having the right focus as a team and I don't think we all quite
understood what we were all talking about and necessarily where our highest leverage area for focus was. So this year in reflecting as I got towards the end of the year I determined it might be a little bit better for
me to sit back and say okay where are we and where at a big big picture level do we need to focus to go next there's I have the the the privilege of being able to sit and see just the broader picture. I don't have the detail
level view that a lot of other positions have, but I do have the advantage of seeing the bigger picture. So from the bigger picture, I was able to spec to determine what were the next targeted actions for each of our our um objectives that we needed to move
forward. Then I when we met in July, I shared those with the with the leadership team. actually share with them a little bit ahead of the meeting, but you know, here's here's where we're going to focus um for the next year. Then the team in
teams, I developed um focused, deliberate teams. Last year, um it wasn't as purposeful that I put the teams together. This year it was much more purposeful that I created the teams. And so the teams were determined to develop that and this is where the
ownership came back in is each team then took the priority and developed. Okay. So then how are we going to accomplish that priority and set the action steps and the timelines in order to accomplish the priority areas and then when we came back in August they reviewed, revised
and finalized them uh because we meet two days in July and two days in August. Um then I can't remember if it's on this slide or not and I've lost track of keeping up uh with my paper over here. So it may I may end up repeating myself with a bullet in a second. But what
we'll also do differently this year is we when we meet as a leadership I have a couple different leadership structures but one with that entire team that meets in the summertime we will meet once a month throughout the course of the year and they will get back together in those teams and there's a uh a lead in charge
of each group in charge of each of the uh strategic actions and they will monitor the plan throughout the course of the year instead of that all being my responsib ability to monitor. I'm uh it's just set up a little bit structurally different and it puts a
little bit more collective ownership on the plan. Um all right. So, uh few things learned from last year. One is that again I'm still learning the job a little bit. Um I have
to remind myself still just year three as superintendent. So part of my job was or or understanding what is my job it is to own more of the global view and strategic direction for the plant. So that was why I believed it was my responsibility to set the strategic
priorities and then distribute leadership on the development on how we were going to get there and progress monitoring among the team members. That's where I said we change the structure for the progress monitoring over time. Um and I I I did have it as bullet, so I've already said
this one. Um and so again, we'll monitor this um through monthly meetings um throughout the year. Um and um and I've again uh again, I deliberately structured the teams and then deliberately put a particular facilitator in charge of each team. Uh
because that was something I had gotten back from the from the leadership team as feedback as well is sometimes people don't know like who's responsible for what. So that in this way everybody knows who's the lead facilitator is on each group. So they always everybody has a point person for each particular
initiative. All right. So with that um you will all have a copy if I think it's right after this in your packet have a copy of the full plan. I'm not going to run through the entire full plan. Um and I'll provide an update in
the winter um on where we are. Um, and I'm gonna open it up for any pl um any questions. What I will do though is just quickly show you a little bit of what it looks like. Um, which looks very similar to what you would have seen last year. All
the stuff in the front is all the same. The only thing that changed in the front is this section here on the core values because we updated it to reflect the new core values. Um, but everything else here is all the same because the strategic objectives didn't change. the
the overall initiatives didn't change. Um, and this is all just definitions. Where you get to the new part is here where it says 2526 action plan. And so this is what are we focused on in 2526.
So you'll see, you know, we're going to focus on strategic initiative 1A. And then I added this this year where okay, what's the specific action we're taking this year? So last year we did we've we were working on this initiative. We were still doing this. This is where I said
that team went out and they looked at all the different data that we were doing this year. But this year an element that they're doing is they're specifically focused on developing data literacy among key instructional leaders um within the district to ensure decisions are made based upon actionable
data and initiatives are monitored. And then the team developed these action steps and it follows the same structure as last time. who's responsible, what's the date, um, and then we'll monitor the status as we go throughout. There's nothing in the status yet because we just started. Um, but this is where, and
I'll put this like I did before. I'll give you a green, yellow, orange, red version of this, you know, sometime in the month in in the middle of the um, middle of the year. I forget when we put it. I think we put it in January. I think I'm going to come back. Um, but this is how it's laid out for each of
them. Again, this is also under the same initiative, but we have another action under this which is related. I think I mentioned during the update, we're going to do a little bit more focus work around PLC's. So, this one's more focus work around PLC's. And again, I'm not going to go through all this that I already probably talking longer than I
wanted to, but that's that's how it's all laid out and goes all the way through. And there's a group in charge of each one of these made up of depending upon the size of the depending upon the initiative. The smallest group has four people in it. The largest one I think has eight. um because we are a decent sized team when you get us all
together and I think I'm done and on through the chair I'll take any questions. Thank you Dr. Smith. Anyone have any questions or comments? Miss Bemis I guess uh this is from my information clarifying something. So I did look at
the March one um and yes it's amazing the progress you made. So first kudos to everybody. Um but under 1A um sort of give me a a better understanding how
uh using data improves instruction. I'm I'm trying to link and I did see though it's open ar uh architect that everybody's going to use sort of as the foundational way to share information. H what information or
data would you know what kind of information is going to be shared and how could it be used to influence or improve instruction? Yeah. So one key element um so so if I use the example of of the one
that we paused as an example to so I'm gonna I am going to answer your question. I'm just going to take a little bit of a a roundabout way of getting there. So the example um for the initiative that we paused was was centered around strength-based instruction,
the longer we spent talking about that and the more time we spent doing our learning walks and understanding where we were as a district. strength-based instruction was further
down the path, further down the continuum than where we were right now as a district. It's not the um you know, if the sort of take the idea of like meeting a student where they are instructionally, right? So, if we're
thinking about meeting the district where the district is, the district was not ready for strength-based instruction, professional development. There's other things foundationally that we needed to get in place. So, it's time to put that one on pause. and we had other things that we needed to focus on. So, think about from the um in order for
us to really be able to make high quality decisions in the classroom, we need to be make making data informed um decisions for our our ultimately at the classroom level for our students.
But before that, we need to be able to put timely data into teachers hands. Well, we don't really have a good system for doing that. So, the first thing we needed to do was identify what do we have, where do we have it, can we get it
all in one place. That was last year. Now we need to understand like what level of capacity do from the leadership level all the way down do we have even for understanding how to once we get it all
in one place do we know what it's telling us? Do we know at the school level at the leadership level how to use that to marshall our existing resources? So do we know how to implement our interventionists? Do we know how to utilize our coaches? Um, do we know how
to move our biggest resources as people around at the building level? And then do we know how to start to use those to drive PLC level conversations from the leadership level to impact instruction? So, if you're going to have a team, if
you're an elementary teacher, you're going to meet with your third grade team about what you're seeing for patterns and how they're going to start to make decisions um to to make either curricular or instructional changes to impact something that you're seeing. Um and we determined that that was not the
way that we were necessarily doing things here. So, that's where we determined the next best step was. Then from there I anticipate the next step will be then moving it down to the classroom level and h helping teachers then understand how to best make but you know at the same time we also have a
curriculum implementation going on for six through eight right so there are other things going on too right but um that's from a data standpoint that's you know it's it's a set of steps that are all building towards something and that's where if I step back to the
initial piece that's where from my seat I have the ability to see I don't know. I'm trying to think of a good analogy, but I I I have the strategy, the vision, the long-term plan. Um, and that what
are the ne next sequence of steps that needed to happen. Does that answer your question? I know it took me a little while to get there, but any other questions, Mr. Morris? I can see that these implementation of changes are geared toward not only
looking at progress but also why did we do something better or if it's not better what it needed to implement a change and it involves leadership it involves the staff being
part of the process as opposed to the old SRA days where your kids's given a standardized test and the parents are given your kid comes in at the 67th percentile. In other words, this is an entirely different way of looking at how
knowledge and teaching goes on and how it's accepted and then judged based on the test scores and other classroom viewpoint. Now, I sit here as a member of a school
committee who benefits from these instructions that you're giving us. And if I have a question, I just raise my hand and show how little I know. But the question comes, how do you
involve? Clearly the kids are involved and the staff but what is the role of the parent in absorbing this new newer way of getting information out and test it
back? How does the parent fit into this equation? So I mean I think part of part of my job is to communic
well is to do two things is one is to work through my um through the the buildings who have a closer relationship with parents to ensure that we're all working together.
Right. Um, I need to make sure that as we roll each of these initiatives out and it's part of the ownership piece, right, to make sure that each of us is all working towards the same thing. It was actually part of what we talked to, it was just a brief comment that I made
at convocation, but that there is no, and it is not an uncommon phrase, right? It'll be like, oh, well, the district needs to do whatever the district needs to work on blah blah blah. Well, we are the district, right? There's no the schools and the district like the schools are the district. We are the
district. So, um, and I think so part of it is is by by design, by us working on all this together. My goal is that we're building a shared sense of responsibility in and we're building a
shared sense of ownership around all these whatever it is we're working towards. So if it's working towards building data literacy, whether it's working towards any of these initiatives that we're building a shared sense of ownership so that I don't have to be the only person who's communicating it and I try to use my platform. You know, I do
have a couple of mechanisms for um sharing information and that I'm sharing something consistently and that I'm sharing with the principles that I'm going to be sharing this so that they then can also understand like the messaging that's coming from me. Do I do
it perfectly? No. Um but I try. Um the other message, well, never mind. I'll talk about that later. Um and then I think the third piece is that as I mentioned earlier in August when I met when I outlined my goals, I think part of what I'm going to try to do a little bit better this year is then get out and
do some more listening again and try to meet with parents in a in a way um around some of these topics that are aligned with our I want to do some things that are not necessarily aligned with our strategic plan. But I think there's also will be some opportunities to now listen with some focused topics around the strategic plan um that are
pertinent to families. I mean I think you know the capital planning stuff I think the families at Emmy Small are going to be really interested about stuff and then if we're going to have a conversation about the future of Baker I think that's you know there's going to be certain things that are going to be pertinent to certain people but then other stuff you know I don't know if
we're talking about HVAC units I mean I don't think that's going to draw a big crowd. Um unless something's really broken and you know like you know you right. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Um so I I
think it'll depend upon the topic I think too what will draw people in. But I I want you know I think there's I I do want to also create opportunity for conversation uh around topics that are relevant as well. There's a long-winded
answer. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you so much. Uh we'll move to the next item which is FY25 closeout update. Is that Dr. Smith or Dr. Gillson I believe? Right. Dr. Gillson.
You got to push the Y. Thank you. Welcome. I can comfortably say that my day was spent in three budget years. I was doing I started the morning and I was pre doing preliminary projections for FY27.
I was approving um purchases that all the schools are making in the current budget year. And then also um I had the opportunity to be looking at reconciling banks bank statements um in FY25 to make
sure um that um they were matching what we had in our budgeting software program. So um where we are right now um basically in terms of fi uh final expenditures and incumbrances
uh we spent July and August closing out um POS um expending um incoming and paying bills that were still um remaining from the FY25 fiscal year. Um, we also were looking at reconciling our
payroll so that we could effectively be begin paying people again in this fiscal year. Um, so we um had to look at how our grants and our revolving accounts were offsetting payroll. Um and um right
now I the the major thing that we're having uh to take a look at is uh the reconciliation of the bank's statements and the matches that we have in our fiscal system which is infinite visions um due to the uh departure of the
previous um f finance director in late February and the simultaneously departure of the assistant I believe it the assistant treasurer. Um, we lost about four months worth of ability to
keep up with the reconciliation, the reconciliations between statements and the actual um recording of those statements in the software the software program. So, those
are critical to being able to uh complete our end of the year report and the bank statements are like literally like this thick. So, um tomorrow um the treasurer and the accountant and I will
be sitting down to have a continued discussion about how to move those along quicker. And so, I think we'll enjoy that. Um, and I'm looking forward to that. Um, but but um we're also beginning to um
basically move towards getting to a point where we can um begin the um the September end of year report. Um which is good. Um and uh but but um in full transparency where we're really um need
to move along is the reconciliation of the bank statements with what we have in our system. So, um, so we're looking forward to continuing the resolution there and it promises to be, um, I think
pretty engaging and we'll look to do that as soon as we human as soon as is humanly possible. Perfect. Thank you so much. Okay. Uh, next we have the
subcommittee uh, representatives leazison report, school committee le select board. Um, I know Mr. Glenn is not here for Yarmouth. Anything from the town of Dennis to add? Perfect. Uh, next we'll move to the superintendent report, recognition of donations and acknowledgements.
All right. Thank you. All right. So, starting with some donations. So, first uh in your consent agenda, you'll have a couple of donations to approve. I just want to just take a moment to thank uh the contributors for those donations. So, first uh for from
the vet and friends is a donation of school supplies from earlier this year to each of the schools for students in need. Um those supplies were distributed through our school social workers. So again, thank you very much to vets and friends for that um very thoughtful donation um to help ensure that all of
our students were starting the school year with everything that they needed. Um, next was almost um $3,900 uh to the high school from the athletic uh for the to the high school um for athletics and band for Let me try that
again. Almost $3,900 to be used for athletic and band user fees um from the Cape Cod Foundation um from this from the Dolphin Dash Fund. Now, you may remember there was an earlier donation. I think it might have been in August. If not, it was in July.
Um, and so the just just a little backstory for this, there was originally one account set up um that way back in the origin of the um Dolphin Dash that was just for athletics when the user uh when it was uh sort of expanded to
include the band um the sec second account was set up. So this is essentially closing out that athletic only um account. Um, so this is what was left in that Athletico only account and the official closing of that account. And then last is again about $1,300 um
from the sailing booster club. So again, thank you to the Sailor Booster Club and that they're donating um to the DY sailing team to support uh the needs of that particular team. So, you know, I've said it before, I'll say it a thousand times. um the support of our community um to our students, to our staff, to our
families uh just continues to be unbelievably generous um throughout the throughout the year. Um and it's one of the great things that makes uh this district so special. Um and then next, just a special recognition. Uh I'm going to talk about the start of school um in
a a little bit later in my report, but one of the things about getting out um at the start of the school uh was the noticeable um I don't even want to call it a shine, but the I just really want to call out
specifically our facilities and custodial team. Um, so there I think I mentioned before there was more C um, facilities work in particular this summer than I think has happened in a long time, but like you walk in the lobby of Emmy Small and it is bright. It
um, not just from the clean. So the custodial team did a great job cleaning this year, but like there's a significant amount of just upkeep painting that was done this year. Station Avenue bright when you walk in there. whether it was painting, carpeting replaced over at Desert Baker,
just a lot of the spaces that really needed a lot of attention got it this year. Um, and it's noticeable like when you walk in the walk in the entrances of all those buildings, the cafeteria over at Station A, like just a lot of the spaces that common spaces where a lot of
people gather are just bright. Um, just have a whole new, I don't know, energy, I guess, for lack of a better better phrase. Um, and I just really want to give special props to the facilities team for getting all that work organized. I know we've had some work
done at um, central office as well. Um, and so like a lot there were just a lot of projects, right? So it there was an opportunity for any one of those to have fallen down, fallen apart, for work not to have getting done, for somebody to say that's too much, you know, we'll do this or that. Um, but really it just
kept saying yes, kept saying it was like a summer of and and and all, you know, there was like one or two things that didn't get accomplished, but pretty much everything got done. Um, and I guess a big kud out kudos to them for getting it done.
Um, next DY DYI this building's field construction update. Um, so since the last Yes. Yeah. Uh, so since um the since our last public meeting, so I
know I've updated the committee a little bit um in email, but since the last public meeting, um the project's hit a few delays um as the committee knows um we put like several quality control measures in place. Um a lot of testing
um to basically to make sure we didn't have the same repeated failure um as the last time. Um and so that's included testing at every single sta phase of the installation process. Um and that testing and due diligence did cause some delays. Um did cause um some material to
be replaced early on in the process. So where we should have the whole project completed at this point. It is not completed at this project. Uh as uh the chair mentioned on the way in, they are essentially dusting the last bit of material onto the lower field. the lower
field should be all buttoned up and the the upper field is on schedule to be completed at the end of this month. So, the middle school will have access for athletics to the lower field. The plan is to uh rem to to uh reposition the
construction fencing so that the middle school can have access to the lower field. And then we've made plans between the middle school and station a they've worked out that the the the big field that's like right next to the office of the superintendent that'll be used as a secondary field for the middle school
and they've worked it out with recess schedules and fizzed and everything over at station a um uh so that the middle school can access that field as well for the time being until they can get back up onto the upper field. Um which leads
into the station a playground. Um, so construction on that project is well underway. Um, if you drive by there, you'll see it's all fenced off. They've already started moving dirt. Um, and over the next week or so, they should do all all the subgrading should be done. Um, which is basically getting it all to
level. They've I believe they've already started putting um thing everything down. They I know the first thing they wanted to do is get part of that includes um they took up the old um pavers. Yeah, pavers. That was a basketball court and then it's going to be a paved basketball court. So, I know
that was one of the first things that they wanted to get in and done. Um, we have progress meetings every two weeks with that group. Um, so I think we have one next week, I think. I don't know. I've lost track between all the different construction meetings. It's it's a little bit to keep track of, but
anyways. Um, that's an aside. Um, and then um and then they start uh bringing the m the um the actual equipment in pretty quick. Uh, the equipment is actually all already on site. It's already tucked away behind the maintenance yard. So, like all the, you
know, I don't know. I don't think we actually have swings, but you know what I mean. Like the play structures. Thank you. That was the word I was looking for. They're already all here on site tucked away. Um, so they'll start going in and the project is on schedule, should be completed prior to Thanksgiving break. Um, you know, the biggest thing will be as long as the
weather holds it because the the biggest thing is like you need a certain number of days in a row with no rain and the right temperatures for the poured in place material. So that's that's we'll keep our fingers crossed that we don't run into any problems with that. Uh next uh biggest the business program review.
Um so you may remember from my goals one of the um superintendent's goals is to take action on the business program review that um Dr. Gillson mentioned is from um infinite vision. So the company
through which we um manage the all the budget and the and the the business trans transactions related to our finances. Um so we had um requested them to do this business program review just sort of
like an audit. It's not like an audit audit but it's sort of like an audit of the way we do things and do business. Yeah. And the purpose was to determine, you know, what parts of the software software we're currently underutilizing, what parts we might be using incorrectly, what additional products
that they offer might help us meet our goals, etc., etc. So, some of the major findings, um, they gave us like a 20some page report. Um, but so I'm just going to hit some of the highlights. Um, so one thing is there's opportunity for improved user access um, through a
couple different ways. one, they have this web portal access, which will be better for all of our users to be able to get into because we had people in like through an old old legacy system and then like an old new legacy system and and people could see different things and could do different things depending upon which way they were
logging in and um so we're going to transition folks into the portal um system. Plus it allows for single sign in um which is just a better process for security and for ease for our for our end users to get in. Um, plus then it'll
allow um for us to have better control over account types, right? So, you know, I have one level of access and account control type versus the person who does payroll versus the principal's admin on the enduser end, right? and and you can
set it up by an account type versus putting in one individual and saying, "Okay, what type of permissions do I want to give that individual and do I remember the next time a new person gets hired and they come in and now do I give them the same or am I just going to say
this position gets that type of account?" Um, and that's we want to build it that way going forward and redesign it that way. Um, next is chart of accounts. um essentially our chart of accounts which is like all the different account codes right that hasn't been
cleaned up in I think the report says years um is the phrase that's in there so it needs it needs a clean up um and there's several unused accounts in there um and it just creates for confusion and not great transparency quite frankly for
you for the public um so uh we're going to work on uh consolidation and cl and quite frankly deleting of old accounts is it'll be a process that'll take the year because because at this point we've already created FY26 so you can't really delete it now so it's something we have
to work towards for FY27 u but it'll be if we don't start it now then we'll be in the same boat in FY27 um but it will create better transparency um and clarity uh going forward um then next is um position
budgeting within the system as well so right now the way we do you know so like every position um should be tied to a a cost right um right now it's sort of done in outside the system in in like an Excel um but it really can be done
inside the system and should be more helpful in forecasting um for cost um down the road um it should be able to say okay so next year you know superintendent is supposed to make this much assistant superintendent supposed to make that much business so on for every position and we should be able to
use that better for forecasting inside the system. Plus, if somebody terminates or leaves the district, you know, we should be able to um do replacement costs, etc., etc. And so, we we're going to move towards implementing that whole
part of the system so we can do have a better sense of um position utilization within the system. Um again, currently it's being done sort of outside the system and then being brought into the system. Um and then the next piece is around cloud sort of tied back to that
cloud-based but there's a whole user side of that. So employee access um right now um if you want well I'm not going to get into that right now. Essentially
employer user access allows for a whole bunch of functions um to be so much easier than the way we currently do them. So, we currently push everything around by paper, email, or maybe some of it, well, we've gotten away by phone calls because that's just it's too easy
to impersonate somebody like it's too too bad for fraud, right? So, but um a lot of it's still done by paper. So, it would allow for once we set up the employee access portal, which is actually that work's already even started. Um it'll allow functions for
payroll, emergency contacts, accepting and passing contracts like right now. So let's say you were to become employed with us. Um you and you accept the job. It all gets created by pushing a paper that has to get paperwork is generated.
It comes to my office. I sign it. You sign it. Then it goes in a paper folder. All that can be done digitally and moved around digitally. If you then take a job as a coach, you know, you want to do coach soccer, same process happens. It comes to me. I or the the letter has to
get generated. It comes to me, I sign it, you sign it, goes in your file. All this can be done through this system. Um, which will make us again so much more efficient and fast again for your ability to see your paycheck, your get your W4. Um, and the list goes on and on
and on and on and on. Um, the next is through our leave process, right? So, somebody's out sick, somebody needs to take personal leave. For those of us that have vacation time, that's all again pushed through paper and it lags in the system. So if I want to know how many vacation days I have left or
how much personal time or how many sick time I've used, it's all imagine 630 employees in the district. They their leave forms start out at the school and they work their way eventually back to
one person's desk in the district and they get a stack of them like this and once every couple weeks she gets a chance to take them and enter them into the system. So, that's the way we currently do it. It's not the way we're gonna do it in the future. Um, again,
it's there's a a way for me to for us to you to request it through your employee access and then for it to go through an appro approval chain and then it's automatically entered into the system. Yeah, I know. It's like 1954. Yes. Yeah. So, we're Yeah, there is an after
I just signed three carbon copy forms from for Dr. Smith. Yeah, exactly. Um, uh, let's see. Um that's the same. I don't know why I wrote it twice. Um and then the last is
uh so so uh yeah I mean you Maria's heard me complain about this about a thousand times since I started working in this district. But um then uh oh and then I guess the last is what
again it's the same really. It's just then creating you can create all sorts of workflows through the employee access to take care of all of these things. Um so after this I've I've assigned Susan and then our HR director to again one
thing's already in process but then to take this entire 20 I don't know five page report and to prioritize it. Um they gave us already sort of a prioritized list of recommendations but I want it to be what most works for DY.
So, I've asked I've assigned them the task of taking it and figuring out, okay, where are we going to go next? What's going to be the first couple of things plus it's in you'll see it in the strategic um action plan as well. This is one of the items. So, um they're I've given them a bit of time to work on that
and come back to me with okay, where are we going next? So, that is where that currently stands. Um and then last school opening uh on the 26th uh I had this distinct privilege of welcoming back our staff for convocation
um August 26th obviously um to kick off the school year um after a very thoughtful and inspirational speech um by Miss Beimis um it was it was I it was it was very very impressive. I love the way she tied
together her story. It was I I take some notes actually personally. Um you're a great storyteller. Um so we took a few moments together as a faculty actually to celebrate. Se several of the slides that I showed here were slides that I showed to the faculty really to because it was like I mentioned it's their hard
work not mine. Um and I really wanted to make sure that they um they saw their the the dividends of their hard work. Um then we also talked uh about um what the staff could expect, you know, sort of a
truncated version of the um the action plan. So what could they sort of expect that they were going to see in year or two? Um and then uh my sort of parting message was this idea of progress not perfection. Um that um we live in this
world that's like a curated world at this point, right? Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, like everybody shows you their best thing. They don't show you all their failures. Um, and so it's really easy to think every everything out there is perfect and that there's no place for failure. Um, so I actually shared with them my top five failures from the last
year. Um, but the point was that from I was trying to give them the message which I really believe that from from the superintendent down as we move forward on all these big things, the point is not to hit it right every time,
right? It was actually that I just we're just looking as a district to try to move forward, like take the next step. Um we're just trying to everybody move forward and and um take the next best step forward and as long as we're all continuing to move forward, we're going
to be fine. Um and then on Wednesday the 3, uh we welcomed back the students and we were in full live and in session. Um and I was able to get out for the start of school um to the high school, this school, and to me um as their days got started as kids were getting off the
bus, out of their cars. Um, so you know, it was great to see all the smiles, the warmth, you know, to see Principal Bennett and Officer Nick out in the front waving to the kids as they were coming in to at this school. They had balloons out in the front as they were welcoming the kids in through the
auditorium door, all the staff out front. And then at Emmy Small, it was like all hands on deck in the lobby. I got a picture of it from the back. you know, again, the little kids like the welcoming the kindergartens kindergarteners in, but it's like I I couldn't even see the kids through the the swarm of adults that were in front
of me. Um, and then later I was able so after there then I went over to Baker and by then they were already in session, but I was able to get out with Principal Riley and vi visit some classrooms and for there it was different, right? He was like introducing himself, right? Going around to the classrooms um just saying, "Hey,
you know, I'm your principal." Um, but he had actually met a lot of them the night before. He had done a popsicles with the principal I think is what he called it. Um so he was like reintroducing himself to some of the kids. Um and then you know ended at station a I actually had to come back at a short meeting and then went back. So
by the time I got back to station a it was lunchtime. So then lunch and recess. So, um, you know, just already see them starting to establish routines and kids moving in and out and and um and and then I've been out to the buildings already several times since then and
quite frankly, it's like we never left um because the it just everything's hopping and humming and running um on routine. The buses are actually um running pretty well on schedule. you know, some some delays, but we're we're ironing out uh fewer than I anticipated.
Um just because the beginning of the year, you're almost always running into some problems, but there's actually been we've we've worked on some things here with the with the timing on the lights here at the end of the day to try to get the buses out faster because this tends to be the bottleneck in the day. If if we don't get out here in time, then it
just backs up to the elementary schools. So, um and I think that's it. Yep. any but any questions to the chair? Any questions, comments? Miss Landers, I just want to say, you know,
congratulations on a great opening. I'm sure there were glitches and I'm sure there was a lot there were issues to be resolved, but um you know, I saw a fraction, you know, of what we've seen in the past of parent, you know, question, complaint,
glitching, wait, like all the stuff that we usually see. I mean there was not I don't want to j anything but um it seemed uh that things went extremely uh smoothly in just so congratulations to everybody who was involved in the start of school.
Will you still raise your hand Mr. Morris? Yeah. So there's no change in the school committee membership access codes still 00. Well, listening to the
access of what has to be done, not just shiny classrooms, but the paperwork behind the scenes and the planning. And the Cape Cod collaborative goes through a similar thing, smaller staff,
more access to different school groups. The the first meeting of the new year is on Wednesday and uh I have the packet somewhere here. I I promise not to read it
to you, but uh I will be driving down there because I'm I was using my wife's computer to do a Zoom meeting and they noticed it wasn't Phil Morris, it was
Deborah Morris. Is this leg legitimate? Who is this person? So, when the executive director sent out something to all the board members about notifying them of the upcoming meeting, let her know if you're coming either in
person or by Zoom. And by the way, if you don't use your own computer, clue her in so she doesn't have to access contact with the superintendent. Uh, and I'm glad to see the selected Massachusetts general laws for school
committees and school personnel. It gives me something to read at late at night. Uh, thank you. Nice job. Nice job. Great. Uh, we'll move into school committee business. The first is a reading first reading of the Dennis
German Freedom School District School Committee goals. uh when we first met two years ago, the goals hadn't been updated in we believe 10 years. Uh so we updated them two years ago and then uh they've been updated to reflect some of the current changes in the the district
values um as well as district roles and procedures. So um not going to read it verbatim, but we have in front of us an updated uh goals for our 2526 year. If anyone has any questions or feedback, please send it Dr. Smith and
I. But it reflects again some of the changes in the district strategic plan and some of the changes that were made over the last year. Uh next we have uh the 2026 2027 Dennis Sharmath Regional School District
calendar. Um we do need a vote on this. Um you know there was discussion about number of days start days um and then civil dates were looked um we had changing some added days and then any other updates Dr. Smith that may be on there.
Yeah. So just two things of note um just just as a reminder because it has we put it um we had this discussion around it then it's been a while. So I just want to just to remind um you all and the public. So, two things that are
different on this calendar and again this is like a year out now, right? Yeah. Um, but so the last day of school uh reflects the 180th day. So that's a
little bit different than the way we've done things. So this is because we it's just gets so confusing like people are you know when when is so we're reflecting here the 180th day of school then if we have to add days because of snow we will add days as opposed to
reflecting the 185th day and then having to back days out and then how many days do we have so is it really four days off three days off whatever. Um and then the second thing is on this calendar um there are no there are there are days the half days for parent conferences are
just K to 7 because we do not have um parent conferences at the 8 through 12. So unless something changes um with pending um negotiations with the teachers but we do not have conferences
at 8 through 12. We've had conver conversations with the bus company. we can make the transportation work. So, um there's no need to reduce the amount of instructional time the high school students have. Um there are other days that the high school students have
reduced schedule like for finals and for um there's a midterm time that they have a half day. So, um didn't see a need to have additional times when they had a half day if we were working at the conferences.
So again, in 2026, 2027, June 22nd will be the last day unless there's additional days. Unless there's snow, unless there's snow days added, correct? I don't know how many times a year. The question is how many days do we need to subtract
from the triangle? So, currently on this calendar, you do not subtract anything. Yes. Okay. And I'm sure there'll be an adjustment period, but hopefully we'll just get to a point where people understand that that's the last day. And if we have snow days, we'll add on, you know. Perfect. Excellent. So, I'll take a motion. By the time I retire, people will get
it. I move that we approve the 2026 2027 calendar as presented. Second. We have a motion, a second. Any questions and comments? Seeing none, all those in favor say I.
I. Any opposed? Any abstained? This passes. And and I know it it seems like it's so far out, but I know people in the medical field and people in other things need to book time out years a year in advance. It sounds crazy to some
of us, but it it really does make a difference when we can produce it this far in advance. So, it's it's very helpful. Um and then get so many deals for any places you want to visit. Great. Uh next we have their sur surplus uh that we discussed.
How many pages I have here? I know it was mostly in in vehicles. Yeah. So, the 2016 Chevrolet Express small school bus with 160,000 miles. Um, you know, based on the estimate to cost versus the
replacement. So, we have that in surplus. I think that was it. I move that we declare the uh vehicle surplus as presented in the memo. Second. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose?
Any abstain? Perfect. Uh the consent agenda as Dr. Smith talked about the donation from Vets and Friends for back to school activities. Um the donations from the closing out of the Dolphin Dash fund uh in the amount of $3,88754.
And then the donation from the sailing account boosters club in the 13 1,3471 from August 5th. We have a motion to move this end. Do we have a second? Second. All those in favor?
I wonder uh bill bills requisitions and payroll. I don't know if I signed anything today. We're all digital, right? Look at that. I felt like I felt like it was still sitting on Mr. Glenn's seat and no one passed it down.
um calendars. So, a couple things to note. Um one will be the calendar. Uh this Thursday, September 11th, is the first open house for the district. The Dennis Yarmouth Intermediate School, the building we are in. So, 4 to 7:00 will have their open house at 6:00 p.m. And
then next week is a busy week. Tuesday the 16th is Emmy Small. Uh Wednesday the 17th is Station A. and Thursday the 18th for those who show up. Uh probably mostly eighth graders is at uh all three is on Thursday the 18th. Uh all every
open house starts at 6 p.m. and then the 25th which is a Thursday Ezra Baker has their open house. And then um again point of uh note the dolphin dash memory of Paul Funk is Saturday September 27th at 10 a.m. at uh the high school. This
is earlier than it has been before. Um so it's very important and as we saw from the donations um the money raised helps offset user fee costs for athletics and um our marching band. So any we appreciate the community and all
the support that that event does. So we hope to see people there. Uh and then our next school committee meeting is September 29th. What's also is included um from discussion from our uh meeting in July is kind of a update of what's
going to be talked over in all of our meetings. So um we have an idea of um we have our goals for budget when we have to have things um and then other things that will be presented. Dr. Smith talked about January 26 which we have our uh
strategic plan progress report. So, we get to see hopefully lots of greens and yellows. Um, and not so many reds. Halfway, some how about some yellows. We'll see yellows. Um, but we have all that
updated. And then um at our next meeting, we'll be discussing um a possible field trip for 2027. We'll be discussing the student handbooks and then the high school parking policy, which we had uh talk about in August. We'll have a revisit on discussion on
that. So plenty of uh exciting topics to come up. Um next for public comment, do we have anyone that would like to speak during public comment? Seeing none, uh seeing none, does anyone want to make a motion? I move we adjourn.
Motion to adjurnn. We have a second. We have a second. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Any abstain? Thank you so much. We're excited for the new school year.