Welcome to the Monday, September 29th, 2025 meeting of the Dennis Jamorth 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. Thank you. Uh before we go directly into the agenda, I just wanted to make an announcement. Um this morning, uh Dr. Smith and I received an email from Joe Glenn. Uh Joe Glenn has resigned from
the Dennis Yarmouth Regional School Committee. Uh we appreciate his over six years with the committee. Um the town of Yarmouth has been notified as well as the town administrator and the town clerk uh and the town select board. They will go through the process uh of making
an announcement. Um, and typically the process is the town of Yarmmouth or the town of Dennis depending if there's a vacancy will appoint someone to the committee and then uh someone will be able to um run in the election in April or May depending on the town. So on
behalf of all the committee I would like to thank Joe for his many years of service uh his dedication to the towns and all the things that he did. Uh we appreciate everything he has done for the for the district. Um next we'll start with ports and discussion. I'll invite uh Mr. Pendleton
up to talk about uh Dennis Chararmath High School with percussion overnight. All right. Good evening, school committee and administration. My name is Alex Pendleton. I'm one of the band directors of the DY High School as well as the department chair for music and performing arts. And we're here this
evening seeking approval for our trip to the WGI World Championships in Dayton, Ohio, which will take place in April. Uh we're no stranger to this trip. We've taken this uh trip every two years since about 2010 2011. Uh and I can tell you
it's a huge success every time we do it. Inspirational to the students. Um I make the analogy this is like the Olympics. WGI is an organization we compete in. It's short for uh Wintergard International. And they are the pinnacle. They're the top of all organizations. Uh so going out there to
Dayton, Ohio is like going on to the Olympics because we're performing on the world stage with the best of the best. Um, so this is a trip uh that we would do the week before April vacation. As you can see from the, you know, from the itinerary there, we'd leave on a Tuesday. It's a long ride out there via
a coach bus. Uh, we would spend that next day Wednesday, uh, uh, practicing and getting ready. We compete on Thursday in the prelims, and if we make it out of the prelims, we then move on to the semi-finals, then to the finals. Uh, and one of the highlights of the trip is, of course, you know, being a a
performer, but also being a spectator. They're going to have an opportunity to watch worldclass groups and open class groups perform on Friday. And you know, this is some of these groups that perform. You'd pay top dollar, like Broadway money to see these see these ensembles perform. So, it's as
inspirational as a as a spectator as it is a performer. Um, just a side note, we're actually the only competitive percussion ensemble left on Cape Cod and we're one of the few in uh southeastern Massachusetts. So for us going to WGI,
we're not just representing our school and our community of Dennis Yarmouth, you know, we're representing Cape Cod. We're representing the Commonwealth. So it's it is an honor to go out there and perform and uh it's it's it's a huge inspiration for the students, which I did bring three of my students here this
evening just to kind of share a little student perspective about the trip and uh then be more than happy to take any questions. How's it going? Uh my name is Michael and I am a senior. And something that I just want to share
about the trip is just a little personal anecdote having gone one time. And it's it's kind of a funny story because when I was there, I was so happy and excited. I was practically I was skipping through
the halls of the hotel and I injured myself. I landed on my ankle wrong and I sprained it. But being part of something that was so much bigger than me, I was so determined to like do that that I went to one of my
classmates in the ensemble who in winter percussion, you've already spent five months, like 10 hours a week rehearsing with them. She was half my size, like three years older than me. I asked for her ankle brace and I put it on. It was
way too small, but I just yanked it onto my ankle and I went out there onto that floor and I performed the next day. And being able to do that, being able to have that determination
is something that trip gives you. It's something that being there and participating in will give you the feeling of having, which is really important. Hi, my name is Kayla. I'm a junior and I
went to Dayton in 2024. And one of my favorite parts about the whole experience is getting to see people doing that you're so passionate about and that you love at like the highest level ever. It's just really inspirational to see people that have the same drive as you and you're just
inspired to work harder and become better at your instrument every single day. and just getting super close to everyone in the program. Like as Michael said, we've already spent like a good 5 months with them every single second of every single day for rehearsals. And
it's just it's a really good bonding experience and just for like younger kids too to be like exposed to that who may not understand the activity fully to be present in like the best of the best. It's really fun and inspirational and you make a lot of good memories and
yeah. Uh hello, my name is Lucas. Uh I am a junior at DY. And uh last time I went to Dayton, I was a freshman in high school. And when I went there, it was my first year playing the certain instrument that I was playing the tener drums. And when I went there, I kind of had no idea.
Well, like staying on Cape, like Mr. piece set since we're the only winter percussion ensemble on Cape. You don't really get to see anyone play the same instrument as you unless you go to competitions and like you don't really get the right view, especially also watching it online. You don't really get the correct experience from seeing other
people better than you and more experienced than you play their instrument and play it so well to where it changes you and how you want to play your instrument. But they didn't really change that for me. And when I went there, it kind of just changed something in me, made me want to get better and better and better. And that's why I'm
still pursuing the same instrument I am today because of that trip and going again would just amplify so not only me but so many other people in the ensemble. Thank you. So to give you a little perspective of the uh the winter percussion as an ensemble, uh it's kind of an offshoot of
the marching band. If I'm sure you've all seen, you know, our marching band at a football game and you have that front ensemble with the mimbas and the xylophones and triangles and bass, all the things you can't practically march with. Um there's you have that but much larger. It's in a gym. Uh and the
marching students are marching snare drums, tener drums, bass drums, and crash symbols. And I tell you, it's as much percussion theater as it is music. There's sets and there's backdrops and there's effects. and you know you you you spend all that season working on this and it's you know 6 to 8 minute
theatrical production and we take it on the road and we compete we start our season in November uh and we start our competitions usually right after right around February vacation and locally we compete in an uh organization called NESBA the New England Scholastic Band Association so we're traveling around uh
mostly Massachusetts a little bit in Rhode Island competing and then in addition to that uh every two years we participate in the WGI regional and then go on to the world championship ship in Dayton, Ohio. So, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
Thank you so much, Mr. Morris. The buildup for and wanting to do better cannot be stroked into kids easily because too much pressure not the the wrong word
at the wrong time has negative consequences. So you I have envisioned watching a group of students who have reached a point where they themselves are the ones pushing
themselves, not just their parents or the school staff. But it's my also appreciation of the blend that's needed of leadership and talent to do that.
Heard kay is one thing. hurting and training and encouraging live human beings of a teenager is a reflection of a philosophy that I really admire. Thank you. Thank you very much. Sure.
Thank you. Anything else from the committee? Well, thank you for coming tonight. Thank you for bringing students as we talk about Yep. Yep. um you know we're going to talk to Miss Williams next and it you know student uh
is important to hear from the students you know to hear about their experiences and and that kind of helps us decide you know that we should continue to do things like this you know I was at the football game Friday and so an amazing performance on the field at halftime and uh look forward to many more
opportunities so I know it doesn't say it here but we do need a motion uh pass so Miss Landers I move that we approve the DYHS winter percussion overnight trip to Dayton as presented. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion?
All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Congratulations and good luck. Look forward to hearing back. All right. We'll make our community proud. Thank you. And we'll follow it up with another
group of students and a teacher. We'll invite Miss Williams to step up and talk about the Dennis Yarmouth High School Student Advisory Committee and the proposal that she has forward. Good evening. My name is Tristan Williams. I'm um the social studies department chair. These fabulous young
people behind me were students in my 11th grade US history class last year. Um and this presentation is the culmination of their civics action project. So, we're very happy to be here and I would like to introduce them. This
is Sarah Suarez. She's a senior. They're all seniors this year. Uh Salame Zapata and the gentleman behind me, Shane Arsenal. So, I'm going to hand it over to them. Um so, to start Oh. Oh. Oh, okay. So to
start off um we were prompted to do a civics action project. We initially started with the idea of mental health and substance abuse. It felt like the right fit but after some discussion
um we decided that we us as students we felt like we lacked in student voice. So we wanted to see if we could fix that problem or at least get it started. Um and then we also
started it and we also tried to come up with a solution which we did which was the student advisory council. So our rationale um there's about 3,000 students in the DUI district
um and the students are the biggest stakeholders and we feel that students need a greater voice when it comes to decision making in school and within the district uh why
Why is student voice important? Raise this thing. Uh student voice is important because student we want a student perspective on the issue. So if the student really knows about what the issue is or what it like it is that you guys are making a
decision upon we could understand it better and we could like kind of take more ownership to our actions if something goes wrong. Um we want more in student engagement and ownership. Like I said, if we have more student engagement, then we will be more like we'll take more ownership to good
actions and bad actions that happen. And the student buy in on policies. Oh, and uh we would also want student buy in on school policies. Am I the next one? Um, in our research, we came across this
law that states that school districts shall meet at least once every month with a student advisory committee that consists of five members elected by the student body. So, we would like to further this proposal. on our proposal. There's just a couple
key points. Um we came up with the idea of having two students from each grade um which will form the student advisory council and these 10 students will vote in one member to attend the student uh
school committee c uh meetings and then the advisory council will meet bi-weekly with a faculty advisor and they will meet once a month with a representative from the student com uh
school committee. Um for the last several we also did some research because we knew that there was a student representing um in the school committee and for with our uh research we realized that for the
last several years the students mostly have reported news about what's happening at the DY. Um so we would like to increase the student participation but the student being like allowed to have some input in the discussions as
well. You also have the proposal um the the full proposal. Those were just the key points. And I guess that at this point um if you have any questions the proposal really is much more detailed than the slideshow. I don't know if everybody had a chance
to look at it. I'll take any questions from the committee. Mr. Martin. Hi. Thank you very much um for coming. I I I fully support having student involvement with the uh with the school committee. Um I think it's I think it's
very important. You all uh this is this is your house, so you know, you should have a say in what goes on here. Um my question uh we do have a student representative that comes to the school committee. How is this process different from the
process that selected her and her predecessor? So essentially um if I can say this gently, we have not been following the law the way that it's written.
Mhm. Um, and the student representative has been chosen through a process that is not reflective of what the law says we should do, which is that the student advisory committee is elected by the student body of the
high school. Okay. Um, so when is this going in uh if if approved, when would this go into effect? So, we have a timeline, a general timeline on the proposal that we've
developed. Um, if we if we are allowed to move forward with this, we're going to we're going to kick it kick it off pretty quickly. And I believe that there's a two-eek period for applications. Um, followed by a a
I think a week or so of campaigning and then voting. So I I would say it would be at the shortest it would be a month until we could see the process through to completion to get a student onto the school committee.
Okay. And um since she's not here, would Ava be involved in that process of selection or because I don't She would she would be certainly welcome to apply for a spot. Okay.
because I just I just don't want I mean she's I mean she's obviously the current representative. I don't want her to just be left, you know, booted out. I would like for her to be included in the process to have a fair shake of keeping her spot, you know. So yeah, that that would be my concern. I don't want because she hasn't done anything wrong.
So it's not like she she needs to be removed, you know. Of course. Um Okay. Um Mr. Martin, can I have Dr. respond to some of those so we don't move forward? Yeah. So it it is by the law it's supposed to be a democ democratically elected process. I think as we've done a
little bit of research I think you know we we were with postcoid changes in school leadership I think we just were we had representatives to the school committee and I think it's been more of an appointment than an election. Um so a part of that is trying to get back to
that process but then also two how do we even just get the student advisory council up and running? Um and so that this again the students took this on. They were looking for an avenue for voice. They found a statute that gave them the avenue for voice. Um and then
as you as you look into their proposal, you'll see they have essentially two timelines. One is for the here and now because they recognize that the election would have happened, if I remember correctly, the elections will happen in the spring, but they recognize you can't go back in time. So they need they have
a proposal for how do they get through the 2526 school year and then moving forward these elections would happen in the spring um to meet sort of the understanding that students are going to you know you have turnover every year seniors leave um so you need to have
some but that doesn't necessarily mean that the student sitting here would be a senior because that group is going to elect the student that's going to represent them. I'll start with Mr. new at the end. Thank you. The vetting process, who is going to be in charge of vetting the
applicants? I see the criteria you have listed. It's a little bit vague. Uh so where is the oversight for the vetting going to be? So we we had a long discussion about
that and we didn't want to make the process prohibitive, but we also wanted to make sure that we had students that were serious. excuse me, that were serious about being on this committee. So, we decided that one of
the key parts of it would be to have um a a facult two faculty sponsors, one teacher and one guidance counselor. And that essentially that would be the vetting process because a teacher a student would only ask a teacher
it's it's almost like asking a teacher for a letter of recommendation for college that kind of process. Um so that was kind of our Do you have a follow-up question? You you look Yes.
I'm I'm just I'm contemplating um a guidance counselor and a teacher. Yes. and they are going to vet or evaluate the applicant. They're going to sponsor the applicant. They're going to sponsor the applicant. And as long as they are sponsored by a
guidance counselor and a teacher, then they Well, there's a disciplinary there's a disciplinary part to it and a um GPA, a grade, right? C I saw that C+ and no major disciplinary actions. So, I guess uh
define major disciplinary actions. uh and non- major disciplinary actions. I I think that I would have to discuss that with um Principal Bennett. I I think that part of what we wanted to do
here is is to make it open to the entire population of students. Um, and and I think that what and I might I might be a little bit of a, you know, see the world through rosecolored glasses kind of person, but
I think that what we'll find is that the students who apply are students who really want to be part of this process and part of this system. And maybe that's not a specific enough answer, but I I would look for something a little
bit more specific in the process of of selecting the applicants. I I think you know attendance should be part of the criteria as well as GPA uh as well I would agree with you on that as having a clean disciplinary record
within the school. And I think I would like to see before I approve something, okay, a more solid list or of criteria necessary. Okay. Dr. Smith, you want to respond?
I would I I I would hear that. The only thing I would caution is when the high school was here just maybe three meetings ago presenting the parking policy, we were concerned about the restrictive nature of that policy and
I've asked them to go back and revisit that because it was a little restrictive. So where we might be giving and sorry not me we so I would just worry about conflicting advice on
policies for what students you know how we're going to or how the high school should be creating guidelines for students if we're going to say the parking guidelines should not include certain things like attendance and should not include certain things like
grades and be restrictive in that way and now we're telling this group that they should. I just want to be I would I would advise the committee to think about that and think about how to ad advise both groups in a consistent way. I'll I'll just respond to that. I think
these are two totally different situations. one, we're asking uh students to be members um of the school committee and and the responsibilities that lie within that I think would warrant some restrictions. Whereas a
parking I believe we said we want the children to have an incentive to come to school and that's why we didn't want uh the restrictions. Can can I can I respond and just there is only one student from the student advisory
committee that would be representing that group on the school committee. That student is elected by the group. So you won't have five students represent, you know, you won't have a number of students. It's a
Well, if I if I read it correctly, there would be a different student each month. No, no, one student for the year. So there's 10 students total in the school student for the year. Okay. Yes. So yeah, it's it I don't want to get too much in the weeds of the
proposal, but um the committee is supposed to be students from the high school and since we have eighth graders, what we decided is that since they're in our building, they should be represented on the committee. And so we were trying to figure out how to balance all of again the long
conversations that took place in my classroom. Um so we decided that we would have two eighth graders, two ninth graders, two tenth graders, and two 11th graders. So we have 10 total um members on the committee. We have five voting
members and five non voting members and the two seniors are voting members and then we have 11, 10 and nine. So we have five 9 10 11 and two seniors who are voting members of the committee. So those five students
would vote on the one representative. Mr. Morris, the role of a school committee member in terms of legalities such as open meeting law, conflict of interest laws do
require us to attend some training and a course of behavior that is open for public scrutiny. It's great to learn this at any age,
but there are are examples throughout the Commonwealth and around the country of people who didn't quite get it as younger and they're working for feathering their own position.
If you put people without restrictions or outline into the mix, what how would you envision getting the training and the legalities handled?
Because the the role of a student as they acquire power and insight, there's also restrictions for behavior. So, how do you see a way of blending this so that
they benefit in a positive way, not in a restrictive way? Let Dr. Smith respond to that. I know he's worked with Miss Williams and Miss Bennett. Yeah. And so, I think it's a point of clarification, the student rep is still just a student rep. They're not a member
of the school committee. They don't have a vote. They don't they're not a part of the open body. they're they're on this side of the table both figuratively and physically. Um so they won't have a like
they're not a voting member statute is clear on that. They're not a voting member of the school committee. Um the only voting part that happens is in the election by the student body for them to be the representative here. But the the election that happens by the town's
folks to to create the school committee voting body is the process that determines who's on the school committee. This student is an advisory capacity to the school committee. So that you all have the the subject is
advisory council. So that says all that I needed to know. Uh it's a wonderful opportunity I think to see the decision-making process going on that outside of a elected body or even as an
adviser this is brand new material and it could be for progress. Mr. Martin, um just going to shift gears here a little bit and just uh just ask a question. uh when this project was um
was in its infancy and ideas were being tossed around for the civics project and such, you started off with a different project and then you you came to the conclusion you were going to work on this. What was the catalyst that made that decision? Was there was there somebody that brought this up and
suggested this? And what was and and was it because was it because of something that you saw or something that happened in the school committee, a decision that was made that kind of rubbed you the wrong way and you wanted more that that
sparked you to to want more voice? Um, we actually had a lot of trouble coming up with a topic for the civics action project. We had a lot of disagreement. Half of the class wanted to do one thing, half of the class wanted to do another thing. Um, and we
as a class we figured it out like what's one thing that bothered us the most. Um, and we felt like without really saying it, we all kind of agreed that um, as a school and as the upcoming seniors, we
felt like sometimes we felt very restricted. some rules were just thrown at us even though like we weren't like the main problem in a way. So we came up with the idea of um student voice which then we felt like
then we all agreed on that because it was pretty like everybody was just agreeing on what one person brought up. So and I I can follow up as well. So the the process started with Miss Bennett. Um then the process then included Dr.
Smith and then the process then included myself. Um, and when I spoke I kind of explained to the students what the role of school committee is and what it's not. Um, and the first thing I said is we have nothing to do with the everyday stuff that goes in the high school. Um,
that's not what we do. Um, but kind of explained what we do do. Talked about the budget. Uh, talked about our evaluation of the superintendent. talked about uh certain policies that are reviewed and the policy and procedures and stuff like that. Um so you know I
did explain the difference of that but also explain to them how important it is still to have their input. We have had student representatives who have given us a lot of input on on on certain topics um and I felt it was a great opportunity to hear more um of their
things. So if there's a item on the agenda or we're talking about the budget and it's something that may affect the high school or the district um when we have discussion to them have a seat and have someone that um can speak on the student behalf. They get the u just like
we do they would in in advance get our they have our list of what our topics are for the year. um they would get copies of our agendas and then they'd have the opportunity to talk amongst themselves of what maybe they want to share um before we you know would do a
vote uh rather than having it uh at public comment. Miss Landers, very true. We did have student representatives in the past who um you know sat through the whole meeting and were very involved in all discussions
about budget and curriculum like that definitely in my tenure on the committee has happened and I'm excited to see that happen again and um I love that you've taken this initiative. I love following laws so I
love that we're going to follow the law. That's great. I will say that I want to remind everybody that you you already had a voice, you know, and I think that a lot of people don't realize they have a voice and don't use it. This is a public meeting and we are all, you know,
publicly elected and, you know, someone in your household, you know, 18 plus had the ability to vote for us to put us in these seats. And these meetings are posted publicly and they're always open and there's a public comment period at every single
meeting where people can get up and tell us what's important and why and what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong and all those things. And very rarely do we have anyone come to these meetings and talk to us. Um, and you don't need to be elected to any
committee or board or position to come here and talk to us. And we're also all we have all of us have our email addresses and our phone numbers on the website. So, we're all always available by email and phone. So, you know, I I love this and I want this
to happen and I just want everybody to remember that you don't have to be elected to any sort of committee to have a voice with us. Um, just come and and talk to us and reach out to us and come and give a presentation, get on an agenda, whatever it is. So um one thing
I want to understand about how this is going to function is so you'll as a group you will get um a copy of our agenda and items that we're going to be talking about and they're going to come to this group and um how are you going to decide as a
group and I mean I don't know if the three of you are going to be I mean you're all seniors so I mean maybe we'll you know be on this committee for one year as voting members but How are you going to come to consensus as a group and decide what kind of a position you're going to take? Because you're
going to be sending one person to come sit in this seat to represent theoretically 900 student voices, right? So you know we all have debates and discussions about things that come before us and we each give our you know ideas our opinions and then we take a
vote and majority rules with us and whatever majority vote is taken here that's the decision we've made and we all agree then to abide by that decision and to move forward with that um as our plan or strategy. So, this could be very challenging, right?
You're going to have 10 people in a room who could have very different opinions on a policy or a change or a budget item. And um have you talked about what that would look like for coming to consensus? Um so I think with the 10 students that would be chosen to be a part of the
student advisory, I think choosing the one person wouldn't be as hard as it would seem because these are kids that we grew up with. like we've been going to the same school since like I don't even know when, like really long ago. But we would really come to the consensus of choosing who we think
because we all know each other very well. Who would be the best fit to come here and make these kind of decisions and hear these kind of things, but I'm going to challenge you on that. So, right. So, don't don't go. So, you'll Great. So, you'll come to a
decision as to who the person is going to be who sits in this seat. But say there's a policy that we're going to be talking about at at this committee. You know, we recently looked at a parking policy, right? And we had a lot of debate about it. So, next time that comes up, you guys and this group are
going to look at that parking policy. And then you're going to have to decide what that one representative is going to come here and tell us. And there could be five people in that room who say, "We love this parking policy. It's great." And there are five people in that room who say, "Absolutely not. We hate this
parking policy. So, how are you going to decide what that person is going to say to represent all of you? And you can read that note from Miss Williams before you Oh, I cannot read this, Mr. Williams. I can't read it. Nope. My writing is terrible. Does that say representative?
Um, all right. Um, so what I have to say to that is the representative doesn't have to come to a decision. They can give multiple viewpoints and multiple opinions on a topic. Um, and say we do have to come
decision. I would say that I would it would either be majority rules or say like you said a five versus five. It's really like a tie. It could really just be taking a longer discussion with a group and really putting biases aside and deciding off what we think would be better not only for us but for the up
andcoming students and the teachers and stuff like that. Thank you. That's a fine answer. That was very good. Thank you, Miss Beimis. Uh we're not done yet. So u my question is sort of u
dovetailing what Miss Lander said and I she did take away one of my questions but in the description it says that the person who arrives has to be prepared to discuss what's pertinent information. So my history on the school committee is
yes there have been members who got very involved in the budget. uh another time it was adopting a new math curriculum got very involved another it was sort of a social emotional policy so we have had in the past people who have members who
have really chimed in so are you going to sort of preview the agenda decide what's pertinent and what to speak to or are you leaving it to the discretion of
the individual who represents the body. It's not at the discretion of the representative who represents the body. Um, one of the parts of the law is that a representative from school committee
also meets with this group. Um, it's at least once every other month while school is in session. Our hope is that that could be more frequent. I understand the challenges of scheduling, believe me. Um, but I I my hope is that that conversation with a school
committee member in that meeting with that committee will help to inform what they might chime in on so to speak. Perfect. And then uh the only comment um
and ask that I will that I have um if we move forward is that um we understand the students are very busy. Um we have an amazing sports program. We have amazing music program. We have foreign languages. Um you know it's important
that whoever you decide um all of our dates are listed is someone that can commit to attending as often as they can and stay as long. We also know we know that there's testings you know the next day and there's some early days for them. So sometimes our meetings last
longer you know on average our meetings are two hours. Uh we would really appreciate if the person uh would be here for you know at least the 6 the 6:30 to 8:30 and you know if we get on to you know later than that um for the reason of the purpose is for them not
only to have their input but to share with the rest of the student body pertinent information that we have. Um, and you know, without being president, it's it's hard for them to be able to do that. So, uh, the only ask I have, and I know it's the ask that many of our members have, is that, you know, the
person who if someone wants to run for the position of chair or whatever the title is, that they they're aware of what the the the time restraints are and the commitments. And we can certainly add that into the proposal. I can add, but just let them know. I'm not saying
you have to change the proposal. I know we're on a time crunch, so We do. Um, I'd like to make a motion to approve the formation of the student advisory committee. Second. We have a motion in a second. Do we have
any further discussion, Mr. Morris? There is nothing more powerful in my opinion and in my observation of people on the young side of of the audience, meaning the students, speaking to a town
meeting or to a board of selectmen or to a finance committee in an as way of bringing it home to the average citizen in the audience or at home because these are complicated.
These can be very complicated, but being able to get to the heart of the issue and speak on your strength of supporting it or the strength of your being against it, that is very powerful. So, this is a
this is a training session for your colleagues and yourself to practice what you're going to be doing for the rest of your life in public session. Thank you. And and I know Miss Miss
Williams and I talked on Friday and talked about what, you know, student government was and what they talked about of what they can do when they're 18 and when they can vote. And it's important and as she said to to me and to the group I was with is more important now of what they can do now um
at any age of how they can um show their show their wants and get involved in in government early. So we appreciate it. U so I'll take a vote. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Any abstain? It carries 6-0. Congratulations. We we look forward
to welcoming that student. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Uh now my pleasure to welcome the assistant principles uh for our Dennis Jam Regional School District student handbooks. And I'll start with our principal of the high school. We have
anyone anyone assisting you? No. No, just kidding tonight. Yep. We had a long weekend. I'm losing my voice already. Um so I gave them a little bit of time off. Here is the handbook for the high school uh for the school year 2526. So major revisions. Um we are making our
way towards a more userfriendly format. Um with the favor of Google Docs, they now allow tabs on the side. So I know this was brought up in previous years um but you can tab through the sections rather than scrolling you know the 85
pages. Our attendance policy includes support for academic uh rec for credit recovery. Oftentimes when students are missing school their academics are suffering too. And we have had for a while a credit recovery system built in and now our handbook reflects that. The MIAA
eligibility um section for athletics was updated to align with this year's MIAA handbook. We added some honoral clarification for some of our uh PE health and past fail classes. Um just to
note, we will be coming back um to talk about a plan to support the current parking policy, but we didn't make any edits to the parking policy. Um we are in our denial year for NEAS accreditation. So we included our vision
of a graduate which was finalized last year. Um and we updated our discipline section. Um we updated again I know this question came from Mr. New about what was major discipline versus minor. We have four tiers of discipline in the
handbook and we did update um skipping class from a tier one to tier two. So that will immediately go to administration. We included the inloco apparent law. Um we included clarification to um our incident investigation.
We included what it means to be on social notice. We updated student searches language and we included language for our vape detectors. Major revisions that are districtwide. I apologize I'm going first. A lot of you
might have this as well. Um we included um language regarding artificial intelligence, our photo media opt out uh program, wayfinder, our social emotional curriculum, parent square, the new uh districtwide communication platform and
our district core values. Our reasons for these revisions, um we update, of course, it's always good to update information, easier access to the information. We really wanted to have clarity in writing on our practices that support the policies. Um, communicating
academics is our priority and importance of time in class and our of course consistency as a district. Any questions for Miss Bennett? Seeing none. Thank you. Well, if we have a question, we're almost there.
Yeah. Um, I did look it over and it's very very clear and I love the tabs. So, thank you. Um, one of the things I was looking for, and I know we have to look at it again from direction from the state, but I didn't see the language
that the school committee adopted or, you know, which on competency determination in there. So, and then the other thing that I was looking for, you know, the the photo and media opt out. We also spent some time last year really
looking at sort of confidentiality and student records and maybe that's a system policy and not a school policy, but I was looking for more language on the media photo op to include other
situations. Okay. So the um competency determination, the language we had last year should be in there. So I will double check that um when I'm back in the office. Um and you know that's going to be updating as it goes. And the media
opt out we have there's a subsection for student records. So I don't know if that's different than the opt out but we do there's two separate it they don't live in the same place. Um but there is a spot for student records. and I happy to update that.
Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. I think we're going from the top down, right? So, the middle school will present next. Mr. Hansen. Good evening. Uh Lee Hanscom, assistant principal of middle school, seventh
grade. I'm I'm in charge of this, right? We went with two of our major revisions to talk about tonight. The first is our AI vision and policy guidelines that were passed down to us from the AI
committee. Um that's there. I know that you guys have all seen that before, but the major reasons for that I like to focus on the first one is middle school is when students begin developing habits as responsible digital citizens. And if you've ever spent time in middle school
outside of being a student in middle school, um that's one of our main focuses is to have them be responsible citizens wherever they happen to be. And with the age we are in now, a lot of
that is on a digital platform. Um we updated the policies to ensure equitable learning opportunities by outlining when, where, and how they can be used in classrooms. Um, probably this all came about because traditional plagiarism
policies don't fully cover a lot of the AI generated work that could be submitted by students. Um, and then without clear policies, students may unintentionally misuse AI, for example, copying entire essays or generating inappropriate images, just not handing
in their own work. So, that was that one. Um the major revision we did for our progressive discipline, we didn't change any of the levels or of the levels of progress
progressive discipline. What we did do was put it into kind of an easy to read, easy to see visual of five different categories. Um we did that for a few things. First one was clarity and accessibility. So the visual format organizes behaviors
into five clear groups making it easier to understand the progression from minor to major infractions. Uh also staff and students can quickly locate there's posters in every classroom in our school um can quickly locate the category of behavior and see the likely consequence
without needing to go through the whole um long handbook text for consistency on implementation. uh teachers and administrators can have a shared common reference tool that standardizes the responses across
classrooms and grade levels. It also reduces subjectivity, right? Ensuring that two students committing the same infraction receive similar consequences. And the transparency piece for students and families is that students can see how behaviors escalate and what the
potential consequences might be if they continue with certain behaviors. Also, parents and guardians have a simple visual explanation uh of the discipline process that complements the handbook's detail questions. Mr. Martin, I just have a quick question. um when
looking at the the grid of the five groups um it I can see where yeah an infraction might be categorized into more than one of those boxes. Correct. So I mean in in that in that
instance would the student understand that you know that say the disruptive disrespectful language that they're using could you know also be taken as you know group three insubordination and you know such so I mean so if you know
then they would be held to the higher level of discipline I assume usually okay it would be a discussion first before we get into an actual discipline thing they might there's a lot of gray area middle
school you know um but usually wouldn't go with the higher one okay and yeah and that would be something that would be crystal clear to the student body before Okay uh I'd like to know how the handbook is uh explained introduced or aren't the
students are aware of it is there I know at the high school there's class meetings I power of YouTube. I did see a little clip. Um and so some of the changes and adjustments and what's in there. Um what do the middle school students know about
this handbook? Is there any accountability that they have to sort of sign off on sections of it so they're aware of it or do you sort of do it gradually over time? Key parts. So we in the beginning of the year we break into
class meetings different grade six and grade seven and we go through expectations with all the students. The first day in the first two days of school when the students are getting used to their new teachers, the classrooms, the whole deal, they go through the main parts of the handbook
so the students know what's what, where certain things are, what they might be expected to know. with their teachers. And the last bit of your question was are they held accountable to say, you
know, I understand the contents or I I understand or I'm responsible for knowing what the rules and regulations are or is there any accountability? I know that the we do have a parent sign off, but is there also a student sign off? Square. Yeah, there's sign off through parent
square. So, it's sent not only sent to the students, the parents are also sent it and they have to acknowledge it and they keep track of everyone that acknowledges it and they get reminders of when you do not acknowledge it.
I should check my email. Uh, Mr. New, I know Miss Williams sent out um some information saying the percentage of parents that have signed off on the handbook. Do you have that information? I do not. Do you? We do not have that
information. Are you collecting that information? We are. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Thank you, Mr. Hanscom. We will move to the intermediate school. Good evening. I'm Dr. Grayson. I'm from
the intermediate school. And um we'll just update this. Um some of our revisions this year are our standard revisions of updating dates for upcoming school year. Updated staff list. This year we did put an updated um
standardsbased report cards because we had some adjustments because we have a new STEM program and our social studies standards is changing. What's nice is because this is all Google linked, we can change that whenever it gets updated. Again, we also included um the technology
agreements with links to the district website for further information. Our incoming fourth graders received Chromebooks this year, so because of that, we had to have our technology agreements changed to reflect that as well. And then we're continuing to update our information about emergency
drills as those have been changed throughout the district. So, we have a section in there about emergency drills, which we'll continue to update as the new policies come through. The district revisions um artificial intelligence with the link for parents
to get more information. We do a lot of hyperlinks in our handbook so it doesn't become too bulky, but parents can still find the information that they need. We also have the photo media opt out. The new um wayfinder social emotional curriculum is reflected in the the
handbook. Um our parent square with a link for the parents to access the app so that they can they can find it in more than one way. Um the district core values with a link to the district website for more information and uh the link to the new information on
harassment and bullying um policy that was changed last year on our district website so that the parents have the most updated information on that. Um the reasoning for our revisions is to update information for accuracy. The
report card as I mentioned reflects the new related arts class which is a STEM class. We want to ensure that families understand certain practices such as contacts in the school and the new SEAL program. And we want to ensure that we are communicating with families consistent district information such as
the new core values. And just a little plug, the two pictures that are on here are from our first community event that we had to try to build community within our school. We had music bingo last Thursday in here and it was a lot of fun and did truly build some community. So
that is just a little plug for that. Um, and finally, any questions? Any questions for inter school? Uh I'm not sure which handbook, but in your handbook, so it could be the middle school or the intermediate, did you
list all the core values or did you just sort of say they're go to the school website to find the l in the link? We listed them. We didn't define them all in there, but we listed them in with the link so that they the families could go through. So the titles are listed
the the the titles the five core values are listed with the a link to the the district site Mr. Mars in the course of making changes and recommendations for change in the future
at each different school building. Do you ever f have you found do you keep track of where the changes of the other building is in terms of the other um the middle school, the high school, and the elementary? Exactly.
Um I don't necessarily do that, but I know that when we moved into this building, we worked um with the middle school to make sure that ours were more um aligned. Um but I keep track of all the changes I make. I I'm pretty I don't
like to throw anything away. So, I know from year to year what each of the yearbook um handbooks have looked like over the last several years that I've been working on the handbooks. In terms of the other buildings, I'm assuming they do the same. just for the fact of
academic progress in various [Music] groups of students and and staff, you're bound to have a difference of opinion as to whether this is appropriate for this age group or that age group.
So too, it would be pro possibly the same thing for school handbook updates. So you've outlined how you keep track of your corner of it and it makes sense. And I think that um with it last year, the year before, we um had kind of met
to talk about the APS had met to talk about the handbooks to ensure alignment. The elementary school worked collaboratively to ensure theirs were aligned and then it just kind of builds up from there. I can see the need for collaboration between grade levels
because a parent who has kids in several buildings at the same time and reads all the handbooks might come away needing some help. I I agree with that. And we also had our parents sign off on that through parent square and I think there was only 130
left. 122 122 parents left. So we are keeping track. which is much better rate of return than we had last year. So, parent square is really working. So, another plug. So, that was great. Any other questions, Miss Landers?
So, it's an interesting situation where you have two two schools in the same building, right? And with different handbooks. And so the the alignment is really interesting to me, especially when it comes to so we've
we're looking at this new chart for the middle school um progressive discipline and I'm wondering what work has been done to make sure that this is aligned you know I'm envisioning you know situations where you know you know for
the middle school fighting is group three right but you know you've got kids in the hall who are and working under two different handbooks and or you know two kids grades five and six who commit the same infraction but are disciplined
differently because they're under two different handbooks. And there are situations in which our students in grades four and five are disciplined differently only because of their age and the developmental appropriateness of them. Um but in terms of you know the major things especially
if it's a if it's a fifth and a sixth grade student that are fighting each other then we would collaborate on that to ensure that the discipline is reflective. Um the handbook we'll take a look at the middle school and if we need to collaborate we can do so to make sure that it it is aligned. We have
progressive discipline within our handbook as well as well as other matrixes on how to handle different discipline. um just developmentally sometimes what's appropriate for a sixth or seventh grader is not appropriate for a fourth grader. So we have to keep those distinctions in mind even though
we're housed in the same building that there will be occasions where the students receive a different consequence just because of the developmental appropriateness of it. I think that's something that's going to be important to be able to explain to parents when two kids are disciplined differently for
the same infraction and make sure that we have, you know, some clear verbiage in these guidelines, especially where you have the two together. So, I'd appreciate seeing that alignment. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Anything else? Great. We will invite the Thank you so
much. We'll invite the uh vice principles from the elementary schools. Good evening. I'm Kelly Bowl. I'm the assistant principal of Margarite Small Elementary School. We're happy to share an overview of our elementary school handbooks, highlighting both the
consistent elements across our schools and how we balance that with preserving each school's unique identity. Our handbooks maintain a consistent design style including font formatting and sequence to provide a unified district
appearance. Core content shared by all schools includes district and school committee contact information and goals, school calendars, bus and school closing procedures and health services to name a few.
We include important policy information such as student search disclaimer, PBIS frameworks, curriculum overviews with state assessments, and the district photo media opt out process.
All handbooks incorporate the Dennis Yarmouth AI vision and guidelines, ensuring alignment within our district. While maintaining these consistencies, we respect and preserve the individual identities of our prek to3 schools,
allowing for autonomy within this shared framework. I will now turn it over to my colleague, Mr. Gar, to share some of the handbook information that is unique to each of our buildings. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Chris Gar. I'm the
interim assistant principal at Station Avenue. Um, as you probably imagine, there's a lot of consistency of information that we share with young parents in our district. However, at the elementary level, the handbook speaks to their parents significantly more than it
does to students. So, there are several sections that are different in each handbook that relate to the specific conditions at each school regarding physical plant that matters for pickup and drop off. The staff liftings of course are different in each level. There is some common language about the district leadership but when a parent
wants to know which principal or teacher to call that information is going to be different. Uh the unique mission statements that have been in existence in schools for a long time are preserved through there. They align with the district in some ways but they preserve as uh my the previous speaker talked
about the unique qualities of each district that matter in the neighborhoods and so on and so forth. Uh and of course parents want to get involved in, you know, lunch and recess schedules so they can gauge when they can drive by and see their kids probably once in a while or they want be able to join and participate in parent teacher
groups. They operate differently at each of the at each of the schools. So the information is unique in those colleagues. Uh and I'll step aside and allow my colleague from uh the Baker Innovation School. Good evening. Ellen Flynn again, assistant principal at Ezra Baker
Innovation School. Go to the next slide, please. So, um, just as Miss Bowl and Mr. Gar mentioned, so the we did a a real heavy lift last summer at the elementary level, the three school APs met and
really went through our handbooks um, page by page. And the reason for that was um our overall goal was to maintain uniformity and um in style and content. And the the rationale was if a parent
transferred from one elementary school to another, it would be pretty seamless and what they'd find in our handbook. So we felt like we did a lot of that work last summer, but drop down to the additions to this year's handbook. Um a major thing would be um consistent
branding. So, our new DY approved logo as you see in the top right corner is featured in all of our handbooks uh prek to 12. Now, um the second one is a message from the office of instruction. This is um more about a uh recent um
Supreme Court decision Mammud versus Taylor to um make sure ensuring compliance with state laws regarding promoting a safe and supportive school environment while uh ensuring families understand their rights under this um Supreme Court decision. So that language
is in was added in the handbook and as other schools have mentioned uh the photo media opt out process information about our transition from remind to parent square and DY's AI vision and guidelines. Those five items are really
what's new in the prek to third grade uh handbooks this year. So take any questions? Any questions for the elementary school? Mr. Not so much a question as an observation that the
comparing individual school and participants in the revisions and the consistency versus autonomy. It it be speaks of people can indeed have discussions
beyond just what size font to use. They uh can actually come to conclusions without getting angry. So Mike, I commend your hard work and your insight.
Thank you. Any other questions? Miss Pis, how how did you handle or did you include the newly adopted core new core values for the district? Are they there or is there a mention of bullet and a
link or are they listed? Yes. Um in Ezra Baker's handbook that's right in the front uh page five. So we've we've adopted that in the in the new handbook as or in this year's
handbook. Any other questions? Any followup or feedback? Dr. just um the only thing that I would add um and the team doesn't know this um in
that as we transition to a new website. One of the things that we're hoping um we'll see I have um our communications and community relations coordinator looking into this as we onboard the new website. But one of my
hopes is that we'll be able to because right now all the handbooks sort of sit off the website and they're linked from the website, right? Um which has its pluses and its minuses. Um mostly in access for our families um and how and
making it so that all of our families can access it and the language isn't a barrier. Um and it creates like all this work in like format and structure. like we want to try to make sure everything looks the same and does everybody have everything in the same order etc etc. So
what the goal is is to have it actually live on the website because then the entire website is translatable is already automatically translated into whatever language you want the website in as you enter the website and then we can have a consistent
structure and format and like all these sections that are the same for everybody we can just pre-populate. Um, and then when we update them, so when we update the bullying section, it just gets updated for everybody. And when we update, you know, when we have a section on the new photo and media, you know,
opt out section, we don't need to have every school just copy and paste it and put it in their new thing. We can just update that section, right? So, um, that's again a hope for the new transition as we get on with our new website. um that we'll be able to literally sit it on the website as
opposed to have it linked from our website to a separate thing steps towards consistency, but they've already done a yman's work without that um a tool to make it easier for them.
They've been doing it the the hard way. Well, thank you all for presenting tonight. Um, we appreciate all your making sure that our all the information is up to date and our parents and families have that. So, thank you. Um, next we'll move to the executive
summary fiscal year 24 financial audit. Thank you. Can you hear me now better? Good. All right. As I mentioned at the last meeting, last meeting I was involved in three fiscal years all at the same time. This represents the fourth fiscal year
that I will tell you about. Um you have one thicker booklet that provides you with a comprehensive insight of all the district's financial statements uh for the fiscal year uh 24. Um so it makes
for great bedtime reading. um and uh goes into detail the basic um review of our auditor really gave us a clean picture on um all things financial um and also uh there's a second booklet
which um I'm going to spend a little bit more time reviewing um they are um oversight of our federal grant awards and uh there are findings Um and the findings um actually are recommendations
on how we can improve our use of uh federal grant awards. the federal grant awards that we had in 2023 and 2024 uh were related to the COVID the the American Rescue Acts and um the other
grants that we still have are the title grants um and the special education grants and the grants uh for our federal lunch program that are offered through the United States Department of Agriculture.
um we get um in 2023 24 we received almost $7 million in federal grant awards um out of the process uh and our auditor examined our processes and every
um single procedure in place um and uh what they recommended they had three recommendations. One was that we could do a little bit better at enhancing our grant oversight. And uh this included uh the idea of better coordination between
the grants office and the business office, consistent review of journal entries, and a more centralized monitoring program for our uh federal grants team. The other finding dealt with um improving our formal assessment
of food service internal controls. And right now um we um have started to create a structured um setting for a review process for the future. uh Rooney Powers, the food service director, and I
meet weekly to look at um everything in terms of our documentation that's available from our kitchen staffs. And we're joined by uh the high school cafeteria manager as an additional um segregation of duties and and another
person that can um talk to me about our compliance. Now, the last one is a little bit more simpler. Um it just implies that we need to file um our our single audit um by uh like we we were
late in our filing of the single audit. So we need to improve our timeline there and uh we're going to look at doing some doing that. Um, so I had to develop a corrective action plan for each one of these three findings and um, so we're
going to be moving forward with doing that this year and I will provide you with updates on the status of those things and as uh mentioned they're here for your review. I believe in ultimate
transparency and um I will continue to work on closing out FY25 um spending in FY26 and planning for FY27. So, thank you very much. If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer
them. Any questions? I will just add to uh we'll uh that the for the public the the audit is uh we do post the audits to our website under the u business office tab for the public who does want to review the audits as well.
And I think I heard Mr. Morris. It's a possibility. With all the news that we're getting from all sectors of government in this Western Hemisphere,
have you had any inkling of mischievous changes in grants and summaries that are required legally? Are you able to? You have a lot of work
cut out for you and I appreciate the ease with which I can read it. So, are we on guard for changes or are we taking a deep breath and hoping for the best?
I think everybody has followed all of the news and so right now I think there's certain things to be watchful about. Um and I think we just have to watch um and make sure that uh the um if
there are any cuts to be had that uh we need to be careful and thoughtful about how we restructure to accommodate the cuts if there are any. So I say that with caution and care.
It sounds very doable and I thank you for your insight that you've given to me on the process. Thank you. And these have been conversations we've had with the towns um in budget season that you know reason we've had some
difficult years is because things funds have ended uh grants have ended. Uh so you know the more information we can give them what we're aware of things change um as we go into budget season um helps us better and that what we do is we prioritize thing into four quadrants
of we need we want and you know can look at in future years so you know it's important to keep up to date in those things. Any other questions or comments? Thank you so much. Thank you.
Uh, next we'll move to subcommittee representatives leaison report school committee leaison to select board. Um, I do not have anything currently for the town of Yarmouth. Anything for the town of Dennis? Uh, just going to announce that uh Dennis's uh fall or special town meeting
is October 21st, 700 p.m. and our auditorium here. Thank you. Next, we'll move the superintendent's report. Thank you very much. Um just uh start
with some donations and acknowledgements. So first uh I want to uh just to uh thank Mr. uh Owen Owen Orinberger. That should have been easier for me to say. Mr. Orinberger uh who
donated a dozen back lan backpacks uh to the district. Uh they came into central office and we've actually taken them over to our new central registration. um and they'll be donated uh to families in need as they come in and register the district. So, it's a perfectly timed
donation um and uh will go to great use uh throughout the year um uh in the district. And then I also want to acknowledge uh the all the staff that were a key part in making the Dolphin Dash a success this past weekend. Um I was speaking with Miss uh Bennett uh
earlier today and she said they had uh registered over a hundred more runners this year than last year. Um and you know the weather turned out great. They had some ext they were able to sort of expand the offerings at the event as far
as um some community sponsors and um I don't want to call them vendors because a lot of the stuff was free. So, I'm not really sure what the right term is, but um just uh really turned it into like a not only the the run, but like a fair um of an event. Um and it was really just a
great community event. another great um way to bring the DY community get together and and and as you've the committee has accepted the donations in the past, it's just a great event that goes not only to building school spirit and community spirit um supporting our
district value of community, but it also is a great opportunity to raise um funds that reduce the user fees for both athletics, actually for athletics color guard and for the marching band. Um and we saw earlier today how much the marching band um and means to several of
our students. That was just a snippet of just three of them. Um then I also want to uh the committee is going to get a formal invitation um uh from Miss Lisa Fatty at the high school, but uh Friday the 17th of October is the credit for
life fair. um 8:30 to 10:15 at the high school in the well, it'll start in the auditorium and then move into the upper gym, but it's a a great event if you haven't been before. Cape Cod 5 is the uh sponsor of that event. Um, and it's a
great opportunity again if you have never been been before, but students go uh go through a essentially a simulation where they um learn uh financial literacy skills in like real time and what what it really means like as they launch into their real life on sort of
understand the um connection between their work and what they're going to do to earn money and then where all the different places they're going to have to spend it um and and balance that work life or work cost balance. Um, and again, we thank Cape Cod 5 for helping organize that and
and Miss Fidy, I know, takes the lead in organizing, but it takes a whole village um between volunteers, um, staff, etc. to make that um make that whole event happen. So, I just want to acknowledge it ahead of time, plus put that if committee is available, put that on your um put that on your calendar.
Uh, next, I want to update on the Station Avenue playground. If you uh happen to drive by, it's actually starting to look like a playground. Uh we've got um basketball court is down. Um as far as like the pavements down, the hoops I just noticed are up today.
Um I know I've seen um uh I uh there was email chain between myself the vendor and um Steve Foscher about um the like the painting and they're going to match it to paint the
the painting is going to match the the port in place color. So we're like working on the color schemes. So that's the painting should be happening soon. Um and then almost all of the structures are in place. I think there's like one structure that's not all the way in place yet, but all the almost all the
play structures are in place. Then once all the play structures are in place, then they'll get the ground all ready for the port in place. Um because they get the structures in first and then they pour in place the bore in place around it. So then, you know, then there'll be a lot of finish grading and and the you know, it's like if anybody's done a major construction project at
their house, it's all the finished stuff that takes, you know, seems to take forever, at least does on my projects. Um but so but it's moving along very quick. As I've said all along, we're the the conservative timeline is by Thanksgiving, but so far, knock on wood,
they've stayed pretty far ahead of schedule. Um and then next, uh school safety. Uh you know, I just sort of seems like a good time to talk about it. And I think we all know that school
safety is a top priority here in DY. Um, but we also know when there's troubling news in a nearby community, it definitely raises it up to the top of everybody's mind and it might elevate some worries and folks may want to look or expect sort of
some type of visual response um from their local school district. And I just really wanted to take an opportunity uh to to say that school safety, school security remains a top priority for DY. Um, and just because we don't talk about
it at every meeting, just because we don't um, yeah, because we don't talk about it every meeting, doesn't mean that we aren't doing plenty of things. So, I wanted just to take a couple of minutes to talk about the things that we are doing all the time um, and on a regular basis. So, you know, we continue
to have a strong and active uh, and positive relationship with our uh, first first responders and our public safety officials. Um, and quite frankly, it was that similar positive working relationship that ensured um or that was
able to thwart a potential bad situation in our neighboring community, right? It was that communication, that strong working relationship that turned, you know, what is still, you know, an elevated and scary situation, but made sure it didn't become a real um, you
know, the worst case of scenarios. the the thing that we all um I know is the thing that I never want to ever experience as a superintendent. Um our all of our staff have been trained in our standard response uh protocol and
they continue to be drilled in our standard response protocol. You've had the presentations as a committee on it. Um the information is available to our parents. Um and so you know as superintendent I have the our new dr our new um uh tool which we drill on digital
tool. So I get alerted every time a school runs a drill. So just my as my phone is an indicator I get a I get alarm and I get a text message and so I've got a slew of text messages on my phone for every and they're running all
different types of drills too. So I just for for the sake of the you know for the public um we are drilling regularly. So it wasn't just a one-time training we've forgotten the the not only our SRO but our principles are committed they're using faculty meeting time to continue
to ensure that we um remain practiced and v vigilant. Um, and then as an added layer, which is really more tied to what specifically happened in our neighboring community, um, we've had key staff um,
trained in what's called, and I've talked to the committee about this, but, um, comprehensive school threat analysis guidelines, it's CAStag for short, um, which is a systematic teambased approach to analyzing threats to school and then determining are those threats what they
call transient threats or are threats, substantive threats. And so there's a a process um again um that the team goes through and it's done by a team so that you get multiple perspectives and that team is made up of school leaders. The
your SRO sits on it um and like school staff that bring the mental health aspect into it. So again like our school psychologists, our social workers um etc. and and so we've had a first round of folks that have been trained. They've
taken that CAS stag process um made it DY in the sense that um like look through all of the forms, made sure that they work and because you get to make choices right on which questions are you going to ask in the interview processes etc etc. So that first team went through
that entire process, determined how are we going to use it in DY and now we have a whole another batch of uh folks that will get trained. Is it this Friday? When's is it this Friday? Next Friday. Next Friday. A week. So a week from this Friday, the rest of everybody because it
was train the training happened on a Friday in the middle of the um school year. So you can't take all your assistant principles, all your SRO's, all your mental health staff out of the building all on the same day. It's not really a good strategy. So we took some of them um and then but the next this
upcoming one is the all cape service or inservice day. So the staff will be here, but the students won't. So we're going to get all the rest of everybody um trained on that day. Um and and then um but we've again we had this lead team that's already been trained. So we um we
have but we'll have we'll have now have response teams in every school and then at that middle school and up we'll have a response team and then we'll have an elementary response team that can move because the threats tend to be middle school and up just based upon the the
statistics I'll tell you based upon the age of the kids. Um but they're not unc it's not impossible at the elementary level. Um, and we do based upon an earlier conversation, we have the, you know, we have our intermediate and our middle school in the same building. So,
our middle school team could help out at the intermediate school. And then at the elementary level, we have district staff um that are trained, including the two of us. um and some other district staff. Plus, we'll have elementary staff trained that should we have a big threat that happened at one of our elementary
schools, we could have a a a response team that could go to that school and work as a a SESAG team at that school. And then we have, which I've mentioned multiple times, but again, just for the sake of the public, we have a safety team um that meets monthly. That safety
team is made up of school staff and public safety staff. Um that team meets monthly to debrief um process um all of our debrief and process all of our procedures and processes and analyze them looking for any vulnerabilities um
and to ensure we continue to move uh forward and always improve. And then um so that's school safety and then the last thing is uh it was asked at the last meeting for an update on the Patricia Watson gymnasium dedication.
So committee approved the dedication in June. Um the team that had brought that proposal forward was largely made up of dedicated staff members. Those dedicated staff members took a much well-deserved uh break over the summer. Um and then
spent um the good part of the beginning of September launching this school year. And so I actually had a a conversation at Station A open house with Mr. uh Mr. R. Yeah, I I was going to give it a shot, but I probably better that I just
call him Mr. R than butcher his last name. Um, and so he has been pulling that group back together. Um, and been in touch with the gentleman from Cape Tech who was DY grad who's going to be doing the signage and then has been in
touch with the family. So, the next steps is they are going to get back together. They're going to uh talk about, you know, what is the signage going to actually look like? Where are they going to place it? Um, and then they then we'll work with the family on
planning some type of a um once they have the signage and those sort of logistical pieces taken care of a a dedication ceremony and then there'll be a public invitation um and you know I talked to him about you know you should probably do like some type of an RSVP so at least you get
a sense of like are you going to have 50 people show up or are you going to have 500 people show up um so you can at least get a sense of this the scale but you know the committee will get an invitation. We'll do a social media push around. Yeah. Um to get a send uh to to
invite the public um and we'll do you know again we don't have exact time but we tal we roughed out some ideas but once we have some more details on that uh there'll be again the committee will get an invitation. We'll push some stuff out to the public but that continues to move forward and I think that's it for
me. Any questions on superintendent report? Seeing none, next we have school committee business. Um the first is an update on the MEES building committee. Uh we had our first meeting uh two weeks ago. Uh we have members of the
community, members of the finance committee, our town administrative, a member of the Yarmouth Select Board, uh as well as uh some teachers, staff, uh and the principal, current principal of Emmy Small. Um we are currently going to
be meeting monthly um as a committee. Um we will be looking at what other officers other than the chair we will have. Um and then uh we've explained the process we're in. A lot of the work that's being done is done by the by Mr.
Foucher by the administration on things that are requested. Almost once a week we'll get an email from MSBA asking for certain information. most recent today was sent out the current enrollment as of uh today's date. Um just constant
information that's sent out there and then as uh our next meeting we'll be discussing the uh warrant article uh for the town of Yarmouth. Uh we had conversations of that. will be meeting with the FINCOM and um the select boards
for that as well as there was discussion about inviting the public prior to uh town meeting uh which is scheduled for Monday, November 17th. Um prior to that meeting is having a possible um viewing
of Emmy Small to the public um just to let them know of why we're looking for what we're looking for. So, um, anything I missed? Sounds good. Okay, perfect. Um, next is the Dennis J Regio School Committee goals. Uh, we reviewed the
goals. They were updated, uh, to, uh, be in line with our district goals. Um, and they were updated, uh, over the goals we created last year, and we'll continue to look every year, um, you know, just as the vice principles looked at their handbooks, we'll continue to make sure
that our goals are in line. um with the district and that we we review them yearly um rather than it being a link on a website that is hard to navigate. We'll have a great new website that can update uh this as we are. So we are looking for a motion and a vote for our
2025 2026 uh goals. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Sack passes 6.
Thank you. Um, at the Mass Association of School Committee and School Superintendent, there is, uh, at the annual meeting, there is an uh, assembly on Friday, November 14th, which is the second to last day. Um, every school committee has
the right to vote as long as you register. Um, and what we're required to do is nominate uh, someone from the school committee to be the delegate to vote on our behalf. Uh, so we're looking for someone to do that. I think in the
past, Mr. Morris has done it the past couple years for our assembly. Does anyone want to not be nominated or nominate for that role? Also, you would must be available on Friday, November 14th. Uh, in order to be
Mr. Morris, can we nominate you? Are you available? I'm available. I find myself more often than not. All right, one more time. So, we have a nomination for Mr. Morris. Do you accept the nomination?
Any other nominations? No. Seeing none, all those in favor nominating Phil Morris as our representative for our delegation say I. I. Any oppose? Any abstain? Congratulations again. Um and with that as I said uh on our November 17th we are scheduled for a
school committee uh due to a conflict with the um town clerk uh they have the meeting for town meeting will be on a Monday versus a Tuesday. So that is on Monday uh November 17th will be the Yarmouth town meeting. Therefore we will
need to move our meeting to November 24th. Miss Beis, if they've always met on a Tuesday, why? What's the conflict? Uh, there's specific availability of the um town clerk is what we were notified
of is unavailable on on the the Tuesday and it had to be by a specific date. So, the only other option that they had available was on Monday, uh, the November 17th. So, we were notified of that at our
school at a school building meeting. So, so our 17th November meeting will be moved to the 24th. Um, and then the consent agenda which we talked about the backpacks.
Someone want to move the consent agenda? So moved. Motion in a second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Um, bills, requisitions, and payrolls. As a reminder, they are now sent via
PDF. It's important to check your email at least every other day if you don't check it every day. I believe it comes from Emily Emily Machado. Um, it's great. We don't have to sit here and sign 400 pieces of paper. Um, but if you can please make sure you look. I know there was one that went out today. Um,
if we can make sure because we do need a minimum of four signatures, I believe, from the committee. So if we can make sure that uh we keep up to date in that and then acknowledge and sign those that saves us all the time of signing here.
Um calendars again we do have our meeting topics. Uh we didn't have anything specific scheduled for November 17th, excuse me, but it again will be moved to November 24th. And again this is kind of what we'll be giving the student uh
action student group that uh will be created. and then um we'll meet with them to discuss, you know, other items that are added. We had a number of amazing open houses over the last couple weeks. Um Dr. Smith talked about the Dolphin Dash. Um for
those you have not seen on Wednesday the 1st, there's a one and a half hour early release. Um, again with the new branding of our Instagram and our Facebook and having our district page, they share the information and I know the information is shared by each school and then by
each parent group. Um, and then Friday, October 10th, there is no school, it's teacher professional day. And then Monday, October 13th, excuse me, is indigenous people's day. And then the 21st and 23rd, it's parent teacher conferences. Does say half day all
schools. It's half day for K to 8 to the next calendar year. Okay. So, I know we voted on that. So, if it's all schools, we'll have a half day on October 21st and 23rd. Thank you for the clarification. Um, public comment. Anyone looking to
speak to public comment? See full room of people. They're all shaking their head. No. Thank you. Anything else? Someone want to make a final motion? Motion to adjurnn. We have a motion to adjurnn. Second. We have a second. All those in favor say
I. I.