Okay. Okay. Good evening and welcome. This is the February, excuse me, March 2nd meeting of the school committee coming to order 508. The meeting is being both audio and video recorded. I would ask everyone please rise for the pledge of allegiance.
>> Aliance 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. Okay, if we could have a roll call.
Samantha Samantha Velasco, secretary. >> Pamela Blair, assistant superintendent for business. >> Antella Rishella, >> Gregory Thompson, >> Amy Denta, >> William Strawther, >> Carrie Jarzki, Heather Brown, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. >> And uh Mr. Smith is absent today. He had
a family issue to deal with and um we wish him well with that. Okay, moving forward. We have move uh minutes for approval. I would hand someone to move this and move to approve the February 9th 26 regular session meeting.
>> Motion made by Anthony second by William. Discussion. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Those oppose nay. That motion carries five to zero. Thank you Samantha. You're welcome. >> Committee and subcommittee communications. Carrie, would you like to start?
Well, ain't that something? >> Nothing. >> Report >> Amy, >> nothing. >> Great. That was easy. >> Um, moving along. Opportunity for restorers to address committee. Seeing none. Uh, we have presentation superintendence
report. We have Melbrook, Maple Shade, and Mountain Views winter status reports. Who's who's up today? Elaine, you starting with us today? >> Yep. >> Great. So we will start with Mountain View >> with Miss Santino. >> Hi everybody. Hello.
>> Okay. So um I'll start with our first smart goal from the next slide please. >> Thank you. Sorry. >> That's okay. Um supporting the whole child. So, our first school goal centers on fostering a safe, inclusive, and
joyful learning environment by ensuring students feel valued and connected and ready to learn. We hope to see um our attendance at the rate of 95% or higher and to reduce chronic absent.
We uh do this by communicating with Mountain View students and families and by working with Shandria McCoy um our student belonging and family engagement coordinator. Um and if you go to the next slide of
our data here. So currently, well, as of a week and a half ago, because we were supposed to be last Monday, um our attendance rate right now is 96.7%. Um that's dropped um a point and a half
from the beginning of the year, but it's still above our goal of 95%. Our chronic absenteeism rate right now is 3.4%, 4% which equates to 11 students at Mountain View right now that are
considered chronically absent. A few of these students unfortunately have chronic medical issues. Um but some are also due to vacations and sports related activities which is the same every year.
Last year, our chronic absenteeism rate um at the end of the year was 4.5 and we had exceeded our target with DESIE. So, as long as we stay on track uh where we are now, we should meet or exceed our
target this year. Um Shandria has been awesome. She's been coming to Mountain View regularly to meet with our counselors and with our students. She's attended a lot of our special events and she's established communication with parents which has been great. Um,
another part of this goal is to have 90% or more of students report a strong sense of belonging on the wellness and climate survey. So these three questions, are you happy? Do you feel welcome? And can I be myself are the
ones that would fall under belonging. So, we are currently at or above that goal for two of those areas. Uh, we dropped the be myself, I can be myself category. Um, not sure why. I think
there's always a drop in the middle. We have uh the rest of the survey questions at the end of this presentation and it's in a honeymoon when they first uh take the survey in the fall. By the winter, we start to get a little sick of each
other. So, um the numbers drop a little bit, but um our counselors when we look at the actual data from the survey can see which students have either changed their answers from the fall or comment
about why they may have chosen uh the answers they did. So, they meet with them in lunch groups or they meet with them individually to talk about whatever might be going on. Okay. Thank you. So this is the first of
our teaching and learning um slides. This focuses on academic achievement uh through implementing highquality instructional materials, universal design for learning and culturally sustaining pedagogy. We would like to see student growth in reading and math.
We'd like to achieve 70% typical growth and 40% stretch growth in me in reading and 65% typical growth and 35% stretch growth in math. So the first slide is our current uh
reading data compared to the fall. So as you can see um 47% of our students are currently at or above grade level. That's up from 38% at the beginning of the year. Um, and additionally, the
number of students considered two or three grade levels below dropped from 23% to 10%. Which, um, is promising. I did, I apologize, forget to include a slide on growth because we took the same
presentation from the fall and adapted it and we didn't have growth in the fall. So I forgot to put in a slide but I do have um the data on a separate piece of paper here so that I could
explain it to you. Sorry. So in reading currently both third and fifth grade are in the high performance high growth um area of the quadrants and fourth grade is in low
performance but high growth. um not sure why they are there instead of in the other category with third and fifth, but historically fourth grade has always been the tougher year for students um to
adjust I think to the rigor and curriculum at fourth grade versus third. So that could be a reason. Um but they're still all in the high growth area which uh very pleased with.
and um math is the next slide. This also compares fall to current data. So 51% of our students are currently at or above grade level which is up from 34% in the
beginning of the year. Um in the fall 47% of students were considered one grade level below and that's gone down to 38%. 19% were considered two or three grade grade levels below and that's gone down to 12%
um since the fall. In terms of math growth, both third and fourth are in the high performance, high growth area. Grade five is in high performance but low growth.
also can't explain why fifth grade is usually the grade level that does the uh performs the best in math. So could just be a mid-year blip. Um but we will see in the spring. >> How was that cohort last year as fourth graders?
>> Um >> is that relative relevant? >> Fourth grade is historically always usually the one especially I feel like in math that performs lower than the other two grades. Um I can say I
think an impact has been we did lose our math interventionists. So um that could be a reason. We also um in our um enrichment teacher did support all subject areas also a lot of math and
science especially I can't say that's why I'm that would be the only difference between this year and last year. Okay. And then this big graph that took me a little while to digest. Um,
this is and I did try to call you Heather today to make sure I was correct, but the district column is really the Mountain View column. Correct? Because this is Mountain View's data and it doesn't say the school date. >> She did break it down, >> right? Yes.
>> So, that's a good thing. >> You call me and I didn't call you. >> You were You didn't answer, but it's not a big deal. >> Okay. Sorry, I wasn't in the office. Um, >> out of the district, out of the school. >> So, um, these next two slides compare Mountain View's performance to the state
and national year-to-ate performance in reading and math. This is the reading slide. So, where you see district, that's really the Mountain View number. So while the percentage of students at or above grade level is less than 10 points different between Mountain View
and the state and national scores, we have significantly less students in the category of two or three grade levels below, especially in four and five. So the first uh set of bars is third grade, second is fourth, last is fifth. And if
you look at the red area on all of those bars, we have significantly less students performing uh well below grade level, which um I'm very happy with. Um on the next slide is math. >> That's that same fourth grade issue
though, huh? >> Yes, it all it's it is on MCCAST too. MCCAST scores in fourth grade have always been historically >> only for the district but not for the state or national. which is unusual because in MCCAST it's always both,
>> right? >> Yes. Um I can't I can't explain why because it's like third grade they're doing okay, fourth grade they dip, fifth grade they rebound. Um I can't I I really can't
give you a reason why the fourth grade are not >> pacing right? Are we is it is the curriculum not aligned? The >> curriculum is very rigorous. Yeah. >> Um, I couldn't say for sure. Heather probably could answer this better than me. >> Wouldn't that be significant?
>> A big jump in rigor from third to fourth >> difference on that fourth grade chart. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Curriculum. The curriculum is rigorous. this I mean the the books they read in fourth grade in a typical you know if
you were to ask people the level of the novels in fourth grade pe us as adults would say we read them in sixth or seventh grade so they're they're harder but that's the goal I mean the point is to you know make it rigorous and um they
were the curriculum is recommended by the state so uh but it is they attach it is one of them. That's a >> that will be replaced next year. >> Yeah, we're the curriculum is also >> I'll tell you more about that later. >> Yeah, it's it's being revised. The the
company is revising the curriculum. So, >> fifth grade math. >> Yes. >> Changing the subject. Yes. >> So, in fifth grade uh math, it
everything else was pretty much the same with third and fourth grade, but the fifth grade math, 62% are are currently performing at or above grade level, which is 18 to 23 points higher than the state and national scores. Now, that
contradicts, if you go back to what I said about the low grow, high performance, low growth. So, well, there's your high performance. >> There's the high performance. Yes, growth is a it's a hot topic for me, but um >> well, growth is relative. >> Yes.
>> So, um that is it's significant. It's a significant difference for our fifth grade math. Um we also have fewer students performing two or three grade levels below in grades four and five. Grade three is around the same um with
the state and uh nationally. >> See that same fourth grade cohort rocked it on the math. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> H >> y it's hard to come up with definitive reasons for yeartoyear. You're also you're comparing different
kids every year um different circumstances. So it's hard why. Um, so our last goal is inclusive and supportive culture and climate. And our
goal is to have 95% of survey respondents report they're feeling happy, safe, respected, and treated fairly and have all students have one adult at school at least that they can talk to. And the questions that are on
this slide revolve around the questions that we would ask the families, the students, and the staff. We ask more questions um on each survey, but they these are the ones that align between the three surveys. So um our data for
fall versus winter is up here. There's minor dips again in the data for the first three questions, but we're still in the 90s uh percentage-wise. Again, I attribute that to it was the honeymoon in the fall and
>> cold winter. >> The long cold winter is getting to them. Um, we've had a lot of indoor recess this year because of the temperatures and actually there's a lot of kids that prefer it indoor. But, um, so the one
that went up, which I was a little surprised at, was Mountain View enforces rules against hurting others. They say that 91% now instead of 87. I I hear I have a little nickname about when they get in trouble, so maybe
>> it's not a bad one. We don't like >> it's um um get the eye from Santi. That's what I heard. >> Not bad. Much worse. >> I have that mom eye. You know that that
look that you give. So, um so the bottom one I just Oh, sorry. I just want to explain the difference at the bottom. Those two questions are the only ones that ask them to answer always, sometimes, never. So, I put up the always and sometimes because the
never is really not there, especially for the winter. Um, 100% said always or sometimes for the staff treating students with respect and students treat each other with respect uh was 99. So,
um that's up from the fall questions. So, this last slide I just wanted to include. I'm not going to read them all to you, but um these are all the events and afterchool programs and spirit days that we've had. And I just wanted to
point out a few interesting things. Um if you look at the afterchool program list, two of those were initiated by students, the chess club and the knitting club. I've told you in the past the chess club is very popular. Um it
started last year I believe with a student asking um our River Valley counselor if she would start a chess club and she did. And I believe at some time she has up around 70 kids staying
after school for chess club. They take the boards outside to recess. Like they're really into it. >> We have enough chess boards for 70 games. Danielle is our counselor and she is part of like the World Federation of Chess. >> We mentioned that the time.
>> So, she has multiple boards and >> Cool. >> Uh, whatever you call I I do not know how to play the pieces. Um, so she has that. They can bring it. They go to her office. They can take it outside cuz we have the tables that one of our former
students uh did for his Eagle Scout project. So, they like to sit out there. Some kids aren't soccer players and, you know, want to go on the playscape. So, it's great. The knitting club is new. Um, another fifth grade student um
wanted to learn how to knit and his grandmother comes to school to teach a small group of fifth graders knitting on Friday afternoons, which is the last day of the week. I'd have an afterchool program, but they love it. Last year we had a long-term sub that ran a crochet
club which was also very popular and the kids are still doing it uh at indoor recess but um yeah so the knitting club is new and it's sweet that one of the students grandparents is coming in to teach. So and then the school spirit days um
we've had two that were fundraisers raise of hope and the PJ day for Connecticut Children's Hospital. Both are charities that are close to our hearts for one reason or another and we just ask the students to bring in a dollar. Of course, they're not required,
but um and then we send the money off to those charities. Um the best school spirit day though was Freaky Friday and um if you go on our Instagram, you can see a lot of the pictures, but the kids
dressed like us and we dressed like them. Um, that's awesome. >> So, we had people that specifically dressed like certain teachers, uh, like um, Mrs. McCandish. Um, Mr. Potter had a lot of people dressing
like him. Um, I just dressed like a generic girl at Mountain View with the sweatshirt that would fit, you know, a linebacker on a football team, leggings, and the UGG slippers and walked around
with a Stanley or a a walla. Um, but it was very it was very fun. It was we weren't sure how it was going to go. It was the first time we did it, but it was it was awesome. Um and then um the school and PTO events um two that are
really I think significant the Veterans Day assembly um is always very meaningful. We invite all parents or grandparents that are veterans to the assembly. They are honored in a slideshow. We ask parents to send in any
pictures they have. We have pictures of grandparents from World War II. Like it's a great, you know, thing for the kids to see. They love seeing their family up on the screen. And we have a speaker, always a a veteran speaker. So,
um, that's always a great assembly. And then the Zuzu Acrobats was a huge hit. We haven't had them in a few years, but they are um from originally from Tanzania and they perform deathdeying
um stunts in the cafeteria. At one point, one of them was balancing on about four chairs and his feet were touching the ceiling in the calf. And then they include the kids in like double Dutch um jumping rope. Um a lot
of they were it was great. It's had a great time. So, >> that's it. >> Great. Any other questions? >> Excellent. >> All right.
>> Thank you so much. >> Thanks. >> Conor, you up next. >> Awesome. Okay. All right. Hello, everyone. Good evening. >> Hello. Um, let me fill you in on uh
what's been going on at at Maple Shade since we last spoke. So, Heather, um, okay, so supporting the whole child. Um, much like Elaine, we we share the the same goals with this. Our average daily attendance rate will be 95% or
higher. Um, we will continue to work towards the absenteem percentage. Um and we will uh we will work with the students so that their um students uh reported percentages on their surveys will be 90% or higher. So those are our
our goals um regarding the the students and how they're they're feeling and how they are attending our school. Um so this is where we're at with attendance and chronic absenteeism. So the the good news is that we are above our goal for um attendance. Um,
unfortunately, we're not where we would like to be with chronic absenteeism. Um, but with that being said, um, we do understand the story behind each of the students who are contributing to the absenteeism. Um, some of this involves
health issues. Some of this involves um, struggles from uh, the parental side of things. Um, some of this involves uh, the Department of Children and Families having to be involved. So, while this is resulting with a higher rate of
absenteeism than we would like, um we do understand exactly what is occurring with each of those students and we're helping as best as we can. Um, as you know, once a month, at the beginning of each month, I look at open architects to determine which families need a little
bit of outreach based on uh the attendance and the absenteeism. So, at the time of uh when this presentation was put together in early February, 59 families had been contacted. Um uh of those 59 families, 16 families have been
contacted at least a second time. Four families have been referred to our family care coordinator and like I said, um DCF is involved in at least two um at the moment to to help provide some some next steps and supports. So sometime
this week um I will carve out some time to um do my next round of outreach um and attendance analysis in order to provide the next steps to families in order to ensure that we are able to meet our attendance and chronic absenteeism goals. >> So how do students who are chronically
absent uh achieve academic success? >> It's very hard. >> Yeah, that's the challenge especially at the elementary level. Um some are able to um get by with innate talent um and
then others it is a struggle and we see that reflected um in in their own scores >> which is the push to get them here. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So what happens long term though for those students? >> We try to catch them up.
>> Yeah. >> We try as best as we can. >> Yeah. Okay. Um and then here is uh supporting the the whole child. Here are uh three uh student survey data points um based on the uh the student survey that they they
took in January. So 88.3% of students feel welcome at my school. Um 85.2 of students stated that they felt safe and 89.4 four stated that they have learned ways to resolve problems with
classmates. Um so I will actually discuss these three along with the rest of the survey later on in the presentation um when I discuss next steps that I'm taking. All right. So with teaching and learning
um so 70% of students uh were were looking to achieve typical growth in IRE reading by the end of the year. Um last year we did very well. Um 71% of our students um uh met their uh I Ready
typical growth. 36% of students um achieved their stretch growth in reading. Um we are looking this year for 65% of students to uh achieve their typical growth in math. Um last year uh
64 uh% of students were able to do so. Um and 33% of students were able to achieve their um their stretch growth. Um so um based on the success that we saw last year, I have full faith um in
the students in being able to achieve the goals that we have uh set forth for them. Um and I'll I'm going to discuss um the steps that we're taking um based on what we're seeing right now with them. So if you remember um from the fall, one thing that we had added into
the schedule for this year is our go time growth and opportunity. So, one thing that has been missing from the schedule at Maple Shade um has been that next step, that ability to be able to work with students based on um
deficiencies that we're seeing in their learning. So, Greg, to to answer your question, what do you do with the students that aren't there or that are struggling academically prior to this year, we haven't had time to be able to address those needs um that we're seeing with the kids? Um but this year we have additional time built into the schedule
which we're calling growth and opportunity. Um which allows the teachers to be able to address the needs that they're seeing um based on what they're looking at with I Ready and based on what they're seeing with the students in front of them all day. Um and after having just met with every
teacher one- on-one for for my midyear check-ins, um the the ways in which the the staff are able to use this time is varied. Um but as long as it's it's valuable to the teachers and it and it has been which is great to see it's allowing for the teachers to be able to
give um some of that that that additional support to the students. So um it ranges from allowing additional time for students to be able to tackle ST math um for them to be able to get that supplemental um uh math knowledge.
Um, some of it has been um to uh address the uh the more foundational math fluency work that isn't necessarily built into illustrative math. Um, some of it has um some teachers are able to
look at that day's exit tickets um to be able to provide real time reteing in small groups. Um, so it it some some teachers are able to utilize um I Ready uh my path um in in reading to be able
to uh to to utilize that time. So it's used uh in different ways um but the uh the students are are able to be able to get what they need during that that growth and up. Um in January we um put together our
annual afterchool um assistance um with our tutors. Um I reached out to the teachers to recommend students um for both reading and math um for additional just after school tutoring. Um and as a result we're we're closing up uh shop on
our reading services and we're going to to move towards math next week. So, um, for this this go around, 17 students >> after school. Just want to clarify. >> Yes. After school. Yes. Yeah. Um, 17 students were assigned to, um, to tutoring after school for reading. Um,
47 students were recommended for for math. And what I'm doing between now and Friday, I'm working with the the families on which students are actually going to take advantage of this. So, we're not going to get 47 students um, coming after school for math. Um but we
will have um we will have at the very least at least 17 um coming for math um >> because of the students and not the families not wanting to take advantage of the service or >> uh yeah I mean I I kids are um they're
pretty busy after school you know these days. Um, so, uh, it it allows for a conversation, you know, with the parents and, um, you know, some parents are just going to, you know, opt out saying, you know, my my kid just needs a break and I completely understand and at least it
opens up the door to that conversation where they'll be able to, you know, at home if they need some additional help in math, then the the parents can can do a little help with the the the kids at home even if they don't come to after school. So, um,
>> transportation ever an issue? >> It's never come up. No one has ever said, "I my child cannot attend because of transportation." That has that's not a conversation that that I've had, thankfully. >> Yeah. >> Um, and then the the final three bullets
um hasn't changed. You know, we continue to have focused CPT meetings to ensure that the the curriculum is consistent from from class to class to class. Um we we continue to have data conversations about what we are seeing um in the
classroom and on I Ready and in StMath. Um and the teachers continue to to teach with uh with fidelity. Um all right. So here is uh here is how Maple Shade is doing compared to um the
the the mass year to date, the national year to date and the national norm. So this is in reading. So, uh, third grade is currently outperforming the Massachusetts average, the national year to date, and the national norm in reading. Fourth grade is outperforming
the Massachusetts average, the national year to date and the national norm. Fifth grade is outperforming the national year to date in reading and is just below the national norm. Um, and Massachusetts average in reading. Um, and all three grade levels have fewer
students two or three grade levels below than the Massachusetts average, the national year to date and the national norm and reading. And in math, um, similarly, we're seeing success um, compared to these uh, measures. Uh, third grade is
outperforming the Massachusetts average, the national year to date and the national norm. Fourth grade is outperforming the Massachusetts average, the national year to date, and the national norm. Fifth grade is outperforming the Massachusetts average, the national year to date, and the
national norm. And all grade levels have fewer uh two and three grade levels below than the Massachusetts average, the year-to- date, and the national norm. Um here are the comparisons between how we stand right now compared to the fall.
So in the fall uh 33% of our students were um in the red um and at this point 15%. We have shrunk that down um to 15%. Um in the fall 37% of students um were
um above or at grade level and currently we are at 54% um in reading. So we are making those gains. We are moving in the right direction. And in math um
uh 24% in the fall um were um two or three grade levels below. Um currently, uh 15% is is where we are at. Um in um conversely, uh 30% um in the fall were
in the green and currently 50% are are in the green. So again, we are we're we're chipping away and and moving in the right direction. Um I wanted to see this is a slide that I I'd never really looked at before. Um but I I looked at the data last year um
compared to this year. So it's important to to see students um growing compared to you know how grade levels did the prior year. That's always important. But I wanted to see how our students are doing compared against themselves last
year. So our current um fourth grade cohort um they are currently outperforming their own growth um from where they were last year when they were in third grade. And similarly our fifth grade is outperforming where they were
at last year at this time um when they were in fourth grade. And that's both for um math and reading. So our students continue to grow um where they they they have been. Can I ask a quick question here and
Connor might or you or Elaine or um preparing for this meeting? I was trying to look at some of the data, you know, both from each individual school, Mount View and Maple Shade, and comparing the two and I was having a really difficult time finding patterns that made sense to
me. I don't know if anyone else had a similar experience or if obviously you all, you know, communicate frequently about this type of thing. Um, I was just wondering if anyone would be able to like weigh in a little bit on that or >> I mean it's you touched upon a little
bit on on this Elaine. Um, it it's it's very hard. There's just so many variables yeartoear. Um, you know, >> yeah, from grade to grade from subject to >> math looks great and then in your school maybe not, but then in your school something else looks great and there's a dip. But I mean, I'm
>> I'm looking for patterns and I'm not finding anything that really makes sense. You'd have to dig deeper into the data. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> If there hasn't been one solid answer to guide us, you know. Um, >> not that I'm asking for it. Sorry. I was
just wondering if you had thoughts at this. >> You can disagregate it in many different ways. >> Start to see those patterns, but it's hard at an aggregate level. >> And when you've done that, disagregating, are you seeing various patterns that are coming up even from
grade to grade? You also have, you know, we we're the anomaly, right? Because we have the same grade levels. No one else has that >> ability to compare. But >> Connor and I both have different substantially separate programs at our
school with different needs. >> So to take those out as a factor would be helpful, too. those kids out of the equation in each school and just looked at the aggregate in the typical classrooms, it might look different. Um, you know, we both have a learning
center, but we have kids in our learning center that are very different in different subject areas. Um, I have an autism program. um not all of those students take I Ready, but the ones that
do um you know their scores would impact the overall average. So there's a lot of things that go into it. Um like Connor said, even with attendance, he might have kids that are struggling more than
some of mine in different areas. It's >> Yeah. >> It's just It's hard because we're the only ones that can get compared. Mhm. >> Um, so it's hard to say >> and I wasn't trying to >> No, I mean it's >> I was just wondering if you had communicated obviously you have about
different kind of underlying causes of some of that >> disorders are on the same pace. Um, they're using the same curriculum, but it's it's just the kids. That's why I always had a problem specifically with MCCAST when the state would compare how
my third grade did last year to my third grade this year. They're completely different kids. You know what I mean? >> I I totally understand where you're coming from, but it's really hard to pinpoint a reason. >> Okay. Um so this is our growth data. Um
so in uh I already reading uh 53 um% of our students are um have uh made their uh their typical growth. Uh 23% of them have made their stretch growth. So at midpoint in the
year this is this is healthy data uh to to look at. And then in um math, 24% of our students um have met their um their typical growth and 9% have met their stretch growth. Um historically uh when
you compare math and reading um against each other, the math data at this point of the year tends to be lower than the reading. Um part of that is because I Ready assesses um students on standards that they haven't been um exposed to in
the curriculum yet but um by the end of the year they will have which start to see that surge. >> So I doesn't align with the curriculum in terms of >> computer adaptive tests. So as the kids answer questions if they're getting a lot right they give them harder
questions. If they're getting a lot wrong they get easier. So that it's not necessarily at their grade level. It depends on how they perform. >> The MCCAST is straight up. This is the grade level. Yeah. >> Yeah. Um this is these are all the data
points um that I've already touched upon. I just wanted them in in one place as well, but we've covered that. Um this was interesting to me. Um, I met with our STM math coach, um, who was, uh, very celebratory of the work
occurring at, um, Maple Shade because we've had a very successful year so far, um, with StMath. Um, if you remember, every year we have a goal of um, completing um, 80% of our journey um, in
StMath by the end of the year. Um based on the success that we have had so far and us exceeding our um our checkpoints along the way, we are now projected to hit 96% um by the end of the year, which
is fantastic. Um but this um this chart that you see here um is objective data which aligns with what the students themselves are self-reporting from a subjective lens. So what this is, it
shows um the amount of times students are trying and trying and trying on questions before they ask for teacher assistance. So, this lends itself to
students um when they self-report um how they will um try and continue to try before asking for help or think of different ways to approach something. So, being persevering
um working towards productive struggle and growth mindset, these are all elements of Maple Shade Elementary School that we have worked on throughout the years. It's why we have our academic um uh our uh academic adventuring award where we want our students to be able to
find the adventure in the challenging learning and this is something that we we celebrate um we highlight we have our persevering penguin award for students who do just this on stath. So this this shows that our students are just not throwing in the towel. These are
students who are pushing through. They are trying. they're trying new strategies um and just really giving it a shot before they are asking for help. Okay. So, in terms of our inclusive and supportive culture and climate, so we want 90% of our students to report that
they're happy. We want 95% of our students to uh report that they feel welcome. 95% of our students uh we want them to report that they feel safe. and 90% of our students uh to report that they have at least one trusted um adult
at Maple Shade. And then uh here are some uh results from the more recent survey. So 82.5% um state that they feel safe. 97% of students state that uh they treat each
other respectively. Um 95.1 uh% of students uh report that uh um whether it's sometimes or always that the staff treat students respectfully. Um 92.4%
of students um and this lends itself to the StMath data that I just shared. Um when I work is hard, I keep trying. 84.8 eight of students report that I have at least one adult at school I can
talk to. Um and 84.8% of students at um my school enforces against hurting others. Um, so we recently just looked at uh this data with um I looked at it with um my adjustment counselor and
guidance counselor to um start to determine how to best utilize this data um and address it with the students. Um so in our social emotional uh classes that are taught by uh our adjustment
counselor and our guidance counselor um we are going to continue to focus on on kindness um in order to make sure that our students um feel as though um this is a welcome environment for them and
that we are giving them the tools needed in order for them to be kind to one another. So, um they are launching this week and next week um a kindness activity. We're going to be following up with that um with students having the ability to um recognize and shout out
each other for acts of kindness that they may see and then we will display um these cards in the main hallway. um students regularly if they are caught being made in the shade. The acronym that we use to address the values that um we want to see from our students as
students at our school. Um strive to be hardworking, actively engaged, determined to succeed, and empathetic in all that we do. We're going to be focusing on that empathetic in all that we do piece. Um so teachers are going to be looking out for students who are being kinder um to their classmates, the
ones that are demonstrating empathy towards their classmates and others and they will get shouted out for that and they'll be able to uh serve as role models um on the morning announcements with me which also gets shared with their parents. So it's all celebratory.
Um and uh we'll just and um I've looked at this with our um principal advisory committee as well just to start to to share that information just so we know um what we're looking at in terms of what students are um self-reporting.
But the biggest next step for me if you want to move to the next Heather um is right here with um action steps where it says next steps shade squad. Um, so one of the benefits to me having served on the uh superintendent search committee
was being able to um jot down and take notes of best practices and ideas that um are uh you know potential uh superintendent candidates um have utilized in in their buildings and in their districts. And one um one thing
that I heard over and over again was having a student representative body. So, um, what I did is we messaged this out to students. Um, and, uh, what we did was in each home room, um, if
students wanted to represent that home room, um, and the perspective of the students within that home room on a larger, um, body, um, they would need to submit an application to first, um, weed out those that are, um, more interested and more serious um, about this than
than others. And then um those that submitted an application then had to campaign and um prepare a speech um and there was a voting process. And so now we have assembled our shade squad and we will be meeting um next week. And one of
the things that I I want to do, I want them to look at this data and I I want to get their perspective on on what they think this data means um from the from the student perspective and what we need to know as adults um in the building with how the students themselves are are
feeling. So I'm going to be leveraging this um this group um to to really get into the um to how students are are feeling in the building. So that's everything else that you see is is nothing new with Maple Shade, but that
is that's the next big um step for the the students in in the building. >> Did you create a probing question in the superintendent screening process? Is that why you got this information? You actually asked the question or >> Well, I mean I I didn't ask that that particular question, but it just came
up, you know. Um and that was one that I had heard, you know, again and again and again. Um, which is good, you know, cuz I'm always looking for that that next thing that that I can utilize. >> Great. >> Connor, did this process allow um end up
with some diversity across the representation in terms of race or IEP status? >> Oh, yeah. >> That's great. >> Yeah. I mean, we have I mean, our learning center kids are in there. Um, and yeah, it's it's it's pretty diverse. >> Perfect. So, it will change year to year.
>> Yeah. >> So, Okay. >> Yeah. Every year there will be a new voting process and based on the home room makeup that we get. Um >> love it. >> And I'll just let the kids kind of lead the way >> within parameters. >> Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Any questions? Any Oh, great. Thank you, Connor. Nice that you made it. >> Just kidding. >> Both in our calendars are 5:30. So when Kate called me, I was still sitting at my desk at 5:08. I was like, I don't
think I've ever made it tonight. >> Get in your car. >> My life. >> Thank you for being here. >> Sorry, Officer Haley. It's >> official business. Uh so it feels especially fitting that we're beginning our midyear update with
the supporting the whole child goal because today was international day. Um and our first part is focused on supporting the whole child at Metobrook today. We had a little bit of a celebration for day. So you were all
reminded to smile. Um our staff and students were invited to wear shirt positive messages on them. and we had a video read aloud from Superintendent Smith of the book The Smell Spot and a Dot and the counselor shared out some little SEAL activities that teachers
could do in their classroom. Um so with that context in mind, looking at our supporting the whole child smart goal, we start off with attendance and we continue to focus on our attendance rates um the same as the district. Our goal,
you're going to have to bear with me because I'm still in my eyesight again. The goal for the 2526 school year was 95% which is the target set by Dusty. Um, as of February 15th, our rate was 95.8%.
At this time last year, it was 95.3. So we're currently exceeding both the desi target and slightly ahead of where we were last year at this time which I think puts us in a good position to meet our end ofear targets for chronic absenteeism which as a reminder is
missing 10% or more of their days enrolled. Our goal is 5% or less. Um as of February 15th we were at 6.6%. I was a little disappointed when I first looked at that thinking, oh shoot, why are we so high? But then I remembered we have so many days left in the school
year. So that rate tends to go down as the school year goes on. I looked at where we were last year. Last year at this time we were at 10%. So we're in a much better spot than we even were last year at this time. And last year we ended at 5.5%. So I feel like we're
probably on track for meeting our goal for this year. Um we continue to face challenges with family vacations, athletic events, and a significant number of students with chronic health issues. Um of that chronic absenteeism percent, it makes up
25 students right now. Of those 25 students, 10 have known is known health issues that are impacting their daily attendance at school. And they're all pretty significant things. This is not kids with strep or something like that. These are chronic conditions. Um, we've
made 10 referrals to the care coordinator for chronic absenteeism. Two of the students are being followed up with by our school counselor and three we're just monitoring right now um to see if they need a sorry, what are we doing? Same thing
we've been doing um which we've had good success with. We've been sending monthly letters for students with five or more absences. We did tweak that letter this year to add a percentage of student attendance on there to give the parents a different way of looking at it. So it doesn't just say your child has been
absent 12 times, it's 12 times for an attendance rate of 88.3%. So it gives them a different way of looking at it. We've also continued communication regarding attendance expectations
um and what chronic absenteeism looks like. and we've done individualized follow-up with certain families and made referrals to DCF as appropriate or warranted. Another part of our goal under supporting the whole child relates to
DESA implementation. Um as a reminder, this is year two of our implementation. We use DESA mini as a universal screener for all students and then DESA 2.0 um which is more in-depth. It's a screener as well for students identified as
needing more targeted support. You can go to the next slide, I think. So, in looking at our schoolwide data for DESIE, 6% of students were identified as needing instruction. 70 in the fall, 79% were in the typical range
and 15 were in the strength range. At midyear we have 6% remaining in need. 69% are in typical and 25 are now in the strength range. The percentage of students requiring intensive support hasn't changed but we have seen a 10%
growth of students demonstrating um social emotional strengths. So this is probably suggesting that our tier one universal supports are not only maintaining the skills but they're also helping students grow stronger in various competencies.
>> If you go to the next myself oh you did sorry thanks looking at the DESA 2.0 no scores which provide deeper insight into the strengths and needs of students identified in the DESA mini as um we're seeing growth across nearly all competencies most notably the social
awareness needs decreased from 42 to 27% and then self-awareness decreased from 48 to 36%. So, what do we think is driving this proc uh progress? In tier 1, we've completed secondstep lessons for grades one and two, and that
includes a bullying um prevention program. Kindergarten lessons are going to be wrapping up soon. And we created the schoolwide behavior expectations for lunch, recess, arrival, and dismissal. Um, they were, bless you. They were
explicitly taught at this point of the year and then revisited and reinforced after winter break. Um, and we plan to expand on this for next year and add areas um in other areas like the hallways or the
bathrooms. >> For tier 2, uh, sorry, Desa 2.0 I know is being used to guide small groupoup instruction. Intensive kindergarten RTI groups were implemented um earlier this year by our kindergarten counselor and helping to prepare for our new counselor
transitioning to a new counselor. Groups were paused for a short time due to that transition between counselors. Um but they're gradually resuming and they're going to resume more because we're excited to welcome Christina I can't look at it. Gianna um to the team on March 9th. So, we
hired her as our third school counselor. >> Nice. >> Yes. Very exciting. We're also working with River Valley Counseling to facil facilitate a sixw week first grade SEAL group. Um, this is going to be focusing on social emotional awareness,
self-regulation, friendship skills, and problem solving. And that will be conducted by Tara Donovan who is a master's level clinician at River Valley. um she already provides individual therapy to MetaBrook students. And then our tier three
students are continuing to receive individualized counseling and targeted instruction. And our special ed staff is using everyday speech, which is evidence-based curriculum for social skills development. >> Under the teaching and learning goal,
excuse me, we use the USNS, which is the universal screener for number sense as our early math screener in kindergarten. So we don't have I ready data for kindergarten. Um this screener helps us see how well our students are doing in basic foundational math skills like counting, comparing numbers,
superetizing and number combinations. Um those skills are an early indicator of later math success. And this USNS data also helps us determine which students might need uh math intervention services. So last year we ended the year with 71% of our kindergarteners scoring
proficient and this year our goal was 75% p proficient and what you see up there is our midyear data which is showing we have already exceeded our goal at 75.7% of our kindergarten students scoring in the proficient
range. 22.4% in the basic range. none in the below basic and one less than 1% which is one students going scoring in the well below basic range. Um so we are well on track to meeting our goals for
kindergarten. For first and second grade we do use the I Ready. Um, we also then once we get our I Ready scores give them the USNS to dive a little bit deeper into foundational math skills and that
information is used to drive who we pick up for math interventions. Our goals for the 2526 school year were based on typical and stretch growth this year which was a first for us. We usually base it on that other color-coded graph you're used to seeing. So when I first
sat down, well let me tell you a goal first, but 65% of first and second graders reaching typical growth, which would be up from 59% last year. I first sat down and looked at this graph graph and I was honestly a bit discouraged. I was like 28% of kids are on target for
meeting this goal. And I got myself all worked up as I tend to do. I stepped away with from it and came back and was like, whoa, you're looking at this all wrong. And I thought about it a little bit differently, but that 28% actually means is that 28% of our students have
already met end of year targets. Um, so after having a complete panic wondering what in the world was going on, I felt a little bit better. Um, and then in looking at that even even deeper, 16% of our students in addition to that are in
the 80 to 99% range and 13% are in the 69 to 79% range. So, at the midpoint in the year, we'd expect students to be around 50%. We not only have 28% of our students already making a full year's growth, but
another 20 29% are already beyond the halfway mark. So, 57% of our students are already at 60% or more of their typical growth. In order to make sure I wasn't, again, misinterpreting, I contacted I Ready and they said, "Yes,
that is spoton." So, I was kind of a little bit more relieved. Um, this next graph is going to show you what we more typically um, if you could advance the slide, Heather. What we more typically bring the data >> look at um, and what we used to base our
goals on. It's just another way of looking at the I Ready data. It shows overall movement in grade level placement. The first graphs are from last year. I just left them there for your reference. The bottom graphs are from this year. At the beginning of the year, 14% of our students were on or
above grade level. And by mid year, we've increased that to 40% which is a 26 percentage point increase. And notably, we've also reduced our students performing well below grade level or two levels two grade levels below from 16%
down to 5% which tells me our interventions and core instruction are helping move students in the right direction. And Renee, the one above is from fall to the end of the year, whereas this is middle. Okay. >> Correct. No, just not you can't compare. And that
next slide shows you our comparison. Similar to the other schools, we are outperforming both state and national progress at the midpoint in the school year. The last slide for math talks a little bit about our intervention numbers. um
to accelerate intervention at the start of the school year. Rather than waiting until the first round of assessments were done, analyzing the data, picking kids up, we implemented boost groups based on endofear data from last year. So we picked up 37 students who participated in the boost group. And by
the time the fall benchmark occurred in the end of that 5we cycle, 54% of those students had shown that they had reached grade level progress and were able to exit intervention. With the fall benchmark, 17% of those 37 stayed on and moved into the first full
round of intervention and we picked up another 27 students, which meant 44 students were receiving intervention. The January benchmark, 25 of those 44 were then released, which was 57%. they made enough progress to exit intervention and we picked up another 19
for additional support. So we had a total of 41 students currently receiving math intervention and across all of the intervention cycles more than half of each cohort has been able to exit due to instructional impact and making progress.
It's me. Oh, sorry. Zack slide. >> Um, as a reminder, we use dibbles to monitor early literacy development in grades K to two. Um, instead of I ready. We administer it three times a year with opportunity for progress monitoring in
between assessments and dibbles measures phenemic awareness, decoding, fluency. Um, these are the skills foundational to future reading success. Our goal this year is that 75% of students in grades K to2 will score at or above grade level
on the Dibble's composite score. Last year 72% of our students met the this benchmark, but that was based on the predominant measure because we eased into it. So we didn't um give all the subtests. So we weren't able to use a
composite. Um so it was a little tricky to come up with a goal. So, >> we're taking a bit of a shot in the dark because we were basing it on one measure last year, whereas Dibbles has many measures. >> Um, so this year we looked at all the
measures and set a goal based on that. But one of the things that really got me thinking about was setting goals for this year's cohort based on where last year's cohort ended. And it really got me thinking, is that really the best way for us to be setting our goals or should we be waiting for
the fall benchmark and seeing where students currently are and where we need to get them? So, I had some thoughts around that. >> All right. So, at this point, we only have midear data for first grade. Kindergarten and second grade. Our benchmarking began today, so that data
is not available. First grade was benchmark a little earlier so that we would have data for the DESIE amplify tutoring program. In first grade, we saw growth from fall to winter. In the fall, 56.8% of students were at core or above.
At midyear, the number increased to 16.1. So, we're seeing steady upward movement. One thing to point out is the shift from intensive to strategic or red to yellow yellow. Um through targeted intervention, we moved nine students out
of our highest risk category. This is a good indicator that we're continuing to see gains um as the year progresses. Another thing to note about using the composite score on dibbles for our goal is that the benchmark itself increases throughout the year. So the target rises
from 330 at the beginning of the year to 389 midyear and 441 by the end of the year. So the expectations become more rigorous as the year progresses. You can go to the next slide. Similar to math, to accelerate intervention at the start of the school
year, the literacy team ran fiveweek boost groups based on endofear data. 68 first and second grade students were seen during the boost groups. Following the first round of benchmarking in the fall, 12 kindergarten, 33 first, and 37
second grade students were identified for a total of 82 students receiving reading intervention. We only have numbers for winter for first grade since we just started benchmarking. Um but the first grade 10 students were exited due to sufficient progress and nine new students were
identified for intervention. So tutoring has focused primarily on students below benchmark in the composite score. Sessions are individualized based on dibble subtest data. uh that data drives the tutor's instruction because first grade was receiving
tutoring through the amplify program. It actually freed up our tutors um for a bit and allowed them to push into classrooms as well. So for a period of time they were supporting instruction directly in two first grade classrooms
and four second grade classrooms. The number of students assessed, those are referred in for assessment because they're not all assessed, right? >> Based on the dibbles. >> Yes. >> So you in round one, you have 103 in the kindergarten assessed, 51 in the first,
66 in the second. What dictates those students being assessed? >> They they were progress monitored. >> Okay. >> They're not all assessed. No, it was um >> so red and yellow >> kind of similar to what I was describing with the um I Ready and then we do the
UNS USNS that is a deeper dive. So not every student gets assessed with every round. >> They were all assessed in the fall if you see it was 148. >> Oh, okay. Yep. >> And then they're all assessed again in January.
>> I see. >> Just progress monitoring. >> Roger that. Okay. Thank you. Um, beyond tutoring, our literacy coach is working with small groups and individual teachers during common planning time. They're sharing strategies and resources aligned to student needs. We built a dedicated
small group instruction block into the schedule this year and we're continuing to refine how to use that time as effectively as possible. One area we have identified as area need and a limitation of foundations is that there isn't enough um opportunity built
in for applied practice. So our literacy coach is working with our teachers on ways to increase that. And there's a revision of the foundations program coming out maybe that we're hope oh yep to to address some of those gaps.
And our last goal focused on inclusive and supportive culture and climate. Um we've really focused a lot of our work in this goal around celebrating the diversity within our community and making sure all students and families feel a sense of belonging. Partnered with Shandria for most of our goal this
year, which has been fantastic. Um it's been really nice. She's been a consistent presence in our building. I feel like every few days I turn around and she's there doing something, which is wonderful. Um, she's been working with small groups of students during the lunch block to build relationships and
create space for connection. This relationship building, I think, is particularly important at the youngest grade levels because we're just bringing these students and families into the ELPS community. So, helping them feel a part of the community and form those connections as they move up through our
system is really important. She's also been to a lot of our evening events. Um, some that I didn't even know she knew about. I turned around and there she was standing there saying hi to everybody. So um second part of our goal in this area was really on improving the
onboarding process for students in the metco program. In the past we had been getting the names very late sometimes as late as like July which was making it very difficult for those families to be part of the entire kindergarten registration
process. We begin um sending letters home in February. We have registration night in March. We have screening in May. And we really wanted those families to feel part of that whole process. Come a little bit more complicated than I had hoped. I didn't realize that there
were a number of other districts involved, not just East Long Meadow. So something that seemed simple to me, which was just get those names earlier and shift the timelines back is not as easy as we had hoped because it's impacting the other districts as well. Um, we are getting the names much
earlier though. She Andrea was able to ensure that we're going to get those names by late April. So, they're going to miss unfortunately the information night this year, but we're hopeful we can get them on board for the screening process. They get screened anyways. Um, but I'd rather them be part of it in May
than wait until September when we're rescreening everyone else. And then we're going to keep that conversation going with Springfield. Um, Miss Jandria is actually meeting with not only Springfield but all the other partner districts. So, I'm hoping that can be part of the bigger conversation and
getting those names a lot earlier. And then we're also continuing our character assemblies and we brought Shandria on board for that this year as well. She's going to be conducting an assembly for us at our school with a book, All Our Welcome, which is focused on diversity and belonging.
And we are hoping that will deepen schoolwide conversations. We're going to do some activities following that book back in the classroom afterward as well. That is our midyear update. Anybody have any questions that I can answer?
>> Anything else for and Kate? >> Excellent. Thank you so much for coming tonight. >> Thank you. >> Ela, how are the rooms coming? The new ones. >> Um Don had a tour of can't get in yet from the building. So,
I haven't been in there much. Okay. >> But, um there is a hallway, which I didn't know there was going to be >> I thought it was just going to be two rooms and >> the end of the hall, but there is a hallway to go into each room. So, the third grade will still we haven't been able to this year, but
they'll be able to go out that way to recess. Right now, we have them >> Oh, yeah. >> coming all the way through the school because there's no way for them to get outside. >> Can we get back in that door? Somebody mentioned that. >> Is there a keypad on? There's not a key swiper on that door.
>> But if it can put one there. >> Look into that. >> Probably something they could do after. I mean, I don't think it's has to be. >> I'll ask Ryan about it. Yeah, >> because he's put in the ones um the carline door and the parking lot behind
the gym. Didn't he retro have them and >> so he put them in after. >> Yeah. Great. Cool. >> I'd love for them to be done as I would love to be done before MS starts, but that's not going to happen. >> Next year, >> short on fall.
>> It was supposed to be March. >> I know. Only a couple million bucks. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate it. >> Okay, moving along. We have the FY 2027 budget development discussion update.
As I said, we have um 5.3.1 curriculum updates from Heather. Okay. I wanted to give you a status of um where we're at. I just made all these piles, so I have to find my notes.
Sorry. Um in terms of uh the high quality in instructional materials that we've implemented, as well as some updates that are coming. Oh man, all this paper. I should never have opened this. >> Heather, do you want my >> No, it's my own notes that I missed.
Here they are. All right. Um, so I just wanted to point out again that we're getting high quality instructional materials for several reasons. Um, but the biggest one is about making sure all
kids are getting access to grade level content and skills. The nation, not just East Long Meadow, there's a whole podcast, sorry, um, journalistic expose on how we used to teach reading
and it was about getting kids to read at their level. And the problem with that is while it might help them with decoding and fluency at their level, they're getting deprived of the vocabulary, background information, and syntax that they need to be able to um access that higher uh the grade level
content. So with ELA, what we've been doing is we use foundations for the word analysis. So all kids are learning how to crack the code, if you will, and learn how to read independently. But then with the wit and wisdom and I'll talk about the update to wit and wisdom
all kids have access to the grade level text if they can't read it we have variety of different things to help them read it independently and also at the younger ages the teachers will read it so the kids are exposed to all of this rich text it's going to help them
ultimately comprehend. So that's one of the reasons and the other reason is that instead of spending time curating information and materials, the teachers can really take their planning time and say how am I going to scaffold this? What accommodations do I need to put into place so that all kids can access
this. So just wanted to kind of give the why again and you can interrupt me at any point. I promise this won't be super long. So Metobrook U for ELA they use hegrity for phenemic awareness foundations for the um
word analysis and wit and wisdom for that language acquisition that was talking about all the other parts of what they call scar bro's rope uh foundations is going to be updated and like they talked about Tracy literacy coach has been working really hard to
create systems and structures and get teachers um familiar with them so that kids have more time to actually apply apply the skills they're learning in foundations and read and decode and p and work on their fluency independently. Um that's going well and I think that
with the foundations update that will be an easier transition. Math is still illustrative math. We are going to illustrative math 360 next year which is just an update. It's not a new curriculum. I just wanted to be clear about that. Uh they have made some
changes based on feedback and it's great. It's not a huge shift. Um, at this point they use uh teacher created materials for social studies and um I meant to put science. I apologize. Um, down the road when we really feel like
we've gotten these other things um under our belt there is uh investigating history for three not K to 2. I should talk about that later but there's open sed which is we're using at 6 to8 that is moving all the way down to the younger grades. That's something for
later. Sorry, I did mean social studies history science. We use mystery science and you had asked about that. So the curriculum is second step for tier one. Maple Street and Mountain View um have foundations. Foundations is now rolled
out a fourth and fifth grade curriculum that is not as intense or long as the K to3, but it really helps with the morphology that they need to work on, more vocabulary, more fluency practice. So they are also moving uh to arts and
letters next year which is revised witten wisdom. Most of the teachers are very excited about this because basically the people who created witten wisdom heard all the feedback from teachers and have made things much more studentfriendly, much more teacher friendly, much more culturally responsive. And instead of 90-minute
lessons, they're 60-minute lessons. So, some fourth and fifth grade teachers reached out and said, "If we're only going to have 60 minutes of this um curriculum, what are we doing with the other 30?" And it's like, that is a perfect time to do some more of that uh foundational work. Um so, they're going
to be getting those materials next year. And uh they continue with illustrative math and next year uh they're using teacher creative, but a lot of folks have out to me about other things and so we can help them pilot investigating history. I am working on writing a grant
right now to get those materials and PD paid for um so that we can do that because I'm already trying to do that for sixth and seventh so three four and five it would be a good time to get some money for that too especially since people are asking they have very old textbooks that are not necessarily
aligned to the new 2018 standards they also use uh mystery science and they use wayfinder um for ELA. This year is the first year of using Reading Reconsidered. Um it was actually created by the team that
created Teach Like a Champion. It's uh one of the recommended curriculum for knowledgebased curriculum. It's aligned with Whiten Wisdom and what they're using at the high school. So it's a great match. And I heard from a parent
um that they're really excited to start seeing some of the materials that are coming home. uh they're going to be reading a lot more text too and they're upping the homework which I think is great in terms of not a lot of extra things but at least some reading at home and like I said if a kid can't access the text independently learning ally is
available for all kids and that will read the book to them and they can read along in the text uh they have illustrative math sixth seventh and eighth and they also have an accelerated track we used to try to get a lot of kids into algebra what we found was that was backfiring because not all
kids were really um succeeding and then they were getting to high school and having to do algebra again. So, we've done a much better job looking at the data. We have a whole system that was created by the math coach. Um and now we have an accelerated track. So, uh when
they kids that get to algebra for 8th grade, traditionally, if we didn't follow their accelerated for those kids, they were missing standards. So, those eighth grade teachers were trying to catch kids up with standards and then teach the rest of the curriculum. So now we're identifying kids in sixth grade for that algebra track and they're
getting that accelerated um curriculum throughout. There's still room for kids to move in and out, but the system seems to be much better. It's they're communicating with parents. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of push back and it really does seem like the kids who are ready for algebra are getting that and we're not forcing kids
to go faster when they're not ready. I told you last time that investigating history will be for sixth to seventh grade social studies and eighth grade has been using McGra Hills uh United States and Massachusetts government and civic life. Uh the science department uses open sedan
uses adios and the seal curriculum is created by the school. >> Heather, can I just ask one course uh about witten wisdom? >> Yeah. Was that based on feedback that you had gotten from the teachers? Because I know originally there was just so much push back. >> So a lot of the push back that they had,
you know, those were um complaints across the board uh nationally. So they heard that feedback. Um and the new product that they have if it's so much better. It's just like it it can it takes all and I did give you all kind of
some of the scope and sequence here and some of the things that have changed. The the core of the program is still there. It's knowledge based but they've added more fluency and morphology and like I said it's much more teacher friendly. the that the the original teacher uh manual is just so dense to
try to unpack and the student manuals were not developmentally appropriate >> because I'm wondering if there's a connection with that and the reading scores that we saw like if there's a direct an indirect connection >> reading scores for Maple Shade and Mountain View. >> Well, because there was such discrepancy
across different grades and I'm like is there a connection between the difficulty? Well, Maple Shade and Mountain View are all using >> Witten Wisdom. >> Using Witten Wisdom. >> They're they're still using Witten Wisdom. This is for next year. >> Okay. >> They are piloting. Some grades are
piloting in arts and letters this year. >> Okay. So, I guess there's no like the Witten wisdom difficulties that teachers are experiencing. I think with arts and letters >> connection between those lower >> well what we'll be able to see with arts and letters and the foundations continuing into fourth and fifth grade
and that small group time for kids to have the um that uh application time at the K to2 level. Okay. All of those things I think are I mean everything we do we progress monitor if it's not working right. >> Yeah. I understand. But >> and this was great for the teachers to
say, "Oh, wow. They listened to us, >> right?" And I think that's wonderful. But just looking specifically at the reading, it's like even the schools, even when there was a a piece of data that was encouraging, we still have some grades that are like 60% of the students are one or more grade levels below in
reading. It's it's concerning. >> Yeah. And I do think it's it's helpful, and I did not bring that, and perhaps we could start doing that next year. I think it's super helpful to disagregate the data. um very aggregate is not doesn't really tell you much. >> Um so I will advocate for that for next
year. Um and then high school they are doing Odell high school literacy which is now going to be digiti digit a lot of these open-source materials companies buy them and then create all the the bells and
whistles and great minds who owns wit and wisdom will be doing our high school so there will be some flow uh math uses reveal math for algebra 1 2 and geometry social studies uses history alive science is still teacher created
um and trying to help them to of course we uh you know are possibly in a freeze for curriculum um adoption. The problem that's holding up science is right now the only thing that's touted is open sad and there's nothing else really that has been reviewed by the mass curate panel.
So they want more time which I get. And then Spanish is adios. And I have to say the the department head um for the world languages is really working well to uh with the six seventh the two Spanish teachers over at um Birland Park so that
there is a co uh cohesive and and that vertical alignment. Um so kids are getting what >> about their languages? >> Latin. >> And what curriculum do they use? that is more teacher created. >> So we only have Latin and Spanish
>> at the at this point. Um and Latin is mostly reading and writing like there's no way like she they don't measure on these tests for like biiteracy speaking because I guess we don't really know how things are pronounced. I don't know.
Um but yeah, so it's much heavier on the reading and writing when it comes to the seal of bi literacy. I do know that. Oh. Um and this is just kind of listing off you know in the over the years especially during the esser so much professional development has been
offered to folks. Um but the high quality professional development is really when they can get in the moment and uh continue to work um within their school like that one and done PD has been shown it doesn't really work. They
need that consistency. And so I just wanted to put in a little plug about, you know, all the things that their coaches are doing and some of the things that we're looking at for next year. Um, but I have mentioned, you know, knowing the curriculum and I I meant to put high quality instruction, but I got cut off.
Um, the facilitating the common planning times which we will continue to improve. Uh, you know, focusing on that curriculum implementation, really being on top of the data and really supporting the principles that way. um and supporting the principles in those learning walks and look for so really so
that teachers are getting the feedback that they need for those next steps. Um so just the plug for embedded PD and also just to remind people that um we have purchased and will continue to purchase Learning Ally which provides
those audio versions for text for all students and Google read and write and orbit note which are ways for um uh kids to access text and that also includes Equatio which is another tool for math um text to speech, speech to text
translation for kids, all kinds of tools and And then that braining camp provides digital manipulatives. So we have hands-on manipulatives for kids, but the braining camp is nice if we need them right away and we don't I can't go get it or I'm at home and I need it. Um so we do have a lot of tools to help those
kids um to help all kids access that growth grade level content and standards. So, I just wanted to give you an update on all that and if you had any questions, but I didn't want people saying that we're implementing new things. Uh, because all of it is connected to things we've already been
doing. I wanted you to hear it first from me. >> I had some questions about the learning walks. >> Yeah. >> How often are the coaches going in? Are they looking for things of about curriculum or um best practices? So,
I've it's been me, the coach, and the principal. So, either the ELA coach and the math coach. And quite frankly, because the coaches uh 3 to 8 are stretched across um all those grade levels. We go into a
school once once a week usually, maybe once every other week, but it's not necessarily like I would like, which is like multiple times. Well, multiple times a week would be amazing, but m multiple weeks. though I feel like that's >> well they're going in once a week but not necessarily in the same school
because they're at Maple Shade Mountain View and Birchland and we're so we I've worked out their schedule so that we're doing that and then it's uh with ELA at um Metobrook we split the learning walk so Tracy the literacy coach comes to
both go to both found foundational skill blocks and also the core literacy blocks because we're looking for different things and that's exactly it. We're looking for some um pretty general things at this point just to get people used to looking at trends and you know
are people implementing the curriculum? What are some needs that we have? And the leadership team is actually looking at the the new teacher rubric from that was actually official last year to try to develop some look fors that we can
agree on that are much more curricular focused and not necessarily as general as we're doing right now. Things like like what we're looking for things are we supporting all students do students have access to learning ally things like that you know are how is our internal pacing of the lesson? How is our pacing
overall? Um, so and that will change and morph. Um, and then for uh math, we just do math block because there's no other block and we do those several times. So, um, yeah, it's it's been a lot more walkthroughs and it's been great having
the conversations and that one-on-one time with um, principles to, you know, look at trackers, see how pacing's going, look at data. the the coaches are doing tons around data to make sure kids aren't falling through the cracks, but just looking, you know, even like what's going on in the different classrooms,
you know. Um, so are there for those three schools for Birchland? Maybe. >> So, they're only two. >> There's two. Yes, they're very stretched out and it is hard for them to really make an impact anywhere which is why a lot of what they're doing is supporting
teaching and learning for the principles who are doing the best they can but also are you know doing everything especially Elaine and Connor who do all of the things right >> so Metobrook Steve and Natalie who have middle school which is never there's never a dull moment
>> right so there's two in Metobrook two coaches right and then there's two for the other three schools. >> Yeah, because of the budget cuts, we had to cut it back. >> Um, but yeah, I have to say it's been really great to have that opportunity and, you know, we're just going to keep
moving on it. And one of the things I would love to see is our instructional rounds where we feel um comfortable walking into each other's classes, not necessarily give each other feedback, but just to see each other teach and, >> you know, learn with and from each other. So >> well especially if one classroom date
like the data in one classroom >> yeah what's going on what are some moves that we can copy >> is showing like a lot of growth or something like that I would definitely want my teachers to go look in their classroom >> y lot of great teaching happening and I just wanted to update you on um where
we're at in terms of the materials >> kept it quick >> did nice work Heather thank you anything else for Heather on the curriculum careful. >> Okay. So, without objection, uh I think we will table 61,
72 and 73, >> the superintendent evaluation. >> Yes. >> Not here. >> Okay. >> In the budget discussion, we have something discussed in executive over that and school choice. Um we we'll put it off for another week. If there's no objection, >> okay,
>> it's okay. Then we'll go to 7.1 eighth grade MIA waiver for 2026 spring sports. >> I know, right? Nathan. >> No, I I reached out to Kevin and he said that he felt that all the information
was right here on the sheet for you and that um the school committee has approved in the past to have it >> page. >> I had it in my document.
>> So, this is for the um the girls lacrosse team, the boys lacrosse team, and softball. And uh what it says is the coaching staff ad and high school. >> If he's not freaked out by my germs, you can pass. Okay. >> Okay. Support not contagious anymore.
>> Support applying for the following eighth grade waivers. Uh the below requested waivers are for eighth graders to play JV only. If the ELHS signups in grades 9 to 12 for these sports exceed the MIAA recommended maximum number to
use the JV waiver, then we will not utilize the eighth grade waivers. The JV waivers listed below hopefully help ELHS field JV teams in the following sports during the 2026 spring season. And again, that's uh 9 to 12 recommended max
um number to use for JV waiver. girls lacrosse 32 9 to 12 anticipated we only have 22 um grade 8 past usage usage um was zero uh for 2025 and zero for 2024
the boys lacrosse it was um recommended max is 32 anticipated spring 25 is the same number zero and zero softball uh recommended maximum number to use is 30 anticipated spring 20 past us usage in the spring of 2025 was four and spring
of 2024 was four. So he did say that uh the school committee has always supported this waiver in the past. >> Now is now they're looking for 10 though, right? >> It does seem that yes >> there are significant numbers. >> Yes, they are dropping. uh discussion.
Someone would like to move for these three sports for >> I'd like to make a motion to approve the eighth grade MIAA waiver for 2026 spring sports as presented.
>> You want to just list them out the JV and the three please? Just the girls lacrosse, >> girls lacrosse, >> boys lacrosse, and softball. >> JV only. >> JV only. >> Motion made by Anthony. >> Second, second by William. Any other discussion? All favor say I.
>> I. >> I. Those opposed, nay. The motion carries. Five to zero. >> Thank you. We'll let Frank and Kevin. No. >> Okay. >> And final discussion in open session. We have ES for districtwide possible grade
realignment. Want to start? You want me to start? >> I didn't have anything for that. >> There was nothing in there. I think it was just going to be just a discussion. >> Okay. Start. >> Yeah, sure. Please. >> Um, so this was has been um something I
think that you you just I heard you say like that would be a good idea. Like I think everybody in town at one point or another whether you're on the school committee or a teacher or a parent has questioned the 35 divide at some point. I think why do we have why are the school why is the school district
structured the way that it is. So some people have institutional knowledge of this if you grew up here you know theory of how things have changed over the years. Other people are maybe newer to town and don't have that context. So no matter where people are at um this this
structure exists today. And so for my for me, I asked Greg if we could put I've been asking for a while actually if we could put this on the schedule just as a sorry just a brief um conversation point for right now. I don't have children this age anymore. So I don't
have anything personally invested in this other than just what might be best for the students in our district. So, I don't want people to think, whether it be in this room or people that are listening or hearing, you know, um reports about the this meeting that I'm
pushing for something. What I'm what I'd like to push for is a conversation um the start of a conversation to talk about what would it look like if we made the decision or did some research about restructuring the grades um to make it
so the students in this town all attended the same schools throughout their experience here in East Long Leto Public Schools together rather than have that 35 divide which for those of you who have children in the district and even if you don't um it creates It's an
absolute divide between families um between students for sure. I have a lot of anecdotal evidence um and I think that the data that we see that we saw today provides the actual data about what that divide can look like both from
a social emotional standpoint even just kind of through family dynamics as well as academically um even attendance. I mean I just like even just wrote down Mountain View 3.4% 4% chronic absenteeism. Maple shade 7.7%. Okay. So,
there are are glaring discrepancies in the way that the the outcomes that are occurring between Mountain View and Maple Shade. The way that the the people in this town see those two schools is
unbelievable. It's totally negative. um in in a lot of ways. The way that the way that it's compared, Mountain View versus Maple Shade and the perception in the community is kind of disgusting. Um and I just wanted to have a conversation about it. I wanted to put it out there.
I've done a ton of research on this. Um and again, I'm not pushing anything. I'm just wanting to start the conversation. I would love to dig a little deeper into all of the implications. There's going to there would be a lot of financial um things to think about. So many things,
transportation, so many different things to think about if we decide to continue this conversation. But what I would love to see would be prek, K and 1 at Me, uh Metobrook, two and three at Mountain View, four and
five at Maple Shade, and then um middle and sec and um high school stay the same. Um, again, I'm not tied emotionally or otherwise to this idea. I'm just wondering if this would allow the students in our town to have a more equitable experience in East Long Meadow
Public Schools from start to finish. >> Okay, I'm done. >> Well done. >> Thank you. >> Excellent. >> Any thoughts, discussion? >> We don't even really need to have one. I just wanted to like put it out there into the universe that it's something
that I I think would really behoove all of us to think a little bit about maybe do your own research about what you cuz I know there would be some challenges. The biggest one being the families are that are going to be disturbed by a potential change would obviously
potentially be upset and I would definitely like to acknowledge that. um among other you know issues that could arise it would create a situation where the children would have to do one more transition that might not always be ideal. There's a lot of um potential
positive outcomes and some challenges. I've actually spoken with Jenny Sullivan about this. She believes that this could have a really positive impact for some of the long-term goals in special education um both with financial of course but primarily for the students
and their needs. Um so I don't want to speak for her but she thinks that this could be a very positive thing for the district as well. So that's it. >> Okay, we'll bring it back another point
over do your research. >> Interesting. Um, I do remember in the 80s, I believe it was, that they changed the grades at Burchland >> because I was in one of those grades. >> Seventh and eighth. It used to be. >> Yeah. But they brought fifth
>> sixth. Oh, >> fifth grade back to the elementary school. >> So, I I stayed in my elementary school for another year. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. Cuz at one point they were all neighborhood schools K through six and
they went K to >> it was by lines but >> our line was very strange. I lived on Westwood but I went to school all the way in Mountain View. >> I lived I lived in Maple Shade. I went to Middle. I don't understand how the light the lines now are a little if you
really take a look cuz I have if you really take a look at how those those lines are drawn between you know that sends certain kids to Maple Shade and certain kids to Mountain View. In some ways they are very much neighborhood schools but in other ways they are very
much based in I think kind of a financial divide >> and hasn't been updated in a number of years. >> Sure has not. To give you an idea, u Mountain View is 18% of their students are lowincome and at Maple Shade it's 34.1%. >> Almost double.
>> Yeah. >> And I think that we see that particular piece impacting you know instruction attendance and all of the things. I do feel like some of the benefits would be that all the kids are getting the same
thing >> even St math and now I >> they were talking about how this school does this and this school does that >> and it's it yeah and and it's logistically hard to get all of the third grade teachers together you know what I mean >> and that's that's problematic and also
even look at things like the PTO the socioeconomic divide between the two schools are is significant. So when you look at Mountain View and look at the PTO there and what they're able to do potentially for the children in that school and then you look at Maple Shade
and the socioeconomic um discrepancy there that PTO is not able to provide the same experiences. What are those things called? Those boards wipe boards. >> No, the >> those are from the PTO. >> No, but those are from Elaf. And I just
feel like boards. Yes. And I just feel like it's a cultural smartboards that the majority of Mountain View teachers now have. >> Right. And I feel like even though many of those, I don't know if all but many of them are from Elite, I just feel like there's like a different a completely different culture at one school versus
the next. And I don't think it's right for that to be occurring in the same district with two schools and two separate sets of completely separate sets potentially of learning experiences. Well, I mean, in terms of the ELA grants being a part of that subcommittee, >> anybody can I get
>> anybody can grant and those grants the process is is not biased based on >> No, I understand that. So I think that I wasn't >> and I think unfortunately we are in a very interesting budget time but I it's unfortunate that our um our teachers
have to rely on grant money to have up-to-date technology in their classrooms that many other districts provide for their teachers and don't rely on grants. Um, so and whatever the reason is for all of the Mountain View teachers to have written grants for that
and Maple Shade maybe not. I don't know. But again, it provides a completely different learning experience for the students at Mountain View than what's happening at Maple Shade. I'm not saying one better than the other. I'm saying completely different and that perpetuates something that I don't think
we want to be perpetuating anymore in this town. I I can I can also just say being a part of the PTO um perception of the PTO commitment is off there now. I I mean we're talking about
I don't think I've been at a PTO meeting in Mountain View that there's been more than like six or seven. So I I don't know that say under Kat significantly fewer amount of people who show up. >> I wasn't talking about the amount of people. I was talking about the amount
they're able to raise. That's what I was talking about. I don't know because I'm not on that PTO, but >> I I guess I would just be interested in learning more about what other districts have done in terms of um how we have
created um focus programs for like autism and reading support um and what that looks like, you know, when it's um from a resource standpoint and standing it up in multiple buildings. Um, well, Jenny was able to explain a little bit
of that to me and what she shared, and I would definitely ask her to speak in more detail because obviously that's her area, but what she shared was that what she's seeing is that there are families that their children attend Mountain View that need to be attending the
specialized programming at Maple Shade, but will not do it because they want to stay at one school versus another. So they're not um so again I want her to be able to share you know more of her perspective but that's what she shared with me when I talked with her about this. So they're
foregoing the services to stay at the what is perceived as the better school. >> Yeah. And I'm curious more about given our current financial situation, the budgetary cost of I'm not sure if what it looks like to have people going, you
know what I mean, between >> they're probably using similar I don't know I don't know enough about who we're using for personnel to manage those that have to split amongst buildings >> to keep the cost down. >> We need a deep look. >> Yeah. Yep. >> For sure. Yeah. And there would probably
be more cost to transportation >> because a lot of students do walk to Maple Shade. >> Yeah. >> Than they would now have to go to Mountain View for 2 years, but it's something uh for further discussion. >> Has this been brought up to the leadership team? >> No.
>> No. Oh. All right. >> Not officially. Not officially. I've spoke with one or two of them uh on a side note, but >> Okay. >> Not officially. I didn't know if they've expressed any I imagine that there would would be a
little push back or a little upset and again that's why I'm saying really outwardly I'm not pushing one way or the next like I agree with you Carrie it would need a major deep dive into all of everything the financial component how it would disturb you know families teach
you know teaching assignments all of it I would I'm not suggesting that we just like do this in you know September actually I did suggest that you did but I'm not suggest it be at least a year and a half. >> Oh gosh. So I'm not I am not you know I've come down to earth. Um I'm not
suggesting that at all. I'm suggesting that if people are open to a little bit of a deeper dive or some you know many further conversations about how this could potentially benefit and and in the end if we find out that this is not feasible then it's not feasible but I
think it's an important thing to maybe at least talk about explore. I think there's some things that maybe we have already are starting to do that we we could do to address some of the things that you raised without necessarily combining them in one building. I mean, why aren't we working more towards
alignment um and finding opportunities for teachers to work in teams across buildings? Um >> Oh, we are I have release days and things like that. It it's it's but it it's challenging um when they're not in the same building. We have our
department head meetings the we have department head meetings virtually because by the time one gets to one school we lost all that time. So yeah I mean it's not impossible. >> Never going to address the divide either of the kids being separated and then going into middle school. I mean I think
it's a great thing but I mean I'm just speaking for my kids. My kids all went through Maple Shade. They're pretty much friends with their Maple Shade. Like they're in high school and middle school now but that's like who they're friends with. I'm not saying it's bad. That's great. I love their friends. Wonderful. Um, but there's really a like a line I'm
finding. >> Well, I see that. I mean, I could think about my own schooling experience having different I went to Catholic school and was in Springfield and like certain schools that pulled into Cathedral like that was the group. I mean, I think that happens anywhere. But I think it also
gets back to >> some of the things that we've heard in terms of the importance of the social emotional learning curriculum and the work that the leadership team does to try to help those students make connections and break out of those, >> you know, clicks. I mean the same thing
would happen at high school. So what are we doing to try to help them to connections? >> Okay. >> Okay. for another day. We'll bring that back at some point. Okay. Excellent. Thank you for starting that conversation.
>> Okay. With that, we have come to the end of our regular session um meeting. I would uh ask that uh we move to return to executive session
and take >> motion made by Antella. >> Second. >> Second by William. Discussion. And all in favor say I. I. >> I. >> Those opposed? Nay. Thank you.