Okay. >> Okay. Good evening and welcome. This is the February 9th meeting of the school committee. Call the meeting to order 503. This meeting is being both audio and video recorded. I would ask that everyone please rise for the pledge of allegiance.
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, roll call. Samantha, if you'd start, please. >> Samantha Velasco, secretary.
>> Emily Blair, assistant superintendent for business. >> Yes, Rochilla. >> Smith, superintendent of schools. >> Gregory Thompson. >> Amy Denta Josev. >> Heather Brown, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. >> Okay, thank you all. We have minutes for
approval. I would take one ask that someone please move to approve. I move to approve the January 27, 2026 executive session meeting minutes. >> Motion made by Antella. >> Second by carry. Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I.
>> I. Those oppose nay. >> And abstensions. Yes. >> And one. So 301. >> Move to approve the January 27, 2026 regular session meeting. >> Motion made by Antella. Second. >> Second by car. Discussion. All in favor say I.
>> I. Those opposed, nay. Extensions. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Samantha, for those minutes. Committee and subcommittee communications. Antella, would you like? >> I don't have any right now. >> Okay. Amy, >> sure. >> Carrie Galla
>> was a success. >> Success. Was great. >> It was awesome. >> Nice event. >> Yes. Food was good. Good company. Good DJ. DJ Nino. >> Yep. Is that it? >> Oh, yes. And um I'm I can't I
>> No, because I was just gonna say I can't go. We have a meeting on Wednesday, but the um diversity steering committee um has been meeting um they're working on a um community fair which is in March 25th. >> 25th. Cool. >> At Biran from 6:00 to 8. >> We'll be sending out. We wanted to let
you know first. >> Awesome. >> Jamie, are you getting her mic Carrie? Because it's in behind her computer. You might want to slide it this way. or not. Okay. Um the only other thing I wanted to mention is we went to Cardammundi today to take a look at the office space for the temporary central
office uh usage. It looks like it's going to work. >> Okay. >> And um we have an RFP out for movers to move in April into that space. >> Okay. >> Nice. >> Where are our meetings going to be after? Uh well, according to Jamie, it's
going to be at the uh Council on Aging perhaps is what we're talking about. >> The senior center >> cuz they're set up. She's set up there. >> It might have life much easier. >> It's perfect place, Jamie. >> Well, if you can >> Careful what you say. What? >> No, you can go. The problem is if you do
the cafeteria like you're suggesting, you'll also need to be projected and I don't have like my stuff is going into storage, so I'd have to like lug it. >> It's fine. If you can find a room where you don't need to be projected as well, >> you know what I mean? Is too big. You
need to be projected. >> I got you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Work in progress to be determined. >> Thanks, Jamie. Appreciate that. >> How many meetings is it? What is it? April. >> April. >> Probably be your last April meeting, your two May meetings, and your June meetings. Yeah. >> Bye. >> Yeah, we'll figure it out. >> Yeah. >> I mean, we could do council on aging.
>> We can just be there. We don't need to be. >> We don't get to use the fancy uh town council desk, though. >> What? >> Yeah. What? >> Get the planning board time council. >> Anyway, okay. Thank you all. Good discussion. Um,
>> we have an opportunity for visitors to address the committee. Seeing none tonight, we will move right along. Presentation, superintendent report, East Law Middle Public School winter status report. Okay. Invite Dr. Sullivan
up. Uh, Brown, Dr. Sullivan and I are going to go through the winter status report and then we have um administrators from Brooklyn Park to go through their winter status report. Just two reports um
tonight. Uh unfortunately we have a lot of illness going through the district and few people out. I'll keep my my spacing because I've been coughing as well as well as most of central office.
Um anyway, with no further ado, uh just to give you a quick look at um how we're breaking down, Desi actually is getting faster with putting up um demographics each year. So this is current and you
can see um how we break down both in um areas that uh Desi creates for us in terms of accountability things like high needs English learners um low income students with disabilities that's on the
right side of the graph and then just how we break down in race and eth ethnicity. Um, and that's based on our October one reporting. This year, >> we have almost 40% in high needs. >> Remember, high needs is your students
with disabilities, your low-income students, and your English language learners together. It's one big group. >> It's it's disagregated underneath, but that's >> underneath. Right. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. But some of them are the same. High needs I believe means you have one
you have one or more you have more than one. >> So high needs would be someone whose first languages in English and their special ed or the so that's why the numbers don't add up. Does that make sense? >> Thank you. >> All right.
Um then going into our goals first one supporting the whole child. Um, I think I won't read that whole thing to you, but uh, we're concentrating on making sure simply put that as we program and support our students throughout the
grade levels that we're seeing them grow academically, socially, and emotionally. um as well. One of those areas of focus as we look at the whole child is continuing to look
at how we make sure that students come every day. Um after the pandemic, this was something this challenge uh increased exponentially not only for our district but districts across the Commonwealth and really districts
probably across the nation. Uh we're doing a I think a pretty good job in terms of how our attendance teams at each building attack um the different challenges we're seeing and uh right now our daily attendance rate at the
buildings um is pretty high and so we're excited about that. You see where we ended last year and where we are currently. So for the district we ended at 95.9 um% on a daily attendance rate and right now we're at 96.4. 4. ELHS is 96.6.
Birchland's 96.2. Um, Maple Shade 96% just about where they were at the end of the year. And Mountain View is 97.1, Metobrook at 95.9. And we'll continue to report out on that. And certainly as the schools
report, they'll speak to different things that they're doing to deal with challenges that they're seeing in terms of attendance. And one of the other things that uh we want to make sure we're looking at and we're bringing to you obviously more of
the aggregate and then the schools will break down more specifically at the school level for their specific grade levels, but just making sure that people are feeling that they're part of our school community, that we're creating atmospheres in our schools that are
welcoming and fostering for all of our students. Um, as you can see, we're just about 90% in terms of people feeling at least in grades 6 through 12, uh, that they are part of their school community. Obviously, we need to continue to break
it down and look at those who are feeling that they are not part of the school community. And that's something that uh we're starting to do and we can even though we switch platforms, we're going to be able to do that with open architects and look at what are the challenges that our people are feeling
in our in our buildings. Three through five. Uh two of the top questions in terms of how they're feeling about community is I can be myself at school just around uh around 80% and I feel welcome at school which is over or close to 92%. Um,
interestingly enough, um, as you see the school year sort of progress, um, I can be myself at school takes on, uh, somewhat of a, it starts to decline a little bit. And if you remember last year when we were
presenting, you saw things like, um, bullying and, um, different things that students said they were seeing at schools start to increase. I think it's a little bit of that as we start to break down this data that when rules and
structures are put in place, maybe they're feeling like they have less freedom and so it's starting to wayne. But we'll dig further into the data in terms of whether they feel like they can just be who they are or are do we need to define that differently in terms of
how we ask the question? Switch gears as we move to teaching and learning. I think Miss Brown's going to pick up, but this gives you an idea of it's a lot of different targets, but basically we continue to use um
I Ready in grades K through 8 um to take a look and see where our students are at least three different times a year um and then at the high school level over the last couple years. And then what we try to do is really target how do we
continue to move forward with all of our students and put realistic uh goals in each of these areas. >> So before I talk about this slide um this is uh third through 8th grade I ready reading
2 uses dibbles. Now, it really gives us a lot better idea of those foundational skills and where there might be breakdown um and and it's been much um better for instructional planning. They're still in the middle of that assessment window. So, you'll see that
when Metabrook presents um same with the high school, you'll see that when the high school presents. So, right now it's really for reading um 3 to 8. And when I show you math, it's first grade through 8th grade. Um,
if you go back to the targets, I just want to quickly for folks who weren't here last year, the typical growth versus stretch growth. So, these are actually um determined they're specific to kids. So, the typical growth growth is what kids who placed at that
particular baseline score at the beginning of the year usually grow based on trends. Um the stretch growth is what a kid needs to be able to grow or what they need to grow in order to reach
proficiency. So those uh tend to be much more ambitious for kids who are further behind academically. And then there is stretch growth for kids who are at grade level. Those are ambitious in the sense that they can ex you know ex exceed the
grade level work or at least maintain that grade level work. Um so these are all kind of connected to the path to proficiency. Can you Yeah, thank you. So this this chart actually shows you uh their median percentage to typical
growth achieved and the performance relative to the national norm. So it's a little tricky because in the winter they look at 50% or more of the kids and at the end it's 100%. Um so you can see that everyone's placing in reading and
high performance, high growth which is great. Uh, Maple Shade went up to 110 uh, progress and I'll explain that in a minute versus 70 last year. The other two are about where they were, which and this is all wonderful, right? Um, so 110
means that the kids are actually uh 50% or of the kids are exceeding their typical growth goal, if that makes sense. It also means 50% of kids are not and you'll see that breakdown in a minute. But um the what this is showing
you is that we're in in great shape in terms of reading. I'm not sure if I explained that well. So before we move on, do people have questions about that? All right, next one. Thank you. Keep going because we talked about that. Okay, so this is the the growth based on
each grade level. Um, and so the the first two columns after the grade level are typical growth. And so that percentage met are the percentage of kids who have already met their typical growth goal. Um, so we're in great shape because we're trying to get to 70%. You
want to see around 50% at this time of year and you can see we're very close to that or exceeded that. stretch growth we have 35% which is pretty ambitious because I already says about 20 to 30% of kids reach that stretch growth
however there are super stretch growth schools which are have reached up to 55% so we've made that ambitious because obviously we want to close those gaps um and being close to 35% um these are are are well on their way
um especially at those uh earlier grades um And you know the last three years we've shifted a lot of things. We have um tightened up our system systematic explicit instruction and foundational skills. We've um beefed up our language
acquisition in terms of all the things that lead to comprehension. Um and it's not new anymore. The teachers are really making the curriculum their own. And so I think we're really seeing that progress go um with the instruction that the kids are getting from their teachers.
questions about this? All right. And this is compared to um the national norm and Massachusetts. So we have for example 29% of our kids
uh grades 3 to eight are mid or above grade level. At the state level uh 27% nationally 23. So we're edging out nationally and Massachusetts. Um, obviously we want to see all of the
green at the end of the year and we're doing all we can to to close those gaps. Um, but it is nice to see that we are already ahead of the state and nationally. Um, this is the math performance and growth by school. Um, even though it's
50% is still uh where you want to be, the reason why the graph is off is because it goes all the way up to 130. Um, so now we're including first grade and second grade taking that um, I Ready. So, Meterbrook's up there. We're
all in in that um, quad quad >> quadrant. >> Quadrant. Thank you. I was trying to think of the other one, but anyway. Uh, a little bit closer to the Yes. Um, and so these are similar to what we have had in
the past. Um and you will see the breakdown more in the next slide. >> Oh, sorry. >> Um so these numbers are not as strong. Um you can see that they are not as
close to the 50%. Um we have not done a root cause analysis to figure out what that is. We have been using illustrative math for the past few years now. Um my guess with that really low score at grade three is that we are still um
struggling with math fluency um in terms of those facts. Uh one of the things that we're noticing with reading is also that time for application and fluency for kids. So their accuracy is getting better but the automaticity we still need to work on. Uh, one of the things
that Illustrative Math does is create they have something they call centers where really are just games for kids to play to build their fluency. We made a concerted effort last year to make sure these were happening across the district. The coaches got together and really um made it more user friendly,
not completely user friendly because it is a lot of moving parts. Um, and so one of the things we're looking for when we go into Luster Math box is to see if those centers are happening. um because I really think that's going to help with the um fluency increasing. But again, we
haven't done a root cause analysis, so I uh cannot tell you definitively why these numbers aren't as great as reading. But if you go to the next slide, oh, sorry, we're still ahead of the game in terms of the national benchmarks. >> Can I ask a quick question? That third
grade number was la was last year a difficult year for >> it wasn't that low. third. >> Is that a trend we're seeing in that grade? >> Well, that's why I was guessing the fluency. Um because, you know, if they're coming to third grade, just like with reading, and they're not completely fluent, it's harder. So, if you're
coming Yeah, exactly. >> Um and they're also in the middle of not that this measures them where they're at. It's computer adaptive, so it's not necessarily asking them what they're working on. Um but I know this particular unit in third grade is is pretty intense, too. Um, so yeah, I
think we're going to see that dip, but I'm not exactly sure why it dips so low in third grade. Um, >> how about seventh? >> Seventh, you'll hear more about inland. They always dip in the middle of the year and then they come racing back up to the top at the end. So, I it might
have something more to do with middle schoolers. Um, we'll see. from those third graders. Do you know um what their scores were in grade two last year? I'm sure you don't, but >> I don't have it off the top of my head,
but I can certainly look and see. >> I would just be curious to see how those same group of students did the year before if they did have similar growth or if there was a trend or >> Well, the trend now and I'm don't want to speak ahead. Go ahead. I was just going to say the teachers will have
access to that so they can look back and see how their current students did last year. >> Um, and then they can start to look at trends and see, okay, >> more specifically, what do we need to possibly retach this year and uh continue to support and move these
students forward. But yes, they do have access to that. Um we did move um platforms but um open architects does have this information so that they can access it >> and I yeah I can look at our growth for last year too.
>> What I do with the principles at this time of year is we do break it down classroom by classroom and we look and so if it's a trend across all of the classrooms it's probably a curricular issue. if it's not, it's more instructional. And so we drill down at that level and then come up with some u
plans with, you know, as a leadership team of like what are some of the things we're going to do. >> So you had that meeting already or >> so I did with uh Metobrook and uh one of the things that they noticed is well I don't want to talk for them but it was
much lower. I'm wondering if the proctoring is the same in terms of making sure the kids are really seeing the seriousness of it and we're really um so um again I feel bad stealing Rene's thunder, but one class they're
going to actually retest and change the proctoring just to see if maybe that's what's going on. Um because it was a significant dip. Okay. Um, so >> with third grade too, I mean, I'm wondering if it is more of a curricular thing because you would think if it was like a comprehension issue, you would
see the same >> um issue happening in their language arts assessments and and that's where I'm guessing at that fluency. And so there is a part to the curriculum that is built in. Uh, first and second grade,
those centers are part of what you do. Third grade, it's extra. And so we've really been trying to figure out how do we make time for it because we're it's you know and then with with some of the other demands of you know the personalized learning we did prioritized the centers over the personalized
learning um to get that fluency work in but we're still figuring out like right now uh Mountain View is using a lot I ready for their math personalized learning and Maple Shades using ST math. So it's also I want to look at the end of the year in terms of like if I can
because you can't take all the variables out but which is more powerful person personalized instruction you know >> is there a reason that the two elementary schools are using two different personalized learning software. So we uh have used SDMath for
years um and the Mountain View teachers uh have asked if they could possibly use I Ready and so finally I said fine let's look at it and we can compare across the schools this year. >> So is the idea that a decision is going
to be made to bring everybody back to the same program >> platform? Yeah. >> Yes. >> Got it. gave them gave them the opportunity to take to look at both and see where we end up at the end of the year >> because if you don't have the teacher
buy in with the personalized learning it's not going to be utilized as much. >> What are you thinking right now in terms of which one's more >> I have not dug into that data to that because the other thing is usage. So I have to then look and see you know I can't compare if it's not being used. I
think there's a lot of advantages to I Ready because it is directly connected to the diagnostic and so then it it will um automatically give kids things that they need to work on. STMath is a big more of
a step. You actually have to assign those objectives that you might want kids to work on. I mean there's a journey but um I know uh one particular class uh a fifth grade math class that used FTM math very
successfully um by assigning those objectives uh at Maple Shade and I'm not saying other people um didn't but I know one that really was successful and the growth was out of this world last year. >> Maple Shade's really connected to St. Math, right? They they really like it.
Yeah, they they they started with it >> and then um when the grant came up again uh we got Mountain View involved. Um but yeah, I think that initial interest at Maple Shade was more homegrown. >> Thank you. Thanks.
And despite uh you know what I was showing you in terms of reaching those growth in terms of performance and benchmarks we are still ahead of the curve in terms of uh the state and national. So, you know, you look at all these
different data points, you look at different things, and we're always trying to push and make sure all kids are getting what they need. And but we also have to remember that uh we really are putting everything all of our best trying all these different things to make sure kids are getting what they
need. And the teachers are working really hard and we have the curriculum in place and we're working with principles. Principles are working together to uh do learning walks and really see where there's places where we can support. But this shows um that you know we are we're not in any kind of
alarming state um compared to the state and the national norms. >> Yeah, it seems like they need to recalibrate the norms though. I don't I just don't understand how they have you know it's expected that 60% would be at least one grade level below. Not that it's expected but it is what it is.
>> Yeah. I don't think that's the expectation. I think it's the reality, right? And so we don't want that. That's why we set our goals higher because we don't want to be sending kids to the next grade without the skills and content that they need to be successful >> in in the yellow. They're also approaching grade level which is sort of
where midyear you hope that they're starting to swing into the green. >> But yeah, you know, you have a good point that you look at the national in the Massachusetts and there's a significant working yellow and and green, right? >> Excuse me, yellow and red. Yeah.
Um, and then moving into uh inclusive and supportive culture and and how not only do we do things to support all of our students, but how we continue to um get feedback on how we're doing with
those efforts. Um, I think one of the questions earlier in the uh one of our earlier meetings was um more information on special education programming. Um, and so Dr. Sullivan is going to walk us through some of that. I don't know if it's the next slide or whether I'm up on
the next slide. Nope. >> Thank you. Um so on Gordon's first slide, you saw that um we're at this year 21.7% of our student population are students with disabilities. That works out to be a little over 500 students. Um and currently the state average is 21.1.
So we're slightly over, but when you do the math it only ends up being about 14 kids. So we're pretty close to the state average for number of students with disabilities. Um and this is how they're um receiving their education. So 6.9% of
that 21.7% are receiving uh most of their supports and services in the general education classroom. Um we are at over the state target which for this year was 65.49. So that's great. We have 12.4% 4%
of our students with disabilities who um are partial inclusion and that means that they receive probably some supports in some of our pro special ed programs but we do try to include them to the extent possible. Um so they are generally outside inside the general ed classroom for 40 to 79% of their day. We
have 14.1% of our student population of students with disabilities that get their education primarily in a substantially separate um program. And so they are inside the general ed classroom less than 40% of the day. But again, still trying to include them to the extent possible. And we have 6.6% of
our students who we are not able to meet their needs within the district and so they're placed outside in separate schools, residential facilities or their homebound in hospital placements. were slightly elevated from the state target this year which was 6.44%. Um I think currently we have 34 students
who are placed out of district. So if you could advance to the next slide please. So what are the programs that we have available here in East Lo public schools? So all of our schools obviously have inclusion. Um in addition to the the inclusion we have some programs um
that vary depending on the school. So, every school currently has um some version of a learning center, which is a substantially separate program that provides instruction for students that struggle academically. They're significantly below grade level with their academics. Um we do also in um not
all the schools and for the schools because uh Mountain View has the program, but Maple Shade does not, we have applied behavior analysis classrooms. Those are primarily um substantially separate classrooms for students with autism spectrum disorders who require um some uh ABA or discrete
trial instruction methodology to help them successfully um learn and access the curriculum. We currently have a social emotional learning program at Metobrook and at the high school. This is a partial inclusion program, meaning they do spend a good deal of their day
in the classroom, but they do come out um to get some specialized instruction in social emotional regulation and social skills and things of that nature. Um the program at Metobrook is new this year that was in response to um an increase in the amount of dysregulation
that was seen in that um prek to 2 population. Uh we run that as we're calling it sort of a bridge program. So, we have um the ability to push the kids in when they're able, but we also still have a staffed classroom where if the kids having a bad day and is not handling it, we have a space where we
can continue to educate them and they don't miss any any time. Um and then finally, we have a a life skills program at both Birchland Park and at the high school. And that is a substantially separate uh program designed for students with dis intellectual and
neurological disabilities. And their curriculum is modified. They do uh access entry points and access skills to the grade level curriculum, but we also try to give them functional curriculum so that they can be uh become independent adults when they leave us. You will
notice that um there isn't a a vertical alignment across the grades. And so that is something that I will be working on. I'm um developing or beginning a partnership this spring with Dr. Alex Hersburg. He's a clinical psychologist that is going to come in and do an audit
at each of the schools to look at what are the strategies that we're utilizing specifically around that social emotional programming and how we're addressing the needs of those students because we are noticing over the last 5 years it's a trend not just in this district but across the state of there
being you know more student behaviors. I think all of us hoped it was because of co but I think it's it's more than that. I mean part of that was but there were it's just some some general generational changes that we've seen. Um kids not are not coming to school uh as prepared to
do school. We we learned a new word studentship and so those those things need to be explicitly taught and are we doing a good job of that. So Dr. Hersburg will help us um kind of diagnose where we're at with that and then we will come up with a three to five year plan for professional
development to increase the capacity of our staff to meet a wider range of student needs. I think I'm getting ahead of myself. Why don't you jump to the next slide? >> All right. >> Wait, I have a question though about the social emotional learning. I know that you had said that we're trying to put it in all of the schools.
>> You're doing this study over the summer. >> Yeah. Yeah. And just like how are we supporting students with those with those challenges? And is it current, you know, up to current best practice? And do we have those programs or the capacity to to have those programs exist
as student needs arise um as they move through the schools? >> Do we have anything in place right now like at Mountain View or Maple Shade or Birchland for those social emotional students? Cuz I know that there's you have it at Metobrook. So once they leave
>> Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So that's what we'll be looking at. And um and of course like that's that we have a little cohort of students that will be moving up and we we do need to address those needs, but right now we're trying to sort of um rather than having a dedicated program that has the right
programming, the right staffing. We're using school adjustment counselors, uh special education teachers, regular education teachers, doing the best we can. But what's happening is so of those 35 students that are currently out of district about half of them are probably due to behaviors autism spectrum
disorder and you know sometimes those behaviors can be very challenging and that is appropriate but the other half are students with um um in with uh like mental health issues and you know I'm my hope is if that we can develop some stronger programming um throughout
throughout the schools that we can maybe bring some of those students back into our school community which is of course best for everybody. So >> is part of that work I work with um somebody who works with the Birch Center and I know they've gone to some of the schools and done some assessments but part of the work is like you know we see
more um FBAs and some of those requests are coming because we want to give more tools to the classroom instruct instructure instructors so they can sort of like mitigate things a little bit better and more universal design. And so is that sort of what we're hoping is going to come out of this assessment too
to kind of give on the ground staff more tools to assist those students in keeping them in the classroom. >> Absolutely. Yeah, that'll be part of the professional development plan so that we are educating and actually in our last PD day, everyone in the district watched um an hourlong webinar that um Dr. Hersburg had prepared for the
Massachusetts Partnership for Youth around like understanding behavior as communication and understanding that you know we don't need to jump right to an FBA. There are things we can do now to support the students. And so I think the plan, I'm hoping the plan will give us some ideas of what we can do to number
one build capacity to keep the kids in the classrooms, but in the event that there's a student that really is needs more than that, that we can develop our programming so that as those needs arise, we can meet them in the district rather than having to rely on an expensive out of district placement because 34 students doesn't sound a lot,
but last year that um added up to $5 million. >> So between transportation and the tuition. So obviously that's, you know, I've been here just a little over a year and one of the things I was tasked with coming on board was trying to figure out ways that we could be more um more
responsible about how we're spending our special ed money. I mean, we can't control it completely because we're bound by laws to provide what the students need and we're not allowed to consider cost or budgets when we're making those decisions. But there certainly are some things that we can be thinking about doing. one is like I said
developing some programmatic things that make sense to do here so we can keep more students in district. Um I think that starts with professional development for the for the staff or general ed and special ed teachers because >> um you know we don't I my old special ed director used to say if you build it
they will come. It's like a lot of times what will happen is when you build these programs they sort of become um you know a dumping ground uh because you know they want all the kids that are are challenging to to move into those programs but obviously you can't have all challenging behaviors uh removed
from the classroom. So we definitely want to start with building the capacity of the teachers to to know how to respond in a way that is productive because as we know sometimes we can inadvertently reinforce negative behaviors if we don't truly understand why they're happening and what the purpose of the behaviors are. So being
able to help build our staff's capacity to diagnose some of that themselves and and have some strategies in their classroom I think will be helpful. And the professional development is becoming more targeted and more specific. Um because we actually have done professional development over the last
probably three or four years on universal design for learning >> and the regul >> um and the regulated classroom for all schools. But now we're becoming even more specific in terms of how all educators are responsible for
implementing if it's an IEP. We all have a part to play on that team. And there's no one who sort of escapes that responsibility. Not the people who necessarily were looking to escape, but we're going to go on the uh idea that maybe we just have to do a better job of
making sure that we're showing the connection. As a regular educator, here's how you connect to that team and what you're responsible for. As a special educator, here's how you connect to that team. As a pair professional, as an administrator, um and uh Dr. Sullivan
and I uh on the professional development day and then following up on um the uh most recent um faculty meeting um were at Metobrook going through a lot of these things uh with the staff and they're good questions and so it's like
anything else you know you have to teach it and then review it and then look at how they're going to practice it and then review it again and keep going so that people are understanding this is not something as educate ators sometimes like to believe that um well
it will go is this the newest fad. It's not going anywhere. This is you know we have to realize that all of our students are presenting different needs than we've seen in the past and so we need to build different skills and continue to
grow as educators. So that's been more of targeted message that we're delivering. Uh and so special education has become somewhat of a throughine on all our professional development. um days uh for all schools and we'll continue to build that. >> Yeah. And I think that
>> excited about Dr. >> Yeah. very excited and I think that as we grow staff capacity, we'll also have to rely less on outside contract services, which is another area that I've been asked to look at. Um and again, it's just being able to handle these things internally rather than
having to count on external people to help. So, >> uh Jenny, just a basic question. And is it the 504 and or an IEP that creates the designation of a student with disabilities for a student? >> That's a great question. So in the 21.7% that's only students on IEPs. It does
not include students with disabilities. I mean 504s. It doesn't that that particular number does not include students on 504s. >> But all IEPs aren't uh designated students with disabilities or are they? >> Yes. All IEPs are. >> So it's the IEP that creates the design.
Okay. Thank you. Yep. And that how that impacts like our chapter 70 funding. They consider how many kids we have um with disabilities. Um and then also, you know, we get the idea grant. That's how they it's a formula grant. So that's how that's sort of funded through here.
>> Okay. >> I'm done with this one. Gordon, I think I'm done. Has any more questions? We kind of jumped ahead. So So just some of our goals for the upcoming school year and beyond. I've already kind of talked about it. the vertical alignment, building capacity, developing indust in district programming to bring students
back to the community, and promoting independence and reducing reliance on contract services through a more efficient use of special ed staff. So, those are those are the goals I'll be working on over the next few years. >> If you remember, this is our second year of educational team leaders. And so
that's actually been a huge help because for the first time we're seeing um a smaller group of people writing the IEPs and so they have uh the ability to speak to how services are being delivered um
in all of our buildings and Dr. Sullivan gets to meet with our ETLs and our facilitators um once a week, right? >> I Yeah, once a week. I think this year we've been doing every other week, but I'm in contact with them all the time. And it just gives me more control over, not control, but being able to say,
well, you know, when these things come up, here's how I want you to bring this before the team. Can we ask these questions? Making sure that we're being efficient with how we are utilizing our our ancillary service providers such as OTP speech, our pair professionals, making sure that we're representing what
the student truly needs. >> I just have one last question. How um how do we work you know, with within the collaborative to sort of share, you know, we have, you know, high need students that have unique needs. Is that something that you're also looking at in this plan in terms of how we can maybe
work better to share expenses to keep >> Yeah, it's the collabor the lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative. Is that what you're referring to? Oh yeah, but I and I've mentioned this to you before like when I went to the um association school meetings conference, there seems to be other districts other areas that are really using their collaboratives in a
more focused way to kind of share expenses, share programs like you know Yeah. So >> yeah, currently they the LPVC has some special ed programming um options available to us that are much more
reduced expense. So they have um the IAP program which is uh I think for students that with um that are struggling with academics and they also can attend the shops. They have the twain program that's for their students uh with social emotional um disabilities. They have a
compass program that goes that is located in satellite schools that's goes I think from K to 12 in different areas. That's for students with autism spectrum disorder. And we certainly do have students in those programs. The challenge is that um you know they've
they fill up. There's not spots and there aren't as many placement options in western Massachusetts as there are in the eastern part of the state. So a lot of times we're looking at schools that are across the border in Connecticut or they're unapproved schools so they don't have to follow the state set rates. And
so it becomes tricky finding placement specifically for sticking within the collaborative. Um but the H sorry uh the collaborative what are they calling it we used to be heck but it's something else now collaborative for educational services in Northampton also has some programming we're not a part of we're
not a member of that district of that collaborative but we do have students in some of their programs as well but I'd be interested in learning more about that >> so with the I'm sorry >> no I was just going to say the member districts have a um a lower uh tuition rate that's the non-member districts and
so it's it's a balance um we've talked about in the collaborative during uh budget meetings that um there are other districts, non-member districts that have students in some of those programs. I think we have three or four students over at the collaborative um and they
only have x number of spots and if they don't allow those other non-member districts that's going to raise our price because it lowers ours if that makes sense. It's an offset. I just thought >> they have to fill to the uh capacity so that um they can keep running their
programs. But the to the original question that you asked as needs arise such as the Twain program was predominantly a high school program probably 10 years ago and it's because the needs of um social emotional
programming have become um such in such high demand that the superintendent who who meet uh with the collaborative um monthly and business managers meet monthly and student support services or special ed directors meet monthly. They were hearing it more
and more from all those groups um that hey, we need a program here because we can't get into these other programs or they're too expensive. Um and they have now gone down I don't know if they're down to kindergarten yet. Um but they are at least to the elementary grades.
>> Oh yeah. I I I have a I just referred a first grader there a few weeks ago. So they definitely and that was not an option just a few years ago. >> Right. And so that's how new programming starts. >> The challenge is which Dr. Sullivan hit is that it was filled like that.
>> And so all of a sudden if you weren't ready to move, you don't have that option anymore. And now you're back into the queue of okay, where are we going to place this child? >> Right. >> So, so the more we can promote and build our own capacity, the better off we are.
>> Any final thoughts? >> I'm all set. Thank you. >> All set. Okay. Um and then looking at uh sort of some of our survey questions as you know we want to make sure that we're thinking about how are we being inclusive and supportive. Um we want to make sure
students have someone whom they can go. Um and so as 6 through 12 that question is asked you have a teacher or other adult school that you can count on to help you. Uh close to 92% indicated that they do. Obviously, you
want to break down um that 8.4%. Where is the disconnect there? And then um my school is inclusive of all backgrounds and identities. You can see um pretty strong agree and strongly agree, but again, it's breaking down
where we're seeing disconnects. So, as we go through that data, we'll start working on that with our counselors and our administrators 3 through five. um questions are a little bit different, but I have at least one adult at school I can talk to. 87.7%
there. And then I feel comfortable asking my teachers questions. 85.3. Um so again, as we break this down, figure out how we can continue to increase that and get into the 90s, 90%
um and higher. Final questions. That's our last slide. Thanks for coming. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. S. >> Uh, yeah, we can switch right into it. Thanks.
>> We have our two administrators, Mr. Pearson and M. Junga Andrew, um, from Brooklyn Park, and they will cycle or winter faz report for birin. Let me get you into the full slideshow. There you go. All right. Good evening.
So, we'll try and give you a little bit of a look at what some of the stuff district just presented looks like at the school level. Won't be quite as comprehensive, but uh I think we have some information to share with you and we're pretty proud of the progress we've been making so far. So, if we can go to the first slide, Gordon, we'll look at um some of us
supporting the whole child through attendance. >> Okay. Um, so just like Superintendent Smith alluded to earlier, we are very happy that our attendance rates are above the dusty target. We're at 96 or 96.2 just about um at this moment, a
little bit lower than where we were in the fall. Um, but we are still seeing a lot of students wanting to come to school and um enjoying, you know, school while they're there. And a lot of the things that we're doing are focusing on really making sure that they feel
supported and finding a place where they can become their be themselves. We find that in the clubs that we offer. So we're really really proud of all the club um after school offerings such as intramurals and ASL club, drama club, um math counts,
um robotics, jazz, you know, just to name a few. We have a lot of different offerings with our clubs. And we noticed that our highest attendance days actually are on Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you take a look at the graphic in the upper right corner, that's where we offer the most clubs on
those days. Um, but for in general, um, >> do you know how many students are in at least one club? >> I mean, I don't have that here, but yeah, I have a spreadsheet with everybody who's signed up for a club. Most of our kids do sign up for something. A lot of them sign up for more than they can handle than they have
to some of them. Yeah, they meet on the same day. >> Yeah, but a lot of our kids do stay or involved in clubs. >> We're always encouraging students to, you know, take a look at the offerings that we have, try them out. If you don't like it, try something else out. Um, and
if you have ideas for a club, let us know as well. We're always open to starting something new as long as we have someone who can staff it. Um, >> we'd rather have them at the school than at the center. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, in terms of
our absences, we still obviously have some, but most of them, if you take a look at the bottom graphic, the bottom right, most of them are excused. You know, we have parents calling in for various reasons, kids are sick and things like that, um, or having other
medical, you know, um, excuses for their absences. And we're trying to do as best as we can to also keep our suspension rate down. If you scroll down to the bottom, our out of school suspension rate is very, very low. We're trying to utilize other methods to really keep
students in school, but still hold them accountable, teach them about behaviors and different choices and things like that. So, we're using external suspensions as a an absolute last resort. And students are responding very well to that, some of the things that we're doing in school. Um, also on
Thursdays, we have our long advisories. students really really seem to like that and benefit from the fact that they're in a small group setting with one trusted adult. Every single adult in our building has an adviser, including Mr. Pearson and myself. Um, and you know,
about six or seven kids, maybe up to about 10 at the most, but we try to keep it very, very small. And this is where we're building relationships. We're talking about nonacademic things for the most part. Things that will help them be better students academically, but also talking about, you know, their social lives and, you know, what makes them
good adult, good young people. Um, how to be better peers with to one another. And we also play lots of games. And so, it's just a really nice fun space every single Thursday. Um, again, so you could see that those that Wednesday, those Thursdays, that's where we find the most
um our greatest attendance. But we're still doing very well and we're sending out letters, you know, as we always do for those students who are struggling and really trying to engage their families and making sure that we can support them as we need. And we use um Maggie um their attendance coordinator.
We definitely use her to help us with some of the more challenging students that we have. Um and so she comes and meets with our student support team as much as she can. Usually at least once a month maybe I would say. Um so that's been pretty very very helpful.
Um, okay. Next want to turn the page. Well, does anyone have any questions about that? Okay. So, now we're going to jump into teaching and learning. >> Those advisory groups a random selection of students just >> um sort of some of them are not. The band kids are and strings kids are
obviously with their teacher. The um special education students are with their liaison. And then we handp pick a few. We like to get a nice cross-section of kids including some kids that maybe have a disciplinary record so we can get to know them in a different light and build that relationship with them. But um otherwise it is random. Yeah.
>> Yeah. By grade level. >> Grade. By grade level. Yeah. >> Is there ever like a set curriculum that you guys are doing or a set? >> We have um Yeah. Our SEAL programming comes from me and I base it largely on our climate data and trends that I'm
seeing in the school. >> So I I'll look for anal competency that we need to address, see what's going on, look at our data, and then I I create the lessons around. So, we just did one on uh self-awareness and your role in the team with the Super Bowl theme was the last one we did. >> Um but yeah, I try and make them uh
topical and timely with what's going on in the school. >> We talked about like teamwork and >> yeah, what's your role? >> What's your role? Treating others fairly, social media, all those types of topics. But then in every other Thursday, then that teacher gets to set up their own community based lessons,
>> you know, that they that they choose. >> Do you have an assessment around that? >> No, I mean the only data we get is from the school climate surveys. We we rely on that and we do some of our own informal surveys like we've done some for um uh through our diversity club. We
try and talk to students of color, get like their impact and how they feel there. You'll see some of that in our data Natalie's going to speak to a minute. We have affinity groups, mentoring groups. Uh we talk to our student council, try to get an idea of where kids are feeling and then we we bring that data back. We talk about it and see what we want to do about what
the trends are. Okay. >> Okay. >> All right. So, uh this is you saw earlier the the goals that we we set for ourselves around teaching and learning this year. Uh you can see what our goals were last year and our results and then what they are this year. So when we go
into the next slide and don't worry, you don't have to memorize those numbers. They will be back on here. Um see how we did. Uh so this is our our reading performance the fall versus the winter. And you know the picture kind of tells the story here. We are reducing the red while increasing the green which is
definitely the aim. Uh we want to have that red as minuscule as possible by the end of the year and have a big healthy green section. Um and you can see for all three grades we are falling in the high performance high growth quadrant. So we're we're pleased with that. Um all
right Gordon actually we can go to the next slide here. And what we're really happy with here if you if you look at our numbers and there's again our our our goals at the top. Told you you didn't have to memorize them. We're looking for 68% typical growth, 35% stretch. Now, we took this diagnostic in early December. So, this was not even
quite the halfway point of the year. We're on track to make those goals. You know, halfway point, you know, 43% for grade six have already made it that far. 48% for grade 7 and 49% for grade 8. And you see our stretch growth. We look like
we're on pace to to make our stretch growth, which is an ambitious growth goal as well. So, what really makes this something we're proud of is that we are in year one of a new curriculum that usually comes with some growing pains. We're working through those trying to support our ELA teachers. We have a
fantastic literature done an amazing job of that and I think the results, you know, show right here. So, we're right on track with where we want to. You know, we still have some gaps in there that we need to address, you know, between the halves and the have nots. That's what we're uh working on trying
to use our data to find our kids, get them into the intervention programs either through our, you know, extended enrichment with their reading teachers or into our tiered reading program. And, you know, we look at that quarterly, move kids in, move kids out as necessary.
All right. And um Mr. Brown kind of alluded to this already. This is our our performance against the national norms in the state um for grades six, seven, and eight. and uh she already kind of spoke to this, but yeah, we are outperforming, you know, national and
the state norm. We want to of course uh see those numbers improve more, but even with our our new curriculum, we're we're doing better than a lot of folks are across the country and across the state. We want to keep that trend going, right? Okay, here we are for for math. Um
again, a lot of the the same. You'll see the the red is shrinking and the green is growing. And um we have our high performance, high growth. Now, our seventh grade numbers, which we talked about, this has been a three-year trend where they're performing high, but their growth isn't as high as the other
grades, but in every year, they always end up as our top performing group as well. Our seventh grade math teachers, I would take them over any math teachers in the state. They are amazing, and they are very much into the data driven instruction where they are looking at trends. They're looking at which
questions come up on MCCAST. How do we perform against the state? And they try to set up their curriculum and I believe is why we see this dip to prepare for the MCCAST, which the topics that are going to be the biggest ones that are going to come up and that we have the big struggle with being closer to the MCCAST. So, they're not hitting some of
those algebraic and geometry standards as much um as they will later in the year. And you're going to see that when we do our our final presentation in June, that their number is probably going to be way up there, if not the highest. I think it's the way that they structure their year, but every year this trend has played out where they have that dip in the winter and then
they're our highest performing group by the end. I mean MCCAST last year their growth numbers were in the 70s which is you know more than a year's growth. So I have a lot of faith in them. I'm confident that they're going to continue the trend and that it's really based on how they plan looking at the data that
they have. Okay. And again um you know we're less than halfway through the year. We took this and we look like we're pretty much on target, you know, with that one seventh grade aberration to reach our our goal for the year. Last year, they smashed it. Um, so they're doing a great
job. I want to continue to support them. We are trying to get them to work to do the IM with more fidelity. They have very strong opinions. They like the approach about flipping the classroom a little bit, but they still have opinions about the order of things and mixing it
up to try and uh meet the needs that they see in the classroom. So, we're really pushing for them to try and just let's go with the units in the order that they are. And um you know, they're also very aware of their great numbers last year and if it's not broken, why are we trying to fix it? But it's a good ongoing conversation and uh I I think
we've seen a lot of growth particularly in our eighth grade. Our seventh grade is going to round into form. This is our first year of having an accelerated group in sixth grade. So, I think we'll see that nice translation when that group moves up into seventh grade next year. They'll be ready to dive right in. But we are pretty much on track you know
making good progress towards our goal there. Okay. And again the comparison nationally and against the state uh always want to see less red and yellow but we are you know uh comparing favorably to the state and the nation
when we look at that data. >> Okay. All right. So for our inclusive and supportive culture and climate goal, um we have taken the faculty action steps to really make sure that our students feel they're part of our community, that their voices are heard.
And so one of the things that we're doing is some mentoring. Um these are some things that we've started a couple years ago and we're continuing because we found a very much success with those things. So for um one of the first things we're do we're doing is having a Maple Shade Elementary and Birkham Park
kind of mentoring collaboration. Um Connor Martin at Mapleshade has reached out to his families and he's identified some students who he feels would benefit from some mentoring um for whatever reason and their parents have agreed.
And so what we've done at the at the Birchland is identified about six students who are in the eighth grade who we feel have some innate leadership abilities and we want to strengthen them and give them some real hands-on opportunities to to just, you know, put
their abilities into practice, especially as they prepare to go to high school. And so, um, we've have 20 kids signed up right now, but we are doing it in two different sessions, 10 students at a time. Um and we've we're we're collaborating with um Miss Shandria
McCoy, coordinator of METCO belonging. I don't remember the whole title, >> family engagement, family engagement, >> student belonging, all the things. And she's amazing. Um and so we have so much excitement around this. >> We meet every other week at this time
and we will do this throughout the remainder of the school year and then have a big celebration at the end. And right now like we have sixth graders um and seventh graders who remember their time and they're like can I be a part of it again? And it's just it's just really really nice especially when those kids
come up from Maple Shade. They're familiar with their school. They're comfortable. They're more acclimated and they're and calm and relaxed and just feel they already feel supported coming in. >> Is that after school? They had do >> this is during school. >> They come up they have lunch with us. They're very excited about that and then
they go into a Romanate and some some lessons engagement activities >> lessons conversations. >> There's a craving from it for for the older students. We our student reps just the other day mentioned that they wish more opportunities even though they had taken advantage of those that are available um but the mentoring from the
older students to the level to the younger ones. Yeah, that's great. Um we also are um collaborating with the academic leadership association again and we have um a group of students that are working with Mr. Valenci Tullik and
his mentors and so that's going very well. We're really happy to see that continue. Again, McCoy is also in support of that and so um >> yeah, >> she's been great. >> She's been great. So we really do appreciate that and I'm sure and our students do as well as their parents.
Um, and then we also check in with our new students. New students to the district. So, we want to make sure that, you know, especially kids come in different, you know, grade levels or midyear and they can feel lost. So, we don't want that. So, we check in with the counselors, um, Mrs. McCoy, work
with myself. We also meet with them, have like um some conversations, some games, have some snacks, things like that several times throughout the year just to make sure that they can share how they're feeling, what are they struggling with, do they need any help, you know, how how are they enjoying
their experience thus far and how can we how can we make it better for them? Then we have our student council and diversity club. Um this one is easier said than done, but Mr. Pearson and I try to are trying to make sure that we tap into those clubs so that we can
really allow them the opportunity to share their feelings directly with us. So, you know, and it can impact how we direct the school um using their feedback and that's really important for students and also for us. And then finally, we have given taken the surveys
um the winter surveys and then of course Mr. the person will talk about the engagement surveys just to really get that direct student voice to hear what what's happening from your perspective and what do you like what do you not like what can we do to in um make things better. So if you turn to the next slide
um pretty much superintendent Smith shared these slides as a whole and our slides mimic them very closely. Um, we work really, really hard at this to make sure that students feel supported and included. The first one, do you have a
teacher or other adult from school that you can count on to help you? And overwhelmingly about 92.8% of our students said yes. So again, we're going to figure out what's going on with that other 7%. You know, how can we support you? You know, what are we missing? Um
and then again 90 over collectively 90.9 91% students either strongly agree or agree that they feel that we they are a part of a community in our school. So there's something for everyone. Everyone's finding something that they can say I'm
a part of this. I do this. I've joined this you know and they feel good about that. >> Are the surveys enough? >> The surveys? >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So you don't know who's in the set? There are comments. Yeah, there are ways. There's there are ways, but I
wasn't sure. >> They can write comments. Yes. So, we know some of the ways they want to feel more supported are we let them have unlimited cell phone use and all that stuff. >> Yes. Suggestions >> and they can be themselves. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um and I just wanted to say like I said we work really really hard on this particularly in the
relationships that we have developed and in the class at the classroom level with our counselors our adjustment counselor our guidance counselors even with our at me and Mr. Pearson as administrators we really have try to find that balance you know yes we have to hold students
accountable for different things but also show them lots of love and support and talk to them just like our own children um and so students feel very comfortable come talking to us um very comfortable you know they don't feel like oh I can't talk you know they see us every day in the cafeteria doing
lunch duty things like that they share us you know share you know how they're work how they're doing in a particular class or what they got on a project, things like that. So, it's always just nice to to see that. And then, of course, like we talked about the clubs and just really being proactive with our discipline measure is not always so
punitive at the at the tail end of things. Um, if you can turn the slide. There we go. Um, my school is inclusive of all backgrounds and identities. Again, 92.4% in total strongly agree or agree that yes, they feel that our school is very
very inclusive. again. And for those that small group of students who disagree or strongly disagree, we really do need to tap into that because, you know, that makes us feel bad like what what can we do to make you feel that we're including you or someone else or
or some identity that we have maybe overlooked. Um but I think again we try to make we're very intentional. You know, we have a very inclusive library space. We have signs around the the building. um you know our conversations
that we do in our SCCL lessons and on Thursdays the literature selections we're very we've been thinking about that a lot you know with our curriculum making sure that we have inclusive books and novels and things like that um and just a lot of the topics that are
studied in class we want to make sure that everyone feels can be represented at all levels okay and Mr. All right. So, this year we are doing the engagement survey a little bit differently. It used to be um part of the climate survey and it was kind of
a question that we got this survey that 95 or 85% of kids felt engaged, but it didn't really give us a ton to work with. So, with the high school at the summer, we tried to get something that gave us a little bit more specificity about um how kids were feeling about what was going on in the classroom with
some more specific questions, separated it out. So, we give this in every class. We gave it in November. We're going to give it again next month in March. Uh but these are some of the results we got that we wanted to share with you. So I think this speaks really highly to our professional development focus the last
three years at Biron. We have a different for each year. Um the first year we had uh universal design and then we had last year was looking at the instructional block and making that more robust and then this year we're uh data driven using data to inform our
instruction and I think that you see that play out here. these in these results. So, you know, overwhelming agreement that kids feel that they get good feedback from their teachers. Teachers are aware checking for understanding and when things aren't working, they're changing what they do.
They're giving kids multiple ways to represent their learning. So, I think that it shows that the professional development opportunities we've been giving to teachers are really paying some dividends and it shows in what the students are sharing with us. So, you know, we got some feedback that we want to work on for uh next time. We'll see
what our results are um when we take this in March, but I think we've seen a lot of positive feedback from the kids about what we have going on in Birchland. >> That's your final slide. >> That was our last slide. Yeah.
>> Any other questions for Bertland today? >> Good. Can I say something? >> Please, Heather. >> It is not easy to have a middle school where so many kids feel so happy because middle school's tough. So, I just I know you guys know, but thank you for everything you're doing. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Try. >> Yeah. >> Try to make it fun. We're a little goofy, too. >> From Thursday night to the dance, you'll see the goofy stuff. >> Nice. Good stuff. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Appreciate it.
>> Thank you. I wonder if we should do this in four weeks having all four or >> um we can however you want when we do the agenda setting we can school one >> to hear that separately if it's an option
>> four weeks yeah maybe we'll do that okay is that all right >> looking high school is going to go tonight instead of doing for two weeks but we have the other three schools so I'm just thinking four schools is a lot >> it is >> so maybe we'll just put high school on. >> I'm okay with that.
>> All right. Yeah, if that's all right. Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Moving right along. We have the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning report of the sixth and seventh grade social studies curriculum renewal. Heather.
>> All right. So, the history and social studies uh standards changed in 2018. And what it did to sixth and seventh grade is it basically mixed sixth and seventh grade social studies standards. So that uh not only were they learning
the ancient history, but they're also learning the geography of a region. Um the curriculum we had, we had licenses that are now uh up for renewal through TCI history alive, which usually does a wonderful job. The high school uses it and loves it. We loved it. But when they
tried to mix together the sixth and seventh grade, they basically took what they already had and kind of peacemeal it. So it's very clunky and the teachers really struggling with it. So um this year it's up for renewal. It it's very costly. The teachers are not super fond
of it and thankfully DESIE has created a curriculum that is completely aligned to the 2018 standards called investigating history. Um, so we've been following the the DESIE process um, in terms of going through the investigate and select. This
is the only curriculum that is out there that is aligned. It also happens to be free. >> Oh, I love that. I was just right. >> Uh, no licenses. We do need to pay for paper copies of things. Um, and I need to look into some professional development, but the savings from TCI that we would it's not part of the
budget because it would have been >> okay. >> Because we paid for those. >> Yeah. they would already. >> Um but yeah, um the great news is um well, I'm getting ahead of myself. So, we we're going to be in the launch. So, we're looking at different training options. Actually, I'm going to back up
again. I introduced this to the sixth and seventh grade uh social studies teachers on the PD day went through all kinds of things, the why behind it, and they got to eventually just explore the curriculum. And the feedback that I got is that people are really excited about
it, which is great. Um, so the next steps, they've asked for some release days to do some planning. They've asked for further professional development. So, I'm looking into ones that are high quality but also not overly expensive because they range. Um, we'll need to come up with uh our plan for assessment
and grading, expectations for use, which I've done with the elementary and middle and high school curriculum, so that's very clear to teachers what we're expecting them to do, and then communicate with families. And then once we launch next year although some people were excited enough they want to pilot
some units this year uh we will uh you know implement and monitor so see how things are going and exactly the same thing we've been doing with the elementary schools is as we implement the curriculum with fidelity you see what works what doesn't work then the
next year we can start making some tweaks but I always say and this is not my idea I came it's somebody else's but you can't change the recipe until you've made the recipe as it was created the first time. Um because you know, you don't know if it was not doing well
because of the changes you made or because of the recipe itself. And so um this has a lot of great reviews from folks who have already started using it. And uh they're expanding it to grades three and four. So there might be opportunity going forward that we can
have some coherence from uh three grades three through seven in terms of uh social studies curriculum. Heather, I was just going to ask that it's it's interesting that it stops at grade seven. Be nice if it >> Well, eighth grade civics, >> right? >> So, that's a completely different not they don't have a component. This
particular curriculum doesn't expand into >> No. And I think it's because in high school they start really differentiating. It's more like the US history and geography and, you know, all the different things. And we have a great offering here in the history classes, but also history electives and
AP. you know, kids often more history classes than they're required to. >> Um, so yeah, I think that I would love to see it go a little bit, you know, younger. Um, it's K to1. We'll see what they do. >> Um, but it's just lovely to have someone say, "Here are these standards and
here's a curriculum that's completely aligned because there's never really a unicorn curriculum." And I'm not saying that this is, but it has gotten great reviews from the folks across the state who have used it. And like I said, our teachers are excited about it as well. Is this the first time Jessie's uh um
offered uh the curriculum like this? >> It's not investigating history has been out. They started with fifth grade and then sixth and seventh were released I think maybe a year ago and now it's like not in pilot form anymore. So people have used it >> but it's the only only the history one
that they have. There's not a >> Oh. Have they created curriculum for anything else? No. >> Okay. >> Is that coming? >> They offer a process which we've utilized for um elementary where they have a variety of curricula and they've they've gone through their
process to deem it high quality and then you can go in and follow their process and that's how we were able to get a certain amount of desi support when we moved on elementary literacy and we moved on elementary math >> we have to choose you know we have a
committee we have goals we have a vision and all the things we go through all the information we choose come to consensus this uh we don't have to choose one of the highquality ones as defined by Massachusetts. However, there is a decentive now. So, while they're not one
of the states that says you have to use this, this or this. Now, if you apply for grants, you have to show that you're using one of the ones that they like or that they've deemed high quality, I should say. So, uh, there really isn't a reason to not choose one that they've
already >> retirement, but there's a >> consequence if you don't, >> right? And I mean, they're good. There's great stuff in there off the list, I imagine. Yeah. Okay. >> Well, one of the the great things, and Brown said this was uh that it's aligned. So when they've vetted, you
know, the different um say literacy curriculum, um the it's aligned and so you know that you're not going to have to continuously do that work to align to the standards as because they're they're going to consistently revise standards as we know they're on a cycle and we
were on a cycle as we move into the next agenda item when we talk budget. Um let >> me say one more thing before we do so. >> Yeah. No, I was just going to say that we cause those cycles and so >> getting something where uh there's state support and you know that it's aligned
and it's high quality. That's exciting. >> And it will realign. Is that what you're saying? >> They're going to keep it alive. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Good. >> And I, you know, just to remind everyone, the idea behind the high quality instructional materials isn't that teachers aren't capable of creating curriculum, but we just don't have time
to create it. And so instead of teachers spending their time curating, you know, materials and doing that, they can have this in front of them and really deeply plan of how am I going to instruct in such a way that all the kids access this. Um, so it's really just shifting
what we're using their expertise for. >> Yep. >> It also creates coherence. >> Need a a vote to adopt this? >> Yes, please. >> Okay. And I would >> move to accept the sixth and seventh
grade social studies curriculum renewal as presented. >> Motion made by antella. >> Second. >> Second by Amy. Discussion. All in favor say I. >> I. I. >> I. Those opposed? Nay. That carries 4. Thank you, Heather.
>> I already had it the right way and I flipped it for the budget. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you, Heather. Okay. Moving along, we have for old business, uh, fiscal year 2027 budget development discussion.
>> Am I? >> Sure. No, you go ahead, Cord. >> Hot potato. Hot potato. Go >> ahead and then I'll jump in. Um, so tonight obviously as you said it's uh it's under old business and so these are discussions that we've already begun but
we do need uh leaving this meeting um a vote to um formalize at least the level services budget for the town and then um and what they're I think deeming level one because they're having discussions
with their um department heads this week and probably next week regarding their level one budgets. And then um certainly as we move forward all the middle portion of the page in terms of strategies and so forth um can be
discussed and we'll start discussing hopefully what uh actions we want to take as a school department with the town manager and the municipal finance director. >> Yeah. So I was just going to add just as a reminder. So, what did I do at the last meeting? I had gone into Munis and
I've I've put in all of those items uh to show you the school committee what exactly is a level services budget for us to get back everything into our operating budget that was covered under school choice or that uh just didn't happen this year. Uh like the professional development and what would
that picture look like? And what I'm seeing is it's 6.24% increase which is a $2.3 million. You see it there on the spreadsheet. Um, what do we know? We've had some preliminary conversations. Uh, the town will most likely not be able to afford,
uh, 6.24. I think we all know that. Um, so I need a directive from the school committee as far as what do you want Gordon and I to submit on your behalf as the level services. Just as a reminder, last year you chose to reduce that down. I don't believe we remember it was like 8%. We never brought that 8% forward at
the beginning. We reduced it down. >> Um, yeah. Where did we remember >> what what did I'm sorry >> what did we take how do we do how did we re >> the curriculum renewal all those things that initially >> yeah exactly so you know there's two ways to go about it right level one is
to show what are your level services and that is the true number uh we're not going to get that as we all know um I don't think it's time now to start on anything that we can reduce yet I think we need to digest this and bring it forward to the school commit I mean to the town manager um because they are
ready to flip. Kim had reached out to me today to ask if I knew, you know, if she's ready to roll it into a level two and I said uh tonight the school committee will be giving us a directive on what exactly to bring forward. >> Okay. >> Yeah. No.
>> So the middle portion um are just ways cuz you see um preliminary discussion with the town, you know, that possibly they could look at um getting to 3.2%. And so that leaves a difference between
the 6.24 and the 3.2 of roughly 1.12 million. Um the middle portion are things that we started to discuss in the last two meetings around okay how do you start to reduce that difference. Um so
it would be things like curriculum renewal goes on hold again. It's been a placeholder roughly of 80,000 in our budget in past years that were maybe more prosperous. We had tried to increase it to 100,000 but uh we've never been able to achieve that and now
unfortunately we're looking to freeze it again. But um also uh seeking anou again for one just one year regarding the reimbursement individual reimbursement for um professional development which in
the ELEA contract is at $650. um that would be pursuing that with the um ELA uh expanding our choice slots for next year. You don't have to necessarily vote on this tonight, but I did include in
here um enrollment information for you, so you can start to look at that. Um it's probably a few pages in on your your uh document. um both gives you the enrollment uh for each grade level and then starts to break down more
specifically um the elementary um only um expand I'm sorry go ahead >> what is the sports fee right now >> so I have this information from uh Kevin so if you could take one and pass it around >> remember no that that's okay this is a perfect segway 199
>> perfect segue right into um the athletics 199 >> Kevin did a um a survey of the surrounding districts here so that you could uh see where everything is at. And at the last meeting, I did mention that uh Kevin was maybe um Kevin and Frank
suggesting that we uh put that $8,500 insurance back to the parents. Well, after he's done his survey here, he actually said in the email to Gordon and I that he would suggest that we do not do that. That the that the school department um still covers that insurance because in order for uh some
of the folks the higher uh sports such as football, it can be very costly like you know $200 in addition to the sports fee. So he does not recommend that you do that. Is that it to put it back in >> sports fee >> to to not to raise the sports fee or to um the insurance
>> carrying the insurance where you charge people to carry it? >> Is it you didn't put it back in the budget yet though? >> It is still in the budget right now. >> You never took it out. >> Correct. >> Okay, great. >> Correct. I I didn't because it was one of the talking points. So until
>> we'll just leave it there. I just want to make sure that you had known that there was uh $40,000 additional dollars there and um and this information here. >> We're not the only one who do does senior citizen discount, right? >> That's great.
>> No user fee in AWA. >> Yeah, that's impressive. >> That is impressive, >> right? I don't know how they do that. >> But I do have a superintendent meeting tomorrow, so I'll >> ask that question. What's the percentage of students that are low income
>> in our district? >> Awam. >> Oh, our district. It's uh hovering around 20 20 >> between 20 and 22. I don't know about but you could probably pull it off district. >> Yeah. I just want I mean I was looking at Westfield saying it's like 46% or
something. So I didn't know if that had something to do with like why they do a user fee or not, you know. >> Yeah, it could. You can see the the districts that um scaffold their uh user fees. Long meadow would be one. Um Manich
would be another and West Springfield would be the uh the other one where uh we have a set user fee and LLO has a set user fee. >> I just want to remind everybody that we did just go up this year from 149 to 199
for the families. The other thing I just want to make mention um I had put down here about the LPVEC those new positions if those were not uh voted on that I anticipated $16,000 savings to the district. However, I was just told um I think on
Thursday or Friday that uh LPVEC is um looking at their budget again because the insurance rates came out. So that means they have to add on additional because remember our assessment includes the benefit employees. It has to cover
everything. So that's going to go up. So my whole point is I don't think we're going to have any savings there at all. I'm anticipating it being a wash or maybe even more. >> Are they pushing for those positions still? >> Uh I don't know the answer. Gordon's going to be at the superintendent. >> That's the 16, right? >> That's correct. >> So it could be the 16 plus the
insurance. My guess is um so the superintendents are are >> uh recommending not supporting the positions. >> Um my guess is that that's going to be discussed again tomorrow at the meeting and then there's another uh budget meeting with superintendent and business
managers uh toward the end of February, I think. >> Yes. Y >> um >> but it'll be the board that >> the board ultimately decides. Yeah. >> Okay. William knows what to do. I was just going to say they added a meeting, >> but I think it's just the corporation. I
don't think it's a joint one. >> Yeah, corporation will do the other one. >> The executive they're talking to insurance. >> I don't I don't remember, but there was a lot of back and forth about um just trying to set getting everybody to come
so there'd be a quorum. >> Are they not they're not part of Scantic Valley Trust? >> They are. Yeah. Oh, they are. >> Yes. the same rates as >> Ccantic Valley Trust met on the insurance rates last week. So that's why this is all coming out now, >> right? No, this is like capital projects.
>> Did you get all the way down? >> Must be their capital projects, right? Is that what you just said? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, that's what >> that's what this meeting is this week. >> Corporation is all capital, isn't it? It's all facilities and capital. >> We only charge for three different sports. >> All the other ones are free to go.
Where's football, soccer, >> and basketball? >> Yeah. To watch, right? Not to >> to watch. >> Spectators. Yep. Yep. >> Oh. So, does it matter if they play on the turfer? >> Field hockey. I don't think we try. We don't charge field or lacrosse.
>> I think the numbers are not >> They don't warrant. Got to pack the house in lacrosse. >> Did you uh >> start charging the shortfall, Gordon? Did you go all the way to the bottom? I don't remember if you did. >> We didn't. Okay. Not. No. >> You want us to you want me to?
>> I I just didn't know if you're going to because that's what gets to the >> Well, so to the 32. >> Exactly. So, ultimately after we um look at some of those strategies possibly. Um we're still looking at a shortfall of about 370,000. And actually, I would anticipate it's going to be closer to
400,000 with uh LPV. >> Yes, I I do. So, um, that's where we would have to, uh, >> find. Yes. >> Just to get to that, >> just to get to the >> number. >> That's right. If that was a 3.2 that we were given by the town,
>> that's if we get that even. So, but yeah. So, that would be what we'd be working on next >> is to get to there and potentially in our next meeting, we'll have an executive session and then we >> Yeah. The unfortunate thing is we're hoping to stay under the 400 because
that might be easier to look at and um not be in a situation similar to what we were in. We're not in a situation even if it goes to 400,000 that we were in last year because when we got through the strategies last year, I think we were still looking to reduce close to
850,000 and so that became a good number of positions. Um we will probably have to reduce some positions this year. Uh how we do that though. Uh you know hopefully
we could look at and and be able to sustain where if we're looking at um positions where we may have a retirement or a vacancy we don't fill it. But we have to really be careful of how we look at those because in some cases
those might be positions that uh have urgent need. Um, and so we don't obviously want to to be cliche. Um, you know, cut off our nose despite our face, if that's the proper proper cliche. >> We don't want you cutting your nose.
>> No, I'm going to try not to cut my nose off. Um, so those those are recommendations we can bring to you um in executive session. We can show you um you know where those positions are and what other recommendations because we are discussing this. We did discuss this
as a leadership team um and principles may go from that discussion and come up with other creative ideas. And so I'll try to bring all of those ideas to all of you. >> How many um people do we have buying um
the transportation fee, the bus? >> Um >> do you know you don't you probably don't know yet. >> I know the enrollment is down. >> I was just curious. >> Yeah. Um >> uh Jill Dunovan. Yeah, she she did. I just The number is just not in my head, so I don't want to give you the wrong number. >> That's fine. I was just going to be like
1,200. >> Yeah, 11,200. >> Okay. I can find that number for you, though. >> And when did we last increase that? >> It has not been increased since I've been here. >> 2011. >> Really? Mhm.
>> But what we did was we put in a cap, a um family cap at the time >> and we kept it >> um at the what is it? >> 540 >> the 570 >> 270. We kept it at 270 and then put in a cap. So actually we didn't increase it.
We just capped it. That be because they used to if you had three children at 270 three times um where we capped it, you can have three children but you're only going to pay the >> I'm a benefit of the cap. So I know what the cap is. >> So if you have three children, you still just pay 270.
>> 540. >> 540. >> 540. >> Family up to two students. >> Okay. >> And half of the two is not charged. >> Got it. Okay. >> Can we um talk school choice a little bit? >> Sure. >> If you go scroll down two slides, the
numbers are there for the classroom sizes. >> So yeah, just to give you an idea. Um so the um the first page is this is coming out of powers school because powers school gives us the best look at actually the students who are walking
around our building. So it includes in power school um our school choice students. It includes our MECO students, includes our um Willie Ross students. And so it gives you by grade level the
students that are currently in our buildings in terms of numbers um as well as the added district uh students and that may have gone down because Dr. Sullivan kept saying 35 where when I ran these numbers it was 36. So maybe we have brought a student back. Um so that
gives you an idea of where we are by grade level. Um, and remember if you're looking at school choice, you're looking at for next year. So, you would move these numbers up. Um, one of the interesting things is
that uh, kindergartens the lowest it's been 108 in my entire tenure. Now in every year for the last 5 years anyway as we've been involved with the MSBA we've done a um enrollment projection
through NASDAQ and they have um us growing again at kindergarten but not to the level that we uh had seen in previous years. Um, previous years we've been in the mid50s usually with kindergarten. As you can see, grade 1 is
158, but um, they have us growing somewhere around 130 131 for next year. Um, so even if you had your seven sections, which currently we have seven sections, um, your class size would be
pretty good. Um but if you're looking at grade levels in terms of uh >> transition >> school choice families I think like the transition year uh transition years so to speak and uh so that's obviously six and nine you
could look at three you could you could also look at K I mean we get um inquiries on on all those generally I think the inquiries are on those grade levels versus like the grade four or the grade seven or that type of thing.
>> But I have had people recently like getting a lot of phone calls right now. A lot of people are calling for other grades that are not like I've had them for seventh, for eighth. People just want to have their kids in the district. Yeah. >> So, I think a lot more people are calling for just different grades that
don't get chosen often. So, >> good to have a different option. >> So, you can spread it out because I know that when we talked about it as a leadership team, two things came up. they they definitely want to be part of the school choice program. They feel that what we have to offer in ELPS is is
worth, you know, sharing with our neighbors, so to speak. Um, but they also want to be, as you have been over the years, very diligent in how we do this so that we're not strapping any one grade level. Uh, and that's generally
what we've tried to do. Um you know the last two years have been or last year and then this year have been challenging because we're looking at it in the context of budget and u a funding strategy which is unfortunate but um
they would two things one like you to continue to look at that and not necessarily pile on in any one grade level. Um last year we had 10 at six and 10 at nine. Maybe that's not something we look to do, but we spread it out more. The other
thing that came out of our discussion at the leadership team was that the earlier we can get students, the more beneficial that may be. um because uh they did notice both at grade six and grade nine,
nine probably being even more challenging that finding out and figuring out gaps and deficits um and then trying to support that you have less time to do so as you go forward.
>> Um did we talk about um first grade too because the first grade will be smaller. That's >> kindergarten. >> We're talking about spreading it out. Yeah. >> Um and so part of the strategy as was listed above is potential to add up to
25. We currently have 501 right >> uh participants. And so as long as that's something the committee is comfortable with, obviously we don't have to designate would be, but as we continue our budgetary discussions, if there's no real objection that at least continuing that
discussion, >> I think some of these classes the numbers look they're low. >> Yeah. >> So I don't >> there's an opportunity. >> Yeah. Right. >> Yeah. Well, the state average is like 17.2 for class size and we're right there, but some of our class sizes are
>> bigger. like the fifth grade at >> Mountain View is already at like 22. So I and then I I can share it, but the National Center for Ed Statistics has every state in the country and what their class sizes are by elementary,
middle, and high. And you'd be kind of moving to above the average. >> I know, but fifth grade here, the number looks low. Well, fifth you're talking about fifth grade going >> I'm just looking at it based on the number of teachers that we have. Yeah.
Like what how that breaks down >> because right now at both fifth grade we have a team of four. And so one of the things that we're probably going to need to do is look at elementary schools as a whole >> and say okay where is your largest grade
level and then that team is a little bit larger than say where your smallest grade level is. Um, you know, it doesn't necessarily have to be fifth grade or fourth grade. It's really going to depend on what the enrollment is of each grade level. >> Does the class get divided between the
two elementary schools? >> Yes, >> even >> it is based on the boundaries um which we haven't adjusted. So, right now Maple Shade is uh has grown in enrollment the last couple years more than Mountain View.
>> They're not evenly. >> No, not perfect. The other piece that um changes that a little bit, although Dr. Sullivan's looking at it, is where the special education programming is. >> Okay. >> For literacy support based at Maple
Shade and we have ABA at Mountain View. >> Correct. We have the We have the learning centers right now. So, we're looking at how do we adjust that and so maybe run a learning center at both schools. >> Yeah. Um, and then the other piece to that is we'll probably have to look in
the spring at all of our special educators across the district and then really with Dr. Sullivan's team look at where's the student need because just because you may have been at one school for a number of years, the student needs
are shifting and our programming is shifting, right? >> We may need to do some some movement of special educators. >> Uhhuh. Okay. Um Pam, did you >> interesting conversation >> 20 and the 20 for uh sports in yet or? No, that's not in. >> It is in there.
>> It's in. Yes. >> Great. Okay. >> Yes. I'm going to verify. What I would like to do, I my thought is that we submit the level one which is level services putting back in all the things that we took out last year because it's worth looking at or at least
demonstrating that results in the 624 um for level service budget. That would be our level one. What I would also like to do with the um permission of the committee is just share some of these thoughts with the town manager as we move closer to the other number um and
some of our ideas just to keep >> yeah conversation going. So if that's all right um so for today um we would need uh to approve the level one at that 64. There aren't any other
discuss All right. I'd like to move to accept or submit >> a level service budget >> a level service budget of 6 was it four
>> 24 >> 6.24 24 >> percent increase >> percent increase >> over FY 26 >> over FY26 >> motion made by incident >> second >> second car >> excellent
>> good job uh any other discussion in favor say I >> I those opposed nay that carries four to zero >> forget the word quadrant >> I was going to say maybe we should put the budget discussions in the front end of the meeting so we're not
>> sharper Yeah, that is hungry. >> Yeah. >> The other one, Greg, is I did put your school committee stipen his >> Yeah, I was going to get there next. >> Okay. >> And so we do have two budgets to approve. One budget is the school operating budget and the second one, if
you go one page further, is the school committee stipen. Uh that's a standalone budget. So the whole line item is the 10650. >> Correct. Yes, that's that's right. It's actually paid by the uh town, not under the school department. But they always have me submit it for out of our budget.
>> It's just a second budget. Yeah. But we make the request and there have been years that we've requested an increase and most years we do not. Any thoughts? I I think as a a challenging budget year
uh we keep it clean and dry is my thought. >> Agreed. So with that I would entertain if there is no further discussion uh someone to move to um submit a uh level budget for
the school committee stipen. >> I move to submit a level >> budget request >> budget request for the school committee statement. >> Motion made by Amy. >> Second. >> Second by car. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. Those oppos
same way. Okay. >> Well, it's it's Yeah, I'll I'll work with the town on that to make sure. >> Okay. So, like I said, we will bring that back. We will look to have an executive uh before the next meeting as well. >> Yeah, we'll get there.
Okay. Finally on our agenda for this evening under D is we have the approval of East Lo High School science team state robotics and drone competition on February 14th, March 14th and March. So this is the uh robotics and drone team. Uh we had approved uh some of
their trips earlier in the fall. Um these are trips that uh they'll be undertaken. I believe uh these will enable them depending on their results to make it to nationals and um I don't know if it's they still call it worlds
but uh when it was just the robotics team they used to go on to the oh yeah there it is the world championship and the northeast drone championship in the first paragraph there uh Mr. Van Beern has a set group of parents that
generally go, at least one parent um joins him every trip. So uh he and that one chaperon, but in most cases they have more than just that one parent who goes to the uh various competitions.
>> Is this one of those trips that needs a nurse? >> I was just going to ask if there's any update on that. >> Yeah. So the uh the the benefit here is that the parents go which alleviates uh >> all right good >> the need for the nurse because the parent takes the responsibility. If the
parent didn't take the responsibility we would be in a more challenging situation >> um to in terms of an update. >> Aren't we coming up close to I went to the New York trip or there's a few >> Yeah. So, um, the the New York trip they
have, I believe, figured out, but we're not out of the woods yet because the compact state um, agreement has not yet been agreed to. So,
um, our trips at the end of the year just go over the border to Connecticut could be in jeopardy and probably uh more significantly given um the money that's involved our Washington DC trip
um with the uh Birland uh 8th grade >> disappointing. >> Um so we are right now reviewing that with our attorney to see how we can navigate this. One of the things that we did learn today is that at least the
state of Maryland does give a reprieve for school trips and allow for you to apply for um a waiver for a short period of time. The question would be how do we get there? Uh because doesate Connecticut,
New York, um I think we touch in there as we're going down New Jersey, Delaware and so forth. what do you do in those states? Um or may and so the attorney is looking into that to see if we can apply for that or if there's something through the board of health um the state board
of health uh that maybe there's a waiver there that we can look at because Massachusetts has agreed to be a compact state. I think it's now the other states as far as I understand it that need to get this done. how many are coming on board and so where would that allow us to allow our licensed nurses or medical
practitioners to go? >> That's where we are. >> It's not a great >> great amount of progress, but at least uh at least Maryland can give us a waiver forward to that. >> If we can get there, >> it's going to fly.
I am meeting with Mr. Pearson later on in the week uh after I talk to the attorney so we can start to look at that and figure out okay where are we with this whole thing >> cuz we do have a a nurse actually a physician's assistant who's willing to go on the trip. >> Oh >> but it's just a question of whether
>> the license uh will be able to be utilized in these other states. >> This is crazy. Yeah. >> Um we are in or at least Mr. Pearson's in conversations with the Hangingham public schools because they have a Washington trip too that could be held
up. I'm sure there are others he got in contact with the Hangingham public schools and so we're trying to collaborate and see okay how are people dealing with this and so I'm sure there'll be other school systems >> that will start to get into the discussion because it's not an uncommon trip.
>> Yeah. No >> does it seems very Yeah. They're not a compact state yet either. Connecticut. >> Yeah. >> So we can go we can go into the state. >> Oh, I know. Well, I'm just think PTO this week. At what point are we going to like we're going to try and give people
like 30 days or something to like re >> um hopefully we're going to know by the end of February of like where how we do this if we can do it at all. If it becomes too challenging then we may have to I mean Washington will be our our biggest test. Um,
smaller trips such as the robotics team, you can work around uh and if parents are willing, they'll they'll go. Um, and that takes us off the hook of needing a nurse. >> Maybe you'll just have to go to Washington >> with all the other parents. That will change the whole dynamic, right?
>> Yeah. So, uh, hopefully we'll get more information within the next week or two. >> It's on our on our radar. Uh, pretty much each week. >> We have to approve this one, >> please. >> Oh, okay. I just want to make sure we
didn't forget to do it. >> We didn't We didn't We were getting there. >> Yes. I would take someone to move that, please. >> I move to approve the ELHS science team state robotics and drone competitions on February 14th, March 14th, and March 28th.
>> Motion made by Antella. Second. >> Second by Carrie. Any discussion? >> All in favor say I. I. >> I. Those opposed, nay. That carries four to zero. >> Mr. Van Beern. No. Okay. And if we have
nothing else, um, winter break, February 16th through the 20th coming up next week. >> I saw >> Did you see? I was just going to show you >> can get the illness after >> and Julie is one of the >> And uh, since we've come to conclusion, I'd take a motion to adjurnn, please.
>> Still moved. And >> motion made by Antilla. Second by Amy. Discussion. All in favor say I. >> I. Those oppose, nay. That carries four four to zero. Thank you.