Welcome everybody to the December 1st meeting of the East Long Meadow School Committee. Uh this meeting is being both audio and videotaped. And um if there are no further announcements, why don't we all stand
for the pledge of 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. >> Okay. Take it over. >> Sure.
>> Yeah. >> So, first on our agenda is >> a quick roll call. >> Yes, that probably would be helpful. Let's start with that. Oh, thank God. God, >> didn't even get through the roll call.
God, >> continue. You were fine. Keep going. Yeah, please. >> Samantha, >> begin the roll call. Thank you. Samantha Velasco, secretary. >> Emily Blair, assistant superintendent for business. >> Anal Gordon Smith, superintendent of
schools. Gregory Thompson. >> Amy Denta, >> William Strather card, student. Um, I would make a motion to approve our minutes from the November 17th executive session.
>> I move to approve the November 17, 2025 executive session meeting minutes. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> All those in favor >> say I >> say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. >> Can I just It's
>> a team effort. No, I like this. >> Couple more minutes. One more >> that carries four to zero. >> Approve the regular session meeting minutes to move to approve the November 17, 2025 regular session meeting minutes.
>> Second. >> All in all those in favor? >> I >> I >> and opposed. The motion carries. Four to zero. You want me to keep going? >> Yeah, please. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> So, go around um and share subi
committee and subcommittee communications. And can we begin with you tonight? Thank you. >> So, um there's not much going on at the school right now. We're um like meeting the midterm for term two. Um juniors and seniors have their semi this weekend on
Saturday. Um, winter sports have started and then pretty much just uh football won against Long Meadow. >> Thanksgiving. I saw that. Yeah. Very cool. >> All hoping for a snow day tomorrow
though. >> To be determined. To be determined. >> Waiting on more weather information. Kelly looks pretty good compared to the rest of the state. >> Three inches maybe. saying it's a tough timing storm, so I do >> probably not gonna have fun.
>> Fair warning. >> We'll see. Get up early. >> That's it. Thank you, Caitlyn. >> Well, Caitlyn, I can tell you we teachers are also praying as well, so we uh we'll as well. Um nothing to report. Um I would like to share that I attended
um a meeting with the diversity and equity committee and um I also attended with Carrie Gordon and others. Um I think we had a really productive meeting Gordon. Um >> thought it was >> there seems to be some really positive movement um and some goals for what
we're looking at for the remainder of this school year. I think some more information is going to be coming shortly and will be made public shortly, but it seems like we're on um a really good track and then um there's some great, you know, the new leadership here in town has really put us on a nice
trajectory with that committee. So, I was very happy with how that went. >> Well, we had a school building committee last meeting meeting last week. Um things are coming along great. Actually, we're going to do some updates later on.
Um, but project is going awesome. There's a new video up on uh YouTube. Thank you, Jamie, for that. It's awesome. And uh >> there's also a link if you want to just go to the um landing page of the um district right there in in the news.
>> Oh, easy access for folks. >> Yeah. Oh, great. >> I think that video is from when? September. There is going to be another >> might be August. >> Yeah. couple of months old, but another one will be coming out soon. >> Project is going to be fantastic. They're starting to um block the pool,
too. The walls are going up for the pool. Get some pictures of that. >> Yeah. Cool. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. I don't have anything right now. >> All right. Do you want me to move in? >> Any opportunity for visitors to stay? Any visitors online? Do we have any
visitors online? I don't I don't think so. >> Okay. >> All right. Great. >> Great. >> Moving into an update on the project that uh Mr. Thompson was just referring
to. This is where we began. This is where we'll end up uh sooner than uh I think we all probably realized. Um, where are we currently? So, this is an
aerial shot of the grounds and it gives you an idea of the incredible progress that's being made. And this is uh a few weeks old now. But what it shows you is that you have the existing building and then you have what now is fully looking
like a building behind it, the new building behind it. And um it also gives you a look at the new oops, sorry, new tennis courts and what they're starting to do with the back fields. Um they're
looking to continue to stay on schedule. And so with the help of Mr. Paige and Mr. McGee, ELHS athletic director. Um, they are taking or took the old JV baseball field, which was our only
remaining baseball field, back behind the school, offline completely. And now they're moving on the um fields. It should get them up and running faster than we originally had planned, which is awesome. We have more more looks at that as we go
into the >> opening day, right? Thank you to Long Meadow, right? >> Yes. >> Thank you to Long Meadow on that. Yeah. Yeah, that's a big thank you. Our two neighboring districts have been fantastic and partnering with us on a number of things. So, it's been great.
Long meadow public schools and Hampton Wilham Regional. That's a closer look at the new tennis courts. So, they're going to be up and running. Yes. uh for day one uh of the new season where we'll get the Nets going in that first week of March and be
ahead of the game for new uh spring season. >> Beautiful. >> Beautiful. >> That just gives you a better look, ground level look of the grading of the athletic fields. And this is where the building's really starting to take shape and looking like
a building. So, you're adding windows um and really starting to enclose the building. You're um continuing to add the brick to the outer part of the building. That's a E- wings. That's that art uh boy art.
>> The A-wing basically is your administration, auditorium, uh band, chorus, and then as you have that space between where you uh were just talking about will be a courtyard. Um then the two um wings D and E are
your academic wings. That gives you an idea of um what the pool building in terms of at least the structure to get the um walls up on the building what they need. Uh CMU concrete
masonary unit masonry unit. I just learned that. Um they're setting that up and they're starting to pour the walls, put the walls in. There's a look at uh northern side now. It's looking good.
>> Fantastic. They're also starting to connect the pool building to the high school. And one of the things that we haven't talked a lot about, but uh is just another piece to the project that uh makes this a community building is that
this building in addition to Birland. Birland had been the only building with a generator will have a generator. It was delivered uh the last few weeks. Um, and it's going to be located between B and D wings. And that will allow this
building not only to operate should power go out um during the school day, but also become an emergency shelter, which Birchland has been the town's only emergency shelter to a smaller extent. Um for limited periods of time, the fire
station has acted as the um emergency shelter, but Birchland has been the main the large um emergency shelter because it has the generator, it can um provide food services and it has the space to set up CS and so forth and become a full
fully active shelter, which the high school will also be able to do once completed. This gives you an idea of what's going on inside the building. So you start to see what the auditorium is going to look like with the raised seating formwork
being added. Uh welding of the catwalk. Uh the catwalk in this case will all be open. Um where the current catwalk is actually enclosed within the ceiling um above the current building
and HVC is being installed. This is uh going to be an air conditioned building which is something different than our other schools have experienced. Metal framing going up. Uh C-wing basically is that center spine where the cafeteria
is located as you enter and continue back in a straight line. And that's starting to get framed. You can see the main staircase or a main staircase there. Um and they're also starting painting. >> Oh, the colors are Yeah. Oo,
>> each of the wings has um a certain set of colors uh that will sort of identify that wing and those sort of rooms in addition to the signage that says Dwing and so forth.
Um I don't know if there are questions before I get to that last slide. One of the things that we talked about uh throughout really happy about is that the project is on schedule and on budget
currently which is uh still true through our building committee meeting uh before Thanksgiving and through tonight to our school committee meeting. One of the ways to continue to stay on schedule, and we had brought this up with our last
update, is that the pink areas of this map is or areas that Fontaine would like to take and abate and uh get into demolition prior to the end of the
school year. So, what does that mean? Well, the biggest area is where we're currently sitting and it houses central office. It houses student support services. It houses LCAT. Uh next to us, it houses the um chorus room and then
there are two classrooms down at the end of the hallway. Mr. page is working diligently to figure out where to place those three classrooms and we'll absorb them hopefully into the high school building for those final six weeks or so
of the school year. And this area is going to relocate and um we'll be putting out a request for proposals. I think uh Mrs. Blair is working on that. Um so we'll hopefully have that out soon. did tour some existing um office
space over at Cardamundi and you know should they be able to provide us a proposal along with any others who are interested if it meets our needs that could be um a pretty easy switch because they do have a decent amount of space. Obviously, we have to look at cost and
um then build all of that into the uh contract with the mover who will be working to move the entire high school from this building to the new building, but that's going to happen in a series of stages.
So, wanted to keep everybody updated. Um more to follow once we start getting proposals on where this area of the building can move and um where it'll be located. uh after April vacation for the remainder of the school year and for
central office student support services probably into uh the end of August at that point. >> But I think the RFP has to be posted for like 30 days. We're still figuring out all the details. So it's probably going to happen more in January the holidays
as well, but we're working on it. So >> it would be for April, >> correct? >> Yes. And um >> we would use April break to do the move and then hopefully be back up and running when schools got concession. >> And the plan is to use the uh funds from
the project for both the move and the rental we're hoping. >> Right. >> Uh and have the Fontaine delineated a time to do the electrical shut off for the annex. >> So they've done one test so far. They're going to do another test um over here in
the boiler room which handles the heat for this area and certain areas of the high school. And then they're going to double check the electrical power because LCAT has a different power line coming in that feeds just LCAT and shutting off this area. They just have
to make sure that they don't impact the rest of the school. They haven't done that yet. So, they're going have to pick a date to shut it down and see what >> But before we commit to a rental, right? >> Correct. Oh, yeah. They'll do that. And if I say it on Thursday, I'm pretty sure
Mark would schedule it on Friday, >> right? Okay. After school. >> I'm sorry if you mentioned this. The physical education classes the are they going to are they going to be like going outside? How are they? >> So, um the only uh piece there they
won't take the the large gym. Okay. >> They may take the small gym. That's a great question. Um, so this isn't updated since August request. >> Yeah, this was the original request. I just used the map again. And we will take the pool offline, >> right? Okay. >> So, so small gym and pool
>> will probably go offline >> um in April. >> But I think the biggest piece that will help them is getting the annexes of all this area because this is where you have the sewer running. This is where I think they have electrical hookups that they have to um think about in terms of
anything I believe coming off Nordon Street was one of the the thoughts. >> Yeah. Going all the way to the concession. >> So I missed that meeting. Did the small gym get added last >> small gym is still a question mark. Still question mark. >> Okay. >> Yeah. If you can't do it, then we don't
do it. >> I just haven't worded that piece out. Like I've talked to people down here. I knew the pool was going to be offline. I thought the small gym got ruled out >> and you may be right. This this is an old map. >> Okay. I >> I haven't brought up small gym since the
original discussions on it. >> Okay. >> Um I knew we had talked about the pool and then I just used the map again because it was the easiest one to use. >> The last conversation I had the small gym got ruled out. They didn't see the bang for the buck in that area. This is the area of focus for them. >> Right.
pool. I thought they were taking that >> taken offline because this area heats the pool. Got it. We just basically can't use it. >> Yep. >> So, you might as well just drain it and start that process down there. >> Okay. >> All right.
>> You got any feedback on the parking lot? >> Terms of plowing >> on a new on what >> new parking lot? >> Uh the students don't like it because they have to slow down. >> Yeah. Uh curbs are a little high, but that's because they haven't put that top layer down yet. Okay.
>> So, that'll raise the the pavement up. >> People complain that they think we have less parking. We actually have more parking than we previously had two years ago. >> Y >> um it seems clunky the parking lot.
>> Um and you can get you can go the wrong way. Then you got to go in and go out. You know how that if you go right coming in off the loop. >> If you go right coming in off the loop. >> Yeah. You're stuck in the lower side. You got to come back high. >> Yeah. You have to kind of you have to get to if you go to the back end of it,
you can go straight down it. >> Right. You have to know that though. >> You do. >> Yeah. I wonder if they have signs for that. >> Um my personal opinion is I I like >> doing what we designed it to do, which was to slow kids down. It also allows us
to control traffic patterns at exits and arrivals, which we haven't been able to do in the past. Um, I think as kids have adjusted, they've been, but um, like the complaints are what they see as negative, I see as positive because
better control over the space, you know, >> and four lanes all at the exit. >> Oh, yeah. >> Forces them into a one lane situation. Um, and as long as we have somebody who kind of stands down by the stadium and directs traffic, which we've been doing,
>> we can easily control what >> you know the curve down by the tennis courts where there's parking inside the parking lot. >> Yes. >> Have people had trouble getting into those? Do you know? It's a very odd turn into I was just in the lot the other day
and I thought this is not intuitive, but just me. I know they try to slow it down. >> Yeah. If if uh if you get to the back line of it, if you if you intentionally just go to the back, that whole back is open and it takes you all the way to the
front. So once you you get that concept, it makes sense. >> Yeah, the back is great, but I'm talking about that curve. They're just I don't know. It just seems tight and I just don't want people knocking into each other because it's a weird turnin. >> Um >> you know that radius I'm talking about?
>> I do. Yeah. uh other side of the handicap spots >> right here >> with the tennis. >> Yeah, right there. Right near the tennis courts. >> I don't know. We should just take a look at that cuz that's the >> Is that where there was some flooding too? I don't think in that little spot.
>> Seemed to be some like pooling there. >> Well, we have a um catch basin in the bus >> right there. Right. >> Is that going away? >> Anybody remember that? >> So, we just merged the two lanes. >> Okay. Um, >> and then when the building's done, you
actually won't have parents in that loop. You'll have buses, >> right? >> We we may >> Oh, you may switch it. >> We may keep this as the arrow pickup because this isn't designed to have a a queue
lane >> where you can queue cars and have them wait in line >> where the other loop is. >> And this one works more naturally in that way. >> So, we might actually I've been talking with Mark. He's going to look at some proposals of maybe putting in a a land of Q cars, but if it doesn't work, we're
going to keep the buses here and that is the parent pickup drop off. >> Okay. >> So, >> who designs that? Is that Eric that designs the actual lot? >> Uh, Eric is the main one. >> Yeah, Eric's
number down here. Is that what you're looking at? >> I don't know what would fix it. It's just odd. It's just an odd corner. And I I mean I drive a not a huge car and I would have trouble getting into it. >> Yeah. I mean if you ever want to come out at like 145, you can kind of see how
it gets utilized. It's obviously getting utilized differently >> during the school day than it does for like events because obviously the focus during school days here, >> right? >> And athletics is down here, you know. So most of our cars during school day park here and they exit down this way. So this these sections are pretty much
empty >> during school. it build up that way, you know, so it just kind of gets utilized differently. >> And do you remember, do we have parking on that now? What's called the bus loop for the pool or is it on the south side? >> It would actually be side of the building. >> Yeah. If you go to that next one, there
is parking over on the pool along the pool side here. Uh >> I thought there was one doesn't show. >> Yeah, on the back side. >> Yeah, it's going to be on the back side. Okay. >> Yeah, >> just for the pool. >> Okay. So, that'll be the main exterior entrance then for that pool. Kind of >> right. This this drag right now you
can't see it's hitting hidden behind fence like this is one that's exposed but this is blocked off. Yeah. See that drag that takes you behind. >> Cool. Getting there. >> We can if there are no other questions we can move to uh the compensate
determination post. One thing just um as all of you know this has been um of a a stepped process which then the department of elementary and secondary
education keeps entering into. Um I think they're somewhat finished on terms of competency determination. However, they um released this uh today 108 page
draft of um graduation requirements. And so that will have impact on this because one of this it's it's technically a draft, but I think it's well on its way to becoming um what the universal graduation
requirements will be. um >> an assessment in it. >> So there there's numerous >> made another one. >> There's numerous >> just made another one. >> Yeah, there's numerous assessments in it. So they've taken some of the things that we've done here that uh we'll
highlight where we'll have homegrown maybe portfolio assessment for a given subject area or content area. And they've reserved the right to have certain courses attached to a an
assessment that is state developed and state scored and a capstone project that will be state created but locally implemented and locally scored. So, I'm not exactly sure how any of that works because in
the 108 pages, they haven't defined how it's going to be implemented or a timeline, but more to come. There will be the first webinar of probably a few is on Wednesday. Um, and so that'll be the first chance for superintendents to
ask questions and um if they open it up um certainly I'll invite Mr. Paige and any of the administrators who would like to go there uh and start learning about it. legislation though like I >> well it's governor is the one who launched
>> Governor Healey's not even coming from Desi it's coming from the governor's office >> right but does it require any additional I mean it seems >> legislature actually was on board >> um at least the development so I don't know >> what they're operating on is that
there's still a federal law that you need a compensated termination and so you're now since MCCAST went away They're seemingly bringing this back as a way to hit or um kill two birds as the
saying goes with one stone. Um I think they were looking at uh having some kind of coordinated graduation requirements even before the um vote to um >> get rid of MCCAST and then MCCAST was
voted out. And so then they had to react with okay, how do we have competency determination and they started with some very um general guidance back in February I believe and then they became more specific somewhat later in the
spring, late winter, even more specific as they got into the summer and that's where we are. And then today we got uh graduation requirements. >> Yeah. I take away from it under that composite umbrella, they're
talking about proficiency. They talk about proficiency. That's what's going to I think going to end up being the state graduation requirements for coursework. So the completion and passing of courses and then over on this side they have this flowchart and they talk about mastery. That's where the assessment component is going to come
in. Um and just to hit he uh Mr. Smith shared this with me today. I went through it. I I skimmed it. I didn't like obviously go through with a fine tooth comb, but they were calling um the assessments end of course assessments. Didn't say what they were connected to,
but they specifically reference MCCAST when they were talking about these. So my takeaway would be that they're probably going to be connected to freshman and sophomore year end of course assessments in math, science, English, and social studies. So, um, so I would assume items we're talking about
tonight may have a shelf life of a couple of years as these end of course assessments from the state are going to eventually replace what we are proposing. >> So, um, but these are all just recommendations at the moment. They said they still have to get federal approval for them. Um, and then it'll go to Desi
for their board approval. So, um, we probably got a couple at least a year, I would assume. And they did coordinate with Desi. The two chair uh people were the commissioner and the secretary of education. So >> yeah, >> I think they have Desi's approval.
>> Yeah. So I I would assume there's going to be an assessment coming from the state that is going to be statemandated and graded. Uh it's just going to be connected to the specific coursework that they're going to outline as graduation requirements for those freshman and sophomore years.
But yeah, so with all that um uh so back in July before that we got today's notification um the state did outline updated uh guidance and regulations for the competency determination connected
to both that competency or that proficiency and also that mastery language. Um uh I don't have a formal proposal, so I'll just kind of talk generally. Uh the uh the memo that uh Superintendent Smith
and uh Miss Brown shared with you outlines uh how we plan on um meeting that state guidance um or requirement from uh July where we are um uh aligning our competency
determination to coursework in uh successful completion of coursework in math by students. um successfully completing algebra 1 in geometry in English by uh by successfully completing uh English 9 and 10. Um in science by uh
successfully uh we are focusing on biology. Um and then uh in social studies uh the passing of um US history. Um so uh so as far as the coursework goes um there there are some other
components of that outlined uh students like when I go to science um it talks about how students can also meet that requirement with physics and chemistry but we also do have biology as a graduation requirement here. So um you know so so students would always start
with that course first. Um uh there are some other components where you can meet it through like uh with the US history students can also meet that requirement with things like AP US history. Um uh but it is hitting at the
bones of what uh the state is al asking us to do in terms of course work. Uh we did consult with other districts around us through the LPVC. uh their proposals are very similar to the ones that we are proposing um uh both in terms of the the coursework piece but also the mastery
which I'll I'll hit on next. Uh so this isn't you know us uh just doing this in isolation uh but it is u coordinated and collaborated on with other districts um and and we are pretty much in lock step with what we're seeing other proposals from uh other districts uh putting
forward and and uh sending to the state. >> Ask a quick question there. So I I noticed and we talked about this a little bit in the spring, but um you have that benchmark set I think still at the student earning a 60 or above. Is
that what other towns are also doing 60 as the benchmark >> for the passing of the course? >> Yeah. Well, for I mean to you know I think you have the way that it's written here is um satisfactorily completing coursework. >> Yes.
>> That is tied to a 60 or above. >> Yeah. And that's what you're seeing in other districts as well around here. >> So the traditional passing of a for a course is is 60%. So when districts tell us that it's the satisfactory uh completion of course work, they're
saying passing of courses, my assumption is 60%. I think there was one district I saw where they said the actual number in the ones that we went through. Um but most of them are just saying completion or uh or passing of coursework. Uh so I think the 60 is implied. um uh which
would also be in line with our current graduation requirements anyway. You know, so if a student is passing algebra 1 with a 60, they would meet that graduation requirement by receiving those credits, but they would also meet that competency determination. >> Okay.
>> Um and then they would still have to move into mastery, which would second part of that. And is a student going to be able to demonstrate mastery if they've earned a 61 in a class? >> Well, for um the students in the class
of 2026, mastery was just the passing of the course. >> Um as we move forward, >> yeah, I'm talking about 28 and beyond. >> Yeah. So, they're No, they're going to have to um >> also show a passing grade on the
assessment if that's what the department has chosen. So then they would have a universal assessment >> um or they could go to a capstone or portfol port portfolio project based assessment. And so I think Mr. page is going to walk us through some
examples of what >> yeah departments are working on because that's what they've used their professional development time um coming out of August into September and then most recently on the November day was looking at what are the departments
going to do in terms of the mastery piece. So there um when we went through this process, we like I said, we we spoke to other districts and we focused on what the policy was going to be, that overarching policy. Um and the first
part of that policy focuses just on the completion of coursework. So that that passing of courses that we talked about. The second piece of that and this is what we've dug into at the district level um this school year has been uh that mastery component which is connected to some type of assessment
connected to each of these courses that are part of the CD. Um each department is taking a different approach to it. Uh what I like that we are doing is we don't have that one-off high stakes test that we are approaching but we are looking at um uh a composite score from
multiple assessments for for each of these. Uh so um for example if I look at biology uh they have a unit test in each of their um in each of their units. uh their plan um
right now and and these are all I think one of the reasons why we put different possibilities in all these is we are not honed in on the final ones because I think we have to make sure we do this right. Um but we are looking at for biology right now uh a composite score
of all of their unit tests over the course of the year. Um so averaging all those together to meet that CD. Uh in math they're looking at an average of the midterm and the final exam in algebra 1 and geometry. So the the two exams that they take um in um this won't
demonstrate mastery a composite score, right? So it would because that's not one of your the three you have final assessment, portfolio or performance-based assessment. You're not talking about that right now. >> So under that umbrella of portfolio is where we say that is that is that
combination of assessments are putting together a group of scores to demonstrate that proficiency is how we're looking at it. Uh, >> that's a portfolio project. >> Not project. I wouldn't call it a project. >> Oh, it's this wording. We should look at their >> Well, it's capstone or portfolio. Oh,
you're saying get project out of the portfolio piece. >> Yeah. And we could we could put that language in there. >> Oh, because we wrote this, right? This is our words. So, I'm just saying what you described is now one of the three as far as I'm reading. I know that it sounds, but >> yeah. So the the portfolio I concept is
a combination of assessments that you would put forward to demonstrate your work in that class. Right? So um >> would fall under that umbrella, but if you wanted to be more specific, we could put that piece in there. >> If I was to read this, I would think I could do a portfolio project and hand it
to you and that could master demonstrate my mastery. But that's not what you're saying that we're going to do. Yeah, we're looking at an average combin combination of com composite of multiple assessments and that average score would be the one that would demonstrate your >> So, it's not really mastery though, is it?
>> Can we can we create a category that does that? That's what we're going to do. >> Y and what would that be? Because we're going to have to um approve this tonight, right? >> Um you can uh do it over two meetings. So, we purposely put it on the first December meeting so that we have time to
revise. Um, it's due to Desi, I believe, December 31st. >> Yeah. At the end of the month, >> broken midnight >> or 11:59. >> I'll be here. >> Can we raise that 60? So
>> even if it's just a 65 because I'm just imagining a scenario where there's a student who's >> completed coursework successfully or satisfactorily and then has to go like how is that going to are we doing the students a disservice by defining a
successful you know passing grade as 60 >> and saying well now we're going to have you do this performance-based assessment and then what does that mean they're going to also >> perform in the D I mean I I don't I I don't know. I'm just something about that feels like a really low bar to me
to describe successfully. I don't know. I'm not saying that if you get a 60, you shouldn't pass the class and earn your diploma. I'm just saying from the state's perspective or for what we're being asked to do with >> competency determination and then as we transition into new ask,
>> why not set the bar a little higher? Where I would push back a little bit on that one is traditionally as a school when it comes to the M. This is supposed to replace the MCCAST. >> Yeah, >> MCCAST got voted out. We're choosing something to replace that.
>> The MCCAST test itself at East Long High School had a passing rate in the ELA side typically at 100%. Right? >> It had sorry >> in in ELA typically we would we would be between 98 and 100% of our students passing the ELA MCAST in any given year.
Right? That means maybe one or two kids may fail who'd have to take the retest. Um, but typically those kids would move on, pass the retest and and graduate. So, you have a really small percentage of students. Uh, on the math side, it usually if I'm historically just I don't
have the data, but somewhere between five and 10 kids in any given year might fail the math out of 200, right? So, it's still a very small failure rate. Biology usually was less than five. So, >> and may I offer uh one element to that?
>> Yeah. And where I'm just if I can just >> Yeah. Yeah. All I was going to say is that where the state put the threshold for passing was it needs improvement. >> Okay. >> So, they've always had it lower than proficient. >> Okay. >> In terms of >> meet the competency. So, if we're
talking about making that compy, where I just go with that is I don't want to create something significantly harder what than what the where our students were performing and passing the MCCAST in the past. Um, I agree we would want to see kids score higher than a 60 and
we can definitely push at the school level to try to raise those averages from year to year. But if we have it >> authentically, I mean, thinking about even that idea of the portfolio, I I think of portfolio as something else, too. I don't think of a portfolio necessarily as just a compilation of all
of the different assessments that you've taken over the course of the year or the course just put together. I think of it as something a little bit more robust that allows students an opportunity to be assessed differently rather than just that because, you know, you even just said like the final, the midterm and the
final, those are still high stakes tests. So if we're moving away from that, we're incorporating some other ways for students to demonstrate what they know. >> Maybe that can be somehow incorporated in there as well or even just in a in a small way to allow for, you know, some
some students who might even learn differently. I don't know. >> Is there a chance for students to demonstrate mastery other than normal taking of assessments? If we do a composite, right, then not much has really changed. Is that kind of your point?
>> Yeah. I mean, maybe that's the point. Maybe we don't want it to change. I don't know. But I thought this was part of a bigger conversation that maybe we were moving towards >> thinking about things a little bit differently. >> So where I would just add in is anything that a student fails, we also have to
create a system where those students can retake it. Right? So we have the passing of courses where if a student fails that course, they can um they can retake that course, right? The same thing with whatever approach we take for the mastery piece that if the students fail that we have to have a system in place
to address that. Um what I've been talking through with departments is we should have something that's in line with how how uh we see passing rates for our classes and also um with what we've typically seen historically with our students, how they performed on MCCAST because that should
be really with the spirit of what the competency is. Um, so if we're creating something top of that, I would say we might want to look at something that might be separate outside of the competency determination. So if you want something with a higher benchmark and you guys wanted to have that conversation around
um, you know, say raising the bar, the burger for the kids, I'm not opposed to that, but it might be something that exists outside of that competation conversation >> more requirement as well. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I don't want to create more work for teachers, you know. I just think I don't
and I'm not even saying raise the bar or lower the bar. I'm saying like thing that you know we've been talking for months now about AI and how everything has changed. I mean I'm talking more about authentic learning creating a different culture where kids aren't just obsessed about like what
what did I you know what is my grade? What is my GPA? But like did I actually learn whatever it is I was supposed to learn? I mean I know that that's not the culture in high school. I mean it's not just here it's everywhere. Um, so maybe thinking about how do we how do we scrape that back a little bit? How do we pull it back and get them to be more
less focused on the number >> and us too as the adults in the room and more concerned about is authentic learning happening here >> and and then it may be just as Mr. Paige is saying we might need another avenue
to do that whether it's you know ELPS graduation requirements depending on how many of those we can >> Yeah. And I don't want to put more work. I don't want to do that to teachers or administrators at all. I just want to think about this more comprehensive. >> The only reason I'm saying that is because as they put in this work and
we're getting excited such as social studies, which I think you were going to example is looking at all their document based questions and they were going to use that a series of document-based questions over the years as part of their mastery component. Um, you know,
certainly English would lend itself to a portfolio because you could do a variety of writing. >> Um, and so I don't know that they've made a final decision as to which direction they're going. But the unfortunate change which just happened today is that this will be
impacted by whatever the final um universal graduation requirements are because whether it's for the class of 28 or the class of 29. The assessment is going to be taken out of our hands for some courses and for
that matter the capstone project sounds like it will be taken out of our hands. >> Yeah. or whatever courses ultimately are designated, which I would agree with Mr. Paige in reading it quickly. Um it does seem like they're going to continue to
look at the courses that were part of MCCAST uh first and foremost and then move forward in terms of making sure that um every high school is looking at which we already do four years of um
English, three years of lab science and so forth. And so they're they're really trying to look at how do we coordinate that so that every high school across the Commonwealth is doing the same thing in terms of what their graduates achieve.
>> Yeah. So um just as as uh Mr. Smith was saying um we are looking at that cumulative or that that average score for those end of unit assessments in um ELA. Uh at the
end of each unit there there's a um uh summit of assessment and also in um in social studies where in US history they're using uh that document based question analysis approach. Uh so that they're playing on utilizing four of those over the course of the year that would be averaged together to to
demonstrate that confency. So um we did want to put in a space where the kids had multiple opportunities to score. Um because obviously if you have that one bad test, we don't want to have that be just that simple oneoff. Um uh but I think part of my hesitation is of you
know moving something outside of what we're currently doing for the comp determination is I think the state's eventually going to tell us as we're finding today what the comp determination is going to be. Um, like I said, I'm more than open to having a conversation about um looking
at our graduation requirements and seeing if there's something we might want to layer in that does raise that that bar. Um, for the CD, I'm just more trying to align with what the state's asking us to do at the moment. So just back to the district determined
measures. You're saying you don't want to put an emphasis on one test and have a student do but one of the bullets is a final assessment for the course or the passing grade. So that sounds like one assessment. Uh so in the state's recommendations and
what we saw from other districts uh they they offered those as three possibilities and when the other districts are putting their uh uh policies forward to the state they were listing all the possibilities. I think it was the poss with the idea that you could potentially adjust if you
found something that you were putting together didn't make sense. So you can let's say we go through this and we're looking at the product of what our students are going to be doing in English this year. We're like this isn't it. So, we have to switch it. It allows us to uh policy to make those adjustments as needed.
>> It just seems the things that you both described that we're going to use are not any of the three bullets, >> are they? >> I think we have to expand them just as you were saying. I think what we would these are the three examples, but if >> I don't think they fit what we're doing,
>> if we're going to use a compilation of assessments, we might want to add that as, you know, a fourth option. um which I think is is fine even with the template that the state provided us. Um and then just be clear as to is it a capstone project or are we looking at a
portfolio um and whether you separate those? The state did not separate them but uh certainly we can and see where they they land in terms of acceptance or >> is that what we're looking at as the acceptance issue with putting too many
alternate? >> It's hard to say. uh because all 300, you know, or so districts are going to send them in on the >> Yeah. >> on December 31st. So, we probably won't hear for a while. >> I Yeah. I'd just like to see what we're
doing is one of them at least. I know you want the option to go the others, but >> No, that makes sense. >> Yeah. You're you're saying out a fourth >> if you're going to potentially do the other three >> in terms of what the actual department is deciding on doing this year. It
doesn't lock them in for the foreseeable future because they have all three options or four if we add that fourth. But each department then can say, "Okay, we'll use social studies as an example." Um the document-based questions, you know, they can then let their students
know these are going to be what ultimately count towards showing mastery in addition to passing the course, your, you know, your grade for the for the year. Um this will be the second component which shows mastery. >> Yep. >> And so then what's the difference
between a final assessment for the course um and a performance-based assessment? >> So performancebased assessment um so a final final assessment kind of implies like u a test right performancebased
assessments where you might be actually performing something in order to get that grade. So science is a great example of that where uh it might be some summit of lab, right? So the students are going through a lab and um you know performing all the steps that go along with that and then also submitting uh you know that final
product to the teacher. That would be a good example of that performance-based assessment. That would be the final grade where you're demonstrating all your skills from the science course over the course of the year or two. >> What would that look like in math? Because I'm like I agree I'm English. It's because you have it here in the math and I don't
>> I think the template had it for all subjects. >> Oh, so we just kept carried template had it for all subjects. Got >> it. Okay. >> Yeah. You think the English department is looking more towards as what Mr. Page said um either a final assessment or a portfolio.
>> Yeah. Um and then that would be the direction they go. This gives them the latitude to do either. >> So, but but it's a good point to answer your question on math. or algebra 2 students. Uh they have a project where um they take uh you know those those
noodles from the pool >> and they build roller coasters in the hallway, but they have to map out the uh the different angles and um uh and graph it out and then also put the u the uh the graph into like their um did you do
this project? >> Desmos like they have to go Desmos make the equations the points. You can speak to >> I would define that as project based assessment in >> project based >> I love I can get behind that in every single one of these classes that I'm I'm
on board. >> Yeah. If you could call project based as well um uh if you wanted to switch language to that but um it would be the idea behind the performance would be moving away from that traditional test assessment and something that the kids might be actively doing. Right. that >> well it seems like that's what
>> I like >> the the idea is right for something different than just a traditional assessment. No. Yeah. Okay. >> But it just sounds like talking about a capstone a capstone project that >> you know most college students end up doing at the end of their you know end
of their college career which which encapsulates everything they've done over the last two or four years. >> Right. >> Yeah. Which I think is actually being confused. um probably here in this discussion but also by Desi because
they're linking it to a course. >> Yes. Um and they're not considering because when we go back into the 201s seems weird to say that but anyway um we were going toward some type of capstone
with the senior project. >> Yes. which was compiling a look at um you know how do they bring together it was mostly career oriented so it wasn't a full-fledged capstone but looking at how do you take the skills and some of the interests that you developed through
your four years and start to put it on um display so to speak >> to show growth >> correct >> um it was much more targeted towards looking at fields um for their careers at the time but that was the discussion
do we start to migrate towards a true capstone. What we're seeing at least from the templates we're receiving from Desi is that it's getting mixed now. You know, now what could be an end of course
project, summitative project being called a capstone. Um, >> should go and I think everybody's open, you know, whether it be the high school administration or a central office, we're open to those discussions.
We just don't want to get too far down the road and be told, "Nope, that's wrong. >> Can't go that way." Um, so I'm wondering if the avenue is just as Mr. page is saying do you look at graduation requirements and then in addition to whatever Desi says will be the universal
requirements ELPS will say we also want to have this um and and that might be something that we look to develop whatever this may be and maybe it's a capstone you know maybe we go back to that that senior project
of sorts because that truly is a capstone of looking at okay what do these four years bring you to in terms of your achievement, your interests, and where you want to go. >> And I think that that bridges your question with with respect to a student
that doesn't test well, that gets the D to pass, but is great at being able to just show you why they pass and how they pass. And they're and that tends to lean more on those students that have those hands-on skills. um they may not be able
to articulate it as well as others can. So they're not getting the A's and the B's, but I can actually I can actually do the work. I can actually do the project. I can do the science piece of of it. May not be as well as articulated in English, but I can do the work. And
employers, we all know that's what they want. They want to can you show me you can do the work? You can tell me all day you can do it, but can you show me? And on the flip side, you have your A student who can just barrel through everything and wants to get that 95 and that's what they're focused on, right?
But a project based something or some kind of end of course portfolio or whatever we're calling it would >> force those students to slow down, reflect, have a more authentic learning experience that isn't so focused on I need to get this number and move on, but
rather I need to actually become a critical thinker. >> Correct. tough balance to it is keep. >> Yeah. >> Um they supposedly in this graduation requirement document at least that's the beginning pages they talk about having
those skills critical thinking collaboration um problem solving and so forth. But then as you get in further it becomes more about the assessment and whatever the summitive project whatever
that shall be called which a summitive project certainly opens up your skill base >> um and assessment uh may go for certain very specific skills >> and then also test your ability to be test >> and I think both are important right I
think it is a balance Um we can expand uh and become more specific if that's what the committee would like. The template's very general, but um we can expand within the content areas so that we're reflecting where without
inhibiting, you know, their future um potential where they're going such as, you know, we know social studies has really sort of locked in the last two um professional development sessions around document based questions. Are they
calling it document based questions or databased questions? uh document based questions. Um and u some of the other math specifically is is more along well it may not be one assessment they're looking at you know
the average eventually of a few key assessments midterm and final at the moment. If we want to add unit uh assessments in we could do that as well. Um, is that where you'd like us to revise and then bring this bring this
back? That makes sense. >> I would I would rather you not go as deep in detail and give them the latitude to create something that is that reflects the whole student and not
just the, you know, >> excellent. Okay. But let's say what we're doing as well, >> right? I mean, I think in the each area what we have to do is, you know, we want to be >> we want to we want to use what the template provided us and the guidance provided us, but also if we add a
fourth, we become a little bit more specific in terms of breaking capstone and portfolio, >> maybe it's five options. And then what we can indicate uh as we bring it back is sort of where our departments are as
we move forward as we're pretty every district I think uh is well on its way with the class of 26 knows where the class of 27 needs to be. But it's really that class of 28 and beyond that we need to make sure that we're becoming much
more specific so that we can start to let them know this is what you need to be thinking about. Um, and this is what it's going to look like in each department. What we haven't uh gotten to is uh looking at things like the appeals
process. Um looking at how we work with students with disabilities because remember all these things were defined in the um MCCAST process and now what they're doing is switching all of that back to the schools until they tell us exactly what they
want us to do down the road. Well, so all the more reason to have what we're doing in the process because if we don't say what we're going to do and it's appealed, right? >> Yep. >> Correct. Well, the appeals right now are to us.
>> You want to walk us through terms of why don't we moving to that page where section three additional considerations um working with students with disabilities. Do you want to walk us through that Mr. Page? >> Uh sorry I closed the tab. Let me that back up.
>> I shouldn't say to us. >> Um they're developing actually a >> review committee. >> That's not internal or is it? >> No, it is internal maybe. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. Cool. >> Yeah. So all the stuff we're outlining is is local. Um uh so even when we are
certifying that students have completed coursework or um demonstrated mastery uh like we do now when we certify that our students that met the graduation requirements of be high school uh we are doing that locally when we submit this date that's not something that you know
they're um um approving. So, um, so same with this process. Um, uh, so with, uh, the sorry, we're on page >> page four. >> Section three. Yeah. Section
>> section three. >> Right. Um uh so whatever we we outline um as I was saying earlier, not only do you have to have a process in place for students to one uh demonstrate the proficiency by passing the coursework um
and then um uh passing that assessment. Uh you also have to have um a plan in case those students fail, you know. So, uh, whatever that makeup might be. Um,
um, if the students continue to fill, that's where the appeal process comes in. Uh, we have a plan for, um, our students with disabilities. uh where we have to ensure that whatever um assessments that we're giving um any accommodation modu uh modifications that might be within those assessments are
based on a student uh ongoing assessment of progress towards uh that those personalized learning goals. We have to ensure that also that student is uh working towards those goals and then um uh re receiving their FAPE. Um so um
uh just continuing to scroll down. Uh so if a student is uh continuing to fail um uh that's where the um the review committee comes in. Uh we also have a review for um late enrolling students. So students who may have transferred in
from out of state um or from other schools within the Commonwealth. Um, so there's all these different uh components that that might factor in when it's we're talking through whether um going through that compy determination
review. So um and with that review process u M correct me a year. >> We're looking to have this meet twice a year. Yeah. >> Once in uh in January and then once in uh June.
>> Once in the summer. Yep. Um uh so these are all different components we have to look at but then as we as we uh specified if we had to make accommodations where students uh assessments did have to be modified um that's where we may be looking at some type of portfolio approach to meet the
needs of students who may learn learn differently. Um but these are obviously these processes are still ongoing. So I can't speak to the specifics of of uh each of those within the departments but those would be possibilities here as well. Okay.
>> And walk me through um given that they've now removed MCCAST. Um if you go to the next page, we also have to provide um students the opportunity who previously may have not met the competitive determination, which means uh that they
did not receive a diploma, the opportunity to um request the um possibility of now getting a diploma. And that goes back to 2003, I believe. >> Yeah. So >> students
>> there not many um there there are some but there the students um when MCCAST first came in and the first uh groups that uh may not have met the competency termination on MCCAST even with the
retests going on their junior year and their senior year. Um we also contacted them in the early days offering them to come back and take retests when they were offered. So they had the opportunity as they left us um to take
subsequent retests in subsequent years and some ended up passing. >> Yeah. But but that does stop at the age of 22. Yeah. >> So if there was a student who continued to retest um and fail at the age of 22 um they could no longer test again. But now those students could come back and appeal based on the new language of the
law. >> Do we know who those students are, former students? >> Honestly, the best person to potentially ask this question would be Dr. Welch. Um, I know that she worked with a lot of kids who continue to test the age of uh of 18. >> I I had a student. What we have to do is
we have to advertise it on the website and have it very clear that students who would be looking for diploma based on the new >> um law. >> But here's the process >> who we used to always work with regularly when we had kids who
>> I'm saying if we have contact if we know these former students and have are able to contact them and they can get a diploma now. I mean that's life-changing for some people. Yep. >> So, and the chance of >> go through transcripts and see who got
um certificate of attainment >> because if that was the only thing they did not attain, then they would be eligible, >> right? >> Yeah. What we'd have to do is review their coursework, their transcript. Uh that's where this um review committee would also come in because they would
have to look at the um application and then go through the transcript and start matching up. Okay, you met all the other graduates. >> You have to certify that they did meet all of our graduation requirements over here, but they just never pass the MCCAST, >> right? But we've contacted those students in the past and say, come back and take the MCCAST, right? And then
they either do or they don't. So, we have those contacts is what I'm saying. So, those people that we offered to come back and either did and didn't pass or did not come back >> and are now eligible >> hold immutations and put together a list potential for someone to say, I now have
a high school diploma versus not. I think that's big for some people. >> Absolutely. >> If they're eligible, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. I I can tell you uh since since the COVID pandemic, we don't have any kids who have met our graduation requirements and not passed the MCCAST. Um
we've had kids who have come back and tested after graduation, but they have eventually passed. Like I think think of a student who um back in I think it was 21, he was 21 years old. He was like 3 months before his uh his 22nd birthday and he actually
passed which is great you know um that's the last kid I remember who was close to it. Um I can't recall from the years when I was assistant principal so we'd have to figure out how to go through those rosters from back then and potentially pull them because I agree if we can give a kid a diploma who should
have met all our graduation requirements over here never passed that state test would be great to hand him that diploma. >> Yeah. >> You know. >> Okay. So, we should be able to do um a query uh based on our school and then
going back to reticer. I'm assuming that it's it'll be a little challenging, but we'll we can start working on it in terms of pulling a list together of um basically students who received a certificate of attainment. >> I agree. Dr. Welch will really be help.
We'll do it off the top of her head, but um >> thinking that there may be 20,000 miss on that list, you know, >> now certainly she'll have all the students on IEPs >> and that's even a different process in and of itself because that was the um
the uh what they call it the portfolio. >> Yeah, it was the portfolio. Thank you. Portfolio. >> Yeah, MCAST portfolio. So we can we can start to put that that list together. >> Okay, great.
>> Uh so we're going to come back with this. Is that the plan? >> We will come back with um revisions to this and um back to the second December uh school committee meeting. >> Okay. So, and just to clarify the last
piece coming back, we're just adding language around that cumulative assessment approach that we're taking. >> That was the only Yes. change we >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. >> So, we're doing what we're say what we're doing. >> Yeah. and just
>> we'll update update where our departments are in terms of >> um each content area that's working and specifically pulled into this and we can indicate where they are with what they're thinking of going with and developing.
>> Okay. >> Doesn't doesn't say that they have to do that forever into the future. That's why they have the options. >> Yeah. But but where are they going to be for the class of 28? >> Yeah. Yeah. Unless so all four right now unless we're asking them to go in a
different direction is is going to be that cumulative assessment approach um for for all four >> document based questions. >> But what's the what's the point of all the other bullets then just to give us the option to do the other? >> So at this point none of it's been in practice. >> Yeah.
>> So >> are they the same assessments that we're using now? >> No. Some are being developed. >> Um some are being developed and some are in place. Uh but we've also never used this as a state requirement before. Um you know so in the past given final
exams in math we've given midterm exams in math but they have not been utilized to meet the state CD. Um so we might you know when we look at the data say we might have to reevaluate how we're doing this or how the assessment is being used. Um so I think that's
where we were just looking to keep some flexibility in there. uh because we have kids who fail the test but they still receive credit for the course because they've met the other requirements over the course of the year. Um >> well, you have to make the competency determination early before the it
starts, right? You can't change that midstream, right? You determine it as a department. >> Yep. >> Stick with it. Okay. >> Yeah. No, it's not going to be this thing where we hit June and we don't like the data, so we change we go back and retroactively do it. No. >> Okay. >> Yeah. But the idea would be work within the policy. So, if we have to revise the
following year, we could revise, which we probably will have to anyway. >> I would expect. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. So, we'll bring that back then. >> If we get to that point and the state allows us, they might say, "You're doing this anyway." >> Right. Right. The project for us. >> Yeah,
>> it probably will. >> Um Frank, anything on the robotics field trip that we need to know about? It's pretty. Are we >> on the agenda? >> Oh, Mr. Van request for the um team. Same as every year. >> Yeah, same as as past years. >> Able to go out of state now. What's
going on with that? >> Well, we haven't heard that we've become a compact. Um, so what would be required here is if a parent goes with them, they act as the nurse. >> We can >> You only have nine people on the team. >> Oh, for the robotics team,
>> right? It's easier to >> have that team state. it it has not been uh the one where it's going to get tricky where we still don't have a direct answer yet is um that Broadway trip for the music program which they know is potentially
>> so he's looking at possibly switching that and staying in state and doing play >> okay >> yeah they're they're I got a feeling we're going to end up in Boston at law >> they were supposed to tell us in November supposed to be finalized >> drive
>> yeah yeah because with that component is like every state that you travel through that >> I'm going abroad. >> No. So those two hours in Connecticut, you're beholding to Connecticut's rules and when you get to New York and Okay.
>> Okay. Thank you for being here tonight. >> Yeah. We'll uh we'll read address the other next week or next uh meeting. Cool. >> Thanks. >> All right. Thank you guys. >> Okay. Hey, up next we have the FY26 budget update from our assistant superintendent for
>> Hey everybody. So, um, attached as a financial update as of November 21st. I gave you your first quarter report. We didn't want to wait until the second quarter. We thought budgets, you know, budget is happening now. Um, discussions are happening now. So, this is as of
November 21st. Um, on page five, um, is where I have the spreadsheets. I always give you guys a write up here, but I'm not going to go through every single write up. I've made little notes. uh for myself here. So page five, the salary accounts are all in the top section. Um just as a reminder, um the salary
portion of the budget represents more than 80% of the operating budget, which is typical for most school districts. Um at the start of each fiscal year, the majority of salaries are encumbered in the accounting system and are reviewed and adjusted as staffing changes occur throughout the year. So as you start to
look at your um your line items here that I lumped together, the athletics, those are hourly staff, so you're going to see a balance there. nurses, medical staff, we have a lot of medical staff that are hourly employees. So again, you're going to see a balance there. Clerical, um that's contractual
longevity paid at year end. Uh custodial custodians actually get their longevity throughout the year. So I don't believe that that balance is longevity. I believe that that's more of budgeted overtime that just has not been um expended. Uh pair professionals. Um so I'm showing 170,000 there, which is a
pretty good number. Uh what I want you to know is we have two vacancies currently uh two leave of absences. Um and approximately one-third of par positions experience turnover every single year. So it's just what we have you know track that the data shows that a third of our pairs is just constantly
a change. So when you see a balance like this I just want to remind you all that we have over a 100 pair of professionals. Um you know we do pay a better wage now for the pair professionals. Um so these can add up pretty quickly I guess is my point to you. And um so far this year there have
been 24 resignations with new hires. Uh many times these uh positions go unfilled. It could you know we just filled a bunch um over this last like month. So that's why I see the balance there. Um the next one is your um uh news tutors kodas. Those are hourly
employees as well. So you're going to see a balance there. The teachers um it's 127,000 there. I we have nine leave of absence um requests. And what I started to think about also is I wanted to bring to your attention that as advisor stipens are lumped under that
section, but those are paid in half in December and half in June. So I do believe that that's a significant amount right there. So I don't see that number as such a large number as maybe it looks. Um the administration 29,000 remaining there. That's contractual obligations that are paid at year end.
Um substitutes uh daily rate is not encumbered. So you're going to see a balance there. I pulled out the permanent building subs for you. Um, you know, the schools are very happy to have a permanent building sub in each school. It just helps them significantly. Again, that's not encumbered. Uh, so that's a
daily rate, um, which is 125 a day. Um, so that's why you see a balance there. And the last one is committee and contractual stipens. Again, you're going to see that, you know, reduced down as, um, as these stipens are paid. So, I don't have any anything to bring to your attention on the salary side that I'm
concerned with. Does anyone have any questions on anything on the salary side? Okay. Then we'll move right into the expense side which is on the bottom side. So obviously this is the remaining 20% approximate 20% of your operating budget. Um I lump things into categories
down here just to try to make it easier. It's custodial and maintenance expense. You know you're just showing a $74,000 um balance there that'll be expended throughout the year. Obviously copers. Um, I need to look into the copiers because I I have to say um the copers
are way higher than 15,000 and I believe that I've actually encumbered money under the school choice account. So, I need to do a little research on this 15,000. I'll have more answers for you next time uh we meet. Uh contracted services. So, that's our big line item. Um it's the largest expense line item at
$3.6 $6 million which includes $2 million for transportation, a million for therapeutic services and about $100,000 for legal services. The rest is just miscellaneous contracted. You know, I do want to hone in on that therapeutic
services of a million dollars. Um, we've talked about this a lot, I think, especially since CO and um, I don't think we're quite there now, but I'm just going to plant the seed that I think we need to have some conversations about what are we really doing with these bodies that are coming in for
contracted services because we might want to have discussions about bringing some people in so that we're not paying out way more money than we could if we had the person in. But again, I we're not right there at budget, but I do want I think that's a big number and we
>> in as an employee. >> I I am saying an employee. I I think we need to talk about perhaps um uh BCBA's um behavioral certified Oh, I'm not saying that right. Um >> board certified behavior. >> That's a um those are, you know, a hot topic. Um they've helped us a lot. We've
had to plug in in certain situations. Um so I just thought it was important to bring that number to your attention. And I know how you feel about FT. >> Yeah, let's look at FTS though. Yeah, >> it it it is. So, and again, it's not my decision, it's yours, but it's my decision. I It's my um you know,
responsibility to bring it forward to you to just gently remind you about these big numbers and and they are real and the and I can bring you more data if you'd like to see um you know, what are we paying for BCBA? That's a contracted services versus what maybe we could get in house. Um >> we have the data. We sign off on it.
Exorbinant. Can I ask a quick question? And may not know this off the top of your head, but if you had to just provide a an estimate, would you be able to say a number off the top of your head if we were able to hire, say, a couple of positions versus that million dollar number that
>> like how much one body might cost us? >> Um well, >> or just >> maybe even just one. Yeah, just one. >> I mean, on average, um a BCBA maybe $90,000, maybe. >> I think that would be hard to little. I I think we would want to look into that because um
>> it would have to fall if you're hiring them within the unit A salary scale. You'd have to look at what um level of education they have and where that falls. So it might be we don't have any currently. >> We don't have any. >> We we don't have a BC.
>> I don't think it would million is more than 100 >> more than 100. >> No, it wouldn't be more than I don't think it would be more than 100 million >> spending 10 full-time people. >> Yeah. we're paying >> well we00s you know I never really foot too much
because co things things were there was a lot of uncertainties and we all kind of had to take a step back I think all school districts like what the what is going on and how do we fix this for our kids and and we're coming out of it and things are I do believe things are getting better we're seeing some trends
are but we're still not there we aren't and >> we're not going to be there either those things that were lasting impact It's longer than >> Yes. So again, I just wanted to >> um we've started to discuss some of this because you have at least one staff
member, there may be more who actually is a board certified uh behavior analyst as well as licensed special educator. And so you probably have some people who could slide into this. It just depends on the role. But to the point I think others are making, we have to look at
what's the cost savings. >> Yeah. in terms of where does it come down in contracted services if we offer you know what what does that schedule look like for this individual how many positions are you looking at that type of thing >> hire a full-time person for every school and save half of what we're paying
>> as well but you have more than just the salary so there so so there is a lot to >> there is there is >> that's why FTES is going to bite us in the butt and so if we can fit it within our existing number of FTEES it makes perfect sense >> we have not added FTEES for quite a
while and in a big reduction. So again, we're not right there at budget, but I just wanted to plant that >> you know what level services roughly. >> I don't want to say >> I'm not either, but I'm just saying Pam, we have to plan for that, right? And so if that's the case,
>> these talk about new FTEES is just >> right. That's what But if we can fit it within the number of FTEs that we currently have, >> we're going to need to go we're going to need to go above and beyond. >> You will not. >> But I also think we need to look at maybe restructuring how we send these
kids out of district and how much money we're spending on that instead of creating our own communities in district and saving money. >> And that's a perfect segue right into the next line item. Panela, thank you.
because it's out of district tuitions is the next line item which is $2.5 million in out of district tuitions. That line item was significantly increased uh for this year because we we had to do that in order to um sustain what the
direction we were going. Um so our vocational tuition uh the vocational tuition line item is currently showing a surplus of approximately um well showing $259,000 balance there at year end. So, of course, when we're doing the budget in, you know, uh, February, March,
April, May, it's way well, it's already done by then, you know, it's really like that December, January, February, March. We have no idea really what how the end of the year is going to be when all the everything falls down. I was able to do a $225,000 prepaid, which is why you see
a balance there in that um line item. So later in the year, usually the third quarter where I'm a little more comfortable where things are at, you know, I'll I'll bring things forward to you to request to do transfers. What is that going to be transferred to? I'm not sure yet. Will we be able to save money
that we've expended on school choice for supplies maybe and pay for some of it? We could I don't know. Is something going to happen with special ed? It's it's too soon to tell, but that balance is there and that's why you see that there. Um the rest are just your office expense and you know special ed um
athletic supplies. Um, so, uh, the operating budget is on target to where it should be at this point in the fiscal year. I have no concerns to report. Just as a reminder to everyone out there listening, our balance, our budget, operating budget is 36,895004. We have expended 11,195626.
We've encumbered 23,78037, a remaining available balance of 1 919040. Does anyone have any other questions before we move on? Okay. The next one on page six are your grants. Um I put the
prior year grants carried over into FY26 at the very top. Last time when I presented the first quarter, there was some confusion of what I what I have put there. So those are the entire grants and and where we're at with those. You'll see that they're um pretty much expended. So um then we have our federal
grants, FY26 federal grants and the state grants. Those are all entitlement grants, which mean we receive them every year. There's an application process like you have to fill out and tell them how you're going to spend the money, but they're really um entitlement grants and we get them every year. Um then we have
our private grants. We have just that one. It's from that tennis association for that $1,000 that when um it's time to rent tennis courts, you'll see that being expended. So the total FY26 grants is really $1.7 million. Um, and as you can see, the FY26 grants total over the
1.7 million. These grants are anticipated as part of the budget development process, meaning that the positions, services, and tuitions funded through these grants are not included in the general budget appropriations. Any questions on any grants at all? Uh,
your revolving accounts are on page seven. Um, the way the revolving accounts work is these roll over from one year to the other. So, at the top you'll see the FY25 carryover, then a revenue column, then expended encumbered, and then an available balance. I'm not going to go through
every single line item here, but I just I also put some highlights over to the right for you just to um remind folks that the athletic fees did go up this year to $199. That was a $50 increase this year. The ticket sales are now electronic via goof fan which charge a
dollar in addition um to the $6 adult fee. $4 non eastong meadow students grade 6 to 12 fee $4 for non-Elong Meadow 62 plus with picture ID. East Long Meadow students and staff are free with ID and East Long Meadow residents
62 and older are free with a picture ID. I just think people should know that. Um some athletic events may be higher such as the Thanksgiving Day event. Um so that's that's you know just 17,000 in in the athletic revolving. There's been no rentals obviously for the stadium. Um
school rental and miscellaneous accounts that's really the revenue you see coming in there is from JCC CAP which is the children at play program and the Willie Ross um that rents and also there might be a few miscellaneous rentals that occur there. the student mobile technology device. That's a self-funded
um self self-funded insurance program for student devices which has been very successful along with the line item below it which is the mobile uh the staff mobile technology uh technology insurance account again self-funded by the ELA. You'll see that $2500
there um which was a check given to the ELEA to keep that going. Uh the school gift accounts um the bulk of that is really in the ELA grant goes in there. So that was about $50,000 which is the revenue that you see there. Um tuition revolving account. Um
metabook preschool has currently has 14 fullday students which pay $6,300 a year. 13 half-day students that pay $2,500 a year. This account funds a teacher and two paras. And this is always uh brought in during the budget process as well. So that we talk about,
you know, can we continue to pay for these? Can we maybe add another pair as you know how how is the revenue coming in? So >> So you're 100 we're $100,000 less uh than the carryover currently. >> Correct. >> Is that concerning?
>> I'll tell you next month. I I'll look at that more for you. I'm sorry I didn't hone too much into that. I wanted to make sure I had the number of of um students accurate. Um >> because that means we've spent 100,000 more >> than we actually budgeted for. Correct.
They also pay a monthly payment. So it's like you get the revenue all up front. So that's >> that number may increase. >> It it could Yeah. And some are behind in payments, >> right? >> I see. >> Sometimes the students then um peer role model might then become an IEP student and need some services and it and it
switches. So it's a little bit, you know, flexing there. Flexing. Pam, can I just ask you going back to new ticketing system for the athletic events for those um folks that qualify for a free ticket,
do they still need to go to register electronically? >> Good question. >> Because when they get to the event, they show their ticket. Is that how it works? >> Yeah. So, no phone and it >> their phone, I believe. >> But if they show up >> with their ID, >> then they're going to be able to be let
in. >> Then they don't need to go and get the >> That is my understanding. I will verify that >> because I'm not sure how you Oh, do you have info? That would be great. >> My mom works the games and I think they just they showed their ID and then she just lets them in if they're over like
>> Thank you. >> Would it be all right for me to head out? I have a lot of >> Yes. Always is. I was going to ask you again. I was going to ask you. Sorry about that. >> Good night. >> Thank you, Kaitlin, for being here tonight. >> Does that answer your question? Your >> Yeah. I mean cuz that was not the
seniors weren't the only group or the 62 plus weren't the only group that get free rights and >> staff free with their ID >> with their ID. Okay, great. Yep. And um part of raising that athletic fee, we were um projecting that it was
going to increase um about $30,000 I think bring in in revenue for that. I also think um Gordon and I were talking about this with the electronic sales. We think, but I will verify that with um Kevin also that it has increased the sales for the games. It seems like um
again I'm going to jump >> we had a good fall >> just because it's easier to >> Yeah. You know >> monitor. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Um okay, what did I leave off? I did the tuition, right? Your circuit breaker account. Um the first quarter payment was on October 1st. I think you probably
remember that I had told you that. So it wasn't on your first quarter because it came in October. So, I couldn't put it on there. So, that first quarter payment was 514,325 plus the payment we got in the um the supplemental July payment of 123. That's where you see the revenue over there. Um
there's three quarters remaining totaling $1.5 million. So, although you see a deficit right there in the available, that's just because of all the incumbrance there, but the 1.5 million will certainly cover that. So, I feel like we're in a good place uh with circuit breaker transportation
revolving. Uh we're utilizing 14 buses for the 1360 riders this year. Uh the bus fee for those students that do not qualify for free transportation is 270 per year which equates to $1.50 per day. Uh we're still uh collecting from some folks out there that uh Secretary Cara
has been reaching out to them that we do need we're always willing to set up a payment plan with folks and certainly work with them and if somebody needs to fill out the um alternate uh financial assistance form, they can do that if they need some help. So there's there's avenues. we just need them to
communicate with us. Um so that offsets the budget also because um I reduced down the budget, you know, by approximately $100,000 to help us pay for transportation >> and there's still fees to come in. There's still revenue, >> correct? That's Yeah, that's what I'm saying. We still >> have
many. Yep. >> Uh school food s school food service account. Um reminder, breakfast and lunch are free for all students. Uh the lunch reimbursement rate is $4.74 and the breakfast reimbursement rate is $2.94. Um you see a a decent balance there. Um
it is a self-funded program. Lori is working on changing out the food service the count the lines the I don't know that's probably way to say it lines right. Um so those are you know up at like $75,000 a piece. So those add up quick >> times five or >> not enough. I think it was the three
elementaryaries that she was working on I believe. Um lastly, your school choice account. Um monthly revenue July to September was 18,195 for each month. In October, it went it increased to 27,254 and that's due to the October SIMS
enrollment numbers, which I think we talked about in the first quarter. I said that would go up uh once those numbers came in. We are expected to receive an additional $218,000 to this current available balance. So I see that is a very good. >> So that's a potential roll over there.
>> Correct. >> Great. >> Not in the entire thing. No school. >> No. And >> remember we took these supply accounts >> Yeah. >> school supply accounts and we're using we reduced them considerably almost to zero. And we're using um school choice
money but we're not injecting the school choice money all at once. So, the schools had a specific amount at the beginning of um the summer or after July 1 to start up the school year. We just transferred some more um was it the in
the month of November >> and um we'll probably revisit again in the new year to see where we are. So, what we're hoping is that we will have money to roll over because we're going to start talking about budget development and I think that we will probably need some money to roll over.
>> So, the next sheet I have in your packet is the school choice update. So, uh I wanted to uh remind everyone that during the FY26 budget development process, we strategized on how to reduce level services budget requests. One of the strategies shown below. I just thought it would good to be good to paste this
all back in, refresh everybody's memory about where we were last year and what we um had made some decisions to do um to utilize school choice revolving account for classroom supplies, office supplies, educational software purchases, etc. Uh we if you look where I highlighted in green there um utilize
$350,000 of FY25 school choice rollover and then we um utilize 100,000 of FY26 existing school choice revenue. So that's where the 450 comes from. So, I just want to remind you about that. There's some other line item line line items in there too to just remind you
like that um increase athletic 149 to 199. That was the 30,000 there. Just the miscellaneous items. Um so, I wanted to remind you about that. Then I wanted to say, okay, where are our expenditures as of November 21st. So, I listed out each school there so you could see what what
was put in there for them to to utilize the budget. Again, this is in the school choice account. and then what has been expended, what has been encumbered, and then the remaining balance there right now. So, I'm constantly Gordon and I working with the principal. Certainly, if schools need something, if teachers
need something, we're going to get it for them. But we wanted to look at ordering all of our supplies differently. Like, don't just order something just because you always order it every year. Let's really take a look look in those supply closets. Do we really need that? Those kind of questions. And I think we think that
it's actually slowed down the the purchasing. And um and we've also made it very clear to our leadership team that anything that is saved this year for school choice is only going to help us for the following year because the more we can roll over, the better it is for us during the budget process for
FY27. We're going to have to try to get anything that's been expended in school choice back into our operating budget or maybe use some of it and some of it back in our operating budget. So, um, again, I want to show you where those, uh, school choice expenditures are right now and then just take it down to that I
carried over from the financial report that I just, uh, showed you the piece down there where you can see the carryover, the revenue, the expenditure and encumbent with incumbrance, which matched the spreadsheet above it. Um, showing the $228,000 um, available balance. Right now, I
added on the projected 218 that gives us 446. I'm just throwing this number out there. Iund So, so if we have to spend an additional $125,000 for supplies, that would still leave us $321,000 to roll over at the end of the year. So,
that would be my projection right now. Um, we'll keep updating this, you know, every time we um bring forward a financial update. Does that all make sense for the school choice? Okay. And the last one, I'm going in the wrong direction.
The last one is Oh, where did I go with that? >> Yeah, thank you. It is right here. Too many spreadsheets. Um, circuit breaker update. So, I wanted to do the same thing. I wanted to talk about the circuit breaker expenditures as of
November 21st. So, what do I see in circuit breaker on the left hand side of circuit breaker and then Gordon thought it would be a great idea and I agreed to put the operating budget on the right side. You can certainly see the the whole picture here of these two line items. So circuit breaker, the
contracted services between expended and encumbered, that's a million dollar. Your out of district tuitions, circuit breaker, that's $825,000. You go over to the right and add in what's in those same line items. Contracted services, another $900,000 for operating budget. That's $1.9
million. out of district tuitions operating budget is 2.3 million plus the $825,000 from circuit breaker that's $3.1 million. These are very big numbers as you can see. Um $5.1 million uh for those two line items
with those two funding sources. Uh the operational services division also known as OSD sets the tuition prices for private specialed programs and also for services like onetoone aids in these programs. The OSD's analysis of the estimated rate of inflation for FY27 we
already know is 3.04%. So we already know that these all of these out of district tuitions are going to go up 3.04% at minimum. >> This current year they were allowed to go up uh 3.1 something%.
So um the last two years they've gone up over 6% and our chapter 70 has been roughly 3% change over two years. Last year we were 1.2 something%.
terms of the increase, it just it becomes more and more challenging >> and skewed towards um the the contracted services and tuitions in terms of what you do with your operational budget. >> So, I wanted to do that projection um
for circuit breaker on the bottom here. So, you could see I brought forward from the financial statement those same numbers and I'm saying to um add the projected revenue for remaining three quarters of 1.5. That gives you $1.1 million. I'm saying what if we spend
$300,000 of that projected? That would still leave us $886,000 to be able to roll over into FY27. And again, anything we can save here is just going to help us again for um the following um FY27 year. Just as a reminder, circuit breaker, we um can
roll over a complete year's worth of revenue if if we were able to um and and uh expend it the following year. So, whatever we can do. Does anyone have any questions? I know I gave you a lot of information. Um >> good news, right? Yeah,
>> I I do think it's good news. We are certainly >> better than we had thought it might. >> Great. >> Certainly better than we were a year ago. So, um I'll keep monitoring it. Um, obviously if I see anything, um, I'll bring that to your attention right away. >> Great. That looks good. Any other
questions? Um, if not, I would make someone to move to accept. >> I move to accept the fiscal 26 budget update. >> Motion made by Antella, second, second by Amy. Discussion. All in favor say I. >> I. I. Those opposed, nay. That carries
four to zero. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Pam. Up next, we have new business approval of the East Salo High School robotics team, a field trip. Okay, so these are the field trips that we were referencing earlier as we were talking with Mr.
Paige. Um you have the robotics team and drone team that consists of nine high school students and they are looking to do a series of um competitions that all fall on Saturdays and they start in
December and run through March. Um generally we have at least one parent chaperone go uh include and then obviously include the adviser is another chaperone but I think all the parents uh tend to go anyway um so you have a number of
chaperones to the question of um how we might work with this group that's a little bit more flexible terms of going out of state with um you know the potential dealing with any kind of medication um as long as a parent agrees
to go and be responsible for his or her child, then we're okay. >> And that they know this, >> they know. Yeah. Otherwise, uh that child, we would have trouble having that child go. Yeah. >> And was there a reason why they changed
this this law with the nurses? Did something happen or? >> Um that's a great question. I don't have the background on that. >> Yeah. is I mean it seems >> and the interesting >> headache and not every state in the
um sort of the 50 states if you will are becoming in the country thank you are in the union um are coming becoming compact states. New York is it says pending where on the chart looking at that
Connecticut, Massachusetts, most of the states around us are in line to become compact states and then we be able to field trips again. Don't know that New York's coming online anytime soon. So
that Broadway trip could be um on hold for quite a while. Symphony Hall >> downtown. Here you go. You do Symphony Hall. >> Can't even go to the bush now. >> No, you can't. >> No.
>> So, the the competitions are a compilation of New Hampshire and Connecticut locations listed below. Springfield, Vermont. >> Oh, yeah. Vermont. Thank you. All over the place. Lot of lot of robots
roaming around >> and drones. >> And drones. Uh, any other questions on the robotics team field trip? If not, I would take someone to move to approve. >> I move to approve robotics team field trips.
>> And second >> motion made by Antennella, second by William. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. I. Oppos? Nay. That carries 450. Thank you, Mr. Vanir. No.
Okay. Finally, the last item on our list this evening under new business, review of new policy on artificial intelligence. Okay. So, um, the policy subcommittee met, uh, two times this fall and has helped draft a new policy
regarding generative artificial intelligence. and probably um more specifically trying to just give uh a structure for staff, students, and the district in terms of how we look at
artificial intelligence, how we start to use even though we already are using artificial intelligence software. Um and probably the biggest element to this policy is the fact that it's going to
need to be looked at you know if not annually um often >> because this is a fast as all of you know a fastm moving arena um and the other I won't unless you would like me to I won't read the entire policy to you
but the other areas that I would highlight and this can be the first reading two meetings. We can bring this back. Um is that we're really trying to concentrate on um how do we do this ethically and how do we really outline the
responsibilities of all involved because staff have certain responsibilities both in how they're utilizing it to prepare for their day and prepare for their lessons. um but also what are their expectations for students who will
utilize this on certain assignments or all assignments. And what we need to do is really start to work with our staff and our department heads to specifically outline and post what our expectations
are in given content areas and um given uh given classrooms. So with that then we also want to outline what's our expectation for students who um use this and probably use this more regularly than maybe some staff members because
this is what they're growing up with. Um, and then obviously working with our IT department and that's going to be ever evolving because even though we have in here that you need an IT town IT department approved um, AI software to
use in the LPS, there isn't a specific list necessarily that's been put together. Um and so we need to as we're identifying what is being used, we need to make sure that our IT department, the town IT department is um okay with that.
>> I mean, >> I'm sorry. Is there a consequence in here if students do use AI as an >> what we basically have directed it towards is going back to the code of conduct which lists consequences for
cheating and um academic dishonesty. So we we aren't getting specific in the policy as to what the consequence will be. We're connecting it back to the code of conduct. >> This right here resulting in potential >> Oh, right there. >> Yes. second page the bottom
project based. >> I'm sorry. >> Have a reason to be proud, right? >> Right. >> Yes. Yep. >> Yeah. I think um and one thank you to uh um Menta and Mr. Strather who were on
the um policy subcommittee. So, thank you for all your insight in putting this together. And um you know, we need to get something and that's been Mr. Thompson's push for the last uh two years to get something out there so that we can start acting on it. But it's
going to continue to evolve. >> That's um email today from um Bayath uh and they're trying to put together and get some grant work in terms of how to ethically use AI to provide some um
courses. It looked like I have to go back and read the email more specifically and then respond. But um they're looking to we partner a lot with Bayath and so they're looking to us as one of their partners to um it looked like support their application.
>> So write a letter of support which I will do just on my own not use AI too. >> And the policy does actually support one of the new growing issues is kids now wearing meta glasses. Mhm. >> Um so they can sit with in a room with
glasses on mumble a question >> and it answers >> and then it answers answer. It's amazing here. >> Um so one of the questions that's a great great yeah >> um look like similar to >> questions that we
>> that's what mine are great question. >> Yeah. Um so one of the questions that came up in our discussion at the subcommittee level and then also as we talked about different things with the leadership
team is we had narrowed down um our packages with say securely and some of our uh security software. we may at c certain schools come back with that so that say
on the Chromebook where teachers can lock what they're looking at and so if we're looking at this slideshow then that's what you're going to be looking at you lock it and they can't go anywhere else be more challenging to figure out the meta glasses but you know
where we can put some structure and some security in place we're looking at bringing that back we had cut um a lot of our software packages back as we were looking at the budget >> process the PO for the high school. >> Yeah, >> they're the ones I had most of the conversation with. I think it's going to
start in the earlier grades too as communicating with the students and helping them understand correct >> you know more of just like learning for learning's sake too like they need to at some point we're going to have to shift the conversation because even now I mean I have two kids in high school
>> um I don't think that they're being academically dishonest but could they be I mean sure in any given moment and >> some cases they may not even know >> and right well that's what I'm saying their generation doesn't see this as cheating Right. Right. >> They just don't they don't think like they think of plagiarism as like cutting
and pasting something from the internet, not like looking up an idea and like take they they don't think that it's >> academically dishonest to do that. So I think it's a narrative shift and it's going to be like a massive lift for all of us. But
>> but I would agree with Bayath in in the fact that they have um are looking to use it in an ethical manner. Um, I think we're, and I think I may have said this here before or not, but I think we're still at the early phases. We're at the
early phases of this this beast. And it's really not something that we haven't dealt with before. And I I as I look around the room, maybe outside of Sam, all of us are not blind. Um, all of us sat too close to the TV >> as our parents
as our as our parents. >> We're young and we're not. >> That's it. That's it. since it goes to the TV, you're going to go blind, but we're still here. Um, so it's, you know, we're everybody's just kind of shell shocked with it, but I think Bay Pass is probably moving in the direction. How do
you ethically use it? How do you use it responsibly? Um, and realize when you're cheating and realize when you're just enhancing. >> Good point. I like blind joke, too.
Um are there questions as you uh looked through this and read it? Certainly you can bring back questions to the next um next meeting. There's uh you know not this there's there's not a desi timeline's
policy. So um we can revise as needed. uh we can answer questions, have further discussion, and then um when the committee is ready to approve it, we can then put it out to uh the entire district, >> which we should do soon.
Anel, would you like to wait that meeting because they already went through it obviously? >> Tonight. >> Yeah, definitely. And aren't we going to send it out to people? Yeah, we'll send it then send it out to staff first >> soon as we can get it to staff.
>> What I'll do is I'll start with the leadership team because we're gonna have to break it down >> um and then distribute it out to staff and then put it on faculty meetings and so forth. >> And I do think that it should be revisited every single year. I think it
has to be an annual look at the entire policing. >> You're going to come back next year >> every year in October. for the one thing that's intelligence >> because it's going to change like you said. I mean it's going to look completely different next year at this
time we're sitting at this table >> and I may as well >> huh >> I might wake or be sitting >> I just might in terms of what I might be wearing. >> Oh will be who knows shorts and flip-flops.
Okay. So, uh I would then entertain a motion to accept Do we have a policy number? Uh so, it's I J N DG. >> I move to accept the new um policy and artificial intelligence policy number I J N DJ.
>> Correct. Motion made by Amy. >> Second. >> Second by any discussion? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Those opposed? Nay. Carries four to zero. >> Okay. Out and students, right? That'll
>> Yeah. What I want to do is do a dive sort of of how we start to implement this with the leadership team. But um do some of that on Thursday when we have our next meeting. Then we can get it out next week to everyone >> in >> happy holidays. >> A few meetings. Can we have an update as
to what's been said to staff, what's been given to uh students and how it's going? >> Yeah, I think their first big deep dive would be the January faculty meeting because the December faculty meetings tomorrow. >> Yep. >> Depending on what superintendent does
with weather. >> I also think it would be easier to keep um students off of things like chat, GPT, etc. if we were a little more diligent with their phones. >> Yes. Yeah, and I did follow up um more
anecdotally, not in terms of a a survey or data. Um they are finding and this actually came a little bit through the the discussion uh before I think you arrived. It was premeating of the collaborative meeting that they seem to maybe the group in there anyway
following it. >> I think the group in there is probably following it. >> So So we have maybe some uh what do you call them? Out outstanding not outliers. outliers. Thank you. Um who maybe aren't. So yeah, >> I don't know if it's that. I don't know
if it's outliers. I think that the culture at least at the high school is that and I agree with you, Greg. Kids should be able to have their phones like Greg's Sorry, I don't mean to speak for you, but you've been pretty vocal that you think it's a acceptable thing like hallway passing time, that kind of thing. But I don't know that the culture
is like >> we don't use our phones here like >> Right. >> Yeah. Walk in the door, put it in the pocket. >> Yeah. I know that they're not the culture. That should be the culture for every student walking into every door. >> Yes. Every day. >> Every day. >> Cuz there's all there's already enough
easy like it's right in front of them on the computer. Easy to access the >> you know the shortcuts through >> Oh, we're moving in a direction. I think that's where you're going with the with the >> acts that have already been I think it's called the study act or as far as
policy. Yeah, I think it's passed in the Senate. It's waiting on the House. It it may become >> right. >> Oh yeah. But that's going to that's still us. >> Yeah. >> That's going to require us to actually be responsible for then creating the policy. >> No, but creating a more like whether be
more >> to actually enforce it now. We have the policy, but now we would have to enforce it a little bit more diligently if it became state law, which it probably I mean I guess it probably will, but >> other countries they actually check them in at the door. They >> they have little lockers and they put
them into the door. Everybody has to put them in >> and that should be the back >> then they get them when they walk out of at the end of the day building. Yeah. >> Just what you do. It's no longer a big deal because it's just what you do. >> Yeah. Which is why >> pouches are a way to go because then you
have zero variance between rooms just right in the pouch. >> Oh, the locked pouch you're talking about. And in that study kind of what that's the way in that study they actually had reports on how been effective. >> Yeah.
>> They're they're just going to outlaw Yeah. >> Outlaws. But then again, it's up to each district to figure out >> how you how to do that and actually teach and where to put the phones. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
>> Great. More to come. Always. >> Always. Take me with you, Gordon. Uh, >> I think we've come to the end of our meeting and if there's nothing further, uh, thanks Caitlyn for being here. I
would entertain a motion to adjourn when she was. >> It's on the list. >> Thanks, Kaitlyn. >> I think the whole thing >> motion made by William. Thank you, William. Back. Second by Amy. Any other discussion? All in favor say I.
>> I. >> I. Those opposed? Nay. That carries four to zero. Thank you. We are adjourned.