This government meeting is brought to you by Eastworks and our local cable subscribers. Call to order. There we go. Good evening everybody and welcome to this regular session meeting of the East Hampton School Committee. We are going to call our meeting to order. Uh, Bonnie Atkins
>> here, Eric Guyette >> here, >> Megan Harvey >> here, >> Sam Hunter >> here, >> Linda Marquee >> here, >> Mayor Derby >> here, and >> uh, Laura Scott present. >> Right, we're going to move on to our consent agenda for finance items.
Uh, motion to approve the school payroll dated April 2nd, 2026 in the amount of $672,173.78. >> Second. >> Thank you. Wait, is this the whole the whole consent agenda or just the >> Yes. >> See, it read both. >> Yeah. But is it?
>> Okay. So, we're doing Okay. Sorry. >> You're doing a motion. >> Second. >> Second. Thank you, Sam. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Abstensions. >> Thank you, Eric. Motion carries. Motion to approve the accounts payable authorization for payment dated April
2nd, 2026 in the amount of $610,15611. >> Second. >> Thank you, Sam. All those in favor? I I >> opposed extensions. >> Thank you, Eric. Motion carries. Uh, you're correct, Sam. Typically, I could have just read that as a title, but there were only two and that felt fine. >> That's okay. It's fine. It's fine. Go
ahead. >> Entertain a motion to approve the minutes from the March 24th, 2026 meeting. >> Second. >> Um, did you entertain a motion? >> You entertained a motion. You You say so moved. >> Okay. So moved. >> Second.
>> I'm trying. Va told me I had to go quickly. All >> righty. So Sam moved Linda seconded. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Abstensions? >> Okay. Nobody can have candy before the
meeting anymore. Okay guys. >> Uh we're moving on to announcements. Uh starting with gifts. >> Can I just go right to this part or want to tell the whole thing? >> Uh I would start with this and then that's the motion you'll read. >> Okay. Uh so Dr. Queeny Torchio is requesting the school committee vote to
accept the donation of $6,250 from the Mountain View PTO for the purpose of field trips and end of the year events and they want to thank the PTO for their extreme generosity. >> I one quick note to that. Tonight is
trivia night. The PTO's fundraiser I believe it starts at 8. >> I don't know. >> I might be telling lies. I think it starts at 8:00. great events and I think they're also planning a spring fling later this year and they've really their trunk or treat was off the hook. They're just getting better and better every
year. We're so grateful for their energy and their generosity. >> Um >> chair that being held. >> Yes. >> The the trivia night. >> The trivia night. The brass cap, I think. Thank you. >> You're welcome. 8 p.m. at the Brass Cat. Uh, do you want to
>> entertain the motion to approve the $6,250 donation from the Mountain View PTO for field trips and end of the year events? >> I so move. Thank you, Linda. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Sam. All those in favor?
>> Opposed? Extensions. Motion carries. >> And Walter Baker is not with us today. Also, real quick, oh, the East Hampton Public Schools uh took receipt of the World War I plaque from Terry Dawson, the new owner from of the American
Legion building. Uh Larry K and crew picked it up and have plans to install near the flag pole at MDS. >> That's awesome. >> That's a many years in the making. They came to us a long time ago and they stayed the course and then we finally were able to follow through and get that
um protected and preserved for the future. That's going to be at EHS. >> That makes more sense because the plaque, it's a World War I plaque honoring um the those who were killed and injured in World War I who had graduated from East Hampton High School. Um it's pretty impressive piece of local
history. And they preserved it for many, many years and then had run out of room to have a safe place to store it at that American Legion building. So they reached out to us to see if there was a place we could have it installed permanently. >> Yes. 45x60. So it's not like a plaque. It is massive and
>> it was it was too heavy to put in any of the buildings. The problem with it. Yes. Sorry. We figured it out. >> Uh we're going to move on to our student representative update. >> Henry, would you like to lead us off or wrap it up tonight? >> Wrap it up. We're going to kick it to
you from EHS. >> Hello everybody. So the student council has started to plan our end of year events. We're working on planning the senior barbecue which is an event we run every year. Um it's for all seniors to attend that has food, drinks, and outdoor activities. This comes after
their final uh final exam um I believe in May. And then we are working on planning stepup day, which is a day where the eighth graders come to the high school and do some activities, ask questions to a student panel, and get to explore different clubs that are available. So we're working on kind of
getting details worked out for that and starting to plan some of the events that will take place there. Um, we also started talking about some of our goals for next year in the student council. Some of which are better communication, more student voice, a bigger social media presence, and more council bonding. Two members attended the
Western Mass Associates Association for Student Council's bonding event on the 29th last month. This had some fun games and some ice cream. On the 29th, we go to the Western Massachusetts Association for Student Council spring conference. It's at
Greenfield High School this year and I'm running for the secretary position on the elected board. >> Um, so that's kind of fun and scary. On the let's see, on the 8th of next month, we have our final kids night out for the year. This starts at 6:00 and goes to
9:00 with arts and crafts, pizza, games in the gym, and a movie. >> And the cost is >> 20 reasonable. >> Super reasonable. >> Very reasonable. >> I think it's 25. I think it is 25. >> I think it's 25 >> in cash or check at the door. And then
for additional kids, it's $5 less for >> each child. >> On a real bargain. >> As for schoolwide events, the EHS drama club finished its last performance of the musical Annie on Sunday, ending with a soldout show. It involved over a 100
students from across the district, which included a lot of students from Mountain View. Um, it was also the first show in a while that had a live band playing which was conducted by Bob Cash and Gino. And the show was, of course, directed by the EHS art teacher, Miss Pace. Can we get a round of applause for
Annie? Everybody, raise your hand if you saw the show at least once. >> Yes. That's great. >> And then on May 1st, the EHS class of 2028 is hosting a pancake bingo night with prizes, many sponsored by local businesses. More info is to come on this
event, but the class of 2028 would like to invite everyone at this table to come and help serve some pancakes and help run some rounds of bingo if you are available. >> Okay. >> What day is >> We will get back to you on that. >> May 1st. >> June 1st. >> May 1st. >> May 1st.
>> Fair. >> Well, what was that again? >> May 1st. Pancakes and bingo. >> I love pancakes, so I'll be there. >> All right. Thank you so much, Jess Henry. >> Um,
spring sports started. Um, I know baseball and track and um um the um cast of uh Annie came to the middle school for a like small show of
their song and it went well. Um, and uh, MCCAST started for the middle school. We started with ELA MCAST. >> Condolences. How's that going? >> Uh, it was good. >> Great, good, great. That's it for now. Excellent. Thank you again, Henry.
>> Uh, we will hear from our students again next month. They join us every month to keep us up to date on the latest happenings at both Mountain View and Eastampton High School. We're so appreciative of their company and their cander. Uh, we are going to move on to public comment. If anyone from the public either joining us here in person
or remotely has thoughts or questions they would like to share, we'd invite you to step to the podium or raise your virtual hand. Seeing none, we are going to close public comment and move on to the district showcase.
>> Superintendent Bal, would you like to introduce our students? Um up first we I'm going to introduce um Principal Bise to the podium to welcome our first performer this evening. We have a flutist joining us. >> It's Floutus. >> Floutus. Floutus.
>> Flout. >> I was a flout. So I know how to sing. >> Tonight we have um a special treat. Um sixth grade student Silus Maddic. Um Silas is a very accomplished floutist. He uh not only um performs with our
band, but he also um assists Mr. Goule in teaching flute to a lot of other students at U Mountain View. So, he's here to play us a song. >> Thank you. >> Where would you like to? >> Wherever you are comfortable.
>> Can you see him? Okay, good. Uh, WOOHOO. THANK YOU. >> Thank you. >> That was incredible. >> Silus is a very popular um student at school because he has a really cool Australian accent. Um um also tonight we have from Miss
Kelly Bag's steam class some of their projects to um to show off. Um Miss Kelly Bag, do you want to come up and talk about these projects a bit? Thank you. We have some um eighth graders and some fifth graders. >> Second graders.
>> Hi, I'm Megan Kelly Bag. I'm the steam teacher at Mountain View School. This year I am teaching first grade, second grade, fifth grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade. So, I have a variety of projects that I brought. Um a lot of projects kids either bring home. In the
case of the bridge project, we we do break them because we try to see how much weight they can hold. So, I only had I had one from last year and one that was still in my room, so I brought that. Um, so do you guys So, the eighth grade is currently working on the tiny house project. Those are all the little
houses that you see, and they have a requirement to assemble all the parts of the house. They have a list that they have to um complete. Um, the two 3D pen projects our seventh grade are doing right now,
but a lot they weren't really far enough along in the project. So, I brought two that were completed. They had to research a monument and then they had to create the monument using the 3D pen. >> And then the little food truck you see over there, that was our fifth grader,
Elelliana. She um, again, she was on that project's in the middle and it's actually a collaboration with art class. So me and Miss Fcher are working together. They build the food truck in my room and they're creating the menu. >> Are you doing anything else besides the menu
>> and building food like out of like model magic and stuff? So they're doing that in art and they're building the truck and Elelliana's was sort of the furthest along. So we brought hers and what yours is a if you can't tell there's a little taco on top. Taco food truck.
>> It's making me very hungry. So, for most of my projects, um there's like parameters, but then they get like the creative um what's the word I'm thinking of? They they can choose how they create the project. So, >> they were super detailed, too. I was
like, especially the tiny homes. There's curtains and little rugs and like shelves. Like, it just I got very excited. >> And most of it's built just with cardboard and popsicle sticks and they just have to get creative. So, >> yeah. >> Um, and then I have the second graders
also using the 3D pens and they they made these little bubble wands and then we're going to go outside and have a little bubble party. >> Nice. Awesome. >> Do any of you guys want to come up and say anything about steam? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> We had a brother sister duo, the merits.
We got Bel and Jacob. >> We want to hear. We want to hear. >> We would love to hear your favorite parts about Steve. can go with Brooke and then Broo you about Steve. >> This is Bavia. He's these are two eighth three eighth graders, sorry, second grader and
>> yeah, take it away. >> This is legit the best part of our meeting. So, give us some >> Yeah. Yeah. >> We need you. You're why we're here. >> Uh I really enjoy Steam. It's very fun, very hands-on, uh, very useful for a kid
like me who can't sit still for more than 10 minutes. >> So, it's very, very fun. It's very like do it on your own, but still have like that like certain like what's the word I'm looking for?
Certain like things that you have to get done in order to get full credit, but mainly you just do it on your own and create what you can. Well said. >> I also like it because like we get to work with our friends and like the attention to detail that we have. Like
in my house over there, we made like curtains, a bed, flat screen TV. >> Nice. >> Could you grab your project and like show us? Could you show us? >> I was going to say I want to see which ones are yours. >> Yeah, because I can't see that far to see the detail. >> Oh, no.
>> Jacob, get yours, too. >> See? >> Oh, wow. >> I was wondering about that one. That is so cool. >> That is so cool. >> The walk of glory. >> Wow, that is so cool. >> And we can hear from the gal.
>> Did you want to tell us? I had a question about that. So, how often do you meet in the actual class? So, how many school >> you got some wallpaper? >> Cool.
>> We go there. Looks like a very >> Okay. So, you do steam leak every like a studio. >> Okay. And then so then in between the times that you're in the classroom, you're working on it individually.
>> Having your own apartment is not ready. She's not ready to move out yet. Okay. >> Where did you get where were you able to find all the little scraps and stuff that stuff that isn't cardboard? Where were you? >> Okay. So, she a good screen. That is so cool. So then, so then when you're
meeting every five weeks, are you doing kind of a check in on where you are with it or do you have >> Okay. Wow. >> Wow. >> Okay. That that's what I was wanting to know because, you know, it's really interesting when I see that we're able
to do and like really focus classroom work and then you work independently. >> Wait, can I take a picture with it? >> That's great. truck. >> I love it that it's like on a spring on that wall. >> This is like better than the Lego.
>> Yeah. >> Like the Lego food truck. >> Yeah. And you only have all the details. >> Stay out. Stay out. >> Obviously you're in. >> You have 12 wallpaper. >> Amazing. >> No, that's all of them. You have 12
wallpaper. >> That's cool. >> My mom's breaking. My mom's an interior decorator, so she gives me all like the samples that she shows her clients. So I she gives them to me all the
>> That's incredible. I was going to ask is there a list of stuff we'll always take you seek donations for? >> Yeah, I can I can make come up. >> Let me see this. Okay, so this we have to be able to hold something. Okay. >> I still have my
>> pop and do some stuff, right? >> That's awesome. >> Yeah, that's really nice. That's really >> Were you just asking Miss Kelly back about um donations? >> Yes. She said she could put together a list so that people can excel wants me to read her.
>> Oh, yeah. So she said they used they make the 3D pens >> and they made tents and then they put cotton balls inside and they were the campers and we they had to spray water over them to see if their campers could stay dry. >> So that was a fun little project we did.
And then >> everybody >> she likes science and STEM and steam is her favorite special. >> And was this I was so excited for steam this year. I'm sad I won't get it next year. Oh, >> we're working on it, girl. We're working
on it. >> Going to do our best. >> Real, step to the side so I can take a picture of you and send it to your mom and dad. >> Just hold it. Okay. >> Step to the side so I can take a picture of you and send it to your mom and dad. Okay. >> Oh, you come all the way over. Yes. Okay, good.
>> Oh, good. >> Oh, that's so cool. >> Oh, those are neat. >> I have another question. >> I just spoke with Mr. Henry who says he doesn't have pictures the one he did. So, are these photographed? because I think that that would be great also to have a recording of what the students
made. >> I love it. >> At the beginning of the year, the eighth graders had to create I called the cardboard carnival. >> So, they have to create a carnival game using cardboard. So, I actually I have a bunch of pictures of that and then at the end of the project, I'll >> Okay.
>> When they're done, I take pictures of them cuz I then I'll show the kids next year. >> Yeah. >> For examples and stuff. >> Yeah. Because I mean, we need to be able to have that record of it. >> Yeah. And um is there any else you guys want to say you've done in steam besides this stuff?
>> You should say something. >> So I have um different robotics that they use um two different Lego robotics which I do with first and second and then um seventh grade and then eighth
grade. They're called Vex. They're like these metal >> and they have to assemble them. Um, and they had like a little battlebot kind of thing at the end. Um, >> they did the cardboard carnival. I Is that all we did?
>> And we also have two 3D printers um that Jess taught us how to use when we moved into the building. >> Yeah. So, we're going to be using those again this year, too. >> And yeah, so so every grade I try to do a variety of different projects. I used
to be a science teacher, so I loosely base it off the standards. And then um but I've basically created all the curriculum and projects. >> Incredible. Really interesting. Every year >> teaching that broad a spectrum of students is no easy. We see that we
appreciate it. Get changed every year. >> Yeah. >> I have a sample size of three in my house, but it's all three of my kids favorite subject. Favorite thing they do at school. >> Thanks. uh even though sometimes they drive from Miss and I think I think it's really kind of important that you teach
that whole range because then I think that the younger kids see the older kids and what they you know they they could see what they've done >> and it's a way to look at development. I really believe that that's part of collaborative learning which is so important. >> Yeah. And I mean >> for everybody's mental health it would
be great and like our new budget had adds a steam teacher and and allows a little more differentiation in that curriculum. you know, we have new things are unfolding, but it remains a priority in the district. And so whether we have to take a pause or whether we have to skip, it remains a priority and we're going to keep pushing forward.
>> Yeah, that's great. >> Thank you so much. Thank you guys. That was really Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we'll give them a second. That was awesome. Thank you all so much for
coming. Parents, thank you all. Family caregivers, we appreciate you. We appreciate it. Thank you. >> You don't have to leave, but I'm not surprised that you want to. >> We are going to move on to the superintendent update.
>> All right. Um, in front of you, I have um an update on our three goals. Um, I'm going to be talking a little bit more about goal one, the middle school transformation. But I think, you know, just what I wanted to highlight here is, you know, this process of making, um,
datainformed decisions using things like survey data, assessment data, accountability data, um, and talking with families and caregivers to make decisions, um, and to really ground it in, you know, sort of a holistic view of what we need to prioritize. and then
thinking that, you know, our middle school was sort of the the point where we we saw, and we'll talk a little bit about this in just a minute, um you know, some great need for um some change. Um so I'm excited to share that out in a little bit. Um goal two, we had
our first um strategic planning session. We had about 25 people come. It was awesome. Um great session. We looked at data. Um they looked at data sets from family surveys. They looked at data from um the student summit that we had the
superintendent's entry findings MCCAST data and what we did is we did a notice and wonder protocol around the data and we started to you know identify themes and trends that emerged out of that data. So we have our next strategic um
strategic planning session um at the end of April. Um so I'm really excited to try to you know fine-tune what are our pillars going to be. So, what are our three to five strategies that we're going to commit to over the course of
the next 3 to 5 years to um to to prioritize and to streamline and you know when things come up we can say you know what we have our pillars and we need to really focus on our pillars. So excited about that work. Um, goal three,
um, this is, uh, we're excited. Um, Gene Libby is working so hard on our parent square platform and we just started having conversations about, um, busing notifications coming through Parent Square. So, we're our next phase is to work with our transportation provider,
Durham, to see how they can give because right now they just give us pieces of paper and then we mail pieces of paper. So, how can we sort of get all the busing information on parent square and delivered electronically so you don't have to worry about losing the letter or whatever it is. So, we we want to move
to electronic when we can. >> So, um those were my my three goal updates um so far, but I think that we'll primarily focus on the middle school transformation um for this part of the meeting.
Um B update B um here is the assistant superintendent position. Um so I'm very very excited about this. Um when I joined East Hampton Public Schools, I had a conversation during my one-mon transition with Moren Benenda and she
said, you know, if you can do one thing, I need you to um make convert Julian's position from um director of curriculum and grants to assistant superintendent. You really need her. And I said, "Okay." Um, and I spent the next, you know, sort of 10 months um, working alongside
Julianne. She was she's been in instrumental in this middle school transformation. She has been um, side beside me on sort of every decision making and, you know, just thinking about where we are right now, thinking about, you know, the needs of the
district in sort of the leadership capacity. um changing her title from director of curriculum and grants is something that I I'm encouraging us all to support this evening. We need her. Um she is an unbelievable member of the
central office team. She's been here since 2016. She leads with heart. She's so smart, passion, compassion. Um and she will be able to represent. So if I'm spending, you know, two days next year at MBS, somebody here has to be
representing the office of the superintendent and that is going to be Julian if um we all vote and decide that that's the way forward. So this is um this does not have any budgetary implications, but it does have roles and responsibility implications and um just
thinking about expanding and what we need next year with some new administrators and support. I think this is the right decision for our students, family, and our staff. >> Do we have any questions on this or are we just going to do a roundroin love fest?
>> Sam, would you like to >> do Do you have a question? >> No, I have no question. I have a love fest. >> Um, okay. Go ahead. You can start >> about um without a doubt in the in the last I was unschooly for two years previous to this term. >> Let me have you pause. Julianne, can I
make you even more comfortable and make you stand at the podium? >> So, I couldn't see her and I was like, >> she's behind the TV. >> Yes, you can stand here. >> I remember one of my first school committee member meetings and Julianne gave a presentation at that time. It was
about data. It was about college advice. It was about getting our students into colleges. It was about scores. There was a lot of data in over there. And I have a background in test prep. That is what my main background has been in for years. And I remember we had a a
wonderful discussion about where we saw our students and how our students were. And when you say lead with heart, but having facts and data and information behind that, I couldn't be happier that
you are going to go into this position that's in my love fest, but I'll continue it privately with you at some point. Who would like to go next? >> I can jump in. So, I'm I'm So, um you started in 2016. It was my first time on
school committee um at that time and I um I I just feel like it's been it's been really cool to like see your role in the district evolving and um to get to sort of be a little bit of a part of that. Um you have you you you clearly
like have a passion for data and have a passion for um standards and just like really kind of thinking of that big picture, but you also like really uh have uh well like you just said like you really have a heart and like a real connection with students and with
families. Um and I appreciate that you have you have really high expectations for everybody who works in this district and you have really high expectations for us on the school committee as well. and I feel I always feel very like held to a high standard when we're working with you. So, I appreciate that. I think that um you've done a great deal of good
in this district and I can't I can't imagine it without you honestly at this point. So, thank you and also thank you for taking on this role with um increased responsibility and no uh raise in pay uh because that that's like that's significant and um that means that means a lot you know >> that's the hard part.
>> Yeah. >> Mayor, do you have anything? >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. Revity. >> Eric, >> that was just going to be my question. Is there any of her roles from the current position going to be delegated to anyone else? Because it is seems like
she's taking on more responsibilities or is it just something that she just said, >> "Sure, I'll do I'm already doing it." Like most people in education are already doing 10 things more than they're supposed to. So, is this kind of >> She is already doing >> taking more. She's doing the things that she's going to be under her title now,
but she's already doing them. >> Yes. and and you know, I think um being a voice for me when I'm not here, you know, when if I'm at a building or whatever, I think is really important. I think it's hard. You come in here and you're looking for somebody. Um it it's important that we have sort of this
office um staffed really well too to support our families. >> And I would say thank you for acknowledging that this is what she's already doing. Thank you for obviously doing it, but also just being smart to see that someone who's this committed, has been here this long, if you don't do these types of things, then there's lots
of other places to go to. So, thank you. >> Well said, >> Megan. >> Yeah, you just have navigated helped us navigate through some rough waters um and stuck with it and kept the like positive attitude and pushed our
district forward. I'm thrilled. I I had no idea coming to Disney that this was happening. I'm thrilled. This is a great um update for our district. So well served. >> Go ahead, Bonnie. >> I am absolutely delighted. I had the um
the great fortune to meet Julianne when I think you must have just started. >> I did. Yep. That was Yep. >> Um so it was in your first year and um my child at Jess was actually in first grade at that time. >> Yep.
And um hard to believe. And what was so extraordinary is in meeting Julianne, I absolutely knew um that throughout my kids time in East
Hampton, if I had questions or concerns across the board, I could go to her. It was completely clear that um she was powerful, knowledgeable
and extremely supportive and so I am delighted truly. >> Well said. >> Jess, do you remember first grade? >> Yeah. >> How come you don't remember anything?
>> This is great. It's great. Um, our district has the very good fortune of being led by a gang of incredible women. >> And Julianne is one of those women. >> She is a superstar. She's an incredible
heart. She's whips smart. She will dive into the data with you all day long because her love of education and learning is just there. To see Julian in the presence of young children is incredible. like she just some of us will get touched out or tapped out
through this work and I will look at Julianne and I see somebody who draws energy from it and she is a gift and I'm so so grateful and um and it's not it's no small thing to um continue to accept
increased responsibility and in these difficult times acknowledge that we can't unfortunately offer you more money for that but that we love you endlessly and we're so grateful for you. Thank you, Julian. Thank you. Okay, that's enough embarrassing. You can You can run away if you want to.
>> I couldn't have withtood that. I'm so impressed. Well done. >> Back to you, Dr. Bos. >> All right. Uh do you want us to a formal vote? You have to vote for that. >> I will entertain a motion uh to convert the job title for uh Jul Oh my gosh, I
almost said Julia Marquee. My dad >> um to uh convert the job title for Julian Leven to assistant superintendent. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Sam. Can I get a second? >> Seconded. >> Thank you, Megan. Do we have any question, comments, discussion?
>> We did it. >> I think we did that. All right. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Absent? Motion carries unanimously. This applies to no one. Thank you, Juliana. Excellent. Um the next agenda, the next
item in your packet is ourou for signature. Um ran it by our council. Um it looks good to go. It is for us to partner with Smith College to be our reunification site in case of um an any
emergency where we need to leave East Hampton. Um it is part of our redesigning and revamping our safety plans for the district. Um so they have agreed that if there were to be a catastrophic event in East Hampton and
we needed to hold to move students and bust them to a site outside of East Hampton um because our schools are so close if something happened. um they have agreed and we're going to work with them over the next couple of months to
identify what the plans look like, what the process looks like, what our bus company I've already started to put together the pieces, but thisou solidifies our partnership and we are so grateful for Smith College to um step up and to help us in this and you know
they're they're fully on board. It was such a great meeting um to work with them to discuss what this means and um to have a site a safe and secure location. So we >> easily accessible high elevation. That's great. >> We use the I love you guys sort of
framework for safety protocols in the schools. We revisited our safety plans this year, but this is sort of the next step in having um this solidified partnership so we are not sort of acting in the moment. Um special thanks to um
the fire chief and um east um eastampton um police department for helping us also work through some of this and they will be part of our plans for the reunification meetings moving forward. So it is um a real municipal
effort to make this happen and to figure out all of the things that we need for this. >> That's great. >> So um we'll sign that. Um, but I did want to bring it forward to the committee to let them know that this was happening. >> Thanks for setting that up. It's the stuff you don't want to have to think
about, but I don't know. Did we have it in place? >> Did we have a previous agreement? >> Um, or did we just not have one for that before, right? >> Um, we had an arrangement, but no formalized um,ou process.
>> Good good thing to check off the list. >> Yeah. Yes. >> Great. All right. Um, back up. We have Julia Le. Oh, can I I'm sorry. Can I call you assistant superintendent Julia
Leven here um to present um the EL audit and our ESSA monitoring. So, um this is the year of our DESIE review um all ways, shapes and forms. Um, and what
happens is, you know, we're they do these formal review process. They look at our all of our programs. They look at our data. They look at um our programming, our schedules, and they do a very comprehensive audit. Um, so here we have um our EL audit and uh results
which um Julianne will go through and then talk about our ESSA monitoring as well. >> Yep. Um so yeah, we have a few audits going on this year. Um, I'll first start with our office of language acquisition, uh, desk review and virtual visit. Um,
so this is specific to our English language, uh, or I'm sorry, our English learners in the district, our multilingual learners. Um, and we do, yep, once every six years, we have this audit. um this year because we are a low incidence district which means we don't
have um we we have fewer than 100 students um who are identified as multilingual learners um we had a desk review and a virtual visit so they didn't come on site >> sometimes they do this time they didn't um so our timeline was that we had a
self assessment um that our uh EL department put together and submitted in October um our EL department right now consists of um a full-time teacher at the high school, a full-time teacher um who serves 4th through 8th grade, and a full-time teacher who um serves K 1, 2,
and 3, and then a PAR educator um who also supports K 1, 2, and 3. Um the idea behind uh the Office of Language Acquisition timeline is that you um you want to have a student who's learning English exit the program within six years. So, we're always looking for that
um trajectory for our students is we're going to get you through this and then we're going to get you out um in six years. So, a lot of what they're looking at is does the program effectively meet that guideline. Are we are we implementing in the right way? Are we monitoring in the right way? Are we
exiting in the right way? Um so, those are the pieces that they're looking at. That's was all in our self- assessment. They also do a student record review. Um and that's basically looking at our um cumulative files and making sure that we're doing all the right paperwork. Um
it's a very compliance driven um audit. Um and then we had interviews uh on in February and they interviewed some of our EL teachers, some of our general ed teachers, um me, that's probably who they interviewed.
Yep. Um and then uh they gave us a draft report and then we um got the final report I believe. Um the school committee chair Scott received our final report. Um so we'll need to uh accept that final report and um I'm going to tell you what's in it right now so that
you know what you are accepting. Um this is so there are 12 indicators. These are the first uh six that we were completely in compliance with. So these six we didn't have to do anything additional. But there are some highlights that I'm really excited about
because if you were here 6 years ago when we did the last audit um we were not compliant in these six indicators. So, uh to say that we've done a lot of work is really an understatement. Like our EL program is a completely different program today than it was 6 years ago. Um and it yes, it's
really awesome. Um yeah, I can't tell you. It's it's really something I'm very proud of. Um I try to tell the teachers that every day because they're really an incredible team. Um so identifying um our ELEL's uh when they come into the district uh is is fantastic. Um EL4
parent empowerment. This is something that um we were really struggling with 6 years ago. It was around um interpretation and translation and just not having good systems for getting interpretation and translation. Um and now we we have those good systems. Um, and so that feels really good that we
can partner with parents in their language, um, and not feel like there's a barrier to having them be equal partners in their child's education. Um, uh, EL5 is about, um, students who may choose to opt out of multilingual, the multilingual program. Um, they're
still multilingual learners. What is happening? >> I'm not touching. >> Um, still multilingual learners. We still um, support them and monitor them, but they don't >> here just so you know. >> Okay. Thank you. um but they don't necessarily um participate in specific
ESL lessons. Um follow-up support is for students who exit out of the program hopefully within that six years um and then we continue to progress monitor them for another four years um because that's the right thing to do. Um the
Elite 11 is about the access assessment and um last year we just got excellent excellent growth on our access assessment. Um we exited more students than we've exited in a while. Um it was just a beautiful moment for the
department to be like right we are actually doing this well and the results are showing. Um and that's so important for our educators. It's one thing to like feel good about your job but to know that you're making a difference for children in your job is actually what
prevents burnout. Um, and so that's really I I'm hoping more and more to to be able to communicate with teachers like what they're doing that's actually changing things for students um so that they do feel um effective in their positions. Um and then the state accountability
assessment is about um participation in MCCAST or our EEL participation in MCCAST which also went well last year. So there are six indicators that were not as good and um they're not a surprise. um we went in knowing and we actually claimed this one as a finding
before um like in our self- assessment. >> Um so the issue is twofold. Um we just implemented a new literacy curriculum in our English for I'm sorry for our elementary school and we haven't aligned it to our ESL program and so that's happening this year but we didn't have
anything to show in October in our self assessment that showed that that work had been done because it hadn't been done. >> So now we're doing it. Yep. Um, the other issue is that we don't um quite have with with ESL lessons. It's nice to be
able to group students who have um similar language development um together. We don't have a staffing model that allows that. So, our staffing model is very grade level based right now, but there are students who come in who are speaking um the same level of English
maybe in first grade and fifth grade. those two people in the same classroom is is where you'd want to be. So, you'd have that um peer support and you'd have um that language development, but that's was just not possible with our schedule and our staffing. So, oh,
and the other piece of that is um that we currently do not provide services in preschool and the services in kindergarten um are mostly done by a PAR educator. So uh as you know in the budget one of our um asks was to transform one of our the EL para
educator position into an EL teaching position um which would address that. Uh the last one is um within the last six years um I don't know if you remember but there was like a thing that happened historically for everyone in
the world and it happened to us as well. Um and it meant that there were some pieces of the documentation that did not get done perfectly. Um so I'm fully blaming CO on a few pieces of paper that did not make it the way that they should
have been done. >> Yep. We've fixed that. We now have really good documentation um of yeah of our students and co I think I mean I think everyone sort of
>> and it's like a report card right or a translated report card. We know the information got sent to families. It just didn't end up in the child's cumulative folder >> um in paper form. We have the records
online. Yep. And they were sent but it is things like that. >> We have such a small group of students too that you have one or two errors like that and it makes it look like a bigger >> Yeah. Yep. They they give you the names of >> files. Exactly. >> So,
>> Yep. Um this one is also a compliance issue. Um this one is about timing. Um there's a 10day uh you have 10 days when a student who could be an EL um enters your district and you notify the parents
that they will be screened um and could potentially be an EL. Um and that doesn't always happen in 10 days. Um it in our records it usually does. I'm going to blame it again on CO for the last 6 years it did not every time
happen within the 10 days. >> Right. Mhm. >> So, we'll try to do better and make sure it happens within the 10 days. One of the pieces um that I'm proposing for that um additional teacher is that you would have one ESL teacher who for any
student who comes in with a home language survey that indicates screening. Um they would be the person who meets that 10day requirement. There' be one person in charge of every entry like transfer midyear um so that we can make sure that we're not missing that 10
days. Yeah. >> Um this is a reminder, a gentle reminder from Desessie um to make sure that all of our career vocational technical teachers are also SEI endorsed. Um all of our uh non-career vocational technical teachers are SEI endorsed. Um
but we have a couple pathways at the high school um where there are EL students going through the more technical pathway and those teachers are not always consistently endorsed or I'm sorry have not always been consistently endorsed in the last six years. Right. >> Um the professional development plan,
this one I'm going to figure out. Um we're really small district. Um but we are required to give our teachers um opportunities to earn 15 professional development points in um sheltered English immersion, which is the e e
program that we offer. Um and I don't Yeah, I don't know what to say about that. We're going to figure it out. >> We will. We're going to try to figure out a way to maybe have um a PLC that's offered consistently um or something. What we've been doing is asking people
to go out of district and Desi reminded us that um we actually do have to provide it in district. >> So, we're going to do that. >> I love those unfunded mandates. >> Yes. >> It's 15 for um MLL and 15 for special education. >> Yeah. And we have to Yes. So, we have to
provide both. So, um so yeah, we're going to figure that out. >> We will. Yep. Um and then the last one was what um is is the secondary part of what Michelle was talking about. Um which is the cumulative files. Um just that like hard copy is not what we're
doing a lot for files these days. So when we go to take these cumulative files um they're not always in like the perfect order. And um again like all the documentation is there. I'm not worried about any of it. Um but it's not in like the perfect consecutive order that
Desessie would like. >> Right. Okay, that was it for the um EL findings. So again, all of those are really um easy to address except for staffing.
>> So yeah, that's the that's the only one I'm stuck on. Well, I think the PE the professional development we're we're working through, but yeah. Um, but also one of the other things that we'll get with our corrective action plan is support from DESIE to figure out how
does a small district offer 15 PDPS in sheltered English immersion and 15 PDPs in special education to every educator without a professional development department to do that. So, >> um, okay, this is the next one.
Every Student Succeeds Act, uh, is also known as ESSA. It was originally who was who originally certified it? >> Yes, >> this was the Biden, right? >> No, >> because this was this came after No
Child Left Behind, right? This was the >> I think it's Obama. It was Obama. >> It is. Thank you. This was originally of No Child Left Behind. >> That's right. That's right. Three dogs of No Child Left Behind. Yeah. Um so the three um programs that we run under the
ESSA um program is title one which um for us because we are at the 40% lowinccome um rate for our student population actually it's for the I'm sorry it's for the city population um we have uh I'm sorry city population of
children between the ages of three and 18 if you want to specific >> okay >> um so we have a schoolwide program which means that um we are able to hire um interventionists with that money that um can see any student in the school building um and deliver literacy and
math intervention. Title two is the educator development um funding. That's for us we use that entirely on contracts for professional learning and teacher leadership. Uh title four is has three uses that you
can um apply for funding for well-rounded education, safe and healthy students and effective use of technology. Um so that one we've been using for um promoting activities aligned to our um multi-tered system of
supports um the implementation of MTSS >> um and um it was the best >> wonderful >> yeah um I have to say that our our title one um the people who work for the title one program our literacy and math
interventionists the teacher leaders that run our PLC's like everyone that we um pay for through this funding makes it a delight to run these programs. Wonderful. >> So I am was not terribly surprised but was very delighted that um Desi agreed
with us that we were in full compliance on all of the indicators. >> Um yeah, I'm really proud of that work. >> Great job team. >> Yeah, really really such an incredible team um who does that. And our last sort of oddity thing um for
today is our bullying in uh bullying intervention and prevention plan. >> Um so bullying prevention and intervention actually happens every 2 years. So a couple years ago I was up here we were talking about it. Um and now it's on our website. Our draft is on
our website. We went through um a pretty great process of engaging with the school councils um meeting with the leadership team, going through um several different versions of what could make the plan just easier to read. Um it
was very I think there were pieces that were convoluted and there were pieces where like there just wasn't a clear like this then this then this then this. So we added those all right to the front. >> So as soon as you open it up Oh, actually I was going to show you that. Um, I did want to show you just how to
navigate there so that everyone can see. You go to our website, students and families, bullying prevention, and this is our page. And there are two things I want you to see first that this 2026 to Oh, you
can't see that. >> Yeah, we can. >> Oh, you can. Okay. >> Yeah, great. 2026 to 20 um 28 draft uh Whoops. plan right here. So, that opens up into this beautiful PDF. And like I said, right from the beginning, there's
a quick guide of just here's what you need to know. This is what's in the plan. Um, and there are also, if you're looking at this online, there are live links um to the incident report form, to our anonymous alerts. So, within the plan, you'll be able to navigate to the other pieces. >> Are we going to embed this in the
handbooks, too, or are we going to keep this just on the website? Uh this is just on the handbooks or just on the website, but there are pieces of it that get put into the um the student family handbook. Like the student family pieces get put into the handbook, but all the stuff that's like here's the superintendent's duties, here are the
principal's duties, that's just in here. >> Okay. Y great. >> Um so back here, the important thing I need to tell you is that right here it says to provide feedback on the 2026 2028 draft bullying prevention intervention plan, fill out this questionnaire. Um, so that's the link
for anyone to give us feedback on this draft plan. Once we um have gotten all of that feedback, we'll come back to you. If we've made any changes, we'll let you know. And at that point, we'll ask you to vote on it. >> Do you want to push on the last? >> Okay.
>> And I think that was my last slide. >> Great. >> Questions? Anyone? >> That's great. >> Okay. That was really >> That was really good. >> That's it. >> Thank you so much. I obviously love
working with all of you because I am still here and sort of doggedly so continue to be here. Um and thank you so much for all of your appreciation and support. >> Thank you, Julia. >> Uh back to you, Dr. Bosch. >> All right. >> We're going to discuss our middle school
transformation. >> We sure are. So, I'm excited that I get to share this. I've been I feel like I've been talking about this for a little bit now. Um, but now we have sort of the the why, the
what, the how, and all of the information here. So, and when I present this, I think it's so great um for everybody to know here and um see that so much thought and effort went into this um transforming middle
school. It was not just something I did alone. I I listen to countless um listening sessions and parents and students and feedback. and we'll look at some of that in in data to to get this plan together. Um, and you know, we've all there has been some discussion about
the budget um and implications, but we have our school committee has approved our budget and part of this the budget that was passed was the middle school transformation work and some of our budget Austin our level service funded is funding is in there. So, I just wanted to, you know, sort of
contextualize that before we launch into this and, you know, some of the our thinking and, you know, the the timeline the timeline could shift a little bit, but I really want people to see the vision that we have for our middle school and our students experience. Um,
so, you know, just looking at aligning to our core values, right? Focusing on learning, equity, belonging, and shared responsibility. And I think all of those core values really came through in all of the work that we did. Um, and you know, this is not something the middle school experience isn't something that
is isolated to the struggle isn't isolated to East Hampton. This is a national thing and people are grappling with, you know, how do we make the middle school experience sort of transformative and how do we use that to prepare kids for high school? But we
know that, you know, when things like we just saw steam, right? And what did the kids say? Oh, when I get to collaborate, that's what makes learning relevant. And we we just heard that from kids. Um and we know that when kids are absent in middle school, um they're more at risk
to drop out. And we know that when we have a successful middle school and that's based on data, we use that interdisciplinary approach. And you know, Miss Kelly Bag was talking about it, right? She's like, I work with the art teacher and I'm a former science teacher. It's those kinds of experiences
that we put forward and embedded in real world learning, right, Henry? You know that when you're talking about something you care about and that matters to you, you're going to learn it a little bit faster and you're going to be more engaged in that. Um, and then you know that's all about real world learning.
And you know I'm citing some you know your Carnegie Council, um, University of Chicago, Harvard, right? This is national research that we're citing here to to validate sort of what we know. Um when I joined um the district, I outlined um some superintendent
priorities and one of them was, you know, looking at those transition years and we're going to talk about some data because that's something that stood out to me that sixth grade transition, that 9th grade transitions and what do we need to do to support our our students through to be successful in that. We had
the opportunity and I've talked about it a couple times and but we're going to do more about our student speakup summit. We um we had we asked students, you know, how can we make this middle school experience better? What do you want to learn about? Um what do you have to tell
us about how we do business? And you know, here are some of the things. These are direct quotes from students. We took our sticky notes and you know, some these are some of the the high highly reoccurring themes that emerge. So, you know, these are our students voices and
and we need to listen to them because they know exactly what they want and need. Um, so here here this is this was, you know, this was a pivotal moment and when we heard them it was like, okay, what do we need to do? Um, and then we we launched a survey for families and
um, you know, it wasn't a super high response rate. We we had 123 responses. However, um, some parents were responding for multiple children. So we don't really have the end there. But what I do want to say is, you know, and I think it's a starting point, but I
think when when we tell the community that we are going to make decisions based on their survey results, they're more inclined to actually fill out a survey. So here everybody, this is what you said to us and we heard you and we listened and we are adjusting our
practice because of some of the things that you said and overwhelmingly the data from that um was that you know we need to strengthen our middle school experience. So we're looking at sort of satisfaction of the elementary experience right this is like a one out
of 10. How do you feel? Would you recommend your school to somebody else and how was your experience? And you know, we see stronger at elementary, the middle school takes a dip, and we see a little bit higher in the middle in the at the high school. So again, you know,
I don't this is a small N count here. We're looking at 123, but you know, it's part of the story that we have to tell. >> Um, we also take a look at student attrition. And what this this um this table represents is um if you were in
fifth grade at um MVS, did you return for sixth grade at MVS? And we see I think you know two critical inflection points here. We see um double like sort of double digit fifth to six drop and
then we see from like the the um 8 to 9 drop. However, I will say in that drop is does include Smith Voke because our students who go to Smith Voke, we actually lose them in enrollment, but that represents about 12 kids give or take. But so we we
see, you know, we want to strengthen those numbers and, you know, I think if we really strengthen our middle school experience, we may not lose as many students to vocational. Um Henry >> um it's also about like kind of like people like moving to different places
going because I had like a friend in fifth grade who then moved to like Long Meadow >> and >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yep. We it is it is about students moving um and you know the a high school there are more opportunities right you know you may specialize if you're into
the arts you might go to PVPA you and the however we our goal here is for East Hampton residents to stay in East Hampton and get educated in East Hampton public schools because >> that's where they belong.
>> Do we know how many go to Willist at that point? >> Um we do not track where. Okay, >> here >> we go. Okay. >> All right. Um, our next um sort of measure that we took a look at is
student growth percentile. So, this is our district. This is our statewide accountability. This is our MCCAST data and this is our growth data. So growth means when you take a look at a student and you look at their score, how do they
perform um compared to themselves and and like students? So what is their growth? Average growth that we want to see for a student to like make yearover-year sort of progress is 50. So we our goal would be 50 at a minimum. Um
we of course would love to see 65 because then you're making you know slightly accelerated growth but 50 is what we want to see. So we see grade four um grade five um grade 10 is a little bit I don't like to compare grade 10 because it is a slightly different
test. So but the grades four through eight um so if you kind of look like this way >> right you'll see growth. So they're going like look at it this way. Mhm. >> So we would expect to see you know this
we would like to see this growing here this way. So and this is just the change from 24 to 25. Um SGP goes from 1 to 99. So we do see um you know we'll look at
some sort of bright spots here, right? We see um seventh grade math. we see, you know, some stronger um data there. Um eighth grade, some really strong data in eighth grade. Um this chart
represents um SGP for students with disabilities um as well in there. So again, how are our students with disabilities performing? And we're going to say students with disabilities because that's what DESES uses. And if you wanted to look up this information, that's the category in which you will
find this data. So um and again our we should be hit we should be hitting 50. >> Mhm. >> So this is 23 24 and 25 student growth percentiles. Okay. Another interesting data that we
pulled this is student attendance data. So we said at the beginning right if you're in school uh you're you're going to learn. So we want you in school. So here we look at um we looked at 25 26
data um and we took it from the day of like so we didn't count for 180 school days because 180 days didn't happen. So we looked at the percentage from 128 days when we pulled this data. So if we look at the grades with the lowest um
sort of overall student attendance and this year we see uh 8 12 and 7 12th grade no excuses. you have to come to school 12th graders, but we do typically see that a little bit lower. Um, and in last year, you'll see that it was 12, 8,
and six, and the year before that it was 7, 10, and 8. So, we consistently see lower percentages in our middle school. So, um, we we need to strengthen that. And in the bottom sort of right is our um end of year attendance. You know,
sort of relative to how are we doing compared to other districts in Hampshire County. So we're kind of right in the middle um of attendance. Average student attendance is around 93%. So um but again we are just kind of looking for tra patterns and trends to
figure out you know where are you know majority of kids and there of course this is an average right? So we, you know, you might have one kid that has 30 absences and one kid that has two. Totally understandable. We are just looking for average number of days out of school.
Um, in our budget that we planned uh for and that was approved in our strategic investments, we are excited to say that, you know, during we we made some re reallocated positions, right? We looked at, you know, some retirements and we said, "Okay, what what do we need in
East Hampton and how can we strengthen the middle school experience?" So, we made some strategic decisions. Um, that would be a world language teacher and a middle school steam teacher. And I I promise you that I did not plan Megan Kelly Bag's performance here um earlier
to align to this. We sent the schedule at the beginning of the year. Um, but you heard her say she teaches one, three, five. I can't even tell you what they were, but um it would allow for us to have an elementary steam teacher and then a dedicated middle school steam
teacher. Um and you know, I'm thinking a lot about leadership and you know, I think a lot about equity and I think about other districts and um I here it's really small but you know, you can get a copy of this presentation. Um the N here
is Northampton and we take a look at sort of what they have for this was their budget presentation and in here you see um specials technology art project lead the way band chorus fizzed health and world languages so you know our strategic investment would bring us
up to sort of what our surrounding districts have um and then um my um I'm I live in Awam so my kid was making his course selections in Agalam so that's in the middle here. And my kid came home
and got to choose from um the one from each category at the top and then five additional electives on the bottom here. and uh we see Lego League, Robotics, French Art Studio, foundations of music and then you know so I get that as a
parent and then I come to East Hampton and I say in my job this is about equity for me and this is about experiences and giving East Hampton kids exactly what they need and they deserve. Um and so
how do we make that happen here? Um, in up the upper left right hand corner you see South Hadley and here you'll see they have grade five, six, seven, eight, steam, you see Spanish, art, band, chorus, health. Um, again our our budget
gives us um brings us to where other people are. Um, and then Graby, tiny old little Graanby, right? Um, what do they have here? They've got innovative technology. They've got visual arts. They've got engineering. They've got
French, Spanish, Mandarin, um chorus, band, orchestra. So again, it's just like what what can we provide for our students and how do we make um make some changes that work for us? Um so it it required us to take a look at our middle
school schedule and what does that mean? So um some of the key priorities that we sort of when we thought about transformation was how do we increase time on learning. So for secondary school the time on learning requirement is 990 hours. Um so the high school when
a student sits in their desk they get 990 hours of instruction that they have to have. In elementary it's a little bit less. It's 900 hours. So, how do we make sure that we're building the muscle memory for those students in the high
school to get to nine? Because it's a lot, right? That's like almost three weeks of school that they're extra. So, that's how do we build that for kids? Um, taking a look at our specials, having a rotating schedule really, you know, we heard from par parents and
teachers. teachers are like, "Okay, you know, the same kid is, you know, if they're tardy, they're tardy to the same class or, you know, I have them after lunch and it's really challenging. So, how do we create a schedule that's rotating?" So, you know, you can mix things up a little bit and it's not that predictive behavioral sort of cycle. It
it just helps, I think, overall with um how a school operates. Um and you know, the end goal here is to increase enrollment for our middle school, increase engagement and real world learning opportunities. So, we worked we've been working on this since
November. Taking a look at the schedule. This is really small. Um, but what this schedule is um is a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule and a Thursday, uh, Tuesday, Thursday. This actually mirrors the high school schedule. So, getting
kids prepared, what is the high school experience? Our classes are not 84 minutes. Um however um getting them used to a predictable schedule I think is really important for that transition. Um and so here we um the middle school
classes right now are 60 minutes long. Um this proposal shortens classes to 46 minutes but it adds um another core class and I'm so excited to talk about those. Um we have the the wind block is the what I need block. It's where, you
know, kids get that tier 2. It really helps strengthen our MTSS. We added some specials, so some exploratory specials in there. So, you'll have your your scheduled um specials, but you'll also get an opportunity to to have more
specials time. So, more time in steam, more time in art. Um, and that was really important to us. And again, this is just sixth, seventh, and eighth. Again, this is an example of what the schedules could look like. Um and then we took a look at our our specials, right? And we heard from kiddos that
they wanted some choice and um we physical education is required. Um but you know taking a look at music and art and world language and what does it mean and how do we get those rotations in? We still have some work to do around like are we doing six weeks? Are we doing how
are we doing the schedule's rotation? We'll meet with specialists teachers to talk about that work. But you know, I think it's we heard the kids and we heard the families and we sort of prioritized what everybody needs. Um I mentioned that fifth core, we added a
core class. So what we did is you know we I had mentioned that classes were 60 minutes. Um but to get that real world experience to get that integrated content to support additional math, ELA, science, social studies um we've devised
this compass core and um what it is is grade six we will introduce digital literacy for kids. And what is digital literacy? It's being safe online. It's how to identify um reliable sources. How do you navigate um digital resources?
How do you navigate the internet? What does your digital footprint look like? How do you do really good research? Um how do you spot misinformation? How does your um this is your this is just for you, right? When you say something and you're the next day the ad comes up on
your phone, you're like, "How did that happen?" Well, we're going to teach kids about how that happens um in this class. And it's really going to support I think you know strongly the ELA um social studies because you know in ELA you're spending a lot of time how do you do research? Well if we have a class that's
dedicated to teaching kids and doing that interdisciplinary okay you're teaching this unit in ELA. Well I'm supporting that by taking the research aspect of that. So I think you know it's a and again it's about equity and access here. Financial literacy in seventh
grade. I'm so excited about this. um getting kids to learn how money works, how to run a business. The kids in the summit were all like, "We need to learn about money, teach us about money." And we want to do this in middle school. So when they start asking you to drain your wallets when you get to high school,
they'll have a little bit of a concept of what does it mean to, you know, senior pictures and the robe and everything that you know, and they're getting their driver's license and oh, just add me to your policy. Well, let's break that down for you. Um, and really understanding, you know, and I use this
example like supply and demand, right? Um, Henry, if you bought a Neato three weeks ago, how much was a Neidato? >> Um, $5. >> $5. What is a Neato this week? >> Five and a half. >> Nah, it's like 48 bucks to buy a Neato
right now and you can't find them anywhere. So, what does that mean? And how do we explain that to you in a way that you know it makes you care about you know economics that's supply and demand but we are going to turn it into the neato hunt and experiences like that
for kids. Um and then in eighth grade talking about civics, right? We have this amazing we the people. Uh best of luck to we the people Thursday they're leaving. Um but how do we um you know lean into who we are as a community and
that great work um in 8th grade creating civics. So this is not replacing social study. This is more okay. This is more civics. It's about um learning how to vote. Rank choice voting. What does that mean? unpacking that um in using data within our community as power. So
thinking about, you know, we have YRBS youth risk um survey data. We have great data sets. How can we contextualize that for students and what does that mean in doing projects? They have to do a civics aject um action project in 8th grade, but it's kind of something we squeeze
into social studies sort of like we're like, oh, we'll get it in right now. This is going to be a class. It's not going to be the only thing that happens, but we could get really good at these civic action projects. And you know, we were starting to think about things like um okay, we we have a green room at at
MBS. How do we do PSAs um in the green room using our civic action projects and creating uh a a news channel for for the the possibilities are endless. So, um that those are Compass Core. Yes.
>> Um I've actually like done all of these compass cores in sixth grade. I learned how to like site sources, research. Seventh grade, I did a project about you choose like your dream job, see how far that will get you, like do taxes, finances, and I'm doing the civics
action project right now. >> Perfect. See you. And so right now we're, you know, we're squeezing in, right? And we want to go like sort of narrow and deep because that's where like authentic, you know, learning happens. So, um you'll get more of that,
right? And maybe you'll learn about, you know, in not just your dream job, but what are your options like in college and um what is like compounded interest, all the fun stuff, you know? >> I I know Julianne is cringing behind me. >> She jumped from a summer job to
compounded interest. That was um so yes so that is um and again I you know I want to be very clear like you know 15 minutes from each class to support these um in to do that real
world application piece is super essential. Um and we applied for a grant, the my cap planning grant to devise sort of curriculum and um frameworks and sort of scope and sequence for these courses. Um so we we
have some additional funds to support um the the the curriculum aspect of these and again you know financial literacy you know thinking about what other you know just this is really small but what percentage of schools are teaching
financial literacy and you know some of it is embedded into the math standards but again removing that from math classes so it's not squeezed into math but it this is standalone and then we you know our our we're really proud of our eighth grade math scores. So, you
know, but imagine you have more time actually to to dig into that. Um and then you see grade six here, grade 7, grade 8, you're seeing 13, 26, and 20% of students are getting financial literacy in math Massachusetts. So, um Eastampton students deserve that as
well. Um and if you look at digital literacy and computer science, here are some of our surrounding districts. If you look at uh Northampton, South Hadley, Wilberham, Hampshire, and when do they get access to digital literacy and computer science and our students don't get it until 9th grade, but um
pretty much the other districts are getting it before us. So, how do we make sure that um we are setting our kids up for success? Um and again, you know, this I don't have to really sell the civics education. I don't I think that's already sold. Um but you know, what does
it mean? And we know that when we have kids who really understand civics and um they have those really strong civic experiences, they're more likely to participate in the community, community service, vote as adults, um engage in
community problem solving. And we're we're building today our leaders of tomorrow. So we we really need to make sure that they know where who they are, what they stand for, and and where they want to head. And it is our job to make sure that they know exactly what that
means. So those are our Compass core and that's how we're going to round that out. And those core classes are about equity, real world learning, student voice, future skills, relevance, innovation, and it's about strengthening our middle
school experience because, you know, we the data supports this. Our families said it, our students said it, and we heard it. So, we we enacted a plan to get there. Um, and again, this will be part of our strategic planning process.
I talked a little bit about that earlier. Um, it is our 3 to 5year plan. I did tell the the committee that's working so hard, sorry, but I'm picking one of your strategic plans um already. So, sorry, not sorry, but here we go. We're doing this. Um, and I think they
were all very okay with it. Um, and you know, just thinking about, you know, when I took this job and I said that I would listen to families and um, do some work and we have, you know, we have some work to do around our middle school and it is such a powerful opportunity for us
as a district and, you know, I can't wait to to shape this experience and it is truly the bridge between um, elementary and high school. And you know, we all know like that's when adolescence change is that's when that's it is such a critical time and if we can
get it right, you we can change the trajectory of children's lives through shaping the middle school experience. It is so important and what a gift we have to to shape that. So we we need to get this right and and we will. So thank you all.
>> That was great. >> Wonderful. Thank you, Michelle. Um, if we would like to move on, if nobody has any pressing questions, we are very well verssed in this and has been super excited and this is our final unveiling to the public. So, that was
great. I think next up, we're going to move to our business update. Another one of our rock stars, Julie. Sorry, Franks. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for hanging in. It is now 7:21. All right. Um, first up in the packet is
our local appropriation report. Uh, so according to data, as of the end of March, 77.6% of the local appropriation has been spent or encumbered. Um, the end of March also coincides with the end of fiscal quarter 3. Right? So, attached in your packet is uh the quarter 3
report that shows uh year-to- date spending um in the same cost categories that we've been looking at throughout the year. Um at this time um we're aware that there is probably going to be a deficit in special education tuition um similar to the one that we had last
year. U we believe we will be able to cover that um between the use of circuit breaker um potentially school choice and we did apply for extraordinary relief and we heard this week that um our application was approved for extraordinary relief. So we will be getting some of our FY27 revenue during
FY26. Um, so I will keep you guys posted on that as numbers firm up towards the end of the year. >> Yeah, it's a misnomer. >> It's not relief. It's a It's a >> No, it's not a loan. >> What do they call that? A paycheck
payday loan. There you go. It's a payday loan with no interest. >> You get the revenue during this current year to help you with this year's expenses as opposed to getting it next year and using it for next year's expenses. >> Right. Um, second item on here is the FY25 end of year report. So, our audit
form did complete the audit and the audit was submitted to Desi in the packet. I've included all 11 uh dry pages of the report for you. If anyone would like to read the audit report, feel free to. >> Um, the audit findings did identify a
couple of amendments that we needed to file. Um and a lot of it is just sort of tightening up how we are reporting some expenditures mostly on the city side having to do with debt and things like that. Yeah. So there there wasn't anything of consequence but there's just a couple of amendments that um I will be
working on filing in the coming weeks. Item number three is declaration of service equipment. Um in your packet is a memo providing a little more detail about this, but uh we are requesting that three desktop printers and two photocopers be declared as surplus
equipment. Um the items are outdated and in fact uh inoperable. Um and we are they've been replaced by other pieces of equipment in the district. We're slowly, you know, cleaning up some storage spaces and binding some things and uh trying to get rid of them. >> Um so according to city policy, items
that have a dollar value of less than $500 can be um disposed of. So I'm asking the committee to make a motion to declare those as surplus property. >> Okay. You want me to do that before you go on to grants? >> Sure. >> Okay. would entertain a motion to approve the declaration of three
printers and two photocopers as surplus equipment and authorize their disposal. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Sam. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Linda. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Abstension. Motion carries. >> Go ahead, Julia.
>> Next up on the agenda, um grant updates. Um there are two new grants uh that East Hampton Public Schools has received since our last meeting. The first one is middle school exploration policy and my cap state grant in the amount of $16,94. So, uh the grant application provided
plans um to use these funds to launch a cross school my cap team to implement the district's new middle school exploration policy and uh it's really a planning grant to support collaboration between MVS and EHS to design the 6 to12 my cap scope in sequence.
Okay. Hey, I will entertain a motion to approve the acceptance of grant funds in the amount of $16,94 from DESIE to be used for developing East Hampton Public School District's MYAP program. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Sam. Can I get a second? >> Second.
>> Uh, thank you, Linda. Any questions, comments, or discussion? >> This is the one the my cap. This is for the compass compass. In in the event I was going to ask is there any event where we're not
unrolling the >> So the compass core is a sure thing regardless of budget. >> So the the uh my cap planning work will also support um like their ear the the work that um Henry was talking about too
like the career exploration work. It will also support um >> it can support a myriad of things regardless of like maybe some potential future budget implications. >> Correct. >> Okay, great. Any other questions, comment, or discussion? >> Not on that one, though. >> Just thank you for finding these to support the the things we're trying to
do. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Assistant superintendent 11. Thank you. Uh all those in favor? >> I opposed extensions. Motion carries. >> Uh the second grant is the building early childhood partnerships, a
preschooler team initiative federal grant. Try saying that three times fast. Um in the amount of $20,000. So EPSD is going to use those funds to create an itinerant team to explore how EPSD can support and provide early intervention
services to students that are not enrolled in our preK programs. >> Cool. >> Right. So it is it's a DESIE initiative where they're trying to look and see how do we provide wraparound services and in other spaces. >> Great. That's awesome. >> Okay. Uh, I will entertain a motion to
approve the acceptance of grant funds in the amount of $20,000 from federal funds through Desi to be used for supporting the preschool itinerant team initiative. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Sam. May I get a second? I'll second. Thank you, Bonnie. Uh, any questions, comment, or discussion? >> I have the same question that you had
for the last one for this one. >> Yeah. Yep. And this again, it's for our an itinerate team. So regardless, it would support like our work with Willist. I would support our work with Head Start to really get those services um into other preschool programs. >> Okay, cool.
>> Any other questions, comment, discussion? >> Just another Thank you. >> All those in favor? >> Opposed? Abstension? Motion carries. >> Right. Last item on my report is the personnel report for the month of March. Going to knock on wood. Right. Uh from a
personnel standpoint, quiet month. We welcomed three new staff members um to East Hampton Public Schools. um a para educator at East Hampton High School. Um an administrative assistant here at central office who replaced Melena's position when she moved up. Um and uh
welcome to new substitute teachers. Um there were no separations and no transfers um during the month of March and currently just one vacancy at uh MBS, right, that we are using to fund um a long-term substitute. >> Okay, great.
>> Okay. All right. Thank you so much. I think that's it. Any other questions for Julia? >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Uh we are going to move on to new business. We have some outofstate field trip requests. Um East Hampton High School is requesting permission for the
seniors to take the annual senior field trip to High Meadows in North Graham Bay, Connecticut on June 1st, 2026. I will entertain a motion to approve the outofstate field trip request from EHS for the seniors to travel to North Grahamby, Connecticut to visit High Meadows on June 1st, 2026. >> So moved.
>> Thank you, Eric. Um, any questions, comments, discussion? >> No. All those in favor? >> Do you have a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you. I don't know what happened. It's okay. >> Small stroke. >> That's why we're all here. >> Favor. >> All those in favor?
>> I opposed. Absentence. Okay. Motion carries. Um, EHS teacher Sean Ulz is requesting permission for the band and chorus students to take a field trip to New York City to see a Broadway production on June 10th. Uh, so I will entertain a motion to approve that outofstate field trip request from EHS
for the band and chorus members to visit New York City to see a Broadway production on June 10th. >> Do we know what production? >> We don't. >> Uh, one Hold on one second. >> It's going to be >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Can I get a second?
>> Sam, I heard you. Okay. So, Eric, Sam, any questions come in discussion? >> Do we know what? I do not. >> M. He says he's going to give us a hint on Thursday. Oh, this is fun. >> The last time they did it was a surprise, too. >> You can walk into any priority. >> All right. All any other questions,
comment, discussion? >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I opposed extensions. >> Motion carries. >> Um, do we have a policy subcommittee update? >> We do not. >> Do we have a CES update? >> The update is that Linda is going to be taking over as the CES rep.
>> Yes. I cannot wait to be be able to give a CES update very soon. >> When is your next meeting, Linda? you know. >> Yes, we it's mid it's midday. >> Okay, great. >> Yeah, >> great. >> Finance subcommittee. Technically, we do not have an update. >> We don't have an update. >> Okay.
>> Can Can we do this? >> No. Okay. >> Okay. Um, mayor, do you want to take this first? A TLDDR, a preview of things to come. >> It can be brief. I'll follow your lead.
>> We're early in this process and an unfolding situation. Yeah. So on Tuesday, the finance team came together and let us know that the budget gap was wider than we expected it to be. Um so the city um finance team
has really been scrambling over the last week to come up with options. Uh we've finding ourselves in the same position that a lot of other communities are finding themselves in now. We're just finding out a little later because of um a a delay in our free cash certification. Um and so we're looking
right now to uh we're asking departments to look at different scenarios. Uh we are going to be requesting a two and a half override um in the city council. We're working with the city council. Today the budget task force met for the first time. You know I think we have a very strong team that's working towards
this and you know we're really committed to trying to do whatever we can to bridge this gap. Um, regardless, I mean, I think that we're really going to need an override to to carry us through what right now is about
a $3.8 million gap that we can't fill. >> Um, and we want to put together a strong proposal that is going to minimize the impact to taxpayers, but really, you know, the priority is to try to minimize the impact to services. Um, and so we're
working around the clock to address this and we're doing everything we can from getting creative around spending. Um, and you know, today instituted a first spending freeze. Um, and you know, we're we're really trying to to mitigate the impacts of this and to and to do what we
can um to bring this forward in a way that is going to preserve services. >> Um, we want to say that the mayor's been in contact with us. He formed a budget task force. He has included the school committee and the superintendent in these conversations. He's also included
us as membership on this task force. We really appreciate that. It's a very strong team of very smart and dedicated individuals from across the city. Um is taking the council of the different departments very seriously. From the school department side, we are linking arms with our brothers and sisters and
departments across the city. This is um a shared burden and a shared crisis and we are going to work together to find a really effective solution effective and equitable solution to work our way out of this um centering our citizens and our students um as we do in all of our
work. We don't have explicit details yet. They are coming. People are working very hard on this and we will continue to work until we get a resolution. Um, I expect at our next school committee meeting we'll have really wholesome updates and certainly the city will be providing those updates even faster as they become available. >> Absolutely.
>> Does anybody else want to say anything else at this time? >> I'll add one thing to that which is that rumors are going to fly really fast and there's speculation and uh we are available to answer questions. Reach out. Don't just take something that you hear online or being passed around at
pickup or something along those lines. We are happy to walk through parts of our budget. Um it whatever it takes, you will find out updates from us as soon as we have them. Yep. >> And >> if we don't have the answer to your question, we will share with you exactly where we are at in the process and when we expect to be receiving those answers and from whom.
>> Yep. >> Um and so far it has been really encouraging to see everyone really come together. Um and I and I just hope that continues and that the city will surround and support us as they always have historically. >> All right. I have been and I'll I'll just say too like you know there's been
an incredible amount of energy devoted to working on this problem. I know like >> I've I um when I get worried about stuff I tend to do a lot of deep dives. I've been really um learning a lot about Prop 2 and a half. There's a lot of like
really helpful videos on the state website. I'm happy to um point people in those directions. And I guess just like for me personally, like I've just been thinking about kind of all the things that we've gotten through um as a community in the time that I've lived in
East Hampton and it it's a lot. And um any one of those things alone would have made for like a really amazing story and we can get through another one. >> We can do hard things. >> We and we always do like we do it and I just we're going to we're going to get
through it. We're gonna let let folks in the community know the things that we know and we're gonna we're gonna help people, you know, have the information they need um as as soon as they as soon as we can. >> And our thoughts are with our neighboring communities, South Hadley particularly tonight. Southampton early
next month. >> Um >> it's our whole our whole uh >> our entire region and Commonwealth has been adversely affected by this. >> Hadley Hadley, you know, like so it's you know, it's it's not just us, but >> we're going to proceverate this a lot in the future. No, no, no. Feel free to
feel anybody like anybody can send me a message at any time. I'm always happy to chat. >> We'll tell you what we know when we know it. >> Yep. Yep. Exactly. >> Okay. Um our next meeting date, we will be meeting on April 28th and also May 12th and May 26th. Um at this point, we
are going to move into executive session. Um, so I'm gonna uh I will entertain a motion to move into executive session per MGL chapter 3821A to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining and to adjourn in the executive session. So to be clear to
the public, you're going to see the cameras die. We're going in the back rooms and we will see you at our next meeting on April 28th. Um, >> so moved. >> Thank you, Sam. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. We're going to roll call out. Let me just get my list so I don't
forget anybody. Is it second night? All right. Uh, Mayor, >> good night. >> Bonnie, >> good night. Eric, >> good night. >> Megan, >> good night. >> Sam, >> good night. >> Linda, >> good night. >> And Laura Scott, uh, we are moving into
the back. Thank you. Good night to all everyone.