##VIDEO ID:PADj9EbuoDI## like to call the meeting of the frontier Regional school committee thank you to order at 7:01 and we're going to shift things around just a little bit but first um as I mentioned on the last meeting we're going to start each meeting with just a review of our operational goals it's a good way to just kind of Center everybody for the conversations that lay ahead every meeting the school committee's primary responsibility is to establish those purposes programs and procedures that will best produced the educational achievement needed by our students the committee's charged with accomplishing this while also being responsible for wise management of resources available to the school district the committee must fulfill these responsibilities by functioning primarily as a legislative body to formulate and adopt policy by selecting an executive officer to implement policy and by evaluating the results it must carry out its functions openly while seeking the comments of the public student and staff and assisted to making processes the first order of business tonight is to review and approve minutes from September 17th so I'll just need a motion so move you ready to you're already I approve um I don't think we have anybody remotely and onl did he hop on no no all in favor motion passes we're going to move up the student council report and Anna I think is in person here with us yeah excellent thanks welcome I'm Anna I'm the student council representative and I'm going to start by sharing a piece uh written by Frontier students and it's a land acknowledgement as we approached indigenous people's weekend um here it is Frontier Regional School resides in the valley of quo the southern portion of what is now known as the Connecticut River This Land once belonged to the wabanaki or the people of first light as well as the pamuk and nmuk tribes who have a rich history having lived here from Millennia this land was not seated through colonialization attempted genocide and the spread of disease these peoples were displaced in removed from the rightful land today some indigenous people still lead and teach here we're grateful for this land it's a place where we speak out build community show Pride work learn educate play and continue to grow we share this as a first step to bring awareness about land solidifying our commitment to positive action in the community in turn we strive to learn more about these indigenous peoples and the land on which this institution now resides so some current events in Frontier region is spirit week and yesterday was pajama day today's Adam Sandler day um tomorrow is uh rhyme without reason Wednesday's or Thursday is color day and Friday is anything but a backpack day there's lots of home games this week uh currently going on is boys soccer um senior night uh tomorrow is girls varsity volleyball at 600 p.m. Friday is varsity football at 7 alongside JB girls soccer at 4: and this Thursday at Frontier we'll have the pep rally which will end with some lip syncing from teachers um also this month is the high school homecoming dance city of stars is the theme which is on the 19th and the fall coffee house is October 24th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. it's open to everyone I suggest you go um the fall concert is October 29th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. also open to everyone and lastly November 5th from 6:00 to 900 p.m. the presidential election live stream will be held here in the LMC for everyone to watch and this is hosted by students in FCAT thank you appreciate we have if you not have Shelly tonight and so you're going to give our all right uh since the last meeting we processed 18 warrants totaling 1, 63278 $640 um shell sent out the expense reports earlier this week uh there's nothing new to bring to your attention any overages were the same that were brought up uh last month if there are any questions I'm happy to take those thank you don't tell her I know don't tell her don't tell her no we appreciate your long version and your shorts they all have their place um I passed out uh a sign up sheet for folks who expressed an interest in speaking at public comment I think there's a couple people who walked in since the meeting was started and if you want to if you are here and have an interest in speaking we'll go ahead and have you sign just you see do problem s and just to give everybody a little bit of framework for um public comment um some pieces that I think are important one is that we try to limit public comment to 15 minutes we'll try to live in this space to 15 minutes we do have an option to extend it if uh it seems appropriate to allow the conversation to continue although that being said it's not truly a conversation between the school committee and the public in this space it's a chance for us to hear input from the public so I think that one piece that can be uncomfortable in that setting is that the intent is not for us to have a dialogue back and forth but for your comments to guide our conversation so I just want that to be to be clear as we head up to this because it can be an uncomfortable space to say things and not hear things back um we'll try to have the speakers limited to three minutes and to please make sure that we keep this space a respectful space we do have the right to cut off com conversation if things are um becoming more threatening or po things like that but we do try to have some to form around the conversations that we have and the things that we hear if and and that is kind of an open invitation for the rest of the school committee that if there's something that rises to a concerning level for you and you'd like to call uh for some concern about that just please raise your voice all right one away have one other so I'll keep I'll keep a running time and just let folks know when 15 minutes is up if people are running up against three minutes also kind of give you a warning in that space that would be fantastic you do that would be fantastic how about I give I'll give I'll give a one minute when when when you have one minute left thank you [Applause] as soon as that sign up sheet comes back we'll kind of start from the top and just as long as we're here and have a little bit of space we did update some things on the website that have a little bit of outdated information from Co with like a request to make public comment ahead of time and so you can you can just for the general public come to a meeting and if we don't always have a signup sheet but if there looks to be a l amount of public we will try to keep things in an orderly space with the sign up sheet so the first person on this list it looks like is David if you want us um stand up and say your name in your town and then we can go ahead and speak uh my name is David uh Conway and uh I'm here for the new policy change for homeschoolers and uh Sports my name is David and uh I am currently participating in extracurriculars at Frontier High School this new policy will change this new policy change will affect me personally I am a dedicated student and consider myself quite disciplined I like to wake up early because I find that I am more productive during those hours which helps me get a head start on my responsibility for the day primarily schoolwork and football I hold myself to a high standard especially when it comes to my academics whenever I receive a less than perfect grade I see it as an opportunity to to improve and work hard to correct it I love trying new things and this year I tried baseball and football for the first time and quickly fell in love with both I truly enjoy being able to socialize with my friends and Frontier High for me playing Sports is the highlight of my day and spending time with my friends makes it even better as an extrovert I thrive I thrive on making new friends and spending time with them the extracurricular activities are my primary way to socialize I would like to thank my friends from football for being for supporting me if this policy change is Implement I would no longer be able to participate in football or hockey coming up and I do not want to lose the opportunity to be a part of my team team with my PE a part of my team with my friends uh this change would also affect my little sister ruie who wants to in the upcoming years participate in Frontier extra regul thank you for this time and I hope and I sincerely hope you will take my situation into consideration while making your decision [Applause] [Music] than thank you hi my is you guys put consider while you guys you guys um change your vote to be able to put to be able to let homeschoolers be a part of the the activities as extracurricular subjects so we could have fun while also learning stuff and doing something new [Applause] [Music] Barb if you could state your name in town yeah I'm Barb schy from Deerfield I just retired from 20 years teaching at a different Public School uh and but prior to that I did homeschool my four children and the oldest of which did participate in sports here she played soccer and track and it was a great experience for her and her teammates uh so I really hope this policy doesn't change I know your honor code uh supports diversity and inclusion and so I think allowing homeschoolers to remain on the teams would be in line with that thank [Applause] you Mike mfield I'm a father of two CH children one is a special needs child homeo the other attends the local school my home school child gets up early he completes academic work every day including Reading Writing Math Science and he just started geography he has never made this much academic and social progress before we began to home school it was not an easy decision but it was a necessary decision he did so well that we have decided to Contin to home school he loves to be active in the community he went to to a school activity last week at the local library where he met a local author did Art R and ate pizza for other kids he plays soccer and loves to run I can see him joining a track team for other sports teams he goes to music lessons and we want him to have the chance to play an instrument with other children who like to play music we are working with the school of HS of establishing a best buddies program to BRD connection with typical children and those with disabilities he attended math night and family night CL in the school playr knows many of the kids he's an active member of this community our other child is educated at loal school we have had to reach out numerous times to her school staff do the behavior concerns of other students some of which were very upsetting most of these disruptive children to State extra regular activities currently our child's entire class uses PE and other special time because several children areally disrupted those students participate can you speak speak up just a little bit I'm so sorry thank you we have even thought that homeschooling our child might be more productive and provider with a safer social experience I don't know how I can justify through a child that he can't participate because he's because he's now because he's homeschooled even though he once could my child will be affected by this policy change but the school did not alert me inv me or give me the opportunity to ask questions or to have a discussion we homeschool lawfully we receive permission and authorization from the superintendent we meaningfully educate our child my child is a well behaved and academically achieving homeschooled child what part of our scenario were warrants excluding him when weighing this policy out it appears that it will hurt more children than he of benefit I urge you to consider this and oppose the policy change [Applause] Ashley my name is Ashley I'm a mother I'm also a nurse in the community um I want to share my informed reasons why I oppose this policy change I have reviewed the very limited information that has been provided to us I reviewed the handbook and policies of the district first the change negatively impacts a group of community children yet the district did not invite Community discussion second the current policy provides inclusive access successfully occurring for years the district did not provide an objective reason for changing a policy that inherently enhances the Community Development and social emotional Wellness for children the district's current curriculum is based heavily on inclusion yet the policy change does not model inclusion for the rest of our children I would remind us that the department of education does not promote the exclusion of homeschoolers from extracurricular activities the district aderes to policies of the Massachusetts Massachusetts inter Scholastic Athletic Association which does not promote exclusion of homeschooler children either within Sports while the district suggests that homeschoolers may not be held to the same standards as enrolled students I point out that the district holds the legal obligation per the Department of Education to verify that the standards are being amended and has established its own District application process specifically for verification it is authored by our superintendent in States the home education proposal will be equal to the education provided for the students attending Frontier Regional Union 38 schools in thoroughness and efficacy following the guidelines of the Massachusetts curriculum framework in considering the speculation of unmet Behavioral standards our handbook outlines the tiered disciplinary response which the district makes Case by case excluding a whole group of children who are in good standing and who have been vetted by the district goes drastically outside of the district's behavioral and disciplinary policies I gently remind this community that we are recovering and struggling to move forward after District educated children were unable to meet the behavioral expectations of our school changing policy from a moral High Ground without Community conversation is unacceptable going on the district did not inform CPAC the required advisory Council legally tasked to participate in the development and evaluation of District initiatives affecting special education children including those who are homeschooled of which I have one I'd like to point out that the district did not consider less extremes or offer any proactive options that would better ensure the speculated standards and me inclusion the policy change does not align with the district's recent commitment to equity which includes we believe in the importance of having accessibility on every level and in every location to all students in our community for equity and inclusivity it does not align with the mission statement the community interaction agreement the district social justice commitment and the commitment to responsive education um I would also like to I would like to end and say that our policy on non-discrimination includes that nobody is to be subjected to differential treatment because of a legally protected characteristic I would like everybody to know that this is a legally afforded right that is not always an easy decision for families and ending I'd like you to know that there are children in the community in the high school Community more than one who participate in extracurricular activities and who were already told they could not participate of which three times told them they could not participate thank you for your time thank you very much [Applause] Jen oh hi I'm Jen um my name is thank you for all being here my name is Jen S I live in Conway I have two daughters who have graduated from Frontier and have work and I have worked in a school system in western Mass for the last 30 years I have expanded my career outside the classroom and and have had the privilege of working as a provider for special needs children one of whom received special needs Services through this District but is educated at home this has worked for him well today I want to express my concern regarding the proposal policy changes which will exclude homeschooling students access to extracurricular activities as someone who works with children within the school system and outside of the school I feel there is a critical need for inclusivity and support for all children our district signed the anti-racism and Equity commitment the proposed policy changes do not align with the community of equity restricting access to extracurricular for homeschoolers and my view is discrimination my question is is there any data to support that this isn't working and um has the data been brought to the community I feel that we need to approach policy change with transparency and inclusivity as a community member parent and educator I urge you to oppose this policy change regardless of the child's educational setting thank [Applause] you please correct me if this is not how this name is pronounced Linda yes yes thank you thanks everyone uh my name is eresa and I am the mother of David and Ruth and um and I want to thank the football team and for the parents for our friends who are here and we have some friends online as well and we have a group support a big group support and I'm just Greatful for all of you so my children's our children's are very dedicated students my son David is a dedicated football player and being part of a team with his friend is crucial for his Social Development and his overall well-being David wakes up every morning at 6:00 a.m. sometime even at 5:30 and he's just up and ready to go to ensure that he has enough time to complete his academic work and dedicate time to his physical training he balances his studies with homework sections at the UMAS Library sometime he goes to GCC library and as well as at home in addition to his academics he makes time to go to the gym he attends football practices games and he has demonstrated his dedication to both his education and his passion for football participating in a sport at to him many lessons in discipline teamwork and time management a skills that are essential for success in life David understand and respects the rules that are set by the schools and is fully committed to follow them if he doesn't meet the requirements he knows that he should not participate in the practice and he should not participate in the games and we made that clear at home his friends played a very important role in his life they encourage him and they provide support they share both victories and challenges and yeah for every game so the social aspect of being part of a team help him grow building connections and leads to lifelong friendships es for a very important compon component of a well-round education and they offer an opportunity for homeschool students like David to connect with their peers and develop a strong relationship I ask the committee to reconsider any proposed changes to policies that may limit access to extracurricular activities for home school children it is essential to recognize the importance of inclusivity for all students regardless of their educational background David's education David's dedication to both his education and his football team is a testimony to the positive impact that participating in extracurricular activities can have on an student's life I know I speak not just for David but for many families who share their passions and their Commandments for the children's dreams I know my 10 years old Ruthie she also has dreams and she also has passions and I just hope they are not taken away and that she will have the same opportunity as David thank you for your attention to this matter I really hope you will reconsider this policy and allow homeschool students to participate in sports and extracurricular activities improving their educational experience and fostering assess of of community I want to finish with one thing when I received an email from a superintendent I really appreciate what is in the bottom of his email and it has been on my head and I think about this over and over building Dynamic learning communities one student one learner one family at a time please go their mind and do not change this policy that's 15 minutes I'll extend public comment another 10 minutes and we'll see how we can get through this I would ask in the interest of trying to make sure everybody has an opportunity to get what they have to say and if someone has already made a point that you would like to bring up if you could try to keep that as concise as possible new points that would help to expedite everybody having a chance to have their um their say of this so you can reinforce other points but if you can try to be as concise as you can we'll try to get as many people in and I'll reassess after 10 minutes um yes ask committe members read all the emails that we' receiv received because we don't necessarily need to hear the emails read we've all read them already I've read all of them particularly the long emails we don't necessarily need to Mo than you yeah thank you for bringing that up are you ready with okay um Holly hi I'm paully Johnson live in wagley um and I'm here represent the CPAC the district special education parent advisory Council and I was one of the ones who sent an email and so I'm not going to read the whole thing we did have um signatures added to it since we sent it so I can resend it with Community signatures um I do want to add in addition to the email that youve already read um that no and I know other people have saided that no information went out to any of the families and not just the H School families but anyone in the district who might be considering homeschooling or um considering applying for a frontier diploma which I understand is also part of the change we're talking about um and you can't know who those families are and really it should have been us given this chance for this discussion if it had gone out we might have more people here with the discussion um and CPAC wasn't asked to weigh in as is our that's what we're there for that's in the lot we're here at FIS um and I want to speak a little bit about students with disabilities there are many reasons a family decides to school their disabl children it can be hard to get our children the resources and individual learning they need in the public school disabled children are also more likely to be Le and we know that is a big reason why students leave the school homeschool families are still part of the district the state requires that they submit education plans and progress reports to the school when a Disabled Student is homeschooled the state still requires the district to provide evaluations and IEP services and the schools receive funding for those students IEP students come to the school for services including socialization whether they are enrolled in the school or not they're so part of the commity thank [Applause] you yes this um this letter did did get emailed to school committee members and I'm going to read it really fast and the reason I feel it's important to read it is because it's coming from it's signed by a group of of over 20 people and I just think I want to represent their voices as well um so my name is Suzanne Ryan I'm a member of the Deerfield inclusion group and we're a growing group of families Educators and community members who seek to promote education awareness and support around issues of equity and social justice um many of you know that I was a preschool teacher at Deerfield for 18 years before I retired and now I'm teaching at weightly so here's the letter we the undersigned members of the Deerfield inclusion group wish to wish to express our concern regarding the proposed policy change which would exclude homeschool students in our communities from participating in extracurricular activities this Sudden Change without supporting data or rationale is troubling and raises many questions as a community we have reason to take pride in Union 38 inclusive values and policies ensuring that all children and families in our district know they are welcomed and supported is something that makes our district special though we know that the mass department of education allows districts to make their own decision on allowing homeschooled students to participate in school program programs and activities we find it concerning that under this new proposed policy the union 38 homeschool population would be denied access to extracurricular activities for connection socialization and all the things that you all have spoken so eloquently about um we know that socialization is a requirement for healthy child development we see no reason why these children should no longer be allowed access to this opportunity and we believe this deserves further consideration and input from the families most impacted by potential changes um students attending our district schools are given Equitable opportunity to accept access extracurricular activities and are assessed academically and behaviorally in order to determine if they are eligible to participate in them um I'll skip this part because it's already been said each child in our district deserves the opportunity to participate with their peers in meaningful ways and we are all made richer for expanding our Circle of Care and Community we urge you to reconsider voting for this amendment or at the very least slow down the process and delay a vote to allow for further discussion and information gathering and this is signed by Lou Vincent Shan durett myself Ashley didonna Jessica Pacho Emily crem Allison Wilson Pierce Christine Grimaldi Annette fan Becker Nancy sitzman Erica boy Jacob Jeremy Davis J Jamie Taft Rebecca Williamson Emily Gaylord Katherine brano and Sarah Smith thanks for your time about seven people left on the list who had expressed an interest in talking and we have about five minutes left so I'll just ask you to keep that in mind as you have your conversations and um have your comments ready to try to to have them as conis as as possible so that we can get offer as many people an opportunity to be heard Douglas mine should be relatively short and I'm a pastor so take that into consideration I um my thoughts in this whole thing is we are taking the a group of people and separating them from the school you would not do that with any other group of people a class of these kids you wouldn't do it with the kids who are the know the worst students in the in the school or the people who were the hardest kids to to deal with in the school you wouldn't you wouldn't do this to the kids this is about enriching families and the kids in this community and isn't that what we're supposed to be doing you know we all we all have different opinions on different things but from my perspective God loves us all and he wants us to be able to love each other the same and in order to do that we have to honor those who are just trying to take different Roots because of their beliefs and in a way you're you're striking back at that so that's all I have to say Roberto my name is Roberto my name is Roberto Tesa and I'm the father of and David and I'm GNA speak in Spanish because this is a good place to be en closer the extracurricular activities are is a strong he wants to translate here try do this in one minute with two languages activities are a ENT compliment to the students and to help enrich their lives to be a part of this community students of homeschooling need toite themselves discipline working together as a team how to win and how to lose the school have their doors open so all people that have the opportunity to be educated and come here and keep learning thank you C hi hi I'm Cassie and I'm homeschooling mom in Deerfield um I have two sons who are in the frontier all youth program and um because of that I got an email from parents in a different School District telling me that my sons would not be allowed to continue Sports in the high school even if they excelled at it even if they excelled at academics and that also sent me the letter to come here um I've been homeschooling for 13 years now I graduated one into UMass as a chemical engineering student you got a five on a physics AP with we took here at Deerfield and being a part of the school on the ways that we could participate in extracurriculars and in testing and stuff has been very valuable to our family and so it felt very um discriminating to be told that participation in the future for my sons in their education be it's Sports um or even more academics that The Homeschool Community gets discriminated against in sports what comes next are they going to be able to have access to AP tests through the school um and all of these things came up because it's like The Homeschool kids aren't fully part of the community and seen as part of the community even though parents who have to alternately educate and choose to do it for so many different reasons we choose to do it because we have special needs both those who are slower and those who need to be accelerated and go into college with two years behind them um it seems that if everyone's doing their best with the children in our community then our community is going to be strengthened and I'm coming here today to ask you guys to consider that we all want to strengthen the children in our community and homeschoolers are not trying to weaken the community but they're doing what they can to strengthen their children to be the best people to give back to their Community when they grow up thank you at the end of the 10-minute extension here there are four people left I will extend for four more minutes and if you guys can divide a minute amongst yourselves to try to expedite this so that we can I want to make sure that we also have time to have this discussion we appreciate your input but we make sure that we have ample time to discuss amongst uh the committee as well uh I have Victor hi my name is Victor and um I hope that you guys reconsidered King this policy because uh I when I was a student um it was just a great feeling to be a a part of a team and to have people you know there for you families friends and uh I think it's just wrong for all the kids because everyone deserves to be a part of something whether it's school or any extra curricular activities work you know whatever you want to do I think everyone should have an opportunity to do it equally thank you a these children they have the right to Blossom please let them blossom in every area that they can say yes whenever you can and not no why say no before they even Bloss thank you Judy I'm Judith CLE from de field I had two sons who were at Deerfield Elementary my older son was diagnosed with asper syndrome he was in the fourth grade which now is called autism spectum disorder he did not go to Frontier when he was done with de elementary school because Frontier did not provide support to people with Autism back in those days when he went to ammer this made here the frontier may be going backwards in in the regard of supporting non neurodivergent students the good news for my son is that the corporate world has changed and he now works for Chevron in Houston where he's been for a number of years and he was hired to their neuro divers Diversity Program and they provide counseling and support and that's what I want to say is that these students need support not [Applause] excl Melody yeah so every other reason but um I really feel that the parents should have been told I shouldn't have learned this from an email from a different parent um and the when I went back to watch the video last time it the thing that I heard was that there's a trend Nationwide Trend towards taking homeschooling uh like the sports and activities away and it talked about not being able to uphold the like to the level of what Frontier um requires but why are you punishing everybody when you could just go on if something's not working if somebody's not getting the right grades then you should probably deal with one situation it just feels very strange that this came up and nobody has nobody knew and it I would really request that you uh give us a lot more research and data to show us why this is important to happen this way doesn't make sense I just want to take a minute and thank everybody for their public comment I think it takes a lot of courage and bravery to come and speak in public generally let alone at a recorded public meeting especially to the young people who came and spoke you guys should be proud of yourself um I know it feels weird to shift from all of that to your report but that is next on the agenda I understand that my is that everybody digest and generally not very report move on and I don't think it will take a long time for us to move on what everybody here listen so so thanks Miss i' first like to point out not ad standler dat to that um so I just want just in my report I just want to point out a few things so uh in terms of uh professional development uh which is ongoing we're still uh we just wrapped up a session with executive functioning with Sarah Ward we're going to be doing restorative practices again which is we're excited about and we're working through tier support and mental health as always a couple uh exciting field trips that some of our classes are going to be taking so our high school fa lab is going to mass on October 17th they're going to be visiting their engineering design and rocketry Labs um we're excited for that uh I want to thank Dan Murphy our Fab Lab teacher for organizing this our financial literacy class who which is taught by Heather Lon they're going to be doing the there's a mock stock market challenge at Springfield in November sponsored by uh Junior Achievement uh they're going to that we're excited about that as well uh we're introducing a new social emotional curriculum called changing perspectives and in the report that I sent you there's a link to it so if you have the opportunity uh check it out it's going to be uh introduced to tour High School uh to high school kids um and I want to point out that our drama is presenting The Importance of Being Fest by Oscar wild uh in November on the weekend of the 15th um and a few other things we're doing the uh the PSATs uh and the active place are next week um as as and mentioned coffee house is coming up in the fall Springs concert is also coming up open to the public so you're all welcome to that so that's that's my report thank you thanks for not making me a liar but all right um I think that uh the next space that we have is to to talk about these policies and in the interest of kind of duve piling off of public comment go ahead um we could move to to the A's first they're rather quick I imagine unless people think lot comments get those through and then just go into the next thing right you can you can change the but you can do the a the ey you're making a suggestion that we divy these up and separate off yeah do the a first and then do the I and the I is the the I is the uh the hom School the home school policy so the AAS are as we I guess right out the BS there any questions regarding the changes to sexual harassment in policies um towards um that were many of them were the changes from the um Ted Line changes in August and the one from our E Group um as well those those set that we talked about the last meeting for the policy the ACA can we go to them in a batch so you do a batch ACA ACAA aca aca B AC a r b a r a r make a motion to accept second I'm going to do a roll call on this um Olivia yes Chris yes Bob yes bill yeah Mary yes Phil yes Jared yes Damen yes Jessica yes Keith yes and I'm yes and that leaves us with the IHG policy for discussion yeah would you like to introduce that in rationale so um last year the the policy subcomittee was reviewing reviewing the entire policy handbook we came across homeschooling and there's been um we felt that it it needed to be looked at I went and and made some changes to it and brought it Forward at the last meeting um I think we heard some you know some very um some very wonderful uh insights on homeschooling and testimonies tonight and thank you everyone for that I think it it's it's still I think it's a healthy discussion that we need to have as a district though um because homeschooling is you know is it part of the frontier community or is it a separate school and that is really where I think administratively we sometimes get caught up where we don't know where the line is and you know what is a student I know we're talking about athletes as most we're talking about other extracurricular programs so if I talk about athletes I'm really talking about all programs and if I get off track but what is a student athlete and what are we when we as a frontier school committee create what we expect our student profile to look like what we expect of our students in the classroom on the street on the playing field and in the community what is is it part of one thing or can you pick in choose portions of that because when I look at it homeschooling has a different curriculum it's a curriculum that's approved by me but they're all different they're different some are doing online things some are doing things that may be religiously affiliated there are somes that are a colorations of both or groups of other homeschooling activity um families and that kind of thing they're very different where the curriculum at Frontier Regional is set by the school committee about and those outcomes there's also the concern you know that it has come up with homeschooling students regarding what does attendance mean so our student athletes are required to come to school on any day they plan on participating they have to be here for a certain number of hours in order to be eligible to play homeschooling programs have a lot of variety um depending in everyone's different but some do a couple days a week some um may have regimen scheduled during the week and there's some they do it as their schedule permits as if they're doing other things so they're not held to if they get in at 11:00 at night from a late trip to wee mass and they come back that they're here they have to be in school and class class in the morning and that can cause a sense of unfairness to the student body that is at front to your Regional who has that expectation okay the other the other thing that are side I know people were were I think that schools have evolved and there are a lot of other maybe 30 years ago there weren't other extracurricular activities and I know some students are using that we haven't had a lot of participation okay between around four two to four students a year are participating in in extracurricular activities that um officially are signing up for um so it's not it's and I think that's because there are so many other activities out there there's a programs in just about any sport you can imagine um in traveling teams and specialization of those kind of sports um I also so I'm kind of giving you the whole rundown here in um budget wise homeschool students while considered part of our community the state doesn't look at it that way they're not part of our foundation budget so they're not considered numbers in our budget where we get funding from the state for those students students who receive special services also don't get reimbursed by the state it's it's a loophole where the state has just kind has created a system for a small number of students um it hasn't really put a lot of extra thought in it they kind of put it just on the Local District okay there's also administratively oversight challenges of students who are not part of the community on a day-to-day basis so if students are being homeschooled for for social emotional issues um and they they feel that the school doesn't can't fit those needs but then they want to participate in a school event how do we draw the the connection so because it's an extension of our classroom and we want to make sure that students needs are being met but if let's say a student has high anxiety issues but they want to we can't give that support because they're not in our system flowing through those who receiving special education services that's a limited number um we we would have that kind of thing but there would have to be a sign off on where the authority right now of the school ends in the and takes over where the school home school ends in the authority the school takes over you know right now if a student shows up to participate in a they don't have a copy of our handbook we can say it's online but the students have to go through an orientation process values what we're doing for school norms and so these are these are all challenges and I'm not saying that it has to be solved through this policy thing but it brings down to that fundamental question back again of is the is the choice to H school and it is a choice just like it's a choice to go to a charter school just like it's a choice to go to a private school you're asking for a different setup than being offered at Frontier in the frontier package okay and then the question before the committee is can you can you pick and choose portions of the frontier package or is it is it considered all full one and I've Just Seen over the last but last seven years I've worked here we are trying to do more and more with our students about leaderships on and on the athletic field right now we acquire athletes and leaders on ship the team during the school day to attend trainings to be Pro to be peer leaders and um move the values and ideas and Norms that we're trying to move in this community and hes school students don't have the opportunity to do that because they are in a different curriculum they're in a different they're in a different school and so that is why I'm recommending changes into the into the policy um so I don't want to keep going here and going on but that is you know presenting why it's brought before you um and if these aren't the changes you want to make go from there or this is you know should there be a separation everything that the students are homeschool students are using at Frontier Regional outside of special education services can be filled in other other buckets in the community you know I my my own kids play in other sports on other traveling teams I and I move them to different places that's what they want to enjoy and they enjoy being with other kids other than just students of Frontier so that is uh my Summary of why that's important currently there are 25 homeschool students at Frontier region from Frontier Regional from the for Council that was asked and you said yeah and you said two are currently participating there are two parting in the fall program sort of is that Athletics and extracurricular just Athletics right now I don't believe there's anybody participating in the was is there a way to find out if anybody is doing extracurricular activities of sports as home schoolers in our school it would be as they come up okay in the past um but no it's mostly this is mostly an Athletics conversation but it's it's applying to just to be clear in the Athletics conversation those things go away as well any the other any of the other extracurricular all usings as the way the language is extra to no one's yeah but the policy yeah ahe you want to be formal about moving the policy and moving the amendment before we discuss the amendment or do you want to be more casual that's a great question yeah um yeah we we could do that um so what you're suggesting is that we really uh follow true to Robert's Rules and make a motion to begin a discussion on the amendment and then that you would she say move the discussion formally move to discussion on the policy you get a first and a second open discussion someone that's exactly that's exactly what I'm saying yeah that we would yeah that we would make a motion on the policy a second on the policy and then that would I think traditionally we usually kind of do a motion and then move on to a vote but what we would do is a motion in a second and then you would do a an amendment I think that's fine so long as we set the ground rules is just a slightly different than we normally do it so go ahead I mean amongst our committing members is there any other discussion before we go any further does anybody else want to put their two cents in likee Phil but so I think we I think we're saying we're just trying to open up a fish follow Robert's Rules this is what we do is we say we're going a motion in place to discuss the homeschooling someone seconds it we continue the discussion and then at some point in some in time someone calls the question at which point in time we take a vote I know that that's not how we always do things but that that would be following protocol so I I think that yes I would entertain a motion to that we approve policy IH second and now I'd like to move that we amend the policy in the final paragraph strike with the phrase participate in the inter Scholastic Athletic program student government and the student activity program or which me which leaves uh the statement now completely saying only those students who are enrolled and in regular attendance in the frontier Regional School and Union 38 school districts will be eligible to graduate from Frontier Regional School can I ask a question yes so really we would have there's a motion and you need a second and then we can discuss if there's no second then the motion dies and we go back to the policy as state and then we can discuss but okay so now we are discussing just for clarity sake because I know that this can get confusing especially when there are amendments in on amendments uh we are discussing only the amendment to strike the will be eligible to participate in the inter School EIC Athletic program uh student government and the student activity program so that that policy line would read only those students who are enrolled in and in regular attendance in the frontier Regional School and Union 38 school district will be eligible to graduate from Frontier Regional School go ahead comment love it but um I'm feeling um that the student government Frontier should be comprised of students who are at Frontier so I don't know if make an amendment amendment I don't but um I would prefer it to I don't know if I'm okay to say this for it to say um to add back in the student government as only those students who unold that Frontier are part of student government it just not that I'm trying to exclude everyone I think everyone to be involved in things but I think if you're governing a group of students it should be the students who go there I would like ask you formally ask asking for an amendment to the amendment or would you like to continue discussing the amendment the amendment has been seconded it's not it has been seconded yeah yeah did it I think we should continue discuss are you formally asking for an amendment to the amendment or are you offering that up in discussion and we will continue to discuss I guess I'm just right now offering it in discussion that how we're feeling about Student Government being governed by students who are not part of the frontier students who are here iing but keth has something to go ahead well it kind of plays off of that yeah by removing inner Scholastic Athletic program student government and student activity program will that fall back to the old langage which that it will be uh based upon approval of the superintendent no because this proposed policy strikes that so this doesn't change what is being stru what is being struck from the policy so that's now just kind of so no one approves yeah that's kind of before before it it explicitly called out that they were eligible for those activities right so the first the first section is struck right specically called out they were allow Now by not amending anything else but this the second paragraph it leaves it up to open and that's intentional I see the look in your face okay the look in your face you meant to do yeah okay this is exactly what Happ which is why I was saying maybe we paus in the amendment Amendment so have a discussion there may be more things that want to be amended yeah go ahead I just I just want to make sure that I understand that what we're what this amendment does is it does not exclude homeschooled students from any extracurricular activities unless we put Student Government back in but that's but that's the purpose of this amendment right is for us to allow homeschool students to do to participate in extracurriculars is that is that am I am I reading this correctly inten yeah okay so Jared thank you for bringing that up now that I'm looking at this I guess I would unke the previous paragraph which says a student being educated in a homebased program within the district may have access to public school activities of either a curricular or extracurricular nature upon approval of the superintendent so I'd like to know would you like to call to vote your Amendment so point of order she could she could she could accept a friendly Amendment to the to the amendment if that's what you'd like to do uh yes is somebody formally proposing a friendly amend is that what sheing friendly amend or I can just update my my proposed amendment I think the amender can just accept it I believe that's the case so let's be clear about what it is that the amender is accepting so Jess you are saying that you would like as part of your amendment to unstrip a student being educated in a homebased program within the district may have access to public school activities of either a curricular or extracurricular nature upon the approval of the superintendent is that correct unless someone has a better idea to match my intentions than and just to be clear so that Chris has documentation correctly the entirety of your friendly Amendment uh change would include un striking that initial paragraph and then continue to read only those students who are enrolled in in regular attendants at the frontier Regional School Union 38 School District uh will be allowed to graduate from Frontier Regional School yes do we need to Res second that yeah is the second is the seconder who is um that would be Keith Keith are you fine with that I'm a little confused about where we are right now correct everybody is yep I think what happened is you put an amendment before you had an original discussion which just could jump in the amendment first before there was any discussion on the which is which is legal which is personally whatever process wise but immediately went to an amendment before there was discussion on can people the assistance in making the amendment reflect my intentions because I had only looked at the change text and not the started text sure so where we are as Jessica has made an amendment that initially read only those students who are enrolled in regular attendance at the frontier Regional School Union and Union 38 school districts will be eligible to graduate from Frontier Regional School and has amended that to include un striking the paragraph before which reads a student being educated in a homebased program within the district may have access to public school activities of either a curricular or extracurricular nature upon approval of the superintendent if we second that then we can discuss those changes if those changes pass with a vote then we're back to discussing the policy before us with those changes go ahead or should we discussed should we discussed I just want motion first I'm sorry I just want to be clear yep are we ever going to go back to discussing the original language change well so right now we're discussing the amendment to that language and we discuss and vote on the amendment to that language and once we discuss you're not discussing the old language anymore right we're not that what happens when never be discussing the language that was after this amendment unless have to knock down you'd have to withdraw your amendment in order to go back I can you could do that move again okay I will withdraw my Amendment thank you for in which case we are that's okay that's great that this is a good exercise in keeping things organized even though sometimes keeping things organized makes things a little more confusing all right so the amendment to the language is withdrawn at which point we are back to a discussion that has been already has a motion and a second to discuss the homeschooling policy as previously presented and is open for discussion go ahead so um you just a couple of just things just to first of all that the 20 people here 20 something people here um to participate in our democracy is a beautiful thing and um and the quality of your comments like uniformly was outstanding just thank you for that um the uh the the one thing that I would like just as a school committee to the the the the belief that somehow um the community was not asked to participate in this I would just say that it is the school committee's legal resp responsibility to set policies the way that we do that we function in a democracy as a school committee we post an agenda that states what it is we're talking about and then we talk about it and then the next month we vote on it so that is the process of asking to you know uh of asking the community to participate um and that is how people that did see that did eventually notify you um if you didn't see it yourself but um a lot of people just don't realize the importance of school committees and what the powers that the the legal responsibilities and authorities that they have and it's why um you should keep an eye out on your posted agendas uh most towns have it on their website check it check it once a month see what they're talking about because it often affects you um so and then the other thing that I just like to talk about is that some of the superintendent um uh com comment and his rationale for reflecting this uh the change in the in policy um because you know I I understand like the the the desire to have neat and clear lines um but you know uh it's human beings and it's messy and there's no neat and clear uniform one siiz fits all for human beings um it just you know that that's the that's the business that we're in is just sort of to to me the guide stone is sort of you know parents parents Patria that act in the stead of the parents in the best interest of the children um and that sort of what you know you you and and to that end the the comments that were said from by people that um what they're doing you know this policy sort of assumes that it could be viewed as assuming that there is it is never in the best interest of a child to be homeschooled and I think it's really hard to say that um I can't get there um and and and if you believe that there are that there it can be in the best interest of a child to be homeschooled then this seems punitive um and and so it you know if if um you know which we're back to you know if there are problems with certain individuals or happen in the past can we not fashion a policy to better equip the superintendent to deal with those problems rather than punish those who we do not wish to punish um so that's you know and that is this an attempt to Fashion a one siiz fits all remedy to a problem that cannot be solved in that manner and so that's you know do we have to go from totally okay for everybody for everything to not okay for anybody for anything is there not a middle step that we could choose I don't make the decision you do but um I I think that again when when you talk about philosophy of the educational Mission so are we splintering that and are we okay with that and if we are then that's that's that's what we're okay with but I think it is it's is a conversation that we're having um that when you talk about the whole student of a student athlete you know you know I don't think you can't you know in other institutions this is a it's a stranger setup right in other institutions you don't have people dropping in to participate in their extracurricular activities like in colleges and whatnot you Don't Run Track at UMass and not go to co school there you know what I mean so it's an interesting it's a different kind of setup in where we're trying to do the you know and I think that you know if you're looking for Solutions outside that box yeah I think we we can hold we hold our student athletes to a higher standard can we hold homeschool student athletes to a higher standard I have to talk to an attorney about that because the homeschooling law is very specific and it's so specific that when I ask for more information from homeschooling families they have the right to say no most time and so it's a very it's very narrow which we what the school can because there's a lot of Rights and and I respect the rights of the homeschooling process because it is part of um you know Americans rights and and so forth right that you have you you don't have to you don't have to buy into the public institution you can do your own thing um and that's great but what I'm cutting at is the question of what other parts can we can we divide off and does that and we're okay with that you know I guess that's the that's the conversation I'm having because that's the part when I'm seeing it is it's it is Splinter and and so if we are also a wck department for the town because that's what it is it's no longer a student athlete it's a w department for other students we don't allow we don't allow charter school students to come here to play sports I mean they're getting an education from a different chart but because that's set up differently for some reason private school students those families pay taxes in town as well but they don't come here if they don't have you know their private school doesn't have a you know whatever team you know um so it's it's it is a there is there's a vagueness there is a fog there and the right now the status quo in many communities is ignore it and so I'm saying I want to have a conversation about it and that's why it's here tonight because I don't think it's I think we have to be clear to what we're expecting of our student athletes the the public students who attend Frontier versus teammates that join them are they held to the same standard and and how do we do that because basically the curriculums that are provided by homeschooling families may have different values than what we value that we're putting forward and that gets very complicated and so it's more than you know it's not a it's not a punishment toward one can say that because you're taking away a right it's a punishment toward a homeschooling student but there's a Choice there that they want to go a different avenue with their schooling and so I I get that but the question is if the two aventies are going to intersect what does that look like because I I think it's really messy right now and it's been going just fine because low impact and we haven't had a whole lot of issues but we have to BU policies for the problems that fall ahead and how we solve those problems but it still is low impact if there's 20 there's what two two in the fall season correct two in the fall 24 districtwide out of four towns 25 for Frontier 25 for Frontier there's more from the elementary schools okay so that you know that that that still is pretty and you know I I yes the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is an essentially unreliable partner um yes the it is there are inequities and unfairnesses with regard to Charters private whatever but you know we can still try to be fair as Fair as we can be to the group of people that would be affected by this policy um uh despite all of those things am I was I've been giving a lot of thought over the weekend I just one bounce my ideas off off everyone what uh you were talking about Phil Darius a lot of points you were talking about I uh I've kind of jotted down um over the weekend when I've been researching this stuff we are not the only School District that has ever dealt with this stuff um in fact what I've come to learn is they're called the Timbo laws and if anyone knows who Tim too is he is a Heisman Trophy winner uh for our school Florida and he was homeschooled and he was allowed to play at his football team for his varsity school and then he went on College and he want be highman Trophy and then a lot of homeschool families want wanted the same rights that he had and was allowed to participate in firsty sports uh Massachusetts is from what I read only one of five states that allows the local school district to make that decision there's other states that are very strict where it's just legislated from the top that you they can't participate and in other states it's wide open and they can't not that that matters just a little bit of background knowledge that I learned I thought was just interesting um there are two points that kind of I do have to think over that you know it does concern me we talk about inclusion and I'm all for everyone being included but it's inclusion is how one looks at inclusion right so the Mia has a set of standards and rules that our student body has to follow GPA attendance uh quarterly grade reports mcast graduated um back in my day I don't know if it's still true or not on competition day if you had gym class you had to participate in gym that day if you couldn't participate you were pulled from competition that day so homeschool kids we don't have any reliable source to verify that any of those things have occurred um I asked darias a few questions you guess annual grade reports of that that's so a on the home school application the families have the choice of how they want to provide their assessment and usually it's annual reports and sometimes it's sample work as part of that anual reports very few are picking um assessments there are a lot um people that are doing online um schooling now and so I'm getting online reports with grades of um completed sections somewhere there's online schools that you can be a part of and there's online classes where they will give you have completed so many sections out of so many sections and so I'll get print outs of that report too so that's what that kind of looks like but it's usually end of year report but it's end of year so we're you know on quarterly grades my kids have witnessed their friends being pulled off of a team bus because the grades came out that semester or that quarter and they didn't make the grades and they were pulled off the bus on competition day that is not going to how is that Equitable with our kids versus homeschool kids um those are some thoughts I had with I guess that aspect of it the other aspect is and this really kind of goes back to is how do we Define our school Community is it the kids that are in our building is it our community is it our district and that is really what's up for discussion I think today um you know we have schools that are live we have kids that live in our district that go to Deerfield Academy I wouldn't necessarily refer to them as part of our school Community we have kids that go to uh school choice to another school I think we have more school choice kids that come in here one could argue they're out of our district but they go to our school they're in our school Community vice versa we have kids that go out of our district to another school they live in our district they go to another school are they part of our school Community or are they part of mohawks or pioneers or wherever they go Charter kids they live in our district they go to another school suffer debate if they're part of our school Community um where I get where I get a little touchy is homeschool families wanted not use our academics but use our athletic department again is that using it like a w wreck a town wreck department um it's it's not an all aart cafeteria program where does it end you like the math you like the math program but you don't like the history program so you pull your kids from the history program but allow them to use the math curriculum it's not there yet but you know is that put that where this goes um darus you already brought it up you know you can't go to GCC but then try out for the um basketball team I know that's another level but you know you can't go to another school and try out for our fls th those are the talking points that I wanted to talk talk about tonight and the concerns that I have and the opposite end of the spectrum of um what we heard tonight and I do appreciate all the emails and and everyone speaking tonight and I I do like listening to that both sides of conversation a a couple things that I'd like to say kind of spinning off of that a little bit I think one is please I'm sorry can you speak up a little bit sure sure yeah so a couple things I wanted to to say spinning off of this is that I would Define our school Community as kids who are or can go to our school system because just because someone is two doesn't mean that they are not going to come to our kindergarten and we have Early Childhood Outreach programs that access that Community we have people who may be homeschooled for a period of time and then may come into our school district at another time and I think that I think that it is within our purview in particular considering this policy is in front of us that it is our responsibility for policy that concerns all the school AG children but then why don't we open up our athletic department to everyone in our district i' go to other schools it was so I guess the my thought about that was that like if you apply to GCC or you apply to go to some other space you're requesting to be included in their space or you're applying to be a part of their Community whereas these folks happen to just live in this space but they're choosing to be to take an alternative academic path but if they wanted to come to our school tomorrow they would be entitled to right and then and then they could play our Sport and they are making decisions that impact them but but there are kids to but to a sense that's that's a false choice because the right now the home schoolers have a legal right to be homeschooled and they have B they based on state law they have uh if if a district permits it they have a legal right to participate in our Sports that's not necessarily that may or may not be true of other of of other students situated in other situations and is not really before us because what's before us is this situation so um we don't need to decide that situation because it's not this situation thank you I appreciate this doesn't always happen Phil but I appreciate you bringing us back to the top you are you I thought yeah that is exactly what I say don't have an opportunity to call it out so when I do go ahead all right so um several thoughts from me this feels to me like a solution in search of a problem we don't have an issue that needs to be resolved by by passing this um it is not common in Massachusetts I asked darias last week he only knows of one District in the state so if we pass this we will be the second district in the state which makes us Statewide leaders in exclusionary practices that's not a distinction I want us to have um a lot of the every single one of the arguments in favor of this policy come back to a mentality of our kids versus not our kids we are elected to put all of the kids in our town first and this really does not do that I really feel like passing this policy as presented does not honor our duties as school committee members because they are all our kids they could be in our school tomorrow if they wanted to be the decision we make tonight impacts The Homeschool kids therefore there are kids um I think that the presence of The Homeschool kids in our extracurriculars and Athletics makes the experience richer for the frontier students my daughter is really upset about this policy she's never cared about a school committee policy before but she's got a homeschooled CL teammate and she doesn't want that person to be cut off um Darius I'm really interested in your point that um home school H school students can access special education and cost us money special education services but the state doesn't help fund it that seems to me like a state level policy that we should be advocating for in fact I can go talk to Natalie and Joe about adding it to the rural schools bill and we get homeschool students included in Foundation which would probably disproportionately impact rural schools let's fix that and in terms of other things we could fix we could pass a policy for more accountability for homeschool athletes if we're concerned about their attendance and their grades let's make that its own policy I agree with the commenter think was Ashley who characterized this as extreme because it's not a solution to an existing problem there is no Nuance there are no conditions to it it's just a blanket B if we had a problem we'd be looking at the actual Solutions so if we are concerned about accountability for our homeschool athletes let's make a policy for that [Applause] specifically you have your hand up with fraction of the second sure just um so my thinking on this I thought a lot about it I appreciate everybody's comments um this is just a philosophical I think it's a a discussion to be had um there are I respect anybody's reasons to homeschool their child but I do view homeschooling as further erosion of the mission of the public schools uh it can be looked at similar to a public space a park that public money is put into people can access it they can access it their own ways nobody's ever happy with exactly how it's done uh but almost a homeschool is is taking a section of the park but then wanting to be involved in other parts of it and it's almost like education allart and it is akin to uh it eats away at the public Mission similar to vouchers similar to school choice similar to uh educational tax credit similar to educational ATM similar to school choice similar to Charter Schools it eats away at the public mission that being said I'm also uncomfortable with uh Thou shalt not logs I prefer thou mayest and this is such a small number of people I don't know that I can I don't know this is the time the place or the rational to draw line of the sand on this one I think it's a worthy discussion and I do think it it it erodes public education um but I struggle with just simply excluding a small small number of students has a significant issue to drive us forward my main concern right now is the the amendment as it's Mia there's no well I'm sorry the the policy isgb with this suggestion takes out the the very specifics of Athletics student government and and Student Activities that were in there and then the first ones at one point it was the on the approv of the superintendent now it's on the approv of the principal and those things are kind of left out there so I think there should be more specificity just to be clear we're not talking about the amendment at all the amendment was right I'm talking about the okay the actual current okay so for me um I've struggled with this all weekend to people research all the very here thinking people that have written in in favor of not changing the policy so in my um professional career been retired over a year a school adjustment counselor in a special education department so you know 7 through 12 schools so inclusion including everyone never consciously excluding anybody um is is what I do what I did and so I don't ever can't ever imagine voting to exclude anybody these are people have made this point over and over these are all of our children but there's another side to that and Damian alluded to it as a second part of my job a few years after I started I was coordinator at the student services department which serves all the children and so I learned very quickly any change that's made to anything a handbook whatever it is you have to think of who all the people that are being affected and how it affects them so then I thought about what about the um enrolled students regular education but then there's also special education and students with 504s that have disabilities that are enrolled students and they have to meet the eligibility requirements which is something you alluded to the grades come out and suddenly you know they've struggled and suddenly they're ineligible so then I really went down a rabbit hole and said Okay so let's not have eligibility for anyone because that's the only way to make it fair there's no consistent data to compare those two groups of people um so it's a dilemma we've had great talking points and public comments were awesome maybe thinking of something Jessica said about a a separate some kind of accountability policy for home school I don't know what the options are sorry Darius I didn't bring a solution right supposed to bring Solutions good conversation but excellent conversation just just a quick one we've been talking about sports but how about graduation how about getting that diploma where I think Darius told me I asked them I don't know when it was but once last time we didn't have a kid graduate because they failed mcast and we've had one kid in I'm not sure how many years it was but one kid I mean encast has accountability for graduation what's the accountability for homeschooling that type of test End cast to get your diploma after after spending 12 years in school um I kind of wanted to jump off that and a lot of other people's things um but I think darus brought up a really great point that we need more clarity of where the homeschooling um you know regulation actually you know stops and where F FRS begins and more clarity about how that's going to be if we want there to be an accountability similar for what Frontier athletes um are required to do um you know um someone made a point that we don't tell other people they can't participate and we do we tell kids who don't have the grades that they can't do that in fact my daughter had a psychotic break after um covid and even though she had been on a track year team for six years her senior year her last thing she was not allowed to participate um and we took that that was how it was didn't get the grades you couldn't do it you can't participate and that was just how it was because that was how the school was and that was upsetting and for sure I don't want anyone to have to go through that but I think that there has to be some sort of you know point and what is that and who's going to administrate that you know like if we do make more do we need to you know get somebody to make sure that all you know if we want to you know um keep track of more homeschool um you know accountability for that who's going to do that and I'm not saying we shouldn't I'm just saying that's things we need to think about is who's going to do that um and that there it seems to me that there's some very different things here um I for me I find it to be very different that we would just the whole of awarding high school diplomas um is very different than the amount of people who are actually playing the sports and again I'm not like making a distinction about what we should should not do but that just seems very different like where we crossed out um you know standards for graduation I I think it's really important that we keep something that we do make some decisions about do we who do we give a diploma to and do we hold ourselves to that um but you know I don't want to be known as people who are like you can't you know play sports with your friends um so it just seems like there's needs to be a more Clarity or discussion around all this we don't seem to be coming to some really tight decisions can you clarify how do where do the graduation diplomas come from home school students do not receive a do not receive a diploma for from Frontier unless they request one of the school committee so we haven't had that recently home school students will the um it's determined by the Home school instructor which is usually app parent that they completed um and they of course reports to be along the way but it's their determination that they they've met the criteria for their diploma and so that's not something that's generally being requested over the years no but I thought it was interesting that it was in there that one could and I thought that that it was such a again a division between um what's happening versus what was in that old policy I mean I think that policy does need to be updated than that um it's one of the things that was in there no participation got everybody's attention but the idea that you can take a different program outside of the purview of the school committee and get receive a diploma from the school committee it is kind of I it is it doesn't make sense um Olivia so like what you brought about your daughter there I don't think that's within our controls at school I don't think that's a school policy necessarily I think there's Mia rules that govern that for everybody so and so that's some of the research I I did the same type thing I I researched myself this weekend I through the Mia rules around that stuff I did a a little um Camp Bell family discussion in the car get my kids's thoughts my wife's thoughts you know what I mean like I just it's something I need to bounce off of them uh thank you all for your public comments really appreciate them all um well thought out really excellently presented um really not an easy solution there's no easy solution I think um a lot what you said Kei resonated with me um I think there are there are risks So reading through those Mia rules there are there are things we need to ensure are happening and the homeschooling sit there's there's sections dedicated to homeschooling and I don't know that we're we're doing that and so the the risk exists that the entire football team could become ineligible to participate in the in the postseason as an example if we don't hit that right and that's a risk I think to Keith's point it's such a it's it's very small numbers that it's a risk I'm willing to take I think there are benefits obviously benefits to those who um are homeschooled and are have this opportunity to participate um benefits of my own kids who are interacting with those students so the to me there are benefits and there are risks and I think um right now it's small but hypothetically it takes just one uh incident but just further discussion further focus on this from our from our group is it's what we require so just to to further uh Enlighten some of the difficulties I had in this I've been teaching ninth grade for two decades and that's a real transition Point I've had many many H school students Charter Choice students come back back in uh generally my homes school students and Charter students are performing below where I would expect them I I not necessarily favorable in that regard however we want all of our students in our community in our school and sports theater and Performing Arts is a hook at at ninth grade level to bring stud back in the building so to also eliminate that possibility of trying to bring students back um I struggle with that just the yeah go ahead the one thing that sticks with me discussion is um Dar dar's you know saying that he he would like to go back to the to the attorney to to our you know to our council with what can we do to get a middle ground to get more accountability without this blanket ban and I think that that's really the best Next Step um and you know so so I would make a motion that we just that you know with the greatest of respect for the work that's been done on this so but that we say no to policy IH BG and uh look forward to uh an alternative being presented point just to be clear you're not making a motion there's already a motion on the table about this yeah motion to table I'll second that any discussion about the motion to table so what so we're tabling well if the motion is on the table because you have to have it you have to have an active policy so we just keep what we have you're tabling the changes to the policy so the old policy remains old policy would remain and quite frankly you can table something indefinitely so it's like they're just letting people know that you got to take it off back off the table at a different meeting or it's sits on a table it's one of those our discuss what do I I I don't know that your motion has a timeline attached to it is that correct you just have a motion to table discussion Bas whatever work product is generated and should the motion pass that has been seconded to table the discussion on this the previous policy goes into goes back into effect it would effect and and at some point in the future a date to be determined somebody comes back with other information and we make a motion to unap it corre my only concern on that is that giving public notice can you you can't just suddenly right you know I mean like well say this for a June meeting there's no one ever here you know what I mean like you know I mean like you know what I'm saying like do you have to give how do you do that in a way because I don't want to pay you know there I heard those feelings of distrust in the in our previous Pro process that that there're somehow if you take it off the table is it first read again yes yeah I mean I I guess that would be my concern too is my concern is that would it would leave folks in a space of uh that decision is actually the chairs to make as to how an agenda is the agenda is the chair's unilateral responsibility so do it that to move to put it back on the table right you can't just put it on the table unilaterally it takes the vote of the committee to put it back on the table it's right she she can put it on the agenda or not it's it's it's her agenda right but you would take a vot to take it off the table to discuss again is what Bill say right so it would be similar to a first read to have it on the agenda to do Bill could you in your experience bill would you can you take it off the table and vote it in that same meeting or would you have to then then go to your two read system again no I don't I in my opinion if you vote to put it back on the table we pick up right where we left off when you put it on the table right so I just think we would need to make sure we can communicate that clearly with the public I mean I guess that would be my concern with with tbling it would be that if we table it that is the potential whereas if we vote and it doesn't pass then it does require that same you can go to down send it back to policy committee right we so uh just to be clear for hands up this is for comment on the tabling motion that's on the go ahead you've been typing away functionally the doing something like the the the just Corin amendment is the same thing as tabling because as far as I read it like it just sort of goes back to the pre the what the previous wording would do with the exception of the of the of the diploma right and so I think I I think I don't want to table this I want to I'm I I want to then to talk about that so that then we can go through the regular motions and the the procedures of you know for first stre second uh if we ever want to change this again that's that's my my thought on this but the Amendments would have to get the the long and short of it is if you table it it's the same for in the short term it's the same as defeating it the policy that exists now stays in place you haven't changed anything right I just don't want I don't I I don't want this like sort of Damocles hanging over our head that we could just pull out put on the table on some random meeting if we wanted to not that we would but I don't want that to be a possibility could you put a timeline on it like so this you know policy stays as is it goes back to policy subcommittee next time we meet go ahead Keith I want to go back to pH was tabling it so that dares could get advice from councel what would that what are we looking at kind of advice would we need how long do we think that would I mean so I mean basically you're that wouldn't be in the policy per se those would be procedures in documentation that be provided to get the superintendent's approval in order to play athletics so if we say that um I know in in other Damian shared an article with me with about other states um other states have like you have to show you have to give the same grading time period of the athletes that are in season so that you have to give the progress report and you have to give the quarterly grades up until that point so that they would have to have a different you know so you could he would he would advise like where the line is on that but that wouldn't be in the policy itself that would be in the procedure of of that kind of thing so as I see it unless you want to extend a policy to say that as well um but essentially somebody's got to be in it's going to fall on me because the state says it's going to the superintendent overseas it then I'll just make George do it but the um no but I was jok the uh so but the you whatever procedures in place you know comes out of my office normal unless the committee wants to get their hands on that which I would recommend because that allows me to change it year to year if it's asking too much or asking too little I want to ask real quick too yeah and not to put anyone on the spot including myself on the spot are we not prepared to vote on this as is tonight that is part of deta questions and I think that if you would like to call the question then we can vote and find that I'll just draw the motion to table so that the question all right the motion to table has been withdrawn do you want to withdraw too because you seconded it sure okay call a question M chair yep I make my am after called to question excuse me we could we could we could just not we could vote down the question vote calling the question right or you could no debate calling the question call the question and yeah that that is how that goes yeah all right just for clarity I know we've gone back and forth several times so we the we are calling to question to vote on the original policy ases changes as presented and we'll go through a roll call um I a yes vote accepts the policy as presented a no vote um would revert back to the priorat so so has a question been uh seconded also the original yep okay a while ago prior to discussion yeah long time ago yeah and I'll make point a point of information here yes what we could do also is the policy subcommittee could take this up again and then bring an amended version after this so you do that as an action after correct I'm just saying that out loud correct that's probably what would happen after this the point of information yeah before we vote I want one clarification y because I know there's people in the audience who are concerned with this outcome immediately of this vot pending future policy changes that could happen there is a quote unquote grandfather clause for current athletes so we anytime we've made changes students who have been involved in whatever that changes is were allowed to carry forward and so I shared that um with one of our student athletes who's currently playing um that you know when we change graduation require ments or that kind of thing you can't in Midstream suddenly say take that thing away and those who would are currently participa participated last year was Say in a Spring sport um would be able to continue because we they were allowed to join those teams under the rules the previous rules and that is um that's the usual practice homeschooling what's that can they continue through 12th grade of homeschooling if they're in seventh grade now and they're on one of our teams can they keep doing it they would be able to continue for six years so I just want to make that clarification we have called a question we're going to go ahead and go through this uh would you clarify one more time yes or no yes I will so the the question is on the policy IH BG as the the wording is recommended here the new changes and so a yes policy accepts those a yes vote accepts those changes a no vote declines those changes going back to the policy as stands Olivia PRS she B yes Bill yes Mary no Phil no Jared no Damen yes Jess no he no thank you for my not making me get out of calculator motion fails and uh the policy does not pass as amended presented as presented y sorry and please make a motion to bring it I think that would be a fantastic idea would you like to make that yes I the motion all the more reason to just to tidy up those sentences the motion is to refer this policy back to the policy subcommittee for review and has been seconded and we'll go through Olivia uh Chris yes Bob y Bill y Mary yes Phil yeah Jared yes Damien yes Jessica yes Keith yes yes so for those of you who are in the public who may have had some difficulty following the conversation as there are amendments and seconds and all that uh the policy has not changed it did not pass and it is going back to the policy committee for review thank you school committee all right it is approaching 9:00 and I would just like to offer for those of you who are here I don't think we have tons of time left but does anybody need a quick minute to stand in stretch okay I agree totally I am ready to move them up um I think we've got Kevin Kevin and Jody do you guys wanna whoever wants to go first Kevin you popped up first um do I have permission to just share my screen really quick or is that a possibility yeah go ahead yes um I don't have that in my settings so I need y sorry sorry Kevin just one minute I know that you guys are done with if you guys don't mind just kind of keeping it down for a little bit to take you okay go ahead um you can see my screen yep I'll be I'll be quick um hi my name is uh Kevin Murphy you know I teach uh computer science at Frontier uh this is my 16 15 16th year with Frontier and I've been traveling um uh internationally with students since uh before that and pione when I was a Pioneer um and um I've been traveling uh did several trips here at Frontier in the past and I just want to quickly uh request of uh this new uh trip that is for 2026 uh Switzerland Italy and France um and I travel because I I enjoy bringing the kids out and sharing that experience of of the world and opening the door to them because when I was in high school I had that opportunity and it's just something I I want to share with kids um over and over and over again um you know uh why EF because I've been with ef ever since the beginning U they're very they're all over the world it's very safe they have um uh PL uh offices all over the world and it's it's a very secure um system um a lot of schools use them in our region just thought I'd share that with you you um and uh you know it's a Global Experience for the kids um you've you've you've had trips presented to you in the past so you aware of the importance of travel so I'm going to cut to the chase um so the the trip is going to be in April of 2024 uh the current price is at $4,300 um it's reasonable prices have gone up overall I mean Kevin are you mean 2025 or 2026 I said did I say 25 I sorry April 2026 I plan I want uh so so the idea is you know getting approved for next year uh but um the idea is to get keep the payments down for students if we start now plenty of time for fundraising and all that um and also there's other trips going on in 25 so I like to keep in space though um and you know a lot lots included it's a great deal um so here's the date here are the dates um so the idea is we kind of have a Target uh for Wednesday before vacation to fit in the 11 days but depending on how they align it with other schools sometimes it's like collaborative so the the travel departure date can range in various ways so I'm I'm I'm requesting kind of like this window um between the 14th and the 26th so we'd be back this Sunday the 26th so that the kids will come back on Monday fresh and ready for school um that's the idea that's the Hope um so here's here's it on a visual calendar for you to look at but that's uh basically what we're we're trying to do so I would appreciate uh any questions or feedback any of that thing and uh yeah that's all I have I have a question yes would a homeschool student be allowed to go on thisp um yeah actually um uh adults can go on this trip too so yes a homeschool student um within our district I would imagine would be able to go Kevin how many are you expecting or hoping to get so I always I always aim for 30 um I've had a group of 30 at Pioneer years ago um and just the idea is you fill the bus or 20 to 30 you fill the bus and then you don't have to share with another school so you have anything lower than that we we have to split like our experience with another school it's kind of you know so that's that's a goal doesn't have to be thank you my kid went I trip with Kevin last year great experience does a great job I make a motion to accept Kevin's trip oh second all in favor one school Comm rep has to go CP years ago I think I think Olivia tried to sne Olivia thinked to go to France I'm nominate Olivia to go I'm happy and her expense thank thank thank you very much thank you Kevin thank you Jody good evening everyone thank you very much for having me so I'm Jody Greenberg and I work um at Frontier Middle um and high school I teach te um primarily Spanish but also French so I'm just going to share my screen with you I will try to be brief um and just a warning that my presentation is nowhere near as pretty as Kevin's is so let's see here we go all righty does everybody see that on full screen yeah okay so thank you let's see let me just uh oh why can't I get up to my first screen so hold on one sec a little technical difficulty here there we go does everybody see yes yeah okay so uh my proposal is to create um a short-term two-way student Exchange program to France and what I mean by that is um short-term meaning we're not talking about a semester abroad or a month abroad we're talking about um a period of approximately 10 days um so what that would look like is um 10 to 15 Juniors and seniors from Frontier um would be um participating in the program it's a two-way program so we have identified a partner organization in rodez France um and the idea is that they would send 10 to 15 Juniors and seniors to Frontier in October of 2025 so a year from now uh for approximately 9 to 10 days um and then in April of 2026 we would send um our students again uh 10 to 15 Frontier Juniors and seniors to RZ so um our objective is to cap costs um around $2,500 which includes travel um Local transportation excursions and meals and why that is is because this is really um an educator um this is an educator developed program so there's no company there's no middle person it is a home stay Exchange program and our hope is that this would be something that would be sort of um well so our Dutch Exchange program um for the last couple of years has sadly I won't say it's defunct but we are having very um we're having difficulties identifying partners and so uh it's on pause and so our idea is that this program would sort of um function in place of that if um you know until that gets up and running or perhaps replace it if um we're unable to um start that again and so the idea really is this is more geared towards students who um are in the world language programs it does not at all exclude anyone who is not in those programs but um our intent is because we don't have um uh any AP classes in the language Department to be able to offer this sort of extended um immersive experience um for students to stay with families um and hopefully to develop um you know strong and lasting relationships so our goal is that students would spend two to two and a half partial days in school um there would be lots of local excursions to um nearby areas and so I just want to show you again where rodez is it's in Southwestern France here so it's about a 2hour um bus or train ride to tulo tulo is the airport that we would fly um in and out of so um whoops excuse me sorry um so uh we would also like um to have a couple of longer excursions to the cities of Albi and too as well as to offer students some uh natural activities um there's some beautiful hiking and canyoning opportunities um nearby so we would also obviously the French students would be coming here first so um our goal would be to offer them an experience um with with families in Western Massachusetts Frontier families so that they could get to know what um Western massachusett is like um we would have a very similar setup um and we would take some local sort of sorry local um excursions to places like old Deerfield St Sturbridge Village um UMass the other campuses and then uh two longer excursions probably to Boston and to New York so why Rodz well we had a um student uh teacher from that area last year who uh spent five months at Frontier who was amazing uh we developed a really great relationship with her um and she actually um investigated from her school in France and uh I've been in touch with the teachers um for the last couple of months trying to kind of put this in the works so why else well France is um a place that I know um very well I spent U 15 years of my life there and I'm familiar with that area it's a small safe and Rural setting it's very similar to Massachusetts so while the at the same time students would experience you know there a lot of cultural differences and and really an amazing experience um it's not like they would be um in a big city going mostly to art museums and things that might not interest them but um really kind of doing sort of things in a smaller setting so going to local markets going to visit local things and also taking advantage of a lot of the um natural beauty around so like I said before it's about 2 hours from the tulo airport the weather in April is beautiful lots of um beautiful architecture and markets delicious Cuisine um and we would be close to Ali which is a beautiful medieval city and the r r for cheese production areas prehistoric caves br's medieval Villages and gorgeous so just a couple of pictures this is rhz here this is the um Market in the evening this is the Lis where uh the high school our our partner High School um here are this is so and the um places where the the was made and stored um in the underground caverns and um this Village of HFA and again just some of the beautiful so these are some of the grotto and this is the um the Gorges that are located uh right nearby so basically this is Al and tulo it's a beautiful beautiful area so um I just want to thank you very much for entertaining our proposal and helping us to build um this fantastic opportunity both to bring French students here um and for us to bring our students there um for them to get to know students of their own age on a very personal level um and hopefully make a lifelong friendships so any questions just have one question what's the vetting process on either end for the families that they're staying with both here and in France so um again I would base this mostly off of what we have done previously with the Dutch exchange so there is an application process where um where we get uh you know questionnaires that are um both kind of vetted on either side so um the the the team in France would be vetting the families and the families you know it would only be uh student families um and it would be the same here thanks and uh it's a two-way exchange so ideally what would happen would be the students would stick together for both sides of the exchange I think this is a great program I'm jealous I wish the school committee would ad Jour to Al be to the would you like to make a motion that we adjourn to would you like to make a motion approve this I'll make a motion to approve this fantastic all right all in favor thank you thank you Jody thank you thank you we need to appoint an masc delegate that I know of it's just the two of you Jessica in Olivia is that correct I Amin I'm sorry can't Jo I nominate Jess as our delegate so I might end up being the Sunderland delate I nominate I nominate oliv it's Friday afternoon at 3:15 which is a change the timing so makes a difference for you no won't be home for dinner I will not be home dinner second nomination of oliv all in favor of Olivia being our voice the thank you uh I would be more than happy to entertain a motion to table this student entry fee conversation or move motion to table Yeah to move to the next meeting yeah on the next agenda yeah look like they're paying Friday all in favor unless someone looks the other way getting home early early if we have that discussion unless there's anything else i' like to make a motion to adjourn Madam chair yeah Darius do you have anything no you're on the the last little list on the Fantastic all in favor of heading home thank you