being 6:00 p.m. on Monday, November 10th, 2025. I'll hereby call the regular meeting of the Gardener School Committee to order and ask the clerk to please call the role. >> Miss Rachel Cormier, >> present. >> Mr. John Lefrenier, >> present. >> Mr. Bobs, >> present. >> Mrs. Jennifer Plavven
>> present. >> Mrs. Annne Hurst >> present. >> And Miss Shannon Ward's absence tonight. >> And Mayor Nicholson >> present. >> And Dr. >> President. >> Thank you very much. If all are able, please rise for the pledge of
allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> Moving into our agenda, the first item is item B, open time for the general public. Is there anyone here from the general public who wishes to be heard? Seeing none, we'll move to item C. Recognitions by the superintendent for Garden Public Schools nurses. Uh Bethany Hakunowitz. Is that the correct way to
pronounce it? >> And Benjamin Blake. >> Excellent. >> So if you guys want to just come right up this way. >> Perfect time. So, um I I think I had emailed the the
school committee before. Um recently we had um an event at the high school that was one of those life ordeath events. Very very serious. Um and nurses trained for this their entire professional lives. They were always ready for it and they hope it never happens. Um and
unfortunately we did have such an event um at the high school and the two nurses you have in front of you, Beth and Ben, Bethany and Ben, um have have been at the high school now and responded really quickly. If they didn't respond as quickly as they did if they didn't do
what they needed to do with um CPR and even using the AD, this might have been a very different tragic outcome. So, I just wanted to recognize them for their service and for their ability to respond in such a crisis situation. I know we expect this of our nurses, but once
again, I think it just highlights their importance um in our system. So, I think they deserve a round of applause. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I think this I think this is phenomenal.
Um, and I'm I'm glad we have we're able to recognize them. Can we take a quick minute for pictures? Would you mind taking a quick picture for our committee will be in recess? >> Excellent. 5 p.m. Uh, next on the agenda, item D, the consent agenda. This is included in
your packet. Is there a motion on the floor? >> Move to approve. >> Is there a second? >> Is there a second? >> Motion made by Mr. Ford, second by Mr. Lefrenier to approve the consent agenda as presented. There's any discussion on that motion hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> I. Oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Item E,
subcommittee reports, beginning with the facilities subcommittee. Mr. Schwarz, the >> facilities committee met on last Thursday, November 6. There were a few items that we discussed. Mr. Hawk presented the committee with a
kitchen equipment surplus list of 80 items. And I move that those items be adopted or approved for disposal by the school committee. do that now.
>> Uh, sure. We'll take item 3732 out of order for that vote. There there's a motion made by Mr. Schwarz. Is there a second on that motion? >> Second. >> Motion made by Mr. Schwarz, seconded by Mr. Lefrenier. On item, this is on the second page, item 3732, surplus of equipment uh as presented in
the packet and discussed at the facility subcommittee. Uh, is there any discussion on that motion? >> Hearing none, all in favor say I. >> Oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Uh going back up to the report from the facility subcommittee. Mr. Schwarz.
>> Okay. Uh Mr. Hawk presented a committee with 11 pages of a maintenance work orders from the facilities work order maintenance program. Pages covering open and closed work orders from August 28 to
November 3rd. The pages represented a combination of new, open, onhold, and completed work orders. Mr. Anderson mentioned that the recent change about who is authorized to
submit maintenance work orders. It wasn't the past practice that anyone in the school department could submit a work order and that got to be overburdened duplicated and
there were double, triple and quadruple work orders over the same thing. So the management made a decision that only the assistance principles of each of the schools could submit work orders. Needless to say,
work orders have gone down tremendously, but they're all good work orders that are submitted. So, that's a positive thing. That's about all I had to report. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Schwarz. Any questions, comments, concerns for members of the committee. Moving on to
the finance subcommittee. Mr. Schwarz, oh, excuse me, Mr. Lefrenia. Sorry. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh the facilities um sorry finance committee met on uh November 6th. Um as usual the committee reviewed the year uh to date
expense report. Uh Miss Hawk noted the city hall needs to transfer uh $30,000 for the athletic director recreation director salary. Uh we share that salary with the city. Um, also there was a a
secretary line um that shows a negative and that's because one of our secretaries was out for quite a while. Uh, so of course that wasn't something that we anticipated or budgeted for. Um, we also have a what they call the
management and information line in a negative um, as this is the - funding discount and it has not been applied to the bills yet. So the incumbrance is showing as being really high right now that will level off and then also an out
of district tuition line is negative. Uh but this is something that just constantly is fluid and goes up and down throughout the year. Other than that we are actually looking uh very healthy. The uh uh punch list items continue to be closed out regarding garden high
school auditorium and also the paperwork continues to flow to the MSBA for the work to be done on the garden middle school roof project. And that was it. >> Thank you very much. Are there any questions, comments, concerns from the members of the committee?
>> Seeing none, moving on to the policy subcommittee. Mrs. Hurst. Uh the policy committee met on October 15th and tonight we had six uh for first read and four policies for second read and one for removal. Um our next meeting is
going to be on the 19th of this month. >> Okay. >> Thank you very much. Any questions, comments, concerns before we move into the next items? Thank you very much. We don't have either of our student representatives here this evening, at least as of yet. Uh, so we'll move on to item G with new
business. Item 3729, first reading of policies. This was just referenced by Mrs. Hurst in Hillary policy subcommittee report. Policy BDB, school committee superintendent relationship. BD BB Mr. Chair. BdBC, duties of the secretary. BDD, school committee
superintendent relationship. Bdfa, school committee. BE DG minutes. IGB support service program and JLCD administering medication. These are including the packet of information for vote at our following meeting in the
next month and first reading this month. Item number 3738 second reading of policies. Mrs. Hurst. Um tonight uh we have uh DB annual budget, DBG, budget adoption
procedures, EFD school nutrition program charge policy and JIC student discipline. Uh the policy subcommittee recommends the acceptance of these
policies and we'll make a motion to do that. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Motion made by Mr. Har. Second by Mrs. Cormier to approve the policy as presented in item number 3730. Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Nay.
>> Motion carries. Item number 3731 policy BDFA-E-1 school improvement plan. Mrs. Hurst. >> I'm sorry. It just it's like gets so confusing with all the all the letters and the numbers. Um
uh we had um reviewed this and um we were going to remove it from the policy manual and put it into the procedure manual um because it's procedural and not really a policy. So, um, that's what
the policy subcommittee recommends and I would like to make a motion to remove the policy as presented. >> BDFA-E-1. [Music] >> Is there a second on that motion? >> I'll second. >> Motion moved by Mr. Second by Mrs.
Cormier to remove the policy as presented from the policy manual and item number 3731. Is there any discussion on that motion? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. Oppose. Nay. Motion carries. We've already done item 3732. So, moving
on to item number 3733, curriculum uh coordinator, district MCCAST update. There's a presentation for this that Dr. Fabino is going to be doing tonight. So, um I just I wanted to go over our MCCAST results as we typically do in November. Um you know, and um what I wanted to show is this is um English language,
arts, math, and science. Um and now it's actually um grades three through 10. And so they're we're able to combine them and see how we are compared with the state. Um and as you can see, we've um we're pretty much aligning ourselves
with the state in English and math. Um I will say English for um uh four of the grades, we have a new curriculum. So where the state went down one percentage point, we actually went down two percentage points, which is not unusual when you're imple implementing a new um
a new curriculum. So we do have a little bit of what they call implementation dip. Um math again very similarly um the state went down um a percentage point and we went down two percentage points um in math. So similar to the state um not the results we're looking for. We
want that to be going up. In science we actually increased our scores um overall um where the state went down a little bit. So there we're bucking the trend a little. Um uh I do want to say so for accountability the district itself and
Gardenner High School are not requiring assistance or intervention. Gardner Elementary School grades three and four and Gardenner Middle School grades um five six seven um they are in requiring assistance which means that we're working with SSOS um part of um DESI's
arm and they come in and they work with us and they're actually following our plan. So they really don't um they're they sit in on our meetings. We have strategy meetings and um every once in a while they have a we have a strategy meeting this Wednesday. They come in and they sit in and they just hear what we're doing and are are following along with what we're doing. They don't really
have a lot of recommendations for the moves that we're making. Um and I I will talk about the moves that we're making and then Garner Academy is a little too tiny. So it it's insufficient data. Um I do want to recognize the eighth grade.
Um the eighth grade is definitely um uh and they we have a couple new teachers in eighth grade um for English um and a couple of our veteran teachers in math. But as you can see the um the eighth grade class, this is not um like they went from um doing really well to um
staying doing really well. Last year they they struggled um on MCCAST and yet we have a very um uh a huge boost to them. Does this have something to do with a new cell phone policy being enforced there? I don't know. Um, but you know, again, our our offices of
referrals at the high school were down 60% overall. So, kids were in class, they had a lot of structures and routines that worked very well. Um, and so this is very encouraging to see that when um when folks are um implementing the the curriculum that we have that it
it can be very effective. some of the things that we are doing. So, actually the general findings, students with disabilities and English language learners are why we've been identified by the states. They're we're still not getting our students to do there's a huge gap. Um, is this statewide? Yes, it
is statewide, but for us, um, we have a big gap. So, we really need to focus on our on our students of high needs to make sure that they're getting what they need in class. Um, some of the things that we're doing overall, we're still working with Lynch Leadership Academy for our leaders to
move the work. Our instructional coaches are now working with grades three and four at the elementary and grades five, six, and seven at the middle school. This is a change from last um from actually previous years. They've typically only worked with the
elementary school. Um, and frankly, it's been a wonderful move because the middle school teachers have um really um embraced our coaches in professional development and their coaching um their one-on-one coaching. So, we've heard a lot of good feedback and I've actually
had already we've already had some reports of some um phenomenal um some phenomenal changes in practice at the middle school because of um what they're implementing. So, I'm really excited and I'm heartened um because I think this is going to have a huge impact on our STAR testing, which we do universal screeners
every three um three times a year. And then I think that'll have an impact on our MCCAST scores. We now have MTSS academic teams at each one of the schools. So, where we only had one at the um elementary school before, we now have them at all three schools. They get together on a weekly
basis and they're analyzing formative assessments and they're saying, "Okay, what do we need to do for our teaching practices to make sure that we're that we're all doing we're all holding fidelity to our curriculum into and to what's expected in things like um we've
moved from foundations, it's now um you fly um as our reading curriculum at the elementary school, for example. They're looking at that and they're saying, "Okay, are we they're doing learning walks?" And they're checking um um each month to see are we improving on
what we're doing instructionally to improve the outcomes of the kids. They also look at the data of the universal screeners and to see are we actually making progress. Um and we are working with the statewide system of supports like I said with um Garner Elementary School and Gardener
Middle School. our evaluation process. We're focused now on six particular areas. This is something that we've divi designed um this year where we can look at anytime we walk into a classroom, there's a teacher rubric that the state puts out and we can look at every one of the
categories. We've identified six particular categories and we we said what are the look fors? What are the things we're looking for in the classroom that will that will say this is what a proficient looks like which proficient is hard to do on the rubric.
And so we're very focused on um uh providing equitable opportunities for grade level learning while reinforcing perseverance and effort. Studentto student discourse with equitable student participations in discussions. Um getting students to think critically,
ask questions, analyze sources, perspectives, and biases to deepen learning. Um use appropriate inclusive practices like tiered supports, educational assistant technologies. the special ed department came out with a matrix um that they they work with in um
common planning time where they're looking at who's in my classroom and what are the um accommodations that I'm supposed to be making sure are just generally happening with our um with our planning. This way all the teachers are getting together and they're saying if this is what we need, how are we doing
this? And they're collectively creating those. Um always looking at classroom routines and support. And then we also want to know are they getting information that informs their um how well the students are doing, whether or not they're progressing and then what are they doing to change their
instruction to meet the students needs. Um so those are some um some of the things that we're doing. Um and finally during common planning time they're analyzing formative assessments. They're looking at student work specifically um to identify groups
and because we want to see more um um collabor um collaboration studentto student discourse. We expect that those groups are designed um intentionally um we know that studentto student discourse is one of the biggest levers when it comes to supporting students with
disabilities and our English language learners. So, it's a huge um support for both of our most marginalized populations. And so, we're doing a lot of professional our professional development's all around that. Common planning time is designed around that. Um and we're and we're evaluating stu um
uh teachers on that as well. So, both support and accountability and it's gone very well so far. Does anybody have any questions or thoughts? Um, I know we've talked about it before, but can you like define the common
planning time piece so that people understand what that means? >> Absolutely. So, in grades, thank you for asking that question um because I love this question. Common planning time is actually something that we um uh the negotiating team negotiated into the um contract to make sure everyone has
common planning time um in in our core departments. This is time that the teachers get together. Now, in grades um prek all the way through grade 8, those teachers are grade level groups. So, all the seventh grade teachers get together
during common planning time and they have this typically three times a week. Um they get together and they design they co-plan the lessons together. So they plan common. So together they plan the lessons for their um for their uh
subjects. This is a way that we have um calibration of what's happening in the classroom, but they also have very specific agendas to make sure that they're talking about students with disabilities, our English language learners. How are you supporting those students? They have very specific agendas that are led by teacher leaders.
Teacher leaders are um we have 40 teacher leaders in the in the district. Um there's two students at each one of the grade level, two teachers at each one of the grade levels um that lead common planning time. They're actually being trained by our by the Lynch leadership academy for um uh
facilitation of teams um as well as we're meeting with them twice a month as part of the building leadership team to learn about what is discourse, how are we going to provide professional development, what are my teachers struggling with the most. So common planning time becomes this this time
that not only do they um plan lessons together, but they actually learn how to do the things that the district is asking them to do in terms of moving their instruction together. And so we've made sure that that happens in a and a lot of districts don't have much common
planning time, if any, scheduled into the school day on a regular basis, especially for elementary school teachers. It happens a lot of times in high schools because you can put together um you know the two teachers who are teaching algebra 2 together but
to put nine teachers together is really difficult to do. And this is another thing that we put in the budget to make sure there's enough UA teachers at each grade level to allow that to happen. So that was a short answer to a a very pointed question. Thank you. Did I
explain it? Okay. >> Any other questions? on the 2% uh loss in the scores for the do you think uh it part of it is because of
it's not a graduation requirement? >> No, I I don't think so. I I think as we follow this the the we're following the trends of the state. I'm sure 10th grade um has gone down a little bit because of that, but so is every other district. >> Yeah.
>> Um so I don't think that's part of it. Again, eighth grade is not a graduation requirement. And frankly, eighth grade, our eighth and ninth graders are the ones who struggle the most at the at the high school in terms of of of um uh doing well in school, you know, because it's a big transition. That's a, you
know, tough age, right? They actually went up in scores. So, it's not that kids, you know, are are saying, "Ah, I'm not really going to try on this test." There are always some students who don't, but the majority of our students are are trying. Um, you know, to me, I
think, um, you know, it's it's really about improving our instruction, and it's got to be different. So, I I think one of the things that I I talked about at convocation this year, um, was the fact that if you look if you look at a lot of stu a lot of districts that do really well on the MCCAST, 80 to 90% of
the students are, you know, getting very high scores um, on MCCAST. A lot of times those are very affluent communities with small, high needs populations. We have a very high high needs population which means that the teaching in the classroom can't be the
same here. >> That's right. >> Because when you look at the the the state actually evaluates teaching in all the district in all districts every three years they do a comprehensive review of of instruction. When you compare our teaching and our
outcome uh uh not our outcomes but our teaching strategies and you look at okay are they engaging? Are the students participating? uh are they asking highlevel questions all those things we're the same as those some of those other and I actually compared us to some
very effect very I don't want to say effective but um some districts that do really well on MCCAST we're the same thing if we're going to reach our students with high needs we've got to teach differently and this is why we've we've really honed in on um
discourse why we're really trying to support teachers around how do you implement these um these accommodations and uh tiered supports tiered supports more than anything else um in the classroom to help our students who don't have access in with traditional teaching
methods uh methods how do we um help them to gain access right now I think we're at a crucial point where we've now really defined our common planning time system that we have last year was the first year we rolled out agendas we were very focused on the planning last year
this year we're still monitoring the plann planning, but it's more about the instruction. Every um department is going through core classrooms once a month and they're filling out a Google form so I can see how are we doing. They can see how are we doing in my school? What's the
professional development that's needed? Where are we falling down the most? And the um building leadership team then designs that professional development for the teachers. So, I think if we change our instruction, we're going to change our world and that's the goal. It's really to change the trajectory for those kids and I think if we if we do
that uh when we're when we're successful with that we're going to see very different outcomes for our students. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Any other questions from the members of the committee? Mrs. >> I just and I know this isn't any reflection on our district because I
know that this is statewide. It just I've been an advocate for a very long time and still the discrepancies between students with disabilities and English language learners and the typical
students it just this has been going on. My daughter is 38 years old. That's how long you've been advocating for things in school. Um,
so anything we can do I'm on board with. But I just want people to realize that this has been like this for so long. It's really time to to make a difference for these kids.
>> I I couldn't agree more. And I do want to I do want to say, you know, on that note, I think it's really important to note that our our SEAL outcomes, our social emotional outcomes, our um things like dropout rate and um um you know, our um office discipline referrals um
are o um whether or not we're overidentifying students for um special education in particular populations. We've eliminated those disparities in this district. So it's a lot of work through that MTSS system which is very
robust on the side. In a in a year we're going to have an this year we're actually moving to have a very robust MTSS academic system. Our first target was SEAL because we believe we have to have kids available to learn before they
can learn. Um but the academics needs to be addressed and that's not something that we're going to shy away from and we'll be very transparent with um with our progress. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions, comments, concerns.
>> Good job. >> Moving on to item 3734, director of school health services update. This was included in your packet for information. Are there any questions, comments, concerns? Thank you, nurse Becky. Appreciate it. Item number 3735, grant administrators
update. This was included in your packet for information. Are there any questions, comments, concerns from the members of the committee? Thank you, Director Dunn. Moving on to item 3736, special education update. This was included in your packet for information. Are there any questions, comments, concerns from the members of
the committee? Thank you, Director West. Moving on to item H, communications from the superintendent, Dr. Pelgro. So, I I just want to, you know, first off, you know, um thank the school committee again for, you know, your support, you know, over over the years because things are really starting to
move. Um I was at the middle school middle school several times this um this past month. Um and things are improving at the middle school. We have 18 new staff, including a a new assistant well, assistant principal from the high school and our new um principal um at the high
school. We have some new staff and this the the shift has been so positive. I was in a science classroom with a 20-year veteran who came to our district this year who was just stellar. The change in some of the teaching practices that we're already starting to see this
year um I think is going to I'm really cautiously optimistic about the improvements that um um that we're going to see this year. So I'm very excited about that. I'm excited um uh also just about um again, you know, the nursing staff and um how well they responded to
that um to that crisis. Um and with that, I just want to um I just want to say I still feel like it's the beginning of the school year and it's November. Um so it's it's going by quickly and uh I feel like we just started but we're
already three months in. So and that's all I have to say. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mrs. Hurst. Moving Oh, excuse me. Moving on to item I, final comments of the school committee. Mrs. Hurst, >> I just wanted to congratulate you on on the uh election. Um Aaron and everybody
else who been uh voted in. Um it was a little contentious this year. Um and uh we really need to as a society just really think more about what we're
saying and doing and and and really not making the problems worse by just spreading false information or even just passing. Social media is is so hard cuz it can
make you depressed in like 5 seconds. And um you know whether you're for the left or for the right, it doesn't matter. We don't need to share it because we don't need to be divided. And that's all we have to say.
>> Thank you, Mrs. Hurst. Attorney. >> Um well, just a reminder, tomorrow is Veterans Day, so I just wanted to express my um gratitude for the service and sacrifice of all those who have served. Um and then also good luck to the boys soccer team. Um they play
Wednesday at 2:00 in the Elite 8. >> Thank you, Mr. Schwarz. >> We're down a nurse. Are we in the process of hiring another nurse? It's already been posted. >> Good. Because that is an important part
of emergency response in the school district. So, I kind of that's that's a positive note relative to the election last Tuesday. I'm award for 3A
and then what I say could be multiplied to all the other precincts throughout the city. I just find it amazing that in 3A there are 176 registered voters
and there is only 362 people that voted. I know some of the attitudes are it's not important. Every election whether it be local, state or federal is important.
It's essential that we exercise our privilege to vote or otherwise that privilege will be taken away if we vote for the wrong person. Sorry to get on those soap box, but I thought it was important.
>> I already did that. So, >> thank you, Mr. Schwarz. Mr. Leferny, >> nothing tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. I'm sorry. Mr. Schwarz, were you done? I should >> I apologize. >> Mrs. SC. >> Um, one of the things I've noticed in the past month or really since school started was um, an increase in family
engagement and community engagement within the schools, which I know is one of our long-term goals. So, I've been really happy to see that. Um, for example, with Halloween at the elementary school, I saw a lot of pictures on social media as well as in our packet of the teachers dressing up. And it starts from the leaders. So, if they're doing it, the kids are going to be excited and the parents are going to
be excited. and seeing the um number of families that turned out for the middle school trunk or treat the first first one, right? Was the first time they did it. Um I think that's great. It also provides a safe environment for these kids who are kind of at that in between age. Should they really be walking the streets? They don't want their parents with them, but it gave them a chance to
still be kids in a very safe environment and also be supported by their teachers. So, I'm happy to see that. I just want to say congrats to our one one good luck to soccer, but two good also good uh congratulations to all of our sports teams like the field hockey team that made it to their various playoffs. Um before we had a really
successful season, congratulations to the Gardener High School band on a silver medal performance at state finals. Uh as well um just a couple of updates on my end uh as mentioned before, but congratulations to Miss Hurst, Miss Pavven, and Mr. Cormier on your election last week. looking forward to continuing to work with you all over
the next uh four years for you guys uh at least two years for the rest of us. Um a couple things here for the people who are at the meeting who normally attend our meeting. Um you'll notice that the city hall elevator is currently out of order. Uh we do have a contract with Otis elevator service. Uh the
elevator luckily while no one was in it is stuck in between the basement level and the first floor. The pulley system had a malfunction with it. A new device has been ordered, but there was just a delay in when the device is arriving to Otis so that they can put it in. Uh so we're hoping to have that repair made as
quickly as possible. Um so that we can get full access to all floors here in the building. Uh we do have phone numbers uh taped on the door. If anyone does come to city hall, you can call the numbers. I understand that they were originally put a little too high. Uh so they are also being lowered as well so
that people can be there. But I'm hoping as soon as possible that the repair can be made uh with it. While we're talking about repairs, uh Pearl Street is set to be paved on Saturday. Uh that is something that I understand has also been a uh work in progress. Um the
company is set already to pave on Saturday with a rain date of the following Tuesday. Uh so we'll pray for no rain on Saturday um to make sure that project goes forward. It's one of those that it needed to get done. We were able to do it when we were able to schedule
it with the contractor and when the funding arrived for the project, but at the same time, it we understand it wasn't the ideal situation where all of our schools, all but one of our schools is on Pearl Street and we have to take that route to get there. Uh so, thank you for your patience uh with that. Uh the city clerk's office does have claim
forms for anyone who does have a tire issue uh that was done there uh because of the uh hubcaps or any not the hubcap, the manholes or anything like that. that's there. Um, but I was asked to make mention of that at this meeting by the contractor. Um, and then, uh, next
item on our agenda is the announcement of our next meeting. Next meeting is Monday, December 8th at 6 p.m. here in the council chamber. At that meeting, we'll also announce the date and time of the inauguration, uh, because we have to meet to schedule all of that as well too. Uh, and with that, there's nothing else on our agenda. So, is there a
motion to adjurnn? >> So, move second. Motion by Missur, second by Miss Lefrenia to adjurnn. All those in favor say I. Oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Thank you all very much.