It being 6:01 on Monday, March 9th, I'll hereby call the regular meeting of the Garden School Committee to order and ask the clerk to please call the role. >> Sure. >> Mrs. Cormier, >> present. >> Mr. Lefrenier, no. >> Mr. Schwarz, >> present. Natalie Ruis.
Aamasto. >> Yeah. >> I know I said that wrong. I'm sorry. Mrs. Pavven, >> present. >> Miss Hurst, >> present. >> Mr. Cormier, >> present. >> Mayor Nicholson, >> present. >> And Dr. Palino, >> present. All who 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. >> Our first item on the agenda is open time for the general public. Is there
anyone here from the general public who wishes to be heard? Seeing none, we'll move on to item C, recognitions by the superintendent for the illustrious Paula Bulier. our college and career readiness coordinator for Carter High School, Dr. Elroino.
>> Illustrious. >> Paul, why don't you come on up here? >> I forgot about this. You know, >> I was just going to present. >> She seems a lot more relaxed. Seems a little more relaxed. >> So, I thought I thought tonight I
recognized um Paula. she was coming to to to present for us, but she's done so much work around the early college program, the gateway to college program and pathways programs. Really expanded it and made sure that um we're not only moving the programs forward, but we're actually reaching students that often
times wouldn't have otherwise attended college. Getting this leg up is huge. Um to me, this is really important because when we think of life after high school, when kids go on to whatever careers or lifestyles they're going to that they're
that they plan to go into, they're going to need professional development. They're going to need courses. They're going to need more to continue learning to be lifelong learners. And so going to an actual college, taking actual classes at a college is some of the best experience, real life experience that we can give kids to get that leg up.
They're prepared for life after um going to high school. So I wanted to recognize Paul for all the work that she did. Um, and also I thought this would be a great way for her to kind of show off um students and jump ahead in the agenda a little bit and talk a little about the program.
>> SO ALL you can take it now. >> Yeah. Unless there's any objection, we'll take item number Let me find you Paula. Uh 3765 College and Career Readiness Coordinators presentation out of order and tag now. Wow, this is called >> Thank you. Um I think we're going to
play We had some um very excited about these videos. We had some leftover marketing money in our 460 grants and I've been looking to have some just short videos for our early college and MVP program that we can use as promotional videos. We can play at open
houses, we can use at the middle school, we can post to our website just to give a little feel for what the programs entail. And actually, they're just like a minute and a half each. There's two of them, one for early college and one for MVP. And I will give props to Alex
Lucier, who's a recent graduate, um, who's doing this work at he's in his master's program at Worester State. Um, and he he did these for us and they're super cool. So, I think we're just going to play them real quick. >> Um, before we do that, we're going to take a brief recess to address a quick
issue and then we'll be back shortly. Thank you. >> Door's locked. The meeting back to order. Now that the door is city hall, we're reunlocked. Take it back out the hall. >> Okay. Do the >> video.
>> Yeah, let's do let's show the videos first. >> Our early college academy is a great source of for Mexico. With our partners at Mount Chusa Community College, we have established an early college program where students take college
level classes will also earn a high school credit towards graduation. We've been averageing about hundreds of students total between juniors and seniors who participate in our academy. In this program, students are earning on average match 36 college credits up to a
full associates degree with 60 credits all for free. Also, students enrolled in this program were both being garden high school students and can continue to participate in all high school activities and they get to graduate.
As the early college academic counselor here at Art, which is a community college, I work with the Garden School students in making sure that they know how to advocate for themselves, pick their schedules, and also help with the transition from high school to college.
My favorite part is that I put my sports for art. >> I plan on going to the Olympic field and doing this program. >> Obviously, the art >> all the classes that I still want to do after high school, I'm able to do them like in the afternoon cuz all my all college classes are just done in the
morning. It allows you to kind of get those just >> It's really good when the words match up with what you're all extra money in the future when you don't really need to. and the students they succeed. >> I really enjoyed being in the early college program. The work is hard, but
it definitely helped prepare me for college. >> Obviously, there was a buffering issue with the noise, but uh thank you. >> Um yeah, but it's I think they're going to be really useful
>> for promotional. Want to try the MVP one? >> Yeah. What I want to do is um see if I can download this real quick and maybe we won't have that buffering video, the buffering problem.
>> It's going to take a minute to download. >> Yeah, I'd rather do that. But yeah, actually I forgot to mention the the MVP program that Paula also oversees. That's because it's actually been going really well. Although we just finished our application for the plumbing program. >> We did. Um, you want me to speak to the early
college stuff and then you can watch the MVP one. They'll speak that way. Not making people wait. >> Um, you know, and I know, you know, and I appreciate Mark recognizing me for this, but I think um I would be remiss not to talk about the work that Melissa Payne did for years in this program. Um, you
know, I knew how much work she was doing and I was happy to be working alongside of her when we were developing this. Um but you know I am fully aware although we are revamping things all the time and it's growing that I'm inheriting a pretty wellestablished early college
program. Um so kudos to her for that. Early college I can talk about our enrollment our current enrollment right now just to give you a little flavor for um our demographics in particular. Bless you. um early college enrollment right now as far as our subgroup data we are
at 65% white 20% Hispanic, 7% African-American, 8% multi-racial, 42% lowincome, 6% are on IEPs or 504s, and 1% eel. So,
we're getting closer to to mirroring our demographics. It's been a a a process, but it's improving yeartoear, which we're very excited about. Um, you know, the one place that I think we probably lag behind the most is our IEP and 504 students who have dis identified
disabilities, although um that's growing. So, we're excited about that. Um, and I think a lot of that has to do with um something I'm going to talk about in a minute about um changing multiple measures and how we're um allowing students to come into the program.
Um, we have about 90 students. We have 90 students in the program right now. 56 seniors, 34 juniors. Of the seniors, of the 56 seniors, we have 15 that are first year students. So, they're doing
it for the one year. Aiden being one of them. >> Um, which is really cool. For some kids, they're either not ready, some of them just weren't interested in it. Um, some of them want just want to stay in high school a little bit longer. So, um it's still a great opportunity for them to
earn, um free college credit. We have five students that are going to be graduating this year with full associates degrees, free associates degrees. Um on average, the minimum typically if they're in for two years that they earn is 36 free credits
because the minimum they usually do is three classes a semester. um and we are kind of anywhere from that 36 credit mark to um 60 depending on um what track they're on. This year we do have something a little different. We have one cohort at the high school. We did
this originally because when college became free community college, the mounts got a surge of applicants, which you would imagine outside of early college. Um and they're worried about space. So, we agreed to have one cohort
stay at the high school, and those students needed to come back for math anyway because they didn't place into math, which is fine. A lot of our students take extra math at the high school rather than jumping right into college math. So, we had a cohort of 16 juniors that we kept back at the high
school. Two professors come in and teach them two college classes in the mornings and then they stay with us for three afternoon classes. And I have to say we did that out of necessity this year, but it went really well. I for those students at first they were like we don't want to be at the high school, we
want to be at the college, but it's gone really well. The college classes, the straight college classes, they actually have pretty busy schedules and then they're here for three afternoon classes. But we're um if space isn't an issue this year, we're debating we think we're going to keep a cohort and do that
again um next year because it went really well um out of our fall semester. So, we're, you know, in the spring semester. There was 325 classes taken and only five failures. So, a 98.5%
pass rate. And of the five failures, those kids weren't in jeopardy of dropping below a 2.0. They weren't in jeopardy. There was just different reasons for them not passing their classes. And we worked out plans and we got them back on track and they're all doing great right now. So, I think that just speaks to the success rate and how
hard our kids are working. Um and we've maintained every student that that started with us. Um which I think is important too. Recruiting right now for next year is in full force. We got the applications out. We had an open house at the college. I had an online virtual
openhouse information session for those who couldn't make it. Um applications are open until March 20th. So, you know, I'm in the process now of reviewing those applications. Um, and I'll speak real quick to what I mentioned before about the multiple
measures. When early college first started, you had to take a placement test. And if you didn't, it doesn't matter what your grades were. If you didn't pass the placement test, you weren't getting into the program. Um, and that's that's the way community colleges were for years and years and years and years. And I
think the early college conversation really got people right from, you know, the counselors working in the programs to the colleges to the superintendants really having robust conversations about this this is not equitable. This isn't
fair. Um we're losing out on all the kids we said we wanted to get into this program. Um first generation students um and the students we want to have exposure to these college classes. So that's changed immensely which I think has helped us swoop up another whole
group of kids which has been great and I think it's why it's improving our our subgroup information and it's really our subgroup data about um you know we have like a an 80 average as kind of like our general threshold but if you were below
an 80 in math but you know had something around an 80 average of all your English classes or all your math classes then we can get you in and maybe you come back and take math. math. If you get a strong recommendation from your teachers, it's like, I know this students grades are in this range, but they're very capable.
We'll grab those students and we'll get them in. Um, so it's just more equitable and it's just opened up opportunities for for many more of our students. A couple of the programs at the mount before I talk about MVP, our auto tech program, I think it's like this hidden
gem of a program right now. So, it's Mount Wu classes at their auto tech facility. I don't even know if people know where that is. I didn't know where it was until I started um this program started. Um it's right at down by Mackie Lumber right off of Betty Spring. Beautiful new facility. They just did a
whole addition for um electric vehicles that they're going to get do certifications in that. Um so we have nine students and these are college classes. The Mount has an automotive program, eight classes for the certificate program up to a full associates degree in auto tech. We had
nine students take the first class this year, intro to auto tech. And we've got seven students taking um it's called electrical, so it's getting into more of the in-depth stuff for the auto tech. Um all college level classes. These are not
a couple of them are early college kids who were interested in auto tech, but most of them are Garner High School students. Um, and of the seven that are taking the second class right now, six of them are seniors and all of them have already applied and been accepted to the auto tech program at the college. So,
this is huge for them. They've got two of the eight classes done. Um, I had a student come in that graduated that took the first auto tech when we very first did this two years ago. He took the intro to auto tech class. That was the only one that we offered and it was the one he took. He was a senior. He came
back and spoke to our student our students. um he took that one class. He didn't even stay in the program, but he went right to a dealership. He's two years out now, you know, at the ripe old age of 20 making $36 an hour at the Mazda dealership. So, this is a great
opportunity for our students, too, for all of our students. And we have seven students in um right now taking the CNA program. Some of them are early college students, some of them are not. Um, so they're this semester all days on Friday, they're in getting their taking the CNA class and they will all prep and
hopefully pass the CNA exam and they will walk away with their some of we even have some juniors doing it. They'll be able to walk away with their CNA certification right into um CNA positions. So, we're excited about that, too. >> Yeah, the automotive program is that is
that hidden gem. And I do want to say I think um doing this in high school really helps because I think a lot of kids leave high school and then they don't know that they can go to the mount for a program like this. So it's advertising they were having trouble originally getting before this was an
early college program getting folks into the program because they weren't nobody was applying. And so now by putting it in the high school it gets kids where where we can really get their interest up and getting them doing something real. Um, so I think it's a great expansion of the of the the early college program, but also a vocational
program. >> Yep. And when you couple the well, the auto tech, you know, we'll talk about MVP with plumbing, with carpentry, with electrical, these kids have multiple areas where they can get hands-on training, college credit, certification.
So, it's super cool stuff. >> We going to try this video before I I download it. Let's see if this runs a little better than the the previous one. >> I'll share them with everybody again so you can watch them with the >> Oh, this is going well.
>> I can reshare them. Why don't >> Nope. Let's see. We go back into this HDMI. Yeah. So, what's up?
Yep. >> Might have to walk over because I should be >> That's 77%. >> Yeah. >> So, we might have to go back to the >> It's okay. I can We can reshare them with everybody. >> I don't want to I just don't want to take up everybody's time.
>> They're really good. No credit to me to Alex Lucier. He did I showed the kids. They're like, "These are like professional videos." and they were like all excited about how they looked in the videos and everything. So, we'll share those back out. Um MVP I'll
talk about really quickly. Um again, our MVP program is the program where they're at Monty Techch for a week and then they come back with us for a week for academics. Right now we have um 15 students enrolled. We've got five seniors, 10 juniors. Um
so we have and we're recruiting right now as well. So, we have space for 10 students in electrical, carpentry, and next year plumbing. It hasn't been officially approved plumbing yet, but we're moving forward like it will be.
Um, so I'm recruiting right now, so five juniors for each one of those shops. Um, we have hopefully next week have our first student go out going out on co-op. So, we're excited about that. I'm a carpentry senior. Um, this year, last
year was the first year and it went really well, but I have to say the working out the kinks. This year has been um, phenomenal. The kids are settled in. We've got our routines. The kids are doing great. They're enjoying it. Their grades are great. Um, very excited about that. Demographic data for
our MVP. Current enrollment, we're at 43% white, 43% Hispanic, 14% black or African-American, zero multi-racial, 67 low 67% low-income, 43% students with
disabilities on IEPs or 504s, and 13% um English language learners. Um so we're um you know our subgroups are really outperforming our general groups at the high school. Um and like I said the kids
the kids are doing um phenomenal stu those students or any of the students if they have IEP services when they're with us academically um they get their e classes their academic support classes our the
academic classes are co-taught um and they have par support at the um Monty Techch facility too. So, um, that's just been work working out really well. Um, you know, again, that program, we've got applications open. If we go over the a
lotment, we do do a blind lottery. We've done that every year. Um, highly likely we'll be doing that again this year. Um, we we do it right in front of the students, so it's no no secrets. Um, so we're excited about that
and it's just going to grow grow grow. I have to say when I've been going into the classrooms recruiting for these. I have my whole presentation. I go in, I present on both of them. The programs are well known now. So, of course, I go in and promote, we do our info sessions and everything, but the kids know about them. It's not new to them. Like, they
know what the MVP program is. They know what early college is because they're just so embedded in our um our programming. Um, couple other quick things. I just would be remiss not to talk about just our own in-house manufacturing program that we still have going which
we have a manufacturing class I think has 17 kids in it. They get their OSHA certification. Um all of that still going on in our our tech and our I will always say that our woodworking program at the at the high school when you walk in there you you could be walking into a
vocational school woodworking program. It's it looks that good and they're doing such amazing work. and all of our other tech classes. We added an intro to auto tech class this year as a halfyear elective as trying to do like a feeder class to get interest for the auto tech program at the college which maxed out
very quickly. Um so we're working on a lot of these feeder classes. We developed a college and career readiness class for some of our freshmen. We're teaching a firstear experience class for our sophomores. The state's really looking at what are you doing with them?
freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, and what are you doing with them at the middle school, which we're starting to work with the middle school and really kind of trying to develop more of a pipeline and some continuity. Um, I guess that's mostly a question.
>> I'm a product of Voke, so I'm a huge fan. Yep. >> I I met one of the MVP students last week and who's really excited about the program he's in. I'm wondering, do we have anybody that drops out, they think they want it, they get there, and they decide that they're going to leave.
>> Um, yes, but not many. We we probably I'm trying to think like this year as an example. Um, the nice thing is we have um money gives us until um December
31st. So from the beginning of the year to December 31st because these kids have to get their hours in and once you get past that if you have a spot open you just lose a spot. We actually do have one spot open right now um which you don't like to do because you lose it the whole next year. Um so
I expect moving forward that that's very unlikely to happen. But yeah, we had a few kids um within the first few weeks were just like it wasn't for me and we have I I sit with them the parents and make sure that this they're making the you know right decision for them. Um but
I had a waiting list so I went right to the next kid. Um so I we probably had two or three um but I filled the spots and kids settled right in and caught up and and did well. So, it's nice to have that
little buffer of time with some flexibility to be able to do that because it's I always say it's a huge decision for kids when they're in eighth grade to decide they want to go to a vac vocational school. >> Um, it's better as they get older because then they're really settling into like I really think I'm going to be doing a trade. So, we get I think a lot
less of that, but it's still a big decision to make and it runs very differently and our kids just they they get so used to it. They hop on Monty Techch buses on their Monty Techch week. They're back on the ghs buses on there. We it, you know, it stresses the parents out like oh like at when they start and
the kids it's like like early college the kids pick up on it all super fast. >> So u another question with regards to the uh the college program so the the children or the young adults who fail does that affect their class ranking? I
mean how does that affect their graduating from high school? I mean, they're taking college classes and I mean, failure is part of life, right? I mean, you learn to succeed through failure, but it does affect their class ranking in their >> Yeah. I mean, it's a failure. So, they're doing two things. Well, well,
they're earning college credit, but they're also fulfilling their graduation requirements. So, we're very in tune to what classes they have to take. Like, their senior year, they all have to still take another English. All of them. They all still have to take another math at a minimum. Some of them might need another science or history and all that
stuff. So yeah, like so we're we're on it and they know that going into this. Luckily, I think one of them was a math class, but we always have our seniors take their college math the first semester. So if this happens, then we make sure we get them into another math
class second semester. Um, so yeah, we have to really stay on top of making sure they're doing both at once. And a failure is a failure. So, it's it goes on your tra it goes on your college transcript and it goes on your high school transcript and they they know
this upfront. Um, so luckily we have very few of them and some of them do have to get used to the I've been a straight A student my whole life and now I'm going into these college classes. You might get a B and it's okay and they get all worried about
it and um or you might be in a real rigorous class and you get a C which is actually a really good grade in that class. And so a lot of it's just educating the students, but they have requirements. So they we we we um are very transparent about that upfront before they even sign up. They
know they're doing um both you're going to college, but you're fulfilling your high school requirements. >> Just one last question. Uh with regards to um the Gardener Academy, we have uh young adults from Gardener Academy involved in the MVP. >> We do. We we reserve. Right now we don't
have any. One of them was one of the ones that stopped going and um we backfilled with somebody else. But we reserve um a at least one spot in um in MVP for them automatically so that they
can be involved in it. We recruit with them like we do everybody else. Um they can certainly do early college. They also I didn't talk about pathways and gateway and I I should have. So um along with the early college program is
there kind of different umbrellas. We have there's a pathways program that's open to all communities um that falls under gardener high school. They earn one of our diplomas. So we monitor them but they're not our students. And there's also the gateway program which is similar which is a little bit more of
a dropout designed to be a little bit more of a dropout prevention program which is housed through gardener academy. So all gardener academy and gardener high school students have access to those programs as well as early college. So um so yeah so gardener
academy has access to all of this. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. I will add too about kids who fail classes or if their GPA drops low. We put them on they get they all go on specialized plans. We have meetings with parents, they sign contracts and they have to have like
weekly meetings with us. So we um we we load up the supports for for those kids and most of them are really good students who don't really need it. They just had to have a little shock of I really can't not go to class or I really can't turn something in late. So they they get themselves back on track.
>> Paul, you mentioned there's a waiting list. How do you choose people to go into the MVP program >> if there's too many? >> Yep. A blind lottery. So we we get all the applications and we do the lottery per trade. It's not like I'll take any trade, so put me in the lottery. You sign up for carpentry, plumbing, or
electrical. Um I go to the deadline. We'll have the lists for each. Um, and we will if there's more than five then we um we do a lottery. And I will say early college is a little different
because we have some parameters although we're in a better place with you know requirements to get into the program. MVP is clean slate. We don't the one requirement to get into the lottery is you cannot be credit deficient. meaning
you have to be truly going into your junior year. And we do that one requirement because there's with how tight the schedule is when they come back for academics, you can't you can't say, "Well, I have to make up a math." There is nowhere in the schedule to make up a math because you're only in your
academics for one week. So, you're already in a double block of math, a double block of English just to get a year done. And then your history and then your science. Um, there's nowhere to put it. So that's it. I don't we don't look at up to that point. We don't
look at conduct. We don't look at attendance. We don't look at grades as long as you passed your classes. But once the lottery is done and you've been officially accepted, then you're signing a contract with me from April 15th,
whenever I do the lottery, to the end of the school year where you are coming to school every day and you are so it's free. Everybody has the opportunity to get in um and you have to pass all of all of your classes and no major discipline. Um, so and even the kids on
the waiting list have to do that because if their name comes up and they've been missing school, then they the next person gets the spot. So it's it's open opportunity for everybody, but you've got to show that you're going to show really it's showing up. Attendance is if anything's going to get in the way with those kids, it's attendance. And our
attendance this year is phenomenal. Not an issue with a single kid. >> So I guess I have one more question now. How does that impact AP? Is there a need for AP anymore or is that going by the wayside? >> It does. We have a lot of students that stay back. A lot not everybody wants to
do early college. So, um, and I'm going to be honest with you, we're learn depending on what they're looking to go into. For some kids, it makes sense for them to stay back and do AP classes. We have a lot of kids in early college that come back in the afternoon and take AP
classes. We have probably half the kids in early college come back to the high school to take something because they choose to. they want to do. Aiden's a perfect example. He wants to take AP photography. He comes back and takes it in the afternoon. Um, some of them come back and take another math. Some of them
come back and take art. We have bands. We have chorus. Um, so kids are back and forth. Um, and we have a we have has it brought our AP numbers down a little bit? Yes. But we would never just not run AP classes. We've
have kids. We have a we have a lot of AP classes um that we run and some kids are just like I'd rather stay back and take my AP classes and not do early college and that's fine. Some of them do both and some of them are like I'll go I'll do early college. So we give them the
opportunity to do whatever they want if they're going if they're like really private collegebound. um not you know not all classes not all schools will take all of the early college credit anyway. The transfer is pretty good especially with the state
schools. So we I meet individually with every kid who applies and we go through all of that and we have the conversation like does this make sense for you? Is this what you want? Should you come back for math or you have to come back for math or but I really wanted to take AP calc then great I'm going to make sure
AP calc's in the afternoon so you can come back and take AP calc. So, um, we try to accommodate everybody. >> I have a question. How long is the weight list >> for >> the MVP program? >> Um, I'll tell you in a couple weeks. All
right. >> Um, right. You know, we've we we made it all the way through the wait list. >> Um, now sometimes this is another thing that happens. It turns into the beginning of December and all of a sudden I have a spot. I go to the next kid in line. Now they're like, "Well,
now I've already started a few months here." They don't really making the making the shift that late for them doesn't like feel right. So they will sometimes say, "I think I I usually be like get take a couple days to decide." So sometimes kids will, and it just so
happened between how it all fluctuated this year, I actually got through all the weight lists um between a couple kids deciding not to go early on. Um so not bad. I wonder with popularity if it's going to be a longer list. Adding plumbing helps. That's another option
for kids and that spreads it out a little bit. So, um it depends. >> Any other questions? >> Um in the early college program, I think there's different tracks though like you talked about the CNA and but what there was I for because I watched part of the
video before and I forget how many tracks there are now, but I think there's like is there six or seven different tracks that kids can take. So, kind of like majoring in the classes. >> We we you know, I've got mixed feelings about the tracks because I I feel like it should be an experience of trying a bunch of different classes and we let
them do whatever they want, but we ask them to business, healthcare, STEM, liberal arts, education, um criminal justice. So, a lot of kids already have a particular interest. So when they go in um they all have to take
a math, they all have to take an English, they all have to get their requirements done. Um but then they do have elective options and we they're interested in business. We try to get them into a if if somebody's interested in business before and they're in there for two years, they're probably going to take at least an intro to business
class, probably a marketing class. Um they could take accounting. Some of them get through accounting, too. They'll do like spreadsheets, classes, stuff that'll give them exposure to what they're interested in. Healthc care um has been a little bit of a
little bit of a t a tougher one just because um a lot of the nursing schools don't like to transfer all the credits over. But um criminal justice, we have a lot of kids in criminal justice, so they'll take criminal law, criminalistics, intro to criminal justice. Um so it's it's pretty cool.
they get to just sample different classes um and see what they're interested in. Some kids will be like, "Can I take a criminal justice class? I know I'm in the business track." And we say, "Sure, you can." It helps them because a some of it will transfer. It gives them a flavor for I really like this or maybe I don't like this so much.
We find that out with nursing a lot. They get into those just even at the mount, the heavy sciences and stuff and they rethink like four years of this might be tough, tougher than I thought. And it's good for them to figure it out now. Um, that's part of the way I like it as a parent is that they get exposed
to something where they're not doing it as their freshman year in college and and deciding after everything's been paid for and they're already set in somewhere. I think this is like the exposure part is still the exposure on that track, too. I think it's a perfect opportunity. >> It is. It is. And it's quite, let's be
honest, we can't offer all these classes at the high school. So, they get to take things that they we could never we could never offer. And then either way they walk away with a usually at least a year, usually a year and a half of school already paid for and done.
>> Any questions? >> Well, I I guess I do have one more. So, we have uh Oh, uh school choice. So, kids who come to garden of school choice, can they go to our MVP program or can they go to the mount? Uh
>> that's I know it's a great question. So yeah, we we have school choice kids like MVY early college is easier and very different because there's no we don't have a cap on the number of kids that are in early college. We have kids that are school choicing to us now. Many kids
that are in early college they've been with us all along. They're in early college. They've been Gardener High School students. It's really not a problem. They're our students. We claim them. That's kind of easy for early college. Half the time kids are school choice to us and they've been with us for so long I don't even know if there
you know what I mean till I look at their address I'll be like oh it's a school choice but other than that they've been with us MVP because of the funding is we're looking at that it's a little bit more tricky is that my >> yeah that's yeah I mean basically um the the money goes to the districts that the
student is from. So if somebody with school choicing here from Athal, right, the chapter 74 money actually goes to Athal and so then Monty Tech has to bill Athol. And right now there's no parameter saying that they absolutely
have to pay the money. And most districts have been fine about yeah, you know what? I don't have a chapter 74 money. I I don't have a chapter 74 program. Here's the chapter 74 money. So what they do is they subtract what it is per pupil from the chapter 74 line.
Some districts have said, "I'm not going to pay that. There's nothing that says they have to pay that." So, and they're right. There is nothing that says they have to pay that. So, it's one of the things the state is working on. And right now, Monty Techch is just eating that money. Um, because they know we can't discriminate based on where a
student's from. We can't just say, "Well, you're from a different town. You're our student, but you can't be in this program." So, we're trying to work on that very diligently. >> Yeah. And we have two We have a student now that lives in a different town that's an MVP. And we had one last year that graduated that lived in a different town and
school choice to us had been with us for a little while and were in MVP. So we they've gone through um >> mostly it's not a problem. >> What's that >> through funding? It's not it's not a problem. >> If I mean if I had kids and I lived out of town I would school choice to
gardener because having lived in nine states and my son having been in seven schools by the time I was in eighth grade um this opportunity in Gardner for the gardener kids is amazing. I mean, I don't think you can duplicate this anywhere between the MVP and the college
and and Monty Tech and Gardener Academy. When there's so many opportunities for kids, it's great. >> Any other questions, comments, concerns? >> Thank you, Mrs. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> You're welcome to stay. >> Uh, working back up to the top of the agenda. Uh working back up to the top of the agenda, item D, the consent agenda. This is included in your packet and it does include uh as a brief thank you to the uh First Congregational Church of
Gardener uh $75,000 donation uh for scholarships. This is then they liquidated their accounts when they closed the First Congregational Church of Gardner. They've split the money up to various different organizations uh that they had remaining in their bank account, one of them being Gardner public schools for scholarships. Is there a motion on the floor by the consent agenda?
>> Second. >> Motion made by MFI, second by Mr. Schwarz to approve the consent agenda as presented. Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. >> Oppose. Nay. >> Motion carries. Moving on to item E, subcommittee reports. Beginning with the
finance subcommittee, Mr. Lefrenier. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The uh finance committee met on March 3rd. Um started off with the expense report review. Uh, Miss Hawk reported that the Gardener Elementary School electric account,
which was questioned by Mrs. Pavven last month, is experiencing some difficulty in having the solar credits allotted to its account. That's being worked on. Um, so we'll get in our next uh meeting. We'll find out if that worked out or
not. Um, let's see. We also, Mr. also noted that the out of district line only increased by 6,000 over last month and that while the plowing and sanding line shows a $5,000 available, a bill for
42,000 was just received and we'll push that line in the negative which is no surprise for me. Um see we also uh display commented on the uh
substitute teacher lines look to be doing well uh since we properly budgeted for them. Um let's see. We also miss Belvin uh questioned the high usage of um gardener elementary school
building uh maintenance account which uh is attributed to uh the two elevators in the school that we um have had to have uh quite a bit of work on them this year. Um, also like we've already heard, we uh
received the donation from the First Congre Congregational Church for $75,000. Um, and also he gave us a brief uh Mr. Hawk gave us a brief budget update to the
committee. Um, Mr. Hawk explained that all new funding for the schools uh for the schools totals uh basically 1,469,000. However, salaries uh have are increasing
about $900,000 out of district uh tuition is up about 650,000. Collaboratives are up about 700,000. Um indirect costs mainly uh health
insurance is up about 1.3 million. And when you factor in last year's deficit of of approximately $800,000, this equals uh to about 4 million uh $350,000 um and an uh immediate deficit of about
2.8. So our budget uh meetings are going to be ongoing. Uh everybody's working really hard on this and and hopefully we come out much better than it looks. That was it. Thank you.
>> Any questions, comments, concerns? >> Seeing none, uh, Mrs. Hurst, if it's easier for you, we'll move you after Mr. Laspinado. That way, you can get right into the policies. >> That's fine. >> After that, uh, so Aiden, the floor is yours. >> March, uh, oops. March is recap. Uh,
congratulations to our January Wildcat winners, Kia Lab Blank, Genesis Franco Danielle, uh, Jimenez Arbold. I probably butchered that, but that's okay. at and award Watson Mount Wusa Community College decision decision day was held on Wednesday,
February 11th in the GHS library where students were able to meet with representatives from the college and firm up their decisions to attend. GHS has over 40 seniors that have chosen to attend MWCC after graduation. On February 11th, our early college open house was well attended. Students and families were able to tour the campus
and learn all about opportunities our program offers. National Girl girls and women's day in sport in sports day was held at GHS on February 11th. Multiple former students athletes spoke about the importance of athletics from their perspective. There
was a packed Landry Auditorium on February 12th as we hosted the all city concert. It was great to see students of all ages perform in the concert. And lastly, our athletic teams wrapped up their seasons with boys with both the boys and the girls varsity basketball teams making the playoffs. Our teams had
tough losses in the first round to Pemroke and to Dead Hunt. And that's it. >> Thank you very much. Questions, comments, concerns for Mr. Laspanado. >> Thank you very much, Aiden. Moving on to the policy subcommittee report. Mrs. Hurst,
>> uh, we met on February 11th. Um, so tonight we only have um one policy for first read, actually two. One of them is um new to us. Um, so and um we had 10
policies we reviewed that didn't need any changes. So that's pretty much it for policy. All right, moving on to item 3761, first reading of policies. Uh, policy ECAB, access to buildings and
grounds. This is new for adoption. And policy EAC, student conduct on school buses. Uh these are here for first reading to be reviewed between now and the next meeting and voted on at our next meeting. Uh so without objection, we'll keep that on for our next meeting for a
second read. Item number 3762, program of studies vote. Dr. Pelino, do you want to intro this? >> Um just you guys the program of studies last month. Um and I know uh Mike went over that went over that with uh any of the changes. >> If you have questions, I I'll try to
field any uh questions you have at this time. Um, both this item and the next item are items that we had presentations on or was included in the packet of information at previous meetings that are now up for vote for adoption after we've had time to review uh the items
since then. If there's no questions, comments, concerns, we'd be looking for a motion on the floor to accept. >> Yes. Make a motion we accept. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion made by Mr. Cormier, second by Attorney Pavven to accept the program of studies as presented. Is there any
discussion on that motion? Hearing none, all in favor say I. >> I. Oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Item number 3763, the school improvement plans for Gardener High School, Gardener Academy, Gardener Middle School, and Gardener Elementary School. Again, these were all presented by the various
principles at uh previous meetings uh and have been had time to review and we're looking for a motion to accept at this time. >> So, second >> motion made by Mr. Leener, second by Mr. reports to accept the school improvement plans as previously presented. Is there any discussion on those motions?
>> Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. >> I. Oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Item 3764, Gardener Middle School field trip for the 7th grade to Cany Lake Park in Salem, New Hampshire on June 12th, 2026. Uh per DESIE regulations, the school committee has to approve all outofstate
field trips. Uh is there a motion on motion to approve? >> I'll second that. >> Motion made by Mr. Cory, second by Mrs. Hurst to approve the field trip. Is there any discussion on that motion? All in favor say I. >> I. Oppose. Nay. >> Motion carries. We've already done item three uh 3765. So moving on to item
3766, superintendent's progress report on formative goals. And this will be a presentation from Dr. Pelgro. All right. So, um, as you know, I have, uh, five goals. Two are district goals, two are student learning goals, and one is a professional practice goal. Um, and I'm just going to go over progress, um,
quick data on each one. Um, because the data points are most important thing when it comes to my prog, the progress of how we're doing. And I say how we're doing because obviously my goals, I'm working through others. I'm working through each one of the schools and the school leaders, our MTSS program, make
sure things are moving forward. So, what this says is we're actually evaluating whether or not teachers in their common planning time, whether or not they're looking at the they're referencing the student with disabilities matrix that the special ed department um created for
the common planning time. So, what this does is it's a list of um different um accommodations and supports that kids might need and there's a checklist that that they have that they should be referencing each time they have common planning time. When I look at the fall,
which happened right around um November, um we actually have at the different schools and the district average was 58%. Not where we want it to be. we actually wanted it to go up, but now we're looking in December through February,
we actually went down in terms of the number of teachers in their common planning time doing this. And you know, do I like this data? I don't like this data. It's going in the wrong direction. But what it shows us is just because we taught somebody how to do something and we we train them, we go
through the process, they started implementing it, but then they didn't keep doing it. And we have a process now. So, we're monitoring this. So, the principles are well aware of this. I'm expecting by the end of the year, this is going to turn around. What I like about the way we do things is it's a
system. I didn't have to say, "Hey, check on this to see how common planning time is doing. Check. I want you observing some of these common pling times. Are they implementing this process as well as our other processes?" They're automatically doing it. So, we just This data is part of our system and
part of how we track what's going on. The administrators talk about this. Then they say, "Okay, in each one of the schools, how do we roll out additional professional development and create the sense of urgency with teachers that this is important stuff? This is the population. We're most trying to reach our most vulnerable students. We need to
do something about that." And so each one of the principles has a plan and they're actually working on that within their schools. Any questions on that? Um so the second piece was in core academic classes classrooms will be engaging. That means 80% or more
obviously of of the students in each classroom are actually engaged, attentive and they're engaged in the activity the teacher's doing. Um we have a whole systems created around this called the classroom support system. We have mental health professionals that can go in and they actually go in and every 15 seconds they check off whether
students are on task and what the teachers doing. Are the teachers giving opportunities to respond? Are there praise to error correction? Is that ratio much a lot more praise than it is to correction? Um are they doing some direct instruction? All those things
increase engagement. Uh our goal was to have 80% of our classrooms have 80% or more uh of their students um engaged. And as you can see, the elementary school, the middle school, and the high school all had um by um the second um
the second time in January 2026 when we took this um 80 each one had 80, ironically, 87% um were um engaging classrooms. Um the Gardener Academy was only at 48%. So they only have four teachers. So I'm
not sure how 48 why that's not 50 but um uh on actually there's two teachers in one classroom sometimes so maybe that's has something to do with it but um that's one of that's the school that we're working on as well as the other principles are still aware of this but
they see that okay we're meeting our our targets within this. >> Any questions on that? >> Yeah. >> Um I know it's not necessarily related to the goals but for Gardner Middle School I mean that's a big jump from last year to this year. you know, like what can you attribute that to? >> Um, you know, I have to say, um, the new
principal, um, Brian Cody, and having Sher Galinus there working with the team, um, really pulling people together has helped lead that school. The professional development's spot on. Um, they're working with teachers to help them improve. Um, and we've have teachers now who've been doing this for a little while, so they did get um,
better. So, I feel like that school um, is really going in the right direction. Moving on to the next one. So reducing the equity gaps for students who are multilingual learners or have special needs. Um and so if we look at this, so star
data is our universal screener happens three times per year. Um on the left is our aggregate. So all students and on the right students with disabilities. So, and this is the entire district, by the way. Grades um two through
um um 10 um are on this or on this report. All students take take the take these tests and it's showing us, okay, are we on track to meet or exceed expectations? The expectation at the beginning of the year is easier to meet
that target because you still have a year to go. um in the middle of the year, it's harder to meet that target. So, if a if a student stays at the same test score at the beginning of the year and the same test score in the middle of the year, that still means they made progress because they're meeting or
exceed um to meet or exceed to keep that same score. You actually need to improve this. Again, not going the right direction for my students with disabilities. So, this is English language um arts specifically. It's about comprehension. So, it's not about
learning to read. Now you're reading to learn things. And when you look at our um at our aggregate, our aggregate did increase. The gray is last year's test, the three tests we had last year. So I'll be able to show you how we did last year compared with this year. Um um and
then going forward, you'll see three years back each time we show these. But when you look at students with disabilities, they actually went down from the beginning of the year. That's not the way we need to go. We do want to reduce gaps by having everyone increase, but we want to have students with disabilities increasing more. So each
one of the schools again, we're looking at this data and we're design they're designing plans on h why how are we addressing this? What are we doing to turn this piece around? Because I we need those numbers to go up. This is our most important thing and it's actually the goal of the district.
So I'm I'm not happy that these went down. Um and they're making plans to change that in each one of the schools. That's what their whole um school improvement plan is about and what they're changing through MTSS. I do want to just quickly before before I questions um this is the math. The
aggregate for both um uh the aggregate and students with disabilities are both um have both gone up um significantly for us. Um which is a great um which is a great direction um to be going. Why math is working out in both groups are
are moving as opposed to um ELA? I'm not really sure. Questions on these things? >> Yep. So, you weren't happy with a few of the uh uh data points. I'm wondering uh what barriers you might be facing and
that make it difficult for you to accomplish your goals. Some um some of it is actually the some of it is the um uh working with students with disabilities in common planning time. They're supposed to be looking at every single time as a group we're supposed to be sitting down saying who
are our students with disab who are students who have disabilities. What are the the supports that we should be putting in place for the lesson that's coming up? If they're referring to that, they're more likely to meet the needs of those students and you're going to you should in theory see those scores go up.
Um I don't think it's um a coincidence that at the beginning of the year we saw they were doing the practices more than in the middle of the year and our scores went down in ELA. So I'm not sure why these numbers went up as opposed to English, but I would I
would attribute um part of our goal is to make sure that teachers are collectively working together. So if we say we need a visual aid for example in class if you're all if we're all teachers in third grade we're not all all designing visual aids individually instead we designed the best visual aid
together and that would be h we all have that together um and that's that's the point of having that collaboration so I think we the the barriers t you know typically it's about changing practice all that we do is about changing the
practice in the classroom and improving the outcomes for our students. So getting data that we don't want actually spurs us on to say, well, how are we going to how are we going to fix that? Each individual school might have different tactics for different grades.
So they have to they do have to do a deeper dive into this. This is district-wide data and that's what I typically see. But the schools then have to look at, okay, well, how's my school doing? And then how are my individual grades doing? What I noticed for ELA, for example, grades five, um, grades
five, eight, and nine all increase, um, for students with disabilities, but the overall average went down because the other grades either stayed flat or went down. So, I I think each school needs to do their their digging in their
response, and it's very it's it's very specific to each one. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Yes. Um just wondering because looking at ELA for LA like if you look at last year >> it the winter time was better right and then we went down where math seems to
have kind of flipped for this year um in terms I mean flipped for last year as well like they didn't they went down well the students with disabilities kind of stayed even but like I mean that's interesting. So was the do you know if the data from last year matches like
halfway through the year if things were changing and that's why that was happening? So if you're not on pace, so again this is about pacing. So um at any point if we give this test, if we give this test on the fifth month, >> that's a diff you have to get a different score to be um meeting or
exceeding at that point. So it just means that they weren't on the right pace. Um I will say um no actually with math this is the second year of doing um into math for grades um for the middle school. Is that right? >> Uh no, they're in their third year.
>> Third year. Okay. Um, and so the I will um how long has um Dr. Goen um how long has the uh amplify ELA? >> That's year this is year two of amplify. >> Yeah.
>> So it might be part of it might be struggling um struggling that where you have a new curriculum and sometimes you have implementation dip. Um so I'm curious as to how that's going in. We have um a number of new teachers that are in ELA working on that. So that might have something to do with it in
the upper grades. >> Well, because it's interesting. I mean, you were I mean, basically, there was growth last year. >> It just went down the winter, >> right? It just means that at that point, >> they weren't on target. >> So, yeah, you're you're right. It could still turn around.
>> I just don't like to see numbers go down, >> obviously. >> I just wanted to say that. But um you know, first of all, after reading like the um the the individual plans for the schools and listening to tonight and
everybody's just so honest with what's out there and um I appreciate that as a as a as a parent and as a school committee person and I and the fact that you know you're working to turn it around
and you're always very transparent with us. I think that's that's huge for this district. >> Well, thanks. The data doesn't lie. So, yeah. >> Yeah, but some places aren't as vigilant about correcting the issues and thank
you for that. >> Any other questions on this data? >> Oh, yes. >> Um, you've had a very disrupted two months of school due to the weather. Do you expect that to um affect this data moving forward? and do you have to come in with a different approach to make up
for that mist time and the disruption of routine for the students? >> That's a great question. So, my answer is going to be no, it's not going to disrupt. Um um but we but we all know that it it can um it can disrupt and teachers, you know, individually are trying to do what they can to catch
people up. Okay. Uh I will say having the tier 2 now kind of embedded um that that system if kids start to fall behind those systems are in place in the in the elementary school and the middle school and they still work on that that to pull that in the high school. Um but to have
it so if somebody starts falling behind they have additional time that's allocated specifically for ELA but also for a little bit for math but ELA is prioritized because if kids can't read well and they can't comprehend well they're not going to be able to learn. So this is the most important thing.
>> So yeah, we would use the tiered system to to do that. And if a lot of kids are behind, then everybody's going to get those tier two supports. >> Thank you. >> Do you have any questions, comments, concerns? >> Well, that's I got a little bit more. Sorry.
>> Done. >> Sorry. I know. Um it's there only a few slides, too. You know, I just talked. >> I know it. Um the next thing is students in grades K through four will be reading on grade level. Um and so my goal is to have at least 75% of our students
reading on grade level. Um and this data is a little better actually. Um so if you look on the left again is the aggregate um this year. So the so this we dib this is dibbles. So this is learning to read um when you look at the aggregate um
we're well above what we were in the previous two years. And as you can see, the last two years we were kind of they mirror each other for the aggregate. And this year we're um we're above and I I feel like we're on track to get much closer to 75%. Will we hit our target?
Yes, we will. But maybe I hope so. Um but with students with disabilities, if you look on the right, um they're well above. They started out the year well above and they have actually increased as well um with their outcomes. So um I'm pleased with u with these results
with with Dibbles. Is Amplify across the board all grades or is that just certain grades? >> No. >> Amplify ELA is the upper grades. So the the um so that was a high quality curriculum that we recently bought for grades um seven eight
>> six through eight. >> Six through eight. Thank you. Um we've we used Wonders for a long time which is for the um for the elementary grades. Amplify is the Wonders for those upper grades. So this is this is going a little better. You know, one of the questions I
have is we did switch our reading um support. We went from foundations to UFly um which is now embedded in our tier one for supports. Um our reading specialist um said that that's a better program um to use. So all students are getting
that. We're also using it in the tier two. Um so I'm wondering if that might have something to do with the improved scores. That's a wonder right now, not a fact. >> Any questions? >> No, I just wanted to say that, you know, sometimes people will look at data like
this and and think that it's a bad thing, but there's such a bigger picture to it and you need to understand all those components. You just can't say that, oh, students with disabilities are not doing well at all and, you know, blaming the school. It's it's it's
bigger. There's more to it. And um I think people don't understand that piece and I just would like if if they would. >> And the last piece um is I'm still I participate in the Lynch Leadership Academy. Um and that's my professional
practice goal. That one's easy. Not a lot of data on that, but I do participate in every one of the things. We have one tomorrow, as a matter of fact. >> Any other questions for any of this? >> All right. Thanks, everyone. Thank you very much, Dr. Pelgro. I'm
moving on to item number 3767, uh, Keystone quarterly update. This is included in your packet for information. You have any questions, comments, or concerns? >> Just a quick note, they'll be including this like four times a year as so we as will Capstone. Just so you're up to date as to what's what's going on. Sometimes
I'll be able to answer your questions if you have specific questions about um Capstone um uh Caps or Keystone. Capstone could be up there, too, right? um uh if you have questions about it, but I might have to refer back and and come back with a with a full answer the next month.
>> Moving on to item number 3768, curriculum coordinators update. This was included in your packet for information. There's any other questions, comments, concerns. >> Thank you, Dr. Goi. >> Oh, I was going to say I did have questions, but you answered it through um your presentation because she had the
star data and then the dibbles and I was asking about the discrepancies. So, now it makes a little more sense. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Palino and Dr. Uh, moving on to item number 3769, the director of multil- language learners update. Is
there any questions, comments, concerns? Thank you, Director Simpson. Moving on to item number 3770, grant administrators update. Any questions, comments, or concerns? Thank you, Director Dunn. Moving on to item number 3771, special education
update. This was included in your pack of information is any questions, comments, or concerns. >> Thank you, director. Uh, item H, communications from the superintendent. >> Yes. Um, I have two things that I'd like to bring up. Um, and they're actually
reviews from the state, Desi. Um, so Desi came in recently and they did a um a walk through um Gartner Middle School. We do this as part of our um monitoring as as their monitoring system. Um and
actually our scores on on so they go walk through classrooms and they rate the classrooms and they do this um each year and our num our our actual averages for teaching improved. So we're clearly going the right direction. All of the
things that they're looking for align with all the practices that we have. Um but I was really pleased to see that we saw some um some scores that were on the higher end which the scores are one through seven. we saw a lot of scores on the on the higher end which is shifting that average which is wonderful to see.
Um the second thing that I want to bring up which is much bigger Desi came in recently and did a um a review of special education um and our compliance with special education and office of civil civil rights and this is the first
time ever we have had no findings. Um and I was really happy with that. Those little check boxes were wonderful to see, but the part I was really excited about was um when the auditor said this can't go on the well, I wasn't
happy that he said this can't go on the report. Um but because it's a compliance review, it's just checks. Are you doing this? Are you not doing this? So to not have findings, that's wonderful. But to hear him say, "This is a radically different district than the last time we
came through." um the systems that you have in place the everybody knew what those systems were. There was not this um thing where we're we're starting out and we're it was really robust and he said you know you guys are going in the right direction. He said that doesn't go
down in the report but I had to share it with you because I was really proud of the fact that we are moving forward and we're doing a lot of the right things. Um so I'm happy with that and I I have high expectations that those things will change teacher practices which are going to change outcomes. We've already seen it incl. Now we're going to see in
academics. That's all I wanted to bring up. >> Thank you, Dr. >> How often do they come and do that? >> Um they well right now um the middle schools um uh uh in need of improvement. So they're in every year until um they don't need that and then it's every three years.
>> But then for the special ed part of it, >> special ed? Oh, that's a good question. >> Every what? Every three years we get a different type of review through the integrated monitors. >> Basically every year we're either going through a re we're preparing for the review pulling together all the records
they need and stuff. We're going we're doing the review or then we're preparing for the the next one. >> And then can you explain no findings though? What that means a little bit further? >> Do you guys want to expand on that better than I can probably?
>> Yeah. So I put some of the categories in my report special education but the no finding is around as it applies to the law and whatever documentation we have that align to the
practice. So when they come in they're specifically looking for certain documents that demonstrate compiance. >> So like no noncomplian >> right that's what I >> Okay. Oh okay. I just wanted to make sure I understood that properly.
>> No, right. No negative findings. So, they have this list of things that you can do wrong >> and we did them right. questions, comments, concerns. Moving on to final comments of the school committee. Mr. Corn, >> uh I I only have one. I u I'm not a big
fan of social media, but this one thread uh caught my attention. It was a uh military veteran talking about his middle school child, elementary school child, and he'd asked this child if they did the pledge of allegiance in the morning, and the child said no. And it could be miscommunication between the
child and the and the father because I understand the child might be in first grade. Uh but it may also be that it's not happening. So I just wondering if you could just follow up with that. >> Sure. >> Elementary schools see what they're doing for the lead. My understanding it's it's state law that has to be done,
right? And in this one particular thread got a lot of traction. I mean it was you know screenshots. There's going to be like nine or 10 of them. Yeah. >> Yep. I will check on that right now. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Harris. Um I mentioned you know um looking at the bigger
picture again you know social media um even you know the news on TV whatever you can take a certain piece of information and and falsely believe you know that it's different than what it
what it was meant to be. So, it's really important, like I said, to look at the bigger picture and to try to really understand things instead of just people um picking and choosing and and jumping to conclusions about things. Um, the
other thing I wanted to say was um I was in Boston today for a checkup and I didn't realize until I got there that it was eight years ago today that I got my diagnosis. And interestingly enough, there was a
gentleman in the waiting room who was waiting for a transplant. They were waiting for a match for him with the same diagnosis. And for him to be able to speak to me as a person that's eight years out was
really huge for him. life changes very quickly and you know we need to be kinder to each other and more understanding and just take time to listen and because you can miss out on a
lot that's really important out there you know listen to the birds taking in a breath of fresh air you know don't take any of it for granted because it can change in in just a moment that's all I
Thank you, Mrs. M. >> Um, I just wanted to thank uh Mrs. Bulier for her presentation and um obviously Superintendent Pelgro for sharing all that information and to sort of echo what Ann had said earlier about the data piece. Um, I I do think
sometimes I know people complain about how much they feel like data is being collected and what that means, but I think without it, you wouldn't be able to see the trends and things that are happening that may need to be remedied or quite honestly things that are working as well. Um, and I do think it's
important that we continue to collect the data and then use that as you do within the system to then drive what we need to do in the school district. So, I thank you for that. Mr. Schwarz, >> it's sad that
another church in GER goes out of business. That is sad. But it's wonderful that the directors of that church saw fit to use the remaining resources to benefit the students of
God. So that is wonderful. So something good comes out of something sad. That's all. >> Thank you, Mr. Lefern. >> Yeah, same thing. I just want to thank First Congregational Church for that. That's huge for us. So, it's much
appreciated. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Cormier. >> Um, all of the reports tonight were very thorough and well done. So, I want to thank everybody who did those. It was nice to go into depth and also have really good conversation. I feel like we all learned a lot from everything tonight. Um, on a different note, we're going into my favorite season of the
year, which is the performing arts season for all three schools. So, um, the high school musical is this weekend. They're doing the Adams family on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Um, next week the elementary school is doing Junior D. Jones and in April the middle school is
doing Finding Nemo, I believe. Um, also the high school coral and band programs have competitions the end of March and then elementary and middle school will have them later in the year. So, I'm just wishing all of those students luck and I love that we have such a great program for them to go out there and find their art and they're so supportive
of them. Thank you, Mr. Cormier. Um, I do have a little bit of a lengthier uh final comment just to put out there today. Uh, piggy backing off of uh what was said in Mr. Lefernia's report earlier in the meeting. Um, I think we heard throughout the course of this
evening's meeting that there is a lot to be proud about here in Gardner and a lot to be celebrated and that we've made a lot of advancements both as a district and as a city as a whole uh with the various projects, programming, and initiatives that we've been able to accomplish in the last six years and they rightfully should be celebrated. Uh but we also should talk about the
difficulties that we have just as much. Uh this coming budget cycle is going to be a struggle not just for the school department but for the city as a whole and I think it's worth putting that out there. When you look at the uh revenue projections that we have initially going into the budget season right now and matching those with the budget report
again not just from the school department but from all departments of the city. Uh it is going to be a tough year with some difficult decisions that need to be made. Uh, and I just want to let the members of the committee know and the members of the public who are watching that Dr. Pelgrino and I are committed to meeting with each other on
a regular basis to review what options are available available to us, keeping all options available to us as we move forward. Uh, not committing to anything now, but making sure that we're reviewing to see where we could go down in various avenues, not just for this coming fiscal year, but in the future as
well, so that we're not in a struggling position as we move forward with that. Um we've done a good job with our uh you know tracking and monitoring our finances to date. Uh but just like anyone else who goes out in the world and all of us here around the table, costs have gone up in the last recent years. Uh you know, for someone who's
going to the grocery store, it doesn't take long to see something that costs a lot more than it did 5 years ago. Uh for us here, uh we've talked about the substantial increases that we've seen in health insurance costs uh in the past two fiscal years. We've talked about the ways that uh transportation costs have increased in the most recent fiscal
years. Uh and that's not including energy, gas, utilities, and everything else in between that have also all gone up recently. I feel like we we're in the middle of this perfect storm that we're just trying to navigate here, and we have to navigate through it, and it's going to be a difficulty getting through
the the eye of the storm into the other side of the storm and everything else in between. Uh, but we're doing everything we can to keep, you know, our options on the table, but we there are going to have to be decisions that are made this year. And I feel like it's worth just putting that out there before we get into the full review of the budget in the upcoming months um to make it sure
that every people know that we're we're looking to dot every eye twice and cross every tea three times if we have to, but we have to sharpen the pencil at the same time. And I just feel like that normally it's, you know, it's fun to say, you know, that we've got all this going on and it's great. And that is true. we do have a lot of great things
going on, but we have to be realistic with the picture that's out there because that's our our job when we're in these seats. Uh so I felt like I needed to say that here as we're going into the budget season as it goes forward and progresses further. Um and finally come up with a plan for both this year and some future years as well to make sure
again we can chart that path forward through the end of the storm. Uh and that's all I have for this evening, though I'm sure that we'll be continuing that discussion in several meetings moving forward. Um, there are no executive sessions this evening. Uh, our next meeting will be on Monday, April
13th at 6 PM right here in the council chamber. And with that, is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So, motion made by Mr. Fern, second by Mr. Schwarz to adjourn. Uh, all in favor say I. I. Nay. Motion carries. Thank you all very much. We'll see you next month.