it being 6:34 on Monday March 10th I'll he I call the regular meeting of the garden school committee to order and ask the clerk to please call Mrs carier present Mrs present Mr present Mrs is absent tonight Mr Schwarz
present uh Mrs present mayor Nicholson present Dro pres and student is at the moment thank you very much at this time
please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag the United States of [Music] America jce the first item on the agenda at this time is open time for the general public is there anyone here from the general
public who wishes to be heard seeing none moving on to item C recognitions by the superintendent Dr Belo so everyone I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce you all to Joseph Lily Joseph's been working with our immigrate and our um with some of
our immigrant families um teaching English as a second language on I think it's what is it Tuesdays and Mondays and Thursday evenings actually they're over there now um Dr Simpson graciously took over um tonight's meeting um but he's been working with them since January um
Joseph has always been um has actually become really a leader in our school district as well um taking on some um leadership roles as a as a um building leadership team leader but his work really with our English language learner families has been just phenomenal and he really stepped up and he volunteered to
to step up into this role um to help some of our families out and I thought he could just say a couple words about you know the program and how it's been going okay absolutely so this is uh my first year doing something like this we have anywhere between eight and 15 parents
show up each um for each lesson we do um just some general English skills but we also teach life skills like La for example last uh Thursday we went through a lesson about teaching the parents how to call
911 um I think it's very important for the parents to feel valued and welcomed in the gardener community and and I feel like it's important for everyone in the community to belong so it's not only teaching but it's also building
strategic relationships to build family involvement in our schools thank you thank you so I thought tonight we could recognize uh Joseph Lily for just being an outstanding um teacher um and a Community member as well
so thank you thank you excellent all right thank you thank you any questions comments concerns anything I just wanted to say that I had the pleasure of speaking to him before you know everybody got here and it just um we
have such wonderful people in this District that recognize these issues and step up and and try to make things better for other people and thank you for recognizing that thank you very much moving on to
item D the consent agenda this was included in your packet is there a motion on the floor so move is there a second second motion made by Mr LR second by Mr Schwarz to accept the consent agenda as presented in the package there's any discussion on the motion hearing none all in favor say I I
oppose nay motion carries item e subcommittee reports beginning with the facilities subcommittee Mr Schwarz okay subcommittee uh of the facilities subcommittee met on March 5th uh the biggest discussion was the
auditorium I that Mr Anderson reported that it's far as the mechanical portion of everything it's done the painting is done except for minor touchup the thing that remained at the point of the meeting was the
electronics the sound system and all that so I would say that that's completed because the high school is having their play on Friday Saturday and Sunday so I guess now it is a done deal the other thing I reported we
discussed was the cost of the snow removal and sanding and salting so far this year we spent $ 92,93 just a little less than we did last year hopefully the snow will hold
off that's what I'm praying for that's the end of my report thank you very much Mr Schwarz any questions comment concerns on of the committee moving on to the finance subcommittee Mr lafrenier thank you Mr Mayor the uh
finance committee met on March 4th uh we discussed the expense report uh it was noted the gas line items for each of the buildings was now in the negative this is due to increased usage and cost uh this fiscal
year um it was noted that the police fire detail line uh line item was now slightly in the negative this is due with a couple fire details related to the Garden High School auditorium uh Renovations um also of course plowing
and sanding is now in the negative and that's due to the plethora of storms in February um we moved on to new business uh we discussed the budget uh um specifically uh the current
deficit it uh which is due mostly entirely of uh indirect costs and more spec uh specifically health insurance costs um as we all know that's out of control right now um and
also basically all the while all the schools held expenses to approximately the same as last year the cost of so associated with custodial contracts transportation and Chrome books were the biggest expense drivers
um and that was pretty much it thank you thank you any questions comments concerns from the members of the committee moving on to item F the student advisory uh update Miss Mars congratulations to our February
winners Sophia Taylor Mar Masala and dice wock thank you for being such a such a great GHA Citizen and representing our core Val you so well Community appreciation responsibility and Excellence our student council's
annual lockin was held February 2nd students of the council spent an entire night in the school and slept in the library they had a lot of fun doing different activities all night our school counseling department held a FASA help night on February 10th to offer
parents and Guardians support around completing the FASA for their students the All City concert was held February 12th in the ghs gymnasium this event is always a great way to showcase the amazing musical skills of the all GPS
students the attendance was great as usual and we hope this is the last concert we'll have in the gym because the auditorium Renovations are almost done on February 13th we held our annual Early College open house attendance was
very strong as interest in this amazing program prog continues to grow year after year we recognized our school research officer Ryan Spain for school resource officer Appreciation Day on February 13th students in our Technology
and Engineering class made a beautiful engraved wooden sign expressing our appreciation for all the work he does supporting our families students and staff we held our annual teen violence dating awareness assembly on February
26th for all sophomore students we have been holding this assembly for several years now to spread the word about this important topic our Athletic program finished a strong month with multiple playoffs appearance appearances Tatiana Vasquez was recognized as the highest
scoring girls basketball player in ghs history at their senior night that's all than very much questions comments concerns members of the committee thank you very much Miss mors thanks moving on to new business item number
3678 a second reading of policies policy AC non-discrimination and harassment BBA school committee powers and duties LBC relations with nonpublic schools add a-r Quarry policy add background checks jf-
proof of residency form Miss Hurst um it was brought to my attention that um one of our policies it's um jka physical restraint and um policy and procedures um there was a piece of a
sentence that was just cut off by accident and the and we need to fix it um but it's already gone through first read second read it's just a re basically repairing um do we need some motion for that or um do I need to have a vote for
that no we'll put it on the agenda for a second read at the next meeting that way it's done before does that work yeah okay um if anybody wants to take a a peak I have a couple copies and it's highlighted exactly where the error it just cut off two
words for a sentence when it was being put together um agend uh the committee is going to take a two-minute recess and we'll distribute that for people to see and we'll double
check the rules on that thank you e e e it being 6:46 I'll hereby call the meeting back to order uh for the benefit of the public watching uh the policy that was just referenced was on our
agenda last meeting that we had when it went to final printing there were about four or five words that were omitted from one of the sent two two words from one of the sentences uh in that we'll vote to ratify the vote that we took at the last meeting at our April meeting that way it's printed on the agenda however since it's already been
sent to First and final printing we don't have to go through the full the whole first and final again for the next one so we'll just ratify that vote on the next agenda for the April meeting um but is there a motion on the floor for item 3678 Mo motion made by Mr Schwarz second
by Miss Ward to send those items to their second and final reading is there any discussion on that motion hearing none all in favor say I I oppose nay motion carries item number 3679 School Improvement plans for Garder High School Garder Academy Garder middle
school and Garder Elementary School these were done in presentations by the principls at our last several meetings that's no I think they did a lot of work on them and I think U they presented them very well yeah and these would require a motion
for adoption I'll make a motion motion motion by m h second by Mr lrer to accept the school Improvement plans as presented as at our previous meetings is there any discussion on that motion hearing none all in favor say I I
oppose nay motion carries item number 3680 field trip for garden Middle School sixth grade classes for May 6 through 9th of 2025 for an overnight field trip to Outdoor Classroom in Gren Massachusetts uh as listed in our policy manual the school committee has to
approve all overnight and out of state field trips so that's why this is on our agenda motion to approve is there a second second motion made by Miss HST second by Miss Ward to approve the field trip for the sixth grade class is there any discussion on that
motion hearing none all those in favor say I I oppose nay motion carries item number 3681 field trip for the garden Middle School seventh grade classes from on June 11th 2025 for a day trip to keny
Lake Park in Salem New Hampshire as said earlier it's an out of state field trip so this requires a school committee approval vote so move second motion made by Mr second by Cormier sorry to uh approve of the field trip is there any
discussion on that motion I wish I was going uh any other discussion on the motion to approve all those in favor say I I oppose nay motion carries item number 3682 uh approval of a field trip by The
Garden High School drama club for GR those students in grades 8 through 12 for a day trip to New York City Broadway show on June 18th 2025 to see Wicked and make a motion to approve second motion made by miss her second by Mr Schwarz to approve any discussion on the motion I
want to go there yeah I want to go too uh any other discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I oppose nay motion carries item number 3683 superintendent's progress report on formative goals Dr pelo excellent Kathy
would you mind to run in the thing thank you notice all the fun stuff came before the superintendent's calls right because that's the boring part absolutely um so just my um a quick over um quick overview of my goals um as you know for the district Improvement goal um I have
two goals I have one that's a um common focused on common planning time and the expectations for common planning time the second piece is our uh um tier one core instructional practices so that's instruction for all the student learning um reducing um academic Equity
gaps for students who are multilingual Learners or students with special needs and students in grades K through four will be reading on grade level um and the Prof professional practice goal of participating in the Lynch Leadership Academy um the district level lead supervisory program would you go to the
next one so just quick LLY focusing on um common planning time goals this is the time that all that teachers have in core departments to focus on designing lesson plans that are um engaging and up to standard and um um have eye order
thinking um and we came up with a whole system and I'm just I'm really glad that we're doing it this way um where now this is just part of our process so from now on Gardener Public Schools will constantly be evaluating our common planning time how well we're doing
during common planning time we'll do it less frequently this was a heavy lift because we had we wanted to really get this um going well so that at the beginning of the year this was one of our major um focuses um and as you can see right now so it um uh on one of the
so we have guiding questions so as we go through the data we have guiding questions that kind of walk us through um um how we're doing and what we really need to focus on and one of the things that you'll see the first question is what is the average fidelity um at the district level and we're at 64.2 7% um
which means that as we went into each one of the common planning times these are administrators by the way that did this um they look at the the the um practices that are supposed to be in common plan in time and we're we're meeting
64% of where we should be so of 100% so we would love to be at 100% this is one of those things where you're you're never going to get to 100% % but our goal is to improve and make sure that we're again um that in every classroom that teachers are thinking about our um
multilingual Learners and our students with disabilities and that they're designing lessons to support those students and that's a thoughtful part of their um common planning um if you notice the a step below that is the teachers assessment of how they're doing
which is a little bit higher than the administrators and what we're trying to do is make sure that we're training them to see okay so what's difference and how do we make it so you can see things the way that we see them um in terms of meeting um the the expectations and then we answer
questions down below and this is our first Forma of data around common planning time um where we're now able to respond to it in their designing professional development specifically and each um each one of the buildings is doing a little bit differently but each one is focused uh on um the uh practice
of having um group work um and and student discourse um in each one of the buildings because we found that that's where we can really support students with disabilities and students um who are English language Learners um and it's um the best lever
that we have in terms of helping all students to engage in high order thinking can you go to the next screen um the second thing is instructional core instructional practices um we actually just um we had
our um administrative today which was from 4: to 5:30 so just before this and it was the first time actually looking at this data so now we're going into classrooms and they're not just using um classroom data to evaluate teachers it's also to design um professional development they're working with a
building leadership teams to um look at again where their where the weak spots are and then how they need to address it so I didn't have this data because they literally were putting it in um today they were using all the data that they had from all their observations um
but what we did find is once again we really want to improve our discourse and having kids talk talk to each other and getting that higher order thinking within conversations um the next one is our student learning
goal um and it's to reduce Equity gaps for students who are multilingual Learners and students of special needs and if you go to the next slide so this slide is students with disabilities and what you see is now now this again is the first time we have
real-time data um we used to use Link it if you if you recall for um our um for our test um testing programs now we have a universal screener that happens three times a year for all students we have one at the beginning of the year one at the middle of the year
one at the end of the year um this is and again so when we look at students with disabilities so s swd mean students with disabilities at the beginning so that was our first test in um early fall and then the middle of the we happened in January January early
February um and as you can see what we're looking for is the dark blue light blue and the gray are all part of the core instructions that means that those students needs are going to be able to be met in the classroom without
additional supports um and at so you can see it's separated up by school so Gardner Elementary School and Gardner middle school did make a lot of progress only 1% of students um increase from the beginning of the um beginning of the sem
uh semester to the end of the semester um garter high school did make um some pretty significant gains of um N9 percentage points um and what I have in the middle there is a gap so what's the gap between our aggregate which is down
below and our students with disabilities um and so the high school actually made um some progress where they went from a 48 percentage point gap Gap to a 45 percentage Point Gap is that where we want to be absolutely not but the goal is that we start looking at this data in
real time we've never had this before at in the middle of the year so now we're able to look at this and respond to it teachers are able to respond right in common planning time um so I'm glad we have this data it's not pretty data though and I think we just need to be transparent about um about what we're
doing and how we're trying to address this any questions on that I know there a lot of I'm throwing a lot that view it's just you know people need to remember that this is happening everywhere it's not just Gardener um
this has been an issue for a really long time and the fact that you have the real- time data is going to only help even more Yep this is going to be a goal for a while for me oh yes and just that it's the acknowledgement of this like you
said it's not pretty data but any information that we know about ourselves and how our students are doing is information we can use to to make things better so it's okay if it's not pretty growth is uncomfortable it is and and hope and the goal is for our common planning time and our during um
classroom instruction to improve so these gaps shrink but I think once the multi-tier system of support was like implemented and now that it's being done properly on a lot more levels and there's so much good oversight that's
made these numbers change that's the goal um the second this next slide um is about English language Learners um you know you see some um similarly um Gardner high school and Gardner middle school made some progress
um in these areas actually um Gardner middle school went from 87% um um not meeting expectations to 78% so that's a pretty significant jump and when you look at um their Gap it went from 46% points
to 41 percentage points for a difference any questions on that okay and the next slide is Dibbles and this is basically we're focused on making sure our kids grades pay through four are reading at grade level and once again
so the gray light blue and dark blue are all happening in the tier one classroom so these are kids who don't need additional supports um and right now so you have so this is a historical 23 22 23 23 24 and 2425 we
have all this data because we had dibles for a long time um and now we have a a new a new data program that helps us analyze this data very quickly um so again you're looking for that red to be as small as possible right now we're at
67% of our students um are reading at grade level or just about grade level so they're in the classroom able to get what they need um it's a 33% that I'm concerned about our goal is to get the 75% by the end of the school year questions on
that and the last um and the last thing is just on my professional practice goal I'm still participating in the Lynch Leadership Academy this is something where um again we're still working with the principles are still in the program we're still in the program at um central office and we're all working together to make sure that things are moving forward
and these are just some of the topics that we talk about all right any questions for me thank you thank you very much Dro moving on to item number 3684 kindergarten registration update for the
2025 2026 school year Dro so registration with kindergarten opened on March 1st we currently have a total of 98 students registered um 19 new registrations have been completed since then um and 79 preschool Garden
Elementary School students will be moving up to kindergarten next year so uh there are several more registrations that have been started but not completed yet we're we're way much further ahead of the game than we have been in the past typically we have about um by by
the end of the school year we might only have 60 or 70 applications filled out so right now we're looking actually pretty good um for next year capacity capacity is the the number of kids that need to be in our school so
yeah how many do we normally get a year um over 200 I think we're this year we're anywhere between 200 and 205 yeah we have to be very careful that's the one um uh Desy regulation says that you should that districts should try to be
under 25 St 25 students or under specifically for kindergarten we now have nine kindergarten teachers and obviously each room has a par professional as you know um I think we were up to 22 this year is that right cther 22 on average um for our
kindergarten classrooms any questions comments concerns from the members a lot of [Music] kids yes it is all right that's a good thing yeah moving on item 3685 curriculum coordinators update this was included in
your packet for information is there any discussion questions comments concerns just thank you thank you Dr go item 3686 Grant administrators update this was included in your packet for information and any discussion questions comments
concerns thank you director dun item number 3687 special education update this was included in your packet for informational purposes is there any discussion questions comments concerns thank you director West item H Communications Dr Pino um our Sports
team's ended very well um I'm very proud of all the work that they did and all all the work the kids did putting um in that time um I'm really excited you know to continue on this year especially with some of the data that you see um we're actually able to respond to some of this stuff so I'm really excited in the direction we're going
um and I had one other thing to say and now I'm blanking on it so I think I'm going to pass off Communications all right uh item I final comment to the school committee M W uh Miss Ward hi I'm excited to see the
play I knew I knew there was something I believe it's fiddle around the roof so it's going to be phenomenal in that new Auditorium yes very excited um on that note also excited to see the play also a little bit jealous that the high schoolers are headed down to see Wicked
I did get to see it a while ago but um it's you can never see enough problema um so um happy March the longest month as a teacher in the world maybe next to uh January um at least the weather's getting nicer and it's more beautiful hopefully that'll kind of raise some
spirits and keep the kids going um but outside of the weather um I just wanted to um thank Mr Lily for coming in and speaking about your program uh something that you said kind of tied in nicely with something I wanted to bring up tonight which was you said um the sense
of of belonging and building strategic relationships and what I had hop what I was going to do tonight goes along with that because I wanted to acknowledge um two GPS parents who took the time to speak with me at after the last meeting
um and they shared with me among other things a hope to see translators and ASL interpreters utilized in the future um for school committee meetings um there that there are parents in our community
who who want to be more involved who want to be more informed but that barrier is you know it's there and it's always going to be something that we're going to be working to you know build a ladder over or build steps up to um parents that really want to find their
place in our community and how they can support the work that students are doing um and that teachers are doing and everything here and I think that ties in with that idea of community is that you know um we have a lot of families coming from
a lot of different places and belonging in a foreign place we don't need to talk political climate I'm just going to leave it there but belonging is something I mean everyone wants to be seen and heard they just want to feel like they have a place where their kids
go to school where they live and I've seen a lot of beautiful things here in Gardener um and so I think it's just that message that we can continue with building this great sense of community and belonging and most importantly that we're modeling this for our kids and we
have a lot of work to do in our society as it is so if we can just keep doing this in our own little corner of Massachusetts um you know we're it's going to make an impact we're going to make an impact on these kids they're going to go out and it's going to ripple effect um I'm going to Super optimistic
mood tonight so that's why it's super positive right now um even though it's a full moon week but yeah yeah so just um thank you to those parents who spoke with me I really appreciate your words and thank you Mr Lily for your words as well and um yeah I'm done yapping thank
you appreciate it thank you Miss Mrs Hurst um just to kind of build on what Shannon said it sometimes things happen and and it's not like a particular oversight or people trying to be you know not mindful of of things it just
isn't on their radar and I think that we're doing a really good job of listening and trying to to to bridge these gaps I am I'm just I can't like
thank you enough for everything you're doing and um I mean it it is it's all about supporting people whether one of I was saying how one of the most important meetings I had ever been to to was I was
handed an IEP that was not in my own language I don't even remember what it was but and the presenter said this is how a parent feels he can't speak English or read
English and when you are faced with something like that you realize and that's why I think that people stick in their communities and together but they need to feel supported by everyone and I know that that's a hard thing because of everything that
just happens in the world but we I feel like we have a handle on it to a point and um lastly um next week uh it'll be 11 years that I lost my brother to suicide and it is so important
especially the the way things are going now to really talk to people check people don't just assume they're going to get help I was trained in QPR training I had been working for the
Children's Mental Health Initiative I know what the signs are supposed to be and I had no clue so anybody you think may be at risk it's okay to say are you feel feeling suicidal
today say the word because you might save somebody's life so thank you thank you m Morris do you anything Mr Schwarz I just to see the new Auditorium
and attend the flight thank you Mr nothing tonight thank you and Mrs Cary um it's always hard to go last I think both Shannon and Ann did a lovely job tonight so I'm going to Echo what they said um it's my favorite time of year with all of the theater Productions I don't think that's
a surprise to anyone here but um Gardener Elementary did Jungle Book kids last week and they did a great job um Gardner middle school will be doing Willy Wonka next month and then this weekend is Fiddler on the Roof at the high school the kids have been working really hard in tough conditions where they didn't have an auditorium to rehearse in so um give them extra credit
for that uh I think it'll be a great show and I hope everyone can go out and see it including of course Del ladye so awesome thank you uh I just have a couple things tonight and it's it's I get two things but they're both long things is um but I want to thank the uh
members of the city council uh the last school committee meeting that we talked about I mentioned that we had about $8 million left over from the new school's construction project the city council did vote to reappropriate that funding to various other 30-year projects throughout the city and the school district uh that included the
renovations to the auditorium that we've heard about a bunch today uh new locker rooms at Gardner High School New stair treads at Gardner High School New bathroom partitions at Gard of high school the Gardner middle school new roof and uh improvements to the entryway at Garden of middle school as well so so
those projects are all in the c um I think the other thing to remember is when you have $8 million left over in a project that sometimes they come sequential to each other so don't think they're all going to happen at once um but they're all in the queue and looking forward to getting those done uh but my favorite meeting of the year is always
the one right after we have the Rockwell grants approved um there was about $29,000 that was given out as grants to our teachers and staff at Garden of public schools uh of that 44% went to the general category and 56% of the funding that was awarded went to
different Arts related programs um I'm not going to get into the nitty-gritty of everyone but just to run through the titles of these um for Garder Elementary School magnetic communication boards for English language Learners and non-verbal students for the nurses office and the main office the Outdoor Classroom
Nature's Classroom trip that we voted on today new uh microphones for garden Middle School's cafetorium and uh theater program uh the high school M uh uh the Worcester bravehearts game for
our elll students uh replacing outdoor updated furniture and the Ceramics classrooms a bunch of different stuff for the Ceramics classrooms including kils and shelves uh after school art supplies for Gardener High School in the library which included knitting kits so students
could learn how to knit uh stem sets uh 3D printer for the garden of middle maker space a trip to see the A Christmas Carol at the Handover theater for our 10th grade English students um sensory tables eliminating user
athletic user fees DJ equipment for garden of high school for their dances so they don't have to spend fundrais money on DJs and can keep the money that they fund rais body mics and a microphone set for the garden High School auditorium new drum line harnesses and bass drum stands for the high school band uh mural project at the
Gardner Elementary School uh the inter mural class uh inter mural Sports classes at Gardner acad a joint peer mediation initiative at Garden high school and Gardner middle school music stands for the middle school band a book repair machine for Gardner Elementary School to help rebind the books the uh
real baby care accessories for the robots for lack of better term that we bought for the high school health classes a new Spotlight for the garden of middle Auditorium uh money for the uh new instruments at the gardener Elementary band a new Outfield fence for the high
school of Varity B uh baseball team uh new mallet percussion instruments for the high school band Middle School percussion improvements the wiked trip that we talked about uh Steam and stem expansion at GT uh more Mallet percussion at the high
school there's a lot in here there's a photography field trip photography C uh cabinets and new raincoats for the high school marching band um I just when we we we this was the biggest award amount we've given out since the Rockwell committee started so yeah it was a long
list but I thought they were all worth saying to show that like these are all new programs and initiatives and ways to enrich the classroom experience that we're able to do because this program exists um outside and around the school's budget so I want to say thank you to all the teachers who applied uh
thank you to Dr pelo and uh Ann Hurst for sitting on the committee that helped to evote and review all of these uh applications that are here and I'm looking forward to seeing how the Rockwell program continues moving forward uh since it's Inception uh Rockwell's grants have
given out about $820,000 uh just under it but about $820,000 in total for our schools and our students in Grants um and the fund itself is at around 2.6 million up from the 1.9 million from the reinvestments and the market trends that
have been in there too so um it's the gift that keeps on giv and it look forward to continuing it to see it keep on giving uh as we move forward so thanks for bearing with me for the list but I thought that was all in important enough to stay and the teachers took the time to make the applications and it was important to recognize the time they put
into those applications too uh but with that there's no executive sessions for the meeting our next meeting is on Monday April 14th and is that with that is there a motion to adjourn so is there a second motion made and seconded all those in favor say I may motion carries thank you all very much thank you