coalition out of the Franklin Regional Council of Governments. This is our spring 2026 full coalition meeting. Some of you have come to this meeting for many, many, many years. Others, this may be your first time. We're so happy you're all here with us today. I want to take a minute and just recognize who's
with us in this space. So, we're going to do a little bit of like you can either stand or wave or whatever feels good for you. Um, but I want to recognize anyone in this room who's come to us from a community organization. If
you think that applies to you, you can wave, raise your hand. Oh, great. Thanks, community partners for being here. Who's here from our district attorney, law enforcement? Melissa, just stand up. Do
it. Great. Glad you're here with us. Um, if you are a student, a youth leader in this space, where are you? I know you're here. Yeah,
you too. Stand up. Go ahead. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. They're doing it. Yes. Thank you for being with us today. Um, if you are a caregiver, a parent, if you raise children in any way in this
community, please raise your hand. We are here for you and with you. We're in it together. Um, if you are from the media, oh yeah, there you are. Thanks for being here and helping us
spread out the work that everyone is doing to benefit everyone in this region. Um let's see who did I miss >> government. >> If you if you are from local uh state
legislation government please stand up and be recognized by the space. Yes. Do it. Do it. Do it. Just stand up. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Great. Awesome. If you have a birthday today,
please stand up. Jesse, right? And we're not going to sing, but can we all say at the same time, happy birthday, Jesse? >> Happy birthday, Jessie. Thank you. Great. Um,
>> hold on. I'm getting Okay, besides schools, who else is represented in this room? Just shout it out. Where do you come from? What do you do? Shelurn Falls Community Free Fridge and Pantry. >> Yes. Thank you. We couldn't be here without you.
Anyone here from Wick? >> Yeah. Karen, anything else? >> Yes. COC, thank you for being here. My girl Shawn. Um, anything else?
>> Brick House. the Brick House, our community partners, Community Action Recovery Center, North Quabin, Community Co, all of these pro programs, organizations, partners make us who we are. Um, if you currently or ever did work in
a school, please stand up. Our school partners, thank you for being here. Don't sit down. Don't sit down. Don't sit down. If you have worked in a school for longer than five years, please stay standing.
If you have worked in a school longer than 10 years, please stay standing. If you have worked in a school longer than 15 years, please stay standing. If you have worked in a school longer than 20 years, please stay standing.
Um, Jenny started working in a school when she was five. So, it just need to let people know. Very precocious. If you have worked in a school longer than 25 years, please stay standing. 30 years, please stay standing.
35 years. >> Rick Martin, you get the prize, which is a gerbble. All right, I would like to call up the FCOG's executive director, Linda Dunlevy.
>> And Linda is now going to do a song and dance for us. >> Yeah, I am. And and I don't sing or dance, so sorry. Uh Leelyn and Rachel asked me to do a land acknowledgement and I said I don't really like land acknowledgements
because while we can say that this is the land that was formerly of the Nipmuk and the Pakamuk and the Wabanaki it implies that we've somehow evolved and it implies that we somehow I can somehow have my acre of land and my house and my
fence but I would have done so in a more harmonious way than we did in the past and I don't think we've evolved. While we probably don't wrap people with smallox laden blankets anymore,
we our government has taken away health insurance and vaccines. And while we don't drag people off their land, actually we do. We actually are. And so
how have we evolved? I will say this um lovely document that Rachel and Leelan asked me to read that I'm completely ignoring. Sorry. Uh gives a huge number of resources of how we can be more aware of what we did
in the past and what we can do now today like support a legislative agenda that supports Massachusetts indigenous people because we need to do that. And so what I will acknowledge is we need to do better today and tomorrow and every day.
>> Thank you. >> Thanks, Linda. And we do encourage people to take real concrete action. You know, um change doesn't happen by just thinking about it. All right, we're going to get started with our stars of the show
today. So, I'm going to invite so for the next um 40 minutes or so, we're going to go through some slides and we're going to call up our school partners to just share out what they've been doing in the region. And the reason we decided to do this focus is that we
are in such a time of limited local, regional, national, limited capacity, limited resources, resources that are being taken. And we wanted to lift and highlight everything that's happening in our school districts that school leaders
are doing on a daily basis that teachers are doing on a daily basis. Making change with what they have where they are in the moment showing up for our students for our families and it felt really important to lift that in this time where there's a lot of collective
stress and have a moment of celebration. So, I want to call up folks from Athl Royston who are presenting today and we're going to get started. >> Yeah. Shirley Mitchell. >> Uh,
>> I'm okay to just put it here. >> Tell me how to advance. >> Thanks so much. All right. Thank you everybody. Um, so here we are. We're from the Athal Royalsson Regional School District. We are, I believe, what's formed
the North Quabin, right? So Athl hangs in there. We're part of Worcester County. We're not really Franklin County, but that word North Quabin drags us to here and to this place today. So we are Yes. Thank you. So, uh, our school district is made up
of 164 students. I'm so sorry to pause you for one second. >> Just going to bring this over. >> Okay, >> there you go. If you don't mind just speaking a little bit further. >> You got it. >> I forgot a really critical part of this. Okay. >> Sorry, Shirley. >> It's okay. >> You can tell me about this later. So, on
your um pieces on your table, there are note cards and there are pens. Our ask to all of you at the tables is as each school's presenting on one side of the note card you're going to write the school name and on the other side you're going to write something that you appreciate you want to affirm that you
want to shout out back to the school. So this isn't a stagnant presentation. You are going to have the chance to give back. And this is one way of giving back. Saying we see you, we recognize you and here's something that stood out to us. So please, as you're sitting
here, take a pen, take a paper for each partner that presents, school name on the back, something you appreciate on the front. We'll collect them after. Thanks everyone. >> All right. >> Glad I remembered that. >> Thank you so much for that. So here we are. So we're at Roston Regional School
District, 164 students. You can see the demographics here. We are changing quickly. Uh when I was looking back seven years ago when I started, we had uh approximately about an 8%
uh Latino Hispanic uh percentage there. It's 17%. We've more than doubled. It's 112% increase from when I began. I have two fabulous staff people here with me. They are bilingual parent liaison. I
Yes. Yes. Yes. So, we have Jessica Vargas and we have Na Natasha Castillo Vargas. Yes. And I have a half a half a part-time uh
person, Erica Bueno, who is our food pantry coordinator. So, we we have something unique in Athal and we're very proud of it. We have our own family and community center that sits inside Athal High School with a full-size community
food pantry. Um, and so, and I want to just say, uh, Superintendent Matt Arinworth and David King could not be here today, and I believe that is why you see me up here, right? So, uh, they're very they're very, uh,
passionate about the center. They let us know that we you know your work is very important and reaching out to new coming families so they know this is how we do school. Our focus is centered wholly first on the student, the family and the
community. We could not do the work alone. Uh we use our community and our resources strategically. We have strong partnerships. Um I want to do a shout out. We have a meeting called the Athl Royalston Family Assistant Community
Team. It's called AR Fact. It was based off a model from Chelsea. There was a hub meeting that happens there. And we have this opportunity to say this is what's going on right now. And how can your how can you community partners come
alongside and help us? We are committed to the student the student as a whole has a family that they go home to. If the family is struggling and the child has what they need, the child can come to school and succeed. So, here we are. We do lots of community
uh engagement, community opportunities. We held a back to school celebration where we had over 1,500 people. It was uh it took place off of the school district. It was at a local park. I'm being told I only have few minutes left, like less than of it. Here is just
pictures of our our farmers that are coming alongside us. Our food pantry looks like a farmers market. Our staff is year round. We are here to support the students even after they leave. We have people come in and ask us for all
different types of support and we try to make that happen or make the connection. We also have an early college academy and we brought in our driver's education program just this is our our third year running it and it happens within our
school because we understand as a rural school transportation is a huge need and driver's education programs are very expensive and so that's it I believe I'm I'm there right I don't think I have another slope sorry here we are so
what's important to us right partnerships partnerships partnerships, parents, students, staff, the community, the providers. We everything we base on is a vision of our graduate. And so when we have that objective, so when the student has that objective and they know
where we're going, we're there to help pave that path for them. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. I'm watching to see who's writing, by the way. Um, Four Rivers Charter Public School, Jenny Manfred.
>> Oh, just leave him on the table. >> Yeah. >> All right. Wow, that's really high. I'm going to take this out of here. >> All right. Hi, everybody. Um, I'm Jenny Manfred. I'm the head of school at Four Rivers Charter Public School in Greenfield. We have bought the GCC
campus. Um, just a quick backstory about myself. I'm a transplant here. I was born and raised in Springfield. I worked there for 20 years in the Springfield public schools. Um, and I've just come to Franklin County. At first, I had a quick stop over in Northampton on
Hampshire County, but being embedded in Franklin County for the past four years at Four Rivers has just been such a joy to learn about the magic of a rural community. Right? Springfield's kind of like a little bit of a hub, a city. It's city of homes, but it's a city. And we
could not, Four Rivers, right? could not do the beautiful things that we do without this group of folks and the people that you are all connected to as well. Um, communities that care coalition, we have such a tight connection to them. We learned so much from the work that you do. They pro they help us provide leadership opportunities
for our students, which is the core of what what and how we do school. Um, and all the other organizations that come when we ask, we say, "Hey, our students want to learn about this piece of the work you're doing. Our students want to be engaged and serviced in this way."
and you all just say yes over and over. Um, and it's so beautiful, right? And and we are a huge like Franklin County is a huge county. Um, and it's hard to stay connected, right, when we're all spread far and wide. And our families come from the entire county and some from Hampshire County and sometimes even
Hampton County. Um but we find ways to come together and that's just a testament to the roots the deep rur rural roots and how communities like this for generations have come together to support student learning. So we're a small charter public school. We have grades 7 through 12 about 220 students.
Um I'm just going to go quickly because I know we don't have a lot of minutes. I have a MacBook. >> The arrows. >> The arrows. Okay. I'm like I'm a MacBook person. um some some ways that forever shine like like I mentioned our mission literally in the mission of our school is to be of service to Franklin County
and that is what we do. We build our expeditions which is our model of teaching and learning. We're an expeditionary learning school. Um we build our expeditions around issues in the community, wonders we have in the community, ways that students want to be engaged in the community. And so that is
really where we students in in our schools shine. You may hear about some of the things that we've done. the eighth grade livable Franklin County for all expedition um which they've done for a number of years now and some of you in the room came to their presentation of learning and you engage with students in in in their uh their learning. This
evening at the Greenfield Garden Cinema our senior class every year for the past 12 years has done a documentary film and it always has a social justice component. Our senior class is presenting a documentary film on the impact of immigration enforcement in Franklin County and they've interviewed
lots of folks. Um, and they put together a beautiful documentary. Um, so you're welcome to come 7:30 tonight, Greenfield Garden Cinema. 7:30. >> 7:30. Yep. And some of us will be at the People's Point before if you'd like to join us there. Um, I'm probably out of time, but there
are so many other wonderful, beautiful things about our school. Um, small schools like ours and some of yours, right? We are this really affirming space for um lots of identities that are, you know, sort of underrepresented or marginalized identities. Um our students love each other deeply and
because they're so embedded in their learning together, they're also really great at ultimate frisbee. Uh which you may have heard. Um we're really proud and modest about it. Um two more quick things I want to mention that just happened this past week. Uh May 1st, we the entire school, just about 85% of the
students and half the staff walked out. Uh, and it was beautiful. Um, I didn't I didn't sponsor it for for the record. Um, but I sure did help make it happen. And they went downtown and stood out for the made first standout. Um, and yesterday the entire school did a day of climate
action. And we're able to do that because we just really believe strongly in our students being empowered in leadership and doing that really uh important work and experiencing that. Um, and so yeah, grateful for all the partnerships and thanks for having us today.
Thank you, Jenny, so much. Yeah, and we can share these slides out after, folks, so you can see in more detail everything the schools are doing. All right. Uh, Dr. Marian, where are you? Come on up. Franklin County Technical School.
Um, and want to recognize Silus, a student from the school who is also present here today. Oh, and Jenna. >> Yeah, Jenna, if I forget anything, um I I just appreciate being here. Uh
talk about a a communities that care. It's incredible, you know, that the I didn't realize when I first came to Franklin County Tech uh about 18 years ago that I was going to experience the community that we have here today. Um,
it's it what's makes a school. I came from other school districts and it wasn't like that. Trust me, I've been in education for 35 years. It wasn't that connection. You know, at Franklin County Tech, you know, in 2016 we had 434
students. We're now up to, it says, I think 647 behind me, but it's a little higher than that by about two or three students. Um, and the most impressive thing is we have a mission to build futures. We're not for everybody, but
for those particular students that have that gravitate to a different way of learning, you know, our society is so caught up in what's your IQ score and your intellect. But the smartest students I've ever run into are
the ones that can fix a sink and and and be able to change out a cylinder in an engine. I mean, I don't care what my degrees are. I can't do any of that. Um, and just to partner with Mass Hire
and workforce development and Greenfield Community College and our sending school districts because we don't do what they do. We do what we do. we're an extension of what they have to offer and being able to develop programs that fit a
wider community need as well. Um from you know like through competitive grants like our aviation maintenance technology program get a 12,000 square foot hanger. We have like a half a dozen airplanes. We got kids really like drooling over this stuff. Um and we have an animal
science program for the first time that came on board just a few years back. And that's to fit who we are in our community. We are an agricultural regional community and yet we didn't have an animal science program. So now we have a veterary clinic. So these
things have been uh have come to pass without going out to the tax base by being able to employ competitive funding. And I I believe that um you know oh there he is Levi Clark. He just recently
competed a few days ago in the national competition for the welding and um he got he won for the states and the regional now he's on to nationals so we have to fly him out and so uh that's quite an experience. Um so I mean I'm
just real excited. You know, we have that adult program that we got through a competitive grant. That's a hundred students of adult learners that were displaced workers that now have an opportunity to be able to get employed.
And I think that's the key to our community is not just the day programs, but the night programs, the adult programs um that enable, you know, a 90% employment rate for the adults. Um, that's what it's about. Being able to
service the kids that have a passion and the adults that have a second chance opportunity and we couldn't have done it without everybody in this room. I just went around to a few tables and talked to a few people and what they do is remarkable.
Jenna, did I forget something? >> All right. All right. All right. So, um, no, I'm basically done. And I just wanted to brag about those things at the top of my head. I didn't know I was going to speak today, right? I came in the door. Oh, can you give a four to
five minute speech? And I'm like, I guess so. But we do have Oh, we do have 120 students on co-op, paid co-op, and they go every other week. Um, and that is the trucks you see driving around in 10 years with the electricians, the plumbers, the carpenters.
That's what we're here for. and we were ranked number one in the state through an independent survey as um the vocational school with the highest percentage of students that go into the trade in which they were trained for. So that's what I would like to be able to
and that's all because of you. So thank you. >> Thank you so much. Don't forget about those note cards on your tables, friends. Let's give back to the school districts the things we appreciate about them.
>> Frontier Regional Scott, where you at? >> Frontier Regional School District. Here you go. >> All right. Good morning, everyone. >> Hi, my name is Scott Dredge. I am the assistant principal at Frontier. started 22 years ago as an instructional assistant there and kind of grown with the school and I firmly believe that
schools like I'm hearing this morning is there's evolution. We evolve to meet the challenges and and needs of our society. Uh with that comes a lot of social emotional and social justice development and learning. So that's kind of what we're most proud of uh that we're going
to be talking about. Um Grant couldn't be here today but he is a key ingredient to our school. um probably more important than any administrator. I'll say that. Um and his networking with his teachers um and what we're doing um with
with the development of social emotional learning is is is the key to I think what we what we can start doing for our kids. Um so yeah, that was data. Did I just Where's the up arrow? I have a MacBook, too.
Oh, over there. All right. Great. Okay. Uh so uh we're doing our best right now um with restorative practices. Uh we thought it would be a great place to start in the middle school um in developing you know community building
circles. Um uh I think the thing that is important there is that um it it grows with the child. Our next focus is in the high school. um it will be our fourth year in and now that gives us a full
cycle of students who now in the high school are comfortable and familiar with restorative practices. Um so we're expanding that into the high school. Uh a big thing we started this year um was um using circle practice uh in coordination with the University of
Maryland um through the Aaron Levitas Foundation. Um, a lot of work we're doing now is on uh consent and boundaries um to try to educate all of our students um and all identities um
about that very very important topic. We've had things happen uh in our schools. I'm not afraid to shake. Got two minutes left. All right. Okay. In any event, um that was that's that was a great opportunity for us. Um that's done through our health class. A lot of you probably know Kate Blair.
>> Uh right. So Kate Kate and Grant uh do a lot of that work in the middle school. Um so right there um we're also you know looking re this isn't new but it's something that I'm proud to say we've shifted our focus away from discipline
into more of a a structured you know restorative model um because discipline is not the answer uh as you all know in this room. So, uh, and, uh, you know, I I think as I stand here in this room with all of you, um, you know, we're a regional
school, but we're also we we we belong in a partnership with this county. Um, and so it's not just about one school here, one school there. Uh, I think what I enjoy most is is hearing and last year when we were at Franklin Tech, uh, in a restorative circle with Kit, um, and and
all that leadership, hearing from the students there, that that was my most enjoyable experience is in seeing what the kids are all up to and what they're contributing to their own schools and each other regionally. Um, I believe that relationship is really uh great and and it it warms my heart to see kids
working together like that. One minute. Um, and I know I said Grant, it's it's really not I mean Grant's awesome, but it's the position, right? Um, I I think it we are all and and our educational
budgets really tightened uh right now. Um, schools do not need another administrator to do like discipline, right? If you really want to put get mileage out of your taxpayers's money, um we wanted to do it through a
restorative practice coordinator to develop those tier one skills in and you know uh in in their MTSS models that and we all have but uh that's that's where we want to spend our money, develop uh emotional literacy with our kids and
then have that tier 2 support when things are are are stressing kids out. Um, and so that's kind of that's we're going to I've every every year we go up to, you know, budget season that that position is going to be fought for and it's going to stay in place. Um, as long
as I'm in charge. So, thank you. >> Awesome. Thank you so much, um, Scott and everyone at Frontier Regional. I appreciate your work. And I want to say I think Lauren Msina was gonna join us today, but I didn't see
her come in this morning. So I'm not sure if she came in while we were starting. But in case there isn't someone here from Gil Monagu, I will start with slides. But if someone from Gil Monagu or Gil Monagu adjacent
um feels motivated to come up and share, feel free. Um otherwise I will jump in. Great. All right. I had the pleasure I'm going to just go through my conversation with Lauren, but
then also share sort of my experience of working with Gil Gil Monagu. I've had the pleasure of working with Gil Monagu for four years now, doing lots of restorative practice work with them, lots of um staff work, development. before that I know many people um in this room um including Carara and other
folks you know have worked with the school not just on um curriculum you know uh pedigogy teaching all those things but also school climate and culture because as we're hearing from many of our school partners you can't have an environment that's conducive to
learning without a community that's ready to learn and so you have to have those foundational pieces in place and so one of the things that Lauren said to me when we met is she said we've really shifted from a focus on student behavior to leading with curiosity. Now, when
something happens, we don't say why like look at this student, fix the student. We say what's going on for you? How can we help? What are you coming in with? And we listen to students and we connect with them before we try to address the things that might be disrupting the
learning environment. and she said that they have had a significant shift um in discipline referrals and in a significant increase in attendance with a different focus on what matters most about the student experience in the
building. Um Lauren noted that there is a belief she has a belief and Gil Monagu has a belief that every school in this region has something unique and important that they're bringing to the region. And one of the things that she wanted to highlight about Gil Monagu was
the strong arts um visual and performing arts curriculum and the investment they've made at the school with four dedicated arts teachers, lots of opportunity and a vision that the school has that mirrors what some schools are already doing, which is to recreate an
early college pathway um and to have space for students not just to earn their high school diploma, but also to earn college credit at the same time. and potentially graduate high school with the start of an associates degree or already feeding already have obtained
an an associates degree and then feeding those students into area colleges helping them make local connections build local networks and build local roots so that when they become adults in the community they're already connected building their families building their
careers in Franklin County and the North Quabin and so I appreciated hearing that vision which really aligns with one of our what many of our school partners are either also thinking about or already doing in some cases. Um, and so I love
to hear when an administrator really names the importance of faculty and staff. Um, because it says something when the crew is on board with the captain um because you can't get to where you're going without a staff that's buying in. And so Lauren really
lifted how willing and amazing the staff have been at Gil Monagu, the resources named first responders, the towns that support the school, um providing instructional materials to supplement budgets, and then the enrichment programs um that they're expanding
there. So even though we didn't have someone join us today, want to also recognize the great work that's happening at Gil Monagu Regional School District. Thanks everyone. Oh, and you're going to hear from me again unless I can coers Stacy Paige to
come up here. >> Come on. Come on, Greenfield folks. Come on. You know this better than I do. >> Well, Stephen is would probably be better at this than me and knows a whole lot more about what's
going on in the larger GPS community than I do. But I'm an adjustment counselor and so I can really only talk to you from that perspective. Um, for those of you that know what adjustment counselors do, you have an idea that we're not just simply uh
sitting in our office doing counseling. We do lots and lots of different things and I love my job. Uh, one of our new things that we do this year is training active bystanders. So with support from Quabin mediation, we had over 20 uh
students from 8 through 12 willing to become uh train trainers and then they did a four session training with the eighth graders. Um they were incredible. They were wonderful. These kids have never taught anybody before and they
were so courageous and so terrific. Um and I just see it as something that we can continue. So, we're going to be uh trying to get some newbies to join us to, you know, replace those 12th graders that are going to leave us to become new
um trainers. And on we go with the next eighth grade class. Um Greenfield Public Schools is uh once again trying to get restorative practices going. This has been a start and stop start and stop
thing a whole bunch of times. Um but me and particularly Deb Poti, the other adjustment counselor that I work with, do a lot of uh conversations between students uh and teachers and students.
Uh a lot of those relationships break down and it's such a beautiful thing when you can get a teacher and a student to be real with each other and just see the magic that can happen. Um, so we're doing a lot of that with Lee Ellen and
Elana's help. We do lots of healthy uh weeks and Lee Ellen puts up with me every year with preventure. I'm always falling apart with that. That's a great targeted intervention program to reduce substance
abuse and mental health issues. Um, we've got an alternative suspension uh for uh vaping and drug use called IDside that we do. Uh, this week Stuco is doing and along with all the other clubs is doing a big mental health awareness week
and they're doing all kinds of healthy um, you know, stuff. Uh, Jana, you want to talk about some things you're doing over at the middle school? >> The middle school, we do advisory circles. um and we do the restorative
meetings with with teachers. So hopefully they'll be used to that by the time they get to you. And one other thing over the last couple years we started um school climate surveys where we survey the students and this year the teachers were sharing out some things they thought were interesting and asking
students how can we move from point A to point B. So getting their engagement helping them understand yeah this is what all of you say now how do we move from here so that they can feel part of the change. All right, thank you everybody. >> Great. Thank you so much
and thanks for jumping in on the fly. I know you weren't planning to do that, but look at how Stacy even had notes. Talk about prepared. >> It's good life strategy. Um, all right. Chris Buckland, Mohawk Trail Regional School District.
Hey, so today is uh teacher appreciation day or rather teacher appreciation week this week and today is dress up as a student or students can dress up as a teacher and I've had a number of people saying were you going to dress up today and I was like this is what I normally
wear. So okay um I've taught at Mo I've been at Mohawk for four years and it's the first time I've turned right up this road here. Um, and being a member of the FKO group, it's like turning right every week because there's a resource or there's a speaker or there's somebody
who says, "Hey, there's this thing that you need that we can do." And so I'm immensely grateful for everybody in the room and everybody who's ever been on a meeting with me asking stupid questions. Um, I appreciate everything um that everybody does. We are a very poor district, but we don't look it. Um
because one of the tricks that we have found is that whilst we're in the west um desi don't really understand what goes beyond Springfield. So we very rarely have visitors from the state which means we can kind of get away with
stuff and the best way the best way to get away with stuff even with your school committee is just to say yeah we're going to pilot this and then you turn it so that students own the pilot and then you say to the school committee well the kids really
want to do this thing so we can do it and then they vote and it's policy and you win. Okay. Are you going to give me a countdown, Nick, when I have to get off? All right. So, um, we've got eight towns in our district and they're all very fiercely independent and proud. And
in our school, we have kids from those eight towns. So, one of the first things that we had to do is figure out how are we going to create community with these folks that come from towns that are definitely from Colra or definitely from Heath or definitely not from Ashefield.
Um and so one of the things that we did is set our um stick in the sand and decided right we're going to organize our structure around the purpose. Uh and to Scott's point, we don't need another administrator. We don't need another role or we head a department or things
like that. We figured out what do we want to do and how are we going to figure out how to support that. And when I came in um we found some money and we wrote some stuff on the walls and those are kind of the slogans that have guided us ever since. They're not in the slideshow. I forgot
to put them in. Um, I am part of this community. I can I can contribute in a positive way. I will be accountable for my words and their actions. And that's it. That's the three things that guide what we do. Um, we focus really on
student voice and agency. So, we got rid of midterm exams and final exams and instead I stole from Jenny Manfred the idea of student le conferences. And we do that twice a year. And we've had 90% turnout rate from parents in seven through 12, which is unbelievable
because when we did our open house, we had three high school parents and a million middle school teacher uh kids uh parents turning up. Um we beg, borrow, steal from grants from organizations and figure out where we can get money to pay stipended uh
positions for teachers because ultimately uh we can't do anything without input from teachers and support from students. We focus on student leadership. We have whole school meetings where we stop and we focus. Everybody comes into the auditorium 7 through 12 and each grade level class
runs the assembly for 40 minutes and we have chaos and we have singing and we have celebrations and we have I don't know what we have and I'm missing one right now but there's probably something amazing happening. Um we um as I said we steal from anybody and everyone. Um
Scott I'll be talking about uh your RJ person. and I think we've already connected. So be ready to see some of the things you've already done in our school. Um and uh the other piece really is we encourage risk takingaking. Teacher comes up with an idea, it sounds good, it works with what we want to do,
give it a go. If it's an absolute disaster, okay, we move on. We figure out what we get and we move on. There's no kind of you're going to be on the line for this, your head's going to be on the block if this magical thing doesn't happen. We try, we figure it out, we do better. Um, the other thing is that we, you know, schools,
we're all gonna be nice to each other here because we're all representing our schools, but it's kind of like a like the eight towns. We're all fiercely independent um as schools in this region and we're very supportive and and we try and look at ways that we can, you know, support each other with our students and
support each other with our resources. And so that's largely what I'm I'm kind of u making the point here is that we we we really appreciate being a part of this and we're respectful of everybody having their own roles and things like that, but we really do want to lean into supporting um and and help and being helped and helping as much as possible
and I'm very grateful. I had didn't really look at any of the slideshows, but they're amazing. Um and I encourage you to have a look at them later on. And um yes, so in summary, steal, beg, borrow, try things, and don't worry, Desi is never going to make their way up
the hill. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Chris. And I want to recognize Mohawk student leader Anna, who's also here as well today. Great. We're rolling to the end here. Pioneer Valley Regional School District.
Mahar after this. Good morning everybody. I'm Zebie Steinitz and I'm the director of teaching and learning at Pioneer Valley Regional School District. I'm really delighted to be here and I want to say I want to reiterate that community of care coalition has been an incredible resource to us. you are
always bringing something to us and inviting us to participate and you really have your eye on the prize which is supporting our students and our families so that um we always say that if kids don't feel safe they can't
learn. So um our focus in our district has been twofold. one is focusing on academic opportunities and I will name some of our um progress this year in that area and then the other is focusing
on a culture of belonging so that our students really feel safe they feel supported and they feel available for learning um in terms and I know that we don't have a lot of time so I'm just going to um speak about some highlights um we have had a lot of success um with
increasing rigor and opportunity for our students this year that's involved um writing grants of course beg borrowing and stealing right stipending our teachers um we've been able to bring project lead the way so that we're offering medical detectives we're
offering design and modeling for our students we're bringing investigating history from third grade up through um sixth grade across the district and we've been working with the playful learning institute which has been fantastic for our early childhood um
figuring out opportunities ities to increase student agency, voice, and choice through opportunities and options um as a way to access the curriculum through play. So, um in addition, we've increased in um dual enrollment
opportunities and we've offered uh this is a brand new policy, embedded honors within our regular classes. So it's not a separate track but if students want an additional um challenge they can do so within their regular courses by um doing
extra work doing an extra challenge etc. So those are some um and also we have been focusing a lot on high quality instructional materials. So, we've incorporated the Bridges Mathematics program throughout our elementary and we
offered um monthly um coaching of our teachers with an expert who came every single you know it wasn't just here's the curriculum go implement it um but we've helped our teachers with content knowledge in terms of increasing a community of belonging I think you'll hear some
repeats from other districts and that's a good thing um for example we also um partnered with Quabin to offer mediation training um to all of our teachers and all our students and also um we offered our athletes a special program
specifically related to sports. Um we partnered with enough abuse and we are one of their um one of their schools. So, Jada Bernier has come and she trained all of our teachers to um uh how to avoid and what constitute boundary
breaking behaviors and how to avoid them. Uh and we're doing um a long-term work with them. Um we've uh continued to have our student leaders plan advisory. We have a restorative practices group that meets regularly. I already
mentioned active bystander training. And we hired with um PSD funds. We hired a family liaison who has been um meeting our goal of increasing our relationships with families specifically by inviting
them to come in for presentations for example to address student anxiety um for a family math night. Uh we did a spring arts celebration with um a lot of interactive uh we filled the hallways with our musicians. we had interactives
and mural making and um so we've been um you know that's been the work and I think um I'm inspired by all of your presentations and hopefully um we'll continue to collaborate and to share to support our families. Thanks Sebie.
I really encourage everyone um when we send these slides out just to read through specifically all of the things that folks are doing. It was amazing. Such a gift to be the person doing these interviews and to hear from everybody. Um, I learned a lot that I didn't know was happening in each district. All
right, Danielle, you're up. Take us home. Not literally though, because we have more after this. Hello everybody. I'm Danielle Buché Brunell. I am the director of curriculum and instruction for the Ralph Seahar Regional School District. Um, so
actually this is this enrollment is just for our middle school and high school, but the district is actually three different schools. It's a consolidated district, which is interesting. So we have a lot of different challenges that um most of your communities might not have. So consolidated in terms of our
central office, but not regionalized from K through 12. Um, so we have two elementary schools that feed into the 7th through 12 um, greater school, Orange Elementary and Petersham Center School, which means we actually span Franklin County and Worcester County,
which is interesting that we are made up of two separate counties. Um, and all three buildings are wildly different in terms of the community that make them up and the cultures in the building. I don't have a Mac, so I know how to
navigate this. Um, so isn't that weird how our brains can be like Apple or Android based? It's bizarre. Um, so what makes Mahar shine, what makes a community, our school community shine is that somehow we have
managed to hang on to some of the programs that a lot of your schools have had to get away from. And I'm we're doing this because it's so important to the community. We hear over and over again that our programs such as our our shops. So, we have a full maker suite
still uh with advanced woodworking, welding, and other opportunities for our kids in grades 7 through 12. All students are able to participate um in those uh extracurriculars or those unified arts. Um we have placed a strong
focus this year on um reconnecting with our community. And so I think a a lot of our schools are sort of two minutes already. Are you serious? Goodness gracious. A lot of our um a lot of the schools in the area are going through some really tough budgeting seasons and
this has been happening in our community for for many years. Uh we're a very poor community as well. Um, and I feel like there has been just this separation of the schools from the communities and
losing sight of the fact that we're partners in what's happening in the buildings. Um, and so we've really put an emphasis through some of the the activities that are running in our schools, our eighth grade civics project and our high school civics project and our um middle school and elementary
school advisory programs. The intention has been uh to use those programs to reconnect with our community. So, we've been getting kids out of the building as much as we possibly can and into um all of the spaces that are amazing that we should be connecting with so we can
celebrate where they came from, where we came from um and and why it's important to remember where we came from. So, um, we have attended several, uh, trainings on project-based learning, and we're using one minute. Yes, I see you. Um,
we're using project-based learning to do as much as we can, um, to, uh, reconnect with the community. Um, I heard a lot of you mention that you are taking advantage of, uh, TAB this year,
training active bystanders, and then in North Quabin, uh, mediation. So, one thing you might not know is the executive director of North Quabin Mediation, Lily Fellows, is a graduate of Mahar and went through TAB training herself. And so, we are super proud of
Lily and the work that um she has done and she is amazing at representing our school. Um, let's see. We have lots of things going on in our building that are amazing as well. our dual enrollment program. We built a uh middle school um advisory
program that runs weekly. The students created the goals at the beginning of the year for what they wanted to get out of that. We're running a social emotional curriculum as well during that time. A lot of focus on restorative um practices. Um what else do we have here? What are
we most proud of? Our staff is absolutely amazing at ensuring that all students get the experiences that they would like to have. Despite budget cuts, despite staffing shortages, they have still been able to create experiences
for the kids within um classrooms that still allow them to take the honors level classes or AP classes. Um and I'm not sure what we would do without that that flexibility. It's so important that we're creating as many experiences for kids as possible. And um was it Zevy? I
think Zevy just mentioned the um I I'm I'm stealing this because Chris told me that I'm supposed to steal and beg and borrow. Um embedded honors. Is that what it was called? Zebie. Yeah, embedded honors. We didn't have a name for it. We do now. Thanks, Zie. Um
and this is the first time I get to be here and I'm really excited because what an amazing way to start the day. I mean, gosh, some positivity is so amazing in in this environment where things just feel really tough all the time. So, thank you for making sure that everybody
gets this space today. >> Thank you, Danielle. And thank you everyone. Thanks for coming out today. We're not done. We have one more thing I want to do here. I just want to say joy is an act of resistance, right? So, even just sitting together
and celebrating community, that is part of the work we need to do. I invite you to take out the devices that suck our souls, um also known as your cell phone, um and scan this QR code. It's going to take you to um a one-word response. So,
it's going to ask you how are you feeling after I'm going to leave this page up a little bit longer so everyone has a chance to scan who wishes to scan. This is a consentbased activity. Um, and you're just gonna you can write
as many words as you want. You're going to type a word. How are you feeling after seeing this presentation? After hearing from all the schools, when you hit submit, you can then type another word. Did everyone get a chance to scan this? Who wanted to? That's okay because
look, >> oh, you can come closer. Uh, there we go. And here in real time. Oh, how do I make this bigger? You can see Yeah. how everyone is
feeling. And the bigger, you know how wordcloud works, right? The bigger the word, the more people are saying it. connected, hopeful, inspired, encouraged, grateful, motivated,
aruck. Oh, someone feels pensive. Oh, how introspective. Yay. Full together. Impressed. This is how your community feels. Schools of Franklin County and the North Quaban region. We are so grateful,
inspired, proud, and hopeful of all the work you are doing every day. If you have never worked in a school building, let me tell you, you walk through that door, you pee once at 8:00 in the morning, you eat your lunch at 8:15, and
then you go. And then you don't stop until 2 hours after you were a supposed to walk after the building. Um, and then you look at the list that you meant to accomplish, but you didn't. And it's 2 months old, but you think about all the students lives that you touched and you
know that you're making a difference. So, thank you so much for all your good work today and every day. I'm on a secret mission to also support the adults in every school building and every it's not so secret cuz now you know it said out loud but you you're people too adults we're people too and
we want to make sure that our schools are healthy not just for our young people and for the families but for the adults who are going there every single day. So thank you so much for all you're doing. So I am going to introduce to you Jenna Weld who is last year's Sarah Cummings Award recipient introduce
yourself. >> Oh I'm sorry I have a name too. My name is Rachel Stler. I work with the Communities that Care Coalition. Um, and our Sarah Cummings Award honors um someone who has demonstrated leadership within our coalition. So, we give two
awards every year. The Sarah Cummings Award in the spring and the Mike Fritz award in the fall, which is a community um a community award. And so, last year, Jenna Weld won the award. and she is here to not only receive a photo of her
getting the award last year, but also to introduce this year's awardee. So, first of all, I'm going to call up Jenna to receive her photo. This is Jenna receiving the award last year where our meeting was at Franklin
County Technical School. All right. So, you're going to have to bear with my terrible reading skills because I don't have the memory to remember what I wrote for Hannah. >> Oh, I would appreciate that. Thank you. All right. So, as some of you know, I
work as the art facilitator over at the Brick House, and I get to work with her teens. And every Monday for 3 years, I've heard your name screamed. Oh god, I'm getting emotional.
I've heard your name screamed at 2:30 by your adoring fans, your teens. And in many ways, I feel that the most unheard voices are heard by you. You fought every day to bring future to
so many teens that have felt alone. You've always seen them and today we see you. Heat. Heat. Okay. All right. I will take something. Will you take that? >> Wow. Thanks everyone. I don't normally
use a microphone. Believe it or not, I'm very capable of reaching the room with just my voice. So, it feels a little unnatural. Um, thank you so much, Jenna. Uh, I only teared up a little bit, which for me is pretty good. If you want to see me
really cry, Turner Falls graduation January, June 6th. Um, when Jenna emailed me and let me know that I won this award, I at first I was like, "Me? Me? Are you sure?" Um I think what we
have happening at the brick house and what we really have happening in Turners is so unique and so special. I know um from years of doing this work that not every institution
sees my vision. Um, but I have been at the Brook House. It'll be four years in August. And I am so proud to say that we are a culmination of my vision, of my dreams, of my hopes, and I have a rag tag team of weirdos who are on that ride with me in such a way that's so
incredible. Um, for those of you who maybe don't know a ton about the Brick House, we serve predominantly youth experiencing generational poverty and generational trauma. We are in the heart of downtown Turner Falls and I like to say that we
are the Turner Falls watering hole. We get the theater queer kids, we get the tripport athletes, we get the kids who don't really have a place. And all of those kids have a place at the Brick House and have a place with us. And I
just feel truly honored and grateful that I get to hang out with them 4 days a week, 3 hours a day. They are the highlight of my day every day. Um, and I just feel so grateful to be able to inspire them in any way that I can
really. And we're a really non-traditional space, right? We're completely non-authoritative. We are youthled, youth centric. They make the rules. And if you have ever been in a room with We had 36 yesterday, 36 middle and high school students, let me tell you, when they make the rules, it's a
little chaotic. But we are riding that wave. We are riding the wave. Um, and it's just I'm really truly very honored. I'm so appreciative to everyone at Forogg I to my partner for being so supportive of me coming home being like let me tell you about today. Um and
really truly to my Brookhouse team and to the kids. I am really grateful. I'm very honored. I really appreciate it and I can't wait to go back to the teen center to hear my name yelled 500 more times and then have to like make someone's
ramen. So I'm really looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to making a lot more peanut butter and jellies and uh dealing with the nonsense that is every day, but it's our nonsense and I feel very grateful. Um, and if I can leave
with one parting word of any kind. Um, I think that often we are a lot of adults telling kids what we think they need. We are a lot of adults who think we know best and we have to bend and yield to institutions, to rules, to laws that are
not always equitable, fair or just. And I am very much in the Chris Buckland camp of begging, stealing, borrowing, and asking for forgiveness and not for permission. They know what they need. They know what they need. All we have to do is ask them. And when they tell us, we have to
listen. So that is my parting thought. >> Thank you, Hannah. We're so lucky to have you and all of you to work with together. And I want to say in line with what Hannah was sharing, you know, that is
why we consider the coalition um our most important members. All of us are important, but we really hold to the motto of the disability justice movement of nothing about us without us. And that's why our youth leaders, our peer ambassadors
um are just are those are our guiding um bodies because we cannot do the work that we're doing without leadership, vision, co-creation with the folks whose lives are affected the most. Um, so we
totally resonate with that and are here for the co-creation and co-vision of all the strategies and things are trying to bring in to benefit everyone in the region.