thank you good evening and welcome to the Hatfield school committee March business meeting I'm Christy Bud chair of the Hatfield school committee and calling us to order tonight we're going to kick off with public comment and we open that up via Zoom as well as to
anyone who's joined us in person we welcome folks to come and speak to anything that's on our agenda um usually try and keep it fairly tight um and we also to remind folks when they come to speak it's not a conversation um it's your chance to speak and share information to us and it may not be
something that we actually have by policy we don't respond in the meeting um in part of public comment but with that doesn't mean that we don't enjoy hearing from you so if there's anyone we'll start online is anyone online would like to make a public
comment okay I don't think so is there anyone with us in person who would like to make a public comment this evening nice to have you with us anyway thank you good to see you and with that we will move on and anyone who's joined via Zoom has the opportunity to join us
through um the live streaming on the Hatfield Community YouTube page and that keeps us from needing to keep zoom up okay and so with that we're going to turn to uh an opportunity to share Mission moments and I think there's been
some some really compelling Mission moments ways in which our district is showing that we're living up to our goals um anybody want to kick that off and share I I think I know what you might share just a hunch well um I'm just
wanting to share that we are so ecstatic that the state took our recommendation and application to actually acknowledge the hard work and dedication of Jee hobby as naming her nurse of the year for Massachusetts yes she is amazing she is
yes so um so I uh was really delighted to see the school social media put forward the Gazette article that talked about Jean thank you for letting the Gazette know about Nurse Jean um and it was really fun to see the community come out and just people from all over the
place were like she's fantastic and just to a parent I've never heard anything else about Nurse Jean she does not like being the center of attention and in the Limelight she's very begrudgingly accepting this however um it's everyone you speak to would say it's overdue and
she's very much in uh appreciative and or acknowledge um I can't think of the word I'm trying to find but should be receiving that Accolade she black or what does she get that's a great question there's two different um she's going to be acknowledged at the
nursing Massachusetts um Nurses Association there's a conference that they have every year in May so she's going to be given an award then and then also at the department of Ed they also will have a ceremony as well so two different occasions for her and her family to be present too say woohoo
nurse Jean much deserved very well deserved yes others I mean that's gonna I No One's Gonna top that I think it'd be really hard so if we if we let it ride on that one Mission moment because that is huge
but if you have others you want to speak up to any other Mission moments I think I can um just one today we went to fish sales a restaurant in town uh and uh at the request of my eight-year-old who
insisted we had to go because they were giving part of the proceeds from Mondays to the PTA and he was excited well kudos to the PTA and fish shels for supporting the community and PTA and we saw the um Mr Tim I think
kindgarten s that was amazing so all the kids were happy to see the teacher and also help the PTA and the school great Community involvement and even got to sing yes and
dance y dancing any others yeah I'd like to highlight our um our anatomy class at Smith Academy who is uh they're really going kind of back into the hands-on experience with um some of their what
they're doing and they were dissecting uh pigs eyeballs today um and they had just done sheep's brains like last week um so it was it's really neat to see them get that into it they can you know they can talk to you about the um I don't know the retinas and the
optic nerves and everything and they can show it to you it was very neat to see that is that when you choose to observe like you wait till they're dissecting something oh yeah okay it's good to know have to do an observation today uh they are Juniors and seniors well we're waiting for an
invite you would like to some of us will pass they're done that um I just want to give a a shout out of appreciation to the the Hatfield teaching Association has been really remarkable to work with um so we're
still in negotiation season and and coming to sort of a close of that but truly the sense of community and partnership has been phenomenal um especially in light of what we have heard from other districts it's a start
contrast and uh to see their hearts are where our kids are it's really special so anybody else we'll go to Fish Tales talk about teachers okay Al righty then uh I am tabling the consent agenda
and the student report for this evening which means we get to go straight into the really fun stuff and a presentation from Dr Driscoll on the report of Entry findings and you'll explain what that is I know but absolutely okay um and so so before we we jump in I'd like to to
reintroduce um Terry Thomas um she is my uh inip coach um that's the new superintendent induction program um I got that right you did good um and so she's here to kind of give me some feedback on tonight's presentation as well um so remember one of the the main
goals of the new superintendent induction program is um an entry plan to compile information data um and sort of synthesize that into um kind of major themes and understandings of where a district is um it's been kind of an
interesting process for me having been in the district uh prior to the role as superintendant um both at the elementary level and then at the secondary level is building principles now um in the combined role too so um truly this the the
um the findings that I'm going to share tonight I don't think they will come to a surprise uh to anyone in the room um which is good they they shouldn't be a surprise and I think it speaks to kind of the openness with which um we've been been sharing information and um you know
kind of the State of Affairs here um so with that introduction out of the way I will excuse me oh boy wrong button there we go get started so um kind of a breakdown of the presentation first I'm going to
go reverse way here uh I'll be presenting some of the major themes um that have kind of um uh come to light over the last uh year or so um possible next steps based on those themes and sort of what that means for our strategic planning going forward as you
know uh we're in the final year this year of our uh three-year District Improvement plan um so it's actually really kind of perfect timing um to look at look at this and as we head into our our strategic planning for the the future um so kind of um incomplete uh
collection of data that I have reviewed for this uh you know among others uh I've I've conducted interviews with staff and had conversations with them looked at mcast irated data as well as other assessment data had a lot of conversations with parents um teachers
esps Town employees and officials uh just folks from the community um I've looked at we've looked at enrollment Trends curriculum data uh student course requests Financial Trends and data so a lot of a lot of stuff has gone into this
um sort of what I put the most stock in is those conversations that that I've had with folks over the um the last year or or so um because I think you get a lot more from that than just one one one data
point um so we'll dive right into it we'll start looking at the major themes so the first the first major theme that um again this shouldn't come as a surprise uh that that has come up is uh Ela and I added Health uh curriculum
cohesion here too I'll talk about that in a second but primarily this started with with Ela um so over the course of of the couple years um having conversations with folks as well as looking at our our growth um both both I
particularly Ela um we've seen that our our growth has been lower than expected lower lower than we we'd like to see um that has sort of prompted some questions about uh practice about what
curricula we're using um about whether it's aligned to the most current research and then also um about kind of the cohesion of the curriculum itself we have a lot of different high quality elements in the curriculum um but they're not necessarily from the same curriculum they're they're they're
they're good pieces um from kind of a lot of different different um areas uh and so there has been a lot of interest in looking at what else might be out there um and and how that might uh
whether it might benefit us to to look and see if there is is um a program or or other resources that that we could use um as well as uh training and and practice um so we can we can sort of give our our Ela curriculum kind of a um
injection of adrenaline to to get it back up where it belongs um you may recall recently uh we switched our math curriculum when we had we saw similar things happening in math um and we've seen results from that we've seen our our math data start to increase and and
and look better especially in those grades where we had made that shift and as that continues we expect to see that um so it may be that we are are looking to do something similar in in ela um the health piece here uh there has been some
input from Community as well as as well as teachers about um where where we are with our health curriculum and those uh those standards just changed so this actually this conversation had started um prior to Desi changing uh and
adopting new new standards um for health and PE so we actually tabled that conversation those standards are now out they're public um and so now now is also a good time to take a look at those standards take a look at our resources and say uh you know what where where are they strong and where do they where they
need to um so that's the the curriculum curriculum theme of the evening uh would you like to do questions as we go along or or um I'm inclined to say yes
folks sure yeah anybody have anything on curriculum can you give an example of what will change about or need to change about our PE standards to meet des's new yeah kind of broadly broad broad Strokes uh they take so both for health and PE
they take a more I would say holistic approach to Health in general um so the focus in PE you would find more on um kind of kind of personal health goals so not necessarily like how to play
kickball or building soccer skills in PE class but how to you know how um you know maybe like individualized uh how how to you know move certain ways how to uh maybe increase
the number of crunches you can you can do um so working with students so you know you have you know less of the ability to um and obviously it's not going to get rid of sports um but really making sure that every student is
getting getting something out of it not just maybe the kids who like to play floor hockey um so really focusing on that and giving more opportunities for that throughout um so having having more varied varied opportunities and in terms of health um I would say it's more focused on the
kind of the the whole person so um previously there's it's been kind of heavily focused on um science and biology um now there's a lot more focus on social emotional learning uh regulation emotional regulation that
kind of thing relationship building um as as students go up okay thank you yeah uh the second um the second major theme that has come up is that we have a very very supportive town uh and supportive community of our schools um
that despite we as as we have seen there are some some vocal critics um but by and large Hatfield is a incredibly supportive town of the schools and of the school system um so in 2023 you'll remember there was a historic override that was passed that was uh historic for
for the town in the region and we we've seen that play out differently in other in other areas uh there's been a lot of support for the movement of sixth grade um and Trust in the teachers uh and and staff that have kind of put that uh put that process forward um in conversations
with with uh parents and community members there seems to be this general feeling of excitement about where where things are and what we're able what we're able to do kind of what we're where we're poised right now um there have been and this is come up a few
times over the last year or so as well some rumors and untruths that have been shared about kind of the status of our schools um so this is you know often times come comes in detractors that we'll see largely on social media um but also in conversations that come up uh
about you know when I talk to folks if they've choiced to go chosen to go elsewhere at Smith Academy a lot of folks will talk about how they feel like we don't uh haven't had as much to offer in terms of APS and extracurriculars and um in elective courses and and there
surprise to learn that in fact we do we have have have a pretty competitive U array of classes that we're able to offer uh questions about the sustainability and cost effectiveness of a municipal Town School System uh versus a uh versus a regional school system
which again we've seen um and and and talked to folks about that uh it actually is more more cost effective that shouldn't be any the reason to make any kind of change um so that you know that continues to be a place where we are uh we're we're fighting to get the
correct message out there and the accurate message out there too but again by and large uh the support that this town has shown the school systems has been very um has has been wonderful questions
okay um the third major theme that we've seen we've presented on this uh in the past and you'll see this is kind of a chunk of one of the slides that we had had presented from the from in the past is we have a very strong sense of student belonging and support in our
schools um and this this I I included this particular piece of data here um because we we see it as adults in the schools every day but this came from the students uh how they feel and and when they're surveyed what they're information that they're presenting um
and so to to see you know such high levels of students feeling comfortable students feeling supported students feeling U that they have built the skills and that their teachers will support them in in exercising those skills to deal with conflict is really
uh really a testament to what our teachers and what our professionals have done and continue to do uh especially when you look at some of the comparisons um to the state you know you can really see that the impact that our our small schools are having in the work of our
our teachers in this setting has been really really powerful for our students uh and that continues to be the case um we'll talk a little bit later about um sort of how how we can continue to harness this feeling in our in our students and kind of this where they are
to use their voice um in in in expanding and and building on what we what we already have um the next major theme um is that we continue to have strong student outcomes so uh typically this is this is
one snapshot uh the kind of the the table that's down here um but but as we we typically see we have mcast results that are either close to or or above State averages typically uh the I data that we see suggests that our students
are moving so uh when you look at when you look at mcast you see where students perform on on one day of the year and there there are growth scores too that go with but when we look at iady we're really able to see where student a or student B start the year and where they finish the year um and we we see that
our students are moving um we've seen math scores as I mentioned before with our new curriculum the process that we went through we've seen those scores continue to increase um and we continue to see really high levels of college acceptance rates um in in plans to
attend college so not just kids getting into college but kids saying oh great I got in I'm going to go so um those plans continue to be robust uh we have a number of students every year who are qualifying with um the John uh John and Abigail Adams scholarships uh that that
they get through uh through mcast performance um and and we have 100% completion of the mass core uh graduation curriculum so the the mass core is a set of Standards kind of a level of achievement that um the state
has set as a high level of achievement for students uh and for schools to to to say you know we we expect students to meet this this standard before they graduate um and when we have 100% completion of that with our graduates questions on this slide before
continue okay um so this is actually major theme four uh if you're keeping count not three um so one thing that's come up uh kind of repeatedly and this and this really has
come largely from staff um less so from parents and community members uh less so from students but but but largely largely from staff um they have mentioned in a number of different settings and and conversations feeling a little bit what I would say rudderless
uh in the Years following the covid closure I think that's really important um and it's really not something to take lightly because um as as as a a district to me that means that we need to spend maybe some time
identifying where where we want to go um because if we are if we are not um if we don't have that goal in mind and we don't have that outcome kind of at the front of what we're doing then we it's really hard to design strategy to get there it's really hard
to make decisions about where we're going to go if if there's a feeling uh of we where we don't know where we're going um so that's I think I anticipate that that playing a major role in our next um our
next strategic plan as we build that and as I said excuse me this this came from um conversations with with staff and this is at the elementary level at the secondary level um across subject areas uh and it really seems to be pretty
common theme um and and in talking with folks about where where you know why they why they think this this may be the case a couple of common things have come up um one has been kind of multiple initiatives you know what are you know what
are what are we doing um are there too many things going on at the same time where we're trying to you know we're not going as deep as we should into one thing and we're maybe trying to do too many things at the same time um there seems to have been again this is an impression that that there's a heavy
focus on special ed needs and compliance um as a focus point a big uh and the last two items here are have been they came up the most I would say of any uh staff turnover um among among teaching
staff and then also administrative turnover um my second year in the district um I quickly became the uh most senior administrator in the district um in my in my second year which I mean
that that that takes a lot of turnover a lot of turnover to get there um and so you know having stable Administration having stable Staffing um you know I think that will help but again I think we need to spend some time as a as a
district uh re reidentifying where we're where we're headed and where we need where how we're going to get there questions about this one my favorite quote on this point is if you don't know where you're going any road will do yes
that's a good one they don't they don't all go the same place another major theme um again we're off a number here so this is actually five um that that we've seen and uh this is a financial theme is uh an increase
we we've seen increases kind of across the board in a lot of our fixed costs um the special increase special edit increases in recent years have ballooned and we are not alone in this in any sense the word this is um
playing out across the State playing out across the country where special ID increase special ed increases are um just kind of through the roof so this this slide um was actually taken uh thank you Chrissy for putting this together uh from our from our budget
presentation that we recently did to the select board where you can see in the yellow um those are the year-to-year kind of increases uh in in special ed so since 2022 those have grown and grown and grown um despite us having actually
fewer students who are on I APS um since that time so the services um may have increased but the the cost associated with those Services has has significantly increased as well questions here we'll talk more about this next
month absolutely yeah uh and then major the next major theme um is declining enrollment this is no surprise to anyone this is uh taken from our Desi data going back from the
to the 2021 school year um and we see we see it uh decline significantly I will say in this section here we did have a a pretty big graduating class from Smith Academy um but we've seen that we've seen that decline continue to go down although
slow um so we are we're we're poised hopefully to turn the corner this year and bring bring that enrollment back up um we' like to get back certainly back closer to the the 400 number I want to say it's if we had two
preschools this year we would be flat it's like the difference right one versus two preschools makes a big difference yeah I mean when you're talking 400 students you know doesn't take a lot a few students is
makes it does make a big difference okay so those are the the the major themes um as we're as we're talking again those are can can we pause for just a second and talk while declining enrollment is not fun to talk about I just want to be
clear did in your listening tour did you get a sense of why I mean part of that is just population but it's not all population I mean there's just fewer kids to come to
school that's yeah so demographic demographics we have fewer kids who are of school age in the region in the town um in this area um so that that's part of it um and the other part of it is I kind of alluded to earlier um there were
a few major uh themes that came up over and over during the convers one was Sports um just not having uh the same offerings for sports at the secondary level um when you you know when when you
have a school population of 130 140 students you just simply can't field the same number of teams as as a larger school can uh we have taken steps to kind of address that uh in what we're able to offer especially with co-ops um
we are actually bringing uh students in this year for baseball and softball to co up with us because they couldn't field teams at their school either um and we've we've a we've been able uh I think because we're so small to be able um we've been able to to partner with other schools where
we say hey we know we know Connor really likes to play hockey or volleyball um but we don't we're not going to field a team so we're able to to work with other schools to develop co-ops where they can play uh at a varsity level with them um
I another theme that I mentioned earlier has been um sort of the the offerings the extracurriculars as well as the um elective courses specifically around AP courses and um and folks have been surprised to find out that we in fact do
offer quite a few of them uh and we have also taken more steps to develop our dual enrollment programs uh specifically around concurrent enrollment with uh Vermont State University which will be rolling out next year and there seems to be a lot of excitement around for that um um you know the being having students
able to graduate with a semester of college under their belt um parents at least have been very excit very excited about the impact that they may that may have on them um in the last big piece that came out and this is a less tangible um less
tangible piece is folks just wanting a larger School environment um and that's something that we we really can't compete with um you know I I think there are a lot of benefits to having a small
school having a having small schools having small classes having a small community it's tight-knit um folks know each other they can support each other it's virtually impossible for someone to be a cracks slipper when they you know when they have that much attention on
them um but there also are uh there are some challenges Associated when you have when you have a small community and for some people um those challenges have been uh have manifested in ways that make
them look elsewhere um and so we we've seen that too so those are really the three major things that have come up um and so so as we get into the next steps here um I want to make it clear that this um that I'm not prescribing what we're
going to do next some of these things are already kind of in the works um because as I mentioned this isn't you know this isn't just this year that we've been we've been doing this um but but really the the big next step is going to be the last slide is about developing this strategic plan in terms
of ela curriculum review um in in health and PE as well um to a slightly lesser extent just because health and PE are not quite as broad you have fewer people teaching health and PE um we have developed an Ela curriculum we've
identified three separate uh curricula that folks want to take a look at on that committee and we've reached out to those companies to see if they can come do a demonstration if we can get some materials to take a look at um so so the goal then will be for that committee to
identify what specifically are our needs um for an Ela curriculum and where where our current program and and current resources may be falling short um and then to look at these resources to see if they could either fill those gaps or
um kind of kind of wholly replace what what we have uh in a way that would be more cohesive um so that work is starting now is that K through 12 that is right now it's K through 8 okay yep and the timeline for that so we're
hoping this month to have um to have those those resources reviewed by teachers and then at that point we'll take a look at if there's a you know if there's a a heavy recommendation of hey everyone on this committee really wants to wants to use this or try this we may
make a recommendation there typically what happens um in in something like this is that you may have some people with slightly differing opinions so we might look to Pilot um in certain areas we might like to Pilot one or two to see how people like it um but again that's
that's a process that we'll have to go through with with the committee to um you know the the really the the worst thing that you can do from what I've seen is um to you know have have one meeting and you know have
a couple salese come and say you know here's here are all the great things that we can do with this curriculum and make a decision okay we're all going to do this next year U without going through the you know really vetting vetting the materials in a way that makes sense for us and utilizes them uh
with within our classes with our resources and our population um so I think to do it right it you know it may be that the committee has a uh recommendation for next year um more likely I think and again this this is
going to depend largely on the commune more likely I I think we'll have um we'll have a chance to to to try some of these materials out is the committee giving input to PDS that would go with new curriculum they would yeah okay y
yeah and and typically if you have a new curriculum um there there there are two kinds of PD that come with it so there's the sort of the nuts and bolts PD about hey here's how you log in here's how you access the materials here's how you find it here's how your um you know your
students are inventory and their data is stored and how you can how you can um you know how you can take that data and and turn it into um goals for a lesson and then there's the pedagogical um instructional PD that goes with it
hey here's the philosophy behind why we choose these words you know here's here's why we organize things the way that we do and here's here are teaching strategies that can go along with with that um so we would expect if we made a decision about Ela curriculum um to have
both those components as part of the PD other questions um so so this this theme goes back to again um uh well it goes back to a couple a couple of the things so so one of them is is declining enrollment the other is
um showcasing what we can do to keep that public support up um as well as as to kind of fight some of those misnomers that that exist around um not offering as much in in uh sustainability those people um so part of that is to develop a new
Pathways uh new relationships with duel enrollment um universities um to Showcase what's happening in the classes and what we're what we're able to offer um and uh not just to the students but also to the the parents and families in
the community as well um this one has to do with kind of reestablishing that Northstar uh so this is this this could be quite a quite a longer process but um taking
some time to uh maybe revision um where where we are and where we're headed um and you know and as we develop our strategic plan to ensure that that those pieces you know the where we want to go and uh what our goals are are Central to
those decisions that we make um sort of you know this this comes teachers know backward design um about starting with a goal in mind and then building around that this is similar to that you know where do we want our students who do we want our students to be and where do we want them to be when they graduate in 12th grade how does that trick all the
way down to preschool um and and how does that build throughout throughout the years um looking at special ed costs and resources um this is this is one of those things that we we don't have a lot of control quite frankly about where how
those how those costs Rise um there are some pieces that we can you know we can can work on through advocacy uh you know there are a couple bills in the state house right now um or ideas that may hopefully turn into bills in the state house right now that can help address
this um as they hopefully revise the funding formulas as they uh you know all all those pieces can can play a role in that um so that's one thing we can do and then we can also look at uh where our priorities as a district are um and and what that necess what that means for
um for Staffing for programming in uh programming so for for any decisions that we make um we can you know we those are what we do have control over uh in enrollment our next step is to get more kids um so we're continuing
to look at ways where we there are two pieces here we've talked about this a lot over the last couple years um retaining current students so trying to to get them before they leave and uh remind them why everything is wonderful
uh where where we are and then also to recruit new students um we've taken steps to do both of those things um and I I think that we are in a place where we're starting to see those those results um coming in um in related to that is is we have this
element of student support invoice so this comes back again to the uh the strong sense of student belonging that that exists here um so really looking at our seal plan that we've been developing continuing to implement that which
supports student belonging student voice um and then using using now that we have that you know that that that Foundation of of of really kids feeling good in school I mean that's what it comes down to when we have we have those you know
we have kids that feel good in school using that to say okay great how you know what where where do you want to go where do you see yourselves and how can we support how can we support that um so we we've solicited that input we've used
that input to develop new um new coursework at Smith Academy um to implement genius hour at the elementaries Elementary School uh to to do some of those things which you know you you talk about like a a feedback loop and it turns into that you know the
more the more students feel good and the more more ownership and uh more autonomy they have and then the better they feel and so just you know that's that's the kind of feedback loop we like what we want to we want to continue that um and
so here we have a couple pictures of some of the things that have been effective in doing that um and then our last slide here is is about what the real next step is so um those those elements that I I mentioned before again those those are
probably pieces that will come out in our strategic plan um related to those major themes um but the the true goal of an of an entry report which is is what this is some of those findings is to help sort of create a a foundation or a springboard for the strategic planning
process so um again that's not us in a room that's not not us in a room that that involves stakeholders from you know across the across the community in the schools to really um help identify where what our priority priority areas are uh
how we get there and then you know turn that into into school Improvement plans at each building as well um which which align and can help sort of chart us over the next next few years so we're making making sure that the district Improvement plan happens
before the school Improvement plans yes which was not the case before if you recall nope like waiting for Desi all right questions and I know it was pretty Broad and really it it should be um because
this this isn't this isn't looking at the specifics of what we're going to do this is kind of identifying the the broad Strokes of okay where where are we right now um so we can we can identify where we're going PLS from the committee
feedback I think folks are digesting sure yes I think it was nicely done thank you you had an audience yeah and then you didn't right it's okay yeah it's a lot of information to digest and I mean
what all what you have spoken of is things we've talked about and know so obviously it aligns with what we know and what we have experienced and also where we would like it's District so at
least we're in alignment in that yeah I I think the piece that is in here uh it's not it's there but it's not labeled and I I kind of wonder if we want to in future time have some conversations is about culture and being
deliberate because I think culture really ties into the Northstar element it ties into to students feeling like they belong um I have a friend that likes to say culture eats strategies lunch it's just like if you don't have the culture right
there is no strategy that will be successful um and I I feel like that's where our district is pivoting in really good ways um but being mindful to that and cultivating that with intention um I
think we would see a lot of fruit in that yield I guess so I would I wouldn't be um hesitant to look at that and name it sure um because I think it's a big piece of all of those
things yeah I agree not only with that with our students but with our community you had mentioned this that there was a a lot of misinformation out there and I think if we were closer and we had more
events that included the community maybe we would have more chances of having better communication and better good information out there yeah to our community I mean I think it's individual School cultures right because and that's
about staff retention and how kids feel and it and it carries out into that Community yeah um which you know could mean more people at a sporting event which to your point the more people that are around and involved it's harder to
let that it's harder for people to be misinformed when they're there not impossible but harder harder so that's great um and what's what's your thought on timing for strategic planning and and
how that takes shape well it's already March um and so so I think that you know um soon you know we're going to start that process um I ideally I would like
to go into the into the summer months um even before this summer once with with sort of a core um a core strategic plan for the district so that we can sort of develop that in the fall our school Improvement plans over the summer and fall could we see an outline for the
plan in just terms of like who's involved when that's happening mapped out at the next meeting it's a followup Point yep it won't be an outline of what the plan is going to be it's an outline for how we're going to get to the plan a
plan for the plan for the plan got it yeah so it's yeah who's involved how many meetings are you looking for General deliverables out of sort of Step by Step just so that it gets scheduled and for anything that the committee is
involved with we kind of know it schedule it now in advance right um three years ago we did it in the summer but if we know where that's going to fall we can coordinate and the district wasn't driving that and so we
kind of the committee kind of picked that up correct but it didn't allow for more input into the process yeah and I think having it if we're able to to do some of the work um and and not every single person has to be necessarily at
every single meeting that that we do for this um some might be more focused on the elementary level some might be more focused on on Administration um but to have a mechanism for input from all stakeholders ERS I think is really important um you know if for nothing
else so that there's some some ownership built into the into the plan via the process of developing the plan for sure yeah I do think that we are in a way different place than we were three years ago so I'm really excited to see how the
strategic planning goes this is a very different strategic plan this time and I'm happy about it um I also just wanted to add uh this actually talking about like you know being more um sort of
involved more cohesive with the town at large this is actually something that came up a lot in the comprehensive planning meetings um for the town and is part of the Town strategic plan um for the next you know 10 years and um so I
think actually involving the comprehensive planning process in this will be great so yeah I think that's that's perfect yeah and the town is like currently in the process of you know doing those
implementation meetings so actually I think this aligns really nicely and we should make sure to include that absolutely Administration other administrators this is very pertinent to your worlds do you guys have thoughts to share observations no like I said we
this is these these are conversations that we have been having I mean a lot of feedback around when we start having conversations around mcast is this notion that it doesn't feel like we have a path that everyone's following when it comes to ELA like you said hegerty
foundations I mean people are on board with certain aspects of phonics and phonemic awareness but as far as like an actual scope and sequence and things that people can follow like the math program they currently can do our staff are saying we need it
so the scores agree yes okay thank you I appreciate you pulling this up um to this month I think that's really helpful to see it earlier than
later well thank you and with that we're going to move on to administrative reports I'm a little I'm just going to be mindful of the time this evening because we do have um a few votes tonight and we have an executive session
at the end of our evening um some of these administrative reports are going to show up in other conversations is there anything let's start with this is there anything that Administration wants to highlight that are coming out of their
reports I I'll do one from the district level first just quickly um there there's a bit in here that I know you've all read but um I'd like to highlight our school choice efforts right now um um and this information I wrote last week and or I updated last week and it's
changed since then um we have uh we have I think we have we're up to 16 confirmed AC acceptances for next year um we have uh I think 30 new new
acceptances new acceptances for next year so new students who have who have confirmed yes I I accept my school choice slot that I got in the letter just wanted to say that right out loud new and that's not preschool right that's just Choice students because they're not Choice kindgarten
kindergarten and did those come within the two week window or some of them did um do you think that that time frame helped us I do think it definitely helped us um a a number of them came in when the Tek window was up and we called them and said hey just wanted to check
in with you about what's going on what your plans are because we're you know um and so so we have we have those confirmed we have I think we're up to 31 applications now um for next year and that doesn't include anything that has come through from our
um advertising campaign which we kicked off so we have what we get from that um the landing page that that our our company brings people to asks them to fill out information it comes to us and then we reach out to them directly we had 15 no uh 16 as of this afternoon
additional uh leads that's the the term that they use that have come through um through that process so we're in the process of reaching out to those families scheduling tours uh answering any questions that they have and pointing them direction of the application as well um and that's all
that that campaign has only been going on for like two weeks at this point uh I I think we're just starting our third week right now so that's been been positive too so how long does that campaign go with this company okay yeah
so we're excited about that that's like to see those numbers that's great absolutely I saw hand go up actually since I originally wrote the report a couple things uh I do have copies of the the draft version of the special a
procedural manual and I'd be happy to pass those out to folks awesome you've never seen a happier crowd to get a procedure a manual [Music] look at this here so can we just save on for
Adam yeah so we're not gonna try and read this to know in the meeting but okay hold on to Adams and the only other thing I want to mention really about the TFM report was was since I
wrote this we did get kind of a final draft but the final draft is not a complete report it says 21 of 27 pages so the last six conclusion pages and recommendations are actually missing from that but it does cover the four
points that I actually listed in the report so when do you know if you um get away on CPAC actually I have not heard anything back from them yet um we did actually
contract with the Federation for children to supply three trainings that'll be this coming month and the month after that'll meet our alternative requirement for the year because we don't have an active CPAC in town so that will probably be considered as part
of our waiver but we have not getting a response back from them yet and anything you're losing sleep about in this um only things that I don't have direct control over people getting certifications on their own uh that's
something that we've talked to all three staff members about uh to make sure that they're aware of what what's needed from from them but that's something I don't have direct control over do they have a deadline for in
which they deadine yeah anything yeah anything in the TFM they give us a year from the time we receive our final report okay so we haven't actually started that begin day yet but we'll have a year to correct everything that's on there and those teachers are actively
working to to get certifications well and their deadline's not a year I'm guessing we I mean we'd like we'd like it to be done by the end of this year okay yeah Miss Petra only thing I want to highlight is that you we worked with
local and state police on a reunification training which we've done in the past and one of the things that you know when we're doing the this training um is about having this this notion of having GO bags in every classroom so every classroom space um
should have something in which in the event that we needed to suddenly leave that space whether it's because we're going to um the cafeteria um where because parents are going to be picking up kids there we're going to the church or to Smith Academy it's really about grabbing this and having certain items
that the state police field should be in it um allergy list parent contact information decks of cards or something else to keep kids occupied flashlights B some basic um first aid things um and we have been talking about wanting to get
these bags together and have not done so but we have now ordered all of them so they will all be ready to do to be handed out um to staff as soon as we get them put together wonderful awesome for anyone that might be watching um could
you maybe describe what the reunification is yes absolutely so in the event of there was some kind of weather situation or Reason uh there was a gas leak um some reason why uh we needed to have parents pick up students either at an alternate place or an
alternate location in our school there is a certain procedure in and situation in which we would ask parents to show ID um to to let us know who has contact there's a certain Paper Trail there's certain teachers assigned to go like
retrieve the student so we have a whole list of things that we would be following steps and procedures to ensure that kids who need to get picked up by the adult that's supposed to does get picked up and then we have a paper trail so if someone were to show up and be like hey I'm still missing my kid we can
be like what's the name that this person picked them up at this time so all of these forms are provided to us by the state police they have been using these for years um and we have all of them ready to go it's just a matter of putting them in one location and bringing them on site wherever that
happens to be whether it's someplace else in our building or whether it's off campus is there a parent side of this education so in the event there was something would they know they needed to have an ID for example because they
wouldn't normally or where they would pick up in the case of an emergency you know that's actually something we should think about adding to our hand handbooks because ultimately in the case of a situation an emergency situation first and foremost family should wait until we
contact them they shouldn't just suddenly arrive and mass because what that does is it actually impedes our fire our police and our ambulance to get to the school if suddenly parents are showing up at a designated spot where that could restrict people to get help
um but yes being able to ensure that people have updated their parent contact information arrive with a picture ID because all of those are going to be important that they have on them when it comes time for picking up their child a number of years ago we did a drill yes
um and I believe the for the elementary school to pick up location was the Congregational Church Main Street and I don't think one's been done since then that had to be five six years ago
or more um do you have plans to perhaps do that kind of drill at regular dismissal time CU I remember the buses were out on the street for the the kids who normally go on the bus um but the parents had to park along Main Street
and and come up they were the kids were separated into different grade levels I think so parents had to go to those locations to get their kids but like you said there was a lot of parent education that needed to happen for them
to follow what the drill was about and know what was expected of them I have a high degree of faith in the school side of this yes and it could all go terribly arai with the rest of us nothing's worse than panicking thinking that something's
happened to your child you need to get to them immediately because that is the norm absolutely and I'm I'm betting that the robo calls and texts are part of the plan because that would be the other absolutely first yeah and they've cautioned us to to um not share too much information so
my question to them because we did we did the training too is oh you know should I let parents know what the primary secondary and tertiary sites are for they said absolutely not said don't do that because um if you know the goal is to have it orderly and if if if you
have everyone knowing what the secondary pickup site is um you don't want you don't want all parents and Guardians beating the students and the staff and and the buses that might transport them to that location because then you know
you're going to be walking students possibly pass their parents into a into a building to have a a controlled release and the whole the whole point of doing this is to have a controlled release where you can you can really facilitate the process and you can you
can um ensure that that that every student is going with someone that they should be going with um and so so they you know they they do recommend having trainings where we have uh like you said maybe on a half day um students getting
picked up but you know parents who are picking their students up going through this process so they they learn about it um but not necessarily sharing all of the information contained in those emergency plans but sharing here's how you would hear where to go might be kind
of ke yep and please don't go right where you're not supposed don't head to the school don't head over here just stay where yeah you'll be directed wait until the time and great committee is there anything in the reports you want to pull
out okay um so I'm going to fill in very briefly thank you all thank you nice to see you um very quickly School Finance subcommittee the budget process continues you have stuff in your hand
out um next month will be our big budget hearing and we will go through everything in depth so um we'll leave it at that unless you have questions um the presentation that
you gave to the select board in fincom is that available to all of us yet or that's going to be you're going to get it personally um because we we haven't heard anything back um from that meeting
is obviously they're still going through their their process um but we'll go through all of that I'm H you it's also available if you want to go online in line and watch it but it's essentially the presentation we'll give next month
as part of the budget hearing and the presentation to them went well I think so good yeah so no one suggested that we should ask for less or to not continue to ask
so that was a good deal um I guess the one little piece I will bring out because it wasn't so much specific to the budget but I think people have been wondering um the financial impact from National changes that may or may not happen um and so
just as a understanding you know obviously there there is some national funding to pretty much all schools I can't I can't imagine a school that would qualify for nothing um on average in Massachusetts District see about 10%
of their budget coming from federal funding uh Hatfield's budget is just shy of 2% is federally funded so while there's nothing to say that we would lose that for next year um even
when departments close that funding might come from somewhere else uh but if it were all to go away that's the scope of that budget loss to us which may be the first time in in
history that Hatfield will have benefited from the formulas that that that provide that funding indeed yeah it's our Silver Lining and and I use benefited very very very
Loosely not it should be like that's there's no benefit to fun L and we're we're paying close attention to see what happens with school lunch um because USDA obviously funds so much of what the
state provides so obviously the state's commitment to free lunches may be changing but there's no word yet hopefully not hopefully not it it wasn't in the cherry sheet so there was a short
fall in the cherry sheet so but again how that is determined if it's short how that works we don't know yet um so more to come maybe we will know by next month and with that I'm going to turn it
over to the policy subcommittee but I'm going to note that I think we're we're looking at some stuff tonight very much on the front end of this so there's some things that we needed to take a look at um to keep the
wheels of Commerce going but the policy subcommittee I don't think you guys have fully reviewed all of this so we're you're seeing it with us just is that accurate I would go ahead I would just want to ask Connor before we fully get
into it the thing for the handbook we really don't need to vote on that tonight you just want it in the handbook for this coming fall correct right so we could hold off on that vote until we could hold off in the hand handbook vote
Yes we should update the policy there should be a compensated determination um in the graduation requirements policy uh and that that has been asked for by by the state because we not that long ago did
update ikf graduation requirements however it was like right when you know we removed some wording about the mcast um but now we need to add in additional information about how in the
the absence of M mcast as a metric our own metric so it's silly I will I will be the the one to say it um the our graduation requirements that we already have had they fulfill beyond what is
required by the state for a competency determination and we still have to have a competency determination um in there according to the guidance that we've got from desie and and and legal um so
previously it was the mcast that was the competency determination if a student passed mcast in the 10th grade they were in science in the nth grade they were good to go the state and the the state would give their stamp of approval to graduate and then they would just have to satisfy by the the graduation requirements afterwards now that mcass
is gone we have to say our commity determination is X Y and Z for classes so typically the way that's been done and the way that that it is um that that it exists here is passing the 10th grade
level courses so English and math in the 10th grade um which if they can pass those they should be able to pass the 10th they should have been able to pass the 10th grade mcast which was the the CD for for that um so so we have to have our own compy
determination and after that gradu we also have to have graduation requirements which are beyond the the competency determination so it's redundant um it's kind of silly that we have to do it I and it's just it
really uh it feels like it's just kind of the state saying oh well now that mcast is gone you still still need to show that your students have reached a level of Competency you know to be able to graduate even though our students will you know have to have passed all
the the courses up through um and met the mass core requirements to graduate which are far beyond what the previous CD was which truthfully makes this more confusing it does yeah it it's um we
have to essentially what it means is we have to show that our Stu are students who are graduating in the 12th grade who have shown a higher level of Competency because they have met the mass core
requirements and our graduation requirements have also met a lower standard in the 10th grade on their way to becoming 12th graders and yeah can you clarify for me um how okay so like previously the mcast was
given in the 10th grade as you said say a student passed the mclass mcast you're like great stamp of approval and then you go on and you finish with these competency determinations that are also at the 10th grade level do we need to produce
information to the state about this or we just have to have it in our policies we need to certify it to say that these students have met the competency determination we have to send that somewhere I believe we will um it I'm just trying to understand the process this is still two years out because of
all all of our current seniors and current Juniors so already passed the compos determination that existed um so so we will probably have to send it to this to the state that says yep these students have passed it or you know this student didn't pass English 10 but is
enrolled in a credit recovery course and and once once that student passes that will have have met that com so for this year this is relevant to the current sophomores correct so if I understand this we're
saying to graduate you have to have 20 credits in English which must include a passing grade in English n and 10 to show competency like to show competency yes but our students have to take four years of English so they have
to get take up through english four well so that's we say they have to have 20 credits in English yeah can you get credit for the same class more than once no
okay do you get credits if you fail the course no do you get credits if you have more less than a 65% no that's failing the course it seems like there might be some clearer ways to organize the information
on the page Y for the standpoint of meeting the state requirements when does this policy need to be approved uh I ideally as soon as possible but we could we could push it out a
month so could this be our first reading we can wave a second reading and vote next month this and for what it's worth I fully anticipate this kind of hearkening back to the covid era when have an update well they told told districts to figure it out and develop
the policies all on their own and as soon as districts did they say they came back and said well this is actually what we want you to have so I feel like that would be easier honestly like they obviously are looking for a specific wording and they're not gonna find it so have this
but in not in in the interm this is where we are and I just want to make sure um and and we are not the only 's in this boat this has been like a hot topic on the superintendent's list serve like hey what are you what's everyone doing the chat is up in the language
that we I see some tables yeah the language that we have in here is pretty much the most common language that that is is exist I have a few things to say one yeah maybe it's not my perfect style or organization but in the interest of
just getting something on the books and then waiting for desie personally I'm fine with it two the mcast requirements previously were English and math and science in the nth grade science yeah right in 9th Grade
science is there a reason we have to include like history and other like can we just make this as simple as possible so like as yes just like the because we're already GNA hold them to a higher standard for
graduation so for this competency thing Advocate to just make it like as Absolut Bare Bones as we need yep yeah we could do that so we could eliminate uh chemistry and and history from there I'm fine with
it understanding that those would still be required courses for our graduation graduation elsewhere though that is said for showing compeny a smile from the state there there's part of me that sort of
feels like this needs to be separate in a little box it's shaded so that it is not confusing yeah to think that you can just do this and move along the path no I totally it's get updated I agree but I feel like it's just going to be updated
so I don't want to are you looking to given that do we want to change course and approve something for the sake of just calling it done or do does the policy committee want to spend more time on this I don't have a strong preference either I don't
either I mean I'd say let's come back in April with it with one and perhaps they'll have sh and maybe by then maybe we'll know okay all right if April won't be too late then that's fine with me yeah well the you know I don't think it
will be because again this is for this isn't for our current seniors who are graduating they've already these sophomores and whatever desie decides to do eventually okay um meal charge policy Dr Driscoll
yeah um so this came out so in addition to the tiered Focus monitoring process that we've been going through um our food Serv there a separate kind of similar audit has been happening with our food service requirements and so the meal charge policy uh we were told that
uh basically that it needs to change um so a couple things to to highlight here um oh I meant to I guess that didn't say so so the first thing is this uh free meal programs for massachusett students
um so basically we wanted to put something in here that said uh as of now school lunches and breakfast are free for Massachusetts students um in the event that that changes then the meal
charge policy below starting at meal charges and balances would be in effect um the other piece that I'm realizing that that I thought I had had struck out and I don't know if it's just really faded but it doesn't look that way um is that uh under where it says on the back
delinquent accounts and collections we cannot uh it's now against um I believe against the law to hold um participation in extracurricular activities as well as graduation um we can't hold we can't
hold a student back from accessing those parts of their education because of delinquent accounts um so we need to take um can I just strike that paragraph that paragraph out correct I'm on
it so what are the collection procedures we I mean we just let them know that they have ask them y really that's which is like because it says the superintendent shall ensure that there are appropriate and effective collection procedure so um while you're striking
things yes I'm I'm on it would there be any appetite for striking out so in the very last paragraph uh that the district will provide regular meals to students it says who occasionally forget their money or have a balance below zero can we just at a minimum get rid of
occasionally so the district will provide meals to stud students who forget their money or have a balance below zero I just don't like the sound that there might be some reason we wouldn't because it's regularly happening we're just going to stop feeding children I have a problem agree
thank you um but then the next sentence says if a student is without meal money on a consistent basis well does it mean we aren't feeding them at that point it just means the administration can investigate the situation needs and
truly that that might be a place where we talk to family say oh well uh we we didn't realize that we we could fill out these free and reduce lunch forms or we and and we could you know help them through that process yeah I think at the point that it triggers us to help them
respectfully was um maybe this is only me but the very top of the policy starts with the school committee is committed feels like it should be hat feel Public Schools is committed it's not the of us it's the
district collectively with us perhaps for guys um and the fact of the there's a line in the middle of that paragraph that says the Food Services is self-supporting entity within the district is not
completely accurate I'm sorry I lost it says however unpaid meal charges place a large financial burden on the school district yeah can we just delete this [Music] sentence sorry didn't mean to cut you off I'm fine with the whole deletion but
the second half of it is inaccurate I mean it I also don't really want to lead with like coming at families for forgetting their lunch money in the first paragraph would concur
I think I had one last note while add it um in payments it talks about notices of low or deficit balances will be sent directly to the parent Guardian it says via email or regular postal mail I would very much like to make that email and
regular postal mail sure if if that is something that food service can live up to because the amount of mail that is not getting home what have we been
doing for parents and Guardians are we just sticking withans I think we were just doing Guardians I was just gonna edit that here and then there's another parents uh it's right above refunds yeah I'm changing them should
have just done a find place but it's okay in handbooks discuss online payment options and stuff like that the policy doesn't need to okay so many mhm actually more than I thought I
should have just done it the other way policy team do you guys feel like this is going to be sufficient or do you want to have it come is it possible to bring it back in April in the same sure if and this way you've had committee
input and edits I love this just highly um efficient so we'll bring it back in April sure um do you want to speak to the accommodating disabilities sure this was
uh one that came directly from that audit of the Food Service policies that and uh procedures that we had um and basically they have requested that we include this uh I believe this is a new policy um in our kind of in the same
section is the anti-discrimination policy um making sure that we have uh provision for accommodating disabilities in school meal programs so um for students who might have you know either severe allergies or dietary restrictions
that um that we would would make sure that there are Provisions in place to support them and this this is really boiler plate language that came um came to us it probably has some cleanup required
so form just reading it says Cambridge food and nutrition yeah there are there are a few things here that just don't sound like our district policy at a minimum so let's bring that back in April do that work with you guys
sure okay um so school choice seats um with the additional interest we we wanted to take a look and hear from Dr Driscoll about um obviously we had to vote through a number of open
seats so that we could allow for the February 14th Lottery system as needed and uh we have an update to that sure um So currently we have uh two grade levels where we are uh either over
or at capacity um based on what we had voted through before and think that we are will could be in a place to expand a little bit so the first is um second grade uh second grade we had um just to clarify that's next year's second grade
next year second grade okay so we had voted on one slot and we had three applicants so we have currently two students on the waiting list um who have applied for school choice for second grade um and and miss pet I'll you can
speak to if you think that grade level could accommodate um I'm pull that up right now um sorry I have my you said here that there's currently 22 students I don't my my notes show that the current size of
that class is 31 at 19 locals and 12 Choice students but that doesn't mean that every the current first grade y so that would put each classroom next year potentially at
having 30 well if you add two more it'll be 34 totals if no one moves right correct which I believe like 17 students in each class so um I feel like that's
reasonable I think so to I would say even yep desirable yep yes okay so let's let's hear about the second one because we might just do one vote um um so the second second one is seventh grade so we have accepted and um
I believe we voted the incoming seventh grade incoming seventh grade yeah we had voted in seven open spots yep um and I believe we have had that many applicants and we have now uh have more interest in that um so I would I would advocate for
um expanding that to 14 so doubling the number of slots we opened for two reasons the first is that it would it would allow more students who have applied to get it without us coming back and and doing this again um and the second is that I I have heard of there's
potentially a few students who may be thinking of leaving in that grade unfortunately and so um what we discovered last year when we tried to do it is we can't set it based on the number of students that we that we want in the grade that we have to set a certain number so that would allow some
some wiggle wiggle room there as well um and we've been reaching out to those um you know those families as well to talk talk with them about about that decision but um but yeah I would Advocate doubling that number so opening 14 spots there so like an additional
seven and what's the number of we want to T if there was one slot before for second grade what's the to have how many more do four slots three more three three total so that would allow us to get
through all the students on onight wait you're saying three total but we opened one so are you saying two more or three additional yes I just want to be clear on how many that'll make it yeah and do you
think with this new camp pain and push that there might be more interest in that grade or in right like is it worth opening four that's a question we could because then may be two each right for because
there is gonna be two next year so yeah I mean if we open four that leaves a little room that if we get more if we get more than four then sure we'll come back and vote again but we're already at three so that's yeah we already have three and that leaves an opening y
okay so I'm looking for a motion to add an additional Seven slots to the seventh grade and additional three slots to the second grade for next year so
moved any other conversation and he needs a second go Middle School is there a second for that nomination thank you Aman all in favor I I any
opposed okay so you got that wonderful it's nice seeing the numbers going back up into the 30s in some of these classes yep agree want some graders to it's a low
number right it's a hard grade to start over and I understand why yep we do have an incoming senior next year someone we know is moving into town nice which is great and and I think we've had I think
we're up to two applicants for 11th grade too go Juniors okay um so a few years back the policy team did a lovely job figuring out how we would dispose of surplus items and
tonight we get to see it come to ction so speak to us about ewaste please uh so we have been stock filing ewaste in the Smith Academy computer lab now for a number of years um and we need to get it
out of there so we can use the space like it should be used um So currently it's you know we have old computers that are um we have everything on that list nothing on that list that you have is usable um we had the the one benefit that we
had was was one student who really liked to take things apart um and he got to like Tinker with uh computer like motherboards and things like that it was it was really cool um but none of it's usable um all of it's taking up space uh
and we would like to get rid of it okay and where is it going what is happening to uh twinlakes will be disposing of it with throughout through the proper you know they'll go through the recycling channels everything
yeah and is there a cost to that or we just they get to take it and go do whatever I think a lot of it is able to get recycled um in certain ways and and but I don't know if there's a I don't know if there would be a fee to to any
of it but um they would be they would be the ones that could do it the cheapest of of anyone um you know we would truthfully we would if we didn't have them we would contract with a company like them to to do it
okay simply because we have that volume it's part of our contract with them that they take care of this yeah they I mean there may be if they if there's fees associated with disposing it that that may come to us but are they going to
bill us is that what it is like for yeah if they but if you send them a list of what we have they that put this list okay would they give you like an approximation price they haven't yet um which leads me to believe that it won't
be significant because they have been very good about saying you know and truthfully they might just they might just be able to take it okay um is there a motion I'll make a motion
to dispose of the Surplus items as presented I second it any other conversation all in favor I I okay enjoy your
disposal wonderful to have that back and so um I'm looking uh to entertain a motion to go into executive session with no intent to return pursuant to master Law chapter 38 section 21A to discuss strategy with respect to Collective
barting so move um and this will be a second and then a roll call sure thank you Becca bu I Engle heart ey bench ey green ey thank you much thank you John than you very much Vision looks it's
impressive