Good evening, Hollist, and welcome to the May 14th meeting of the Hollist School Committee. Um, call things to order, and we will get started with the uh consent agenda. At this time, I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.
>> I'm so sorry. >> Oh, sure. Sorry. >> Um, I entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. So, move second. >> All in favor? Okay, that passes. Um, we're going to
start with report from student representatives. >> Hello. So, two weeks ago, the new 370 put on four talent shows with Alice in Wonderland. The actors and activists sang and danced and audience could tell.
This Saturday evening, there will be an open mic night benefiting the Matthew Shepard Foundation at Rushford and Suns um in the middle of town. And some members of the high school um will be performing and helping with that fundraiser. >> Many sports have been holding their senior nights [cough] with both
[clears throat] boys and girls lacrosse and boys and girls baseball and softball the last couple of weeks. On April 28th, Medway High School hosted the 12th annual five town school day special Olympics games and about 100 students and about 10 from Hollston with
intellectual disabilities competed to showcase their athletic skills. In the most updated power rankings, both lacrosse for boys is sitting, boys lacrosse, sorry, is sitting in 21st for division 3 and girls tennis is in 16th. And there are two teams to look out for
as playoffs near both boys and girls field track and field teams will be traveling to Newton on Tuesday to compete in the Tri Valley League Championships. And then finally for sports, on the boys side, track and field, the distance medley relay school record was recently broken at the state relay meet and that record has stood for
37 years. >> AP exams have been taking place last week and this week. There's one more day of testing tomorrow. And the junior senior prom is tomorrow at Lake Pearl in Rethm. And everyone is very excited to have a great time.
Last Friday, a club fair at the middle school was held and high school clubs were able to gain interest from eighth graders and hopefully spark some interest in them that they had not been considering prior. Art saves lives is currently happening in the high school. Um, and freshman through seniors have their respective mediums on display and
the intentions are also playing in the cafeteria as well. on Monday. And here the global citizens final portfolio presentations are taking place. And finally, National Honor Society is induction induction is happening this coming Tuesday and 57 new members are
being inducted into the Hollist Aristos chapter. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um school committee individual comments. So Frank, >> yes, I I was not able to make art save lives for much time, but I hope everyone enjoy it. Looks great out there. So
congratulations. It's a great great event. Um, also be remiss to say this is our last meeting as a committee before we I guess reorganize because elections well elections are on Tuesday. So um specifically wanted to thank Sarah um as
chair. You brought poise uh and respect to this committee. Um you've tackled many things this year that were tremendously difficult um and you did so without really blinking an eye. um and and brought us through it. Um and I I truly believe in a much more positive uh
light. Um so best of luck on Tuesday and Dan to you as well. >> Um I still excited about the unanimous vote for the town uh town meeting on uh last day. Was it Monday? I guess a long time ago. >> Yeah, [laughter] it's like a month ago. >> It was just Monday.
>> So that was wonderful to see. It was a great turnout. So thank you to the community for that. Um there are so many fun events. I there's no way we can actually acknowledge them all. Um I was at Plastentino Showcase last night which was fabulous. Got to walk through art saves lives today. Um so a huge thank
you to our staff, teachers, administration because this none of these great events would be possible without you and it is truly wonderful to see our students showcased in all these ways. So thank you. >> I also want to just second that and say thank you to our staff since we met um
two weeks ago. Um it was teacher appreciation week and just want to recognize all the hard work of our educators um our our teachers through administrators. Um we I also know that the end of the year May and June is like a sprint to the finish with so many
activities wrapping up the year assessments and just want to kind of recognize their hard work. >> U so I'd also like to thank uh everyone for coming out of the town meeting. I'd also like to thank Adele for for singing the national anthem uh so beautifully.
That was that was excellent. Um and uh yeah, so everyone coming out to tell me just to support uh the schools, the school budget, our capital requests, the feasibility study. Um it was awesome that it was a unanimous vote. I think that it was the the uh strong showing and how many people showed up that
really sort of helped uh drive that uh unanimous vote. So, it's it's we still need everyone to continue to show up and and and and support the schools even if the outcome uh is is unanimous like that because it it just demonstrates the strong support for for the project, for the schools, and for everything that we're doing.
>> I just want to again reiterate our gratitude um to everyone in the town for coming out on Monday and supporting the schools and also um how grateful we are for our staff, teachers, administrators. Um so, thank you. >> Um I'll echo all of that. Um, also shout
out to the PTO for really supporting teacher appreciation week. Um, I was thoroughly impressed with all of the things they had organized, you know, taking custom coffee orders and delivering them to each room, things like that. It was really pretty
impressive and very well done. So, thank you to the PTO for that. Um, I also want to, you know, thank the town for town meeting. That was wonderful. Um, we've got prom on Friday, so I hope everyone has a wonderful time, but please be safe. Let's plug that. Um, and then
finally, I want to thank Adele and Luke for being our student representatives this year. I believe this is your last meeting with us. Um, you've done a really wonderful job and you are also just wonderful examples of our students here. Um, you both are super invested in
our community. I know you know you've organized fund runs that you know supporting mental health. You did a wonderful job singing at town meeting. Um we wish you both very you know much success as you move on. I know Luke is going to TUS and he's going to be um
majoring in biology premed and Adele is off to Dartmouth um to study neuroscience and a minor in theater. So anyway, you guys have bright futures and we just thank you for for all of your And I think that's all I have. Um, okay.
So, moving on. The next thing we will have um the students um and teachers from the Japan trip. If you'd like to come up to the table and um I know we can share your slides and we'd love to hear hear about your amazing trip that
uh you and 55 students and I think nine chaprons took over April break. So, Oh, I'm so sorry. Yes, I apologize. >> You can stay here. Um, we do have public comment. Um, and I I jumped past that.
Um, do you have a sheet? Okay, >> please. >> Jess and Barbara. >> Okay, Barbara, would you like to come up first and then we'll go to Zoom? Sure. And I think we will do a a for public comment.
Two minutes. Yeah. You wanted to limit me. >> Two minutes. Yeah. >> I'll do my [snorts] best. Thanks. >> Um first I just want to say thanks to um the school committee and Drs. Manard and Catalo. Um I know all of you are trans
transitioning to maybe what's next retirement superintendent and thank you Dr. Katalgo for coming um here. Um I'm Barbara Ryan 14 urban place. I sent a note this morning. Found it there was an article in the New York Times yesterday about test scores um are in a generation
of long decline. I found it to be informative yet that left me asking more questions about our own district and how actual and reputational excellence or ranking is achieved. namely what policies drive and support our building leaders and teachers, the beneficiaries being students, um in their ability to
create and thrive in an equitable and holistic system of learning. What opportunities are on the horizon for our school system to create and capture more meaningful metrics in supportive in support of attaining excellence and a positive ranking that represents all learners? While school rankings hold
merit for some, why do we continue to place value in some learners and not all learners? AP offerings are good and important yet in my opinion they do not reflect the whole system of learning and all of the teaching learning and good things that happen in our school system. I look forward to hearing about the
trip. Who is [clears throat] driving or will drive conversation around the whole of student data and support systems and policies that support an excellent education for all learners? What are we going to when are we going to take bold action to say that while ranking or AP classes have some merit, what about
everybody else? What about the work and teaching that happens every day in our classrooms? Why? Why? Thank you. Why not break the ranking mold and create a Holliston public school datarich metric and a holistic ranking system for all other districts to follow? I'm also not
naive to think that the required and regulated metrics that exist today and are especially tied to some kind of local or federal funding would go away. Thank you for your thoughts and for what you do for our schools, particularly our administrators, our staff, our teachers, everyone who makes the system go and
especially our students. You are the future. I look forward to any all conversations regarding my query. And I did copy Sarah on this this morning and I have specific questions um everything from budget to policy to metrics as we move forward. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Barbara. And I think we have two maybe two people on Zoom who would like to speak. Um, Jess, I know you would like to make a comment, so if you are ready to do that. >> Hi. Yes. Can you see me?
>> Yep. >> Okay. [clears throat] >> Hi, Jess 116 Locust Street. Um, I just wanted to um thank the community um for the conversations that are taking place around Hollist's anti-bullying policies. I know that's on the um agenda for later
um this meeting and I appreciate the school committee putting it on there. Um as a parent who's personally experienced the impact of these policies, I'm grateful um that this important issue is receiving the attention and discussion it deserves. I also wanted to share an upcoming event that may be valuable for
[clears throat] school committee members, parents, administrators, educators, and community members that are interested in strengthening bullying pre bullying prevention efforts and creating safer, more inclusive schools. The Metro West Anti-bullying Coalition
will be holding a forum that's going to take place on Thursday, May 21st, um from 8:30 to 12:15 at the Verve Hotel in Nic. This year's theme is from awareness to action addressing identity based bullying and it will focus on practical strategies to address bullying, hate,
and bias while building stronger and more connected communities. Uh the it's a free event um and the forum is going to include interactive sessions on active bystander training and restorative [clears throat] practices offering valuable tools for prevention, response, and healing. More
than 100 community members and leaders have already registered, including myself. If this is an issue you care about, I encourage you to attend and be part of the conversation. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else on Zoom that wanted to speak?
>> I just have a quick question. What is your regular time frame for public comment? Two or three minutes. And how often do you make that public when someone steps up? >> It it kind of depends on the agenda. We have a really full agenda tonight. Yeah. >> Great. Thank you.
>> Okay. Okay. If there's no one else on Zoom that wanted to make public comment, we will move on to the students. >> All right. Um, so, hi everybody. Thanks for having us. My name is Ben Marsh. I'm one of the wellness teachers here at the high school. Uh, we're here to talk
about Japan, the trip we went on. >> So, uh, over April break, 55 students along with nine, uh, staff member chaperones traveled to Japan. We uh it was we had a uh was it six hours to San
Francisco >> and then 12 hours to Japan. Um so in a 24-h hour period we had an 18 hour flight time. Um [clears throat] and we had a lot of fun. We went to three different cities, Kyoto, Osaka, and
Tokyo. And uh we had quite the experience. So I'm going to turn it over to our students to talk a little bit about their own experience on the trip. >> All right. How's it going everybody? My name is Eli Kersian. I'm a senior here at Hollison and um as you know we went
on the Japan trip uh during April break. Um I just want to talk about a few things that happened during the trip, why it was most memorable to be and um why I feel like future generations uh to come should be interested in uh travel
across the world uh from the school. So, um, as you know, it was a 9-day trip, um, starting a little earlier than April break going until closer to the end of April break. And, um, during that time, uh, we spent, uh, a lot of the time on
the plane. It was, uh, it was what it was. It was like an 18-hour flight, as was said. And, um, it was not fun, but, uh, everything that came after it was fun. So, um, a few things that made this trip, uh, super
memorable to to me would probably be, um, one, the food that we ate. Um, food is pretty big for me. I mean, I love just like a diverse like, um, menu. I'm really interested in like exploring the world. So, um, going to Japan was
definitely on my uh, bucket list. So, when I heard the school had a trip going to Japan, I was so excited, but mainly excited for the food and the culture. So, I want to uh dive in with some of our other student representatives um about their maybe their favorite foods
and why. And uh >> yeah, and let me know if you want me to move slides. >> Okay. >> Is this a good volume? Okay. Hi, my name is Cynthia Daga Podman and I'm a senior here at Holston High School. I will say
there is not much prepared because when you think about it, it's so hard to prepare words for this trip. It was just so remarkable as for students and again food was a big thing for us. There's also a lot of cultural aspects that we
experienced there. Um Japan completely different than America. You got it's like a lot quieter. It's cleaner. And as American high school students who haven't really seen much of the world, it was a really like eye opening experience for us. Um, integrating into
the culture was I it was pretty hard on the in the first few days because language obviously is very different. Barriers are different, but just kind of like experiencing culture there with interacting with people who are willing to interact with us as well. Just kind
of helped us be more comfortable with travel and I think that was a really big thing. um we experience a lot of social aspects within ourselves as like we're all seniors here. So um this trip was kind of like our senior trip. Um
and kind of having days where we're just get get to be around each other even if we don't converse a lot in school. Bonding through travel is such an impactful experience because you're all doing this new thing together. You're all solving problems together. You're all facing these new challenges together. So, um I just found that
really memorable. Do you have any like moments that you thought were nice [clears throat] by any of you? Um so, if you guys were unaware, um some students brought home um not real katana blades
because katanos are huge um in the culture of Japan and um history from it. So, a lot of the students um obviously had to talk to um the uh leaders before bringing home katanas. Uh I don't know if like they're not real at all, but
they're very like amazing quality designs. And I thought that was such like a great moment because um uh I went on a trip two years ago and we didn't have like the freedom that we had on this trip to be able to do stuff like that and um bring home a huge part of
history to our to our doorsteps and inside our homes. So I think that was a huge moment. Do >> you want to talk about karaoke? >> Um so I'm Summer Hong. I am also a senior at Hollison High School. And I feel like one of the really big things that we got to like really bond over was
a karaoke night. And that was a big difference from here to the one in Japan, it was more like enclosed. We had like all different language songs that we could be singing. And we had like a whole bunch of seniors, a bunch of juniors and like sophomores and like everyone was just like all mixed in that I wouldn't really like know to talk to
during school. But then like in order to do that like we got to be like more connected in a way through like same music taste or like different music tastes or just like even like the whole thing in general which I thought was like really like good to like bond over. Um and we also got like a day to like
for like mostly seniors and that was like really that was a really good bonding day for especially since we're all kind of going our own ways and next week we're all like leaving high school. So, I felt like it was really good to like um bond together as a class before we all like go our separate ways.
>> Yeah. So, >> um one of the huge moments that I took from this trip was being able to um talk socially with a lot of people I never would. Um there are a lot of people at Holl High School are not social people who uh stay in their own direction. they
don't talk a lot and I find that to be rough like um you know some kids don't like have as many friends as others and struggle to be socially but I feel like this trip brought everybody together everybody was out there making friends um you know everybody was included you
know uh if someone wanted to go out and get food with you and you know they don't talk to a lot of people you'd fit right in and I thought that was a great thing um also with other grades so our trip. Uh we didn't have any juniors in our group, so they were split into two
groups. So it was uh the senior class and a few sophomores in our group. So um I found myself talking to some of the younger uh kids in our um school. So I thought that to be really interesting. Um uh a lot of the seniors don't uh
interact with uh some of the younger students. So it was pretty awesome to be able to socialize with everybody. And that was awesome. I think in all it really gave us the confidence to travel more. I mean most of us seniors are adults. So especially for us it was like
an experience that allowed us to again gain confidence and just like being by yourself without your parents and knowing who to trust and knowing the kind of conversations and questions you need to ask. Um, I mean, tell us. >> Yeah. Um, so I think it was really
helpful for me as well cuz for my first year or first semester of college, I'm actually studying abroad. So being able to do this and have like a little like like foot in the water, like kind of get a little taste of what it's like to be like independent was really helpful as well. So now I can like open my eyes and
have more like confidence going into me studying abroad for my first semester of college, especially as a freshman. So I think it was really beneficial to like have this trip and like open my eyes with solo traveling with like other friends but like without parents which was really helpful.
>> I want to just uh really briefly talk about um how each day was laid out. So we had we had these expert local guides who took us around to these awesome different places who gave us all the information. We had um expert tour directors who are from the area, speak
the language. Um, so they were able to bring us around. So every day there was basically directed learning from a from a local guide, but most days the students had a little bit of free time wherever we were. And what we found was that that was the best learning time for
the students. They had to be in groups of at least three or more, but they were able to go find lunch on their own, find a spot that they thought looked good, communicate with what they wanted. they they had to practice all these different skills that we see in our vision of the graduate here at the high school. Um,
and I think it was like a direct translation over um Dr. Kusca, could you go to that first slide really quick? >> Um, as we finish up here, >> the first >> Can you go to the the Yeah, the top one. So, um, this trip honestly couldn't have
gone better. Like I what we couldn't have done anything different to make this thing better. And if if we look at the slide for a second, obviously that's Mount Fuji. Um you they we were told that uh you're able to see this less than 90 days a year just because of the
weather and the cloud cover. Um so as we were like arriving before we could see it, our tour director was like, "Hey, we might not be able to see this thing." They he uh he brings tours there all the time and like they can't see it and it's kind of a bummer. That's what we got to see. So, that was kind of like the story
of our trip. Everything worked out for us. It was like honestly an amazing trip, a once in a-lifetime trip for me. Um, and I think so for a lot of the students. Not I I'd love to go back, but I think a lot of us that might be our only time. And the fact that we were
able to provide that opportunity for them through the Holl public schools, I think is an amazing thing. So, a couple quick thank yous. The first one goes to the school committee and central office and our high school administration for supporting trips like this. Obviously,
we can see the development and growth and learning that these students can experience through trips like this. So, we really thank you for continuing to support these trips. Um, the next thank you goes to the parents and guardians who are supporting these students financially and just in general. Um,
that's a big task for them, but they have the confidence in the support of their student. Um, and the trip obviously can't run without our our great parents and guardians supporting. Uh, and the last thank you goes to the students because this trip was incredible. We had zero problems
behaviorally, anything like that. Um, and it's all down to them. This trip was the best it could be because um, they they were so resilient, courageous, um, curious, and all of those things kind of pulled together to just make
this a wonderful trip. Um, so thank you guys. We're going to miss you. Uh, and the last thing I want to say is we want to just continue providing these opportunities for the future generations coming up to the high school. Um, and that's what we plan to do. So Lacy Hail,
who's an adjustment counselor, who is kind of the main driver on this, the other group leader, uh, her and I really hope to continue um with these trips to keep providing these awesome opportunities for the students. So, um, we just really thank you for your time tonight. Uh, we had an amazing time and,
uh, we can't wait to travel more in the future. >> Let me show the other pictures here. >> Yeah, sure. >> Can I just ask, were all those photos taken by the students? >> These are all student photos. >> Beautiful work professionally. I have to tell you, your photos are excellent. >> Unbelievable. Right. Like, we were seeing these in real time, and I would
turn to students and be like, are you kidding me? Like, this you took this thing and it was quickly edited into that. I'm like, what? my photos did not look that [laughter] good. So, I I showed my wife all of these photos. Um, but just on that last slide, we had a
lot of awesome experiences. Um, >> where um where we were all together and we just built such a great community together that on the on the final day it was it was emotional for us to have to like say goodbye to the trip, especially
for me. Um, so it's just incredible overall. So, thank you again. >> It looks like an amazing trip. So, I'm really pleased you were all able to share some of it with us. So, thank you. >> Yeah. >> Do you guys have any questions for us
before we go? >> No. Thank you so much. >> I would say one last thing from all our students. Um, this is like the best group of teachers and leaders we've ever asked for. I mean, uh, we didn't have a single problem. No one ever gave us
like, you know, like a reaction or anything. Everybody was so nice. Um, and Mr. Marsh and Miss Lacy Hail, who I think is watching right now, [laughter] is the uh you guys are the best leaders we could have ever asked for. Thank you for giving us this opportunity. I don't
think um, as you said, we'll ever be able to go on something like this again. So, thank you very much. >> We'll never forget it. >> Yeah. Never. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Yeah. >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you. Thank you.
Right. No, I you just go this way. We have ice. >> So yeah, >> we have enough or do I need to go down further? >> I think it's
down further. >> You can move that way. as we go. We'll just take your hands down. >> Dr. Pus, if you want to bring this up. >> Yeah. >> Very excited to have the curriculum team here tonight. Um, unfortunately our high
school STEM and humanity [clears throat] specialist could not be with us tonight, but we do have everybody else here. They will reintroduce themselves as we're going through the presentation and we will there you go. So you can go to the second slide, please. So we're going to be talking about they're going
to be talking about interventions first. And just to remind you, they have brought this up in previous presentations. You go to the next slide, please. >> Oh no, no, I'm sorry. Is that it? >> Yes, please. So, um, we're using I Ready
and Il. Uh, we're using MCCAST scores, teacher input and data. At RAMs, we're using term grades. For literacy at Placentino, Miller, and grade six, we're using Dibbles, um, the ETH edition. And we're using other literacy screens at
Placentino and Miller. For math, we're using math recovery at Placentino and Miller. Placentino also uses hidden number assessment. Placentino and Miller both use map topic and module assessments. It's through Eureka math squared and some other um resources. And
then finally at the high school we use common assessments as additional data to determine interventions. We're next going to move on to Plastentino literacy. >> Hi, I'm Jenny man. I'm the uh
Plastentino humanities curriculum specialist and interventionist. Um I'm going to talk a little bit about literacy and math intervention and what that structure looks like K to5. It's quite similar at Placentino and Miller. Um much much of this you've heard in previous presentations. So um at
Pleasantino we run small groups daily. Um Miller the groups run two to three times a week. The groups are run um by some part-time interventionists as well as the four of us, Kristen, myself, Caitlyn, and Ashley. Um we provide 20
minute groups during Placentino uh at Placentino during the win block, which is the what I need block. So that's the structure of that is such that kids are not being pulled during new instruction. So they're not missing new instruction in the classroom. Um similar structure
at Miller, 30 minute blocks. Um, we work really closely with classroom teachers, special educators, multilingual learner teachers, um, to make sure that students who, you know, might need that extra support who are a multilingual learner
or, um, on an IEP, um, that we're able to flex them into that schedule and again, ensuring that they're not missing core instruction in the classroom. Um, and progress monitoring happens bi-weekly, weekly, or monthly depending on the level of student need.
Um so these are this is just an update on uh some of the impact of our intervention this this far uh this year. Um so in literacy we have throughout the course of the year this is a cumulative
number we have provided support to 105 students. Um currently at this time we have uh 60 students being serviced. Um about 30 have exited intervention and any student who exits intervention is uh progress
monitored regularly to make sure that the skills are being maintained. Um 13 who have exited intervention because they've qualified for an IEP with reading goals. >> Um and in math over the whole course of the year we've serviced about 113 kids.
Um we have about 65 currently being serviced and that we are still down one tutor uh interview next week. So hopefully we'll be staffed. Um we have 12 students who have moved from intervention towards the watch list which means they're progress monitored
by myself and their classroom teacher. Um and then we also have had 32 kids who have officially exited which means they're not being progress monitored anymore because they've made enough progress to enter back into their tier one fully. Um, we have had nine kids that have qualified for an IEP with
math. >> Second, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just can we go back to that slide for a second because I I think I just want to make sure that I get this into context because it seems pretty so 105 or 113 students um nonPS just so in in not n
not non special ed plans and this is about of 500 kids at Placentino or so, right? >> 600. Yeah, I think there's like 600 at Plantino. I thought but but either way so roughly 18 to to 20% of the kids is is what the number of students you've worked with this year on on
intervention. I mean that's that to me is just incredible. So um that that is fabulous. >> Thanks. >> Thank you very much. >> Wait till you see the results. [laughter] >> But I just wanted to call with the numbers to me that's >> exciting to see the cumulative number for sure. >> The model is obviously working the way
we wanted. So thanks to all of you. So we have some data for you to speak to the uh quantitative impact of our intervention. Um so this is a snapshot of some of our I Ready data. Um just to orient you a little bit. So you've got a
um a band for each grade level. The beginning of year BOI, so that's the beginning of year test that was given in September and then most recent is stacked on top of it. I personally find that a little confusing. So just take a second to to take a look at that. Um in general we saw some really positive
trends here. So this um domain that we're looking at here is phonics which is obviously a very crucial um area of instruction and something we've really really been focusing on at Posantino. And so um for kindergarten you can see beginning of year um we had 75% of
students who tested as one grade level below that number went down to 38%. um mid-year testing. Grade one, similar trends. 69% were one grade level below at the beginning of the year, that went down to 35% middle of year. Um for grade
two, um there were 23% of students two grade levels below at the beginning of the year, and that went down to 8% by middle of year. Um and then increase in the in a in the positive direction. So beginning of the year we had 36% of students who were mid or above grade
level and that rose to 53% middle of the year. So overall really positive trends and we're you know eager and excited to see what our endofear data looks like. >> What's the date on your most recent? >> So it was January 2026. >> Okay.
>> So like I this every time just for community sake beginning of the year represents literally at the beginning of year not for the year. >> Correct. So beginning of the year would have been September 2025 and most recent which is what how it's coded on I Ready was um January
>> 20 they're evaluated that point of the year. >> Yes. >> Okay. Cuz that's where the numbers really I think show for >> So I I don't want the community to be worried that 13% of kids are in the green at the beginning of the year because that's grade level standards. You would not expect them to standard.
Yes. >> Yep. >> Um and similar graph for our math data except I'm focusing on the numbers and operations domain of I already which is that number sense which is huge down at Pleasantino and builds their foundation
for the rest of their math life. Um so again similar trends. Um if you look at the yellow column those are the kids who are not where they're supposed to be when we start the year. Um so we want that number to actually get smaller in the most recent column. So all three
grades it got significantly smaller. Um, but what I also really liked to and wanted to mention was because we're implementing Eureka masquerantino with some really good data to show. I think it's also important to point out that the dark green which are the kids who
are above level is also going up. Um, so it's not like just the kids who are behind are growing, everyone is growing. So I think that's important. I know it's not intervention related, but it's because we have that really good curriculum being implemented at last. And >> thanks all of you for moving through
that. So I'm Caitlyn Kinsky. I'm the humanities uh curriculum specialist over at Miller. So, um we have for literacy this year we provided 11 11 students with intervention for literacy and 36 of
those students so far this school year have exited. Three of those students have been picked up for an IEP for reading. >> No, go ahead. Um, and I'm Ashley Buchard. I'm the STEM specialist over at Miller. Um, similar to Placetino, we had about 107 students for math this year
picked up. We also had a period where we didn't have a tutor. Um, so our tutor came in November. So the data that we're going to show you in a bit is really exciting because he worked his magic from November to January. Um, in the beginning, thanks to the alignment that
we have now with all the specialists, um, Kristen and I do a really nice job communicating, as do Jenny and Caitlyn, and I was able to do a jump start group with 23 students at the start of September, as soon as we started. 13 of those students were exited. So, when they took their benchmark, they were
showing, you know, right where they should be at the beginning of the year with concerns coming in from Placentino. So, that was awesome. um November to January we had about 69 math students being serviced and then now we have about 77 students being serviced. So the numbers are going down
which is what we would expect. >> Awesome. Great numbers. >> Okay. So I used a similar chart uh as [snorts] Kristen and Jenny. So what I did was uh this is the I ready scores and similarly in the different grades we
see at the beginning of the year you know we had 20% of students in the red that has now gone to 10 um eight down to six five down to four and then we've seen a lot of students move towards uh the green for grade three same thing
with grades uh four and grades five so I mean we've seen a lot of great growth trending And just the fact that, you know, I thought it was important to point out that 119% uh we've seen 119% growth. >> Yeah. So that's the median, the median
typical growth. So half of our students on intervention scored 119% growth or above and the other half scored 119% or below. So that was our median growth um data set which is phenomenal. >> It's phenomenal. >> They're over 100%. Which mid year you're
hoping to get 50. So just to put that into perspective um for a math the data I focused on numbers and operations and algebra and algebraic thinking the first part bubbled out in purple is our beginning of the year data and then if you look at
the second part on the graph below bubbled out in purple that is the data with our new math support tutor from November to January. So I felt like the graphs were very powerful because you could see the red shifting to yellow and
the yellow shifting to green. Um we made a lot of growth in algebra and algebraic thinking. And I think this is also trending too with our curriculum and the support of our teachers and all of us working in unison. It's producing really great results. Um and I put some side
notes on the side if you want to peruse them at your at your on your own if you'd like. um just some highlights of the data, but I think the graph speaks for itself of the trends and the growth in our students. >> Hi, I'm Casey Conahan. I'm the literacy
um coordinator and interventionist at RAM. Um this first slide is just a review of our format at the middle school. Um a shift for this year was that we moved executive functioning support to on team tier one. Um so Carla
and I are only focusing on literacy and math [cough] intervention [clears throat] specifically. For literacy I work with small groups of two to four students um during the UA and RAMS blocks. Um and we only see students one time a week and that is a shift from
the elementary school where they typically see students two to three times a week and that really just comes down to scheduling um and the constraints that we find with the schedule. Um, and Carla works with a full-time math tutor. So, she is able to assign students at a one-on-one or one
to two level during the same block of time um for once a week and I think has a couple students who've been up to two times a week for extra support. So students who haven't been making progress, we've been referring them to a staff team where we look we speak with
the classroom teachers. We work with our um special ed department and determine whether they need testing, whether they need additional intervention. And then so far we've only had two students that have gone through that process and have been moved into a higher level of
intervention. In the top right corner, you can just see our total numbers of students for this whole year. So that includes um kids who have been exited as well as kids who may be um entered in later on in the the year that we grabbed after
teachers brought concerns forward. So this is the impact um that I'm seeing in the literacy intervention. Um please remember by the middle school we switched from I ready to so it's a different format of testing. Um the two
graphs on the left I can't see that look on you. Um the two graphs on the left are from and um there on the across the bottom you have the amount of growth they've made. So all
this data is beginning of the year September 2025 to middle of the year January 26. Okay, that's [clears throat] about four months. And so within that four month period, how much growth have
students made? Um, so a few kids have made no growth. A few kids have made one to four months growth. Um, most kids have made five months to a year worth of growth within four months of intervention.
and a handful of kids have also made one to two years worth of growth in that four months of intervention. Um so how that translates to the graph below is how many kids are below expectation
of their growth, how many are meeting expected growth and how many are at an accelerated growth rate. And you can see that most kids are hitting expected or accelerated growth rate. Um and the reason that shifts a little bit is that one to four months in the top some of
those kids if they make three to four months worth of growth that that is expected right um likewise once you hit six seven eight months of growth that starts to shift over to accelerated growth rate um so that's the um two graphs on the left the one on the right
is I introduced um continuing the dibbles um oral reading fluency and maze comprehension with sixth grade only this year. And I'm only sharing the maze um report because that's really what I focus on during intervention time. Um
and so what you see is the red is again fall September 2026 25 sorry and the green is winter 2026. Um and so at the beginning of the year we had a um about five students far
below grade level for comprehension and an additional two for below grade level. And by winter no kids were far below grade level. And although the grade below grade level is larger, it's because kids have moved out of that far
below and into the below grade level. But even still, it's less. Which means I had several kids move from [clears throat] are below to on grade level um in that comprehension range. And so most kids are on grade level and
we have a few at above grade level. Um and so that just kind of shows a little bit of what I'm seeing with the work I'm doing. Um we focus a lot on comprehension by middle school. It's not just literally understanding what the text says, but what's being suggested beyond
the literal um statements. And so making inferences and how we support that with textual evidence um and pulling in our background knowledge, vocabulary understanding. So those are the big pieces that I work on um in my
intervention time. So I won't go over all of the details again, but it is through till January. Um we don't have in in a couple of weeks we'll have our May data but unfortunately this >> we actually start next week.
>> Yeah we start next week. >> So um but I have the same twobased charts um that Casey did. So the first chart says how much growth they've made in years. We had eight students who made no growth. Eight students that have went
to or had expected growth. But then a whole 30 have made accelerated growth and some of our students have made up to three and four years of growth. What we are doing in math is different than what they're doing in ELA. Our kids get an
individualized plan based on little mini assessments that they take in each each topic area. They identify where their gaps are and fill those gaps. Also, our math tutor goes into math
classrooms. She knows what's happening in classes. She knows when upcoming quizzes are and splits the time between filling gaps and also working on study skills and practice for those students to keep up with their current work.
>> People are having difficulty with that mic. I don't know if it's that mic. >> Let's switch it. Frank, can you move yours down or something? [laughter] >> Not hearing me is a first.
>> You and me both. [laughter] >> When they go into the the classrooms, are they just helping the kids that have been ident? Yeah, that's what I'm >> So when the tutor goes into the classrooms, first of all, she wants to see how the teacher's instruction in instructing so that she can mirror some
of those same things when she's working onetoone and she works with the whole group. She works with anyone that needs assistance. >> That's like an extra benefit of that way of doing it. So that's nice. >> So intervention at the high school. Sorry. >> Sorry. Just I mean you want I just I'm
just curious. Are you able to meet with all the students who are identified as having needs? >> Every single one we've been able to meet this year. >> Sure. There's I'm just It's It's just interesting. Are they doing such a great job that by the time they get to the middle school there are just less students?
>> That's the goal. >> I mean, that's our hope. It should get less. Okay. as we're moving up. Um, honestly, a lot of our kids in intervention are kids that are from outside district um that have moved into
district and uh we see that often >> and you could see the numbers from third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, they're going down at a steady trend. >> So, it means we're it's working. >> Okay. Awesome. I think you're going to see a big difference too when we adopt a
literacy curriculum because then there's going to be set standards and set resources and we'll talk about that a little bit later. Okay. So intervention at the high school looks quite different as you guys all know. This is currently what's going on which could change next year. Um not sure but right now they
developed a national honor society to their group um working with nine students which has gone really well. It's just a small group, but it's been offered on Wednesdays as general math support. Um, and they have found it's been very effective. And a lot of times
students respond very well to other students, right? So, it's a nice support. You go to the next slide, please. They also have an academic development center and those students are referred by school counselors and um in term [clears throat] three and four
they were supporting nine students and um Joel and Leah, Joel is the uh humanities curriculum coordinator and Leah the STEM curriculum coordinator. They had other responsibilities. So they actually work with students um that the
students for the academic center that I just mentioned. They worked with curriculum, professional development, MPSS planning. Um they worked on the first education for department leader training and they worked on both September and March PD that they did
some presentations. They also were quite instrumental in a NEAS uh visit that I would think is that being reported out? So yes, we um we just got a draft and so we will soon be able to share, you know, we had to read through it. So it'll it's going to be hot off the presses very
soon. >> Go to the next slide. So just give you a quick update about curriculum maps. And I just want to remind you the whole idea behind curriculum maps that they can they require continuous revision because they're focused on results rather than
content delivery. So what is happening is this continuous improvement where the teachers implement a unit they gather evidence from the students and see where the gaps are and they make adjustment to the maps. So right now all courses have
completed UBD um mapping stage one except for the following. All the other people are working on stage two and three and you're just going to see that as a continuous cycle as it should be. Moving on,
Ida. >> Hi, I'm Ida Papis. I am the unified arts curriculum coordinator, which is many different things. Um, in the past, I've talked a lot about world language. So, I'm going to pivot a little bit and talk about some of the successes we're seeing in performing arts um and the
celebration of your support of our um band program. [snorts] So, uh, what you're looking at right here, um, we did a little deep dive as to our population who are taking band four through eight.
Um, and back in during COVID times, band kind of crashed out because obviously we couldn't blow an instruments and and have our spit valves all over each other. So, so we I I opted to start at 21 22 just so you can sort of see the
climb here. um when uh the school committee supported the um full-time uh band person shared between Miller and Rams, you can see the impact immediately. So where he um this is uh
George Wegman um when he came in in 202 uh3 he came halfway through the year but by the next year when we started implementing band in the day the school day um well let's just face facts that fourth grade you don't get tons of
choices in your day and so it was a choice and a lot of people took him up on that. So you could see immediately 111 students opting to take band and we can start seeing that next year it's just continuing to grow. We're looking
at maybe 130 students in fourth grade taking band. A lot of schools would love to be able to say that. So um and the reason I show you this graph is because they're coming they're coming to the high school, right? And so we need to we need to be ready for them. So the next
slide I have is um how we're preparing for them to arrive. Um uh oh >> can we just go back to that slide? I just just to get to something worth highlighting. >> Yeah. >> Um visas is really awesome >> and as you said it is going to have that that sort of follow on effect as it goes
into the high school. >> Um and so this is I think this is exactly what the administration we were hoping to see. >> Yeah. And it does help that we have the original pie piper of band [laughter] >> in fourth and fourth through eight. He's
just phenomenal and kids love to be with them. So um you know I I I'm assuming it would happen anyway but you know he he he makes it a special place and then they want to continue in the middle school which you know it's a safe environment. And I always tell parents,
band is a instant friend group, right? And so it's a safe place to, you know, park your kid and they have work together in teams, but there's not, you don't have to talk all the time if you're very shy. Um, and as I get into Rams in sixth grade, it's just a safe place. And so we that's how we're also
seeing the um continued enrollment. >> And you have the same teacher throughout the entire time. And we're doing the same course, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. and and chorus is a little different in that we don't have chorus in the school day in fourth and fifth grade. It's after school. It's an elective. Um but we do have the same
person. So, you know, and it got off the ground late this year. So, I think that next year [clears throat] um it started in late November. Um only because there was a contract issue about like how do we share this person when the school days started at different times. And so
as they ironed that out, it's great to launch something at the beginning of the year, you know. Um, so we I think we we had a little bit of a stall, but I do believe that next year you'll see the same growth in in the coral program. >> That's awesome. Certainly let us know if there's anything that we can do to support that.
>> Thank you. I appreciate that. >> All right. But I'm a little nervous because my slide had all kinds of great stuff. >> Justin was just saying maybe go to the next slide and then go back. Sometimes it's just a delay because I can see it. I can see it on the agenda. So, >> yeah.
>> All right. Well, I'm >> Why don't you stop sharing and see if I can try because I'm seeing it. So, >> I'm seeing it. >> She's going to ask you to click on something else though when you get there. But >> I had a quick question. >> Yeah, sure. >> This previous slide we were on. >> Yep.
>> I'm not running statistics on this, but it seems like the fourth graders that started retention is better. I don't. Okay. >> Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. Um, yeah, that's a good question. I don't know.
>> I have it, right? Great. >> You have it. Do you want to? Do you want to drive? >> You tell me. >> I can drive this car. >> All right. Let me figure out how to stop driving. Uh, anyone? >> I don't think you have to. I think I bumped you off. I bumped you out. This
is >> I took charge. >> Thank you. That's right. All right. So, if you can see, it's well, it's colorcoded. I did try to make it at least easy on your eyes that way. Um, what we were trying to do um in the high
school arts uh program is to create pathways. So, my husband teaches at Berkeley and we have students from Hollist in his classes right now. So there are people who are coming from our school district and making a career of
music. And um so we wanted to just formalize so that they know what courses to take. And so what we did was and I think we did a remarkable job. I'm celebrating our team is that we thought about what would they need to be successful when they get to college. And
so we broke it down into three pathways. The top one is an instrumental performance pathway. The middle one is an instrumental coral pathway, a vocal pathway. And the bottom one is an a instrumental music technology pathway, which you can now have a computer as
your instrument in college. So that's fascinating, isn't it? Um, and then for each of these streams, we have we have courses that they should take that are not just in performance, but also in theory, in history, and in business. And
I think that really gives us a really well-rounded student that can enter and really hit the ground running for their careers. Um, and then off to the left, you can't see it's very tiny, but these are all the general elective courses that any person can come and go from.
Um, and um, and then underneath it are prerequisite lists. Um, and I I really want to take this kind of look at the visual art program because I I did start saying, "Oh, I wonder if in the visual arts we have some like um art history
like is that is there a piece of that and should they have pathways where maybe they take some technology um you know art technology?" So anyway, that has inspired me about next year. It's really neat because I we see it for math or you know some of the other more
traditional but it's really great to have a pathway for for >> it is >> people who want to follow that direction >> and that's a lot of students passions right >> yeah absolutely >> and they don't know what to take right and it's also >> it gives a well-rounded >> it's very well that's exactly what I was
going to say it's it's for you all to understand that in order to have if we can go to that next slide if you don't mind um in order to have that well-rounded we really do need two teachers like it's impossible to get a well-rounded program with one one human being trying to hold it all down. And I
think because we're changing the schedule, students will have the option to select some of their interests, right? And to actually give it time where it's not just a taste of guitar for seven weeks, you know, you actually are going to dig in for a semester. And
so there's going to be a lot more content that we'll need to deliver. Um, so at the bottom or at the top it's like I I I designed like a year one and a year two so that we could cover all of the courses that we proposed and then down at the bottom I highlight how we
could use a what you know each person um and um you know and how they would basically toggle um sorry >> I'm not toggling the way I >> [laughter] >> You're not driving very well.
>> Anyway, it's the computer. >> I wanted to just highlight that these two people, you know, they have to have broad skills because you're covering literally every single thing from AP theory to really dense uh history to playing a guitar and a piano and, you
know, and every instrument. So, anyway, um so that's what I focused on this year to celebrate our performing arts. If you could go to the next slide. All right, you're going to need to click on a link at some point. Um, so last time that I was here, um, I was talking
about website work and I was using, uh, uh, uh, world language as our, as sort of the vehicle. And the reason, um, I was talking about it is because through curriculum review, we had really articulated vertical streams and wanted
parents to know even if you're in kindergarten, um, you can sort of see where you're headed. And what I also dis uh discovered was when I tried to do research seeing what other schools do, it's very difficult for me to um to collect data because you have to go to
each school. You know, you're clicking on 22 schools or whatever trying to gather and put it all to make sense. And I really thought that for parents, stakeholders, um to find everything they need under a department heading is really really helpful, I think. Um and
so I proposed it to Joanie. We made out the world language um one so that we could articulate what French immersion meant from K to 12 and also what FL uh Spanish meant. So, this time I worked on the wellness um website. Um I don't
know. Can you There's a link at the bottom. Maybe maybe uh there is it down there. >> Yeah, she needed >> cover only the top. >> Well, it took me to the website, but >> it's the top box. >> It's the Well, it's not anymore. I added a link. Oh, that's because I have the
old one. I'm sorry. All right. Can I drive again? [laughter] >> What do you imply? >> Sorry. Sorry. I'm not even sure what I'm doing now. Here we go. [laughter] Okay. Okay. Do I share? Okay. Here I am sharing it. Sorry. I need to make it complicated.
>> You're doing great. [laughter] >> Okay. Here we go. Right here. Um Okay. And let me present. Okay. Now you can see better. Yeah. Okay. So, this is um the wellness website. Um uh so this is
first of all the this is our um teaching and learning page. So the way you get there, just telling the audience out there in the world also, is you go to our teaching and learning page and at the very bottom there's a link for academic departments so that we can see um all of our choices. So I'm going to
click on this little link here. Nope, that's not it. Oh boy. >> What happened? >> You're back at the beginning of the slideshow. >> Yeah. How did that happen? It was just so good. >> Why don't you just walk through it? You
can just tell them about >> right there. >> Nope. It won't let me. Sorry. >> Just tell them. >> I am I'm going to forget if I don't go to my spot because my brain is working. Uh okay. So, in our world language or
our wellness um uh tabs inside the website um that if I could just click that link, you could see um one one is um so that you can find your teacher. So, it was interesting when we did um uh a mailing, parents had to put their
their teacher's wellness um or their child's wellness teacher and they they really didn't know who they were. So, this would have helped them. They would have been able to go to the district website and be able to click um who are the instructors and then their faces and their names and everything. Um and then
there was elements of our curriculum review in there, etc. But the most important thing that I wanted to highlight and this is um this is becoming very important with um our new standards is the sexual health standards that have come out in our um our new
wellness standards um have specific requirements of us to alert parents of the curriculum and have the option to opt out. And so all year we've been working to articulate what um our first of all know our obligation to to share
letters to parents that share the information and tell them where everything is that they may want to review and then to have an opt out place where um we can see what you know what specific lessons they want to opt out or they want to opt out of a unit and to
tell parents that um your child will not be There it is. Yeah, there it is. Okay. Okay. So, that's the first one is the frameworks. You keep scrolling. >> Tell me where you want me to go. >> Oh, down, down, down, down, down. Um, yep. Keep going. So, stop. All right.
So, right there are our tabs. We have our vision statement. Oh, click on the programming sequencing because I made a pretty little That's a old one. Sorry. All right. Never mind. [laughter] >> You mentioned the opt out forms. Those are all here. >> Yeah. Yeah, they look different cuz um
uh I needed some help with Kim in the office to help me. Anyway, it looks better. The real one, if you go to the real website and look at it, it looks great. Anyway, there's um it tells parents what the options are, what are required courses, what are elective courses when you get to the high school.
And then at the very bottom of it, it is just a place where people can go and see how we're handling our our legal obligation around sexual health um communications and opt out forms. And I thought if I were a stakeholder um or a
community member that I would want it easy to find and not have to dig through schools and maps and all kinds of things. So that was really my impetus for that website. Okay. And then we go on to Can you
>> I can put slide you want. Yeah. >> I don't know who's >> I don't either. [laughter] Sorry. On the very last I'm done. >> That's me. I'm done. Okay, >> any questions? Anyone have any questions? >> Can I can I just make a comment because
this is something I mean there's been a huge amount of progress. When I arrived I remember >> once we got school open shortly after midepptember early October I then was saying where are the curriculum maps and there was a lot of work happening in silos but we couldn't find them and
everything on there was I was back to and you showed up a year later and I was like because I have a crian background I I'm like we need to get this going. But I I'm really amazed at the amount of work all of you have done and all of our educators as well. And it just it's does my heart good to see that work because I
think the more we do that and then have it manageable for our teachers, it's going to help them move the students along as well. So, thank you all for that. >> Thank you. >> Okay, I'm going to start this slide, but we're all going to kind of chime in when we get to our school. Um, so as you
know, we were in the middle of a science curriculum review um, a couple years ago that did get paused, so we restarted it up this year. Um, so just an update from Placentino. Um, we met a whole bunch of times this year. Um, I only have the two
science teachers at my school because it's a special. Um, so we did a lot of work trying to narrow down our high quality instructional materials, trying to decide what we wanted to pilot. We actually got it down to three options. Um, and then just trying to schedule the
PD and get a real sense of the unit, it just wasn't going to fit into this year. Um, so we are scheduled, the PD is already scheduled for next year. We have our three options chosen. Actually, the pilot materials are already in the building ready to go. Um, so we should
have a decision for you next year. And for Miller, we also started out, we met several times in Miller, everybody teaches science. So with the curriculum review happening with ELA, it did not make sense to move forward with science because our teachers would have been on
overload and it would not have been good. So we decided it made sense to pause um and kind of look at the big picture. Maybe the ELA curriculum had a science component. So we're we met, we're pausing right now. We're going to roll out ELA and then we'll come back to
it next year when we're all kind of calmed down after the initial roll out of a new ELA curriculum for RAMS. We have been on a mission because we have not had a curricular resource for some time. So we have met
regularly. We reviewed DESIES with this new team. We did have our our schools were split into separate teams this year which was different than the full district together. So the new folks on our team we spent the first couple of meetings getting them up to speed on
DESIE recommendations and guidelines. Um we looked at all of what makes HQ the high quality instructional materials. Looked at the options. We had uh reps from each of those options come in and present. We are currently piloting our
favorite option along with one other soft pilot to kind of give us a little bit of a comparison and we are hoping to have the recommendation done for June 11th this year. So the capital funds that you guys were so um generous in
approving would be used for the Placentantino and the Rams. So everything will not be brought forward by the end of the school year. Like Carlos said, we're hoping to bring Rams forward on June 11th and then Kristen would come back in the fall, but those
funds would be used for both of those. High schools on pause just due to the schedule change. Um that's the end of our presentation, but I just wanted to thank first of all of uh Dr. Kusa for building this team and it's just been my
honor to work with all of you and I'm going to cry but I try not to. Um, this team has been amazing and from where we started to where we are now is incredible and it's due to the can do
spirit you all have, the collaborative spirit and uh, we just kind of dug in together and you guys were willing to do it all and um, I'm going to miss all of you very much. So, keep on doing what you're doing and I look forward to
checking out all the amazing things you do next year, too. So, thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Is any other questions because we're going to move on to ELA if everybody's >> all set? >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> Is everybody all set? Oh,
>> sorry. >> Yeah. No, you're good. >> I always want to learn more. So, um, thank you very much for the presentation. And I think that really c there's so much to celebrate in there from the um performing arts enrollment to the amazing growth of students. The
number of kids at Miller and Plantino and Rams that you highlighted who have made accelerated growth with more than a year of growth um just in the first half of the year is amazing. Um so thank you so much. I I just had a couple questions
actually. Um so I appreciate looking at the I Ready and Il data again. I know that we did look at it in February, but I think it's a really good reminder for us and for the community of the hard work and the importance of uh the intervention program. I'm curious if you can say a little bit more. You mentioned
progress monitoring measures. So, kind of what does that look like in between those three assessments a year? How are you monitoring kids? Um how do you know when and who [clears throat] to move out of those interventions and kind of what does that data look like? >> Yeah, I can speak to that. So um at
Plastentino we've taken a really collaborative approach. So progress monitoring happens um so reading tutors and myself complete it, classroom teachers complete it, special educators complete it. Um we've really sort of taken that on all together and we
determine you know student by student but depending on the level of need how frequently the progress monitoring will happen. We use dibbles as a progress monitoring measure. Um, we also have the Amplify uh Dibbles data management system and so we're able to, you know,
record data on our spreadsheets, put it into Amplify and run reports and those are shared with parents on a regular basis. Um, so for most students in intervention, for example, we we have two data points per month. um which you know especially this time in the year
when you're you have you know almost a whole school year's worth of of data is really really telling and incredibly useful in SAT meetings um you know conferences with parents IEP meetings you know progress reviews things like that um and something that we're you
know always working on and trying to fine-tune but I think you know we've made a lot of growth in and something we're really proud of >> and for math at Pleasantino um that hidden number assessment that was listed is um it's a cardality check. It's actually a fun game for the little kids.
Um so that's done with all the kids who are in intervention and all the kids who are on the watch list um at either the beginning of a round or at the end of the round depending on timing. [clears throat] We don't want to do it like right after a vacation. It's never a good time. [laughter] Um but also I've been on the hunt for a
progress monitoring tool that is also MLL friendly. um because that is actually quite hard to do for the math I've been finding. Um so I use the math recovery assessments um for certain kids but not all because they are more
timeconuming. Um but math recovery um just came out with a new progress monitoring tool. So we're hoping to trial that next year. Um and we also use the topic tests in Eureka. So, at the end of every module, they have a test
which is given in the classroom, but um there's some really great questions on there and concrete um questions. So, we talk I talk to the teachers constantly about how they're doing both on the test and in class. So, we use that kind of in math as well to see where they're at.
>> In math at RAMS, it's a little different than ELA and it's a little different than Il is more dynamic. So depending on how often students are stepping into the arena, which is their their testing
area, some will have updated scores before others. So I usually do at least a monthly check to see where our scores are at. Some kids who've made enormous growth, we want them back in their arts class as soon as they can go back to
their arts class. So as soon as they show that progress, we release them back to arts class. Um, we also use our preassessments and every skill that they practice on a onl
score for. So, we have that as well as a second program which is math fact lab. A lot of the kids struggle with fluency still and that's almost always the baseline of where their difficulties are coming from. So for
those who are struggling with fluency, we use math fact lab to to to monitor their progress and release them from the math fact lab once their fluency is where it should be. >> We kind of skipped you. >> That's okay. Don't worry. I got it.
[laughter] I was gonna I'm sorry. I totally work so closely with black and [laughter] that it just feels like we're one, right? >> Um so >> can I just let you go? Yeah, you did. >> You did. >> Okay. Why don't you go and then we'll go and then we'll go.
>> Are you sure? >> Yeah. 100%. >> I don't really have a lot to say. So, it's it's tricky at the middle school level because I see them once a week and we're really trying to read on grade level text. I'm not giving them um
leveled texts. I just don't think that that pushes them to read at grade level when you work at a below grade level in an intervention. Um, and so by the time we roll around to the three-year benchmarks,
um, that's about when I'm ready to see how far we've come because we need to do a skill several times and sometimes that takes several weeks to get through. Um, so I do a lot of gradual release where we'll model, you know, here's our
purpose for reading. We're going to look for um we did a a mystery story um but we're going to go back and we're going to look for foreshadowing and how is the author hinting at the reality of what's going to happen at the end um and
helping the kids make those inferences and tie it to textual evidence and then by the end of the reading I'm backing off and asking them to do a lot of it independently. So it's that gradual release of the skill and then monitoring their progress that way to see if they
can apply it. Um and I do I can check but um in between benchmarks it just gives gives ranges for scores so nothing's pinpointed anymore. Um, but what it does
tell me is if students are working on their LL in the on team time and if they're making progress or if their scores are staying kind of stagnant. Um, and so sometimes I work with kids to do some practice and to talk about um
almost like the test taking aspect of it all too because some students while they're working on reading comprehension, the LL format is also challenging for them. Um, and so it's kind of tackling those two pieces. So my progress monitoring is a work in
progress. Um, over at Miller for math, um, I also use the ADMR assessment. Um, we're unique at Miller as opposed to Placentino because at Miller students take the assessment on paper, then they
input their um, answers online. So, it gives us a a um more in-depth view of standards that they're mastering versus ones that they're partially meeting. And it directly correlates with our report card as well. Um so, which is really
nice. We also use teacher feedback. Um I work directly with my tutor. We're always working together because I'm pushing into classrooms and we're talking about, you know, what's going on kind of like what Carla had said. And I was also at a recent DESIE um PD where
they brought up Eureka Math Squared uh a year or two ago came this was after we purchased the program has a supplemental program called math EM squared catalyst math catalyst where it has progress monitoring as well as intervention
materials. So I've been recently diving deeper. I've been working talking to our special educator, our SST um person at Miller and kind of diving deeper to see what really that could provide for us um because we're we're kind of making it as as we go and making it work for our
students. It's working, but it would be nice to have something that directly aligns with your eco math grade. So again, work in progress, progress monitoring. [laughter] So at Miller, we also use dibbles for progress monitoring just like they do at Plastentino. We dibbles the students
based on whatever skill they're working on and intervention. So my tutors and I when we develop our groups uh we do 8 to 10 week cycles per the dyslexia guidelines. And so every 8 to 10 weeks we're adjusting the groups whether it's exiting students or readjusting them to
figure out what skill they need to work on. Maybe they're moving from working on phonics to working on now vocabulary and comprehension or their fluency and accuracy. So um yes. So based on what they're working on is where where their progress monitored. And then students
that are working on phonics, it's twice a month. And then students that are working on fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, it's just once a month um for the progress monitoring, but my tutors also have just anecdotal notes
that they take and things like that. So we're constantly meeting and talking about the growth of students and whether or not they're making progress. All of the Dibble's progress monitoring is done by myself and my two tutors. Uh the classroom teachers do not do any progress monitoring at this time. That
being said, uh we're hoping that in the future we can move move toward that when the time feels appropriate and we're not so overwhelmed with, you know, a new math curriculum and potentially a new ELA curriculum and all that things that stuff. Um but yeah, so that's how we do
it at Miller. Um I was wondering too about the um academic development center at the high school. Um so it looked like there were nine students supported in that. Is that the model to have like a really small group in that or is that just the number of students that were referred by
[music] guidance or kind of >> honestly I can tell you one thing a lot of it is the schedule has created such limitations. So I'm the hope is that now this new schedule is going to free up the opportunity for more kids and it's been challenging assessing the kids too because of the way the halfyear classes.
So the benchmarking is very challenging. This is another validation for having fullyear classes they can get the benchmarks and then they can get the progress monitoring. So I know I don't have to convince you of the value of this team. Um having been a curriculum director in a previous life I didn't
have a team underneath me at all. I was one district curriculum person. We didn't have interventionists. I had great teachers that worked. I would sub out to do the curriculum work, but the interventions clearly are what's moving this work as well and making it meaningful to the teachers. So, I don't think that there's any thoughts of this
going away. Um, however, we do see many districts struggling and having to eliminate roles. I also, you know, looking at the high school model, I'm hoping that now that the high school, when the high school schedule that's in place, you will be able to come up with an opportunity to to refund roles that
will then help move that work further with the NISK and all the equity audits that we've had. I think that's a really critical piece right now. And there was a lot going on as we get into next year. But I do think that this is a real opportunity to find the creative way. And I thank all of you for letting me
come in and it was challenging. There was some resistance to change. It's hard. Um but I coming in with a curriculum lens myself and I know um Kimmo and obviously Dr. Manard have that background as well. To see where we've gone by kind of reinventing the model
with the with the great people we have has it's has really come so far. It's so nice to see some of the before I exit to be able to see all of this work happening in real time and you did such a nice job tonight. and then really just having to I had to blow up job descriptions and create new ones and you
you I mean the job description is a paper copy but being thank you for letting me do all of that work and put together a new team and obviously we were very fortunate to find such great people in those roles. So that would be my advice as an exiting superintendent that I hope the high school now gets an
opportunity to take back into that work because that the schedule has really created so many limitations. So once next year settles down that would be something I would prioritize if I were here chemo. So, >> thank you for my two cents. >> We all set. >> One more question here.
>> Sure. >> The interventions, Jenny, that the uh at the elementary school, do that does that include preschool, prek kids? >> Okay, >> I'll ask one more question. >> How is it do you um is there a
difference in approach? We we've got monastery and French immersion and traditional. I'm just curious how are you able to work with all of those different Yeah. So you're seeing kids in from all of those different >> It's driven by our win times. So the
monastery groups generally have wind at the same time. So we're able to pull students >> and then if you need to separate by grade level or based on need. Um same thing with French. So we're able to see all of our students >> at Plentino. So we have learning times as well but um they're grade level based
not program based. So um you know we have you know a first grade group and their skill the groups are skill-based um so a first grade group working on phonics right that might have two traditional students and a monastery student right so they're just integrated
in um I will never forget interviewing for this job and admitting to the interview pit committee that I was really curious how you know as a non French speaker myself how I was going to provide intervention to French emerging students um I'm so so proud of the work that we've done in this area. Um, still
don't speak French. I'm learning as kindergartener in the program, but uh, we have learned so much about uh, language acquisition and what that looks like in the emerging classroom. Um, we have an incredible tutor who is in between
>> literal saint Magda. Thank you. Plastentino and Miller. So, she provides intervention in French >> so beautifully. And then we're able to provide both Kristen and myself um intervention in English um based on what
the students need and really have learned about you know which pieces we're going to be targeting. So on the English side or on the ELA side I should say we're doing a lot of phmic awareness work right we don't want to confuse them with the letter sounds because they're different I've learned in French. Um so
building that foundational box one of those foundational bricks I should say. um and and math has has taken a similar approach. So yeah, >> I will say I enjoy playing com. So I I took French did not make it through AP
French, not going to lie to you. Um but um I am able to say some key phrases from my time there. And um I'm also really good at telling them to marsh, which is walk in the hallway. [laughter] Um but I do play the hidden number assessment. I go in and I progress
monitor the French kids cuz I can play it with them in French. Um, also working on counting past 120. Couldn't remember all those ones, but I can count up to 120. So, I do have some French kids who are getting English math support. Um, so
I try to put them with me so that if they do answer like automatically with a French number, I can differentiate it was correct versus incorrect. >> Um, and then Magda and I work very closely together. She's always in my office borrowing activities. We talk about the goals for the French kids um
in their math support. Um and we do sometimes and I know Jenny also has sometimes we have some French students who are getting both French and English support in either or both. >> Um so they are whatever they need is what they're getting. I do have to
commend Jenny because when I first started every uh I, you know, been new to this role this year and I got her list of students and she had pinpointed, you know, the French version students that she had concerns about that and I was able to do the jump start and and
obviously these students are actually multilingual learners, right? Because now they're learning how to read in English. And so when they come to third grade, it's a very unique opportunity where they've been learning how to read in French and all of a sudden, okay, now you need to read in English. And I'm sure that they've been doing a little
bit of that at home, but the phonics instruction is a little different, right? So giving them a little time to settle in, but also having Jenny students, making sure that in my jump start program, I was giving intervention to the students that really need it and were previously flagged was so helpful.
So that by the time, you know, the students settled in, they received some full class instruction and we were picking up those French immersion students in December, you know, it was only a few more students that needed to be added. So I really commend Platentino for their great job with their intervention over there, even though the
students are only learning in French. They were able to flag some students that were showing that they might potentially have some weaknesses when we transfer over to English, >> single literacy, math, and then we flag them. So, I wanted to speak on that um because it is amazing. We're able to start with
kids immediately. This year was the first year that we were right. Last year we were developing the program. This year we had it. So, we're able to start with those kids right away. They were able to especially coming into sixth
grade when it's a new schedule, new building, everything's overwhelming. Start that routine from the beginning was wonderful. know who to look out for who to ask teachers about um if they were kind of on the cusp and we weren't
sure. I would love to see that continue on into the high school and um just because it's been such a benefit as we work together with intervention and they do an amazing job. They get together a lot on their own. their feeding person,
you know, like Jenny would get together with Caitlyn and then Caitlyn gets together with Casey, you know, so they work with each other to make sure that they are well aware before school gets out of who is on there should be on their radar.
>> Great. Thank you so much. >> Can I say something too? I just think it's really important to attribute the skill of all of these people because the fact that the number of students at the younger ages are beginning to learn so much better
that it it's clear they're doing it with fidelity and as these students rise instead of struggling through first, second, third, fourth, and then trying to figure out where they are in fifth, these students will now have such an advantage over past students because of their talent that I I'm really pleased
because so many of those students might have wound up on IEPs and now they're going to be in their general education classroom learning with everybody. So my hat goes off to you because your talent is so obvious here >> and I think you you can foresee that some the numbers in special education
will drop as a result as we get that tier one model and the new literacy program. We've noticed this year um as comp as compared to last year, our number of SAP meetings, SST meetings um have drastically gone down. So, we're catching all of our students in tier 2.
Last year it was like every week we were meeting and this year it's been just a handful which has been really nice. So, we've noticed the impact of that on special ed as well because we're catching them. >> So, thank you. >> Bridging those gaps. >> And we're also hearing from teachers at Rams that we don't really have anyone
else to bring. got everybody that we would have recommended. So, >> thank you. >> Thank you again. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we're now going to move on. Do you want to go ahead and draw it again?
>> I don't know. >> You didn't think I Well, it wasn't me. I was trying to enlarge it, but we'll go. We'll take the credit. Yes. [laughter] >> Thank you. >> So, now we are moving to our ELA curriculum review and they're going to
really spell it out um and take you through our 2-year journey. Then, we are going to ask you for a vote tonight. >> We have a packet for you. So people we need to stretch our [laughter]
>> I I may or may not have asked Jod if I could stand during this presentation and I was told no. So this is our this is our body break. >> We probably could have differentiated. >> Thank you so much. >> You can stand if you want.
>> Thank you. I think I'm missing a few. >> Are you sure? >> Yeah. >> Here, you can have a second one if you want. >> So, it it is the length of a of a short book. Sorry about that. >> It's that good that we felt that you
needed a um so hi everyone. Thank you so much for uh listening to us this evening. Um we are so so excited to share the uh final recommendations from our ALA curriculum review. This is a
process that we began over two years ago and so it feels really exciting to be able to share our journey with you and um as well as make our final recommendation. Next slide please.
So I want to acknowledge um the amazing members of our curriculum review committee. They're listed here alphabetically along with their roles. Um, as you can see, you know, we intentionally included um teachers across grade levels, across
programs, special educators, ML teachers, um, monastery teachers, French immersion, um, admin, uh, and felt that this was a really dynamic group that participated really enthusiastically in this process. And so
really really just want to thank um, all of these people. And it's it's a large group as you can see because this work did span over two years. So um a lot of voices were part of this conversation. So this is our final timeline. Um you've
seen iterations of this as we've given periodic updates over the time that we've been in this curriculum review. Um, I won't go through uh every part of it, but it's now broken down at a pretty high level of detail starting in January
2024 um and and ending now. And so the four phases that the timeline takes us through, phase one, learn and prepare, phase 2 a investigate, uh phase 2B, select, and then phase three launch. And so >> down please,
>> you can see some of the different highlights there. So sort of talking about our initial stages of uh developing our vision um you know taking a market landscape, applying for the Desi Prism grant last May and then
really the crux of our work started this fall. Um, so you can see once we get into September 25 on a monthly basis, um, you know, real significant amount of work done. Um, and I'll I'll get into all those details, um, as we move
forward, but this is here for you to review. >> Can you admit, Bob, we're on your screen. Go ahead. >> Um, so our vision statement is something that we are really, really proud of. This is was one of the first things that
we um started working on when we met, you know, January 2024. Um and sort of just talking about, you know, what do we feel that ELA instruction at the elementary level should look like and feel like? What are our core values around [clears throat] that? Um and so
we've workshopped this quite a bit. Um we, you know, got feedback from our partners at School Kid. We'll talk about that partnership in a little bit, but they were very helpful in helping us think about not just, you know, sort of in Hollist, what's our what's our vision for elementary literacy, but thinking
about students, teachers, parents, um community, and and all of sort of those stakeholder groups. Um and so I won't read the whole the whole bit of it, but you can see that here. A few things I want to highlight. Um, we wanted to we felt that all students in Alison
deserved a curriculum that was grounded in the science of reading, which you'll hear more about. Um, with the goal of every student becoming confident, skilled, and joyful. Um, explicit, systematic, and strategic instruction, access to quality grade level texts, and
equitable opportunities for engaging, highquality, meaningful literacy learning. uh and as a result of that students becoming confident, proficient readers and writers and critical thinkers who can effectively communicate and apply their literacy skills across diverse
contexts. Next slide please. So speaking of the science of reading, I just want to make sure that our community has a little background on what the science of reading is. So first of all, I want to talk about the simple
view of reading. So basically it's a multiplication equation, right? So in order for us to have reading comprehension, we need to have strong word recogn recognition skills and strong language comprehension skills. If we're missing one, then we're not going
to have reading comprehension, right? So the word recognition skills is like th those phonics, that morphology, right? Um and the site word fluency. So when we're talking about the word recognition skills, uh if a student is unable to read those words, they would have a
score of zero. Even if the student has such strong vocabulary and can understand everything that is being said to them, they can describe things. So that would be a one. It's still going to equal zero. They're still not going to have that reading comprehension. Right?
If a student has extremely strong decoding skills and they don't have that background knowledge, that vocabulary knowledge, that ability to understand the text that they're reading, then they're not going to have any reading comprehension. So, that's just a basic
overview of the simple view of reading. And this is just some of the science. This is just some of the science that has been around since the '9s, honestly. But it's just more so coming to light now and just being talked about more now in the literacy communities, especially
with the dyslexia guidelines coming out and all of those things. So to go a little bit more in depth, this is Scarsboro's reading rope. So it talks more specifically about what language comprehension and word recognition is. So it kind of goes
through all of the bands underneath the language comprehension with background knowledge, vocabulary, language structure, etc. And then word recognition, phological awareness, which for those of you that don't know, that is the manipulation of sounds, right? So um for example, if we're talking
phonemic awareness, if I said c, you should be able to know that that's cat. All of those sounds blend cat. If you can't do that skill, then you won't be able to read that word, right? Same thing with spelling. If I say cat and you can't break that word into cact, you
won't be able to spell, right? So that's a very big foundational skill for reading. Um, and then decoding and that site word recognition. So as you bring all of these bands together, you become that skilled reader. And that's what the image of this rope is showing that each
individual strand of this rope comes together to make a strong skilled reader. [snorts] So now that we kind of talked about what the science of reading is and kind of what that means, we need to talk about instructional practices in the science
of reading and what that looks like, right? So I have some examples and some non-examples here. So if you look at this image, basically word recognition is the foundation of the reading rope and without it students don't have the ability to read or comprehend text.
According to the science of reading, the best way to teach word recognition is through phmic awareness, explicit and systematic phonics instruction, and building accuracy, automaticity, fluency, and comprehension through the use of connected texts. So that's connected text is like, you know,
phrases, sentences, paragraphs, a whole story, right? So anytime that you're seeing more than one word together. Um, so on the right you have the non-examples of teaching reading. So this includes the emphasis on the wrong uh phological components. Um encouraging
guesses of words through context or pictures and trying to increase automaticity over accuracy. Obviously accuracy always comes first. We want our students to be accurate before they're automatic. We also don't want our students to be guessing at words. We
don't want them looking at at a word seeing that it starts with a C and then looking at the picture and being like, "Oh, that word must be cat." Right? that is the that is a non-example of what we want for word recognition. So then also with language comprehension another very important piece. So making
sure that our readalouds are complex they have high vocabulary making sure that it makes our students well-rounded. So provides knowledge in all different areas. also making sure that they're developing, you know, robust conversations about these narratives and
they're using infer inferential language and then obviously explicit instruction in grammatical structures and academic vocabulary. So what does this not look like? Assuming that just because a student can speak clearly that their writing is going to be good, right? We
need to explicitly teach those grammar skills in order for students to be able to combine sentences and things like that. Actually, in fact, the um MCCAST just came out and said that they're now going to be having in grades three, four, and five, uh questions, language
questions specifically on combining sentences, specifically on identifying adjectives and verbs because that's something that our instruction has been has been lacking because we haven't been explicitly teaching it. And so, they're trying to really make sure that they're putting an emphasis back on, hey, we need to explicitly teach these skills to
our students. Okay. So what we did as a team is we evaluated our current resources. Right. So um fountains of panel classroom was purchased between 2019 and 2020. There was
uh a curriculum review was completed but it wasn't fully done the way that we did it now because of co. So what happened was you know they started the review they went through a lot of the processes but they were not able to complete it
due to co um they were not the materials were selected but the imple implementation of these materials was also significantly impacted by co um so also in um so in February 2025 sorry in
February 2025 what what uh Jenny and my counterpart what my predecessor did uh was they sent out a staff survey and the results of the staff survey were very interesting in the sense that there were teachers that were saying
that due to the science of reading they were trying to find resources to fill in what was missing from their curriculum. Right? So teachers were going to teachers pay teachers. Teachers were going to, you know, all different websites, super teacher worksheets, whatever they could find to try to fill
these gaps of what was missing in instruction. Teachers were not using the same materials across grade levels. There was a different amount of time being spent on literacy instruction across grade levels. So you know, for example, there could have been two first grade teachers. One said that they spent
30 minutes on phonics while the other one said they spent 10. Right? So it was a lot of inconsistency with the data that we were receiving. Um teachers I also think that is important to be noted that teachers um found that one of their biggest struggles was time >> that they didn't feel like they had
enough time to really teach literacy that there were some behavioral concerns that sometimes behaviors impacted it. Um but I think one of the biggest quotes from this where did it go? Okay, there were two I want to I
want to just highlight two teacher quotes from this. So, a fourth grade special educator said, "It is essential to have a structured multiensory phonics decoding and encoding program taught in sequential order for all students in the general education setting to give them a
solid foundation starting in kindergarten." and a second grade classroom teacher reported there is inconsistency across grade levels with materials and support and the review team should consider following research and science-based curriculum. So these
were just two of the of the many quotes that I could have pulled from this survey that was given in 2025. So what happened was with school kit sorry I'm not done yet. I'm >> sorry >> it's okay. Um there's a lot lot of information I need to say about one slide. Um, so what happened was with
School Kit, we did walkthroughs this fall. So, um, School Kit is our curriculum team. Jenny's going to talk about them more in depth, but basically it, sorry, not curriculum team, our, um, consultants. Thank you. Jenny will talk about them more in depth. They're fabulous. So basically what we did was
we walked through all of the classrooms K to five and we observed what was happening in the classrooms and we just made notes and observations and we found that what we were seeing in classrooms was supported what we saw on the surveys. Teachers were using different
materials. Teachers were spending different amounts of times on things. There were different things that were emphasized in different classrooms. So again, it's our educators are phenomenal and I don't want anyone thinking that this is the educator's fault. It is not. It's their they know that the science of
reading is very important and they're doing their best to try to support their students in the best way that they know how. So I really want to emphasize that. Um so the last thing I'm going to talk about is the Ed reports. So if you take a look, um basically what Ed reports is
is it's very similar to curate. I I'm sure we've talked about curate before um but it's gives free reviews of prek to 12 instructional materials. So, um I just want to emphasize that in the Fountain of Panel classroom,
specifically the foundational skills unit, um they their foundational skills received a 55%. Whereas amplify CKLA, their foundational skills received a 90%. And Amplify CKLA
is the program that Jenny and I are going to be talking about with you today. And this is just what their score is out of a hundred on their ability to instruct students in foundational skills. So I think a 55 to 100 to me speaks volumes. Sorry, 55 to a 90. Um,
next slide. So one of the most uh powerful conversations we had with our curriculum review committee was around this article, the opportunity myth. That is the first article in your packet that is quite long but really really impactful
and I encourage you to uh read it over in your non-existent spare time. Um this was an article that was recommended both in our work with the Desi implement network as well as from School Kit. And so basically to sort of sum it up for you before you've had a chance to read
it, um it's a really in-depth study that speaks to the importance of teacher expectation um and rigor and exposure to grade level assignments. Um, and so we read this sort of Jigsaw style as a committee and then had a really really
powerful discussion about it and I mean the the conversations we were having around the importance of rigor and and what that means and what that looks like were incredible. Um, and so echoing some of what Caitlyn said about our walkthroughs, um, at the start of this
school year, um, when we during these walkthroughs, what we noticed was that what was happening in classrooms wasn't necessarily meeting the level of rigor necessary in order to demonstrate proficiency on the mass state standards. We saw lots of engagement, strong relationships, positive classroom
culture, passionate educators, uh, but vertical alignment and grade level assignments were not obviously evident. And the two infographics included on this slide uh speak to like I mentioned the importance of exposure to grade
level topics um as well as uh the power of teacher expectation. All things we've heard about before right as people who worked in education but um I think just really hit home for our committee and this was really a
grounding uh text in in all the work that we did this year. Next slide, please. You may remember last year we mentioned um that we began participating in the implement um mass uh de neessie network,
excuse me. Uh this year we continued participating in that. So that was a monthly meeting. Um this was held by DESIE and included districts all across the state doing curriculum reviews um at all grade levels across subject areas.
and they just provided an incredible amount of education and structure and information on how to go about this process. So, a few things that I want to highlight. Um, I can't touch on all of them because we met monthly and so they were so so full of information, but um,
one of the first things we talked about was curriculum literacy. So, you have a handout on that in your packets. Um, we talked about this with our committee and sort of just understanding what does that term mean? Um and we had gave a curriculum literacy survey to our
committee members and as a result of that survey it was determined that the areas of need were around understanding the curate rubrics which I'll speak about as well as the culturally responsive curriculum scorecard which I'll also speak about. Um and so this
just gave us a really clear sort of path of um instructionally what to focus on with our committee because this the purpose of this committee was not just to select a new set of materials. It was also like a group of instructional leaders meeting regularly and so it was
a really powerful opportunity to have these conversations. Um and so we will discuss more of that as we move forward. So as we began the process of evaluating potential curriculum resources,
um the curate reports uh really determined how we were looking at different sets of materials. Um so I should back up for a moment. Last year, um myself and Elsa
O'Brien, who you may remember, Caitlyn's predecessor, we met with many many surrounding districts, um who were also in a curriculum review or had recently completed one to just have um you know, with our our job alikes basically to just have an honest conversation about
their experiences, resources that they used, things that they learned along the way. So, those were very very helpful. Like I mentioned, the curriculum literacy survey gave us a very clear sense of what were the areas of need within our committee. Um, and so then
the these uh ED reports, like Caitlyn mentioned, those ratings, the 55 and the 90% as well as the curate reports gave us some real quantitative data when when looking at different uh resources and some common language and sort of a common rubric to use. So I've included
here um a snapshot of the curate ratings key. And so basically this is how these are the four different levels of uh success that a program can gain on any any given area. So if it meets
expectations, partially meets, does not meet or not applicable. Um and these curate reports are very thorough you know 20 to 30 pages and they go into detail. So under standards alignment talking about text quality classroom
instruction foundational skills and then talking about classroom application under classroom application excuse me student accessibility teacher learning teacher usability and impact on learning. Um, and so we spent a significant amount of time as a committee diving into how to read these
reports, reading so so many of these reports across different sets of materials. Uh, next slide please. Another area of need defined in the curriculum literacy survey was uh knowledge of the culturally responsive
responsive ELA curriculum scorecard. Um, you have a copy of this as well. It's the last packet in your larger packet. Um, this was developed out of NYU. Um, and is a really incredible resource that
we leveraged many times throughout this process. So, it's it's a a rubric designed to think about the cultural responsiveness of different materials. The sections include one on representation. So, it's thinking about,
you know, who's represented not only characters but authors, that piece, um, social justice and teacher materials. Um, on the screen here, I've included just a small snapshot of the teacher material section. Um, so
with once we had sort of started to narrow our list of materials, this was something that we, you know, put each of those sets of materials up against. And so Amplify CKLA like Caitlyn mentioned is what we're going to be focusing on with you this evening. So according to
the curate report um they reported that there was an exposure to diverse range of perspectives varied linguistic ethnic and religious backgrounds. Uh they did mention that so the way that CKLA is structured uh there are know for K to2
uh there are knowledge units and skills units. The knowledge units range across a variety of social studies and science topics. So they did make note that uh in the some of the kindergarten knowledge lessons uh there were some inaccurate
uh stances around uh treatment of uh indigenous people the tyino uh indigenous people and their depiction of uh Columbus as friendly. um also some inaccuracies around Thanksgiving as a celebratory feast and that's something that we've really focused on in the past
few years is you know teaching accurate true hard history um as difficult as it may be and so we were very glad to see that those specific topics uh were removed from the third edition which is what we're recommending to you today. So
um this this said to us that amplify CKA was very responsive [cough and clears throat] to the feedback provided by curate. Um and you know personally these are this is something that Caitlyn and I feel really passionate about. So we're very glad to
see that they recognized the need to make this shift as they updated the materials. And when Jenny and I noticed that, I mean, we both dove a little deeper into the materials. And I just think it's important to note that anytime there is a subject that could be
sensitive, uh, for example, in second grade, they have a knowledge unit on slavery. And so there is a whole multiple multiple pages for the classroom teacher about ways to present slavery to talk about how slavery did not just happen in the United States,
but it's happened all over the world. to talk about the fact that there is unfortunately still some slavery that does happen in parts of the world. So it kind of really details all of that for the classroom teacher and make sure that they have the true accurate knowledge of
whatever unit that they are talking about and also talks about appropriate ways. Um we looked at the materials and they are very appropriate for you know a second grade student. But just making sure that the educators are aware of this history and making sure that they're they're going into that unit
full with the full knowledge that they need to have. >> Next slide, please. >> So in taking you through our process a little bit further. Um so we determined sort of district parameters and then
district priorities. So the parameters were sort of those non-negotiables, right? So these were some of the first conversations we had as a committee. So we were looking for materials that could span K to 5. Um because we were awarded the prism grant which we were so so
thrilled about. There were of course certain you know qualifiers that we needed to uh follow. So that included looking at HQIM which stands for high quality instructional material uh that were on the curate approved list and there were six of those total. Um and
then of course budget. We of course needed to take that into consideration. And then the priorities are sort of those difference makers, right? So this sort of uh connected to that instructional vision that we spoke about early on in the presentation. So teacher materials that were easy to customize
and implement, clear instructions but not scripted, right? We felt our committee felt really strongly about that. um curriculum that included a variety of rich culturally relevant texts um including both fiction and non-fiction aligning to grade level writing expectations
clear robust PD uh and curriculum that was not reliant on the intense use of technology and limited the amount of screen time that students experience during their ELA block. We want kids reading real books in their hands. Next slide, please.
So this work would absolutely not have been possible without our incredible partners at School Kit. Um so we have uh Chrissy Gillery, Stephanie Jackson, and Rachel Johnson. We are so grateful for them that we included their beautiful photos on this slide. Um this was part
of our work with the Prism Grant that we got this coaching from them. And so this sort of takes you through our our work with them throughout the school year. They came and spent two full days with us in October and we spent a full day at Placentino and a full day at Miller getting to spend the entire day in
classrooms which was incredible and something that Caitlyn and I don't often get to do and it was so so eye opening. Um they've provided uh PD for our committee on what HQIM are right and how to how to sort of um evaluate those um
what those sort of look fors could be. you have in your packet um this document research aligned HQIM look fors this is developed um based on the achieve the core um instructional practice guide so this was a really helpful document for
our committee as we were just starting to research what was out there and what what was on that sort of curate approved list um in January we had an additional PD session with them where we were narrowing we actually had um sample materials at that point we had narrowed
it to three different sets of materials. So, we were able to spend um half of that PD day as a group really getting our our hands on the materials, looking through them, using this rubric as a sort of grounding grounding piece. Um
Caitlyn and I got to work with Rachel um to have a session on internalization and learn more about that. And that's really going to be um the a key part of our work moving forward and having teachers understand what lesson and unit internalization looks like and how that's applicable regardless of a
specific curricular resource just best teaching practices. Um we at the end of two both of our pilots which Caitlyn will talk about in a minute um they came and conducted walkthroughs with us. So, we used a common rubric to do
walkthroughs at the end of each pilot and be able to compare those two. Um and then next week we will be hosting them for a strategic planning um implementation planning meeting that'll include you know Caitlyn and I will have the day with them and that part of
[clears throat] the day will also include time with with admin um both building and district level to make sure that you know whatever we're able to move forward with that it's a successful um implementation.
So really really grateful to them. >> So I I have this one. Uh so for the piloting materials we ended up narrowing it down to wonders in CKLA. So basically what we did was we used the curate reports to narrow down the selection to
three potential pilots. Then we explored those materials. We did kind of our research. We looked at reviews of the different the various curriculums and then we used the HQIM look for pages as we were looking through these materials as well as Jenny mentioned. Uh then we
voted on which two and we came down to wonders in CKLA. So basically what did that look like when we were piloting? Well, we made sure that the publishing companies provided PD for our classroom teachers that were piloting the materials for both Wonders and Amplify
CKLA. Uh we also made sure that there was unit internalization that was provided by uh Rachel from school kit for the teachers that were piloting as well. So whatever unit they were piloting in Wonders, Rachel did one hour of unit internalization with the teams
for Wonders and then the same thing with CKLA. Um additionally, Wonders was uh piloted for 3 weeks plus an assessment was given to students and then CKLA was piloted for three weeks and an assessment was given to students. So, as you can see, we were trying to be as
even as possible with these two curricular resources to make sure that all of the uh notes and things that were gathered were were very true to the resources themselves and not the experience of it. Um, so during these piloting during these piloting
processes, teachers took notes uh about Wonders while they were piloting Wonders and then CKLA while they were piloting CKLA. Uh Jenny, Rachel from School Kit and I did walkthroughs for Wonder and CKLA as well so that we could see what it looked like in the classrooms while
it was being implemented. Uh students were given a survey. The student feedback was fun to read um for Wonders and CKLA. Teachers were given a survey for Wonders and CKLA. One of my teachers told me recently that they're a little surveyed out. Um and then families were
also given a survey uh at the end of the piloting. So we had we gathered a lot of information. So then what um Jenny and I did was we synthesized all of this information. We presented it to our team in a final meeting. Uh we also reviewed
what the science of reading is. We reviewed our vision statement. We reviewed what consensus is and um we reviewed what highquality instructional materials are. And then we had a very robust discussion about pros and cons of these two curricular units. and sorry uh
curricular materials. And what was wonderful is teachers were very very honest and we're we're going to be honest. There is not going to be one perfect curricular resource out there, right? And we were honest about that as we were talking about it as a group.
We've been honest about that all along. We want to be honest about that with our community, right? So our goal is to find something that fits majority of the needs of our community, right? and that is a high quality instructional material. And so um after all of that
discussion, we voted on Google forms and um if you can uh and we we voted on Google force. I just want to um the next slide is the piloting teachers. So I just want to make sure. So these teachers did so much
additional work in order to do these pilots and I really really want to make sure that we thank them because they spent extra time after school. They spent ext they spent their prep time doing all doing different things right
to to prepare for all of these this unit implementation. They were part of these conversations and they really took this very seriously. and we had about two teachers from each grade level and I really just want to thank all of them and make sure that you know they are
noticed for what they did and the efforts that they put in. Um and then before we talk about CKLA Yeah. so before we go into more detail about our our recommendation that recommendation that we'll be making will be for um traditional monastery
classrooms K to 5. Um, of course we need to discuss French immersion and preschool as well. Um, because at Placetito we are fortunate to have our youngest learners in Holl. Um, so I'll start with that. So we are in the process of completing a condensed but
similar process in terms of uh looking at different resources. We're working with Katherine Jakes through AIR and the department of early education and care um school kid is supporting this work as well. So, myself and Katherine Jakes and
um our school kit uh folks have been meeting to talk about different resources for preschool, looking at these rubrics um and some, you know, specific pieces that we've been focused on are, you know, materials that are hands-on and developmentally appropriate. Um we were fortunate to
have a really passionate preschool educator on our larger committee and so she as well as any other preschool teachers that are interested will be brought more to this process um as we move forward throughout the school year. Um, but it's really exciting to see that
sort of this standard of, you know, looking at a rubric that defines high quality and also, you know, breaks uh a program down into such a high level of detail um exists for for preschool curricula. Um at this time given that um preschool is using Eureka Math Squared
for math we would be looking at a literacy specific uh resource not there's some preschool resources that are comprehensive across subjects we're not looking to replace Eureka Masquerade we know that that is a recent adoption and and going very well so our focus is
on the literacy piece and we will share updates with you as we have them uh with regard to French um as I mentioned my daughter is in kindergarten in French so This is a personal a personal passion of mine. Um we felt that you know thinking back on the math curriculum review
process there was a lot to be learned. um they did an incredible job. But with regard to the French piece, you know, we were very clear from the beginning that especially given the fact that this is literacy, you know, we weren't going to find a program that we could just translate into French and have taught in
French classrooms, right? [snorts] So, um that being said, I am working with the world language coordinator from Milton. Um Milton Public Schools also has a French immersion program as you probably know. Um and so she has been incredibly helpful. Um and they are also
in a curriculum review. So sort of doing that work side by side. Um and so our current thought is this the what the exploration that we're doing is really mostly for Placentino because the resource that we're that will be used at
Miller uh is the main re the sorry it's been a long day. The resource that we're recommending K to 5 will be used at Miller on the English speaking side of French. So in thinking about a resource for French immersion classrooms at Placantino just as you know those
classrooms are taught in French throughout the day. So um there is an incredible program called sonograph which is basically the um equivalent of UFly foundations if you if you're familiar with that program um is a very researchbased science of reading phonics
and pony is only so it's not a comprehensive program but a very uh wellrespected program in French. Um it's free which is wonderful. Um and so Dr. Slaney and I have been discussing um you know the importance of a really
thoughtful roll out of those materials and not just you know handing French a resource and asking them to run with it because we're certainly not doing that for other other programs. Um we will be looking at piloting resources from sonograph next
year with the French immersion teachers and having them give feedback. We also need to find an accompanying resource to support vocabulary comprehension writing. Um Erin Snder and I work very closely together um as well as um some consultants that the French immersion
team has worked with in the past, Dr. Kim Lockheart. Um and so this is this is a work in progress, but it's something that we felt was important to really take our time with and so we will definitely share updates with you as we have them. Okay. So that being said, uh our
recommendation or I should say the committee's recommendation, the uh literacy committee of teachers that we provided at the very beginning of this uh slideshow or whatever it's called. Uh it's been a long night for me too. Uh so
our recommendation is amplify CKLA. So it scored all of the discs were filled in on the the curate report. Um, our teachers that were piloting found that it was an almost unanimous vote for this particular curriculum material and it's
based on foundational skills. It has explicit systematic phonics and language skills, knowledge skills, um, immersive content domains and history, science, and the arts. and it provides teachers with 100% aligned materials eliminating the search for resources
fatigue as our teachers have been experiencing as we as uh Jenny and I mentioned we saw in the walkthroughs we saw it in the survey they have been looking high and low for materials and this will help them focus instead on the searching of materials and instead the imple implementation of these materials
to make sure that they're providing high quality instruction. Um, the great thing about this is it's equitable and accessible for all. So, it has decodable readers and it has built-in scaffolds including but not limited to differentiation that provides challenges
for students that are already on grade level. Uh, supports for students that might not be on grade level. Um, it has different boxes. I have an image of it up here where it tells the classroom teacher where they can give MLL or EL
reading or writing support. So it tells specific suggestions even from like the emerging student to the transitioning student to the bridging student which is fabulous. So it helps the teacher with that. Um it has additional support pages. The this specifically is for K
to2. They have additional support pages at the very end of each one of their units to tell teachers more help that they can give with whatever skill is being addressed at the time. Uh for grades three to five they have skill books. So basically what it is is if the
students are struggling with a very specific phonics skill, it actually goes all the way back to grade one in these skills books, but it has grade three highinterest content. Right? So the students won't be read working on grade
one decodable skills reading a grade one decodable. They'll be working on grade one decodable skills reading grade three decodable. Right? So it's just more high interest and it doesn't feel like you know baby reading for those upper elementary students which I do think is very important for buyin for students.
Um and then also it has pausing point days for intervention and enrichment activities which is all provided by this curriculum. So basically what it does is at the end of the unit it tells the teacher okay now you're going to have three pausing point days and during that time the teachers review whatever
assessments they gave and they said okay these kids got it. I'm going to give them some enrichment. These are the students that maybe were struggling with this concept. This is what they're going to be working on to make sure that as we move forward, they have this skill. Um, so those are all of the things that are
provided just by purchasing the base level of Amplify CKLA. They've really put a lot of thought um into their product. So, next slide. So the great thing about these choice units um oh sorry the sorry the great thing about uh amplify CKLA is
if as you can see from this visual they're actually the knowledge builds over time. So the importance with comprehension is that comprehension is not taught in isolation. Right? You can read a passage and I can say to you, you
know, find the main idea and supporting details, but if you don't understand the passage, then that has no value to you, right? So we need to build knowledge around that. And knowledge is also an equity issue. If you're with a family that's reading books all the time and you're traveling, you know, to Japan
because you can afford that and you're traveling all around the world and you're learning all of this language and you're sitting next to a child that maybe hasn't had those experiences, you're already, you know, here with your knowledge, right? So, it's an equity issue and it's something that's really
important for CKLA. What they do is they build that vocabulary and that knowledge and all of the questions that they're asking are based on the knowledge that they've built. All of the comprehension skills that they're doing is based on that knowledge that they've built. And that way it evens that playing field for
those children that maybe don't get to go to Greece for the summer with their families. But hey, let's learn all about Greece and let's talk about it all together and now let's apply these comprehension skills. Um and so what it does is as you follow like let's say the purple um in kindergarten so it goes
from the five senses to grade one the human body to then the human body in grade two to then the human body in grade three and it stops there but it builds over time. So when you're starting in kindergarten you're going to start in this one particular knowledge
and you're going to move through the grade levels. And so that's something that CKLA was very thoughtful about in making sure that um students were building knowledge over time throughout our district. Um I also want to emphasize that there are some choice
units in here. So uh there's two different types of choice units. There's the novel study where teachers get to choose um there's two different novels, a contemporary and a classic. And they get to choose whether or not they want to do the contemporary novel or the classic novel. And then also um there's
a choice unit. I believe it's unit eight in um I know it's unit eight in grades three, four, and five where they get to pick between two similar units, but they just have like different background knowledge and things that's built. >> I just want to clarify looking at this slide as well. So as you can if you it
might be a little hard to see from so far away, but the the green highlighted units are literature, purple is science, blue is history. And we are not by any means suggesting that this would replace instruction in any of those subjects. This is just one of the ways uh that we
found in our work with CKLA that they really engage students. Students were so incredibly excited about these knowledge units whether it was ancient Rome or maps. Honest to God, kindergarteners jazzed
about maps. >> Oh, it was great to see. So, just to give you a sense of some of the highinterest topics that students will be um interacting with. >> And just as an anecdotal thing, I mean, when we walked into the kindergarten room, the students were using words like equator, and they knew what it meant, and they knew where to find it, and they
knew that it wasn't a real line, that it's like imaginary, right? And these are our kindergarteners being able to use this language. It was really, really neat to see. Um so just continuing uh with this amplify CKA
obviously professional development so that's provided for teachers in addition to that we um applied for the prism grant I have to say that slowly sometimes people think I say prison [laughter] prism grant um and we're
hoping that we will have year two of that and we'll be able to get our school kids consultants again to help us with the roll out of Um and we are going to be utilizing PD days and curriculum days for that work. Um
additionally there's technology there's an online platform that has different assessments. It has lesson slides that are very simplistic which as we know research has shown that it's very important that we don't you know have too many things for children right we
don't want to overstimulate them. So the lesson slides are very simplistic but explicit and it has additional resources. Um this is the fun part. So the costs um so for a three-year implementation and associated costs for
a three-year contract it's $358,359.54. Um the capital >> that's for grades >> that's for grades K to five. >> Yes, we forgot to put that. >> That's okay. Um our the capital request that you guys so generously approved was
$275,000. Uh the supplies and materials from the prism grant uh $97,200 and then remaining funds for PD are $13,640. So um this is what our recommendation [snorts]
is uh in regards to that. Okay. So, homeschool connection because part of the parent survey that we sent out was a lot of parents didn't actually know what was happening in the schools for literacy. So, uh we really want to emphasize the homeschool connection and
Amplify CKLA has letters that you can send home to families that we will obviously translate for those families that need it. Um, and so those families will be sent home for each unit so that families know what their student is learning. And it also gives them conversation starters to have. I mean, I
have a 5-year-old and he already won't talk to me. So, I cannot imagine what, [laughter] you know, it's like to ask, you know, a six or seven or nineyear-old what happened in school. Um, so I think that this is great to have some conversation starters and some talking points. Um, and then also we want to be
really transparent with families, right? So obviously, you know, Jenny and I will start the work of making sure that we're publishing things, that we're having community information on the website, um, and going through all that UBD work. Um, so one powerful quote from a third
grade parent uh said about CK about amplify CKLA. This was highly engaging for my child. He came home daily talking about his reading and learning. He reported that the stories were better, the topic was better, and he liked that there were multiple stories around one
theme. He enjoyed reading longer passages and then stopping to reflect and write reading responses. So, that was a really powerful uh quote that Jenny and I wanted to make sure that we added from a third grade parent whose child doesn't typically talk about reading, but they were coming home
talking about reading, which is awesome. Um, and then then there's optional take-home pages, which essentially is homework, right? Uh, to go with that. >> And just to clarify, the survey that we sent to families at the end of the pilots was to the families of classrooms
that participated in the pilot, really wanting [clears throat] to hear from them. Did they hear their students talking at home about their experiences? What were those experiences, positive or negative? And so, you know, that that I think really um illustrates it well.
Next slide please and this is our last one I guess. >> So proposed implementation. Um so you know we of course we started off by speaking about the purchase of Fontis and Panel classroom materials which was
made in 2019 2020. Um, and we acknowledge that that was a significant financial investment and some of those materials are still valuable and we've had lots of conversations and discussions around how to continue using some of those existing materials. Um,
one of the most powerful parts of the Fontis and Panel classroom materials are the interactive readalouds. Um, they are highquality diverse texts um, organized by theme, right? Um and so uh our
proposal is to continue using those interactive readalouds um and building sort of a knowledge library. What we saw I'm just realizing we didn't mention this. We also went to visit uh we visited other nearby district. We visited Sharon and Bellingham to see
that our two final um curriculum materials in action. And what we saw um in Sharon was that they had for every grade level, you know, there's 10 knowledge units and they had thematic libraries organized for the classroom teachers to pull from around the
American Revolution, the human body, five senses, so on and so forth. And so I think those texts could be incredibly useful for that and every classroom has them. Um and then use utilized during other lessons, especially PBIS and ruler. Um as you know we have a large
emphasis on on that social emotional learning especially at the elementary level and um we have thematic readalouds um around different you know character pieces um understanding emotions and there's a lot of great texts from the
fontis and panel classroom kit that could be used for that. Uh we have a lot of thoughts about initial implementation but just to give you a small snapshot of of what we would do first. So obviously developing our full professional
development plan um for the year 2627 and thinking about exactly what that would look like. Um ordering and organizing materials. Uh Caitlin and I are very eager to do that. Um our hopeful continued partnership with School Kit. We should find out in June if we were awarded the continuation of
the Prism grant and so we will keep you updated on that. Um and something we are really excited about developing a strong and transparent implementation plan. So, as I mentioned, um, next week we will be starting that work and wanting to be
incredibly intentional about this implementation given the fact that we spent all of this time and effort getting to today, we want to make sure that this is a successful roll out. And so thinking about everything that that needs to include, um, planning
materials, um, scheduling, just all of the all of the pieces necessary for a successful implementation, having admin on board, so on and so forth. Um, so thank you so much for your time and for listening to us for so long this evening. Um, happy to answer any
questions you might have. >> Really comprehensive. So thank you. Thank you. [laughter] So you did all of this while also doing all the interventions, >> correct? >> Yes, that's what happened. >> They are amazing. They are amazing. >> That is incredible. >> Yeah. >> So, two questions I have. Um you
mentioned the equity score and this um resource you use the rubric which is great and I'm glad that was such a focus for you guys. Um I'm assuming since you showed that the score was pretty high for all areas of the curriculum. >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. Were there any gaps or things that you recall? So the only thing that was
mentioned was the um those two uh knowledge unit topics, the um indigenous people and Thanksgiving. There was what we noticed honestly across every resource we looked at, they did say there could be a more diverse um author
representation and so that's something that we're always going to need to be mindful of. >> Um >> so that's something that we're going to keep a close eye on. But overall it scored very well. Awesome. And then my second question, um it mentioned toward the end here that [clears throat] there was um some online resources. Does the
curriculum have a reliance on online and we that was something that like I said Caitlyn and I felt really strongly about. They have a it's it's a very engaging um online hub that students got to engage with during the pilot. They can view the decodable text online. There are some games. Um there's some,
you know, for the younger grades, there's some, you know, phmic awareness videos and letter videos and things like that. But this is a true um words are are speaking me at this moment but uh it is it is definitely not a technologyheavy
uh resource and that is by design. >> Yes, they have books and hands but they do have that online component if for example you know they need help with handwriting and things like that and maybe they're not the kind of student that's a strong skill for them. So, as an accommodation, it could go online and
do the typing component type of thing. Right. So, it it'll be used in in a in an efficient and productive way, a supplementary way. Yes. >> I have a couple of follow-up questions today. >> Yeah. No problem. So, thank you. This was an incredibly thorough process that
you outlined. So, thank you for, you know, that's huge amount of work that you undertook to plan this. I appreciate that. Um, I appreciate you also addressing kind of the what really stood out in the curate report around the diverse perspectives and the historical
inaccuracies and how you sub kind of provided a supplemental resource to really look at the new version. But the other area that really stood out to me was um foundational skills. So it says teachers will need to supplement materials to provide consistent explicit instruction and practice in phological
and phmic awareness. And while fluency activities are included, they're often optional or presented in supplemental. So when you review the updated resource kind of what was your take on that foundational skill and the supports for teachers? >> Sure. So you're reading from the cury
report. Yes. So the cury report that's currently published was published in 2022. So it's on the second edition and what we're proposing is the implementation of the third edition. Um, and so, you know, especially Placentino with our our youngest learners, we, as you've heard us speak about, we use
integrity in the classrooms for PMIC awareness. And that's something that's been going really well. And so, we felt like that was important to keep in mind as we went through this process. Are we, you know, that's that's going really well. We've seen it reflected in the data and and many in many other ways. So, what we found was that the skills
units were incredibly explicit. Uh I to be honest I want to I want to be very thorough and thoughtful about the decision about whether or not he will be still used in the classrooms or not. My my guess in my guess that sounds as if I haven't thought about it. My thought is
that uh he might shift to be used as a intervention resource because it is so powerful. Uh what we found is that the explicitness and the systematic approach to the delivery of the skills instruction was very very thorough and
um really nothing like our students have experienced before. So we were very very pleased with it. >> About the ed reports and the curate are based on older versions of CLA CKLA. Is there an updated report? >> Not yet. So the third edition just came out in 2025. Okay.
>> Um and there it seems to take about a year or two. So, as soon as there is one, we will share it with you. >> Thank you. >> Good. Well, with that, we took some of this information and put some of the information that they've already shared
with you into a memo as we've done in the past um with the recommendation to um use the capital funds and prison grant to fund this resource that has come highly recommended to us. I put some links in there to the website um as
well. and just would hope that you would vote to allow us to move forward with the imp purchase and implementation of this curricular resource. >> Um, okay. So, before we we haven't uh had a chance to look at this in in in budget and so I'm looking
at these numbers for the first time. I'm trying to um are the are these all additive then the 358? No, this is what we've already So the 275 that capital approved Monday with the prison g of 972 plus the 13,000
adds up to I'm sorry. Um the >> That's right. >> Yes. Adds up to the whole contract there. >> So the money that we already have garnered will fund all of this in three years. >> Three years. >> Those numbers don't add up.
>> Um three the threeear contract >> is Yeah. You're getting >> - 275 - 972 leaves us 136. >> I think we checked the numbers. No, we did. >> No, those 22 275 97,000
and 13,000 add up to $385,000. >> Just going to check it in. So this was the capital I was I'm trying to triangulate. >> So we have 372200. It's probably in the wrong order. We received 275
through capital the other night plus 70 972 which gets us a 3722 >> and 358 of that is for the three-year contract and the remaining 136 is for PD. I think we just put it into the wrong order. >> Got it. So the two actually is what's
funding the two the first and the fourth one. Okay. >> Yeah, it's in the wrong order. I don't know how that happened. I apologize. I think it was on the slide differently. We had >> Okay. So, we received and so we received 224 >> from the prison grants,
>> right? But just to clarify, only 97,200 of that is to be used materials. >> Sure. >> So, what did we spend the rest of the prison grant on? How much was school kit? >> The the large remainder of that. >> Yes. where that grant was, >> all the training that they did and all the time and
>> and then the other remaining part was paid to the curriculum um review team for their hourly work um on the team >> and those are categories that are defined by Dusty and Prism that we did
not get to choose. And Jenny, remind me because Caitlyn was not here yet, >> it prepopulated those amounts in each category. So you have no choice >> in each of those areas. >> And the 97,000 as part of the prison grant is for materials.
>> Yes. Correct. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And the $13,640 for the PD. What is is that materials? >> Nope. That's P. So the P the quotes that were provided to us from Amplify
which that 358 number right uh so that is the amount the quote the number that was quoted to us by Amplify that includes all teacher materials consumables for three years it does not include PD so we wanted to show that we
do have remaining funds available for PD and that's something that you know given your approval Caitlyn and I will start working on immediately in terms of determining what the PD will look like and what those exact costs will be.
>> David, you there? >> So, can I just clarify something if it's helpful? So, the 358 number is the number that was quoted to us by Amplify, right, for three years. >> Okay. If we add together the 275 and the
97200 that is the amount that we are able to put towards that number >> 372 >> right so it that's where we got the surplus of the 13,000 >> for the first year implementation to capital >> correct so so David how do you feel
confident that the 13,000 spent from uh a capital resource or a a a grant for supplies and materials will be allowed to be spent on PD.
I think more concern I have than the 13,000 is just kind of keeping an eye on the the year two the 197,000 um as that applies to kind of this uh this literacy roll out. I don't know if Jenny or
Joanie kind of wanted to speak to some of that as it related to some of the professional development, what that year two would look like connected to this. Um the and then just kind of wanted to kind of think more about like how we after the [snorts] three-year [clears throat] contract what that would look like uh
over time. >> Yeah. So, let me I'm um logging into gems right now to tell you the categories for the 100. We applied for a continuation for $197,500. Um let me tell you how it's broken out.
I just need to get in there. Um great >> cuz Dan I think to answer your question as well 13,000640 and I don't Jenny or Jody or what was
the um do we have a cost breakout of uh of their PD as far as their training on specifically this material that would we've been in conversations with our um Tracy our wonderful rep from CKLA. We email with
her >> every day >> too much. >> Um and [clears throat] so we are we are glad to see that uh it appears that we can build sort of an alle cart PD experience. They offer a lot um and we
have made it clear that we are hoping to uh implement a combination of PD from them as the publishers of the material as well as from school kit. And so, for example, you know, we felt it would be
very important to start the school year with their full day launch. Yes. >> Provided by Amplify. Um, and then in thinking about some of the, you know, ongoing because of course that's a crucial part of this. Um, especially because we've already sort of built that relationship and that culture with
School Kit and teachers are used to seeing these people in our buildings and in our classrooms and really see them as partners. um having that be more of the ongoing sort of um the ongoing PD that would happen to sort of check in throughout and and
strengthen as we go. And so David, we haven't fleshed out the full detailed PD plan, but it does sound like we are able to select what best meets our needs and we've been honest with them about our our the prison grant and our work with
school kid and that we would be doing a combination of both. And then with the grant, the the one that we applied to, that's $197,500. Um, $157,500 is for contracted services, which would
be with School Kid, which goes directly to what Jenny was just talking about that they would be providing the PD. So, that money would cover that PD. >> But the $197,000 is is is something we have not been awarded yet and is continuing. That's not part of any of
this. >> Correct. >> Because this would be for year two and beyond just for PD. The mater the 380 the 358 number includes materials for the next three years and it would take us through fall 29. >> When when would we find out about the
197? >> In June. is I I I just did I'd like to have a little more conversation just about some some of these details and just make sure that I fully I support what you guys have done and I don't I'm not looking in any way to change any of the recommendations. I just want to make
sure that I understand the numbers. That's really what it's boiling down to. So this is not anything about your presentation, the work that you've done or anything like that. Um >> we appreciate all of that. Yeah, I mean that that it's an incredible amount of work. Um, but would there be any issue?
Would there be we're sorry, sorry. Would there be any um would there be any negative impact if we delayed this two weeks just to sort of >> I think the planning of the PD, you know, and the order materials.
>> Yes. So, I I think for us just thinking just keeping teachers in mind, right? uh this is going if if we do implement this curriculum, we'll be implementing it in the fall and Janney and I would really like the opportunity to start
flushing out what that implementation plan is going to look like. Uh we have and and also trying our best to get some manuals and materials in teachers hands before the school year ends so that they have things to look at over the summer.
In addition to that, potentially providing a little bit of PD through our school kit people to classroom teachers before the school year ends. So, I I mean, I I don't know that two weeks would would impact that significantly, but it would definitely have an impact
on the ability for us to get those materials to teachers before the school year ends. And then just if for some reason we shifted gears, you would lose the prism money that we've already received. >> I I don't think anyone [clears throat]
is suggesting shifting gears. >> I just think we going forward I how do we bring this to budget first like it feels out of order. We're reviewing as a full committee. Um because that I mean that's part of the issue is like we would have gone through this in a little
more detail from a budget lens, right? Obviously the presentation for the full committee but I think seeing numbers you know honestly numbers that didn't make sense till 10 minutes ago like we need a little more deep dive into >> was that I'm trying to remember the difference the math review because we
did a similar thing I'm just trying to remember what >> we did do a similar thing we're doing tonight >> I'm just trying to remember >> did we vote on the budget then there >> yes we voted for the capital funds >> although I would point out that the math
contain some consulting work that I that you know we weren't aware of. >> Um >> so >> I think I just presented it incorrectly if I'm being honest. >> No need to shift to to >> We understand your need to continue take
a closer look at the numbers. I guess we would just ask that if you could share your decision with us as soon as possible. We have so many uh plans and things waiting in the wings that we are very very eager to get started on. Um, but of course we understand if you need more time. >> So, do you have any specific questions
we can help you guys with right now? >> I didn't have like a >> Is it the PD portion that you >> It's really the PD port. So, yeah, I mean I could I mean if you wanted I I mean because we sort of did review this in cap the capital request in capital. >> So I I think if if
>> we unleash block that >> if you want to just hold on the on the on the PD >> that would be helpful if you could vote to have them move ahead >> move ahead with the rest. And yeah, >> that that you know >> that works. So I guess and I guess >> I think we're I think it's it's really going to be more a conversation with
with with David about where the where the PD money comes from rather than whe going to do the PD or not. I think >> and I think Dan and David can weigh in later, but I think too if there's a need to shift literacy resources fully from
the capital, whatever, I'm sure we can figure out a way to then shift the PD to a different >> and I guess I would just echo the same request. >> Sorry. Go ahead, Dr. [clears throat] >> Just to jump in. Um I I'm in agreement
with Susan and Dan on on both this. I I think the actual capital numbers for the materials that's the that's the right number. That's what we anticipated. Um I think what what Joanie and I have talked about as far as professional development is um there's a lot of comfort around
receiving that year to the 197 as far as the proper roll out professional development for for the literacy. Uh what we are seeing in districts that are is that it's not that it's a guarantee, but it seems if you get the year one, you're you're pretty much rocking and rolling for the
year two. Um but uh we you know that's you know it's not in hand. Uh I guess right now I wouldn't want to have a vote uh linked to something that we hope we get. Um that said, I think that's something we're we're anticipating. Um,
and then I do think the 13,000 with the 197 specifically geared towards a proper literacy roll out is definitely sufficient. >> I just want to make sure though everybody understands, right? Like I I think right we kind of confuse people, >> but yeah, they're in the wrong.
>> We have everything that all we are able to cover everything between the capital and the supplies and materials. If you add those together, those just remaining that remaining $13,640
is what we wanted to use. >> And I don't think I think they understand that now. I think the issue is it's it's really just what you can take out of certain buckets. >> And that's money we have now. That has that $13,640 has nothing to do with getting the
continuation. >> Right. Right. >> Just want to make sure everybody gets that. Right. So, also the continuation, just so I mean, we were just told, Jenny and I were just told this recently that we can actually only use the PD money from the continuation for one company.
So, like if we are using it to pay our school kit people, we can only use it to pay the school kit people. We couldn't use it to pay the amplify people. >> And then, >> so what did does Prism allow you to to to take the 13640 out of that or just the materials? that I mean that's
>> no that would be fine because that 13,000 can be coming from capital >> correct >> never mind that they just we'll >> okay so I guess I would just ask again um if there are specific questions you
have about numbers about PD about but any of it please send them to us so that we can get a response to you because we have a lot of work that we want to do before the end >> I yeah I actually think David and I can have a conversation as well with Joanie and then we going back to if you don't
mind trying to just vote the three-year contract amount that would be then they could start ordering that if that's possible. >> Yeah, I think that that that I'm comfortable. Okay. >> I'm comfortable doing it. Obviously, the committee needs to be comfortable as well because again those those are things that we've discussed at at at C
budget. So, >> y >> do you want to make the motion? >> So, I I'll make a motion to approve the to who the three-year contract to who >> amplify CLA. >> Okay. So, sorry. The uh re I make a motion to approve the uh three-year
contract by CLA. >> Yes. >> For $358,349 $59.54. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> And and we'll we'll work on the the rest
of good there. >> A little over our heads. >> You know where to find [laughter] us. No, you don't need to worry about that part with that. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. >> Okay, moving on. Uh David, we've got school choice numbers.
>> Thank you. >> Yeah. Uh we can be pretty brief on this, but um in your folder, >> yes, [laughter] >> I'm popping it up on the screen. Uh but in your folder is uh is uh kind of a
chart by grade level as far as the the school choice seats for approval. Um we uh I met with with uh all the principles and assistant principles just kind of and looked at enrollment and based on where we were. Uh again just a reminder
to the school committee as far as ants in the community. Uh school choice is meant to just kind of round out um classes class sizes. So, where um class size numbers or averages are a little bit lower and this kind of rounds that
out um you're able to kind of build uh in school choice. So, you're not going to really see too many double-digit numbers per grade uh because you can't add like a single whole class of students of 20 students. Um that's not the intention uh of school choice. We
historically uh in Holl um and which I I think is a a pretty good practice is is prioritize kindergarten as um our addition point for school choice. Uh we want students to enter early uh and we want to own their education. We want to
we believe that we provide a top-notch notch education K through 12 preK through 12 plus. Um so if we can bring them in early and provide that opportunity for those families um we feel feel like that that's our our best practice. So uh kindergarten here uh
we're looking at kindergarten traditional at seven uh students. Our French immersion numbers are are are pretty full. So we're at we're at 20 and 20s. We're at 40 students right now. We are adding one uh that would put us at um our current enrollment for French
version at at 41. Um we may end up at some diff different spots uh from there but uh uh Jamie is feeling uh very good as far as those French immersion numbers. Um which tracks always for us is our Montasuri uh is always full um
from the from that process. We're not opening up any kindergarten age Montasauri uh seats. Um uh that said, we go into first grade. Uh similar to last year, we've had a big push to try to expand and open up seats specifically
for French immersion in uh last year's or this I should say this year's kindergarten. Uh we're kind of continuing that process and opening up a few four more a few more seats in first grade for French immersion. Four more seats um there. Um then uh you kind of
jump down our other big number is our ninth grade. Uh we do have a transition uh 8th grade to 9th grade is a big year where we will lose uh some students some Hollist students from 8th grade as they as they transition either the private
schools or tech schools uh at that point. So we see a slight drop in enrollment and we use uh school choice as to kind of provide some of that continuity going into to 9th grade. Um, we may add depending situational as far
as open up seats, what's going on with 10th grade, uh, but for the most part, similar to what we were speaking to earlier, is we want to bring school choice students into the district early um, and then have their entirety of their education here in the public
schools. So, our overarching number is, uh, 42 students. to give you kind of a data point is uh we uh were 41 41 students last year. Um and as far as seats that we that the school committee
approved to open and 40ish anywhere from 38 to 43 is typically the standard number that uh the school committee approves uh each year. That said, uh the the recommendation or the approved seats does not necessarily mean the number of
seats filled. Um we typically want after the school community meeting, we uh reach out to the families that applied um and see if they'd be interested and from there we're looking at slightly over slightly over half. So if you have
uh 40 seats, you're looking at 20ish uh end up um uh accepting. And so like last year I think 22 of the students or I think on another enrollment sheet that you have in your packet will show you kind of the number of um students that
that accepted last year but I think that was roughly about 22 uh from last year. >> So um >> so I guess I'm asking as far as our school choices any questions uh but the recommendation from the principles and I based off enrollment and based off of
need uh is 42 students. So, um, sometimes the problem with with with scrolling through Facebook and and doing research is that sometimes you discover the DPW article was incorrectly voted at town meeting. Other times you you you
discover that there is some public public hearing requirement for school choice. I'm reading the law now and I can't tell if it just as if you don't want to accept any students from so you're withdrawing from school choice or if you need a public hearing for any school choice decision. Have we?
>> So the the election is that what you just said that you if you withdrawing from it you have to do that and then annually you have to you have to go forward and let them know is it desi that you have that you're going to go forward >> I believe that's the annual continue
>> doing last year >> we haven't we haven't >> Yeah. >> No I don't >> I didn't think so. >> Okay. >> I thought it was only if you were going to change the like exit >> going. Do you want to double check on that? >> Do you want some citation for that?
>> Well, here too, if you wish to withdraw, there needs to be a public hearing. But then there's also discussions somewhere else about an annual uh public hearing. So, I just But it has to be done before June. So, if we want to vote on this, I do would just want to vote on it um pending just a further review and just
to make sure that we have been doing it right and that we do it right in in in in the future. It does seem like it may just be just if we want to withdraw from the program and not accept school choice students, but um just because we did it one way in the past. >> Stephen, can I ask about the the French
immersion recommendation of of four seats? Are we opening the up to like this year's existing kindergarteners in case they want to move into French immersion? Um or we just opening it up to outside of the community? And I I
guess what I say from a from an equity lens on on that point, you may have a family that doesn't know much of anything about what we offer like French immersion and Monasuri until they have enrolled and they have a child in the kindergarten program, then they learn that there's other programs. And I think
that's one of the really good changes we made a few years ago is that we let children enroll in French immersion in first grade. So, I guess are those four spots or any spots at all open to existing um Holl kindergarteners for
French version first grade next year? >> Yes, I I would say that they are. Um I think you bring up a a good point that I can't say I've had that explicit conversation with Dr. Slaney, but like that's the intention is
that um we have space in French immersion. Uh last year we were pretty open um and communicative to those who were uh going into kindergarten as far as availability for French immersion. Um
so the you know we brought in everybody that applied to French immersion and then went to school choice as far as French immersion. Uh I do think kind of to your point that it is and I'll I'll circle back with Dr. Laney that um now that that families have had that full
kind of kindergarten year and been a part of the community of the Austin public schools that um that option is it's very clear to those families that that option is available to them as well. >> So >> so on that point I guess um if we did that um would it change your zero
recommendation for traditional? So like I guess what I'm saying is if we open up those four spots to existing Hollston kids if they want to move into French immersion, we've now opened up traditional spots and would that change the zero recommendation on traditional
first grade spots? Like is there a way to be fluid with this? Yeah, I I think because we're unique in having programs, I I think the school committee vote could just be based off the grade level, not necessarily the the program, but we know what we're aiming
for as where the availability of seats are. Um >> I like that idea. >> And then we're just looking Yeah. >> So the only So looking at the the numbers recently, our kindergarten uh traditional class size, average class size is is is slightly on the larger
side already. So I I would want to just sort of better understand that. So I guess we have 33 French immersion students in kindergarten right now. So if we if we did take four for French immersion for first grade, then we'd be at 37 from outside. So there would be there would
be, you know, at least three or four seats for internal kind of transfers. But we have 110 kids in traditional for five classes. So 22 average students. So if you even lost five, you you'd still be 21 students per traditional classroom, which is right at sort of at
the upper bounds of where we uh had sort of set those parameters and guidelines. So I'm not sure even if we did get a decent number of switching that we would want to accept. That would be up to your recommendation, but I'm not sure that that necessarily puts us in a position where we'd want to take additional
students. would be voted. >> I mean, I guess I I guess we could vote it to >> Can I Can I just I don't know if we need to vote it. I'm looking up what Tan was asking about. So, if you're going to continue to participate, you don't It doesn't require a hearing.
Some districts choose to. >> Um, and Desi has the guidelines on that, but what it does say, it's technically supposed to be by May 1st. It's June 1st if you're holding a hearing to opt out, but it should have been May 1st that we
um let them know, but technically you do not have to vote if you're continuing. You just have to report the available seats. >> Okay. >> But you're welcome to vote. >> I think we at least have I'm just I'm just want >> Well, I think I think what Dr. C is saying is is we're taking 14 days late.
Um in doing that and so fair enough. Um, I'm fine. I think I'd like a little bit more information. I think I'd like a little to hear from Dr. Slaney or not hear directly from her, but through through Dr. Jordan about her view of of the traditional classroom and if we did lose if not lose students, but if
students did transfer into French immersion before we open up additional seats, we can open up seats later, right? We can we can open up more. >> We can, but we may lose kids if we don't open the seats. I mean, we can we can as we have people interested and we have
seats, we can we can open them up. I mean, that's that's always been the case. >> David, how many uh applied this year? >> 42. >> Uh we have >> no 42 is what we're recommending take.
>> It's typically like 90 to 100, right? By record. uh t it's been the last it can be a little bit overware but we we've been on a slight decline um since >> since co prior to co it would were bigger numbers we are
we're at 99 applied this year >> but often families will apply to more >> yeah see I wouldn't want to delay it have other other schools have likely voted on this and opened their seats >> yeah I think we should I think we
We could always vote to change it later. >> Yes. >> Good way. Hold on. See, >> if we could just be mindful of the class sizes to Dan's point. Like, >> so this is where I'm getting to because we do actually have set class
sizes that we've we um >> it's uh it's in the priority needs actually uh file. Um so in kindergarten this year 110 students in traditional five sections for 22 average and [cough] sort of at least per the spreadsheet our
our stated range is 17 to 19 students for for for kindergarten. So in first grade our stated range is uh 19 to 23. So, in theory, you you would have um room within that to to add,
>> but >> assuming every single one of those kids said yes, you'd still >> they moved. >> Yeah. >> Still be in the within the numbers. >> I guess I I'd still like to hear Dr. SL's thoughts before we open the position. Well, I guess could we make a
general practice to offer that so we're not at this point in offering current students to move over? >> I feel like we're being reactive, >> I guess. Well, do we do we have first grade traditional applicants?
>> We do. I mean, we we have applicants across um all uh I mean your your primary your bigger numbers are in Yeah. K and one and then in uh ninth grade are your bigger pools of applications but we've got
I >> mean I can tell you the number of applicants per grade [cough] if you you want to throw it out >> I think it's already a late night >> what about a compromise where we vote on everything but first grade first grade for two weeks and get more information that's the one grade you're you have
concerns about right I mean if other schools have opened these seats up two weeks ago or >> No, no, I get that. Then why hold off on first on all of first grade and just vote this now and then we can come back and and [cough] first grade traditional. >> Yes. >> Oh, and right so so we'll open the four
seats in first grade first grade. Okay. >> I said we could always change it later. >> First a motion to approve this school choice numbers as presented.
>> So move second. All in favor? Great. That passes. Um policy. >> Uh we met today. Um we do have a few policies to bring to our next meeting. We have no updates today.
>> No, you have to wait like a 16 pager to read. >> Okay. We'll move on to central office updates. So, I just um put the accept quarterly reports and the tech quarterly update um into your packets. You don't
have to vote on them. They're required to go on the agenda for you to review. And then I just have to let them know that you reviewed them or that you have them available. Um so, they are in the packet. If you have any questions, you could send them to me at a separate time. >> Okay.
>> I just wanted to thank everybody for the amazing art show that we've had out there. Um just to highlight some upcoming academic um events happening. Monday, May 18th, global citizenship presentations
are here in the library from 7 to 9. On Tuesday is the NHS induction ceremony for the high school. Wednesday, May 20th is the Rams band and chorus concert 7 to 8. And Thursday on May 21st is the
service learning presentations from the high school in the library here from 7 to 8. So you have four full days of upcoming academic showcases coming up. >> David, >> uh just I I just a successful town
meeting. Uh I know there were um some conversations around the motion as it relates to the feasibility study. Uh but you know I I'm grateful that um that went well as far as that uhability
study. Um Dr. Kusca, myself and uh our town manager uh Frank Trasio have been in communication with the MSBA. They seem to be content uh with the motion language. I think that they are just looking for there's some it was wonky as
far as like language to the warrant to the that piece and are just um looking for uh the official um uh the certified from >> certified motion from uh from Liz
Greenale and then other than that >> y um so the biggest thing we're working on right right now is for the review for DESIE. They will be on grounds June 2nd and June 3rd. They've not given us a schedule yet. I am um overwhelmed and
thankful to the principles who have been feeding me all the documents that they have asked us to upload in the last few days. In fact, they gave us a a a form on Friday and said, "I need all this by the close of Tuesday and everybody came through." So, I couldn't have been any happier. But there's a number of other
items coming along. When she hands me a schedule and undoubtedly she'll want to talk to at least one of you, if not more. Um, we'll let you know. I just have to wait to get that schedule. I know she's doing I think another site this week, so I probably won't hear from her till Sunday night, but it we'll be
busy that first week of June. >> Okay. >> And um could you just tell us a little bit more about what they're looking at? like and and I'm not to put you on the spot, but like are we prepared and and ready for the June date and then >> and and maybe it makes sense too to do
somewhat of a presentation on um at the next meeting about what it'll >> Yeah, because you know she's presenting on the 28th anyhow. So I think we can give a little more detail in there. >> Yeah, I'm happy to do that. I can just give you quickly so between now and then I'll build some suspense and then take away other. >> Okay.
>> Uh but the idea they're looking are we keeping within our timelines? Are we doing what we're supposed to do in accordance with the law? They'll be doing some walkthroughs of physical spaces and as we know the newspaper has been highlighting timeout and chill spaces and so forth. They'll be walking
through our schools and looking at some of our spaces. They will be interviewing uh teachers most likely. They'll probably interview at least the chair and vice chair of the committee. That's usually what's happened in the past. They will speak to somebody from CPAC.
They will be sending out a questionnaire to every single parent who has a child in the district who is on an IEP receiving services. They'll receive that. We had to give them information to have the capacity to do that.
They're also uh I'm trying to think there are so many different things because they're looking at our civil rights and they're looking at our special ed simultaneously. They're looking at how we find students in terms of testing. So perfect example is all the work you heard from the curriculum
team tonight where they said you know we started with 39 we were able to release 23 we had three referred to special education that's a child find activity right there we do outreach to offices in town doctor's offices or preschools that
would be another child find activity so they'll give us a series of uh they've given us things they want paperwork for but a lot of it is uh standard paperwork and then they'll look to detail They'll also give us cases of children's names that they want to look at when they
arrive. So, they are looking at some now. They've asked us specifically in advance and then they wait and when they get here, they'll probably ask to look at 25 files randomly and we'll get that at the time and we'll just go pull them. Of course, the difference is we used to
just yank a file out of the filing cabinet. Now everything is digital, >> so we have to maneuver that a little. But they'll be probably my guess is they'll be sitting in the my office for those two days and I'll vacate my office and push the lunch under the door.
>> And a lot of the information was uploaded last year and they came out and did a walk through of the uh the chill spaces. >> So this is the next phase. And also um if you remember when we did the curriculum um tiered focus monitoring review was a then in the fall they issue a report and they'll give you um any
recommendations you know most of it will be just recommendations. If there was a legal issue obviously that would be the priority related to the implementation of this new restraint um policy because that's going to be implemented in August. So they kind of threw that on
us. So it's you know every district is in the same kind of case with that. This has been going on since 25 through didn't >> Yes. When Jess was here, she had to upload a whole series of documents. When I was in Hangingham, I had to do the same thing. So, she uploaded all the documents. They took a look at the
documents. Then they asked us for further information on a number of the items. I [snorts] sent that all in. Then they came back um last Friday and they gave me another document. Said, "We want to have information on this. And by the way, can you also send us some records on this, that, and the other?" Uh just
so they can prep. And what they're doing is looking at how we sort of do business before they get on the grounds. It used to be they came for six or seven days, they're here 2 days now, which is great. Um, not cuz we don't enjoy them, but the disruption to the regular process when they're here is the reason why I say
that. >> The other thing I really appreciate is the fact that they have come back and said, "We'd like to see more about this, or could you change that?" And what that does is it used to be we'd go in with six giant binders, drive them into mold and drop them off and wait for months to
hear. Now the upside of doing all of that is the fact that they give you a chance to sort of self-correct as you're going through. Hence the title self assessment and you'll go through it and make the corrections so that when the final report comes through you minimize the number of areas that you might have
to improve upon or and the kinds of things I've had in the past. I've never had anything really blatant that's had to be corrected. It's more we'd like to see you do PD in this particular area such as timelines or we'd like you to um
in 3 months demonstrate that some files that weren't in order are now in order. But things like that that are what I would call moderate fixes, easy fixes, particularly compared to the old days. >> Okay. Um, and in terms of the self assessment or selfcorrection along the
way, is there anything to be read? And you said they just requested documents on Friday. >> Yes, she's just >> additional things. >> And yes, additional documents and so we've been uploading things during the course of this week. >> Okay. But was that in response to any type of concern? >> No, they just are looking at how we do
business. >> Okay. >> It's not they looked at and said, "Oh, that's wrong. We want more." It's more of, you know, we just want to see how you do business. So, we we've been sending it in. >> And you said they would likely want to talk to one or two of the school committee members. That would be during the June 2nd and June 3rd visits.
>> Okay. >> But we've not received any schedule yet. So, I I have to kind of leave you hanging. That's a cliffhanger for you. >> Better to know that today than on May 28th that would have to be available on the second or third. Okay. And then when would the findings come out? >> Usually in the fall. >> I think it was around October when we
got the um usually takes about 3 months. >> Okay. to get findings. So they're doing it in June. So figure June, July, August, the probably the earliest unless something has changed. The earliest you'll see them are September. >> And it's unusual to get nothing, you know, back. They're always they typically will find something that they
would recommend you to tweak. >> They might say, you know, we really think that this guideline or procedure might need to be tweaked and then they'll advise you on that and give us a chance to reupload that in the fall as well. >> So I'm sorry, we 101. Um
what is the name of this? Uh this is it >> it's it's well it's generally known as the tiered focus monitoring but now it's tiered integrated or uh integrated focus focus integrated monitoring. I keep getting the letters mixed up. >> And as you said is actually year on the ground.
>> Yes. Every district has to have it once every six years. >> Six variables. And >> they have they they overlap because it's not just this one. There's multiple. >> Yeah. Remember you like had the curriculum one. a you know so they they put you on a cycle in all the areas
>> and you'll do A one time you'll do B the next time back to A back to B >> things like that >> any so that's that's it I don't know if you have any other questions we'll we'll keep [snorts] you apprised next meeting I'll I'll put some things together to share I just I don't want you to sit
forever listening to me >> what you could potentially do is just give them a snippet on the 28th and then after they're here maybe give a little more on the 11th and then we just, you know, just break it up. >> Yep. Sounds great. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So, in your packets is also um all of the Oh, sorry.
>> Would you mind if we pause that till next? Just in the interest of it's so late. Do you mind? >> Oh, yeah. I don't David. Does he need it by a certain date? I think they're supposed to post the stipens by May something. That was that was the only issue. >> Should we do it on the 28th?
>> Is that too late? I don't I mean it's past the date, but I don't know what the >> this >> I forget when we have to post the stipens in the contract. There's language on that. I'd have to double check. >> Yeah, I'm trying to >> Is it June 1st though? It could be. I just don't remember off.
>> I was going to say it's June I want to say it's June 1st. >> I it it might be. So you might be okay. >> Okay. >> I just It's I [laughter] disagree. >> It's awfully late. Um, why don't we bypass that unless unless it
>> Yeah, I'll >> unless someone says it has to be done tonight. Um, let's just jump into communications. >> Uh, no. >> Okay. Policy. You just kind of gave it budget. >> Budget. Any updates?
>> No, we we just got our new budget for next year. So, thank you very much, >> Eva. We're good. So, do we have we MSBA update? big one was the feasibility study. Is there anything else? >> Um, school building committee we should Cheryl will be posting weekly for the
next three weeks. Um, our interest in the school building committee. So hopefully tomorrow we'll get a count some names. Um plan is to go through next Friday the 23rd with the open um enrollment essentially. Um we will be
reviewing very quickly. We got action plan with Tina to meet um before our 28th meeting. The goal, again, it's not rough and hard. It depends who has applied and who we find to fit our criteria. Um but potentially on the
20th, we may have recommendations. >> There's a link on the town's website if you would like to express interest in the school building committee. >> Yeah. >> And the school is added. So, it's all it's it's it's on ether. Great.
You You look like you're going to say something. Is it super important or can we move on? >> Is it Is it No. >> Okay. >> Not important. >> Let's move on. >> We're here. >> We're here. >> So, I think we just
>> wanted to have kind of a just a discussion on the bullying policy just to help people understand. Is it could we I know it's late but I know folks have been peacemeal on this.
Could we give a little bit of background how this came to be? >> I mean basic yeah I think there just was a Facebook post that gathered a lot of [snorts] comments. So it just felt like there was some clarification could help I think
just help. >> Well for for me though it's also been that I think that there has been some conversations sort of through the the community on bullying. I think I think it ties into, you know, some of the um anti-semitism incidents that we've had in town, other racist incidents that
we've had in town. Um so it's it's it's, you know, I think maybe the the immediate issue was some things that were brought up on online and through some emails, but um >> is it sort of, you know, compounded upon
other issues? This is a policy we actually have on uh two coming up to review in the near future. We've been focusing on technology right now given some of the guidelines from DESIE, but this is this is one that uh we do have kind of in our
agenda further agenda. >> Um you know, are you anticipating you're getting the review done this year? >> I don't think so. We have some teed up already for June. I Yeah, for our June. So, and maybe that gives us the
opportunity to to make it a broader discussion and bring, you know, um have some community outreach on this and get a lot of input from the community on it and not be afraid of those really hard discussions about it. and and it'll be
and because we can carry it on over a number of meetings or forums that opportunity to to kind of work with the community and get, you know, hear hear what's not working, what is working, and also to learn from each other, too. Right. >> I'd like to take it even a step further.
I thought we had some people on, but I guess we we've uh uh filibustered everyone out. But um I I think we should consider some form of a task force. tonight but you know put but over over time whether what form that takes whether it's something the
superintendent uh creates or whether it's something that we create under our subcommittee sort of policy I'm not I don't have a view on on on that right now but I think something more official I I know usually it just all goes through the policy subcommittee so it can also be more like that where just more people are invited to those
meetings that that um I'm really open to to suggestions but but bringing in eliciting more more feedback in in an official format >> I think One thing can I just mention is that so I've obviously been talking with we had our full admin meeting Wednesday night yesterday. >> Yeah.
>> And um so they were very anxious when hearing all of this and seeing these postings and I think unfortunately and this is the conversation we're having that you know I think a lot of it is about explaining and informing because people bullying is used for many many
many many instances. the amount of actual vetted bullying um that are deemed bullying are very very small throughout the district. Now in some cases if so if a parent says bullying has happened to my child we are
obligated to do a bullying investigation and then either screen it out as bullying or it becomes bullying if it's not bullying. Sometimes the parent might have a conversation with administrator and they explain what it is and then say, "Oh, no, that's not what it is, but I do want this investigated." So, they will still
investigate it. The investigation happens either way, right? And then the results are often the same as well because whether it's bullying or not, whether it's discipline happening as a result or restorative things, sometimes the investigation leads to the same results no matter what type of um
situation it is. >> Yeah. To be clear, I'm not talking about any one specific necessary incident and I certainly don't want to get into discussion of of specific incidents or what decisions have been made. Uh but I just think a more holistic sort of conversation around the topic because I think it is a big topic. I mean, I know
you were you said you were reviewing AI sort of policies and things and so how does that you know weave into cyber bullying and how does I mean it's just it's an incredibly complex and evolving sort of topic that I think is um something that the community as a whole
I think is interested in and so it rather than just sort of sometimes you know we work on things amongst ourselves other times it's good to to try to get more feedback from the community >> at least a conversation right? I mean, doesn't need to we may need to look at our policy and update it, but I I think
it it warrants a conversation to hear different perspectives and then could warrant back to the policy subcommittee to to make any potential changes >> and it was um reviewed and I think amended in 23. we had um we brought this to policy in 23 um and in between that
time until now there hasn't been a lot of um I have certainly not been questioned much about it because we did implement new um collective data collection systems on power school and just bey actually trained our staff on how to just to document whether it's
bullying or not we have to report any kind of disciplinary issues so there's a lot that goes into that and it's quite timeconuming for our administrator is to manage just the documentation piece >> that's reported to dese >> if it's bullying or not bullying. Yes, they have to report the numbers of
>> so we have those metrics too over time. We have that those um >> data over time, right? >> Yes, they have to report those numbers. >> Is that is does DESI report that for each district then? >> It's not public. We just have to give it
to I don't think it's public. >> Okay. But we're reporting it out. So in in a way I I don't know that it's confidential either. I guess one of the things we've we see a lot we have a lot of discussion about how we're doing on this state standard or these testing or how the kids are doing in really important work like the Metro West
adolescent um youth survey. But if this is an area that families, you know, rightfully are concerned about and we have the data, it it might be important to look to take a a a dive at this and and and share that in terms of um you
know what it looks like over time. If data from other districts is available, it might give it some perspective too. Um, but even even if even if things aren't going well, it's important if we have that data to look at it and reflect on it and and have a plan too.
>> I think there should be some education Dr. Chris to your point as well. We I think the word bullying gets thrown around so often that it's not and so educating the community on sort of the distinction >> debunking of what that >> and also um it's it's not always clear
from the outside what is happening and for the confidentiality piece for both sides is really tough and you know when parents are seeing their kids side and protecting their kid and you know that mama bear instinct absolutely comes out. So that education piece of what can be shared, what can't be shared, even so much as like what the consequences are
for the or the resto restoration, those things can't always be shared even though they're happening. And so just the education around that I think is important too. >> No, no, absolutely. But if we have data of like how many instance of of of reported or alleged bullying, how many instances uh were then deemed to actually be bullying and if we have that
data over time, a you can see is is the reporting report increasing or not. And then is the actual number of cases deemed bullying, you know, and then this is I think that people define bullying differently and so I think that there can be issues with behavior that may not
end up being deemed bullying but still may be inappropriate. So there's all the so there's nuance. So the d the data is not going to give you necessarily that nuance, but that's why if you have over time, you can at least see trends >> presumably because you're having similar or hopefully similar decisions made on
on each case. So it can kind of just guide the conversation a little bit. And again, and I think for me personally, I think this is very important that I'm clear that I'm not looking to really assign blame to anyone, right? It's more about just seeing what's going on and then if there are things at the school
committee level because most of this is really done at the at the school and the the the central office level. Is there anything at the school committee level that we can do to help um even if it's just providing parents with a with better resource not better um more to find
>> understanding of how to report bullying. what is the process for for for um >> for for filing a bullying complaint or who you know what what are the steps they go to where where do they find the forms to to to do it? >> Yeah. I think too making sure that all
of we've got our policies which now you were looking at it today and there there's a few you know especially as you get into some of the cyber bullying and the AI stuff that hits like our acceptable use policy it hits you know bullying harassment sexual harassment
>> so it's kind of across the board we have to kind of tie all of those together but there's also just on the website like where's the bullying form you know there's an an anonymous form that you people can fill out if there's an issue you know, so just that kind of re-ed
edification of where to find the information. I think also stuff in the handbook, you know, and so parents, >> you know, the handbook, I think people tend to it, you're supposed to review it when we're doing those registration
forms every the end of the summer. And >> I it's important for families to really go through that. And I know it's easy when you're going through There's so much at the end of the summer that you're like, "Oh, yeah. Let me just get this done." And >> I have a thought that I'll get if you're
interested. I mean, when we have been working on trying to improve our reporting and investigation processes for multiple years now, at times we often we bring in Katie Molton to walk us through, especially when disciplinary situations change. Would you be interested in her doing a presentation
and offering that as a family potential engagement? >> I'm sure she would be more than happy to. She does it for the administrative team and she's actually done something for our staff too, especially when you know title N has changed like every year we're trying to pivot to adjust. So if that's something I could I mean I
wouldn't want to do it till the fall. I don't think it's going to be probably not as meaningful at the end of the year. >> So no that's a great idea. Yeah, absolutely. >> Okay. And then are there are there other things that we can look at as far as resources for helping I don't want to
say this is going to come but mediate issues that happen like allowing kids to kind of try to work some things out with you know this I know they can be complicated especially if there's real bullying there but you know how do we help sort of get
through that because these these kids by and large >> healthy relationship >> probably don't even mean especially the younger grades they don't really know what they're doing necessarily probably and so it's it's an education opportunity more than anything >> and how to help avoid longer term
education building. >> Sarah at the town meeting um highlighted the challenge day. So maybe also kind of highlighting some of the work that our administrators are doing to organize um supports and events like that. I mean,
even listening to the kids on the Japan trip and talking about kind of breaking down border barriers that they may have had for years here at the high school and having that experience together. Um, even, you know, sophomores teamed up with seniors, kids that have gone to
school for years, but really maybe this is a sports track kid or this was an arts track kid and and having those type of experiences. years ago, we had the um that experience uh like a nature's classroom type experience that I thought
was wonderful for kids. But >> all right, >> are we are we good? [laughter] >> We covered the MSBA yesterday. >> Okay, it's been that long, I think. Not even >> sure there no policies we can agree.
>> All right. Well, I think that's it then. Thank you everyone and um good night Hollist. Sorry this went quite a bit longer than planned but um but here we are. So anyway, thank you and good night.
Next meeting.