Everybody, uh, it's 7 o'clock and I'd like to call together the October 23rd, 2025 school committee meeting. If you would please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty justice for all. >> Thank you very much tonight. Excuse me. Tonight we have our consent agenda posted which contain the minutes
from the October 9th 2025 meeting as well as the bills and payroll. Everybody have a chance to review the minutes? Yes. >> Good. Our motion to accept. >> I move that we accept the consent agenda. I second. >> Motion made and second. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I.
>> I. Mark. That was unanimous. Um so first opportunity for interested citizens. If there's anybody in the room or on Zoom that would like to speak before the school committee. This your first chance, second chance towards the back half of the meeting. None >> right now.
You have one second. All right, hearing from no one. We'll close the first port of first citizens and we'll move into a recognition report. Uh caveat with us this evening will provide the student representative report. >> Good evening everyone. Here are the
reports from the schools. Shaker Lane. Last Friday, Shaker Lane had their fun run event raising over 446,000. These funds will be used for student sponsored events such as field trips and classroom needs. A special thank you to
Ann Spiegel who spearheaded this event as well as all of the families and staff who helped make this fun run an unbelievable experience. Next Friday will be another memorable event with Shaker Lane's annual Halloween parade. They look forward to parading around the
school for family and friends to see their Halloween costumes. Next is Russell Street. Rosa Street students have their first stripe assembly tomorrow, October 24th. The names of our 3D printers will be revealed during the assembly.
Fourth and fifth grade students took their learning off campus. Fifth graders explored the Buring Grounds in town, and fourth graders visited the Discovery Museum. We hope to see as many families as possible at the Shakerlane/ Russell Street Cultural Fair on November 5th at
Shakerlane School. The middle school will have their Halloween dance tomorrow for seventh and eighth graders. Next, moving on to the high school. On Thursday, October 16th, Model UN and Drama Club hosted a lip-sync fundraiser event. There was great participation by
both students and of course everyone's favorite, the staff number having a good time by Queen. The first place winners are Emily Drew and Mac Laflum performing Vogue. Second place winners are Lucas Wright and Carolyn Bash performing Pink
Bono. The third place winners are Morgan Chab and Eve Haidider performing Beauty and the Beat. And an honorable mention to Emily Shocklin, William Tess, and Laney McManis for performing I'm just 10. LHS football won their homecoming
football game against Murdoch 42 to zero on Friday, October 17th. The day after the student council hosted the homecoming dance on Saturday night which was well attended and they enjoyed the new DJ this year. The students from Spain went to the homecoming game on
Friday and the dance on Saturday. They attended classes at LHS for two days and presented to Mrs. Gillan students about life in Spain and school and validity. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Any questions? Student representative
report. >> We just have one thing to add from So yesterday I headed over to Shaker Lane for the um Little Town Community Day, which um is an annual event that second graders participate in where they create
a little community out of cardboard and they represent different buildings, different parts of a community, and then they have to talk about what makes a community. Um, so as I arrived there was a cloud burst and all of this rain was coming down on the projects that were
outside. So there's nothing like the smell of wet cardboard, right? And so they >> they pulled everything in, they lined it up in the hallway. I was able to get into a second grade classroom and talk with them about their projects. And um and I and huge kudos to Heidi McGregor
who um runs the Imaginatorium there at Shaper Lane. She taught the kids how to use all kinds of different engineering devices to create their cardboard structures like hinges and flanges and slots and there it was incredible. She
created some things on the 3D printer to um give them some equipment for their construction. So, it was a great day. It was too bad it was rained out, but um it's an annual event, so hopefully next year we'll get to see it in its full glory. >> Awesome. >> Thanks for sharing that. Good. a lot of
good stuff in the student representative report. I just I want to say kudos on the fund run. So I think I personally kind of like nine winterfest that then became springfest and an example of sort of re-imagining what a fundraiser could
be um wildly successful. So the group that put that on congratulations job well done. And interestingly enough, I was like out and about. So with my family, like I had family, people in my family in the car, and I was like, "Let's swim up to the high school and just peek at this little homecoming
dance." And I noticed the DJ was like, it looked like a nightclub in there from the outside. So it was funny that you mentioned that. I was like, "Wow, this looks pretty good." Um, so yeah, a lot of good stuff going on the past couple weeks. So thank you very much for your report. Uh, we did a little spying on
the homecoming dance. Kelly, anything to add? Uh just a couple of things. As you know, this is the uh our last meeting prior to the special town meeting next Tuesday night. And there's a lot of work that goes into setting up a town meeting. And so I'd like to take this
opportunity to thank our town technology department, LCTV, the town administration, town staff, Diane Corey. Uh it takes them days to get ready for this town meeting and this one's going to be a little larger than the others.
So they're they've ordered I can't remember how many seven or 800 extra clickers that they borrowed from other communities. So I met a technology uh technician from u Rotten was over helping set up the clickers in the
middle school cafeteria and I just wanted to give them a shout out because it does take a lot of time and our custodians set everything up and take it down. So, uh, we'll be ready for Tuesday evening. Uh, just again, thanks to everybody involved in setting up this
special town meeting. Also like to thank, uh, Annaise Taber and Rob Rance for Yes, for Littleton. They have worked tirelessly for the past few years with us promoting the the Shaker Lane building
project. They're at all of the events that we attend, you know, other events and set up a table, handing out information and and I'm just so appreciative of of their advocacy and and the time that they spent promoting a project that that in my opinion uh is is
going to uh help reshape our district and and be very a very powerful addition to our community as well. Special thanks to them. We're we're on the home run stretch, so to speak, and uh hopefully before you know it, uh we'll we'll be going back and and still working on the
project, but in a a very difficult capacity. Thanks again, Anelise and Rob. Terrific. All right, we've got one piece of new business this evening, followed by a couple presentations um related topic. First order of new
business is advocacy for the new Shaker Lane School. Superintendent Kelly Gleni will lead the discussion amongst school committee members regarding ad advocacy efforts for the new Sugarland project. >> And just to start off, I mean, thank you for everything that you've done to
advocate for the project. I know you're out talking with people and and as we we said last meeting when we were talking, it's important to to let our community know that you need to be there to vote
for the town meeting vote and also vote at the ballot vote. uh when we my experience for you know elections such as the one we're entering is is you you receive comments I've received them during my career that well this is this
is obvious we don't have a vote and they just feel the vote is going to to be carried because it it's just an obvious yes and you can't take anything for granted. Everybody needs to get out there and and uh vote and and vote what
they you know they feel that that is necessary for for not only our school district but for our community as a whole. So I'd like to encourage anybody that's listening tonight uh this is a an important town meeting. All town meetings are important. civic uh duty is
important and we spend a lot of time uh talking about civics's uh obligations uh with with our students right from elementary right up to high school. So I've always said it's important to lead by example. So we hope to see a packed
auditorium in the pack cafeteria uh next Tuesday night. Uh we uh are thrilled to announce that we have 78 uh child care students uh that will be looked after during the town meeting.
Like to thank Dr. Snow and a number of uh teachers at Shaker Lane and a number of high school uh students as well and Park and Wreck for helping out during the evening. Uh you know 78's a pretty uh decent number of students to be able to look after. So we're excited about
that. uh cafeteria has around 22 students uh attending last time I looked. Uh and they we'll have stations set up around the perimeter of the cafeteria. So students color and keep busy during the town. So it's really nice to see everybody pull together and
and uh you know offer free child care services town meeting. Personally, this is something I hope that continues on and we need to figure out ways to to uh be able to get as many people out to town meetings as possible and if you
have young children, it's it's a tough tough thing to do. So, the more we can do as a community to help out, well, I believe resolving better participation tell me uh especially next Tuesday and and going forward. So, with that, I'm just curious. I know
I talked to Sean a lot. I know Sean's out there uh knocking on doors talking to people and I know Justin's doing the same thing and and uh Janine you're I hear you've been knocking on doors and talking to people a lot as well. So I just wanted to have a give us an
opportunity to to rekindle what we've talked about and is there are there any suggestions last minute suggestions that maybe we need to consider? We have a few days and and then uh the canvasing so to speak or or
uh educating people on the on the issues and the needs of of a new school uh will be uh passed. I want to >> Well, I wanted to reiterate and and back up what you're saying about how
important it is for people to actually get to town meeting and the people I I've talked to people and it's people with young children, people who have a lot of skin in this game and um getting to town meeting is hard and they've a lot of people that I've talked to have
filled out that ballot that came to their house and they mailed it in and they're like, "No, no, I'm good. I voted for the school and you know when I'm there face to face saying but we need people to get to town meeting and my fallback phrase is we have to have a 23
majority and that is a heavy lift. So so to anyone that is there we we can't we will not win this on a simple majority. We have to have 2/3 that vote yes for this to go through.
That's a lot. So, if you can in any way, shape, or form, as we said, we have child care now. We have all sorts of ways to help. Um, please, if your your body at town meeting is really important on Tuesday.
>> Well, and and just to clarify too that it does not pass at town meeting, then there would not be a vote on November 1st. Is that >> Oh, there there are two votes. vote would take noatter but it doesn't matter >> like we can't override a negative vote
on Tuesday still be a vote on November 1st >> ballots already printed. >> Yes. And it also you know if if it doesn't pass Tuesday by a slim margin and it passes Saturday, it does give us an opportunity to potentially go back to
the MSBA and negotiate for a second try at it. those Tuesday and Saturday are happening regardless of the outcome of the Tuesday night. >> Um that information is going to be really helpful to have and there are opportunities as long as
we can show the MSBA that that if they give us x number of days to come back for another vote, there's a a good chance of success. And we need to give like something. Uh, as I I mentioned that a meeting I was at uh all the days
of splendid right now, but the the money the $3 million has been advocated for Middleton. The MSBA already has met and they know where that money is going if that vote if a positive vote for us. So, it's not as if that money is going to be
sitting in a bank account for a while. There are so many needs in this state. uh there are a lot of people on that waiting list and and they're going to do what they need to do to to reach as many uh communities as possible. So, >> well, the the other thing I've been thinking about is um if the opportunity
presents itself to go up to the mic at town meeting, I'm doing some deep thinking about why this project is important to me personally that, you know, maybe my lens of looking at this may be different from some other people's. That might give somebody a
different way of thinking about it, but it might be good for us all to do some thinking about us personally. What is the most compelling argument that we would want to raise if um if the chance comes to get up to micro
>> I think also you said at one point that was about roughly 15% of school districts apply get the grant. It's a very low number. >> Extremely low. >> Extremely low. So, we got this. You got to push forward with it. It's a 10-year process if we have to do it all over
again. This is something we need. And I mean, the the cost escalation of of a new ship school in 10 years, and I actually believe 10 years is is probably not reality in my experience. I I would
venture to guess it'll be 15. MSB has invested money in this project and they're they're a great organization. They've helped many many districts across this state, but they if they're
going to commit to something, they want to make sure that there's a good chance of it going through. And so if you you look at 15 years down the road, the project will more than double. Plus, one also has to consider the other money
that's going to be required to put into whatever scenario to keep that to keep our our students educated. >> And I'm not positive as your superintendent that that's going to happen within Shaker School in the next 10 years or eight years. I mean, there's
so so much that's unknown. And every dollar that we spend as a result of of trying to to keep the school going or or bringing modulars in is is not getting what we need to educate our youngest
learners in our community. And I think that's a point that we really need to drive home. Uh we're a high performing district as a community, as a staff, students, families have all worked so hard to get us in this position. And we
all know that education begins the minute our youngest learners enter a school building. That's where the that initial foundation begins. So, this is a super important vote. I'm just, you know, I'm I'm so proud of everybody. We
we've done our due diligence. I mean, we've gone through the data. We've worked with MSBA and the only feasible option that that I could recommend as a superintendent is to build a new school. All of the other options aren't going to take care of the challenges that we we
currently have, and those challenges are going to get greater as time goes on. Oh, I was going to say I think uh something that's come to light recently is the idea that you know it won't just be the youngest learners will be impacted by this. There's a likelihood that you can't really put kindergarters,
right? It can be very difficult too, especially in the winter. So, this is something that's going to impact all students regardless of age. I don't know how that's exactly going to unfold, but I don't want people to think that my kids in sophomore year so I don't have to worry about this. It's going to impact all kids. And I I think one thing that I tried to do early on when I
jumped on this project was ask what had gone wrong at town meetings and other places. I called uh chairs of uh other school committees and talked to them. They really said outreach. Uh I want to credit people that came before me, Kelly, everyone else who's been here, you know, uh going through there's been
10 public forums, tours, info sessions, there 50 public committee meetings, seven videos, five podcasts, multiple websites. Uh there's a video tour. We've really tried to get out there and be accessible and to that point we're all going to be at town meeting obviously speak in the microphone but if you see
us and you don't feel comfortable talking uh to the large group feel free to tap on us on the shoulder and ask us a question we're all going to be great >> so good data >> yeah in terms of last minute ideas >> um there have been some really great
sound bites shared by committee members this conversation itself so perhaps yes for little or you know I I suppose it's yes for Littleton could grab these sound bites and get these out because there's been a lot of wonderful talking points. Um Kelly I think you hit the nail on the
head. Uh a lot of conversations I've had people assume this is going to go through. They understand the mass on it. They understand the amount of years and work that's gone into this project. And for the most part, let's be honest, town meeting is not the most enjoyable way to
spend your evening. So they're like, "No, I you know, it's going to go through it. Probably don't want to go." Um, the reality is you absolutely have to go to town meeting if you're a yes vote because it's like restaurant reviews. The no votes are coming. Okay?
The no votes are going to show up. So when you look, you know, when you look at a review online, the complainers are there. Very rarely do you see excellent reviews. So if you're for the project, you have to come to town meeting. Um it won't be the most exciting thing that
you've you know ever attended. Uh there will be some good um you know reality TV show aspect of it. Like there will be some good comments like you will sit with friends. >> You can bring snacks. You can bring uh you know non-alcoholic beverages. Um you
only probably need to be there for two hours. Um maximum. It starts at 7. Child care is over at 9:00. I'm thinking that the moderator is likely going to want to uh end discussion and call it vote before 9:00 because that's when child
care is officially going to be over. So, my expectation is that discussion and the like is wrapped up by 8:40 and we're looking at voting around 8:45. So really, if you're picking your kid up from karate or dance or grabbing takeout
and your night isn't settled down until 8:00, please still come. Um, we probably don't need the voters there until 8:30 anyways. Um, you'll pull up. It's the parking lot's going to look very full.
Please find a place to park your car and walk in and grab a clicker and join the conversation for for the time to vote. Um, I've had a lot of conversations where people are like, I'm totally for the project, but I don't really want to go to town meeting. And I've made it very clear to them. I will be watching
the door to see who comes in >> and who doesn't come in and we'll have an issue if this thing fails by a slim margin. Um, couple other points were made. 78 registered children if you haven't registered your child
that bring your child with you. There will be a lot of children there. Um, just because your child wasn't registered, it's going to be a f familyfriendly, child-friendly environment like Kelly was saying in the cafeteria. You can keep your kids with
you. We'll keep them busy. Honestly, um, you know, there'll be uh a live feed of what's happening in the gymnasium. You're welcome to pay as attention as close as you can, but the most important thing is that you have that clicker in your hand and you're ready to vote when it's time to vote. So, the whole family
can be on the iPad. You don't really have to be watching town meeting. >> Um, and your children will have a great time. Dr. Snow is in charge of uh the uh room allocations and and organization of activities, etc. And uh
>> it'll be a secure environment. uh students will be uh chaperon to their various classrooms and when parents come to pick them up uh we will bring the students back to the parents. So for the youngest parents or younger parents I just want to make sure we or I stated
that because you know it's it's you're putting your child in our hands and you really don't know who who we are if you're not part of the school district already. Right. Um, go ahead because I have one more point I've lost. Go ahead. >> Oh, okay. Maybe something I'll say we'll
bring back. Um, so not to denigrate town meeting. I think it's it's a uniquely New England tradition that I think is very exciting because it's it's especially open town meeting like we have. It's like raw democracy. Everybody gets a vote. Nobody's representing you.
You get your own vote. And there's, you know, protocols for everybody to be able to speak. And it's uh I think it's a fascinating way um to uh run town government. So I I enjoy it. I think
it's it's uh it's interesting to see, you know, the different people that get up to speak and the different viewpoints. And um I encourage people to go. It's a It's a real point of civic duty, I think, to be involved with your town this way.
>> Ellen, I'm I'm in agreement. I listen, I go to the town meetings. I I enjoy it, but I understand that some folks might not enjoy it. I mean, people are asking me today, is it still a b like is it still a do we still yay? No. Like, is it paper ballots? I'm like, no, we have these fancy clickers. Oh,
>> it goes so much faster. >> It's going to be fine. So, um >> yeah, it's so much nicer with the clickers. It is. Wow. It's like a whole game changer >> and nobody sees how you're voting >> and and Yes, I know. And we are so you know we're personally asking for up to
two hours of your time Thursday night 7 to 9. Um great turnout. The other thing that I wanted to say was and you know perhaps this is soundbite worthy is I have never enjoyed going to town meeting where I feel like the town's asking us to spend money and we don't have a choice. It's like we have to buy this
parcel otherwise the alternative use is going to be something that the town doesn't want or we have to do something with the AE orchard because we didn't do a good job with the orchard previously. What I want to state is that this is a project that we've been working on for 10, you know, somewhere between seven
and 10 years. Hundreds of manh hours have gone into this project. Person hours um have gone into this. That was an inside joke. um have gone into this project. The town has been awarded a $38
million grant. The FINCOM has figured a way to service I believe about 14% of the debt anyways. The reality is this is a no-brainer for the town moving forward and the alternative is not a good choice. But you do have a choice. You can invest in
Littleton um or you can choose to not move forward with a new building and we will make it very clear what the alternative is. And it's not it's not a good choice because we over the last seven to 10 years we've been planning on this. We haven't been maintaining Shaker
Lane to the best of our abilities or bringing it up to code proactively because we knew had we knew we had a big spend associated with this. We haven't been adding on classrooms or bringing modular classrooms because we knew we were going to be moving forward with this and very likely. So, it's I view
this as a gift to the town and it's just time for us to give two hours of our night, show up, vote yes, feel good about it, and then go back to the ballot on Saturday and do the same. And on Saturday can be your leisure. That'll take 90 seconds.
Um, so I would, you know, for as the conversations are taking place between now and Tuesday, you know, people need to be there. You need to show up because I the no votes are coming. They have it on their calendar. They will be there and they will be comfortable speaking at the microphone, many of them. So, the
point was made. But if you're um if you're for the project and you enjoy public speaking, I would encourage you to go to the microphone and state the reasons why you are for the project. uh and if you're not um comfortable at public speaking, I would encourage you
to find someone in your friend circle who is um so that made at the microphone as to why you know your subsection of the population is for the project because it's always nice to hear and Elaine you're right it's uh it's free form debate
you know it will be probably a little longer than it needs to be but um it'll be good TV >> I think also So twothirds is a big hurdle to get to why I keep pening at home uh town meeting and talking to uh a different uh school committee that went
through the process and had to do it as well. They thought they were good because it went through town meeting the one said okay well we got it by such a high threshold of course people are going to vote on Saturday will be good and it failed and they had to do it again. So, I think I'm overwhelmingly
focused on Tuesday because the higher threshold, right? It's 2/3. But like Justin said, grab your coffee, have the kids in the back, whatever. Run in vote early, get it done, knock it out on Saturday, make sure you get there because we do need the 51%, you know, 50
plus one, but you still have to go and do it. So, just want to know that as well. >> Or if your ballot came in the mail, >> yes, >> fill it up. One, two, three. That's even less time. Yeah. And actually, I talked to several people today knocking on doors who had already filled out their ballot and sent it in. Like I said, they
so they think that's the only thing they need to do. So I'm Yeah. I And I don't really have a good answer for why are we doing what? Why Tuesday and Saturday? Why? But my back my fall back is it's a
rule. >> That's how it's in the town bylaws. John, do you have an update on how many mail? >> The last check was last week was 327. All right. Yeah, I haven't got an update since. I know last time there was in the
spring there was roughly 600 that were mailed in. I would expect that we could see continue to see mail balls come in. And then another thing to think about, I mean, we we've we've had so many conversations in the last three years and beyond.
And the Shaker Lane School is is undersized. And I I remember one of our first meetings with we stated that and you know, we had a people understood, but we had a little bit of push back. Well, it was good enough for for my son or or my daughter to shake leggings. But
when we actually were at the point in the project where MSBA came back and said to us, you're undersized by approximately 35,000 square ft. That's huge. That's a lot of square footage.
Our teachers and administrators at Shikade School have done an incredible job educating our students in a space that was that is undersized that much. But it just it it's just another number that that's should hopefully resonate
with people. We want our youngest learners to be in a school where they're going to get the foundation they need to be successful and that space will be used.
When you educate young students, they are not sitting in desks. They're actively learning. They're learning through play. They're they're they're learning in groups and and and they need they need space to move in. And right now our our classrooms, our teachers do what they can to make it work, but there
is so much more that we can do to meet our education plan that that really focus on focuses on 21st century skill sets. So I mean that number just is daunting to me because making it work that's my job as a superintendent. I
would have never guessed that we were undersized by that much until that number came up. We all set with that topic. >> Fingers crossed for two seconds. That's all right. We've got three presentations this evening. The first of which is the district PD plan 2025 2026 school year.
Elizabeth Steele, director of teaching and learning, will give a brief presentation of the PD plan. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. Good evening, everyone. >> All right. So, our PD plan, a lot of this I was just saying um to my
colleagues here that this is going to sound like a lot of repetition because we've actually touched upon a lot of our PD plan already in previous presentations this year. like for example during our UDL presentation and discussion during our big SIP goals when
our principles were sharing what their goals were. That's all all of that information is wrapped up and put into our PD plan which is how we're able to move ourselves forward in acquiring and achieving these goals. So I'm happy this evening to present this big picture of
our UD of our PD plan getting lost my alphabet soup already um for this current school year. So, we have a couple major areas of focus um which will sound very familiar to you. One district-wide is universal design for learning. And so, we're continuing to
try and dig a layer deeper into that framework and into the guidelines and really using those practices and strategies within every classroom. We also have a major focus, again should sound familiar, on our elementary literacy. We're in year two of imprinting wisdom. And so last year, as
you heard Michelle and Colin share during their big SIP goals, we really went by the books with regards to WI wisdom. And we learned a lot. And we learned that some of it is awesome and we love it and we're continuing it. And we learned that other pieces we have to adjust because the students in front of
us are making us rethink that maybe we have a better way to do it that abide by what is considered best practice in teaching literacy to young children. And so that is a focus for our elementary literacy educators this year. Those are
the two big major areas of focus. However, it's never just that. There's always a lot of other things that are happening at the same time. And so just a couple of those things to mention tonight. We still are working to build that MTSS, which is the multi-tered
system of support. Remember that's the large a very large umbrella under which UDL falls. And so UDL is a piece of that larger puzzle that is multi-tered system of support. We're continuing conversations with AI um artificial
intelligence, what tools exist, how we can use them, and how we can help our students learn about and use um potentially use them as well. We have new secondary math curriculum this year and so we're working on implementing those in our 6 to12 classrooms and continuously revolving around going back
to social emotional learning which again if we look at the big umbrella of M2SS social emotional learning is another piece that falls under it's another pillar that falls within um that system of support there and so we are as a district very committed to providing
effective ongoing professional development that's really embedded within our system. We have really tried to turn away from kind of um sit and get PD and one and done PD, right? Where you just go, you listen to someone and if you're really dedicated, you're going to
take that information, you're going to create something and go do something with it. Um, and so turning away from that has meant spending and really diving into topics a lot deeper and providing time for us to not only process it but to create and produce as
part of our professional development. And so we have these major focus areas. We try to live in them because we also realize that we all grow at different at different rates, right? Just like our students. Some of our students are going to get it after a five minute explanation and other students are going to get it after five minutes of working
on it, right? And so just like teachers. And so that's why when we do when we do our professional development, we really try to um have it so that way it's accessible to where our teachers are at. When we look at the calendar on the next
slide, thanks Steve. You see our PD calendar is actually 10 early release days. You see 12 here. The reason you see 12 here is that I include the first day back. We always have our district come together, participate in some sort of professional learning
together that day to really ground ourselves into kind of um emphasizing what our focus is for the year. And so we have that first day. And then also you see the cross district PD day built into this calendar as well. And that is November 4th this year. That is
districtwide the full day where our students have the day off from school. Our educators are coming in to do a full day of professional learning. Other than that, you see the 10 early release days. The way that we build them out is that we have three building based where our building administrators facilitate
professional development. We have two districtbased PD days um where I in collaboration with other leaders create professional development and facilitate the professional development. And then we have five faculty-led professional development days. And that is where our
educators are able to propose in their own professional development sessions and facilitate those for themselves and for their colleagues. And so that is really where we get to see a variety of options. It's always very interesting to me kind of what we see. And a lot of times it's aligning with what we're
doing um as school, as a district. It's also kind of telling where our teachers are at um with regards to these initiatives and what we're doing. and then also some outside interest really being pulled in and it's interesting to see what our staff pick not only to
potentially facilitate or present on but also to attempt itself and so we do have these 10 days that are split out. We do we have had conversations I think we've landed in a good spot with regards to how we divvy these days up and so you'll see the two early release days at the
beginning of the year in September we've had conversations our building admin really like having those days to get their schools off the ground and running to really set the tone for their building and then um late fall early winter is when district we kind of come in and and work on the districtbased
material and then we have five consecutive space where our faculty are able to dive into their sessions and what they're choosing to learn consecutively. So that way they can learn, go put into practice, get feedback, come back to the table, have
discussions, learn again. And then the last is a building base in order for building administrators to come back together with their schools and kind of really set that end of year, the tone for it, kind of wrapping things up at the building level. So I think we've we've hit our stride with regards to how
those are divided um from year to year. In addition to the designated time on the calendar, the dates that were just shared with you, we also have a plethora of other PD opportunity that we provide to our staff. Summer of PD, we always
provide a couple of structured opportunities for our staff to participate in. For example, we have um this past summer we did a book study and we offered an AI Julie Lord offered an AI session for staff. So, it's just really curated kind of specific choices
that staff can participate in. We also have a document that's called upcoming opportunities and it is consistently updated or constantly updated throughout the year. whenever something else crosses my desk or crosses Kelly's desk and we say this might be a really nice
opportunity with staff, we add that to this upcoming PD opportunities for for staff. So that way they it's something they can consistently go back to and just say I'm looking for a course in SEI or anything of that sort. They can refer back to that.
And then additionally, our staff um are able to take courses of their own choosing, attend conferences, attend workshops of their own choosing. There's so many wonderful professional organizations that um provide really great PD for our staff either through
one-day workshops or multi-day conferences um and in addition to not only the great colleges and universities that provide coursework for for our educators as well. And so all of that happens in addition to our designated time in our calendar. Um and so just to
give you a sampling so far this year of some of the coursework that our educators have participated in or are currently participating in. Um that includes effective cooperative learning, engaging the artistic mind, student engagement and motivation, what teachers
need to know about ADHD and poetry in the classroom. And so you see that's where they get a lot of very specific to what they either need, what they feel like they need because the students that are in front of them or maybe in the course that they're teaching that they want to deepen their own knowledge. So it's a really nice opportunity to build
those um those skills and that knowledge base with regards to our district PD days and plan for those days. You can see here August 25th was that first day back we did a UDL check-in. I spoke about that
during the UDL presentation, so I won't dive too deeply into that. But we reestablished that we're really sticking with UDL and going a level deeper and holding ourselves accountable of what are we what's going well and what are areas that we can improve upon. So using
the language of glow and grow. In addition, on August 25th, we also talked about AI and artificial intelligence. um specifically Notebook LM, which is a a tool that we have access to and that um some of our secondary students are
testing the waters with and hopefully um transitioning and being able to kind of put that on for our students to use it. That's a lot of deep conversations of what are we doing, how are we doing that to make sure that we're doing it in a way that is thoughtful. the 29th which is next week. Um our
elementary is focusing on literacy and best literacy practices within the classroom knowing that what wisdom is the vehicle that they are using to to reach the standards and secondary will be focusing on UDL and AI and so being a bit reflective of what we did on the
25th taking that information and deepening our practices. On the December 10th our elementary educators will continue with the literacy professional development. Our secondary is going to take one next step deeper into UDL by
way of learning about cognitive um science research and how the brain really works to learn. It's hard to to learn that information to know that information and then not see the benefit of using UDL. And so we're seeing how th
those topics marry together to really um solidify the purpose of using UDL um with our secondary educators and and our secondary students. The other districtwide day that we have
is that cross district PD day. As we know, we've done it for several years now. Um it is a full day of professional learning. It is coming up on November 4th. our planning team, Julie Lord, Natalie Proto, um, and I meet with our counterparts from Harvard and from Air
Shirley. It used to be like, you know, every other month it was a conversation and then it becomes once a month and then it becomes every other week. We are on the weekly schedule with daily emails um because the November 4th is coming up very quickly. Um, and so it's a it's a nice collaboration between all three of
those districts coming together to be able to have various conversations and discussions about where we are with implementing updated standards, new curriculum because not all of us are using the same curriculum. Um, so for example, we're the only ones that are implementing liter right now and the others are using different curricula and
so it's interesting to see that this is the vehicle we're using but we're all teaching the same standards. So what are the best practices that we're using to get to those standards? Um, and so we're looking forward to this day. We are hosting it uh this year. It's it's our turn. We're up. So, we'll be hosting it at high school. So, we'll we are busy in
the depths um of planning that day. The right that you see there um looks like a a old school newsy um is our flyer. Thanks to Paul Orz. He works in the library at the high school. And I love this because I I I super
appreciate Paul creating these flyers. I always send him information and I just give him here's the date, here's the place, here's the title of the day that that we're thinking and here's a little description and his artistic creativity just goes and so I never know what he's actually coming back with. Um, and I I
always appreciate um the lens through which he sees it and so thanks to Paul for creating that flyer for us. Lastly, the faculty-led days to touch upon those. Um, we have them. They are five different days. The intention is to
not just be one and done, right? And so, the minimum that a professional development can be is two days. So, that way you're you're learning, you're acquiring information, you're sharing information, you're going back and doing something with it, and you're reconvening as that same group to share out your learning. Three days um is
another option or all five days. And so our staff can facilitate and kind of pick and choose different opportunities and be creative with how they do these selections. Um we are currently in the midst of having staff fill out their
faculty-led PD proposals. And so we've gotten a handful so far, some of which I have listed here for you as just a little kind of appetizer of what we see coming this year for our faculty-led sessions. our PDC, our professional development council meets to review them
to say, is it a go? Is it not a go? Is it a go? But with maybe certain caveats that we're going to go back and ask for. And so those will be finalized. Middle of December, we share that with staff. So then staff's able to pick and when we come back in January is when we kind of with that fresh start, they're starting
fresh with a new line of PD, which is their own selected faculty L. And that is the gist and overview of our faculty of excuse me of our professional development plan for this school year.
>> Excellent job questions for comments. >> You want to go first? >> Something. >> Um always so interested in this balance that you create between the the building
based and the districtbased and the faculty-led. Um, and it it seems so well planned to me that and and you're in control of um the faculty-led sessions so that they're still meeting the objectives of the district. So, that's
great. Um do do you find that this balance gives you enough of enough time to pursue some of the bigger district initiatives like portrait of a learner and you know you spoke about UDL several times but um it
it seems like there's a there's a lot of teacher agency here which is great for the teachers but how do you strike that balance where the district is also um providing the leadership on some of the bigger initi atives. >> Yeah. So, I think I mean it'd always be nice to have more time, right? But
that's the age-old that can't be done, right? So, how are we creative with the time that we have? Um I think the faculty-led it does have to align to the the school improvement plan and or inevitably if it aligns the school improvement plan, it's going to align to the district strategic plan in some way,
shape or form. And so that does allow us to kind of ensure that things are connecting to each other um and yet maintaining that agency for staff, right? I think the big key and what always is a good indicator for me is if
we are providing district-based building based PD that is timely and applicable, it gets brought in and goes throughout the faculty lab. And that to me is always a really good indicator, right? So if the topic or a topic that we have
worked on >> either in either of those or even as staff and staff development in in meetings or anything of that sort gets brought into faculty-led then to me that's that's a good indicator that we're kind of hitting the right spots.
It's when I start to see a little bit of that disalignment start then I start to say I take a step back and say what are we missing? What mark are we not hitting? Right? and where maybe we're ready to move on. I didn't think we were. That to me is when I start to see the alignment kind of falling off where
I take a step back and say where where where are we where am I missing the mark and how can we realign ourselves back together. I think the port the portrait of a learner is such district our admin team works a lot on that during our time
together because it is very big picture district but it's such school specific work and so a lot of those conversations actually happen during staff meetings um or during team meetings and and remind me is this with portrait of a learner is this more of still of a planning year
and next year would be more like when the rubber hits the road in the individual classrooms So rubber is going to hit the road at the high school. It kind of already is hitting the road with the high school and I'm I'm happy to have Keith um support if if he is up to it. Um but
that is because NIAK is coming um in the spring of this year. Rubber has to meet the road on for the high school. And so the the portfolios the student portfolios are already happening. they're starting to happen in the advisory, the digital portfolios of students coming together and saying, "I'm demonstrating critical thinking in
these projects and here's how that's happening at the high school." And so what we're really hoping for is to ensure that that we're kind of learning from that process to be able to implement it smoothly at the other schools. And so it is it's both a
planning and an implementation year. I think it will be one of those years where we start to introduce some things to students and families. Um, as opposed to just kind of waiting until it's never it'll be perfect at some point. I guess I shouldn't say it'll never be perfect. >> Yeah. >> But it's it's a work in progress, right?
And I I don't want to not show it until it's perfect. Yeah. For example. >> And one more question um about um teachers individual professional development. Do they get a uh some amount of money that they can tap into
each year from the district that will pay for conferences and workshops upon approval from superintendent? >> Yes, they do. >> It's built into the contract. They have a certain aotment that they're able and they just have to fill out a form. Um we review it, approve it, go through and
most people know the process. It's something that during our new hire we emphasize and share. And I always say just talk to your mentor because it's so worth um not many even I still have conversations with other districts and they're like you do what? >> Yeah. We we're committed to this. Yeah.
Um it's in the contract and so it is something that is special that we still are able to provide and built into the contract. It's really important. >> Yeah. For sure. >> And it's well used. >> Good. Good. >> I'm really really proud of our our staff. They they are committed to lifelong learning and they do take
advantage of the opportunities that we available to there. There are two other we can go on a lot longer than this, but there are a lot of things that we do that you're probably unaware of. Uh a number of us
in this room just finished 12 hours of safety care training. You have you have to be certified every year. You don't get the lecture about two or three years certification. So I was not able to attend uh Little Town
because I was in my last three hours of training for for safety care. We also mandated for all staff have safe school training. That's three and a half hours of of online training here that's mandated by the federal government.
So just some things that that you should be aware of. Uh and and that safe schools training is is not something that we allocate time to because if you want to work in public education, you do need to
go through that pass the the test at the end of section uh in order to uh remain employed public school system. Sean. >> Yeah. I just want to call I love that you're using science based reasoning for
why you're doing UDL. I think that helps a lot driving. Awesome. I just wondering kind of year to year allow us to specialize per teacher. How do you kind of evaluate impact, right? So you got to look next year. Okay. Well, this went well. So
>> So um at the end of the year I survey I send out a survey to staff gathering feedback, right, of of what PD helped you this year? What what do you want to see? what you want to learn. Um, and that's always very informative and helpful um, at the end of the year to kind of see and kind of I then mull it
over and and determine for for moving forward. The other the other way is really through classroom visiting, visiting in and what's happening. And so we have a PD day and then going into the classroom the next day or in the next couple of weeks to be able to see what is being implemented, what has been
done. And that really is the limus test of was the PD helpful, impactful, right, is if they're turning around and using it, if we're seeing it in action, that is whether that's a good evaluator of of
kind of what the impact of the K. >> It's great. Thank you. >> So, thank you, Beth. >> I'll say I think you do absolutely fabulous job with the the PD plan. I love the way it's mapped out. You get a little bit of everything. cool that we're hosting this year
because that's always an emphasis of pride because I know we do such a great job. Um, and you can tell, you know, based upon the work that goes into this that professional development is like a core value within our in our district and as it should be. Um, and as it is and I would venture to guess nearly all
high performing school districts. So, it's something that I believe is super important and I just want to say I think you do an awesome job with it. Um I was curious if the PD that we provide um if the teachers pick up those PDP
points over the course of the year and what what amount of offering translates to their continuing edge to renew their license? >> Yeah, very good question. So professional learning um and we've tried to um make differentiate that professional learning hours versus
professional development. And so it has to be 10 hours together in order for us to provide very specific PD keys which can then be used for research. Professional learning hours anything under 10 hours I can provide professional learning or the district
provides professional learning hours that as a teacher they can bundle together and as soon as they hit 10 hours together bundle it automatically turns into PDPs for them to research. And so we ensure that our professional development aligns with for is is what
they can either bundle together or what they can use for research. So for example the faculty-led professional development the reason we have you can do a five is because that'll get you 10 PDPs. So if I do the same faculty-led PD for all five
sessions I'm guaranteed at least 10 PDPs that I can then use for reertification. And so we are intentional um about that. It does take it does take teacher planning. It does take educator planning to map out okay I need this many in electives. I need this many in pedigogy.
I need this many in STI. So there is intentional planning that has to happen. But we as a district try to be intentional to support that. One thing that we do that I didn't mention is every other summer we provide every summer we provide um professional learning. For the past handful of summers, we've started doing it specific
to SEI because every educator needs 15 threshold development points in SEI for their research every 5 years. And >> you say what SEI is? >> Yes, thank you. Thank you. Um, sheltered English immersion. And so, um, to to support multilingual learners in all
reality, as a as a previous world language teacher taking that SEI course, it it was good teaching of language, right? And so I took those strategies in in the SEI course. It was all about English immersion. I just spun around
and put it as Spanish immersion when I was when I was teaching Spanish. And so it's very good learning strategies and practices to help our multiling learners um learn the English language to become successful within our public schools. So
we offer a mini course every August to either satisfy the 15 PDPs required for the SEI endorsement or 15 PDPs to satisfy um it has a it has a very long title but it's to support diverse the
diverse needs of students. Um and so we have flip-flopped every other year to provide those mini courses um for our staff and every year we've had about a dozen to 20 depending on the year. It depends on sometimes we have high reertification years and we know that because we're spending more money on
professional development and the coursework and people are taking more advantage of that contract part um than other years and so those we have been doing to support the reertification. It is a professional responsibility educators know that but we also as a
district know that whatever we can do to support that is helpful and so we do try to be strategic with those planning. >> That's awesome. So fair to say in summary, if a faculty member is paying attention to their requirements and
strategic about the professional development that's offered, they could likely achieve all necessary PDP uh requirements uh over the course of 5ear span by ju by solely participating in indist professional development. >> I mean that's a stretch. I don't know
what the answer is. >> I have to do I'd have to do the math but it's very close. If if it's not a yes, it is very close. >> Very close. Excellent. >> And guaranteed is a guaranteed yes if they use their um contractual authority of funds to >> look at something further. Um but it is
very close. I know went down a rabbit hole to go to give that long air. Yes. >> And no judgment cast on that. I think that's a wonderful thing that we're doing, you know, getting you nearly all the way there, >> right? Yeah. >> And then my last question, it's like kind of a curveball wild card fun question, but you mentioned it. So, what
does learning about geodess? >> Oh, >> how does that translate back to the district strategic plan? >> Okay, so geodess are part of our literacy program and so they are decodables. They're um readables for young learners and they're not the
rocks. I should have put the copyright symbol behind geode. I almost put in a little more. But sometimes it's fun to put a little something in there. this curve balling. So, it's not necessarily the rocks uh geodess, it's uh readables that are used
within our literacy program, which then directly ties to >> Well, I'm a little bummed. >> Well, I'm just inspired to pass my proposal that I'll be seeing some very similar. It's not about the geode. It's we're going to do UDL for this topic and really it's the the message behind the
subject matter. But, >> you surprised me. Yeah, I was I was excited about the elevation of science. >> Yes. >> Up to this level. >> It will be we will we will have specific science offerings. I mean you've heard the STEM presentations from our students, right? Like I mean our students and our staff are doing amazing
really deep work within the STEM field and so those are forthcoming I'm sure. >> All right. But we're not learning about rocks during PD. Okay, fine. >> No, not good. >> Not at this time. But what is fun is that when you do when you purchase the geodess, they actually send a geode with
the kit. And so um once you the the geodess are delivered, >> they do get natural geode which then triggers the conversation of what is this? How is it right? It does trigger that that nice conversation which then also is like a beautiful thing of how literacy is really combining the science
and social studies into it's all it's all it's all linked, right? It's all together. >> Okay, lovely. Great. Great job. Thank you. >> All right, up presentation number two. It's an analysis of chronic absenteeism and its causes at LBS. We're going to
hear from the assistant principles. Each school will discuss chronic absenteeism rates as well as potential causes of chronic absenteeism. First up, >> I have a hand out first. >> All right. >> Oh boy. This is just a piece of
>> evidence, I guess, what we've done over the past two years to work on our students and some of the >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um, listen out um from the district before last school year and before this school year
as part of our initiative to address chronic absenteeism. It's been a state focus for the past year and a half or so. Um, and going back to last summer, myself, the other principles, Beth, Julie Lord, uh, Meredith Perry joined us as well, and she was an intern at the
time, we got together as a penance task force of sorts. There's a state grant that provid us with, um, a little bit of funding, which paid for the postcards, paid for some of the flying we sent out, um, and really standardized our process in the district of how we address absenteeism and just how we reach out to
families. you know, the letters we send out are all standardized across the district. That that happened last summer and then this summer we we reconvened and um evaluated where we were at after the the work we did last year and some of the impact that we saw in the data um
and then planned some next steps. So that's kind of what I'll talk about tonight. So for the high school um here on the screen you have the past three years of our attendance rate which which is our present rate and also our chronically absent rate which is defined as student who's missed um 18 days
within the school year whether it's excused or unexcused. And so going back 2223 our attendance rate was 93.3% and our crime absent rate was 14.8%. And then going to last year when we started focusing on um sorry 2324 is 94.6% 6%
present and 10% chronic absent.6 then last year uh 95.3% and 9.3% chronically absent. So we we've seen an improvement over the past 3 years each year um and really coming um kind of out of the pandemic was when
we really saw a spike in absenteeism. the years following that, you know, for various reasons. Obviously, the actual health reasons, but also we started to see um some more um leniency, I guess you want to say, in terms of um students
coming in late, being absent multiple days. We were being very considerate of people coming back from illness and missing multiple days. And at the high school level, we see a lot of different types of absences. We have college visits. We have all types of different activities that are happening with our with our students. um that are impacting
their attendance. And sometimes you don't necessarily understand the impact that all these things are having on the students attendance until you look at the actual data because yes, they were all excused absences. We know why kids are out, but they're still racking up 18 to 20 25 absences over the course of a
school year. It's having an impact on their learning and on learning others in their classes. So that was part of our focus as a group. You know, obviously realizing that our numbers are comparatively better to the state average numbers doesn't mean we should
be focusing on it and trying to improve getting kids in school. The data on this video shows our high school data for the past three years. The clips down the bottom, the graphics down the bottom are from the district profile from Desi. And so it breaks down by all the different
categories um for the past three years. David. Um, so obviously the postcard which I handed out um to all of you is also there on our on the screen. But uh that was what was sent out before school last year, before school this year. We
also had back to school nights. We had flyers. A lot of the material that we used the the information came from um attendance works which is an organization out of Ohio um which has done a lot of work on attendance. And they have flyers, they have postcards,
they have graphics, they have a lot of messaging that we kind of personalize. You can see ours with our uh our Littleton um logos, that kind of stuff that we use and we curate some of that information to um send out to parents, to families, to students. A lot a lot of
people a lot of messaging through um Friday flyers, those types of things are talking about attendance specifically. We're trying to be more proactive in addressing attendance instead of being reactive. And so the handouts, um, positive messaging, uh, visuals and posters around the buildings, you know,
when you come to the high school, for example, as you come up to the window where you sign or where kids signed in in late, it's a poster right next to that window about, you know, you you matter. Being here matters, we want you to be here. We care about you. Those types of things. So that's the proactive measures. We're also looking at um, consistently monitoring attendance
through SST, through clinical teams, through admin teams. We're looking at data, looking at who is absent, why they are absent, and really understanding the the factors behind why students are absent. Um, we are being more consistent
with our notifications about attendance. We have monthly notifications that all families when students are trending towards chronic absenteeism. So, excuse me, at the beginning of the school year, a lot of letters are going out because in the first month of school, if you miss a day or two, you are trending towards chronic absenteeism. So, the
letter itself goes out to a lot of families. I think I think this past September, we sent out like 63 letters from the high school alone. You have the student that missed two days. And that's because in some situations, we had students that were traveling before the start of the school year and didn't get
back on time or whatever it is, but they were absent twice. They got a letter. And so, I think last year was kind of a shock to some families. receiving, you know, absentee notices that frequently, but it was again, it was talking about the trend towards chronic absenteeism and talking about the fact that excused
and unexcused all count. Time away from the classroom counts, no matter what the reason is. Um, and so being more aware of the impact that FD has on a student's progress, I think helps students make different choices about those, uh, days
that are not as excused, um, in terms of making decisions of whether or not to attend school. Um, other things that we're doing to impact attendance, uh, we are focusing at the high school on our school culture and having the school be a place that kids want to be. Uh I I was
at a conference um this past Tuesday through MPY, the mass partnership for youth. It was a two-part conference about attendance. On Tuesday, I was talking about mental health and the impact on attendance. And the one um earlier, I think it was last month, was their annual attendance summit where we have speakers from across the state and
districts present from across the state about about attendance. Um we have our advisory program which is is a consistent group for four years. So my current advisory actually is senior. So I'll be I'll be looking with new kids next year. Um but that helps build that connection for kids with each other but
also with at least one staff member in the school to make it a situation where they want to come to school for that purpose. Uh we have our character strong advisory curriculum, our curriculum which we've been doing at the high school for three years now. Um and we've made our own uh tweaks in our own version of Character Strong. Um using
their curriculum to develop lessons for students. We are doing once a month in our advisories and we have spirit weeks. We have great kindness challenge weeks. We have a lot of things that are focus just finished a spirit week. Uh last week we had a pepper on Friday for the homecoming game and dance on Saturday.
So we're trying to in inject some fun into school for the students that again makes them want to show up and want to be in in the building. Um and then when we start having students that have a lot of attendance issues um we have targeted conversation with families. we have with
the students about why are you absent so much or what is going on? What can we do to help you? What can we do to support you um to help um drive home the importance of them being in school? And then this year um we've at the high school decided to expand our focus some
and also include target as part of our uh chronic absenteeism focus because even though students are present for school, if they're tardy a lot, they're also missing class time. And so we have students that would come in, we start 8:05, they're coming in at
9:30 or 10 o'clock, they've missed two classes. And so it doesn't show up on our attendance reports for the state chronicism, but it still impacts day-to-day um running of school. And so we we are really focusing on our tardiness and
the nature of excused tardiness. So for for as long as I've been in Littleton, we said if a parent called us, it's excused. Um because we trust our families and we trust our parents and trust our students to make the right decisions. But as we've seen, we've had a lot of students who just come in late
and get a phone call like at the end of the day saying, "Oh yeah, they were running late this morning." And so we're trying to help build those better habits with our students by say that's not good enough anymore. If you have an appointment in the morning, great. Go to your appointment, come in, bring us a note, and you're all set. It's excused. It doesn't count against you. But if if
you're just oversleeping, then we need to have different conversations and different um strategies in the morning. So that's the high school questions for me specifically or you want to wait till the end or do not. >> I just have a question about the uh the data just to make sure I'm understanding
it correctly. >> So we'll look at this. >> I guess we looked at last year, right? 24 25. >> Yep. >> So the attendance rate 95.3. So that's the average daily attendance. We're missing 4.7% of the student population every day. >> Yep.
>> Um so if we go over to absent 10 days or more >> Yep. >> Am I understanding that 26% of the student population misses 10 days or more? >> Yes. >> So if we were to look at uh low income
because we've got it broken down. We're trying to, you know, we're this is a proactive approach. We're trying to figure out what the needs are and how to help all these different subasses. >> So, we've got, you know, 63.6% or maybe even worse, which is 43.2%
of the lowincome families are missing 18 days or more of school, chronically absent. >> Yes. It's like nearly half the population. >> Yeah. Thereabouts. >> Yes. And that that is so You know, I think we're going to we
already talk about some strategies as to why this might be. I'm curious if we have any information or maybe the other schools can comment on this, but >> have we done some digging to figure out um you know, hey, maybe some of this is related to
uh travel because the demographics in our district have changed and people um you know, visit family and it's they might not be uh they might not be close so they go for extended periods of time. some of this uh observation of religious holidays that uh aren't on the calendar is
uh is some of this I mean if someone's low income would they have a waiver for the bus regardless so they would have transportation be provided? >> Yes, >> that's correct. >> Yep. >> Yeah. I think to not to cut you off.
>> Yeah. I'm just kind of like there are a lot of factoring conversation here. So I think part of the the I guess the issue looking at the data that we have same as any data set that we look at is the fact that we have very
not very small but smaller type populations in all these subcategories right >> and so if you have a student make a difference make a huge difference obviously and I'm not trying to make an excuse or anything like that but that's just the nature of our district I know I've talked about with AP and MCAT presentations
>> before the board before as Um, so a couple students do make a big difference. And like I said, we we've >> we have a giant spreadsheet which we curate that has all of our data for all of our attendance and has specifically who every student who was chronically absent or who who was trending towards
chronically absent every month and what what they got for notifications and etc. and uh the reasons why they were absent. So we talk about that myself, Dr. Harrington, the clinical team, the school nurse, everyone who's involved with attendance looked at that and I can
say um looking at the end of the year data, we had off top of my head probably I think it was 57 students total that were chronically optioned last year. Um so that missed the 18 days or more.
>> Some of those as you mentioned were ones students that had traveled. Last year in particular, we had we had I think 10 students who were overseas before the start of the school year and couldn't get back because of weather reasons that their flights got cancelceled. They missed six or seven days of school to start the year. >> Um >> and other students have medical
challenges. >> Yeah, we have had students who have extended medical situations. Um or we've had students who had, >> you know, had some time mental health reasons like hospitalizations, those types of things. And so we try to be
obviously sensitive to all the specific needs of all the all the students. And while they are still classified as chronically absent, we're not intervening at the same level with some of these students because of the nature of their absence. >> Sure.
>> I guess maybe the then like I missed it, but the category to focus on would be the unex unexcused absences. Right. So, >> the numbers aren't nearly as bad, but we still have nearly 16% of the low-income population missing nine or more days.
We've got 16% of the Hispanic, Latino, and the multi-ra Hispanic or Latino around 16%. >> Right. >> Um, >> yeah, I mean, those are the highest groups that we have right now in terms of our absenteeism. And so, we need to
figure out how to address their specific needs differently. have smaller populations. >> Of course. Absolutely. >> Right. So that couple students moving the needle on that 100%. Sure. But I'm uh I'm relieved to see a big drop off at least from that numbers like um
>> and high needs like high needs in particular. Like you're like, "Oh jeez, 47% of the high needs population is missing 10 days or more, but it's really only 7% where they have unex." >> Yep. >> Many of those. When it comes down to it at this point though, like the state
doesn't care about excused versus unexcused in their reporting. >> But we know there's a story behind many of those. >> Yeah. And and we know the stories. We talk about the stories. We we process everything. We provide support for families um relative to their needs.
>> Some of those are great questions. I was going to say too, um I think just data in general whenever you're dealing with this kind of stuff was co I'm wondering what it looked like 2019. >> Are we kind of back? >> I mean we we are back to where we where we were. Um we it's all available. I
don't have numbers in front of me right now. Um but >> I think the school pro profile on Desi's website goes back to I believe 2015. >> Okay. Um, and so I was actually looking at it as I was making the slides for tonight and um, the actual graph looks
differently and so I I looked back like 2017 I think it was. I'm like, "Wow, we're 20% chronically absent." That was the wrong number. It was the wrong call. Um, so yeah, we're we're roughly back to where we want to be uh or where we were before co the 95% present rate is kind
of the threshold we want to stay around um in terms of accountability metrics um because you know attendance is part of accountability in terms of schools um >> but yeah we're back to roughly where we were. Uh I don't have the exact number
in front of me, but >> thank >> um when you you had mentioned that um there are certain numbers that just trigger an automatic letter to a family. >> Are are is the family supposed to respond? Is there does it start a
conversation or >> both? Okay. >> So there's the variety of notifications do we have? The the one that's mandated is five unexcused absences is mandated a letter. That's not our rule. as the states rule. Um, so that's a different letter that can set up. The one I was
talking about before is the the trending towards chronic absenteeism. That's more of a notification. >> Um, because that again could be two days. >> Yeah. And and my first thought is one neuro virus is running through the family and and if I got something after I was taking care of that, I might be
like, really? >> Yeah. I mean, and the the the trending notification is not a mailing. It's a it's it's Aspen generated. >> And so, a parent receives a notification from Aspen saying there's a new notice
in their Aspen. And we can track the percentage of of parents that interact with that notification. Um it's not 100%. Um >> it's uh it's lower than that. >> Yeah. Um, but we did have parents I had
a parent this year who their the son broke his arm, you know, and was out for a little while, got off the notifications. And she's like, what do you need from us to, you know, we have doctor and I said to her like, I know we have the notes. This is a generated
thing. It's auto. We can't pick and choose who gets the notices, who doesn't for these Aspen notifications. the other ones, the other like attendance letters, the for more formal ones. We do have some describing of who we send those to. So I I go over that with the admin assistant, she gives me a list of all
these kids who have x amount of say 10 absences and I go through that with her and I say, "Okay, I know this this kid is this, this kid is that, this kid is that." We're not sending them a letter, but the Aspen get notification is is autogenerated. We cannot unselect a student or a family of uh from that
notification, unfortunately. But some there was some frustration especially last year when we started sending them out um from parents who had been very communicative with us and we had to talk through it with them and be like >> yes we know we got all your phone calls
we got your emails they got doctor's notes etc. But this is, you know, part of a stay focused. >> It's a that's a stress on a family, you know, like the neurovirus, the broken arm. They're already like >> Yeah. And and there was one last year in particular, we had a student who had an
extended medical situation. And we our guidance counselor reached out to that parent every month and say, "Hey, FYI, the notification come out tomorrow. Ignore it." >> Yeah. Okay. >> And so that's >> Yeah. We want to be respectful to
parents and family situations, but also focus on >> Oh, yeah. I mean, we have to do something, but how to do it, >> you know, that's kind of where we settled on was in those situations is being proactive. Again, say, "Hey, you don't need to open that the notification
because we know." >> That's awesome. >> Thanks. >> We have a I have a couple actually building off of what Justin was saying earlier, back to the subgroups. Yep. Um, can you remind me what gets lumped into high needs? Do you think there's some
overlap with some of these other categories? >> Yeah, high needs includes low income, it includes uh special education, IC file force, um, >> English language learners. It's all they're all linked on. >> Yeah, that that makes the data a little
clunky. Um but just um since there there does seem to be some clear data that certain subgroups are uh have more of an issue than others. Um, are you starting to do any planning with that information
about subgroups about maybe the causes related to say low income or >> um, >> you know, it sounds like you've been dealing with um the absences on an individual family >> basis, but
>> is there any story here to tell with this data about certain subgroups of concern? you know, like what's happening with the lowincome families that make >> I think it's hard to it's hard to lump people into their subgroup categories
when it comes to attendance in particular because just because you are a member of that particular subgroup doesn't mean you have anything to do with someone else that's in that same member of a subgroup. And so we really want to look at every situation as an individual situation and just happens to
come out as this person and this person are from the same >> you know desk. >> But I mean are there are there trends that you can see in the data say you know is it harder for students to get to school because they have a job during school hours or you know things like
that that >> um um that we should >> I don't have a direct answer to that question right now. Uh I I do know that we certainly have had families in the past that the students did work and we try to work with them and actually give them more work study credit for it. Um to try to be creative that way.
Obviously, you know, as Steve mentioned, you know, bus waiverss, those types of things are are in place. We've had an influx of families that have um greater English language needs this year. And so we've done a lot of work with getting things translated into into
home language, those types of things. And so we are trying to reach out. I know other schools have done like almost like site visits to different neighborhoods in town to bring I know Jason kind of spearheaded that last year to going bringing the school to the community instead of vice versa but to
help support families differently. So um I don't have a direct answer to you know the >> like we were saying earlier that because we're such a small district the numbers >> do get skewed a little bit. Yep. >> Um it only takes a couple of kids to make the numbers go >> right. And I also don't want to like
generalize, >> right? >> Um especially when it comes to attendance. It's like it's hard to make assumptions that just because of one factor, there's certainly impacting. >> I mean, it's just it's something worth looking at though when when you see the data when you see certain subgroups have
a high chronic absentism rate year after year after year, >> it does the data does start to tell a story. Yes, it's >> and we're not exempt from having students babysitting younger siblings because a parent needs to work
to put food on their table. >> And we work with both families, but your strategies have to be carefully developed because if you uh go in with the wrong approach, you're just going to lose them. I mean, there's always the
the the reality of of attendance in public schools. Uh if you're not careful, people will just order children and put them on homeschool program >> and then we we have no influence after that time. So, you know, again, I think
Keith's phrase he used to get to know the families that won't allow us to be successful with this vision. >> Thanks. Thanks for sorry to pick so much time, but I think the high school is
particularly interesting. It seems like that's the age level where kids have more agency, more control about whether they're get their body to school or not. >> We have students who are starting to look at other pathways. Yeah. And we have more and more students doing internships and looking at those types
of opportunities, too. So, it's like we want to help them find their path while they're with us still. And then, you know, once they're gone, we have control, >> right? Thank you for everything you're doing. >> All good things. Like the the the approach about making a place where kids want to be, >> right? So, you know, I want to go to
school. That's where my friends are. That's where the fun is. >> Um the spirit day is like there's something going on. I want to be part of it. You know, it's it's hard for that to be successful across the board with the entire student population. But >> being a small district and getting to know the students, getting to know the
families, I mean, that's long term that's what makes a difference. Appreciate the efforts. >> Yeah. It's awesome. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Probably Keith probably got most of the questions. >> Did the heavy lie.
>> Um >> yeah, good job. >> I'm not going to bring a whole anything much different than what Keith has already said because, you know, the task force was, you know, was cut down. So everything seems to be pretty consistent across the schools. Um you can see some of the same trends at the middle school
right where we've we've definitely improved. We're seeing a drop in the chronically absent rate which is great. Um you know some of the reasoning I don't know that our our reasons for student absences are as diverse as the high school. Uh middle schoolers are kind of bound by bus routes, parents
driving or being in within walking distance. Um tardies is a problem. Um we do have especially when our flex block was 30 minutes long many years ago. I mean it was it was all the time where kids were showing up 20 30 minutes late because they didn't consider that to be
real class. We tried to change that narrative. Um it, you know, I think this was happening before COVID, but the the mental health crisis that we're seeing in schools, CO just took it to that exponential level. But a lot of what we see just I'm just speaking from my
experience having watched these this the implementation of of some of these strategies. We have, you know, a lot of we have a number of students who are real resistant to going to school and some parents you just after a while you just can't fight the fight anymore. And so
you give it and you acquies because it's just easier. And you know, our job is to help support those families and help to do what we can. And like all the other schools, I think we do a really good job of connecting with our with our families and really knowing what's going on with students. Um but you know some of the
measures that we have implemented those those automatic emails I think have been really helpful for us because we've had a number of people who have reported that they were shocked by the number like if they hadn't received that they would have not known otherwise. We used to send letters like three times a year and you know if you're sending a letter
in December, you know, the damage is done, right? The kids have had three months of of of missing school and so this constant update is is much better for parents to be able to stay and to know, you know, where their kids are. >> Um, and so I think that's for us really
really what we see. We do have a number of families who I've already had two maybe three families reach out about students missing a week or more because they're going on vacation. So those five days or those 10 days certainly add up. It's not uncommon to have to withdraw students because
they're gone for an extended period of time and have them reenroll when they when they come back because those absences ding us when it comes to the state. And so I think what is it 30 days I think you know if it's an anticipated you know uh length of time more than that you withdraw the student because otherwise that's 30 30 days on the
absence count that that really hurt. And so, um, I think that's largely what what we see at the middle school is really more about some of that resistance to mental health and and and stress, um, sickness, a lot of illnesses, you know,
middle school kids that just germy and they spread it and it does it it'll it'll wipe out a whole wing of it'll wipe out a whole wing of of of kids. And so, you know, this is just the nature of it. But in you know and the and the sad reality is we're no we're not different than any other community. We have
families for whom school is not the priority and we have families for whom uh you know that the the the needs of the family come before the needs of getting the kid to school on time. It's we don't have as much as we see in other communities. It's kind of you know when you look at 95.2% it's an embarrassment
of riches you know that that those numbers are so high because there are plenty of districts in the state who don't go close to that but it doesn't mean we rest on our lows. And so I think the the the the things that we have implemented as a as a district have really started to help turn that and obviously the numbers are are bearing it out. For me it's the chronically absent
numbers seeing at least at the middle school seeing it you know we're less than half of where were two years ago and that that's that's a good thing and I anticipate we'll see it coming down one day. One piece of data I wish I had looked at was perfect attendance. I'd be curious to know you know we see we see
it but to look at the other end too. Are we having more kids who are constantly here? I I I you know I I I wish I had looked that up before I before I came but it wouldn't be too hard to put >> you know the those earning a five in the AP for attendance. >> Yeah.
So um you know that's that's about where we are. Any questions? >> Where we show no data on the um >> with the statistics here is that because >> there's not enough to report. Yeah, >> there's a threshold that is in the group
is too small. >> Yeah. >> Do we know what that threshold is? I think it's 10, isn't it? >> It's 10. >> Okay, makes sense. Yeah. questions for Jason. >> And um have you also looked at your data
precoid to see if you're back to >> We're back we're back to where we were. >> Um which is great. You know, we we're experiencing more challenges now than we did previously. Um but but I think we this idea of getting students and families to care about school and the
importance of being there really does help. And so like the high school does, we we try to implement as well about creating a culture where students like to be in school because it's you know that I don't know if anybody's read the anxious generation yet, but there's um there's a quote by the author who says that you know the the reality is that
for for some students school or the home is the most dangerous place on earth. And so for many kids school is their safe place. And we we at the middle school we really take that to heart. And so there are there are kids who come here just because they know that it's consistent. they're loved, they're cared
for, and that becomes it its own its own force. Um, and I just hope that that continues as they as they move forward. So, >> I'm sure your efforts to build connections with each student have an impact on that as well. >> They do. And I think that the family part of it is I know Keith mentioned it
too that the importance of paying families is important too because at some point in time when we go to call home you know we we we want to be able to do it out of concern and have be consistent enough so that every time the I mean every time I call home there's that pregnant pause right and sometimes
it's you know it's justified and sometimes it's not. And so we try to break through those barriers to say like just because you're getting called from school, we can normalize that. So it's just like anybody else calling um I think that goes a long way too to helping our students and families feel like they're wanted and and that they
that they that they should be there and that's the right place to be. >> Very much. >> All right. Thank you. Right. Good evening. Um, for those of you who may not know, I'm Andrea Romano. I'm the assistant principal at Russ Food School. Um, it's great to be here
tonight. Um, I am presenting um, on behalf of Rebecca Deacon from Shaker Lane as well. So, I think, um, the best, well, we'll go through Russell Street data. Um, I do want to say like Rebecca and I particularly um really have
approached this um through a KI lens. We really partnered together um specifically um because a lot of the families are you know we're working with a lot of the same families. So um there's definitely a partnership um with that. But I also want to say like um
before we really dig into the data here is um one of the things that I really appreciated the most um about the assistant principles joining together with Beth and the other members of the task force um two summers ago is just really like opening the door to
conversation and really having the opportunity to um really address some of the concerns that we all um shared with this topic. um and really being able to have those um vertical conversations. um you know, Rebecca and I and you know,
Michelle and Colin, we um have had experience working with kiddos um at the elementary level and being able to pass on the um the experiences and the interactions and the challenges that we've faced and the successes that we've
faced with certain students and certain families as they progress on to the secondary level with Jason um and with John and Keith um at the middle school and the high school are really really important, you know, so that they can kind of hit the ground running when they're um taking on, you know, the
students as they're moving into sixth grade and as they're moving into ninth grade. And I think just being able to have that traction um you know, it saves time and it saves resources so that you can really partner with families in advance and not wait to be um so
reactive, but really being able to be constructive um as you move forward into those academic years. So I think that's just something that I want to highlight um on behalf of the whole entire team. So um this evening um I think as the data shows um Russell Street um last
year is really trending in a positive direction as well um as we look at the data um for chronically absent um absenteeism within our building um as well as um the increased attendance rate overall. Um we are close to where we
were um pre- pandemic. So, this is the year that we're really looking forward to um making that last little push there to get there. Um so, some of the things that I want to highlight in terms of Russell Street School um is um some of
the work that I did last year really centered around um you know, working with spec um working with families on an individual basis. um specific to just really starting to um increase student
um kind of like participation or their own um building of habits, if you will, in terms of their their routines and their um their ability to kind of take ownership of being prepared as students. Um so what that might look like is you
know students who are either tardy or um who do have um you know challenges with just getting to school in general is really looking at like how can we get prepared in the morning um or even really like in the evening the night before so that we're ready to go so that
we're not hitting those roadblocks and those frustrations um in the morning. Um I know as a parent myself um you know sometimes even with best intentions and you know all of the planning like sometimes mornings are hard and so you know what are the things that we can do
to um really help families build in positive routines and positive habits um so that kids can have those as they proceed um later on into the middle school and high school. Um, also just want to say like we try to make school
fun as well. Um, so you know, we've really had a return to some really strong um, fun things at Russell Street over the last two years. Um, we have like cafeteria cup challenges where, you know, grade levels can earn prizes and
um, rewards within the school um, week for positive um, you know, behavior in the cafeteria. It's like this big like incentive thing. Um there's different activities, different things that kids are participating in. Um fifth grade, just to highlight, has early morning
recess um right off the bus or right at arrival time. So for fifth graders, like being able to hang out with your friends and be outside and play first thing in the morning, like that's huge. Like kids want to do that. Kids want to be able to start their day off with movement and just some socialization. Um so we've got
some positive things working for us in that direction. Um, kind of as a segue maybe to the excuse me, the Shaker Lane um, information is um, oh my goodness, I just totally lost my train of thought. I knew that would happen at some point. So, we'll come
back to that. Hopefully, I'll remember what I was going to say and we'll just look at Shaker Lane information now. Um but I think you know the numbers here also are highlighting a downward trend with chronically absent students um as well as an upward trend with the
attendance rate at Shaker Lane. So I think like it's it's pretty evident that the work that we've done as a team and that we do within our schools on a on a regular basis really is starting to have a strong impact. Um and that's really
from the little the little ones all the way up through. just remembered what I was going to say is I want to highlight um you know when we're thinking about the challenges that secondary students face those are very very different than
what um students at the primary level and families at the primary level are contending with you know we might have you know a student who's K to five who wants to get to school and like that's an important part of their day but
they're relying on the adults of their life Right. So, when we're thinking about what are the challenges um and the roadblocks that are preventing that from happening, it's really about how can we identify and support families in getting
the resources and the supports that they need. And that could be anything, right? And so, I think going back to um the conversation that you were having with Keith a few minutes ago, um it's really about people, right? um data and
numbers, those are great, but it really boils down to knowing your families. And I think um we have the um we have the privilege of being able to be in a smaller district where we know people, right? And especially for so many of us
that have been here for um a number of years, like we have those established connections. So, it's really just about how can we continue to leverage that um to work in to work in our favor and to work um and to work for our students.
So, um here on this side, we can see a lot of the same things that were already highlighted this evening. Um really utilizing the attendance works um materials. I know Rebecca and I include those on a very regular basis in our um weekend updates that Colin and Michelle
send out. So that's a similar um kind of messaging that occurs throughout the district. So that's pretty much what I have tonight from K to 5. I don't know if anyone has any questions or comments. >> Questions u just kind of reiterating
what I had full set. Just curious comparison to preco you guys kind of max that level as well. >> I know that Russell Street School we are close. Um Beth was just pulling up that data um a few minutes ago. Um, it wasn't something that I went in specifically for this evening, but I'm happy to get
that information out to you if you'll be curious. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um, and then the other thing I was curious about is so as students age up, right? All the schools are together. If you're kind of having students in both Shaker and Brussell, how does that impact tardiness? Right. In a perfect
world, everyone plans for this and they've built enough time. Is that something you see as a current problem when you have students in both schools? >> Are you referring to the start times? >> Yes. Yeah. >> Um, you know, I think like when that shift occurred, I think that definitely
um presented a unique set of challenges perhaps that we weren't necessarily anticipating. Um, I think both building um administrative teams have worked very creatively to ensure that that um challenge isn't um
as challenging as perhaps it could be. I think we've been very strategic and and really also partnered with DBUS and also with Steve and Kelly to kind of problem solve as as best as we're able within the structure of um that time.
>> That's great. >> Thank you. Yeah, I'm I'm really impressed with all the the interventions and I just I I remember when my kids were that age, transitions were always difficult. >> Yeah. >> And um >> Sure.
>> Do even with the best of intentions, right? >> Yeah. Absolutely. >> Yeah. Kids get busy doing something and you can't move them on to the next step. So >> is that something that you work on with say in with with counselors or anything? like families that are really having trouble with those transitions.
>> Yeah. You know, like um a perfect example would be I sat in on um you know, a a meeting with a family a few years ago and really identified what the the challenges were at home that were preventing you know, the student to
getting to school on time. Um and just, you know, really just like drilling down like and identifying what those were. And then also working with other members within the building um you know guidance counselors and such that can really um
you know build in some of those habits and some of those routines for sure. >> Yeah, that's great because that's when the habits are built, right? >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Yeah, true. Well, thank you for the super >> Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much everyone. You know what I'm super curious about uh
with the graduating class is like class rank as it relates to uh attendance rate. >> Not that it would I would expect it to be like perfectly linear. >> Sure. Um because you know high performing students might have a medical
or might have extended travel due to family or whatever but um you know as the postcard says like you don't you know you don't want to miss days you don't want to get behind and there's a learning you know >> we have seen an increase over the past couple of year >> students who have taken like four or
five AP classes their parent calling in a day >> right >> and so it's like that that thing too impact >> yeah or multiple college visits divorce. >> Sure. Yeah. >> I'm not sure if there's a direct correlation or not, but >> the junior and senior year is really
variable. >> Yep. >> Really variable. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. I used class rank and see camp, but I was thinking like it was during the uh the K to 5 presentation. I'm making these people on their the students earn like ones, twos, and threes on their report. >> But, you know, GPA like stacked up
against uh you know, your your attendance rate. There are there are some districts that have a penalty like a grade penalty. That's something we have done yet. >> Not not suggesting that. Correct. >> Sort of curious if uh
if my assumption is that the more you're in school, the better you'll do. >> Um if that would >> I was showing Beth this year we're at 97% present rate of high school. >> Excellent. That's great. All right, we've got our third and final presentation this
evening which is a financial and budget update. Steve Mark, business manager will provide a quick presentation. >> Quick presentation. Uh two reports in the packet. Uh the first report on the screen is the current year FY26.
Um same same message I guess um uh conveys here. Uh we we're not anticipating uh any uh budget issues this year. Uh we don't anticipate any large unanticipated expenditures. Uh we have a uh we're working with Lynn Snow
and her team and the students of district tuition. Um we're watching our utilities. Um we do have a small concern about natural gas. Um it's going up everywhere. Uh not you know supply charges. So uh electricity is also
affected by that. So we are watching that. We're not concerned at this point in time but we are watching that. So, um, glad to answer any questions on FY26. Uh, the second report in the packet is our, uh, final report for FY25
last year. Um, you can see we spent, uh, out of a 26.3 almost 26.4 million budget. We spent all except um, >> 2%. >> 52,000. >> No, that's How come that's not the right
one? Well, hold on. I got Hold on. Here we go. Got to look at the right. Got to advance the slide. We spent all except $52,000 of that $25.4 million budget. So, um a little over
1.2% is what we did not spend. um by Binance Town finance committee policies that remaining funds that were allocated automatically get reverted into the uh school stabilization fund >> uh to go toward uh both the Shaker Lane
project and other potential uh projects. High school roof for instance is one we're all watching and thinking of. So um sorry I didn't spend the other 52,000 but it's all right. >> That's awesome. >> I think we're in great shape. So that's >> not every town does it that way.
>> Yeah. >> Uh glad to answer questions. >> So for the um last year, what was in the category of other instruction that we overspend? Was that unexpected? >> Yeah. Honestly, I don't remember what
that is off the top of my head. Um it was probably some uh projects that we did uh that we put into that category with some of the um >> some of the savings that we had um we put it into um might have been
curriculum uh materials that we put it into. >> Yeah. I mean we still came in underneath overall so it's fine but yeah >> was wondering if that was a red flag. doing as I mentioned before elementary uh curricular revisions are very expensive
and that's part of >> um believe I know the answer to this question but I'll ask it sort of this values aren't aware can you just explain the $1.8 $20 million transfer out of special ed $20 million adjustment. >> Yep. We had some uh unanticipated
uh savings within the special ed out of district tuition. Uh some students uh unexpectedly moved out of district and so we were not responsible for those tuitions. >> Okay. >> That's a big chunk of it. It's not all of it, but that's a big chunk. >> I thought you were going to say it was
prepaid expenses from the for the prior year and therefore we weren't recognizing them. Nope, it's not prepaid. >> Okay, that's substantial. >> Uh, and then I'm just wondering, are there leverage we can pull with the fuel cost? And I I assume you're doing anything you can do to be
>> uh we are currently in a contract uh that expires at the end of November. Uh we're looking into um state contracts or other uh collaborative purchases where we can get um we buy collaboratively
um based off of multiple town combined estimated usage and we we we go out we negotiate with um the gas suppliers for a lower rate and we lock in usually for a two or three year commitment period. So we're just tracking that. We have to
be careful uh with that. you can lock in and then the rates drop and we're kind of still locked in. So, we're monitoring that. So, we'll see. >> Yeah. So, we're we're doing everything we can to try to reduce those costs. Um Dave Riley, our energy manager, does an
excellent job walking around the schools. Um checking energy consumption, looking for uh any savings we can do. Uh we just participated in a green communities project over the summer where we weatherized um uh some of the doors and and things like that to stop
the cold drafts coming in and the heat leakage and things like that. So um we're we're changing to LED bulbs, getting rid of fluorescents and incandescents when we can. >> U yeah so we're doing lots of things to try to reduce that. I also bring this up
as kind of a call back, right? You shake your lane's cool geothermal helping you insulation and so on. Like it's another opportunity to save some time. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Steve, would it be fair to say that um
some of the $1.8 million uh savings relates to special ed, we may have incurred costs in other line items by bringing those students back at districts such as transportation and busing and facilities advance. Yes, that absolutely. >> And staff >> and staff >> people too.
>> Yes, I'm kidding. >> Um, okay, that makes perfect sense, right? When you look at those. >> Yeah. >> Um, >> yes. We also have we also have a resident that's going to um out of district agricultural school
that's not the responsible for because they want to be in a program that no doesn't offer. So, we're responsible for that tuition cost plus the transportation cost. And the transportation cost is about five times more than the tuition, but we're still responsible for it. So, >> the reason I asked the question is
because last year we carried one 1.67 for transportation and busing and we actually end up spending about 2.1. Uh >> yes, some some of that no sorry last year last year we ended up spending 2.1
and then for this year's budget we're carrying 18. So, I was, you know, for those at home that are paying attention, I'm I'm thinking that because there was some savings associated with special ed, we had an increase in costs um and some other line items and that it might u
wash wash one another out. Correct. our special ed costs did go up a little bit. Um, transportation costs. Um, we also because of the savings, we were we we chose to spend some of those
transportation costs using the available funds rather than the revolving fund um that we collect fees with. So we can mitigate some of the future uh increases in the transportation costs through the revolving fund.
>> And sometimes what happens is we when we're transporting students out of district, we may not be able to secure a case bus. If we have to use a private company, it's a lot more expensive. Right. So those >> Yeah, we have a number of those factors
that that come into play. I believe in all the years I've been here, 14 and a half years, this is the the fewest number of audit district placements that I've seen, which is pretty powerful. I don't want you to think that it's going
to stay that way because my experience is somewhat cyclical and there there will be a uptick of at some point in time. We've been steadily decreasing for the last five years or so. And those
students that continue to remain out of district are typically extremely high need students that we cannot handle within the district at this point in time. And those costs go up and up and up every year. So does the transportation cost. Anyway,
um little off topic on the topic of money. So we spent a lot of time talking about the tennis courts. Tennis courts look great. Project's done. Feel like we didn't spend a lot of time talking about the improvements that were going to be made at the baseball field. I mean, we did. It was part of the project and >> and we did, but you know, I'm just
noticing like what a wonderful >> facility that baseball complex is going to be. The the fences up the uh >> the lights, right? >> Oh, no. Sorry. So, this is the baseball diamond. >> This is Windfield, which is >> um
correct. The lights were a gift from Littleton Youth Baseball and softball. And obviously that's great. But the other field that's that's uh really shaping up to be something spectacular is the the baseball diamond in front of the Russell Street School. >> Nice. >> Um
>> we can certainly come back with that presentation. >> Was that project part of the same tennis court project? >> Yes, it was. It's part of the same funding. Uh went out to bid at the same time. It's being done by the same company which is Catal. >> Yeah. And the money that's spent on the
baseball diamond was part of the tennis court money as well as one project. It was combined as one project. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So, >> I mean a number of people see it because if you're at alumni field or if you've got students at Russell Street, you're forced to see it. But
>> it's really looking great. >> Yeah, they This is way better than what I thought we were going to getation about that. >> We don't need one, but they check it out. They're putting in new higher uh fencing, back stopping, putting an outfield fence. They're putting in new
dugouts, uh, new batting cages. >> I mean, it's right. >> It's a beautiful field. >> Yeah, >> they're taking care of some of the drainage issues as well at the same time. Okay. In the corner of that field as well. So, >> yeah. I mean, I just remember spending so much time talking about the tennis courts. I'm like, those look great. And
then I'm like, like, holy baseball deal. >> Yeah, that that project should be almost wrapping up. Um, I think they still had to I don't I think the dugouts were in. I think they still had to finish the batting cages and some paving and then some final seating and things like that.
>> Going up on the batting cages, >> right? >> So, that project um I think was scheduled to be done I think the end of this week, but it's don't quote me on that. It's it's very close to being done. >> Really looks great. >> Yeah, that's nice. >> Yeah. Thank you to Park and Wreck and
Timski for all his efforts on making all that happen. >> Yeah, this this idea of having an athletic complex, I mean, it's really shaping up. No. And that might be an issue. >> That was part of that whole field study usage that uh Park Re and Mike Lynn and
some others looked at that resulted in the soccer field at the meeting put in at the high school and things like that. So, >> all right. >> Thank you. >> You got it. Sorry, I didn't mean to belach approaching nine o'clock. Um this is our
at 8 o'clock we're supposed to hear second opportunity for citizens. It's now almost nine. Um, do we have anybody on Zoom that wishes to speak before the school committee? >> Nope. >> All right, we will then move uh into our
subcommittee reports. Uh, sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. Does PMBC have a report this evening? >> Uh, no. >> Right. budget subcommittee's report is that we've got a a pending uh we've got another budget subcommittee coming up
which is yet to be finalized but we'll get together and plan that in the near future. We're shooting for next week. Is that right? >> Yeah, next week. >> Yes. >> Alex, you'll reach out. I thought we we I think you did reach out. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Maybe maybe you're just waiting to hear back for me. Yep. >> Yeah.
Yeah. From a couple people because my schedule is tentative too with some other things going on. So then >> make sure that happens. Yep. >> Um, who's going to lead the discussion on the policy subcommittee this evening? >> I can do that. >> Perfect. >> Take it away. >> Um, um, I'm I'm going to, um, beg your
pardon. Could we do a quick how does this work? This is the first reading. Um, and are we going what decisions need to be made? And do we need to vote tonight or do we just do a first reading, everybody takes it home, reads
it, and then next meeting we vote on it? We do a motion for first reading >> and we bring him back for a second reading and that's when we make a motion and then become uh policy. >> Okay. And the second >> if there changes it become revised policy. >> Okay. Second reading is next week is next meeting. >> Next meeting.
>> Next meeting. Yes. So no yeah no permanent issues until the second reading happens. >> Right. >> But this is the meeting where we make suggestions. >> Yeah. Yeah. So that's so and I can explain what we did. >> Um because I was there. Very excited. Okay. Um so the first um the first
policy um the safety policy there were no changes. Um overall the policies um we reflect what the state language is for the most part. Um and if
there was a question often we just we fell back on what the state was the state had stated about the different situations. So, if there's questions, that's where we start. Um, yeah. So, the second, uh, the P pest management
policy. Um, >> can you just give us a quick second to to look at the policies? We've all read them, but just to look at them before we go through them. Um, >> sure. And if so, this is where we want to make suggestions on any changes.
>> Yes, we'll potentially maybe just talk about this poly. Um, >> yeah. So, the first one is the safety program eating. >> So, I had one I had uh it's not policy related, but it's a and I mentioned it to Sean, so don't I don't mean to steal
your thumb under perhaps you've already covered this. I'm not sure if it falls under the safety program and it wouldn't make policy anyways or emergency plans, but with Shaker Lane project on the mind and as I've been, you know, visiting other towns for athletic events, what
I've noticed that other towns have that we don't have is that they have the windows numbered um for the door number. So, from the outside of the building, you can identify which classroom it is.
And that's not would never make it into policy, but I do think that's something that the district ought to consider if we haven't already. But I researchers doing it seems wise >> uh potentially wise, but there are some
drawbacks of that too. If you have somebody targeting a certain class, it's very easy to locate. >> So there's the flip side of it as well. Yeah, it's something maybe we would want to have a conversation with our fire
chief and our chief of police maybe. >> Um because I mean I would think they might have different points of views. Our fire chief might say >> you know what I I I also want to know how many in those classrooms because if something happens I want to go like okay
33. I'm got I need to get this many kids. I don't know if there's >> we already have that. Okay. >> Yeah. So the go ahead was just yesterday at the safety house meeting and then people from lease and fire there as well
agreement that um one they have a roster of everyone supposed to be doing and kind of a layout of what like so as far as operation they already know kind of where it is said the size of the buildings isn't that big compared to other districts and so it's a little
easier to navigate um and said they're concerned about people knowing that we are the outside. Um that was you can answer that was kind of my degree. >> It's unfortunate we have to think that way but uh as we all know people that uh
at times want to do are >> familiar with >> with the community. >> Sure. >> And u so again a little bit off topic but I felt like it was on topic and I will mention it. I find that answer completely satisfactory. It's like one of the luxuries being in a small
district. Um, but it did leave me thinking like, geez, if other people are doing it. But as long as it's been addressed and everybody's weighed in and fire and police feel like they understand the buildings and first responders would know exactly where's what, that's totally totally violent.
>> Sorry, I should have called over with you. >> That's okay. >> Yeah. Police and fire also do training in our buildings over the summers. >> Yeah. >> So, they're already familiar with the wings and the room layouts and things like that. inside the building. >> They also have access to our campus. >> Cool. >> Okay.
>> Okay. And they've been addressing blind spots as well. >> Yes. >> Not very many, but that's something we're going to do. >> Awesome. Excellent to know. >> Are we on good on safety program? >> Yes. >> All right. Uh, next one is scrawing is
just empty tonight. Uh, next is post pest management program um policy. There were um a couple of I don't know if there were I don't not sure where the typos were but um
the so the one that we added in our meeting was uh under 2C um I don't think that the state is doing much in regard to second generation anti-coagulate rod denticides but
there's a lot of um uh scientific feedback that this is a huge problem for our environment. Um and if we can at the municipal level put pressure on people
who are making those decisions to choose against SGS and to um to avoid them unless it and I don't know why you would need to use them but um to avoid them and to just make a make it known as
community leaders we think that's something that you shouldn't use in our our um in our community and and where we live because it's very nobody wants their pets to pick up an
animal that's been killed like that. Um so that's why I added or we were we we agreed to add C. >> Could you go back Jan to >> suggest a change for section 2B? >> Yes. Which is which I was going to cover both of these at the same time.
Um so tonight Steve um had brought up section 2B which is I don't believe has been changed in this material but um Steve has suggested a change to read application of pesticides and
herbicides is managed by the town DPW department should be scheduled when possible when students are not in school otherwise fields are kept closed for a 24-hour period and that that would replace what's on in this this document. And Steve, do I understand correctly
that that's because the state the state's policy is is what this is. Is that correct? >> That's not necessarily state policy. It's what a town uh practice has been and their their the uh product that they
use and put down on our fields becomes I'm not sure right the right chemical technical term but it basically becomes inactive and undangerous after a certain amount of time. >> Okay. And then this this policy wording reflects that. >> Correct. Yes.
>> Awesome. So this is town more town. We we are very much in line with the town if we when we use this this >> town DPW is the one that manages our field with parking w manages our fields. Um >> awesome. >> You know treats the fields, maintains
the fields and things like that. So we're responsible for the notification to the school uh students and staff when they're using particular product and that's what we do >> because it's not in what's being what was written down. Should should I make a
motion that we move that we put this in or or can we just put this in and everybody um vote on it? >> We can put it in and then because we have a for the second reading now. >> Okay. So, we we'll put that in for the
second reading. And then um for 2F, we all have another um another change that is that will that will put us more in line with the town. um instead of what's on there uh the suggested changes in the event of
an EPA registered pesticide or herbicide application in or around a building site during the school year or summer session a notice must follow state notification as per the Mass Department of Agriculture resources and our guidelines including the product name, purpose,
contact person and application date, time and and is to be posted on the school website notification to res residents will follow state approved guidelines which include mass robocallocall notification 48 hours
prior to the application date and this is a town procedure already in place >> that's town procedure already in place and also that follows the state notification guidelines >> okay so yes this change will put us in state and town uh in line with the state
and town policies as well so I I definitely recommend that we make those changes and that's what we'll be voting on in our second choice. Does that make sense? >> Just a quick question. Did you happen to know if we are currently using STS? I'm just curious if you have other towns
locally that are big enough. >> Um I am um I haven't checked on our town. I don't believe we use ESGARS but um the federal government does because they're around the post office. >> You can see the boxes.
Um and so um you know it doesn't get it completely out of our community but it's what we can do with our our um so um oh there's the typo is in uh
section 4 a and keeping vegetar vegetation property. Um actually Alex we need to change that word in front of cut. Um if you see on >> 4A that last it properly and not
property. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Yes. So if you'll make that change for for the next time please >> and that um yeah a lot of what we did was um why why are those words like
that? Uh I think that's a typo. So we sorted it through like what should this have said? I have a question about one of the that of this policy about the integrated pest management program um
involving a combination of tactics cultural, mechanical, biological, chemical. So, I'm I'm bringing this up because I had an experience in a district I was working in where a swarm of honeybees left their hive and which is what they
do when they get overcrowded in a hive and they >> choose a new queen and they take off. where they took off to was the swing set on an elementary school playground and there was a lot of um confusion about
what to do about that. The highway department wanted to come with the pesticides and just get rid of them. And then I wasal >> I was the science district leader. So they come like >> okay science person what do you what do you think we should do and I found a
beekeeper to come collect the swarm and bring so I don't know if um you know what our integrated pest management program is like if we get into those kinds of scenarios or who is responsible for the pest management program.
>> Uh so I am >> okay so there's an anecdote for you. Um but we do have to we do have to file and update every year uh our pest management uh plan which is online. Um we have had instances with bees on school property.
Uh when we can we move the nest um or the hive and and move it someplace um we hire a company to do that. Okay. Um if if unfortunately if if a nest is like inside a building in a wall that gets in through a little hole, uh we have no
choice but to try to spray those and dry them out of that and then we seal those up so they can't come back. So um we do do everything to try to um save the bee population and and and move those colonies when we can. >> Okay, that's great. Just what I wanted
to hear. >> Yep. And we don't use um we don't use any pesticides uh within the school building. Um so if for instance if and it's not this is not an issue but if mice was an issue right we would put
traps out and not not poison to kill the mice. We would try to >> collect them and and take them someplace else. So >> awesome. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Thought of everything. one of my many hats.
>> Yeah, true. >> So, I believe the next um the next policy is first aid. There were no changes from the um existing policy in first aid. Um emergency plans,
don't believe there were changes in emergency plans. So, do you want to read for a minute and then and let me know if there's anything we want to change or question? >> Yeah. So, this is where the lockdown plans come in, right? Because I was looking for that in the safety plan and
then I realized that came under emergency plan. >> The lockdown plans, the reunification plans, >> correct? >> Our communication systems, we use u radio, we have radios in all the schools. Um, >> it's good to think of that before it
happens. >> That's having these set up and having them set up so that everybody has the same thing written down >> and we just offered uh CPR and weight AD
training last spring >> 19. >> Yeah. course down and our students in high school defense the juniors better train >> super career >> that's brilliant >> yep we have lots of AEDs we have
portable AEDs for uh the athletic program and coaches we have AED multiple AEDs in every building uh we have AEDs at alumni field we have a plethora of AED devices >> and LFD is incredible what providing
instructions Oh yeah, those and those are so easy to use at this point. >> Yeah. And we just bought a um a whole supply of stop the bleed kits. Um so they can we can make sure that those are also available within that same cabinet that the AEDs run. So
>> those AEDs save lives. >> Yeah, they do. >> Any questions on the emergency? >> Um okay. If you just clean up uh >> what do we need to clean >> nine speaking of the 80s. So it's like in the event the school possesses
>> we do >> automated >> we have >> should we just say aed the loca like the location of all like should we just remove in the event the school possesses
>> just the yeah the the AEDs the school possesses >> yeah just put >> yeah the location of all availables AEDs >> whether whether fixed or portable and a list of personal
>> location of >> just wordsmith that >> that it's not like if we have have these when we know we do >> make a note of that Alex I mean I can get on the phone with you to tomorrow and just
we'll look at it together and it would be Yeah, that's easily changed. >> Great. >> Um, we ready to go to emergence closings? >> Your favorite topic, Kelly?
>> Oh, she can read coin flip by Kelly B. >> I don't think we made any changes in this. >> I don't. >> No, we didn't. >> Yeah. Um this is this is a policy that's been with us for quite a while and I
it's >> um yeah I think it's written I think it's written >> yeah it's enough flexibility >> I mean one we don't talk about a lot that I have to think about is the inability of teaching personnel to be able to make it to our schools and bring
in western mass. So that's something I always have in mind too in terms of how many people are are in a different weather pattern. Yeah, that's where decision. >> Well, and that might have come into play during CO too where you might have had
so many teachers sick that did you did you ever run into that? >> Well, we were No, we because we we were virtual for a while, then we went to Vibr. We never experienced it.
So, we were we closure due to absentee >> better choices than we just started. I mean what what typically happens in an area is your your health prices increase then your younger teachers uh live
some of the important usually that means going west. >> Yeah. And it can be they can have they can be living where there's three feet of snow and we might have gotten a slight dusting. >> Yes. >> That's that's a tough one.
Worcester. >> Yeah. Yes. Um current ser. So I I think um having the superintendent have
oversight and the ability to make a call >> is actually important. >> That's actually law. >> Yeah. None of us would like that over. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, >> I think we should add whether or not he was Kelly was right or wrong. I'm not
keep track. >> Well, you do it in collaboration with nearby superintendent, right? >> Well, and >> have early morning. >> Yeah. I mean, I have DPWs collaborating. >> I always get a kick out of it because I
they phon me during the night and uh it's really interesting to listen to what kind of music that they they're playing when they're at their cab. Oh, get away from me. >> It's not an easy decision. >> No. >> No.
>> No. It's It's Yeah, those stars. Yeah. I don't I don't envy that call. >> No. >> You look people are wrong. >> Talk to people. You look at the weather maps, satellites. >> Well, and then the weather just changes >> and sometimes,
>> you know, we have different weather patterns at Littleton. We know there was a year where where we had almost a an M shape and we were at the the bottom uh of the of the V. >> Mhm. >> And we were on that border. You know,
half of Littleton was getting snow, half was getting rain, >> but you know, it's it's better doing it than a one community. I mean, I've had many communities that had different weather patterns and they didn't make policies. >> And in those situations, I would shut down some schools and keep other schools
open. >> Oh. >> Which was even harder. >> That would be brutal. >> Was at times. >> Do we have any other questions about emergency closings? >> All right, let's walk into um so buildings and grounds management. I
think we we just were cleaning up um some just some typos and and a gender um comments just to make it a cleaner read as you see there with a what is blue is what we are going to put in
instead of scoot >> the scoot >> I read that four times I'm like what why why he goes Kelly is like she need school needs it Right. >> So, um those are the changes we
recommend. That looks good to me. Buildings and grow management. Let's see. All right. So, passing through that, we have one more that is once again more just like um
language and typos. It is deemed in the best interest of the school department and town to protect the investment adequately. And then down at the bottom, we decided employment of security personnel was better than watch, which I don't that
was hire. >> That's still that's still used that term, >> is it? That feels so 1800. >> Fire department. >> Damn thing doesn't say chairman. >> I have to ask that. They have Dorothy fix those because they said chairman
>> and vice chairman. I was like, >> okay, thank you. Um, and then let's see. So, that was buildings and grounds if we're good with that. Vandalism. We just had um it's it was more typos and and um gender
switch up just to make it a cleaner read, a more inclusive read even. Um I think we talked about it for a minute and realized that this is reflective of the town and the state
policies that are around. Were there any questions about the last two? >> Yeah, I just want to acknowledge this. Clearly, you're a genius and thank you for doing this. Thank you very much. >> Yeah. Well, you know, it's good to get it done. I mean, it's and I I
my children were in school and there wasn't a policy about a couple things and um it's better when there is when something goes wrong. just say it that way. Um so the I believe this is I believe this is our next to last one energy man management conservation
policy. Um this is more uh let's just language and we'll provide information to the we'll provide be because we were reading this local media has
just changed so drastically in the past five years and so telling you know like getting a hold of the l son or a local TV station no longer really informs our public.
So, um we decided that changing it to say we'll provide information to the public as requested on the goals and progress of energy. Um because uh local media does doesn't really
seem to include our website, the town's website. >> Energy management doesn't seem like breaking news. >> Well, it Yeah. Not even on slos. Yeah. Right. The way they read it previously with like it would be a requirement to provide this information to
>> like >> the generic term local media. >> Yeah. >> Uh the requested change is as requested. Uh so my assumption is that we're going to maintain these records and someone would have access to them if they wanted
them. >> Is that what we mean by that? >> Yes. And we might choose to put them on a website. >> On a website. Could we change the policy to say that we will just post them to the website? >> Um, do we want to lock ourselves in in case in five years? >> We don't.
>> There's Well, we review the policy every 5 years. So, >> yeah, I'm just >> Okay. >> Well, yeah. The thing that popped out to me is we're changing the emphasis of who's responsible for doing this because the way it did read was >> we will send we will push out the
information and now we're changing it to you're only going to get it if you ask for it. That's that's you maybe made my point more clear than I did. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Well, our our current practices exceed what the policy would be anyway. We post
the information uh Dave Riley, our energy manager, post that information online with our energy savings and our energy uh initiatives that we're undergoing. >> Do you see any problem with amending this to mirror our current practices?
Um, so we'll post information on on this on this school or town website. >> On district website. >> District. On the district website. >> Yeah. We'll provide information to the public on the district's website.
>> Right. On the district's website. Yeah. >> Right. Then people don't have to come to us and ask >> about, you know, about the goals and progress of the community conservation program. Yeah. Um >> I mean we're doing we're doing such a great job. We should
>> we should take credit for it, right? Yeah. We might do this. It's like no, we are doing this and that's that's true. That's policy. >> Yep. >> Yeah. >> Kevin comments. So, >> and our energy manager is incredible.
He'll go go through every classroom and every space on a weekend and they're not meeting our expectations. He'll be sticky notes all over and he's just incredible. >> He's a former math teacher in the district. >> It's Yeah, he's been in the district I
think for I want to say 47 years now. He retired. Now you retired before he looked all the refrigerators and the >> Yeah, he was a favorite teacher. >> We have that.
Thank you. All right, we will add that for our next read. Energy management conservation policy. Is there anything else in this policy we want to drill down on? I'm good. >> And then last one, authorized use of
schoolowned materials and equipment. There were no changes to this. Um, it's a standard. Um, is this the one we had a question though? But then we um are around town departments, community
networks permission to use school equipment granted. Um, >> I have a question about this. So, not so much policy but more about the topic in general. So the school committee wishes to give assistance wherever possible to
other county departments of community organizations. Then talks about equipment. Um does facilities fall under this same policy? So like the you know there are organizations that use the gymnasiums.
>> No just materials and equipment. All right. >> But there's a separate policy for the use of facilities. >> Policy. >> Yeah there is. We talked about So then I'll ask my facilities question as it relates to the equipment. If someone wanted to let's say equipment they
wanted to say uh I'd like to borrow a bunch of video equipment from the school because I'm doing a project or something would school be amenables but do we have like a rental fee guideline or how does one borrow
equipment or materials? I think the only, you know, it's interesting. We've never I've never had that request, but if we were to get rid of equipment, we have to offer
it to the town. >> No, this is >> so for example, computers when we're using MacBooks or MacBook Airs, there was always an opportunity to trade them in and get a discount. We were we were
advising but by law we really have to offer that to the town partners first and they don't want maps that are PC comp but if we had a vehicle which we don't have there you know and
we decided to uh put it in field so to speak uh we would offer it to the town. Yeah, Kelly, there was a con there was a conversation about um charging pe charging groups or whomever was using the
equipment and it and we we were went over because it was like there was no this will be there will be a charge for this and there will be a charge for that specific and we were worried about that. Yeah, I I look at this policy more if if
we had uh park and wreck wanting to offer a a program >> in our schools and they needed >> 50 Chromebooks to to do it. >> So yeah, so it doesn't say the general public, >> right? I mean it's a community organization, right? >> Correct. So
>> if the for instance we rent our theater out to outside groups, dance groups, >> uh >> cultural events, they pay a rental fee for the facility. If they then want to use our equipment, there are additional charges for for
using the signed equipment. uh for if they want to rent their the cafeteria for a presentation and they need a projector and a screen, there are rental charges that we charge those groups for that. Okay. >> I think that's what this is specifically talking about. >> Absolutely.
>> And and we have those fees established in our rental policy, >> rental guidelines that we offer to the public. >> Sure. And just like the school committee has recently evaluated the busing fee and the athletic fee, does that fall under
the purview of school committee review the the rental fees that we charge for this stuff or is that uh operational? >> I think Go ahead. >> I think it's more operational. um we would come to you with out of courtesy
obviously if we were going to do a substantial increase but uh this is pretty minimal bus fees uh involve so that that would make sense the fees
should be set athletic fees for example should cover school that's other smaller stuff and decision just operation Sure. >> Yeah. The general public can't call up and say, "Hey, can I rent a school van or can I rent a laptop or something?" That's not what we do, you know. So, if
they need a laptop and a projector because they're making a a presentation or renting a gym and they don't have the equipment, uh things like that, then we offer that as um a an add-on, but it's not guaranteed that we're going to be
able to provide a projector or laptop to a certain group or something. Maybe the budget subcommittee would just review that information. >> Yeah, sure. We can >> I in my humble opinion, it's less important what the numbers are that are being charged and more important that
there is one policy for everybody who comes to use it that that we don't um pick and choose how much we're going to charge each different group. One group comes in and we this and another group it's like this. that doesn't happen.
Does that make sense? It's like what the numbers are. I'm not all that concerned about. I'm concern concerned about overall fairness. >> Consistence. >> Consistence. So, thank you. >> Yes. >> Do we need to define what a community organization is in the first sentence?
Do we have a common understanding of that? >> We do. I do. >> It's pretty loose term. >> Yeah, it is. But >> like to give an example of park. I mean that's that's really more of a kind of apartment, >> right?
>> It's a community organization, a >> could be because if we go back to park direct, that's a good example because most of the uh athletic community groups are not park and direct. >> So like little youth baseball would be a
community organization. >> Yeah. The only the only reservation I have is it's nice to it's nice to not restrict yourself so that you're not having to rewrite a policy if if we didn't capture everybody. >> Yeah. I'm not saying that we write it,
but it would be good to have a common understanding about what that means. >> Yeah. you know, is it >> because like >> a group that's registered with the town >> or I mean do you want to do you want to
restrict us that much even you know? >> I mean an example would be our uh robotics club. I mean they used to be with us and then they expanded. So I would so consider them to be a a school
community group. the PTO, CPAC, those events that support school programs, right? If they're if they're using our one of our conference rooms and they need a projector or TV scout, that's included. We don't say, "Well, there's a
rental fee for it, right?" So, um, so I I don't see any any >> This has not been an issue. >> Sure. Yeah, having some play in that. >> Yeah, all good. We're like getting into the weeds on policy, which we should be
doing, so it's fine. Apologize we're here late. >> Um I suppose maybe if you haven't had an issue, if it's not broke, I'll fix it. Um you know, >> if there is an issue, you would break >> should situation change, you could certainly um you know, bring these
policies back to the school committee to have them revised if you need assistance on determining >> um what's applicable and what's not. >> Sure. They're not. >> Sounds good to me. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> So, that's the last one. Those are the
policies that have been reviewed or revised. Yes. >> I realize what you were saying earlier. I omitted a policy from the packet. >> The one we went over was use of school facilities. >> We made an addition. >> I did the work. I just didn't put it in the packet. But I emailed it to
everyone. Can we read it now? >> I did remember. >> Or we could >> I wasn't crazy. You can throw it in the next batch of policies or >> Yeah, we can throw it in the next batch. It's a part of that. >> That's it. No, thank you. Because I'm like, am I crazy? >> Oh, you thought there was another one.
And then there's a whole conversation. >> Oh, >> that I just brought up. It was about that policy that was dropped out. And that's why I'm sitting here going, "Wait a minute. >> It's on the agenda. Why don't we take two minutes to just look at it? Otherwise, that end up
spilling over to a third meeting." >> Okay. Good. >> You're going to email it to us >> uh which you can just go to by clicking the hyperlink >> which is >> in the agenda. >> Yeah. >> Okay.
>> I also just email this to you all. Thank you. >> So this is kind of the question I was talking about these. >> Yeah. And that's the one where there was this whole conversation that I was referring to. And Ellie's looking at me like, "What's crazy?"
>> Well, I can look at me like that. >> It's It's EBH, use of school facilities. There we are. And we added a number seven. >> We added seven as >> we added a new bullet point called number seven. and we're going to go over
it. >> The number seven currently posted to the web. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, we added a seven and we moved the seven down to eight. >> Okay. So, that then I don't have the >> I don't have eight. >> Yeah, that's the So, I didn't put that in the packet, but I just emailed it to you.
>> Okay. >> I'll pull it up on the screen. Oh, I see. All right. All right. Now, we're on the screen. If you can see the screen, this is basic questions we just asked. >> Yeah. >> You were on the right track. >> Yes.
>> All right. >> No, we've talked about this. >> Um, yeah. >> Yes. >> That was in the back of my mind. I just wasn't sure what we talked about. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, yeah. Um they we did add this all decisions regarding fee structure
fee waivers or alternative payment schedules are at the discretion of districtership. So this is this to give us to give us flexibility for um um to take care of things without stopping everything in
its tracks. So to keep things moving but to also like have a guide saying there is a guideline here. So in in after discussion we decided to go with more flexibility rather than less and that's that's what was
reflected here. So number five um is basically saying that the it makes a difference if the building is already open because that would result in a lower fee because you
wouldn't be opening it for the group that's renting. >> Correct. So there um for instance, if if a group is using uh a classroom during the school week, Monday to Friday, we have custodial staff already on board. If they're using it on a weekend, we
have to bring custodial staff in, pay them overtime to come in to to manage that function. >> And that's all reflected in what the group gets charged. Okay. >> Yeah. I mean, the only exception to that is if we had a community basketball tournament at night, we would have to
bring more custodians and normally, >> right? >> So, there'll be a charge. >> Yep. Yep. >> Well, this was the missing link. >> Oh, I'm glad you threw this in here, Alex. I feel a little less crazy.
Yeah, we can still count this as the first read because it was in the agenda. Yes. Nice. >> In the agenda now we're doing it. It's good. >> So yes, and this is the one where there was a a bit of a discussion. Do we have a policy in place that
creates a structure that will be fair but still gives leadership the flexibility to to work with other groups without coming back to us for every little thing. >> Like I said, I don't I'm not too worried about the numbers themselves. I'm worried about fairness throughout
throughout the whole process. and and policies aren't aren't specific. >> Procedurals are oper procedures are operating. >> So I'm just wondering about the read and
get my uh uh so yeah three and four. So it's um if that's contradictory. So Littleton citizens and organizations still have the first credit princip. But then we go on to say application shall not be granted for personal or family use. So should three really just say
Littleton organizations. >> Yeah, >> that makes more sense. A citizen like we're residents of Littleton. I don't know. Littleton citizens seems unnecessary. Well, residents I mean it it giving precedence to residents who are leading a group to is is how I read
that. >> Okay. is is like by saying number four. It's like you you can't rent it for a birthday party. But if if resident if a resident is a leader in >> an organization or wishes to have an
event >> or a group, you know, a go joint an organization that has joint membership. Um and um they they want to come in the robotics if there's a robotics a a a robotics club that includes someone from
the Littleton but it has other other people in other or um communities that that would be something we would consider partly because it's being led by someone from Littleton and they're going to come in, you know, that kind of thing. Well, I think that's that's where
I that's how I read it. >> If if it's an outside organization wanted to use our facilities, we usually ask that um the majority of the participants are Littleton
residents. Mhm. >> So, if it's a joint group between say Westford and Littleton >> and they want to use our facilities >> um and it's on a case by case basis >> um >> we usually want to make sure that it's a
true benefit to Littleton residents. >> So, if if it's a Westford program >> uh and they have 40 kids on a team but only three kids are from Littleton, >> it's not really benefiting Littleton residents. has benefiting more Westford
>> and so we've denied sometimes the use of alumni field or something like that >> because they only have two kids from Littleton on the team and we usually ask we can ask for those rosters and things like that. So it's it's kind of very on a case by case basis to be honest with you
>> we try to be fair. So, >> so that's why I I mean I'm I'm good with local senses since I think I see what that means. You know, you >> Yeah, I'm not It's not going to die. >> Yeah, >> I'm so like um
uh I don't know like overshare, but Actton Foxboro charges a very high rate uh for the use of their gymnasium space active youth basketball. Um, so I was thinking about the community assets that we have in town
like such as Alumni Field. Wonderful asset. There's a game like the the lights are on almost every night for something, but there are few instances where they're not on. And I was just wondering if as a district we wanted to
rent that proactively rent that space uh at market rate to increase revenues to offset taxpayer burden on the cost of maintaining the field >> of the new jets field
alumni. He's talking about >> gymnasiums. So yeah, I mean we don't need it for practice. >> I I'll be honest. There's very little time >> always like what can I go to? >> There's very little time within the schedule both within the gyms and alumni
field that are not being used by Littleton organizations. Are there some times? Yes, there are. But they're very far and few between to be honest with you. I think if we found that there was a spill out of one of those communities
then we would come to you have a conversation about know maybe we need a consider a different new structure the only thing I think I agree with the comment but I also feel like there's also like bringing down dates like that so you need a little bit of flexibility you do
>> I don't want to give that away just and then have it be that we're getting so much money so we won't give it back to you that's not create a lot of conflict if you're not careful. >> We have worked with other towns who have called us and said, "Hey, their football field is being renovated." Um, you know,
it's it's it's a two-month process. Can they borrow our field or rent our field for that time period? And we have done agreements with other to allow that. But it's again, it's it's case by case basis. Um, it's not that often. We're
very protective of who uses the fields uh because we want to reserve that for Littleton organizations and programs, >> right? >> Oh, they're liability >> and our rates aren't cheap. I mean, I forgot what it is. Alumni Field is $150
an hour with a minimum four hours or something like that. I mean, that's not something, >> you know, it's >> right. Okay. I mean, often when you hear communities pitching like uh a uh a turf field project, oftentimes they'll say
like, you know, oh well, there'll be extra hours and we'll we'll rent the space and we'll make money back and it'll cover some of the debt service associated with it. And I was just thinking, you know, proactive planning, like if we ever wanted to turf a field at the high school for increased
playability, perhaps evaluating our usage of the current um rental agreements with with the facilities we currently have could long-term build a nest egg to continue to invest in in our fields. Yeah, I think on in in that
particular case, if there was a second a second turf field uh in Littleton that would relieve some of the pressure on the current use of alumni field, you could get into that model where you could you would have some availability. >> We have rented the field out um over the summer to uh some soccer clinics and and
things like football clinics and things like that from outside organizations that pay market rate for it. So, we do take those monies, we put them in the uh revolving fund, and some of those we set aside in a in a subgroup for long-term
uh field maintenance and replacement of the carpet um when that time comes. It won't cover all of it, but um yeah, >> the high school um data. >> Yeah, that one too.
Uh, so the only the only >> If you're advocating for the second turf field, I support it. >> What I'm what I'm advocating for is making good business decisions related to the current facilities that we have.
So, if there was a way to generate some revenue and have it not impact Littleton citizens or Littleton programs and over the next 5 to seven years, we can put have put some money aside to either, you
know, offset the maintenance costs associated with the current facilities or to invest in other facilities. I would be all for that. >> Um, but maybe that's it's not related to the policy. A larger discussion, >> right? To some extent we do that. >> Um
>> we the facility that gets rented out the most quick aside is the theater >> performing arts center >> and we have to continuously pump money back in the lighting and the sound correct and that comes from the revenue that's generated from that and that benefits the high school students
directly with uh play productions and performances and theater productions and helps keep those ticket prices low. And I do think we do a good job with that because I've been to many other auditoriums in other districts and they
get neglected and rows are sectioned off his seats don't function and things like that. >> Yes. We're we uh Brian O'Neal who's a he's a theater manager um former high school student uh now works in the business. He was he works on Disney
projects and um big name singer projects and things like that doing uh theater things. He manages our theater and is right on top of the equipment and we have um not the latest greatest but it's up-to-date equipment that's not broken
that all works. It all functions. Uh we're in the current process of uh replacing a lot of the stage lights and the theater lights uh to more high efficient uh lights um as well. So >> brilliant. >> Yeah. >> So my last question on this one is in
this policy we were refer to the schools two different ways really. We say the school department and then other places we say the school business office. Should we just use the school business office throughout this entire policy so that it's more clear as to that this
falls under this the school business managers responsibility? >> No, I would leave it because um if for some reason the superintendent gets involved in something, he has the he has the authority to make that decision as well. >> Those are two different things, aren't
they? The school department is different than the school business office. they are that the school department I think it doesn't name their superintendent. It just names the school >> like generically the school department. So it's like >> I mean maybe that's the distinction. Maybe we should say superintendent
instead of school department. So that then that shows the difference between superintendent and school business office. Well, someone in the school department his blessing to >> school department leadership or something like that like >> well I mean the only place we're talking
about school department is whether something is getting cancelled right >> or approved what really would be the superintendent's call right >> there's always a there's always a process the last one so >> that's I just >> I don't have an issue
>> bring up discussion that no one else is >> oh we can even use difference >> school department personnel. >> Yeah, cuz I see I mean school department is is the group under Kelly, you know,
Kelly is manageable >> and if if he decides a member needs to just can handle something, I'm good with you like I don't need to get into that. He >> waits. >> Yeah. um he the
it comes back to the superintendent, but it doesn't have to be the superintendent personally. Does that make sense? >> I guess that's up to you. >> I'm just wondering if what we mean by the school department is the superintendent. >> No, I I think we mean the superintendent
and his and and their staff. >> The superintendent staff is included in the stu school department in in my Beth as an example. Beth's part of the school department. Does Beth >> and Beth like >> does Beth reserve the right to deny the use of school facility or is that really
Kelly's call? >> Well, if that was Kelly's call >> and but if Kelly is unavailable, Beth can take it and >> say superintendent or designate. >> I mean, what what really happens here is
is that Steve and the principal take care of those matters. They let Kelly know what they did. >> Yeah. And if there's somebody that's really unhappy with them, then they eventually make it to me. And I think is let's just say what we actually do.
>> I I I I feel like that is what >> this is not like a personal reflection of the work you've done. Just >> noticing that we're like generically the school department reserves the right to deny the use. So >> So how about the superintendent or designate? >> Perfect.
>> Okay. Sure. >> That covers everything. Does that work? >> I think we got to put it on somebody, not just the organization. >> Okay. >> And then other other places where we reference the school business office
>> that deals more with the process. >> Yeah. Somebody can then easily identify that you are the school business manager and they would know to contact you about that. >> Right. Yep. >> That's all I'm trying to do is if someone >> Yeah, I get If someone has a question about facility usage, you know, is the
box stop. >> Yeah. So, we can just make that note for the second reading. >> Yeah. Anywhere it says school department is superintendent or >> designate. Okay. >> What is that? Latin. >> Okay.
>> Language designate is Latin. Yeah, >> we'll check it out. We'll check it out. >> All right. Good. >> It sounds great. So, that that is the
last of the um policies and that we will >> return to next meeting. >> So, this is my favorite part. We have to >> Thank you to Janine and Veno for uh keeping the policy work alive. I'm still
>> somebody want to make the motion make it to read all the letters. It's so funny. >> So I move that we accept the >> following policies >> for the first reading. >> Sorry. >> Oh, okay. You're ready for the motion?
>> Discussion is now closed. >> Okay. So I move that we accept the following policies for the first reading. EB EB A B E BB B E B C E B C D
E H E C E C A E C A C E CF and EDC. >> Then the motion is to accept them as >> first >> as first reading. >> As first reading with the inclusive of the proposed edits this evening. >> Yes. Inclusive of the proposed edits
this evening. I second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. All those in favor indicate by saying I. I. >> Perfect. >> Any other new business or old business before the school committee? >> Uh just to shake your ling.
Sure. Nothing to get you the door. Um we have started to break out into some subcommittees uh and chair for kicking out contractor. So we've been able to meet the Wednesday after the vote. forward with that.
>> Exciting. >> The state of our >> It's exciting to be thinking about life at the vote. >> Exactly. >> Yeah, >> it really is. >> Super exciting. >> All right. So before I uh ask for a motion to adjourn, I'll announce that
our next full committee meeting is November 6th, 2025, 7 o'clock, Littleton Police Station, but we will see everyone in attendance Tuesday night at town. Justin will be watching, eyes on the door,
counting the people. >> Um >> taking the votes to adjurnn. I >> move that we adjourn. Second motion made second. And all those in favor by saying I. I. We have a joke.