two one. >> Good evening and welcome to the Tuesday, January 6, 2026 meeting of the Long Meadow School Committee. Mass general law allows for remote participation at public meetings through June 30th, 2027. All votes while there is remote participation must be made by roll call
vote. This meeting is being recorded and aired live on LCTV. School committee, when I call your name, please say here for the record. Um, Adam Rosen Bloom online >> here. >> Thank you. Zach Biden >> here. Emily Hansen >> here. >> Jamie Hench >> here.
>> Yes. Katie Bean >> Kate here. >> Here. And Nicole Schwin here. And we do not have Michaela yet. So we will begin with the pledge of allegiance. I >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it
stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We will begin with correspondence. Emily, >> an email dated December 18th, 2025 from link. Email dated December 22nd, 2025
from Thomas Maza, assistant superintendent. Email dated January 5th, 2026 from Link. Email dated January 5th, 2026 from Cara Downey. An email dated December 22nd, 2025 from Thomas Maza, assistant superintendent.
>> Thank you. Moving on to approval of minutes. We have possible minutes from our joint budget review meeting with the select board on December 1st, 2025. >> I move that the school committee approve as presented the minutes of the joint budget review meeting held with the select board on December 1st, 2025.
Thank you. We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, we'll move to a vote. Zack, >> yes. >> Emily, >> yes. >> Jamie, yes. >> Kate, yes. Adam. >> Yay. >> And yes, for me as well. We also have a possible motion for school committee
meeting minutes from December 16th, 2025. >> I move that the school committee approve the minutes of the December 16th, 2025 school committee meeting as presented. >> We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, we'll move to a vote. Zack, >> yes. >> Emily,
>> yes. >> Jamie, >> yes. >> Kate, >> yes. >> Adam, >> yes. >> And yes, for me as well. All right, that brings us to public speak. We do not have any members of the public here in the room. We do not have any members of the public online.
Still no one. Okay. All right. Moving past that, we come to business with guests. We have some guests here tonight from the Coalition of Along Meadow for a substancefree community or close. So, we'll welcome our speakers. Um, and maybe we can have everybody introduce themselves. We know we have Ananda Lennox and Shelley Warren and Julian and
Alina are here to help them out. We'll let you guys take the floor. a quick a quick intro if it's okay. Um so a a a critical component of um keeping the students safe in Long Meadow. Um it comes from the work of the
closed community and their substance use response coordinator, Shelley Warren. And uh Shelley and Anand are a dynamic duo. uh and I've learned a considerable amount from both of them in terms of uh what schools can put in place and what communities can put in place to uh
prevent um substance use among young people and how to build up strong resilient young people who who make great decisions. And so um it it been uh sort of very frequently we'll we'll bring Shelley and Ananda the close community here to the school committee.
One of the great services that they work in collaboration on is a um youth risk behavior survey, a school climate survey at the middle school and the high school level. And that helps us understand um student behaviors and um and helps us understand how to direct programming and
resources to make sure that we're keeping kids safe and making sure that we're preventing uh uh students from using substances inappropriately. And uh they're both excellent at engaging our students. So they have two students with us tonight, uh, Julian and Alina, who,
uh, uh, partner with, uh, Shelley and Ananda on a lot of the important work that they do. So, um, why don't we, Shelley, can we kick it off? You want to >> Sure. >> Sure. I'll go first and then Okay. And then we'll do all the introductions separately. >> Um, so I'm Shelley Warren. I'm the
substance use response coordinator for the district. Um, I've been in this role for 15 years, almost 16 years now. Um, and I've been really instrumental and involved in the close community as well. Um, and also with stand, which Alina and
Julia are rec, uh, representing today. Um, and can I put my slides? >> I'll I'll pull it up for you. Yeah. Yeah. >> All right. >> All right. Let's see. >> I edited it since I shared it with you last, so I don't know. >> Oh, we'll have to we'll have to we'll
have to go with uh >> with what's there. >> Yeah, that's okay. >> That's okay. Sorry. All right, Dr. Rosenl, just making sure you can see that at home. >> Yes, indeed. >> Excellent. >> Um, so first I guess I want to
acknowledge that when I took this job, the job, the position had been there already for over three decades. um making Long Meadow one of the most progressive districts I think in the area in terms of how it looked at substance use. So I was really inheriting like a mantle of work that
had gone before me. Um I have a picture of a forest here. I love forests, but I also think it's a great metaphor for understanding um substance use prevention and treatment both. Um you may or may not have you know be familiar with the secret the hidden life of trees
um a book that came out several years ago which really like taught us about how trees communicate with each other and actually live in community in forests. And I think it's um a good way of understanding the importance of connection. Um and we really have learned over time through science that
isolation drives um substance use um drives addiction and connection is both the prevention for it and the cure connection in community. And so that's how I've come to like understand my work here um at Long Me Public Schools. So my goal is to kind of imitate some of the
principles of the forest. Um to try to help us be in community better. Um to have ways that students can connect to each other. Um to, you know, emphasize communication, healthy communication. Um have students who can like adapt and learn, you know, to the challenges that
come their way. Um sharing resources. I don't if you know that trees share resources. And if there's a tree that's struggling, other trees around them will actually share their nutrients with that tree. trees communicate about risks to each other so that they can adapt and respond to those things. I think it's
amazing. But I think we as human beings also can take a page from that and and do that. Um and they also respect each other's space at the same time. So this is a picture of the canopy which shows how if you look up trees will actually not touch each other in the air space. So they help each other underground but
then they still kind of like respect each other's space. So there's community but there's also like respect. um you know trees do best when they're in community not isolated um where they're connected to a like biodiverse ecosystem and I think human beings are similar. So
um whereas it used to be that substance use was really treated as a you know primarily behavioral or um problem with moral character. where we've come more to understand it um in terms of underlying needs, underlying emotional needs and having its own separate like
brain based disease process that is treatable um and should not be you know a source of shame for people. So a lot of the things that we do here are really to try to destigmatize it and create safe places for students to um get information and skills and you know find
ways to support each other if they are facing any of these struggles. So, so I um I kind of tried to break my job down um into the MTSS tiered system, which I know you use for other things in the district. Um so like that tier one is
really like building the community um and having universal access to information and skill sets for all students at LHS. So some of the tier one aspects of substance use prevention are um what we have for wellness class curriculum. Um, I'm involved in wellness
class visits, but also consult with the um, health teachers um, about what curriculum and information and resources they bring into their classes. Um I coordinate the peer leadership program which is now using the no place for hate um resources and we run a program called
LHS unite for students and the goal there is really to build a really um equitable and inclusive school community where everybody can feel like they have a point of connection and belonging and that is the strongest prevention you can have. Um I'm involved with Ananda in
developing school climate surveys. We use the information from the surveys to identify what our vulnerable groups of students are and then try to target resources to those students. Um, espert is required by the state and that's a a universal screening process for
substance use. Um, which I also support in the district. Um, and I'll talk a little bit more about that in a moment. Um, also been involved in parent outreach. Uh, I coordinate the safe homes network. have been involved in close community and special events for for parents trying to elevate
conversations among parents in the community. On the tier 2 level, once we have identified needs or students who could use more targeted interventions, um I coordinate specialized wellness groups um or like wellness classes actually um and peer-based support
groups for students and I follow up on anybody who you know is indicated through the expert screening. Um, and then for tier three, if a student has like found to basically be in possession of or in use of substances in school property or school
events, um, or even sometimes if a parent calls me, you know, and says, you know, we're dealing with this, and they kind of like on the side, um, will ask for help or support, I can like support that student there um, with the same kind of interventions that I do for those who are mandated. Um, so right now
I'm using a few different evidence-based programs. Um the American Lung Association has in depth which is like an alternative for um alternative to suspension for nicotine use and Stamford University in California has many many great resources that I use but um I
especially use healthy features um for tier three intervention and I also provide individual support and family consultation at the tier three level. So I was going to share just a few examples of these things um in the slides to come. So, one of the things that I do is
visit fifth grade classes, all fifth grade classes, and kind of start a conversation about what what is a drug. And really the focus there, there's not a single thing I talk about here that's illicit. It's all substances that are legal and available around them. So, we talk about prescription medications and
over the counters and alcohol and caffeine and you know like and they're kind of surprised because they often don't think of many of these things as drugs, but we talk about anything that really that affects how your brain and body work and change it um can be classified as a drug. So, we we kind of
go through that conversation in fifth grade. Um I visit eighth grade classes with students from stand and I'll let them talk about that more. Um but one of our goals there is social norming. We take the data from the school climate surveys and really try to chip away at
the perception that a lot of students and adults frankly have that more students are using substances than actually are. So we look at what the data shows and then we try to you know change that message and be like actually more people are not using substances than are. And it's especially true for this generation like you know this this
generation has the lowest substance use I think for >> it's been a while >> for many. Yeah. So it's like more health conscious less substance use. So, it's kind of good news there. Um, let me see. I'm ready. I have next. Uh, that's just an example of the middle school. So, like the the surveys are
helpful for us to identify a cohort. So, a couple years back we had this little popup for alcohol amongst eighth graders and we were wondering what go what's going on. Then the next year it kind of came back down into normal limits. So, we think that particular class has, you
know, higher risk for that area for substance use. So that was good for us to flag for Megan Roy, our ninth grade health teacher, when we could see it and be like, you know, these students are kind of this profile. Um, skip through. We keep the trend date
over time. And one thing I would say it shows is that our students have a big increase between 10th and 12th grade. Um, so you can see that red line is alcohol, 12th grade alcohol use in the past 30 days. And the blue line is um, 10th grade alcohol use. So you can see
how they kind of mirror each other but there is there's a gap that um that is significant. So one of the things that we did I think is on the next slide is we've added a quarter of um wellness at the 11th grade level. So kind of trying to do something during that time when
students have more opportunity more access. Um, and when I visit the wellness classes in the 11th grade, I'm really using a a harm reduction approach and, you know, getting them to assess how they make decisions in their life, not only about substances, but about
anything health related. Um, and really getting them to identify their own values, their own priorities, and see how those may or may not be in alignment with choosing to use um, substances at that point. Uh, one thing that we do, grades 9 through 12, and this was really, um, pushed by
the students in stand a couple years back, um, we do fentanyl education and overdose prevention in all grades at the high school. So, um, everybody is exposed to how to identify an overdose and then what they can do in response to
one. Um, we encourage students to get Narcan, which is available as an overthec counter now, um, as well as through pharmacies. So um we you know educate them about that. We've partnered with Tapestry in the past who has come in and actually done um some giveaways
of you know of Narcan and some trainings for us. So that is something that I'm actually really proud of how the students have responded to and I think it's really like dstigmatized that issue for a lot of our students that we just keep hitting it over and over. Um Safe Homes as I mentioned is a a community
it's a network for parents who agree not to serve alcohol or other drugs. um for teen gatherings in their homes. We have 48 families currently. The goal there is to really uphold like positive community norms around um teen substances and not
condoning it or allowing it um which is the law as well. Um all right, Esper is the screening universal screening mandated by the state. Um this is the tool that we use which is also suggested by the state. Um if a student has two or
more of these then that generates a referral to me um through the nurse. The nurse is the one who really discusses this with students. And the goal here is not that all students would be honest about this with the nurse to be honest. But it's really just to normalize this
as a healthcare discussion that you can have in confidence with any healthcare provider. So they see the school nurse as like that person and they know like I can talk about this. I'm not going to get in trouble, you know, for talking about this. they have an opportunity to meet me in that process and also know that there's a confidential safe space
if they want to talk about these issues. So again, it goes at like reducing stigma. Um if a student is caught with nicotine products, they're required to do four mandatory sessions with me. They also typically have an internal suspension.
So, this is really a lot of progress from, you know, back in the day when we had higher um external suspension reliability and the state has kind of obviously made it so we can't do that anymore, but I'm grateful for that. Um, so this really emphasizes like help and support and assessing your own
relationship with nicotine while getting some information about it. Um, if it's cannabis, uh, we have Oh, I'm sorry, not advancing my slides. So, um, if a student wants more help after doing the four sessions, they can access not on
tobacco, um, which is also through the lung association, but I'm like certified to offer that. Um, and that's really voluntary only. They will not allow you to mandate that. So, that's basically a student has to want to quit to participate in that. Um, if it's a
cannabis-based infraction, we require four to six sessions with me. Um in addition to in those cases it can be an internal or an external suspension. Um and we use the Stanford Reach Labs Healthy Futures program. This is just an example of one of the slides. It's a
series of slideshows that you kind of go through and generate discussion with the students. But again, it's like getting them to examine their relationship with the substance and how they make decisions around it. Something that's been extra challenging um this year for my position is that
most adolescent substance use services have been eliminated in the state of Massachusetts. Um as of June of 2025, the the last teen detox in the state closed. Um there are no adolescent residential treatment programs for, you
know, boys or girls left in the state of Massachusetts. Um we used to have a recovery high school in Springfield, Liberty Prep, that is closed. So the closest one now is in Worcester. Um and it's really made it difficult to refer families, you know, for additional
services when they when it's needed. Um so what we're tending to see is that, you know, students with a substance use disorder, even though they have the legal right to access a recovery high school, can't because there's no place, you know, even if they didn't want to go to Liberty Prep before, they could have gone um to the one in Worcester and used
a residential program in Worcester. That doesn't exist anymore. the ones out in the eastern part of the state don't exist anymore. So what we're seeing is more families um relying on outofstate treatment programs um private pay uh treatment programs very costly um or
really going through the mental health um door to access things in the state. But many times like the mental health treatment places don't they treat mental health as the primary but they don't necessarily have the best tools for substance use on top of it. So um it's
been really challenging to deal with those gaps in the in the treatment system this year. So with that I will you want me to pass it or you want >> Yeah, let's let's pause and see does anybody have any questions or any feedback? the uh 48 families that are is
that uh just at the high school level or is that at other grade levels too? >> We recruit in the middle and high school. So it's a mix of middle and high school. So yeah, any other questions or thoughts? Do you know more? Can you talk more about this?
Are there programs that might be beginning to be brought back or >> Not that I'm aware of. just funding cuts or are they? >> Yeah, I think it was based on um limited resources and utilization reviews and I I do attribute some of it to stigma
around getting substance use treatment like versus mental health treatment. Um so like you know it's a harder cell to have somebody go for substance use treatment than mental health treatment for whatever reason. So I think it's based on utilization rates but I don't in terms of the recovery high locally um
they lost the grant. Springfield lost the grant and um it was awarded to a competing application out at the Cape. >> So there are still four recovery high schools in Massachusetts but just none east none west of Worcester. >> Gotcha.
>> It's just a challenge. >> Yeah, it's terrible. >> So >> thank you. >> Yeah. >> Other questions? >> All right. >> Maybe underscore the the the social norming campaign. I mean, that's something you've been involved with for a bunch of years and and and how that
works and and sure how powerful it can be. >> Sure. I'll give an example. Um, it was one of the edits, but uh I do you have uh can I jump on there or no? Is that going to mess you up for >> uh they won't pick it up on the uh >> Okay. >> I'll just describe it. So, like last
year, we do the um eighth grade visits, but I'll let the students talk about that when they when they go. But um last year when we saw in the survey that there was an increase in oral nicotine use, which is the Zins, the pouches, the nicotine pouches, um I did a survey, not
through any scientific method. I just wandered around ice blocks and asked students, but I got 223 students to tell me whether or not they would date somebody who was using Zen. And 90% said no. It would be an ick. it would be a deal breaker, you know, like it was a
really strong reaction. No. So then I, you know, turned it into a poster showing somebody popping a zin in and just said, you know, like 90%, you know, over 90% of high school students said they wouldn't date or would view it as an ick or view somebody less attractive
if they were using Zins. So we um put it up in the middle school bathrooms and lockers to try to like get that message there so that they would see like this is not attractive. this is not making you a better candidate for romance, you know. Um, and yeah, so that was one
recent one that we did. >> That's great. >> And so, zooming out uh to some more of the community work, Nandanda Lennox is the director of the close community coalition and uh again, Philly and Anand are a dynamic duo. They work really
closely together. Um, and so some of the programming that works in our schools, we've amplified it out to the wider community. So, I'll uh Ananda has also put together a slide deck and I'll I'll share that now. >> All right. Thanks, Marty for a really nice introduction. I find that when I do
these presentations, because I've done it for so long, I tend to gloss over all of it and then wonder why people are not familiar with the work. Um, but I I've been doing this work for about the same length of time that Shelley has, but only for the district since last February. So, I've worked in Northampton, West Springfield, and now
Long Meadow. And I I love being part of a dynamic duo. Um, I think I said during my interviews that the whole attraction was that Shelley worked here because having a district, it's really true that's progressive enough to have a substance use response coordinator just shows that you value the work. And two,
I'd already worked with you through so many meetings that I was like, "Oh, she's really cool. That'd be awesome." So, um, so anyhow, very happy to be here. Um, and I just created an overview overview that I've been sharing at PTO's, at our steering committee meetings and um, and meetings like this just to give people an idea as to first
off what a coalition is, who the close community coalition is, and a brief overview of some of the things that we were involved in since I've started at least in February. Um, and I always get the history wrong. I think did close start technically in 2016. >> Yes. >> And then we were funded in 2018.
>> Yeah. >> Okay. So, um I neglected to bring my glasses, but I will say um we do have a mission statement. And to to summarize it in a nutshell, it's to do things that make it harder to access drug and easier to access things that are better for
you. So, increasing access might be like, okay, there's youth sporting events, but there's like I mean, we can't pay for buses, but we look at problems that get in the way of kids doing healthy things. And then with barriers, it's things like um working with the police department to do alcohol compliance checks to make sure that you
know we have laws on the book that you shouldn't sell to minors, but sometimes it happens if you don't have oversight. So, it's looking to make sure that policies are in place to keep the neighborhood, the community safe. Um and we do that by working with a lot of stakeholders, which includes law
enforcement, schools, media, parents, youth, um clergy, all sorts of people because it is a shared goal. like most people would be not be willing to say I think kids use should use drugs and I don't care about this issue. Um it's generally something that people can come
together over. So um next slide please. And I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this but this is just our structure. So we have what's called a drug-free communities grant and this is a really competitive grant. In order to get it, you have to have a fiscal agent, which
for us is the town of Long Meadow, and the school is helping us to manage the grant. And then you have to have somebody like myself, a director of coordinator who make sure that the work gets done. And in order to get this funding, you have to do all sorts of assessments to prove that your community does need some help, that you have the
capacity to do the work, and that you're able to outline exactly what you do each year. And then you're held accountable through progress reports and stuff like that. So each year we create a an action plan and we look at the different substances. We set up goals and objectives as to how we want to move the needle. You know, are do we want to
increase community engagement through this avenue, through this avenue? And um you have to focus on at least three drugs. So for us with this age group, we're almost always looking at nicotine, marijuana, and alcohol. But we also um do cover prescription drugs because the opioid epidemic has been devastating. So
um next slide, please. So, let me just give you a brief overview of some of the things that we do. So, Shelley does the treatment and she also does a lot of prevention and which is great for me because in my previous roles I've done not on tobacco, I've done in-depth
program. I've kind of done all those things. So, one of the things that's been a challenge in some other districts and also it's just the timeline of how progressive the world has gotten in general is that you might be working in prevention, but then when you do run into a kid who has an issue, it's really hard to see to get help. So, it's really
nice to have somebody that works for the district that can do the work. Um, especially for this age group because a lot of students, um, if you're asking them about their history with drugs and alcohol, for the most part, a lot of them aren't seeing it as an issue yet. You know, they're dabbling. Maybe they're using it as a maladaptive coping
mechanism, but they're not going to come in and say, "I've been drinking for 10 years. This is crazy." You know, like they're they're too I'm sorry to be funny, but anyhow, it's um it's it's just a developmentally they're not there, which is good. And so this is why prevention is so important because we're hoping to catch people with Shelly. It's
like maybe beginning users who, you know, you could say on one hand vaping maybe isn't as dire as marijuana, but you have to look at also the context like, well, where are they using the vape? Are they using it in school? Hm. you know, like if you don't want to get in trouble, maybe you wouldn't do that here. So, it usually points to like some
intervention is needed. Um, but a bigger part of my job is always trying to reach parents because the schools are providing health education. We've got um, you know, law enforcement who are working with us to do Narcan distribution, all sorts of stuff. But trying to make sure that parents are kept up to date with all the latest
information can be a challenge. So this year what we tried to do so we'll do a parent survey every year and we ask parents uh different sets of questions each year but one of the questions is always how do you get your information and how do you want to be engaged and especially since postcoid there's a lot
of like online on demand make it easy for me sort of things. So this year um we had the um I'm gonna forget the acronym again but what is it MT Massachusetts partnership for healthy youth. >> Yeah. So we had a contract with them and
they just started offering um usually they do professional development for staff and teachers but they also started offering these ondemand webinars like sorry not on demand but they were live presentations but recorded so that parents could you know go remotely and
just to be completely transparent the first two we had to cancel um because the organization we partnered with needed a minimum of 40 registrants and we couldn't get 40 registrants which I was a a little shocked by because vaping and marijuana usually for the parents of students this age those are two that
they're concerned about you know because they've been seeing that vaping is something that some kids have picked up and cannabis with it being legalized it's more prevalent when concerned about potency um so then we had to just kind of go nuclear um with new drug so for the next two so what I ended up doing
was expanding it basically to every community in western mass um because originally I wanted to have it be for Long Meadow to see if the parents could get um access. So what we ended up doing um we had relatively we had about 45 people register for rethinking drug
education and about 42 register for culture shock. Um but even with those numbers of registrants, we only had five people attend the first one and eight attend the second. So they still ran because we had the enough people registered. But the um the organization we partnered with did say don't be
disappointed. The reason we have such a high registration point is because you're lucky if a quarter of them will attend. So, um, this I'm just pointing this out not to say it's because parents are apathetic or anything like that, but parents are pulled in so many different directions and trying to find ways much
kind of like treatment centers that address an issue in a timely manner when it's relevant to the parents can be really hard. So, with prevention, we are working um harder each year to try to reach like the parents of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders when they're still have a lot of control over their
kids. Um, their kids for the most part aren't exposed to substance yet. And so trying to give them the information so that when the kids are in a larger pool and maybe have more exposure, they have the language and the education to help kind of guide them through that. And a lot of the the advice we offer parents
that and I've noticed parents are pretty savvy about this already is um having conversations more about their friend groups and less about what their kid is doing. You know, because going up to your kid and saying, "Did you vape?" Usually doesn't get you the best response, but like, "Oh, what was that thing that John had yesterday?" you
know, like getting, you know, like more sideways conversations about what's going on. Next slide, please. Um, so that was an example of our parent outreach. The other thing that we've done that we don't get to do every year, but when we do, it's super fun is partner with um local universities to do
other projects. So, this one is one that was actually set up by my predecessor. Um, just to give, you know, credit where credit is due, Paul McNeel and this professor, um, um, Proud Hum worked together to, um, apply for a grant that would allow them to do, um, a driving
study at Long Meadow High School. So, what they did is years ago there used to be, um, this thing called a distraology van that was run by Arabella Insurance and it would go from high school to high school. I don't remember how many years it was in operation. I think about five years. And inside that van, there are
two little driving simulation labs. And what they would do is in order to get like a discount on your insurance, if students participated in this driving study, um they would go um it was usually on texting at the time. So they would do studies on texting. And when
they were decided to stop doing that project, they donated the van to UMass and UMass has their own driving study lab. So UMass has been very very very interested in studying cannabis and how it impacts driving. And so on this one, what they did is I'm really uh eager to
see the results. They're not looking so much at whether cannabis impacts driving or not because obviously the students are not using marijuana, like they're not under the influence of any drug, but they will wear goggles that just kind of emulate how your vision is distorted.
But what the study was really about was youth perception. So they wanted to see going in what are your thoughts about cannabis and how people drive and then how do you feel about it after having this experience and like doing these little learning modules. Did either of you do the distraology van?
>> Yeah, I wasn't able to cuz my eyes didn't align. >> I just wanted to give you a chance to speak if you had but anyhow um for us for stand it was like such a great recruiting tool because there was this huge van in the parking lot for three days. We did it right before Halloween. Miss D was very specific that it should
not be there on Halloween just in case there was any hy jinks. But we had um do you remember how many students we had in the end? Was it 75 or 80? >> I think. >> Yeah, something like that. Yeah, we had almost all the spots were filled we could offer. >> It was basically like as far as
prevention goes, probably one of the more fun projects we did this year because it was just fun. UMass was able to incentivize it. So each student who participated got a $50 gift. Well, they got $50 in cash and then all of the stand students who volunteered to help out got an honorarium um in the form of
a gift card for $50. So for the kids, they're like, I'm getting a break from Ice Block. I'm doing this driving thing which is like a video game and they're paying me for my time. It was it was a hit. So then we had 13 students show up the next week for stand. So it was kind of cool. Um next slide, please. Um and
these are really hard to read, but I just wanted to point out the importance of this type of work. So students, you know, especially for the ones that aren't driving yet, might not have an opinion on impaired driving with cannabis. Everybody knows that impaired
driving is bad, but there's a lot of knowledge around drunk driving. Like people know that you should get an Uber driver and stuff, but these comments, which let me see if I can read on my screen, just go to show like how how much work there still is. So the public like so we got a lot of coverage from
the local media, which was wonderful. like our analytics on Facebook are going to look amazing for that month. But um we had channel 22 news. Um we had I think the reminder do an article and the feedback on Facebook which I know that's where people go to say funny things or
whatever. Most of the comments though when we talked about this project were like they probably drove even better while impaired by cannabis or I drove stoned once waiting for the stop sign to turn green. Like just making a big joke about it and how like it just makes you go slower. you're more cautious and
there's just a lot of misperceptions around, you know, whether this is a safe thing to do or not to do. And then also some flack for like why don't you do it on driving um impaired with alcohol or texting and you know I I'm not going to spend my days responding to trolls, but like the answer to that would be like we
already have tons of evidence that when you're impaired by alcohol, you don't drive well. Um we know that texting impairs driving. So, with cannabis being at a higher potency than it was ever available before and the fact that we now have dispensaries and that when a drug becomes more normalized and acceptable, more people use it. We just
don't want to have now three things that impair people behind the wheel, you know, because we're just going to add to it. Next slide, please. Um, so I had mentioned that the drugs that we focus on primarily are alcohol, nicotine, and um alcohol. Did I say marijuana?
Alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana. Um but we also um again because of the importance of raising awareness about the opioid epidemic and just how deadly some of the um opioid formats are out there. We work with the Long Meadow Police Department to do these little
popup tents with tapestry. They're super fun. The first time I did one, it was kind of rainy and icky and we didn't get a ton of foot traffic, but the people that came by were amazing. like the type of moms I wasn't even like there were moms that came up with their four kids going tell them what this is and so
Tapestry would give them um a little mini training on uh Nlloxxone which is better known as Narcan um we would talk about um fentinyl and how it's kind of fentinyl is just a really strong opioid that unfortunately has made it into our drug supply. So for people that were
accustomed to using heroin for example and then were trying to get street drugs, it was contaminated with fentinyl and then people were overdosing at really high rates. And a lot of people have been using street drugs because there was overprescribing for a while. And so when um the doctors were finally
um told like, hey, this drug is actually really addictive. You can't be prescribing it as easily. Um and they stopped giving opioids as freely. A lot of people had grown dependent and then had to seek it out in other ways. And so anyhow, there's just a whole chain of events that had made opioids very dangerous. But these partnerships are wonderful. It makes the police look
great. It tapestry gets their their um life-saving medications out there and then the coalition is there to make it happen. And then Brian Ash has come to every single one of our things which is great because then he gets a lot of social media attention for us. Next slide please. Um and then this just an
example of the different places we do it. We do it um we I also do tableabling at farmers markets, long meadow shops. Um I do it at any open house I'm invited to. And basically the whole idea is to do a few different things. I do a lot of promotion of safe homes for Shelly
because I think it's a really strong program. And I think that um it needs to be marketed a little bit different, but we're working on that. We've had some PTO parents tell us you just have to increase the FOMO around it and then you're going to have better um enrollment. Um but the idea of sending a
strong unified message that providing alcohol and drugs to young people is not the way to go. Um I think is a really good thing. And I think parents who tow that line sometimes feel like they're in a minority even though they might not be. Um so having a support network of people that you know like oh I can call
them. I know that they they also aren't okay with this. Um can be really comforting for people. Next slide. So here is where I'd like to have the students talk a little bit more. Um, and I won't spend too much time on this slide, but I I want to just introduce Stan. So, Stan definitely predates me.
This is something that Shelley Warren has been running forever. And um, as far as I understand, it's our version of the SAD chapter, right? So, it used to be students against destructive decisions or even before that, it was Students Against Drunk Driving. And so, um, the format that we've taken here is Students
Together against Negative Decisions. And, um, Shelley was I thought we were going to co-run it. She's like, "Oh, no. It's all yours now. So, I have the high school version and um have been learning as I go. Um it's been a lot of fun. The students um thankfully Alina is part of
it because um when I came on I was like I don't know the school culture. I don't know the students. What have you guys done before? So, she's been amazing. Um and then one thing that I've changed this year is I wanted to get a middle school version going. So, we have one at Glen Brook right now. I would have liked to have had one at Williams, too, but we
weren't able to get it off the ground. But at least if we can start that, you know, that energy um when the middle schools are eventually combined, we could do both. And I'm looking to have some cross-pollination between the high school group and the middle school group. Can you go to the next slide, please? So, I would love to have um
Julie and um Alina just talk about what the ideas behind peer education and for for you Julie because you've done it like just talk about what the experience was like. So, for what you're seeing in these slides here are four of the students that went um and this was at um
Williams, Mr. Baker's class, and this is one of the um lessons that Shelley designed and has been delivering for years. So, she pretty much ran this one and I just helped train the students. And how did it go? >> It went really well. The students were really engaged. It took them a minute
cuz obviously they're middle schoolers, but we talked a lot about um like the different drugs, knowing what you're taking, and especially knowing like that not everyone is doing these drugs. We talked a lot about how sometimes the people you're around make you think that
everyone are taking using these substances when oftentimes they're not and how like the use rates are a lot lower than what people think they are. A lot of that Um, we did a lot of fun games with the
students to see what they thought about it and different ways that they can say no to using substances that even if they have friends that are using, it doesn't mean they have to and it doesn't mean that they're going to be left out in any way because there's a lot of like fear around substances that if you're not
using, you're going to be set apart from other people in your grade. So, we talked a lot about that because for the middle schoolers especially and also high schoolers like a big thing is feeling left out. So, we talked a lot about that. >> Awesome. And Kate, do you want to talk
about stand in general since you're the president and you're also the student representative for the close coalition and basically have a lot of weight on your shoulders and and she's a peer leader as well. Talk about your leadership if you want. So, uh, with Stan, we try to meet, um,
twice or three times a month if we can, and we meet on Wednesdays from 7:00 to 8 in the BTC. And our overall objective is to find, um, like areas in the community that we can um, help improve on. So,
recently we did just do um the, um, going to like the middle schoolers and talking to them about substance use. So what that looked like at the SAND meetings is we did a lot of brainstorming about what specific topics we want to talk about, how we want to
address them, how we want to make sure that the middle schoolers are still engaged with games, and just also just like keeping up with them on their level because obviously they are not going to be um like intaking the information the same way that high schoolers would. Um
it was a lot of looking at different slide decks, seeing what we liked, seeing what we want to improve on, and then um coming together and just making um a good like representation of what we could share with the middle schoolers.
And then um with Sam, we did also do the distraology trailer, which again was like a really good success for us. Um, we are also going to be doing the um cookies for my sister's house. We plan
on decorating cookies and donating donating them. And for future plans, I know that we discussed a little bit on doing the um celebrity >> celebrities in recovery. Yeah, celebrities in recovery where we make
posters around the school to hang them up to show that um these celebrities who are role models for a lot of people have gone through similar situations of dealing with like substances. Um >> and I think then the one that we haven't
well we just came off a break. Um stop the swerve. >> Oh yeah. So stop stop the swerve is another thing that we're planning on doing like in the springtime. um you know when prom starts coming up and a lot of the seniors start um
um having more activities, we do a stop the swerve contest where students at the high school can make um posters either digital or um just like handmade. And the contest is that we vote on which ones um like which one we think is the
best. And the students receive a gift card for um all their hard work and effort that they put in. And then those posters are hung around the school to bring awareness about drinking and driving or just driving under um the influence. >> That's awesome.
Um so yeah, so we're in good hands. Um the next slide is just a couple pictures from the eighth grade stand, which is our newer group. Um, I went in with like 20 different topics I could that they could pick from. You know, since our coalition focuses on substance use
prevention, it's always nice if they pick up something that has to do with substances, but this group is very interested in self-esteem and body image. And they've been making um they have a lot more skill than I do with technology. And so, right now, you can have a cell phone that only will not
only will capture, you know, video for you, but you can do all the editing on it as well. And they've been doing different frames and angles and being able to take all these different scenes, patch them together, and make these short little movies that are going to be about like 30 seconds to three minutes long. And each one involves scenarios
that have to do with um some of them have to do with like your body image and the internal talk you have or how people's innocent comments can sometimes be in interpreted a different way. Um and they've been a lot of fun to work on. So, um, right now we have two videos
that are already made and we have eight kids in the group and we're going to have four videos in total. So, this is our first project and once those are done, we're then going to figure out how we can um get those out into the school um and hopefully spread, you know, healthy thoughts and treating yourself
with kindness. Uh, next slide, please. So, this is just a little plug about safe homes, which we've already talked about, but we're going to be working on uh the messaging to just try to uh increase the I guess the glamour around it really, you know. Um, but it it is a
really really great program. Um, and I think that what I found because I've seen safe home I've worked with safe homes in other communities as well. It really is hard to get the word out because we'd really like to attract parents that have middle schoolers about to go into um high school, but it's really common for parents to say, "We're
not there yet. We don't have to worry about that." But part of it is setting the intention and getting into the practice because it's a lot easier to set rules when your kids are in eighth grade than when they're in 10th grade. So, like just trying to normalize like this is how our family does this and we are going to call and see where you're
going if you go to a party um can be really helpful for parents. At least this is what I found in my own home is like having the structure in place before something comes up makes it a lot easier to like follow through with what you'd like to see happen than if you're trying to learn on the fly. Next slide, please. Um and then we do communitywide
campaigns. So, um, one of the things that we've done for the past few years is, um, the steering committee that I work with spent a lot of time coming up with designs that would address, um, underage drinking and just really trying to discourage parent hosting. Um, and the messaging that they came up, um, is
ignoring teen drinking is like equal to allowing teen drinking. It's your home, but it's our problem. And then when parents host, everyone loses. It's illegal. It's unsafe. It's costly. with the message being like it impacts all of us, you know, like when there's a I mean Long Meadow has suffered huge losses,
right? So, we're trying to get that message out and this year um are you president of Key Club as well? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So, Key Club is going to work with us this year to help try to get the um amount of lawn signs distributed up even more. We had a pretty good uh number
that were distributed last year, but it wasn't huge. It was like maybe 50 families participated. Um, but what we try to do is get these sent out. And I was thinking with Key Club's help, they can reach out to friends, family, and it's a really simple project and it's really easy to do where we already have
these signs made. All you do is if you sign up on a form to say, "Put them in my lawn for May to June and then we deliver them and then we pick them up at the end of the month." So, um, it's a really nice way to just show that Long Meadow cares about this topic, that they're unified and trying to prevent this from happening. Um, and it it's no
cost. It's just all it's all good. Next slide, please. Uh we also do mailings that try to um increase education around things like Nlloxxone, which is also known as Narcan. As Shelley had mentioned, um the high school students have been very proactive about getting Narcan and
fentinyl and opioid education into the schools. Um but sometimes that doesn't translate to the parents. So like if we're trying to do something um like one of the initiatives that um Close has been very involved in is trying to get Nlloxxone boxes into the community. These are these like clear little boxes that have nlloxxone in them just like an
AED box. Um and so we've had speakers come through. Can you go to the next slide actually? Um keep going. So for example, we had Dr. Ari Cricggsman come through to the adult center and he gave a couple talks. Um he's an addiction specialist. He does
treatment. Um and uh he he just did a such a wonderful job about talking about how you know Long Meadow is in a lot of ways a very safe community. Like we have a lot of things going for us. There's um you know less violence than in other communities. Um there's a lot of
protective factors. There's a lot of community, but if addiction actually takes root somewhere, it doesn't matter where you live. Like you might have access to better resources, but you still want to be able to help people if they get in trouble. So he did he gave two presentations. There were a couple people that happened to be in attendance
that immediately went to the director of the adult center and said, "Why don't we have these boxes here?" And a week later, I reached out to the program that provides them to us, got them installed, and now they have them. Um Rachel Craze over at the latest craze is going to put one in next. And then, um, Officer Jerowski is trying to work with the
mobile station to see if they'll start adopting it, too. And then, um, I'm waiting to hear back from on call because there's now a medical facility in Long Meadow Shops, and I figured that might be an easy way to try to get them there. Um, next slide, please. Um, all right, you can keep going.
That's just more. Um, and then I just wanted to plug um I'm going to be working with guidance um for the stepup night when the eighth graders come to the high school. Um, when I've met with our steering committee, there's been a lot of conversation about how parents could really benefit from learning from other parents. Um and so one of the
things that we're going to offer is um a panel of parents of seniors or recent graduates that are just going to talk about basically these topics like um and a lot of these were suggested by guidance, but one is the reset button, what to do when things aren't going great. Um high school is actually a
really safe place to fail, you know, so when things are going like you don't have to get too worried. Um ones on executive functioning and organization, like maybe that's a challenge for your kid or maybe you're just not sure how your middle school is going to go. tips on how that works. Um also, uh some talking on stress and also um how to
handle things like when your kid doesn't really want to talk to you anymore. They used to tell me everything, now they don't. So, we're going to cover stuff like that and um it's going to be formatted in such a way that parents can just come with their own questions, submit them beforehand, ask during the thing. Um and I'm really looking forward to see how that turns out and hopefully
we can do it every year. Next slide, please. Um, and then I also just wanted to let you know that, you know, we try like coalitions in their definition are just meant to work with other groups. And so we're lucky here to have um a community engagement person uh Nilda and
um she has like when we look at our school climate survey data for example, I I've been presenting it all this week so it's at the top of my mind. But when you look at our data, like let's say we're looking at middle school, we're really fortunate that our substance use rates are low, but what we're what we are seeing that are sort of high,
especially among our female students, are rates of depression, rates of anxiety, um stress over school, that sort of stuff. And so all of the events that are being hosted this year from the um community engagement include screenagers. Um it doesn't specify here, but this screeners filmed a newer
version. There was one that came out about 10 years ago. This one is an elementary version. So, it's to like help talk parents through like how do you set these rules up now and there's going to be a panel discussion where I'm going to be there. A couple of the scan students will be in attendance. Um, a health educator and there might be
another person, but I'm really looking forward to that. And then the next thing she's offering, Scott Driscoll got brought up during one of our first steering committee meetings about how he was such an amazing internet safety presenter. They're doing internet safety. Um, and then the power of emotional intelligence. Um, and then No
Place for Hate in schools. So, as far as what I see with school climate data, these are all on the money as far as what students either have maybe certain strengths in or could need it bolstered, like I'm still thinking about the difference in gender when I just did the presentation to the middle school. And
our female students because of how they develop um social skills a bit earlier do seem to be higher on the social emotional like learning skills than boys. Um but and you know our data is never causation. But you have to wonder if sometimes that added like intelligence around that also makes them
more susceptible to feeling anxious and depressed and and just being more aware of social strat and how it all works together. Um so these are all great things to um to be able to offer for free. Uh next slide please. Um and then this is my last slide. I just wanted to let people know that um I really like
the work that we do. I think I really do believe in coalitions. As I've mentioned, I've worked in different communities. Um, but it is always grant funded work. Um, so we are in our ninth year, which means, so Drug-Free Communities allows you to apply twice and it's five-year grant cycles. Um, we
were awarded the first five years back in 2018. Right now we're in year 9, which means next year is our last year of actually having funding. Um, our annual budget is $125,000. And um, we're going to be looking for different avenues to get funded. So, some of our ideas for the future and I'm
mentioning this to school committee just because it might be that at some point I come up and go, will you back us on this? Will you continue to support our work? Um, we're going to be looking into the opioid abatement funds. Um, there's also something called a car grant. There's stop act which deals just with alcohol, but that could help us meet bridge some of the gaps. And then
there's also rise grants and possibly state funding. So, if we ever call you to uh help us strategize, I hope that you guys will all come and I hope I didn't go on too long, but thank you very much. Not at all. >> Thank you very much. Thank you to all of you for coming in. Um questions,
thoughts. >> Um not a question, just thank you so much for your leadership on this topic. It's very important. Um it sounds like you're doing really great work. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. So, um, one of the things I've learned, um, through Shel's work and
Anand's work is that prevention starts with developing really young learners social emotional competencies. And we, you know, we I've learned to draw that connection between developing students skills at early
early ages and and and what the outcomes might be for them as adolescence or young adults. Can you talk a little bit about that and the connection between developing students social emotional competencies at the earliest ages and how that really is a good foundation for
the prevention work that you guys are involved with? >> I mean I could say yeah I think doing universal seal which the Yale ruler you know would be an example of is um is very much what we should be doing. That's a prevention program for substance use. It's also a prevention
program for bullying, for you know, almost any anything that we would deal with in a school. Um, that's going to prevent if you have students who are who know themselves, can regulate themselves, can relate to others well, like you know, all of those skills are what prevent um prevent substance use
and also even mental health issues. >> So, yeah, that's not sure if that's what you have. Yeah to answer, you know, just, you know, teaching our youngest learners how to manage themselves, how to develop their relational skills, how to make wise
decisions from the earliest ages. Like those are key prevention strategies. Sometimes people don't connect the work that happens in early early grades with the prevention strategies that you know kind of are more targeted to around
communities or or adolescence. So >> yeah, it's skills. It's like it's not like often, you know, people know when something's not good for them. It's not a matter of information. It's a matter of having the skills, you know, to to live your life and take care of yourself and make good choices. And
>> that all starts with the seal younger. >> It makes me think of your trees. Like it's like we often say that what is it the antidote to addiction is connection, you know? So like we all probably went to school with a kid who maybe was really hard to be around and wasn't somebody you wanted to be friends with.
And if you don't develop those skills at a younger age and you're always being somewhat ostracized or people are calling you annoying, that's not great for your self-esteem. It's not great for your connection with other people. So these skills that you know sometimes we just think they're innate, but they're not. You know, like I remember being in
middle school and a friend called me after school and I was like, I just saw you. Why are you calling me? Do you know what I mean? Like that's like not a very socially adept young person. But some people by fourth grade, you know, seem to just have that ability. But I think it it is like it's so much of it is um
especially with substance use is like learning how to self-regulate is important. One of the things that we've we've tried to stress is that, you know, it's become almost automatic for us if we're running
a back to school night or there's an important school council meeting or pack meeting, PTO meeting, or there's an athletic night um to engage the close community to engage the prevention work that that Shelley's talked about as well. So that it's become sort of
automatic to us and institutionalize these practices like um we talk a lot about when there's sort of captive audiences and when we have those captive audiences making sure we're bringing uh families the information we're sharing the resources. We're also um really
transparent with the school climate data that um Shelley and Ananda talked about. That information is in your meeting packet. It's also available on our websites. You know, it's I think it's important that we confront these issues and rather than pretend they don't exist. I think this is evidence that we
we take these we tackle these things headon. And I'm grateful that we're in a community that values the work of the close community coalition that um I'm grateful that we have a school committee that you know sees the importance of a substance use prevention position which
not all districts um have but it makes a meaningful difference to kids in this whole community. So, um, we we do need to think about the sustainability of the coalition work that Anand mentioned that as that as that grant and that grant was
a very competitive grant and so credit to everybody that was involved in putting that together, particularly Shelley years ago. Um, but you know, we do need to think about how to sustain this work after those grant funds expire in a couple of years. So that is a conversation that we hope we can bring
back to the the school committee perhaps um town officials as well. So >> appreciate the work that the community level I think is really um critical how much you guys have done to make this just a part of the conversations that
happen in and around the schools is really meaningful and to um Alina and Juliana as well. hugely impactful not just for your own school but also to be able to go to younger grades. Um that makes an even bigger impact than
grown-ups talking. Um so really really helpful that you guys are able to go into schools and bring your um stand members to talk to younger students and help get them set up for success at the high school level. >> Appreciate the work you're doing.
>> Anyone else? Anyone online with anything? No hands raised. Okay. Well, thank you so much for coming over tonight. We appreciate getting the chance to hear more about what you're doing and look forward to some of the community events coming up in the near future. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you for having us. >> All right. >> We are headed into our student representative report. So, we will continue on with another student who is doing amazing things, Diana. >> Okay. So, um, before break, we had a
bunch of activities. Um, at the Friday, I think before break, it was the talent show, the senior verse faculty basketball game in the maker space. Um, the seniors won the basketball game, which was really exciting. Um, and I
wasn't there cuz I was sick, but I heard everything else went well, too. Um, right now a bunch of people and teachers are getting ready for midterms. um starting the preparation that's involved because that is in about two weeks. Um
and then our next connect block is the 8th and we're going to be making a thousand origami cranes across all of the different classes. Um and on the cranes there will be wishes for the next year. Um and I'm pretty looking forward
to that because it sounds like a fun connect block. And then going back, we had the winter concert on December 17th, which everyone did awesome. >> Wonderful. Thank you very much. Um, school committee announcements and
recognitions. Um, no report from the chair tonight other than welcoming everybody back and to a happy new year. And any other committee announcements or recognitions? Seeing none, we will continue on. Superintendent report. >> Sure. Uh, I'll be brief. Um, Mr. Maz and
I are hosting budget meetings with the administrators uh just to prepare prepare for the February 3rd budget uh recommendation that we'll bring to you. Um, we released a revised version of our district curriculum accommodation plan
uh to families and staff recently. And this is a plan that um is sort of articulates our commitment to um robust tier one regular education instruction. Um it represents the range of strategies that teachers can use to be sure that
they're supporting the diverse learning needs of all students. So, uh, that's the district curriculum accommodation plan, otherwise known as the DECAP. So, this is sort of our third iteration of that DECAP, but it's an important part of our commitment to MTSS. It's an important part of our commitment to
universal design as well. Um I had shared with the community um as well as the school committee that I'll be soliciting membership on a VOG readiness council. And this is a council that will kick off the work that um will focus on
looking at graduation requirements for students at Long Meadow High School. So multi-year project and something that probably will take effect for um perhaps current seventh graders. So, um, it's important work. It's exciting work. Uh, we'll pull that readiness council
together in the month of January. The Grin Excellence in Teaching Award Program is once again activated. We are soliciting nominations from staff. They'll the nominations will go to principles on January 23rd. We host a
really exciting breakfast on February 4th. If any committee members are available, we'd love to have you. Uh it's an opportunity for us to recognize all nominees and the nominators for that Ginspoon Excellence in Teaching Award. Um that's it. >> All right, great. Thanks. Any questions
or followup? Seeing none, we head into other reports. Um LPVC board of directors, Kate. >> Yes. So, uh at the last meeting, we spent uh a significant amount of time reviewing the the budget for the collaborative.
Um, we also discussed um a new cell phone policy at the uh LP uh VDC um that they're working on. Uh question came up about metagasses and how that will
um uh get written into a policy. Um there was also um a discussion about an early uh date for an evaluation of the executive director due to I guess there were there are multiple openings
for superintendent in Western Mass. And so um we felt um the committee felt a need to be competitive and and evaluate um the director executive director early. Um
the other thing that came up at this particular meeting um that was a carryover for previous meetings um was um a concern about rewriting the collaborative agreement >> um to increase uh and clarify the sides
um commitment to the collaborative and vice versa. And this came up, you know, because of the um the fact that Lello went outside of the collaborative to hire um buses. So um there was this decision made uh it
will be going forward a discussion will continue about putting teeth into the commitment for each side. >> All right. >> Um and obviously the contract would be need be approved by Desi. >> Okay. Thank you. Um and LPVC board of
governors, Emma. >> Um so we joined the their meeting on the 17th. Um and essentially what we stayed for was the high level overview of the fiscal year audit annual report. Um and then voted to approve that and then that was all they needed us for. We were
gone. Um we don't meet again until March. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh no report from SEAL tonight and energy and sustainability back. >> We meet on Thursday. >> Meet on Thursday. All right. We have no subcommittee reports. Um, policy, I'm guessing, does not have a report yet.
It's from today's meeting. >> We could we could offer a quick update. >> Adam, never mind. Adam, you've got a report from policy. >> We had it was it was exhilarating. Um, it was it was very fastpaced and it was
um it was dynamic. It was a great meeting and uh we're going to be talking about um plans to uh protect the Chromebooks of district as a way to solidify the future generations of this wonderful community
and uh we're going to be working with the uh finance committee on that. So I'm open very excited hopefully we'll have a recommendation coming uh in the weeks and months to follow. >> All right. Anything else to add from anyone else on policy? It was a very uh productive meeting.
>> All right. Wonderful. Uh that brings us to new business. Uh school calendar. >> Sure. Um so tonight a a preliminary recommendation for the 2627 school year calendar. So the the uh the
calendar is in your packet. And this preliminary recommendation uh outlines uh only the first and last days of school as well as the days that schools not in session because of holidays and vacations. So the intention here is to
um seek your preliminary approval kind of establishes the book ends of the academic year calendar for 2627. the calendar committee which is a a group of administrators and um LEA
appointed educators will come together and fill in the back to school nights uh the parent teacher conference nights and they'll fill in um as well um a
fourth professional development day. So that calendar committee is meeting next week, but we wanted to bring this preliminary recommendation to you so that we could get information out to families who are trying to plan
vacations in and around the 26 27 year academic calendar. So I would anticipate that at your next meeting on January 20th, I think it is, could be wrong in that date, we would have the full and final calendar for you, but so just
seeking your uh sort of preliminary approval on this 26 27th school year calendar. You'll note that it establishes the uh the first day of school for students in grades 1 through 12. on Thursday, August 27th. It
establishes the the last day of school for all students on Monday, June 14th. Uh the uh holiday break would commence on December 24th and continue through um
January 1. Students would return to school after that holiday break on January 4. The February and April breaks are um sort of consistent with previous years. They fall in the third week of February and the third week of April as
well. So again, prelim preliminary calendar looking for your preliminary approval. Um really just hoping to get something out to families so that they can begin planning uh in and around this calendar. Uh Tammy has received a a
handful of inquiries from families and staff interested in understanding at least when the first day of school is next year. So >> Jamie, you have something to >> No, >> Kathy, I do have some thoughts. Can I go?
>> I really don't like a half day on the 14th of June. >> So the the last day of school, um it is a Monday. Uh the last day of school is historically a half day for uh for students. The thought is ending on a
Monday isn't really ideal, but you're almost anticipating that there there'll be a couple of cancellation days. So you would add on to that and probably wind up getting out on the 15th or 16th >> maybe. My god. >> Yeah. Have we had many?
>> My in the last few years >> we haven't, but we've had other years where it's been bad. Yeah. My thing I would make January 1st a half day. >> No school on January 1. >> Yeah. Have school. >> I'm sorry. I'm sorry. The Jan I'm sorry.
Or um >> December 2. >> December 27th. >> 23. >> Take your pick. >> What? >> 23rd. You mean 23rd. >> No one's going to come on this day anyways. It's a waste of everybody's time on the 14th. Let's be honest, you know. So, pick another day where parents can make a decision just not to have their child come there. And if they're
going to travel, they travel. No one's going to do anything those days anyways. So why waste that as the end and kind of even, you know, I would, you know, rearrange that personally. >> So that would be my first thing. Second thing is is I still am big in favor of
getting rid of the February break. >> So that's just my two cents. I know no one loves that idea, but I I think it's working in Wilberham. >> So I think we personally I think we should look at it. So they do two days for that particular week and the other
three days they're off. So >> um and I went through it with a bunch of the teachers over in Wilberham and they all love it. I mean so I I don't know why we don't look at that. But that last day is just I mean just silly pick one of the other days, make it a half day and make it count as a day.
>> So the trick for the one you suggested although you know that I also don't like I I don't mind the idea of the 23rd being a half day of December. However, um it's currently scheduled to be a full day. So moving it to a half day does not actually solve that problem. >> No, I'm talking the 27th
>> of November. >> Oh, wait. Where are you? >> Make up a pick one of these other days that are just the most random days. >> That's why Thanksgiving. >> It's the 14th. No one's coming on the 14th. >> Can I ask you why is it half day? Because we need 183 days.
>> Correct. >> One and a half day is considered a whole day. Half day you get credit for one of the 180 days that school students have to be in school. Yes. >> So a half day is considered one of those numbers. >> It's correct. >> I'm actually wondering something that might
>> possibly make Jamie's head explode. So I hesitate to throw this out here, but I realize Labor Day is later this year on the 7th. It is more standard for us to expect that students go back on the Monday before Labor Day.
starting on the 27th means that we have a week and a half of school before Labor Day. Moving that to starting on Monday the whatever that is 20 the 31st would then move the final day of school to the 16th
which then makes it a little bit less of a wonky hanging Monday and more of a Wednesday. >> I like that. Like why are we starting so early? It does feel like I realize again like dates wise we're probably not. We probably started last year by what the 25th or 26th. It's just that this year with that
>> Labor Day >> Labor Day being as late as it is, I think a lot of families count on like not getting back until the week before Labor Day and starting a whole two weeks before Labor Day for staff and a full week and a half before Labor Day for students feels >> I think that makesense >> early for our town outside of what we
normally start with. >> It it Go ahead. I'm sorry. No, I'm just I mean I'm very old. When did we start going back to school before Labor Day? >> A while. Yeah. >> But I like Yeah, I think having the whole month of August basically is
>> Yeah. The the the challenge with So I I think there would be many that would agree and we went round and round on this with the potential to start on the 31st. I think that the challenge is if it would end school on June 16th. Yep.
>> Which increases the likelihood that you're into that fourth week of June >> with some snow days. If you if you if you if your last day is scheduled the 16th, the likelihood is that you'll have a couple of snow days or cancellation days for some reason and now you're into
the fourth week of June that that we do have >> we do have language we do have language in the contract that that says that every effort would be made to avoid extending the work year into the fourth week of June. the the the start date of the 27th making that the first day of
school. It actually sort of lines up with where we've been. >> No, I I understand that the date the date I'm confident lines up because Labor Day is unusually late this year landing where it does on the 7th. >> Um I'm just wondering if we're going to find that we have more of an excess of
absences on that those first two days of school than we might normally expect to um with starting quite that early. But maybe the set of the you guys want to weigh in on that too? >> No, I mean >> one other thing is um is that with the holidays in September, I feel like
keeping it the way it is on the draft is kind of better for the start, like a smoother start. I feel like it's hard when you have like you just start and then you have Labor Day and then there's like another day off, you know, for the
holidays in September. the um on the calendar like it's it's just like it always gets me. I feel like whenever I go through it actually I'm kind of like I I wish I we talked more about this in January when we talk about the calendar.
>> Yeah. I think we only have um Yam Kapoor this year because Rashana falls on a Saturday. >> Yeah. It's just that having it like having like if they started before Labor Day with like that consistency of days.
>> I just feel like for me I'd rather have that I'd rather have that and start earlier than come back and have like um not as much time before Labor Day than a day off then a full week than a day, you know? I I mean I'd love to have 4 day
weeks all the time, but because we don't, it's really hard for younger kids to go from like 4 days to 5 days to 4 days to five. It really I I don't know why, but it really kind of messes with them a little bit. >> Yeah. >> U Zach, >> yeah, I was just going to say I feel
like where certain holidays fall this year dictate a lot of the different breaks. Um and for me it's it's kind of six one half a dozen or another. like we could pick one day here or there. There's going to be pros and cons to any of those trade-offs. So, I don't I don't have a strong opinion. I recognize
there's pros and cons to days here and there. >> Yeah, that's a good point. >> Yeah, same. I mean, >> Jamie, >> I'm a don't mess up the beginning and the end of the year. I'd rather fix both of them, but obviously that's a big ask
for what I'm saying. But don't mess up both of them. Fix either one or the other. either fix the back end or do what you were saying where you fix the front end, you know, and and you know, go the 31st and move it to the 16th, you know, or fix the back end and leave the
front end as it is. I mean, you don't you don't want to be so deep, you know, actually going back to school in August, I think, is is crazy. I think it should be closer to Labor Day as well. So, I'd be in favor of the 31st and ending the 16th. >> That would make more sense to me. Or I'd
be in favor of going the 31st and ending the 10th. It' be my opinion of what that's the way we always did it. >> So get rid of get rid of 3 days in February and basically saying can go to the 31st and end the 10th. >> So that would be my opinion of what I'd
fix both ends. But if you're going to make a mess of both ends, I don't think that makes any sense. I'd either fix it like you said where you're fixing the front end but it's like okay this is really crazy schedule like start on the 31st you start with a five day week then you go to a four then a five then a four
and that is what it is >> and then you you kind of extend June a little bit there and that makes a lot of sense to me you know I obviously want both but like I know a lot of people have a hard time >> 16th still gives lots of time for if there aren't >> you give some time you can plan
>> it but yes >> and if you get lucky then you don't have you don't have snow days. I mean, you know, >> if you end on the 16th, it only gives you a buffer of one day because the the 18th is when Junth would be observed. >> Y
>> the we we do the the contract >> no makeup days still go. Yeah, >> the contract does specify the the placement of the of the uh winter and spring vacation. So that that's a that's a consideration if we were to change
um anything relative to >> Oh, okay. I was going to say I'm interested in looking at data about like student attendance during like I'm actually interested in that that seems interesting to explore Jamie, but if it's in the contract, we can't, right? >> No. >> Well, you you'd have to reach out
>> cuz I wonder if families go to go like cuz I mean for us we never go away for every vacation. We always go April vacation, but some families always do. Do they just still go or miss school? >> We haven't ever had it be an issue
because we've had the vacations. Um we've talked about it in the past and kind of >> about that. I I would be too, but we've talked I mean we've talked about it in the past and kind of the general consensus we've always come to is it it becomes a bit of a allin or nobodyin
kind of situation because we have families and staff from multiple districts. Um and so having one district be completely different from the others makes it extremely hard for people to figure out when their breaks how that
aligns. Um, and so that's historically that's been where the discussion lands is that surrounding area February and April break are still a thing. It's still a thing here for that mostly for that makes sense. >> If you get to the end, >> at the same time that happens with the beginning of school and the end of
school with other districts and with like PD days and stuff. >> I'd be curious to I mean I'm guessing nobody else is any further along than this than we are, but I'm curious about that as well. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Uh we tend to at the school I'm at we tend to align our calendar to local districts for that reason. We have a
couple of districts that tend to send more students than others. So in order to avoid those conflicts for families, we try to mirror what local districts are doing as well. So we we tend to follow this process. >> I feel strongly about starting on the 31st. First of all, it's a Monday. It's
makes sense to me. You have a full week of school. you know, somebody kids coming in on a Thursday or Friday just I think psychologically it's an odd odd day to start. I mean, Wednesday I I can remember typically it's a Wednesday or a
Monday makes sense to me and I like the idea of just adding on a couple days at the end. I mean, I think that just it flows better and people go away, they might rent a house for the month of August or whatever and, you know, coming back for that on a Thursday seems odd to
me. I could bring back uh to the committee um some recent calendars and then some calendars where we start later on. In recent years we have um we don't have the information with us tonight but we could bring it back to you. In recent
years we have started like 26 27 28 29 that's that's generally been our start. This year we started on the first day of school was on the 26th so that next year the proposal would be to start on the 27th. I actually find Is it good? >> I find that more of the country seems to
be moving to August starts. Really? I mean, out of when you get out of this area, go south and west. >> Yeah. Tennessee is like mid August start. >> Yeah. >> And we're done at the end of May. >> They're done by the second week of May. >> And and again,
>> in Texas, they get out of school um Memorial Day and then they go back like real beginning of August. Stephen, >> what about up in New England? >> Yeah. I mean I I think >> I think this would be >> I think this would be a typical schedule. I could kind of collect some
area schedules for you as well just to you can see um you know perhaps find out >> I think across the board it's pretty standard that everybody goes back that week before some on Monday some on Tuesday some on Thursday >> the week before the challenge is it
pushes your last day of school to June 16th which in my mind as someone who's called school snow days for 17 years inevitably we're going to school 21 22 223 and we're going to school in that fourth week of June.
>> Yeah. I I mean I think it's you almost have to assume that you're going to have a couple of snow days anyways. And >> so now now we're into that fourth week of June, which again there's some language in your contract about that too. So that's some of that would be subject, you know, we'd have to
>> So then maybe to Jaime's point, can you make the 24th a half day >> or >> 24th of >> December? >> Uh no school on the 24th. We have the 23rd >> right now. I'm saying could could we have a half day on the 24th? No. >> No. Not allowed.
>> No. No. >> I'm trying to find another half day. >> You're not allowed or you would recommen um I'm trying to remember if >> it's no different than having a half day on the 14th. Nobody's going to go to school.
>> It's made up. We're just like trying to hit numbers. >> There's always a last day of school. I mean the last day of school, you're right, is always a day where you know >> attendance >> attendance is a challenge. >> So always wherever you put that last day
that attendance issue. >> Okay. >> So in the interest of moving us forward, how binding would a preliminary approval on this be? >> Not binding. >> Not binding at all. So in other words, this discussion could continue. Okay. And you could go back and talk with folks about some of us are wondering about maybe
where the beginning and the end of this calendar lies and we could take this up again in a couple of weeks. >> I think what what I I probably wouldn't >> my thought was to put something perhaps out on our website with where we're targeting the first day, >> but so I wouldn't I would I would I would not do that. I would just I think
we could we could navigate conversations with families that are trying to understand when that first day of school is. We're actually early. Um the The contract and your policy don't require this to be set until March. So, >> okay.
>> Though many families are, not many, handful of families, I'd say, have called and staff are wondering, we're actually early in the process >> and we usually get it done. We usually lock it in by the end of January, beginning of February. It would be unusual for us. >> So, I think what I'd say is you you
don't have to take any action on it tonight. That would be my recommendation and and I'll bring this feedback back to the calendar committee. They may they may be convinced by your arguments as well. So >> I have just one other question though. Um in addition to these days off, there
are also professional development days off. Correct. >> Yeah, there there there's actually we if I plug in a professional development day or the full day of conferences, it's not going to change that last day. They're built in here, but they're just not designated. >> That's what I thought. Okay, that's what I wanted. That's why I assumed that. Okay.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. And just one one thought, uh Jamie, if we were to consider um the current construction or future construction of February break, I would just recommend uh next year might not be the year for that. Given that winter
break looks particularly short, >> yes, you're not wrong. >> Yeah, a full day on the 23rd and back again. >> The winter break is just over a week compared to that. That would just be tough timing. >> Yeah.
>> Is a consideration. >> All right. Well, then we will return to the discussion of the school year calendar at our next meeting. >> There is no uh middle school building project update. We meet next week. Next week. >> Um and that brings us to a possible
motion for executive session. >> So move. >> Yep. But I >> Oh god. >> Sorry. Sorry. I move that the school committee meet in executive session pursuant to Massachusetts general law chapter 3A section 21A purpose two to
conduct strategy sessions in preparation for collective bargaining session with unit B and D. Three, to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation. Seven, approval of minutes and not reconvene into open session. >> All right, I have a recommended motion. Do we have a second?
>> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, we will move to a vote. Zack. >> Yes. Emily, >> yes. >> Jamie, >> yes. >> Kate, >> yes. >> Adam, >> yay. >> Michaela, >> yes. >> And yes, from me as well. That concludes
the school committee meeting for January 6th. And we will see you all in a few weeks. Thank you very much. Have a good night. >> Thank you.