good evening and welcome to the Tuesday March 11th 2025 meeting of the long meow school committee School committees and other public bodies may continue to hold remote meetings through March 31st 2025 under legislation enacted on March 29th 2023 the statute chapter 2 of the acts
of 2023 extends Quorum reductions for remote meetings all votes while there is remote participation must be made by roll call vote this meeting is being recorded neared live on lctv we'll begin with the Pledge of Allegiance IED Al to the flag the United States of
America to the for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all we'll begin with correspondance um an email from Miss Kate Haber received on February 19th 2025 providing a link to an article in the Jewish American
Committee website thank you we have a recommended motion for a minute I move the school committee approve the minutes to the February 25th 2025 school committee as meeting as presented sorry we have a motion do we have a second
second yeah second thank you uh any discussion seeing none we'll move to a vote Adam yay Estelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes and yes for me as well as well that brings us to public
speak we do not have anybody here or online correct nobody's joining okay all right so that brings us to school committee announcements and recognitions um school committee chair report um just a reminder that the um June elections
are coming up quickly um anyone who is interested in joining us here on school committee we have three seats that are open um two seats that are three-year positions and one that is a 2-year position um and and completed nomination forms must be returned to the town clerk
by no later than April 15th Tuesday April 15th um you can find out more about how to get those papers on the long meow goov website other committee announcements or recognitions see none we'll head into administrative reports Dr uh no report
this evening no report this evening other administrative reports and I think for that one we are welcoming uh Kari come on up so as uh as our director of student and family support Nilda arari uh gets settled uh and we welcome her to the
meeting uh Nilda is here with you this evening to uh present the findings of adessi Department of Elementary and secondary education review of our uh elll practices and uh
this is an area of responsibility that falls on nilda's crowded plate uh and so we're we're grateful that she led us through this very thorough audit um and uh be a good opportunity for us to um
explain the findings of that audit but also to help us help the community understand how we try to support our English language Learners so if I could confirm with Estelle and Michaela and Adam that you can see the uh the slides
yeah I can see it blur okay keep one second there we go all right so I'll turn it over to uh to Nilda to walk us through the department of Elementary and secondary
education review and uh again express my gratitude to Nilda for leading us through that thorough review it's a good opportunity for us to sort of hold a mirror up to our practices and learn how we can improve based on feedback from the state so uh Nilda welcome the floor
is yours uh thank you and I want to start off just by thanking Dr OA for supporting our English language Learners and thanking the school committee for their recent approval of the point five so that we could help keep um English language learner Cas loads smaller and
provide that individualized support U we were able to provide that support at Wolf Swamp elementary school so thank you for that uh the first thing I just want to share is what our model is so we believe that immersion is the best way for
students to learn language um with their peers with their Educators so we have SEI endorsed classroom teachers and then we have targeted ESL instruction by a licensed ESL teacher our hope is that students spend the majority of the time
in the classroom with their peers and their teachers so in Long Meadow we have strategies that make the content accessible for all students and then there may be scaffolded lessons with visuals and targeted support where
students are pulled out by their e um LL teacher to offer some targeted instruction uh the teachers offer some targeted academicals vocabulary goals and they adjust the curriculum to accommodate that's in alignment with our
Decap uh we offer translated services and materials um to our students and to our families and on the bottom is the graphic from Jessie that really says we need to provide high quality and rigorous instruction um so this talks a little
bit about that we view language as an asset-based lens and so when students come in speaking another language that adds some assets to the classroom and they're learning English at the same time um it will be language driven scaffolded and we want it to be
interactive and collaborative and while it is challenging for students to learn a new language we still keep pushing those students and they do reach high levels um so what is a Desi audit um a Desi audit happens every six years and
they collected data from 12 of our students so that means they asked for a complete file review of all of the assessments that we had on these students all of the documentation since they arrived in Long Meadow public schools and they wanted to see what
their academic profile looks like along with the supports that we gave them over time then they had interviews some of the interviews were 30 minutes some of them were up to 60 Minutes they interviewed three parents um two from or
one from the elementary school one from the middle school and one at the high school they interviewed three administrators again the same elementary middle and high school they interviewed all of our elll teachers including our coordinator Janine Preston they
interviewed Three classroom teachers and obviously they interviewed me for an hour um so this is just to show you that they really did do a comprehensive look at our program and they did speak to our stakeholders along with review extensive
documentation on each of our elll students after they interviewed our parents our teachers um he um David Bal who was our desie auditor said did you stack the deck did you just like give me
the very best and the I'm like no we picked our three administrators we picked three parents um and he said because our parents are generally pleased with our program and that our teachers were high quality our administrators were saying all the right
things to support um so I just felt reaffirmed that this is the right program that we're offering students and everyone's in it to support all kids so in the compliance areas there's 12 total we were fully compliant in um the
ones that you see above and then I'll go into a little more detail later and then we had some that were partially implemented which means that there are some growth areas that they've outlined um the positive is there were no zero
compliance areas which means that we showed um that we were in compliance with the majority of the standards so the fully compliant ones um I just have a few highlights I don't want to read the whole thing but the the first big
thing is that we offer the access assessment every year and we send those that's the language proficiency exam we offer that each year and then we send the results not only to parents but we send them the results to teachers so that we can see how students are growing
in their language proficiency and once they reach a certain level they exit the elll program supports because we've been able to progress their language skills um the other pieces they do take um the same standardized metrics like
mcast and they meet the requirements and they meet the progressive standards that we have for all kids which is again excellent then um we do showcase um exit criteria and it is um Based on data so
students who are exited from from the program have shown proficiency and growth and we continue to monitor them even after they exit the LL program because we want to be sure that they're successful in our schools we offer follow-up support we use data systems
like Panorama and Power School to ensure that even though they aren't receiving the ell support they're still successful grade wise in our program professional development um Beth Nelson um partners with the Westfield University to ensure that teachers have
the SEI endorsement and certification and we offer that to our teachers um and we're consistently offering um professional development to ensure that they can meet the needs of the all of their Learners and then our records um were well documented and well maintained
so each of the files that they requested of the 12 students had all of the documentation that the state requires on English language Learners in terms of improvement areas um there were some that they highlighted um the first one is part of our
registration process which I think every District could improve on so when we get a new family it's assessing their home language survey seeing what languages are spoken at home and then that child goes through a proficiency exam that we give here and then we measure um their
language proficiency and share those scores out to their teachers some of the things that they notice is that when students register they might be coming from another state um an example would be like California they don't do the weda screener and we have to redo the
screener even though California may have results because the assessments that they give don't line up with the state of Massachusetts so that first bullet is really ensuring that our registration process is airtight that all students are assessed when they enter our district and that it's communicated to
all stakeholders um their scores progress monitoring and support this one um is going to be bolstered and supported by our recent um implementation of Panorama and power school so for this metric it means that
we track student proficiency um throughout the year so when they enter the program they get a screener that gives them an initial language proficiency score and then we assess again in the spring H with the
access test so part of what the state is saying that you need metrics in between those two assessments one at the start of the year and one at the end of the year to see how their language is developing it'd be equivalent to if any of us spent 30 days in another country we might pick up on some phrases we
might be very different in 30 days than we were when we first started so the state is really asking us for more frequent inter term assessments um translation and interpretation Services we do offer um translation and interpretation services
to our families one of the things that um they wanted to see expanded is for schoolwide events that could be for parent teacher conferences when we're sharing so many of the academic pieces um about a child that we would have a
translator present we do partner with trans fluency and um today I did organize all of the translators that are required for the elementary conferences that are coming up just to Ure that that's all set for our families um the next one is opting out so families that
do enter our district can say I don't want a screener I think my child is just fine with English proficiency and I don't want my child to receive elll Services it's in their rights to do that when they opt out initially what we had
been doing is they would opt out once and we would say oh that opted them out from now until the time they graduate what the state wants is a new form at the start of every year that says are you still going to opt out your child here are your rights if you would like
to opt into elll Services um but that that form is sent out every single year at the start of the year which is something that we are going to start doing and the last one seci teacher endorsement we have a high quality teacher team we are supporting and
encouraging teachers to become SEI endorsed this one um just means that when a student enters our program and they're classified as an elll student that when the principal schedules them they should be scheduling them with
teachers who are SEI certified um so that's something that we're going to take a closer look at just to ensure that all students have core academic teachers where SEI Endor and we do have the majority of our teachers SEI endorsed um so this is just um I wanted
to share some of my action steps without sharing um too much the first one is an individual ized learning plan and today I met with um Glen Brook Middle School because we already started filling out
one of the learner plans so what we want is for every English language learner student to have almost like a form that shares their access scores their screener scores and shares some best practices on how that child learns best
um for one of our students that might be that this child is reading at a 700 Lexile score it might be that they prefer audio books in um companion with a reading text it might be that they prefer manipulatives and visuals so it
will have strategies for the classroom teacher to utilize as soon as that child enters their classroom so that way they're not starting all over learning the child that this form would go with our elll learner it's very similar to what we have for um students who are on
a 504 or students who are on an IEP but now you have a nice learning plan for your elll learners as well um we have CK I did um Beth and I are in close collaboration and our literacy specialist one of the things that Beth
and um Brenda showed me is that ccla has additional resources to differentiate instruction so there are separate vocabulary tools that you could use to support English language Learners built into the program um on Friday on that
half day I'm working with elll teachers to do some of the ccla training just to show them all the resources that are at their disposal uh this year we also um provided targeted language support with Lexia English it adapts to your speech
so students can put on their headphones and talk in conversation with it's an emoji but they'll talk in conversation and over time the language gets progressively more and more more challenging and more and more rigorous and we're seeing that our elementary
Learners love the program because they're interacting um throughout and learning spontaneous phrases which is great um documenting documentation for English language Services that's something that um I'm working with
Thomas Barrow um our it Power School person we want a repository not only to be kept in the file but to also be stored in power school most teachers don't have access to the students cume file of course they can go down to the office and get their students cumulative
folder but we would love if some of the documents were housed in power school so all they would have to do is Click into power school and see all of the data that we have on an English language learner we want to also leverage Panorama uh for Progress monitoring um
so looking at that quick screen it would be students that are in the red if they've exited out of the program or scored proficiency we can quickly glance at uh their academic achievement glance at their attendance their seal or behavioral data to see whether or not
our English language Learners after they exit the program continue to be successful and then make adjustments if we see um adjustments need to be made um for family engagement we want to increase our um Outreach to families and
really learn about their preferences for communication I did um speak to a family who said when I get phone calls it's really hard for me to listen in and understand everything that's said however I prefer emails because then I can translate it into my home language
and then um respond um and there's so many AI tools now that can translate relatively quickly um and the last piece is to continue um encouraging SEI endorsement and placing teacher or placing students with Educators that are
SEI endorsed and that's it all right wonderful thank you I'll open for um questions and or comments I'll kick us off I had a question yeah um or a couple of
questions um when you were talking about um progress monitoring and how they'd like to see um some more uh informal Data Systems tracking progress at multiple points through the year are there any thoughts about what that would be would you repeat access testing are there other things that they recommended
or is it up to you guys to decide what programs you would use for that yeah so um it's multifaceted the first one is we currently have strong mtss protocols at every school that H already have some
Benchmark data built in um one of the things that our hope is that we're going to track the elll Learners using some of the internal Data Systems that we already already have and then use that to make some conclusions about um
progress monitoring and proficiency then we have um Lexia English which we're going to use for those interm assessments and then waeda has some internal screeners where we could ask a few questions almost like a mini access to see where students are progressing
along the way and as a dip stick on their language proficiency um so it's it's going to be a combination of including some of the assessments that students also get and um using Lexia English to support us with some of those
other targeted supports thank you that makes sense um I was also curious so you were talking about um keeping track of data Etc and you were trying to see about power school does Power School have components for data like waa information
testing information or is that more Panorama or do we use something else like what is um so I met with um Thomas barrows and power the power school administrator and they showed us an interface that looked very similar for
students who are on a 504 it is an addition um to power school and it will house the home language survey a scanned home language survey any opt out forms for families so if they even need to fill it out you could actually send it
via power school and then collect it so I'm thinking of the annual opt out form how easy would it be to push out via Power School family checks yes I want to continue to opt out and then it's documented right there in power school and then the same with the access scores
there is some inter um some manual entry that Thomas will have to do but he said it's no different than some of the other um data entry that he has to do for other um you know specialized populations great that makes so power
school will offer that now where Panorama um I think because of how it's visually displayed it's very easy to see which students of the elll population are at risk or are struggling so you
could create your own group and for me I would create my own District group of elll students even students that have left out just to see where across the district they're struggling and then offer supports as needed okay have thoughts and questions
sorry I can't Michaela thank you Michaela hello can you hear me y sorry you're good um thank you for the uh thorough presentation Milda it's always you always do a wonderful job on
presentations um so I just had a couple of questions one was so when you said Panorama is giving the initial screener that's like aligned with the access assessment well so I think the question
is Nila whether or not it's it's it's not actually a panorama screener but panorama houses the information is that correct Panorama will house the information but not give it we um through the weda platform will give the screener and the access
test okay sorry I misunderstood that that sound like you were giving a screener through Panorama no sorry um and then the say hello to Lexia English is this a new program yes so we um purchased it this
year for um our students this year we had four um students enter at a screener level one at w swamp and one at the middle level who um entered at a screener level one so we needed something to supplement things that
they're doing in the classroom but offer some targeted language support so we purchase Lexia English when students go on that's where it gives them that Progressive um language development skills and they could continue to use that platform even at home if they need
if they wanted that extra practice that's wonderful and I know like I read the report um and in your presentation it talked about um giving more timely assessments um and I think I heard you
just say when you were answering Nicole the say hello to Lexia English it includes also assessments that align with VA and the access correct oh awesome and we I just want to be mindful
um and Michaela you know you under you probably since you're an educator you sort of understand I wanted um to be mindful about how many times students are assessed because there already assessed in so many different ways so I I do want to think about how many um
other assessments already exist that give us information on students language proficiency and then how many times would we want to give that um Lexia English um inter term like dipstick on language proficiency so that they're not
over assessed um but you understand exactly what I'm saying yeah um I I was also wondering how many principles and um administrators are SDI endorsed all of our administrators are
SEI endorsed oh great because I think that I just that wasn't here in the report I know it was talking about the teachers and then I was thinking well I know that that's the I I was just wondering about that because it didn't say anything yeah administrators who directly
supervise um teachers who might be serving ell student students have to have that SEI endorsement I believe so all of our administrators have it and I I think um you know just
to speak to that um recommendation I was just candidly disappointed in that recommendation because of how many teachers we have that are our SEI endorsed it just so happened that one of the students that they pulled out the file for did have a Content area teacher
who was not SE endorsed but is now SEI endorsed so um that's awesome I'm glad I asked that because I mean you're already it sounds like you're already doing all the things that the report pointed out so when we you were talking before
about um Beth coordinating with Westfield State for those programs um are the programs for SEI endorsement available for educators to take like as a collaborative here in our district are they going to Westfield State are they able to take those at a low or no cost
What's um they're able to take it it's a remote course um offered online and I did take it it's fast easy um so I I think it's very accessible for teachers who are working throughout the school day who want to
learn a few strategies on SEI um you know skills and then get the endorsement in in go and that's it that's at no cost to our Educators correct through a contract through a contract that we have with leftfield state so that's fantastic yeah that's great very good all right um You were also talking
about messaging home and talking with Folks at home are um Educators able to see that request from a parent maybe about they would prefer email or some form that is a little bit easier for translation yeah is that something
that's accessible for them to see requests like that yeah now I'm going to make that more accessible I think for right now the way it was being coord orated is um you could go to Janine Preston you could go to your elll
teacher and ask about the child that they see um for targeted language support we just don't want another step for teachers while they're preparing conferences to also be going and saying what is the language preference for this particular parent we want it to be more
seamless um so part of that is coordinating in advance we know where when conferences are going to come up we know the the parents um preferences communicating that to teachers and then having those translators available for them um it needs to be better quicker
and easier for teachers to get that information so that's part of our action plan and the translation program we have now can you just remind us of sort of what the mechanics of that is is pH we so we one have um just a page where
families have access to trans fluency so so they could request one but for the most part we in collaboration with families will ask them conferences are coming do would you like a translator um and sometimes parents say no I'm fine with that one and other times they say yes that would be very helpful because
there's very like we use so many acronyms we use so many different assessments that it would be helpful to have a translator there just explaining all of the different things so for upcoming conferences we have um three or four families that already have um a
translator lined up for their conference okay and that partnership with trans fluency was started way before I was here um but it it appears to be almost seamless I called them today and we already had translators lined up ready to go for conferences very good okay all
right any other thoughts or questions Michaela just one more sorry um that it's so wonderful to hear about the translation services and how much work you're putting in to make it individualized for the families um and I
know also as an educator we're always stagging for that two-way communication and it's so important especially um with El students and multilingual Learners that their home life and their
family are connected to the school and so I just um wanted to point out that like what are we doing Beyond translation to make sure like families feel included in other school events
like um outside of conferences and meeting about just their child like the back to school nights and stuff like that to making making sure they're accessible for everybody um Michaela once again this is an excellent conversation and you use
something that um Jessie did say they're going to shift some of their language instead of English language learners but multil language Learners just acknowledging from an asset based lens that they already have a language um so they're they're now um multilanguage
Learners so I'm glad that you mentioned that phrase um and then the second part about it is for family engagement I think that's um a passion of mine and a passion of our Educators that we do in
Long Meadow I I've noticed a lot of after school events plays um weekend Communications there is a lot of family engagement strategies at the building level already but to Michaela's point I do want some more targeted support for
our elll families and that looks a little different um than we may we might have so the first quick thing is um we've started talking about onboarding so when a family comes in and um they they are from a specific background of
culture part of what I would love to do is start to connect them with Community Resources so that they have a network already started um in this um because it's such a tight-knit community some of our families are coming in without um
some of those connections like either through a perk and wreck program almost like a welcome kit that has here are some helpful information for you to learn about Long Meadow here are some Community Resources that you um Can acquire and um believe it or not
I'm partnering with Springfield Public Schools because they do offer these to their families and um one of my counterparts there is sharing with me some of the tips and tools that they offer their families so um that is in the works and I'm really excited about
that so the onboarding piece then for back to school night one of the things that we noticed is um to have a separate elll um back to school night just to share what SEI instruction looks like what pullout instruction might look like
just to help them under same the same way we would with an a parent um with a student with an IEP just so that they understand what their child's day looks like um some of the day they might be in their general you know in the classroom other times they might be pulled out
support with a small group of English language Learners so we just want them to be sure that they understand their child's um profile and then to deeply explain some of the access scores which may not be a part of the conferences they might be working on um explaining
some of the other skills not targeted to language proficiency so that's one of the things that we want um to improve and then I I would like to come back to the school committee just to give more information about our English language Learners just to share what languages are being spoken what families are
moving in where they're working we're seeing a lot of um new families that are working at Springfield College and Bay State Medical Center so it may it might mean that I have to think creatively and partner with Springfield College and partner with bayate Medical Center just
to hear more about how um families are getting to Long meow and what kinds of supports we could offer them once they're here so I have a lot of creative ideas Michaela um they're in the works and I hope I can bring them all to fruition before I love the pro I was just like
hitting the love button the whole time there before Nilda departs I I do want and that last question you asked Michaela kind of gave us a chance to highlight it but the the direct personal connections that Nilda has with with the dozens of families that are that are
served with the targeted language services so I just credit and kudos to Nilda for making those direct personal connections it's sometimes hard as a district level administrator to do that but Nilda has managed to do that and I think they they they sense that um um
nilda's office is a a welcoming one and that's important to us obviously yeah excellent thank you so much lots of fantastic strategies and plans and appreciate the update on everything report there's a um the the full
detailed report from desie is in your uh meeting package you like to go through the details so thank you thank you so much have a good evening thank you all right moving forward we have student representative report Andrew thank you um so just a reminder spring
Sports start on Monday the 17th um and then um another reminder the seniors will will be presenting pros and Junior for the senior class play this Thursday Friday and Saturday we' really love um all of your support it just helps support our class as we get ready for
our major events coming up in the spring um and then last week was a major week in the student council world at the Massachusetts associ assciation of student councils uh conference in hyanis where L did a very strong showing um LHS
Jr K carahan was elected masc State president which means she will represent all students who are part of masc um throughout the next year throughout the next year she'll help run conferences dinners and just different masc events so it's a really important title and
with the m is very lucky to have Kate representing them and then a huge shout out to Francesca trada who won the unsung hero Awards She's the senior class Treasurer and really her work I think should not go unnoticed she's constantly juggling all these different tasks she really goes above and beyond
just the treasurer role so I'm very happy to see she was honored with The Unsung Herer award and then the executive board we've um throughout January and February we were working on the masc book of Excellence which basically just compiles all the work we
do and it allows us to be nominated for this award and we want the gold Council award through the book of Excellence which is the highest honor that you can get and it's really nice to see our Council sort of um get this representation of all the work we do an
amazing recognition kudos to Kate and frany for all the work they've been doing and very excited for you all um all right additional report oh any questions or feedback on this all right uh additional reports lpvc zck
no report thank you seal Michaela um yes tomorrow night March 12th there is a seal meeting and you can log in Via zoom and it's going to be about um this upcoming budget and special
education so it's a a good one to come to Tom ma will be there and so will Nicole Paris nice all right wonderful thank you and energy and sustainability Estelle none all right that brings us to subcommittee reports Finance
subcommittee Jamie or Tom it Tom yeah good evening uh Finance subcommittee uh met last week um and reviewed uh we had some uh we were joined by principal Landers and athletic director Mike
capaso to continue the dialogue regarding um athletic program and the rising costs and the challenges it's having in terms of the financial U aspect of the program and um we'll be
providing some additional information after looking at some detailed revenue and expenditure information for 24 and uh looking at uh ways to maybe contain some costs moving forward specifically regarding
Transportation um tonight's agenda though does include some items for both uh recommendation for a vote and also information informational the first item is a
consent agenda we have six building use requests that are in your packet and I will quickly uh review them for you they are a request from the park and wreck department for a dance Reco on um uh
April 28th May 9th and May 10th for the High School auditorium classroom space uh for various times the Fitzgerald performing arts program also is um requesting the High School auditorium
for a musical on April 5th and 6th again for varying times Dance Inc for is requesting the High School auditorium and classrooms
for uh let's see believe we are doing June 12th and June 13th for those again different times for those
days artistic dance Conservatory again the High School auditorium classroom and Cafeteria on June 14th and June 15th there is a request from the recycling commission for a shredding
event on Saturday June 7th in the high school parking lot and park and wreck has requested Blueberry Hill gym on May 7th and May 8th for Little League team and
individual photos all right thank you so we have a possible recommended motion I move on the rec recommendation of the finance subcommittee that the school committee approve the consent agenda for March 11th 2025 school committee as presented
reminder that there is no discussion of items on a consent agenda um oh we'll do a second first we have a motion do we have a second second thank you um Now reminder that there's no discussion of items on a consent agenda so if a Committee Member would like one or more of the consent agenda items to be
discussed we would vote to remove that does anyone have a request to remove any of these from the consent agenda all right seeing no requests we will move to a roll call vote on the consent agenda Michaela yes
Estelle yes Adam Zach yes and Jamie yes and yes for me as well there are two FY 25 Financial reports that are including in the
meeting packet they are informational Finance sub did spend some time reviewing uh the information on the revolving account report and the year-to day budget report projection uh these uh last time we uh had a report was about
two months ago would say that uh we continue to Trend where we would expect the deficit on the year today budget report is lower than it was two months ago um but is still a small shortfall at
this point but um again I think based on my uh conservative estimation of expenditures from now until June is probably high and so I'm not overly concerned in terms of that balance at this point but we'll continue to monitor
um expenditures as we progress over the course of the next three and a half months or so and then the last item is a request for uh consideration for a grants and special Revenue revision so
there are three grants that uh we are requesting some revisions to the line item uh distribution of the funds the 25 ID Grant uh no change in the total award
but just some movement uh moving around of the appropriated funds the title two Grant has a small increase of $358 which would be uh added to the grant total increasing it to $35,790
and our FY 25 Meco Grant has an increase of $ 23,9 46 uh increasing that total Grant amount to 3 37,8 60 uh for this year so the total
increase to the budget would be $24,300 all right good that is good right we have a possible motion there y I move on the recommendation of the finance subcommittee that the school committee approved the budget revision titled
fy2 revolving fund budget revision number two dated March 4th 2025 not sorry that's that's the wrong title it should be fy2 grants and special Revenue that makes more revision number two special grants and special
Revenue revision number two one yep revision titled fy2 25 grants and special Revenue special grants and special Revenue revision number two revision number two dated March 4th 2025 okay we now have a motion do we have a
second second second then okay thank you um any further discussion seeing none we'll move to a vote Mela yes Estelle yes Adam yay
Zach yes and yes for me as well and me yes oh Jamie I'm sorry forget about me it's all and Jamie so now yes for everybody all right um before we head into um ongoing business
we're going to duck backwards slightly towards superintendent um for an update on an event from earlier today yeah thank you um I appreciate the chance um so uh school committee in the community was copied on an email uh today were um
described um a really troubling event uh from Williams middle school earlier today um specifically there was a uh anti-semitic um graffiti was um scrolled on a restroom wall large print said H
Hitler um and obviously anti-Semitism and all forms of hate and bias and discrimination really don't line up with Who We Are we want to be line up with our values and our strategies and our plans and and and I think it really tells us that all of the
the ongoing commitments that we have to address hate and bias and discrimination really uh have to continue that it's important that we retain those commitments the the professional targeted professional development that we've recently done
with staff the opportunities for students to to create um safe schools themselves uh the middle schools for example uh they are designated no place for hate schools and it's a specific ADL program that allows students to plan and
develop uh events that combat discrimination and hate and bias and so all these things need to continue the resources that we've made available to parents the reporting mechanisms that we've explained uh to the community all
of these things obviously need to continue um it's a it was a really troubling incident today uh we wanted to communicate it uh kind of boldly and transparently to the community and and that's what we did it is an incident
that the uh L metal police are assisting us with an investigation on uh and we you know will continue to take it seriously we'll continue to investigate it in the days ahead um but these are these are things that obviously again
remind us that our commitment to creating safe schools our commitment to combating hate and bias and discrimination and our commitment to creating inclusive safe spaces um has to continue and um it was a you know
sad uh unfortunate and disturbing event today but it will our our work will continue in this area and uh I know that's important to the school committee and you know I appreciate the the support of the parents and staff and The
Wider community and trying to create places where everyone feels valued and respected and safe so um happy to update the committee further on that as we as more information becomes available all right thank you appreciate
the update on that um definitely a heartbreaking and as you said troubling event um and appreciate our administrators and staff and the long mow police for continuing to move that forward um and hope that we are able
to continue moving forward with kindness and tolerance and as a community all right um we are headed into ongoing business which brings us to the Middle School building project and an update there uh no specific updates
there's a meeting uh tomorrow evening the schematic design work continues the the jwa continues to meet with our admin ministrative team tomorrow building committee will take a look at some of the mechanical systems uh and the geothermal systems that are planned for
the building uh we will we're in the process of putting together an RFQ uh for uh a construction manager at risk uh we expect to issue that in the weeks ahead and it will give us an opportunity
to really identify uh a qualified construction partner for the middle school project uh we really hope to have have um sort of a a specific estimate um in probably a month or so and that's a
figure that we would we would then go to Residents in the fall with to um hopefully secure a vote for the full project scope and budget so we remain on track uh and it's uh remains an exciting
um fruitful project so we'll keep your posted all all right thank you uh new business school choice so the next two items um relate to uh identifying uh the number of school
choice and or and or Meto slots that we would accept for the 25 26 school year and these two items can uh sort of be taken together um tonight the after some contemplation with the administrative
team and Mr Ma and I looking at enrollment patterns we would recommend to you the um accepting three Meto students at the kindergarten level and three school choice students at grade
five there is um an some enrollment information in your meeting packet that would help us explain sort of how we arrived at those numbers if you have anything in particular you'd like us to
highlight or if you have any questions um we are certainly open and available also included in your packet is some general information about the metco program and it's it's how it is um organized and funded in the state of
Massachusetts long met long had a commitment to the Meto program as a way to uh increase diversity and and um reduce racial racial isolation and expand opportunities for students from nearby Springfield
um school choice uh we're recommending three at fifth grade uh kind of in relation to the size of the overall cohort you'll see in your meeting packet that we have 180 students at fifth grade
it's one of the smaller cohorts in the um at the elementary and the middle level and so we think that by we can safely add three school choice students to the fifth grade in a way that would not increase operating costs or cause us
to uh have to hire new staff so we're very confident that by adding three Choice students uh at fifth grade that we can we can accommodate them with existing staff and existing classes and then at met the Medco recommendation
comes uh at the kindergarten level again we're anticipating a small cohort of students at the K level right now projected to be uh 163 students it's one of our smaller cohorts that we've seen
in many years if perhaps lowest in anyone's memory frankly uh and so we think that we can safely um support three metco students at that K level in a way that wouldn't cause us to uh it wouldn't impact existing services or
programs or Staffing so uh for your cons consideration we're happy to dive deeper into some of the uh enrollment information that is in your packet that led us to that recommendation for you tonight all right we would have two
possible motions if anyone would like to make those and we can discuss each we'll start with school choice I move the school committee approve opening seats for the school choice students in the 2025 2026 in the
following grades in number of seats per grade grade five three seats we have a motion do we have a second is that right yeah you're looking at me like I said wrong thank you all right any discussion
related to school choice seats seeing none we'll move to a vote um Michaela yes Estelle yes Adam yes Zach
yes Jamie um yep yes and yes for me it was grade five three seats correct yeah yeah I just had a comment before and I wasn't listening
whenever you said you have any discussion I did have one question it's okay still ask a question it's okay I'll ask it on the Meco okay and then we can TR it back into Okay so uh so Meco uh so I move that the school committee accept students in the Meco program from the
2025 2026 school year in the following grade level and number of seats kindergarten three seats three yes okay um we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any
discussion yeah just a discussion on the on on the um why why like on fifth grade or kindergarten why that number is it just a random number you why not four why not five I I don't yeah because you have 180
students in grade five the next grade's 199 the other On's like why wouldn't you do five some of it relates to the number of students that are graduating from the school choice or Medco program so we're um there are two students currently enrolled in 12th grade who will graduate and then there are three students in
school choice who will graduate so you're adding one total student in this program kind of com combine when you take the two together correct so you're just trying to keep that align keep it a steady commitment to school choice and metco okay I got I just quite and as
enrollment patterns shift we have in the past sometimes Revisited a number to add seats so if we find that there's more space as we get a little closer into kindergarten registration that might we also take into consideration the number of sections we have in each grade in
fifth grade we have three each building so that would put us that would kind of put us out about each section so without tipping us into possibly needing Staffing okay got it okay any other questions in or discussion related to this seeing none
we'll move to vote on Meco students Michaela yes Estelle yes Adam y Zach yes Jamie yes and yes for me as well all right thank you appreciate that
moving forward then to remote participation at public meetings so I think by now we've heard me say about 8,000 times um the little thing at the beginning about how we can continue remote meetings through March 31st 2025
it is March 11th we are rapidly approaching that um have we gotten any very recent updates from the state no very recent updates um so in in lie of not having any recent updates on that um the school committee may have received
for agenda 11 um an email related to the um select board currently passing um a vote uh February 24th the select Bo um unanimously voted to adopt a remote meeting participation policy which could also be adopted by other appointed
boards and committees and it um accepts the provisions outlined in Massachusetts General Law chapter 30A section 20D allowing for remote participation provided that all participants whether in person or remote are clearly Audible and that a quorum including the chair is physically present at the meeting
location um we have in front of us a possible version of that for our own school committee would you like to speak to that a little bit more and shocked with the attorney no no action I'd recommend not taking any action tonight
um really what I think it's best to make this informational tonight and as Nicole said the if the state does not extend the covid era remote participation rules
we would need to come up with a policy that permits a hybrid meeting but if the old rules Prevail a quorum of the body would have to be physically present that means four committee members would have to be physically present and whoever is
chairing the meeting would have to be physically present so the the select board policy that's in your packet provides for that you can be um more restrictive in terms of your remote
participation requirements you can't be less restrictive though so um to and we're still doing some work with our attorney on this and our attorney has reviewed the select board policy and has indicated that um the school committee
in this instance is sort of under the purview of the select board in terms of they're under the purview of the the town in terms of how public meetings are conducted so it's important that uh you review that select board policy some version of it you know you can be more
restrictive than that um but some version of that would have to be considered at your March 25th meeting if the legislature doesn't change the remote meeting law we expect that they
will they have you know recently kind of waited till the till the 11th hour to extend the co error rules and maybe they'll do that again but if they don't we have to be prepared to kind of develop a policy that falls under the
select board policy so all right so thoughts on where we are with that now we do still have another meeting scheduled between now and the expiration of those so as mentioned we don't have to come to any kind of decision on this tonight um but just an opportunity for
folks to ask questions and or make comments related to these policies Michaela yeah I read the select board's policy and I thought I mean it seems reasonable to me if
um you know making sure that the information is presented ahead of time or if it isn't that it's presented during um and I don't think it should be any more restrictive because um for me
as a mom of young kids it's like tonight I Brendon just walking the door now at 7:34 and I've been in the meeting and watching my kids so I feel like it would um kind of discriminate against C people if it if we couldn't continue
this way I know it's obviously not ideal it's better to be in person but it makes it easier for for certain people Yeah so basically we can all just drop
our kids off at Michaela's house and I'm just messing with you I agree I think I I don't see how they don't change it but I I say we wait until the 25th this is fine with me too I think it's very reasonable if they don't then we're just going to have to make sure we're a little bit more coordinated on
because we're going to have to have a quum here every time y obviously you're going to have to be here every time Nicole face some so but I mean I I think we can we'll figure this out even if they don't change it I think we can make it work so I would say I hope for a
number of reasons both for Access for all of our uh committee members but also for Access for community members um being able to access meetings virtually and participate without having to come all the way into the building has been really helpful for I can't see them a
lot of different committees I say we wait instead of worrying about and then we'll worry about on 25th one thing just to for your consideration again doesn't need any even discussion tonight or decision tonight but one of the things that's interesting about the select board policy is they have some specific
language on visitors that are permitted to be remote versus visitors that would would be required to be in person uh and talking it over with our Council she suggested it really could just be the purview of the chair that
the chair could decide on a situational basis whether or not a petitioner or a guest had to be physically present or could be permitted to be remote so yeah okay y something for us to look at and consider what we would want
our own policy there to be then all right um any other discussion on this see none we move on um consideration of a um school committee representative for the um
lpvec um just checking to see if we want to um make any changes on that um if we are good through the end of this year um sort of where we are at this point um
I'm not 100% sure um if we are able to vote in any kind of alternate um imposition but I know that um right now it is sometimes complicated um for our current representative to be able to make all of the meetings so if there's
anybody else who would is feeling like I would love to tackle that um for a few months as we get closer to the end of the year um they're welcome to make that as a possible uh motion and and or if anybody wants to speak to any concerns
related to that we don't have to make any changes either at the moment Nicole I'm happy to offer just a quick comment um as the current lpv EC representative um I've thoroughly
enjoyed serving in that capacity um but given um what we have going on personally at home right now and everything um that that has entailed it's it's proven difficult to make it to the meetings and I know that's created
some stress and tension on their end um I'm happy to still try and figure it out uh but if there was anybody else from the committee that was interested in participating there a lovely group um and I'm sure they would welcome your
presence we appreciate um you that's stepping up when you did two SI that was of I know that was a midyear transition when you took it on um and really appreciate you um rising to the occasion and and taking care of that um and and
serving in that position for so long um is there anyone who feels like they might be able to add that to their plate at the moment um as a reminder the one we're talking about here would be the board of directors um which meets at
6:30 um on a monthly basis um I do not think March has not passed yet correct is that no it's on the 19th okay so we have we would have still have March then March April May um before we would come together again as a board to vote a new
representative in June so it's also something we can think about before we head towards our next next meeting um and kind of return to so just folks can put that into the back of their mind for now um and when we are
together again on the 25th we can rackle this um if it is something folks are interested in um you can reach out to Zach too um he has all the exact dates um for the upcoming meetings um and see if there's anyone who might want a little bit more information about what those meetings look
like all right um just to clarify he board of directors I'm Corporation correct yes okay yep so the corporation one um is the one that Adam is doing right now that meets from 6:00 to 6:30 once a month and then the um board of
directors meets at 630 all right um consideration of naming sure I'm happy to take it um uh we received an application um from an individual
interested in um naming a school fac a portion of a school facility uh in recognition of a uh former Community member from Long Meadow this when we receive an application like this it requires that
your policy requires the school committee to put together an ad hoc naming of school facilities subcommittee um it's probably a group that would need to just meet once to review this application and then make a a recommendation to the full committee
there's very um specific and lengthy language in your policy man manual about um you know the uh protocol that has to be followed the practice that has to be followed when these applications are received um we probably will need some additional information from the
petitioner which I'm happy to track down for that ad hoc naming of school facilities subcommittee so um two or three members of the school committee if if if you're available um I'd work with you and Diane would work with you on on
kind of reviewing your practice and your policy and then bringing a recommendation to the full committee we have not had one of these in a while if memory serves me correctly it's it's a one maybe two meeting kind of commitment correct okay so we need a few people um
who are willing to jump into a naming subcommittee no particular dates on that yet um like our other subcommittees it would work around folks schedule um it's a fairly minimal um lift to review the application um who would like to step
into that have you already spoken with this gentleman back in the spring we spoke and um really had thought that the um petition wasn't going to go forward but it surfaced again just this is the
spring of 24 uh but the application was just received uh a couple of weeks ago so and is he is one of the individuals in there trying to come in and present or is this just the petitioner is from Florida so I I wouldn't anticipate that
the person would be physically present perhaps they could zoom in if they could even zoom into the uh subcommittee that's considering the application if that would be helpful I'm sure we could arrange that yeah was this the one that we met on before no this is a new one I'd say Adam I I
don't think uh you you this is this would have been your first time reviewing this application that's we met on one before that didn't go anywhere I remember that this one just arrived um just I think basically
exactly yeah yeah all right I'll do it I don't mind all right Michaela I can jump into that too we'll need one more get a nice non thought it was on the naming committee I guess I
can all right there you go I didn't I didn't realize you came off of it it kind of forms or disintegrates based on need all right so we have Michaela and Nicole all right all right so that is settled and that brings us to one final
motion for this evening uh I move the school committee meet an executive session persuant to M General Law chapter 30A section 21A purpose two to conduct a strategy session in
preparation with collective bargaining units a b CDE e f and H thank you we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any discussion seeing none we'll move to a vote Michaela
yes Estelle Adam y Zach yes Jamie yes and yes for me as well thank you have a lovely evening we will reconvene on the 29 uh 25th