Welcome to the Tuesday, November 18th, 2025 meeting of the Long Meadow School Committee. Mass General Law allows for remote participation at public meetings until 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 members, when I call your name, please say here for the record. Kate Bean >> here.
>> Emily Hansen >> here. >> Adam Rosenlum. It looks like he might be having technical difficulties. Adam, >> Adam, can you hear me? Uh, Adam says he can hear us. Adam, we
would need you to respond with a here just for the purpose of establishing the quorum. It looks like you're muted on on our end. It's showing that you're muted. Still some difficulties here. Michaela, it looks like Adam's
>> Okay, >> Zoom is not cooperating. >> Can we do the pledge of allegiance to you guys now? >> Oh, yay. >> There we go. All right. >> Okay, we can hear you now. And now, >> yes, I exist. I am here in meeting. >> Yay. Okay. And now for the pledge of
allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with
liberty and justice for all. Michaela, you properly had us on a elementary school cadence with your recitation of the pledge of allegiance. It was excellent. >> Oh, no. I'm sorry. >> That was excellent. >> I just, you know, at this point it just it's natural.
>> It was very good. >> Um, okay. On to correspondence and Emily's going to read it for us tonight. Um, an email from Jay Eloo dated 10:30 2022. A document from Jay Eloo dated 10312025.
An email from C. Freriedman dated 115 2025. An email from C. Freriedman dated 116 2025. >> Thank you, Emily. >> Welcome. And next on our agenda is approval of minutes from our October
28th, 2025 meeting. Does anyone have a motion? >> I move that the school committee approve the minutes to the October 28th, 2025 school committee meeting as presented. >> Thanks, Emily. Motion. Do we have a second?
>> Second. >> Awesome. Um, and You can vote. Adam, >> yes. >> Emily, >> yes. >> Kate, >> yes. >> And a yes for me, too.
>> Next, we have public speak. So, I'm not I'm not in the room, but if someone is there anyone there for public speak, >> no one in the room for public speak. >> It doesn't look like we have anyone on Zoom either. So, I don't think we have anyone here for public speak tonight.
So, next up, we have a really exciting business with guests. We have the assistant principal and some students from the student advisory council that are going to give us an update on all the fabulous things that they do. All right, we'll ask the we'll ask our
Longman High students to join us at the table here so the microphones can pick up your your comments and uh if you wouldn't as you begin your comments, if you'd introduce yourself and tell us what grade you're in and that kind of thing. So,
all right. All right. We'll we'll turn it over and you guys can >> start when you're ready. >> Uh my name is Ale. I'm a senior. >> Um hi, my name is Abby and 10th grade. >> Hi, my name is Jenny Sely and I'm a sophomore as well.
>> Welcome. Floor is yours. >> All right. >> Okay. So, um we're going to start with our spirit week. So, our spirit week, um which was the same week of our pep rally, um over the past month, um we included days like USA day, Adam Sandler
day, country versus country club, pink out, and wear your class color for the pep rally. Um we saw a lot of participation across all the grades, especially um a lot of the new freshmen, which was great. Um and we're going to be getting um some feedback for days next year, but students seem to really
enjoy it, which is great. >> Um next we have the um pep rally. That was on the Friday of spirit week. Um the pep rally like went really well this year and we had like a lot of fun games, club and sport representation
and as well as like a lot of school spirit like um mostly everyone wore their like grade color which I thought was amazing. Um the grades um competed for like all their games and like seniors won most of them and they actually won the pep rally which I thought was great to like end off their
senior year. We had a new vision of the graduate like award ceremony that the seniors got to um participate in. Like I think it was six of them that received the award and I thought that was great to like honor all the seniors that have put in four years of hard work. And we
also had the great chance to watch the unified basketball team and the teacher rivalry which is always fun to watch. >> Yeah. So speaking of seniors, um there were a lot of senior deadlines recently. Um obviously for p like on the personal level a lot of seniors had college
deadlines but also um there were a lot of um yearbook deadlines to submit personal information for the yearbook that comes out um in the spring. Um there was also the yearbook photo that happened um a few weeks ago where all the seniors gathered outside to take
their class of 2026 photo. Um and yeah um next up is the WIC conference. So, this is the Western Mass Association of Student Council's fall conference for uh 2025. Um, and this is a leadership uh skill building um conference for student
council members. Um, we actually had a student on the board this year who helped um facilitate and run the conference. Um, we also had Miss Stra give a keynote address as the keynote speaker at the conference. So, that was really cool. Um and also uh on the same
day of November 6th, we also had the National Honors Society induction ceremony where um the NHS board inducted all the new members to um the National Honor Society. So it was a conference that uh took place in the auditorium
where um the NHS board talked about um the values of the society and then um they g handed out certificates and formally inducted all the new inductees. We also have the music department's annual fall concert coming up on
November 25th. So, groups that'll be performing at this concert include the high school's concert band. Um, a bunch of the coral groups including um, Vox, La Capella, Lancer Singers, um, the Win Ensemble will also be playing in symphony band with concert band. So,
almost all of the music groups in the school will be performing. um preparation and training for stage crew and things like that are all underway and everybody's really excited. >> Um next we have the flag football game that will be the day before Thanksgiving
right after school with the date is the 26th. It's a Wednesday. Um the teams this year are Elmo versus Cookie Monsters, which I think is really fun. Um and it's for senior girls and we have a couple of football players as their
coaches. Um so also coming up is our annual stroll for strength um on November 26th which is an annual event hosted by the sport and event managers class here at the high school that honors um those who have passed in the community and
reaffirm strength through um an annual 5k race. >> Oh sorry the football team um has one game left against me on Thanksgiving morning. Um, and the girls soccer team had a big win last night, which puts
them into the state finals for division 2 on Saturday at 2. Um, the volleyball team, I'm not exactly sure what their record was, but they had a great season. And the field hockey team went 18 and four this year, which was really good. And we won the Western Mass Finals, as
well as girls soccer and boys soccer also won the Western Mass Finals. >> So, quiet times at Longman High. Not a lot going on. Um Michaela, they they've wrapped up here. >> All right. Thank you all so much. I'm
sad to miss you in person and um I wish I could turn my camera on, but things are going a little dicey here. Um I love hearing about everything that is going on at the high school. And um Adam Sandler day sounds like the best
thing ever. That's really cool that you're try like doing new things like that and I appreciate sharing all of it feels like the way you shared it. It feels I can imagine what it's like to be a student at the high school. So, thank you. Does anyone else have anything else they want
to say to the student advisory council? All right. Thank you guys so much for coming and I hope you continue have a good rest of your school year. Before you depart, I just want to um thank you for all of your work. It it's it's a spirited, lively place. Thanks to the
administrators and the students who put this together. Um the current iteration of the pep rally, Miss Dawick, how many years going now? Is this is three years? >> We have the green light for next year. >> Yeah. And uh so >> this year we had a faculty dance team. >> This is true. Mr. Landers was on the
faculty dance team. Is there is that rumor? >> This year, but maybe next year. >> Next year. Yeah. Well, talk to me about that. We'll get them on your on your dance team. But um awesome representation of some amazing activities. Thank you guys. Appreciate your time. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much.
>> Okay, next we have school committee announcements and recognition. So, for my chair for tonight, um I was just going to share that this past week, Nicole, Dr. O'Shea, and I all had the
opportunity to attend the um Massachusetts School Committee, Association of School Committees, and the Massachusetts Association of Superintendent Joint Conference in Hyannis. And it was it was even better than I
expected it to be because I learned a lot. And it's just awesome to hear from all these different school committees and administrators just what how the the things that we're all facing that are similar and you know
kind of problem solving or coming together and different things and then just ideas you I I left feeling really rejuvenated to continue my work on the school committee and I'm excited about everything that I learned and I
recommend to anyone on the school committee to go next year when you have the opportunity. It was really worth it in my opinion. And the other thing I want to say, which was already mentioned, but I just want to say a huge congratulations to the
girls soccer team. I actually went to the game last night and I I'm still like dealing with how cold it was, but it was so such an awesome game. They've worked so hard. I I I feel like every time I'm out walking my dog, they're out there
practicing and you can just tell how hard they've worked and I feel really super proud and I'm really hoping I can make it on Saturday to the game which is in Lemonster at the same field which is a really nice field. And um yeah, it was
awesome. That's all I have. Okay, so superintendent report. >> Uh just a few items that I I want to mention to the school committee that we have begun uh lining up some uh student presentations for the school committee. I know that that's been important to the
committee to have representations of student life, student activities, student learning. So it will kick off uh at your December 2nd meeting where we will uh host the music mentors uh high school students who uh serve as uh music
ed uh mentors to younger students in the district. So u looking forward to bringing that as sort of the first group. If the committee has any thoughts on other um student groups uh or school activities that they'd like to see represented at future meetings, please
let me know. Uh November, as you can tell, it's an exciting busy time um in Long Meadow Public Schools. I I think what I um appreciate sort of the attitude of of gratitude that that is exists around our schools that really embrace sort of the spirit of the
Thanksgiving holiday and so many representations of of gratitude, so many food drives underway. Um our kids are very active in their communities and I'm really appreciative of that. Um couple of nuts and bolts things. Uh we had a
big meeting in this room the other day to talk about student registration. We we see student registration as sort of one of our most important functions. It's when we welcome families to Long Meadow Public Schools for the first time. So we had a team of administrators
and and assistants and some folks from our tech staff, central office admin gathered to talk about our registration practices and and think about how we can uh improve on that on our practices in that area. Um so more details uh at some
point in the future on that. Um before your meetings I ask our central office admin team uh about any items that they want highlighted and they're always great about um conveying some of their activities and I just want to highlight
a few things. Dr. Beth director has um fully launched our partnership with Bayath to uh more deeply embed our practices around universal design for learning. And so Beth has led some uh teams uh to uh do some walkthroughs of
our classrooms at the elementary level uh to sort of understand uh our our current UDL practices to sort of take inventory of that and think about what what we can build on. Uh Nicole Paris Crow is our director of special education. Uh she proudly mentioned the
uh full day preschool that is up and running and just how deeply integrated that section of uh full day preschool is with the wider Wolf Swamp School through lunch and the specials and through even embracing some of the ruler practices
our our social emotional framework. Um Nicole also mentioned that we have um uh continued our partnership with LPD, our social workers partner with LPD, the Long Police Department. They have an embedded clinician that uh works
part-time for Long Police. And so it's a it's a community connection for our social workers. And um you know when there are uh events that uh require the support and help of the Long Police Department, that LPD clinician is a
great partner with our social workers. Uh Nilda Erizzari is our director of student and family support and she would want us to highlight some of the work that she continues to do to support uh English language learners. Uh in particular, Nilda continues to follow up
on um the Desi audit of our EL practices. The committee had received a report on that uh some time ago. Uh and we're also exploring some partnerships with East Long Meadow Public Schools that also is a METCO district. So, um
thankful that Nilda continues her outreach in that area. And a shout out to Nilda who by the way um recently um was awarded her doctorate in education from DAT University. So uh a lot of work, a lot of commitment by by uh by
Dr. Iriari. So congratulations to her. And that's all I have. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Um, I love hearing about all the partnerships and the administrators that are leaning into
other places in the community and other experts or even departments like the police department to make everything balanced and awesome for our students. >> Thank you. >> Does anyone else have any comments or
questions about the superintendent report? All right. So, next we have the LPVEC board of directors. Kate, >> yeah, we haven't met since uh the last school committee meeting. Uh the next scheduled meeting is tomorrow evening.
>> Awesome. I'm looking forward to hearing about it. Next is uh the board of governors and we >> um we were supposed to meet tomorrow as well with Kate crew but we actually got pushed to um December because the information that we need to look at in the meeting is not going to be ready
yet. Okay, great. Thanks. Um so are you guys reading are you meeting regularly every month or does the meetings get rescheduled often? So Kate's group I think meets monthly. My
group meets like three times a year. Um sometimes they will uh try to schedule a joint meeting of the two boards if we have to make like financial decisions or if we have to sign warrants or things like that. That's what we were going to have a joint meeting tomorrow. Um but the the materials that we need from
accounting won't be available. So then we'll do a joint meeting in December. So it's kind of a a mix. >> Yeah. The board of directors does meet every month. And are those are the meetings your monthly meetings. So the meeting that was supposed to be tomorrow that's now going to be postponed and in December
are they um virtual at all? Can you go on Zoom? >> No, they're all in person. >> Oh, okay. Just curious. >> Thank you. Um Seal, I have no report. They had their monthly meeting last week
um which was a presentation from the Federation of Children's with Special Needs. So, uh stay tuned for the December meeting which I'll talk about at our I'll let you know next time. Um energy and sustainability.
>> So, uh they met last week. I I wasn't able to attend. I wasn't feeling well. They did send me um a meeting summary just to kind of uh give me an idea of what they had discussed. Um, so they're still uh working on the anti-ling campaign and looking at getting some
additional like metal signs um uh made and installed at at some of the schools that don't have any. Um they're going to look at the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission energy use studies for schools um and and review um some school
energy efficiency studies. Um, and then they had a a a long discussion with Ryan Morrison from Tai and Bond Engineering who um came to address questions about the synthetic turf for the middle school building project. That's um a hot topic for the energy and sustainability
committee. So, sounds like they had a really good discussion and he answered a lot of their questions. Um and then the group is also reviewing um community engagement efforts looking at additional town meetings and planning educational workshops on sustainability topics.
Thanks, Emily. And I also I noticed as an LPS parent who gets all the emails that something did go through the other principal's email about the idling. So, I was happy to see that after your last report, and I'm thankful for all the work that you all do.
>> Thank you. >> All right. Well, our student representative isn't here tonight, but we did get a very thorough report from the student advisory council. Um, so we'll move on to subcommittee reports. Um, curriculum subcommittee.
I don't we don't have a report. I don't believe >> that's correct. >> Spoke about it last time. >> Yep. >> Um, evaluation subcommittee has has not met. Uh, it probably won't extend until January or February, I'd say.
>> Okay. So then finance sub >> uh >> anything for finance? >> Yeah, we we met earlier this evening. Uh no action needed by the school committee but we um we had some preliminary
conversations regarding the FY27 budget. We do have a joint meeting coming up on December 1st uh school committee select board and finance committee. Um, so this finance committee will be starting to look at fees as we start building our
FY27 budget. We had a conversation about building use fees. Um, they have not been updated since 2019. So, uh, they had some data from surrounding communities and what they charge. Um, so there might be some adjustments coming
in the future related to building use. uh ongoing dialogue regarding the athletic program. Um and then we spent some time talking about a Chromebook protection plan. Um this was an item
that uh was talked about maybe a year or so ago. Um we resurrected the plan. um had a good conversation and uh we'll be bringing back um an
updated proposal for implementation probably next school year, but we'll bring it to the full committee sometime later this school year. >> Amazing. Thank you, Tom. >> You're welcome. >> All right. Next, we have new business.
So we have a memorandum of agreement with unit A, appendix A in our other salary guides. >> So item 11A uh in your meeting packet is uh an MOA between the Long Meadow School Committee, proposed MOA between the
school committee and the Long Meadow Education Association covering um uh collective bargaining stipens associated with our um unit A teaching contract. So Mr. Maza has been working hard on this uh for many many weeks and so he's in
the best position to explain. >> Yeah, this is um this is the work of a stipened committee that uh was created during the last contract negotiation. So I would say this is the first of
probably at least uh multiple MOAs that I expect to come out during the year. thought we wanted to get these in place as these are affecting activities this school year. They're either new or adjusting existing rates um and
eliminating a couple at elementary that no longer operate. So, it is just to update language regarding uh compensation andor creating clubs that have been running but not receiving compensation for a couple of years. So,
um, this has been, uh, this is the result of numerous meetings with the Long Meadow Education Association Stipen Committee. >> Great. Thank you so much for all of your hard work, always, Mr. Naza. >> You're welcome. >> Um, and also, I mean, it is it's so
important to keep that stuff going because it affects the kids. So, I really am thankful for it. Um, does anyone have any further comments or emotion? >> Are these the only clubs in each of those schools or
>> No, this these are the only ones that are being adjusted in terms of compensation or newly added for 2026. Um earlier in October, I think the school committee approved a a sub list of all of the different accounts that we have,
which is pretty much a reflection of all of the different activities that were on at the schools. >> So, we compensate for programs outside of these as well that were previously approved. >> Yes. Any other
questions or discussion or motions? >> I move that the school committee approve the memorandum of agreement as presented. >> We have a motion. We have a second. >> Second. >> Awesome. Um, all right. Let's take the role. Adam,
>> yay. >> Emily, >> yes. >> Kate, >> yes. and a yes for me too. All right. So, next on our agenda is the compet competence comp competency determination policy
IKF. There's no action um needed tonight, but this is the first reading of the policy about state requirements for districts to define an competence determination um as a graduation for all students in
Massachusetts. And actually in one of the we had like some people from federal government and from like state think tanks in this one meeting on Friday morning and they were talking
about how how big this is and it was noted that also it's in the superintendent's um yearly plan and it's been something talked about all the time and I thought I just was really taken And
it meant a lot to me as a school committee member and as a parent of students in the district that are facing a time where things are shifting and changing that our district and administrators are already thinking about this. That's all I have to say. Go ahead, Dr.
>> All right. Thank you. Um appreciate the introduction. Uh so this for the committee's consideration is a a recommended policy to meet the state requirement that we define uh competency as part of uh a student's path to a
diploma. We have local requirements uh that are outlined in our educational opportunities book and those local requirements consist of credits and courses that students are required to take. Uh but in addition to that, students have to earn a competency
determination. Now, previously a competency determination, and you'll hear us use the phrase CD tonight, uh for short, a CD was earned by passing uh MCCAST exams with the state ballot that
eliminated MCCAST as part of the competency determination. um that did not mean that the requirement to have a competency determination went away. We still need to define how our students reach competency. And so following um a lot of
conversation uh I think we talked to curriculum savvy and policy sub about this um and >> yes we did have both. >> Thank you. Uh and Dr. Nelson has um kind of done a lot of leg work and research on this and so we're here to present to
you a policy uh that would um for your first reading tonight it would be policy I k the actual policy is written in narrative form in your meeting packet but for the purposes of discussion we
thought we would present it to you as a slide deck here. So, the actual recommended policy is in your meeting packet. This is just a slide deck that overviews the recommendation. So, uh, with that, I'll turn it over to Dr. Nelson. And joining us is LHS principal
Tom Landers. So, floor is yours, Beth. >> Thank you, Dr. O'Shea. Yes. So, um, as Dr. OSHA stated as he introduced this today. Um why we're really here today is due to the fact that the state voted just about a year ago um to no longer
use the MCCAST as a competency determination and each school district uh was tasked with coming up with our own competency determination. A key point that Dr. Rocher stated, but I want to reiterate is a competency determination is required
to earn a diploma from Long Meadow High School. However, earning the competency to diploma does not guarantee that you will earn a diploma from Long Meadow High School and we will go through that today. Um, I'm joined by Principal Landers as Dr. O'Shea said, and I really, this was a collaborative effort
with school Long Meadow High School administration and Long Meadow High School school counseling. um to bring forward what we have today. So the state has said that we have minimum course requirements for the competency determination.
Um, and the minimum requirements are that each student to earn the competent determination would have two years of high school English, a year of algebra 1 and geometry, one year of science, which would could
include biology, chemistry, um, technology, engineering, or physics. Um, and then starting with the class of 2027, which are our current juniors, they would also need one year of United States history. If you want to advance
two slides, Marty, >> and if I could maybe um, you know, we'll pause there for a second before we get into the recommendation. And I wonder if the committee has any questions about the need for this policy, the the reason
that we're recommending this. I I think Beth explained it really well, but before we get to the recommendation, it might be wise to pause to just to see if you have any questions at this stage. If not, that's okay. >> I just have one question out of curiosity.
Why one year of US history and that's it? So currently, um, civics, uh, history has not been an MCCAST assessment. Uh, this past school year, 2025, they added the civics assessment for MCCAST in grade 8. I believe the
reasoning for that is that the state was planning to extend the history MCCAST up to the high school level prior to this vote uh, being repealed with the MCCAST. >> Well, that's interesting. Thank you. Any anyone else have any
questions? >> Okay, keep going. >> Sure. >> Loving it. >> So, you'll see on this um image that we have projected right now, the minimum requirements that DESIE is stating we must have for competency determination. The middle column is saying what our current Long High School graduation
requirements are. And then the recommended LHS competenc competency determination. And I just want to reiterate again, earning the competency determination does not mean you will earn a high school diploma from Long Meadow High School. Our graduation requirements are more um rigorous and we
do uh want our students to achieve beyond what the competency determination asks of them. Um but the competency determination from DESIE the minimum requirement is two years of English language arts. Uh so we are recommending that at Long Meadow High School that
that is the competency determination. However, you'll see that we do ask our students to have four years of English language arts to earn their Long Meadow High School diploma. In math, the state is saying we can do algebra 1 and geometry or an integrated
math one and an integrated math 2 sequence. Um it after a long conversation with our LHS math department, our special education department, uh special education director, LHS administration, school counseling, we do believe algebra 1 and
geometry is our best path forward with this. So that is our recommendation for the Long Meadow High School competency determination. uh that does match the Long Meadow High School graduation requirements that students have two years, but this is far more specific in that it must be two years in algebra 1
and geometry. For science, the DESIE uh minimum requirement is saying one year and one year is in one of our um main science classes. So, biology, chemistry, physics or a science, technology, engineering
course. Um, our LHS graduation requirements are that there's two years of science and we are recommending that students have one year in biology, chemistry, physics or a technology engineering course to earn their
competency determination. And as Michaela just inquired, uh, Desi is now saying that the students must have one year of US history beginning with the class of 2027, which is our current juniors. Um, LHS graduation
requirements call for two years of history. So, one would be one year of US history and one would be a year of modern world history. Um, and recommended for the competency determination at LHS, we'd be looking for one year of US history.
Any questions at that at this point? >> I have a question. So if an individual meets the compet competency determination but doesn't meet the graduation requirements, where does that leave that individual? >> So just like theoretically you could
pass all three MCCAST exams and not graduate, we would work with that student and while that is rare at LHS, it's theoretical and it happens across the state. We would work with that student to come back. If they didn't pass, let's say they didn't pass English senior year, we'd work with them on
summer school. If they didn't want to do that, we'd get creative. We could work with them in the fall. We try to expedite their earning of that diploma. But just like MCCAST, you could pass three MCCAST tests and not
graduate. Theoretically, you could earn the CD and not graduate. The only other thing I would say is just like most students passed three MCCAST exams by the end of their 10th grade, we hope and expect most 10th graders to earn their
CD by the end of their sophomore year and then they have two more years to to delve in more more deeply. >> That's awesome that it's like you're on a track to have them get it all of that done by their sophomore year.
And I'm happy to see uh modern world history is an expectation. >> And and part of this is I mean candidly for me anyways I'll just speak for myself. I I thought when that ballot question passed I thought we were done talking about competency determinations
frankly and and but um the ballot question only eliminated MCCAST. It didn't eliminate the need to have a competency determination. So we've we've been sort of sorting through a lot of desi advisories over the last six months trying to understand how we should
define competency. Um the truth is obviously at LHS our graduation requirements are a higher bar. I think what you're seeing here is probably the way most districts Lisa and any district I've spoken with is really pursuing it
taking this approach the approach that that we're recommending here. I mean, part of this is about not changing the rules of the game for the kids who are currently with us. You know, the kids who are currently with us, you know, we're looking to pass MCCAST
based on the coursework you see on the far right of this chart. So, we're really trying to maintain the existing approach to that competency determination, I'd say. Is that is that fair?
Yeah, and I think that's important. Um, that meeting I was in on Friday that was kind of going over federal updates from the Department of Ed and state updates both legislative wise, but also
fiscally. It was a huge topic of conversation that like, yeah, they said no MCAST, but now there's like there's going to be some kind of like pendulum swing back where they're going to have like Desi's going to at some point probably come up with something to say
this is what we envision a graduate of the Massachusetts public schools will be able to do and it's just down to like how they require and determine it. So, I think this looks like a really great to me. Um, I know I'm more in the
elementary school, but it just looks like a great path to keep kids on track to graduating from school and being prepared for the next level, whether it be college or or um vocation or career.
>> Thank you. >> Yeah, well well said. I I I think there we still feel like we're there might be some moving targets we're trying to shoot at here. I think you know in terms of what how the state will approach redefining competency on their
end. So >> it looks like you're shooting in the right direction especially with all the collaboration you mentioned. >> Yeah. >> Hopefully. Um so the timeline and the approval for this so the state is requiring that this new policy um be approved by school committees by
December 31st. So tonight, November 18th, we are having the first reading of the policy with the full school committee. Uh we hope that the second reading is on December 1st and the final reading and approval um December 15th. Um, again, just to clarify that the
timeline is that the class of 2026 must um satisfy the new CD requirements for this year. So, they're currently in their senior year. Um, I know the school counseling department has already run everything to make sure that they know because we have had MCCAST previously. Um, and then we've also have the
coursework. And then class of 2027, so current juniors, we would add that US history requirement. Any questions at on that? So I think as Dr. O'Shea was just saying um and Michaela you kind of alluded to this um you know there's a lot of talk
in the state that what does this mean? Does this red does this give an opportunity for us to look a little bit more closely about what college career vocational readiness looks like? Um and I think Dr. O'Shea you wanted to share some thoughts on this.
>> Sure. and and ask you to um chime in and if I if I miss anything here. Um you know, we do think that and then we've talked about this at previous school committee meetings. I think in this day and age where we're really looking to embed the vision of
the graduate in in 2025 when the realities of artificial intelligence are are really shaping and altering learning in in some profound ways. We think that it's we're probably at a stage where we want to really uh initiate a review of
competency. We don't want to change the move the goalpost for the kids who are currently with us, our 9th through 12th graders. But we think that, you know, this is a a prime opportunity to really rethink readiness here in Long in Long
Meadow Public Schools and uh work to redefine readiness. uh the the timeline for this given how much time this would take to um to sort of study to develop some guiding principles and to develop uh some policy
recommendations. We we think that this realistically it we're in a we would be in a position to redefine readiness for our current seventh graders. And so some of the questions that we think could be part of this review is um how well do our
current graduation requirements reflect the vision of the graduate? How do we ensure that students are acquiring the durable skills they need to be successful in the information age? We don't really know what jobs and careers our students are headed to, but we do
know that there are some essentual essential durable skills. There are essential DOG type competencies that we want to make sure students have uh once they walk across the stage at Symphony Hall in June. Um we want to think about
the the proper combination of courses and experiences that best prepare a student for college and career and and how well do our current course and graduation requirements align with the competencies needed to be future ready.
And then at the same time we're paying attention to what's happening at the state level as as we've talked about uh the state has defined uh has a mass core which uh Tom and Beth can explain better than I uh but there's there's sort of a
core set of of courses that the state has recommended. So there's there's a few moving parts here, but we think this is an opportune time for us to sit back uh engage all stakeholders in reviewing our graduation requirements
in redefining competency for the for the generation of students that are making their way to Long Meadow High School. Uh a a rough timeline for this is articulated on this slide. Uh what we're imagining is in the second half of this
academic year that we would uh form for lack of a better uh term right now a learning team that would include students, parents, staff, administration, school committee members if you're interested. Uh and really to take a look at best practices, look at
uh the research that's out there in terms of how competency should be defined for uh students who are leaving high school. we'd want to really do some very specific engagement with stakeholders, uh, focus groups, surveys,
and and other tools. Uh, my thought is that this group would have by the conclusion of this school year simply a directional recommendation, not a hard policy, not a hard set of recommen requirements, but really some guiding principles that can guide the next stage
of the work. Uh at the next stage of the work, uh the team would reassemble and consider um some very specific policy recommendations for course credit andor the experiences that a kid would need uh
to fulfill their competency determination and earn a Long Meadow High School diploma. uh probably in in January of 27, so a little more than a year from now, we would bring a recommendation to the
school committee for how we can assure that kids are future ready. Um so our graduation requirements have served us very very well here in Long Meadow uh for a long time and there's uh there's many features of our course and
graduation requirements that ought to be preserved and maintained. uh there's an approach to rigor and there's an approach to academic readiness uh that we want to maintain but we think this is this is a good time to to take a look at
how we define readiness in Long Public Schools. Uh potentially uh we would look at implementation in um in September of 2027. So, as our current seventh graders
join Long Meadow High School, we would be in a position to have a new set of requirements perhaps uh for them to earn that competency determination and earn a diploma. There'll be a lot of capacity building that needs to happen. There's a
lot of professional development. There's a lot of curriculum and instruction and assessment work that needs to be done. But we're eager to do it. Um, I think in many ways this is an extension of a path that Long Meadow High has already been on and Tom
can really kind of underscore this. We we've been on a path to provide kids with the types of experiences that will make them future ready. We've been on a path to ensure that kids are developing those core competencies. Um, and there's so many examples of that that I'm sure
Tom can can articulate, but you know, so how do we stay on that path and how do we make sure that we have a proper set of requirements in place for uh the rising generation of one middle high students and so that's the work that we
want to undertake um and really look forward to engaging the school committee and the wider community in that effort. and I turn it to Tom and Beth. If there's anything you want to underscore or that I've missed or um highlight, feel free. So, >> I would I would underscore the fact that
um earning an LHS diploma means that you're ready for the next phase of your life and we want to keep it that way. We want to make sure that we're confident that when our students go on to the next phase, they're they're prepared for success. We hear that they are but we
need to work on this now to make sure that our future graduates also can we can also be confident of that world is changing. Um I will just I think Marty you were touching on all the all the work that's going on in terms of you know
culminating projects real life projects experiential learning. Um I think and hope it will be part of the discussions that that the learning team um engages in things that you know we require. We want students to push themselves
uh whether it be capstone experience, whether it be an internship, whether it be some kind of culminating academic experience within a certain uh subject area. you know, things that in addition
to all of the academic learning and skill set building that that we do K to 12, we want to make sure that our students are engaging in critical thinking and collaborating and being innovators and being self-directed in their learning and communicating and
learning to be effective global citizens. Um, so this is a good time for this. It's it's timely and I think that um the time frame that is laid out here is ambitious but realistic.
I throw two caveats before we um and certainly welcome any questions or comments um from the school committee. Two caveats. One is um we don't have a crystal ball on how the what steps the state will take on this topic. Um so
that could throw a curveball at us. Um we also really don't know what this learning team will what the outcome will be. And so if it is a a more ambitious set of requirements, it might be something that frankly we would have to
look at for our um current sixth graders even. I know that sounds like a a long way off, but the the program development, the professional development, the curriculum curriculum instruction and assessment work that needs to happen um takes time. So, we
want to we want to as Tom said be ambitious, but we want to be realistic too with our timeline. So, um just I wanted to you know just underscore those two caveats. We don't really know. There there's a lot of uh murmurss and discussion about what's happening at the
state level in terms of how they're going to define competency and readiness. And obviously we we have to respond to that. So we don't really know what shape that will take. So uh would love any questions or comments that you might have. And Beth, is there anything I missed that you want to mention?
>> No, I think between you and Principal Landers, you've captured everything that we've discussed over the past several months. All right. Thank you all so much. Um, that was a really great presentation and I just I actually had to open up my notebook and go to the page where we talked about
this and in my notes it says no there are no state standards for graduation requirements and this is wild and I I quoted the guy said we have to defang this. It's really
important and how do we get there? What is the next path? And I feel like this is the first step into defanging this problem. I I really love that second question on the redefining readiness
slide. And I think um principal Landers was embellishing even more on that with like just talking about the capstones and you know times are changing and we have to it's not going to stay the same and we have to be flexible on how to
move forward with educating kids always. Does it questions or comments? All right, thank you very much. Um, I'm looking forward to talking about it more as it develops. It's a hot topic. >> All right.
>> And next, another exciting topic, achievement accountability report. >> All right. So, the committee has had um this presentation in its packet for a couple
of meetings, I'd say. Uh but Beth is here to provide some additional feedback on the 2025 MCCAST achievement and accountability results. So,
there we go. All right. So, um I know I did present this to curriculum sub already. So, Emily has seen this presentation. Um Michaela, I know you reviewed it in that packet and then it's been available for everybody to see. Um candidly, I think
we want to always remember MCCAST is one snapshot into a 180day school year. Um so much progress can be measured um quickly in formative assessments throughout the school day um in more summitive assessments at the end of
units and teachers uh at all levels pre-K to 12 are constantly looking and evaluating our students to make sure that uh we are progressing and meeting each child's needs um at the level that they they are they are needing. Um so just a quick overview of the statewide
trends. Uh statewide ELA was down um in grades through three just a small bit. Um sorry I flipped to the Nope. I went right to the long window. So ELA was up in three points across the state. uh but still
they were below COVID levels and I know that that's not something that we talk about too often here but it is just it's consistent through all of the data across the state this year as well as Long Meadow that we still are not back to where uh scores were in 2019. So I think I'll note it now and we can uh
move beyond that for the rest of the presentation. Um grade 10 across the state uh scores declined by six points. Um, in math, uh, students across grades three through eight remained flat. Um, and high school math achievement dipped
by three points. Science, uh, grade five showed a slight gain across the Commonwealth. Um, grade 8 declined two points and at the high school there was a decline of three points. Um, how that compares to Log Meadow, um, our expectations for students meeting or
exceeding decreased by one point, one percentage point. Um and grade 10 decreased by 10 points. Uh in mathematics, grades two through eight, we also declined by one point. High school math dipped eight points compared
to the year prior. Science uh we actually gained uh grade five did great. They uh gained six points. Grade 8 declined two points. So that was pretty consistent with the state. And high school declined seven points compared to the year prior. Um certainly some
speculation November 2024 that MCCAST competency determination was taken away. Did students not take the MCCAST quite so seriously at Long Meadow High School last year? Um we do not know that answer, but certainly to see the drop
that we saw this year um leads to believe that perhaps students didn't take the assessment as seriously as they have in years past. Uh so looking more granularly at our achievement distribution uh year-over-year. So you can see 2022
through 2025 how we've done at each grade. Always important to remember that that cohort of students progresses through the grade. So we're not really comparing the same uh group of students um when we look at that grade level straight across. Um but you do see
fairly consistent scores. Um other than some you know certainly jump out that there was a larger drop off and there's a number of factors that could uh lead to that um that I think some of our principles have
dug in and tried to tried to understand at a at a greater uh detail. Um but overall grade 3 through eight when you look at it the overall uh meeting and exceeding percentage of students did decline by 1% but overall we're we're
staying pretty consistent. Um again we just spoke about grade 10. That's a pretty it was pretty shocking when we saw that at first. Um and there's reason to believe that perhaps it was due to the vote that took
place last uh November 2024. Any questions at this point? Okay. So, math achievement, same. You're looking at the same graph comparing data from 2022 to 2025. Um, again, I'll share that grades through eight when you look at it collectively, uh, were decline, we
declined one percentage of students that were meeting and exceeding. Um, and in grade 10, there's that 8 percentage point decline. um fairly consistent through the grade levels though or with the cohorts uh
moving through. And then science um grade five, we were uh pleased that it was so high above the state um that we continue to see a little bit of growth there. Um but really we're seeing pretty
consistent scores yeartoear even in grade 10. Yes, we were concerned by the drop off from 76 to 69, but if you look at the years prior, 23 and 22, they were 71 and 70. So, we're pretty consistent other than last year kind of being an
outlier of science being really, really high. Any questions? So, the accountability, so we're given a uh school accountability percentile from DESIE. And this is done off of um a formula that combines um several
different things including prior year scores and our target scores for each category. You'll see that Blueberry Hill School scored the highest accountability percentile, but they are the sole school in the district that's requiring assistance or intervention. So, it jumped out to us. Um, went digging
through the data a little bit more clearly and as you look at that, DESIE has designated Blueberry Hill as a school requiring assistance because a very, very, very small number of students with disabilities at Blueberry
Hill did not sit for the MCCAST last year. Therefore, Blueberry Hills percentage of part participation dropped below 95% and you can see that in the line where it's 94 overall. Uh, right there is Marty's cursor. So,
such a small small tiny piece of data uh that DESIE has been representing that this is a school that's requiring assistance and we just want to make sure the community knows Blueberry Hill is doing wonderful. the teachers are doing wonderful things um for everybody in all subgroups are doing wonderful things
there u and we're delighted with their accountability percentile of 84%. So just wanted to highlight that and point that out in case anybody in the community was wondering why Blueberry Hill is designated a school that's requiring assistance. Of course there always is areas to
celebrate when we look at the MCCAST data. Um student growth once again remains strong. So student growth, we want to see a score between 40 to 60%. We saw that in every single subgroup for our students um in all subject areas. Uh there was really steady growth like from
grade three through grade 10 in our writing scores. So although the writing scores in grade three for topic and idea development were far lower than we would hope, um by the time they were in 10th grade, they were right where we would want them to be. So it just shows that progression and that it's a K12. You
know, from the words of Principal Landers from many years ago, it's a pre-K to 12 system and it's the foundation is laid in those early years so that students are able to graduate from Long Meadow High School with those skills, the durable skills to be successful in their their next phase. Um, grade five science and engineering.
So, we were pleased uh with the the science for grade five this past year, something to celebrate. Um and then grade eight overall, every single test um including civics, which was the first time that civics was ever um actually scored by the state. So the year prior
it was a pilot test. This year it was scored. Families didn't receive individual reports of their child's score, but we received the overall um and our our eighth grade uh civics teachers are doing a great job because we significantly outperformed the state
on the very first time seeing this um assessment. So now areas for growth. Um we were we were flat flat in everything. Uh but again consistent with the prior four years or the four years of data that um high
school again the composite score dropped. Um but we will we'll keep looking at that and working on that and remembering that it's a much larger picture than just one data point in one test. uh students with disabilities and
our high needs subgroup which high needs includes lowincome um English language learners and students with disabilities uh their achievement did show declines um at all levels grades three through 10. Um and then chronic absenteeism of our high needs group. So again that
group of uh lowincome English language learners and students with disabilities um their absenteeism rates did increase slightly. So, we just want to make sure that we're uh really focusing on those students and making sure that they are feel welcomed in coming to our schools
every day, reaching out to families. Um, last but not least, how what do we use MCCAST results? Uh, what do we do with it? Well, principles are really digging in um more directly at the school level and then we have at the
elementary level coaches that are digging into data teams with grade level teams during common planning time. at the middle school meetings, the math, science, uh, social studies, and ELA uh, department uh, curriculum coordinators are digging into that data. At the high
school, it's the department chairs um, and really looking at what what are our themes that we're seeing. Are there standards? Are there specific skills or maybe a unit that we need to look at that curriculum and how we're teaching it and addressing it? Um, and we're
we're just making sure that what we do on a day-to-day basis is moving our students forward the 180 days that they're in front of us. Um, so it's one data point. It's an important data point. Um, but I think our teachers uh
on a daily basis are looking at a tremendous amount of data that informs their instruction for the students in front of them. Um, that was a lot of information that I covered really quickly. Uh but I'm certainly happy to answer any questions or anything uh I
can clarify that uh might be helpful to anybody on the committee >> as you're as you're formulating your questions, you know, just to hit a couple things. I I remember um hearing a speaker once I when you approach MCCAST
as a tool in education, you can approach it as a hammer or a flashlight. you can use it to uh hammer away at problems or you can use it to to shine a light on on successes and areas for growth. And that's sort of been our approach and I hope that last slide articulates that
that that we try to use it as a way to to shine a light on places where we're making progress at the individual student level, the school level, and the district level. Um, and the other thing I would I'd mention is that I I you know
I feel like MCCAST was born at a time when schools were not as involved with regular ongoing formative data to the extent that they are now. And so nowadays um our teachers and our
administrators are so immersed in regular formative assessments and and periodic benchmark screening and universal screening that um those data points sometimes frankly become are more
meaningful they are more meaningful to us than than MCCAST scores. Um and then final point um as this committee well knows and I I know I've heard it as part of our discussions here is that MCCAST doesn't measure many things. It doesn't
measure your engagement in school. It doesn't measure your overall well-being, your artistic talents. It doesn't measure your um your your social um skills. And so there's there's so much that um MCCAST does give us value on,
but there's so much that it it fails to. But and I think we have sort of a healthy approach to MCCAST um here in Long Meadow Public Schools. Again, using it to identify places that where we need to grow and then also using it as a as a
way to celebrate successes as well. So um thank you to Beth for for diving into the data. There's there's certainly layers and layers and layers of data that that are, you know, we couldn't possibly present um at a school committee meeting, but are available to
our educators and and the public. So, happy to if you have any thoughts or questions um happy to take those. >> Thank you so much for that great presentation, Dr. Nelson. Um my one I
guess comment is knowing that we have the competency determination and I loved the way and I think that's honestly part of the missing piece is that multiple stakeholder involvement and perspective
but I would just hope that the data of MCCAST is used so it can be a flashlight as a tool by that t like the the group that you may pull together of parents and teachers and whatnot to kind of
drive the competency determination, especially in the lens of the um the students with disabilities because that's really the subgroup of students that um impacts our district the most. And um I think there's many great like
just local stakeholders of parents and students we have that could help us. But I hope we use these the MCCAST and not you know like you said it's just a one tiny part of a big picture. But I do hope that we use use it as we move
forward with that group to decide on competency determination especially in the subgroups that are still We need to shine the flashlight on. I like that. I like that a lot. >> That makes sense. Thank you. Anybody else?
Okay. So, next we're moving on to um building use requests. >> Yeah. In your packet, there are uh five building use requests. They are the uh dance recital that uh we have for the
spring. We have the artistic dance conservatory looking for use of the high school calf uh auditorium classroom and parking lot June 13th and 14th. Uh, the Dance Dynasty looking for use of the
high school auditorium multi-purpose room May 29th and 30th. Dance Inc. uh requesting use of the high school auditorium classroom multi-purpose room June 11th and 12th. Impressions Academy of Dance uh requesting use of the high
school cafeteria and auditorium on June 7th and 8th. And then the high school parks and recck department uh is requesting use of the high school auditorium classroom and multi-purpose room on April 27th, May 8th and 9th.
>> Thank you, Tom. Um just a reminder, if a committee member wants um to talk about one of the consent agendas, then we have to remove it from the consent agenda. So, does anyone have
anything in this consent agenda they want to discuss separately? >> If not, um, I entertain a motion. >> I move that the school committee approve the consent agenda for the November 18th, 2025 school committee meeting as presented.
>> We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Great. Now, let's take our roll call vote. Emily, >> yes. >> Adam, >> yay. >> Kate, >> yes. >> And hey, Zach.
>> And how do you vote, Zach? >> Yes. >> And a yes for me, too. Sorry, they just literally zoomed it on your face. I didn't even see you there. >> I snuck it. >> Thank you. Oh, you may be muted, Michaela.
>> Oh, gez, I'm sorry. Next, we have our middle school building project update. >> All right, I will be uh I'll be prompt here for you. Um I wanted to just share uh one slide from a recent uh building
committee meeting just to give you uh some sense of the activity of the building committee and our administrators and educators who are working with the design team. And so, uh, this slide here depicts the, uh, the
meetings that have been underway, uh, to help us get us through the, uh, the DD phase, the, uh, design development phase of the middle school building project. And so, you'll see that we have had site design meetings.
uh November 3rd and 4th uh the design team was at Glenbrook and Williams. We also have pulled together a design advisory group uh of our educators to provide some feedback on the educational
spaces inside the buildings. and then meetings with town officials, uh the design team, their consultants, uh administrators, um to work on things like the uh the data infrastructure,
the school security, the outside turf, site utilities, the enabling work that refers to the schedule that Fontaine Brothers will follow to get the construction up and running how they'll stage the work. Uh so that's just a a
small sense of how busy November has been. Uh and we've been intentional and purposeful in the design is coming together and I thank all the town officials who've been involved in these
meetings. DPW, LPD, LFD, um parks and wreck, you name it. uh town officials, town staff have stepped up to provide some critical feedback and direction at these meetings. So, um I
thought that would be helpful just to give you some sense of the of the work, the activity that we've been involved with uh in recent weeks. So, if you have any questions about the progress we've made or upcoming work, uh I'm happy to try to answer.
Thank you very much. Um, does anyone have any questions or comments? It's exciting that there's still so much progress going on. I know it doesn't get as much um public attention, but a lot is happening and it's very exciting.
>> Yeah. the uh as a as one of the as as Dory Brooks had said or or maybe it was Christian Wood had said that the the design the designs that are presented to teams get more and more boring as the design development progresses. When
you're when you're at the schematic design phase, which we were in back in the fall and early fall and summer, the designs are are more accessible and more readable to the to the general public. But as you get into the detailed design,
it gets uh less and less appealing, I'd say. Um and uh but they're doing a great job of walking us through all the the key decisions that have to be made. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I'm thankful for the people that sit through, you know, the
meetings that probably are more difficult to >> sit through and hear because you're not used to coming at it from that level or at level of expertise. It's totally different and it's exciting for the
district to have um people learning about this. >> Absolutely. That's it from the uh on the middle school on the middle school project. >> Great. Thank you. Um so next we are going into our executive session, but we
will reconvene in open session. There's a motion for that. I move that the school committee meet for executive session pursuant to Massachusetts general law chapter 30A section 21A purpose two to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for
collective bargaining session with unit A B D and E non-UN personnel three to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation and seven approval of minutes and to reconvene into open session
>> we have a motion we have a Second. >> Second. >> Great. All right. Emily, >> yes. >> Adam, >> yay. >> Zack, >> yes. >> Kate, >> yes.
>> And a yes for me, too. >> So, I'll uh just uh for our partners at LCTV, we do plan to reconvene into open session following this executive session. >> Okay, we'll be here. >> Thank you.
Welcome back to the November 18th school committee meeting. Um, we're returning from the executive session and we have one last item on our agenda to discuss. It's memorandum of
agreement. Um are you do you want to speak to it or >> Sure. We have uh so there's two memorandums uh uh for the school committee's consideration. One is uh one covers coverage for Long Island
High School world language class. Um we have a a staffing vacancy that would require uh LHS world language teachers to take on an additional course section. And so the MOA is needed to recognize that the covering teacher who will be performing
the additional duties uh would be compensated accordingly. So that's uh that's the first memorandum of agreement for covering uh LHS world language classes. >> So now we go into a Do we need a motion?
Uh we would need a motion and uh for for a vote. Yes. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I move that the school committee approved the memorandum of agreement as presented. We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second.
>> Emily, >> yes. Adam, >> yay. >> Kate, >> yes. >> Zack, >> yes. >> And a yes for me, too. And the second memorandum of agreement is similar. This
one is for coverage of LHS math classes. Similarly, we have a staffing vacancy that would require uh some LHS math teachers to take on uh additional course sections and the MOA is needed to recognize this and uh compensate them
accordingly. >> Thank you. Do we have um motion? I move that the school committee approve the memorandum of agreement as presented. Thank you, Emily. Do we have a second? >> Second, >> Emily. >> Yes. >> Adam,
>> Zach, >> yes. >> Kate, >> yes. >> And a yes for me, too. And then I think that we just have one final motion on the table. Nobody wants to adjourn the meeting.
>> I move that we our November 18th school committee meeting. >> Sorry. A second. >> Adam. >> Oh, I I was giggling over the second.
Thank you, Adam. >> Emily, >> yes. >> Adam, >> Kate, >> yes. Zach. >> Yes. >> And a yes for me, too. Have a good night, everybody. >> Good night. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you.