here first but predates well predates Sant oldest settlement in America yes yeah yeah yeah like has the oldest church and like has you know just a whole bunch of things and just you know the the Spanish you know trying to push up from you know Mexico and and South and trying to colonize the area like
well well predates any of the other European things that were happening over on this coast and so um I always say like wow like there's just so much going on that we don't think about we just have such a straightforward view of history and like I think that that's one of the great things about a book like
this or some other um just going to other places is like being able to have that breath of history that we don't get in class right when we go through school yeah we think of Plymouth Rock as being the first beginning of American or maybe jamest town right whatever Jam r o
Colony yeah r Oak and yeah whatever yeah like that's that's like where really go now what are you working on right now so I've got um so this is the uh 19th book in the series or something I believe yeah so I'm working on the 20th so again most of the stuff I write about has to do with the knight's
Templar and of course when you talk about the Templars you can't help but talk about their treasure CU they're they were outlawed in 1307 they were incredibly wealthy their treasure disappeared no one knows what happened to it and there when I talk about the Templar treasure we're also talking about the stuff that was found
underneath the Temple of Solomon so the Ark of the Covenant the golden manora maybe the Holy Grail it's also a lot of the Christ judeo-christian Treasures so AI is a big thing now so the book I'm writing Now deals with can a really sophisticated AI model taking all the
evidence we know about the Templars and their travels and what the treasures were and where they were can the AI model figure out the most likely spot for the Templar treasure so I'm having some fun with that I'm not really a great you know Tech guy so the AI stuff is a little bit over my head but I got
some people helping me uh but I do know a lot about the Templars I know a lot about their treasure I know a lot about history so I'm able to sort of have some fun with it and there's probably seven or eight different spots where the treasure might be maybe some of your viewers watch something called The Curse of Oak Island on Tuesday nights on the History Channel which is up in Nova
Scotia that's one of the popular places where the Templar treasure might be and so that's one of the possibilities but there's like seven or eight good good possibilities for the Templar treasure so I'm trying to use AI to to pin it down oh fascinating do you have a publication date for that or I do yeah
no I do two a year so I try to I try to release every fall and every uh spring so may is um maybe June and I'm really good we talked off air about writing every day I write every single day because I really think it's important to to stay with your story and I I try to
do two every year just because I can and I think readers I think readers like it when you publish frequently uh otherwise they forget you and go off and read somebody else like we talked about Geraldine Brooks off the air She's Every 3 years I'm like do another one quicker
quicker quicker I love her writing you know I'm waiting for her but right right you know I I understand why it's hard to do she writes so beautifully it's hard to do quick like that but right I try I try to do two a year yeah it's very different writing Thrillers right than writing like those
historical mixed novels I don't know what we call them really but sort of historical fiction but it mixes together with modern day so um do you have a library card I do have a library card why not with me borrow it no I always
ask everybody since I'm a librarian I'm always like do you have a library card yeah I I have a a library card from um the Boston Public Library that I've had for years and I have one from the JV Fletcher library in Westford where we grew up and I have one from the newbur Port library oh look at that good I've
got a whole wallet full of them you're my favorite oh good thank you um well I think we've I think we've run through our time we've we've talked about so much but thank you so much for coming on the show like that was really great and I'm going to look forward to
reading more of your books and I just going to say to you know any of our viewers too like I mean go to Newberry Port and follow some of this like you can look up some of the things that happen in this book and like some of these places and I think a lot of places yeah you can go see them the buildings that I talk about they're there so yeah
yeah so I think that's a really really cool place you put on like a map on your website or something like that so thank you all for joining us today I hope you enjoyed this episode and that you'll join us for future episodes as well see
you next time they have um wedan they do they do a spring we did a shortterm in May everybody was ready Dive In invol Michaela and Adam you guys can hear us
right perfect okay stand by good evening and welcome to the Tuesday February 25th 2025 meeting of the long mow school committee School committees and other public IES 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 quum reductions for remote meetings all votes while there is remote participation must be made by roll call vote this meeting is being recorded and AED live by lctv and we will begin with the Pledge of Allegiance PL Ali to the flag of the
United States of America to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all we'll begin with correspondence she's not talking you want me to do it okay so a memo for from
Mr Donald Jarvis director of Occupational education at the lower Pioneer Valley Career and Technical education center regarding the Walter E Quigley Jr student of the month award for January 2025 Long Meadow students honored this month
are Nathaniel Vincent automotive technology 1 Aiden Julian Rodriguez graphic and visual design one right you guys that's it okay that's it all right great congratulations thank
you uh moving into approval of minutes we have a recommended motion I move that the school committee approve the minutes to the February 11th 2025 school committee as presented we have a motion do we have a second second that motion should be seconded thank you any
discussion seeing none we'll move to vote Jamie yes Michaela yes Adam yes and yes from me as well all right that brings us to public speak if there's any member of the public we don't have any here but we do
have some at home if anyone would like to speak now is a great time feel free to unmute or raise a hand if that's not an option all right seeing no public comments we'll move on to school committee announcements and
recognitions any announcements or recognitions from anyone on the committee okay we are headed into administrative reports um school committee chair report uh start by welcoming everyone back from February break we hope that you all had a restful um and lovely break uh got a chance to
do some fun things with family and friends um move moving into some upcoming agenda items a reminder about our budget meeting upcoming with the select board that is rescheduled now to Monday March 10th at 7 p.m so make sure that's on your calendars correctly
Monday March 10th um if any of the committee members are planning to attend um please let me know so that we can post the meeting if um needed um if we have enough members we'll need to post for a quorum um also a Welcome to our incoming nth graders um who visited Ms
earlier today um appreciate the faculty and staff who took the time and energy to coordinate the visit and who are working to welcome families parents and Guardians to the upcoming informational evening on Thursday evening so welcome to the high school um and lastly the town of Long Meadow is hosting a cover
art um contest for this year's annual Town report so if there are any um students or other community members who are interested in participating in that you can find more information about the contest and details on how to submit an original drawing or um um P photo on the
long meowtown website that is all I have and move on to you superintendent sure uh you mentioned the um incoming ninth graders joining us here at long oh high so we uh we're also preparing to welcome our incoming kindergarteners so uh Cas
screening will happen on May 13th and 14th and so we assemble some of our K teachers some of our um special education staff uh to conduct the screening it's a great way to welcome our kindergarteners it's always a fun day to see them in the office here uh we
have eth grade parent night on Thursday night so again part of uh our efforts to prepare our Rising nth graders for their academic choices for next year um so that's Thursday night uh next Tuesday uh Mr kastor athletic director
will host a meeting of the spring booster clubs um so I'll attend that if I'm available and then the following Thursday LHS parent teacher night uh and then March 12th we have Community strings uh here at the high school in the gymnasium so
uh Lots going on in the world of special education um I should note that um we are undergoing a desie uh integrated program monitoring review so that's will happen throughout the month of March we'll put families in the community un
notice on that and and be sure to keep the committee updated on that but it's a chance for Dy to come in and sort of look at our practices around IEP development um screening and evaluation and timeline adherence all those things
so um Nicole Paris Crow is is leading that effort um and it's it's a heavy lift but it's a good opportunity for us to S up sort of hold a mirror up to our our practices and make sure that we're we're meeting all the uh all the requirements so we'll keep you we'll keep you up to date on that all right
great that's it student representative Andrew so just to add to more about the family night on Thursday um student council will have student leaders um present to help um introduce like families to our the variety of programs
and activities we have for students to help them be more informed of the different options that nth graders will have next year to get involved um and then seniors will present the senior class play of Frozen Jr on March 13th 14th and 15th I believe that's Thursday
Friday Saturday and then good luck Lu to um girls basketball who compete tonight in an MIA preliminary game um girls ice hockey will travel to Auburn tomorrow for the round of 32 and boys basketball will have the round of 32 on Thursday um
and then just a reminder the deadline for spring Sports registration is March 5th all right great thank you um any other reports um lpvc we do not um actually Adam is there anything from lpvc on your
side uh just following up from that January 29th email um we were still waiting to hear from phis um uh just with Dr o shade's Communications on that so I haven't signed anything um it looks like uh the representative from East Long Meadow
also has not signed anything I think for the last two holdouts so just once I get that clearance I can sign that or not sign that um that's up to you guys yeah we did did check in I think that will Adam will connect uh offline on that but that's ready to go for your
signature oh it ISF all right great seal Micha yes um a very important meeting coming up on March 12th it's going to be a presentation on the special education budget for the upcoming fiscal year with
the director of special education Nicole Paris grow who never misses a meeting and Thomas Maza the assistant superintendent and we'll be talking about financial planning and allocation for special ed services all right wonderful thank you
sounds good um and no report right now from energy and sustainability that brings us to ongoing business which is our Middle School building project update do we have an opion uh sure um actually if it's okay I'll just share uh quickly just a a a few slides from the
last building committee meeting just to give the committee some sense of what we've been working on and uh in the community as well um so let's uh I Won't Go full screen because that hides
everybody so uh the the schematic design uh continues it's a it's a very intensive project we hope to have the schematic design completed with jwa our designers by by the spring this um we continue to refine the uh the floor plan
in the interior spaces and so we're really pleased with the way it is taking shape this is sort of the north south orientation and um you'll recall that it is organized uh in in neighborhoods so what you're looking at here that I'm I'm sort of circling at the south side of
the building is the uh the sixth grade teams there would be two teams of sixth grade uh students that would be housed on that first floor also on the first floor would be one of the eighth grade teams um and the other eighth grade team
would be uh on the second floor so some of our eighth graders would be moving from floor to floor seventh grade organized in two separate teams uh here on the on the second floor on the south side of the building as well uh and so we're excited with uh the way it is
taking shape um we're we're especially excited by the sort of space here in the middle of the building which includes the digital lab the media center the stem spaces the art spaces uh and then a little further up the hallway the the music and PE spaces so really you know
really robust strong uh spacious areas for students to engage in those sort of creative arts and uh performing arts and physical education uh and then um again the sort of the top of the building the sort of the wellness area of the
building with with the the gymnasium a high school siiz Court uh an alternative PE space that can sort of be a multi-purpose physical education space um and then the health classrooms are located in the in an adjacent area as
well uh really pleased with uh the amount of space that we have uh set aside for the Performing Arts uh strings band chorus uh and then even some allowances for the the growing dramatic arts
program uh at the middle school level as well so um these spaces continue to be defined and refined and and we've been meeting with the Architects regularly to to take a look at those spaces um I should also
note here up on the um up on the second floor uh is in the red here is sort of a uh a guidance Suite uh that includes anal room and it's also adjacent to the
math lab and in the lit lab those are two intervention spaces so um we're really pleased that there's sort of this uh counseling Suite that we have have set up and and then you'll notice also uh up on the second floor the uh the
science labs that are very spacious as well it will be a welcome adjustment to move from cramped science labs at Williams and Glenbrook to the more spacious science labs of the new Middle School um so lots lot happening uh in
the in the I'm a bit color blind so is that orange or salmon color there uh um are the special education spaces and so we're really pleased with um Nicole Paris Crow has been working closely with jwa to make sure that we have uh
appropriate space allocated to serve special education students and uh they're spread throughout the building in a very inclusive way so uh these spaces continue to get refined and defined and and we we'll keep you up to
speed this is a a quick overview of the uh of the site um we continue to work through that and as recently as today we met with the designers and the N representatives from police and fire to look at the overall site but also to
think about some of the security requirements uh that we'll need um Mr Maza uh and I have have sort of stressed to the um design team that we we want a an an appealing campus but one
that is uh manageable uh for uh current and future DPW staff so you'll see that there's some cool Outdoor Learning spaces here adjacent to the field uh some uh some great resour recess space
uh dedicated recess space which currently Glenbrook and Williams don't really have uh in a way that's kind of um tied to the building um so we're excited about that and then in here you'll see and again this is all just
sort of conceptual at this point but you'll see a variety of paths and learning spaces that uh the middle school students can access as well uh we want to make sure that this space serves student learning and creates some
engagement with the outdoors but we also want it to be uh manageable for for uh for our buildings and grounds team so um some really exciting discussions about the the exterior spaces and um we'll
continue to work on that they also floated um sort of they're they're at the early stages of trying to get some inspiration for uh the color schemes no decisions were made but uh they introduce sort of uh they asked the
building committee to consider whether or not they we should they should lean toward sort of these uh what they call Timeless warm color schemes or uh the modern cool color schemes so no decisions but some interesting discussion by the building committee uh
about how those color schemes could be repeated and integrated into throughout the building uh and then finally the building committee had some great conversation about the potential to include Synthetic Turf on the on the site uh and there was some review of the
the costs associated with that I think there is a certainly among um park and rec uh coaches and our own coaches uh there's some um strong interest in Synthetic Turf to create a a space that
is usable throughout the year uh by by multiple teams um the current the current Williams campus gets a lot of use and um certainly it's setic Turf would create open up some options for youth and School athletic teams so those
are some of the things that um we're s have been occupying the uh the building committee and then um our administrators continue to work with the uh design team as well on on some of the intricacies
associated with um security the the schematic design of the education spaces um the some of the sustainability goals was also discussed by the building committee and then uh the interior
finishes uh the the flooring and the walls have also we were also in the early stages of discussion with the design team on those areas so uh Lots going on um it's at an exciting stage um and they're really starting to
pin down that atic design so that the project can go out to bid uh later on this year and so that we'll be again in a position hopefully to um um ask the voters to consider funding the full
project in the fall of 25 so thought I those are just some of the slides from the uh February 12th meeting of the school building committee I thought I'd share them with with this committee for for your consideration so thank you
that's it any thoughts feedback or questions from anyone the only thing I would ask is it just kind of repeat for the audience just in case somebody watches this if they want to get involved or be a part of the process yeah what do they what do they do great great question so we meet
um the building committee meets the second Wednesday of uh each month um there is communication and contact information on our website we also post all the slide decks and all the links to
the meeting videos on our website as well uh but if anyone wants to be in touch with the administrators or the school building committee certainly our website would would offer um contact information so we'll start to um you know it's it's been the design team has
been kind of quietly working through December and January and and as we start to make these you know important decisions I do think we need to sort of begin to re-engage and and and reconnect with the community on our progress here so we'll we'll be sure to do
that other questions or thoughts right on a similar vein we're headed into new business related to Center School doors and windows and Ani related to that so we have um the msba has a core program and an accelerated
repair program our Middle School is part of the MS Ba's core program we are also we had also last year received an invitation from the msba to enter into their accelerated repair program to uh
repair or replace the roof at Center School um and so that is ongoing for your consideration tonight is a statement of interest to the msba uh into their accelerated repair
program to address the windows and at Center School they are they have just become eligible uh to be considered for uh mba's the mba's grant program under their accelerated repair program um it's
the reason it's called an accelerated repair program is that it's it targets certain building components either roofs Windows boilers um in this case there's an interest by the select board by the town
manager and by us administratively to request msba support for to address the windows at Center School um they are sort of at the end of their useful life they're 30 years old if they were in any of our homes we'd be
looking to replace them with something more manageable more energy efficient uh and certainly it will help with the you know the climate of that building the Energy Efficiency of that building uh the overall Environmental Quality air
quality of that building as well so for your consideration is a statement of interest to the msba uh for the windows at Center School and there are some very specific language on your annotated agenda that
would need to be um part of your motion if the project is of Interest all right questions related to this and or possible motions why wouldn't we do this I don't it it's a no-brainer I'd
say yeah it it you know it's um it's a way to take care of the buildings before they get to before the whole building gets to the end of its useful life and I think at Center School in particular protecting the envelope of that building
via the roof and the windows is is really critically important at this point and the msba would be would particip at in in funding you know up to 50% of eligible costs so and we all the windows have been an
issue in the previous yeah years recently even so the uh the the draft statement of interest is in your meeting packet um it it needs there's a few items frankly in the in the application that need to be finalized but probably
95% done and all the critical information is there for you okay all right so we need a motion yes please this whole motion yes Lord help us so having convened in an open meeting
on February 25th 2025 prior to the SOI submission closing date the school committee of the town of Long Meadow in accordance with the chapter bylaws and ordinances has voted to authorize a superintendent to submit the massachus to submit to the Massachusetts school
building in Authority the statement of Interest form dated March 14 2025 for the Center School located at 837 long meow Street which describes and explains the following deficiencies in the prior categories for which an application may
be submitted to the Massachusetts school building authority in the future five replacement renovation or modernization of school facility systems as roofs Windows boilers heating
ventilation systems to increase energy conservation and decrease energy related costs in a school facility this statement of interest is specifically intended for the replacement of windows and doors at Center School in Long Meadow and hereby further specifically
acknowledges that by submitting the statement of Interest form the massachus school building authority in no way guarantees the acceptance or approval of an application the awarding of a grant or any other funding commitment from the
Massachusetts school building authority or commits The Long Meadow School District to filing an application for funding with the Massachusetts school building authority thank you Jamie we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any further
discussion related to this all right see being none we'll move to a vote Jamie yes Michaela yes Adam Y and yes for me as well thank you all for putting this together and fingers crossed that we can get some
State support on the windows at Center School all right uh next up is other new business consideration for admission of an International Exchange tutor you have a a memo in your packet from high school principal Tom Landers uh Rec amending
the acceptance of a foreign exchange student under your non-resident student um policy that the policy is included in your packet uh essentially in that memo Mr Landers attests to the fact that the
uh admission of the foreign exchange student would meet all of your policy requirements uh some of which are that the student needs to come to us through an approved and accredited um International exchange
organization uh we have to attest to the school committee that there is sufficient space that the transcript of the exchange student uh is acceptable that housing has been secured uh and that the student would
not be pursuing a degree or a diploma here at long medle high school so those are some of the requirements of your policy and Mr Landers has um submitted a memo to attest that all of those requirements have been met so it has my recommendation as well um exchange
students tend to enhance the life of Longman high and our student body uh we're allowed by policy to take up to six typically you know we have one a year sometimes two but uh this is the first one that we've received for the 25
26 school year all right any questions related to this seeing none I'll accept a motion is this is this a misprint in here or is it a n and B no that's the that's the acronym I couldn't tell you what it
stands what a and b stands for okay but it is it's on the list of accredited foreign exchange programs okay yeah I move the school committee approved the request for an a NB education Italian International exchange student attend
grade 12 without the expectation of an LHS diploma at long medal High School for the 2025 2026 school year we have a motion do we have a second second thank you Michaela any discussion seeing none we'll move to a
vote Jamie yes thank you Michaela yes Adam yes and yes for me as well welcome to Irene fiori we hope you have a lovely year here and thank you to the um Dominic family for hosting
all right that brings us to our um agenda item last of the new business on staff and Community feedback on cell phones and schools all right well this should be exciting and interesting we we uh we had issued um surveys
to uh parent caregivers and the staff as well about uh the use of cell phones in schools and when I when I say cell phones really that the survey was meant to sort of broadly uh uh ask for feedback on the use of personal mobile
communication devices um so that could include cell phones that could include SmartWatches Etc so I'll just share um some of the qualitative feedback that we received that totally reflects the the
quantitative feedback that we received as well um I'd say for starters that the feedback was mixed that there really
didn't seem to be you know any um strong consensus that emerged on in terms of you know how strict or or not strict our cell phone practices should be uh but let me let me start with sort of the end in mind um
when in terms of our our next steps with regard to cell phones I think we still have some continued work to do on um stakeholder engagement uh I expect that we will bring to the committee some handbook
language that is clearer and more explicit and understandable for everyone generally speaking there was support in the survey for uh stricter limits um across the
board one of the things where there was was uh very consistent feedback from staff and parents was around enforcement our own staff reported to us and our families reported to us that
they wanted to make sure that um whatever our expectations are that they are strictly and consistently enforced from classroom to classroom to classroom and so that you know it really jams up kids and teachers and creates some
confusion when classroom a has different expectations than classroom B and so I think there's sort of this sense that we just need to make sure that we're all on the same page on this issue um I think the the survey
yielded really um pointed us towards a social norms campaign I borrow that phrase from the work of our close Community uh which is really just you know really engaging in education with staff and students and parents around um
appropriate use of cell phones and the effect that excessive use or inappropriate use of cell phones can have we also saw from the survey some strong feedback that there ought to be a tiered approach that what makes sense a K5 might not make sense at 68 might not
make sense at 912 um there was I think one of the things we need to tease out still is sort of addressing um safety and emergency concerns and questions so that if we do put um some restrictions in place on cell phones we want to make
sure that everyone understands that we can do that in a way that doesn't compromise uh student safety because some of the feedback that we got back the parents said that they want to make sure that their children in the upper grades at least have access to cell phones in the event of a school
emergency um so if we have some restrictions in place then we we have to you know be be mindful of that concern balance restrictions in responsible use so for every parent that said we ought to have you know this staff member that
said we ought to have the strongest restrictions possible on cell phones there was probably an equal number of parents who said we need to teach children how to use cell phones responsibly um and so that's one of one of the things that we're trying to balance digital literacy I think you
know we have some good foundational practice in place around teaching kids appropriate and safe Behavior online and with cell phones probably some additional room for improvement there and then I think um I'd like to engage our students in a survey before we put
anything in place make sure we get some feedback from our students maybe that's something I can talk to Andrew about how we could go about that um but some of the so of I'll run through some of the uh the feedback that we received um much of this speaks for itself I'm
I'm going to credit um uh and AI for helping me uh sift through the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of uh open responses that we receive from staff and from parents so divided opinions
um some arguing strongly for complete bands others suggesting that complete bands are ineffective and unrealistic um definitely agreement that cell phones are a distraction in academic settings that was that was one of the things that
we consistently heard no surprise I suppose um and um students tending to be one step ahead of us whatever uh practices rules restrictions we put in place um we have to be mindful that uh
students can find some ways to creatively avoid those expectations um emphasis on on teaching responsible use so we mentioned that safety concerns This was um something we heard parents and Educators emphasizing that students
should have access to their phones in the emergencies but there's also um an understanding from parents and staff certainly from staff that if there's an emergency we have mechanisms in place to allow for kids to reach out to and contact their families I mean schools
existed for decades and decades without cell phones um and so we you know I think one of the things that that came out is we really need spend some time educating parents about reaching out to their children during the school day um because that can be that can be
disruptive and um age-based policies I think that definitely jumped off the page um broad agreement that elementary students do not need phones or smart watches during the school day so I think we'll have some tight language for you on that um limited phone access for
middle school and high schoolers I I think though really at the middle school level I think what came out from me and from staff and from families was was off and Away there is a question at the middle level whether not we would have
cell phone hotels or the shoe racks in classrooms one of the things we heard back was that you know if students at the middle level are and even high school level are constantly putting those cell phones back and forth from their bag into a cell phone hotel or a
cell phone tree or in some drawer that the the that the teacher has they're always engaging with their phones and it might be better just to have them off in a way so that there's not that Temptation between classes to look at their devices
um uniform and and enforcable policy you mentioned that clear and consistent policy I think that really jumped out at all of us that we we just need to be clear on on what our expectations are uh lots of references at Jonathan Heights book The an Generation Um which is
really has some startling uh commentary on on how damaging cell phones um are to young people and adults um and smart watches as limited functionality is compromise I'm I'm not
sure that that represents a compromise we didn't get a lot of folks saying that uh but um certainly we're seeing kids even at as early as fourth and fifth grade with smart watches and I think you need some clear expectations there
um parental perspective um many parents emphasizing their interest in in contacting their children um others believing that schools can handle that communication so again really really mixed opinions on on
so many questions uh we we just saw a real even distribution of of thought on some of the questions um staff responses you know certainly the distraction piece concern about students sort of quote
sneaking their phones you know in the restrooms in the hallways certainly not necessary for learning even if some suggested they might have some benefits certainly not necessary um but it was encouraging
interesting to hear our staff say that um current enforcement is inconsistent and and we just need to have clear expectations at the administrative level at the classroom level um clear policies consistently
inforced um again some of the the same comments being echoed here um strict some favoring strict off and Away some suggesting a tiered approach with more autonomy at the high school
um lots of concern about student well-being and Social Development the concerns about um sort of the the dopamine effect that cell phones give students and sort of ensuring that um we're teaching kids to self-regulate in
other ways and um candidly staff worrying about students receiving unnecessary texts from home throughout the day um definitely interested among our teachers
in in teaching responsible cell phone use um and encouraging common expectations I think we all felt that staff felt pretty clearly that emergency communication could go through school
staff we have some quantitative data that I could share with you if you're interested on on what people's opinions look like in some of these areas um generally staff reporting that they saw cell phones as having Limited
educational use which is interesting cuz if we we rewound the clock about 10 years in education there was sort of this bring your own device uh approach in education and I feel like the pendulum has swung away from that and it's more about um Reliance
on uh School issued Chromebooks um teachers reporting that policing phone use is takes away time from instruction and again echoing uh that consistent enforcement and even
um our staff our administrators you know letting ourselves know that we also have to model appropriate phone use so lots of great feedback um like I said I have piles of quantitative data that I could share with the committee if you're
interested as well but the quantitative data really mirrors kind of what we see in the qualitative open responses so no cell phone survey is perfect um but it gives us some idea of what the sentiment of the community and our staff is and um
we're at the early stages I think what I'd like to do is pull together uh a group of parents and some students to look at the data and really start to um hone in on what our practice should be so I'd anticipate bringing a
recommendation to the committee sometime in the spring and obviously um open to any feedback or expectations that the committee has on this topic it's a it's a Hot Topic in education the the state
attorney general has just issued um um some guidance on this on how school districts can address cell phone use um it doesn't offer a prescription it just offers some uh General strategies and there's also some legislation pending
that would um ban cell phones from schools I don't know where that's Ed in the state of Massachusetts but we'll keep our eyes on that too so um so anyways early stages just wanted to kind of I know this is was important to the committee um that that you had some
expectations that we that we review this and and uh happy to bring you back any additional information or if you have any thoughts on on where you'd like to see us go with our handbook language um happy to feed that back to our
stakeholder groups so who do you see as being part of the stakeholder groups you already have some in place would you thank you them up um we we did the the committee did receive um a series of emails from some parents I guess it was last spring towards the end of the last school year I'd like to reach back out
to that group um and invite them in to take a look at and just have a conversation about the data and where we could go with this um I think I could also ask our um principles to run it by school councils because ultimately
School councils are responsible for handbook language especially at the high school level so I'd want to cycle it through the school councils as well and we have faculty advisory groups that we could cycle this information through uh additionally so but if you had any other
no I'm just thinking working backwards so if we're hoping to have perhaps perhaps policies in place to support handbook language then ideally maybe those stakeholder groups getting
going by mid-march late marchish so that between the handbook committees and student councils um and school-based groups we can be working together towards coming up with recommendations that can then get into handbooks and over to policy sub with enough time to
come to a meeting and go through some public readings of possible policies and discussion related to them before we hit the end of the school year so that then we have policies in place and handbook changes is in place for the beginning of the 25 26 school year perfect so just
kind of working back from that would be sort of my my thoughts related to timing that makes sense yeah and on your whenever you were saying they were e so the staff you were saying was split 50/50 whether they should allow it it was more the parents it was more across
the spectrum of opinion um it wasn't necessarily a 50/50 thing it was sort and depending on the question but many of the questions it was 20% 20% 20% 20% and it was you know some who favored you
know probably 20% who said strict ban you know just don't want to see it off and away you know can never surface during the school day to those who would say well these are 17 sometimes 18y old
young people who need to manage these devices in responsible ways so you know it was kind of mixed opinion really even with the staff so the the staff me on the Staffing I obviously didn't see the Staffing one to bit you know and like there had to be a question like does it
impact you educating the students with the students in there are you in favor of them not having it and I'm assuming it's got to be close to 100% yeah that's fair I think our our staff reported that they are disruptive to in they were in
agreement widely that they're disruptive to and I think every parent on this study if you ask them that they would say 100 % it's it's disruptive to helping my child it is like at home it's disruptive right and and most of the
parents are worse than the kids right it's just it's just it's true like you know so like you look at all this but like I think we got to like step back too whenever we're in these focus groups and going what is I get that everybody wants to have the cell phone everybody's worried about safety but exactly what
you said we went 40 50 years with safety there's people in this building if that I fully trust to take care of my child make the right decision at the moment like whether it's Health whether it's safety whatever it is and then they're going to contact us so I mean
you're going to get there as quick as you're going to get there whether it's a child calling or you calling me go and get here now so it's kind of I don't know I find that one just very odd I think it's just a scapegoat and I do think that parents are actively texting
their child all day long right and and how is that helping to educate your child and you know and you're taking away from your child and then you're disrupting so my issue as a parent and that's why I think we should like have so is you're doing this to your child
you're taking away from my child's education because you're disrupting that teacher and that teacher is supposed to be teaching my child too right so it's not a my child issue it's a whole we problem yeah and the whole we problem is getting caused by like you know so you know and almost you know saying to a
parent how many times you okay yeah I text my kid 20 times today while he was in school you know guess what they supposed to be being educated not texting with you because you wanted to talk about something else so you know I think I think your tiered approach too
is something like K through five I don't know there's really no role 6 through eight tell me the role I don't understand why a six sixth through eth grader needs either high school you can debate it yeah I mean but even even at high school you know you know kind of coming back to like the Pol and I think
you accented it well is like it's really confusing policies aren't really clear so clarifying that I think is going to help us really kind of understand where we're going with it but I think you got to come back to what is our what is our job educate kids does the cell phone
help educate the child and you got to answer that question don't forget about safety and everything else did that help educate my child yes or no and most people are going to say no and I'm going are you your kid using their phone in school is it messing up my child's education and my answer will be yes it
is cu it's disrupting things you know it's one thing to say oh I'm coordinating with my kid after school well you don't need to do that all eight hours or six hours of dur in school so there's got to be some Balancing Act here and kind of solidifying what what we're doing going forward and maybe
taking away isn't fair either but the way it is right now it's very Loosey Goosey and I think the clear expectations part and the clear um approaches part it extends to what's happening here during the school day but even our messaging to families you know we just want to be be clear on what our
expectations I think that's fair you know and I think it'll be fair for the teachers too because I would be I I get it you go from one classroom to another and it's very differing policies you're going what is like what you know it's almost like speeding like okay over here I'm allowed to go 90 mes hour but over
here I get to go 70 because those guys are a little bit worse they're going to pull me over and give me a ticket like be fair about it and kind of understand what what what you're supposed to be doing and not doing so I think it's reasonable yeah I do think different age levels matter as well I would agree with
you about K through five 6 through eight I think makes a strong case for either off in away or in a pouch I tend to be more uh agreeable on the idea that there should be more discussion at the high school level I do think that it is good for all of us as a community to help
teach children how to use phones correctly whether through modeling or use Etc I also feel at the high school level as a parent I never minded quite as much that some teachers had different rules from others I feel like that's a good practice for my kids to understand that different spaces have different
rules of the road and it's good for you to learn to follow those rules whatever they might be and whatever space you're in um so the uniformity piece doesn't concern me quite as much at the high school level I I agree that they are a significant distraction um and I liked that some of the Educators pointed out
their concerns about the lunchroom piece um I do think that that's a factor as well for some students to know that maybe that can be more of a cell phone free space or at least a cell phone free for certain space areas or times um to encourage more face to-face conversation
is really important that is an absolute challenge they are very addictive um it is good for students to have a little bit more of the face to face I think that's shifted As Time Gone by um Michaela and I think I saw your hand too Andrew y i I totally agree with everything
Jamie and Nicole just said and I think the tiered approach is a really great way to handle the kind of discrepancy from people who really want their kids to have devices and those that don't um but just something that
stuck out to me was the the staff and saying like they want to model good um Behavior with devices and that that sort of alarmed me because I mean I think an educator should never be
on their devices when they're teaching I can send you a screenshot of my 414 Miss text messages I'm never on my phone when I'm teaching and um yeah that can be stressful but I think that it's really
important to make that space only right then there's nothing else going on obviously I live in in the early Elementary years so I don't have as much insight to the other grades but
also from a safety standpoint I think about if all the kids in my class had devices and something happened I feel like it would be a lot harder for me to follow through with the routines and procedures of my safety I
have to get these kids out for certain things a drill or whatever it is like I I have to take care of them if they all had advice it and their first instinct was to reach out to their person their family and I didn't have that control of
like this is what we to do and this is what we have to do now that would be a lot more stressful and that's something that I think needs to be considered too yeah I I would agree with that in an emergency I need eyes on me so that we know what we're doing not eyes down
looking at phon it's it's an emergency scho we're in here and you're telling us what to do and he's over there his dad tells him to go do something else that's a problem you know like that is the negative side of these devices is you don't know the situation if you're in
here you have you're going to make the best decision for all of our families you know and so having every other family is going to come come up with their own idea of what to do that's where I think it creates unsafe environment personally I think it's more unsafe across the Bor because guess what
high school kids can do they can actually act and do something that you know maybe puts everybody else in danger like oh go you know go like what what are you going to hear from what parent each parent going to give a little bit of different advice yeah but they're not in that situation they're just freaking out because their kid is somewhere where
they don't want them to be yeah you know I I think it creates it makes it like what do the police even I don't even know what you know that that side of this as we bring this in we should bring they should be a St as well is you know what from a safety standpoint is it make
you safer it makes you feel better because you can talk to your kid at some point they they we've have our district safety meetings and occasionally um our law enforcement Partners have mentioned that that they worry about the effects of you know hundreds and hundreds of cell phone messages going out and so
they actually have plans you know how they would cordon off a school in the event of a of a safety situation and because they know that they would be many families that would be rushing to the school because of that cell phone communication so Andrew give you a um so
I can save all the policy nitty Gertie for later I just want to get across what I think needs to be said right now um I think the really key thing we need to focus on here when it comes to the student aspect of this is communication with students um making sure that not
necessarily that they to be involved in like a parent focus group I think there should be student focus groups I think that's something we can talk about later down the line but making sure that every email that goes out to parents about this goes out to students and I think that is important for a variety of
reasons but I think the most important one is that if an email goes out to parents that you know phones have been banned at the elementary level obviously that is going to get miscued and it's going to within like 10 minutes is going to be at the high school of kids thinking that there's an overall ban
across the district so I think if we're being strategic with this and we're communicating with students directly on every step of the way just a simple email or Google Classroom post from teachers Etc then I think this will make this a much easier process to make sure
that students feel informed they may not agree with it but I think it's going to sort of lower the tone a lot less and it will make things a lot less chaotic in terms of how we're going about this because this is a very um interesting issue I think for students and I think most students would agree that phones
actually are disruptive in the classroom they just want feel like they're part of the conversation they don't want this to feel like this is like something just that the higher-ups are dealing with especially when with all due respect um the higher-ups weren't really they weren't in the classroom when phones
were involved and I think some people feel I think a lot of students feel that they there's a lack of understanding in terms of how phones are used I think a lot of the times that can be negative but I think there are some reasons that phones are positive that some adults may not understand so I
think once again just communicate communication communication and that will just make this a lot easier for high school students to sort of understand um and then um I think in terms of cafeteria stuff because I think this is important just to get across now
I think at the high school level you don't see as much of students just on their phones constantly in the cafeteria I will say though I think I when I was in Middle School you had your you had to have your phone completely off and away at Glenbrook throughout the day and I do think that helped to Foster better
conversations in the CL um in the classroom and in the cafeteria because we weren't just on our phones the entire time especially when you're developing more as a tween rather than in high school where I think the a better way to go about this to high school would be as
at lunch is to kind of allow for maybe to have lunch be a little bit more of a space with leniency where students can communicate with their parents especially in we're talking about it disrupting classroom learning then okay you give students 30 minutes right now to talk to your parent about whether you
know what the plan is for after school I think that's kind of maybe a better way to look at this cuz I think when we're talking about Social Development I don't think that affects high schoolers quite as much I'm not as informed of the medical research of it all but from my experience um so that's just what I want to get across tonight um I think there's
a lot more I have to say on this but just sort of my initial thoughts in terms of how we go forward that's very thoughtful thank you Andrew um I appreciate the perspective on that because I think it is important to remember that students are stakeholders
as well um and it can be easy for us to maybe think that we already know exactly what all the teenagers in our lives might say about this and exactly where they would fall but that's not necessarily true um I think that students have a lot of thoughtful um ideas about cell phone usage
particularly at the high school level um and and as a high school teacher myself I think it's good to engage as much as we can with students and work together so I do like the idea of a student focus group that could maybe help figure out like what makes the most sense at the high school for supporting learning and
supporting safety and also Social Development while also remembering that we're dealing with older students who might have some slightly different needs than our younger students do Andrew you and I maybe can connect with Mrs drwick and Mr Landers and about what next steps would be to engage
students on this yeah yeah excellent yeah um and and just very very briefly in case anybody's wondering right now Elementary they're they're not permitted um Middle School it's off and Away uh and then the high school it's during um unstructured unassigned times that their
students are allowed to use their phones um provided it's not disruptive so um and then with the only other exception would be at the high school currently is sort of with explicit teacher permission if a teacher sees some uh academic reason for students to um do something
on their phones so yeah so that's the current status but I think clearer communication clearer expectations more engagement with families on this about what our you know what what we see what students see as the impacts the effects of cell phones in in schools so
appreciate the chance to give you a first look at at some of the feedback we received any last comments or thoughts related to this all right seeing none we have one final possible recommended motion to round us out for this evening
I move the school committee meet in executive session persuant to Mass General Law chapter 30A section 21A purpose two to conduct a strategy session in preparation for with the collective bargaining units a b c d f
and H and purpose s consideration of release of executive session minutes of previous meetings not to reconvene into Open session we have a motion do we have a second we have a second thank you very much any discussion seeing none we'll
move to a vote Jamie yes Adam Michaela yes and yes for me as well thank you very much reminder we'll see everybody again for March 10th for the budget and then March 11th for our next school committee meeting thank you good
night