In accordance with the open meeting law, please be advised that this meeting is being broadcast at a later date over the Lunberg public access channel. The Zoom link is in the agenda. The agenda is on the Lunberg talent website. Uh and it says this meeting will be broadcast at a
later date through the local pay access channel and on the public access Facebook page. It will be found on the YouTube uh Lunenburgg Access YouTube channel within 24 hours after the meeting. The agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and are those reasonably anticipated by
the chair. Votes may be taken as a result of these discussions. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by the open meeting law. So after that the next thing that we do is
the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right.
>> So, uh, the next thing on the agenda is public comment for prior issues. Anybody? Anybody? Mo. >> No. >> All right. Is there anybody online? >> Okay. Uh, and chair's report. Uh, two
things I wanted to highlight. Number one, I wanted to thank the teachers and staff that participated in Nature's Classroom. My youngest son, Ethan, went to Nature's Classroom, and it was the transformative experience that everybody had said it would be. and I'm really
glad he got to do it because our older son came in sixth grade so he missed it by one year. Um, so thank you very much to all of the people especially Mrs. Connory who organizes it every year. I have listened to the or report song about a million times. Uh, thank also to
all the parents that went at chaperones including uh, school committee Mitty Gilman and she sent back photos. So we're very grateful for all the parents that uh, went as well. The other thing that I wanted to highlight is the floats. Float building is underway. All
four classes are working on floats. Uh I have gone to a couple of different float meetings and cut paper and made flowers uh and do done all kinds of stuff. Again, I want to thank the staff that are acting as adviserss for each class. My son Isaac is in sophomore and so I
want to thank Mrs. Arnold and Mrs. Smith for taking this on. It is a huge, huge commitment, but I think it's part of what makes being in Lunenburgg special. So, thanks for them. Thanks to them for doing that. I have nothing else I'd like
to add. Uh, student representative is not here. If she comes, we will weave her into the agenda. Um, the next thing on the agenda item is to review and approve minutes.
This was from the 618 2025 session. Have we all had a chance to review the minutes from that uh meeting even though I know that what was everybody on? Yeah, everybody was on. >> That was the last one of the last year, right? >> Mhm.
>> Uh I'll look for a motion on the uh minutes. >> I'll make a motion to accept the minutes as proposed. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> I All right. We've approved the minutes. The next item on the agenda is uh review
and approve line item transfers, warrants, and donations. I think that >> transfers. >> No transfers. No, no warrants. No donations. Nothing. >> There are warrants. >> There are warrants. Okay. >> And donations. Donations. >> There is a donation.
>> Yep. There are three donations. >> All right. Let's go. Let's do it. >> Just a reminder to turn your microphones on. They can't hear us on Zoom. Um, our donations are from our very generous parent teacher organization.
They provided each school with $1,500 um to be able to be used in a way that the principles think is best for its use. And I have those donations here and
we're looking for the school committee to accept them >> motion. >> Can I just comment? I want to thank all the parents and all the PTL members who work really hard every year to help raise this money for the schools. >> I I want to say just quickly, I really
enjoy the car show. I know that like uh there have been other things that we do, but like it's just like smacks of Americana to drive down and >> that's great. >> We always rent our bucks. But so thank you uh to the people on the
uh the PTA for all the work that they do and for raising money. Thank community for making sure that it always happens. >> No, thank you. And uh we do have a fundraiser coming up uh at GreatWolf Lodge. So if people like to stay Great Wolf Lodge, we got a great deal. The PTO gets a little bit of money. If you book a room, you can look on our Facebook or
anywhere you can get that. >> It's a really good deal. >> It's a incredible deal to stay there. Is we have a random PD day in um the middle of March. So, we picked a Thursday night, so it won't be that busy. Um and the PTO gets some money back. So, we
also got a movie coming up. We're going to have a special someone dance and probably a car show. So, we sold a lot of gear. So, thanks to everyone who bought gear. I think we sold I don't know. I don't know what to say, but we we sold a lot of gear. So, we made some money on that, too. >> All right. >> I make a motion to accept the donations.
Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> have a potential grant opportunity that I'd like to talk to the committee about. >> Excellent. Um we have received from our
very generous legislatures um a possibility of $15,000 um coming into the district through special ear marks. Um it's in two
separate chunks. One chunk is $55,000, the other chunk is 50,000. and it can only be used on one-time nonrecurring costs and it can't be added to the base budget. >> So my suggestion for spending this would be
on the eye touch screens for the primary school. Um that will improve our infrastructure which um one of the line items was supposed to go for. And my other suggestion would be at least for
one more year restore I Ready because we're really missing the data and the individualized instruction that could happen for students with I Ready. >> Would it be restoring I Ready both parts the diagnostic and the >> Yes. Okay.
>> Um this is separate from the money that was ear that was earmarked for the transportation bands. This is that money, but it's not quite as much as we expected. And the vans we wouldn't be able to afford and we'd have to buy multiple. Um we'd have to have at least
three to um to support even our smallest teams were were the earmarks specific for Okay. I thought we had to give a reason we needed it. >> So it's just a non-specific here's some money. one for infrastructure and one
for materials. >> Dr. Fortuna, could you just tell me about the screens? Like how often do they become like the ones we have at Turkey Health? How long do they last? >> They have a pretty good um shelf life.
They're some of ours are going on um about 10 years. Okay. Which is I think that's what I heard most recently. >> Okay. >> And there the reason we're focusing on primary is because we have them at Turkey Hill. We have them at the high
school. We the only school we don't have them at is primary. And it's really becoming an equity issue. um because those students need to manipulate sounds and concepts to deepen their
understanding and their learning which is why I'm so strongly recommending this. This is also something that the primary school was told that they were going to get for two years and last time they were told this the two days before
the installation we had to cancel the order due to funding. So I think it's important that we make good on what we told them we were going to do. >> What year did that happen? The >> constellation was last year. >> Last year
[Laughter] >> uh to add to what Dr. Fortuna said >> uh after we did uh a listening session at the primary school, Chris and I went on a tour and saw how these work and so
people I mean you know >> yeah but they're basically like big iPads and one of the things that it allows the kids to do is it allows them to like directly interact with the screen in a way that is not as hands-on as like the projections. Uh, the other
thing is, and this is like a little issue for the bigger kids, but it's a big issue for the little kids. Uh, when you do the projections, you have like all of these cords draped across the room, and if they're, you know, little Tasmanian devils, they might cause problems for the kids or damage
equipment. So, having getting rid of the projectors and having the touchcreens, based on what Chris and I saw, I thought that was a really good use of this kind of money. Uh so which would it be all the projectors or just some?
>> It would be each classroom would we be able to finish the installation there. Right now I believe it's two classrooms and then have the touch view screens. This would allow us to finish the remaining classrooms plus have one on wheels to be shared between the special
educators. >> Okay. So every classroom in the primary would have one of these. They're also made by a Massachusetts company, just to let you know. I did all my research on touching screen. >> Um, yeah, I know that it's we've been
dangling this in front of them. >> I was almost hesitant to say it in public tonight in case the school committee didn't think it was >> Oh, yeah. That's kind of mean, actually. >> Um, okay. Okay. And so this would be in in lie of the transportation bands which we hadn't worked the kinks out on
correct anyways. And I think would cost more than 100. >> Much more. >> Well, I think one is 100. It would exceed the amount we were >> Yes. >> And they're smaller than the 15 passenger because those aren't legal. We'd have to create a stipen for drivers
um and pay for a 70D license for the people that drove them. So, I'm not sure that it would be economically the best move for us. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Do you need a vote on that? >> I do. I hate to ask you to take a vote
um with one night's notice. However, the grant is due on the 24th >> and we've talked about doing this forever. >> Can I just So, the the legislature approved this money. This was a override of the the vetos, the governor's vetos. Is that what it came from? Okay.
>> Um, yeah. I I mean, I'm fine with this. I do think it's important to note that Turkey Hill got those screens because they did they did fundraising. The Turkey Hill administration and the Turkey Hill staff raised money for those screens. They do do a um penny wars each
year, something that the primary school has not done. Um, so I do think it's worth a further conversation with the PTO to support the primary school on some fundraising, you know, um, thing. You know, with the previous superintendent, the PTO had
talked about doing a fund run or something of that sort and we didn't get a lot of support. Um, those kind of things need to happen during the day in order to raise the most money and schools around here raised 20 to $40,000 doing that. So, um, so I will vote for this, but I I do want to put that on the
record is that Turkey Hill didn't get them over the primary school. Turkey Hill raised the money to put them in the in Turkey Hill. So, >> thank you, Miss G. >> So, are you are we finding that not having I Ready is a
issue? >> It's something that we heard from our teachers and actually I heard from parents. Um, I was going back looking for the quotes for I reading and I found two parent emails where parents actually
miss the home component of it where they could work with their children at home. >> I like I Ready from a data standpoint and from being on the school committee, but as a parent >> Yeah. I can't I don't understand it at
all. like my daughter's going to kill me if I come home that it's coming back. Um, and I just it's it's an increase in screen time in a time when they're already on the screen so much, but it is an incredibly useful
data tool. I feel the opposite. I like the practice portion of it for parents to be able to do at home. I I found with the assessments that it wasn't super accurate for my children, but that's just two kids out of the entire, you
know, district. Um, but I do I do think it's a good tool for at home to be using as practice and we do need more assessment. Dibbles is not enough. >> What does Evelyn the teacher think? >> Um, we we don't really use it already when I work. Um, we do we do use dibbles
and other things, but um, >> yeah, that's >> Is there a less frustrating one? >> I do remember my son being very frustrated. He's in high school now, so I don't use it. But, um, my seven-year-old is in the midst of it. Um,
yeah, it's I could go either way with it, I guess. I mean, >> we definitely need something and reinstating is easier than piloting or trying out a whole new >> um testing format. So, if teachers are
looking for it, then I'm fine with that. >> Are teachers looking? >> Mhm. Okay. >> I just I I feel like we were leaning on it a lot. >> They like the independent practice that they can set up for kids based on their
um assessment. >> Yeah. >> And dibbles. Yeah. Dibbles alone can't >> Yeah. >> assessment and there's no math component dibbles. So, >> we're doing that. >> Yeah. Would we still be doing the dibbles? The three times a year assessment on the dibbles that we have
been >> it I am not familiar enough with what I actually assesses to answer that right now. Um, dibbles assesses one very specific
component of reading. I think I ready is a broader assessment of a child's reading skills and um or very um two very important pieces of the students um reading skills.
>> I think it's good too because Dibbles is not online. It's a paper pencil or and that requires a loud verbal timed test which not all kids do great with the timed portion either. So having the I ready that's I know it's frustrating when you get it wrong and it takes you
know does different things but um it's not a timed per se. So it kind of gives you a different perspective on how kids can learn because not everybody including my child does not do well timed. >> Um so it does give a little it's going
to give a little more information. I know last year they did use both. There was I already and um assessments done. So I assume that that would continue. >> I'm not thrilled with it, but I'm not going to vote no because I'm not an educator and you are. So if you say we
need it and the team says it's necessary, then I'm going to default to you. Um it's just really >> What is the cost for doing >> it? It's about 47. It was pricey and it's very because they
know that >> it also does have I said I already said this once but just it has the math component which we don't really have >> other formal assessments that I know of. >> We did use one um this year um for math
and that um however it doesn't give you the data very prettily. It's all in um spreadsheets that poor Amy Resnet casting coordinate and I mean, I don't love that we send home paper copies of Ready, but not paper
copies of report cards. >> Well, one of the things that we are going to be working on as a district, and you'll see it in the FY27 budget proposal, is there's a module in P school where we can actually email those
things directly to parents um underneath the data privacy um act. So, we're going to explore looking at that module. >> Crazy amount of work it gives Amy because I know three times a year Amy's >> Yes.
>> in the office stapling together. >> It's a huge job. >> It would save us a lot of paper and toner as well. Um I think the costs actually might work out to be about equal. >> All right. >> Yeah, I'm not going to vote. >> Any more discussion
>> if you think it's necessary? All in favor of the proposal. >> Oh yeah. >> I'll make a motion to accept the proposals by Dr. Fortuna to fund the grant money from the legislature on I Ready and on touch >> touch screens and whatever else we just
discussed. >> Second. >> All right. All in favor? >> I. >> Excellent. I am glad we are getting those touch screens. >> I am too. >> So much trouble with the kid now. >> I'm just not going to tell you. >> It's democracy Laura. So,
>> you can blame the rest of us. >> Things you don't necessarily support for the greater good. >> Uh, do we have anything else before we get to superintendent report? >> All right. So, uh, we're going to do things a little differently. The superintendent's report is going to
cover uh, a lot of stuff tonight and so it's sort of merging two agenda items. So, >> yes. But I do have one thing that I want to ask the committee to reconsider. Um,
a vote that we finally took two weeks ago regarding the soccer uniforms. Um, I think we're doing absolutely the right things. We are creating a policy uh around this. We're creating an
addendum to the bottom of order forms that includes that employees that go against the rules um will be subject to discipline up to and including termination.
Um we are implementing a uniform replacement cycle. Um that all that is the good work and that is what should happen. I've really been ruminating on this the past um two weeks and it really
solidified for me when I was responding to a parent email and I put a line in it and it was one of those lines that I'm like, "Oh, should I have written that?" But then I realized it was absolutely true and that if that shipment had come in earlier, like the boys football
uniforms had, our soccer players would be wearing new uniforms right now. So, I don't think it's fair to penalize them by having the uniform sit in the box until next year. Um, it's something I
thought long and hard about. Our girls have seven more games. Um, and they are going to the playoffs. Our boys have five more games. We have 14 seniors on our girls team. And I just think that
this is the right thing to do. Um I've thought long and hard about making this recommendation to the committee because it's something that I don't like to do is go back on something we've already decided and discussed. But ethically it
was important for me to bring this forward again. So, I've been thinking about this too because it occurred to me after we voted these kids were third, fourth, fifth, sixth grade when COVID hit. And I know we keep coming back to that, but like
these they did not have a normal middle school experience. Uh it just seemed kind of unfair to also burden them with this. and they've had to face all of the budget cut issues and it just felt unfair and I was
uncomfortable with what amounts to penalizing kits because they're sitting there in a box. Um, and I understand the arguments for it because it would get us one more year if we aren't using them. Um, I'd be comfortable with
dispersing them now. Girls are going to playoffs. Mhm. I I agree. Um I think it's just important for the public to know that the reason we have new uniforms, even though the school committee voted against purchasing new things, is because of a mixup in some
way. And that it's clear that that's what happened and that uh you know that that is it was never the intention to penalize the kids by not letting them wear the uniforms. it was more that it wasn't a
purchase that we had authorized in the correct way. And so that that's what the that's what it was about. It was not about the kids wearing new uniforms. Um so I'm fine if we want to revote and we want to let the kids wear the uniforms. I also thought a lot of long and hard about why the football team got to wear
the new ones and the soccer team didn't. That that to me is the worst part of it. If we had pulled the football uniforms back too um but for some reason the football team got to wear the new ones. theirs came in. >> Yeah. >> Oh, they were dispersed before came in. >> They came in. Okay. Well, that's fine.
But I, you know, I just think that that is, >> you know, that that to me is the problem personally is that the different teams that the situation happened the same way um or treated the same way. So, that's that's fine. I'm I'm comfortable with that. >> Have we gotten an answer from town hall
yet about why if the purchase order was made in June, why we can't put that on FY25? We haven't um because there's so much turnover in the finance department at town hall right now. >> Why is that
>> where everybody is leaving? >> Why is that town hall's calling? >> Because they get to decide um where we get to ultimately charge it because they ultimately put the charge in. >> Is that typical for other school systems? I
>> I just want to stay focused on >> just the purchase order. I want to be clear. The purchase order was made June 19th and we are being told we cannot put it in FY25 even though usually if a purchase order is made in FY25, it's
credited or it's taken from FY25. >> Does anybody else have anything that they want to talk about with regard to the motion that's before us from the superintendent? >> So, I'm just going to say my piece. I think that there are many ways to solve
this problem that are fair and equitable. And I thought long and hard about this. I like basically wrote an essay on justice in response to an email from a parent. >> That's the lawyer in you. >> Yeah, it was it was too much.
And I think that it would be great to give them the uniforms. The one thing that I keep thinking about is the fact that if we give them the uniforms early, that means that we're going to have to buy new uniforms earlier than we would otherwise. And every dollar that we
spend is based on taxpayer dollars. So there is someone in Lunberg who is on a fixed income that is going to be asked to pay a higher tax burden. They may have to, you know, skip a meal or eat ramen for lunch or they may have to manipulate how they get their
prescriptions at CVS so that they could pay their tax bill so that a very small portion of the population could wear slightly newer uniforms. And I understand that that's, you know, not a concern for the school committee, but as
stewards of the public's money, I think that that's an issue. I think I'm going to vote in favor of letting them use the uniforms, but I do think that we need be we need to be mindful that this is not a well of infinite cash >> and
>> what what is the typical cycle? >> It depends on right now. >> Well, so we thought that there was an actual written schedule and it turns out that there is not. But what had typically happened and Liz you'll know better than anybody is that it was done
on a rotating basis but certain sports had shorter turnarounds than others. So like football it was football and hockey had the two shortest. Right. >> Right. >> And then everybody else Yeah. >> because they need just needed to get to get them. So, what we're looking at now is a
six-year replacement cycle um where we pair a higher wear sport um such as football with a lower um wear and tear sport like like track though our track
uniforms are worn for three seasons >> so they they do tend to break down but um Mrs. Burns is working on this um as we speak. >> That's going to be a work in progress that's going to be refined. Yes. So, I
just I want to make clear to people whatever gets set as a schedule I think is >> it's it's going to be an evolving schedule based on changing situations. But it will be nice to have a rough idea
of whose turn it is. >> I'm just thinking about what Tony said, like the money portion of it. like how often are are we asking people to be spending that money or spending our money for uniforms? >> Six years is a pretty long span, but if
there's other >> uniforms that happen at three years or >> to be fair, part of this is supposed to be covered by the athletic fee. So, >> right, >> which we increased. >> We did increase the athletic too, but >> you didn't.
>> I did not. You did. >> So, yeah, the athletic fee increased. said this is supposed to partially cover >> uniforms as well. >> It doesn't cover the full cost, but it definitely >> parents are paying for this. >> Right. >> Okay. So, I think we should move the question, right?
>> Okay. Mot motion to disperse the boys and girls soccer uniforms to the soccer teams as soon as possible. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> And good luck to the girls team in the playoffs. >> Yes.
more games to go. So good. They're fun to watch if you want to catch a game. >> All right. I think it's uh Dr. >> Yeah. So, the first thing that we have are our school improvement plans. Um
unfortunately, Principal Squire can't be here tonight. Um but she is willing to have me collect any questions. that you may have. Um, these are the same plans you saw last year because they were
written for as multi-year plans. Um, each school's plan is in your packet. I believe Mr. Santry and maybe Mr. Yvong are online. I know Mr. Santry is.
this one. Yeah. So, if you have any questions, you know, if you were sparking reading these and something sparked, we have two new members sitting at the table tonight. Um, please feel free to ask those.
I mean, I was uh I was happy to see all the focus on reading in the primary school um continuous improvement plan just because I had just looked at the data that Dr. Bookas had shared with us about our MCCAST scores. Um so I think continuing
to focus on that is so important. So that was really helpful to talk about and think about in the primary school plan. >> Yeah, the primary really relies on I Ready, which I guess makes me feel a little >> Yeah, it'll be nice to have the
continuity of data. >> I thought the high school plan was interesting talking about how to engage parents more as well. So, >> I'm glad to see that. That was a key thing Mr. Santry had on his plan. I think that was the high school one.
>> Is Mr. Santry on? >> He is. >> Yes. >> Can I ask about the chronic absenteeism goal in the middle school? >> So, one of the things that we do in the high school that helps with attendance
is that we have sports. And if you don't go to class, you don't go to the field. And so for some people that acts as an incentive to attend school. That is a very important function of sports.
Is there anything that we could do in the middle school that would be similar to that that you think would incentivize attendance? >> So I'm asking either Dr. Fortuna or Mr. San. You know, we have some programs around
and also if a student is participating in a court in a sport, they're following those same guidelines uh for junior varsity or varsity sports that a high school student is. Um we we are trying everything we possibly can since 20 uh
2020 to get kids back into school. We've tried a more uh therapeutic approach with our school social workers, school resource officers, actually going out to homes, engaging parents to try to get them in. Um I am willing to try anything
in order to um decrease our chronic absenteeism. So I am open to any suggestions that my school advisory or school committee members uh would make. >> How did the therapeutic approach work?
Um, >> I mean, >> it's successful in some, you know, when you have an SRO or a social worker or an assistant principal coming out to your home in order to, you know, um, help you get into school that is um, it's
intrusive, but it is successful. So, I'm not saying that we do that with 100% of our students, but uh for the chronic chronically absent, we have done that. Uh we have seen some success um in getting students back in since
that time. So, it's dipped and flowed a little bit. Um but with that goal that we continue to kind of fight at it on that front. >> What are the numbers on chronic absenteeism and It's pretty amorphous as far as a
just a decrease in chronic absentee is. Do we have a goalpost and what is it currently? Look at the numbers at the uh tips of my fingers. Those are in the accountability report. The chronic absenteeism. I don't currently have that on me. I
apologize. I can get that number for you tomorrow. >> Mr. Sandry, I when I was a baby lawyer, they had a problem with chronic absenteeism in one of the the quote unquote big city schools that I dealt
with. And one of the solutions was they set up a truency court and they had a judge who would uh compel attendance by parents if they reached a certain level of absenteeism. I know that that mass
general laws allows for a fine of up to $20 a day, which is nothing, but like bringing somebody into Worcester Juvenile Court, which is the court that would have jurisdiction, I think that would be sufficiently disruptive to get their attention, but the concern would
be like, does that actually compel attendance? Has anything ever like that ever been thought of or tried? And >> yes, I believe you're it's called failure to cause and that's for a parent not to um bring their student to school.
>> Yeah, it's duties of parents. That's chapter 76 section two and it talks about the duties of parents. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, we do have a relationship with actually Fitsburg Juvenile Court and Okay. Um there are safeguards for
students that are we call it a CRA. it's a child requiring assistance. That's if uh it is a stubborn child. Uh but we also do have that ability to file something exactly what you said on a parent. I we used to refer to it as
failure to cause or failure to bring your child to school. >> Does it work? >> I believe in my 18 years I've filed two of those. >> So it doesn't work. It's pretty punitive. I I mean
>> it and when you're trying to build a community support, it really damages that relationship with the parents when you're sitting next to them waiting to see the judge. Uh you know, it is a tool in our toolbox, but it's not one that we often use. >> Okay,
>> Laura, I can go back and answer your question for chronic absentes at the high school. >> Yeah. Um in 2025 our rate for all students was 17.9.
That was um a 0.9 increase um from 2024. The target that the state has set for us is 15.7%. I also I know that Desessie has been pushing on the chronic absenteeism since CO
and I think it's a little ridiculous that Desi can't figure out why there would be more absenteeism following CO. Um I also want to put in um a plug for
taking a community approach to this. Um, if you disagregate the data, our lowincome students have a chronic absenteeism rate of 34.6. That's an increase of 4% from our
percentage points from the previous year. What was that percentage? >> 34.6. And our target percentage is 26.0. I mean, what was it an increase of from the year before? In terms of >> four 4.0
>> um percentage points for our low income students. >> Okay. So, now it's an equity issue too and it doesn't just there's more going on. >> Can you define chronic absenteeism?
It's for students, and Tim, you can help me out if I flop this definition. It's for students that miss 10% or more school days per year. So, um, if a student misses 18 school days per year,
and I should say on sense about this because one of my kids got pneumonia in the beginning of the school year and was out for a week and a half because she had pneumonia and could not go to school. uh that started triggering things. Uh it was the beginning of the
year so 10% of the beginning of the school year that's a lot um that was a lot uh and it made it difficult and then I start to wonder um like should I keep her home when she has a fever? Should I send her to school
which >> you keep her home? >> No, actually I sent the kids to school with strep throat because I got she's >> Don't do that. No, I I didn't know she had strep. She only had a fever of 994, which doesn't count. >> And we had been, this was at the end of
the school year. She had missed a lot of school because this was like postco. >> And she didn't have a doctor's appointment till 2 p.m. So, I sent her in. And um I had to >> because there's this push for this. And the end result is more kids miss school
because she spreads strap around. So, >> yeah. like I I tried to say in our open houses is don't send six sick uh students to school. Um if you break down 10% of a school year, that's 18
absences. Um that's a you know that's a pretty good amount. And we work with parents. If we have a doctor's note, we know you arrive with pneumonia. We're going to pro try to provide you with that work and help you catch up. We're not looking to bring sick kids into
buildings. We're looking for reluctant students to come to school uh so that they're getting an education. >> Yeah. To me, that's more of a social issue, which is why I'm absolutely it should not be a punitive court
>> issue unless it becomes a child abuse issue for not getting your kid to school. But I do not think it's a court issue. But I >> I don't think I I I would I've been a defense lawyer my entire career. I do not think we should put people in court
ever. But I think that if we have like a all tools on the tool belt approach and we're not doing it for reasons related to like mental health or chronic illness or poverty, you know, like if somebody just doesn't
want to come to school, you know, tough. Sounds like he's got the tool. He has only uses it very sparingly, which is appropriate. >> Yeah, I do need to follow the law, too. I understand. I mean, for you know, chronic absenteeism,
you'll get a you'll get a very nice letter from us saying that you've had some absences and then if it continues, you get, you know, maybe not a nice little letter and then we'll connect you with some services in the community. There's many many things that we do before we would file a CRA to go to
juvenile court. So we really try to do everything we possibly can before we take that step. >> Are there large strategic changes we can make in your opinion, Mr. Sandry?
Are are there changes we can make to the school day or I'm not even sure what is there? What what in your opinion works the best? >> Such a difficult question and I appreciate us talking about it but it is
a variable that we have limited control over. Is that because the student is at home? I think that we are providing as many learning opportunities for parents and students. The importance of the an attendance in school coupled with the
work with our social workers and our guidance team and our assistant principles and our SRO. We continue to plug away at this in order to get students in school and and we're gonna keep tracking and monitoring that through both of our school improvement plans to see if we're
successful. And if we're not, we're going to have to try something different. >> Mr. Santry, this is just like a crazy idea, but what if we gave somebody like a a pass on the bus fee if their kids had perfect attendance? Would that
increase attendance >> if they had perfect attendance >> or you know like we would create a relatively high standard. So like not that they could never be sick but like do you think that some sort of rel financial relief would provide sufficient incentive to get chronically
absentee kids to school? >> Um it's the first time I've thought about that Mr. Skulleny. I would think it would affect students that had excellent attendance and they would continue to have that. I mean, if you're
going from 20 days miss to whatever bar you're going to set. I mean, I like I said, I'm willing to take any suggestions or ideas that could get these kids into into school. >> How does charging a bus fee make it easier for kids to get to school? because I wanted like
>> what I'm saying is if if we did it so that it wasn't whether you had perfect attendance but it was the delta between this year and last year so that it was it was a re it was a financial incentive to increase your attendance and it doesn't count if you have perfect or if
you already have good attendance. So if you were marked chronically absent the year before and you got it down to I don't know five days whatever anybody thinks is reasonable Mr. entry that you would have you would be relieved of your obligation to pay the bus fee.
I'm just trying to think of like what dials and levers do we have to motivate behavior >> and money. >> We could transport students to school at no cost that would help. >> If most of the students that are sentences higher for those lower income
families, correct? As you said, >> most of those people probably filled out waiverss, right? So, they're probably already not paying plus at the discount rate. I don't know if that would really change too much. >> Could we offer if there is a student who is having attendance issues and
transportation is an issue? Could we offer them to wave the bus fee on an individual level if there's something else going on like a parent is not driving? >> They would I think they would qualify for a waiver anyway. >> Not if their parent doesn't fill out the form.
>> Oh, there's nothing we can do with that. we could give them transportation to school so that they're not relying on someone else. >> Um, can I just a few things I've been thinking about is um alternative high school opportunities, tech high school
opportunities, and also um uh more mental health services. Those are things I would think in my limited my limited uh knowledge, Mr. Mr. Santry, are those things that you might might
encourage kids maybe the the program they're in is not I know there's an alternative high school in Pittsburgh that's done good work for a long time. I don't know if you ever offer other options or >> so it's an interesting question because
we've been trying to decrease the amount of students going to all programs. Okay. We want to try to educate them in the community that they've become accustomed to. Okay. >> It is a tool that we use >> uh not necessarily for chronic
absenteeism but more for credit bearing y >> um considerations. So, um, and as far as, uh, tech schools, uh, we have a pretty robust pro robust program at the eighth grade with
ensuring that all students know what their, uh, opportunities are moving into, uh, for a money tech program. >> Lots of money. >> Well, there's not lots. Yeah. So, >> and we can't offer the vocational. >> Well, thank you so much, Mr. Zantry, for
answering some questions. >> You're welcome. Thank you for the conversations and the ideas. I appreciate it. >> Can I ask you a question about >> and this sort of may segue into a later conversation. Everybody has talked about
the MCAST scores. What is your what does your gut tell you about the cause for the MPS score variation and like how do we address it as a as a system because like every every grade had problems.
>> I think it's increasing our diligence and the use of data which um Dr. Bookis and her team are doing a really nice job now, but I think you'll see later in my
budget priorities that things like multi-tered systems of support become very important so that we can move students from where they are to where they need to be and accelerate their progress. We need to focus on acceleration instead of remediation. Um
>> what are the what's the difference? The difference is remediation is you kind of go backwards, right? You would take a child that's struggling reading and only give them kindergarten materials because that's the level they're at. Whereas with acceleration, you would give them
the tools that they need to access the third grade material. >> Okay. >> Um so I think ideas like those are really important. We need quite honestly more staff to do it well
and we need more staff at all three campuses and in all four schools. >> Do you think that changing MCAST from mandatory to voluntary impacted student performance? >> It definitely did at 10th grade.
>> Okay. Why are you so definitive about that? >> Um it happened across the state. It's a trend that happened across the state and we can particularly see it in our MCAST scores here. >> And so the thing is these kids are old enough to understand the difference and therefore they perform different whereas
younger kids that don't understand the difference didn't see as big a drop. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> That graduation was a big carrot. Um I >> I think not graduating was a big stick. >> Yes. Do you want to hear my rant about
MCAST? >> Yes, very much so. >> I am feeling very frustrated by the test itself because every year it tells us the same story, >> right? Our um more well-off students who
are white do better. Our black and brown students do worse. Our lowincome students do worse. There's an achievement gap for our students with disabilities. We've been giving this test for almost 25 years now, 30 years
now. And the data tells us the same story every year. And I think what we need to start doing is actually assessing what the students can apply for their knowledge using portfolios or
capstone assessments at certain grade levels. So, should we stop doing the MPS altogether? >> Yes, that's what I think, but we can't exactly do that. >> Do do you think teaching in this district has evolved or in
general to teach what the MCCAST is trying to test? >> I think we're teaching to the standards, which is a good thing. I think the standards are a good thing. >> Is MCCAST testing the standards? >> MCAST is testing the standards. However, it's not really testing an application of the standards, a true application of
the standards. You can't get that from a multiplechoice test or even an AI scored essay. >> It's a standardized test that's testing to the standards, but it's standardized. So, not all learners can show their skills through the MCAST testing. So
like what would be a I mean ask the public what would be a skill that the test would not be able would not be fine tuned enough to pick up. >> I mean I think like Dr. Patina said more of the application of certain skills. It's just so it's so
the same. Do you know what I mean? It's just the same. So, someone that I don't know does better listening than reading, but can still answer the same questions as someone who read it themselves. >> Okay?
>> It's not a fair assessment of someone that's more of a verbal learner versus a visual learner. It's just there's just so many different ways to show what you know, and it doesn't really give everybody that same opportunity in my opinion as a teacher and a mother. And
one of my frustration points is I used my brother-in-law as an example and he would forgive me for doing this. Um, he has undiagnosed dyslexia and he can't spell to save his life in
reading is difficult. Of course, the math test is reading. he can do geometry like you want to believe and construct something and write out the written directions for how to do that. And
that's why I think we need a competencybased capstone or a portfolio that students need to do. The state is talking about that with their new graduation requirements, but I really think it's a move that I would
encourage the state to make sooner rather than later. Why can't we do that here? No, >> because it would just be another assessment on top of the MCAST because we still have to give the MCCAST >> and there are students that can do alternative portfolio assessments, kids
on IEPs >> um with significant disabilities, but there's also typical learners that could benefit from showing their skills in different ways. I think it's interesting when you talk about because the one thing that I and I'm living this now because I have a
second grader and a fifth grader is the reading stuff, right? So my fifth grader struggled um he lived through COVID, you know, he did not get and the MTSS has really helped. I feel like he has really blossomed and he can do well. My second grader who also I mean didn't live through CO is also not probably on par
with what he should be. So where he not where he should be but where you know at grade level right now. So I that I don't worry about a lot of education because I feel like I feel like this like learners are you know people can have a lot of different abilities they can but reading to me
just feels so fundamental is that you can't really do anything else until you can read well so that's why I am interested if there are certain I guess my long question is if there's certain MCCAST scores right you would put more personally the reading at the lower
levels to me feel like some of the more important scores for us to be looking at compared to some of the other ones. Is am I am I just reading into that or is that something you would agree with? >> No. The problem with MCCAST data is that
>> this is kind of a crass term, but it's really autopsy data. >> It's not formative data that you can do anything with because in most cases the teacher doesn't have the same group of students who are now dispersed into other classrooms. That's why instruments
like I Ready and Dibbles are so important because we can assess there and then intervene immediately based on that assessment using MTSS. >> Okay. >> Um using multi-tered systems of support.
So I get really frustrated with MCAST because it doesn't help improve our our teaching. It just measures us year over year. It's a whole year worth of information that kids are supposed to kind of do in one sitting, you know, one or two
sittings where like the I Ready and the even though I'm not a huge fan of it and Dibbles is done periodically throughout the year. So, it's going to give growth versus just sitting down in front of the computer because now MCS is on the computer and you know having to sit and
and remember an entire year of what you've were supposed to have learned or been taught and that's just a lot on a kid and on teachers. It's just a lot. >> Can I ask you a question from the perspective of Bill's advocate? >> So, there are a lot of professions that
have a make or break tax. CPA, the bar a bunch of different professions. >> Teachers, >> why teachers? Why Why should we not be using the test in the same fashion? I I I think I know why, but I want to I want
to know I want to know the right answer >> because by the time you take the bar or your med school, you're almost a fully developed human and our students are still developing, >> okay? and their brains are still
developing and we know the neuroscience and the research on how they learn and what areas of their brain are activated and not activated. And I think that it's fine to have a minimum standard for entering a profession. But for our
students, what we're interested in is seeing them grow. And that having an absolute score shouldn't determine that's moving back to the industrial model. Having that absolute score determining when you move on rather than
your mastery of the skill set that you can demonstrate. >> Yeah. So for all the people out there who are like I did a kid, that's the answer. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> It's interesting. So given all of this, it's interesting to see in the Lunberg
scores, right? And it's statewide. It's not just Lunenburg. So I I I do want to say that because when you look at all the data, >> it really shows that since the pandemic, the numbers have gone down. >> Um so I would be interested, you know,
there's obviously factors outside of Lunenburgg that are affecting what kids how kids are responding to the test. So, I guess maybe there's no question here, but I just think we need to think about that as well because it's not just us.
>> Well, that's a great point. I mean, Jody said that it has been 25 years since this test has been even revisited as something that should be >> evolving like the world and our kids. 25 years is a really long time to say that this standardized test is still the
the one and only that we should be going by >> to determine the success and growth of every single child in every single school system. >> It is interesting though because people are so data driven even more than they were 25 years ago. So that is like an interesting dichotomy, right? Like
thinking about >> um it's one piece of the puzzle. >> Yeah. It's not the total puzzle, but it does show if we're having issues like here. I think we can still draw conclusions from the data, which is a
lot of it is co knocked these kids back and even the ones like ours who are in second grade. >> Yeah. >> Are still they do deal with the ramifications of, you know, >> Yeah. It's crazy, right? It's crazy. Even the kids who were young and weren't even in school yet, right? because that
early time is important. Leaving the house is important. >> Um so I think we can draw some conclusions but I think even on the on the district level it is
hard to draw conclusions other than yeah we need to be investing more in the MTSS and we need to be focusing on fundamental literacy and math skills in the early grades. Um,
but I'm not I'm not super worried about these. Um, there are definitely holes that I think we need to plug. And I do think this is a good argument for investing in our schools. Um,
>> and especially in those MTSS programs that we have, the basically the safety nets that catch our students as they're falling before they hit the ground and throws them back up in the air. Um, it's a little trapeze thing.
Um, because I think they're very effective and I think this is a argument for it. How are we so with students with disabilities Is that any student on an IEP or 504? What is the definition of student with
disabilities? A student with a disability is a student that is on an IEP or 504. >> Okay. >> That has um is a 504 is that you can't perform a major um an activity that impacts a major life function.
>> Okay. So, generally that's fine. And those students do have accommodations separate more less universal accommodations than kids on IEPs. So it's the the accommodations that are in the IEP will be transferred into affect what they're doing on that.
>> So it's a little harder to draw conclusions from those scores as well because it's a subgroup of each grade. Um but like I can see in grade three uh we are far below meeting and exceeding uh versus the state but in
other grades were above or close to par. I think I used par correctly. Um but I know we had put focus in that last year. Is that still an area of focus? on the individual school plans.
>> It is once you hear my budget priorities and my goals tonight. >> But the good news is we have our assessment expert online tonight to talk through the assessment report. Dr.
Bookus is with us. Um, so she can talk through any of the assessments and answer um probably in more detail than I can um what she sees happening for
trends. She's been here a few minutes longer than I have. >> Well, thank you Dr. Bookis for this report. It was really interesting to go through today, honestly, and I learned a lot. Um, so I just want to thank you for that. Um, once again, thank you for the color
coding by cohort. It takes a very confusing graph and makes it readable. >> You're welcome. I also have um Jen Travero is here tonight for the literacy if you have any specific literacy questions as is Amy Resnik who can
answer um your mathematics questions, more specific mathematics questions. Um, and I think Mr. Sandre is still here. Yep. for the high school um for the uh core areas that are assessed with the high school. So we have four folks here
tonight who can answer your questions. Um I'll start off with just um thanking all the people who contributed from the report. Um, so again, that's Amy Resnik. He's our K8 math specialist coach. Jen Carvero, our K8 literacy specialist
coach. Jennifer Miller, our high school math department leader. Mary Coyle, our English language arts high school department leader, Tim Santry, um, high school principal, Juliana Hansum, director of special education and student services, and Eric Weiss, our EL
chair. Um again this is um a report that shares with you not only accountability but also the assessments that are conducted um by the state and also within the district. Start off with the accountability piece. Um growth was a
real highlight um for the district. Um so it does show us that our students are making some growth. Um however the area for improvement is achievement. I've heard that already discussed um this evening. um which you'll see that that is the indicator that is most heavily
weighted in the accountability system. So for grades 38 it's weighted about 67 and a half% the whole accountability measure and the high school 47 and a half%. So those two indicators um count for a lot um for the accountability
measure. Um in terms of areas um other highlights last year um the high school needed to work on two areas. one was the extended engagement rate and the other was the advanced coursework. Um, pleased to say they exceeded the target in both
of those areas for this year. Um, which was really terrific and commendable. Um, I know the area of improvement of chronic absenteeism has already been discussed. Um, the other area would be gra the graduation rate which has always lagged the year behind. So in 2023 there
was a 100% graduation rate. Um, hard to exceed that. In 2024, it was at 93.6. The target when you hit 100% is 95%. So the district missed it by one point about point and a half%. Um which then
doesn't give you any points at all um towards the accountability system. So we weren't that far off. I just wanted to clarify that piece in the area for improvement. Um I think the pages seven through nine talk a little bit more for you about the
different types of assessments and how they're used. Um what the the purpose of different kinds of assessment and I would agree that MCCAST is always something that is you know it's in a rears. It's something you you no longer have students in front of you. It's really used as um an accountability
measure for districts. um to some extent it can also help us see in our curriculum and our programs where there might be mismatching um to the standard. So that is a useful area. Um but in terms of instruction um the most effective instruct uh assessment is
something that a teacher can use in the moment um that's actionable something like dibbles. Um I already gives us some broad categories. You still need to determine sort of in that category where the skill breakdown is and where the learning progression um needs to be
shored up in order to do that kind of acceleration that Dr. Fortuna was talking about. Um and then of course we have our own unit assessments for different programs. Um and then as we've been having our data meetings with our teachers and really sharing with them how important their observation of
students are in the classroom. That is a form of data and it's a really important piece when we're trying to look at the whole child and we're trying to triangulate um the data. So um I think that's it in terms of the highlights. If you have any specific questions, like I said, we're all here to answer your
questions. Dr. Bookus, I noticed that students with disabilities consistently was both the largest gap between Lunberg and the state and the only place where we were there was I think there was one
time where students with disabilities was at the meeting or exceeds the same percentage of the state. Every other time we're below. What are we doing wrong? Um so I wouldn't characterize these wrong. I characterize the things that we
can improve upon. Um one of the things that we are doing this year and I Juliana Dr. Hans is on line as well. She can certainly add too. We just had um some professional learning with our special ed staff around IEP goal
writing. um making sure that those IEPs are written with standards that are tied to what our expectations are for students and making sure that um that everything is aligned in the way that our special educators are also attending
our data meetings. Um they have been attending all of our PLC data meetings so that they are at the table and understanding the data. we now have data located in one area so that um everyone has access to it. Um we are also
ensuring that our special educators are attending all the professional development around um the programs so that they have an understanding of what is happening in the classroom. So, it's an extension of that learning for students and it doesn't feel as um it
feels more coherent for our students when they're not in the classroom um with their with their peers. And so, there are things that we can improve upon um always um to ensure that our all of our students are making progress. >> But like some of these scores are really concerning. There was one where we had
0% meets or exceeds whereas the state average was 11%. um you know I think there's only three where we were at or above the state level >> and so it seems like it's a a weakness across the board. How without getting
any information that's like furpa related >> is the sample size large enough to be statistically valid. >> Yeah I was just going to add then ours our stat size is very small. Um so our numbers range between I want to say 11
and 19 for the primary grades you get a little bit higher. Um sixth grade the number is 36. Um but yeah very small numbers and so your confidence intervals are are much weaker. Okay.
>> Yeah. >> We also too um if I can just add in with what Dr. book because it said in addition to the goals training that we did this year also last year we invested some significant um time, energy and
funds to get additional teachers, special education teachers um trained in Wilson, the Wilson reading system so that we um moving forward now we do have um more expertise in the reading area so that um students can get more support
with that too. just for the public because I know that we did make a cut of a Wilson reading teacher. We are still however we do still have Wilson reading teachers and we're using the system. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> We we have we have teachers who are trained in the Wilson reading system. So
all of our inclusion teachers at Turkey Hill and the middle school have training in the Wilson reading system. >> All of them. >> All of them. All of the inclusion special education. >> No. That's wonderful. Okay. I just wanted to make that clear because I
think I had heard complaints that we cut the Wilson teacher. Um, we cut we cut the Wilson teacher because there was one Wilson teacher for Turkey Hill and she wasn't able to that that position being what it was and with
student schedules wasn't able to um have a large service a large number of students. It was very um a small number of students for the year. So, in in investing our monies into training for all of our inclusion special education teachers, we're able to hit a much
larger group as needed, plus have those teachers um give those skills to students, not necessarily through a formal Wilson program, but just they have a broader knowledge now of of what may work for students.
And on the math side, if I can just add and Amy certainly chime in. Um the last last year and this year um Amy has been working with all of special educators uh throughout the year professional development around the scalpia. Um and again that's really been very successful
last year at the primary school and now this year at Cherokee Hill for greater understanding of math disabilities and how to um support students in their learning in that way. Okay. We can't hear you.
Okay. Okay. They're doing great work with Discaluya. She meets with them monthly. Um and they're following Becky Lord who is a renowned um math educator around Discalcula. Um her workshops. Dr. >> for
>> ask you for your perspective on this. Having taught in other school districts and been an administrator in other school districts, are these numbers in any way surprising? >> The third grade reading scores were surprising. Um, our third grade scores
were surprising for me. Those are among um some of the most concerning that I've seen. >> Do you think that any of the budget cuts that we made impacted the third grade reading scores? >> I do. DSS.
>> This is a pretty clear cause and effect. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And that's the first time they've been >> tested since. >> Yeah. >> Dr. Dr. Bookas, do you agree? >> Yes. I mean, the earlier you can have intervention um the sooner we can sh up
and accelerate that learning um this year in order to make some of that happen um for students to have um an extra dose or double dose of the learning to accelerate their learning. We're doing everything that we can to free up some time. So, um I want you to do the other primary school happily so
that that reading specialist can um take another group of students and we have to do whatever we can to make sure that our students are succeeding. >> Dr. Fortun, do you think that the the third grade teachers would agree that it was the budget impact? So like if we go to the tri board meeting and you present your budget,
is it a strong consensus among all of the people in education that this is a direct cause and effect example for how budget cuts have impacted students? >> I haven't phrased it like that with our third grade teachers. I've been doing a lot of observing um in their classrooms
right now. I know that Mr. Von who's on is really feeling the loss of a special educator in his building. Combining the special educator and the interventionist position has been very difficult for that person to meet all of the needs in
the building. >> Do you expect these numbers to be worse next year because of the cuts that we had to make this year? >> I'm curious to see. I think that Dr. Bookis and um Jen Traverso are doing
some really good work um with our teachers. So, we'll see. Um I really don't have a crystal ball to predict that, but I do think that not having the staff is putting a strain.
>> I'm very worried because these numbers do not reflect the budget realities of this year and the cuts we had to make last year. These numbers reflect previous staffing levels and not the staffing levels of this year. And I'm very concerned.
>> These only these only reflect the cuts that came from the um >> loss of >> from the loss of >> and I'm very concerned because >> these are not the cut these are not grades based on the cuts we made last year. >> We made more cuts to special education.
So there are no the the percentage of kids in third grade in ELA that meet or exceed regardless of how you break it down is less than 50%. >> Correct. I'll also add, you might recall, I know we have some new members on the school
committee, but when we did a review of the curriculum last year, the program, it was lacking in its um alignment to the science of reading and again what we know about the brain and how the brain works now with our eyes, which is why we purchased version three of HMH um which
now has that structured literacy component. And so again, if we have high quality materials and we have high quality professional learning, combine that together um to support our teachers who can then um facilitate that learning for our students. And so um you know for
those many years that our students were not um for the decoding piece of this the science of reading um for the simple um the equation where we have to have decoding and language comprehension to achieve reading comprehension. that decoding piece um was not aligned to the
science of reading. And so now we have a program that does. Um it's going to take a while to effectively implement that program. >> Jen, I don't know if there's anything else you want to add to that from your expertise area. >> Does my microphone work? >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Okay. Okay. Sure. Um yeah, the scores are very concerning. Um it is very encouraging that the district purchase version three. It incorporates structured literacy, which is what we know and how we build the reading circuit in the brain. I've been meeting
with teachers and co-eing and co-planning and we're exploring the structured literacy piece of the program. Um, and you know, we're we're in it. We're going to keep working. Um, we've been talking to parents about the
Dibbles reports. So, we have some key pieces in play that will um allow kids to make greater gains for sure. >> Can I ask a question about the data over time? It looks like if you look at the percentage of meets and exceeds all
students, it goes up as the kids get older. Is that always the case? >> No. >> So, why is that the case here? >> I'm not sure. You know, one of the things that we talked about when we were doing budget last year was balancing cuts between all
of the levels and you know, we don't have any sort of way like if two different principles come to us and say I need this and I need this and the same amount, we have no way of like measuring directly their impact on student
achievement. Um, but like it it's it seems like to me the data says that we need to spend more money on the lower grades. >> Is that is that a correct conclusion to draw from the data? >> I would say that any investment that you put in early childhood and elementary is
an investment well spent. >> You can't >> if I may weigh in on that. >> Sure. >> Gab is a researcher out of MGH. if you follow her research and she talks about growth that children can make in early literacy skills in grades K and one it
takes don't quote me about a quarter of the time. So if you get in early and lay the strong foundation as opposed to when you're working in first grade kids can make if we were talking about how many words correct they can read in a minute. Kids can gain two words a week. when you
get to the intermediate grades um it takes double the time. So between grades K and one when that foundation is being laid is essential. I do I want to point out that like on the grade two composite score divles
out of we're at 27% of students well below benchmark out of 102 students assessed that's 28 students that are well below benchmark for where they should be right now and I'm it's the beginning of the year and I'm hoping
that that's going to come up but that's concerning. So, do all 20 of those students receive NCSS or do we not have enough services for that? >> That's a good question. >> Um, Mrs. Squer, if she was here, could correct me, but I don't believe we have
enough people to provide the tier three services that every one of those students needs, >> right? And then the below benchmark could also get a little help when they're not getting anything. >> That's we're failing them. Those kids, we're failing them. If we're not providing those 28 students and those 16
students who are below benchmark with the services they need in Lunberg, we're failing them. >> I mean, the numbers go down a little bit for grade three, but not that much. >> Yeah. I mean,
statistics, the data sizes. So given um given this really thorough in like report is there a way that maybe we could um Dr. Fortuna or Dr. Bookis for as we go into our budget season
consolidate some of this into one or two pages that we could then share with other stakeholders. I find it really interesting, but no one uh not no one, but given the bandwidth of, you know, the public, I think we want to make sure we're saying as much as we can in as
little world's words as possible. Um, so I I know that's not typically what you do, but I hopeful maybe we might be able to >> I think that's very important, Mrs. Gilman. >> Okay. Thank you very much. And I think Emily's point that of those you know the
28 students who are well below benchmark not all of them are receiving >> right the services I think that's very >> an example like that I think is really important. >> I think that's very powerful. These are human beings in our town that we are not is there anything what do we do this year? I mean I know we're doing the best
we can. The teachers are absolutely doing the best they can. >> We did put that one in. >> Yes we did. and having the literacy coach being able to do sustained professional development is important.
Um, research shows that that is the type of professional development where you get the most teacher response from. When we make budget decisions going into next year though, I do want to keep this in mind >> because of budget is a list of your
priorities and what's important. >> All right. Is there anything else we need to discuss about the improvement plan? Can I just give a shout out to the eighth grade civics because we are cheating butt on the eighth grade civics test. >> Yeah, that was my What happened with
eighth grade civics? Why are we >> We're 21% above um >> Mr. Shay's screen. >> Is it now? It's Mrs. Leblang. It's >> true. >> Mrs. Leblang. >> Mrs. Leblanc. Okay. >> Yeah, >> that's great. That was my that was my question when reading is what are we
doing right there >> and how do we replicate >> and across and across all categories kids with low income kids with disabilities. >> Yeah. >> So that one was impressive >> and with something like that it's really a cumulative effect at a district level. Um when we look at that that's all the
social studies learning that's happened all the way through up to 8th grade. And so a really terrific job um in that area. >> Yeah absolutely. >> Yeah. If you look at the accountability percentile on our subgroup for low income, I believe we're in the 94th
percentile. So, >> if you had a 100 people in line, they'd only be five ahead of us in terms of servicing low income kids uh >> that scored on that six test. So, kudos to eighth grade. >> Yeah. And those eighth graders are now
old enough to advocate for what the school's needs. So, watch out >> because now they know how to do it. Do we need to accept this report as an action item and discussion item?
>> Okay. >> All right. >> Thank you very much for putting this together, guys. >> This is a lot of information. >> Thank you. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. >> Thank you everyone. >> All right. >> Okay. I want to
the budget priorities directly align with this report, >> but I want to start with my entry report because that also aligns with our budget priorities. >> So, does the this is when you get to
hear way too much of my voice. Does the committee have any questions, any comments about my entry report? I I found it to be I've read it twice. Uh I found it to be incredibly incisive
and I was impressed at how quickly you diagnosed problems that we've seen over the last. So, you know, I don't know if you ever listen to Click and Clack on on NPR. two guys that own like a an auto
body shop and they had people like describe the sounds their cars make and then they deduce like what part of the engine is messed up and I kind of felt like reading your report was like that you like got right to it. So I'm really really pleased. It was a lot of work for
you and I can tell that you put a lot of time into it. But the insights and the coherence of what you're saying really hit home and I think that you know the thing that you highlighted as your big concern has always been one of my big concerns and so really grateful for the
work you did. It's excellent. Truly excellent. One of my concerns with a new superintendent coming in was um the cultural aspect as far as un it's it's understanding the district and its uniqueness and the ways in which it's
similar to other districts and the way in which it's different and the things that make us Lunenburgg. Uh and then I read this and now I feel like we made a good choice because I think you understand the district quite well. I'm very
impressed with the amount of forthrightness you got from people were amazing. This wouldn't have been possible without the responses from our parents, our staff, and our students. >> And that takes trust in in a leader. So,
I'm I'm very impressed with your ability to see the big picture and understand and drill down to the issues. Um, and I'm also feeling really good about um
the empowerment of teachers >> and the how key the relationship with the staff is. >> So, I wanted to say thank you for that and thank you for liking that team. >> They're awesome. >> They're great. Uh, thank you for
appreciating that. >> The graph on peer connections makes me a little sad. >> Yes. Just going to say that. >> Do you think that's all >> like a generation. >> How many years of this town answered that? Do you know? >> Do you remember? >> Um I don't remember off the top of my
head what the N was, but we did have a significant response. Um most of um from this campus, most of our response was middle school. I want to shout out to the middle school teachers because I had a feeling they made them do it in class.
Um so I want to shout them out. Go ahead. >> Makes sense. middle school is challenging. >> Yes, there's the longing and the connection and the friendship um triangulation was really interesting um for me.
>> Yeah, that I I see there's something >> but on next on the next the student friendship one it says that you know there's only 5% of kids feeling alone or isolated. So it's kind of a discrepancy
a little bit between those two but I'm glad to see that on the other end. It is um how I'm explaining that is that friendship doesn't necessarily equal that feeling of belonging. Yeah. >> And um only lots of friends. >> Yeah.
>> One thought I had about that was more programming or one-time events for students to go to because I don't think they plan things anymore. >> Things like, you know, nature's classroom are wonderful. And if we could
think or andor afford more things like that or our middle school students um >> or even just like the school dances or social events. I know when I tangent when I was in sixth grade every month there was an after school there was like a >> evening or after school activity for
everyone to do together and I it helped to build bonds and I know that falls outside of what is our core responsibility. as the school system, but I I'm seeing a
lack of uh forced activ, you know, for students to get together. And I might disagree with you. I think student life actually is a part a big part of the school responsibility. I think that creating those experiences and I think
our high school and middle school do a nice job of offering programming within what they can for different students. And it would be interesting to see kind of how a unifying um approach would be
um such as nature's classroom or an experience like that. Um in Boston, we used to go to um one of the islands and that was our our big team building and exercise for the students. So there are
definitely things that we can do that we should explore. >> Do you think that like all of the focus on social division and I phrase it that way because I don't believe there's actually that much division. Do you think the emphasis on social division in like mainstream culture is prompting
some of these numbers? Or is this something that's endemic to the number? Based on some of the comments that students made, I do feel like social division is playing a part in this.
>> So when I was a kid, when I was in high school, I was a very difficult person to get along with and I am not much better now, >> but it's not true. It was it was very very hard for me to feel like I was part of a school and I and I realized a long
time ago that I was just kind of a weirdo and so I kind of just was like this is the way it is. This is the way it's always going to be. Do you think that like some of this is like just that natural part of kids being or are these numbers higher than what you would anticipate? like
>> the the long numbers were higher than what I anticipated, but I do think a good part of it is think of this period in a student's life, right? There's a lot of angst. There's a lot of figuring out who you are and forming truly
forming your identity that's happening now. >> So, I do think that that is also playing a role in this data. >> I think I'm sorry, are you done with your question? >> I was just gonna ask one one like So much of like being a teenager was like
life is contemptable. These people drive me crazy. >> But like how do we tease out that from the data? >> I the nearest that I could get to it was through the students actual comments when they gave me some. >> Okay. um not to always harp back to our budget
discussion, but I think some of this data could be really useful in that sense because I do worry that as we think about cost of programming and and what is most important. It's really difficult because I know in my last comment I talked about
reading and how it's really really important like so important but yet you know community is something that doesn't always show up as easily in data but that is so important and to me as a member of this committee and I think as
a member of this community is that um we're offering kids a place they belong and a place they can find what they love. And that may not mean doing the best on their math or their their English MCCAST, right? I mean, yes, I want them to do that too, but that's
not, as we said, every kid has something different that's special to them. Um, so I would just urge the committee and also you to continue when we're making arguments to other stakeholders in town that we don't just I'm not suggesting that we have done this, but you know, it is difficult when you're looking at
sports cost versus music costs versus a reading teacher. Those are not decisions we want to be making. But there is more to school than just um math and science and English.
>> Agreed. >> So, let's transition into the budget priorities document. And the document that I'm going to be working from is the 101025 budget planning doc.
There we go. So, you'll see this is how I think about the budget and I I think about budget priorities. So, for me, this is truly a statement of our community values. And we're not just
looking at numbers, we're looking at kids futures here. and that we need to be strategic about the investments that we are making and the deposits that we're making into that bank. And we are
never going to have all of the money that we need that or want. Um the town could give us $1.3 billion. I'll just use the Boston budget and there'd still
be more that we'd want. Um, so there's four core priorities that for me drive the budget development that um I'd like to get the um school committee's input on. The first is that the reading
superpower. I want everyone in our district reading by grade three. Yes. Um studies have shown um that life outcomes drastically improve if you are a reader by grade three. And so where will invest
is the next section that you can see under this. And I want to fully implement our evidence-based structured literacy curricular um curriculum that you heard Dr. Bookis talk about that we now have. I want funding for dedicated
MTSS specialists at least in every elementary school if not in every school. Um because we still have students at middle school and high school that are growing um moving up. That's four positions for those of you
that are counting um and sustained high quality professional development for all K to3 teachers and par profofessionals um in effective literacy instruction. Our parents in this district are amazing
and they're very active and I think that they deserve high levels of professional development as well because oftent times they are working with small groups of students. What I'm targeting for FY28
is that we'll see a 10point increase in the number of students meeting or exceeding grade level reading benchmarks on MCAPS. by the end of grade three. It's not sufficient, but it is a step in the right um right step forward. Statistically, the best we could probably hope for is
7% if I was really being a statistician. Um but I'm always believe in being ambitious and let's go for 10. And then I want 100% of K to3 teachers and I left off par professionals completing high
quality literacy professional development. Those are um the two measurables for that. >> Would we still focus on getting pair of professionals the training >> or we're starting?
>> Oh, you just forget you purposely left. >> No. Okay, that sounds fantastic. >> K3 educators. Yes. >> Okay. >> Um, my next priority is customizing success, personalized support and rigor.
We believe in personalized success. Our goal is to meet students exactly where they are, providing the right support to overcome any learning hurdle and the right level of challenge to unlock their highest unique potential. And I do mean unique. Every student's potential is
different. and we want them by the time they leave us to be able to take advantage of every option that's available for them. So what I'm recommending for investments here is um the software and tools that make
personalized learning practical and help us track individual student progress data instantly. I also um want to explore in this technology um realm the idea of high dosage
tutoring which is showing a lot of promise um across the state. And so that may be something that we choose to do overl once we look at the type of data or um any of the other programs that are
out there. >> Can I can I step? What is high dosage tutoring? That's a good one. >> So, high dosage tutoring is tutoring that happens um five days a week and usually for shorter spurts of about 30
minutes. And what the data that the state is gathering is showing that it has a lot of efficacy for student growth and development. Of course, it would, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. Do it. >> It gives you that double dose.
Is that oneonone or in groups? >> So, it can be done online. The online program that I like the best, it's done one-on-one um like a video. >> No, it's an actual teacher. And so, it's almost like a Zoom meeting with the
teacher and you um share a screen and you do your work together and you work on um building those skills. >> Is it would that be something we outsource? It's >> that would be a contract with somebody. >> Okay.
>> There are companies out there that do it. >> So that's a academic return on investment that we should look at for >> levels with that target. >> Um I would target grades two and three initially with that.
Trying to minimize the screen time for K to one. Yes. Just a little bit. um expanding access to advanced coursework like AP. Um again, we want to see students enrolling in those higher level classes. Dual enrollment. Um that's
something that I really would like us to explore more for our students. You can go to a state school with 12 credits already. if um a district has a robust dual enrollment which is also a fiscal savings to families get better housing
>> um and vocational pathways for all students which um Mr. Sentry referenced when he was talking about the eighth grade how we are encouraged by the state
and so we're doing it to really provide students with every access to what Monty Tech offers and allow them to make them and their families to make the decision that is best for them.
um maintaining strong staffing levels for special education, advanced academics, and academic tutoring to ensure low student to support staff ratios. This is an area where we're really struggling this year. I know we're not going to be able to build it all back in one year, but I'm hoping
that working together with the principles when we show our three-year um kind of trajectory, the public and the committee will be able to see where it is that we're hopeful to be going. And the measurable goals that I hope to
see for this are achieving a target of 68th percentile for student academic growth on the MCCAST. That is in the high range, but that is possible. I have seen that happen. Um, and districts
where once students are higher achieving, it's actually higher to get that harder to get that growth rate. I've seen that growth rate in pretty high achieving in districts where I would put our teachers up against some of the teachers that I knew there.
And a 20% increase in the enrollment of historically unrepresented student groups in advanced coursework. So, I'd like to see our low-income students. I'd like to see our um black and brown students enrolling in advanced
coursework and getting the benefit of that. The third priority is the power of connection and belonging in inclusive climates. And when a student feels truly safe, genuinely valued, and connected to their school community, they don't just
attend, they thrive. We are investing in fostering truly inclusive climates and an authentic sense of belonging that is felt by every single person in our district. And I do mean the adults when I say that as well.
Um, so one of the things that Yeah. >> Just want to ask you a question and I fine with doing it either way, but we live in a climate where somehow the word inclusive has become a swear word to some. >> That's true.
>> Are we intentionally using that word? I if you if you say we are, I am 100% in support of that. But I want to make sure that it's not just a choice out of a lexicon of options, but instead an
intentional >> It was an intentional choice. >> There we go. >> It It's aligned with what I believe in. >> Me, too. >> Um, so where we'll invest is one of the things that we don't have right now is
an anti-bullying um program that runs K through 12. We have second step and we have social emotional curriculums but neither of those adequately addresses the idea of anti-bullying.
And from my survey results that I saw um and that I read very carefully, bullying and bullying response is still a concern for students. Um and even if it doesn't rise to the level of bullying, it feels
to students as if they are being bullied. And um so how are we helping them be effective bystanders, helping them be good advocates um for themselves?
I the state gives a survey called the vocal survey that measures student satisfaction um with their schools and student sense of belonging. That survey however is given at the end of the
MCCAST test where you can imagine how students are feeling. There is a better survey instrument out there that I would like to consider us investing in and that is the Panorama survey where you can compare your data for your school
and across the district. You can um compare it with national averages. It it's really a great um suite of tools to be able to use. And so that's something that that or something like it is
something that I'd like to see us be able to um invest in. And then a lower cost option is expansion of community outreach programs, parent engagement workshops, and culturally responsive materials that reflect our student body.
Um, again, culturally responsive materials was a deliberate choice here so that every student that comes to Lunberg can see themselves somewhere in our community and represented whether it's in our library connect collections
or our classroom collections um whether it's with guest speakers that we have um come in, but we want every student to be able to see themselves. I want to I really think that parent
engagement is key to the anti-bullying as well. >> Yes. >> For a number of reasons. I think that it's easier to talk to your own kid about bullying when you have when you know the kids when you know and we are a small
community. I know Tony's been going on about the strengths of a small community and I think that's one of the strengths is when there are issues between students sometimes it's easier we've already worked to foster some kind of relationship
>> within the communities and build those bonds. So I'm happy that that's mentioned there as well under the inclusion. And then I want to achieve an average student rating of the 70th percentile on whatever we end up doing for a climate
and belonging survey. Um and then our fourth and final investment is supporting the best investing in joyful educators. Our teachers and staff obviously are the true engine of our schools. They are our
greatest asset. Um that came through loud and clear in my entry plan. um in my entry report. And to ensure truly joyful teaching and learning, we must prioritize supporting, retaining, and
empowering our cred our incredible team with the resources and development that they deserve. And we have to bring stability into the budget process, which is what I was trying to do by being so specific here with this so that we're
not losing teachers because they're afraid in December that their position is going to go away. We need to be transparent, but we also don't need to cry that the sky is falling until much
later if it actually is falling. Um, I'd much rather focus on what we can do than what we can't do. And we can do a lot of things. >> Can I ask you a question about this? One of the things that we learned in the contract process when we did research on
comps through Desi >> was that we have a real problem with compensation. >> We do >> and that is obviously the most expensive item in our budget. It's the most expensive item in the town's budget. But
we are going to struggle to keep people if they could go someplace else and make 20% with the same level of education. >> We will. However, there is this phenomenon, I call it Lunenburgg
loyalty. >> Yeah. >> Where our teachers love to be here. They just want to feel secure in their job. They love the community. They love their students. They love the families. and
that's evidenced by teachers that have been here for so long. Um, but you're right, our compensation package for our teachers is not strong and for our paris is even worse. And that's the reason we
can't fill our par positions right now is the compensation package. Um, we've had many powers tell us that and turn down our positions because of that. They don't have they haven't had a chance to have that Lunberg loyalty yet, but we can build that in our teachers by making
this or continue to make it a really attractive place where their voices are heard. And that I think Tony, we heard this in our listening sessions. I think you heard it when you were um looking for your new superintendent that our
teachers want to be heard and they want to know that their voices are valued. And um I just sent out another survey for them to see how I'm doing with communication and visibility after my first couple of months. And the responses have been really positive for
the most part. But what we're doing is there's a new section of my weekly newsletter that I do to teachers called you Said We Did. And it's basically what I heard from the survey, the quote I heard from the survey, and what we're
changing about our practice because of that quote. um or because of that feedback that we received which is really exciting to be able to do. >> I want to maintain a teacher and instructional staff retention rate of
90% or higher. It was 80.2% last year. >> That's really low. >> That's terrible. >> Is that including the layout? >> Yes. Okay. That's depressing. But we laid off a bunch. >> I wasating. >> That's one thing. >> That's about one out of every five staff members left last year. And our staff
members, I think that's a lot of our strength comes from the team we have >> right now. And all the long tenure teachers like there's >> there's some resignations on there that have >> thrown me for a loop because those were very valuable team members. Um
is what did it used to be historic? I don't know the historic >> I just I think that's way higher than it than it usually is. That seems incredible. I can get those for you. That seems like a lot of turnover.
>> Miss Peterson, in your experience, is that rate of turnover higher than normal? >> Absolutely. >> Okay. So just projecting out and I know what the dread board meeting is going to ask you.
We have labor piece now. We have contracts for all but one union. Those contracts can only go for three years pursuant to me state law. So like are we budgeting like next year's budget won't have that impact but the year
after we'll start to see those and then the year after that for sure will >> budget impacts related to collective bargaining. >> Are we anticipating that and how how are we going to sell that to the town? >> Chris is building that into his >> forecast.
Okay. And then these I don't have to read to you, but there's some operational budget principles. The how we want to keep the system stable, protect the core classroom experience, fund compliance, safety, and reliability before
enhancements, make discipline reductions and pauses. So, we realized to bring any financial plan into reality, we're going to have to pause on doing some things. And these are going to be very real conversations that we're going to have
with our principles and our leaders about what it is that and our teachers about what it is that we can pause for now. Um, use one-time funds only for one-time needs. So, if it's um something
that isn't one of our entitlement grants, which even those right now with what's happening on the federal level, I'm forecasting it being 15% lower next year, um just to be safe that any funds
that we get that are for one time, that we know are for one time, and we only use those for one time costs. um maximize our external revenue and offsets. So fully claim circuit breaker, align grant spending to core priorities.
So align all of those grants to core um priorities and strengthen our governance of revolving accounts. We as a committee and as a district need to get a handle on those revolving accounts. Um plan for known risks and contingencies and
communicate with radical clarity. And again, these words were chosen specifically. I want us to publish a clear budget book, not a million slides, but a budget book that's clear and concise, that has a fund pause plan list
for every major request and provides predictable updates. You said, we did. Um, and monthly variant snapshots and school level summaries. And then part three of this, you'll see
how I grounded this in my entry report. Part four, um, is an investment rubric in accountability. So, we can't necessarily I do have a friend that's looking for a specific formula that
calculates academic return on investment um, for me, but I'm not statistically or mathematically smart enough to do that. So I I fall back on a rubric and so the
rubric is four questions. Is it mandated or safety critical? Is it student facing and instruction critical? Is it recurring or one-time? What is the measurable impact on students? Oh five questions. What will we stop doing to
fund it? And the student facing an instructional critical part. There's a sub question under there that I think is really powerful. Will students notice the difference if this is funded or not funded? >> I think that is a really powerful sub
question there. And then there's a scoring framework to develop what our high priorities, middle um priorities and low priorities are. And this is an exercise that we'll do with the principles and we'll also do it with the
teachers. um part of our budget schedule. If you'd like to look at our budget schedule in mid November, we are having um community town halls with our
each staff at each school. So then we'll have a good outline, a skeleton of what the budget is going to be and what principles and leaders have identified as priorities. And we're going to ask teachers to weigh in and do the same
type of vetting process so that their voice because they're closest to the work so that their voice is included in our overall budget planning um for each school site. Um you have two budget schedules in
there. You have one that I call the complicated schedule that actually has um dates on it. Chris and I are pretty close to meeting our targets. Um, he is doing incredible work with that. And then we have the more general, I call it
the citizens outline of what we're doing because it's more general based on the time of the month. And again, we are hitting our benchmarks. Um, we're going to have our budget in a good place. Um
this is actually I think a benefit of having these tri board meetings. It kicked us into gear a little faster um than we normally would have and I think it's important information to have. So
we're actually giving real updates to the community not I think not I wonder um as we do this. So any questions about all that? That's the longest she
>> I mean so far I'm impressed. I think what you've hit the nail on the head of the important things that we need to look at. I mean as our last meeting I know we talked about I'm glad to hear you're not going to be proposing level services because to me that you know is too is not enough. >> Um I look forward to working with our
colleagues and the town to discuss how we can make these things happen. Um but and um and I know we've met privately and also publicly talked about clarity and sort of what we're offering to the public and I I so far that seems like
very it's been very good and hopefully continues to because I think that is vitally important um for us moving forward um to be successful for the kids. >> I agree. >> As a teacher, this is much appreciated.
If I worked here, I would love this. >> Um, >> well, >> and as a parent of two children, one with capability >> and much appreciated as well. Um, and as a school committee member, it's appreciated also. So, from three different perspectives.
>> Thank you, Emily. >> I can't believe how on target we are with the budget timeline. >> Hey, knock on wood. Thank you. >> I'm sure Chris's hard work. >> Yes. I Yeah, this is ambitious.
>> I appreciate that your goals are ambitious. >> Yes, me too. >> And even if we don't meet them, I I I just I appreciate the ambition. I I I appreciate the ambition. I appreciate not playing it safe >> and having achievable but
>> stretch goals. I >> Well, those are We haven't even talked about my goals yet. >> Oh, I know those. Yeah, but >> those are still to come. >> But the budget goals. >> The budget goals. >> Yeah, the budget goals. I mean, I think >> um I do think it's a great sign that so
many people replied to your survey and hopefully that will continue because I I hope that means that the public is engaged as well because we do need them engaged parents and stuff. >> Yeah, it was really interesting about how many didn't want to come to an event to meet me.
>> Yeah. but they were willing to offer their opinions this way and it just goes to show how busy >> people are, right? They'll sit down and take a survey and they just don't have time to go out. They're shuttling the
kids to from here and there and um it's hard. >> Yeah. And I think feeling like when you make a comment it actually making a difference is important, right? So I think that's and not that we have to take every public, you know, every comment every parent makes, but I I think it's important for people to feel
like the effort went somewhere. So that so that's good, I think, in continuing to it to be a loop. >> I think it's a good sign. Yeah. >> That people made the effort >> to say anything.
>> People have been so welcoming. um when I pop up in different places. This town is just wonderful and I can't say it enough. I feel like I've come home. >> I feel like I have come home. >> Well, I'm glad to hear that.
I am really impressed about the way in which your if we were at like a big fancy business the synergy between your uh your entry report and the budget goals. One thing that I I'm really
thinking about is like are we seeing echoes of the juvenile and childish behavior of adults in the media filtering into our schools? And how do
we resist that while at the same time empowering people to feel like this is a true marketplace of ideas that they can be themselves. They can represent their ideas. They can have ideas that people may not like and they can express those ideas in a way that is responsible and
civil and yet not make them the target of recriminations or something to that effect. I mean, we have a the town is really small and it is very it's unusually, you know, close to 5050 for a state like Massachusetts. We were the only state
that voted where every every town in the entire state voted for a Democrat. And so, you know, it's it's strange that we have a town in that state that is as clearly bipartisan as we are. And what I
I'm hopeful for is that part of the idea of inclusion includes people with different ideas. It's not just like, you know, I I'm I'm Catholic and you're Jewish or I'm, you know, Muslim and, you know, there's a there's
like a multiaxis system of diversity. You could have racial diversity, you could have religious diversity, you could have diversity of ideas. And I want to make sure that we have like like real and actionable ways to make that
happen here. And it seems like your budget does that. I am on a side note, I am not convinced of the effectiveness of the current anti-bullying materials. Uh you know this the state that I practice
law in went through this huge upheaval around bullying a couple of years ago because of a very bad thing that happened in Concrete High School. And the materials that have been put in place since then are pretty crappy. I
mean like they're just not they're not really there's no like way to measure if they were successful. There's no data on their impact. They are incredibly expensive for school districts. And I think that you know like talking to kids
who have been in trouble with those policies or kids who are been targeted by bullies, the kids kind of think of it as a joke. And so I I'm interested to see the options that you bring to the table in regards to like anti-bullying
measures and anti-bullying education because the stuff that I've seen in my professional care is is terrible. >> And one of our options may be to have our own to pay our own social workers and adjustment counselors >> to create the curriculum
>> that we use. >> That could very well be an option. a much better idea than the generic handouts and awkward public speakers that they hire. >> Yeah. >> Um, so it's 9:04, but we're going to get
to my goals tonight. Tony, not like we're not we're staying late. >> No, I don't want to stay late. We could stay We could stay a half hour longer. >> Okay. Oh. >> Um, so my goals, how they're structured,
just so you know, you may recall from our MASC presentation that they should be aligned to standards and elements. Within those standards, I've outlined the aligned standards and elements for you. There's the goal, the key actions
and benchmarks, and what I'll present as success criteria as evidence for each goal. Um, at the bottom of my goals, you'll see all of the priority elements um to make it easier for you when you do
my evaluation. So, you'll know what the priority elements are under each standard. And that is how this is set up. You've had these for several weeks, so I'm not going to talk through all of them, but do you have any questions? Again, I'm
hoping you see the alignment between my entry report, our budget priorities, and my goals. I very much appreciate this comment. I very much appreciate the alignment in everything so that we are moving with
one clear focus and one direction and our our goals are not divided and there's they're I am very grateful there is a clear direction in which to move which is oftentimes my complaint about a lot of things in this town is the lack
of clear direction forward. Uh and I I very much appreciate that there is a direction we are heading and I am happy with the direction. I really appreciate the number one goal about budget development and fiscal
leadership because I think it partly part of fiscal leadership is communicating enough budget >> and for so long we had had like our budget reports were brought to us by chicken little and it was just too much. It cannot always be a crisis. There has
got to be some sense of stability and normality from year to year. And like sometimes there's a budget crisis, sometimes there's not a budget crisis. You know, we can always use more money, but there's a difference between a budget crisis and needing more money. >> And I and hopefully, and it looks like
it's it's here, communication skills, we can like borrow your sense of perpetual calm, >> bring things down a little bit. It's my home. >> Yeah. And when we talk about the budget
development stuff, I do really appreciate as a lay person the direct connection between actual um what are the kids going to see as a difference, right? or the fa the parents, the families and looking at it
from that perspective when you're talking about budget planning because I think that's really important and it can be hard when you're caught up in a lot of education speak like to understand what the actual realities you know of a
cut or a new staff member is right we want to bring this person in because it's going to you know allow us to do this many MTSS groups like I think that kind of stuff is super helpful instead of just like, oh, this is going to, you know, deal with
our students in this tier, you know, like >> stuff. So, yeah, I mean, I I this seems much less confusing than when the MC person's so many options to choose from that very quickly becomes confusing. And
if a superintendent is not well well organized with a clear vision, it it just becomes a peacemeal pulling together of many different things, which is why I'm happy with this because I think they all link in with each other and they support each other
to build up. Um, >> and so remind me, we do the evaluation at the end of the year, right, on each of these. >> Is it two years? Do you go do you do one? >> No, it's first year. My first year >> because it's your first year. Okay. after that >> and then you'll present to us the data
to back these up. >> She will send us a long >> document with a >> it's a long process. I would set aside like four hours. >> It's a bit of work for us on Saturday to go through all the paperwork. I mean you're you're getting all the information as we go
>> but to like coordinate it and then be able >> Yeah. So it's like all in one place and then we respond in writing. Um I also really appreciate goal four the culture of belonging. I think we've taken a real hit with I and we talked about that previously with the retention and just
we have a good team here and we have good teachers and I think this culture of belonging really links in with the students feeling like they fit in and empowering teachers to rebuild trust in the system.
I'm thrilled to this. >> Yeah. No notes. >> No notes. Which is rare for me like to not be like, "Hey, can we change this?" >> Good. >> So, do we have to accept this or >> these are discussion items?
>> Yeah. Okay. And it's an action item next meeting. Next meeting. >> Okay. >> All right. Uh, next thing on the agenda is school committee draft goals. >> Do we have those? >> We do not. >> I did not draft that for you. >> No. >> No.
>> So, since it's discussion, let's in in in an effort to resolve this meeting before uh 9:30. Do we each want to like talk about the one thing that we'd want to put on the list? >> I got one.
>> Sure. I very much think that this year we need to resolve the issue. Well, we need to pick a direction to go in for Churkey Hill renovation or build new. >> Excellent. >> And then start pushing in that direction. I don't think it's going to be a quick thing. I think we are looking
at years down the future. I think we will not be on this board by the time it comes to fruition. Probably um our kids will be long graduated by the time it happens. I think I hope not. But I think we do we need a plan. We need a plan. >> I like that
>> and we need to push towards it because right now like I'm on the municipal building design committee. >> Some of that hinges on us not knowing what we're doing. And I think that it's time we made a plan. I think it's a little complicated because I'm not sure how accurate the estimate we got last
year is. >> I mean >> an estimate for what? >> For fixing up Turkey Hill. We got an estimate >> renovating. It was like $16 million >> which is very low. and I think is pretty low and that's that's only two. >> But we have to the thing that we got to
keep in mind and talking about this. Well, this is the best goal. >> I think this is I didn't even think of that, but that's >> what I didn't even think of this. >> This is the best goal. >> This is um it is clear from fin
room for under debt exclusions. >> Yes. >> To do something >> and so we we need it >> and we have the money to do it. So, we should fill in the middle part about what we're doing. >> Well, there's issues. I mean, where did the students go? How long does it take
it? Yeah. So, but I I I don't want to talk about it now. Like, I don't think we should get into a discussion about this. I think this should be our number one. >> We need to talk about Turkey Hill and I want to talk about the other buildings too and come up with a longer term plan because it's important to remind people that the primary school is in fact 25
years old and this building is somehow 11 years old. 12 years old. This This building is 12 years old, which makes me feel very old and I don't like that at all. I don't The primary school being >> both elevators are working. >> Mhm.
>> Um, so but I think we need to talk about >> Turkey Hill as one individual item and then I think we need a capital plan and I think the track we'll see what happens with the track, but I think we need to roll that into it. And I think we need >> multiple goals. >> I thought you need a lot. Let's say
let's say one goal. One goal per person, but I think we definitely need to deal with the Turkey Hill issue and then just pick a direction and go with it. One >> I'm I'm with that. >> I'm just giving that one. >> That would have been my goal. >> Okay. >> One of my goals.
>> I don't I didn't even think of it. Oh, my goal is to have a a budget cycle that is >> not crazy. >> Not insane. I was trying to think of a like a better way to put >> This is my third year on that's always been >> this is always crazy. >> What
>> the budget? >> Well, I know. But I I want a um one that's a little more subdued >> to have a hair on fire. >> Clear. Yes. A clear set of goals for our budget. our different a clear set of principles for each of our budgets that
we propose and a full understanding of the consequences. Maybe not consequences but the realities of >> consequences is maybe consequences like to actually feel like when we're discussing the few different versions we have. We have a sense of our return on investment or what you know what each
one actually >> what the consequences of each implementing each book. >> How many goals can we have? >> As many as we want. >> We don't want to like have 700, right? Usually we do like three or four and we get to two. >> Playgrounds would be a goal. >> That's on the capital plan. But
>> I think the playground >> on maybe we can actually >> we need to talk about kids kingdom too. >> I said playgrounds. >> Yeah, we need to talk about kids kingdom because that to be dealt with is not on the budget or it's not on the agenda. So we're not talking about it tonight. Well, no, but it should be goals under
capital Emily's capital plan list. >> I thought you meant the thing >> primary playground first priority. >> Little Warren article, >> King's Kingdom second. >> Kids Kingdom. >> Well, the K the Warren article that's going to be proposed is that we lose lose responsibility for Kids Kingdom, right?
>> So, that would be uh >> is that what we want? >> Uh it's less money out of our I mean, we pay for all kinds of stuff in our budget that we don't actually have any control over. So, I'm I'm happy to see things back to the down if it makes our budget
more realistic and closer to hue closer to the truth. >> I think it would be easier to get something done in Kate's Kingdom if it was a group of parents outside of the school committee >> and primary. >> Yeah. So, I I think Kids Kingdom would end up being something that we're going
to have to advocate for as >> So, a plan on on the >> I like I like the rena on the I mean, it was our number one capital priority. So, like >> Hillary, the primary turkey on there, too.
>> And it's a renovation of the primary school playground to be accessible. >> It would it would be a new playground and they would have to be it's tied into the driveway. We're also asking at the same time for a driveway study uh because if the driveway needs to move where the playground is or if the
playground can be located somewhere better where better >> preferably not in the playground >> but it the two need to go hand in hand in case because I don't want to have a playground study and then find out we're moving it. It seems like a waste of money. Uh, but I think there sounds like a plan
>> might be ways we can utilize that space a little better, but uh we don't have an inclusive playground in town anywhere. >> And the primary playground is especially not inclusive. It's huge. >> Yeah. No, no, I I 100% agree. Um, >> I like that goal. That's a good one.
>> So, the the playground Turkey Hill, we got to figure out a direction for Turkey >> clear budget presentations. >> And then >> I'm a little disappointed you guys won't get the 199 page nested. >> No, thank you. budget not interested. >> It's >> it was an experience.
>> So I said this last year, I said this the year before. It has never been adopted as a goal. I am not anticipating it be adopted as a goal this year either. However, one thing that I would like to propose as a goal is that the school committee develop a and I talked
to Dr. fortunate about this. Look into ways of developing reasonbased decision-m when it comes to budget priorities such as some kind of summitive metric that would allow us to compare the impact of budget decisions on
student achievement. So like for example last year at the end of the budget cycle we were faced with the dilemma of do we do we approve a gym teacher for Mr. entry or touchd screens for uh Mrs.
Squire. And in the end, we kind of just were like, well, you know, like it really stunk. We took a lot of stuff away, so like let's do it this way. And like that's an okay way of making a decision. But if we had like a real actual number where I say, you know,
like if we allocate this money to Tim, the the predicted student achievement increase across the board is X versus if we allocate this money to Carla, the predicted increase in student achievement across the board is Y. And
we can figure out which one is greater or even better, which one has a bigger bang for its buck. And I feel like we are constantly in these and this is one of the reason why the budget process sucks is because we have no way of
making meaningful distinctions when that is the scenario and invariably that is the scenario. Every year that we have done the budget we have been in this position where one person asks for X, one person asks for Y and we try to figure out which one is better and we don't really have any principled way of
doing it. And so if we are going to function as a reasonedbased committee perhaps we should figure out a way to you know have reasons for doing this. >> How would we accumulate that data though if it was something that we didn't have
yet? So we have two just using the touch. >> We have two touchcreens. That's not going to give us enough data to know if we should give the whole >> school system well the touch screen. >> That's just an example when you brought it up. >> Yeah. >> You know what I mean? But like how can we weigh
where's the data going to come from if we haven't had that situation? Oh, I don't know. >> You are so optimistic in people's ability to quantify things like student achievement and I totally get what you're asking for. >> It's just hard to get that.
>> I just don't think those are numbers. >> I know. But like when >> can I just say I just don't think we should hold ourselves to a higher standard than other boards in town have to be held to. Here's the thing. I want to win. I want to win the the budget
stuff. I want to get what we are asking for. I want to win. And if the way we win is to convince people that we are doing so because it is a reasoned principled position to take. I feel like that puts us in a better better. But I feel like you're asking people to
find numbers where there might not be any. >> He really wants to quantify. I just think you'd be a millionaire if you could create this system for other school committee on our experts to to tell us those things and I have to trust those. >> So are you saying maybe a rubric >> this year?
>> Maybe you want a rubric >> that she would have to fill out for that Dr. Fortuna would have to >> like the school committee like she gave us five questions she asks when she makes a budget question. We should be asking like is there two or three
questions you think as a committee we should commit to always asking when we're making a budget like how many students >> I want a number I yeah I don't think but you see what I'm saying right like we could always ask >> I think it kind of goes along with what we've already talked about tonight like how is this going to make a difference
for students in a positive or negative way >> that would be question number one that should be question number one because that's the goals of Dr. Fortuna and us. Yeah. >> Right. It's all about students. >> And then how will this impact >> staff or teachers or whatever the the
two things we're weighing out? If it's between teachers and materials, how will that affect >> Yeah, >> that might be a good place to start. I don't know that you're going to get the number. >> I get that you want numbers cuz like I get like we've had this conversation. This is like our third year doing it. I
get that you want I want numbers too. It would be much easier if we could just rank everything. >> Yeah. Student achievement is means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. >> But it's just not like we could quantify it. There'd be a company paying the money. >> There is an answer. >> Okay, find it.
>> And the answer is this. Every single admissions department at every single major college has an algorithm that they use to apply to student grades and test scores. And then they take into account the school they came from. And
invariably that algorithm produces good students for that school. They get the numbers and they use the numbers to guide admissions and the admissions results are really really good. Like the university my wife works for. Their
their numbers are incredible about the number of students that stay, the number of students that are high achieving. And they do it based on an algorithm that weighs like I said there, you know, all of the factors for admission. So there is a number for student achievement. There is a way of calculating this.
>> They can sh pick and choose who they want. High school can't pick and choose who they want to have come. >> But the the question is that can we pick and choose who we want? But like is there a way of quantifying student achievement? And the answer is yes. So if we know that that's an a possibility >> based on what your your wife's college
thinks is how people achieve at their college which is not exactly the same thing as general admission to a public school. >> You have to consider the well-being of all the students if the algorithm >> unfairly weights >> maybe algorithm.
>> I just I think this is something that can't be quantified >> right now. I mean I would be on board with though we have to trust the people we hired to tell us those things and I have a lot of trust this year that Dr. Fortuna has a pretty >> it's not that solid numeric trust
anybody >> do you think what I'm saying about the questions that she proposed >> yeah like a rubric is better than >> maybe we should do maybe we should commit as a group one of our goals is that we are going to use Dr. her fortunate rubric while we're making
decisions or you know or she can present >> certain I don't know exactly what it is yet because it's 9:30 but like something like that because I do feel like last year maybe you weren't >> so at least you would have been able to compare the screens to the gym teacher by going through five different questions and then make the decision
>> comparisons were also difficult last year because numbers were not readily available or >> yeah so I I okay so like as long as we have a reasonedbased method of distinguishing between budget requests. How about that? Instead of like a
number. >> Yeah. Like I think Yeah. Remember my spreadsheet from last year? >> I know. I know. But I I just feel like so many of these decisions were like this sounds good and so does this. What do we do? >> I made no decisions last year based on
like it. But like the stuff with like with Carla and Tim like it was like a legitimate like I don't know how to break this tie and we just were like let's do this. >> Yeah. >> And I was like okay. >> We followed the superintendent's lead because she's
>> Oh. She was pretty good about being like these are >> important. We their input because they're the big picture person. >> Yeah. >> Who's sees everything. >> But we also have a we have a duty as a board to make reasonable. I think I'm trying to agree with you Tony. I don't
think a number is what we're going for, but as a board we have a duty to weigh those things even. >> And so I do think I have heard other people talk about when I was not a member of this committee how sometimes it felt like some of the decisions were
random. And I'm not I'm not saying that as a criticism, but maybe >> it is definitely random, >> right? And so maybe we need to think about that. Maybe that should be a goal that we come up with a way that and maybe Dr. before and have some easy ideas of like us as a committee. We
answer the questions and then maybe that would make us feel like we weren't making decisions so randomly >> like her her questions >> affect how does this affect >> but we would use the answers to make decisions every time she makes a suggestion like we could do this or that
right then we as a committee say okay let's go back to the questions that we want to ask >> is that making any help to you no >> I'm just trying to think about put numbers for student I mean, you could give people 5 4 3 2 1. I mean, we >> we could give them a rank based on the
rubric and then we would have >> Okay. All right. >> So, >> so that could be a So, it could be a goal. It could be a goal that um the school committee we work on a less random >> I don't
I think we could come up with questions though to guide us. So during the budget discussions last year, a lot of it came down to the goals, the superintendent's goals and the district goals. How did this affect and I know Dr. Bernham's guiding thing was how does this affect student
achievement? Um and there was some frustration sometimes because uh some of us would consider the whole picture like you know extracurriculars and sport the things that keep kids coming to school and the things that are less quantifiable
than student achievement. Uh >> but ultimately a lot of things came down to how does this affect student achievement. So if we could come up with a few questions guiding principles but I think district goals >> okay >> to that as well. I think we've done a good job of discussing this tonight. >> And for a goal two, I do want to talk
about I don't even qualify it. I get that. >> Um I' I'd still like to work on uh an audit. >> Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. I will make that my goal instead. >> Instead of the number thing, I would
like to have some kind of draw. >> There we go. >> I just I don't want to give that up yet. Okay. >> I want to push for that. Are we both long? >> Yes. I think we've discussed this sufficiently and I have revealed how crazy I am to the entire public entire
entire town. >> You have a very analytical brain and it's much easier to make decisions if there was a number we could compare and be like, well, 1.53 is more than 1.27. Let's do it. >> I did this for my b my children's names, my wife and I.
>> Oh my god. >> So, you get the scientists and a lawyer. >> No, no, no. She did not like this video. >> Did you Is that how you actually did it? >> Oh my god. >> No. Uh uh. Public comments for issues discussed tonight. >> Is anyone left?
>> Moving on. Anybody have any public comments? Anybody left? Liz, >> okay, >> we're at like the tail end of sanity. >> Hi, Chris. >> Hello. He stuck through it. Way to go,
Chris. >> I did I did abandon for a few minutes to pick up calendar, but otherwise I was here. >> Good for you, >> Chris. Did you get my email? >> I did I get Sorry. What's that? >> I sent you an email after we took our vote. >> No, I didn't. >> Uh, no, I didn't see it after the after
there was audio issue. So, Chris and 108 Island Street Liberty. There were um I I um I did text somebody else on the on the meeting to make sure I understood the vote correctly because the audio was going in and out on Zoom. Uh and I couldn't even I had a you did spare me
from making a public comment earlier, although I couldn't hear you when you asked a public comment earlier. Um but that that uh saves some breath. So, I appreciate that. uh that um one Tony your idea of a um uh kind of generating
numbers here in terms of how to grade budgetary issues and so forth. When Lunberg has an endowment in the millions of dollars, I'm sure we can attain that. >> Exactly. Exactly. >> College colleges and universities because of the endowments that they >> Yeah. We'll go we'll go get his dad guy
from a baseball >> boring. >> Um I did want to um at individually as a parent um of a 5-year um soccer player at Winberg High School. Uh and uh on behalf of the soccer boosters, I did
want to thank you all for reconsidering uh the um vote you took a couple weeks ago regarding the soccer uniforms. Um I I know there's going to be plenty of excited uh student athletes. Uh we still have uh a bunch of games left this
season. There's still seven games just regular regular season alone. There's still seven games uh each for for these teams. Um and then we're getting to playoffs and and that kind of deal. So I I really appreciate you reconsidering that. Um and you know again unfortunate
how it all came to be. Um what I would say to that is I know this is an issue that kind of came up in August. Um initially I would encourage you at any moment I could you know the angst that I know Tony and your reply to me when I when I wrote the other day and Dr.
Fortuna you as well um the the angst you had kind of stress around this issue um I would say hopefully maybe it can be resolved if you reach out to the groups that that are involved or could be impacted. you
know, bounce ideas off of us, reach out, um, talk with us. Um, and and I think, uh, more transparency, more communication earlier on would alleviate some of that perhaps. I realize it's a challenging issue you guys had to deal with. Uh, but I would definitely encourage you with any future issues
like this to reach out and discuss with, you know, potentially impacted groups so that there's a more of a dialogue and kind of have that um, have that conversation. Um, regarding the uniform re replacement cycle, um,
great idea to certainly have a document. I think it's just kind of been verbal for a lot of years. Um, I believe soccer is actually the last team uh on that cycle perhaps. Um, not 100% on that, but I but I believe that might be the last
uh the last team. I would encourage you to take it a step further. Um, and maybe students that are working with the AD on like STEP programs and so forth can take inventory of uniforms as they return, condition of uniforms as they return, give them really a good once over so you
know what you're looking at year in and year out because I do think that's is, you know, it's in theory it's a great idea, but I, you know, wear and tear on various teams of uniforms is going to change that schedule um, a little bit. Uh, football obviously there's a lot of impact.
um track and field. Those those uniforms are used for two or three seasons, you know, a year. Um you know, soccer, there's, you know, tearing of shirts and pulling up jerseys and that sort of deal. I know some of the soccer uniforms aren't um the kits
aren't even complete. They're missing shorts and things of that nature for some kids. So I I would encourage you to even take it a step further beyond just kind of establishing that schedule, but taking inventory as those all come in on an annual, you know, on a season basis and really understand what those
uniforms look like so you guys can continue to work together to to kind of get that uh get that squared away. Um lastly, just as an aside to um Laura's comment of an inclusive playground, I just as a commissioner, I'll just make
mention that we we do have a plan for an inclusive playground at Marshall Park. Um it's taped now obviously, but um it is something we're continuing to talk about. Um and it's certainly an important um aspect for uh for Lunar because one does not exist and and that was one of the driving forces uh behind
our plans at um at Marshall. So um thanks again for uh reconsidering and I know the kids are excited for the uniforms and and uh really appreciate the time and and fun and have a great year. Thank you, Mr. Sullivan. Uh, are there
any other public comments? All right. No other public comments. Uh, I'm just going to make a motion to uh table subcommittee reports for now. >> I think we've we've done enough talking. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So, move. I'll I'll second it.
>> Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> All right. And then topics for future discussion. Given that we only had discussion items tonight, I think we know what we need to talk about. Wait, I do want to talk about um there are two things coming up on state funding for
schools. There is a DESIE group that's meeting to talk about the statewide K through2 school finance formula. They start their meetings next week. >> This is the chapter 70 formula. >> Yeah, we could submit I I was thinking I might draft something for us to look at
to submit in written testimony. >> Oh, I think Chris is still >> Oh, Margaret Scars uh Rep. Scarsdale's also having a foreign forum coming up. So, I'm just looking for I guess permission to write a few things and have everyone I'll send them to this to
Dr. Fortuna and she can send them out for people to look at and maybe we can add it to the next month's next agenda to just approve things. >> Can you email the dates? >> Yes. >> I think some of them were in there, but Okay. >> Yeah. >> I'd also like to talk about an audit
>> schedule. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then topic for future discussion, Turkey. >> Okay. All right. >> Um, I also think we should talk to our facilities director about Turkey Hill, too. >> Okay, we can do that.
>> Okay. Motion to adjourn at 9:35. Second. >> All in favor?