##VIDEO ID:6J16Ib1m7YQ## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e hey today is Tuesday November 12th let's have a call to order for the Maro Public School school committee meeting the time is 7:31 I would like to REM remind everyone that we are being videotaped and rebroadcast and streamed by wmctv having said all that let's all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I I pledge aliance 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 excellent thank you very much everyone we are now excited to have a presentation from the wicom students who had visited Japan so if You' like to come on up and showcase this wonderful presentation that we're all dying to see hi hi good evening school committee members um thank you for allowing us to attend tonight's meeting it is with my greatest pleasure to be here tonight to celebrate and share with all of you all of the successes from our seven student Representatives that prepared traveled to and returned from our sister City acaro [Applause] Japan I am Jennifer Smith and I am the advisor to the whitcom Japanese exchange program this current year as a parent I had the privilege of being part of this program last last year when my son traveled to Japan um I got to experience the parent end but now I've had the privilege to be the advisor to this program as a teacher in the malor public schools when our journey began together back in April I wondered if I was going to be able to create just as much magic hope and laughter and excitement that was created for my son throughout the months and the weeks and the days days we begin to build this on Tuesday Mornings we would meet before school with Mrs aako Barnum our parent volunteer for our Japanese language and culture [Applause] classes those very early mornings we were learning about custo customary mannerisms how to hold our Chopsticks money how to say things in Japanese how to introduce ourselves throughout the summer thought it would be difficult for us to continue building but it wasn't our seven student Representatives came together every week at the city concert series here in the park there they supported each other and even got on stage and represented themselves in a positive way to our community I was always so proud of seeing them interact with our city this fall we came back to school and I had to announce the unfortunate news that I was not going to be able to travel with them this year but it was with my greatest pleasure that assistant principal Eileen Hurley and math teacher Andrew th who unfortunately could not be here with us tonight would lead them halfway across the world and they too began joining us on our very early Tuesday morning classes then one very particular early morning after a group circle they set off on the journey to Japan I led as the adviser here as a communication correspondent between the chaperon students and parents so that they could rest at their evenings and I could handle their the conversations here Daniel Parker Jaden Malia meline kwami and Kier Return To Us in the very wee mornings one weekend full of energy smiles and accomplishment they are role models and they represented malbro and our schools with the utmost respect and dignity I am so proud of them [Applause] all and good evening I'm Eileen Hurley one of the assistant principles at Wickham I will keep my words brief but I want to share how proud I was of our students who gave speeches in Japanese tried new F Foods and explored the community of Japan and they were all made honorary citizens on our final day there of Japan so nice job guys I do have some words from Andrew th who um was unable to be here with us tonight and he would like me to read this statement from him going to Japan was an incredible experience for which I am extremely grateful I was proud of our seven students as they interacted with each other during their academic classes and other gatherings I have students who speak little to no English I was able to identify with their struggle because I do not speak or write in Japanese upon my return they were eager to hear everything about the trip while discussing the culture and the details of Japanese schools I noted my difficulties navigating the lessons being taught in the language for borign to my own a few students shared their own frustrations and difficulty trying to understand content taught in English this Mutual sharing provided a wonderful bonding opportunity for all students I am sorry I'm not able to be here tonight and so on that note I would like to share with you a um brief two-minute movie of their journey to akaro Japan and then each of our student Representatives have something short but they're all overachievers to to share with with us tonight [Music] than [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] no h [Music] and now our student Representatives would like to share some of their reflections Daniel schooler good evening good evening good evening SEC all right I'd like to start off by saying that our entire trip to Japan was amazing and I have so many great memories uh everyone from the students to the city members were so kind and welcoming and respectful to all of us uh but um apart from that I do have one favorite memory that I like to share on my fourth day with my host family I gave the gifts that my family bought for them and it was very nice seeing them so happy with the gifts that we gave them uh especially because they gave us so many gifts as well I had such a great time with my family and I truly wish that I can have the opportunity to see them again thank [Applause] you Parker white okay good evening good evening I'm going to start off with a memory from my school experience um I went to school and I did not speak the same language I will say that but I could tell from their attitudes and the way they acted toward each other that they were just like us like they have 10-minute breaks between periods and I noticed that they just kind of talked with each other laughed and had a good time I know that me and my friends probably would be doing that if we we had 10-minute breaks between Class um I also learned that they think it's very funny when they insult each other um so that was funny to hear a bunch of different insults like how to call somebody say that somebody got an A on something instead of an A and that was interesting um I also learned that the culture of Japanese is very clean they have different shoes for inside their house inside the school outside and in their bathrooms and what oh the nature there is probably the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my entire life and I would love to go back and experience that again but I would have to say that going to Japan was once in a lifetime experience and I did miss like three soccer games for that which was a sacrifice but I would have missed five if it meant I could go back again thank [Applause] you Jaden Bautista I'm good you can bring the mic pull the mic downer than you okay okay oh okay good evening everyone good evening good evening during my stay in Japan uh I wanted to show like who I was so like uh people from Japan so I decided to like to bring them something special from like where like my Heritage and where my culture came from because I was born here but my Heritage is from Mexico and so basically during my stay um I want to make I want to make them a special dinner that they will never forget that is from my culture and like from my Heritage and I I I gave them some I gave them American snacks too but I also make sure they give them the Mexican snacks too because those are also for my culture and Heritage but that night I made them a dinner and this dinner was tacos something like very something very popular uh for my Heritage and yeah so I did so I did the I I did it uh during a call with my parents online because this is my first time making it too so it's very clueless but I was able to get it done and when I got it done I served it to everyone and they were just they were just like very like impressed like the way it looked the way it was and the way it tasted and they all told me how they really enjoyed it and at the end they even tried making their own version of like tacos too it's just overall really great experience and like uh I'm just proud to like show them who I really was and like where I came from like where my Heritage is from and like showing both sides of the American and Mexican great [Applause] wonderful Mammy Pence good evening good evening something to do physical education activities in Japan are are more disciplined making it funner to play sports compared to America it does not matter if you win or lose over there they're just having fun the city is also giant at least twice the size of Maro the people are also very kind in my opinion the school math is way too difficult and responsible focusing more um the people are more responsible Focus focusing more on work and talking and I rarely heard a student talk while the teacher was talking in conclusion IO Japan is a great place and I think the program should continue it gives students the chance to visit a whole new country full of amazing places meet new people in a lot of food that Muslim Americans have never had and their culture and religion for us to discover Malia Joyce um hello everybody my name is Malia I'm like grab my speech from my pocket I put it in there did it fall out oh well this is improvised um so I'm start again uh hello everybody my name is Malia I really love Japan everything was amazing and I'm so glad that I had this opportunity just the food the culture the people I think the people was both the biggest difference but also the largest similarity I know that around the world middle school kids are going to be middle school kids but everyone there was just a lot nicer with it you know people would come up to me and do their best to speak in English which I know it was hard and it meant a lot because I was going there to experience their country and you know I obviously don't speak much Japan jaanese but when I tried they were impressed and everyone seemed so happy that I could be a part of it and I felt really welcomed there were students who would come up to me who didn't even have my class just during the 10minute breaks they were like oop Mal is in that room I'm going to go check that out you know and they would do their best to communicate with me which meant so much there was one girl her name was Mera and she spoke eh English and we were using Google Translate to communicate and I knew her for 1 hour and she cried because it was my last day at that school um I made so many connections and relationships out there that are unique to anything else I'll have in my entire life and I'm very appreciative of that just everyone was so kind and it was great to see what it was like with even different family Dynamics too because I'm an only child and so I got to experience what it was like to have a sibling even if it was only for a week and now I'm a little jealous just a little bit trust me that won't last I actually don't want a sibling because I like getting all the gift at Christmas so um just Japan was a once in A- lifetime opportunity at least this exchange because I will be going back there at one point and I am still in contact with maku the student who hosted me she's actually coming out here um so I'm really excited to reconnect with her not only that but when I was in Japan I hosted a student last year her name was Rio and I got to reconnect with her so Japan obviously there were so many things to experience but one of my favorite things was making relationships and connections and friendships that are unique to anything I'll ever have in my life and that are unique to most people won't have these types of relationships and bonds in their lives and I'm just so grateful that I could have that thank [Applause] you mateline Lee good evening um I just want to say for starters that I'm so grateful I had this opportunity to go and it was truly amazing and and my host family they were amazing and the host student I stayed with she was pretty much just a Japanese me but like 10 times tinier and I have great memories from there I remember we always played Mario Kart and I taught them like a bunch of slangs so we were just like using that the whole time while we were playing Mario Kart and the food was delicious and at school I was like a celebrity they got excited just for me to give them a high five and it was just amazing and I want to say thank you for the [Applause] experience and last but not least Kier goodr uh good evening or as I would say in Japan Konan um I would like to just start by saying this was an absolutely amazing experience and I am truly grateful that I got this opportunity I got to explore Japan and learn about the culture I climbed Tokyo Tower rode the trains deep underground and visited Mountainside Hot Springs but I think my favorite memory from this trip was making guoa with my family for dinner m simply sitting at the table surrounded by my host family light chatter from the siblings teasing and playing the smell of the dumplings cooking I got to visit Japan and I had a home there I have a home there and for me that was in truly CR truly incredible so thank [Applause] you before I um open it up if anyone has any questions I just would like to tell you that the future of this program we are welcoming our acaro family here on Saturday November 30th and then there will be a welcome ceremony at whitcom on Monday December 2nd at 9:00 a.m. and um I will be communicating more about the itinerary once more is finalized and thank you so much for having us here this evening if there's any questions I'll open it up if not we'll close this up thank you of course there's the questions we'll go around should I have the students come stand up here or they just fine right there um I don't know they should come up probably should because the the microphone right so come stand up here and then someone questions so we'll take turns Jaden Jaden actually started um to go down the path about the question I was going to have because I'm very fortunate that all three of my kiddos had the opportunity of being able to go to acaro and um they look back like you just were experiencing right here they still talk about it and they're older not old old but you know um and it's it's it is an experience that you will hold near and dear forever and Malo you talking about the connections that you've made um I hope that stays in your heart to be able to appreciate the differences of everyone and find that that beauty and that kindness um when somebody new walks up to you and they may need that too but Jaden started talking about the experience of um tacos right because we everybody needed to create their American meal to share with their family I believe right did you guys you did not isn't necessarily a requirement anymore it's if you would like to if you would like to okay well I I I was wondering only because that was a big question in our household was you know what to make and I love that you went ahead and kind of did the spin-off to also make sure that your your heritage including your Mexican heritage which is also part of that you know that American thing you you did tacos um that was one that actually my son who's not Mexican did as an American specialty and mac and Che cheese was another one and pancakes was another one um so it just it it's funny to to think about what we internalize and want to to give experiences to others so that they can see a little bit more of who we are so that's what I was going to ask about was your food choices but we're going to go with tacos from Jaden so never mind on my question but I'm so excited for you guys question question question question you don't have to I actually and none of you parents have to answer this but I know having interviewed not this group but many of the others and having been fortunate enough to go myself that the trepidation that the parents had when their child came home and said Mom or Dad uh I want to go to Japan or I've been selected um because I know for many of them they may not have traveled before and we always say to them that we're so proud of them for making that um leap and did you truly find them different when they came home like just a little bit you know like the responsibility you hope that [Music] they all right well I'm glad you guys had this opportunity and I'm I'm glad it's continuing and uh as I said Michelle and I got to go um when it was the 25th 20 20th sorry 20th 20 20th anniversary so this is the 24th year right yes well and if I could just chime in on that um the acaro committee has asked that this summer and I will be working with Jill Roberts from our MPS Communications that um past advisors um past guests that went past people that have hosted we are going to make um the mayor and um we're all going to be part of a movie that Jill's going to help me create so that they can present an acaro at the end of August oh very nice that's wonderful I'm glad you guys got this great experience so yes so I'll just say hi again because I did interview all of you before yeah different room they didn't recognize it was I knew that all of you were going to have an amazing experience but until you actually have it it's hard to imagine right but um having gone there myself with Mrs Matthews um it's a special place and and malor has a special place in their heart is that something that you really felt like a lot of people in Malboro don't even know that this program exists but there everybody knows who you are right do you want to tell us uh I went to a mall with my host family and somebody actually came up to me and was like so are you like a malor student that came to acaro Ju Just wondering just wondering like they were super nervous to ask me it was weird you were a celebrity and you obviously took pictures on Malboro street right I mean to them this program and this relationship is revered they really um it's really a part of them and sure malah um I know that like when I went there uh people had like a lot of questions about America and even more so than that like they just really wanted to talk to you they just really they also really wanted to talk in English specifically um like everyone who came to talk to me they didn't even try in Japanese like they would always try in English which like yes I appreciated um but they asked like a lot of questions and there was a few girls who were introduced to me by maku as they're going on the trip and I remember people would Point them out like they're going on the trip they're going on the trip whereas when like I got selected only my friends who I knew like knew that I was going but everyone in the class knew like who was hosting me and also like who was going on the trip yeah yeah oh great I'm glad I knew you'd have a great time and I'm glad you did and uh thanks for coming to tell us sure can you please come up if you don't know you're on television so there are people watching you live but it also gets taped that's what we would say the cat is in the K anyway I just wanted to say that I am so grateful that these kids have this experience it's unbelievable and I am I'm just thrilled that they worked really hard to raised money and they did everything to leading up to this and I as a parent I'm just super that I don't even know if Parker realizes how fortunate she was to have I mean I think you you will learn looking back you'll realize even more every year I'm sure you'll what a wonderful experience it was so as a parent being up there I'm going to ask you how would you feel like we could better communicate about the this opportunity so that more people could actually get interested in this potential of you know a a great trip great experience in so many ways um because I just don't know like maybe did Parker bring it home to let you know or was it something you all made aware uh one of my friends from the Jazz Band Doug Tower his mom kept texting my mom saying you know Doug had a great time Parker should go up to the point where she put Doug up to at jazz band he came up to me I was like my mom said to tell you you should go to Japan because I had a good time and I really did have a good time but you should go so I could speak to that um so I plan on continuing the program until June and um part of my plan is um and we're still looking for five host families for our students that are coming here is to reach out to fifth grade to get them excited for when they start coming to witcom so that when they're in sixth grade it's not their first opport hearing that because we can have sixth and seventh grade students apply so if we reach back a year then it starts it earlier so starting in an elementary school mentioning it I and part of my itinerary for the chapon that are coming here is to bring them back into the elementary school so we're going to have a half day tour at good now we also have a half day at the ECC and so it starts to get noticed more I think the three-year Hiatus due to covid-19 um hurt hurt us yeah for sure great thank you and thank you for sharing thank you anyone else no well thank you all for coming and sharing your wonderful experience and uh thank you all righty thank you very much why they're still here can we move the agenda item just to make it official moving forward can we suspend the rules and move to item what is it I don't even know oh 9A sorry 9A motion motion motion on the table to approve with school suspend the rules to move it up okay okay and now I'll make a motion to approve the well we have to to suspend motion to suspend the rules second all in favor suspension moves forward okay what's your motion motion to approve the uh proposed fall trip for ecaru I know dates are to be decided still for a motion on table to continue thechange program questions comments concerns my only comment would be once dates are set can you please come back so at least we have that awareness or have it communicated through the superintendent so thank you any further questions comments concerns seeing none all in favor continue the program motion carries awesome program will continue thank you very much and is it all right if we politely excuse ourselves yes thank you enjoy the evening thank you thanks for coming thank you everybody all righty we're moving on superintendent report thank you mayor Christian that's impossible to follow though um this um included in your packet tonight I included an updated enrollment report as of last week be prior to us leaving for the joint conference um I also compared to earlier reports and there it's been um October had four fewer students than this report today there's one more than last week um so it seems to be pretty stable unless um I will not include this information in the packet again unless there's a significant increase um in January or February sorry um that's usually the timeline where we usually um do we have already started um sitting down and looking at class size at the elementary to plan we need to make some adjustments um to grade levels um we really won't know about kindergarten for next year if the flattening of um the class sizes are going to continue or if it's a one-year thing um but it it is um uh it's joyful to have similar class sizes in kindergarten across the district so we're hoping that maybe we can maintain it but we will see on that um once again the class sizes at the elementary are ranging from anywhere between 18 um5 students or so up to 25.5 depending on um some of the larger class sizes um um the next item on the agenda is I included um from asbet Valley collaborative their school committee update throughout the year they provide four updates and um this was um report number one it highlights some of the activities that have been um happening gives you some information about and background on the collaborative and the um membership map um Talk looks back at some of their goals um highlight some new activities and um Staffing that has been added and some of the grants that they have done one of the things that they have included as well is is to highlight that they have been um chosen to be a benef um to benefit from the annual network with a purpose that is happening on November 18th at the Apex and that is something that the Apex entertainment marbor Regional Chamber of Commerce and kits for kids are um creating kits that will be donated to the orch Street school as one of the um schools or community that are going to benefit also um the community cupboard um marbor hospital as well I wanted to update the committee on the Maro Public Schools district strategic plan focused on District Improvement that's a really long title but let me explain um we've been working on a project that has embedded our strategies for improvement and student Opportunity Act goals into our district Improvement plan instead of having three separate documents having one plan that represents all the goals that we're working on on December 2nd 2024 at 4:15 p.m. in the Wickham Commons during the districtwide administrative dinner meeting administrators and teachers will be reviewing this integrated document and suggest edits additions and um edits and additions a draft of the combined document will be shared at a future school committee meeting I'm also inviting any school committee members that would like to join us on that night to see what some of the feedback is and some of the priority areas are um prior to that this week the district leadership team will be looking at the document as well um during that same time during that meeting some of the district administrators will also be trained in the title 9 um and so we are taking advantage to really Target um to specific areas during that night I also wanted to update the committee on the November 4th 2024 Citywide parent teacher organization meeting um on Monday November 2 uh 4th 2024 I met with members of the Citywide parent teacher organizations school committee me member do Mr Dan Caruso also attended this meeting topics discussed included remote hybrid PTO meeting options and Chris Henry is going to be supporting the each PTO with um doing that um policies and procedures for school volunteers what's already in place and ways of looking on and expanding those opportunities especially for parents that want to be involved in the schools during the day and the Citywide PTO had created a presentation um by the grade five subcommittee focused on end of the year grade five activities we have scheduled two follow-up meetings we'll be meeting on Monday November 18th for a followup discussion on the endof year activities for grade five students and all elementary principles will be joining that meeting as well for that discussion and the next quarterly meeting is scheduled from Monday February 10th all meetings um begin at 5:30 p.m. and take place in the superintendent's conference room the and finally the 2024 MIAA District 3 sportsmanship awards were went to marbor high school marbor high school was selected to receive the 2024 MIAA District 3 sportsmanship award the presentation of the district sportsmanship award took place during the 30th annual MIAA sportsmanship Summit at julette stadium in foxb on Thursday November 7th 2024 it's always scheduled at the same time as the joint conference I think it's the commissioner goes to that and then comes down to the C yeah so there's always a conflict that none of us can attend but but the commissioner yeah but the commissioner does so and that's ITC any questions I have one aspet yeah yeah on the as but um uh I it was just more of I noticed one of the workshops that I attended on the cape talked about um pipeline for educators and I noticed that they're utilizing one of the ones which I think we've also looked at which is that competitive teacher diversification Grant from desie yes we've had we've received that Grant in the past as well um and similar to uh the pathway that we're um going on currently is building teacher capacity through offering opportunities to par Educators and support Personnel yeah I mean that that seemed to be the consensus right now for most of the districts that talked about building it was um through obviously through their high schools um and then feeding into their par Educators and and Hometown growth as much as is more than anything these days it seems to be yeah we uh said it's very exciting to work through the schools and to see many many former students working in support roles hoping that they um love education and um we have course reimbursement as we highlighted it on the last um episode of superintendent's Corner um we have a lot of opportunities um we can support um our support staff to um have the trainings and the practicum hours and all of those requirements as they do their job and as our wonderful benefits support that yeah well and it's never too late because the first example was a woman who had been a par educator for over 30 years and she never gave up she did her education through it just kept not passing mtel but then finally did on her ninth try and and but she was able through the system to to even get her Masters so she just kept doing it kept doing it kept doing it until she succeeded so and we just point out the fact that we are always hoping to um grow our multilingual Workforce and that is basically just it's always when you're taking an exam that is not your native language sometimes it takes many more times to be able to pass that exam it's true Everything um on that note though I I would also say one of the things that's I've seen I feel like more recently a bunch of our alumni that are coming back and in some cases starting as um substitutes um and getting their feet wet and realize that they really do love um being a part of it and so many of them are starting on that path towards becoming a teacher um you know I which I think is just absolutely lovely you know welcoming them back and and uh them moving on and flourishing so it's been great to see so our teachers make the difference in a lot of students lives and a lot of our students want to make that difference as well any other questions for the superintendent seeing then we'll move on assistant superintendent of student services thank you thank you very much uh tonight I have a nursing update uh for the committee with the upcoming cold and flu season upon us on October 3rd 2024 boier Pharmacy conducted a flu covid uh vaccine clinic at Wickham where 50 staff members took advantage to receive the vaccinations additional flu clinics were offered by malo's Board of Health at several schools and an additional 53 staff received flu vaccinations I want to thank our supervisor of Health Services Chris Harrington for facilitating this opportunity for our staff also on November 5th professional development day MPS nurses participated in several activities the nurses attended the Boston University School Health Institute for Education and Leadership developments clinical update 2024 entitled Equity at the heart of care supporting students with diverse medical needs this 5-hour virtual professional development session focused on equipping School nurses with skills to support students with complex medical needs the training featured case scenarios that highlighted the challenges families May face particularly regarding access to resources in explored ways nurses can collaborate with families to overcome these obstacles some scenarios centered on the unique needs of immigrant students in emphasize the critical preparation School nurses should um sorry should make before these students begin School in addition to the virtual training the primary and secondary nurses met in separate professional learning communities the primary level nurses concentrated on developing a unified protocol for handling uh I'm I'm not going to say this right um pediculosis uh head or headlice they identified inconsistencies in the steps taken from head checks to student disposition across different buildings this protocol will ensure continuity of care with all nurses following the same procedures across all Sites the secondary level nurses began working on a standardized head injury protocol which has not been finalized yet they noted varying practices between buildings particularly regarding head injuries related to Athletics the team is reviewing MPS policies and dph guidelines to create a flowchart for staff to follow in the event of a head injury this will provoke promote consistency and care across buildings and improve collaboration with other departments such as Athletics our nursing staff places a high priority on collaborating with the athletic director athletic trainer coaches parents and students to ensure that every student remains safe and supported in the event of injuries like these our aim is to follow all necessary necessary steps to ensure that all students whether they have sustained a head injury or not can fully access the curriculum thank you open up to questions yes so I'm going to ask relative to the um section at the end with a secondary level Nerf nurses studying head injury protocol CU we do have a a concussion policy and we have had one in place for a while so are we meaning the guidelines that each of the schools are doing and how they're handling it is that what we're meaning when we're saying policy in there uh so the policy that we have in place has not consistently been followed so it's looking at procedures to make sure that they're following it okay so it's really more of a procedures as opposed to policy and I guess thank you for the clarity the other point that I would say is that um I think it would be great to have procedures obviously that are consistent but one of the things that's been really learned is that concussions are vastly different and so we need to make sure that it's actually enveloping all of the different things that can happen because there's just um there is no I don't know one set um guideline to what a concussion is going to be like for each child um normally has to be adapted so I guess I would say great to have that line and then we need to make sure that everybody really understands that it is individualized um per each um athlete or person that comes in with a head injury correct I think the it's the procedure first starts with making sure that there's uh a reporting of the head injury to the school so that they can follow up so I think that's the the first step uh and then going through so I'm uh I would like Christine Harrington to come um and Report out on any of the procedures that they do develop once those are finalized and making sure that's aligned with the policy yeah that would be great and and definitely you should have a tie in that um from the athletic department that there's a communication between the athletic director's office um once a head injury has been um you know discovered or reported so that it can be pushed out to all of the different nursing staff and the administrators and in both well you would think primarily more middle school and high school but of course it could be in the elementary schools too so okay thank you yes I'm going to piggy back off from Tennessee because what I was going to say is as a school committee member or as a parent that I would make the assumption that the policy that in place that when it's an athletic situation that the trail follows maybe that's not happening maybe that's what's being discussed um I think the harder challenge that I would have always been concerned with is anybody that experiences a head injury outside of school and that I know can not always make it to the nurses and because you know a teacher might notice something and may say to a nurse or something like they're in off did anybody report anything without trying to violate anything but if a parent doesn't tell us or doesn't bring in a doctor's note we can't make the accommodations to help that child absolutely I think that's also part of the reporting processes um some parent education and especially with all the club sports Town Sports that that occur um outside of um I mean even accidents even accidents in the yard they could be in a car accident there's lots of exactly so it's more of a it's not athletic concussions it's concussions or head injuries and it maybe we need to look at the handbooks again to say you know something just the parental awareness of if we always say sick but this is a a different issue that needs to be addressed and it has I I know that it does speak to it within the policy but to your point it it we need to make sure that we're partnering with you know the parents need to really be communicating that and as pointed out Jody it's um you know with having a lot of Club activities especially outside of um school and just accidents it needs right in just regular accidents that do occur the the communication as we've talked about for almost anything is really imperative making it happen thank you any other further questions seeing none thank you moving on to acceptance of minutes minutes of October 22 2024 school committee meeting motion to approve motion to approve is on the table and second questions comments concerns regarding the minutes from October 22 seeing none all in favor the minutes are approved thank you public comment moving on to the public comment going once public comment going twice seeing none in public comment three times seeing none we'll close public comment thank thank you action items and reports we approved the wicom school Exchange program so moving on to the memorandum of understanding between the mro school committee and the Mal school administrative office support Association motion to approve the uh new contract between the marau school committee and the marau school administrative office support Association from July 1 2024 to June 30th 2027 thank you had to think back on the table and seconded questions comments concerns seeing none all in favor motion carries thank you fy 26 draft budget calendar so we need a motion if we want to approve a motion to approve the proposed calendar questions I'm motioning any want to say me motions on the table and second questions comments concerns so and this is nothing this is we get educated for three days you know so each year um and I went to a couple of budget type conversations and this is more a conversation really between the superintendent Finance person and the mayor um um and I know we ran into a couple glitches last year just be timing wise but one thing several districts City districts made a point of saying that they don't like to even put the final stuff down until they have the preliminary chapter 7 70 which I know is a hard thing to do because it gets pushed and pushed and pushed and and and you're doing it in the hopes that held harmless and you're not going to get anything less um April 1st to me seems really early even though I know we put it over there but have you started to put your Citywide okay so are we jumping the gun a little bit here on dates or is it good for us to have dates I mean I know you've been talking about it since July 1 so um I mean you always want to have some targets to shoot for sure have a you a preliminary Cal need to work towards um you know and you know' do a certain number of years it always fluctuates and moves and we're always pushing those timelines out as we try to figure out more information um it's it's difficult because we get that preliminary Chapter 70 at the end of January we have no idea what anything's going to be sometime till the end of July so right um it's hard to kind of Bas on that where we think it's going to go it doesn't always fluctuate much but sometimes it it does and you know even to the point where circuit Breer we don't know that number until October now late October I think it's been so um you know it's hard with with those numbers to kind of anticipate where we think things are going to be going um but you know again it's it's a timeline and it's um just kind of following through in a process I'm not I'm personally not uncomfortable with putting dates I just wanted to basically like bring the conversation together because that was also one of the conversations is how do we make sure that our municipality and our schools are are are working Better Together to have these conversations which has always been a big goal of ours so well it's a draft form we don't have to approve it tonight so I mean this is a good guide and we don't have to take it up tonight and vote on it so we can can vote on it another time once we can figure out and nail down some dates to see if this actually works CU it is pretty early so yeah yeah I mean I think historically we have approved it the preliminary and made modifications along the way but even from a city council standpoint it was very always a lot earlier than so oh yeah we always were so I mean that and I would love for it to not be something we would vote on especially since we have the transportation contract that we're going to have to have that a part of the conversation but that's got to go through the process and uh we have a new federal Administration coming in and I think that we kind of need to see what's going to happen about the uh Department of Education so I think my concern is that if we approve this tonight then yeah we need to be held accountable to it so that's why I would not want to approve unless we are well it's a draft Yeah we love your draft but I want to make sure that these states actually do work rather than can I ask a question though um would you suggest that we look at other dates and move it out because we do need something to start planning with um and that be identifying priorities and yes absolutely we do need to know where the transportation's going to fall um but Chapter 70 honestly with the student Opportunity Act oh I know I I no no no no I I get that yeah yeah yeah but um also um amsa if they're going to um decrease Us by another half million that would be something else we' need and so just but we would start having to do planning as soon as possible y yeah I I mean I'm not speaking on your behalf but I think the calendar that you're working with the you're not going to deviate from that other than you know because you have to do certain things waiting for that I think when the presentations and those steps I think are what have to be tweaked a little bit right and we'll know more I mean Katherine brings up the point of the transportation until we see that that's going to drive a lot yes yeah so yeah so I mean we'll follow our process internally we'll we'll start collecting our data we're going to be pulling everything together and certainly these dates you know are are I I don't think I've ever put a budget calendar forward that actually stuck to the dates of the original calendar so um it's just the reality of it you're you're you're moving you're fluctuating things are changing you're finding out new information um so you're always kind of saying oh yeah okay we're going to push this out just a little bit longer so and to the superintendent point you have contractual things that you have to abide by so we're all aware of it so I'm going to modify and say motion to place on file you don't want to table it for oh table it sorry table it no you're right it wasn't to be on file because it should be tabled okay motion to table motions on the T motion to table the draft calendar draft budget calendar questions comments concerns seconded good good questions comments [Music] was trying to that motion cares thank you right policies for first reading thank you very much um so um I have here tonight for you two policies for consideration um the social media policy which would be moving from a number policy to a lettered policy which would become ihb and then um the grading periods policy uh and that already had transferred to a lettered policy but needed to move towards trimesters for witcom um and which then obviously would change the numbers towards the quarter periods which would stay at the high school so I I would um love if I could ask for a suspension of the rules to actually um vote on these tonight if possible so I would like to make a motion to suspend the rules um to take a vote on these tonight motion is on the table and seconded to vote motions and to suspend the rules right questions comments concerns to suspend the rules all in favor the suspension carries and then I would like to make a motion for approval of policy ihb social media and policy IC grading periods it's a motion on the table to approve policy ihb and policy IC and seconded questions comment concerns regarding these two policies questions comments concerns seeing none all in favor motion carries thank you very much moving on to acceptance of donations and Gifts two we have Coco tree kids from MPS students for ,000 with in Gifts of children's undergarments that's a quarterly I believe motion to approve motion to approve is on the table and second questions comments concerns for Coco kids all in favor motion carries and the last one is Hope and comfort for MPS students and families for $2,000 which is again a gift form for personal hygiene products who support Health dignity and confidence for children and adults motion to approve and to also thank our wraparound coordinators for thank you so getting these grants motion as on the table and seconded questions comments concerns regarding the hope and comfort $2,000 monetary seeing none all in favor motion carries all right reports of school committee subcommittees so um we will be having another meeting uh for policy shortly uh now we're just trying to find some dates um we do want to have uh some discussions around uh our visitors in school um making sure that we're uh enveloping volunteers uh not just visitors so um we had touched base about this when we were down at the conference and we will work on having a meeting shortly so that we can get some of that language out there to make sure all of our parents and volunteers feel well commend the schools and um we appreciate all that they do in um the many ways that they help us so thank you all righty thank you any other subcommittee reports no don't commit no no no okay then seeing none members Forum yes I have reviewed and have signed the warrant okay thank you nothing okay all ready anyone anyone else for members for seeing n motion to adjourn motion to adjourn is second all in favor we adjourn 836