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Today is Tuesday, April 28th. The time is 7:30. I'll call this meeting to order. Like to remind everyone that we are being taped and streamed by WMCTV. I have everyone rise for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag

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of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you everyone. Dive right in with the superintendent and the assistant superintendent of

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student services and equity report. >> Thank you. Uh good evening everyone tonight. Um we have a little bit of a different um kind of spin in our agenda. Uh we have a bit of a joint um uh presentation this evening. As you

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know, we have spent a lot of time this year talking about our student services work. Uh there's tremendous work happening in and across our district and our student services space. We're always looking at ways to refine and to improve

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our our uh service delivery to students. And so tonight we're going to have u a few different updates ranging from uh some new tools that we're bringing on board um and some new programs that we're excited to uh be launching we hope

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in the fall. Uh but with all of that I'm going to turn this over to uh Mr. O'Brien who's going to lead the way. >> Thank you. Uh I am going to switch the order of my presentations. Uh we're just running into a little bit of technical difficulty um with uh Lindsay's

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presentation. So while she's trying to figure out that um I'm going to jump into the K to8 um pause program and let me just share my screen. It ends up not firing up. I have hard.

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>> Okay. So, uh we are excited to be able to present the PAUSE program which will be a K to8 special education therapeutic program uh that we are looking to put together for next year and and have that

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located at the Hilddrth um school. The reasons why uh director John uh director of special ed John Fletcher and I uh had started looking into this was because part of um special ed's goal is to have uh students in the least restrictive

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setting environment and uh sometimes that is in a substantially separate program and and sometimes that is in an out of district placement. So we've had um between 2022 and 2025, we've had 15

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students in the K to8 grade range go to out of district placements. And that was despite having many resources within the schools um at the school level to have access. We just had a number of students that just needed more than what we could provide within

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the school setting um within the uh in district programs. So 15 students from 22 to 25 and this year alone we've had 10 students uh going out of district K to8 with three on the waiting list. So

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we we really need to be able to build our capacity within the district and have other options for students that are not able to um be successful within um one of our elementary schools or within Wickham.

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And therefore we um are putting together this program. The purpose one of the purposes of this program will be to have that option for students who are not successful um within one of our elementary schools or

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or Wickcom. But also part of the goal will be to have those students be able to transition back to their home school. Another scenario might be that the student uh needs that program to be successful and will will remain in that um in that program. If

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that is the case, we anticipate that we would be adding uh grades 9 through 12 for any um students like at the middle school level that show that they demonstrate that they still need that level of support. This is also going to be an option for students that are in

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currently out of district placements to be able to transition um and have like a stepping stone for them to come back in district if they still needed um a small therapeutic setting um but be able to have that within our own community.

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And in the future, we would also have the option later on of being able to, if we had capacity, to be able to tuition in students from other um other schools. We've had um a lot of difficulty in the last couple of years, not just our our district, but

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other districts as well, being able to find placements. Uh there's been long waiting lists at many of um the therapeutic programs, whether or not it's collaborative or private day. So, this is definitely an area of need. And I also know that um um Superintendent

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Defalco is working with Aspet Valley Collaborative on having a subgroup um a subcommittee looking at an elementary program uh within our collaborative because we currently don't have one. So, uh the PAUSE program uh stands for

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perseverance, achievement, wellness, and success. And we're looking to be able to have a safe structured environment, a smaller environment uh that will be um highly therapeutic and have a consistent

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therapeutic model throughout the entire school day. Uh so that would be you know from uh the students core classes uh to um having instruction uh during lunch during recess uh and be able to have blocks of time to be able to work on uh

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self-regulation and coping strategies and really build up um build up their skill set. So that would be through individualized evidence-based supports. We're also looking to have strong family partnerships uh to be able to um work

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together uh to help the students and um as well as um the as well as their self-regulation, we're also looking to uh build up their academic and social success. So the mission statement is to have uh

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build strong trusting relationships. We want to empower students to be able to develop those self self-regulation skills, the independence, responsibility, and confidence. And we look to um be able to partner closely with the families and guardians and a multi-disciplinary team to have a

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cohesive and a culturally responsive uh environment and really have a community setting. And you'll hear like a community environment uh later on when Sarah Casey presents about the 8 to12 program at the high school. this um

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the the purpose I already went through. Uh so the students that would be eligible would be this is only for special education students. It would be through an IP team process. The IP team would determine whether or not the student needed a highly

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structured therapeutic setting and would make that determination as far as they've done everything that they could with supports and services within the school and they're not able to meet the students needs and therefore this may be an option for um for the students.

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The eligibility would be based on evaluation data looking at the history. Um, and we have a referral process uh that we've developed uh that the IP team would follow. Uh, and that would involve the director of special education. Uh,

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we will have an educational team leader that will be uh supporting the pause program as well as a BCBA will be involved in looking at the criteria for the student. We do want to make sure that all supports at the building level have been

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exhausted before looking for a referral to this program or an out of district program. And that's part of our obligation as far as making sure that we're having students in the least restrictive setting. Students that would not be eligible for this program would be generally students who are already in

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one of our um subsparate comprehensive programs. Uh whether or not that's pathways uh or connections. If we have students that uh in those programs that we are not able to meet their needs uh and typically it might be because of more physically aggressive um needs,

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those students most likely will uh be referred to an out of district program because the behavior isn't due to therapeutic um difficulties and challenges. It's due to other uh disability related um concerns.

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So uh we are also not um this would not be intended for students who are expelled um from um their home school. The entry criteria uh again will be based on um the IP team uh and that will

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be in collaboration with the pro pause program staff. So uh program staff might go and do observations of the student uh as part of the referral process and uh collaborate uh with the family as well. Uh there would be weekly standing

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meetings that would be held with the pause um staff to review uh referrals and uh be able to develop a plan as far as going out and collaborating with uh the school that is making the referral. uh the student would need a more

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comprehensive subs separate therapeutic program and a more robust PBIS system. So the program would have its own uh positive behavior interventions and supports uh just more more comprehensive

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and thorough across the the entire school day uh compared to what you would find in one of our um one of our school buildings. it. There would also um we would also make sure that a comprehensive behavior

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plan uh had been implemented and that despite those interventions that uh the student still has challenges. And we're also looking at data as far as frequent disruptions of instruction within the classroom setting. That's um a significant hasing has a significant

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effect on learning whether or not that's for the individual student or the class that they are in. in impacting other students learning. So that will be taken into consideration as well. Uh students will be assessed in the

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following domains um before, during and after um it's part of the pause program interventions. We'll be looking at behavioral regulation, emotional regulation, social skills and peer interactions, academic engagement, generalization of skills, independence

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and support needs and crisis management and safety. So there'll be criteria and a scale uh where we'll be doing um like a baseline and then if once the student is within the program that will be the monitoring progress monitoring as far as

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looking uh to see improvements in any of those areas. Each student will have uh individual academic programming and targeted instruction. uh they'll they'll have their own individual behavior plans and

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therapeutic supports that will be wrapped around a total therapeutic program. Uh we'll be looking to develop essential skills and with the goal the ultimate goal is always to try to get the students um ready to be successful in

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transitioning back to their home school. That's always the goal. That's the goal with uh students in out of district placements as well. And uh especially with our littles uh the students at the elementary level in my experience have been has been that when they're provided

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with intense supports early on in de in developing those comprehens um those coping strategies that we have better success transitioning them back into their home school versus uh students who are getting those intensive supports later on um in middle school and high

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school. our academics we will be utilizing uh HMH materials we'll be uh using the same materials that the uh students would be uh receiving or using within their elementary um and middle school levels

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for English and math we'll be using HMH uh social studies we'll be using investigating histories and science will be doing uh open sed and throughout this process the planning process we uh collaborating closely with um the Office of Teaching and Learning and making sure

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that we have um professional development supports for our special education teachers. I'm making sure that they are still meeting grade level expectations and students are having um having high instructional ex um high instruction

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with grade level materials. for return criteria. There'll be a rubrics on those areas that I had listed earlier and there'll be a continuous supports um there'll be a tool to collect data in those areas and then uh

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we will be looking at like a fading plan and a transition plan back to um their home school whenever the student is uh is determined to be ready to transition back. Some of those transitions might include uh maybe a paraprofessional

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that's in the PAUSE program potentially going with the student back to uh to their home school for a period of time as they get acclimated and then that staff person may um would return back to um to Hilddrth for um the program.

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For staffing, we have an inter interdisciplinary team that would be trained on comprehensive deescalation strategies. Uh they'll be all trained on crisis prevention um institute training which uh Lindseay Castro will be giving

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more details in uh in her presentation. As far as staff, we will have uh director of al uh alternative education, educational team leader that's currently uh the ETL that is supporting uh our out of district students and uh some of a

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some case load at the high school. that ETL will transition to supporting uh continue to support out of district but will be supporting the Hilddrth um program as well as a second backup administrator to the director of ALTED.

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Uh we are looking to have a BCBA on staff, two school adjustment counselors, six special education teachers, one per classroom, and uh in the next couple slides I'll go through that configuration. we could need an additional teacher depending on the

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kindergarten population. Uh that that's an unknown. We do have um a number of first grade of of current kindergarteners going into first grade. That may um be an an entire class in itself. Um depending on what the IEP

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team determinations are. Um we are looking for 12 para educators. There' be two in each of the classrooms. uh a nurse, uh PE health teacher, front office support staff, custodian, an EL

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teacher would depend on the needs of the students, and that may be um current EL teachers from our existing staff, maybe uh going over part um part of their uh workday over to Hildrith to provide um

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services. And then we are still working on um other elective teachers depending on uh where um current um art, music and >> engineering uh as far as what those sections look like at the elementary

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level and in where we might be able to free up um some um spots for them to come over and provide instruction at at Hilddrth. So, the proposed uh student schedule um to start,

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we are with what our anticipated enrollment is uh with students that um are at risk for going out of district. We're looking at having um multi-grade levels at the K to 5 level. So, there be a classroom for K and one and that's the

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classroom that we may need a second teacher depending on the number of students ideally. Um, so we can have up to uh legally up to 12 students, special education students with a teacher and

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two PAR educators in collaborative programs and uh and most most programs typically try to stay at eight um just because of the needs of the students. 12 students uh along with

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that that number of staff um can students can tend to feed off each other. So having a lower number is is um more ideal. So our target is to try to stay within about eight students within the classroom. Uh so K to 1 grades 2 to

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three and a grade four to five program um classroom. And uh this is a proposed student schedule where uh students would come in at 8:55 and start uh with their teacher arrival. they would set um their um personal

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daily goals. Uh during that time they would um have breakfast. Uh after that there would be a morning circle and group. Uh you would then have a a period of time for ELA reading and writing. Uh

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there'd be lunch, recess, math. Then there'll be a period of time uh for the PE, health, art, music, and um and social skills that would rotate um once per week for each of those um areas. And then there'd be a science and social

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studies um block that would alternate at the K and one and two and three level um and four and five as well, ideally down the line. Uh if fourth and fifth grade in the future ends up separating out as

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we expand numbers in classrooms, uh we would be looking to try and have um fifth grade have a dedicated science and social studies time um similar to what they currently have at the um elementary model. Uh right now we are

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alternating those um with the emphasis on really focusing on um therapeutic supports. Then they would have an endto-day check-in and um students would uh rate their effort meeting of their personal and daily goals.

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The sixth, seventh, and eighth grade uh would look a little bit different. Uh each of those grade levels would be separated out uh and there be an ELA, math, science, and social studies would be separated

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out into their um into individual class times. They would also have the PE, health, art, music, and social uh social skills that would alternate um throughout the week once um one elective

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um per uh per week. And then uh here we have an intervention block um at the end of the day. And then after that they would um also have a time where they could rate their effort um meeting of their personal daily goals

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and have a check-in before dismissal. For a proposed teacher schedule, um it mirrors the uh student schedules. For the most part, uh, the teachers would, uh, arrive at 8:40. The staff

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schedule, the MEA schedule would mirror the, uh, uh, the elementary schedule that is currently in the MEA contract. So, the their workday would be from 8:40 to 3:25. So, they'll be arriving um at work at 8:40 um, prior to student arrival at

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8:55. Uh then they would go through um the uh following the uh student schedule uh they would have a 30 minute lunch and then uh after lunch they would have a

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duty which may be supporting um supporting recess uh recess coverage and lunch coverage for students would be alternating with the pair of professionals um that will be over in the program and we have not developed the pair of

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professional schedules. yet. Uh teachers would have prep time during the um during the time that the students are going to electives and then uh there would be an end of day check-in. Uh

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and this is wrong. Uh they have oh sorry this is the elementary they would um have the end of day check-in um work with the students on rating their personal daily goals and then after that um students are after students are dismissed then they will have common

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planning time um from 2:55 to 3:25 every day where uh there'll be one day where it might be clinical rounds another day where it's common planning time um working with the office of teaching and learning around curriculum expectations ations. Uh there may be uh another set

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day where it's working with um Lindsay Castro, the supervisor of SEAL and and the BCBA on behavioral strategies. And so we just feel it's really important to be able to have that dedicated time every day for the staff to be able to get together and make sure

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that we are supporting the students in a comprehensive therapeutic manner. The uh teacher schedule for sixth, 7th and eighth um would be different where each teacher will be focused on a core

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content. So one teacher will be uh the ELA teacher for sixth, seventh and eighth grade. One will do seventh grade for math um will do math for sixth, seventh and eighth and one would do science for sixth, seventh and eighth. Each of those

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teachers would then take a section of social studies across the board. Um, one would take sixth grade, one would take seventh, and one would take eighth. After that, uh, teachers would have an intervention block, work with the students, um, on their

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daily goals, and then, um, they also would have that same common planning time as the, um, elementary K to5 teachers. Next steps. Uh we are looking for the school committee to approve um the pause program school and be able to direct us

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to be able to pursue a DESIE application process. Uh we did have a call with um DESIE today where we did learn that for the 8 to2 program that Sarah Casey will be presenting that is a uh simpler process

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where it is applying for a alternative ed program code. uh the K to8 therapeutic specialed um program is more involved and I have um a contact with uh Desi. It's a separate office uh where I

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need to find out what the details and um and what that entails as far as the application process for um a private uh sorry a public day special education school. By June 1st, we're hoping to have

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identification of the staff and be able to establish the school start date. During June, we are looking to order curriculum materials and supplies, identify building needs, working with Andy White on classroom furniture if uh air air conditioning, um all that all of

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that basic stuff. July and August. What we would like to do is to be able to have possible staff meetings maybe two to three days within the summer where staff could come in. Uh we would um have them complete time sheets and be paid

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for that time. Uh but we really would like to have that time for them to help with what what does the PBIS um look like and be able to have input as to um the culture and climate of the school. Uh we also will be planning the week of

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um August 24th um the 5 days before um school starts and what those staff activities would look like. And then June through September 2026 uh identifying the first students to enroll. And that is the presentation. I know

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that was a lot. So any questions Katherine? I do. >> Um, thank you. Thank you for the, um, thorough rundown of everything. Um, I guess my first question was when it hit

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me was the pause, you know, immediately upfront. Um, how is that going to work with how PAUS has been introduced specifically at Wickham? um it's vastly different than obviously this and I'm

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just kind of curious only because that program has been going for a number of years now. So I did not realize that we had that name um for Wickham um as far as the incentive programs. So uh so we

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came up with this uh I mean we can look definitely look to change the name. Um I'm not married to that. I I think we can come up with other acronyms as well so that it doesn't uh conflict or compete with uh an existing PBIS program.

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>> I just was want you know I'm not saying change one or the other. I just thought that um it could be a point of confusion I guess I would say. Yes. How about that? >> So leave it at that one. Um

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approximately how many did you think? 50ish I'm guessing based upon what you were talking about because you were saying classroom sizes around 8 to potentially 12. So I'm I'm correct. >> So for this year I we we anticipate

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maybe you know by the end of the school year maybe there'll be 40 45 um students uh and looking to like down the line in the future would be growing that. So as any need in in numbers increase, we would be

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looking to separate out any of those grade levels and add special education teachers. Um so that in the end you we probably have like a dedicated kindergarten, a dedicated first, second, third. Um right now it for the start of

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the school year I'm not sure how many to start and that might be a um small number because it has to go through the IP process and we would need to get parental consent. >> Um but that would also give us time to kind of ease in and transition into like

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uh working out any of the kinks at the beginning of the school year too. >> Yeah, makes sense. um the homeschool connection. I mean, that's going to be massively important. And I guess, you know, my dabbling of information, I

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guess I would say over the years of working with special education and our CPAC group is learning that transitions are such a tough um a tough situation anyway in children's lives, much less when we're talking about um

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different areas around special education. I'm kind of curious about how are you envisioning that we're going to be able to keep that home connection going if we're really keeping it separate especially if we're creating like all of these separate teachers the

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pair is over there the ETL that's going to be that main person there how are we going to help and and make sure that we're keeping that connection going thank you uh so part of the work during the summer would be building you know building the activities in in

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developing that culture and climate. Uh we anticipate that we will be having parent workshops um and having regular activities and events to have um parents be able to be included and um and also

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probably you know giving feedback as well in the development of the program I guess cuz as as you were talking about home connections to me it's it's like if we're if uh Jar's having their block party I would think that we'd want to make sure that the Jarra kids if you

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well are definitely included within that block party and like part of PTO's and things like that because I I just was trying to sit and think as you were mentioning that about like how would we continue that connection because I I would envision that it's going to be

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hard for parents then to feel like they're connected to that group if that makes sense. >> Yes, that is a great um point. Uh so that's something that we would definitely need to discuss and figure out how does how do we build that community over at

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Hilddrth. Uh and if we have students from all four elementary schools uh in having them coming together and building that community and then um yeah, how do how would they tie back into the home schools? part of that uh because of the case load for special

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education uh the current ETL that has the out of district would not be able to take on all of those students. So uh where um what John Fletcher and I are proposing is that the ETL from the home

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school would continue to be the ETL for those students. So that may be a way that we can um build that connection as far as uh they would still be the case manager for that um for those students. So I think that might be the way that we

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can have that connection would be that the ETL from you know Jarwick would make sure that they are reaching out to and providing information on any events that happen at Jarwick and and same with the other schools as well. >> You look hop up to the mic, John. I could see I I see you jumping.

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>> Thanks. Um, now this is one of the things I'm probably most excited about because some of you may know I was at a collaborative for 15 years and like when we get reached the point where a student needs to go out of district um envision they're going to a location where there's kids there might be 50 to 100 kids in that program from 20 different

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communities and even though we we know those programs and we refer the kids there we still lose some of the autonomy of our kids. They're, you know, they're they have their own mission. They have all those things where as we develop this, all of these kids are going to be Marbor Public Schools kids. We're going to have total control of the curriculum.

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We're going to have total control of the vision, of the mission. We're going to have that total connection. Um, any kid that goes out of district to a collaborative student, I'm sorry, collaborative or private school, they're allowed to still participate in their in school, you know, whether it's drama club or plays or sports. That'll be the

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same here. It's just going to be so much easier because they're going to be right here in town and we're going to work for seize every opportunity for inclusive opportunities in that as part as they continue to grow and stabilize. So to me, those are the most exciting advantages of this is that they're our

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students and we're going to keep them home in Marbor. Yeah. And you know, more and more families are turning turning away referrals for schools that are outside of Marbor because they too want to keep their kids here. So, it will really allow us to keep that the flow

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back and forth between their sending schools um and this own school. So, to me, that's one of the things that I'm most excited about for this. >> And I'm happy Thank you. I'm happy to hear cuz maybe I misunderstood when you were talking about the ETL. It sounded to me as if you were talking about the

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ETL at Hildrith really being the person that was going to do out of district and that and I was going, "Oh my god, that's going to be a lot of people." So, I love the idea of having it be the the home school. That that to me felt like a lot better. So, thank you.

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>> Yes, the ETL at first was like, "Oh, >> yeah. I was like, oh my gosh, that's that's a lot." Um, and then um my other question was around um EL supports. How's how's that going to be able to be

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handled as well? So, I think first it's going to depend on if there's any EL students that are being referred. And >> so, once we have an idea of uh who the students are and what um their needs uh for EL,

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>> then we would be able to figure out like what amount of time is needed and work within our EL teacher um the EL teachers that we have. we would probably be able to um put that you know put those services

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in place with the existing staff and if not we would come back to the school committee and let you know if we needed additional >> staffing for that. The other thing that came to mind as well was um around the progress monitoring of the students and

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I think it would be helpful I I mean I'm wondering I'm pretty sure the parents are going to be wondering too is like how often will that be done to see how things are happening and moving forward so that they can get an idea of what's the potential trajectory for their child

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to make that transition back to the home school. And I know you're just figuring it out, but I mean like that's something that immediately kind of popped into my head. >> You want to mention the data meetings though that we have implemented this year that are monthly. I know that's an process, but it's good to >> So we do have special education data

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meetings monthly um within each of the schools, but particularly for parents and and knowing how their child is progressing. I started out in a therapeutic um day program uh before I entered um the public schools and

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usually there there's um a daily behavior sheet, tracking sheet, a weekly summary. Uh so those are the types of communications that we would en be envisioning that would be going home to parents. So there'd be ongoing daily feedback to parents and um so this that

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student check-in at the end of the day >> that's information that we would be also communicating to um the parents so that they know how their child did during the day and then a weekly um recap and then looking at you know some monthly progress meetings and then there's also

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the IP progress reports um that pertain to like their specific goals under IP. Um, two more. Sorry guys. Um, CPAC, um, is it something where, and Jonathan, maybe you already planted the seed with some of the group when at a

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meeting when I had not been there, but I'm thinking that it would be great to have this discussed with them. >> Yeah, I didn't want to jump the gun until we had the opportunity to roll this out to you guys and get your approval on this, but we have our next CPAC meeting Thursday night, but it's

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the safety stuff. And then um so once we get a vote and we get support around this and absolutely um I'll have those conversations with them uh let them be aware of them and obviously again all the student the students that go there'll still have access to the CPAC again they're part of part of Marboro.

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>> Yeah. And then the last was transportation that hit my that hit my brain as well. So, >> so that would be uh spe special education um vans uh that mini buses that we would do and I um had worked

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with Mohamad as far as uh trying coming up with um some quotes as far as within this that would be in the special education transportation line. Uh so we have um some of that that funding built in. Okay, that'd be great once you would

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start to look at those numbers because that Sorry, that starts to scare me a little bit. But thank you. You're welcome. >> So, I'll I'll riff off a couple of Katherine's topics along the lines of the buses. Do most of the students that you're identifying now as needing this

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program already take special education transportation? >> I do not know. Probably not. >> Um, >> no. No, because the exclus one of the exclusionary things that we're looking at is like our students that are in connections and pathways. Uh those students would not be eligible for this

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program and the majority of our students that receive uh specialized transportation or reduced capacity vehicles are those students. >> So this is above and beyond. >> You're right to be concerned.

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>> Yeah. Um also along the lines of the progress monitoring, sounds like you've got good communication pathways with the teachers. How about the sending I mean the parents? What about the sending teachers? Because if we're talking about a shorter term for some of these students and they potentially are going

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to transition back to the classroom, will you be constantly updating the teacher on the progress that the students make? >> Yes. So, um probably not the specific teacher. uh some students like after the start of this year going into next year

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like they wouldn't have a teacher >> but that would be part of the transition um planning uh to go back where um for instance a student might uh let's just say it's a a jar student that's um going to transition back into a fourth grade

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classroom. So it might be uh that they're going to go um for an hour a day um or start at the pause program and then uh go over to Jarwick um for the end of the day. Uh a par professional goes with them um and you know having um

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and maybe even before that is just a simple introduction to here's your classroom teacher. Uh there's a lot of um transition activities that we can do to um for for both the teacher and the student. Um and for the teacher would

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be, you know, looping them in um having the special education teacher that's working with the student at the pause program. Um having um a meeting with the the receiving teacher, you know, talking about like what what has worked best as far as strategies within the classroom.

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Here's the deescalation strategies that that have worked best for the student. Um so we would have all that kind of like outlined indivi for individuals. we'd have individual plans specific to the student to make sure that we're setting them up for success.

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>> I want to add to one of the things you probably saw on the schedule, but we've worked in uh 30 minutes at the end of every day for clinical rounds. We thought that was vital. Um, one in case staff have to deescal, you know, decompress themselves, but also that'll give us an opportunity to talk about the students on a daily basis. And that's

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where a lot of that information that Miss O'Brien's talking about will be fed back to the schools, to the parents, to the families, to the other collaterals involved with the students. >> Perfect. >> Great. Um, just a general question. How often that kids that are sent to out of

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district placements, how often do they actually come back? >> That's what I thought. >> I would have said five, but that's good. >> And that's not just that's not just roll. >> That's just in general. >> Yeah. Once they go out, they never come back. They never come back. Which is

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another real reason why we want to keep these kids here in our community. >> I mean, it's better for kids and it's better financially. I mean, and we have seen I mean, I've been sitting here long enough to know through the years that we have built capacity programs within our district that have saved millions of

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dollars over the years, I have to imagine, um, of kids going out of out of district. Um, it's going to be the latest. >> It's great. I'm thrilled. Um, fifth grade science is tested and I was just a little concerned that that science

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social studies isn't going to switch separating them out until sixth grade. Will the fifth grade get? >> So that might be something uh you within the draft schedule. Um, you know, that might be something we can try to um work with the office teaching and learning

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and and um tested in fifth grade science. Yeah. um maybe >> I didn't miss that memo >> and and maybe it's that the intervention block is um is is not you know we take up the intervention block and instead have two

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separate science and social studies for that class. >> Yeah, just putting it out there. And the intervention blocks, what do you foresee that block being used for? >> Uh academic interventions. uh there there's a um specific blocks of times

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already for uh SEAL therapeutic uh interventions. So that was specific to um our idea was that that would be specific to academic interventions based on their NWA data progress monitoring um you know their performance on the HMH um

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unit tests and things like that. >> And it it could potentially also be used for EL students again depending on the need for that. Um, all my questions. >> Anyone else? Yes. >> Thank you. I echo Mr. Fletcher's

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sentiment on the importance and value of offering this model to Marorrow kids and keeping them in Marorrow. Um, I have two budget questions. I can appreciate how the staffing model uh needs to be defined a bit more within what's reasonable to consider. Is

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that already captured in the budget? Okay, >> these are all existing positions. >> Okay, even the ones where it looks like there may be some flex based on what you're still working through in terms of electives. >> Um, so electives that that would still

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be something we may need to iron out. Um, and the kindergarten if we needed a kindergarten special ed teacher, that would be >> okay. I think as it relates to the vote tonight, um, that's good context. Is there related to the transportation

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question order of magnitude in terms of budget burden and whether or not we we think that's able to be absorbed in the budget? >> The transportation I I feel that it would be able to be absorbed in what we already have budgeted.

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>> Okay. Thank you. >> For in uh so to start the school year that might be like 8 to 10 students. Um, so we're looking at one mini bus um and uh or we can do a half half a bus which is

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uh John Whoops. Um the half bus sizes that we had for the summer was that 20 >> about about 20 students. >> Yeah. >> How long are the first one being picked up going to be on the bus if you're using one bus going all over the city

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picking up kids? That's >> Yeah, it depends on So, that's something we would just work out with NRT as far as um what we would need it. Mini buses might be more um practical for that depending on where students live.

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>> Yeah, I think I think from a logistics standpoint, you all are experts in figuring that out. I think just big picture from a from a budget standpoint is what we're contemplating tonight for the vote something that you know we've we've factored for sounds like directionally yes

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>> absolutely I think as far as the transportation is concerned through our special education funding we'd be able to pick up whatever >> thank you >> yeah I just have a quick question so yeah so just for clarification can you

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identify the students criteria so I'm assuming everyone that has an IEP, the IEP team will evaluate every student or is there a criteria that you know? >> So it wouldn't be an EVA. So it would be an IEP team that is reconvening

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about a student that is struggling despite all of the supports and services that the student has access to within the school. So the IP team reconvenes and they look at the IP and and everything that's being put into place

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and they would be coming up with a decision saying we've exhausted everything that we could do for the student here at the school. We need to look for something outside of the school. And that and that trigger would be and would be um reaching out to um

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John Fletcher, reaching out to the BCBA and making having some consultation around would that be a referral to the PAUSE program or if we change the um the name to to something else or is the student is the

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students need something different where it would it would be a referral to an out of district program. >> I I understand that part of it moving forward, but I'm talking about the initial setup like I'm assuming you already have students identified that go

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into the program now. there are students that um that schools have been consulting about that they have concerns about hey like we're to the point where we think we're we >> right so there's already students already in existence there was just no

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path for them and this pause program now >> there's about 45 kids that have come up on the radar >> and I was going to add to that you know like Mr. what Brian said earlier, we do um monthly sped data meetings with the uh building principles and the ETLs, the assistant principles. So, we're

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monitoring a lot of these kids, their NWA data, their attendance, their behaviors. >> They're already on the radar. >> And then, additionally, >> that's that's the point that that's about what I was going to say. >> I meet with the principles and the ETLs um individually building base each month and I keep a running radar list. So, of course,

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>> these kids aren't really going to be a surprise to us cuz we're always trying differentventions. We have about 45 kids currently identified that could potentially >> I guess my concern was that we're not reinventing the wheel by going through every single IEP and identifying our students. They already there already is

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a system in place. That's >> right. Sure. Sure. Sure. Right. Right. >> Right. I'm sure parents are already well aware that this is happening and they're on the radar and things of that nature. So this is no new surprise to anyone. >> And as far as the as far as the FTEES or

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the positions with the exception was already discussed possibly maybe something with our electives, fine arts, kids and those sorts of things. Uh and or an EL teacher and we may again we already have that within our existing

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budget that we can just schedule. We have to look at that >> depending upon the numbers and which parents agree to having their children participate etc. um I almost everything you saw this evening with with the exception of those question marks in whatever the special

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education transportation additional cost might be in >> Sure. >> I guess what's the downside like if for a parent like why would they not want their child to go? >> I think change is hard. Sure. >> Right. Like >> not to put you on the spot anymore. It's

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more rhetorical like why wouldn't you want the best for your for your child I guess. It might just be that idea of leaving your neighborhood elementary school, right? Going to a different building. It's a sometimes there's stigma attached to things. People get concerned about that. >> Yeah.

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>> Right. It's always scary. >> Sure. Sure. >> Yeah. I'm just thinking back my IEP days, you know, I went to a whole different private thing because we didn't have that here, you know? So, like I'm sure my parents would like to advocate for. But anyways, I digress.

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Yeah. That's right. >> Um, my question is about um, excuse me. Is the intention that the program now I'm coughing. Sorry, I took a breath the wrong way. Um, is the intention that the program

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would start in the beginning of the school year? And if so, you mentioned that students have to go through the IEP process. Is there enough time left in the school year since we're already like the beginning of May almost? Is there enough time to go through that process in order to have some students enrolled

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for the beginning of this school year? So, our goal is to start at the beginning of the school year and having students enrolled. Uh there are students that are on the radar. So we have some students that are on a waiting list for out of

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district placements and uh so those might be students that um we we've already proposed or or the IP team has already proposed a therapeutic program that once this is up and running that we could go back to the parents and say you

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know this is an option within the district. Uh and I think you know I think sixth, seventh and eighth grade uh there might be um students who uh are closer to being identified uh where

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parents might be ready for um an alternative program. And if that's the case, if we're starting uh if if we are starting with potentially sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, those older students might be able to help us also kind of work in the beginning on building like what that culture would be

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for um the K to 5 and kind of being like the >> I can obviously I'm not going to mention or anything, but we have like one particular student that we had designated to go out of district in October. Um so we've already said we can't meet this child's needs. Um but because of the high need of kids going

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out of district and the minimal opportunities and seats available in those places, the student remains with us and we've sent packets to 12 different schools. The out of district schools are more selective. Um there's waiting list. They're saying no quicker. Uh so we're still have a student in our

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program in our schools and we know that we're having difficulty. So like that family, they're gonna jump at the opportunity to say, "Okay, not only are we going to be giving my child what they need, we're going to be doing it a mile down the road instead of in Worcester or

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Nic or Franklin." >> Um so that those are the advantages. So yeah, so like I said, we have about 45 kids right now that um that we know that that we're pretty confident the parents are going to jump on board with this opportunity. And then uh as far as DESIE and the

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approval process, that's um I'm not sure what that timeline is or what the steps are that that entails. So um that will also um impact what our start date is. Um the preliminary conversation I had today was that uh we should be able to be on track

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with having an approval by the start of the school year. Sounds like you guys will be very busy. Yes. >> Sorry, one last one. Yeah. I just want to add hopefully we'll get updates once with that approval comes. >> Yes. >> Yeah. And where we are with the process.

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>> Absolutely. >> Um the the the question that hit me is I'm guessing that the food services is going to be handled very similarly to ECC where it's something brought in from one of the other cafeterias.

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Yes. I you know I I'm >> And not only that, yes, it's going to be set up just like here. But not only that, we're going to have our students in our life program as we look for job opportunities for for those students who are going to be helping out uh throughout the day um with the school.

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>> Uh that's our our postgrad special education students. >> That would be great. I mean like and I think that those little those touches are the things that are going to help to be more sellers if you will of helping to create a specialized program that's

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going to be the push you know um so that people can be like okay my kids's going to be right here they're going to get what they need so I think more underscore because um it was mentioned but it was um I don't know if everyone unders just understand

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particular to those at home like the importance of this piece but those uh clinical rounds that teacher time at the end of the day is so critically important. We're asking the teachers and the staff in this program to do a very important

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job with students who need the right level of support. We need to make sure that we're giving the adults the right level of support. And I think that those regular clinical check-ins with the clinician on the team to check in and make sure that the adults are okay, that they have the supports that they need

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and they're feeling like they're making progress and are able to be successful or not, right? And then we kind of loop back and figure out what to do. I think that's actually a really important part of the schedule that I'm really really glad the team built in um because we have to take care of the adults that are

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taking care of the kids. So I just think it was a really good >> Thank you. >> addition. Sorry, you just you just made me think of something though. >> We probably need to think about >> substitutes in a different way relative to this school. You know, whomever is

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going to step in if somebody >> can't be there because that's going to be a different caliber of individual that's going to need to be stepping into that place. >> Yeah. >> So, sorry. Thanks. >> Anything else? I think we talked about

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this in quite a bit. Thank Thank you. >> Thank you. So, let's move on, shall we? >> So, I do have Lindsay Castro's uh presentation up. So, I would like to introduce um our supervisor of Lindseay Castro, who will be uh presenting

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information uh on our new screener that we're implementing this week, as well as a student uh culture and climate survey and a shift in our um our restraint uh methodologies that we use. We currently

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are using SA have been using safety care and we are uh transitioning to CPI. >> Thank you. I apologize. Canva was down. Um so we had to switch to a PowerPoint so the presentations might look slightly different. That was my techn technical difficulties. Um so I apologize for that

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but thank you. Um and so as Mrs. O'Brien said I just have a couple of updates around our mental health screener, our screeners that we are rolling out this week as well as our shift to CPI. So, our mental health screeners um stay the same as what I presented last year. Um

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so, we are continuing to use the Penn State worry questionnaire for our students in third grade as well as using the GAD 7 for our students in sixth and 9th grade. We um have done it twice this year. Um so, instead of just doing one screening, we did a screening in the

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fall and another screening again um a little while ago in the spring. Um so, we screened the students twice. Um, as you can see from the data, the students that were identified, we identified around 100 students across the district that um were showing an um higher levels of anxiety um and they were invited to

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participate in a tier 2 intervention group, which is our trails to wellness, which is a cognitive behavior therapy program. Um, so that the students that did participate in the tier 2 group, you can see that they overall had a decrease of severity in their symptoms um that

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that were able to address. These were students that were not previously identified to us as students on IEPs or students that were really struggling with anxiety. So, this was a really nice proactive measure that we were able to get to students before they were really struggling with symptoms of anxiety and be able to offer a proactive

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intervention for them. Um, so our plan is the same to continue using the anxiety screeners in addition to adding our new screeners that we um have. So, this year we have gone forward and we have Um, we are working with Sabers, which is

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a social, academic, emotional, behavioral risk screener, as well as a culture and climate screener. So, as Miss O'Brien stated, we are using, we have rolled those screeners out this week. Um, so our students have participated in taking it. It is for grades um, three and higher. Um, so

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we're really excited about that. So, all students from grades 3 through 12 are participating in the screeners. Hopefully, they'll all get it through this week. There might be a couple of kids that have to take it next week, but we're hoping to get them all done this week. Um the screeners, there's two screeners that we're using in conjunction together, so the two of them

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go nicely um during one sitting. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes for the kids to get through the two screeners together. The we're offering the screeners during or advisory or their core periods depending on which school you're at. So, um it's during their regular time, so it's not pulling away

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from any other academics. But what we like about the Sabers program is that it really um it really supports MTSS. So we're able to take the take the information from the screener and really develop our our MTSS systems and really look at where we need to increase our

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tier one, tier 2, or tier three supports. So there's three areas that um are assessed. Um so there's a social, academic, and emotional area through the Sabers. So, we're we're really excited to be able to have some more data that we can look at and be able to do better progress monitoring with students around

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being able to screen them. We're going to screen twice a year next year. This year, we're just doing it to get our baseline data, but next year we'll do again in the fall and in the spring and be able to see where we need >> I just have you slow down just a little bit. >> Can't take notes.

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>> Sorry. I'll do my best. You'll have to keep slowing me down. >> I I love the enthusiasm. Just um a little bit. Yeah. So, the Sabers has 19 questions. It's pretty easy for the kids to do. They do it online. Um, and again, it just it it will give us some really

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good information about being able to support our our our tiered systems. Um, and and some more data that we don't have currently. Um, along with that, we have the culture and climate survey that we're doing, too. Um, this this actually it's it's good because it's a proactive

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measure to help identify hidden barriers that kids might be having. Um, it looks at things about how kids feel about school, how they feel about their teachers, how they feel about their own learning, um, how they feel about being prepared for learning, and also one of the really great things is it it discusses attitudes around attendance,

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and it can actually help predict chronic absenteeism in advance. So, we'll be able to look for flags um, like red flags for kids that look that might be having good attendance, but they're they're projecting out to end up with some attendance issues. So, we'll be able to do some more proactive

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interventions around that. Um, and so that's um, so that's really exciting. Um, and like I said, we started it this week. Um, a lot of kids took it already today and we've had some good preliminary data to look at um, and to be able to start sifting through. So,

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I'm excited about that. Am I doing better? >> Good. Thank you. >> All right. And then, as Miss Overion mentioned, we have moved we're moving away from safety care to CPI. This is a really exciting um opportunity for us, I think, along with Desessie's new

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regulations for next year around timeout spaces and things like that. We really wanted to make our work more proactive um and be able to make sure that we were getting to students before we needed to employ safety care. So, we were looking for additional resources around that.

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So, CPI offers that. Also, we wanted to respond to the teachers concerns around um needs for more more support around behaviors in classrooms and how to do that. So CPI really lends itself to that. It it talks a lot more about the neuroscience behind behaviors and how behaviors manifest. Um and it does it in

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a really educator friendly way. Um so it's it's really nice as a tier one intervention for all teachers to have access to just some of the basic information around the neuroscience and the behaviors. Um it's a much stronger focus on prevention where safety care we

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learned a lot about how to respond to escalated behaviors. CPI talks a lot about how to prevent escalation of behaviors um and how to interact with students and in ways that prevent that stuff. Um it also aligns really nicely with the restorative practices that we

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have in Malboro and that we've been continuing to follow through. It it CPI talks a lot about non-violent communication which is also something that restorative practices talks about with the restorative questions. It talks a lot about traumainformed practices which is also things that Malber has been moving forward with. So it aligns

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really nicely with a lot of the work that we've already implemented. Again, it has um and it has a more sustainable training model than C than safety care does. So safety care had a training model of one trainer to 10 participants in a class, which could limit how many

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staff that we could train at a time. CPI has four different areas that you can be trained in depending on what your role is in the school and what your your needs are. So, not everybody's going to need all of the physical management piece, but there are much smaller roles

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um and different levels of it. And the trainers can um have more than 10 student or more than 10 participants in it. So, it's a it's a much easier model. So, if it's just a verbal deescalation training, the trainer could have the a full auditorium um going through some some basic skills as opposed to the one

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trainer per 10 students. So, it's a more sustainable training model for us um which I think is great. And um we have sent our district BCBAS to the train the trainer model already. So our district BCBAS have been trained

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in CPI and are ready to roll out the training for our staff moving forward. Um and so we were planning on training all of our 214 and 218 day employees after the school year, before the school year, and making sure that everyone is

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ready for when the students come back into school. that we'll have a lot of our staff who need more of the physical management piece trained um before the start of the school year. So, we're we're excited to get that up and rolling quickly. Uh I would also like to add when Lindsay

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was talking about the customization and we have the different modules for CPI that is going to be beneficial for our MEA members. I know teachers in general have been asking for a lot more professional development and training on

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deescalation techniques techniques and now we don't have to try to piece mail something together from safety care which is you know it's it's just it's two full days and that's really not what classroom teachers need. So we can have

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customizable modules of training that's specific for a classroom teacher and then it more intensive for you know our u behavior techs who are working with students who are aggressive on a on a daily basis multiple times a day. Um so

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we're really really excited to be able to move towards this and um feel that this is going to be beneficial not only for our students but also for our staff. Good questions. >> Um, first of all, I'm going to say love

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the the screeners. I like that we're getting more consistent on getting that information. Um, and my hope is that we're pushing it out further. When we were talking around MTSS a number of years ago, it was just making sure that

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we were pushing that information forward >> so that we were making sure again it's on that transition time frame that we're we're moving the kid from fifth grade to sixth grade and that information is being shared up. I think that that's really critical. I'm not sure if that's

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really being executed or not. My hope is is that these screeners will help to provide that insight um so that each teacher the next year has a little bit of insight as opposed to the kid gets to their classroom and they don't

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have any awareness. So I love that. Um and I'm happy to hear about the CPI. Um, I think the idea of the prevention is great, especially when over the years we've had discussions about concerns around how to handle something. Um,

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providing the educators at least the the right training and information puts them in a better position so that hopefully they can be handling ahead of time as opposed to reactionary. And any of us, you want to get ahead of something. So that's great. Thank you. And uh

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Katherine in response to like that the information going from teacher to teacher this year we have um started uh with an open architects. It's a data dashboard and that is new this year as far as a tool for administrators

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to be able to use and we are rolling it out to school adjustment counselors and intervention coordinators. But basically it is taking information from Aspen um the attendance the discipline um but also from our NWA dashboard our MCCAST

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the d uh the results from these screeners will also be in there too. So that way a teacher can look at their class and look at a student and have all that information readily available to them. But not only for this year but it will have historical data. So a teacher

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will be able to look at their student like for attendance and know whether or not that student has been chronically absent for like the last three or four years. >> So that's been um so that's been really helpful and that's been uh instrumental in our data meetings that we've been

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having to be able to readily identify groups of of students and be able to develop targeted interventions according to that. So that's going to be super helpful in having this data in that dashboard as well. >> Incredibly helpful. I mean, I just

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remember sitting in some of those MTSS meetings and that was definitely what we were hearing from the educators like everybody just wanted that information so that you weren't you weren't, you know, running blind and that's fantastic. Thank you. just to add a quick piece and that what

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I I hope the committee and the community is here is a is a lot of work being done to build continuity across the student services work not just finding you know uh additional uh programmatic pieces that we need to add. But the student

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services team is doing a lot of work in this space to really try to create an aligned coherent not just with the actual um you know screeners and data but also uh which you'll hear in some subsequent meetings the personnel and how the personnel are working in a very

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succinct tiered way to address multiple levels of challenges and needs that the students have. So, you're starting to see that come together, I think. I hope tonight >> it just seems interesting how everything was seems so siloed and now it seems everything's coming together. Would you

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fair assessment for that? Like, or maybe we just didn't look at the data as well as um before early on this year uh when Dr. Scaz and I had uh presented each of our uh you know departments and really having uh you know that collaboration

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between the two departments and uh having a lot of a lot of meetings joint meetings uh that has been super helpful. >> Right. >> Yeah. I'll echo superintendent defalco. It seems like tonight is providing real practical examples of what we heard of

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in the budget. um a shift in redeployment of programs to meet the current needs of students as well as the budget adjustment. So, it's um as expected, but still nice to see and worth acknowledging to the mayor's point.

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>> Right. >> Anything else? >> Just two things. One is I'm thrilled to hear about the the dashboard capabilities because I feel like through the years we've been collecting data, but getting it to the people who actually need it has always been a

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little bit of a challenge. So, I'm thrilled to hear that. I just have one question, Lindsay. The um Sabers and the cultural climate, did you develop those screeners yourself? >> Oh, no, no, no. We we purchased those screeners. >> We did. Okay. No, because I remember there was some talk about us creating

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our own screener because the ones that they were using weren't necessarily meeting our needs. So you found some >> So we Yes. So we found some evidence-based um screeners. Um Yes. Yeah. Yeah. No, we we have created different screeners over the years on

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our own, but these are much better. >> I'm sure yours would have good too. >> We could have taken their credit. We would have known the difference. We got to say kudos to you. >> I'm sure they would have found out. They would have heard about Renaissance the company. >> Renaissance. You said Renaissance >> the company. >> Yeah. Anything else for Miss Lindsay?

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>> No. >> Thank you for your time tonight. >> Great. Thank you. And uh last but not least, we have Sarah Casey, the director of AltED, who will be providing an overview of the revised proposal for the AltED program that will be serving uh grades 8 through 12 at the high school.

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>> Hi everybody. Uh >> hi. >> Hi. >> Yeah. Hi. My name is Sarah Casey. I'm the director of ALEDD. I want to share with you our plan uh to support students in initially grades 8 through 10 with the potential of expanding to 11 through 12. This uh alternative ed day program

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is going to be housed at the high school primarily in the business wing, but not just in the business wing. So, I want you to keep that in mind as we go through this. Our um mission is to provide a student- centered relationshipdriven environment where we're really honed in

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on the community and culture for these students. Um where we're focusing on rigorous grade level work um to support our students moving forward through their high school career. are we envision a community where all students are empowered to really re-engage with

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their learning um and to finish high school with the multiples of options for post-secary choices whether it's college or career. Our uh key objectives are to improve attendance and engagement and to

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increase post-secondary readiness. And we're going to do that through uh increased advisory relationships and really targeted advisory relationships with our staff. Uh we want to support students with their curriculum work by implementing and um initiating uh

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project- based opportunities for the students to help them make connections to real world opportunities in the curriculum that we are con uh currently offering. And we will use uh individual plans for our students from

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grades 8 through 10 and beyond. Um if we exp uh sorry if we expand past 10th grade. So our goal uh is to increase student re-engagement and post-secary readiness for postsecary success. We want to

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have measurable growth in attendance, uh, grade level work, credit attainment, and completion of these various pathways. One of the things that we can think about with this is it is a program, but it's also a pathway for our students from Wickham through uh, MHS.

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And we'll know we're successful if our intendance data improves, our graduation rate improves, and all of our students leave this program with a documented pathway or plan for after high school. So, who is this profile program for? We

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have about 30 students right now from Wickham and MHS that we are looking at who they're just they're they're not currently engaged in school and that can look different for each student. We have some students who are chronically absent. Um, we have students who are

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coming to school frequently, but they're the students that are in the hallway. They're not in class for the full period. They take the extended bathroom breaks. And then we also have students who are sitting in our classes for the full period and they're still not engaging with the work for various reasons. And we want to support all of

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those students. These are students who might have self-declared that in the future they plan on on leaving high school, withdrawing from high school. And these are students that as a team, whether it's through guidance, administration, we are recognizing

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patterns that present these students as a a risk of of dropping out of high school. They may not have a close relationship with their peers and they may not have a close relationship with the staff. So, it's the entry criteria is is overall just a disengaged student.

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And so what we did is we we did some research is we we spoke to these students that we are are looking at right now based on attendance based on grades progress in their current uh course loads and we saw some common trends through a survey. One of those common trends was that these students

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champions is most often a family member whether it's mom, dad, someone else. Their champion is someone at home not necessarily a champion at school. We also saw that students had a difficulty in connecting with the school environment. they weren't really involved in the sports or the after

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school activities. Um just they didn't have that that culture that community built around them that students need and that we want for our students. Our students in the survey they all said that they learn better in small environments with hands-on

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activities and learning experiences. Um, and one of the biggest indicators that we saw was that earning money was really important to the students and they they saw the value in work and and earning money and the importance to support the family who is their

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champion, but they didn't necessarily see the connection between what we're teaching them in our classes and how that will then help them moving forward to make money. So, we want to highlight how we can support them with their goals as well. And this program is designed to support them in doing that.

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So students would be a strong fit if they are disengaged from traditional school. They would benefit from small classes, personalized instruction. Uh they need the strong relationship and they might need support with executive functioning skills and they thrive on the hands-on project-based activities so

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that we can then support them with the connection between what school can offer with these projects with the hands-on learning to then with their goal with career, college, post-secary opportunities. So what this looks like is we will use a blended approach. We are going to take

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our highquality instructional materials that we're already using in our classrooms, our current standard curriculums, and we're going to look for opportunities to put in project-based uh work experiential learning for the students. And we're going to use my cap

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to really identify the students goals starting from eighth grade if not earlier and what they need to do curriculum wise to support them in meeting those goals long term. We'll have a core focus on you know business principles uh an

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entrepreneurial mindset so that students can make the connections that they that they aren't currently right now. This is a student uh a sample student graduation tracker for a student that would be entering next year.

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It's colorcoded. You have your eighth grade in green and then your 9th and 10th grade in yellow. Our eighth grade would primarily be taking 9th grade coursework for credit. So, they'll be doing the same courses as the nth grade students with the exception of civics

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because of the mass requirement for the civics MCCAST. Um, but what this does is this is how it mirrors the pathway, the accelerated pathway where here's an opportunity for students to take high school classes as an eighth grade student, work through 8th, 9th, and 10th

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grade, and that's going to open their schedule by 11th and 12th grade where they can take on more uh internships, work study opportunities and and and that's what the students are craving that fit this profile. It also aligns so

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that students have easy on and off ramps. So if a student starts this program and halfway through the year in nth grade they don't see it's a fit for them anymore, they can easily slide to MHS proper and continue with the coursework that is being offered there. Or at the end of the year in nth grade

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they say nope I want to go back to MHS MHS proper or if a student wants to come into the program they can transition easily and not be behind in the coursework. It meets mass core. It has the more than the required credits because we're

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starting it earlier and it's not 100% mapped out necessarily as it would be for every student. But if you look at grade 12, there is a lot of room in that student's schedule to take advantage of other opportunities and connections that MHS offers or we are looking to continue

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to offer or expand upon in terms of internships, uh, dual enrollment, etc. So staffing uh we're staffing is easy. Uh we're looking to reassign four core content uh staff from MHS. One for

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English, math, history, and science. The guidance counselors, the school adjustment counselors, they're keeping their same course load. They're going to adopt an eighth grader. Uh we'll look for office hours from the adjustment counselors to come into the business wing to support students uh throughout the day. But none of that necessarily is

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is really changing anything that what we're already doing. They're just adopting a couple of eighth graders. And our students are going to be taking the electives, the same electives that are offered at MHS. So in the end of the day, students will have uh opportunity for elective courses, EL academic

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support courses if needed. So the MHS ETL, the paras, the special ed liaison, the ELD teachers, those are already in place. So that will be a blended model. So this is a sample student schedule. All students will start their day with a

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intervention block uh oh sorry an opening circle and then an intervention block. And this is really going to help the students set the tone for the day. Set them up for success. It will also give staff the opportunity to identify any student that's not there right at the start. It's a small group. It'll be

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very apparent and we can take action in that moment before students start their core academic classes. The four core academic classes will be in a waterfall schedule so that if there is a student that struggles with tardiness to school, which does happen with this profile of

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student, they're not missing the same class every single day. And then the last two classes at the end of the day, those are stagnant and they uh mirror the MHS schedule so that the students will leave the business wing having been set up for success. They're going to go do their electives, their EL class if

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applicable, their academic support, world language, lang sorry, world language and their internships, etc. The sample teacher schedule really mirrors the the student schedule. Um, again, every core teacher will be

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setting having a a a core group of students at the beginning of the day to create that community, create that relationship uh right off the block, set the student up. Then they'll run through their academics on a waterfall schedule. And then in the afternoon, the teachers

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will have time in their schedule for child studies, curriculum work, PLC time to identify the needs of the the of the student for that day, the next day, and long term. and then the director of alternative

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education. Uh since we just proposed two two plans to you, two programs that involve the director of education and I cannot be in two places at once. Uh this is a proposed schedule where I would start the day or the director of alternative education would start the day every day at MHS at 8 o'clock, work

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with the staff, work with the students, set the tone, and then be able to transition over to Hildrith to support the formerly known pause program and uh and to uh help them over there while the MHS teachers

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>> if I know, right? not the only one >> um to support the teachers over at Hilddrth. While the MHS teachers in the alternative program are working through their core academic schedules, there will always be a core academic teacher

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off uh in the business hallway to act as a lead teacher with the support of the MHS building administration. They are a key role in this as well. This cannot just be the director of alternative ed. all admin will have to take a take a role and and support this program. But I

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think with the schedule the way it's designed, it it it's an easy lift. Um the director of all dead can then transition in the afternoon to support the teachers PLC at MHS and then transition back to Hildrith to support

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the dismissal which can be you know a more challenging part of the day. And it's flexible with these programs. These are programs that we really need staff who who want to take these on and

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are excited about alternative ed. And it's a it's a special thing. And because you have staff that like that that are working in the programs, it it's it's going to work because you have that team, you have that community, you have that culture. So having two different

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programs working at the same time is a very doable thing because you have the staff support behind it. And so our next steps when we are presenting to you h we will have the jobs offered. We like I said before

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teachers um will need to opt into this. We want volunteer teachers. We want people to be excited about it being at MHS, being part of the building. Uh I'm excited about having that community maintain that's already

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exists at MHS because we are right there because our students are very much a part of MHS. They're still involved in the electives. Uh so teacher recruitment is um something that of a conversation that needs to happen, but I'm excited about it. And then with the staff and

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the uh with the students, it's it's the same. We're creating a pathway for students where they haven't met with success yet or they're not currently meeting with success. Here's an opportunity. It's in the same building. It just looks a little bit different and it's it's what they're asking for

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because we're supporting their their needs and what they're they're asking from us. We will need to have some time dedicated to the staff for curriculum development because there will be some curriculums that the teachers haven't taught before. For example, eighth grade civics. If it's a high school teacher

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that opts into this, they haven't necessarily taught eighth grade civics before. So, we do need some time for curriculum development as well as because we are blending our current curriculum with PBL hands-on opportunities, we want to make sure that the staff feel secure with that. So,

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that's that's where we're at. and we haven't named our program yet, but we want the staff that are opting into this and the students that are opting into this to really to own it and help support that creation of a culture. So, we want the naming process to be open to

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them as well. Uh same with the staff and developing some of the day-to-day protocols because this is this is a culture that the students don't feel like they have yet. So, we want to make sure that we are creating that for them. >> Thank you. Is there a lot of teacher involvement

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that want to partake? >> There's been conversations. Uh there's been a lot of questions, which is very fair, right? >> Um there's definitely been conversations with people reaching out to me, people asking questions in their department meetings like what is this going to look like? What does this mean for my

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teaching load? So, I I'm excited if this moves forward to be able to have a more concrete >> Sure. >> here it is. This is what we're talking about. >> And questions could equal excitement as well. >> Absolutely. So that's that's a good thing. >> Absolutely. >> It's engagement, right? Yeah,

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>> it's engagement. Yep. >> Yes, Catherine. >> Sure. Thank you. Um really thorough. So I appreciate that a lot. Um first I guess I'll ask um when you were talking about the opening, is that going

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to be considered more like a home room almost to like start each person's day kind of in one spot so they have something familiar? We're looking for an opening circle, an SEAL curriculum based opportunity. >> So, everyone combined. >> That's what I'm trying to understand.

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>> So, the way the way I see it would be a Monday, everyone combined and then individual Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Okay. >> Smaller groups really targeted focused on the student needs. >> That's what I was just trying to understand like are we >> community or little or whatever. Um,

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love the project based learning. um that was so effective when we were doing that for um the STEM programming years ago um in so many different ways. So love that. Thank you. >> Um

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heavy amounts with um business which is great. um that we know we have someone retiring. So, um obviously we're going to need people to support that department, especially because there are a number of those

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classes that are listed on here that I know are fan favorites and often kids can't even get into it. So I would say that that's something that I would just suggest that there be a lot of conversation about interest level and that we have have the availability

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only because I just feel like I don't and and you're nodding your head. So I just feel like I've heard a lot of interest around you know whether it's entrepreneurship, financial literacy where you know the social media a lot of people want to get into it. So, you

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know, that may be something where we need to look at whether we can have an expansion to make sure that we actually have enough seats available to support the interest as well as this too. >> Do you know what I mean? >> Absolutely. >> Um,

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8th grade civics, would there be potential if somebody from Wickcom has the interest that they might move? just throwing it out there because if they're ready to go and they have an interest, is that something to consider?

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>> What do you mean? The teacher. >> Yeah, the teacher. A teacher. You, you know, you're talking about maybe there's an eighth grade civics teacher out there. >> So, within the contract, the way this traditionally works is that we seek out volunteers first, right? >> Um,

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>> so it certainly wouldn't be closed off to Wickham, current Wickham civics teachers. Um, and I would hope that if there's a eighth grade Wickham civics teacher that would like to do it that they add themselves to that volunteer list and then the administration would have to make a determination of who they have for volunteers and who's the best fit. >> Right.

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>> But but I don't think it's it precludes them in any way. >> Okay. Great. Yeah. >> I just, you know, it seems like >> as you said, it's a certain person. Maybe there's a certain person out there that goes, I really would love to do this, you know? I would and I wouldn't want to want somebody to think that they

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can't or they shouldn't think about it in that way, right? Like, let's be open-minded. Growth mindset here, you know, about like how to how to approach it in positivity. >> We have some middle school teachers teaching at our night school right now, too. So, it's >> Right. Right. >> It's a Yeah. >> special person, right? All that. Yes.

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>> Right. So, like there could be somebody out there that's listening and they go, "Oh, I can't." But maybe now they're gonna go, "Oh, I could," you know, like think about it. Um the other thing was around electives. So that would be electives where they would be joining

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back in general population, you know, seeing their friends here and there. So it really is still community building with whatever their interests are, >> right? This is this is not seclusion. This is not a behavior program, right? So we want our students to be 100% part

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of MHS. We're giving them the opportunity in the morning to really set them up, set the tone for the day, make sure that their core academics are they're where they're where they need to be and then they can go and participate in all of the electives, after school activities, etc. >> Perfect. Love it.

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>> Yeah, I asked him in the weeds question about this. >> Um, lunch. >> Lunch. Yep. So, Jody, do you mind going to the student schedule? the lunch is scheduled prior to the other lunches from happening.

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>> Uh yeah, that was my question. Yeah. >> Yes. Um which the ELA, if you look under eighth grade, their classes split, which is another reason for the waterfall. >> Yep. Um, but one of the one of the most special moments at the night program is when we

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all have dinner together and we're sitting together and we're talking and there's a group that plays Uno and it's it's that community and these are students who have self-identified as not fitting in or not being feeling like they're a part of the community right now. And so that smaller environment is

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crucial to kind of creating that that community. >> Thank you. >> Welcome. And last but not least, I would love to put a little plug in here because you said about um many of these students are thinking about needing to work and make money. Um through the

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MIAA, we learned about a program called Refps, which is being taught as a PE credit, and it allows them to actually gain the skills of umpiring to be able to get out there and umpire and earn money. Um, and I would love to talk to

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you about this program because it sounds like it could align really nicely here that could get them money and also helps to support um, building umpires and it's it's really a great program. I actually looked into it and think it could maybe

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help you guys. >> Great. Thank you. >> Not a problem. Thank you. >> Can you can you just walk me through the eighth grade piece? I'm still not getting it. So eighth gate eighth graders that are identified for this will leave Whitcom and go to the high

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school early. >> Correct. Similar to the accelerated pathways, right? >> But they'll be there. They'll be at the high school for the full day. >> Full day. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So when they take Oh, because in eighth grade they don't have >> electives.

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They'll have electives, >> but they're prescribed electives. They're like art and music, but they don't have like an elective block. That's that's a sample. So they can opt in to what they're interested in as as space allows. But >> with upper class >> at the high school. Yes.

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>> Okay. >> So they never report to the middle school. >> Correct. They're at the high school all day. >> Okay. >> That's what I tend to do at an eighth grade. And we have and we would be conscientious of the electives that we're offering to the the younger

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students and in terms of like you know drawing one is traditionally nth grade students and and supporting that in terms of the ages. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um and then um would students in this program still be

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eligible like in 11th and 12th grade with the internship stuff for like the EMT program? >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. And they'll have so so much flexibility in their schedule to to take advantage of that. Yes, the >> they will have had enough credits mass wise to be able to takes away half the

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day or whatever, right? >> Yes. Yes. A couple periods, but yes, absolutely they will. >> Awesome. >> So, this talks about 8th to 10th only because we're seeing how the program evolves to the 11th and 12th. >> Correct. >> Got it. Okay.

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>> And there's there's flexibility here for the students needs, right? We have the flexibility of the students transitioning back to MHS proper. Sure. We have the potential flexibility of expanding the program to include the 11th grade and then the 12th grade. And then there are students depending on the

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need who who might need the night program as well. But they'll all be set up creditwise, course-wise to take any of those options, >> right? because the social emotional support that they're going to get in this tight-knit environment all of a sudden letting them loose in the big

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building might be kind of scary going from 10th to 11th grade. >> Sure. And but that's why by introducing that concept right from the get-go in the last two periods of the day, it's not a a new concept. they'll have the support and you know early on with this

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program if there's a student who's having a rough day or struggling we have the alted staff in the building that they might welcome to their elective or they might support them in the elective. We have that flexibility. >> Um and then as they transition from this

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program to 11th grade they >> we're still right there right in the business wing if they need to come back and and check in or or access some of those supports. Will the business teachers be relocated or they'll they'll go

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>> be somewhere else? Okay, got it. >> Uh that's it. Thank you. >> Anything else? Good. on this side. >> Sarah didn't mention it, but this has been like a labor of love here to put this program together. We've been meeting since

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trying to really get our arms around like what we're looking to do. And so, uh, we went to the students that were trying to re-engage in that and and kudos to Sarah for going out and having

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those conversations. together so we can put this together. I think that's one of the things that's probably the most important piece about your back. >> Oh, I can't. It's not plugged in. >> Sorry. >> I know it hasn't worked all night. >> Um,

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>> one of one of the um >> just turned dance on. >> Yeah. Sorry. >> Okay. Now it's really Whoa, now it's really loud. I just was sharing that. Sorry. I know it's really loud. Uh was the program was really designed by the

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students and going directly to them to ask the students what do you need to really stay in and stay engaged with or re-engage in your learning. Um and so again like very good work to Sarah and the team for putting that together.

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Something else I just want to highlight because this is a myth that we hear all the time. Um, and so I just want to give a shout out to our families because I'm sure all of you here just like I do that our families, many of our families, particularly those students who are not

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engaged in school, families don't care, they're not involved, all the things. This isn't true. We went right to the students. They told us point blank, my champion is my parent. It's my aunt, my uncle, my grandparent, my mom, my dad. And I just want to name that because I

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think it is all too often uh uh stated that these students are not succeeding because their families don't care. Uh notice they named their family member as their champion. We need to also be their champion. And so something that was really important to us in developing

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this program is to create a culture and an opportunity within this pathway where they see us as their champion too. And I think that that's a really important piece that uh we need to ensure is is is hooked into place to keep our kids

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engaged for the long haul. So Sarah, thank you for your hard work on this. >> Anything else? Thank you Sarah. Much appreciated. >> Okay, moving on. Shall we? Yes. Okay. Acceptance of minutes. Minutes of April

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14th, 2026 the school committee meeting. Motion to approve the school committee school committee meeting minutes of April 14th, 2026. >> Thank you. Motion's on the table and seconded. Questions, comments, concerns

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regarding April 14th school committee meeting. Seeing none, all in favor? Motion carries. It's approved. Thank you. Moving on to minutes of April 14th, 2026 public hearing. >> Motion to approve the public hearing. minutes of April 14th, 2026.

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>> Motion is on the table and seconded. Any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the public hearing on April 14th? Seeing none, all in favor? Motion carries. Thank you. Okay, moving on to public comment.

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Is there any public comment going once? Seeing none, any public comment going twice? Seeing none. And last and final chance for public comment for the third time. Public comment. Seeing none, we'll close the public comment section. Moving on to

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action items and reports. We do not have any donations and gifts today. So, we can scratch that and move on. And now we have the final vote. K through8 Hilddrith therapeutic program aka pause aka something else. So, we'll we'll

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figure that out. So, um yes. Um, I'd like to make a motion to approve the um, K to8 Hilderrath therapeutic program. My only comment would I I would like for us to see you regularly on getting some updates on

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this since we're really in such a a beginning stage of this. Um, acknowledging that you're not going to have it all at once. I I love the trajectory. I just think we want to make sure we're on the same page. So, sorry mouthy. >> I would agree.

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No comment. >> Leave it alone, my friends. >> Public comment is already over, so I will not go back to public comment. >> Was there a motion in there? I'm not sure. >> What's a motion to approve? >> Motion's on the table and second to approve the K through8 therapeutic

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program. Is any other further comments, questions, concerns, discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? >> The motion carries. Congratulations. We have a new program. That will be great. Moving on to reports of school committee subcommittee. Yes, Miss Hennessy.

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>> Um, thank you. Policy subcommittee uh met earlier today. Um, we've really had some robust discussion. I'm I'm happy about where we're going with it. Um, an AI policy that a lot of people have put a lot of time in

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talking, thinking, trying to make sure we're going on the right path. um as opposed to putting our head in the sand and ignoring that it's here. So um first of all that's a big shout out Chris Henry, thank you very much and and Scott um for kind of championing it from a

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technology standpoint and instructional kind of approach and thank you to all of administration and MEA members on trying to jump in. So that's going to be coming to you soon. Um but we're just trying to like dot eyes cross tease. Um, we are

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also discussing about cell phone policy and I know people stop cringing when you're hearing that, but I think we want to make sure that um, we are taking an approach that's going to be really thoughtful um, for Marorrow community as a whole and for the district. So, um,

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we're just trying to be really global about how we're approaching it that's going to be hopefully the best fit for here. Um, so just don't want anyone to say they were surprised when when all of a sudden we come to that. Um we have a few other things we're touching upon but those were some of the big things and

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we'll have other meetings coming up. So thank you very much. >> Anything else for school committee subcommittees? Seeing that we'll move on to members forum >> Mr. Atul.

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>> Hello. >> Hello. >> Wanted to I guess I'll update you on the wonderful robotics trip we had in St. Louis. Um, so for past Monday through uh Thursday, Friday, we've been competing um at the World's Competition in St.

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Louis. Uh, our team went 74 and one in qualifications and we made we were top 20 in our division out of like around 90 teams. Um, which was really awesome. We got to meet so many different people from so many different countries. And actually on that we we were had a

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picking spot for our alliance selection where the top 16 seeds make elimination. So we were the 14th seed. Um and we picked a team from Mexico and thanks to Anderson and Edgar and my very limited Spanish three knowledge Spanish were able to communicate like very well. Um

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and that was like definitely a highlight of our trip where we were able to talk to a team from a very different country. Um and even though like our differences, we were able to like you know learn so much from each other. Um and yeah and we were the first upset of our division beating the third seat. >> Wow. >> Um which was really fun. I think it

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wasn't a close match, we'll say. But, uh, it was the crowd. You could hear the crowd. Like, it was pretty fun. Um, and the support we got was amazing. We did lose the quarterfinals match, but still >> the furthest Massachusetts public high school team um, out of all of them, all of the 14 or 15 that qualified and the

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second furthest overall in Massachusetts to make it. >> Wow. >> So, we're pretty proud of ourselves and Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Great job. >> Thank you. Yeah. Anything else? Members, >> I have something. Um, the Malber High

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School Jazz Ensemble will be be performing at the Maj Gold Medal Showcase at the Hatch Shell this coming Sunday. >> So, I believe it's free, so anybody who's interested can attend. >> Yeah. Do you know what time it is?

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>> I do. They're performing at 2:45, but the my understanding is the event starts at 12. >> Okay. >> You might need to check that, but I'm I'm told they're performing at 2:45. >> The spring concert was last week. And if

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those who I was able to go, as well as some other school committee members, if you have not seen it, it was a pretty incredible performance when all >> the trombone. Yes. Not that you're biased >> being trombone, >> but as a group collectively to see all

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of 137 students all on one stage to perform lay, which is I believe the first that they've ever done it and do a few pieces from layiz was actually pretty remarkable. Um, so um, if you haven't seen it, it's on WMCTV. I would highly recommend checking out just to

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see the pure talent that Malboro High offers with their music department. So kudos to all of them. So, I'm glad I got to go. >> And conductor weld didn't fall off the Yes. >> I think Mr. Bone was playing playing in that band if I read correctly.

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>> Okay. And could have end there's so many people to see. Yeah. >> Oh, he was back there. You can see him on the uh on on the uh >> I'll have to rewatch it on the tape. >> Yeah, on the replay. Go to the video tape. >> Yeah. Anything else for me or Okay, let's go to number nine.

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>> Move to a journ. Move to adjourn on the table and seconded. All in favor adjourning. Motion carries. We are adjourned at 9:15. Thank you everyone. Have a great night.