Good evening, SH. This is uh what date is it? December 11th. Um school committee meeting. Let me just bring up my sorry sign it out. I don't I don't have it um
memorized forunately. >> You should get it eliminated. >> Yeah, I know. I should I should print it off and put it in my folder. Okay. So, uh right now we don't have anybody remote. So,
um if any school committee members um are not clearly audible to fellow members or to any members of the public, please notify the chair immediately and we will do our best to remedy the pro problem and we'll inform the public whether
and as of Now we are all all of our members um will be or most of our members will be in person. So the meeting comes to order at 7:02. Okay.
Any public comments? >> No, we don't have any public comments. And now we have a student. >> Yeah, we do. Emily, great. >> Hello. >> Um, can I go ahead?
So, our building has been very busy this week with basketball and indoor track practices, band and chorus rehearsals, and now the teleathon rehearsals, which is going to happen this weekend over from day to right after school and until 9:00 p.m. The fall athletics awards
ceremony took place on November 24th. We had a lot of great students win a lot of great awards. Our Thanksgiving spirit week and pep rally were very fun and memorable, and many students participated. The seniors won the competition, but the other grades did very well. And the lipsync was unlike
any other years in the past few years. Winter sports started on December 1st and basketball, indoor track, ice hockey, and swimming will have their first games and meets next week. The leaders of change blood drive on December 3rd was very successful. There were so many signups and so many
students who were donating. The DECA district competition took place on December 8th and 9th and three MHS students qualified for the state competition. Junior privilege started on December 9th for the class of 2027. Our excellent attendance earned us the privilege of leaving school during our assigned lunch period. So, the juniors
who have started leaving are very excited to do so. The upcoming Beacon Sandalathon is this weekend on WAVM. Band and chorus students will be making their annual visit to the Massachusetts State House on Monday, December 15th. The holiday band concert is on the 17th.
Our holiday spirit week starts next week and will run until December 23rd. Alumni Return Day is going to take place on December 23rd when juniors and seniors will have a chance to talk to last year's seniors about their experiences in college and in the workplace. Winter vacation officially begins on December
24th and we will return to school on January 5th, 2026. >> Great. Thank you, Emily. So, Hillary, do you have any questions? Nope. Thank you. Nice. I don't have any questions either. So,
thank you very much for your report. Good luck this weekend. Yeah, >> go right into the superintendent's report. >> Great. Nice to be here. I will probably be late for my report but I still have to go after students because they usually
they usually say what's inside and much of my report is based on the budget which we'll give. So we skip the whole budget which is in highlight so you can see the most recent curriculum corner that Daniel puts out
really interesting. Um, I mentioned the Boston Globe article. Hopefully you had an opportunity to see that. It's always good when you can make the newspaper something positive and clearly Mayor High School public schools doing that. Um, not all schools do a senior project
and not all schools do a senior project for all students. So it's great that we have such a strong program for all of us so successful and it's nice when it's recognized by other schools and organizations. Cheers to the high school and especially
Gobel who's been spearheading that for many many years. >> That was great over here how great it was. >> You can say otherwise
>> you did. So that's super exciting. Uh we survived our first snow at facilities department in town last week that went out well that well. Uh most recently
um Heather Newman did a virtual meeting with CPAC and LPC which involved the first time at least three interpreters. Correct. And that was super successful. So I give a thumbs up
to our student services department to for managing that. That's a new thing for us in terms of having all these uh interpreters as part of the meeting. So that uh and all three were accessed and used. Correct. Yeah. So we're making
positive steps in the direction to say um the high school head of blood drive was successful and that's always that WAVM the teleathon as Emily mentioned and somebody else will probably mention later tonight begins
tomorrow. Um so if you have an opportunity to tune in and check that check into that and support that that would be great. uh upcoming dates. There's actually a concert tonight. The teleathon is this weekend. And one of
the other exciting things I have for next week, which I'm going to go visit, which if you have time and you're local, will be the hour of code at Green Battle. So, that's always fun. And I'll always put out there if you're in town and not working during 9 to 2 and you
want to read, our elementary teachers do thoroughly enjoy having us come and read to their best. I was fortunate enough to be a second grade class. I did not have a great day for whatever reason. That will make your day better because they are a ton of fun. Uh it doesn't matter
what season, it doesn't matter what book. Just go and read the book. >> Oh, I was just going to say, what day is that? >> No, they will make time. And if you let them know in advance, they'll play it up that you will be their special guest. A >> it's a lot of fun. So, I try and do that
as often. That's what I have for you this week. >> Yeah. No, I just wanted to follow up on the um this new project and all of the applications that were getting everywhere I go. It seems like everybody's talking about us, which in a great way, but um I had the opportunity
yesterday to go there were three school systems for via Newbury and Attalboro that came with the Massachusetts Consortium of Innovative Education Assessment. um to Laura all about projects and really we all went around the table and you just talked about you
know it's a long process it's taken a long time to get here don't going to do it overnight all the different you know community members coming in the way education foundation is funded a lot of the grants research everything was they were incredibly impressed as they should
have been and my grot was unique to Jean Lel 351 times how many school districts Yeah, right. But yeah, no, it was um it was brief and the um organizer um well she um she said that there were
many more school districts that wanted to come yesterday, but there wasn't enough. So cool. So maybe we'll do it again. But I just wanted to say it's pretty >> I do more. Okay.
>> It's not about this. It's about >> the one that you just sent out. >> Oh, and then I will real quick information. um the services to be provided by John Gil Oil public relations. >> So that is the public relations firm
that the town uses. >> Okay. >> Many school districts use that. >> No, I think it's we are going to be using them starting now and they help with a variety of things. Everything from if there's a crisis situation, they
hope that we have the best around that and the package that we are using is also because one of our goals has been to help publicize management by the school. So in this day and age has gotten a little bit tricky because we don't have a local
10 years ago. We could have called her and said, "Hey, we have this event. Can you come cover?" And they glad so and then that work. They will be doing roughly four stories a month on us. So we can go sort of thinking beyond can we really hit our elementary and middle
school parents you know to help them recognize that we are not just an alternative but we are the choice. This is where you want. So whether you're in elementary school, you're thinking about choice, whether you're at that age, you're thinking about charter schools, or whether you're at that age where
you're thinking about school options, we want to be able to really get that information out to a wide also going to go to the rest of the community or pretty much >> No. So they'll we'll work with them and try and so that's part of the challenge
is how do we get it to um and I'll work with um any Amy in terms of the scene to get it to them. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> So that's the goal is to get them to help write to get them out into the wider audience.
We get the school but that's almost like to fantastic. Great. Thank you. you want. >> I went to um a workshop they did at the conference. >> Yeah. >> And then talked with them for a while afterwards um and it sounded really
great some of the things they can do. And >> so I think it'll be really to your point I think be really beneficial. So one of the besides just the weekly update, you know, instead of just an article, the big thing we have coming that has that we want support in would be the
transition to the development. So it's a new traffic pattern. It's a new this, it's a new that. It's a big change. It's wonderful. We're very much looking forward to it. But we want to be able to message that correctly and proactively. So, anything help with that. Um, a lot
of the superintendents that were talking at the workshop I went to with that he moderated um were talking about how they helped with crisis planning and >> um they were talking about one um superintendent was driving between
schools when an incident happened and like that lag time created so much negative fallout because she had to get like 10 minutes. >> Yeah. and that uh once they hired him he could have been actually typing it while she was driving like and when he was
explaining the cost I was like that's a really worthwhile cost for how much they can offer when you actually when there's a crisis >> I mean you probably saw that they put out this >> right >> yeah
the one that says I think um Mr. F with them for many many years. >> Yeah, they've been around a long time. I mean, I know some people that are only some of
them are most of them legit. So, their skill is like so I think it's fantastic. It sounded like I know one of the goals that you have as well like the communication stuff to make. Yeah,
>> that's awesome. >> Yeah. >> Um No, but I love that the um having the interpreters worked out well. >> Yeah. >> I'm trying to picture that >> how it worked. >> Yes.
>> I'm having a hard time trying to figure that out. Sorry. >> Um, I set up the Zoom call. We use channels. So I assigned interpreters each to a channel and when a family came on and
interpretation they went to a little button that the interpretation and it was listen to and you could listen to the call in English, Portuguese, Pian Creole or Spanish and you could switch in between. So I myself visited some of the other channels just to see how they
sounded and as the presenters are talking English the interpreters they're amazing. They just talk as the tongue. Wow. Thanks. Very cool.
>> Thank you. >> Now, can I ask a question about that? >> Is there limitations in that platform for the number of people that are on the Zoom? Like, does it only work in certain scenarios or can that like be used for all sorts of things? They have accounts that are set up for 100 attendees. My
account is set up for 500. I have the same >> the same feature. >> Great. Pretty excited to be here. And we don't have an audience, which we never have an audience, but we do have, just so people know, we have principal linguist from Green Middle Elementary
School and her assistant principal is actually online. I saw her name. Yep. And from the middle school, Principal Kenny and from the high school, we have Mal Blink and Mal representing central office and the high school that they
have a concert. This is December. very hard to find a night that doesn't have multiple events. So, we're all chipping in. So, just to give you a little preview about the budget, we have worked collaboratively with the administrative team who then goes back to different
buildings and works see myself screen or something. Um, they then get information from the teachers who bring it back to the principles who then bring it back to the leadership team. and I work with all of them plus the director
of finance Wayne White who is out of town but has played an instrumental role in supporting this process as well. So yeah I don't need to put up aation actually know if I can see that. So, it's a removingly picture of the Fowler school
and some hyperlinks that if you really didn't want to listen to the whole thing, but when we get it, you could just jump to individual sections. That's fine. Thank you. And our budgetary goals. So, probably familiar to you because we're a public school and we have similar goals year to year. We want
to ensure resources are effectively supporting student learning well-being and equitable access to high quality education for all of our students. Advance district priorities and continuous improvement across all schools and strengthen student retention
and attract new families to make change. I'm really well every word on that beside you. That's just big goals and if you were paying attention a couple minutes ago we talked about public relations that should help us achieve strengthening student retention and attracting family to the mayor public
schools. So that does tie in there. What are some challenges for schools across the Commonwealth and there are many of them and if you've been watching the news lately some of them unfortunately are having bigger struggles than others. Uh you're having big struggles here in
the news. If you're us, FY26 is looking really good. And I'm excited to be here tonight to talk about FY27 because we're we're not far off from where we want to be. Let's say that. Um revenue limitations. I mean, the problem is we
have two and a half and our expenses exceeding. It's really almost that simple. Um chapter 7, we have to fully fund education. Uh we have limited other resources. run out of business. You're an educational entity. Our annual
expenses, our big expense, as it should be, I know this is not going to surprise anyone when I tell you, right? It's going to be our salaries. So, if you look at any school budget, it's roughly 80% of their overall salaries. But we need those people. That's what make education work. And that's the
heart and soul of our educational system. Rising special education tuition costs. Yeah, that's a fact. You'll see a slide later on that demonstrates that. And our students are needier now than they were. I can attest to that. They are needier now than five years ago and maybe needier five years ago than they
were five years before that. And when I say needier, that just means it it takes more resources to educate. So who are our students? So nice. I'm happy to say Colleen's going to go to the next slide that our enrollment is
growing albeit slightly. It is in the trajectory that we want to see. So we have more and more kids coming to Mayor public schools. That's a great thing. Who are they? So we kind of looked at you can go to the next slide. Looked at AMSA, Maynard, the Vote and the state
because we always I think lots of people anecdotally made comments about this group goes here and this group is there. This group doesn't have as many of this kind of kid or that kind of kid. And then you can see by this chart we are the orange. We're always orange. That's just the way it is. Orange and black. So on the charts we're always orange. Um,
and you can see in terms of ELLL learners, for example, we have a little bit over 7%. The state's actually up at almost 14%. So, we're lower than the state in that category. We're significantly higher than than AMSA in that category. If you look at student
with disabilities, again, we're a little, and this is a good thing, we're a little bit lower than um the state right about par with the state actually. I think impacts about even, but we're a tiny bit lower. But if you look at some of our other school choices, amps for
example, we're we're like triple, which just means we have students that it takes a lot of resources to educate. That's what we do. Low income, we're in the middle there. We're well, you know, the state's big as big cities. We're in the middle there.
Demographics, average class size, that compares us to the state. Surprisingly, like I think this was a surprise to us when we looked at the state average. We're a tiny bit lower than the state average, but the state average is a lot lower than I would have guessed it was.
Um, ELLL again, we're a bit little bit lower than the state. We've worked hard for the next one for our students with disabilities to be a little bit lower than the state. That's taken a lot of work and a lot of time and a lot of energy from a lot of people to get us there. Um, low income again, a little
bit lower, a lot lower than the state. I think we're pretty well to do this week. Uh students per teacher were clearly a little bit lower. The graph makes it look like it's huge for the children there. We're going from 10.9 to 11.9. Uh
everybody likes to blame special education like I hear that all the time. Special special ed that's why everything that's really not the driver here. It is a part of the puzzle. It's a complicated puzzle. It is a part of the puzzle. So student services known and unop want to
hit that lovely button. There we go. New student enrollment that may bring additional and it would be because of out of district tuition and transportation. We don't know. And so that's a no unknown. It's got it potentially happens every year. Um
foster placements that require the district to assume full or partial financial responsibility. Evaluations that require contracting um outside the district. uh staff absences, things like that. So these are things that we know will happen at some level because they happen everywhere. It's not a unique
it's not unique to Mayor. It's just that's part of public education and it's part of the student services that we can't predict 100%. Except for the fact that we know it's going to happen at some level. The next slide is interesting.
So what you can see on there is annually the top is FY21, the bottom is FY26 26. See if I'm paying attention. I like that. And then the bar is the amount of money that we spent. And interestingly
enough, right, FI21, we had 30 students and we were somewhere around 2.75. No, FY26, we're down to 22 students. So we have eight students less and it's not a lot of students if you think about it 22
30 to 22 is a big drop like we've worked hard there but we're spending almost $3.5 million so we're spending a lot more money expensive so just to put that in perspective we've worked hard to lower that number of students and at the same time the cost to educate those kids
has gone up fast the next few slides Yes, >> if you've been coming to school community meetings, you may you may be familiar with this, but it's all about grants. So, we have entitlement grants and competitive and our federal entitlement grants that are listed here.
For an example, title one, title two, etc. There's a whole list which we are more than happy to read through. Um, entitlement grants total just over $600,000. Fabulous. That helps us run our educational system.
We have competitive. I'm happy to say I will give I love to give uh Miss Blake credit. We have more competitive brands coming in this year than we had in the past. Uh and we have a big one we're waiting on which could be a game changer which I'm not going to take my hand too far because we actually I don't have the
money yet to tell you but I'm feeling pretty confident about. um competitive grants. Again, we have just under $200,000 that have come in for a variety of things from English learner support, safe and supportive schools, and my cap. So, a variety of things, but that's
huge. That is really I hope what that says to you, what it says to me is internally as a school district, it's really working hard to find and access every dollar we so that would be our One more.
There we go. You've probably seen this slide in the past. We've just updated it, but it's the historical budget allocation. And you can see the blue is what we request and green is what's allocated and we're always a little bit higher. Um, and so that's good. come and
we look at our students and then we look at our staff and we look at our facilities and what are our needs and often our needs slightly outweigh what the townates that's being said recent budget one more recent operating budget history and this
gets in we're kind of at getting there to the meat of this are recommended uh in where we're going salaries as I That takes up about 80% of our budget. Our
salaries for FY27 are estimated at just over $25. Our expenses are about $5.5 million. We'll be looking to ask for, we'll talk a little bit more about this, $25,575,000. And I'll get into what does that
include. Uh right now the town unless I don't think it did. They >> which I think right, you know, the town They work with all the departments. We happen to be a large department. Um they
have initially said we can put out 25217. So there's a delta there which we'll talk about. Yep. Thank you. And as you can see there is no budget presentation that would be complete without a pie chart. Wayne's not even here but he would appreciate
the pie chart. Creates the pie chart. And really the main thing is you can see the three big pieces of that pie. 75% of that pie would be in code composed of green metal follow and the high school. Then you have a little bit of district operations a little bit of special
education as probably the next largest chunk and some smaller things athletics technology curriculum but it's really the three buildings that manage the majority of that budget as it should be. Okay, what do you get for 25575? That's really the SL. This is the slack.
This is why we're here. And I'm excited to tell you, we have really dug deep and we're and working hard to make a recommendation that supports our current operations, pushes us into the right direction, but doesn't come saying, "Hey, we need everything. You know, we
you know, if you g, you know, what would you do with the million dollars?" We didn't we barely played that game. We don't have that. But this is a reasonable number. It includes and here's what it includes and the main thing would be all of our contractual obligations. We've done well by our teachers, by our par professional, by
custodians, our secretaries, right? So, we meet those obligations and we're reinstating two teachers because last year budgets were tight. If you remember, we had to ask for an override. They were so tight and we ended up eliminating a fifth grade position, if you remember that, and a high school TV
position. Thinking all that it doesn't work long term. It it got us through last year. We got an over. We did what we needed to do. But we really know looking at the numbers, looking at the population that we need that fifth grade teacher cuz we I don't want to say we
had classes of 25 or 26 or 27. It's too high. That's good. I think education is not happening in a class 27. You anybody says I want that number significantly closer to 20 if I can do that. And so that's that's the purpose
of that grade five teacher. We knew that was a short-term reduction that we would be asking for to return. And the PE teacher, health teacher is twofold. One is it helps us m be in compliance with what is required in high school. And all
I venture to say all small high schools struggle with the compliance of PE and help in the upper divisions because kids want to take all the electives, they want to do this. We need to be able to offer help to all those students. And we've also added a health pathway
process of adding that. Um, so that's one of the things we continuously do to that pathway so that kids have a path they can take to the high school getting them where they want to go. And then finally, last is in blue because I feel like a broken record a little bit because I ask for this every year, but I
think it is more important every year, even though I haven't been able to get it in the past couple of years, is an athletic train. We have a small high school and most of our kids are playing in at least one if not more and in playing sports and running around. What
happens is you fall sometimes and you get booked and we don't have an athletic trainer site. We have an athletic director. We have access to 911 to1 but we don't have a trainer. We think we our students will be better served by having an athletic trainer who can be proactive
in terms of wrapping ankles and making sure kids are safe going to the field. And then if there's any type of injury can be there to really address that problem. So those are really on three asks. That's we worked hard to narrow it
to three asks so that our number and the town's number is only that delta is 350 and so yes that's a big number. It's $350,000. I think with some work on both sides
it's an achievable number. Um, what's interesting to know just for the audience is we have not accessed any revolving accounts because we've been using them to the utmost of our ability in the past several years and they haven't been we haven't been able to
replenish them in the way that we would have liked. So, this allows us to replenish them at some level. So, so this is the explanation which I obviously don't need to read to you since I just talked about it, but the grade five teacher, the high school PE
health teacher, and the athletic trainer. So, when people do look at this, they can read through and see why we really need that might not have the opportunity to tell you about that. And then our final one of the final slides would be the DOE codes. And
interestingly enough, one of the things that uh often gets pointed out to me in me is how come our administration high and if as you can see between FY25 and FY27 they've actually gone down our administrative costs have actually gone
down a couple hundred,000 because we've been able to reallocate where money is. So it's coded correctly. um some of the things we just put in administration so that the office may activate that wing, but it's more of an instructional expense. So that's how
we've been able to tighten this up. it still comes out to the exact same number that we've talked about and I would only ask you to support the school budget for FY27 25 $75,000
and that will provide the resources necessary to strengthen student learning well-being and equity across all of our schools. advance our district priorities and expand educational opportunities and outcomes for every student and improve student retention and attract new
campus. If you were to keep going, there's a whole appendage with a mountain of more slides which I'm not going to walk through tonight because they really are just reference or you will I can walk through some actually. >> There's one of them though. >> There's more. No, let's
>> that one. So let's talk through because as I said you this has been a collaborative effort and we've flushed out a lot of things as a group about what do we want what are we willing to put on the table how do we prioritize them so we do play the game a little bit of if we had a lot more money what would
we do so one of the things we would love would be an additional bus there's some problems with an additional bus not even being the expense of that's one of the issues the other is in order to make that work at the bus company. We need to
come in sometime in the next 30 days. We have done in May. Um so the timing doesn't work this year bus knowing that now we may be able to plan for that for FY28. However, so that's why that doesn't have to follow us. We can't make
that commitment to the country in time. Um a middle school map culture interventions again would it be helpful? Absolutely. Um but did we take a step back and say if we put all these things on there we're very quickly ratcheting
ourselves up to six seven thousand delta which we can't close and then we just have to come back say oh we're going to take these things out. So we tried to be cognizant of that and prioritize what do we know we need and that's what on the final and then if you go to the next
slide thank you would be again a interventionist for green meadow and summer programming for multilingual we would like both those um and we would anticipate in the future being able to build those in we just knew we couldn't get everything in one year so I give our
team a mountain of credit to really being thoughtful and cognizant of what do our students need right now? What do our staff need right now? Community need and being really aware of we have a building coming, we have other demands within the town. If we were the only
department, I'd say all of that, but we're not there right now. So, the spots are maintenance and then some comparisons between Lingard and the state, which you're welcome to look at.
Uh, thank you for being here and hopefully supporting our FY27 question. We'll obviously we'll share this again people. We'll post this online after this. We would uh
get to see it. However, >> yeah. Um sorry. Okay. So for the health and PE teacher, how would that tie in for the health pathway? Um and for both the health teacher, PE teacher and the um
grade five teacher um is actually no sort of sorry keep those separate for the health piece. Um how does that work with the health pathway? Like is that >> replacing a position that what current that had previously existed or is it
expanding to just pathway >> expand? >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Because was it part-time before? >> Well, it was strictly PBL but not help. So that's a new thing. >> Okay. >> So it's sort of like bringing back what we had plus expanding.
>> Correct. >> Okay. for the grade by teacher. Do the numbers of students like does it sort of tell a story for when this is presented that like the number of kids in that current in the current sixth grade um there's fewer students in that current
grade now and so able to accommodate but then next year there won't be there'll be more kids in fifth grade so what we'll need >> we'll need to keep that >> yeah next year >> yeah moving forward >> like in sixth grade you can't and what's this what's the explanation
there like I I believe you I'm just wondering how to explain that. >> Any idea? >> Sorry, I do a quick circle. >> He knows it's getting a little better. >> Yeah, if I understood your question correctly, is >> is it needed because we think other like
a sixth grade to go down to numbers this year? Is that what I understood the question to be? >> More so like you were able to cut a teacher in fifth grade this year because the numbers were low. Does that mean the number is going to be low in sixth grade next year and it's just a low grade a low class grade size?
>> Yeah. So, you know, cutting in cutting anybody or any physicians or any braids and having larger just never the best choice, right? We had to pick the the better of everything to be what we needed for last year. Class sizes of 25 is it's very not not part of our culture
here in town. >> Is that what it currently is? >> 25. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah. So we're in a position right now if any additional students move in class sizes are now getting 6.7 and so looking at the pattern of our upcoming grades that number is just going to keep jumping. Okay.
>> So in two years of maybe three I don't have the numbers with me directly but class sizes would go up 27 to 20. >> Okay on the class sizes. So um and when we look at this we really I'm pushing really hard for this from my perspective because >> we we're really good at writing top
notch education. Yeah. and the equity is not there for all of our teachers. Um, and so then when we have inequity, our teachers can't do as many great things with such a large number of kids as they can. So we wanted to service our kids far better than we can.
>> Um, so I could certainly explain why we need lower class sizes and we don't have 25 kids. >> Um, just as far as the numbers go, is it that because we had to make a cut, that grade had the lowest number of kids across the district. If something had to get cut, that's certainly made more
sense, >> but it was a horrible thing to have to do to begin with. So, we don't want to do it moving forward. Not so much that that grade was lower enrollment, so therefore that grade as those kids move fewer teachers along with them. It was just the best grade to pick.
>> Correct. For middle school, we get into onesies. >> You can't cut a science teacher. You only have one science teacher for that grade. That's for across the pool. the middle school the middle school model is you just can't do it. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Thank you. I I was I totally supported it. I just wanted to make sure >> No, I just wanted to make sure I
understood your question. >> Um and then um >> yeah, thank you. uh the mass at the mass conference as well for the athletic trainer group there and they said that they could come and help advocate um for funding for
physicians and give information to help with town meeting and stuff about all the different things they can do and step they have on um like absences and um like how >> I don't have them shoot absolutely I'll take that to shoot that information out
>> yeah um they're talking about how like kids that are leaving school to go to physical therapy um now suddenly can not leave school for 12 days. >> Yeah. >> Um and then when later with this presentation, can you add in the like
potential costs for those positions that you're not asking for so that they can like say we'll find what you're not asking for? Um, great. Everybody together. Um, I I have one
additional thought is we're always and it goes really pushing hard to try and best ourselves. We add also the fact that we have the full day kindergarten and the revenue that that brings in because that is a really that's one way that we're
really working hard to to you know make it self sustaining. >> Do you mean the full day preschool? Oh, sorry. We got a full day. >> Yes, we do have full day kindergarten, but it brings us right and you have been around this morning. So yes, the preschool if you
can do uh just show that it's you know it's it's also making us money even or it just itself um another way to show that we're really working hard to to try and make things work. And the other thing that I always want to incorporate because people forget that our parents
of the sick schools um have to pay additional activity fees and bus fees every time. Well, I want to keep pushing that to show people that our residents are, you know, residents have in this school system. Oh, they have to pay their real
estate taxes, but they also have to come forward with fees. another way to show that we're just really trying to specifically possible but also for parents. Um and then
um on the historical budget allocations can we say some way that we're grateful for the C7,000,000 over that allowed us to be you know just another way of saying this is going to go to the February meeting. I know how great we have this meeting.
Great suggestion. >> The last one had to do actually with the two positions. Um it speaks to what we were just talking about. Would you put something in writing to just a quick um paragraph to say what the result is of
fifth grade we're talking about but just because when we pass this on board in that they're only going to see the number the social >> I kind of wrote that down the notes but
I felt like the story so you has to get everything in writing so that they can they actually see what that we're talking and just on a side note so the um uh the wellness committee meeting there was conversation about the fact that we are
not up to state standard I guess as far as go so really who needs to put that in place so the fact that they've got the health it further emphasizes that use it
Uh, so I have a couple of questions. Uh, and you might have already gone over this, so I apologize for being late. U, I know there's a deficit when we get to the point of what is recommended in the budget, what we have from the town at the moment
>> and that there's a deficit of $258,000. >> Yep. We identify where that $358,000 is actually going to these two I shouldn't think reinstating positions and adding positions um do any
of that 200 roughly $225,000. So we didn't do any of those. So is it >> then we're down to a man then we're down to a point where we could in fact
>> that was one of my questions. Is it that we're going to wait on the state down to see >> and make decisions and close the gap a little bit to see what that funding is. >> I know there's been sentimental correct
that was just approved by the state. Um, and so we're going to use potentially wait and a wait and see approach to see if we can improve a little bit. >> Yep. >> Uh, and then depending on where it goes depends on which positions
of what we need of that of those three positions. What is the order of those three positions? >> Would that mean we keep five PE? I thought if I had to go first that's the order. So it's going to be the fifth
grade teacher and then okay >> I'm hoping we are able to close that delta and actually keep all three. >> Okay. So then my next question becomes if we are able to close that delta to a to a reasonable amount that we are comfortable with. >> Yeah.
>> Uh for using the revolvers is it possible because I know in our sub to talk about the data students need and I know there are positions here that would be nice to have but are not in here.
uh is it an opportunity to put in some of those interventions that are there for students for that infra? So if we can do that with the existing staff that we have. Yes.
>> Delta is close to a certain to a certain weapon and we say okay we're comfortable using revolvers and we might be comfortable if we were to spend on another system because we could maintain that. I guess the answer would be yes, but
that's that's sort of closer to the if we had all the young women in because quite frankly we need to close $350,000 >> if we can get there absolutely then we have that whether it's the GM intervention or the ML intervention or
the follow school right so it's eventually we are going to have to do something uh those conditions and to support the works be able to support the students and have them raise their
scores. >> Um all of those so that I do have that >> as you should. >> So I just want to I was just >> which is why it's on the in the appendex pages because you know it's certainly
something we've talked about and in a perfect world we got to have all those on page say we need all those. >> Yeah. But we also recognize that we have to come up with a delta that we can potentially realistic about. But those are like the next things on the list. >> Okay.
>> Y with regards to those, how anxious does not fulfill filling those positions make you guys >> makes me anxious. So >> you know it's from from the fifth grade teaching position. Um people
are you talking about the the >> not the fifth I mean these ones speak I just wanted to be clear >> like how like these these are pretty clear it's pretty clear the grade five teacher and the health teacher are not ones and the athletic trainer is really
pretty much almost I mean at this point yeah the interventionists that have aren't like needs on a really clearcut way to the public right now. How much are do they feel like needs to you where you're like
we really need those? Like I I understand, but we really really need those. Or are you like, I wish we could have them, but we'll be all right. >> I'll take this one. I would say from a Green Meadow perspective, you know, um we recognize
that we have been the beneficiaries of so much over the past couple of years, right? New school. Our colleagues have been incredibly invested in our success. So, we've been able to keep a math coach and an ELA coach. My first year because
of Esser funding we were able to have that team of MTRS and that was a team of six. And so that was incredible. We we don't have that now, right? We have a math coach, we have a literacy coach who provide intervention more than they
provide coaching right now because that's where our needs are. Uh and then we have a title one teacher that was schoolwide but because for you know fortunately unfortunately our low income numbers have changed. We are now award
rather than a a title one school that changes our model significantly. And so I think we feel very strongly that we would really like the interventionist position. However, we recognize that the high school, Valor school, they've given
so much to us over the last couple of years. It's not fair for us to keep saying meadow wants more. Um, but kids, as as Superintendent Hos shared, kids are coming to school differently than they did five or 10 years ago. Their
attention spans are very short. Their frustration tolerance is very low. Um, they need frequent breaks. They can stay, you know, do best with targeted instruction, 10-minute increments, 15 minutes if you're really lucky, and
everything is better in small groups. And that's just not possible for a classroom teacher, even when your class sizes are smaller, to be able to do as consistently as we know our kids really need. So interventionist that model that
we had where we could be pushing our interventionist into the classroom and they could be providing small groupoup instruction alongside the general education teacher and the special education teacher. That was magic. It was beautiful. But it's it's hard to
balance without the staffing. So but but we also understand we need a fifth grade teacher. You know we really do need an athletic trainer. Things we need. Um so you know we talked about reaching even the bar high for our students
helping our students bar um ideally have all so when they're getting high school they go to that's not the case now here it's my time here and so the
importance So that is, you know, what what do we want our kids to be able to get to? So for me, getting them to our entire eighth grade engaging algebra work would be the answer to that that question.
My my worry is like I'm I'm really glad that we're so close here this year and I just don't want us to like go forward without asking for things that you feel like you really need. Um and I know I get that there's a
difference in the level of need between fifth grade teacher and the interventionists. >> Um I'm just trying to like flush that out my head a little bit. >> Did I help you? >> Yeah. All right. Good. Thank you. >> Thank you.
I just wanted to ask um and then maybe back your question. I mean, we know the interventions that kids get when they're younger at the earliest point means that potentially they don't always later interventions
and they're not as I hate to like they're not as expensive. uh I hate putting it that way when it comes to to children uh but they they're not as expensive to educate because they don't need the additional services uh as
they move through the grades. Uh so I completely get your your take on this and wanting to spread the wealth um amongst the high school and the middle school. Uh, I have two middle school, so I appreciate it and my kids will end up
at the high school, so I I truly appreciate it. Uh, however, I guess my question is if our focus needs to be on the elementary school and to put those resources there
in so that we do not have to worry as much in the middle school and the high school and they can do other things to prepare them should that be where the resources go. Yeah, >> I want to be like 30 seconds.
>> I want to hear anything you need to >> is just to remember that Valor's not just >> correct. It's Yes, it is. It's the elementary the later elementary and middle school. I know it's >> right. And so those individuals who do need that level support
those they still need it when they come to. So I hear what you're saying, which is why we have the coaches down the line before we go even deeper into scoring them. We have to make sure that those students who are coming at the fowler
aren't kind of like I always so push back. So if that's what is needed, we've moved them up through to valor and we have the the fourth and fifth grade and they still need that support.
Then shouldn't we be focused on finding funding to able to have those positions to continue supporting those students through the end of their elementary education? >> I think that's why they're on the Olympics. I think that that would be the very next thing and my hope is that when
hopefully these three positions can be funed this year that next year when we're having this conversation that the interventions that are on the list of what we want in our budget again I'm I'm I apologize and I want to me it feels as though we kick the can
down the road. So the fourth and fifth graders who are or who work fourth and fifth graders are going to move up. They are going to need even more. So every time we can pan them down the road, these kids are going from grade to grade and each year they're going to need
higher levels of support and they're going to make their way up to the high school and they're going to need even higher levels of support as they make it through the high school. So, are we just saying we're kicking the can down the road because
of funding? And if that's the case, then I think we to say we would love them, but financially we are kicking the can down the road. Uh, >> so I think that is what we're saying that we would like them, but we're not going to ask for them this year because
we know that it doesn't do us a whole lot of good to ask for $700,000. I get that. However, >> we're saying the same thing. >> Yeah, I get that. But now I'm going to take it as I'm a parent and you've got to justify to me because I'm going to
come back to you as parent and says, "Okay, my child needs this. You're the school district. Uh they need these additional supports and why are we not funding them to what we need?" So, I think I think we I think we've got it
from both sides here. I think we're getting ourselves into a really sticky situation because the parents in Mannard are getting savvier and savvier and savvier and they want what they want for the kids, which I know what I want for my kids, too. However, I think we're
going to get to a point where we're not going to be able to justify continuously kicking the cat down. >> I don't disagree. I don't think we're at a point where kids aren't getting their needs met. I think if we were at a point where kids needs weren't being met, we would flip this. I think it would have
been it would always be nice to have additional supports. I totally agree with that. But I think we are able to meet our students needs. It's harder and harder. So, and I think Ms. Newman put it right perfectly. This year, it makes sense to keep class size,
clean up, if you will, the compliance issue at the high school. And we still have at the green middle an ELA and a math intervention coach depending on what the need is. And right now it's more interventionist and coach. So they do have that um at the elementary school
and I agree. I would much rather put our resources with the little ones to get them as much support as possible. So they need less support if they I think we've all talked about that. We we both are. But I think we're kind of on the same page. Oh, can they both look like they have
things to say? >> Can I Can I say what they were gonna They were thinking. >> You both have something to say. >> I I was just going to add that we are also in this unique space, right? We have a new tier one curriculum for ELA.
We have a new tier one curriculum for math. We are seeing really we're seeing promising results. We're not totally there yet because we're in our first, you know, year or two to to four of
implementation, but that in itself has been really altering for us. Right? As Deian always says, you can't tier two your way through a tier one problem. When I started as an assistant principal, we had a tier one problem because our curriculum resources were
outdated and they weren't meeting our students needs. And we've made such a huge effort as a district to get in high quality instructional materials to go but we still do we need to see that implementation we need to continue to do that work in tier one and that's
happening. So ideally like if you said to me what do you want? I I want bodies every day all the time because why not? But I also understand that, you know, we need to we need to keep investing our time through our team leader model,
through our professional development model into tier one because we are seeing good results while we're also working to catch that those kids up. And some of the kids that we're worried about, they're phasing into Fowler
because they were our COVID cohorts. And so as they fade up, we recognize they do need smaller class sizes. And I will say our second grade numbers, they're big. So our first grade numbers, they're big. So we really need to get ready there as
well. But I'm not going to, if you said to me, I'm going to give you more interventionists, I would say yes every day. But practically, we have other means of supporting our students right now. I mean, I always worry, and Brian hears me all the time about this, it's
those murky middle students who are not tier one interventions. So, they make great strides with the tier one interventions and then you've got this group that are sort of they're just sort of rotting along, but they're
not making the same they don't have the same level of success that their peers are having with the tier one supports. And I I don't want them to be left behind and lost in all of this because I
feel like you're going to have the students that no matter what we do, they're going to excel. It it doesn't matter. You could you could put a robot in front of them and they're going to be fine because that's just who they going to do that.
Um but they're going to be fine because that's just who they are as students and that's the way they are. You've got the students who need a tremendous amount of support and intervention who are getting it. But then you've got a group of students who are just sort of plugging
along and who also need support and they also need intervention and they need that help, but we're just sort of they're just sort of hanging out there and and moving through it. And I'm not sure we're providing them everything
that they need to be as successful as they possibly could be. That's my that's my concern is that we're going to lose we're losing a group of students in here. >> But you know what we do differently now than we did when I started five years ago in Maynard. We're we have
assessments that give us real data and and they're really valuable. And we didn't have that when I first started. And so we know who those middle kids are and we know exactly what they need and we are still targeting them. When I first started, you knew who the high-f
flyers were and you knew who the kids who were really struggling were, but where everybody else fell in the middle, there wasn't any accurate data for that. But between the MAP assessment, the Dibble 8 assessments, we really have so much information about all of our
students that it again then you're like, "Oh, we could be doing all these amazing things, but we are still making it happen for those kids differently than what was happening before because the district has invested in really valuable tools that help us with planning."
>> Goes back to the timingation that we talked about with having that data. that they're showing students is that the timing of it is >> I do want to point out too and I think it it's worthwhile saying here publicly
is our teachers all work extremely extremely hard >> and they're they're not leaving students behind up in the middle school and upper elementary we have wind blocks every day where our teachers are differentiating and working with those students who have
you know different needs and so Um, I do want the public to hear that very loud and clearly that um, we aren't leaving students behind, but teachers cups are getting fuller and fuller and fuller and at some point it's going to start overflowing. So, we want to preemptively
get to that overflow point and that's why it's it's a wish right now. Um, and you are right to the sense that at some point it can't be a wish anymore. It's going to be a need, >> right? I wonder if there could be just some like editing to the slides to sort of
say like these these things are imperative, they're choice, but then like these are unfunded needs that we and like sort of take it from an afterthought appendex to like um more ahead in the presentation, but
acknowledging that there's not the gap is too big to cover them right now. But so that like it's very clear like this is if we could possibly do it, we would just can't like maybe just it's like a wording thing to help parents feel like.
>> Um I just have one question and that's about the health pathway. Is that starting next year? for that. >> Yes. With any luck, we've been uh our part A of our application has been
approved. We've been invited to write part B of the application. And with um some good writing and a lot of luck, we should welcome our first health pathway students this fall.
Luckily, the main courses in the health pathway are the science courses we already offer. >> So, that it would be open to kids going into nth grade next year or older students as well who have already taken science classes that um
>> Yes. I don't think um I don't think seniors unless certain se r rising seniors who've taken an exact sequence of science electives would be eligible and then juniors, sophomores, and
freshmen currently or rising would all be very welcome. Might be a little tough for the rising seniors. next week. There we go. I asked a question. Going on to the policy I
posit. There was a memo question. We have principal York speak to the competency determination or want to speak to that if you have questions.
I guess I don't think it's that explanation of it from scratch because I don't think I thought that at first but then it's not changing the it's not changing what's required for Maynard right it like it you still have to follow uh you still have to do those
things right or is it meaning you don't have to do four years of math anymore >> but what I took it as because I then went to look at our graduation report it's And they are totally different. Although >> ours are ours are just more
>> but we but we worked hard to get them more. >> I don't think is competency determination different than graduation. >> Yes. >> Is competency determination competency determination is designed to
figure out which students need additional support after grade 10. >> Okay. in order to meet the district and state graduation requirements. So competency determination is a little
checkin right where MCCAST used to go and where the state is thinking of perhaps inserting other things in the future hopefully fingers crossed things like senior project. >> Yep. And
we will be checking in just as we do now with students who haven't done well on MCCAST. We'll be checking in with students who didn't meet the competency determination at the end of sophomore year to put extra interventions in and
make sure they have good solid math, English, and science learning so they can do all these wonderful pathways. an internal check for staff to assess a child and guide staff actions, not so
much like what a child must do to graduate. >> The this the students will graduate if they meet the district's graduation requirements. >> Okay? If they aren't doing it quite on time
after 10th grade, extra supports will automatically be put in because of competency determination. >> Okay. >> Does that make sense? >> Yes. What extra supports go into place?
>> Um extra meetings with the guidance counselor. Um Deanna as the curriculum director gets involved and meets each of the kids who is going to need extra support, talks with the school counselors, figures out if they need a
tutoring block. We just all work together. Olga checks in, Dr. Miss Dr. checks in to make sure that they're okay socially and emotionally. The whole system just it's a it's a stop
a stop sign to say does this student need more than he or she is getting? should never assume should I assume that once a student you realize that the student needs additional support um
based on the competency determination that that is provided and check-ins continue >> gets to the point of graduation so that they can successfully meet all of our standards for graduation. >> That's absolutely right. for instance,
>> an alternative path to get them to graduate or whatever is what is in their best interest. >> That's right. And if they did perhaps fail freshman math, that happens >> and we can put that safety net in place.
Last year, students were um desperately doing credit recovery and even taking um blocks that could have been work study and staying in the building and working on online classes. And we got them all across.
>> Okay. >> And some of them had not passed MCCAST the first time they took it. Okay, I see those students in my life on the college level struggling with that. That's why this concerned me. I
put my higher ed hat on. I'm like, oh god. >> Yeah. Let's just um we put somewhere in here that it's specific to grades 11 and 12 then because it's not 9 to 12, right? talk about
it will be more defined that isn't that we're talking about kids that don't pass by the 10th grade that they 11th and 12th is when this comes in >> 11th and 12th is when they get the extra support to make sure they will meet the
graduation requirements that in here somewhere >> I think it does say that in there somewhere >> well it said identify students in grade 11 and 12 but really It's identifying them in grade 10 to provide the supports at 11 and 12, right?
>> Well, it doesn't happen till the end of it happens at the beginning of grade 11. >> Okay? >> That's when we have all the data to show us if they met the competency determination. >> Okay. >> But I I do want to say if our freshman
and sophomores need extra help, they get it. We don't just let them swim alone until the end of grade 10. We're using all the same systems that Karen described using in the elementary
school. >> So this is something that the state is requiring us to do, right? of everybody's gonna have to and every night >> well
before the end of the year is what you're saying for the first place for a decade there is a I'm found. >> I always make the so I always check everybody else's. >> Yeah. Right.
>> Yes. together into more. Well, so my confusion is like I don't really understand I I understand what you're saying, but then when I when you read about it and it says like if a person if a student
isn't being determined to be competent, they can appeal it. What would be the purpose of doing that? Like if the whole point is so that the admin says this child isn't competent now, they need supports to become competent. What am I missing that would make a parent feel
like nope, they're good now. like I don't care if they can't read and write. >> Perhaps they took a summer school class >> and they want to present that for credit at the beginning of grade 11 because passing grades in the major classes are
what determines competency per the state. >> Okay. >> So, >> because this isn't a final thing like being determined to be not competent in 11th grade isn't there's no negative consequence, right? Like >> that's correct.
>> But some you're absolutely right. Some families might not want their children to not make that competency determination because it is a guidepost. It's a stop sign halfway through that says, "I'm on track to graduate."
Um, I'd like to make a motion to approve policy IKFD competency determination um with the um the updated legal reference link
corrective. Any discussion? >> I have a question about the poll first. >> No, you should. No, actually. So, is it also saying that say a student who is 30 now that didn't graduate because they
didn't pass the MCCAST can now come and graduate? >> Yes, indeed. I heard from a student in a former district and her parents how proud they were to now have a diploma from my former high school because they
appealed as soon as MCCAST was um taken away by the state. They appealed and got their diploma. >> Anything else? >> Okay. Um, all in favor?
>> Okay. >> All right. On to the collaborative updates. >> So, hopefully you had a chance memo to come in. is just really a reminder that we are collaborative doing very similar things for us uh in
terms uh sometimes specialized programs and other placements individual academic therapy supports uh one of them does transportation work for us. So you can sort of see and I
have the fill on both superintendent from all the participating districts within each of those for us. They both offer slightly different things, slightly different programs, try to keep you updated on what they're
doing. We have that quarterly for you. Right now running smoothly. Uh transportation is a little bumpy at the the beginning of the year if you remember but it's really leveled out uh worked pretty hard to
internally well here the collaborative so that's actually going well and the case collaborative has expanded in the last year into offering more professional development um which we're taking advantage of this
year >> uh apply So they're both question system and parents involved in that. um to answer this question, but do we do we hear back from parents that they're
happy with the education to get students or are they sort of a separate entity that just don't even interact that conversation is part of their annual meetings every year. So placement is always considered on an annual basis. There's also um our team chairs are in
very frequent communication with both the schools as well as parents. So integrate myself to a degree as well. >> Excellent. So um if they're not then we talk about what we should do about I updated from our last meeting the from
our workshop stuff that we talked about. Anybody anybody have any thoughts or comments? Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you.
Right. >> Yeah. >> I don't want to change it or anything, but what maybe we say mask workshop. Um, we could also talk about what we learned at the place we went to already. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Um,
do we want to vote? >> Yes. Absolutely. Motion to be accept. Awesome. for chair's report really. >> All right. >> Absolutely. I hope a fantastic weekend
and and surpass last year's would be fantastic. That would be great. Um, and I hope they have they usually do. Yeah. So, um, and maybe if somebody else says something, I remember something
else, but right now, uh, Hillary. >> Yeah. I don't I have any notes of anything. I don't think I have anything. No, I got nothing. Okay. All right, Alexis. I got nothing. Sorry.
>> Yeah, well this Saturday um just a couple of meetings last night. But yeah, um that was good. Then this morning the wellness made me also it's also really really good. But um a couple
of just a question some you and I talked about on our way back or to the past conference about cell phone policy. So I don't know your latest note >> about um
>> yeah well so the wellness committee meeting she was talking about how Australia is banning >> Yeah. and um Maro and I was really having a similar courseation
um ourselves that um I don't think it's quite the 100% that everybody's making out to be at schools. I think there's workarounds that are happening. So that right away for the day makes it sound like
it's away for the day. like you put it away and you don't pick it up until the end of the day, which is not what happens. >> So maybe they just need to like >> change that >> change. But I'd be all about maybe more strict
than it is right now. throw away my house but it's not my actual >> like walkers walkers just make that huge progress we made huge
>> right so the question is how do we move forward sort strategically without losing sight of all that's like and I can say because I've been in the classrooms the engagement in the classrooms across the is exponentially
better. And yes, they use the impulsive time and yes, they use lunch, but that's kind of a trade-off with us. >> That's right. >> And if you and if we were to say now that you can't you probably see a very different
reaction right now. It's been pretty positive, >> I think. Okay. Just maybe just not very >> and I don't and I like we were ahead of the curve before we started doing it this year. So I feel like if we went the next level it
would be so >> I feel like it backfire >> back there. >> Yeah. I would like to um to look to possibly work towards it, but I also want to address um AirPods and watches.
>> Yeah. Um because I think I look at my kids, one who has watch actually two of the kids that are living with me right now at dinner >> phone is supposed to be away >> and their watch is so and their
>> so actually has for their handbook that I'm currently reading >> but today which can so the addition would be it's phones, smartwatches and any other any other device that does that. So they
can still wear their watch. It just needs to be offering silent but it's still the haptic still. >> Yeah, it's still causing them to to actively. >> Yes. Um Yeah. So, I would I would definitely
like um if you're if that's being talked about at Fowler and they also talk about that at school that's >> pretty solid >> and and I was going to say so if
anything but those as those move up then we make the ice because they're used to So just to have a couple maybe this maybe we put it out there. This is a threeyear window guys and this is what's looking like this year.
>> Okay. Um so that was one number one and my only other one was um I did hear back so um um listening session about chapter 70 how all it's not working and all of that I did reach out to the person she worked
with um the superintendent did such an eloquent job of three minutes and um I asked her if I could get her presentation she's very scient so Christmas is over I'm gonna start that I
have with this presentation is also there's some great notes in there in so then I'll get it to you guys while it spring to actually send Jessie response because you were talking about
that and I cancelled out there. The Fowler kids have found a work around to video games very part of Google
which is an acceptable website. So kids are sitting in their wind lock playing video games because they showed me they're like this is a part of Google classroom now this is how we are doing this during and I'm
like are you like really like it is not a banned site because some of the video games that they're playing are banned sites you know during school and all that sort of stuff or on the Chromebooks are banned I'm not surprised every so often find
the cell phones and the lunches. It's the two that they're finding this on Google Classroom and they're playing video games during school. So >> they are really my kids will kill me that I said
it but they'll never listen. Um, right. We're on to consent agenda. We don't have any minutes. Um, and without objection, I'd like to accept warrants 2631, 26032, 26033,
and 26034. They are accepted. Do we have um motion to address? I take that motion. >> All in favor? >> Yay. >> All right. Have a good night. >> See you next week.
>> See you next Thursday.