No. Okay. >> Good evening everybody. >> Good evening. >> Hi. Uh we've got some people here and online which is fantastic. Um so I'm just going to jump right into
our meeting script. Um in accordance with open meeting law regulation 940 CMR 29.10. Please be advised that the the Maynard school committee member um Natasha Rivera um is attending this
meeting remotely. In addition, there are committee members attending remotely. All votes taken at this meeting will be by roll call vote. Uh lastly, if any school committee members are not clearly audible to fellow members or to any members of the public, please notify the
chair immediately and do our best to remedy the problem and we'll inform the public whether the meeting will continue. Natasha, can you hear me? You can. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Yes. Great. Thank you. Um, so I call
meeting to order at 703. Um, any urgent business? >> No urgent business. >> Oh, do I have to do I have to do both, right? Oh, sorry. Um, okay. Both I'll vote. Uh, Hillary,
>> yes. >> Yes. Um, Natasha, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes. and no urges business. Yeah. Um any public comments? Nothing on
email. Student representative. We have >> Hi, it's Emily. >> Welcome. >> Hi. It's good to be here. Um
>> I can start us off with highlights. >> So um our term one has ended and report cards were issued earlier today. Our MIA ambassadors traveled to the spa state sportsmanship summit at Gillette Stadium today with Miss Ara and Mrs. York. There
were nearly 1,000 students there from all over Massachusetts with many ideas about improving sport sportsmanship statewide. Today was a CPR training for our ninth graders. They're all now CPR certified and able to save a life. We had a see something, say something
presentation from Sandy Hook Promise on October 29th. It was a very serious presentation about helping people who are thinking about hurting themselves or other people. The presenter was excellent and the leaders of change are going to follow up with schoolwide activities. Halloween was last Friday and student council sponsored a fun
costume contest. Many teachers and students dressed up. The HOSA fun was a huge success. HOSA is our new prehealth professions club. And then upcoming we have boys soccer and cross country who are moving into their tournaments. And casino nights for the music parents is
this Saturday night. Next Monday is our annual Powerpuff and Bonfire. We have Veterans Day off from school and the band is marching in the Veterans Day parade which is going to happen downtown. And the National Honor Society induction ceremony has officially been rescheduled for December 2nd.
Eight. Thank you, Natasha. Do you have any questions or comments? >> No. Nope. I'm just glad that term one is we're moving along. I'm sure it's know seniors every event is milestone. It's the last of this, the last of that. So,
I'm just excited for all the seniors. Um, and that's it. I've heard the the event for the the Sandy Hook was really great. So, I'm um really really excited that they were able to come out. So, um, very thankful for everyone who was able
to organize that. That's it. >> No, thank you, Emily. >> Just um about Sandy Hook. Um, your takeaway, Emily, on it. It sounded like uh they were saying that
interact were interacting in that. What was your what would you say was your takeaway >> in general? And I'm speaking not just for myself, but for a lot of students, these kinds of meetings where there's more of a serious tone are way more impactful than something where it's very
like the energy is up and high. And um definitely like to this day we we still talk about it sometimes, you know, because he this is the same speaker that had come in the spring of the last school year. And he's great with the way he talks, you know, he talks to the students. He doesn't face, you know,
other areas. He actually even interacted with the teachers. Um, and it's kind he kind of he was really good with putting together how students and teachers should work as a community and how we need to, you know, look out for each other really. Um, I thought it was a great presentation overall. And I hope
that we can see more of him in the future as well as Sandy Hook Promise as a whole. >> Great. Thank you very much. >> Thanks, Emily. I don't have anything but great job. Thank you. on to the superintendent report.
>> Excellent. Emily did a great job. I could speak a little bit less because she covered some of mine, but uh it's been a great couple of weeks in being there. So, you've done a lot of really great things. See some things, say, say something. Uh and the high school was
fabulous. And we talked about the um purpley day. We raised a lot of money. Uh we've been a show with the LA Rotary Club uh Gates Foundation in there. Two for two for one um support. There's over
$3,000 by volume. So that's really exciting small community. We continuously step up because we that's just off the heels of so it just continues to oppress. uh in terms of some academic highlights in the report. I'm sure you already read
about it, but we had a very successful professional development day on Tuesday, there's no school day. Uh we call this sort of the end camp, which means people signed up to do a presentation for 15
minutes or an hour or so. And there were a multitude of opport and then mid to late morning we had that everybody came and it's funny that Emily talked about um same thing it was all about um
microaggressions so we had a expert person who's been in 35 years co director lot of just life experience and who came and spoke to the faculty and and had that serious tone um But it was meaningful. People are still talking
about. So again, that was great. The whole day was just success, which you never know like having been to ed camp sometimes there's a lot. So the one thing that's challenging is there are a lot of logistics. Um and somebody in the audience over there in the second row really managed to pull that together
quite well with the support of staff and the administration. So Tiana, thank you. That was successful. Um, we have worked to address the lightning issue at the basketball courts because
they've been on forever. Um, and for a long time the mayor police department said that's great, it's safe and it can be kind of a dark area, but they don't actually need to be on all day all night. Um, so un Justin DeMargo and the
Department of Public Works found, for a lack of a better word, grant that would fund the timer and the installation of said timer. So with approval, he had that done. So we now have that on his family that we're adjusting. It actually shuts off a
little too early right now because of daylight savings. So there was a group out there playing and like I forget exactly the time 7:00 6:00 the whites did go out um now because 4:00 it started it's really dark at 6 so we're adjusting the time to be a little bit
later but they will not be on all night so that um there's some information about the fundraiser for nature's classroom that I know Mr. Andy had mentioned previously, but feel free to participate in that. Um, I think if you go to the
link, you get to see a lot of candy. So, if you're in the mood for candy, that may be an opportunity to support nature's classroom and get yourself some food. Um, there's an update on grants without going through the whole list. It's notable this year that we have more
competitive grants being awarded to Mayor than we have in the past. the entitlement branch the entitlement title board etc. Um we still get those in the you know by the board that things continue on that path from the at the
federal level those are in place. Uh but the entitlement grants that or the uh competitive grants that we're looking for, we've gotten many more this year. Uh I'll come back at some point in the near future next meeting or a couple of
meetings um with final what's been approved, but it's looking very positive for I mean the uh hate >> hate crimes preventions hate crime preventions fully funded. So, we haven't
applied for that one in the past and you know, you just never know, but it's a $40,000 grant that helps us do a lot of things internally. Um, that means we can do things above and beyond what our operational budget support. There's a couple of bigger grants. I think that's big, but there's some really big grants
in terms of skills capital once that's finalized that support WAMs. Really excited for that one. Uh, and you can leave again.4. >> Oh, that's the education associations. I
have >> Oh, you have to. >> So, that just means I there's this go business manager to Desi to superintendent back to Desi. Less. So there's Indiana has to write something
that was very impressive that >> exact so really exciting again to say to see something say something that's really it was a lot like our professional development. I was there for that in the morning first session that yeah the first
session and it had a really calm serious tone which was encouraging. Um, so I took that >> say that. >> Yeah, it was great to hear her say that. I thought the same thing. They were they were >> engaged in hearing what he had to say. He didn't work to get everybody jumping
up and down and just waiting and yelling, just very focused, very secret. Um, we had our autumn walking green medal last week, which was last week. Last week super successful school team came
stressed out a big show believe it everybody there parents came to the crowd and even in the midst of construction the metal administration staff are back safely uh
tomorrow meadow and have their vet day ceremonies a little different but you are mobile and available they're both meaningful ceremonies. Um, and we typically get standing removally huge
crowd especially that open cafeteria is pack standing over the lobby. you are able to come if you want to come suggest you get there early stand uh is 8:30 and meadow is 10 o'clock but
if you want to sit down at a little bit earlier than that or a lot um food service as you know there's lots of talk about snapping to do some food service and reimbursements but school lunches are paid through November
And that probably will change daily until its federal level recent that we confirmed. So we know that for this month we're all set and moving forward and as things change both and Wayne and
so on that you great we have a lot of exciting people here today. I just want to bring it up in our >> Natasha. Do you have anything? >> No. No. I was was going to have some questions about um the grants, but you
said that at our our next meeting we'll be um accepting those grants and allocating. Is that right? >> I think you've accepted all of them already at the beginning of the year. >> Yeah. >> No, we No, we didn't do all of them. >> We did do some though. We did some but
there's some that we like the hate grant that that one we did not that was just a recent allocation or right >> um so I just want to make sure that we are allocating them >> pending state approval
>> beginning of the year you approved the list pending approval at the state there may be a new one or two that I'll bring back to you >> okay yeah I think the ones that we had were more there was like one Yeah, there was some like that we hadn't
yet and I think like the idea, which is an entitlement grant, that one hadn't come through yet. Um, so yeah, if we could just go through maybe the list of which ones competitive and entitlement and see which ones we had approved at our last meeting and just make sure we're not having anything drop, that'd
be great. >> All right, I have to ask this. No, thank you. to hear that. >> Great. Thanks. >> Oh, and I'm very excited also to hear more about the hate when whenever we have a moment to talk about that because I know a lot of schools are doing different things. It'd be great to hear
what Maynard has envision for that fun. >> Absolutely. >> On to the Spanish version of Gordon. >> So, I will just introduce Deanna who's gonna really talk to the presentation. Uh, but we actually have
Maria on screen and possibly >> Monica. So, Maria and Monica did a lot of work behind the scenes in terms of gathering information and just explain where the program's been, where it's at, looking forward. Um, and then Deanna's
going to walk us through that right now. All right. So, I'm really excited to be here tonight on behalf of our Spanish and British programming. Uh, and just to quickly go through this, uh,
And next slide. I'm Deanna. We've spoken here a few other times. I use she her pronouns. We also have uh Maria on virtually today. So she may also be able to answer some questions. So first and foremost, our program is in the shape that it's in
because of our fabulous staff. So, number one, we need to say a huge, you know, thank you to our staff who have been working tirelessly make sure our Spanish immersion program continues to grow, continues to work well for our students. Uh, that said, one area of need that we will need to continue to
focus on is maintaining staffing Spanish immersion. Um, we know that there were challenges this past year making sure that we could staff that, and there continue to be some challenges, which we'll talk about as we go along, but staffing will continue to be at the forefront. Um, also our programming
continues to thrive because our administr administrators really push forward and make sure that it's priority to make it happen. So, a lot of voices, a lot of really important work going into making sure this continues. All right, so looking at the enrollment, you can see we've got pretty
straightforward numbers. We're starting cohorts around between 20 and 22, and those are about equal with the other classrooms in the elementary. Um, as we look through there, there's a few other trends that we'll talk about, but it's pretty straightforward. Um, see good
healthy size words in there. Uh, class demographic information. I know there have been concerns along the way about how equal the access is to the program. So, as you can see, we do see students um who have been identified for services on an IEP represented there.
Students identified 504 programming there. and students who English is um who are English language learners are also there so fairly representative. So couple of highlights in the data co
did in fact impact our enrollment and cohorts. So there are a few cohorts in that chart that were a little bit smaller at Fowler. They happened to even out with the years that we might have had some interest in what was going on in kindergarten. So saw a little bit
of a dip. Um with that said, we also know that structured support to ensure that equal access is an area we have to keep working on. Um for example, right now we have a hosting going for um interventionist that's also Spanish speak.
Uh, so we keep continuing to really think about how can we support our students Spanish immersion to make sure that if they are not necessarily making the progress that they want to see academically, what supports do they have? Right now, if they need support, they are still receiving it. They're receiving it in English. So, those are
just kind of some things to keep thinking about. Um, and again, static is continue to be a concern. Uh, current climate is going to probably continue to be an issue that we are facing. So, couple of recommendations that have come
up. Um, we really want to look at strengthening our family communication, especially in those grades two through four because we know that the academic expectations ramp up a bit there, right? We're moving from that learning to read to reading to learn that there's a lot there. Um, and students tend to find a
point somewhere in there where things get a little bit harder. So we need to make sure that we're communicating with families, making sure that they understand that yes, we we know the academic challenges are getting a little bit bigger and we are ready to support students at when they struggle. uh we need to offer parent information
sessions to reaffirm program benefits so that they know this is these are some expected things like for instance literacy may not develop at the exact same rate but it's absolutely going to develop um know that that language rich teaching is going to so but it may not
look exactly identical to who cares uh and then we need to continue tracking that cohort stability past are we keeping our students are they still making progress Okay. So, those are some big things that we're really sure that we're watching
for. So, again, the commitment is we continue to support Spanish immersion programming. Our focus is on equitable access to all students can and will succeed in the program and when do have students who struggle making sure we
have support systems. So, short it would be sweet. Thank you so much. And if you have any questions, please let me know. Natasha, >> you're muted. >> Thank you very much. Um, great presentation. I I wanted to uh go back
to the information about supports and um so when the dyslexia screenings occur um because they also occur in I my understanding last time was that those happen in Spanish. There's a a
particular program that does that. So that would be uh K&1. Um that is that correct? And so if they're identified as potentially at risk in that regard. Um but I think I heard you say that we
do not have uh staffing or supports that provides in the language. They're not learning English at that age. They're learning it's full immersion Spanish. Correct. So, um I know that about two years ago
we the school committee had approved um a a position that was for supports in the Spanish. Is that part of what has been hard to recruit for or is that position not no longer posted? I'm just wondering because I don't I I just
trying to um trying to align those concepts where a child who's only learning Spanish and who's at risk and who's not learning English now you're providing supports that are only in English. I can't imagine that being very effective when they're not actually learning in that language on a
day-to-day basis. Um so those concepts to me don't seem actually aligned. And I know u and this might age me quite a bit but I know um cuz I have a couple of kids who've gone um at different aspects of the program and um Senor I know you
were quite wonderful with um you know in third grade with identifying when some needed some extra supports but I I I and you know your time putting your time um out there which was the Spanish language piece to help um for that and that that
to me has been very critical is how do we how are we not able to provide Spanish language support to children who need it when they're only learning Spanish? And I think that MBE report a like years ago um highlighted that
particular aspect that we uh we don't have enough supports in the language that they're learning. Um and I think that's a critical aspect of any immersion program as well. So, I know that's a lot a very loaded question and you probably might not be able to answer it all, but um now that we're, you know,
a decade or more into it and still haven't solved that solution, it worries me quite a bit. And especially when I see that change from third to fourth grade, all those students who are leaving, I'm going to guess most of them are language- based reasons that they're leaving and their parents are very concerned. Um, I know a lot of those
reasons are those parents in those grades. So, >> so to go back to the question, um, just very briefly, we are still hosting the position. We cannot find, we cannot fill it. >> We are committing to supporting students
right now. What we can provide is intervention in English because that's what we have. We continue to post. We continue to look for and we are brainstorming any way that we can to support students with that. With that said, the other key piece is that there is an expectation, and this is where I
think that the entire team does a really beautiful job, that students are learning English at home as well. So, they aren't necessarily not getting any English. They're doing their they're speaking at home as so yes, the literacy interventions would be in English right
now. Our hope is to be able to provide them in Spanish. We haven't been able to secure staffing yet. But if you're doing so if if you know part of again I go back to the dyslexia part of that aspect is you know it could be like phmic awareness and and all of those things um how are they learning if they're if
they're being taught in a day-to-day basis in an immersion program in Spanish they're not able to actually catch those aspects in the language that their peers are doing correct because their peers are learning it in Spanish and they are not they're not understanding it so I I
feel like there's a a gap there um and I don't think it's an unrealistic gap app, but I would really like to consider and I get there's a recruitment issue potentially with that. I'm not sure if it's more of um is it a salary based reason or or what is the you know the
reason behind it, but um or is the position I don't know if it has it been posted as a full-time position or is it >> it is >> okay. Yeah, I I would I know there's not an answer that can be answered right now, but that to me does is pretty alarming um for I think when I think about the sustainability because that's
the goal here is the sustainability of the program and um the two options that at third and fourth grade they either leave and go into, you know, you know, a regular um English primary English class, but by then they might be behind
already. And if they're not caught up, I can tell you from parents that I've spoken with whose kids have fallen into that scenario, they're already looking at out of district placements. So, I think we're behind the eight-ball in um mitigating some of that concern
because by third and fourth grade, a child is behind. They're like way it's cost a lot more to bring that child up to literacy when we can really need to have some interventions in the language they're learning in in those earlier grades. So, I just I'll get off my soap box for a moment, but that is alarming
to me and I would really like to hear more about it as um it progresses a bit. I do like the communication aspect that you're involving parents at the earlier because I think that was um certainly areas that were were lacking in in the as the program was kind of evolving. I
think the communication aspect has been wonderful lately and I do appreciate um you know reaching out and and connecting with families in those those transitional years especially from like Fowler or Green Meadow to Fowler. I think they're pretty pretty critical um
as well. So, that's that's really that's what I have um to say, but I just was looking at the data and and the stuff that you shared and that stands out to me as a as a major uh concern that we're still not having um supports in the language that
they're learning. >> Um so, I have some of the same concerns that Natasha has. I um I know when I have talked to people about my younger child and Spanish immersion, they say bless several people have said she can't do it, especially especially and I feel
like that may have been the case. I know that was definitely the case originally. Um and I know it's getting better, but I think it's a little bit hard to know just how much it's gotten better to be able to counteract that. like I replied back, you know, I don't think that
that's really necessarily the case anymore, but I can't say what really is different. Um, and then the other thing is, um, in these conversations, some of the older kids, um, so like 10th, 11th grade age, they've said that their
reason not to recommend Spanish is that Mayor's already small. So when the kids are looking for a pool of friends, instead of looking with 75 kids, they're looking at 20 kids because of being with that same group of kids all along. and that if they don't get along with those
kids or struggle that it makes it really really hard and I don't know that there's any kind of question or answer there but I is that that group was particularly like a certain age group that was saying that is that tending to be a problem with all
the age all of the cohort like the classes or that >> so I don't know that so what I will say is that when they get to Fowler they're not necessarily away so anytime you put a group of students together and it's the same 20 traveling
year over year, they get a little familial, you have some sibling relationships that start to build. Um, that's a pretty normal thing. It happens in smaller schools as well. Uh, but I think they do a nice job of mixing it up once they get to those middle school grades and so it
doesn't stay that way all the way from K right through to 10th grade. But I can totally understand that feedback that for years they are grouped together. There's not really a way around that, but it's something to think about. How could we make sure that they get to mix
it up if it's not white or shape? That's good feedback. How much interaction they're at like the Green Meadow grades in terms of like lunch and specials and things like are two classes stay together or are they mixed?
>> Well, I'm Karen Karen. I'm happy to answer. >> I'm here. Our Spanish immersion classes attend lunch with their entire grade and recess with their entire grade every day. >> At lunch, do the kids sit by class or
are they all mixed together? >> At lunch, they do sit by class. Although our third grade starts to have fun Friday where they can choose their own seats and they earn that privilege and they get to sit wherever they would like to sit. And then at recess, they're all
together. And if they're in lunch bunches with our counselors, those are are mixed class. >> What about the specials? Are the specials one cl like >> the specials? The specials are one class.
>> Okay, thank you. >> I also just I just want to remind people that our Spanish immersion program is a lottery. No one is screened out. Everybody can enter in the lottery and if you are selected in the lottery which
is live and everybody can attend. Nobody is is screened in or out of Spanish immersion. It is open to anybody. Oh, I didn't mean not allowed in because of special needs. I meant that they're basically suggesting that she wouldn't be able to be successful because of
having special needs. Um, and I wasn't sure like to what extent the program has been able to accommodate different needs. Um, it sounds like the intervention is like specific interventions, but in terms of like behavioral needs or emotional needs or
like are those still at the same access to support as any other classroom ever. >> Yes. >> But not in the language they're learning. Only this year, Natasha, we had an interventionist in Spanish for the past
two years. Unfortunately, we don't have that person in that position anymore and we have not been able to hire. We have had that position posted since July. We just have not had any applicants who are
Spanish speaking. If you remember, it took us a very long time to find a kindergarten Spanish immersion teacher. >> Oh, I know. I know. been very challenging to fill, but not for a lack of effort or desire. It would always be our first choice. I will say our Spanish
immersion teachers have done an amazing job at providing small groupoup instruction and supports for their students within their classroom. And then we do support them in their English development because most of our students
English is their primary language. And so when you are getting phenemic and phonetic foundational skills in English, it supports your development in Spanish. And so we provide this we provide this to all of our students across grade
levels, including Spanish immersion. And even when we had an interventionist for Spanish immersion specifically, we still identified some students that benefited from intervention in both English and Spanish to support their native language
development as well as their academic language which they were receiving as part of Spanish immersion. >> So just to um point out so one um supporting most is not supporting all and so our responsibility is to support all students. So although most students
might have English, there are students who come through whose primary language is not English, they have French, they have other things. So they do not get that support at home. So I just want to make a make sure that that's highlighted here as a reference point too. That position that we did have for 2 years,
that was 2 years out of what 10 years that we didn't have that position. And so it's not like we had that position always and we're just now short of it. it took that long to actually fund that position to get fighting for that position to have it and now we're we're
kind of stepped back. So I just want to call context to what you're saying and it's not a slight in anything to you it's just a disappointment when I think about the overall success of the program and families who are looking to what we can offer their children in the program.
These are the areas that they would not want their kids to be in. And so that's when we talk about, you know, how do we retain it and all of that. Um, we're still back at the the initial problem is getting someone who can support them when their child's in need. And it's for
all children, not just the ones who speak English at home. So I just wanted to make sure that it was clarified. Thank you. Um, so I assume the answer is no, but I was wondering if um because it's difficult to find somebody that has all
of the skills and experience that's wanted. Would it be possible to have somebody that doesn't have all those skills but then give them the training to get the skills that are lagging or is that not something that might work? >> Principal like this kind of answered that same kind of question.
>> Okay. You can't teach the whole language. >> Yeah. That's too much. Thank you. >> I had just as an example of something education foundation. He's principal at middle school and he found himself
teaching Spanish for three weeks of his job because as they would have time to just find a teacher, a Spanish teacher. So it's not salary, right? It's not salary based. It's just the Yeah. It's just the way that it needs going
to teach. It's a scary time. It's very unfortunate. But um the So remind me the the kids start um going out to to different classes in the fifth grade, right? That is that when they just have
the English class? >> Yep. So our fourth and fifth grade um their SP with in within the specials they mix with the other classes for one of their specials a day and then in sixth grade they have they they're mixed in with everybody they Spanish class the
world lang class Spanish also quite remember what what grade that studies that's good so at least that when they get into middle school like you say it's their merging with others um so my question I've got a couple of questions and one I'm glad kind of intimate this
year based on the challenges. But when things get back to normal um in in past past years, we would start with a higher enrollment at Spanish origin kindergarten because of the attrition, but we started this year with 20 in the
past. I remember like I think it was 26. It goes past this started out at 25. >> It was 25 knowing that that was is it because we didn't have enough kids. to retake all the lottery tickets this year or we we have a list longer than what we
can take every year. Uh but the goal is not to have one classroom be 25 or 26 while other classrooms are at 19. So that all goal is to have sections be fairly similar at the start and then our work
is to try to support students so that we don't have as much. So that's long term that's the goal because I had heard contrary that that's one of course there's the people that love it and people that are so keen on it with all the attrition the classes
end up in the seventh grade with only 16 kids. So versus all the other classes have 22 23. So you know there's there's always that mixed two small cohorts that happen to be right around the age where they might have been doing very
formative here on that particular thing. I don't know that I could watch that as our kindergarten right now is at 20, our first race is 22 and our second grade is and last just a question. Um the the comment about strengthening the family
communication between grades two and four. Do we also why why don't we stop that or do we we just find that it needs to be further to keep advancing. So yes, there's principal linguist and um assistant principal already did a ton of work post year especially with that in
kindergarten knowing there was some instability in having staffing over the summer. So they've already done ton of the outreach that's not so we do we have really strong outreach at the start and now what we're saying is we can keep that outreach going
but instead keep that support going so the families know what to expect. Perfect. So going forward we've got that strong relationship in kindergarten so that hopefully again some of this will not happen. Excellent. Thank you.
Uh I was really happy to see um that you didn't go here. That was really great. Let's hope that it um and yeah I I also had the question about the weight list. um how how many
kids approximately I do not answer to that but I will defer and see if anybody else has. >> So it varies from year to year. It depends on um it really depends on how many people applied for the lottery in
any given year. So currently for our kindergarten there's a weight list of six students but for our first grade where we have 24 students in first grade those cohorts across all sections are running large. Um that weight list I
believe we have 10 families on it. So but that's just a larger cohort across the grade. It really depends on yeartoear. >> Okay. Um, >> and I will also add that on that weight
list are families that do not live in Maynard because when we do the lottery, we do the lottery of Maynard families first and then if our spots weren't full, then we would consider a family from out of district. But that's never
happened in my time here. We always fill that and then have Maynard families still on the wait list. So we don't then go to families that are out of district, but they are on the wait list still. >> Um
let's see. Um just some um brainstorming. Um, I know you probably have already thought about some of these, but when it comes to possible look for um other people
that would be able to do this the um uh interface. Thank you, Mar. Um, have you talked to like the alpac and maybe they know somebody or
>> Yes. >> Okay. Yeah, >> it's a good idea. >> We've talked we've talked to the ELPAC. We've reached out to all of the area universities um to talk to reach out not
only to education majors but also Spanish majors. Um, you know, we have we've tried a lot of different avenues in terms we've talked to families that attend Green Meadow to see if there are people that have had educational
experience in the past that are interested. We offer help and support with certification and lensure and going through the Massachusetts process. Um, and we're currently working with our high schoolers that are in the Spanish immersion program that are interested in
education, um, to give them future teachers experience now and then also offering them placements in our Spanish immersion program for student teaching if they decide to move forward with education. >> Great. Really?
Okay. And I'm assuming that you know all the teachers the current teachers know that they're they're looking too. So they're also feeling that in their network. Okay. Tasha >> I just have one followup. Um if that's okay and it was something that came on.
I just I know that the lottery and and Karen you you had mentioned alluded to this. Um it it is really tough for the teachers because you don't know what the the the group the cohort that's coming. You could have a cohort that could be 80% girls and you know or you could have
a cohort that comes through and a mix or you could have a cohort that comes through eventually they have higher needs you know in there and I know that's really a hard thing to adjust to and and the team you know struggles and you know does a really good job of trying to adapt to those kids needs where they don't have that screening.
So, I do want to recognize that um necessary flexibility that it's not as though you can go screening kind of evenly. You know, you could have some classes that are more um special needs um just because that's where they eventually fall into the lottery and
some later diagnosis. So I know just from experience when um when that has happened that um the counselor sometimes there was some a lot of social emotional needs in particular cohorts and um there would be some pushin for um the whole
class of um of doing some you know social skills and and all of that. Um, so I I do know there is um certain levels of adaptation to try to like understand the uniqueness of certain cohorts that are not going to be the same because they're not spread out
evenly across the board. Um, so it is intricate in that sense. There definitely is that sibling um, you know, I guess relationship that kind of forms. They're with each other so often and that could be for good or bad as well.
Um, but I I think it is a great uh program that we have. Um and for whatever again for whatever way we can support you Karen and and everyone in sustaining that um I'd want to make sure
that that's um you know considered as a priority I would say for the school committee um to understand where that where how we can so if it's budgetarily and that's where I kind of honed in on that position because that position was a budgetary change that we we made those
couple of years ago. Um, so I'm glad that that at least the funding has been retained for that position whenever it's able to be filled. Um, but you know, whatever we can do to help in that regard because it is a critical piece I think for the sustainability of the program is making sure we have adequate
interventions for it. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Karen. And hurry up, right? Rebecca. Yeah. >> So, it's my pleasure to introduce Rebecca Ruiz on screen. Uh we were fortunate enough to be interviewed a lot
candidate. She goes to the top and we're very happy that she joined the schools and the town as our energy manager and so it's an opportunity for her to introduce herself and one of the projects. We don't have an answer
project. We've been meeting about um about Miss V and she will talk a little bit about herself and what she's done in the last 90 days and a little bit about the people want to start out. >> Rebecca, you want to you're on?
>> Great. Um hi, I'm Rebecca. Nice to meet you all. Um I have um have about uh I've been in the buildings industry, I guess, since 2017. Um, I'm coming with a mechanical engineering background. So, my I have a mechanical engineering
license in HVAC and and a lot of that experience was spent doing sort of like cost benefit analysis on energy savings and buildings. So, um I think that'll translate well to this role. Um, I also have a lot of uh leadership in energy
and environmental design experience. So, um, a lot of energy and sustainability, um, in other areas and this is my first, uh, municipal role. So, I'm excited to, um, to work in a municipality and, and,
uh, so far it's been really great and meeting all the wonderful people in Maynard. Um, in my first 90 days, uh, I really hit the ground running. There was a um grant application underway already for um to replace the um the heating
system at town hall with heat pump. So going from a big push in sustainability and energy right now is to move to electric systems. This would bring town hall uh to be a mostly electric building if we're awarded the grant. So, we um we
just submitted for that and I've been working on our annual report in getting um and we'll be submitting that tomorrow for um a group called green communities that um that we are a member of that uh
if we do a number of things including reporting to them, they will uh give us some grant money. So, um I'm working on wrapping that up. And then um I've also been looking into I think a hot button issue around town is is the the roof on
Fowler Middle School is has reached I don't want to say the end of its life, but it it it needs to be replaced and um and so we've been looking into grants on on how to um get some money to to replace it and and make it um at the
same time solar ready and improve the insulation and just make it a better roof. Um, we've identified that the MSBA grant that will be opening in uh 2027 for applications is probably our best uh our
best resource. And so um we're starting the process now of looking into what we'll need to do uh before even applying to make sure that we have a strong application. So that's going to be the next uh month or two for me I think is among other
things. But um but a focus will be looking for um for what we'll need to do to to be able to to qualify for that. >> Great. >> Natasha, do you have any questions? >> Um well, I just Hi, nice to meet you
first. Welcome. Welcome to Maynard. And um I guess my question would be about the the general like we would be getting an in-depth understanding of what your recommendations will be for like how to proceed with the root the different
types like that's what I'm just wondering the fowler that's a good question. Um I I don't think the recommendations will come from me. Uh there I think it will be um there
we'll have like a outside vendor come in and do a study and and um and compare. >> I thought that happened already. Was that um >> it did? It did. So >> Okay. >> Um there was a study I think I'm I need to look and make sure that that will
meet the requirements of the grant program. So >> there may need to be another study, but I'm not sure yet. So, I don't want to say that that's completed because I'm I'm still at early stages. >> Okay. So, I guess wherever um
so whenever we're ready, when there's a presentation before a decision's made, I just want to make sure that we hold a spot that the school committee is allowed to hear what the options are from whatever study and um what is being recommended and also uh because it is a
a significant financial aspect that um uh that we eventually will be probably going to town meeting for like what is the timeline, all of those details that we want to make sure that we're part of the conversation in the decision-m um
not at the end. So, um that would be I think critical for for me to understand a little bit more. Um and I'm I'm right now I'm having a little bit of a hard time understanding who owns the process right now because I know like the Capscom did some some things like they
had the study also and they were looking at funding maybe for this fiscal year. So some of those are the questions that I'd be wanting to understand or what is our goal with um the funding securing funding you know all of those things and how like solar everything that builds
into that concept. So, um, so I guess more to come when you you're able to ground yourself a little bit more in the information if we can, you know, I guess have you at a future meeting to, um, to inform us of what your thoughts and recommendations or whatever that however
that and Brian, I'll look to you to if you could kind of coordinate that when that is ready. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Hi. Um, thank you for coming, but I don't have any questions right now. I
would love to hear from you again um once you've had more time to settle in and um get more tippets. But for now, just thank you. >> Thank you. >> Welcome, Rebecca. So glad that we've got you for the next at least three years.
Um more rest of your career. Um so having to do with the followers since that's the hot button issue. Um, I'm wondering because I'm one that always wants to be like first in line when things open up. Um, so to be best prepared to have that
opportunity with the MSBA because it's definitely the best. I'm wondering and this I guess is for you, Brian. Um, would maybe Rebecca talked to Bill Palumbo with the because so with the um the Green Meadow Building Committee um we've got experts on that with how the
MSBA works. I don't know if they could plan to reach out to MSBA because there are sort of different divisions within MSBA and we talked about that. >> Great. He's a great resource and I'd love to be able to again be first in line and have
all of our ducks in a row and have everything exactly the way that they want them to be. >> Thank you. Yes, I definitely my my next step is to have as many conversations as I can with with other people who've participated in other MSBA programs or
um or I I'd like to see who else has gotten gone through the roof one specifically as well to see what they had to do. And um I'm also hoping to reach out to someone at MSBA and and see if we can can hear what what they have to say as well.
Some more to come. from Eldridge. He seems to have Le >> Thank you very much. >> Um, welcome. Um, I guess the
I don't recall you saying like what is what does our timeline look like? Um, that might have something to show us at some point. Um, that is a good question. Um,
I'm not sure. I I did say a timeline. I I'm hoping to have more, let's say, in the next um maybe by by the what's today's date? Maybe by early next year at the latest
or early 2026 at the latest to give you a timeline. >> That's fine. I just, you know, because we're getting >> push back um from the town about this, I just wanted to have a better understanding of when you when you
thought you would be able to get um information about it so that I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah. I don't want to give you a time that I I don't think I can give you information. Let's say let's say early 2026. Yeah.
>> Thank you. Thank you, >> Sasha. >> And just one followup when um whenever we get to that place, u I remember when we went through the Green Meadow roof, um there was some um concern or just
like a boundary or a guarding about how much you're spending um for expenses or maintenance on a building before you have to bring it all up to code eventually. It's like 30 some 30% threshold. And I don't remember what the actual regulation is like if you spent within a three-year window look back window then you have to kind of bring
the building up to code. Um, and I just want to make sure I think for Fowler there not so as much of a concern because it's a newer building than Green Meadow, but I do know that Maynard passed these stretch codes recently and so um just want to make sure like when
we're able to get data just considerate of like what that threeear because I know we've done a lot of HVAC work um you know this year and last year. I don't know what that number would be. it's like what what is exempt from calculating that 30% threshold. Um, but
just to kind of be aware and just present that information to the school committee as well, just so we can make sure that we're not close to whatever that number is or how close we are, you know, just comfortably speaking um, before there's a concern. >> And I think it's based on like whatever
the value is, but I don't remember what the I know we went through this for Green Meadow and that's why we couldn't do a lot of major projects in the very sequential period um because then it might put us over that 30%. and we'd have to bring the whole building up to code. Um, which was not great. So, that
would be the other area would be helpful to get an understanding of once you're able to get into the details a bit more, Rebecca. Thank you. >> I'll definitely make sure to comment on that. >> Okay. >> Next next presentation or this isn't a really presentation, but
>> No, I was great to put you Yeah. Yeah. No, thank you. I appreciate it. You can obviously tell where our our minds are. We're hearing a lot about the roof and um >> a lot of the our peer boards have awareness of it and are already pretty pushing pretty hard for some type of action. So that I that may be why it
feels like we're kind of a little bit behind. But nothing that you and all it's just where we want to make sure that we're catching up and up to speed. And um the next um available action we would be able to take would be at the annual town meeting which would be in the spring. And so there's just would be
a lot of work if it's a town article that kind of stuff that we would be looking for town. So I think that's thought process for some of these you know questions is are we aligned with that deadline of getting you know to town or are we looking to like next fall for special town meeting. So that I
think will the grander scheme and and can the roof wait to that level as well? Is there risk um in any way? Thank you. >> Question. >> Understood. Yes. Thank you. >> Sorry. Were you planning on being at the
quad board meeting next Wednesday night for Chance? >> I was not, but um sorry, what was was there more to the question? >> I think it would be beneficial because there'll be a lot of conversation just about the capital planning and and and
all of that. Just food for thought. >> Okay. Okay, I'll I'll keep that in mind and and discuss with uh Brian and Greg about if that would make sense. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Rebecca. Nice to meet you. >> Thank you. It's great to meet you all.
>> Thanks, Rebecca. >> Thank you. >> All right, so I'll do safety. So, as you know, we have a safety committee. We have Susan Arthish is on screen. start to find the right face on the screen, but
there she is. She's our our chair of our safety committee and some of the key players of our safety committee would be the assistant building. So, they're here in person to go over sort of this high level. What does that mean? What does that look like? What do we do? So,
Susan, I don't know if you want to say anything. Just wave and say hi. Feel free. >> Just representing as the chair. So, uh, our assistant principles are going to do an awesome job representing. >> Thank you, Susan. >> Perfect.
>> All right. Thank you for having us. I'm Dave Snider, assistant principal at Fowler. Um, hop to the next slide. Uh, so Mayor Public Schools, safety of students and staff is our number one priority, of course. Um what does that
look like in our district? Well, we have a district-wide safety committee which we're here representing. Um Susan Arle is the chairperson of committee and it includes district level administrators, assistant principles. It includes the
fire and police department. It includes our facilities director, school committee members, uh nurses, other staff members and parents as well as our um Tony Sigar. facilities
um building based crisis team. All of us have our own building based crisis teams and we meet every four to eight weeks depending on availability and those are chaired by the three of us assistant principles and this includes administrators um our representatives from fire and
police department professionals, mental health staff, uh regular and special ed teachers, coaches, anybody as many stakeholders within the buildings. Um and that's where we talk about all the different kind of building based issues going on with particular
students we have could be students in crisis. Uh they come up kind of you know throughout like our regular you know days but also like long-term plan is our building safe is I said physically safe protocols we have in place if the crisis
does happen. Hi, I'm Kate Bur. I'm the assistant principal at Green Meadow School. Just to continue on with this um uh presentation, um our Alice and Fire safety training. It um are kind of two components. There's training
specifically for staff. Um we have intensive um training programs with all new staff that come into our buildings. Um as well as we have a um we have training through our teacher mentorship program. Um and then we obviously every year we have refresher trainings for the returning staff at the beginning of the
school year in the mandated trainings that that um are required for every staff member as well as at our staff meetings. Um and those are building based staff meetings. Um there are also ongoing trainings um around safety for students which look different um at different schools which you'll hear in a
little bit. Um there are always developmentally appropriate and trauma informed schoolwide and classwide safety assemblies for students. Um again they they will look a little bit different at each level um of our three schools but if those are the ongoing trainings that
we do for students. We also have teachers discuss um safety protocols that are required within each building um with each class on their first day of school. And I would probably say it's a lot more than that. It's a lot more than just on the first day of school. I would say those are um those protocols. Um I I
definitely know what we meadow are kind of constantly talked about and I'm sure um in in the other buildings as well. Um so safety is is something that the students hear about and are very aware of throughout their day at the
Good evening everyone. Um I'm principal of Bay High School. So uh we by law are required to do four fire drills a year and so we sort of adopted the same approach with Alice trying to
do the same thing with four of them per year. Uh and uh we also have a mandate of legal mandate to do bus drills once a year. So we are currently in process of uh scheduling that with the bus company
uh hopefully next week or the week thereafter but they should happen relatively soon. Um and again they look different in different buildings because we're trying to approach safety for developmentally appropriate ways using trauma informed best practices but that
will look very different from kindergarteners versus childers. So um they they dr build in their complexity throughout students school careers and throughout you know each school year and
um the following approach is what it all culminates with at school. So at the high school all drills fire and also all scenario based um with variables that um mimic real life situations and force
staff to think on their bas um anything from us in conjunction with fire department blocking a specific door or exit or us ask asking service students to hide
so to speak so that we can test how quickly we identify who's missing and kind of use those protocols. Um to uh the latest um new thing that they're trying to do is the uh trapped protocol.
Um meaning that uh sometimes students might not be able to evacuate from certain area because let's say there is a fire in the particular class fire and they cannot get out. So uh we came up with an idea that's going to put
a certain mark out in the window and at the next fire drill we are going to pilot that um where the fire department will know what to look for and they will need to identify where it is which which classroom has
um the mark. So the fire department environment will not know which one it is. We kind of you know by drilling them uh and having them train at the same time as training ourselves. Um and that's really I think uh highlights our uh approach at the high school where we
are trying to fail up. Uh each drill is a learning opportunity with great collaboration with the fire and police departments where they're willing to go with my crazy ideas and and see and we have a protocol of depreing uh Alice and
fire tools and collecting feedback and making adjustments on that from staff and students. Um and um every time we find something else that's that's not working or was a hiccup, we celebrate that because it's an opportunity for us
to do better. Um I can tell you with certainty that what we do at in terms of safety is not that great state. We are the only high school that has done drill during lunch like after lunch
drill during assemblies do drill during advisories of all kinds of things. So um at this point students sort of you know expect anything and everything. Um having said that it is done in um close
consideration of students needs. So the student has um an IEP or 504 or might just have some kind of other sensitivity that we know from their counselors what not that is taken in consideration work with our team chairs with our um
counselors who are our 504 coordinators um and making sure that all of that is taken into accommodations are made to need it. uh certainly trying to uh you know take away those scaffolds as students are uh practicing this more and
become more um aware and trained analysis and fire. So sometimes we would have a students coming out of fowler with you know that saying that in their final four that they have to have advanced numbers of the drills. Uh but then uh the most recent student you know
came up to us like this last year and uh by the end of the school year kind of by fourth quarter uh we took away this accommodation because the student and the family were comfortable with just doing unannounced drills and kind of
so that's kind of general approach to the drills. Next slide please. Um yes, a lot of what we do um in regards to safety and deal with student issues especially um we work with our SRO Alice Mac as you say it says on the
slide she's a rock star. She absolutely is. Um, and then while she's been away, um, Detective Sergeant Detective Cusel, who I know was, um, the SRO in the past, although I did not work with her at the time. Um, >> another time. >> Another Yeah, she's been great in in the
absence of Allison, but I'm glad she's glad Alison's coming back real soon. Um, we work with them all the time. uh specific student discipline incidents of course um safety issues uh between students more day-to-day kind of basis
stuff u any kind of threats you know of weapons um uh you know threats of physical harm where it kind of goes above our level I'll call that she'll say speak with students or you know advise me on how I should you know go
forward I'm sure it's the same school um we've used her I' I've used personally for threat assessments have said things that they could go we got to talk to them about this and show them certain kids determine if it's something you know we need to shoot further or is a
kid just you know being a kid say those things right um Otis is kids love Otis um huge benefit to our students anxiety and their apprehension they come to school um through the little guys
especially um Um, so I think that that all leads into student well-being and their feeling of being safe at school and kind of lowers that anxiety. Um, so want to be a school more specifically on uh what we're doing
at some individual schools. I did want to say too that um we practice every single day having our our littles and our you know youngest learners listen to adults, right? That's really that to us is um really spreading safety because once we have the trust in
those relationships where um students are listening to what the adults are asking them to do, then we know that we will obviously in the case of an emergency be able to get out of the safely or be able to have them do what we need them to do in a in a fast quiet way. So, um those are the things kind of
we practice um at Green Meadow. Um we recently had a school assembly that was focused specifically on safety um and our safety um areas for safety in the cafeteria um safety at recess and safety in the bathroom uh in the bathrooms. And we had a teacher who did kind of like a
game show. So, it was um very interactive and um all the grades participated. Um and we will have third grade do the same thing with preschool. Preschool did not the assembly. Um, but I thought the, you know, the format I think was was good for kids to have and those were all that was all kind of a
review for them, but it was fun. It was a fun kind um setup. Um, we also now this year we're able to have walkies for all adult kind of building people work with students which which um which is great. We didn't always have that and so um that obviously increases our level of
communication. Um and we also participated in the safe routes to school. So, it was a day where we walked to school um as a as a Green Meadow community and a lot of the conversation during our district-wide safety committee around that day was, you know,
really helping the main students start to learn walking and bike safety. Um so th those are some topics that we continue to focus on during those um during those safety meetings. And also another big piece too is we um spend lots of time um communicating with our
parents around um why we have certain um safety restrictions around the school. So our goal is to really increase our leadership of our of our safety warnings. We really want parents to really understand why playing in the playground after school um isn't um we're not able to do that this year due
to the bus route in the smaller space. Uh, and that's all um communicated out through our um our s'mores and our weekly updates. And so we really kind of stress that the more parents can read that, the safer um everybody will be because that's that's um kind of a year
wide focus with our our new footprint during this conception time. So that's what's going on at Green. >> Yeah. A couple highlights uh for Fowler last year. um John Gal Reesei out of our tech department and Wayne White's uh
collaboration, we were able to up our add 28 new cameras to our existing cameras and update software and I'd say we probably have about 90% view of the school. There's a couple dead spots still, but um but it's proved
invaluable. um one you can catch kids when they're when they're doing unsafe things around school, but also word to spread kids are getting used to it and I I do feel it's drastically reducing the amount of instances we have in the hallways because you know when kids are
down like I can see everything you know can so there's in the cafeteria or stairwells we can see what's going on. Um I love it. Um we held uh similar to the high school we held our first um collaboration with standing up promise
foundation where the starts with hello assembly um very valuable students uh big focus on like you're seeing someone lonely seeing someone isolated what are we doing um real actual practical applications of
what you do if you see somebody sitting by themselves or somebody's down um not feeling not feeling themselves but also The part I liked is it also puts a little bit of responsibility on the person who's feeling down feeling that they have a responsibility to kind of you know seek help as well and I think
that part was refreshing to kind of sort of hear so and I kids perked up as we were watching so sort of a side sort of kids were sitting up and sort of reflected which was pretty neat. Um and for physical safety um in sports we have
a new AED adding to soccer field which as you know is very important. It's hard to limit the highlights of safety at the high school because it's my passion. I live in safety all day long. But so today we had VR training
for all our ninth graders and then we had two sessions for our staff. Um and that training again that's grant funed it's absolutely free unless they want to actually car represent or you know their uh like lifeguards or work with kids and
what not they want to have that employment. So and I mean we call it CPR training but it's more than that. it was the allergens and the like tourniquet and it's a really like first aid plus CPR all together. So, uh we survey
students every year after that and they do recommend you know yes they have some suggestions about be done better but they generally speaking love it and they do overall agree that if there was an emergency they feel like they would be able to help. Um so safety for
caregivers night. So we did this for the first time last year with support from AMA. We just got the funding this year through Mayor Bel. So we are going to do this again. Uh which is a presentation we took with the police um and the safe
coalition that is out of um Franklin. Basically, we start with just overview of what Alice is and because lots of families don't have any ideas of what that what that means students practically, you know. Um and then the
police department talks about uh juvenile driving loss or the social liability loss. um you know what parents might uh face if they host a party where alcohol is provided and um um from
consumed by uh students who are underage uh you know sexing texting so digital uh piece to that as well and then there's a hidden client site um which is basically a state teenage bedroom where uh uh
adentines are asked to find as much of drug permanently as they can possibly they do and then we show them everything that they did not find and um that's quite entertaining every year. Um and then there's nar training for all the caregivers uh to attend and um they can
take a nar or in their however they can um they want to do it. So we are just uh figuring out the uh the specific date. I will let you know when that is if it you all. As of right now, it's been in
December third. to just make it sure that everybody can um start with the hello and see some see some evolution for quite a bunch of stuff that is another grant um we um high school applied to this brand last
December and got it and by the time Fers done the second piece that's over $20,000 worth of speaker fees and the speakers our speaker was the best one of the best assemblies we've had in my time in May and here. So, it was what
she was incredible about. They really spoke with the kids. Um, and we we really love that. Um, so we're working trying to work with St. Lawrence and um getting more cameras to cover some of our plans, sponsor new program at the
high school. Um last year Chief Wallace and I worked closely with um our current senior senior aspect to add a so one of them is added two alumni another one to follow and then throughout school
throughout the town. Um so that was a big uh effort and we have a couple of ongoing project that we're trying to do uh which such as the color coding of the hallways. Plus, if you coming to high school for the first time, it's kind of hard to figure out where you're at. So,
that includes wayfinding for um our new students, for our families come visit, but primarily for first responders. So, if there is an active um event of any kind, we're going to have first responders, not just at all, but from, you know, conquer Hudson and other areas
who will have no idea about Leo school. So, um, color coding and kind of creating the signage is really for effective first responders response. Um, and trying to figure out the two-way communication with the police department. Um,
and how that will look like again there's a provision that technically says that we at all times have a two-way communication walkway. Um and we're doing a ton of there's a ton of PT that uh that we attend. Um
anything from FPY to uh their regional um New England safety conference that's annual in May. That's incredible uh resource. I go there every year and work so much. Um and we've uh we have a
really robust threat assessment team. Again our system is one of the most developed state um we where again it's not just I mean we have developed a level of uh a bunch of gradations of
suspects and for aing from you know student Google's uh weapons and it we get an alert and it turns out that they're in forensics and about that so it's not a we need to look more further into it but then you know there is a little bit more
concerning we do it with officer and then if there further concerns we've practiced and we've done uh the multi-disiplinary team the way FBI tells us to do that led to collaboration of FBI with FBI and um we were given
guidelines of what to do in all kind of risk situation but we feel really prepared and comfortable if there is a need for us to u go that implement the threat assessment that way. And the kind of final uh latest um thing that we've
been doing is uh my crisis team is amazing at the high school, but something that we have never done is a practical uh the drill for our crisis team in case of a medical emergency. So, uh we are going to do it in the coming
weeks where again everyone has announced that it's a drill. It's a drill. students and the rest of the staff sort of continues with their classrooms with their uh instruction. However, the members of the crisis team are assembled in a particular place where there's a
pretend medical emergency. Um we are going to do it in conjunction with the uh first responders. They are actually going to bring ambulance and the stretchers and we're going to practice the whole thing. Who comes? What do they do? What's their role? How is it working? Who's taking notes? who is
communicating with Z and what that all looks like. Again, we have never done this before. We are very excited to try and every opportunity um is for us to learn and we can't wait to our efforts to
>> do you have anything? >> Um well, thank you for all that. I actually am the school committee member that sits on this so I probably don't have um a lot of questions I uh there's a lot of work that goes into it and there's actually some areas that weren't necessarily reflected in the presentation but I just wanted to call
out I know the nurses when uh they go they noticed an uptick in certain types of injuries that the last meeting that came up and there was really a strong collaboration with identifying how um you know where those injuries are happening how to um you know mitigate
the you know maybe the the whoever is doing the you know the oversight. There was like talk about the too many maybe sports that are happening in free you know in the gym at the same time but it was a really robust conversation um strictly at the point of how do we lessen the you know the risk that the
students are happening and the nurses you know their role in providing feedback and how that you know that whole circle kind of happened. So I thought that was a really great exercise to see um in in kind of how it played out in real time. So I think a lot of work goes into that. Just thank everyone
on on the committee um for that. There was talk about the the drone, you know, that was a very big robust conversation as well. Um, and then I I know that you had brought up and this was mentioned at a school committee meeting recently, which is I hate to put you on the spot,
but I I I remember you had um attendance um came up as a an area of improvement and um I know I think Hillary was asking or something about it, but I just wanted to was it like 30 um like it was a really drastic improvement in what you had seen? Um, and I'm sorry I don't have
the number, but I remember it being really kind of um a great thing to celebrate. So, I just wanted to to see if you had anything you could expand on that a bit. >> Um, I mean, we do a ton of at this point because we have a basic safety physical
safety uh things under control and this point we're just again experimenting what else we can figure out and play around with. A lot of work that we do is with preventative um and that emphasize the sense of belonging, the sense of
community, the uh something that goes against social isolation like this with the hello and all kinds of different things. And um I cannot tell you which ingredient is that secret ingredient, the magic dust, but I guess it's just
the uh all of our records combined um did result in quite significant improvement of attendance this year. Uh so attendance is tracked of uh 20% of uh
school days and then really really uh attendance issues and 10% of attendance issues. And so um at the 30-day mark of this year, so when 10% u absentism was 3
days or more, uh we've seen a reduction by 30% uh from the last four years. So it went you you know at that point it's three right? So if you were sick for a couple of days and then you know uh when
I don't know on vacation for an extra three days somewhere three days it's very easy to move for students. >> It's a glimmer of hope I think for sure. I think it was really helpful to you look at historical thing that there's like there's you don't know what the secret sauce is that got you there but I
think it was optimistic you know to even to you know highlight considering where we've come from co so I just that was the only other thing I wanted to thank you so much I don't want to put you too much on the spot but I appreciate you sharing a little bit of that excitement
as well so that's all I have >> I have a bunch >> um First, I love that you're doing all the scenarios and testing the system and uh finding the loopholes and learning from it. And um I attended a safety for
caregivers night last year and that was really interesting. And I hope there's a way to get more parents to come because I think probably most of the people who don't go. Um, some of my questions are, um,
let's see. Um, I I assume with the CPR training, did that come on the A a use? Okay, I figured, but um, and then I know in the past some parents with kids that have physical disabilities have been concerned about evacuation procedures
for their kids, like if they can't take the elevator or there's a lot of kids in the hallways to like get places. Is that more planned for now than it was in the past? >> Uh we've had a procedure for quite some time, for quite a few years. So in uh if
it's on the second floor, uh then we have certain areas of refuge that could fall. Um that uh first responders, both PT and fire are aware of and they uh are identified because they have access to the um so like at our secondary loop, so
to speak. So it's easier uh for the first responders to kind of put up the ladder to that kind of you know overhang and evacuate students from that. So students and staff with mobility issues are required to go to one of those
places um and then we just notify the responders to go there. Um if they're on the first floor and then we have a funky layout of the school or where from any place to the exit it's like 15 steps.
Yeah. So at that point we do not consider a need for um a particular areas of refuge or consideration for those students. Having said that, that trapped hi I'm trapped scenario can work
theoretically for this uh for this type of um students as well right or staff who you know yes there might be a lot of students they might not be feeling comfortable being in the bottleneck. So once we pilot and if that is successful you know we need to tweak something
tweak it but once we have that that will be a new procedure where everyone will know that they can just like put this out there and they will be rescued identified and rescued by a first responders as soon as possible. What about a child that has a temporary um
injury or something that like I know the kids that have like a a permanent medical condition it could be talked about at their meetings but for child it's like temporary um are they told about like the plans for the second floor so they are told to all students
are trained every year so that is a point of training um so ninth graders and youth students receive more in-depth training with what's happening at uh areas of refuge are reminded um to them
and the first day kind of safety review as well as they all go through the nurse >> and the nurse as a part of the protocol reminds them of that as well. >> Is that the same for power at this point? >> Yes. Um so the the individual students
that have permanent um issues you got store and you probably need honestly do a better job soon what conversation you Um
>> well second floor that's right >> but we don't yet we don't have to change have >> um and I know a couple places that mentioned um trauma informed processes with this and I know at least at the
high school when checking in with kids afterwards um what what else uh is part of the trauma informed part of all of Sure. So first of all in the training the train so the we attended the
training that was trauma important approaches to Alex. >> Okay. >> And that involved a lot of um mindfulness and grounding exercises as you're going through this content that can raise the you know increase the heartbeat and get to this nervous when
they're talking about this right because it's a scary situation. Um so again reminding them you know that like try to get your uh uh to feel your feet on the floor or back on the ground. Try to find five things around you. Try to focus your attention on something and take a
deep breath. And again not every student needs it during the train but you are exposing them to things that can help them to do it in in a real scenario. Um so that's part of it. Also the training we start with a preview of what is in the
training and telling them there will be no graphic images or no graphic descriptions or uh you know shootings or anything like that right so being upfront telling them what they can expect and what they what they will not expect with the training is a big so
then when it comes to the actual balance it is a paramount so we do not provide a best office to to anyone about that however we are very very clear that it is a drill. It is a drill. It is a drill. We're about to start the drill. This is a drill. This is not a drill.
It's a pretend intruder and there is a pretend situation. So really making it super clear. Uh so that's another um often times if it's an island thrill uh again when we had um u after man and
right is the is the access to the um uh to Otis um at the third uh also students are they always debrief in their classes and they all sent out form where they can either provide a feedback with again
finding finding those loopholes or there's a place for them to request to see counselor um talk to me or talk to us on your hand so that if they have any fears, concerns or
stressed out they can ask that. Um so those are some of the ways that we are in using trauma informed strategies in this in this concerning and anxietyprovoke topic. Let's face it. But again the amount of
the training that we as a team get every year I am absolutely confident that we have all the best practices that are currently recommended by a variety of agencies. >> Okay. Um, is there anything else by
trauma informed with vulnerable kids with stern or >> Well, I was just I was going to add um through our partnership with the school district with FSP, we've had um numerous um trauma informed training for for paras for the um an initial um early release
day plus this past PD day on November 4th, we had another in session number two. Um so there's been that and I think the majority of those practices are all um ways to inform and you know educate us around what students need prior to
kind of scary difficult and challenging events and and thinking through really um to make kind of more predict make things more predictable. Um and and and this work that we did was really I think a lot of um staff came into it and said oh I know all about that. I know all
about that. But the way that it was delivered, I think had them think a lot differently about things. So I think um that that is something that now we have that lens, right? And and all staff have had that training and we've obviously had more this year that we can bring now to all of the safety needs. So now
knowing that that is something that we should kind of layer on top of every single thing that we do. So not only in our classrooms but in all of our approaches to these kind of safety measures is something that um is our focus this year. Is it kept in mind like if there's discipline issues or behavior issues with the kids on a day that
you've had one of these drills? Um do people think like I wonder if this was triggered by the drill this morning? Like um is it like considered with regards to the rest of the day with the younger kids? interest. Well, I haven't that I have
not had that experience where we've had a drill and and a dis >> Yeah. Like when we go through our days like we're and I are typically aware of all we try to be aware of all things going >> Yeah.
>> Right. So when kids come down and and we're very mindful too when we sit with kids and we have a very kind of looking forward approach less punitive approach. So yeah, we're we're mindful that on days of drill like al drill fire drills
that don't have as big of an impact. Yeah. >> But al drills, we know that kind of it sets the tone. >> Yeah. >> Right. Um not just that for the week. It sets that the tone and and kind of to talk about like how we everything we do is is there's a lot of a lot of
forethought and a lot of announcement at that call. parents know um teachers are having conversations with their classes that this is going to be happening on Tuesday um for example and you know what the what is we don't go into drastic scenarios because like kids are younger
um not drastic more elaborate scenarios we are kind of very straightforward this is what it's going to look like this is how you're going to proceed and then we keep an eye and counselors and we all kind of go through the hallways after we're stopping in classes checking in.
Um, and teachers have a good eye of like anybody sort of showing signs of, you know, great counselors are very aware and we'll hold kids and have conversations. We try to like, you know, make it as
smooth as possible while still taking it seriously. >> Thank you. I um my kid had lovely sample size of one but I remember when she was young I got an email from every teacher from like 10 o'clock on that she had complaining about behavior and like she
had to miss recess and she had all these like disciplinary consequences for behavior and at 9:00 that night we got an email saying there was an Alice drill on the scenario and I was like that's that why all of this happened. >> Yeah. >> And it was like that connection didn't
happen. Um and then my other one is um I went to a training that an immigrant um organization held and one of the things they talked about is um schools. They suggested schools start training for
interactions with ICE um particularly you know between like children that are involved but also the bystanders and how to protect themselves and how to keep everybody safe. Um and they said just a couple schools have started having Jolles with that. Um but is there um
work going on there in terms of how to keep everyone safe when there's those intense scenarios without a whole lot of um like our staff don't have a ton of options for having more control over the
situation. So the uh trainings we have a number of staff who was attend who attended similar things. I don't know if it was the same one or not. Uh where it's the best guide, you know, guidance as to what you can do right now and how
you're supposed to approach ICE and what what that should be like. Uh at this moment there is no widespread training for students or staff. It is a topic at our DT discussions periodically and when
there are questions uh Brian has gone to his uh list serve of other superintendent for that to see what other districts are doing. So that's more of approach that is happening right now. Um however no at this point there is no widespread training for staff
students but that perhaps we answer >> I was just going to say um actually thanks to Hillary um in town >> we were talking about at this I went to we were talking about the people who are coming to do some of the response um and
we were talking about whether or not it was helpful have over those responses kind of talk about how they interact and things like that or if there's any way to help get act support um because it is kind of a new thing for them to be interacting with schools. >> Yeah. So, I'm wondering if that's
something that we can connect about for our next district safety meeting, right, to see if we can get that on the agenda and I think having that kind of support and those meetings going forward this year would be great. So, why don't we connect offline about that? I think that would be >> that's great. Yeah. And then similar to
that, um the I was I've been telling everybody your data on attendance and how awesome that is. And one thing that came up actually at the same training, they were talking about the number of um unenrollments. And so we were talking about it and wondering is um
is have a a large number of children unenrolled and have the kids who were having attendance issues last year been the same kids that are unenrolling this year and therefore you're taking out that population and the rates are changing. So far this year we've had one
student unenrolled who was a student this year did not work out. >> Okay. So that that that is it. >> Yeah, that's wonderful. >> So are some of the students who are in those 10 and 20% atmosphere same as before?
>> Absolutely. Some things we see not solicit one. >> Um do we see improvement of quite a number of students who were over the limit and this year they doing >> significantly better? Absolutely. and
the team is working so hard to support uh the families student students with the help of Diana and Heather and all of our robust mental health. So it it's really a collective effort of all time. Thank you. This has been so reassuring
to hear this. This has been a concern I've had as a parent since first grade. Um and it's seems like a lot so many things have changed over the years that have made um a really significant effort. I appreciate all of your efforts which is great but um so um just a
comment um Kaiser said that she is going to direct you to somebody else to her um so couple of questions and thank you this is this has been amazing um one of my concerns is that I'm glad that Fowler
has the biodirectional communication with the department always mean that you don't have that up at the high school or do we have that at the high school back and forth? >> Yeah, it seems like you have frequent communication.
>> Well, actually you're talking about you have a specific uh walk to talk radio that will uh be where you can press the button and talk to the police. Okay, great. We are in communication with
police constantly via phones, cell phones in all kinds of way. There is a constant collaboration. However, as of right now, the radios that we have are uh for internal use. So, they are for us
at the high the same thing at so as of right now the district does not have a radio that you can press the button and talk to the police direct. uh we actually hired someone who is able to reprogram some of our radios and we were
planning to do that uh for you know two for building so that you know principal and principal or whoever is the second person utilizing that um that is done through the release unfortunately officer Mcken was on leave so as she is
returning to and finish that app so it is uh again as of right now we can pick phone and and I call them and right away you know direct 911 everywhere we have you know I always have my word cell phone on me which again now you can text
911 right so it's it's sort of there however in the for the radio in in a chance where uh phones are down the phones are down and for those type of scenario so we've done the round tables at uh uh since round tables is a part of
the district safety committee where uh a trainer from Puma came and ran a scenario with us. We've done those twice. They're incredibly uh they're awesome really really great and we learned a lot of them from them and one
of the scenario was tornado where again due to their event all the lines go down. So that's kind of where it came out but then we found that there's also legal guidance that supports that as well. Um so doing those scenarios is really great. So at the end of every
crisis team meeting in our building we do a scenario for our crisis team and kind of you know do those tabletop exercises on a fair smaller scale. So, um, we're learning and, uh, trying to progress every every
worries me. They just want us to always be able to, you know, have that communication release. But the brand,000 or something like that. Yeah, we're working on
>> um and um I know this goes back to to past attend some of the the meetings, but the police and fire department have the to get into every hour of every one of the schools. Correct. Everything's changed and everything is all up to
date. And to get into all rooms, they've got all access to all rooms. So all >> in each building. Yeah. just just wanted support because that was at the time, you know, that was one of the episodes that happened was they couldn't get into
the building or they couldn't get to certain rooms because they didn't have the right food or whatever. So, just want to make sure that we're covering faces that way. Um, and just um a comment um over for you about the hiding
in hindsight, but it tended last night. how it's such a great great great opportunity. How are we going to get more people there? >> Well, uh my parents know of building the plane as we're flying, right? So last
year was exactly that. So this year we are uh again advertising. We are reaching out to people who have attended and getting testimonials. I'm asking them to repost it on their social media um once we have the flyer. So that
they're not only seeing on uh the main public schools, social media account, but they or emails, but they also see on fire, they see on police department, they see local residents. It's like all so you know, I went there and this was awesome and kind of spreading out this
way and that way they can go go to all you know housewives and other things, you know, main web pages, right? So there's more traction that way. um trying to get you know some kind of incentive to students to make sure that their families um arrive. We've uh uh
played around with getting the answering them in a raffle for an excuse starting um you know if their if their caregiver attends. So uh and family engagement is certainly a a struggle and you know
while 19 people does not seem like a lot we have a school of 300. So you know when you really think about it that's not as not an insignificant amount. Would we like more? Of course. So we are hoping to build um that you know more
and more again hoping we will send a flyer to manual else they get promoted through uh their ways. Uh that's really all we can do. Uh we've uh tried um calling some of our more connected parents so to speak and have them spread
it through the word of mouth and you know with their endorsement. Um that's all we can do like if uh hopefully there is a growth from there and then if there's other adjustment needs to be then we will um collect data analyze data and it's better. I wonder if you
could have the coaches um ask their athletes parents like when they have those email like as a personal thing they would really like you to attend like as a personal request that was just yeah this is happening. That's a great idea. There is a fall uh sports event
coming up as well. Uh so that is actually will be that's on Monday the week the week of Thanksgiving. So mentioning that event saying that look it's next Wednesday that you're gonna have parents right there right now and is it open to fellow
parents? >> Absolutely. >> And my last question is more of a widespread picture guys. It sounds like you're really covering all the basics, but um do you ever get together as a regional and just like like tonight was
talking about, you know, students that have a temporary physical um you know, restraint and oh well I need, you know, we don't really have that. So you can always learn something new or something. Oh, I hadn't thought about that. Do you guys ever get together with other districts to talk about the safety and
what different ones are? So there are two different groups of IP um meetings of system principles that are happening right now. I'm part of both. They are made every four to six weeks. Uh safety
questions come up. They're not always the center topic the conversation. Uh even when it's not necessarily meeting but it's a lister. So oftent times people send out the questions of how do you do apps? Um and again every single
time we have the answers all the questions when they come up we have done it we have problem solved it we have some goals to highlight so far safety concern we're really upfront and and uh often
times I find myself in a position of sharing best practice and best approaches people not sure how to do something uh but the PT again that regional safety conference in May. uh it is technically for school resource
officers but the wealth of knowledge there is just incredible and uh that is where I learned the most for me that we adopted as crisis team who you know we have pair professionals we have uh uh
special ed we have regular ed we have uh mental health and aids we have again fire to our students to our need facilities custodians is s see that you know I bring this up like okay I've learned this what do we think how can we
do it very much thank you all three of you and Susan um really fantastic I love the the detail all three of you have brought brought to this and
sounds to me like are are really knowledgeable of what they really need to do. Just really a load off. It's great. Natasha so far. >> Yeah, I just had a couple of followup um
if I could. Um, and one of the just to add, I know a couple years ago I'd gone to a safety I think it was Mask had organized um, a safety thing. um and it was a it was an asabeted and they were talking about like their safety protocols and one of the things that um
I remember always standing out is one they they only have one entrance for for everything and it's you know built that way for a very strategic reason and then two that something simple that they have color-coded um like tags so students
would always know um who a visitor is versus who a a staff person is who um you know like they would have different color or who like a fire department or someone a resource like you know in case of an emergency if you see someone with this color this would you know a note
like the police or the fire. So, I always thought that was kind of interesting because I know that in in Maynard we have like this the stickers that go on um stuff but you don't really have staff that wear like you know name tags and um I thought it was a really easy way like they would they would just you know have them like so you had their
name it would kind of also talk about like so if you need to talk to that teacher or whoever that person was you know their name just for respect reasons and can address them but I always thought that was a really interesting thing that they had implemented and I just wanted to kind of mention that um as you know I don't know if it's
successful there or not anymore um or if we've considered anything like that. >> We have that we have adopted that a couple of years ago. Uh we went away from the stickers. Stickers were awful. They they uh stayed on you for about two seconds and then they were on the floor.
So what we have now are uh this huge laminated bright orange passes on a lanyard. So anyone that comes to the building is not our staff. And we're small school. We're not England where you might not see a colleague for half
of the half of the uh school year. So, we're small school. Uh all students know all our staff. So, anyone who comes as a uh custodial support or a parent or a you know contracted mental health
screener person, whatever, they all wear this bright orange lanyard thing. the visitor. >> You cannot miss it. So, we recommend meeting one of the conferences and uh
>> it'd be good if we could, you know, I don't think that's standard maybe across all schools, but um I don't think I've seen that in all schools, but I I really I like that concept um a bit and it seemed like low cost, high reward kind of um you know, lowhanging fruit kind of
um thing. So, that's good to hear. The other thing I wanted to mention what came up in the safety committee was and you had it on your presentation about the bus um integration of the but the need for bus scheduling or or testing um for for them and just for the school
committee. So I from my understanding and Olga please you know keep me honest here is that they've had some challenges with getting debus to schedule a time for um for doing some mandated uh
testing or um scenario I don't know how is it I don't know it's also drills or something whatever the coordination is and it seemed to be state it was a state requirement is that right and so I think for the school committee what I would I I haven't looked at our contract cont. But I just think because
it's a contract that we approve um annually or whatever every couple years that, you know, maybe we would want to um build in some language, you know, from um that holds us a little bit more or holds them a little bit more accountable to the contractual
obligation um to adhere and support um those safety needs. And I just wanted to kind of however we can, you know, put a a placeholder for that next time their contract comes up if there's an an opportunity to emphasize that they need
to cooperate with us um in a way that it shouldn't be that we're chasing them down a lot. So um >> so like um uh we uh when the building level reached out there was a little bit you know low on communication. Uh however when Brian reached out uh he got
a response and it turned out that ZBus was taking time to train all their bus drivers to make sure that they are fully aware of what it is that this is supposed to be and what it's supposed to be like and once that piece happened
they were eagerly uh planning and coordinating tax with us. So again there was some >> response though is I think yeah the response But we're all set on the same page and I think uh from now on that we will have
you know some bases but I think we have it covered going forward. >> Yeah. No and I I think that's great. I just want to make sure that if we at the schools are we're trying to reach out to them for something like that. I mean hopefully Bryant isn't always going to have to be the one to send the email
that in order to get the response. It should be that they would respond you know to any of those needs. So, um, anyway, just a point to kind of, um, call out that maybe even if it's just emphasizing a little bit more in our our contract with them about the cooperation, the need to cooperate
within a certain period of time, you know, or certain days they respond or something to that effect that could be very general. Um and then the the other thing which was brought up about um I think Hillary you had mentioned about uh training opportunities for um um the
sensitivity around um ICE and um that maybe that's some nuance that's happening around different places. I would um as just as one school committee member, I would want to be um cautious that we are focusing on any type of research or evidence-based type of
training um for staff and um in that regard because I know that uh it can be a lot of different ideas can happen especially for new situations like that and um I just want to be considerate of our resources and time for what that may
involve in there. So I don't I haven't seen it Hillary and I have no idea like the know the ups and downs or how it would carry out but I know sometimes when new new things are rolled out um it can be you know very trendy you know started with here and then it shifts you know the focus is a little bit that way and I just want to make sure that our
you know we have not a lot of dollars to be spending on type of that stuff so make sure that we have it you know that it really is something that was evidence or research based that we um would be able to implement that would be my thought. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you so much.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um uh so I had emailed out an overview of these policies. Um they uh all of them were updated by mass um
based on certain changes to title 9 and then with um new changes they were adjusted to be reverted back. For the most part um we're doing that. However,
we are allowed to um have whatever policy we want that's in alignment with our values. Um, and there were a couple of things that were in the um, 2024 version of the policies that seem like they're um, potentially consistent with
our values. Um, they're also consistent with Massachusetts law. So, um, that we uh, keep in there. So, this is just the first read. Um, I sent them to everybody and give a little explanation policy by the policy. Um, and wanted to know if
there were any questions or anything um or issues or I know I saw your um dash. Yeah. Comment and I think that is correct. >> Great. Anything?
>> Yeah. No, I I looked over them. I know we had recently approved this, you know, and when I remember when we did it, there was a lot of thought about um some of these are required by state anyway. So, I I do agree wholeheartedly
that um although, you know, we removing the title n emphasis of why it's require required, I I agreed with that that approach and leaving the core um aspects that we had already committed to um in there. So, uh, because, um, yeah, I I
think we had a really great discussion when these came up before and so I I think, you know, how it was presented, I I'm in agreement with. So, thank you. >> Yeah, there's a little bit of a fine line between making sure that we're compliant and >> right, >> keeping the we want while still being
compliant. And I don't I guess my question would be um I follow up is so these have already been looked at I'm guessing by council and this language or I just wanted to get that part because I know there were some
>> um we didn't send them to our council. They are um none of them are unique like we didn't create any wording anywhere in them. They were the mask ones that um Mass Council had approved. Um the
you know there's the version that Mass Council approved C council approved in um 2024 and then the one that they suggested reverting back to in 2025. Um, and so for the most part, we're keeping the suggestions that they have with just
those couple changes um that we thought would be okay based on um before. Yeah. Um, I would I would only um and I hear what you're saying, but bec I think because we're keeping some of the carryover that I would I would really feel comfortable
because there's like federal aspects to it just that they have Oh, it looks like I don't know if Heather wants to jump in, but um maybe she can answer. >> Hi, I actually So, I have personally not reviewed the um policy that we're
talking about in this moment. I am familiar with the one that was approved um to align with the 2024 regulations, >> right? >> Um and then it was it has been recommended by many legal um
teams including Maynards that we revert back to the 2020 regulations. So, I would just ask if it has not already, which it m it may have been shared by Brian and not myself, that we have the district's council review the policy
that we're discussing right now just because >> that that was my thought because Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. Because we are we are we did amend our last one. we we enhanced it the 2021 >> um based on Massachusetts and again
keeping some of those core principles but yet um if we're just taking away the reference to Title 9 but keeping some of those other aspects of what we are important to I just want to make sure we don't run a foul or open ourselves to any type of other unintended risk and so I just want the last eyes to be a
council a legal counsel in some way >> I would support that decision as well and then also just in thinking about when we're talking about Title N policies. One of the biggest changes was around gender and gender identity. And as we're thinking about where this
belongs in Title 9 or not, and I'm not sure if that was what you're talking about keeping or not keeping, it was one of the biggest changes between the 2020 and the 2020. >> It was. Yes. >> Is knowing that it still doesn't it doesn't get in the way of the district
investigating that type of harassment. whether it's called Title 9 or not, we would still again thinking about our core values and what we are obligated to do as a district, we would still support a situation, investigate that situation, put um measures and remedies in place to
make sure those things weren't to happen in the future. So, I think that I just want to be really careful about what we are calling Title 9 again in consultation with our legal department. So, just in followup to that, sorry, um
Hillary and um and I guess Brian um is that when we when our council looks at it because they're going to be like they recommend or not, if they are saying they don't recommend for some reason or if they could just outline the risk of
what that particular areas that they're they're they would strike that would open us up to some potential um you litigation or some sort. I'd want to understand that aspect a little bit more and how how close we can get to that line. Um, you know, maybe they have some
creative language, right? As opposed to just striking it that might make it more um friendly in the legal context. Um, but I do think, you know, the policy should reflect what our values are. And so, a lot of this, I think, particular one is going to be how close can we get
to the line without, you know, exposure. um ultimately. So I don't want to be the district that gets outlined and um because our policy differs from everyone else's in Massachusetts and Massachusetts is already on the radar for so many other things. So if we can fly below the radar in any way, I would
most appreciate it. >> I am on the same page as you Natasha. >> Thank you very much Hillary and everyone who's worked on this too. Um wanted to thank um both of you for going through this um Brian Ali for all
the background work too. Um and this um summary was fantastic. Like that was so so helpful and um you know I already knew like some of the background but like you know you walk through each one
was really helpful. Thanks very much. Ex. So, um I guess if we could have this sent to whomever. Okay.
>> Yeah. And then um notes too. >> Yeah. One more time. >> Yeah. Awesome. Um and then we discussed about the timing once
you know what she's >> I would like to try and go down then we've got another one that is spur that just there's a number of other ones. >> Yeah, this one we had postponed for quite a while. M they had um after the
changes in January, we had hoped that um mass would come up with updated compliant versions. Um and so we're sort of waiting for we waited, you know, several months before even starting to
try to see if mass would give us better um suggestions. So, we already kind of waited a while and so she doesn't get Natasha. >> Um I I'm sorry, jumping back to the the
ACA. Um, one, um, Hillary was that, um, I noticed this might cuz I was looking in the citations of of what we're referencing and the reference to the notice that you had
that link for there is that reference to the recent updated guidelines for the interpretation because it it gives a page not found. Um um so I just would want to make sure
like if we are um just the citations like if we had I'm guessing you know the the the fed had um a recent update or guidance on how to interpret Title 9 or something. So I'd want to make sure that um whatever that updated guidance is if
we can make sure that it's cited in in there. But I don't know if that link was supposed to be that and it's just not coming up because it is going to the DOE. um or the ED, but I just it's just not giving me any it doesn't have any date associated with it. So, I think that would be helpful if we had some
like date associated with it like the other um information. And then um and that was it. So, thank you. >> Okay, that's the chair's report. Um I've gone to the last few um soccer games at least
for a very short bit. Um been really fantastic. I was shocked with the eight to zero the other night just fantastic. Um and uh they were they were really um
tonight when I went just before this meeting which was a lot of fun. Um, and I had to leave early from the last meeting, but I I wanted to mention that I had gone to the SAC meeting um that week um which was great. They have a lot
of kids like to the point where like they were had to bring in chairs from um uh Mr. York's uh room so that everybody could sit down. It's great to have that many kids um being involved in that um
great Yes. Yeah. So, you know, there were a couple of freshman in there. Um, and then, you know, all the way up to to seniors. Yeah. It was really a good a good group. Mo mostly girls, but some boys, too. So,
which is great because I think one of the times that I went last year before. So, um, so that's great. Um, and it would be great to, you know, have somebody go um
at least once a month. I think I can go on a Oh, great. Um, and that's all I have. So, submitting Mary. Um, so I I had a question about the NLU for this whole
town sharing. Is that what brought that up last time? also I don't want that you know >> when we take another page ready agenda
>> right so Natasha had >> can we make sure we we get yeah can we get it on the agenda to talk about first before we present it as a final version because I think that's what we I wanted to do is just talk about what was >> how about if if questions are directed to Brian
>> well I want to hear about it first like I I I like what brought like there might be reasons why certain things are a certain way and I I don't want that to be only me who gets that information. I think it should be a school committee um conversation. So even if it's just like on a future we had it on the agenda. I
think the we had agreed it would go on a future agenda. So I think that would be helpful when >> we get it going it still has to go through the select board and then to to um >> Right. Okay. So, I'm guessing they're going to they're not going to vote on something the first night they get it
anyway. >> If you It would be helpful if you send any questions so we could at least prepare and have response to those questions as opposed to getting the questions in the middle of the meeting. Not necessarily. >> So, I think in our next um personnel
negotiation meeting we have on the 17th, maybe that will be we can add that to the agenda. we can have it in our subcommittee since it is an negotiation um area through it. So yeah, right. >> Yeah. I I Yeah. So that's that would be
maybe the the next that'll be before the next school committee meeting anyway. So maybe that will be a good place for me to talk with you, Brian, a little bit more. And then um Alexis will be there too because she's not here today. So
>> and um this might speak to the next agenda I don't know but um nextg agenda item um the MCAST and apps assessment is that next meeting the next one. Okay, perfect. Um and then the only
Oh, so um last week I went to the town uh budget sub meeting the Wednesday. Natasha wasn't able to make it, but um you know, basically it was just the layout of the FY27. Um I brought up the point that our just
the regular costs in our department are 3.44% increase before anything happens. and you know teacher contracts and all of that. Initially um we were uh we've got
a placeholder for 3.5% increase just so that and that'll come up to the co board meeting next week too. So um that's what they're that's right now right now what the place for us. So >> yeah.
>> Yes. Yeah. Right now at this moment. Um and then last the question I had was when you talked a couple meetings ago about the features and if there was a lot um because it just keeps coming up with people in town. Um the features it
was work being done to see if there was a fix of some sort with maybe one set of features or what we could do without you know our extensive and I know some people are working on that. until
I mean I think what will specific >> um both of my sub committees we met last week we policy we focused on um these policies um And at strategic planning, we went over um some of that MCAST data at that.
Um it was really helpful and we worked on that again at the next meeting um to try to go over stuff that will be on the presentation before the presentation. Um, and for the leaison pieces, I've gone to
the sustainability meeting the last two months. Um, and have the boys know about that recreation committee doesn't seem to be needed, >> right? >> Yeah. And I can go to the SA meeting on
the but I cannot go to the because of the >> Right. Yeah, I got that. Thank you very much, >> Natasha. >> Um, so for liaison I well the safety committee they did their presentation so
that was uh has been great and um CPAC met I couldn't meet today. I had my I had a meeting at the same time that got extended but the CPAC board members met and so Heather was able to meet. There's a a survey. It's always hard to get participation in surveys to go on. I I
think it was like less it was like 10 or maybe less. Oh, eight eight people. So, um so it's been really hard to get people to and it's it's kind of always like that unfortunately um where you can get so there's been some efforts to recirculate the information. It's not a
very long survey for families, but um I think I think Kim was keeping it open more to just try to get more more feedback. But basically um just to add to the population if everyone has um children in Maynard um who have special
needs 504 IEP just please if you could do the survey that's being posted on social media um that I think is being put in a couple of different the CPAC uh Facebook group um Heather do you have or was it in any I don't know if it was had
made it in any any newsletters uh I thought it did Um, but I wasn't now I can't remember. I don't know if that might be an opportunity to think about putting it in >> um I can't remember shared those out with She's really good about things with the principles to put into their
>> I'll check with her if that is if that was one of the ones that made it. If not, that might be an area we can try to, you know, add it with CPAC updates um to see if it gets some attention for people who are looking at, you know, the s'mores um that may not be on social
media as well. So, so that's that. Um, I'll be next week. I'll be and I think a couple of us are going to be at the conference for Thursday and Friday. So, I'll be I'll actually be Wednesday night
as well. So, I'll be joining the quadboard meeting remotely um for that evening and should be interesting time. Um, and that's that's all I have. Isn't there a CPAC play date? Um,
>> oh, November 9th. November 9th. Um, yeah. So, that's Sunday. Sunday. Sorry. Thank you, Hillary. Um, and then CPAC is doing I'm going to have a meeting with Kim um as well because they'll be presenting on the 20th.
>> Okay, great. >> Now, the consent agenda. Without objection, I ask that we approve the school committee minutes from 8:21 25, 9, 11:25, and 9:25
with changes. Objections, Warrants accepted um or minutes are accept. Sorry. Um warrants without exception objection I ask that we accept warrants number 26-18
uh- 019 and 020 objections forms are accepted um I make a motion to adjurnn second Natasha >> yes
hearing yes I'll say Great. >> Have a good night. Thank you.