at all. >> I don't hear it anymore. No. >> Okay, we have quorum. In fact, we have everyone we anticipate having uh from the school committee at this point. Is there Joe? Is there I
know we're waiting. We're going to need Brena, but is there anyone else from the district that we would >> No, we we are whole. >> Okay. Okay. So, I'm going to go ahead and call this meeting to order uh of the Mount Greylock Regional School District
School Committee on Thursday, May 14th at 6 o'clock p.m. We are meeting remotely uh and this um meeting will be livereamed or is live streamed on willynet.org and also broadcast live on Spectrum Cable TV on channel 1303 in Williamstown. Meetings will be available
as video on demand within 24 hours after the meeting on the MGRSD YouTube channel. With that, um, we will do our roll call. And I'll say Bowen here. >> Conry here. >> Jose is not, uh, able to join us this
evening. >> Is Curtis joining us? >> Sorry, Curtis is going to be late. >> Curtis, right? Uh, Green here. >> Moy here. >> Miller here. So, it's not here with me talking now.
>> All good. All good. Okay. Um, I will read the mission. At Mount Greylock Regional School District, our mission is to create a community of learners working together in a safe and challenging learning environment that encourages restorative based processes,
respect, inclusive diversity, courtesy, integrity, and responsibility through high expectations, and cooperation resulting in lifelong learning and personal growth. Uh, we now are at the point for the student update. And I don't believe
Brena is here yet. So, >> I do not see Brena here yet. No. >> Okay. So, we'll um move over that agenda item and go to public comment and at a later point when she arrives, we will fit her back into the agenda. Um, so we are now
in public comment and I don't know if anyone here would like to speak. >> Hi, I'd love to speak just for a moment. Um, >> great. I'm like, anyone anyone Devon? Um, go ahead Devin. >> Um, just just in a in
>> and introduce yourself. >> Sorry. >> Oh, hi. My name is Devon Bartell's 39 Thomas Street uh parent of two current students in the Mount Greylock Regional School District, both at West. Um uh as a concerned parent, I I wanted to
uh I followed along and I expressed that I I was trying to fully understand the committee and um uh Superintendent Burggeron's stance on educational policy and what the uh opportunities for growth
slashpoints are regarding math instruction in the district. And um I just realized I I I wasn't fully informed and I would love to hear um sort of your expression of what the problem points are um the opportunities
for growth and I and I I mean that from a point of understanding that problem definition uh begets solutions. So, understanding the problem, understanding what your short and long-term goals are, uh trying to understand an informed
discussion regarding the evidence behind those proposed solutions and um how you're going to measure the growth and and have accountability in the process. So, um I would love to hear a really uh I I know there's a budget or sorry, a um
a agenda item later in the meeting regarding how the math curriculum roll out is going. So, I I I I might be preempting some of those questions. So, thank you. I'll I'll be listening and there's a a West Orchestra concert I might have to dip out too, but I'll
catch it later on recording. Thank you all. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Devin. Anybody else? Okay, with that, I will look for a motion to approve the minutes from April
9th, 2026. Millis so move. >> Thank you, Stephen. Is there a second? >> Don't leave me hanging. Come on. >> Yeah, I'll second. Second. >> Everyone is so polite. Um if uh and and
thank you. We've got a motion and a second. And now we're open for discussion. I just had one minor edit. Uh and that is on item nine. Uh it is titled the budget
adoption update, but I believe that item was actually the superintendent evaluation. I'm on page four. Um so that would just be one minor edit. The content was seemed right.
Any other comments or questions about the minutes? None. Let's go to a roll call vote. And Christina knows exactly who's starting. >> Christina. >> Hungry. I. >> Green. I. >> Malloy. I.
>> Miller. I. >> Owen. I. Thank you. That passes. Um, next item is uh over to you Jake with the Mount Greylock Regional School Program of Study Review.
>> Well, as a bonus, um, I'm also going to talk about the school improvement plan a little bit if that is okay. Um, and Joe has some slides that he's going to drive for me. So, thanks everyone for your for your
time. Uh we'll start with the school improvement plan. So again, this these updates all come from the school council that meets monthly. Is it
Oh, there we there we are. Thanks, Joe. One of these days I'll be able to do it myself. So, if we go to the next slide, um this is just kicking it off with the school improvement plan. That's a live live link to the actual um school improvement
plan for this year that we just voted on. So, they are we have three goals this year. Um we're going to go over the the three goals which with each objective and the 10 affiliated activities with them. So
um first goal is a social emotional wellness and I I will I'll read the slide and then I'll give you my my notes on it just in case um anyone has trouble reading it. So the objective is to recognize and respond to the truth that psychologically and emotionally healthy
students, teachers and administrators are better prepared to meet academic challenges. The three areas that we're looking at is um the middle school crew review that which is a which will be a comprehensive review of the middle school crew program to determine next
generational skills next generation of skills or competencies. Uh next generation meaning we've implemented this as a pilot for two years. What what happens next? Uh the the second being a community survey
surveying students and faculty on primary detractors of social emotional wellness uh at Mount Greylock. And the third being social media impact where we would explore the programs on or exploring programs on the harmful
effects of social media. Uh and possibly assessing the uh assessing whether we want to pursue the wait till 8th pledge which is about um social media um access. So our priority here is
really ensuring that staff and students are mentally healthy and ready to learn. It has been a goal that has continued to be one of our priorities for the past several years. Um and it is um it remains one of
the our top priorities. So we're auditing the middle school crew program. We're investigating impacts of social media. Some of the possible outcomes would of um of these activities would be
um showing a increased satisfaction rate of the crew program by students and faculty and aiming to host social media education events or or workshops.
So um that is it for our first goal. Our second goal is before you move on. Could I just ask can you remind us what is the crew program? >> Yep. The crew program is a um when we do
direct instruction in social emotional learning. So it is one period a week. So it's one of our directed study periods. Um so essentially I think it's every Friday that during directed study our
teachers in seventh and eighth grade um engage in a crew which is sort of like an advisory type period um a crew activity which could be anywhere from uh a team building activity
um mindfulness skills um hearing a presentation or working with some of the peer team members or or older students. But in a nutshell, that's what the crew program is. And Julie, is that your hand?
>> It was, but I'm going to I'll wait until the end. >> Don't want to miss your >> second goal is academic excellent goal. Excellence goal. Uh this here we ensure a school culture and curriculum that enables every student to recognize
their individual abilities and challenges them to strive for excellence by realizing their full talents and aspirations. So here we have four activities that we would engage in for themes activities. the program of study
schedule review where we would review curricular alignment with mission across all departments and subject areas. Tech literacy where we would assess cell phone policies and classroom technology reliance versus traditional teaching and learning styles sort of like a tech
verse analog and where that balance lies. uh academic policy where we would evaluate our open enrollment and course advancement data to see whether that supports achievement for all students and explore our diploma path pathways
which would um be aligning the student handbook and program of studies to clarify graduation requirements. Here the this is all about rigor and alignment.
We want to ensure our curriculum meets um modern standards, meets the standards we set for ourselves and to make sure they align with any, you know, changes from the state or from the the school
committee um that are that are possibly in the pipeline. So, we are reviewing the program of studies assess and we're assessing the impact of the the newer bell-to-bell or no cell phone battle bell um policy with some possible
outcomes being reduction in digital distractions andor behavioral referrals and an increase in participation of uh underrepresented students in more rigorous classes. is or places where
they're um less represented. Questions on goal two or hold or hold till the end. Um I don't mind it either way, but seeing none, we could go to our next goal,
which is goal number three, diversity, equity, and belonging. We are um excited to keep this in here and excited to work with um our new uh district administrator on this as well.
So here for um our diversity, equity, and belonging goal. The objective is to in school en ensure a school culture and curriculum that enables every student to recognize their individual
abilities and challenges them to strive for excellence by realizing their full talents and aspirations. Here we have three activities. Curriculum expansion. Here we would want to expand our engagement with
non-western perspectives and text. The second theme or activity would be um revisiting the Courtney Tunis survey and readministering it to to gauge uh the gauge of potential progress um and
belonging. And the third would be resource access and this is re review funding and funding requirements for curricular and extracurricular participation for current and emerging populations. So, this goal uh shows that we're committed
to a culture where every student feels seen and supported. Um, it includes adding those non-western perspectives to our texts and reviewing the potential or or real and potential
funding gaps or gaps that prevent students from participating in uh curricular or extracurricular activities. So essentially the the fees either direct fees or indirect fees. So just flushing that fleshing that out more.
Some of the possible outcomes here could include um you know just the the commitment to adding those texts and an increase of the use of the funds that may already that are already there. Um so just sort of connecting those those
two dots. Um so just to sum up the school improvement plan here across the three goals and the 10 activities um we believe we're more aligned with the district's mission. Um and by focusing
and adopting these more um maybe simple and measurable outcomes, we sort of we plan on moving from planning to tracking um our our initiatives. So um I'd like to open
it up to any questions about anything with the school improvement plan at this point before I move on. >> Juliet, >> thank you. Uh could you go back to goal one uh
please? Thank you. I two a maybe a point and a question. I just a point would be I hope that the community survey which I love that that's in there. So thank you. Um there are likely many things going on that support social emotional wellness
at Mount Greylock. So, I just hope the survey will also identify not just the detractors, but the support like the things that are supporting our students now, too. Um, so that's just a side point, but the other one, um, this feels like this goal is very inigned with the
new district-wide hire. Um, and I'm just wondering if you can speak to what that how that role will interact with this goal. >> Maybe that's you, maybe that's Joe. I'm not sure. >> Yeah. Well, um, and that was by design. And if we actually look if we if we were
to pull up the you don't have to Joe but if we were to pull up the actual school improvement plan you'll see a lot of the measurable outcomes um we didn't necessarily spell them out. So we want to use this as a as a guide for when we first meet with that new
administrator to say you know based on the past um you know this has probably been a goal for for three or four years. This is our we this is where we are now from you know three general themes or three general um activities that we
think we need to focus on. um and to help work with that person to a confirm or deny that these are the most applicable and effective activities and themes to focus on and then help us give us uh you know the latitude to work
towards you know a meaningful measurable outcome. >> Thank you. And if you compare that, Joe, if you just want to go down to like the the um never mind. Uh if you go down to the academic one, you see how the right hand
side is filled with with measurable outcomes um as compared to the other one. Any other thoughts or questions on the school improvement plan? I can't see everyone, so if there's anyone with
their hands up, please uh let me know. If not, we can go over to the program of study. So for the program of study, um this is something we are currently in the process of course selection. Uh all
students have received um did re did make their course selections and we're in the process of building the schedule now. So a little bit this a little bit of this will be a sneak peek. Um again that's uh um we did include a video that
was sent out to all families uh a couple weeks ago. This is something that we have maintained postcoid that a lot of people appreciated uh getting a video where they could go back to instead of just coming to a coming to the school
where we would present in person. The c the counselors and I would just present in person but um we got a lot of positive feedback about it. That's why we we kept doing it this way. So for for new offerings um we have film making AP music theory and a tier three
math intervention. So film making is a new English elective where students um develop their abilities to tell stories uh to read read and write screenplays and to sort of uh
create and craft their their own original work. So it's not we have similar classes um which are off rotation that are not running but we have a film studies class which is a h um not an English class is actually a
history class and we have some more technical classes but this is an English elective so it's more about writing and creating um those films and uh we're happy to be running that and we're also happy to be running our AP music theory
class. So, this covers the gamut of fundamental concepts for music theory, scales, literacy. Um, they do different site readings. So, um, we're we're very excited. Um, one of our Miss uh, Vanette
will be going to one of the institutes uh, this summer um, and uh, going through the the AP institute and we're excited to run this uh, a full very full class. The third new offering here is a tier three math intervention. This is
actually um going to be uh available as a pullout service for identified students um on educational plans. So we one of our special ed teachers will um be able to fit this into their schedule.
We are going to use the new uh I Ready um learning platform to to do um to help deliver and track some of that uh that intervention and that service.
So if we go to the next slide, here are not necessarily our new courses, but they were new a year or two ago and they are um doing very well in their sustained classes. And something um we just wanted to to make sure the
committee was aware about reading intervention, middle school skills and homework support, our middle school elective classes, which are digital literacy, creative writing, intro to studio arts, and intro to performing
arts, and our very famous cooperative but small cooperative cooking class. um reading intervention that uh serves students um as a as a tier three resource.
Um tip most frequently students on plans in middle school. Um however when possible um this the reading interventionist is able to push in to
other classes to deliver more tier 2 or tier three support. Um so we're excited and happy that that is working and that we can continue with that service to help our students and our and our teachers. um they also use um I Ready
for some of some of those. And our middle school skills is a general and homework support classes are general ed classes. Um where um we can schedule students. So it's sort of uh like a tier 2 and a half support. Um it's for
regular ed students who may need some more directed um sort of support albeit with academics or executive functioning skills um if their schedule allows. Middle school electives pretty
straightforward. We've we've um changed our enrichments. This was maybe 2 or 3 years old, but we we transitioned from enrichments which were a quarter long and which were not
named to u middle school electives which are a semester long and are more more focused um and and deliberate in both um u planning for who teaches them and what is what is being taught. And finally is
our cooperative cooking class which is a mix of students on plans and students not on plans. I wish we had uh a larger uh kitchen to to do it in because it is it's a fairly popular class and there's not a lot of room in our in our life
skills kitchen. But it is amazing class. They cook um they prepare meals for purchase for student for staffs on on Friday. Um, we just renamed it. Oh, goodness, I'm forgetting the name. Something spoon.
Oh boy. Anyways, we renamed >> what is it? Community spoon. >> Community spoon. >> Thanks, Noel. Sorry about that. Sorry, Karen, if you're listening. Um, yeah. So, those are some of our sustained courses that we're excited to to, you know, add in the recent past and to
continue those. And if we go to our next class, these are courses that are not running because of uh three because of low enrollment, one um because of staffing. So the our
first three contemporary issues, AP Spanish literature and photography portfolio are not running due to low enrollment. Contemporary Issues is a is a social studies elective. Um, and so
that's not uncommon um for for a social studies elective not not to run. AP Spanish literature was a brand new class that we um wanted to gauge interest in.
And so there's we still have AP Spanish language being offered which traditionally we have and is very strong. Um but we wanted to see what if students would uh would be interested in in doubling up. Um but we only had one student sign in for that. So what we're
exploring with the this other AP class is potentially to run it how we how we do like AP physics and AP Chem. We rotate them um year in and year out. So that's likely what we will do. uh we just need to do it strategically. um
for portfolio photography is a higher level media arts class and it's not uncommon um for that to run based on sort of cohorts going through and if we have um you know where where this you
know where the students are in their sort of their cycle through you know sometimes we might have you know in one grade a lot of students who are into photography and you know it es and flows the following year there might not be
too many. So it's just sort of where that fell this year. Our social emotional wellness class is um our last remaining um other than crew that is is our last remaining high school
um seal or sew course. Uh I believe there are 12 kids signed up for it. Um, however, we we couldn't find the uh this the staffing to to run that. Um, it it's it's an it is an elective. Um, and so it
won't be running this year. Those those students will end up being um you know having to take their second or third choice for electives for for that um that period. Our next step for the course program of
study is to develop the schedule. So that means um right now we have all the these the courses stu that students selected to take and we have matched them with
teachers and teaching periods. Now we plug it into into the computer to say see how many we can act how much of a percentage we can actually get to fit. Um a good percentage is anywhere from 70 to 85%.
Um depending on the variety of you know how many people pick different courses. So that is what we do next. And once we get a match somewhere within those numbers, um then we have to go back and
students who can't fit certain classes in because of this the scheduling uh counselors go back to those students and see what their next best option is and what's available those those periods. Uh so if we go to the next slide, I believe
that is the end of the presentation. Are there any questions on either this SIP or the program of studies? >> I I don't have a question, but I want to extend gratitude to to the school council on both this and the school
improvement plan. I know I sat in on a school council meeting um in which the program of study was being discussed and I just appreciated the um rigor and um work that everybody on the committee was doing. Um so I just want to express that
gratitude. >> Thank you. It's it's a it's a great group. Um so um actually next meeting we're we have to look at everyone's terms to see you know who who's staying and and who's going and you know what elections we have to post for but uh it
was it's been a very productive group so I appreciate all their work too. Thank you for that. I'll I'll let them all know next time we meet. >> When do elections usually run for school council? Is that in the fall? Normally by open house is when because it used to
all be in person and that's when we'd have the most families. Um so we sort of do a uh a hybrid vote now. Um but normally by open house is when when we uh open it up or or sorry finalize it. Mhm.
>> Uh the student elections will be um you know, so the student reps come from the student council and then the the the family rep comes from um those elections. Then the community members are appointed and I don't remember if
that's two or three years. And actually I think Bal's term I think I Bal's term is going to be up. So we'll be looking for a Williamstown community member. Anyways, thank thank you very much.
>> Okay. Um, if there are no other questions, um, thank you very much, Jake. Um, we are going to turn it over to Joelle. And, um, I just want to say upfront, um, a thank you to Joelle for pulling together this presentation. And as Devon
noted um in her public comment um we are part of the reason we asked to have this on the agenda was to support um a better understanding among our community members for what um is happening with the curriculum uh as we head into this budget uh vote in the next uh week and
then in the next month. Um and we wanted to make sure uh we had the information out there for um the great work that is already happening to support math instruction. So Joelle, >> hello everyone.
Okay, so I'm going to try not to overload you here, but we've got some great updates. Can you see my screen? Okay, cool. All right, I wanted to start with just a reminder about remembering why we are here in the first place. Um, we had for
a number of years both qualitative and quantitative data telling us that we really needed to look at our math programming. Um, when we got into it, um, we realized that we had been using everyday math updating with new
additions of course for 26 years and um, we had not done a thorough review. We didn't have anybody in the curriculum position um, either. So, you know, we just had not done a a thorough review for new programs in quite some time. So,
um two years ago, we formed a math curriculum committee for the elementary schools. We had nine representatives. Most of them were teachers and some administrators. We had representation from both Williamstown Elementary, Lansboro Elementary, and all grade
levels. We had one person from each grade level and special education. Um, we I know that I've shared this information with you in the past meeting for past meetings, but I'm just gonna just bear with me if that's okay. Um, we
met over the course of about six months. We use curate which is the mass department of education's website um for curriculum review that they have done and they have vetted and then we use that in conjunction with ed reports
which is a national database of curriculum review materials. We chose fi. There were five that we um we decided ahead of time that we were only going to consider programs that had the highest ratings in one or both of those
um databases. And we ended up looking at five. And we started by doing kind of an on-site review. I wrote to the companies, they sent us review materials. We did a paper review. We met
weekly, sometimes more than weekly, um discussed them. We had an amazing group of educators and the teachers were truly amazing. Um and we very much operated on a consensus kind of um situation and we
decided to choose three of those programs and invited reps from the companies to come. At that point, they really kind of bring us into a deep dive. They give us sandboxes to use for each one of the programs so that we can play around with them and try to dig in
and see what they're like. And going into it, we had decided all along that we knew we wanted to do a pilot. Um, we had not done a pilot when we had adopted the ELA program. I think sometimes when you're doing curriculum review, you have
this feeling of urgency and you have to do you feel like you have to do it fast. and we've learned a lot of lessons from the ELA adoption. So, we really wanted to take our time with math and be very thoughtful about this. Going in, we had decided we wanted to do a pilot. We
didn't know how many programs we were going to pilot. And we thought maybe we'd try two. After um reviewing materials with the reps, we really landed on I Ready as the one that we wanted to look at for a number of reasons. Um, it offered us
strong strong teacherto student materials. All of the programs now and I'm and you read about this in the media all the time. All of the programs have an online component. Um, we wanted one very much that had the online component
that could either be very much in the background or just a small piece of it because we are incredibly conscious at the elementary schools about screen time and very very deliberate about the programs that we choose to have students
spend time on screen. So, I Ready seemed to be that for us. We piloted it for a full year. One classroom in a one classroom per um the district across two schools. So we didn't have one classroom in every grade in both schools, but we
split split it between the schools. Um and then again all along during the pilot, we had decided that if we got to either the midway point or the end of the year and we thought it wasn't right for us that we would start over. Um we were really open in trying to find what worked best
for us. There was a lot of enthusiasm for I Ready. Um it was very usable for teachers and it was very interesting for students. It has a lot of depth um which I'll talk about in a minute that we are still digging into. And so that's how we
got where we are. Um we and I this quote here you know when that many students aren't making the grade it's a curriculum problem problem. We had really been using MCCAST to look at you know kind of measure our success and then coupled with teacher observations
um which really at the end of the day is as important or more important than any assessment uh at any other assessment. So, we knew we knew that this was a problem with our tier one instruction that we needed to update our curriculum.
So, that is where we are. Um, we chose I Ready. Part of the reason why is because it has the diagnostic. They're changing the name. I don't know why companies change the names of things all the time. Um, but it next year it's
going to be called inform instead of the diagnostic. And um we were very interested in that because we had a lot of experience using diagnostic kind of assessments for benchmarking for
literacy and it had been quite some time since we had had one that was worthwhile for math. So, we needed something. We knew going in that we wanted a way to be able to track students learning because
it's really important for us to know that what we're doing is working and if it's not, plan for how we're going to improve and and what we're going to do. So, the diagnostic was a very big cell for us. It's a computer adaptive assessment. I'm not going to read the
screen to you, but these are these are the things that we can do with that. Um the teacher access the teacher reports are really quite phenomenal. You can organize the data so that you can look
at how students are doing by Massachusetts standard. You can look at instructional groupings that proposes which students would need certain prerequisite skills and suggests ways to group them. um and much more than that.
The the program itself is based on an explore and develop. >> Sorry, before we move on, can you remind us when we started implementing this program across the schools >> this year? >> Okay. So, this fall, September.
>> This fall. This fall. >> Um yes, across the schools. But we had one just again we had one grade in every across the district doing it last year also and we did use the diagnostic for
that as well. Um, so the I'm not going to go too much into this, but class the classroom math is built on kind of a progression through the week that allows an inquiry start to the week and then students develop their skills during the
week and then Friday usually that's where they're really refining and using um what they've learned through the week in a problemolving way. We the teachers really liked this. It was a big appeal for us. Everyday math was built on a spiraling concept. So that you would
touch on a on a concept and then you might not see it again for a while. And so it was not at all mastery based. And this isn't exactly mastery based, but it's much more so. And um anecdotally teachers are saying like my by Friday by
the end of the week my kids are getting it which was something it seems like a no-brainer but it was not happening before. Um the other exciting piece is that because of the diagnostic and how closely it is aligned to the teaching
materials that teachers then in person teach to students um they we have a real shift in data informed instruction. So we we know real time how students are doing and what their needs are. Um the
diagnostics is is administered three times a year and based on that diagnostic each time it updates we get all updated data. So instructional groupings prerequisite skills all of that um and very much that's used in
daily and weekly planning for teachers. It is very common that students move from grade to grade with some unfinished learning. That is so common. What's not common is when you reach, you know, 30% of students not having a a lot of
unfinished learning. So that's what we were really trying to um support. So, but in but it's also really important to not pause grade level instruction and try to focus on reteing everything in
the past that students have missed. Um, I Ready will is built on an acceleration model and it allows differentiation and suggests differentiation and offers differentiation lessons and tools for teachers so they're not making them up and spending
hours looking for them either. um that support students with those prerequisite skills while also carrying on with grade level instruction. Um there I could talk for hours about this, but you can really dig down by standard and
then look at each child and say, "Okay, this child needs this and these kids all need the same thing and um for this particular lesson, it's really important that they have this skill. these other ones we can put on the back burner for a little bit and they're going to come back around another time. They ready
gives a year um uh a yearly kind of road map for prerequisites and suggests depending on where students fall with each of the three diagnostics um kind of a charts a course for them. This is not our
students here. This is just a sample page that gives you kind of a picture of what I'm talking about. Another component to I Ready and this is the computer piece of it. There is an
online individualized learning platform called My Path. It is completely tailored to a student's um performance on the diagnostic. So based on the questions that they could answer and could not answer, my path
picks that up and then it's instructional um and supports students in learning things that they may have missed. It's an important differentiation tool for teachers. This is not the face toface. This is the online computer piece. There are also
many many face-to-face lessons that teachers can use and that we can use in in groups that paraprofessionals can help support in the classroom as well. Um, this is just one example of how my path can be worked into a weekly schedule in
a classroom. there. It's it's a prescriptive program and um Curriculum Associates recommends that students use it for no more than 49 minutes a week and that's not at one sitting. So 30 to 49 minutes per week
per student. Um the lessons are built kind of on a station rotation. If you know elementary um education, there's it's you know there's different stations in the room and there's a teacher table. um their teacher does a a whole class lesson and
then there's small groups and one of those stations is for students to work on their my path for 10 minutes a week or 10 minutes a day. Um then there's all kinds of ways that teachers can track how students are doing and then gauge um
next steps accordingly there. Teachers can turn off parts of my path if they feel like you know I really want somebody to focus on this. they can turn off other parts of that. Um, yeah. So, I think this schedule speaks for itself.
>> Joel, could I just ask um you you've talked a lot about the opportunities that teachers now have to identify how each student is doing. I'm wondering if that has also created a sense of additional work
um for our teachers and how that part of it, the training in how to use the program and um the perhaps additional time and attention needed in order to really use
the program well. um how that has impacted our faculty. >> Implementing new curriculum in any subject is really hard and I will maintain for the rest of my days that there is no more important and no more
difficult job than being a teacher. So yes, is this more for people right now? Yes, it absolutely is. Um we try very much to approach we have tried very much to approach this in a reassuring way
with teachers to say we're doing this in steps this year. So our focus this year was really trying to implement those routines the classroom routines and in the classroom next year and I'll talk a little bit more about this in a minute. We're going to dive more deeply into
what you're looking at right now. How can we use these reports better? What do they mean? Where are those materials? I know they're here somewhere. Um, how do I find them more readily? And we are doing all we can to be just supportive
and deliberate with teachers. But yeah, it's it's it is more work to implement new curriculum. >> Can I follow up on that? >> Sure. A as a former math teacher, not at elementary school, but at high school, but working with students who were
significantly behind grade level, um I wish I had had something that could help automate the process for me to recognize these are the skill gaps and um here's the tool that can be, you know, stu will be served up for a student. That's what
I hear this is doing like allowing teachers to know um through the through the interim assessments what skill gaps individual students have to allow for that differentiation. And I guess my question is you know I was a teacher 25
years ago. Um so I don't actually know what has been happening in classrooms more recently in the elementary school for how teachers were able to differentiate without something like this. What did what did that look like? I teachers were spending an inordinate
amount of time outside of school hours either creating materials. Yeah. >> Or looking for materials and there's a lot out there on the internet. So I mean you can find things um but it was it was so much time for teachers
>> and it was not in an aligned way. So you may, you know, the one of the the appeals to I Ready is that it is very much all aligned and tied together. >> Um, which is also really helpful.
>> So this is um hard curriculum adoption is hard. Helping teachers make the transition is hard. They had habits of, you know, ways of working that was the were as good as could be given the technology they had. Um, but what I hear you saying is this this is a hard shift,
but it is going to get them to a better place. Um, that hopefully will be easier in terms of they don't have to go find their own curriculum. They don't have to create things like it'll be within this. Is am I hearing that correctly? >> Yes. The other piece that was very
important to us and is along those lines, Julia, is that it I don't think we're we're not fully utilizing this yet, but there there is real opportunity for special education teachers to be
able to use the materials that are within um I Ready to support students who have identified disabilities in math. math with grade level content that is really aligned to what is happening
in the classroom with their peers. Um we have never had that before. So that's a really important opportunity as well. >> Thank you. I and I see Noel may want to add to that point. Um Noel if you want to jump in. >> Um I was trying to do a thumbs up but
not a raise hand. >> Okay. All right. >> Sorry. Supporting with Joel. No, we're excited about that. Sorry. >> Thanks. All right, Joel. >> Um, so
I said the diagnostic happens three times a year. We are just we just opened the window for the spring diagnostic. So I don't have that data for you yet, but I do I did bring just a tiny bit of data um for you to see because it's pretty
exciting. Um this is Williamstown Elementary and Lanesboro Ele Elementary combined. Um but if you look at this the the brighter colors are the winter and um compared with the fall diagnostic
across the board we're just seeing we're seeing growth. Um green means at early middle or um late grade level. Yellow is is yellow is technically one
year behind grade level, but it also isn't bad because it's readiness for grade level. And then the red is for um students who are performing two or more years below grade level. Kindergarten is never going to have red because you can't be two or more years behind in K.
So um that's what that means. Um you just see really huge jumps. third grade. I mean, look at that. We went from 23% green and 24% students in the red to 0%
red and 62% green. And that's just fall to winter. Um, so we're super excited to see what comes in the spring and I am sure I'll be invited to report back at a later date or I'm inviting myself to report back at a later date.
Joelle, could I just ask, you know, now that we have this um new form of assessment for our math uh curriculum, how will this compare? Do you expect because you don't have a magic wand, um
how do you expect this to impact the MCCAST scores um for the for the grade levels that MCAST? Um I expect and hope that it will impact MCCAST scores greatly in a
positive way. Um I will caution all of us again I mentioned earlier that we like things to move fast but we have to be careful with our expectations. Um no no matter what curriculum you're adopting in any subject all the
publishers now are saying it takes three to five years. Three to five years. Five years seems far away. Um but I I'm really hopeful that we're going to see positive impacts. Um one of the ways and
we have not really dug into this a lot. I know I have and I know principles have. Um there are reports that look at MCCAST they're kind of predictability for MCCAST and very much aligned to the
just mass um content framework reports and um so we'll continue to look at those and definitely MCCAST will be one of the benchmarks that we're looking at as a way to measure the success of this curriculum because we're not we we it's
really import it's great things are going great right now we're really positive, but we have to also be sure that we are being very thoughtful about what we're really seeing. Um, so we'll we'll definitely be looking at MCCAST.
Um, and you're asking me clairvoyant questions, Carrie, because I was >> Yeah. Well, I guess I'm also asking, you know, how how we see our students in terms of like how how sign like there are just so many ways to
interpretate interpret data as you know presented by whether it's presented by the state or the district. Um there's been a lot of discussion about where we are in our rankings and how our students
are doing. Um, I know we spend a lot of time as a school committee talking about math um, for many years and we made a significant investment in this curriculum. Yeah. >> And we continue to invest in this curriculum with professional development
and teacher time and all of that. And you know, I see MCCAST as like it was a warning signal, right? it was, you know, telling us that something wasn't right and we needed to do something to address
it. Um, and I guess I would continue to look at the MCCAST scores as a signal to as to whether what we've invested in was the right thing um or if we need to again kind of rethink
um our long-term approach to this because I mean none of us are looking for an overnight solution. I don't think, you know, we're >> concentrating on the big picture, but we we just want to make sure that we're moving in the right direction, right?
>> Absolutely. And I know I I feel the same way, the principles feel the same way, and I know Joe shares that sentiment. um part of what we I know that the principles have talked about um writing as a focus area
this coming year that also factors into our MCCAST scores for math um because the open response kinds of questions um we are seeing an impact with the writing there also. So part of it will be the
math itself and the math concepts and part of it will be the work that we're doing in writing. So, but we are definitely definitely looking at MCCAST as not the beall end all, but definitely a sign. >> And and I just want to make the plug I will always make about the MCASTs. Uh,
and that is our growth percentiles are going to be as important as the absolute um numbers. So, um, you know, our job is to grow each students each year from wherever they come to us and grow them as much as we can. And so that's uh what
I hope we we can make sure we look at. >> Yep. Okay. So what's next? Um next year we are the principles are going to ensure that schedules are built to support
utilization of all of the components of the program. Um we are you know as I said before teaching is really hard. Differentiation is really important. So we want to make sure that schedules support teachers ability to provide
students with that kind of scaffolding within their tier one classrooms. We want to make sure that the messaging around my path and the use of that the you know 30 to 49 minutes a week is
really communicated clearly and that principles build schedules that support that. Um and principles will also continue with um enhanced time for regular review of data
with their um school-based teams. Joe and I look at data a lot at the district level and we meet with the principles regularly and talk about data of all kinds. Um really it's the boots on the ground data teams within the schools
that are are working with students and moving the mountains. And so they have some great plans for that next year. And I should shout out for Nolan because Nolan Pratt at Lansboro Elementary has really this year implemented phenomenal
data teams and on a regular schedule, super rigorous, really looking at student work and um it's been amazing. And we'll continue with professional learning and constantly this is all built into a I should have made a pretty
graphic around this but constantly assessing our successes and our challenges and then planning responses. This is just a little snapshot of this was last month's my path usage. So the
green 13% that's only 13% of students across the two elementary schools were using my path last month for the prescribed number of minutes and that's not at all I'm not saying that in any sort of critical way. Um as I said we
really focused this year on the face-to-face teacher components of the program and the classroom routines and we're doing great at that. So next year we'll talk more about ma my path um and
confident that we'll be supportive of students learning um working with our I Ready reps. I also want to say that I've worked with a lot of curriculum companies over since 1992 when I've been here started curriculum associates has been really quite
phenomenal. Um, I do not work for them, so that is not any sort of monetary plug, but they we have been assigned one lead person who always I could I could text her right now and she would answer my questions. Um, and she's helped
develop this plan for next year. We're going to have three touch points during the year, each of those rectangles. Right now, this is the aspirational um plan for learning. But the other thing I love about our collaboration with
curriculum associates is that they differentiate our learning needs based on how we're presenting at that moment. So during that first touch point, if if our leaders say, you know what, I really think we should pivot this way instead, then that's what we'll do. So this is
this is a plan for now, but it could change. And then I Ready has a really super duper robust online educator learning platform with very many very many courses that are short um for teachers to use and we haven't utilized
this a lot at all yet but that will also be available. Also part of what part built into our PD plan we've talked about already that we don't have a lot of people coming in from the outside. what we're what we want is time for teachers to be able to do things that they need to do related to the
curriculum that we know about. So, a lot of what we'll be doing next year will be that and there will be opportunities for teachers to chart their own courses on their learning around the math. Also, >> can I can I just pause on that point?
>> Yeah. Um especially as we head into budget um adoption, knock on wood, um you know, in our two towns, I know there's been concern um you know, we had to our PD budget was cut for next year.
And there are um people who fear that means that that means our teachers aren't getting the learning um and that means we're not investing in the growth of our students. And I I just want to connect that fear with what you just said and kind of underscore it that
commitment to our like the most important thing we can do is provide our teachers with high quality PD which you will still be doing. Um they will be they will have the time to absorb and learn and work with the tools that we have without having us bring in more
expensive PD. Um, but you've I just want to really make that clear that the investment in teachers and therefore in the curriculum and our students is still happening even if it doesn't mean dollars. >> And I would add to that that our best resources
are our teachers in terms of professional learning. And so we are really committed to supporting teachers working together and their individualized path to growth in a in a
way that respects their expertise and their professional um their professionalism because we're really fortunate to be in a district we are really fortunate to be in a district with such expert teachers. They're
really phenomenal. >> Yeah. >> Joel, could I just ask? We're focusing mostly on the elementary schools tonight, but has this been fully implemented in seventh and eighth grade yet? >> No. No. >> This year has been more of a kind of piloting dabbling situation happening in
seventh and eighth grade. They are using the diagnostic and they're going to continue using the diagnostic um assessment there and talking with Jake and teachers about how much they'll actually implement there next year.
>> Jake did mention something about tier three intervention using I Ready for tier three interventions. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Actually, we just we just had our I Ready trainer here training the special educator from Mount Greylock who'll be teaching that course next year
along with a new sixth grade teacher who was hired in Lansboro who doesn't start till the fall but was really enthusiastic and ready to get started. So, she's already had her base training and is super excited and ready to roll. Yeah. Um,
I know that there's discussion about a math interventionist at Williamstown Elementary. So, if that happened, um, I just wanted to speak to that a little bit. I again, I want to say that the teachers are just doing an amazing job implementing the curriculum and the
curriculum itself is built around a high level of differentiation and that is happening. We'll get better at that. That will continue to happen. I am sure we're going to continue to see student growth. Lansboro Elementary has
for a couple of years had a schedule that has a um tier 2 intervention time built in to a classroom teacher schedule every day. So classroom teachers are doing math intervention with their own
students in their classrooms and um because they don't have a math interventionist in Lansboro right now. And that even though the things could always be better, um that is something that we can be looking at
in addition if we had a math interventionist at Wes, how to also have a schedule that allows teachers to provide the math intervention with their students as well. And again, if we had a math interventionist, that person would become part of like an integral part of
the team and collaborating with classrooms teachers and special education teachers kind of in a tag team approach to be to say, okay, you know, these are the students who we've identified and who's taking who kind of a situation. um math it's one it would
be one person and so you know given the models that we have now for reading that person could maybe see anywhere from like 25 to 40 students across K through six probably so that's not a ton of students
but that definitely would be helpful um and that person would be a part of the team with classroom teachers um as you might ect. I Ready has lots of tools uh and ways to use and suggestions
for how to identify students in need of kind of pull out really super targeted small smaller group kind of intervention. And so I can't tell you exactly how many students it would be because I'm sure you would love me to say, you know, this is this is many teacher kids per grade level. I can't do
that. It would depend on a lot of factors. Um but we would have a very clear path and way to look at we have lots of discussion points for how we're going to um determine that need at any given time.
And I think that's my last slide and I feel like I've talked an awful lot but I'm stop sharing. If you have any other questions, I'm happy to answer. Okay, then.
Um, I thank you for having me. I'm really I'm I'm just really proud of everybody for in both schools for their commitment to this. I am super grateful again to the committee that worked
together to choose I Ready and pilot I Ready because it was their willingness to do that and their enthusiasm for spreading the word and sharing their expertise with colleagues that I know is the reason we have had such a
positive roll out so far this year. And um so I'm just I'm thankful to the teachers for that. >> Thank you Joelle and thank you for your work in leading that. Um that doesn't happen in a vacuum. So really really
appreciate um your collaboration across our district but also with the state and with the team at I Ready. That seems like all >> my pleasure. >> Excellent work. >> Thanks. I I did have one question and maybe this can be for Joe um so we can
let you off the hook, but um I'm interested to learn a little bit more about the data teams and what they do specifically in each of the schools and how their work is then woven into
um next steps and kind of that kind of thing. I would love to. Could we invite Nolan sometime to come and talk about what he does because it's pretty pretty good. >> Okay, that'd be great. Yeah, happy to wait. >> And well, and in the meantime, Joelle,
the the many layers of annual, monthly, daily work that everybody puts into this that that you represented tonight so so beautifully. Um I it is a large body of work over
many years um that goes into this and so I'm I'm really thankful and Carrie just to provide you with a a little a little teaser of of all of it um the very the relatively high level grade level data that that you saw tonight in terms of
um fall and then winter benchmark assessment data that of course goes many is deep and at the individual student level around every individual concept that is being learned. How many groups
of students within each classroom have similar needs at a similar point in time? What does each student need next in order to learn in the in the best possible way? The the data teams utilize that data. They utilize teacher
observations. They come together and they they they do what what you might think of as as picking up each individual student and all the data that that we have around them, all the experiences that a teacher has with them and they say, "Okay, what does a student need next? Does the
student need further evaluation? Does the student need the support potentially from the special education department? Um, does the classroom need X or Y next?" Um, and these data teams are being given the time to do that in a
highly reflective, very data-rich environment now, which is something that that has not existed within our schools. Um, nearly to the extent that I think we all know our students will benefit from. And
and the last years of work have prepared us to really get into this. and Nolan and the team at Lanzer Elementary had really dove in earlier um than than Williamstown Elementary has. And we've been seeing the benefit of that teamwork
and of that practice, you know, because it's also something that does doesn't just happen overnight. Um it's it's the development of a culture and and an ability and a willingness to reflect in a way that that is very deep and it takes all the the time, the schedule,
the curriculum, the data that can flow through it. Um, all of that needs to work together in concert in order for all of this to end up creating a good cycle where where the feedback drives the drives the improvement and you do that regularly over the course of the
school year. That's that's just a a little glimpse, but Nolan um Nolan's eyes will light up when when I say that he's he's welcome to come in June and um do both a wrap on on his year as well as uh share a little bit about about what
his experiences have been at at Lansboro building out that success. >> And and to put a point on that, what was the award Lansboro Elementary just got? um the ESA distinguished school award
that is uh given Lanesburg Elementary School was the first in Western Mass in many years um to receive it and it's around showing growth. So Julia, that ties back to what what you had
mentioned, significant growth within all of the different bands and grade levels of of the school. Um, a as well as just overall achievement. So growth is more heavily weighted. Um, and achievement is is right there alongside it.
>> Thank you. >> Y Okay. Thank you so much uh Joelle and Joe for all of that. We I would say we're going to move to more mundane matters, but right now the budget adoption does not feel mundane at all.
So let's move to that item on the agenda. Um and Joe, am I turning this over to you or are we just talking? I think that we can all that there is nothing new aside from well this is not
new either but our deep desire to make sure that that everybody is informed and present at our town meetings coming up uh May 19th for Williamstown uh for Williamstown
at Williamstown Elementary School at 7 p.m. Um, that's next Tuesday night. And then June 9th at 6:00 p.m. at Lansboro Elementary School for Lansboro. And now I think that there might be
conversation around preparations and and conversations, but I just wanted to tee that one up. So, I um I understand the child care for the Williamstown meeting is now at the youth center and I'm wondering is there child care
set up uh for the Lanesboro town meeting as well? >> I believe so. Ursula. Yeah, go ahead. >> Yeah, I'll speak to that. Um, I did reach out to last week to both Jenda Shane and Liza Barrett at the uh at Mount Greylock and they were going to get some student names together who
could hopefully support us. And Liza mentioned she'd be back in touch with me this week. I think this is a good reminder that I'll reach out to her and uh see who she was able to wrangle up. But yes, we're going to be doing that in the Lansboro Elementary School um cafeteria probably during the during the meeting which will be in the gym.
>> Excellent. Um, we have a uh the the FAQ that we we created. Um, and uh I can have copies for any anyone who can be in Williamstowns on Tuesday. Uh, if we can
get there early and be ready to hand those out, that would be great. I'll send out a email just to manage timing the scheduling on that. Um and we do know that there is a group of very involved um parents uh who have been
working hard to drive people to the meeting as well. And so huge gratitude to those parents um for both their advocacy and their um desire to help bring people to the meeting. Um they will be presenting an amendment um to
the budget. They will be asking for an amendment from the town floor. Um, and so, uh, we'll just need to be ready to, I think we speak to the budget and then they can speak to the amendment, um, and be ready to respond to any conf if that creates any confusion for people. We'll
just need to be ready to speak to that. Hopefully, it won't. I know they have been working hard with the town to make it not um, confusing. Any other questions about Tuesday or
thoughts or comments? I I might say to the anyone from the general public listening or watching, um the town finance committee has um thoroughly looked at our budget and there's a town finance there was a meeting that I'm sure could be reviewed. Our past school committee meetings are
all online. Um but we have gone into this in detail and um ultimately uh we recognize a 13.6% increase is significant but that is level service um and yet not level
investment um given what we were just hearing about in the math curriculum for example. Um there will be continued work and growth in the district. Um but we are uh what we have asked for is level service. Um, knowing that that is a a
big ask. Anyone else want to Okay. Um, superintendent evaluation. This is not >> Oh, Julia, sorry. Before we move on, um, in terms of handing out our FAQ, is that something we would do like right outside
the um, have you have you spoken with um, the town clerk about >> I haven't spoken with the town clerk, but when we've done it in the past, we've had to be outside of the before check-in, I believe, is where we can hand it hand it out. So, I figure I plan
to just get there really early and be ready to go wherever they tell me I have to be to turn to hand it out. Yeah. >> All right. Um I'm happy to assist with that. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um superintendent evaluation. Uh this
this is five minutes on the agenda, but it's a one minute announcement. Um certainly open to questions, too. Joe um will be getting to us. um maybe me and then I will send it out to you hopefully on Monday. Um his own self-evaluation for the year. Uh and then I will be
handing out the same form we filled out last year which is the statewide superintendent rubric. Um and with it when you receive that email from me on Monday, you will have a deadline of when I need your input and I will give you let's call it two weeks. Um but this is
something that I need to coalate and um for discussion in June. So, I just I'm going to need time to coalate it and put it together into one document. So, be looking for that. And if even if you right now want to just set an hour aside on your calendar somewhere to make sure that you have time to do that in the
next two weeks, that would be great. Then, MASC to you, Carrie. Okay. So, on excuse me, April 30th I attended a joint division meeting that involved uh in this was in Danver, Mass.
Um and it involved a presentation on superintendent collaboration, school superintendent school committee collaboration on the budget process and how to tell your story of the budget, which makes me, you know, made me feel like we were doing a really good job at
that part of it. Um, I included the slides or I asked um Joe to include the slide, Joe and Julia to include the slides in the packet. And um, one of the things you'll maybe note from the slides is the focus on overrides and overrides
not necessarily being a one-year uh, proposition, but there are schools in the Commonwealth that have been passing overrides every year since Proposition 2 and a half came into being. And um what those some of those districts have been
uh starting to think about are multi-year overrides. So, um, rather than doing an override every year, they work with their towns, uh, to, uh, do say, let's say, a three-year override where the taxes are collected
over time and put in an override, um, like holding fund and used by the district and and other, you know, the override isn't just for the district, it's for the whole town. um and uh they're used over the course
of several years and the district is committed to using staying within the funds allocated from their portion of the override. So, it's something to think about for both our member towns. Um, Williamstown is probably looking at
two to three years before we're in an override situation just because of the way expenses are growing and health care and you know, we're seeing it this year big time. Um, it's not going to it's not going to change although we hope that
the growth rate um settles down a little bit. And I don't know about Lansboro. I believe Lansboro is planning to um or is proposing to use free cash to cover um a lot of expenses this year. Um but that
is not an annual proposition. That's not something that they'll be able to sustain. So I think we need to be thinking strategically. We need to be working with our towns um finance and select boards. um we can be partners in
this because it's not just the districts that are going to be pushing the town budgets. Um there are lots of other reasons why towns are going to be facing and overrides are increasing across the Commonwealth. They're also increasingly
failing. Um so we need to be really thoughtful about the process and not wait until we absolutely um need one in order to um you know strategize around it. Um so
there's that. Um I also shared the graduation requirement position that MASC has taken. Um there was initially supposed to be a vote before the end of the uh fiscal year but I think the vote
has been postponed. um MASC, MASS, MTA all take exception to um the current uh proposal and um a lot of the hesitation
around it is not about the content so much as the expense and the number of unfunded mandates that could come from passing um the proposed what the governor um has requested of the graduation
council is a proposal and what I've shared with you is the proposal with the MASC uh responses to it. So I'm happy to speak to any of that. I also I think I mentioned before participated in a graduation requirement panel. I believe
um next week, a week from today, there is an MASC event that you can attend um on the graduation requirements uh with Jason Frasier who is the past president of MASC and he helped put together the
position paper. Um, and I believe MASS also submitted a position paper, um, which I imagine is quite similar. And MASS is the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendent. Um,
okay. And then the last thing, well, two other things. The summer institute uh that MESC puts on is happening June 27th. There will be a morning and an afternoon session and it looks like um Felton Moss
and Dr. Scott Levy uh who wrote why school boards matter are going to be presenting in the morning and in the afternoon uh they're going to be talking about artificial intelligence and Dr. Matthew Joseph from New Bedford um will
be uh leading that presentation. So that happens in Springfield. It's really close. I would encourage our members to attend. Um I plan to go and um the the last thing I'll say is that
the meeting in Danvers u partly part of the reason it was in Danvers is because that will be the next location for the joint MASC MASS conference. So um it will no longer be on the Kate.
I think I mentioned this before. It will be in Danvers and the venue was pretty nice. I got to say it's attached to a huge water park, indoor water park. So, you know, there's that, too. Um, >> bring your kids.
>> Yeah, exactly. Exactly. All right. I think that's it for me. Thanks. >> Um, I I have looked through the slides that you shared. Um, and I want to, as I flipped through them, I was like, "Wow,
this is complicated stuff." Um, and so first I just want to say thank you to you, Carrie, or sorry, you Carrie and Stephen and Ursula, and certainly to Joe, um, for understanding the challenges of school budgets um, at this type of level. So, I imagine you looked
at these slides, you're like, "Yep, yep, yep, yep." But as somebody who's not deep into the budget as as your committee is, um, and also um, thank you for bringing going out to that and bringing it back to us. Um, because it is, um, in some
way it would be good if there's a way for us to help educate our district about this. Um, since we are in this midst of wondering why our budget had to go up so much. Um, although our actual budget didn't go up that much. It was really the um you know shifting from
using our reserves. Um uh but this is really helpful information. Stephen, uh these slides were terrific. They really drive home the point and the challenges. I know I'm going to sound like a broken record, but given the broken record in Boston, I think it's
necessary to do that. We are cutting whatever we can. We're not putting in luxuries. We are trying to get the best education we can with limited resources and increasing demands on what we have.
And you know, talking about multi-year overrides, this is going to come and the sooner we start to deal with these problems, the less painful it's going to be. There's only so much we can do locally. And so just want to put it out there that, you know, the only long-term
viable solution is Boston and beyond need to be more responsible. They need to prioritize. They need to figure out which things are mandated and must be done, which things are luxuries and don't have to. We've done that locally. So, thank you.
>> Thank you, Stephen. >> Okay. Um, next on the agenda is uh a discussion about the 2026 school committee member election process. Joe, I'm going to you on that one. >> Sure. Absolutely. Um, so
regional school districts um have an election process that is based on the bianial election schedule um where elections happen in November. Um there are um staggered terms for
members of the the seven members of the school committee this year. There are um two seats that will be open in each of Williamstown and Lansboro. Incumbents may, and I'm speaking of this just as
for the general public, um incumbents may run for their seats. They might not. Um, in order for somebody who is interested in being elected to the school committee to have that opportunity, they need to go through a
process that starts now and that culminates in the uh November 3rd, 2026 uh election. Um, and that process requires that you pick up nomination papers. Um, we have them available at
the district office. There are also some available at Williamstown Town Hall. Um once you pick up those nomination papers, you will also have instructions for how to go about the process of of um achieving that nomination so that you can be on the ballot come November. In
order to do that, you need to collect signatures within um on a given nominating paper within a single town for our district. The number of signatures that you need to collect
in order to be on the ballot is 45. So you need to get 45 different people's signatures and then you need to bring that sheet of paper back into us or into a town hall.
We make sure that it gets to the relevant town hall so that then town hall can verify those signatures. Make sure that those people actually reside in the town that um that you're talking about. And once that
verification process is done, then you are eligible to be on the on the ballot in November. So, it's a process that starts now and you need to get all of your signatures in and verified no later than July 21st
and the state really wants you to try to get that done early so that if there are questions around signatures or if somebody signed your paper but they actually live in a different town and so on um that you have a chance to make sure that is right. So, so in fairness to everybody, please start now. Um make
sure that that work happens. ask questions of the town clerks um in our in our two towns whenever you have them. Um and the secretary of uh state within the elections division can also be a resource um as a as an objective outside
um arbiter of of how to go about things and how to make sure that you have every opportunity you may want. >> Joe, is that 45 number um the same for Lansboro as well? Is that a district number? Yes, it's a district
>> and Lanesboro Town Hall does not have papers available, but for Lanesboro residents, you can come up to the district office. >> Yes. >> And importantly, signatures can come from either of the two towns, >> but then they need to be verified by
each town. So, that's a little complicated. >> And they need to be on separate sheets. So, >> right, >> one sheet for Williamstown, a separate sheet for Lansboro, and then they go to the two different town halls for verification. >> And town meetings are great spaces to
get signatures. >> There will be at least 45 people there. Um, one thing I want to say, um, not knowing who, which incumbents are coming, you know, are going to run and not knowing who from the broader public
may be interested, I want to, I am not, I'm not up this year. Um, so I was reelected two years ago. Um, but I am I want to make myself available to anybody who is interested to um, make sure people understand what the real work of
the school committee is. Um, and I I say that because we obviously come on the screen um you know once a month um and we have committee meetings, but there's a lot more work behind that. And I I just want to make sure that if people choose to run, which I hope you will and
I hope you you listening public um I want to make sure people really deeply understand the amount of um work that goes into the role. Um otherwise there are uh you know we we need we need as many people as possible to do all the
things. Thank you. All right. Um let's move to the districtwide recent and upcoming news and events. Uh tonight there's a concert that's happening at Williamstown Elementary School. I can almost hear it down the
street here. Um, just this past weekend, the Adams family, um, the the spring drama um, happened at Mount Greylock. Our sports teams at Mount Greylock are currently finishing up their regular seasons and many of them are headed towards postseasons in Western Mass and
the state tournaments. Um, so it's a very busy time and our seniors at Mount Greylock, I think it's 12 days until their I think their final day is May 26th. So that's that's coming up fast, too. Um, and and all the end ofear
festivities with graduation at Mount Greylock happening June 6th. Um, so there's a whole lot on the on the uh on the calendar here um both recently and ahead of us. Um, and so it's a it's a
busy time for everybody. Um, especially our students >> and exciting. >> I I thought I saw pictures for arsenic and old lace. Was that not >> Oh, yes. Sorry. Yes. >> Okay.
>> I wasn't able to make it. I was really um disappointed. But yeah, the pictures looked great. Okay. >> Um and is the school committee invited to graduation or seats going to be tight? What what's >> Absolutely. Yes. And I will be in touch
with all of you very soon on that. >> Okay. >> Coming up. >> All right. Um, I am now looking for a motion to enter into executive session with the intent to return to open session for the
purposes of conducting strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-UN personnel and contract negotiations with non-union personnel, the superintendent. Um, so I'm looking for a motion and then >> so move. >> Thank you, Stephen. Is there a second?
>> Green second. >> Thank you. And um we're gonna start with you, Carrie, on a roll call vote. >> Green eye. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Um Malloy I. But I just wanted to note I'm about to not be able to be alone. So I'm going to just go
ahead and drop. I'm doing a basketball pickup and I I can't be alone. So >> okay, >> I'll talk to you all soon. But I >> Miller I. >> Thank you. Bowen. I >> Conry I. >> Great. Um, so if we can move into
executive session, if you've I don't know if you've notified Jack. Um, and Curtis may still be joining us. So, I'm not sure how we bring him into I'll text him and let him know if he comes and we're in executive session
that he should let us know. Think people got lost in the hallway. We're in the main room, right? >> I believe so, because we're I still have a banner that says I'm invited to join the breakout room. I thought I saw Jack here. >> He was here when we first came in.
>> Huh. I'm just gonna Okay, we have Joe. Google Meet definitely had a glitch where Steve and I could both not get out of the >> breakout room. So, he was logging off and logging back in. He'll he'll be back
in in a moment. >> It says back, too. >> We lost Yeah. Do you want to text Jack? Uh Stephen has texted and said it's not letting him rejoin. This is recording. >> Okay, great. >> Without issue. It's It's been
consecutive. So, uh, >> and now we have Stephen. We have all four of us. Um, and Jack, >> it kept sending me back to the breakout room. Huh. So, we're still recording. We may have
been lost on live stream. Is that what we lose without Jack? >> Yes. >> And you've texted him. >> I just sent I just clicked send on a text.
>> Okay. Okay. Um I'd like to keep us moving if that's all right. Um, we're being recorded, so that's the best we can do. Okay. Is there a motion um coming out of executive session to uh
approve the superintendent's annually negotiate on items as discussed? >> Milis. So move with appreciation for the services. >> Wonderful. Is there a second? >> Green. Second. >> Any other discussion? anything beyond uh doubling down on
Stephen's point that we are grateful for Joe's leadership. Um extremely grateful for Joe's leadership. >> I guess I would double down and say not just Joe but the staff that he has assembled working with him, the administrators, the teachers, the support crews.
>> Of course. Of course. Thank you. I was thinking about his contract, but yes, um the the entire team. Um, all right. So, we have a motion by Steve and a second by Carrie to approve the uh annual negotiated items for Joe's contract as
discussed. Um, we will do a roll call vote starting with you, Stephen. >> Finally, I get to go first. Miller, I >> Bowen I. >> Conry I. >> Green eye. >> All right, that passes.
I upcoming meetings. Did anybody know that next Tuesday is the Williamstown annual meeting? If you didn't already know that, you've not been paying attention to this meeting. It is at 7 o'clock at Williamstown Elementary School on Tuesday. Um followed soon
after on June 9th, the Lansboro annual town meeting at Lansboro Elementary School. As a reminder, child care is available at both of those meetings. Um and we look forward to seeing communities turn out and um uh and join us. Um we have a school committee
meeting uh that we changed the schedule for. Um it is on Wednesday, June 10th, not Thursday, June 11th. I appreciate everybody doing that. Um that allows me to be there. Uh very much appreciate that. That will be at 6 p.m. on Google
Meet. And then also late breaking news which did not actually make the agenda. Um that I have heard now from all school committee members. Um everybody unless barring illness etc. Everybody is
available for our summer retreat on Saturday August oh 22nd. 22nd um location TVD. We'll send out an email
but I just wanted to like we need to get that on the books. So, um, those are the upcoming meetings. Is there anything else that I missed? Okay. Um, any other items not reasonably anticipated, Joe?
No. None for me. >> Nope. >> Okay. Um, I heard an agenda request earlier tonight to have Nolan come talk about the data teams at at Lansboro. Um, are there any other agenda requests? Hearing none, I will look for a motion to
adjurnn. >> To make it easy for the notetaker, I'll make the motion. >> Thank you, Stephen. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Carrie. Um, and I will start. Bowen I. >> Conry I. >> Green eye.
>> Miller. I. >> Thank you everybody. Have a great night and see you on Tuesday. Except for you, Christina. But come join us. Bye.