the school committee um and first thing I'll not is that Leah um my chairperson will not be in attendance tonight so I'll be leading the meeting in her absence first order of business is Pledge of Allegiance so if you could all mute um and I will recite I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you uh the next item of business is Citizens comments and I have not been made aware of anyone wishing to make a public comment so we will move on to item three on our agenda which is the consent agenda and um I will ask Joe if he could read the motion uh thank you mad Vice chairman uh move to approve the consent agenda of March 27th 2024 containing the draft meeting minutes of March 13 2024 and the warrants of March 29th 20124 thank you Joe I'll second that is there any discussion seeing none I will call the vote um Joe yes Amy vessels yes Sharon yes Mike yes shandor yes Jackie yes and myself yes that's unanimous did I miss anybody who came in after that I don't think so all right um moving on uh the next item of business is a school committee chairperson update and really the only update I've already given which is Leah sensor regrets that she could not be here but she had a conflict and I'll just say that I do believe Mike you can correct me or Joe correct me if I'm wrong I do believe this is Leah's first absence which is remarkable truly um and we'll all strive to be more like Leah all right so the next thing is our student representative report we are just flying through things and I do see that we've got one of our student Representatives here um so I'll hand it off to hansy hi everyone um AA says sorry that she can't join her Wi-Fi is being really spotty today but she wishes she could be here um so for today's report this week students have been filling out surveys in all their classes um their focus on the schoolwide focus and the department specific goals around student engagement these surveys are being conducted in place of the Panorama survey seeing how many students have expressed the desire to give their own feedback about their experiences in various departments the nooba choirs had an eventful concert last night all of our choirs performed outstanding repertoire ranging from spirituals folksy songs pop and some Southern Indian classical carnatic music we would like to congratulate nishoba senior Jack London who is the nooba recipient of the Wester County Superintendent Association scholar award for 2024 and nishoba has seen quite a bit of Foreign Exchange fund happening recently a handful of our French students had the opportunity to travel to Quebec recently and report having a wonderful time we were also super happy to have hosted our German exchange friends and we wish them well as they depart tonight our sophomores recently took the Eli mcast on Tuesday and today as well and we'd like to congratulate our cadets for running a very successful CPR benefit Marathon last weekend to learn more you can check out their feature in the Worcester Telegram students can make changes to their course scheduling for next year until April 1st this is also when overread requests are due the junior class of 2025 is currently doing a raffle fundraiser each ticket's $20 and participants will have the opportunity to win either a Yeti cooler a solo bonfire stove two Stanley tumblers and two St Stadium heat cushions finally Miss Rich will be sending out a Google drive folder for photos from Spring Sports we're requesting that parents send pictures to go in the yearbook and we want to make sure to have Spring sport athletes sent in as soon as possible since we only have one more week until the 2024 yearbook has to be submitted for production that's it for tonight awesome thank you for that report um do any school committee members have questions or comments for student representative uh Sharon go ahead I just want to make a comment um huny sold herself short a little bit there because she um led the Indian music last night and it was phenomenal was just such a great experience um and I also wanted to tag on to that that I had the pleasure of being at um the play couple weekends ago the uh band concert last week and the chus concert last night and they were all phenomenal just phenomenal so kudos to all those kids thank you Mrs P for your compliment as well lot of good things happening in really active Arts and Music Department that we should all be really proud of kids put a lot of work into it I was at the play also it was hilarious and so well done and um and my daughter was on that Quebec trick and I was so grateful that she had that experience it was wonderful so thank you hansy thank you we'll see you next week and you are welcome to stay but you are also welcome to get on with whatever else you have to do tonight I'm sure you're busy sure sounds good thank you have a good night everyone yeah bye bye all right let me get back to my agenda here next up we have the superintendence report and so for that I'm going to hand it off to um superintendent Don Madam Vice chair thank you for that recognition and thank you to the committee uh for everyone being here tonight um I have to say Madame Vice chair we've been so in sconed and budget over the last series of meetings we're making up for it tonight with lots of information from our teacher and learning office and assistant superintendent lur friend so it's at this time that I am just going to turn it directly over to miss friend however Miss friend I think hansy store your thunder on some of our some of our as well she should as well she should that's what we hope for with our students you did a good job uh without further Ado assistant superintendent friend please take it away thank you um thank you superintendent Downing tonight's updates are all focused on uh travel updates and the trips and competitions uh that our students have recently engaged in five updates to be exact all good thank you to the school committee for approving our travel opportunities for our students and thank you to our chaperons and our trip coordinators and our parents and our teachers because these trips would not be a real without um your support and their support we could not offer these opportunities which are pretty unique for our students um without your support so thank you first update is about our high school concert band and Festival choir and traveling to to Orlando in February they presented two concerts in Downtown Disney Disney and benefited from Clinic sessions with a Disney musician so many skills learned I've heard what it's like to be a professional musician and record a soundtrack to film they also had a lot of fun uh including enjoying a bit of time at Disney world as well of course so a good trip for our Music uh department at the high school the second update is an update update uh that hansy referenced about our German Gap Exchange program uh in early February seven students and two teachers from nooba traveled to Germany for two weeks they live with host families attended classes visited nurg and garish and from all of the reports that we've heard from them they had a great time there are photos included in the update not included in the writing of this update and hansy mentioned it is the second part of the Gap exchange and that's the visit from our German guests to nishoba which has occurred over the past two weeks and and and our friends left today in like fashion of experience our German guest students live with our nooba host families they attended classes visited famous sites they walked on the Freedom Trail they visited fuel Hall and Old Sturbridge Village superintendent Downing and I had the pleasure of meeting our German guests at a meet and greet at the high school last Wednesday and it was great to meet them and hear from them the third update uh is about our Quebec trip students just returned from a great and cold and snowy we're glad they're home safely uh on Saturday trip to Quebec it was a full itinerary with lots of sightseeing enjoying the culture a ferry ride and and lots of eating and photos are included in the update as well again thank you to the chaperon um for making these trips happen the final two updates are relative to competitions that our students experien first up our nooba DEA team was well represented uh as we knew it would be at the mass Deca State Career Development conference in Boston in early March we had 104 students compete against 3,800 Deca members across the state we are excited to share that nishoba finished with 22 state champions finishing in the top five in their categories and another 13 earning recognition by finishing in the top 10 in the state shout out to Mr a and Miss Norton for their leadership here along with our students our 22 state champions will now compete globally at the DECA International Conference in Anaheim in late April there is a slideshow attached the update for more information about the Boston competition and photos 2 and then finally uh robotics trip update robotics had a great turnout at the New England District heart for event they finished second seed out of 34 teams and 12 qualifying matches which is pretty impressive a great competition um we encourage you to check out the video that's Linked In the update I watched it twice first to understand what I was watching the second time to really appreciate the efforts of the of the robot and the team and the communication which was pretty impressive the next step is the first world championship in Houston on April 16 16th with no luck needed we wish them the best of luck and then of a final note of the last two the committee will find updated travel approval forms and the meeting materials for both the Anaheim and Houston trips resp respectively preliminary approval had been granted for Deca in early October and for robotics in November we'd been waiting on our team and student performance for next steps and to solidify planning and this is reflect Ed in the completed travel forms provided by I Believe Miss Masterson sent those over today those are it for the five updates a lot going on there a lot of movement and activity for our students at the high school which is great miss miss brend I think you can um we can actually those the announcements we'll pause before we move on to the Strategic work if there's any questions from the committee um the only thing I wanted to say is I didn't see those posted in the media material so I think we'll just follow up with you after the meeting to make sure those end up there um you were gonna say yes okay what Amy what are you referring to the um travel request forms yes yeah they're in there you probably haven't looked at them since I uploaded them I'm on the website right now and I don't see them so we can we can touch B have you had your browser open for a while that you need to refresh it maybe okay I'll try doing that I have actually uh anything else before we move on with the rest of the update I'm not seeing any hands so go back to you superintendent ding all right Miss friend let's move on that's in the Buton all right um first strategic update is just um a cap and an update about how our March 15th professional development day went we had a great day uh a professional learning on March 15th we always appreciate the opportunity to come together as a community we don't often get to do that it's just awesome to be together we started the day with our panelists sharing their perspectives on the practical application of our portrait vber graduate competencies it was great to hear from them it was also really great to see and hear from our noobar grad aen Oberle who got a rounding uh just a a rousing round of applause um when faculty and staff saw him it was great to hear from him gems of wisdom from uh aen for sure the day offered a variety of options for our nishoba Educators in support of our strategic plan we had 39 faculty and staff present and facilitate a session which is 10 more from last year which is fantastic we had two current nooba students presenting I believe I had mentioned that to the committee earlier our EMT Cadets provided Hands-On CPR training in the upper gym and 23 student ambassadors helped throughout the day with all things big and small it was great um to have them with us as well also eight colleagues from neighboring districts volunteered their time to help us learn and run a session so it was great the feedback from the day was positive we've provided um I provided for you um the respondent ratings the overall respondent ratings in the update and some of the open field comments um a particular note for us which we hope to see in large part were comments relative the articulation of the connections to our strategic work which we are engaging in so overall it was a positive day and we appreciate everyone coming together and learning together and we also appreciate the school committee support and I know a couple of our school committee members we were honored to have them join us uh on that day as well so good day and we're looking forward to next year which will look different but we're looking forward to next year great thank you uh any questions on this portion okay shandor uh I just wanted to say I was uh fortunate to be able to uh attend and spend the day uh at the conference and it was excellent um it was great just um clearly the rock star of that opening panel was Dum aen there it was uh I was sitting next to some uh a teacher who pulled out her cell phone and found an old photo of a much younger version uh and it was like uh I know him uh uh but I think what was awesome was that he challenged the audience at the start of the day uh to embrace creativity and create those opportunities and he shared some examples of some powerful moments of his learning at MOBA uh and I think he was an amazing example of a graduate who exempli I that portrait of a graduate we talk about um and being a tech guy I also was happy to hear uh a lot of talk about artificial intelligence and not just oh my God it's going to help people cheat and take our jobs away but uh a much more constructive positive thing in recognizing that uh humans still are going to have an important role in the future and we need to prepare them for that so I was just so impressed with enthusiasm and interest in learning I saw from everyone who was attending and I love the format of giving all the attendees a lot of choice uh and agency over what they learn we know that works with kids and it also works with adults so it was great to see that so it it just was um a wonderful uh PD day and I was very impressed Mr Simon thank you for those words we're we're honored that you able to be with us as well as Miss Pac was able to be with us as well so thank you both uh should we move on to the next update well Madame chair the next two pieces on the update are just some narrative put to the two presentations that we're having this evening so um these are both uh presentations that will be introduced by Miss friend so perhaps we can just transition into those pieces sure go ahead um so at this point Miss Masterson if uh Mr ebstein is in the waiting room Dr estein excuse me wonderful uh so at this point I'm going to turn it to assist assant superintendent Laur friend to uh introduce Our Guest this evening sure um and I know superintendent dowy you could aptly introduce Dr Epstein so thank you for the honor of doing so but we're we're very pleased to welcome Dr estein uh to speak for I I think we said about 10 or 12 minutes to the committee this evening just to provide broad Strokes overview of calm compassionate teaching he's been working along inside our district for two years now and we have grown so much um from his framing of understanding of student behavior and he will um present to our families next Thursday evening at 6:30 um impact of the pandemic and resiliency and problem solving for parents and Educators and students so we encourage our families to join us in that presentation next Thursday evening 6:30 via Zoom uh link is in the common has been and will be again this Friday but uh Dr Epstein I turn it over to you to uh impart your wisdom uh in 10 to 12 minutes which I know you can do um but you have so much to share and it's all about framing our thinking about student Behavior and the communication what Behavior tells us so thank you for joining us thanks for having me Laura I appreciate that and and I I really um thank you all for uh I I know your your time is precious and you have a lot on your plate so I appreciate having a few moments um just to share with you uh some of the work we've been doing and and and the orientation behind this work um and uh and to um save a few minutes to have if you have any questions about um what I'm describing tonight so um I I I want to preface this by saying that that this work that I'm going to describe is part of broader efforts within the district to um address the social emotional learning needs of of the students and so um uh Laura has been a a fabulous partner in in kind of uh addressing um some real important needs on on on uh on the part of the nooba students um and so this is a piece of those efforts uh to to help kids succeed not only academically but socially and emotionally as well um I know I'm going to be preaching in the choir here a little bit when I say that um uh you know research uh um is pretty consistent that that um uh teachers are are uh consistently telling us one of the biggest stressors uh in their jobs is managing difficult student Behavior Uh and one of the biggest frustrations that teachers have is um the sort of lack of behavior change lack of responsiveness to kind of some of our you know fairly um uh widely used and traditional um behavior management tools so um the the work that we're doing is focusing on um this kind of small percentage of kids who take up a great deal of our time because they they have these sort of repeated challenging behaviors that don't um respond to our our typical interventions right so we are all familiar with um some of the standard approaches that we use for kids who are misbehaving um they tend to be very contingency based um uh sometimes they're very positive in nature we try to use rewards and incentives to get kids to behave in the ways that they're expected to behave and if they don't behave in the ways that they're expected to behave there are are various consequences um uh removal of privileges uh um uh up to more um significant kinds of um uh consequences uh suspensions uh in school suspensions out of school suspensions and that kind of thing and one of the things again that the research has has shown pretty consistently is that um there are a a large percentage of kids who are struggling behaviorally that don't respond to these traditional approaches um in fact uh um typically 30 to 50% of suspensions are repeat suspensions and sort of by definition those approaches if they're working should be self [Music] [Music] you're going to the gym you've decided you want to start working out uh you want to get stronger um so you go to the gym and you're working with the trainer and the trainer um uh hands you a couple of um uh um dumbbells to uh do some bicep curls um takes a look at you and says these ought to work and gives you a a set of 25 pound um dumbbells to do some bicep curls and you cannot do it you just are not strong enough um and and and they try and try and eventually they get to the Pounders and you're like yeah I can do these so you are only strong enough to lift these five Pounders right and your goal the the the trainer is saying you know for a person your size and age you should be able to to lift 25 um and you just can't you're not strong enough your muscles aren't strong enough you can only do the five and so now that trainer has a task the trainer's task is to get you from the 5 pounds to the 25 pounds and maybe even Beyond right so how is the going to do that now if this trainer said to you look buddy here's the deal you you should be able to lift 25 pounds for your age and actually if you don't lift 25 pounds there's going to be some serious consequences you're not going to be able to lift groceries you're not going to be able to lift your kids so you need to lift this 25 pounds and then gave you the 25 pounds again would you be able to lift it of course not now what if this person said all right here's the deal I'm going to give you 50 bucks if you can lift that 25 pounds and you picked up the 25 pounds you're going to lift it of course not you're not strong enough and let's say they even took it a step further I'm gonna I'm GNA deduct a hundred bucks from your bank account if you don't lift those 25 pounds you're going to be motivated you're going to be incentivized um but you're not going to lift the 25 pounds why because right now your strength is only enough to lift five pounds interestingly this is the me mechanism by Mo by which most of our traditional behavioral approaches are designed to work they're designed to do two things each information you are expected to lift 25 pounds that's what we expect of you and try to motivate if you lift those 25 pounds I'm GNA give you some cash or if you don't I'm going to take away some cash right so traditional contingency management approaches are designed to teach information and try to motivate here's the problem with that if you don't have in this case the strength or in the case of of of behavior the skills to engage in that expected Behavior it doesn't matter if you have the information the knowledge that this is expected of you nor does it matter if you have the incentive I really want that 50 bucks if you don't have the skill you're not going to meet that expectation regardless of the information that you have and the incentive that you have and interestingly this is our how how our traditional behavioral approaches are designed to work and the reason why they work for the kids who need them the least and don't work for the kids who they are applied to the most is because the kids who are consistently not meeting our behavioral expectations who are um uh consistently Trent from school not getting their home H workk in engaging in in um uh physical aggression or verbal aggression in a in a sort of consistent way and aren't responding to those traditional interventions that behavior continues to occur because they don't have the skills now in the case of the the the weight training we're talking about physical strength but in the case of these behavioral expectations we are talking about skills that have been identified again for a very long time Daniel Goldman um pulled this information together beautifully about 25 years ago um in his seminal book uh emotional intelligence right we're talking about things like your ability to understand and recognize and label and articulate your feelings we're talking about your ability to um control your impulses to regulate your emotional state we're talking about your ability to um uh have um a perspective that allows you to think about the perspectives of others not just yourself uh we're talking about skills that allow you to plan and organize and and focus uh we're talking about um skills that allow you to think flexibly not in a sort of rigid all or none way but in a more gray um Nuance kind of way these are all skills that people need to navigate life's challenges and if those skills are not where they should be for age then we see behavior problems now I want you to think about um a two or a three yearold right and think about some of the basic skills that a two or three-year-old doesn't have because they're two or three um they're not very good at managing their emotions they're not very flexible in their thinking they're not very good at um labeling their feelings right so what do we see we see a lot of physical aggression we see verbal aggression we see tantrums and meltdowns we see refusals to do things because they're two and three and that's expected but as they get older and those skills develop we see less and less of those behaviors because they're getting stronger in these skills and they can meet the expectations of their environment there are kids who are wired in such a way that those skills don't develop at the pace that is expected they have developmental delays in skills such such as labeling and articulating their feelings managing their emotions tolerating frustration thinking flexibly and the way that that plays out in their environment is it comes out in inappropriate behaviors refusals uh physical aggression verbal aggression all the kind of same things we see in younger kids because their skills are like a younger child so when we approach those kids in the ways that saying you can't behave this way and if you continue to behave this way here are these going to be these consequences we don't get Behavior change because these are about skill struggles not poor motivation or lack of information now here's the good news in in terms of the schools we already have a template in our schools a very good template for addressing these kinds of skill delays and skill struggles and that is our um special education system particular particularly when it applies to learning disabilities right so if I have a fifth grader reading at a first grade level and I've assessed what particular skills are delayed and I find that this student um uh does not process phonological information like a fifth grader um does not make those sound symol associations like a fifth grader that those skills are delayed that those skills are more like a first grader do I come to that that fifth grader and say look buddy you're expected to read like a fifth grader and if you don't continue to read like a fifth grader there's going to be some serious consequences here of course not I would be thrown out of the special education system if that's how I approach the learning disability no what do we do we teach the skills that are delayed and we do it incrementally in the same way that weight trainer isn't going to give me 20 pound weights it's going to give me five pound weights and then maybe some 10 pound weights and as I get more reps and practice he's going to give me 15 Pounders and then as I get some reps and practice he's going to give me 20 and eventually I'm going to work my way up and he's not going to be threatening me because I'm not lifting what I'm supposed to be lifting we don't do that with learning disabilities we wouldn't do that with weight training but really we do that with behavior all the time so in order to change Behavior we first and foremost have to change how we think about behavior and we have to really understand that these difficulties these behaviors that we are seeing are an indication of skill struggles and based on that we have to come at it not by teaching information you are expected to behave this way frankly most of these kids already know that but to teach the skill to help them and first of all we have to identify what the skills are right if I have a kid who's not reading at a first grade level because of chological processing that's different than if it's an issue of say um verbal fluency right so I have to identify which of these skills and oftentimes there's many are delayed and then I have to teach those skills in an incremental manner that kids can slowly build because skills don't you don't go from five to 25 pounds you don't go from reading a first grade level to a fifth grade level and you don't go from struggling to regulate your emotions to being great at it skills develop increment mentally and so we have to scaffold the environment and and uh approach the child in a way that reduces demands for the level of skill that they don't have and give them the practice they need to slowly build those skills um okay I think that was about 10 to 12 minutes so um that's obviously there's much more to that and Laura was being very kind when she said I can do this in 10 to 12 minutes because I have trouble sometimes conveying all of this in one to two hours so that's a really fast um uh quick uh nitty-gritty overview of what we're doing here and I will say before I uh open up to some questions um I have been really pleased and impressed um by the by the level of skill and commitment and dedication on the part of of the nooba staff that I've been working with they are really embracing this they're working on it this is not easy work um because at the risk of stating the obvious if I have a fifth grader who's reading at a first grade level they're probably not disrupting the learning of other students they're probably not creating safety concerns but when kids who struggle with these social emotional skills when they're struggling with those oftentimes the result is some real serious um concerns about um safety of other students disruption of the learning environment so this is hard work but I've been so um pleased with uh uh the dedication and the commitment and the um real openness to kind of coming at this in in what's really still considered not a a very traditional way um and and we've seen some really nice um progress in in the work that we've been doing so with that I I will um stop talking and see if there are particular questions that any of you [Music] have um while I'm waiting to see if any of my um fellow members of the school committee oh I see a hand up um so I'm gonna go to Mike and then come back to what I was going to say go ahead Mike thank you and thank you Mr Epstein that was awesome um you know I'm I'm 100% philosophically on board with you as you were um you know using these metaphors I you know the first thing I thought of was um my own classroom and recognizing deficits um um or sort of like emerging skills and I wonder how you manage um the time constraints that are a reality in the classroom right so I've got a kiddo who's who's got a skill limitation or developing a skill and we work towards it and we work with them and um and in the meantime I've got a handful of kids that are sort of moving forward and while we're developing this skill that creates this unintended consequence of a a a Content lag so how do you manage both slowly developing a skill and also keeping Pace with the timeline that is a reality in most classrooms it's a really good question and it's a really um significant challenge right what I would um there are a couple things and and obviously in the time that we have it's it's hard to go into tremendous detail but what what I'll say broadly speaking is that uh there are a couple things we need to do uh one is I always say go slow to go fast oftentimes the way that we sort of intervene actually ends up making some of that progress take even longer so the first thing we need to do is really set up with um what one of my mentors Dr Ross Green calls a userfriendly environment by understanding this particular student skill profile we can scaffold things in the classroom in a way that helps maximize um their progress and um oftentimes a lot of our practice actually our practices actually not only don't maximize their their progress slow it down we we intervene in ways that that are just frustrating for kids that that end up them with them spending less time in the classroom um so what we really need to do I mean one of the best ways to think about this is we need to differentiate for those students in the same way that we differentiate for kids who have academic struggles right and those students are also not necessarily going to be progressing at the same rate um uh as um the other students in the classroom but how we structure their environment can make a tremendous difference and yes there will be limitations because when you have these skill deficits it does impact um you know the the rate of progress but there are things we can do to maximize the progress and um oftentimes the things that the way we're structuring environments for these kids actually slows it down if that makes sense thanks for that question Mike I also saw Dana's hand up so don't we go to her next I do want to say this is a great presentation so I'm not in the educational field so hearing about social emotional learning from this perspective I feel like was really valuable so specifically understanding that these issues are lack of skills um so what I'm curious about though would you say if this is a new problem facing schools and teachers like is this something that used to be taught at home and now we're no longer seeing that I just didn't know if you have any sense of like root cause or this expectations changing becoming higher is this just I don't know some sort of generational shift that you would see uh it's it's a really good question uh and and what I would say is no this isn't a new problem at all um now I'll I'll put a little caveat to that which is to say that uh certainly um if in recent years and obviously we we are dealing with um a a Fallout still from the pandemic that has really not only um uh we've seen uh um impact academically but we have certainly seen social emotional impact uh rates of depression um and anxiety among youth uh really um have dramatically increased just in the past few years attributed to a lot of what um kind of went on uh during the pandemic so in that regard yes there is some um newness to the intensity of that but that aside this isn't new at all in the same way that um learning disabilities you know it's it's interesting we started addressing just historically I'll tell you kind of very quickly right we didn't really start to address the skill deficits associated with learning disabilities in a in a in a broader way until the early 70s right that's when the initial special education laws passed but we knew about the skill deficits of learning disabilities as early as the early 1900s there was a 1909 paper published identifying some of these skill deficits so these struggles aren't new it's just that it takes a while for the research to kind of catch up with the practices and so this information about these kinds of skill struggles this kids have always had these these skill struggles and I know sometimes we hear a lot about um you know you know back in my day you know we didn't treat people this way and that kind of thing kids have struggled in this way for a very long time we have learned a lot even in the past 20 25 years about this but these are these kinds of struggles have existed uh you know really since the dawn of time now whole another can of worms to talk about um uh um cell phones and social media and and the ways that that impacts kids social emotional functioning which is a somewhat more recent phenomenon that certainly has an impact but in terms of this overall Dynamic this isn't new um at all we just um have a a much better understanding um than we used to okay and just one more quick question sure so do you think that like the shift from like removing certain Authority that individual classroom teachers used to have is helping or hurting this skills Gap uh well it's a great question and it really um it actually the it it it poses another question which is what we mean by Authority and how we Define Authority so um uh in in this approach we Define Authority somewhat differently a a person in a position of authority a disciplinarian if you will is a teacher and again what we're trying to teach is not you are supposed to do what you are told what we are trying to teach are the skills that en kids to do what they're told enable kid to handle life's challenges so um so it's a it's a more um Nuance question that is not just you know are we have have we undermined um teachers Authority it's really um more about how we Define thinking more complexly about how we Define authorities authorities are in a position to teach and it's not again teaching information you should do what you're told by people in power in fact don't think in the broader sense of things that's what we want to teach it's we want to teach you skills to be able to handle life and that's where I think we're falling short all right this is thank you so much for the question and the answer Dr leine I see Jackie has her hand up so we'll go to her next yeah I just wanted to say thank you to you Dr leine and if any of our families and community members are watching to take advantage of the opportunity to hear you speak next week because like using your um your weight analogy right like when you're with one trainer and you can lift five pounds but then you go out at home or in the community and you're with a different trainer and you can lift two pounds like we all have to have that same language so it's a good opportunity and an amazing resource for our district so I'm just encouraging our our community to take advantage of this opportunity so thank you thank you yeah I appreciate that yeah you stole my thunder there Jackie um I I think this is uh personally I want to just express my gratitude for um having to the administration for bringing Dr Epstein um to the school committee so we can benefit from learning about the professional development he's offering our Educators um I think it's you know going to benefit all the students in our district it's it's very student centered and it it I really love how it sounds like the focus here is to meet kids where they're at you know and um and not demand them to whatever standards we're setting for them so um with that I don't see any other hands up um is there anything that you'd like to conclude with Dr I mean superintendent Downing thank you Madame Vice chairman no I personally want to thank drin for coming tonight I I know that Dr Epson does great work and has great impact on schools um and so Dr Riner thank you for that plug for uh next week's uh Zoom meeting with our families and we're looking forward to continuing working with Dr abstein as we grow and expand this approach across this uh the school system so thank you Dr abstein Just One Last thank you for having me yeah so sorry to cut you off do do parents need to register in advance to get that okay it's just a thank yeah no we sent the link the link out in the commen last week and I think we're going to be doing some targeted emails in anticipation of that meeting that are outside of our regular sending of the Clone Perfect all right and I'll just uh add there I I appreciate the plug and and you know the the goal tonight was to give you kind of the overview of of what we're doing and why we're doing it um uh for folks to know uh the um the parent night that I'm going to be doing next week we're going to really be um getting more into some practical strategies for how we teach kids um uh these skills that they're struggling with so um I I'm looking forward to that opportunity as well so thank you and thank you for the um chance to share with you this uh important work you're very very welcome thanks again thank you bye Everybody by thank you um let's see um I think there's one more item left on the superintendent's update is that correct The Innovation we have our Innovation Pathways report and I see Dr Boon is coming to the room and I think Mr a is coming into the room as well yes there's staros um so so last week uh you had an opportunity to hear about the Innovation Pathways uh work that we're doing here in nooba I'm going to turn it again back to assistant tent to introduce Our Guest presenters tonight uh regarding Innovation Pathways so assistant superintendent friend thank you superintendent Donnie was definitely passing the Baton around it is it is that night we're playing a little bit of catchup I am so pleased to introduce my colleagues Dr Boon I'm going to try and say Mr A's whole name Mr andreopoulos and Mr leblan who are critical members of our Innovation Pathways planning team thank you for being here tonight and for all of your hard work for the past year and a half maybe even two years two years um to help pres to help get us uh to this place which is this evening presenting an innovation Pathways planning presentation to you we have been talking a lot about Innovation Pathways and referencing Innovation Pathways and so this evening we're excited to provide you with what it's all about an overview of our Pathways program what the pathways are what they will mean for our students the timeline next steps some exciting information and updates that Dr Bo specifically is going to share and what we see these pathways are for us at nishoba and that hopefully is just the beginning and a critical exciting next step in our future at nooba so we're going to take turns um with the slides it's a short presentation and then we'll offer to the committee any questions at the end and I believe that Alita is going to share is that true Alita or oh [Music] yeah I think while Alita gets back to slide one I know it's in canva which is is not as intuitive as PowerPoint or Google Slides stop being an innovator Mr a my apologies all right there we go um so as I had mentioned um we're going to tag team the presentation this evening we're just so super excited about the possibilities for Innovation Pathways program and the opportunity for real world relevant experiential learning for our students and I'm going to turn it over to Dr Bon who is going to speak to um slide two three and four why what and what it's all about thank you assistant super assistant superintendent friend can everyone hear me I'm trying on my airpods tonight um so I would be remiss if I didn't share that this really is um an Endeavor two years in the making um last year um Mr LeBlanc um and a sort of an adventurous group of of uh staff members began the exploration of the Innovation Pathways uh during professional learning time um at the high school and made the point of um going on several visits to high schools that we're uh implementing and became uh really really excited and so they were sort of the Vanguard of the push to um really deeply explore the pathways at nooba um also stavos and his hard work all of this year um the team of teachers who um was Yan's work to to put together our Grant application um and we couldn't have done this without the support of Laura um friend and teaching and learning um our why um behind the pathways is really to design more engaging and meaningful Real World Learning experiences for our nooba students um a part of the pathways is to create robust postsecondary options for all nooba students um whether they be in career in service in um military or in college um and you'll notice that there is uh it's deeply rooted in equity and a focus on fields that have been identified by the state of Massachusetts as high needs and so it's data driven as well taking a look at the future of um professional careers and the the world of work um in in Massachusetts uh for our students as they Down the Line enter the workforce um Alita next slide please so Pathways um pathways are in essence real world experiential learning uh for our students um both Technical and advanced course coursework that take place within Thea's course of study um strong Partnerships so one of the foundations are these strong part Partnerships with employers to expose students to Career options as well as Discovery experiences within a chosen field of study before they graduate high school and then the culminating piece again is through this 100h hour internship and Capstone experience that students engage in um in their senior year and one of the things that we've heard from our students um is that this type of real world experiential learning is something that they are really really interested and wanting to do at the high school level um next slide please so the Commonwealth established um the think career Pathways has been around um since about 20178 so just pre-co and the Commonwealth has recently established a goal of having 50% of students in these highquality College and Career Pathways by the year of 2027 and so far 177 schools in Massachusetts have received this Desy designation some schools have Pathways that are their own design um but these are specifically designated by the department of Elementary and secondary education and then one in four high schools in Massachusetts either has an established pathway program or is in application process uh and I am thrilled to announce and share in the middle of our presentation that we had an interview on Friday March 22nd with Jennifer gwatkin who was our liaison with the pathways program and she gave us a prelimin Min AR um uh notification that we have been um named a pathway designated school um and um we got her permission to share that this evening we shared that we were presenting to you all this evening so I'm thrilled to share that nishoba Regional High School will be a Pathways designated School uh for um business and finance as well as advanced manufacturing and engineering and that also comes um with some grant funding as well we also learned that that meeting that we uh are the recipient of a skills Capital Grant as well and so more details down the line when we get communication so phenomenal news for nooba really exciting and my understanding through Jennifer is that there'll be an official announcement as early as tomorrow uh press release from um from I believe the governor as well as desie joint uh press release as early is tomorrow communicating those those pathway um pathway designated schools of which nooba is a part so yay we got it and next slide please and I'm happy to turn it over to assistant superintendent Laura friend yeah so um yeah these the next two slides are just the articulation of the Clear Connection to our strategic plan um specifically strategic initiative number seven and strategic objective number two our teaching and learning objective and that is um for us to work towards increasing authentic experiential learning opportunities across all classrooms K to2 and so specifically this initiative this implementation of Pathways programming supports um our experience for our students in 9 through 12 but this work will also start in grade seven as we had intimated at the last school committee meeting with our work on mycap during uh Middle School advisory so clear connections to our strategic plan and then next slide clear connections to our portrait of show graduate and we when we were putting together this slide um we we kind of went back and forth which competency um do the pathways work to support Elevate and strengthen and I think our our decision was all of them right stab Ros and Andy were like and Kate it it it just touches upon all of them giving students an opportunity to develop these skills in Real World um opportunities that um are going to give them an opportunity to transfer what they're learning in the class room uh to different domains disciplines and experience in environments is going to create the environment by which they can really exercise the development of these skills for when they leave us at nishoba so the answer is all six of them I'm going to turn it over to Mr a and he's going to speak oh um actually Dr Boon did you want to speak to the school Improvement plan and your work on student engagement as it relates to the Innovation Pathways I can just do a quick add-on that um that the pathways are um intimately included in in the school Improvement plan um so I'm happy to say that we've achieved that and I strongly believe that the technical courses along with the availability to take Advanced courses that both stabos and Andy will talk about later um along with the Capstone project those naturally enhanced um student um levels of Engagement uh and are 100% in line with the goals of our school Improvement plan which is aligned with the Strategic plan thank you Dr Boon all right Mr andreopoulos good evening would you like to speak to us about business I would love to um I'm happy to be here today I'm um really happy to follow the great news that Dr B just shared with you guys it was a a lot of hard work but um definitely G to be an awesome opportunity for our students um as they shared I'm here to talk to you guys about the business pathway um I think you guys are really familiar with Deca and the success that Deca and the the growth that we've had over the last 10 15 years at the high school uh I think a lot of that is because when students take business classes they see that real world connection in in the business classes that we offer at the high school uh our business pathway is going to be very similar to Deca in that fashion where we are going to create a lot of those real world connections with the pathway but honestly it's going to go Way Way Beyond what Deca does because a lot of the the the DECA projects that we do are hypothetical and they kind of just live in a vacuum and they get presented to one judge and then off they go um creating these real world experiences where students can get out of the classroom into an internship or a Capstone project um you know we have some great teachers at the high school but getting industry uh professionals to mentor and tutor them along the way is going to be a a massive massive um win for our school and and getting students ready for the their next step um so in the business pathway I know the word business is really wide and all-encompassing um obviously there's marketing Finance entrepreneurship accounting economics uh students currently have all these offerings at the high school and we're going to continue to expand these as we go um I know that um we have a lot of strong Partners in our district um a lot of good great businesses even a lot of noobo Lums that run those businesses in our community they're really eager to work with us so we're really looking forward to the future here uh next slide please the scope and sequence for our uh program is going is currently looks like this for next year so um a pathway student in their freshman or sophomore year are going to be looking at completing technical courses uh those technical courses are uh for lack of a better term just normal business uh classes that students take at aoba right now um those courses would be intro to business uh marketing or Computer Applications uh we identified those three classes um mostly inro to business is a great fit because it it it honestly it it it's a taste of all the industries that we just talked about all the career clusters that we just talked about in the previous slide uh marketing is a very very popular course with students and obviously um no matter what industry you go into even if it's not in the business industry it's it's really um great skill to have and then we all know that computer application skills and knowing your canva and putting together a really uh Innovative Pres ation but also your Microsoft Office certifications um that students can um learn and get uh really important industry recognized credentials along the way are going to be great for us um once they fulfill the technical Rec uh requirement they would move on to Advanced courses um we currently offer um accounting um our accounting course at the high school right now is uh has a u n articulation agreement with quinaman Community College so uh that's already built for us where students could take it for Ina credits but also take it for college level credits as you guys know advanced placement psych psychology or uh in statistics also would count for Co college credits uh product development the course that you guys see there in the middle of the screen is a new course that we plan on launching that this year for the very oh sorry in the in the fall for the very first time we're really excited about that course because it fits really really well with the business marketing entrepreneurship side of things but also with the pathway that uh Andy LeBlanc is about to speak to you guys a little bit about so it's kind of a two birds one stone but also some of the most Innovative entrepreneurship type of classes that I've ever seen uh have a lot of that business but also the engineering side to them so we're really excited to offer that next year for the first time um of course this whole experience uh concludes with a 100 hour internship in Capstone which is honestly the most exciting part about it all where students could leave uh the building or even stay in the building and get that Real World Experience I'm GNA pass it over to um Andy leblan who is the whole reason we're here to be honest he brought this idea to our school and it's it's really awesome to kind of get it off the ground with him he's a great teacher and he's gonna be running the advaned manufacturing engineering side of things well thank you Mr andreopoulos quite an introduction um yeah so as I um was investigating the these Pathways um the more and more PE folks that I talked to that were involved across the state um pretty much told us we're doing 80 or 90% of it already and by adding a couple more things we really could uh give our students these these experiences and be able to make connections and and really grow and and and prepare themselves for either career or for the workplace so um I think um and in both these Pathways that's what we're we're looking to provide um so as we spoke with um our local Workforce uh labor boards they identified central Massachusetts as having a high need uh for workers in these these areas that you see up on on the screen um so um you know technicians and INF structure sustainability is really going to be taken off in the future um but we're also you know we need more manufacturing engineers in this area as well as industrial Engineers um and also people who can design fix and work with robots I mean that's that's those are all things that are being developed right here in Massachusetts and I think U the this pathway is going to be an incredible way to connect students with all these these different areas next slide thank you um so in my area um our freshman next year's freshman and sophomores would be able to take the engineering drawing courses uh which are CAD related uh we do a lot of 3D printing uh Robotics and drones we're competing in different competitions uh getting a lot of a full year experience with that and then the metal and wood shop fabrication courses um with these classes they would receive an OSHA certification an OSHA t um which I've already we've done we've been doing it for a couple years and I've heard a lot of students come back to me and say hey got me a raise or got me get my foot in the door U to get a even a summer job um but we will continue to provide that it would that would be the first uh kind of check mark that they would achieve um and after that they're Junior and Senior year um we're going to take some training this this this summer and Project Lead the Way which is a really Rob robust uh engineering course uh as long as as well as that um product development course that Mr Mr a was talking about uh and then students can also take AP Physics um so if if they take two of those courses they'd be able to um move on and their their spring semester of their senior year uh we'll be looking for internships and capstones um and I'm I'm happy to report that the more that we get this out the more businesses are contacted us and letting us know that um they're interested in the show with students and they want they want to have kids come and work at their places so um I think I think we're in the right path and and this is uh very exciting thank you thank you Al can you do the next slide we have just a couple more slides staros I think this one's you no problem so as Andy said we've been um out there hit hitting the streets talking to the community that uh engaging our stakeholders so obviously it begins with students and families and then um a lot of internal staff and guidance counselors Deans those are the ones that will help us grow the program so those discussions are well underway Andy and I were just at a uh at Lan in at the Lancaster and Bolton Middle Schools yesterday meeting our future freshman which are just great kids we had really enjoyed that opportunity yesterday uh we'll be heading into so on Friday um besides the internal stakehold holders we actually um Laura and I in a group of students recently met with our local Rotary Club over at the hotton building which I Learned was the initial High School about 100 years ago which is really cool to go see and all the history in that building but uh we have a really like I said earlier we have a a really rich Community with filled with mobo alumni that are are really you know we're looking forward to the creating those Partnerships with um we already have uh three articulation or sorry uh partnership agreements signed and and formalized uh one in the business side of things and two in the um Advanced manufacturing and Engineering side so we have had a lot of discussions we've had three formal agreements too with our local businesses which is really really exciting uh we plan to uh create a student ambassador program um one of our ideas is to pile it the this program they uh with a couple current Juniors uh sorry current sophomores that will uh turn into ambassadors and help us grow the program and then uh one thing that we've really um have been talking about recently is getting into our school consoles or CPAC and um and and and having a really you know Advanced conversations with those groups uh because this pathway program is for everyone it's not just High achieving students it's for all students so um we have been talking quite a bit with a lot of stakeholders in our community and I I would just say uh stabos that I have done that I have visited with the school councils and the CPAC um to spread the word uh the next step is is the other two elementary schools but I've I've been running the gauntlet spreading the word and then I think the last slide is back to Dr boon and then we're going to finish up and sorry Alita the the slide transition is is not fle with Cana I guess that's it what's next I I can speak to what's next um and actually it's in process because staros uh spoke to this already that um he and Andy along with some students have gone down um gone over to the middle schools uh last middle School uh it will be in uh at hail on Friday right star Ros if you mentioned um I did get great feedback from Sean and Mr OA as well as um as Mr Bates that the presentations were wonderful um and there's a buzz in the amongst the eth graders in Lancaster and Bolton uh about this and also some targeted meetings and informational sessions with our um guidance councils at the middle school as well as our Deans and teachers um to inform folks um I will say that that um stavos came and presented to all the principes last week at our principal meeting to inform them about um our Pathways project and the anticipation of us um securing uh the designation um so that that presentation happened before our our interview um with the Department of Elementary and secondary education we have a a family uh informational Zoom meeting that will be taking place on April 2nd at 700 p.m. uh and information has gone out to families about that um I know that we're in the The Works of signing up uh Andy as well as um Dan baraby for Project Lead the Way training for our lead teachers uh and then we are um continuing to explore enhanced Partnerships with local higher education to develop Advanced coursework look at additional opportunities for dual enrollment um for our students for um participation and you know enrollment in the advanced course work so in addition to our Quin agreement we're looking at um other opportunities for um higher education uh Partnerships and then we uh plan to implement in the fall of 2024 uh really really excited um and so with that I will end the presentation and turn it over to questions that any one of us can respond [Music] to thank you so much Dr Bon when we uh look around I see uh Dana has her hand up so why don't you start us um so I just wanted to see if you received the email I sent you about Beaver works because I work at MIT Lincoln lab and there's a great summer program that I think feeds like right into all of this um that I could think would be a great opportunity for our high school to be able to participate in uh who's that question for OHS Bron you're you're muted Dana sorry that was for Dr buen I will have to double check um and get back to you to see uh I think that sounds wonderful I think Bieber works I've heard great things about it um and then if it turns into something um uh that would be a great partnership I think stavos and Andy and I would love to to learn more about how that could work okay perfect if you can't find it just reach out and I will resend you the information wonderful thank you you okay uh on to Sharon um I just wanted to say this is just so exciting it's I I just can't I can't even think of another word this is just awesome um and I want to thank you each of you um for your vision and for your work um and for your commitment to getting this program going um to creating this it's it's just awesome um I do have a question and my question is um so it looks like there are two Pathways programs the business pathway and the advanced manufacturing and within each of those there's multiple options of different paths I guess I'm not quite sure what the right word is but that kids can follow on there um I'm wondering is there opportunities for this to grow into more programs as as this gets up and running obviously um but in in the future is there um options to create more Pathways yeah I don't mind taking this one so uh currently the the state of Massachusetts offers five different Pathways so manufacturing is the the most uh common and most widely adopted in the out of all the designated schools so far um information pathway is another option that we really excited to grow into the future that encompasses computer science or our digital creativity offerings that we have Andy said this early earlier and he was totally right we have a lot of these offerings at the high school already uh just formalizing the the pathway and and making sure that we have all our ducks in the row is is um it it sounds easier than it really is it's a lot of hard work to make sure we we have it in line for the but uh we do have 80 to 90% of it done like Andy alluded to earlier uh besides information uh business and finance is obviously the other pathway that we have but environmental and Life Sciences healthc care and social assistance um and uh the state is actually doing a clean energy uh pilot this year that only a uh a select few high schools from around the state were able to apply for and there was only uh schools that are already had existing Pathways so um definitely room to grow and we're excited to do that in the future but um we did a pretty big study in the in the early fall where we surveyed um our eighth graders but also our current high school students and uh these are the two Pathways that um were overwhelmingly uh selected by our students in our data thank you for for that clarification I I know actually didn't realize that the choice of Pathways was um driven by student choice and I think that makes it all the more impactful can I follow up for a minute oh yeah sure I want to make sure that I I didn't mean to imply that um you should work more or work harder this is an enormous undertaking and um it's incredible I just am excited about it so I'm wondering you know as you get it up and running where's where can it where else can it go so I just want to make sure that you know that I'm not I wasn't thinking that you hadn't done enough I'm thinking this is really cool Sharon we're just excit as excited as you are honestly we if we could adopt all Pathways right now we would um and there there was some rationale behind the two um and that was something that our contact Jennifer Watkins actually said that it actually um it it's um a better lift for a school if if they move forward with two pathways in their initial um and then explore additional Pathways um in you know once you get your your kind of your groove with the Pathways in maybe the second year to then move into looking at other areas to expand but we're like we're energized and jazzed to do that anybody else have anything uh they'd like to ask I don't see any hands so I I did have to um two clarifying questions but before I say them I just want to offer congratulations to the whole team that put this together um you know this on behalf of the school committee we are so proud of the nishoba Regional School District for this work and what I'm most excited about is that this is something that's going to be starting next year and will impact students at the high school now and I know that that has been something that we've talked about as a school committee um you know what can we change now and and so I'm just so thrilled um my question is if if we could just get some clarification around who is eligible for this pathway next year um I think Dr Bon is gonna take this one she and I talked about this potential question absolutely um so Amy the um current eighth graders are eligible to express interest and that's partly what the presentations to the middle schools have been about they learned a little bit about it we mentioned it at our initial um our initial kind of presentations to the eth grade um I know starro had a display set up um at our future freshman night in January um but now that it's it's like it's real we we feel that we're able to do full court press right it does coincide with our e8th grade course science s and I know that there's a deadline there um however we have a whole month between when course deadlines are um course sign up deadline is April 1 we have a whole month to do any kind of adjustments or massaging of the of course signups based on the pathways that students express interest in um so there is plenty of time even though the deadline is April 1st there's plenty of time to get that uh recommendation in for our current eth graders our current nth graders as well are um it's sort of an open field for any of our current nth graders to express interest and that's happening through the course recommendation process at the high school level um with the same caveat that there is a a full month to do any kind of adjustments needed before we have to um really work on finalizing the schedule so our guidance department is poised to to do that and will be working really closely with us and then as stavos mentioned one of the things that we we are exploring is a sort of Ambassador status and uh and those would be our current 10th graders who have already taken some of the business courses that would be the technical courses um I don't think any of them stabs you can correct me if I'm wrong have delved into what would be the advanced cours work but they've got some good solid technical courses and they could be our Vanguard um and actually Jennifer guins are liaison over at Desi is supportive of that so we have some some students who are well on the way and and could be ambassadors and really um could in fact be our our first cohort of um students who achieve pathway designation um their senior year um because it will take us about a year or so to get the Capstone experience really flushed out and so it's just making sure that they're advancing in their coursework and they'll be they'll be our Vanguard and our ambassadors to help us um share the program and we know that students love to hear from students um more so than adults so um and I I can I wasn't at the middle schools but I know that our kiddos did a great job um I heard I heard as much hopefully that answered your question and then after that it's its class is kind of rolling up in each pathway can accept a certain number of students if we have more um applicants we have a loty process we're hoping to to to fill the pathways um quite honestly that that's our sincerest hope and excitement to do um Andy and scabos definitely jump in if I miss anything there I think you answered my question I just wanted to get some clarification around the eighth grade class and the timing of it because I'm an eighth grader and I know that my override forms or whatever are do in April 1 but I know the zoom meeting is April 2nd I just want to make wanted to make sure that that wasn't going to prevent you know anything but it sounds like it's not at all and it we'll we'll definitely make sure that we speak to that at the parent meeting on April 2nd and share um sort of the contact people you know the appropriate contact people to ensure um that the the course um the course requests and in specifically the interest in a particular pathway um rece you know is received by the appropriate people so that we make sure that that um any adjustments need to be made will make will be made okay other question I had is um I'm you know I'm not I'm not that famili with how this all works and the Capstone project sounds like it's a senior year thing so does that translate into credits that the students earn or is this some like a stamp on their transcript or both or how how does that work in terms of meeting the minimum credit requirement and course as a senior year stos and Andy I'll take that as well our C the Capstone would be a course it will be developing a course Capstone internship um it comes with um the guidance and supervision of a coordinator uh and so there is a seat time course work that's done with it the within the confines of of the Capstone and internship program we're still naturally working out the details um but a lot of schools um send their students off either last period of the day or if they're doing any off-site work um and then other schools use a model where um a student will use a port of their fourth fourth quarter um to go off and do some of of the in-person uh internship experiences um we have uh some schools as models who are doing sort of a hybrid Capstone internship that is more uh virtual in nature and and then um our industry Partners um they push into the high school so all of that is under development but it is credit bearing um so they will earn credits for that um and no no issue at all in terms of you know earning credits and and meeting all of our graduation requirements it is it's credit bearing and and part of um and will be incorporated within our full curriculum awesome all right thank you so much that was really um some really um information Rich presentations there but it was also important to hear and it's going to directly impact our students so thank you so much I think correct me if I'm wrong superintendent Downey but I think that wraps up your portion of the meeting with the update is that correct thank you for the opportunity for us to present I really appreciate it thank you to our Educators for coming this evening yes all right you guys are free to go get on with the rest of your night and we're gonna keep tracking along I think we are running a few minutes behind here so I'm going to see if we can get caught back up um so we have done we are now on it um item seven C of our new business because items A and B were the presentations that we just heard and that is the retiree School volunteers Association donation to Lawrence Sawyer school um Kirk are you able to yeah at this point I'll bring forward finance and operations director Ros Mo Karen okay thank you good evening everyone I'll be quick given um we have a a long agenda still ahead um so essentially you know without getting into every word here but there is a retire um School volunteers Association made up of rathon um retired engineers and my understanding is that group is um their organization's coming to an end so they've made donations to schools that they've worked with previously so they've made this donation the amount of $1,238 to the Florence Sawyer school um and we are seeking just approval for the Florence Sawyer school to accept that donation and put it towards extracurricular uh materials and supplies that may be needed in the future future for any STEM related uh extracurriculars that they have at their school thank you for that explanation um Joe do you have a motion that you'd like to make on this yeah thank you m Vice chairman um excuse me move to accept the donation from the Tyre School volunteers Association in the amount of $1,238 the donation will be used to support Florence soy School STEM related extracurricular activities I can second that motion is there any discussion all right this is a very nice thing for them to do so I will take the vote um Joe yes um Amy vessels yes shandor yes Mike yes Sharon okay I see a thumbs up we'll count that as a yes myself yes Jackie yes Scott yes did I forget anybody okay that motion passed unanimously thank you thank you everyone yep um moving on the next item is the first in some policies that we are going to be reading for the first time tonight um so with that I am going to hand this off to the policy chairperson Miss vessel Amy you are up okay um so the first one uh we're just going to go through each one and I'm going to take notes on um things that people have to say about it and you know we can have discussion if people have questions um there's a couple there's a few of them that we had questions on ourselves that we wanted to bring to the committee um so when we get to those um so I guess the first one that's listed there is EFC Madam chair may I just interject for a yes um Miss vessels please forgive me for the interruption um this is our first reading so for folks going through this this is our opportunity just to take a a general look at it we'll be coming back back to the committee with a second re uh reading where we will get to it in more detail uh recognizing that you're seeing these policies for the very first time so uh it's not necessary to dive deep into all the technical pieces of it tonight this is the cursory look second reading is where we'll get into more detail thanks thanks for clarifying that Kirk I kind of view it as we all have homework to do after take it home look at it come back with thoughts okay so I guess any questions about um I guess I should just leave it open to does anybody have a question about one of the policies I guess we'll just leave it at that would you be able to just give us some background on why these policies came to you were these things that the msba I mean so sorry not the msba gotta switch my brain from one thing to another um are these can you just explain why each one is up before us tonight maybe that might thank you um so they are things that U updates that they have made to the policies some of them are brand new but then others um have been renamed and like things that it may have seemed a little confusing because some of the stuff that had been in a previous policy has moved to a different policy because they felt like the language fit better there and but then they added to that as well so like some of them are brand new policies and it'll say that it'll say new policy but then some of them have been like language has been moved and it's been reorganized and then they've added some to it as well so that's kind of what you're seeing um in terms of the the two school lunch policies that was really um changed because of the like the universal the free meals right so all the new policies needed to um have that language in it and and um and be changed to reflect that um that change at the state level the tech policies um I think um one of the things that I would say that came up um let me pull it up here uh so sometimes we have um in the policies we've highlighted things in yellow um because people on the policy subcommittee felt that um they weren't sure like for example when the things say like in conjunction with the director of technology that was something that um I know shandor was talking about like do we need that in there like the MS masc said that but like do we do we have a director of techn like I don't know you know what I'm trying to say like we were looking on like exactly you know should we be including that word choice so we weren't sure about that so that's why it's highlighted in yellow and then also marked through um did you want to speak to that Kirk yeah just uh just in an effort to put each of the policies into the record tonight I'm happy to share my screen and just click on them and and you could speak to I think each one just briefly okay so let me share my [Music] screen okay so you should be looking at the universal free school lunch policy y so that's not we don't have anything specific to ask about that or talk about with the committee it's just like I said they changed this to um to reflect the the policy change for like everyone getting free lunches see Mr heresh has a hand uh Mike is it about this policy or it is yep just a quick question sure go ahead um I know that the um Universal free School meals um initiative is a relatively re recent feature from the state uh do we know if and when this will be sunsetting and if if the language had to be adapted in order to anticipate um the sunsetting of the policy uh it's our stand understanding uh M Mr heresh that this will continue to be included in the governor's budget year-over-year as we know with all things relative to budget uh they're subject to change depending on who's in office at which point if Universal uh free school Mills is no longer offered it would render this policy Moot got it thank you okay okay so now we're moving on to the next one which is efd again this is just changes to um you know their the language around charging families for meals because of that program so we don't have any questions for the committee about that that was a school nutrition program policy okay now we're moving on to the policy GBE which is the personal use of techn personnel use of technology and before we start that I see Mr Gleason's hand up did you have a question on the previous policy that was just up no I have a comment on this policy but um I'll let Miss vess will speak first okay thank you um yeah I like the yellow stuff is again stuff that we changed um we felt like it should be added in um it was different from it's a little bit different from the original so I guess we were um wanting some feedback on that um Joe why don't you go ahead uh thank Madam Vice chairman uh and I did hear what the superintendent said and I understand this is a first reading and we're not going to get into a Royal Rumble on the uh terminology used in these policies but uh I couldn't help but notice that in the second paragraph it indicates that digital resources are provided to support the work of the district occasional personal use is permitted whereas in the fourth paragraph it say staff should not use school school issued accounts including email for personal use so that kind of struck me as a bit contradictory when I first read it can you say that one more time Mr Gleason I'm just trying to keep up with my notes this is stuff that I do um it says and again this is and I I'm not tring to be a dead horse or or make a big deal this is just the of stuff that people in my profession look at and hammer away at the second paragraph indicates that digital resources what you get the umbrella term for everything that's being used in the district um are provided to support the work of the district uh with occasional personal use being permitted then in the fourth paragraph it says that staff should not use School related School issued accounts including email for personal use could I respond to provide some clarification yes so I I think like a laptop is different than email and there was a specific concern in the fourth paragraph uh that using a school email account is akin to using School letterhead and using a school laptop is not quite the same so if you need to print out something from your laptop that would be acceptable in the second paragraph but you shouldn't be using your school email account for on school purposes in the fourth so I would say they're not quite the same thing yeah not to complicate this but the thing that came up in some of our conversations too is that depending on what building you're in or whether or not you want to connect to District Wi-Fi using personal accounts would be the preference but that might be limited so in my mind this change in that fourth paragra allows for some flexibility uh sorry in the first in the second paragraph and the third in the fourth paragraph it really clarifies that concern about the email all right so Amy vessels are you noting that this is an area that yep maybe okay is there anything else on this policy before we move on to the next one I will just say Madam Vice chair that um I am taking uh attorney L's suggestion to hard here because this is where we're looking for some clarity as this is something that we need to clarify for faculty and staff in the school so um we'll definitely revisit on that that conversation for the point of clarity as I heard what people explained about the policy excellent thank you okay we are now on IG and D oops I'm clicking on the wrong computer I got two computers going here um the use of cell phones in the schools and wishing that there was um more clarity around cell phone use in schools in particular uh people are wanting cell phones to be not available in schools I have heard that in a couple of different places um and I'm wondering it if there is a policy somewhere in here or if that fits into this policy or if that's a subject for another time um I just wanted to put it out there um rck would you like to respond to that yeah thank you Miss P for bringing that up I've actually have had conversations about both sides of that coin um and that is an operational piece of the school system in terms of cell phone use in the schools and it is important topic I want to name that acknowledge that uh you bringing that forward it doesn't uh necessarily reflect in these policies that came to us through the recommended mask revisions uh but I will make a note of that to return to that topic thank you I actually had a similar question so does operational uh C does that translate into a protocol that would end up in a handbook is that what that means or or is that just something that it just means that it's that we don't have a policy in terms of student use with cell phon so it it falls to the operational uh decision-making of the the school district leaders in terms of when they can use can't use those sorts of things so um again we'll come back to that since it's not part of the conversation tonight okay is there anything else on this policy um just quickly I can't see everybody in one screen so I don't see any other hands up right now um Sharon is that okay with you if we put that on the background okay great thank you let's uh move on to policy bhe yeah the only change that we add did was we added the word shared documents because um I know like on in the communication subcommittee we've talked about this a lot in terms of like making sure people are clear about what violates open meeting law um and so that wasn't in the original document and we felt it really should be see bhe I'm losing my place on my list bhe I JN DC acceptable use of digital resources um yes so with this one um so shondor I don't know if you want to speak to this because you wanted to strike the children's online privacy protection act you want to talk about that oh it's not it's moving it to the uh it's own bullet point it was lumped in with the children's internet protection act and the way it read it made it sound like the child online privacy protection act was designed to protect minors from inappropriate matter and it's actually doing something else protecting their privacy so uh just in the interest of accuracy I made that edit to clarify that they're two different things serving different purposes just me being pedantic and then the other changes are ones we've already talked about with the director of Technology staff okay excellent another one let's see I believe I'm at ehaa District security relating to technology um yeah so this is a brand new policy um and uh I think Shandra I think you were asking what sensitive meant right you wanted clarification on that yeah I just don't like policies that refer to terms that aren't defined so that was our only um question with that okay and when it says a source is masc 2023 that means that they have a model policy that we are we looked at and we're adopting that language as a new policy for us is that correct okay yeah because this stuff came out in December 2023 got it I believe this language exactly matches the model policy for this yep okay all right thank you next is ehb data and records retention um all right hold on yeah so this is a new policy we didn't have anything um that we wanted to talk about I mean anything particular to talk about with this unless people had questions or comments this policy really speaks to putting on notice on what is data and Records okay I don't see any hands up so I think we can move on to the next one um ADCB District website and social media yeah this was one um that we had a question about BEC and the question that we had is involving um the school the school building Committee website that was created um because this says all such online platforms will be maintained by District staff and that's not maintained by District staff is that correct uh no it's not maintained by The District staff um I can ask for clarity that if an elected School Committee Member in this case uh maintaining that uh falls under that category that was our question um this is an important policy that's been brought to us uh from uh our communication specialist Bridget Hanigan as well as our technology manager sui uh around District in social media as you know uh the social media world can be uh u a hard thing to tame and so this is a policy to help that official Communications from the school district would have to be done by the school district on School District accounts um and a big part of that is uh Records Law requires that we maintain records on such things so we're investigating methodologies of which we would retain be able to to um keep records for seven years uh social media records for seven years on official District channels so uh policy KDC Community use of digital resources um yeah this is a new policy so it's just um the one the one thing that we have in yellow that we've talked about before no other discussion points um let's see that was that was KDC right yeah yep so IGN n DB to left here use of technology and instruction okay um yeah we didn't have any I don't see any notes on this one no nothing extra than what we show here and our last policy to show you tonight jcj student use of technology in schools um no I don't see anything although there was one I must have missed I don't see a comment coming up so I'll just ask it now there's a thing in a number of the policies that comes up um about um people signing that acceptable use form or whatever Y and we had questions about um does that also apply to school committee yeah the acceptable use is for all uh people that are administered a a district used computer so that I think that's something we need to tighten up yeah because I don't think we have done that that's what we were questioning about is like we didn't remember signing that so that that was something that we were wondering about I will take that to the team thank you Miss vessels yep and that was it uh shondor or Jackie or Dana did I forget anything okay all right it doesn't look like it so that was a lot I want to send you know my thanks to the policy subcommittee for doing all that work behind the scenes and getting this ready to bring to us tonight and um for new members of the school Comm the process is that we do two readings of um policies that come before the school committee before voting to accept to voting on policies and making any changes to them so this is the first reading um we will have a second reading of all of these at the next meeting I believe and and then after the second reading we could take a vote so if you do have comments that we didn't address tonight or if something comes up after tonight you can send your thoughts to Amy so she can compile them for the next Mee is that okay with you Amy great okay moving on um I think we are at the item F of new business which is the construction manager agreement Amendment and we will be taking a vote and I believe this is going to be um actually this is going to be new items of business FG and H they're all kind of related to um the noova Regional High School building project and with that I'm going to hand this over to Joe to kind of um make the first motion and then we can have discussion where you explain where this is coming from does that work yeah I think that's the thing to do let's do the motion first and then we can te it up this a lot to be said about what's before the committee so uh pre preliminarily I will move that the nishoba Regional School District committee or the nro Regional School District school committee approve and authorize the superintendent to execute the contract Amendment presented to the nooba Regional School District school committee namely Amendment one to the owner construction manager agreement by Between the nooba Regional School District and the construction manager kigle Construction Company Inc which amendment among other things increases by an amount not to exceed 4, 43,2 N5 the compensation for services rendered by the construction manager prior to the owner's acceptance of the guaranteed maximum price for the project I will second that and then I'm GNA hand this back over to Joe to kind of translate all those words into what's actually happening thank you very much uh Madam Vice chair and super director please uh correct me where I misspeak so uh the motion before you this evening is uh for authorization for the superintendent to sign essentially what is an amendment to our construction management agreement the amendment pertains to what's being called a preg GMP or a gross maximum pre gross maximum price Amendment to the contract specifically for the purposes of uh the installation of the geothermal system for the new high school um the uh this is what's called a a non-trade bid this is the um uh this is not essentially a trade bid that the the construction management company will be soliciting later in this project what they're doing is they're going out to bid or they've gone out to bid for these uh geothermal Services um in it at this time because there was some concern that if they didn't get out there early and get ahead of this they may not be able to get um a number of qualified biders for the project um if you are interested in the whole minutia of this particular issue I would direct you to the 1H hour 22 minute Mark of our last meeting on March 21st uh but essentially what this agreement what essentially our construction manager advised us is they received seven uh bids for uh ge geothermal Services an installation of the system at the high school uh these bids came from uh wide Ray of uh vendors and providers throughout the Northeast and one of them actually was from Europe they do have a base of operation in Massachusetts but a European uh company did bid on this project uh the low bidder according to spec is ches Peak geosystems they came in at approximately not approximately I give you the exact number it's 37 3,737 $335,900 that essentially adds in some of the contingencies and addins that the uh construction manager has added to the uh Amendment um and there's no there's no padding here all all of these um items you can see on the meeting materials it includes things like um uh what's it called SDI which is subcontrary default insurance and other costs and and uh expenses attended to the um installation including the construction manager's fee for this which is was a relatively modest $80,000 so I think that pretty much sums up uh what this motion is and I'll turn it back to you madam shair thank you and I'll just add that um the school building committee has like Joe said had already discussed this approved it and we're bringing it here just as kind of a formality um to authorize a vote that the school building committee already took um this so is there any other questions or guys ready to vote on this I'll just add one more uh comment Madam chair uh this there are three motions two of which were crafted by our legal council the third one I did myself so this one uh does come from our legal council Attorney Peter melow okay thank you for letting us know um I'm not seeing any hands up so I will take the vote here and I will start with I'm gonna go backwards and I'll just get to my list here uh Scott yes Dana yes uh Jackie yes Amy vessels yes Sharon yes Mike yes shandor yes uh Joe yes and myself yes so that's unanimously pass um the second motion has to do with granting authority to the building committee to approve all future project related contracts and amendments and I think this is really just so we can ensure that um business can happen so that the project can move along along the schedule that has been laid out and that we're not getting in the way of progress uh go ahead Mr Downey yeah I just wanted to just put a little color to this before the motion U and that is exactly right Miss K So operationally speaking now the school building committee is uh working as the under the school committee as a a subcommittee the school committee to keep the project moving along operationally so the are the invoices and the passing of these various things are critical to the operational timeline of when a activities are executed so uh in that way by authoring the school building committee we can be efficient uh we have outstanding members on our committee in including three members that sit on this board um and so uh it's imperative that that um we be able to function and operate smoothly as a building committee and are looking for uh this approval thank you Joe do you want to make the motion and then I can open it up to any discussion uh yes thank you madam Vice chairman I would move that the nishoba Regional School District excuse me nooba Regional School District school committee authoriz the nooba Regional High School building committee to approve unilaterally all future contracts and amendments attended to the nooba Regional High School construction project that is are and or may be the subject of the owner construction manager agreement between the nooba Regional School District and kigle Construction Company Inc uh I can second that is there any discussion the only thing I would say Madam chairman I know Mr Simon has a question but I just echoed the superintendent's uh representations this is really just about time being money so um this helps us move in a more efficient and expeditious way keep on schedule with the construction schedules and not have to go through the secondary um approval process of bringing for the district committee yeah thank you I'm gonna let shandor ask his question and then I'm GNA ask a clarifying question go ahead Shand thank you uh I don't have any issue with doing this from an expediency standpoint I just wanted to be clear that the school committee still has the fiduciary duty around all these contracts and payments um so how will we see what's happening should will we have to just look at this uh building committee's meeting materials to follow along or will these be shared with the school committee in some form do have any answer that Amy you muted sorry I'm so used to unmuting myself I've been unting the whole meeting but yeah Joe why don't you take that yeah no I understand the the issue here and um I think Mr Simon's concern is a valid one but uh I would say yes uh you would want to monitor what the building committee is doing but also as part of our meetings uh I and as well as a superintendent we bringing additional doc um information and uh approvals of the building committee to the um District committee for your oversight and uh you know commentary if that is what will make you feel more comfortable Mr Simon um yeah one do you mind if I add on to that Joe um at every school building committee meeting we are presented with an update on the the budget and that would be something that could easily be presented during these school committee meetings as part of the building committee update you know just um where we are with the budget but the other clarifying question that I wanted to ask Mr gleon just for the benefit of the community is that by approving this motion um there's no scenario where any of the Amendments or the contracts that the school building committee would approve could ever exceed the voted total project budget yeah I apologize Madam chair I made a note to make comment about that so yes um statut Al and contractually uh the building committee cannot exceed the um total approved uh project budget of 2 million 241 mil 741992 um and I don't think there's anybody on the building committee at least not myself who wants to try and exceed that amount because any if we have to exceed that that will require going back to the uh voters of our district and I don't relish going back a second time seeking additional funds so statutorily and contractually under the Project funding agreement with the msba we cannot uh we being the building committee cannot exceed the uh debt exclusion area amount that was approved in September that help is everybody ready to vote on this I don't see any other hands up so I will take the vote on this matter and I will start with scottt again yes okay uh Dana yes Jackie yes Amy vessels yes Sharon yes I see a thumbs up from Sharon uh Mike yes shandor yes um Joe yes myself yes so that motion passed unanimously thank you and now we just have one more related to this matter yes thank you madam thank you madam Vice chairman and this is the one that I crafted myself okay um the as I said the first two were council's preparation this one's mine uh I will move the district committee designate and appoint the superintendent as the district committee's authorized signatory to execute on behalf of the nooba Regional School uh shoba Regional School District school committee all future contracts and amendments attendant to the nooba Regional High School construction project that is are or may be the subject of the owner construction manager agreement between the nooba Regional School District and kigle Construction Company Inc and I will second that one too and just um as a point of clarification I want the school committee to be aware that the school building committee um has already kind of built some checks and balances into this um into this process so that you know there's a certain monetary value that requires a superintendent to bring it to the school building committee for approval and so we're just trying to streamline this whole process so we can ensure the cogs on the wheel keep spinning and this project can keep trucking along so um are there any questions on this and superintendent Downey did you need to add anything to this uh no I think think the motion speaks for itself okay Madam chair just I just say that just to um put a bow on that the just for the district committee members knowledge uh two things one is that the superintendent is um authorized up to $25,000 to approve change orders and or amendments to the construction manager agreement anything over and above $25,000 is um must come before approval for the building committee and lastly I want to apologize to the committee um The Madame Vice chair had requested that I change the wording a little bit on the Motions but I I always called our committee the district committee she wanted it the school committee so I apologize for stumbling over my own words but I'm blaming our vice chair Miss Cohen for that so sorry about that thanks Joe I'll I'll I'll tuck that one away um all right we ready to take a vote on this one um Joel start with you yes all right uh any vessels yes sandor yes Mike yes Sharon yes uh Jackie yes Dana yes Scott yes and myself yes all right thank you we have unanimously approved that motion as well that brings us to the next section of our meeting and I um will turn this over to Director of Finance and operations doc uh Mr mcaren for an update on our February operating report great thank you very much uh as Miss Masterson is pulling up the February operations report um I will remind the committee that the budget and warrant subcommittee uh continues to review monthly operational reports as a standing agenda item uh I want to point the committee's attention I don't see Alita sharing it so let me just pull mine up and then I can okay I have it open to if that's easier uh would you mind not at all let me see actually I don't oh there it is y okay yeah perfect thank you I want to point the committee's attention to our special education line which has been reviewed uh in detail at recent budget warrants subcommittee meetings um we're experiencing The increased costs um uh on and expenses on services and and transportation and the likee this year um therefore we're expecting that we'll expend our special education budget uh completely within the operating budget um any additional uh costs or overages would go directly to our circuit breaker account uh which is exactly what it is legislatively and statutorily intended for uh that way there's no other impact on the rest of the operating budget um within um deficits there so we'll continue to update the committee on this in the coming months as well as the operating points uh reports in general uh but as it stands today um our expected and projected end of thee balance uh at least at the end of February uh was just uh over $643,000 okay are there any questions on that presentation thank you very much M Karen update and we trust that the budget and warrant committee um has already reviewed this and so not seeing any questions on this I'm going to move us along to the next item of business which I think is back to Mr mcaren for some grants that he's going to bring to our attention and that we are going to vote to accept that's correct um I will do my very best to present the detail on this but I know our assistant superintendent lur friend is at the ready to jump in um we're seeking approval of the FC 161 evaluate and select high quality instruction materials Network support Grant uh which is through desie uh in the amount of $15,000 uh this goes into the work uh continues to go into the work uh that you saw presented at uh school committee meeting a couple months ago one of our our curriculum directors Laura Padington brought forward uh some members of the literacy uh committee as they are moving forward with looking at selecting a new literacy curriculum k to5 um so this continues to support that work in the selection of high quality instructional uh materials and the evaluation of different programs uh that we may continue for the district that were um uh the the curriculum adoption was is also discussed during the budget season uh I don't know if assistant Laura fr assistant superintendent Laura friend wants to add anything on on that no no thank you Mr mcaren but I'm happy to answer any questions but we're we we we're grateful for the $15,000 um that we received from this grant absolutely so uh Joe will you refresh my memory do we have a separate motion on both of these I do yeah y so let me move to accept the fiscal year 24 fc1 161 evaluate and select high quality instruction materials Network Grant Excuse Me Network support grant for expenditure as presented in accordance with school committee policy DD I will second that motion is there any discussion and questions um so I just wanted I'm not seeing any hands up but I will just ask for some clarification so this is going did I hear you say this is going to be offsetting the um $400,000 line item for no no what it does is it covers the work that those teachers doing outside of the school day also the pilot programs that they're using so it covers the work that we're doing now in the selection of the curriculum um so it's really critical important work and it's good to have a grant from from desie to cover this so we can really sort of go to all extents uh to make sure we select the best curriculum for our students excellent excellent all right any other oh I see Dana's here that just a quick question uh when will we get another update about the status of that curriculum the new literacy curriculum I would put that to assistant superintendent friend thank you Miss Ellis are we are currently field testing the curriculum right now we just started field testing the second curriculum we should have a decision made um by May 8th so um if uh the school committee chair and superintendent Downing uh uh have F time on the school committee schedule we'd be you know very pleased to provide an update after May Madam Vice chair if I may yes we're targeting uh the second May meeting for an update on that great thank you we all look forward to that I'm not seeing any other hands raised so I am going to call the vote to accept the motion on the table um Joe yes Amy bessels yes Johor yes mik yes Daren yes I heard you this time excellent uh Jackie yes Dina yes Scott yes and myself yes so that passed unanimously and we'll move on to the next Grant I assume back to you Russ that's correct thank you um so members of the commity are probably not aware um that there is a new IEP um being released and implement and adopted in the state of Massachusetts uh next year so uh the state was generous in putting out grant opportunities for districts to utilize some funding to ensure that we have all of our staff trained on this new IEP format so the total uh Grant amount in $26,670 which support the implementation of this for staff to either become train the trainers um so that they can help and support our staff or for staff to get trained directly on this as well as work with Consultants that may be necessary uh during the implementation phase um in our district uh with between um our special education teachers and special education staff including preschool um we have over 70 Educators so there's a lot of training that needs to happen and this grant helps support that so they don't have to get pulled from their classrooms or pulled from services for students during the school day awesome so appreciative of all the the grants that are that you've found for for us to take advantage of so Joe are you prepared to make a motion I am Madam chair Madam Vice chair excuse me I move to accept the fiscal year 24 uh FC 274 new individualized education plan implementation grant for expenditure as presented in accordance with school committee policy DD I will second that is there any discussion questions seeing none I will call the vote um we'll start with Scott this time yes Dana yes Jackie yes Amy vessels yes Sharon yes okay uh Mike yes dandor yes uh Joe yes myself yes that's another motion that has unanimously passed thanks guys we gonna keep plugging along here thank you very much you're welcome um okay we are now on to item 10 of our agenda unfinished business and this will be another vote um on accepting the student opportun act presentation that was given last meeting um and I think what we'll do here is we'll have Joe read the motion and then we can open it up to discussion thank you madam Vice chairman I move to approve the student Opportunity Act as presented at the March 13 2024 school committee meeting okay so I will second that and just remind folks that this presentation was in the meeting materials from the previous meeting um we got a very um Rich presentation by um assistant superintendent friend and her team and tonight we are voting to accept it as required by desie is that a fair summary okay any discussion questions see seeing none so I will take the vote on this um Joe yes he shandor yes Mike yes Sharon yes all right sounds getting better there Amy vessels yes Jackie yes Dana yes Scott yes am my s yes all right I'm sure that is a weight off the shoulders of the administration to have that done um okay so let's that means we are to our subcommittee advisory reports and um I'm going to start with Mr horish for the budget warrant report Mike what do you got for us thank you um budget and warrant met on March 24th um and it was a relatively brief meeting we did have the uh February operations report and we also had some colorful conversations about the student Opportunity Act and its impact on both the budget and uh State funding okay um anything else nope that's it next meeting April thank you we will move on to communication Sharon communication has no report okay I know you guys have been hard at work at the um the manual and that's coming up in a future meeting or twoo so we'll get to that then uh Joe scho School building committee is report is next do we need any additional report from you oh yes I do Madam Vice chairman thank you um the uh Nelle virginal High School building committee did meet on uh Thursday March 21st we had uh a very spirited meeting and uh the um two primary topics that were discussed were one as the um Amendment to the construction manager relative to geo geo uh thermal Services I will not go further into that save to say I don't if I mentioned it before it's ches Peak GEOS systems out of Baltimore that uh was the low bidder Co spec uh for the um amount that I had previously articulated the other but probably more important issue was that uh we had a very extensive presentation on the uh both bathroom the gender neutral nonbinary bath design a designs and uh the uh non-gender Slash non-binary uh locker room designs I am happy to report that uh and I gave the the public and anyone who was interested ample opportunity to come and be heard um there was no objections there was no commentary there was no public comment in fact nobody showed up at all to hear our presentation on the bathrooms which leads me to believe that people don't have an issue with it uh we did have one question that came from a constituent in Lancaster and that was it if you're interested in the details attendant to the um uh bathroom designs I again would encourage you to watch the the video of the meeting of the 21st our next meeting is scheduled for April 18th and in the meantime uh we will be meeting with the msba on April 10th I believe in regards to uh the design development so that's it Madam chair okay thank you very much um we will move on to Personnel is there a report from Sharon Personnel also has no report okay um policy uh we heard from you tonight I'm not sure you need to report on anything else but if you do this is your chance uh just gonna say that we're meeting on April 22nd and we're going to speak about the parent communication policy um and continue to make updates to other policies okay great you have a lot on your plate right now we appreciate all the work you've been doing with your committee Miss Cohen yes yes and if you don't mind me adding we will be bringing that to a May agenda to this committee for first reading great I look forward to that I think that's important policy I'm looking forward to seeing what's being done um okay that completes our subcomittee reports now we're on to our advisory committee reports um audit advisory Dana do you have anything to report to us um just a quick update we're hoping to meet next week I think all the rfps were dueing April 1st so we want to see what we have and we'll review it at that point okay keep us posted thanks um dear J uh Dr reinert do you have a report uh my report is that unfortunately dear J met and I was unavailable to participate so once those meeting minutes are approved and I can review them I will summarize those with this group okay all right thank you we'll just have to wait till that update and uh the last item is the CPAC report but Karen is not here tonight so we'll have to wait for that update as well um that brings us to items for the next agenda is there anything on anybody's mind that they'd like me to pass along to the chairperson for consideration the next meeting um I do have the planning calendar open on my end and it looks like we meet next on April 10th it's an inperson meeting and we will be getting the school choice presentation from the superintendent at that time um and we'll be doing second readings of the policies that came before us um and I guess we'll be getting an update on the Innovation Pathways as well so anything else that I've missed go ahead yeah the presentation school choice will be the first April meeting and the school choice hearing will be the second April meeting and so work with uh Miss Masterson to make sure proper postings are put out there following all the laws and regulations of Massachusetts okay very good um anything else on anybody's mind about next meeting all right with that I think we've come to the end of our time here tonight so I am going to make a motion to adjourn second I think Dana got that all in favor um do I have to do a roll call for this okay Joe yes uh Amy vessels yes shandor yes Sharon yes Scott yes Mike yes Jackie yes Dana yes and me yes all right bye guys and I stuck to Leah's time wo