ado. I know that we will eventually have other members joining us as we go. Um, but we do have a quorum, so we're going to proceed. So, I'm going to call to order the regular meeting of the Nishoba Regional School Committee at 6:34 p.m. And if you would join me with
and say pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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.
[Music] All right, everybody. So, I just wanted to let everyone know that our superintendent is going to be joining us shortly, but he is in DC um working with um federal legislators in um forwarding
the goals of Massachusetts public schooling. And so, in hisstead is our assistant superintendent, Laura Friend, a very worthy person. Um so, thank you, Laura, for uh spearheading the meeting. All right, everybody. So, first item is public
comment and I'm not seeing any public present. So, we're going to keep going and move to the consent agenda and I'll turn to Amy for a motion. I move to approve the consent agenda May 14th, 2025.
I'll second that. And is there any discussion? All right. So, because we're not with Kirk yet, Alita, do you still want to do a roll call? We don't need to. So, all those in favor, please raise your hand. Consent agenda. All right, that's everybody.
Thank you guys. When Kirk does finally get on, we thought it's prudent to do roll call votes. Yeah. Okay. Um, all right. So, school committee chairperson update is next. Um, I just wanted to give a quick reminder to all the subcommittee chairs,
some of whom are not here, but um, if you are a subcommittee chair, can you please make sure that you get your minutes to Alita from all of the meetings um, this past year so that those can get posted um, talking about the ones that you've approved um, and try to wrap up the year by approving the
final ones. Um, now I would like to take a quick moment to thank a member of our committee who this is going to be her final inperson meeting and that is Amy Vessels from
Folton. Thank you Amy for your service. We are uh ever appreciative of citizen volunteers and this is a small gift to you from all of us for all of your service. Thank you. You're the best. So for those of you who know Amy
and I uh work together, she is my work sister and we started on the very first day together many moons ago. And when she saw the opening on this school committee, I could not help but convince you. And I was so happy that you said yes. When she said yes, I was shocked. I
was like, "Oh my god, she said yes." And then she ran and and won her seat. So, she's stepping back now. But Amy, we really appreciate you doing this. It's been a great experience. I've learned a lot. Enjoyed it. So, I know Amy will stay active.
She's obviously a Bolton resident and her kids are still in school. So, thanks Amy. Um, we do have a a gift for Ava, but we'll wait on that. She's on her way. Okay. Um, so, uh, if there's no objection, I'm going to, um, ask everybody to allow me to move the
student representative report perhaps to after the superintendent. Okay. Uh so um I'm going to turn it over to assistant superintendent friend to give us that report. Thank you madam chair.
Uh so the first announcement this evening I'm going to ask sorry. Hi Eva. Hi. We're so glad that you made it. I know. I'm sorry. No don't worry. We are all running really late cuz there's crazy
traffic in our beautiful little town. Um so thanks for coming. You are actually at a perfect spot um to give your your class student representative report. Oh perfect. So you feel like you have caught your breath and
okay so starting off with AP testing. Um all the AP tests this year were computer-based and the testing has gone smoothly and will be finished by this Friday. Um, also all the English classes have been visiting the topping off beam to sign it. I'm really excited. I'm
going to sign it tomorrow. And then for senior week, we have sunset and movie night on May 20th and field day on our last day, the 23rd. And the baseball game versus Clinton was held at Polar Park on Monday. It went really well. Um, I didn't get to go, but I heard it was
really fun. So, actually, Superintendent Downing threw out the first ceremonial pitch. Yeah, the relay the relay for life is taking place on May 17th. And since May is mental health awareness month, all the spring sports are hosting their
mental health awareness games next week. And then teams are also starting to celebrate their senior nights as like the spring season comes to an end. Um for student awards and recognitions, the French art and seal of biiteracy awards in are included in the newsletter and
some art award highlights. Sig Sydney and AJ Tuck won some art awards. Sydney won a silver key for an oil painting inspired by homelessness in America. And AJ Tuck won a gold key for experimental
short film about memory loss. A silver key for short film Street Drummer exploring love and lust and another silver key for a photo called sacred p spine excuse me depicting medieval church and architecture. That was a
lot. So yeah. All right. Any questions for the student representatives report? Um all right. So I'm going to hit pause there. and Ava. Um, we want to take a minute to thank you because I think this is going to be your last inerson meeting. Yeah. With the school
committee. Uh, your time here has been invaluable and we have watched you grow as a leader and it's impressive. Thank you. Um, can you remind the committee where you're off to next year? I'm playing lacrosse at Nicholls next year or this year, I guess.
Well, congratulations, Eva. We have a small gift that is a token of our appreciation that we wanted to give to you and thank you so much for everything that you've done for school. [Applause]
Um, any any um words of wisdom for future generations or anybody watching? What is your role on the school to you? Um, I think I would just say like, well, for me getting into student government was probably the best things I ever did.
Like I always say if I told myself the beginning of high school that I would be doing this, probably laugh cuz like I was never interested in this. But honestly, like getting into school council, getting into school committee has really opened a lot of opportunities for me to make connections with
important people and really gain a lot of knowledge and especially become that bridge for students to like hire admin. So, I think that a lot of like everyone should get into it. It's awesome. I'm really excited for Ryan next year, too. Yeah. So, I was going to say you set an
enormously outgoing um precedent for all the people who are going to come after you and I think Ryan has watched you and he has really started to learn and grow as well and and I know that he'll mentor the next person after that and I think we have really something pretty great going
here. So, we thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah. So, as always, you're free to stay, but I know you're a busy I'll say a little bit person. So, this is my last one. Okay. Open your gift. Oh, okay. Should I open my cards first? No, you
can. Oh, thank you. This is so cute. Oh, I love it. [Applause] Do you want to go in the middle? Ready? Where's fine? Oh, no. You want to
go in the middle, Laura? Go in the middle. I'm following you. Okay. [Laughter] Perfect. Thank you. [Applause] We can all give props to Alita for her
thoughtfulness and her gift picking. So, thank you Alita for leading our charge as always. We appreciate you, too. Um, all right, guys. So, back on track here. We're going to be going toward the superintendence report and Lauren's going to take two. Yes, take two. Um,
the first announcement is relative to our NEAS update uh and our New England Association of Schools and uh Colleges update. It's the top of the announcement. So, I'm going to ask Dr. Boon to come to the table and just give an update about process where we are
what's happened and what's next. Actually thought this was going to be after. So that's that works. Thank you everyone for the opportunity to be here this evening. We have a number of high school topics to
uh to share with you. So the first is is NEASK and my high school folks are familiar with NEASK but for those of you here in the room and and those at home um NEAS stands for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. It's the accrediting body for public
schools in New England as well as private and international schools. There's three commissions, one of which is the Commission on Public Schools. That's the commission we work with. And um and they walk us through a cycle for accreditation. um and the accreditation
process. Uh it's pretty comprehensive. It is um somewhat of a peer review which is really cool. Um multi-dimensional um it's very supportive. Um, those of you who have been around for a while know that NIASK went through um a reorganization and a change and um and
adjusted their standards uh several times over in 2020 2020 um to start and they've gone through a new iteration and they have changed the process of accreditation to be much more reflective and supportive and growth mindset. Um so that was a very nice and
welcome change um from the um from NASA and and that organization. Um so we've completed a number of steps. So our last accreditation was um in 2017 um and they went through some um some shifts over COVID which um reshuffled some people's
timelines. So in the spring of 2024, we were identified as a spring of 27 school for the dennial visit. Um and the dennial visit determines continued accreditation. Um also last spring um our collaborative conference visit was
scheduled for this year April 30th and May 1st. So that has been completed. Um and then our steering committee was identified and that steering committee was myself, assistant principal Janine Boule and um department head uh world language department head Maria Davis um
were the steering committee and then the self-reflection committee was identified and that was the our leadership team. And so it's a much more streamlined process. In the old process, every staff member had to be on a committee and it was meetings and meetings and meetings. It's much more streamlined with still an
opportunity for our our staff to provide feedback and learn about the process. In um in August at the very beginning of school, we had our kickoff meeting and school visit. Our liaison and director Allison Giri who I've worked with for many years actually. I've known her for
a while. She came and did a school visit and spoke with the faculty and then the faculty um and staff unpacked the new rubrics um uh on that first day. Uh and then and that really kicked off our self uh reflection process. And the
self-reflection pro process can take anywhere from 3 to six months. Ours took about fourish months um from August to to February. And in that process, you review the standards. You um self assess areas of strength and areas for growth.
collect all kinds of evidence um from student work to teacher uh lessons uh to documentation uh you name it. Um the evidence collection was pretty um pretty robust and thorough. Um and then uh as part of the process as well student
staff and community surveys were administered. Um and then beginning really in December um and we spent our lead part of our leadership meetings uh were dedicated to NIA and I attest to folks here at the table that we spent a lot of a lot of time um and and care in
this um we started to draft our self-reflect self-reflection reports and um it the components of the self-reflection report are here this the school and community summary there's a look back um section that takes a look um five to three to 5 years um and what
the school's been working on um the foundational elements in NEAS uh which are those almost priority standards um by which if you don't meet the the um foundational elements you do run the risk of being put on warning um and for
accreditation. So those are like the the heavy standards. Um and then the five um learning standards, we identified priority areas for ourselves and we also rated ourselves in the foundation elements and the priority areas. Um staff throughout gave input and feedback
um and then ended up on a with a staff vote to approve um the report and the ratings. That happened in February March time frame of 2025. Um we started preparations for the visit. the chair was identified, the visiting team was identified and then
final revisions to the self-reflection report which was uploaded two weeks before the visit. Um and then we had our visit which was lovely. It was two days May 1st uh April 30th and May 1st um upcoming so um the commission on public
schools and the director will receive um the collaborative conference report and then sometime late summer early fall to be determined they end up voting to approve the work of um our self-reflection but also the visiting team which writes a report um the
collaborative conference report um once they vote um I get a copy of that. Um, and that's summer fall time frame and then it becomes public. So, the report gets posted and shared with the Nohova community. I'm happy to come back and do a presentation if you would like. That
would be lovely to be able to do that. Um, and then um from that point on, we we um create a a school growth and improvement plan that's based on the collaborative conference. We share that with you all as well. Um, and then really from this summer into the spring
of 2027, our work as a high school is to um to to continue work and improve on those identified priority areas and then deepening the alignment to the standards and foundational elements. And then we get to prepare for the dennial visit. Starting in the fall, there is a school
summary report that gets submitted in preparation for the dennial. And in the spring, dates to be determined, we host our dennial visit. The hope is that the dennial visit um visiting team includes some members that came in the collaborative conference here. It's really cool for them to be able to see
growth. Um so hopefully there's consistency there. That visit is 3 days uh and so it's a it's more intensive, more on the ground, there's more um more stakeholders that they that they um look at and is really um centered around those priority areas um is what happens
with the dennial visit. So after the dennial visit um we revise uh we get the report sometime summer fall of 27 and then we revise our school improvement plan growth plan and then um there are there's a one year a
three-year and a six-year update that's prepared and uploaded to the NEAS portal and then the process begins all over again. So it's pretty thorough. Yeah. Um, I I personally value the um I value the process having been on a few
visiting teams myself. It's really one of the best professional development opportunities you can engage in as an educator. It's really wonderful. Pause here and let that Yeah. Yeah. This
is just a timing question. So this collaborative conference was that this year? Yep. Okay. So was there like a year where nothing happened between April 2024 and and this last year or So we were identified in last year as a um
as a spring 2027 school. And once you're identified as a spring 2027 school that or whatever it could have been fall 27, right? So they they put you in a spring or a fall bucket. Once you're identified in which which cycle, then that kicks off a whole bunch of things. So we had
to identify our steering committee. We had to identify who was our self-reflection committee. The steering committee did some training um with NEAS actually to learn about the new pro the new process um that has been updated even since 2020. And then starting in the beginning of this school year was
our self-reflection process. Okay. If that makes sense. Yeah. I'm just looking at the timeline and it it jumped from April 2024 to 25. And so I just did I make a was that a I think no
I think it's just me um making a my interpretation. Yeah. So our our self-reflect our self-reflection process took about four a little over four months and then and then there was a little bit more as we were um writing the report and refining the report. Um
we were getting feedback as a leadership team and then with with our um our teachers within departments. Um, so I think it's just a small typo. Yeah, I think it says April 2024. So now I'm putting it together, it should say April 2025 and then it makes perfect sense.
Gotcha. Can you scroll down on that a little bit to the timeline? The list of dates. Is that in the No, it's on the the length of click. It doesn't matter. Yeah, but the final self-reflection report uploaded to the ask portal should say April 2025. Yes, it should. That's all.
Perfect. Confusion. Thank you. Thank you. needed. Okay, cool. Yeah, it was submitted um the requirement is 2 weeks before the the visit takes place. It was submitted a little bit before then. Any other questions about the NEAS
update? I think I can hear kindergarteners outside which is awesome. I don't think so. Their chatter is adorable. Um but they're having their visit and I think we have a member in the gallery whose child might be out there. Yay. Um, so I have a quick
question for you guys. Maybe it's a two-part question. The first one is really cool. It seems like the visiting committee is actually going to be in the new school. Well, we we open the new school in the fall of 27. So, so when do they arrive? Spring of 27.
Okay. So, they'll get to be the last vestage. I'm hoping that part of their visit we can take them on a tour. Yeah. Yeah. because I think it'll be in a stage of a completion where we we could do that. Yeah, that would be a neat part of the visit. And I think that for the
community too that that was such a big part of the conversation that the old building was really not going to be up to their standard or we feared that it would not be um despite our best efforts. And so the fact that when they visit they will see the brand new building right behind us kind of uh
upholding our end of the bargain, that'll be really cool. Um, the last thing I wanted to ask you guys, and I think that this is why this got onto the planning calendar to begin with, is we were perhaps wondering what role the school committee needs to play in the dennial visit or if just members of the
community are going to be called upon. You said they'll pull more stakeholders in. What does that look like, Keith? Yeah, so I think um because it's over three days, there are more opportunities. Um, and really their visit um this year was was one was one full day and then the second day was a
work day. um with a denial visit and I conduct I was on a visiting team for a dennial last for a school's dennials v visit last year and it's really two and a half days of you're on the ground working with folks so there is an
opportunity to pull together in the dennial visit um representatives from the school committee um and I know that that's a common thing that that um that visiting teams request okay so more to come on that more to come on that absolutely because we have a couple yours. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Go
ahead. Um, so this is accreditation just for the high school, right? Yes. My understanding is NEAS is also now doing district accreditations. Um, is that something we've looked into? I understand that too. I think it's
relatively new. We can explore that if we want to. Yeah. I mean they've expanded to elementary to middle to independent schools, CTE schools and and now international schools. So they're um that they're quite a broad broad
organization. Interesting. I know that our um the other the only other program in our district that go underos accreditation is kindergarten, isn't it? Yeah. A uh any other questions on the ask? All right, let's keep rolling with our superintendent report. Thank you to
Kate. Thank you. I know you'll be back. What else do we have? Um, okay. So, we have an update from um Mr. Malcaren. Next, um FY26CA update.
Thank you, Mr. Karen. Absolutely. Um so, last week the Senate Ways and Means Committee released its version of the FY26 state budget. Uh so just as a reminder, it starts with the governor's proposal, goes to the House Ways and Means, and now the most recent releases
from the Senate Ways and Means. Um we did see a slight decrease in our overall state aid um projections. Um this is down from the House Ways and Means, but it's not down from the governor's proposal, which we use for budget planning purposes. We're still up from
the the the governor's proposal. Um, you know, as you know, for next steps, this goes through conference committee and it's not finally released until this summer. So, we'll continue to update the school committee on this. Um, there are good news regarding the FY25 supplemental budget. Um, still seeing
some signals that we're going to get some additional funding based on FY25 circuit breaker for exist for example. Um, and that will come forward on the supplemental budget after the end of this year. Um, however, we can continue to use circuit breaker in future years.
So, this is good news if it continues to go forward. Um, both the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendent and the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools continue to be our main source of sort of translation and update of all these updates that are coming from and all these sort of legislative
moves that are coming from um the state level. um they are all also signaling that the level of legislative sort of advocacy this spring as well as a partnership with our legislators is really uh pushing this trend of some increased funding not just
supplementally but also for FY26 and there's still a need to look at funding structures such as chapter 70 longterm um and those things are on the table uh moving forward and we'll continue to update the school committee on that information as well. Any questions on that item?
All right. Thanks, Ross. Madame Chair, I have a suggestion um for consideration. Uh the next section of the announcements is there's quite a bit. Uh Superintendent Downing has joined us, which is great. I'm just wondering, we have teachers who have
joined us this evening and we have a a a couple curriculum updates. Um, with your permission, I'd like to recommend that maybe we shift Superintendent Downing's updates to allow our teachers to present. So, um, yeah. So, bringing um bringing the new business item, which is
the curriculum update, the the curriculum updates, the money um innovation pathways, our six or eight math curriculum selection update, which will be quick. Um, and then we have an update around 9 to 12 math and science. All right. Are there any objections with
rearranging a little bit so that um our friends in the gallery don't need to stay all night like us? We get it. No objections. Okay. So, why don't you take the lead on driving us through the agenda here? So, I am going to ask Miss Hanigan to to come on
up and provide us with an exciting update um about our third innovation pathway designation. So again, it's donning the appropriate garb there marketing. Um, and thank you. Thank you. I'm really excited for the opportunity.
Um, especially because I'm here tonight to officially and finally announce our designation of an information technology pathway. Y I think I promised this in April, but we got it in miday. Um so this information designation marks our third
pathway and will expand our career connected learning um into high demand fields like digital creation, computer data science and future media production. Um the application window for students who are interested in applying for this pathway next fall. So they would start in the fall
2025 school year. Um it will open this Friday, May 16th, and it will close J Friday, June 6th. Um and the goal is hopefully to get answers to students who have applied before the end of the school year. Uh we'll be communicating this now that it's been announced here
through um the common this Friday as well as through emails to our incoming uh freshmen. Uh additionally, we'll put this on our information pathways or innovation pathways website where we'll be uploading all of the courses that have been approved to be a part of this pathway so that interested students can really get a good understanding of what
these offerings are and how they might fit into their own high school experience. Um, while I'm here and it's so exciting to be the one presenting this news, I do just want to take the time to acknowledge that it reflects a huge team effort. It was participation and support from our district level
administrators, from our high school administrators, our guidance team, our high school teachers, our pathways team, and a lot of cross department collaboration to put together an application that was successful. Um, and I think we really focused on building something out of the existing strong coursework that exists at the high
school level while keeping in mind the lens that we're moving into a new building with brand new technology in the next two years. So, keeping um just acknowledging that we're going to have to continue to work so that we're advancing our programming as we advance into the new building. And I was here last week giving an update um and an
overview. So, this information pathway will work similarly to our first two pathways that we launched this year. So, I won't reiterate all of that, but I'm happy to field any questions you might have specifically about this pathway. I'm going to kick it off by saying thank you so much. This is amazing to the
entire team. Frankly, I've talked to two separate parents who have told me that their child is excited about the pathway programming combined with the brand new building and it's able and they're staying at Shoba High School because of
those two things specifically. Um, in addition to all the other amazing things that have always been there, these two things, those two parents in particular, and I'm sure there are others, I think the Pathways program really highlights the great work that's happening and it's putting it in front of families again and it just organizes. I think it's an
organizing principle, too, that says these things were always here. That's right. We're putting some It's just more purposeful doing organize it. It's a pathway. So, pretty awesome. There will also be, if I may, Miss Hanigan, a grant
opportunity that's associated with the designation. Y um and we should be getting more information about that um over the coming weeks. So, we'll start that process as soon as we can. Any questions on the new pathway, our third pathway.
Awesome. All right. Thanks. Appreciate it. Where shall we go next? All right. Pretend is not going to want me in this seat anymore. Um the next is uh a brief update. I'm going to ask um Miss McBry to come to
the table. We had provided an update in April about where we were with our 628 mathematics curriculum review process and we've made a selection and we're super excited to share that with the committee and it it
it dubtales well with our 9 through 12 math and science update um because we're working in alignment there. So, Miss Brady, can you provide an update about our 6 through8 math curriculum? Yes, happy to do so. Thank you for having me. 6 through8 and nine. A little bit of
Yes, a little bit of time. Um, so in accordance with strategic objective number two, initiative one, the 6 through8 math curriculum review has finished phase two. And after evaluating the data from each program, I'm excited to report that the committee concluded
that Imagine Learning Illustrative Mathematics uh most effectively aligns with our district priorities and student needs. There was actually 100% consensus at our meeting which was fantastic. Um and makes you know the implementation
process a little easier as we look to next year. Um so we've shifted into the implement phase and planning for that and we have a professional development plan um made and it actually starts this Friday where the uh 6 through 8 and 9
um uh math teachers and special educators will come together for a launch from Imagine Learning um and they'll get like a real overview of the structure and just a little bit more details on the platform and things like that followed by um a more in-house
approach to unit unpacking in June. So, we're really excited. The teachers are excited. Um so, I look forward to updating you all next year on the implementation and how that's going as well. Fantastic. Any questions on the 6
through 8 plus 9 uh curriculum update? I just want to give a very quick um clarification here. If you look at the materials and you see that hyperlink here, it's I think the broken it's a broken link. Um, but Alita's also
included your presentation in the materials, so you guys can just access access it directly there. That's awesome. Thank you so much. Appreciate all that work. Actually, I thought maybe I was staying, but then
real nice. Just making sure everyone's paying attention. Um, so thank you to department head of educator who is our department head for science at the high school and Mr. Melbourne who is our department head for
mathematics at the high school and thank you for curriculum director Miss McCertie who works with both math and science and um they're going to provide an update tonight about our ongoing process as it relates to the curriculum
review process for 9 through 12 mathematics and science respectively which um has been um a complex process because there are a lot pieces to it. But I I would just like to give um a shout out to all three
of our educators here who have been working in tandem and collaboration and working really hard to um collaborate with teaching and learning uh to work to strengthen alignment
um with our middle school and then also working with their departments to really elevate the great work that's already happening. uh to continue to deepen the work as we move forward. So, thank you to all three of you for all of the work that you've done. It's noted and
appreciated. I I know I try and tell you all of the time and I'm saying it publicly tonight. Thank you very much. So, we have a short presentation. The work is not finished. It is ongoing. Uh and um but we're we're pleased to share an update
as of May 2025 about where we're at and where we're headed. So, I'm going to turn it over to Alita to to switch slides. I think I have the next slide. This is just a reminder to our community and to the committee of our curriculum
review process, which really guides all of our curricular recruit review processes in the district K to 12. It's a fivephase process. We've brought this forward to the committee before. It has been the driver for all of our curriculum review processes and it has
worked to drive our math and our science processes um for the high school as well. So this just serves as a reminder. Next slide. All right. 9 through 12 math next. Um so starting here is our prior
work. So completed four this year. Um we revised and documented three units in each of the levels of math um from algebra 1 through pre-calculus. And we completed our book study on building thinking classrooms by Peter Lilidal which culminated in um Heidi Beagle and
myself attending a virtual um professional development that was live with him which if you are familiar with Peter Lily he's worldrenown um so we had people literally from all over the world on this. Um he was in Denmark while he was giving that presentation so it was interesting. It was the middle of the
night for him. Um for this year, we started off by um reading through the elementary and middle school um vision statements to create a cohesive vision statement that aligned with theirs and extended through to the high school. Um collected and analyzed feedback. Um we
were collaborative with uh Miss Mcryy and the eighth grade teachers in um evaluating the the algebra 1 curriculum. um we are implementing along with them as you heard the algebra 1 imagine learning um curriculum next year um and then the other big move which we've
talked about already so far this year um adjusting the course sequencing to ensure that all students um take uh geometry before going to algebra 2 um from here our next step uh will be to look at the imagined learning um materials for algebra 2 and geometry
they exist and we're looking to um vertically align the curriculum as well um and our Next book study will be on productive struggle in math. Um connected with this over the summer I'll be taking a course in asking effective questions and it's really on this this bigger idea as we've talked about
through kaleidoscope and through nas about um students doing the thinking in math. So all right um so first I just want to say thank you to Mr. Melbourne as his first year department head. It's been fantastic to work with you and to see the collaboration between the stems. Um,
so that's been awesome to work with both of you. Uh, I want to take a moment just to remind the committee of the work that took place last year when the science department entered phase one of the curriculum review. So in phase one, the department um engaged in a deep dive
analysis to see how current instructional practices, the curricula and materials support student uh learning. and then to also envision that 9 through12 ideal science experience. So the members of the department thoughtfully developed that 9 through2
instructional vision and together we analyzed data and sought feedback from our students and families. From the feedback, next steps were developed, including providing more clarity in the course booklet as well as when meeting with students regarding the course
descriptions um and seeking out innovative and engaging ways to enhance instruction. Members of the department participated in Kaleidoscope's deeper learning work, which included observing other classrooms and revising lessons. It was determined from the feedback and
the deeper learning work that taking a close look at the crosscutting concepts and science and engineering practices in conjunction with the disciplinary core ideas was essential and kind of led the work for this year which I'll turn over to department head Mrs. Pier to talk
about our work this year. Thank you. I just want to give a quick shout out first. Um as you don't know I've been here forever. been here 25 years that I've been this my 12th year as department head and I want to give a shout out to uh Kate in teaching and learning. This is the most
time that I that my department's ever been given to work on curriculum. And when I I don't know if you remember I was here last year probably about the same time and we were kind of just getting our feet wet. What were we going to do? now that we're here and I'm going to
talk about the accomplishments of this year like we are running with it and I couldn't feel happier about this. Um so I just want to give a shout out that that time was so important um and so valuable. Um that being said, let me
talk about um accomplishments this year. So we decided to sort of divide um the professional development into biochem and physics physical science so that these groups could work closely together. So
biology I'll say done loosely but we pre we have we know what we're doing with that and now it's just jumping in and doing our units to align with NGSS. Chemistry is currently working on that. literally finished our first unit
yesterday. Um, which I was surprised that we're kind of ahead of ourselves. So, I feel like now chemistry is in that same position and now we're ready to go. Um, and then physics and physical science is our next step. We're going to have our first um all day PD in January
of next school year and then we'll have three full days to um get that ball rolling. So with that um you can see the teachers uh every single teacher which was wonderful attended the NGSS conference in December and then we had a few teachers I was one of them who did some additional um
workshops. We obviously took our training and that's now why we're re revising the curriculum guides and maps. So you're going to see a lot of kind of little changes come here and there. And I mean this work and anybody who's a teacher here knows that curriculum work
should never be done. you should always be revising. Um, but I think this will be sort of a big revision and then as we go through the years, it'll be sort of more little things to fix after we reflect. Um, so that's the plan with that. As I mentioned, biology unit one
is complete and chemistry unit one is complete as well. And then one of the big, this is probably the biggest change that we did this year. We began um crafting and posting lesson objectives for all core courses and some elective courses. This was
um something that the high school was um wanted to do and it it kind of went in with kaleidoscope. I think you would agree Kate this this idea of having these learning objectives um and and having them posted. So we took a step back a little bit. We wanted to get
these established because it works well. Then when you get those objectives, you now can, you know, revise your curriculum. So, we kind of stopped with the curriculum work. We got these going and now we're back in it. Most classes have most objectives for most units. Um,
you'll see our next step is to complete that next year. We will have that done. Um and then as um Candace mentioned, she was talking about the SCPs which the science and engineering practices and the CCC's which are crosscutting concepts which is in the basically NGS
is kind of one of their teaching kind of spiels. We are going to um I have asked Dan Baraby who teaches graphics if he has any student who might be interested in doing this as a project. So we'll have posters that have the SCPs, the cross cutting concepts in every science
classroom. And as your objectives are posted for content, we then say, "Okay, this is the here are the cross cutting concepts." You put, I don't know, a little star, a little paper clip or whatever on the crosscutting concepts that you're covering that day or that
week. And then the kids are you're hopefully they can make those connections. So I I thought maybe having a student do that for a project is nice for that student as well. maybe something they can put in your portfolio um which you know again supports Pong and things like that and then we're of
course continuing the participation in kaleidoscope teacher learning. So that was our accomplishments this year and we even updated that and then our next step biology chemistry we're hoping to have those big revisions done by next year. Physics physical science is going
to be a little bit of a it's a little bit different kind of animal. So that we're going to have to de dive a little deeper into but we're starting that which is what you'll see in bullet two. So this is to analyze and revise phys physics excuse me and physical science course units. We're hoping to finish
crafting and post all uh these lesson objectives for all core classes. And um Candace and I have talked about compiling resources for phenomenon based teaching because if you've ever gone to these conferences they give you so much stuff but it's so much that you don't
know what to do with it. Um, so Candace and I have talked about sort of sitting down, getting these resources in sort of one area that's easy for teachers to get to and use. Um, so that's a plan for us for next year. Post the um, SCPs and CCC
posters and use them. And of course, the continued participation in Liascope. So that's what we have. That's awesome. Thank you guys so much for that. We just have a couple examples. Oh, sorry. I forgot I actually
forgot we had this too. Um so after the training that the department had on unpacking the NGSS standards and using them to influence teaching, teachers revised units to include these standards. The disciplinary core ideas were already there. Um but teachers are
taking the time to identify which science and engineering practice and which cross cutting concept they're really going to highlight. And then as Linda said, that will be shown to the kids as well as, you know, a way for them to um make sure they're understanding all the different
objectives. Um so it's really telling the story, those two, of the how of the teaching. Um and these standards influence the revisions that are being made to the learning experiences. And at this time
this has been completed for biology and is expanding to chemistry and physics as Miss Pier had said. So included in this work is the identification of those anchoring phenomena. So we're trying to put those into each unit to ground each unit in
um just that common phenomena, that common like engaging experience for the kids to really hook them into it. And Miss Pier is going to speak to one example. Yeah, this is an example. the whole thing's not there. But um one of the things that um NGSS sort of
um what's the word I'm looking for really emphasizes they call it ABC activity before content. So this idea of don't even tell the kids what's going on. You give I mean of course it's the guy the people that throw it at him but you you give them this you know and one of the ones we do is something called
Martian in the car and you talk about this Martian who was sent to Earth and he has to bring something back that's alive and he brings back a car and the Martian government says nope that's not alive and the kids now have to you have a set of prosecutors and then defense
and they have to um either prosecute him or defend him. Did he bring something back with that was alive? And what it forces them to do is go through um all the characteristics of life. What we used to do is you would introduce the characteristics of life first, but now
we've changed it. You let them just go with it. And they will come up with some on their own and some they won't. And we also noticed when we started doing this, the misconceptions come up. So a very common misconception is that a characteristic of life is movement. that
is actually not one of the characteristics of life, but it's very common. So now we're seeing these kids come up with misconceptions and it's a great way um instead of assuming that was a misconception when we see it now we know we have to change that kind of
thinking. So this is just one example and we're trying to do this with all the units um in all the core classes. So that's the plan for that. And then the next slide is just some examples. This was I apologize the pictures aren't great but just some quick examples of
how we're posting objectives. So in different rooms um there's some AP bio in regular bio bioeththics is up there. Um there's an honors bio and then there's some chemistry ones. So they're not exactly the same but but students can walk into a class science classroom
and they know oh look at the bright pretty p pictures on you know papers on the wall. That's where the objectives is. So we tried to kind of do this universally. Um, and it's also nice when we had like Desi come in and visit, you notice they went right to the wall. The kind of first thing they did, they looked at the objectives and it was
really nice. And I think they did the same thing with NAS. I didn't have a um anybody coming in for NAS, but it my assumption is they they did that. So, and this is again, as you said, the work's already there. It it's just it's a great way like organizing. I like that
term because of course we were doing these, but now they're out. the kids can see them, the community can see them, the teachers can see them. Right? So, that's how we've been doing. There you go. I think that's it. Thank you very
much. That was a lot of information. It's hard to capture it all, but um you could clearly see the excitement of the work. So, thank you. Thank you for really helping to lead the work and dig in to all three of you. So, for questions. Agreed. Thank you. Uh any
questions, guys? Eight. Um yeah, I was curious. I was looking at that uh the language and stuff and the cross cutting and then the um was it science and engineering practice? So for both the math and this are they trying to make make it more
clear how these big concepts go across a variety of subjects. So, I guess my question is, are you now going to have different classes working together to do projects together to kind of reinforce that idea since that seems to be one of the big gouting practices here? Ideally,
that would be great. I know Nate and I touch base a little bit to start especially um incoming freshmen to have a more math science experience rather than just that math experience and science experience. I know math is doing
a lot of changes and even we still have to really look at the freshman um experience, science experience, too. So, that is definitely something we're thinking about doing. It's been talked about. I'm not I I'm not sure we're quite there yet because I think we have
to get established before we sort of come together. I don't know if you want to add to that, but Well, I would agree with that. And we're thankfully in math we're we're the step behind science. So, they're almost like our older siblings. So they're going through a lot of the growing pains that we then get to kind of ride on the the tail of. So um yes,
that is the ultimate goal and we talk about all the time I refer to us as that transformer. We're like the STEM megatron where we come together. Um because like Linda said, we've been kind of compartmentalized but trying to integrate that back together. And I think it kind of brings back the as Bridget was talking about earlier this
idea of our future pathways and bringing everybody together. Okay. Thanks. I would also say if you want a softer, gentler Megatron, you might include the humanities as well. Don't forget us. Um, any other questions?
Um, yeah, just like so for freshmen who have taken algebra 2, um, they're going to be taking geometry as sophomores, but incoming freshmen are going to be taking geometry. Yes, this freshman. Yep. So that that's just going
to be the only year that that's correct happening. And yeah, so currently at the high school, um we have incoming freshman taking algebra 2 along with juniors also taking algebra 2. So those classes are integrated between freshman and juniors. Um and we have some students in the class who are coming from geometry, some that are coming
directly from algebra 1. So completely different skill sets. Whereas now all students in geometry, yes, there will be some freshman and some sophomores, but they're all coming directly from algebra 1. And then all of our students in algebra 2 will be coming directly from geometry and all of our students in pre-calc. So even though their grade
levels might be different, the their prerequisites are exactly the same now where they haven't been in the past. That makes so much more sense. Yes. Where you're switching it. Okay. I actually did have one question just you and you asked that. um when you guys are
looking at the freshman science experime experience. Um we talked a little bit about you guys reviewing and this is maybe even for you Laura or Kirk whether or not physics like the physics with engineering course is really appropriate
in the freshman level and like are you guys going to consider maybe moving bio etc. Um so that's a great complicated question. Um, I know that the department um has talked about it. I I know that
there's great value in having that course as freshman. It really sets the students up for their foundational experience as they move forward through the high school. So, there's a benefit to that and I I think um um we've done some research too with some of your peer
districts who also use that model. Um, nonetheless, um, as Miss Pierre said, the physics with engineering in the in the physical science course is on the docket to review um, as we move forward as the next step. Meaning it might move great, but that's not off the table.
It's not off the table, but um, looking at the relationship between how much math is in the course, all of that um, will be reviewed. Um, but we're, you know, we're wanting to make the best decision for our students and create a really strong foundation for our
students as they move forward. So, all of that will be part of the conversation. Um, and we look forward to the next step. So, we're digging in next. Yeah, I think that if you if you don't have kids who have been freshman yet, um in the with the parents I've spoken to, especially for kids who are
not super talented in math, like immediately um they're coming into freshman year very scared to take that physics with engineering class. They want to take a high level science, but they just don't feel like their math ability is has ramped up yet. And so I think that that's something I just wanted to you
guys probably know this. I feel um responsible for saying it that um a kid who's not taking algebra in eighth grade which my understanding is that number is a little is on the bigger side right now in hail anyway um that those kids feel
nervous about taking the physics with engineering as freshmen um and are not taking it so and we'll and we'll you know I understand that the the physical science class is very similar there's just a lot of questions they have around that nth
Thank you for sharing. Yeah. But otherwise, fantastic. Thank you so much, guys. We're so appreciative of all the work. Thank you. Hi guys. So wonderful. So, we have uh we're going to now jump back um to the
superintendent's report. That one bullet item that says um we're going to be looking at the NRHS engage well the engagement survey. Let's talk about later. We're going to um do the leadership structure and staffing adjustments. And Kirk is here with us
via Zoom with all of our technological expertise to my right. Uh Kirk, can you hear us? I can, Madam Chair. How do I sound to you? You sound like ladyighty clarification that this the sound does kind of spot in and out a
little bit. Um, but thank you for making this accommodation tonight and it is clear that that uh assistant superintendent friend has extreme coming into the meeting and is doing a fantastic job on the school side. So, thank you assistant superintendent. Yep.
Um I'm coming to you from Washington DC this evening where tomorrow I'll be attending the third district represent third uh district representative to Congress. Lori Tran has invited district leaders from her district to join uh in hearing some uh policy developments that
are happening here in DC and I'm hoping to hear some emphasis and learn some more about what we can expect on a federal level regarding education uh policy and finance. That being said, um I want to talk to you tonight about some leadership structures and staffing
adjustments that we are poised uh to make. We just exited out of a very ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch challenging budget season. I'm happy to to uh report as you all know all three of our towns have passed the school district budget resoundingly and
congratulations to the Bolton community uh who passed their ballot initiative at the ballot box this past week. Um, we recognize our budget is a voted budget. And so the adjustments I'm proposing tonight are all within the voted budget.
There's no additional costs. And then in the table uh you'll see at the end uh we actually have just sort of a sliver of leeway within the budget as well. So that being said, tonight I'm proposing
uh that the for the committee to take action to create the new position, which is the assistant superintendent of finance, operations, and safety. This would replace uh the current director of finance and operations uh job
description. Um, as you may recall, Miss McCarron served as interim safety coordinator following the resignation of Lisa Goaki and effectively man those responsibilities during the transition to Miss Wicker. I now propose that we formally integrate those safety responsibilities into his role on a
permanent basis. And given the expanded scope of that role, it really falls into the responsibilities of what we would expect from an assistant superintendent. Um it would be very much appropriate to reclassify this role both in title and
compensation. It's important to note that this change will not impact the operational budget. As I've learned, we were able to put a portion of offset uh to the uh position through the uh food services account, and we would be
utilizing funds uh from purchase items like uh uh seconds and extras as opposed to using uh revenue received from the free lunch program. Um so uh the important part about uh making this move
is that it will then allow our current director of uh health, wellness, and safety to focus on nursing health and wellness and function as the float nurse for the district. Currently in the budget, we have an unfilled 0.5 float
nurse position uh that I froze uh during uh spring hiring as we were uh walking through some uncertain times budgetarily. So in taking that role, we can reduce that uh uh.5 position. In
addition, uh you saw the middle school uh readers presented the new related arts rotation. We had estimated that that uh reduction would be equal to 3.0 FTE. It actualized in 3.8 FTE meaning there's an
additional 8 which is estimated to be around the salary reduction of 75,000. The other piece of good news that Mr. Karen brought to this group last week uh last meeting I should say is that through some negotiations with our insurance company and participating
in activities uh to promote wellness with the insurance company they agreed to reduce our rate by over 3 percentage points that will actualize to an estimate of a $240,000 uh reduction in estimated insurance costs.
So the salary reduction of the float nurse, the reduction of the point8 related arts in combination with the insurance premium reduction provides us enough um revenue within revenue is the wrong term
provides us enough in the budget to reinstate the four dean positions at our three middle schools and the high school. The estimated cost to red re reinstate those positions is roughly around $350,000. I say roughly because we are
anticipating retirement. So there will be a new hire in one of those positions. Um and so I bring that to you as good news. If you recall uh in the budget process, the deans were within the scope of the positions we were keeping and it
was the dramatic increase in insurance costs that made us go to that degree. So as we work our way on the prioritization list of what we can return back uh to our essential pro programming, the deans were high on that priority list. The
next piece is uh the reinstatement of the 04 FTE world language teacher at Nshoba Regional High School. Uh if you recall, we were talking about declining enrollment and being able to sustain programs and looking at enrollment in
our German program. we began talking about a sunset to that program. Well, we have uh are happy to report that our estimated enrollment as you learned from the school choice hearing is somewhere in the range of 15 to 20 students higher than we anticipated because fewer
students are electing uh to go to uh CTE after uh career technical education after 8th grade. So, uh, with that, uh, we need more sections of world language so that every student who chooses to
take a world language, uh, can certainly take that language. And so, the way that we are going to pay for the cost of that position is with the reduction of the freshman study position, uh, talking with the high school leadership. they believe that is the prioritization that we need to make at this time to ensure
that students are getting their language choices uh which is a two-year graduation requirement. So when you look at the summary of these moves uh I provided a table in the report you will actually see that uh it comes at a
cost reduction in the budget of 22 thou approximately 22,88 uh 48. So that shows you that these moves uh still stay within our salary lines. Um and uh uh being in the
operational purview, the two responsibilities that the school committee would have uh to set this in motion uh is all assistant uh superintendent uh have to be approved by the school committee and we need to also approve
that job description since it is a new technically a new job description with additional responsibilities and title. So with that tonight, uh, Madame Chair, I am, uh, uh, request that the committee take favorable action on two items this
evening. One is approve the job description for the assistant superintendent of finance, operations, and safety, which will replace the director of finance and operations, and also authorize me, the superintendent, to enter into negotiations with Mr.
Rosal Karen for this position. Uh, I don't think I have to speak accolades of Ross greater than I already have this year. Ross has proved to be an outstanding leader who's done an exemplary job in his role as finance and operations director and he welcomes the
opportunity to bring uh safety into that responsibility. Uh, as we know, he's very capable and can handle those demands. Uh, so I strongly recommend that Mr. Mo Karen uh uh be um appointed
that position and I need the committee to authorize me to begin entering in the negotiations with Mr. Moar to do that. Uh so with that, Madam Chair, I turn it back to you. All right. Thanks, Kirk, for that update. Um I know that that was
a lot for people to take in. Um there is ultimately um a couple of reallocations that Kirk is talking about. This is a budgetneutral change and um ultimately is taking a
position that already exists and simply renaming it. But by school committee policy, the school committee is responsible for all new position creation. Um so Kirk you and madam chair
I I think it's important to note that for this model of reinstate and dean positions um there's a trickle down to the approval of the job description because that will then free up the job responsibilities of our nurse leader uh
to and and director of of uh nursing to function as the float nurse. um thus enabling us to reduce that position which provides the available capital to uh dollars to pay for those positions a
portion of them. Uh so very clever use of your resources Kirk. Um does anybody have any questions about this? Okay. So, Kirk, let me um just do a little sidebar here. You know, it does
go kind of I didn't realize we're going to actually be voting on this tonight. Is it essential that we authorize you tonight or can this wait until because normally when we present community I was hoping to do that so we
can get moving with our planning. We're late in the school year to do that. Um, and so I think it it if uh you know as as I provided these materials to the school committee earlier, I'm hoping we can take that action. But madam chair, this is your meeting and it's it's up to
you. So the only thing I'm concerned about is that even if the school committee who is quite adept at finding school committee materials was aware, the community might not be and it is our protocol to allow the community to digest things that although this is
fairly straightforward. Um it we might as a committee want to take the vote on the 28th 8th which would then force a little bit of a pause in your process which I know you're gung-ho. So I'm going to ask the committee what they
want to do if you guys want to hold. Madam chair if I may one more thing please. The other thing I would like you to con consider in this request I'm bringing forward to you tonight is we have employees that are waiting on the fate of their positions and it is miday.
it is in the height of of of um uh uh job seeeking season and I know some of our employees are doing that um and they will continue their searches until they have that absolute security that their positions will be there.
So, I' I'd like to hear from the committee on how you feel about taking this step without allowing for the twoe delay, which is typically our protocol, to allow the community to weigh in to give us their feedback, or do you feel like confident enough to go forward with
the vote this evening? I feel like this I don't think anything's changed. Was the same information presented at the last meeting? Well, that was exactly that wasn't public. That's okay.
So, the community is just really hearing it for the first time. So, that's why I I do want to recognize that. But, if it is the will of the committee to authorize the superintendent this evening, considering what Kirk just shared, we do have some pressures late
in the budget season here. Jackie, can I ask a clarifying question? Go for it. So, I really like to adhere to what's our typical practice. That being said, knowing that we have these time constraints, can it be somewhat of a
both and like because it's a net neutral shift, I don't have as many concerns. However, I do want our community to have time to digest this and then ask for feedback, but I don't know if there's a way where
we can balance both of those based on the current timeline. And that's what I'm also concerned about, but I also recognize that it's a net neutral decision. Sh. Oh, uh, I also would prefer to give the two
weeks, but I think just given the time frame, I'm comfortable making an exception in this instance personally. Anyone else want to weigh in? I'd be willing to make an exception. I think it's important and I think that
you know speaking as a member of the community and having children in school the dean position is an important position the deans we have are well respected you know I have a clarifying question is is the is what we're being asked to vote on
tonight just related to approving the job description for the assistant superintendent of finance and operations safety and then to also authorize superintendent down to enter into negotiations with uh Ross Murran to
potentially you know take this position it's not a done deal yeah but then the deans um I I guess I'm just trying to parse out how how much those positions are tied to this decision. And I know that
Superintendent Downing just said that they're all kind of wrapped up together, but yeah. Um, it is it possible to separate the two tonight? Yeah, I can answer that question. Um, so within the scope of
personnel and the budget, as you know, I have the operational authority to make those adjustments adjustments as long as I stay within uh, you know, the approved budget and the approved uh, uh, sectors within those budgets. Uh, the it's the $51,000 reduction in the float nurse
that is important to this model. And I can't make that reduction of the float nurse until I have the job description approved to ensure that that's where those responsibilities apply because ultimately if the committee did not approve the job description, I need to
keep uh uh Miss Wicker as head of safety as well. Uh which means I would then need to hire the float nurse to play the float nurse responsibilities. But all the other elements within the budget are within the the the purview of the bud the superintendent as it is uh with
inside our our budget constraints as spoken. So, it's really about the this new assistant superintendent position is going to be assuming um about 15 let's say that you know 15% or 10% of this position's time is going
to be now delegated towards safety and therefore you're going to remove it from Miss Wicker's position and make her part part float nurse and not hire the float nurse. So that gives you the the additional money to then hire the deans.
Looks like a job, correct? Her position will be director of it'll be the previous job description before we made it health, wellness, and safety. It's a director of nursing, health, and wellness. Uh, and in that job description functions as supporting, you know, students through, excuse me, the
schools through uh providing nursing services as well. can um and so I'll just say one final thing and this is not so much for you guys and Ross I hope you'll forgive me for um I hope you don't feel embarrassed by this but I just want to make it clear to the community
that creating a second assistant superintendent this is a title change it's not necessarily adding an administrator and so that's very important to make clear um however what we want to do is keep the best and
brightest leaders in our district. And by creating this position, um because Ross is so capable, he is going to be able to take on this additional responsibility with ease. We think he's done it before um after Lisa Gilbicki left the district. Ross assumed
this. It's something that he has done in the past without the additional title, without the additional compensation. He is um willing, I think, after negotiations, if it comes out all right, to take this on. I would appreciate um
giving the superintendent that opportunity to go ahead and push forward with all these important changes because our district needs these strong leaders to remain and stay and grow and get better and feel like they're being um developed professionally. So, um I'm
just going to pull the committee once and for all. Can you give me a thumbs up if you're okay taking this vote tonight to authorize the superintendent? All right, everybody. Um, so I'm going to turn to Amy for a motion. We're going to do one at a time. First is going to um create the job job
description and then the second will be the authorization. I move to approve the assistant superintendent of finance, operations, and safety job description as presented. included in the meeting as
included in the meeting materials Kirk. Yes, it should be included in the meeting materials. I'm just going to double check that before I take my second. I see it. Thank you. Very good. Thank you, Alita. Do I have a second on
that? Yes, Lindsay. Good job. Um, so because Kirk is with us, um, well, first let me ask for discussion. Any discussion further? We are going to take um a roll call vote just so that we're clear. So I'll start with John. Yes.
Lindsay, yes. Robin, yes. Amy B, yes. Amy C, yes. Myself, yes. Shandor, yes. And Jackie, yes. Okay, that is unanimous. So the new job description has been created. Uh, now let's move to the second motion. I move to authorize the superintendent to enter into negotiations with Ross McCarron for
assistant superintendent of finance, operations, and safety. I'll second that. Is there any further discussion? All right, let's go one more time around. John, yes. Lindsay, yes. Robin, yes. Amy V, yes. Amy C, yes. Myself,
yes. Shandor, yes. And Jackie, yes. Okay, Kirk, you have been authorized. That's great. I I I want to thank the committee most specifically for honoring uh the work of Mr. Mo Karen. Uh as I said, he's been nothing but outstanding.
So, uh, congratulations, Ross. It looks like we'll have a conversation upon my return from Washington DC. Um, and, uh, if there's anything, Madam Chair, for Mr. Mccarron to address, I I would happily give the rest of my time to him.
Well, considering um, nothing has been yet accomplished, I would um, turn it over to Ross only if he wants. More than more than fair. So, uh, the end of this school year will mark my 10th year in the district. Um, and I am,
you know, more than, you know, grateful and thankful. I want to make sure I I say that publicly, not just to the school committee, but to obviously the students whom I serve and the staff that I work with, uh, the leadership team and obviously the school committee, uh, for
the consideration for the expansion of responsibility in role. Um but also um it's less about the title but it's more about you know my ability to continue to expand my leadership to be part of a learning organization and learn myself and to uh you know like we say you know
be your very best uh to be my very best for the students and the work and the mission of this district. So thank you. All right, we look forward to hearing from you uh next week on the planning calendar. We do have something where you would because an assistant superintendent position in master enroll
law you the school committee is required to approve. Although the school committee in Massachusetts only has one employee and that is the superintendent, there are a handful of top tier employees who the school committee must approve before they can take on their job. Um and uh so
we will be asked to approve if negotiations proceed favorably at the next meeting. All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. Thank you for that comprehensive explanation, Kirk. Um clearly you have a lot of balls in the air at all times.
Um all right, everybody. So we're going to move on to new business and this is engagement. So, wherever you want to put it. Yeah. Would you mind if I took the engagement survey out of the superintendent report and just had um because it's on the agenda twice. So,
can we just keep it in the high school update? Kirk, is that okay? Yes. Okay, great. So, we're going to jump down to new business and I think once again we are going to welcome our high school principal, Dr. Boon, to the desk. Uh and
also Mr. Walker, can we do handbook first? Yes, absolutely. So, Madam Chair, I'm sorry. No problem. No problem. So, if there's no um objection, we're going to skip over the engagement survey because um our principal would like to do handbook revisions first. You guys
have in your materials not only the redline version of the handbook, but also a brief explanation, a summary of the whatever 15 changes that were made. And so I imagine that Dr. Bolton is going to give us a brief uh presentation here and then you guys can ask questions
if you have. I really appreciate it, Madam Chair. Thank you very much. Um I have a guest with us uh Mr. Walker, assistant principal for grades 10 and 12. Um and so he and I will be uh collaborating to answer any any questions that the committee may have um
about uh any items um in the handbook, changes or um or just questions you may have. Um, so you may recall when I when I started four years ago, the handbook had not been um had not undergone a thorough review for a very long time.
And so working with my school council um that includes parents, students, and teachers. Um we and and Ava is is right there. Um I'll tell one quick anecdote that Ava was making comments while on the plane from Costa Rica on the
handbook. So um and her her her edits and adjustments will be memorialized really forever. So, she's been tremendous in that. Um, so this year uh we engaged in um in conversations and work uh as a school council um around
the handbook really uh focusing in on two sections. One of which um was really driven by our students and that's the student life section. So, our student members, you even surveyed Ava to get feedback from our student body. Um, and we made some adjustments. Um, the staff
side wanted really to take a look at academic integrity and because of the timing of this meeting as well as other movements um within the district looking at um at uh AI uh technology, um we did put a pause on that because that's a much larger conversation. So that's
something that our school council will come back to next year and and maybe even, you know, that might be a a more than a year conversation depending on where that goes from a um a district policy side of things. The other sort of major areas that um that we changed
really reflected policy changes that you all made. So we made that change in the moment to the dress code um that is in there and implemented. um we made a change to um the the um student searches section. So you'll that's reflected in there. Um and I greatly appreciate the
self the policy subcommittee work on shoring up policies and all of your input. And then um the the student physical section um that also uh so all of like any new policies that have been adopted by school committee are in the
the handbook um at this juncture and you do have the the red line version so that'll get cleaned up. Um other changes um really tried to reflect um either current practice
um so that if if um the academic integrity section there was a a section that said without without teacher consent that our teachers felt that that was kind of odd language and and they don't give consent for for you know for not integrity. So um that section that
that phrase was removed in um in the student life section based on student feedback and then staff feedback. Um we updated the language around the library and media. Um, we updated the language that was really quite outdated for um,
uniforms for PE and added new language for um, clothing for wellness that is um, reflective and in line with our um, with our dress code policy. Um, that's that's a little more general. Um, in the attendance se section, we
added in language regarding attendance contracts um and revised the response chart um for skipping classes that reflects current practice. Um other more um sort of basic changes, updating the
calendar, the academic calendar, staffing changes, adding in links to the program of studies. um one section in student life around the foreign exchange students, they don't receive a diploma and that language was in there. So that needed to be changed. They can attend graduation
and receive a certificate. Um and then we also in the student life section changed our park parking policy um because we don't need daily passes any longer. We have enough we have enough passes. Uh we also uh revised language in the
cafeteria and school lunch to revise um hours and um our new food food service company and the fact that the first lunch and breakfast is free for all students at this time. Um and so that um that's you have the the change memo. Um I think there
there might be some questions from the committee and from the community and so Mr. Walker and I are happy to answer any questions. The hand handbook is an ongoing process to revise. So, it's never done. And you guys might um know this, but
I'll just say it out loud that the high and you guys correct me if I'm wrong. Um but the high school handbook is something that you need to vote on this on for the school. Yes. So, you'll be voting next week. And so, on the 28th, we will be asked to approve this handbook. Um the other handbooks are
also frequently provided to us but by rule of decision that we're actually going to approve. So I'll open the floor to questions if there are any. So this is going to come up a little bit later um as part of our report out for policy subcommittee
around the joint effort that we had with Darj. Um so the one thing that I am kind of taking from that experience and then going back through the handbook um is through the lens of like prioritizing the equity audit recommendations. Um so one of the things that they highlighted
for us is that and we've had these conversations as recently as last school committee meeting um policy is policy um operations or operations and handbooks can be an op a way for the school committee to further communicate our
vision. Um, so to that end, it would be really fantastic to see future iterations of the handbook use consistent uh inclusive language. So that would be uh gender neutral pronouns as well as inclusive parent guardian
language which is used in the equity audit and I can give references um for future planning. So that's one major thing, but I would also want to see if there's a way for us to be able to integrate maybe for this one, and I
don't know that that's possible, and I understand completely if it's not. Um, we just adopted the educational equity policy, um, JBB, and I do think trying to capture the spirit of that policy in
the handbook, um, to be an important like next step. So again, I don't necessarily know that we would have the time and the space to do it for this future, this current um proposed option, but I would like to see that for future iterations.
maybe with minor like future things. Um like linking a few different things like the um bullying report form online would be really nice to see as well as linking um the MTSS handbook and the decad plans in embedded somewhat in the handbook cuz I
think a lot of people don't know where to go for all these different things that we as educators or parents know about. So making it a little more accessible I think for our families. Does that um conclude like your your
nuts and bolts things? Yeah. Decap NTSS framework. Yep. For future future consideration. We we so and I don't madam chair I would defer to you around process. Um, but I ha I do have
time in this window to to make recommended changes that are more technical like that. Um, those are those are easy. Those are something that I can work with my administrative assistant um, Marca who really does um the the
final edit. Um, I've looked at this document so many times, it's almost 120 pages, so I glaze over a little, but um, I'm happy to make technical changes and using, um, using inclusive, um, neutral lang, um, gender neutral language
throughout, um, use, um, not parent but caregiver, you know, that sort of those recommended languages. Um, I wasn't aware of JBB, so I can take a look at that as well and see where I can incorporate that. And then those links are very easy to put in into the the
various student um life sections. So could so when you um when you go to vote next week, it would be and I could send the updated version in time to be in the packet. Okay. Yes. Yeah, that can happen. Okay. I'm going to go to Amy and
then I'll come back to you Shandra. Um yeah, at our last meeting and we're going to talk about this a little bit when we get to the tool. Um, one of the things that came up in our discussion with DearJ that uh relates to the handbook is um the equity audit and different things bring up you know the
use of mediation, conflict resolution and restorative justice um and how the school is using that when the school is using it. And in the current policy it lists those just very briefly the policy that these are things used. I feel like
the handbook is where that needs to be laid out more specifically. It's really vague right now. It just says alternative remedies may include but shall not be limited to. So, it' be I think it would be great as a school to like show our values here like how are
we using these and like how much like you know and when are we using those? I feel like it could be laid out a little bit more specifically in the code of conduct section. How page are you on? That is 69. And that was a that was also a recommendation from Dear Jay. That was
something we discussed at the last meeting. And I think that page 69 um talks and I think you guys probably know more about this than you do, but the state of Massachusetts has just recently engaged
by more limiting suspensions in public high schools because they were found to be discriminatory and arbitrarily applied, etc. So, they've made it harder to suspend kids and for a very good reason. Um, and so I think that this
section called problem resolution, it says as amended by Mass General law, it almost seems like this is in there now, which is great. And maybe it was in there last year because it's not. Um, however, I think that the pages right above it, I think the five pages
above it are also disciplinary um explanations. And it's almost like the two things need to get married. Um because above there's like a chart that talks about like scenarios like nature of the offense, but it's not really restorative
consequences. And so I think that next next time you're not going to do this specific this one would would not be able to to be for next like next week or next purely feedback for next time. This is one of the big ones that I had because this was a policy thing Amy's group brought forward. Yes. the
disciplinary practices of the district need to move more toward that last year renovation and mastering the law and marrying it all together. What I will what I will share from um from the administrative side of things and and Dan jump in is we use restorative
practices um that's our go-to um and and both um Mr. Walker, Miss Boule, and actually Dean Kaiser um for as a matter um are um have some experience in training. Um Janine in particular has gone through some deep training in restorative circles and she's done some
training for us. That's our go-to for um for when we're when we're working with students who have interpersonal conflicts with each other. And um you can jump in and see if we have restorative and and and uh I would say that's our definitely our first approach
to dealing with um issues at the school. You know, student to student, student to teacher. Uh we're doing a lot of uh restorative practices, the the harm circles, the peer mediation, sitting down with teacher and student trying to resolve issues and move forward. Um I
think you'll see our at the end of this year our suspension rate has gone way down. Um so I think that's all positive stuff and I do feel it's um the culture of the school has become more positive also and and um I feel that when I'm at
the high school amongst the students. So I feel like the the the wording in the handbook then needs to be that revised because our practices have changed and so Ava I wish you were going to be with me council I might be calling you. No
don't worry I'll be back. Um but so that that's um I'll take your recommendation to um our school council and say that this is a section that we really need to dig into for next year. Thank you. Madam Chair, can I jump in? Please. I I can't
tell when you can see me or not. So I'm like I don't know if the little yellow hand is going to work on this. No. Madam Chair, you were referring to chapter 7137H and 3/4 which is the update of that law. And while we have a citation of that, uh, I think we can
walk that language fold pretty easily in the handbook as well. Yeah. I mean, I I had actually pulled this up too, Amy. So, it was like pages 64 to 680 feel like the old version of how we used to do business. And then, so like just, you know, pulling it all together. It's not
to say that detention isn't still part of the formula people, but um, you know, we probably just need to mix up a little um in the more minor department. I really like in some places you have links to the policies when you reference
them, but not everywhere. So, um we that's a quick one that we can fix as well. And um and and mind you in the in the at the end of um the handbook when it it goes through all of the the state we were we were actually not we were
told not to put links from from our desi folks. We we needed full text with no links. out was that um they came for a program review and um we had to that the handbook um
almost doubled in size because we needed the full text and instructed not to put links in. So I I we can put links in to our own policies and so I think that that that's fine which I can do and not to be pedantic but it's my nature I
guess. uh in page 64 uh second paragraph the Chromebook of policy uh that link is wrong and the path to the policy is wrong and I did actually find it um but I sort of had a question I know in some
districts there's now a I think it's a Tik Tok trend of intentionally damaging Chromebooks and I don't know if there's anything in this policy about um that particular um concern. Just a
sec. There is not uh I think it falls under the general treating your Chromebook with with respect and care. I will fix that link. Uh I've made a notation in there. Um the the Tik Tok challenges come frequently. I don't
think we could reference every single one that would be inappropriate for for school, but potentially a reference to Tik Tok challenges in general. Well, I I was talking about more intentionally damaging your Chromebook as a and then there ought to be consequences.
Yes. Thankfully that none none of that has happened on the show. That is awesome. And if I may, Mr. Simon, our our acceptable use policy that everyone has to sign uh memorializes that as well. Awesome. Oh,
very good. Any other questions? Just a very minor one. on page 13. Um, speaking about like languages and terms we want to use or it says homeless. Could we change that to unhoused or a different term? Any other questions?
Yeah, I was um just trying to compare the handbook to some of the recommendations that came out of our discussion last meeting with regard to attendance. And you know, the policy that we
approved is pretty explicit about what happens if a student has more than a certain number of consecutive absences. And the handbook has a lot of discussion on student absence. But the policy says that
student absences, this is policy JH, JH, must be um it says accordingly parents guard guardians will provide a written explanation for the absence or tardiness of their child. Well, I'm I'm looking at the handbook and it's quite possible
that I've missed it. I don't see in here where it says how you are to report those absences to the school district. I know it's pretty like basic and common sense, but I I don't know if that's part
of what the disconnect was between the policy and the practice. Um I'd like to jump in here if you don't mind, Madam Chair. Yeah, sure. Yeah, looking at that uh we recognize that was part of some summertime work and we're revisiting the protocol that applies to
that uh policy as we got to look at that the K to 12 all the way level. So we'll be bringing that to the committee most likely our first meeting of the fall um because we want we're going to launch the year u presenting to our community the thoroughess of that protocol. So we
recognize from the recent policy to that we need to do some updates there. Um, so I don't want to put the high school ahead of the rest of the district on that one as we look at that together. Okay. I think it's just also just about like the protocol that what what's expected for reporting an absence
to of your student, you know, like just not not as much about getting to the 10 mark. It's just more there's a lot of discussion on absences, but not the steps that parents should be taking to document things or notify the school.
So, Amy, are you thinking of more like a how-to if your child is going to be out? Yeah. You know, because I think that's part of Here's the number. Here's the email. Did you want Yeah, I would. I mean, most parents email the office to
Miss Slade. There are very few students that are absent at Nishoba that have not been notified by the school on a daily basis. So in the morning, yeah, we we do our attendance in the morning. By 9:30, we try to do a blast out to the community for students we are are
unaccounted for that are not either in school or people haven't notified us. That's a very small number every day and sometimes is zero. Uh so most student most parents and families are notifying us uh regularly through email. Um, occasionally there'll be phone calls
that come in. Um, but email is the primary way that um, parents communicate with the the office attendants. That's how I do it, but I think it might just be good to memorialize it in here for new parents moving into the district or it's just not Yeah. And there is a
specific NR attendance um, email address for that as well. It's in my speed. I think if you go to the high school, you probably have used it. Um, is this about a challenge, Jackie? It is not. So, I actually want to build a
little bit on Amy's since you brought it up because I also was narrowing in on this because of our last policy conversation and I just wanted to bring it up. I already mentioned it to Kate. So, on page 23, if you guys want to reference this, you can see that I think
our school council at the high school has added this blue text called attendance contract. And this is for the kids I think yeah who are chronically absent meaning they have reached that 10% threshold of 18 days in a year or 9
days in a semester or portion of the year or percentage right yes so that attend contract is I think trying to bridge the gap that so that if a child is absent
for 10 consecutive days. The way that I looked all this up today and it's kind of a disaster because I think most of it was passed before co some of it was updated during co and the mental health crisis that our teenagers are experiencing right now is not reflected
in the law and so it doesn't make any reference toward kids who are school refusal engaged. And so the 10day the way that the law is written is that if a kid is absent for 10 straight days, you are responsible for reaching out to them. You have 5
days to do it and setting up a meeting with the parents of that child who's been out for 10 days and you only have 5 days to have that meeting. And on the on the 15th day, that's when the exit interview letter goes out, which is a
horrifying letter to receive as a parent who's trying to care for a kid who's refusing to school. Often times, these kids are those with IEPs and 504s, so they have additional protections. I'm very worried about those who are unidentified. And
so I think what you're trying to do with this blue text is manage from a protocol perspective how we help kids who are in that gray area that the law is like not helping and you're trying to create a
band-aid. So can you talk just a little bit about that text and about this 10day piece and how you have to actually um unenroll kids on the 15th day from our high school if they are refusing to go to school. I can speak to that. That's a policy. We
have uh the uh withdrawal notice uh that goes out with the opportunity for the exit interview after 10 straight days. Um in my in the last two years, I've done one of those. Um it's a pretty rare occurrence. There are kids out for 10 consecutive days for reasons that we
know about medical issues or partial hospitalization or other reasons. Obviously, we work with the families in that matter. um we don't send out the notices when we know what's going on. This is more of a you know situation where a kid's not coming to school.
We've been in contact with the parents frequently. Um most I would say every kid that once they get to five absences in the first quarter, we've contacted families. We are having meetings. We're trying to figure out what the issues are. Um but there are situations where
we know that the kids are not going to return to school and this is the process that's followed. But this allows you to make accommodation. Yes. Or that maybe one or two I mean at other schools that's in the dozens of letters that might be
going out on a on a yearly basis. You're lucky that I'm really happy here. It's only one that we've written in the last couple years. But for that kid who is struggling, this is to help that family reconnect in a way that is not harmful.
Yeah. We reach out to the the families frequently. The attendance contracts are not for kids that are missing 10 straight days facing the withdrawal. These are students that might miss, you know, two days every week and they're have very inconsistent attendance. And
we're trying to partner with the families and um come up with ways to show improvement uh to really get kids to come to school so that we can help support them. Because you basically what you're saying is that no no student would miss 10 straight days without you
having been already in contact with them. Correct. Yep. Mo most of the attendance contracts come in with kids that have very inconsistent attendance. you know what again they're missing 20 days in a
semester or or you know going towards 40 50 days of absences for different reasons um outside of medical and other things that are you know approved by the school madam chair if I can jump in for a
moment please do just as a point of clarification and that is what's written in m federal law doesn't speak to the 10 days. It's 7 days over six month period to five consecutive. And then it turns it back to the local authority for
having a policy on how you treat those moments. Um so you can see that in um uh chapter 76 section 1B. Um that so the good news of that is the discussion we're having to that does exactly what
the Massachusetts law is pointing us to do. So Kirk, let me ask you this. If if Mass General Law does not require you to to after the 10th consecutive absence send that exit interview letter, why do we I
I thought that that was in the law. No, it it's not in the law that that you have to send that letter in the 10th day. Those are school community policies. It is uh a standard that is utilized all across the state. Um, and so it, you know, it's that seven days
within a six-month period. So if you extrapolate that out 10 days over the course of a year, that's kind of where that I think was the genesis of that. Um, but that is not specifically cited in Mass General law. So with that, because we have to
follow, you know, school attendance regulations, um, uh, this this is why we have these policies where we work with families. So even in our policy, it doesn't say the student has exited after 10 days. It says uh that the principal
has the authority to um but it doesn't say that they specifically have to. So I think that's an an important distinction. Um, okay. I think that I read it in Desi guidance though that that exit interview letter like that language exists and
that it's really on the 15th day that the child is unenrolled, right? Like that's that's in guidance that's not in Mass General Law. Okay. So that's essentially some of those guidance documents we get from DESIE are to provide best practices on how to
apply the law. So do you think that this is something that you'll be taking up in that summer retreat around attendance protocol? Oh yeah, absolutely. It's already on our agenda. It's on it's on the magic board for the things to work on this summer and um uh we'll be bringing that to the committee the first
meeting. Okay. Thank you. Um somebody else had their hand up. I did. Go ahead Jackie. Um so again I think this is a future consideration. um there's reference to fee structures and if students have um finan require financial
assistant assistance and it ties a lot to uh scholarships but I think it would be important for us to reference the current activities structure fee structure that we have as a district or reference where
families can access that fee structure and then where who would be their appropriate point of contact should they require financial assistance. Um, great. That's easy enough probably. Thanks, Keith. What that that currently does
does happen for um for students. Um, typically um our either the administrative team or the guidance is um is typically the the the point for for those. Um but I I I like your suggestion to memorialize it um in the
handbook, right? because I think there's there are families who are known and then there are families who are not known and especially with an influx of new families I would want to make sure that they knew who to go to. Um the only other last question that I had was
around the positive climate plan that was linked in and was that something that would be updated next academic year or the following year? That's the district is a it's the district's positive climate plan not the high school. So I I would defer to superintendent uh assistant
superintendent friend or superintendent Downing on that. I mean I can I don't know if Superintendent Ding wants to speak to that. Um the district positive climate plan was most recently reviewed during our
coordinated program review. Um so as is our process to continue to review those processes was most recently updated as part of that process. So that was 2023. Any other questions, Jamie? Yeah.
Um I recognizing that this is something that maybe could be put on the list for things to review in the next cycle. Um the language that's on our school district's calendar. Can I hit pause on that really quickly? Alita, as you're
taking the minutes, can you I know that Kate is probably putting this in her file to consider next year. Can we memorialize in the minutes the couple of things that we've said so far that we would like to have addressed in the next goound so we don't lose it? And so I think that Jackie, you identified the
dearj the looking at this through an equity lens. Y Amy said something similar. Well, to specifically on the um mediation, conflict resolution um discipline practices and restorative practices. Okay. That's something that
is still perhaps. Yeah. So, madam, you're thinking to next year when I come to present, right? Yeah. Exactly. So, like when we when when we're s not Amy, but when we're all sitting here um next June or May, we can pull these minutes up and say these are the things that we know that Kate is addressing in the next
goound. So equity lens, restorative practices melding with the disciplinary structure. Yes. So it doesn't just seem like an addendum very quickly from it then. And then you have another long-term thing. Go ahead. But yeah, following up and so it doesn't so they're more kind of um streamlined so
that the handbook becomes a resource for capturing all of the protocols. Our district calendar has a lot of language on it right now about administrators and teachers scheduling events with consideration given to religious holidays and cultural
tra traditions and makeup privileges um for work that is missed during those and I feel like the handbook is really where that language should live for students and for administrators and teachers. So I would love to see the language that we
already have either be, you know, like replicated within the handbook or housed within the handbooks as opposed to being on or in addition to being on the calendar. Um, so there's just a disconnect when you read the the
handbook and you go to the policy on makeup privileges, it doesn't include any of that language. I think that's a perfect place for it. So, thank you for that recommendation. Any other comments? I have a
couple, but much of it has been taken already, Kate. So, that's good news. Um, just a couple of quick ones. The math requirement in the program of studies, which you linked to your handbook, is 3 years. Yes. But UMass is four. Aren't we
trying to be with the UMass? So right now what's in the handbook and in program studies matches school committee policy for our fit for for math. So okay I'll take that up with Kirk maybe um because I thought we wanted to
stay with the UMath systems minimum requirements and if kids are graduating show but with only three years of math thinking they're going to apply to math they're not. Yeah it is. I've seen that be a problem. Most of our students take four years of math so in practice it's happening. If we want to be mass core
aligned, four years of math would would be recommended. Um and and so we now just we are aligned with what's is current school committee policy. Okay. So policy subcommittee, can you please put a little note for some future
birdie? It's really Jackie and John and Robin. Um okay. So science is a three-year requirement as well. UMass requires the three years that they take to be lab sciences. Correct. Is the freshman physical science class a lab
science? Thank you. I just want to make that clear and I don't think in the program of study it actually identifies this is a lab science and so that's a different story but I just want to throw it out there. The other thing I wanted to say, and I really should have said it when the science team was here, is that
I'm concerned in the program of studies that we are continuing to um capture six credits for our science classes. And here's why. Um my kid in particular wanted to take a six credit science class. It would prevent him from taking
an art class. And so that kind of thing feels like we are privileging one department over another. And I just wanted to plant the seed a little bit that I don't think science should take up six credits even though they're super important and powerful classes. Um yeah,
we're we're having we're having those programming conversations. Thank you. Right. And so when I um when I come back next year, probably January time frame is when um I typically come for the the program of studies presentation, you'll
likely see some adjustments there. Got it. Yeah. Um, my next thing quickly is that there is it seems to be a plagiarism hotline in the on page 21. Um, I think it says individuals may
report instances of cheating plagiarism to the following anonymous email. It seems to me that if I was sending it to this anonymous email, you would still know my name. Do we do two weeks? I've never heard I think I've seen it, but I've never heard
of that. I wouldn't email it. I see it. It's right there. I bet you don't get a lot of business there. But I don't even know who gets the email. However, so I don't know that anonymous reports on plagiarism are even appropriate because kids these days are
clever and you know, all kinds of ways to hurt each other. So, okay. I'm I'm I'm arguing maybe we removed that. Um let me see. Hold on. Page 25. On page 25, there just seems to be a
typo where um do you see where at the very top under truency it's got school cancellation captured in there. I think that just needs to enter. Hit enter. Oh, yep. Actually, that should be a subheading. A subheading. Yep. Okay, cool. Everybody loves a good school
cancellation. Um, what else? Okay, I'm just trying to Oh, on page 37, Kate. Um, I'm speeding so I know we don't have any time. On page 37, it
talks about sports eligility. And I feel like maybe my eyes were crossing like you were saying earlier. Um, does it say in here like what grades the kids have to get to remain eligible? It says they have to take four. It says they have to be passing
the equivalent of four ac academic classes. Not Yeah. So, they have to have a D or better. Yes. That's MIAA. I don't know that it says passing anywhere in here. And And I might have just missed it. It says that
they have to be taking a major course equivalency. It also talks about English courses. It keeps talking about that's for you worked with Tanya on this, didn't you? or no, just we did work on this section last year to align to the
MIA policy and recommendations. Okay. Um I'm not sure if the word passing is in there, but that is obviously the expectation. Kids are passing the equivalent of four fullear classes. And the MIA uses the standard of English classes which are year-long as like their standard and and so it says the
equivalent of and and so that's really taken from the MIAA. Yeah. So, our students have to pass four four major classes. And so, it says here that students have to have security grade. Um, so I'm looking at the second bottom from the bullet from the b second bullet
from the bottom. It says students must have security grade in four major courses. So, they could have gotten an F. So, that should be passing. Passing passing. And I think it also speaks to incompletes. If students have incompletes, that affects eligibility
until they're rectified. I did see that. An incomplete grade is treated as an F. Um, so got that. But I think you just need to maybe insert the word passing. Passing. Yep. Um, not that I have personal experience with this or anything. Um, so the other question I
have for you is um in the red line, I'm sorry, finding the page under searches. Oh, wait. I'm just going to go to the top and go to page 414. Thank
you. Um, the red line talks about when you guys can search kids and the blue text is like I think far more appropriate and I and I know you did this because it's in line with new policy etc. Yep. I took this
right from directly from policy copy paste it. Okay. So here's my only issue and maybe my issues with pol with policy is that um you what has been removed is the term reasonable suspicion. And so as I read the new blue text, and clearly
I'm reading my own policy, um it doesn't seem to say when you can search kids and the the Supreme Court says it's if you have reasonable suspicion, which is super vague. Um and maybe it's not much of a protection at all, but it's something. And I wonder why we removed
it in policy language and why MASC did it. So maybe Alita, you could mark this for me in the minutes that this is a policy issue in the searches by staff and how it no longer says that staff can
search only when they have reasonable suspicion. I'm concerned about that. Not if the concern is real, but Okay. Um, Madam Chair, I'm only speculating. I wonder if uh in that recommendation from MSAC
there will assume you got locus parent of the school system. Yeah. Suspicion. But the Supreme Court says even when you're in control of the kids, you can't search them unless the search is reasonable. So I think it's important reasonable suspicion. Yeah. Yeah. Yep.
Um and it and it also protects our administrators. Uh so I think it's good for both for both parties. Um, I think my last issue is Oh, I just had it. Oh, and this is a bigger one. And Kate, this is going to definitely be something that, um, you and I have talked about in
the past, and I know that it's on your radar, but I just want to kind of put it at the front of the radar. Um, and it appears on page 20, and it's kind of just buried in the um, disciplinary or academic integrity section. And I know you're going to be looking at this for all the AI craziness that's never going
to go away. Um, under first offense, it says that the students shall may, you've changed it to shall, no, may. Oh, may. So, it's not automatic. May receive a zero grade on an
assignment at the first defense. So, um I just want to make a plug that um there is a movement right now to eliminate the zero because it is insanely punitive because um instead of giving the kid an
F on an assignment, you're giving them like a K because it drops it down 60 points their grade and it's unreoverable. And so I would argue that and I would hope that all public schooling including
my own but but our but especially can work toward eliminating the zero both in the handbook and in our pedigogy um because it's really communive and I know we've talked about this and it's a philosophical conversation. So I just want to throw it into the public record
that this is a long-term thing that I'd like to have looked at for the academic. Thank you. I know in practice some teachers will give an alternate assignment and that even happen that happens at Ashoba so that that there's
the May reflects that um and I think it's a good conversation for us to dig into because we're a learning organization right thank you guys I had stolen all that time I hope you don't mind but I felt strongly about it the handbook is important um I think that we
are going to move now away from this if we if everybody's okay with that. Okay. Thank you so much, Mr. Walker. Amazing presentation. Such hard work. Um, now we're going to talk a little bit about the high school engagement survey,
which, um, Kate also has to share with us. And so, um, Kate, what can you tell us about what you're doing at the high school even more? Possibility. Yes, if you could put that presentation up there.
Um so as the committee knows we have been focusing on improving student engagement for the last three years. We when we sort of initially gave the panorama survey, our
student engagement um self-reporting, their their sense of engagement and belonging um was um incredibly low, almost single digits low based on panorama metrics and data. Um and and
and that was something that we was alarming quite frankly. And we um we saw it as um as a charge for for us as the adults to really take some intentional steps um to improve um that
sense of engagement within the classroom and and globally. and and there may be a connection um you know coming out of the pandemic um that might I think the youth mental health crisis is is a component we know historically and just generally
engagement levels go down as students go up in grades as well. also Noba not only was reflecting that trend but was really you know not in a good way leading that trend right um and um so over the last three years we have taken some very
intentional steps from a curricular standpoint from um an best practice and instructional standpoint as well as a school culture student voice um elevating student student voice and input um and um and from school culture
and community building side of things. So we really it's this has been multiaceted. Um the panorama survey results were still not yielding data that we really felt was helpful other than that the number. And so last year
we got approval to to really break things down and administer uh create our own with some carryover questions from Panorama um specifically related to um engagement. And then each department
um designed a really a custom survey um for for for their content area, for their student experience. We shared questions so that there could be um some crossover and
some comparison um but then tailored questions for for them. So really asking about the lab experience or um music performance or you know so it really tailored questions. Um I will say that
that last year we we saw and this is you know that last year was year two in in this work we saw improvement over the fall of 2023. Um and so I'd like to walk you through
um the 2025 results and kind of I'll preface and next slide Alita please what what you'll see. So um again last year we refined our survey methodology administered department specific surveys um students took in each of their
classes. They um they took the survey this year be um in the several weeks prior to April vacation. Um last year we learned invaluable insights that helped shape future goals and instructional strategies. Um our
instructional goals um that this is an instructional goal to um work on student engagement. It is written in in teachers teachoint feedback and we launched the year with um with these goals. Um we continued this methodology again this
year um two weeks prior to able vacation and what you'll see in the pie chart. So, um I used uh a tool to help um aggregate all of the departments. Um um would not be beneficial to sort of show
comparative data department to department that I don't think would be um would be productive or beneficial. Each department I'll tell I'll tell you later what each department is going to be doing and how they're addressing this. So the pie charts using a tool is an aggregate of all student results over
all department um for the five questions. There were four from the original panorama survey and then one question that um my panorama working group we had a district working group for panorama and my working group created really around the connection between engagement and belonging. Um so
that's the overview. So I'll lead a slide three. So this first question is um the question is how eager are you to participate in your and then subject is in parenthesis. So when a student took that survey in their math
class they saw math class. So how eager and and one piece of feedback I would say that we actually got from students around panorama is they found it really hard to answer the questions because they were like well which class are you talking about? I don't I so I'm just going to put two or I'm going to put
three because I don't I don't know. It depends. Um so and there is variability in in student interest. Um I myself was a humanities kid. So um but when we aggregate this together um what we see
is that um if you count three and this was a philosophical sort of difference that we have with panorama. If you count three in the in the positive because it's somewhat positive, um then we see 78% of
our students responded positively or somewhat positively to this question. Um if we take the three out and have that living in the middle, we still have 45.6% of our students responding positively. That is an increase
significantly over early Panorama survey results. Um truly is. Um and then we have 21.6% of our students responding um less favorably or or negatively. Those students we you know that group of students even though it's not the
majority it's a sizable minority. We still want to dig into what's going on with the experience with those students. But I'm happy to see that there is um there is improvement and it's been steady improvement um in this area. Um, and I will say that um I I I happened to
pull a message that I sent to families last spring and I'll be doing the same thing later this month in the um in the fall of 2023. We ended up doing Panorama twice um or Panorama and then Google survey, but in the fall of 2023
um students reported and this was reports of um of threes, fours, and fives um was 60%. So we're at what did I say 78 78%. So increase from the fall of of 2023
uh with this particular um with this particular area this question. And you can see how the questions um they don't use the word engagement. They talk about what engagement could look like within a classroom. You're excited to go to class. You lose track of time. You um
you know you like your class. You you want to participate. Um, so Alita, next slide. Question was, how excited are you about going to your subject class? Very somewhat not at all. If you take three,
four, and five as positive or somewhat positive, that's 81.5% of our students reported being um responding positively or somewhat positively. Um by comparison, the fall of 2023 that was
51%. Scoring and and responding 345. Um if we just take um fours and fives, which is the very positive, that's 46 46.1% of our students. Um and then in
responding less favorably, 18.5% of students did respond less favorably. Similar to the last question, we want to dig in there. Um and and if we want to dig in there um a little bit a little bit more. Alita, next
slide. This question um I feel like if students are there, they get so focused, they're in the flow, right? They're they're in the zone. Um so how often do you get so focused in your classes that you lose track of time? We
had um again threes, fours, and fives. And I didn't um capture this one from the fall of 2023. So I actually want to go back and look um but 74 my readers. 74.5% of students responded favorably or somewhat favorably um with 25.5% less
favorable. That's a little higher than the other two. So we want to really dig in here. Um and I I will pause to say that um much like last year um elective
classes um had stronger engagement um performance-based classes you had your your bands and your art th those naturally I think are a little higher right um and then if you're playing music you get in that flow right
um and then yes I said 25.5 5% less favorable that we would like to dig into a little bit there. Um Alita, next slide. Um I think we missed. Yes. Um overall, how interested
So this is big picture. How are how interested are you in your classes? And in this case, 84.1% of students responded favorably or somewhat favorably. um when we take the threes out um that's 51.8 8. That is an
increase um over last year and in the fall of 23. And then 15.9% less favorable. And that's the lowest number of these four um panorama questions. And um this is really quite exciting for me. Again, still want to dig in to the 15.9%
of students and what what their experience is. Um and um the departments have information that gets disagregated by the self-reported grades that the students get and other demographic data. Um and so that is on the department
level digging in to those those kinds of trends. Um Alita next slide. So when students took the survey at with this next question they saw this description. So this was what our um panorama working group um along with
myself created a descriptor of um a connection between engagement and belonging and identifying qualities. So positive and engaged learning happens in classrooms where their small and large successes are celebrated for all students. Consistent expectations for
learning and behavior exist. Cultural connections are acknowledged and respected. Um, I as a student am understood and appreciated for more than just my academic skills. So, I'm known and valued. My strengths are recognized and my growth is fostered. And then
structures for learning are upheld to protect my safety and success as a learner. So, what a what a welcoming and and um what a welcoming classroom looks like that fosters belonging. So, they had that descriptor and then they had to answer the next question. So keep the
descriptor in mind. And next slide, I believe it please. And so the above conditions exist in my classes. And this one I truly was very pleased with because
um n 90 I need my readers. It's so bad. Um I should just keep them on. 96.1% of our students responded favorably or somewhat favorably and then when we even take the threes out it's
77.9% and then 3.8% responded less favorably. We want to know who who those students are um and really kind of dig in. um you know students names are not in the survey so we won't know who they are but we really
we need to really dig in um because we want each and every student to feel um those qualities um and experience those qualities um and so we want to we want to dig in there because each and every means each and every but I will say that
that from um the initial administration of the panorama surveys with sense of belonging in almost the single digits. I'm really so pleased with with this. It it demonstrates the intentionality
um and the care and the dedication of of efforts on all fronts with with students and for students. Um and that you know we want Nishoba to above all be a
welcoming and safe community where all of our students each and every one of our students feels that they are that they are they belong. Um and so this um this one I I was very pleased to share with you guys. Um Alita next slide
looking at key themes. Um so students had a lot of opportunity in those department specific questions to write. They provided a lot of of feedback. So key themes that we pulled out were that things that um drive strong engagement
are projects and hands-on activities. Group work fosters collaboration and idea sharing. Students appreciate choice and autonomy. So choice and voice. Um, one really key theme and maybe this one should have been first because that real world relevance, connection, why are we
learning this? What is the how how is this connected to me? Um, adds purpose and interest. um opportunities for that creative output um connects with that top one projects, but videos, podcasts,
any way um that students could express their um their learning in a way that was maybe different from writing an essay or taking a test increased engagement and that's a UDL principle in um means of expression, right? And then
um for both the 2024 and 2025 surveys demonstrated an improved engagement from from prior surveys um and our did our students did report a high level of belonging. Um so all all great things. Um however there were other themes that
students highlighted. So Alita next slide please. Um so key things that students um identified as really hindering uh engagement um low engagement for more passive learning formats such as very long
lectures where students are sitting and listening um and it it's not it's not really engaging for them. um any assignment that might seem unconnected to a a bigger theme, a unit question, um
a a you know, a major goal, um or just a higher, more clear purpose, lowered engagement. If students didn't understand the why behind the the work, it lowered engagement. Um, I will say a theme, and Leah, you and I have talked
about this, workload was also a theme that popped as something that really weighed students down um, in terms of um, impacting engagement. Um, could be fatigue, stress, all of those factors, but workload was reported and and that
was a a theme that was highlighted. Um, mentioned before, students did, and this was uh, something that happened in our 2024. It's not uh not surprising that students report higher levels of engagement in elective departments more more performance-based. Um we know this
um and the and the critical question is how do we um how do we make some instructional shifts where learning can become a little more performance-based in our other areas. And we're we're taking steps to that with our deeper learning initiatives.
And I'll go to the um the next slide. You'll see some student quotes that are just the four kind of representative quotes. Um, I like when we worked on real issues, it felt meaningful. Um, group projects made the class fun. We shared ideas. Hard to care about
worksheets that feel pointless. And when we get to make something, I actually want to learn. So, real student quotes um that that really represent those key takeaways on both what we're doing well and areas we we need to dig in and and improve. And we
know this these are things that that have come up in multiple areas um of our reflective process. Um and Nolita the final slide if you wouldn't mind um our next step. So I'm making u this presentation to you all. I shared some
highle data with with staff at our staff meeting last week and departments are unpacking their specific survey results. Um they'll they'll generate shared goals uh some action items. they're they're digging in um at our either our last leadership meeting or um we are um
hosting a high school specific um leadership retreat at the end of August. So um not sure quite the timing um but we'll engage in a debrief and share out with the leadership team to look at themes across departments and then probably um align a little bit with some
of our goals and actions uh action items. Um we're going to continue, you're going to see this in our school improvement plan. Uh again, it's important. We got to stay the course um to maintain a schoolwide focus on impro continuing to improve and deepen student engagement and belonging. Um I
personally, and I didn't I didn't write this on here, but I think it's important for us to um really dig into our subgroups. Um our students with disabilities, our students of color, um our multilingual learners. Um the that data is in the survey reported the um
that um demographic data is there. So, I think really digging in to those um those subgroups to see what um what structural things and programmatic things we can be um shifting and adjusting to help increase engagement and belonging um with those more
marginalized groups of students. Um and then we're going to continue to focus on aspects of the instructional core related to student engagement, well ststructured lessons, as well as meeting the diverse needs of our students. And this language, it comes right from our our our teaching tool, our our
evaluation tool. It's our focus elements. Um, and this is going into feedback for for teachers to to help focus in on um goals and work for next year as well. Um, and with that, thank you so much for letting me present and
I'm happy to take questions. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Kate. So, I'll go around ahead. Um yeah, I just had a question about you said that this is part of their like their goals for their is that right? The um this we have we have a a high school goal for
improving engagement and then departments um have um last year this year created shared department goals. Okay. I was just curious then about the slide seven or whatever it was where it said you gave specific things like small or large successes or celebrated
consistent expectations for learning and behaviors. Are those then part of the things that teachers are working on for their evaluations? Is that why those the panorama working group which was comprised of
uh three or four teachers? This was back in Laura and you have to help my timeline. 2023. Yeah. Um when we were working with the district panorama working group um this was what um qualities of a of a of a a
safe and welcoming classroom that that promoted belonging and engagement. That working group created those qualities and that went into the student survey. Okay. But it's not it's not moving over into like are there it's not been in it's not been in goals. Although increasing belonging 100% has been a
schoolwide goal. Engagement and belonging are intrinsically intrinsically linked. Um so okay I just didn't know if it was like unpacked. You guys had like specific things that you were working on for like uh engagement and belonging I guess is what I was asking.
Um, I mean, I think, um, well structured lessons, making sure a lesson has, um, goals and objectives, the students know the why behind the learning, um, making sure that our instructional moves enhance deeper learning, and that's been through Kaleidoscope. Uh you you heard
today from our two of our fantastic department heads um that the math department is is really moving forward with building thinking classrooms and that is having students doing the thinking and and working together collaboratively to solve problems and our science department has absolutely
embraced the NGSS work and um and it's breathing life into into their um into their lessons as well. So it's happening in different ways depending on the the department. Um, thanks. I would say I'll give a history example. I and I don't know if any of you have received these,
but our juniors are deep in their civics project and I am I am fielding questions um about topics of interest that are schoolbased. They're really digging in and I've had a couple of students um say to me that um one student his civics
project is to have a civics engagement project every year. So that was one. And then another student said, "This I'm learning about the Rotary and I this is really cool and important to me and all
student drivers. I'm so happy I'm doing this." So like that's a history example of the civics project. Kids are digging in and they're they're loving it. That's cool. Yeah. Let me interrupt and just say build on that to say that that fourth bullet I think is maybe what Amy
is talking about and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that the understanding and appreciating kids for more than what they can produce academically is what creates belonging and engagement. And I
mean the the data says on slide 8 that the kids are finding these bullets in their core classes. Um, I don't necessarily think that this data syncs with the other data. And so that's a question mark for me because
they're saying that they I actually would put the red the the sometimes. Even if I'm going to be generous, maybe you split it down the middle and you give half to the good and half to the bad. So if you if that somewhat for half of the respondents was bad, it would be
for me because I'm a glass half empty guy. Um, I actually think that if they don't like if they're not interested in their core class, but they are seeing some of those bullets in their core class, that's a disconnect for me in the data.
So, I would want to dig into that a little bit more, maybe ask more questions. Um, um, you can keep going. I just wanted to piggy back off of that kind of um I wonder like how we could make the survey more specific cuz for example I take two
science classes. I take bioeththics with Mrs. Pier and I take chem and I love bioeththics but I hate chem and I think especially and Mr. from Melbourne. Those are probably my two favorite classes just because there's so much group work and like you really feel belonged. But
an example from my chem class, like I don't know, there's just so much work. Like this is from pretend I'm not a student rep. I'm in like an unreoverable spot right now. So it just makes me more less engaged. So when it comes to taking a survey, like I don't I don't really
know like I'm always in the middle because I love bioeththics can like no. So you would put three is what? Yeah. So I'm always on the three. So I like I feel bad because you never really know. So I wonder like if you can make a survey for
core classes and then like your electives class, but then it's also a lot of surveys. Yeah, a computer can do it for Yeah. So, it's great to unlock what category is a huge question for I
um I like the I like being able to follow the data year on year and some of those common questions. Um I do wonder and I don't I don't have an answer for this. Just wondering are are we at a point where are we looking to to shift
the the questions to really kind of deepen our understanding? Um I I don't have a good answer for that because I I like the consistency of some of the questions and those engagement questions from the Panorama platform h
have been have been vetted. They might seem a little weirdly worded to some people, but they've been vetted to to get into what what engagement looks like. You know what I mean? So, I I think we need to I need to work with my leadership team kind of around this. We
um we want to continue to get student input to help us reflect and and revise, right? And and and refine and improve. Um so first I think it's awesome you're
collecting and looking at all this data around engagement and belonging and that that is important and awesome. Um there's something I'm struggling with a little bit on the aggregating the different subjects together and them
also because it sounds like there's separate surveys being sent out and they're anonymous that there's really no way of correlating data. I'd be worried about if we have a population of students that are unengaged in all of their classes because that feels very
different than being unengaged in one of your classes and where the data is being aggregated. I don't see a way of seeing that. I have seen some schools do these surveys uh not anonymous
uh but keeping it making a sort of promise to students that it's anonymous to their teachers. So it's just that the the district the administration can correlate data and do things with it but it isn't that if I say I hate my
chemistry class I'm not engaged just as an example um that it doesn't get associated with the student teacher hears that right in this particular case um teachers actually sent the link to their student that's how we um had
students take like if I'm if I'm Kate Boon. I'm I'm taking my math, history, science, English, French class. My teacher gave gave put the link probably in the Google classroom. Um, and that's that's how the survey was administered. We we did do
anonymous panorama pushed out globally to um but I I think your point is really interesting because I too want to know who those students are who who maybe are are disengaged and don't feel belong don't feel a sense of belonging across
the board as a benefit you don't have to ask any demographic questions if you know who people are right so it's faster to take the survey so something maybe you and I can uh with Kirk can can dig it dig in on um around that. I'll just
say that I think the department data is really important. I respect you not sharing that with us because it's delicate. Um so I'm not going to push for it, but I think that I'm glad you are looking at it by department, which was a change you made last year and it's
great. not only looking at it by department, but um our department heads are coming together to share their department's learning and takeaways. And so that that's part of our our leadership work. So we're going
to talk about it like what did we come up with? Like what did we learn? What are some noticings and wonderings? And how is how you know let's take um fine performing arts. What did you learn? And and what are some of the things you're gonna do about it? And so
that that would be that will be something that our leadership comes together and so there's going to be that cross department sharing and then maybe maybe there'll be some some like crossover where like oh that noticing was in your department too. Oh yeah it's
here. Um so we'll be sharing as as a leadership team. Jackie, yeah, I just want to piggy back off what um Charter was saying because I do feel like at least with the Panorama survey data, there are districts that do not um make
it anonymous for a subset of their, you know, their um administration and more of the providers. I think that one thing that you might want to consider too as we're rolling out the MTSS stuff is that you have the opportunity to know which
students are reporting reduced sense of belonging um and some of those wellness factors to just have and then also to track and monitor progress over time. It's been a it's been useful. I I can also understand wholeheartedly why we are not
currently doing that. I think we kept those same privacy settings from Panorama, right? That was Guys, really quickly, um, before I go to Ava, it is 9:05 and I'm supposed to pull you. Can you guys just give me like 15 more minutes,
please? Thank you. Can I get a thumbs up if that's okay? 15. Thank you. Oh my gosh, I feel like you just do me a favor. Thank you, Ava. Keep it going. Okay, I'll be really quick. Um, just going back to like the anonymous part of it, I feel like from a stu, again, from a student perspective, the demographic
questions, like I like, what am I going to say? I feel like it might be easy for teachers and staff to kind of pick out especially the minorities cuz I know I had put myself as Asian on all of the surveys. I feel like that's maybe
not as easy, but other minorities. So, keep it anonymous. And I also don't want my teachers to know what I'm saying. So, I feel like it's also hard to be honest because you never really know what's anonymous. Like, when I'm teaching something that's quote unquote anonymous, like I never fully believe
that it is anonymous. I don't know. I don't know like how many other people think that, but yeah, I just want to thank Ava for being so willing to share her input with all of us. It's like it's so helpful to have you here sitting at the table and giving
your perspective on all of this. Thank you. Very proud. I am too. I want you sitting right here. I know. I'm trying like my my question is um I was really I
think I've learned through some of these other questions. I'm curious about I'm I'm glad that you were able to develop a survey that really focused on experience in Ashoba and then measure that over
time. But I I think what I'm still a little confused about is that the data that from this survey how that ties to the panorama that survey because we have f five questions. I shared four of the
five questions that pulled from panorama because I also wanted to and and this presentation I was mindful of the presentation. So, I pulled um and this was a conversation that Kirk and Laura and I had when when we were considering this idea of the Panorama survey wasn't really getting
the data that we wanted. We heard from teachers, we heard from students um and what what can we do? Can we do a Google survey? And we landed on um yes, Google survey where things could be customized. But for comparison, we went we um and
really because engagement was our area of focus, we picked five questions that we pulled directly from the panorama survey. So the four questions that you see minus one, those we have given to students multiple times through that
other platform. That's how it connects to panorama. So you just did it with by class by class as opposed to me pushing it out to the whole student body to take it once. Each department had had their own survey. Um I mean I ended up I'll
share a little of the sausage making where I I had the the links we um created um copies of the surveys. it it got rid of the student data from last year and then each department had had their new surveys and they could go in
and the the um understanding is we keep these core questions and then where you customized you could continue to customize if you wanted to um and then department heads sent the link to their teachers and everybody gave it in their classes.
Okay. So kids took it multiple times. Yeah, kids took it multiple times. It's a lot of surveying. I mean, Amy, you can attest to this, right? It's a lot. Um, but the the really the um the driving force behind that was to to get department
specific data that was actionable. Yeah. And I think um I'm kind of in Leah's camp where I I feel like the three when I'm taking the survey, if I don't feel strongly in either direction, it's a three. So I I
would I'm just cautious about drawing too many conclusions including a three in a positive. Even when we look at even when we look at the fours and fives there's there's improvement. Yes there. So I mean I
captured that as well. Um somewhat you can I go with split in the middle a little bit. I I think that was a great suggestion and I guess like from a school committee point of view I am hoping that when school improvement
plans come before us that we can see the connection to the goals in the school improvement plan and the data that you're collecting from this survey because I think that's like how for me to my mind we close like
we made progress we demonstrate progress and you could give us the evidence that we're looking for when we're doing, you know, the evaluations for the superintendent and that is next week for next meeting. Stay tuned, Kate. You get to come
back next mindful of the time. I'm going to bring this conversation to a close if that's okay. All right. So, thank you, Dr. Buen, for that exceptional amount of information. We're so grateful. really appreciate it. I appreciate being here. Thank you very much. Yeah, we'll see you
next time. Yes. On screen. Hopefully be uh in the comfort of your own office. Um so guys, if there is no objection, I would actually like to move um the unfinished business that is on I don't know, dear Jay, this is not great for dear J, but I feel like it's
just too late at this point. And I want to move it to the 28th. And here's why. the subcommittee goals check-in. I'm going to actually send the chair people an email and you guys are going to respond just to me with the progress that you want me to enter into the spreadsheet. It's going to make the school committee goal check-in very
quick and it'll also sync up with our uh superintendent's formative evaluation presentation as well. So, I think that kind of makes sense. The decision-m tool is actually embedded in one of those subcommittee reports. So, maybe you can work that in in writing, Jackie. Um, you can write it from the dear J perspective
and you can write it from the policy perspective. But the last thing we have on the agenda that I don't want to let go because you do want to see the second reading next time is just a first reading on policy combining policy CHA and CHC which is the last item under DHS. So Amy, can I clarify something
real quick? Yes. So does that so we're going to push the decision the discussion of decision-m thing till next time is what you're saying. Okay. But you also want us to comment on it in the subcommittee go because I think it's embedded, right? Okay. Yeah. Um, so this policy, Amy, anything that
you need to know about this first reading here? No, it's just a merge policy and the changes were really some of the changes that we've been doing throughout which is on um gender like the language that's being used, switching, you know, he and her to they
um parent or guardian, right? some of the changes that we've been making throughout um and just the combining of these two the merging of these two policies are really any questions for policy that they can take back and then get ready for the second. This one seems like a no-brainer and it
is literally your grand finale. So the last one, thank you so much Amy and to the entire policy subcommittee for doing the the amazing work here getting through all those. Um the last item here is just um subcommittee or advisory reports beyond what I just said. Is
there anything that just really needs to be said in this meeting? Now I just need I would like to we need to clarify when the communication subcommittee survey is going to go out. So I would really like to get that done before the end of this academic year. Oh because you're going to put that in your subcommittee report.
You're just going to share it that way? Yeah. And I just would like to have it done this year so next year we can work with that data on our Didn't we share that at the last meeting? I'm sorry. Yeah, we I but I we just need to figure out how to push it out. Yeah. To the community because you guys all gave us
the thumbs up on pushing it out and so Kirk, I think that this is something perhaps for the common the school committee communication survey. Happy to do it. And so Amy and I will touch base with you about that or maybe just Amy can. Yep. I love doing that. Sure.
Excellent. Yes. Uh point of clarification for the agenda for next time. Definitely. So we will be reporting out DRJ is also scheduled to present and it has come to my attention that there's no
representation that would be available. So is the option to push to the fourth. Does that mean that they are looking to get an extension? They Yes. Because of their schedule. Yes. Yeah. like it's hard to get everybody together. Correct.
So, um why don't you circle back to Dear J asked if they want to present at our organizational meeting? Yes. With the new school committee, which will not be terribly new, but um a little new. Um so, and if they want to do that on June 11th,
what? Okay. So, it's been changed. No, so many times. And I that's the other point of clarification. I I thought it was the 11th, but it's the 4th. Oh my god. Why is it the 4th? So, shouldn't it be like two two weeks after you you did some I'll I'll get back to you guys on
the date of that organizational meeting. I thought it was the 11th, but maybe I was wrong. So, we can chat about that. I think on the calendar it's the 4th. It is. So, the planning calendar Oh, interesting. Okay. So, more to come on
that. Um, but if Darj wants to present at the organizational meeting with our support of it, that's that's probably fine by most of us. Um, you would just have to well, I guess Amy would wrap up the policy stuff in the decision-m tool and then you could carry it through the
organization if it was on the 11th. Got it. Okay. So, more to come on that everyone. Thank you. Um, the only thing left on our agenda here are items for the next agenda. And as you might see, the May 28th meeting is pretty packed. Um, Madam Chair, just real quick. Yeah.
As a and forgiving this one, as a school building committee update, uh, tomorrow evening's meeting has been cancelled and rescheduled for May 22nd. Thank you for remembering that. And while we're on it, there is a beam signing, isn't there? This Saturday. Yes. The top Yeah, the
beam signing is this Saturday, uh, 10 o'clock to noon. Anybody can swing by, Kirk, if they want to. Hey, anyone in our show towns that want to come by, alumni, whoever wants to come by and sign our beam, uh we want to
give you an opportunity to do that. So, uh Stow folks will vote and then they will head over to the beam signing for the Nishoba double fun. Okay. Love it. Sounds great. Thank you for reminding me that I was on that. Um so guys, that's
the last thing we have tonight. So, I'm going to move to adjourn. Do I have a second? Second. Okay. Jackie. Uh, let's go around the room. John, yes. Lindsay, yes. Robin, yes. Amy Vessels, yes. Amy Cohen, yes. Myself, yes. Shandor, yes. And Jackie, yes. All right, everybody.
We are out of here. Thanks,