##VIDEO ID:a5FCvtXs9EY## I'm calling to order the Monday October 21st 2024 meeting uh of the M school committee pre toown meeting uh first up uh we don't have flag we skip budget Allegiance um nor media is recording we don't have anyone else in here so I don't think anyone else is recording uh first up on the um agenda as town meeting articles discussion and vote so we always put this on here as a um placeholder just in case there is an article that um we need to take action on um I don't believe there is anything that needs our attention this evening but if the committee has any items um relevant to tonight that we' like to discuss we can do that do we have what do we have three articles um article four is the free cash um and then the other one is the msba uh yes that's 10 article 10 is the msba uh not Middle School roof thank you article four is the operating budget for free cash yeah and article eight is capital and AR and then the only ones that I think the school committee would have some to do with would be article 16 s the MBTA and how come the district but other than that I think the rest of them are kind of ow per few yes so just those you free cash is all Lo together you said free cash is um it's all it's one number so actually it's um I believe because it is not recommended by the finance committee um there is no table or breakdown in the warrant so typically what happens is you see some have to make a motion a table Yeah so it is going to need to be moved from the floor and then um we have our information on the items that we're asking for I'm ready to speak to that tonight um I don't know what the town side is planning to do in terms of if they're putting all the numbers up there what their maybe I would think they be prepared and have all the numbers because I'm assuming and I hate to say assuming but someone has told them they're going to move it forward so they should have all the information right I've been surprised I can only control what the scho ask for how prepared we are so um we're Chine and I have all of our information ready to go we've got information on Capital if that's needed um so I think we're in good shape and we'll kind of see how the night flows SS good anything else good go uh Next One Transportation update halfeld that's you um so we are off to a great start this year um with our best um we have a new bus supervisor with H&L Bloom this year and she has been fantastic um that's a great change for us um very good communicating with all the principes and the secretaries so that is definitely um exciting on the school Level side um we have about uh 1,400 a little over 1400 students registered this year so far and we've brought in to date 138 139,000 um 3,450 of that is from the late fee that we implemented over a year ago which is high it's almost more than double from last year oh W um a lot of we also have more people though on payment plans um think due to the increased fees we are having a little more trouble collecting that than we have in years past um so we have about almost 3,000 outstanding in that that we have not collected that we know we will get and also we have now down um um a quite a number of riders that have not paid that should have um we started doing bus pass checks earlier this year to avoid that and Alex Sor our transportation coordinator has done a great job finding those individuals and we've been reaching out to them to collect and that's another almost 4,000 4,000 almost 40 or four four four okay I was like four we'll take the four exactly exactly and that is all for there now will that thinking more of the high school maybe the middle school is that number going to tick up with like fall Sports ending winter sports we might see a slight change I think so so a lot of the payments that we're kind of chasing they'll register but then they won't pay because they're kind of reserv a spot but they're not using it for the fall so the mornings are higher riding count but um the afternoons are pretty dead especially in the high school sport to the H and then how has the West hoders Street issue is that all kind of squired away we haven't heard anything so I think what happens is um I think we spoke about it they were letting some of the Riders down um the buses down before a certain time and then they would they were allowing buses but then you'd have to stop and wait for Machinery to move or is it okay to go now and they want to be consistent cuz some days you could go down some days you couldn't so I think we're wrapping up one area and we might reopen that Ro so those um parents don't have to drive to the stock anymore so it's it's been getting better anything else on Transportation good to go uh enrollment update Dr O'Neal um so every year we try to provide a an enrollment update um around October 1st um October 1st is is the um hard stop date of which we are responsible for um reporting enrollment to the Department of Education and the October 1st numbers are what all of our funding is based on for the uh following year so they will use this number of 2424 for our um enrollment figures for the FY 26 budget um we are down 58 students from last year to this year um the primary reason that we're down 58 is all around our kindergarten members um at lgn we have 22 fewer students in the kindergarten class this year and at JCS we have 12 fewer students than we did at this time last year kindergarten is one of the most challenging things to predict it really um has to do with either birth rates or families either deciding to send their child um a lot of times we'll see kiddos with Sumer birthdays that parents will hold them for another year um we we have tried for a number of years to um use the town hall birth rates to kind of predict what our number is going to be and and it's absolutely impossible to do um for many years when we were doing full day kindergarten with um with the lottery system we tried to go through that process and there's never a Rhyme or Reason um at this time we are also have we also have 22 fewer students in our little lancer's preschool program that's very typical for the beginning of the year because students um that are eligible for preschool Services they join us throughout the year once they turn 3 years old so um when we look at numbers in January those numbers will definitely be over the 94 CL closer to 105 or 110 um so that's that's fairly typical um in terms of the kindergarten numbers I couldn't really tell you guys other than birth rates perhaps what that anomaly is but um we actually ended up moving one of the kindergarten teachers at uh lgn up to third grade um to reduce the uh that bubble up there and so it made those class sizes much more manageable for our third grade teachers so anytime we can do that and move um teachers around without an impact to the budget is always a great thing um so that is our car current numbers there uh 2,118 Norton students we have 233 fre school choice students uh 44 students that are enrolled through our Reeds de and heart hearing program and finally 29 students that are in special education out of District this mon a couple more from last year for out of District yes and again last last year in June we had 33 so we're down four um in October we had 26 so we went at at 33 by the end of the year and then yeah and then that now to 29 that's like as you guys know I took close that's those numbers that EB and flow constantly we sat down this morning as part of our central office meeting we meet every Monday and talk through some students that you know were starting to see the writing on the wall and this potentially could be a different list so um we also have some students that will age out through the course of the year which will be a savings yeah so that was my other question like when we look at the 29 out of District do we maybe have some on the radar that are close to achieving their goals and coming back into District yeah potentially so we have one student that's um currently um in a very comprehensive out of District placement that will be aging out in December um so that would be something that we've already anticipated those savings and are looking um at you know applying those to student need elsewhere and then we do you know as people may or may not know we do an annual I PE revieww with all of our students both in District and out of district and placement is always one of those things that comes up if we're able to Ser as a student here in District and they're able to get all of their educational needs met we want to bring them back in we know number one it's good for students to be with their peers um you know with with the kids their siblings their neighbors it's always better to be closer to home for students and families and um you know having students in their home school is such a great opportunity for them um and we try to do that whenever we are able to to make sure that but if we can't meet their needs then obviously we have to go out District so what is our uh cut off date for kinderg is August um and then we do have a policy that allows parents whose children turn five with between the 31st and the first day of school so some days it's like like September 7 some September 3rd to appeal um and you know as a mom of a July 1st daughter who sent her child to school and regreted it and a July 23rd son that kept him home I always try to talk them out of it but what we do what we do is we go through a really comprehensive process they'll meet with one of our J counselors we'll give them some academic testing we'll have conversations with them and then we make a recommendation if they're ready or not and it's our decision is final and it's not appealable so um we have one maybe every year some years more than others some years oh we have front of us before yeah and that's when we changed the policy that was I remember that say that was at least five or six years ago years ago yeah it was preo it was definitely preo so and we wouldn't anticipate any kindergarten kids joining like second half of the year yeah un they move unless they mo yeah not like some time no okay so when the state gives us our our Romans 24:24 what do we get from the state as part of the chapter 7 fic so they look at that 2118 number and they also look at the out of District enrollment because those students are noron students so they take those two those two numbers right so dhh is not included in that because those students have a home District we do I believe have two or three Norton students that are considered part of that enrollment um and then school choice we get the school choice but we do not get the individ the per people allocations when we look at the numbers for out of District so um sorry to 2024 so 29 but then you said if we had like two or three dhh students is that part of the outed District number yes okay and part of the dhh number so you only get you only get paid for them once but right but they when just number wise kind of considerable okay yeah so so really if we're looking at these 29 numbers those two or three students are included in our out of District enrollment but in our case we're actually hosting the program in in house which is you know really great no that I was just numbers wise curious how that yeah and then that goes kind of back to our warrant of why we're asking for the 1606 16802 um so we're kind of adding those to Y and the 16802 is based off of the numbers from October of 2023 which that was 216 66 and 26 and 26 thank you for including both the it's actually really helpful to look at and I at first you know I said to PM I go wow this like big difference when you look at you know 5 different students but then I sat down today and I I crosswalked the different grades and it's like it's a couple here it's a couple here a couple there like um we went at JCS we increased by nine first graders this year that cohort went up nine yeah um and then you know the seventh grade cohort went down seven it's those are the two biggest gaps everywhere else is one or two yeah you know so it's it's actually not a huge shift it's those kindergarten numbers that are really um the big factor this year it just made me think about me in seventh grade thinking do we get a report of who goes to other high schools as well can we get those numbers just from future yeah um off the top of my head I believe it was roughly 29 to 30 students went elsewhere this um fall but I will get you actual numbers and data on how many and where they went and and oh sorry no I just I know it's rare but like if a child should go to Southeastern and then maybe they don't get their shop and they come back how does that count it wouldn't be till the next year Well if they come back before October 1st it's lucky for us and if they don't it's lucky for them so yeah that's it's that that's that hard number um so um we do have kids come back we have kids that go to Fen and come back it sometimes it's just about fit yeah um yeah but I will get you guys um those numbers about high schools if you look at it it's actually interesting because we had um in 8th grade we had 186 students oh sorry I had 190 students in June and we only have 189 now that's only one student different um so we know we did have a few students that are came into through school choice so it's not a big it's not a big change how many students would you estimate like roughly leave 8th grade it depends on the year okay it really truly does so typically um you know the class cohort is anywhere between 170 to 200 um um it's typical to see anywhere between 30 to 40 students leave in in a typical year um we were actually kind of surprised that the number was a little bit lower than we had anticipated well that's when you said 29 to 30 that doesn't that seems like seems normal a typical amount it is very typical but so it depends on the year um we find that students have a harder and harder time getting into Northeastern nor eastern Southeastern um a harder time getting into Southeastern um just because so many students want to attend and they just have minimal you know facilities available so um I actually yeah like like going through with my two youngest like when you get in they want an answer cuz somebody else the they I remember the guy calling me a couple of times like she they made their decision like they still have but it is competitive but and I know I haven't been down there but uh a family member has and the new Bristol Aggie looks gorgeous from the renovation and they've expanded a lot of their facilities and you know anytime a student wants to go to South Eastern or to Crystal agie and go into a program that we don't have and we're not able to offer them yeah like it's such it's a great opportunity for them it's you know we're Partners in that um if there's something here that we can offer obviously we want them to stay but animal husbandry is just not on the cards for us at this moment they actually just opened up an animal like a free clinic yes it's amazing oh really yeah that like well everything they've just got some really great programs so um just one more question around so school choice wise obviously we put it grade seven through 10 yes obviously anyone who's in District or who was here stays here um but like kindergarten we have eight combined if you will yes those mostly I'm assuming like teachers so so typically those are siblings ORS so um if we so we always want to keep families together so if they have older children that are enrolled as school choice students they have the option to come to Norton as a school choice student um we do have two staff members that their children are attending lgm as kingom earners and then one staff member whose child is attending JCS but that that child is also a sibling so um I think we have two new families this year um that are that are staff members as part of the kindergarten enrollment great and I think another nice well maybe not nice I guess the word might not be the best but I think a lot of people were worried about school choice going downhill with the override not passing so on and so forth but obviously you're going to have some attrition yeah regardless when way or another but in all honesty when you're kind of looking at this it's pretty much state standard across the board last year grade three at 23 this year great Forest 23 you know so I don't think we've seen too much of a drop off um you know of of all losing programs losing teachers people are going to pull out of school choice it doesn't really appear that it's drastic by any Reas and we also have to consider that we had 15 seniors last year that were school choice students that graduated with a Norton high diploma um and and so obviously we did not backfill yeah I think the other thing too is we have to factor in where they're coming from it might be worse 100% if they're coming from absolutely you know so is still a great little town it it is still a great District I mean we've we've had our ups and downs but I mean if their district is not fin financially less soluable than us then they're just got St I mean just think even you know I mean we've only lost 19 school choice 15 of them graduate yeah and I mean did we turn anybody away this year for choice we only people that were outside of the age that we approved so we had a number of families reach out for kindergarten through grade six and unfortunately we just had to tell them no um we did um we had enough seats for people that were interested in 7 to 10 um I am going to be bringing to you all an updated school choice policy uh for the November I 6th meeting um one of the things that we found is that the way our policy is written was not actually the practice that we had been kind of following for the last several years so we need to update the policy um and then we also have to update our application uh process so um I've worked with the Department of Education on how to reward that language so we'll bring it to you uh the 1st November meeting for the first reading and then the second November meeting will be for a vote um ultimately at the end of the day what we're trying to do is we're trying to push up that deadline for school choice families that you have to have everything in I mean really before July 1st and so if we have more people that are interested and and seats available we have to do a lottery we cannot accept them on a first come for Ave basis um so those you know you learn something new all the time um and so that will be coming to you um and yeah how this and then what the special enrollment that we got as well y um like I I have two questions one is I'm assuming this is the entire District so this has everybody everybody school choice yeah everybody's in this okay cool and then can you just go through I think just from from my standpoint I'm assuming I think I know what it means but from chairs in how do that kind get broken down um so those are by building right so Amy bner is serving the role of Team chair this year she's 135 students that are on IEPs of the high school that are on her case load um the next one down that's the Middle School yellow school JCS lgn and then the bottom number the 38 that is our little dancers preschool program so those JCS she moved I'm sorry no hel is at the El school yeah she's a great she's she's great over there so she used to be the grit teacher at JCS classroom teacher she was she's amazing and she's doing a really great job over at um over there yes so thank you um yeah so that's the number there so if you look you can see like the high school has 134 but Amy has 135 so she may have a student that has itinerant Services as part of her case load so they come in they get some services but they might be at a different high school or they might be home home schooled or something along those lines so that's why those mbers can be a little bit off yeah yep and then um Alex Sanborn in um Casey's office Updates this every month for us um so she always gives us so you can kind of see the way things Trend throughout the course of the Year too which is which is helpful from this number of 566 are we seeing a correlation from year to year that's like it's always going up it's going down St kind of stagnant kind of what is that um historical our historical number is that um we're around 22% of students that are um on IEDs I don't know if that's 22% like I haven't done the math but historically that's kind of where we're are that is high the state average is 18 okay so four percentage points doesn't seem like a lot but but it really truly is so um I think one of the biggest challenges that we have as a as a community and that we continue to talk about is that if we don't make efforts and improvements to general education we're going to always continue to have a special education problem and the more we pull from general education the more services the more supports the more money we're going to be putting towards special education so these are some things that we have to make sure that we're being really cautious and careful about as we're thinking about where we want to um focus our attention for the budget of cycle this the coming year what about in terms of like RTI services or students getting um RTI for like reading and math and things and like word are those numbers yeah so those we don't um track them yeah month to month like this um because really those should be a more fluid number um you know I might be pulling a group of kindergarten students that don't know their letters working with them for 3 weeks and then I'm moving on and pulling different gr thetic yes um obviously when we we cut um the reading interventionist at the Y school so that is down we're down to one there we C them two with math interventionists so we've got Mrs Deeds just going back and forth between JCS and lgn right now so um the supports are less than what they were last year um Brian and I had a conversation earlier today about you know the need for us to really look at how are we spending our time when students are in the classroom because as much as I hate to say it like the calvary is not coming like this is it so we have to figure out a way to make sure that students are getting what they need with the Staffing that we have so how can we do that across classrooms how can I say okay you know in my class I have you know three students that are really struggling with this concept ran has one Christine has two how can we pull resources I'll take all you know all six of them and then I fire my kids out for enrichment or a different type of intervention how can we do that within the structure the schedule that we have and how can we give teachers permission you know to do that and say yes this is what we want you to do like do they have the resources do they have the permission all those things I think that's definitely need yeah absolutely yeah for sure yeah agree and and I think the other conversation that I've been having with teachers is like well what interventions have they received so far and well clearly you know that's didn't work so what's our next step yeah Special can be the only UN in town right right so like we need to make sure that we're spending time and focusing on building capacity with our general education teachers and you know one of the benefits of our reading program is that there are so many different resources for teachers to be able to utilize some of the teachers are like there's just so much which is great right because ultimately there's going to be a little bit of something for everyone and you know being having access to intervention resources to work with the small group that's that's that and so we have as part of our contract with inter reading um we have inperson coaching days so what we're doing on Friday is our consultant from inter reading is coming in she myself and principles are going to do walkthroughs as many classes as we can in the morning just take down chunks tidbits of what we see and then in the afternoon each building is going to have specific breakout time with us to kind of look at what we see what we observe and then we're going to talk a little bit more about the small group portion of inter reading and then problem solve around being strategic if you have a night you know if you have two hours of of reading let's talk about how that could be broken down so that if you have kiddos that may not be quite where they are you can catch them just before it becomes an issue so we're really mindful of our onboarding of inter reading and then marrying that with using this supports within the program to try and Empower teachers to work with kids in the normally aligned hours awesome can you is it easy for you to kind of pull these numbers over like last five years yeah probably I I know I last year yeah like if we could just like I I would like to kind of just see has there been an extreme shift For Better or Worse especially like me and conversation about like Co around Co you know like is our special education programming growing at significant rates and you know that can you know kind of explain some of the ISS not issues but some of the you know with some of the eptic the extra positions so on and so forth because social say too is the numbers themselves may not have actually changed but the needs of the students correct right cuz like a number is a number like um but sometimes the needs of the students are much more significant than years past so um need I don't think we need to BU month by I something else want to BU month but even if we got the end kind of have an idea you know because Den we always talk about data you know and like might not be something we can worry about now but someone in 10 years might be able to look at back at this and say hey this curriculum is working really well look what happen with the reading numbers and the test scores and you know so on and so forth that you know again it might not be us in this group but someone could look back and say Hey listen we had a nice drop here we should really be looking at xyc yeah so we actually do have that cuz we need it for our grant one of our special education grants anyway so we have and I will say being in a special needs realm nor is really known for special education like when it's out there people are saying have a program so there are a lot of people move in District just to come which is but it's a double all good yeah all right uh next up discussion vote on additional school committee representative for Capital commit uh so at our last meeting we discussed um an idea to have a capital subcommittee uh for our group we felt like that might be a good idea to number one um walk you through some of the challenges and the issues that we have um but also kind of bring a little bit more um input to our systems and our and our process and you know hopefully get some of those things off the list that have been on the list for um a long time so Audrey is currently our Capital rep she killed it that night she did a great job um and so we're looking for someone to join her along with Christine myself and wait for um a cap Comm so so this committee would just be internally we wouldn't have another no it would just be internal um we could probably meet but they could be interchangeable at a capit meeting if necessary I mean so Audrey would still be the rap no I'm just saying if Audrey of course yeah and I think that was and so we would probably meet at the most orderly um but really it probably will just be you know what things come up and hey guys you know just know we thinking about from meetings yep um motion to nominate Justine to the capital subcommittee second second all those in favor you get a choice you always vote for yourself if you're Bu from president you V for yourself it's true it's true I didn't know I don't know no I mean I think you know sense F you know having a thought about this is you guys have the longest 10 year left so it just makes a little more sense where it's we don't know what the election looks like in April so there could be three new bodies here at least you guys bring a little bit of consistency yeah sure yeah very true mhm okay awesome um next one is discussion and vote on school commit Delegate for November ma annual business meal not it I already on something so so so ultimately um each year at the Joint meeting um Mas membership has a um annual business meeting where they talk through different educational issues and um each school committee is invited to send a delegate to represent your vote um it is not required if no if you guys do not feel like any of the issues that are out there um as part of their um did they send the list yes I um included it for you guys in that email every day it also should be in your packet um oh maybe not it's on the packet but the list I sent it to you guys VI email day um ultimately if you don't want to send someone you don't have to it's really what it comes down to um I will be there during the day on uh Thursday Karen is presenting um on Cyber safety and so um ironically wonder why um actually she was chosen to present prior to our incident last June and um I will be there with her just to kind of talk about the super superintendent perspective and some things that we did things that we had in place that we're really happy about some lessons that we learned so I will be there um during the day but I'm just driving back and forth so um so historically I don't think we've sent anybody in probably 3 years and prior to that we sent somebody for 3 years I think went for at least three years in a row and she would go to the whole conference and she would bring she would go to sessions and she would bring back information to the committee she would write report and tell you about everything she did it was so typically here's my take about it is we would discuss this in a meeting as a committee look through the resolutions and say we support it we don't support it however there's never been any action on any of them since I've been here so that's what they do is they talk about them but I think where Mas see their biggest falter is they don't have somebody that can bring their thoughts and processes to the state level to Institute a bill so that's all I dudes they talk about these and they've been years past there's been some great resolutions like a lot of things and but the problem we have to always contend with is wear a small piece of the puzzle so if it's a if it's a benefit to say 30 District not named Brockton Framingham Worcester that's good for those 30 districts but you have those major districts that it's not good for so it's it's dead water so I mean Kathleen liked it for the first year and then she was kind of obl she felt obligated her second and third year but I just they don't really bring anything out of it CU I don't think they have a State Rep to really push their agenda um it's it's kind of the opposite of like the MTA conference that we hear about like they have people that can you know make some waves and MC doesn't so um that's why we kind of went away from it when Kathleen chose not to come back because and I thinks go there to die we have conversations with our own local reps when there are things that are important to us and I think having you know we've been very fortunate to have J bars for a number of years who will be you know moving on and we'll have someone new um in January but we also have a great relationship with Steve how we have a great relationship with senatori um as a committee and as a district and you know we reach out to them a lot about different about different things and that has been more impactful for us but it's really up to you guys I'm also I have a I have a workshop that I have to go to all day on that day anyway so I mean to me to me I think we should moving forward we should always have someone on it because I think it's important that if we did have something something big comes up and we can have someone go to it I think we should do it um obviously it's another day of someone's day driving all the way highs and so on and so forth um but I mean I don't know you know I guess by me saying that I would if you want me to do it and maybe maybe moving forward we always just kind of nominate the chair we rotated but if just nominated the chair we typically historically have always rotated chairs anyway that like it was it was more of a the respons if you wanted to do it you did it um I mean we have a little bit of a budget for school DET tra for things like this so it's but and this is where like I said a lot of the resolutions don't affect the District of M I mean the content itself is actually a great opportunity for a school Community member to go they have a ton of sessions that are relevant to your role they have sessions that um help to give you a different perspective on the day-to-day of schools and it's also really good for networking too because then you're meeting other school committee members from either like communities or different communities and and just like for me when I'm struggling with something I call my friends that are superintendent and other places and say have you heard of this like what are you guys doing about is having resources for you as a committee is not a bad thing yeah so yeah if you want me to wear it I'll wear it this year it's up to you I mean no one's I think I can make it uh I'll still look but I I would have done it but I um have a professional development that I for so I've never gone personally I I mean I've heard mix like I said the biggest thing coming out of it is there's a lot of talk about the resolutions and then everybody votes on it sometimes it's not even unanimous so it's like I don't even know how like if it not everybody's for how do you do that it's not like if they're counting votes or something so I mean it just my my biggest concern with it is no action typically comes up yeah yeah that's F so that's why members in the past have just said you know let's let's not send anybody but a lot of it like I said depend that's why asked for the for the resolutions like there email I sent you guys last so um it's if you want to go go if you don't don't wow vote well do you want to check your schedule cuz we still have another we can table that till Wednesday if you want to check his doesn't I don't think anyone sound like they're really ready to run and jump drive down high so we did get an extension for submitting it someone's name so so we can table it till Wednesday we got an extension till tonight do on Friday so we have to make motion I don't have anything that weekend so I shouldn't have anything at work go ahead and nominate me if you want all right I will nominate Nick sler to be the MC rep for the annual conference all those in favor always for yourself um sorry lost my agenda um oh that's it other business nope good all good all good uh I'll entertain a motion to adjourn so move actually do we have to move into another meeting or no okay motion to adjourn so move all those in favor tell me