I'm going to call the North School Committee Wednesday, April 30th, 2025 meeting to order. Uh we will do the pledge of allegiance, flagg 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. Um the meeting is being recorded by foreign media. Uh if anyone else is recording, please just let us know. Uh first thing obviously the town election
over uh we are going to reorganize the school committee. So I do believe I have to read this whole thing. Yeah. All right. I'm sorry. Realization of the known school committee is required by school committee bylaws following the
annual town election and the process is as follows. I the chairperson will open the meeting and turn the election process over to superintendent of schools who will act as a chairperson prom for the purposes of receiving nominations and conducting the election for the chair person of the north school
committee. All nominations must be seconded. At the end of the nomination process, a motion must be made and a second to close the nominations and then a vote is taken for the election of the chairperson. If there are only one nominee, the chairperson promp will cast one vote and announce a nominee as a chairperson of the north school
committee. Upon the completion of this process, the newly elected chairperson will assume his or her duties and conduct the election for vice chairperson. The same process goes through each nomination with seconds and motions to close nominations as required. Uh, in accordance with with
the school committee bylaws article 1, section two, both the chairperson and vice chairperson hold their respective offices for one year or until their successes are duly elected. After the election of the vice chairperson, the chairperson appoints one school committee member as a legislative rep,
one for one or two members as employee negotiations rep, one or two members of capital improvements committee representative, one as a uh the CPAC rep, and one as a permanent building committee rep. At this time, warrant signers are also appointed, numbers one, two, and three. Um, I'm not going to go
through all the positions. We're just going to turn this over to Superintendent O'Neal. Okay. Thank you. Um, so I request a motion to open nominations for the chairperson of the Norton School Committee. So move. Second. All in favor?
I uh I request nominations for the chairperson of school committee. uh nominate D and she to be the chairperson. Second. Are there any other nominations from the floor
or from the not the floor from you guys? All right. Um seeing no other motions, I request a motion to close nominations for chairperson of the Northern School Committee. So moved. Second. All those in favor? I Okay. So
there is only one nominee. I will cast one vote for Dan Sheibi as the chairperson of the Norton School Committee. Mr. Chairman, I will turn the rest of the nominations over to you. Okay. Thank you. So, at this time, I would request a
motion to open nominations for vice chairman or chairperson of the Nordon School Committee. So, moved. Second. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? I. At this time, I'll entertain a motion for vice
chairman of the Norton School Committee. I would nominate Justine Kalan. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? I I 5. This point I will request a motion to
close nominations for vice chairperson school committee. So moved. Second. All those in favor? I. Okay. Um, moving down into let's see, legislative representative currently.
That is a position that I hold. Is there a motion to appoint? I'm not going to appoint. I'm not going to nominate myself. All right. Um, is there a second for Nick as legislative represent? Second. All those
in favor? I would be Nick. Uh, the next is negotiations representative currently held by Mr. Schliker and Mrs. Callahan. Um, I would say our best interest is to keep those
two because we are in open negotiations. So, I'd entertain a motion to appoint or reappoint Justine and Nick to the negotiations representative position. Second. So, sorry.
Second. All those in favor? I'll figure this out. Yeah, we'll get it eventually. Everyone just keeps saying everything. We'll get it. We'll just Sorry to keep track. Uh, Capital Improvements Committee entertain
a motion to approve or motion to appoint to this position currently held by Audrey and Justine. So moved. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? I.
Uh, all right. The next one is CPAC representative. Motion to appoint Audrey as a CPAC representative. So moved. Second. All those in favor? I uh permanent building committee
entertain a motion to appoint I'll make a nomination to appoint Laurara, our new member to that one. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? I welcome a vote. Uh, warrant signers. Currently, the
order is Mrs. Cohen, who is no longer here, Justine and myself. I would nominate Justine to be number one. I would nominate uh Audrey to be number two, and I would
nominate Dan to be number three. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? I are those all recorded? Yep. All right. At this time, we'll continue on with our meeting. Uh the
second item on the agenda is the public comment period. Anybody wishing public comment, please come up to the podium, identify yourselves and your address. Okay. Seeing none, move on to the next item, which is vote to approve the minutes of the April 16th open
session meeting. Has everybody had a chance to review these? Yes. Any changes, comments, questions, concerns? I had a question. It said that Antonio was absent. I thought he was here. Yeah, he was here. So, that was my only thing.
And then Ben was Yeah. Okay. So, we can make that change. And then just just for a point of clarification, um for school choice for ninth and tth grade, it says ninth and tth grade, five. That doesn't mean we're giving
nine. No, it just means five or I don't know if you wanted to clarify that a little, but other than that, it look okay. All right. of entertain a motion to approve the minutes with the
changes asked for by the committee. So moved. Second. Does it get quick? Jeez. Uh all those in favor? I Everyone's warmed up after all those. Uh next is the warrants. Mrs. Cal. All
right. I have reviewed and um I forget what do I say? I reviewed and It's approved. Thank you. The following school expense and school payroll warrants. Um school expense warrant April 16th, 2025.
1,18,2894 cents. School payroll warrants April 3rd 2025. 1,140,12592. April 17th, 2025. 1,196,9542. Um, I wish to enter that in public record. Just for sorry, just for meeting purposes, Sher Cohen did sign
off on these based on the timing of Yes. when they needed to be signed. Next is the student representative updates with Antonio. All right. Good evening everybody. um from the Yell. Uh the week prior to
vacation was our finals for our 2025 ST Math Math March Mathness tournament where all 15 homers are matched up against one another in a bracket style tournament competition. We look for for each student to do their 60 required puzzles per week with a class with a
better percentage. Moving on to the next round. The final two home rooms were Miss Lean's fourth grade versus Miss Hannon/M Winter's fifth grade home room. MS and fourth grade students took home the title in a very close match. They were crowned our 2025 SD March Madness Champion as a prize. They'll be heading
over to Honeydew for a little field trip for a donut and a hot chocolate provided by our APTO Missures home room as our interups will have a donut brought to them from Honeydew. And our consultation third place winner Miss Rose's fourth
place students will have Honeydew donuts brought to them as well. We are getting ready for our math mcast asking all students to put in their best effort, take their time and make sure they answer all the questions and all the parts of open responses. During the MCAST days, our students start with morning recess, then a snack in the cafeteria with all their friends. And we
move their their specials to the afternoon so that the day is pretty enjoyable one for our students as they deserve it for their effort that they're putting in. We know that they will show how much they know. Uh, math pass is next week for both
grades and science. MT pass for fifth grade is the week after on Tuesday, May 13th. All we ask again is for our students to put their best foot forward best our students to put forth their best efforts. Next week is teacher appreciation week and we cannot thank our teachers and staff for everything
they do for our students and we know we can expect an awesome lunchon our PTO has put on for them. And then from the GCS, just before break, the GCS community held our fun run where all students were invited to participate in an exciting outdoor event during the school day with family members cheering
them on. Even our prek students participated and had a great time. We had terrific weather and the event was very successful. Um May is a busy month for students and next week we have book fair sponsored by our Solomon parent organization as well as the celebration of the JCSC turtle days on Thursday. The
annual celebration is held to teach students about the history of the Sony school and celebrate our school's history through a variety of activities including an all school assembly historic presentation set up at our library and that all students are able to visit and a faculty student volleyball game. And then from the LG LG
students had a visit from the yo-yo man today thanks to our PTC Uch show is called positive spin and what's all that talking about negative situation and turning it around into a positive situation. There are yo-yo tricks, music, dancing, fun, and positive messages. Everyone had a blast. We are
also excited for our third grade expert fair, which will take place tomorrow at 1:00 in the cafeteria. The third graders had have had quite busy working on their projects and are excited to showcase their their products. We are so proud of all their hard work. And then from the high school before break, NOR high
schools integrated what we hope would be a new tradition. We put on Battle of the Grades. All week, students dress up for spirit days. And on Friday, all students participate in the battle of the grades in which students earn points for their class by completing activities and games and competitions with other group of students. Students participate in activities such as trivia and athletic
adventures like capture the flag, whiffle whiffle ball, pickle ball. The senior class of course ultimately won the competition to keep score. Is that is that why they won just the first? Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then all right, of
spring AP testing starts next week. It isn't it isn't exciting, but it's a great opportunity for our students to show off all of their acquired knowledge. And I just wanted to add that uh for the first time ever, the Lancer Theater Company participated in the Ocean State Star Wars, which was sponsored by uh Providence Performing Arts Center, where we have theater
professionals in the Providence area come see our show and they give us a rating um and they give us seven we got seven nominations um which is really big for us. So we have um our outstanding leads which were Savannah Hagerty and myself. Uh we have Kirk Goldie for
outstanding acting, Taylor Marks for outstanding supporting actor and our advisors Miss Caroline Martell for outstanding directing and our tech director Mr. Mat um for outstanding tech outstanding stage management. Sorry. And then last but not least, we have Savannah Lan for an honorable mention in
public operations. We had a big giant Audrey 2 puppet and she was using a rope and just opening it and closing it um for 2 hours. So we applaud her and that's all I have for you. Great. Excellent work, Antonio. Congratulations
to you on that nomination. Um it's so amazing and such a great um recognition of your work. I got to see the show myself and you were fantastic as Seymour. Um so congratulations. And I happened to be um with Miss Martell when
she got the nominations while we were in Greece and she was just over the moon. So congratulations to all of you. I saw the video. Thank you. Uh next is our student spotlight series with the Henry Yell Unified Cornell program. All right. Thank you. I'm going
to invite up Mr. Hagen um and Miss Lily Williams who is the coach of the unified cornhole program at the Yell School. Well, first of all, we would just like to thank you for having us here tonight. Uh it is a great honor to be here and um
and I just can't say enough about uh Mr. Hayward because uh he was instrumental in getting the unifi program started at the middle school which then included us uh with the Massasoya League. So we've taken over cornhole as our kind of
thing. Uh but we help and we support uh the middle school team with basketball and botchi and doesn't want basketball botchi and and now cornhole. Uh but uh it it's a great great program. It it's all about
breaking down barriers. It's about fostering uh inclusion and and making it something where the friendships happen across all grades and with all students. And so we have some of our students here tonight. Um Miss Williams has taken over
for Mrs. Mallister who has been our head coach, but she's on maternity leave. So Miss Williams has filled in doing a incredible job. We just had our first game today. Match meet. We don't know what the name of it is for normal, but um but we just I believe we won. Um kind
of like with the seniors that Antonio was talking about uh they're not really keeping score, but we are keeping score and uh and we won. We we definitely can drove back home. Very sad. Uh but uh but yeah, so we have some pictures there of our team practices and then some
pictures from today. That form, Mr. Gigan. Yes, Mr. Gigi did some form hole, too. did a great job. And participating in unified sports offers numerous benefits for our students. It promotes social inclusion, builds friendships, and enhances
self-esteem. It's an excellent way for our students to showcase their sportsmanship and school spirit. So, is this an instance where, you know, I know that the backbone of unified sports is participation. So, so how does it work when we start this program? Do
you is there rules that you show everybody or cuz I mean I've been playing cornhole and I still don't know the rules. So how does that work like to show these kids what their expectations are that to then compete? So it's so um there's there's um a coach
in West Bridgewater who oversees the cornhole. So she sends out she sends out all like the rules and regulations so we're all on the same page cuz there's a lot of different variations of cornhole. And then she was the one who kind of paired us up into teams based on when everyone could do everything so we could
have our matches. How many matches do you anticipate having? Like is there a schedule or how does it Yep, we have a schedule. We're going to be playing for four weeks. So, we just had our first game. We have two more games coming up. Um next week we just have some practices. So, we're
looking forward to it. Um we have a really big team coming in two weeks, so it should be really fun. Yes, sure. Come on up. Who's the shy one that doesn't want to? I'm Arya.
I'm Avery. I'm Dylan. I'm Sam. I'm Nick. I'm Joey. Did you have any other questions for them? They they have prepared some answers in case you might have questions
for them. If they want to share their knowledge, they can step right up. [Music] I like corn. Wait, I forgot. Yeah.
I like cornhole because you could throw the bean bag and stand anyway but not too close. I like playing cornhole cuz you get to meet and make new friends. I like playing the cornhole because I like helping people who need help with
sports. Dylan, are you a ace at this like you are at baseball? Yeah. Anybody else want to Who can tell me the distance between the boards? I'll put you guys on the spot since no
one wanted to volunteer. It's like 24 ft. I I honestly don't really have no idea. He wants to have to measure mine at home next time. I was really looking for clarity.
Sure. I think 30 ft. 30. I don't know if I can make 30 ft. So, we'll have to imagine. We'll check. I got a question. Who made the Norton port? Any idea?
No, I believe that they were made in our high school wood shop. Um, and there's a bunch of people nodding their heads in the audience. Um, several years ago. Um, and they have been used at the high school, they're being used at the middle
school, and now we're using them down at the yell as well. Cuz that logo, and I forget your name, bud, but I think that logo on on your sweatshirt right there. Yeah. We should slap one of those things on those doors. Yeah. That Can we um take a picture of all the
kids, Mr. Kan and Miss Williams? Can I Can I just see something, please? Yes, go ahead. I am so excited that this is the student showcase for the first my first meeting. Um I'm so big on unified um sports and activities. I'm actually one of the um school leaders um for my
school down in Spons. So, anything unified is like awesome. Um, and my daughter has been on unified basketball um, in Norton here all three years at the at the middle school. Um, it was really such a great thing to see some of the Yell kids come up to play unified
basketball. Um, so all of you should be very proud of yourselves. Um, how many of you are fifth graders? That's awesome. So, how many of you want to participate in unified sports next year at the middle school?
Yeah, that's great. I am so proud of all of you and you should all be very proud of yourselves. Congratulations to you. As you just said, that was something that Mr. Hayward realized that some of the schools had fifth through 8th and he
was like, "Well, Marty, why don't you have some of your kids be involved, too?" And so, I can't thank Mr. Hayward enough for including us, cuz it's just made it so much better for us. And now Joey's going to be one of the first ones who's participated in fifth grade and he's going to be going all the way up.
They're going to probably like think that he's not qualified anymore's over. Where would you like the picture? Wherever you would like it. Stay there. Move everybody in, guys. And then
Mrs. Russo will take the picture for us. Thank you. Congratulations, guys. [Applause] I stayed. We got practice. Next time we have you guys break the boards and set them up. All right. The next item um item number seven is to vote and approve the Norton
custodial department employees union contract. Uh we are going to table this item because we do not have the final draft in front of us. So that will be moved to our next meeting. Moving on to the next is vote to approve the Norton admin assistance
employees associates contract. Wow, that's a lot. So Dr. um good evening. Okay. So, in front of you, you have um the updated um agreement between the Norton School Committee and the Norton administrative
employees. Um there are a few um minor changes here to this um contract. It is a three-year contract which will begin July 1, 2025 and go through June 30th of 2028. Um there is a new salary grid for
employees that are hired after June 30th of 2025. Um there are some few housekeeping items that were removed, some outdated references. Um and then we also are um allowing our administrative assistants to take half personal days.
Um these staff members work almost year round. So giving them the flexibility during vacations and summers is definitely something that um we thought was an an easy thing to agree on. Um are there any questions about the contract itself?
Uh how many members are in this particular union? Do we not have a number? Yes, currently nine. Small but mighty. So um regarding the sickly bank with such a small number,
um I might have missed it because I had to go through it a little quicker than I would have liked. Um I know that they donated a day to build the bank. Um, is there a maximum number of days in the bank?
Um, no there is not. So, what happens is when it gets down to um a certain number, what we'll do is we um we'll take another sick day from them in order to replenish the bank. Okay. Um and they
can get up to 20 days at a time. Up to 20 days at a time. Okay. All right. Thank you. Any other questions? Um and then I just had one more um question um article um 22 um which is on page 20. It's titled
maternity leave. Um and to me it's just a little bit of a language thing. So um you know if you have um male administrative assistants um if they would like to be able to access this, they are not having the
baby themselves. But um so I wasn't sure if we wanted to look into changing that instead of maternity leave to parental leave. That's an easy fix. It would just be language. Um we do have a male administrative assistance and he did take advantage of parental leave last
year. Um so we can certainly that's just a language change which I'm sure they would be fine with as well. Would that hold up approving the contract or would we have to we can still vote on it. It would just be taking out maternity leave and in
putting in parental leave, which is a very easy fix. Any other questions or comments? Uh, just a comment from um Lisa and Lisa Barney and um Judy Lizio um to work through this contract. I think Max only
took us two sessions and probably about an hour and a half total max. Max. Um they they came to us with a you know very fair proposal. Um and we got it done you know fairly quickly which was which was outstanding. So I think it's a fair contract to our administrative
assistance um and obviously to the town of Norton and the taxpayers. All right. Entertain a motion to approve the Norton Administrative Assistance Employees Association contract with the language proposal change. So move. All
those in favor? I Thank you. Uh, next is the district alignment updates with Dr. Romeo. Okay. Um, so we met probably about a month ago and talked about the school start time conversation and discuss the fact that really other things kind of need to come
into place um, for all of this to happen. So over the last few weeks, I have spent a lot of time looking at um, districts that have gone through the process of redistricting or realigning their schools. Um, and we have met with a number of consulting firms as well.
Um, I've narrowed our search down to about three consulting firms at this point. Um, and I'm working with them to put together proposals for the committee. Um, ultimately there are some great people out there that do a lot when it comes to
geospecifics and the outlying outlining of a community in terms of student enrollment. things that we are certainly not um experts at in my office. Um but it's going to come down to finances at the end of the day. So um I'm still in
the process of putting those proposals together for you, but I will have them for you on the 14th and then we can make a decision as a committee on how we would like to move forward. One of the biggest factors for us is that we already have a committee in place. We've done a lot of the work. We've, you know,
surveyed surveyed staff. We've looked at our our space. We've done that alignment. Um, so we don't need a a a consulting firm to come in and do all of that. Um, we also don't need a consulting firm to come in and be the voice of of the work because
ultimately I think that, you know, myself and my team and then you all as the school committee, we have the relationships within the school community and bringing someone in from the outside. Um, I think the message is better served coming from us. And so,
um, not all firms will kind of allow you to pick and choose what they provide. So th those are some of the things that we're looking into right now. So um that's the update and I will bring you the proposals on the 14th. Okay, any other
questions? So this was just to kind of go back on this. This is looking at school start times, redistricting, all those things we kind of talked transportation. Yes. So are we are we looking for a consultant that maybe not necessarily rubber stamps our work but
they said you you know this is good this is good you may want to look at this kind of what we're looking for verification taking it to the next level so um doing the work with with enrollment data and trends looking at where students currently reside looking
at um birth data and saying okay if we're going to move the line for JCS and LGN where should that line be drawn Um there's a lot of people out there that that's what their expertise is in. Um so that's really that next step that we really need to have some help with.
Any other questions? Okay. Move on to the next item. Uh review and vote on recommended budget transfers. Mrs. Hy. Um thank you. So, what you have in front of you is the first um transfer request
um of the year for um school committee approval. Um we're looking for um approval to move funds from um over expenditures in the spir expense lines from the salaries. Um so we are
requesting $72,510.34 coming from sp um coming from sped salary lines to offset um the over expenditures of the sped expenses lines questions. Why did we overspend our budget by
72,000? this I obviously we have the line items here on the back. I guess we don't need every little one, but like what is a sped two contract DW? Um those were unanticipated services that we needed collectively districtwide
um um on the tutor contract service that we had to outsource and that could be for multiple children. It is for and then I'm assuming how did we from a transfer, how did we get $72,000 in salaries that we get to transfer over?
Um those were position moves um between the top ones that you see JCS and LGM. We had moves um between the two different schools. We had teachers that left um and then we brought in lower rates where that's where those savings were coming from. Um and then as you can
see different offsets there with the um pair professionals of high school and teach uh teachers at high school. So it's not that we lost to staff members. It's through attrition. We've saved money. So we're moving money. Yeah.
Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Entertain a motion to approve budget transfer as receptive. So moved. Second. Second. All those in favor? I. All right. Next is review and vote on
changes to the school calendar for 2526 square. Okay. We have um brought back the calendar for you with um some changes from the last time. Um, and I also included for you um our rough PD
sketch for 2526 because I think this is helpful um for everyone to have a better understanding of the different priorities and needs that we have um in order to provide staff with professional development um throughout the course of the year. So, as um we know staff return
at the end of August, they will be reporting on Tuesday the 26th for our welcome back day and then Wednesday the 27th, which is our district-wide professional development day. Um in this proposal, we have kept the um end of the
month um early release days for professional development on September 24th and October 29th. You can see those highlighted in yellow. Um, November 20 of 2025, there is no professional
development scheduled. December, there is no professional development scheduled. January 28th, that is remains the same. Um, in February, we did not um keep the professional development day that was there. The students have a week
off. It's a short month as it is. We're keeping students there. However, in March, what we did was we added two um half professional development days. Um as anyone who works in a school setting knows, March is the longest month of the
year. It just goes on and on and on. Um so we are proposing a early release day for professional development on Wednesday the 4th and then also Wednesday the 18th. Um elementary students also have Wednesday the 26th as an early release for parent conferences.
In April, we moved the date um to April 8th instead of having it right after the break. And then May 20th would be the final early release professional development day of the year. So, this version of the calendar still gets us
the same amount of time that was originally proposed. Um but we just move the dates around a little bit. Um and as you can see um on the following page the professional development that is needed um there is a huge amount of
uh training around curriculum and instruction our TSS work um database decision-m we as you know we have inter reading at K to 5 it will only be the second year for them um the high school has their NES accreditation descendo
visit coming up um we have a lot of work to do in terms of special education, foster district collaboration, um, and and so on and so forth. So, my team kind of com combine their efforts here and all the different training that needs to happen. So, hopefully that
gives the committee a better idea of what happens on those days as well. And once the final schedule is determined um, for those days specifically, we can share that with you as well. So this I probably this doesn't include
like changes at the high school for finals and those are all in there already. Yep. And we shouldn't have MCAST shouldn't impact the calendar in terms of early release days. Um is there any um thought about the like little answers? We're actually
meeting on Tuesday. um Tuesday. And so what we're looking at is flexing professional development for the little Lancer staff. So in one month they would have professional development in the morning and the morning students
wouldn't come but the afternoon students would be on their regular schedule and then the following month they would have PMPD. The morning students would come as normal, the um afternoon students would not come. So, we're trying to make it more equitable for those families. Um,
and looking at the timing of that as well. How would that work with the full day prek? So, it would they would either if they were a full day, they would just come in the just in the afternoon on those days that that PD was in the morning or vice versa.
Any other questions? Um, so there's still 10 half days, correct? There are seven half days for professional development. Um, there are three early release days for students
districtwide. Um, November, December, and then June. Um, the June day is a full day for staff. Um, they are here all day cleaning up and doing all their paperwork. the November and the December dates. It's not a full half day for staff. They're usually released about an
hour or an hour and a half ahead of time. So, I I I guess one question, not anticipating any snow days, if we have one, would the 12th then go to a full day and and kind of shift that half day to the last day school? Okay. The last day is always a
half day and that's when staff that's when they do cumulative records. they, you know, get the folders to the teach the next year's teacher. All those things happen on that last day. I had um two questions. Uh my first
question is um just cuz I'm learning. Um typically in Norton um does the union um have input on the calendar? Do they get to see the drafts of the calendar and and look things over and have say? Not unless there's significant changes. And
this is our typical model that we use. So if we were going to start school before, like if kids were coming back before Labor Day or we were getting rid of a vacation, then we would, you know, share that with staff before it kind of comes and gets approved. But and then um
kindergarten ending earlier than um everyone else is that typical too. Yes, we do kindergarten screening on the last day um because otherwise we would have to pay staff to be here for an additional day. Um well, this is two days though cuz this is um like we're
not count. So like so the last day is the 10th. So so screening happens on the 11th and 12th. Okay. All right. Thank you. Yep. I guess it's not a question more of a comment. I just again feel like the community what I've been hearing is just 10 and a
half days is a huge pain. Um especially when you know seven of them are around professional development. you know, it just to me it's we're we're disservicing our community to, you know, make parents and everyone else try to,
you know, get out of work early to get these kids off the bus or pick them up from school or whatever. So, you know, I know we need a calendar. I I I know we're in negotiations, you know, but I I'm I don't I'm I'm torn here cuz obviously we need a calendar cuz parents need to start planning a little bit here
as do teachers and whatnot. Um but again I just I will fight half days because I just think the day gets lost and then when there's 10 of them that's to me 10 days that are lost out of out of in classroom learning you know so that's my
thought. Can I can I ask a question to piggy back off of that? Um so just from personal experience when we do have cuz we do half days as well. Um, typically how our half days are run, um, we try, I
don't know if this is a practice here, we try at least the elementary level to squeeze in as much of the academics as we can. And so then really ultimately the half day is justified in the sense that the kids aren't having lunch, they may not be getting their special per se, recess, things like that, at least at
the elementary level. So there is still a significant amount of academic time being conducted during that half day. um and then still counts as the full day. Um and then the other thing I would offer up too is if you look at surrounding districts, I mean the this
number of half days is not something that's really outrageous. Yes, a lot of other districts do do full day professional days. Um but again, it's I don't know it to me it's a little bit of just splitting hairs. So, so we are
required to serve lunch. If we do not serve lunch, it does not count as a day. That's Massachusetts state law. But, however, we can send lunch home and that does count. Or is that one of the exceptions? I believe we're supposed to serve a hot
lunch and I can double check with my um because we were not doing that in the past and we got in trouble for it. Part of our state audit. Uh and and and so I better go check out lunch. Don't don't tell Mr. Hulcom
that I said that well. Yeah. Um so we are required to serve lunch. Um we were doing things differently previously and we and we got our hands slapped. Um I I think if you're going to trade half days for full days, that's that's a different
conversation. But I I don't think we could we couldn't possibly do with less professional development time than we already have. I mean, you're doing a disservice to students if teachers don't have the training that they need to be able to, you know, teach in the classroom either. No, I I totally agree
with that. But like I said, it's I don't know. It's a to me to me there's a better middle ground to make this work for kind of for everybody a little bit. Everyone give and take a little and I feel like we could get there. But I also understand that we do have some extenduating
factors here as well. So I mean my thing is is you know just as last April vacation you know depending on what teacher was in the middle school and whatnot is were you down in the you know auditorium sitting there the whole time playing around with games and being outside or were you in the classroom? It
all depended you know. So you know I get it. I know, you know, let's we can we can all remember back to our days in school and again I I know everything's different now, but when you have a half day, the whole aura about the day is completely changed. Um, you know, and I don't to me
I don't I don't think there's a huge stress on academics. I think it's more of hey, it's a half day, let's have fun, let's have a you know, I know I think one teacher called it social emotional learning day. Where did that come from? I have no idea, you know, but that's the that's the things that we're hearing. So again, that's why I'm looking at it more
in terms of, you know, how do we make this work for parents and and also keep these kids in class. So I I would sorry I want to just I would be more than happy to walk you around on a half day and I would say that you know nine times out of 10 there is definitely quality
learning happening. I mean, you know, taking as a difference. So, I in in my, you know, work dayto-day, one of the districts I service has had five half days this month in various different schools. So,
I mean that and some of them are middle school, some of them are elementary school, but three of them as a whole were districtwide. So, I mean, I think we're being, you know, there's a happy medium. There's there's there's a little bit of fairness on both sides. I mean, half days are nothing new. I mean, we've
all been there. It's just we we can only do so much, but you know, as we learned with the PD, some of these things need to be done periodically. And, you know, as as we pushed last year to get some new curriculum, well, now we have to show these teachers how to, you know, perform with that curriculum. So, you
know, years ago, I believe we we kind of pulled one of the full PE days and that's why we come back earlier with the teachers. So that was one thing I believe we took off the calendar going back probably at least 10 years or so. Yeah. So we would do one day prior to the
beginning of the year and then we would not have professional development like the full day until November. Y but and again we have three half days leading up to vacation days where everyone has a half day and there's no PD. Correct. Two
last day of school. Last day of school is a full day for staff. Okay. 23rd of December. And it's they're not like full half days. Teachers get out about an hour to an hour and a half before the students. After. Yeah. Sorry. After. No, we don't need the money.
That could be interesting. Let's go for that. So again, I I don't know. I mean, I just looked at this as an district early release. You have November, you have December, you have that's it. Those two. Well, and and I think that's practice across most
districts is to have those before breaks or some I actually again my districts, you know, they're off before breaks. They they don't work. So, it's just you're going to find, you know, there's 351 districts, you're going to find 351 variations. So, um I know there was like
a lot of discussion the last time we did this and so I just wanted to make a couple comments. So, one is I'm sorry you felt like you had to put this together to show us. No, I don't. We didn't feel like we had to. We wanted to provide you with some context around what was going to happen on those days
because I totally trust in the admin team and what you guys were doing on professional development days. Um, and I know how important they are. I think from the perspective of what I hear from the community is yes, it is an inconvenience for families to make this
work, you know, once a month or whatever it is. Um, but I also think from a professional standpoint, I just love the idea. I know in that maybe I'm speaking just from myself, but when I go to a conference or a workshop, when I can sit there all day long and collaborate with
colleagues in an extended amount of time, I just feel like I'm gaining more. So, I I love the idea of a full day professional development, but I also can understand that there's other factors to providing a full day professional development and this is what we've done
and this is what works and and all of the things. So I just wanted to make those two and I again fully trust um the way you guys put together professional developments. Thank you. We just thought it be it would be good background for you guys and I also understand that they are needed and that time is certainly
needed. Um so just to clarify if there was any confusion from the last time. Any other questions, comments? Okay. Entertain a motion to approve the calendar as presented.
So moved. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? I I All those opposed. Uh motion passes four to one. Uh next is the update on strategic
planning. Okay. See your slides there. All right. Thank you. Okay. So um we have been working on the strategic planning process uh since early in this calendar year. Um we have a fantastic committee. Um Christine, if you could
come up to the slide. Um that is working together and literally every single time I leave these meetings I think what a great group of people this is because there's a lot of really engaged parents, a lot of really engaged staff. So the role of the committee is to really work together to help create the district
plan um and represent their shareholder groups. Um the way that this system has been working is um I will do work with the leadership team um and we will build off of what the strategic planning committee does and then the strategic planning committee
takes the work from the leadership team. So it really is a nice um back and forth between um the members of the community that are are engaged in the planning committee and then the leadership team itself. Um so so far um what we've done is we've given surveys to staff,
students and families. We held a community forum. Um we've done a SWAT analysis um which includes identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of our current system. Um, we looked at the root causes of some of our
current issues and then we have also just began last night imagining the future of Norm Public Schools. Um, so I wanted to share some of the feedback with you cuz I think this is actually really interesting. Um, these are answers from the community
forum, answers from our parent surveys, and answers from the um, committee themselves. So in school programs that are important, they talked a lot about reading fundamentals, um technology and programs that foster student
creativity. Um how can we ensure a sense of belonging for all students? A lot of conversations about invi inviting parents into the school more, providing more multicultural events. Um how can we make better connections with the community, whether it's the senior
center or the fire department or a town hall. um making sure that every student has an adult that they make a connection with at school. Um and then also do a better job of sharing what we're doing. Um there are a lot of great things that are happening, but we need to make those
connections more public and explicit. Um we asked families what they thought their role was in supporting their students in their learning. And so um communication, partnership, connecting the learning from school to
home um being involved. And then we asked what's the responsibility of the student. And I think this is so interesting because it's a lot of things that we talk about all the time. Self- advocy, advocacy, student voice, learning through mistakes. We all make mistakes every single day and our kids
think they need to be perfect. That's not how we learn and grow. Um, what strategies can we engage to improve student achievement? Um, more explicit data use, useful data. That was one of the things that we talked a lot about last night. Um, better explanation
of curriculum to families, teaching about grit and perseverance. Um, showing the connection between the academics and the seal. Um, how can we improve upon developing well-rounded, productive citizens?
Personal finance, that's something we've talked about here a lot. Mastery learning. How do we know that kids are taking and owning that learning day-to-day? Um, bridging the gap between high school and college, but not just high school and college, high school and the workforce, in the trades, in
careers. Um, and then, you know, better use of transitions between one school and the next. Um, family engagement in elementary is so different than family engagement in middle school and high school. And for, you know, those of us who teach or those
of us who, you know, have seen our own children through these grade levels, it's so different. But more showcasing for students like the steam night where students came and they were showcasing um things from their class or from their activities. A lot of you parents want to
come and see their kids engaged and involved. um you know make curriculum more curriculum based events that engage students and family and the community together. Um and then how can we foster a better connection between students, peers and teachers, um increasing
electives, growing the list of clubs, thematic events, older students reading to younger students. Um all these are all really great um things here. So it was I wanted to share some of that with you. Um, one of the key factors that we're
using in looking at our strategic plan is we wanted to make sure that we were bringing research practices into the fold and not just creating a plan that felt good um, but instead had specific factors that showcase school improvement
because while we do well in certain things, we have a lot of opportunity for growth. So in the work that we're doing both with the leadership team and with the strategic planning committee, we are looking at these four domains around rapid improvement. So there's turnaround
leadership, talent development, instructional transformation, and then culture shifts. And under each of those categories are smaller um areas are are domains that we're looking more closely at.
So, so far based on the survey data that we have, based on um you know, feedback from staff and from families and from our committees and leadership, we've identified five of those domains that I
just shared with you. Um, and prioritizing improvement and communicating urgency, setting clear performance expectations. So, we're giving staff a lot of things that they need to do, but we're not being super clear about, you know, what does the
data review process look like? Once we have the data, what should we do with it? Um, so that's what we're talking about, setting clear performance expectations. Um, diagnose and responding to student learning needs, building a strong community intensely
focused on student learning, and then providing rigorous evidence-based instruction. So, so far that's kind of where we're looking at our our key areas that we need to explore further. So, what we did at our leadership meeting on Monday is we all
sat around and each group had one of those five topics and we took a look at how we could improve those areas and we did a protocol called the five W's. Okay. So, for example, um identifi Christine, can you go back forward one
quick second? Thank you. You can go back again. So if we are talking about diagnosing and responding to student learning needs, why is that a challenge for us? What Oh, you can go forward. Sorry. Um my fault. Why is that a challenge for us? So we asked the
question why? And every single time we had a why, we would say okay well why is that? Until we could kind of dig down into the root cause of this particular problem. And so one of the things we had to remind ourselves is that you know
there are certain things that we can control as a system and there are other things that we can't control. So we had to focus really on those two inter internal circles. So the core realm in instruction curriculum and
assessments and then the next one out leadership supervision professional development materials scheduling. It's much more challenging for us to um you know if budget is the is the root cause we're not going to get very far in
solving this problem. We need to figure out a way that we can control what um what the what the cause and solution are. Um in you know personnel governance and all those
things. Um and then so we talked about last night with the um strategic planning committee thinking about 5 years from now based on all the feedback we've had from families based on the data that
we've seen and the priorities that we've identified and you know what does Norton look like? What does it sound like? What does it feel like and how did we get there? So, that is um those were the two things that we asked last night and we had some
really great conversations, but those conversations are just beginning. Um I'm going to be inviting staff to some different community forums to talk about the future of Norton and asking those same questions. What does it look like 5 years from now and how do we get there?
Um and we're going to do the same thing with our leadership team. um and and see what else we come up with. And I'm also going to do it with my superintendent advisory group cuz they are the most honest people that I work with. My high school and middle school kids, they tell
me exactly. So, um you know, we're not done yet. Uh we still have to finalize our strategic objectives. We have to look at the mission, vision, and core values. I'm fairly certain there is no one in this room, including myself, that could give you our mission or vision off
the top of our head because it's not something that's lived. It's not something that we own. It's very long. Um, we will draft the plan and solicit feedback within the community um and within our staff and then I will be
presenting the finalized plan to you all at our meeting on June 11th. Um so we are definitely um making great progress. Uh as I said the strategic planning committee is an exceptional group of community members. They are so engaged
and they're willing to have difficult conversations. Um and I kind of leave every meeting thinking, okay, this is this is going okay. This is going fairly well. Um just because uh they're so willing to roll up their sleeves and have difficult conversations. Um and
then this summer we will be working on implementation. We'll be looking at that professional learning document um adding things in as needed and then the principles will be starting their school improvement plans to share with you um probably at our first October meeting
because I guess so that's it. Happy to answer any questions the committee may have. Um I think I just want to you know say thank you to those who are participating in this strategic planning operation.
Um, you know, I think for far too long, you know, the vision didn't exist for public schools and you still see that in some other districts that you can't you can't not have a plan for what the future holds and and there can be wild
cards, but at least we have to know what we want to be and what we want to be as a district. So, thank you to all of those who are participating in this questions, comments. Okay. Um, any other business coming
before the committee? I don't have anything, Mr. Um, I don't know. Do you want to touch upon this? I guess I know it's not an invite to us, but maybe just make an announcement here. Yeah, you can make the announcement. Okay, cool. Um, Norman Veterans Council is hosting their
Memorial Day parade uh Monday, May 26th at 10 a.m. Um, they'll be leaving the high school parking lot proceeds down east. If you've ever been, they do the loop around the common. Um, and then the um, Master Sergeant Trenton Memorial as well. Just kind of throwing that date
out there as we got from Gary Cameron uh, with the Norton VFW. And I got one more if no one else has anything. U, I just want to say thank you. I know we had a uh eventful fincom meeting if you will uh on Monday night. Um however um you know I know
that that that committee is uh you know put on the spot right now in terms of you know the town budget and how everything kind of shakes out and you know in order to you only got so much money to play with just like we do. Um you know so in order to make everything and balance the budget is definitely a challenge. Um, I especially want to
shoot, you know, shout out Zach, uh, Tillis who kind of came up with an idea, um, you know, to almost get us to level services, um, without having to make drastic cuts, um, you know, again. So, I I think, you know, there's obviously still work to be done. Um, you know, but
what the FINCOM's going to recommend moving forward to town meeting, I think, is going to put us in a pretty good spot. Um, and be able to hold all of those positions that we brought back during last fall town meeting as well. Um, so I think we're in a pretty good spot there. Again, we still have some work to do, you know, with via school committee and obviously uh Jen's team,
but um you know, I I think what what we saw transpire, I think definitely deserves a thanks. It's not as simple as uh you know, moving a moving a dollar here to take a dollar there. So, thank you very much to the final. Um I just want to thank, you know, uh the
community as a whole for coming out to the election last week. Um you know, I also want to officially welcome Mrs. Customsson to her first meeting. uh and many more to come. Um and I also want to thank Mr. Schlagger for you know his leadership as school committee chair for
the last year. Um it it does not go unnoticed. It is you know obviously it's a thankless job sometimes but um he did that with with good understanding. Um so I I want to thank him for his time in that role. Um are there any other comments, questions, concerns from the
committee? I'm excited. Okay. Um just one last quick one. Um the town manager search um Andre I know you probably have some a little bit more inside information but um it does seem like there's going to be quite a bit of
meetings leading up to that. Um so we are going to ask the select board and that committee to see if it's a process that maybe a few of us can fill in for Audrey as she's on that. Obviously in these roles like anybody it's a volunteer position. Um you know there's going to be quite a few meetings. However, I did hear some good news that
they have over a 100 applicants. um already on the on the docket. So hopefully hopefully we'll be able to get someone who can uh you know kind of take the town to the next level. Okay. All right. Um entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Second. All
those in favor. I I Thank you. Have a good night.