All right, good evening every everyone. We've got little light attendance tonight due to some conflicts and uh personal uh commitments, but we have a quorum, so we will get going. So, I will call the uh June 1st, 2026 meeting of the public school committee to order at
7 p.m. Everyone will please join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and
justice for all. >> Thank you. And now I'll read our land acknowledgement. We acknowledge that we are meeting on the unseated ancestral homeland of indigenous people whose enduring presence we humbly recognize. We honor the Wampaoic people as the original stewards and the Herring Pond
Wampaoic as the surviving tribe indigenous to these lands. In our commitment to lifelong learning, we acknowledge historical injustices to the native people of this land and how to educate ourselves, our community, and our students on the first peoples and the hardships they endured. We offer this as a small but essential step
towards building a culture of respect, truth, and accountability. All right, next up, we've got comments from the community, and we have two people signed up uh this evening. First up is Miss Lauren Molo. >> Good evening.
Lauren Milo, Manamemed Elementary School Council member, precinct 8 town meeting member. Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak again tonight on the importance of early childhood education programs here in Plymouth. I welcome Miss Parker to the newest
schools committee and uh congratulate Christina Bryant as well on her reelection. Um, I'm sure you're aware studies have shown that for $1 invested in early childhood education, you will get a return of
between $4 and $13. Many of the costs associated with special education services could have been avoided by earlier detection and remediation, for example. Both the Plymouth master plan and the
district's own survey shows that affordability and accessibility are the top concerns of families here in Plymouth. Through the Commonwealth's public preschool initiative grant, the CPPI, the Department of Early Education and
Care have made affordability and accessibility a guiding principle as well. If additional funds were to be made available next year, Plymouth would have to demonstrate their commitment to both those criteria before additional funding
could be received. My familiarity with this grant stems from my writing of the initial grant for Sandwich a year prior to Plymouth's initial submission. Currently, Sandwich, a much smaller community, receives a
million dollars per year, whereas Plymouth receives less than half of that. Plymouth expends the vast majority of their grant to fund just four positions at over a 100,000 each to mentor two
private child care programs and provide occasional technical assistance to other local programs. While this year's grant submission was approved under this model, I would urge this committee to read and review next year's submission,
especially if eligibility amounts were to increase, which is a possibility. Um, but there's never any guarantees. But the Department of Early Education and Care said Plymouth is definitely an underfunded community and they would like to see Plymouth access more
funding. I believe making preschool more affordable by offering additional classrooms, a sliding fee scale, scholarships, or vouchers would favorably position Plymouth to receive more funding while at the same time
providing relief to struggling local families who may otherwise forego a preschool program such as those left behind in Manet. Thank you. >> Thank you for that. All right. Uh, next up we have Miss Miss
Sandra Broen. My name is Sandra Broen. I live at 15 Trina's Path. I'm a retired school teacher of 40 years. I appreciate the opportunity to address you all tonight. Thank you. I come against to you in opposition to the cse comprehensive sex
education program that the eighth graders are currently being introduced to. These children are 13 and 14 years old and in the state of Massachusetts the requiring uh the consent age is 16 years old and um you know this is not
right legally um to consider the program for next year for sixth and seventh graders makes this worse. In Deuteronomy 30, God says,"I call heaven and earth to witness to to you against this this day. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose
life that you and your children may live." A few years ago, I came in front of this body dis um uh discouraging the acquisition of a DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion director. I said and believe still that if the students really learned the golden rule and
practiced it, treat others the way you wish to be treated, there wouldn't be any uh need for that position. I advocate for putting the golden rule up in every classroom in our schools. Very small cost, possibly very great benefits. Another body of knowledge that
used to be up in the walls of the school, the public schools is the ten commandments used to be in our schools. the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Si for God's people. The finger of God wrote these two on two stone tablets. I'm going to read a
childlike version and make a couple comments. Um, and you all have a copy. Do not ha uh ten commandments. Do not have any other gods beside the one true god. Do not make an idol to worship. Do not misuse the name of the god Lord your God. Keep the Sabbath day holy. That's
the seventh day, the day of rest. Honor your father and mother. Do not murder. do not kill. These are people. There are people in our country who want to kill because they disagree with you. You know, if they learn to practice do not murder, do not kill. Schools uh would not have to shelter in place to be
protected. Um do not ste keep your keep your marriage promises. Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not want things that belong to someone else. Covet. Choose blessings. Choose life. The golden rule in school. The ten commandments in school. Current events our students should know about. Proclaimed in January
2026, this is the year of celebration and rededication. This year celebrates 250 years of American freedom and independence. In some schools, children are being taught to hate our country. Very sad. Yes, there has been much evil,
but there's also much good in our United States of America. Um, the month of May was Jewish American History Month, Heritage Month, I'm sorry. May 7th was a national day of prayer. Governor Mora Healey and President Donald Trump um both did proclamations. May 15th and
16th, National Shabbas, Shabas, the Sabbath, the day of rest was called for for the whole country if you wanted to participate. I thought that was wonderful. That's that was one of the commandments to have that day of rest. May 17th, our country was officially rededicated in Washington, the United
States as one nation under God. There was a rededication. It happened. Five of my friends were there. And if you want to watch it, I think it can still be seen on C-SPAN. So, thank you very much for your time and please do consider that if you have the power to do that,
to put these things on the wall because it, you know, might save somebody's life. You know, do not kill, do not murder. And thank you again. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh, having no one else uh wishing to speak tonight, we'll move on to our student representative reports.
First up from Plymouth North doing her final update, Miss Anna King. >> Um, good evening everybody. This past Friday, the junior class celebrated their long- aaited prom. And a special shout out to the junior class officers and prom committee members for putting
together an amazing night. Congratulations to our several sports teams who competed in the MIA tournament. Congrats on an amazing season. On Friday, the senior class celebrated their last day of school with a very nice class day ceremony. Tomorrow, June 2nd and Thursday, June
4th, graduation practice will take place at 8:00 a.m. at the stadium. Additionally, tomorrow night is the senior dinner dance and will be one of our last times together as a whole class and the class the dance will take place at Indian Pond. On Thursday, June 4th is academic convocation night and will take
place in the PNHS pack at 6:30 p.m. Elementary walkthroughs for seniors will be happening on Thursday and Friday this week. And this Saturday, June 6th, is the class of 2026 graduation ceremony that will be held in the stadium at 1:00 p.m. And lastly, thank you for allowing
me to speak before you for the last two years. This has been a great experience and opportunity to represent Plymouth North. So, thank you again. Thank you, Anna. It's been a pleasure having you here, and we wish you nothing but the best in your future endeavors. All right, Mr. Charlie Walker from the
South. Uh, good evening. It's been a busy time of year. May was jam-packed full of events. Uh, first of all, congratulations to our boys tennis team and girls softball team for winning their first round tournament games on Friday. Boys tennis will now head to
Westboro tomorrow while softball heads to Walpole for the round of 16. Uh special um congratulations to Kaylee Gendron for pitching her 500th strikeout as a junior uh which again is just an incredible accomplishment. Fall sports
signups were today at Plymouth South and parent night for meet the coaches is June 11th. Uh thank you to coach Steph Finn who organized the second annual PSHS women in sports day. Girls tennis, softball, and lacrosse joined per game for a brief celebration and national
anthem performed by Giata Panino. All teams won their contests and supported this cause with the purchasing of shirts. Um Katie Shaughnessy and Jordan Elliot represented PSHS at the MIAA Girls and Women's and Sports Day today
at Fanuel Hall. Um we had a very successful senior class day on Friday with the class of 2026 and their families. In addition, we have hosted the top 10 breakfast and senior athletic awards over the past few weeks. Wednesday night is the senior awards and Thursday is the dinner dance. The annual
elementary school graduation walks are also Thursday and Friday and it all culminates on Saturday with graduation. A great day for unified track at the state sectionals. Congra congratulations to our medalist um Kylin Valentine for second place in the second tier shotput.
Damian Wean, third place in the tier 4 shotput, and Patrick McGee, uh, sixth place in the tier 4 100 meter dash. Skills USA students hosted a fantastic bus driver appreciation day last Thursday and recognized all drivers. A
special good luck to Skills USA competitors currently competing in Atlanta for their national competition. Um, and congrats to the cast and crew in the musical Foot L uh in the musical Foot Loose. We were so proud of the cast and crew and it was a great performance.
Thank you to Plymouth uh South Middle School sixth graders who planned a special recognition ceremony for our seniors who are entering the military after graduation. Students prepared remarks and shared thoughtful gifts with the students. Special thank you to Plymouth South Middle School teacher Colleen White for spearheading this
event. Members of our interact club organized a fashion show at at Benchmark Senior Living. Students wore their prom dress and celebrated with the senior citizens. And finally, student council elections will be taking place next week for the 2026 to 2027 school year. Thank
you. >> Thank you for that, Charlie. Lot going on in both both schools. >> All right. Any any questions for either of our reps? No, I just would have a comment that I think we're so fortunate to have just such a diversity of offerings, whether they're gender
inclusive, um, veteran recognition, sports, arts, just so many opportunities for people to be treated the way they want to be treated. And I just wanted to recognize that.
>> Yeah, absolutely. >> All right. Well, thank you both. All right, next time we'll move into our uh uh school updates for today. The first we have our last uh school improvement plan of the year. We have Mr. Derek Thompson from Columbus South Elementary.
Thank you and good evening. Um get a chance to talk about our school improvement plan. So, this is um our first full year in in our three-year plan. So, it's been super busy at South. Our first I did just want
to thank our council members, Brienne Shepard, Allison Blether, Michelle Allegria, Beth Goodwin, um and then our teachers, Rachel Ival, Haley McSherry, Tracy Feny, and Victoria Briggs. Um we have a great
group that have brought a lot of ideas, a lot of insight into the development of our plan. This year it's been really about monitoring our plan and implementing our plan. But um so just a little bit of background about the school overall, we have 644 students this year. That's up a little bit from
last year. We expect to be up a little bit more next year. We have 31 GenEd home rooms. We have three Strive home rooms. um 22% receive special ed services and 28.6
um low income. Um our first goal at South we have four goals overall. Our first goal um just big picture is about improving academic achievement in the school across the board. Um and this year has been really marked by making
sure that tier one in the classroom, the instruction in the classroom is really solid. Um, so there's a bunch of things listed up there that we've been working on. We've had literacy professional development embedded within our school day with Mossflower. Um, we have all our
teachers in grades 3 to five piloting units. We've been doing learning walks. Um, we we've been doing a lot as it relates to curriculum instruction. Um overall though the real essence of the plan is about making sure that every
single student in the school and all subject areas is on a path of growth. So, in addition to a lot of the professional development initiatives that we've had going on, there's also been a focus on making sure that we're implementing our assessments, our universal screeners, um really talking
about how we look at that data, that it's not just about like where kids are achieving at, but whether or not they're actually progressing and making growth. Um, and then what do we do when we see kids are not making growth. So the reason for focus on tier 1 and year 1 is
to really make sure that in all of our classrooms the instruction is solid that certain things are guaranteed to kids that we're going to have small group instruction and that there's a level of consistency across the building. Um and then we have systems and structures in place to analyze our data. So we've
built um planning time for teachers in in addition to their planning time. We have teacher uh built-in time for teachers to meet as a team to analyze data to take a look at what kids are growing, what kids are not. Uh that oftentimes that meeting is the great is
the best first defense for kids that are struggling. Um but then we have a child study team process where kids who are struggling, we make referrals to that team. Um we get more minds around the table and really take a look at
marshalling our resources. We we've been doing so much as it relates to this goal. This is really like a um big picture overview as it relates to it, but really the main goal is making sure that we have the systems, structures, and supports to make sure that all our
kids are on a path of growth. Um I thought MCCAST fit next to this slide pretty well. Um and the way I opted to put it up there was the way it's been presented in the past. Um, but basically
the overall for ELA and math is I feel like South has been pretty stagnant for the past several years. Up and down, a little bit above the state average as it relates to ELA, there's not really been anything statistically significant
in terms of movement. So, I I do think we still have a lot of work to do, hence the focus on that first goal. Um, it's the same in math. we dipped a little bit in our math performance. Um, if you look at it just this way in relation, this is the percentage of kids that are meeting
and exceeding. Um, you know, when you unpack this data, there's a lot more to be gleaned from it. But again, it's I feel like it just reflects that we've been pretty steady. Um, not really going up as much as we should be. Um, but we
haven't been going down either. We did experience a pretty significant jump in our science scores last year. Um, you know, and I honestly don't know completely what to attribute that to. We did focus on science last year a little bit. We have a STEM week in the
building. Um, so again, just a quick touch quick opportunity to touch base on MCCAST. Our second goal um is one we've been doing a lot of work in and I think also directly relates to our first goal. Um, and this
is about student well-being. And the vast majority of our work in this area has been the development of a rubric that we have buildingwide. Um, it's my belief that when we look at our kids as
learners, you know, in education, we really only have like the tip of the iceberg defined. And that tip of the iceberg is the standards and the things that we test and measure. But really what it takes for kids to be successful are the skills that are under the surface. And this is our effort to try
to put those skills to paper so that we have a little bit of clarity around what it is that we are expecting of our kids. I think it's our misunderstanding of these skills and the potential that they hold that often leads to our kids
struggling in school. I like to use as an example um kids staying focused independently for a period of time. When you walk around an elementary school, any elementary school I've been in, we're all over the place in terms of how long
we think kids can work independently. If you go across six third grade classrooms, you know, you you might have one teacher that believes kids can work independently for 35 minutes and another one who thinks they can work independently for 5 minutes. Our job is to prepare kids for middle school to be
able to work independently. And I think if we have some continuity and consistency in terms of what our expectations are, like I like to think of the fact that we have kids for six years um from kindergarten all the way to fifth grade. And if we have clarity in our expectations and consistency in
the way we teach those skills, the likelihood that we'll realize those skills for kids is much greater. And you know, I think sometimes these skills get looked at like they're an add-on or something additional. And I really don't think it is that way. I think they're foundational. Um, and another example I
like to use all the time is when we think about, you know, third grade readers, we want kids to know that an author um is a real person and they, you know, wrote a book and there was a message that they had in that book and that the characters have feelings and emotions. You know, if kids lack the
ability to understand the kid that's sitting in the chair right next to them in class, they're going to struggle to connect with an author who in their minds is an abstract person. So, I think, you know, I'm super proud of this rubric. We've spent a lot of time. We have expectations at every grade level.
I don't know if it's perfect yet, but this is a collective staff commitment to start to put those um things down on paper. And I think it's going to serve us really well in terms of improving our academic achievement as well because I think, you know, the hardest part of
teaching is getting kids to act like the learners we hope they become. Um, and I think it's important that we are clear what that actually looks like. So, uh, this is our second goal. Um, and we've been doing a lot of work on that this year. Our third goal is about special
education. Um this year's focus has been really on reducing the amount of pull out that we have across the building. We've made great strides in that area and making sure kids where appropriate are included. Um you know it's my belief
that inclusion is a mindset. So, it's it can be a little bit harder sometimes to include kids in the classroom and like, you know, do the planning and the prep work that it takes, but I think it sends some it can send a really negative message. We need to be very judicious
when we're taking a kid out of a classroom because they know they're being pulled out and they can feel different. So, we've been really committed to taking this as our first step, but we still have a lot of work to do. And I think as we move into year two and year three, a big part of that work
is going to be around understanding the disabilities that we have in front of us and how those ma disabilities manifest themselves within the classroom and then just really developing some consistency because we're not currently consistent in terms of how we address different
deficit areas K to five. So again, in alignment with this rubric, sometimes we overidentify kids because we don't maybe recognize that the expectations we're having on kids are maybe not fair or not high enough. So just aligning us that way. But in parallel to this work with
the rubric, really working with our special ed teachers so that we know what to do and we have some consistency around how we approach executive functioning issues, reading issues, any number of things that we face. Um, so that's been a major point of focus for
us as a building as well. Um, and then the last is about school culture. Um, we've been doing I I feel like we've made a lot of great gains in this area. Our first step was really around clarity of expectations. We spent a lot of time on this with students. We've built some
structures in place to give us avenues to talk to the kids. We have whole school meetings. We also have grade level meetings once per month uh that our two school psychologists and our adjustment counselor help facilitate that. So we're doing a lot of work around the positive behavioral
expectations that we have for kids, articulating what those are, teaching them, what does it mean, everything like that. but also for staff. Um, we developed a survival guide which is essentially a collaborative handbook uh for the whole staff in terms of our
policies and procedures and you know what do we expect? Staff have the opportunity to comment on it. If they don't if they think something's not clear or there's a rule or you know something that we need to work on, they'll put comments and we'll address it. But it really spells out everything
from how do we line up and come into the building from recess, how do we handle things in the lunchroom, what can you expect for discipline, behavior, positive recognition, things like that. So those are a couple things that we've been uh focused on there. We've also been really committed to making sure,
you know, our motto at South is we are one south and that's you know part what comes along with that is making sure that everyone knows that their voice matters and will be heard. Um, so we've been building in structures from student council to make sure that the kids' voices are heard to grade level advisory
meetings that we have after school. We also have a culture club. So both of those meetings are um optional. Staff can come, but they're very well attended. Culture club focuses on breathing life into the school. And so couple slides here of like we've done a
ton of painting. We have new signage all over the building. Uh we have a whole bunch of awards. We have a booknook. You can see my friend Andy there standing in front of it. Um, we have a school store. Um, one of the big things that both kids and staff have talked about is the need
for inclusive playground equipment, including fencing in our playground, which are PTA funded this year. You know, it oftenimes you don't think of a fence as being inclusive, but a lot of our kids could not go to that playground because it's not fenced in and they can be a flight risk. So, um, we've been
doing quite a bit around the building. We've also built two different s well, this is really a sensory garden. We also have a contained playground space for our strive kids. So, um, pretty proud of all of that. We we have so much stuff going on with all of that. But, um,
yeah, I think everything that you see reflected in that regard at South has been has come from either staff or students. And so we've been just really trying hard to live up to our motto, which is we are one south, which is getting everyone to understand that every single person in the building has
an impact every day and we all have a responsibility to do our part. And so we've been working really hard to help staff understand what their role is. You know, we have an owner impact award. Um, and just trying to highlight that like little small things can have a really positive impact. But also the same thing
with kids, talking to them even even about simple things that when we show expected behaviors, it goes a long way to creating a positive school culture. So that's my super fast version of an update of a very complex plan. >> Appreciate it. Great up great update. I
will uh turn over for questions first. Miss Jackson, >> um I just wanted to say I really appreciate um your move towards more inclusiveness. Um, as somebody who works with adults, I can tell you that that differentiation
and exclusion like becomes part of their identity. And so the sooner that we can work towards inclusion and having it be part of who they are. Um, so that they're not feeling different and identifying themselves that way, the better off we
are, you know. And I was also wondering if you've seen a shift with your like let's call the more mainstream population in their reflection of how they view inclusion. >> Yeah, I do. And I think I'm going to go back to the rubric for a minute because
I think you know in education right now, you know, if left unattended, people would think the vision is to prepare kids to take a test. And so we get really stressed out when kids aren't at grade level and are green on star. And I think it's really important that
we articulate the whole child that we're trying to develop and then start thinking about within our building what things are we doing that help or hurt, right? And I think when you take the time to take a strong stance as an administrative team to say these are the
skills we value. We we see these things as foundational and it's our job. we are here to build these skills in our kids. Um, it helps have that conversation and it helps us be a little bit more reflective. I think sometimes, you know, people have good intentions, but we get
a little bit lost in what we think the expectation is. You know, in reality, any parent sending their kid wants their kid to be loved and cared about. They want to make sure that they're growing. Um, and that we understand like, you know, confidence, perseverance, feeling
included, feeling like you belong. Those are all important outcomes of a school as well, just as much as their test score. So, um, I I've seen a lot of huge shifts in that building across the board. And like I said, all of those ideas were essentially staff driven ideas. Um, so that that's been the nice
part is, you know, as we kind of unpack this and talk about it more, there's been a lot of good things bubbling up from the building. So, >> thank you. >> Yeah, no problem. That's Brian. Thank you for a very concise presentation. No problem.
>> I also do appreciate to see how the schools are doing a lot more sharing of best practices but able to highlight the things that make you know your particular school special. M >> um one of the things that really stood
out to me that I appreciated and you mentioned in your comments and something I haven't >> seen um in the other schools presentations is you know you mentioned the own your impact award. So how you're
really spotlighting teachers and students. So seeing the picture with the teacher really excited to be recognized as well as the children show the impact on the culture. So thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Great Miss Parker.
>> Um I just have a comment and I do have one question as well. Um I loved the contribution chart. I thought that was very clear. Um it's clear for students, staff and families. Um, and I just think it's um,
a lot of times people get confused when you say things such as um, you know, using respect. So sometime I think lots of times kids need that to be explicitly spelled out for them. So I like how you use the language. Um, students at South
will or they'll know how to. >> Um, so great job. Um I was also wondering which uh programs you mentioned there were pilots. I just was wondering what programs the teachers were piloting. >> The the only pilot that um is the new
units um for literacy in grades three, four and five. Um so for us itself to have all teachers piloting that is a big step. Um because I think from what I understand there's been you know mixed buy in with different things in the past
and I think you know my job is to get everybody on board with the things that we're being asked to do. Um and the staff have really stepped into that space really nicely. It's been great to see across the the building. I think there is an energy in the building and you know it's a it's a good place. People like want to do a good job and I
think it's really just about making sure that there's clarity in what those expectations are. Um, you know, I I feel like coming I worked in Plymouth for 11 years and then left and came back and I I feel like we're resource rich here. We have a lot of things and you can get like a little bit confused sometimes
about like what to focus on and what not to focus on. So, we've just been trying to simplify it just taking it one step at a time. >> Um, you know, we've been focused on number corner in the lower grades, piloting the new units in the upper grades. Next year
I really want to shift and get into science a little bit more in social studies. We um I mean we're doing what the district's asking, but we haven't like really focused on it. So, you know, I just think pe people's plates are so full like and just trying to be conscientious of, you know, what what
will fit, what will not. Um trying to be responsive to needs that we see, you know, um and trying not to do it all in one year. like you know it's going to take us a number of years to get to where I hope we go. So, >> thank you.
>> All right. Um I just had a what I think right now just one comment because all my other questions or comments were um taken by my fellow members which is good. Um I just wanted to reiterate kind of double down on um Miss Jackson's comment about the commitment to in inclusion particularly the uh limiting
um pullouts. And I'll just give a a personal example that put some color to what M. Jackson said, which was perfect, which is I was when you were describing that, it made me think of my my son who was pulled out uh pretty frequently during um uh elementary, and I'm hoping
that he's not watching this meeting, which I'm can pretty much guarantee he's not, but I I remember the the stigma that it uh put on him, and it took him, you know, and you know, led the bullying, etc. And it took him into high school to like to shake that, you know,
um, you know, what do you, you know, was dealing with in in elementary school. And this is a kid who's now excelling in college. And so I I think that what you're doing is is huge. And Mr. Jackson hit it perfectly right that that those little things in that seem little in elementary school like become part of
them and shapes people. So the more we can limit that, I mean, I think it's great. So >> yeah. Yeah, I agree. We do need to be thoughtful because it becomes their identity later. And so I said it's like hard to get kids to be the learners we hope they become, right? And I think we need to be real thoughtful in terms of
how we approach that, how we talk to the kids. Um because there can be a lot of unintended consequence when our compass is off a little bit. That's why I think this rubric is really important so that we because confidence is an important part of it. Like kids shouldn't, you know, kids who struggle with ADHD are
redirected constantly. And I don't think we always recognize like >> it's a struggle. It's a neurological condition. And it also beats up their self-esteem. And it's not to say that they shouldn't be redirected like they need to be, but um we do need to be
thoughtful in terms of what their experience is like. And that's why I like this rubric because it says confidence is an important outcome too, right? like their test scores aren't the only thing that matter. Um, so we need to be thoughtful about that. >> No, it's huge. Thanks a lot. And and I although I'd love them to feel be able
to explain it, I will take the huge jump in the science course. So I'll take it. >> All right. Any other questions? Thoughts? >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next up, we have Miss Denise Tobin for our uh Plymouth or Early
Education Center. So, good evening. I'm Denise Tobin, the principal of the preschool, the Plymouth Early Childhood Center. Um, and I'm going to tell you a little bit about our school this year. So, who we are, we are an integrated preschool program. Um, but we do offer a
continuum of services which start with um outreach. If a student just qualifies for one um area of therapy, they can just come in to the school, get their speech and um go on to um somewhere else. Um we this year we just started a
playgroup in January. Um and basically the premise of the play group is we are finding a lot of students were coming in for evaluations, but they had never had exposure to preschool or anything like that. and we we're trying very hard to
not overidentify students. So, this playgroup allows them to come in for 6 to 8 weeks um have this playgroup. One of our special ed teachers runs the play group. And it really gave us an opportunity to see if a student was presenting with a disability and needed
to move forward with an evaluation or if it was really just the exposure piece. Um and we were able to cycle um six students through um and move forward without evaluations and they either
became peers or left us and um went to another preschool where they had already been attending. Um for integrated classrooms um in case anybody doesn't know, we are regulated by the state to have no more than 15 students in an integrated preschool classroom. Seven
students have been identified on an IEP as having special needs and eight are peers from the community. Um we have two hybrid classrooms and a hybrid classroom um offers a full day for students on IEPs and the morning is integrated with
community peers and the afternoon um are just the students on IEPs where they work on specific skills that then able to generalize into um their integrated program. Um we have a therapy model
which was several years ago and then we didn't have the need for it but we brought it back this year and the therapy model are really is really designed for students who have multiple therapies and they are integrated three
mornings a week. One morning a week is just um are just the students on IEPs and the therapists come in and really focus on all of those therapies in that model. Um, and then we have three substantially separate programs. We have, um, at Head Start, we have two
staff members. We have a special ed teacher and a speech therapist who goes out to Head Start twice a week to provide special ed services there. Um, and then our CPPI team, which I will talk about um, later on. And just our team, our special ed teachers, PAR
professionals, related service providers, our front office team, which includes our nurse and our special ed department head. Um and then our CPPI grant team. So um we put this chart in here just so you can kind of see um what our
enrollment has looked like over the past several years. So the thing about preschool is um as students turn three and we find them eligible, we have a really a rolling admission. So October it's always a little bit lower and then by the end of the school year we're um
we're much higher. So um this year you can see in um as of April 1st we were at 294. This morning when I looked we were at 299 students. Um and we had 188 we
have 188 active IEPs right now. Um, as I said earlier, we're trying really hard to not overidentify students and through the AVAL process, we have had 30 initials um that resulted in no finding of eligibility. So, um, and then just to
add to this, 34 students are turning three between June and September 1st. So, there's a there's a lot happening. So, um, our referrals, so as of April 1st, and there's a little chart there that kind of shows where the referrals
have been. Um, this year, as of April 1st, we've had 43 parent referrals. Early intervention has is at 102 referrals. Um, and I know Cassie just received three more um that are turning three over the summer last week. And
then um our Head Start referrals have been 20 this year, which is um higher than it has been. Oops. Oh, sorry. Um so even more numbers. We have conducted 187 evaluations. Um it does not include in-house evals
where students have been recommended for further evaluation, the CPPI or Head Start. Um 11 three-year re-evaluations. So, um, sometimes a student starts, um, early on, um, and we have them for two
and a half years, um, or we're really we try to get some of the September birthdays done before they head off to kindergarten. And then, um, CPPI has conducted 30 evaluations. So um our inclusive program provides an environment that offers a variety of
learning experiences. Community peers play a huge role in that um and they have the opportunity to learn alongside students who are receiving special ed services and they get the benefit of having special ed staff kind of provide um their education. So we did hold the
lottery in January. Um 79 students were accepted off of the lottery list. Um 11 were placed on the waiting list and there were 14 additional families that have since signed up for the waiting list. Um we held a new community peer orientation the week of May 4th where
new parents um came in. We had one at PCIS and one at the new um Plymouth South Middle School site um so they could hear all about what preschool was going to be like. Um tuition is going to $20 per day next year and we do offer um
a sliding scale for families. I use the EEC sliding scale um if any family has um is struggling with tuition. So um for our curriculum we use the social emotional learning and approaches to play as well as the guidelines for
the preschool learning experience. second step. Um, we've been using portions of handwriting without tears for years, but this year we added learning without tears, which is the get set for school program. Um, it is a multiensory approach to learning. It has
lots of manipulatives and songs. Um, and it groups the letters with similar shapes. So, they start with the straight line letters and then they move to curve letters. They practice building the letters. Um, and this was a way, so we
really didn't have a curriculum that focused on um, literacy. All the teachers were pretty much doing kind of their own thing, but kind of similar. So, this really helped provide us a similar content, materials, and instructions for everybody. So, just some curriculum highlights. You
can see our students kind of practicing making letters. You can see the wooden um, things that they use. They use Play-Doh. Um they have these wipe off boards that they use to really practice um all the formation of the the letters and the sounds. And then Matt man um
they learn to draw um people. And again when they build a person um they're using two curved lines to build the head. They're using the straight lines um to build the body. And that's part one of the very first parts of um before they start to learn letters. And of
course, play is a huge part of our curriculum. So you see students are playing in the store. Um and like I said, we embed play into everything. So the expansion to um South Middle,
we are um getting there. We're in good shape. Um there are six classes that are going to go to South and seven classes that are going to stay at PCIS. um they will mirror each other as far as programs go. Um having a continuum of
services at both locations and then PFN, the Plymouth Family Network will be at both sites which will expand access to families um on all both sides of town. And again, the purpose this will allow us to begin to think about future growth
for our program and expanding access to preschoolers. So in the current space where we were um you know there's lots of ideas that we throw around um do we want to provide full day do we want you know to do different things we really can't do anything because there was no room for growth so now we would have the
room to for growth so we can start to look at other models goodness I did it again all right so CPPI um so this is year three of our CPPI grants um we have the grant for at least two more years and it has been
level funded um ever since we got it. And um it does support a special ed teacher, a speech pathologist, an OT and a part-time BCBA. So as their um you know they follow the contract here. So as their salaries go up um it eliminates more money from the
grant um and it covers there. And it was very important for me when we first started to have our own staff be the ones that were on the CPPI grant and go out into the community um because I knew what the community was getting um based
on our the um the skill level of our staff. Um so that was a real important piece to me when we first started. Um there are also some grant requirements that we are required to do to have the grant. um class observation being one of them where a consultant comes in. Um and
then we do offer some summer we do a um a kindergarten boot camp for students that receive special ed services um through the CPPI. So that happens over the summer. Um our partner schools are Bright Ideas and Tiny Town and then um the YMCA is not a partner school, but we
do provide special ed services um to them as well. And um we've been out to several other community schools um to do observations and evaluations um and offer support. And basically the premise to CPPI um
it's set up to ensure that there's quality preschool across the community and to provide options for families to keep their students in their daycare um settings instead of getting on a van and coming to us for part of the day to receive their services. Um
part of the grant this year was that um the CPPI staff had to screen every single student in a CPPI classroom. So they conducted 68 screenings and then they provided RTI services for 20 of those students who um scored a little
bit below um on that. And then um as of January like I said 30 they conducted 30 evals they provide 11 um stu 11 students get direct services from them and then they've also provided um professional
development for the staff at the area preschools and they've done five professional development series um this year. So, one of our big focuses is to try to talk to families about um limiting
screen time and this book kind of fell into that for one book one school. Um it supports imagination and creativity and play with just a box. So, um during our one book one school students made musical instruments, they built a city.
They u made a map. They drove cars through a a path. They went through the car wash. Um there was a book nook that they created. They made a fire station out of boxes. They did some art projects. And if you can see in the um
the corner, our speech therapists put together um kind of like a map for them to go and a scavenger hunt really to find the pictures and all the pictures are taken from kind of the core vocabulary that the speech therapists use. So, um, as
they went to the different things, they had to find it on their scavenger hunt. This one was probably one of my favorites so far. Um, so Cape Cod 5, four teachers received grants this year. Um, Melissa
Hilly, hers was live in action at Chicken Hatchery. We just had six babies last week. Um, it was very exciting. And um Melissa is amazing and she reached out to EdTV. They set up a live cam over
the weekend so um everybody at home could watch the chicks hatch um and watch them over the weekend. So that was great. Um Mary got a ramp discovery for inside and outside. Lisa Howell, you can
see in the lefthand corner there. Um she building balancing and problem solving, hands-on STEM exploration. So, those are um these long rubber things um and metal and kids could like build and they had these wooden balls and they were going
all over the classroom. They had a ton of fun with that. And then Haley Thompson um she got to sing, swing, and snuggle. So, we got some new swings for for our subseppparate classrooms.
Um we our PTA um they're very small um but they work hard in supporting our school this year focused on a shade structure for the PCIs playground um and that is going to be installed this summer finally um and next year we'll have one PTA that will support both
schools and um I do have to say that they um treated the staff amazing this year during teacher appreciation week. We were very very fortunate and one of the events that they do is a movie night and we do that in the PCIs cafeteria. So
that's what that picture is. >> So collaborations and field trips. Um over at the middle school we have the babysitters club. They come over at the end of the day a couple times a year um to practice their babysitting skills.
The making connections club, they planned twice this year. They planned whole lessons and activities that went along with a book to incorporate literacy and they came and um taught their lessons in our classes. Um Mr.
Sier does a huge science um and they set up centers and the kids can come in and go to all the different centers and experience the um the experiments that they do. Our holiday concerts are a huge hit. Um, it's the orchestra, the band,
and the chorus, and our kids are dancing all over the place. Um, we love it. We have, um, an intern from Project Growth who comes over with her job coach. We have, um, tech program interns, and this year we had OT and PT interns. We visit
the planetarium a couple times a year. Um, New England Smile came and they did a whole thing on taking care of your teeth. And then for our field trips this year, um half the school went to the sheriff's department to the farm and then um the other half went downtown for
a scavenger hunt and then they went they walked over to the fire department. So we've been busy and the reason we're all here. So I think the snow on the right I think these kids enjoyed snow more than anybody else um
>> around. The hills were huge and um that bottom picture was taken from inside the window. So you can just kind of see how how much they um how high it was. >> And then um again just a lot of explor exploration
playing um over in the left hand corner that's the coreboard and um we have that all around the school. So we have a lot of students on AAC that use AAC devices to communicate and that's their um the main page. So that's all around the
school. And here in this picture, those are two of our peers. Um the teacher had it displayed in the classroom and two of our peers are communicating using that um with their students. That's it. >> I have a question. How do you get them
all dressed for the snow? >> It takes forever in two and a half hours. It takes forever, but it's it's a huge like >> 10 minutes. >> It's a huge part of their development. They're learning how to do all of those things themselves. So, dressing for
outside is very important part of the preschool curriculum. Yeah. >> Good. All right, Miss Bryant. >> Thank you. Good to see you. >> You, too. Um, in regards to the referrals, I was really interested in seeing the data of the majority of um,
referrals coming in specifically from EI. Um, could you just explain for people like myself like who are the EI people that would be referring them over? I was always under the impression that the
numbers were driven by families getting kids into preschool. So early intervention, they are they're birth to three and they are supported through the Department of Public Health and um at 2.9 if they're making any referrals um we need to receive those referrals by
the time the child is 2.9 and we have until their third birthday to evaluate them and if we find them eligible to have an IEP in place and have them start services by their third birthday. >> So am I right to read this data?
Excuse me. that for this year as of April 1st we had uh 200 about 210 maybe like 200 oh no 294
students in school with 181 of them on the IEPs by which went through this evaluation process whether it was a parent I brought them in then they were evaluated or community partners bringing them and evaluated.
>> Yes. And um don't forget this is ages 3 to five. So some of them are with us for two and a half years, some of them are just two years and some are just referred at four. So they're only with us, you know, a year or even a couple months. >> But could possibly keep that carry through the IEP from the time that it's
identified all the way through going off to elementary. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> And Denise, I think it's important to note about the EI process. So families are um referred by like a pediatrician
or through other state agencies. >> Yes. Yep. And then um our special ed department head, she has what's called a transition planning conference which is part of the early intervention um transition. We're required to do that. So the early intervention um coordinator
for that family will come in with the family with the child. Um, Cassie goes through a whole list of questions and then at that meeting they determine what areas they want to evaluate the child in. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Jackson, >> hi. How are you? >> Good. How are you?
>> Good. I just wanted to ask about the um expansion and how that was going and where you felt like we were at and how comfortable you were with things moving forward. >> Yeah. Um, I think we're in good shape. I'm hoping um that everything is ready
by the end of June. And that would be my my goal. We do have a meeting this Thursday at um South Middle for the um committee that was set up um just to kind of go through everything, see where we are, kind of go through our check boxes. But I think we're we're getting there. We're in good shape. The high
school students have been the last time I was there. Um the high school students were there working on the benches that they're creating for us. Um so that was fun to watch them um do that. So um we're slowly but surely getting there. and the sinks. Two of the sinks I think
have been installed. Um, and we're waiting for the other two sinks to be installed and the toilets. >> Thank you. Sure. >> All right. Great update. I I had two questions. One, I will follow up on Mr. Jackson's question about uh the South location. Um, I was like in the
different activities you have like babysitting club and all that that are obviously from PCIS. Have you already had conversations with u Miss Fry and uh you know Miss uh Barrett about what opportunities that there at South Middle and South High?
>> Yes. So um she's we've had preliminary conversations. We haven't determined anything that's going to happen yet, but we're hoping to have several of the same types of things. >> Awesome. All right. And the other one, and I' I'd be remiss, especially since Milo's Miss Milo is still here. Could
you address the question of what opportunities we would have for additional um grant funding with the CPPI or >> So, um I was told at our last meeting right now it is level funded. There's always opportunity that they will find more money. Um and they tell us to kind
of think about what you might want to do should you get more money. >> So, >> so is it a matter of us asking for more or do we So, so it's not we can't All right. No, it's um goes through the legislature and then they determine um
you know where the funds come from and how much of the funds we get. >> Okay. >> So, when I initially applied um and we put in how many classrooms we were servicing um they came up with a formula and that's how we got the 500,000. It was like per classroom
>> and then um we are servicing a lot more classrooms than what we first started with but we haven't received any more money. >> Okay. >> So, >> All right. All right. some maybe a little work we can do. >> Yeah, we're hoping. We always hope for more money. >> Okay. All right. Thank you for that. >> There's a lot we could do with that.
>> All right. Any other questions, anybody? >> All right. Well, thank you. Great update. >> Thank you. >> All right. And last but not least, we have our student services update from Mr. Sean Halpin. All right. Good evening, everyone. >> Evening.
>> It's good to see you. Uh, welcome Miss Parker to the school committee and, uh, Miss Bryant. Congratulations on your re-election. Um, so I have a PowerPoint tonight and for those that have heard me before, it's it's there's a lot of slides, but I'm
going to I'm going to try to really move uh through it. and uh I hope to be able to hit the key topics uh around student support services and and and what's been going on you know for the last year. So um once we get this rolling. Okay, here
we go. So um student support services are general ed student support for the PL public schools and these are the different categories or areas programs in within the department. I'm going to kind of run through now in that order generally you know what we what we've been up to. um
school counseling big component obviously and we have a a curriculum that we follow for students grades 6 through 12 that meets the standards that we're looking for nationally and um even within the state. The elementary model is more of an adjustment counselor
model. Um but at the secondary level we have these different uh tasks that uh the councils work on with the students includes classroom visits uh grade level uh goals uh mostly through Navvian uh that we work on with the kids including
smart goals and post-secary planning. Um we have I think a pretty good uh variety of programs for parents as well. Uh this slide just kind of shows you the different topics that we cover. We've moved more into a hybrid model for
some of these now with the um you know the advent of more online learning for people and I think that's proven to be very helpful for us. Um, in terms of staffing, I know you're not going to be able to kind of go through this whole slide and and and grasp it right now, but it's it's where we stand um with the
number of counselors and so, you know, guidance counselors included school psychologists, adjustment counselors at the general ed level and special ed adjustment counselors. Um, in addition on this slide, we we have a new program, you know, called Brightite that I'll
talk a little bit about as we move along. Um I'm I'm just going to go to the next slide um because this provides a little bit of context around the previous slide and it's it's the ratios that the American School Council Association gives us
annually on what the numbers look like for school counselors, the number of students they have. Just keep in mind though that these numbers generally are for guidance counselors. So it doesn't take into account adjustment counselors, specialized counselors. Then you can see the um the averages across, you know,
New England. And um in our district, the high school counselors have about an average of around 220 students. The middle school council is about 300. But you got to also provide some context around that. And that's where this next slide comes in. You know, our our
staffing, I think we have to look at all student support positions. in in this slide, you'll probably remember it, you know, from from last year when I started introducing this data, gives us a better picture of where we stand in terms of ratios and numbers. And I think it has
to do with, you know, the workflow and what what different uh faculty members are working on and and and what they're doing in the buildings with the kids. These numbers are really good. Um, and the one thing I'd say is, you know, we have a hard time finding school sites. Um that's been the biggest challenge
that we've had um over the years and we've had to, you know, become creative in that area. Adjustment counselors and school counselors, it's a different story. Um and I feel like we are are well staffed. Um and this is just another slide to kind of go into a little bit more detail
around that. With the increase in the student population, uh excuse me, the decrease in the student population over the years, we've had an increase in school counselors, which I think is is wonderful. It's good. it's it's where we want to be. Um I I would just also add we've had I think an increase in complex
dynamics around students that you know creates a real need for those types of jobs. So uh we've also added over the years I think you know layers of community resources that have helped us and and they they help our school
counselors do their jobs as well. So the next few slides and I'm not going to go on and on about them but I'm going to take a peek at them. We have High Point now in in the district which I think is great. It's one company. Um and we've kind of had, you know, some challenges
over the last few years in terms of the other companies that we were working with. Um basically company left and then we thought we might have a transition plan with a new group. Didn't really work out with them. So we started this year out with High Point and that other group. The the first group kind of went
by the wayside because they couldn't they couldn't really staff um what we needed. High Point has been excellent. This gives you an idea of the number of um referrals. And I'm just going to kind of go through quickly here. You know, clients would be really students, you know, by school. Um
and then next slide, um a little bit more granular with the detail uh in terms of you know, the reasons um for referrals as as well as failed referrals. But the bottom line is we have five clinicians in in in 12 schools now. Um the other pieces you can see you
know anxiety, depression, ADHD. Um the good thing is that High Point does have some additional services beyond just the direct counseling which you can see on this slide. And then in addition, you know, to the community-based, we have Caros Solace
still in place with at the schools where folks can make direct referrals for that type of service. And this just an impact report from uh from recent. We get pretty good use out of Care Solace. And then the last piece um that I think would would be sort of new is this
bright program. Uh we've been able to offer this at North High School and PCIS started through a DMH grant a couple years ago and now we also have been able to add uh a clinician at South High and South Middle through a different uh separate grant, a Beth Israel Hospital
grant. We hope that um in future years these grants, you know, we'll have them for a few years, we'll be able to support um these personnel within our own budget and and we're that's the hope moving forward. A great program for kids. To me, it's what it's the piece
that we needed in the middle in high schools to kind of um round out our level of service. Take a sip. Sorry. Um professional development. These are just some of the topics that we've um worked on this year with the school counselors in a variety of
settings whether it's in services department meetings or other opportunities uh to work with the with the staff. Going to shift gears quickly now into McKenna Vinto which is a homeless education. This is just the law around McKenna Vinto uh in terms of what the uh students have in terms of rights.
Foster care very similar. The law is different but the the protocols around it are are almost the same now. And this slide in terms of the differences really um students within foster care or are homeless have a right to attend their school of origin and they they have that
right um from elementary middle right through high school. Now um that law has has shifted to be the same and um the cost share provision is an important piece because we we have cost shares in place for our students who are McKenna Vinto but when it's a foster care
student um it's the school districts of origin's responsibility for the full cost of transportation. These are the transportation costs um over the years and this year um actually the projection
looks pretty good. Um I think if we if we look out till the end of June it's about 325,000 combined uh in those two areas. And if you look historically we've had some pretty high numbers throughout the years. The one thing I would add around
this piece is that we've had an increase in the number of our students at the home for little wanderers this year. 15 students total. It's a lot. Uh six of them out of district placement. A lot of these students come in with um heavy IEPs and and and complicated life
situations. Um and um it's just another piece that is important to recognize. English learner education kind of the difference between like a multilingual learner and an English learner. Use those terms somewhat interchangeably. Um but the data that I will share with you
tonight has more to do with our English learners who receive, you know, a direct ESL support service in the district. And this is the historical uh numbers throughout the years. Um last year was our high point when we had 420 English
learners. We're down about 70 students this year. Um these data points are also uh interesting to look at in terms of the languages uh that our students speak and um I would
also say you know the number of optouts um and former English learners um those are important factors and and numbers and I'm going to explain that a bit as we move on. the access scores. What we look at, and these are the 2025 scores. We're actually in the process of looking
at the 2026 scores, but they're not presented in this format yet. So, I I've put these numbers up for the purpose of this presentation tonight because we want to we want to move kids along the continuum um in the in the access test as they gain lingu English acquisition
skills. And um we've seen some improvement over time um in that area. And part of it has to do with um us working with the English ESL teachers um around the curriculum. And when I
mentioned the 2026 data, we um we actually had 325 students tested and 13% of them failed out this year, which is which is a pretty good number. Um, the curriculum piece is something that we
have a three-year plan to incorporate a level of curriculum that is the same at the high school level first, the middle school, and then the elementary school. This will allow us to uh operate both pushin and pull out services for our
students. It is aligned to what the state is looking for. Um, and I feel like this is going to be something that's going to help us um, as we continue to try to service our kids in a in a very positive, productive way.
Some of the professional development topics this year that we've been working on with English learners, you can see on this slide. Uh, shifting gears to the attendance supervisor. Mr. Janulvitz was here last year with me and um he's done
an excellent job this year. Again, uh these are some of the data points around his referrals and um what he's working on. Uh you can see that um you know a high level of referrals come from the different levels uh excuse me the um the
effectiveness for of his job usually is is the earlier years. Uh it gets a little bit trickier in middle and high school. Um but he's shifted his focus uh with those grade levels to be more family engagement oriented and um you
can see too that uh he's had a lot of um initiatives that in include that type of uh component to what he's doing and and the big thing this year that that I I want to thank Mr. Mr. Janulowitz um Dee Winter from Alangquin Heights. It's this
Big Brothers Big Sisters partnership um where our students at the elementary level can get partnered with someone from Mass Maritime, a cadet um and and it's a program to get them off campus onto colleges and and I also thank um
Dr. Rogers for being able to break the trans uh the transportation barrier because that was something that we really had a hard time with for a long time. So, uh, these pictures just kind of show the the the cadetses with the the the
little little folks. Um, home tutoring. You know, this this slide just kind of gives you the data around that. Um, most of our students uh are at the high school level who require the home tutoring. Most of the students are out on a medical or mental health. We do get
a small percentage of kids from um who are out on chapter 22 222 discipline law for for reasons of suspension. Um let me just uh continue on with the home ed plans. You you understand that we have the um policy. You're all very
familiar with that. This is the numbers from this uh most recent year. 161 plans. That's the breakdown between elementary, middle, and high school. Um, we've had some some students return uh to our to our schools, a handful. And this is the historical data around
homeschooling and and like I've mentioned before, you know, we had the the big uh increase back during COVID and the numbers have evened out right between, you know, pre-COVID and then and postcoid. So, we're right around 161 at this point
with the home ed plans um advanced placement. And I'm just happy to be able to show this slide every year. Um, we started the advanced placement initiative a lot a lot of years ago to try to increase post-secary readiness for our kids and really
focused on increasing the number of classes kids could take and then also, you know, allowing kids from all backgrounds to just be in those classes and to succeed. And um, you know, even the data around last year's exam still is is very positive when you look at that. That's the district-wide data of
students taking tests and then and scores in in uh three, four, or five. So, that's uh just some good news to share. Uh last but not least, just some pieces that are pretty exciting. Um the the NAN
project that we're working on with um our middle school students, introducing um mental health topics to them in their health classes. Um and I mentioned the Bright program as well. the uh the local scholarships again this year. If you look at that amount, uh tremendous
amount of support from the community there. Um wonderful for our kids, all the opportunity that provides for them uh in college. And then I just wanted to thank a few people. Uh Mike Canavan, adjustment counselor, worked at a few different schools over the years uh here in Plymouth is retiring. Lean Doyle as
well um is retiring and our guidance secretary over at Plymouth South High High School uh Maline Müller. So, I just want to thank them for the work they've done over the years. Um, I think I did all right getting through that. I know I kind of rushed through quickly. I'm sorry. I wish I could spend more time in detail on it, but you're probably glad
that I didn't. Um, um, >> I want to know what's being said behind closed door. No, I I appreciate that. >> No, absolutely. Well, especially you have you we'll give you some second because you have such a breadth of uh,
you know, areas that you you cover. Um, so appreciate you getting trying to get through all that um, uh, so quickly. Um, so turn questions, Miss M. Brian. >> So, thank you for all of the data. I love data. I love to read it and absorb
it and then talk about the context. Um, I really appreciate the data on the behavioral health um, increasing access slide. I was really surprised to see the ratio between the male clients and female clients being pretty close.
versus it being a a lot more spread than I would have expected. So, um, being in human services myself, I know bringing access to those who don't even recognize that they can utilize it and benefit
from it is so important. So, thank you for that. I also just want to shout out the care solus, right? Careless. Yeah. Right. >> Data as well. I remember that program being brought on last year and when I
did some quick math it looks like on average there's about seven um cases per month eight and a half matches 13 individuals you know a month on average and 465
communications. So just the opportunity for people to communicate without necessarily having to find an a person talk, make an appointment and all of those things um is really remarkable. So
again, thank thank you for all the data in the presentation. >> Thank you. >> Uh thank you for everything. I appreciate it. Um two things. One, I love the addition of the Bright program. I feel like it's been a total gamecher
and in working with other districts and seeing what happens around the rest of the state, I will say that it sets us far and away above everybody else in integrating kids back into the system in a good way.
>> Yeah. Um, and I just want to commend you on the hard work for that because I think that really, you know, like is profoundly differentiating for us. >> Thank you for recognizing that. Um, I I agree and I think over time we're going to see um how well that helps our kids.
We're already seeing it with the personnel we have and the way they can integrate into the other systems in the school. um the students receiving, you know, what is a different layer of service that we really weren't able to provide well um you know without it. So,
thank you. I appreciate that. >> Uh and then I had one question about um access to uh counseling for our EL population >> and if we have people who are knowledgeable in the other cultural
areas and how that sort of works. Yeah, I think our staff has become more culturally proficient overall um with the growth of our students and so um you know you ask that question your mind immediately goes to like well you know do we have therapists and counselors who
can translate and and you know um we don't have bilingual counselors but we have systems in place that support our kids around the cultural component and I think that that you know is going to continue hopefully to grow. It's something that we work on. Um and I
think even the systems in place um you know around all these other pieces that I mentioned have aspects now that that that um you know translate and that we are kind of understanding better what um students and families from different
backgrounds um you know are coming in with and so um yeah we're we're constantly working on that and um I I think there's always room to grow right as well. >> Thank you. Yeah, like you said, it's a lot more than just understanding the language. And I would say the language
is probably the easier part because you can use something to translate that, but not necessarily the lived experience or the culture, although both are important. >> Yeah. And I think and I'll just add quickly that, you know, I I feel blessed to have the people around me in student
support services and I mean that um just over the years the the people that I work with uh believe in establishing relationships with people and I think that's really what we're all about that yes there's things you know you have to do and accomplish. Um so we'll continue
to keep that as a focus focus point um because it's it's really important. >> Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> All right, Miss Parker. questions. >> I do have one question about the Bright program. I was just wondering if all of
the students is it presented in a tier one model for all of the students or just certain identifiers? >> It's a it's a really good question. It's it's not a tier one model. No. And it's um available to students who have had a
a a crisis of hospitalization or mental health interruption. Uh and it's um so it's available to those students. Um, and I think, you know, the more the Bright program becomes part of the school and it's already done that, you
know, even at the new schools that you you see it like kids know about it, but they kind of know about it on an as needed basis and it's just and I it's the way you want to present the program. So that um and um if you ever get a chance to go in, you
know, on on your school committee visits and and just kind of get a sense of what the rooms are like and what the relationships are like, you'll see what I mean by that. And and and it is really for a small group of students. And it's only usually anywhere from 1 2 3 to six kids, let's say. But then the kids that
have had the program come back in and out a little bit. They're able to support the newer kids who are um you know, in the program. Um, and it's just got a it's and there's a lot of good professional development around that work with kids. Um, that is just it's
excellent. So, it's a really good question, but I hope I answered it for you. >> I was just wondering if the other students were aware that this was a program or if there was common language that was being used within the student body. >> It's not something that's that's advertised, but it's also not something
that's hidden. So, and I think that's maybe the the se the trick to it to to making it work. And and kids will talk about it to the degree that they want to talk about it. And some kids are really comfortable and happy talking about it. Other kids may not want to express that as much and try to kind of respect that
the way we run it. I guess. >> Okay. >> Yeah. What I'm hearing is it's it's become a normalization within the school system, but leaving it to the students privacy of whether or not they want to disclose,
>> you know, being a part of it because if they were removed >> um for school for a period of time because of sickness or a challenge, they might not be ready to express the why. Mhm.
>> So I I really appreciate that as well. >> Thank you. >> Um just had a comment. Thanks for sharing all the numbers on the uh the school counselor ratios of how we compare our peer states and stuff. Obviously we could always use more but it's I see that we you know are
significantly better than the rest of Massachusetts and you know um you know not too far off some of the the better states in uh uh uh New England. also the numbers on that we're uh you know that we're getting from High Point. That's great to see that's you know having effectiveness as it doesn't count
towards those numbers but showing that you know there's you know 100 students taking advantage of that is huge. Um so that's great. >> Yeah. Thank you. I I appreciate the time and um if you have a have any other questions you can reach out to me directly. I'm happy to try to answer them if I can.
>> All right. Thank you, Michelle. >> Thank you for the update. >> All right, now we'll jump to some of the less exciting stuff on our agenda today. We have a slew of job descriptions. Oh, come on. >> I'm going to take this one if you don't mind. >> Go for it, Dr.
>> So, this is a multi-layered recommendation. There's actually four recommendations. So, if I could go through them all before through you, Mr. Bizano, if that's okay. >> Sounds good. uh regarding this and kind of set the stage for this. >> Um so there is a there is a
recommendation for multiple job descriptions but also reclassification. So tonight I'm asking for your consideration and approval of a what I feel is a strategic administrative reorganization. So specifically I'm presenting four separate recommendations for you. So the first is a
reclassification of Dr. Blazedell to assistant superintendent for finance and school operations. Um and then the approval of three job descriptions associated with this restructuring. One being the assistant superintendent job description, another being the director
of human resources, which I'm recommending, and the human resource specialist. So, as you know, the past several months have brought significant transitions here for us in Plymouth, including an approved leave in human resources and an upcoming resignation uh which we announced um which will happen
at the end of the fiscal year, which we announced last week. So, while challenging, this period of time for us has provided a unique window uh of time for us to informally evaluate our practices. We went through this last year, if you recall, when Dr. Rogers and I made some recommendations last year
regarding some restructuring. So again, it was an opportunity having this unique window of time to really informally evaluate our practices. So with Dr. Blaze Dial stepping in to support both, you know, human resources and finance, you know, we realize I realize that
finance and human resources are deeply and separately connected. Um, and under Dr. Blazelle's transitional leadership, we've seen firsthand how unifying these operations can lead to more uh synchronized decisionm um and it's been
great. So just quick overview of the four recommendations that I'm making. One, the first one is a reclassification of Dr. Blazdell to assistant superintendent for finance and school operations. U again Dr. Blaze um in in this role would serve as chief financial
and operational officer on unifying the oversight of finance, HR, facilities and transportation. Um again his his leadership has been made him uniquely qualified um and has demonstrated that
uh for this expanded role. Uh with that I've also included a job description with that recommendation uh for the assistant superintendent for finance and school operations to formally establish those parameters uh of that newly reclassified leadership role. Important
to this restructuring is to have uh someone who would manage the day-to-day HR personnel matters and this would be the director of human resources and there's a job description recommendation there as well. Um, this person again would manage the day-to-day HR personnel
matters, recruitment, compliance, uh, report directly to the assistant superintendent, Dr. Blaze Dell, uh, to ensure total fiscal and operational alignment with our personnel. Um and then lastly, uh human resource
specialists sort of, uh eliminating the position as it currently stands as a secretary and reclassifying that position to an administrative assist HR administrative assistant to a HR um resource specialist to reflect the highly technical sort of datadriven uh
and compliance work required um which has been going on. It's important for not only the committee to know, but I think for the public to know that this proposal is fully costneutral. Um, it does not add new positions. It does not add any new administrators or increase
financial obligations. It is completely neutral in all accounts. Instead, what it's doing is realigning existing roles, redefining those roles and leveraging our expertise and eliber and eliminating sort of operational silos. I really do think that this um helps us in the end.
So I do firmly believe that this restructuring is uh the absolute in the absolute best interest of our district both operationally um and our financial future and I think it's grounded in what is already proven to work effectively in the last several months. So um happy to
answer any questions. So that's sort of a a summary of all of the the motions for you. >> No, I appreciate that. And uh uh just for Miss uh Parker's background, this concept was previously discussed at a previous meetings and we've been waiting for um Dr. Campbell's formal
recommendation and description. So this isn't the first time we're seeing it from scratch. Um I had actually I'll wait for does anyone else have any questions on any any other descriptions? I don't have any question but I do think
it's important to amplify that this is a restructure or I would say realignment. >> It's costneutral. >> This would be adding one direct report to Adam's scope of work sorry Dr.
Blazdale's scope of work that he is currently managing all the things for. Um, so these two particular roles will help support him to be able to continue to work as efficient and effectively as he
has during these past several months. So I just want to amplify those points for the public. >> Yeah, agree. And even even though this is a new assistant superintendent position, we are eliminating a separate assistant superintendent position. So the net, you know, at that level remains
the same and we're restructuring things below that level. So, it's a good point >> and I wanted to echo that and also to echo that he's been doing this job uh regardless of the change in title or anything for the last several months.
And I think it's important for people to know his commitment to the district. And also, when we replace his name plate, could we put Dr. Adam Blazedell on there? >> Does it not say that? >> It never has, but I think >> he's the only one. >> Yeah, I figured
wi with with with his restructuring. I think we need to add Dr. Adam Blaze. I'm just putting it out there. >> I'm easy. >> Yeah, that's I've always looked at it as >> I didn't know that. I could never I can't say >> Mr. Blazel doesn't actually lead with that that you're >> Yeah. >> Okay.
>> Just to but you Yeah, we do address as such. Um I had two minor >> uh questions, comments, and both on I think I guess they'd be the assistant superintendent description. Uh the first one is kind of a nitpick. I
mean it it might be embedded somewhere else or even maybe in the HR director's position. Um but I didn't I feel like one of the specific things that um that role covers is or I don't know say management or whatever overseeing the
sick bank and I don't I don't know if that's too much of a level of detail or if it's like said it might be captured somewhere else within one of the other lines but for some that jump it was something that occurred to me that um as a specific responsibility that um I said
it might be more the maybe that director position >> the director >> um >> yeah or the performance of the duties as assigned by the super. >> Yeah, it's a nit one. The one was more specific and I do think this one is worth calling out under section three of this that the assistant superintendent's
um uh responsibilities. I do think it's worth calling out specifically um either either creating another item or adding to item 3.6 where it says monitors food service financial performance participation trends and program compliance. I think given what's
happened the past year having something that says you know ensures adequate you know auditing of you know physical inventory or something related to auditing of you know the you know financial and physical inventory.
>> I think go ahead miss if you have comment. >> Sorry I was going to say I think that that was to add within the assistant superintendent um >> description. Let me go back and look at it. But in regards to your first piece
for the sake, I think it is um >> appropriately included as part of the director of human resources in section six. It would be under the oversight of alignment of HR processes compensation and benefits etc.
>> Um I'm good with that. >> And then let me just look for the other piece real quick. Sorry. >> Yeah. Yeah. kind of financial reporting audits and lookup. So >> that was like so I looked at all of them in detail. That was the only I thought of
>> for the audit piece. I don't I would consider section one 1.5 unless you want to explicitly have the word audit. >> Well, I was looking at specifically section three where it talks about the food service.
>> Four has um audits mentioned >> uh council systems. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Section one. >> Yeah. Like I I just because we have a section that specifically talks about the food services stuff at some reason
it jumped out at me. Um like I said I I think it >> we could certainly add something. >> Yeah. I think there's an umbrella. I mean I think there's no question that it falls under the responsibilities. It just I think that's an area where I think people would feel more um reassured that we are taking specific
actions towards what's happened there. >> I think we could add something to the to your to to your point Mr. Visano under the food service piece specifically if you want to. >> Yeah, because because obviously we have like the normal financial a like you know we're you know like we're seeing the uh the financial audit you know later on the agenda today. I think
that's I think separately people think of what was going on at the at food services. I understand. But I think that by putting it specifically to food services, we are putting oursel in a place that anytime something would be to
come up, we're going back and reconfiguring when in actuality the audit should be encompassing of all of the things that we expect a spend to
happen. So I I don't know. Yeah, I guess I mean I think 36 says it without being explicit, so I can I can live without it, but I think I don't know. It's an area where I know >> happy to word submit something and bring
it um if you want to. >> Yeah, I wouldn't stop me from approving the description as is. I just think it's an area that can use >> some strengthening. >> Yeah, and we may have, you know, some recommendations moving forward as we go through some of these things, too. Okay, >> thank you.
>> Can we do one motion to capture all of these? >> I think that was I think that was Dr. Campbell's >> Okay, wish. Like I said, it'd be I' I'd consider it similar to the uh like the consent agenda unless somebody wants to pull one of them out. >> I think it's you know holistically the
recommendation is for for all of this. >> Yeah. Yeah. Because it can't it can't live without it. like you can't make him assistant over all these things and then not put the uh >> the subordinate positions >> description. >> Yeah. >> Dr. Dr. Blazelle has a recommend
suggestion for the job description. >> Um as I'm I didn't read this before. Um but when you go back to 1.4 >> Mhm. >> I I'm thinking to kind of address some of what you're cons thinking of Mr. Pano, but also just kind of rereading it. Mhm.
>> I think there might be a word that we might want to add there um in regards to the word funds. Um and I'd have to we'd have to figure out how to put it but something along the lines of overseas accounting systems financial reporting
audits and all local state and federal financial maybe funds and submissions or but the word >> yeah I think it's small it's >> it's like a one yeah this is like one one or two words that would make a difference. spend to it. >> Yes. Revolving funds would >> would add there too.
>> That's true. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. >> I think that does it. >> Something with the word funds. >> Yeah. Because that's Yeah. Funny how that we are reconciling things. Yeah. >> Exactly. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> No, I think it's good. Well, yeah. And if anyone needs to be comfortable with the description, it's you Dr. B. So,
thank you for looking at it. >> All right. >> So, I'll make the motion that the Bloom School Committee approve the 6.1 6.2 26.3 job descriptions
um effective July 1st 2026. >> Can I can I um >> do we need to be specific because it's three different motions as it's listed here. >> Four motions. >> Four >> four >> one would be the re the reclassification of Dr. Blazell.
>> Oh, and then two, three for the job. >> 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 job descriptions as well. >> Yeah. So the the unfortunately the 6.1 was combined. >> Combined. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um >> I got you. >> Yes. So that's that's why I thought it
would be best to go through all of it. Soup whole soup and nuts. Soup to nuts like I did. >> So I think his reclassification does deserve its own motion. Sorry. >> All right. So, I'll motion that the Plymouth School Committee approve the reclassification
of the position of school business administrator effective July 1st, 2026 to assistant superintendent for finance and school operations. >> Second. >> All right, Miss Jackson seconds. We'll vote on that.
Okay. All right. And that uh passes unanimously. All right. That's good. All right. >> And then I'll make a motion that the job descriptions for director
of human resources, human resources specialist, and assistant superintendent for finance and school operations are accepted and approved as amended. All right. >> So, we'll do So, even though it's in separately like this, we'll do it as
I'll take record through electronic school board for that recommendation. Then we can go right to uh the audit afterwards. >> Perfect. >> Excellent. Thank you so much. So, that was motion was Miss Brian. Do >> you have a second on that motion? >> Second, >> Miss Jackson. Seconds.
>> All right. >> Keep kicking me out. >> All right. And that passes unanimously. All right. Thank you very much. And congratulations, Dr. Blazil. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Well earned.
>> All right. Uh now we moved and and now now to you Dr. Belf for the FY25 end of year uh audit report. >> Perfect. Thank you. Um so we just recently received um our FY25 end ofear audit report um from Rosselli Clark and
Associates. That is a different auditing firm that we have used in the past. Um we the town and schools have switched over to a different auditing firm this year. Um we are currently they're currently looking at the town's FY25
um audit report because we were delayed with the old auditor from FY24. So um we had that's why we had switched. Um so when conducting the audit they focus on compliance in regards to the department of elementary and secondary education
department's practices and procedures. Um in their audit findings they did not find any um procedures that were performed without exception. Um and there were no amendments um that were required as a result of their work. Um,
so that is posted now on on the um electronic school board for the public to see. It will be posted on the business services page. Um, and it's not an action item, but if there are any questions, I'm more than willing to take any questions, too. I looked it over. It
looked good. Do we did we have any questions from the committee? >> All right. Well, thank you for that. Yeah, I'm sure the public will appreciate that being posted. >> Thank you. All right, next up we got superintendent report. Dr. Campbell, >> thank you. Promised to be brief here.
Uh, happy June. >> Yes, June. >> I think the the our student reps um pulled a lot of things already that I was going to highlight, but just again see if you can make it. Uh, no obligation, but we have two wonderful uh
academic awards and scholarship nights this week, June 3rd at Self High School at 7:00. There's a there's a reception at 6 in culinary. um if you can so make it um and at North on June 4th at 6:30
um both in in the pack. So just wonderful and to see just how much money um this community uh raises to support our students is just remarkable. Really thank all our donors. Uh graduation this Saturday. We got beautiful weather
>> been guaranteed already. Um South High School >> is in the morning. Uh we start at 9:30. We typically line up on the field at 9ine I believeish. Uh but there's breakfast before culinary again does a great job. So um anytime around 8 or
after um you're welcome to come there and then we will proceed over to North uh soon after and um there'll be a lunchon there as well and we'll start I believe at 1:00 for North. Um, just a reminder to the community for PPS
families, you should have received an email regarding school bus transportation survey. Um, our office is just trying to get a handle on who intends to ride. So, just encourage people to check your spam folder. If if you don't remember seeing it, it would
have been from Miss Karen Vanette. Um, the primary contacts in Aspen would have received an email and a form to complete for each child. So it really helps us to um determine our our roots. And then lastly, just um this Friday is where
Orange Day. So this committee um was the first actually in 2021 across the entire Commonwealth to pass a resol safe gun storage resolution which is really I think um just expanded across the
Commonwealth and it's just great to see. So again, it's about safeguard storage, um being a responsible uh firearms owner and to help prevent any tragedy from happening. So one of the things that we do as community um that week is on uh
during where orange week we celebrate on the Friday. So this Friday we will um you know our priority is to uh wear our orange um in support of gun safety and gun violence awareness. So just reminding our our community of that and
that's actually all I have this evening. >> Yeah. Thanks for that. We're doing that. I'm always reminded that's something that Miss Badger and Mr. Morgan and I collaborated on. So >> yeah. No, it's great. >> I have a I have a question about >> I have a question about that. um
initiative. Uh are the students um do the teachers do anything with the students to educate them on the this initiative and the um education behind the wear orange and why it's so
>> yeah at the without getting into the like individual what the individual schools do but there there is an there is an awareness at the school and they do some promotion around that. Hence the sort of large presence just in terms of um so there is I can't speak to the
specific things it's really unique to each school but it's definitely something that is is is a part of the conversation. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Any other questions for Dr. Campbell? >> Oh. All right. Thanks for that Dr. Cal.
>> Yeah. >> Um All right. Next up we have retirements. Dr. Blazo. We have one retirement to announce this evening. Um Kim Ward of Parrot and Athena Morton is retiring on June 30th. >> All right, Miss Jackson.
>> Thank you to Miss Ward for her 21 years of service to the district and we wish her good luck and happy retirement. >> Thank you for that. All right. Next up, we have uh reports from uh committee committee members. I've got a few, but I
will let others go first. Uh Ryan, anything? I didn't have anything. >> All right, M. Jackson. >> And you haven't had a chance to be on any of the committees yet? All right, I'll go through mine. Uh, one, uh, so I did attend the uh, uh, distinguished
visitors committee meeting uh, last week since we are down uh, you know, Mr. Morgan was our representative, so I'm covering until we have uh, you know, a new uh, member assigned. Just for everyone's uh uh awareness, our the Japanese delegation will be here from
July 29th to August 4th um this summer. And there's events that we can participate in from the 30th, which is a Thursday, all the way through uh August 3rd, which is when they depart. The one key one I would call attention to is the education summit on Thursday, July 30th,
which is always a big part of the visit both when we go there and when they come um here. So for those that are available that uh day because it does take up a good chunk of that um that uh Thursday, I would, you know, encourage uh participation. Um but as as more details come out, there'll obviously be there's
plenty of uh social events, lunches, dinners, etc. that, you know, they would love to have um school committee uh representation at. Uh and that does remind me um committee assignments. I I'm gonna be working on a proposal which I'll hopefully have ready by our next
meeting. But in the meantime, if um and I'll send something out since we don't have all of our members here, but if you could send me any of your preferences like committees you'd like to stay on, committees you don't want to be on or you know would like you know to you know move around just send me any um you know any wishes um you know for that and I
will try to accommodate that. And uh Miss uh Parker, if you want, we can talk one-on-one about, you know, going through what some of the uh the various responsibilities are for those committees as there are a lot of them. >> Mhm. >> Um and lastly, if you haven't already, um please reminder to send me your
superintendent uh evals if you'd like your um input reflected in the final uh superintendent evaluation. That's it. All right. All right. Next time we will move to where we at here. Uh report from the Plymouth building committee. Um the
building committee has not met since since our last meeting. Our next meeting is June 18th. Um but I will use this opportunity to just update on uh where we are with the Hedge Cold Spring um feasibility study. And please feel free to chime in Dr. Blazell. Um we are at the point now we are meeting uh weekly
with our um project manager who is uh CHA. Um the big effort right now is uh developing the request for designer services i.e. a and architect. Um, and the big milestone there is that that gets posted by June 25th and bids will be due by uh July uh 29th. So that's
kind of the big focus right now for the summer is um getting that um that request out and getting a getting a architect uh selected which will probably happen like in August um with those bids being due the 29th. So any >> I think you covered it. I think we're going to the only other thing we'll have
to get the building committee together to approve the um RFS sign selection before the next meeting. But other than that, >> you you hit it all. >> All right, that's all I got. Uh all right, and then back to you, Dr. Blazel for personnel reports.
>> So, um tonight we have seven leaves um and two appointments to report. >> All right. Thank you for that. All right. Uh unfinishing new business. Any uh business any members like to uh bring up or add to future agendas?
All right. And that brings us to our consent agenda. Um pretty light this week. Had a couple of uh uh accounts payable warrants and some homeschooling plans and some uh equipment disposals. Anything anybody would like to see
pulled from the consent agenda? If not, I'll take a motion to approve it as presented. I I'll make the motion. I guess I'm all motion now. >> Um motion that the blend the school committee approve the 61 consent agenda is presented.
>> Thank you. And a second. >> I'll second. >> All right. She's on the board. All right. I'm waiting for Miss Parker. All right. Mer seconds that. All right. We can vote now. All right. Yes. All right.
All votes are in. That passes. That brings us to the end of our agenda. Just a little bit ahead of schedule. So, I kind of flew through that latter part of that agenda. So, thank you everybody. I will call this meeting to close at 8:48 p.m. Thank you.