e e e e e e e e e all right good evening everybody like to call the oh we on all right I like like
to call the March 3rd meeting of the Plymouth uh school committee to order at 7M uh 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 which it stands nation and
a God indivisible liy and justice for all all right next we have our uh land acknowledgement goe and read that we acknowledge that we are meeting on the unseated and celal homeland of indigenous people whose enduring presence we humbly recognize we honor the woic people as the original stewards
and the hering p wo as a surviving tribe indigenous to these lands in our commitment to lifelong learning we acknowledge historical injustices to the native people in this land and vow 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 next we have any uh comments from the community members all right seeing none we will move on to our student representative reports uh first up we have uh Mr Quinn from Plymouth North thank you for the
March 3rd school committee meetings from North uh the announcements are uh for seniors celebrate a special 2025 graduate with a lawn sign class of 25 25 lawn signs can be ordered for $18 this deadline is March 28th please
return uh your check or money along uh order along with the form to miss welcott in Room 331 or Mr froli in room 316 um senior Fest tickets are also on sale now for $20 until March 31st tickets can be purchased on Gan intera
club the intera club received a grant with the help of miss Patricia hay and the Sunrise Rotary Club to raise a awareness of the need for fostering and adopting animals from shelters as part of the project interactors and some members of the Sunrise Rotary Club filled 20 welcome kit bags with all the
essentials new dog owners or Fosters will need an effort to defay The Upfront cost of taking in a new pet bags will be donated to a local shelter Plum North players the plum North players present Hades toown teen Edition on Friday March
14th and Saturday March 15th at 7 p.m. tickets are $7 for students and $12 for general admission and are available at Plum North players.com for 2025 to 2026 course course selection beginning March 3rd Aspen will be open for students who both view teacher
recommendations and and to enter all additional course selections and Alternate requests students must log on and answer in their requests for next year's courses for ply North Athletics parents and athletes are welcome to meet the coaches of our spring Sports and gather
in uh key information on the upcoming season meet the coach night is Monday March 3rd at 6 P p.m. for all spring Sports except for baseball which is Thursday March 6th at 6 p.m. for Deca States ply North marketing had a
incredible Su and successful um Deca State conference all of the competitors worked extremely hard and are they are extremely proud of each and every one of them for their efforts and making it to the state competition we are so excited to see what Orlando has in store for DEA
Deca International uh computers competitors this April thank you all right thank you any questions for Quinn nope next we have Lily Mor from F South hello everyone so to start off PS
HS marketing sent students to compete at the DECA State Career Development conference students competed in the overarching competitive areas of business management and administration marketing Hospitality finance and Entrepreneurship nine will move on to compete at the DECA International Career
Development conference in Orlando Florida from April 26th to to the 29th of 2025 the following students were recognized on stage and awarded trophies or medals for their accomplishments at this year's Deca State Career Development conference conference those
students being Nolan daero Ali Otis Julia DH Ashley Elliott Shea BRZ Michaela dunavan Bella figlioli Brooke Perry and Bria Roberts this P past weekend South Avenue placed third in the 2025 icsa Northeast
quarterfinal an award for best choreography was awarded to Natalia CES for choreographing the whole set congratulations congrats to the boys basketball team who SEC secured a torny win against Sten the boys now advance to the round of 16 and the game will be at
Whitman Hansen on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. all tickets must be purchased online through Goan and we encourage Advanced purchasing of as the tickets are expected to sell out counselors began visiting social studies classrooms last week to discuss
course selections for the 2025 to 2026 school year and will continue presenting throughout the week all students and grades 9 to 11 will receive a copy of the program of studies booklet a grade specific course selection sheet and an informational sheet which they should be sharing at
home congratulations to the boys track Sprint medley relay team and the girls 4X 50 yard shuttle hurdle relay team both qualifying for New Balance track Nationals in March and both teams beat the current School record tomorrow is the 15th annual AP
breakfast at South our guest speaker is Michelle Badger and all students have received a student designed shirt with the theme of wicked we hosted a fantastic National Honor Society induction before February break it was great to hear our student speakers share remarks regarding
scholarship character leadership and service it's hard to believe that spring Sports begin on March 17th spring Sports meet the coaches is Thursday March 6th also the panther booster club is hosting their scholarship fundraiser casino night on March 29th and we encourage
people to attend and then lastly the student staff basketball game is after school tomorrow thank you right thank you I great updates from both of you um any questions for either our High Reps NOP um looking at the
agenda if no one has any objections I'd like to try to move item 6.2 which is our uh update from the uh our Cape C collabor collaberative articles of agreement uh item up ahead of the school and Department updates just out of respect for um schedules and times so they don't have to sit through the
entire most of the agenda any objections all right not assuming you're ready yeah so with f I'm in a giving mood so all right so this evening we have Dr Hope hamom from Cape Cod
coperative who is here to talk about um our agreement um which is an action item for this evening and we're very happy to have you here start this process as you know last year in hopes of becoming a member so welcome thank you thanks for
having me nice job um so yeah my name is hope hansum I am the executive director of the Cape Cod collaborative as of January 21st um I know you all have been working towards membership in the collaborative for much longer than that so um I am
really excited that we're going to be able to make this move forward um for a July 1 start if all goes if all goes as well which I think it will um I uh and also thanks for moving me up I told my family I was like I'm not I don't know when I'm going to be home I'm going to be imp Plymouth so well you can you you
have things you need to do what can I do with my free time right now right I might have to run to the store uh no uh so the you got done early exactly is I live in mashby so nobody's watching this on TV at home right now um so the
process to join the collaborative um requires that that the um the collaborative board vote to um amend the articles of agreement so when I got to the collaborative in January we needed to start the process of changing those
articles of agreement um originally there are some other things we wanted to do with them but it's a huge undertaking that requires some Desy conversation back and forth as well so what we decided to do was just make the changes to ad Plymouth and any updates to legal
requirements that have gone gone into effect since the last time the Articles were opened which was 10 years ago um and then we'll do some strategic planning open the Articles again and then update them with sort of our next steps moving forward so I'll point is
I'll be back in a year or two to have this conversation again but um for the purposes of tonight what you'll be doing is the the Cape Cod collaborative board of directors vote had a first read February 12th and then voted on February 26th to accept Plymouth and to amend the
articles of agreement to include Plymouth as a full member um the next step is that each school committee must vote to um accept the changes to the articles of agreement as well um Plymouth has to approve it in order for
it to move forward beyond that we need a uh a majority of school committees to approve it moving forward if you don't approve it then we stop I guess I should say that um so you have the most control over this uh so this is my first first of the March uh there will be 19 school
committee me uh meetings I'll attend this month where we will hopefully get everyone to vote before April 1 the due date is April 1st to desie um but as long as we get 11 plus no 10 plus you um we'll be able to move forward for a July
1 start what that will mean is you will have the opportunity to get member rates for the students who participate in our programming and you will also have a voting um per uh voting member of the board of directors which will help Drive
the movement of the collaborative uh after July 1 so tonight if you um I'm happy to answer any questions that I can if you are able to have a vote tonight which I think it's on the agenda for a vote um and it passes then I would ask
the chair to sign and date tonight I actually brought a copy in case you didn't have one um and uh we'll go from there so all right opening up the questions questions
from Members thank you for coming here this evening could you uh take a few moments and and review for us I see it in article to uh but I'd like to hear you comment on the purpose of the collaborative sure and uh so the last
time these articles were written was 2 15 the last time strategic planning was done where the stakeholders of the collaborative would create their mission and vision and and purpose was 2010 I believe so I will say that I'm speaking to something that's sort of a few
decades old or almost a few decades old um but the purpose of Cape Cod collaborative and really any collaborative is to join forces have dist districts join forces to provide really high quality special education services and programming at cost cost
effective rates so in other words if we have kids in Plymouth who need let's say tvi uh teacher the visually impaired services but you have maybe four kids in Plymouth that need it and and there are kids in Bourne who maybe one kid who needs it and then a kid in Falmouth and
a kid in Barnstable let's say we can collaborate no pun intended we can join forces to put a program together that serves those kids' needs in a less restrictive environment than in a private day school or in doing it yourself because we take the cost of
that teacher or of that program and you pay a tuition that's much less than what you would pay if you had to run the program yourself again collaboratives are public schools and so uh when you look at the law around special education which Dr Rogers I know is going to be
talking about later as well um and you we're required to provide services in the least restrictive environment we can a collaborative is the least restrictive option over a private day school and so that's really the purpose is to join
forces to provide the best Services we can for kids who it would be hard to do on our own in in one District I come from mashby that's where I worked uh before going to the collaborative we're a small District we have 1500 kids and so whoever comes through our doors we
need to service and the collaborative has allowed us to do that in a way that we couldn't just do on our own so we also do a ton of Transportation but um and that that also is as cost effective as thank you for that explanation so um
just two follow-up questions sure so let's say there is a specialized program that we need to send a student or some students to from Plymouth who will determine the tuition for that program and secondly I'm assuming the collaborative would provide the
transportation to that program a those are good questions and um not as straightforward as you might think so that tuition is set by the board of directors every year um currently uh FY 25s was set usually in April May I think
of the year before right now uh at our board meeting on March 12th we will be giving a first pass of where we think our tuitions are going to fall for next year um the board will vote on our budget and spending plan in April or May
um of this year for whatever reason it's later than what I thought it was going to be but that's where we're at right now so the board of directors which is made up of school committee members at this time have the they set the tuition rates and then Transportation that's up to the IEP team so um if the child
requires specialized Transportation or needs specialized transportation to access a program like ours then um the district works with a variety of vendors um it might be Cape Cod collaborative it might be someone that can provide it uh because you're off Cape it might be
there might be a cheaper rate coming from from a private vendor so that we just sort of work in collaboration with with never cheaper coming from a private vendor but we won't go there I was a special education director for nine years um also a special education teacher but the um it is very expensive
to do what we do to provide a free and appropriate public education for all kids it's expensive and so we do our best to make sure our prices are as reasonable as they can be while still ensuring that our programs are the best for those kids cuz they deserve the best
programming just like uh Lily and Quinn um talked about at your two high schools so thank you thank you Mr chairman any other questions so this uh this is an action item to way of a motion uh before I place a motion on the floor I want to hear the
superintendent's recommendation on this matter Dr Camp I would recommend to support the articles of agreement I think uh we have a great relationship with Dr hansum feel good about the direction that Cap Cod collaborative is going in under her leadership and feel
that this is in the best interest of the school department okay so I will therefore move it up we support the uh recommendation of the superintendent in joining the cape God collaborative as indicated all right Dr senson moves all right let he with
seconds and we shall vote we do it electronically should have music yes I say that every time wait for to come up all right motion patch is six to zero with one absentee
congratulations thank you yes you very much now we get paperwork all apprciate the time thank you for thank you for coming out one down 18 to go that's the other thing I told my
I they weren't as sad have a great day thank you you can run a Target something yeah all right all right thank you for allowing us to switch that uh agenda up a a little bit so next Now we move on to our s update so from Pou
North we have Mr Peter parcon so Pete thank you for allowing us to move that item up y you're up you go no problem glad I got to see that interesting um good evening
everyone I think we're good to go wow look at that uh so this is so I was putting this together and starting to get all the the different uh voices um together to kind of craft this and I realized it was um it was my third round
of uh School of improvement plans from the school Comm I know it feels like 10 minutes right 10 minutes in 40 years um but I wanted to kind of review uh where we've come so um the two columns are the two previous School Improvement plans uh
since I started uh the leftand side is the preco uh sunshiny time and then the uh the second column is the postco um really uh what you can see in the left is what we achieved uh where the focus
was really the experience and the culture and building that into uh daily life at North so you can see uh we did the Rolling rallies which we actually had one today for uh all of the clubs uh upcoming and the sports we made it into uh the state tournament uh we started a
faculty parking spot The Faculty Senate uh the parent page um we redesigned the parent nights to be more kind of user friendly and less kind of throw uh an hour worth of information at you and then a lot of school programs like our uh mini lessons and our teacher
observations and our Eagle wakeups where the kids went and did activities in the morning uh but also we finished our Nas accreditation which will come back up this round uh and we got 21 commendations and seven recommendations um and then uh postco we
we transferred into trying to make that experience uh defined in the the values and creating structure around that experience so what you saw in the last three years uh was us trying to uh put into place the structure of the culture
that we wanted to build so uh we started our three trans transtion goals of community professionalism and resilience um I went to every single uh advisory and directed study for sophomores Juniors and seniors and I did little lessons on community uh professionalism
and resilience um and just uh kind of life lessons with the the sophomores Juniors and seniors um last week last Tuesday uh we have been working for really four years in developing uh inclusive programs at North so we
started Ed uh the Eagles for Equity club which was really just a committee of teachers uh the first year which translated into a full year of PD for teachers in the second year uh last year we got uh kids involved in a club so we
had the faculty um and students involved and then this year uh we put together a training the first half of the year and then it just kicked off uh in the gym with all the freshmen uh last Tuesday um a six- week program
to try and uh build connection with students but also try and build skills uh to build their interpersonal skills there's a lot of conflict uh out there in the world but also uh in our building so we want to give freshmen strategies uh on how to minimize negative conflict
and maximize um you know having positive interactions with every type of kid and trying to to give them those skills um we also uh increased our El Staffing with the help of central office um um we uh went from a part-time El teacher at
the start to uh really three teachers now in the building um we started our effort breakfast we got rid of the the muffin for 500 kids who got their as's B's and C pluses uh and we made it all about effort and now we have a keynote
speaker and we have uh teachers select kids based on the effort that they give not just the number they receive um we redesigned our faculty meetings for uh workshops instead of lecture so we do an information portion of the beginning but most of the time teachers are in the calf uh with coffee doing uh workshops
so they'll do an E Workshop or a special ed Workshop or they will have just kind of conversations about data and strengths and needs and we codified that really in a successful classroom guide so now we have a onepage sheet where every teacher uh every staff member knows what uh we're looking for and what
a successful classroom looks like uh teachers were involved in that uh the department heads crafted it um and we use that to refer to in a lot of the the stuff that we do so that's been the last three years um and you can see uh and this will lead into where I think we
need to go in the next three years uh but in the last uh six or seven years um we've had a lot of growth and I want to point that out um so in the the top set of data you can see um in 2018 uh nine
of our AP courses had uh less than 50% of the kids in those courses getting threes fours or fives in their exams uh now there are zero courses with uh less than 50% of their kids gets getting threes fours and fives uh 74% of our
kids in AP classes are getting threes fours and fives on their tests um our out of school suspension our in school suspension went from 108 and 243 down to 38 and 62 uh last year our SAT scores average have gone up our chronic
absentee average even in light of covid which I'm I'm uh impressed by went in 2018 from 22% uh and it even dropped uh which is unusual um our dropout rate went down pretty significantly and our four-year graduation rate uh went up so
that's all the highlights of the last few years uh and that's all in the light of our demographics moving pretty rapidly so uh and we've talked about this for years but our El population has gone from 2% to 88.6% of the building um
economically disadvantaged students have increased um I think that's probably across the board uh and our high need students uh that are overlapping in multiple subgroups have gone up over the last six years so uh in essence uh the overall experience I think has improved
uh we asked I I did a parent survey uh this this school year to try and see how people feel about the building um because you know data only goes so far um 86% of parents rated uh North a four or a five and just about half of the
students on a scale of one to five gave North a five in their parent surveys um typically when I give out a survey I'm a little worried that just everybody complaining is going to fill them out but I was really impressed to see that people were happy with the experience overall um a lot of these 2018 numbers
were from our neas Endicott survey if you were around at the time so they give this massive survey out um so I'm comparing that to kind of a heavy kneass survey so I I I don't want to read too much into it but the numbers have all gone up uh parents and teachers both radar instruction better um
the a big jump is voice teachers feel like 4.6% of teachers uh rated a five to voice and decision- making now 80% of teachers gave it a four or a five um communication has gone up they feel uh parents and teachers feel like the
frequency Clarity uh of of both parent teacher uh communication and school updates have gone up um and our co-curricular ratings are are way up uh 80% to sports 78% to clubs 86% to arts and programs of four and a five so
things are are uh improving uh but I there are some gaps we need to fill and that's really where uh where I'm I I want to get feedback in I know how I feel about it and that's what I want to present to you tonight so um what kids want overwhelmingly and and I think we
heard it in the Strategic plan too uh is experiences uh what they are not keen on is us talking at them uh you know they they have they are they don't want to listen they want to do uh and so what I think uh we need we have senior project we have co-ops I
think we need to maximize those opportunities uh what parents want is they really the top three things they want they had a little uh choice they had probably eight or 10 choices to pick their top three things were college career prep which makes sense to me uh academic rigor which makes sense to me
they want their kids to be challenged um in a world where we think people are don't want struggle parents actually said they want struggle which I was uh happy to um and then mental health support there's no question about that which is a lot of what went into our freshman program that we're trying to to build up
teachers want to see student enthusiasm back uh we've worked really hard on engagement uh they want to see high standards come back uh they want to work with other teachers across departments and we've tried to give them that opportunity uh and they want to build up that school culture so that's really
what they're looking at so where I see it and before I flip to that uh we have had improvements right and we have had improvements in the feeling at North we've had improvements in key data points kids are performing uh well um but if you've looked at the same data
that I looked at and I know we do a lot um where I where I see is is when you look at the forest the forest looks great uh and but where I want to do better is the individual trees um and so when you look at our schoolwide
data all of the water has gone up right but I don't know if everybody's getting that opportunity and so really what I I think um if we focused on culture and experience in the first three years and we worked on trying to build the structure into that into the building
for the previous three years where I think we need to go in the next three um is communicating out opportunities so that everybody can achieve those and then creating more access for every type of kid to be able to reach those goals and
so uh the three big goals based on the the feedback I got from parents uh we had a whole faculty Workshop where we looked at data and looked at strengths and needs in the building and this came out of what the the teachers wanted this came out of our our uh leadership groups uh about what they want to experience in
the building and I I think it fits into three big uh buckets uh the first is uh aligning what we do and publicizing it uh a lot of uh what Happ and we've talked about this here when I've shown up uh a lot of and it's your concerns
too is from what I've heard um a lot of what we we do some really great stuff I want to make sure everybody knows about it and can go after it so the first step I think we need to do is is uh collaborate and align our curriculum so that uh we have one document or one
website is really what I'd love to do is put it all uh in a really nice website I can't do that but I have some kids in the building who can so I'm hoping that over three years we can do that uh but aligning and publicizing what we do uh for everybody to see it uh the second is
making sure that we build identify step one identify kids who are at risk uh and build in specific programs to try and support those kids uh so that they can access all the great stuff that we do not just the same kids are doing the
same stuff all the time uh and then the third is we're coming back around so it's it's uh they've adjusted nias so that they come and do a collaborative conference every seven years which is going to throw them right into uh round three of the school Improvement plan uh so I actually think it comes at a pretty
good time I think that uh we can devise our vision of a Plymouth North graduate based on what we have aligned and what we uh try and deliver to all kids and so I think the third facet which kind of fits really well um is who do we want our kids to become and being really
clear about that so um so in the first one aligning our curriculum it's uh year one learning what that should be so having teachers go into other places we've started that but I think we need to broaden that so the average teacher should be able to go into classes and us give them opportunities to do that of
other places to see uh the different experiences that we have in the building uh try and create a single schoolwide document we have excellent curriculum documentation maybe more than most if you talk to some of these coordinators we have a ton of resources
what we don't have is one place for everybody to see it which is exactly the issue so if we can if we can codify all the great stuff we do in a single template that a parent can read that a kid can read that the community can read and get themselves invested in uh that's
what I think we need to do and it needs to be a paper document but I also think if we create a cool website that doesn't just show the content that we do but shows the soft skills we teach and the transition goals we have for kids uh and the activities they do in that class is
is key uh the second is try and identify uh strategy so going out to other schools and see what they do to reach atrisk kids uh bringing those systems back here uh and trying to figure out who those kids are we've started that work but we need to be more intentional about it uh then building intentional
programs to try and build up kids who are at risk so the the we've already started looking at data uh we've already started with the help of of Dr Rogers bringing the bright program into North to try and help kids who are struggling with uh absences and mental health uh issues outside of the building we need
to be better about that and so building those programs to support those kids is the key uh and then third is codifying that into what our vision of The Graduate is and then completing our self study so that we can move into that collaborative conference so I probably
talked too long uh but um I just I think the next step for us is to go from the experience we built and the structures we built into making sure everybody knows what we're doing and everybody can access it because when you look at uh when you look at
our building we're doing some pretty impressive stuff from 7:20 to 10:00 at night um what I want to make sure that we're doing and I know you guys feel the same way from from what you've presented is I want to make sure everybody can access that and some of the data shows
really clearly that some of our El kids and some of our special needs kids and some of our uh kids from you know economically diverse backgrounds aren't accessing uh School the way other kids are and it shouldn't be like that so I think trying to work to build programs to make sure that happens is the next
step in making the school a better place so I'm happy to entertain any questions you have um and uh I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to come up here all right Mr Jackson um I really like where you're going with your presentation uh especially when looking
at the at risk kids I feel like that's definitely a much needed sector um I'm wondering if when you're looking at putting that together you're also looking at transition like data from when they leave high school cuz I know you're trying to set them up for success
in high school but are you also trying to implement in that program like a way for them to then move on you know and be successful yeah and and that like the kids are saying that like the kids are saying they want they want stuff they
can act upon when they get out of here right they said co-ops and things like that and giving them the footing to be able to do that and really honestly giving them the giving all types of kids the like we had a conversation so we had we have our attendance hearings for the
kids who Miss some school and in the in in a conversation we had in attendance hearing we had an y kid who transferred in kind of late and would never have gotten into the Allied Health program but she kind of coordinated with some resources in the building and we worked with her on attendance and she was able
to like pass the CNA exam and and use some resources and we should be helping out more to be able to do that than you know cuz cuz all these kids aren't in these perfect scenarios to be set up for success and we need to adjust what we're doing to make sure these kids can access
that stuff too and she's Sunshine she deserves everything yeah um and she she was worried about missing school and I was like don't worry about it you're doing the the right thing and we we work with her and um and that's the type of success we want too yeah and I think that I I I think we're all in in
agreement that 100% yes yes but that's the key is trying to give them actionable stuff that they can build off of Once they walk out of here and using data to build that it's so important and we talk about restructuring Tech and you know that's a slow process but
having you know scenarios like that where you can't do something to put them in the program but you can do something to help them get to the where they need to be that's perfect example and identifying what those are right that's Dr Shon
I'm I'm reading uh develop systems for identifying at risk students that can include teachers administrators parents to consistently help identify those in need of additional support that's a really good sentence I'm going to say
something that I know you know probably better than anybody in this room that one of the ways of identifying an atrisk student is to talk to the outest student because the 15-year-old when they're drowning they know they're drowning MH and they will come to a trusted adult
and say I can't cope anymore and that sentence should somehow or or there should be some way to let those drowning students know we have life preservers so it's not listed here and I know you do it all the time
and guidance does it all the time but I don't want it to get lost in the middle here and that your point is specifically why it's there so what we have a lot of and and this to's really good at it the school's really good at it there's a lot of informal ways to do that right
there's a lot of chitchat there's a lot of uh some people looking we have advisory like it what we need is more formal ways to make sure that those kids don't get lost and we've started the process a little bit like we created like a Google form that goes to everyone
so we can see everybody who every term at the halfway marking point isn't doing well but we need more of those things cu cu what I am seeing in data and what I'm seeing in experiences like you're talking about is uh we're we're getting at them but I don't know how successful
all of our efforts are and I think if we're more formal about that we have better systems in place we'll catch more of those kids and be able to kind of cut that kid off a little earlier which sometimes is all the difference in the world and we can document it exactly right and we can
document when it happened and if it's working that's the other half too yeah okay thank you thank you all right saywood um good evening I just want to thank you um just for the data that you've shown us I think it's probably
one of the um I guess more Stark improvements I would say um just in terms of um uh the the student performance and then and then josing it with you know some of these um gaps um that are needed I I think about this um
AP piece uh of uh the students going from this 50 to 74% and knowing um some of the students that have graduated the system and and how um and how this has allowed them to finish college in three
years as opposed to four or a five-year program you know do a four-year program as opposed to a 5-year program so and also this out of school suspension that what a I mean a remarkable um you know uh Improvement
here um I I wanted to go to this piece that you mentioned um and it's towards it it's actually at the end students personalize their learning it's always it's yeah theend so what does now you've mentioned some pieces you know um uh just in terms of
you mentioned this young women the CNA programs what does that really look like the personalization of their learning so so it's part of that successful classroom guy we put together and really what I think it is is you can W and and this is what I've seen the transition
there lesson plans right but you you see the transition when you walk into classes when you walk into a room uh and you see a classroom where you can't see kids identity right you can't see who they are in the work that they're doing that I don't see that as a personalized
experience but when they're taking the information you've given them uh and they are and you see who they are through it like that is that is some of the best connection a kid is going to make to progress and the best examples I
can give you CU they're kind of the most public and and they are big moments in my brain but uh great examples of it to give you a concrete example is like the uh senior tech expo and you walk in right so these kids are all in the same
program for four years biomed is another great example too uh they'll go into these programs and they will all be in engineering together but one hasine engineered some sort of medical device and the other has engineered some sort of golf putt putt
thing and and I know you guys have seen them too but like they are all engineering right but they all they're engineering something that they are passionate about uh Biomet is a perfect example too when you go into the biom midnight they'll have their trifolds out
there and their trifolds will be um you know medical law or marketing devices or or you know medical stuff I don't even know I'm sure you know way better than I do but some of them are technical about what the the health care industry is
about and you can see who they are through it in an individ individual class like teachers in a history class because I'm a history guy kids bringing their own personal experience into relating what it is that they're talking about that trying to create moments that
kids will remember based on their own personal experience and giving kids the the space to be who they are is going to make them grow and I think um if if kids are just creating cookie cutter examples of things it's just kind of repetitive
checking off a box and that and that I think we've moved away from like and you can see it and I know like Kelly's been doing this stuff in math as well um we're trying to give kids an experience which is what they want right an experience that they can build off of to get inspired by instead of just remember
something or make some sort of check off growth or a certain growth or something like that so miss BR I just wanted to comment that I really appreciate the example that North sets of meeting people where they
are um I think of instances where outside of just school committee related things interacting with students that are just really a passionate about either a club they belong to or to your point and experience that they having
and they bring that into other settings as well as when you talk about the absentee Pro program that you've initiated within communities and it's conversations between the community as well as you know students families and
administration I think the way you are meeting people where they are is very creative it's very timely and important and the other thing that I would um also like to elevate is um having multiple
children within the system I love the fact that you're the first school um that calls when kids are doing the right thing it's not just a phone call to say you know we need to work hard on this or
do it's it's just a moment of I recognize that this thing has happened and just let you know your child know they're doing a good job so I think that's important to elevate in the conversation as well so thank you I don't know if everybody's always happy
but we're always trying to I know I like it when I get a call about my kids so I you know bringing the kids in for the effort breakfast I think is always uh a great example of what we're trying to sell it's like kids trying hard and giving them credit for it you know all right any any other comments
questions no uh very much appreciated uh Mr Barson I continue to be a happy uh with North uh parent as well and I definitely C with Miss Bryant's assessment there we actually got a um a letter a couple months ago from uh from
one of my daughter's uh teachers and we were blown away because like why are we being written and it was just glowing letter were like good why are you writing it but it was like you like it should be normal but we were so blown away that someone would take the time and remember I was like oh by the way your kids doing everything they should
do you know blah so it was uh wonderful um and like the other four said very really I think I think you're getting giant support here for goal number two we hear so much about the you know it's always the Honor Society kids and the student council kids and the DECA kids
and the Athletic kids and stuff and it's that you know and it's great because like said like you said on average the ship is definitely Rising continues to rise but it's that 5 10% that you know you know it should be working for as well and probably don't get enough attention so I appreciate that that's where you're putting your focus and I
want them to to do crazy wonderful things yeah that's the thing yeah it's no question the school's amazing so no shortage of opportunities we just make need to make sure that everybody can take advantage of that so thank you awesome thanks guys thank you you all right next up we have uh Dr
deers on pouth Harbor well hi everyone thank you for having me back um this is an opportunity for me to discuss the alternative program that Services both Plymouth North and Plymouth South High Schools um working very closely with Mr posin
and Mrs fry and their teams they identify students that are not doing well in the big building struggling some of them have some trauma issues some of them um really struggling academically they behind on credits and there's a variety of referrals that come to the
alternative program unfortunately there's only so much space in the program so we have roughly 44 students 40 to 44 students Every Spring a few Less in the fall last year we were very fortunate we graduated a High um in
my five years here we graduated 30 students I think the reason for that is we had a excess of students after the pandemic that came to us very early in their freshman sophomore year and that's why the number is high we should be
averaging between 20 and 25 students at graduation each year accordingly more than half of the students in my program um are on an IEP plan or a 504 plan even though it's a general Ed program in all
honesty it's run like a special ed program I individualize the program for each student that for their needs when they come to my program um you know I have four teachers I have a special a teacher and a guidance counselor and I
have three Pars in the program and we work as a team to provide the students what they need to get back on track and to succeed and finish their education oops um it's a cost-saving program to the district a lot of these
students in other districts are your high school dropouts and if these students were to go to another program whether it would be a map Academy or a pilgrim Academy it would cost the town double what it costs to run my program
so I know for a fact we are saving a lot of money by having this program in the district I also know I've worked very closely with the special ed department and we've had some students in my program that normally would have been outplaced directly but we' given them a
shot with us first and they s succeeded in my program um we take a lot of time to gear their education to their needs on what they want to do when they leave school I talk a lot about the fact that the alternative program is a population
of students that usually stay within your community so it's a community school and I talk about with the students all the time how are you going to give back to your community so that's a big deal to me and it's very important to me um you know that they understand
that am I pressing the right arrow here there we go okay um we spend a lot of time with students talking about life After High School um because the goal is not just to graduate it's to be successful
Beyond high school so I talk to them a lot about where you going to go after high school this year I have I think three or four graduates that are going to go into the military that's the highest I've ever had in my program um I have a lot of students that go to
college I have one right now doing do enrollment they leave early on Tuesdays and Thursdays they take a course at 4 C's and they they're they're they're starting the their college process I also have some students that don't go right away I had a young man that
contacted us about a month ago and they came back and visited us because they needed some help they were ready to go to college now so it's a community school that we don't shut the door when they leave they come back and we help them get a you know squared away and
into a program so he's gone to culinary school he got accepted and he started this week so those are you know accomplishments that I think are very important for this program I often talk to students about what would you like to do when when you leave a lot of them in all honesty they
don't know they have trouble figuring out what their interests are a lot of my students are depressed a lot of my students have anxiety they're afraid to go in front of people so we really have to dig deep and figure out what what do you like what do you want
to try what job do you want to go and and take you know there was one student that I asked him if he had a job and he said yes I I worked at Shaws and I said well what happened um one day I just didn't feel like going and I never went
back that that's the same behavior they had in the classroom going to school in attendance and that's how they came to me so we talked about the importance of maintaining a job and me coming to school every day so I have them coming to school every day now I got to get them to go to work when they're
scheduled to go to work and like I told them sometimes that entrylevel job that a lot of us may not like because it's not a fun job that's something you need for a career job you're going to need a reference from those people you're to
get some skills in that job setting to help you succeed later on so we talk a lot about that in all of our senior classes math English History and um science we talk about job skills we do interviewing skills with the students we
talk about interviewing we talk about having a conversation such as networking how do you get to know people and what people do you have to talk to people and and so we're we're working on that it's something that you know we have our tough days with it but we're working on
it and it's it's showing some success for sure we've continued um our mentoring program with the West Elementary School um I'm also working with um principal Christen Chase across the street we're
trying to get some students to go across the street as well to work with students it's a way for my students to give back it's I can't explain to you the excitement that when my students come back and they tell me how much they got
out of working with someone that was younger than they were they one student even said I think I was that student back in the day and it makes me laugh so they they see some of themselves working with them and I think that's really a positive thing
um and again we try to also when we do these mentoring programs have students work on a social m lesson those are skills that they struggle with on their own so by them working on their skills and then showing
the youngsters how to do something something as simple as respect and us and manners they feel good about it and they gain more confidence in doing it themselves we continue to have a high point Counselor come in
um I think when we talk about meeting students where they're at they get the confidence in my program to say Dr demures I really do need some counseling I do need some help so we hook them up with the counselor our counselor um is
very good she's in every Tuesday Morning um she does a great job with Seniors Helping them get Services beyond graduation because my biggest fear is that they leave and then they stop counseling and they they lose what we gain so um she works with with them to
get a counselor Beyond she's even kept some of them um after graduation which I'm very proud of um Bridgewater State College the center of educational neurosciences called me one day and how this all happened was the following um I
had a parent call and she wanted to um talk to me and I and I asked her if there was something wrong with her daughter if there was something else we could do and she said no Dr deur I want you to participate um with a program that we run at Bridgewater State College um the
program has a lot to do with the development of the brain and how trauma affects that development and they wanted me to participate on their board as a practitioner in the field of Education working with adolescent um so I've taking the opportunity I meet once a
month with the group um I'm learning from them and I'm hoping that you use that PD to apply some new things in my program moving forward um but to me it was just um it was kind of really a something nice that you know someone
said hey you're doing a good job with my child and we want see if you can take it to the next level and I was um that's how that all happened we talk a lot about community service in the alternative program and I
thought it would be a great opportunity to talk about um the no cell phone policy that I have in the program I understand the state's talking about eliminating cell phones in schools um and and that's going to be a huge undertaking especially at a Plymouth
North or Plymouth South High School um this is something that I started two years ago I collect the phones when they come into school they go they get locked up and they don't have any phones throughout the entire day that they're there um some of my staff members
thought that was a little harsh not letting them have it at lunchtime but I find that the students are now talking to one another they're talking to the adults in the program they're talking to students out of their group that they normally wouldn't never talk to so
they're gaining so much by not using their cell phones I I do think that social media is a is a big problem with the social emotional issues that youngsters have today um and it's a very anxious s group of kids
that we have today I think the majority of my students that struggle down downstairs is with anxiety and not having the phones have been a big plus for us now there's some obstacles with that some students have now brought in a second phone so that when I find it I
take it away from them some students now have the iPhone watches so they're trying to you know communicate on the watches or they're bring in their own devices I think with my program I'm kind of lucky because I'm small and I can
control it in September I'm going to um not allow watches or personal devices because we have the Chromebooks they don't need to bring anything it I really want to make sure that the focus for this program is education and career
advancement because I think that's what the students need the most so that's a lot about our community um how it's improved by taking the phones away and we've worked with the pantry here in town we still have the food pantry we've
taught the kids some life skills how to take our leftovers from the school lunch program and to make something outs out of the leftover food and skills that they would need moving forward um Walts mobile closet has been a a partner of
mine now for three years they come in allow kids to do some shopping for free um she really tries to get the clothes that adolescent like I've also donated um clothes and articles from my Giving
Tree um at the holiday season to them the leftovers and is a partnership that I really enjoy having and that's pretty much a summary of what's been going on at harber Academy with the alternative program and I'm here to answer any
questions if you have any question M Jackson uh I also just want to say I love what you're doing like I feel like every year you come in and you add more to what you're doing with the students
and we're just seeing lots of kids be successful in an area where they would otherwise not be successful um and I think it's so important um I was curious about uh I know before you had talked about like Community
Partnerships and trying to do things like that in order to help the kids transition a little bit if you um if you had any like update on something like that or so I think the difficulty that I'm having in all honesty I keep adding
things yeah but my population changes twice a year yeah so every time I get a new group of kids in it's I'm not I'm starting at Ground Zero again and and I have to meet them where they're at um I'm talking a lot with Mr Duffy we we're
talking a lot about how can we use the shops in the district to give our kids some Hands-On experiences maybe at the end of their school day my school day is still going on for another hour hour and a half but we haven't quite figured out
how to do that but we talk we're talking about it constantly I like to bring in that piece because I think Hands-On skills are important um I actually think it's a loss H in a lot of cases because everyone does does everything on a keyboard um so it we're working on that
and again I have a plan sometimes in September and then once I meet my group of kids and I see where they're at and I see their struggles and I'm like that's not going to work I got to throw it out and I got to go in a different direction
so that's the the downside to trying to grow a program more in that direction because the students keep changing with different needs and you're you're doing a great job uh I I'm sure that it's difficult and we all know those transitions are timely
and slow thanks Dr Johson everything Miss Jackson just said I was I was going to say it's a great program keep it going let me just tell you a little story that you I think you'll find interesting I had lunch on the in the executive dining room at the CIA in in in Washington
about a month ago and I was sitting having lunch with some of the people that I was with and I said this building's really very noisy this chatter all over the place there are 5,000 people in that building and not one of them is allowed to have a phone so they have to talk to each other and
it was amazing I I I believe that and um that's right now my number one thing is to get these kids to talk because um a lot of them when I meet them they sit down they put their heads down the teams that I meet with that the other two high
schools say they don't talk they don't engage so student engagement is number number one and that's all done by making and building strong relationships with the students well it's in the CIA now too M Bry I really appreciate your
holistic approach in meeting students where they are um I understand there one of your students who from second to about 8th grade um would work with me in
a youth program capacity and then came over to your program and the the way she flourished within your program and how her um
perception changed on who she could be and the value that she could bring you know just not only to her family but to the community you really make um students see themselves in a different
light when for a long time they may have felt like the only one or just having such a hard experience of of being able to open up and I appreciate how you don't only just um work with that
student but with the family in essence you know the siblings and it really changes the family Dynamic so I just wanted to elevate that story for you oh thank you I I noticed the longer that I'm here the more siblings or yes
cousins I am getting referred my way for sure anybody else yes I would um I just uh I I just want to thank you for the work um that you've done within this program I think sometimes when we think about alternative programs um uh we
there's there's a different perception as to what success is um Within These programs and and so you've kind of highlighted um that success looks quite different you know qu looks the same um whether you're in an alternative program
or or you're not um the fact that you're mentioning that you have students going to culinary class you have students that are going to um College you have students who've decided that that's not what's for them and that that in itself you've it's the um I guess it's the it's
the same trajectory but with a different means as to getting there and so I just um I thank you for your work thank you yes um I don't have lot to add other than one I want to thank you um for the statistic on what it cost us to educate
a student in your school versus one of the alternative programs because is we're arguing and debating with other committees in town who question you know all the spending we do but including why we run this school that you know can only um fit 44 students it's good to remind them that the alternatives are
that we spend twice as much or Worse these kids drop out which is unfortunately the worst Cas so that I appreciate that a lot um but yeah I mean thank you for everything you're you're doing and Echo everything that my fellow members said so thank you keep doing what you're doing all right next up we have Dr Kelly
betinis on math department it's a tough act to follow I should have kept my original date then I got sick you claim to be sick so definitely but I thank you for your flexibility and and as a side note
before I start I am the proud um Stacy knows this I am the proud Auntie of a Cape Cod collaborative former Cape Cod collaborative student who successfully transitioned back to his home high school math Honor Society graduated and it's a it's a great program and I'm
really that made my heart Happy I didn't know I was going to see that tonight so I'm really glad um so thank you for having me I'm here to update you on the math program um I think you'll hear a lot of similar things that my colleagues have said tonight about the experiences we're trying to provide for students but
just an update on what's new programmatically um we have number Corner in kindergarten which the basic way to explain it is a new way of doing like morning meeting and calendar but what is what it is is it's adding a lot of standards-based
kindergarten education in the classroom room and this is the first year we're doing it um all kindergarten classes in the district and what we're seeing I think what I love about it is it's I think providing a Level Playing Field it provides a lot of those skills that we
wish students would get in maybe a prek program some of those basic skills I me we have students that come in and in in the winter of kindergarten are still having a hard time identifying and writing numbers um so this is really speeding that up but in a good way I
mean it's not meant to be a fast track or anything like that it's just good good pedagogy and good content um I was in a class I want to say maybe October and we already had kindergarten students saying oh we've been in school x amount of days I know
how many more until we're here for 40 days and and in a Kinder kindergarten math that that's big you know it was we're seeing really great stries with it and the students enjoy it the the teachers do have to sing sometimes and that's fun to see too sometimes they have to Google what the tune is um to
the mockarena or whatever but it's a it's a fun experience for everyone if you can get into a classroom I highly recommend it um we've been working on really helping special education teachers with IEP goal writing intervention and progress monitoring around math uh we find one of our
struggles with students who struggle in math is that they're treading water for a while and the gaps just get bigger and bigger um so we're really trying to help partner with the special education department to talk about things that we like to call High leverage Concepts not power standards High leverage Concepts
conceptually what is a student leaving second grade really need the skills to do and that really boils down to maybe two or three things that's why I don't call them power standards they're not you know necessarily directly connected to the state Frameworks it's more of a conceptual group of ideas and that again goes back to the special education
really helping what do our students need to know to move on um and to help them keep up all the peers keep up together um we're doing illustrative math that's our new curriculum in the middle school this is the first year that everyone's implementing that um it's a problem-based curriculum and the teachers enjoy it and the students enjoy
it anyone who's done a learning walk in any of our Middle School classes um I I love when our administrators are out and I get texts about all the great things they're seeing and the enthusiasm the students are see um exhibiting so I think that's going really well it is the top rated curriculum in the state for
the um cure8 and the hqm the high quality instructional materials that the state evaluated we're currently searching for a curriculum in high school um illustrative math is available at the high school level I I don't know if it's um and I hear this from a lot of high schools I'm just you know I want to
put this out there in case there is a question of why can't we just do it through 12th grade uh it's an acquired taste I think it fits the Middle School culture I don't know if the techniques of the um the teaching techniques that it employs fits the culture of a high
school classroom now the way it's written um but there are um other curriculums out there that are very highly rated that we're looking at that still provide more thinking tasks and problem solving rather than wrote examples which is the way all curriculum is going nowadays um and I'm really
proud We have in-house courses on building thinking classrooms which is a new trend in education you see students up at boards collaborating it's kind of a whole movement in philosophy and education the the you might hear at BTC or building thinking classrooms and
specialized math instruction um we've had outside groups come in and train I think I was able to get 60 teachers here last summer over two sessions and we're bringing two more sessions back this summer to learn again about specialized math instruction um I've just learned
that especially in elementary school where they have to be experts in all Fields how to make specialized math work for all your students and how to best differentiate teaching math for some people is difficult enough and then having to teach it to 22 different
Learners is an added layer so we're just trying to provide as much support as possible and we have some very talented people in our district that can provide that so that's been really great so that's the some of the new things we've been doing so with all the work we've been doing and I apologize that the
font's a little small but we've come up with these districtwide goals and expectations um we've we've worked with an outside group called all Learners Network for a few years and in um my leadership team and I myself my high school department heads and my elementary math coaches have continued
working with one of the facilitators and he helped us craft this because we said and and I remember Pete saying to me because I had I had a meeting with Pete I said Pete I've been doing all this work and and I just I don't know I feel bad I feel bad saying no no we need to see this now and Pete said no go ahead
you need you need to see it now and I said okay so so this is what we did um because we' had been training teachers for a few years and and they were all at different stages of where they were and implementing the practices so we created this guide that I I think meets all the
teachers where they're at to help meet all the students where they're at and if you see on the left it's Elementary and on the right is middle and high but if you look at the three components they kind of mirror each other so I'll start with talk moves in elementary using Talk moves during all planned math activities
on a regular basis including but not limited to number talks so I'll show you an example in a minute we start each lesson with what we call a lowf floor high ceiling question any student can participate in the answer some are going to get it at a very surface level and some are going to know the answer in 3 seconds and you have to tell that kid to
put their hand down and wait we all we all know that that range right but we start every class with an example like that in middle and high we call it a launch and all access prompt during the first 10 minutes of class so that all students are encouraged to engage in the talk um I was at a the Chamber of
Commerce launch recently and their keynote speaker referred to it as a dopamine inducing question and they said said and I'm this person right I hate coming back from like December break and February break cuz what happens on Monday how is your break oh my God how was it and you're like fine like it's
just the most Ro You can predict the questions that are coming just like a student walking into class saying take out your homework and here's the starter on the board it's predictable it's not very exciting um so you start with these dopamine inducing questions of like here's a graph there's no labels or
words on it what do you think it represents any student can give a correct answer that's meaningful to them and then you build off of the contributions so we're trying to do that they're just they look a little different at the levels um the second one in elementary what we call Choice we
use a lot of menu in elementary school um which is a a literally a menu of choices that students can work on consisting of must dos and may do that's how we differentiate um in secondary we call it Collaborative Learning experiences that allow all students to apply their knowledge to solve problems
in multiple ways don't give them the formula or the algorithm and then give them 10 practice problems and see if they can do it go backwards start with a problem let them persevere let them struggle through it and then let them derive the conclusion themselves um I
saw that today in Middle School solving systems of equations they just threw a bunch of problems up and said what do you notice and wonder about these problems what's the same what's different and then the students derived how to solve it um so we strive for that that's um our Middle High and then um um
equity in both uh levels what does that look like in elementary ensuring all students are talking about math everyone has something to talk about in math class no matter what their their ability level and then at middle and high ensuring all students are able to communicate their thinking and respectfully critique the thinking of
their peers you know to turn that math class into a debate almost to have students come to their conclusions so we've put this out at the beginning of the year um we've done PD around it we've done coaching around it I helped teachers craft their goals around around it and it's been going amazing um and
where I say you know I kind of needed Pete's help we have teachers that are still just at the launch like they're really trying to do a better job with how they start class and then the rest of the class might still be a little more traditional others are taking this through beginning to end and and we'll
all get there eventually I'm confident um this I won't go through this too much but these are some of the things I'm just talking about that we would start class with um some people have noticed in my emails I put would you rather um in my emails in my signature and I actually have people write back and
answer them U which is sometimes one time fun funny story I actually had my husband write back and say am I supposed to be did you leave me a list was I supposed to be doing something he got very stressed out by whatever my question was and I think he thought he had to go to the grocery store I'm like no no dear it's it's just math stuff you
can ignore it um but you know would you rather eat five Shamrock shaped cookies or 10 round cookies so but again that's math it's spatial relations what would you rather and why and there's no wrong answer um 10 miles to find a rainbow or five miles to find a pot of gold I mean
my kid would say I'd rather walk a shorter distance and get money at the end but Others May really want to find a rainbow and that's fine uh we have which one doesn't belong you have four numbers up there they're different colors um they have different you know uh factors
in them there some are one digit some are two digits so there's no right or wrong answer you just talk about it you could do shapes and food or you can make it related to the content and have equations but these are the types of things we're trying to get into math class at least in the you know the beginning of class to start that
conversation and if you ever get an email from me now look at my would you rather and you can answer me I try to change them every month um I asked teachers because I can say all great things but I asked teachers what they were experiencing in their classes and this is a k through 12 representation a
lot of words up there but I I put in purple what I thought you know what I pulled out of of the um the points here when I think of the math department I think of action because as issues or comments are brought up I feel they are not only listened to but there's action and resolutions that follow that's just
something I'm proud of I like that teachers feel like they can come to me and ask me for anything and they'll get it and it doesn't have to be graph paper it could be a concept it could just be help it could be can you come to my class I don't know how to explain this to a student um and and my department
heads and my teachers and my coaches um they're just so proactive and reactive and I have Stacey's support everyone's support and all of that it's it's been wonderful we're really a community um I'm just so impressed with the rigor of number Corner um there's teachers now that want
to go into the kindergarten class and see what's going on they're very very excited about it and I think that's really going to help brid bridge that covid Gap too like this teacher commented they they students are now strong in skills that this teacher really had to nail down in third grade um so I think this is going to be I'm
just so excited about it we're looking at some schools again I think there's a culture piece to it some schools are looking to expand to first grade and others aren't quite ready yet and I I respect that we're going to we're going to look at that and see how we can expand um everyone in math Workshop can
be a math person through developmentally appropriate games and activities um and the fact that we help them with that and what are appropriate games and activities and give them examples um this is from a teacher I loved this one um I've been teaching sixth grade math for 15 years this is the first time have
seen such high level problem solving and perseverance and that students are working collaboratively to solve problems and learn Concepts and I and I think that speaks to what Pete was talking about and Jim too about that personalized learning experience it's not drill and kill it's not let me show you this method and you repeat it it's
making the math come to life and have the students problem solve um that's another proud thing I tell the teachers they say I'm we're doing this shift in teaching to help you feel better as a
teacher teacher like teachers after Co um felt they told me like I never realized how much work I did and that the students didn't do or I wasn't asking the students to do and now the students are doing that heavy lift on their thinking and the teacher is just a
facilitator and I think this way that we've been teaching in the curriculum shifts um teachers are are happy to come to work and teach math and that I can't ask for anything more than that really um and students are doing a great job finding their aha moments as they apply
models to real life situations as they problem solve so we've got a lot of great things going on in the classrooms um this is just some examples with the coaching um that teachers elementary teachers so we have 2 K to five elementary math coaches they each
service four schools they primarily work with teachers but they get into the classrooms with the students I just they're don't want to confuse them with an interventionist or anything like that they do primarily work with the teachers um but this this work you know we can pump out things for teachers to do we
can hand them a new teachers Edition but like this teacher said um these are things I've tried to do for years and we finally were able to do it because of that consistent one-on-one time with the coach and all the training and the routines that they did um so this is you know just uh 32 minus 15 so this would
be an example of a number talk you just plop that up on the board and and you see how students have different ways of compartmentalizing the numbers this is not you know your grandma's math anymore like you can't
just put the 15 under the 32 and borrow um you know that but I will say disclaimer I say this every time I get to talk to you this is what causes arguments at the dinner table right because because only because I know Stacy's family and the girls names like Stacy sitting down with little Miss
Emerson was like Mom what's 32 minus 15 and you just want to put that little one next to the two cross out that you just and she's like no but that's not how you're supposed to do it and then let the arguments and so um so if you need me call me but um you know these are different ways each different color
marker represents the different ways that students thought to do it and then they can borrow from each other's ideas that's back to that building thinking classroom that's another philosophy in there no more is it work on your own and let the teacher circulate put your work up for everyone to see so I can borrow how you did it and make my next time
doing it more efficient and build my confidence as a math student so um that's what our coaches have been really helping our elementary teachers do um we have Pat courses which I'm so thankful we have um you know the Plymouth courses that we can keep in house we've Co um
partnered with curry college but we've just done our coaches run courses oh my God they sell out every time I feel it sounds kind of corny to say but they do every time my two coaches offer any type of um PD outside of school it it goes
very quickly which I'm glad and we actually have um in another coaching model we have um Walpole coming to visit Plymouth North tomorrow for teachers that want to come see what the great things that we're doing um as far as you know the
elimination of cp2 freshman year the different techniques we're using to teach and I have Holliston coming to Plymouth South Middle next month to do the same so I mean we're on the map people know what we're doing and other districts want to come and see what we're doing because they're sitting in
front of their school committees trying to make these changes and and want to know how how to make it work um so I'm really proud of that and then just finally um just you know what we're using money for and how we're trying to save money um we continue to peer model observe and collaborate with each other
to get ideas um we we've really focused more on teaching practices than we have new content in curriculum although like I said we are going there in high school the illustrative math program that we use in the middle school is what's called open source it's like open Zed um there's no charge to use it's free
access online um but everyone's catching up with that in some way or form and charging for something I say it's like when you're searching for like the best cable or cell phone plan it changes every three months so um but we keep an eye on that um and we've really streamlined our Tech resources to help
maintain an equitable Equitable learning experience a lot of our supplementals that we use are K to 5 K to 12 6 to 12 we really try to um you know use it helps us uh helps the students become acquainted with it it helps us coach the teachers on it better so we've really
just tried to streamline our extra Services um train the trainers uh we work with new or untrained teachers every year so that everyone has equal access to that PD and coaching um the administrators are great uh you know we
we work Elementary if they want us in we'll go into their grade level meetings or team meetings um everyone just finds a way to to get us into work with their teachers which I really appreciate um I at pcis Katie budo one of the elementary um special ed directors and I are going
to work with some sixth grade teachers on that fifth grade transition and they're bending over backwards to find a covered schedule that works for us so everyone in house just does such a great job working together and um you know we try to keep as much of our expertise and house as we can because we have a lot to share so that's all I have I'm happy to
take any questions I just have instructions please one thing two things actually just thank that were nice to see when we did our learning walk at hedge we saw a uh one of the Wonder and yeah moments and it was really nice because you saw
kids engaging at every single level and it was very inclusive and nobody was made to feel like they answer wasn't enough and you did have kids that were answering at a very high level but you also had kids that were answering at a very basic level but it made everybody
feel included and it was very you know it was very inclusive which which is what we really like to see right I'm glad and I think that I'm glad you brought it up at hedge I think the consistency of the language in the routines helps our e population I've seen that carry all the way up to Plymouth North with the way some of our teachers are executing their lessons
with the El students just helping them learn the language and speaking that same and they were excited about it they were very engaged yeah I'm glad and I mean this is the first year I've heard my daughter come home and she's in seventh grade talking about math and like the the real world examples that
you've been including in like so many people in the community have said are we teaching our kids to use a checkbook are we teaching them to do this and she's coming home saying I had to choose a profession and I had to see if my profession would allow me to buy a house and I just observed that lesson that was
two days before vacation too I've never seen such an Engaged class leading up to February break she talked about it for days and after Vacations so I mean some of the things that you're including in there are those life skills that we talk about that people think are maybe lacking you found
a way to incorporate it and I really think that's exciting for them I'm glad thank you I observed a class today same thing it was um seventh grade they're you know adding and subtracting positive and negative integers but again just doing it rotely and letting kids practice the first lesson was balancing a checkbook yeah and they could balance
the checkbook but then when they looked at numbers they were struggling with adding and subtracting it's like no no no go back to the checkbook you can do this so that that's the goal I work at a bank right after college and I had friends that would come into the bank because I was like the assistant manager and I would have to balance their
checkbooks for them yeah yep that's that's what we do yeah absolutely thank you Dr Johson I oh you're good nothing um I just I thank you for the uh the y i a question I know
obviously you were one of the Departments that was unfortunately impacted by our uh budget cuts last year how did the loss of the one um math coach at pcis like how's that impacted your ability to you know to sure um so we had we had one at each pcis and and
South Middle um I think just not just it's it's been a lot of ways I mean on on the one hand I I I have to give credit to the Middle School teachers because um I think it's built more teamwork between them I've
had to provide them with more time together to just collaborate and work um but I also think what I miss is that direct connection to the to the teacher voice those two coaches um what they did a lot of was facilitating different professional
development making connections with other districts um working with teachers directly on data that's a big thing I mean I can't as much as I try you know like we have the math Essentials classes and different classes that we provide on an intervention basis and I mean I run a
report and I look at it and I send it to the teachers but it was that mix of qualitative and quantitative touch that they had at the building level that they could sit with teachers and say how how's this student doing or I was able to work with this student um the coach at pcis did a lot of one-on-one work
with our El students and the El teacher so that collaboration piece is gone I mean I I provide guidance but I I can't always physically get there and work with them in person with the quality that they used to yeah but but again I have to give kudos to the teachers for
persevering without that because they've done an amazing job maintaining their collaboration that's what I was afraid of that I was losing some glue um they've the teachers have really stuck together and worked well together um but I I just I can only be in so many places at once and and I think the other grade
levels have you know lost me a little bit too because of the extra time I've had to spend it was a if you want to call it a luxury for me to not always have to worry about what was going on because I had people in the buildings doing it so now just you know time has pulled a little bit but but again I have the teachers are working their butts off
yeah getting by but definitely a loss yeah for sure no I appreciate that yeah no I appreciate the Insight so hopefully we can add them back any other questions all right thank you thank you all right I have a request
for a five minute uh break if it's okay with everybody all right if so we'll debate for our next agenda item I to make e e e e
e e e e e e all right we'll resume our meeting next up is a uh policy review so masc policy ikf participation in graduation
ceremony so this is just a policy update um that corresponds with the change in competency determination so taking out that second paragraph which references the mcast and just a small language change um so we don't have to continue so when
we we typic sometimes we get into trouble when we change a policy and not the handbook or the handbook and not the policy so this just says as described in the handbook so that we're only changing it in one place good any questions for Dr Rogers St
forward any discussion or otherwise we'll entertain a motion I we um accept the policy Amendment as proposed second I'll second BR seconds
all right we'll vote all right motion passes six to nothing with one absent member all right thank you right thank you m Dr Rogers all right we'll move on to next
item is uh special education director in appointment thank you Mr Pano so um with um director Smith's resignation we have a void um and I immediately had announced that for the for the time being that um Dr Rogers would serve as
the interm Director in her current capacity um work um so my recommendation was to formalize that to get the the the support of the school committee um at our next meeting so I'm here before you to propose that Dr Rogers serves in an
interm capacity as our director of special education for all special ed mans as our director would um as we pursue a more more permanent solution for um the foreseeable future hopefully
but you know sooner than later um but we want to do it right and but we want to have someone in place who um for the time being internally and an interm basis that um could do the job really well um with that recommendation um we
would be looking to get additional support um for Dr Rogers in other capacities to help with some of the other responsibilities that she has um she has a lot um so that we can prioritize what needs to be prioritized particularly around the matter before
you with this position uh keep in mind we have other structures in place um so Dr Rogers isn't the first point of contact for every matter um but you know Dr Rogers would be the point of contact
and serve um in those roles when the director would be brought in um on any and all matters so my recommendation would be for the time being as an interm um to appoint Dr Rogers as the interm Director of special education effective immediately um in her capacity as
assistant superintendent ready for a motion yeah well do we have any questions or discussion no I will uh make a motion uh to approve the interm appointment of Dr Stacy
Rogers as the special education director um as recommended by Dr Campbell and I will add with a great deal of confidence a second a second check some seconds all right all right you have unanimous
support oh thanks congratulations yeah I I I was already asked all sorts of questions wasn't sure if you're fully qualified you think you can do it um I'm very happy to be back working with my special education um department heads um it was like I never left it was great so
um been able to reconnect with some families and um just looking forward to working with the Department again so thank you um I was we've already vot the extras um
supports for Dr Rogers you know existing role is that something that will happen quickly do we have yeah so we're looking to like contract with some certain people to do things that were obviously not in this uh capacity but for other functions within her day-to-day yeah job
um that would kind of give some relief to Dr Rogers so that she can um I don't want to be doing Wellness checks on her every day yeah that's that's why there's no no jide I think you know we I want Dr Rogers to feel you know in this interm
capacity that she can do the job that we're asking her to do and I have all the faith in the world as you do Dr seron but I also wanted to be um manageable for her this isn't the first time that Dr Rogers has done this for us
um and Dr Ro since and I've said this to several of you before not about this but you know Dr Rogers you know when Co hit she was my right arm and my left arm and created a Virtual Academy for 420 students within three weeks because we didn't like what the state was offering
and you know there's nothing that she won't do to that's in the best interest of kids um but I want I I want it to be manageable as I said so we're so we're already um looking at um people that we can contract with to do things outside
of this capacity um for other functions of her job yeah very good question all right I'll move on to uh superintendent report Dr Campbell again thank you very much uh short report
because we had a uh Break um for welcome our families excuse me our students and our families and staff back um just a reminder um we're very excited that uh secretary towell's office will be visiting us um on oh gosh I didn't put
the date down March 13 March 13th thank you very much how could I forget the date March 13th so secretary T will be visiting us he's the secretary for those who don't know um at home he's the Secretary of Education for Massachusetts
uh wonderful human being uh former superintendent um worked for the B foundation and has been secretary under the governor for a little bit right now um he will be visiting U two of our schools man Elementary School and South
High School um his his first stop is around investigating our investigating histories program which we have been piloting uh which is a a a state supported opportunity in our fifth grad so we're um happy to to have him see
that in action in our schools we'll also be taking him on a tour of our preschool that is over at manat elementary school and talking about um our cppi grant which we've talked about here before which is a great opportunity to help us to provide um special education and
preschool support to students that are in private programs which is great for families and it's been a great uh capacity um tool for us um we will bring them to culinary of course when we go over to South High School and also have
them have an opportunity to go and go into the film studio again we've received a substantial State Grant that completely um outfitted uh new technology at self high school a lot of people don't know that we took the the
old technology from Panther TV's old high school and brought it to the new high school well we've been in there since TW 2017 um so we were very fortunate to receive a $260,000 grant um through the state um
so he'll be able to see that as well and we'll have some interviews I'm sure from some student um some young husky TV uh students giving him some you know interview questions and whatnot but you're all invited I've heard from a couple people so if you feel that you're
available that day you're more than welcome for the entire day or part of the day or the lunch component if you can make the lunch component only please just let me know um so we can make sure that we make accommodations obviously but we'd love to have you um you can
read reach out to me or um T Trisha in my office uh Nathaniel Morton Elementary School I've talked about this a couple of times uh Dr blaz and I have had meetings with Park Plymouth about uh an exciting opportunity to do an expansion
renovation of the parking lot over at nathani this would allow us we had a meeting last week we're going to be conducting some soil tests um where the playground may be moved as well as doing some um site testing on the existing uh
parking lot to see if there's anything that would need to be done you know engineering wise before getting into that so the park Plymouth knows what it's dealing with but really an opportunity to expand the expand the lot slightly move the playground structure away it's currently if you're ever look
the playground structure is tucked over you know among the parking which we don't use by the way during the day but it's not in the best location so we'll be relocating that first expanding the parking which would also allow us to
stage all of our buses back there which would free up traffic on Lincoln Street as well um and help with parent pickoff so it's a safe it's a safety issue I think it's a it's a certainly a safety Improvement it's an improvement in the playground it's an improvement for Park Plymouth and for downtown in terms of
parking because it is used as a parking U opportunity as well and also come with some lighting and some um additional curb appeal as well so we're really excited about that so once we have um a little addition engineering testing done
and have some uh further um conceptual drawings we will come before school committee to to show what may be possible so really really appreciative of that opportunity um Precinct caucus meetings I did distribute a paper
calendar if you want it electronically uh just let me know I'm happy to send that to you um and I also you know Dr blazedale and I put together um this slide deck so this is uh a combination of presentation slides
regarding the operational budget proposal as well as article five which is the feasibility study so there's several slides in the back um Dr bla and I blaz Dell and I went to um Precinct 17 last week um and presented on this and
actually handed this out to the precinct members we don't have copies for everyone in the audience but for the nine precin members but spoke to it so this is a good this is a good um resource to to provide people but also for anyone who is speaking at a Caucus
meeting um so and I can also send this electronically to anyone if you'd prefer a copy so all town meeting members should have received this through their Precinct chairs I sent it to the chair Mr Taris first um to distribute um but
it's also you know can be very handy um in there U to have a physical copy in in the back we've also put links to a whole host of additional documents for example the budget detail book that you all saw
at the 1 December meeting with all the details there's a QR code in there and a link people can take their device or type in the website and it will download the detail report so they can see everything that you saw back in December we also have links to all the videos
that we put together with EDTV and some of of the ones we did with the local scene so if they want to learn more about Transportation they want to learn more about how we're transparent um whatever it may be they can watch a short video on that topic related to the budget as well so we put
that in there another thing sort of related is Dr blaz Dell did a lot of work on this as well as Miss Hurley uh this is this year's budget book which is also electronic thank you Mr gravio he's
going to the website so on Dr blaz Dell's page Business Service page there is actually an issue version of this so it's like a magazine electronic Magazine version you can flip through there we made a copy for you town meeting members get a copy of all of this as well um so
we have that in there all the video links are also in here for people if they have a copy of this to look at but also on Dr Blaze doll's website on the bottom of it if you scroll to the very bottom this a smiling face um you you'll see links so we have links there to the
budget video series so if you click on the budget video series the very bottom button sorry that's our budget book but if you click on the very bottom button in you'll see all the videos that we did
um over the course of this year yeah it's amazing and people can go and and watch them at their Leisure and there's a lot of videos on maintenance Transportation facilities uh there's links to you know additional resources associated with this the local scene
roundtables that we did as well so lots of information um so we hope that people still going to get criticized for not being transparent yeah exactly perhaps um so that and then one more thing I just wanted to share which we
rolled out was it right before the break. the first view right right before the February break break right after the break 24th 24th okay oh it's already been a week that's right it's we um jeez um so first
view first view is an application that first student uses so um in collaboration with first student we're piloting first view it's a realtime GPS uh vehicle tracking student transportation monitoring platform so if you have students that ride the bus you
can put in their code you get you get a personalized uh sheet with the code so you track your students and you can have all of your students even if they're on multiple buses track that and it will give you um
access to um their where their where their roots are notification alerts if they're if they're getting you know within five miles or five minutes um and provide updates so we're um can't guarantee as we as a disclaimer we can't
guarantee that it's 100% accurate as Technologies can be a little off sometimes but it just an opportunity to sort of gauge the public and see what they think of this additional opportunity to see um see if it works so that's all I have this evening
Mr P any questions for Dr Campbell um Jackson just um one kind of question comment more um we were talking at one of our last meetings about who was going to be able to make it to town meeting
and I knew I wasn't going to be able to make it so I think we wanted to um talk about like just put put it on people's radar that um we you know we need to
know who will be at Town who will be at yes yeah so time meeting is on April Saturday April 5th right so yep I I can come if it's absolutely necessary for just our portion but I'd prefer not to because of personal reasons yeah can send out a reminder
obviously we need four of us there to uh to make a quorum anything else for Dr Campbell all right Mr tropy yes uh good evening I have one retirement to share with you Nancy Stanton uh is going to be
completing 28 years of service in June at as a par educator at Nathaniel Morton Elementary School Jackson um on behalf of the district we'd like to thank Miss Stanton for her 28 years of surface and wish her happy
retirement thanks all right next we have a Committee Member reports anybody have any open reports they want to give you always have something I I've been to some school council meetings and then I were both at
um South Middle School school council meeting um I don't have any big update she was talking about about her presentation and um I do like a lot of the things that she's doing over there so I think you know the school is moving
in a great Direction all right that's good any have any general updates um I have two reminders one uh we have our upcoming interviews one p the South Middle School principal I know Miss Bryant volunteered for that one on March 27th we also have the social
cities coordinator interview on April 10th which Mr Bryant was also available for but we could spread that out so it's not all on one member so if anybody else is available on April 10th please let me know otherwise otherwise we have least we have Miss Bryant as a backup but user
for both and then obviously we got the list of Precinct meetings unfortunately they're you know it I don't know that we ever can cover all of them but take a look at it and we can try to see if you know we can at least get a member at uh most of these to support uh Dr Campbell
and Dr blaz though all right um report from Plymouth building committee all right I got a lot I'll make it quick um we had a presentation from the Plymouth area Coalition for the homeless they have a uh project you're
doing in the industrial park um renovating a building at 54 Industrial Park Road 26 families um so they'll be working with the building committee to keep us updated on that project um the sale for the um New
headquarters for the DPW went through in terms of the property so now they have to look into Renovations of the building um Memorial Hall there's been some discussions about possible uses for the building and there's a feasibility study coming um that's being worked on
see what we need to do to get that building um um tighten it up and and fix some of its issues um there's going to be a project uh coming forth um for the replacing the HVAC system at the police station I guess
this um needs to get replaced and that's a bigger project than you might think it's oh yeah it's a pretty major project so um they uh and then the fire stations station two the warranty Works completed
that's done station five is completed they're working on some punch list items and some of the the um Landscaping work it was put off to the spring they couldn't get they were behind most of the way so some of the work's been put off [Music]
um and that's all I have unless Mr P has anything that I might have missed I think you got it all and I realized I went in reverse order but has the master planning committee met we are meeting Thursday so we will get an update on the um the forms we have and the
workshops and um what's the next step so I'll have more for our next school committe meeting all right thank you all right next up back to Mr Trophy on personal reports yes um I can share with you that we accepted four resignations uh we did approve uh three parental
leaves and five medical leaves and then we were able to appoint one certificated employee and three classified any questions for Mr Joy all right next we have uh unfinished business anything we want to Reser
corre and new business yes sayward um I just wanted to I had some um uh families reach out to me just regarding um the recent vote um at the
select board as it relates to um bringing uh guns in public buildings and so they wanted some clarification just regarding um what that means for schools as they are public buildings and so um and so that's
uh what I'm bringing up I just didn't know if we could um clear up some of the confusion does that um does that include the schools um as well um I know that um per the law uh that was um specified
this new modified law that um it states that there is a ban in public buildings and which includes the schools but with this recent vote um does that negate that yeah Dr Campell do you have
any insight I mean yeah I share MC the same question a little disturbing and so so yes so what I can tell you is that um the the law that miss heward's talking about is an act of an act to modernize
firearm laws which was enacted I believe in October it went into effect so there's an opt out provision in there um which you may have read that the chief made a recommendation to the select board um for town meeting members to
consider opting out of that you know of that law in in terms of access to public buildings such as Town Hall such as Parks I don't know the degree to this I do have do have the same question though
um my suggestion through the chair would be perhaps to see if we send an invitation to the chief to see if he could come to the next meeting if at all possible because it's before town meeting just to to hear from the chief and um to help articulate you know the
questions that that I would have and I'm sure that other members the committee would have and the public may have as well yeah um I I definitely supp support that the other thought I had is just you know assuming that town meeting were to
go for this um would we be able to get uh I don't know if it's you know our legal accounts or some kind of legal opinion like whether or not to know whether how if it passes it would affect us yeah thank you for that question and I have I have sent um that question to our legal councel already to get an
answer on that as well yeah because I think that that's probably you know the fundamental thing is knowing are we do we need to worry I mean and what we what what would we need to do in the event that it would apply y okay so we hope to get an answer um from we will get an
answer from legal council on that before the 17th and have that prepared for the 17th I can guarantee that um and through you happy to send an invitation to the chief to see if you could come that'd be excellent okay because I think we only have one meeting before that yes so if
he could come on the 17th that would be that would be great yeah all right thank you welcome any anything else any wants to bring up thank you for bringing that up M all right next we are at our uh consent agenda does anybody have anything they'd like to uh remove from
that agenda all right if not I'll take a motion I'll make a motion to approve the uh consent agenda as presented right we have a motion second all right that passes unanimously with
what uh member absent and I think that concludes the March 3rd meeting of the CL school committee thank you everybody e for