Okay. Good evening everyone and welcome to the Plymouth School Committee. I call the meeting to order at 700 p.m. Would everybody join me in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Uh, Miss Brian is going to read our land acknowledgement for us.
We acknowledge that we are meeting on the unseated ancestrial homeland of indigenous people whose enduring presence we humbly recognize. We honor the Wampaoic people as the original stewards and the herring promog as the
surviving tribe indigenous to these lands. In our commitment to lifelong learning, we acknowledge historical injustices to the native people of this land and 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. Thank you. Um, it doesn't look like we have anybody
from the general public here. Um, so I think we can move on from comments of the public right to our student representatives. Uh, we'll start with Anna. Hi, good evening everybody. Um, this past Thursday, Plymouth North had
an amazing win over Silver Lake with a score of 28 to 10 at our homecoming football game. It was a balanced team effort and it was a great game to watch. The homecoming dance was held on Friday, October 3rd with over 680 students in attendance. This year, the dance was
held in the courtyard for an amazing evening under the stars. Congratulations to the king, Brady Sheay, and Queen Vienna Cros, and the court of Evan Botchi, Zoe Melody, Dylan Healey, Paige Robertson, Tyler Jenkins, Sarah Engel, Reed Costa, and myself. Uh Plymouth
North and South high schools invite all collegebound students, parents, and guardians to attend this this year's college fair where colleges, universities, and armed services will be available to speak. The college fair will be held on Thursday, October 16th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Plymouth
South High School gym. We encourage all students to attend. This is an important event to begin your college choice journey. Roughly 184 members of the junior class are registered to take the PSAT during the school day on Thursday, October 16th. This is a designated day by the
college board for juniors to take the test. These help prepare all of our students for the SAT, but their scores also could qualify them for the National Merit Scholarship. We are so proud to announce that Elizabeth Lazeretti, affectionately known as Biz, was one of
the five educators in Massachusetts who received the Excellence in Teaching award given by the Harvard Club of Boston. The Harvard Club of Boston gives an annual excellence in teaching award to New England area high school teachers who demonstrate exceptional teaching and
inspire their students, recognizing those who go above and beyond in the call of duty in their classrooms. Congratulations again. Friday, October 17th, Plymouth North will be participating in a pinkout day at the football game to raise money that will help support members of the of our
community impacted by breast cancer. Student council is hosting the fall craft fair on November 1st with over 100 crafters and the fair runs from 10, excuse me, 10 to 2:30. Marching band performed at the US band's New England
Invitational at UMass UMass Amherst on September 27th and they placed fifth in their division. Marching band will be performing at the MICCA state finals on Sunday, October 26th in Quinsey. Students that are looking for job opportunities can see the bulletin board
in the guidance office. Tomorrow we will honor all of our fall sports captains at the fall captain's breakfast. We look forward to seeing captains from both Plymouth North and Plymouth South. Thank you. Thanks, Anna. Uh, and now Shay. Hi everyone. Um, homecoming is
approaching soon and we'll be hosting a spirit week next week, a rolling rally, and then the dance is on Saturday, October 18th. Ticket sales begin this Thursday. Don't miss out. We had a fantastic assembly last Tuesday. Cara Filler presented to the entire school at two different assemblies. Her message
focused on making positive and lasting choices, teen leadership and being a role model, dangerous and distracted driving, building resilience and overcoming obstacles, and underage drinking and peer pressure. She was really good. I loved having her. The students were very engaged and
appreciative of the event. We are excited about the upcoming Fenway Thanksgiving Day game on November 26th. There is a link published on the PSHs Facebook page where you can order gear that's Fenway themed. And thank you to G&G who's generously don donating all of the proceeds from these sales back to
Plymouth North and Plymouth South high schools to help support students and families in need during the holiday season. Thank you to the PSHs for their tremendous generosity last week in support of the going gold efforts by the district. As a school community, we raised over $3,400 for this tremendous
cause. And none of this would have been possible without our incredible students, staff, and family members. PSHs Interact Club will be hosting a pickleball tournament at the Village Sports Center in the Pine Hills on Sunday, October 19th from 4:00 to 7:00. We're looking for doubles teams to
participate. The entry fee is $10 per team and all proceeds are given to an organization that helps provide schools and resources to a small village in Ethiopia. Please join us in a fun evening for a good cause. The guidance department is offering after school sessions to help
students with the common app. Stop by guidance office for more information. Friday was the annual senior October Fest where students had a class photo, the hypnotist presentation, and participated in many events outside. Congrats in the cornhole um championship, Zach Hog and Michael
Richie. Congratulations to the boys cross country team who secured their seventh straight Fisher Division Patriot League title and extended their dual meet undefeated streak to five seasons. Um all freshmen attended the annual club fair on September 26th. Many opportunities were presented to the
freshmen and they were encouraged to get involved. The annual college fair is next Thursday, October 16th at PSHs. It is also college t-shirt day and juniors will be taking the PSATs. We had a great turnout at the annual open house on September 25th. Thanks to
all who attended and senior yearbook reminder, senior photos are due on November 14th. Thank you. Thanks, Shay. Does anybody have any questions for representatives? I'm just adding to it that they knocked off Situ Friday night who had won 16 in
a row. So, yep. I mean, that to me I lead with that one. Took out the state shifts. Yeah. I mean, congratulations. I was proud of that one. Driving around Saturday. That was big. Great catch, too. Shane McDonald. Yes, that was a catch.
Uh, well, thank you for your updates as always. You're welcome to stay, but we know you also have a busy schedule. So, but we'd love to have you if you have anything you want to contribute to the rest. And if not, have a great night. Thank you. Okay, moving on. We have our school
improvement plans and we will start with Plymouth South High School. This looks good. Hello everyone. How nice. The girls are much better than I am at the microphone. So, um the game was impressive. fall. It was quite a night
at Plymouth South. So, and it was JAG night, which is always a highlight of the year. Little kids everywhere. So, um so I'm here to present our school improvement plan and we're in the um midcycle of the plan. So, we're kind of
at the midpoint. Um but it is exciting how much we've been able to get done over the past few years. So, the three main goals, there's a lot of things that I'll talk about tonight. Um and I just first want to thank the council that meets monthly with us and Mr. Morgan's been on the school council at South for a really long time. Um, and we really
have prioritized our NEAS health study which took place last October. And believe it or not, our next visit is next September, our dennial visit, which is a new, it's a newer model for NIA, our accrediting group. Um, so, but I'll be able to talk about the results because we didn't have those last year
at this time. Um we've been working dig um diligently on a digital portfolio to really highlight our vision of the graduate and we just started in September rolling it out with the freshmen and you'll be able to see through the presentation a few pieces. Um and then last but not least um we
really want to build our EEL program because it just started a few years ago and we went from four students a year ago and we're up to 16 students who are true ELE. Um as well as we have a lot of other kids who've signed out of the program and things of that nature. So, we've had a lot of different exciting efforts in place thanks to the staff and
the students at the high school, which is great. Um, there are a few other goals at the end that we added on that are a little separate from this, but are things we work on all the time at South High. Um, the first goal, as I shared, was our NIA self-study. And the areas that are outlined are kind of documents that are
interested. If you're ever bored at home on a Sunday and you well the Patriots won but if watching these things um it's just some interesting data that the look back is the document that I shared last year of what we presented about where Plymouth South was in 2013 and then where it was during the um the visit
last fall in 2024. The priorities, areas of growth, I'll talk about in the next slide, but the strengths and areas of growth, that's something that as you look through as a school community, we had to put this document together last year right before October for the visiting team. And some of you were in
interviewed by the team and it's really exciting to see the kind of the strengths, but the needs and these are determined by the school community, which is what I like about the self-study process, kids, parents, staff. Um, and what's great is the committee itself really listened to us
and focused on a lot of commendations, but agreed with us on priority need areas, which I'll highlight in a minute. There are four main areas and the commendations, the final report, it's on our website as well, but the final report is pretty comprehensive. It's a lengthy document, but I'm thrilled to
share that thanks to the staff, we it was a really a tremendous visit, so they put a lot of time into it. And back years ago, we didn't have that. So, we're kind of excited. in the building is also a huge benefit that they see that the community of Plymouth really put so much into both our high schools
and we're able to offer so much more to kids because of that facility alone. The commendations that Libby just put up are just areas that we're really proud of and the main piece I think it shares that people matter at Plymouth South and that's really permeates the school culture which a lot of high schools
today are struggling with. So we're very proud of that commendation and as I said there's a lot of student choice and voice and they saw that. So when they come for the visit, they kind of look at all different pieces of data and what comes out in those commendations is what they see. The next steps are next
September we'll have the dennial visit which is really just letting them know where we're at from that report. So it it's changed from years ago. They only came once every 10 years. Now they do this collaborative conference where we prepare all these documents and then they give us ideas and we kind of have
to give a status update when they come visit next September. it will be something for the budget. I know Dr. Blazeell is excited. Um, but we are we're it's important to it's an important process and you know many many years ago the accreditation was a tricky area at South High School and now we're
one of the schools that they look to as a model with because of the programs that the teachers have put into place. So go to the next slide. These are just the standards. I always like that visual that it's kind of the cogs on the wheel and they used to have seven standards and they've gone down to five and
everything goes back to student learning which is the key. Uh but then the learning culture, the resources from the community, the learning supports that kind of makes it all come together. Um what I spoke about a minute ago, these are really what were highlighted as the priority goals for the future at
South High School after looking at the extensive self-study. Um the counseling piece is major and mental health I'll speak about at the end as well. So that's something but we are fortunate that working with Dr. Halpin and Dr. Rogers we've believe we've secured the Bright Grant which exists in a couple of
the other schools for South. So we're hopefully going to be rolling that out and really th that individual will hopefully help with me students returning from mental health placements when they're out in the community getting the support they need. Then we bring them back and put them into algebra 2. That's not really the best type of situation. So, we're hoping to
have some transition services through that grant around December. Um, the next part is common planning time. We have that in our freshman academy and it's beautiful. We really works well with our transitioning and our ninth graders. The teachers spoke loud and clear they'd
love that schoolwide. That's a staffing item. It's something that is a little more difficult to get into place, but we're going to try to look at some creative strategies. Um, I want to thank the coordinators and Dr. Rogers um and the NEAS team at South that we've for 20 years we've been talking about this
document and we finally have a consistent curriculum document that's aligned with our vision of the graduate that we're rolling out. So the other thing that is kind of exciting um with the changes in MCCAST the um Mora Hilly recently said that she likes the idea of a vision of a graduate. I'm a little
obsessed with the vision of the graduate. I get made fun of sometimes, but I do believe that those five pillars are what we should be building off of that our kids who leave us in Plymouth, if they possess those five qualities, they're going to succeed. So, um, really the curriculum is now going to be aligned and work with the document that
you'll see in a minute. Um, and the final piece is really to continue to address the EL program because it's newer to South, which the teachers have been unbelievable with and working closely. So, those are the four main areas that we'll address in the um, next visit. This is just a visual of the um
curriculum document. So as you can see it, you know, will be based off of, you know, instructional design and content standards, but we will highlight the vision of a graduate as well in all the curriculum documents as they're updated and changed. So we've worked to get something that's consistent in all the
disciplines from CCTE to math to English. So we're excited about that. Um these are just our criteria that um I'm not going to read them to you but we have updated these of our criteria of these pillars and it's something that we brought them to the students as well and
got their feedback before the staff kind of created them at a professional development activity but the kids spoke to us about what they think a resilient problem solver is and they they're identifying with it because we talk about it a real lot and we'll get to where we're at with our portfolios.
Um, and the final one is inclusive individual. And we were excited that we just received the national recognition and we'll be having a polar p plunge and a lot of fun ahead. And we're actually going to kick off the Thanksgiving pep rally with the unified um champion school information and the students and the banner. They're going to come from
Special Olympics and do the banner so we can merge it in with all the the Fenway fund and all that. Um, this is something that we we've all we've been regularly on the AP honor roll. So, it's really nice to see and it what what we love about AP is that it is
a scripted program that teaches student skills for life beyond Plymouth South and anyone we're very big on anyone can take AP classes. We don't have prerequisites and the students embrace it. So, it's something that we've been happy with over the years and there's access for all.
Um these are just some data points that you know shows where we've come with this program and things like that. So, and the students embrace it. So, they enjoy taking these classes and we're getting a lot of kids that are coming back to us able to get college credit and save money with their college acceptances. So, back to that vision of
a graduate. They're they're verbalizing that to us. Um, thank you to Libby for being my clicker over here. Um, goal two is really about how we define the vision of a graduate and we began with the class of 20 27. And if any of you have come to
our CCTE senior showcase, some of the kids have their portfolios out. So, we started in tech before um but they when you see the link how to update evidence, they're now they're learning how to create the document. These are just all the directions and they're creating the
evidence um portals within the document. So, there's a database that the teachers put together of assignments that that they assign. So, if Christina was Miss Bryant was the teacher, they just go into that and they can find an assignment that links to it or they can self- select. But we're asking the
students to all complete a prompt of why does this meet this pillar? So they have some autonomy in it and we're hoping they have a lot of pride in it. So we the portfolio advisory calendar is in it's live and in effect now and our technology integration specialist Mr. Scheler and our librarian are going into
our advisories to build these with the kids. So it's really coming alive. a lot of work but the students are already talking about it and talking that okay this is what it really means other than just posters on a wall by vision is always to make sure it comes alive so
that was our is our second ongoing goal um and we designed a rubric so that students will be assessed on the portfolio twice a year so we're adding what's called portfolio week so in December and in April we're going to ask the kids on consistent days to upload
their work and then this is a it's really kind of just meeting a standard or not be meeting a standard. It's kind of like what we do with summer reading. Uh but it'll all be done in school and hopefully they'll kind of see the foyer plan and it come together by the end of um high school and graduation. So again, thanks to the teachers who've been a
huge part of this. Um this just shows the the directions of how they're doing it and the pillar descriptions and all that. Just another visual. Um okay. And the final goal, um, our main goal is the ELE program at Plymouth South. And I
think the best thing we have added, in my opinion, is our connections club. Um, this was a a an idea of Miss Diaz, my um, world language department head, and she's also a point person for EEL, and she speaks Portuguese fluently. It's her first language, and she's developed a club where we have regular education
kids who've learned English as a second language, but are now fluent meet with our new language learners during K-Block. And a couple years ago, one of the kids said to me, cuz we had that after school, but we weren't getting the interest. They said, "We have a lot going on after school. Can we do it during the day?" So, they meet every
Friday. Um, and they have different themes throughout the week, but we also bring students in to go to the student section of the football game on Friday night. And it it re it's like magical. I go up there if I'm in a bad mood. I'm like, "This is the greatest thing." And the students watching them interact and encourage them to come to events. And it
it's it's taken on a life of its own. So, it really is fantastic. And a lot of the e students have brought different things from their country in and we celebrate different pieces and that's where our kind of flag initiative was born from um which we'll show you in a minute. And then um in regards to our
PD, Mr. Carponito, who I gave over to Plymouth North. I take credit for Mr. Carponito. He's fabulous. When I was assistant superintendent, I signed his EL lensure. It's the worst thing I ever did. I'm just kidding. But he's housed at North. He's provided a lot of professional development to our teachers
who are newer to the EL program and we've a lot of technology assisted technology. It's just been a huge team effort. Um the digital divas is a second year is on November 18th this year and this is a event for um that we want our
our female leaders to participate in and it's really students who want to be in electrical, STEM, marketing, all of that. And we have a um individual who works for Blue Mantis in the community that Stacy and Chris hooked us up with and they do a workshop for North and
South. It's out south and we have about 24 girls. I actually met with them today and it it was tremendous for a first year last year and they're coming back this year. So that's another one of our pieces. And last but not least, um Mr. Fry and I have worked with Nor Eastern. We went to a training via the MIAA and
we weren't able to get them in last year, but we're working with our captains about situations that can happen, athletic events that become compromised with different type of racial choices and things of that nature. So, we I need to go meet with Dr. Rogers about the financial backing, but we have some unbelievable presenters
coming in to work with our captains later in the year to really say, how do you be the leader when you're in a difficult situation and someone makes a tough choice in the bleachers, in the stands? because it it can happen in an instant and um our kids are fantastic, but I think the more we can make them
student leaders in situations, it's better than with the adults. So, we're going to be doing that the second half of the year. And truly, when I went to the training, I was like, "Oh gosh, it's another training. I had more work to do." It's one of the best trainings we went to. It really was something that we wanted we learned a lot from, and we're
going to bring it back to the kids. So, I'm excited. And that link just shows you a little bit about the the place at Nor Eastern that is a whole program with this. So um these are we added through our connections club. I just like the visual. I'm very visual person and um we
have flags of countries of origin of our students and staff. And this began last fall and it's up on the third floor and there were five flags and we're up to 19. So it's really exciting. And it's funny, Miss Barrett from the middle school tells me the middle school kids like to look across and at night it's beautiful. And um it just really has
become part of what we are. And that statement above the picture is what is posted um in the hallway there. Our CAD students make the labels. And um it just it's funny how they talk about it. Like the kids talk about the flags which is kind of fun. and uh we just have a new freshman who's from the Ukraine and we
just added a Ukraine flag and they know Stan who just came in and it's just it's a little thing but it does mean a lot and it's a very premier area of the school as well. Um this was in regards to transitioning and things of this nature. We did just add our first annual Panther camp for
freshmen and it was also linked to our club fair which we've been doing for a number of years now and it it really was great. I I said to Mr. Evans um and Mrs. GMP Petro as our student council adviser. They wanted to have 250 freshmen on like the third day of school. Like you guys have lost your mind. But it was honestly a fabulous
fabulous event. We had about 50 senior mentors and they were playing games. They were goofy. But we're having a follow-up that the student leaders go back to advisory and meet with the students. So it's a name with a face and it really was fantastic. So prioritizing grade nine transitions I always like to
to bring into this presentation as well. So um and these are three items that are not in a goal but we work on all the time. So I want it we talk about it at school council that um artificial intelligence is is something and it's here and at the high school level it's
the students know it um it's a lot I would say um and we're trying to philosophically I believe in making adults and the high school level and so we're trying to say okay how do you learn to use it responsibly? how do you so it's not pure plagiarism and our English department is just tremendous
and they have really modeled that with the kids and if they see it in a paper they talk to them they have a conference and they asked them to redo it not just like here's the zero so actually tomorrow and Thursday we've worked with u Miss Buchet and she's developed a a few lesson plans on a web page and we're
rolling it out in advisory on at both north and south on Tuesday and Thursday and then November 4th is professional development for the staff where we're going to everyone one. We'll talk more about that, but we developed at South um a Google form where we're asking qu I'm big into asking questions of the kids
like why would you use this? And so I'm really excited to see the data because the all grades are in an advisory. So they'll all fill out one form per group and they'll talk to their teachers like they'll say I'm using it to cheat. I'm not using it. I'm you know they'll be very transparent and what do they need from us to help them navigate it because
it's their it's their world. I mean it's it's happening. So, that's one of our really big pieces because at our high level, you know, they're becoming adults and it's you can't just say it's banned because that does not work. I don't believe in it. And um it's how do we help them not get in a sticky situation?
Kind of like the phones. We're in our fourth year of our phones away during class. They can have it at passing and they've been unbelievable and respectful and when they're learning, they're away, which has helped with with a lot of pieces. Um, substance use and mental health will always be kind of one of the
top things on my list as you heard from Shay tonight. Um, we had this fabulous speaker and she came the idea of her came from the kids. They came back from a conference last year and um, I was able to get her to come and she did two assemblies and really talked about choices and how you get out of a tough
situation that you're in. What do you do if you're at a party? Who do you call? Things like that more than and she really was tremendous. So, we had two sessions and then there was a parent night. I spoke about the bright grant and we did our third annual mock crash last spring and that's a real credit to if you knew the amount of people
involved. Um, and the juniors and seniors saw it and it was very powerful. Our student actors, but there's so many even our cosmetology teachers help with the makeup and it's really very very emotional but the kids get a lot out of it. Um, and lastly, attendance. Attendance. I talk about attendance all
the time. So, we're always trying to work on this. I said to Dr. Campbell the other day, we did have a 2% reduction in unexcused absences. We still have a lot of unexcused absences, but I was excited. And what we've changed and um it was just an idea by some of the
administrators is we are doing a more personal approach. So what happens is you you lose credit, you get all these attendant warning letters, we make phone calls, we tell Mr. Janulowitz, we we do a lot about attendance, but if a student loses credit, they have an appeal meeting. I'm I run the appeal. And what
we've changed is we've put different interventions into place that okay, you went through a tough time. If you go to counseling because of this, I will reinstate your credit. If we get you through care solace and we work in a situation, we'll do that. If you do community service, if you're some of our kids are working full-time to support
their families, we'll work with you on this. So, it becomes less of like a gotcha than a than a dialogue. And it I think it's helped. I mean, I it it's t it's tough to quantify right now, but that we've done contracts with kids. We've done so much. Um, we start early.
They drive from far away. It's it's it's really hard and high school's hard and life's hard. So, we kind of say, "Okay, tell us the truth. If someone, you know, in your life passed away, let us know and we'll work with you." Like, have that open dialogue. So, we are getting lots of emails directly from the kids
where we say to them, "You need to talk to your boss someday if you're not at work." And they they understand it. You know, one young man, he he got a speeding ticket and he brought it into me from this last year. He said, "Can I get this excused?" And I said, "Don't speed." So, we did excuse his absence
because he got I said, "Don't speed to school." But he changed his behaviors and I saw him improve. He graduated last year that time. But he wasn't scared to have the conversation. when I give that example um in counseling supports because a lot of times there's situations with our students our EL
students taking care of younger children siblings there's just so much so we're trying to take a whole whole um personalized approach and really dig down of what's causing the absences and then say okay why don't we try to do this so we're getting there it's very
very far from perfect so but that will something always be a priority those are just pictures of the MK crash last year and um Carapeller, that's the speaker that we had last week. Um, those are some of the attendance contracts we've used the past two years and Mr.
Janulowitz is tremendous. If I call him, but I'm worried about a student, he goes right out and, you know, we work very collaborative with him as well. Um, but again, trying to get them those tools to advocate for themselves because a lot of time it's mom calling and we want them to learn to do that that skill. Um, and
these are just some things we had a tremendous going gold. Our our kids in school community are unbelievable. Last spring we had a women in sports day and we had about 400 athletes on the field all female athletes and had a a female athlete singing and just really neat things because they buy into doing all
these things together and we do we do love the going gold and we have a breast cancer awareness support. So back to the NEAS report like our culture and our you know personalization is what we really try to prioritize and then the other things sometimes get a little better because of that. Um, but I just want to
thank you guys for all your support. So, I don't know if you had questions about I think that's my last Sean. Um, the attendance meetings that you have. Yep. Was that something that used to be in place at South as well many years ago?
We've always had the attendance meetings. It's more the what the outcomes are are different. I've been doing attendance meetings since 2005 and I haven't fixed it yet. Before that, before that, because I had one on my senior year. The key is getting
them to come in and so a lot of times so they're usually in J December, January and then May, June. And a lot of times they blow it off. Like I I joke with the kids like don't skip an attendance meeting and then they skip the attendance meeting. So but we used to not like call. So now we call and say you missed your meeting, we're rescheduling you. You can't get out of
this. It's like if you have a doctor's appointment you're trying to avoid. They they we reschedule it for you. So if Chris Gamble comes in, doesn't show up, I used to be like well that's okay. Sorry. We're not having the meeting now. We're trying to say we make an intentional intervention to say, "Come in. Come in alone. You don't have to
have a guardian." And and we really get to a decent place. And the ones in June, we check in on like August 10th. And so they they have to provide documentation. And I would say out of about 35 meetings in June this year, I think 30 did their part of the plan. So, it was something
even if it's summer school, it it's my attitude is if they see some something that they've done and then we can give an incentive, we move forward with it. But, um, it's it's tricky. Yeah. Yeah. But the used to have we've had committees, we've had we've had a lot,
but yeah, we're going to keep trying. If I solve it, I'll let you know. I'm going to retire. Good luck. Sell it to other it was it was beneficial um for me when I was a student as well. Obviously, it is you you get what you give. Y
um but it was it I would not have graduated without it. So, um and we do a thing now we didn't do before with graduation. We have them kind of set up for graduation and work with the the maintenance staff to put the chairs out and they come in when other kids might be at the beach and we we try to we try to get there with them. But
yeah, I skip senior skip day so that I could graduate. Yes. When they senior skip day sometimes they think it's a holiday. I'm like that's not a day, you know. Yeah. But but we're trying and they're trying. I mean they really you know we I said to one student like what I always say what would happen if you went to
work and you were absent this many times and one student this he was the speed and ticket young man actually and he said uh oh I already got fired Mrs. Fry I have a new job. I'm like okay let's go a different lane of this conversation. So Mr. Duffy is next door. He hears my meetings all the time with my kids. So
um but we're trying and and but it has improved a little bit but we still it's tough. It's really really tough and it's been worse since co like that was such a factor that I've seen that it really dropped more which is hard. So thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? Anybody else? Mr. Samus, I
I think the attendance thing is is critical and I'm glad we talked about it because you know when I was a kid it was I mean it was getting past the Berlin Wall if I wanted to stay out of school. My dad was a teacher, right? You wouldn't stay out of school. I have noticed even myself
um with my kids that you know you want to be Spartan but they've had a different sort of path with co and um that doesn't mean you default to saying okay you know the accountability doesn't matter because it does if you're not present I don't care what your level of
intelligence is yeah you're not going to achieve um and I'm glad you brought up the the AI aspect of what you're looking at 20 years ago when they said put device in every kid's hand. I I sat on the school committee and they said, "You're falling behind because all
your kids don't have devices in front of them." Y and my argument was I'd rather put the money into the teacher and the curriculum and the device is an enabler. And now you're seeing a little push back saying there's too much time on a device. Yeah. So, you know, I listen to people all day
say, "Well, you got to use AI and chat GPT." And I don't agree with it. I think it could be a digital assistant, but I also think we're going to get into an area where it's going to it's going to brooach original thought and we don't want to touch that, especially in a developing uh stage of
your life where we're going to encourage that. So there there's going to have to be some give and take, but I don't think we're I think the juryy's still out on how it can be utilized. Absolutely. And I don't you know, of course, Nvidia is going to tell you it's everything to everyone because it's about GPUs. They want to sell chips, right? Yeah,
I think somewhere in between using it as a tool to assist because it can give you immediate feedback, right? It can supplement your content if you, you know, maybe you don't have to buy as many textbooks, right? So, there are benefits to it, but it is not the end
all be all because we still bleed red and we got DNA. Exactly. So, um I I I went to your open house. I you can really tell if the staff has bought in that means something and they all were and I was there as a a parent and uh
it felt like there was a community feel to the staff. Um and they weren't just going through the motions. So, good job on that. Thank you. They're good people. They they buy into kids. They really do. And they they see what this is doing. And I went to a workshop last year on AI and um they compared it to when the graphing
calculator came out, which I remember because I'm old again. And so, you know, and it's true. It can be a tool. like it's a tremendous tool for our students and what they do, but the the world of um I get I'm a people skills person and I just get worried that students aren't going to have the ability to have a dialogue and a conversation. So, we're
going to continue to push that everywhere we go. Hence, back to that vision of a graduate. Like, if you can be a mindful learner and a resilient problem solver, like those are the people we need and the kids are I mean, you look at our students, they're tremendous, but it's something to keep pushing that and it's it's not the easy way out. It's here, but what do we do
together, right? you know, and I think the teachers are there. They're not they're not scared of it anymore. And I think some of the work the district's done on it has been a real positive. So, I hope we get there. So, good. Yeah. Thanks. I just have a couple questions. Yeah. Um, first of all, I want to say
congratulations on the recognition from Special Olympics and also the Bright Grant. That's those are both huge accomplishments and I know it was a lot of hard work. Yes. Good. Um, in relation to AI, I wanted to know because you were also
talking about mental health. Has, and that's been a big news subject lately, has there been any conversation in that AI framework about um, like people using AI as a counselor or a friend or like that sort of thing. And
talking I think you know where I'm going. I do. Yeah. We haven't gotten to that point yet. we're more at the kind of the grassroots of like the academic program with AI and because a lot of schools are going like there are districts um that are going to having kids handwrite
papers and I don't believe in that. I mean they're they're digital beings. I mean that's who they are and um but there's schools very close to us are doing that where we're trying to say okay how can we use it as a tool to help you learn this if you're studying the Great Gatsby you're doing this. So, we
have it hasn't gotten to that point with us yet. And I think the te to speak to Paul's point, the teachers are so focused on the needs of the kids like I mean a long time ago we had to worry about that. We don't anymore because they are so team student and what supports can we get them involved with.
Um I mean I can't say enough about that for them. So, but I do think I can share with through Dr. Rogers. The website that um Jolie built with the lessons for the two days is a lot of information and then we supplemented the building and it's it's literally tomorrow and Thursday. Um but the teachers are
leading the conversation and it's a conversation. I think that's what's the important part. It's not like here are the rules, this is the thing, you know, it's like what do you guys think cuz they're 18year-olds some of these guys and they you know I used it last year when we recognized the McGillry family.
We've had all 12 of the kids. Oh yes, I remember. They're tremendous and I put into AI um you know a family with 12 students mom and dad like I've had 10 11 of the 12 I've been their principal and um they came out with legacy and that's how the name Jeannie McGelry is like Patty where'd you get that and I said AI
but that's that's a tool that's what it's used for you know and the impact they have a legacy at Plymouth South High School you know so I think it's the how we're now at that point like kind of like our portfolios we were we had the idea we have the vision now we're doing it so it's it's where do we get there
and I have not spent much time talking to the colleges yet about it, but I know my guidance department has has. And it's just it's massive. So, I do know the athletic directors may have been putting an eagle with Mr. Domingos flying over Fenway. Mr. Fry might have created that, but I didn't let him put it in the
PowerPoint. So, you know, so, but there there's so many visuals like there's kind of neat things out there. So, and I think your holistic approach to attendance is a really good one because I think that touches like every piece of being successful as a student. And so
having those individual conversations humanizes the problem and makes you understand like really. So I do agree the AI tool thing. I use it. I'm in graduate school. I don't use it to write my papers, but if I don't understand what somebody's saying, I'll throw a paragraph in and say, "Please
paraphrase it for me." Right. Exactly. You know, I think we have to work with it, not against it. Yep. And the overarching with the mental health, I worry about the substance use like the vaping and that that's all real and here, but it's like how do you get in their heads the personal nature that
this is going to hurt you in life? Like I say when a student gets in trouble at school, I said this has gotten into the school. It didn't start in school. like how do we get you to the point that it's it's not ruining things here, you know? So hopefully we'll we'll keep trying, you know. So thank you.
Welcome. Anybody else? Okay. All right. I'll turn it over to Mr. Fry and then Mr. Duffy. Perfect. All right.
Go up together. One more. Um, if you haven't heard, we are going to Fenway Park on um, uh, Wednesday, November 26th, which is the the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We're playing obviously Plymouth North at um,
400 p.m. Um, we've just started meeting with them probably we've had two or three meetings with them over the past month or so, myself and Justin. Um, and we're really, it's really moving forward very fast. I'm very excited. We got the transportation all lined up as far as buses for our teams go. Um, tickets are
coming in this week. We've already had pre-sales. Talking with the people from um, Fenway, um, there's four games total. This game is out, sold more tickets than already the other three games combined. So, we've already sold over a thousand tickets between the two
schools. So, the excitement has been um, really incredible. there's an opportunity to buy um gear through again through G&G as you heard from um from Sha Braz um which is really exciting and I know there's some local restaurants are also going to get involved to help promote this the game and for also for
the for the fundraising part of it. So, um, again, I think the probably the the best part about this is like we went to Gillette a few years ago. Um, there's going to be a lot more than just the excitement around the football game, but having the band there, the dance team there, the cheerleaders there, encompassing everybody in the building.
Um, you know, um, Brian Burn and EdTV is really, really involved. Very excited to get their group in there as well. So, it's it's not just about the football players and the football team, but all the other things and everything else, people going to be able to take part of it. So, it's it's very exciting. And then this past um winter, we were
lucky enough to purchase two um huddle cameras. Um one's in the gymnasium itself where we're able to film um anything that takes place in the state in the gymnasium itself. Um wrestling, basketball, volleyball games, anything like that. And then we have another one mounted in the stadium which is able to
film and live stream um any game that takes place in the stadium. So, for instance, soccer games, um lacrosse, football games, anything that takes place. So, it's um the huddle really is a is a streaming platform. It allows us to live stream all games to send out to
families everywhere. Um very easy. It's it's free. Um it's also allows um kids to create highlight films to send off to colleges for recruiting and um and coaches can obviously evaluate um their players and coach off that film. So, it's um something that we started this
past winter and now we rolled into spring and this will be our first fall with it. Um it's very simple for the coaches. They just get on their app and simply plug in their schedule for the year and the the camera automatically clicks on when the game starts and then shuts off when the game ends. So, it beats traveling with a manager that may
sometimes forget the camera or stands there with a shaky camera or gets distracted and starts to film the stands or things like that. So, it's um it's so far it's been awesome. got a lot of um you know great feedback from the parents being able to watch games if they're on trips or unable to watch the games. So
those are two really cool things that are going on as far as athletically at Plymouth South. I was only allowed two slides. Thank you. Anybody have any questions for Mr. I did get when I saw 25 slides.
Are we going to get um in the mail the sideline passes for the Fenway game? Cuz I 100 100%. Every day I go out to the mailbox. I don't see it. You haven't got them yet? No. No. I'm waiting. I want to see your Strky and Williams. And you are top on the list. You absolutely
just I'll be waiting. No. So, actually they they will send me a bunch of um general admission tickets um through actually through the app through the MLB app and then I can actually send them out to people. So, that's how that that will work. for the tickets. This is cool.
Thank you. Uh the the this uh screen purchase sounds like a really big asset to all the students and to uh and to the coaches on so many different levels. Yes. Yeah, it's one I guess kind of a good thing with the pandemic started with the streaming and then you know
Huddle kind of took it over and now um a lot of teams in the league have have that use it and it's been um it's really great for the parents and the grandparents that can't come to games. Yeah. Now we're able to see those games. So, I just think about all the parents that I know that had kids in like wrestling or other things where they're trying to
film their kids and they miss something or it goes so quickly that they didn't get what they wanted and being able to access the footage, you know, to send to colleges sounds great. And this is this is way better than the ninth grader that's maybe hurt or whatever on the field filming. So, this has been it's it's quite a step up from
that. Yeah. And I and also think if you've been to South High School with the with the weather sometimes can be a little windy and cold there. If you don't want to really deal with that, you can just simply click on your your phone or on your TV and you can watch the game from home. Excellent. So, it's all good stuff. Thank you so much.
You want to move on to Mr. Duffy? Uh, good evening everyone. Um, I just have a couple of updates. um talk to you a little bit about where we're at with some of the grants that we've uh one that we have received, one that we're waiting to hear news on, and then talk a little bit about um the changes that are upcoming with the lottery and admissions
and admissions policies. Um on the on the uh left hand side, the mass CDC grant, uh we have some some updates in the progress. Uh we have we're in the process of purchasing uh the pre-engineered metal building assembly kit um that will enclose the 50 foot by
50 foot slab um that's outside of the vocational wing. So the slab that you drive by as you go around by auto um where we've built sheds in the past. We're going to be able to enclose that space um that slab was built uh with footings and foundation way back when the new building um was erected. And so
we're at a point now where we can use this grant um funding um to enclose that space. Uh we'll have to go out for bid on the labor. Um but we're we're moving through the process. So we're excited about that. And it will obviously give us close to 2500 square foot of additional space um for our students to
work in. Um, our long-term goal with that space, maybe 3 or 4 years down the road from now, is to envision our electrical, our plumbing, our carpentry, and our HVAC students working in teams on SC much scaled down buildings uh that would fit in that where they are handed
plans um with a pallet of materials and those teams of four students would actually work to build a small shed that in integrates all four of the trades. So, learning how to work together and sequencing those jobs um on a much smaller scale. Um, we also are in the
process of ordering HVAC training equipment as part of this grant. Um, we have approximately $150,000 worth of um, training systems that instructor Paul Reen will be able to use in HVAC. It'll be used during exploratory, during classroom instruction, and during shop instruction. A lot of the training
systems he will be able to actually put bugs in an HVAC system and students will actually work through the technical aspects of debugging that system and then going through that repair. Uh, one of the training systems is a geothermal, um, which we're excited about. Um, we'll
see how that works in in New England as more and more, um, you know, commercial HVAC groups are looking into geothermal in the New England area to see if that will actually uh, heat and cool uh, with our climate. But we'll get a small training system on that to expose our students to that type of technical um,
training. We'll be purchasing mini splits, heat pumps again for for uh for the emphasis on on how that works in New England. Uh where our students will learn the installation techniques, uh be able to diagnose as well and repair. Um but they'll have the actual real equipment.
So in addition to the training systems, they will actually have real mini splits and heat pumps that they will practice installing in our mockups. Um in that space, we are adding um hotwork certification. So, our students will get a hot work certification um especially in HVAC
where they're brazing. I think it's around 2,00 to 2200 degrees. Um so, to be able to walk away with that certification, that's a new certification for our program. And as the HVAC um trade has changed, the refrigerant has changed. There's an A2 A2L, I believe it's called, refrigerant.
Um so, uh Power is up to date on that and is training our students actually as we speak in the past few weeks to earn that certification as well for our upper classmen. next um time that I see you, we'll probably um be talking about electrical, how we are updating our electrical pro program as part of this
grant as well. Solar panels um we can only do the installation on a ground because of height requirements and working with our students because of their their age. Uh but they will learn how to do ground mounted uh solar panels through this grant as well. Um and then maybe one of the coolest things about this with the building is that our
students and faculty will be the ones that will be getting power to it. um they will be taking care of the heating and the cooling as well doing those installations. So the pictures and hopefully the videos that we'd be able to share with you the next time we we we see you when when this work has been complete will be of our students uh
taking on that work after we have contracted out to actually do the shell of the building. Um the other grant that I' that I've put up there um we we are still in the running. A few weeks ago we've received news from the state that we are still in the running for the skills capital grant that we um applied for. This one impacts allied health at
North and medical assisting at south. It would upgrade our current ZSpace equipment that we have in our automotive pro program for welding and painting. um augmented reality, virtual reality, but uh the the the the technology has changed so much since we've we we filed the application that you no longer
actually need the goggles or the glasses to do the VR and the AR that you actually can use um a pen and and have a device or a laptop in front of you and be able to grab and pull out parts of the human body or whatever it is that you're working on and 3D and do the
simulations, get them to rotate, spin different angles to look at, um it's it's extreme extremely impressive, but to be able to get in the hands of our our students as as freshman, sophomores, and juniors prior to them taking their CNA and their MMA before they go out on co-op and obviously before they they go
off and continue their training. Um to be able to give them the same um exposure, the same curriculum experiences and the same training that uh an undergraduate student would be getting and we'll be able to do that in our high school is just uh an outstanding opportunity. So fingers crossed and um if you believe in the
grant gods, if you could say a little uh something to the grant gods that that we get good news on that in the next few weeks. Um, so that's where we're at in terms of our grant opportunities right now. Um, I'll I'll switch gears a little bit and talk a little bit about the admissions policy updates, which is, you know, this
slide will be a good segue into the conversation that you have to have in a few moments about uh the changes to our policy. But, um, you know, as you as as you've been following along, the state has made a decision that across the Commonwealth, all vocational schools, all comprehensive high schools with with programs will now have to go to a
lottery that there's no more selective criteria that you can include. um in your admissions um policy except for attendance and discipline. So very similar to our current policy. Um the discipline is the same. It's the
same policy that we've had for the past several years. So that really hasn't um changed. Um but that's one way for students to earn an additional weight or an additional ping-pong ball or an additional lottery ticket in the lottery is through um their discipline. Uh but that's real that's the real serious
offenses, right? It's it's the same policy that we've had in place for years. Um we're not talking like, you know, getting an after school detention or something like that that negatively impacts your opportunity to get into CCT. It's a real serious offense. Um the other way to earn an additional uh ping pong ball or lottery ticket um would be
through attendance. Um the state has made a decision to um follow through with their 10% line for chronic absenteeism. And so they defined it to be day one of grade seven through the end of semester 1 of grade eight, which is approximately 270 days.
Um, and taking 10% of that is 27 days to fall in line with a chronic absenteeism policy. Anything fewer than 27 unexcused absences allows a student to get an extra ticket in the lottery, an extra ping bong ball. So for us moving forward
our our students will have three opportunities um in a in a weighted lottery. One just the application itself shows interest um awareness. The second would be meeting the attendance criteria and the third would be meeting the discipline criteria. Um a couple of other changes for us. We we
are purchasing software um that will allow families to and students to apply digitally. We will still hang on to our paper uh and pencil application. We're going to provide both. We will provide support to students and families in both um you know in terms of filling out those applications but the paper
application that we have had in the past it will be online. So the the really the change is that you have the you can access it digitally but it will look like the paper application with the same information that we're uh requesting. So the change is really to just put that
into a digital format. Um and then the other big change along that line is that uh we'll have lottery software that will conduct the lottery for us and certify it for us. So it's not um you know we're not down at the local KFC pulling the bingo balls out of a bingo machine that
they we have a real process uh to certify um the lottery. Um those are the really the biggest changes for us moving forward with this. Um, and I think I've I think I've covered everything.
Does anybody have any questions for Mr. Duffy? It's Bryant. Um, so just would like to say I'm very um happy that Desi has made these uh changes. I feel like when we have too
many stipulations, we leave a lot of students behind that could really excel and soar if given the opportunity. Um you have mentioned the build that will be h have taking place on this lab and I just want to make sure that I understand
uh correctly where it'll give additional space to provide all of the students in the different um uh areas a chance to come together and
really work as a team to do buildouts. Are we thinking of like tiny home scale and being able to then work with Habitat for Humanity or an organization to be able to like put those skills to life? It's a it's a really good question.
We're we're thinking smaller than that. So they're they're probably the size of say maybe a 10x10 shed or 12 by 12 shed that has different levels. So they have to practice different framing techniques, um the wiring, the plumbing, HVAC. So, it's it wouldn't be to the
extent of a of a tiny of a tiny home. Although, that conversation anecdotally has taken place within the department of of that potential long-term, but right now we're scaled down even further in terms of um what that looks like. But that the conversation of of looking into
the tiny home piece is is um happening among our faculty. Awesome. Yeah. I've recently read an article in regards to that scaled down 10 by10 version that's being done overseas and they're using it for, you know, shortterm stay. So, I wouldn't be
surprised if there's opportunity there in Massachusetts as well. So, thank you. Yep. Absolutely. And I just want to clarify, too, that's our long-term goal to get get to that team. Like we it'll take us a few years to get to that to to get to that to that point. Thank you.
Thank you. Anybody else? I just have um one question. Um I had a parent reach out to me about applying for the tech program whose child is currently at rising tide but coming here for um for high school and wanted to
know how that worked and how their child might be able to see the tech program. Um, and I didn't know if there was an opportunity for either one of those either to apply or to or if you had like a special night or something that I could give them information about.
Um, absolutely. So, we we have a lot of rising tide families um that have applied in the past. Um, it might be easier, I suppose. It's a matter of opinion for them to apply now. Um, because in the past it was just a paper pencil application that they'll be able to access it through the digital link.
We communicate with Rising Tide um with the administration there and we make sure that that information gets shared. Um so that might I wonder if it'll be even easier now to to have access to the to the to the digital uh component. Um but as we move through our new admissions policy and once we we get to
a place where everything is approved, we would communicate that in full the rising tide and to their administration and also go public to all Plymouth families uh our Plymouth residents in terms of what that um process looks like. And I think the I'm a date person. January 15th, 2026 is the 5:00 is the
tech expo night for families and rising tide families regularly come to that. And then if they're north or south districted, there's a eighth grade parent night that night as well. So we can send it goes out, we send it to Rising Tide and all that, but that hap we just happen to pick the date. It moved around a little bit, but we have
that. So January 15th. Okay. Thank you. That helps. No problem. Thank you so much. Um, so I think we're all set. If nobody has any more questions, I can I can make a comment. Yes, make a comment. I would like to thank
Stacy for um sharing, you know, conciseness, for presentation. I would like to thank you all for going first and keeping it concise and clear. I think it's an opportunity to really elevate the really important stuff.
There's just so many components and I think a lot of people um are worried about highlighting all of the things but all the doing really really great things. So thank you. I just want they're my best students so I can't guarantee that this trend will
continue as well. I just want to point out Dr. Rogers told Mr. Fry two slides not me. Thank you. Thank you guys and thank you for your support with everything. So, we're it's never dull in our schools. So, we appreciate you all and your time. Thank you.
Thank you. All right. I think next we have So, I'm not going to let Mr. Duffy go just yet. Yes. So, Mr. Duffy's presenting this or are you presenting? We're going to tag team this. Yeah, we're going to present together. Um,
so, as you just heard, our our admissions to our CCTE program is changing pretty dramatically. So, it's going to be a big change for our families in Plymouth. And while we think it's a great change and going to allow students um an opportunity to get into our CCTE programs where maybe typically
they wouldn't have or maybe there were more barriers than we would have liked. Um like I said, this is going to be a big change from our families and a big change from how we have typically done business in the past. Um, and I know Mark feels a lot of those phone calls. So,
um, just want to be, you know, very transparent and clear with our families, um, with regard to what those changes are. So, as part of this process, um, we had to develop a new policy. Um, we met with our policy subcommittee last Thursday, I think, um, to finalize the
the policy, and again, the policy is very similar to what Mark just said, and a lot of it was cut and pasted from the original policy. The biggest changes are again with the software that's being purchased to conduct the lottery. Um the weight the weighted weightedness um of
the we we keep referring to them as ping- pong balls. There's ar they're not actual ping pong balls. It's just all digital, but like it's the best way for us to sort of envision it. Um with regard to um students getting one ping pong ball if they submit an application and additional ping pong balls for
attendance and um good discipline. So, um I don't know if there's anything else, Mr. Duffy, that you want to mention, but again, a lot of the information from our previous policy is also in here. So, you know, we had to, you know, make provisions for homeschool students, rising tide students,
multilingual students, students with disabilities. What happens if there's a late um you know, a student that moves in, let's say, from Florida or something like that. So just trying to um make sure that any anything that could possibly be a a scenario is covered in
the policy. So if there's any questions with regard to the selection process, Mr. Morgan. Um so is this mandated by the state or is this something we're just deciding to do? This is a mandate from the department of education. Okay. Y yeah. So this will be sub uh whatever
policy is voted on ultimately and we have this meeting and next meeting if it does it should it not uh be voted on today um to submit it to the department because by November 1st it needs to be put in place um and submitted to the
department of education. So um no this is coming from the department. Okay. So if we vote no it's still going to happen. Yep. Yeah, they say I I actually like the other old form at merit and recommendation whatnot, but it sounds like this is being you know this is what
you got to do when you develop your own policies. That's pretty much my Yeah, a lot that's the biggest change to our policy is the lottery piece. The other pieces to be quite honest with the exception of the technology being used for the lottery um has been in place our
middle school pathway in terms of educating and you know we have the showcases we have this opportunities for parents to come out uh seventh and eighth grade they come out you know twice in middle school. So we've done a lot in terms of outreach to
our students and families. The big change here is the lottery um and that there is no merit that that's in involved in the application process at all. Um as Mr. Duffy said, it is interest by applying. It's not having
chronic absenteeism um and not having any major discipline infractions. So for people who are somewhat unfamiliar or new to the committee, what has previously happened just to kind of give you a 50,000 foot view is um it was based on if you looked at our old
policy. So if a student got an A in a class, they would get five points. If they got a B in a class, they'd get four points and it was based on this huge rubric that was put through Aspen. So if you had perfect attendance, you'd get 10 points and so on and so forth. And then there was teacher recommendations, guidance department recommendations, and
this all went into a big algorithm that Karen Vanette developed in Aspen. And then kids would come out with a ranking. So if you had all A's and perfect attendance, you would probably be n number one on the list, and you would get your choice of whatever shop you wanted to go to, whether it was South
High for the exploratory or North High for engineering, um, for example. So that process will no longer exist. Bob, to your point, It would simply be um and we actually watched a couple on on YouTube just to
see what it would be like, but they do televise it or televise it on YouTube so parents can watch the process and students are given um you know somewhat of an arbitrary number that's assigned to their um local ID and it kind of just it reminds me of like the oldfashioned
bing bong um bingo. Yeah. where um students are randomly selected. But it's a state Oh, can I ask a question? Yes. It's a state mandate. It's nothing like had it been open for debate, I'd probably default to what you were
saying, Bob, is that I like the fact that if you achieve something at the top of your class, you know, you get there's some, you know, percentage of merit that gets applied to the lottery because it's an outcome, right? um absent of being able it isn't a
choice just so the the town knows it's not a choice that we said hey we're going to take that all away because that system wasn't working because you know even though I'm new to the committee I didn't hear many complaints about the lottery system I think people are comfortable saying if
you achieve you can get this but that's off the table because Dassi put it out there and are there any gray areas on the discipline part do you I know there's So you when we're saying discipline subjective it's it's significant discipline. It's
significant. Okay. So it can't be there's no like arbitrary decision like well you did that that's not egregious. So you it's discipline is spelled out in here enough because I know we talked about it. It's not like you forgot a pencil and you got a lunch detention and
Yeah. It's got to be something significant that takes you out of the law enforcement would would be involved. Okay. Mhm. All right. The subjectivity is the goal would be to take all the subjectivity out of it and so that kids kind of have a clean slate going into the lottery. So, as Mark
said, it wouldn't be like you forgot your pencil or you're insubordinate to a teacher or something like that. Like it would be something marketked on your discipline record. Right. Miss Brian. Yeah. As I stated previously, I am proud
of the state for moving forward with its decision. I think it gives an opportunity for people who or I should say students who are required to come to school but not necessarily the best student in academic situations and put
in the right environment such as a HVAC or a cosmetology program can really shine. I think the opportunity to move away from the grades will actually have more people seeing the opportunity there and
applying versus in past years saying, "What's the point? I'm not going to get in." We have people that are on a college pathway, strict college track, taking Cosmo to be with friends versus being able to give that space to a
person who Cosmo may be their career path and life trajectory. So that's just on the flip side of the argument. What I would make in regards to this being a great decision in regards to the policy, I think this is a great policy that
really encompasses a lot of the challenges from situations that would be those gray areas such as homeschool or homelessness. Thinking of the arguments that could be made post lottery, why
didn't my kid get in type thing? I think right now everything the way I'm reading is really laid out to um give opportunity for any students or families that may fall into those categories,
clear directives. And I think that the um digital application, which is hilarious that I'm five kids into the system and never even thought of it, but the digital application is going to provide even more access. So, I think
this is this is great to be able to consider moving forward. Michelle, um I just want to echo what Miss Bryant is saying. I I it is a generalization, but most of the tech students that I
know are not academic students. Most of the people that went into technical studies that I know as an adult who are great plumbers, who are great electricians, who are great mechanics didn't get good grades in school. So I it almost seems like this is it almost
seemed to fight itself in the past where I didn't understand why we were focused on on academics going into technical education. Um I do understand a discipline, you know, if someone is a behavioral student and there's safety issues that go along with that. However,
merit-based academics is is nonsensical to me in a technical studies program because some of the people that I know are the most talented in technical studies were not talented in academics. So, I just want to um echo what Miss Bryant is saying and this could see, you
know, an increase in attendance because the kids that need these programs, that need to be able to do something hands-on, that need to be able to learn and be on a different path than the college trajectory, um may find that
they want to come to school because of these programs. So I I would like to I'm interested to see the data um in a few years on attendance and those things and you know behaviors in in those types of students that are skipping school that are um uninterested in academics if
being in a technical education program may have helped them stay in school and um do something as an adult. Anybody else? No, that's it. Um no, I think it's just worth it to reframe what I was saying. I wasn't I
think these jobs are going to be such sought after jobs in an economy. All right, there are plumbing jobs that pay just as much as accountants that are going to be outsourced to AI, right? And maybe a flat tax. So these jobs, my my point was is that the competition that
we had in place was something, right? And if I'm not understanding it correctly, it's maybe because of the newness, but I do think when something's sought after, I know a lot of carpenters who are great at algebra. I mean, I mean, I think there's some merit-based
component of that. So, and I know this came from Desi. So, my point is we can't do anything about it anyways. So, I don't want to throw everything out, you know, and just say, well, that system was categorically wrong, right? I think there there are some good things to say
hey to get into this great program because it is a great program right there's some criteria but now when we look at what percentage do you think will miss out like if we if we get you know say say you get uh x amount right
what percentage you think won't get into the lottery well the same is like do you think the seats the seats talk about how many seats we have what percentage don't get in when you do the lottery 25% of our applicants 25%. Yeah. Do you track those 25% as reapplying the
following year? Like do they stick at it and say I want to get into this program? Like is it 25% across all grades or just 25% that year the from grade 8 into grade nine is a 25%. It's a much smaller pool um that reapply. Um and those seats do do turn
over after especially in our exploratory program after students have experienced exploratory they made it make that decision you know what this was not the path for me I want to take a different different path and so seats do become available not in all shops um but but they do become available in terms of so there is a pathway for if a kid who
really wants to get in and they don't get in because of the lottery correct and their ace and everything else that they do in their life right um there is a pathway for them to take a shot the next time you know upon that's something I didn't mention I'm glad you're bringing it up there is a reapply um and it will be
lottery driven as well and that lottery will generate a wait list for those reapplies and that will take time right that we can't notify families that you that you that you won the lottery on on the reapply because we have to wait for seats to become available but that process will be this very similar to the process that Plymouth has had in place
um for and so thank you for bringing that up was not something I mentioned cool anything Um, I personally agree with uh, Miss Brian and Miss Shaw that I think that this adds a lot more equity to the
system. I do agree that it's not perfect and I know that it will be a big blow for some kids who have worked really hard to make sure that they had really high standing in order to be able to apply for the program. Um, and I would say my daughter's one of them. like
she's a straight A student with perfect attendance and she will have less of a chance. And I'm still okay with that because I feel like, you know, as a general population, there wasn't a lot of equity in the system that we had before and there were kids that were
missing out because they um because they just didn't have the opportunity because of their grades or because of some other things. and this just levels the playing field a bit. So, I'm excited to see it. And, you know, there's still hope
because I know you're working hard to talk about extending the program and hopefully admitting new students in the long term. So, you know, for families with kids in elementary school, maybe it won't be such a big question later, right? Thank you, Kathy.
Uh, so this is an infoction item. Um, I don't have any comments specifically on the policy itself like to make any changes myself. I don't know if anybody else does. Does anybody want to make a motion? Yeah, I'll make a motion um to move
forward. Are we voting on the policies at the We're voting on the policy. Make a motion to support the policy as is and uh written. I'll second. Perfect. Mr. Sarmagus. Um, and then Miss Brian seconds. Um
okay. Uh it passes four yes and one no and two absent. So the policy is approved. Thank you very much. Thanks everyone and again thank you for your support. Have a good evening. Thank you. Thanks.
Next, uh, we have superintendence report. Thank you, Miss Jackson. Uh, just brief brief update. Um, federal funding. I just thought given the current shutdown of the federal government, I wanted to give you an update on federal funding
for schools in our district. Desi is monitoring federal budget developments for fiscal year 26, which runs from October of this year through September of next year. So, we're in FY26 fiscally um federally, excuse me, but presently
there's no spending authority for much of the federal budget, but the lack of the budget authority has no immediate impact on our current federal awards from the US Department of Education. Um, our current grants were funded in the FY25 budget. So, Desi has instructed us
that we should continue to apply for the federal funding awards, administer the programs, submit for reimbursement as usual. uh school nutrition funding. US Department of Agriculture has indicated that funding is available to continue reimburse schools for meals served September and October. So if there's any
updates on federal funding, we'll bring it before you. Of course, uh we're working on our first district quarterly newsletter for the year. Uh really excited about this. I know our academic coordinators, Dr. Rogers, um have met a couple of times regarding this. So we
will have um sort of a format to this moving forward. Events around the district sort of learning and action looking at goals around the elementary, middle and high schools, a section on uh building belonging, diversity, equity, inclusion, special education, uh
resources for families, how to help out, and then a report from me. Um so we look forward to that. So that's in the works and we're trying to wrap that up at the end of this month to get it ready for publication. Um speaking of Dr. Rogers coffee and conversations meet the
director will happen on Thursday October 16th here. So Dr. Rogers will share hashtag love it right sharing uh Dr. Rogers will share uh her expanded role as she is uh in her vision for supporting students uh and
their families and staff 6 to 8 here uh Thursday October 16th in the Mayflower room. And then lastly, uh just a reminder that we have Plymouth Falltown meeting on the 18th. Um the meeting starts at 8 o'clock. If we do have a quorum, if we anticipate a quorum, just
if I could know so I can make sure that we publish um an agenda, okay, that we're in session. If not, uh there's no need. Um the only thing we have on is the supplemental appropriation which we
discussed at the retreat which is coming from the additional state aid. So I don't I don't anticipate um any concerns regarding that but just bring that to everyone's attention. Okay. And that's it for me this evening.
That was quick. Uh any questions? Um, I don't have any questions either. Just to say that if you think you're going to be able to attend fall meeting, let me know. Um, I know Luis and I are going, so if we have two more people,
then I post. Okay. Okay. Um, but I think that's it. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, next we have retirements. Mr. Chopy, good evening. I do have one retirement to share with you. Uh Ted George uh has
been at PCIS uh for 37 years. He will be with us until the end of this calendar year of December 31st. And Ted George will be retired. That's cool. You made my job easy tonight with only one person.
I want to thank Mr. George for his 37 years of service to the district and we wish him a happy retirement and best of luck in his future endeavors. All right. Uh, next we have committee
reports. Does anybody have anything to report? No. Um, I went to the CPAC meeting. Um, I'm just pulling up my notes here. Um, they're really trying to bolster their
membership. So, they've been trying to go to a lot of open houses and we've talked about how to get our name out there a little bit more. Um, so and they've worked on developing their website which looks great. I think they should have it up shortly. It's very easy to follow and has a lot of
resources for parents and a lot of information about upcoming events. So, I think it will be really great. Um, and then of course we talked about uh Dr. Rogers and her meet the director uh which I will be at and looking forward
to. Um and I think that's about it. Do you have anything to add Dr. Rogers? Do you remember anything else? Um nope. It was a great meeting and I just appreciate the collaboration and um the new leadership team of the CPAC. So thank you.
Been good. All right. Um next we have building committee. We haven't met since our last meeting. Okay. Same for the master planning. All right. Perfect. Sorry. And personnel reports, Mr. Chroy.
Uh, yes, we did approve um some appointments. We had three certificated staff and four classified staff. Uh, we did accept one resignation and then we also approved one parental leave and four maternity leaves. Perfect. Thank you. Medical leave. Sorry.
Um, and I guess that brings us towards the end. Any unfinished business anybody wants to bring up? New business. All right. Uh consent agenda. Does anybody have anything that they want to
change or remove from the consent agenda? All right. If not, I take a motion to Mr. Morgan. I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Perfect. Second. Second,
Mr. Smetus. Perfect. Go ahead and vote. All right. All approved. So, with that, I call the Plymouth School Committee meeting uh concluded at 8:20.