All right, I call the April 16th meeting of the school committee to order. And I see Sarah now on the Zoom. Um, let me just make her a co-host so that we know she can speak when she's ready. Okay. Um, we're going to have one member remotely this evening, so I'm going to
do a roll call for everything this evening. Uh, Jeffrey >> here. Laura >> here. >> Tom here. Sarah. Sarah. Uh, that's probably our volume here. Try that one more time. >> She's muted. >> There you go. >> Yeah, >> there you go. And Sean is here. Um, and
I believe Aaron will join us midstream. So, all right. So, let me just do a quick review of the agenda and then we'll jump in. Uh, we'll start with public comment for anything that is not on our agenda this evening. We'll have our focus on excellence, uh the consent agenda reports, and then in the new
business section, we've got uh folks here to join us for the youth health survey results for this year. Um we're going to have a presentation and discussion about um our executive functioning review. We will approve the uh formal last day of school for this school year. We'll have a vote to
appoint a at least an interim vice chair to get us through the end of the year. And then we'll have a discussion um with no vote, but a discussion uh to to determine whether and how to move forward on some potential changes for policy GBD, which is school committee and staff communications.
Uh so that is our agenda for this evening. We will start with public comment. So if anybody here uh is not here for winter guard or any of those other things we just talked about and wants to speak to anything not on the agenda, now's your chance. As I expected. All right. Uh so let's
then begin with our focus on excellence and Dr. Chesky, I'll hand it to you. >> Great. We are absolutely thrilled tonight to be joined by our Wintergar Majest Wintergard team behind us who are the 2026 NESBA State Champions. >> We're extremely lucky to have you with us tonight. Uh really proud of your
accomplishments. A few things I just want to share. First, uh this is the program's uh return back since 2023. And then to mark it back for the first time with a state championship is incredible. I had a a custodian come up to me the other day to to mention I they said they had heard that they were uh state champions. I just want you to know I'm
not surprised to hear that given the the uh the amount of time uh that the team is in our schools rehearsing late at night, practicing late at night and constantly constantly constantly striving for perfection. So, I just know that you put in a ton more time than people may see and people may see the
state championships, but just know people in our community, many have recognized the amount of time, effort that you've poured in to making this level of success uh possible. So, we would just like to congratulate you on your accomplishments and thank you for your model of excellence and dedication in our community. So, with that, we'd
love to hear from members of the team. introduce yourselves, share a little bit about, you know, sort of what happened this past season and sort of what may have led to the uh 2026 state championship. >> Thank you so much. Um I am Ariana. I am co- captain of the color guard.
>> Um I'm Alexandra. I'm captain of the color guard. >> These are >> I'm Isabella. >> I'm Callie. >> I'm Elizabeth. >> I'm Amanda. >> I'm Penny. >> I'm Anna. >> I'm Autumn. Um
um we are really happy to be here. Thank you for having us. Um we've had a really awesome season and it's been really awesome, especially because with um our guard, this is probably pretty big guard for us. Um and we've definitely been able to learn a lot this season,
especially with um our new coaches this year. Uh which has just been really awesome to get to know um each other and get to know the coaches better, especially with just all the new things happening. Um, and I think especially for me, I got to learn so much and um, it was just something that really helped
me with like teamwork and just really um, getting to know the sport that I love. So, it was just really cool for that. >> Yes. Um, our new coaches really helped us grow and especially with all the new members in the group. Um, we had how
many? >> I think five new members I believe. >> Yeah. um who'd never touched a flag before, never done dance or anything, and they all have grown so much and it's really been amazing to see how everyone's grown.
>> Is there anything you guys have to add? >> I'm putting on the squad and terror. Um but yeah, no, this season has been really really awesome and I think most of us do know each other from school and and uh otherwise, but I think without the sport it would be um it wouldn't be
the same. I've definitely really gotten to know these guys a lot. So, it's been really really cool. Yes. >> So, we know that state championships are like the highest level of excellence and achievement and it's rare in our community uh to achieve this level of of
prestige in in receiving a state championship. I'm also floored to hear that almost the team is entirely freshman and sophomores. >> So in sports you're usually hearing teams are the senior laden teams. They're the ones that are the ones winning titles. I'd love to hear from you from the element of leadership. How
is it that the team came together maybe without what would be a typical makeup of a team with upper classmen leadership, you know, members who have been through different competitions and battles to then be in a position with such a young team. I'd love to hear just like that lend the piece of leadership and how your team came together and
navigated that. >> Um, I mean, I think we all took our knowledge from the marching season and implemented what we already knew about music and performance and we took that into this season. Um, and then the
coaches also really helped uh harness that performance aspect that everyone brought in from marching. Um, >> yeah. Yeah. And I think especially with our new coaches, it was just really interesting to see the different um ways they were able to teach us that um not
that the fall coaches didn't, but the way that they both um we were able to use both the skills that we learned from each season and kind of um like use them to create something totally new. And I think that's what really helped especially me when I mean this is our second year of being um captains which
was really cool um and a really awesome experience just learning in general. But um I think it really helped us come together when it came to being as a team but also as friends when we were able to use all those skills that we learned and um I don't know I think that just really
helped us in general. >> So I'll just say my my introduction to the winter guard was accidentally kicking you out of the wooden gym late one Tuesday evening when there was a little bit of a scheduling mixup. Uh um but even in just that couple minutes, I could tell that story later, but even in just that couple minutes, it was it was
obvious how intense and focused your preparation was. So um just really pleased to see it rewarded with a state championship. So congratulations to you all. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hold up your nice plaque so we can see. >> Beautiful. Awesome.
>> All right. So before you go, we do have a tradition which you may find slightly or incredibly embarrassing of of taking a picture with us here at the front if you don't mind before we let you go. >> Oh, that's true. Is >> there anyone to take their role?
Shorter than someone. All right, great. Thanks so much. >> Looking forward to a repeat. >> All right, girls. >> I could tell who Steph's daughter was. >> Yeah. And we think the team will be back next year round two, right?
>> All right. Um, and let's move to our consent agenda. I can entertain a motion from anybody who would like to make one. >> Sean, I have a couple requests on the consent agenda. I need to ask the four things be removed from it. the two minutes that I was not present part of
the school committee for as well as the PSST donation and the um robotics field trip due to my volunteer involvement. >> Why don't um why don't we take it as a full item and just have you just recuse from the vote unless unless we have a
you know a >> quorum issue with passing it. I suppose >> we have four of us so we don't >> Yeah, we should be good. Yeah. >> Yeah. So I'll move to approve the consent agenda. >> Is there a second? seconded by Laura. Um, so yeah, so Dr. Cororm will be uh I guess I'm I'm gonna call you Jeffrey in
these meetings at FA. >> So used to call you Dr. Corm when you're out there, but now I feel like All right. Um, uh, so Jeffrey will be recusing from this one because he's he's got uh, you know, connections to one of them and and wasn't here for a couple of those meetings as well. Um, all right.
So with that, let's move to the vote. Uh, Laura, >> yes. >> Tom, >> yes. >> Sarah, >> yes. >> And Sean, yes. That passes. Thank you everyone. All right, let's move to reports. Uh Dr. Millesky, I'll start with you. >> No report. >> No report. Okay. Um Dr. Sty, I'll start with you.
>> I have a report. I actually just want to start by highlighting our amazing students in reading. Um Dr. Hardy and I had the amazing opportunity to be at Artsfest last night and introduce the final three
jazz bands and it was absolutely terrific to listen to everybody. We have amazing students and staff and we wanted to just do a huge thank you to Andy Mullen for his leadership and his passion for the arts. It was a wonderful experience and we're really proud of
that in Reading. Um I also wanted to just talk a little bit about our Embark program um at the elementary school. We currently have two locations, one at Birch and one at Wood End. And next year our kindergarteners are going to transition from Rise to Wood End. Um,
there are a lot of great reasons, but one is that the kindergarten classrooms at Wooden are inside, not in mods, and that they have an enclosed playground, and for some of our kiddos, it's just going to meet their needs a little bit better. So, we're working on that. The
other thing I wanted um to highlight is we've actually been working with someone from the 321 Foundation. Her name is uh Ariel uh Cleur and they are for um advances in education and cognitive
development on students with Down syndrome. They've come and observed at Woodend Birch and Kulage. They've actually done some training for us last Friday and one of the huge highlights is when she got to be in some of the
classrooms. She actually said our inclusion practices were a model for other districts. Uh so we're really proud of that. We're going to continue to do that work. We're also doing a book study with our um embark staff. They are
all reading um a book called meaningful inclusion for students with Down Syndrome and um not only are the special ed staff reading it but the general ed staff and the power educators are and working on having a consistent implementation.
And the last thing I just wanted to mention while we're talking about book studies, you'll probably hear about this, but um Jackie Pooy has been doing anxious generation um book studies and Stonem is actually asked to join our
book studies. Over a hundred staff have participated and 27 families. We're making really good connections and I just wanted to highlight that um coming together of different communities. Great. Dr. Hardy.
>> Hi, good evening everyone. I wanted to provide you just with a brief update on uh the recent um student opportunity act sa plan progress report that I filed with Desessie. Um as you may remember this is a plan that we write every three
years. And when we write it, we look at very closely at our data to identify any groups of students in our district that uh might be falling behind other students. In our plan that we wrote two years ago now, we identified students with disabilities, multilingual
learners, and our black and African-American students. Um, in the plan, we also identified these evidence-based practices. So, in the progress report, we provide Desi with um our progress on those evidence-based practices. A lot of the things that are in that report are things we've
presented already to you at school committee. um some of the work you're going to hear about tonight with executive functioning um the curriculum review in-depth report that we gave you in January and um the work that we've been doing with early literacy and using
educations. So all of those things are examples of the work that's happened in alignment with those evidence-based practices. We also share with Desi early indicators that we're seeing that these uh initiatives are starting to make a difference for our students. Um we I'll
just share a few quick facts with you that we're excited about. When we look at chronic absenteeism for our ML students, uh we have dropped that number. We we had 29% of our ML students that were chronically absent. We dropped that number to 12%. So pretty
significant gain for us right there. Um, the other thing is that this year we're really pleased with what we're seeing in our middle school ELA classrooms. The alignment of teachers in their practices and their instructional materials. Um, really the first time that we've seen that in our middle school classrooms.
So, that again is fruit of this work. Um, we also report to Desi any early indicators that we're seeing in our student data. As you may remember from our MCCAST presentation back in October, um there were some shimmers of hope in there that we were starting to see that
in our um especially in our elementary grades three through five MCCAST that we started to see some gap closing for our black and African-American students and even our students with disabilities. Another piece that I was very thrilled to uh include in this report was our most recent Dibbles results, our middle
of the year Dibbles results. Um, we saw that our black students increased over year-over-year by eight and a half percent and our students with disabilities by 5 and a half% and our MLS by 10%. This was really good. Our general population of students improved
by 2.5%. Overall, our student results look really strong in Dibbles. When we look at all of our students across K to three, we have 83.6% of our students metering or exceeding the benchmark. So really outstanding results.
So just to let you know the next steps, we um have submitted the report to DESIE. We are waiting for them to um approve it. As soon as they do, we will send uh the full report off to you, the school committee to review. We will also post it on the website um for families
to have access to as well. >> Great. >> That's all. >> Okay. Uh any questions? >> I was going to ask for it to be sent to us, but she said we it to you now. Um, you know, pending any changes. I don't anticipate any, but
happy to send it now. >> If you don't mind, I'd be awesome. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Little little light weekend reading. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> All right. Uh, let's move to liaison reports. Um, Jeffrey, I suppose you're probably >> Yeah, I guess we need to decide what my
liaison will be. I do have a couple of, uh, comments. I wanted to second Dr. Stic's comments about the, uh, the great arts fest last night. not only the performances but also the artwork and thank you to the art teachers who spent a lot of time picking those out and and pinning them up on Main Street. Uh also
I saw Dr. Hardy on Monday we were at the Metco advocacy day at the state house. So you know asking for you know more support from the federal uh from the state government. Um Rich Hagerty came out and met with us took a break from the committee meeting he was in the middle of our other two representatives are retiring this year. So, um, you
know, our senator and representative. So, they didn't come out to to meet with us, but I'm sure they're busy wrapping things up. Uh, that was a great day and and you know, as we know that the, you know, oil prices going up is not helping the transportation budget for bringing those students out of Boston, particularly, you know, if you look too
at the the late buses that have really helped them be part of the act after school activities. >> Great. >> Laura, >> no report. >> Tom, >> uh, small report, I guess. Um, people may know this already, but just so everybody does, uh, the select board uh,
elected their or appointed or elected their new chair and vice chair. Um, so Melissa will be the, uh, chair and Karen Rose Jillis will be the vice chair. Um, so hopefully uh, that helps with the tenor and tone of the of the committee.
>> They also signed Jane to a three-year contract, I believe, since our last meeting as well. >> That's true. Yeah. Well, we we've had the meetings have been so sporadic right now. It's hard to say when they left, but >> fair. Uh Sarah, anything on your end? >> Just the news and I'll make sure we get
this out. Um as well posted that RCTV function executive director as well. So I haven't had the opportunity to meet her yet, but I will be in the >> Sarah. Has she has she formally started? What's do you know the timeline on that? >> I believe so. >> Okay, great. Uh and I have nothing else.
So let's move to new business and we will start with the presentation on youth health survey results. Eric I believe and Dr. Em Principal Kellan I think that is you. Um let me take this one's gonna show up.
>> I think we're gonna sit. >> Oh okay. Do we need the laptop? >> Um you can either have a laptop or you can throw spirit fingers or just say click ahead or whatever whatever is easier. I'll share here in just a second. >> You might need to make yourself
should already be. Good evening everyone. Um I am Erikica May, the director of the Reading Coalition for Prevention and Support. Um I know many of you, but it's nice to meet those that I haven't met so far. Um my role has been um as a member of the
data action team and I typically am part of the dissemination of the results. So that's why I was asked to be with you tonight. And I'll let Principal Kalan >> Oh, I'm Jessica Kalan, the high school principal. I think everybody knows me. >> Um so Tom, do you want to um provide
some opening remarks before we get get rolling? >> Sure. So just a quick uh bit of context is the as the committee knows this process started for us actually uh back in October when we had started going through uh what would be sort of our
process uh for NA you know for how we would go about both survey administration survey questions intent of the survey how the data would be used. Um, so this was something that as the committee knows our team team, coalition, administration, other community partners took a took a lot of time to uh to go through and make sure
we went through as thoughtfully as possible. So tonight you'll see the results and the product of that. Um, but and I'd also just like to like upfront thank the coalition. You should see here throughout the 40 slides that there is a you'll see like how the coalition is impacting our schools, but I just like
also to know if you walk around our schools, you'll see, you know, leaders of the in the coalition constantly with our students, with our staff impacting our our district. So, just a a huge thanks to the coalition for your continued impact in our our schools and also thank you to everyone who was a part of this process, the YHS process
who's not with us tonight. >> Wonderful. Thank you so much. All right, we will get rolling. Next slide, please. Um so Dr. Millesky and the uh data action team did ask me to tell you a little bit about how the coalition is involved in the district. Um we've had a
long-term relationship. Um you know in terms of the work we do. I've been here for 18 years. Um I was the first director and I guess the only director thus far. Um so I've had the privilege to kind of grow our relationship and the superintendent team, the principal, the middle school principles across the
district. People like Jackie Pooy are amazing partners um for the coalition. So, just wanted to share a few highlights um and introduce our staff a little bit. So, next slide, please. So, some of the folks that you may see around the schools. Justia uh Cruz is
our outreach coordinator. She spends a lot of time in classrooms working with Michelle Hopinson teaching our teen mental health first aid program. She also does screening for our students. She is a a rocket leaders and action advisor as well as um a liaison to um
MECO interns for beat the odds which is an organization in Boston. Um she's done a lot of collaboration and mentoring to support students. Tanya, one of our um licensed uh clinicians. She's our public safety clinician. She sees students across our school district for therapy.
She also provides guidance and support for staff that might want to talk through cases. Um and she also does training. And then we our newest uh person to the team is Irene Irene Griffin. She's a licensed mental health counselor. She's with us 16 hours a week and her role is as a child adolescent
clinician. She's been seeing students at both middle schools starting to see elementary students as well as high school students. >> Um so next slide please. So some of the resources that are allocated specifically to the district is our interface referral service which is a
matchmaking service to get families connected to credentialed mental health providers. One of the biggest challenge in our current mental health system is accessing appropriate providers for the needs that folks are looking for. Um so we contract for that service. 89 families in the past year from Reading
Public Schools including MECO families have accessed the service. So we we think that that's another tool for people to get support. Um we do provide brief free therapy for our clinicians offering that to students. They provide up to eight sessions. Um and then connect families to longerterm services.
We provide funding for the Embrace clinicians which are bilingual clinicians. That's a contracted service through the health office and working with multilingual students. Um we also provided funding to increase the health educator um in the middle school to a full-time position. you all accepted the
funds. We're so excited and Taylor's been just doing an amazing job with students. And then we also have funded 11 miniigrants for student leaders. Um, and their ideas for the mini grants came out of last year's listening sessions, which I'll touch upon. Next slide, please.
Um, we also have our Rocket Leaders in action uh peer leader club. We offer teen mental health first aid workshops. Um, we do the chemical health education program for any students that might have a violation in addition to the discipline that's provided by the school. We provide additional support
and coaching um, and resources and and clinical services to get young people back on track. Um, and then we also offer um, professional development for staff as well as a new program called mental health for coaches that we're rolling out this spring.
Next slide, please. So we are going to dive into the data. Um so I'm going to describe a little bit about the data process that brought us here. This is our 2025 youth health survey. So like Tom mentioned, we started this process in 2023 2024 in
preparation for last spring uh data collection. Next slide please. So the major survey partners um I am kind of the liaison um between the district, our partners on the other side of the survey process. So we have a funer that has funded the survey for this cycle, Mystic
Valley Public Health Coalition. We are part of a a six community network including Winchester, Reading, Stonem, Bedford, Malden. Um together we received funding for our specific youth health surveys which made a huge difference. Um JSI is the survey consultant. They were
contracted through the Middle Sex League to provide survey consulting services for our specific communities. And then the district of course makes the ultimate decisions on what happens with the survey. Next slide please. So as you know we've been doing the
survey since 1990. Um so it goes back quite a ways. Um and the importance of the survey is really a pulse check every two years of where we are um to kind of assess population based data. We are not asking for names. This is all anonymous data. We're trying to get a pulse check
in a given um time about specific health behaviors. Um it's really essential for improving student health and looking at areas that we need to work on, areas that we might be doing well in. Um really supports the school improvement work that the principal is doing and um across the
school. Um overall survey data that we've collected historically has helped us raise an enormous amount of u grant funding to come into the district. Um, I know for the coalition itself, our 10-year grant, which was $125,000 a year, um, for 10 years was in part um,
able to happen because of the the data. Many grants require the youth survey data in order to even apply. So, it's important to know that and they want to be able to track um, your performance over time. Um, another big one um, is the school climate grant that we had for
five years. That was another um big um opportunity that we got. In addition to the data, this is one piece. We also have done listening sessions, key informant interviews, and also worked with students on projects using the data. So, this is just kind of one piece
of the pie. Next slide, please. Um our data action team, our superintendent, assistant superintendent Hardy and Sty as well as principal Kalan and our middle school principles. um and also me consulting with our partners in the other communities um to kind of
gather information and and get the pulse of some of the other trends that were happening. We looked at all of the survey options um over the course of six months before kind of zeroing in on what our choices were going to be. We looked at student needs. We looked at parent
feedback from the previous cycle. We looked at protective factors. What are those areas where young people need to be strengthening? And then also what were the risk trends? Um, we decided on a specific set of questions. We had different questions than some other communities. I want to be very clear
about that. If you look at another survey from another community that may not be close to what we've asked. Um, we made specific modifications based on what our data action team felt was best for our students. And I'm proud of that. I think that we had great conversation. There was back a lot of back and forth.
Um, we probably drove the survey consultant a little little over the edge with all of our changes, but you know, down to the letter, down to the the the period. Um, but we got the we I think we ended up with a really strong survey. Um, so just important to kind of know we we really personalized to our own
community. Next slide. >> We do that one. No. >> Did it go backwards? >> Gotcha. Um, so one of the things that that we added over the last couple cycles was a skip pattern that allows students who say no to a behavior to skip through the next set of questions.
If they say yes to a behavior, then we might want to ask more detail. So I wanted you to know that for some students, they may have only answered 40 questions because of the skip pattern. And students have said that that has been helpful. And then for the students that say yes, we are getting good quality data on kind of the additional
questions that that pop down for them. Um we did develop parent communication materials, made sure that we shared all of that information. Um we had an updated online opt- out procedure to procedure to make it easy for parents to opt out, ask questions, um worked with principal Kalinan and her team to roll
out the survey, um train the survey proctors, um and then inform students about the language options. So, for the past two cycles, students have been able to take it in um multiple languages if they so wished. Um our most popular languages this this cycle were Spanish
and Portuguese. Um and then um we explained to students that they are not required to answer every question. They can skip anything that they want to. And also for any sensitive topics, there is a popup um for each section that provides resources. Next slide, please.
So before we get into the data, I just want to kind of remind folks that any of the youth behaviors you see reflect our current values, norms, and pressures that we have in our society. Our young people are a reflection of what is happening in our community and in our nation. And it's important to kind of
make sure we keep that in mind as we look at the data. The experience of young people is happening whether we ask about it or not. And some of this stuff as adults can be hard to like wrap our mind around sometimes. So, I just kind of want to make sure that we we remember this is their world. They're letting us
into it to kind of a know a little bit more about what's going on. Next slide, please. Oops. So, I want to talk a little bit about kind of generational attributes. Um, with Gen Alpha, we're seeing, you know, a lot of strong attributes that I think sometimes gets
lost in some of the negativity that, um, kind of filters around our teenagers and the work that we do. We see amazing young people. We see so much so much cool stuff. Um, and I think the one of the things that I've seen a lot of is is not just social consciousness but entrepreneurial spirit like young people
who want to do things, create things, um, their resiliency, their resourcefulness, um, their independent thinking, you know, that they will challenge things and I think that's those are important skills. Um, we know with Gen Z they had early tech fluency, they're creative and visual learners,
very environmentally aware. These are all really positive things. When we look at some of the challenges on the next slide, we know that um you know we are struggling a little bit with um Divi device reliance um which can kind of
stifle their growth. Um content can be fast. Um digital safety and priv privacy have become really significant issues. Um and we're seeing the impact of >> I don't think >> I wasn't sure if you actually wanted the next slide.
>> I was on my roll. >> Yeah. You're good. Keep rolling. >> Thank you. >> Um I wanted to point out with Gen Z, what we're seeing as they transition um into young adulthood is um that the mental health challenges have become a bit more difficult. Um the academic and
financial stressors become a little bit more real. The amount of student debt that young people are carrying as they get into college and job instability that things may not be the way that they pictured it. And I think that's important to know because they're the closest generation to our current generation and they're hearing things
and seeing things and they're grappling with all of that. Next slide, please. >> Got it this time. >> All right, we can keep going. All right, so for the survey sample, um these this is just summary of key
findings. We have um lots of more data, so we really just tried to summarize it for you. After data cleaning, the final sample for um 2025 for grades 9 through 11 um was um 651 students. In 2023, it
was 642 42 students. So, we have relatively good sample comparisons. Um we did not include grade 12 due to inter internship timing again, which has been our challenge, but we're going to keep working on trying to get it a little bit earlier. Um we do not include regional,
state or national comparisons because we're only comparing grade 9 through 11 and other um comparisons include the whole uh sample and not all students answered every single question because of those skip patterns. Next slide
please. So some things to be really excited about. Um three areas of really significant progress. more um students reporting enhanced safety behaviors, more students reporting really strong connections to trusted adults. I'm going
to show you that slide and you're going to get really excited about it. Um and then healthier daily routines, which we've been working on so much. Um and I know parents are working on it and young people are working on it. It's hard. This is really hard stuff. So, we're seeing um a lot of that um going in an
upward trajectory. Next slide. So, some of the wellness behaviors, again, we ask a lot of questions. Uh, but one of the ones I was really excited about was having a trusted friend. Um, when we talk a lot about relationships, we often think about we want to make
sure young people have a trusted adult, and that's really important, but having a friend that they can go to if they're worried, um, or dealing with something or someone to have fun with. So, um, for for this year's number, we're up seven percentage points, um, which is exciting. And then you can also see that
in the other um safety behaviors or participation, we're also um in a good place. So with the data that I'm presenting tonight, um when I show a change, we're talking about percentage points. Um just so you kind of have an idea, that's typically how we compare um
between survey cycles. Next slide. Um so one of the areas that um we're proud of everything. We have strong exercise behaviors. We have a lot of young people that are working part-time or volunteering. Um we have more young people that are managing um stress in a
healthy way. One of the areas that I constantly am trying to work on, I know our director of nutrition is working on it. Our teachers are encouraging, but eating breakfast um just to get their day off to the best start that they can. Um and I think that has been better since the breakfast program has come in. having the breakfast cart in the high
school. A lot of young people have commented on the breakfast cart being a huge help and on also being able to get food um throughout the day. And then another piece is um healthy sleep. So if you look at middle school data um in grade six um they're getting about 8 to
10 hours of sleep regularly. By the time they're getting to high school uh only 41% are getting eight hours. So again that becomes challenging in a lot of different ways. Next slide. So, this is the slide I'm I'm most excited about. Um, and I give a lot of
credit to Jess and the work that she's done in her school and her team to really move this this needle in a positive direction. Trusted adult school is one of the strongest indicators of a protective factor for any school district. And we are now at 87%. That's
up 20%, sorry, 20 percentage points since our last um survey. And that's not an easy thing to do. During COVID, we were at 47%. and we've been fighting our way back since then, you know, for obvious reasons. There was a lot of disconnection at that point. Um, but it
takes a really strong team. It takes the teachers, it takes the paras, it takes the librarian, it takes everybody that works in this school. And I think that's a number to be like super proud of. And also huge credit to our families. Um, that went up 19 percentage points and
trusted adult in the community also went up. So these are really amazing numbers. There are some communities in Massachusetts that these numbers hover at 30. So this is this is not easy stuff. Next slide. So for any of the questions that um
relate to things that that may be um upsetting behaviors or behaviors where something might be happening to a young person. We're asking for a young person's perception of their experience. So they're reporting on what they perceive to be what happened to them specifically. So that's what you see
reflected in in the slide kind of summary which is questions that were around social media posts. So 17% said that they were upset by something that was posted about them. The reason we asked that question is we now know that that kind of stuff carries through their whole life, right? Um that is down six
percentage points since 2023. I think young people are starting to learn how to set boundaries for themselves around shutting down things, not looking at certain threads, um kind of paying attention to their own kind of well-being when they're online. Um we did see um an in slight increase in
bully being bullied online. 11% perceived that they were bullied online. That's up three percentage points. Um and then um when we look at were you bullied at school, their perception of that. 11% said that they experienced that at school, but that is down five
percentage points. >> And this was in the last year, right? Is that question? >> Yeah, the question is in the last 12 months, did you experience any of the these things? Yeah. >> Next slide. So, there's another set of questions that ask young people if they perceive
they were treated unfairly for specific characteristics. Um so in this area um there's kind of four major categories, gender, sexual orientation, religion or race and ethnicity. Um so you can see um in the um the top three areas we saw
declines um in race or ethnicity it did remain steady at 5%. These are areas that there's a lot of work happening around. Um, and it's also something that we are talking about in their listening sessions to get more detail and information on specifically what are the areas that young people feel bothered
by, what is upsetting, all of that kind of stuff. Next slide. Um, there's also a set of questions on exposure to unsafe experiences. So that could be if young people are in a dating relationship, did they experience a form of dating violence? So, of the young
people that reported dating, uh 1% reported physical assault. That is down from 2023. Um sexual coercion affected 6%. Um and the way that gets reported is a young person who felt like they did not give consent. Um and then 3 to 5%
said they were unsure. And that comes up quite a bit is young people not being sure what their boundaries were or if they were impaired, not being sure about what happened to them. And then 7% of daters uh experience emotional abuse. That is down from 10%.
Next slide. Um, this area is sometimes a little hard for adults uh to really kind of take a peek at, but it is what's what they're experiencing. 14% um experienced some type of texting behavior where they
either sent or received sexual messages um including images. That is down from 27%. There's a lot of work being done around that. I think young people are also learning for themselves to be safer. Um, one of the areas that we want to get more education about is actually meeting
people in real life. Um, 3% of students said that they met an adult stranger they did not know in person um that they actually initially met online. That is down from 5%. But the meetups tend to be around three areas. It's a friend,
they're dating or want to date or access to a substance. Getting someone to buy something for them. And this is typically all happening over Snapchat. Next slide. So we have made some significant progress on mental health challenges. As
you know, this is always an area that we are paying very close attention to as it affects a young person's whole life. Um we asked questions in the past month. Um have you experienced um any of these mental health challenges? Um for anxiety that is down, depression symptoms are
down. Non-suicidal self-injury which can be cutting, burning, scratching that is down. Um suicidal ideiation having thoughts of of suicide is down. Making a plan is down. Um suicide actual attempts hasn't changed. Um that typically um
when we look at the national data that is as accurate as it as it is. It's between 1 and 2% for suicide attempts across the nation for this age group. of those who make an attempt only about um 0.5% actually are injured. So just
important to kind of know. Um any anything else to add on that? Okay, next slide. >> Um in terms of underage substance abuse, these questions are specific to the past month because we want to get the most accurate kind of picture of their their current use. Um marijuana use did drop
from 12% down to 5%. Vaping also dropped. Yay. Uh, vaping on school property also dropped. Um, and again that goes back to our administration being very diligent and our school resource officer. Um, no changes on using alcohol in the past 30 days.
Prescription drug misuse, using a prescription that's not prescribed to you to get high is um, steady. And then our big area of concern is of the young people that reported underage drinking um, they reported binge drinking of five to seven drinks in a couple hours. Um,
so that is an area we're keeping a close eye on. Next slide. Um, we also ask young people how easy it is it to access the substances you're trying to get. Almost all access is happening on Snapchat. Um, other than prescription drugs, sometimes that is
still happening um, in the home. Um, people, you know, stealing medications. Um, but the most easiest thing to access is is typically alcohol followed by vaping and marijuana. Next slide. Um so we are really making um trends in
perception. Perception is one of the areas that we know trickles down to actual behavior. So the more we see young people and parents and students and their peers understanding that um using substances is not great for them um the better the numbers go in terms of
actual behavior. So we had increased disapproval of alcohol use by friends and caregivers um going in the right direction. We had de declines in vaping and marijuana use, reducing the onampus supply. Um we do need to work on um young people's perception. So they're
overestimating their peers to be using three to seven times higher than the actual use. So if you're in a circle where a couple people use, you might think everyone uses and young people on the outside of that circle might think, "Oh, that's what they do and so I need to do it." And you know, it kind of
grows. And in reality, it's a smaller proportion of young people actually misusing substances. We're concerned about binge drinking um because that increases the risk for alcohol poisoning. We do cover um th that area in the health classes um to talk about the risk for alcohol
poisoning, the good Samaritan law and things that young people need to do to take care of themselves. But there's about 62 students um within that binge drinking category um that we need to keep an eye on in terms of those behaviors. Next slide.
um sugar and energy drinks. Um things our nutritionist isn't isn't thrilled to see. Um so about 38% reported drinking uh sugar energy drinks daily. This is down slightly. Of that 38%, 6% are drinking um those drinks three times
daily. We're concerned about that for a number of reasons. The biggest thing is um changes to the heart rate um the nervousness that can come and then also the crash that can come with energy drinks. Next slide. Um, and I think, you know, when we talk to young people about what's actually in
the products that they're using, they're not always aware of how much is in there. Um, I had a student, lovely student, who um, showed me her Stanley and said, um, do you think it's too much if I'm am drinking a whole Stanley of energy drinks a day? And I was like,
yeah, let's work on that. And she was just kind of putting them all in at the beginning of the day. And, you know, that was five energy drinks. So, um, that would be like 1,000 milligrams of caffeine. Um, so, you know, it's just something that they may not be realizing, right? And we all use
caffeine in many ways as adults, you know, and it affects the teen brain slightly differently. So, something to keep an eye on. Next slide. Um, unhealthy weight behaviors. So, um, we do ask questions um, to understand potential eating disorder behaviors. Um
and then in 2023 we asked more specific questions. Areas that we're always concerned about is any bulimic behaviors, binge eating, um anorexia. Um and then one of the areas that has been a worry for the past few cycles has been increase in fasting. So the fasting question is have you fasted in the last
24 hours? Not intermittent fasting where it might be periods. Um this question was not asked during a religious fasting time as well. So just so you all know. Um, so it's an area that we we want to pay attention to especially for their own safety. Next slide.
Um, in terms of intimate behaviors, we do ask students questions about their sexual health. Um, in part because there are areas that really put them at high risk. Um, we did ask young people if they had had sexual contact or sexual intercourse. Of those that answered those questions, we asked about
protection. We asked about um if they were impaired by alcohol or drugs because we often see that consent lines are crossed um if they're impaired. And then we also ask at what age um did that sexual contact occur. And it's always an area that's difficult to see that um 5%
of young people that were sexually um engaged um actually were under the age of 12. Um and that is childhood sexual abuse. That is a decline um from the previous data cycle. Uh, next slide. But I think it's important to kind of
level set where we are in our country with this particular issue. Every nine minutes, a child in the US is sexually assaulted. Victims do not often report abuse. They often know their abuser. Um, and victims are four times more likely to develop addiction and it's a huge source of trauma. It's a small
percentage of young people, but it is um, you know, a quiet part of what they're dealing with. So, I think it's just important for people to know that um it's not always what you think of when you think about um sexual activity um in young people. Next slide.
Um we also asked young people, what are you learning in health class? What what kind of material are you getting? And um we saw really strong numbers increasing from 2023 to 2025 in our four major topic areas. HIV, nutrition, substance misuse prevention, and bullying
prevention. Um you will see that these numbers aren't 100% because not every young person is enrolled in health class um at a given time. Um but we're really proud of the work that Michelle Hopinson and and Katie Fiorella are doing at the high school uh as well as adding in our team mental health first aid program.
Next slide. So um this is really principal Kalanian's gig in terms of where we go with the data. Um there are a lot of ways that we can incorporate the data. school improvement planning, her work with staff, uh dissemination for
parents, um looking at planning, grant support, student engagement in our health classes, and then informing the work of the committees and and planning groups that we're part of, whether it's children's cabinet that Jen is running, um our wellness committee, our health department, um the coalition work. So,
there's lots of great um opportunities to use the data. We've never been a district that just it sits on the shelf. we've always incorporated into our work and I think we'll continue to do that and I know we have a short amount of time so I think I'll stop there. You have a number of other slides that talk
about um ways to use the data for improvement but I want to give you an opportunity to ask questions specifically about the survey data in case you want to. So with that questions I I know folks have questions. >> I'll start not so much with a question
but I thank you. Um, listen, we know that this was taken in the context of some pretty challenging stuff that happened down the street. Um, and uh, I just want to thank the administration for the way in which you guys worked together to look at this study and and find the right stuff for our community.
Um, you know, it cut off a lot of the noise and and got to the real important issues. Um and I think you know the thoughtfulness u partnership proactive nature of that approach um I think is
bearing fruit just by looking at it overall. Um but also it just kind of drives the culture of the district overall as you as you go through this. You see that in in the way this has come across. So Erica, thank you for being a huge part of that. Tom and Sarah and Jen and Jess and everybody else who's been a
part of that. Um thank you for doing that. I do observationally there's some really good trends here, right? Um, you know, some of it makes and I I think I don't want to this this question is going to sound weird because it sounds like it's going to undercut all the work you're doing. I don't mean to do that,
but how much do we think this is a result of being that much further from COVID versus like real societal change amongst the the cohorts over the last two years from a two-year difference? I think particularly around the trusted
adult support we are ahead um even with the you know kind of the going rebounding from COVID piece um just in looking at some of our peer communities and looking at some of the national data we don't have the national data set in the same way um CDC has withdrawn the
data set so we can't really look at like more recent data than 2021 um which was in the height you know what I mean but um I do think that we're particularly in those protective factors area, we are a little bit stronger. And I think that is also the work that's
been done to build in more support for students, to ask students how we can help and support them, the involvement of parents. Um, but we we have lots more work to do. We won't be sitting on our laurels, >> right? And I want to just say thank you to the school committee for your support
and us carrying this forward. I do know that at the time when we were talking about it, it was very controversial. I strongly believe in the survey and the longitudinal work that and information that it provides us um as leaders in a community and this is really for me as
as a principal. I look at this data and figure out where are we doing well and was that a result of an intervention or new support or curriculum that we put in place and then where areas um where we still need to grow. Um there's a lot of things that we've done as a result of
the data in 2023 that we're now seeing the fruits of that work that it is working. Um and like Erica said, there are other areas that we still need to focus on. And um I'd love to bend people's ear about the listening sessions we're do we're doing over the past two years at some point as well,
but I know we have other presentations um tonight, but really hearing from students and getting student voice uh front and center and then uh empowering them to act and move forward. uh they're pretty amazing. Our kids are amazing. Um and I think when they're empowered and they feel like they have a voice,
they're less likely to participate in in some of these risktaking behaviors. Um and that's not the only reason. You know, I think we've changed our approach to discipline, uh specifically to um substance misuse, uh which we're seeing that as a positive trend, leaning more
towards the education side of it rather than suspensions and things like that. Um and that was that's really with the help of the coalition as well. Um, so I think that the data is good. Uh, there's a lot more data in the survey questions as well. Um, this is just, believe it or
not, an overview. Um, but there's still a lot more for us to do. >> Um, Erica, you made the point about students overestimating the rate of substance use among their peers. Do we use this data with students to sort of debunk that? >> Yeah. >> Yep. Um, so, um, every student in grade
nine and 11 that takes health class uses it as a project. So, they get to choose. We give them an overview of the data and they choose topic areas they're most interested in. Um, and then in any of the presentations we're doing with students, we're talking a lot about this peer perception piece because it happens
with in a lot of areas, not just in this area. It happens with bullying. It happens with um all kinds of different experiences. Um it can be things like um you know, if they come from a situation where something's happening in their family, they think everyone's kind of experiencing that. So, um it's a natural
thing. We do it as adults, too. Um but it is an area that we're talking to them about um and having them think about um you know kind of using their own um kind of you know gut to guide them versus getting swayed. >> Laura,
>> so um you didn't get to the priorities for improvement slide, but um one of the things that's noted again on there is the rising binge drinking rates. Um this is an anonymous survey obviously. So you said you identified 62 students as high-risisk but but you don't know who those students are.
>> Um what is the is there an action plan in place for addressing that specifically given that you can't directly intervene necessarily with the students who might need it? >> Yes. Um it's it's how we're handling things as we identify students who may be actively using. It is a proactive
counseling with students who haven't gotten caught with something but do acknowledge they're using it. It also comes out of screening. We do a verbal screening uh in grade 10 and identify students who report binge drinking and then work on an action plan with them. Um and then in addition to the
education, in addition to the work that writing police is doing, uh alcohol compliance operations so that we don't have local licences selling or serving to minors, um awareness about fake IDs, uh a lot of other things going on. And then also helping parents understand what's happening on Snapchat, that that
is how they're accessing large quantities of alcohol. Um, and also talking to students about not just that they're accessing large quantities of alcohol, but they're also meeting an adult they do not know. Um, and so there's that piece too. So >> there's a lot going on. We talk about alcohol poisoning risks, how to identify
if they need medical help, um, all that kind of stuff. But yeah, it's difficult. We know. Yeah. >> But then, you know, Yeah. >> But there is an action plan. >> Thank you. Yeah. >> Anyone else? Go ahead. >> So, not a question, just more of a
comment that um how much it means as a as a parent and as someone who cares about the children in this district. like everything that you're presenting is the result of work that has been happening and education
that has been happening, but also how much how good it feels to have faith that I know you're not going to like take this and leave it. I know that education will continue to happen. Um and you know what's happening in our health classes all these conversations
that are happening um it's amazing to see that the numbers are turning um you know trusted adult in the be I remember being so upset about that one and that's such a testament um Jess to like the
culture that is happening here at the high school and and you know even less vaping in the school is a is a testament to you know that was something I used to hear a a lot about years ago. So, um it's more just an appreciation for um I
know this is always hard to hear every time. It's never easy to sit with, but um it's nice to feel some some hope and and and and see see the turning point. So, thank you for the work you're doing and the work I know you're going to continue to do. >> Thank you.
>> Thanks, Aaron. And I just want to say that we just we truly have a genuine partnership with the coalition and with the Reading Police Department. um and they work so closely with us uh in the school designing curriculum but also meeting with students and I think you
know part of what I see as my role is um empowering students like I said but also providing opportunities for students uh to coales and meet with people that they have common interests in. And one of the ways we do that is is during having like
club meetings during our flex blocks um on one of the given days which allows students that have commitments before and after school to participate and that builds that relationship with a trusted adult. And that might be for students that can't participate in sports or don't want to or don't want to have
time. They don't can't do drama or band or something like that. And so I really think that uh my job is to set the stage for it. and the staff is really just amazing um from every faculty member that uh is part of this or just allows kids to come in their room and chat um
during that unstructured time. So much positive so many positive things happen in addition to our um school counseling curriculum. Um and we have a great support staff you know from our counselors, guidance counselors, adjustment counselors, social workers, school psychologists. um people are
really uh attuned to what is happening I think in the community and then we use this data and give it back to them. We haven't done it yet because we wanted to present it to the school committee first uh but we will use that with our staff so that they can see kind of the fruits of the work um but also the areas we
still um are committed to improving. Tom, please. >> One more obser observation as we go through this and a request. Um, we're coming up on some interesting financial times as we go through some things here. And Jess, one of the things
you just said just triggered in my head, all the investments we've made in some of these staff me these staff positions over the last two, three, four years. Um, so I think it might be useful for us to demonstrate a a time series of some of this data more than just the last
period. Yep. >> 19, 21, 23, 25. Um, and correlate investments we've made in staff that might tie to some of this. Um, so we can see if we can see a d I mean, it's not just staff and and and the supportive
nature. It's some of the education stuff that's going on. It's a lot of the other things, too. But there is a correlation if we want to, you know, continue to keep some of those positions as we go forward that we we tie together some of the improvements that we've seen in some of these materials with staff members
and their and the roles that are playing in here. >> I can do that. >> That's a good point. Great. >> And maybe some general trends could be in the budget book for you next year or something like that. >> That's a great great point as well. Yeah.
Great. Anything else? >> All right. Thank you both very much. Appreciate it. >> Thank you so much. >> All right. We're going to just bear with me just one minute. I have to take a quick diversion from uh from our agenda and then we're going to we'll come back
to the um to the executive functioning report. Um I held my report uh because we were waiting for a guest to join us. Um, wanted to just quickly take a minute, you know, one to congratulate Jeffrey on your election, Erin on your re-election. We haven't really had the
opportunity to formally do this yet, you know, given that our last meeting was a little bit abnormal, I would say. Um, so congratulations to you both. Also, congratulations to Lori Hayes just for running just a fantastic, positive campaign. I think it was um, the campaign all three of you ran was just really illustrative of how we have
historically worked as a committee. um and and really appreciated that from uh from all three of you. Um we did want to take a minute uh a few minutes actually to to recognize um Carla uh who who who joined us straight from a Kilimma Butters meeting um making sure that all
the people who are going to deal with the noise over the next few years um understand what they're going to what what's going to happen there. Um you know so we haven't had the opportunity either prior just prior to the election or since to to recognize um her contributions. Um, you know, Carla,
Erin, and I all joined the committee in the same election back in 2020. Um, we were elected on March 3rd. I think all of us got sworn in early the week of March 9th, and then on March 12th or so, we sent everybody home for two weeks to stop the spread. Um, so we we pretty
immediately sort of uh jumped into the fire together to get through a really difficult um, you know, first year plus really on the committee. Um, in our second year, you know, there were some sort of, I'll say, ugly public events, uh, that I, you know, I wish had been handled better, including by myself, of
course. Um, and I would say nobody held me more accountable than Carla. Um, and I, you know, I say that in all the positive ways. Um, you know, we disagreed on some pretty big stuff, uh, very publicly back then. Um, and had some heated discussions, but, you know, looking back, even though those, you
know, even those difficult moments were always handled very professionally. and um just want to express my appreciation for that. Um I'll also say that for me, you know, I don't know about for you, but for me it feels like it was a million years ago. Um you know, we we've had the opportunity to serve as chair and vice chair. I should probably invite you up to join us, you know, up here or
something. Um you know, we had the opportunity to serve as chair and vice chair together, you know, several times since. Uh and what folks, you know, wouldn't have seen is how closely we were able to work together behind the scenes um just to navigate some tough situations that did pop up over the years um to, you know, talk through how
we could approach challenging issues and situations in a way that, you know, respected all viewpoints um and really allowed the the comm the committee and the community to move together, you know, productively. Um, so even though we've always had things we disagreed on, um, you know, right up until our second to last vote, in fact, uh, I've
genuinely appreciated your partnership over the years. Um, so I just want to acknowledge and recognize, you know, how hard you work or have worked on behalf of the district and will continue to work. Um, you know, you it cannot be overstated how much effort goes into leading the Kllum School Building
Committee. Um, and and you know, forever grateful for your your willingness to continue on in that role. um you know for what is probably another couple definitely another couple of of of intense years um even even kind of in your retirement from this committee. So
um you know as I said when when you announced here that you weren't going to be running again um just thank you for everything that you've done and uh and and will continue to do for for this committee and for this community. Um we would normally present you with a chair. Uh it's coming. It's not here yet
unfortunately. Um, but I'll open the floor if anybody else wants to make any comments. >> Oh, go ahead. >> I'll start by sharing we promise it's not a rocking chair like we got Chuck, but although we didn't intent to really get >> Thank you cuz my kids would relentlessly
that position, too. So, I just like to speak on behalf of our administration and our team, too. Uh, just a a genuine and sincere thank you for all that you've done for our district. Um, I think that is we all in our community, I feel, are very proud of the work that we've done the last couple of years. I hope that you see yourself reflected in all those accomplishments and that
progress and all the ways that behind the scenes and publicly you've been an integral part of all of that work. Um, a couple things that just stick out to us. One is the building project which Sean mentioned that will be your big, you know, legacy. The community has no idea behind the scenes how much time Carla
has put into this. I have spent uh many hours of meetings with Carla and I have only been at a fraction of what the ones that she's been a part of all the way through heated discussions around selecting you know OPMS to uh choosing furniture to looking at you know going to school tours looking at building
design I mean hundreds of hours in this process in addition to her time just her skill and her leadership in that process at a time when you know our team needed strong leadership on that was we could not be where we were without you. So this building as it goes up, I just
think the entire community needs to know how much your leadership made this possible. And I think for our team where you really helped us and where I thought you were uh your role I felt was you know felt most heavily on our team was during the most difficult challenging situations. So, one of the joys of our
role is we get problems that we have to tackle and I think the ones where Carla was involved, they usually had words before the problem like thorny, complex, charged, emotional, like those issues that come our way that are really, really, really hard. And I think that
you always handled those with incredible class, professionalism, skill, pushed us to help find common ground, pushed us to know where we have to hold a strong line, pushed us to know where we have to listen to different perspectives. Um, you were involved in so many of those
conversations and so many of those problems that help keep our district rowing in the right direction. And then the other thing I'd like to share is just the level of time that you've poured into this district. You've met with so many of our team for coffee. you've met, you know, I know they've said that our principles, uh, you've
talked to teachers, you've talked, you know, countless hours with me. You've just really poured your time in your care into this community and we are, uh, by far so much better as a result. So, just thank you for a sincere thank you for your leadership and I hope everyone in the community knows that you have been such a critical part of all of our
district's accomplishments and successes. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Please. Um, so like Sean said, I I feel a special like bond with all of us, both both that we started at the same time,
but also what the six of us at that time went through with the pandemic um and then replacing the superintendent and um I just felt like we were sort of in the trenches together and I will always appreciate
all of us that that navigated that together. Um, but I especially want to say that I appreciate and I'm grateful for the ways that you've challenged me and pushed me and um been able to engage in real honest conversation that was not
always easy at all. Um, but still, um, I always always knew that you were coming from a place of of deep caring about the kids and about the community. And I think that that was just a a good
centering for me when we didn't dis when we didn't agree on something, I still knew that that was your core, that your core was your passion for for the students and for the district. And um I think that there's an element to how
this committee has operated that people can't possibly appreciate but because they haven't been a part of some of these conversations but um I'm deeply grateful for what you brought um for what I know you're going to
continue to bring to the Kllum project um and for the ways that you helped me I think be better in this role. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> I don't just say anything. Um, you know, they they kind of said it all already, Carla, but and you know, you
know how important you have been uh across the time going back to uh somewhat hesitantly saying, "It's having a glass of wine on my couch and making Vincent get a run for school committee." Um, you know, we've been through,
for lack of better say, the fire, right? Um, and to Sean, I mean, to Sean and Aaron's point and Tom's point, you've been a huge part of redirecting this district. Um, and you will be missed, but you're
not going far. Um, you know, I think uh I think it's it's it's uh apppropo of Tom to bring up thorny, challenging, fiery, whatever issues because um you know, of all the
things I've done in this committee, I've generally avoided those and you've hit them head on. Um and that I think is uh kind of our our uh partnership to a degree, right? There's a lot of things I took care of and a lot of things that you took care of in a different way. was
kind of our our our our two different blessings as we work through this together um as members of this six member team. Um and I uh I am grateful for that too. Um and I will miss that the most of the next you know two years
of my time here. Um you know but the work that you've done um collaboratively I think uh you know Erin and I have have been through it as chair and vice chair. you and Sean have been through it as chair and vice chair. Uh, and I think that's part of what makes this committee work is the fact
that we can we can balance each other um, relatively good both publicly and privately, right? The private conversations one-on-one that people don't see that we have to have because we have to have them. Um, I think you've been front and center in a
lot of those. Um, and I don't want anybody to get anything confused. We're not talking about open law violations or anything else like that. We're just talking about like how do we work, right? Um and um you know, I think people don't won't and don't appreciate
it. Um but we do. Uh and yeah, thank you for the time, the six years. Now, it's going to be two more years on Kilum at least. Um because you're not done. Um but you know, thank you for the time here and and the partnership and collaboration.
>> Thank you. I haven't worked with you for nearly as long, but I do want to say thank you that you were one of the first people when I declared that I was running for school committee. You were one of the first people who reached out to me and said, "Let's sit down and have a cup of coffee." and um your insights into the
workings of the school committee and um just your perspective on on things related to district priorities and town school relationships and so forth were really uh insightful and helpful for me and that was before I even got onto the
committee. So, I appreciate your um your interest in in continuing to foster sort of people coming into this position and making sure that they're set up for success. >> Thank you, >> Sarah. I saw you come off mute.
>> Yeah, I just jump in echo all the things everybody's already said and kind of joking but not joking. I think I'm excited for somebody to come before the school committee in whatever form that is when I'm done and to nominate something to be named the Cara really comfortable chair or whatever it
is just leadership provided through this whole process. >> Thank you Sarah. >> Great. >> There will be a really comfortable chair for her at some point right coming. >> It's coming.
>> Shipping delay. >> I don't know how comfortable it is. To be honest, I don't look that comfortable >> question on it maybe, but >> I um thank you everybody. Um I I I felt like our last meeting in our executive
session, we kind of hit a different level. Um I don't I don't know if the energy was different. um as you're all talking I realize how much I um maybe um was hard on a lot of you
friends like a lot of you um and I appreciate the collaboration that we had um and I can even include Tom in that right I um I I I really appreciate the collaboration we had um our first year
was rough, like really rough. And and I I said to my husband, I'm like, we got to change because I can't do this for two more years. Like, you know, you you can't if if it's not working, you can't continue on like that. Like, you have to
to settle it. Um I feel like this committee has been a um a an example of how to collaborate. Um and and I think that our focus has always been on students and a lot of
people in education say that right they say it's about the students but their actions don't sometimes fit that. Um and I feel like our actions have fit that and I think that our actions with our whole district is completely focused on
students right now. Um I'm proud of the district. I've enjoyed working I I mean with everybody that I've worked with. Um it it's it's been fabulous. I I feel good that I'm stepping down like you know stepping down half step and still
staying with Kllum. Um because I feel like I'll still be kind of involved a little bit. So um I I have a Kllum update if you want it or not. >> We are technically in our reports section. So we're happy to take it. Go for it. I I I did I during the um
community meeting I said let me write a a quick few notes because I think you kind of forget. Um this morning I actually attended the um the um >> groundbreaking. Thank you. The groundbreaking for recalc um
>> Oh >> and it was very exciting and so it was nice to kind of see what happened and how exciting it's going to be for Kellum. Um it was really really special. Um I just came from the Abutters meeting where um we wanted to just give people
an idea that they're going to start seeing fences up and they're going to start seeing um things happen on the site. Um we have direct abutters that um are being impacted in different ways. So we had those conversations too. Um we are in the bidding process right now.
So, we are waiting for bids back from filed sub biders, which are um a bunch of identified subcontractors that when we get those bids in at the beginning of May, we will have an idea of how we're going to trend for our when
our GC's um when our general contractors submit their bids. So, that's exciting. And then May 19th is when we will get all of our bids in. Um, and within 3 days we'll be voting on a general contractor. So, at the end of May, we
won't start any visible things going on disruption-wise until school is out um this week. Um, furniture coordination. Um, we we had that meeting canceled today, but um just to to coordinate all
the finishing and colors and all that stuff. Um I attended a we are bringing on board a tax consultant to see what kind of grants we can get back from the um the inflation reduction act. So I attended a seminar today just to kind of
hear all the workings of that. Um the big the big beautiful bill has um changed things a little bit, but there are certain guidelines set for um rebates with our geothermal wells and our um solar. So we're we're we're going
through that. And that's this is Oh, and we had a um a site tour, a contractor site tour last week, too. That's basically all in a week. So um it's fun project. It's um it's it's really exciting and we have a really good team
working with us. So, it has really truly been a complete pleasure um working with all of you. Um I hope I didn't scar you too much. >> Um and and I know that good things will continue to happen.
>> Well, thank you for everything. We will not make you come back to claim your chair. I can volunteer to deliver it. Yeah, we'll bring it We'll bring it to the house. >> Feels so far away, though. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Awesome. Thank you, Carl. >> Great. Thank you. >> Can we take a picture? >> Let's do it. Yeah.
>> Yeah, I know. Everybody ready? >> Thank you. >> Well, I It's not hard to feel tall next to me. I don't wear heels. >> My 14-year-old now has at least two inches on me, and I'm like, it's really
not that big of an accomplishment. >> All right, now we are going to move on to our next agenda item. Um, who am I handing it off to? Dr. Sty, who who's teeing us up here? >> Dr. Sty. >> Dr. Sty, take us away. >> Okay. Is someone have access to the
PowerPoint? pulling them up as we speak here. >> Great. >> Say just pull up more chairs. Yeah. >> I kind of want to do jazz hands, but I'll say >> just a sec. >> Should I move over? >> Might be e even easier. >> Come on over. Take get your
>> Yeah. >> Peg and then we can scoot around. You don't have to move. >> Give you a little more space. Elbow room. >> Thank you, Jeffrey.
>> That is that is not showing what I wanted to show. Hold on. >> While while we are pulling it up, I can just do a little brief introduction if that's helpful, >> please. >> Okay, perfect. Uh we are going to give you a brief summary of our executive
functioning review. Um the full report was posted in the school committee packet. Also it will be um posted on our website, the student services website. Uh we started this last year. continued into this year and we chose it because
one it was recommended in other reviews we've done and also we heard from staff that it was a major concern for them. So we really wanted to invest some time and be thoughtful. So tonight what you're going to hear is a very brief summary of
the report itself um and then the results and next steps and what we have done. So, next slide. Um, we have a quite a few members of our team here tonight. They are incredibly talented and I just
have to say I'm so honored and grateful to work with such an amazing and talented staff. Um, as they present tonight, they will um introduce themselves before they speak, but there are three members of the committee that
aren't here that I just wanted to recognize. Alana Shonne, our preschool coordinator, because we really truly did a prek to 12 um deep dive into our executive functioning and um Heather Valentine and Dr. Ramsay uh Merritt who
helped really do a lot of our um observations with uh Danielle Bettton Court who's here. So it was nice to have outside people from Harvard help us do that work. So, next slide. This is a
super complex process and um Sarah was fabulous and came up with our scaffolded tree to make sure that everybody understood we're really working to do this. Um, next slide. And just to remind
everybody that this is a a legal mandate um from fa um state and federal law that we review a program or our instructional practices every year and we have taken that very seriously. We um are really
transparent with the findings of the reports and then keep working on any of the recommendations. um and we want to continue to do that. I did want to let you know that um because this was technically last year's report,
we are working on this year's and uh we are looking at our reading practices. Um Tom, Sarah and I are actually taking a class that's a full- year class on leading strategically and we are anchoring all the work in our reading
practices from um our screeners all the way through students receiving specially designed instruction. And it's going to be a multi-year review so we can present what we've gotten so far. And then next year we're going to continue to do a
little bit more because reading is very intensive. So, that's a just a look coming soon. Um, I think I'll jump in here. My name's Ally Sarno. I'm a school psychologist and I work mostly here at the high school, but I've had the privilege of supporting this year across some
different levels, including being part of the lift program, excuse me, and also supporting at Kllum. So, I was at Kllum today. Um, and I just it's such a nice way to be able to see how these skills really do develop across different ages. So, one of the pieces that we wanted to
introduce is sort of the language that we're thinking about when we think about executive functioning. Um, part of what's interesting and and I think really valuable about this work is that there's not the same level of agreement among professionals and researchers and
educators um with executive functioning as there is with like reading for example which is very well defined and researched and there's state standards and there's really rigorous understanding of sort of at what developmental stage to expect certain skills to emerge and executive
functioning is well defined in the research but It's really an area where there's a lot of misinformation. I think there's a lot of trendy information. I think there's a lot of um sort of like I don't want to say memes, but I think just sort of like conversation about how
this shows up and some of that is great information and some of it is flawed. And so I think you know we've chosen these different areas of executive functioning. these are the places that it shows up really consistently um in some of the measures that we use when we come from that school psychology lens.
Um but also, you know, we just felt like again this topic really is meaningful across all of those ages from the very youngest all the way. Um it develops until your mid30s. And so it's it's really a powerful area to look into. um
if you can go to the next slide. Um some of the sort of framing and I think we heard about it frankly it was kind of nice to follow the youth survey data because I think it really shows how much childhood has changed and so um even from our own recollections of childhood
but also those who have older children who are high school aged. The students that are coming in really have um lost a lot of that play and really have gained a lot more tech. And so that's shifted attention and it's also um overall and and it was really nice to see some of
our data was showing a decrease in some of those mental health pieces but in general there's been um you know noted increase in some of those mental health stressors and so that's part of our framing as well um in choosing this topic. Excellent. Next slide please.
Um, we're going to review the components of of what we did on the next slide where you can see we talked to staff, we talked to families, we reviewed our documents including IEPs and we did a lot of classroom observations. So, it
was really rigorous looking at it through multi- lens. And one of the things we wanted to highlight for you is that um we also vetted this with our district leadership team. They read through the report. They gave us feedback. We talked about what we were missing and what we need to add. And we
also did it with the school psychologist and the team chair. So this has really been a holistic approach from the whole district. Next slide is just saying we're going to go through the results now and we have another speaker.
>> Hi there. I'm Danielle Bettton Court. I'm doctoral uh student and a guest superintendent fellow here. I am really I feel really grateful to be able to work and learn from such a a gifted, intelligent, creative team. So, I just wanted to say thank you for that. Um
here you'll see and the full the full results of the teacher survey are in the report. Um we just wanted to highlight some noteworthy um findings. 96% of teachers um rated um executive functioning skills of students as a consistent challenge, which is something
to to to to be aware of. 70% of respondents reported that over half of students in classrooms exhibit difficulty in EF skills. Next um and this slide it quickly this graph kind shows all the elements and teacher
ratings for um how students are demonstrating EF skills and it does reveal that globally a minority of students are regularly successful at each of the elements. Um and in particular attentional control seems to be the most challenging um with teachers
indicating that only 4% of their students regularly are successful applying this skill. Next slide. And so um he uh the the next two slides are show some of the findings uh that we observed during our the 45 classroom observations that Heather
Valentine and I uh conducted in the spring and the fall. Um really there was a lot a wide variation explicitly um in taught skills observed uh with visual supports and transition routines most regularly demonstrated in the early
years and the lower grades. Um the next slide really this is just an overview to show that there are opportunities for us to find um positive and um leverage these effective practices across all grade levels.
Hi everyone. I'm Steph Liss. I'm the special ed department head at the high school. I'll just talk a little bit about the next slide. The report identified several bright spots. Um at the secondary level, we wanted to kind of highlight the effort of the special ed staff to build students executive functioning skills through the smarts
curriculum. Um and really just help them build robust uh skills. Next slide. Sorry. >> Hi, I'm Alison Ray. I'm the director of special education. Um, so we wanted to next talk about a couple of the components of things that we reviewed um
as part of this part of this process. Um the first thing on this slide is we looked at the our students that are on IEPs and where how often um executive functioning skills are being included in as specific goal areas in IEPs. So as
you will see almost half of our students on IEPs have an executive functioning goal or a goal that is addressing ex executive functioning skills. And that really brings us to question whether this is really a disability related need or is it more of an instructional level
instructional need. Um you can go on to the next slide. Um and then another component is we really wanted to get a caregiver perspective on executive functioning. And I think one of the um biggest components that came up from this is
really a varying level of understanding from our caregivers what executive functioning is and how that impacts their students. Um a couple areas that they're interested in learning more about is really about attention and net technology and that screen time that
we've talked a lot about um as well as other tools um that they could be using to support their students. and then highlighting that that need for consistency across all of our schools when we're addressing these skills. >> So, if you go to the next slide, you'll
see kind of a summary of our um our work and we really want to be very clear about what we're doing. We are working very hard um to establish a framework of what are the standards for each grade level that we should see with students.
And as Ally was saying, it's not there isn't something that exists out there and if it does, there are tend to be some flaws in it. So, we're really making sure we're vetting all of the appropriate resources and coming up with something that's going to help all of
our administrators and staff and families know what skills are appropriate for students. Um, we also really want to align our systems. We talk a lot about uh the decap. Joshua Eaton has actually taken all of the
decap and sorted all the executive functioning skills and accommodations um to show how aligned some of our processes already are, but where it affects classroom um implementation. And then we really
want to monitor what we're doing and standardize our classroom observation tools so that we can go in and see is it working, is it not working, what do we need to tweak, and how are we building our students capacity? Because as Ally said, these are developing skills until
your 30s. Um, my 20somes love to tell me that when they're in trouble, but um that it it really is something we need to directly teach and it needs to be directly taught um in the general
education setting. And then for students where it is disability related, we need to do some very targeted and direct instruction. And that's one of the things that Steph mentioned that the high school having the smarts curriculum and doing that has really proven um
something very effective for our students. So on the next slide you'll see the two places that we are really focusing based on our results is um looking at our general ed expansion and
making sure that we have that tier one access to executive functioning and social emotional learning across all of our grade levels and that we're really deploying job embedded learning tailored
to each appropriate grade level as Well, and then for special education, um, we really want to monitor our goals and objectives. And as Allison mentioned, really making sure that if we're writing it in an IEP, it is because it is
disability related, not a curriculum misstep that the students weren't taught it. And we we're going to work on that because they go hand in hand. Um, and general ed and special ed have been working very very closely on this. Um on
the next slide you'll see that one of the things we're very committed to is working with our families and our in the community. Um so we continue to work with the CPAC who helps us to sponsor people like Lin Lions and Sarah Ward and
who give us strategies and how to um implement that. One of the things we're very proud of in Reading is our relationships with our local preschools and to align strategies. And so we are always inviting them to all of our
trainings that we do because we know these students are going to be our kindergarten students and we need to start building that capacity from the beginning. Um, and really we're trying very hard to make this a community-based ecosystem where families are able to get
together and have these conversations and figure out how do we support our students going forward just because the social landscape has changed so much as we heard um in the earlier report. So next slide you'll just see that um as
Ally said there's a big industry gap here and for us it's really important. We've identified it and we've been working on it which I'm really proud of. Um, not only do we have a very talented team, we also have a very for um, forwardthinking team that knew this was
going to be an issue and have been working on it diligently that a lot of communities are now coming to us to understand what we're doing around this. Um, and really where we expect to get to as we do this work over the next couple of years is that all students are going
to get what they need and we are going to make sure that happens and that we are really making sure that all of our students are well functioning adults when they leave us. Um, so where we wanted to take the next um, bit of our
report is really sharing with you some of the things that we've done this year because not only do we do the review, we've also done a lot of work with our staff and our families. So that is the next section of our report. If you look
at the next slide, thank you. >> Someone's excited up there. I'm Jackie Flucy. um inclusion specialist. I do think I was strategically put last because I could talk for a really long time about executive functioning, but I won't. Um I spend a lot of my day doing
this work as someone that gets to work in classrooms with teachers and kids. So really the work that we've done this year, we kind of um you can think about in three buckets really developing educator capacity, so increasing the skills of our teachers, um direct student work around their skills and
executive functioning, and then community- based work. Um, so I'll take us through a few of the items um that we've worked on in each bucket and feel free to ask questions if you want to talk more. Um, next slide. So if we think about our teachers, um, it was already mentioned, but one of the
things that I started running last summer were book clubs on anxious generation. So, um, that's just kind of one voice out there, but I think it's really important, Ally talked a little bit about it, to understand why we're seeing a shift in the executive functioning skill level of our students. Um, there are many factors. Um, some
Erica talked about, some Ally talked about. Um, this was just one that I picked up myself, started reading, some other teachers wanted to start with me. Um, so as they share, we've had over a hundred educators join that book club. We did have Stonem join in our last round, which is really exciting. Um and
teachers in the last round asked if we could do another book um to explore other factors. Um it's been really helpful for them I think to understand that why. Um we also do an in-house PDP course that I co-e with one of the other inclusion specialists around executive
functioning skills called strategies for student success. Um and then recently um I participated in a training with Aspire through MGH. Um, and it was like as someone who does the work every day, I was learning so much and it was so amazing and really tangible. Um, I
brought it back to our special ed leadership team. Um, and I saw so many people who do the work with me having light bulb moments. So, we actually had them last Friday come and work with our entire middle school special ed team and they're coming again for a full day in May 19 May May 19th. Um, they'll be in
the district all day. So, um, partnering with them to do some some work around that, too. Um, keep going. Sorry, same slide twice. So, for students, um, one of the things we did this year, I facilitate our tier one team at the elementary level, which
is like a multi-disiplinary team that that implements our curriculum. Um, we created a brand new executive functioning unit. So, we switched a little bit from um like social and emotional skills to to explicit executive functioning instruction. um really around initiation and persistence
which are the two kind of core skills we have to get down first to be a learner. Um and we talk a lot about the learning space um and we adapted the Lin Lions approach that we use a lot um as well as some of the Jess Mahan work that we um received earlier this year through an REF grant um right into the student
learning. So those actually just started this April. Um I just got a text uh Wednesday morning. Barrows was doing it about how great it went. So, we're excited to see kind of how students take those and run with them. Um, and then the other thing that we are piloting right now is Playful Learning Studios,
which is um a strategy from Desi's Playful Learning Institute. I was up in Beverly um and got to see it. I was there for something else, but got to see it. And I was on the phone with Aaron Burchill before I even got to my car. Um and I was like, can we do this? Let's do it. Um and so at the culmination of an
ARC unit, um now we spend a few uh days or a few blocks of literacy. Um it looks a lot like project-based learning but a little bit more playful. Um we talk to the students really about the difference between free play and playful learning. Um and it gives students ability to kind
of demonstrate their knowledge in a different way that's not traditional reading or writing. Um we just finished up our first pilot in Josh Weaten first grade. We have another one at Kllum third and Josh Weaten kindergarten coming up. Um and it was really exciting. Students were really into it. Um those are some of their actual things
that they made. They were making diaramas. um which I haven't seen in a really long time, but they were so into it. Um and it was really cool to see see them um engaging in some of those early EF skills like planning and like oh this person's head is too big. We have to do
it's you know the little kid work. Next slide. Um and then lastly community. So, one thing to just kind of highlight, um, we are partnering with the coalition, uh, the rec department and the public library this summer to do a let grow
challenge. So, let Grow is a nonprofit organization that was, uh, co-founded by the author of the anxious generation along with a few other people. Um, one local to Boston, um, Newburyport did this last summer and so Alyssa Gigo, principal of Barrows, had sent it to me
and I was like, let's do it. So, um, we've been meeting with the coalition, meeting with the recck department. Um, it'll work very similar to summer reading. Um, but instead of reading, we're going to really encourage kids to get out into the community, do independent tasks, learn new skills, um,
without adult direction. Um, and so it does really involve everyone. Our community service officers are getting briefed by Erica to know that kids are going to be out in the community. They'll have licenses to be independent. Um, it's all age appropriate. It's like we're not sending any four-year-olds into the store, but um the the
four-year-olds and 5-year-olds have lists like make your own snack. Um and then as it gets up, there's more independence involved. Um the coalition and the recck department, the library, um and the fire department, kids can turn it in everywhere around town. So, we're trying to get more kids into our community buildings. They can get
prizes. Um and they also are going to get entered in to win raffles at the end of the year, too, end of the summer. >> Um so, we're really excited that will launch like early May, we'll start publicizing that. Um, and then in June we'll really do like our final push. Um, and then all summer hopefully.
>> So with that, if you have any questions and again I just like to highlight what an amazing staff we have that they are able to one be here uh and leave their little children and to come tonight which we really appreciate. but also you can see the depth of their passion and
their knowledge um about this topic and it really is proving so beneficial for our students and families. >> I'll start um the the slide about bright spots uh highlighted Koolage advisory
Koolage's advisory approach um that had you know six weeks I think of focus on executive functioning. Um, one question is, you know, do we have any data yet that that's working? Are we seeing, you know, sort of an increase in teacher reported sort of success in those skills? And then two, um, if it's
working, what are we thinking about in terms of extending that to Parker? Um, anybody can jump in. >> Go ahead, Jackie. >> Um, I've been meeting I I'm not, this is my third year in this role, but my first year really starting to be able to be at the middle school a little bit more
because of my two counterparts. And so, um, I've been meeting with Koolage's leadership team, which is leading some of that work, and they are like phenomenal. I don't I don't have an answer for you about the data. I haven't, um, Sarah would probably know. I just don't know off the top of my head. I can tell you anecdotically, um,
they're really have been able to target, um, skills that they see that have developed and skills that still aren't developing. And then we're able to to dive into why. So, we're using some of that um tier one instruction that we've created at the elementary level and adapting it for the middle school for urgent things that we feel like we don't
want to wait until next year. So, we've piloted lessons on attention and focus already in the last like two to three months in sixth and seventh grade. Um I did have a seventh grade teacher um tell me after she was like, "It was amazing. I didn't think it was going to work and it worked." um and really highlight how
it worked not only for the students but for herself as a teacher and and the way that we instruct has to be a little bit different around attention span and how she um found it easier on herself too. So, we are doing some of that work like live time and then we do have plans um
the Monday after break. I am I have teams from both middle schools that are coming to meet with me and the elementary school teams um to kind of make an action plan for next year for their work um because we do know there are two different advisory structures and and we got to decide where we want to align and on what.
>> Great. Thank you. >> I don't have a question so much, but I just want to say I'm really excited about this work. Um, I think that these skills are so foundational to success across academic disciplines. And so it's it's, you know, the work that that we do in terms of thinking about math
curricula and thinking about science curricula and thinking about reading curricula. Um, you know, this is underpinning everything. And so I'm really excited to hear that we are ahead of the curve in thinking proactively about how to boost these skills given
the data that we have about the lag in in the current generations. Um so I just want to um give plaudits to to the proactive nature of this effort. Um and I think it it has potential to yield
some really really valuable results. Thank you. Okay, Jeffrey, >> as I read through the um the material that was in the packet, I was a little bit struck by I don't know there was data in there, but it wasn't hard data and it was hard to compare that. There
wasn't any comparison given, you know, how are we doing relative to our pure communities, right? Is is this something that we're, you know, we're ahead of the curve on some things. um how far ahead of the curve you know are or you know we're we're ahead of thinking in thinking about it but we're not actually
ahead in bringing our students up to speed on that and you know that some of the students struggle with this well is that typical for them and are we trying to get I mean obviously there's work to be done and it's it's foundational uh but you know where are we and and how do we assess the urgency um in terms of you
know if we need to send some more funding that way um I I don't know if you can speak to some of that >> I I think That's a great question. I The problem is there isn't comparison data out there. Other districts aren't doing
this work right now. And we've been leading with having our inclusion specialists knowing that we were going to see this. Um we've gotten a lot of districts reaching out to us saying, "How how are you guys keeping this together?" Because all we're seeing are
the behaviors and the requests for out of district placements. Um, so we are hoping now that we have data sets, we'll be able to compare ourselves to where we are, to where we're going, but also as other communities start to do this work,
we'll be able to look at at the trends. I do think one of the things our team identified just in terms of the research when you look at nationally what is happening our students are where other students are nationally spending more
time on screens less time playing having difficulty with traditional school structures around sitting in their seats all of that is is very um equitable reading versus the nation We just don't
have the comparison data to local districts at this point, but we'll keep looking for it and let you know. >> There's a comment on that too. I think that when can you go back to the slide that put in some of like the various components of, you know, that the de you
make up executive functioning too and I think Ally spoke to this too. I think it's really hard to say even if we wanted to have comparisons across other districts. Are we going off of teacher perception? Are we going off of student student self-reporting? Are we going off of is there certain outcomes we can
agree that we should be seeing? Are we going off of parent perception? I think it would be really hard to find a sort of a a consistent set of quantifiable metrics that we can all a agree upon. So I think I agree with you that we want to try to be able to calibrate some of that work. I just don't think there's an easy
way to say like how are we going to compare emotional control in reading to Stonem to Wakefield to nationally. I just think that's going to be a lot more difficult than you know what percentage of our students are reading on grade level in math. I mean on reading
>> they're doing great reading on grade level. >> I think that that's I mean I think that's a really good point to to raise. I just think that it's it's really it's really tricky. And I also want to uh highlight and I think Alli's been so instrumental in making sure everybody understands people often think of
executive functioning is like the backpack's a mess, the desk is a mess, but there's so many other pieces as Tom just mentioned around emotional control and being able to be um flexible that are much harder to observe and quantify.
And it's been really eye opening for our staff to think, oh, it's not just that their papers are everywhere. There's so many different components to it. >> Go ahead, >> there's so many things spinning around in my head right now, so I'm not sure if
I can get this out right. And Steph probably knows a little bit of where I'm going because so does Ally, probably. Um, >> first of all, I want to say I I I love the fact that we're pushing this back to tier one. >> Yeah. >> Right. Um,
we need more and I I and obvious the obvious part of that that many people don't realize or call out is the relationship and partnership between special education and regular education, right? So, you know, that partnership is demonstrated day by day, uh, by the two of you over there in the corner, but
even more so, you know, by the greater staff as we look at this. You know, some of the numbers there about some of the staff not even having training in this space. That's a that's a like red flag like, okay, let's let's make sure that the staff know what they need to do.
>> Um, and you know, Jackie, the work you're doing getting into classes and helping and to do that is is is phenomenal. Um, so there's a lot here that I'm a a big big fan of. Big fan. Um, but I wonder
about in some of the IEP numbers, how if we were to say, okay, 49% of the IPS have EF related things in them. Is that because the EF is a support on the real disability or is that because the EF is representing as the disability?
Um I don't know if I'm asking that question the right way. >> Yeah. >> Um you know I know my particular situation had pretty significant EF related items on on that on that particular case but it wasn't his disability. It was just how it
demonstrated in some ways. So did when we looked at those numbers did we did we say okay this is supporting the disability so they can get make the progress or did we say oh well this means we have a tier one problem. So it
seems like we said the latter and I think there could be an interpretation that yes there is a tier one problem but I also have a belief that there is distinct needs of EF to support other real like not I don't want to say real disabilities that sounds wrong but
measured disabilities that you can measure on on on other means. Right. Right. >> So is I mean it's a kind of a weird question but and >> I think I understand what you're asking about and I think both things are true >> for for many students who we work with
who have IEPs. First of all, executive functioning is not a disability category. It's not a disability, but it's a hallmark of many students who have learning disabilities. It can be associated with specific learning disabilities in reading or math. It can
be associated with anxiety and depression that could fall under an emotional impairment. It can be a part of ADHD, which would be possibly a health impairment. So, there's a lot of students with IEPs for whom executive functioning impairments show up and we
can measure and we have rating skills and that's where some of these terms come from. And I think school psychologists are a little protective over um understanding that it is individualized and that an individual person's trajectory of earning the
competencies in these skills can deviate from their peers in a meaningful way that needs individual support. And so that's where on a team that's talking about a plan, you often see executive functioning that's in the conversation rightfully so. But when we see that so
many teachers are seeing the need in their classrooms and it shows up academically, it shows up socially, it shows up at home and we're hearing about situations at home and in the community and um when it's so pervasive across domains, then we have to do better tier
one. It doesn't mean we will not address tier three. But I think that's where this work is really powerful and interesting and we're protective over sort of each individual students right to have that conversation be
personalized, but at the same time we need to do a better job for everybody. And so teacher training and work to standardize some of the pieces that are well researched that are meaningful, having agendas posted, um having routines that are reinforced. Like these
are things that I know are really working well across the district and there is a lot of evidence to support that that's meaningful and that's where some of that tier one work needs to continue. >> Yeah, I think it's I think it's phenomenal that we're going to make progress in the tier one space, right? I
think it's going to be it's going to help raise the raise the bar for all of our kids, you know, appro across the board and I'm a big fan of what we're trying to get done here. You say we we uh when we get to our 30s, we we we study. I could probably use some help.
>> It's too late now, Tom. >> You think you are now? >> I'm not an old dog yet. I could I could learn new tricks. Um so, I mean, I think there there's a lot here. Um, I also want to, you know, applaud the um let grow um idea um out there. And I I think
what we need to figure out is and I and I know you said you're going to put things out in May and then push hard in June. Like >> we really need to like >> like community surge that, right? Not just RPS. Like the library already has things that people have around town that
is like come visit my home. We should have people with let go signs across the dis across the district as well, right? We need to do some something else that is even more like in your face. Like what is that let go thing, right? It it needs a lot more proactive marketing
because this this sort of independent stuff is exactly what many of our kids need to do to get out of the house, to get out of the basement, to get >> away from the video screen, you know, >> apparently away from Snapchat pretty right. Um, so I think you know the more
we can do to really progressive like proactively and um aggressively market let grow don't don't just leave it in principal newsletters I guess is what I'm saying the administration right >> I'm sure you have some plans already there >> we do it's um it's a one of the things
the children's cabinet is working on and so if there are people out there that have a special interest in either making yard signs which we've never talked about which is a wonderful idea. Andor we need some um parents to help us find
some raffle items. We have some businesses that may be willing to donate, but we need some help calling to get that. Um we'd love for people to reach out to us and and join the committee and help support the work because it is really essential.
>> Yeah, the RPL is doing that that other thing. So maybe they there's something there they can we can figure out funding if funding is an issue but those signs are55 $10 a thing and people can come pick them up or even pay for them themselves or whatever. Um and that you
know well if there's a copyrighted let grow thing or whatever we can get permission to put on the side or whatever for readings let grow or something like that that would probably be like just pop up everywhere. >> Yeah, it's me. It's I'm the school rep for that. Um so you can we can talk about it. Um the we do partner with
LCRO. I meet with them for our district. So we have access to all of their um like materials that we can use publicly. They know that we're a part of it. Um like we're listed as one of their districts because we do use their sources. Um and the library is doing their passport program to upstairs um
and downstairs. We are this program is being run out of the main floor, not the children's floor. So it's really like family oriented for the library side. Um, but like I said, the coalition and the recck department are actually funding a lot of it. Um, so I'm sure they'll be happy to help.
>> Yeah, it's very very exciting. >> Yeah, I I'm support everything Tom just said. I just also just generally the theme about sort of caregiver and family engagement and support in this. You I mean you all know this, but parents need help with this. I mean the the um the the cell phone thing, like I'll share my
experience. My oldest just turned 13. Um my wife and I were adamant we were going to wait till 8th grade and we folded and and got our phone just here at the end of seventh, you know, towards the end of seventh grade. So we did better than almost everybody else, but still still didn't make it to eighth grade. And it, you know, it be it became this thing
where she was like literally the last kid we knew of that didn't have a phone and, you know, she was like the the social isolation of being an iPad kid was, you know, felt worse to us than the risk of her getting a phone, you know, a little bit earlier than we wanted to. So, um, collectively we need help with
this. Um, and you know, it's not your job to do that, but it just, you know, >> I do think though, Jackie, do you want to give >> Right. I live here. I have a student. I have a son at Rise. I have a son at Joshua in um, we play outside a lot. So, like I live here and I work here. So, like I'm I'm in it from all lenses. I I
wear the hat. Um, kind of in the trenches with everyone. And so, I do feel like super passionate about it. Um, we were at the parent book club for Anxious Generation. Just able to make some really nice connections for there was a fifth grade mom from Barrows who doesn't want to get her daughter a phone, but she's feeling like she's kind of on an island. Um, she didn't really
know anyone else that wasn't and she was able to connect with two seventh grade moms at Parker who have not done it. Um, they were able to meet each other, exchange contact information, and kind of just like grow bigger cohorts that can do that. So, um I I don't know what you were going to say about me, but yeah, we're we're working really hard on
it from and I I can kind of play both lenses a little bit and try to get in there. But >> I was just going to say tell the story of the parents that are connecting because I do think it's little pockets of what we're hearing is families saying and when we did our listening sessions,
it's super important when their kids come home and say, "Everybody has one." and you're able to say, "Actually, these five kids don't. Why don't we call them and you can have a phone free play date?" Um, and a lot of families said
that to us like they need to be connected to other families so they can combat that everybody does this thing. Um, and so we're we'll continue to do those that work. >> We just got done talking about perception bias in other places.
>> Yeah. We we we pulled a lot of parents to try to find anybody who didn't and every every time she told us this person just got one, we we validated that. So it was it was really hard to find anybody um that we knew at Coolage who
hadn't gotten their kid a phone at this point. So >> I know. And once you get your older one, Sean, the younger one is going to want it sooner. >> My I will say my middle one is sort of like I don't like the way she is with her phone. I don't want one. So, you know, >> he's >> my younger one is the same. And I'm like, you're going to be such a
hypocrite in a couple years. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So, anyway, >> anything else on this topic? >> Awesome. Thank you all so much. It's such important work. Really appreciate it. >> All right.
Find my window and figure out what we're supposed to be doing next here. Last day of school. >> Last day of school. Uh that's right. Um so our last day of school, which was scheduled optimistically to be June
15th. Um we added four snow days. Um so June 22nd is where that leaves us. So it's pretty much the most unfortunate possible calendaring situation where our last day of school will be uh two and a half hours or so on a Monday after a three-day holiday weekend. Um >> nobody will show up.
>> But but such Such is the uh price of meeting 180 days compliance. Um sorry. So we tried our best. >> No, there's not. Yes. >> I >> Is it a days or is it an hours? Can we squeeze into days?
>> Part of me wonders if we if we pulled the community on whether they'd rather have a Saturday at some point, like if they might prefer it. But >> that ship is probably sailed at this point. So >> it's going to teach them on a Saturday. >> Well, there's the other half. We could we could probably find a way to work that out with the arts meets.
>> Nobody shows up on a Saturday no matter what. >> Yeah, that's fair. Um any uh so we'll take a motion. Well, let's take a motion first. Um anybody can feel free to make one. >> Motion to amend the 202526
calendar to reflect June 22nd as the last day of school. >> That sounds good to me. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Uh I will give that to Jeffrey. >> Give it to Jeffrey. >> Yeah, there you I think that's probably your first time on the board. So, congratulations. >> Um, can I be picky? We're not amending
the calendar. We're approving June 22nd as the last day of school. >> Erin, would you accept that as a friendly amendment? >> I'm not going to fight him over that. >> Excellent. Um, all right. Any further discussion on the last day of school moving to June 22nd or being approved as
June 22nd? >> Okay, we'll move to the vote. Uh, roll call. Sarah, >> yes. >> Laura, >> yes. Tom, >> yes. >> Aaron, >> yes. >> Jeffrey, >> yes. >> And Sean, yes. Okay. Uh, next item up for business or for business here is um
appointing a vice chair to uh get us to our reorg in June. Um, so what I'll do here is open the floor for any nominations and um we'll go from there. So anybody is welcome to self-nominate.
Don't expect this to be a heavy burden. It's, you know, unless I get hit by a bus or something. >> Ouch. >> I I whatever. Unless I win the lottery and move move to Europe. I don't know. Whatever. If I win the lottery, I'm just buying
three of my neighbors houses and building a compound. So, I'll still be here. Or I can just nominate somebody on my own. How about that? I mean, I would do it if you need someone. I like I don't know if someone wants >> Since you're all falling all over
yourselves, I'll nominate Aaron as vice chair. >> Second. >> Second from Jeffrey. Any other nominations? >> I'm going to nominate somebody different. Whether they accept it or not is is in, you know, it's up to them. But I I just think it's it's in our best
interest to develop depth of people who've done it, right? Um, so I'm going to nominate Lara um as as vice chair. Um, so we just have so we build up other people that have been in the process of being chair and vice chair.
>> There's if any if if if will >> I will I will accept. >> Good. >> So Laura, why don't you second that nomination then? >> Second my own nomination. You go. Yeah. All right. Sure. I second my own nomination. >> Is there any additional nominations?
Okay. Either of you want to uh have anything you want to say before I start going to going to a vote? >> Can I back out? >> You don't need to formally back out, but we'll just take votes for Laura first. How about that? >> Okay. >> All right. So, let's let's move to the vote. Um
>> alphabetical by last name. >> There you go. Alphabetical by last name. U we'll move to the vote Laura uh to appoint Laura as vice chair until our next reorg. Um Sarah. Yeah. >> Laura, >> yes. >> Tom, >> yes. >> Aaron, >> yes. >> Jeffrey, >> yes.
>> Sean, yes. All right, that was dramafree. Um, so that carries six to zero. We will not uh take a vote on Aaron. Um, all right. Last order of business here is the um is a discussion on policy G something D.
GBD. Is it GBD? Who's got it in front of them? Okay, GBD. Um, so, uh, Jeffrey raised this one, I think probably a couple weeks before you, you know, before you were elected. Um, there's a policy which essentially is intended to ensure that,
>> at least as I read it, is essentially intended to ensure that, um, we don't sort of show up unannounced and do inspections of the schools and we, you know, kind of collaborate and coordinate with, uh, with the superintendent um, um, any visits that we might do in sort of an official capacity. that
policy does include um sort of an exception for anything we might do in our in our role as as parents, you know, you know, or caregivers for students in the district. You're certainly not um restricted or limited in your ability to go into the school and be involved in the way any other parent would. Um Dr.
Corm Jeffrey Jeffrey has um Jeffrey has a you know a a case where you know he's not doesn't have kids uh kids currently in the district but is serving in probably multiple volunteer capacities at this point. Um and um probably it's worth some clarification about you know
how we expect that policy to apply to those activities. Um I think you know and I I can pull the policy up unless Tom you've got it in front of you already. >> It's just not super I'll increase the size and then share in a second. >> Yeah. Tom Tom will share um the policy here. Um
you know I think there's probably a relatively straightforward amendment there. You know what I really wanted to do tonight is just sort of take the pulse of the committee on being supportive of um you know coming back with some language at our next meeting and and and we'll signal a one meeting vote on this one. I don't think it requires unless other fields feel
differently. I don't think it requires a full policy subcommittee um discussion and debate. But we can um share what the current policy is and then you know take the pulse of the committee and signal that we'll at our at one of our upcoming meetings um potentially revisit this one and do aeric amendment. All right. And
so Tom, if you just scroll just that visits to schools section, if you could just zoom in on that part as much as possible. Uh where it says, "Note, nothing in the above policy is meant to limit uh or replace a member's access to school to which his or her children
attends. In such case, the member shall enjoy all the rights and privileges as a parent of a child who attends the school." Um I go ahead. That's the gray, right? Stephrey doesn't have a child. That's the gray. So, >> should be able to volunteer. >> Yeah. So, the thinking would be we amend
that to include um some language around, you know, um also extends to the rights to volunteer in the same capacity as any community member would something, you know, something to that effect. So, we can we can work on some language, you know, before our next meeting. But um
you know again just wanted to take the committee's pulse on whether anybody sees anybody has any initial reaction to that kind of amendment number one um and number two whether anybody sees it as sort of significant enough that we would want to refer it to the policy subcommittee versus a you know one meeting review.
>> So I was talking to Dr. M about this this morning um and I thought this was coming up in a completely different reason before it was added to the packet. Um, so I'm going to ask that we do put it to the policy subcommittee because I think there is some more
substantial Yeah, we have to have a meeting. There's some more substantial changes and I think in the meantime we can say, yeah, Jeffrey, I don't think any of us have an objection with your particular use case, right? Um, but I think what I was thinking about when I when this came up and I saw it come up was the
>> comment >> the comments that were made during our interview process. And even though Dr. Turner has said he doesn't want to change certain things. I think there's still a tone and tenor of of following our own policies that we should do >> um to to meet the actual practice that we're doing. So update the policy to to
adjust the practice. And it's a it's probably a significantly different change. Um some superintendents, including our previous superintendent, use this very much as a gatekeeping policy. >> Right. Um very aggressively as a gatekeeping policy. Um, and I don't
think any of us want that tone to carry forward. Um, and in fact, some of the staff have told me they don't want that tone to carry forward. So, I think what my intent or my suggestion here is to say that the the other five of us and the administration are comfortable with Jeffrey's particular use case and we
then come back and look at this and say, how do we match GBD to re to meet Reading's practice of what we're doing u in the right tenor and tone of of how we do it. Yeah, I I would I would definitely agree that what you're referring to is a policy subcom discussion. That's a very
substantive change is will require some real thought versus drafting on the floor here. So, um or drafting editing on the floor here. So, I I agree with that. Um I don't know is everybody comfortable that we hold the sort of visits to schools language and you know
just sort of have a verbal understanding amongst us and Dr. Milichesky that we're not concerned with any of your, you know, your volunteer activities. Is everyone good with that for now? >> I think the superintendent deserves the right to administer lunch and recess duty if there's inspection. So, if you come for an inspection, welcome aboard.
You can come to lunch and recess duty. So, make that known for the community. But no, I think >> I've done lunch duty. You would do it. >> You would do you would do it. So, no, but no, I think we're we're very comfortable with with Jeffrey's volunteerism in the schools and and are fully supportive of that and appreciate that. >> Yeah.
Okay. >> Yep. >> So, we'll do that. Then we'll refer that to policy subcommittee. >> I have nine others we need to talk about. So, you might need to get get to work. >> Tell me when you may have just we may have just found your liaison assignment. >> I'm certainly interested in seeing where
this policy goes. Let me know when this meeting is. So, >> it'll be publicly posted as any and all. >> Jeffrey did come to the 7 a.m. Paul. >> There's only two of us right now, Jeffrey. So, >> all right. >> Yeah, you were there. >> All right. So that resolves that for this evening. I believe that was our
last order of business. >> Um motion to journ in there. Second. >> Seconded by Aaron. Uh roll call. Sarah. >> Yes. >> Laura, >> yes. >> Tom, >> yes. >> Aaron, >> yes. >> Jeffrey, >> yes. >> And Sean, yes. We are adjourned. Thanks
everyone.