I'd like to call the Silver Lake Regional School Committee meeting to order. It's 603. And um I'm going to to mention that this meeting is being recorded. Anyone intending to make an audio or video
recording of this meeting should notify me at this time. And um I'm going to ask >> motion to take items out of board. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> I think you all those in favor? So we're
going to All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstain? >> All in favor? Thank you. Could we please modify to do the reorganization before all other items this morning?
>> Thank you. Second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. And I'd like to call for a nomination um for school committee
chair. >> Superintendent. I would like to nominate the following slate. Uh Gordon for chair, Amy for vice chair, Lucas for secretary, and Mark for assistant treasur. >> And yes,
>> is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I. >> Everyone's accepting. Okay, I'm going to turn it over to Amy um who will uh
will will be in charge of the meeting tonight uh in place of Gordon. Uh quick question. So I think I need to take a roll call because we haven't done that yet. So Jason >> here. >> Mark H >> here. >> Peter >> here. >> Megan >> here. >> Jen >> here. >> Lucas >> here.
>> Mark and I am here. Um, I will accept a motion to adjourn to executive session pursuant to MGL chapter 3A. >> I make the motion to adjourn to executive session pursuant to MGL chapter 3A section 2 to conduct strategy
sessions in preparation for contract negotiations with non personnel. Um and to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining and to comply with the general or special law to approve executive session minutes.
>> We have a second. All those in favor. >> Oh, do we need to do a roll call? A roll call for that. Okay. Jason, >> yes. >> Mark, >> yes. >> Peter, >> yes. >> Megan, >> yes. >> Jen, >> yes. >> Lucas, >> yes. >> Mark, >> yes. >> And I am a yes. That is anonymous.
>> All right. Go in next door. We will do that. Okay. Um, so we are back in session. Do I need a back in session roll call heel? Okay. So, we are back in session. Um, we are on to item two, public comment. Any visitors?
>> Um, good evening everybody. Um, I just had a couple brief comments on >> Yeah, if you could just state your name and um where you live, please. >> Yes, I will. Uh, my name is Joseph Height. I live in Halifax. Um, uh, my son's a freshman this year. His
name's Harrison. And, uh, I just wanted to bring up a couple things. Uh, some of you guys know me. Um, one of the things I like to do for fun, one of my hobbies is, um, I like to read old textbooks. These, uh, these McGuffy readers. Have you ever heard of them?
>> They're pretty cool. So, a lot of the stories in there I just find uh, very interesting. And um and I kind of I compare them with some of the stories we tell nowadays. And uh it makes me it makes me think
about um an assignment that my son brought home last summer and I'll just briefly go into that. Um so I spoke to his ELA teacher last year and um he was telling me about uh some writing assignments that we're going to be working on. And so I was excited to see
some of these writing assignments. I didn't see any until the end of the year. Uh at the bottom of my son's book back, there was a an essay. Uh it was entitled um what happens to me when I die? Um and my son went on to describe
basically um some idea of reincarnation. Uh reincarnation as like some organism uh that grows at the bottom of the ocean. So fortunately, you know, I had an opportunity to talk to him once I read it and I got to explain to him, you
know, like you're a child of God. You know that. And in fact, I think all of our children are children of God. And um I was just confused that there would be that type of assignment that asks a theological question of an
eighth grader. Uh so is this something that's typical or is this something that parents should be aware of do you think in the future if we're asking children what happens to me when I die and the parents don't have any knowledge of this because it it would have been very
possible that I didn't see this assignment at all and just it just got thrown away and I never would have been able to have the opportunity to speak to him about it. So you guys know anything about that one? I my apologies. Our our high school
principal is not here this evening. We do have some coordinators here this evening, but I think ultimately my my best advice would be to one speak directly to the teacher >> as to how that writing assignment may or may not have um connected to whatever
the the standards or frameworks that they were learning about in that particular course. Um, I'm making an assumption that it was an English class assignment, but we have writing across our curriculum, so that may not necessarily be true. And so, um, I'm going to defer to Nicole Dennis, who's
our, uh, curriculum coordinator for ELA. >> So, just to clarify, was it an assignment that your student worked on in eighth grade or ninth grade? >> Eighth grade. >> Eighth grade. Okay. Um, yep. That wouldn't be without knowing the particular assignment and the teacher any of the details. um it's not an
assignment that we give. Um so I'm this is this would be the first I would be hearing of it. And I can also say that moving forward I'm going to be talking about our new curriculum um tonight. Um the new curriculum is um a department of education sponsored curriculum that has you know particular writing assignments
that will be common to all eighth graders all seventh graders throughout the district. >> I mean it's just a really like bothersome conclusion that he came to and he certainly didn't learn that from home. I think I think you learned it in school and so I'm just wondering why
>> if you it's it's not part of Arthur. >> I mean is that what you believe that children are going to be reincarnated after they die? Is it like a personal belief of yours? >> I I don't think that my personal beliefs have anything to do with anything. I'm here to represent all children. >> Right. But I mean it's not really an
appropriate question for an eighth grader without supervision. I'm again I'm not sure if this was a question or if this is how a child what a child decided to write about. So I I can't really comment on it without knowing more about the facts. And >> do you believe ination?
>> If you're asking me, I'm I'm the vice chair of the school committee. Um I don't think my religious beliefs are really something I'm comfortable discussing in a public meeting. >> Right. I don't think that my son's religious should be molded in an eighth grade classroom without his parents.
school committee doesn't really micromanage the day-to-day lessons. Um the superintendent supervises the coordinators. The coordinators are in con um in communication in conjunction with the classroom teachers. Our role is
to supervise the administrators. >> Um so I have no knowledge of this assignment. We don't micromanage the day-to-day assignments of any of the teachers in our district. That's not really what we do. So, you don't want to say what you're
>> I I really don't I don't think it's appropriate in this public meeting to be talking about my religious beliefs. Um I was elected by the people of Kingston to serve the children and families of Kingston. >> Well, that's pretty much what I expected. Thank you guys. >> Okay. Bye.
>> Is there any other visitors who would like to speak? All right. Um, so we need to revisit the reorganization. Um, we did just the full
slate, but um, we have all of the other subcommittees and positions. I need to get my chart out. >> I have one. >> Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, okay. Um, and if I'm not mistaken, did
um, just so that I'm updating and I know Karen, you probably did. Um, did we switch? Are Lucas and Mark switching for same same slate as this year? Okay, so we're all set there. Um, so I guess the next position on the slate is the
legislative agent. Um, I don't know who I'd like to see in that position, but I will entertain a motion. Am I allowed to make a motion? >> Okay. I make a motion to nominate uh Jason Frasier to continue as legislative agent if he accepts. >> Second.
>> Okay. All those. Oh, Jason, do you accept? >> I do, but it might be wise to start some understudies because I'm not going to be here. So, I'm more than willing to work with anybody who'd like to
see ropes. I would say just to continuing the discussion, I think um all of us have a wealth of knowledge to learn from you. Um you're very experienced. I come away learning something at every meeting. Um so I'm always asking Jason questions. I
will be continuing to ask you questions, but um yeah, I think encouraging all of us. That's it. Do you accept? >> Yes. >> All right. Um and we have a second. Okay. All those in favor? I I don't think that was unanimous.
All right. Um subcommittee um admin review >> and that was the only other one you need. Oh, the rest of them are just Okay. So, this is just discussed. >> Um all right. So, admin review. We currently have um Megan and myself and
Jeie was on it with um Gordon as an alternate and he has agreed to continue as alternate. >> Um No second alternate >> and there's no there's no second alternate right now. Um so I'm happy to also continue on. Um same as me. Does
anyone else want to do admin review? >> What does admin review entail? >> Um so we basically um spearhead Jill's evaluation. >> Yeah. >> You didn't get the descriptions.
Are the descriptions on the folders or or have you gone to charting the course yet? No. Okay. So, >> all the description on the >> Yeah. Um, so I but I think all of us here are happy to explain what all of the subcommittees do. So, admin review
um we meet with Jill at the beginning of her evaluation cycle to discuss her professional goals for the upcoming cycle, approve those, and then um right now she's on a 2-year evaluation cycle. So at the midpoint at the one-year point we meet with her to assess progress
towards those goals and then at the end of two years we write a detailed evaluation and then we meet with her to go over the results of that. Um we also this is a union 31 because the superintendent is a shared position between all four of the districts in
union 31. Um so it's I love doing it. Obviously I wouldn't agree to continue being on. Um, so >> I'd be happy to be second alternate. >> Okay. So, we have a third person who wants to be on the actual admin review
with me and Megan. >> I'll do it. >> Okay. Awesome. >> All right. >> I will do the second. All right. Thanks, J. >> So, who included? >> Okay. So for admin review it's u Megan
Cannon, Amy Courtright and Peter Chris Jones and um not Fitzpatrick. And then for alternate is a perfect >> and thank you.
We actually need to vote consensus. Okay. Um all right, moving on. Um for negotiations, um it is currently Mark H. Gordon and Jeie was the third person. So that's another
position at minimum we have to replace. Um Mark >> and anybody else want to do negotiations? I don't want to, but I had a lot of fun with >> so I will take on that role.
>> Okay. >> Um, Lucas, you're currently an alternate. Do you want to stay an alternate? >> No, unfortunately. >> Okay. So, Lucas does not want to stay in alternate. Do we have anyone who does? >> Thanks, Megan.
Okay. >> Jean had a lot of jobs. >> Yeah, Jean did have a lot of um Yeah, I even like I think one time last year I ended up being like a third alternate because everybody was busy. >> You enjoyed it? >> What? >> And you enjoyed it? >> I did enjoy it. Yeah, I usually try to
stay off of it because I'm also a teacher. Um okay, so the next one um is pack. I am happy to continue doing that if nobody wants an additional 10 meetings a year, >> you know. on that one might take a vote because you're our official agent voting
on our behalf. So I make a motion for Amy to be our representative. >> Second. >> And I'll accept that. So um all those in favor. >> And I think that was unanimous Karen. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Because I know Karen has to send the letter >> to them.
>> Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah. Okay. >> Um All right. But if anyone ever does want to learn more about pack and what I share out in the meetings, please let me know. kind of similar to um Jason with legislative agent. Um okay, moving on to policy. Right now it is Jen, Mark H, and
Jason with Mark G as the alternate. >> I'd love to get off that. I've been chairing it for like seven years now and I would like to just >> um >> I'll stay. Okay, Mark will stay and Jen
will stay. >> Um, >> yeah, I'll stay at the >> Okay. >> Um, if nobody else wants it, um, I was on policy when I first started on school
committee and I enjoyed it a lot. So, looks like nobody else wants it. Okay, I guess it's me. Okay. Okay. Um, CTE right now we have Lucas, both MarkX and Jason as well.
>> Um, I love the four of you being on CT. I think you're all really knowledgeable. Do either of you have an issue with that? >> Okay. All right. It looks like you guys are it. >> Okay. >> So, those are all the same camera. Perfect.
>> All right, we're moving through this pretty quickly. Safer is Mark G, Lucas, Jen, Jason, and Jean use the alternate. So, we need someone at minimum to replace that. Um, do any of the four of you no longer want to do it? Does
someone else want to do it? >> I'll continue, sir. >> Okay, stay. >> I can stay. >> Okay, >> I'll join it. >> Okay. And what do you Jason? What do you want to do? >> Peter, take over. >> Yep.
>> All right. >> You want to be the alter? >> Okay. >> I'll make sure you Nothing's going to change. >> Maybe he might with a water pistol. See?
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> Um and then single signature warrants. um I think has to be Gordon. Um so he's there, but we do need a new alternate for that. I would prefer >> point the treasure. I don't know if I still can. And I would prefer it not be
me. >> Okay. >> Do you guys pick one of you? >> Does it matter yet? >> Thank you. >> So it's Jen for ultimate.
>> So you have to you have to be able to check your emails. That's all. I I warn you if if Gordon couldn't do it. >> Okay. Okay. >> And I've got my messy notes here, too, Carol, in case you missed any of those. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> And
Okay. Um Okay. So, I think that takes care of our reorg. Um so, welcome Peter and looking forward to next year. >> Um Madam Chair, >> yes, >> just a point of order. Um Last year you guys did basically make me
your agent in having conversations, dialogues with the three towns, finance committees, select boards, board of select, etc. Um, and working through budgetary and capital needs representing
the school. I don't know if you want to formalize that again or if you want to wait for issues to arise. Um, I think it's always better personally to be proactive rather than reactive. Um, I guess my big question, Jason, because we
share similar full-time job. Um, you obviously did it and you did a good job. We the budgets passed unanimously. Do you want to continue doing it? Um, I think the relationships that I build and the momentum we currently have with the three towns would benefit from the
continuity of being me. But again, I'd be there as your agent representing you, but being able to speak on behalf of the committee without calling us all back together every single time a single question comes up the move. >> Yeah,
>> I'll I'll leave that. So, we need to like make out like add wording about making Jason more formally our agent to the town. >> How do you suggest we formalize it? >> Add it to this list. >> Um, we could amend the legislative agent
to be legislative and >> municipal >> municipal liaison. >> Oh, I like that. Yeah, I like leaison opposed to agent. So, legislative and municipal liaison. Okay.
>> All right. I will It sounds like Mark may have already made the motion, but I'll formally ask for a motion to um amend Jason's position to a legislative and municipal liaison. >> Okay. Second. >> Second. >> Okay. Mark H. Second. All those in favor? I and
>> on the side. >> Okay. Yeah, I think she's okay. Uh, thank you for that clarification, Jason. Um, >> appreciate it. Was there an alternate that study wanted for this? >> Yeah. Do we want an alternate legislative agent?
>> I think that should be more informal because it might eb and flow. Who's interested? >> And I think it's better if more of us start to pick up the slack on that so we all are prepared to step in as necessary. Okay. Um All right. I think that Yes.
Thank you, Jason. Um I think that concludes our reorg. Um so, thank you to everybody. Um All right. School committee correspondence. I just need to get my um we had two pieces of correspondence for me to share into the
record. Um one came from the Hangingham Public Schools and it is not loading. Um there it is. um looks like for a visit from Hangingham to Silver Lake High School. And then the second was um the FY26
um was it? >> It was $50,000. Okay. >> Um but that we're positioned to receive for the phone system and we want to thank uh Senator Fernandez and our liaison Jason Frasier for his advocacy. This is for the phone systems that we
had um talked about in the budget process. Thank you. You're welcome. >> All right. So, that concludes I think it was just those two items in the correspondence. >> Yes. Okay. Um, so the next item is our consent agenda. I will welcome a motion
to move the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Second, Mark H. All those in favor? >> I think unanimous Karen. Okay. Um, new business. So, first one up is the
volleyball boosters. I think I see them over there. Got to try not to get them emotional. So, I just want to present my final check >> to Silver Lake High School for the boys
volleyball program. And three years ago, I sat in front of you, well, Joey and I sat in front of all of you. And I really appreciate you taking us on and letting us run wild with this for the last three years. I really hope it continues and that Joey and Brady and Zach's legacy
continues on. Um, it's been great. Mrs. Swanson's been an amazing help too with that and our new coach Fishup. I hope she stays a long time and really builds that program. She was amazing this year. So, here is my final amount. I don't know who I give it to. I put Mrs. Gill
on it, but she's not here. So, I don't know who to give it to, but I learned a lot. I owe a lot to Mark too and all his help too to really learn how to run boosters and the program and all that. So great job. I would just like to say 3
years ago I sat over there support you from the background and >> the work you did was fantastic and I think more importantly the work that Joey and the and the boys did to get the program off the ground when no one thought they could was admirable. Um, so
we hope the legacy lives on and good luck at the next level. >> We'll be playing D3 at Elms College in CH. >> Thank you all so very much. >> How about um so I think next up are all of our um
contract personnel discussions. Um so first up is the um slip principal discussion and vote. Um we uh oh our um candidate is here this evening if if you wouldn't mind allowing an introduction.
>> I would love to allow introduction. >> Absolutely. Perfect. >> Thank you madam vice chair. Um thank you. I'm It's my pleasure to introduce to you Miss Amanda Richardson who is going to be our um new integrated preschool principal. We're thrilled to
have her. Um we are getting her with a great background in early elementary education u specifically at the preschool level. She's done some fascinating and really extensive work in her CAD program. So we're thrilled to get her. She'll start with us on July 1.
So no laps. And um we've talked about this before because Kimberly Orbec is still going to be here with us. We have this great opportunity for a really natural mentorship. So we're thrilled to have Amanda here. We're thrilled she's here and um I appreciate the committee's support in um on boarding a fabulous
campaign. So thank you. >> Welcome Amanda. Um so um I will accept I will take a motion to accept the contract >> for the for this. >> Yeah. I'll move to um accept the
contract for the split principle. >> We have a second. Yes. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Looks like no. Okay. Welcome, Amanda. Um, next up is the SLEA support track uh
contract. Um, further discussion on that. >> I move to accept the contract as presented. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? I. And my oppos. Okay. Awesome. Um, SLEA teachers
contract accept >> and I move to accept that contract as presented. We >> have a second. >> Second. >> Peter Megan. Okay. Peter second. Um, all those in favor
>> I and none opposed. Okay. >> All right. I'd like to take a moment real quick to thank uh the SLEA and the negotiation team from Silver Lake and the administrative help we got and the MTA representative for what I would say was one of the most cordial negotiations
I've ever been part of. So just wanted to say it was it's not fun to negotiate but it was done very professionally and I appreciate everyone in the work. >> Thank you. Thank you to both sides of someone who just watched from the
sidelines. Um capital plan discussion. So that's 6E. Um so not sure what subcommittee that falls under. >> Mr. Um CP CP
>> um but the capital the capital plan is under >> uh we can discuss uh briefly. So we did have a a safer meeting right ahead of this. I was looking for my notes actually Michael had done a a presentation for us. Um, basically I want to thank the
Freetowns for um and Jason's uh sale of our request to have our rolled up capital make it back to our capital plan. I think it's going to be huge to be able to have a stabilization fund. Um, and this year is approximately
$700,000 that we can dedicate towards capital expenditures. Uh, one of those capital expenditures um, uh, is our, uh, expensive rooftop units, air conditioning, and we have several of the 21 now year old units starting to to
hick up and uh, they are essential for us to be able to continue to run the school system. um if you don't have heat and these provide heat and air conditioning but the heat side of them particularly and uh we are focused u on on addressing those issues and they are
extremely expensive hundreds of thousands of dollars give you ideas uh some of them come back over $500,000 so um we are going to have to commit some of our funds to that and not have a lot of money left uh to do other maintenance
on the schools, but we do have some. And I thank uh Mike Wallace and our facilities director and his staff for being able to accomplish um what what could be as much as $100,000 this year. Savings for uh being able to do some of
the work off the uh list, the House doctor's list. Um, we still have, even with the projections of what uh, Mike and his staff feel of the $73 million from that list is we still have about $53 million of things we need to do and
that numbers needs to be out there. The public needs to understand that um the the alternative to properly maintaining these two 212 year old school buildings is rebuilding. And the cost numbers are
$280,000 a piece. Absolutely out of a million dollars, excuse me, $280 million to build a school. This would be a debt exclusion for three towns. It would be catastrophic. So, I think we really need to spend the time and money and get our
facilities up to speed and catch up. Um, we have a plan to do that. uh house doctor has been awesome at outlining what we need to address first, second, third through the time and I just briefly like to um again thank Michael
and staff for catching us up on some of these things. But um we're hopeful that the second phase of our proposal will be uh brought in next year and that we continue to invest in in the two largest
facility assets of the three towns. I mean there is no building in the in the three towns that would uh dwarf the size and scope of what we're maintaining here. So um I appreciate everybody's success with that
I think. Thank you. >> Oh thank you Mark. Um so it does does also say possible motion. Is there something you wanted us to vote on? >> Yeah. So, we're proposing tonight that we take care of the middle school er
auditory rooftop unit. Like Mark said, uh this one has failed on the heating side and this was rated as the number one priority by both the engineering and facilities review but also by Mike internally. Um, it currently has a
$585,000 price tag attached to it, but Mike said that he needs updated quotes and figures, which is why it's the only item we're recommending at this point from SAFER. Um, even though we have $700,000 to work with this year, we need to see
where it actually comes in and then we'll come back to subsequently with some other items from the punch list. We can use the remaining dollars for that bid is going to be essential and item what we have about 7 months.
>> So with the motion for tonight be to authorize >> however much >> like to move forward with getting bids and starting work on the auditorium unit in this building. >> So I will accept a motion um as
presented by Jason. A second. >> Can was that a motion Jason? Yep. >> Okay. Motion by Jason, second by Mark G. Um, all those in favor. >> Any opposed? >> No. Okay. >> Thank you. And good luck and thank you
to Mike. Um, all right, Mr. Swanson, you're up next. >> All right. Good evening everybody. Thank you. Then, um, if I could just briefly insert, uh, my expression of gratitude to all of you for your support of the volleyball program as well. Obviously, our gratitude to the boosters presenting
that very generous check, but it couldn't have been done without the cooperation of our school committee. And so, your willingness to to listen to them a few years ago uh before I was here um but to give them the opportunity was very impactful for those student athletes and for the school as a whole.
It was a terrific experience. So, um on behalf of the athletic department and the whole high school, we're very grateful committee for your endorsement of that uh new program. Great to be in a period of growth um within athletics. And uh speaking of growth, this is uh cost growth here. Um as you've probably
seen the topic on the agenda here, the first one that I have is the athletic training agreement. Pretty significant um increase in cost with um our relationship with Mass General Brighgams uh and their athletic training program.
But I I would preface by saying we we've been extremely satisfied with the quality of service that we've received through MGB in particular through our really outstanding athletic trainer Jackie Germaine who some of you may know. Uh if you're a parent of student
athlete, you certainly had probably opportunities to connect with with Jackie who for us is the face of MGB in the athletic training program. She's outstanding. Uh the program as a whole has been really beneficial to our school. We're one of many schools in Massachusetts that contracts athletic
training services with uh with MGB. This year, we were one of 19 districts in Massachusetts whose contract was up. And so, we were one of 19 districts that was surprised by the the what felt like a pretty radical price increase. I I met with the director of the program a few
weeks ago to learn more about the reasons for the increase in cost and to look at any changes to the parameters of the contract. I think the perimeter changes are are pretty minimal. The the surprising part was the the significant increase in cost. We did budget more
this year. We had budgeted $75,000 for this service, but learned that in the initial draft of the contract, it had gone up to $88,000. Um they did retreat from that a little bit after the meeting and I think they were hearing feedback from lots of other districts that um had very little time to prepare for this and they were
apologetic about um the late change attributed it to um some changes in leadership that had a different view of the financials at MGB um and they did agree to come down from 88 to to 83. They've also increased the hours per week as a baseline from 32 to
35. explain the cost increases really being relative to increased costs uh for salary and benefits and that it's an attempt for them to right size and to avoid loss. Uh which I found found the
argument persuasive even though the cost of course was more of an increase than we would have liked or were prepared for. They also promised that we would have our next contract for the following year in our hands much much earlier next year. in fact as early as um September
but no later than October so that we have much more of an opportunity to prepare next year. So um the athletic department is prepared to to pay the cost differential from our revolving funds and uh believe that it would be important for us to maintain a
relationship with NGB. Um, and uh, I would I would also note that in addition to the comments about Jackie being really good at what she does, we have statistical proof that she's actually busier than any other athletic trainer in the state. She literally won their award for the most visits to her office.
So, we have a really large and robust athletic program. We have more teams than most schools do. We have higher participation than most schools do. uh many hundreds uh 600 plus of our student athletes who or students at Silver Lake who participate in at least
one team and uh lots of them spend time with our athletic trainer and maintaining continuity there would be really beneficial to us. So I'm hopeful that the committee will see fit to provide on behalf of the committee. So, um I will let's do the motion in the second
then we can discuss. Um so I will take a motion for the committee to approve and the chair to sign um the updated contract. >> We need a motion. Sorry. >> Okay. Jason's got a motion. Jen's got the second. Um discussion.
>> Uh we're going to just have to be mindful of sorting that 10% increase once it comes out of revolving it into the regular budget. Um, I don't think it would be unwise of us to also just
give Rick some cover by authorizing him to do that. I know it's his revolving counc, but just to give the support of the committee as well. So, I do make that motion to support the use of revolving funds up to $6,000,000. >> All right. I'll give them authorization
to use up to $10,000 for revolving fund to cover the differential contract. >> And I'll just chime in. The only note I had written down, Rick, was where's the money coming from? And like that was the first thing you answered. So, >> okay, great. >> Um, no concerns on my end. Um, does anyone else have anything?
>> No, I just want to say like Jackie >> when my son was a freshman and he popped his arm out and he went back from football, she wouldn't clear him because of strength issues. Because of her, she was like, he needs to have an MRI. Come to find out, he tore his labor and had
to have surgery. So if she wasn't that good at her job to say, "I'm not going to clear your son." And my other son who was a sophomore this year, he one of the games at home flipped over a kid landed right on his back. She was immediately out there. I mean, seeing her on whether
it's the sidelines of any field or courtside, you can't put a value on her. And I've the time and dedication and she generally loves her job and she loves these kids in this district. So, I'm just happy that we're able to keep her.
>> Is there Is there any concern of her leaving? >> I I think she I'm I can't wait to report to her exactly what you've said and and share with her the positive feedback from this committee, which uh I think she hears from lots of people. It's true. She's worth every penny and uh she
loves her Lake and it shows her work. So, I think this endorsement um helps to secure the relationship going forward. It's it's a really positive working relationship that we have with her. >> My athletes are all freaking flyers. So,
it would be nice to have the contin. >> You did? >> Yes. >> We have to vote mine. Then we have to vote the original. >> Oh, there two second ones. Okay. So, Jason's $10,000 motion. Um all those in favor. Hi. >> And then the original authorization for
um is it Rick to sign or Gordon to sign >> for the chair to sign on behalf of the committee. >> Okay. So, um I think Jason also made that motion. And if I'm not mistaken, did you also second that one, Jen? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, Jason motion, Jen second. All those in favor? >> I And I don't see any opposed. Okay. All
right. Thank you. And I think you're the next item. >> One more. Thank you very much, everybody. the the other one is is probably easier. I think uh this is just uh a handful of minor edits to the athletic handbook. We update this typically around this time every year
and we shared with you uh edited copy with some strikethroughs. You you would have found that the vast majority of changes here are grammatical, some syntax, >> um very little of substance. The only
thing probably worth mentioning uh is that we are memorializing a change in how we do concussion baseline testing. We've used uh Impact for many years and uh have have switched over this year to a program called Sway Medical which
seems to be working really well. We actually tested over a 100 student athletes this afternoon all at once and uh it's been very well reviewed and um feedback on this so far has been good. So, we we changed some of the language on concussion baseline testing and we
elaborate a little bit about athletic trainer coverage using some additional language from the MIA handbook so that people have it available to them in a school's athletic handbook as well. Aside from those two changes, I I don't think there's much else here that um is
really worth commenting other than some of the grammatical stuff. So, um would ask for your approval that we um have a have a green light to update the athletic handbook with those changes on the school website. >> I'm to accept the handbook. Second, any
discussion? I'll just say I read through all the changes and they seem extremely reasonable. Um I'm a little bit sad about losing the word squad, but there's a lot of changing squad to team. >> So, um any further discussion?
Okay. All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? All right. Thank you again, Mr. Swanson. Okay. Uh, next up is the data presentations. And there's a whole bunch of you. Um, or is it multiple presentations?
>> All the same presentation, but multiple speakers. >> Okay. Awesome. Thank you. Um, Jill, you have this. I didn't know if you wanted to say anything because the next slide is about the SDI, but I don't think that's otherwise. Go to slide 11. >> So if you recall um we promised end of
year data based upon uh the star as well as common assessments and we'll only be presenting silver lake silver silver lake wow >> data this evening. However, you'll see the data for all of the communities. Um,
>> so then you can scroll down to slide 11. >> I'm not scrolling. >> Is that a scroll or is that a turn off? >> There's the up and down torturous button to that clicker. >> There's all sorts of buttons for volume.
>> Volume. >> Oh, that's amazing. Oh, there we go. Let me just make sure the side button is on. >> All right. Hi everybody. So we are starting with me Nicole the 7 through 12 ELA coordinator. Um I actually this is
the same slide that I presented to you in April. Um as you know the the ELA MCCAST uh is earlier and so we our spring window was right before in fact we wrapped up the very day of um the spring data presentation. So uh so
really that is the same information but what I can add to that is that at our May department meeting we did a little bit more work unpacking the data and looking for those places where we didn't we saw a blip in the winter then we came back up again. really sort of talking about what that means for us and to to
set some goals and moving forward as far as encouraging students to understand really understand the value of the star testing um particularly as they get older and they've taken a lot of star tests you know what does it mean for you and what do we as as your instructional leaders use the data for so that's
really the only update I have for the star slide see if I can do this um at the middle school our our spring window of common assessment saw um some nice consistent data there. Our common assessments are teacherdesigned
assessments uh that mirror the the types of questions that students are asked to uh to work on the test. So reading and writing standards uh response to text and these are assessments that the teachers uh collaboratively design and then they they go in and they look at
the data together. Uh later in tonight's meeting I'm going to give you um a sneak peek of our brand new ELA curriculum. I'm going to give you some information about that and and sort of what that will mean for common assessments moving forward. So, that is my middle school um
data update. Anybody have any questions? I have one um on the teacher design because we do the same thing in my district. Um how is MEAT exceeds or any of the the four levels? How how are the teachers defining that? How >> So, we're using the same our 70% number
because that really is our threshold for what we're looking at for STAR and MCAT. So we we took a look at at that number. >> So are you saying like a 70% on an assessment would be considered meter? >> Yes. >> Okay. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. >> So I think go over to
hi everyone. I'm Melissa Green, social studies coordinator. Um so I'll explain a little bit about this day. It's different than Nicole's because um in grade seven we are using summitive assessment tasks that are aligned to specific units of study. They are not
benchmarks where kids are repeating the same exact standards. Um the skills are very similar um in that kids are looking at their you know using inquiry prompts and they're looking at primary source documents. They're building their knowledge of geography. Um and overall I
think we saw a pretty good trend with students. That spring number a little bit lower than where we were at in the winter. I think teachers are still doing a root cause analysis of that. Um partly they wonder too about the testing fatigue given how many assessments kids
were taking at that particular time. Uh we actually do have a fourth measure coming up um within the next week or so right at the end of the year. So we're we're excited to see what that data looks like as well. Uh for grade 8, this common assessment is a benchmark
assessment where students are coming in in the fall with a very limited knowledge. base when it comes to the civic standards. So, um you know, at that point it was a 13% and then you know we saw a pretty big jump from the fall to to early winter and then that
spring data was taken also fairly early just because of the timing again of all the MCCAST testing that was happening you know late March into April. Um but overall our students um and we're also very proud of our eighth graders. We sent a team of students to a state
showcase and um a team from 81 of two young women won the state award for their petition project. Um they actually got invited to go to the um Massachusetts Court of Appeals today and took a tour and met one of the judges and went with their teachers. So um it
was quite the honor for them and we're we're very happy with the progress that they've made overall in their understanding of civics. down. >> But you got it. >> Yeah. But you're on the next. >> Yeah. >> I'm Dan Korea, uh, the 712 math and
computer science curriculum coordinator. And much like Nicole said, this slide is similar to what was presented in April. Um, and we really worked in our May department time to really reflect on what is and isn't working in terms of like the messaging and stressing the
importance of STAR um, for students and for families too. And so we've really done a lot of brainstorming around how we're hoping to improve our protocols um, in terms of the timing of our star windows uh, our test day protocols and then our messaging to students and
families of other supports. Um, I do not have common assessment data because in our department, our common our essentially all of our assessments are common. So, I didn't want it to be an overwhelming presentation. But one thing that we are looking to emphasize for next year is to kind of pick a few
to highlight for you um and to use as a department to strengthen. >> All right. Well, I'll overwhelm you. that. Um, so just a couple a little background. We're in the the uh this last stages of our OS implementation. So
we will have had teachers trained in all six units in both grades. Uh moving forward, we were able to get all those in this year. You'll notice on the seventh grade side, the the last unit is is still forthcoming. Uh the eighth grade side, they completed it obviously
tried to get all everything in before MCCAST. Uh again the OSC the the new platform is more aligned to the upcoming MCAS uh which will be uh next year. Uh moving forward though we will still continue to give these two assessments.
The pair assessment which I've talked about in the past which is more like our traditional MCAST technology enhanced questions multiple choice drag and drop you know matching types of things. We like it because it's really quick data. It allows us to drill down the students, the questions, the classrooms,
very standards aligned. So, it allows us to quickly pull out information. The OSE assessments take a little longer to grade because they're all about data analysis, using evidence to support reasoning uh and looking at more open response types of questions. So, it
provides us a little glimpse quickly as to where some uh uh hiccups were. And then the OSC assessment obviously is more aligned to what the kids will do in the future. The the upcoming MCCAST is five scenarios in which the students manipulate um uh evidence have or
manipulate um uh data do actual scenarios on on the computer and answer questions. And so it's just it's vastly different but the OSC's a summit of assessments are very much aligned to that. Just a couple of highlights in here. If any of you have a seventh grader or know a seventh grader, you
know, our ecosystem dynamics, our pair assessment came back extremely high. This is about any seventh grader you meet, ask them about orangutans and uh and palm oil. They will talk your ear off. Um a low mark on us for the chem
8th grade. It's an assessment and not an assessment we need to work on, but we found some things in instruction and the delivery of some uh content and skills that we need to sharpen up to help the students process through that uh that assessment, but we're working on that.
Two of these units have been given off to tech engineering. Uh there's some alignment because there's tech engineering built into the OS assessment. So, we've given those off. So you'll notice at the bottom seventh grade, they will be doing the uh one of the eighth grade units next year.
Uh and one of the eighth grade uh eighth grade units was just finished intact. So we don't have those results, but that's going to help us give more time to the OS units in our classrooms and allow tech to to work their magic with some of the tech standards within these courses.
>> Question. Thank you. Um, and honestly, thank you all four of you. >> Well, we're not done yet. >> And again, this is um again the same slide that we took a look at um in April. Um and we were able to to really
note some a continued upward trend for star reading at the high school. Um and just to remind you, there was no data in fall of 24 and 25 because bringing on the STAR assessments to 9th and 10th grade was new for us uh during that particular year. But as as in um my data
with the the middle school teachers got together at our May department meeting and again we took a look at um ways that we can continue to improve really our processes and our communication to students regarding the importance of star. Dan and I have also met to to kind of go through all that data and we um
are working on a roll out plan for for next year for our our teachers and our students. Um high school uh here go. Thanks. Um high school common assessments. Um we these are also the the teacher designs using the
standards and using um MCCAST uh style questions. And the springcom assessment for us really is our final exam in those courses. And um as any of you high schoolers know, we're starting those up next week on Wednesday. So uh so that's that we'll continue to look at um as we
move forward as well. Thank you. Any questions before we move to social studies? Okay. All right. So for grade nine, this is um a common assessment that is focused on literacy skills in particular written
expression. So students uh were tasked with um making claims, citing evidence and then um analyzing that through their reasoning skills. And so our measures um we saw a really significant jump from fall to winter. We will be taking our
last measure um during finals like Nicole just explained us with ELA. Um, and we we created these common assessments based on looking at the ELA MCCAST data and where our students were really showing the need for further
reinforcement, particularly around their ability to synthesize multiple pieces of evidence and bringing it together. So, that was really the real focus there for grade nine. Um, grade 10 is currently under revision for our common assessments. A lot of my all of my teachers are teaching more than one
subject. They do not teach a single thing. amount of them or even teaching three things a day. And so to really be able to focus on a particular grade level each year to strengthen those common assessments, they kind of have to do in cycles. So for right now, grade 10 um is currently under revision. Um and
then in grade 11, um again, same process. Uh students are looking at primary source documents, written expressions, style after MCCAST using a rubric that model that. And um by grade 11, I mean, I our data just was was
really high. We're really impressed that um our students are performing at that level and feel excited about um sending them off into the world with some strong written expression skills. So um any questions about those? Thank you. All right. Um so Cole's
already pretty much said it all um in terms of what we've been working on. Um, but one thing that's particular to math that we're sort of thinking about after analyzing our data for next year is the fact that some of our students are in geometry class as ninth graders and some are in algebra class and then in 10th
grade those groups sort of flip-flop depending upon what level they're uh math course they're taking. So there's a setting in STAR to be able to sort of hone in on a specific domain algebra versus geometry rather than test all of them. And we think that that might help us tease out some of what's going on in
a particular class and help us give more targeted intervention and feedback for the students. Um, and in terms of common assessments, this was not an April presentation, but our winter common assessment is our exam. So those are those exceeding
percentages at that point in time. And then as the other coordinators have said, our final exams start on Wednesday. Any questions from J Jason, did you have a question? >> Oh, sorry. All right.
>> All right. Well, this is this isn't as overwhelming. Um, again, with science, we typically go unit by unit and so the teachers have done a great job both middle school and high school developing unit based common assessments. Uh so on this slide is is our units in um intro
physics including the midterm and a and a percent meet and exceed on the the midterm that these teachers have developed again using the pair assessment platform really standards aligned very much like questions. Uh the other column there which you'll see is a
growth score which I was amazed that they put this together. So they delivered a pre-EST and a post- test and did a normalized gain which is basically you get a 50% on the pre-est you have 50 points left for the post test and what is your gain over that those 50 points and we were able to calculate those
scores. So these are these are averages across across all grades and sort of talk to teachers talk to me about like what what is happening with instruction where can we strengthen that in terms of the gain. So anything from a.3 to a 69 is considered good growth, active
learning. Beyond that is is really excellent growth. So we want to see those scores obviously above a.3. Uh obviously the midterm doesn't have a pre-EST. Uh but these have been really helpful in in the discussions. And although the the high school teachers don't have as much
time, common time to discuss, they they've presented a tremendous amount of data to me and a lot of insights about instruction, moving units, why we're moving units, what's working, what's not working. So they've done a good job digging into this. This data just helps really as we move forward. I I would say
and again it's very hard to because we don't have a standardized system for grading like a platform. We've developed this on our own. The the bars I set for pair assessment are I'm trying to make them as close to uh the MCCAST bars as possible. I am not going to make them
the M because the MCCAST bar for for passing MCAST is pretty low. Uh, so the bars I've set, we've tried to mirror what our expectations are for where we want students to be and then be able to do well on MCCAST. So that the meets and exceeds, I'd say that's just very a
conservative estimate of where that is. Hopefully it'll be a little better on questions from the committee. >> Thank you. as presenting. >> I'm going to talk I'm going to talk in a
few minutes about the ELA um committee. But so just to just to summarize um we had math the curriculum review was the first year um which was last year and year two of math this year. This year was the first year of ELA second.
Next year will be the second year and in the fall will be the first year of science, technology and engineering. That will be their first year curriculum review. So um you hear more about science next year. Am I missing anything from I just want to make sure everybody's had a chance to
Okay. So I think thank you so much for a very comprehensive presentation. Um last call questions from the committee. All right. Um so I think that is it for new business. So on to admin reports and principal you're up. So
I am very excited to add to the civics piece that um Miss Green spoke about. There will be civics in ELA world changer presentations this coming week June 15th, 16th and 17th. You can see some of the posters over here in this
side of the library. This whole space will be filled. The front lobby will be filled. We invite you um and other community members to come talk to the students. They're excited to give presentations to the point of where they've emailed some of you. Um they are
interested in school improvement, social emotional health and bettering the student experience here. Um they are very motivated and some of them are even kind of lights around their posters. So it will be a good time. um and you know how important those soft skills are,
those presentation soft skills. So any time that you can give would be really worthy for them. That's all I have for today. >> So follow-up question. Um on those dates, what times are the students? >> The whole school day. >> Okay. The entire school day, whatever works for you.
>> Kids will come down on a rotating basis depending on when their civics classes and their ELA period are. Thank you. Thank you. And this skill is not here tonight. >> Um I don't know if it's >> Oh, I don't think it is.
>> Um but we I didn't do it, but uh >> we had a trial schedule this year. So if you've been here for a few years a round of people >> okay um I'll just pull it up I'll tell
you a little bit about the history of it so um for several years we've been working on a new schedule at the high school um last year previous years we actually talked about a 8 period day and we talked about scheduling um the budget
kind of changed that path forward Um but last year we did two trial schedules to try to find a path forward that worked with our current budget and our current situation. So in the spring we did twoe trials. Uh the first trial was a fixed
5day rotation um with two Laker blocks and a laker block is a student centered um block for MTSS multi-ter systems of support. So students can access their teachers and get extra support as they need it during
the school day. Um so you'll see that first one which is very small. Um but that is the first trial we did. Um so there's those two Laker blocks on Tuesdays and Thursdays and that is the schedule that we tried first last
spring. Um and then the second schedule isn't on the slides but I'm going to talk about a little bit. There's our standard schedule that we had previously, 7-day rotating schedule, and we just added like a half hour liquor block support block on Wednesdays. We
surveyed students and staff uh last spring, and everybody um wanted to try that first uh version of the trial. So, we went to this year doing a five-day non-rotating schedule with a linker block on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Um, so
instead of doing a twoe trial, we did it for the year. Um, so a lot of this what you're going to look at is our results from our surveys for our students and our staff. So in blue and red are the positive outcomes for all of these um
survey data. So uh I'm not going to be able to read them from this far back, but um the the green arrow can show that we saw pos positive growth through the year. So on the left will be our fall survey for students and staff and on the right would be on a spring survey. Um so
this is student data. So this first one is uh how productive did you feel during liquor block? Overwhelmingly our students did feel productive during liquor block. That was a good question of ours. We're giving them two hours of unstructured time. Like what are are they going to be able to use that
productively? Overwhelmingly the students did. And not only did they find it productive, but they gained in productivity as they used it through the year. Um, so that was our first data point. Our second one, if you go to the next slide, was how easy is it for you to access teachers for academic help
during Laker Walk? Um, again, students found it easy, the the blue and the red, and they gained um the I would say the knowledge of how to access students. That was a big thing we learned during this. Um, one thing I'll
comment on because this will come up later, we used a program called Flex um, to do this. So, students have an opportunity to see all of their teachers if they want to during this period, but they do have to sign up beforehand. So,
if you want to see me on Tuesday, on Monday, or at least up until a half an hour before your Lego block, you'll have to go in through this program called Flex. You'll have to select that you want to come to my class. As soon as you do, you'll immediately be dropped from your home room roster and you'll appear
on my block roster. Um, so the program works quite well, but it is a new program for a thousand plus people to learn. So I think a lot of the growth you'll see in students being able to access uh their teachers are their their growth in the knowledge of how to use
Lex and their comfort level with it. Um, so that's what you're going to see there. Um the next one as uh Becky gets that back was did you understand how to use flex scheduling in the fall? 90% said of our students said they
understood it. Um by the spring 95% of our students said they understood flex programming. Um which I think that's I don't know about that. >> That's okay. >> Um here you go. So you'll see 5% of our students in the spring still did not
feel comfortable with flex program uh accessing their teachers. Um but 95% of those students did. So good growth throughout the year, but certainly something we'll be working on as we move forward. Um the next one was how focused is the environment during Laker Block?
Um blue and red are uh focused environments. You saw that that grew throughout the year. So that's positive. The majority of our students were in classrooms that they felt they could get work done, which is positive. And here's
our last one. Are you in favor of keeping the Laker block schedule? This is for students and 97% said yes. Laker block is a huge thing. I'll say anecdotally, the kids love it. They get so much out of it. Um, the big thing that this schedule allows is I think for
me being a data coach on the MTSS team is equitable access for all students to all teachers. So, they have access during the school day to access their teachers and get the support that they need regardless if they can stay after or not, if they're on a sports team or
not. Um, they have two hours per week to really to use that time for their own um for their own reasons, whatever they may be. All right. So, the second thing you're going to look at here is our staff feedback. Um, the challenges I'll go through kind of quickly. A lot of it
revolved around flex use and um getting teachers comfortable with using it and getting students comfortable using it. As a teacher of upper classman and underassman I would say my upper classmen understand quite fre quite well
quite quickly and my underassman are a little skittish and they didn't want to go into a room particularly sometimes or not. It took a while for them to really understand the the use and the value. So, I think that was one thing we saw in the fall, which is the feedback you're
reading on that first slide. Um, and then some of our advantages. Um, staff reported having dedicated time with students, all the things you would expect, extra help, instrumental. Uh, the fixed schedule ended up being a huge thing that our staff liked. So, when
it's Monday 8:00, we know where we're going to be. Um, I can plan for every week. So I don't if you want to to meet with somebody you know a month from now I know what that day will be. Um which is very difficult uh in our old schedule
cuz it was rotating seven days so it would always be different. Um so that was a huge um uh positive thing that we got out of this. Um CTE kids uh a similar thing. They always have their shops in the morning or the afternoon at this point and it's repeatable. We can
schedule around it. if they're doing co-ops, we know when they're going to be there or they're not going to be there. Um, so that was a lot of the positives and then all the student support positives you would think uh we did see as a staff. All right, so moving on to the survey results. This is for teachers
in the fall and spring. So, how effective do you feel Laker Block is in supporting student needs? Teachers overwhelmingly thought it was effective and they only grew in that conviction over the year. So, I think that was really positive. Um the second one was
how often do students seek your help and sign up for Laker block? You can see that overwhelmingly our students are accessing us during Laker block. This is our first red arrow cuz that shows like less students um
this shows teachers or staff reporting that less students are coming to them. I would say that maybe more students got more comfortable with it and they started targeting who they were going to and when. So if a student was doing well in my class, they were no longer coming to me to make things up. They had other
teachers they were going to see to make things up. So um yes, we saw less of all students, but I think we saw the white students in 7 positive. Um how effective do you believe Laker block is in improving student grades? This is from a teacher perspective. Over overwhelmingly
positive. Being able to grab these kids during the day and get them to get the extra help that they need is huge. And as a a freshman teacher to just tell a freshman like, "Hey, you need to do X, Y, and Z. You're gonna come in my Laker block tomorrow was huge. They need that
direction. They need that ability." If it was like, "Can you stay after on Tuesday?" It was a maybe. But when I'm like, "You're going to come tomorrow," they were like, "Okay, I won't be there." And uh we're able to do that. So that was over positive. Uh the next one was, "How effective do you believe Laker Block is in improving student
organization and time management? executive functioning is extremely difficult with these kids especially their freshman sophomore year they're learning how to do it um we saw huge positive growth in that throughout the year and I think all teachers would report that for majority of our students
this is a really positive thing um how effective do you believe Laker Block is in improving student teacher relationships I didn't think about this um but the data shows huge improvements in relationships and it makes sense if you're struggling with a teacher and you don't ever see from extra help, you can
begin to not trust or dislike that teacher. But if you go see them on Tuesday and they give you extra help and they get you caught up in the class, that struggling class is now the teacher you have the strongest bond with because you see them more often. Huge positive results there, that group. Uh how
effective do you believe Lake Block is improving student uh improving overall school culture? Another thing I didn't foresee coming, but we saw growth in that from most of our students. So that was really positive outcome. Um staff, do they want to keep it? Yes. 95% said
they like the improved the new schedule and they want to move forward with this trial that we piloted this year. So next steps, what do we Nothing's perfect among sciences. So there is no perfect solution especially in schedules that we've been talking about in so many
years. Flex is definitely a thing we need to work on as a collective body. I think for a thousand plus people learning a software program on the fly this year, we've done actually pretty good. Um, but I do think
getting to get better at that as a uh staff and teaching our students as they come up from eighth grade will be important and we'll be focusing on that uh if we adopt it. Um the fixed schedule does create it improves scheduling for I
think everybody and it improves executive functioning know where you where these students are going to be and their day being predictable I think is great. It does get some challenges. One of those is first period. If kids come chronically late they're going to miss their first period of class chronically.
Um if they leave chronically at the end of the day they're going to miss their last period chronically. So that is something that administration is aware of. They're already beginning to work with these families to identify the importance of these kids being in these classes. I I will say these kids were
still previously chronically absent and leaving earlier in years prior. I think now we've just highlighted it and and really are aware of the problem and can focus on our solutions to that. So that's I think one thing our administration is kind of committed to
improving through the relationships with these families to get these kids to school. Um so I'll read uh Principal Gil's words here so I don't mess it up but give me overall success and support of the fixed leg block bell schedule. Principal Gill has asked the school
committee for their support and approving the transition from the pilot schedule to the full-time implementation approving all union uh agreement on that uh beginning for the 2026 2027 school year.
So she's looking for a vote of support. I don't mean but you guys >> um so I I think um I'll add my two cents after we do a motion in a second but I would entertain a motion to um approve a
full-time implementation beginning 2627 >> Mark H and Mark G 2. Um I will just chime in. We're basically a year ahead of you in Norwell. Um we did a pilot year and this was our second year um that really two years of full implementation and we did notice a lot
of the hiccups. The second year more people were used to it. We made a few tweaks based on student feedback and our needs and I think more kids are used to how to make it work for them and more teachers are used to how to make it work for us too. So um I am very much in
nervous Mark >> I just have a question. Have we seen a drop off in students staying after school to see teachers because of late blocks? >> We have not like zero kids. There are those math rooms and across the hall are full. So um but I would say that so we
have seen a reduction but I I would say just speaking for those math teachers who get a lot of these students out of school, it was almost to the point of they could not help them all. Um so this is actually like spread out that time and so we do see less kids after school
because they have access during the day but um it's actually been a really positive improvement even even within that. >> Yeah. I the reason I was asked is cuz I have one that's been through and one that's at times it's been hard to see a teacher after school because there's so
many kids. Um and I haven't heard that complaint. So >> yeah. instead of having 12 new kids in Bath Foster, they have the four or five that really need to be there. It's good. >> And I will say having just my trip is graduating and then Jason, yours, your
daughter. Um, and then my kids, their friends, they had nothing but positive things to say, especially with their senior year. if they had any moments that they could go to guidance and help with their college applications or any of that stuff, they were utilizing every single thing whether it was to help with
their grades to get them up or just like I said, anything to do with applications or anything to help them with their college stuff. So, I think it was it was huge or even the stress of like being absent in the past both as a teacher and a parent. three different teacher scheduled tests
and when am I going to stay after all and now you've got two times a week where you can do that so you're only staying after once it really does make a difference >> flexibility of it >> they love it >> yeah it's the kids our students actually reported they just want more so I don't
know if we're comfortable with that but uh they're like give us more time this is the most amazing thing so >> I will say I have noticed I'm someone who's like I've kind of been in a rhythm I've been teaching for so long and I noticed like, you know, I used to have a
58 minute class and now it's 54. I'm like, you notice those four minutes. >> Um, so that that definitely like you lose too much time. It's like, uhoh. But >> um, yeah. So, I think we we've got a motion. We've got a second. All those in favor? I
>> And uh, any opposed? No. All right. Thank you. Okay, Stephanie, I think you're up next. Uh, so in the folder, this is a bill. This is a bill from last year, FY25. This is for the athletic trainer. It's a
bill that just represents to accounts payable. Um, so I would like for this bill to be paid out of >> make a motion to pay the athletic trainer bill from 25. Do >> you have a second? Second. Thank you,
Jen. All those in favor? >> I not post. Okay. Thank you. Um All right. Um I know Dr. Clipper, you made a um summary of data presentation, but you're up again. >> All right. Um first and foremost, I want
to thank Nicole um for all her work this year. Um there's been a lot of work around the ELA curriculum. Um we had uh our first year of the curriculum review this year. Nicole led a group of teachers. Um we were fortunate to have sixth grade teachers be a part of this
group. So it was sixth grade teachers, seventh grade teachers and eighth grade teachers and a teacher from the high school that spent the whole year looking at ELA curriculum um piloting two programs um working with the for literacy and coming to a decision on a
new ELA curriculum which we're really excited about. But I just wanted to shout out for Nicole for all the work all the teachers on this committee. It really was um in some ways I consider like shared leadership in that all the teachers had voice in this and um that's
important because they'll be they'll be doing the hard work of implementing this program next year. So okay, I'll jump in. Thank you for your kind words. Um and I will just jump right in with including our launch training which took place yesterday. We were able to bring the publisher in. Our new um highquality
instructional materials, Desi approved and supported curriculum is EL open up resources um ELA 6 through 8 for grades 6 through 8. Um and we were fortunate enough to be able to bring all of our grade 6 through 8 ELA teachers as well
as special educators, reading specialists, um our our multilingual learner teacher, and bring everybody into a launch training to really understand it. It's a it's a new world for us. Um this type of program and these types of um high quality instructional materials and the lift
before us is is great and it's challenging, but that launch uh PD allowed us to go into the summer uh with an understanding of how the program is built. Um what the instructional design looks like, how teachers can prepare and plan uh to bring the program in. We were
able to unpack um all of the assessments for each grade level um as well as performance assessments and get a sense of uh the the modules is what they call their units. Each program has four really high interest um really strong
texts, grade level texts um with with a with a high level of interest for students. Um as well as a focus on character education texts to help build um a sense of, you know, respect and and integrity and and compassion. um which fits in really beautifully with our middle school model. Also, a lot of
focus on all of the ELA standards in including the speaking and listening and collaboration and student discourse standards, but again, it's at the heart of our work in the middle school. So, um I will echo uh what Dr. Clifford said about the importance of having teachers involved in this work and having
teachers really go in and investigate the programs and and take a real close look at our sample materials. We went out and visited some schools that were using these programs. We had um really uh high level and in-depth conversations with with the publishers and with the professional development um people at
work throughout next year. Um we will also be using a a coaching model where um their instructional coaches from their program will be coming in four times a year working with our teachers seeing what we're doing building from there. um as well as strategic uh
planning sessions that will take place monthly as well to help me as the the leader to be able to deliver um the the best information and the best support for teachers. Um and also some of you know I've been here in the district for a really long time. Um for the first time ever I'm teaching 8th grade next
year. Uh and I'm really excited about that. And I think that's going to be a way to to help me continue to serve and lead and really understand uh the program, how it works, what the teachers need, and to get a real close look at the the gains that our students uh we anticipate that they make through the
program. So, we're very excited. It's the work ahead of us is great, but um we we're really optimistic. Um I am hoping to provide information to uh families in the fall. I haven't worked this out yet with with principal principal Kip and I'm thinking that I would probably lead a short uh action informational session
before open house if anybody wants to come and talk ELA with me um before that uh before I go down to my eighth grade classroom. Uh but that we will be certainly looking to provide some more information to people moving forward. So, uh ELA open up resources happy to talk about it anytime with anybody. I
feel like I'm I'm I'm excited for our choice. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks. Oh, Dr. crew you met before. >> So, first I'd like to uh thank our our towns for their support of the Silver Lake budget. On Saturday, we had our
final town meeting in Kingston and Kingston uh also supported the Silver Lake budget. Kingston supported the budget unanimously. So, that's pretty exciting and we we appreciate our towns for their support. Um the other items are some um news from the commissioner's
call today with superintendent. Uh the first being um the graduation standards um final report is expected later this month. And so um some of the um highlighted items that he shared with us
today was um foundational coursework uh the expectation that all students would complete mass core. uh the end of course assessments in ELA, math and science and potentially history um to be taken at the start of high school as a as another
component. uh post-secary planning. All students would complete a MYAP framework plan with um or a MYAP framework type plan with the required year-by-year milestones and um a culminating
experience such as a capstone project or port portfolio assessment uh that would be assessed locally against a state developed rubric. Now this is just the um the report but um I wanted to share
with you the the expected content of that report. There are uh five components within the framework. Financial literacy workbased learning. Um there's also FASA and um mass fs uh
essay knowledge. um the students can either complete those or opt out but the the the districts would have to provide that that experience that opportunity for them. Uh there's an AI and digital literacy
component and also civic knowledge. Um the state is also considering um giving seals of distinction to offer um to students who graduate with particular excellence in certain areas. Um,
and the other information is that the mass core requirement would be for the incoming 9th grade cohort for the fall of 2027, the current 7th graders, class of 31. We I haven't done that math yet,
but we're probably um also uh we sent out a uh information uh the other day about the MCCAST family portal. We're expecting that before the end of June. Tomorrow there's a webinar where we're going to find out how we get those codes and how we're going to give
those to parents. But the hope is is that parents will have um quicker access to their students individual scores. Albeit it may not be their um their final scores, it will be the preliminary scores, but nonetheless, they'll have a sense of how their their child
performed. There was also an update on the timeout and seclusion regulations which Dr. Tucker has already apprised us of in our administrative meeting today. So, she beat the commissioner with with her presentation today. Um there are updated
definitions, uh physical space requirements, defined emergency circumstances for seclusion use, those kinds of things. So, she's already begun that training for us at uh at the district level and this is certainly going to be happening. Um, >> I did all the teachers, I did all the
special education staff as well. >> So, we're we're we're on the ball with that. Um, and then in terms of um immigration, mass leads, and interpretation regulations. Some uh
items there. They're going to be issuing guidance framework for districts to develop new policies on staff interactions with federal immigration officers and warrant requirements for entry into non-public areas. So, that is going to be coming our way. We don't
have guidance on that just yet. Um, the Mass Leads Act is going to require two active K through 12 provisions, which means that districts must develop diversity plans. Uh and then they're going to be um incorporated into our student
opportunity act uh >> update plan and then updated here again >> and all districts must appoint a uh DEI officer or team. Uh if if adopted these things would be
effective in 2027. So those are the updates uh from the states um just to be mindful of potential changes coming our way but no Um, >> other than the MCCAST portal, everything
else is a little bit more distant. So, we'll try to keep you apprised as we become aware of these changes as well. >> So, anyone have any questions or comments before we move on? >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. >> All right. So, we're on to subcommittee
reports on SLEA. All right. Carrie Matias, Secretary of SLEA. The SLEA would like to thank the school committee and the district for their dedication to contract negotiations for all three units throughout this year. We appreciated their willingness to listen
and hear concerns at the table and effort to meet in the middle and we are excited that all three units have been able to wrap up negotiations at this time pending ratification for unit A on Tuesday. We also want to acknowledge the work of villain level admin across the high school, middle school, and
preschool who have leaned into the work with SLEA leadership on countless occasions throughout the year. And we hope everyone has a restful summer. Thank you. Me, too. Okay. Uh, admin review.
We We met I meant with me. Yeah. Well, Jesse's the chair, so I I guess I can unless you want to speak, Megan. Um, so we met with Jill. Was it last Monday? I think it was last Monday. Recently was recently. >> Yeah. Within the last two weeks, um, we met with Jill to deliver her summitive
evaluation. Um, overall proficient um, I don't have the details in front of me, but um, yeah, we did. >> Yeah, that thank you. Um, okay. CTE. >> No update.
>> No update. Thank you. Legislative agent. >> So, I also would like to thank the three towns for their collaboration with recapturing the debt that was rolling off of the buildings so we could have the Silver Lake stabilization fund dedicated to capital repairs and the
deferred maintenance of our buildings. Um, the state budget currently is in the ethnic. This is probably the most obscure part of the state budget. It's called conference committee and that's where leadership from the House and the Senate come together and we try and reconcile. They're two different
budgets. Uh we don't have much to worry about because the House and the Senate version of the budget treated Silver Lake exactly the same. There's no substantial differences between the two. Um the ninth ending is when the governor signs it. Her signature is basically unimportant. Um cuz the House and the
Senate have the veto proof. um majority at this point. Um moving on to the graduation um council's report that's coming out on the 17th. So it's next Wednesday. It's going to be full court press from the executive
office of education in DESIE uh to promote this um plan. the superintendent association, the school committee association, the mass teachers association, aft mass have all come out with some statements. I was uh
honored to be the author of MESC's position paper that's on our website right now. Um we do support the rigorous courses mass for all students. We are concerned that about 20% students in Massachusetts currently don't graduate
with mass core requirements being met. Um we do app appreciate the provisions for car boats for CT students and late comer students students who may come into our country in 10th or 11th grade still being able to graduate uh under this provision. So we're looking for
that flexibility to be codified um and for full state funding for any district that needs to staff up in order to meet mass core regulations. Um, end of course assessments, MASC stands in stark opposition to this being
level. Um, there's still a nebulous idea of what courses these going to be given in. It's still no idea of how it's going to impact a student's overall grade. Um, and the state hasn't defined how these might be used as accountability measures
for the sake of receiverhip. We still currently have two school districts in Massachusetts in state receiverhip and the state hasn't made it clear how these might be used to help or deny uh districts getting out of state receiverhip.
Um MSC is fully in support of capstone projects we can see in the social studies department what the civics project does at the eighth 11th grade. Um absolutely state give us some guidelines and some guidance but let us implement it and grade it locally. Um
again this might require some funding as well. Uh if we're wanting all students to do this in multiple different grades and disciplines. Um we have to look at staffing. We have to look at scheduling. You know if you've ever built a high school matrix you know it's not easy. So
these are considerations that are not spoken of in the state level report that's coming out next week. They haven't talked about a single penny of how we're going to fund this. They haven't talked about how many staff members going to have to be hired, how much PD is going to need to be given out
to teachers. Um, individual career and academic plans. As superintendent mentioned earlier, this is a very extensive. You sit down with kids. You're supposed to do this actually starting in middle school, but they're talking about starting in 9th grade. What are your career goals? What
do you see yourself doing after after high school? and then tracking with students as they go through their high school career. Are you making strides towards those readjusting schedules looking at coursework? I mean this is talking about a pretty intensive
teacher guidance to school student relationship where again professional development would need to be there. So absolutely MSC is in favor of schools adopting this if they have the capacity, but we don't think it should be um something that holds back a student from
graduating from high school if their school isn't meeting this requirement. Um same thing with um students applying for federal in Massachusetts student aid in school. I I mean I think Steve Pello would be apoplelectic if he
knew we were going to have all these kids bringing in their parents social security number right in their investment portfolio and god if I dropped that paper on the ground um you know right now it's a an opt out model um and you would be more
comfortable if it was an opt-in model right if we can have that support here at school we can guide families through who might be unfamiliar with the process happy to do it but you know definitely not an opt out model. Um, financial literacy. MSC's always been in favor of
financial literacy. Um, kids coming out of high school, not just knowing how to do algebra, but also knowing how to, you know, balance a checkbook, as old school as that might sound, but what is debt? What is an interest rate? Um, you know, what is credit card versus a a bank
loan? How are we going to make sure the kids understand what they're getting themselves into before it's too late, right? But again, the flexibility to do it within curriculum that already exists or at least standalone should be something that a school district should be able to decide on its own. And the seals of distinction markers on you nod
your head and is totally in favor of and some of the ones we were looking at were ones for STEM, one for ROC, you know, work arts. This is along the lines of the skills by literacy which already exists. It's just another way for a kid who's really gone above and beyond to
get a little bit of an accolade at the end of their career. But they added three more items at the last meeting. AI and digital literacy like that that literally landed on the last one. We're all like, "Yeah, this sounds like something we should talk about." Like,
"All right, thanks for being here." Right. And then the the internship and externship for every single graduating senior in Massachusetts. Do we have the capacity within our communities to send every single one of our students out to
do one of these? So, it's pie in the sky and sometimes you need to be idealistic, but the fact that this is being delivered to the governor on Wednesday and the details are still not there. There's not a single dollar of funding for this is absolutely ridiculous at
this point. And to talk about our current sixth and seventh graders being the guinea pigs who are actually going to have to go through these hoops. Um, at this point, I hope for a day, but they want a fist fight and one's coming. So that that's my report on the
graduation council. >> Um, >> tell us what you really think about. >> I I said it publicly. If you want to watch the video that I gave to MSC's membership, it's on our website right now. Um,
yeah, I didn't hold back. Um, I just wanted to talk about budgeting for a little while because we're going to have to really lean into this starting now. I mean, there is no end to budget season, right? Stephanie knows you, those of you who've been here long enough know budget
season never ends. We're starting right now with the FY27 budget, right? And Doug Kate, who is the uh executive director of the Mass Taxpayers Foundation, recently said that all the fair share dollars are going to be gone either next year or the year after.
All of the fair share dollars over $2 billion in revenue are slowly being eroded being absorbed by the operating budget of the state. So all these things that were never supposed to supplant the state budget, they're now supplanting.
They're no longer supplementing, right? So we're going to be in a little bit of trouble when those funds drag up totally. Um, the Fed just recently started some work inside committees and they're already
making cuts to education at the federal level as well. I don't know if it'll actually make it all the way through because the voters back home will give them help this summer when they're doing their little town hall meetings. Um, but it's a scary time right now. We know
Medicaid is being cut back which directly affects school funding. Um, at the end of the day, I don't see that state funding is going to go up dramatically next year, right? So, we know our costs are increasing by more than 2 and 12% on an annual basis right
now in public schools. So, every single one of the towns right now is contemplating putting an override before their taxpayers next year. And that's something that we all need to just digest and understand. Um, I know
Halifax just recently tried to have an override and it did not work out too well for them and that was a bandaid. That was a one-year override just to get them to next year. We need to decide what kind of override as a collective community we're going to
be going for. I know Plenton is talking about doing an override that's more sustainable that would carry us through 3 to 5 years by replenishing some of our funds that we brought for our stabilization. For example, this year we used $800,000
of our stabilization fund just to make our budget work. We have $500,000 left. So even if we wanted to next year go back and use stabilization to supplement, we don't have enough, right? Kingston's in a very similar situation and Halifax's situation is much much
more dire than Halifax and both. So just buckle up and be prepared. At the end of the day, it's the voters of our three communities who are going to have to decide. We're going to have to give them a clear view of the option of this is what our schools look like with an
overhead. This is what our schools look like without an override. And then let them make their decision in their own conscious. So, just be prepared. It's going to be a long year and there's going to be lots of questions and some people might get
heated and my advice to you is just remain kind. Remember why you're there for the kids and they can't vote most of you anyways. So, we have to be their voice. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jason. Um, okay. Negotiations.
>> Well, I have good news. Um we are in agreement with uh support staff in SLA as of today. So those are done and we're thrilled. Um we are still working through with the pair of
professionals. Um and the SLA is just kind of getting underway. So we hope to make good progress on that throughout the summer. >> Thank you. All right. So I'm next um with PAC. Um, so our summary from our
May 7th meeting, which I was fortunate to attend from my car, um, driving up to Vermont to pick up my daughter. Um, so the FY27 budget was approved in the amount of 11 million uh, $52,53.31,
which is a 2% decrease from this year's budget. No significant increases or changes in the budget. Um PAC also wanted entered into the record that the collaborative is cognizant of the pack that many districts are struggling with their own school and town budgets.
Tuition will be increasing by 3% which is in alignment with the recommended 3 to 5 year% yearly increase that educational collaboratives try to adhere to. Um they will be expanding services with Bridgewwater State to offer educational coaching for the BSU Excel
program. Um $142,000 was approved to transfer into the playground funds account for a new playground at Pilgrim Academy being installed this summer with the new lease agreement. Um under policy, we approved the abort uh the review and revisions of
the 4,000 category and 6,000 category series in the policy manual and that's for staff and instruction. um board of directors has now reviewed and revised all sections of the policy manual except the 5000 series which is slated to be reviewed in the fall and that is the
student centered policies. Um the student handbook was approved. We presented the treasurer's evaluation and the treasurer gave updates on enrollment and the wants right into the record. So that is it for pack and on to well I will answer questions if anyone has had
that info down. Thank you for your work. >> It's a school committee onto itself. >> It really is. It's like a second full school committee meeting with its own >> subcommittee. I've had to be it's it's a lot but it's rewarding. It's very rewarding. Um all right. So policy
>> hopefully for the last time ever I'm going to say I have no report. >> Okay. Um on to the regionalization study. I'm not sure who's supposed to give out the report. Jean was supposed to be he was our representative
>> but um Dr. >> Dr. Crew okay and I do have a little note from Mark too that I believe >> Sure. The Collins Center cancelled our last meeting. Um Stephanie has forwarded the uh approved budgets to um our
liaison from the Collins Center now that they've all been approved and we're we'll wait to we're hoping that they can begin the financial component of this study as well. They have been conducting interviews.
>> Thank you. Um, and we are in need of a new Silver Lake rep to the regionalization study committee. So, >> I'd like to ask what time that anybody knows what what's involved with consider volunteering.
>> Generally one meeting a month and uh they tend to send us a meeting invite online. >> Anybody else want to do it? I'm quite open. I I definitely came with Pat too. >> Yeah.
>> Um >> I've been around for enough time to watch this region since then for the last well most of the last 20 years. So, I just assume uh chime in and just see where they're at and represent this
committee forward to see if we have uh information going forward, you know, with that experience. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Mark. >> On you. >> Um, do we need to did we vote Genie in or was it just like more of an informal?
Okay. Well, thank you, Mark. You're >> welcome. >> Okay. And um >> Anybody else wants to go? Let me know. that you >> uh safer. >> Okay. So, um I found my notes. Awesome.
From Michael. Um and and we did uh we briefly discussed the the school zone out here in the city um side. There were some tweaks made by the administration and the uh police chief on the timing and some of that that it at some point was was was long enough that people were
ignoring the speed because uh it it was inappropriate for them. So they are still working on some of that and we appreciate that. Um but um one of the couple of the other items that uh other than the rooftop unit that Jason uh labels that uh there was uh an interest
in moving forward with any leftover money on the garage door that's on the back of the building. Um to complete the set of three so that they would all match. We wait too long find that one discontinued going to have sort of a funny looking back of the building. Um
so that was like 123,000 estimate last time. Um and we have other rooftop units that are of concern. Um but um we're going to try some some fixes on those. And then the the last uh
athletic fields that we're doing our best, but the cost materials has really uh gone through the roof on that and several other items that they were short a couple of ability to to keep up the athletic fields. They're trying to keep
them up in the best. Um, we were asked by the staff to to consider how we structured our user fees which we'll be dealing with our next meeting will be on October 27. That's all we got. >> Thank you. Any questions for Mark?
>> Okay. Coming down to the wire. >> You mentioned uh just again how much money Mike's team saved us. Oh. Um, I know we said it earlier, but >> he has he has he has a couple uh 14,000
on this job, 8,000, 5,000 there, but the potential savings is 136,000. So, he estimates to be able to say with the house they're doing on this year. Um, so we can put that towards other meaningful things as we go through um
through the year. But, you know, unexplained $25,000 be traded over an AC unit that up pretty fast. >> Crazy what it costs. >> I know. >> Thank you. >> Oh, thank you, Mark. Um, any other questions for Mark?
>> Okay. Union 31. >> No meeting. >> No meeting. All right. Other matters unforeseen at the time of posting? None. Okay. I think we're ready to wrap this up, folks. I will welcome a motion to adjurnn.
>> So >> second. >> All right. All in favor? >> Yes.