[Music] Ready? [Music] All right. I will call us to order with a roll call. Um Jason >> here. Lucas >> here. >> Mark >> here. >> Megan
>> here. >> Jean >> here. >> Jen >> here. >> Mark >> here. >> Amy >> here. >> Here. Excellent. >> All right. This meeting is being recorded. Anyone intending to make an audio video recording beyond that which
is already being done, um, please notify me at this time. And with that, do we have any commentary from the visitors or the public? Okay. Good. Um, I need a motion to
adjourn to executive section to return. We can discuss I will make a motion that we adjourn to executive session mass general law chapter 30 A section 213 to conduct strategy with respect to collective
bargaining with the SLA support staff and to act under the authority of special law to approve executive session minutes of June 5th 2025 and August 11th 2025 and to return to open session >> second um
we're Do I need to roll call this? >> Yes, sir. >> All right, German to come back with a roll call. Jason, >> yes. >> Lucas, >> yes. >> Mark, >> yes. >> Megan, >> yes. >> Jean, >> yes. >> Jen, >> yes. >> Mark, yes. Amy, >> yes. >> Yes.
>> We have we do have some school correspondents. I would like to read aloud. Um, this is dated October 8th of 2025. Dear school committee members, we would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to you for allowing the stone memorializing John
Montosi who placed on the high school campus. We are very grateful to you. Shout outs to high school athletic director Swanson director of facilities Mike Law and John Bernett and his students support cultural department. Everyone's cooperation and contributions
to help with this endeavor accomplished was overwhelming with a display of silver light pride. Coach Mtosi and his top team and this was a true was truly a team effort. Sincerely supporters of John Mtos.
Thanks for that. Jason, do you want to hold off and talk about this memo during your legislative update? I I will defer to the chair. Okay, that's the uh
memo in reference to um with that we will proceed to the consent agenda. For those who um might not be aware or who've not been in attendance before, consent agenda is a handful of limited items that are generally non-controversial. They're
reviewed ahead of time and put together into um one block to be voted on. Um without much further discussion, it is possible for members of the committee to move that uh something come out of the agenda if they wish to discuss it or
wish to debate it or might have a contrary opinion. So um right now before seeking a move, I'll see if anybody has any uh anything on the consent agenda that they might object to or might want to discuss. And the items on the consent
agenda are the approval of minutes for September 11, 2025, the approval of warrants, the approval of financial report, and approval of grants, donations, and awards, including a D device from Scholastic Sports Zone Foundation.
Okay, seeing no discussion, I'll need a motion then to advance the consent agenda. Motion to approve the consent agenda is presented. >> Second. All right. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? >> I opposed.
Excellent. All right. Um, so new business. Um, we have policy fea and would you like to?
>> Sure. Um, so the policy IKF is our competency determination for our graduates. It's a policy that's in our district manual. It's also listed in our program of study. So, it's a little bit of a two for tonight. So, in the shared drive, you'll see both of those
documents. The language is the same. The very colorful one is the one that I'm referring to right now. It shows the language that we're looking to strike and then the language in red that we're looking to add. Um, and so it's really I think it starts on page three of that
handout. The information before is what you would see in the program of studies leading up to the CD language. Um, and this is because as you know MCAST is no longer required as a high school graduation requirement and so we needed to update this language. Um, that is the
major change. Um, the the removal of that as a requirement. Um, but then we're also expanding the categories of coursework that students would need to demonstrate proficiency in. So, it would expand beyond ELA and math to include science and history courses as well. Um,
in addition to these two documents, there's also a copy of the slides from the webinar that I attended this se this summer and then just I typed up notes from that to kind of like highlight the things that districts are required to put into their new CD to then be approved by their school committees and
then be submitted to the state. Um, the other notable additions that we have are what I like to refer to as on-ramps for students. Um, especially students who might have an IEP reels or students who transfer into the district who may not
have taken the same types of courses, especially if they're transferring from a school that may have been out of state. Um, and so these different onamp grants or pathways just sort of are laid out to students to work with administration on different approvals and different ways to determine that
they still meet that competency and can earn their high school diploma. Um, the language also has some new written policy and steps for appeals. um an appeal for either a student who maybe doesn't meet the CD requirement that would go to um the assistant
superintendent or I and then also a provision for former students who may not have received their diplomas because of that impass requirement. They can now appeal for their diploma and then we would sort of review that and make a determination
um and then with hopes we would issue their their diploma. One sort of point to to make those that the diploma would not be retroactive. So it wouldn't be for the year that they had anticipated they'd be graduating. It would be for the year that they're writing that appeal and that request to us. So if we
got one now, they would get it for the, you know, they would be considered a 2025 graduate, for example. Um, so I know there's a lot of language in there, but it is again it's supposed to be all-encompassing so that our students have multiple pathways to determine that competency in order to earn their um,
high school diploma. >> Miss, how do you propose that this is going to be rolled out to students? Um, like I know that obviously many of them are well aware that the MCCAST requirement was withdrawn. Um, but how, especially for a child that may not be an academic learner for them to now
follow a process if they're not doing well academically or how do we propose that? >> I would say to be completely honest, most kids are not going to be impacted one way or the other by this. They're not going to know any difference. Um, it would really be a case by case basis where if there's a student who academically isn't isn't meeting their
requirements, those are conversations the guidance counselor is already going to be having with parents and that student. and then we're going to book it. Do you fall into one of these categories and what is your pathway going to be? And it's really going to be catered to that individual learner. But in terms of like the general public, if you will, I don't think it would be a
glamorous like, hey, here's the new CV requirement for you. Um, because we still have those local graduation requirements that are changing. >> May I just ask one followup with that? Would there be any downside if these were not presented to the state? Would we not be? >> Yeah, we as a district are required to
submit our CD by December 31st. >> Okay. >> Um, am I looking at the right document? It has the top learning experiences and the law enforcement and so forth.
>> That's Yeah, that's different. >> There's a whole packet. >> It's It's in our online So we would need your vote and approval to make these changes and then we submit it to the state for final.
>> Motion to approve the local controlled competency determination as presented by principal Gil. >> Second. >> Any further discussion? Seeing none. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed?
[Music] Okay. >> Thank you. And I want a special thanks to our um our coordinators, our special ed director, Dr. Clifford, everybody who had in making sure that we were covering all of our students and all the different pathways for
the team. >> All right, somebody here has a volleyball discussion. >> Yes, >> I will take that one as well. I'm here with members of our boys volleyball team. Um our AD, Mr. Swanson, had to run back over to the school. We have a girls
soccer game that's taking place right now where our future Lakers are there. So, we're we're trying to juggle a lot of things right now. Um, but believe it or not, it's been 3 years since Brady, Joey, and Zach sat before us and presented um their request for a boys
volleyball team for our district policy and for MIAA. They sat here and talked about the interests and the number of people that could field the team. Um, Markeel was here at the time as a booster parent. Um, and they laid out a plan to be able to financially support
that team on their own for three years. And believe it or not, this is year three. So, um, spring of 2026 will be year three of them fully self-funding this program at our school. And so, now our next step is to request, um,
permission or approval from the school committee to be able to add spring boys, not basketball, volleyball. um to our operating budget. Mr. Swanson typed up um a summary of what that that annual cost is and what that impact would be in
our budget. And the the team is here tonight if you have any questions for them about the program. But I regardless of what the outcome is, I think a round of applause for these guys program for our school. So if I can answer the financial technical
questions, they can answer the the fun questions. >> You know, they attended here last year. I officially made them an MIA. >> Yep. And they went from being JV to varsity and they're seniors now and they've got quite a legacy to leave behind. So
>> So I was a member of the committee that approved the boys moving forward and establishing their own team. My question is purely financial. I support you guys and hope to see you become one of our officially funded varsity sports here.
Um, are we talking about for this spring in the current budget or for next year >> next at 27? >> So to be included in our budget proposals that deliberate >> Yeah, I have no no issue with that. >> These moms are
junior parents. Well, I give you even more credit for that that you're doing it for the next generation, not necessarily your own kids. And really appreciate that, too. >> Um, I was actually not here that night. I was in the haunted house volunteering um the night that they approved um you
guys as a team. Um, but I think that it's wonderful that you guys have self-funded for a couple of years. And I think it's um inspiring for other athletes in the building that would like to start a program um that you guys persevered through some challenging um
conversations. I know that it started because you couldn't play on the team in the fall. Um so I commend you guys for um going through all the steps and for doing everything that you needed to do to play for the last couple of years and um I wish you guys very much success
this year and I hope that this passes for the future years. I was here, but I wasn't. I'm sitting back there over there as part of the mob. Um, and the same thing. I mean, it's been nothing but impressive. Um, you got through your second year, I
think, which is I think the second year is the hardest. I think the only thing it's not not that you haven't done enough that you could ask coach to do is get more involved in a middle school program to keep building the program because we all know that boys volleyball is probably the third fastest growing
sport right now. Um I think there's going to be a lot of interest especially if you guys can help generate it. But fantastic. >> I know they work a lot with Mariah who runs the middle school program to get some kids involved and whatnot. We do have enough freshman that's going to
play this year and all that. So they even um inspired some of their friends that go to Lauren themselves to start a boys volleyball team there too and they help them work with that. a lot of people and to go from one price bracket being
in the JV program and to overcome that and financially and to raise that money. >> It was like yeah and we did it. So we do it again this year. There it is.
>> Okay. I'm going to make a motion that beginning fiscal year 2027, the boys volleyball program will be funded through the operating budget. >> Second. >> Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? Hi.
>> Congratulations y'all. You raising your angel investment in another few years for all right. Let's go to [Music] Thank you. >> Thank you. >> CT
this is >> Ty. Thanks for your time. Um this is a followup to a discussion that took place last month and uh this is a a required step again for us in the process of u meeting desi um deadlines to submit
revised admissions policies based on everything we are aware is going on in the state. Um there were shared with you two documents and so um I'll I'll just summarize really quickly. Um there's a middle school document and a high school admissions document. Uh both were done
in conjunction with our um principles. So we've all reviewed them together before they're in front of you. Um it's the the middle school document that would be um really new and again the starting point is all schools that have weight lists for admissions are um are
writing these documents. um they're written both with um referencing the the state guidelines that have been put out for us as well as using a model template that all schools are using really to format their documents. And I would tell you that for the most part, our high
school admissions policy really looks very similar to what it looked like in the past. So if you even um put your eyes on it and it looked familiar to you, it really represents a similar looking document to what we used previously. Uh the middle school document, it's called the middle school
pathway exploration policy. Um those are really just focused on ensuring that middle schools are promoting um 4-year career track CTE programs to their students and that students have access to that information. So um for us that
was relatively straightforward and simple because we are doing those things. We have a real um awesome advantage that we are, you know, one school system um on the same campus and our eighth grade kids have always had access to our programs through our presentations and tours and open houses
and um we're always welcomed in to do those things and that's what they're looking for you to document. So, um it's a policy that primarily um states the events that you do to host um the CTE program at the middle school, which what
your collaboration looks like between the middle school and high school. Um and again, those are all things that were really already in place. It's just documented under that policy. The second document is the high school um admissions document that the state
now calls the chapter 74 recruitment admission and retention policy. Again, the BS look very similar to what it did in the past. The big uh change obviously is eliminating um the evaluation criteria that we previously used um
rather than the lottery direction that everybody is moving. Um, our lottery language is there. Um, I can I can read that paragraph if you want me to specifically or um, if you've looked at it, you know it's there. Um, it just
puts some specifics to um, how it's public and advertised that kind of thing. Um, it does also change um, meeting a a state requirement, our admissions deadline, um, which would now be March 1st rather than April 1st. So, it bumps the process up a little bit.
Um, happy to answer any questions, but um that's that's that's what it is. Yeah, it it looks like Elliot did a great job following the guidelines and the regulations put forth by the state and uh the recommendations from the CTE
subcommittee at our last meeting. I'm very pleased to see how the documents turned out. Um totally in favor of passing them was presented by Elliot. Make that as a motion. >> Second. Um, just before we vote, this is sort of connected, maybe sort of not.
Um, I believe is about to vote to try to start their own vote, which I assume has everything to do with lack of space in cars. Um, do we see any worries or concerns um about them going that
direction? Um, are we projecting happy full enrollment? So there's a lot of history to that discussion in this room with our school committee over the years um with the chapro. Um it is a response obviously to them not having seats anywhere anymore
which primarily was here with us. Um if we went back 5 years ago we had you know 40 students that were tuition didn't participate. So, um, as as we made a real conscious choice to prioritize, um, in district students over out of
district students, um, that's that's the state, you know, guidance as well at this point. Um, that's the the new policy in three different places stays at, you know, that that's the case. Um, our numbers are really so way over where our, you know, enrollment allows in
grade nine. and we would have a long way to go in the opposite direction before we'd be looking at tuitioning students in. Um we we did learn, you know, at the time a few years ago when we had a discussion with the city that it was allowable for us to consider a seat
allocation within our admissions policy that would, you know, portion seats for the town of Pembroke. So if you wanted to set 10 seats aside, you know, that we would have the ability legally to do that. Um we did discuss that and school committee at the time decided that um we
didn't want to we wanted to prioritize the seats for um so like residents and so the town of Pero's option right now is to try to buy into Southshore Tech which the town of Marshfield recently did. It comes at a really high buyin
cost. Um the school's also being rebuilt. So they have a few steps really for that to come to fruition both um in the fall and town meeting and the spring um as a ballot book. So okay. >> Yeah.
>> Good. All right. Any further discussion? >> Can I just ask one question? Is since there's so many kids now that are wanting into the CT program, which I think is phenomenal. I love it. Is there any like disciplinary thing put in place for a student who is actually in the CT
program and like continues to miss that class or show up late or you know like if they've missed you know 10 classes of the CT or something it just my thing is about accountability and if there's other kids
that are really wanting into this program we have someone that's in there that just isn't doing their 100% Is there anything in line that disciplines that student? >> So the same disciplinary procedures you know apply to all of our kids. I think
at the high school um we've never looked um you know to exit students courses from a disciplinary standpoint in that way. there's ways that kids are addressed obviously to be held accountable for some of the things that
you're talking about that don't involve you know being removed from the program as much as I like to even talk about it as a privilege right that a student's in CTE based on those numbers we it's not from a disciplinary standpoint we can't always um >> you know have that play out in in the
way that you're talking about with the student I don't know if Michael would say that differently >> yeah right I mean it's anary course right so there's a separate academics. However, there are certain safety infractions that if violated, we do have language that a student would be removed from that program. So,
>> yeah, there are I mean, there are some things that elevate quicker for a kid that's in in CTE from a disciplinary standpoint based on the endless safety piece, but >> I'll do it. >> Yeah. I mean, we're still trying to get as many kids obviously the ability to participate as possible. conversation
around growth and seats is one that we I think should continue to have because we put a lot of you know a lot of effort and work into that direction. So tough budget year I know and so I think to some extent we've tabled some of that.
We talked at the last CTE subcommittee meeting about that a little bit, but I think it it obviously should squarely continue to be on the table for us and we'll have to wait and see what the numbers look like when we have a lot. You know, does that change our interest for some reason? I'm not sure. I guess
we have to see what that looks like. Um, but >> yeah. Okay, >> Gordon. Thanks. ask I guess um I know we talk a lot about the 15 seats per program. Is that the statewide
regulation for the CTE programs or is that because of the size of our um classrooms? And I guess I know it sounds like obvious, but have we considered maybe adding a 16th or 17th seat to some of the classrooms that could handle it or is that something that
>> Yeah, there's their state recommended uh teacher >> ratio those programs. You know, early education has a a 20 to1. So we do, you know, when we can squeeze more kids into that program. Um, and then based on off-site work, there's even a different,
you know, teacher to student ratio in a on a construction site or um, in a clinical setting. So, there's >> Yeah, I mean there's there's a reason why we're on 15 to1 generally when we place kids. >> Understood. Thank you.
>> Yeah. Just going to take advantage that we have a letter here. I have a question to administration. Are we planning still planning to open a additional city program because couple years passed and the the subject is we're not talk we not
talking about this anymore. So I would like to ask what what what is the plans for the administration? Are we going to open it and if yes how many years it's going to take and when we could open >> a funding issue. >> Yeah. So, um there's a lot of folks involved in that decision making when it
comes to the budgetary um responsibilities that go along with that. So, I think you know that we were um fully prepared to secure as much grant funding as we could through our Perkins allocation to help get the marketing program um off the ground that
we were targeting over the last two years. and as the budget process played out, supporting a teaching salary wasn't in the cards. So, um that's, you know, I guess that would continue
just to be a reality in our discussions as we prioritize um salary in the budget. Any further discussion? All right, we'll vote on the motion. All in favor?
>> I opposed. Passes. Thank you. Thanks, Elliot. >> Jason, you're up next. So, I just wanted to ask if anybody would like to be the
delegate for Silver Lake to the MASC delegate assembly. It'll be happening on November 14th at 3:15 in the afternoon. It's the same evening that Jane will be getting her award for um the division 3 school committee member of the year
allstar. Um there's not a lot no um schools really dug into putting in resolutions for us to consider except for one on removing body mass index from students um records like not being responsible for that at the school level
anymore. Um and uh there's wide consensus right now that school committes across Massachusetts want to move forward on eliminating that as one of the things that we do as public schools. Um the other aspect of being a delegate would just be the business of um the association, looking at our
fiscal situation, approving new officers moving forward and um reauthorizing some sun setting provisions which do include these special ed stabilization fund and the regional school stabilization funds. Um but there's a good chance those might
pass this legislative cycle anyways. If anybody would like to join me down cave, I'll be there anyway. I have to MC the event. That's why I can't be your voting delegate. >> I'd love to do it. If nobody else minds, I I love going. It's great PD. >> Awesome.
>> I will nominate Amy. I'll second that. Awesome. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor. >> Thank you, Amy. >> Thank you for your dinner.
representation. >> All right, Liz, for you. >> Great. Thank you. Um, I have for you um the SR O for your consideration. There are no substantive language changes, just date
changes. And I'm asking for your approval to sign on behalf on behalf of Dr. G. Um and also looking for >> motion to accept and sign on behalf of Dr. P. >> Second. >> Any further discussion? Seeing none, all
in favor? >> Any opposed? >> All right. You the next two things. We also have an additional MOA for your consideration and vote on the is supporting the business office uh in
need of accounting support for um up to 2 hours a week while um Sari is going to be sorry excuse me Kenny our accountant is out um just from a practical standpoint we can't have someone be
doing the banking and the accounting um in the capacity of the LTS So we looked to support that through our current administrative assistance. Um so that asks for your support um to have support.
So, um, our our accountant as of 4:00 this afternoon is at our long-term leave. We've hired a long-term sub account to fill that position. And when we were searching for a long-term sub
accountant, I wasn't extremely comfortable having somebody coming in and saying, "Here's access to all of our bank accounts." And so we um determined that it would be better if we
had somebody who worked for us in house that could do this work. And so put together a position that went out to all staff um to for this 2 hours a week or up to two hours a week position um and
received some excellent applicants. Yes. Are there financial implications to this? >> Yes. >> Can they be absorbed within the budget? >> No. >> You name the budget as voted last March. No.
>> How will we >> make a would like to go out of order on on my uh report. Um additional minimum aid discussion and vote. >> Okay.
>> Gordon, please. So that >> clarify. >> I'll make a motion that we take Sarah's um additional aid out of order. Please second. >> Um all in favor proceed. Thank you. I had put a memo in the school committee folder about
additional minimum explaining that um the numbers that we used for the budget for revenue from the governor's budget from January were different than what the actual
numbers were that came in. So, um, the additional minimum aid for Silver Lake is $129,899. In the memo that I put in your uh, school committee packets, I have a
proposal of how I would like to um, use that additional money. Um, our maintenance director is going to be going out on a long-term leave and we currently only have one wastewater
treatment plant operator on staff, which is the maintenance director. And I would like to use $30,000 to contract with the company to be our wastewater treatment plant operators and then the maintenance director could
be the backup to that. Um, next on the list, uh, $50,000. We found out last week that the heat recovery deal in the wastewater treatment plant is is malfunctioning.
And we this was discovered because our our heat bill for the wastewater treatment plant was a 700% increase in FY2 September of FY25 over September of 24 September of 2024
and uh that caused me to investigate and that's when it was found that the heat um recovery wheel was not functioning. There's a cost of $50,000 to fix that. We keep the system um was in the
facility condition for complete replacement. The complete replacement of that unit is $260,000. So, this would just repair the existing unit so that it works. We are paying for a long-term sub
accountant to cover the accountants leave from October to December at a cost of $12,600. I would like to use the additional minimum paid for that. Um, I would request to keep our long-term sub
accountant on from January to June to hopefully uh alleviate some of the problems we've been having in the business office with making deadlines. And then the balance of the money, um the $11,49
I would like to use to restore some cuts to supplies that the middle school and high school made back in December before we brought the original um budget to you in January. So to answer your question,
did we have the money in March? No. Do we have the money now? Yes. and you answered the question wonderfully, but also set up my major concern. So, we used $1.25
million from EMD for our operating budget just to get through this year without having to make any major cuts to programs or staff. When we made that vote, I made a pledge that I would go to the state and try and
get as much more aid as possible sent to us so it could help replenish EMD. Because if you look at our budget, $250,000 is half a percent. >> So just to pay back, not to get to level service, but to get to level funded for
next year, we have to find 2 and a half%. Right? I don't know what END is going to replenish to. I don't know how we got so much in END last year. It still isn't quite clear how we had
the 5% plus fully funded. I hope to God when we end up in spring, we'll have a fully funed END again, but I am not counting on it. So, if we use this money now, it will alleviate some issues that we definitely have. There is no doubt. But it's almost a double
whammy because we're increasing the budget by $130,000. Plus, we're also losing the ability to backfill $130,000 into END that we could use for next year's operating budget. So, it's like another
half a percent. So, we're going to have to come up with 3% just to be level funded, not even level service. Just it concerns me. I'm not saying that Sarah is not correct and the need is not there. I would challenge buildings and
grounds to find money from within the capital plan to deal with the $8,000 that's happening between personnel and the the wheel over in the wastewater treatment plan for us to to think of other creative ways. I won't stand in the way of the
committee's vote and decision. I will support whatever you come up with, but we're in we're in a financial pickle. I know we also have operation issues as well. We have to decide how we want to go from there. But the use of that EMD last year, we did say we would use any
additional state revenues to offset the draw from EMD. >> Sarah, could you discuss a little bit of the uh deadlines that we're struggling with? I I I'm interpreting the uh accountant
to 12,600 that's absolutely required 12,600 somehow um because we have to have long-term sub 262 as uh an attempt to get back up on top
of things. Could you describe those? So the the accountant is is out on a long-term I believe and we had to post for that and we hired a very confident
candidate who actually started and had some overlap because there was a considerable amount of information that had to be learned in order to be able to essentially come in tomorrow morning and fill some very big shoes. Um,
so we have a commitment uh from this long-term sub accountant to work until the end of December. >> And so that's what the 12,600 is is.
>> Do we expect our regular accountant back in January, but we're looking to have an additional accountant in order to get back up on top of this? >> Yes. >> Okay. So that being said, could you describe the things that you want to get back up on top of and some of the risks
and consequences that presently? >> Okay. Um, we have not closed out cash for FY25 yet, which means I haven't been able to start my end of year report. And by not
closing out cash, I specifically mean that the balance of our accounts in our financial system don't match with the balance of our accounts in the bank. This is something that has been worked on
since July 1st. Haven't we gotten a resolution to it yet? our auditor is uh assisting us with this um but we can't really move forward. So if we haven't closed out cash and I
can't do my end of year reports, it means we also can't submit E and D. It means we also can't have our audit and our audit being late is causing some significant problems for us. you're uh aware or should be aware that one of the
first tasks I did when I started here in January of 2024, I wrote the corrective action plan for the FY22 audit. The FY22 audit was due in March of 2023. Um uh well before I even applied for
this job. So the business office has been playing catchup. But what happens is when there are things that when things are going smoothly, it's great. But when there's little issues that come
up, it's time to check and double check and triple check. And so it's it's hit things as you can. And we're we're operating in a reactive fashion, not a proactive fashion. And it is causing
problems for us. Would you describe those problems a little bit more? >> So, if we can take other parts of my report out of order, we I put a letter in your um packet about
Mooney is the Moon Investor Services is our essentially our credit agency. They they are uh they determine creditworthiness and we have a credit well we had a
credit rating from Moody's. Moody's dropped our credit rating in September for a lack of information. That lack of information was they didn't have our FY24 audit. Um the FY24 audit was
finished in September and submitted to Moody's and last week we went through uh what is called a ratings call where Moody's asked a series of questions and um they met today and told me that they
will be um they will be sending me an email tomorrow between 11 and funded stating the results of their meeting today uh to whether uh whether they will reinstate our rating. Now, specifically, this is
our credit rating. So, one of the first questions they asked was um do you expect to borrow at any rate? So, no one is going to lend anything to Silver Lake without some sort of credit rating. This
is this is a result of us not being able to get things submitted on time. So, I wanted I wanted to be sure that um Sarah could get all that discussion out. Um, this connects back to the discussion
that she had had to try to increase headcount in the um, office in order to deal with the um, backlog of odd material and other things like that. Um, obviously it's an even restrained position having somebody
go off on long-term leave. Um and um you know obviously we made the decision for not increasing the head count to budgetary constraints. Um Jason has done right in terms of what our um
what our budgetary challenges are meant to be. So you're in a very rock and a hard place um position with this discussion on the minimum I think uh the 126
has to be done because we can't not have an accountant and we can't part of what we're preventing there is having um if we don't have that person we have to spot on the same person who cannot be
without auditing management accounts. We just can't do that. >> We we actually don't have anybody for those duties to follow. So um so that I think at very minimum
has to be done. Um the rest of the stuff you know escalates in priority. Um when we talk about the um heat bill being 700% what what's the actual dollar difference?
>> I don't have that information. I'm sorry. >> So the uh heat recovery uh issue was actually discovered by one of our accountants in the admin process and noticed the 70% increase in the energy cost due to this failed recovery bill
which we didn't know was failed. The way we found it is from the forensic analysis of accounting data, which I really want to commend the staff finding some something like that. Could have gone, okay, we got a bill and we pay the bill as fast as I can. This um uh the
administrative support I think is something we've got to address. Um and I share Jason's let's put it back in END, but END is what funded the capital play. So, it's almost like they're putting it back in so they can
take it back out. Um, in particular, um, the the recovery wheel situation is is a 20% cost to repair an item that would normally cost $260,000. And I think it's something that um we we
the facilities director thinks is important to get addressed as soon as we can so we can stop wasting the the money. Um, I I think it's something we should fund. The 30,000 for the contract. We need to be careful on the contracts when when
people contract out their wastewater treatment plants to be repaired. Um, you we need to pick not necessarily a firm, but um an individual. There's some individuals that are retired that are willing to go forward with this. Either way, it's probably going to cost about the same amount. You need to have a
wastewater treatment plant operator to maintain your plant correctly. We've had problems in the past. Um, Michael got involved. We had some corrective action. We have a pledge from the Kingston Wastewater uh department to assist us in
monitoring our wastewater treatment plant um and try to help us uh find somebody to take a look at it. So, I would before we go out and just randomly pick a contractor and put that out to bid, I'd like to have further discussion
um with the staff on trying to find somebody that can do it that's going to maintain it like it was theirs versus uh a number because these companies typically come in and maintain your plant at minimum standards and then when they their contract's over, you've got a lot of repairs to do. So, we just got to
watch that. Um, I support uh funding the top four items. Um, the supply cuts from round one, I think, uh, I I don't necessarily feel comfortable going forward if we were able to uh,
survive them at this point. But I also want to thank Sarah for bringing to us an expense, but also bringing to us a funding source because a lot of times we get these and we have to come up with our own funding sources. Um I I personally can support uh 2,
three and four. Uh as written and on item one, I would like to see some discussion on how we solve that problem of uh covering the the contract while our wastewater treatment plant operator is not available. And I I can't yet support
the fifth one without further discussion. Thank you. um on the the $30,000 that when that contract needed. >> So we used to have two licensed wastewater treatment plant operators on
staff. One of them um resigned. So we currently only have So it it was a >> we need the we need the somebody doing something about it as soon as reasonable >> because we're now >> when did they resign and why wasn't that
money allocated for that position still >> it was a it was a stipended position for a custodian >> and it has been posted since that position wasn't posted. So it should have already been allocated in the budget then right?
>> Well as well think about it from this perspective as a statement position that we paid someone as part of their duties. So yes, budget for but when to Mark's point when we go outside and contract sounds like any other contract I think
the $30,000 is a estimate but to Mark's point it's a very um >> the lure itself and finding people who are able to do it if we were to pay an individual in conversation with the disabilities um it could likely be that
much whether you contract this person or a company >> and we do have the opportunity uh I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman, but we do have the opportunity to approach Kingston who operates a wastewater treatment plant and see if we can get a stipen person from that
bank of people that are outqualified as a suggestion. Thank you. Still going to cost money, Mark. Um a question on the accountant from January to June. That's in addition
to the person who will be coming back. Correct. >> Yes. >> Do we expect that is that enough time and enough effort to get us out of the hole and do we need to then budget for that person again next year or is this a
we're done in June and we go back to normal? >> I would love to confidently say to you that's enough to get us out of the hole. But one of the things that I find is, you know, on a regular basis, I find deeper holes. So it can make a dent in
where the district needs to be. >> So is there >> but I can't with 100% confidence say to you our FY25 audit is going to be complete by the March 31st, you know, audited by the March 31st deadline given
that we haven't closed FY25. our our auditors have said consistently that we are understaffed in this area that it is a risk and that we should have at least one. So it was a consistent ask from the administration that they brought to us. I would say at
least two years running um we declined because of budget reasons. >> Yeah. It it even precedes Sarah in the position. So it would be >> so theoretically voting on this but in theory we're >> we're extending it forever.
>> Well >> no I mean if we vote this is additional help for the period of time. We still have to do it through a budget process that is going to start in the next two meetings >> um in which we look at all horrors that
Jason just articulated. >> Yeah. um if there's any way to fit that additional person for you know permanently we would love to be able to do that. it just becomes extremely difficult to make an argument like that when you're also talking about one
teaching staff and that's just like to quickly add though that we are running an administrative and and business department without backup training without cross trainining but when people go out because we simply
don't have time to train people we have people working under salary that are working well in excess as 40 hours a week, dedicated dedicated staff, but we've asked our staff to to go above and beyond. And I think it's time that we really have to look at how our
departments organized and maybe get a little few efficiencies, but also look at the staffing. Um, we're very very lucky to have the people we have working for us that are willing to do that outside of the mall 40 hours a week. And um, I think we need to really look at this in the next budget. We have
definitely been fing a certain amount of risk and some of that risk is coming home. Getting you know a having your brains decommissioned is negative and that is a
direct result of not being able to get our eyes done on time which we have consistently not been able to do for years now. So this is there's nothing easy about this. Um
this is there there are downsides and risks to either way that um Sarah has asked for a motion to >> this this started with the MOA for the
long-term sub. I I wanted to mention that there has to be a separation of duties in the business office. There's the treasurer. The treasurer has access to bank accounts and moves money but
doesn't have access to the financial system. The accountant and and the rest of the business office and I have access to the financial system and can spend money. And it is the relationship with
the bank from the business office that is missing now that the long that the accountant is out. And so the specific tasks this 2 hours a week that we estimated is uploading the document
uploading the files to the bank so that the bank can pay payroll. downloading um checks so that the checks can be reconciled uh transferring AC uh deposits out and
in. So this this is something that our treasurer could not do. Um, I spoke to Mark about this two months ago, wondering if he could have then realized through a conversation with our um, our attorney that it wasn't appropriate for
the treasurer because this is money going out and the treasurer just moves money between accounts. So if >> I was fired before. >> So So right now in Silver Lake there is one person that has been trained by the
accounting to to upload the payroll so everybody gets a paycheck on Tuesday. >> Can I just ask a question? So the accountant, just to clarify, would they only work on Silver Lake related business or would there be any
elementary business included in that 2 hours? So is there a follow-up question to that? If the answer is yes, >> so there's two positions. There's the long-term sub accountant which is working who works will work on all four districts.
>> Okay. The long-term sub accountant banking assistant will only be working on Silver Lake. >> So that's the the 26. >> No, >> no, the banking assistant is the 2 hours at max per week,
>> right? That's the 126 plus 12 to 6. Yes. 26 >> which which I estimate will be about $1,000. And you don't see it individually. Okay. >> I guess my followup is there going to be additional asks to the elementary
committees to supplement any of this cost? >> Like is there more money that >> needs to be paid? >> Needs to be paid, right? That >> would be asked to the elementary committees >> or is this the total cost? >> This is the total cost here. I hadn't
thought about asking the elementary committees. >> Let's do that. The elementary committees don't have the authority to allocate those funds. That would be a town-based decision because they hold the funds for the school department. Is it different for us cuz we're our own
municipality. >> Okay. Um, I would like to see in writing from Russ a finding on the CMR that allows adjustments of budgets after voted by
town meeting. The MGL is silent on the matter of increasing the budget without increasing the assessments, but the CMR is a little bit more confusing in the language that the towns would have up to 45 days to
challenge with a special town meeting. So, I just want to hear from Russ. Does that mean that we have to wait if you guys decide to vote yes tonight 45 days to utilize those funds be or
if no challenge is raised and the towns give consent and it doesn't raise their assessments if we can utilize those funds directly after the vote tonight. I would like a finding in writing by Russ before we do anything regardless of the vote tonight.
>> We would like a finding from Russ concerns me before we do when you say before we do anything. >> Let's say you guys vote yes tonight. >> Let's say at a bare minimum we vote the 12. >> Yes. If you're going to utilize and
increase the overall budget for Silver Lake Regional Schools today, I want in writing from Russ that we are allowed to do this immediately or do we have to wait 45 days per the code of Massachusetts regulation. Just because it's it's somewhat vague on
the difference between raising an assessment of an individual town and raising the budget. It does speak to it in the CMR. It does not speak to it in the NGO. May I just ask a point of clarification which I believe has to do with this. Are we talking about raising the budget or are
we talking about allocating >> your leases outside the budget? >> Right. I I understand that it's outside the budget, but what I'm I guess the difference that I'm confused about is when we're talking about level funded for next year level service, are we going to be including this $129,000 that
we were not anticipating until Moody sent you a letter? >> Right then. I'm with Jason on this that I don't want to do something that's going to like for Kingston. Our town meeting is next week. They're not going to call an additional town meeting to to cover this. Meaning Kingston's hands are
going to be tied. >> There's nothing to cover. So this is additional money coming to Silver Lake from the state and the question is what does the school committee wish to do with it?
But you're saying if we were not allocating it to these five things, it would be going to END. So that would >> that's correct. >> Essentially help correct what we've been using the last couple of years. >> It would continue to fund that. >> But Exera said through you Mr. Jen, we
might not have END certified if we don't have the personnel to do it. But it is a catch point to >> Oh, I understand. I think the whole thing is catching an absolute bare minimum. I think we have to fund the 126. >> That doesn't necessarily mean that we
have to raise the budget to do it. >> That would theoretically mean reducing subs. >> I agree. >> Mhm. >> It's only October. That's a concern like >> you know
>> right >> I mean >> yeah we could effectively take the heat recovery out of the regular operating capital plan that that was my suggestion that that's safer to just take the current allocation we have for this
year's capital plan ditch one of the things we thought we were going to do for an emergency and we've done in the past there's precedent for and and that's the only that's really the only solution we're moving up. And I'm I question the the employee that went out uh
and is not available. Is that a disability situation? Is that something? >> I don't think we can talk about that. >> No, no, I'm just trying to say funding wise if the person's continuing to collect a paycheck then it isn't going to help us. But if they are being funded from a different source. To
>> be clear on that, Mark, one of the employees with the license is no longer employed by the district. The other employee with the license will be going out on a long-term leave that is covered a long-term medical leave.
>> Okay. And I'm not >> So, we're going to go from two wastewater treatment plants uh operators to zero within 6 months. But I would argue that could also be paid from our account. >> No, but it's a contract. But okay, we do
contract that. We can cover that. But the uh as far as paying the account, they're going to have to take that out of hide somewhere else if we don't. Okay. So, it sounds to me, Mark, like
you will want to take the wastewater um issues back to the safer committee and look to reallocate from this year's capital plan. In which case, you'd be bringing
that back to we would bring that back to a vote saying since we've voted on the capital, right? So bring that back for next meeting too. >> Would have to bring that back in the next meeting unless you want to have one.
>> No, that's fine. Um, and then for the accountant, um, somebody who's free to make a motion and try to fund part or all of this through the money that we're talking
about or we can opt not to motion right now, which I don't know if you're newer, you may not have caught the subtlety of what Jean suggested when she said it's October. Um the reality is we are paying somebody
right now and we will pay them and so um we don't if we do that and later on in the year we have to find some way to not spend $12,600 because we paid this
person for this period of time. Then that would be on the administration to do. They would have to figure out how to manage that. um no additional funds or if we don't vote any funds so to speak or any
allocations out of this um or we can just wait. We can get the legal opinion from Russ. We can come back and consider voting. It does not mean that we won't have the accountant functioning.
We will have the accountant functioning. We will not have made a decision about January through June. um and the supplies would not be restored. So somebody's free to make a motion in relation to these or if nobody makes a
motion then Sarah has to essentially make do with what she's got right now and um come back in subsequent meetings with any just updates on indications of what the
lack of additional budget might mean later on. So, I'm going to pause for about 5 seconds. If anybody wants to make a motion, you're free to make a motion. If we don't have anybody make a motion, I'd like to move.
>> I'd make a motion that we authorize the administration to make discretionary freezes in the budget to make up for the money to pay for the individual we already currently have on staff. >> I will second that motion. May I make an amendment up to $12,600?
>> Amen. Okay. Do I need a second for the amendment? >> I'll second the amendment, too. >> Okay. Do I have any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? >> I opposed.
We have any other motions? Seeing none, we'll proceed to the next agenda item. So, the MOA for the banking support is not being signed. >> No. Well, it is. Are we hiring that person? Is this a person currently on staff that we've already hired or is
this a person for later in the year? >> This is a person that is currently on staff that has been trained to do the specific tasks. >> So, that's what we just asked to fund through discretionary freezes in the budget. So I think it would be
appropriate to approve theou unless theou specifies a funding source. >> It does not specify a funding source. >> So do you need a separate motion for the MOA? >> Yes. >> I'll make a motion that we approve the MOA with the funding source as
previously discussed. >> Thank you. Do >> I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? Any >> opposed? None. I'll lose when I have a funding source. Um it is not
this is a request for director of the nutrition holding on for the high school high school's increased cafeteria and there's a request for adding a 3.5 hour position to the high school cafeteria uh to over
the experience for the cafeteria staff and just as importantly our four um students so that all four registers can be running and there's still personally helping we serve um using the meals per labor hour industry standards. This meets all the expectations for that and
the other piece that's important to know I think from um supporting our students there's a large volume of the fresh that's prepared every day in high school. So that's a very positive piece for our students. So, I'm asking on behalf of Megan for your approval to add a 3.5 hour position uh at the high
school in Hampshire. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Um did you want to articulate the funding? >> Yes, I apologize. I for those who uh may not know or don't remember, need a refresher. The funding source for this
when I say it's already um here, the funding sources are already account for the cafeteria is selfunded. It has been and um we are well within our uh ability to spend out of that and it is strictly catcher and is selfported
>> and that's due to the free lunch and breakfast. >> Yes. that we receive money from state and federal and that is guaranteed for this year and we run um I want to speak up but we are in a good place that we run um we're allowed to run 3 months
over and we are a good place for money account any further discussion seeing none all in favor I >> opposed. All right. >> Dr. Brew asked me to present this to you
tonight. This is a um an adjustment to the building use form that we discussed earlier at the safety committee. Essentially, um as you know, there was a lot of work done through the use form
last year. Now that they um those changes were put into practice, we noticed some things. So on um essentially what this does, what these changes do is allow the uh administration
at their discretion to wave facilities fees for schoolbased groups. So um things like the PTO that raise money for the students uh for the school would not be charged for regular use of the
facilities. In addition, language was added in from our insurance company about certificates of insurance as well as um communication with Kingston board had some strong opinions about food on school grounds.
So all of that is incorporated into this. Okay. So you're looking for a vote to approve safer committee approved unanimously. Okay. Do I have a motion then?
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Second. >> Was that you, Jen? >> Was second was all in favor. I >> opposed.
All right, let's move on to >> schools. Thank you very much. Hi everyone. Um, tonight primarily we have amazing coordinators here that are going to talk about our own past
results. But as far as school updates, I wanted you to know that I went in the cafeteria as I do every day and asked a bunch of students what their favorite part of middle school was and they did not say lunch. Um, they talked about science and the investigations they're doing around insulated cups. They talked
about tech teched um and the foot orthosis they were making in class and one student raised his hand said wait a minute wait a minute what about the good passages in ELA that we get to talk about. I didn't pay them. This happened here at the middle school. So anytime you want to come see learning in action
please join us. It is a fun time. I'm joined here by um like I said our curriculum coordinators Nicole Madison, Melissa Green, Scott Carroll, and Dan Korea who's just hot off the soccer field. So thank you. Um, >> did you win?
>> And this is all in your folder. So, if you're not facing the TV, you can certainly pull it up on your computer. Um, as you know, MCCAST has always been part of the accountability system that we use. At the bottom of this slide,
the system sorts schools and districts into categories to recognize success and identify where support is needed. So, you might not be able to see from here, but that bottom spectrum of items, um, we did make moderate progress towards
our targets this year. Um, and you can see that in our 2025 category or classification that we're at this time, we're not requiring assistance or intervention and we've made 47% or moderate progress towards
our targets. We've also moved back up in our accountability percentile to 43% after dipping last year at 39%. So, what we're going to do is talk about details and we'll certainly take questions at the end. I am going to pass this wand
over to Missive. Can you hit the It's kind of where you hit the down button instead of the over button. >> Okay. I'm sure I'll have to do it again, but it's okay. You'll be fine. >> Um, hi everybody. I'm Nicole Faniff. I'm the ELA coordinator for the middle school and the high school. Um, I know
this is, as Becky said, really tough to see on the the projection screen, but you have it in front of you. Um, we are happy to to share that we've made uh we've made some gains um some some steady progress in uh the middle school.
Um and if you look at the sort of the the past four years, um you can see that we are we're trending in a direction where we have more students um scoring in the exceeding expectations category um as well as the meeting expectations
and that's what we were hoping for that all of that hard work that that Becky mentioned the kids really feeling engaged in their learning has helped. uh grade 8 again we're we're looking at you know some some progress from from
previous years uh again worth noting the moving up in the exceeded and uh needed categories. Um so what what do we do as as we talk about um student outcomes and data? Um the department annually
conducts um a robust um item analysis where we take a peek at uh those items where we you know are are are finding steady success as well as those items that um allow us to take a closer look and to refine our instructional practices and our common assessments to
to meet those needs. Um, our classroom teachers receive personalized data folders that contain the reports relative uh to their not only the school and the grade performance but also their classroom performance and growth. Um, and they really do look forward to to those reports and they look forward to
our conversations um and our our productive work forward. Um, as you know, last year we um in the ELA we've always offered uh or recently have offered star reading that has expanded up through 10th grade. Um, and
teachers again dig into those reports to take a look at how they can adjust instruction to support students. uh teachers are encouraged to align their professional goals with our school and district performance goals as well as our district strategies for improvement
and many develop team goals uh with their colleagues. Uh this year the ELA teachers are taking a course um on adolescent literacy offered by the hill for literacy who works with us for our um literacy audit and curriculum work
moving forward. And this course is uh the adolescent version of of the the science of reading. It's it's a companion piece to some of the work that's being done in the elementary schools. Um and we have also continued to partner with Hill for literacy to engage in a this is our first year of
our core program review for ELA. Um, in order to fulfill our three-year literacy plan, um, middle school teachers will be involved in our district literacy leadership team um, to take a look at highquality instructional materials that will help us continue to make strides
forward for our students. Hi everyone, I'm Melissa Green. I'm the social studies curriculum coordinator for grades 7 through 12. Um so this past spring we had our first ever civics MCCAST. Um and happy to say that our
results were um right around what we would see where we were seeing from the state. Um so our 37% meeting we're exceeding in that 52% partially meeting which we're really hoping to see that increase and to see that number um you
know get even higher for meeting and exceeding once our teachers really now understand what this exam will look like. Um and to that point um we've been working for the first time ever. My teachers get to really experience having their own data. Um we don't have growth
data because last year was the first year but we do have achievement data. We were able to look at subgroups um and to look at an analysis as it relates to the standards and the framework to really figure out where is it that we need to
hone in on um to support getting that 52% up um even higher. So, in addition to that, our teachers have their personalized data like a poll share. Um, they get it for their specific classroom performance and they've been really
working hard on making sure that they're in full alignment with their units and their common assessments. And we're doing that through um using a new curriculum. We started it last year for the first year. in our second year adoption of civic engagement in our democracy which is out of the democratic
knowledge project from Harvard. Um it is the state's top recommended curriculum for 8th grade civics. Um and we're getting grant funding to support the teachers doing that. They're getting extensive professional development. We have people coming out um from from DKP
to do site visits. And we're also very proud to share that on December 10th, we will be hosting a site visit um for all potential future school districts that want to use the DKP curriculum. DK has chosen us as to be the place where
they're going to come in and show off the great work that our teachers and students are doing. I'm going to interject real quick. She's selling herself short. Miss Green was also invited by DKP to represent the state of Massachusetts at a week-long um panel
sorry um so she will be representing the state and speaking on behalf of all of our staff and students in Pennsylvania. So kudos to her work. >> It really it falls on the backs of our teachers and our students.
Thank you. Uh yeah, so we've been really hard at work at this and I think one of the important things to mention too is that we don't have um a way to look at benchmark the program like star. So we created our own. Um I spent some time
going through the very limited released empath questions that we do have. Um and we're using our pair assessment platform to take benchmark data. We've already taken our fall data and to look at it again in the winter and the spring to really look at how our kids are doing in
addition to having them practice their um class classroom performance tasks. So >> this this was the first year of this. down. >> Hi, I'm Dan K. I'm the math coordinator
for 72. Um so as you can see similar to what said about ELA we did have a sizable gain um from 24 to 25 in the number of students uh that are meeting or exceeding expectations on impass. So in seventh grade we uh increased by 8% and
in 8th grade increased by 10%. Um so pretty sizable gain there. I also have to toot the horn of the seventh grade team because they only had 7% of students not meeting 7%. So that was significant when I looked at
other schools as well. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. And so that that not meeting um numbers that Becky referenced is is much lower than the state. And then we did see again similar similar to what Nicole said um our number of students that are exceeding expectations increase
year-over-year in both periods as well. So, could we talk a little bit about I'm just interested because the cohorts in PLA, which we can come back to in a minute, but the cohorts here, you you didn't just get a grade level improvement, you have cohort level
improvement. >> Yes. >> Um, which I'm curious about cuz from 23 to 24, the seventh graders at 23 when they moved to 8th grade and 24 slipped by 5%. But in 24
uh the cohort of seventh graders in 24 improved by 11%. I'm just curious if there's if we have any idea what made the difference. So it's hard to draw any causal relationship there because a lot
of things were happening. Um, we certainly implemented SCAR which gave us I think a little more data aware um and maybe pay a little bit more attention to some of those predictive elements that could be present along the way. Um, we
also underwent a complete first year of our curriculum review last year um and really tried to target any areas where there could be any um alignment issues or coverage gaps or anything like that. Um, so between those two things, I think
those are kind of big things that happened. I think in terms of the kind of culture in the building in general, I think you're going to hear a lot of the same things that are popping in the data that everything seems to be sort of trending in the right direction. So to pinpoint one thing's going to be really
hard to do, but we're starting to do a lot of good work on. >> So when you finish, I I want to come back to the ELA because we got opposite results in ELA. So um and so rather than go through all of the individual things cuz a lot of these
are similar to what's already been set kind of highlight the differences. So in math we're a year ahead in terms of our curriculum review cycle. So last year we selected our new HM into math program for grades uh really K to 8 but seven and eight are pertinent here. Um so
we're in the first year of our implementation which we're doing with Fidelity in tandem with the trainers from HMIH that are doing um work directly with our teachers. Um this is the first year that STAR will be
done three times in math. Last year we sort of were a little late in adopting it. So we did during two screening windows but this year will be three. Um, and so those are really kind of the main differences between what already said,
what we're doing now. >> I'm the science guy trying to figure this out. Uh I'm going to take us on a trend the other way which I apologize for. Uh so we we dipped again in science our meeting exceeding down 32%. Uh but I do have to say
looked at some data from across the state other cohorts that are in this OC transition which is a lift on our teachers uh and the way it's implemented. Uh the trend is is pretty similar across lots of school districts and a lot of it has to do with how the OSE is rolled out, how it's implemented
two units a year, trying to move standards between grades. It's not just we just got a new curriculum and we're still teaching the same stuff. There's a lot of moving parts to it. Teachers are working very hard. I do have some good things to report from it. Uh obviously it's not a place we want to see our data
going. That is not a place that any of us like to see and we're looking to improve on that. the improvement. Again, not that we're trying to hold our breath, but we we do have the last year this year of our our old MCCAST. Uh there'll be some performance tasks embedded in that uh this coming year,
but the old MCAST was in, you know, again, a robust multiple choice technology enhanced questions is going away in 2027. We're going to the new performance-based MCCAST, which is probably the most significant change in MCCAST across any subject I don't think anybody's ever seen. So, uh,
scenario-based, kids gathering data, doing manipulations online, answering questions, using their own data to answer the questions and justify their answers. Pretty robust, uh, uh, assessment system. That being said, I jump down to the bottom. The whole point
to transition OC is OC is endorsed by Desi as the is the curriculum of choice to meet the new standards on MCAST. Uh and when we went and did a training about new performance MCAST, in fact when they trained us, they actually had opened questions or questions like that
scenario based on that as training for us as teachers, as leaders to to uh work with our teachers to get the students better in depth at doing this. We have noticed an improvement in writing and in thoughtfulness and in being able to articulate what kids are trying to say
and supporting their uh claims with evidence, which is good. Um and so in in that sense when we're doing the assessment of it, we we're finally in the last year of our implementation. We'll have all six units and all three grades this year, which is good. Uh and then that being said, seventh and eighth
grade teachers really looked at a more substantial way of assessing ourselves internally because we have all the units and we can sort of plan out our year a little better. Each OSE unit will have one MIDI and one summit of assessment which will be common graded on a common based rubric. look at those answers and
start to put kids in categories. Our own meet, succeeds, not meeting, and partially meeting. Uh, and then we're going to still continue to follow that up with PAR assessment. Uh, pair assessment is mirrors the old MCCAST. We're in this sort of balancing stage of staying with the old MCCAST, making sure
we're getting kids ready for that cuz OSE really really isn't as content focused as our old MCCAST is. It's more performance-based. And so, we're balancing those two things. So we will have one pair of assessment per unit. So we'll have three really good assessments to sort of track our data throughout the
year which I think is is is a good place to be right now. Uh and then halfway through the year each of the seventh and eighth graders going to use one of the desi develop performance tasks the inclassroom performance task. Those take like usually 2 to three days to complete. But again, it mirrors the process of what is going to be expected
out of webcast. Really persevering through a a scenario, really challenging them to gather data, make claims, and score their claims. Um, as as like with the other content areas, the teachers do get their MCCAST data. Our first our first bite at it is looking at the uh
item analysis. because of the way OSC is implemented, because it's moved standards between grades, sixth grade and eighth grade standards now and vice versa, we use that as a tool to see what are what are some of the the weaknesses and strengths in the kids coming up when we need to reinforce when we need to
support, how do we how do we build back into a certain unit something that was missing in the past. So, we're we're working hard on that. Uh and then lastly there um again when we're talking about OSE um and the support we get from it the mass OSE community which is our our
our funding agency that's helped to support us with the infrastructure for this teachers get by yearly PD all our teachers go to two two-day sessions per year on the new unit they're implementing. Uh we get site visits from OC community. So we have somebody who's taught these units in the past come and
watch our teachers give us feedback, give me feedback, and help support us. There's a continuous amount of support and connection between the two of us. And then on October 23rd, as part of my role as a leader, I'm in a year-long PD, a 6 day PD, specifically addressing um
pacing uh which is a major issue with OSC. not an issue is it's it's a I hat you say the word issue it's a u it's it's a difficulty because there's the curriculum is so robust how do we time it appropriately so we're getting a lot of support with that the other side of
the uh PLC is around assessments and ensuring that we're delivering good assessments and what are they measuring how are they measuring it so I'm involved in that and on 23rd we're going to use this uh building as a site visit for that day so we'll have about 25 30 people here uh doing that work 25 or 30
of me here in the building and then they will be going off into classrooms to visit some of the work that we're doing because they know we're doing good work and they want to see it uh and share that. So we have an old MCCAST construct
>> but a new curriculum >> correct >> and the new curriculum is supposed to be aligned to what the new MCCAST >> will be >> and it's investigation um
based it's not wrote to memory >> that's fascinating >> it is fascinating and it's skill based And that's what it and that was a statewide kind of roll out. They rolled out the curriculum. >> Yeah. >> They didn't align the tests to the
curriculum. >> Mhm. >> The kids are thrilled. They're they're excited. You They don't even look at you walking the classroom, but we're not showing any results, you know, as many results on the test. >> They rolled out the test. It makes sense. Like it's doing science and it's
it's testing you on how do you can you do science? Do they provide anything else beyond that? It's coming. It's kind of difficult. >> But the the current MCAST format, we're still doing the old format, correct? >> Through through this year, >> through this year, which
>> they were supposed to change it last year and then they held off another year. >> Please tell me they're not penalizing state. I mean, we all feel the pressure >> and and like I said, I've looked at
cohort three of the OSA implementation that we're in, cohort 2, which is in their second year, and a few other random school districts that I know of and and talked to, and we've all seen, we're all seen the same data. We get a drop in meet, we got a big bump and partially meeting, and then all of our
meetings. It's just amazing to see that we're that we're all sort of seeing the same trend. Well, it's good cuz it's instructionally unsound, right? >> You're not assessing what you're teaching. You're not teaching what you're assessing.
>> Okay. >> One more year. >> Um, can we go back to ELA real fast? >> Um, >> do you want a slide or >> I I'm just looking at the I'm looking at the cohorts. So the 2023 cohort
went from 51 to 39% 7th grade to 8th grade and then 2024 more or less held serve from 2024 to 2025 7th 8th grade 14%. Do we have a do we have any
sense of what is what is driving that? Yeah, I mean I think you'll see that it seems as though our percentage of students meeting expectation is closer to to what we see
at the state level. And we do um we did dip a little in the exceeding expectations and the difference in the test really between the seventh grade ELA and the eighth grade ELA test is the the rigor of the multi-ext synthesis that students have to do which is
something that we're we've identified that as a a schoolwide standard and you know we're working on that and our hope is that when we're doing our core program review and we're we're looking at um highly you the the high quality instructional materials. That's a piece
that we're going to be looking for. It's really um the rigor of the text and the managing of multiple um text at the eighth grade level which differs from the seventh grade test is is a higher order ask for the students
as well as the writing is analysis and argument based entirely at uh the eighth grade level. And that and that's a that's a lead that's a lead for students. So that that's a testing difference that I think we think it's more about the content. >> Yeah. And the rigor. >> So do we think do we think we got better
at that? I mean the the co the 2023 code war had a 12% fall. Um from 7th to 83 we're only 1% fall and the 2024 cohort
from 73. Yeah, I mean we're also looking at data in other areas. So in the for example in the civics test we were seven points above the state in constructed responses and that was our focus as a whole entire school last year was literacy and
writing. So we're seeing the fruit of our work in different spots but not necessarily >> and especially with the writing with the science too. I think when it the pieces where they have to take two really dense
texts and then write to text um become just a a different challenge that again we continue to um offer opportunities to to practice to expand upon that to have access to a range of high quality text but that's certainly a focus that that
we've been taking a look at at the youth grade level. So, just to close out for the middle school, um like I said, we really try and have whole school um movements and we're going to continue our literacy in every subject area, you know, movement
around writing and considering how we can write from text and synthesize information. It's hard for me to toggle between two screens and synthesize text. And that's what these kids have to do. Um we're also as you know um all all of us leaders are involved in the research
for better teaching professional learning and alignment. All of our teachers are also you know re um brushing their objectives and working with students around their criteria for success which is really powerful. I also think that's why they're talking about it in the cafeteria because they're
talking about it three times over in class. And you can see that all of the curriculum areas that are here tonight are really working on um improving curriculum, finding more rigorous curriculum and implementing it. I am so proud that 25 people from OSE are
coming, maybe 30 from DKP and our 18 partnership um uh group 2 is also going to be coming in and they're just really excited about student engagement here. So um I'm proud of our team and I know we have work to do. You will always have work to do, but together we will.
>> Thank you. >> I'm going to change the screen for my skill and down. >> All right. Well, she's switching now. A couple of school updates before I jump into my past data. Um, earlier this week, we were thrilled to induct 96
students into our National Honor Society. is the highest number of inductees we've ever had. It brings us to 150 plus strong. Um these are students who you know strive for excellence in many many ways. But one of
the greatest things about NHS is the service that they give back to their community and um the amount of projects that are and ideas that are already coming from this group is pretty powerful and I'm excited to see the work that they'll be doing. Um, five of those members are honorary members, students
from our DLC program. That's a first for our chapter. So, we're super thrilled for those students and to celebrate um their academic achievements as well. So, next week is our spirit week and homecoming. We're excited for some some theme days. It's also our first concert
of the year will be Tuesday night. Um, if anyone's around, we'd love to have you. >> Don't go. >> So, just a couple things. I think I saw that enough. Thank you, Becky. Um, all right. So, a lot of our findings are very similar, so I'll save you some time. Um, but similar to the middle school, um, we're making moderate
progress towards our targets. Um, we did have a little bit of a dip in our school accountability percentile this year from 46 down to 44. Um, these again are all the same. And then again, I just want to point out um that the state law changed last year and
pass is no longer required for graduation. We anticipated this may have impacted our scores a little bit at the high school level. Um it was certainly a carrot to to dangle for um for some of our students. Um so we did see a little
bit of change there. Um but I think for the most part, you know, again, I think I spoke to this last spring, you know, we can see the students actively working on their tests. And I will say, you know, we didn't see kids who were like done in 5 minutes, right? And then and then close out. So we did see our students working hard throughout the
testing session. So I will turn it over to our coordinators again to share our data. I know I'm back. Uh I will say that I um at the risk of
aging myself. I've been here since before MCCAST um existed. before MCCAST was a competency determination. Um, and you know, this is the first time that I report on a score percentage of of um
42% so or 44% rather. Um so to to echo what principal Gil said, you know, we are very much um hopeful that that as we adjust to the new normal of of uh MCAST not counting as a competency determination, we're hopeful that you
know I I won't stand before you next year at this time with a similar number. Um that being said, we still continue to do the work that that we always do to to place um a high importance on MCCAST as a as a marker of how our students are
performing um toward those grade level standards. We continue to monitor and adjust our common assessments as well. Um and teachers continue to to look through both the items and their classroom data. Um we know that star testing has been expanded for us um as
of midway through last year through grade 10 and that's been um helpful to us to look at other sources of data um not only our common assessments not only our MCAST performance but to also um look at the students um skill levels in in reading through star reading and that
has been uh really helpful for us. Students will take their star reading test in the fall, winter and spring in grades 9 and 10 at the high school. Um like uh other places in our district, we encourage teachers to align their professional goals with the school and district performance goals. Um and at
the high school level, we have also uh been a part of the partnership with Hill for literacy and we do have high school um representation on our district literacy leaders leadership team and for our four program review work. So
>> what do the rest of the state do? um not as we we dipped below the state um but the rest of the state wasn't exactly um performing at its usual level in in ELA. So that I think it's I know you go blind
looking at other thing but oops now I can't go backwards. It is on the it's on Okay. >> Oh of course it is. >> Okay. Um so you can see you know where we compare the state in that final column there. So you know we did we did
the state performance of um Great. Um, in math we did dip a little bit. Um, 4% we went from uh, 53% to 49%. But that sort of mirrored what happened in the state data. Uh, the state went from 48 to 45. So pretty similar in
terms of the amount of decline there. Um, and with the MCAST not being a competency determination, as Michaela mentioned, we weren't really sure what would happen in the data. And looking a little more closely at the not meeting expectations, I was pleased to see that
our students did persevere and like work through the test. We didn't have 30% of our students just mail it in. Um, those numbers are far below what the state in a good way of what happened across the state. Um so in terms of what we're doing in the
department, it's very similar to what I've already spoke to at the middle school. Um some key differences are that at the high school we're um implementing illustrative math, which is a high quality instructional material. um in our algebra 1 and geometry classes, so
9th and 10th graders. Um we're also leveraging the um subscription that that the district already has to ISL and we use that as as a diagnostic tool to help us fill in some of the gaps that we're seeing as measured by star data. Um so we're using it to kind of build and
reinforce some of those foundational skills that students need to be successful in higher level. Um, and again, this will be the first year that we have three screening windows. So, we're looking forward to being able to look more closely at that data and
help us continue to do better. All right. So, we uh we did see a dip in science, pretty significant uh state as well. Saw a dip probably there was like 8% 8 or 9% meat disease down. Uh this
was a shock to us uh to see such a slip. One of the things that we obviously one of the first things that we do is is take a look at our data. We don't have quite as much time at the high school to to unpack that. But we have had a couple of meetings. Um we do an item analysis just like we do for the uh middle school
to really adjust curriculum to see where we had strengths and weaknesses. We did know some areas that we worked on last year, namely waves. We had a boost in in that area. But we also noticed some of our constructed response questions, but we're scoring fairly low. That's the the writing portion. Again, not
understanding exactly why, but thinking maybe about perseverance with students and writing an area to boost up in science to provide more opportunities like that. So, we've we've started to dig in. We've seen a couple areas. We still have some some some work to do on on the data analysis. So like teachers
have their individual data. We we g we gave them a little more robust data this time. Uh some some more percentages uh looking at certain questions comparing their class to the state comparing classes to the school. Uh so we can sort of align our instruction and see who was
really hitting out of the park with certain standards. Where was some of our struggles with certain standards? What were people doing? ensuring that we're not we're all doing the same thing instructional wise, but we're is working really well that we're making adjustments to provide that to all the students in all classes. Um the uh we're
collaborating on obviously the common assessments like we don't have the star, we don't have the benchmark assessment. Uh this year the teachers have uh decided and they they kind of came up with this on their own which was great. Uh some preassessments. So again we have unit uh post assessments. Uh we have
some formative assessments we do interim. We have a common midterm, but they decided to do some pre-assessments to gauge where students were with their content mastery coming in. Thought that was a a good idea to do. Some of that came out of what they've seen at the middle school. I will have to say that
opens it is more robust with the physical science of waves, light, magnetism, uh forces, energy, uh chemistry, which is good. And I think it was historically was a weaker area in our middle school just in terms of of of comfort level with teachers. So we're
hoping that some of this starts to show up in these preassessments and teachers can dive in and and bend and weave based on what they're seeing from the these students to to provide more in-depth uh in certain areas and provide the support they need in areas that maybe we hopefully will we're going to see a
little more connection between those two as we as we move forward. Obviously, the teachers continue to have focused goals around the uh assess their instruction that they're sort of all on the same page. Uh they're working hard. Um again, it was a dip we weren't expecting. We're
still trying to dig and see what's going on, but we're trying to do our best to figure out how to move forward uh to support our kids. >> Just a quick question. Yeah. >> Can is there any way to peel apart the from the scores the questions that are
more science or tech based or engineering physics based? Is there a So if the middle schooler is the middle school's got physical life uh physical science, life science or space and then tech engineering and those are very specifically identified on test. We can
literally pull the question out say it's a tech standard, that's a life science standard. We can find the grade. Uh so that's easy to do. With the high school, it's just physics. So, we can figure out whether is is is it forces, is it, you know, waves, is it energy, is it they
still have nuclear chemistry and nuclear physics in there. Yeah. So, we can we can figure that out. But whether it's a tech standard, there's there really aren't text standards at that level. >> Just curious if you know one bit is much higher where something else is extremely
low and then you're averaging out to that. >> Yeah. And that that that's one of the things with the science is that we can we can see like a standard or a strand within the a strand within the larger standard that were maybe weaker or stronger in compared to someone else cuz
there's a connection between two and there's also separation between the two. >> Thank you. Um, so I always think it's it's helpful to to share what our next steps are after we as local leadership team and then by department look at the student
data and look at the results. Um, and so I shared my opening day slides with you that highlight our focus areas, next steps following MCAST scores, our STAR assessment from the second half of last year, as well as any common assessments that we um issued last year. But in the
interest of time, I'd like to skip ahead to slide 24. um right here where I share our anchor points for the school year. Um and first is academic growth for every student.
Second is strong relationships and a positive culture. And third is professional collaboration and accountability. And finally, high standards in instruction. So these are the things that will ground us as both a leadership team and within our departments and with all of our teachers across the building that will guide our
decisions and keep us aligned as a team. every decision, every policy, and every initiative that we make this year will tie back to one of these goals. Um, we sort of use the anchor theme um throughout the year. And staying anchored means not drifting away from what matters most, which is students
learning in a positive and supportive culture. Um, and so the instructional look for that we as a leadership team are focusing on this year as we dive into some more data and think about the ways that we can help move the needle um with
MCAST not maybe being as um instrumental in that anymore. Um it's looking at how we define highquality teaching at the high school. So, uh, when we walk into classrooms on either learning walks, when we conduct observations, um, we're looking for that consistency and high
quality learning experiences for our students because that's what anchors us to excellence and keeps us accountable, ensuring that every student gets the best education possible. So we are looking for teachers to be consistently framing the lesson by stating what the
objective is. How do we reach that objective? How do we demonstrate that we're learning? What is the criteria for success similar to what was explaining earlier? Again, this is a a consistent thing across all or both of our buildings 7 through 12. Um and so
sharing our our goals for the year as a school and they align with our district goals and I do apologize for really tiny prints. Um but our student learning goal, professional practice goal, and school improvement goals are all sort of centered on um our data analysis. And so
our student learning goal as we shift to maybe using the STAR assessment and more common assessments to measure student success and determine what interventions um may need to take place or what course corrections we need to make throughout the year. Um, we're looking at 70% of our students meeting or exceeding those
grade level benchmarks for our professional practice goal. Again, implementing those high impact instructional strategies. Um, someone spoke earlier to the fact that our entire leadership team is um either retaking or taking the ATSR course which
builds off of the skillful teaching course that our teachers take. So again, just sort of aligning our practices and then for our school improvement goals, um you know, we are thrilled to have the labor block in place this year and that fixed schedule. So it's using that time throughout the week for both academic
interventions and support, but also enhancement and enrichment for students. So those are just some of our key focus areas this year. Becky already highlighted those districtwide goals that we have. Um and just again we're anchoring grant this year. Um, and a big
thanks to our teachers, our support staff, our curriculum coordinators, um, for all the the great work that they do for our students. >> One question. Do we have any copies of the forest grit in the library? And has
anybody checked it out? >> Well, I don't know if anybody's checked it out or not, but we have several copies. I can say that we do have copies and that my 10th graders, your daughter included a study with two weeks ago. >> I wrote the book. I think it's
fantastic. >> I think we could send off that she >> it would be great if everybody >> Gordon, may I just ask? >> Thank you. >> The principles um I've noticed the um data hasn't come home yet to parents. Is that expected very soon? Tomorrow
2:45 >> 2:45 tomorrow I'll get blown up your children all six. Thank you. Happy weekend. And I really like those. >> So what's left under my report, it says
on a management letter on here, it's actually management decision letter. So the district underos three a course of a year. One is the audit of the district that gets submitted to department of revenue. One is the single audit which
gets submitted to the federal government and one is the weekend review report which goes to the department of development and secondary education. The single audit is part of the the larger audit that is done by our
independent auditors and it was late. paper is was due on March 31st and submitted on September 26th. The um the single audit is for
um for when we have grants in excess of $750,000. So the single audit is required by the federal government when you have grants in excess of $750,000 which single does. The single audit is submitted and then
it gets pulled through um federal audit clearing house by the department of elementary secondary education audit and compliance department because all of our federal grants are pass through grants. The money goes from the US Treasury to
the department of education to us. So, um, this is the notification from the Department of Education that we need a a corrective action plan and they gave us steps in this letter of what needs to be
done. So, the first step is they need a copy of a grant management manual. I actually submitted that to the Department of Education in December of 2024. That has been updated several times since I submitted it. they'll resubmit the new copy.
They uh are asking to provide document documentation confirming staff completion of training on the district's policies and procedures for grants management. So, I will train any staff that has anything to do with grants. um
on this manual that was written and submitted. The last thing they look for is to provide procedures to ensure the district single body is to be completed and filed by March 31st of the following year. So, um, and that, um,
I'm looking for guidance from the school committee of how you would like me to respond to this. My response last year, because this was a repeat funding from last year, my response last year is that we were going to request additional staff from the business office.
Um, I can give them that same response again if you would like. >> None that are appropriate. >> Is there any financial implication from >> Yes. >> They can withdraw our federal federal grants. >> Um,
how many warnings before they do that? >> Well, Is this the warning? >> This is a repeat finding and I can go back into digital records from my predecessor and see these findings going back to 2015, 2016, 2017.
>> Right. Well, I'd say it's such a catch 22 because we can't fund the positions because we don't have enough money, particularly f federal funds. Like we need more money to run the district to create these positions to then do the work. So >> this federal money is to
supplement, not supplant. >> I I get that. But if it's supplanting or supplementing some of our budget, we still need other dollars to then hire people to help run the district. So we're kind of chasing our tail, if you would. So you can just let them know that we're chasing our tail and we're
currently understaffed. So I would like you >> I I just don't see how we are going to appease them. reiterate what I said last year. I will give Sarah and her office all the political cover I can and if we
do lose federal funding, people will lose their jobs and it will not be at Silver Lake. >> Agreed. >> Agreed. Thank you. >> I don't think it would be wise for them to do that to us. >> Agreed. >> Good luck.
>> Yeah. Is it worth including language regarding the reason we haven't added the staff is entirely due to lack of funding? Like is that something that can be >> I I had put that in the document that was uploaded to the federal grant clearance that the positions were
requested in FY25 and then again in FY26 and were not granted because of difficult budget years. So that that information is known. >> Okay. >> H. >> So I will tell them
>> is this department still open >> right now? >> Yes. This is DESI. Yes, it's open. >> But so that's just the state. That's why are we talking about federal funding? So the state the money from the federal government goes to mass to DESIE. Desi
passes the information the money to us. So the audit goes from the federal government. No one's going to be bothering the state and the state department of audit and compliance sends me this lovely letter >> cuz I'm going to be hopeful that when
people get back to work that they're going to have other things on their plate rather than chasing school districts for audits. Mhm. So >> I have 90 days to respond to this letter >> that you will ask again for support and
that >> haven't previously been able to grant it because we had to draw >> rainy day funds essentially. [Music] >> We'll do. Thank you. Good luck.
>> Okay. Um I have a few things tonight. The first is the math curriculum reviews in phase 2. If you recall last year we um implemented phase one of the math um curriculum review and we chose HMH for
Kate. This year we're in phase 2 um and um illustrative math high school dance. Professional development on new curriculum was held on August 25th 26th and September 2nd. September 25th, educators also have the opportunity to
meet with H consultants um virtually to ask any questions about implementation. And then you can see below I included um the uh activity timeline for implementation of HMH and this is all the professional development that we're doing. You also see that um K through 12
math steering committee. This is the group that is working this year as a math committee to just support what's happening to continue year two of overseeing that implementation and sort of um reporting any information that we
need to know about and that's important to that implementation. The second piece is that this is year one of the English language arts curriculum review cycle phase one. So this is the first year of ELA curriculum review cycle. Um it's underway. The goal is to review our
curriculum assessment and instruction in regards to English language arts. We'll be conducting a core program review. We have formed the following committees. So this is a massive undertaking. It's year one of ELA. We I talked a lot about math last year. This year it's first year for
ELA and we're really looking at a core program review for K through 5 and 6 through 8. Um you'll see listed these are all the committees that have been formed to address all of the different um parts of that curriculum review. Much
of this is being funded through prism granting. Um so we received a prism grant for Kingston Plimpmpton and Silverl Preschool. And what I mean by that is these folks are compensated for their time through grant funding to
review curriculums to participate in professional development. These grants pay, this grant pays for that professional development and like I said, it pays for people to be um on these committees and it will also pay in the districts that received Prism half
of the cost of the new curriculum. So, it's altogether $450,000 for all of the groups uh uh districts that received it. And these are the groups that have been formed. Um the K through 12 ELA steering committee is a K
through 12 committee representative from all different schools. Um is a great lineup. I really want to send out a thanks to the people who really leaned in and signed up for these committees to do this work. You'll see K through six curriculum council. So that's really a K
through six group. It's primarily a K through five group. what the sixth grade teacher is now going to join the 6 through 8 group because we're going to be looking for a 6 through 8 curriculum and a K through five curriculum. So these are the folks K through 5 and then you'll see 7 through 12 which would be
um the DLT which Nicole spoke about a little bit. That's a group um that's at that that secondary level. And then also the um Silver Lake Integrated Preschool Curriculum Council. This is a group that's I think all-incclusive of just about everybody at the preschool being
on this council. These committees meet with um uh professional development um consultants, what's called TNTP, which is a group that Desi contracts with to meet with us to take us through these processes, corporate review, provide
professional development, and we've already had um some of our first meetings, which um is great and been a wonderful um collaboration with TNTP so far. So what will come out of this will be a recommendation for a new program um
through five for ELA and one for 6 through 8 all based on high quality instructional materials. At like I said at the lower levels we're working with um Desi through the Prism grant to um uh
get the um the consultant and the work that we need to do this. And at the um at the uh sixth through eight group, we're working with pill for literacy, which is a group that we worked with last year that helped us with our needs assessment and our literacy plan. And
all of these things align with the literacy plan, which we spoke about last spring, which basically says these are the things that we're going to do in the next several years to address um curricular improvement over the next basically 3 to 5 years. So that's it.
That's that's the short story. And then I add everything below. You see all of the HMH PD that's happening. Consultants come. They spend days at the school. Um uh they've already been to KISS. They've already been to the middle school and spent the whole day um in classrooms,
observing teachers, providing feedback, meeting with the grade level teams. And this will continue on um in different ways at different schools throughout throughout the year. That's everything I have for tonight. [Music]
>> Yes. So, um the piece that's in um our agenda in particular related to the superintendent report is the enrollment information. So, you will see the enrollment chart set up in um the
folder um for October 1 enrollment. Um and as you look at those, you'll see the homeschool cases, home school enrollment for 6K through 6, home school enrollment for 7 through 12, and then um student
enrollment for union number 31 for K through six. um overall is pretty much staying the same for the most part for the mid and Kingston. And then student enrollment for Silver Lake um prek and then 7
through 12 um and overall the same but also a slight dip for Kingston in 7 through 12 students enrollment in Silver Lake. And then you can see the other reports as indicated as far as enrollments including various grade
levels for each one of the elementary. >> Anything else? >> Hi. Hello. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Ashley Ferrara and I wear a few different hats, but mostly known as an ELA teacher. Um, I just wanted to offer another point of data cuz I know
where you love data for anybody else who's interested. So, Nicole splits out MCCAST data for teachers. So, like I can see how my cohort of 10th graders did last year, but I've only ever had one data point, which is MCCAST, or when I was teaching seniors, I had their AP
exams. But last year for the first time I had MCCAST their AP scores and their star reading and it was eye opening because 77% of my kids were meeting or exceeding expectations but 94% of my
kids passed the AP exam which I would argue is a much more rigorous test and we meet the state by 12 percentage points which is almost unheard of for the 15 years that I was teaching AP lit. like the difference was not that much. So just another point for you guys to
have and like it does give us item analysis breakdown too where we can compare some of those things and even some of my kids who got fours on the AP exam were scoring at like a middle school reading level but they have now found ways to move past the things that
hold them back in reading to synthesize ideas in writing. So they've moved so far beyond that that it's hard to determine for me how much that intest data matters in comparison to something like that. So just for you to
add just one one more piece. Thank you Ashley. Also um it's still required that we take the MCCAST test. So attendance as far as our rate of students participating is still very important and we do we do well with that. and our
accountability data. Um, we have uh good percentages students taking the test. That's very important. In some districts, the the attendance or the the uh rate of students taking the test has dipped and that causes a whole ripple
effect of then we have to go into almost like a corrective action piece. We have to address that. It's a ripple effect. So, I just want to make sure everybody knows we we do need to take it and we do a good job with attendance and we need to keep that up first.
And just before um Ashley gives the rest of the report, um you may remember that that's a new course to us that AP seminar that just a years back we came and we we uh we pitched you and some of you had the opportunity to visit the class, but uh this was our first cohort of kids taking that exam. So it
certainly should be available to our students but to Ashley's dedication and hard work and attending training sessions and scoring sessions and um so I just wanted to publicly acknowledge that in addition to her uh sharing that data point I did score for the college board not our exams but gave us exams
that that's all my >> Well Graham reported today that he's learning quantum mechanics and chemistry. >> Oh my chemistry. Well, it's because they're telling you
analysis doesn't work down at the top of that. I know that some >> Miss Far I'm happy to sit in again if you're looking for sending more because the more feedback that they get, the better. So, you guys will be on the look
for an invite to come give them feedback on their presenting by the end of December. It should be amazing. >> Thanks. Um, do we have anything from admin review? >> Oh, may I? >> Yeah, >> we need to schedule a meeting. Um, our
admin review um, subcommittee chair has resigned. So, now that Halifax is full again, we need to set a meeting. So, >> so we have to wait until Halifax reorgs because their meeting was cancelled. They didn't have a forum.
>> Oh, that was going to be October >> 6 about that. She was not one of the people It wasn't her fault. >> I'll stick up the law. >> Well, just to update on that though, um from our attorney, the um not from our
attorney, but the data that they had was already submitted. So whether or not we approved the um superintendent's um review um the data was already submitted. So >> all right, CTE. Um so I was elected the
chair prompt. We held off on having our reorg formalized because Lucas wasn't there. Um I would like if it's possible for us to have a CTE meeting scheduled for next Thursday night to coincide with the CTE dinner just in case we have a
quorum we can take the vote and officially reorg >> and make Lucas our chair again. >> Yay. We did talk. >> Jason, >> did you have anything else you want to talk about the meeting though? >> No.
>> Jason, do you want to continue with the uh >> um Sure. So excited. >> As part of the governor's um graduation statewide council, um I was actually asked by the commissioner and secretary
of education to solicit feedback on the preliminary uh draft of our recommendations that we're supposed to present to Governor Healey in December. Um so I put together a letter and I shared it with the commissioner and secretary 4 hours before it went public.
Uh that's a common courtesy with things like this when before they go live wide publicly. Um I haven't always received the same level of discretion, but I thought it was only appropriate. Um the commissioner um did not respond, but the secretary did and asked me to remove the
word high stakes from my letter that was going out to MASC membership. Um, this was specifically in regards to a part of their draft which includes something called EOCC's. I want you all to be on the lookout for EOCC's, though now that
I brought it to light, they're probably going to change the acronym to try and hide it again. EOCC stands for end of course assessments and directly from the state of Massachusetts. This is how they define it. Students take end of course assessments that are connected to
specific courses that are designed, administered, and scored by the state promoting uniform standards across Massachusetts. >> You don't say. >> And right in one of their bullets, they said, "We're going to define the role of EOC as part of the graduation requirement." I said, "Uh, excuse me.
The voters of Massachusetts just said you can't do that. What are you trying to do?" um if you can convince me before my letter goes public that this is not high stakes testing, I will withdraw the words from my letter. I will change the verbiage. We couldn't agree, so I
released the letter. Um the overwhelming response has been that people feel like this is undercutting the will of the voters. >> Um I was asked to reply to the commissioner and secretary by October
12th with my findings. Um, but since I haven't heard from them, except for some very disparaging comments they made about me, um, I'm going to let the Boston Globe run an article with the results of >> what the membership of MSC and others
across the state have said about this idea of EOC's. >> Will you sign a copy? >> I would love it, right? >> Are we at all concerned? The Boston Globe has traditionally been a very pro- high stakes testing publication, >> of course. So are we concerned that
>> so you know it it depends on the day and um doesn't mean we're friends but right now we're working on uh an article to come out. Um several people have been interviewed and asked for their opinions about it. I fortunately unfortunately
have to walk into the room tomorrow with the commissioner and secretary uh who have not spoken to me since this letter went public. And uh I'm going to hold my head up high because I did nothing wrong. >> Um I'm very disappointed in the both of them. >> Great.
>> And they need to remember who they work for. >> Mhm. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. I wasn't in favor of removing uh MCAST as a graduation requirement, but I'm definitely not in favor of what this
is. You cannot just even in run around like what the entire population voted for. >> And you know, Gordon, I I I I wrote it as my concern is they may use it this way because they have not established they will, but the language they're they're utilizing is indicating them
leaning towards that. If they want to replace the MCAST with this as an accountability standard to meet the federal requirements, I really have no objection. Um, but they haven't articulated that and I've given them multiple opportunities before I sent
this letter to the membership of MASC. I sent a similar letter to them in private 28 days prior and all I got back from them was noted thanks. >> So, Mr. Chair, if I may. >> Yeah, please. >> Earlier, I was going to ask if we could
um somehow combine your letter when Mrs. Gil started speaking about what the district had come up with that we just passed this policy tonight for graduation requirements competency determination because I was wondering if the two were intertwined at all but we just asked our principles the state just
asked our administrators to do all of this work because the MCCAST was removed. So to now tell them that their work was useless and to come up with their own solution in my opinion undermines the work that they just asked of their administrators. So, I would say
that um you have my support um when you publish this letter and I'll look forward to a signed copy um when you know it makes some waves >> if I make it out of the meeting tomorrow. >> Good luck. >> Appreciate it. I think you know how it's
going on Capitol Hill and uh similarly on Beacon Hill. Do you know they haven't filed and passed a single bill in about 3 years except for budgets and supplemental budgets? They're not doing anything. They're not doing their job. They need to get off their rear ends and put themselves to
work. Um, we are fighting right now for a supplemental budget, ironically, that may restore some funding that we all expected to have, which would again increase the state aid for this fiscal year that I would hope would flow into END and help us in future years to wean
ourselves off that pathway. Uh, but stay tuned. I'm not very hopeful it will pass. They're worried they're going to lose $2 billion dollars in federal funding because of the current shutdown. >> I know everyone's saying don't worry, don't worry right now, but you should
worry like a few weeks from now if it's still going on, >> right? >> Yeah. >> Um Mark, negotiations. >> Negotiations. We are um well underway with the support staff and the pair of
professionals. Um things are going well with both I think closer with the support staff than we are to pair professionals but we have meetings set up and then we met with the teachers uh just this week to establish ground rules
and get that rolling more to come. >> Amy, >> uh so PAC met on October 2nd for our first meeting of the year. Um, we had our board of trustees which we do once a year and like renewed the retirement
approval. Um, I'm trying to read my own handwriting here. We had our reorg um trying to think what else. Everything was pretty standard. It was a very very quick meeting. Current enrollment is
112. They have a new PD uh new director of Pilgrim Academy and um no audits coming up this year. We had a lot of audits last year and all of them casting colors. I think that's about it. Anyone
>> policy? So, uh pretty non controversial stuff here. Um, ADBA background checks just brought in Cory Sori into the language. Access to buildings, make sure that people can't
come in when we don't want them here. School food, nutrition, meal modifications. We can't charge kids more money if they have like an allergy. Um, gifts and solicitations by staff. We all do um conflict of interest training every couple years. This is in line with
that. Uh, student fundraising activities. Uh there is some new language um from the Massachusetts Attorney General about making sure that anyone who's doing any type of raffle or lottery type system to raise funds whether it's PTO boosters ourselves
filed the proper um lensure or certifications within towns. Um same thing with relations with parent booster organizations just making sure the language is clear between us and them. uh parent advisory councils just including other parent advisory councils
uh not just the special ed one but also ELLL ones and visitors to the school again indicates who's allowed where and when. So I would um appreciate the waving of the actual read. >> I have a question on two of them. Can we
pull them out or do you just want me to ask them? >> Go ahead. >> Okay. um for JJ E where it says um oh fundraising activities may not involve competitions among students. Students may not be rewarded with
additional recess snacks, activities, or any type of prize for having raised larger amounts of funds or reaching fundraising goals. >> Yeah. And the other way around, right? You can't reward kids for raising extra money. You can't punish kids for not raising anything,
>> right? Yeah. >> Um >> there's no incentives for funding from the public schools. >> Is this a policy that will be asked for the entire district? >> Oh yeah. >> Okay. Um I see that as being possibly problematic for some of the younger
grades like they do the boosteron that that's incentive based. >> Mhm. >> So that would prevent >> be a violation of this policy. >> So that would prevent things along those lines. Okay. Um my other question is
about the relations with parent groups. Um it says that all parent organizations shall obtain 501c3 status. I do not believe they all currently have that. Will they be given a specific timeline in order to get that?
>> That is their job to obtain that. We have always encouraged them to obtain that. We're not supposed to interact with them on certain levels if they don't have >> right. But like for the ones I don't want to call anybody out, but for the ones that I know do not have it,
will they be able to continue to operate or what what would happen with >> any funds? They they should have >> they don't have it. >> No, I know. And I >> they're not organizations I'm involved with, but I know they jeopardy by
interacting with them to certain extent. If they're not a registered organization, >> they're not paying taxes. >> No, I know. I I'm just asking like what >> ramifications, >> right? And and how quickly would they go into effect? >> Um >> immediately if this passes or
>> So this is this is not the first time we've had this conversation about different groups, right? So it's imperative that they do it as soon as possible. Is the question more about if they're not if they're acting in good faith to
obtain it, can they still operate currently? >> Right? Because I know that's can be a lengthy process. Like I can say the high school PTO obtained 501c3 status like while I've been a member. It took >> two years. It didn't take two years, but it probably took I don't know. >> It took over a year.
>> It was a while. It was at least 6 months. Yeah. >> But the submission was it >> I believe. So, you're also asking volunteers to come up with tax documents and stuff and that then you have to find a volunteer that's skilled in those, you know, subsets to be able to tackle all
that. I know that we've had this issue at the elementary levels before as well. >> Yep. >> I'm trying not to say anything, >> not to put you in an awkward position. I'm so sorry. I'm >> not a lawyer either. >> So, I have a followup question. Um, if
this these policies do apply to the elementary districts, is this something that union 31 and the joint meeting would have to vote on? >> No. >> No. No. The union 31 policies subcommittee then brings those policies to the elementary committees. So, they're passed separately. For instance,
Kingston has a couple policies that the district does not. Halifax may that the district does not. They're all separating under >> four separate entities. But understand that most policies that we pass are to bring us into compliance with MGL, CMR,
and federal laws and regulations. It's not just we willy-nilly came up with these ourselves. So, by not passing these, you would need to check any of the legal ramifications for the district and whether or not you're putting them in legal charity.
So, so Jason had saw a motion. Okay. >> To wave the actual reading. >> Yes, please. >> Yes. >> Would you like me to Well, would you like me to start my eyes? >> Okay. I will make a motion that we um accept and wave the first reading of the
following policies. A da E C A B E F B A GB E B C I K F E JJ E KB E K B G and K I. >> Second. >> Second. Just so you know, we technically
already passed IKF earlier tonight after Michaela's presentation, >> but it doesn't hurt for us included. >> Uh, Luc is second. All in favor? Yes. >> Thank you. Appreciate your regionalization.
>> We have another meeting um next Wednesday at 5:00. Uh, the Colin Center presented a revised scope of their work um which was unanimously accepted. um they've changed the initial public engagement session and replaced it with
a um financial analysis modeling and then um there's some concern from central office, we've heard this already tonight about um having the proper staffing to get all of the data that's being requested of that will be requested of the call-in center to
complete this study. Um there's going to be I believe Missy Baitman's going to check with the town to make sure that um since they came in under proposal that some of that money can be utilized towards um approximately $10,000 towards um
staffing to >> harvest that. >> Yeah. To complete the work and that's it. >> So yeah, I just like to point out that all four entities have different accounting systems. All three towns have different account
systems. We have different account system. So harvesting data is not something that's easy >> and it's something our administrators business department has to deal with on a regular basis. >> Okay. Mark say
>> we had a meeting and I think we've uh discussed the uh rooftop unit enough. Um the uh we had a use form approved and recommend approval for the uh facilities
here and I'm not sure do we need a vote here for that as a whole committee. >> Didn't we approve that under Sarah's presentation? >> Okay, I missed it. Okay. And then we uh discussed the phone system um that um 10
years ago I was on this committee and we discussed a phone system that needed to be replaced with a new phone system and here we are 10 years later and we're doing it again. Of course, none of the software is supported again. Um it's the same uh thing that seems to be rather
prevalent in education um that you have a whole group and then all of a sudden the industry just decides to switch gears. So, we're abandoning a Microsoft system. We have to put this in next year's budgets. And basically, uh, the financial obligation for Silver Lake was
about $50,000. About $27,000 of that will be recovered in our operating side because we don't have to pay for the uh maintenance and insurance uh that we normally would pay for because that's included in the bid. So really the overall cost is about
$23,000 which is about uh I'm guessing about 1/8 of what it was the last time we did this 10 years ago. So yes, something actually came down in cost in the last 10 years and um Stephen made a wonderful presentation u but they have
picked a system and part of the reason the cost is less is we have uh we're able to reuse 2/3 of the hardware we currently have the current phone system and the system will interact um with all the uh present 911 requirements and all
the uh ability to do PA and everything that we currently have there's an additional added value is that the phone cell phones whether through an app will be available for for us to use the teachers to use and staff rather um through to be able to use the phone
system through an app so I think it's a good choice so we endorsed that choice that uh Steve and his team had come up with uh the Newberry port was another school that had already implemented this system with this system and was extremely happy with
And uh we approved the CT project to uh take care of the retaining wall around the admin building that made out of old arrow ties. It's falling down and uh it was an overall cost that was within our um budget for that
capital plan budget for $6,000. We're going to get 93 some odd feet of retaining wall replaced and learn a whole mess of stuff about that as our horiculture company have horiculture kids actually learn how to do retaining
wall. So it's a win-win that 31 >> uh next meeting is November 13th. It is a virtual meeting. I strongly encourage all school committee members to attend um including all of the elementary committee members because at that
meeting as you may remember a few years ago all of these presentations went to one meeting um which is going to be at this meeting instead of um four separate presentations of our um sped um presentation technology
presentation and curriculum presentation. Well, it's um they'll happen on November 13th. >> Virtual. >> Virtual. >> Okay. >> Mr. Chair, I just want I won't be there. >> What time? >> All right.
>> 6 p.m. I believe, >> but I think we'll go out cuz it's a joint meeting. Jason, yes. Lucas, yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. motion. >> Yes. Danny,
>> yes. [Music]