good evening The uh finance and law subcommittee shall come to order I'll start with roll call Mrs Shavs present Mr Vieiraa present Chairman Dlo present First item on the agenda we have disposal disposal of surplus equipment request uh to Hamilton Street We'll
start with that Superintendent any comments thank you Chairman Dlo Uh so as you as you'll notice there is some surplus items being declared surplus at two Hamilton Street Uh the pews in the chapel area are being declared surplus
Uh we have a sander that's no longer of use to the district that's being declared surplus And those are the two items that uh we we could bring before the finance and law committee to declare surplus And if you'd like uh we could reach out to local parishes to see if
there's a use uh for the surplus pews And if not then we can make them part of the auction that we're planning to host at Summer Street Great Thank you Mr Vieier I I'd like to make a motion to declare the items uh surplus with the stipulation that the superintendent
reach out to um a local church to see if the items would be of use to pews more specifically I'll second that Okay great Uh uh all in favor I I opposed Eyes have it Thank you Next up we have the special
education expense service See attached memo So when we uh enter into the warrant portion of this meeting you'll notice that there is a charge for Lions Law Group who provides special education services on all student related matters
Uh so through January 25 uh we have expended $43,353.96 with the January total coming in at just over 7200 So we have a a balance of about $6,6464 student legal services Uh so I believe either the first meeting or the
second meeting in March Uh we will plan to bring another budget update or quarterly budget update to the school committee and then make requests to transfer uh transfer or make transfers within the budget to balance any of these lines that are in deficit or coming close to
deficit Okay wonderful Yes Mrs Shves it doesn't seem like we have a lot left Are we on par what we normally are this time of year it's a little higher than what it was last year the year before because during the summer there were some cases that were very involved uh that required
um a lot of time on behalf of our legal department So do you think you'll have to do you think you'll exceed this for the year i think we'll probably surpass for the year but I don't think we're going to surpass on the labor management side So I think we'll be able to balance balance Yeah I think in the end we'll
we'll either come right on budget or come in slightly under budget Okay Thank you Great Mr Ver motion to accept the report Seconded All in favor i opposed The eyes have it Next up we have the coaching for change See attached I guess
it's just a supporting documentation for the March 25 invoice Uh any comments on this Superintendent uh no comments Again justformational purposes So you understand what the charge in the warrant is for great Motion to receive and place on file Seconded All in favor
i opposed eyes have it And final uh item is bills payable for FY25 in the in the amount of 2,16,52583 And I'll open it up to the committee Motion to pay the bills in the amount of $2,16,525.83 Seconded on discussion Yes Mrs Shves I
just have a couple of things on page nine um that new era technology for $14,590.85 It says contracted services Yeah I think my my warrant is off your
by your warrant So new era New era It's uh it's on for me it's on page eight So that is a technology contracted services at le school It's an airphone for the Taton High School So the first charge of
$7,244 is an airphone for the Taton High School security booth Uh the second charge of $6,934 was a card reader for the Taton High School cafe And the last charge was technology contracted service work done
at the Lety Elementary Ley preschool Okay Thank you And while I'm awaiting further questions I just want to note for the public and for the school board it's a large warrant in the amount of $2 million but 1.6 million of that 2 million total is coming out of state and
county grants Okay Mr Vieira Thank you Mr Chairman I'm sorry I'm sorry Back to you Mr Okay Thank you Um um page 10 that um Hamlick Landscaping and Construction That's that
1,375,600 Is that the softball field yep Heimlick is the vendor that was awarded the bid and I believe we have about 300,000 left on that on that purchase order So we are nearing the end of that We're nearing the end of it Okay And most of that is contingency Okay Excellent And the last one I had was on
page 13 One goal instructional software for five for 50,000 Yeah that's a program that I think some board members visited last year There was a graduation um there was a graduation last year students juniors and seniors who were not on the college track and they would they took a class and this class helped
get helped them get on the college track and they graduated uh in from high school and they were able to uh metriculate and attend college and university or junior college So that's what this software is So this is this is software for that class that is part of the part of the vocation part of the business department So it's at the high
school at the high school Okay Thank you Great Thank you Mr Shavs Mr Vera Thank you Mr Chairman question on page two Bayate uh Interpreters Inc in the amount of $40,8957 So that's a that's a software or program we use to help translate all our
documents or to attend meetings or to assist principles department heads with translating translation services Okay And then on page five in the amount 8,000 if I could just go back to Mr Vieira uh those are services January through February
Okay for 40,000 Yes we use them quite often Okay Just it's stuck out but there's an explanation attached So my next question is on page five
$8,811 and it is electrical con uh Dagel electrical construction Yeah that was a light pole replacement at the Freeman complex Okay And on page six in the amount of $11,900 professional development outside
provid that was uh so we're implementing a new social studies curriculum called investigating history and that was the professional development that was offered at the March PD Okay And my other questions were all answered through Mrs Shabs Thank you
superintendent Thank you Mr Beer If I can just revert back to the Bay State interpreter So help me out here So this is we're paying $40,000 for two months of what services is that again superintendent uh all translation services in the district So
communication that goes out communications curriculum documents meetings uh IEP meetings uh meetings in buildings if a translator is needed This is the organization that we utilize Okay Interesting I I've never Anybody
recall seeing this on the wall yeah Not this high though huh yeah I don't recall seeing it in that that amount Well and also keep in mind that we have 22 languages spoken in the district So I mean I know somebody who speaks Portuguese I would handle a lot
of those translation services when I was the principal assistant principal and even now if somebody comes into the office I'll assist But if with all the new languages that have moved into the community all the the languages that existed having this program is very helpful very useful
Can we maybe just get an update of uh what we spent so far on this year to date yeah year to date And uh is this is this a contract or it's a contract hourly or yeah I can get you the backup Okay Yeah if you could for the next meeting I'd appreciate it Okay Thank you
Uh that's all for me Wishes of the committee Motion was made and seconded It was okay Sorry On discussion So all in favor opposed eyes have it Thank you And that's it Motion to adjurnn Seconded All in favor i opposed Eyes have it We are
adjourned Thank you Thank you Okay Good evening everyone and welcome Thank you for joining us I call the meeting to order If you could please join us in the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation
under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Oh say can you see by the dawn early
light what so proudly we held at the twilight last gleaming who brought stripes and bright
stars through the peril us fight Or the ramparts we watched were so gallently streaming And the
rockets red glare The bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there
Oh say does that star spangled then wave or the land of the free and the
home of the brave Mrs Fagen will lead us in the invocation Lord as we begin this session let us acknowledge your goodness and mercy and ask your blessings on all our deliberations We thank you for this opportunity to be of service to our
community and to the young people entrusted to our care And if you'd please remain standing we have uh one we're asking for a moment of silence for Maria M Gild Day who died recently on
April 10th at the age of 89 after a brief ill illness She's she was the beloved wife of the late Robert F Gilde daughter of the late Frederick and Ellen Neato Demurs Marie was a li long long lifelong public school I'm sorry
lifelong resident of Taton having attended Taton public schools and graduating from Taton High School in 1953 and after raising her family she worked as a teaching assistant at East Taton Elementary School for 25 years before her retirement in 2012 Marie's
students brought her tremendous joy and were the subjects of countless stories throughout her life She was an avid reader poet and crossword buff Mar and Marie's imagination mind and spirit were sharp Her stories knowledge and humor
will be deeply missed by those who had the pleasure of her company So we ask you for a moment of silence and keep her family in your thoughts and in your prayers Thank you Thank you Mrs Fagan Roll call
Mr Enus present Mrs Shabs present Mr Powski is absent Mrs Fagan is present Uh Miss Santos is absent Mr Vieira present Mr Laura present Uh Dr um Dlo present
Our chairman present and Mayor Okonnell present Thank you Approval of the minutes of April 5th 2025 So move that Second Approval for April 5th 2025 Motion and second to approve All those in favor opposed none opposed so voted
Uh we do have some folks signed up for public input So and Dr Dlo will Thank you mayor So just a quick uh reading here In accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 39 section 23C we kindly request that individuals wish to provide public input sign up in advance
A copy of the regulation guidelines will be provided upon sign up and the individual will be asked to state their name and address for the record The amount of time each reg individual will have to speak will be determined by the number of people who sign the register and will be announced prior to the start of the public input portion of the meeting Uh we only have two folks signed
up Mayor I believe two to three minutes should be sufficient but we don't limit anybody at the podium So first up we have Audrey Reese 123 Washington Street Topic or or comment is communication Hello Um I'm mostly here today because I
had a situation this morning that really affected me emotionally The school um was trying to get a hold of me but once again the phone system was down and they had to use parent square I am really here to ask you to all work on
communication with the parents about our children in school We need to be not all of us are on technology Some of us don't need even know how to use it So there needs to be more paperwork or a better way to communicate
with us The way I found out my son was sick at 8:30 this morning I did not find out until 11:00 and that was because the nurse asked his teacher to get a hold of me through Parent Square So my son sat for two and a half hours in the nurse's
station It could have been an emergency because he was complaining of abdominal pain Could have been appendicitis I didn't feel comfortable with this reaction that I had I tried repeatedly to try and get in touch with the school There was no contact I had to
keep communicating with this teacher who was teaching at the time who had a hard time getting back to me in a manly time And as I talk I'm very out there in the community and a lot of parents are very
upset about us not knowing what's going on in our school because it's all on the computer or on our phones There is still a culture out there that do not use technology We still unfortunately yes
you can call us dinosaurs but we're not We're still paper people and we would like to know what's going on and we would appreciate it that you respected our way of living and keep us up to date as to everything that's going on in the schools in Taton and we don't
feel that it's that much to ask with the technology that you have you can print out those papers we can get a weekly statement and also too as I was thinking about this all day I mean I ended up having to take my son to the doctors and deal with all that today but you've been
having trouble with your phones and your internet Especially at Gallagghan they've been having trouble with their phones a lot So the easy solution to that everybody has a cell phone All that person in the office needs to do is try
to call the school when they first come into the school see if the phone system's working or or use the phone at the school and call their cell phone So like I said two and a half hours today my son was in a panic mode and I was in
a panic mode I was someplace where I couldn't go right there My son is not someone that goes to the nurse's office frequently So when he does and I was unable to get there until 11:00 this morning when I finally found out that he
needed me So I just wish communication would get a little bit better And I know I like I said I don't know much about technology because I don't live in that world and the paperwork that gets put out it should be able to be put in
everybody's language Taton is a well- diversified community right now and I I inter I interact with a lot of people from different countries and they don't know what's going on because of the communication is not coming in their language
So please if you could work on that it would be much appreciated with the people that I'm associated with that we get more papers or just don't you don't rely on technology Please don't There's still like I said dinosaurs out there
that want to know what's going on And we would really appreciate to be included in your little group of people I don't mean to sound mean or cruel but we feel left out because we don't have technology We don't we don't we we
didn't grow up with it We didn't use it in our careers We're retired We still want to be part of it We want to help our children but if we don't know what's going on we can't be part of that circle So it's not
inclusive as it should be And Taton should be a very well diversified inclusive school system not one that just if you got technology and you got a young age it's not fair to us Thank you for listening
Thank you Mrs Ree Next up we have Mr Arthur Deont 19 Shore Street uh bathroom at the high school Welcome Mr Deont Thank you I'm here tonight to discuss a problem that was brought to my attention I have
a granddaughter that goes to the high school She's 14 years old She's in the eighth grade And was brought to my She told me a story that I said to myself "Nah I mean okay you you might be telling part of the story but you don't have all the
facts." But I did a little digging myself and it seems to me that at any given time of the day there's only four bathrooms open up open in the high school Now with a capacity of 3,000 students that seems to me like an
impossibility for you to go to the bathroom and be able to uh go to go to your class on time Plus it's a destabling factor where students who have to make the sacrifice to go to the bathroom enter the class late and
disrupt the class Then if you do get to the bathroom you have to uh wait in line And if you get in there there are people in there that are standing in front of the stalls playing the game sitting on the sinks smoking uh vaping and it's
just a 14-year-old is it's just too much for her She's not thinking about her classes anymore not thinking about coming to school and you know enjoying her day She's trying to figure out how she's going to be able to go to the bathroom without being harassed or what you call it being late for class And she
is a good student and uh so all due respect to the school committee I just uh would like you people to uh take a look at that I know there's people that are supposed to be security people in the high school and uh either they're not doing their job or
the administration's not backing them so they can do some law and order and get more bathrooms opened I just don't understand how they came up with that plan Four bathrooms is enough for 3,000 students And if I don't have all my facts right I'll uh acknowledge that
fact It could be a problem But yet I did a little digging and I think that's what's going on So thank you very much Appreciate it Thank you Mr Deont For the two community members we don't engage in a conversation at this point we refer to administration uh either the superintendent uh we'll get back to you
directly or we will bring it up at the next meeting and discuss what was talked about tonight So thank you for being here tonight Thank you ma'am Okay Thank you Next we have multi- language learners update Superintendent Cabraw
will you be introducing that so as uh director of multilingual learners makes her way to the podium it's a pleasure and an honor to introduce Delila Mendoza who has been leading the program This is my eighth year for almost a decade uh to share
some of the work that is taking place with the students who are new arrivals our students who live in our community and how they benefit from and how we're working to engage the students and make sure that that they have the resources and not only our students but also our families have the resources to be
actively engaged and active members in our schools and our community And I think when you see the slide deck and hear Mrs Mendoza's presentation you'll see that there's been some substantial growth over the last three or four years And you'll also know that with this growth the Tom Public Schools has
committed know hundreds of thousands of dollars to new staffing to make sure that we continue to keep pace with the growth of our community as well as programs and curriculum to make sure that the students get the access and the supports that they need so that they feel included and inclusive in our school committee in our school community
and in our community Thank you Mr Cabraw So my name is Delila Mendoza I just want to give uh background for those of you that don't know me I'm a resident of Taton I've lived in Taton for 48 years I was an English learner in the Taton public
schools I attended the bilingual program as a kindergartener a first grader and a second grader I am raising my two boys here in Taton as well Um they I now have a freshman in college She goes to Rhode Island College and I have an eighth
grader at the high school This is my 24th year as an employee for Taton Public Schools And throughout my years in Taton Public Schools I started as a bilingual teacher I then went into the general setting I was a second grade teacher for a long time I was an
assistant principal a math coach and a literacy coach And then now I'm director So this is my um as I said earlier my eighth year as director Um I just wanted to note so these are all our countries that we
represent in our school system which I thought was really cool 37 countries So we represent five out of seven continents which is awesome And we have 21 languages thus far and that's four additional languages since last year
So these are some acronyms that you're going to be hearing So I just put them up there for your reference Uh SEI is sheltered English immersion that has to do with programming EL is the new um the new acronym for English learners It goes
under the multilingual umbrella The the difference is the EL students receive the services where the ML students can be former English learners or heritage speakers So it encompasses everybody that's uh
multilingual Uh ESL is how we refer our teachers So English as a second language So I often say my ESL teachers EL is the course at Taton High It's called English language development and access is the
state mandated state statemandated test um for English learners and that is our one criteria of exiting our program So that's essentially our MCCAST So these are our eight pillars
that we pride ourselves in our department The one I want to point out the most is the first one the language connections The more we connect the students uh primary language to the new language that they're learning the more they can
grasp So this is something that I often talk about and I will be talking about through my presentation why we need to continue with grade level standards Do not water it down Um and have that rigorous learning but using their
primary language as a resource So our identification procedure starts with a home language survey So every family gets the home language survey in their uh registration packet or registration I know it's online now So
if there's any other language noted in that home uh language survey they have to come to our office We have a district assessor who um screen does the screening assessments with the students and there's criteria whether they will
be identified as an English learner or not identified depending on their scoring and the initial placement is a decision made but with the family So the district assessor regardless of the scoring and regardless if they're newly
in this country or not um the assessor Mavva Cole she calls the the family and tells them what programming we have and what do they feel their child um would would be best for their learning So it's
definitely made with a family which I think is um key So this initial Slife identification procedure this has been huge lately in the state of Massachusetts because of the influx of Slife So Slife means
students with limited or interrupted formal education So what we're finding I mean we can call even our students my children as life students because of COVID but we are finding huge um influx
of students from other countries too with this um life identification because of the traumatic events or whatever might be happening and why they landed with us The state of Massachusetts has
had um guidance since 200 2015 However um they never really they told us what Slife was and they were working on this like the Department of Ed is is continuously asking for our our um our feedback Um but we don't know what
assessments we have to give these students because they have to be like two grades below the grade level But why are we giving them tests that are American and not from their country so there's a lot of talk about that However this sh uh 2024 they came up with an
awesome uh handout that or a guideline that really walks us through that cipher identification And I've been part of the community of practice with DESIE and districts are able to upload to them resources that they use in their in
their um school system that we can also uh use So currently we have a focus group of um I think like six of us I believe um and it's administrators right now um along with our district assessor in order to
see what what structure do we need for this identification to be formalized Um and our next step that we're going to do is who is responsible for what My district assessor currently screens all
new students monitors all former English learners for four years screens preschool uh prek and kindergarten students because kindergarten students have to be screened again whether they were identified as pre in prek or not
And if they don't qualify as an English learner in kindergarten they're no longer identified as kindergarten as an eel regardless of their prek identification So this is a law on one person So we are working this is our main thing with our
focus group how we can use what who we have in our district to help with the the whole process and part of the process is interviewing the family having a conversation with the family as far as what the education was what is
interrupted um or what is formal like all those questions And again the guidance that Desi has now provided to us has has sample interview questions It's really awesome Um so we came up
with this on how to identify the Slife students So this came out of our focus group so far So like I said the the part that we are at right now is who's going to be responsible for what and in order
to really support our district assessor So who we are So when I made this slide and gave it to you we've already added three students which was last Friday So it's now up to 1,1 students This is the first year we hit the 1000 mark I was so excited So um
this is an increase of 310 students from last year Um our former English learners have increased by 28 students and I think we should be proud of that as well because that means that our ESL teachers are rocking it Um and our top four
languages are Portuguese Haitian Creole Cape Verdian Creole and Spanish And this is a huge shift in what we've seen I mean back in my day the Portuguese were Portuguese from Portugal were the majority Then for a long time Spanish
speakers were the majority Um they fell Spanish speakers fell into number two and now into number four um this year and Haitian Creole has really moved up We also have 100 students who were born
in the US that are uh English learners as well So that's kudos to parents keeping their native languages going in the home uh with the students So this has been our enrollment increase since
2015 COVID we saw a huge drop lack of um we couldn't travel anywhere so we didn't have an influx of students coming in the last number so we've increased from last June till now till April 182 students so
we're not even done with our school year yet here is our newcomer academy And we have it categorized as elementary middle and high school The influx although you see the numbers there the influx kind of
is the same in elementary I don't see a lot of elementary Like we might see a lot of elementary at the beginning of the year but then we see a lot of middle schoolers in the middle of the year a lot of high schoolers So it's kind of the same uh the influx according to level
This I'm very proud of So that last number should be 29 I don't know why it doesn't show there So we have 29 ESL teachers We retain our ESL teachers which is
amazing So um teachers that we lost are due to retirement So I'm I just I'm so proud of them and I love that they love Totten as much as I love Taton especially being an English learner in this district And what you see there are
all the general setting curriculum and that's what they use in the newcomer academy That's what they use in the SEI setting which I'll explain So we use the same amount I mean the same exact curriculum resources that the general
setting does And the newcomer academy it's key to do that because it's already a shocker when they go into the general setting But now they'll know the routines they'll know the language they so that won't be shocking to them So
um this has been a huge shift especially this year and with that we are seeing tremendous growth with our multilingual learners So here the gaps in student growth closed between L's and non-L's in
both reading and math in 2025 And based on our winter I Ready data I'm going to give credit to Hillary Breahan She's our data guru She's the one that came up with these graphs Um the L and non-Lel student groups had the same median growth in reading in 2025 as
the non-L's In math L's students had 16 percentage point higher growth compared to non-LE's So here this is newcomer only So these are brand new students to our country Okay So they came in September to January at any point of the school
year The expected growth at midyear is 60% 100% is considered typical annual growth or the equivalent of one year's growth From just fall to winter the students of the newcomer Academy are showing a medium growth of one year or higher in
math and reading across classrooms which is amazing Some students had like 230% increase in their I Ready scores Newcomer Academy blew everyone out of the water It was awesome This is Parker
for our newcomer academy and their growth And this is the different colleges that are L's and former L's These are just some there's more but these are some that they have attended which I think speaks a lot about Taton
public schools Okay So now our different programs So we have I'm kind of going to go down to up because I think it makes more sense The newcomer academy is just for students that enter the US and it's
their first year in US schools So they go to the newcomer academy Now like I said before the initial identification if a parent doesn't feel that their newcomer needs to be in the academy they go in the general setting So that's
something that um is is talked about So the newcomers they get screened by our district assessor so that we have an idea where their English proficiencies are We have expanded ourmies to now three classrooms in the elementary level
and we um divide them into grades as you see there the middle school level What we've done is combine the eighth grade with that The eighth graders don't go into Parker However the teachers float around to all all grades fifth through
8th So that be prior eighth graders just had one teacher for all subject areas and it's impossible to be an expert in open sedative math in study sync So we have four content teachers that teach all
four grades and that you saw the growth that is working tremendously We do the same thing at the high school level N uh grades 9 through 12 When I first started Newcomer Academy all students e 8th grade to 12th grade were in one
classroom with one teacher they did not get any content or or the only credits they got was for math So they lost an entire year of gaining credits for their education So we have
shifted that and now they float around to um dulylicicensed teachers who are ESL teachers but they're content specific So we have a history a math who teaches algebra and geometry an English
and a science teacher The SEI model is all the other students So any student that is not a newcomer is considered an L is in the general setting We are working to have
an inclusionary model which I feel at the elementary level we've done a really nice job where the ESL teacher goes into the classroom and works in the classroom with the ESL student uh with the L student and there's constant communication between the classroom
teacher and the ESL teacher So that's working um very well too So some focus areas Oops was this on twice so our four-year graduation rates
there's a huge gap there between English learners and um all other students English learners and former English learners So that's something that we're looking at um and enrolling in post-secary
education We're seeing not necessarily the former English learners However the English learners there's still a huge gap there So moving forward we um work with KFIA which is a consulting company that
coaches provides professional development and we work with KFIASA on how to better serve our English learners Last year we did walkthroughs with elementary principles and coaches through the buildings to see what
inclusionary models were there what can they do better what do they like in another school that they can do in their school And this year we walked through again to see how the implementation is going what tweaks we have to make in the
in the elementary setting Next year what we want to focus and as we saw the graduation uh rates we want to focus on working with coaches and coordinators at the high school with confa on how to support teachers that are in the general
setting in teaching English learners So we want to expand to that level as well The elevation platform is an amazing platform for all It offers professional development points that teachers need for SEI the sheltered
English immersion professional development points that they need for their lensure It offers it free through that platform It also offers strategies for teachers for all teachers and it categorizes the kids according to the strategy like this student has this
level in speaking This is how you could provide support using this strategy with that level of speaking Um and also it it's where I get like the chart that I showed you with the languages It's where I get everything It pulls right from school brains which is
great So it's it's always um up to date And now I'm just going to do a little bragging So during our I think I did brag a little bit already but during our tiered focus monitoring which is essentially our audit um one of the
areas of need was what I was saying about the newcomer academy how it was all in one class and the students were missing credits for that year So we totally revamped and we have an amazing program now in year one that we we
revamped the program four of our newcomers exited the program which is we've never done that So it is working So uh Allison Balter is the director of office of language acquisition for DESIE
and she's the one that did did our tiered focus monitoring She has reached out to companies to reach out to me to do trainings with the companies on what I have done in the high school so that they can consult with other other school
districts and what how they can um how they can structure their newcomer academy I was asked to co-present with Allison Allison is a superstar I love her Um and we presented to a bunch of districts throughout the state of
Massachusetts about the same thing And these are just quotes that um through our emails And then we had the districts that we presented to come visit our newcomer academy here at the high school as well So we are doing amazing things
My teachers are absolutely amazing and the students are the most amazing I should say And these are just some quotes about our kids And these are our kiddos This is they I know it's not capitalized but this is them you know
sending sending emails to their teacher So that's the end of my presentation All right Well thank you so much for that presentation and congratulations on all of your well-deserved recognitions
Thank you Um I will open it up to the committee if anyone has any questions or comments Mrs Shabs Thank you Madam Mayor Dila excellent job with your presentation and you have the data to support your accolade so you should be shouting them out because nice job I just had one
question about the eighth grade because you have the eighth grade listed under the middle school level and you mentioned something about so the the proximity of the eighth grade classroom is close to Parker Okay Okay So what the teachers do is they go to the eighth
grade classroom and so like my math teacher is technically a Parker teacher Okay But she walks over and teaches the eighth graders the math and then the sixth grade um you know like the Parker teachers come here Yeah So we have
uh math English history and science So the four of them have um their own content and they just float between the different classrooms for the different grades Excellent Nice job Thank you Thank you Mr Laura Thank you Madame Mayor
Excellent presentation Question on the um the 330 that are USORN that growing up probably with grandparents etc they learn more of their language of the native language that the grandparents or parents speak
when they come into the school system um in the elementary level do they exceed because they have they have an introduction to the English language through TV through social media etc but don't they also seem to exceed
more in acquiring the full knowled knowledge of English do you mean through ESL or through well when they go into formal education learning Yeah Uh because they in other words you were saying earlier that most
of them kept their heritage and language at home but they also are learning the other language maybe not as in a formal sense but they're acquiring vocabulary and language etc Right So does that help them when they come to school to succeed
in learning the process yeah So the the main this is why I always tell families to keep the native language because the more solidified that first language whatever first language you had the more solidified that is the better they're going to pick up the next language and
living here they're like you were saying are exposed to English all the time right so keep having that conversation in the native language is so key to all students in all grades Yeah because like any language acquisition if you have the basic
concept of grammar you know nouns verbs etc right it's just transformation yes so basically now kids coming in from other countries uh depending on their ages of course some if they come in at 10 years of age they might have already
had two or three years of education in their country do they seem to um I guess what I'm trying to say is do They come in their desire to learn is always there because they're probably the best students of all because they
come in with a the ethic of learning and doing well and making their families proud that they're here in this country but also the fact that they are uh do they transition quickly into regular English classes or is it is it take
longer like any other student um I I feel like the students transition well like they are with their English speakaking peers as well Like at the high school they have two classes the two electives are in the general setting
So they do have that exposure So once they get out of the newcomer academy they do already have those connections So I feel like they adjust very well They do Good Yeah And also now in some of the courses I'm I'm talking about the
subject matter Some of the foreign students seem to excel in like math and certain categories that are not they're very strong learning the techniques of math problems etc And so is that
something that you notice learning the less language the more they can pick up So once you have more English language that's where it's not that they don't know it's just harder for them to understand because of the language So if they're doing just an equation yes they
can do that because they understand numbers Right Right But if it's So this is why it's key to have the new um content the curriculum resources that the general setting has because even math has a lot more verbiage in there
that it's not just technique anymore Um so them doing that in the newcomermies is so key so that they don't have that shock value once they get into the general setting Good Thank you You're welcome Dr Dilla Thank you Mayor Thank
you so much Director Mendoza So I'm one of those students that always spoke Portuguese in the household growing up and uh I'm I'm where I'm at today in my career because I have the dual language ability and the foundation was very important So uh kudos to all those households two comments and one
suggestion Uh on the slice slide I'm I'm finally happy to hear that Desi got it right after nine years So congratulations on assisting them to that goal I know you were instrumental Uh the ESL teachers we have 29 uh community
facilitators because of the four major languages that we spoke about How are we doing how's the interaction with community facilitators i I always hear pieces and bits and I just want to know if we need more support on the community facilitator side How do you interact
the community facilitators are my lifeline um because of the how they know the resources in the community They help with registrations and all of that Um we are there are some languages that we
don't have represented Cverian Crayola is one of them Uh a lot of Cverian Creole speaking parents speak Portuguese but what I'm finding is Cverian Creole is now becoming a more officialized language in their country So they're
learning it in their schooling So students aren't necessarily coming here knowing Portuguese where in the past they used to right have that So we could always use more community facilitators because okay it's just a lot of families
coming in and they they really are fantastic I can't speak more about them more good things about them Great Thank you And one last suggestion I personally know at least one student that is one of the postsecary enrollments at Bridgewwater State University and I'd
like to send the official logo of Bridgewater State University You can put on your future literature Is that okay with you of course All right Thank you That's all Thank you so much Yeah Yeah Well I'm from BSU too so I'm sorry about that No problem Thank you ma'am You're welcome All right Well if there's nothing further
superintendent thank you So um as a former bilingual student uh this presentation hits near and dear because a lot has changed from when I was a bilingual student back in the 1900s And um yeah so I'm very proud of the work we've done A couple things that really jump out is I didn't realize how much
we've grown on the staffing side and I consider myself somebody who monitors the finances to see that we've more than doubled the ESL staffing since uh I began as superintendent in Ton Public Schools That's something that's very gratifying because I also believe it translates into fewer ESL students being
identified for special needs because they're receiving the services that they need in the classroom in the school And in speaking to that we also have formalized the student support meetings with special ed where if an English learner is there I'm invited so that that doesn't happen as well So I'm proud
of this committee for again supporting the budgets when we're increasing staff to support students who are who are new to our country and when I last urban superintendent meeting we spent the entire session talking about Slife which was something that I wasn't very familiar with and we and I heard Mrs
Mendoza talk about interrupted learning but I think it's important for the community and for you to understand what interrupted learning means A lot of our students have left war torn countries A lot of our students have left countries that are in political turmoil And a lot of our students have arrived here because of natural disaster So when you
talk about war interrupted learning it's not because their parents kept them home is because they literally could not access school or education And what I see happening in time reminds me a lot about my my own childhood where you're seeing a lot of kids coming into these buildings happy smiling and thirsty to
learn So we're very proud of the work we're doing here in our community We've had a large influx but I think you're doing a great job You all are doing a great job The city is in supporting our budgets and making sure that our neediest learners who are new to this country new to our school system are getting the supports and the resources they need So thank you You're welcome
Good point All right All right Well thank you so much Thank you Moving on to administrative business we have the Taton Public School staffing update Very excited to report Madame Mayor that we are 99% staffed Wow a tea classroom
teachers We are missing a ROC instructor at the high school and a special educator and we are working closely with other superintendents to identify a potential ROC junior instructor So we hope to get that number down to zero Okay excellent Motion to accept report
and be placed on file Motion to second All those in favor opposed none opposed So voted Then we have Taton Public Schools District enrollment update So sorry it's been a while since I provided you with an enrollment update You'll notice since the January report uh we've increased from 8,375 students to
8,423 students Tarton Alternative High School has seen a large influx as uh during semester 3 or trimester They received some students who are credit deficient Also TPVA they've exceeded last year's enrollment of 75 They are
approaching 90 and then I provided you with data across all the other grades Uh again I continue to be proud of your support and the work that we're doing around prek as we have almost 400 prek students which is three and four year olds that are either attending halftime
or full-time So that's a credit to Mrs Moan and uh Mrs Hoy who are pinch hitting for assistant superintendent Chris Barada and assistant superintendent Brenda Moahan who couldn't be with us this evening Same procedure Second Uh motion and second on discussion Mrs Shops Discussion Thank
you Madame Mayor Um Superintendent Cabraw a couple of things First off it's a 5% increase So where over the last two years you've gone 5% You know I worry about some of the construction that's going on what it's going to do to our schools as we see families come in If I could interrupt during our strategic
planning meeting uh based on the data it's we've actually grown by almost 10% over a four-year period I believe it Yeah Because I was looking at the two years since That's an entire elementary school Yes Yes So um so I just wanted to point that out One of the things that I would like I had brought it up before and the next time you do this my concern
is 12th graders um in that we have lost 26 I'm assuming that a lot of them went to TV TPVA or TA TAHS but the next time you do it could you let us know that whether or not yes a little little something So we know that we didn't lose
26 kids that they're not quitting school that you know we make sure that they're not falling through the cracks We want to make sure that if we look at those numbers where are these students going are they still with us and I think that's an important thing to look at Thank you Okay Thank you Mr Josh All
right So there's a motion in a second to uh receive place on file All those in favor opposed not opposed So voted Next we have field trip requests So I I can do this Uh so the Martin Middle School to New York City museums
uh looks in order Um I've reviewed it I have no problems whatsoever This is now a uh what's the incremental date on this because we we already approved this on March 5th with just followup So I guess
everything's in order Okay So are there any approvals needed tonight or is this justformational i think it's justformational because we Okay Is this a final approval stage or Let me see when they're going on the trip here They're not going until January 20th Oh I'm sorry
May May This would be a final This would be the final So you have you have the 30-day check-in and then the final approval Motion to approve Second Motion and second to approve the field trip requests on the agenda All those in favor opposed none opposed so voted And
the next one mayor is the uh taunt abroad to Greece It's a 60-day approval Once again I actually just did both of those at the same time I thought we were doing both at the same time No So all right So I'm sorry The So the first motion was just on May on May Yeah For
May Okay And the second one is the Taton uh to Greece trip uh with um June 20th of 2025 This is the uh 60-day review Once again just another motion to be in order to approve Okay So is there a
motion to approve uh B field trip to approve the B field trip abroad to Greece second Motion and second All those in favor Opposed none opposed So voted Both trips approved Uh subcommittee reports Cafeteria
collective bargaining Mr Vieiraa Yes Thank you Madame Mayor The cafeteria collective bargain and subcommittee met on Thursday April the 3rd 2025 Myself Miss Santos and Mr and negotiations are ongoing That
concludes my report Motion to accept the report Second on that Motion and second All those in favor opposed none opposed So voted Next we have custodians collective bargaining Uh I'm sorry Miss Oh Miss B is not here
So Oh you're doing it Mate that form Yes Uh so the committee custodian collective bargain and subcommittee also met on Thursday April the 3 Mr Powski and Mr Laura and negotiations are also ongoing
That concludes the report Motion to accept Second Motion and second to accept the report All those in favor opposed Thank you Not opposed So voted You're welcome TEA collective bargaining agreement uh collective bargaining Mrs Fagan TEA met on April
the 7th of this year with the TEA and negotiations Oh I'm sorry with myself um Mr Vieiraa and Dr Dlo and the negotiations are ongoing
Same procedure Motion and second All those in favor opposed none opposed so voted Taa collective bargaining Dr Dillo Thank you mayor The uh TAA subcommittee met uh on April 14th Members of the committee and
Mrs Shaves and Mr Laura Uh first meeting was just to set ground rules We have four dates on the calendar and negotiations will be ongoing Thank you ma'am You're welcome Motion to accept Motion and second All those in favor i opposed None opposed So voted Elementary
subcommittee Mr Laura Thank you Madame Mayor The elementary subcommittee met this this afternoon uh president with myself as chairman Miss Donna Shavs and Mr Dlo Chairman Dlo came at the meeting to participate uh along with
Superintendent Cabral and Principal Claudine Nichols The meeting was called to order at 4:45 p.m Principal Nichols presented the improvement plan at the East Tart Elementary School for 2024 to
2026 highlighting the areas of focus with the overall goal to achieve proficiency in key academic areas improve student performance and enhance teacher impact Area of focus All educators
particularly in grades two to four will have a clear understanding of grade level writing standard and demand as demonstrated through the consistent implementation of rubrics and exemplars Item one action items
Principal Nichols states "At the end of the school year students will improve their critical thinking and analytical writing skills by composing written responses to text thus demonstrating clear understanding and critical
analysis in progress Monitoring will occur through collaborative writing and peer review Improved practices would build a supportive learning community where students feel confident in sharing their work Increase inclusive practices where
classrooms celebrate diverse writing styles and perspectives At grade level and curriculum meetings staff will analyze writing performances through formative assessments I ready data and MCCAST
results They will implement a common graphic organizer conduct many lessons to teach students how to utilize the organizer and apply this skill to writing The ILT will identify areas that's the instructional learning
training system will identify the areas that need additional focus and interventions At the end of the school year the teacher will compare students progress and collaborate on specific scaffolds that have shown success and
areas of need of marginalized groups of students In the second area of management by the end of the school year there will be an increase in students sense of belonging and improve attendance rates for all students by
implementing schoolwide initiatives in adopting and implementing at least three practices from the book building thinking classrooms Create a book club aligning the book club members with broader
initiatives such as improving student discourse engagement or problem solving skills allow students to develop learning professional opportunities with staff members during faculty meetings focusing on ways to promote student
discourse and collaboration This will enable to analyze attendance and vocal data and conduct learning strategies in ongoing manner And the third area of focus
educators will utilize MindUP curriculum PBIS support and SEAL resources with commitment in grades preK through grades four At my monthly meetings staff will collaborate and reflect on data
observations and behavior specific tools to reinforce learning and behavior expectations Mental health teams meet weekly to discuss data from vocal celus and
classroom and student observations to determine the appropriate seal supports for successful routines and strategies in the classrooms provide provide positive behavioral supports to all classrooms through
modeling SEAL focus sessions guided conversations and behavior charts that promote focus regulation and engagement Staff members will conduct will collect data and reflect using tools such as
behavioral data office referrals and data tracking check-ins and reset space data and teacher logs In her presentation Principal Nichols highlighted numerous benchmarks
to be achieved at each level with a main emphasis of an annual increase of improvement in the areas of academics teacher development student engagement parents and community and social emotional learning And finally
attendance initiatives Principal Nichols presented the school improvement plan in a very positive fashion with great enthusiasm detailing the plan utilizing a multitude of resources to ensure her
goals and objectives are fully implemented and thus creating a more effective learning environment which will offer greater results in to our students The total students at uh East Elementary is
597 as of today The meeting concluded at 5:27 p.m And this is my report Motion to accept the report Second Motion and second to to accept the report All those in favor opposed None opposed So voted And lastly we have finance and law with
Dr Thank you mayor The finance and law subcommittee met earlier this evening Members of the committee and Mr Shaz and Mr Vieira I chair the committee Uh we had four items on the agenda The first was the disposal of surplus equipment Uh the first one was regarding to Hamilton
Street There were some pews uh 12 pews as a matter of fact uh that uh should be going out to surplus but there was a recommendation for the superintendent or his design to reach out to local churches to see if they are interested uh and offer it to them And the second
item was a um groundskeeper uh a Fisher and steel caster steel hopper Uh that's uh 2015 value of $300 That's also designated to be sent to surplus Correct
Uh that was voted unanimously in favor Uh the second one second item was special education expenses Uh it's just an update We set a $50,000 annual budget We are nearing that budget We're about $6,600 to go Uh we may have to uh move
some line items from other uh law expenses that we have on retainer uh to satisfy any above and beyond the $50,000 budget Uh that was again uh recommended and voted unanimously The third item was coaching for change Uh it's a monthly
update Every time an invoice is uh sent to us on the warrant we ask for supporting documentation like other organizations And of course uh everything looked in order and was voted unanimously to accept that um that presentation from coaching for change
And the last item was bills payable for FY25 in the amount of 2,16,52583 There were various questions but the superintendent did point out that out of the two plus million 1.6 1.6 was from external grants both state and
federal and other grants uh and that was accepted and uh unanimously by the subcommittee and that concludes the report Okay Thank you Motion to accept the report and adopt the recommendations of the finance and law subcommittee Second Motion and second All those in favor opposed none opposed so voted
Under new business we have healthy communities grant application I'll be real quick because this is moving faster than I anticipated Um part of my goal part of our goal is to make sure that our schools not only are welcoming to our students but also welcoming to our community So we have the opportunity uh
to apply for this grant and I was uh I was informed yesterday that we've been awarded $40,000 to help fund this project And we've also already identified $97,000 So we've already covered more than half the cost to fund this project So at the next meeting in May I
anticipate coming before the committee with request to allocate the remaining resources And who knows maybe our friends on the city side might want to split this but uh we'll see what happens in May So more information to come and I hope you enjoyed the video that I shared with you Okay Thank you Superintendent Accept
the report Motion to second all those on discussion Um if you want to see one in person Swansea has one across from Swansea High School So it's Bridgewater State And Bridgewater State So yes that was our inspiration Excellent Of course Okay Um
and I understand uh Mr Vieira has some new business Just want to remind the members that new business may be brought up That isn't on the agenda but cannot be discussed It would be referred to the next agenda Thank you Madame May So I just want to let the committee and the community know that uh
Tuesday the 29th we have a long range uh plan and public property meeting uh that the superintendent will send other communication on Another thing that I wanted to do the second thing uh Tom Public Schools bullying prevention and intervention plan I'd like to refer that
to a committee of the whole That way we can have a a discussion about it analyze it and um have a better understanding as it of it as a group So if I could make that in a form of a a motion that would be wonderful Okay So motion Is there a
second second Motion and second All those in favor i opposed Not opposed So voted Thank you You're welcome Uh just under unfinished business we have the action item update No action this time Okay There is no press here
this evening and oh there is uh are we doing executive session yes Okay motion to go in executive session on uh can you read it as it's listed on the agenda just to make sure it's um executive session to go in executive session to discuss the security
protocols pursuant to to exemption 4 general laws chapter 38 section 2184 and to not reconvene in open session on roll call vote was there was a second yes motion and
second on roll call please Mrs Mrs Fagan Mr Enus Yes Mrs Sh Yes Mrs Fagan votes yes Mr Vieiraa Yes Mr Laura Yes Dr Dlo Yes Oh Mr Mayor Uh yes Okay Okay Motion
to