States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible liy and Justice thank you this meeting is being live streamed by Chelson tell media and posted a CPS website for interested community members to access and watch inperson public participation will be taking place tonight in accordance with the Chon school committee public participation policy anyone speaking tonight during the public in por part portion of this meeting has notified the superintendent's office of the desire to speak been provided with these guidelines upon written request comments received no later than 12:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting will also be read made part of the record of the meeting during the second public comment session so welcome to this meeting of CH school committee our first order of business is to approve our minutes from our last meeting on April 23rd okay I make a motion uh that we approve the minutes of the May 23rd you so April 23rd 2024 meeting it's not a May yet I second okay great uh any corrections all in favor I hi uh one you not here for this one last one uh oh so I I have to abstain one exstension okay so three I and one I reviewed the notes and watched the meeting all right so next up we will hear from our chood high school student Representatives um so yesterday the Boston brass quintet came to chumford high school Performing Art Center to perform with the chumford high school band they are a world-renowned brass quintet and it was an amazing opportunity for high school students to see and hear professional musicians also last week from April 27th to the 30th three chumford high school students were part of an 800 student contingent representing Massachusetts Deca at the international Career Development conference in Anaheim California the conference had over 23,000 students attending and competing in various competitive events the chenford high school students include Junior Prav aburri Junior Arvin Ral and sophomore Ethan Jen congratulations to these students hello everyone so this week AP tests have started and they will go till the end of next week and that means students will be able to take tests at the high school and get excused from the rest of their classes and this weekend is the junior classes catian and the junior job shadow day will be Tuesday May 21st and students will be able to use their Network skills to find a professional they can Shadow and see what their day looks like the students who choose not to participate in this event will have to complete a cure Readiness course with Miss Cunningham at school so great I take the first option thank you very much any other good news we' like to share yes we have some good news it's hot off the presses coming through on my phone so at the elementary level lot of excitement going on because they have their seeds worms and fish and all sorts of life science happening in grades K through 4 that's very exciting time especially the fish um we have our grade8 and 11 students will'll be selecting their topics for the Civics projects this week and it's concert season and tonight is obviously Parker middle school tomorrow night is Parker McCarthy Middle School band and then the biome art show is Thursday evening great anybody else have any good news they want to share I have some kind of good news in advance um on April 27th I attended the um joint ideas um Mas so ideas is initiative for developing equity and achievement for students and Mas is Massachusetts Association of school superintendents and the dayong training was called anti-racist education in an age of resistance the keynote speaker Tim Wise was fabulous but the good news is good news in advance because one of the workshops I went to was titled restorative practices and I happened to look through this um presentation already and what we're going to hear tonight is exactly what they were talking about doing at the idas conference so the good news is we're we're doing what's recommended good to know anybody else have any good news I want to share I just wanted to mention um last Monday um we had went to town meeting and the school budget was approved for the next year I thank all the town meeting reps and all the boards for uh the support and I know we're going to talk about later but the uh Parker School visibility study was also approved by town meeting so those are great great great news for the the school district so I also just wanted to note that today is Teacher Appreciation Day and tomorrow is uh School nurses day I believe and I know this is all part of a a period of teacher appreciation but I just wanted to um celebrate that and express my appreciation for the teachers in the district as a teacher every day is teacher appreciation that's right I read the uh newsletter from I think it was the one from Center and it said that everybody who walks in that building is an educator and it's true so it's a chance to appreciate everybody who is in every school terrific all right anybody else all right we're now to our first public input session but I don't believe we have any registered speakers we do not so we can move right to new business we are going to run right into our new business tonight and we have our um last but certainly not least of our um schools presenting tonight at the school committee so for the members that are watching um at home we invite each of our schools to come up um one uh per month to talk a little bit about some of the special work that's happening in their schools and tonight we have uh principal Rob Asen and some staff from Harrington Elementary School so I'm going to turn it over to rub I know you have some staff and students in the house uh so would love to hear about um some of your initiatives taking place at Hamington so welcome on thank you thank you so much for having us here uh before I get into what we're going to be talking about tonight I'll just introduce my crew that came with us Fair large crew so but they're all amazing I have Dr Marina baraso next to me um I have uh Mrs Grabowski my assistant principal Mr John cuffer is grade four Miss Alice Mrs Alison bakanowski is grade one um and then I have Nico Ain Caroline and Eliana who are student speakers for us tonight so two first grade two fourth grade so um they all worked hard in preparing for this um so we're excited for them to do their part this is like a new chapter in their lives being here in school committee this is they're on TV they're they're feeling famous so they're good to go so um but you know for for us at Harrington we're always trying to find ways to meet the needs of the student social emotional Learning and Development um you know in addition to Second Step um Dr baraso is really the resident expert when it comes to restorative practices circles is what we use um and we felt that as a tool it enhances the social emotional learning uh with second step for the students when we came out of covid and I believe I talked about this a couple years ago when I showed the screener when we had the screener going we noticed that the students coming out of covid really did need some a little bit more robust um social emotional learning um creatively um so uh Dr baraso has history of working with circles and restorative practices so we talked about it and we we slowly rolled it out in the school over the past couple years now it's a pretty common tool that we're using some teachers are using it as morning meetings um or if situations arise um we're using the circle format to help the students the students are advocating for everything that's happening in that Circle so they're talking about what they're feeling it's a safe environment for them there's accountability there's responsibility uh there's good news shared so it covers all gamuts of that social emotional development for our students so with that I will let the expert speak and I'll start off with Dr braso thank you Rob so tonight we're going to just briefly introduce restor to practices and using circles at at Harrington we're going to talk about the circle overview how we've implemented the interventions and moving forward so Rob did touch a a little bit on how we got started so about two years ago I was seeing the need to supplement second step with more of uh Community Building after covid and really kind of um looking at opportunities for teachers to build connections and relationships with our students you know the masks after those those came off you know we really um were seeing a need to to bring that focus into Community back and um and so I brought circles I have a background with my dissertation and bringing circles to to Harrington and I trained our school counselor and um more of like a train to train the trainer model where then she and I both um express interest or asked teachers to express interest at a staff meeting two years ago and we had some good uh reception from that and we were able to train teachers and um it's really been taking off so we're going to sort of talk a little bit about what we've done done and where we're going so the foundations of circles is um Restort practices is just is an indigenous practice and one aspect of of that is circles and how and and how those work are that there it's a holistic approach to understanding students understanding teachers building relationships that's really kind of at the heart of of circles is is is another way to build positive relationships with your students and to get to know them on a deeper level there is a positive discipline component where we are teaching teachers and students to resolve conflict in more of a proactive way and there is a mindfulness practice that we're teaching so there's lots of different components that are going on in a circle which we'll get to in a little bit and the idea is that there will be whole school adoption which does take a while but we are we are getting there after a few years so so it's it's really exciting to see that so what are circles circles are a highly structured intentional space and so at the tier one level it's happening in the classroom where all students are a part of the circle and the teacher is typically leading the circle and there's different topics that are discussed lessons can be taught in a circle and they really focus on no matter what the circle is connection understanding kids Pro ing pro-social skills and really having them find a voice and being active in that dialogue and um it's just it's really amazing to see that the students respond to it as well and see how Community can be built pretty quickly starting in the fall so I'm going to pass it over what is practice in circles respect equality empathy emotional literacy problem solving responsibility self-regulation share shared [Music] leadership go come up so you're ready okay all right so I just want to go into a little bit about how we've been using circles here um at Harrington so we've been using it across all three tiers so in the general education classroom um as Dr braso talked about we've really been using it to build that classroom Community um also teachers have been using it proactively as they start to see situations arise then they'll do a circle around that before it can get to be a bigger problem um and Mr cfor and Mrs bakanowski are going to share with you in a little bit how some of the circles they've done this year in their classrooms um and it really creates a safe space for teachers and students to communicate with each other um and we'll get some some of those circles in a bit as I said and then we've been using it at tier two um so Mrs RS who's our school counselor and I have done a lot of tier two circles to really address ongoing Behavior concerns a lot of those are concerns that might come up at recess or between a few kids in a classroom and so we've been doing a lot of tier 2 groups um circles around that also um this year this spring we've started um I've started doing tier three circles um with students who have some significant behaviors and involving their parents or Guardians as well in those circles um so the parents and the Guardians are part of those circles as well as other trusted adults within the building that the students have identified that they want to be part of that Circle where we really talk about what's been the problem what does each adult each person in the circle including the child shares what they see the problem being and then um who's it helping or how is it harming um what's their feelings and then how can each of those adults in that Circle support the student and provide support to that student as they're gaining skills so we're going to now get into what is a circle look like um and um the students are going to go step by step through the different parts of a [Music] circle we sit in a circle some classes use a center piece all classes use a talking piece so kids know when to talk and when not to talk my class uses baby eeko or a pop [Music] it we use mindful moments to calm down and be ready for our circles black class uses rainbow breaths or belly breaths [Music] [Music] Circle opening you can open a circle with a quote related to the topic of the circle an example of a poem is from Circle B people in a circle share stories values dreams and create a Unity the teacher can do an icebreaker or game if they want check in around we talk about how we are feeling that day we talk about if we want to share something with the class in class we use feeling words to describe how we feel some classes do a weather check check in a thumbs up or down or sa this on there [Music] end main rounds and activity in class Mr cuffer introduces the topic and then asks questions about the topic everyone has a chance to share everyone is able to pass the teacher usually does a few rounds of questions um so in fourth grade um I try to begin the Year by building the connection between students and to um address the expectations that students will be following all year um so the beginning of the year circles tend to be more about introducing what a circle is the meaning of it and the purpose um then we go into getting to know new classmates um finding things we have in common with each other and then throughout the year um I will use different lessons from the circles book that I feel are targeted to things that are ongoing in the classroom so as far like setting goals throughout the school year compliments for each other my class really enjoyed that they would turn to their next door neighbor and give them a compliment um we can take the temperature of the classroom kind of as a self-reflection of how the class is going at the time um um usually it's at a time where um maybe there's a big test coming up and students are feeling nervous for it or projects that are ongoing um another Circle that I've done is called the impact of Gossip that was um a circle I did last year um and that was meant to work on problems that were coming up at recess and lunch between some students um and then towards the end of the year I'll focus more on the transition from fourth grade to fifth grade um in the circle sticking together is about that so it's about how as a class or a family and that um stays the same as students move into a new [Music] school so in first grade we do a lot of the similar things in the beginning of the year we use um circles to help kids practice just the setting of being in a circle and how to pass a talking piece and um to help them understand that it's a safe space to share um we use it a lot to get to know each other so we share a lot about ourselves in the beginning of the year so kids can make connections with other kids and I can make connections with my students um we also use it as a way to set our classroom rules and expectations so it's more of a conversation um so that the students understand why they the expectations are the way that they are we do a lot of General circles too about kindness and friendship and empathy and understanding our own feelings as well as understanding others feelings and we do it to to reinforce some academic things as well if after a tricky math lesson sometimes we'll check we'll do a check for understanding Circle and we'll talk about how we felt about the lesson what we thought we could do better for next time and we can also use it to share our work we do it a lot with writing prompts they like to share out their writing and one of my favorite ones to do is the welcome back after vacation just to hear about everyone's vacation and talk about moving forward what our expectations still are oh first come on we have videos from first and fourth grade about how circles help [Music] people circles help me say how I am feeling circles help us by knowing each other more more and being friends with other people too circles help people Express how they feel and what's on their mind circles help people Express they feel and circles help people learn about each other circles help people reconnect and help people share their emotions like when I lost my C the circle helped me be able to share my emotions and that make me feel better circles help us express our feelings in in a safe area when our friend when our friends are sad and they tell us their problem in a circle you know what's wrong and can help them feel better circles help people Express themselves and share their feelings circles help by letting your emotions out when you need it best Circle circles help people listen up and feel better if they're having a bad day or have something bad happen had something bad happened to them if they want to share what happened it will stay in this room to me circles help me with emotions and problems in my life it is a safe place to talk to about my feelings circles helped me by letting me know that I can express myself because I know I can trust anyone CES helped me um say stuff that's on my chest circles help explain how I'm feeling and if I have anything to sh class that good I also know it's a safe place to share anything circles help me when I am sad and they make me feel like I belong um circles help our Harington community and getting to know getting us to know one another circles help me tell what I feel on the inside circles help me explain my feelings and I know what I I can trust the people in my class C help people to learn in a different way so they feel comfortable help me with sharing I [Music] tell things I am scared of saying circles help me know about other people's feelings circles help me feel comfortable circles help me feel happy and calm cirle help me concentrate circles help people that learn differently circles help making me feel comfortable circles help me learn CES cires help me be kind to people I do not feelings cires help me helping others cires help me feel comfortable cires help me do what I should do circles help me cheer up when I am sad circles helps us to feel calm circles help me concentrate circles help me message circles help me explain my opinion circles help me when I'm sad that I can feel circles help me not feel uncomfortable that we was what we use th up thumbs down or we rate the circles from 1 to five [Music] so we have a couple things on here about our input on how circles have been going in our classroom and since Dr B introduces to us I have to say I've never known my students better and I think that is the biggest thing that I've gotten out of it I think some of the things that the students have gotten out of it is that they get to know their classmates better what helps them learn what helps them feel comfortable and the way that I see them thinking about not just how they feel but about how other people feel it's really impressive to be able to see that um there's a couple different ways that we can do it most of the time I'll do it as a 30-minute lesson um we take the skills that we learned in second step and then we apply them to ourselves and to others and sometimes I'll do it for just 10 minutes after lunch or first thing in the morning just depending on what I think we need um and it gives all of the students a safe space to share some of the kids that there's some kids that are always raising their hand in math and always raising their hand to share and this is a nice way to get everyone to be able to share and everybody feels comfortable doing that so it's nice to hear from everyone um it helps to reinforce classroom expectations so if there's something that's going on that is not part of our expectations we can come together in a circle and we can discuss it and talk about how that impacting others and those are really um the biggest benefits that I've noticed so far um yeah and just going off what Mr Bowski just said um what I really wanted to emphasize is that students really feel that as that it is a safe space being in the circle um how anybody can pass and that whatever we share in the circle is private um as Caroline said actually in our video um students know that it is what happens or what is said in the circle stays there um and students really take that to heart in one of our last circles um a few students brought that up how things we've talked about in the circle have never even come up there's been um discussions happening with me and students after recess when things come up but never has anything to do with what is discussed in the circle so I was really impressed with them um for taking that to heart um and as Mrs backowski said just the ability to talk about a variety of topics throughout the year um um depending on what students need at the time and helping them build those deep meaningful relationships with each other um feeling proud that they can share in a circle and feel comfortable is another great thing about them um I've had students set goals to share more in the circles because in the beginning of the year they felt um shy and reserved but then throughout the year they wanted to put themselves out there a little more because they knew it was a safe space so overall it's been a wonderful addition to my classroom um and I can't agree more with Miss and Al see that I I know my students so much better having added circles uh weekly so um so we just wanted to share a little bit about our plans moving forward so um after Dr braso introduced it um Mrs RS and I we did do the tier one Circle training through suffk um also Dr braso Mrs RS and I we went to um through Mass Partnerships for youth this past March we went to two different days where they were talking about Circle practice and restorative practice um and so from going to that we got some ideas of work we want to do going forward um so this is just an example of um one of the districts I think it was Framingham um that they're using so really creating visuals to build on the tier one that we're already doing to provide more support in the classroom for and for teachers for learning about behavior and for really working on self-regulation um so this is one of the things we're going to work on moving forward um as well as um there was a group from Everett um that talked about this document that they have called Handle With Care where it's for students who are having a hard time um maybe having some challenging behavior and they just have a document with the student's name and just says and just says like basically if the name's on that just know something's going on in their life that's having them have a hard time right now um and then we're going to also have like the point person for school if you're having a hard time with that person the adult in the building that knows the most that you can go talk to um and what are and what are a few key strategies for working with that student um we're also going to do some work around um thinking about the first month of school and really focusing on Second Step self-regulation strategies and using circles to really build that classroom Community um because if you are not building that then as the learning gets harder um and you don't have that classroom Community um then that really starts to the behavior can start to impact the learning so really thinking about how can we be mindful in starting the year um we're going to we're continuing to do a lot of work on um developing strategies to help repair relationships that have been broken down in the community um so we're really doing a lot of work on that and reflecting on how we can do that and then we've just started recently and going to continue working with Specialists for them to start incorporating circles into their classroom as they're another learning space that the kids don't always see so really building that Community with that specialist teacher not just with their classroom teacher that they see every day um so that's kind of our vision going forward um of where we're headed anything else so the common term that we've been talking about tonight is community um if there's anything that the students are getting out of the circles and the staff it's Community um I think it was pretty important for um you know Mr cuffer Mrs bakanowski to mention that prior to circles you know the relationship that's developed wasn't as deep as they are now with with the circles so the students have a an active voice in their learning and what's happening in that classroom and in the school overall and I think what that does is it brings us closer together as a community we're using a common language that everybody knows and understands and uh it has it has done a lot for the school over the past couple years it's really taken us into a new level and as Karen had mentioned um moving forward with all these things that um we've been getting information from workshops so on um it'll just help us make it even more robust as we continue to move forward so and that's all we have tonight well thank you very much anybody have any questions or comments they would like to Maria can I ask I wonder if the two teachers would mind um commenting on on what do you see as the difference between circles in the first grade versus circles in the fourth grade because I'm thinking of you know the social and the emotional development in a child as the I cannot see this possibly having some issues in fifth grade sixth grade I don't know um but I'm just exploring what is the difference what do you see as the difference so based off some of the things that I've heard that John does with his class he uses it I would say a little bit more to repair situations that are happening and they talk more specifically whereas in the first grade level we do a lot more General circles about kindness and what does kindness mean and when have you ever experienced kindness and going forward how can you show kindness and things like that I would say that's one of the biggest differences yeah and going off of kindness like in as for example in fourth grade um like I mentioned we can do the compliments for confidence Circle we talk about what confidence is um we talk about self-reflection there's a circle on who am I really it's called and they um have a list of sentences that are incomplete and all of them start with I am and there's about 10 of them and every student I don't give them a prompt or any idea of what to finish those sentences with and um they need to complete the sentences and then we share our favorite ones and things we that surprised ourselves to come up with because um or surprised by um our peers answers because uh even as an adult it's interesting to reflect on completing those sentences and thinking about yourself so um that's just an example example of kind of like you said more of specific things we can do at different grade levels that's really fantastic so in it's been three years in the school that you and I remember the first presentation and how awesome that was coming out of Co and this seems like it's really taken it to a whole new level and you want to continue doing that because you're finding it it's that good have you seen any U bad ramifications where you talked about the privacy and that students truly respect it yeah which wow that's phenomenal yeah I personally haven't seen any I haven't either I've had and as the year goes on the kids get more comfortable with it and I get more comfortable with the kids and how they act I've had students who have said to me like I'm too mad to do a circle right now and I have now built up some strategies to get them to kind of warm up to a little bit or to just make sure they're participating um it happened in the beginning of the year and I did for our opening I did say one nice thing about the person sitting next to you and somebody said something nice about that kid and then he turned right around and he was in so I feel like the more they get comfortable with it the easier it is for them and for me too that's phenomenal I just congratulations to all the students everybody did such a great job and um for the two of you happy Teachers Appreciation Week and thank you for being a teacher you thank you appreciate that Diana yeah I just wanted to add that um for the students that are here first of all great job second of all this is something that is an amazing skill to be learning in elementary school I can I went through the same training and uh did this as an adult in a workspace using uh restorative practices to build a stronger community in a workspace so um I think it's really fantastic you're getting a head start I hear this more often being used schools at the secondary level so um to be able to build the these skills starting in as young as first grade um is so fantastic so anything um a story of practice is something I've been learning a lot about in the past few years and reading about I have a friend who's a specialist and so I've been really learning a lot about it and I think the fact that you're doing it for community building is so important because that is what's going to help ensure that you have fewer problems in the future but as you're moving forward with your strategies to repair relationships I'd love to have you come back at some point and tell us about that this Workshop I went to um de dealt a lot with that repairing relationships because a person who may have done something that caused harm to someone has to make amends and know how to repair the relationships with the rest of the class or the community but the community has to learn how to accept and welcome welcome that person back in and kind of let them start back in with a as a sound member of that Community as well so it's two parts it's not just about the person who did something it's about the whole group learning how to repair those relationships and so I'm looking forward to hear how that goes as you're developing more of that yeah just again thank you for the presentation I mean you know thank you for the teach for your input especially for the students I mean it was you know it was a wello machine I mean it looks like you have been doing this for weeks now chog everybody knew their part went in and it it was great to to hear from the students uh both in person and on online on the video so thank you again and uh keep up the good work and thank you for bringing the program and using your background to do it yes absolutely all right yes uh thank you everyone Rob thank you students did a great job thank you that was amazing yeah you yeah thank you I'm learning that I have to bring the mic with me as I turn now yeah that's the tough part right I talk to them up those kidss are so grown up H yeah so amazing grown up thank you thank you great job thank you you ladies and gentlemen looks the baby was good what the baby was good baby was good you put together all right that was cute all right jumping back to the um to the agenda on a new business item number two um Dennis had alluded to at the beginning of the meeting we did have a very successful um Tom meeting a week ago on Monday um so just to touch um briefly for the budget I'm um super appreciative of the town meeting support of our uh budget they have honestly been very um very good to us I think um when we've worked closely with the U the town Administration on the budget recommendations um and they've come forward with the time meeting reps they always ask good questions you know even behind the scenes or they'll reach out ahead of time for additional information um but very much appreciate their support of our um uh budgeting so um that was obviously a great vote and then um we had done a lot of pre-work leading up to the feasibility study vote and that was also on the agenda that evening for the U Park of middle school project and if you recall when we talked about getting invited into eligibility in December there's that 270-day window that started on April 1st and goes all the way till the end of December and we have eight different things we have to complete along that um kind of Pathway to ultimately be um hopefully invited into the feasibility um stage um one of the votes which is typically towards the end is typically the feasibility study vote because you do need to fund the project to be able to procure the services of an onus project manager youm and your um designer or your architect for the project we decided to actually kind of bump that vote up earlier in the process because our town meeting typically does Financial issues in April and then more zoning type issues in October um so we obviously had a pre um pre- meeting I went to a pre-own meeting presented as well and then um that evening we we honestly didn't have too many questions um but uh super support again from town meeting reps um for our project so we did receive um funding of $1.8 million in your U packet tonight um I did include a copy of the certified vote that we submitted to the um to the state uh to just let them know that we did take that step which again is a huge um Step I think um the state was very impressed with the fact that it was really overwhelming support in the community for the project um they don't like going in they'll go in but they don't they're always kind of a little curious what's going to happen if it's a real kind of close vote so um that was obviously um a welcomed um a welcomed vote but we were able to um kind of get through that phase of the project quicker than required anticipated um we submitted that paperwork and then they confirmed that they received it um just today actually so I updated your traction sheet in the uh in the Google form on that particular project but I thank the committee support obviously the town support and town meeting support for the feasibility study um funding we will receive about 52% reimbursement for that um funding which again is significant um and I'm really looking forward to uh kind of completing these next few steps that we have to between now and the summer and then um we're kind of in a waiting queue until February because we can't go before February of 25 to the msba board of directors to ultimately be invited into feasibility and then that kicks off a whole you know another series of of steps but um very appreciative of everyone's work and support in the town um it was certainly a good vote and um I wanted to kind of keep this all together we did include that vote we added it up to the website because we're tracking all of our project information on the website but um certainly like I said a lot of time and effort went into it but it was a very good outcome so just wanted to thank everyone and reiterate um the thank for the town support any questions on just if I could just I think we should um and I'll I'll volunteer myself to draft it if you like but I think we should send a note of thanks to our state reps um they really did support us on this at the beginning and uh continue to support us so I'll be glad to draft something for us to send if you like um but in addition to that I full-heartedly agree it was just immense I felt very emotional at the end because we've been at this for such a long time and it was wonderful to see that support from everybody uh at that moment it really was and to know that you know if you have their support you're going to be able to really get to the very end of this even though it's going to be years um and you suddenly realize as well that you're creating incredible number of jobs uh for a lot of people as well as um getting a new building in our town that Services the town was really quite a an emotional thing for me at that moment for some reason yeah any other questions or comments on it no I know I until you said it right we've been living this for five years and just all of a sudden now now we're we're here it is kind of kind of crazy now in terms of of the committee there's really nothing for us to do between now and February correct or is it just all behind scen so it's all about there's a lot of work to be done but it's not public um type work what we have to do is um work on our enrollment projection with the msba we have to hold a series of meetings with the msba to kind of uh figure out what the size of the school populations would be that we looking to do we have um some survey information to fill out with the msba on how the town approaches um maintaining its building so there's a whole worksheet we have to fill out on that um we have to start to take a look at um our existing programs that are operating within Parker Middle School to um specify like what we would eventually um like to make sure we include in the new building so it's a lot of behind the scenes work the more public piece was actually the feasibility vote so U between now and I'm going to guess you know by the end of the summer um we should have most of it actually wrapped up and then just be waiting for that vote in February so um no that was the the the big step um so a lot to be done but I'm more behind the scenes at this point we won't be super um public again probably until the fall when we complete all of the steps when we sign the feasibility agreement I'll keep providing little um reminders as we go along the way but then um the real work will begin when we get invited into feasibility in February of 25 we need to issue um rfps to basically hire the project manager and the designer for the project so the spring of 25 we'll become public again and that's when I think spring of 25 summer and then certainly fall of 25 is when we'll have a lot of community um input sessions we'll have some Community forums to talk again about you know what do we have what do we want to have um the different options those three options we have in front of us U physically where might we build the building so that'll all start to happen about a year from now okay yeah great so right so that's good that was going to be my question when is there going to be a chance for the public to weigh in so good to know yeah it most of it really starts in feasibility so you do have to get the U the owners project manager and then the designer are again to lead a lot of that work um so I would say again a year from now um but certainly in the fall of 25 well we kind of hone in on things and then we still have that whole year because we have up until July of 26 to really get all the work done right um but it'll become much more public again about a year from now great super it will be interesting to see how this will play into the whole town strategic plan because the yes as far as I know last night the company that's going to help do the work forward was approved last night at select board I hope so I don't know that was on the agenda um but there's going to be a lot of community forms and community put to ask people in town just what do they want for this town in the next 5 to 10 years and buildings part of the capital is a big part of the Town not just the school budget it's a big part of the whole town Vision so it'll be interesting to see how this plays into that P coming to fruition because a lot of that work will be done before this feasibility study right is done so and we'll be participating in those you know because we want to make sure that we're giving some input also and making sure that the schools stay on the front burner it's one of the things I'm making sure that we have a voice in there yes right great we'll be there great um third item on the agenda this evening is um one of our next steps in the process um procedurally the town does need to appoint um a school building committee specific for um this project so things have changed quite a bit since the people were familiar with school building projects kind of years ago with the msba but they have um a little bit of a different process in some different areas I had um communication with Town manager with regard to appointing the school building committee and um learn that in Chelmsford it's the role of the um Town manager ultimately to bring recommendations forward to the select board to ultimately um have they be approved um boards in town so um if you look at the attachment in your packet um the msba actually has a very prescribed uh structure now for uh participation on the school building committee this is a group that's going to convene regularly not too too much between now and like at the end of the calendar year just because we're doing more of the work behind the scenes but certainly after the beginning of the calendar year is when a lot of work will happen this would be the group that would interview um after we issue the RFP interview the OPM candidates interview the designer candidates participate in the whole designer selection uh process with the msba so as you look right down the list um there are just a bunch of different individuals by title um that basically have to be on this um this board um Paul is the town manager myself as a super intendant um the school committee member um Dennis the um Matthew um schwitzer is the DPW director for facilities um Tim powley is going to be the contact between the permanent building Committee in town because the town does have a separate committee he's the chair of that committee you need to have the school principal which is Josh BL going right down the list um you know Brian curly a facilities director and then um Paul recommended this list to the select board last night in um originally there were 12 members that were selected the select board had a conversation about um adding John soua the town finance director to the list because a lot of the um funding for this is going to come from that and there was just agreement about um adding John to the list as well so John um was added as the 13th member um but the select board did vote to um to approve this um last evening and then the town manager will do a little bit of um input into the second question you just have to talk a little bit about past performance and building committee in town and what type of projects they've worked on and then um he'll submit this to the msba and within a couple of weeks they'll get back to us and say yes they accept or you know no we want to change something but typically they would accept it and then this is a group that can be updated from time to time so someone may leave a position someone may move into the community that wants to be part of this um there is some flexibility you just always have to go back to the msba if you're going to make a change to the composition and let them know um but this is the 13 member group that will um kick off project okay any questions on this once these meeting are these going to be meetings that are posted open so these yeah these are this is like a formal group so they would be um a posted meeting it'd be likely we're going to be here um they'd likely also be televised so like someone watching from the audience U or the community certainly can follow the groups um meetings I just don't think there's going to be a lot of activity between now and like the end of the year I'm sure will convene this spring to do a meet and greet and give everyone information to bring them up to speed but most of the work will begin after the first of the year once we get into feasibility but this is an actual board we'll meet posted meetings and likely televised who leads this group um so the town manager will recommend um a chair one of these members on the group um he's indicated to me um likely yeah he'll ask um hang on one second um Pat Malone who's the contact of the select board Pat had been previously involved in the um the the prior School building projects and um has that type of a background so he'll likely be the chair of the group any other questions oh when we were building the new library at one car all right great all right so more more to come but um just that's just an update for you tonight um with regard to that so that's another step in the process and once it gets updated we'll get that up on the website and I'll also update your tracking sheet uh because that was another deliverable fourth item on the agenda this evening I think I finally have it right this time this was the the revised revised revised uh school committee meeting schedule for uh for next year so there were a couple different changes at the meeting and then sue actually after the meeting points it out I neglected to take off the November election so U you do have a revised uh schedule before you this evening I highlighted the meetings that kind of fall out of order and I do believe this actually eliminates all of the elections that are going to take place in the vacation week maneuvering we typically do um so I do believe this is ready for you to approve at this point and then if you approve it we'll get it obviously cleaned up put on the website we'll let H media know and um I'll include this in your Dropbox Just for future reference so just to clarify the only thing is different from what we approved last time is the November 12 it's the November dat yeah so everything else we had already kind of decided to just presidential that have some impact in things it no it honestly slipped right by me and it slipped by me too until I went home and said wait a minute all right any questions no all right I'll take a motion okay I'll make a motion to approve the 2024 sl25 school committee meeting schedule revised draft number two two as presented I second okay all in favor I anybody oos all right so hopefully this is it thank you yes we're going to hope we don't have to change that again um next item on the agenda number five is an appointment of myself to serve as the um representative on the valley collaborative board of directors um so as you recall chelsford is a member district of Valley collaborative and each year we need to designate uh the individual who's appointed to the um the valley board so I've been the district's uh designity on this board uh very much enjoy the work of this uh this group uh I actually currently serving as the chair of the um the valley group and and enjoy that work as well and I'm um more than happy to uh to stay on for another year um 2425 so that is before you this evening okay any questions on the appointment I'm just curious um how many students from Chelmsford specifically are served by this school I had to ask me that up top my head sorry uh no no and I actually we have a little like pie chat that actually shows that do you know off trop it's probably around maybe 50 if that many Ian I can text Amy and find out yeah well we're talking as I actually do have a report on it I'll check my email I didn't need exact numbers 50 is is fine that's good to know it's about that much I wasn't sure thank you and they have program from elementary all the way right yeah a little bit I was aware of the overall structure of the school but I didn't know how many of our kids were there yeah we actually are the district that has the most so of all the districts I believe there are eight that are involved in Valley um we actually have the the um the largest share of enrollment the reason I know that is because each year when they actually do the return if you look at the return of fund sheet when they um vote at the end of the year to to send monies back to districts if they have over um receive their revenues then it's a portioned by the number of students you have in the district so there's a whole formula that they follow but um we have the um the most number of students participating of the member districts I'm I'm curious is that that because of population is that because other districts have programming that serves those students more than what Chums for to offers inhouse um what you know what's the uh I guess is it similar like the same requirements per District it's just how many kids qualified for that specific yeah it's it's similar we I actually think when you look like District to District we have more students if they are in an out of District placement at say like a valley collaborative type environment as opposed to like an a um like an AO District like a um a profit or nonprofit Auto District type school um so I think the programming that they have really just kind of Suits us very well our families are very happy with the programming um they have built um some pretty considerable um like ASD autism type programming as well as some of the behavioral and therapeutic programming really um you know just kind of Suits us well great but um that has been um very well subscribed Again by our families but I'll get you the actual number thank you they all we also seem to have quite a few students who are in the kind of preparing for work portion of this when they finish their high school here they're in that preparing for work program which I think is wonderful to keep them in a local community while they're still eligible for that phase of their education so you know it's not inhouse it's so much of a part of the community still well that actually is something different that um chumford does than some other communities there are a lot of communities that actually kind of 18 to 22 year olds will stay um say at the high school and the high school just have a a program for the students Oz actually we don't have an IND District program for that so our kids you know technically graduate at 18 with their peers and then they um go to the transitional program and it transitions actually right into the Adult Services program at Valley um and our parents have really likeed that so that is another reason because some schools do actually just keep the kids until 22 in the high school at 1819 we actually transition them to that um program it's kind of like a mid-step between transitioning into the Adult Services so we do actually get some additional headcount from that got it okay that makes sense and and as a parent of a child that's gone through that it's a great program and in even in the adult program I mean the the the amount of work they do you know making sure that everybody feels like they're a productive member Community it's it's it's it's remarkable so it is I loved reading the newsletter I was appreciative that that was included in our school committee packet all right I'll take a motion I make a motion that we appoint Dr Lang Dr J Lang uh to the valy collaborative board of directors um for the term of July 1 2024 to June 30th 2025 I second any other questions all in favor I zero thank you very much um at this point I'm actually going to turn uh the agenda over to um Dr HH who has a couple of updates for us the first one I know a couple members have been very um um eager to see what's happening with our seniors at the high school so we have a little report on some of the senior activities at chood high school sure so um today's the 125th day of school leaving us with 25 more days of school and exactly three weeks before Senior Week starts for the class of 2024 which is super exciting this is a annual tradition that each year the senior week is put together by the uh class officers that is also led by the two class advisor teachers which is Miss Maran Smith and Dr Cena cavaro and it's all sorts of fun they've been working very hard there's a little bit of a change this year in one of the events that they're doing they're doing those breakfasts um rather than just the senior clap outs at the elementary school so they're excited to see how that's going to work out and if that's a tradition that other classes would like to continue with so we we shall see right they're going to be the maiden voyage of this so they're very excited to you know put all these things together so they have actually Four events well actually well four one of them they have to take a nap um four events leading up to graduation and graduation is going to be on June 1st at the songus arena which is very exciting at four o'clock where we will see them off and um they can go off and enjoy their their new lives and they do such a good job so they're excited they love the little bit of change that they're doing this year so and the class officers have been working very very hard we're excited and um i' like to go to the barbecue it's always a good one and if there's any questions about what the seniors are doing any questions on the senior schedule I love that there's a nap that's built in to the schedu because that was amazing I was like and there's a visual that goes with it I was like I'm I'm in I'm on nap on that day and Maria the after school at the prom party is a goal it's a goal um so I know they've all been working towards it it's on the 29th uh to the 30th uh they have a good amount of um they've been working on their budget throughout the year and uh I know that they're going to be putting out a signup sheet and some places will be the drop off parents of the senior class many do donate towards the prom last year while over 200 students I believe attended it which was even more than attended the prom I believe wow really I think what has been said over the years is some students really feel comfortable in that environment it's less dressing up and so on a bit less formal but really a lot of fun great and I know these parents work really hard to make it fun so they've done a tremendous job there are prizes tons of prizes um the last prize is usually a couple of $500 uh C cash prizes and so on sometimes a th I don't know what this year's is do forever my kids all went to it and they've been at school for a long time and they they all went to theirs there's a great DJ lined up for uh the after prom I remember a couple of years ago they they said oh we loved this DJ it was so good so I think kids they they're not kids anymore these young adults really get into it and they treat it with a respect that it deserves which I really appreciate of the students every year and I hope the breakfast goes well I was at the Harrington PTO meeting when the students came to talk about their plan and they were really excited the idea is they want to have breakfast at their elementary school so that they can reconnect with all the teachers they had back when they were there and the kids were really happy and excited to bring that idea forward so I guess they're doing it at all and they're still going to do the clap out so they still so they're getting the best of both nice idea there was a discussion too when I went to the central school PTO was at that meeting about this and they wondered how it was going to work and so on so we'll see how it goes this year what struck me is nobody has like the Deep desire to return to the middle school and I and I I remember this from when we graduating from high school too you remember your circle days which is really really good in building that community and returning to it so it's wonderful great all right thank you for the update I'm continuing on right yeah yeah I actually I I have some breaking news breaking news breaking news if we can go off off agenda right here for a second our our Middle School um Team from from mcra middle school is competing in the regional knowledgeable so we put it's like a um it's like a trivia like a Jeopardy they have to compete against teams time so we were the it's we were the Champs last year it was very long story but we ended up winning the championship last year I just got a text that the round just concluded and we have gone backto back Champs so the CH back to back Champs uh so this is the regional knowledge Bowl that's hosted by the L Sun so um LOL bka drit dsb tuxbury um in the finals this evening so we won a preliminary round last night was lol um tuxbury and chelsford um chelsford W with 345 points followed by tuxbury at 270 a pretty good win uh and then lol came in third place so yeah so the kids did a great job so see great memories of SCH I want to say so it was a no it was excellent um we'll obviously we'll congratulate the kids and and thank them and um and give them some recognition but this is quite the accomplishment yes wow okay Linda okay well more good news so good let going to talk about senior Awards so um tonight I just have the list of the students that I have earned the Seal of by literacy and this is the ward that recognizes students that have Reed proficiency both in their Ela mcast as well as an proficiency based assessment in a language um this is something we've done since theep Inception of the seal by literacy so this is not new to cheler it is new to some of districts you might hear but we've been doing it since Department of Education has allowed it to happen I'd like to thank uh Kelly Rogers for helping out this year with this because we had 66 students taking the test the ASL one was most amazing one to watch because you're actually watching them do their videos and you it's silent and they're moving around so my head was kind of swiveling I took those kids um so it was great to be able to have them in two different sections um just a little bit of an update we did have a um I know this is the class of 2024 but there is a junior that snuck into the list it's okay we love our Juniors we'll hold that Sea by literacy award for them until they're a senior and then they will earn the seal by literacy when they graduate in 2025 I made an update on the slide that I'm going to um move forward with and we did have a fourth student that received um the seal by literacy in four in two languages and that fourth student earned it not only the seal by literacy but the seal by literacy with distinction in Portuguese so she's on there for both I highlighted them in a different color so that was um I believe it's uh Emily um that's up there so she sometimes the kids register with different names so if they have a hyphenated name so I looked at it again I was like I think we have a fourth student with two um seal of B literacies and she was the one that had it with the S of B literacy and dis um with distinction so oh I take it back it was Victoria Emily Victoria they start to to blend after a while so there was um seven different languages that students were taking this in and they were very excited and you know what was nice is I know there's 66 students and we have 24 seniors plus the one Junior um but you know even though those 66 students may not have made it they tried they're you know they feel comfortable enough on the language that they're speaking and listening skills and they could also retak different portions of it so if any of those students were sophomores we've noticed that lately we've been getting some sophomores that are taking the seala by literacy test they're not just waiting till a junior or senior year to take it um which is great they can also take it again if they're if they didn't do so well and they weren't one of the recipients this year they still have a couple of years to then take the stamp test again which is great so we're very proud of these students they're going to be um awarded there's a senior award night so they'll be recognized senior award night at CHS this at the end of the month it's fantastic any questions on this or no but I'm going to urge them to consider teaching cuz we need so badly language teachers right yes so badly this is wonderful I think it's great how many kids got an ASL I mean that program has really taken off in the last yeah that's a very hard one I mean you have to remember they've only taking it for two to three years before they're actually getting the seal by literacy so it's not students that took it uh you know had it in seventh and eighth grade like some of the students for Spanish and French so it is very very hard they have to do they it's amazing to watch them it's an amazing class to actually go and observe especially as as an administrator because it's silent so it's like a tennis match like I'm just my head just kind of swies back and how do you know how do you the teachers doing a good job well that's the hard one I do not have a translator I do not have my translator earbuds so that I I can pick up some things based on what they're doing and and the teacher's excellent she's always like this is what we're going to be working on so that's a very interesting class but it's it's silent for somebody like me any other questions or comments right well thank you for sharing great all right see Nexus C Nexus Valley um Diane had actually mentioned this so have a little bit of a different format so at our last Valley meeting um one of we had a um meeting with a group that does the review of the Val of the collaboratives in the state and there's a new procedural element that's being added into um the collaboratives requirements and that's to make sure that and I usually provide for you all the different handbooks but sometimes I'll just email them out um not handbooks I'm sorry the newsletters and things like that and sometimes we include them in packets um but desie is actually going to be looking for the collaborative to provide proof that um each of the um the newsletters and the documentation as well as you'll notice some Financial uh statements at the end of it are actually provided to all the member school districts of the collaborative so they're going to be providing this quarterly to us and I'm going to put it on the agenda as a um as a report um and we do need for the meeting minutes to have there be a recognition that um the committee has um received and accepted this just as a report and place it on file but just so that the information has been shared with the local Comm communities and then we'll have to take a copy of this packet with um a copy of the meeting minutes and provide it to Valley because as they're audited each year this is going to be one of the things that they're U verified to make sure that they've done um so again um Chris Scott's the executive director and does a very nice job over at Valley um she's provided a copy of their um spring newsletter and it really is nice it talks about some of the different programming and different elements um and you can they highlight different uh students from the different communities um each month um the programming really is is excellent and um I think our kids are very well served um there you'll notice on the last page um for valid it's a little different composition by different um collaborative boards but all of the um the members of the valley board are the superintendents from the different areas so it is it's um shord burea drait gron dunable MOBA North Middle sex tuxbury TRS Boro and Westford um so we're the district second prize Valley um we all have um students that go there take advantage of the different programs we also do open up enrollment to other districts so we call them non-member districts they pay a slightly higher rate um for having their kids participate but um again it's a great um great program and I think some great services and then you will see the treasures report which was presented to the board um this is through March uh when we had our last meeting um so happy to answer any questions again you're going to start to see this quarterly and um the motion would be just for the committee to accept this as a report of progress and place it on file and um Sharon I'll just look and make sure the wording on the motion is right the first time and then we can just do it that way quoty going forward okay it's what you have yeah just what I have yeah any questions before a motion I'm pretty sure I know the but financially they're in pretty good shape I know School District PS or a lot of struggles but they're they're doing yeah so Valley is in um very good shape I think the um when you take a look ironically at the tuitions that say we pay for Valley as compared to like other collaboratives the tuitions are actually the lower rent um and they're still generating a revenue and they're only able to retain a certain percentage of Revenue at the end of the year and then if they exceed that um that money comes back to the member districts through the distribution so um we'll have an idea um later on this year exactly what our um you know kind of return is going to be for fiscal though we getting fiscal 25 um but it's been pretty significant and um we've used that as a revenue offset not budget so we typically anticipate some money coming in from Valley um and we use that to um augment our budget but yeah they're in very good Financial shape um they're very well invested even into the RB liability uh fund um at one point they were actually fully funded obviously the stock market didn't do great um two years ago and took a little bit of a hit but um the the revenues are building up in that fund as well so no they're financially in very good shape y good yeah right I make a motion that we recomend mend uh excuse me I make a motion that we accept the report from Valley collaborative dated April 29 2024 um as a report of the progress and uh place place it on file I second the motion okay all right any further comments questions all right all in favor I I was Zero thank you and the last item on the agenda in a new business tonight for me is just the approval of um one field trip this is from McCarthy uh Middle School this is the eighth grade um end of year class activity class trip uh on June 3rd Monday June 3D going to mels Funway in Lichfield New Hampshire it's just a day trip uh but it is out of state so that's why it's before you this evening take a motion oh I make a motion that we accept the field trip as presented I will second the motion okay any questions on the field trip all right all those in favor I 4 Z thank you and that conclud includes the new business tonight okay anyone have any leaz on reports I can share a little bit um so I have gone to my first leaz on meeting at South Row with a PTO yesterday um and they have a lot going on I actually kind of left with my head spinning a little bit for all the different things happening right now at South Row and I say this perhaps with uh two meanings because I'm also a parent South Row um and a lot of those activities are for um their graduating fourth graders they really work very hard to make the end of the uh fourth grade experience meaningful and and special um and uh I think a couple of kind of things to highlight are that there is an art show coming up Thursday the 23rd at sorow um they are wrapping up the student council which they presented to us about a couple of months ago and uh they have uh 50 kids that were in part of that this year so that's really exciting and um they are beginning already to move into placement with the hope of having that lined up before the end of the school year so lot of good stuff happening there um and then I uh I'm still uh working out an initial meeting with the uh Parker and McCarthy pto's but I think that's coming up in a couple weeks great okay Sue do you have anything yeah I went to chips PTO last night uh they amaze me every month they do so many things for those kids at chips bringing in all kinds of enrichment and just fun activity days um they did give um a thank you to some of the people in groups that have come in and provided some of the enrichment they do it at least once a month so I want to also just publicly shout out to um help them thank um some of those providers and I'm sorry if I miss anyone but they just finished having Goldfish Swim come in and do a free program on water safety they had sugar Buck Dental come in and do a free program they had Andy rer of chelsford music come in and do a free program the firefighters came in and did and they're about to have the Touch a Truck where the DBW and the ambulance and all the other Town people come in and they just give up their time for free to do it so oh just a real great shout out for all those Community people who've come in and done that for these kids um at absolutely no cost so it's great but they got a lot going on at chips they do a really great job this PTO um great they did I also will say they had Joe the story you teller come who does get paid but they absolutely love them and animal Adventures comes in for them every year and brings animals for the kids to touch and see so um a couple of them they do pay for but a lot of people come in and do it for free for them it's great it is a good group of just a few few people that run the thing I mean you know so it's amazing what they get they get a lot done yeah so that's wonderful Maria okay I get the pleasure of the combined schools which are Center and McCarthy on May 4th held recycle day and special real thanks to Erica Beth and Danielle Julio Silva thank you he put up all the signs that was amazing the backlog people Alisha KY and Michelle and also to Ginger who did an excellent job they had 260 cars dropping off32 TVs and monitors seven refrigerators they filled two dumpsters and three truckloads that's amazing do you will never believe what they grossed they grossed 15,000 $242 in 4 hours wow so it has become truly a Community event I'd like to really congratulate them on continuing this and bringing it to this level for the entire Community the second thing I it's amazing it really is this the next one is November 2nd the next thing that and you'll get to report on it me too because it's Center in McCarthy so the next thing is that I attended the wellness committee meeting and we only meet four TS a year uh and this meeting was a recap of the uh Wellness Fair now we won some awards and I don't know if you've been told this already um about the award but we did we we W won some award for the well Wellness in our district it's going to be posted and everything a little story will be done on it so we'll hear more about it as it comes along to the coordinators in the morning and the incredible thing is that that fear went really well there was a lot of really positive uh feedback from students it was all done at the high school level um next year we have several areas that we're going to explore working on and one of them we have to return to our assessment tool and assess everything that's been going on again we will um but we're going to take on a couple of goals for next year and I'll report on those for beginning of the year right um alni Association was supposed to meet last week they had a cancel meeting but they've been working very hard behind the scenes to finalize the scholarships um that they're going to be given off I believe their scholarship Awards thing is going to be the next time we have a meeting so Tuesday the 20 whatever will be 21st so um you know unfortunately but um they you know offer ton of SCH they the signups were great this year they went to a new online platform so that all worked really well um and the other thing I wanted to mention is um CPAC is having a virtual meeting to Thursday night at 7 o'clock and you can get information on how to log into that on their Facebook page so look on how that goes all right uh anybody have any new items good all right all right uh I didn't see any emails and we have no other public speakers so we can move on to uh taking a motion to adjourn I will move to adjourn second all in favor hi all right thank you very much thank you