okay good evening and welcome this is the March 11th 24 meeting of the Islam school committee called the meeting 4 5:00 pm the meeting is being both audio and video recorded I would ask that everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge alance to the FL of the United States of America and to the repic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible libery and justice for all uh roll call Samantha would you start with Samantha Vasa secretary Heather Brown director of curriculum Antonella orilla Gordon Smith superintendent of schools Gregory Thompson Sarah trulo Pate Len Amy denta Audrey O'Neal okay we have minutes for we're starting at six okay uh move to approve the February 26 2024 regular session meeting minutes Mo made by S second second by Amy any discussion all in favor say I I I those oppos nay that carries 5 to zero thank you samanth those committee and subcommittee Communications Anella would you like to start I don't have anything right now great Sarah uh we just we've continued to meet with the ELA and there and I think that's it for me I think great thank you k um I had a nice visit with Mrs santanello and the students at Mountain View um I get to see a lot of classrooms and see the spaces and um it was great it was nice to see the kids everyone seemed really engaged and happy so it was good and then the art show um was the other night at Mountain viw too and that was really nice had the book fair and the art show and um it had a good turnout it was very big nice family event yeah nice super thank you Amy um I wanted to share that I attended two events at the high school I attended um curriculum night which um seemed to go really quite well um it was well attended by parents and students as well um at the end they had a really neat interactive um time at outside of the Auditorium where teachers were showcasing new courses and interacting with with families um so that seemed to be really successful and I was also able to attend the student diversity Alliance um hosted a Black History Month event and it was awesome it was really really awesome um fumi was the organizer of it she brought together an incredible panel um it was well attended although I thought it could have been more better attended to be honest but um there were a number of families there and she did a fantastic job and there was food afterwards um so yeah that was a that was a highlight for sure for me last week yeah it was really cool everybody got a chance to sit down and actually eat almost a full meal well a full meal yeah it was it was pretty cool it was delicious I got to meet fumi's grandfather was really neat very cool great thank you Audrey um so like uh we sort of said was kind of like a weird break in between everything but as you guys probably know Spartan occurred this weekend so that was a great display of just everybody's sort of talent the music department um there were a lot of cool acts um although like sports are pretty much done the boys track team actually had a relay that placed 10th at Nationals they're ranked pretty high in the nation um we uh Mrs pool's uh part of her class and some students who volunteered including myself went to met Brook um and did read Across America day where we like read to the elementary school students and that was really great way to connect across a school district it was I'd never been there so it was really cool to like see um the elementary school and where a lot of my friends went um robotics plays first in their T tournament and then guidance is currently pushing out scholarships they're doing a really great job they have them all over the walls sort of like peak season right now and so they're really helping us get those like local schol ships and they're doing everything they can uh to help us like make them as easily accessible like my printer my dad has yet to replace it I'm calling him out they let me print anything I like anything I need there like they're super great yeah about where I'm at great thank you Audrey uh we will we're going to skip over 5.1.1 until with your page arriv so I'd entertain a motion to uh jump over it to 5.2.1 please like miscommunication on times thought six we like to keep them guessing go ahead Kate I move to skip sure 5.1 one um program of studies right am I on that one yes and move to 5.21 discussion of the FY 2025 budget development perfect motion made by Kate and then we will return to 511 when we can he on his way yep okay motion made and second any further discussion all in favor I I I those that motion carries 5 Z so we will move on to discussion your packets um we have a VAR continuing continuously developed document around our budget for those fy2 um you know that our level Services budget or as the town's referring to at level one is a 3.78% budget um for an increase of 1, 36,7 N2 and then you see the breakdown that um M Blair has put together over the last few fiscal years regarding Chapter 70 local contribution increases and so forth um then last week we know that uh we discussed uh in detail presenting a level two budget or what are our full requests and needs um to the town for fy2 and those two positions are listed still in bullet form underneath we have counselor uh we like to add at metal Brook and we had a districtwide English language Learners teacher or English language education teacher 25 and although right now we have based on the vote last time added both of those um positions to at least the numbers we've submitted to the town because we can do that electronically uh you had also asked for some additional information which is the third page uh regarding just what does it look like in terms of distribution where our English language Learners um are located grade levels and so so that page looks like this um so we can have further discussion on that certainly um two things to note uh the adjustment counselor brings our level Services budget to to just under 4% at 3.98 and then if you add the .5 fve that takes you just over 4% at 4.08 um and I think we discussed that last time but this gives you a breakdown uh where predominantly our elll students are right now in grade spans um and as you can see we do have a number of them five um who are at the prek level and then um we have a pretty good concentration at metal Brook and then um a decent concentration at the other two elementary schools and then it lightens up somewhat in the Upper Grade so really it's that Elementary area where we're feeling the crunch um and the big piece to that was because we are providing um support all the way to down to the prek level that has made it challenging for our teacher in this case predominantly just one individual um to meet the 45 minutes um period time frame with all grade level which is the recommended time frame the one thing that I think um we may have mentioned in the discussion last uh time but if not I'll say it now we think obviously reaching down to preschool is a is a good practice and one that um we're we've been excited to do however it's not required ired by Desi right now so you know in full disclosure that's one area where you could make an adjustment we do know however your preschool students will eventually become kindergarteners and so then we are required and um so any support we can give them obviously is something that we thought was a good thing in addition to that uh I would say that input from town officials uh makes it clear that FTE are still very important and for still very important things to look at so in order to continue to work collectively and collaboratively um and hopefully get through the whole process with a budget we actually um asked for and based on some of the numbers they have in front of us that were um just given us today um I would like to propose that we cut back the elll teacher at least for this year um potentially Revisited next year could even be a a full FTE if we're going for um a half FTE that as you many of you know or all of you know that includes benefits um for that half FTE so perhaps it would be more prudent to go for a full FTE if the numbers weren't it next year certainly some of the numbers are high and that's why it's it's been brought forward to us but I think collectively we can we could we could get through another year Gordon you just mentioned U part of the options um so that's why we brought it back for discussion today if we could get down to that 3.98 again and still keep the um adjustment counselor at least we brought this uh elll position forward it's in the discussion realm at least um but I I think at this point U my interpretation is we would have a uh a better uh chance of complete success with one FTE and under 4% any questions on that so that all that would be would be a change in our level two uh submission simply change in the session there's still time for discussion nothing's locked in nobody's committed to anything we could uh get funded less you know potentially more but that would be more unlikely um but it just continues the discussion um with some feedback that certainly they I've received so far I mean we definitely have a el um an ml population that's been growing over time but I do think the numbers here um maybe with a different view on the scheduling might I think would be manageable I think yeah with these two right here with the um you know just how these are broken up between meow Brook and weel shade and numbers and I do I'm not even I'm not used to seeing preschool getting any Services yeah no that's why that we have done which is great you can take some ideas and share that but I don't think that it's or maybe not lock ourselves into having those services at the same right right level right as the 45 minutes 45 minutes in order to make sure that we're hitting the 45 minutes for the other great levels these are fairness to our teachers one thing sorry I just wanted to point out is that um gelfin is at uh three different buildings so the the moving around definitely affects the amount of time so there's lots of time in the day the other but it gets cut back and then the other thing is that you know unless we get kiddos that are newcomers later which are there's some here our El L team and our teachers are so strong that we end up they usually end up getting to be uh former English language Learners so that's why we're very bottom heavy yeah but we have two people who are Elementary certified and the person who um deals with middle and high school is not he's high school certified so like the you know to just look at the numbers and say we could just split it this way I just wanted to point out that the two factors are licensing and and just trying to uh meet the needs at at five different schools so I'm not arguing I I totally understand but I just want to give you guys that information and we certainly were we wanted to support how our teachers were presenting it which is what we were doing because you know they were doing something that we we supported which was reaching all the way down to prek and that stretched their schedule thinly and so you you did what you needed to do terms of support thanks anything else no are we up for making a change to our level two for now question yeah can the high school teachers uh help with like access testing in that time period does that take any do you have to be you know what I mean for elementary kids that is a great question that I'd have to find out I would imagine you that's like a big hit right yeah those couple of weeks yeah and uh in the past the uh person who does um the high school in elementary has only done six through 12 um but this year he's moved to he's licensed 5 to 12 so he's helped out a bit with the fifth grade as well okay yeah just um so you know some people are doing what they need to do as but we do get stretched sometimes just a lot of times because of travel time yeah does meow Brook do access yes the yes yes yeah the challenge not preschool the high school middle school is that he's locked in much more to a you know to a period lock schedule right um because has a time where they're coming to him which is more of a pull out but then in some cases he might be their Ela block yeah and and high school has scheduled periods so you see is this going to lead to a conversation about pulling services in prek like if we decide to go that direction is then the next conversation going to be well we need to reallocate the time and we're not going to be able to provide what we've been providing to our I don't think we're going to totally abandon prek but we probably would have to reduce time that we're spending with prek so we so in next year's schedule we would have to look at um not having the same amount of time allocated for prek support that we have for the other grade levels yeah and I struggle with that for sure because those formative years we can catch them then that's going to help them progress obviously out of those needs faster so I think that we're making we're being shortsighted again on this well would we commit to time even though we may not meet the 45 minutes are we I mean know it's since it's outside their requirement anyway I think any time that we could give we certainly would try to give like and I know that um Miss Steiner and miss gelfan you know they if they can fit in in their schedule they're going to support it's just a question of whether we can do the 45 minutes um you know and I think actually we might be below 45 now but we're hitting them more with 30 minute slots which is probably more um appropriate for attention too yeah so population's just going to keep growing I mean we know that based on the data that we've seen obviously well if they I was goingon to say if the numbers don't change then we should expect to the a similar schedule next year theyve increased every year haven't they didn't we see didn't we they do increase I have to say she's not spending a lot of time with preschool because like you know there's not a whole lot of there's no expectation they just say being a language Rich classroom um so not working with preschool would not free up a whole lot of her schedule does that make sense because it's not a huge part of her schedule now so would you say it's fair that she would commit about the same amount of time regardless of whether we add a half position somewhere else like you said it's a kind of a domino effect right so she might take away um you know she'll might be able to still support preschool in the way she has but if nothing else is taken off of her plate then Tracy needs to help out because the majority of kids are in the elementary and then miss geland is now at three different schools so it just it affects the the amount the the amount of and desie instead of saying this amount of time per week they talk about periods and the period is no less than 45 minutes right so it's we have to we can we can be as creative as we can be however thinking of the future I don't like you said I think that you know this is going to come back and we're need to have the conversation again and these this might even look different next year because we'll get access scores so some of the kids who are transitional may have moved into needing to be monitored some of the ones and twos May transition preschool is a sign up so we don't all it's not a guarantee that just because they were a function of our preschool this year that they'll be a function of our preschool next year true and all of these will drop down like your eighth grade will become your ninth grade your second grade will become your third grade so like we're hoping we're not going to have too many of the preschoolers become kindergartners yes and like that but again we don't even know who's going to sign up foro next we have we'll have a according to our numbers we'll have a good chunk of kiddos coming into kindergarten that we know already so so okay so but we could bring it back specifically next year we'll have different numbers so we should certainly look at that and then um if we don't decide to go forward today then at least have that at the Forefront next year there are multiple needs including the custodian um I don't want to lose sight of that too I'm sure that'll come up next year as well but I I think just to fit in terms of the Box this year um I would recommend that we just go with the one but I used your statement Amy that we do need to walk the walk and I don't want to lose sight of that and so um certainly continue to keep it at the Forefront of of our discussions all around I think and I did present both uh in a meeting with Tom Christensen Town manager so he knows and it's in there right now in terms of the numbers so he knows that there was a discussion and there was actually I showed them early early on a very rough draft of all three requests but that the last Mee we had I explained that we're going to try to do something a little bit more creative with support on the custodial or with the custodial piece at mebrook um and that pleas right now are level two budget we might change that so yeah no I know okay update him no I know and I I've appreciated you know certainly his input and others get there I know we will so with that ien motions to modify our two uh just including the one position with a total percentage of 3.98 I move to amend our level two budget submission um to include the adjustment counselor at medbrook a budget request of 3.98% Mo made by Sarah second second by any other discussion all in favor please say I I I those oppos Nay n motion carries 4 to one thank you okay all right we will move on to the superintendent formative mid cycle um so presented this uh last time after the schools had presented and um hopefully people had had a chance to see folders into the shared file happy to answer questions or go into more depth on any area or all areas whatever's pleasure is sounds like Mr gracefully I mean certainly Gordon there's a lot going on we acknowledge you know all the things you do you know building tenants teams new curriculum learning walks um oh on our score manager 13 school and building committee meetings you're a busy guy Gordon and um you know certainly we acknowledge all the work you do for the district and um and at the state level with MIAA like msba yes like had a few interesting moments I think eong met was very lucky to have you very nice read and I really it's a team effort I mean it's not only the leadership team that work here last time um and I think they're doing exceptionally well with sort of our new format and how we're focused in on our three um sort of revamped goals if you will but also this partnership the district doesn't partnership separation bodies in the world and I think that's it's been a partnership which has been really great throughout my 10 years I just really appreciate too that we've talked hav been on the committee for a few years now about having data in all the evaluation cycles and really being able to see you as the champion of that by putting it in your own like I think that speaks to um presentations we saw last week and this committee's commitment are really being very data driven so we appreciate I know one I certainly do and there the mcast and I data so thank you all right hey if there is nothing else uh we could probably accept the mid cycle assessment if someone make that motion please motion to accept the superintendent formative midcycle assessment made by an second second by Kate any other discussion all the favor say I those oppos n that carries 5 to Z thank you very much you you just finished the last two it's just a yeah so we've got a piano who accept are you doing this Gordon yes I can um so at um Mountain View we have uh a really gracious donation of the Noland electric piano which um when it was purchased new uh back in 2016 it was uh $3500 and Fetti has offered to buy it back for $500 but uh the individual has been interested in donating to Mountain View and there's a picture they were willing to do that yes very nice okay because it's a gift would uh entertain a motion to accept it pleas make a motion to accept the roll and electric piano for the m music motion made by Amy second second by Sarah discussion all fav say I that carries 5 to zero and we have trip of sorts in the CH yeah so this is uh really exciting um the high school science team robotics team slash now aerial drone team as um one uh championship and has qualified to head down to West Virginia um to be is it the Northeast aial Northeast um aerial drone championships and um catching um what's uh your adviser's name thank you itcap me for a moment but catching Mr vanen in the hallway um off the record I don't want to jinx him in anyway right um he thinks they have a real shot of breaking some records going down there based on their uh practice trial runs in the cafeteria so the Dynamics might be different in West Virginia than in the high school CIA but they have had some really good times uh with their obstacle course here with the drones so this would be a group of four students and um two parent chaperons and then Mr van Beren um and they are willing to drive the 9ine hours I think it's actually 9 plus hours but um that that would be how they uh get down there it would be two days in the weekend so I think it's a Thursday and Friday um we did look at the mcast schedule and so then they' be coming back into mcast um so we would certainly make sure that students are prepared and they know that they head back into testing I know the very yeah it's really exciting Wednesdays Wednesdays right isn't that when they set up in the cafeteria it sounds right Monday's chess Wednesday like BB does chess too so all right so if you're around on a Wednesday afternoon they have Throne obstacle course and uh it's actually it's it's pretty cool to watch them navigate the course they took first place in their tournament this past weekend they Crush isting I know it's great to see like the diversity of clubs being offered and then like the opportunities for students to excel in things that they're passionate about outside of the school day so it's awesome so we're just approving them to travel out of town um I app move to approve the eam meadow science team to travel to the 2024 Northeast aerial drone Championship departing May 16th 2024 and returning May 19th 2024 at the Fairmont State University in Fairmont West Virginia motion made by Sarah second second by Kate any discussion all fav say I that's to zero good luck apologize to okay okay we're going to return back to the program of studies Mr Paige is here is joining us at T welcome how you doing guys hi sorry we um had adjusted our time back to go five o'clock hey it worked for me when I tell you um no screens we'll just they have the um your memo in the packet uh explaining the different um fores that you'd like to add uh in addition to looking at our F technical um ctech graduation adjustments given that now we're offering a fouryear program um which previously we had not done and one of the big reasons why was um to deal with graduation credits and then allow people to um go vocational heavy in the final three years but Department of Elementary and secondary education really has pushed fouryear programs especially when you're dealing as we are half year um program or half day program excuse me no we're good okay so um just to walk you through the packet it's see it is there's like five different topics I'm going to hit on um I'll just go through each one um and you want me to stop at just let me know and I'd be happy to answer any questions but the first part just talk about that realignment of the graduation requirements um so uh for students who attend ctec so as uh Mr Smith was talking um right now um our students have transitioned two years ago so our current freshman sophomore is from a four-year ctech program I'm sorry a three-year CCH program to a fouryear CCH program uh that means they're going to be taking four less they have four less scheduling opportunities uh at the high school um it only allows for them to have 16 scheduling blocks in programming here and the other 16 blocks they take over at ctec uh so just based on the requirements that we currently have um we do have to modify them a little bit in order to for the students to um meet the the requirements over at CC but also meet our requirements here um our proposal is to to not really change these too much we we can fit these with um how we currently do things if we uh offer some of the equivalencies that CC allows us to offer basically what that means is through programming there uh students can receive credit for a math English science Health PE a lot of these different courses um that that we offer here um we can based on the programs that they might enroll in uh they have experiences with things in the science field the math field the English Field so uh we what they call equivalencies where one of the courses that um or the credits that we give them from over there we would put that on their transcript as an equivalent credit for math or for science uh so um so through we have not typically had to do this in the past because when the students were only in a typically the the equivalencies are offered when kids are going there for four years so it's more of an onus or impact U impact on their schedule um we used to have that three-year program where where they' have that full year as freshman where they crank out a lot of their uh their requirements that doesn't happen like it did so uh we do want to Grant um both a math equivalency and a science equivalency uh through the CC program which um we have a whole approved list of which shops uh offer it and all their shops do um the state also does acknowledge any student who goes through at least two years of a vocational program um uh can be awarded a math or a math and a science credit so we're also aligning with what the state says um so uh when the kids get to their fourth year we want to make sure the kids stays consistent with the entirety of the program in their fourth year when they get those 16 credits for uh for ctech programming eight of those will be the elective credits which is what we typically give them then there would be four years I'm sorry four credits of a math ctec credit and a four four credits of a science CCH credit so that senior year is where those pieces would come into place so we when we um Builder transcript for senior year and we and we code things it would get um or credits each from from math and science what would happen uh the only other piece where we would change things is right now currently students take one year of foreign language um if in a three-year CC program uh what we're looking to do is is Drop That foreign language requirement uh the state also does say that a student can still meet Mass core requirements if they uh without taking a foreign language if they successfully complete a a vocational program so um so in doing this we're still making sure that our students can meet Mass core uh and still meet the uh recommend requirements for a four-year institution if a student goes through ctec and decides you know what I do want to go to college I do want to attend you mass or Westfield State and potentially go to get a business degree or whatever it might be um this path by giving them their math credit their science credit still meeting that mass core requirement by dropping the foreign language but the state says that's proved still gives them that opportunity if that's the path that they want to go down so that's why we're making this recommendation um it's not a huge shift of what we were from what we were doing um but it still does keep them on that four-year track or college track if they want to do that can I ask a question yeah so you're waiting to give those uh credit equivalencies till later to make sure they have at least the two years of the vocation under their Bel and and they've stayed with the program right you know sometimes we do have kids who come back to us um and we always explain to kids the later you come back the trickier that gets because it's harder to meet some of these so these are modified requirements that were already in place obviously our graduation requirements are a little more involved than this um so it does get kind of trickier if they look to come back their senior year which we'd have to explain to them you know but we just want to make sure that they've gone through accountability for them is ctec going to become too popular too crowded they're going to turn soon so way so they they received feedback a couple years back from the state where they could no longer basically deny kids based on their application um they can only deny kids now based on maxing out their seats uh when they when they shifted there's a number of things they shifted on it it did open the I don't want to say open the flood gates but it significantly impacted our students in terms of increasing number ones um would be going to ctec uh so we were averaging let's say five to seven ballparking here any given year of students used to engage in the CCH program the last two years we've had about 25 in the freshman class and the sophomore class so 25 in each each so we could potentially have one out of every eight kids in this building be at c tech you know um potentially 100 kids at a time collaborative um we were talking about this earlier before the meeting started they used to not be able to max out uh their seats in all programs um which then force them to go outside the member district so they're going to have to make a decision as to how they do that um because right now they have two districts that are not members of the collaborative who are taking seats not as many because just as Mr Paige said um last two years we've had ninth graders enter um but not all rates districts reacted as quickly as we did so at least one there were at least three member districts that were operating more on the three-year program as we have historically um at least one of those other member districts did not uh get as many of their ninth graders in time and so I think some of their ninth graders got knocked out this year because you had uh programs get to capacity yep so that is something that CC's looking at because obviously all member districts students should have the opportunity to go through the exploratory and at least have a shot against just you know the numbers from the seven districts that's that's been a discussion that I'm sure is going on at the principal level but it's going on at the superintendent level quite a bit too okay on the next one sure so uh the next piece I came to last year to talk a little about the transition in our social studies Department in terms of their pathway um uh you know students move through their uh their courses uh it was a two-year um transition we're moving away from a us and uh us one us2 Standalone courses to um consolidating those two courses into one U US History course and then uh taking the uh the Civics and government course that we currently offer as an elective I'm sorry Civics and issues course that we current currently offer as an elective and making that a Civics and government course where we would embed the uh the Civics project that students complete in order to um uh graduate high school uh that um we did feel that the Civics project made more sense in in junior year which is where they would take that Civics and issues course so I did talk to you guys kind of a little bit about this pathway transition this year it last year this is the second uh the second component of that uh so I'm just coming to you for approval of the Civics and honors Civics uh courses um to complete that transition so uh the students would also be able to take AP Government um as a substitute for that uh just like we offer that for things like uh you know AP Lit replace uh Senior English um uh AP Lane can replace Junior English things like that so apus can replace standard us so would there not be any us2 yeah so running us2 right now uh this is the last year we run us2 uh the US one and two curriculum is basically been Consolidated into the course and components of it are going to be in the new Civics and government course well a lot of the stuff in there is still being covered but the focus in that civics courses on civics government is there a reason why you're changing from it being just an elective to a full year Court um yeah it's the part of it is also the the embedding of that Civics uh project which we find takes about an entire marking term um so embedding that in the past in our us one course it was clunky um content was being lost uh so we Consolidated that us one and two curriculum um okay so the components of it that focused on government and we're putting it into its own Standalone course which we also do feel naturally it makes more sense for juniors to do it Audrey could probably speak to this a little bit going through the Civics uh project a lot of that is about Community engagement going out into the local community trying to make change sophomores don't always have transportation Juniors sometimes have access to cars so things like that is uh do make it a little easier to navigate for them as well so did you take it you took it as a sophomore correct yeah I did a push and then we did this project within that I was thankful that I had a push because I was during block scheduling so I think it definitely was like a full year thing rather than doing it in like half a year like some of the other kids have to do with with the projects yeah and I agree that like it probably would be a little bit better fit for juniors cuz like my sophomore year I was like like I don't really know what I want to do like I was so like you know transitioning to the high school a little bit cuz we had remote like my year and everything and also like I was like so nervous going in I met with you two times I was like I don't know who he is like I was but um no but it was a good experience but I definitely think like Juniors definitely like have a little bit more like they know what they want to do they've like been around the town what they want to change and Audrey correct me from wrong you are you taking apgov or you took apgov last year I took AP go last year you think like the Civics project would be a better fit within that course versus a US course yeah absolutely the College Board actually like has like a Civics product they like want you to do at the end but like you can sort of like bypass it or something like that so that would honestly work right into it you can work throughout work at it throughout the entire and it fits perfectly in with like government and what people can do and everything so so so that's the idea um just to more properly align um what we're doing with the state's uh requirements so um other questions on that one okay so the next piece uh physical education um so we are changing this uh four credit course to a two credit course for juniors and seniors uh so we're not we're not touching the freshman sophomore so still would be full full year for credit courses but this modification will allow us to more easily meet the state requirement for students to take a physical education course each year from K to 12 um obviously we have a finite number of PE spaces we have a finite number of PE staff uh so um the state does not require for full years of physical education but they do require four years of it it's K to 12 uh so in order to do that um similar to what they might do uh at different models um uh at other schools uh it's going to be a A reduced course it's going to be a two credit course um so the Juniors would either take that in the spring of their uh uh I'm sorry the fall or spring of their junior year same thing spring of the junior we'll then set up conversation of things that they could take opposite of that in a two credit model because right now we don't have any other classes running that two credit model um but to make the PE work we do have to have something that you don't know what that's going to be They Se well I I that's the next list oh okay see what happens yeah yeah soed these at curriculum night too yeah so philosophically we went into uh like obviously the the PE courses for juniors and seniors are going to be requirements kids have course that they take opposite because is going to be for a shorter period of time um it's a lower credit course not the four credit it's a two credit we did really want to focus on courses that we felt like kids could have um great experiences in those interest based courses um some of the courses that we are currently running a couple of those are going to transition for be offered in four to uh but there's a number of new courses that our uh our students and our staff helped us identify as ones that would be what we'll call those interest based courses that could run opposite of PE um those would be courses like the Holocaust and human behavior which is also something that the state is pushing for um you know a course around again yes there there's instruction around genocide yes yeah yeah so um so we're one align align aligning with what the state was uh recommending but also um we have a teacher who uh is interested in teaching that it was what when we did survey the students around some potential two credit offerings this is one of the highest uh responding courses course around economics uh we have a lot of courses in our uh business department we have investing accounting we have entrepreneurship but but we've never had a course focused on economics self Finance we offer so uh we do want to bring that to uh to our programming um interestingly uh piano uh that was the highest uh that was responded to when it came to surveying our students around um two credit offerings uh Mr Henry is the one who's uh looking to teach that right now we're getting lots of signups when we're starting to go through some uh preliminary numbers of potential courses we might run um what's that we have enough pianos I'm gonna be coming to you for that too the next page uh so um it's not gonna be a huge cost but it is uh we are looking to get um like 20 keyboards um that'll I think in total be four or $5,000 that we're hoping to use some exra money for um so I have talked to Mr Smith about it but he said before we buy the keyboards we don't want to get the course approved just a few baby Grands yeah yeah yeah so um and I'm going to come back to UniFi P I just want to go through some of the other two credits first uh mathematics uh SAT prep um so that that is going to talk about SAT prep strategies generally but it is going to be uh focused on math um classical modern languages is going to be offering a course around world world mythology and folktales uh one of our science teachers um is looking for a course on epidemiology which is a citizen Public Health um and then um pause there because I'm going to talk the next piece is going to be six credit stuff but um so those are just some of the two credits that we're looking to offer to run opposite of PE um and again we did survey our students to get an idea of once once our teachers propose some different ideas uh get their interest level in terms of what they thought might be uh of course they might like make opposite of their PE offerings so then each student will have to take two of these or two years one senior year yeah yeah and these are just some of them uh there's other courses like healths I don't know if your daughter took healths when she was here it's like that second Health course we're looking to move that into a two credit um uh history rock and roll uh music Technology phone photo ones we have like a financial literacy course personal finance Finance yeah we do offer that one that's staying as a four credit that is still a full popular yeah we usually have about 100 125 kids each year take that yeah right so on the pianos are there additional that would crit that's the only cost right now okay okay so beyond uh the piano course um uh the only other one I'm still waiting on uh is down between a couple curriculums for economics there might be a small cost for that one okay um but the trying to keep the cost okay you know um so just back up to UniFi PE I I skipped that one before um that is another uh junior or senior PE that the students can take um which would run a two credit model um that is a course that would be taught by uh Kenzie Pini um she is our adaptive Pon winner and gr spoon winter um and that would be a course that would be a combination of some of our higher need students um who would be working with peer models from our uh our general Ed population um where those students would um work on a lot of different skills in there things like leadership teamwork um obviously some PE activities as well um just to get them fully integrated into our uh into our student body so sometimes you know for the programs at McKenzie is offer in the past the Adaptive p is sometimes some separate sub separate or it's pushed in uh but we want these kids fully integrated in our programming so it's a pretty cool offering um it's one that uh when she came to me with the idea I was on board immediately uh the the culminating thing each year which we are looking to Pilot this year as well would be running the Special Olympics each spring so I've witnessed one of these courses at burland Park and it was amazing saw take a portion of uh yeah the Fridays yeah of one of the P glasses at birchland where they um make it a unified perod fight I think you were there we also had things lobbed at us what it was some sort of seems like phys Battleship yeah they're soft they were so Frank the unified P you have is 10th 11th and 12 so you offered two credit classes to 10th graders as well the unified uh the two credit will only go to I'll elaborate um so we have two six I'm sorry three six credit APS um the kids have to take a two credit opposite of that so if kid were to take there's going to be a small number of sophomores who might be interested in a six gr AP we don't want to deny him that opportunity like uh AP Physics right now I think there's like four sophomores who are taking AP Physics next year um that's six credits that's six credits so they take opposite thens take no now though oh but right now it's a four credit oh so that'll change six yeah so all of our uh our our science class classes that are AP classes need a lab component connected to them which is where um we're going to be offering a two credit lab connected to it so if a student signs up for physics or if they sign up for uh it's talk about AP environmental um there's going to be a two credit lab block connected to it semesters um the kids would have to take A2 credit opposite of that so that's where you might have a a small number of sophomores who might be in those two credits but it's not going to be the norm it's going to be those kids who were connected to that AP like like one soft who's going to be a sophomore in the fall who is um on track for AP Calculus as a sophomore it's just one so like he's still going to need a two credit somewhere in there um so it's not going to be a big number Prim primarily Juniors and seniors but we don't want to deny kids opportunities of stuff that we've offered them in the past especially when they um have that skill set and um they're on that pathway so Frank this is uh just clarifying is this the only two credit course that if sophomore could take if they were taking a sixth credit AP or could only if they are in that situation where they're looking to take the other two ones are limited yeah it's not going to be that makes sense it's not it's going to be exceptions it's not going to be where like they're going to have it on their screens and they're going to make those as choices okay um so that does transition into my next piece the um EP environmental science uh it is of course we're looking to add to our science department would be a six credit AP course um we we're only going to have three um AP AP courses running on six credits next year uh to our science and then AP Calculus we are going to add a lab block to that calculus course we we've realized we do need that additional uh loock in order to make sure those kids get what they need um but um a p and virro would be one of those um six credit courses as well where that they're basically the two credit lab that's going to be connected to that course is going to be the elective that they would select opposite of their PE course so they don't need to pick like a piano or economics they would just sign up for that lab it's only half a year the lab yeah the year the lab is half a year do some students have it one half and the other group have it the other half does it work out that way or not necessarily um most likely the enviral will only have one section Okay so um same thing with AP Physics that'll have one section uh AP Calculus numbers look like we're going have one section next year so um so they would just take their PE opposite of that course so all the kids in AP Cal would have the same lab yeah yeah yeah yep and would they all be in uh unified PE as a junior or senior oh I guess just as a sophomore if it was they were the sophomore because that's the only option as a sophomore the rest could be in one of the other ones yeah I got it now okay um let me see so um one more new course here uh AP research that is a four credit course uh we are running that in the English Department that is the corresponding cor seminar course which kids take his sophomores um that is part of the AP Capstone project um or I'm sorry uh AP Capstone program that the AP offers where if students complete those two courses and they I believe pass um three other uh AP courses where they score a three or better I can't remember the number off top of my head then they can uh they can achieve the Capstone diploma um but the only way they can actually get to that Capstone is if we offer this this program you know so uh last year was the first year that we ran the AP seminar we're running for the second year this year um those kids who are currently Juniors will now have the opportunity to potentially achieve that Capstone next year as um as seniors if they successfully complete the AP research course which focuses on a lot of different uh aspect of research in terms of um you know the format skills um there's similarities to it uh in terms of like the Civics project and that Independence and engagement every kid picks their own pathway in terms of what it is they're looking to research but uh the teacher job is to guide them through that process and talk to them about the different ways of going through a research project and it's still rigorous they have an AP exam oh yeah y um AP seminars earn a score of three or higher AP research earn a score of three or higher and four AP exams throughout the high school that they earn a score of three or higher there you go thank you welcome so it's a lot but I think kiddos are going tobly but it's a pretty good feather in their cap for um for completing that program be able to say that you receive that Capstone diploma through the AP or through the College Board get another sash yeah you want if you a new icon stash uh the last piece here um this is um in our classical modern language department is something that uh yeah this this is one um that Mr Smith Miss Brown myself and Miss fauler have been working on for a while here and I'm pretty excited about it's uh we bringing a new um language to our classical modern language Department uh American Sign Language um it's expanding Upon Our partnership with the Willie Ross program um which we obviously have in our schools right now um right now obviously the students who are in a Willie Ross program there's a barrier of language between them and our students um so being able to offer this program I think is twofold one it gives our students an opportunity to take a different language um than the languages we currently offer um Beyond Spanish and Latin um uh but it also I think just creates more inclusive environment because now it it breaks down that barrier between um the students of esaw meadow and the Willie Ross students where you know now they can communicate uh in any setting that they're in here you know so I I think uh so our our hope is for next year uh to run um uh it be a course taught by uh Willie Ross teacher uh with a pair of professional in there to support um but we would offer American Sign Language one to one cohort of students uh the following year we'd be offering American Sign Language one and two um and successful completion of two years of that would fulfill our graduation requirement for a um class so uh this one again uh pretty excited about I think it has it's a wi for us on a lot of different ways and it just Builds on that partnership that we've had Willie Ross for so long how do they have the teaching capacity to take this on so that's um we it it would become somewhat of a contracted service and so we're we're working that piece out through you know the rent that they give us we almost be Ming it back um yeah so basically the rental money picks up a big part of the we'll have to build slowly because they're not only doing it with us they're also doing it with some other uh school districts um so next year we we feel that certainly they can supply us with at least one uh section if if not possibly more we can go to that level in terms of contractual uh services at that point but then we'll build in the next year next year's budget and they'll have time to seek out more and this would be a different teacher than the teachers who are in our Wily Ross program yeah so it' be somebody who would be coming from the uh be coming from their campus from their home campus that's what I was looking for um and uh the woman who would be teaching it um the the two names I was given they they would be death de which means we would have to add uh pair professional to the room just to support um which we can build within our schedule because we're talking about one section that's that's easy for us to build in um uh but yeah we we feel like we have the structure to make this work the neat thing is that we've always had interest from St and students for some of their you know after school or nighttime offerings but it's never been a full course so no one's you know walked away from those offerings other than learning you know just a little Basics Yep this would actually uh allow someone to start really becoming fluent hopefully was this on the survey from students do you did you know if you got like a so we did not put that one on there because we knew there was also going to be the additional cost piece which right okay didn't want to see sure yeah yeah we know buying posos is a little bit smaller you know paying contracted service where you're yes picking up a good chunk of change it's it's going to be we had to make sure before we did that that we could One Fund it and then two get your approval so I hope would be next to analysis to theud body that unfortunately because we can only offer one section we do want to make sure it meets a graduation requirement it's not just an elective but it's actually something that um you know kids can use towards right towards that graduation requirement pathway uh we would be focusing on freshman sophomores for this for these courses so it's kind of a bummer for the juniors and seniors they hav't but you know they're not gonna be able to sign up nice okay any questions or comments on the changes yeah this is a big one this year I promise I will do this next year I think it's nice that you're that we offer so much variety kids so that they can can actually maybe decide what they might want into After High School we always say freshman sophomore year we get you what you need junior senior year we give you what you want so we try to give them a lot more opportunities to try different things as they move their way through and that was part of our lens when we um built on collectives opposite of the PE well it's pretty impressive too that amount of staff members you have and how much variety of classes yeah that able to offer too thank you I think the um New offerings as well like speak to helping student interest around the um Civics project and thinking about some of the topics epidemiology or American Sign Language like all of those things could really lead unified PE to some pretty powerful um our Civics projects I'll even say to the a ASL course the discussion was boring out of a group of uh students last year who were pushing us on incorporating a ASL program into the high school so full circle was that a Civics project JM yeah Civics project discussions have they're not easy discussions they they push and they're supposed to and you know it also pushes us to think of different for economics as well right yeah we've been pushed on economics uh I was pushed on ASL um the late bus you know so I think what's great about those projects for seeing tangible impacts for in positive ways on our community it's it's really been productive and uh enjoyable yeah yeah does the state offer an opportunity for high schools to Showcase any of those like I just think like so often projects become oh yeah I did it yeah this is actually amounting to change like I wonder if there's like a submission process where like you know metal through their Civics projects have fundamentally shifted structures at the high school I don't know if Miss Brown wants to chime in they they do okay um they had a showcase this year at UMass so because of how our schedule worked this year with the transition of um the US one and us2 and consolidation we actually have a little bit of a gap here where we're not running the Civics project this year because the kids who were currently sophomores who have been in us to in our old pathway are now going to be the new students in that um Civics and government course next year so we're in a little bit of a gap here but they do have programs where we we can send students to um they continue to have more and more opportunities so that's the other reason why having it as a course will really afford kids opportunities to Showcase yep awesome for the graduation requirement do they just need three social studies yes okay so it doesn't matter that us is History 2 is gone Us 2 is gone yeah so they they still take I just say I know but it's that's what I was thinking but so the two courses that required graduation uh by for graduation um are the US History course now it'll be the Civic government course okay um most freshmen uh do take um world history so they kind of fulfill the requirement with that one just because they're supposed to take four academics and a lot of kids that's one of their for they take math science English and then they take their social studies as well um for the some kids do take their foreign language freshman year which would be their fifth but a lot of kids just end up taking world history you know and a lot of kids go beyond the three years we have so many kids AFC American studies or AP pych AP Euro yep AP Gov Audrey other thoughts on the changes I really like the American S one because I know a lot of my friends have done um Miss pools like childhood development and they're really getting interested in being like teachers and I think it's obviously great for a ton of different people and opens up a ton of different doors but like also for teachers too like if you're looking to go in that field it sort of makes you stand out and it's a great skill to have um I don't know I like a lot of the courses I kind of wish I had some like very interested in something but whatever I'll have a lot more in college hope so very cool okay if there isn't anything further I would entertain a motion to approve the changes to the program of studies um do what I move to approve the elhs program of studies as presented by Mr paage excellent motion made by Antella okay second by Amy any any other discussion all in favor say I I those oppos nay that carries 5 to zero thank you guys sorry to cause you a little bit of stress about get out at 610 thanks Frank there's anything further further I would entertain a motion to adjourn made by Sarah second second by Anella any other discussion Audrey thank you for being here M so much please say I I oppos nay that motion carries 5 to zero thank you we J