[Music] good evening everyone today is Tuesday April 23rd and the time is 6:34 p.m. and I'd like to call this meeting to order uh first on our agenda is the consent agenda appr minutes from April 9th 2024 questions or comments on the minutes hearing none I'll take the motion I'll make the motion to approve the minutes from April 9th 2024 second all those in favor I next is war 063 which I'll send around in the folder uh from the folder shortly questions or comments on that hearing none I'll take the motion I'll make the motion to approve warrant 0063 second second all those in favor next is visitors comments any citizen wishing to speak before the committee must sign in with the administrative assistant prior to the opening of a regular session of the school committee the visitor will identify themselves themselves by name and address and shall free for no longer than 3 minutes for anyone unable to sign in ahead of time we ask that you clearly state your name and address so that this information can be included in the record for the meeting Move Along cool perfect I hope you're all doing well I hope you had a great break I know I did um and I know I said there was a very little amount of information last time but we had April break so there's probably fewer now uh at East Meadow students are getting ready for the final push of the year as for the high school everyone is finishing up Ela mcass and M mcast starting in the next few weeks there's a courtyard cleaning up clean up going on run by the student council over at East Meadow staff have also claimed certain flower beds out in the courtyard for summon programs they plan to run with students for upcoming events at East Meadow Miss de detailed to me they were planning on painting a buddy bench for students to calm down with a friend if they ever need it they have a Spring Fling dance Friday May 17th and the first week of May is Teacher Appreciation Week at the high school AP exams are scheduled within three weeks from now mcast is not finished the Civics pilot is still scheduled M Jordan told me the Civics mcast uh that being or Civic yes Civic mcast um the academic schedule has been created for the rest of the year and is going out to the STA Arts night is on May 16th students will show off their art for parents and visitors from 5: to 8:00 pm the sunnies and Brownstone field trips are still both planned for seventh and 8th and 9th respectively at May 9th there is also the good decision and positive actions for prom as I mentioned that last time and on April 29th the digital skills assembly for Community engagement miss beon and miss Jordan are working on the cgn or college guidance network uh to support families on their students Journeys towards College just to give their parents information that the student might need or is helpful to them and Miss Jordan detailed to me she'd like to send a thanks out to the community for all the hard work they've done with the booster club and all they've raised um she really harped on the idea when I met with her today that she's proud of the community we have here at Grandy and all the effort everybody's been putting in the newsletter as I mentioned last time still has opportunities for students to engage in if they want to do any summer programs I actually checked it out today there's um lifeguard activities uh you know uh different different jobs different programs you can go to different colleges all over the country that make help for future years Vivian Wells from the DCR who was at our college fair a couple weeks ago is we're aiming to do a partnership during school breaks to get lifeguard certification for free for all students who are willing and I think that's about it any questions are found Co well done thank you thanks Co thank you co so much appreciate it yeah have a great one thanks you too all right next up is the superintendent and cycle review we're doing this a little bit earlier but we wanted to get it done before your departure and the election um we okay so is in everyone's folder and for anybody watching chain when we post the meetings we do Post these documents as well so um so I used a similar template that I've been using um and really just updated the midcycle review that was done in January um the second slide after the title side is really just the review of the goals that were set this year um you know all these goals align well with with the Strategic plan the Strategic plan that we put into action that we're implementing beginning this year um and the priorities set forth in that plan um progress monitoring using data um developing that instructional Vision using data to make our decisions of as I've mentioned before um we have a goal student learning goal related to our I EXC l in dibles growth and then um the final professional practice goal was around the new superintendent induction [Music] program the next slide goes to what our priorities are those are identified again in the Strategic plan fostering strong and positive relationships meeting the needs of all students supporting the development of powerful and engaging learning exp experiences for all students using relevant data in our decisionmaking we want to welcome and respect welcome respect and embrace diversity provide training and support to our staff and believe that everyone in the junior or I'm sorry in the grand B Public Schools can grow shift and succeed under the right conditions and with the right and with the appropriate supports the next slide is the focus indicators um that were identified in the um superintendent evaluation room rubric that everyone should have a copy of from the midcycle session and then I just kind of listed out some areas in need of improvement and or further exploration so I always want to let everyone know that there's some areas that are in need of improvement and further exp exploration that I would also consider us on the right track um so some things are listed twice you know I won't go through the whole list but a couple areas I think we've done a lot of work in terms of equity diversity and inclusion this year um I notified the committee in August or September that we' received the hate crime prevention Grant um that Grant has gone a long way towards training staff um listening sessions for for students and staff um and you can start to see people we just finished our second um ADL Anti-Defamation League training with staff right before the break um and we're trying to equip teachers with the supports and resources that they need to have difficult conversations and dialogue when they come up in their class it's about welcoming and belonging not excluding anybody um you know and I think we've done some good work in this area but I think that's certainly an area that um work we should continue that work moving forward um we had I had set up a process of 60-day improvement Cycles we we tried it with the leadership team this year the idea was that often times I find both in my experience as a teacher and then an assistant principle and principal is that we're often thinking about setting our goals in the summer or September when we return to school setting those goals and then the year just takes over and sometimes we lose track of what those goals may have been um this was an opportunity for the district leadership team to look at the district Improvement plan and identify one or two goals and then every 60 days we've been tracking their action steps towards those goals what they might need to do to recalibrate or their path or their trajectory and I think there's areas that this can be improved but I think overall I think the leadership team recognizes that the intent behind it is making sure that we're constantly reminded of those priorities and goals that we set early in the year and not necessarily always moving for what might seem urgent in that moment we spend a lot of time in our planning in the spring and summer for the the school year and sometimes what is urgent an urgent need a fire to be put out takes priority over something that we spent so much time on identifying as an important step for us and I think this process has helped connect us reconnect us to those things um but it could certainly be refined uh I think um our data teams and data analysis has continues to be a work in progress we've taken some steps in the right direction um I think at both schools we've seen some steps and already we can see both schools making little tweaks to what they've identified in terms of either their process or how they're looking at data um you know I think that is a process that is probably never ending that you're always coming back you're always shifting and always tweaking because you want to be able to best support your teachers and student needs when you look at that data um I think another area that has been ident that we've identified over the past couple years and again steps have been taken but work to be done is having a proactive and system systemic approach to student supports um I think we've talked a lot especially at the Junior Senior High School about um tier 2 shortterm really focused tier 2 interventions and how they could support specific student needs um I think we could be better we're better than we were but we could continue to grow in places where we can identify the needs through data address them through targeted timed and tracked interventions um and if those interventions aren't working what's something else that we might try to better support that student another area where I think we've improved but have work to continue to do and is diversifying our professions development and in the past I've said specifically for single subject teachers um I think that continues to be a challenge but I think with the calendar that we've developed and um some of the conversations that we've had in our instructional meetings we've we we've taken some real steps in a positive direction um portrait of a graduate work is really not taken off the the goal this year was really to just start to identify the team although I think we have done a number of things that will contribute to that work down the line um the dual enrollment work uh The Innovation career pathway work I think that all lends itself to that portrait of a graduate work so well we haven't made as much progress as I might have hoped at the beginning of the year here um we have made progress and we'll continue to work on that moving forward um as that is part of the Strategic [Music] plan I think another place and you'll see in the next couple slides some of our successes but another place where we can continue to do some work is processes related to pursuing and procuring grants I think this year we've in the past three years really we've gone after a number of Grants and sometimes we feel like the grant is a fit for our needs or it connects to our priorities and we get to a place and then it feels like we're starting to have to fit a square peg into a round hole and um you know I I think really being thoughtful about the grants that we're pursuing and the planning process and the oversight of that I think it's a place where we've definitely grown um and will continue to look to improve [Music] and and then I also listed the long-term plan for the junior senior high school facilities continues to be an area that warrants further explanation exploration excuse me in terms of successes or or places where I feel like we've been on the right track uh really proud of the work around the Innovation career Pathways designation that we received earlier this month uh that work was done through a team um that included administrators and teachers at the Junior Senior High School that work also should set um gr be up to receive some continuation grants for the next few years at least um to build Partnerships industry Partnerships hopefully develop a more robust internship process based in in Information Technology um we've talked about a number of internship ideas that could come from this I think students once this continues to grow and it'll grow Year bye so ninth grade students next year will start to be able to take one of the courses so they'll start to learn about that through the scheduling process this year um but eventually it'll build up to having Advanced courses either offer that will be offered both here and through um college and university Partnerships another area like I mentioned before is the equity diversity and inclusion work uh working to establish the bias incident response team to trained staff um we've worked with chart Wells to include more culturally diverse meal options reestablishing uh the equity team at the Junior Senior High School they've brought back Wellness Wednesdays that are changing to Wellness Fridays um even the repainting of the dinosaur late last year this year students talked about symbolizing that welcoming and Bel that uh feeling of belonging um one of our goals was around ISL and dibles growth we talked this year well I don't have that data yet because we talked by the third assessment which is later in May um students will have demonstrated at least one year's growth the midyear data shows clearly that Stu students are making some really good progress a majority of our students the average and at each grade majority of grades were on track to meet or exceed that goal there were some grades in areas lagging behind um and we hope that the supports and things that we're implementing based on that data helps them um potentially increase the gross growth that they've seen I think the district districtwide professional development calendar that we initiated this year has been a plus it's a work in progress but um I think that benefits teachers when they have an idea of what to expect in professional development over the course of the year and I think from the administrative perspective it's allowed us to think about what our priorities what our uh strategic priorities have been and Al and align training during those times to those priorities um um I mentioned the 60-day goal cycle that's an area where I think it's on the right track but could be tweaked um tntp math has been there's been a lot of work around math specifically that's an area where I think we provided more support in professional development than I could have expected or thought we would have at the beginning of this year through this partnership with tntp um and that partnership is in we're just finishing year one and it's a three-year partnership so really excited um to see what fruit that bears the other thing another success I think and I've noted it in my end of cycle review in the past is around our pursuit of Grants this is not an exhaustive list but you'll see here these are grants that we've either partnered with other districts or pursued and received on our own own um but I don't have the number in front of me but at least I would say over $100,000 just through the grants listed here um has gone back to either our staff or students and if you're asking my students that last form at high school senior internship and education we've talked about here before um allows us to pay seniors to support um K to8 students either in academics or social emotional supports we've really looked at those grade levels and worked with teachers and administrators to identify student needs and try to match up our seniors um who are the best fit to support those needs um so those are just grants from this year a couple of them are carryover grants from previous years we at our last meeting the school committee uh voted to implement a new dual enrollment Early College policy so the review of that policy and those procedures we've really now separated the policy from the procedures we've done that in a couple places this year that I think operationally that um has been very helpful for us and then I am scheduled to complete year three of the you superintendent induction program um in miday that was one of the goals so the next couple slides are really just each of the four standards and evidence um artifacts of evidence that aligns each of those standards and certainly some of the evidence could be for multiple standards but just so the committee had a list of some of the things that would connect um to the work in those areas thank thank you for for all that and all your hard work any questions or comments Stevens I know it's hard to capture everything that's happening and kind of refle on what's going well and what might be more challenging um in order to kind of moving forward and so I again appreciate the format appreciate the conversation um and then in terms of the next steps for the end of cycle review we can certainly talk about what that will look like to kind of compile information so he put in the evaluation rubric 2324 we each save a copy this is where I I fail with Google because I don't well this is a yeah you you should for it should have forced a copy I didn't when I opened it so that should be your own copy y you can change the title too and then so right so like only you have got access to that now okay when in the link We I set it up so when you open it she open your own gotta yeah thinking that it would do it automatically I like I don't know if this will overwrite or delete I'm just G save it to the type I got that works too okay um we just need to decide when so when is our next new was two weeks right it's May 7 b seven so Jo you to yeah I can um so do you want by next week so you have a week to do it so my meeting's May 7th as long as I have it by May 3rd everything to chill for me you want be the put I can just put like a reminder in everyone's calendar for May 3d and so yeah after you've gone through that um we brick if you just want to email it to me and then I'll go through and kind of like calculate all the averages and put in all the comments and all those pieces again um any uh any additional comments or anything on this thank you course thank you next up superintendent search that feels weird so um I reached out to the people who are randomly selected to fill out our the in then committee roles from our different stakeholders um we have set our first meeting for or week from today um and we will go over expectations establish a schedule um criteria we have a number of applicants already uh so can begin the process we have things ready for people to start to review and start to narrow our selections so so April 30th so we should um at our next meeting we'll have another update I mean there will just be a process we'll keep this just living in the agenda yeah anything for us to take back um I guess I don't know I have to stop and think about anything for anybody else at for the the committee I'm just I know you guys will do vate time now should we decide on a number we did no more than four that's what okay come to I knew we had discussed it I wasn't sure so that no more four will be open um for us for like the final round of interviews right y okay um all right so we'll hear more at our next meeting good luck to you guys for the first round the screening um okay next up we have our work groups we have um budget and finance which and also community relations for for Mike and I and then policy for Jill and George it's 6:50 night well 7 o' um half hour do you need more or less that's fine is a half hour good for us for find it I think so yeah I think soiling into that just like how to get people out and all of that all right so we'll break for um 30 minutes great all right um some great discussion that we just had you guys want to go first are we back off yeah we can sure do you want to I can give it a go um we made some progress reviewing uh section V uh getting near the end of it there there's a lot of format in like as far as terminology being used that's maybe more clean or uh proficient and in some cases specific like shells versus Wills or what should um and so that should be ready sooner rather than later and then uh I'm going to start looking at what the more recent like notifications of updates are for the rest of the policy take a crack at that is um have Fe and then was there another one we voted on one right we don't have anything else there yeah there's nothing well we were working on being next all right bu you want to give it a um well we talked about the upcoming town meeting and uh brainstorm some ideas that we could provide additional value to the community to offset the cost to supplement our budget um there's some great ideas with Alternative Energy plans um we will reach out to the planning board about it um to get the ball rolling on that it would be a nice way to supplement our budget to show the community that we don't just um expend the resources that we're given but we also contribute financially in addition to what we're provided all right any questions and that budget and finance and Community Sol was kind of an all encompassing conversation all right next up superintendent two brick ones Cole already took one um he mentioned the PTO Spring Fling dance it is Friday May 17th 5:30 to 7:30 here at East Meadow um it is $5 per person and this Friday well 26 is the last day to purchase tickets because they have a capacity they need to make sure that um they're working within their means so there will not be tickets available at the door so if you're watching and interested please purchase your tickets before this Friday April 26 I also wanted to let the community know after having been through it with school committee and the select board that Bry statement of interest um was submitted to the Massachusetts school building authority um for a building project at Granby Junior Senior High School prior to the April 12th deadline and again this does not mean that there is a project imminent it is essentially an application to to show that we are interested in um and then we've typically worked with msba around whether or not they're ready to invite the Junior Senior High School into a project and if they are willing to invite the project in is there an appetite in town to move that forward so this is just the initial step but that was submitted um about two weeks ago and that's all I have today all right so updated on our um budget process for the town meeting um and did that in subcommittee talked about some Reserve requests that we are potentially making regarding some unanticipated costs particularly around facilities um in the two buildings and then we are going to have one last walk through with the engineer tomorrow um to start to make the final preparations uh for bid documents and getting everything drawn up and ready to go for the construction phase of the kitchen next door so update today from them and so I'll be meeting with them tomorrow questions or comments um I don't have anything we see yes the next meeting is actually May 29th so just to keep that [Music] first meeting after the election 21st 21st so when you reorganize opportunity to mention to anybody who's watching who might be interested being a wrting cand for the school committee there are open seats if you are interested you can certainly reach out to any one of us um Kelly Regan has mentioned to me if we know of anyone who's interested in being a right in candidate to let her know as well all right um anything else as far as scheding for our evaluation dashboard search okay um anything else that's it all right vot to enter into executive session under Massachusetts General Law chapter 30A section 21 part A3 to discuss strategy with regard to colle bar with regard to collective bargaining as doing so in an open session may have a detrimental effect on the body position of the the committee will not ref Open Session Mr Bry hi Mr dur hi M peler hi M BOS hi thanks everybody have a good night