good uh evening hollon and uh welcome to the March 14th uh 2024 meeting of the hollon school committee apologize for the uh the late start but we'll get right into it um we'll start with the uh call the meeting to order and we'll start with the consent agenda do I have a motion to uh accept the consent agenda we say take a motion to I do but I have just a couple she had some typos but I sent those off to Lisa okay anyway so it's not so then a motion as with with the minutes as amended yes okay and then do a second second okay by Don and so the only thing I'll add is that you'll see new to this um consent agenda is the acceptance of gifts from the PTO we have AES anyone have any questions or anything about that okay so than Keith thank you very much Keith thank you to the PTO the PTO um and and have there and and he is in there too great thank you very much to Hef the file was sorted by person who was uh receiving it just so you could see you know I thought it was easier rather than having teachers jump around so I just yeah yeah than by is it so like by date it's no it's sorted by teacher okay the or the recipient re and then actually by amount descending order okay so put the bigger ones for each teacher higher perfect this is this is a lot of very generous gift so I really appreciate that and I'm sure that it will be put to good use um so with that uh I will uh um all those in favor all that carries 5 uh so thank you very much um we'll skip just briefly since we do have some some people in the audience and um so there's a a presentation in your packet about the Rams Outdoor Learning space um are there any questions about it we have a we had a letter from Dr Jordan that he fully supports this um then we also have a letter from a a teacher in there uh also expressing support for it um I know they put lot of hard work into do we could have them do a presentation or we could just vote to uh accept the the essentially the the the gift of the the work and then let the administration take it from there does anyone any questions I know there's some some kazia and and people that here no I think just initially I didn't understand where the space was at all I was not oriented at all I couldn't understand it until I saw the aerial shots of oh it's the back side of it not the right apprciate ceter side and I like this isn't making sense yeah we really appreciate the supplemental materials cuz it made it a lot lot yeah it was we just couldn't understand it I just couldn't understand the last time so about not wanting it no the presentation was very helpful and the pictures and the one question I had about the dumpster was answered so right I'm I'm good sounds like they're going to work around the dumpster I'm good too so I clarified a lot of stuff so um I would move to accept the proposal have second has presented it or Sarah can okay all in favor I that carries five nothing thank you guys very much no thank you we did that was great and I appreciate yes um School Comm so that we move on to the student Representatives coming yeah yeah uh so start theater 3 70 presented their original play at the Massachusetts educational theater Guild two weeks ago um Holliston Co-op J astics team placed fourth in New England at the New England Championship meet this past weekend the first CPAC unified basketball versus for our city basketball game happened um last Tuesday and it was a huge success and it was a really fun and exciting game um and then the senior showcase was last Wednesday uh there were a lot of performances from Seniors including singing a fashion show dancing and a game show where someone got their head shaved so that was very new and entertaining and then uh Tuesday there's a high school band and course concert um so this past weekend three Deca teams qualified for Nationals which takes place in California at the end of April um for Science Olympiad at States we had numerous top 20 placements um this happened at Wentworth University spring Sports officially start on Monday robotics has a competition for first robotics this weekend held at the University of Rhode Island scholarships for seniors are now available um and and applications have started for those um Red Cross Club is hosting a blood drive next week at the high school um and finally the eighth grade the eighth graders are coming up to to the high school next week thank you wonderful be nice to them um any questions for student Representatives okay uh school committee individual comment Amanda um I have nothing tonight thank you Sarah um just that I know there's CL going on at the at uh Miller placentino right now I believe D yeah they just brought that so that was a great um fun math night I think the book fair is going on right now at in the Miller U multi-purpose room and I believe it's the last week for the raffle basket um fundraiser so if you haven't gotten your tickets yet make sure you buy there's a bunch of really great baskets to win so that's a town the town hall town hall right so not it's like 12 to 8 the ticket sales are on online though so okay I did already Yes I did that and then just as to the middle school on Friday April 5th through Sunday April 7th um the Middle School uh musical Newsies will be on so uh check out the website get your tickets um they've had sold out shows before so looking forward to it um and then this past um Friday Saturday and Sunday we had several um indoor track um Runners at uh Nationals which was hosted in Boston this year both as individuals and relay teams awesome um you stole my thunder about Newsies but but thank you my daughter will be in that so probably better coming from someone else um but uh so anyway uh thank you I don't have anything else to add um so as we move we're moving right along and they like 10 15 minutes ahead of the schedule um um this is an opportunity for the for public comment we've had one person sign up for public comment but um if there's anyone else okay so so Barbara why don't we uh first no I don't okay would you like me to yeah just come up and if you just move the microphone down that would be great thank all right thank you hi good evening Barbara Ryan or being pleas place thank you for having me thank you for the support of the PTO I'm in I'm here in a role as uh PTO M share representative and also a member of hdac um in that capacity as well as a parent um and this is for your information I know I had uh written to you um Dan and um Dr kuska and I met so hdac which is the um hollison drug and alcohol Coalition received uh applied for a grant we received it we're in the second year there's a young woman zoee who is the grant coordinator she's wonderful she's been um working with Mr list um and how do we create a group that's interested we went to um with Chief Cassidy back in February we went to a kadka event which it's changed its what it means but it used to mean communities of anti-drug Coalition but it means something else now but the same substance use misuse Forum uh it was very informative overwhelming and back in December I had approached hdac from a PTO M chair perspective and said look should we can we bring a speaker in I presented who that could be um and on this committee there's uh Town leadership the fire department police department Youth and Family Services clergy PTO other members and it was unanimous yes and they're giving 3/4 of the funds and PTO M share has funded and we'll do the other quarter um met with Dr kuska and Dr Menard and gave them information they were supportive Dr Jordan is Mr list so we've kind of done that homework we know calendar time is always um the big gift and Challenge and I don't think there's time this year but just wanted you to be aware this would be during school hours um to host this person or a person to talk about this and I'm meeting with Mr list before the school year gets out to see when this could be fit in the fall hopefully the fall time frame um so that's um again the calendar is the challenge and where do you fit these kind of things in and what do you it always takes away from something or in the new school year where can we fit this in so the cost is covered uh the need is there certainly we know substance use and misuse um is a scary Prospect in that landscape it gets more uh daunting every day um for art students and for children and even adults so um we are excited um to partner with hdac as a member in PTO but we just again wanted to inform you this evening this this is in the works it'll take calendar time um but we trust Mr list and and obviously Dr kuska to say we can find that block of time and it's a 90minut program meaning 10 minutes to assemble 10 minutes to get back to class and 70 minutes and ultimately we'd host at the middle school and it would be age appropriate people can opt out High School age appropriate people can opt out and then we'd host um I talked to Mr Hearn and we'd host a townwide event um and again really compelling um information and hope if we can reach one people or more than that to make different choices around their health and substances we think it will be successful who the speaker um his name is Steven Hill and I went on down a rabbit hole for a variety of reasons back in November and I did a huge search and there was another person who's come to the community he's a former um pro basketball player um he also is is wonderful and could be this but the one I found he's actually in his his early 30s by the time he was 18 he um was dropping out of school by the time of 24 he was a felon he had done seven programs 30 day programs and um ended up in a year-long program that basically saved his life and it was either go to prison or you can help make a difference in the world and since then he's been sober almost 12 years has a family two children and he's a lawyer and he's a felon and a substance Mis uh Mis you know user misuser and um and he's got um and I can forward I can put a packet together and forward to but he speaks to a lot of schools in this area he's gone to Med field and he was so successful they're bringing him back like every other year for juniors and seniors um he's gone to private schools in the area he goes up and down the Seaboard he was recently in Louisiana he he's all over the country and he actually was a speaker at kka so I got to meet him in person so there are many people who share their stories but I think he's very successful in the age group we're targeting and looking to educate and um and he was reasonable when you look at speakers and fees to do three events in a day uh um so that that's and I can set more information on that great thank you very much and I'm glad the administration is on on board with that and you've you've spoken with them and gotten their Buy in so but thank you for letting us know yep thank you so much and thanks again for your support at PTO thank you all right [Music] and good evening and kenon 11:35 Highland Street thank you I haven't been here in a while um but um this has really been on my mind um for a long time and I have to say and I feel like if I don't report this out it's I'm not doing service to my career that I've had here the time I've spent on the math click and Review Committee and how strongly I feel about um what I'm going to say for the opportunity for my child and for other students in the community and um I've had several conversations with people um in the community and um at our I'm going to try not to talk too much about the math Kirk and Review Committee because I know that that's a separate thing but I do wish I could have an opportunity at a later meeting and bring some of the curriculum mouth people here to talk about some of the conversations we had there because I don't want to overstep boundaries but I also I wear two hats I actually wear Three Hats I'm a Community member teacher and most importantly I'm a mother of a child who who excels in mathematics and loves mathematics she's currently in fourth grade she's going to be 10 planning a big tal of Swift party for Saturday so um but she's going to be in sixth grade before you know it right and um I just worry that we're just going to continue talking about the question of do we offer a full year algebra course in eth grade the conversation has been going on and on and on it goes around in circles no decisions are made and it's not okay somebody has to make this decision and as a member of the math curriculum Review Committee it it's it just felt like it it just I think there's more to it than what's being reported and you know last week um or the two weeks ago when Mr Liss was reporting on um the switch from A to B when he said kids will not be able to get to calculus I know Amanda you like it's a no for me right like and before he even said that I wanted to come and say this since December but I just haven't had a chance to is that do we want students to have access the I ask the community I ask the school command members I ask the powers that be do we want students all students to have access to algebra and eighth grade if we do I'm not saying all students are going to be able to take it like it's just it's it's a reality right it's a reality of of like I'm not good at everything I I do right and I think that if we want to have students have an opportunity I don't know what you're I don't know what you guys did but maybe you can weigh in on this but if we want students to have access to Algebra 1 in e8th grade desie puts out a accelerated pathway desie puts out an accelerated pathway and I have it here for you I will share it with you I'm going to just read it quickly compressing the standards this is if you want to offer a Model A model high school algebra 1 in Middle School compressing the standard from sth grade 7 8 in the model Algebra 1 course into an accelerated pathway for students in grade seven and 8 could allow students to enter the model geometry High School in MA in in ninth grade okay and it puts out a flowchart and that's not to say that we're going to get to every single standard in Algebra 1 but you're going to get to the standards that are necessary to move on to Geometry because in Geometry you cover standards there and maybe as a parent I know more but I know more um when we had that meeting on um when we had that meeting a month or two ago when we were reporting out on the curriculum review Council I talked to other um parents that are teachers in other schools and they were even saying the same thing like their algebra in eth grade isn't like a full algebra course but it gives enough of the standards so right now in eth grade we're saying we have an algebra course but we don't we don't have an algebra course and I think somebody needs to make the decision are we going to have algebra if we're going to have algebra we have to have accelerated and we have to teach the standard if we're not going to have algebra we don't have algebra and we don't call it algebra that's just how I think it has to be that way because and this isn't meant as this isn't meant as what anybody else is teaching or how they're teaching it but right now I'm going to put it sort of in layman's terms right now algebra one did you guys what did you guys take in eth grade algebra algebra one okay algebra one is like we would know as a pre-algebra course that's it like I don't want I know it's not based on a course but those are the standards it's a pre-algebra standards they don't get to exponential growth they don't get to quadratics they don't get to factoring and they don't get to probability and statistics and that really is an algebra course so um I know I'm going over my two minutes I'm just going to say a couple more things um prior to um prior to us um going to decelerating de deling seventh grade we had about 50% of our students came up and took geometry and they either took geometry honors or geometry cp1 then way before that we did a bunch of other classes but then they could take Algebra 2 they could take pre-cal their sophomore year and they could accelerate and then 50% came in and took algebra um and at some point we started offering that Algebra 1 part two for a small cohort of kids currently 100 100% of our eighth graders have to come in and take an algebra course and if you look around other communities we don't have that even I know Needum does they call it math 8 but when you when you're at Needum they go in and they they have like four cohorts they can go into depending on what they want to study so I really think we have to we have to really somebody has to make that decision because I've been on this math CK and review now for two years and I feel like it's almost like how some people feel on the scheduling the block scheduling at the high school or dsb at the high school we just keep talking about it and talking about it and um you know I think that I think that I want my I know I want my daughter to have an opportunity to have algebra in eth grade and I know there's probably a lot lot of other people out there I also think that when we hear people talking about the equity and we talk about it's a Holliston problem it's not just a Holliston problem it's everywhere and it's how we teach mathematics in the United States of America that is really the driving force and I think we really have to think about that and I also think we have to think about meeting kids where they're at and bringing them where they can go and that is a good teacher right like you can have all these plans in the world but if you your kids can't do this stuff how you can't go forward with it and I think you know right now I'm teaching an Algebra 2 class and it's for some students that just aren't there yet but they come in every day and they Lear learning and they're building confidence and that's okay to do that like I just think it's okay to do it and I just you know I had to say this because it's been on my mind so I hope I sounded okay because I'm passionate about it um but I do hope that somebody can make that decision for us because I think the math curcum review is committee is sort of like we just want a decision so we just need a decision and I think the community needs a decision and I I think putting another committee together delaying it another year is just going to delay it another year and another year and that's all I have to say and um obviously I'm very passionate about math and um I'm passionate about my daughter having experience that I wanted to have so I thank you and I will forward you my notes so you can see the progressions and things like that thank you and I thank you guys for all that you do and um yeah thank you very much any other public com okay so that is as segue into uh into the teaching and learning [Music] update good evening everybody um it's my pleasure to present an update to you tonight and go to the next slide why sh that so I'm going to talk to you tonight um um regarding professional development understanding by Design there stage one and stage two in action you can see actual um examples our curriculum reviews where we're at our math Community survey and the action steps we're going to take to go with that okay let's talk first about professional development and um if you can click on that link please Dr cusa you can see this is the template that we have have made for the district and this is every PD day we use the same template and you can see on the top there to stay on that that in everyone is listed how that session is directly tied to our strategic plan so it says that which strategic initiatives and it also lists which Massachusetts Dusty standards for professional development it's tied to thank you can get back out can go to the next slide so then what I did um you can take we get tons of feedback every time from every PD day and that PD feedback is shared with other principles PD council members and we look at that and really um consider what PD offering in the future and see what we can do differently um you can read all those some things I wanted to point out on a secondary side um one things that we're looking at they have asked in the past the staff has asked for the past more content specific PD and then also more time for cont uh excuse me more time to work on their stage one and their stage two I just wanted to point out a few things and this was only from January 11th feedback in um the secondary schools there's one we had Josh Kabal come for the world language teachers so Josh Cabra was incredibly helpful everything he talked about was so supportive to me just an example content area PD for teachers somebody else said um they want more specific PD a subject specific PD on best instructional practices and lesson designs we're definitely going to keep that in mind for next school year two of the comments that they pointed out about the documentation time work with course Partners to evaluate and plan curriculum and assessments that's what they said which was great about that day somebody also said time to work on stage one and two documents if you can go to the next slide some Elementary staff feedback two the things I wanted to comment on that the contary a PD one person said I found it worthwhile to meet with a fellow Holliston colleagues to discuss the progression of language acquisition and Proficiency in our classroom for our students particularly in the front French immersion setting so they really had time to unpack and figure out how students obtain French language throughout the grades um somebody else said they were thankful for time to dig into the new math curriculum as far as the documentation time one person said each session was helping and building our ability to create safe and supportive schools and ensure curriculum is aligned to the standards and expect ations are clear another person said I would like more time to work with my colleagues on the alignment of standards and transfer skills so there really is on people's mind and that is the feedback that we're getting if you go to the next slide so we're taking that feedback and we're using that feedback on a continuous basis from every PD time to really plan our future PD so if you look at that um we really need to look at more time for ubd understanding by Design documentation we gave half of the January 31st professional development day um was dedicated as well as more curriculum in Department time specific content Josh cabal in the world language um there's a French immersion PD that we've been giving and also secondary math book study these are just few of few of the examples that we're doing um there are trainings that's been defined from our curriculum reviews and they're all regarding the curricular resources that are being brought forward and we'll be doing that um at the end of this year and next school year and then also training on our new diagnostic assessments we go to the next slide so what does ubd look like in action so let me give you some examples and not really going to get into the details but I wanted to talk about five different ways that the stage 1 and two documentations are being used within Hollis Public Schools right now so one example is when we have a change in standards um that is true in Wellness grades three and four spend a lot of time this summer and they continue to spend time on developing those lessons on those new massachusett Wellness standards um a new class is another example um shaa Frost and Joe Hicks worked a lot this summer and continue to work on developing a fashion elective course um which is very exciting and they really kind of dug deep into the assessments and her lesson plans so that's part of stage two and stage three another example is supporting Stu uh excuse me teachers when they get different course assignments so alge high school algebra 1 in Geometry we've had a lot of new teachers as you all know so those stage one and stage two have been so helpful to the teachers so they know that they're on par with their colleagues so all students are getting access to the same information another example was for high school course we changed a high school course team so uh Dr Ida papis was able to directly work with that new teacher on things that had been done in the past and that person could hit the ground running as well as with a middle school long-term uh Spanish sub Dr papis worked uh directly with that person and they had documentation of what was done had some lesson plans had all sorts of things um this is a stage two example so transfer task is common assessments so our grade three through five Spanish teachers are um in stage two and really having very thoughtful productive conversations about what transfer tasks they all want their students to experience and what they think is productive so they're really having conversations about what do the rubrics look like that what are we asking the students to do um and having collaborative conversations another example of how documentation being used is defining new scope and sequence uh Joe Hicks has been working with our K to2 social studies teachers and they've really spent a lot of time defining what all the units are going to be and really look taking that big overarching View and what it should be done and what makes a thoughtful progression for kindergarten through grades 2 um some other examples updating units um so uh Joe Hicks has been working with sixth grade on a social studies unit about South America and another great example is seventh grade's really digging into having a book club um in the seventh grade and so all three of the curriculum coordinators have been working hard so on these so um James was working on you know all the the math and science things too so we've been hard at work and they've actually been using the maps the teachers and they're finding them extremely helpful and these are just some examples if you can go to the next slide please so we've been busy with our curriculum reviews um in each um World Language there is a link there so you can click if you click on um we're not going to now but if you click on the World Language you have a timeline um that is to be completed this school year um and the TW the secondary Ela will be completed the end of this school year hopefully shortly you'll be getting a report out from Dr Kusa um we um have been doing the the science techn Technology and Engineering and that began this year and should be wrapping up this school year and then math will also be wrapping up this school year um the science and the math also have timelines that you can click on to get more details um all of these have gone through the curriculum review process that we developed together the um as a team and principles and um senior admin had a chance to kind of give us feedback all about that process and it's all based on Desi guidelines if you can go to the next slide please then then to do some followup on the math uh Community survey we had from the math curriculum Council um excuse me math curriculum Review Committee excuse me um one of them is that I know that all of you wanted to know how many people um have outside help for math so one of the questions was we asked does your student attend or receive any math support or enrichment outside of school and you can see that 72.2% parents said yes the biggest uh percentage 33.3% was Private tutoring for support and then second was uh Russian School of Math um and you can see we had 205 responses you go to the next slide please no correct I'm sorry 72% it says the red is oh I'm sorry I apologize I apologize was like the opposite thank you I'm sorry thank you I apologize um I don't have mine in color so I apologize sorry about that um and then two of the other questions I thought um that'd be interested in what attributes of a curriculum resource do you think are the most important and we took this to Heart in our curriculum Review Committee the First Choice was rich in rigor and student discourse and that that was um 83.4% and the second one was clear and logical scope in sequence so everything that we were looking at we kept those thoughts in mind another question we asked hollison Public Schools is currently researching the leveling of advanced courses we understand this essential our district gathers and provides information to the community regarding leveling please tell us what you'd like to more know more about um in the future so now we're taking this information if you go um to the next slide and this next information we we found patterns in that survey and I'm not going to go over all all of those because you guys can see those but there is more information that's wanted all about levels and leveling and I'm going to get to that in a second there was a really wide range of child's math experience in the classes and the grades remember this is K through 12 and then they had additional thoughts anything that they wanted to add and one thing that stood out to us that we really took to heart in our curriculum Review Committee um one thing a lot of people said was curriculum resources should be chosen to meet needs of all students they wanted us to consider special ed students and also English language Learners so as we were reviewing resources we definitely looked to see if they had those um those resources so the teachers didn't have to dig as much that they the resources were readily available so now what are we going to do with all of this so you can go to the next slide so so now what we're going to do in the fall um as we discussed earlier um we're going to form an after school math Ed study group and what that will consist of who that will consist of principales Math teachers special ed Administration and teachers District math curriculum coordinator um building math PE uh coordinators assistant superintendent for curriculum instruction in that committee um we've modeled this off of other school districts that have recently done this we' be doing case study research so what do I mean by that is looking at actual students blacking out their names and seeing what they were able to access at school and what supports there were in those classes we'd be looking at subgroup performance during multiple data using multiple data sources seeing how they progressed if they took this class what were they able to achieve um examine curriculum and instructional effectiveness at all levels how we're communicating that out we're going to uh research and provide more information to the community use and then we would um regularly report out to the school committee on progress with a final recommendation at the end of next year to Institute that following year this is very much modeled after the equity steering committee and also um we really looked at what other districts were doing around us so what is the goal of this after school math EDS study group so we would come with doing all of this research and bring it back to the make presentations to all of you so we can come up with decisions what we would do in the following year recommendations research on what recommendations on what I'm just so different levels levels impact people how levels don't impact I mean like all of that right advantages disadvantages are you studying the impact of having leveled math courses at the high school as well as the Middle School yes absolutely in an effort to are you contemplating deling math classes at the high school we're not contemplating anything now we're contemplating putting the group together putting together so I what we'd like to do is at the end of the year be able to give you a timeline of when they would meet I actually suggested to Joanie that I think it would be great if we have the team configured by theend of the year if they know the timeline ahead maybe we could offer some research time in the Summer where we could actually work together and do some of the research get some of the um data together the scope of the of the group includes looking at leveling at High School classes and not just EV valuating the leveling yes okay and I think what I was saying about aler one I think there are many of us in this room that would like to see a rigorous algebra program at grade 8 offered to the majority of children I I think that you'd have a lot of support if we if you think the majority of you do that would you agree that it would take several years to implement that since we've moved away from a system where we provided more math in seventh grade building up to 8th grade so it would take more than one year to implement correct well I think it depends on what we decide because there would be there would be stages I'm sure there would be because it's the the adjustment period but I feel like we should be able to make a decision for what we would offer in 8th grade for the following year and then if we decide to add levels back at seventh grade yes there's going to be some transition time but I don't think you should be taking a gap year I think you should implemen and I agree with you on that so I guess my thought is is there any um issue with while you continue to study this adding more math back into sixth and seventh grade so that those eighth graders might just be ready for your recommendation next year which is covering all of algebra because my concern here is we've we've taught less math in the 1920 year the 2122 the 22 23 the 23 24 we're contemplating this for another year 2425 if we use 2526 as an additional transition year and this has gone on for several years so I guess what is the harm in using the next three months within the math review curriculum uh committee to look at how we could add standards in seventh grade should we then decide to move forward enhancing eighth grade so I'm not sure what you're thinking that we're not doing in I mean you're talking about levels I believe you're talking about levels but the standards are the grade seven and 16 they teaching this you just brought up you'd like to see all I think I understand this you'd like to see all of eth grade access have access to Algebra 1 and not like the pre-algebra we're teaching now but the standards that that include all of Algebra 1 and I guess my question is how would you do that if you're also needing to teach kids math 6 math 7 math 8 desie standards and I guess what I would think is that in seventh grade we'd be hitting some of the math 8 standards if we were contemplating being able to provide a full year of Algebra 1 in eighth grade in 25 26 but I think until the group makes the recommendation of what they want to offer and what whether we're adding levels back or not you can't make that adjustment that fast I would love to see it I mean if we've been able to do this work at the beginning of the Year and have um more input that way you could but it's it teaches learning a new curriculum at the same time new whole new materials and training with that I'm just confused because it seems like well so first of all I thought that this these questions were to be answered this year by the current math curriculum committee but it seems like due to the necessity of De of trying out a new new materials that took precedence but from what I understand that you have the new material now and so seeing that it's only March does it make sense to utilize the already oiled math committee that exists to talk about some of this stuff now in preparation for next year I do worry the same um things as Don and as Miss kenon outlined that we're kicking the can we're kicking the can we're kicking the can and more and more kids are just falling behind and as far as like not feeling comfortable trying to make any decisions without another year of a committee meeting it seems like we were able to make these changes quickly as a result of Co when we did switch into okay we need to create this algebra 1 part two to make up for the stuff that folks Miss in 8th grade and blah blah blah and like you know those decisions can be made by a smaller group of you know very knowledgeable folks that have you know teachers that have been in the system for a long time and done this curriculum work um math coaches and so forth in order to not do any drastic changes or make any you know big big big leveling decisions but trying to set ourselves up so that we can do this as soon as possible in order to get algebra in eth grade understanding we take so fifth graders going into sixth grade M currently we have the sixth grad being taught the sixth grade standard from death but what we try to do is cons is is squeeze that down so that by the end of sixth grade we start teaching some of the seven grade standard and then in seventh grade they've already started taking seventh grade standards and so by the end of seventh grade they're taking even more sort of the e8th grade stand able to do some more pre-algebra potentially setting themselves up to do Algebra 1 or at least start because it may take several years but at least we're getting the ball rolling so it's not teaching anything different than was being taught right now in middle school it's just accelerating it's accelerating um and how can I say this like every other District like covers all the standards but chooses to focus on the most important standards right so that like if there's something that power stand yeah so if there's some very minor thing that needs to be cut in order to get more of those important pre-algebra ones in then maybe you don't teach like absolute value absolute value inequalities on a number line or something because it's not not it's not a prerequisite for other skills I know people don't know what I'm talking about it's not a necessarily a prerequisite for other skills it's blah blah blah like so so the priority isn't covering every single standard to the letter the priority is giving the most kids access to the most education so the curriculum review curricul review is done right we have a recommendation correct from them well the thing is that the rest of the time we're going to be concentrating on what PD we need what training we need so the main purpose of a curriculum review team is to look at gaps we have what in our current resources that we use and and analyzing and figuring out what curricular resource is best for that community so think we talk about pacing though what I'm hearing from you that you're looking for tojust the pacing if that's something that could be done in a timely manner and I don't want to be able to answer that for everyone it's the pacing but it's also as M pointed out desse has an entire site devoted to accelerating mathematic instruction and it includes something like eight or nine different programs that are free access to highquality core instructional mathematical materials in order to do that so the outline is somewhat there so I'm just wondering could the committee between March and June look at that and and build into our current or next year's six and seventh grade some of that accelerated material and all of them and if we get to a place next year where you say no we don't want to teach algebra to all eth graders come 25 26 no harm no foul they've just learned some extra math but why can't we start to build a little extra into those years so my concern is I hear what you guys are saying we're doing a big ask of the Math teachers for next year because they're getting re they're getting used to a whole new math curriculum so not only time to this because they're getting used to a whole new math curriculum I could could so we have 3 months sort of left in the year they're going to be looking at different PD they're going to be looking at a whole bunch of things could they also look at maybe the pacing of it and come to us in June or some of us in June um a with W with with a sort of a a report or an update on sort of what what their their thinking is and and not necessarily even a recommendation so if they want to make a recommendation they can I I I just think these all along I've been under the impression I think most of the committee's been under the impression that we were going to get some sort of recommendation on not so much leveling but at least the the curriculum in where we want to sort of be exiting e8th grade and getting into into high school so if there is a way for the teachers as they're getting trained in the new math materials to incorporate that I think we're more than willing to do so I don't know if it's realistic for us to ask teachers to know redo their maps and Pace by you know that's seems like a lot to ask ask them if they're willing what materials Ming are always different if you're modeling your which is why I think that would be the time to just as they they haven't had chance to look at any of that you see what I'm saying but we're putting Maps above kids that's sort of like I don't completely disagree with you I'm just saying they also have to they they're learning the materials and they have to adjust the pacing at the same time that's a reasonable as but I don't think they can have it all figured out by June is all I'm trying to say but you also are living documents and they they they change over time but beyond that many of our very talented math instructors at the middle School were still here in 1920 in 2019 to 20 and before um and they've done this before so this is actually what they might have done for 10 15 20 years until we changed it in um 2021 yeah we do have a lot of new teachers and so all I'm I personally as a te teacher of math myself and I actually as a special educator co-taught algebra in 8th grade and that was very successful and I think if we're going to shift to all or most kids getting Algebra I would want to see more Coots offered to help support the students that need additional support which is an adjustment also when you if we go back to leveling that's a whole different ball game because then we have to figure out do we have the right supports in place to get there and to avoid tracking the entire day so that's that's why we have to have that conversation next year the pacing part I'm sure there can be some pacing and adjusting as they go but if we're looking at Equity we also have to have teachers they would have to have time to work together so that they are trying to stay aligned together because otherwise now you're creating more inequity CU one teacher might be more comfortable and be able to move it along by themselves and and a brand new teacher might not be able to that's where they would need the time but that could be incorporate into the PD right I think we could do some of that yes well the PD this year the last PD that we're having this year would be dedicated to the the companies coming out and presenting about how you use that specific resource yeah I I think though from we I don't think we could have it all to you by June I'm I suggesting that we could certainly as we build in them getting trained on the resource next year have those conversations and adjust as we goon that happens as we go so tusting as we go is is fine like I'm not one of those people that needs these detailed beautiful maps with all these awesome links to this and that in June as a school Committee Member I'm not even talking about the want the teachers so so a word about Equity because that's obviously a very important issue but Equity doesn't necessarily mean teaching to the lowest common denominator in case someone hasn't had that experience in acceleration equity in math to me and this is as you know my life's work I'm not just some Joe off the street talking about this equity in math doesn't necessarily mean the same for everyone it means equal access so what that means is with the level we have now or more robust leveling it means that we make sure that under represented groups in the stem and math courses have equal access that we make sure that we are doing Fair recruiting and recommending um amongst all groups and that everyone has equal access not everyone wants to take AP music theory not everyone has the experience to take AP music theory but that doesn't mean it's not an equitable course so we can't offer it you know what I mean your point I mean that that's part of something that committee will look at because what how can somebody get into like we're talking about math is how how are students being made aware like of the AP math classes how are we communicating that out how are we communicating out the the expectations the rigor are we allowing everybody to take it type thing I think I 100% agree with what you're saying but we have not we have not been anable access and so that needs to be fixed I mean I think that's part of this conversation as to the why and taking the time to do it well so that we are opening doors and not closing that's a function of tracking them too so if you're and if we we kind of constantly linked like science and math and English Al together and I think that's historically if you got into that track then you stayed and there's no way for you to Branch out of that so then you were in this team that didn't have that track and it you know it just that's where it gets hard talk about math now we can't just limit to math for that reason to the if the community decides they do add more levels back then how do we avoid tracking in other subjects too so then you might have to cross team I mean there's a whole other just saying that the problem is bigger than just math doesn't mean you still shouldn't just try to make some adjustments to math to get things started bigger problem seems the more it seems like it's not going to go into back until like the class of 2036 so I have to say I don't feel like here has disagreed with anything you're saying right the only thing we suggested is having talked to other districts that took a full year and a half to two years to make any shifts in leveling that was the only part we asked to really do our due diligence and getting the data dashboard going so that we can really whatever decision is made for that we do it well however the adjusting and getting pacing to get ready for those decisions I don't see that's not something we're opposed to so that's something we can work on this can we talk to the math Review Committee and see if they what what their thoughts are if they can come to us with I'm not sure how many meetings we have left if we have meetings left that we can fit in absolutely um we can talk about how they can do that um I think it might have to be though looking at the new resources and looking at how you can combine different standards within that specific resource I think is more going to be what you're going to have to look at yeah and I think that's some summer work could be offered I mean which which we're planning on doing anyhow I think math is such an important thing right now when we've had such a leg in the last purchase of um curricul materials also think it's going to impact some of the other decisions of this District needs to make that are even beyond that so I think we I don't feel comfortable waiting until everything is perfect yeah I think because I think some of the stuff is we kind of need think we're agreeing with you the only thing we're asking you to is if you're going to shift levels that we want to to spend not asking to sh that's the only thing we're asking you to I guess just to be very clear I'm not asking to to shift levels without reviewing this more I I I am I'm comfortable with that however I am really worried about how long the transition will take because from my understanding from your Curriculum maps from the dusty standards is there is a math 6 a math 7 a math 8 and then there is an algebra 8 and we are asking basically for four years of Standards to now be covered by those kids in middle school or the ones that you know will come to you um in 8th grade next year I my my real concern is that if we spend another year with a brand new committee looking at this we come up with a recommendation that the phase in the transition period could be 2 years 3 years four years that this is going to take time to build back in so why not build in more math next year go with the idea that every kid can take algebra in the following year and build more math into six and seven more math I'm hearing more time for math so cuz that's what do you mean more math you mean adding pacing and putting more standards in different levels right more standards fine tuning the standards to selecting the most important ones we're saying we're open to that don't I feel like we agreed with you the whole time I'm not showing well ex exard is sort of pushing back as far as whether the the Review Committee could could look at it to make some recommendations for how to implement that and did you have something you wanted to add I just I I just want to um real quickly um I cannot speak to the sixth seventh and eth grade um except that I love working with them and they work really hard and they're awesome teachers except that um currently right now we're implementing so I taught three new classes in the fall and right now I'm teaching three new classes in the spring with the new curriculum and we do exactly what Amanda is saying is we look at the power standards right like you look at like you even said like absolute or whatever peace wise function yeah peace wise functions like I'm not going to sit there and spend time on my peace wise function when I have other things I need to do so that's a natural thing that happens but I do think that any professional development that we could get this summer would really help us but I do think we have to look at Power standards and even myself as a teacher this things I like to teach and sometimes you have to say you know what I can't teach that but I think it's just part of putting in a new curriculum but um I think they can be done injunction this is the perfect time but I do think it would be a great opportunity for the math curriculum review to have an opportunity to at least discuss it again I can't speak for the 6th 7th and eth at all and we're not saying that maybe maybe maybe it's just SE as too big a lift by by the curriculum Review Committee and that could be the answer but at least we we've posed it they've had a the the the people on the ground have had a chance to to look at it to see whether it's possible and make a recommendation to to us and the the administration and I don't know if it's should be limited to be honest to the curric review I feel like this is something that should be discussed more at grade level meetings because it's going to impact all in elementary it's all teachers unless they're the team and they teaching not sure what you would look for reporting back because just to go to ANS point you can start to look now at what standards could be grouped together your power standards but that's going to change as an was talking about as you're looking at your new curricular resources it's really about building time so you can say something now which could totally be altered once you as a teacher and as a grade level like have that in your hand and now you're having thoughtful discussions hey this looks like more like it would go better with this why don't we put this with this you know so we could come back but it could be totally different you know it the teachers need to be able to Grapple with the resources they're the experts and determine what naturally would go together better and they're not going to know that cuz we don't physically have the resources your hearing maybe that we' like just maybe possible hear from them by the end of the year as they've looked at some of this and grappled with with it to see if there if there's a potential for the for for slight changes tweaks and and and it looks like from the data that you presented to us tonight about PD feedback that those secondary teachers really liked just having that time to work with our course partners and their grade level teams and those conversations are what I assume are happening among teachers all the time like oh did you like I noticed like there haven't been any questions on stem and leaf plots on the seventh grade mcast in years is that something maybe we want to spend less time on because blah blah like teachers are always having those conversations about what are they spending more time on what are they spending less time on but a go your point I think it's better to have it done at grade level leader or grade level meetings as opposed to limiting just to the curriculum Review Committee so maybe between now in the end of the year would it make sense to have a PD like for grade level teams to look at like what are those pre-algebra standards that should be incorporated into the grade seven curriculum next year what are those grade you know pre-grade seven standards that could be incorporated into grade six next year and what from the full Algebra 1 that the current 8th grade algebra 1 does not get to could be incorporated in here maybe in addition to maybe in place of things that are less important I don't know what they have left at this point the last is with with companies coming out I know that and the other day is building based um I mean I think this is I mean this is why I'm going to talk about the calendar next year this is why we're trying to talk about full day PD so that we can really give that alignment piece because what the part of the problem we've had is when we have half days each building is doing their own thing and you can't get if you're trying to get all the math teachers together you can't do that on a half day PD because they're all at different times but the problem is that's next year so I mean that's you know further delay I me so what where can we end up here so that we can sort of maybe get some some sort of for for what's possible I think we we already agreed that we would potentially use some of our summertime if people wanted to come together CU we're already planning some of that summer work that we could have some of that pacing discussed and then start rolling it out but I don't think you can adjust the whole year because as they learn the materials they'll be adjusting as they go so that hopefully they'll be able to have that pacing implemented at the same time do think it might make sense if we're all sort of an agreement that we'd like to work towards the vision of full algebra one in eth grade that maybe we do a little backwards planning and say like let's have a goal that like in 20 526 those eighth graders in that year will be able to take a full Algebra 1 and then sort of work backwards from there yeah and I think you're saying separate from the leveling part of it if we're just trying to make sure that we have a robust offering of Val one grade is it to everyone is it to one is it to to otherwise I mean I think you guys both do like all do an excellent job and the curriculum committee has done an excellent job but I've been pushing for this since I've been on the committee which was you know 3 years ago like 10 years almost up and we've been having these conversations for 3 years I I'd like a date as to when Algebra 1 eth grade will be offered is that something you can put to discussion in the next month to two months um with the the math committee and come back to us with a it sounds like we're already you know I don't want to speak for everybody it sounds like the school committee wants that to happen so if that's the ask right now and we can come back with the second part of the conversation whether leveling or changing that if that is the goal and but I'm not opposed I don't think the principles or oppos it's just how do we get there someone make a motion I would like to make that motion D to the motion I move that the school committee recommends that we work toward offering a full Algebra 1 course in 8th grade for the 2020 526 school year second further discussion on this what does that mean exactly a it covers they can go to geometry in nth grade we are um at best covering half also we haven't talked about the change in schedule however that's the same year that the new high school schedule May hopefully be implemented depending many things would you and that makes sense because it is you know you know I don't like block scheduling but it is what allows folks to take part algebra one part two and then still finish geometry and freshman year and that may not be possible I think we're very well aligned with our strategic plan and the pre-work we've done with our Equity audit and our curriculum reviews and getting the cycle back in we have to get those purchases materials we've been we've been behind we've told you that like we that's been my goal and it's painfully slow when you're trying when you identify things as you enter a district some of these things that I saw right away I've wanted to but some of it some of it was resistance and change takes a long time but I think we now I hope we all agree that we have a lot of data to support the things that we need to do and giving a full year of getting to that point will put us in really good shape for that following year when we have to make these changes that we've already identified I think that's doable because then the teachers can grapple with a new resource right and figure out all of them haven't even received the resources we will not even be able to order until after July 1 we had to get the money first right we haven't even looked at that correct only small I just want to be clear that it's not like everybody's just sitting on their hands going well we can't look at it until June we don't actually physically have the resources to look at online too we do purchas right but we can't expect teachers to do that on their own time that's not fair I do just need to correct you the the the curriculum will assuming time weing supports it will be able to be ordered on on May 14th but we won't get it I'm just saying I'm just saying but you don't need to wait for the new fiscal year to order Capital because it's a there plenty of capital in the in the account but I don't know how long it will take no no but I'm just saying don't wait till July 1 a lot of it is online resources right sorry A lot of it is a lot of like in the lower grades uh K through 5 is like physical teach like books and about in the middle school and high school is it you guys get help me out here online people are just using online yeah but not every teacher has access right now correct everybody so we they'd be able to look at it now but you right I can't speak to the middle like I'm not well the middle school is still piloting so they're not even sure if they want to go with which way they want to go but in the same way that the math and science curriculum coordinator helped um coordinate the implementation of the new science materials in um third grade and and what we did over at Miller once it becomes available after May 14th and it's in a digital format is that something that they they oh absolutely and we could ask the principles if we could use current Department time at the high school or curriculum time at the other schools right absolutely but you have to understand you don't magically well for the high school they'd be able to have resources right away but the even even if you order it I don't know what date you just said May 20th it could not get here maybe until I don't know you know I don't know what how long it would take I'm sure there'll be teachers that will be excited but I also this is not something we can expect them to just do on their own time if they don't have time built in for the ones that haven't highlighted okay so we have a no we did not so all the motion again I'm sorry the 2020 which 25 26 the 8th grade class will be offered a full Algebra 1 so not next not this coming school why I thought that was the goal anyway that was what we were hoping to do and so all we ready to vote yeah all those in favor I okay that carries six to nothing before we move on the one thing I would like to say uh is on the ma on the after school math Ed study group is I still think that that is going to need to happen I would really like a a document describing the sort of the the goals and what the deliverables and the timeline of it are before before we exit that was the plan June I think I said that a little while ago when we talking about miss that we're I may not have given you all the det but my plan with Joan is that we were going to map out what the timeline and try to put dates ahead of time so that people that want to sign up for it would know ahead of time and then hopefully give them some paay time during the summer to do some pre-work together but I think Dan means not just dates of meeting no I want very I want very concrete sort of this is what we're looking at this is what we're this is what our our our goals to an analyze our and this is what our plan deliverable is so like saying you know I want very specifically if we're looking at leveling then looking at leveling what is leveling mean X Y and Z these are the sort of you know just a document that really prescribes not prescribes describes like or you know details what the point of this group because we hav't we didn't I think there was a lot of confus over what the the math curriculum Review Committee was was supposed to do and we there was nothing in writing about what it was and so I think we had discussions different things were heard or said and and some confusion about that so if we have an actual document and then we can look at that and and ask for either changes or can I just ask you though there has been a curriculum review document for years posted on our website on the teaching and learning there's been a document for the math curriculum review no for all curriculum reviews what happens in a curriculum review okay we were told different we the impression that the curriculum review that is about to come to a close would answer questions X Y and Z and then it ended up selecting the materials yeah we talked about and that's we talked about this I don't need to BR up again but this is why I just want inwriting what the point of this math sorry this after school math Ed study group is and and you you've talked you've done some things that case study research okay what what is the the point of that you just discussing what the I mean this is basically it's a working document to work off of to sort of lead the the the study group in its work but also so that we up front can see what the plan is and make either any suggestions or or requests that that certain items be changed and so that we have it memorialized that this is what the plan is and what the the the um we're with you that's that's what it's just it kind of goes back to that Community Forum we had last June we put out an FAQ when we worked with Administration it said what's going on with math levels at Rams and we represented to the community during the 23 24 school year Dr Menard um and the math curriculum Review Committee will look into the middle school and high school programs of studies including how to most effectively allow the most students the best access to math that suits their needs and that we would make recommendations and then we also indicated we would do a survey we'd have another math form and I know did do that in December so I think it's just part of the transparency and accountability and making sure I I think what I'm hearing is this will go on for another year with a new committee but we did put that out there last June so I just want to be I mean I I don't think there's confusion as to what the committee was supposed to do I think that was the original intent I'm going to remind you all though that we also had a nesk survey being done a full year how far back that start of but last year was when they came in and did the whole Nia study and then we were getting those recommendations that were just shared not too long ago we also had the equity presented to you so it's hard to not take any of that stuff and make that we knew those were going to be going on going into all this I'm not disagreeing but I'm saying some of the things that we were being asked to do people then also got hesitant when they started getting new information from the equity audit for example so in a when you have multiple things going on that could change and alter a decision sometimes you have to back up and look at the other pieces to the puzzle so yes it would have been lovely if we could have just done all of that but then I think some of the things that were coming out with the equity audit and the nas report may have altered those decisions and and had to start one of the things in the math Ed study group working documents could be working with the equities hearing group to ensure that that's all so again and so can we the first meeting in June can we have that as as the date to have that that document sort of available yep and that's J and I we've talked about that this week when we were getting ready for this about how I really want to spell out a timeline and like what we're going to do but I don't really I honestly I don't the timeline is something definitely that the working group should have I don't really care about the timeline except for the fact that I want by the end of the year certain deliverables that's point the timeline of when you're going to get things you know but I but I mean I right okay we all agree on the same thing I think we are we kind of be on it can we move on I had another question if we could go back to um I think it's slide 10 on here um it's it's basically the breakdown on the math survey um and I I noticed that what people questioned the most on that was how students get into leveled classes right so that was the highest percentage had asked about that so what are we what have we done to address that because I know this survey went out back in December and kids will be selecting classes what have we done um to address how students get into Level Club at the high school like making sure that people know how to do that we talked about the communication has to be better um I will connect with principal list to see what was communicated out I'm not sure okay okay and then I guess when when you at taking that survey as a parent it allowed parents and students to input it so this is why I thought like the raw data is really important because of the 63.4% that said I more information about how to get into level classes how many of those were students and how many were parents because that makes a big difference right so I'd be really concerned if you know 50% or more of those participants that answered were students in high school saying they don't know how to get into it right so who who are we answering that question for and then what are we doing to improve that now and that's that's too important of an issue to wait until another committee next year yep and I can have him actually after he and I talk to make sure that he's talking to the counselors how they're doing that too how they're embedding that in there um and then most importantly also our kids coming into high school too right who are here next week getting that information I believe those um information sessions that student reps pointed out as as early as next week right because I think the part that I've been concerned about is that we're not always having children Champion for themselves I really personally feel I would rather not have a parent come for for to over a decision I would rather the student be part of that conversation cuz I've seen situations where a student a parent might want something for their child and the child may not want the same thing and then their effort and motivation isn't there so when a when a student can be get their student voice and Champion for themselves they're far more likely to succeed as well and I don't know that we have had the opportunity to Ed that into the [Music] practice anything else anything else on the um teaching and learning update no I just want to say thank you like this was a this was a survey that we asked for and I really appreciate seeing these results um I didn't comment on the tutoring stuff even though you know that's like been a big issue for me so I'm hopeful I'm I'm and I'm sure um that this will be part of the conversation next year as well so I'm really glad that you've chosen to look at this speaking of equity great very much um only 15 14 minutes no 15 minutes uh behind schedule no no this is this is this is important stuff um and we started 10 minutes late so we're actually good um so superintendent central office update Dr Pesco yeah I'll do some quick things I I know the students already talked about the unified basketball but it was it was so wonderful to see not I mean I've ATT T of other unified basketball games but to get them to play with the varsity and I thought there were some JV athletes there too but I could be wrong and the amount of participation from the community to attend that was great uh Wednesday night last last night um I went to the town hall discussion um where Mr ver was part of facilitating a really insightful discussion on where the roots of anti-Semitism and white nationalism and how that these things have inflamed white nationalism so it was educational for me um and some of those things that you know I think it's just a really good discussion Point as we try to work on anti-bias and racist work and then seeing how we can take some of the work that's been done in the community already and combine that with the hollon Coalition against hate and bias is where we want to try to intertwine this work as well do you know was that taped I would have liked to have gone but it was it was on zo s you were on that's I don't you know they didn't make I don't remember seeing recorded but I'll check with Mr ver on it it was I just it was actually it might not have been taped because of the confidentiality piece because people in the room really kind of agree to use no I I wish I could I don't think it was for that reason wasn't able to do it so I just but the conversations were great and um the table talks was great so I would recommend you know the part three I think that's part three coming um and then on March 23rd the athletic call of Fame is coming up so that'll be a great opportunity at the Double Tree in Milford on Saturday night um I shared with you Dan and Dawn but I didn't send it out to everybody because it wasn't on the agenda but it was really just informational if you want to share it out about um the impetus for the science Capital amount that we put on there so you can share that with every else I just didn't want to sure was last minute giving it putting it there and then um I mentioned the H and Coalition meeting is April 20th on Tuesday the entire administrative team was at Miller Elementary School doing our walkthroughs which was we love doing this as a team because it's always for me having taught um multiple grades in Elementary Middle School spent a lot of time in High School classrooms at the curriculum director a lot of our administrators are always in the same building for them to be able to get out at other grade levels it's always eye openening and I think what we heard a lot about from our administrators especially at our high school level the things that our elementary teachers do because they have the whole range of students in classroom to differentiate and how successful they are at it and how do we make that I mean yes as you go up it's harder when the kids are getting more um content driven but at the same token there's a level of differentiate that can happen at all levels and they they love seeing the um the enthusiasm for the students and staff we uh also just wanted to I think Dean you already signed up but on one of the hats I wear is the co-president for Tri County Superintendent Roundtable and I'm hosting with uh tech support we're doing a legislative breakfast on March 28th and we already have Senator spilkin representative of Karen enman Foster is attending for Senate spilka um Arena D Roa James Arena D Roa is attending as well um I know that Joanie and I and I think Dan you already signed up to go so um I will share out the presentation after it's complete just for the rest of you that may not get to see it but it's we really need to hammer in the financial needs that we have not just in Holliston but Statewide and we're all feeling the impact of the changes since covid and the funding Cliff that a lot of places on as well thank you there was great article in the uh the globe just about how many districts we're getting less than 1% in increase in in Chapter 70 which is I think almost over 50% of districts which we are part of and then another 40% or something we're getting between 1 and 5% and then very few districts are getting sort of meaningful amounts so yeah going me couple of here years I think okay uh Dr Bernard um yes hopefully they're having a great MTH paloa tonight um it's at the elementary schools unfortunately it's the same night as tonight or else I would have been there having fun with them so hopefully parents and students have fun together exploring different Hands-On opportunities and I'm thrilled to announce that Joe Hicks was able to write a a successful Grant um we have been awarded the genocide um educational grant of $1,150 and um it's used to partner with an organization called Facing History and ourselves and they will provide teachers with PD over the course um of the school year three separate sessions and then followup coaching um a speaker fee um there'll be 8th grade ELA and social studies uh teachers and others um this year though we are able to have Holocaust Holocaust Survivor presentations in 8th grade on 48 Kitty Preston um is coming in 9th and 10th grade on 517 Janet applefield is coming and finally for 11th grade um on 327 which is coming up for our 11th and 12th graders is Katie Preston so we have a lot of things going on so um thanks to Mr Hicks that was able to get that for us Grant um speaking of Grants Mr Ray um um just a couple of quick updates on Capital things that are happening I signed the contract this week for the auditorium the metal shaing that's going on the outside of the auditorium wall um total of 469,000 something doll um for that piece of the project um I met with a I met with a playground contractor with regards to the Miller playground um the solution that's currently there will shortly no longer make that be part of uh Ada code so um the we'll see what the both what the cost of the new solution will be in conjunction with um I want to see it somewhere else as well once he gives me the price I'll I'll do that I met with him on M no last Friday actually remember so I haven't seen I haven't seen a quote from him yet um also for the playground behind placentino Miller the first and second grade playground I have a price from uh one vendor with regards to trying to build a retaining wall um to try to keep the um the uh playground chips from ending up in Factory pond so um we're we're working on trying to improve that situation as well the cost seems reasonable I just there's a couple pieces I have to work out and then we actually have to get three quotes so um so that's that's it right now for our Capital update so that is excellent news about the wall because I I know that people are anxious for it to stop raining in there it's a 4-we lead time on the uh material and they'll install it when they get it so we're actually hoping that the 4-we lead time is like 3 weeks and 2 days or something CU then possibly could happen during April school vacation so so and awesome yeah all right um Personnel we have nothing so reports from the subcommittees communications so communication um needs to schedule a meeting okay have office hours oh yeah sorry we uh had one office hours uh at Coffee Haven this past Saturday and we have thank you we have two more scheduled um so the next two are Thursday March 21st and the following Thursday March 28th which will be 7 to 8:30 on Zoom um we've advertised on some Facebook groups and in a newsletter but um I'll be posting again closer to the dates um so hopefully we'll get a big crowd the purpose of these meetings is because it's budget season so we wanted to give folks an opportunity to address issues that they see in the upcoming budget but um you can come and ask us any questions or talk about anything the first one was uh limited number of people but very um a lot of engaging conversation good can I just add one thing I forgot we are also the principes and I are doing our second coffee hour on March 20th I'll send out a reminder but I sent that out and then we're going to be planning a followup um Zoom evening coffee hour of some sort so that people that can't come during the day will do a zoom one as well budget budget um to me oh I'm sorry I I I I in my mind I I called you and then and then you socy I was trying to defer to let Amanda fully answer um our next meeting is March 21st which is next Thursday at 4:15 in central office thank you that's all I need to report budget um budget we had uh our next meeting I guess we'll start with that is uh March 25th and we had our meeting what on the 12th or the 13th this week is it yesterday 13th yesterday just yesterday um and we've started to talk about prioritization of the capital requests right we've already um looked at those um and again I think Mr Bay reported on a lot of it just to update on the auditorium wall uh we had been talking about other project capital projects and the timelines for them things like um the high school track the playgrounds um the auditorium lighting we've gone through all of those um and then just additional discussions on uh the fy2 budget yeah so there are definitely many outstanding sort of unknowns left um but I just think that the community needs to know that you know we're in an incredibly difficult budget year and um an override is very an operational override to help fund that budget is very much on the table um there are a lot of moving pieces and uh we certainly always look to ensure that we are are being prudent with the taxpayers dollars um but for a huge combination of reasons this year is is especially challenging not just for the schools but for the for the town as a whole um and so um just want to be sort of forthcoming that we'll obviously have a lot more conver ations to to to come about that but it is uh it's uh you know it's definitely a a serious consideration and then Minnie uh is is not here yet but I don't we haven't had a superintendent EV meeting so I think D I was just going to request since we had pushed the goals out further with the adjustments that we made if we probably do need to readjust the timeline for when you would like me to submit evidence so we okay we can talk we talk with Minnie about that um the only we just I think the would you still think that we could get it done I guess just before the uh the elections I'm sure we can make yeah would be the only ask on my end at least right yeah sure to put together a timeline okay so um moving on to Old business we did the the the Outdoor Learning Alliance at Rams is there anything to add on the Calis you touched upon that um Keith we I kept this on here just because I didn't know that it sort of been closed out got nothing got nothing on the auditorium rental yeah uh the update is we have none okay and we do need we're going to make a few uh adjustments tonight we need to appoint a liaison to the um to help with negotiations for the cafeteria workers and Sarah has raised her hand to tell that I mean raise their hands as volunteered but you know now now that you successfully helped with the with the with exactly I can give you my notes and then um and then I just for for variety reasons with with budget um the you know potential for for an override uh negotiations and then just some you know the fact that I I do have a day job um I'm going to be stepping off the superintendent eval subcommittee and Lisa is going to be taking my or as Lisa to take my place um so that will also be part of the um have to vote on that yes that would be part of the that would be part of the motion is what I'm saying so so the motion would be to appoint Sarah as the liaison or the representative to to the um cafeteria workers uh collective bargaining unit and to appoint Lisa in myste to the um superintendent evaluation subcomittee mooved by Dawn second by Sarah all in favor thank you very much that carry six to nothing um Dr you want to walk us through the school calendar I do um I don't know do you need me to pull it up cuz I you can you can pull it up um look at it this way so um we were waiting to we voted on the start date and oh go ahead sorry I know you're just starting but just given our whole conversation around all the math issues and discussions around that I'm wondering whether we can revisit doing you had talked a couple years ago about doing an sort of like an academy and do pushing of our professional development to the beginning of the year even before school starts I don't know if there's any appetite to discuss that was at all but I just feel like maybe it would give some extra time for people to really explore and dive deeper into those and have that opportunity to work together around some of those issues and address some of them but I don't know I don't know I'm just throwing it out there I think the um we listened to the teachers when we took pday PD survey data and in past year adjusted well there was an ask for example we we had moved it to the second day of school for teachers and that the full day PD and what we heard from teachers is that was a lot and when I'm really trying to focus on my students so that did not go over well so then we shifted it to a Friday which was a little bit better because they had a couple of days with their students but even that they were still feeling like that's a lot to digest um ear on so we took that all in mind and the other piece is from principles we've heard when they're trying to do building based PD and and the teachers have said they want to spread it out over multiple opportunities so that they can have time to do part one and start to implement in practice and then they have a if it's especially when we're trying to do like with math it's going to be a big Focus next year so they'll have to you know as they move along and have follow-up training so that they can re um think especially with this pacing possibility what about so I hear you but we did use the PD conso [Music] survey um so if you look at the I don't let me pull it up myself a little bit out the um opening day we talked about on the 26th for teachers and then the 27th cuz I don't help thank you can I just I have in front of me the 27th we agreed that that would be opening day for students and I had talked about wanting it to be a half day but I didn't really Express the why um I think we're in full agreement that I proposed and the union is is agreeing with that as well I proposed that I wanted that half day because I heard the struggles that we're dealing with the state and federal government putting in more and more expectations and trying to fit it all in um so the first day will be a half day for students second half of that day all of our teachers will have that day to just get all of their trainings out of the way rather than wait because some we're spreading it out through the month it's also better for us for kids when we're learning about you know reminding about 51 a and different things that we have to do so we'll get that that done they'll sign off on it and then they can move on um par professionals will do it on the 26 cuz they already have a half day built in on the 26 for that and then that way gives kids a half Daya transition back as well what that means though is because we were adding that half day we we wanted to remove some of the other half day we don't want to negatively impact teaching and learning we want to get that time back so we now we're going to 180 days for students instead of the 181 but it doesn't change the L of the school year because it's still 185 for teachers with 5 days built into the contract so we built in four full day PDS again when I talked about alignment with the uh teaching and learning discussion prek to 12 what we kept finding is as we're trying to do more rigorous training for our PA professionals they get 12 hours poor Jess Bey was really doing some wonderful training she was bringing in an outside vendor then and the staff was excited about it but when she tried to correlate four different schools of times she had to end up canceling it and then she had to recreate some of that herself so anytime we can do it on full days our plan would be to try to do like a half day of District that we need districtwide training and then the other half would focus on school-based training probably but we haven't mapped it all out yet but I do think this this schedule will be a really good one for next year given the content work that we're trying to do um and then the following year we'll we'll decide from [Music] there question so I don't think you need to vote again I really just want to do this for communication and then we can get it posted up on the website so parents can see it as well because you already voted on the beginning and end of the year my only thought is I totally agree with the full day PDS mhm but if we split and had one of those PDS as half two half days is that does that get us to a final day of of June 17th just to build in a little more cushion so if we had two snow days we weren't moving to the 23rd I'm just you know it's just well then we'd be giving up unfortunately more PD time for staff because we're already down like it's time on learning I mean you're taking away no I think he talking about on PD date take half of the PD time away is that what you said yeah or maybe May two half days you would take away a little bit of well no you take away take away time of learning would you though because one full day versus two half days it's not going to change because you have 185 days 185 days it wouldn't change we still have to do 185 days so if we end up making half day PDS then we do 181 for kids it's it comes out the same because we'd be losing time on learning for kids if we didn't do it so half day counts as a half day towards no we worry about hours we have to do 990 hours to high school 9 so we're that close it's close enough can't change anymore full days the okay I'm just I'm just again just if there was any way to you know do we have to vote the First on this tonight no we're not voting you already voted the start end start and end and then there's always opportunities to revote if you but I don't I don't have any other ways to modify it given all of the holidays I mean that's really coming on the 23rd no one's going to want to do that um but we'll roll we we've had one snow day this year so we you know we just you know and somebody mentioned I I read in one of the survey things about why when we offer PD at the end of school well the purpose of BD is to be able to implement and practice and so if you get it on the last day school then you lose it all summer it's pointless we're just wasting time and teachers aren't getting what they need so doing summer curriculum in the during school that would the only thing you can do yeah um right so that right and it's election year so we have to take it says because it's election but it is a it is a PD day it is but it's also the election which is why we're doing that's why it's in the middle of the week and on a Tuesday on Tuesday okay well let's just you know as we go forward continue to think if if there's a way to yeah and the Christmas break is also complicated because well it's can't come in from the 23rd this year we had an incredibly short Christmas break that's you chose you know I don't have a problem with that they added juneth to the federal holidays it's just if they let us put it on a different day of the week yeah no but it is what it put it on 12 um I know that okay don't need to prolong that uh all right newsletter okay now Mr put a very long and contract on in our in our folders uh for updates can you just briefly discuss any what the changes are any material changes you talking about the accept yeah oh sorry that was me oh oh I'm I'm sorry he he talked to me about it okay sorry another hat that I wear is I'm the um chair of the board for accept so um we had um an a request from westbar public schools to join the board about I don't know a year or plus ago and then um the collaborative I mean sorry the executive director Donna flarity met with desie and they went through and spent many many months asking for revisions to the agreement as we add the through person and then they wanted some changes so I think Lisa put the redline version in there um not substantive changes but I can just tell you that they're all recommended by desie so I don't know that we have a lot of control over them but I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have yeah I was just reading through them in these type of documents sometimes it's hard to tell what the meaningful stuff is and and I even looked at the the the summary but um that's that I mean if it's recommended by desie and everyone else is fine with it then I'm fine with it so so unless you have questions oh I can just sorry there are some of the specific changes was um Desy I I know you made a lot of changes to document um and then on Section 13 the general Provisions was removed from the table of contents in the document in section one was where I mentioned Westboro Public School District was added as a a member district section five the conditions of membership number two we re we rewarded the language regarding a representative board member that is not appropriately attending and participating in the board meetings what was happening it's very frustrating when we show up to meeting we need a quorum of nine and now we'll need a quum of 10 and people tell you at the last minute but then n eight of us are there driving there you know so so we have to have people take it seriously I I will tell you the best attended meeting I've been in since I've been there was the last meeting they all I think almost all but one District was there so that was great so we're going to hammer that and then on uh section 14 the nonis non-discrimination the date of july1 2024 was added as expected date for the amendment to take effect so if you are if you don't have questions about the revisions then it would just be that we would you would vote to accept the collaborative agreement with the Amendments and then have it you'd sign off Dan as the um School Committee Member to accept the collaborative agreement as presented second by do any discussion all in favor I carries six to nothing six to nothing is not like a score of a game um but I'm just so the the uh just the last thing on our public agenda is um and I will get these out to to the committee but uh right before this meeting the collective bargaining team uh for uh the teachers unit met to approve the minutes from January or collective bargaining sessions on January 10th January 24th uh February 12th February 29th and March 11th and we approved them uh with the you know approv but not release them minut so send those to you but they are are still subject to Executive session for now um if at some point we decided they or if either things resolve or we decide to release them we'll come back for a vote to to to release the minutes um and I'll get those out to you our next scheduled meeting is April 4th however that will be when we do our our budget hearing but since we do not have a budget we do not have a meeting between now and then and therefore that would also be the same time that the rest of the committee we were to see the sort of the budget subcommittee's recommended budget we we thought that or I thought we might try to schedule an additional sort of budget meeting essentially but the last week of March I get it but like you know that's the hearing So in theory you know we're talking about cuts and talking about override I mean you know there's just a there's a lot that can change between now and then that will make it a a it's not just going to be a budget right so when were you present when did you want to do that so the week of March 25th can we take a look off on the 28th so that's off what is the availability for the 27th or the 26th I mean ideally you guys would be there if we needed to do it the 25th we I'm sorry it's a holiday which one the 25th okay the 25th is so what is the availability for the 27th or the uh or the 26th I'm reluctantly available reluctantly available how is your calendar looking the 27th we have um full admin training till 5:15 is it it would be something I think unun 6:00 we do it here this I will ask we'll remind you but we have to um has to present on the student Opportunity Act okay so she'll have that we can add that and then we may also have uh I'm sorry there's some other budget things have you we just get it'll be a very brief agenda but a lot a brief agenda but a lot to discuss within the agenda so do we decide the 26 and 6 I think we said we're saying the 27 oh sorry 27 is Wednesday 27th and 6 okay Wednesday the 27th 2 this is budget are you available the 27th and 6th I look like we all were your boss just said you were possibility since they have a meeting till 5:15 I mean do they want to not of that downtime assuming other folks could get there at 5:30 5 51630 516 have a break we we're used to not having breaks okay you could eat dinner while would you rather would you rather like be done earlier or would you rather like be able to eat 5:30 I will close for 5:30 and somehow things go over and we have to start at 6: you can always start a meeting later uh you can't start it earlier so we we'll post for 5:30 on the 27th the 27th on the 27 not I'm not going to say the other number 27th at 53 yes a calendar invite and and we're expected to vote at that meeting is that correct so it it would be I we will try to get as much information to you as as quick soon as possible if we have something so that you can look at it um yes ideally it would be to vote because then we meet with the finance committee on April 2nd we meet with the select board on April 1st um so yes ideally we we would vote isn't required but it would be ideal um okay anything else we're done with our agenda we do have a uh reason for executives session we have two tonight uh the first to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares and this is strategy related to collective bargaining with the hft um and then also to uh comply with or act under the authority of or general or special law or Federal Grant in Aid requirements there may be a provision in State Statute or federal grants that requires require or specifically allow a public body to consider a particular issue in a closed session before entering executive session and its purpose I don't think I need to read that a public body May um so we're we're meaning um to be in compliance with furpa the family education rights Privacy Act and Massachusetts student privacy and Student Records laws and this uh specifically relates to an update on the act of hate speech involving a minor child that requires a ro from which we will not return move by um Roll Roll Call Lisa yes Amanda yes Cynthia yes Sarah Don yes Dan yes thank you very much uh we stand adjourned