are recording Joe are you expecting anyone else on your end I am not it is only me tonight great let's get started I'd like to call the Mount Greylock Regional School District school committee to order it is Thursday July 18th 2024 5:00 pm we are meeting remotely the Via Zoom the meeting um is available on Willie TVN Channel 1302 and will be posted on the Mount Greylock Regional School District YouTube channel within 24 hours as well as wiet do.org if we could please call the order alphabetically by last name starting with Julia Bowen here conry here Constantine here green here you here Miller here thank you at Mount Greylock Regional School District our mission is to create a community of Learners working together in a safe and challenging learning environment that encourages restorative based processes respect inclusive diversity courtesy integrity and responsibility through high expectations and cooperation resulting in lifelong learning and personal growth um first up on the agenda approval of minutes would someone like to make a motion to approve the June 13th 2024 minutes so I moved Julia was that you yes I'm sorry Julia moves do I have a second second any discussion hearing on all in favor B and I conry I Christina Carrie I think raised her hand I don't know yeah no sorry Jose i' I missed you in the lineup on the roll call I think sorry about that did you go or I did go yeah okay so then you're for voting next yeah so are you voting I all right yes I okay green ey it just really throws us off when anybody's missing okay Malloy UPC m i I'm in a hotel lobby so I have to be quiet okay that motion passes would someone like to make a motion to approve the June 18th 2024 that moved Carrie or sorry Julia moves Carrie do you second yes I do great um any discuss on those minutes okay hearing none all in favor bow and I conry I Constantine I green I Malloy I I thank you that motion passes okay uh next up on the agenda new policy student owned devices policy JT Joe do you want to kick us off on this policy sure um this uh the policy has not changed since it was initially presented uh a few months ago now um the policy as it's presented to you um first was developed uh jointly with um the principals and and other administrative staff um it's gone through um the school councils the student councils um uh the policy subcommittee I'm sure and moment we'll talk about the the meetings that it has had uh where the public has participated um the summary I think of the input that we've received into the nature of this policy is um parents and Guardians uh I believe and I was trying to think through this today I believe 100% of the input that we have received has been in favor um which is a pretty remarkable um on the student side um um a lot of students have been in favor um some have been in favor relieve that that some of this burden will will not be on them anymore to try to try to navigate uh with them and their friends um some of it is with reservation around the idea that that they really uh are hesitant to not be in close touch with everybody all the time that it's something that they're very accustomed to um some students have voiced um desires to utilize their devices for academic purposes um or for being able to listen to music to drone out the sound of other people in the hallway things like that um and those are areas where um we are actively trying to navigate um the possibilities through the student um through the the Chromebooks that are supplied to students um the opportunities that we have there and also in situations where those are not sufficient um or I shouldn't say sufficent not sufficient but not ideal for what a classroom is doing um we actually want to hear that so that we can equitably um upgrade or or bring other devices um there or use different software um and then um you know I so I think the student input is really um mostly in favor some with reservations about not being in in close touch constantly um some with desires to have their voices heard when they when they want uh to to point out areas of their lives that are inconvenience academic or otherwise um and we're trying to to work towards having good um conduits uh through the ramp up period especially um with this so um and then there are some students who are opposed um there are some students who who um view this as an infringement upon their uh their independence um or that wish that we had a some form of graduated policy where um it existed in its purest form uh within younger ages and gradually phases out or creates um opportunities for others um part of I think a critical part of our response to that final um segment of the student population is that um this is not meant to be um punitive it's in fact it's really meant to create environments where in-person interactions in-person learning um are Paramount and and focused upon um and where we can all have that shine through um and and we hope the same for for all of us as as adults um working within the school district and and really being present um with people um and uh the other side of kind of that in our response is that if we were to have um gradual changes in this policy depending upon age um that would put a real dent in some of the key positive aspects of it in that um when no student has a device um the social pressures the anxiety around missing out on the thing that your for instance older peers are participating in um dissipates and that that is an important um from a psychological perspective from all of the documentation that we have um around the country and the world on this topic um trying to avoid that as much as possible by blanketing um with this policy is important and it's something that we view as being critical to the success um impact positive impact of the policy so that was a lot of Preamble but I wanted to make sure to cover a lot of the different bases and I think I should turn it over to the policy subcommittee because they've had um some lengthy meetings over the last few months um on this topic and they've also got their their motion um for the committee great thank you Jose yeah thanks for and thank you Joe um is Joe just uh communicated the policy and governance subcommittee uh have unanimously moved this policy for consideration to the floor of the full committee um would anyone like to to Second our motion I will second the motion after you read it or is it just that you accept the I can read it as well how about because we're missing we're missing we're missing real talent here um you ready to read the policy just the motion oh just the motion gotta so the motion is to adopt the new policy JT on student-owned technology devices okay I will second that motion thank you Christina um H Julia uh well you'll likely hear from Julia uh given you know to to share some of the or to summarize some of the perspectives that were shared with us but I think Joe did it really well um so we'd like to uh I mean there are other potentially you things that we could talk about um but I'd love to hear from you all if there's any anything that you'd like to discuss regarding this policy I gonna speak next or are we going oh sorry yes sorry Stephen um so one thing I would love to have for a policy like this is if not a sunset Clause than a commitment for the school committee to meet and reassess after say two or three months and see things are going there are going to be things that are working well and even better than we expected and then there are going to be issues that we just never thought of and when this policy is implemented all of a sudden we realize oh no we've now eliminated the ability to do X and this was very useful so at the very least I hope you will take this as a friendly motion um it doesn't have to I mean I'm happy to just you know accept the you know school committee commitment that we will reassess how this is going in two or three months yeah I think thank you Julia yeah I um I just want to respond to that um I think you're absolutely right Stephen that um the implementation is going to raise uh challenges um and I don't want to commit I personally wouldn't want to commit us to reviewing it but I would want to invite Joe and the administrative team to bring it back to us should there be something that changes about the policy but I I want to I feel like we should be demonstrating a um strong belief in the the purpose of this policy and by saying and we'll revisit it we're we're not we're like halfway in and I would prefer we are all the way in and that Joe Knows to bring it back if there's something that needs to be changed and and well sorry Steve I'm just gonna follow up really briefly you know um I know things may change come November but you know at least for the time being um you know I certainly chair the policy and governance subcommittee certainly it's something that I would feel comfortable asking Joe to report back to the subcommittee and it could be that Christina's chair I might ask Joe to report back to the full Committee in terms of um how what the experiences has been in terms of this policy roll out the two you know to be frank the two areas that uh I am concerned about one is eff policy implementation and enforcement our ability to to do this well um and then I I have concerns regarding you know sort of the blanket or the um you know the one- siiz fits-all approach to the policy and uh not so much that I'm you know a proponent of a graduated or tiered uh implementation of the policy but I I do worry about students who have caregiving responsibilities um who are in our school building um who for whom being in direct contact with a loved one or a family member is you know is is important and uh we've talked about ways that uh those challenges could be supported um by the front office U but that's something I would certainly would you for example you know these are two areas that I would I would love to to hear back from from Joe and his team but Stephen just to say you know I I think we would all feedback from from from Joe certainly right but I I'd like to push back a little bit and given that this is going to be a significant change and people have gotten used to the policy as is and there's a lot of coordination that needs to be done there's a lot of people who have grown used to doing things in different ways I understand the reasons for why this has been proposed but I think it would be very good for us to commit to you know having this as an agenda item in two or three months and discussing or two or three months after the start of the school year and just discussing how things have been working how things could work better uh for example you a few years ago during the pandemic response we passed a policy that said if you were outside the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for 24 hours you could not come back for eight days even if you had a negative covid test and the kids who are coming from Vermont technically that put them in a position where unless they were coming back during spring break according to the policy they could not come back things can happen in the implementation given that there are people on both sides of this issue in the community I don't think it really costs us that much to just commit to having an agenda item in two or 3 months with vote buy it to just discuss how things are going we might say very quickly seems to be working really well there doesn't seem to be any changes needed right now but I think it's a really good message to the community that you know we're going to implement this if we so choose but we are going to commit to a public discussion and reassessment of how it's going so I I I would love the school committee to commit to that I I will just sorry Joe I was gonna say I I hear you in in a appreciate your um effectively your your requests um I think I also heard you earlier Stephen just to make sure I didn't miss it that you um there's an element of of trust that you have in us as a school committee or in Joe and his team to to report back to us to provide that you know that due diligence you could say um it's certainly something that I would trust Christina and Joe you know to revisit in an upcoming school committee meeting you know in in putting this either as an agenda item where having it be part of the superintendent the interm superintendent report um I think we can all expect that you know what we might hear from Joe would be different in the first three months the second three months in in a year you know there are challenges that Joe and his team I think we need to allow uh Joe and his team time to you know iron out the wrinkles sort out the best way to implement and and and and hold this this policy as as enforceable um but I do hear your your your concern and your request Jo apologies that I interrupted you no worries at all I I was just going to say this is the kind of policy where I I think naturally we would and I'll I'll just make a commitment now to during the November meeting um which gives us kind of a month and a half of real school um to to get into and and make sure that that we're figuring things out um we can make sure that it's an agenda item so that it's discussed and so that if there is public comment at that point time um public comment applying to that agenda item will will fit naturally so I can make sure that it's not embedded within a report but instead actually an agenda item there so the public comment is uh is free and and easy yeah car what great about that is that allows people to plan accordingly to know that this school committee meeting this will be discussed right yeah Carrie sorry yeah sorry Ursula was before me go ahead okay apologies Ursula you're muted or sorry cell phone um I was going to talk about the policy in general if you were still on this topic Carrie about revisiting no I was going to ask about the public comment that they've received at the um subcommittee meetings but Ursa go ahead they can come back to that okay sure no I just was gonna I wanted to voice my support for this policy I think it's awesome as a parent and as a school Committee Member I think it's hly long overdue I think we shouldn't have phones in schools um I know I think a lot of the towns around here have the same policy we said I know Pittsfield has Bell to Bell no sell is their thing like similar you know during the school day no sell every parent that I've talked to about this who's asked me to vote for it is also supportive of it um I think it sounds like everybody's everybody's kind of on the same page and I just wanted to say how much I support it my kids don't love it because they're teenagers and they want to be on their phone all day but I think that you know six five six hours school without a phone is what we need and they'll probably be on their phone all afternoon and all evening like most kids are and this is really important um for the kids and the school and for our teachers and administrators to be able to do what they need to do so huge proponent and everyone I've talked to is also a huge proponent of this so just wanted to put that out there yeah thank you Carrie yeah so um I actually uh ran into some teens who said that they had gone to the policy subcommittee meetings um and so I was curious was it mostly feedback from students um at the meetings or were there uh parents as well or um if you could just talk a little bit about what public comment you did receive right yeah um at our first meeting where we were discussing this policy uh and Julie can correct me I believe we had represented two parents and two students from my memory uh and at the second uh our second subcommittee meeting we had represented two parents and there were two students present but it was from one student that we that we heard from I believe um we may have heard from this from two students that that time as well uh as you you know can suspect that the parents are uh were that we heard from both you know via email and and at our subcommittee meetings were um were very supportive of this policy um the students that we heard from had certainly were were the folks who had the the concerns um we heard from students who uh who were advocating for sort of a tiered or graduated um implementation of the policy um particularly from our seniors who in their view you know they're going to be preparing for the real world where they they need to be able to you know use the phone and use the phone wisely and and uh and be prepared for a world that they're going to enter so there was one one perspective in that regard um we also heard anything think you heard from Joel many students who use their phone throughout the school day as a means of supporting learning so that's the how they access you know um white noise or or any sort of sound that might help tune out distracting noises some students utilize their phones to uh listen to audiobooks you know during breaks or during study periods um and for for many students from what we were told you know the use of their phones in this way is really crucial to their academic success and probably overall well-being while in our school building and um it's something that we heard from Ellie who was present at I believe our first meeting at and I don't I can't recall if Ellie was present at our second she might have been briefly at our second um I believe Ellie and Joe are committed to and are are thinking creatively about ways of supporting students who would like and may need to access those kind of auditory you know resources ways of of helping them stay focused during the school day ways of kind of keeping stress controlled you know and and ways of you know just being just overall sort of positive engagement um during throughout their throughout their school day uh Julie did I did I get that right in terms of for your note your notes and what you yeah I'm actually looking at our minutes from those meetings and I would say there were actually three students across two meetings that came one student came twice um and the and that was a student who very strongly believes it should be a graduated um a a tiered policy um there was one student who actually at that first meeting seemed totally fine with the policy just wanted to make sure that he could use his own headphones and Air airpods um when they needed to do things on um you know in a in a class um and I think that was Al said to be it would be allowed if I remember correctly like that's not in violation it was communic it was devices that communicate with other devices that was the problem um and then the other student um in particular I didn't like the oniz fits all approach but but also um want his main point seemed to be he wanted to make sure there was some form of review or feedback of how the Chromebooks were adequately supporting the curriculum um his concern was the Chromebooks didn't always adequately support the curriculum and so the thing that we talked about in our committee was and that Joe and Ellie I think were on board with is having some sort of way to collect that feedback or have you know student input into those kinds of concerns because obviously that's an impact for everybody um that you know all students need to need to have that um Joe am I characterizing that correctly yep absolutely yeah yeah yeah that first um the first students's comment was around you know is this all student-owned electronic devices you know including my my headphones that I plug into my school supply drum book we said no um the wording in the policy is specific to only those devices that are capable of in their on their own communicating with others um which means headphones are fine um Al electronic watches are fine um Fitness type watches are fine as long as they're not sending text messages or making phone calls um so that that addressed one students's uh comments um there is a comment generally around I use my phone to get around the firewall you know like I I use it to be able to access content that that that the school's content filtering does not allow um and we are going through the process of trying to make sure that students and staff um are able to more easily make suggestions or to prepare for for Content that they're going to be teaching saying here are things that I need to be searchable here are things that content because uh again it goes back to an equity issue to me in that if the school supplied Chromebooks don't allow you to do the research that you need to do but the person with the MacBook that comes from home is that is a big problem and and we need to address that problem as oppos OS to saying well everybody just use MacBooks and if you don't have one sorry you're not going to be able to complete the assignment you know like so I I really want to focus on the equity side of things um and and then the other comment around uh music and and white noise and audiobooks um we are that that is an area just like Julia said where Ellie and I were trying to work to make sure that some of those Services um some of those opportunities as best we can H we might have lost Joe but I think we can imagine what he was about to say um this which gives me the chance to uh you know the focus I think of our conversation and the conversations that we've had have been on um you know smartphones or or our phones themselves and you can see written in the policy it's and you heard this from Joe directly you know this is really about any any device that's capable of communicating directly to another device which includes laptops um and I think we need to acknowledge the trying to choose the right word here um I was going to say burden but but the pressure that this will place on Ellie and Ellie's team to ensure just as we were about to hear Joe say that our Chromebooks are um functional in all the ways that we ex we need them to be and and expect them to be to serve the variety of needs that our students face during the school day um and that's that and Stephen speaking back to your point um this is something that I think you know we will will want to hear from perhaps Joe and maybe Ellie directly in terms of uh how well they're able to sort of meet the needs that are being being asked of of them um and you know there might be down the road who knows um requests or needs that are made of for of of of our district in terms of of our ability to provide the variety of of resources that our students require um mother in our in our buildings yeah Carrie sorry Jo we lost you Joe and I tried my best to emulate you uh and I don't think I did well but I tried Carrie my apologies but my device overheated so it it shut down tempor there you go um so smart watches so kids who use smart watches or faculty staff who use um smart watches do they need to leave those at home or you know get a regular watch what's the what's the suggestion there uh SmartWatches that are able to um send text messages or make phone calls are included within the scope of this policy for students who have them at Mount grock Regional School um they will be required to them in in their locker um until the end of school and then they can put them back on and continue to use them so they are just like a cell phone um or a tablet or a computer so I guess practically speaking if someone needs to wear a watch in order to tell time since they don't have their phone to tell time and you know do do we are we recommending that they use something other than a smartwatch yes that yes okay so that that that is you know that is an area where um having a smartwatch would be a disadvantage and that you would need to to get some other watch to wear if you want to wear a watch during the school day yes and um Carrie your question brings up a point about um the ability of students to store smart watches and phones and the like clearly at the middle school high school we have that ability I believe Joe and at Lanesboro Elementary we also have that ability for students to store uh watches and smart devices but at Williamston Elementary we don't have lockers available um and so what what are the plans for students who arrive to school and need to store a smart watch or smart device the um just like you said like like we discussed during the subcommittee meeting Mount GAC Regional School all students have a locker they'll they'll be able to keep their devices within that Locker during the school day same thing at Lanesboro Elementary School at Williamstown Elementary School those devices will not be allowed in the building if you need to bring one in because for instance uh you're going somewhere after school where it's required um switching households things like that um the front office is already making plans for you being able to show up at the front office before the start of school um pass that device uh the front office will secure it during the school day and give it back to you um uh right at the end of school do all the lockers have locks or do the students have to supply those are they requested I don't I don't recall them being built in all all Mount Greylock lockers have locks um and and students uh students use those locks they they are combination locks and it's actually a a part of the right of passage As you move up to seventh grade right now is is um knowing how to use a combination lock and uh and being able to do that um at lanb elementary school there are not locks on the lockers um and uh that is an area where um where Nolan PR principal is is thinking through um how to best navigate situations where students are not comfortable with um putting their device into a locker that does not have a lock um the suggestion of course is don't don't bring the device into school um but we are looking at whether or not there are ways to um to augment their ability to secure what they've got and apologize for laughing I was I was recalling my uh my teenager as a seventh grader learning how to open his locker took a few tries Joe it was it was a right of passage definitely yeah um can um I would love to just add all of all of that's been said um but to the question of other comments that we received um we had one parent join our last meeting and um I really appreciated the way he described his commitment to this or his his um support of this and that was in an invitation to our teens to experience a high school where they are not constantly tied to their phones and he invited the adults on the call to recall our own high school experiences where that was not Central to our um High School experience and how much it it's certainly possible and how it was freeing um and I just wanted to um appreciate uh the way he described that there's no way I can do justice to what he said um but it was more Invitational and celebratory for our students then um we're taking something away and I think that that's an important um distinction kind of like losing power Sor sorry I was just remembering you know the difficulty of being a yeah it should be fun but it's not if you're used to just being connected all the time right I just wanted to add on to what Julia just said I've been thinking about this a lot and I think you know I mentioned all my three teens were like uh We're not gonna have our phones this is horrible but I think the kids are really all going to be relieved when it gets to this point and no nobody has a phone in school so it's not like you're the only one without your phone but to your point Julia you get to just do your school thing and be with your friends and talk to your teachers and not be constantly snapping and tick tocking and whatever else they do and I I think I actually think they're really GNA like it they complain about it because they're kids but I think it's going to be really good for everyone and I think it's going to be a big relief um I think they'll figure out how to like it so boredom is good if for in school because you can pay attention to school and what your teacher is saying and talk to your classmates you know it's an opportunity to create a challenge of get to know as many classmates as you can before you graduate yeah I think it'll be good are we ready to vote I'm yes I was gonna say any further discussion we have a motion that has been moved and seconded any further discussion sorry Christina sorry just you know um and just to re so Stephen I think we all heard and I and I certainly you know welcome and look forward to uh you know reporting from Joe and and his team regarding how this policy is being experienced and and how well we've been able to implement and you know effectively enforce it um because you know we're all sure that that this is going to add you know challenges and and um some burden to to our teaching and administrative staff but thank sorry Christina I just wanted to reiterate that yeah so just following up on what Jose just said you know I really appreciate and I think this is just an example of good governance that when we're doing major changes like this you know we commit not only to revisiting but to giving plenty of notice to the community as to when this is going to happen so that people can be prepared thanks okay all in favor Bowen I conry I Constantine ey green I Malloy I yayin and that motion passes okay thank you very much um for that informed discussion um our next upcoming meetings we have a finance subcommittee meeting July 25th at 5:00 pm and our next regular school committee meeting is actually on August 22nd at 6 PM um and that's it would someone like to make a motion to adjourn I moved Julia moves second carry second all in favor B and I conry I constantina I green I Malloy I Milla I many thanks 534 and we are adjourned many thanks to the policy subcommittee and to the administrators who helped to work on this took a lot of time thank you thank you all you have a good night