thank you Jack yeah anything that you expect that typically happens it's a good thing to remind me since I often share this this meeting um all right well Curtis will be along shortly I believe um we can go ahead and get started I can call this meeting of the school committee of the mount gyac Regional School District to order it is 6:01 p.m. the date is Thursday May 9th 2024 and um we are meeting remotely via Zoom um this meeting is broadcast on Willet Channel 1302 in Williamstown and will be posted on the mount grock YouTube page within 24 hours of the meeting it will also be viewable on wilenet.org let us do a roll call in I alphabetical order B in here I forgot that Christina is not here apologies Constantine here Fus yes no not hear you okay green here Meo here Milo here all right so I see Curtis looks like Curtis just joined I don't know if you can hear us like to roll a call in Elvin Bine uh slightly late I uh am here okay terrific thank you um would someone like to volunteer to read the mission statement for the Mount Greylock school district one of our members yes I nominate Curtis Oh Lordy uh you got it sorry I'm in a parked car in Bennington uh let me just pull that up do you want me to read it since you're in a parked car I've got in front of me uh perfect thank you Mission colon at Mount Brock 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 grow thank you Steve you're welcome um I'd like to invite Mera Boer to give a student update please is miror on the call I am not seeing mea Cary so we can catch up with her if she's able to join later okay um so maybe um Jake could you just let me know if she joins um after public comment and we can squeeze her back in yes of course okay terrific thank you um so next up we have public comment we do have a number of people who have signed up for public comment um so thank you all uh those of you who have signed up many of you um who have signed up has also sent um emails to the school committee so thank you for that and we have read the emails that that you've sent um to the committee so I just want to assure you that um we've read them so we have one two three six people who have signed up for public comment in advance and I'm going to call on folks to um deliver public comment in the order that you signed up and then if anyone else would like to offer public comment uh after those who have signed up um you would be also welcome to do so so you just raise your hand in the uh reactions um icon so um please uh State your full name uh what town you are from and what agenda item you are speaking to First up is Bonnie thank you Vice chair green um I'm Bonnie Harley Williams town and my comments pertain to superintendent report Staffing updates I'm an indigenous person a member of the Stockbridge Muny moohan Nation my direct ancestor King Ben Kut was forced to sign the land agreement for what is now half of Williamstown including West where my child attends the town can do better than 1763 coming back here I expected to need to work double time to combat a rtier of our history and I do at home I routinely supplement curriculum to include indigenous culture and history and I'm I have a working relationship with director Brookner on such ideas I anticipated a lack of contemporary native authors in the class Library I was ready for Thanksgiving however what I did not expect is the blatant and pervasive level of specifically anti-blackness in the district since just in the time that spring has emerged with the beautiful purple band of frost on the mountain making way for the first flowers just in these last few weeks here I've been aware of biased incidents that have truly crushed the spirit it's obscene horrific incidents with harmful failures and response I miss my own child's friend lighting up the field with him at practice or hearing about how they partnered on a project instead the friend has been home physically sick from distress my child asked me why he observes other black and brown students being disciplined for no reason that he knows of he reports reports routinely hearing the n-word at recess I watched the December school committee meeting with the quarterly deib update with all due respect the issue cannot abide by this slow pace my ask is that an emergency task force be assembled I'm stating my willingness to serve on such a task force the task force can guide the second ask relating to Staffing that a qualified deib consultant not affiliated with the district be hired to review existing policies and make implementation recommendations including evaluation metrics consistent across all schools the issue needs to be tackled with the same urgency as if the roof were caving in because that is the severity of the situation the phrases I often hear about are kindness and the door is always open but this is not enough I close with an example of black poetic Brilliance from the Great Langston Hughes it's called tired I am so tired of waiting aren't you for the world to become good and beautiful and kind let us take a knife and cut the world in two and see what worms are eating at the Rind it's a call to action thank you thank you [Music] Bonnie Andre Lynch um Andre you might have missed um just what Town you're from and what agenda item you're speaking to please good evening folks Andre Lynch he him his pronouns uh from Williamstown uh student attends West um I didn't prepare formal remarks but I do want to speak to some challenges um that I've that I've been trying to hurdle over since uh my my child has entered the West District the Mount Greylock District um pretty often my my my young black daughter she's in kindergarten comes home asking me why uh her white counterparts don't want to play with her or um telling me that uh she telling me that folks are are are are specifically pointing her out um her peers and then also some some uh uh teachers and H what have you because of the color of her skin my my five-year-old comes home telling me these things um and I kind of have been speaking to her and you know chalking it up to to to her perspective and what have you until shockingly a couple weeks ago she came home and told me oh no actually I was called by by uh by an administrator at at West telling me that something had happened in art class our children were asked to partner with one another um this child that was asked to partner with my child said that I do not want to partner with you because of the color of your skin um so shocked hurt frustrated and upset my child uh informed the teacher within the classroom that this happened um the child that said this to my child was was uh to speak to the principal at that time for a few moments and then sent back uh to the classroom um sorry the agenda item that I was speaking to was the the the the mission so uh agenda item two and then also the the the professional development item um so so so with that that that that one moment there where the where the INB building response um was to send this child that had traumatized my child in this moment back in the class without with my child without any safety net or parameters around what that looked like was very reminiscent of other happenings within the district that I've experience prior to this moment um so I guess what I'm what I'm asking for aside from you know the Deep traumatizing experience that my child has had at the at the hands of of of West not just with this situation but with faculty you know strumming and touching her hair constantly after me asking and requesting they not do that on several occasions or um faculty disciplining my child and holding her to a different disciplinary standard than other students within the classroom that I've also brought to faculty very directly um aside from all of those things um I gu I guess my ask right right now is that there is not just a formalized professional development plan but I want to Echo Bonnie statement of having a a Joint Task Force that uh is compiled of parents um from from advocacy groups that are already formed primarily the dip can group um can sit on the task force and really help think through how these situations are handled at the administrative and building level right now the the bias intive response is not robust enough I andan it's not protecting black and brown children um ju again just two weeks ago my daughter was made to to to share space with with another student who racially harmed her um and and and no interjection was had until I I interjected um so I'm just just echoing Bonnie statement that there needs to be some type of task force and we need to really we really we really need to tackle this issue like directly and fiercely thank you Andre Ash Bell is next is Ash on the call I am I'm sorry um my child was being unsafe on a swing because as parents we do all things all stacked on top of each other um yes so I am I'm very concerned with with what I am hearing what I am seeing it's only my second year um with a child in Mount Greylock School District because I have a first grader and already over that course the course of that time I can think of at least three horrific things that have happened to black and brown students um that I am aware of so I know there is a a lot more um because there is no formal process for letting us know when these things happen I think that when we don't have a process for that it thrives so if we know that there are racial incidents happening at West and and we do like we received we received confirmation of that in an email that we got from the principal that said from Cindy that said that you know this is happening um I am concerned that the teachers don't have the training that they need um that there are no restorative practices that are widespread known everybody is on the same page about um and I want my children to be able to go to a school where they are supported and every other child is supported and I'm I don't think that's happening and it's a it's a deep concern of mine um I think that if we don't do something about this very quickly and the correct way which takes time and takes reflection what we're going to end up with is we're going to end up with a school that is increasingly white um and that is not a school that I want to send my children to I don't want to send my my children to a school that lack and brand children can't thrive in because it's we know research it's better for everyone when there is a school that everyone can thrive in we know that and that's that's all I've got to say thank you so much Kim Kim nickel hi thank you Vice chair green um my name is Kim niichel I live in Williamstown I'm the parent of two children one of whom attends the Mount Greylock Regional School um I'm also a member of the deib Pan um parent group specifically I'm a member of the bias incident small group where there's a small group of us who support and attempt to assist families whose children have experienced uh hate crimes and harm in our uh Mount Greylock Regional Schools and I would like to Echo what I heard from Andre and from Bonnie um and just now from Ash that the number of anti-black racist hate crimes happening in our schools has me busy on a weekly basis speak speaking with families so I am incredibly concerned by the number of incidents and the Deep negative impact on young children who are experiencing these incidents that will likely affect them for the rest of their lives and I would like to just Echo Bonnie's call for a task force and qualified outside Consultants who can come in immediately on an emergency basis to help us address this as a community and do better than we are doing right now um I know that the Massachusetts Office of Public Safety and Security has released a document called School hate crime resource guide that outlines policies procedures um ways of addressing these kinds of things in addition there are universities that have whole departments devoted to um Consulting with school districts um many of them are pro bono but some of them do cost money so I guess my ask tonight is that we immediately put in place some kind of task force as Bonnie called for make sure we have money set aside to pay qualified outside Consultants who can be impartial and help us to set up systems that can protect all of our children and help our staff members know how to protect all of our children and give us skills that at present um I think we don't yet have uh so that's what I'd like to ask for tonight thank you thank you so much um so I believe um Kim you were speaking to item seven plan for professional development activ I apologize yes that is correct that's all right and then twink Williams Burns has also signed up to speak to item seven I I'm twink Williams Burns I she heard pronouns and yes I'm speaking to item seven I'm a parent of two children at West um I want to start by saying that this is not a new issue I know that there is a sense of urgency with the comments that folks are making tonight and it is it is definitely warranted and this is something that the district already in the 2021 report from Courtney Tunis it was considered so egregious at the time that there had been money set decide for a Dei position which honestly with the lack of transparency from the district I don't know if anything had happened in the hiring process for that position I personally know of two people who applied for the position and never heard back from the district what I do know is that the position was then cut for very ambiguous reasons during a vote in which people were definitely not as well informed about the issue as we could have been because of the lack of transparency that was 3 years ago 3 months ago my child walked into an art classroom my black child walked into an art classroom at seven years old where the teacher had decided to teach first graders about the concept of slavery by showing a book that specifically depicted black folks working in a field subjected to violence and oppression with no notice to parents that this would be happening with no follow-up balancing uh curriculum about black Excellence black strength black love and all of the other things that humanize black people just like any other human my child came home crying because out of context when well-meaning and completely undeveloped because of lack of professional development that never came in the wake of losing the de position my child was subjected to this as the only black person in the room three weeks ago friends of my child in third grade at West came home having been taught that day by their teacher who does not teach black history but decided to talk about slavery that slavery was actually a positive thing for for black people because it took black people from sleeping on dirt to sleeping in cabins because it taught black people job skills I can't tell you the level of grieving that that has caused in that family in my family and the rest of the black community that is under the care of Mount Greylock Regional School District particularly because there is no specific way for us to ensure that that will not happen again there has been no commitment by the district for professional development that will ensure the safety of black students and there's been no commitment by the district to ensure that conversations about diversity equity and inclusion are not just about black people are not just about bipo people but are also about raising white kids to be good citizens and amazing community members of our town and of our world this impact every student in Mount Greylock Regional School District not just bipox students like my kids I third fourth fifth the calls for an urgent task force that matches the urgency that was originally felt by the district back in 2021 three years ago and this time I urge the district to actually fund it actually follow through in it actually hire somebody to ensure that this work happens and that those folks are unaffiliated with Mount GR Regional School District thank you thank you twink um and we have one final person who is signed up for public comment that is Matt Smith and it looks like Matt is speaking to item two which is the mission and item nine which is um part of the superintendent's report R thank you um so my name is Matt Smith our family lives uh in Pittsfield my spouse Works in North Adams and our youngest attends school at West um our oldest child used to attend school at Mount Greylock and no longer does in part because of the anti-black racism that she experienced directly and that she regularly witnessed um as a student there for two years um so when you read that mission and we talk about restorative process is an inclusive diversity um I would Echo all the comments and the calls so far that we are not living to that mission um three years ago this month we were announcing Courtney tunes' study two years ago this month several of you voted to fund the director of Deb position and one year ago this month you voted to defund that position how we spend our time and money defines our values as a district so we are continuing to talk the talk of restorative practices diversity Equity inclusion we are not putting our time and our money into that work the inconsistent response to bias incidents across the district is regularly causing more harm to students and families and I would Echo all of the asks that have been stated so far um in solidarity with everyone who spoke thank you thank you Matt thank you to everyone who spoke again and I'd like to offer that um if there are other folks on the call who would like to give public comment now would be a good time to raise your hand either physically or in the reaction okay um so thank you and um that will bring public comment to a close we do not typically resp respond to public comment um at the time public comment is delivered we will certainly um be discussing what the items that have been brought up um during the various agenda items tonight and again um at the next meeting in June and we would invite you to um stay for the rest of this meeting and to join us again in June if you would uh like to do so but please know that your comments are appreciated and um you shared some very difficult and very personal things here tonight and um I just want to say that that you were very much heard um let's move on to the approval of minutes April 9th 2024 would anyone like to move those minutes so moved would anyone like to Second milliseconds is there any discussion all right let's uh roll call vote o and I I and b i green eye Ursula I think you're out it just said Ursula joined a moment ago I think she's losing her audio I think she's losing her so I'll just say Miller I right now while we try to get her back y Ursula do you want to vote Ursula can you hear me do you want to vote on the minutes looks like she's not connected okay um we'll move on H so next is the principal's report and it looks like we're going to hear from Nolan about the Cap Cod trip um there's a vote attached to this so uh do we have a vote in the packet or we we do G Nolan is not available to be here this evening um the field trip request form is in the packet uh Nolan came last month to present this but the paperwork had not caught up from the school to the central office at that point so all of the details of the when and the chaperon and the how travel is happening uh is is in your packet uh in anticipation of the vote um and he sends his apologies that he can't be here this evening okay so would someone like to move um that the school committee approve the Cape Cod trip as presented and then um we can discuss it so moved second to make it easier for the minute taker okay thank you Curtis move Steve second is there discussion about the uh lboro Elementary C Cod trip any questions Julia were you gonna raise your hand or I it's not really a question about this trip but I've been um hearing questions in town about what happened to the W the Williamstown Elementary trip I don't I know if this is the place to raise that um but since this is happening for one and not the other Williamstown Elementary has an alternative set of activities they do is kind of culminating um year end trips for the sixth graders so um you know it's just different proposals coming in okay so it's just that they've decided this is not where they want to this this is not the the they do uh a three or four day different things are each drivable within the day um they have they have not gone back to the to the I think it's the question of not going back but what I hear you saying is they've just made the decision that this was a better use of their a better way to culminate the year is set of trips okay thank you thank you any other questions all right um roll call vote o and I I and Bine ey green ey Malloy ey Miller ey thank you [Music] um director's report we're going to hear from Joel Brookner about the annual plan of professional development activities thank you can you hear me yes okay um I'm going to share my screen oh if someone could allow me to that would be lovely should be all set to while yep now I am okay can you see okay um I'd like to preface my presentation by saying that I also um was listening to public comment and um welcome further discussion about that at a future time um and my presentation tonight does not directly address those comments um so but there will be further discussions I sure um so my my charge tonight was to do our annual kind of overview of the schedule for professional development next year and um so that's what you see before you um we have a couple of things that are slated to happen or in the works for happening um before the school year starts and um those things are we are applying again to participate in the department of education's investigating history field test they have we have participated for a number of years in grade five and six and and um we're part of a codesign process this year in grades three and four and we are applying um at least for grade four next year there's strong interest among our grade four teachers to continue this work next year so there will be a grant that would fund work that would happen over two days um in August they don't have the dates yet um our seventh and eth grade under the leadership of assistant principal rutz and and principal shs at the uh at Mount Greylock have been doing a lot of work this year with the association for middle middle level Educators and looking at ways to strengthen the community and culture in the Middle School um and one of the things that has come from that as part of a larger and a broader growing initiative to bring restorative practices more robustly to the district is the development of what we're call calling crew um it's a advisory like but it's not advisory um program that will have circles um using the uh responsive classroom as one of the as one of the um samples for curriculum and I'm sure at another time if you'd like to hear more about this we could Sam and I could come back and talk about that um so they'll be doing some training they've started doing this kind of slowly rolling it out this spring and they'll be doing some more targeted training this summer with Sam who is um a train the trainer person in restorative practices August 22nd is our annual new teacher induction day um we will not have many new teachers this year but that's the day it's usually a two-day program um the 22nd is the day when our district will come together so people from the central office will go meet everybody and and kind of Orient folks to the district and that the second day is usually up to principales to um make sure that teacher new teachers get to meet with their mentors and um Orient to the school August 23rd um our interim director of special education is going to be continuing her amazing work with our special education staff around the new IEP project and so she folks will be coming in um for a day before the school starts this is something contractually bargained um and they will be continuing the work that they have started and this will include we're hoping that our electronic system for IEPs which is called easted will be up and running and a lot of the focus of that day will be on making sure folks know how to use it um so once the school year starts we have a lot of activities the first two days of the school calendar are full days for professional development and there's a lot going on and I thought that I I should say that a a lot of what schools have to do in opening um is related to state and federal mandates in terms of compliance training so you'll see on here a number of places compliance training um and I'll click on a link in a minute and kind of show you some of the topics for that we are currently undergoing the tiered Focus monitoring group through the Department of Education and um we've actually had to add a couple of things go for the compliance training and um I'll talk about that more in in a moment so the first day um sometimes you'll see we'll have all three schools together but most of the time the activities are building based and the opening days a lot of the reason is transportation I mean it's the schools are not that close together um but at Mount Greylock the first day there will be some training on new devices which have been purchased for teachers um and peras will have training as well um the district is going to be doing some more training on Google Drive Google Apps for Education and going to one domain which will I'm not going to get into but is long overdue um in Lanesboro in Williamstown on opening day will'll they'll also the principles on the opening day do a lot of their welcome back and orienting folks to being back in the building so elementary schools will have that information with principles and also more um one domain and drop in support there's some immediate things that need to happen in terms of email and making in Sharing documents um so there's some logistical technical stuff that we got to do um the second day we'll have all of our prek through 12 staff up at the U Middle High School and we have had um Samantha rutz and Griffin leant have gotten trained as our district trainers in Crisis Prevention intervention and which is wonderful because we have not had an industri um trainer for a bit so the first morning will be everyone together doing a training on verbal intervention and this is designed to help staff um appropriately deescalate situations that could be um escalating so that is going to happen in the morning and then the afternoon we'll start the compliance training there's going to be some nitty-gritty stuff like um overview of canvase for the middle high school and then there'll be mini sessions on different um software basically at the three elementary schools at the two elementary schools we don't have three um September 3rd is also a full professional development day we we've done this kind of at we've been needing to do this um because one of we need to make sure that all of our staff is trained in Crisis Prevention um before a certain date and it's you know we've never really had a time where we could do have everybody together at the same time so this year we'll have a full PD day um our Paras and selected special education faculty will have um a non-violent Crisis Intervention training and then the rest of the folks will be doing a a host of other things this is a sampling of the menu but um one of the things is um overview of the new IEP process for the general general education teachers who have not had as much time uh to kind of be able to be exposed to that um okay so those are our full days of PD and then half days I'm not going to take you through everything's bit by bit but you'll see um compliance courses when you look at the actually I'm going to go back up and show you some of the topics for compliance it's which I said I would do um okay can you see that so these are the kinds of topics that we need to do Title Nine um mckin vento which is the homeless regulation conflict of interest laws um these kinds of trainings and all to we use a system called Public School works it is an online course platform basically and um it allows folks to um do online classes and they have to pass quizzes we can see who has done them and who has not done them um people are really pretty good about it all told it takes a long time it's about a day and a half of compliance training of these things that were mandated to do and um it's important work but it's also a lot of time and it takes up the bulk of our time in our opening days um Carrie were you gonna say something yeah I just wanted to ask um given the public comment that we've heard tonight and discussions um you know for a while now on bias incidents is there a bias training uh heart to The Crisis Prevention training does it include any bias training it is not geared specifically for bias training that's not what that whole long uh could you bring up the list again sorry um oh so that's a different thing in the coursework yes um so in the cours workk it looks like there's discriminatory harassment is there any other kind of there is an anti-bias one and um I don't know why it's not on this list okay I have to check in with Ellie about that um I it's frankly not the be it's not I don't know how to say this we would prefer to have face-to-face kinds of training about around anti-bias um issues rather than having folks sit on a computer and listen to videos about that and not having the ability to have discussions around it so um if that's why it's not on this form or if I just neglected to have it on here um I don't think so because um so I guess the larger question is whether it's part of the um new teacher orientation or teacher training in the beginning of the year yeah yeah and I don't know if Jake want wants to jump in I'm happy to step in Joel uh it is it is an integral part of new teacher training um and it and it is also last year two years ago going back three years we uh offered Kiti joi's intensive three-day Institute about about 70 50 to 70% of our staff went through that intensive three-day Institute we um are really just trying to find mechanisms that actually work Carrie um we have invested a great deal of money into um this work and I think as is evidenced by the things we were hearing tonight from from people that really didn't want to be saying those things because they're living the pain at home uh the things we're doing aren't working uh so we look forward to working together to identify people places and ways to get uh this training better better spread we did include a largish bias piece in our mandated training the package that the state mandates for us I don't know why it's not in there we've this would be the I believe fourth year that that is a an integral part of that uh of that work and you and I thanks for saying that Jake um you won't see on the past four years we've had Dr josi and we've had um Dr Singh come to the district and and we have spent considerable time and money on those programs and we're not seeing the kind of um the kind of outcomes that we have hoped so we are pivoting and trying to um you know we've hired Shirley ederton to do some Consulting at the middle high school and we're trying to look for different ways smaller groups um instead of we're looking for something that will work better and just to speak to that that original question Carrie as far as what The Crisis Prevention Institute Training is about both on the verbal deescalation side as well as the nonviolent intervention side um integral to both of those now within within the current ver version of that is first identifying your own biases um as you approach to deescalate um a second part of it is trying to understand um at the core um trauma enformed approaches to understanding what what the student that that you are working with is is going through um which in and of itself um should and does have have implicit bias understanding built into that um and so that type of training although it's mandated um and although we need to get staff through it um certainly it has caught up in some ways to being a a modern um better informed approach to to Crisis Prevention um so that's just within those initial slices that that you had asked about um and then I don't know if Joelle if you were still getting down through it but the curriculum review I haven't gotten there yet okay great um and this is and I want to add that this is the first year that we will have been able to offer the verbal deescalation CPI training to everybody in the district um and we're very much looking forward to that it had been in the past a smaller select group okay so now I'm getting to the half days and um you'll see a number of things here we have um a pretty robust digital Wellness Plan that our director of academic technology and the Middle High School folks kind of put together last year and we have Katie Greer coming to speak she's going to be working with students one day at all three schools and and doing a evening um Talk for parents and Guardians and then we'll be doing professional development for um our faculty and staff you will definitely be hearing more about that we have built in some important work with um best practices around teaching all Learners in different formats we've got um I did a presentation last time I was here about our increase in multilingual learner students so we'll be having some doing some work on that we'll be teaching all um doing um program on teaching all Learners and um Universal Design for Learning um culturally and linguistically best practices um Joe mentioned the curriculum review so another thing that we've been working a lot on is working on a tool that we can use and our teachers can use and our administrators can use to explicitly go through curriculum and to look for appropriateness look for bias um make decisions about what we are have been teaching what we need to be teaching um if there's something we should stop teaching um so we and the the for the first time we are really setting aside time in the PD calendar for that to happen so we're doing it twice the the Our intention is to have this be ongoing work but when sometimes when you say work is ongoing and you don't make time to specifically have stopping checking in points then it doesn't necessarily happen so we are we have two very clear times one in the fall one in the winter where this will be the work of the teachers individually at grade levels with departments um the administrators all have worksheets that they will be regularly using they've started to use for walking around the building to look because it's not just about textbooks about it's about all student facing curriculum materials so it's games it's play centers in early childhood rooms it's posters on the wall it's it's everything it's it's the media that we may show um to make sure that it is representative that it is absolutely not harmful um and that we are continually reviewing that so that is something that we have built into the calendar that we're excited about um and then you'll there's General there's a lot of other things that we need to do on half days like training for mcast every year SATs PSATs APS all of those tests require um kind of scripted trainings that the uh Administration does with faculty there's not enough time to do the professional development that we need to do so I added a list here and we do it's not just on half days where we're training folks we have faculty meetings there is common planning time um sometimes we have stiped in positions and groups that are working outside of school hours um and so these are some other really important topics we're looking at dyslexia guidance um we're going to continue um with our Universal screening we really need to be continuing to look at the science of reading making sure teachers are equipped with the tools they need not just in the elementary schools but in the middle and high school also to ensure that we're teaching reading um we have regular deib check-ins where we what we want to have case studies and incidents and review them with as a groups with faculties and to talk about how they were handled how could they best be handled how could they be better handled we are going to continue with zones of Regulation help which is a program really help students identify how they're feeling and um learn to express that and then respond and there's a lot of Technology um we're continuing to work on looking at math programs and we will have a group of ele teachers field testing some new programs I'm not ready to share more information about that yet but we will be doing a lot of work with that next year and then faculty book groups they'll be different at each school but themes will be the same we would like themes to be around um culturally responsive teaching around restorative practices I don't have titles of books yet and they will that that's organic and will be coming so that's we we're busy and I know everybody always says we don't have enough time but there's really not enough time to do all that we we hope to do um but we're pretty pleased that we'll be making some headways in some areas that we know we need some more work thank you Joelle Jose and then Julia thanks Carrie and thank you Joelle um Joel I've got sort of a two-part question the first is to um maybe ask you to introduce or some some member of the administrative staff to introduce uh shle ederton for folks who may not know of her her background and her work and could you also explain what we as a district are are asking Shirley um how we're asking Shirley to support the district uh and whether you know we would be looking to U expand the role that she's playing in our district Jose I am I am happy to to step in and and answer that um Shirley is the retired cultural competency coach from the Pittsfield Public Schools um longtime member of the the and leader of the Berkshire County branch of the NAACP uh and has had a is a trained uh social worker I believe and uh has a great deal of experience running a a sizable nonprofit uh the rights of uh passage and empowerment um for young black women uh mostly in in Metro Pittsfield but but occasionally outside of Pittsfield uh for students for whom that would help um Shirley's very very limited engagement with us is really um conversational at the elementary schools when there is time to do that but her primary work is helping to run Affinity groups uh and be a uh sort of office hours for teachers at Mount Greylock Regional School um part-time is is not even the descriptor it's like part-time part-time that's like a half a day a week is what we're looking at in terms of Engagement with Shirley um certainly not uh a um a replacement for a director of deib and certainly not somebody who whose Comfort level is at all nor are we asking her to uh serve as as the professional developer or the leader or uh just just really being available for our teachers and for our students and occasionally for families uh at Mount Greylock Regional School primarily thank you Jake and then uh just as a a second as a followup um and this this is for you Joel and perhaps for our you know administrative uh leadership here uh um and apologies for the Preamble but it's hard not to uh not to talk about this you know and what I'm about to say some of which is to counter many of the arguments and I would say myths that have been posed by our communities then the first of which is that racism does not exist in our community that racism as a result does not rear its ugly head in our district and that our kids are not harmed as a result of it and I just want to um and I hope that our community me community members who are listening who will be listening and watching our um committee meeting later we hear from our families from our parents from our Guardians the pain that they experience as parents because of the pain that their children our children experience in our district and I hope that we all can hear as well the incredible need that our teachers and our administrators have to support our kids we have a responsibility to protect our children to keep harm from happening as best we as we can but certainly not to perpetuate harm and the question I have is you know given Joelle in your presentation there was a um I think we heard that there are challenges with regards to the amount of time we can allegate to professional development and that the Myriad of of areas that you need to address in our professional development activities might minimize or make difficult our efforts to to support our teachers and administration and helping them prepare to take care of our kids what do you think Joel we would need if if time we can't find what what are the ways that we could could support our teachers and administrators so that they are in better positioned to protect our kids and to stop the perpetuation of har I thought you were going to ask the question of what what would it what would it cost to make sure that we have more time with our staff more time in preparation for a school year if if that was yeah thank you Joe think I think my and I think it speaks to my experience of of our conversations in years past that I think that buying more time or you know some of which would only be you know we would be asking our staff to volunteer in to these professional development activities that I I I guess when maybe what I'm I'm worried that that's just not enough that we do need to professionalize within the district this support so that it's it is ever present and ever ready to support our students our teachers and staff maybe I think that's the question it's I'm try well go ahead Joe I I just to to bring us back to um for instance the the way that Dr josi's time became available for staff members um in in recent years during the summer um was we we would pay staff for that time on per DM rate um Andor figure out ways to offer offer additional credit towards what effectively become salary raises um so those are the mechanisms that we've used in the past if if we wanted to look at and it's it's too late within the within the contractual cycle to do it for this coming year um which I understand is not is not of help but if we wanted to look at adding an additional day for all teachers um in the FY 26 year um right now that's hovering right around $90,000 so that that's one day of of Staff time um and I was going to say I mean you asked the question Jose that is the question and um I think if there were a simple answer we would do it um and my I appreciate apprciate Joe's logistical answer and I agree with that um but you know at one PD day does not fix problems of any sort um and so I think my best answer to you in this is that in every single thing that we do in every single meeting we have in every bit of professional development that we have in every discussion that we have face Toof face between teachers between our administrative team a lot of this does happen already but it needs to continue to be with at the foundation at the absolute foundation and our core that we are living to our mission and that our job is to certainly Do no harm my God but that is a low bar our bar needs to be creating a joyful Community where all people feel safe where everyone is celebrated um and and that just has to be the heart of every single thing that we do I think that I I showed you a big list of professional development embedded in all of that is is a lot we call it I mean the wordy way of saying it is culturally and linguistically sustaining practices that is embedded in all of these things um and we have to keep keep doing that and I do welcome having discussions with folks to talk about I mean we wel we welcome partnership so um that's a very ineloquent answer to your gigantic question thank you Joelle thank you thanks Jose um and Joelle Julia yeah at this point I might be piling on um but I just wanted to uh bring some thoughts in as well um I've heard you know to caution us and this is and I hear Joel you you in the in this direction that I was going to suggest um that Dei is not a a dish at a buffet or at a table or even at a um you know served meal but it is the table um and needs to be underlying um all the work that we do um so I appreciate Joel you pointing out that it is um you work to have it embedded in in every type in every PD that happens um and I also recognize at least I as a um you know white person don't always understand um what I don't know so I I just want to encourage um you know if it's this if it's a task force that helps hope hopefully you know we are able to um get professional trained help um I loved hearing that there was from one of our commenters that there's um you know at least at least in the near term maybe some pro bono support but if we can create the space to make sure that there are people who are trained in doing this work um to help us on an ongoing basis and I and I also think that um time is finite um having Dei be the table is important and and that there's other time in the schedule so I noticed there were a number of principal's days which I get that like there are school specific issues that need to be addressed um but making sure that when the principles are doing that and maybe Joel this is part of your work making sure that that has Dei embedded in it um or team meetings or you know curriculum you know department meetings I I mean there's really it needs to be the table everywhere um and so I just I wanted to um double down on that uh and then because I have the floor I just wanted to say how much I appreciated the commentary that we did here um and I and then appreciated the um acknowledgement that we're not there um because I think we can if we all if we all can at least agree on where we are we can figure out where we need to get you know what we need to do to get there so thank you uh everyone thank you Julia um any other questions or comments for Joel okay thank you uh Joel thank you for that report um so we have the finance subcommittee next and I wouldn't normally say that Finance subcommittee um focuses on inclusion as one of its priorities but um we we do actually um as best we can and the West playground is a good example of making some progress on inclusion and um Joe and um his team at the um administrative level and with teachers and with student input um have come up with a proposal that was discussed in the finance subcommittee um just before this meeting and we did have a vote to recommend um support for the contract that is in the packet so that is already on the floor of the school committee as a recommendation from The subcommittee Steve would you like to read that vote um sure let me just punch up the item then from the meeting before I'd close that file okay um the drawings and the three-dimensional renderings um of the proposed PL ground um both for uh our older kids at the Williamstown Elementary School and our younger kids at the Williamstown Elementary School are all in the packet for the school committee you should have all had a chance to review it but um after Steve reads the motion and we get a second we can pull up um the 3D renderings and Joe can walk us through it a little bit too okay are you ready yes please okay so the motion is to authorize a contract of up to 950 1, 45124 with Emmy O'Brien and Suns thanks so that is a motion on the table is there a second first second should we have somebody other than the finance thinking someone other than Finance um does anyone other second all right thank you thank you um all right so the reason it's well Joe will actually cover the reason it's up to that amount but um Joe if you could bring up the 3D rendering and then um walk us through what this playground is going to look like and just to start out on the finance end of it um we do have U money from the Williamstown arpa funds um that is dedicated to this project and then um there's money that would come out of the um Williamstown Elementary School renewal fund um but we'll talk about the money after I just wanted to kind of give an overview that um we do have the funding in place and the potential to uh go back to the town for additional arpa funds as well if we want so uh up on your screen now you should see the the first of two 3D renderings of the older age playground at Williamson Elementary School um um for reference uh and you you should Al also be able to see my cursor let me know if you don't um but my cursor right now is over uh where one of the two basketball hoops is on the asphalt surface at Williamson Elementary School um that asphalt area comes around here as a semicircle and curls back around um and then over over along here are the the playing fields um the corner of the US Center is down over here um and uh there is a a a beautiful tree that is right about here with a bench um right near it um right now so everything you see here is within the footprint of the existing playground um for the older age students with the exception of um we made the design decision here to um push farther out into this area and in exchange not need to encroach or risk the the root zone of the of the tree that is over here um so that's just all all way of giving you some some uh context um this whole process I mean honestly it's been about seven or eight years um nine years since a new pair of playgrounds for the school was originally proposed um and uh needed um in some ways from um from one key perspective and and from a number of others following that the one key perspective was um that the plag playground that was constructed in 2002 um was not nearly as accessible or inclusive as um a playground really can and should be especially especially in this day and age um and the the ways that we could apply resources to to be able to make that happen um we're really at the Forefront of of this process um the other part of it is that at 22 years old or thereabouts um the existing playgrounds are both um in pretty rough shape they are the uh most used pieces of real estate in in all of Williamstown um in that they are used throughout the school day after the school day all summer long all weekend long um so uh for those reasons we we did push forward with identifying um funds that were were earmarked for Capital purposes um namely arpa funds for outdoor recreation and um and the Williams College renewal fund which is which is devoted to Capital renewal for the elementary school um with all that in mind um that was last spring where we went forward and we presented to gain access to williamstown's arpa funds um that vote by the select board and then by the school committee allowed us to push forward with um gaining staff and student input last spring um around things that were working and things that weren't working with the existing playground as well as some of the opportunities that exist um within playground design now um we took that into account um at that point in time we had not specified that we were going to use the Williams College Capital uh renewal funds um to to be able to complete the project so we are looking at all kinds of sources of funding whether federal or state grants um or local fundraising uh eventually as we move through the fall and into the winter um and some of those options were were not nearly as robust as we would need in order to replace the playgrounds um we did turn to the renewal fund at that point in time when the school committee um condoned that um that maneuver to be able to to utilize those funds um what we did was we brought all the information that we already had um along with a group that included special education um and Leadership at the school um and people who had been working on this project for for years um to try to pair down how we would go about the redesigns um at first we looked at some of the um radically inclusive bespoke um playground designs that really integrate Hills and nature and do so in a way that is accessible inclusive and really wonderful um unfortunately every path that we walk down um with those possibilities had just design fees at the outset that were going to eat up a decent amount of the of the potential project budget um and also potentially not satisfy Massachusetts Public procurement rules um so we ended up turning to a more traditional model um utilizing Massachusetts state contract providers um looking at potential designs for playgrounds um at the outset we made sure that uh the potential designers knew um we wanted to far exceed ADA requirements um we wanted to make sure that we were eec compliant for um younger age um uh individuals as well as um making sure that the youth center would have full access to everything through its programming for its um individuals um with all of that in mind uh the playground designs that um that Emy O'Brien worked on with us and I'm just going to take you on a very quick tour from left to right on this screen um on the left a weo round which is a a merrygoround um brought into the the Modern Age where um you're able to access it via a wheelchair um or or any other mechanism to be able to to come on share space um and this entire structure turns around as a as a goor round um this is a a seesaw feature um that's at transfer height um for being able to transfer out of a wheelchair into it um it satisfies the the play desires of at least four students um but according to the company many times eight nine 10 um are utilizing that type of a of a component on a regular basis um as we come across um wheelchair ramps um allow you to navigate up and into all of the um safe height portions of the structure um so you're able to access up over here and then via a transfer height platform be able to actually transfer rotate and then slide down um this slide as well as utilize all of these panels that are in light blue as you look around here all of them are um are at chair accessible height as well um there are a variety of um game sensory play panels um and in some cases musical instruments um so there are a variety of Play features here um that are all accessible um all of this also designed with um both both types of concerns around sensory experiences there are sensory Rich experiences that really give you a broad um variety of ways to access and learn everything that is here um and and they're also sensory aware and that for students um where where overloading is is highly likely um there's both breadth here to allow for for free space um as well as a variety of ways to engage um that that are that are safe and inclusive um so that's a quick overview here um in terms of physical and also so our physical therapist um has been integral to the design and selection of of everything that we have here in terms of the number of motor skills um the number of challenges that um and opportunities that this poses for students of of all the appropriate ages and abilities um so as you look through here there are there are balance um uh tasks of a of a variety there there are um there are bars to swing across there are a variety of climbing opportunities um and then there are a number of slides slides do tend to be the students um greatest kind of I I need slides I want as many as I can have um so there are partner slides here and here um there are dual slides up off this platform as well as a as well as a curling slide um down on the other side now I've switched to a different perspective looking at it from um the opposite side um and then these are musical instruments over here on on on these edges um I'll also note that on both this playground and the younger age playground um there are communication panels um communication panels allow um for individuals to communicate in non-verbal ways um that can allow them to suggest to their friends to staff um things that they want to experience ways that they want to um navigate these these new spaces so they are um present on both playgrounds um right as you're entering them um if I jump back to the previous View um you'll also see this this area here occupies the existing swing space um this is a two-person swing um at uh transfer height um for access from a wheelchair um this is a chair swing um for for any individual who um wants or or needs that form of a swing and then these are traditional swings um um we are able to swap and increase um as student need dictates um the the arrangement the types of swings um and these two swings over here are um are just as fun but but a little bit more uh more safe um than than the tire swings that we currently have these are many person um swings that are able to to rock side to side and swing forward and backwards um but but don't pose um quite the challenges that that tire swings do um all of these areas here are um in terms of movement off the asphalt um wheelchair accessible coming across to a rubber surface that is both um as accessible as as you can make a surface um while keeping it safe so that uh it is certified for um all of the various um requirements and and compliance topics around fall from a height um trying to maximize safety in that way so wheelchair can come straight from asphalt out to here can also go down the paths uh that we'll be renewing as a part of this process to be able to go immediately onto the swings area um as well as via those paths around or off of um the main playground here um into this swing area um I think what I would like to do if we can is maybe talk about this older age playground and then we can jump over to the younger age playground unless you'd prefer um to do them both and then have any discussion well why don't we see if there are any questions um or comments about the um playround for the what would this what would the age range be for this Joe is it um per per design it's for ages 5 through 12 um that's the that's the designated age range that this is ideal for um and and our younger age students um certainly prek and kindergarten uh the other the other playground is is more geared towards and certified to be um designed for those younger ages thank you any questions about this um why don't we just move to the younger age group playground thanks yep so now uh this 3D view of the younger age playground um imagine walking out of the uh the kindergarten first grade hallway um doors uh there's the walkway that that curls around the building the concrete walkway um here um so you'll be able to access directly onto the playground from the concrete walkway um this back area is is where the fence is that separates from from the church street parking lot and the Fire Road curls around here with the fence um so that's the that's the positioning of this playground um similar to the older age playground communication board musical instruments um this play structure is is geared towards younger ages um and uh accessibility and inclusion for those ages in that it provides a lot of the the challenges and and motor skills features that you would expect on an older age playground um it's done at a lower height um and there are um many transfer height areas where um for younger age students um specifically it is much more common to transfer and then be able to scoot or or crawl in away um that that allows you to access a variety of spaces um happily right alongside peers um and so this playground has that as a core um these play panels are are designed for um play music sensory experiences um all again wheelchair height accessible um a a Topsy Turvy type um feature which again is transfer height um for at least three students to be able to rock on it at once um this playground has um two traditional chair swings um two uh two fully fully belted in um chair swings and then and then two uh lower height for uh preschool kindergarten age students um traditional swings um so and and then it has a shade structure um similar in terms of coverage to the existing shade structure on the on the younger age playground um to allow for shaded space during play um that's the Whirlwind tour of this playground I will note it this time because Carri I think you had you had uh you had alluded to it at the outset um part of what has been challenging in this design process um aside from making sure that we get all the accessibility inclusion sensory um respects um and that we satisfy the volume of play that that will be happening um within our grade level sizes as well as as well as generally um part of the challenge is that uh PED in place rubber surfaces that are as uh wheel accessible as um these once you construct them you are not adding things to them so the idea of well can we can we do some now and do some later um unfortunately is uh somewhere between challenging and impossible within the space that we have so we could always build build a separate uh additional playground somewhere but once you pour and cover a space you cannot um go down through that space to secure any more equipment at a later point in time um so that's that's been part of why we viewed this as this is a once in every um hopefully 25 or 30 years type type experience um so we've tried to make sure that we satisfied um all interests and needs and really really paid respect to the idea that this is the core um play structure for everybody in in town thank you Joe y so the committee has talked about this more broadly but now we're seeing the actual design and um we have a vote on the table to authorize the school district to contract with this company to get the equipment and line up the work um the timeline is not exactly as quick as we would like so Joe do you want to speak to that as well sure um given the manufacturing lead time for for the equipment um right now even if we were to sign a contract this minute um we'd probably be looking at late September sometime in October uh for delivery of that equipment um that puts us most likely outside of the window for um construction this calendar year um we'd be looking at um spring ideally next year as soon as the weather would allow um for us to do that um so the equipment would be delivered to uh the contractor they would keep it in a in a in a safe space um and then bring it on site once we're once we're ready um in the spring which would probably mean a ail um best case uh June July worst case if if somehow that that's not Poss it's not possible to do it earlier so um this vote would also essentially authorize use of the arpa funds which we've already gotten uh from the town and use of the Williamstown fund or the elementary school fund for renewal um unless we were you know able to offset that full amount that we would be using from that fund um with additional funds from the town or private sources and Joe what are the estimated amounts um so we have 300,000 from arpa is that right or 300,000 in in arpa funding and 6 151,000 from the Williams College gift for building renewal right so are the current numbers of where the funds would be coming from at this point in time but we wouldn't be spending funds until later on and that might that allocation might change Julia I think Steve had his hand up before me if you wanted I didn't see that sorry about that Steve yeah no no problem thanks Julia I can't remember if Joe just said this right now or if this was just said in the finance subcommittee meeting but one advantage of doing it like this is we lock in the prices now and don't have to worry about inflation great thanks Julia yeah I um don't just curious about the um trade-offs of using the elementary school funds um and what that balances right now and how else those funds would otherwise be used the the balance prior to this commitment is right around 1.9 million um the the other probable uses for those funds over the next 5 years um flooring inside of the building um potentially Windows although ideally we we qualify for the msba funding um for that type of project um and uh and as as we've said before um we've been going through the pipeline to make sure that the state covers the cost of the roof um to coincide with a significant solar installation um that that is already that's you know that's what we've already worked through over the last uh two years um so um outside of those um eventually we'll have um some uh Network and Telecommunications uh renewal that that needs to happen within the building um we've already gone through a lot of HVAC renewal um these are things in I believe it was in January I I had brought like the spreadsheet of here here are various possibilities for the next um three to five years um but those are the other areas where this fund would be applicable so I'm am I right in first of all this fund did it start at a million yes back in 200 one okay so it started at a million there's a million n left after spending on a variety of things over the years this would take 650,000 out of the million n the tradeoffs there's nothing specific I hear I think I'm hearing you say the fund could still support the other things like I'm I'm trying to understand what the trade-off is not that I wouldn't make the tradeoff but I'm just trying to understand what the trade-off is yes if if we needed to do as many things as we could quickly um the probable recommendation for use of these funds would be to address the playground um because there is no msba or State Pipeline funding coming down for that to to match or anything like that um and then two for flooring because uh we don't tend to see msba funding coming in in for that um the flooring project right now is estimated I believe at between 50 and and $900,000 um and and really to try to get and engage the msba in Windows um as that's something that at the 25e Mark we become eligible right now for the accelerated repair program so we would we'd be putting in that application um I don't know if we start at the end of next fiscal year or during the the year after that but that's that's when we would start going down that path um and meanwhile the state already has our Green School Works applications um and we have all the all the leg work done for the for the roof all right are we ready to vote uh roll call vote to support um the administration Contracting with um um I've lost the name of the company sorry um Brian thank you um to uh move forward with the replacement of the Williamstown Elementary School Playgrounds B and I Constantine I Alin b i green ey Malloy I Miller ey that motion passes thank you everyone um next on the finance committee topic um would be the Mount Greylock Regional School field and track project um change orders within the budget again there is a memo in your packet and um there is a vote on the table Steve would you like to read that vote for us a motion rather yes this is the just finished a second okay so the motion is to i i the motion we passed was a motion to recommend to the full committee to approve the administration bring to to bring change orders back to the project so long as it does not exceed the original amount of 4, 390,000 so the um the items that we would be talking about um in terms of bringing items back in or into the project um would be uh in the memo sorry Carrie yes yeah is is this the motion we want to discuss because this was a motion to recommend to the full committee to approve um okay should the motion be that the full committee approves the administration yeah so if you want to just make I'll rephrase you can just make a new motion and we can exactly that's why I was pausing and reading it because this is not exactly what we want to so I move that we approve the administration to bring change orders back to the project so long as it does not exceed the original amount of 4, 390,000 okay is there a second second thanks Curtis so the items we're specifically talking about are in the um field and track sources and uses funds if you look at the last section where it says outside of current scope but desirable um we have pouring concrete pad to support bleachers and Press Box we have completing walkways as asphalt instead of gravel and we have bleachers and lastly bre box or equivalent so we're talking about um bringing as many of those in as possible but specifically right now the first two so we would be providing the asphalt walkways um which are much better for accessibility and pouring the concrete pad um while we have the concrete pouring equipment on site which just makes a whole lot of sense we can do it there is money in the um budget to do this so we just need a vote to allow the administration to um engage in the in the change orders is there any question discussion hearing none seeing none um roll call vote B and I Constantin I elf and B ey green I Malloy I Miller ey terrific that motion passes as well um all right um Joe would you like to take the next couple the appointments um and authorizations or is that something Jake would like to do yep I can I can certainly okay lead the way there um the the fy2 24 third quarter update we actually did not have have time within the finance subcommittee to uh to be able to tackle that um the gist of it though is is that we believe that even though we've had some some areas where we've been required to spend a whole lot more money than we had originally thought we would um we're going to we have been able to spend less especially within areas like heat snow removal um and and so we think we're going to be able to come out of this year uh not too much more um committed with tuition and choice funds than than we had previously budgeted for um so that's that's where we that's where we stand right now um and we'll be delivering more of an update um as soon as we're able to get get close to closing out the year um in July and then in August we'll we'll actually have that pinned down so that we know exactly where we stand starting um you where we stood starting July 1 of 2024 speaking of the future um so uh the the next item uh is an annual um really both of these items are are performative in many ways uh a school committee legally needs to um annually appoint a district treasur and assistant Treasurer um what we are suggesting that the school committee does is um continues uh with Doner and Reena Sharma their roles as Treasurer and assistant Treasurer um so if somebody would like to move it it would be a motion to appoint Donna ner as the district Treasurer and Reena Sharma as the assistant Treasurer so moved is there a second a second thank you is there any discussion how long have Reena and um Donna been doing this Donna has been our treasure for I believe seven years um it's either six or seven years uh Reena stepped into the role um of assistant Treasurer I believe uh two years ago so this will be her third year she she'll be entering her third year now all right roll call vote B and I Constantine i melin b ey green I Malloy I I thank you motion passes and then the next vote uh is the annual um authorization for our uh Treasurer and assistant Treasurer um to borrow money for the laws of Massachusetts general laws um the the specific thing here just because every once in a while we do get the question so does this mean that they can just go out and borrow however much money the school district needs um the the key phrase here is in anticipation of Revenue um so this tool is there um if our towns or if the state um or if grant funding is not coming in in time to cover uh planned expenditures but it is anticipated as Revenue um and there is a legal detailed kind of set of requirements there um then this would give the treasur the ability to perform short-term borrowing to be able to bridge that gap which would probably be on the order of a few weeks um and it's all through State uh run programs um to facilitate that type of of fiscal management um so if somebody would like to move it the motion is to authorize the district Treasurer Andor the assistant Treasurer under the provisions of the general laws chapter 71 section 16g as amended by chapter 134 of the act of 1972 with the approval of the chair of the school committee to borrow money from time to time in anticipation of revenue for the fiscal year beginning July 1st 2024 and to issue a note or notes as may be given for a period of less than one year in accordance with the general law someone like to make that motion so move is there a second second thank you all in favor must there's discussion any questions okay all in favor B and I ey Elin B ey green ey Malloy I Miller I thank you that motion passes lot of business being taken care of right now um that ends the finance committee report I believe and we move to the superintendent's report and that is you Jake thank you Carrie um do want to say thank you to to a couple grp sorry hang on one second Joe did I miss something for you I was just say I I I uh I can jump in here Jake if you want oh I I'm I'm happy to step in first and then if you want to jump in and save me as usual I I would welcome that um just a a word of thanks first of all Joe and I went to the uh to the well first of all most importantly I do want to thank the the people that were good enough to join us tonight the the the parents and the Guardians and the caretakers who uh love their children and love other people's children and and want us to do better and uh are willing to help us do better we're grateful for your time and I apologize for the hurt and the frustration that uh that our district um that that happens uh on our our schools Turf and our district Turf um I do want to thank the Williamstown rotary for having Joe and I in uh to speak with them and have a good conversation with them uh earlier this week it was a lot of good give and take around uh a host of issues and we appreciate that time um into also along the lines of thank you I don't know how many of you saw it but on our varsity baseball field about a month and a half ago um we must have had a Micro Burst or a micro system of a storm that completely lifted up and flattened uh our visiting team dugout and uh it was literally the the roof was about six feet behind where it usually sits there was almost like a cartoon the walls collapsed out the roof flew back uh and it was it was a real mess and uh with the first baseball game I think about three days away at that point um so first layer of gratitude to our custodial team for being up here on the weekend and and finding it and Reporting it and letting us get going on it second layer of thank you to our colle colleagues over at mccan uh vocational technical school who came over on that Monday morning uh four people came over from McAn and took a look at it and we talked about how they would be able to help when they would be able to help and uh and uh you know we had a good conversation about what some of the issues may have been and perhaps how this was caused and what we could do about it and ultimately because they are so communitymed Ed they have projects keeping them occupied for the good of the community probably well into the summer definitely uh up until the end of the school year uh so at that point Joe why don't now I hand it over to you since you really um handled the details and and worked with the folks who who we really want to thank who directly took care of this yeah the the extended scansa OPM team um that is currently working on on our field and track project um a number of them uh volunteered their time on on weekends and early mornings and evenings to really bring this the The Dugout back to life um Aon singer cder cots uh Chris Walsh Scott Grant uh and I'm sure there there are others that I missed um so I really appreciate them them stepping in and and volunteering to take care of that with all of their um expertise and abil so it was it was wonderful to to see it all come back in a way that um we never could have imagined uh when we first saw the damage yeah and we really appreciate their uh their efforts to get us back on track for uh for wrapping up one of our athletic seasons and uh it was a a great team effort um any questions about that if not I will move on to the next piece and I am going to do a share screen with this um we want to you'll notice on your agendas there is no vote on this and that's because it's not a vote this is really informational at this point this will be going uh to the policy subcommittee for um them to take a couple of looks at uh over uh the summer at least one look since it is a is essentially a a revision of a current policy but um as I stated in my superintendent goals I am growing increasingly alarmed by by many things but but one of which is the the uh proliferation of mobile devices and schools and what what the use of those devices and the kinds of use that they're getting are and how frequently they're used um even in very academic settings and uh the impact that that is having on all of our students and um you may remember several months ago is some of our neighboring school districts were moving to adopt uh no cell phones at all during the school day policies and and several of our neighbors in fact moving toward um a technological solution of their own which are the Yonder pouches where students actually have their cell phones locked up in a bag uh for the day to ensure they're not using it and if you recall my Sunny optimism drove my response of I I think we can work with our students and uh and effectively handle this um with without ramping up our policy without um forbidding devices alog together um and certain without the help of these of these bags um or or other things that sort of lock up students cell phones literally lock up uh over the course of a day um over that time lots and lots of conversations with superintendent both around the region and across the Commonwealth um a lot of reading about the impact of uh social media on students and and the sort of constant barrage that is available to students and the constant barrage of texts and WhatsApp messages um and I my thinking on this has evolved um we're very grateful our student council over at Mount Greylock Regional School worked really hard with principal schutz uh last year and early this year to to work with a plan to reduce the use and abuse of M devices during the school day really grateful to our staff for working to adhere to our current practices um that we're all in an effort to minimize the distractions and the challenges that mobile devices present for us in a school setting um we're grateful to our students for most of our students most of the time uh did what they were asked to do and uh and and did engage in respectful and appropriate use of their devices um by and large this work is successful to some degree but it puts an inordinate amount of of monitoring effort on our staff uh I think it adds an inordinate amount of peer pressure to the six or six and a half hours of the day that our students spend with us um the pressure to answer that text to to answer the WhatsApp message to look at uh their social media and to use their phones other for other reasons than than doing school work um we opted this year to respect this work and the workers and try this and we're really grateful to everyone who's involved in that however uh this approach of allowing devices to be in schools and to be out in school and to be used in the hallways in between classes during break and at lunch um and an effort to uh educate our students and I and I'm really seeing some typos I need to correct sorry I'm distracted by that um it it worked to some degree it was successful to a point as I said we had lots of conversations um and we continued to educate ourselves about what it really means to have uh mobile devices just um so prolific in our school buildings with our students during the day even at times uh in the elementary schools believe it or not particularly the Upper Elementary grades um we did a lot of research we looked at a lot of stuff we were fortunate enough to have a gentleman named Max stasel uh and to do a presentation for our faculty and for families at night um Mr stasel has actually does this for a living now he goes around and talks about you know the use of the cell phone the use of the mobile devices Once Upon a Time his job was essentially to create um to create the systems within applications including uh a social media application or two that would absolutely use the best research in the wiring of young people's brains to get them hooked uh onto social media platforms and and uh to to make them um feel certain things when certain colors show up or certain achievements are are reached and um he's quite expert in this and he has since left that field and now is dedicated himself um to to to teaching about this um so these are the things we know this is just super surface in a nutshell the basics of of what is out there in terms of research going back about a decade um eliminating the distraction of mobile phones will increase scores grades and other measures of student achievement um particularly for lower performing groups of student students um there are just some students who you know no matter what they will achieve but students that are struggling to achieve um this this level of distraction um and not only the distraction itself but worrying about what they're missing on their phone as they're sitting in class and their phone is in their pocket or in their bag or sitting on their lap um it's it's measurably distracting and and measurably measurably impacts student achievement uh as I said even the presence not even the use but just the presence of a phone is measurably distracting and can negatively impact the performance and attentiveness of students not only to one another but to their teacher to what's happening around them um young adults are more likely to become clinically depressed when on social media more than five hours a day um compared to those who are on social media for for two hours or fewer less than two hours a day um that that five hours a day is quite interesting to me you know we all know because we probably went to a school that was the same a school day um the time that students are sitting in class you know particularly academic classes not including lunch not including breaks not including Hall passing time is about five hours and that's that's five or six hours that that we as the adults who um run this school district and and you all as the adults that help facilitate that and our families as the adults who want their kids to come to school and and learn uh and learn positive things um we we have some control over some things during that period of the day this is one of those things that we do have control of nationally 82% of parents of middle school students do not want their middle school students to be carrying their cell phones nationally this is interesting private Andor Independent Schools are twice as likely to forbid mobile devices being present during the school day as are their Public School counterparts um it's interesting here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts it's very clear to me that the department of Elementary and secondary Ed would like to just straight up ban uh mobile devices being um allowed in schools and and allowing students to use them during the school day I think that's clear I am wrong about a hundred things a day so I could be wrong but I also think the Desi respects the processes that are in place to let the 370 so uh independent school districts and then the the 150 public charter schools uh out there um create their own policies and make their own decisions so what desie has done is they have funded pilot studies and and pilot programs to see you know how can we do this how can we share best practice um I would encourage you to look at away forthe day.org um that really is sort of a compendium of of a nationwide movement to um to really limit accessibility to mobile devices particularly cellones during the school day um I would also encourage you to to take a look at a at a at a national organization called wait till 8th which is um a sort of a parent Guardian and caretaker Empowerment Group trying to get people to wait until their students are in eighth grade to actually be an an owner and a daily carrier of a mobile device um continuing with our Evolution we know that social media sites are designed to be addictive we know that non-school mobile devices present both the potential and the reality of being a very distracting distraction Rich tool at best and really have the power to be a weapon at worst and uh like other things we've discuss tonight be be something that can create real actual lasting harm we know that little of academic or social emotional value is actually added to a Young Person's Day by mobile devices and we really know that that's true for the six hours a day that they are um I would almost say asked to spend with us but required by law to spend with us uh to continue to depend on educating students about the the correct use and the appropriate use and the controlled use the self-controlled use of mobile devices is vital that's a mission we're going to continue on um but it's also vital just as as parents and Guardians and caretakers and all of us have to do once in a while as a parent is to do something that's really really not popular um and that unpopular thing in this case is exercising our ability to not allow mobile devices in our schools and out in our schools during the school um and so we will be bringing to the policy subcommittee on June 30 uh policy JT student-owned technology devices um I'm not going to read this whole thing to you but uh but but I would suggest that you take a look through this this is what's going to be going to the policy subcommittee um there are cross references that we are also bringing to the subcommittee to uh revise um and essentially if I can direct you to the third full paragraph student-owned technology devices must be powered off and either not present within school buildings or stored in a school designated location throughout the school day this policy does not apply before the start of the school day or after the end of the school day exceptions to the above presence and use rules may be made by building principles primarily for medical or um legitimate educational purposes and so what this means the reason why we're not moving down the path of spending um many thousands of dollars on Yonder bags um students have found a hundred ways to get around those and um I I just don't feel it's I don't feel it's respectful um and I don't think it's a good investment on our part um we are looking though at each of our three schools has different capabilities Lanesboro Elementary School for instance has lockers for every one of its students um Williamstown Elementary School does not have lockers they use shelves and and coat hooks and so each school will be working and and of course Mount grey lock has lockers and students backpacks Etc um and so each school will be delineating for the start of the school year where phones are allowed to be where iPads are allowed to be where Kindles are allowed to be where smartw watches are allowed to be where student-owned laptop computers particularly in Mount Greylock for a student that might be leaving um a few days a week to go attend a class at Williams where those devices can be during the school day while on our campus no matter where the school determines and we help the school determine where these are to be um they must be powered off and then of course um you know discipline policies will be drafted associated with students that that do not follow these policies um and as always student known devices that are lost or stolen while at school that is that is sadly on the student and uh on their their their family or their Guardians um so this is the policy that we will be taking um as we move forward let's recognize a couple of things all of our students do have um School issued Chromebooks and so we are not we are not taking away anybody's ability to use an electronic device for uh for the good of their of their academic betterment um all students do have access to go to the office to use the office telephones many of our classrooms are equipped with uh two-way telephones that are capable of of calling out should should that become necessary although uh we don't think it will um and students are likewise reachable by caretakers Guardians and their family through the office telephone um students can have mobile devices in their lockers and schools where there are lockers um but having them out during the day have them powered up will result in consequences um there's certainly going to be conversation with uh with with people out in the community about well in an emergency I really need to be able to reach my child I need to know that they're okay if there was an emergency of that magnitude where you felt the need to reach out to your student and and check on their their okayness um we really need those students to be paying perfect attention to the adult that's with them who is giving them instructions on how to stay safe and where to stay safe um in an event like that uh Communications home will follow at an appropriate time um I I think that if you asked any people that are responders to emergency situations um they would suggest that having two or 3 hundred people all of whom are trying to use their phones simply uh has great potential to add to the confusion of an already confusing and scary situation um look we realize I fully realize that this uh this policy adoption will not be popular with many people and I completely get that but we also know what the right thing for the social Wellness the emotional wellness and the academic health of our students is and um I you know was having a conversation with Max stasel when he was here and um uh one of the things that I asked him just very bluntly is so you know if you're a principal or you're a superintendent what's one thing you do that will make this better he did he did this somebody that that has worked with hundreds if not thousands of school districts and definitely tens of thousands of students um he said if I have one thing I ban these that's that's like thank you for asking me a dumb question um but but I would ban them uh that was pretty much his response is is kids are at school for a finite number of hours the research is super clear there's almost nothing good and positive that comes out of student access to mobile devices um during the school day and so um that's allow students to engage with one another that's allow students to engage with their teachers and that's allow them to do it without the distraction of worrying about what what is on that found um the policies implementation will be supported through work on procedures for enforcement and discipline um and how we're going to approach where these are uh at each school where is an appropriate and safe place to keep these uh and we will be looking at uh exceptions to this um on a one-on-one basis I think the most striking exception would be um for instance a student that perhaps uses a smartphone as a glucose monitor because of a health concern there could be other health concerns where something has to be monitored pretty closely throughout the day and the student is the person who who has agency over that monitoring so we will have some exceptions the school district acknowledges that restricting school day usage of student-owned Technologies is not a comprehensive response to this topic we know this will not solve the problem and the in the multitude of problems including cyber bullying and and and incidents of bias that are that are embedded emboldened empowered and inflamed through the anonymity uh sometimes of Technology um this is not a comprehensive response to the topic we will continue to work on educating and providing resources to students families and the whole Community to better understand some of the harm that being caused and and the power of responsible use of technology so at this point no vote tonight not asking you to be you know on record for this um this policy will go to the policy and governance subcommittee to run through our process and um I will be communicating to our our uh employees this evening or tomorrow morning that this is happening we're looking at sending something out to families uh on Monday I am certain by tomorrow at about 7:40 um the young folks who who comprise the student body at mgrs will be aware of this um uh and Joe and I are going to meet with the mgrs student council on Tuesday to talk with them about this and uh provide an explanation provide a ration now and hear what their thoughts are for how do we enact this smoothly and fairly and in a way that feels uh respectful so I'm happy to hear any comments any thoughts uh any questions on this Jose see your hand first thank you Jake um just wanted to to clarify uh how you envision the process and then for folks who are who are here with us tonight who might be listening in or who might be listening or or or you know watching this this meeting later um when the policy and governance subcommittee reviews the draft policy there'll be opportunities for community members to provide feedback either directly to the subcommittee or or or to the full committee when the full committee has an opportunity to to review and discuss and then potentially it sounds like what what might be scheduled in the future would would be a vote of the full committee is that right can just walk us through in terms of what how you see the process playing out all of all of those are correct Jose um these these uh this this will be going to the policy and governance subcommittee um Joe is this a change of a current policy I'm just struggling to remember is this a brand new th this is a brand new policy so the policy subcommittee will take it up later this month yeah and then we're going to end up going through the June July and then August meeting so that we get it yeah I mean one area where I am honestly a little bit um I want to make sure that that the policy subcommittee SS its he into this quickly and that in the June meeting the school committee gets to see it um because the the ensuing process of making sure that the schools amend their handbooks with the procedures necessary to support this policy that's also going to be a summerlong endeavor um but in order for us just given the lead time in order to get anything in place like we're kind of we're already in the the 11th Hour in terms of being able to make sure so we do need to make sure that the school committee is on board with the policy soon so that then we can do all the follow-up work that's required for implementation of that policy thanks thanks Joe and then it sounds like you know typically a policy or topic that the subcommittee might take on to review you um would appear as an information item one could argue and this we need your help whether this would be effectively that kind of kind of post even though it may not be listed on the agenda as such if if that's the case in June at our full committee meeting there might be an opportunity for a first read after which um the full committee would have an opportunity to provide feedback comment uh questions and our community members would have an opportunity to either pose directly to us as a full committee or individually comments questions concerns that the subcommittee would then take up and if I've got this correct then in July we would schedule a second read and then a potential vote for a policy is that correct Jee that that is correct Jose tonight is really the informational item it's it's putting out to you and anybody that that you know views the meeting uh reads about the meeting um that uh that this is business that is going to be coming up um in our case multiple times uh I I do think there's some school districts that went about this in a different way sort of treating it as a as a school procedure rather than a than a school committee policy we felt like the the most appropriate way was to was was to treat it this way um to to to allow for really two to three months of pretty full consideration of this by elected officials and others thanks Jak I'll also add that the the masc does not have a model policy here um and we could not find any other implemented public school policy so we we drafted this um as a team and we tried to be as thorough but concise to keep things within the policy realm that should be policy and then to allow procedure to be where procedure needs to go but to end up making sure that the school committee declares what needs to happen and then everybody else will figure out how to make it happen julo I'm I'm uh maybe on thinking about this timeline as well and the um consideration we need to give to this I and we haven't it's been a long time I think since we've actually developed a new policy and maybe ever developed a policy of our own um and I'm just I'm thinking about uh the schools that I interact with who have who do this kind of thing consistently Express that if it's not universally applied there are some teachers who um you know like there's you can you can just imagine the the like um how you make it happen I get we're just polic how you make it happen can actually be really really challenging and so I I feel like there are steps in this process around um research or additional perspectives that the policy committee might need to think about writing the right policy to recognize the challenges in implementation so I'm I I guess I'm flagging I'm a little bit worried about the timeline and maybe Jose I'm saying to you we may need to meet more often um Jose and Curtis um uh because I I'm on board and I'm supportive and I want to make sure we do this well but I do think there's a lot of input that we are going to need and I just want to name we've never we haven't gone into this realm before uh that's probably an appropriate time to say we've also in in providing this Baseline draft um all levels of the administration have already spent considerable time doing that research having those discussions talking about all the edge cases you know we we cited the medical or educational uses whether medical the most likely would be glucose monitoring educational the most likely would be an assisted device that's emitted through an IEP and the family has a strong preference for a personal device rather than one provided by the school district like those those are educ Cas trying to figure out what happens when students have multiple households um and and they need to be able to uh to shift um possessions including a device from one household to another we we've been we're going to have some robust discussion during the next policy subcommittee meeting and there will be a number of us there to uh to offer all of what we've learned and tried to tried to embed within this effort and and a piece of it like everything else and joy you know um uh you we we may ultimately wind up going to something like the Yonder bags I I think we are try we are trying to give uh the teachers who know this is the right thing to do and who are dedicated to having this be the right thing to do we are trying to give them that's one of the reasons we went the policy route rather than just kind of enacting this as I think some of our neighbors did um we want this ultimately to track back to a in the policy manual thing so that principles can hold the people that they supervise accountable for you know we we it because you're right it it it it works best when it works unilaterally uh across all people and uh and across all the GR UPS in the building and and I think part and parcel with this is also a conversation we've already started having among the those of us who are adults in the buildings which is and and we we we need to be more mindful too about our own use of our devices um I have given that a great deal of thought I don't think it's something that legally or contractually we can we can uh we can force that I don't know that it would be a good idea to force that but I do think it's a fair enough conversation to say we need to be mindful about modeling the most appropriate behavior for students uh I think our our principles would have they would have liked us to do this at this time last year um so I I am hopeful that that whatever the road bumps are the frequency of how we need to get together we can be in a position that when kids come back um and unless the committee you know unless the notion is this is just not the right thing to do not the right way you know which is your prerogative but if if we are able to move forward with it we would certainly hope it's in time for the school year to start any other questions yeah Jake yeah jumping in just can't tell if you my hand was visible yeah I I could not so thank you I thought I saw something flash up so thank you no I wanted to uh to ask you about um what the you know efforts by the Commonwealth to support this whether it be through assistance and policy crafting or grant opportunities to support um to support this this effort yeah it was it it was a grand opportunity Jose um and it was it was you know under under the former commissioner it was under commissioner Riley um who you know I really think is he um and this was a couple of months before he he announced that he was uh moving on to do something else I think he had a couple of things really really Weighing on him one of which was was just the The Chronic absenteeism which which uh just sky rocketed uh during Co and and in many communities after Co has not un skyrocketed uh and I and I think the um the the data around um and I'm not I'm GNA be really careful with my language here because I I never want to hyperbolize something as serious as anything having to do with kids but um some of the really most dire consequences through um cyber bullying um through through sexting that one assumes is from one person to another person but in reality is from one person to who knows how many people because of a decision made by the receiver um that just the the life shattering consequences I think of of some of social media use uh were were in and and student to student electronic communication I I think we're really Weighing on him as as a leader and um and so you know this this really came out um I think there was lots of support from the ed schools at the University level across the Commonwealth and the form Jose to actually answer your question the form that it took was in Grants of $110,000 and and I would say that about 85 to 90% of the grant recipients I don't think that number was by accident um that's that's about what it would cost us to enter into a contract to purchase the Yonder bags that lock up um and and that's where most districts put the money some districts you know I I know this mostly just just from walking around my neighborhood and having my neighborhood Elementary School beep on my my route every morning um Pittsfield clearly you know there there's like posters in almost every window you know just reminding students it's it's not it's not out and it's not on during the school day um so that's that was the support from the Commonwealth I I think in in I I I really think that the the commonwealths approach is that this needs to be a decision made by people in the towns where they live and where they work and um if it was if it came out as a state mandate it would likely be considered an un unfunded mandate which would be problematic um and I also think that the that desie is a great respector of the work that you all do uh as elected school committee members so the support was there's not a ton of support in terms of policy I said masc is kind of been silent on it um there's there's Limited support in terms of resources like if you want to learn more about this look at this uh it was really you know doing what what the department of Ed does best which is we're going to give you money come up with solutions for use our money to come up with Solutions and then share back to us what you did and what's working and and there was just on the superintendent list serve a message uh just last week there was a message out about hey is anybody else working on some means of starting out the school year with with just no cell phones and uh you know really specifically to those Grant recipients and the answer that came back was primarily um yes we we we we bought Yonder bags and we're GNA continue with that program if if I could Jake just to just to ask you to to follow up and uh we we heard at the start of our meeting um the concerns and experiences of of many of our parents in the district um and you in in just your response in terms of what partly motivates this this potentially new policy around the use of of cell phones in our district this this desire to um promote and ensure you know uh a learning environment that celebrates diversity that uh is is as inclusive as it possibly can be and one that you know promotes a sense of belonging by by all students and I'm wondering if this is a moment that you could remind us all about what you know as our district leader you know what your um where you stand on this and how your your values your perspective on diversity Equity inclusion and belonging sort of motivates this particular policy and maybe you know what we're trying to achieve as a district yeah I I thanks for throwing out such a light question uh Jose or or are passing on such a light question um uh I look this is my 203d year of being an educational leader in the berkers um one of the things I can say about being staying in the same geographic region that is sort of like one giant small town is if there's any secrets about me um I would be really surprised um I think my reputation precedes me um I I hope so I I will say that Mount Greylock has presented challenges unlike any place I have ever been um in in terms of just being flx at times over uh what do we need to do sometimes with the adult and sometimes with with the student uh to to get people to not engage in blatantly racist language practices um and I would add to racist uh anti-semitic um misogynistic uh treating people that are perceived as poor as less than human treating people with disabilities uh as less than human um I have convictions that come from a much deeper place than simply being an educator about about the the the value of every human being um listening to the six or seven speakers tonight was as hard for me to hear as it was for you to hear um I know some things about some of those situations I think as as uh Kim niichel suggested and I've said in meetings 20 times before for everything that we're aware of we assume there's a hundred things we're not aware of um I also know from you know having three kids gone through University or or two and and three qus kids get through through University um this this I I you'll never hear me say we can fix this you will you will hear me say time and time again we can be better we can be better we can support students we we have procedures that we follow we have I I can tell you that that our administrative team has been wrestling with one of the Notions that one of the folks that spoke here tonight put forward about you know can we should we legally is it is it doable to force a set of parents to come in and have a mediation with another set of parents is it appropriate to suspender in school suspend a 5-year-old who is saying something that they picked up from some somewhere which you know is devastating um you know I I don't know and I don't know Jose I'm not quite sure how to tie this into the current topic that we're talking about other than um the fact that there is certainly there is certainly a decent amount of racist misogynistic hateful in maybe not all of its forms but many of its forms available um online through various social media platforms I think we have kids saying things that they don't even have any idea what they mean because they have seen them in a video um I just feel like you know from a from a from a civil rights perspective from an anti- rist perspective we we can't parents can't Shield their kids from everything and and and it's ironic to say because you have also heard me say it's really hard to be in a position where you're held accountable for what people in your community do and say um it's hard to the point of despare at times and that's not saying that to feel bad for me that's just simply a reality of leadership um and there's so much that we can't control as Educators as Leaders this piece strikes me as something that we can control we we don't allow students to bring knives into school that's because they could hurt themselves they could hurt others we don't allow students to bring um their pets into school because that pet could hurt them it could hurt others um I I would just I would really struggle to see what what good a student owned mobile device is doing that student or the the 200 other students in their school or 400 other students in their school 600 other students in their school I'm not sure what good it's doing them thank you Jake thank you thank you anybody else I can't see everybody at the same time so if anybody I don't think anyone has their hand up okay you want to move on to the Staffing updates yeah the Staffing updates is very brief and uh we really just you know this this budget season like every budget season has been kind of fraught with okay we have a pretty good idea right from the beginning about how much is going to be available to us uh given the the juggling act that our towns have to do and um we we do understand the challenge that uh individual homeowners individual property owners are facing in that um the pandemic drove up prices um people that are moving in a new are paying higher interest rates than those of us that have been living here for years and years and years we have families um almost monthly making a call oftentimes in tears because they can't afford to live in our communities anymore and want to know what their options are uh around how how can I keep my child with their friends with their peers um even though we just literally cannot afford to live here anymore so we we get the budgetary constraints that individual households are under we get the budgetary constraints that um towns are under as a result of that and so you know even even in a community or two communities that to the rest of the world you step back and say you're super wealthy communities um we struggle with our budget every year just like lots of other places and and we get much much less help from the state with that struggle than many of our neighbors and that is perfectly appropriate and that is perfectly Equitable because that's how the system works and it's a really good system in Massachusetts we should be proud of that um so we have budget struggles we present a number you vote on a number some of that budget is written in stone some of it is wow we really hope that these three or four things don't happen and we really hope that these three or four things go our way so we can actually stick within the confines of this budget um we added staff during covid using covid money we did not add many staff but we added um prior to to covid prior to Joe and I's first year here um neither Elementary School had a school social worker uh and Mount Greylock Regional School was at the time served by one social worker so that's where we invested our money and then we invested our money in um in in teachers uh to to help students better become empathetic socially and emotionally healthy individuals um now that that money's gone we look around and we realize those individual employees although they were hired with that money they cannot be gone um they serve a a layers of purpose to our students uh in some cases they have become incredibly important people in the lives of our young people in some cases they are making things possible in our buildings to happen good healthy positive things that have to happen happen and there's nobody to pick up the pieces where we to budgetarily not be able to afford them um they increase the diversity of of our of our uh teaching staff and our in our service staff is all of us are servants to kids um and those are just things that we decided we could not live without but we did um if you'll remember back to our multiple budget meetings we're looking at nearly a doubling of the amount of money that needs to go to serve really nuanced very specific needs needs among students on individual education plans and uh you know we we went from about 300,000 350,000 to to to over $700,000 in that um for multiple reasons but it's but it's money that literally we have to spend ethically we have to spend legally we could probably figure something out but the ethical part overrides uh you know everything else um so we find ourselves that we that we just can't do everything that we wanted to do and so really the the Primary Staffing update is we are anticipating starting up next school year with with the same staff numbers in virtually the same positions in all three of our schools that we had this year um the one programmatic reduction that allows us to do a couple of other things and to generate Savings in a in in a little other in a couple of other Pockets that allow us to keep the people that we must keep because they do good work for kids um particularly those newer hires who would be among the first to go um for the way things have to happen uh we we are we are not taking new seventh graders into our Latin program this year so that's sort of the that's the I'm giving you the I'm burying the headline we are not bringing new uh seventh graders into our Latin program we are um shifting eth and as many ninth graders as we can into the Spanish program now just for transparency what this does is um this this starts the process of getting the Mount Greylock Regional School to a single World Language offering uh upper school um I think that's a conversation we need to have about what do we offer in what amount and even the conversation about when do we offer it I.E is it something that could be embedded at the elementary school um although I see multiple roadblocks to that that are incredibly difficult to overcome primarily from just all the stuff that we absolutely have to do at the elementary school but but just for the sake of clarity um when students that are sophomores Junior seniors entered into be Latin students of seventh graders there was sort of a tacit agreement made between them their families and the school district that they would be able to finish their Latin studies um we are committed to allowing those students those 12th grade next year's 12th graders 11th graders 10th graders um finish their Latin program what that looks like is ultimately a stepped up reduction of Latin to the point where we we may have um to go to another option to teach La if if should the teacher who has a full-time job next year choose to go elsewhere we would understand that we would be as helpful to him as we possibly could be um we would need to bring somebody else in but we may get to a point two years down the road where we're saying the the final year of Latin is done through virtual high school or by some other means other than an in-person teacher in the room in in uh in necessarily real time happening in Williamstown massachusett so that's really we we just wanted to make all of you aware of that we wanted to make everybody that watches this meeting aware of that um are are following the Argentina trip uh that that are Advanced uh Spanish um language students went on over a break I think there's been an uptick of interest in Spanish and particularly students who were thinking ah I'm not going to do AP um I was just talking to the person that teaches that yesterday it's it's um that trip really generated excitement it was it was it was a very good experience for the students we are going to be welcoming some students from the school that our students visited uh into our school next year for a visit and uh it's really an amazing opportunity to have linguistic exchange cultural exchange People to People exchange um so but we we did want to make you aware of this I mean all of you are are seeing this for what it is that it's it's a gradual stepping away from Latin but it is a stepping away from the Latin program uh and I think we're looking at about it's it's between 17 and 20 students who were signed up initially for um Latin one or the first for seventh grade Latin next year um they are going to be given uh the option of going into a Spanish section and um and and this could be fraught with challenges particularly if the teacher decides that that this is not for them and it's time for them to go but um it is allowing us to keep all of our other programs uh including our seal programs and some pretty heavy duty student support programs in place so happy to have any qu I'm sorry that was such a long explanation for something that could have been a sentence but it but it's important we realize it's it's bigger than just we're not taking new seventh graders into this class or that class anybody with questions or concerns about that I I think there'll definitely be more discussion to come and and and really I think like the bigger picture taking it up a notch is how do we want to approach World languages as a uh as a school um and I think the the faculty and the staff at Mount Greylock are having that same conversation and certainly we would welcome uh Guardians and caretakers and parents to to have that and students who this ultimately impacts into that conversation that is that is the the the Staffing update for next year Carrie thank you Jake you're welcome all right uh oh Jose yeah thank you Jake um I think you know we we've talked about well I think this this particular topic might take time for um folks to digest um could you walk us through how you envision I mean there there well I guess I'm curious the the way you you've pitched it you know we're constrained in terms of what our budget can sustain you know in terms of the variety of programming Services courses that we we offer as a district uh particularly in the middle scho High School um but you suggested there may be an opportunity to revisit how we approach Global languages how we um provide opportunities for our students to learn you know Global languages um how do you see that discussion in terms of thinking about you know curricular Pathways to explore Global language is playing out in the context of this constrain you know you our financial constraints that we we find ourselves in um yeah how do how do you see this playing out and and do you do you have a sense of a of a timeline in terms of how you know could could we ever be in a position that's that's the real the real question could we ever be in a position to offer a second Global language uh at mon Brock Regional School District you're on mute Jak thanks Jeff that might have been a huge relief for everybody who's listening um uh thank you Jose I do want to talk I I hate to talk about educating kids and it it it seems so bureaucratic and so inhumane to talk about not being able to afford to do things um so so I want to talk about something else first and then we'll get back to that um I I think that um in a our high school has about 300 350 students that's a 9 through 12 um that is going to just that in and of itself is very organically going to limit the number of things that we can offer uh it is you know research going back 20 30 years would suggest um 400 n through 12th graders is just sort of the bottom bottom edge of where you can offer not only a robust curriculum but a widish curriculum that that is not only what the state requires not only what your College Bound kids are are going to to really need but and not only what your students who the state labels the students with disabilities are going to need which is not optional ethically or legally um at 400 you start to open up a little bit having having been an assistant principal in a in a high school with 1,400 kids um it was remarkable to me the things that we could offer there having been a superintendent Lee with about 250 night through 12th graders it was remarkable how difficult that was to offer Rich robust interesting options other than English social studies math and science and a couple of foreign languages um Pittsfield High School as a parent and as superintendent um French Spanish Latin and Italian um there was not one of the seven and a half years that I worked there did we have a full staff that was that was you know it was it was a mish mash cobbled together um it was a solution it was not a good solution so there there's there's things outside of money which really impact this uh the the school day is is the length that it is um you know we we Mount Greylock to its credit and I suspect to its credit for a long time has offered a really interesting array of electives to students that many many schools are size are not able to offer or if they do offer them it's through virtual high school or some other electronic means so um we we do not want to give that up but you know it is money and and to answer the money question I don't see the finances getting better um we we spend and um I want to rephrase that because that s That Could That Could sound to somebody listening really disrespectful our communities support our schools adequately at a minimum and excellently I think most times in reality and especially when they're able to um the state budgeting process this year has just been unlike anything I've seen for a few years we are still on pins and needles uh around um is the mandated free Universal free lunch going to be supported budgetarily as we sit here tonight the answer is no it's not that's not going to be funded fully from the state I'm very hopeful that ultimately it will be but it's not as we're sitting here looking ahead to next year um rural school aid which we qualify for because we are a a low density population set of communities last year we received $90,000 um through rural school aid $90,000 in our budget is a big deal um this year I think as we sit here tonight Joe you can correct me if I'm wrong we're sitting looking at about half of that amount as we as we move into next year um we so you know I I I want to be really respectful and say that our communities do do above and beyond they certainly do the minimum they certainly do well well well beyond the minimum that the state actually requires them to do and and um both of our towns Lanesboro and Williamstown have been excellent Partners in doing the work of budgeting uh I've never seen better Communications and relationship um even if we all don't absolutely agree we all know where the other is coming from and have understanding uh so uh at what point do we suddenly look around and say hey we've got $250,000 we're not quite sure what to do with that's that's pilot um Chinese in in starting in third grade at West um or that's pilot this program which helps us draw you know a more diverse teaching um you know Cadre or that's do this program that pays for um every senior to have a college course over the course of their senior year there's I I don't think we're ever going to reach that point the Commonwealth seems to be on a different trajectory than it has been um our communities I think are doing everything they can um so I I think and I think I can speak for Joe we're grateful and optimistic that our communities will support our work every single year but certainly no no um misconceptions that we are suddenly going to either from the state or our localities have have have pools of funding that are going to allow us to do really everything that's on our aspiration board um and as we you know reach you know as as we're sitting at this point in this meeting tonight I I think we've heard multiple times in multiple ways there are areas where we just simply must invest more both in time and money so I I would be lying if I pay a super Rosy picture for well if we can get through this year and get through next year it'll be better times ahead I I don't I don't know that that's the case and um and I suspect the needs of our students are going to continue in an in an ascending Direction not a descending Direction and so really um our ability to keep up with that financially is a challenge from year to year our ability to keep up with that professionally from year to year with our professional staff from me through the organizational chart is is a challenge from year to year um yeah yeah I don't I don't know if I answered your question but but I I'm not I'm not seeing exclusively sunny days ahead it's helpful Jake thank you so much thank you you're welcome Julia um yeah I you have put into words what I know we've been kind of growing our awareness of over the last um you know through the budget hearings Etc and effectively we approved a budget um with a structural deficit that is getting filled by our reserves uh correct I mean that's correct and and we know that can't happen again um and we know that um there were some there's some hope that some schedule adjustments might be able to help us slightly increase class sizes and decrease faculty but I feel like this conversation around um the Latin program is maybe the canary and the coalmine of having of coal mine of needing to have a much bigger conversation about what our values are as a community and um how we balance it all within the means that we have um and so I'm I'm not sure how that works haven't been on the school committee when we had to have those kinds of hard conversations and so I guess I'm wondering if that's if that's something that the finance committee at least if that's the right place can POS a process like we need to I mean we need I I think we need to be spending more time talking about um what is what what and and one of our commenters said this earlier today where we spend our money is what our values are and so let's like how do we really get at how our budget is a is a reflection of our values Steve yeah so uh following up on what Julia said you know the Canarian a CO mind is unfortunately I think a very good image of where we're going uh in terms of what we can do next absolutely this is something Finance can consider but this is why I have been saying for months that we should have a Alliance of school committee members superintendents and the teachers unions and go to the state and the federal government and say look at where you're spending the money every dollar you spend on X is a dollar that's not available for y and so I could say far more about specifically which monies I don't think should be spended on specific items um I know we'll talk a little bit about this when we get to the masc uh report a little bit later but I would say that the biggest thing we have to do is we're doing Band-Aids here we're doing a couple thousand dollars when we're talking about billions of dollars at the state and trillions of dollars at the federal level if we want to have any chance of stopping things these things grow exponentially the longer we wait the harder it's going to be so I'll leave it at that for now thank you Steve so I mean the the process has been Julia that the uh Administration works with uh building leaders who work with faculty in the school buildings and school governance councils uh to bring budget priorities to the school committee but what we haven't done at least not recently is a conversation with how well our decision making is aligning with our mission because we've been responding to um you know requests that have come up as they should through our process um and budgetary pressures that are coming down from different areas and it may be worth a meeting dedicated in the summer or part of a meeting dedicated in the Summer where we have less of an agenda sometimes we don't meet in July um maybe this is a year where we do meet in July um and we start to really think about where we want to see ourselves going um with the limited resources that we foree in the future um it's something that I think you know we can we can certainly think about planning those discussions now um for a time when when we are focusing Less on what's going on during the Academic Year and then planning for for what's coming thank you um all right well thank you for that um MC I I um just wanted to bring to your attention I know this committee has talked a little bit about resolutions and the problematic uh wording of some resolutions in the past um it is an opportunity now that anyone in you know the state of Massachusetts has uh to Jo join the resolutions committee it is not an masc board committee um you should have all received emails about this I think there's a deadline maybe 1 to express interest in joining a resolutions committee the committee I believe is meeting on April 20th so if you're not available at April on April 20th at 6m to go to marbor mass do you mean May June I'm sorry um April did I say April wow you said April uh what do I mean I must be June um do you know what day of the week it was yeah I have it on my calendar hang on one May 20th is a Monday and June 20th is a Thursday resolutions hang on one second um June 20th thank you okay yep yes they're meeting June 20th so that must mean June 1st is the deadline for um letting masc know that you're interested in serving on the committee um there is also an expiration of the resolutions um that are listed in the packet um they're due to expire some of them uh well all the ones that are listed in the pack that are due to expire next November um so I wanted to just also bring those to your attention um we have the the ability to uh take a vote as a committee to keep a resolution um on the table so to speak um the resolutions form the platform for lobbying on behalf of the masc so you know if if there are resolutions that are U being supported by the you know committees in the Commonwealth then that is what the masc uh board and the M staff are going to lobby for at the state capital so um one resolution that I am particularly interested in uh continuing to support is resolution seven poverty and children so um that is on the agenda for a vote it just means that um if we wanted to uh agree as a committee to keep that resolution active um then we would take a vote to do so and we would let the Mas know that we had voted um if there are other resolutions that members of the committee are interested in preserving um we could vote on those as well so I would like to begin by moving um that the mount gry lock Regional school committee uh support the continued advocacy for resolution 7 poverty and children would anyone like to second that Miller I'll second even though I will abstain problem all right um so discussion again I don't know if anyone needs clarification on what it means to suain a resolution but up until the last masc uh well up until the last general assembly at the um convention in uh November of 2023 resolutions just stayed active and they never rotated off which meant that the MSC board and staff had too many things that they had to lobby for so the point of letting resolutions expire is to prioritize the ones that are really relevant to the membership um so um the question is um is this committee interested in keeping this this particular resolution relevant and I'll just read the therefore beol be resolved paragraph the Massachusetts Association of school committees will prioritize as a matter of its public policy agenda and file for and support legislation to support the eradication of poverty among children in Massachusetts and advocate for social and emotional Justice for students and their families that will include and then their bullet points um so any discussion yeah Julia um I I have the resolution up on my computer and I support it and it's good and I'm struggling I guess maybe tying this back to the last conversation um when we support one thing we're not supporting we may not be supporting another right like and this is just how government works so maybe I just need to like let go of it and say I definitely think we need to eradicate poverty and schools should have the resources to do what they can to make that happen um but I guess there's others on that list I may also feel that way about and we're not bringing them up right now um but you can that's what I'm saying I know I know so maybe I will in a future meeting I'm not I I need to think about that but for now I think this is how we get into the position of um like not having a coherent overall budget except that and and the way we get there is by people advocating for what they want yes I want um a reduction in poverty so yes I will I will support this I don't know I don't know like I I just it's a conundrum for me but not to support that supporting this is not the conundrum the conundrum is the bigger picture um and what doesn't get supported when this gets supported so other comments or questions uh my my hand is up okay Steve thanks go ahead yep so uh two things first as a general rule I believe if someone on my committee wants to discuss something as a general rule I'd like to second that so we can actually have the discussion and hear what they say and so I value bringing this forward but I'm closer to Julia on this one in that this is something that I would love to see happen but where is the money where are the resources going to come for this and you know to me to say that this is a priority without saying and how we going to execute it where are the funds going to come from to me the top priority that we have to push for is we have to bring the fiscal house in order I'm going to sound like you know Broken Clock just stuck on hopping the same phrase again and again and again but until we do that we're not going to be able to work on these other things we're going to have to be making more and more Cuts it's going to be gradual and then it's going to accelerate and the earlier we start working on this and look at the state budgets look at the federal budgets look at which things we have to do and which things we're choosing to do I I can't put this as a priority right now thank you thank you Steve anyone else all right let's vote uh roll call vote V and I oh Constantine I Elfen b i green I Malloy I Miller abstain all right thank you that motion passes I appreciate it um are there any other resolutions that folks want to bring up at this time um I've mentioned in the past a resolution on you know fiscal responsibility uh can I ask if another Committee Member would want to work with me or two because then we would be below a full a uh a quorum and we could then report back to everyone I'm happy to meet with you to figure out I I think you and I think alike I think we should grow the pot but I you and I may think alike um I would love to work with you just so that it's quoted correctly I would love to grow the pot the is very important to put in that phrase yes so and just as a a point of protocol um I think in order for resolution to go directly to the floor of the G ener assembly it has to be supported by five School committees that's why sometimes resolutions come to us for support and of those five two have to be outside of your division right if if you don't meet that criteria a school committee or a couple of committees together can send a resolution to the resolutions committee and it can then be debated um and those are the resolutions that are going to be discussed at the resolutions committee meeting so the resolutions committee would then decide of the resolutions that were not brought forth by these five different committees if there were fewer than that which ones of those then go to the floor of the general assembly for a vote and I there's no way I can imagine having something for June so what's that what's that typical timeline um like they would need to be there by June for it to go before the general assembly later this year right right yeah for this year but I mean you can certainly work on it for future y thank you Carrie for understanding that whole process too yeah um so I was going to do a report on day on the hill I think I'm going to postpone it to the next meeting um but I'll just say I did ATT and day on the hill um this past Sunday and Monday um I was not able to meet directly with legislators but we did have the legislative Forum um and uh several of the members of this committee did attend that um so thank you to those who were able to attend and I'm hoping to also have a legislative Forum in the fall um and that one I'm hoping would be in person so something to look forward to and um I'll come back to you with more about the uh down in hill at the next meeting all right um so there's a list of upcoming meetings on the agenda our uh annual town meeting is happening at the Mount Greylock Regional School for the town of Williamstown uh Thursday May 23rd at 7 pm for anybody who had the original date which was the 21st this is the new date May 23rd um um Lanesboro annual town meeting is Tuesday June 11th at 6:00 pm at the Lanesboro Elementary School the policy subcommittee is meeting Wednesday May 30th at 5:00 pm and the school committee meets again on June 13th at uh 6 PM uh virtually um we also have uh School crossover and graduation ceremonies coming up so before our next school committee meeting um on June 13th um three ceremonies will have taken place on June 8th we have the high school graduation at 11:00 a.m. at Mount Greylock on June 12th we have the crossover ceremony for sixth grade in Lanesboro at 10:00 a.m. and then that same day June 13th the sixth grade graduation will have taken place at Williamstown Elementary at 1M so uh school committee members are encouraged to attend um those ceremonies and celebrate our kids and then um there are a number of other things listed um on the agenda um and um spring band concert art show um sixth grade musical is coming up in Williamstown there's a school play in Lanesboro um spring drama at Mount Greylock Memorial Day parades um really just a reminder that um you know the the um the athletic events um and the school events the cultural events uh tend to be attended by those who have kids um who are participating in those particular things but it's a great um idea for school committee to to also attend things that um maybe other kids are participating in and those of us who don't have kids in the school anymore if just a nice thing to do to show up so all right um on that note are there other items for discussion um that were not reasonably anticipated Curtis hi I actually had uh I know Curtis you're freezing on us no an error and an omission the policy meeting is listed as Wednesday oh you're kidding no we can hear you now go ahead can you does my audio yeah come through yes go ahead all right uh there was an error wedes Wednesday May 30th it's Thursday May 30th for the policy committee meeting oh great okay that's a Thursday you're right it is thank you that is when it is though uh and also see right on uh and Mission from the mlock Reginal school I think we lost you Curtis upcoming events May 20 uh do any of our administrative people on the call know what we may have missed from the Mount Greylock school events I'm gonna look real quick on the calendar Carrie it sounded like you said May 23rd maybe give me minute uh May 21st spring band concert is what uh okay I'm just gonna Curtis texted that to me I'm just gonna double check that so we're trying to figure out is it better to do events this way or just have the principal I think some of you are on some of the principal's newsletters and blasts um but we're I've been trying I've been trying since my younger kid graduated to get on those and I I I never get not been successful thus far um spring band yeah spring band concert at Mount Greylock is on SE is at 7 o'clock on May 21st and the very next evening is the spring chorus an orchestra concert at 7 o'clock so the 21st is band 22nd is spring chorus and Orchestra okay great thank you all right um anything else if not a motion to adjourn so moved is there a second second Miller all right um we don't really have to roll call out but we will for posterity Bowen I Constantin I BR is I think not brus are you back he's giving us a thumbs up I think that's his ey B all right Al ey green I Malloy I Milla I all right that motion passes it is is 9 9:11 p.m. thank you very much everyone um and we will see you all soon thanks gri take care thanks good night all