##VIDEO ID:-hcAlGFj3oY## all right at six o'clock we are going to call the meeting to order Wednesday August 28th Middle School uh school committee meeting first up to PL allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to from which it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and um first agenda item is to vote to approve the minutes of June 13th in oh sorry good call um meeting's being recorded uh if anyone else is recording please just let us know now first agenda item um vote to approve minutes from June 13 2024 meeting in our July 29th uh H sessions meeting and our July 29th executive sessions meeting we'll do one at a time just sort of M has it uh first one June 13 2024 has everyone had a chance to [Music] review you have a motion to approve second and all those in favor or01 is Shar uh as for the July 29 2024 Open Session meetings everyone have a chance to review motion to approve second second all those in favor all and then our uh July 29th executive session meeting we also have to approve is that a roll call Vote or is this same um all those in favor sorry motion to approve second all those in favor thank you very much uh number two we will turn over to Justine for the wants um I don't I've never done this before that's right so I'd like to report into public record the following School expense and payroll warrants reviewed and approved and I go through all of them yes you have to read them all y School expense warrants June 13 20124 62896 355 June 20th 2024 242,4 96 July 18th 2024 42555 81 July 29th 2024 32,610 34128 School payroll Lawrence May 30th 2024 1,223 [Music] 37947 June 13th 2024 1,315 682 39 June 27th 2024 5, 26273 35 June 30th 2024 3955 96 cents July 11th 202024 13,29 46 July 25th 2024 241,000 38 August 8th 2024 23565 76 job done I'd like to enter those in public thank you all right uh next up on the agenda will be Special Education civil rights monitor reports with uh Miss Russo and B jump [Music] got it up on the screen but I have to follow sorry you can just just tap you want me to I'll oh got all right um so yeah so we're here to talk about the special educations so the here Fus monitoring for um the 23 24 school year um so just a brief synopsis of what the tier Focus monitoring is um all districts in state are reviewed every 3 years it's a rotating um process of what what they look for so group a is really looking at more of the the student CL identification pieces um making sure the development is there and looking at programing supports and things along those lines Group B is the more substantial of the two monitoring um groups and it's looking at Li parent Community engagement facilities um and as you can see oversight and a lot of other other pieces here so it's a pretty substantial um amount of work that they're looking for for special education um so the targeted standards that they're looking for um when they come out to look for us are are the different place sorry um they're looking at at school level uh risk assessment data they're looking at um to see if there's potential issues around those there's two different sets that they're looking at there's Universal standards and then the targeted standards so but for special education it's aligned with the 603 CMR um individuals with disab individuals with disabilities and Education Act idea um so it's just looking at all of the different standards that are aligned with special education law both federally and at the state level and then for civil rights um they're looking at the the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as um the physical restraint regulations um and and the students time on learning regulations as well so Brian and I um and well special education and general education work together to really work on all these targeted areas they've identified for us for this year um determination of additional target areas can be done if there are um areas identified through PRS the pro problem resolution system at Desi and also in school safety and dis state so last year we had um some some PRS complaints so there are some additional areas that they want to look at when they came out to to look at us uh we did not have any school safety or discipline reports where they look at the disparity between um discipline for different groups of students special education students of color minority students um El students so all of our reports there were were very clear and um aligned with the state percentages so that was not an area that they looked at for us so for this year's Unit B or group b TFM um special education had 33 targeted areas that they looked at um some of them were just making sure that we had protocols and procedures in place for um students who receiv receiving homebound Hospital services or that we had a letter to go out to families to let them know about um all the different aspects of special education essentially there were three indicator areas as part of that um one was identification of Early Childhood um students so the transition from early intervention into preschool the other was um evaluation timelines so that we we were following all of the evaluation initial evaluation timelines and the third indicator was transition um age starves and that we were following all those guidelines for students who were 14 to 22 years old um for civil rights oh and then we had one additional Target area that which which I mentioned earlier was identified through PRS um and that was to look at our um use of timeout spaces and timeout documentation um throughout the district and then for civil rights there were only three targeted areas yes so those were um benchmarking curriculum upgrades and parental communication all right so the process for the TFM um is the self there's a self assessment phase um which is almost a year in duration of us pulling all the records and submitting things and then getting feedback and sending it back and um back and forth for for months on the end really of all those things then there's the onsite verification phase and they were um desie was here for two three days three days three days they were out um they then submit a draft summary of their findings to us um which we have the opportunity to respond to if there's anything that we don't agree with or we have questions about and then they send us the final report in July and we are then responsible for submitting an action plan to any of the steps along the way so our self assessment phase was from May 2023 to February of 2024 so just under a year really um we were reviewing special education and civil rights documentation for all the required elements so all 37 targeted areas that they wanted us to look at um we reviewed a sample of special education records that we selected across the grade span so what we did was put all of our special education names into one of those like Auto generator list things and um they identified 17 records for us to pull um so it was I think we had records from all six buildings so little answers up through the high school um a of District students um students in specialized programs students who had AAC devices students who were um elll students as well as special education and um students who had um significant discipline records as well um we had a couple that met all criteria which was Lely so it's good um so we we pulled all of those and we we studied all of the records there and then um upon completion of that the district self assessment was submitted to the department for review so we pulled all this information together and everything off to them in multiple spreadsheets for them to review um in April of 2024 they came out to the to Norton to um to meet with us and to talk to everyone so they then pulled an additional 12 records that they randomly selected um while they were on site and um so they reviewed all of our full files for the self assessments that we had identified and then pulled an additional 12 there to make sure that all of our procedural and programmatic step was in there um to make sure that we weren't just doctoring of anything I guess um they also went through additional documents for special education and or civil rights um they the department of Ed sent out a survey to All Families of students with special educa receiving special education services asking a whole Litany of questions of um what types of services they they were their student was receiving um communication that they had with the school system um looking for feedback on both strengths and weaknesses of our department and then share that all that information with us when they were here um they also presented to CPAC um through a virtual meeting and they did some telephone interviews with CPAC members as well as some other families in the district um and they were able to observe and visit all of our um our specialized programs and buildings to see what we had to offer in the district so scoring for tiered Focus monitoring is done in four levels um so tiers one and two are where you want to be really so um self-directed Improvement really just is some guidance of like hey we found this but it's really not a big deal continue on with what you're doing everything is meeting requirements tier two is kind of low risk like there're kind little some things here that you might want to keep an eye on but really not a big deal tiers three and four where we get into corrective action um so tier three is a corrective action plan so we have they found something wrong it's a moderate R but it's not not a huge deal um tier four is where um we have bigger issues and that's when the department really hones in and and and is a little bit more handholding in terms of us um continuing all the processes so the findings for special education so of the 33 target areas 32 are being implemented and our in the tier one with no um no concerns no risk factors at all one was being is being partially implemented um and the one additional Target area identified through PRS is is an ongoing process that we have to update with them um as we go along um and then for the Civil Rights the of the three targeted areas two are being implemented and one is being partially implemented this point all right so for the so the corrective action plan which was in our self assessment it was the um indicator 11 so prior to them coming out in our self assessment the the initial evaluation timelines um we were scored to having an issue with this one but it was really an error of debt entry rather than non-compliance so um in an initial valuation the the initial valuation was not completed within the 45 days however it was due to um a a a student related absence issue but it was recorded in the system as the team not having met in time for for a team reason um we explained that to them we shared all of the documentation to back all of that information up but because it was recorded that way in the system they had to give give us a corrective action for that um so as a result we are adjusting our data input methods and making sure that people are double-checking and rechecking what they're putting into this into the um the spreadsheets and then we also um yesterday during our opening day with the special education staff we we did another training on evaluation timelines and just expressing the importance of making sure that we're meeting all of those deadlines um and we've also got it in our our IEP docking um document for tracking all of our dates and things along those lines we've got it very clearly laid out in there that we're meeing all of those um timelines and we shared that with the state as well um the corrective action plan for the on-site phase was the transfer of parental rights um age of majority so we um had made a mistake on a couple of things where so transfer of Rights is an age of majority is something that is is done at every for every student on an IEP ahead of them turning 18 you're ahead of them turning 18 to let or you're 17 um to let them know that their educational decision- making rights made are changing when they turn 18 so it has to be done a year before they turn 17 so they have um the information in the timely fashion to make decisions in a in a well-informed manner so um all students when they turn 18 have the have the decision-making rights um of for their IEP unless a shared decision- making or guardianship plan has been put in place with the family this is just for educational decision making it's not like legal other medical or financial or anything like that but just for a students on an i AP so we had been sending them all out um during when the child was 17 um or right before but we had a couple that did not go out within that yearlong phase so now um we've made the adjustment that for student who will be turning 17 during that IEP year the age of majority will be discussed at that IEP meeting so that'll be a change in process for some of our high school and out of District friends as well um and we're again we've updated the high school track sheet to have a more consistent um cohesive timeline of tracking that information in a centralized location um so the additional area that is um was were the timeout rooms and the timeout spaces and using those in the elementary levels so we actually applied for and received a federal timeout reduction Grant it's wor It's Time Out reduction but it's really about um keeping kids in the general education classroom as much as possible so um we are working so as part of this we were able to upgrade the spaces the time away spaces in the grit programs at all three elementary schools the one the um space at the LG is being rebuilt um we had we moved the grit classroom at the yell to a different location and and built a space there um and then the there at the JCS there was um the grit classroom has two spaces and there was a foldable like accordion wall that was actually a cause for some safety concerns there so we built a permanent wall with a um with a door um to separate the two spaces so that wouldn't be an issue there um and all of those were paid for through the timeout reduction grant that we received so that was all Grant Monies to help pay for that we're also collaborating with Walker Solutions um it's a Consulting branch of Walker School and we're doing Comming Corners training with um with our staff so this is a professional development opportunity that was shared with all of our prek to5 general education classroom teachers and it's to work on um Coming spaces and strategies to keep kids in classroom settings so just because a child is becoming disregulated doesn't mean they need to lead the general education classroom setting but providing the materials and training to for teachers to have Estates in their classroom for children to to self-regulate or or re-regulate um or just kind of take a moment away in a Comm space um we as part of the grant we had enough to do 30 classrooms and right now we've had I think 20 teachers have signed on to do so um I have to give a big shout out to the JCS kindergarten team they all committed and they wanted to do this as a group um so that all the kindergarten students at JCS have the same experience um and I believe they're going the kindergarten team of the LG is the one to be doing it as well so um if we can really frontload those skills to teach kids how to regulate in the classroom setting hoping they can carry it forward as they as they move on um the also the um best and great Elementary classroom teachers will also be going through the training but at a different level as they have the skills on already so we're going to be doing it a different level for that and then the corrective action plan for civil rights Brian I'm going to hand that over to you sure so we um had three areas that were identified and like Casey said you really are looking at those buckets one and two is being close to compliant and then three and four so for us these were close but not not quite yet so really there were three pieces that we were looking at so number one was the elll curriculum and so um the the monitoring agent really would like for us to have more dedicated resources more uniformity more of consistent availability to access for uh content to kids the second was in identification of el Learners so we need to revamp and bring together our benchmarking and progress monitoring because again we have it but we're not as consistent as we need to be across the schools but that's going to be an action step that we're going to take and then the third is the incorporation of SEI strategies and content area classes we have a number of folks that are SEI which stands for sheltered English immersion um but during the visit they found that we were um doing a little bit too much translation and we need to build our teacher capacity to deliver instruction and so um for the curriculum piece just to give the the school committee an update we began meeting in July so a few of the E folks were kind enough to comment and look at a couple of sets of curriculum materials and resources then what we will be doing next is we're going to continue to review the materials and our hope is to field test during these fall months once we've identified those materials and the goal is by the end of the year to have materials ready for implementation for identification of e Learners um we are need to be um a little bit more focused on data and have uniformity of data use and really update our benchmarking so that we have consistency in Universal practice um we started some of that work and we're going to continue that work through the year and then the last piece is the integration of SEI strategies and content areas so we have three ways that we're going to offer our folks an opportunity for SEI endorsement number one is desie is running a free uh retail SEI program I have received the list of about 10 teachers at this point the final list will be communicated to desie and then desie will schedule the logistics for this event the second pathway is we have French River educational collaborative as a partner this year and they offer what uh I call a hybrid course so that can be partially online partially in person sequence and space throughout the year because we know people are busy know sometimes that they might not be able to commit to all or one thing so we wanted to provide those multiple Pathways to get our all of our folks uh SEI endorsed again of the list almost all of our folks were endorsed but there were a few that were not and additionally what we found is that there are some people that want to get the the light um the endorsement as well so it's actually going to serve the collective good too yeah so our next step is that we have to submit um our corrective action plan progress report to desie um by Friday and um again all the things that we just shared with you were the things that we'll be updating them with um and then we'll get a a report back from them a few weeks later and then we'll have to submit our final corrective action to them by the end of September we stand I have to just number one say like give Kos to Casey and Vinnie and Brian because as Casey described to you the amount of time and paperwork management and file deep diving that goes into this process is incredible it it is an extremely timec consuming process um and to see results like this when they're looking at so many different indicators um I was was really pleased like when you're looking through the report like you can go through it pretty quick because it's you know we are in compliance with with nearly everything um as someone who oversaw the elll program for a number of years there was nothing surprising I think to either Brian or I and that's what happens when you start with a small group of L students that kind of exponentially grows over time um but you know kudos to all of them just you know it's a huge undertaking and they did a great job well and I think on top of all of that you're learning and switching over to the new IEP so like that's a lot so it was actually really interesting um because we were the got love so when they came out they actually were very they actually had cited us in a couple of different areas because um if you've seen the new IEP things are it's all the same information but it's presented in a much different format and things are in different places and all over the place and um they they cited us for not including information in some of the IEPs and I was like actually this is the new IEP and that information is here and not there and they were like oh like so we were the first well I mean we were the first district that they had done a tfm4 that is had started with the new IEP already so we were actually able to educate desie on desie so that was probably shouldn't say that you learn we did we did so but but it was it was very it was nice for them to be able to see what it looked like and how cumbersome some of the IEPs were with us trying to Tetris pieces of the old one into the new one and and make it all work um so it but yeah it was it was challenging a lot of time yeah any other questions comments concerns I guess my only one is you know obviously when we talk about like the curriculum stuff I don't think we're making any major changes but obviously we know ccum is can to be expensive if something comes up if something comes up along the lines of like you know we need to and maybe not this year two three five years down the road whatever it may be would the state be open to sending us more dollars to update that curriculum I would hope that the answer to that would be yes but I can't speak for desie what I have done for the last two years for our title 3 Grant and it's not a lot of money but there's two significant bins of set asides so that when we make that decision we will at least have some of the capacity to do that and again I want to say none of those dollars are local dollars those are Federal grant funds so we're trying to be you know kind of begin with the end in mind so that we can squirr away Pockets to offset any costs we also have um a small amount of money from um our students that were newcomers last year that we only had three students we received $14 per student per day from the Department um so that money is also eligible um to go towards these curriculum purchases as well so um there are funds that we've already spent in terms of transportation and other things but um there is a little bit L that we can toward this as well great anything else thank you very [Music] much I get to go from one chair right now uh imss plans the next steps oh maybe need to go back yeah I can do this prop thank you so one of the things I think that's really important is to always start with why right everything that we do has an intention it's a perpose and so imss to go back to the nort vision 2026 is an integral part of the district strategic plan and really one of the highest priorities in all this work is we want to provide all of our students with what we call Justin Time support which means that when we notice that something isn't the way we want it to be we don't wait and we can be proactive and identify uh a way to help those students um remember we always focus on the whole student it's academic it's behavioral and it's social emotional and additionally for us our next step is to really establish some districtwide protocols to look at student data and have a universal way to f of those results that leads to actions hits so for tonight we're going to go back a little bit before we go forward update a little bit on what's coming next I want to do I want to call out some successes because we have had an amazing faculty that has really risen to the occasion and I think it's really worth in a public space celebrating those successes and then to be candid and honest and identify we are still a working progress and imss to do well takes several years and that's okay um but we want to be with full understanding of where we need to go so I think one of the biggest mental pieces was that tier one foundational K to8 curriculum piece so in 20 tweet 23 I've been speak it's been a long day any day is like the Super Bowl for the office of teaching and learning it's it's a long day so we're really proud of what we've been able to do to implement our elementary math program Stepping Stones we're really proud to be able to have implemented a middle school math and a middle school Ela program really good today was spent year two for our Middle School folks So In This Very space mid school math was back here and then down the hall was amplif by Ela so building teacher knowledge and sharing practice is a multi-year process and we want to really be attentive to what our staff needs additionally um as we all know we spent a lot of time last year we selected uh high quality Ela program for our elementary folks and today everybody Brave the Heat and we had our first kind of formal roll out in person with inter reading and that will continue all year I'll get to a little bit more detail on that in our in our next slide another thing um that we want to really be intentional about is looking at Grants we try to find and access any pools of money that we can because we know there are fiscal challenges so last year we used our uh acceleration acmy during the vacation that was almost 90,000 um I will speak more about the chronic absenteeism Grant um addition additionally uh this afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting with the Norton Middle School um science folks so we're starting to put together our implementation plan for this year's Mass Life Sciences so we will be getting hopefully tomorrow um microscopes triple beam balances and other science materials that can really upgrade the science experience at the middle school and Casey referenced this a little bit earlier the new IEP Grant as as well and one really important thing to mention about that is the new IEP Grant is dedicated for students with IEPs but as Casey alluded to it's preventative for all of us and so if we think about imss all of our students or all of our students everything we do is integrated last year we had a new social emotional curriculum character strong in k to8 um character strong really focused on um a sense of belonging a sense of community a sense of kindness and character strong in 6 to8 was really about interactive bringing students together I had a chance to witness a couple of those lessons last year and they start with an interactive kind of like vanilla ice cream or chocolate ice cream which one do you like and then the kids go into groups and then that facilitates a larger discussion about connectivity and preferences and things like that it really really was um um helpful for us social emotional as well so last year we ran a pilot for navigate 360 in the high school I believe is in the bridge program really about addressing a sense of connectivity and belongingness um we are going with a full implementation for navigate 360 this year in the high school so that will be for all students students in the high school also uh participated in myap and myap is a really purposeful outcome oriented program about planning for when you leave high school so it's really focused on goals and objectives housing living to really try and crystallize with with our high school students High School does end it's wonderful but it ends and we want to make sure that we're ready to take on that next step and then kind of the final piece was uh the Jed high school um I'm sure you've heard about J high school before but it's all about suicide prevention and for belonging I know last year at the high school they really used the datadriven approach to try and identify one or two key areas for students to really help us move them forward so that was some of the social emotional work last year yeah I just say Brian all that was all of that was great additionally at the high school so we had year two was a two-year um program again Grant funded no local funds for pbl works we had um developments of units of studies so again that was year two all Norton High School students completed at least one unit and over the two-year period we had over 50 Norton High School staff members participate um and if you look back specifically at the Strategic plan that has been n so you can check that off the box I know one of the things and this is an area what I would call of evolution for us is we're doing all the great work we're seeing students make progress how do we track it and how do we create a system that's longitudinal in a way that if I'm going from JCS to Henry a how can I or as the fourth grade teacher access that all all that information so we started this last year with Panorama education to try to use it for our Hub and Panorama allows all your teachers to see educational attendance and social emotional data we did a fair amount of PD in 2324 of first nuts and bolts like how do you use panorama what buttons do you click how do you create a plan who can manage the plan who's responsible because all the schools have used it but to varying degrees and for different for purposes I'm going to be honest we are not there yet this is going to take some more time to do but we wanted to have movement towards more uniformity and how we capture all the great academic social emotional work that we do so I know the question is always about data so we're doing all this work what does our data show us and how can we either celebrate what we've done or say you know what we've got to go back to the drawing board there are a number of different ways to capture this one way that I think is really important for our work is something called using student growth percentile as a way to capture data and so think of student growth percentile as capturing an individual student and comparing that student to a nationally normed sample size of hundreds of thousands of kids so for example if Justine on her initial score was off the charts and I was really low comparing the two of us may not be the best way but if Justine is very high and Nick is very high comparing their results actually says a lot because it shows growth so that was really kind of the impetus behind this and so when you look at data and data from Star if you're in the 66 percentile or above that's considered high growth so that means that student had an achievement level at or greater than 2third of their commencement PS what we should reasonably expect in a year for all of our students is every anywhere between the 30th and 65th percentile that's a broad measure that's a broad Baseline if we're doing that we're doing okay if we have our students below the 30th percentile 35th percentile that gives us motivation to redouble our efforts and to look even more specifically at where students may need additional support so I'm going to share with you two very broad District um level scores so last year based upon the star assessment that all students from grades can pay through 10 take we had almost 70% of our students have either typical or high growth it's a nice starting point it by no means mean it by no mean way means the work is done we still have much more to do our Collective SGP for reading again was almost you know almost 2third of those kids made typical or high growth we're never satisfied with even having one student in the low growth category so that high level data kind of gives us an overview of I think some some progress that that's commendable but it also means we have a lot more work to do additionally one of the things that our leadership team did to help inform our professional development to help inform our staff is we actually looked at data together and many of us participated in an online course called datawise from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and it really was about kind of what I articulated earlier about looking at data a particular way this summer we did a book study um to collectively called meeting wise and meeting wise was about thinking really efficiency about all the things we have to to do all the meetings we have to have how do we maximize our time how do we get the best Roi and the time we have to invest and then the last part our uh leadership team during the um summer Retreat we actually laid chart paper across these tables and we did the data analysis ourselves and we worked together as a group to look at coords of kids so have hypotheses about what went well what didn't go well if we were the classroom teacher how how would reg group these students what would the intervention be because we have to model what we expect our folks to do and so I'm sure you've seen this before I think our staff you guys seen this before but it it's really that triangle so so much of this year especially with the curriculum adoption was building that foundational support that academic piece the other things that we referen is about the timeout timeout Grant as well the social emotional Wellness theal curriculums it covers those pieces this piece I'm going to address in a minute because we've identified it as a need and we're going to talk about a couple of next steps that we're going to take and so here we are 2425 we are a busy place and we have a lot happening and I again I want to L and commend the staff people are embracing it and we're moving so we're really looking at those four Core Curriculum adoptions character strong navigate 360 um shout out to Karen and to Jen on boarding Power School like to do all this at once is a huge lift but again it all connects to making our students be the best Lear version of themselves and so one last piece I wanted to speak on is the attendance piece because we have found and this is not um unique to Norton it's also in across the Commonwealth has anyone seen secretary Tut wier's um commercial about going back to school yeah it is really a big push right now usually want to change the channel dry so it really it really is about School attendance and Norton is not unique but our rates of chronic absenteeism are higher than any of us would like and we're particularly disproportionately impacted with students with disabilities students with language needs so we've got we've got some some work to do so last year I had references earlier we got a $10,000 de Grant we formed a districtwide team and started to update the handbooks to look at Chronic absenteeism you will start seeing I'm going to be out tomorrow because we're coming back on Monday you're going to see these signs and these signs are really about being in front of our schools just so we can have that positive message of encouragement we want you here we want to be proactive we want to have that welcoming warming signage because our our job is to remove as many barriers as possible so again for PD Power School more curriculum adoptions one thing I'll say about curriculum adoptions is we're going to have a number of IND District coaching days so for those new and second year curricula we're actually going to have providers come back work with our teachers in classrooms and then use early release afternoons to debrief and talk about teaching and learning we're going to continue with database decision making we uh are also partnered with the University of Missouri so our Consultants from the University of Missouri are now actively meeting with our principles either in groups or onetoone to kind of identify unique challenges are that are at every building because every building has a slightly different schedule slightly different number of kids so we're trying to really be a little bit more pinpointed now in terms of helping indiv idual buildings be attentive to this and then Casey reference the new I and then the last piece is uh Norton High School is going to be preparing for the decennial visit so that is not this year but it's next year so there are some curriculum mths some curriculum documents that need to be updated but again it's all integrated into imss but that's going to be particularly in the spring the Crux of the work at the high school ran can you just explain to everyone what the tanal visit is yes so NE um NE ask right I have so many acronyms in my head you have to get accredited to be a public high school um you have to meet certain thresholds certain criteria so you have to have certain levels of programming access and availability so the deenal if my prefixes are right is every 10 years so that's that's a big deal um I actually went from my first uh visit last year not to a decennial but it's a super involved process where a bunch of folks come in and they embed themselves in the school for two or three days they meet with students they meet with parents they look at documents they look at curriculum and they just want to have that super deep dive into what the school does and then there's a very extensive report writing period where the group comes together or over several hours to produce a final report and if you have all of the programs if you have all the curricula if you have common assessments you usually do just fine actually in school committee members when they came last time was my first year yeah they will when they come for the 10 year buiness this month the funny thing as my former principal my high school was a member I knew him outside of high school that's why that must have been it so I know we've covered a lot I'm not going to reread these but we are a very busy place even in light of you know everything else that's happening teaching and learning is still foregrounded here we have staff that have committed and are really doing exceptional work and we're going to keep moving forward so what are the biggest challenges they are the same that they are in almost everything else time and money so we try to be as creative as we can as Innovative as we can look to find those reservoirs of dollars to support our work that don't offset the local budget we're going to continue to do that time are today is our own fully dedicated PD day we have early release days but as part of what spills into all of our work on like potential changes the schedule makes it a challenge and then schedules within schedule so trying to find all of those layers to find those intersection points to really get people together to do that work is something that continues to be a challenge but as I've said multiple times no matter what else happens this is who we are this is what we do and we're going to keep taking steps forward I one question on the on the 20 24 25 next steps so this is everything we're we're trying to put into play for this school year yes so my only I guess call out is what I would like to see is maybe something like an April meeting M see where we're at and see if we think we're going to make it to the finish line by JY just more of an update you know of course like April is like after vacation or whatever meeting sounds great just because I'd be curious to see because we're looking at time and money and everything else that if we really need to kick some of these into the next school year or if we're going to be successful and hopefully they are successful with getting everything absolutely and some of these you know certainly are going to be multi-year efforts but you know even in looking at because even when I wrote this I referred back specifically to the district plan we really are trying to meet all those intermediate checkpoints within the timelines provided um and we'll just we're going to keep at it but I think daning to your point I think uh an update would would be great I'm curious if you have any um like on these charts um because there was new curriculum implemented this past school year yes like if the I don't know if you can compare data because obviously like kids have graduated and you know whatever but I'm just curious like as the high growth and the typical growth is that greater this past school year than the previous school year with the new programs or like I don't know so I could certainly go back and find that um where there are so many ways in Star to call data and I wanted to at least for the purpose of of this try to be like straightforward but without question you can split atoms in Star um and really find lots of things you know really we wanted to try for tonight to find something that maybe could be but but I I could absolutely go back and find that and I think a follow up to that and I'm obviously if you can break down star if we took our math and reading growth scores if you will and we compare them possibly like regionally and nationally so like and again if the low growth is 31% in our district regionally it's 35% nationally it's 40% we know we're growing at a higher rate which is great if it's the opposite you know and where you know our growth is lower than than Regional we'll kind of it'll be again I think for from our standpoint is always that those data points of like where are we you know where how can we get better where we're you know obviously looking at these quick numbers we seem to be doing better in math than we are in Reading does that have something to do with a new curriculum does a new curriculum coming in for our for ELA you know in the elementary schools is that going to block us something so I think if we can get a little bit more sure you know from what Justine said you know from year to year I know it's not ideal but same thing so there's a couple of things with star so not every District uses star correct so a lot of districts use another program called I ready so I'm use dibles so finding a comparison District um that's willing to share their information with us might be tricky okay For Better or For Worse it's why mcast is helpful because we know we all know that there are foilables within mcast but it is a true Apples to Apples because everybody takes it yeah one thing about star and I would just caution right is that you could do state comparison so it would take all the state data for anyone that um tests within Massachusetts you can also do National and just like um they rank all of like every state every year like what so you're getting Massachusetts data but you're also getting Kentucky I was going to say Alabama but yes um so it's you know it it has the same caveats as when we look at mcast then we say Okay Norton versus Springfield right so it's it's you just have to kind of take some of those things with the understanding that there's a whole bunch of different communities next sure yeah but I think that would be the Justine's Point too that we get that broken down from what we do year to year and again with any day there's always going to be room for error everything's G to get a little you know wacky on anyway but can kind of see it from what we're doing you know because again you know we've talked about this multiple times here and with you as well it's just like be able to see it to see if it's actually working you know that's our biggest thing it's like we everyone's here student successful I that what we all care about to actually see that yeah in a chart it would be awesome absolutely and I think what would be really you know powerful especially when we get a couple of years in and everybody's really comfortable that's when we're going to likely see the the biggest sh M and I mean what would be great is as we go through you know this thing in three four five years that red number is getting smaller and the GRE on are bigger you know and then we can say hey this is working you know absolutely or or opposite you know then we can kind of figure out what we're going to do then absolutely any other questions I had a just on power school is that going up to every so power school is going to be a universal school information system so everybody is going to be using it yes um that is part of a multi-year so we started doing this last September October it replaces School brains um so Mrs wiper is here I don't know if she wants to she spent a whole day her ears so not every parent is going to get a a parent portal account because at the elementary level we use standard based grading so at this point there's not a way that power school does um standards based grading in the portal middle school and high school like we did with school brains they will absolutely parents will have um portal access we're kind of slow rolling it some parents are like can I have access now and I said yes we will get you access soon um but we were really trying to get the kids access so that they could have um their schedules and such probably within the first two weeks we'll have access for all the parents we'll send that out um but yes so far knock on wood we have been without a hitch uh oh there it goes a little bit there you go all right next up um everyone favorite the subject budget all right uh thank you so Christine and I just have a few updates for you tonight um as we shared with you at our July meeting um we have um Staffing changes for you um since we met at the end of July we have had eight additional Staffing changes um some as recently as the beginning of this week um we had two additional retirements five additional resignations and um one um FTE request to staff member requested to go from fulltime down to part-time um the other document that we shared with you is the savings sheet so these are every um staffing change that has taken place after our budget was set so um as the school committee is familiar we anticipated some budget savings when we were trying to get down to that 1% um these are savings over and above that amount um the total savings that we have seen so far is $337,000 um I want to be really clear about how this savings happens um because there is a misunderstanding that we find this money that's not what happens um for example we have a um science teacher that decides to resign for you know $91,000 and then you're able to hire somebody for $76,000 so that savings there is is what we are making up that $337,000 with for example special education teacher resigned that was an $89,000 salary the new teacher was hired at $51,000 for total Savings of $37,000 um these are not new positions that we've hired these are all um Physicians that were part of our our budget are the 1% budget and um as Staffing changes as people leave or come in um we're trying really really hard um in most occasions is to hire someone that is really high quality but also costs a little bit less and as you guys can see there's probably you know 15 different examples here and there's only one we were not able to hire someone um at less than that person going out um and that's a science position which makes it it can be really difficult to find a secondary science teacher so um sharing that with you um if I was to you know find $337,000 worth of savings in my own personal budget that would be like you know amazing um it's not a huge amount of money when it comes to a $34 million budget um since we last met we have brought back our sixth nurse um I mentioned to the committee at our last July meeting that was the thing I was most concerned about um we have a number of students that have significant medical needs um and having that extra person really um helps with making sure that students are being monitored appropriately getting their medications at the right time um and just a general sense of safety and well-being um it's also extremely difficult to find substitute nurses so knowing that we have that other person that's able to fill in at a building um if that need comes up um is is makes me feel much better um we've also um brought back um or re or hired two power professionals uh for a total of $60,000 that um these are based on student need so potentially a new student moving to town that has specific needs or coming back from a different placement um these positions are required and mandated by law um and then finally um we are moving forward with a security upgrade for our uh Network um as the committee knows and as most people know we had a network incident in late June um and which requires us to update our security system um to ensure that we are now meeting the minimum threshold for our insurance company as we move forward um so taking those things into consideration we have about $134,000 left in our savings account um it goes very fast it's definitely not as much as I would like to have at this point in the year um we are still working on backfilling at least two power professional positions from resignations or moves within the within the district um and we're hoping that we'll have those fully staffed by Tuesday when our students arrive questions concerns guess my only one just because it kind of rung Bell a little bit um the first position on the summer changes this guidance coun at the high school RAF reduction Force y so did we that was part of the cuts correct why did we hire someone new um it was not a it's it was a mutual parting of ways so we went from four counselors down to three two counselors did not turn we had to re backfill that one position so I don't know if rift's the right language but um okay think that was it anything else uh next up sorry just because when you said have we seen any increase from many depart buen not yet um not yet um my understanding is that Norton Lynx which is the 100 unit complex which is nort link next to greatwoods Plaza right next to Great Woods Plaza um I don't believe those are open yet um but if they when they do that is a JCS um district and so I'm a little bit worried about the kindergarten numbers at JCS right now um we have um about 22 23 students per classroom over there um compared to lgm where it's about 1920 I'm a little worried about those numbers and it will depend on you know who we see coming in but not at this point we haven't had anyone say I plan to move on coming not yet um in the special education office we've had a couple of families who have called just saying we may be moving to Norton um but not specific location as the apartments or anything like that but we've had a couple of inquiry calls everyone wants to come to right um update on Middle School Bandon course okay um so last week I was able to come to an agreement with the Norton Teachers Association on um having Middle School band and chorus as part of our after school um Club program so what we needed to kind of decide on was um what that stien rate would look like um so uh that has not yet been factored into those savings but we come from those savings and the way that we came to that agreement is we looked at what the current stiens are um at the middle school and we likened it to more of an intramural which meets 25 times per trimester um not necessarily a club um so this would meet a little bit more often um and hopefully would meet every single trimester so that sien would be awarded to the individual teacher um three times throughout the course of the year so those positions have been posted um they are out there and um available for our Norton staff if we are not able to backfill or to fill those stpe positions um we'll post them externally as well to see if there are other music educators that would be interested in um advising our after school clubs um and the way that would work is that U typically every year for parents who have a middle schooler um second or third week of school Mr Hayward sends out this big huge email with all of the Middle School clubs U these are the offerings these are the options and um families are able to look at the options with their students and sign up for them at that time um there is a cost to clubs there will be a cost the same cost to participate in the Bandon forus um which will ideally offset that siphons a little bit it won't offset it fully um but until we have an advisor uh we're we're waiting on that and it will also based on the schedule will really depend on the adviser and what their availability is so for example if it was Mr place um he may not be able to you know do right after school on the days that he's at JCS if it was someone from the high school that might be different so um those have been posted and I hope that we'll um be able to um find someone to do that so will band and course be one there'll be it's two different Sidelines so you can participate in bands or chus or both if if they are um on opposite days or they're not running at the same time um so students have that flexibility um one of the biggest challenges that we've found the last few years at the middle school is we have this ice block that's existed forever it technically stands for intervention correction and enrichment and so um as Dr arriman presented earlier we're trying to do a lot of work providing students with just in time interventions ice kids did ban they did chus they did academic support they um may have gotten homework support or work met with a counselor it was so many different things that kids that have academic support may not have been able to participate um I know this is not ideal I know people are really unhappy with um the fact that we're not able to offer it during the school day um but as I said to my staff yesterday there are only certain things that I can control and I'm trying really hard to focus on the positive so perhaps this will allow students to participate that maybe couldn't L and it may also provide students the opportunity to get intervention during the school day that perhaps um wasn't happening previous so trying to look at that silver line do we we still bus yes we do so theoretically depending on that time could go to this club and then take y they could take the late bus home as is offered for all of our other clubs um think I'm G to open this up to public I'm assuming so again I'll go quickly through my quick you know rules here uh I'm not putting people on timers just all adults we can talk and make decisions uh so just I will all all I ask St your name and where you're from so for public record we have it okay U my name is Donna I'm I live at 104 N Street um first I want to say that sorry if I sound angry please understand that I am angry and upset about what has happened this year is going to be really hard for those of us who work in the Norton public schools and have kids in the schools we have lost a lot this cannot just be the new normal and we need to get back to basics let me tell you what Getting Back to Basics means to me it means having foreign language instruction at the middle school it means having art and music instruction during the school day at all school buildings Horus and band should be happening during the school day music and art are part of a basic education they are essential to a good education and kids have higher test scores when they study music but it needs to happen during the day and not after school which will result in kids not being able to participate like my own daughter is now saying if it's a club she doesn't think she has time for it when she has volleyball basketball drama club and other activities so we wouldn't be having this conversation at home if this was still happening during the school day so that's why I'm upset so my question for each of you on the school committee is this are you all committed to figuring out a way to restore what has been lost I need to know that you're all 100% committed to figuring this out I don't know what the answers are but this just can't be the new normal we need to get back to having course and band at the middle school during the school day we need to have art at the middle school during the school day so I'm sorry again like I I am just really still feeling upside about what has happened um I apologize but that's how I feel I think just quickly yeah I mean we all want what's best for the kids you know cutting artart music any program isn't something that we want to that we you know like to do um you know it's unfortunately we you know Dan said it a 100 times we get handed a budget you know and we have to make do with what we got you know so unfortunately we're not we're in a position where hard decisions had to be made you know we we took the superintendent's recommendations uh you know we met multiple times hundreds of times I feel like you know with officials and everything else so yeah I mean it's a challenge it's not something that you know we like to do so I mean in terms of being committed to fixing it yes yeah we want to you know I think we all feel that same sentiment yeah we we do want things back in our schools it's it's a challenge it is what it is I mean I don't I don't know really what else to to say I mean you know if something else got cut you know we would have multiple other parents here saying hey we don't want that you know we don't want that to be cut it's it's a give and a take unfortunately it's a it's it's a balance it's hard it's difficult anyone else I you're not GNA make me go there Karen six Washington Street um the first question I have is just I just want to curious if um everyone at the table have you ever been to a band concert at nor Public Schools yeah my daughter was in B my oldest daughter was so my my older daughter started banding the Y went through just about through the middle school she stopped in seventh grade because she didn't want to do it my other daughter did chorus never wanted to do the band my son didn't want to do it either so I have older children to my children are Beyond um my youngest is a high schooler so um I haven't been to one since my children have not been involved but one of the the highlights I actually still have the picture and video on my phone um was the all band night when all the children that was probably the funnest night that I had with my daughter I was not I was in the band but it was a before school program I didn't feel like getting up so it lasted about a couple weeks for me and you know but I Nick said it we've said it and and I don't want to step on your your time so when we have to cut any program it it's not something we do lightly you know we we talked about everything that we had to cut at length because we're the biggest Department in the town everything is Multiplied when we have to cut something we have 450 is employees obviously 26 less now um we have the biggest piece of the budget but it's only a piece of the budget that we get to work with um I've been doing this 10 years there was years where I mean unfortunately the budget track record of my 10 years isn't great um we've brought in fees we've brought in um transportation fees we outsourced the cafeteria to try and save money um we've done everything we could humanly do to keep sorry I didn't want to cut you off but that was just the start of my talk sorry that was my only question that was just my opening um oh my gosh I lost sorry um I didn't write it down um but if you've been you know that they're amazing all band is amazing and I'm sad to say is that uh we may not have another band concert um the high school is I don't even know the numbers but it could be a dozen and I don't know if people know but they need to bring adult community members so that the high school band can actually play because a band is not 10 kids that's not enough kids for a man um and this after school program is in my opinion if you be year maybe two and there will be because there will be no filler there'll be no kids moving up to the high school band um and my daughter is committing to um a full year band in ninth grade and I am worried that she's wasting her time and that next year there won't be enough kids to full band um and I'm also worried that the 9th grade music teacher is not a band conductor because he was like a so the music teacher who is teaching band doesn't actually teach band she's great she knows music she's enthusiastic I'm super excited about that but she's known at band research um I looked at our comparative schools um I mean hook Rockin wam Swansea Abington there are comparables then I looked at our neighbor schools Foxboro Mansfield East adoro sorry I didn't to TA they're kind of like a city felt like they may wen't comparable uh West bridgew I did not read that thank you all of them have banned in School fifth grade they all have banned in high school some of them P Pembrook is some sort of nationally recognized music school um that has uprs of 300 kids in a marching band Norton used to have a marching band but I'm I'm afraid the band is going to be lost and so when I look at these comparable schools then I say how are we being competitive in our music programs compared to our neighboring students how are we being competitive for kids that want to do that my daughter started flute in fourth grade she endured during Co which was not easy and she has played now um now into coming into the ninth grade um and so realistically she would play until she was her senior and she may have gone to competitions and field trips and festivals but she's going to be able to do and so I'm wondering is what is the plan here I mean I don't have any faith that this after school program is going to work um if you're going to find somebody if kids are going to be able to go um we are lucky I'm lucky that my daughter is in ninth grade now so we don't need to worry about the after school B but we do be I me the middle school band because there will be no kids to follow um but are we are we really looking at no music program no band in noorus in a year or two and are you all okay with that thank you sorry I think that was it is that it um Karen thank you thank you guys all for being here um I think those who know me know I'm not okay with this right you the people that know me and know me well know know I'm not okay with this um Donna you talked about um how students do better when they have art and music and all all of these opportunities um we were faced with an impossible situation this year you know looking to cut 3.7 3 you know whatever million dollars um in a budget where contrary to popular belief there's not a lot of fat to trim and so none of these decisions feel good as I told our staff yesterday during our opening conv vacation 26 less is a lot of people there are a lot of things that are going to suffer this year and it's not the fault of our students right I don't feel good about any of these things I don't feel good about you know thinking about Daniela having to choose between volleyball and and band and everything else and I know she's one of many students that are making those decisions they the unfortunately these are our options I don't feel like this is at all directed at you I think what I'm extremely disappointed in as a town is that we couldn't get unanimous support from the select board and the the school committee and all our town boards to say this is the this is the reality and why we couldn't support the an override even if it wasn't the full 6.5 million like at least get us some money I guess I'm still really upset about that that because people were saying like oh there's lots of waste well show us where that is show us show us your ideas for moving forward then if you think that there's all this stuff that we could trim instead so we can add back band and chorus and whatever like I'm I want you guys to step up and show us real leadership now that's and I'm sorry I know I sound extremely angry but this is where we are and I feel like people have said oh there's other things we could trim and Now's the Time to show us what that is well I mean and I I take your point think it very light you know that was the biggest thing is when we looked at the fat of our budget it's not we just eliminated two programs from our schools that were sought after I I my youngest as I mentioned is in high school had Middle School foreign language as a sophomore she passed the sealed by literacy as a sophomore in French first sophomore to do it in nor high school and still has two years French she had an advantage and she still has an advantage and you know so when we that was the most frustrating thing is you have excess you have excess we don't we we don't because we just cut what should be considered core programming it's not it's it's not considered core programming that's the bottom line um and and that's it's a very frustrating thing and you know we we were all frustrated I mean whether it was for or against the old ride you're talking about 26 people that were let go I'm sure there was a trickle down effect of some people that said you know what I'm going to go to another District so take that 26 and yes we had to like we have to you know replace some people that decided that nordon wasn't where they wanted to continue to work um you know there is there will be more discussions on what next year's budget looks like and I would like to be optimistic and say it's going to be better well that's why I'm saying I think Now's the Time for people to step up and show leadership because they seem to say that they had ideas and I I'm waiting to hear those ideas nobody's actually said any ideas I mean people on the SEL board school like I think the solution is just cut more just keep cutting so there it is anyone else yep yeah oh you can um Jen colassi 73 Harvey Street I just wanted to talk about the social impact that cutting band and course has during the day because like har mentioned I don't see it going to after school my son has already said I'm not participating after school but what Bandon course does for kids who are not sports kids or Drama Kids it gives them a sense of belonging and we have to look at it going forward if we lose it in Middle School we're not going to have it in high school and high school is when kids can get lost kids who don't have that sense of belonging can get lost in that shuffle if I didn't have B I probably would have made it high school um so we need to think about the effects that it has not only academically but what it's going to do to our high school kids my son is shy he plays Sports he's not AC he's not a sports kid he's not going to make it in high school on baseball team but he had the band he did well in drugs he's I'm afraid he's going to get off I'm afraid there's a lot of other kids that that's going to happen to too so if we don't look at restoring it now we're going to lose some I think just go through the C there one more over there I thought y hello my name is Val cabal and I live at 50 Mansfield Avenue which I'm pretty sure everyone here knows at this point this these particular Cuts really upset me I'm not addressing this by the way to the folks who responded to my email to the select to the school committee saying that they did in fact support trying to save the schools so some of you might find this a little appointed I called this out a number of times during the budget and override discussions over the the course of the last few months and the folks who were gunning for cuts to the schools didn't seem to care those of us who did band and chorus and sports and drama and non-school extracurriculars like dance or riding horseback there are plenty of other activities that could be counted here but those were mine all of them are things I did as a child in school we would have been completely left out by a plan like this and I grew up as I've stated many times before in a town that Karen named half the size of Norton and with a lower median income both of which are true to this day they still managed and continue to manage to give kids choir and band from elementary through High School something like this would have been a huge hit to my school experience and we're seeing exactly this happen to a lot of kids like the kids who've been mentioned here who are having to choose parents are already calling it out moving Bandon chorus to after school both does a disservice to the kids who love those activities and to their future prospects because they'll be less well-rounded and therefore less competitive if they choose to apply to college after graduating that was a huge thing for me and I graduated from high school 20 years ago you had to be well-rounded you needed all these extracurriculars and in this day and age kids do need to look good on an application if that's where they want to go unless their parents manage to pay for private lessons which is passing on costs to families instead of coming together as a community to support the kids and which also make sure that kids who don't live in Rich families are not going to be able to pay for those lessons it's unlikely that they're going to get anywhere if they have to start Bandon high school and they're probably just not going to start and we're not going to have a program so those of you who tirelessly advocated not for the kids of this town but instead for Budget cups should be ashamed of yourselves thanks well you're welcome anyone else I oh Sor I just put one more thing because I remember I said I thought I forgot something I I just wanted to make that in adabor the kids in the Middle School do a track where they either take band as a class or they take General music so the kids who are band take their music as band and so as something to consider it would mean blowing up the Middle School um way of doing specials and such but it is something to think about that how other schools have been a to so sorry that was one of the things IED to mention and I got Peter W7 Avenue and during the budget season I hard to keep this moving end and I ignored all the nastiness on social media about the override end I ignored it with ease and people need to be kind in social media when it comes to not in schools and the cuts and people need to be kind in social media correct right thanks Peter mom for you just St Dr sorry for public record 21 Street thanks I was a b student I wasn't an athlete wasn't um I was a good student but I wasn't at the top of the class band was my family I was also in chorus I was better in B than I was in chorus but I was a those opportunities in the middle schol I did not grow up in Norton I grew up in East Providence so slightly different but we had a band that our entire Community was proud of it started at a middle school level and it was a feeder program to our high school we were invited to play in different states we were invited to compete and when I came to Norton I went to my first parade I'm like this is going to be fantastic I love a great marching band and the band came by and my heart broke because I remember the adrenaline of marching down whether it was Riverside whether it was the Bristol 4th of July break knowing I needed to make it past the TV cameras before I passed out and will because grany was watching on TV but there was a sense of Pride and then it made me a better student because I was a good student but some of my classes were difficult some of my teachers were very long winded and it made for a long class but when you had band thrown in it rejuven and like I said before that was my team that was my family and when we took the field at a halftime show our sports teams they look to us for more motivation so it was just a nice relationship back and forth I know we're here and right now this is the best we have but every student learns differently and for some of our struggling readers or students who are struggling in math it might be the Arts where they Thrive and I just don't want them to lose more opportunities especially music art my eighth writer is devastated because there's no art that's her Outlet so now we have to look at other avenues so she can still feel creative and share so again I know we're here right now but please keep in mind that every student learns in different Avenues and different Pathways and you know it would be really awesome if we built up our band and we had our parade we were shying it's so that's my two cents but it's a team it's a family thanks J Amy Mar and for bullet Drive is there way and touched on this a little bit is there a way to either restructure or use those ice blocks to bring any kind of fan course art back into the school this year or is it too hard to or is that not even possibility um it would require rehiring another teacher thank you Amy all right uh go on to number seven other business uh not reasonably anticipated in 48 hours I've got anything no I you can go you can go um I just wanted to see I know and I know it's probably been a crazy few month here anyway uh school start times yesing we'll have an update for you guys um at the first meeting in October perfect and then um addressing the letter obviously I think we just got on Tuesday um from The High School academic coordinators um I would assume you can probably just add that to the next meeting I didn't know exactly just because we all did get it um you guys can certainly add it we can add to the September 11th meeting if like perfect that's wanted to respond to give chance sure that was it for me um okay so uh earlier this afternoon we were um alerted by the mass teachers retirement system that we will be one of the lucky districts to undergo an audit this year um which uh requires us sharing all of our employ census data and pension information um from the 2023 school so um that's always fun when you find out you get something else add to your plate so um Christine and Courtney and Donna will probably be busy organizing um that information uh to share with them um where's it from again sorry it's from the mass teachers retirement system so the state audit um happens every 10 years our turn um and so that's due by the uh December 31st so great so have to be done by the 31st surprising um anything else motion back yes welcome back we uh actually four of us attended teachers B back which I thought really well starting up crazy time it is and I attended and I saw the sixth grade orientation it went very well and it was the first sixth grade class that I was part of a new school back in [Music] 1998 26 years so that quietly yeah all in favor