on the Dos okay good evening um calling the school committee meeting from April 4th to order um I'm going to run through the agenda quickly and then we're going to jump right in um so we're going to start with any public comment we go members of the public so you're of course welcome to make comments so the rules for that are like 2 minutes give or take tell us your name approximately where you live and what you're concerned about is the case may be um we then have consent agenda that we'll go through um and reports we don't have a student with us today but we'll go through our other standard reports and leaon updates um we'll then move into the main business of the meeting and we'll start with our friends of reading Meco discussion um we'll move on to the state of reading Meco program Mr Martin um except I forgot something very important after public comment we have a focus on excellence and Mr Martin's going to walk us through a spotlight of the class of the 2024 Boston resident students so we're excited to hear that and see that um back to our new business uh we will have a reading children's cabinet discussion and in particular we're looking to gather feedback on resources to enable success uh I know there's a lot that the Met Meco program themselves do but we wanted to open up this kind of a bigger conversation as well um after that we'll move on to the high school scheduling pilot update um and Miss count will join us on the zoom for that we have a math Pathways update with Dr Hardy um the FY 25 kindergarten enrollment update that we'll go through uh we will then do some review and approves of certain things in particular the last day of school which was a little sketchy going into last night now we now are pretty confident about what we're doing um we have some uh joint Labor Management committees that the school committee uh will be appointing Liaisons to as we finish some negotiations with some of our unions uh and then we have old business which is to review strategic uh fees that we have in particular for athletics and Facilities rental which is two of the last two of the last of the five that we've done so far I think it's the last too but Derek and Tom can correct me um and at that point we adjourn so we've got a pretty packed agenda but um we'll keep ourselves moving so uh first things first uh any members of the of the public either on Zoom or here in the meeting that would like to make public comments okay seeing none we'll move on uh Mr Martin you want to start us with the focus on Excellence sure thank you thanks everyone for coming here tonight uh thanks to the school committee and everyone's commitment to making this possible and and continuing to come to Boston so that our boss and fam can feel part of the school committee process so I thank that everyone for their commitment um to continue doing this um for our student commitment shout out today we I definitely want to start with shouting out our seniors uh our we've had eight seniors who were Boston residence students um that I've had the pleasure of getting to know for the last three years um six out of the eight seniors have been here since kindergarten in first grade um so they've really been here for a long time uh they're excited to finally be done with school move on not done yet and then move on to their next Journeys um so we have jir Celestine uh zadani Lopes mcke Singleton um who started last year as a junior um Sam Pete juniana Martin Jeremiah leis Ron Ryland who also started last year and Dean d uh it's really really been a pleasure to get to know know these young men and women uh they're really really just great funny people I learned a lot from them uh they talked to me a lot about you know what what could be done better what support they need how to they spoke a lot about you know what the the outcomes for our elementary students and just making sure things were smooth for them and wanting to be there for them and continue and spoke they spoke highly about coming back and trying to you know get back to the running Public Schools the the Meco program and and just really enjoyed um you know finally being here as seniors um I I sent them with a task cuz we wanted to think you know everyone's doing different things uh to try to get them in but i s them with a task to do a video to record themselves um just to record themselves introduce themselves when they started what's something one of the highlights of their experience and their time being here was something that they enjoyed uh that was new and you know what some some of the things they want us to continue to do just to make everyone to be experien I would like to share that video um with everybody um yes that one to the left oh I'm sorry you see the bottom right right there okay I've been attending since second grade um I went after high school I'm going to be attending Community College but also pursuing my dream of content creation one thing I liked about the experience was getting to a bunch of different people from I would have got to me otherwise um one thing that I want to make sure is teach have Busters for kids at all at all levels because I definitely think getting kids to be able to participate in things outside of school like going going to a friend's house that having a friend in reading that comes to Bost great is the gap between Boston and in the Hardis and I think that breaking down that Gap is definitely one of the biggest objectives things experience one thing I want to um the student experiences better is definitely events like apple picking and the K Festival bringing both together and that divide of life and life that I had when I was and I think doing that will help have Tye experience feel like they have two differentes um and last I would just like to all my the teach push me help me the way beond make sure that I comfortable in my experence hi I'm s and I've been going to writing public school since I was 6 years old um I plan on going to get my license for makeup once I graduate then after that going to college for culinary arts one thing that I liked about my Meo experience in particular is that the teachers care so much and they want to see me reach my fullest potential and me personally I just feel like they actually believe in me and that they're being completely genuine I'd like for reading public schools and Meco to continue the coordinators and all the schools including the high school something that I think that could make experiences even better is just continuing to push and encourage the future students and even just like a check-in and how they're doing and I would just like to thank my guidance counselor Mr Kennedy Miss Mali and an assistant principal at rmhs Miss bugley for just helping my high school career go a little bit smoother my name is Jeremiah Lewis I started um attending the medical program when I was in second grade um I'm thinking about going to college after school um my top choice I think is uh my top choic are Boston and suff University the like the late bu and what um other things that Mr Mar provide for us I feel like they're a great addition to like Meco program because um it allows kids to like go to sports and stay after school for like work and stuff that they wouldn't be able to do usually and um it it provides a safe way for that and um for the um I feel like if I had a Meco like director or a Meco um coordinator in elementary school I feel like I would have had a better experience because I feel like the previous Echo director we're only here for Behavioral issues um with kids that were in the medical program but like I feel like the um the opportunities that we get are multiply I started with like Atlanta um like going there for free um College Prep that helped me a lot mcast prep and just so many other things hi my name is Martin and I'm a gr 12 I've been attending un and my plans after high school is to go to college um out of state in Atlanta and one thing I liked about My Wo experience is just meeting new people finding people just like me exper experiencing this whole thing to get work done for tutoring also I recommend HBCU it gives seniors no excuse me Juniors and sophore the idea of what they would like to do colle inside um one thing I would also like for them to continue is the medical coordinators and the confence meting that we have um is um probably hi I'm J hustin and I am currently a 12th grade senior doing my intership at J elementary school I went to um from so I started me SCH at first grade I really enjoyed the inclusiveness from within the community I enjoy making friends with white people black people people look multiple races no matter what whatever the kids may have been um I still have from elementary school that I still talk to now in high school which was also really good they create special bonds I can definitely say that um one thing I think one thing that I do think re should continue doing is continuing to fund late bus late bus late buses and um HBCU trips and stuff like that just to get more awareness with college cuz I know definitely if I had on that hcu trip it would benefit me in so many ways bring it all to around like a full circle I think that it is definitely a great idea or it was a great idea to incorporate multiple me coordinators um I know for me it gives provides to me a sense of comfort knowing that there is an office where there's a black leader and um a room um and I know that it just I don't know it's a better environment for everybody not just the Meco kids or not just every black student but it's well inclusive it's all-inclusive and I think that for the future Elementary School students they're going to have a better upbringing in um running Public Schools not that not saying that I have not had a good upbringing but I know that they're going to flourish the amount of resources the amount of resources Future Leaders that are going to take them on along journe give special thanks to anybody and everybody and all of my wonderful people around me that kept me going kept me motivated my family members my friends um the friends that I've lost my close relatives my teachers my counselors my principles all of them all of you guys thank you so much um for helping me create the person that I am today um for as far as it goes for the future I plan on pursuing my content creation Journey with the YouTube expanding that I plan on creating a business for myself I want to be my own entrepreneur and I will I'm going to major in business in college after my two years of community yes so uh it was definitely a pleasure to get to know this these young men and women over the last three years uh like I said I learned a lot from them spending time with them hearing from them and I'm I'm truly excited to see what they do in the future so I thank them um you know just for being them and um you know coming to us whenever you know something wasn't right something need to be fixed and and being The Advocates to make sure that we continue to do the right and stay in the right track so I'm excited for them and congratulations as Stark their graduation and going to their next journey of life good job great job great job by Curtis and the students right a quick question were there HBC tours before you started no we're the only mro District that ever would do that good so it was awesome I like seeing that Josh we I knew exactly where he was exactly where he was that's what he's doing his internship that's awesome okay so um we'll move on from the focus on excellence and we'll move to consent agenda so Aon we have a motion motion to approve the consent agenda second by Chuck any discussion okay seeing none all in favor all opposed and it passes for zero um so we move to reports are you are you you here for the student report if you are take yourself off mute and you're up first hi hello sorry can you hear me yes we can loud are clear okay let me hold up just leaving practice too so that's okay we very used to that okay so it says right here um this Monday uh close to 190 senior started internships at various schools and businesses throughout the reading and surrounding communities and uh seniors participated in internships for approx like per week um and had to the final project at the conclusion of the internship in mid May um and I've noticed also like this week I like how the school um for those who are in building I like how the school is like for um World Language I think World Language week this week and I like how they were um they were playing like different varieties of like music and uh in different languages and I really appreciate how they do that it's the first time that I think they've done it cuz it's in the middle of the day and you're wondering what's going on while you're entering in the classrooms and it's really it it brings like a lot of like diversity and it makes me feel like you know the school is really growing and to be more inclusive and I like how they and can you guys still hear me doing great H we we can hear you toia go ahead maybe she can't hear us Tama can you hear us yes yes I can sorry I'm so sorry problem practice in the bad Wi-Fi environment must be at read more High School yeah I think we've lost connection for you now to me stay on if you can find a better spot and we'll come back to you in a few minutes okay and the class of s 7 is holding a progressive dinner umk okay okay thank you thank you um to me if you if you get a better spot and you want to say some some more things just message me on the zoom and I'll I'll come back to you okay got it um Dr Pinto um any report from you sir hi good evening everybody uh I have a few items few quick items to share with you uh this week I met with John buo who who's the executive director of the YMCA again at John's invitation so we discussed how we might continue to build on our synergies and existing partnership uh to heighten our impact in the community and to see what role I might be able to play in so doing uh I also met with Bill Stewart who's the president-elect of the reading rotary to further our relationship with Community leaders who are working to improve the quality of life for others and how we might uh best be of support to them and last night uh Senator Jason Lewis is who's the uh co-chair on the Joint Committee for Education held an information session on Chapter 70 funding which I attended virtually so he discussed the student Opportunity Act the budget and acknowledged the impact of inflation uh he did note that he received a letter from the Massachusetts Association of school superintendents uh also the Massachusetts Association of school committees and MTA requesting an increase in chapter 78 and while he couldn't make any promises uh he did say he was hopeful so those are a few items that I want to share with you that concludes my report thank you any questions for Dr okay Dr hery actually going to build off um something that t started talking about this week was World Language week at the high school and I was honored to be invited to one of the events that happened we there was a ceremony to recognize 25 of our seniors for their accomplishments in learning master in the world language uh the name of the award they received is called the language opportunity Coalition bilingual Achievement Award uh and those that's for students that earned an intermediate to Mid proficiency on an assessment that they took in 11th grade and so it's something that we're really proud of we know how much work it takes for students to acquire that level of proficiency in a second language and our goal is for as many of our students as possible to be bilingual and multilingual this was a way to celebrate their accomplishments I want to give a huge thank you to um one of our Spanish teachers Derek Brian who has taken the lead in setting up the assessments for our students and really just working very hard to make sure every student who's eligible takes the assessment and that students um can even take retests if needed Andor some of our students who are Heritage speakers even if they're at a different grade level from when we normally do the assessment have the opportunity to take the assessment as well um I really wanted to to shout out our entire world language Department our world language teachers really are outstanding and um do so much not just to help students acquire another language but to learn about the culture because we all know that language um holds so much around culture and making sure that our students are learning that alongside whatever um language they're studying so it's a it's a really nice event to the great any questions for Dr Hardy okay see great I'll start by just building up two things I just heard so far one is want to build off Dr Hardy's comment for those who don't follow the high school maybe super close to know that just we are going to offer American Sign Language next year as a class we' had a lot of interest in the community so really excited uh we're going to have a hard time keeping up with the demand but that's a good problem to have so just maybe you haven't heard that we're really excited about that the second is if you saw jir outside J uh you heard a little bit about senior internship if you haven't you know don't know about the program our seniors are allowed to who are in good academic standing in their fourth quarter uh take their spend their last couple of you know several weeks and months at rhs in out in the community in a job in an internship site where they uh can participate in what's a career of interest for them so we have students sort of all over you know Boston reading uh in internship sites and all different Industries some in our educations in our school school sites some in uh some in I would say our finance uh some in HR some in the Athletics World some in construction so it's really nice to been able to follow them that program is brought in 175 ,000 for our students over the past two years because most of the sites are also paid sites for our students too either paid by grants or paid by the uh by the companies themselves and organizations also to thank all of our Community Partners who have put themselves out there to be able to support in this way we think it's a two-way street it benefits our students and it benefits them um two updates on my end just what one is first thank you we have three students with us Aiden thank you for coming Owen I'm here videoing thank you and then Nelly thank you for coming too and we're going to say congratulations to Nelly Nelly finished her first mcast exam said it was easy she rocked congratulations uh and then also a big shout out to any of our par Professionals in our district yesterday's par professional appreciation day uh you know that many of the par par professionals are like the glue of all so many of our schools and do so much to support our students academically and social emotionally so just a huge thank you to all the parent professionals we appreciate everything you do any questions for chesy okay tamama do you have anything else you want to add no okay no I think I think you guys have covered it great thank you all right so we'll go to Liaison reports we'll start at my right Chuck thank you it's great to be here uh we uh I would W met uh Monday night uh we we're walking up the 18th Fairway it's just about done uh we prepared our report for the board the select board uh which we're going to present pbd I'm sure okay great Carla thank you thank you everybody for having us here um I'm really sad that I didn't get to see Millie um I am going to give a um update on kilum um we had a community meeting on Monday night um we talked about our traffic and we talked about our site and that's for your new school that's going to come um and we have a Kellum School building committee meeting on Monday the 8th at 7 so feel free to come or tune in you also have public meeting yes we do it's like non-stop we we do have another U meeting on the 11th at Kellum 7 8:00 we're also going to be doing some tours for those who want to see the school at 6:30 thank you you're welcome Aaron no reports tonight no reports okay um not so much a subcommittee report uh but just a administrative report for the committee um we have filed for with MIAA the ability to uh allow our eighth graders to play lacrosse this year as well U just because we're a few students short we do that sometimes we've done with hockey we've done with other sports in the past but there's any eighth graders that want to play uh at the high school level um most likely on the freshman team um but you get a head start on next year if you're so ined and that's what you're interested in so just FYI that's in process boys particular boys is where we have the limitation um and to be clear it's not that we have like only 12 lacrosse players it's that we have like 62 and we need 75 or something like that so it's just to field all three teams and make sure they all are fully fully sta fully staffed fully competitive Etc not having kids play multiple levels and and whatnot so avoid injury and think that so okay um now with that said we move on to the uh the fun part no pressure that's you that's you lva and Ila we're going to start with just kind of handing it over to you having you introduce and you have some questions you want us to answer as well so I think it's going to be interactive approximately 20 minutes give because because uh of uh we maybe overstay our welcome last year we're going to put a timer on no not at all um so thank you so much for having us it's fantastic to be here in this super special place uh I'm IL I've got a child senior at the high school and a freshman uh and I'm the co-chair uh with Le EPS of friends of reading Meco uh we're a a 10 person board we've got some of our board members here with us now stany Williams and um Tish M and screen well Y and we have Teresa wiggin here in several capacities good to see you Teresa if you guys could speak up from the audience it's a little bit harder to pick up on your voice sure excellent that might be the first time anyone's everever said that to me thank you thank you thank you we'll do our best um okay so just quickly it's been amazing to hear thank you Curtis for um bringing in the experiences of students it's uh absolutely fantastic and that's why we exist as a board uh to really um do everything we can as parents and caregivers um to uh support the metco program that we are super proud of um and to um continue to have such excellent uh young people uh be such an important part of the reading public school so thank you Curtis so what we would like to do is um we just want to have a a short conversation with you and we sent through the questions beforehand uh our thinking is that uh in a sec L uh will uh pose one by one each of the three questions we have uh for you we'll try and limit to maybe 5 minutes um sort of conversation on each question and what we'll do as we'll be thinking and as we're listening we'll take away what we hear from you all and that's what will feed into our planning as a board for how we can continue to work with you effectively um to really support and grow this fantastic metco program so that's our thinking is a a short conversation around three questions um so I'm now going to hand over to leand who's going to ask you the first question thank you for having us I want to piggy back really quick with with Curtis that I like that presentation um it was fulfilling but Al I'm all about Milestones so I'm like that's your Co class it really is like they started 2020 so that whole four years that is your Co High School graduating class just thought but one more The Freshman I mean Junior I'm sorry sorry just to me it's class okay so my the first question I want to make sure everyone on screen can hear as well um I'll start with you Robinson what are you proud of thinking about our writing Meco program overall so uh as and some have heard me say before uh leadership matters and I think uh what I'm proud of is uh what what Curtis has been able to do with Dr meski and really elevated this program to a program that they it's not just a program we have it's a program that I think other communties would strive to be like uh with the with the tours that we're doing with the hbac U you know just all just I think it's those our leadership has brought it to just a much higher level thank you so I was here four years ago um during the summer for a um a a visit with with Curtis and um our our staff principles and things like that in the summertime and to you know from from the the the state of our Meco program that we were given by Millie and others um which was not favorable at all four years ago to where we are now is actually really remarkable so I am proud of of the accomplishments of our superintendent of Curtis um and in terms of um you know this committee for funding right in conjunction with my co brants for funding the positions that we funded I think that was a pivotal role to funding those positions in schools was a pivotal role which really um propelled us but then I think all the the special add-ons like the college tours and um the encouragement of of students going home with you know Boston students going home with reading students and and encouraging those types of relationships I think is the the way the the direction that our the program needs to continue devel a Tom check yeton minutes minutes two minutes for the rest of the school committee MERS get to the next question there's so many things to be proud of we understand thank you yeah I mean I think you know they hit on some of the key points um I think what I'm most of when I see it is is kind of the outcomes right um but at the same time that's my kind of going forward to the next question I'm cheating a little bit Lea that's what I want to see more of is Improvement in the outcomes as well um I think the program has such promise um you know we went to caros point from probably the worst metco program in the state we were almost told we were pretty much told that from the from that point in time right to probably arguably one of the top 10 maybe top five right but I I mean I think even from sizewise you know I I think so to that end the growth that we've seen has been phenomenal right and I think that's what we want to I don't want to stop where we are either right I want to make sure that and again I'm kind of jumping to the next question I'm cheating a little bit that means we'll just skip over that's fine that's fine um I want us to you know we are not the biggest program in the state yet I want us to be the biggest program in the state why not you know we're we're arguably closer than the biggest program in the state so it's a it's easier you know we we should have we have we have the community support and funding to do it we should be right um and I think it benefits not just our Boston students and I don't want I don't want to say the Meco students because everybody's a Meco student or a Meco District right the attitude I think is fundamentally different than it was four years ago as well and to Chuck and car's Point huge huge kudos to to Curtis and Tom um in that regard um you know and the continued funding that we have and the continued funding we need in those key positions I'd also I'm going to one more cheat I'd love to see us add if we can that last metco coordinator at the middle school L instead of spreading it across the two schools Middle School is one of our biggest social emotional growth challenges areas regardless of program regardless of you know student background it is just a biggest social emotional program and so having the support there I think would be the next big step for us as well excellent so that's when we get to question three about the the role in making the host happen brilliant brilliant um so sticking with what I'm proud of um instructions um I in addition to what has already been said I'm really really proud of that we are all Meco campaign um I think that um similar to Carla I've I've been on the school committee for four years and I just think that the recognition that we are all part of Meco and we are all Meco families um has been a huge transformation I think the visibility and the embracing of the program um I'm proud that we've grown the program um and I just I feel like it's all exploded like the work that Curtis is doing the work that you're doing as the friends of Reading Ma and just really trying to mix more our reading residents our Boston residents um you know almost every one of the seniors mentioned the late bus so that students are you know able to do as much and get as much out of their their reading School experience as possible like I'm I'm proud of all of that Sarah I'm I'm skipping over Curtis and Tom because they've answered these questions we meet with them come on answer I have to say um I'm I'm proud of our our Boston resident students um one of the things Curtis and I have worked on is really helping our staff to understand the obstacles the the added challenges our Boston kids face because of living in in you know not in as close close proximity having a longer commute having to get up early in the morning and so when I think think about the added challenges that they come to school every day work so hard um have really you know make really good friendships and um to me that I mean they're the heart and soul of this program and I'm I'm so proud of what they accomplished I'm going to stay down there I'm already there so what are your hopes for the the program in the future I think I'm going to take what Tom was going to say a little bit one of the parts of my job is to really look at how our students are performing academically and consistently when I look at how um our Boston resident students are doing um I don't see the same level of performance that I want for them in our district and so my hope is that some of the things we're putting in place and trying that we're going to start to see um achievement and growth um that really that our kids deserve um Aron what are your hopes for the program in the future so a few things uh similar to Tom I I would like to see us continue to be able to expand this program um including with with another school adjustment counselor um but also with with students in the district I would like to see us um you know open it up to even more students um I would like to see um more of our Boston residents taking Advanced coursework at the high school and that starts starts at elementary school and how and how we are preparing them for that and encouraging them and um making that possible um I also think for as much work has been done so far in terms of we are all metco um there's more work to be done and it's upsetting when I hear about situations um where I I I think there are still people in the reden community who unfortunately don't regard all of our Boston students as reading public school students and that doesn't sit well with me as a school Committee Member so I would like to see us get to a point where it's just universally acknowledged that regardless of where these students live they're reading public school students and and as important as anyone who lives in the town of R thank you for that Tom or or should we skip you your choice we'll Che time I can expound some more but we'll go to car um what are your hopes for the program in the future so I I think for me and and it's it's some somewhat of a repeat of stuff that we've heard but in terms of um for me I think the biggest things are enrollment um and I think the the the direction that truly makes a program a program of the heart is the relationships um and and that is you know creating those those opportunities for for students to spend time together right we I mean we had Meco I'm not tell you what year but you know when I was a kid and we there was a it was a different time and there were different relationships um and I don't see that come as easily now than it did when I was a kid um so that I have no doubt because Curtis and I have these conversations all the time that that's where our program is headed and I think once that happens instead the program just takes off because it's by the kids so one of the thing I agree with a lot a lot everything that was said but one of the things that that Carla just started to touch on and in my many conversations with Curtis I've always heard him speak fondly of his his time in whale whale and you know I I would want uh our students and reading to have those that those Bond experiences that that Curtis had and you know I'd like to have them be able to come back and tell those stories I think that's uh that being part of the community is just really important and the third question what do you see as your role in making these hopes a reality just to continue to to to Advocate uh and listen a lot more than talking about it uh and listening to you know what what what kind of feedback are we getting from from the families and the communities about it what we can do better and how can we advocate for you uh when as Tom mentioned you know had another position in the Middle School level those those sorts of things that's kind of our role uh is to is to be your Advocate to go get what you're asking us to get you that makes sense it does sense and and our our responsibility as school committee members is support and budget right that that's those are the huge pieces of it um you know I can say unequivocally that we have six members on this committee that are all in with this program but just just no hesitation um which makes it just easier to move forward so it's it's really it's it's budget and support for me we get a chance start I keep for this one um so I'm going to I'm going to pull on the academic thread a little bit um that's where I spend a lot of my passion time anyway um my my focus in this regard is to continue to challenge and challenge the St status quo ask the wise um make sure that we are doing everything we can to provide the supports necessary to provide the tools necessary to provide everything necessary for success for students um every student has a different definition of success so I'm not going to put that into like a pigeon hole necessarily um but I do want and expect that we're seeing higher levels of academic success overall for all of our students but but especially those that we have to close the gap for um people know I'm a data guy and the data is not where it needs to be right now for um for many of our student populations we're talking about and so what is it that we need to do so Tom and SAR will tell them I'm like okay this is what this study says what are we doing about this what are we doing about this um and making sure that we think about some of those things as well and to Carla's point about you know our role it comes back to goals as well right so if you look at our goals right now Dr mileski has a goal in particular about data analysis and tying that to remediations and have it building a library for what you need to do to support the the remediation that's necessary Dr Hardy and I were talking right before the Ser right before the the meeting about personal experience she was having where other districts don't have in place some of the stuff that we have just from a pure analysis perspective and that that kind of a it's spoke volumes cuz we were there 6 years ago versus where we are now but B it's like that's where we need we need to keep going down that path that we have the answers to the questions right um and so the support from that perspective the continual research the continual challenging questions the setting the goals to achieve them you don't set a goal you're not going to achieve it um so and make them stretch goals you know not something you can easily achieve but let's let's let's stretch ourselves and really kind of push ourselves out there um before you answer we are going to go a few minutes over because we have to get we're at 24 okay go off there because I just want people to understand I did send the timer she 12 seconds remaining it quick question what do you see as your role in making these hopes of reality yeah so um a mix of what everyone else has said so I I do think that we are Advocates um you know as a school Committee Member I I'm am elected to represent the students of reading public schools and that includes our Boston residents so I consider it my role to advocate for what our students need and what is in the best interest of our students so that includes listening and and making sure that I'm aware of you know what is happening in the district but um also than advocacy to the administration um I think budget does play role you know if we want to add a position that's going to have an impact on the budget so part of what we have to decide every year is you know what what does the district need what what are the biggest priorities and how can we help fund those priorities and I think getting another um School adjustment counselor SL my co-coordinator so we have one in each Middle School is a priority um and I also see us as uh Messengers so so you know I'm I'm a messenger for the community of of what is happening in our schools and what can be celebrated in our schools and um so I think part of our role is also you know continuing you know I'm I'm being repetitive but the we are all met go like I I see my role as continuing to spread that message and to spread that word so that it's more fully embraced by the entire Community thank you a lot of my role overlaps with what Tom talked about so I won't repeat that um but I have go he said the other piece of it is making sure that our schools um are welcoming environments where learning can happen we all know that that is um an essential component if students don't feel safe welcome um listen to they can't learn their brains literally can't learn and so my role in that is um continuing to support our building leaders and our teachers and any professional development they need to understand what our students need um to work and Leverage our amazing Meco uh coordinators School adjustment counselors to make sure they have what they need um because they are um so important to the success of our students um and then I would add one that's not directly my role but part of what we do as a central Office Team and in that is in our hiring making sure that it is a priority for us that we have the most diverse staff we can have so that uh all of our students have the opportunity to learn from and work alongside um um that um that look like that's another piece of I hope thank you for that and I'm just going to say I I appreciate that because there aren't anyone in any of the schools that look like them and representation matters and they need it I don't know how much time you have if you guys want to give your answers to those questions but we can go for a few more minutes if you want to sure sure you I don't know what to start a lot well I'll throw something really um I'm going to throw in what do I what are my hopes for the program in the future um more communication about activities on on both ends um it sounds small but it it really isn't and I'll quickly make it personal but not it's going to tie in last year the same time I said the same thing about foston residents not knowing about activities that are happening my child's attending daddy daughter dance yet again second year in a row I don't know if any Boston residents knew about it um I just make it a point to my kid goes out there I'm going to subscribe to this paper I'm going to look at this Facebook page I'm going to do all of that so I don't know if it's most of them are not aware but more collaboration more more communication more sharing of of info and events and with school committee With Friends of R running Meco with PTO so that the information gets shared amongst all of the district I think I'll just I I'll probably speak during the presentation a little bit too but I just want to emphasize one point I don't think it came up enough in this conversation just the impact of counselors which is which I'm I'm really really proud of I think um for those of you thank you sign for being here too but it's uh the counsil make a tremendous impact on our students each day in terms of acade keeping track of their academic progress and making sure they're on track supporting their social emotional development uh helping them navigate sort of whatever sort of is thrown their way um and I also had a conversation with student of high school their day like this is the first time they have someone who shares a racial ident same racial identity as them who can help them navigate a conflict that has sort of has some racial Dynamics in it and that has just help them feel more safe comfortable support at school um I just think those counselors all of them have gone above and beyond to build relationships with our students to build relationships with families with staff and I think are really a game changer in the experience the day-to-day experience of our students so I just like to thank all the counselors you've really done an amazing job and I think really make a out of everything that's been said here I know you give some thanks like Curtis and I but like the teachers and the counselors are the ones who like day in day out doing the work so Sonia thank you to you and your team too you'll hear more of that in Curtis's presentation as well okay great so that's a good pin to put it on and we'll move on to the uh the update from Curtis on the overall program is there something up here to share yeah the the slide you want to start talking wise do the share well I want to make sure I practic this a few time that oh we so how do we go back all right cool all right so here you want y theous just push the button or slide SL SL up all right Co all right thank everyone Thanks for Everything um that has been said um for me I still I'm still T into a couple the questions uh when I first took this role I had to reach out to my director um and they told me it doesn't work without the support of your superintendent without the support of your school committee so I'm very proud of like the kids and what they've done I'm very proud of the meal coordinators um I live by kesy through them um because through this role um it it's it brings Clarity to me now on why I didn't see my me as much um because of the role you just you're not as r casid as much as you would like to be um so when I see the the the experience with this with the coordinators and the students I see um myself and what my experience was like with the coordinators um I also see when I see the coordinators interact with the parents I see my mother and how she interacted with my meical coordinators uh but in order to do all this you have to have the support from the superintend the support from the school Community does not work without them I was told that by both my Meco directors and the work that school committee does publicly the work that school committee does behind Clos doors um the work that Tom does that you know keeps me my S sometimes you know he's just he talks to me uh we have good conversations coming to work and frw work um the work that I see Sarah do where we're having our district leadership meetings and she is constantly like you know trying to educate herself she's constantly making sure that our teachers are prepared and understand how to educate all students um the same that goes for Jen and Allison and the work that they do um when they're constantly U making sure that our staff are prepared and and know how to educate all students it puts me in a position where I don't have to be the only person of color in the leadership team to speak about the issues that we all know we need to go they do it and it takes it makes it makes things easier for me um it makes it where I want to come here and be here and do the work so I appreciate all the work that central office is doing and then obviously our super our school committee uh but most importantly as we go dive into this um you know I really really appreciate is that appreciate our Meco coordinators um and the work that they're doing like I said being able to see you know Sona and the kids making smoothies and the kids go to the can I take a picture of that the kids going into their office um and hanging out and you know the reading resident students their friends coming with them for lunch dates and um I'm sorry they call them lunch buches lunch buches lunch bunches sorry lunch buches the seeing the work that they doing so I really you know I I I really really really truly appreciate apprciate all seven of our medical coordinators like I said I live by KY through them they're all great leaders um I don't have to micromanage anybody they they're they're bright young leaders who can do anything they they creative they're Innovative uh their their ability to you know address difficult situations whether it be with students or whether it be with staff their abilities to stand up for Equity all students um really am appreciative of the work that they've been doing throughout this year you can see the impact that happening that's that they having our black and brown students obviously and then in an entire District but then also running our non you know black and brown students the impact that they're having on them um you see at the high school all the time you can walk in and just see the pth we've outgrown the space that where this pcture was taking place when we first started um you know we had 40 something about 45 students from Boston um in the entire District now we're at Max of a 107 but when you walk in our office it's ready public school um mean it's kids who feel comfortable with black brown students it's non black brown white students feeling comfortable to hang out with Mr Luke in the office and that goes throughout the entire District so I'm thankful for luk ly at the high school our high school coordinator Jericho Santiago our middle school coordinator Theo Brown um at eaten Sonia Lumban was here at kill him Patricia was at wood um Shand Brown who's at barrels and Cindy Marte who's at Birch meta um in order for them to be successful as they had been this year we had to narrow down with some work that we did with Joseph long botom um and some work with our principles narrow down to try to focus on just five things uh for our meca coordinators to do throughout the day and those five things were making sure that they're meeting with our Boston students um resident students regularly to support their academic social and emotional needs in small groups and individually um that's something that they do every day uh we wanted them to make sure that they building um connections and relationships with in between our Boston and reading resident students um that really Foster those relationships um amongst the kids um we also want them to build connections and relationships um um within between our boss resident parents and our boss already resident parents um we wanted them in order for this to work um you know as me I'm a leader part of the district leadership team uh we needed the medal coordinators to be part the lead part of their leadership on their school right so we our meal coordinators act as members of their school leadership team to model culture responsive leadership um throughout the building and and really making sure that helping they work along with our principle to make sure that we're meeting our district goals and um around mea um to support all students want add one thing to if just a little bit of context on the roles too is that us you know these are like a they have two major parts of the role we're going to hear a lot about the metco coordinator role they also have another capacity which their role is a school counselor too um so that's at our all of our K through 8 so uh not only are they responsible for supporting like being a directly aison around Meco related you know connections but also they're supporting every student in the building around social emotional needs too so the only spot where that's a little bit different is that the high school where Mr Luke is just a he's a metco coordinator uh and while he does a lot of social emotional support he's just not a licensed Mental Health commission like at the other levels and this position is split between the metco budget and all in our district operating budget so that's kind of where we kind of the budget ties come in as the committee you know funding half the positions and the medal grant funding half the positions thank you and the last thing you know the mechan coordinator is we make sure that um that they're part of assisting the principles and teachers with proactive responsive Communications with our bosson resident families regarding their students experience in school including academic social and emotional progress U so those are the five bucket areas they do way more than that um but because they do way more than that we kind of have to make it kind of simple for them um so they're not doing too much um keeping some some of their own piece right so those are the five things that we we kind of focus their Ro to now to support the roaden there you go now you're moving so okay just hit all right so in order to now we have to give the mech coordinator support so we have a list of things for them to do how do we support them and make sure that they able to do this in their B best capability in in their own unique way um so the support that we provide them is that myself and all the Mecha coordinates we meet biweekly uh we go over programing across all schools and rols of likes and processing this is what we talk about you know goals initiative is there something popping up but then that's also as leader color um there also as leader of colors in their building is sometimes just a safe space just for us to come together as you know minority we have to talk to each other we have to just sometimes not talk about direct stuff and just make sure that we feel good and that we feel comfortable um as well so it's a it's a space that for us what we need by weekly um to continue to support that we have our monthly medical rotating site visits this is where some new sence since you're here um well actually in the pictures we use uh this is birch met this is where we pick Birch meow and the medical coordinator School dist Council there Cindy Marte and the principal Dr Burnham um they all we will come to them and then they will share best practices with the entire team we will do walkthroughs throughout the building uh we walk into classroom do observations um to see students in their work um you know Cindy and the metal coordinates are able to introduce us to the students um let them know that they do the same same thing at eaten they do what I do at Birch um so this is a time where we can the Mec Corners can share best practices amongst each other um when we've done this at this time this Sydney was doing a school presentation um to the students I can't remember what it was but the means got to observe that and and take notes and just bounce ideas off each other and see it in action but then also be able to walk through the builds and see the kids have the kids see us um and know who we are and what they're doing so that's a way to support the me coordinators and their roles in that way um we also then I also had Triad meetings these meetings where I will go to one school and I will meet with that individual Meco coordinator and the principal and we'll discuss Mech goals and and concerns or whatever needs to be addressed for that specific building um student cases individually does someone need some support here or there um this one's doing well uh we talk directly to that school and it's just a three of us to go over what's happening in that building um and then I continue which I've been doing for three year three now um I meet monthly with the principal so as the elementary group all five elementary principles and myself we meet once a month uh to discuss again meet to discuss meal goals initiatives and supports needed by level so I do that with the elementary um the middle school and high school once a month and these are just all way make sure that we're able to support the overall Mecha program um in every school but then also to make sure that our Mecha coordinators have the support and the tools to do what they need to do on their in Builders uh so the impact we've heard a lot about their impact um I actually wanted to I did a video as well where we get to hear from uh um our medical coordinator Cindy Marte from bir and then along with our medical coordinator um Theo Brown from Ian and um we also have Sonia here so while we pug the video uh Sonia put you on the spot I want her that I was going to put her on the spot but um if you like you like to share like you know what life is like in your role like killing sure um like said we I help all the students so um I work with Boston residents and ring residents and what I like is my office is a safe space for everybody and I love Bridging the friendships and creating friendships with the kids and also um helping them find the similarity so even though they are in completely different cities and I'm very big on narratives so changing the narratives of you know Boston kids come here because they need an opportunity for a greater education I'm like I went to the number one high school in Massachusetts it's in Boston oh good so actually it's a two-way road so you guys are learning these things they're learning these things like where it's give and take so you know making sure that everyone knows that it's a learning experience for everybody and a lot of kids that were perceived certain ways being able to talk to their teachers and I think I think it's huge that for this District that they're counselors that are the coordinators because that comes with a whole backing of social emotional language learning where we're able to impact the students but also the teachers in the leadership team and to be able to teach them things like narratives like you're looking at it this way did you think about all of these things that these kids are impacted by and are going through and the changes and like you said Middle School that's a level where their brains literally growing at different PES so their reasoning skills are not there yet it's not growing as fast as otherwi so like they need that extra support and to have that from somebody that also understands like the cultural aspect is huge and not only that but to have writing students being impacted by somebody who has that cultural knowledge who grow like this because some of the questions I get in my office I love having conversations about so can I wear braids yeah yes absolutely but it's so fun and they're asking all these questions and things if you go to kill them there's a whole my hallway I have all these things from when I went to Ghana and when I went to South Africa and I want to have those conversations I want them to like girl was like my grandfather is from Taiwan and like she's conflicted about learning to speak and I'm like you absolutely should learn how to speak and it's so much easier for you to learn how to speak well you're six it's a lot harder when you get to my age 30 years later you know it doesn't come that easy and I was like did you get paid more if you're older and you speak more than one language she's like I do absolutely trust me so I love having these conversations and really teaching the kids how important culture is because it's not fair to them when they get to college and they get into real jobs and then they're like oh the world looks so different from what I grew up in so if they're exposed to this at a younger age they don't get this culture shock when they become adults so now without suggestion you can hear a little bit from Cindy let something first I don't think I click the sound button want to make sure on on the zoom you can actually hear the sound as well sound is C good so all right ready y hello my name is C Mar I am the coordinator and school adjustment counsel here at b elementary school go biry Bears um I am currently in my second year in this role and I guess if I would have to reflect back would definitely say that this had a my role has had a huge impact not solely on our Boston resident students but also on our just ready our entire ready Community as supp um reading residents benefit from the presence and impact on my role in the building and helping to bridge the potential divide um between our R reading population with you know majority white Caucasian and our more diverse postive students right and this is done by working with all students in a variety of ways whether that's like in the classroom you know lunch bunches our cultural bulletin boards our cultural um assemblies and all of these different things help to bring a sense of connectiveness and belonging for all students regardless of where they live um particularly for a box of students I would have to say the Major Impact for them is being able to see themselves in me right I I you know not having a culturally diverse community of teachers can potentially leave them feeling isolated and misunderstood um so having someone here that you know looks like them speaks their language sees them understands them just makes all of the difference in the world um and I do think not only has it helped the the students but I think it's been good for you know our staff as well you know teachers and staff have expressed and contined to express since last year the gratitude for my role in the creation of these positions in the entire District right um we do know that sometimes even being incredibly well- meaning at times responses to students may come across as culturally biased um but teachers often ask ask to bounce ideas off me give my opinion and feedback on things and we collaborate on lessons that hopefully they're able to implement and so I would definitely say that these roles it's it's been a game changer like I said not only for the students but our just Community as a whole and I'm extremely thankful to have been given the opportunity to be here thank you so much okay welcome to Josh Elementary School I'm here Mr the brown your me coordinator also I get the great opportunity as a me coordinator to bring two communities together and Meo along with helping our aost and Resident Scholars work towards e every day um helping their peers here that live in Reading um see a different black men in the school as far as changing that narrative that need to change you know through our society for ourselves on a daily basis um I see that our impact here has been like tremendous as far as medical coordinators every Elementary School with school and high school we have definitely made a difference um for every student along with both communities um I wish I did have that as an elementary school kid um to have a black male walking through the school being that example of being someone that I want to be like on a daily basis U that that whole experience would have been had great if I had that elementary school um but as a medical coordinator I get the great opportunity to kind of just make impact for our Future Leaders um it's a great position to have a great Ro to have want to know that sometimes you might not see the change now but we're looking forward to see that change on that Mr Brown was also he's also the Lum through Nita and um through the Nita me program and Mrs Brown no relation um who's the barrels um meal coordinator she's also the Marblehead ordin that's been extremely helpful having that as well how are we for good you're fine yeah five or 10 more minutes yeah I always got to keep Curtis I'll tell I'll tell him three to five he holds me accountable too so I saw uh last year one of our middle school students from Parker came out with the idea of f family uh which is a group of people who unite in a family bond based on shared experience Mutual understanding interpersonal connections a found family is not biological but found place in a new place which I feel like sums up exactly like what the meal program is um so I was really excited that um when I was going into doing the slide and doing my prepar this I asked the me coordinators do all of our students um that are from Boston have at least two friends and they all kind of went that with that was crazy um because they have more than two friends um so we're starting we actually seeing a huge growth and where our Boston residence students are doing a lot more activities in ready for play dates birthday parties Etc uh when we want to see the growth is on the opposite side with more of our ring families are going to Boston for birthday parties play dates and so on um some of the events that we've done so far this year the picture at the bottom uh which is the Franklin Park Zoo uh we went to the Boston lights and so it was a really really good time this is only picture of half of us um because it was so hectic I plan on doing this again but I just now know that we shouldn't do it on a Sunday when there's no school on a Monday CU everyone planed to be there that day um so this is something that I definitely want want to continue as you can see we had close to 200 people show up of both Boston and R resident families we had a good time um meel headquarters um they gave us about 50 tickets this year to go see the Black Nativity show where our boss resident families invited some of their uh R friends and I see we other family and students from wooden who went to go enjoy the play together um to wrap up the year on last like event to continue to have the children PR is going to be the date just came out and that's May 18th uh for the Kite Festival uh that date just came out literally yesterday um so we are going to now finalize and start to get that information out there um but we're definitely seeing a lot of growth and it's something that the high school students spoke on a lot um even in the video of how they didn't that they had their friends but they didn't do anything as far as play dates and we're seeing you Dr in those numbers I can't get him to stay home like he is never home he like where's Aidan I like where y'all think he that he like he so Aidan did not know how to take the bus nowhere in Boston but to school when when he went to Jamaica plane Aiden knows how to get on the MBT and go to R but ask him to go to to Copley or somewhere know you're not all right um last year when we had our school committee meeting we said we wanted to do more cultural events we've done a lot and I'm not I can't list everything but this is just something that I wanted to Spotlight you know we started the school year with Hispanic heritage mon where every school did something did some type of presentation performance in front of the school um at the high school we had the Dominican Restaurant mongu uh from High Park come and like take over the cafeteria as far as cooking and making food restaurant exactly way they do it at their restaurant for the entire student body U we also went to Black History Month and did the same thing where restaurant Park 54 you can see in the bottom left they came to the high school um and they did the same thing C Food directly from their menu at their restaurant uh we were able to we also said we wanted to do more stuff in Boston we were able to for Quanza to get we took about 80 elementary students across the district to Boston to Roxbury Community College to see the Quanza play um I'm son how do you pronounce uh tauta tauta uh tuuta so students from all five elementary schools went to RCC to see this play and learn about Quanza um Woodin um they had a Philadelphia base um L style pce production which is a dance they came to the school and taught all the students um some hip-hop history and hip-hop dance um so this is just some of the things that we did um this year we've done a lot of great stuff over over the school year uh my favorite though would be barrels uh during Black History Month um the entire school did a door decoration and where they dedicated the door to some um black historic figure whether it be past or present and uh it was really really cool to see you know what they did and how they decorated those doors and every single door in the classroom um had something um and so that was a really good time that was my my favorite to walk Tom and some of the central office staff to to be the judge and all they did one the best one of my favorite was Andre Tilly who a black fashion designer they really went in and uh decorated his door really nicely um they the gym teacher chose to highlight Gerard Mayo in which his wife commented and thanked and gratitude um for for the school doing that and reached out as well um so those are just some of the great things those pictures are on Instagram right yes yes they are on Instagram promote that page yeah yeah I didn't say it again it promote promote Instagram great stuff out there you can see all those pages y this time last year we also talked about doing more professional development um we did a lot last year we're continuing to do that uh for the second year in a row out of all 32 Meco districts we have the largest turnout uh for the Mecha director Association conference this is a day of learning uh equity and and being able to close some of these those gaps that we have and how to welcome and teach to all students and uh black and brown students so our staff uh we had a really great turnout once again in year two uh they have some great day of learning in again had Dr Carlos Hoy uh who did professional University without divisiveness um Kathy Lopes who's the de director for that uh Newton Public Schools uh came and and went to Birch Meadow and they a cultur responsive culturally responsive communities professional development for staff and then coming up after vacation uh we have about 25 staff members across the district we are going to Boston and we're going to visit a Boston Public School um we're going to learn from the school that we chose which is the orer um learn from them um and see some strong cultur responsive instruction uh learn ways and uh in which are the ppss and classroom confirm student identity and lead into sense of belonging we're going to take a look at how that school not notice um School culture what that really means and looks like um observe classroom management techniques such as restored practices and observe how teachers and parents work together uh one thing I can say VPS does a real good job of teach teachers and parents working together and student seeing teach parents as teachers and take a look at that and then learn how teachers interact and and and with parents um this is something when I was in DPS that we actually worked on um and we're going to go ahead and see how they do that as well um because it is a skill I'm working to making sure that our teachers and our parents are continuously working together throughout the entire school district and to jump off what some of the remarks that Tom was saying earlier today but I first met uh when I first spoke with everyone from school Community I told you all I want us to be the best Meo District in the state um Tom and Carla spoke about where we were and we have been told by 32 Meco directors I'm sorry 31 cuz I'll be 32 uh along with Millie our CEO that we had become the model district for what Meco should look like uh we were Tom and I were invited to speak to all 32 Meco directors and superintendents to share some of our best practices at Gillette Stadium um so we had a really quick turnout and just share the things that we've done um that led to we hosting districts Weston who came to us to observe and visit schools and hear from Tom and I about some of our best practices you've heard from schools like marad swamp Scot Melrose whing who all interested yeah all interested in how we were able to combine and work together where the district and the Meco Grant works together to fund our Meco coordinators what's that job description how do we do that everyone has been asking about how we've been doing a lot of different things how we put together the agent YouTu um we've had a lot of colleagues I've had a lot of colleagues acknowledge you know they've been the doing this Ro for 20 years and um some of the things that we've done um they still haven't done but they're at pece of where they are with their District uh but we definitely uh made some strides in the right direction uh we still have a lot of work together to go um but this year I really feel like uh we went from making a movement to makeing starting to see our first sign of progress um I seen a video of Denzel Washington where he says don't confuse movement with progress you can move in the same place and not go anywhere and this year we're starting to see the progress of our coordinators and their interaction with our students and how that connects their self- belonging which we will then start to see the better academic for performance and students wanted to be here students feeling comfortable and they feeling like they can go to someone and go to their teachers and feeling like they're read public school students so we have a lot of work to do but we are definitely being recognized as the one of the model districts and what mea um should should look like and again desse has come to visit us to personally see that the Meco board of directors the president and the vice president um have came to see and hear from us and speak with students um so we're we're we're in a really good space in year three we're continuing to climb the steps we haven't stayed stagnant on one step and we have it move backwards um so we just want to continue that growth uh make sure we're moving up know while acknowledging we still got a lot to do um but I'm the fact that everyone in the leadership R down fromo committee to central office to principles according to everyone's committed to doing the work time check all right almost there so for next year we have eight seniors going so that allows us our Max number is7 that's the max that Des will allow us to be at so next year with eight leaving we have about five students who moved out of Boston um so can no longer be part of the program because they don't live here um so we'll be replacing um those students for 16 students and grades ranges between 1st and 10th um part of that process students and parents will be able to visit the school this year and spend some time in their potential school getting to know some of the students and the principal um to help make that uh transition much smoother next year we will be looking to go back to doing our HBCU tour uh we're bouncing them around of a few ideas where do we just take freshman and sophomores and we go to Atlanta um and visit the schools in Atlanta and maybe the Juniors and seniors we go to DC and visit the school in the DMD area like Howard um Delaware State and so so we're bouncing those around um so we'll be continue to do that we probably do some fundraising as well to help support that what we will be looking at going back and doing our HBC tour and this is something that once we get through after next year we'll continue to do it every other year so that we can bring frh management of the softw to make sure those new Corps can go and see the schools as early as possible level funded um level funded means that the governor and the Senators and the state reps uh they L funded us this year which means they gave us the exact same amount of money um Meco that they did last year um it's a nice way of saying we're not cutting the Meco Grant but they did cut the me and that's because we know staff salaries does not stay the same the buses do not stay the same those go up um they've already implemented um and are proposing to level fund us again next year which will be two years of cutting the Meco gr um that eventually is going to hurt um in some way um so Meco headquarters the CEO has um change the advocacy day to doing by region um they ask us to host so all six Meco districts in the North Region will probably meet somewhere privately with about 25 to 30 people along with our state reps the state senator and other people who are part of the process of making sure that Meco is funded not just funded probably but that there's an annual like cost of living increase so that we don't stay stuck um so that's going to be happening actually May 17 give us the details of those yes yes I'll read that out Y and I'll just say this as well we should I'm going to suggest the committee that we should write a letter and sign it for our next meeting that we'll be ready in advance on the May 17th perfect thank you how was your last slide oh yeah I got more I got more pictures here as our you know our seniors and seniors and sophomore speaking with RAR uh who is the reading wber R wber he's the southside of reading represent yeah represent side speaking to him about the importance of you know making sure that the funding is what it needs to be Senate education chair is also our Jason Lewis is also our rep so we definitely should have a pretty large large voice to help can you hand that back to me question fire so um so we're we're we're right now targeted well we're at 107 yes if so the process of if we want more students that has to be approved yes so desie has to First in order to do it desie first has to I mean the state senators and the government they have to increase the budget because we can't increase if they in the same amount of money because in that just means we're taking away money from H we're taking away money from H so if they increase the Grant and say there's so much money that you can do you can increase then that's when we go through the process of me reaching out the school committee and asking them can we increase and then if school committee approves it then Des will approve it as long as we have a plan to show how we use the money that they'll give us and how we'll be able to support the students so is the money different for each City like for Meco yeah so every every Meco district has a different uh grade budget so it's all based on how many students you have so some districts have 40 kids so they have less money and then okay uh Newton is the largest medical districts they have 40 no I'm sorry they have 400 students um so they have the biggest District they have the biggest Grant um and that's how that works so what if they don't have so what if they don't meet 400 kids um they they'll get paid for like the whatever they have actually it's it's basically no they get paid for what they have they get paid for what they have yeah they get paid for they steal them Ste Ste the spots steal the spots yeah maybe actually that's what we did a couple years ago when we cuz that's what was going to ask like if they don't have it then can another like District get it but it's kind of an after the fact problem right so they haven't filled it so the next school year there might be some openings so then you have to be able to find somebody who wants to transfer mid school year right gotcha which becomes part of the challenge so okay I'm gonna move us on um because we are now well behind schedule but we can get ourselves moving um the next topic on the conversation is actually kind of an open topic but I'm going to time box it to about 15 minutes um this topic is for the children's cabinet and um one of our goals is for Community engagement and uh one of the one of the ways we're doing that is we have a children's cabinet um of which there are some members here that are part of that uh Teresa as well as leading it with with Barbara um at at the top from our perspective I'm fortunate enough to be on that but the the group there are multi there are two subgroups that are working through things the one I'm working on is is resources like providing resources for students and and families in order to make sure we can Ure ensure success this little video short video just kind of explains what a children's cabinet is I feel I feel like it's good to anchor on and then I'm going to kind of open the question just kind of say what do you not have so think about that during the 2 and a half minutes what do you not have that you need for your your student your family to to succeed um we know that Meco provides a lot of like materials but we want to make sure that if we as we think about this for reading we're also making sure we're thinking about it for all of the reading public school students not just those that put R so with that side I'll start the and let me make sure I'm sharing so our friends online and see it as well can I just mention something was mentioned to me when I went outside doing that the person um from M headquarters asked please have a photo of everyone before including Community absolutely Edo loves school but he needs a tutor to support his reading difficulties an eye doctor to address Vision challenges and a social worker to help his family access food assistance and stable housing this means that Eduardo's family must meet with school staff to find a tutor a health center to find a doctor and the Department of Social Services to get assigned a social worker navigating all these systems is complicated time consuming and overwhelming it's not just Eduardo and his family facing these challenges but countless families with their own unique needs the problem is that in communities across the country Education Health social services and nonprofit agencies operate independently and aren't coordinated they have their own staff programs metrics of success and funding streams but there's a solution imagine a regular meeting where the mayor school superintendent and the directors of Health housing Social Services transportation and other local agencies like the food p YMCA and United Way all come together to support Children and Families what if they help to establish Partnerships between schools and health clinics what if the agency heads established a free summer bus route for children to attend a free YMCA Camp what if they launched a special fund for families at risk of homelessness to stabilize students through the school year a children's cabinet is a mechanism for government agencies and Community stakeholders to create a shared Vision policies and practices for kids in the community cabinets can address both immediate needs and long-term systemic ones to succeed cabinets require leadership Commitment Community support shared goals and metrics dedicated Staffing and dependable funding at Ed redesign we're supporting communities in developing and strengthening children's cabinets that help kids like Eduardo thy both in and out of school learn more by visiting edred design.org so that's the background turning back to Lavar Burton we shifted from his mother's roots to his father's where we confronted a blank slave LA's father essentially disappeared when Lavar was 11 years we go all right so the the point here I think is to just kind of gather feedback right um we're going to we are in the we've done some of this already within reading within those that are part of the the children's cabinet um and we're in the process of rolling pulling out form um at the resource level for each of the principles and assistant principles and you know student and counseling team to say oh I'm aware of something that this child needs could in a pseudo Anonymous way I don't know if you've seen it already or not um but we're rolling it out so that we can we can send that form to the principles and whatnot to be able to say we have this need uh it could be something like um this child needs new needs a has outgrown their clothes they need new clothes and they can't get the support they need at home or something it could be um you know we we need to have they need some rental help and there's you know they $500 short on the on the rental payment this month or whatever could it could be something anything like that um well we what we haven't heard yet is from our Boston residents like Meco provide some support but they don't provide all the support so we'd like you to be part of the Greater Community in terms of solving needs and make sure that when we put resource things together IT addresses your needs as well um so be as Anonymous as possible I guess in the way you say this but I I'd love to get feedback from anybody in the audience uh even anybody else in the committee and the board here about what you see as potential needs that can help so that families and students have a better chance of success we want to we want to make sure that like yeah please go ahead um does it have to go through the principle is there a way it can go directly to the family I'm just thinking if a principal may not know or someone in the school may not know that a family may be having rent problems that's not something a child may be aware of so is it possible the referral program can go directly to the child so that it remains Anonymous but it can get to the family I think it's something we can consider um ter I don't know if you're still on uh am and I couldn't quite hear the question so she asked if it's possible for the form to be more broadly distributed so it could be not just the principal that's supplying information but rather you know potentially the parent uh or something else um I know we're trying to maintain some anonymity because it's we're I mean Theresa is running it right now right and we want to make sure that we figure out how best to support it in the long run um and we're not obviously a social work organization we're trying to connect things together to make things possible um but something for us to think about if we can more broadly distribute it I don't know if there's a good answer or not well I I will I will say this that um we uh first of all love any and and all ideas is is the CommunityWide effort um and so thank you for that and um also the idea is that right now we're going to kind of do um sort of of a a a slow roll out so that we have um we're thinking about okay schools what's coming up at school and then we as the cabinet will try to match needs but some of those needs that are going to be matched are going to be matched by the community at large right through various organizations within the community so from that perspective the people answering the needs is the Community um I do Envision the form um or where I should say we eventually kind of being also available and distributed um through other organizations like maybe the why sees needs coming up and maybe the um uh clergy Association sees needs coming up that they can then Channel back to the children's cabinet but you rais an interesting question about can families fill this out so we will um kind of out flag that writing that question down and we'll discuss it through okay any other thoughts feedback I was going to say to that point um just from being a counselor's perspective like we connect with the kids I I know my Bost in families I'm just starting to learn my writing families if there was a way to make it something that's like a Google referral that can just be posted on like the reading website then they can fill it out then it's still like partially Anonymous where it just goes directly to whoever's Distributing these resources so then you know if they're not comfortable with me I don't have to know the information the principal doesn't have to it's going directly to the people that are going to be helping them with whatever they may need help with can you did you hear that Teresa or is the mic so Sensi that's if I'm understanding correctly who would report in that scenario themselves so if I need you know food resources that I can go on like the writing Public Schools whatever or you know wherever cabinet website click on it and just click off like these are the things that I may need help with and then it would go straight to you so then you're able to directly help the family instead of everybody in the school getting involved y I think I think this kind of came from all right we want to think systemically or systematically about and and I think this is part of what Tom you're posing as a question is what what gaps are there and so how can we think systematically about closing them um and that could be anything from like needs that aren't being met but also like what L was saying just accessing the sources of like social events you know that you may not be aware of like how can we just kind of have everyone be on the same page um uh around around those types of things um and so this effort is uh sort of came out of a conversation about yes all of those things we want to do systemically those are definitely going to take some time what can we do right now about like like things that maybe the school is aware of that we can uh address right now um quickly and so I I do love the idea of like broadening this as well and creating it as more of a system um but it's I there's no butt um I I love that idea and so I think it's something we bring back to the cabinet and talk talk it through um to to one of the things coming yeah one of the things we've been trying to do is make sure that whatever we do is sustainable right I mean one of the key things and that was you know you have budget you have people and all this stuff we have people we have some budget but not for everything under the sun right so we have to be practical about it as well the group is also working on you know like resource fairs um for our multil linguage multilingual Learners and whatnot we're working on trying to figure out if we can put together sort of a a resource booklet of sorts like if you have this problem this is who you go talk to or here's a connection or something like that right um so that was really kind of I want to bring it back a little bit from just that one form and just think about on a little bit broader and about three or four more minutes from a conversation perspective are there some big ticket items that you would say you know what I know that other people have struggled with this or that and if we had a quick way to find mental health and a quick way to find you know financial help for College Planning a quick way to find financial help for you know buying a house a quick way to you know any I'm just trying to think out outside out loud right now but if there's anything like that that you have experienced or or feel the need is regular we'd love to know that so we can start to pull those resources together and make sure this resource packet is not just reading specific but reading public schools wide like what yes please um you had mentioned that academics is a big part of everyone going on committee what about having a mandatory math and reading program like I know like Brooklyn and Newton I believe all their children have to attend a math and reading program um during the summer um to keep up with all the other kids so what about having something like that to help get our kids to the academic levels that they need to be at okay so more than just tutoring but actually a real structure somewh like our summer program for our special education program absolutely you know 5e structured section where they're Clos quite literally closing the gaps for necessary right yeah okay CH go ahead I just have a not a I just have a question what's the governance of the children's this the first I've heard about this it's not the first you've heard about it CU I reported L on a couple times um the governance of it is part of our overall goals from a from a committee perspective um Dr mileski um Dr stce um crazy um I don't take ble Dr I help to help behind yeah so um they're they're part of it but you know Teresa and Barbara are leading it for Tom um and coordinating the meetings we've had I think three now three three greater meetings we've had a couple of minor meetings in between for the subgroups that are working on things as well to just kind of the first couple meetings were introduction and brainstorming like what do we want to solve how do we want to go about solving it um you know centering on that video that we talk about in terms of how do we bring things together to enable success for a student right um and make it easier for the family to support the student in that success um and then the second meeting was okay what are the two things we're going to focus on resources was one and you know connectedness or being nice essentially was the other one if I if I recall correctly and relational aggression relational aggression um is what is that um there will be a series of or a couple of meetings at the middle school specifically focused on that in the next couple weeks if I recall correctly barbar sent out something today or yesterday email is like crazy um that's their immediate item is to say how can we address relational aggression at the middle school in particular where we're seeing it the most um and and kind of hearing from parents and givers and Guardians and whatnot about what they're seeing and hearing um but overall it's been a quarterly meeting and you've heard me report about it and on reports this is part of from I don't think Craig funds this they funding the facilitators the facilitators to the facilitators okay so for Barbara and Teresa correct I have a question so back are other families able to give recommendation Pati if they know another thing like if I knew AA needed and she wouldn't say anything or she didn't want to say anything embarrassment or however whatever are am I able to then submit what I know that that family is I think that was sort of our thoughts and so Teresa the question is can family a submit on behalf of family B because family B doesn't want to or they're they're too afraid or they're too proud or I don't know what the right word is right um and I think the answer was we didn't really care who submitted and that's part of the reason why we kind of thought about it starting with the principles is that somebody would somehow get something to a principal that child a needs something it didn't have to be the parent necessarily um I mean I think there's some interesting lines for us to figure out how to walk and navigate there right um but I don't think we limited it necessarily to who could submit it so okay I just want to I'll put a pin in the conversation there so we can keep moving with the rest of it but from an awareness perspective it's something we're trying to figure out and work our way through again the goal is let's remove all the barriers as many barriers as we can to a student success and you know thank you for the engagement and feedback on that as we've come through one one last one sure to the resources that you have in place already are they just coming from the reading Community or are they a mixture from both we're trying to make sure it's a mixture from both um we've been you know Willer and I have been trading notes back and forth here they shared a couple of the the email EMA that are sent out to the families here and I know that they're about to launch a new portion of the Meco website that's going to specifically have some of these resources as well most of what I've seen from them though are academic or College Planning and things like that we're trying to make ours a little bit more Broad and so part of the conversation we'll have with Willer and team here is what other things can we say we're looking at this will you look at that or or do you know people or resources in Boston that we can refer that that this need as well okay I have a few resources that I can share I don't know if I should that's a great great starting there resources here for like food pantries churches have that twice a week perfect the families anybody can actually go to pick up your back of food and get home that's exactly the kind of thing same with finan like if someone late with their rent or help um they're they have a a Metro Bo program here which allows anyone to apply in the city Metts so I can provide that that would be awesome so that's great that's exactly the kind of stuff we're looking for so that will help us fill up that resource guy awesome I I missed that but Tom you'll catch me up yes the short story is she has a couple resources that that are very helpful and very targeted to what we've talked about in terms of food shortage and things like that and she's going to send it to Curtis so we can have it for our Coalition list awesome okay and so as El Murray said is also amongst a whole lot of parents there'll be other information about the resources that are available including the resources that parents hold themselves and that's just the thing that's on my mind is how to tap in to the resources that exist in families and that families can share with each other so I'm just wondering we at friends of ready Meco could follow up with Elise Marie's example and we could ask if there are Boston parents that we're in contact with that can share some other ideas about resources they have or places they work and the knowledge that that have that can to this as soon as she said what she said I'm over here that is what I do I'm like oh yeah i' got resour kids with diap for parents who whose children need diapers that's exactly why I wanted to have this conversation to extend the reach a little bit and make sure we brought more ideas in so that's awesome thank you for connecting the dots that I was failing to connect I appreciate that um take the team take the team okay so let's move on um Miss Ken you're there for the scheduling pilot update um share one thing on that too I think that next we have a quick update from Jess then from Sarah then for me I'm just going to ask our team just cuz it's late if we can just keep the updates to like a very two to three minute just headlines and then we can let any questions that come in after two so Jess I know I told you five but if you Sarah the math Pathways okay just no pressure okay less than five Tom right yeah yes yeah yes okay sorry it's it okay okay um so everybody has the presentation in their packet and so I'm just going to do a very quick overview that there has been a scheduling committee at re reading Memorial High School for the last approximately 5 years there were also Consultants at one point um as part of that and uh so when I took over this year I helped to move that work forward and um and so we held the scheduling committee and then uh at the end of January of February we're in a pilot schedule for approximately four weeks after that we did a survey of students staff and parents and caregivers and then from that took uh the main the main information and feedback from the survey I took that back to my staff as well as the District administration um and we're moving towards making a final decision about the internal schedule change that meets our goals which is increase time on learning increase common planning time for teachers more equity for students um in in course choice and more freedom within their schedules um as well as simplifying um our daily schedule how that how' I do great so Jess do you mind us quickly sharing what when can families expect to hear of like any potential shifts in this count on the schedule maybe one or some of the things that may potentially be up for shifting we looking at sure um so my intention is is to send out a communication about what that scheduled change will look like which will start next year uh next school year uh after April vacation after spring break so in a couple of weeks and uh the major uh shift that we're looking for is uh overwhelmingly there was a one through five schedule that students and staff uh both very much liked and that the the benefits of that are all classes start and stop at the same time um and students and staff gave feedback that they felt like uh they felt less stressed they had more time to get their homework done and teachers felt like they're um they were able to stay on better pacing and with their classes with schedules starting and stopping at the same time we did try a block schedule during the pilot schedule that was overwhelmingly uh the response was that it was manageable but not preferred and a lot of different populations of students um seem to struggle with that so that's not something we're looking at moving forward perfect any questions from the committee audience okay Jess thank you thank thank you thank you guys thank you everybody okay so we will now move on to the math Pathways great um so this year we've undertaken the task of looking at the um math Pathways that our students um take at the order that they take their math courses starting in middle school all the way through High School wanting to make sure that that is the strongest pathway forward and that students have options based on what their interests are and their um disposition towards math and at a committee meeting back in November we presented a number of projects that we were going to undertake to move this work ahead uh I'm excited to let you know that we held a middle school family virtual night back in March it was pretty well attended um I think we had over 30 amilies that hopped on and we also had a recording that families can continue to view we wanted to make sure that we're really transparent and let families know uh how our math classes progress if students want to accelerate at points where that can happen and so that was a great addition um right now in our middle schools is the point in the year where principles and teachers start to consider sixth grade students who might accelerate starting in the seventh grade for the work of um the committee this past fall we've um decided to sort of U make a larger gray area for students who might not quite meet uh The Benchmark of what we typically um would recommend for students to accelerate uh and in that gray area having more conversations with families and students and letting families be the ones that help guide the decisions um versus the school hect so we're excited about that um this also is um we've been refining the path also for seventh grade students who would like like to accelerate in 8th grade and we've um our MTH coaches have started to complete a set of modules that students can work on over the summer if they wish to accelerate um in 8th grade we have another exciting summer opportunity um so for any of our nth graders going into 10th grade that would like to take a summer geometry class we're going to be offering a really great class help by one of our amazing W High Math teachers as of right now we have eight high school students signed for that course um another thing we're doing um to really leverage that course is we take a look at all of our eighth grade students taking a look at their um score on one of our assessments I ready and then um we'll be approaching families of of our students who sort of maxed out that assessment and see if they are ready to move into geometry ahead of going into 9th grade which would allow them to start high school taking outter so really looking to maximize the pathway for every type of math student and one final thing we uh this year got our math lab back up and running um it's going well um it's being accessed by students as predicted we want to look at the location of that math lab for next year that was something we knew going in um that the ideal location wasn't available mid year um but um nonetheless it has been um really great to have that back in place the bth teachers really are appreciating having that time with their students so more to come but um a lot of work has been underway and uh we are really excited to see how this supports the math learning of our students and Bill on one thing I appreciate all the work for us at s our team have done on this I think there's some really good things happening that are going to open a lot of doors for students in math classrooms so this one around the eighth grade students looking at sort of their uh their those who were taking algebra their scores on I ready the kids were kind of maxing out so the implications are that they'll take geometry over the summer then Algebra 2 is a freshman and then pre-cal is a sophomore calculus is a junior then you like well what's a Ab or BC what's next well it could be stats it could be AB then BC come or it could be multivariable calculus so it's like a path we're now designing as yeah I like my head spins talking about I don't know hear anyone make it through multivariable calculus B Dr corm did so um but that's like kind of the now the new path that we're going to have having designed to BU you know kind of this work too but just appre there's a lot of good work happening from the team to open doors for students and expand opportuni so so quick question for the seventh graders looking to potentially they've taken seventh grade math they want to move into algebra one you mentioned modules for the summer so um is that a more like clearly design cuz I feel like in the past those students were just sort of on their own to prep to advance exactly right the what was in place before was parents were given a packet and here you go like if you want if your child wants to learn all this over the summer however you can and then they they come in they take a test and if they pass they can go into Algebra 1 if they don't they'll you know go into e8th grade math um so what we'll have instead what we're working on it's not done yet is um modules that students would complete over a series of four or five weeks there be certain assignments that have to be done we are working to um find funding so that students could check in with the math teach once a week during that time and that they'd have to complete the assignments um in order you know to really access that and and benefit from the checkin and then they still would have to pass the assessment with them they know exactly what they need to learn we're building in um assignments that they can do that um give them feedback using some like Con Academy and different resources like that it'll be a lot more spelled out accessible for all families so for families who don't have someone who's taken you know advanced math and re years and and may not you know even have the time to sit down and tutor um that this is something that students should be able to access primarily on their own and then with that a little bit of support from the teacher great takes a lot of the onus off the parent which is what I was getting at and I'll be virtual too so if families are traveling or for our Boston resident students they would need to come to reading to access that great thank you okay any other questions I just want to tie things together last year at this meeting there was a large conversation about Middle School MTH right large conversation and I think it's great that we've made progress in just one year to open up a lot of those doors so okay um all right so let's move on now our next topic is an update on uh kindergarten enrollment Yep this should be really quick to here's a toal kindergarten enrollment uh we had 220 students enrolled back in April uh back and uh middle of March we're now up to 227 which is still below what we had expected or what the census had projected but still with that with 227 we're going to continue to try to find students throughout the summer we think we'll get closer to that 262 of what the census projected the the big shift for us now is going to be is we are going to make a change at kilum which the kilum staff is is aware of we had projected originally four kindergarten classes at kilum but there's only currently 45 kindergarten students registered that would be class Siz of about 11 doesn't make sense Kum also is a bubble year this year so we're going to move one of those uh kindergarten teacher slots up to fifth grade and then right now that will be three kindergarten classroom to killum which would still be 15 15 and 15 kids they're still pretty small classes too so that's the only adjustment at this point uh we'll continue to monitor the numbers uh we know a lot of kids come in over the summer and then we'll just sort of make other adjustments if we have to this next move forward you know anyone who hasn't registered yet for kindergarten please spread the word my immediate question I'm looking biral I knew you were going to go there so B yeah so bir metal currently projected uh we have uh 36 kids in that split across right now three classrooms 12 12 and 12 you could obviously you know you don't need multivariable calcul know that would bring us you know 18 and 18 split um which is still a manageable number we just think it's too early to consolidate down at this point a lot of students do come in over the summer uh that is a number that we are watching uh I will sh the other number we're watching is J which the class size are right now are 20 21 and 21 which are really close like that threshold so might there have to be some play there we'll see but I again we've seen so much moving over the summer that we think it's too early to make any other decisions besides just moving that one k class guidance has always been 18 to 22 for kindergarten and K1 and two actually so yeah that's that's something to watch and I guess 12 in a classroom is great great but it may actually be too small social group and what not as well correct okay something to watch like you said we we almost always go up over the summer we do we do matter of where that where that's going to happen and we still have school choice and we still have you know potential Meco program growth that could could add numbers to this as well correct and just to clarify with the Josh we and you still have the right to assign some someone to Barrow if they if it was the first child in the family and and that fit like you have um or kill them or you know depending where they live but there might be some flexibility there we do y okay you still have four kids to go in there if we have to worry about that yes yeah yep okay any other questions from the committee on kindergarten any kindergarten parents no no oh no listen I'm not that far off I've got a eighth grade and a first graders okay yeah yeah but oh my goodness I'm with you okay um let's move on to another topic that could be quick and to the point here Dr mesy the last day of school yes isn't that nice we're talking about last day of school so we're going to vote the last day of school which if you look in the packet right now lands on uh June 14th so the committee has to vote on that being the last day of school please Tom said the other day were yes yeah please cooperate and act like spring now so yeah we're going to vote on June 14th is the last there got be a motion first Dr can't make the motion motion to approve June 14th is the last day of school second there you go there's a second any further discussion saying none all in favor all opposed and that passes 4 to zero all right thank you and um jmc's The Joint labor min commit dresse can you give the background here the committee sure so we just have completed negotiations with all of our five bargaining units over the past couple of months all of them expired at the end of this year so there are a couple that require like joint Labor Management committee which are just for us to like work out a specific issue or thing or like um or dilemma or challenge for us so uh on these These Are teams that involve like both representation from the union representation from the administration and then also ideally one school committee rep to join to so tonight we're asking we asked for support uh from the school committee a school committee rep on four joint Labor Management committees I think they're all pretty light lift uh and I think that we'll be able to get get them off the ground and running pretty quick uh one is around the elementary breakfast program so next year we're required to serve breakfast breakfast in all of our schools I know kilum we started recently which has been a big hit but next year we'll move to all of our um all of our schools so this is an opportunity for someone to help us to work out what the mechanics that should look like with both the cafeteria uh ready cafeteria employees union and our Union or and and the school committee the second one is around working with our par Educators Union around sick leave and leaves without pay uh the next one is read the reading Teachers Association working with the school nurses looking around like specific issues that may pop up around uh you know uh contractual language and anything else that may be nurse specific and then the last is with the calf employees around any overtime procedures so uh tonight we're hoping to get a a representative to serve on each of those um committees outline I'll do the over time great good thank you I'm do the breakfast good this is easy um I'll do whatever you need all right I'll give you nurses okay since the par one I'm pretty tightly into it okay look at a SC what's that look at a go so so appointed there's no motion necessary there actually the chair gets to app Point makes it easy um last topic on the agenda is fees uh Athletics and fee rent and facility rental um Derek did I lose Zoom let me see if I have it over here Derek is still there but he's like where is everybody on Lost sound all right let me just join my computer and I'll take take it here Derek Derek we seem to have lost did a time out two hours yeah maybe we seem to have lost up top so you're on my computer now and I think most people can hear you so I'm close in person yeah why don't you uh why don't you go ahead and give us the update with regards to the fees and what you're asking for okay yes thank you very much so uh as you're aware the district's been reviewing these uh all Fe based programs and tuition rates throughout the uh throughout the district so the couple that are included in your packet tonight have to do with Athletics uh drama and B fees and you know so these fees are collected in order to support the activities of the teams uh at rmhs and so the revenue received from these user fees allows the school to maintain high quality programs and maintain the present level of advisor and coaches so the first set for athletics band and drama uh have been in place since the 2018 uh school year and the reevaluation of the fees was born out of necessity really uh because there have been increases in both service and material costs and so some of the so the offerings are more expensives right so it's included things like membership association fees facility rental fees like Burbank ice and Boston University officials Transportation equipment and so on the second set in your packet has to do with facilities uh us facilities the rental fees would you like to tackle one at a time or should I give them both of you let's tackle the first one first so um the athletic fees so unfortunately we can't share it up there but just so everybody see here hears it I'll restate what he said the high school fee is going to go from 325 to 340 per season the high school family cap um will go from for an individual trial $750 to $800 for a whole family so there's multiple children from 950 to a th000 so each of those is $50 increase the band fee will go from 200 to 210 the band High School caps uh for single child $475 to $485 $10 for the family $ 750 to 760 also $10 the drama High School crew fee from $75 to $80 the drama High School cast or lead tech fee from $150 to $160 and the family caps for drama from 375 to 385 and for the family from 550 to 560 for those regards I would say Echo that we have seen a lot of fee increases from our sources that feed into this so I think this is probably what's necessary but I'm open open the floor for any uh feedback from the rest of the committee a um so I'm in full support of this and I I will vote for this um but I'm just going to put another plug in that we continue to look at how much our Athletics and enrichment are relying on fundraising from our families and order to pay for assisant coaches and and you know assistance overall um I still think there are too many hidden costs for families to participate in these programs so we don't have enough time to to make that decision now but I I just want to say that out loud that I I hope we will continue to look at that because I I do think there's there's significant burden put on families that isn't even factored into these Fe one thing I'll counter on that I've been thinking about that for a little bit is that many of those parent organization dues are technically optional your child can't participate without that if we raise these fees the optionality disagre disappears so that's something for us to think about right those those those parent fundraising organizations yes there's a lot of hidden stuff there's a lot of fundraising that happens there absolutely I understand been there been part of that um but at the same time this is like the participation fee and I want to I want to think want to be careful about how we separate raising a participation fee versus raising an optional fee right where people might be able to afford the optional stuff they can't maybe not can't afford the the participation we have a recourse for families who can't afford this to not have to pay it we have a we have a recourse for that there is so much Social pressure to pay the fees to to participate that you know people know who doesn't pay I don't know I I just think and and there's the like buying the clothes you don't want your kid to be the one who doesn't have the team jacket because you couldn't afford it like there's just so much that we pay for that's a discussion that has to be had with the coaches because that's that's not anything the the coaches are going to the parent groups and saying I need another assistant or whatever and then they're going to the parents and saying we got to you know pay for this other coach so that starts with the the athletic director or the the uh extracurricular director and the coaches that they need to be part of that discussion because they need to put their foot down and say you know you know we're not you know you got to you got to work with the coaches that we can afford to pay through the athletic F and not go to the parents to pay for another coach a hitting coach or you know whatever depends on car hold on a second I I would say that um the assistant coaches is a portion of that fee but going to the banquet and um getting pizza on a late night that the kids are um at games and and buying part of the uniforms for that and um buying senior gifts like that's there's a lot of unnecessary costs there that's driven by the parents though it's not I get it but but maybe that you know and it's a oh we did that last year we did that this you know maybe that is a discussion that comes you know that needs to be had through the athletic department it's a bigger discussion to it's a bigger discussion so let's put it I think we'll put it pin in it you started by saying this is too big for now and then I opened up the can so I'm going to close the can right I'm acknowledging it's a much bigger conversation but I had to be said Okay so let's start with a motion for this particular portion then we'll go to the next section and I gu that's one other question let me get the motion then you can ask it after the motion go ahead motion to approve the athletic and drama and band fees for fiscal year 25 second second okay further discussion check so and I don't want to I know we already talked about you know but when when is this going to take effect in our next budget not the one that we're getting going to town meeting with it's going to be in the this will take place so can you hear me clearly I can yes we can hear you yeah so this is in to take place with the new FIS year year 25 so in all right so okay thanks okay all right any further questions or comments all right all in favor all opposed all right I passes SC to zero all right Derek one more from you yeah the last one is uh last the facil rental Fe so this course down ination with our facilities uh these particular fees have been in place since Costel water like finishing andar and all things that to be accounted for and so you know we wish to maintain a an efficient Clean safe attractive inviting environments so um addressing these Fe as part and so there you'll see the P schedule in front of you a differentiated between physical year 24 and 25 were charging and what we would charge for fiscal year 25 you'll see it's divided into three categories so there's the reading nonprofit category reading for profit and out of town nonprofit as the second category and the third category is out of town or okay this one's much more extensive in terms of all the different fees for all the different locations types of facilities Auditorium versus gym versus cafeteria versus multi purpose Etc um and different classifications of user for it as well um some of them are $13 $15 um so there have some pretty significant increases um but again this is for facilities that need to be maintained we have increased costs for maintaining these Derek did you say when the last time we updated facilities fees was it was 2018 the last time so 5 years so of course there significant labor increases which you'll see reflected at bot of the table second second to last about technology staff needs okay okay so we couldn't continue to run Mak sense to run the rentals when the Personnel are costing you more than the rental that you're orig Fe that you're drawing like it's already a loss so we're looking to just we're not looking to make a profit but just looking to close the gap okay okay uh let's start with a motion then we'll start with the disced motion to approve the facility rental rates for fiscal year 25 second second second by Chuck okay any discussion a question for Dr Pinto so when did we start to so I know we we did this in 2018 when did we start to get underwater on this is this just recently with inflation or was this something that's been underwater for a while I think we just lost it so he didn't want to answer your question I'm just curious you know the answer that question this wasn't on my our radar last year and it sounds like we're losing money so we need to correct that yeah I I would share last year Susan and I started looking at these and we realized that we were you know behind and we were actually losing money on some of these but it was a little bit too late to adjust so I think in that transition from Susan to Derek Derek started picking it up like late fall and I think you made a point in the last meeting it would be ideal to have these sort of looked at at sort of during the budget process I think that that's something we can commit to next year as revisiting rates earlier on I think especially with the athletic fee you open the door so I mean we should have had input from parents and coaches and stuff to to rais and I mean I'll do it I know we have to move on and do it but it's I just we I'll just disagree with yeah I agree I I agree with your disagree I think it should have been ear I agree so we commit to us doing that earlier next year and some of these seem so low like her bathroom rental fee you know $20 to 23 you're not even pay to that no you're not even for R classroom Derek I think there was some conversation or the Chuck's original question when we lost you was around um when did we start going yeah exactly yeah and so um Tom answered that on your behalf um and then we were just the the disagreement or agreement was about you know when do we do the fee review it's after budget review and now we're coming back to fee review is that out of order um and I think we agree it is but it's a matter of where we were at the time and and your on boarding and all that kind of fun stuff and the transition that we've gone through so yeah okay okay thanks all right so there's a motion on the table any further discussion all right seeing none all in favor all opposed and it passes um and that is the end of our agenda so I need one more motion motion toj thank you Dr motion from Aaron seconded by Carla not debatable all in favor all opposed and we are adjourned thank you apparently we need a picture before we go