##VIDEO ID:phQk3bvDgeg## theal school committee meeting for Wednesday October 16 2024 um the first order of business alance to the flag of the United States of America the it stands Nation indis andice for our second order of business this evening is the approval of minutes from October 16 is there a motion second motion made in second is there any discussion seeing none all those in favoring and the next um item is the approval of minutes for October 22nd 2024 there motion discone allv the next we have public input the school committee policy is three minutes per person the item for public input must be on the agenda agenda for a total of 20 minutes we have is Jeff solder and it's for culture up T no uh my name is Jeff solder I've taught seventh grade at arms for 10 years um I teach with a seventh grade teaching team that has more than 100 Years of teaching experience arms is filled with dedicated Educators and staff before I start I wanted to say that it's practically impossible for me to even remember all the superintendents principles assistant principles Deans teachers par professionals other staff I've worked with the vast majority of them uh in the vast majority of cases have been supportive of me my personal opinion is that the problems we Face are bigger than all of us and turning over teaching admin and staff member teams every few years is not the answer uh the words that follow are not meant to be a criticism of any particular individual or Department I think we just stop pointing fingers at each other idual and work together to make the district better what I'm about to share about arms this year are my own personal observations and feelings and what colleagues have also shared with me uh this is what has been seen and heard at Arms this year student behaviors in the building are out of control every single day and it's not just a few Heavy Hitters it's a high number of students that engage in these behaviors these behaviors make it extremely difficult if not impossible at times to teach and have a significant impact on the morale of both teacher of students and staff uh teachers are in tears teachers are quitting in the middle of the school year high numbers of teachers are looking for other jobs aggressive and physical students are laying hands on teachers teachers are filing Title 9 complaints for harassment of a sexual nature and other grievances to the district and to the union due to harassment from students students are slinging racial misogynistic and homophobic slurs at each other white supremacist references including displayed clex Clan flags on computers students are hurling insults at teachers like you're stupid nobody likes you why don't you kill yourself multiple fights countless near fights numerous suspensions shouting matches between students and classrooms hallways in the lunchroom students throwing chairs flipping desks students telling teachers to off words like pedophile slung at teachers for no reason students throwing things like pencils um at other students and teachers in the classroom uh wish they were dead lists that include the names of teachers and students students walking out of class without permission leaving class with permission but not coming back sprinting through the hallways screaming leaving the building without permission bathrooms and other public spaces in the building and on campus are vandalized almost daily vaping and drug use in the bathrooms kids are afraid to use the bathroom cafeteria custodial and office staff are treated with massive disrespect food fights in the cafeteria students walk throughout the building with earbuds in constantly refuse to take them out when staff asked bullying and posting video recorded fights that happened at Arms on social social media social media alerts and other notifications dinging in the middle of class students frequently receiving texts from their parents in the middle of class asking if they can text their parents in the middle of class as well students frequently asking or not asking to charge their phones in classrooms phones and earbuds being misplaced misplaced can I or do you want your own time is said defer to him so I just didn't know if you were your three minutes because that that would be okay thank you uh phones and earbuds being misplaced by students and their inters frantically searching the building where they're supposed to be in class students are intentionally disrupting classes with sound effects from their phones and school issu Chromebooks teachers are calling for help in emergency situations and no one shows up because no one's available students deemed by a teacher to be a safety risk are sent out of class but returned soon after without consultation with the teacher kids are carrying backpacks filled with who knows what all over the building in classrooms bathrooms and the lunchroom groups of students in classes are ganging up on teachers mob rule mentality and poor Behavior are spreading like a disease to kids that wouldn't normally act out complete disregard for education in the room teachers are attempting to quiet students for several minutes before they can even start teaching disruptive students are taking over classes by yelling and screaming students are pretending to choke themselves out in class students are shouting they're going to kill themselves combative parents verbally abusing teachers and staff parents overly influence consequences for poor Behavior parents are refusing to have their children face consequences students are ignoring or even laughing at teachers as they try to redirect or discipline High numbers of kids with trauma and social emotional challenges staff member positions are constantly turning over disrupting continuity uh the following are things that are felt around arms this year from the teaching staff other staff in any other job this would be considered abusive it's an extremely toxic environment teachers have lost their love for teaching teacher student Norms in classroom culture has been crushed teachers and Staff feel they have lost the building teachers are not feeling safe in their classrooms especially if they're the only adult in the room teachers feeling students may make up lies about them to get them in trouble and and some of these lies may have potential to be career damaging or even career ending teachers feel that they may be audio or video recorded without their consent teachers feel they need to balance being self-reflected when they're receiving critique from students and parents with just having very thick skin teachers feel they can't give poor grades that kids have earned due to pressure from parents Administration central office social supportive relationships with colleagues are lost do the staff either moving on to other districts or quitting teaching altogether some May feel Administration is supported but the job is just way too big others may not feel supported by Administration bad years seem to be happening with more frequency high tension fear that something really bad is going to happen mental duress mental illness due to stress teachers and staff having difficulty getting out of bed or getting out of their car uh expertise and professional judgment has been taken away from teachers being provided with can curricula can curricula creates disengaged Learners and teachers which exacerbates behavioral issues holding kids accountable with reasonable consequences too often gets overruled kids parents are getting amount of trouble the feeling that the community would be absolutely shocked if they could see what was happening in the building feelings of guilt that we can't stop what's happening but most of all sadness uh for students that want to be in a safe space and generally want to learn something but have to endure the chaos thank you next up I have Laura McDaniel I I do no just one second we can't respond so if anyone sitting in the audience expects us to be able to say something back please know that we are everything that you are saying but we can't respond legally so please come on up thank you so much come on up good evening everyone I'm Laura McDaniel I'm the union representative from RCS and I am here to read an anonymous letter submitted by an Asus staff member who was not comfortable speaking out of fear of retaliation just one second I just want to make sure that reading an anonymous letter is legal to do and I'm going to defer to councel legal I don't know what your policy says about whether you allow it I mean can you just speak to yeah but it's not she's speaking on someone else's behalf I mean is this are these things that you believe as well I mean that's yes based on conversations that the union has been having within the different buildings absolutely okay so why don't you present it I don't believe that there's anything that prohibits thank you okay thank you good evening I am writing this letter to inform the members of of the committee about some of my experiences over the past few years working at ases I want to preface this by saying I have greatly enjoyed my time at Aces our building provides a special community and our staff truly works tirelessly to help our students academically and emotionally in past years I felt very supported by my immediate Administration I always felt Mrs Cleveland and Miss Brown had my back and were willing to support me in whatever I needed this year has sparked a change our days are chaotic and there is constantly disregulation amongst the hallways I feel like the expectation of respect needs to become a priority and right now Administration is struggling to even gain that respect from students in my interactions the disrespect has been completely connected to the lack of clear and comprehensible consequences for extreme Behavior I cannot put this blame solely on our principal and Deans I feel this is caused by poor management at the top I will admit I was optimistic when we first hired Mr anworth but my optimism completely shattered and other districts I had gotten to know my superintendent and could expect to see them visit two to three times a year Mr anworth has been in my classroom once since his tenure here in the arrsd began in my in my few face-to-face conversations I have had with him I've been told if you need anything please let me know however when you do do need something absolute crickets I had asked him a very important question about a safety concern in February 2023 I have yet to get an email regarding an answer to that question and the only other email communication I have had with him his responses were so unprofessional and downright snotty that I sat my family down to discuss an immediate resignation I decided against this reg resignation as our students thrive on strong relationships and I would not be surprised if we are on the way of to a mass Exodus of teachers regardless I cannot in good conscience leave my group of students simply because our superintendent has no idea how to run a school never mind an entire District something must be done if not for the staff do something for these students who deserve the consistency and expectations that we all want to see regards an elementary school teacher at Asus thank you next up we have and it's under the agenda item superintendent evaluation um hi good evening I'm reading this on behalf of an armed staff member and um uh good evening I reaching out to you as a concerned staff member and student Advocate who sees that the safety and wellbeing of our students and staff are not on the Forefront of the administration team each and every week and most of the time each day the same students are either being suspended or sent out of class these students that are sent out on a daily basis are sent to the admin where they given where they are given a snack lollipop game toy have been seen playing ball in the hallways Etc rewarding the behaviors that are happening because they are getting lots of snacks games free time thus reinforcing their con consist consent disruptions students are making comments on is more fun to get kicked out of class because you do not have to work and you get snacks my question is when will we steer away from the lollipop mentality and actually have logical consequences that will change all the disruptive behaviors when will students start being held accountable for their behaviors when can we rely on our Administration team to actually respond in a timely manner not constantly undermine teachers while they negotiate with students and or not have admin be a preferred person for students because they are being rewarded with this we are seeing how deflating this is for students who do want to be there students who do want to learn and students who are fully committed to team sports and giving their best why are they suffering the consequences of the ones that are constantly causing chaos the more disruptive you are the more you get the better your grades are the better you behave what happens oh wait you are punished you are taking away from your you are taken away from your friends being forced to change groups and having to move to be with other to you are having to move to be with the ones who are consistently taken away from learning this seem back this seems backwards to not only me but to students across the board are being shown doing what you are supposed to do does not matter you get more out of being a constant disruption students should not be reaching out asking when will admin step in to help when were our principles do anything to stop all the fighting why am I not allowed to be my friends just because others Can't Behave these are questions coming directly from students they want to share these concerns with you but are afraid to stand up for fear of getting in trouble staff should not have to consistently wait for support students should not be able to tell off or threaten staff when will logical consequences and accountability come into effect I thank you for listening and once again when will the safety and wellbeing of all students and staff be a priority why do all students to the consquences of the few all why the few are constantly being rewarded with preferred activities an armed staff member thank you um just for public knowledge we have a 20 minute time slot for public input it is now 618 we have until we started at 6:04 we up till 624 the next person on our list is Brianna Johnson for superintendent evaluation and I am bringing this on behalf of an arms member dear school committee and school Community the school is in crisis students and staff urgently need your help staff are at a Breaking Point students are not receiving an appropriate education and no substantive steps are being taken to address the problem this building is full of Staff members who fiercely advocate for students and truly love the sub subjects they teach we are in danger of losing those that care the most these staff members sacrifice time with their own families their personal resources every ounce of energy they have and unfortunately their own mental health their dedication is rewarded with an administra Administration that undermines them at every turn and when confronted with real problem problems buries their heads in the sand students need predictable consistent expectations and consequences instead administrators ignore or reinforce students behavior by giving them break snacks and allowing students to negotiate their way out of consequences leaving staff left to feel like the efforts they make to improve their classroom environments are futile however the real Injustice that happening every day in this district is towards our students while these problems make every workday a battle for staff the students are the ones who will feel the impact of this Interruption and their education across the rest of their lives when students come to school they can expect to be verbally and pH physically harassed by peers to W witness the flippant destruction of their own property as well as the school's property and to experience constant disruptions to their lessons preventing them from learning students will completely ignore the adults in the building and when we request support it may be hours or days before we hear from the administrator it's not just staff that are feeling the dire effects of this administrative negligence students and their families are feeling the consequences of the absent and overwhelmed Administration and staff students are Express expressing that they don't want to bring their concerns to the principal because they don't do anything and won't even show up when they are supposed to meet with them parents are reaching out to teachers exacerbated with trying to get help from unresponsive administrators administrators claim they are over welm while I do not doubt this is true to ask us to accept this is not reasonable Administration cannot simultaneously claim they are too overwhelmed to support their staff and refuse to take action on issues which cause their overwhelm the quality of education for Education that these students are receiving as a result of lack of appropriate Staffing and administrative negligence is not acceptable every day that we do not make significant changes is another day that students in the district receive the message that their education does not matter since a concerned and Disturbed St member from armsy Pride for superintendent evaluation Britney here I was just she didn't make the time okay perfect then we have Carrie Conway with superintendent eval and culture good evening my name is Carrie Conway and I am president of the union for AR arsd students are coming to school every day harassing each other tormenting the staff destroying school property the culture in this distri district is being driven by the very intentional actions of some students and the reactionary impressional behaviors of many others because it is not being stopped there is no accountability and the students know it what should the staff's response be when a student says I got them fired and I'm coming for you next or I don't care what you say because nobody's going to do anything about it or how about you're a pedophile or how about I'm going to kill you or even better how about you just kill yourself how does one work through that on a daily basis would you come to your place of employment if that's what you were met with my guess is you would not the survey you were just handed was completed by over 200 of the union members out of about 245 is that's 85% of the staff oneon-one filled that out these results have already been presented to the staff and the message is very clear the staff is drowning and this district is drowning 78% of the staff in this District range from not excited to come to work all the way to feeling hopeless only 9% feel like central office is stepping up and providing the leadership and resources is to support what this District needs there's great detail in there that you can read but what it says is that there's no protocols no procedures no consistency and no follow through we have no strategic plan after three years we have no handbooks how do you even begin the work of improving a district when you don't have anything to go by in last year's superintendent evaluations which I have here more than 50% of them have no feedback some some of them one of them doesn't even have a name on it that was accepted as evidence as an evaluation without even the name of the person being evaluated on it hopefully this year's will reflect better as elected officials in a role you choose to fill you have been charged with being accountable for the students the staff and the community to make right decisions for this District can you in good conscience say that you truly understand you have received in your emails an email invitation from the staff to visit the schools and see firsthand what they look like before you make any decisions we implore you to take interest when the day is over stay and talk to the staff ask them questions get a sense of what reality is for them no one anywhere wants to have to endure being slapped across the face in front of their class no one wants to here wants to have to spend their afternoon trying to emotionally support their class as they process what might have happened that day for every child that goes home impacted or traumatized by what is happening in the schools in this District on a daily basis know there's a staff member crying on their way home too I don't mean it's been 20 minutes total that's all we have that's fine the my last sentence is this is our reality and you need to do better thank you you have about 20 seconds sure next up is Max if you want to take 20 seconds you're worth more than 20 seconds M Mr MC but I have to go by policy rules uh there is there is a clause in the district bylaws that we're allowed to make a motion to extend public comment I would like to extend it what do you think you need Max uh can I have five minutes five minutes I would make a motion for five minutes so max can speak to what he wants to speak thank you thank you Mr MC thank you uh hello my name is Max MC I am the science technology engineering and math ified arts teacher at Arms I've been teaching at Arms since March of 2023 I'm a very new teacher next Wednesday will be my last day teaching because I can no longer continue teaching I'm very disappointed to be leaving Midway through the year it does a distur a disservice to the students but I feel have I have no choice but to resign I'm speaking to you today to share my reasons for leaving because I feel that many of my fellow teachers are are having similar experiences and to alert you of the crisis of morale in the district a major reason for my decision not to continue is the inappropriate con the inappropriate comments by students directed at me and at other staff students have called me a pedophile I've heard students say I'm not serving detention with him he's a pedophile I've heard this I've heard students say this about administrators I've a student told me my sister says you're a pedophile on Monday two days ago a student asked who's a pedophile and another student turned around and pointed at me this has become a game to some of the students the students have no idea how serious an accusation they are making I have heard students call other 12 and 13year old students pedophiles they think it means a jerk or a creep but as a male teacher I have to be extremely scrupulous about my behavior about setting boundaries and behaving appropriately at all times and I am to be repeatedly slandered by students and that for that slander to apparently have zero consequences is devastating to my confidence as a teacher I don't want to teach students who say that about me aside from that there have been several students who regularly make comments like it smells like in this room you're super gay I think you like men several female colleagues have told me they have been called a or a Karen by students today during my morning duties at 7:30 a.m. I was watching the third floor hallway a student was outside of their home room when they should have been in the home room and the first thing he said to me is get out of here no one wants to see you here because in the past I have directed that student to go back into his Home Room the second major issue is the number of behaviors and documenting them and making sure that there are consequences I see perhaps 15 or 20 incidents each day that require a write up um I am spending 25 minutes of my prep period doing documentation of these writeups 20 minutes during my lunch break and also time after school and commuting writing emails home uh communicating about student behavior I'm probably spending five maybe seven hours each week on student behaviors on communicating and documenting them I often issue lunch detentions because they can be served the same day or the next day but my lunch coincides with seventh graders so I can only serve lunch attentions to seventh graders I cannot have fifth graders or seventh grade fifth graders or sixth graders or eighth graders come to lunch attentions because I have students in my class and it is very difficult to coordinate lunch attentions with ISS I have to be careful when issuing lunch detentions because if too many badly behaved students serve at the same time then it becomes a social occasion for them they get to socialize goof off and they're not serving a punishment they're not get learning and correcting their behavior I I issue after school detentions but students frequently skip I've had students tell me they refuse to serve after school detentions I communicate home and I only hear back from parents half the time if a student skips I inform an Administration but I have not always had followup the third major issue is the phone protocol and the responsiveness to student behavior during the day I've had numerous incidents this year where I I've needed to call the office about a student behaving in an unsafe manner I've needed the support of an administrator a student might walk out of Might lope from the room in the middle of class without permission a student never arrived from class in his cutting Class A student will throw a pencil across the room or a student is kicking another student so there have been maybe a dozen times where I've had to call four or five or six times and not had anyone pick up the phone there are incidents where I have called for or five times the someone will respond they'll radio for support and no one will arrive for the next 20 minutes before the end of the period I think that is because we just don't have enough bodies in the school we don't the people who are there to respond the principles the culture monitors are all occupied handling other emergencies right away I know that students are seeing me on the phone and they are seeing me call the office and they're seeing no response coming so that they get a feeling of impunity because if I'm calling and no one's responding they feel they can get away with anything and I can't do anything about it finally I think that students feel that my class as a unified arts class is less important than core classes um students have told me students come into my class they come in boisterous they ignore my classroom rules I have to take several minutes to calm the class down for the first seven minutes of class class they ref students will refuse to do assignments students have told me I don't have to pass this class I've observed core classrooms in seventh and eth grade I know that students can sit quietly they can work in small groups they can do assignments but when I ask them to do it or when I ask them to work with partners and discuss a prompt students in seventh and eth grade will engage an off topic discussion they'll get up and visit their friends in the classroom I've given quizzes and I've had students getting up and visiting their friends in the middle of a quiz in my class I've spent many hours with my academic coach with colleagues with my peer mentor to tr to strategize uh to try strategies to improve my class movement management and I feel that students only seeing me once per week has made it much harder to build routines and to make them actually respect my classroom so I don't know what the answer is to try and fix all of this I think that the major issue is that that we just don't have enough people in the building to able to respond to student Behavior thank you okay moving on from public input this evening we had student recognitions earlier this evening the student recognitions this month were from RCS Arya master and Adeline Winters from Aces Gideon Carlson and Reed white from arms Larry Watson and my Smith from AHS D Smith and Matthew Gould and our Subway Scholars this month were Gianna Valen cour and Avery paragus congratulations to you all the next item up for business is our unfinished business and it's the reading of the superintendent evaluation these evaluations are public knowledge they can be requested through the business office you can request them through Jody yes can I ask why the school committee doesn't have a copy of what you're reading say that again why do we not have a copy of what you're going to read the the overview the tabulation yeah you know what jod and I weren't sure if everyone received tabulation but the tabulations numbers are also a part of the public record so everyone can have them right but we should have I mean I made a comment about this past two meetings that we need to get these types of things in our packet in advance so we can to be to be fairly jod and I sat down right before the meeting so she could review the tabulations again to make sure that we were on the same page so there wasn't a lot of time we made sure we went through this so we will give them to you no problem okay and just just we also there were mul multiple members who didn't P pass it in on time okay that's fine but I also would also like to request I don't know if I have to make a public records request as a school Committee Member but I would like a copy of all 10 of the individual evaluations as well well I just sat down and Jody to make sure they were all correct because they came in late so we I was here at 5:00 making that we had all this do we want is there a motion to take something out of order so we can continue while we're waiting for this is there a motion um how about the arm soccer net field donation okay okay is a motion made to move and seconded all those in favor perfect then we have the arm soccer field net donation Dan I believe yes sorry Mr beus is coming to the podium so I was approached by Matt lyre who's the president of the north quab and United travel soccer program he's actually approached me a couple times about this um our soccer field down here behind the school the one of the soccer goals is right up against the wood line we lose a dozen to do two dozen soccer balls every year to the woods um we're able to we're going to able to shift the field over a little bit but in order to kind of save on some of that he's offered to U purchase poles and netting to be put into the ground we put them up and down every year um to cut back on the number of soccer balls that we lose to the woods um so there'll be some netting behind the goal there'll also be some nting on the sideline um in the typical high areas where the ball does get kicked into those woods as well so we're looking to um just to accept their donation um they're going to take care of it and um TJ and the grounds crew will make sure that they're cemented into the ground in place Motion in second is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor thank you sure are we okay with moving the AHS presentation on ICP and ECA program overview yep I'll move it motion made and seconded any discussion seeing none all those in favor everyone have the information from the packet yeah is there a clicker I'll just say next yeah that's what I've got it all right so um [Laughter] Perfect all right I was I was asked to give a little update on the new programs at AAL High School since uh 2023 so uh appreciate the opportunity to kind of share some of the the uh quality things that are happening at AAL ha School uh I wanted to start I just kind of presenting a five-year trend of what the portrait of a graduate profile of a high school graduate looks like and you can see um you know our class sizes were pretty steady through 20 2023 starting to grow and our class sizes are around a 100 from this point forward I think it highlights um the significant shift what happened in 2023 is we didn't have an early college program uh so you can see that about 38% of our students saw themselves uh as a college-bound student whether that was a two-year two-year college or a four-year college and just in our first year of introducing the early college program we shifted so our students saw themselves in a different light you can see 54% of that 97 students last year saw themselves as a College Bound student and actually went ahead and enrolled in college uh so I kind of wanted to highlight that so there's that shift there and then additionally I want to highlight that's not our only group of students 34% in the year before in 2023 54% of our students don't see that as a pathway so we have to acknowledge that college is not the pathway for everyone once they get out of high school and we really have to address what it looks like in preparing our students for Life Beyond High School not College Bound whether that's technical school or or really a focus on employment so I kind of wanted to just frame it frame it that way and let you see what that looks like so the goal here is just just to kind of give our school committee and the community an opportunity to uh understand a little bit more about the two programs uh basically we see the first couple years at athal high school as those academic years that really prepare them to be launch their junior senior year into these programs that hopefully will get themselves ready for Life After Life After High School um prior to the last election obviously mcast was a big part of preparing our students freshman and sophomore year um we see where that that kind of goes but um that was kind of the focus there so if you can flip flip to the next one there's some writing here I'm not going to read the whole thing I just kind of want to explain that the early college program is a partnership between Mount WUSA Fitchburg State and athal high school um it is able to be accessed from everyone down at the middle school so we'll start promoting our program to our upcoming our eth graders hopefully they become students at athal high school we want them to be so we want to kind of share some of those things early college program is a free program for any student at athal high school that envisions themselves as a College Bound student so whether they're struggling in school as a freshman and sophomore we still find a pathway for them to get into the program and additionally we give them programming uh and that's the place where we're going to need to get a little better freshman sophomore year to get them ready and then eventually they graduate with at least 12 college credits big scope junior year they they take college level courses on our campus uh for professors from Mount WUSA Fitchburg State come to us so it's it's a safe environment um it's a place where they can get some extra help and support and that's been uh you know that's been seen as very positive in this year our seniors for the first time fully pushed out to mount watusa Community College where they had their all their classes on the campus there we provided Transportation so we have a van driver that picks them up at their house whether they come to the whether they come come to the school on the bus we we bring them right to right to mount watusa Community College we give them a meal so they get that from our cafeteria staff and then ultimately we can have students if they're really committed to it that graduate with over 30 college credits by the time they graduate and if anyone has sent any kid to school or is looking to that number is probably $60,000 right now um if you're sending them to a private school if you're sending them to like a UMass uh Wester State fit state that number is still $30,000 so it's definitely a a significant number that can help our families the next thing is just kind of highlight what those numbers have looked like so since we were accepted by the state for Early College you can see that prior to 2023 we had about 17 students that were able to access college classes so that was that was called hop the health career opportunity program that was a that was another program before early college and you can see that now we have 30 students in the junior class and 39 students in our senior class that are accessing early college classes right now so definitely a definitely upward Trend definitely a message that our kids want this experience um this this last thing is just like next steps what do we what are we doing next really it's refinement we know there's things that we need to do better um so we've had a year and a couple of months of kind of learning how we need to navigate so some of those things we really need to have some solid discussion on is what does our enrollment look like when we did the application we had a Max that would be able to access that program that was right around 70 we're already there so we're already there so what does it look like for those students if we have more than that those discussions need to happen with Mount Wachusett preparing our college for what it looks like senior year on the campus that's still like a shock thing but it's better for it to be a shock thing senior year in high school than a freshman year near by themselves so we still have that direct support and those are some of the kids that are struggling what it looks like to be a student right on that campus and then accessibility wraparound services our kids are struggling and we have to identify that they're struggling and we have to help them there's plenty of supports out there right so there's there's councilors at the campus and they're just not seeking them out and we're have having to say like this is in order for you to stay in the program you have to go to these study sessions you have to see this counselor and they're just having a tough time accessing the supports and those wraparound Services a discussion that we could also have is is wall to--all do we see ourselves as a wall-to-wall school and what that means is we would have a graduation requirement for each student there would be some exemptions that they have to take at least one college level course in order to graduate that's just that's just like next steps is it something we're interested in has definitely have to has to be fleshed out and discussed a lot more uh there are some schools in Massachusetts that do do that there some out in the Burkes that do that so just something as as a next step and then as a district level we do have to talk about funding because they give you this big pot of money at the beginning and they keep taking it away so you'll see next year we're probably only we're allotted to get 50 to 75,000 this year we got 125,000 yeah some of the initial expenses like purchasing a van and doing some of those things happen but we're still going to have expenses with it the second program is our Innovation career pathway and that is focused we go to the next slide Matt those by the way those are nice logos that we had developed last year that kind of signify some of those things we purchased a sweatshirt for each one of our uh students that in the career pathway in Early College just to kind of celebrate their commitment but the Innovation career pathway is focused on building skills and giving them opportunities to earn certifications um that they they would then go use in the workforce um we had a nice relationship with the ls stere company prior to the state coming out with the Innovation career pathway so that was an easy that was an easy win we we filled out that Grant we got it so we have a program in advanced manufacturing and Engineering so it's beyond just what happens at the leric company there's plenty other opportunities that happen in the advanced manufacturing world that we're looking to prepare our students for before they graduate so that they can have actually have a little uh jump start on some of the competition once they graduate from high school we know that's we know we need to do better than that so we are in the middle of uh Part B of our second pathway it's called the information pathway technology right so if you're talking um Laura go Tech information so information is any way of communication so this could be digital technology this could be journalism it's a very broad scope um that they have for this pathway so that opens up to a lot more careers that students can utilize in reality every company utilizes Information Technology whether it's Data Systems collecting the data to figure out if you're doing well or not so doing well at certain tasks it's you know the kid who fixes your computer every day because you manage to do something to your laptop so these are all so there it's a very broad field that students have a wide variety of opportunities to develop their skills and potentially be able to get into the workforce in some cases right out of high school depending on what certifications they're able to take advantage of thank you so if they once if they graduate from this program we also do put a uh a Distinction on their final transcript so that when they go present that to a possible employer that that that it says they're a graduate of the ath high school Innovation career pathway that kind of starts and promotes a little conversation the next slide is this is what a pathway looks like so in order to be designated as as a career pathway school you have to have a commitment to um en rolling in and passing at least two advanced level courses right so this is for advanced manufacturing so they would have to go and take two of these courses and then they have to have at least two technical courses in their High School career so for instance uh I'll just tell you what it looks like for someone that wants to go to the ler company uh for for um maybe an internship they could go ahead and they would take an an engineering course right um in that engineering course they would learn about some of the things that would happen at the aleric company and then they might go ahead and take an AP AP Computer Science course so they're getting some of that advanced level academic challenges and then they would also have a technical course which we are building up their skills in order to go off into the workforce into the aleric company and actually be able to do some of that work so we have a Precision measurement course the PMI course they learn all about tools through that PMI course which is taught at High School by one of our teachers um it's it's a 8 to 10 we program where they learn all about those things and then they might go ahead and say I like robotics because maybe that's going to be something I do and they go ahead and take a robotics class so they take an advanced to advanced level two technical courses and then they have to do a Capstone project so that could either be something within the community or they in fact could go down to the leric company second semester senior year and they worked for them for the whole 90 days and they get that job placement experience um the Alis company has been great in terms of that partnership they actually pay those students minimum wage while they're down there for the second half of the senior year so those kids are walking away with $77,000 so next steps uh sorry that so this is just what it kind of looks like right now we we have kind of tried to project out 10 slots in advance Advanced manufacturing per grade level we'll probably project out the same in information 10 per slot so now you got 20 20 slots in each grade but you remember that number that number was about 35% of our students want to be in the workforce so we're going to have to keep building out our pathway options Beyond Advanced manufacturing and Beyond information so those are some of the things we're going to have to talk about in the years after next last slide is just next steps uh so we already did part A of the Innovation uh information pathway we have a a written agreement with a TV so we're going to partner with them our students will have the ability to go access and do some of those things down there we have to really now go out and secure industry Partners in this region so that they can come to the table to us and talk to us talk to us about the skills that our students need to have when they come into the workforce so we really need to hear from those industry partners and additionally with those industry Partners at the table they then give us slots for our students to go have some work-based experience during their senior year so that's really the next step uh we're going to look to form an AOL High School Workforce advisory development board um and then the last thing we invite any of you that want to come see what some of the Capstone projects looks like it's called Project Lead the Way it's the engineering course that we're offering I invite you to uh show up on January 17th 9 9:45 to 11 in our Auditorium and see what it looks like to uh put together a Capstone project and I guess that last thing is uh you know we very very fortunate um that Tasha Sheffield she was living down in Texas she moved to um Massachusetts landed in AOL um God bless her for for coming she's really been uh you know tremendous in in helping us advance in advanced manufacturing and engineering and she just won uh a regional award for you know her dedication to um the pathways Technology and Engineering there any questions for is there a motion to go back to unfinished business motion made seconded any discussion all those in favor okay we will now do the reading of the superintendent evaluation on step one assessing progress towards goals professional practice goals were met student learning goals showed significant progress and District Improvement goals were met in the areas of assesses performance on standards um you had to complete page 4 through s first you can um flip to P the second page you'll see goal one two three four and five are outlined there so we had to U evaluate the superintendent on the goals that he set forward and those are listed there I I will go through them individually um per standard but standard one for instructional leadership was proficient standard two for management operations was proficient standard three for family and Community engagement was proficient and standard four professional culture was proficient on your next page uh goal one instructional leadership we did um Mar as signicant progress there is um additional school committee feedback on instructional um leadership in the entire evaluation those will not be read here this evening but they are available to the public um through the central office um the second goal was for management and operations which was his goal to that was met um the objectives below were 2A and 2B goal uh sorry goal three below was family and Community engagement that was met that's um focus indicators 3 a um yeah 3A and 3 C and then the goal four um was professional culture it was significant progress um in your tabulations you'll see exactly um where Matt stood for all of his goals goal one was significant progress goal two was met goal three was met goal four was significant progress goal five was met and overall rating was between significant progress and met there is an additional page on there where I wanted to quickly um mention where Matt fell proficient in all of the areas that there were um some exemplary areas to highlight as well as some needs Improvement areas to highlight Matt scored proficient in the instructional leadership however there were some concerns about student learning as we all know student learning in the district is extremely difficult in times like these so please know that the committee has shown on M valuation that student learning is a focus for us as a committee the second standard was for management and operations he scored proficient uh the third was for um family and Community engagement um an exemplary outstanding he was received 12 exemplary and 25 proficient with only three needs Improvement so this goes to show that a strong suit for our superintendent is community engagement the last one is professional culture um he also scored Prof however as a committee we understand that there are some conflicts that do need to be looked at and and Matt and US acknowledge that we are we have room for um Improvement I think somebody wrote that on the evaluation that there's always room for improvement and as a committee we are working to make what you're telling us and what we're seeing as a committee not only as um people on this committee but as parents in this District a difference so um while he scored Prof ficient I do want you to know that we do um all feel that we understand There's issues so having said that I will move to any discussion on Matt's evaluation here as a committee I'm um again if you have any questions or you would like oh yeah Matt please so um I want to thank the committee for the evaluation and I want to assure the committee and the Community First of all for those of you that were where I apologize I'm losing my voice somehow probably to everyone's benefit because so I'll talk less um however I do want the committee and the community to know that I view my evaluation as a reflection of the status of the district and I respect all of the concerns that are brought forward I we are as a leadership team trying to do our best to address the needs of the district and serve the needs of our students and families and those needs are pretty severe we have students that come into our buildings every day with significant amounts of trauma we have students coming in that have issues with housing with food security with potential violence we have whether it's in their Community or even right in their home we we do have a very High needs population of students and it does take a community and I appreciate for those who mentioned we all have to work together I respect that and I and I hear that and I do want the committee and the community to know that we are trying to work together and the leadership team is trying to address some of those problems that have been referenced um and I will actually ask some of those members to to speak in a little bit regarding the culture of our buildings to update us on some of the things that they are working on and some of the strategies or processes that actually are in place um another piece I I did just want to say um on a personal level I encourage if anyone if anyone feels that I have ever sent you an email or any type of communication that's unprofessional or snarky or whatever you might think I encourage you send it to a friend have them delete your name if you want to be anonymous about it and please forward it to me and I encourage you to copy Tammy I encourage you to share that with me because if there's something that I'm putting out there in my communication that makes staff or is has made any staff member feel belittled or that I don't take their concerns seriously I want to be able to address that I genuinely can't say I feel as if I've responded inappropriately to anybody um I know this was one Anonymous statement of hundreds of teachers that we have and hundreds of Staff in the district but that one matters to me and I encourage even that information to be sent to me so I can reflect on it please leave the name off but I need to reflect on anything that people are not happy with so that we can try to make adjustments and move forward um speaking of adjustments as Tammy made um Tammy mentioned excuse me there were certainly needs Improvement areas for our teaching and learning there's also some information some needs Improvement on our culture which we're clear that we need to keep making improvements I did ask Dr Kennedy as she leads our teaching and learning in the district to just put together a little bit of information because there were some points that I wanted to just clarify with respect to where the district is with both the mcast scores and how it is that the state looks at our scores and also the vocal data that was just recently released which is for student voice in our schools expressing how they're feeling in our communities Dr Kennedy would you so while I will be the first acknowledge that we have um quite a ways to go I do want to say that the work um the hard work of our teachers and our students has been represented in many areas where we have made some um some growth so I took a look at the targets because that was sorry dirty glasses long day um that was some of the um targets of of that was the targets were some of the comments um that were made in the superintendent evaluation and so in 2023 um in the categories uh of of ela uh so broken down across the district Ela grades 3 through 8 Ela High School same thing for math um we had zero we had zero students meeting or exceeding we uh our targets sorry we met our Targets in zero areas in 2023 we met our Targets in zero areas for those we had one two three four spots where we improved below targets and we had um 31 areas where we did not this year 2024 we exceeded in two areas exceeded targets Ela high school and math grades 3 through eight we met our Targets in ela grades 3 through 8 math grades 3 through eight we improved below Targets in seven areas as Ela 3-8 High Ela high school math 3-8 ma math High School um and there were no change in seven areas and we were still in decline in 13 areas but that's a significant difference from 31 not uh decline targets from the year before in our subgroups or our student groups um we declined in every single Target area in 2023 except for math grades 3 through eight in which we improved below Target this year 2024 we had seven areas where we improved so one two three four five areas where we improved below Target um I would love to be exceeding targets but I will take an improvement over a decline and then we had two um areas math 3 through eight and Ela High School where we exceeded the target so it's important to note that the hard work of our teachers and the initiatives that we are putting forth in our district um are having some impact among our students and we hope to certainly build upon that um in FY 2025 I did take a look I did dig into the vocal data the um this is about school culture um by the way I'm happy to share uh digital copies of any of this information with school committee members or or all of you if you wish so the the four areas for um vocal um um data vocal is a survey that students at grade 458 and 10 take and it's about uh how they feel about school climate engagement safety and environment across the state uh schools hover on average around 50 uh a score of 50 and so AAL Royston as a district was for school climate 45 for for engagement 47 for safety 42 and environment 49 both of our elementary schools exceeded the state and both of our secondary schools scored below the state but were within about 10 points we're within 10 points of the state um so yes there is work to do um and we were pretty steady I did do an analysis of 24 23 and 22 and it's been um pretty consistent throughout um what our students are saying they feel about our schools um I agree with the sentiment that there's always work to do and so um we we are understanding of that and look at this data all the time and talk about it and always look for ways to improve I want to thank Dr Kennedy I would like to thank the school committee for providing the feedback that you did I would like to thank the community that's here and any staff member that signed up to speak I know that that is not the easiest thing to do so I I applaud you for your interest in making sure that the voices of our staff are heard I can assure you that I am trying to hear the voices of our staff and I can assure you that our leadership team does not dismiss the voices of our staff I can I can also say as was mentioned by a few people who came up to speak we are a district of limited resources we do have partly I will say this it's very difficult to hire people in this region we put postings out for any kind of a position and we are lucky to get one applicant we do struggle because of those vacancies or because of those holes that are so difficult to fill and the administ a in each of the buildings tries to manage all of the crises that are going on in the building not just the behavioral ones you know we have behavioral issues going on instructional issues we have management issues we have students that are coming in in crisis that it may not be seen in the in the classrooms so I just my point in sharing that is I Echo the sentiment that was stated before which is I have said I do believe that right now some of our administrators are overwhelmed that's not an excuse to not be working their hardest to be doing their job to serve the needs of the students and the staff and we've been meeting regularly and we've been brainstorming and trying to come up with ideas and ways to address the situation or any situation and just improve it regardless of the situation because as people also mentioned there's always room to improve um as miss kinsky our business manager will mention later we are trying to add additional resources that will come to the school committee in a bit that is a request um that one of the items on the agenda as soon as I speak stop speaking I would like to when we move in I've asked my principles and our leadership teams to come to to the school committee and speak about some of the things that are happening in their buildings and talk about some of the systems and strategies that they are using so um again I'm hopeful that by working together and hearing one another and speaking to one another meaning teachers speaking to the administrators in their buildings to try to help solve problems and if administrators aren't necessarily giving you the the response that you think you should get I encourage people to reach out to me directly it's very rare that I ever see I I ever see you know someone say hey I had a problem with the way my building Administration handled this Mr aworth could I come and talk to you about it or can can we make some changes there have been some occasions where that has happened but predominantly that's not the case so I just again want to encourage people we've said it ourselves you've said it we need to work together in order to move this District forward and that's my goal we're all humans in this District we're in a human industry we're not in a profit making industry we take care of children and we need to take care of each other and we are trying I want to assure you that but please do also remember that your administrators are human and they're trying and they're working with their limited resources as well so we will continue to fight this fight and try to improve absolutely every aspect of this District that we can but as everyone mentioned we need to do it together so I'm very hopeful I'm looking forward to upcoming years and just in the upcoming months where I think we'll be able to make some tweaks and improve some of these concerns around culture and I encourage staff as I'm going through listening sessions or through any other means of communication please feel free to reach out to me and share whatever your concerns are so I thank the committee I thank the public and the staff I know how hard the staff work and the scores that Dr Kennedy just spoke to and the vocal results that Kennedy Dr Kennedy just spoke to are a result of our hardworking staff I don't want staff to think that our kids are not progressing this district is moving forward it may not be making Leaps and Bounds to the Moon right now but certain things will take time to take hold and continue to move the district forward so I appreciate the evaluation and please know that every bit of feedback that's in there I will take to heart thank you any other comments questions concerns before we move on to the culture update from the schools I just I just wanted to clarify and make sure that um it was a request to have the individual documents they can be emailed to me or or whatever okay yeah I don't need him tonight that's got okay all right moving on to the culture update know so I had asked I had asked as I mentioned I had asked our principles to speak with their leadership teams and just put together some of the things that are happening in the schools and ways that we are trying to address the the circumstan es without adding additional resources necessarily but I would ask uh please for Sarah Priestley our principal of Aces we can start there good evening so at Aces we have a few um efforts that we've made to improve our culture and climate and address some of the behavior challenges that we've been seeing this year um the first is that we worked really hard to refine our child study team process so we had an existing child study team um and part of the feedback that I had received um in a a summer entry plan survey was that the child study team um was inconsistent inconsistently met um so we tried to create some protocols around some consistency and how teachers could refer students to the child study team uh when we would meet how we would go through the data um you know using a protocol and you know do some action planning around providing supports and interventions for students so that um process has been up and running and um we're starting to see some progress with some of our students so that's very exciting um our we uh noticed that we needed to have a team dedicated to addressing some of the bigger um kind of PBIS pieces that our schools so positive behavior interventions and supports um not just incentivizing and um acknowledging the positive behaviors but also addressing um when students are not meeting those expected behaviors and how we are you know reteaching and how we are um balancing the restorative practices and the reteaching practices with the consequences that are appropriate for infractions at our school and so our team just started meeting last week and we have another meeting tomorrow after school so we're really trying to get um some traction on that process and putting some things in place because what we are hearing is that there isn't a consistent process and we need to kind of streamline some of those so that team will be working on that we also um added a0 five dean of students that has been at our school and that's helped to strengthen the behavior support team and our PBIS capacity at our last staff meeting we did some work around um uh Jessica minahan the behavior code it's a it's a book we took some of the uh strategies from her text and shared them with staff and you know just giving teachers some tools in their toolbox to try in their classrooms um to address um students who maybe have trauma or anxiety that results in certain behaviors so there are some things that they can use use just in their classrooms so just giving those pieces and really taking our staff meeting time as opportunities for learning together um on some of those strategies the last thing I wanted to share is that we're really trying to increase our family engagement um and not just as you know with events and having our you know um our PTO is amazing with the the Halloween dance we had was incredible it was so much fun um but also on an individual basis and really um working directly with families on on how to support their children in our school um and bringing them into the conversation early and often um is a is something that I'm really excited about us moving forward in thank you welcome I would thank you very much I would principal Carrie sheret from royalston Community School to join us thank you Carrie hi good evening everyone so I broke um I broke down our supports into different tiers um so for our tier one supports at RCS this year um really making sure we're supporting teachers through classroom management so that includes helping with communication home um and making sure we're including positive notes just not contacting home about behaviors whole class instruction focused around character strong and we're highlighting a different trait each month we have schoolwide celebrations um we actually have a a raccoon little trophy that's won by a class and so that travels around our building um I'm spending more time in classrooms to do observations for teachers and support for classroom management and uh our office down in the main office whether be Dean will Heights or myself we're using those when um part of school adjustment counselor's plans with kids when they have earned breaks they get to come down take a quick break we do timers they go back to class um having students down in our space who are disrespect disrespectful but more disruptive in class and a need a quiet space to work so uh teachers will radio and we'll have those students come down to our space I've been working a lot with the teachers on different PD or different trainings that they're interested in getting and so we're carving out time and making sure teachers have access access to those trainings and then in collaboration with teachers if they have a consequence for a student I'm helping support whether it be OD time um for different pieces during lunch and things like that our home and school collaboration this year um we continued a piece that I started last year with the students uh For Recess for soccer and for football worked with the students they created a contract I assisted with them and doing that and the contracts have continued into this year so parents and students are aware of what we're looking for for students to be able to participate in play soccer and football um I've been hosting meetings with families uh and teachers when the behaviors are not being impacted for tier one supports we include the adjustment counselor myself um the Guardians and the student and that's one of our tier 2 interventions we're also working with our adjustment counselor um to support students in their their skills and communicating with classmates not only um in the character strong program but also in small group supports when our adjustment counselor has working lunches or stays after school with students um one day a week we also have the child study team process um I have quite a few students that are working on that component we working to support those kids right now we've been collaborating with families um who are struggling to attend school and really reaching out and figuring out what is that one piece what do they really enjoy at school and we've been able to help more than one student who was struggling uh be able to come to school on a regular basis and we're utilizing uh releases so that our justment counselor can actually communicate with service providers outside of our building to support students and families which we found to be extremely successful and um our tier three interventions we have uh restorative practices for our bus infractions including a bus contract that we created last year that helps the students um follow the expectations of being on the bus um um working with the bus drivers with seating and bus bags and communicating with the families when we have bus infractions we have consequences uh during the school day whether it be a working lunch so we can go over that contract um and working with families so that our students don't get removed from the bus uh we also have uh a practice that we started this year which came out of one of the trainings um over the summer that if students have an infraction at recess they then have an indoor recess with myself for Dean wi height so we're still getting physically active and still burning off some energy we're just not with peers which has been um successful students don't want to have recess with Dean wi heider myself so uh we usually see a great change in the kids when in regards to that I did mention the football and soccer contracts which are great we use uh working restorative lunches with myself Dean wil height and our adjustment counselor uh we do that to have peer-to-peer mediation and different settings where the students can work on apologizing to each other or working on Crafting apologies to others and um last but not least I've been working really hard to support teachers with consequences that have risen to my level um and working on creating detailed plans for students so they can be successful in class and we also as admin we also run after school detentions if need be um for students and families that's a lot questions yeah yeah I'm just can you tell me a little bit the yeah so um For Recess my kids like to pretend they're professional a athletes and I hope they all get to be there someday um so soccer and football uh we started with a football contract because some of my sixth graders last year really wanted to play and there was you know there's shoving hands on I'm like okay so I said you guys come up with a contract because we need to be safe so that something that you can work on policing each other when you play and so they came up with a contract and we sat down and then I added I kind of changed some of the wording I added some components so they talked about if you break like so it's NFL rules they do a two-hand touch we're actually going to be getting flags for them because I think that's a better piece but the rules that the kids came up with that you know if you break that contract that you have to sit out a football or soccer for so many days you can be a referee but you can't play and you have a first infraction a second and a third and they're all T tied into depending on what the infraction is admin consequences as well so the kid came up with contract yeah yeah I worked with so we did the football one first and then um that was with my sixth graders and then the fourth my fourth graders last year so they're the fifth graders now really love playing soccer so they were like can we do what what we did with football I'm like sure come have a working lunch with me I had six gentlemen sitting down with me that day and we worked on that contract too so they have Buy in because they were able to help create it I really like the idea of them having upsetting their expectations to they sure do and it's it's nice for the students to sit down and because when they come in from Recess if something happened I can say okay well let's take out the contract this is what you signed you know there's no slide tackles and soccer and all these pieces and and I'm like did this happen and they're like yes I'm like okay well what's the consequence based on the contract and they're like I can't play for five days and there's an admin piece I go so we will have a a detention and or a recess detention and then that the next we start those pieces yeah y yeah I'm also just interested if it's something that could be kind of translated over to the classroom too you know I mean not that specific obviously that's for football and you want your consequences to relate to the action right but having kids set their expectations and saying what are you capable of doing and I will say that um our teachers at the beginning of the school year especially my um fifth and sixth grade and my well the third and fourth did it as well the expectations and they worked on that with the students like what do we really need out of class and um a couple of my teachers have been readjusting so we're talking about you know November and things are happening so they're having whole class discussions to say what are you guys noticing about each other and they're like well we're being rude to each other or we're being rude to staff members and not following directions and so then they problem solve together as a group all right Mr Webster Jason thank you principal Webster see if we cooperate with the mic this time good evening so at the middle school level there are some things that we are working on this year um to um help address the issues that we've heard about this evening um and there's kind of two sides to the coin there's the encouragement of the positive uh behaviors of our students and there's also working on how we respond and communicate uh as far as those unwanted behaviors uh that we're working through uh starting with the Positive uh we have a tier one team that's been established by uh Mr Le Fountain one of our assistant principles and uh they're working on some tier one strategies for the whole school kind of based on you may have heard of PBIS those positive behavior interventions uh working on things like finalizing uh there's a positive behavior Matrix that they're working on using coins uh as positive incentives uh for the students we have an incentive cart that we're working on as far as once a week redeeming those coins on different things of interest for the students um and there are also relationship based rewards as well we have what are two different kinds of uh rewards there's intrinsic which is like that kind of inner like meaning you have value you understand why it's a good thing to do and you also have the extrinsic it's kind of like you know the coins and maybe it's a homework pass or maybe it's I don't know you know pizza with the principal something like that obviously we are our goal ultimately is that we want to improve the the the intrinsic the kids to really understand through the middle school years uh why it's important to be a good person and you know a helpful member of our community um also working on schoolwide student programs uh one that we're working on is cookies and cocoa with honoral students to recognize their efforts uh pep rallies we're getting ready for a volleyball game um working on teacher positivity initiatives such such as there's a name this tune event that's being worked on and also we have a underground staff um spirit week uh that's going to be fun they've been working on as well uh so things to help kind of boost morale uh with everything else that we're working on that's so challenging we also like to have some fun together as well appropriately so those are some things we're working on also as far as the tier two we were just talking about tier one strategies and responses but also tier two as far as working on a checkin checkout program uh matching our kids with adults to check in and out just to see how they're doing the more times that kids can have positive interactions just as a side is hey how are you doing kind of like how we greet kids at the door you know during those transition times those are really it might be just for a couple seconds but they're really important and they kind of help set a tone for the kids as they're coming into classrooms so we're working on that we also have a student leadership team that's begun this year really kind of started last year uh when in the spring we had our kids we have two different transitions we have the fourth graders coming into our fifth grade from Aces and we also have the sixth graders becoming our seventh graders from uh RCS and so we were able to have our teachers identify upcoming student leaders who are now in the eighth grade they were part of that fly up day and in fact uh I was uh talking early about how they were uh playing an integral role in planning that meeting with kids and then having uh holding that relationship over the course of the summer sending uh you know remember those pen pal letters I was Middle School in the 80s so it was a while ago but writing letters to kids over the summer taking an interest seeing how they're doing and then following up during the school year kind of like a Big Brother Big Sister kind of thing just to check in and see how they're doing so we're organizing and planning some opportunities like that so that our kids that are new to our school feel safer um have someone else that they can go to we all know that kids listen a lot more to peers sometimes than they do adults and so we're trying to take advantage of that um other things they're working on that the student leaders were behind the kindness week that we just had last week um with the kindness cart redeeming those coins we were talking about and also talking about some staff appreciation ideas as well uh there's involvement with uh teachers as far as talking about those uh restorative practices we've been working on we do have a lot of challenges in meeting the needs of those students who struggle and so we try to work to have teachers have opportunities to come meet and be part of the process when we're having students come back in you know when there is a consequence and we all work to have our students take responsibility for their behavior avors there's also the fact that they're coming back into the classroom and so how does that look what is it like as far as the expectations and the plans moving forward so they have an opportunity to get back into the learning and and feel comfortable and safe after they you know there's two sides there's the student that's the victim of some some behaviors and also that student that caused them they need to make better decisions and we need to be able to facilitate ways for them to learn from them uh and so those re-entry meetings that we have are a big piece of that and so we uh communicate these plans uh with teachers to try to work together and have them come in it's tough because their teaching classes it's busy in the morning but we try to develop those opportunities um so that we're basically the idea is we're welcoming the student back in um we have you know expectations and we know that you're going to do better and so that tries we try to have that mentality and so we're working on that piece um uh as we're working with students uh also student referrals um communication is huge it was one of the uh first couple of directives that I received as I came on board last year um and we're continuing to work on that uh we have the the referral process through Google um where we make sure the goal is that we have as much information as possible uh in the moment it can be tough when things happen a teacher needs to make a decision as far as safety uh you know things like that they have a class of 20 kids and perhaps one that's struggling and in the moment they need to make a decision but also as able give us as much information as we can those of us on the other end trying to help uh support the student um you know through whatever happened and so that referral process is important we continue to develop that um it's it's really all about data and how we track that data as well uh and speaking of which um actually our uh C uh custodial crew our custodians have been helping us as well as our technology department on a couple of things um Vape sensors what we thought at one point was high school issues are kind of creeping down into the middle school as far as what students are doing with uh that unstructured time um and unfortunately we were seeing that there were concerns with what was happening in bathrooms and so we have been able to install Vape sensors uh which are actually highly uh accurate not only being able to identify when something is being given off as far as uh fumes smoke things like that but we know that these Vapes these days they they smell like candy it's it's hard to delineate between whether is that something I smell that's a vape or is that cologne or perfume and so how do we deal with that these these sensors are actually able to identify the the particles or molecules or whatever it's above my pay grate but they're able to identify that and then send through um a smartphone technology to an administrator let us know that you know first floor bathroom Pape sensor just went off so I'll get Mr Molton we'll go in try to find out what's going on or one of our two assistant principles and address that and that way it kind of helps us determine through looking at uh security cameras we kind of pinpoint an approximate time and that way we're able to to investigate more appropriately and address matters um and that has helped uh as far as identifying you know those times with Vapes um also uh within the same lines as far as technology um we do have Smart paths which we know about uh but the point is that we're actually using technology to um assess data collect data on all important time on learning um kids will struggle because they're kids and they're learning how to you know push boundaries it's during those unsupervised times between class CL we do the best we can to supervise in the hallways but it's also important when they have to use the bathroom things like that um that we track that data and we try to pay attention and help them make better choices smart pass data helps us see how much time they've spent out of the classroom we have parent conferences coming up and part of those conversations will be about you know if they notice that students are spending time outside of the classroom this data backs them up like we're noticing that little you know Johnny Jones was you know missing 45 minutes of math class over the past last you know three weeks that's that's significant what can we do about that so this data helps um helps that conversation um uh additionally we also we're piloting uh recess or uh like movement minutes or taking a break um and we're actually kind of partnering with uh Aces and their Administration to figure out how we can use uh resource like playworks which comes in and trains and they've done that in the past at the elementary school level to a degree of success um as far as empowering teachers to be kind of recess coaches where they're establishing some meaningful still fun they're not in class uh but meaningful activities where they're having fun but they're actually kind of maybe they're working on team building at the same time but it's a safe way and a structured way for them to have a break um a lot of the feedback I've received is you know what other opportunities do our kids have to be kids they're in class all day they've got lunch uh lunch has been challenging because that's the only 25-minute period they have to kind of relax not be you know in front of their Chromebooks and so how do we help them and kind of get the Wiggles out so they can be a little bit more relaxed so so those are some things that we're working on uh as we're you know addressing the behaviors that we're seeing and trying to make sure that we're encouraging the positive just as much as we are uh responding to the The Unwanted so my voice is starting to go too Mr anworth I apologize apologize questions I do yeah um not necessarily about what you presented today but what we heard in the um public input is there something missing as far as resources are concerned in your building that you know one of the primary concerns from your staff was admin availability and response to issues that they're experienced in the classroom is there something missing in the building that's limiting your ability to be responsive to those issues during the day or is there anything that this committee needs to be aware of as far as resources that's an excellent question thank you I I think it's it's a complicated answer yes we need to up our game because we have to as we always do we're constantly evaluating constantly reflecting uh as Educators and as administrators on what we're observing with our students and their needs uh yeah we we need to uh work harder and also more smarter uh than harder perhaps as far as how we respond and work together that communication piece is very important um and and as we talk we talk talk about you know what do we do if you know we're calling down we have a concern we haven't been able to contact anybody well okay it's kind of like when you're in a lockdown situation you just we trust our you know teachers to be professional and make a decision if they need to ask a teacher hey can you watch you know my class for a second while I bring the student down kids not cooperating okay maybe I got to go down and find somebody we we need to do that and and our teachers are um we also are are looking at you know how can we bolster our staff and we do have some postings uh for a de of students position uh which we're currently interviewing for at the middle school that is something where we know it's not a magic wand uh we know that this is something that is uh occurring as a concern across the the Commonwealth across the country um as we're working to help uh you know support the needs of our kids um so yeah I you know there are some things we need to do uh I think that we are supported we just you know we meet once a week as a a leadership team both at the you know district and uh building level to talk about those things and uh it's going to take some time but I I feel like we're on the right track to address those needs um but it's also you know we're understanding our community and and what our kids need so it's going to like Matt said it's going to take all of us working together um but uh we do have some work ahead of us yeah so hopefully that answers your question but it's a fair one I do have question I ask um sorry I got to get my thoughts collected again so a lot of I heard about um arms in particular was very new information to me I don't currently have a student there so was surprised and taken back by quite a bit of it so I'm curious is there something is there a policy in place or a procedure when um it comes to an incident that's significant enough that you have to report it back to the family like how is that I know one person in particular said that they used a significant amount of their time you know emailing and contacting families but I'm just kind of curious is there like across theboard expectation standard is there something in development for that sure uh yes we our job uh in a perfect world we do our best to make sure we respond and communicate uh as a staff with our students and also with our families um we uh work hard whether it be through translation services sometimes things get delayed because we want to make sure that people are able to get the support they need to understand us um and that we understand them as well as we work together uh we work uh primarily to make sure that we are in constant communication with families uh at the beginning of the year when our faculty is establishing expectations they're also reaching out to families to share with them what expectations are and over the course of the year as they're making referrals um we're also contacting home as well whether it be through a phone call an email uh and we can always do better uh but we are working on that and I know that we do it's it's kind of it runs the Gambit we have some staff based whether it be on the nature of the students they have or the job they have they're calling more um and so that's something that we're paying attention to when we talk we uh we ourselves as far as communication we have Team meetings uh every week uh each team each grade level uh has uh Team time uh for 45 minutes in the morning um and we have an administrator there for that team time if I get called in I go in as well so that we can talk about what's going on and what kinds of conversations uh excuse me Communications have gone home uh to talk to kids because sometimes we get you know the teachers or myself we get busy handling every those other kitchen oh yeah I forgot I need to contact this family so that we can resolve a matter perhaps that we started the other day um and so the the frequency and the kind of saturation of how much we're working with yeah that's that's increased uh but we are working to communicate at home um through phone calls through emails for the positive as well not just you know for the challenging times so thank you and then I have one last thing that you can tell me if this is more of a committee referral so I can repeat it then later but I am curious because of the frequency that like in School suspensions and out of school suspensions and stuff like that had come up um if that's information that we can get in the future exactly what that looks like are we seeing increase from one year to the next is you know um so I don't know if that's really more of a referral but it is at that avilable okay I heard tonight was um from the the teachers talking and administrators talking about um disturbing of the students with their language that really really does bother me a lot um I don't want that kind of Lang I don't want to hear that type of language in a school from students that are only from the fifth grade to the eighth grade and that's was very disturbing to hear I want to ask our attorney if we could possibly have some way that we could have a policy put forward that would have a bite to it to let them know that this is serious you're in school if you think you're ever going to get into a college with your attitude and the way you act and how you do things you are never going to get in there because you're the way you're starting off is wrong and they have to have something that will put a stop to this because this is totally disturbing it's not good it's not good so what do you think we could do so I'm sure your handbook already has language of profanity in the school but um based on des's General standards of how discipline works there it's probably not a major offense in the handbook is my guess I haven't read it recently but it's not considered a major offense and I do feel really terrible when I hear the language I have a middle schooler here he tells me about the disruptions in class and how awful it is um I understand it from both sides of the spectrum that students need help but students want to learn so I ride that middle line teachers need to teach they need to have a classroom that's not disrupted or disruptive um and respectful how we get our students to be there I do not know so we could put a policy in play but a profanity calling someone a name like that is not something that's a suspendable offense now what my question was when someone is a repeat offender what is the policy what do you do so I see the definition of progressive disciplin above you and uh that is where you know there's a lot of different language lot of different comments that can be made not that we need to go through them all as far as the naughty word list but uh you're you're absolutely right there's two sides to that there's the disruption factor it's inappropriate there needs to be responsibility taken and at the same time there needs to be education and the things I think about are uh we want to have students as far as our student leadership group we're trying to make leadership cool so to speak and granted I've I'm that Middle School geek it's been at it for 25 years and I haven't left middle school yet but we believe that if we can build a culture where it's not cool to be making all those comments and actually if you can expand your vocabulary a little bit that's kind of neat you're showing us that you're smart but in the moment with you know what we're seeing with our students yeah there's a there's kind of a street culture that's uh creeping into our schools from you know from our community I talked with officer call our school school resource officer about things that happen in the community and kids that are engaged and having these interactions and maybe they aren't supervised maybe they are but now they're coming into school together and that can cause for some riffs and challenges um and so while yes it it's initially when you look at the the legal ease of this um you know dropping uh you know an fbom as they say uh might not be a reason to be susp you know suspended perhaps but it also depends on the situation it depends on if the student has been spoken to before that's that Progressive piece um and and really the the intent behind it and also the the Frameworks of what was said we talked to our students about you know getting context clues in their books we're looking for context clues as well when we're investigating these behaviors um so there's two sides to it and you absolutely can have a student where they're continuing on to make those poor choices they've been given opportunities to make better ones and they choose not to and sometimes you do need to you know the the consequence you know it gets more severe um we try to not fall into that cookie cutter approach of for this this is the consequence for this this is the consequence because we're talking about human beings and there often times is a leadup to that whatever happened there might be something else that occurred that's why we spend so much time invested well doing the best we can to quickly but investigate these situations um so I could go on for a while but I know that we have a lot to cover so hopefully that answers your question a little bit Yeah and just to further so it's not typically just profanity so profanity by itself would be a lowlevel offense but usually profanity is also could be insubordination threatening there's other categories in the handbook so I mean my quick answer was profanity by itself is not a major offense that's not to say that it couldn't be based on the context so words to kill and kill yourself and things like that that we don't that's not profanity by itself if you have threatening if you have a k that's a whole different category that actually probably would be more of the major list it's threatening that's and also could be reported to police what about the I just want to say that those incidences that they spoke of were reported to the police and they were investigated here um and what you know Mr MC went through with the pedophile those things those words and kids say them having alternate meetings but it doesn't make it okay we all know that we're parents here um but I I personally feel as a parent and as a school committee member we need to have that structure of discipline it needs to be you say it once this is the consequence and then we need to hold them and their parents to it and I know it's difficult to get a parent on the phone I know it's difficult but if we aren't holding those parents feet to the fire we will not see change that's my personal opinion and that's my comment here I'm a parent if my kids's a jerk to you I want to know about it I can't say that for everybody but at the same time we need as a school district to have something conrete whether we have a parent sign off on it whether at the beginning of every school year we invite the entire Community out for This Is How We Roll here assembly bring in those parents take just don't take no for an answer this is how we operate here the culture in the Middle School needs to change period And I I agree with what everyone is saying that we need to be a team and we need to work together to solve this problem it's not going to happen overnight may not happen in two three five years but it needs to get better because we have qualified people leaving our district because they are being treated like trash and it's not fair to them going to say is I'm concerned that it's November and we're and I and I would like to say that we haven't seen a mass Exodus before we have but I can't control as a committee what these children are doing in class other than to say what are our consequences for their actions and then really roll that out I don't I don't know what else the answer is from as a committee to help these teachers teach so I I know the middle school is a problem child here um I know Aces can also be very difficult I I hear more and know more because I'm the chair and I I hear everything that happens and teachers I praise you for you doing your job I could never sit in your shoes honestly but something especially the culture here at this Middle School it needs something has to change and that is coming from a parent and a Committee Member I do not know if it's additional resources if it's more people we have somebody that we're looking for a dean of students we know that we need bodies getting those bodies you want have a have a mom who wants mother's Hours come in and have her patrol the hallway she passes the Cy she comes in have a dad who works you know a weekends and can volunteer his time parents come in we need you and you can see what your kid does in that classroom you would be appalled so I don't know what the solution is but I can tell you I'm passionate about it my kid sits through it every day and it's not it's not good so I'm really interested in you know what the framework is around discipline for these children because they really need it that's I don't really it's not a question to you it's more of a a blanket statement so um teachers thank you for all you do I I feel you and I'm sorry for these children's behaviors on behalf of their parents who probably won't apologize no administrator no administrator and no teacher should have to go through anything like that if you need some help call me I'll be there all right right okay you got you got hallway Patrol I've got hallway Patrol I'll do it your points are all taken and received so thank you Jason let us know how Matt can guide forward if we whatever we need as a committee we're committed it starts here it progresses into to the high school it's coming from two different schools into this building it's not an easy task the expectations and the ground level work done at RCS is much different um in terms of how kids come into here in the seventh grade um the ases culture there's a boatload of children in that school and it's overwhelming and they all have a good portion over 60% have high needs we know that we need to figure it out it's reflected here too yeah thank you so thank you we are working you know no I understand the work that gets done and a lot of people don't think that we know what the work is that's getting done we do it's never going to be fast enough it's never going to make a difference immediately but we hope putting those things in play will get us there it's just not immediate right thank you than you okay thank you I know you made it I can tell see I can attest to the fact that she needs it thank you uh I'd asked David King principal from the high school to join us I'm going tell one little story I was at a confirmation in Fitchburg about a month ago and the bishop comes in and says what used to be dangerous in the schools with knives and fights is now the weaponized voices of our students so that is what's happening to us in our schools um athal High School um has looked to improve our proactive approach by increasing tier one and tier two responses to our behaviors and the mental health needs of our students and the hopes that we can deescalate any of those situations that happen in our learning environment before they happen so we look at increasing tier one things that we can do could say all the things that we have normally done all along the way but I'm not going to go into that I'm just going to talk about some of the new things that we were trying to address some of these student issues so basically we look at it as a three three-prong approach one we have a culture monitor his responsibility is to be in the hallways interact with students find a way to get them back into classrooms if it's for something less than you know some type of major violation so some of those students are disengaged in class before I actually go on any further I felt my uh my big point is every student needs a North star and if you don't have a North star in a school you're going to have a tough time navigating through the school so for us us it's our programming Early College Innovation career Pathways we have to continue to do those things 65% of the students at Arms apply to go to Monte Tech because they want that vot Tech education we can't ignore that we have to find a way to do better in our schools to address some of those things that they're wanting if they see our school as a place that they can't get what they need to be successful they're not going to be engaged they're going to cause disruptions so that that has to be our overarching theme of how we see students we have to meet them in trying to provide a learning environment where we can give them what they need after they get out of high school so our three prime approach culture monitor differently than we've ever done before our counselors have stepped up and and knowledge that we need their support more than ever in the classrooms and in the hallways so they are pushing in to some of those high frequency classrooms uh happens every single day where they Identify some students that they need some in-class support so that is happening um and also using our administrators to push into classrooms push into areas so if we see an energy shift so if there is that bad language that used there is something aggressive our administrators would be the ones that go and address that situation if there's that energy shift um two we have uh identified and developed what we call our alternative space model so basically what that looks like it's manned by uh certified teachers that are on duty blocks based on the structure that we were able to create in our schedule so we have some high quality people that are in there that space is used for students that are unable to meet what it looks like to be a student in a classroom so that could be for five minutes it could be for more it could be that the learning environment is no longer going to be conducive to what they have so maybe we put them in an online class so they're able to go and take that online class in that space so that has been an effective way to deal with um that notion that we've always had to say is we have no other options for you you have to stay in that class that can't be our answer anymore we have to find ways to to work outside of the traditional model of school to be able to address some of these student behaviors and then um schedule it is a new thing that uh our dean of students and our assistant principal are doing they have it on their schedule every single day each one of them takes two and a half hours where they're on the floor in the hallways they have a cart they have their computer they can still do work but they're right outside classroom doors to address situations if teachers need that support in time so that has been a huge thing that's happened in the last I'm going to say three weeks that was completely Amanda and Josh's idea they got to go support the teachers where they're at so we're we're scheduling that into their into their day um additionally that allows them to do some circling up things addressing some of the behaviors that are happening right in the classroom ultimately if the student isn't in the classroom they're not learning and uh they're not making progress towards graduation um tier two things that we're doing we reimagined our Student Success Center so basically once again our counselors have stepped up in trying to support our students that need skills that they don't otherwise have so there's a place in our building they have to be identified as a student needing Stu uh student success and uh they push into that space and they work on some building skills activities that's manned the full day by a pair of professional but our experts or our certified counselors they go in and they support that pair of professional because the last thing we want to do is put an a PA professional with that group of students for the entire day and put a drain on them so it's a it's a great team effort um we still haven't found a balance councilors still have to do a lot of other things College and Career things Family Outreach work on attendance so there's there's a big balance there and that's something we're we're continuing to work on uh the last thing is we do have an alternative program so if students it's a traditional school is not meeting their needs that can either be student identified parent identified or ath High School identified we take them out of our setting and we put them in our alternative school where they do virtual school so they they they have a a certified curriculum it's certified to the state so we've worked through that process and those students do classes just like any other student would do it if they were in a virtual school they do get to come to AOL high school for two hours a day on Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday where they can get some in inperson instruction um we also allow them to zoom into that space if they have transportation issues we have had a lot of support getting students there with our transportation um so we try to break down those barriers and give them another alternative to what has always been tradition uh and I think the last thing is if we don't identify those wraparound Services then we're never going to be able to really help those students so just like I talked about with our college kids needing to really find ways to to accept those wraparound Services we have to do the same thing with our students and with our families so we do have a collaborative uh approach with the the regional school health task force we're a member of that just like all the other schools all of the agencies in the communities come together and we strategize on a monthly basis of how our students are accessing those wraparound services so that's um that's what we're doing in athl high school um those are some of the the different things that we've tried to address than than some of the normal things we've always done um this one you might not be able to answer but I'm just curious this the first I've heard of the alternative school is high school the first is that the earliest that's Alternative Program Sor fix my notes program is that the first that's offered is it by High School just at the high school just at the high school level okay and then I'm just curious because I don't think I heard athl High School mentioned it all in the earlier conversation some of it was the district as a whole but um like how do like are is it the same or is it's not perfect we have we have some of the same challenges that happen here and at the aces every single day uh it's not easy in education right now uh it's it's a challeng every single one of us to go to work every day we love this community so that's what we do and we just try to make it are you feeling as spread as then there at the high school as it seems like some of the other schools are I think the job in general in the world is hard so I don't think our community is unique we got a bishop in Wester County making this big statement so that's why I said it it's everywhere right yeah thank you um I actually really like the idea of this alternative I was just before intrigued by it but also wondering like is there a percentage of students that use that space is it you know like a consistent five or 10 same kids or is it do you see it kind of being used more of like a revolving option that a lot of students take advantage of I will have to get the data it's new um the the first part would would would be like a student that comes to us and says I'm not taking my fourth music class again and there disruption in that class and we have no other options in our schedule so instead we plug them with an uity class and they can go into that space and do a virtual class other options are if a kid is being disruptive instead of stacking them up in our guidance office which is where one of our admin assistants is and some of our councils aren't there anymore because they're out on the floor we have a different space we try to find another way for them to engage I can get the data what it looks like after a month's worth of time awesome I didn't realize it was that new that's awesome and so kind of in line with with the alternative program is there do we see a lot of students also participating in that or is that a smaller number I think we have like 25 in our alternative program right right now um you know some some of those kids it's like they're they're really struggling to get to school every day and we got to keep them engaged keep them moving forward some of them just coming into the school building they have trauma and they can't do that others are just you know it's a behavior issue and we're like this is not the place for you right now if you want to back here you need to meet this expectation of what it looks like to be a student here so it's it's many different reasons that we would use our alternative program to meet whatever need we have awesome thank you all right our next order of business is the superintendent um superintendent contract negotiations this is up for a vote this evening um our superintendent has made a request to enter contract negotiations for a new contract beginning July 1 2025 um I would like to request a motion to enter into contract negotiations with the superintendent making the motion is there a second second motion made and seconded is all in favor just okay that passes um I'd like to request a motion to appoint our current negotiation subcommittee um consisting of the chair and the vice chair to begin bargaining with Matt on behalf of the committee and update the committee as we move along in the process is there a motion not seeing a motion to thank you is there a second a second thank you any discussion NOP seeing all those in favor if you don't understand what you're voting on just it's just it's just for uh Britney and I to start the actual process of negotiations that's that's it okay all those in favor yeah V yep the vote was to enter into contract negotiations actual V yes no what was the number oh um it was 82 or 72 because Eric's not here yes perfect um and did we vote on the second one yet yes did we vote on the second question yes okay then did you record that I'm just making sure she recorded everything I just want to be clear too this is to talk about this isn't guaranteeing a contract or guaranteeing anything it's literally just getting the conversation started correct this is to enter into negotiations um um for starting for a new contract starting July one because his contract is up at the end of this so that was the first vote um the second vote would be for us to go into negotiations with Matt and start the conversation with what a contract would look like I would say the only concern that I have is typically speaking the negotiations committee has been three so we may want to think about adding another member sure um if you want to make that motion we can absolutely I would like to make that motion to add a third member to negotiations um historically it has had three during our last negotiations the our third member um was up for um her seat was up and she just wasn't pursuing it and so we didn't want to bring someone in Midway during negotiations so we kept it just Tammy and I but I do think with something as critical as this it should probably be more than just the two of us so I would motion made is there a second I can second it okay motion made and second it is there any discussion or any volunteers Bobby Bobby will be our third all right that moves on to the communications District enrollments those are in your packets and then we move on to financial statements and approval of accounts that over to you n sorry no you're good you're good you're good sorry okay so in your pack you'll find the DAT exp report one thing that I wanted to explain before I briefly spoke to this report so there isn't any confusion when I go through it and when I speak to the overages I'm grouping the line items by school so this means while the individual schools might show an overage in a particular category that when they're grouped together the overall expenditure for that line item might not be over in the budget so if you if you see any overages on the report and I don't specify them that is why but if you have questions as we go along please feel free to interrupt and let me know so additionally I wanted to update the committee and I'm happy to say that the all of the fiscal year 25 grants have now been entered into our financial software so these grants being applied have impacted the overages that you will see in the report because it depends of how the grants were written so it kind of offset some of the accounts I don't really have too much to go over I'm not going to do repeats of what I've done in Prior meetings unless you have any questions but two new areas that I would like to cover the first one is on page five just noting that on the substitute lines I'm closely monitoring The Substitute lines since at the last meeting um the committee you know increased the rates so I'm just watching them closely as we go through second um I would like to mention is on page six and seven it's a variety of accounts from instructable coaches and O going over professional development you'll see that these lines are over and they're largely over because of the way the grants were written um and they're offset with other categories so over overall when we look at the forecasted encumbrance overages and the savings we're balancing out so the Savings in some areas are offsetting the overages and others so at this point in time this puts us in track where we should be so that's a that's a brief overview of the expenditures and unless anyone has any questions okay next I wanted to just let the committee know that we recently applied for a wellness Grant through Maya Maya's our insurance provider um and I'm happy to report that we received a grant for $10,000 through them so we wrote the grant to be used for two bottled filled water stations one will be at arms and the other one will be put at RCS so we were very pleased to receive that that's just a regular bubbler right like a regular or is it for a teacher water water and those are access to students or for teachers students students y so that covers the expenditures and then next I have as Mr nworth spoke to earlier uh we'd like to ask the committee for approval for three new interterm temporary positions um the three positions are at Arms an interm Middle School DEA students at Aces an interm elementary Dina students and at the um High School a temporary School culture monitor Frank second thank you is there any discussion go ahead Le um just I guess a point um they just want to make sure that we all understand what um throwing administrative positions at that issue um is going to accomplish was there I know Matt discussed this at the budget sub commmittee meeting and stuff but were there were there um alternate uh plans you know such as behavioralists or additional counselors or you know that type of um you know position that was discussed um I know Matt you said it was school administrators um that came up with the I just want to make sure that all Bas all bases are covered because we have a responsibility to fund positions that we know that we're going to be able to afford in subsequent years so if we throw money now to get you know is this going to have my concern is I just want to make sure the money we're going to spend um will have the impact um you know that we're looking for and then because I get I tend to get a little nervous this is nothing new so it's not a refle on anybody but when we start dipping into school choice you know in the middle of the Year we're actually going outside the the approved budget um and it just makes me nervous that you know as we start touching you know other funds uh outside the approved budget I just want to make sure that we're fully prepared to look out and forast um what's going to happen with those additional positions moving forward because I would hate to you know obvious obviously the end goal is to solve um the issues that were brought up here tonight um and you know I'm I'm sorry but those issues are real um and you know we as a committee need to uh take into consideration and listen to what we heard this evening and listen to what the staff is saying how you know I just want to make sure this plan is um you know this is the this is the this is the way to Best help in these buildings um with these interim positions that's all I can say that we did have leadership meetings and um we met and discussed with every each building's administrative team as to what options existed and what they felt would be the most the most valuable addition to their building we did the same thing interestingly last year there were issues at Ace well was it last year or the the year prior I believe at Aces and uh we actually asked if we should be adding a new assistant principal or a dean of students and the request from the principal at the time was to add another unified art so that was it was an issue then we've run through the numbers before particularly at Aces with the numbers of students but the the admin team there seem to think that this would be the most effective type of position concurrently as I mentioned before we have been posting for Behavioral therapists and we WE Post for bcbas we post for adjustment counselors we get limited to zero candidates um so while I'm not suggesting that those positions couldn't also make a difference uh a lot of those um like a behavioral therapist or uh ABA those would really be triggered through our special education department and budget um so as students needs change those those um positions might actually need to be added and to your point that is one of the reasons why these positions have been put in as interim because I believe that the the administrative teams need to be able to get their feet under them need to address some of the new students that have moved in with very serious disregulation issues and um concurrently again we need to be looking at the special education supports that we're providing to these students and chrisy uh Christy Fontaine our director of student services is actively getting getting uh prepped for a full program evaluation for specific programs of ours so again again that will help us make more informed decisions about what the needs are moving forward with respect to the finance question last year was a roller coaster uh for the district regarding the funding we spent a a lot of time trying to squirrel away additional funds into school choice I believe our school choice Accounts at about $1.6 million um that's why these interim positions were viewed as as a a one-time expense as of now because we've also had a this is another thing really we haven't discussed we've had a tremendous increase in students coming in from other countries that are non-english-speaking students we've had like 30 fam well 30 students plus move in just this year that's resources that we do need and we are trying we've posted for additional e teaching positions we posted for E power positions they're very hard to fill again I guess my point with that is while we're trying to fill some of these integral positions that are very student focused the behaviors have been cropping up and to allow the schools to to function effectively these were the best options from the leadership teams has any culture monitors discussed instead of just another admin from the administrative team was to lean in the direction of a Dean um the culture monitors are limited in in hours they're also um they're they're clearly defined in a they can't really deal with discipline and contacting parents and then circling back to teachers with respect to disciplinary actions um so I think that contributed to the discussion and the decision to to go with a dean of students because again I think as Jason mentioned part of the issue is that communication Loop between when the administrators are dealing with the students and then getting back to the teachers because they're getting stuck with so many things that that communication isn't coming through and similarly it's is as important for the parents and culture monitors would not be doing that type of work but you are correct more bodies the better so it's certainly another option that we can explore so there is a vote required sorry I was lost in thought there for a minute so there is a vote vote required to um fund the three new full-time interim int temporary positions as a stated arms Aces and AHS interim Middle School de of students interim Elementary de of students and a temporary School culture Monitor and I'll is there a motion motion moved is there a second motion moved and second is there any discussion go ahead Lee I just I think that motion should be amended and I'll make that amended to from school choice approve itank St positions are approved the funding is approved and that way you know somebody can't say well they didn't state where they were funding it from so I'll make that Amendment there's an amendment made is uh do I revote that you need a second okay I okay thank you there's a second on any discussion seeing none all those in favor thank you so that that approved the amendment that you have to vote oh no okay now so let's vote so is there do I have another motion or no well now you're just voting on the amended motion oh that was just to approve oh his Amendment okay so now we'll vote on the motion on the floor so for all those in go ahead just I wanted to clarify because I am going to with my thought process and I'm not going to support this vote and I don't want um it to be reflected that I'm voting against this because I don't understand what's going on or or any of that stuff and you know with all due respect to the administrative team I'm not 100% convinced that throwing three more administrators in the district is going to be the the appropriate answer uh again but I will respect the majority vote of the committee I would if I could make a statement um doing nothing is not an option so that's where I'm at I understand Le's reservations getting the positions filled on an Ava level or anything type of services has always been difficult here doing nothing is just putting our teachers in the same position they're in right now so all those in favor opposed anything disle thank you and there's no objections okay students anybody in the building is going to help our teachers and the students hopefully that's the goal if we can get away from interim people in where whenever we can and not use school choice dollars and work it into the fund where we're helping students that is obviously a goal in the budget subcommittee to make sure that we are doing those things so at the budget sub committe is when we would talk about those things so feel free to keep coming Bobby we'd love to have you there okay thank you so next one we have a non-degree substitutes vote um is it okay if I just read this paper absolutely okay we would like to request that the school committee consider the following in regards to substitutes for a vote at the sole discretion of the superintendent any substitute teacher without a four-year college degree who has successfully completed 60 days of service in a school year may be eligible for a $5 per day increase for the following school year up to a maximum of four increases or $20 is there a motion motion made is there a motion made and seconded is there any discussion can I speak to yeah oh sorry yeah go ahead I have a question to um I just want to to give a bit of a background on this piece excuse me the the committee came together just last month at to approve some changes to the substitute rates because we are in a crisis needing people to be able to substitute and I will say this this motion was drawn up in response to some Community feedback that I received from our substitute teachers a number well a couple of our subs reached out to me admittedly and said hey I saw that you guys changed the rates it's for people with college degrees uh or Educators licenses but I I've been here for four years and I come almost every day and I'm subbing and I'm busting my back and how come we're not going to get any recognition and I I had to again say you are 100% correct you should be recognized for the efforts that you put in and the support that you give to the district so the purpose of this plan was to equate if a substitute teacher comes regularly and we set it at 60 days being onethird of the school year so if they're in one to two days a you know a week then essentially for each year that they've done that they would be given a $5 increase for the next year at my discretion because if there was a sub who has been causing problems or hasn't been effective that might be uh that might be another issue but the goal is to say basically if you've done four years at the school of subbing in atal royalston Regional School District I will give you the same credit as someone with a college degree so after the four years of continuously subbing $5 up to four would put the people at the same rate as someone coming in with a college degree and I feel like that's respectful of the work that they've done and and the how they've served the community already ready so that was the purpose behind it I'm glad you explained that just because the way this reads to me I was really confused about how those increases worked I didn't realize that it was like each year with the wording so G to ask about that too um so I understand it as it's $5 per year for so basically on your fifth year you could have the $20 um the second question I had though is is this going retroactive like if somebody's already completed that time are they getting the $20 this year or is this for next year essentially so I I would say that if this is voted it would be for only substitutes that are coming in from this point forward so there certainly would not be retroactive pay for years past but I actually I I would offer that as part of the discussion but my intention was was to try to retroactively identify those staff members or those substitutes who have done the four years of 60 days uh retroactive to the beginning of this year so I want to be clear when I say I want to I want to be able to credit them that service for their rate moving forward past this point there should be nobody retroactively paid for anything prior to making this decision but I I'm understanding Russ's question as am I going to go back and give people credit for service that they might have done in the past four years I would say that we have an accurate we have an accurate representation for last year and this year since we've moved to the Frontline system uh we have in years prior we do have uh substitute time sheets so I would try to go back to see how many people this year have done their four years of 60 days um to the best of our ability so if somebody sub tomorrow they could possibly get this $20 increase correct if they had subbed four other years successfully with 60 plus days then when they come back this year we would we would increase their salary okay and comment you made about the discretion that's not specifically listed here or contained in at the sole discretion of the superintendent is the um first start of the second section yeah I guess I guess my point though is oh so yes but if you have been here for four years and worked 60 days every single year and are still a sub I don't I just don't see that kind of Jing with each other because you're I mean Pres presumably they're working out if they're here that much and they've been here for four years so it looks like the way we do have a parent who works in the district who's been here more than four years who would probably like to have the credit service years and be reimbursed more or paid more this year no I understand that but I guess what I'm saying is when you say at the sole discretion of the superintendent I guess if that came to me and we said we're not giving it to this person but they've been here four years and they' worked 60 days are you suggesting we would remove that I mean you don't have to ever call a sub so I'm not sure the discretionary part makes a lot of sense but if you want it I think I would maybe rework it a little bit because it doesn't seem to you want would you recommend I mean it seems like this would just be a hard and fast rule if you work 60 days you've been here four years you're going to get it otherwise we shouldn't be calling a person as a sub probably I mean it's yeah that language was just put in as a safe to make sure it wasn't anyone who just says oh I've been here for however many years so we can rework it and bring it back in December would that is that what you would suggest just striking back you could just strike it I think because it's I don't think you should this should be really discretionary it just seems like it's a this is what you get if you've worked here that long if not working on us sub we wouldn't call so I can uh amend my motion to strike at the sole discretion of superintendent I'll amend that motion is goe Frank sorry the retroactive be more accurate or definitive answer for people that have been here sure okay that kind of makes sense because it sounds like there's also the record keeping to make sure you can actually if you came back with a list of people and said this is how much it'll cost yeah we did yeah I think oh you were I thought we we had run I don't I don't think we prepared it for this meeting but we had run we had run the records to see so I'll withdraw the motion that I read and if Frank you want and Frank's motion to table second it first and second okay any discussion seeing none all those in favor um reports of the committee um I emailed the committee earlier this evening with the um overview of what the IT department has done in the district through November 1st um I'm going to make a Committee Member referral to put this on the December um agenda so we can have a bigger discussion about the IT department so um other than that I don't have anything else uh to report I don't think but um we'll go to budget and finance thank you thank you and then facilities um we had our meeting this afternoon things are going fairly well through everything um we did look at uh the potential future projects and kind of do an overview which we will continue our next facility speaking you and then we um have the academic Excellence Emma yep um we the minutes are in there we met and red specifically the mcast data that wased last thank you um public relations together on Tuesday and to look over the portrait of a graduate yeah sure I got that right so you and then policy we have a few things in your October as well as a first reading on some of our facilities and grounds policies um TJ been working really hard on this we had I want to say maybe three or four different policies that were not very clear um or relevant to be honest with what our facility use policies were so he worked to kind of consolidate those into the policies that you see in your packet the one thing I do want to mention um TJ had brought it to my attention prior to our well not prior to our meeting but after our agenda for our policy meeting had already been put out but one thing that you'll probably see um um on the second reading of this policy is just some kind of designation that says that this policy is really only in effect for when school is not in session so we're not allowing outside public entities to be in our school buildings when kids are here um so that that is not in the policy currently so that will be something that's added um just a question for you Britney on that one what about like the summer playground that uses the high school in the summer it's out of school but do they do they pay for anything like that that was more I her attention it was more an Overlook on my site and it was more in regards to while school was in session we have incidents at the high school and on these grounds where there is the public walking around be it on the track or be it around here with their animals and whatnot during school in session so understood thank you and then the other thing and I'm happy to speak to this I know Matt's losing his voice um but Matt has been the primary kind of liaison contact UM with masc regarding their policy Services um the policy subcommittee had talked about partnering with masc quite some time ago um and at the policy subcommittee level we did not want to move it forward to the full committee that was when we were um in a little bit of a a different budget scenario than we are currently um and so what's in the packet is actually the initial um contract that masc developed so you'll notice that some of these dates are not not accurate but we're sharing it with you all just for context so you know what it is that we're looking to discuss um essentially in a nutshell masc can partner with school committees to go through their entire policy manual um I think what we're encountering on the policy subcommittee is that we have many many policies that are extremely out ofd and unfortunately they continue to fall by the wayside as other policies that come to the for front that are either new policies that need to be immediately addressed or maybe have a a higher impact on students in the district that ends up coming to the Forefront more frequently and so we have a significant amount of outdated policies um within our policy manual and so what masc does is they they would come in and they would do a deep dive they would go through our entire policy manual see where we stand reorganize it if that's necessary um and then help us sure that we have policies within our manual that we need that maybe we don't even have um and so that's that's a service that they offer that they would be working in conjunction with the policy subcommittee so it would not be like we're handing over the keys to the kingdom and they're just going to make up all our policies for us we would still have the ultimate say in discussion about the policies but it would be a way for us to kind of start with a cleaner slate and this this process is is is lengthy so the the cost is spread out over a period of time um as you you see in the the packet I'd like to make a motion to approve there's a motion made in second and is there any discussion just a question this one is this one is this a onetime fee is it repeated every year how is so the total fee to my understanding and Matt can speak to this if I'm not correct my understanding is the the total fee is the 10 five but it split out over three years so it's $3,500 this year we would pay upon signing of a contract that that they're going to work with us and in three years time we'd have to sign a new contract for whatever rate at that time if we need to like the the the thing with this is this is not um the service so they offer a separate service which I think is what you're thinking of which is the maintaining of them is that would be what the subcomittee would do is just maintain them then we could main based on yeah so the so the maintenance um of the policy manual and the housing of the policy manual electronically is on that second contract it's that policy 21 program and they will make sure that all of our policies are in digital format housed through the mask website where many people go to compare I know superintendant and other administrators will go and start trying to compare other policies to their policies when we are trying to make adjustments so having it electronically in that format would be a tremendous benefit for the district that does as you can see there's like an upfront cost and then there's a cost of like $950 a year to just maintain it uh there's a motion made in second is there any other questions or discussion seeing none all those in favor no abstaining no no okay no uh Committee Member referrals Bobby wanted to take it away okay um I would like to have the updates on the tiers one and two in our packets updates on tier one and two of what what we've been hearing tonight on the T to beh so so every school has a different tiered supports are you looking yeah I would like them all like to know tier one and tier two behaviors behavi are strategies that are usually behaviors right but I want want to be clear tier one and tier two behaviors are typically addressed in the classroom with with the teachers and maybe in conjunction with the administration so let when you get to walkie like the walkie logs or how many times kids are being removed from class those are typically tier three those are tier three interventions when when they come up to talk to us I'd like to have a copy of what they're say in our packets that's what I'm asking for okay so that we can be a rest as what's coming up okay um I just tier three that yeah I just want to be clear it's the tier three things that we're recording I just want to be clear because we could be asking teachers to put together data on the tier one and tier two I just don't want to do that to them if that's not what you're looking for okay so we will definitely put that together so you want updates or notes on tier three behaviors that are being reported to the um Administration yes so I think I kind of a similar request to to Bobby not that far off I'm really just curious to like I mentioned before with you know how many kids really are getting suspended what kind of problem is this what does it look like from year to year I know we might not be able to go back too far but so like the ISS and the suspension numbers based in the Desi values yeah I'm really curious to all of that um so that we can kind of start looking at it and go from there yeah nothing for me okay Laura Emily of St can cut that off the list we have this now that that actually um I don't know when that survey was done and I'm going to have a ton of questions about the data in it so I I think it's a good start for something for us to good I I do have a lot of questions about that particular data that we can come up with a list to to address with the Union before we take this as the information I want to know when it was formed who was part of the team those questions need to be asked about about this um so that just to make sure can I can I just jump in on that um I did just recently when Bobby and I went to the mass mask conference one of the one of the uh Partners there that I spoke with was a consulting firm that does uh they do culture and they do um Community culture assessments so I actually have a meeting set up I'm not is it this week Jody or next week uh with the culture and climate meeting that we have I believe it's next week so next week I do have a meeting to discuss what services are potentially offered from a third-party vendor one of my thoughts was it might be a good idea to see if if the committee wanted to engage a third party to speak with our teachers or speak with whoever and get a a a broader sense of where these issues lie and and then present it to the committee but I just have a an initial meeting so after I have that next week I'll certainly be I'll I'll update the committee with anything the other thing that was on my list um which I think is probably even more relevant now that we have approved the interim positions was just trying to get a sense of how things are going with the denim student position that is currently split between Aces and RCS I think back in September we talked about um maybe there needing to be some kind of benchmarks or measurements to determine how successful that is and so I think with the addition of now adding more um Deans I think it would be good to understand the success of what we're already doing and maybe that will help us understand how those newer new positions that are being added might also continue to help um the other thing I wanted to mention um just our student Opportunity Act numbers I know I brought this up in budget sub that last year we missed the fact that we were not in the right bucket of s SOA funding and we caught onto that a little bit too late granted luckily it all worked out and it was but it took a lot of work took a lot of work and I just want to make sure we're really keeping a close eye on where we're Landing fora funding because I don't want to see us or our staff and administrators and teachers in the positions that they were trying to fight for those funds and then one other thing um I noticed that the LA like pretty much since the start of this school year we haven't had a student representative here and I wasn't sure if that was just because of their schedules which by all means I totally understand that um or if that's something that we've just abandoned I wasn't just curious we always have a spot for student rep I don't know if that's an still an initiative we're trying to find somebody at the high school Dave or throw away at College the seniors who typically do it are um in dual enrollment or some Early College Academy so the reason why I bring it up is just I think we heard a lot of concerns regarding our culture and we heard from staff we heard from teachers I would love to have a student voice in the mix because I feel like they are getting impacted just as much and it's good to hear their perspective of what's going on and and they might actually have good ideas yeah to to make change right um I gu my only referral is like to uh by December here have a good Stern on what we're going to do for discipline and getting these students to be accountable for their actions by the December meeting so we can support these uh staff members little more quick just to make sure I understand exactly what I'm going to write down so you want to see a concrete plan of I'd like something quickly to be done by within the next month by the next meeting so we can i' I just want to get a hold of this before it gets too too much further in the year okay so your sentiment of do you want you want like a list of what we're currently doing or I just I just want to make sure that we're going to have information I'm just looking for new and improved uh means of getting a handle on the situations okay so what the super attendant presented here I mean what the principles presented here tonight were the things that they were doing I understand that I just think that we need to give them a little bit more leeway on what they're allowed to do um as far as in school suspension and giving them actual repercussions for actions of students because I don't know if we have uh very Stern I was looking through the survey here of we don't really have a I guess you could say legitimate ISS set up from what I can tell that's uh actually holding students accountable exactly I'm just trying to figure out the best way to collect what you're looking for um I don't know it yet but I've got it in my head understand I understand all the tiered process and how administrators working I think as a committee we need to uh I mean as a committee we have to understand what a committee can do what can we do right no I understand that I think we need to we can look at policy right I mean what what else can we do um handbook handbook well the handbook is great as long as the parents agree to be a part of that handbook enforcement for the student you know so I don't disagree with that I totally agree with that I agree with your sentiment of you know 100% we can look at we just need we can bring out our handbooks I know we did we approve we approved all new handbook is there a is there a policy or something in a handbook where if they're kicked out of class more than once it's a failing I know there's definitely the expectations in the handbook expectations are one thing requirements well I mean that's kind of like that's kind of what it is that's what we wrote in there I mean we as a committee we only can do certain things we can look at policy we can look at the wording and handbooks um we can bring the handbooks to the next meeting and kind of look at it as a committee or I I don't disagree with the sentiment that something needs to get done but I'm just trying to figure from a committee standpoint what can we do maybe we can go I think maybe as uh maybe public relations needs to get get out there too and help get the word out about what's actually going on in the district okay that's a great one so public relations so um I know they have a public relations meeting coming up so can you add that as a bullet point to talk about how we relate to parents out there about the status of our classrooms with our the students yeah okay we can I'll have to I'll talk back I think we have the agenda set for that this meeting coming up but we'll have to go into that we're doing the portrait of a graduate that the speakers yeah I don't know if I have 48 hours I do not know I don't know when the yeah I have time for that I can add it as long as we're within 48 hours just send the bullet point to Jody and she'll update it on the site okay awesome thank you Frank anything else Frank Le okay we do have a need to go into executive session this evening it will be done by roll call vote and we will not be coming out into public session session the executive session is pursuant mgl c21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have been detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigation position of a public body as the chair so declares again as a roll call vote Le we are now on Executive session we will coming back out so thank you and have a great evening