##VIDEO ID:F5qTQOegqIk## this government meeting is brought to you by eastworks and our local cable subscribers seeing that it is 6 o'cl I will uh bring our meeting to order um I'm clearly not chair Laura Scott chair Laura Scott is ill um and we have a quorum here in person so we confirmed before the meeting we are okay to proceed this way so I'm acting chair um this morning this morning this evening I mean maybe this morning too I don't know um uh the chair is on the call um and we participate if possible as um a member of our committee um but we'll have limited access to doing that due to illness which is going around for sure yep know what that um yes so I will go ahead and roll call us in uh hery Ben hery here eret here um Sam Hunter Sam Hunter here Lind Marquee Lind Marquee here mayor Nicole LEL thank you y okay um so that was the first announcement and I'm going to do a couple of other announcements um at this point oh there's there you are um I'm not able to do two things at once so I'm just going to add as a co-host quickly thank you for your patience okay um so a couple of announcements for the rest of the meeting um we do not have an executive session as scheduled on the end of our agenda today so we will adjourn directly from our Open Session um we also have an additional action item to add to our action items at the end of the meeting um for a great reason because uh we couldn't have anticipated it this is a field trip request form um for we the people who we are so proud of so it's late breaking yay y yes so this is a late breaking action item so just up front wanted to say that this will be added to our action items at the end okay and we will start with correspondence and typically I'm the one to report correspondence and I uh have one off the top of my head unfortunately in the acting chair role I don't have my email up um we have a really thoughtful email that we received from a member of our community who um requested some sort of messaging from the district um around um sort of the current events that are going on and our District's stance on all of that um which I am pleased to uh that we sent two emails recently on that topic did anyone have any other correspondents via email to report the only one that I that's the only one I saw okay yeah all right and I am going to turn over to you will you do the gifts uh yes uh hold on let which is on the screen that on you oh thank you um yes GI uh we I move to vote to accept the monetary donation of $1,230 from the East Hampton High School athletic foundation/ Hall of Fame for specific items for basketball soccer cross country track and swimming and Diving teams and there's a specific list attached and so um I I move to accept that $1,230 donation second okay do we have any background or update that you want to additionally provide um do you have any backgrounds not you Sam sorry do you have any like anything we should let people know about that or uh about the the donation from the uh East Hampton High School athletic Foundation Hall of Fame with that okay super exciting stuff yeah it's exciting that's a really generous gift very generous gift thankful thankful for it yeah any discussion okay uh all in favor of the motion say I I um all opposed and any abstentions ah and that reminds me I said just at the start of the meeting that I was going to have Laura Scott be participating as a member and then I didn't roll call her in am I able to still roll call her in Sue kby at this point yes okay so adding uh the official roll call um Laura Scott on this meeting somewhere and I will just have you visually or let do the virtual hand raise if you are there you are okay wonderful um and so then back anything anyone abstain from the vote and we're going to count that hand raised again Laura Scott abstains from the vote um and that brings us to think that one okay do we have our student rep here to give us an update I do come on up there you are come on up there she is and we the people person good evening everyone I'm here on behalf of student council and one of our key focuses this year has been Unified sports recently the student council had the opportunity to um to attend unified baj event which was a fantastic experience for everyone who attended four life skills students from Mountain View Middle School also participated and six of our student council members partnered with them throughout the event in addition to Bachi we're supporting other Unified sports including unified basketball and unified track and Fields through fundraising efforts by by hosting snack tables at hockey games and we're also several upcoming events in February including kids night out and Spirit Week all thank you very nice thank you so much thank you can I ask you a question absolutely what's unified what is like unified like um technically like mentally disabled kids um cuz they can't participate in regular Sports and stuff this is so they can participate in things like track and field basketball and thank you thank you you good question okay um that is it for our announcements so I will turn the floor over for public comment um and our rules for public comment are as they always are I'll recognize folks who are in the room um as they go to the podium please tell us your name um and uh we also do Precinct or address do we do that here there we go okay so address and uh who you are um and we cap it at 3 minutes um to make sure that everyone gets a chance to speak and just a reminder that we are not able to respond directly but we are listening to everything you have to say and we have our first and if you are interested in public speak online please raise your virtual hand and we will get to you um in a bit we have our first up over here um hi my name is Hannah junor litz and I'm a fourth grader at Mountain View school since starting at Mount View I had a really difficult time at recess almost all the activities and while climbing or doing the monkey boss this is something I cannot do I have my posy and my legs and my legs don't stretch as far as other people's I know there are kids without C poliy that have a really hard time too my family brought me to the playground to practice but it hasn't helped so they bought a cono set to give me something to do okay okay to give me something to do other than walking by myself drawing the chalk or watching my friends on the monkey bars unfortunately the recess monitors don't always don't always put out the cornhole or chalk even when I ask it makes me feel like I don't have a voice it's hard to always have to watch and not be included it makes me feel sad and like no one really likes me I get annoyed even by some of my friends cuz they're too busy on the monkey bars thankfully I found a great friend to play cornhole with or Simon says I wish there were slides accessible swings or accessible play structures where all kids could play together there's not a space for kids who don't have typ typical physical abilities or strong arms all kids should have something fun to do at recess thank you for listening I hope we can work together to make a playground assess and fun for all thank you so much Sam would you mind keeping time for me just in case am I going to use it can you hear me wait I can hear you okay good um hello our names are nature sewing in June stack house and we are here to talk about pretty much the same thing that was just talked about um it is a privilege to be here we are fifth graders from Mountain beew School and we believe that the mvs playground should have better recess equipment um the playground only has structures for people with great upper body strength if your arm muscles aren't the size of the Titanic you will be there's a good chance you'll be bored at recess that is bad for two different reasons the first one is that if people are bored they won't enjoy it uh recess is supposed to be a time to have fun also when kids are bored they will probably do some something dangerous kids get into fights arguments and they may have bad physical contact people who get people get hurt and frustrated this frustration can go into classrooms which which can impact learning teachers have to sort everything out recently we saw a heated argument and two kids ended up crying kids are going home grumpy which affects parents too during the last month we have made a petition during our recess time and have gotten many signatures unfortunately we have lent the petition to our principles for safekeeping I didn't have enough time to get it back so it is not here at the moment all although we have had quite a lot of people agreeing with us the principals almost everyone in fifth grade members of the city council and quite a few teachers and parents as well we are here to ask for your support as we continue fighting to get better equipment thank you hi everyone um my name is Sarah amaroso I live on winter Street um I am a parent of elementary school middle school and high school student in East Hampton and I am a par educator at Mountain View School who has at least one recess duty every day and it's all true um everyone does not have the ability to participate together in recess the way the playground is set up now I know that it is disappointing to hear that our brand new playground is not serving the needs of all students but unfortunately that is the case I have had kids straight up say to me after you know I've I've had to discipline them for inappropriate behavior um what else am I supposed to do I can't use this playground I have had many students say can't we just have the maple playground back the maple playground was in significant disrepair but it had stairs you could climb all the way up to to the top of the slide and you could come down there were other things too um but it really allowed everyone or nearly everyone to play together um I would just like to close by saying how proud I am of these students this is not a me Le effort June and B started this petition on their recess time because it was more fun than recess um and you know I have worked with them to you know work on their little their little um paragraph and to talk to them about who they should speak to which is what led us here tonight but this is their effort and I hope that um maybe some of you can come visit our playground maybe you can reach out or their you know teachers can reach out and um hopefully that we can make a more inclusive environment for everyone and um really I'm just so proud of these kids they're amazing thank you very much we have anyone else in the room if you are interested in public speak um remotely if you had your hand raised it might have gone down come on up yeah but just make sure to raise your I see uh Laura Baron will be after the person who was here in person uh Carolyn Cushing on Main Street and I'm just coming to thank the school school committee for their unfortunate that it had to happen but uh calling for the censure of councelor zaret um his behavior on all different kinds of initiatives and different issues has created a difficult situation on the city council in other committees it was something people talked about behind the scenes and um I really appreciate the work that you did documenting and talking about um why it was needed uh as something about Behavior to help our our councils and committees work better together so thank you for doing that thank you and I told uh Laura a not Laura I don't think I'm sorry just a moment because I told someone on here yes you can unmute and and go and do public speak hi my name is Blake I in fourth grade at M View Elementary School and I feel excluded when like when I go to the playground I feel excluded like there's not much for me and other disabled kids to do and I have something called cable py and I and I also use a walker and it's not fair that other kids just get to do whatever they want and I'm just you know roll around standing there like just watching that's right and what I'm asking for is support yes thank you so much BL thank you guys sorry to you come up thank you Blake thank you to everyone in the room hi my name is Liz and I live in W 3 um first of all I want to say these kids are amazing and 100% everybody deserves recess so I looking forward to supporting you on your endeavors um secondly I wanted to thank also the city council for bringing forth the centure um I uh arow and zerit has a history of bad behavior from the past and maybe it's not relevant now but there's been times where he should have been called out and he wasn't and I applaud you for taking the time to call him out you could have just talked to the press and left it there but you actually took it step forward and um thank you very much and I think just the fact that the news article was not about how the school administration um didn't react to or didn't respond to um acts of of hatred in the school system is telling there was no story there you did your due diligence and thank you for taking a step further thank you any others in the room and then nany's on okay y Nancy we'll get to you after this hi am Nathan Marquee I live at 37 Holio Street um I also want to applaud the um the school committee on their on their attempted censure of Owen Zer and I just want to let folks watching in the room it's moving to government and Rule rules committee government rules and government Relations Committee JP kazinski I do not want to butcher his name is the chair of that so if you want the censor to move forward put pressure on JP kazinski that's it thank you Nancy do you want to unmute and sure um my name is Nancy Stenberg I live in New City I have served in town or city elected positions on and on for 15 years the most important phrase I've learned as an elected official is to agree to disagree agree to disagree is a diplomatic phrase used when people recognize they have different opinions or perspectives on a topic but choose to respect each other's Viewpoint without trying to change the other person's mind while agreeing to disagree is positive it doesn't mean all perspectives are equally valid simply means recognizing that reasonable people can have different legitimate opinions councilor Zar and I have had a few conversations regarding civy government over the last eight years while we sometimes agree we have also agreed to disagree on some points so councelor Zar as your constituent I'm asking you to agree to disagree on this issue so the school committee and the city council can focus on issues that are important to all the children and citizens of eastampton thank you and um my husband's microphone is not working so can he talk now or can you come back to me you can raise your hand again and I will recognize you as a separate perfect yeah go ahead thank you hi I want to thank the school committee for its diligent work and and I also want to thank the administrators of East Hampton Public Schools my name is Celia Oiler I live at 48 nier Avenue uh as a parent of three children who went through the East Hampton School System my youngest is on track to graduate in June and as a Jew I can tell you that a school curriculum organized on interconnected issues of collective Liberation is what I want for my kids as a Jew and as a community M I'm concerned about anti-Semitism as well as other forms of bias discrimination and oppression however I strongly disagree with Owen zat's campaign of pressure arguing for specifically designed anti-Semitism curriculum as a professor of curriculum I want to make my support for broad anti-bias curriculum very clear thus I do not support CH uh counselor zerat campaign however it's not the content of campaign that most concerns me based on the public record it's clear to see that Mr zaret has badgered both School administrators and school council members this is a blatant misuse of all these people's time and energy frankly I'm deeply embarrassed that Mr zerat might be understood as representing Jewish parents in eastampton his behaviors are appalling I applaud the school council members who unanimously took this major step to ask that he be censured for Behavior that's antithetical to respectful public service and public debate I fully support that Owen Zer be censored for his belligerent actions uh Nancy not Nancy nany's husband nany's husband hi thank you um my name is Garrett skank um I also live in New City in Precinct 2 um I want to commend the school committee for bringing Chancellor counselor Owen Zero's alleged bullying in front of the citizens of eastampton from everything I've read it appears the committee bent over backwards to hear counselor zat's concerns but nothing was good enough and ultimately it was his way or the highway you were right to put your Collective feet down and you have my full support going forward with the motion to centure councelor Zara that said I wish to address the issue of the Anti-Defamation League or ADL under the leadership of Jonathan greenblat the ADL has become part of the right-wing misinformation industry last year they spread a liel about the college protest against the Israeli genocide in Gaza claiming the protests were anti-semitic and even that the organizers were proxies for Iran this despite the clear and obvious fact that Jewish people were heavily represented in the protests throughout the country and indeed the world how would the ADL teach about the Holocaust in a post Gaza genocide world now that they never again comes with an asterisk I don't want to find out I sincerely help that the numerous contacts between the ADL and school committee members orchestrated by councilor zarett and reported by the committee in its submission to the city council were out out of an overabundance of caution and concern about potential and actual bullying from the counselor I would hope that going forward under no circumstances will eastampton public schools have anything to do with the ADL thank you no more hands thank you Ben Bening uh Ben Bening unmute you hi hear me yes we can yes okay it's actually Leah Ying um Bri Street East Hampton and I just wanted to talk about um school council I've been here before I'm a parent on school council and we recently met to discuss our school Improvement plan um and I wanted to share that this year it was a lot more detailed um I think you guys are reviewing it tonight but I could be wrong um it was a lot more detailed than it was the previous year and I was excited about some of those changes however there are still some sections that I want to draw your attention to um one of which is the instructional leadership goals some of the goals just don't make sense to me mathematically um one of them was to ensure that 80% of students um attain 80% progress in the St Math Journey Curriculum by the end of the year and anyone who's worked in education knows that that's like a very high Benchmark to set now last year I brought forth a complaint that we weren't setting any benchmarks based on normative data that made sense so I just want to make sure that we're paying attention to what those numbers are um because uh teachers are supposed to be given the opportunity to look those over and agree to them and I I'm just kind of confused by how we're arriving at such a high number um I want it to be attainable as a parent and as an educator and then the second thing that I wanted to mention school committee is that when we met this last time a comment was made that that the school Improvement plan uh Administration said weren't sure if parents needed to sign off on it parents who are on committee and my understanding of reading the guidelines is that we do need to approve it and so I guess I I just want admin to take some time and think about like what is the goal in writing these plans and how much does it matter that other people's eyes are on it including teachers and parents eyes um because when I heard that I felt like uh I'm not sure if my time there is you know being valued and and what the purpose of it is exactly um and it just be nice to know if that mattered or not um yeah yeah uh some some improvements in that area and some just gray area still where I'm not really sure what the goal is or we just hit three minutes I'm so sorry to interrupt you if you have any last thoughts we just hit three minutes for um fairness of everyone in the room if you have any last thoughts to wrap up I'm sorry to interrupt no that's that does it thank you thank you uh any other in the room or online for public speak give it a minute I minut it feels like a long time we're waiting for someone to raise their hand all right seeing no others um I'm closing public speak and we will move on to our superintendent update okay so we have a lot uh to get approved tonight uh the first one is the EHS graduation competency and determination uh the last school committee meeting uh we uh I explained what competency determination meant and basically uh for people that may have missed that uh because uh we voted in Massachusetts to not have the mcast be the competency determination uh the state can no longer authorize that um students are uh reaching the academic goals and standards set by desie through the mcast test so we had to find another way to do that and so uh we did meet uh leadership team at the with uh the high school principal and assistant principal uh who then vetted it uh through uh guidance and a leadership team in the building and I came up with this document uh that uh you have in your packet I think I'll I'll ask principal on Mr Evans uh to come up and explain that uh good evening everyone so in looking at the setting a competency determination we started with what is the mcast has what has the mcast been asking students to do uh over these last 20 years and there's three subjects that uh students have been tested on that they need to pass and uh before they're eligible for um a diploma one in English one in math and one in science and uh when we students are typically uh were tested in 10th Grade so what we tried to do is look at where our curriculum aligned with those tests um and where the standards matched up and draw equivalency to the classes the courses in our program studies that um that met those standards that we would find in the test so uh in English um passing the 10th grade English class um we felt was the equivalent met the same standards as were uh students were asked to meet in the 10th grade uh M mcass English test in math we uh are asking are saying that students need to have a passing grade in both Algebra 1 and geometry um or comparable courses to meet the math competency and in science the passing grade in either biology or physics and again um in science mcast test was typically was either biology or physics and so we're saying if you pass that class um it's about the same as passing the mcast so those are the compet in those three subjects um and the good news is all of those subjects are taught and pretty much required through our graduation requirements anyway so we don't really need to change a whole lot we just need to make sure that the courses are meeting those standards and that the students are passing them uh with a legitimate grade so I'm happy to entertain any questions about that are there there any questions uh for the committee um I just want to clar clarify so the we're talking about this is to replace the mcass as the current or as the former competency determination but this is not obviously not the entire list of what's required in order to graduate from high school so you no our our graduation requirements are based on credits and credits are accumulated over four years so there's a grant total and then there's also a number of credits that need to be earned within each subject right um but the uh competency what we're saying that the set of skills that students need to make sure that they have acquired uh reside in these courses can I add to please I also want to add uh to to your question too that uh these comp determinations for the kids that have not passed the mcast right so if you pass the mcast you've already received the confidency determination for this year's senior class uh for the kids that didn't pass or the kids that um didn't pass and move M to your District uh these are the way we're going to decide or kids that gra didn't graduate because they didn't pass the mcast and want to come back uh this is the way that we'll determine whether or not they receive the standards now the state uh has said this is basically for this class of 25 and they're working on uh another plan on how we're going to do it going forward so so we don't really know right now this is for 25 and they're saying they're working for another plan uh going forward which we uh don't have that information yet so this is just for the kids who didn't pass the MC or transferred in right yes and it might be for the juniors if they don't get the so I can clarify a little bit I because I'm so we don't have any seniors that have not passed M right so they're all qualified through the competency determination they just need to make sure they meet their course requirements okay we had a number of Juniors that were that retook the mcast in November those retests are no longer being offered is my understanding so that if they we haven't got their results yet but if they have uh if they passed I believe those Juniors would qualify because they took the test in November okay and the law went into defect in in December I'm looking at the superintendent wondering if that sounds like correct um and if they did not pass that retake um then we're going to default to their cours workk okay so part of the reason um that we're looking at Juniors also is that we don't want it to be senior year and maybe not get new guidelines and then we haven't given them opportunities to either make up a class they didn't pass English 10 or they didn't pass algebra geometry or Algebra 2 or any of the science classes so we're also looking at them because you want to pre-plan so that they have more an opportunity to graduate right that makes sense anything else for me any other questions on the committee uh my understanding do we need a vote in order to um accept yes I believe okay um and is there urgency on the vote does that need to happen tonight or just I think it would be great for families to know to know okay um I just wanted to get all the information in terms of considering like do we need to vote same day that we see something or or not are there in light of that that we're talking about a vote to approve are there other questions or thoughts from the committee just this is a temporary measure this is like well this this will be for this year according to desie but again it might be next year too because they are thinking of a a new way that we're going to be able to show that our students are confident would sorry go it's a bridge between now and whatever it's a bridge would we reapproved for next year ifess you would re you would re re approve it again okay great um the only question I um had remaining there you are is about um how this might impact some of those students who fall in that special ed category of getting additional years for transition servic for transition services will this have any negative impact um so students with an IP are eligible to stay in high school until their their 22nd birthday and they have until that time to meet the standards set forth in those courses uh they may not do it within the same time frame as other students they may do it over longer periods of time but they would still need to meet the equivalent of those in order to earn the high school diploma does that answer your question yeah that answer my question and they would still get all their their they get to use the services until 22 as theyve I just wanted to clarify for correct can I just add on that so life skill students uh would still probably not follow this because you would have to show that you had competency in grade 10 English so the course you took would have to be a regular grade 10 English course and a you know a biology course so they would still probably do the alt route right but if they were included obviously uh this is the route that they're going to take it's a competency determination okay yeah and some students we're already planning for a curriculum that will uh go over two three four years okay um to meet the competencies in all in those subject areas wonderful thank you if there's no further discussion I'll entertain a motion to approve um I will do a motion to approve the competency determination as uh proposed here for next school year for this school year SCH year and next school year Ben seconded that whatever it was okay fair enough until we get until we get the guidelines okay will you repeat the motion um a motion to accept these competency determination uh standards for until we get new guidelines until we get new guidelines from the state and do you still second that Ben still second Ben still into it let's go um all right all those in favor raise your hand say hi hi hi um all those opposed and if there are any extensions you can raise your hand online uh Laura Scott is abstaining okay um anything else on that no should we move on to our school Improvement plans yes so uh let's move on to the school Improvement plans uh first one do the EHS School improv can draw draws for who goes first and so um I think it's important to know that when you do the school Improvement plan it is a responsibility of the principal and then they bring in as many people as they can in the in the school and also the parents to help out with that so it sometimes gets vetted through the their I you know their instructional leadership teams different groups in um the middle school might have a different group that vets it uh there are teachers that are present that represent teachers on the school Improvement team also so although the principals main responsibility is to do the draft of that and uh based on different meetings with staff members with their leadership team with the data team um the principal does draw that up and then it becomes a draft and it's presented then to the the teachers the the family members and the other administrators that are and students in some cases right that are on the that are on the um School leadership team so I wanted um to just say that as an introduction to all School plans and then we'll pass it on to you Mr Evans thank you very much superintendent Banda uh so yes our um our school Improvement plan um as of this year thank you uh for last year's work is a two-year plan um so um we have um we base our school Improvement plan on our five core practices that we have in common in the district so I'm going to just mention which each core practice is and then the uh subsequent goals and benchmarks within those so core practice one is in intentional structional practices the overarching goal in that area is um the school state differential score on mcast writing will improve from minus 14 in 2024 to 0 by 2026 so um in a nutshell when we looked at our 2024 mcast writing we were 14 points below the state average um we believe we understand why we believe we have a plan in place that will correct that um and I believe by the time the school Improvement plan uh reaches its conclusion that we will have come even with the state scores at least um I set a benchmark of minus 7 so the halfway point between now and then for this year um and uh we have some some things in place that are curriculum and uh coaching that I think will will uh improve our scores so that's uh the first one core practice two is in specific student support practices um and in this one I'm looking at attendance EHS will decrease chronic absenteeism from 22.3% in 23 24 to 15% by 2526 so um chronic absenteeism as you probably know represents a student is considered chronic absent if they're absent from more than 10% of a school year which is 18 school days we measure Ours by the semester nine nine days in the fall semester and N9 days in the spring um so 22.3% um still feels like um pandemic hangover if you will I'm sorry my child was coughing I was just making sure it wasn't just weird background noises I'm sorry inter uh that's quite all right I appreciate the uh facial gestures that was divided attention um and so um we we saw a decrease in our chronic absenteeism from two years ago to last year but not at the rate that we'd like to um so we're continuing to work on that and I believe within two years we'll be able to get down to our pre-pandemic levels actually better than that um I set a benchmark for 20% for this year and then the goal is for 15% within two years the next area is in leadership practices uh EHS will establish a community of practice through leadership shared responsibility and professional collaboration the goal is EHS will continue to implement a 2-year professional inquiry plan that allows teachers to work in small groups to research pilot and report on specific techniques or interventions that support student learning so we have a very unique professional development program um it shouldn't be unique but it is I think it is in terms of how high schools typically run their professional development program ours is based on an inquiry cycle where student where uh teachers are provided uh guidelines based on our data um some overarching goals based on our data and they then form inquiry groups to explore ways to improve teaching and learning and then they try stuff out they do some research they try stuff out as a group they collect data they analyze they try again and then they report their results back to the rest of the staff to share out it is exactly what true professional development should be about and at this at this level teachers taking responsibility we do bring in experts to consult and Coach um but it is really teacher driven uh and data driven so um we want to this past uh cycle was our first two-year cycle uh and we are feeling like that was a good idea it gave people more time to implement and try things and experiment uh and to collect data so we are wrapping up our 2-year cycle this spring and we will start a new one in the fall um in we also have a second goal in this area and the second goal is uh by June of 2026 EHS will have a working prop uh proposal from a task force to reimagine the senior year experience goal of the task force will be to recommend ways to provide seniors with experiential learning opportunities through possible chips community service Etc that will inform their postsecondary choices so what we really want is by the end of this um Improvement plan to have a recommendation from a working group on how our senior year can be more substantial and feel more relevant I think to students um one of our U one of the things that I think happens is that students get to their senior year and there's very few courses that are mandated ated for graduation by the time they get there some students even graduate some students graduated just last week actually um and so it's possible if you uh set it out set out to do so to graduate in three and a half years that's not because the program is not rigorous it's because our graduation requirements and our block schedule line up that way um I've had experiences in other districts where uh internships and other opportunities provided uh truly more meaningful experiences for seniors um I think everybody knows what the term senioritis means um and the problems that seniors have staying motivated all the way through to the end so um I believe we can do some better things there I believe the school council believe so so we're going to set forth on a path to see if we can do that um and the final uh final is core practice number four family engagement and positive climate and culture um our goal here is by the fall of this coming year uh EHS will Implement an anti-bias curriculum that all students will have access to um so uh not just in response to recent uh developments but also because we believe that this is something that um is due and perhaps overdue U to have a rigorous anti-bias curriculum we do believe that we have um in embedded in much of our curriculum uh practices uh and that reflect our core values um and that promote an environment that is safe for everybody however we can be more explicit we can be more direct and we can be more um encompassing with that I believe with a with a truly uh rigorous and vetted and highquality anti-bias program so our goal is to um assuming approval of the plan to form a group to explore um what antibi curriculums are out there that might fit our student population and our needs and to have that recommendation and a program actually working and in place by the fall and that's our school Improvement plan happy to entertain any questions thank you anything that you want to add before we just go into questions well I just want to add that uh it's very comprehensive plan uh it's Forward Thinking uh and I think the the part that we're really looking at anti-bias and hate training and getting at people in the school students and staff involved that is an important component and I like that we did a two-year plan because truthfully the one-year plans you only can do so much in one year but if you can keep the same goal and move forward in two years you hav't much better chance of obtaining it and being really good work so I think it's a great plan it's very thorough and people involved in putting together and I'm looking forward to tuning in in the future on these these video meetings and seeing how this plan is going because it sounds it really does sound great great job you're also you're always welcome boss you know that just to give a little background on this this two-year plan um this is partially a result of the work sessions that happened over the summer where we were able to all get together um and school committee administrators and some concerned parents and really turn some of the um conversation that had been happening into productive uh things like this and and so this that came out of this meeting that now we have a two-year plan versus a one-year plan and um I just want to give that background that that comes from parent advocacy we always appreciate and administrator advocacy um mayor did you have questions yeah I I just had a a question about like the antias um curriculum and how would it be selected like what's the what's the process of of when you pick any curriculum or or it yeah so um because this is not a um like a school subject right um I am opening this process up to any stakeholders that um to what what I'm hoping will be a wide range of stakeholders including parents students faculty members administrators and uh certainly Julian 11 is the curriculum director um for them to do the research do the vetting um talk to other districts that may have programs in place and then make a recommendation to me um at the end of that process um so that's that's what I'm looking for do you think that there will be maybe this is something that uh the good doctor will get the same question or answer now do do do you see there being a curriculum or something developed between the Middle School and the I'm sorry pre8 school and high school is there you know um that's a good question I I think um it remains to be seen whether those programs are exist in that way um it would be great if students coming into the high school had vocabulary and background and language that would support what we were trying to do it's not always seamless that way but um certainly our goal is to create something at the high school um I don't mean to you know impose that on anybody else um but if um if we found something that that was uh a good fit for the entire District certainly we would share that right and the focus across all grades I mean the curriculum should be appro developmentally and and tie into other parts of the existing curriculum within that school rather than trying to stretch something it was just more curiosity than expect we'll see where we'll see where the process takes us okay thank you you're welcome any other questions from the committee I do see Laura Scott has raised her virtual hand Laura do you want to unmute and jump in hi hello everyone um thank you Mr Evans I just have a question about core practice 2 um I'm wondering if you can speak it all um I know this is the first year that we've been using the bright program I'm wonder if you can speak at all to the level of participation we've seen I know it's very early still but I'm curious how that's being received at the high school sure thanks for the question we've had um so for those of you uh wondering what Miss Scott is talking about Bri is a um a transition program we have a two-year grant that um is funding a clinical director and an academic director when I say transition students that U may have been out for a lengthy period of time either due to a hospitalization or an illness or mental health concern um coming back into high school you know like you get off the train the train keeps going and then you try to get back on and it's really really imposing and difficult so the the bright program is designed to allow students to have more of a soft Landing when they come back and to get them back into class in a in a way that's smoother and easier and more accessible and they have clinical support if that's necessary and they have a person to help them with their academics and be a liaison between them and the teachers so it is new this year we have been able we've had I would say four five five or six students um in various times in and out of the Bri program um I think it was essential in um supporting some students who were uh came in later in the year with some significant challenges um and we have been able to transition them now into a educational program that we didn't have at the beginning of the year and that without brigh I don't think we would have been able to really service those students appropriately so it really has been um helpful and um we look forward to it it it served a purpose that I did not expect necessarily in the first in the first semester um and filled gaps that we didn't anticipate um I so when I look forward I still have a vision of what I think it will be and I anticipate that it will be something different L does that answer your question great up great any other questions from the committee I was just going to ask about um The Chronic absenteeism and I know that's something we talked about last year as well and you know this is obviously kind of an ongoing thing I was just wondering if we're if you're finding things that are working or seeing improvements in that um so aside from the bright room which sounds awesome I'm really glad that that's helping yeah and I think without that program the students that took advantage of that we're we're really able to overcome serious challenges that would have just looked like bad attendance right yeah um so I mentioned the pandemic I I do believe that there's still a number of students who struggle with um being in school as a result of the years that they were out of school um and uh what I'm anticipating is as our that PO a uh ages through um that a lot of that will sort of correct itself yeah um in the meantime we continue to correspond with students and parents through letters emails phone calls meetings um to encourage positive attendance we have a students support team that sort of teams up and divides up the students so on based on who's got the best relationship with them to try and work with them to make sure that they are coming to school um it is one of the most frustrating problems because we can't we can't help kids who are not present right um and so but we are making every effort I do think you know it's it's both it's credit there's a there's a stick at the end of it right if you're not here for enough classes you don't get credit for classes um and we are we stick by that um and there are a number of kids who I think now that we're at the beginning of the spring semester are really looking more closely at their attendance because they understand what happened in the fall semester was not something they want to repeat right so it's a combination of encouragement and consequences yeah and continuing to build a culture I think in the school that feels welcoming and that students you know um feel like they can enjy being in our building for 6 and 1 half hours a day yeah and that makes sense too because I remember that at graduation last year those kids were 9th graders when the pandemic hit so now your 9th 10th and 11th graders we all in that Middle School chunk of time which is so formative for social and awareness and cues and social connections so I can see that starting to atrophy as they get moving away from that I yeah I appreciate that um that observation Eric I I totally agree I never valued I never understood the the value of middle school until after the pandemic when kids missed it um somebody uh recently pointed out that um a lot of those students um they were at the age where parents felt like they needed to be able to leave them alone uh for those that time whereas the younger students parents figured out how to stay home um and uh it never really I never really thought of the impact of that where students 12 years old alone being expected to engage in online school yeah yeah it went as well as you could expect yeah thank you all thank you thank you any other questions no no I just think it's it's great I love the specific benchmarks i j I'm excited that it's a twoyear plan I I think it looks amazing I'm really excited I I just wanted to say that I really um you're almost done sorry all of these are just I guess I just want to say that I'm really proud that these are the types of things that we're working on I and I'm really excited about the uh the ini conditioning the senior year experience I think that one of the most important things is uh for students to really be a part of the community I see this as an opportunity to kind of be a bridge for seniors as they are perhaps going you know they're they leaving High School some of them will go on to college some of them will go into jobs some but at least being very connected into their community at that time I think is just very exciting for all of us okay thank you for that feedback I have one last question for you just to get a sense of like the timeline of things um I also all the types of the goals that um are in this plan are just really amazing for our district to be doing um so school council met and approved and was working on these like throughout the fall yeah okay so like prior to so yes so school school council started meeting in October I believe we started I started drafting The Plan gave them um a draft in December for them there was actual feedback that caused us to change some things around um and add some things and then uh in January we met and uh uh they had a opportunity to review it and approve it so they all voted for it we also had the opportunity then to share it with the staff as that uh Miss Benda pointed out um so that they could weigh in on it if they had any feedback so it's yeah it's made the rounds that length of time of how long you've been considering these goals I think is great to F great right thank you I will entertain a motion if there's no more discussion I will entertain a motion to approve the East Hampton High School school Improvement plan for 2024 to 2026 do we approve it for both years or do we just approve one year one plan it's one plan so 2024 to 2026 I so move you go so moved by Linda I'll second all right uh all those in favor I I I all those opposed and any extensions Laura Scott is abstaining just because uh they are not here in person to be able to thank you so much thank you all very much thank you okay I turn again yes your turn again okay uh so now we're going to talk about Mountain View plan um I had an appointment I was uh late for some of the conversations that occurred but this is the um School Improvement Council that I regularly attend and um I was one of the things I did say at that meeting was that um I thought this plan was excellent uh there were concerns last year that some parents had uh made uh and there also were some concerns about the middle school about the scheduling and uh those concerns were included now um in this plan and as as far as um members of the school being very involved in this uh a very unique situation that is at Mountain View school is that they have what they call a melt team and uh I'll have Jill explain that too a little bit more clearly um when she talks about the plan but it's it's a a fairly large group of teachers that are in the building uh they come together and uh they look at data uh big thing at Mountain View is actually uh data meetings uh we have math data meetings um they in the middle school they they also um meet um is it is it I think it's English and social studies Ela and social studies and math and science meet uh to talk about progress and what's happening there uh there are opportunities of a common planning time for the elementary school for them also to meet and talk about practice and also if there's any concerns over certain students and what kind of supports can they really provide so it's a big School uh with over a thousand students there prek to8 so there's a lot going on with a child from prek to gr grade age um at this meeting everybody to get a chance to talk two parents were online um they also got to put their input in it and um from where I was sitting everybody agreed that this was a plan that we were going to go forward with so because it did highlight um other things we had talked about one of the big things that the parent brought up was that they felt that the last year plan was more about elementary and that Middle School didn't have their own goals so in this plan um middle school middle school does have their own goals so with that um I'm going to turn it over to uh to Jill who is head of school and she can explain what melt is and what they do so that you can see that this plan has been vetted by by The Faculty of the school and the timeline for um both the high school and also U Mountain View school pretty similar okay thank you good evening everyone I I think superintendent fando just stole my thunder but sry um we'll pretend we haven't heard it yet um I've included in um this year well our our new two-year plan um we're coming again off of a one-year plan but I've included um some highlights and accomplishments um from our previous plan which um I hope you have had a chance to review um we have also similarly to the high school um included um four four different areas um in this school Improvement plan um the first one is instructional leadership so um this year we um this is our first year where um from kindergarten through 8th grade we have a common assessment tool that we use um three times a year as a benchmark so our first goal is um at mvs we are determined to close achievement gaps and have students who entered the school year needing intervention or urgent intervention those are um competency areas using this assessment progress to onat or at or above Benchmark by the spring assessment period our goal is to have 80% of our students at K to8 at or above Benchmark by Spring based assessments on the Renaissance on the Renaissance star reading and math assessment so um we start off the year in September giving this assessment to all of our students um we test them again in January and then again um at the end of the school year um we um identify students who near need tier 2 intervention using um these assessments so we're looking um to have have 80% of our students um at or above the Benchmark by the end of the year so a couple of action steps and I won't review them all because it's kind of lengthy um but as Moren said we have a melt team melt stands for middle middle and elementary school leadership team um and that group is comprised of um Elementary team leaders at their grade levels as well as content area leaders at the middle school level um we spend a tremendous amount of time looking at data um seeing where students need more support seeing where they're actually um excelling um seeing what what supports that we can put in place for for our students um so we spend a lot of time looking at this information during that time um we also um at the elementary level um we're looking at um updating our core literacy programs um in ela so um we have a pilot group that's um looking at two different programs one is the updated version of the program that we're using now and another one is um a program um through amplify called CK La um so we have um just finished piloting um the first program and we're shifting into piloting CK CK um through the remainder of the year and we are going to make a decision as to what program we're going to move forward with um we also um have ongoing professional development in the areas of ela um in um udl and multi- multi-tiered system of support um we also have um various professional development opportunities for Middle School uh teachers including um patterns of power and also we're working um with Bill whle from the collaborative on um uh focusing on our on on our writing um looking at I know that it was brought up earlier about um ST Math um we're looking to ensure that 80% of our students make 80% progress on their math journey so we are looking at that data on a weekly basis um we have time in our schedule that students are working on ST Math daily so um I think that most students are on track to do so we also have an enrichment program that was funded through um an elf grant called math lab um that students are participating in this year as well um moving on to management and operations um our second Focus area our school Improvement goal there is to adjust and refine the current master schedule to reflect a strong commitment to the principles of the multi-tiered system of support mtss and udl um including accessible instruction and positive behavior supports um MV mvs will incorporate time for intervention needs including tier 2 and tier two tier two and T tier three in in addition to core instruction um so included in that are all of those things that are stated in the goal as well as common planning time for teachers so thinking about um at the elementary level making sure that um teachers um in the ele Elementary School have time daily that they can plan together look at data together um at the middle school um having time for grade level teachers to meet together but also content Area Teachers um time for them to meet together and plan also thaning about intervention teachers and special education um and making sure the needs of all of our students are being met um focus area three um we developed those goals based on um uh on some survey data that was um put out to the um school school family community um we're looking at improving ways all of the time that we can communicate with family families so our first goal is um mvs will continue to refine family communication methods and establish a system for sharing curriculum information with families including photos of lessons and activities that highlight what students are learning through regular updates via newsletter website and social media platforms um our second goal in that area we are a prek to8 school now um looking to um increase opportunities for students transitioning from fifth grade which is considered Elementary School to sixth grade um which is considered middle school at Mountain View so the goal is um developing a plan for supporting students transitioning from elementary to middle school this plan will include activities for students as well as information for families to familiarize themselves with the Middle School environment schedule and expectations um which is something that families um are really wanting um for the future so um a couple of benchmarks around that um teachers and staff will collaborate to select key learning moments representing classroom instruction revent uh reflecting student learning in the classroom supporting our commitment to engaging MBS families to strengthen the homeschool partnership um and also um planning some transitional events um so those are events um we we implemented for the past 2 years some transitional events for students but this year we're going to be planning some um transitional events for um for families as well so I look forward to that in the spring sorry speaking at my child oh but I do know that ma'am that's my husband sorry um the last area is around professional culture and this goal um these goals are a little bit of a continu well at least the second goal um are a little bit of a continuation from our previous plan um considering the fact that um our professional development around udl and mtss um are multi-year professional development plans um but the first goal in this area is aligning and integrating the student support team process at the elementary and middle school levels it looked a little bit different as we transitioned into the new school um we're looking to align those two um and we have um some great folks involved in doing that um and some professional development as well um and that's certainly aimed at increasing um Student Success looking at our tier two two programs how can we better support students um going back and and um hopefully decreasing our referrals um to special education um and secondarily um mvs staff will engage in professional learning that allows the tools to align instructional decision-making with the principles of MTS s and the udl framework um so um currently our um SST uh SST coordinators are meeting weekly um to discuss students um at the elementary and middle school levels um they're collaborating with one another to make sure the processes are aligned um also with our special education coordinators and um our literacy and math coaches hello um and also um I talk here just about some benchmarking um around mtss and udl and the professional um development programs that we um are implementing for the upcoming couple of years are there questions I can answer for you before I ask if there are any questions do you have anything you want to add you start to put something so you don't have anything to add but if you have something else to add yeah yeah well I just want you don't have to no no no I I'll add a quick statement uh that I think it's a very solid plan it has taken a lot of the components that again we we were asked to add last year and um there was no agreement disagreement on the floor that it wasn't a good plan like everybody said this is a good plan there was some suggestions uh for change that are Incorporated in this but everybody agreed that that it was a good plan so it's a you know very forward-looking plan with high goals and for the ST Math the ST Math every Monday they give us a update on where we are right as as a district and then they can tell you the goals that they'd like to see you achieve so the 80% uh is also within the realm of what they wanted to see happen in order for the for the use of the program at that school we're fortunate that we have um what is called an stmath champion site so at the elementary level um it's Margaret Betts and at the middle school level it's Jennifer Oliver um and they are they're also our math interventionists and they're really focused on um making sure our data is showing that our students are um Mak making good progress on their Journey y any questions Linda well I just want make a comment that I had noticed as I went through the plan that so many of the things that we had discussed been implemented we implemented and I feel it a very thoughtful and uh looks like it'll be productive I mean we have benchmarks we have things set we have put things in place but I'm I'm excited about this plan I am too thank you and I just want to say too I I also really like the way like I just like how this is written like I feel like I'm I'm not an expert in any of this um but like if if somebody were to ask me you know like oh what's the like you know what are the um what are the goals of the um School Improvement plan from Mountain V school I think like I would probably be able to do a pretty good job of explaining that um without looking too many times and that's like but it's it's very it's very detailed but it's also like it's not impossible to understand you I think the focus area you know there's a lot of jargon in education you know it's kind of hard to avoid at times but um I think the focus areas kind of help with that yeah absolutely no I really I really like this I really appreciate the amount of time that's gone into it um and uh thank you um yeah I appreciate the 80% Benchmark I think is super ambitious but I think that that's a good idea because we know as making goals even as a teacher that you don't always reach the goal but if you set it high you have something to try to attain and if you don't you still you get to grow from there you don't have to say oh we didn't make it we start over it's you see the progress but I I I really appreciate the ambition there and I think that the the developing um supportive transition is also key and really important because I think sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle everyone's so busy but it is still such a New Concept this building of K to8 pre to 8 um and you're taking four separate schools essentially and smashing them together for different environments different cultures it takes time it takes management of different sorts and um it's a lofty goal so thank all of you thank you for thank you for and yeah and so I think that it's but it's also important I think people might get lost in that it's one school but really from fifth grade to sixth grade is a humongous leap in just in children's development but also from an elementary to a middle school so that you all have your eyes set on that is really is really positive you know I I think that um in terms of the um benchmarks I think time will tell um this is our first year implementing STM so you know is is 80% a a lofty goal in terms of the journey I don't know yet um so I guess I guess we'll see um in terms of um Renaissance data um and star I mean I think that 80% is a pretty standard number when you're looking you know at um old models like RTI you're looking you know you're looking for forward progress and you're hoping that 80% of your students are going to be on Benchmark and maybe um students beyond that that will be needing some sort of intervention somewhere whether that's through enrichment or um tier 2 support or um a referral for special education um it's our first time using Renaissance star well it's not our first time ever but it's our first time in a while using Renaissance star um in the middle school we were using ISL before um so you know I'm I'm hoping that that that Benchmark is you know is is a good place to start but again time will tell on that too can I say yeah that's an important distinction when we're talking about not knowing what the Benchmark was from last year we're sort of looking and then next year this is our Baseline into yeah we can refine when do you determine the Benchmark or the 80% how do you find out if they have achieved that how or how often do you and and we we we assess three times a year um have they made it yet have they done it yet have they hit 80 they did the September and they did the January um we just finished that window um and we're we're looking that that they're um at or above Benchmark by June for yeah that they can tell all the time are they are they pretty much there or where where are we people well I I I can't tell you off the top of my head but they're making progress toward their Journey so we're looking the 80% are making 80% progress toward their journey by the the end of the year us different goals they should that's helpful Laura I see you Morin you had something you wanted to say oh yeah I just want to say about the star um the reason I like Star is that you can also see students individual growth so it's not just so it's them you know compared to where they were if if we use star last year you can see at the end of the year last year beginning of the year this year middle of the year and then end so you can actually do end of year grade before to end the year here so and also the star has a very um good indicator of how kids are going to perform on the mcast it's it's one of those tests that will give you an idea of how they're going to perform so they're still taking the mcast so we all realize that we're still using that as an accountability measure for our schools and the state are using it and the federal government's using it for accountability so it's still important that kids perform well on it and so with a star dator uh you can actually see also um what standards they're having trouble with and um how you can intervene prior to um them finishing the year right or also prior to taking the mcast it actually um includes a report that that you can run um based on you know state of Massachusetts standards um that would indicate how student students are predicted to do an mcast I you know I'm I'm not really sure how valid that report is but I think it's helpful as Moren said to look um at the standards that the students are struggling with um and it could help us um in providing um additional instruction or support for students who need it that's great Laura did you have thoughts questions yes good discussion um thank you Dr pasini T this is um really thorough Pro the usual have a question under management and operations um when you're referring to that refinement of the current master schedule I know this is a twoyear plan but I'm wondering if you what you think the odds are of having a new current master schedule to implement this coming September or what your expected timeline is um we will have a uh we'll have a a master schedule um for sure um that's not to say that it won't change the following year so I mean we we will have a master schedule I think one part of that is um feedback that I heard loud and clear um is that families want to know what the schedule is they want to see um what subjects their children are in um during the school day so um with um with the information that we put out um late summer to parents um families will have in their hand their children's schedule for the upcoming coming year so they'll know what that looks like um and we we continue to refine it um if I had um the perfect schedule especially at the middle school level when we are more um tied to block scheduling I think um I'd be a millionaire um you know I I I wish I had the answers to um providing the the best middle school schedule but I continue to talk to my colleagues um around the state um to try to make it better and better every year and we're looking at some you know we're looking at some different things um utilizing our staff um during Wind Block um providing enrichment opportunities and interventions to students who who need it this is the first year that we've had a math interventionist at the middle school um and it's been a really valuable addition for us so I'm looking forward to see how that progresses um moving forward and how we um continue to utilize staff um during Wind Block and during other times so yeah I mean there's that also um we're looking at um adding an additional um algebra block um for students um as an opportunity um moving forward um so we need to look at how we're teaching mathematics before that um in the Years leading up to it um so that students learn all of the content that they need before getting to eighth grade and having the opportunity to take algebra there we really would like to increase the number of students who have the opportunity to take algebra in um middle school so that they have more opportunities to take um advanced mathematics in high school thank you you're welcome any other questions from the commit add one more um I was just wondering about the family and Community engagement and I was the stepup events I was just curious if you guys are talking about anything for the for this coming um spring or summer any specific actions that might um are you talking about um for transitional events yeah from 5ifth to 6th yeah um um so a lot of the parents that are coming up through the ranks um haven't been over to our Middle School um so we're looking to um provide um some tours for folks um some opportunities to talk to staff members meet some staff members um an informational night about what the um day looks like um what some homework expectations might be curricular expectation um I think that um what I'm hearing from um sixth grade parents in particular is that it has been a a bit of a jump um in terms of um work expectations um um going from fifth grade the more of an elementary model although we are dep departmentalized in the fifth grade level um for the most part but um having the block scheduling and switching classes for um all of all of their subject areas it's been um you know it's it's different and um and and parents want to know more information about it so um that is some feedback that we have received and um we're looking forward to delivering on that um in the spring that's cool bring some students in too CU I oh I think that I think that's I think that's a great idea sixth graders who were pretty dazzled like to the point of being utterly confused yeah yeah I think that's a great well and and you know what what we plan on doing is um having our um you we we try to provide as many opportunities that we can um for our fifth graders you know they're they're eating lunch over um at on in the Middle School cafeteria um they're taking some classes over there um we um have some buddy situations that um you know they're um they're mingling with um middle school students more um we have some fun transitional events come spring for our fifth graders going into sixth but um they haven't really spent time in a sixth grade classroom and that's another plan that we're looking to implement this spring as well great thanks you're welcome um I just have two quick questions for you um and just a comment also that I think from last year and then the work session that we have over the summer I just think this is really great I love seeing these really specific goals um I just I'm excited by them I did want want to um since we came up in the high school one and I think that you were telling me that there is a curriculum for anti-bias discrimination at the elementary middle school level is that it's not one of the plans here but yeah so I actually um mayor lelle brought that up as well so um you know we're working um as a with an equity steering committee to have those discussions as well um I think that for um for us at least at the Elementary and Middle School levels um we've been having some conversations with Julian Levan about it it's not um for lack of resources I mean there's certainly a lot of um resources out there a lot of resources that we have it's about um how we're going to implement that um so you know when is the time during our day that we Implement that is it integrated throughout is it during our morning meetings is it um you know during our English language arts time and those are discussions that we continue to have so um it's certainly going to be a conversation for upcoming melt um and we're working with our teams to see how we're going to do that um over the past few years we had a professional learning community that was um focused on um social justice and Equity um Jill Collins and um Hannah Elliot um put together some wonderful resources for our staff um at the elementary level um that um spring boarded into um resources for our Middle School folks um we have all of that information um that that in a Google classroom and we're just looking um for some guidance about how we're going to implement it schoolwide okay to also I think the information from that twep program is is also Second Step Second Step second step is also yeah is also important as far as you know how students Treet each other and the information that comes from there also and that's a um that's a k to8 um program all of our all of our teachers have been trained um recently as recently as this year on that program um and and they're using that schoolwide okay I just wanted to make sure that that was everybody knows it yeah um and then I did have one last question as we were talking about just so I understand the process I think when we were looking at that um High School one um uh principal Evans was telling us about a vote of approval and it sounded like this time there was not necessarily a vote but just a general consensus so yeah we we brought this to um we brought you know based on you feedback along the line um we brought our plan to the council um and the plan the council approved it going forward okay just wanted to clarify what it was it was um you know there there wasn't any opposition to the plan going forward okay there's any other questions and I I do want to um I see a hand raise from the public um remotely and I just am reminding folks that we are not able to interact um after public speak with folks or not interact at all from the public uh justes want you to think that we were ignoring you um if there are no other questions I will entertain a motion to approve the Mountain View School Improvement plan for 2025 to 2027 not all at once but I'll I'll move to accept the Mountain View School Improvement plan for 2025 to 2027 second okay uh all in favor I I I all opposed and any extensions Laur continues to abstain just because she's not here in person she approves in her heart she's just abstaining from thank you everyone thank you what's that next one's 92 D yeah you are you this whole thing is your meeting we going to stick with the thank you all so much thank you and just to clarify that U like everyone is we have Laura at home um and we have illness all around my caregiver for the second time um fell through which is it was my son in that room coughing and playing on his computer sorry for the confusion because my caregiver is sick good so the next thing that I want to bring up is is uh first of all uh Nick Beria uh uh business director will be leaving uh Friday is his last day and uh the last meeting the school committee got to thank him um I just want to make sure we thank him again uh for the work that he's done here and uh we were looking and searching really since October for a person that would be the director of um business services for us and uh just recently uh we we had a great candidate uh we interviewed and tonight we'd like to recommend uh the appointment of Julia sari Franks uh to the position of director of of school business services and to authorize me to enter into contract negotiations on behalf of the school committee uh which we will then come back uh for the sign contract from school committee uh today I spoke to her uh she's coming from a quab in school district um included in your packet is uh her resume uh very interesting that her and Mr Bernier uh were in the same class that when they were both learning to be school business directors um she uh does come to us she has a she's licensed as a school business manager which is something that a school business administrator uh you have to have um she did also work in in the West Springfield Public Schools and uh she also worked uh in the Springfield Public Schools and uh she worked in the Southbridge public school she like Nick uh was a social studies teacher so um that's a good sign for all of us right and she was a team leader and you know I can't say it enough of how important it is uh would have a school business administrator that understand schools yes uh the training is different for a school administrator business admin that it is for a teacher and you know a school administrator and again find somebody that understands teaching and learning in the classroom and the importance of how budget works for that and the you know a able to prioritize uh what we need for school so I I talked to Julia uh today and um uh her District I want to thank them has released her early from her 60-day um commitment to them and she will be starting here on February 12th wonderful great so looking forward um to to Julia uh starting here and I think she'll do a great job and uh uh Mr berer has said that he would Mentor um Julia so that we'll have a smooth transition here uh so we'll be in good shape so I'm just asking that uh you approve that appointment I don't if you have any other questions it's fantastic I'm thrilled we're thrilled very excited yes uh if there's any other discussion or I will entertain a motion to approve the recommended appointment of Julia sari Franks to the position of Director of Business Services and authorize interim superintendent Moren binda to enter into contract negotiations with Julia Sor so moved do you want to second that I second oh you second it okay Eric second it Sam okay good uh all in favor I I opposed extensions wonderful uh anything else from the super Laur oh Laura no I think that's obain oh my bad y nope let good I just want also just to say that um our we our superintendent um has reviewed the contract that was sent by the school committee and uh her lawyer is looking at that and we fully expect to have that contract signed also within the next week awesome also something we're thrilled about yes using to my ears all right that's it for me great um and we can move on to our business update typically our director of Business Services Nick berer would be here um we've had two meetings in this month so for a bunch of reasons we don't have a business update including that this is his last week but we heard about December last meeting so we are not missing any information there just for the record uh so we will move on to school committee discussion is there any update from the policy subcommittee we have not met we will be meeting soon I don't have the date off hand but it is soon is it scheduled available on the or it's going soon to the website the it is not on the website yet but it will be it will I just uh realized just now that I didn't have the date okay um but um one of the thing so I I don't I don't know where this really fits in but it does fit in under policy I have been looking through our policies um just around the you know I know that there's been a lot in the news about immigration and ice in schools in particular and so I know that we wanted to like take a second to just kind of inform the community about where our uh practices were at and I guess I just want to assure everybody that like we really want all of our kids in our schools and our schools are safe for all of our kids and that's like the number one priority um and that's the that's like the number one thing on that underlines all of our school policies um so I wanted to make sure that we got that out I don't know Morin if we want to speak to a little bit more I know it's kind of an everchanging situation so it it's an everchanging situation so on Friday I sent out a letter you know I had received a lot of emails from parents you know R really worrying about like LBGTQ plus students and what was happening uh in the federal legislation regarding them and and so we wanted to send a letter out to saying that all our students uh we value here and these are our policies and we're expecting students in schools to also following them respecting each other so we sent that out on just so that people you know everybody knows that uh we stand here firm still still all together um that we're going to protect our protect every student and everybody that works in in our school district um on uh on for on Friday uh we received new guidelines uh from the Attorney General's office and Department of Elementary secondary Ed the guidelines had made some changes from the week before uh that we didn't send out because uh I felt as though these guidelines are going to change so let's wait and see what happens and sure enough the guidelines changed and the biggest difference uh in the guidelines was that um if ice comes to a school we do not let um the ice person into the building uh that we nicely asked them to come to the superintendent's office and meet with the superintendent um at that point uh they would issue the warrant show me the warrant I I would call our legal counsel in to look at the warrant to verify that the warrant is a legitimate warrant um in the meantime we also contact the parent and let the parent know that um there's ice here asking for warant to see their child the parent that has an opportunity to go to court and get an injunction so you know the everybody knows this now in the district all the secretaries the principes um they all all know that that's that's that's the way we have to follow the actions that's the actions we have to follow um there was a question that I think parents were asking uh um that we did not address until uh yesterday when I met with the bus company and that is the question uh that was set forth about um what happens if ice or at bus stops and we had a special training on that yesterday from desie and basically what they said is that we cannot as a you cannot as a committee make a policy that uh directly stops um ice from being at bus stops or um we cannot tell bus drivers they have to drive by a bus stop that has an ice purse and you know sign on their their shirt so I did call Durham Durham is our bus company and I was really happy uh share this with you that I found out also and that is um dur Marty has a policy that says anytime there's any disruption for any student for any reason at a bus stop or there is somebody at the bus stop that the child does not recognized as somebody in their family um the bus that's our the policy and the training for the bus drivers that they are not to stop and go back to the hub so we're not making new policy that says we're we're stopping things because of ice we're following a policy the bus company already has uh which also is our taught in a video so not only is it a policy they have but it's in their video their training so that we they can show that we're just following normal policy as already approved by the bus company so I think people should uh feel uh better about that I certainly do and um as things uh change uh I will send out emails and uh if necessary phone calls uh to parents family and also staff cuz staff also you know are worried and concerned at this point too so we want make sure that everybody knows the information uh and we're trying to stick to the facts uh because in in no way do we want it to be seen that eastampton is standing up and saying we won't follow a federal warrant so we're sticking to the facts this is what we have to do uh we are just as concerned as everybody else about our students and our families and our staff but we have to follow what what's given to us so my job will be to continue to keep you informed and um to let you know that through all of this uh we all do stand as one for all the students here in in eastampton and I'll say if anybody has any specific concerns about your specific family or your specific child please reach out to your principal or to um the interim superintendent cuz we want to make sure that um we want to make sure that if you're if you're worried about something that that's not preventing you and your child from being able to to come to school so um so please reach out and and also like you can reach out to any of us we'll probably just send you to the right people but um you know I've I've we've definitely heard from um from folks over the weekend and and um during this week and um I I appreciate folks reaching out and asking questions so and I appreciate also just like the care that everybody in this community has for everybody else in this community it's been really apparent in the last week um that's been great so that's my policy update okay um along since this is our topic right now um I did confirm with uh chair Laura Scott that I was going to give an opportunity if anyone has anything else that they would like to say on this sort of vein um this is your opportunity to say something you don't have to say anything but if you had something you wanted to say I think we um the I just wanted to add um in addition to all the things that we were talking about here I just wanted to reiterate for the record that we are parents and community members as well as school community members and we are as concerned and upset um and Afraid as um to different degrees as as all of you are and we recognize that there are people who have different opinions who are not feeling that way right now as well um and our job remains focused on the best interests of all of the kids who are in our district encompassed under all of those different beliefs so um as Sam just said you you belong here your family belongs here you as a student belong here you as a teacher as an educator as a staff member belong here and um we can't make any legal statements or anything along that I've been I've been trust me I wanted to but I've been told that I can't say a lot of things about how I would love to protect every single person myself um but uh we are here to protect to the best of our ability those who are in our district um and I've seen um some again not legal advice not legal statements but um just lots of be aware um I hope that there will be some opportunities throughout the city um for information around all of this just be aware of as sort of the community responsibility of what you are you know talking about and worrying about public and sort of the public facing aspects of this um and the last thing that I wanted to say um which was referenced earlier is that we do have these ongoing uh meetings with the eastampton public schools Equity steering committee and I won't read the entire contract of that but I just thought it was really timely to highlight some of the components of that contract that we signed at the start of this year and the contract um refers back to um our work over the past 10 years um with our the group that we consult with um so I'm just going to read a piece of that um rapid change and again this was signed in a contract from September the start of the school year rapid change leading to ongoing tensions in our local National and Global contexts has accompanied increased anxiety in our school communities we believe it's imperative to support Educators and students to learn from Challenge and support one another as we navigate polarization and fragmentation in our communities so that we can find our common ground school districts around the country are seeing an increase in hate and bias incidents in our schools in our work focusing on bridging to belonging we explore tensions across social differences and ideologies that are present in our schools and communities and share concrete tools and skills that can support all students and Educators to feel a sense of agency and confidence to bridge those differences in a way that centers both learning and Care the EPS Equity steering committee is embarking on its nth year of working to create School environments that support cultures of belonging authentic learning safety and Care developing a strong sense of belonging in schools and the bridging required to achieve it can be understood through several key Concepts including full participation students all students have the right to fully participate in and co-create their educational environment valuing diverse stories each student's story and experiences are fully seen and valued equal dignity all students are respected as equal human beings with full dignity regardless of their background structal structural inclusion the school environment and systems are designed to work for all students not just the dominant group and shared Humanity recognition of the interconnectedness between all students staff and the broader community and that work is ongoing has been going on for 9 years uh that is not to say we are done or we do it perfectly is we are never done the work continues I think keep going for a long time but I willon okay did anything that you I saw you raise your I I just wanted to say that I continue to be committed to all students in this community I believe that this is a community that cares and and um I share uh the values that have been put forth in this and I think that the work is ongoing and will continue to be ongoing that is what that is what we as people in a society do we continue to work to find Equitable solutions for everyone all right uh I'll move on to the finance subcommittee update uh of which there is none there is a meeting scheduled it's the agenda hasn't been sent yet so it's also not on the city website this is a note to the chair of that committee that's that is to that is um but there will be um a series of you want to call them appointments um meetings in February and in March as we prepare the budget and I am thrilled that we have a new highly recommended Director of Business Services I feel much better any CES update I have a slight CES update so um first of all we're meeting tomorrow um in prep in preparing for the meeting tomorrow um I I don't know if anybody read in the paper a couple of weeks ago there was a daily Hampshire Gazette article um about um the collaborative laying off 10 um staff due to budget um shortfalls um we talked before just so just for the so that the public is aware the um the collaborative is a uh a nonprofit and we are members of the we are members of that nonprofit us and 36 other school committees um so part of our membership means that we get um we work with them on some services that we're not able to provide in District in in a cost effective way that's kind of the original idea behind the collaborative now since that was established like 50 years ago um the the the landscape of public education in general has changed and now it's becoming clear that a lot of the services that we contract with the collaborative for the collaborative is also having challenges offering them um in a way that is um coste effective and so there's just been um kind of it I I've been kind of going through the get getting ready for this meeting tomorrow going through some of the um the financial issues at the collaborative I'm just like a little bit concerned and and you guys have all heard me talk a lot recently about like my concern my existential concern for public education as we know it and the way that it's funded uh in our state and so I'm I'm going to be going tomorrow to just ask kind of like what the um short and long-term picture is for for financial like for fiscal sustainability and health with the collaborative um I think like the fact that you know there's there's been news articles about it um you know make makes me just a little bit nervous and we rely on them for a lot of our um and and also just just as an aside the work that they do with us in our district is really really good like we're generally like very very happy with them so um I just wanted to know if anybody had any questions or anything that you wanted me to bring to their attention or if you want to think about it and um call me in the next 12 hours um wanted to give you guys a chance to weigh in on that or if there's anything you want me to bring back you know keep an eye out for yeah so so there are other collaboratives also that are talking about uh cutting services and one of the uh reasons they're cutting is that they offer teacher professional development yeah and they say that with the with smaller number of people interested in the teaching profession that um they're not taking they're not taking their classes so the number of people they have hired to teach the classes are no longer needed and so in June they're letting those they're laying those people off so yeah that's what's happening at at this collaborative in particular yeah so I think that's common it's it's h it's happening and it's something to be aware of because you know we don't want a teacher shortage no this is like this is the problem is yes you know I feel like we I feel like we use the collaborative um as as well as 36 other school districts do in the area to like help with some of those things that we need in order to be a modern School District um and then those are the things that they're having trouble providing now in an affordable way so yeah but that's good to know that that is a um something kind of more across the state as well and I just want to make explicitly abundantly clear that these cuts are not within our district this is to a different organization yes Staffing is this has nothing to do with our district our employment or anything I just wanted to make sure that's you didn't make it sound like it was I just wanted to mhm that's yeah so yeah if anybody has any other thoughts about that or like thinks about anything overnight I'd be happy to um do a little bit of brainstorming I just feel it feels weird because I'm like going to represent East Hampton and and then like I don't know a whole lot of other people on the board super well and so it's just it's it's a very different feel and I kind of want to make sure I'm not just rubber stamping like I want to make sure that we're doing a good job of like representing our interests um there so I'll be curious to hear what updates you have but I don't have any questions okay okay um all right with that we are ready to move on to action items and I have turned the responsibility for Action items over to Sam although now that I'm saying that are you okay to do it in the mask and yeah yeah I'm fine as long as you guys can hear me okay I just have to like make myself project okay thank you project right into mask all right so um motion to approve the school payroll dated 1:9 2025 and the the amount of $618,000 $68,700 do I have a second need a new seconder yeah usually it's me I'll second I'll Ben seconded you do the next one if you want um all those in favor I I all those opposed all those who abstain exension we have one exstension and I see nothing lur Scott is also abstaining okay um motion to approve the accounts payable authorization for payment dated 1 19 2025 in the amount of 14149 63 second second Ben seconded uh all those in favor I I opposed any extensions obain those two extensions and uh our next motion um motion to approve School payroll dated 1 19 2025 supplemental in the amount of $625.00 somebody got like um benefits were booked twice in one so it becomes a negative in the next it it's nothing's wrong nothing's stolen it it's just a um an accounting error that we're fixing that we find in just regular reviews of of payroll great thank you that's so the amount of negative $625 I'll second that all those in favor I I opposed extensions stain we have our two extensions uh and we are on to D all right um motion to approve the $6,890 24 budget transfer from mvs payroll some from 305 fiscal year 2025 and some oh some of it's the the contract some from 305 FY 2025 and some of 305 fy2 24 I'll second that so it's just moving I assume just moving funds from one account to another okay it's fine with me all right uh all those in favor I I I uh opposed any extensions abstain got our two uh and then we do have one more action item uh and do you would you like oh I've lost my piece of paper it's the approval motion to approve where I can't that's it's gone oh here it is if you would like to make a motion to approve all right I make a motion to approve the out of state field trip request form uh for um the uh We the People team uh is the do I have to read it I don't know exactly uh for the students to compete in the National We the People finals competition and travel to historic sites and learn about the Constitution that will be um for uh April 8th until April 12th and uh they're traveling by bus to Washington dcg leeburg Virginia and Washington DC it says yes right I'll seconding that MH um all right anything anything to add just congratulations just we are so thrilled I plan to be going yeah I bet I bet you do very exciting um I'm thinking Laura is also probably very excited and so our whole Community is just we're so proud of that team um and we should I guess we should you know kind of I will say we should just put this right into our budget every year it happens every single year noted we'll bring it up in finance committee that's not part of the motion all right okay so motion was made um right Sam made the motion yep I seconded and Ben seconded it uh all those in favor I uh all those and any abstentions and to be clear she's abstaining because she's at home and not present for the vote not because she has any lack of support for the thing okay um we have our upcoming meetings for the rest of the year as they are scheduled now listed on the agenda our next one our next regular session being scheduled for February 11th at 2025 at 2025 2025 okay um and we are not going into executive session and so with that I will take a motion to adjourn motion to do I have a second second all right uh do we need to roll call out for a journ okay um so we will roll call out Ben hery Ben hery good night Eric G good night Megan Harvey good night Sam Hunter good night Mar good night Mary L good night Laura do you want to say good night go ahead say good night Laura good night everybody great job everyone feel better Laura feel better feel better thank you I'm taking all these yeah we're putting these in your office these work out so much better yeah that was I don't actually wasn't it e