##VIDEO ID:3T7WZ6bcUKU## it being 6:31 on Tuesday November 12th I'll hereby call this regular meeting of the gardener school committee to order and ask the clerk to please call the RO Mrs Cormier present Mrs Hurst present Mr leier present Mrs Leighton absent Mrs pavin present Mr Schwarz present mayor Nicholson present Dr greenhouse presid and Nora moris student representative absent thank you very much please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I plge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republ stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all we begin with Item B on our agenda this is open time for the general public is there anyone here from the general public who wishes to be heard seeing none moving on to item C recognitions by the superintendent Dr pelo I can call Sher M please so sher's um sher's actually not new to gner public schools by any means she was a teacher and a retired principal hel May s right yes yeah last time I was here was 2010 wow okay so um what we wanted to do today was honor um Sher and her team who've been working with our immigrant families in the third floor of um of the administration building um doing all kinds of things and I thought it was better I'm sure you'd all agree if I don't necessarily tell what um what they've been doing but Sher can actually elaborate on this much better than I all right thank you right here y um well good evening mayor Nicholson Dr pelo school committee members uh thank you for allowing us a few minutes to share about the gardener immigration Circle um we're a community group we're dedicated to supporting and empowering the immigrants and Gardener in the surrounding areas through education advocacy cultural exchange the organization Fosters an inclusive environment that values the contributions of the immigrants the circle provides resources organizes events and promotes programs to assist with the integration language learning and Community engagement helping our newcomers to build a meaningful um life here we started in November 2023 it was a year ago and the literacy Volunteers of the montachusetts area were approached by the Garder Community Action Center to see what we could do to help and four of us came forward and those uh four of us were John Bernard Carla Roy um and Dave coocher and myself and Mike Ellis the director of the senior center offered a large room for us to meet which was great um the Community Action Center actually helped provide materials for us and we were ready to go except unexpectedly 40 of the Haitian IM immigrants signed up for lessons it was a daunting challenge so to meet that Dave Cooter rallied some friends and we got some resources to purchase material s and then I called upon the retired teachers from Garder who enthusiastically joined our group and do what they know how to do best um pretty soon other people from the community stepped up and we were able to do at least small group work with the um haian immigrants that were coming in um and then we noticed that they had their little ones with them the ones that were not old enough to be in school and of course being Gardener teachers we weren't going to let that go so um we quickly got together lots of materials we raided our grandkids closets we brought in books and blocks and then I have to say that Moren Blasco and Patty Stango stepped up and led that component um pretty soon we outgrew our space and that's when we came to see Dr pelino and we also connected with um Lori Simpson the director of the multilingual learning department at GPS and they offered us the two spacious rooms on the third floor that was a game Cher for us we no longer had to Lug things in and out we could set it up like a school room we had a separate room for the kids and it's it really helped us to have a lot more Integrity to the program um so also the tutors here I just can't say enough about them they just have been so dedicated they recognized that that two hours a day or two hours a week was not really going to support the learning so they started working at the library having um conversation circles for them meeting with them outside of the two hours a week that we meet with them giving them more tailored instructions driving lessons helping them to get their licenses and it has been so rewarding to get to know these wonderful um documented immigrants that are here in our community they have worked very hard they have learned the language they've secured jobs they've got their driver's license they' purchased cars and now they're getting apartments and moving into places of their own they're very very hardworking people and it's just been our pleasure to work with them um recently we've had a little change to our program um with Egyptian immigrants that have been coming through the door and so it's been our pleasure to serve them as well over the past year there have been many different people from Gardener that have participated in our program but there has been been a core group that are most of them are here today of 10 of us that have been uh consistent in working with them every week and that's John Bernard Carla Roy Robert Fairchild and Nora douly eileene Goen Nelly langy Dave coocher AA Jason Morin Blasco and Patty steno but thank you for allowing us to share thank you for coming I think that's it's a read off the names me pass um each one of the folks maybe get a picture for our Facebook account would that be all right sure anybody quot a verse no all right and if anybody wants to join us Wednesday morning at 10:00 volunteers so of course sh M John Bernard thanks I Goen one of our retired teachers Nelly langoy another one of our retired teachers Carlo Roy Patty Sanko another one of our retired teachers Mor Blasco Dave coer Nora D Blasco Dave coer Nora Julie married you don't have to whisper that yeah I we we miss okay all right now maybe we can just get right in the hall over here just got a quick pick the committee will be in a brief recess the committee will come back to order at 6:42 p.m. uh we'll move on to item D of the agenda this is the consent agenda uh this was included in your packet for information included in this is the acceptance of $150,000 grant funding uh donations from the class 1974 and Jersey mics as well as the other warrant items and minutes is there any discussion on the consent how move to approve is there a second second motion made by attorney F been seconded by Mrs Cormier to approve the consent agenda as presented is there any discussion on the motion hearing none will put the matter to a vote all those in favor say I I oppose nay motion carries uh M Morris is not here this evening so we'll be moving on to new business item 365 did I skip over the sub committee I turn the page too quick uh we have item e the subcommittee the finance subcommittee it Mr lefr here we go thank you Mr Mayor um the finance committee met November 7th uh see the committee reviewed the expense report Mr Hawk noted that the uh Gardener Academy Building Maintenance and District building maintenance uh had to split 5050 to pay for uh uh water Heater replacement this was unexpected of course um District school nurse uh nurse salary is in the negative um this will be fixed next month as we move uh funds to cover the shortfall uh with a grant um this was uh expected and planned for um the district tuition collaborative is negative uh this is due to a large incumbents when a student is placed in the uh collaborative funds are encumbered encumbered for the rest of the year however uh they may not be there the entire year um Mr Hawk also noted that elll uh teacher Line is now in the positive 44,000 um we also had discussion uh around the substitute teachers line at each School particularly Garden High School just seems to be uh extremely uh high this year um uh we also uh Mr AR also noted that the salt Barn is up and ready to go for the winter hopefully it won't be used that much um also we voted in consent agenda was uh two donations uh one was from the class of 1974 for ,000 $1,040 $1,484 um and uh the class of 19 uh 74 is closing their class account and donated the remainder to Garden High School it was determined that another round uh picnic table to go uh at Watkins field would be best um this donation will go towards that table Jersey Mike also donated $224.95 uh Jersey Mike's hosted a uh 4-day fundraiser for garden high school music department uh and that money will fund future expense uh unexpected costs instrument repairs and updates and that was it than you very much Mr chairman is any questions comments concerns on the reports from the finance sub committee thank you to those organizations for those donations now moving on to item F Miss Morris is not here with us this evening so we're moving on to item G item number 3651 second reading of policies is there a motion on the floor I have yes that we accept the above policies is there a second second motion made by Mrs her second by Mrs Cormier to accept policies J IA student dress code JJ D athletic policy jjf Student Activities accounts JJ if head injuries and concussions and extracurricular athletic activities JK student conduct and jka a physical restraint policy and procedures is there any discussion on that motion hearing none will put the matter to a vote all those in favor say I I oppose nay motion carries item number 3652 uh contract amendments to Unit A and B of the gardener educational Gardener Educators Association Mrs H um Mark could you speak to that oh absolutely I can um so essentially we we worked really hard um to get to the Lang um to get to language on um safe and supportive schools with the Union when we did our draft of the of the contract we missed changing the language to what the updated language was when we sent it to them they missed that we missed it so um on both sides so we were both um um I was talking with um Miss Hurst and uh the GAA we said we'd like have a new contract because it just makes sense to just update the contract rather than have a side letter as we're so early in the contract um so we thought we could just um change the language and update the contract I'll move to accept the Amendments is there a second second motion made by attorney P second Mr lrer to accept the Amendments as presented is there any discussion on that motion all in favor say I oppose nay motion carries item 36 53 curriculum coordinators update with District mcast Dr go I need turned off did right excuse me could I ask a Qui question yes do you want these contract amendments to be go in one motion or a separate motion there's only there only want an amendment well it's an amendment for unit a and Unit B oh oh unit okay that's a great question I mean the motion was for both of them correct yeah I made the motion to accept both okay all right thank you thank you m hel Dr Goen thank you good evening so uh this is a a brief update on the spring of 2024 mcast Administration for all of our students looking at it from a district L uh each year the department of Elementary and secondary education uh gives each district in the Commonwealth an accountability status and currently our district status is not requiring Assistance or intervention however we do have um three of our schools that require assistance in particular areas um and so they look at each individual School separately and we get an accountability uh like a mini accountability for each school and tied to that is particular um assistance and support from the Statewide system of supports which is a branch of the department uh and so we are working with them currently just briefly um showing you some trends of what's been happening over the last several years I know it's it's a little bit difficult to see but at the very bottom this is looking at our Ela scores as a district from 2019 prior to co you'll notice that a year is missing in 2020 because we did not have mcast during that year of Co um all the way up through last spring um what I wanted to point out in each of these next slides that you'll see this one is for ELA and the other two slides are for Math and Science the dotted line that you see in this graph is the state and how they per performed as a state and then the blue line is how we as a district performed we tend to be trending with the state but I did want to point out that um in terms of our distance away from the state in 2019 we were 13 percentage points away from the state in ela and currently in 2024 we were at 11% away so we're we're kind of seeing a little bit of improvement here in in that Gap gap between our results in the States but our goal is to continue reducing that Gap the other thing I'm sorry before you go on to the next slide I did want to mention that um Dr peligros one of his goals is to reduce the gap between our most marginalized populations which is e and students with disabilities so I just did want to make a quick plug for this our El students in 2019 had a gap for students who were not Els of 25% in their performance for um achievement and in 2025 that Gap was reduced to 15% and our students with disabilities had a gap of 32% to students without disabilities in 2019 and in 20124 it was dropped to 27% so those gaps are reducing for math we had a 12% Gap with the state in achievement across the district in 2019 and currently we have an 11% Gap so we're marginally closing that Gap but El students in 2019 had a 26% Gap with those students who were not Els and in 2024 that Gap was reduced to 14% um students with disabilities had a gap of 31% to students without disabilities in 2019 and in 2024 that dropped to 24% uh in science our Gap actually with the state has dropped a little bit from 10% in 19 to 133% in 2024 um our El population in 2019 and 24 wasn't large enough um to have data you have to have so many students um take the test as a district in order to have that information but the students with disabilities in 2019 had a gap with students without disabilities of 35% and that was reduced in 2024 to 19% so I just wanted to let you know um that that Gap that we've closely been paying attention to is starting to reduce and we're continuing to to try to do that General findings um that we were able to pull from the data for mcast is that we do have students in certain subgroups that consistently perform lower than our students not in subgroups um and the number one group um that has the largest gap is students with disabilities our second group is English Learners and then third is our econ economically disadvantaged population um but across the board in all grades what we're finding is that in both Ela and math our students perform lower in areas where they're where there's critical thinking required and reasoning and explanation so most of our Focus academically is around increasing students um opportunities to do those things to think critically and to and to provide reasons and explanations with that thinking so how are we using this data to inform what we do next uh we talked a lot about our district Improvement plan in in September and how we're really focused on all of our data whether it's social emotional learning or academic data to determine how we're going to or what Focus we want to have and this is a this is in step with all of those things in our district Improvement plan in our school Improvement plans um number one we have contracted with the Lynch Leadership Academy um over the last what are we in year five now with our with our training um Over The Last 5 Years and we're using them in many different ways we're using them to increase our leadership capacity around instructional Improvement and and um District change implementation we're also using them to provide specific um professional development to our leaders at central office our leaders as principles our leaders as um assistant principles and other administrators and we're also using them for our teacher leaders and I think I mentioned that when we were talking about the district Improvement plan but most recently we're using our tag our targeted assistant Grant fund for our middle school as they are a school in need of assistance to really focus in on instructional Improvement in the classrooms with our teachers and our teacher leaders and our admin teams to help sustain and and monitor that progress another thing that we'll be doing and that we have been doing the the last couple of years is working with the Department of Elementary education Statewide system of supports we had our first meeting with them this this year uh last week and we'll be meeting with them again this week to talk about specifically what are we going to Target and how can they help to support us all of our Focus will be on the middle school because that is where we started the work with the ssos um last year and we want to continue that so we can monitor that progress and make sure that change continues to happen um some of the things they're going to be doing is looking at our common planning time and looking to make sure that we're planning effectively for classes and then also looking at classroom um classroom lessons math and Ela is the primary focus but just to make sure that the the planning that we're doing in those common planning times are translating into the classroom and that we're seeing the most effective instructional strategies as um as designed in those plans they'll be working with with the central office strategically and they'll be working with um the middle school administrative staff specifically around monitoring common planning times monitoring learning walks and observations and feedback and monitoring student outcome data um and as a group as a district we'll be looking at that data as well with our District academic um mtss Team to make sure that we're we're all moving together and if there is if there is a school that needs particular attention then we know where to direct direct that Focus um so that's where we are right now um all of the work that we're doing this year and moving forward is focused really around the data that we're pulling and it's not just mcast we're looking at our our data around the new assessments that we adopted this year for Star um from Renaissance Learning and we're using um we're using Dropout data we're using attendance data we're using all kinds of data um graduation rate data we're looking at um office referral data we're trying to triangulate our data as much as possible so we can wrap around the school and W wrap around our kids and give them the supports that they need um as as noted by that data and I have to say Kathy is um you know in charge of the academic um pillar of mtss for us however it's a team and we have two experts when it comes to mtss at developing it and implementing it with Joyce West and Amber cassavant they've been phenomenal help and Lorie Simpson um as as a team we've really developed a lot of processes and we've jumped ahead um of what we could normally do because they had insights and things that they've done on theal and behavioral side of things where we knew okay we need to get this in place we need these Fidelity checks we need to make sure that these things are happening um and then the the so what I'm really proud of is we had that meeting with ssos their director came in and visited um the elementary school and was just blown away she asked us to actually speak at their upcoming conference um we're we're giving basically we're going to tell them tell these folks in that are participating in SOS ssos what we're doing because what she said was I don't find other districts that are doing this there are places that have components of mtss but they're not doing it in such a robust way we have we still have a long way to go to actually have the full change in practice have the full process where we want it to be and that's going to take time um I've keep got told by everybody we need to be patient and I know we need to be patient but none of us are patient because it's our kids and we want our kids to succeed um but I was really proud of the fact that we're going to be presenting in December at some um um to um a group of schools um who are trying to start this up and there just aren't really a lot of um models that have actually implemented this fully in the schools um and again I attribute that to to the team at the the district level but then the leaders at the school level and then the teachers everybody's pulling in the same direction so I'm just really proud of the work that we're doing um and I'm I'm we're very planful I'm not going to say hopeful we're very planful that this will be a successful way to reach all of our students and make sure we're eliminating those gaps um I just have a question I don't even know if you can answer this right now but do you find that like from these other assessments and evaluations that are being done throughout the school year that it's matching the data that is coming out with the mcast like does that seem to make sense what we're seeing okay yeah the STAR testing is um is is very predictive and we have two different ways of looking at it we can look at the star data by just checking a box very simply and saying um so we can look at it as if the children were taking the test today with the knowledge they have how might they perform on the test and then we also have the ability to look at it as a predictive value to say based on what they know now this is what we predict they will be able to do when they do take it in the spring so we look at it in both of those ways so that we can really kind of focus in and we're able to then look at individual students with that same kind of lens and then say what exactly are they missing thank you any other questions comments concerns thank you very much Dr thank you moving on to item number 3654 director of school health services update this was including your packet for information is there any questions comments concerns on that update thank you director mcaffrey item number 3655 Grant administrators update this was included in the packet for information are there any other questions comments concerns on this item you director done item number 3656 special education update this was included in your packet for information is there any discussion on this item thank you director West item number 3657 this was included in your packet for information as part of the report that is 3656 that we just voted on or not voted on but just went over any questions comments concerns on that last paragraph of that document thank you again director West item H Communications Dr K GRE um just a few quick things um first is you know I know a lot of people out there are wondering what the mcast question means that um it did pass so it is no longer the requirement to have that um as the as a graduation requirement however I was just on the commissioner's call today there is still a competency determination so students have to pass particular classes with particular grades so the local control is still determining whether or not students meet our our graduation requirements so those are still set locally um more to come on that though um as to whether or not students who in the past have not did not receive diplomas because of mcast do they if they qualify with the classes they took and the grades they got are they able to get diplomas those are all questions that will be answered in the um in the few next few months I think December 5th is when they're voting on this um uh second thing I will be doing my residencies again so two years ago I I did about a week um in each one of the schools next week I'll actually be at the middle school um for 5 days so I still will do meetings and things like that that I need to but most of them any of them that I can do at the middle school I'm going to do at the middle school um and this is just where I like to see how the schools are running their Pace um what their strengths are their weaknesses and what we need to do in terms of um resource distribution to make sure to make sure they have what and who they need um and last couple things you know this weekend we do have the um Harvest Festival um from 12:00 to 3: at the Garden Elementary School and we have the play The Mystery of the missing letter which is here I believe right um this Saturday so I'm kind of excited to see that in in a very different venue here is in City Hall Auditorium not the chamber yeah this would be a small stage although I can't wait for our Auditorium to open so that is all I have any questions comments concerns for the superintendent moving on to final comments of the school committee Mrs HST I was very impressed with um the recognitions tonight um it really made me feel really good about my community and the things that are going on here um I also left everybody a postcard tonight um just with the fact that the holidays are coming up and um this seems to be a really hard time for a lot of people after the election and everything um it's important to to have conversations um and uh this um support group is a wonderful resource I wanted to make sure everybody had a copy of the card just so that they have it file it away you might need it someday you don't know or you might be able to help somebody with that um thank you Dr Goen for presentation I've noticed over the years the the the Gap keeps closing with our marginalized students and that's something that I've you know that's I've been advocating and trying to get you know those things for many many years and it it is just wonderful to see it come to fruition and again it is it's a work in progress it never ends and kudos to the district attorney b um well yesterday was Veterans Day so I'd like to say thank you to all the veterans that have served and done what they've had to do for this um country and then um obviously the holidays are coming up um Happy Thanksgiving to everybody and Merry Christmas and everything obviously we'll be back here before then but um I think you know I appreciate when Mrs Hurst brings to our attention the needs that can exist um and I think it's important that people do know what's available to them um and that there are Services out there for anyone who needs any help thank you Mr Schwarz I attended the uh band concert at the at the high school gym on the 29th great program and I they also publish the upcoming events for the rest of the year I'm looking forward so I can attend thank you thank you Mr lefr just hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving and also big thank you to those volunteers that are working with the immigrants that's that's huge I app really appreciate that that's thanks Mrs Cormier nothing else to add thank you I'll Echo the thanks to the group working with the immigrants uh and the community um for their recent work I'd also throw in a congratulations to all of our sports teams who seem to continue to kill it this year with uh the playoff games now are on us and uh congratulations the garden High School band on their bronze medal uh performance at the finals competition this year as well as their uh Oakmont exhibit show that they did this year with the other North Central marching band programs at the different high schools that was really neat to see um and lastly I want to close by saying thank you to uh two students from our Woodshop class at the high school who made a Veterans Day flag that was displayed at the city's Veterans Day ceremony yesterday uh the amount of people from the different veterans organizations in the city that came in and asked who could take it home with them when they always said it was going to hang in City Hall the look of you know like I wish I take that with me it was quality work that was put into that and it really touched a lot of people that was there so thank you very much to those two students who um decided to say thank you in a special and unique way it was really meant a lot to a lot of people yesterday uh and with that there are no executive sessions this evening our next meeting will be on Monday December 9th 2024 at 6:30 p.m. here in the council chamber and with that is there a motion to adjourn move is there a second second motion made by Mr LR second by Mr Schwarz to adjourn all in favor say I I motion carries thank you very much everyone have a great evening this