##VIDEO ID:GQCsR9w-ENo## [Music] good evening everyone today is Tuesday November 19th and the time is 6:34 p.m. and I'd like to call this meeting to order first on our agenda is our consent agenda minutes from October 15 2024 any questions or comments on the meeting minutes hearing none I'll take the motion make a motion to accept the minutes from October 15 2024 I have a second second all those in favor I I next is warrant 25 26 28 29 and 31 which have been being passed around for Signature any questions or comments on those hearing none I'll take the motion a a motion to accept warrant 25 26 28 29 and 31 I have a second I'll second all those in favor I I next is visitors comments any citizen wishing to speak before the committee must sign in with the administrative assistant prior to the opening of the regular session of the school committee the visitor will identify themselves by name and address and shall speak for no longer than 3 minutes for anyone unable to sign in ahead of time we ask that you clearly state your name and address so that this information can be included in the record for the meeting no visitors next is student representative Cole thank you so much quarter 2 is underway as you all know at the high school the program of studies is under review with updates being made to reflect our current course offerings in student engagement DEC December Extravaganza is in the works and filled with various activities for the entire month the senior class won the quarter one attendance competition and earned a pizza party principal and assistant principal uh the parking spots were raffled up I'd like to wish a congratulations to Mia Smith our new project 351 Ambassador Anthony mjosik and Ellie slik attended the PV leadership conference this past Monday at the hall of fame senior portfolio students visited the UMass slhcc arts department yesterday as for Community involvement Second Step has been invented into the junior high Health lessons and PBIS was implemented in the junior high last week we recognized our first group of recipients last Friday well-being and support NHS students participated in a Lea raking event and they are now running a food drive for bonus points through December 13th as for upcoming events at the high school the admin will reconvene with the student voice group in anticipation of launching advisory over at East Meadow the new East Meadow after school program began yesterday I was told they're starting with three days per week and are now working towards a 5-day week once more Staffing have been hired the East Meadow student council elections uh were held earlier in the month and the group is now up and running for grades 4 through six the group is working on collecting supplies for Grandy to go as for school culture and environment Administration has been starting to hold monthly free recess activity events for students in all grade levels who have been working hard and following rules and expectations this has been quite Pro popular and impact student motivation and behavior positively we had a very uh successful fall PBIS Field Day in early November which I was lucky to take a part of I got to be at one of the soccer stations which was very fitting for me uh this is one of the community building PBIS events that is held during the year and as for future plans and goals at the middle school we are planning a holay craft event for the 20 20th of December on December 16th the school is trying something new called quote little Shoppers quote in which students can purchase lowc cost gifts for family members and that's all I have to sayate you on an excellent soccer season thank you um you right here um it's it's the end of a good run it's we had a couple of good years so obviously we won western Mass last year and we were in contention for league for couple years so so I'm very proud of what we did you should be yes thank you and I know the team will miss you I hope so I hope they be um thanks for your report any questions for Cole well done as usual thank you thank you thank now I guess you're not going to go anywhere because you're going to do the donation yes yes so I was told that I need to present the fact to you the school community that Summerland floors has donated graciously uh $2,000 a sum of money to offset the price of the class of 2025 yearbook that's excellent any questions on that thank you to Summerland flors that's amazing if there aren't any questions I will take the motion I'll make the motion to accept the Summerland floring donation for the class of 20125 can I have a second second all those in favor I I excellent um I think I think that's a freey cool okay thank you I appreciate that very uh next up is policy C so this is our is this our second read or this second read yeah any questions or further discussion on pocc I don't see it in this folder it's from last time did we not bring it over yeah I think what's still there is the highlighted changes and the strikethroughs you know based on our first stream any additional comments or questions on this I felt like we were all pretty comfortable with it initially um if we're all set I will take the motion if there's no further discussion make a motion excuse me make a motion to accept uh policy C can I have a second a second all those in favor hi okay next is a donation from PTO um I guess I could speak to that the uh PTO made a donation of $1 152742 for classroom supplies for the Junior Senior High School uh any additional questions hearing that I'll take the motion I'll make the motion to accept the donation to the Grammy Junior Senior High School from PTO for classroom supplies can I have a second I'll second all those in favor I next is a donation from ta kwondo um there was a TA kwondo event held at the kns of Columbus in chabe there's a link um in your on the presentation overview in your folder um it was able to raise $640 for the East Meadow uh principal gift account any additional questions on that hearing none I'll take the motion make a motion to accept the donation from ta wondo fundraiser can I have a second I'll second all those in favor I okay next is um donation of field lights for the lighting project um there's some information in the um presentation overview there's a link um so parents some community members have looked into what it would cost to get or what it would take to get lights for the varsity field behind the Junior Senior High School um I've been in communication with a couple of the people involved in the project as well as the Town Administrator and um working through some interpretations on what is the best approach for us to be able to uh have a project a lighting project here on campus um and so that we can move forward with this um it's taking a little bit more uh to kind of sort out the details what is the best approach to be able to um to make this happen so any questions or comments on that we're not ready to vote on this yet because we need to still work with the town um but if there are any questions or whatever we can make sure that they um get answered the work with the town is it just kind of dotting eyes Crossing tees in terms of any permitting or needs and things like that um also procurement process um does this fall under 30b or not okay so that's where there's some discrepancy um so there is the group of people is really trying hard to do this so you know um I think it's great that there are people that want to try to do some things because it would um clearly you can see my husband's name is one of the people at the end so I've you know I'm familiar with it but um one of the things is that it wouldn't just be for so like just for soccer lacrosse could play on there and then also we could open it up for like GA for tournament games or whatever ever and um you know I think it would be kind of cool if we could figure out how to get it get it together um all right so we will postpone a vote on that until we can figure out what's next um if there aren't any other questions we'll move along to um the inter inter superintendent gold okay um I put my goals in there for every to take a look at it's a draft so if you have any questions or um comments or things You' like me to add to it or take off just you know let me know as we go through I just want to let you know that in creating these goals I went back to our district priorities and identified high quality instruction and safe and supportive schools as one of our first two and I made that in line with a student learning goal I combined um number three and four which is communication collaboration Community engagement with systems inst structures as my professional practice school so if you want to go through them with me want me to read them all off as we go um just do the Highlight okay so um District approval goals high quality instruction I just want to um make sure that we continue to provide high quality um instruction to the students through the use of tools and resources for the teachers which includes PD and that would include you know making sure that we take a look at the data are we meeting the students needs by what um you know their testing looks like what are we using for benchmarks and surveying um the staff members to see you know what they continue to need and then the safe and supporting learning environment we actually have have those grants that we're still working with um the hate crime grants and uh been looking to bless you bless you to talk about the social emotional learning programs again as Cole said we talked about the second steps in PBIS at the high school working with that um really we'd like to make sure that we continue to work um to make sure the school is a safe and welcoming environment for all the students and what does that look like you know really trying to get the students a sense of age that they have the opportunities to um talk to us and what they're looking for I've actually started meeting with students to try to get their voice and see what they're looking for I met with some uh with the two student councils um at the high school and the junior high and I'm continuing to work with the students to see you know what they need and and work on that as far as uh student learning goals um just want to continue to take a look at the ISL and the Dibbles to um see that students are making growth in math and literacy and we're hoping with the new and IM math that we're starting to see some progress um doing some walkthroughs in the classroom we're starting to see the teachers really um get a handle on how how to teach the IM math it's you know was a big it took a lot for them and a lot of um anxiety and new way to teach for a lot of them but they really are stepping up to Plate doing a really nice job so we're going to continue to monitor that and the professional practice goal you know I think it's really important as a superintendent to um you know make sure that everybody is collaborating working together so a couple things I want to do was create a comprehensive communication plan so so we can get it out to the families you know who's in charge of what and and you know what the chain of command would be with certain like that um so creating some sort of document for that and then uh creating a hierarchy we don't have a hierarchy of like if I was to leave would be next in charge so we're looking to to create that as well and the last one is looking for new engagement opportunities and that is part of my listening tour right now that you know what can I do to get more engagement again in meeting with some of the students some of them had said you know they like a music club and you know some of them you were really excited with the ski club um and we have the Esports this year so they're really um liking some of the things that are happening so um we're trying to you know find again that's part of um professional practice goal also with the student learning go you know what can we give for advocacy for students and these are all of the um things that uh superintendent suvin put in place and I wanted to make sure that we continue to follow that uh great um strategic planning put in place and uh we're contining to afford in that vein that's what I have any questions I think the goals make a lot of sense um you know you can see the thread and the continuation of things that have already been started but then you know picking up on things um like the communication and establishing that hierarchy and like making sure things are in place that people know who to go to and when and why I think would be really helpful I'm working with the Union on that as well so because teachers have some questions as well so I've been meeting with them weekly on that as well nice excellent um if there isn't any additional discussion I will take a motion this a dra or is I can make this the final I put it the draft because I wasn't sure if you guys had some things you wanted me to yeah do we want to be the final with that it's I mean I think it captures what um I didn't want to finalize it until you guys approved it so makes sense guess what I was thinking yeah I'll just take the water mark make a motion to accept the superintendent goals for 2024 through 2025 can I have a second second any additional conversation before we vote may ask a question sure would surpr like so clearly it ties to the Strategic plan right um is there a time when or have you already met to talk about how this will what sort of standards and indicators you'll measure against I put that on the key points but I don't um I will put that when during my midcycle I'll be adding up to that and we talk about that together as a group yes great thank you um fin question was the the equity thing but M Jordan explained it to me like yeah it's really just making sure the students have a voice you we want to make sure that the students are are being heard and and uh I'm all over it now got her explanation was excellent she did a nice job yeah that was a good explanation yeah all right um I think we seconded yeah yeah and I'll take the watermark right off okay all those in favor okay um well actually we should take just a minute um this is Liz leond she has been appointed she's our newest um school committee member um I'm not sure were you were you able to get Thorn in today oh well then please come the table salute so that's all right I was accepting I thought we sat down that you hadn't made it over course yes I did that was a priority for me today excellent so we're so so glad um to have you and then in the same breath I um also received the resignation letter of Jill peler today oh um we knew it was coming it still hurts um I'm terribly sorry to see you go her last meeting will be December 17th so her um resignation will be effective December 18th so unfortunately that put us back in position we we will be down member so um again we need to hopefully it won't take us another eight months to be able to find somebody um so if anyone has any ideas or thoughts or where we can go um that would be lovely they can reach out to me or to anybody on the committee or Mary Jane um so we'll have to uh work on that um so on that lovely piece of happy news we'll move on to the enrollment dashboard know that I did look at these just wanted to let you know that we had three new PK preschool enrollments um we had two students withdraw because they were moving out of Grandy and then um one in ninth grade and one in prek um so enrollment has increased by one have 678 students now it's a little give and take we're we're making slow slight progress so were you able to use 6708 or 677 we had to use 677 we have to use the October October one numbers not that one person no any questions on the enrollment dashboard okay um so we now are going to adjourn to our sub committees we have policy and evaluation and then Finance Liz you can sit in on whichever one of the two that you would like um half feeling like I should volun told you to sit in on policy because that's the position that Jill will be um vacating um but you are welcome to sit in on the finance as well anyone who knows me knows that Finance is not really my thing I do I mean I understand at high level Finance for school districts um policy and evaluation is much more up my alley fabulous so that might be the perfect home then um so it is 6:54 um I do we have a lot to go over for finance um do you have a lot they no it might make sense to I know we put both not sure what would meet in what capacity so it might makes sense to hold on policy now that we have the approved goals and just if you know Mary danan if you're available to kind of pop in to talk about like what it's look like benchmarking that she talked about that would be I'll do that okay so um do you want to start with a half an hourish we'll reconvene at 7:30 yes and we can touch base before then if we need to um and then we'll come back at that point and rep that finish um and finish the meeting all right great okay okay welcome back um so policy and evaluation so we talked about um now that section c was reviewed and updated moving on to section D with all the policies included in that section um so we'll take we'll have that sent and then we'll get a hard copy to so it's a little bit easier to go back and forth um and do some of that work and then with the evaluation side of things since the goals were approved tonight we just kind of went through with Mary Jane like what it looked like in the past and if that's what people want to see going forward it's like using that same template um and then just like plugging in the pieces highlighting and discussing any standards and indicators um and then having that process carry through to kind of towards the end of the school year where then everyone can fill out their own and then kind of one or two people as part of that sub committee can kind of just compile all that information for like the final evaluation okay um do we have a timeline for which part evaluation so we talked about the fact that we were we had historically try to have that final presentation at the 1 May meeting that way um um everyone had that time frame of completing their own evaluation prior to the second meeting which typically came after elections and so that way it would be due right before anybody might transition out um and then all that information could still be compiled and then reviewed at that second May meeting so if that's the way you know everyone wants to go then that's what it looked like in the past and we at least just had that conversation okay uh any other questions or anything on either of those okay Finance uh so we discussed the ending balances and projections for ending balances of all our revolving accounts um school choice is looking good um we also talked about the budget calendar projection of key dates and uh key individuals when we're going to need information then how we're going to syn organiz uh with town in order to develop our B year 26 budget so um got some excellent milestones in place this year is currently on track we also discussed um Capital Improvements specifically the generator generator replacement and how that's going to go down um SO waiting on getting some quotes from an electrician and reusing the pad blood um demolishing the existing structure and using that space and why that space needs to be used and not supplemented with an additional bad because of EXC I'm sorry it's usually sneez and threes I'm sorry but um everything's on track key uh key dates for fiscal stuff is locked in and distributed and we're in a good spot financially at least right now good yeah okay okay um all right uh superintendent's report well I had some of this from the November 6 meeting but I do want to um let you know that we had the TR trunk Retreat which was very exciting I'd never participated in a trunk Retreat before so I really enjoyed that and there was a a ton of parents and students and teachers they did a nice job so it was good fun by everybody November 5th we had a full day profession Development Day and some of our topics included safety care training PBIS high quality instruction in the classroom they had a presenter and Mill Mill Consulting who talked about um you know how to uh group students in classrooms and you know do more of the high quality instruction work writing goals for the new IEP process and that took place with social workers and school psychologists and we also um talked to other districts also joined in some of our PD belter Town joined us um so that was nice to work with them and we're looking at them again next year to see if we have some common days that we can support each other um uh you know share some services with each other so we had an AI Workshop uh presented by su cigo and the teachers really really love that based on the survey had another um couple of workshops on deescalation strategies and ST Math um our nursing director had a couple of announcements and wanted me to let you know that grany to go is collecting donations of plastic grocery size bags bags can be placed in the green crate at the bench of East Meadow and in the grany to go mailbox at the high school so they need bags to uh put stuff in if any families are interested in having a covid test kit um sent home for Thanksgiving please contact Nancy Jinx um it says Friday November 5th but you can uh do at the end of this week it's fine if you're interested um you can receive one box which contains five tests and I just want to congratulate the girls varsity soccer team for clenching the western Mass title with the wi Hopkins and then um and we also had a mention the boy soccer team um earlier so I took it off my notes but um that's all we oh and I also wanted to which I didn't put on here but I also wanted to let everybody know that we inducted 18 students into the National Honor Society on the 15th and it was a very nice night and uh kids were um really proud of the their work and we're really proud of them and their parents and it was a A really lovely evening all right any questions to You're So in addition to the updates from the subcommittee um so state grants are starting to be approved um we've got our hate crime uh prevention Grant the funding is finally approved there's a couple more we're waiting on um the budgets to be approved to start uh drawing funds and implementing those um I met with the maintenance department to review our winter procedures uh in the unlikely event that will have any delays or cancellations our motto is the more prepared we are the less snow will at um so uh also I completed uh the annual end of the year report Financial end of the year report um I've submitted that to the Town Administrator for his review and I will be uploading that to the state before the end of the week month earlier than last year so I'm making some progress on that that's all that I have any questions for t all right Joe so we'll have a meeting soon um I'm just waiting on kind of a followup as to when that is because it's every other month and then with the November December kind of shorter months they're looking at meeting um so I'll have an update once I attend excellent okay um so for our next meeting which is December 3rd I believe anything anyone wants to make sure um is on the agenda any leftovers or anything from from tonight not from tonight we um add on superintendent search committee I yeah I was just gonna say that superintendent search is for sure and we'll need to have an executive session uh next time too um anything else all right if there's nothing else I'll take a motion make motion to adour have a second I'll second all those in favor have a great night everyone