##VIDEO ID:kWtbAR9wJL0## all right good evening everyone it's 7 o'clock and I'd like to call together the October 10th 2024 school committee meeting if you would please rise and join me the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance flag United States of America theice [Music] thank you very much welcome everyone this evening we have our consent agenda posted as well as the minutes from the September 26 2024 meeting in the packet and bills and payroll is there a motion to accept motion to accepts motion made by Stacy I'll second seconded by Janine we have one member uh with us in a hybrid fashion this evening so tonight's votes will be a roll call vote uh Stacy St yes St Janine Janine yes Elaine yes perfect Tech check worked and Justin mccy yes as well all right we will move on to our first opportunity for interested citizens so if there's anyone with us this evening in person or on Zoom that would like to speak before the school committee now as your first chance there'll be a second chance the meeting do not just quick close that portion of the meeting close all right um we'll now move on to a recognition portion of the evening uh Harish is here joining us thank you for being here if you please give us a student representative report sure uh good evening everyone a quick report from each of the schools on what's happened over the last two weeks I'll start with Shaker Lane Shaker Lane had a very successful book fair evening on Tuesday uh their annual book fair was a success and the students are looking forward to a long weekend Russell Street made some adjustments to their procedure and thanks to those they're able to give students an extra four minutes to eat lunch which makes a bigger difference than you might imagine and uh they began using a program called reflex math to uh practice math skills and Russell Street students have already solved over 600,000 math problems together uh using that software which is very successful from the Middle School midterm grades Clos tomorrow and progress reports released next week kids night out for sixth graders is next Friday 6 8 and the seventh and eighth graders dance will be on October 25th from the high school graduation preparations for 2025 will already began as students had a meeting about their caps and gowns on October 17th the model un Club is collaborating with littl to drama to host a lip sync battle in which clubs and teachers will come together and uh fund race as the winners will receive a prize and spirit points towards Spirit Week on the topic of spirit week next week is our homecoming festivities our game on October 18th and the dance on October 19th on October 21st the Monday after there'll be a film screening of dawnland where students in the Facing History and ourselves class will learn about the wabanaki tribe and their uh conflict with the state of Maine and how uh Maine systematically took away their children from their families although it is not exclusive to the class anyone from the public who wishes to attend can and the drama Department's play is uh has begun practicing and the play schedu for November 22nd through 24th excellent thank you thank you so much have a few other acknowledgements please take it away uh tonight this afternoon we had our first unified uh basketball game playing against joh dille here at high school I was fortunate enough to be able to take it in it was really nice to see them on the court and we had a great first game uh tonight we have a home High School football game under the lights right regular scheduled time and they're playing gr and Dunville nice to see our fall Sports season back to their regular playing times I'm also uh happy to uh acknowledge and report that Park and wreck is uh sending out a survey to the community to ask for input in in regard to whether or not there's interest in uh creating opportunities for adaptive Sports programs in our community I'm thrilled that they're doing that that me means that they'll be able to provide programs to students that uh uh in previous years haven't been able to participate in some of the athletic programs so we're getting closer uh with all our programs making sure that every every child in our community has access to programs year round for that they're doing that's it great perfect right I'll close our recognition portion of the uh meeting we have uh two orders new business before us as well as a couple presentations so we'll start with new business item number one which Kelly K will provide an update on the 2024 2025 enrollment thank you uh in your package you have uh three pages first page is where we are as of uh o October 1st and uh this summer during our Retreat we had an opportunity to go through uh few pages that I've included in the package today as I mentioned at that time uh enrollment uat it's not in steady state so to speak so where we are now uh we uh have a resident population of uh 1,554 students uh school choice 100 students uh total population 1654 last year we had 102 school choice uh students so we're we're pretty close we're did three now to give you an idea of a little more information I don't want to spend too much time on this un I should have questions uh we opened up 41 seats and we know we're not going to have 41 applicants uh but uh we originally had 20 um when school started we were down to 18 we did have some movement within our our school choice students that were already in the district so you know we're in good shape but if you uh you know take a look at the uh first table that we have up this St I want you to look at the high school school choice enrollment and and then go backwards to Middle School Russell Street and Shaker Lan you can see there's a decrease throughout time something we need to keep our eyes on uh may or may not start to uh decrease uh as as the years go by we'll see what kind of openings we have from year to year we are having more students uh apply for school choice at high school which is is a good thing because we have two uh times during their educational career where there's a draw other other uh schools uh from grade six to grade seven to Parker Charter and from grade nine to Nisha Tech so by the time we hit High School on an average we were down maybe 14 students or so so it's nice to to know that uh we're getting more interest in our high school to to keep that enrollment as stabilized as possible any questions question come mind any questions comments you um I guess what comes to mind to me is you touched on it the uh the leader in the clubhouse for school choice is the high school right pardon the leader in the clubhouse for school choice is of the four schools is the high school yes do you think that's a uh result of us offering less school choice seats at the elementary schools because we have classroom sizes that are you know we're anticipating classroom sizes showing at B year and we're sort of guarding against adding uh School of Choice seats that we don't have a really big Class come through yeah definitely uh we're you know as as our resident enrollment increases in certain grades that gives us less opportunity to take school choice students in and you can see by the the data that I have on this table that that is in fact happening and we'll see whether that Trend continues or not there's no solid indication at this point in time that that this is a trend and you know we'll wait and see we keep watching the kindergarten classes as they they come in in terms of their size but uh again as as our community grows it's U there's no definitive answer in terms of how much and if our enrollment will grow we just uh had a study from mapac s to us focusing on Massachusetts growth in public schools and and most of the growth is is Flatline or or decreasing and our resident enrollment has decreased and our school choice numbers have increased during the last five years so we we are balancing uh somewhat I mean last year we have an enrollment 1704 so we're at 1654 now so see bit of a difference um I it's been a long time since I've been deep in this um and I was part of watching school choice and and having enrollment as a parent and like from the outside looking in and it always seemed to me that High School junior really Junior High School into high school was when school Choice happened like elementary schools across the communities where where I knew families everybody was really happy with their like neighborhood elementary school so is it I mean it is it really a trend that they that we don't have many Choice seats in their early years or is it just like a thing that usually if there's going to be school choice if there's going to be movement among schools it's usually after sixth grade well that might have been the way it was years ago but we're finding more and more that we have more families from other communities wanting to get into Litton public school so okay we do have weight list interesting at time so yeah definite you know Trend that's been different from 10 years ago yeah and I I I think you know our younger parents are are really looking closely at school district success and and uh you know accolades given by by neighbors and Friends Etc and and they're they're pretty cautious about making decisions whe they going to send your children interesting change thank you um so if I were to compare the two slides that you have here I was just more curious about transitional so in the current school year we have total of 13 students in transitional and last year we had 18 students in their class I know it's a small number of students but um in our our kindergarten uh enrollment we're usually running 225 226 Michelle or sorry 125 126 12 I just talk about transition I was just looking at the offering so I believe we had cl to 20 offerings this past year so well it's 18 you a to 13 this year we've offered 20 spots so seven families declined it always really comes down to it is that parent want to en R their child in the transition program or move on toate and I I guess to to revisit a conversation we've had a number of times with the emphasis that our district has on seal and mtss one has to begin to question whether or not uh a transition program is is U something that we need within our district as we move forward transition in terms of its is original uh drawing card was an opportunity to provide families uh so to send a child to a program that focus more on social skill development so it wasn't based on academics but I think we're we're at a point now and in M sh and I have had a number of conversations we really need to evaluate that program this year and then we need to figure out at what point in time if we decide to make a change will it be advantageous to not only the famili but to the district as as well what I mean by that we we we need to continue on with our school choice numbers and the best best time to have students enter a school district for families is at an early grade rather than transitioning in a later grade so we just have to try to swing it where we're we're not going to lose too many school choice students and we're we' been only taking in five at this point in time in kindergarten and as you can see from the uh table that uh was on the screen uh every year we're we're losing uh way more than five from from our high school when they graduated luckily we've been able to pick some students up in between those grades and at the high school right yeah thank you I know there's a lot of talk in town about all the housing that's coming on board and um we'll see how that all shakes out it's somewhat thought out as to how it'll impact the schools uh but it's interesting to see that it's sort of a negative Trend with number of residents in in the district maybe because seniors don't have anywhere to go so they're squatting on a house that a family can't move into because the cost of housing so expensive anyways be a number of factors if you like me to sendly that impact report to the school committee do that you want to take a look at it that's something be interested what was that the mayac enrollment report oh yeah across Massachusetts sure okay great all right thank you for the update um second piece of new business this evening is the massachusett ballot question number two uh school committee will discuss the impact of uh ma B question number two so this is um Statewide vote that's coming up I think it's uh obviously ties in nicely with uh um it's going to impact the school so it's a yes or no vote and just wanted to give us an opportunity to um talk about it as a group if you have an opinion you're welcome to share if you don't have an opinion that's fine too um perhaps there are residents in town that uh you know aren't up to speed on some of this stuff and might look to us to be um you know might offer uh they might see our opinion as one of value and if we wanted to offer that it's totally fine I don't plan on us having a uh like a vote or Motion in support of it one way or another just kind of open dialogue if the you know superintendent or anyone else was in in attendance that wanted to offer an opinion as well um but for the purposes of the meeting I'll just kind of give a background summary and then see what and R you're welcome to contribute as well um so before us this evening is um question number two um the elimination of the mcast as a school graduation requirement um everyone gets these at home they're made readily available just about everywhere um but this proposed law would eliminate the requirement that a student passed the Massachusetts comprehensive assessment System test um in mathematics science and technology and English in order to receive a high school diploma instead in order for a student to achieve uh high school diploma the proposed law required the student to complete cours workk certified by the students District as um demonstrating Mastery the competencies contained in the State academic standards in math science and technology and English as well as any additional areas determined by the board of Elementary and secondary education a yes vote on this would eliminate the requirement that the student pass the mcast in order to graduate and a no vote makes no change and if you if you take a minute to read through this both sides make their points um there is a a uh sort of a majority report uh included this as well where there's a conclusion um so the majority of the special joint committee um ultimately feels that for the reasons outlined in their conclusion they recommend that did not be enacted at the present time but if you read the argument for those in favor those points are made as well um I'm happy to start and and you guys can fill in the blanks or if anyone else wants to start that's fine too Elaine I'm here yeah you do you want to go ahead and start um I um I think I thought it was important for us to discuss it um honestly I don't have a super strong opinion either way um I do think that we're fortunate that we live in Massachusetts quality of uh educa public education of Massachusetts is strong as as we offer reference in our meetings because we're fortunate to receive some really nice praise uh our schools do well in a uh in a competitive Massachusetts environment already um so I think I think we already have a leg op in terms of um by the fortune of where we live we have access to Great education um do I think that having one standardized test that everybody has to fit into to receive a graduation requirements um the best idea not necessarily with all the emphasis on um I'm get my acronym mied up now but all the emphasis we've had on udl and how students can receive information by various forms I also think it's important for us to take a step back and allow students to demonstrate that theyve receed Mastery of those of that curriculum in various ways and perhaps not just a standardized test um the goes on to say that roughly only 1% of students have a uh ultimately don't receive a diploma due to uh passing the mcast exam and while that's great you know fine and dandy for the 99% that ultimately pass the exam it does leave that 1% without a high school diploma and these perhaps are folks that are looking um for employment Beyond high school and they perhaps might be seeking um jobs hopefully with Benefits that are full-time that uh perhaps have a sort of a entrylevel requirement prerequisite of a high school diploma and it prevents them from um Landing that full-time employment position get receiving benefits you know able to uh advance in their the workforce it can be a a stumbling block for that % so um I don't have any concern in Littleton that if we removed the mcast all of a sudden our academic standards are going to come down and we're going to push kids through and people are going to graduate and we're going to lessen the uh the academic rigor for those um I do perhaps question whether or not that might take place in some other areas of the state um and I think unfortunately a standardized test is probably the only way to do it but if I had to if I had to cast my opinion I would say that an elimination of it is I would be fine with eliminating the mcast as it relates to Littleton and as it relates to sort of the general population of Massachusetts I think obviously there ought to be some uh some eyes on those my understanding is that the mcast continues it's just not a graduation requirement that's correct so my my thinking here is that they're ought to be some eyes on those test scores and the graduation requirements that those are fulfilling where they receive a diploma but they haven't passed passed I mean there should be not not scrutiny but someone should be um someone should be examining that for a number of years to make sure that the academic standards haven't spped to allow those kids to to go off without mastering those basic skill sets that a a high school education in Massachusetts would would require so my personal two cents on it feel free to agree disagree offer your two cents Elaine yeah hi um thanks Justin that was a really great summary of um pros and cons and uh you covered a lot of ground there much of which I agree with I just wanted to share um a few resources for folks that are still trying to make their minds up about how to vote on this um if you Google the center for State policy analysis this comes from Tufts University they did a a pretty short um policy analysis on question two eliminating the mcast graduation requirement and um it's very readable they make the arguments for both sides um I found it really helpful to read when I was you know trying to work my way through all of the pros and cons of this issue um I also thought it was interesting that the mass Association for school superintendent is recom recommending a no vote on this question but the Massachusetts Association of school committees is recommending a yes vote um my personal thoughts on it are I I think the graduation requirement using a standardized test like the mcast is I I think um the purpose behind it is becoming obsolete because the skills that we look for now in a 21st century education are more um you know with collaboration and critical thinking skills and um inquiry based learning and those are all things that are not assessed on a standardized test so having it be a graduation requirement gives that one test a lot of power that may not be appropriate and I think the fact that students will still be taking the mcast will still get District data you know our district and all the districts across the state so if if there is concern a District's expect you know high expectations are starting to slip because they're not um you know they don't have that graduation requirement those scores will certainly tell the story um I think desie already has a lot of levers that they exert on school districts to maintain high quality you know we've got standards that we have to meet um there's audits there you know there's all kinds of um other ways to make sure that education in Massachusetts remains at a a really high level so um the other the other piece of it is I I hate to see the amount of time that teachers need to spend preparing their students for this test because it is so high stakes and that is time that students could be spending learning skills that would take them into the future in a more authentic way um and the the last point I wanted to make um I'm the parent of a a high needs student he's an adult now um but the graduation requirement did exist when he was in 10th Grade and he struggled multiple times to pass those three tests and it was a source of high anxiety in our household because to Justin's point if you don't have a high school diploma it really limits your job prospects for the future and it's it felt at the time like a very arbitrary measure of what he would be able to do in his postgraduate life so you know I know in the statistics that there's only like 700 students across the state every year that don't pass but if that's 1% it sounds like a small matter but that's 700 students like that's 700 human beings that whose lives are impacted because for whatever reason they can't pass a standardized test yes so um I personally am going to be voting yes um and I thank Justin for bringing up this opportunity to um have a discussion about it at school committee just in case um you know any folks are listening and uh are curious about what we all think about it great thanks elain anyone else care to sure I'll I'll talk about it a little bit um since I took it last year no two years ago um yeah I agree with the points that that have been made so far that uh you're going into the future uh you're going to need more skills than just math and reading and maybe a standardized test isn't the best way to do that and that's the reason a lot of colleges have gotten rid of their standardized testing requirements is how you do on one given day isn't necessarily reflective of you as a person and limiting those 700 students job prospects after for that is not great I mean even in our school a lot of teachers uh policy are that they will drop your lowest grade uh from your quarter grades because they think they acknowledge it sometimes it it you know it just doesn't work out well but yeah I agree like going in the future uh skills like technology collaboration uh they're going to be more important than just uh test performance so I I would support this motion and especially if mcast continues and we can still collect data see what districts need more funding than others I don't see a reason to not eliminate it as a requirement thank you now Al go I very briefly want to agree with what what Justin El said um I um don't find mcast as relevant as I remember when it was rolled out and I think we had different expectations I I I I know when I remember being rolled out I thought it was going to to be kind of more interactive more um more alive and I I'm it it's its execution I think is disappointed to some extent and I would very much um welcome it not being one of the the holdup for someone being um graduating um I think that we have excellent tools to evaluate students without the mcaps and that's and I would I would like to see us lean into those those tools better so I I I agree with the yes vote um to get rid of the passes a graduation requirement um I agree with what everyone has has said so I think the only thing that I want to add or ask to um maybe contribute to the conversation was just from the Educators like what are the other measurements that districts in Massachusetts are using like if this is our metric of being able to to compare schools Apples to Apples what's the fallback if we pull Outcast away is there still some type of there isn't a another standardized metric mean our our curriculum standards really Drive what we teach in all schools in Massachusetts exams assessments more correctly if they're traditional assessments or usually designed by the company that's providing the resource or teach generated as well what we do in Littleton is we develop common assessments so that's uh say student in grade five uh with six different Math teachers they would administer a common assessment to all six classes so we you know we do what we feel is necessary to develop strong assessments within the district and it's kind of school district depend to so yeah I mean mcast is the only standardized component at this point in time is driven by federal requir as well standard yeah so this just this just removes the one piece that it gets tied to a graduation requirement which so far we're all in favor of that offering our independent opinions but I think we probably also be of the opinion that we should do as well on the exam as we possibly could because the information's going to be posted it's going to end up it's going to end up being t the Boston magazine or whatever uh school ratings and all that good stuff so it's still high stakes it just doesn't eliminate those 700 students who perhaps could have uh have mastered the curriculum through various means and have demonstrated their Mastery other than a standardized test [Music] so um yeah I I was going to add on to some of those same points um Justin that you know Stacy when you're talking about comparing Apples to Apples there you know Desi doesn't promote that kind of competitiveness between districts but we all know it happens and there's several Publications that make it happen and I you know I I was considering that when I was thinking how I was going to vote on question two and I really feel like districts are still going to compete against each other they're still going to want those high mcast scores um but that's sort of a um a district to District at like a district level um measure where whereas the graduation requirement itself impacts individuals so you know to me I don't think we're going to be losing any of the the high quality of of the um high quality education that I I do think mcass has promoted because it did you know when it first came uh um when it first came around it did increase accountability and I saw that impact in the classroom that all of a sudden curriculums were being aligned to the standards in a way that they never were before because now we were being held accountable but that's at a district level um and I think that will that will um be the case as long as there is an mcast so but I I think the graduation requirement hurts individual students and and that's my concern when when I decided to vote Yes well T thank you um you know you're welcome to you don't have to say anything think I have anything specific to add I think a lot of what you all have said standardized tests are very tricky because that it is sort of this one siiz fits-all approach in terms of test taking And yet when you do things at scale it's very hard to individualize so would you know and so it is a double-edged sword there but I think the data is certainly compelling in the the number of students who don't pass mcast but could be eligible to graduate where if that Gap was a lot larger especially in our state I think that would be very concerning and I think a lot of the data or the argument to vote know or to keep mcast certainly you know pits Massachusetts against some other states perhaps where that Gap is larger but the data there is really important I think but it does sort of I think put some accountability on the state at a much larger level to not let that start to slip which can easily happen like to maintain this sort of high level through other means if it's if it's not mcast so I certainly am leaning one way but I haven't decided because I still want to continue to do research and have conversations with Educators but I think all the points you all have made very valid this has been a a great conversation very very thoughtful conversation in terms of what's best for students that is our Focus you know for me you don't mind uh I'll take a I guess I'm not a firm position but during my career I I've I've seen various degrees of accountability beginning when I was a high school teacher we had accountability exams called ental exams and in your senior year in cor subjects 100% of your mark was determined a provintial exam then uh they decided to get rid of it for a few years four years and the 4year period somehow it came back again and they redu the percentage to 50% but that was a long time ago and education has evolved significantly during that time Justin you talked about udl and udl also promotes multiple means of representation which means multiple Mees of of demonstrating learning so in in the spirit of that uh I I I think most districts that have adopted that kind of philosophy teaching and learning uh certainly wouldn't in my opinion benefit to have an mcast exam it was a graduation requirement but I still like the idea personally that there is some type of standardized assessment in districts throughout the state I think there some some advantage to that and I'm I'm supportive of the fact that they're they're not integrated into those students more because they can be us a non student level in terms of looking at the school we analyze down to the student level to to take a look at our practice and and review and revise and alter but I think having not having that hurdle to cross read of 700 students in the states would be advantageous good all right I think we covered it thank you everybody for the conversation hopefully that was of value to those that might listen in um we will move on to our presentation portion of the evening so first up we're going to hear School Improvement plan updates four schools for principles um you guys usually have a pre-planned order for me he was pretty quick to get ready to jump up go backwards tonight go backwards there you go make footb change yes all right before we get started uh we we're doing something a little different this year we we talked about the fact that throughout the years we have had multiple sets of goals we have so many goals and we felt it was time to to start continue to look at bigger goals so that we make sure we spend adequate time on them goal those goals that are most important to staff and administrators school so we've asked the uh principles tonight to talk about their two big goals that they're working on this year they are also working on the other goals that are included in their Sip and we've included the Sip in the package but we just want to want to really really take a look at what are these goals doing in terms of uh resulting in positive change and not only positive change are they powerful enough to be inculcated into the culture of the school and and and the answer is yes in most cases but there are certain goals that require more time and I think that's something that would have been lost a bit in the last five six years so we wanted to to take a look at at this a bit differently and start focusing in on what are the what are the two huge goals or big goals that that you really want to make sure you make movement on within your school great thank you so our first Big Goal that we I'll mention tonight um is directly related to the assessment section of our strategic plan as well as our school Improvement plan um and it comes out of is a result of our April collaborative conference visit with me ask they identified a number of priority areas and one of the things that they us to do is put these priority areas in our school Improvement plan so this particular will be in our new updated School Improvement plan this far so but this is an out for that that visit last spring so the first one is you know the charge that Litton High School will develop methods of assessing what proficiency looks like for each aspect of the vision of the graduate which we're now taking to be call calling the portrait of a learner and we'll develop and Implement a full process to assess and communicate each learner's progress that's a big goal it's going to take time that's going to take lots of collaboration among the staff to sort of figure out the assessments the different types of projects and the design of this and and the ratings for it so we dedicated last May the next month after that April visit we dedicated our May school-based professional development day to initiate this work and then we continued that uh in our recent September professional development day so this work is underway uh but it will take time we reviewed the six competency areas made some notes here to sort of um sort of elaborate upon big goals and so I'll reference them here we reviewed six competency areas for the LHS vision of The Graduate and current identified skills andity and you've heard previous presentation as part of that those key areas broadly speaking are effective Communicator critical thinker skillful collaborator mindful learner healthy and well balanced learner and engaged citizen um so assessments will need some form of assessment and determination around what is a proficient um critical thinker at L High School needs to be um developed and implemented so so we we begun to consider methods um of assessing what proficiency looks like in each of these skills area skill areas we you'll be getting future presentations I'm sure updates about this how this work is going as we get more more specific um here are some of the questions we're discussing as we undertake this one where should we assess each specific skill how should we assess each skill you know is it are we using language like they use in mcast not meeting expectations or something like developing partially meeting expectations or approaching this more standards based language meeting expectations proficient meeting exceeding expectations Advanced so there's allot kinds of different ways to rate these um levels of proficiency so that how should we assess is underway should we use ratings and grades or person or some combination of personal Reflections and self assessments the documenting student progress and skill levels and you're likely to see that sure with different types of presentations and projects and exhibitions um you I think some of you are familiar with the work of um the you know SI school chart Parker chart is a little bit like this they do exhibitions and demonstrations portfolios so I think you'll see some more of that at lton High School in the turn or in short future um what experiences can we design that allow students to practice and get feedback on the skills expected for LHS graduates so what experience that we design and the other thing that came up and we did a we had a collaborative workshop with another District principal from n with two associate principles made a presentation at admin Retreat and they they've done a lot of work on the portrait of a learner I think we mentioned that quite a bit at the previous school committe meeting and one of the things that they're put into their assessments and their years ahead of other districts and so we're learning a lot from them and we have really good close collaboration back with playing them tonight football that's a non-re interesting task yeah so what potential I can statements might students complete and communicate to show their skill level the I can statements and there you can go to their website and see what kind of statements they use when they look at assessing proficiency we're looking at that as well whether we Ed that in our our assessments and some form or another so future work in this area this big goal is creating assessments to measure progress and meeting the skills and students will in the future document and demonstrate their skills expected for an LHS graduate um this work is probably going you know we have a lot of work that we want to accomplish this particular school year and then in Earnest we certainly want to accomplish it by the following school year because we have an accreditation visit in May of 2026 it's a desial visit where it you know they'll come in and evaluate and see how we did on our and give us a you know progress report for sure about we have to report out to them our progress on this initiative and really our accomplishment of the goal so we are committed to this work and seeing it through by by having it done certainly by May of 2026 and hopefully months ahead of that is it so the next goal and another very big goal and this is uh something we I I did say the purposes of the school Improvement plan by June 2020 it should say uh by June 2025 develop and Implement a well-designed clearly communicated and documented multi-tiered system of support commonly referred to as mtss multi-tiered systems of support programs aimed to provide comprehensive academic behavioral and social emotional support we already have a lot of the elements of this in place you know as a high performing high school but we feel that we can optimize and be more effective in a variety of ways so we really want to make this you know our goal is to really clearly have a well-designed then I go back to this clearly communicated documented help assist and support that's the goal we want our staff to be able to articulate know what this is understand it be able to say in you know a couple of V points this is what yeah what is what does that what does mtss look like at both in high school we want to be have everybody be conversent and knowledgeable about it be able to explain it so just to give you a sense of little background in the public as well there are tiered levels of support and I know you've had presentations from central office administrators previously about uh ntss models and typically consists of three tiers of support tier one is universal support for all students with high quality core instruction and schoolwide practices so that's how we do things each and every day with all our students and then we provide targeted tier two targeted interventions for students who require additional specific support guidance and time I know Jason's going to be talking a little bit about this perhaps I supp put the your school Improvement plan um and you there's going to be a lot of good close connections with LMS as I was going through school his school Improvement Plan update for tonight and the school Improvement the actual School Improvement plan I was saying wow we could do a this is going to be perfect because we're so Ali six we can do this work together six to 12 we're looking to do a lot of the same things but really identify how do we support struggling Works in one way or another that we need a little more smaller group more indiv idiz instruction and that's an area we think we can become more effective at so we have an academic support center and we appreciate the school committee and superintendent um funding for an academic support Cent teacher this past year we added that as a position at the high school so that that's a good step in the right direction tier three is more are more intensive interventions for students with significant needs often provided on an individual basis and may involve specialized Services both districts come a long way with that type of um you know actually providing those Services directly in high school our PACE program our 9 to 12 you know significantly students with significant special needs we also have the transition program 18 to 22 that was at couple of years more than a couple of years back and we have the bridge program that is along with our AC support center launched the last couple of two years ago so we're we're doing a lot there for sure here are some things LHS will do throughout the year for the tier one we're certainly going to emphasize our district curriculum accommodation plan which is available for the public on the district website they want to see that and reinforcing Effectiveness and followup of our student support team that's the key thing we really want to get going this year our faculty have talked a lot about this is really getting that student support team meeting regularly identifying students tracking their their progress practicing the success of the the interventions so we're going to be creating and implementing specific student um student support Student Success plans lots of other schools do this was talking the principal here surely they they've been putting these plans in place it's not it's not a new thing but we're going to get more explicit about doing it for kids who are really struggling and more closely tracking their their progress monitoring their progress really closely um so with that in mind there'll be we'll be tracking schoolwide data related to student performance and conducting regular reviews at a regular schedule at reg or reviewing data at regular scheduled intervals um ensuring frequent communication of course with student progress parents and students would part of this looking at student schedules and making adjustments for those who need additional support during school day something we'll be doing more this year we do this anyway but what we're looking to do is be more much more deliberate about it intentional and and and checking in on how are we doing monitoring our progress our success providing more common plan time was identified also in that collaborative conference report last April so we're going to be doing that with our Flex block providing time for teachers during the school day and the flex block so they can discuss instructional practice practices and review student data together in fact the ELA Department uh will be doing R doing the they'll be taking a mod all teachers have been scheduled have be covered for a whole class period and it's combined with our Flex BL so they'll have 90 minutes in the morning dedicated to reviewing mcast force all together and that's that's a new thing not just left after school where sometimes it's hard to get everybody to attend you know on you know or stay the whole length of time we are embedding that in the school day and we're going to see more of that the math department has already met in a similar fashion to look at the mcast data this the past results that we we will be presenting on in November we're going to be reviewing documenting and continually implementing hi standard based high quality curriculum instructional materials that work is already very much underway with the viral mapping review so that's going to continue we're going to continue to strengthen udl practices that address academic behavior and social emotional wellbeing we already have launched our character strong curriculum and our advisory so we're making a lot of grounding a lot of gain of gains there we're developing implementing any necessary and additional tier supports and resources and we'll continue of course our professional focus on assessment and practices so I wanted to give you made some notes because I wanted to tell you what's involved with accomplishing that big goal and as you could as you're taking that in I know that's a lot to absorb but there's a lot of things that will be happening simultaneously throughout the building over the next year and a half with the mtss school and it should make us a much stronger School much more dat focused on data and uh in monitoring student progress [Music] closely great questions for questions comments I know the end of the year gets super busy with our agendas but I think it's G to be like a common theme because uh big goals if we could we'd love to invite you back towards the end of like may you know late April just to get an update on the progress that they making yeah that' be really important so El yeah me again um John I just want to thank you for the thoughtfulness you put into this and the way your two goals really um align I I'm really excited about the vision of The Graduate and all of the steps that you're planning to take with that initiative and then how beautifully the work on mtss aligns with that because that's really all about individual Student Success and um super excited to hear about your Student Success plans and utilizing um the recap to which I hate to throw all these acronyms around that's the district curriculum accommodations plan this is uh typically this is for other folks not you John but just um it's a list of different kinds of accommodations that can be provided to students who are struggling within the regular Ed classroom um but to be able to um really track students who are struggling but not enough to be on an IEP and looking at that Decap to to for strategies that can be used to support them really shows your emphasis on individual Student Success which which then leads beautifully into your vision of a graduate so it's um I think it's really exciting what you've got laid out this year um I do have a question this might be more for um at the district level but it seems like um I know at least at the high school and the middle school there's an emphasis on mtss and I was wondering if there coordination at the district level for mtss or is this something that individual schools are are taking on their own yes no there's a thanks good question this is a districtwide initiative so we're we're all focusing on on tier one two tier two and tier three ofss in all of our schools okay is is there somebody responsible for that or it a shared responsibility well school principls and director of teaching and learning and I'm also involved in it as well so is Lynn as I've mentioned before we're we're trying to uh have a better marriage between special education and regular education a lot of information that can be shared and we're moving more towards inclusivity within our district for students in special education what that means is is having a Services going to classroom when possible rather than having students pull from classroom so it all ties in and it has to be it has to be kind of a shared responsibility in order for it to be effective when we're we're talking to uh staff uh District PDS uh that message and and uh approach uh has to be replicated at the school level with the the principles as well as instructional leaders yeah I think it's it's important um maybe even to talk about it your leadership meetings because there's so much overlap between a lot of these initiatives you talk about like mtss and udl and vision of a graduate and probably me many more um and I I think it's um we do so yeah that's great yeah because it's I think if you can find the through lines it makes it more more effective and less um like one more initiative yeah I was just G to say if I may jump in because mtss is an overarching umbrella that all of these other fall under right so um the whole alphabet soup really falls under mtss and so it is um shared responsibility amongst all of us right but it is something that we are very thoughtfully thinking of how can we expand without it being overwhelming and trying to shift the entire system overnight because then it would be more of a flop um and so all of these pieces that we're talking about all fall under an effective mtss and so it's kind of happening um slowly but methodically in order to get to this point where we can say that we have an effective impactful mtss that touches upon all of these other pieces that we've been working on for many years and so that's why it's hard to pinpoint one person one thing one event one day where it's going to be all said and done because it's a constant process um over overarching within this mtss system okay thank you that's very helpful thank you very much thank you thank you thank you um I I'll be a saint our first goal really revolves around the implementation of udl it's part of our instructional practice but within that there are components and the component that we're focusing on this year is the Cornerstone of relationship building between staff and students I think anyone who who practices udl understands that you have to know your students in order to be able to know how to teach them you need to know their interests their background their experiences and our our staff gets to know students but but it I think it's important for me for us to take that a step further and part of my job is to provide opportunities or small Nas for these things to happen and so that's really what we've been focusing on so far this year so for example um I brought in uh Dr Alex herberg a clinical psychologist to talk to our staff on an early release day about trauma informed being trauma informed but not just being trauma informed being trauma responsive what does that look like in a class when a student refuses to do the work what does it look like how do we respond when a student refuses to go to class what does it look like when a student is disregulated and now all of a sudden finds himself with 25 other sets of eyes on and how do we impact and how do we and how do we support our teachers and Empower our teachers to be able to handle those things he then spent a full day with us and met with every single person in the school who works with students to have those same conversations individually in small groups was actually was it was quite inspiring so what we've done then is then we used that as a springboard and so I have challenged my staff to find the time and the effort to connect with kids but not just to say listen I want you to connect with kids so what we did is we broke students up or we broke teachers up into teams with the idea that each person or team is going to select a number of students that they are going to spend that extra time and effort with the problem is if we just say that it'll never happen or it won't really come to full fruition so we try I I crafted it to be just like we would do in evaluation they have to identify which students that they want to connect with and the goal was not just to choose the same students that you see every day and all the time but those others that might come through your classroom and never get that extra attention it doesn't have to be kids who are just struggling to perform academically or socially it can be the kids who are who who we just say you're going to be fine because you're going to get what you need later those kids often don't get what they need that individualized attention so it was a challenge to the staff to say okay you are going to do that so you're going to identify the student you're going to identify um the goal what do you hope to get out of this right you need to go into this with a goal because if it's just to connect with kids that that doesn't mean anything so what is it what impact do you specifically want to have um how do you intend to do it right like give me an idea of what what steps you're going to take to make that impactful and then finally um once you've identify the goal and the purpose right then it's how do you know it works and so adding that evidentiary piece onto it to say listen how do you know that you had an impact in this how do you know and it can be something anecdotal or right it can be something if you if you chose more of an academic Bend to be able to do that but the idea is we want we want to hold ourselves accountable and and that day I chose three students three six creators and I started my process we had a lunch group yesterday it was awesome um the St one student asked for lobster for well you might as well you might as well go big kid so h no no 699 Lobster special at Market B that day but um but the idea though is within this we identified 60 students 65 students that we our staff is going are going to go out of our way to connect with and build a relationship with that we would not normally otherwise that was one of the most inspiring days I've had as administrator in the in the eight years of I've been Littleton because it was coming together watching teachers get back to why we got into teaching what made us want to do this job for a living and then providing an opportunity and an expectation for that to happen so my hope is to see us reach about 30% of our population uh right now we're at about 17% so we not quite want to double that by the end of the year but hope is that that momentum people saying wow this is actually fun I'm really enjoying this you know what I'm going to take on somebody else and it was really inspiring to see the the the sheet with who they chose and what they HED to get out of it and and those kids that were that were selected so that's the part of udl that we are working on right now in our building is is is finding an opportunity to build those relationships with hope if you can know your students then your lesson plans reflect that and then we see that academic increase so that's where we are for goal one goal two is around as John said our mtss system uh we've been in the process for a couple of years it was the first thing that I wanted to tackle when I when I was hired as a assistant principal eight years ago and we started last year sort of Reinventing how it is and so this year we have what we have done is we've taken away the math lab lit lab ASC identity a separate class that we remove kids from art or music or computers to attend and now what we've done is we've have our intervention is pushing into classes where the need is working with students on the content that they're working on in the moment not a week later right or a month later depending on schedules and getting that real time help that real skill building need but in math and in ela so that we are responsive in that moment we also want to make sure that kids when they have that need met that we then sort of graduate them out and we open up to other kids we want to increase the number of students that get this service and get this this intervention not limit it to a handful and so this year right now it's about building schedules and building that how do we make that work and so we' started it's a little clunky to start because we're trying to you're trying to schedule 13 different kids and how you going to get to all those classes but we're we're getting on board we're having conversations with our interventionists about how do we make this work what should be realistic expectation for them and for the kids so that's the work we're doing this year to meet the goals of of an overhaul to our mtss system in the second goal and implementation of M on our first goal thank you sorry um yeah can you say I I'm looking at your first goal about the um engagement of Staff with students um and and you said the your purpose with that is to get to know students better to support with udl the appropriate udl strategies for their learning um is part of are are you providing your staff with some ideas about how to um take the information that they're getting from forming these relationships and actually learn about students learning styles like how to best engage them in the work or how the how the work needs to be presented to them or different ways for students to show what they've learned you I'm just wondering what the connective tissue is between getting to know the students and then somehow fine-tuning that to actually know more about their learning style to support the udl strategies right so once we get into this this groove and build this momentum to what we're doing then we'll start talking about specific strategies Lane about how do we make that happen um I don't want to hit them with everything all at once right now we just want to focus on the most important aspect of building that relationship and then once we've developed that Comfort level then it becomes something that my hope is is that that teachers are more open more open to and more engaged with because they're finding the value and that intrinsic value that speaks to why they got this originally so yes the answer to your question is yes just not right now yep so this is baby steps baby steps yep okay thank you very much question I I just want to make sure I understand uh this because I love the goal I love the work that you guys are doing but what I've heard you say in the past was um I'm a Middle School Parent I've been in the gymnasium when you've given the talk what I thought I heard you say was every one of you is going to have your kid walk through that door and they're going to hear their name call that day uh every one of your students is GNA uh over the course of this year uh we have a goal of making sure that every single one of your students has a adult Connection in the building someone that knows them so that they don't come and go day by day 180 days and just kind of move on y so my assumption was LOF to goal but over time that'd be like about 100% of the student body population and then here you've got 30% and I'm just wondering if it's because sort of maybe perhaps 70% of the student body population maybe takes care of itself like there's that natural I gravitate towards this teacher because we have common interest or I like that teaching style or we have things in common or exactly and perhaps these are the 30 where it's like this 30% might slip through 67th and eighth grade and have not made that adult connection so% corre is that what's going on there are some kids Justin that I will connect with just because the nature of right that I don't have to necessarily identify because I'm going to spend time with them I'm really talking to their families as part of what I hate teachers will do the same thing so we take those kids and we just make this assumption that that that they were're doing out the challenge was to reach out to kids that I might not normally otherwise or kids that will only see me as the authoritarian because they're in my office for specific reason and so trying to to get our staff to to look at kids in that way who are the kids that you might have to really put in some effort to connect with it so we're starting with that 30% with the idea in the hope that a we actually go above 30% I just want to set 30 floor but but B that there's a tremendous amount of kids who by Nature we will have develop those connections with and that happens in things like clubs and activities just the day-to-day hallway conversations so yeah you're right there it is a lofty goal and my hope is at the end to be able for us to be able to sit down and say okay who have we connected with let's see just how close to 100% that we can get good I question follow up on that because I had seen that too and I think 30% is a great number but I was like what about the other 70% so it's really good to explain kind of like how the school you guys kind of take care of each other anyway so you guys are just trying to find those maybe 30% that maybe need that little that little extra help but yeah um have you thought about ever reaching out to the kids too and saying Hey do you is are there any students here that actually want to make a connection with anyone in particular that they feel like they haven't been able to or just to kind of flip that as well to give students the same opportunity to connect maybe with an adult that they want to or that they're interested we haven't open up to that that's something we're thinking about we always want to try and increase student voice in our in our buildings but also you know I I think it's a great idea to to once we get going with this say the students like who you know who needs that connection who wants it who you want to connect with I I think we can absolutely do something about that engaged with it yeah love I like it do that so Jason I'm not sure how deep of a dive you want to go a number of years ago I developed a professional development offering personality typing for students and staff and I aligned it with student learning styles so if you if you want to go that deep I can certainly know help you help you do that and what it does is it it allows teachers uh and students uh to learn how they best learn and uh it also develops classroom profiles so sometimes you may have a class that's really struggling with with learning and behavior and quite often the the teacher is using a methodology that uh may be a strong learning strategy for for them but it's not for that particular group of students so I used it for probably six seven years in high school and it really worked out well so well when the time comes I'm open suggestions and resources and anything that that will make this work because as Justin said I made that promise on back to school night I maintain that that is that is my goal and I won't settle for anything less so we're going to push as close as we can it's critical the day and age that we live in that we that we shoot for that 100% 90 would be great but that it's that other 10% that just it would be a shame if they walked out having not had them yeah I appreciate that it's such a formative time too and I think what you said about the Educators and why you went into teaching also so really struck a nerve because God bless you all for working with 11 to 13 year olds all day they're fun um I mean I work I come from the world of preschool also very difficult but they're cute so it's a it's a challenging age and I think that connection like you said is really important in they're feeling belonging in a school at that time Middle School Educators I think were born into it I think there's just something about us they want are successful yeah I'll speak for myself I'm mature I know it but that's also because because I can talk like a 13-year-old and I find 13-year-old humor funny it it becomes a plus that may not work in in you know in other areas of education but the other part too is is that idea of pushing it to the the the reasons why we get into this this was also my way of painting people in their corner and that sounds devious but I also want to be able to say I I want to POS it in way how are you going to say no to working with kids how you going to say no to impacting life individually and if I can get people to that point then maybe we can we can turn from ah this is one more thing to you know what this is one thing that's really really important I want to do it so yeah we're on it and middle school kids they really one of the things that Dr HB and I'll set down talked about is that generationally the differences between kids when you know preco in the 2000s and 1990s and today one of the things that he cited was that kids today they crave adult relationships in ways the previous generations did not I didn't want have conversation with my teachers I didn't want to hang out in the principal's office now I'm telling you what you come into our school kids just swarm the teachers they just they want to have that adult connection like I've never seen before so he's right that change allows us to connect with kids I mean it's just it's it's almost being handed to us on the silver platter we just have to take advantage of that opportunity and so that's what we tend to do yes I just wanted to check in with what resources this might have uncovered any resource needs and um not to put you on the spot just to open up the door that because when you say trauma um right and it it just I just think that in today's world I'm sure that that kids are hearing and seeing things they they aren't going to maybe come in and act out but there's a lot going on and if there's anything you know that that comes up that can help the therapy dogs and other tools that that are helpful in those situations our teams are really good about recognizing that in students and by hopeless that go that relationship building that because some kids are very private about it yeah and they don't want to share that we also are in constant contact with fam so there are things we can pick up little hints and things so between our adjustment counselor school psychologist care Solace you know the Outreach that we normally do I feel confident that that when these things do do come up some we have we have plenty on our radar but there's always those ones that we had no idea what was happening at home yeah and so I do feel comfortable with the structure that we have to address that at the moment we also have outside resources there we can reach out to at any point in time feel but I just I'm glad that this is really on your radar I mean how can we not be traumatized open open up the exactly newspaper exactly it's a different day yeah thank you all right thank you thank you all right evening everyone good evening uh you will certainly find some similarities in Russell Street's first school and Shaker Lane's first school um because it has all to do with the implementation of our new literacy curriculum wh wisdom uh which we're launching this year uh K5 um so that first goal is all about a successful first year of implementation knowing full well that a full implementation takes a few years to get under our Bel to finally feel comfortable but um that first year is really critical to making sure that that we're set up for success and and doing all that we can for our students with this new style of literacy instruction um I know that we're going to be back in November uh to talk a lot more about wh and wisdom um so we can get into all of the the nitty-gritty and and details of of what that program is all about and how it is a big shift pedagogically for uh our teachers and for our students um but in terms of the first goal um we are already well underway in in that implementation starting from a lot of Summer work from the implementation team uh teams of teachers uh that are representative across all grade levels um to start understanding what that program is getting some training um and starting the planning so they can uh do some of the heavy lifting for that first module to get things up and running for the first U module of the school year uh we've already had a few professional development days and early release days where we have had the publish great minds come in and give their standard uh launch uh implementation workshops but now we're getting into um the fun part of of having our own um faculty and staff members leading some professional development doing a lot of that planning um and making sure that we are of and running with the new curriculum so lot more to come but uh already go on our way uh second goal is all around something that I learned about as I was coming in and getting to know Russell Street School which is stripe and um in talking with teachers and and kind of diving into it stripe is a program that um is uh in in in its Essence similar to Heart at Shaker Lane um and was birthed out of uh from from a staff initiative a few years ago um when Russell streets uh Russell Street needed some uh some changes and some livelihood and um needed some some support in in helping form a really solid School Community um and then from you know what I've gathered Co came along and a lot of the things that had really good momentum going into 2020 um kind of fizzled just out of necessity so that second goal is all really about um revitalizing the stripe initiative and um emboldening it and empowering our teachers to really um blow that out to make it part of our school Community um I want when when you would ask ask a student what does it mean to be a Russell Street student I you know through through this goal I would want students to one of the first things out of their mouth they oh it means stripe like we we are a stripe we earn our Stripes at Russell Street and then they can tell you all about what that means what it looks like how it is infused in all aspects of their day um and how it helps them uh be more successful and productive and a member of the Russell Street community so um again that goal is already underway I um put a call out for a stripe PLC or a stripe team um so and I had a few Educators volunteer um a couple grade level teachers a UA teacher um and a title one teacher volunteer to to head up a professional Learning Community to really be at the Forefront of making sure that stripe is embedded within the school Community um I come from a background of schools that that uses um PBIS structures positive behavioral interventions and supports um to really shape School communities and Craft um expectations that are um consistent and predictable and understandable for our students so that they know um and of how their day should go and what is expected of them and we can positively praise all the wonderful things that our students are doing so that team is uh we we traed some some vision statements and we backwards mapped what we wanted strip to be and now we're in the thick as you can see in the goal of uh chipping away at the things that make it more visible and get students more uh involved and um incen vising the great things that our students are doing um it goes beyond into the community of getting community members involved and making sure that that they're on board and and showing their stripes uh at home as well um and you know just just making making stripe be uh what makes a part of what makes Russell Street such a great place to be happy to take questions great give your hand up again it is I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm not there in first and I'm in Vermont but I promise I'll be there next time um I I just wanted to I'm so excited to hear more about wit and wisdom so I'll hold off my questions um because I I'm glad we'll hear about about that in November but I just really want to commend you for picking that um that stripe program as the area of your focus this year because you know what a great way to get to know a new school community and for them to get to know you and you know to work within an existing structure but to um you know put your own skills and expertise and energy and heart into so I think this is so smart and and so beneficial to the school community so thank you for for taking that on questions comments feedback so we don't yeah that sounds this sounds great I think Russell students definitely needed to have some um something injected into it from what from what I understand like it just needed a little bit more energy brought into it and a little bit more Community feeling to it and I'm really I'm really appreciative that you're going to spend some time to to really work on that and bring it to life so thank you yeah in and looking at the school Improvement plan included in the packet it was July 1 2023 before you showed up as great as Sherl Temple was and we all love her you know her name's still on it let's let's get you on there let's get you to own it look through this if you're like this is the greatest thing I've ever seen I can't wait to implement it take the bowl by the horns and run with it if you want to make a couple you know comic onald tweaks to it power is yours I appreciate that thing okay great thank you everyone hello you go at the end um so col talked a lot about the PD that we're working on and I think one of the one things I want to pick up on is the part that we're really now moving into supporting the staff and he mentioned one of our last protocols last uh PDS was on actually different protocols with the program and so the implementation team which is compromised of teachers and reading Specialists and administrators we attended a six-hour PD and then then turned around and gave that PD to our staff so we put a lot of time Russell Street put a lot of time into that presentation for everyone and walking away that day I remember remember one of the kindergarten teachers said I think this is the first time I heard people laugh and smile and feel comfortable because the PD was it was palatable it was something that they needed and they felt like all right we can now plan and move forward so I'm not sure what else I can add because it is really just planning for this program this year it is definitely a program that is hard for our staff um it's definitely a a learning challenge for our students and seeing the growth in K one to it's very interesting because K and one are getting along pretty easy and I find second grade is struggling a little bit only because they don't have that base knowledge that the K in1 kids are getting so those second graders in three years I think are going to rock it um but it's you can see kindergarten is moving along first grade's moving along second grade is moving along I was in um Abby War's classroom today and I stood at the door and my jaw was dropped and I looked at her and I said oh my gosh I saw when she raised when she posed a question more than half of the class raised their hand it was a very inquiry based question and they had the knowledge to answer it and typically when you ask a question in the class and you see three or four hands go up it was more than half of the class and I I couldn't leave because I had to see how this was going to play out um so that was really cool to see in second grade and I caught up with her at the end of the day said you know Abby that was incredible I'm like those kids knew the answer she said they did and we're we're almost to the I say we're around less than 17 or 18 so they're well well embedded in this module so that that knowledge has been building like 16 17 18 lessons in so it's kind of need to see it's a process um but it's um H to see good things in the next few years so that's our first goal shared with Russell Street and our second goal at Shaker Lane is really building off of last year we did a lot of work with diversity equity inclusivity and belonging and we want to strengthen that even more this year so one of the things that um you know we're continuing to hold our um our second annual cultural fair in a couple weeks we're partnering with Russell Street which is even better we have some presentations coming along um and something that we're going to start this year is actually inviting families to come in and present at Community meetings and I read a book today Rebecca and I pick a book I think I talked about this in the past we started it last year or the year before we read a book every month um we send a sign up to the teachers and we said you know sign up for a time you want us to read to your class and today's book was it's okay to be different it was a book about it's a picture book about belonging and kindness and this is my eth year at Sheran seven years ago if I would have read this book and say we all have different different ways that we look I had a little boy say yep I have dark skin and somebody else has light skin I don't know if that would have been said seven years ago so I think of the culture that we're building at Shaker Lane and acceptance and children offering up these ideas without us just saying them is really cool so we are like I said just trying to build that diversity the equity um inviting families in teachers already invite families and to share things but we want to do it more full school at some of our community meetings this year so once we are through building heart because we're kind of halfway through with our community meetings with heart we focused on the H and the E last month we'll focus on a and then RT next month um around December or January we'll start to invite families to come in and present at our community meetings so we're looking forward to that question thank you how did you know um thank you Michelle that's that's really awesome I my my question actually I don't want to put you on the hot seat this might be for Kelly but with the um the big school Improvement goals for this year how do how does this integrate with your your three year school Improvement plans which it's funny when I looked at them Time Marches by so quick like so you know I know they were written a while ago and there's you know they were referencing the old Lucy Caulkins writing program and now we've got W and wisdom and you know so I'm wondering if these new goals do they replace goals in the school Improvement plan or are these extra areas of focus um Ela I can I can answer that we we've always viewed our our planning as a green print rather than a blueprint that way when we are faced with changes like this we can replace goals That's The Power of a a green print approach to strategic planning so it will replace some of the other goals and and as I said at the beginning of the the presentations today we're really cognizant of the fact that if your sips have 12 goals every three years and you're trying to integrate 12 goals into your school you know within within three within three rounds nine years you have integrated uh 36 goals that's a lot and and to to integrate with integrity and and the expectation of of having to become part of the culture of the school and what we're doing here and we've done this before we're just formalizing it there there are certain goals that that at this point in time take priority over the other goals and and and one of the the expectations and and uh of a leadership position is that you identify what in the case of a principal and assistant principal you identify what your schools need in real time and it's important to to be able to think on your feet and change those goals or modify them if necessary so that you you set the leadership team and and also the staff up for Success so there's not a problem with with doing that uh you know for for me when I I look at schools through a period of time I'm fortunate to have had administrators in the district for a number of years and we can sit down and and and take a look at things over an eight year span and and see what's happened since you're one of their leadership that's a really powerful exercise to do because you find that that a lot of these initiatives that that were identified have been implemented and and have continued to be part of of the school culture and colins uh recognizing the fact that that Stripes had lost from some momentum is is 100% accurate through Co and staff and and Colin were stent enough to say we need to we need to reinvigorate this program there there's a lot of good to it and we're going to we're going to make it better than it was before so that's the philosophy that we use in our district yeah no I I appreciate that because like I said when I was reading through the school Improvement plans that there were so many things that looked outdated and so I'm I'm really glad there's a process to bring it up to the the current day you know with existing curriculum and existing needs in the buildings and um so it I'm just wondering if in the future is it is it worth going through you know like you you've got the school Improvement plans in the packet um is it useful to cross out ones that are now obsolete that you're replacing with the big big sip goals that we talked about tonight can I add one thing but just I just want to add one thing before we go into there uh elen if you look at our curriculum and instruction I believe one of the goals was evaluate um a reading program program a literacy program and to me this is the extension of it we evaluated it the Year this I think this is the last year of the school Improvement no we have one more year of the school Improvement plan yeah I think there's one more year there's one more year after this year so I feel like our implementation of wit and wisdom is an extension of that because we went through the evaluation the process the selection and now it's an implementation so I think I feel like that one ties right into it and the theb goal I can speak specifically for shaer Lane I know that ties into the community and engagement um standards three and four okay so this is like pick out of all of these goals that you've got in this three-year plan this is the one that these are the two that you're really highlighting this year for extra emphasis right right and Kelly does give us sorry Kelly that he does give us the theway to move outside a little bit but I still feel these for all of us I maybe I don't want to speak for everyone are strongly grounded somewhere in there and tied to a goal it just might be an extent or you know a pathway into something different or an update because times have changed yeah all right thank you yeah I appreciate um you just said to go deep on two goals to do two things maybe focus and do them really well rather than try to do a lot of things mediocre and such is life with so many priorities right now so really appreciate the thoughtfulness with which you all sort of highlighted the goals that you have um really love the de Dei Focus I remember on the council when I was on the council we talked about that um so really excited to Cee or the community involvement in the school you know if I was at Shaker Lane I would be one of the volunteers for sure in January um and then for whitne wisdom sorry I forgot but was were we already on the cycle to replace the ELA curriculum or is this sort of because of the state push for the literacy curriculum or this was it was part of our our curriculum revie so it just happened to a line really nice but uh yeah and and since you mentioned whiten wisdom uh last week I was in the grade two classrooms uh for Whitney wisdom lesson and I could blockage was long enough to see all six classes but I was in four classes and watched the the teacher engaged students in Alessa and I left uh High I mean a it's a knowledge based curriculum and and the vocabulary that the students were using the critical thinking that the students were using was it was an it was an incredible experience it made my day that's how powerful it was and that's the grade two you know having students that haven't had this before in grade two as Michelle said uh you know when the kindergarten students hit grade two there's going to be a huge difference so I'm I'm I'm really sold on the choice that we made for this curriculum and and I'm very confident that we're going to see some some incredible results in a short ter thank you Michelle for all your hard work question mine's just um looking at the schol Improvement plan this is something that we update could you just revisit the uh student learning um time on as a because you guys have it all out with the half days and stuff and we made some significant changes to that so if this is a document that we use other places perhaps we should update the number of half days from 18 to 12 and have that reflected in our structured learning time as an increase we' be able F we made that change correct yeah yeah yeah that was a good catch it was a great thing that everybody agreed to do and I think we should get that updated especially if we're using the same document another places and sure and start times are probably different as well catch yeah don't all right yeah we need bring the house down no pressure so just I'll give the introduction just for the record minutes here uh Title 9 regulations update director of student services ly snow will give an update on Title 9 regulations sure because they have changed um I will be concise in in interest of time and because we will be U adopting a new policy um there will certainly be time at a subsequent meeting to um ask lots of questions and go and per um but just to give a broad overview um on April 19th 2024 the um United States Department of Ed uh did Issue final regulations for Title 9 and the new regulations went into effect on August 1st so the final regulations continue to list specific elements that have to be included in any um policy such as range of disciplinary actions the standards of evidence and procedures so one of the largest changes uh under the new regulations is what's covered under the title n grievance procedures the prior regulations only appli to allegations of sexual harassment the new regulations apply to any allegations of sexual discrimination and so this includes discrimination based on sex stereotypes sex characteristics um pregnancy or related conditions sexual orientation and gender identity under the prior regulations school districts did not have to respond to allegations of off-campus sexual harassment that could create a hostile environment in school but under the new regulation school districts must respond to allegations of sex-based hostile environment in its education program or activity in the United States even with some even when some conduct alleged to be contributing to the hostial environment occurred outside of the recipients education program or activity or outside of the United States so in addition previously for conduct to constitute um sexual harassment had to be severe pervasive and objection offensive under the new regulations sex-based harassment is conduct that is either sufficiently severe pervasive and school districts need to consider both subjective and objective factors um finally school districts must now address complaints for which they have knowledge rather than just actual knowledge so this changes in language um brings in constructive knowledge so any um allegations that the school district should have known about so additionally um any employee at an elementary school or secondary school is obligated to notify the title 9 coordinator of allegations of sex discrimination with regard to training schools have to provide training on an annual basis to employees on when the employees must not notify the title n coordinator about conduct that reasonably May constitute sex discrimination how students can seek Assistance or make a complaint of sex discrimination requiring the district district to initiate its grievance procedures also on an annual basis all investigators decision makers and other person who are responsible for implementing the district the district's grievance procedure or have the authority to modify or terminate supportive measures must be trained on the district's requirements under Title 9 the district's grievance procedures how to serve impartially the meeting and application of the term relevant and the Title Nine coordinators must have training on their responsibilities and their recordkeeping responsibilities um the entire administrative team did go through that comprehensive training um earlier this month so um the title n coordinator if a school district has more than one title n coordinator it has to designate one of its title line coordinated to retain ultimate oversight over those responsibilities and ensure the district's um consistent compliance with title line um a school district may now as appropriate modify or terminate supportive measures at the conclusion of the grievance procedures or at the conclusion of the informal resolution process um or the district may continue with them Beyond that point if the district decides to modify or terminate the supportive measures um we must allow the complaintant or the respondent time uh time to Ely seek from an appropriate and impartial employee modification or reversal of the district's decision to provide deny modify or terminate those supportive measures that are applicable under the prior regulation school districts could only engage in informal resolution if there was a formal complaint this is another change now school districts can engage in formal resolution if there has been a complaint or has information about conduct that may reasonably constitute sex discrimination uh before the district can engage in informal resolution it has to provide um the parties U information and writing above the process so as before school districts uh must only investigate formal complaints of sex-based discrimination a formal complaint no longer has to be in writing an oral complaint can be received indicating the complaint want an in investigation is sufficient under the current regulations the title n coordinator could override a decision of the comp under the previous regulations a title n coordinator could override the decision of a complaint not to file a title n complaint if it was deliberately indiffer not to do so but now in the absence of a complaint and in the absence for termination of an informal resolution process the title coordinator May initiate a complaint only if the conduct presents an imminent serious threat to someone's health or safety or prevents um the recipient from ensuring equal access based on sex to its education program or activity so if the if the tit line coordinator initiates a complaint the tit line coordinator must notify the complaintant prior to doing so and appropriately address reasonable concerns about the complaint safety or the safety of others um the regulations continue to require written notice upon receipt of a formal complaint the new regulations still require an investigation to occur upon the receipt of a formal complaint but two reports are no longer required instead the new regulations allow for a single investigator and decision maker so previously it was an investigative report and um a letter of outcome and now those have been combined into one um and so finally under the new regulations if a complaintant or respondent is a student with a disability the title n coordinator must consult with one or more members as appropriate of the students individualized education program team to determine the appropriate supportive measures and how to comply with the requirements of idea and Section 504 um throughout the implementation of of the grievance procedures with regard to appeal um we now must offer an appeal process that at a minimum is the same as the District offers in all other comparable proceedings and then the new regulations continue to prohibit retaliation but now they Define retaliation would you like me to give the definition of retaliation sure okay so it's defined as intimidation threats coercion or discrimination against any person by the district a student or an employee or other person authorized by the district to provide Aid benefit or service under the district's education program or activity for the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege secured by by title n or the regulations or because the person has reported possible sex discrimination made a sex discrimination complaint or particip ated or refus to participate in any way um in a recipient's title 9 process um with regard to pregnancy this is an additional um change when a student or a student's parent or other legal representative informs a district of a student's pregnancy or related conditions the district must provide that person with the title 9 coordinator's contact information and inform that person that the title 9 coordinator can coordinate specific actions to prevent sex discrimination and ensure that the students equal access to the educational program for activity um is this so that's the very quick overview of of the changes to um Title 9 from 2020 to 2024 maybe that might change again Lynn has the snow has an incredible organizational skills uh I was unable to attend the training and I said well you know don't postpone it for me do the training so I'm in my office the next day and midday and then shows up at my door says no worries we' scheduled a two-hour update for you and the two other administrators that couldn't make it I felt like I was getting a summons nobody gets out of mandated trainings and we have mandated uh safe school training every year four hours instruments the week before it was due all staff have to do it it's just mandated by law I had a list on my desk with people who have completed it who haden't completed it incredible organization and I promise I will be at that two hour answer you will [Laughter] be thanks M thank you right was the manner which it was skip all right if there is no other new business or presentations before the school committee um we'll move on to our second opportunity for interested citizens we'll close that portion of the meeting we'll move through our subcommittee reports um or any other reports that perhaps might not be listed if you feel like you need to add anything go right through but I'll call them in order so pmbc into the school committee stuff our school yeah you want to just talk about Shaker Lan as it relates to p NC yeah yeah so probably most important things is we have two meetings coming up in October October 16th and the 23rd you're going be here at the police station um open to the community to come we'll be presenting kind of the C design options that we have Fielding any questions we have our designers and Architects here um so those are really important meetings to come to if you want to specifically come in for a little bit more information before we present this to at our town meeting at the end of the month as well um so still making a lot of progress we set we a wonderful meeting today with our designers looked through the three different design options we're starting to hone hone in into more more detail a lot of work is being done with that so hopefully we'll be getting some cost estimates soon to get a little bit closer to those um understanding of what the cost will be to the town but yeah so 16 23rd 7 PM real Poli station great uh budget subcommittee is next uh budget subcommittee has as our next official meeting on the books for help me with that oh that's right uh November 13th it's going to be a morning meeting 8:15 um so well budget subcommittee hasn't had an official meeting yet um we've we've got our first one established for the 13th the uh school department has uh prepared a cursor review of last year's budget and has begun thinking about um any changes that might be proposed um as it relates to school committee approval they'll be checking in with administrators in the near future to talk about um the wants and needs and desires of the four schools that we have and we'll cover some of that information at our our first meeting um when I went through the uh Financial policies uh working group summer sessions one of my big takeaways was just an emphasis on capital projects um and how capital projects get funded and how the town town is trying to make a shift away from uh borrowings for capital projects and moving towards more of a traditional uh accumulate some savings through free cash and pay for those so um I think and at least in my experience anyways on the budget sub commmittee the school committee member we put a lot of focus on the operational budget which is critically important but at the same time we need to perhaps put a little bit more focus on the capital needs of uh of our buildings and all of our stuff so that we don't uh end up in a situation where we're looking at complete Replacements we got to take care of what we have and I know that we do that in the budget with things like curriculum and technology and all that good stuff but this is more like carpets and ceiling piles and hbac units and all that stuff and it's it's not to say we haven't done a bad job but we're just going to need to start advocating for this stuff um as intently as as intensely as some of the other departments do so um November 13 8:15 Kelly's office we posted a public meeting probably just be four of us there but all are welcome to come policy subcomittee we do not have an update but we will have a meeting before our next meeting because I willly to Dy have that greaty sub committee something for getting ready to kickoff good stuff uh We've covered the Shaker Lane building committee update again those meetings are October 16 October 23rd taking place at 7 pm they're right here at the police station for anyone out there that's interested in gathering information or giving feedback very early in the process are great meetings to be at uh the early you can get involved better and not too if those are hybrid as well um so you can't it to the Poli station and I've written a concise note for the school newsletters uh about our progress with the Sheran building committee and we also have a a link to our website and a link to the postcard so that uh the community can submit any questions that they have they'll be uh read and and responded to okay great uh CPAC have an update this evening yep that's me um you were here I apologize um it's it's really funny watching you all look around when I speak like where should we look where is she coming from anyway um I went to the CPAC meeting on October 1st and I I'm really delighted to report that this group is really gaining traction and momentum and energy um it it's just such a a pleasure watching um it it it last year was a kind of a rebuilding year and this year it's really taking off so um this is a group whose purpose is to uh form a community with parents of special needs students and um support them with the journey that they're on um so at this meeting on October 1st there were 11 participants outside of the presenters which was a really nices siiz group it was you know large enough to um have some really interesting insights but small enough that people felt very comfortable talking to each other um so Lyn snow provided an update on the resources the district provides to teachers and families and implementing the new IEP um she also talked about some resources um some extraordinary resources that the district has for supporting students and to me some of the highlights were um that there are three there are are nine IEP Navigators that coach staff and families during the IEP process um which I think is really critical on the ground support with um what can be a some confusing changes um the district has is Consulting with some psychologists um I'm sorry they consult with staff on how to best support students um got some very exciting news that Russell Street received a $40,000 Grant to create a therapeutic space and um as you already heard earlier tonight Park and wreck initiated um discussions about adaptive Sports so um for those who are listening if you've got a student with an IEP I highly recommend coming to the CPAC meetings it's a very supportive collaborative community and um and there were actually the meeting ran long on October 1st because there were so Rich discussions going on between um the parents so highly recommend the next meeting is November 12th and it's going to be on basic rights understanding the IEP that meeting is going to be virtual so I'm sure it'll be posted with the zoom link um at some some date soon that's it for me great thank you for the update any other subcommittees to report on just would like to give Dorothy Malone shout out I mean Dorothy's at every school committee meeting with us helping lctv and and helping us maintain a hybrid model and uh she has very long days as well just really appreciate everything that you do Dorothy we're we're so lucky to thank you well said well deserve all right uh that concludes this evening's uh agenda there's nothing else before so ask for a motion to adjourn motion made by Stacey seconded by Beno be a roll call vote since we've got Elaine elain I perfect Stacey Stacey yes yes Denine Janine yes Justin McCarthy votes yes as well 849 we have a j