##VIDEO ID:Rn2bVFyr3Cw## seller you know each book has its right time and so I I am at the point now where I really enjoy uh owning books and the the one uh the one thing that I'll tell people is you can get on disinformation at the library the other thing that you can do is buy it and give it away give it to a friend I I don't want people to necessarily do what I did buy the book and put it on the Shelf I want you to pass it through a friend leave it in your Uber leave it on the bus pass it hand to hand it's a small pocket book you know it's a Manifesto and I'm hoping that it uh that it gets around to more and more people libraries are are wonderful um and you know maybe a hundred people will read the same book and that's wonderful but I myself I enjoy owning books and then lending them out as long as I know I'm going to get them back that's good great well thank you again so much for coming on the show I really appreciate it and you wonderful guest pick up a copy of on disinformation it is definitely a fascinating read for sure thank you all for joining us today I hope you join us again on a novel idea [Music] no I'm wasting a lot of time are you guys all set 1 2 three four give us another minute no not yet give us a couple more minutes sure [Music] supp [Music] going back no I know right the mums were really unhappy on our front por show today oh no [Music] [Music] [Music] so technically this is [Music] still what [Music] happened um since this is still here do the same thing with the consent of hello still need to wait or I think we're still finishing up our Zoom give us like another minute or two just give me a thumbs up when you're ready okay [Music] perfect nice that's some real teamwork right there love that good yes we do yep all right when you guys [Music] are five four three two good evening and welcome to the Tuesday October 22nd meeting of the long middle school committee School committees and other public bodies may continue to hold remote meetings through March 31st 2025 under legislation enacted on March 29th 202 3 the statute chapter 2 of the acts of 2023 extends Quorum reductions for remote meetings all votes while there is remote participation must be made by roll call vote this meeting is being recorded and aired live by lctv and we will begin with the pledge of allegiance of the United States of America to the for stands one nation under God invisible andice [Music] we have no correspondence so we'll move right on to approval of minutes we have a recommended motion I move that the school committee approve the minutes to the October 8th 2024 school committee meeting as presented thank you we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any discussion seeing none we'll move to a vote Zach yes Estelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes and yes for me as well we are moving on to public speak um we have some members of the public who are here and are welcome to make themselves known um and come on forward we'll kick off with Mr Ray saw your hand go up first a reminder to state your name and connection to Long M Public Schools sure uh Armen Ray 96 Shady Side Drive I'm the current chair of the school building committee um I'm here tonight because our next meeting isn't going to be till the 13th which is is after town meeting I just want to make sure everybody is aware that there is a warrant article that will be on the uh town meeting article on November 12th which tries to um put forward an opinion article on uh the status of the project um so the the the committee's been meeting together since uh two years ago with the uh November uh town meeting which funded the study that we're in the middle of right now um the committee has put together hundreds of hours uh over 20 meetings uh multiple public meetings um and has spent a lot of time um looking at all of the sites available in town all of the options for the school and I agree traffic at Williams is horrible and it's not going to get fixed unless we do something about it and uh I think that the committee has done their work and due diligence uh appropriately uh to to get to the point where we have submitted that uh the Consolidated School especially Marty pointed out and I'm sure Marty's addressed this many times the educational uh advantages of a combined school um no more teachers going back and forth between schools um for the specials for music for art for for gy which puts them at at risk too when they're doing the that Transportation uh consolidating all of our uh abilities to help children with disadvantages uh um throughout the process largely not putting our kids in um trailers for two years too while we're they trying to do an education process and that's a big reason why the glenbrooks uh site was not selected because we would have to have modular uh modular which are in the millions of dollars which are never recovered uh at all we paid for that out of pocket um but for whatever reasons just to let you know there's an opinion article um I'm hoping that everybody uh gets informed comes to town meeting and shows support for the work that the school building committee has done on behalf of both the select board the uh school committee me as your representative and uh and the town as in general so uh looking for everybody's support come out on town meeting uh I think I believe it's article number six and uh show your support for for a plan which is the best one for We Believe SP spent with all of the the work we've done for uh the children and for the town so thank you for the time and uh and I hope you guys have a great meeting I know where you guys have been so all right thank you um just a quick note that we will return to the topic of town meeting and um motions uh later this evening during one of our business with guest options other committee or community members who' like to come forward and speak come on forward a reminder to start with name thank you um hello again Melissa sabulski uh High School parent um I want to thank you school committee and Dr OA for offering this forum for community members to speak at when I was here two weeks ago to speak on the issue of ballot question two on repealing the mcast test as a graduation requirement I had no idea that the main agenda item that evening was the sharing and discuss discussing of the district's spring 2024 results I hope that I provided a glimpse into one family's lived experience outside the data points I was happy to hear Beth Nelson and Dr aay acknowledge that mcast scores are only one measure of student achievement I wholeheartedly believe that they believe that and when teachers say it I wholeheartedly believe that they mean it as well same for administrators at every school level including Lisa estadios at the high school I believe that she believes wholeheartedly in the student before the number desie the department of Elementary and secondary Ed only cares about the number number more specifically a 470 in biology or physics and a 486 in English and math passing score numbers that have been raised since covid which is a testament to a disconnect between what's happening in Boston versus what's happening on the ground and I'm sure that's why it was a fifth grade teacher from Hull Massachusetts who brought this ballot question forward and why the MTA stands so strongly behind it teachers and administrators have spent the past 25 years years balancing the needs of the children in front of them and the requirements desie imposes upon them I'm here to speak only as a parent though specifically as the parent of a child in special education whose school life has been one hurdle after another and only made more difficult by the everpresent shadow of 10th grade mcass I am grateful that the school committee has added a conversation about the impact of the mcast graduation requirement to the agenda tonight I look forward to hearing what all parties bring forward you may hear that fewer than 1% of students do not graduate with a diploma but in getting to that end goal an enormous additional workload and stress is placed on the staff Administration and most importantly the kids that must sit for the tests again and again up to four times before the school can apply for an appeal with the state I hope that you as a committee can come to an agreement that there is great opportunity and embrace ing the change that question 2 offers Massachusetts schools were leaders before the mcast graduation requirement and I have no doubt that they will continue to be I encourage you all to embrace a yes on two vote H for high yes on two vote for high standards not high stakes thank you thank you and a note to the committee that we will also be continuing the conversation of mcast later this evening any other public comments come on forward excuse me at [Laughter] one good evening Dr OA and esteemed members of the school committee my name is Diane perfilio and as many of you know I proudly serve as the co-president of seal this evening I stand before you to share my personal perspective on a matter close to my heart I'm here to expressed my unequivocal support for question two on the upcoming ballot the proposal to designate the mcast as a graduation requirement raises significant concerns for students particularly those who are neurodiverse I was profoundly moved by Melissa's heartfelt statement last week's meeting which equivocally articulated the struggles that many families including my own May face under such a mandate as the mother of a child who may one day navigate the challenges of high school I deeply empathize with the fears and hopes that parents like me Harbor for our children's Futures let me clearly clar clarify that question too does not seek to eliminate mcast simply advocates for it not to be a mandatory condition for graduation by supporting this measure we Embrace a more inclusive education system that recognizes and honors the div diverse learning styles and needs of all students my endorsement of question two aligns with my support for Melissa whose insights have been invaluable in this crucial discussion thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts and I hope we can work together towards an educational framework that Fosters growth and success for every child in our community thank you thank you thank you any other community our community members who would like to come forward and speak anyone at home who would like to speak you're welcome to unmute or raise a hand I'm turn on the camera okay seeing no comments thank you to our community members for coming out tonight um we are going to move forward with business with guests and we are beginning our business with guests with our student advisory um we have some uh friends from the high school joining us to um talk to us about some updates from the high school we'll turn over to our student representative Andrew mados thank you guys um so a couple weeks ago we had our Empower leadership training for all the captains of the Fall sports teams at the high school um this included activities like you would have to there's this like big like sort of um ccle Circle full of all these different objects and the person running the program just hid this black pen and you had to all work together well actually kind of work together to help find the pen and then um every single person once they found it they would have to leave the circle quietly and then you kind of sort had to follow that person's lead to figure out where the pen was and then we also did another activity um where people were blindfolded and you had to put basically a bunch of puzzle pieces together and the people were blind the people who were blindfolded were the people who were like touching all the puzzle pieces but then um the people who were able to communicate where the puzzle pieces were didn't were in blind footage that required some communication and it just gave us really strong Insight in terms of how we can better lead our teams through communication and Stress Management um good evening my name is Sten TR I am a sophomore student at LHS um I first I would like to talk about the blood drive the blood drive was on on October 7th the Red Cross Club sponsored it and the Bay State Medical Services performed medical supply and 15 students donated next up um we will talk about Spirit Week this week is Spirit Week yesterday was um College day to Conde with the college fair today was groutfit day which we dressed in all gray tomorrow we will dress in tropical shirts Thursday we are dressing as someone else for our twin day and Friday is a class color day which coincides with our prep rally we are also going to have a rock paper scissor competition on Friday um next off we have sophomore lockin um we will have the sophomore lock in on November 1st we are in the process was selling tickets and setting up sign up Geniuses for parents to volunteer and help out which is going great okay so a couple actually it was last Friday we had the WC fall conference at minog and this included a really cool guest speaker foret what his name was but um he was he's been an animator for Pixar and he did this really cool show with a bunch of onstage art and it sort of was meant to inspire us to take our own path and be our own leader within um and then after we had our keynote speaker we went in and did um two leadership two leadership workshops which were very insightful in terms of how we can better lead student council events and activities um and just sort of be better leaders within our school and then um last week we also as the seniors we did parking spaces um I believe the cost was $25 and that paid for all the expenses needed paint and I'm sure if you go out to the parking lot you'll see all the awesome newly painted parking spots that let students Express all their interests um for their senior year and then um as I believe Stephen said we have our pep rally on Friday um so on in the gym We'll have all four classes and they all be dressed in a different color we'll have all of our activities so club sports will walk in with a banner they'll be introduced by Mr Fram I believe um or Jack kinki it's one of the two and then um so and then we'll also have games and a UniFi basketball game so so it will really help to bring our school spirit sort of um to the next level which is something we've been really trying to work on um under Mr Al leadership in the past couple of years which has really improved a lot especially since I was a freshman and then on October 26 at wer Tech we have the masc officer Workshop um which includes training just for all your class officers um and eboard officers and then also this is really really big um we have the online apparel store which is open through the 27th um I believe there should have been an email sent out to students about um ordering and then we also have banners and flyers up all over the school with a QR code um it's a really great way to support student council it's a fundraiser and it's also just fun merg to so your school spirit and then on next week we have our Japan visitors arriving from Taki Kaa West High School um it's in haido Japan which is that Main Northern Island and then um so they'll be arriving next week and we'll have a bunch of activities planned out we'll be working with the Asian studies class they'll be coming in every day um and working and doing a bunch of different activities that we're helping to plan and then we also have okay this a big one have our sports update um so what do we have going on so we have the volleyball team I believe has their western Mass on Saturday cross country is on Sunday field hockey has their semifinals on Thursday so yeah um I'm Danica I'm a junior and I'll be talking about the college fair which was yesterday so Juniors and seniors had the opportunity to learn about local colleges and ask questions to admissions officers and then we could also learn about um careers that we could do right after high school and then it was a really helpful and informative experience for everyone to learn about and also the Halloween Spooktacular is coming up which the volunteer Club Key Club will be hosting and that will be this Saturday from 4:00 to 9:00 it's a free event for kids and anyone who comes is encouraged to donate because all the donations will be donated to Camp Sunshine which is a camp for kids with cancer and it'll the spectacular is a really popular event there will be carnival games trick-or-treating and a ton of other activities that everyone will enjoy that's everything yes all right that's a lot of stuff um thank you to all of you for coming out we appreciate Stephen and uh Dana joining um Andrew tonight and thank you to miss trck and the rest of the high school team for all of their support for all the things you guys have been doing we appreciate it thank you does anyone on the committee have any questions or comments for these guys can I can I underscore the um there's so many great activities but uh and so many things were jumping out at me as as the students were talking but the college in career fair uh was was wonderful and it really it reflected kind of a broadening view of how we view Student Success and and certainly there was uh so many of the traditional fouryear colleges were represented and their their tables were getting a lot of action and a lot of attention but what was neat to see is the opportunities for kids to learn about careers um across the board and so uh there was tables with manufacturers there was tables from um local employers and it was it was a a really broad way for students to engage in College and Career activities so shout out to the high school administration for pulling that off and um just a thanks to Heidi and Heidi drack and Lisa strados our assistant principles at the high school as you can see they put students first they put students in the foreground and and they uh hang in the back um but a lot of credit to them for setting our students up for Success so thank you both all right great thank you very much I think we have one more thing related to um student we have an international um friendship Garden I think you're taking that one if I recall correctly um so this is uh we had a a student uh an eagle scout uh who couldn't be with us tonight uh we were hoping to kind of line it up but uh he's a junior feel Z and Felix as uh part of his Eagle Scout project had put together uh a proposal for an international friendship Garden so I thought it was worth um with the students here tonight um and knowing the school committies um policy around donations and uh with our the Japanese delegation arriving from takawa soon uh I thought it was a good time to highlight the Friendship Garden that Felix had uh brought forward to us um little background on his his Eagle Scout project this is a presentation that he made to me in my office a couple of weeks back he did a wonderful job uh but his intention is to honor the 20y year uh history of the Japanese exchange program nearly 20 years uh and so uh this really comes from it's funded by the Asian history club uh and that flows out of the Asian history history class that Lorie Snider has taught for decades at Long Meadow High um the purpose of the Japanese uh inter uh friendship Garden is to commemorate the relationship between takawa and Long Meadow to build awareness and to and to promote some engagement with uh our uh Asian sister city uh Felix laid out the the design uh it is uh meant to um be installed and actually they've already started it just outside the entrance of the high school and there'll be some plants that are native to Japan but will also thrive in our climate there'll be a commemorative plaque as well and then um like I said it the the cost of this was covered by the East Asian club and uh it will soon be completed so if you have an opportunity to uh swing by and check out the Japanese friendship Garden uh it's a nice addition to the front of the school and we're thankful to Felix for uh offering uh his services to complete this so very exciting great way to welcome our Japanese visitors who will arrive in a couple of weeks so wanted to share that with the committee appreciate the chance to do that all right awesome questions related to the Friendship Garden or any of the other components here all right see than you students thank you very much appreciate coming out um with the consent of the committee I'd like to move one of our items that has been um listed on our agenda under new business up to business with guests so that we can um invite some of our guests to come forward and join us um and that is the topic of the mcast um and particularly State ballot question two um if you'd like to come on forward uh mados is here to speak with us a little bit more about um mcast I'll just do a quick quick precursor before you start um that in your packet you will find um the language for State ballot 2 and you will also find in your packet the um position statements that have been put out by the Massachusetts Teachers Association the masc or Massachusetts Association of school committees and the Mas or U Mass Association of school superintendent each of those um committees put out a particular policy statement related to question um ballot question number two um and we have the opportunity tonight to hear a little bit about what mcast um means for our students here in Long meow um specifically what mcast means um for our special education students um in the high school level um and their um graduation um rates Etc um and then we can discuss um if we would like to make any particular positions ourselves we open that up so welcome uh Lisa stos assistant principal at the high school and um Lisa is um when we we thought it might be helpful to provide an over overview to the committee and to the community on uh high school mcast and particularly how a competency determination is made and uh what happens if if students fall short of that competency determination I would would just say that Lisa is my go-to person when I need to understand uh high school mcast and she understands the logistics associated with testing hundreds of students uh under tight testing conditions but on the other side of it Lisa is a wonderful support to students who um have yet have not yet achieved the competency determination and um she understands the the tutoring Services we offer uh and she works closely with students and families to help get students uh past that requirement and uh prepare them for a diploma so I'm grateful that Lisa is here with us also joining us uh is uh our director of special education Nicole peris Crow actually might as well come on up because I think there's one slide that we have in mind for you so Nicole peris Crow familiar face our director of special education so two administrators with deep knowledge of high school mcast and what means uh for our students so I'll run through the slides at Lisa's Direction here so thank you so much Dr sh thank you SCH before I start thank you to our students because they are here tonight and they did a wonderful job I appreciate what you said but I also appreciate you um supporting the other students and what they have coming up and their schedules coming out so everybody go out and share on our teams because they really need your support um tonight Dr OA just asked me to just give an overview um I'm not going to touch on the question because that's everyone's individual choice I have my own opinion um you'll probably be able to read through some of my lines but um I will keep it private right now but to each and everyone I think you should make the decision that's best for you and for your family and I do appreciate the people that spoke tonight and spoke especially on a personal level and about our marginalized students because they are the ones that Statewide and in LHS do tend to fall sometimes a little short and need a little bit more support So before I begin I wanted to make sure we acknowledge all of that so how did this happen um in 2022 the Board of Education got together and they voted they voted to raise basically the mcast scores especially in certain areas um in 2024 a letter was sent out they called parent Guardian information letter and they basically just tell you that it's done so if you missed anything prior to that you just found out after the fact from desie this is driven by desie and we just have to meet the requirements we can go to slide two all right I'll note uh CD on slide one refers to competency determination so we um here we go look at a good student he is he already jumped ahead so compy determination requirements that's what we're going to talk about next um there are two major ways and two options that the state gives for a student to reach what's called compens determination we'll call it CD option one and I'm going to point out when you see 2025 it's the class of 2025 and we see 2026 it's the class of 2026 through the class of 20 30 these are what these scores will relate to if everything stays the same following the vote on two so in 20125 class the option one was if you earned a score of 472 you immediately earned your CD in ela and you don't longer took mcast you met the requirement for the state in 2026 what they did for that class in 2030 is they raised a score to 486 that was postco and that was in their determination to level the playing field with what you'll see for math math had already been 486 and in 2026 to 2030 it remains 486 science had a slight change in two factors one chemistry is no longer offered so now the students have the option of taking biology or intro to physics intro to physics did not change it remains at 470 but biology went from 467 to 470 so that is the score changes that you see if if a student doesn't meet that requirement then they have to go on to option two option two would be um an EP educational proficiency plan I'll explain that a little bit more detail as we move along students that have to retest fall below the EP score they didn't reach the Benchmark for option one and they didn't meet The Benchmark for option two so they fall below that Benchmark which means the state requires them to retest that's the next slide so for 2, 24 which is we're going to focus on our spring assessments those are the ones offered in the final parts of the year to grade nine for biology and grade 10 for ELA and math for grade n biology last year 13 students out of 225 will need to retest if the scores had not changed from 467 to 470 five out of 225 students would had to retest so there's been an impact based on the score I will explain the other ones a little bit later there was no change in ela for retesting and there was no change right now that I want to mention for math based on the score of changes because math stayed the same it was the same Level Playing Field that it was for the years prior English did not have an impact we can go on to the next slide retest opportunities if you fall below the Benchmark yes as someone previously stated U Mr bilsky did a nice job saying this students do have lots of opportunities but is a lot of stressful opportunities and we try to help our students manage through it maintain their stress factor and just focus on what they're doing at the time I always say to them do not worry about the score you need I actually don't want to talk about the score you need because you're only going to do the best job you can we're going to be happy with that and then we're going to move on from there and we'll make our plans after that so in November they always offer Ela and math for retest in February it's biology and in of physics and the numbers you see after the dates they fall on this year in March they added this a year or so ago they added an Ela and math retest there the other March Ela you see is the grade 10 assessment students that retest do qualify to take that test as well in May is the grade 10 math test where students can retest as well we'll talk a little bit about EP math challenge exam in a bit on another slide that's to be determined because the state hadn't given the dates out yet and and in June biology and intro physics are offered to our grade n students but students can also retest on that date as well so those are the opportunities that the state gives high school students to retest they're all prescribed dates we wish we could alter them sometimes especially for our schedules and what's going on with school but they're prescribed for the entire State we have to test on those days just want to before we move on just this gives you some appreciation for the complexity of mcast administration and this is obviously just one grade at one school um but imagine you know um thinking about the middle school where students test in three three subjects well two subjects every year and three subjects one year so it's it requires a lot of staff and students and administrators to to go through this so option two was the educational efficiency plan students at score in that particular range qualified to be an educational proficiency plan that means it is individualized it is for the student the school counselor meets with each student that they have on their case load that falls under this plan what students have to do to meet the CD requirements when they're on here is in their grade 11 year and their grade 12 year in the content area they have to take and pass a course so if it's math they have to take a math course in their grade 11 year they take a math course in grade 12 year they have to pass that course and they have to take the final both years um EP challenge exam is only offered in math the reason for that is because the state requirement for graduation is four years of ela so all students have to pass four years of ela so as do the students on the EP so that's why they don't offer the state an Ela EP challenge exam the challenge exam is different because it is 60 multiple choice questions most students take about an hour and 15 minutes tops usually one class period maybe a little bit over and we also get to grade that in-house So within a two-day usually 3-day turnaround we have the scores on site so we can take that anxiety level off of students and off of their families because we can provide that score a lot quicker if a student passes the EP challenge exam they immediately come off their EP they have fulfilled the requirement and they are completely done with option one and option two regardless students do not have to sit for the full mcast test ever again if they qualify for an EP or they absolutely just meet the CD right out of the gate so either way they do not take the two-day assessment because every test is a two-day assessment Ela math and sciences are all a two-day assessment so they do not have to do that and again if they pass the EP challenge exam they immediately fulfill the state's requirement they come off the EP what will be new for 2026 our councelors already communicate but they will send a physical hard copy home now to families and Guardians of the students EP along with laying out what courses the student will take they work with the student they work with recommendations of the teacher they um make sure what there's going to be the requirement they also list what other supports that student may need every student's individualized so we really do Target the supports what will best fit them what they're comfortable with what they will get the most use out of other thing that's always part of the EP is all those test opportunities and students sometimes choose to take them all some families will call me and say we got to pass on the next one they're just they either falling behind in classes or they're getting nervous about falling behind in classes we always do support making up work because when you're out of the classroom taking these tests you do miss some class work so we are really good about making sure they have lots of support to make up that work that they miss when they're out of the classroom so they'll have the multiple opportunities to take the retest as well this will be a little bit more interesting so students requiring in the EP biology again there is no EP offered by the state in English this past year it required us to have 14 out of 236 students be an EP prior to the change um what's interesting from 455 to 471 all 14 of those students would have passed the mcast we would have had none of those 14 students on an EP also interesting is six out of the eight students that I mentioned before that will need to retest they would have qualified for an EP so I thought that was very interesting um information to share with everybody that those scores in ela definitely did have a different impact on us this year in math um not a surprise it didn't have a Major Impact because that score has been set for quite some time but one student would have move from um not meeting the CD requirement of retesting to over to EP so we would have had one of those students be able to move up a level and go over to EP supports we have we always have the content area teacher is the best place to start students are receiving content area coursework ongoing our liaison that work within our special ed Department to help certify with our students that they can do this they give them emotional support they give them content support they work with the teachers to make sure the students are getting what they need prior to testing some other things we have though in the high school our student support center it's in Room 223 I'm saying that so any families that are at home listening please send your students to Room 223 it's open every single block every single day and all students in the school can go to it that is staffed by two certified teachers one teacher is certified special LED in reading the other is certified in mathematics they have an extense amount of experience working at mcast not only for new students because it's another category as our students who have never lived in the state of Massachusetts before and we say welcome to Massachusetts you'll be taking the mcast this year which is a another lovely conversation I get to have and surprise them um they teach them the format of the test that's a good opportunity during an ice block or a teacher recommendation to go over to say show them how the format how's the test laid out what's it going to look like that reduces some anxiety for them as well also they can go over specific strategies for individualized students and they can ask questions another thing that we have is prior to the biology test we offer after school tutoring for that because they take it in grade nine in grade 10 most students will not be taking biology unless they came from out of from a different school so we offer Afterschool biology um tutoring by a certified special education teacher who's also certified in biology she does a wonderful job I'm going to say her name Natalie degr because she's done such a fantastic job and students have really made huge growth strides um in passing the bycast because of her so kudos to Natalie LHS Writing Center is in our um library and in uh Media Center it is also every block every day all students it's a great opportunity to work on open responses but it's also somewhere where students can go to just work on any type of writing whatsoever it doesn't matter the subject area they focus on everything the key part is all the support people be it a liaison the content teacher the teachers in 223 they receive individual itemized data analysis from each student so they can focus on that student and what they need every student doesn't need help in every standard so if they did well in standards they'll review it but then they'll focus on the ones that they need extra help on so that we can boost that score up and get them over the next hurdle so it's all based on what that student needs and they focus on that hopefully this will ease a little bit please reach out I'm going to finish up with this one in a second but please reach out any question anytime we're here to answer questions desie does have a robust website but if you have to weed through it for somebody who's never really done mcast I've done mcast for more than 10 years here I did I was the mcast person for 18 years at my previous District I've done a lot of mcast um so it rolls off my tongue a little bit easier and I can give the supports that I need to students because I don't have to get tied up in what's going on with the test but it can be overwhelming for families so please reach out if you have a question and encourage students the good news is too more than 15 years probably close to the 20 is what I've been told um students that have sat and participated in the m C have all met the state compens city determination to date as of today we have not had any students not meet the state compy determination um we hope that stays true we will do our best to support children so that can happen um but that's what it is for the students that take the standardized that is like 99% of the students at LHS and Statewide um Nicole Paris Crow is going to speak on mcass alt which affects a smaller portion of our student body but it also does Statewide and she's going to focus on that that's her specialty thanks Co Thank you Lisa Lisa is definitely the go-to person um in the district when it comes to mcast as an assistant principal I definitely reached out to Lisa when I was working in mcast with students so MC alt is an alternative assessment approximately 1% Statewide of of students so it's a small number of students with the most significant cognitive uh disabilities it's about 1% take the mcast alternative assessment so to jump to the beginning each student's IEP team decides how um not whether the student will participate in mcast so a majority most of our students participate in the um standard computer based or paper based pencil paper and pencil mcast test but like I said there's that smaller portion of students that may participate in mcast alternative assessment the MC all consists of a portfolio collected um over most of to the school year based on in-class instruction assessments include skill surveys data charts student work samples and that's something that the teacher the special educ education teacher would collect and put together in order to submit it to the state it is a very long and arduous process um it usually requires several people including the special education teacher the related service providers to be working with the student and once the portfolio is completed families are invited in to review it and to sign off on it to sign off that they've seen it that they are in agreement with the work that was done that there was a true you know depiction of what their child did over the course of the year and then it's submitted to to the Department of Education to be scored so we hope that was a a good primer for uh whatever discussion might ensue and and um we often will uh push out videos of this meeting to The Wider community so hopefully it gives interested community members some critical information to make an informed decision on ballot question two uh and we'll we stand ready to answer any questions that you might have all right so I'll open up for questions um wherever the school committee um decides to move ahead or not move ahead with any kind of resolution of our own um to Echo what Dr OA said I wanted to ensure that we had an opportunity for both us and the community at large to hear a little bit more about the impact that mcast testing has on our students here in Long Meadow um so thank you both for coming out and talking to us about that tonight and I'll open up for anyone who might have any questions or followup for that Michaela thank you um I just have one question why did they change the E Square to be so much higher that that's yeah they don't really post they just said to have the standard and it was postco and they felt after postco because prior to postco what they did is during Co right after we did what was called the CD modification where we went by courses and we had to go upload those to the state and then once that was over they then had it set in 2022 that they would move forward and raise the score to the same as the 486 for the math I know it's like the same pattern they've raised it previously yes y just has a bigger impact now um I think it had an initial figure impact um it's more so because the EP changed with it so it wasn't just that the passing score went to 486 for the one where you just pass and you're done I think with changing that in the EP at the same time you got it like a double effect fun fact I was in the first graduating class that I had to pass that M but we took it in the hallway there was like no test security so yeah I didn't take it like how it's taking his thing yes no F questions Jamie yeah St question I'm learning as I go here um so that was one question I also had um so two two-part question um so whenever Melissa spoke two weeks ago she said that in in Connecticut there are no I don't there's no MCs in Connecticut or any type of scoring like this so basically you go to nfield and not have this particular test is that cor I think they call they don't call it him C but they have do they have there's an equivalency just called something different yeah so it's an equivalency test and they tie it to they call it something different it's kind of like the regions in New York every state can it may not have the same imp competency determination impact so every state has to have a fourth e8th and 10th grade test by federal law right so so every state has a 10th grade test but whether or not it's a it's tied to someone's diploma is a different it's different across the country got it and then just to clarify question two because I was trying to research this is overriding what the state what desie did is making it part of being able whether you can graduate being above these scores it's just your GPA is that what that's doing what is question dude doing if we answer yes I guess we overriding speak you know I don't yes so um the question two would repeal the graduation requirement component of it mcast would still continue um mcast would continue at all the grades that it currently happens at um n9th grade for science 10th grade for ELA and math all the younger grades um would continue to take mcast the mcast data would still be used by desie um to assess where schools are to assess what concerns there might be with curriculum it would still be used um by school districts to look at their own populations within school districts and where they are meeting or not meeting student needs the only change would be that now mcast would not be the determining factor of if you can or cannot receive your high school diploma um so if you did not pass you would not then have a diploma withheld or have to do an EP or any of the other steps so it would be used for analysis or whatnot but we as a school district would determine whether that child has met and satisfied the requirements to graduate in Long Ohio correct which is a second J right now right now it's mcast and meet the required course load and credits to graduate so you your courses and reach the 94 credits along with mcass you can earn your diploma okay and in that question if I answer yes that is what it's doing just CU I think those questions get confusing that is what we're trying okay so a yes vote would say that mcast would no longer be used for graduation it would be used in all of its other current forms go I have a followup question so if we don't longer require this as a graduation for graduation then what does it look like for our students um especially you know uh special needs students they will still continue receiving what is it the U mcast alternative um would that go away a very small number of students participate in the mcast alternative okay assessment so you know that would continue but the only thing that would be different is their graduation requirement uh to pass the mcast would change okay a yes vote would just repeal no mcast graduation requirement for any students it would be all local requirements only students would still take but they take it still what does otherwise they would still take and pass the other test the other components of our program of studies they would be required to take three years of math and pass um two years of science I'm remember that's it Gru gr two years of math two years of three years of social studies correct but I feel like it will look like how it looks like at the elementary level and the Middle School level where they take it to starting in third grade so you know the data is used and looked at and you know attacking kids and kids that are have um an IEP that aren't the 1% that get an alternative they have accommodations like small groups they would still participate participate I think the the assessments would look as they do now correct it just would not count towards graduation so nothing there would change according to desie and then Jamie yeah just a followup question to so but all the followup and support to get the but to get the child to the score even though score doesn't matter would still because that's that's got to be important too I can't imagine still we would I would speak it doesn't matter whether you right it would whether they say diplomas on to it not we're not going to stop giving supports and right okay so I would Echo a little bit what michaa just said that we don't wait to give students support when they take their mcast in 10th Grade if a student takes their mcast in third grade and does not perform at the standard that is determined they begin receiving those supports then um so that would be the same kind of model that we see yeah no the only thing I would say to that knowing kind of as you as you kind of change that around are we still going to go to achieve those scores is what I like so even though it you're still going to graduate we're determine who's gradua ating that's where I would just say I think that's where that's kind of where my head was going too is you know as soon as you are you going to still push to achieve those scores because there has to be some benefit in helping them learn something I get that it prates a whole bunch of stress I have a world I have four kids and there's a wide spectrum of how they how these tests present them to my kids everybody reacts different to them between just my four let alone 2,000 students are we still going to push them to get to those scores I guess is my question I would answer my honest answer and only mine I would say I think that would take a community involved discussion between the school committee the high school staff parents students to say is the scores that were previously set by desie is that the score we feel is the appropriate score for our students or do we feel the Benchmark should be different we don't know what it will be but I don't think we would we've been pretty successful at it and we are are kids are very successful at it they do put the hard work in but we'd want to make sure that we could support our students not lower the bar down here like you're saying Jamie but I think that's a larger Community discussion before we could say tonight what we would do if this was repealed okay we continue to individualize the supports that students support will never go away successful and to learn and grow okay correct and I i' back it up further so not only you know would the supports be retained but Our obligation to teach to the standards and teach to a high standard would remain regardless of what happens on you know on the outcome of this B question so I've always felt as an educator if you teach the if you address the standards then hopefully the assessments take care of themselves other questions and thoughts s uh no questions I would just say that uh personally it makes a lot of sense to me to support um yes on question two um and I would be in favor of some sort of prolation from this Committee in support of that as well would you like to make a motion to that effect there are a few policy statements if folks are interested in possible motions just as a reminder um in your packet you have not only the language of the question itself um but also as agenda items you have the statements of um the mass Association of school committees which gives a very clear um statement right sort of towards the top of their page a packet that goes into a little bit more information from the MTA it's several Pages um and then another small packet um from the Mas also talking about their um position on this so you can kind of peek at those if you are interested in a potential motion um you might find some helpful wording through looking at any of those resources just Beau I haven't found the language but I'm happy to had Le a motion sure little way go for it uh I move that the long medal school committee adopt uh support for a yes position on question two um in the upcoming um referendum okay we have a motion do we have a second second um any discussion I would love to know if folks would like to um Andor if someone would support um like language to add to that that says that we um as the long medal school committee do not support the use of high stakes testing um as a requirement for graduation diploma just to clarify why our position is that the graduation requirement language should be in there yeah so with what you said um long middle school committee does not support um the use of high stakes testing for a graduation requirement we support a yes vote on question two that work perfect any possible second for that Amendment second all right any discussion related to the motion on the table can I ask is this a um a discussion potential vote on your amendment to just for Dian Clarity over here on the amendment first and then gotcha thank you good reminder any other questions okay we'll vote on the amendment first if you heard so we're voting right now on amending the language of Zach's motion to include that Long Meadow school committee does not support the use of high stakes testing as a requirement for graduation diploma any questions and or statements related to that okay seeing that we will move to a vote on the amendment Zach yes Estelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes and yes for me as well Julie Julie I'm sorry I didn't see that you arrived oh hold on we can't quite hear one second give me one second I have the okay Julie try again oh nope hold on we're hearing you just through Dr sh's laptop one second all right and again you ready there you are yes okay um your vote I vote Yes okay fantastic thank you okay um so now moving into a vote on the actual motion related to middle school committee support for a yes vote on question two any discussion related to that before we call a vote seeing none we'll move to a vote Zach yes Estelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes Julie yes and yes for me as well all right thank you very much folks we appreciate your time here this evening and we encourage folks to read as much as they can about this reach out with questions we have multiple School administrators here who are able to answer questions as needed and you're also welcome to reach out to any of us on the committee um so if you're watching at home and you're wondering what this ballot question means please reach out with questions um and thank you for your time we appreciate you thank you thank you all right with the um consent of the committee I would also like to move up from new business our um discussion related to town meeting and the warrant article um we are joined this evening by our town moderator um is Rebecca Townsen um who has graciously offered to come over and walk us through some of the things to know about upcoming town meeting um our town meeting is in a few weeks on November 12th at t uh Tuesday and we look forward to encouraging as many people as possible to attend the meeting um and this will give us a chance to ask any questions of the moderator um related to the town meeting or the citizens petition that is in front of us all right and I projected the thank you the wording of the perfect article six from the upcoming town meeting warrant all right so um we have a a Citizens petition that is related to the Middle School building project um and as is often the case when there is a warrant article that is somewhat related to our work as a committee we may be asked um to State our position on this town meeting warrant article um so in an interest of discussing a little bit more about what the warrant article is and also what our possible uh positions could be related to that um Miss Townson is here to talk with us tonight thank you so much of course and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you and and to those who are listening in at home uh happy to answer any questions related to process and how to get involved and obviously most specifically uh article 6 um I had shared with you um chair Schwaner a document that uh emerged from discussion of the select board meeting last night where I spoke on the warrant generally and then more specifically about town council's opinion on article 6 um as happens from time to time there are articles that the Town Council deems would likely result in a nonbinding um action so there's there's no there's no consequential action that can emerge from it we've seen this a few times over the years and whenever we get one of these articles there's a motion made on the article and I will as is my obligation explain what a yes or no vote means means particularly noting what Town Council has said and noting that you town meeting is free to make a decision however they wish um absent this being an illegal warrant or or something article um but in most cases there's just a discussion and then there's a vote and for those articles where the the motion on them would have no action nothing happens afterwards uh this there was discussion at the select board meeting regarding this particular article and what happens if there is a negative main motion on the article most of our motions are affirmative I move that we do some action take some action on an issue we spend some money we transfer some money we approve the zoning proposal so they're affirmative there can be motions that are negative negative main motions and we've seen this before where we have Motions like I take I move to take no action I move to dismiss so those are negative main motions and we've dealt with those before whether on uh articles at the select board or other boards have put before us or citizen petitioners have put before us sometimes the citizen petitioners are the ones who move to take no action on an article that they have put forward for a variety of reasons and it's the petitioner's right to present the uh petition that they have put forward on the warrant it's our tradition and I'm honoring that so I'd like to address any questions that you may have about um how processes work with an affirmative motion a negative motion or or what I call neutral motions as well in in the document that I sent to you and I'll be sharing that more broadly with the public all right so we'll open up to some questions perhaps we can start with the first one um if there is an affirmative motion made can you walk us through what that yes yes so the affirmative motion would be kind of taking this uh language here I move that the town will vote to authorize the continued expenditure of funds Etc and reading the rest of the language in the article uh typically what happens is we have the main motion I ask if there's a second if there's no second nothing happens almost always motions get seconded it's only happened once in my time as a moderator but it did happen um so it it will likely get seconded and then we will hear a speech I again ask that the citizen petitioner or their designate give that first speech in support of their motion then we hear from board recommendations so in this case the school committee would be a relevant board to hear from the finance committee would be a relevant board to hear from the school building committee would be a relevant board to hear from um so I would in be inviting those boards to make comments if they have uh taken a position on this particular article we'll hear those positions and then we'll go to the floor for discussion and we'll alternate between those in favor of the motion those opposed to the motion those with questions will come to a vote and that will be the end perhaps okay and if it's not an affirmative motion sure if it's a negative motion and it could be I move to dismiss I move that we take no action or I move that the town will not vote to authorize the continued expenditure or I move that the town will vote not to authorize there there could be a many different ways to make it a negative main motion I should also note however that emotion can change the language slightly in an article and we've seen this several times before where the article language as written in the warrant is not the specific language so we always vote on oral motions it's particularly important to listen to How the article is made or how the motion is made forgive me so if the motion is seconded we will do the same thing we'll hear the board recommendations we'll open up to the floor to deliberation and then we will vote on that motion I have made reference to our rule book which is town meeting time section 30 and that deals specifically with negative main motions um we've had them happen in the past uh I want to read a little passage from that book it it and I explain in in my document here that in the rule book it examines a hypothetical situation in which the sponsors of an article haven't made the first motion but another board has so in some towns that's the tradition so they imagine that this other board which doesn't want that article to pass offers a negative main motion and it said that the if if that's a controversial motion um it describes what happens next the book does not describe what happens if the sponsors themselves make a negative main motion that is controversial so we've dealt with non-controversial negative main motions the book says explains it imagines what happens um if the negative main motion fail s discusses what happens next defeating the negative is not alone sufficient to establish affirmative action on an article after defeating the negative the sponsors should make an affirmative motion and since such is the obvious wish of the meeting the moderator should see to it that someone does make a such AEM motion moderator should never request that a motion be made but they may say no affirmative action has yet been taken unless an affirmative motion is made we shall proceed to the next article and the record will show that no affirmative action was taken on this one so if that happens there could be there's not a requirement to have an affirmative motion but it is within the realm of possibility if there is no additional motion then we'll just proceed on to the next article and I need to note very carefully whether the motion is affirmative or negative a yes Vote or a no vote a yes Vote or a no vote either way there is no binding action and I know that sounds confusing and it makes you wonder well how the heck do I vote if I favor X Y or Z and it will be my job to try to answer those questions of people if they want to see something happen um I will try to guide them through there is a third type are would you be ready for yeah absolutely okay that third type of something I called neutral motions even though they're they're not quite neutral um this is a motion to amend or a motion to commit or refer uh a motion to amend would have to be within the scope of the article and the scope is the topic of the article and I determine what is within the scope uh amendments would not lead to actionable consequences a yes vote on a motion to refer to a committee is really the only thing that has some kind of Quasi action so if there is a motion to refer to a committee it's seconded discussed and approved then it sends this article to the committee that is so named and that committee can take it under consideration there are we have um although the rule book does describe motions of postpone indefinitely and lay on the table those tend to be very confusing and I we as a town have a tradition of not having those motions I do not encourage them and I will not accept any motions that add further confusion it's my job to try to make sure that people know what they're voting for and that we are making good use of our time wonderful all right questions thoughts clarifications so interesting really I just learned a lot I I always look at the in the I don't realize I should be listening to what they're saying yeah can I question J and then you can go first um these particular votes are they majority or are they 2/3 these this is a simple majority simple majority on all these votes that were on article on all of the the Motions that I I said before um there are some Motions like to call the question to end debate that would be at 2/3 okay that's not a main motion okay Dr and a motion to amend and a motion to commit or refer is also simple majority simple majority y so is it the petitioner that has the first right or the first opportunity to make either an affirmative or a negative motion correct okay so can I ask then um not knowing yet what a motion might be what would be a way for a board to take a position in advance of of a motion would it make sense to discuss the content of a motion and take a position or the content of an article and take a position related to the content of an article since there is not an opportunity to confer together as a group after the motion is made while I can't advise on strategy yeah uh typically what boards do when they make a recommendation is the recommendation is what they want to see happen Okay so boards can make a recommendation of what they want to see happen Okay so recommendations on action thank you all right any other questions that folks have Julie I can't quite see Julie so just making sure that uh I think I guess I can I have I have a question but Nicole you can tell me if it's not a good question okay I questions I'm sure it's a good question so go for it can can you can you explain a little bit what the continued expenditure of f looks like right now based on where we are in the process ah okay so it's a question more related to the Middle School building project as we go so right now the Middle School building project has entered into our design phase um and continued expenditure of funds would be related to um our project managers um Colliers International our architectural firms and all of the components of design um schematic design can I add to that yes so the I'm sure I forgot something just no that was excellent the um the the appropriation for the feasibility study and the design period that uh Nicole mentioned was made made at town meeting in the year fall of 20 fall of 2 yeah so um the authorization to expend funds on the feasibility study and now schematic design float out of a town meeting boote so so just to be clear we're just talking about continued kind of like dispersement of funds that were already authorized and appropriated correct okay thanks yep knowing that this is not a binding if I'm saying that correctly not a binding uh warrant the article the motion on the article either way whether affirmative negative or yes no either permutation there is no binding action that can happen the the the discussion of it and the vote act as a resolution and the meaning of that resolution is dependent upon what people say at the meeting given the nature of the article okay Tom Mr who determines whether it's a affirmative or negative main motion the person makes the motion and that could be anybody by how they speak and it could be is it anybody at town meeting in our in our tradition for most of the Articles the select board is the one who makes the main motion they're the ones who will make the main motion speak to it and then we hear from board recommendations except for citizen petitions citizen petitions we uh permit the lead petitioner or their designate to make the the motion other questions all right seeing no questions and knowing that we are not meeting again um until our um until after our town meeting um I would like to see us um make a a motion related to recommending an action since that's the thing that makes the most sense um for our particular thing um for our particular component um so that if we are asked to make a POS a position statement or to give a recommendation that we are prepared to do so um so is there anyone who would like to make a motion to recommend a particular action for example related to the continued expenditure of funds can can I try to make a absolutely um I move that the school committee is it to is it to that we recommend correct to continue the expenditure of funds for the further plan design and construction of a single combined Middle School that works the BL school that works for me we have a motion do we have a second second okay any discussion related to that motion I I I would just say you know the the town has already voted to expend these funds I think the work that the Middle School building Community uh building committee has been done in Earnest to try to understand what are the the potential sites and the potential costs and um you know have have narrowed it down in a way that I think is really responsible and meets the needs of the town we want to continue to work with people who have concerns about it but we should we should let that process continue forward all right thank you any other thoughts I'll Echo what Julie said the two of us have been able to be part of that Middle School building committee for the last few years um and it has been a very um detailed and involved and thorough process um and we're very glad to see the project moving into its design phase um and Hope to see support for the continuing of that project seeing no other comments I will move to a vote Zach yes Estelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes Julie yes and yes for me as well thank you um does anyone have any other questions for Miss Townson thank you so much for coming out we appreciate the explanation have all the different choices in front of us and every confidence that you will once again serve our town wonderfully as Town moderator for our upcoming meeting we look forward to seeing you there all right we are back on track um and headed into school committee announcements and recognitions I do not have a chair report tonight other than the reminder that our town meeting is coming up on November 12th and we hope to see as many community members there as possible um any other school committee announcements or recognitions seeing none we'll head into superintendent's report no report this evening all right other administrative reports um I have enough coming up later so no reports Fair student representative report uh the only thing I have to addon from from earlier was our um College and Career Fair from yesterday just s of second what Dr said I think sort of as we're moving forward as College gets more expensive as we see more students worrying about debt um for us College I think that we should sort of continue going in this direction as we saw yesterday of offering um alternative options from college because I think it's really critical that not only we expose students to all of their interests as we've done with things such as the internship class but also emphasize the sort of cost um Pros that come along with not going to college and either going to a trade or doing something along those lines um but yeah I was just really impressed yesterday with how far we've come as a district in terms of emphasizing our other options besides College because I think historically we've been very focused on college but I think we really need to make sure we're doing a good job of emphasizing the other options students have as they depart on high school all right wonderful thank you um other reports lpvc sack no report no report all right energy and sustainability Estelle all let me get my notes no problem we met um we had a lengthy discussion and Outreach strategy for assessment of GH g under PVP gram with um some of the members we are uh reviewed and discussed several survey questions that will sent to Long meta Community regarding usage of emission identify local Town laws a perpetuate higher emission in our neighborhood such as requirement to the gas mode to less than 6 in uh this law forces resident to either hire companies using gas power mowers or rely on individual gas powered machines both of which significantly contribute to increase emissions and environmental harm and survey questions are being edited all right great thank you appreciate you diving into that starting this week um seal Michaela um yeah so there is a seal meeting the next meeting is on November 13th and it's um a presentation by the Federation of children with special needs on social and tional needs um it is you have to register in advance um of the 13th U and that is on zoom and also uh seal sent out um a for question two that they are in support of yes of question two so i' like to share that too all right thank you appreciate it uh subcommittees Finance subcommittee yes good evening Mr Man sub uh met on Friday October 18th uh besides the items that are on your agenda um we also had some discussion related to Athletics with a presentation coming up in the uh near future from representatives from high school administration regarding the operations of the athletic program for FY 24 um conversations around field maintenance and just a reminder that FY 26 capital projects will be um presented to school committee in November um through Finance sub for submission to the town for consideration for funding in FY 26 on your agenda tonight though are a number of items either informational or requiring some action uh the first is a building use consented agenda there are six requests for building use four of which are annual requests and I will go through them for members of the school committee the first is for uh use of Center School a request by the center PTO for the annual Halloween hustle race on Saturday October 26 from 6: to 6:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and they are requesting use of the center gymnasium approximately 150 participants the second request is uh submitted from the L Meadow Park and W department for use of the um high school gymnasium on Saturdays beginning in December running through February various dates for youth basketball from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the high school gym uh the third again is a request by the lto park and wreck department for uh youth basketball program for the Glenbrook gym again on Saturdays in December through February and various dates and the time for that use would be 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and then the fourth one is a request from the raise of Hope for their annual um raise of Hope March and use of the high school parking lot on Sunday October 27th from 7:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. for uh members participating in the walk to park here and get bused over to Forest Park uh the last two are new requests to the Lawn Meadow schools um Bay Path which has used the High School auditorium in the past but is looking again for use of it on Friday May 2nd for the graduation ceremony of their physician assistant graduation ceremony um they are looking for the auditorium and cafeteria um and parking lot with approximately 400 participants they have requested to bring their own AV team which uh We've allowed them in the past but we also require them to have one of our technicians there to support in case there's any issues with the equipment and to ensure that there are uh no problems and then the last one is a request from St Mary's um coo basketball program for use of the Wolf Swamp gym for their youth basketball program on Saturdays dates in December through February various States and the time is 7:45 to 12:15 p.m. uh this program historically was run out of the Greenwood uh gym but due to some uh work that's being done it is cannot accommodate this request so they've asked for use of the Wolf Swamp gym for this year so those are the six requests that are on your consent agenda all right great we have a possible motion related to the consent agenda of building requests I move on the recommendation of the finance subcommittee that the school committee approved the consent agenda for the October 22nd 2024 school committee as presented uh we have a motion do we have a second second all right so as a reminder there is no discussion of individual items on a consent agenda so I'll call them out um by number 1 through6 really quickly and if anyone Hears A number that they would like to remove from the consent agenda in order to have further discussion on it just let me know and otherwise then we'll vote on the entire agenda together um so um we have Mo or um sorry request one request two 3 4 five what if I have a question and six you can totally ask a question yes um any further discussion related to that would be the time for a question go for it right now yeah um so for Section Five regarding Bay Path University using our um high school facility do we charge them or we just let them use for free uh we normally charge them unless there's a request which would then we haven't received one for waving of the building use fees any further questions Andor discussion related to the consent agenda seeing none we'll move to a vote Zach yes Estelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes Julie yes and yes for me as well all right wonderful um more Finance next item is acceptance of the FY 25 grants so in your packet is a memo outlining our grant awards for FY 25 um I will quickly read the uh the various grants in the grant award amount for fly 25 so we have the idea Grant in the amount of 821 , 463 a special education Early Childhood Grant in the amount of $15,995 34 title 4 $1 17,28 Title One $11 17,21 the drug-free community of $125,000 and then the Medco Grant and the amount of $299,500 for a total of those grants of 1,430 395 thank you um I know we spoke about this at the finance subcommittee but I'm just wondering if you can clarify for anyone who might be watching from home um Title One funding was a component of our budget discussion um with this past Year's budget can you speak to how that adjustment came about and or what that means for us yeah so back during the fy2 budget development there was some dialogue with um a projected reduction in our award amount for Title One compared to FY 24's amount we actually had it I'd say about double maybe a little bit more than double the amount that we're receiving an FY 25 and at the time we had proposed reducing the two positions that were full-time positions student support positions one at Kenbrook and one at will swamp down to a 6 or a partial FTE um and the grant amount did come in uh about where we had projected it to be but based on unspent funds in the fy2 24 Grant which were allowed to carry over we were able to maintain those two positions at 1.0 positions in the fy2 budget um again depending upon what next year's projection will look like we'll have to revisit that during the FY 26 budget development but for this year we're able to keep those two positions primarily all of the grant funding will go towards funding the salaries for those two positions so we won't be able to do any of the other supporting efforts that the grant has been used for prior years all right great thank you appreciate that all right we have a possible motion related to the acceptance of Grants I move on the recommendation of the finance subcommittee that the school committee accept the fy2 grants as outlined on the fy2 grant noo dated October 18th 2024 we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any discussion related to this item seeing none we'll move to a vote Zach yes Pelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes Julie yes and yes for me as well and more Finance so in your packet there are three FY 24 bu budget documents um they are presenting the final expenditures Associated to FY 24 there is a a general fund year today budget report there is a a total budget fy2 24 report and then and a revolving account report also for FY 24 kind of showing the activity within those accounts uh um for the entire year and where we finished up n FY 24 uh as expected we did not have any funds remaining in our general fund appropriation the uh the money that's that is approved or at town meeting in support of our operations so we spent out the full amount that was appropriated to to the school department um I think you know FY 24 kind of came in where we thought it would we most certainly had to move some funds around at the end of the year to balance out the lines um to support the expenditures uh based on the activity we had um and there are two FY 25 budget documents also included in the packet um again informational were maybe just about 20% through the fiscal year so it's kind of early so the general fund the year to-day budget report does not include a projection that I normally provide the committee I would say the next one I give a little later uh this fall will have some projection as to best guess of where we see the end of uh FY 25 going but again it is projecting activity um through October uh I think it was the 10th or so that I ran the report so again early on in the year but just informational to give the committee the sense of where we are I would say tracking where we would expect it to at this point in the fisc year all right um any questions related to updates on the fy2 budget another thing that we talked about at the finance subcommittee um was related to substitute PID Jamie did you want to take that or Mr Mao um we did have a dialogue about uh current compensation for our substitute positions the committee reviewed some historical expenditure information about 10 years worth of um spending related to substitutes uh we also uh talked a little bit about the number of absences that are covered through substitutes each year um and what it would potential impact on the budget um if any movement uh were to happen with the rates that we currently have in place um I think the decision was to continue conversation about it but not take any action at this time all right any questions or feedback there yeah I think the only thing to add is we we had a pretty decent discussion around whether you're able to get the substitutes that are needed on a day in and day out basis you know within each of our schools and right now we feel like we're we're in good shape we won't call it great but good good to be able to service the schools as we need them yeah I think I reported there are over 100 active Subs currently in our absent management system not that um they come to work here every day but for the most part we're we're able to fill a majority of our absences on a daily basis so if that were to change then we probably need to revisit this at that point any other thoughts questions all right and last up from Finance sub is Student Activity report the last item for Action tonight is a um a list of the Student Activity sub accounts um at the beginning of each school year a list is submitted to school committee to authorize the sub account for our middle and high school uh Student Activity accounts um this is an updated sheet that was provided in your packet and I left a copy at your desks you can um see which accounts are being inactivated because they no longer have uh either clubs associated with them or transactions that will occur in fy2 Associated to those specific account and the ones up top would be ones that we expect to see activity in this fiscal year any questions and or possible motions related to Student Activity accounts just one Qui question did 20 do we need to add 2028 on to here or there's an update Jamie that does the other one yeah sorry I grabbed the old one oh there we go never mind I'm good okay anything else and or possible motions I move on the recommendation of the finance subcommittee that the school committee approve the Long Meadow Student Activity sub accounts as presented and dated October 18th 202 we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any discussion seeing none we'll move to a vote Zach yes Estelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes Julie yes and yes for me as well all right thank you appreciate you policy sub Michaela policies J iie and acab were posted to the district's website to solicit public input the district did not receive any input on the proposed changes to the policies both policies will be posted to the district's website for 30 days I think we're done with yeah we are oops all right were yeah they were they've been on there longer than that actually yeah all right so those policies have been posted um to solicit public opin uh input and have not received any input so we have a possible motion I Mo that that the school committee adopt policy jie pregnancy and acab sexual harassment as presented we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any discussion related to either of these policies see none we will move to a vote Zach yes Estelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes Julie yes and yes for me as well all right no report from curriculum sub and evaluation sub uh met with Dr OA on Friday the 18th um to review his annual plan we're going to talk a little bit more about that um coming up after um we go through some ongoing business um and we'll be able to uh consider and ultimately approve that plan then we are headed into ongoing business and the Middle School building project Dray that's going to uh I'd simply report that um we're sort of moving from the visioning and concept development stage to the more concrete schematic design phase and so with that our design team will begin to work directly with uh School staff and District staff on on the very specific schematic design uh we also have talked to the design team about creating some advisory groups um that would include uh both staff and Community stakeholders uh and so that will be a matter that will be taken up by the building committee at a future meeting but um we're ready to roll into that schematic design phase it will culminate with um the identification of a full project scope and budget in the spring and that would be ready for the town's consideration in the fall of 25 so uh really excited to get into the sort of more of the nitty-gritty design work I'll add on to that that for anyone watching at home um if you haven't yet had the opportunity um to look it over there is an FAQ related to the Middle School building project um now available online you can link to that right through the school district um website um and it helps with a lot of the um documents that have been pulled together um are available on there as well as answers to many questions and that is going to be a living website so there is more to come um as more information is gathered there'll be more added to it also all right any questions related to the Middle School building project all right we're moving on school committee goals um you have a couple of documents in your packet related two goals so that we can move forward with adopting our own goals for the year right let me get to the correct one I have it thank you oh I got it okay all right there we go all right so um typically when the school committee does our goals we try to uh make sure that our goals are reflective of the responsibilities of the committee um those responsibilities involve um tasks related to policy to fiscal responsibilities to um curriculum and to communication and collaboration with Community groups so those tend to be sort of the headings with which we um move through our goals process you'll find in your packet a two-page document the first page is the collection of school committee goals from last year for the 2023 24 school year and then um a collection of suggested goals um for 2024 um with a few small um edits added in there um so give everyone a moment to see if there's any questions related to that and maybe we can tackle them sort of one Topic at a time and see where we land [Applause] all right so looking at the first bit of goals the school committee Works through the curriculum subcommittee to engage in curriculum analysis and review um we have two possible um things here in order to ensure a that Educators have opportunity for Relevant professional development and access to high quality research-based instructional materials aligned with mass Frameworks and B that curriculum materials and course offerings are reflective of diversity Equity inclusion and belonging initiatives um would anyone like to make any adjustments or additions or subtractions to goals related to curriculum all right so let's head into um policy I'll take a moment to peek at that one um we're just going through um Zach looking at the second page with some suggested edits for goals and we're looking at the policy sub ones right now thank you all right so related to policy the school committee will work through the policy subcommittee to ensure that policy language and intent supports LPS priorities articulated in the district Improvement plan by a cataloging analyzing and revising existing policies related to curriculum review and adoption facilities updates including the Middle School building project and Technology use and B revising existing policies and drafting new District policies to remain aligned with masc recommendations and statutory and regulatory requirements thoughts on additions subtractions or amendments related to that yep michaa um I like the way when it says facility updates parentheses it says including the Middle School building project I was wondering if maybe underneath technology use we could put parentheses and say like including device usages and schools that's an excellent idea including device usage of schools Julie thank you um I was I was also going to say I I think that was a good one Micha and then the um the the other question that I had was what we wanted to add anything related to um the discussions we had last year around um acceptance of um like equipment or other gifts related to Athletics I don't I'm not really sure where we landed on whether we needed to look at our our policies there maybe Marty or Jamie might remember yep I I'd say if if um the discussion at Finance sub is any indication it would probably be a good idea to include that on I would I completely agree I think it is potentially a topic of discussion that was you know discussed at the last subcommittee meeting and um you know is being worked on so it' be acceptance of gifts and donations okay and policies so we could just add that in at the end then cataloging analyzing and revising existing policies related to curriculum review and adoption facilities updates including the Middle School building project technology use including device usage in schools and acceptance of gifts and donations from parent groups or just accepting gifts and donations I would just say period yeah accepting gifts and donations um I'm wondering if we might want to add in um with including device usage in schools if that might also be an appropriate place for us to add in including device usage of schools and the use of artificial intelligence because we know that there's some policy questions potentially surrounding that as we move forward into this new age of AI yes okay including device usage of schools and the use of artificial intelligence okay I'm going to read it again so we're see if we're all on the same page okay the school committee will work through the policy subcommittee to ensure that policy language and intent supports LPS priorities articulated in the district Improvement plan by a cataloging analyzing and revising existing policies related to curriculum review and adoption facilities updates including the Middle School building project technology use including device usage in schools and the use of artificial intelligence and accepting gifts and donations okay um and I would make that in the acceptance of but we'll move forward from that um and revising existing policy or B and revising existing policies and drafting new District policies to remain aligned with masc recommendations and statutory and regulatory requirements all right does that sound good mhm yes any other thoughts feedback additions subtractions all right heading into the next part um Community collaboration and communication take a moment with that um yep Nicole would you like to add a course fny about device use given that we were supposed to start like a an Advisory Group there yeah we could do that is that our I'm not sure that that's necessarily our wheelhouse that might kind of fall into yours and I feel like I saw that come out of your goals as well it it will show up in my plan but yeah and I think you you certainly covered it above with the the device usage um but certainly if you wanted to include that as part of your community engagement work okay what would be kind of up to you I don't feel strongly about it I just no let's see if there's a way to fit it in with some of the language and see how we can make sense of that then um all right so the language we have right now is the school committee will engage and work collaboratively with Community stakeholders by a supporting the process of the schematic design for the new middle school and providing the community with detailed and timely updates opportunities for input and viable options for the Middle School building project any thoughts related to that that one looks good okay could I suggest maybe Crossing out the part about viable options and the options have been identified already okay should should have picked up on that all right so providing the community with detailed and timely updates and opportunities um for input in the Middle School building project okay B creating opportunities to listen to students teachers and community members on deib related math matters um maybe that would be a spot to do that cuz we could continue creating opportunities to listen to students teachers and community members on deib related matters student use of Technology you just kind of add on to that like ever changing technology matters yeah what's the wording we like you might have better changing is a great way to say that what do you think about that language then what might be a good um um evolving technology I like that evolving evolving emerging evolving and emerging we'll go with both it's always changing so it's you know hard to write something too specific okay is there anything else we would want to add into that spot um one of the things that came out of our discussion with um Administration during our admin school committee repeat or um retreat was um the idea of community outreach related to those vision of The Graduate standards particularly as they begin to move um out of just the high school and into elementary schools and middle schools as well so we could add in there um something related to opportunities to listen to students teachers and community members on Dei IB related matters evolving in emerging technology um and um vision of the gra I don't know how I want to say this though and um vision of best practices yeah maybe or you could put it onc four yeah with the student representation or student presentations rather oh yeah yeah that might be a better spot okay I'm going to Aster this part maybe come back to that um all right so Parts C and developing agendas that highlight student presentations to the school committee on the long middle Public Schools website and LPS social media sites um so we have historically hosted students to attend meetings at varying points throughout the year from each of our schools and maybe we have um a little bit of a framework for that within our vision of The Graduate um we could ask schools there are currently still six schools and we've got six components to the vision of The Graduate um to maybe tackle different components when they are able to come and speak to us and in an effort to move that language out into Community Parliament a little bit more or or maybe to like seeing the same things but how it looks I love that in elementary school how it looks in middle school and how it looks in high school so like maybe like one specific thing like when you were talking about that puzzle I was that's so cool and I mean I teach preschool but I take a clothes pit and we pass around the pumpkin and like that's the kind of thing that starts something like that collaboration and teamwork but it's hard to like you got to see the you know you have to see it and I like if I wasn't here listening to how it looks in high school I wouldn't know right that was cool so would we maybe want to add on to the bottom of that um using the OG standards as a framework yeah that language wise okay other thoughts related to community collaboration so I think this would also be a good spot for us to talk about making sure that we're strengthening and um continuing and supporting Community um connections to town departments and town committees we um are involved in a lot of different committees by participating in town events serving as school committee Representatives on various committees both in our town but also in our region for our lpvc reps um and also collaboration that's requ ired for projects like the Middle School building project yearly budgeting um any ongoing facilities assessments and maintenance um msba bids etc those are all kind of key places for us to engage and work collaboratively with key Community stakeholders as well would we want to add that maybe as a or D somewhere in there and it sounds good yes okay all right so I'm going to read through from the beginning and let's see if there's anything else we want to put into here um to make sense of also before I do that I just have a quick question um and maybe Diane you might be the one to tackle this um would you say that um negotiations would fall under Community uh communication or like collective bargaining does that fall there or under fiscal I realize it's a little bit of both I'm just curious where you would sort of bucket it you would keep it there okay that totally makesense okay so the school committee will engage and work collaboratively with Community stakeholders by strengthening and maintaining connections to town departments and committees by participating in town events serving as school committee Representatives on committees and collaborating on projects such as the Middle School building project yearly budget ongoing facilities assessments and upcoming msba bids B supporting the process of the schematic design for the new middle school and providing the community with detailed and timely updates and opportunities for input in the Middle School building project C creating opportunities to listen to students teachers and community members on educational matters like deib yeah and evolving and emerging technology yeah how about Ed Uh current topics and education I like that on current topics and education okay hot topics okay um so C would be creating opportunities to listen to students teachers and community members on current topics in education such as deib related matters and evolving in emerging technology and d and developing agendas that highlight student presentations to the school committee on the long middle Public Schools website um and LPS social media sites using vogg standards as framework thoughts additions subtractions amendments all right we've got one more to go um fiscal okay so take a moment and look at our current fiscal goals okay so currently in front of us we have in collaboration with Town officials committees and legislative delegates the school committee will work through the finance subcommittee to advocate for the a regular review of all buildings in order to determine and prioritize needs and to develop fiscally responsible proposals for Capital planning does that cover anything that comes up related to msba proposals Etc or applications Etc that fits in there okay perfect um B funding aligned with school committee goals and the district Improvement plan C funding for curriculum materials as prioritized by the curriculum renewal cycle and I would add in a D um to advocate for the h how do I want to say this I had it written originally as a separate thing um collaboratively bargain with the administrative team Long Meadow Education Association and the negotiation subcommittee to bargain a new three-year contract for all employment units I feel like that's clunky what do I want to say here something related to that you're just trying to tie in what the negotiation side yeah just keep it as fun everything else is funding funding so just say funding for negotiations all right so D and funding for new collective bargaining agreements probably beic for new collective bargaining agreements and E find a money tree that would be amazing let's get on that right away all right okay do we need to hear that one again or are we good a question for a sorry building does that include um any technology like infrastructure updates I'll let you answer that from a capital perspective meaning Network like um wireless access points or servers the town is looking to you know get potential like fiber optic you know Network so I don't know if that's part of the you know Capital planning if it does come that would be a capital expenditure not necessarily something the operating budget could handle okay all right other thoughts amendments additions subtractions all right so we've gone through each of those four sections do we have any amendments subtractions or additions that are outside of these anything else anyone would really like to see reflected in our goals all right I think we might be there folks um so um on that note is there I would entertain a motion to approve our committee goals for the 2024 2025 school year so mooved there we go we have a motion do we have a second all right any further discussion seeing none we'll move to a vote Zach yes Estelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes Julie was there yes there you are okay um and yes for me as well thank you folks that was very well done good collaboration love it all right um that brings us into new business and now it's your turn all right so uh please to present to you my 2425 annual plan which was considered by the uh evaluation subcommittee last week and hopefully you'll find that many of the um ideas that just talked about in relation to your goals are reflected in my annual plan and aligned with my annual plan so uh there is a detailed document in your packet just a quick overview um to uh sort of demonstrate the direction of the proposed annual plan which uh I would need approval from the school committee on this is part of the the regular evaluation cycle that Educators experience and so I'm sort of at that 2:00 stage on this uh on the wheel that you're looking at which is uh goal setting and plan development so as the body that evaluates uh my performance you're responsible for reviewing my goals and considering approval and then at the end of the year of course is the summative evaluation of the superintendent and so there are three components to uh the education plan the annual plan that is before you there are professional practice goals there student learning goals and then uh it would be rounded out by the district Improvement plan which uh is under development and will be coming to a school committee meeting very soon um there some of the features of the plan it I would say I hope you see that it is aligned with that emerging District Improvement plan that we've talked about I hope you see that it's aligned with the goals that that you just considered uh it most certainly is reflective of the 2324 evaluation so with the evaluation subcommittee I highlighted aspects of the plan that were that directly flowed out of the evaluation that you completed on me last year so I hope you see that there's a a linkage between the plan and the recommendations that the committee had for me at the conclusion of the last school year if I had to summarize the plan you know at a very very high level uh there are um you know attempts to support strategic directions there's a strong focus on student safety I would say and then some um goals relating to curriculum and instruction so um component one the professional practice goal um this notion of going from the balcony to the D floor um sort of making some commitments to you uh that my intention is to really kind of roll up my sleeves and kind of get in the schools I figure if I put it in writing uh to you it's it's uh more likely to happen so uh I talked at the evaluation subcommittee about the possibility of serving as a substitute teacher uh on some occasions throughout the year and maybe uh being with the principles on a sort of shoulder-to-shoulder basis for for a day just to really understand what their real it is uh so getting on the dance floor and really understanding the student experience and the and the experience of our administrators I think will be helpful to my practice and my growth so that's sort of the the professional development in addition to many other things that aren't in the plan but that's the professional development that I wanted to highlight to you tonight um the development the articulation and the dissemination of the district Improvement plan one of the things that I I want to make sure we do this year that we could have done better in our previous iteration of the plan is to create a plan that is sort of consumable to the public um instead of a a dense document uh can we create an infographic that really highlights and captures the spirit of our district Improvement plan so that's something that um as we work through the plan and make sure that it is front and center that it's recognizable that it's there's there's some visual appeal almost to our district Improvement plan so uh that will be a goal of mine this year the schematic design phase of the middle school project will occupy a lot of our time this year uh as we move into uh refining the education plan uh looking at technology and communication systems uh looking at the components and equipment and furniture that will be outfitted in every single classroom potentially in a in a new middle school so they're really getting down to that uh practitioner level uh with in this schematic design phase but I hope what you see emphasized in the plan is a commitment to engage staff engage the community in that process of course collective bargaining as you mentioned earlier will be uh uh a point of emphasis this year as well and then um the the second goal which the student learning goal um an emphasis this year A Renewed emphasis I should say on student safety with particular emphasis on digital safety and I would i' roll into that the cell phone review uh that the committee is uh uh expecting this year so reviewing our cell phone policies our cell phone practices along with our other approaches to ensuring that students students are kept safe in this digital space that they're learning in nowadays um school security really being purposeful in our work with long metal police long metal fire and DPW to ensure that we have safe secure secure schools uh we have settled into a uh a a real strict protocol around the security drills that are expected at every school and we're trying to be very purposeful about communicating um those drills to families so that they understand uh you know what the avoid deny defend uh drills look like at each School little different Elementary Middle High we try to do things that are developmentally appropriate uh Yale ruler this committee has heard a lot about uh but that will be that continues to be u a push this year to um Implement in a way that is supportive of staff and students uh strong emphasis on using two tools from that y yell ruler approach the mood meter and the school and classroom Charters so uh I've been happy to see how our Educators and our staff and our students have embraced uh those those Charters this year at the K8 level academic rigor and relevance I will tell you that one of the one of the things that we heard loud and clear from the staff and Community survey that we did uh last spring was uh making sure that we are you know maintaining that commitment to academic rigor but also balancing it with relevance kind of what what Andrew was talking about earlier how do you create rigorous learning opportunities that also uh are relevant to kids that that give kids authentic opportunities to learn and maybe see their future um so College and Career Readiness continues to be a point of emphasis for us uh evaluator train the roll out of our data warehouse called Panorama and then uh a real comprehensive commitment to professional development on Universal Design for Learning and so it's been something that we have uh been involved with for the last couple of years but we see this as being a commitment over the next 3 years uh commitment to professional development uh relate on Universal Design for Learning so at a very high level a quick level respectful of how long we've been here tonight uh wanted to provide the committee with that overview and happy to answer any questions that you might have appreciate the feedback of the evaluation subcommittee um and again I hope you see that it's connected to the evaluation that was completed at the end of last year so thank you questions thoughts feedback [Applause] guys just one question being in the evaluation set I was just reading number one again and just want your opinion on whether we should put succession planning as part of that as well y because I mean I've been a big Fon of what you the last few years you've done a very good job of reorganizing how we do things to make it better for the students parents everybody yeah but from a succession plan is that something you think we should put in there I don't know I was just thinking about as I read it and I go I to think of that whenever we met last week um or whether that's just something separate that you're working No in fact that was one of the that was one of the points of emphasis from the evaluation at the end of last year and and so there is a component there about our commitment to that emerging leaders fellows program so we have about eight administrators right now that are involved in this sort of aspiring or early career administrative Pipeline and we're working with an outfit um called the center for leadership and educational equity and so we've got about eight of our early career administrators that are involved in that right now and I and I think that I think that that hopefully hits that you know sustainability and succession piece that that you're thinking about but if there's other things that that the committee wants to see reflected in the plan you know by all means yeah I if it's a part of that then that's good yeah I just want to make sure we're kind of cultivating kind of from within and I think we're still you know with the central office rior um you know we're still working through that and kind of understanding how that can create some sustainable practices for us at the central office level and and you know and really making sure that our central office administrators are there to actively support what's happening at the building level okay other thoughts feedback I like the getting off the balcony that's cor can come on to my dance all I won't be dancing let's be clear you do little dancing if you're doing ele no dance parties you don't want to see that yeah yeah no the DJ yeah yeah there's probably a better uh a better metaphor for me than that but I kind of like that one actually I like that it's kind of three-pronged as well the idea of getting into classrooms and having that perspective of teachers the idea of spending the day with with um an administrator to see sort of what their day looks like from Caroline to Caroline um and the idea of shadowing a student and if I recall correctly you mentioned that being a mid an opportunity for the middle school which will help with the Middle School visioning process that we're engaged in yeah so there's there's some yet to be identified poor Middle School student who might have me attached attached to their hip for a day um so that's something that I I think really diving into and understanding the the programming and the flow of the the of a student's day at the middle school level would be helpful poor kid yeah poor kid be one long day I'm going to behave the whole day all right um so we have um a possible motion if no one has any further questions related to approving this plan I move the school committee approve the superintendent's annual plan 2024 2025 as presented we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any further discussion seeing none we'll move to a vote Zach yes Estelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes Julie sorry I'm not good on mute yes no problem and yes for me as well all right thank you very much appreciate that looking forward to hearing progress throughout the year moving on we have an acceptance of gifts I'm guessing Mr Messa that might be you I can take it um they've heard enough from me uh recently the high school received a gift from the Gary Rome uh surprise Squad uh in recognition of a teacher at the high school so the individual and the school each awarded a $500 uh gift card uh and the school plans on using it in support of their faculty and needs for the building all right great congratulations to the teacher for that Mr Williams thank you I was like I know it was in the email but now I forgot who it was than Mr Williams um congratulations to him um so we have a possible motion to accept that gift I move that the school committee accept with genuine appreciation the gift to Long medal high school as ascribed on the gifts to the school document dated October 22nd 2024 we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any discussion seeing none we'll move to a vote Zach yes EST yes m yes Jamie yes Julie yes and yes for me as well and that brings us to some ethics disclosures it's the annual time of year for that again sure which of you would like to start uh I'll take it um so Mass General law uh chapter 268 is the conflict of interest law and so um I'll speak for Tom too if it's okay we we both have uh immediate family members that are employed by the district so it's important that we uh acknowledge that disclose it and give the committee an opportunity to consider that so there's really two sections of that conflict of interest law uh there's section 19 which uh would say that we would need to abstain from participating in any action that could potentially benefit a family member unless the committee uh decided that that conflict of interest was not so substantial as to affect the Integrity of services so that's sort of the section 19 disclosure uh that both Mr Maza and I have made there's also a section 23 disclosure uh which is also uh a statement essentially that we would not use our position to secure unwarranted Privileges and so this is a a disclosure that we make annually um section 19 requires that the school committee um if you felt this way that the committee would have to take a vote to say that the conflict of interest that we've disclosed is not so substantial as to affected Integrity of services and that there's some wording uh that was developed by your attorney uh if that's what you want to consider and then SE the section 23 disclosure is simply um an acknowledgement that you've receive that disclosure so um we each have a section 19 and a section 23 disclosure anything did I hit that okay it and just to clarify for anyone um either at home or new to this um the opinions that you gather come from ethics board for the state um related to these disclosures yeah okay and the and the wording for your potential vote came from uh the committee's legal counsel okay questions related to this yes not question just Marty you're 23 the wrong dates in there the14 yeah just so it's just because it a legal document y thank you yeah good point as we'll amend that as amended at the bottom of 23 yeah there's two different ones I think thank you oh and we do these every year yes the section section 19 is especially important to do that in advance of negotiations so essentially you know to allow us to sit at the table um that section 19 disclosure is necessary other questions related to that are we good to just say as amended then instead of as presented what makes the most sense there as as amended if you're okay with that and yes yeah okay um we have a possible motion I move the school committee accept as amended the filing of Dr oa's conflict of interest disclosure form as required by Mass General law section 20 268a section 23 B3 all right we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any discussion related to Dr oa's um section 19 seeing none we'll move to a vote Zach yes Estelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes Julie yes and yes for me as well moving on to the um next one thank you not uh the school committee having reviewed the conflict of interest disclosure form filed with the school committee by Dr OA as required by Mass General law section 268a section 19 I move that school committee vote to determine that the financial interest disclosed on the form is not substantial as to reflect the Integrity of the services to the municipality and that the chair be delegated the authority to execute the form okay we have motion do we have a second second thank you any discussion related to this seeing none we'll move to a vote Zach yes Estelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes Julie yes and yes for me as well all right moving on to Mr Mao I move school school committee accept the filing of Mr maa's conflict of interest disclosure form as required by Mass General law c 268a section 23 B3 we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any discussion seeing none we'll move to a vote Zach yes Estelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes Julie Julie you might have a tech trouble and yes for me we'll Circle back oh I I yes sorry you okay we did not there you go all right and finally yep the school committee having reviewed the conflict of interest disclosure form filed with the school committee by Mr Maza as required by mass Jour law c 268a section 19 I move the school committee vote to determine that the financial interest disclosed on the form is not so substantial as to affect the Integrity of the services to the municipality and that the chair be delegated the authority to execute the form we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any discussion seeing none we'll move to a vote Zach yes Estelle yes Michaela yes Jamie yes Julie yes and yes for me as well we have no executive session which brings us to one final motion for this evening I move to the school committee adjourn the October 22nd 2024 school committee meeting we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any discussion seeing none we'll move to a vote Zach yes Estelle yes U Michaela yes Jamie yes Julie yes and yes for me as well thank you very much we look forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks at town meeting and um have a lovely rest of evening