[Music] [Music] for [Music] one day the bottles will turn to sippy [Music] cups [Music] [Music] e [Music] e [Music] [Music] I can't help but feel good I can't help but feel fine [Music] step inside the Infinity QX [Music] 60 [Music] [Applause] e [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good evening the school committee business session of April 8th 2024 will now come to order this meeting is being recorded and will be made available for viewing on the methan public school website secretary will you please call the role Ryan daglio present Mary Beth Donovan here Lori Keegan present Kristen Maxwell present Daniel shabila present Kenneth wette yeah may an Neil Perry may I have a motion in a second to accept the agenda for April 8th 2024 as presented so moved second moved by member wette second by member daglio may I have a motion a second to amend the agenda to move item 2B before two a so moved second motion by member wette second by member daglio any discussion and roll call vote please Martha Ryan daglio yes may Beth Donovan yes Lori Keegan yes Kristen Maxwell yes Daniel shabila yes Kenneth wette yes may an Neil Perry superintendent would you please introduce our student for tonight's flag salute yes give me one second all right so I would like to call up we have a student from the marsh tonight um Liam blondon if he would come up and we have Miss Cynthia Bennett and I believe Miss Gordon is here as well come on right up here honey I am proud to present tonight's Marsh star student Liam blondon Liam is an amazing young man with a wealth of knowledge and a curious mind on his way down the sidewalk each morning Liam checks in with Miss Gordon we often notice them sharing a laugh and a smile starting off the day on a positive note here's what Mrs laurri has to say about Liam Liam begins every morning with a heartfelt greeting he comes right into class excited excited to begin his day he's kind and caring to all those around him and often goes out of his way to help others he is a peer in class that will pick up another's pencil help peers put their books away share an eraser or anything someone needs he's well prepared during instruction and listens intently he has his hand up or is ready for a turn and talk about what he is learning he is an integral part of each and every lesson he had so much to our discussions he is inquisitive and continues to think beyond the text and subject matter being taught when thinking of nominating a student for the flag salute Mrs La thought about the student that reflects respects the flag the most and Liam came to mind he likes to move closer to the flag and recites the pledge of the allegiance every day he is very aware and proud of his country being respectful to the United States is very important to Liam when not in the classroom you will find find him in competitive game of soccer alongside many of his classmates at recess he loves sharing stories about going to Top Golf and visiting his dad's work Liam puts a smile on our faces each and every day he shines as a marsh star mom agrees that Liam is an amazing young man he's a terrific Young Brother one day recently Liam asked me if there could be no homework so he could spend more time with his baby brother when discussing the honor of leading the pledge at the school committee at the high school Liam was proud to share that his grandfather works here Liam is a star student we are thrilled and grateful to have Liam at the marsh and we know he will go on to accomplish anything he sets his mind to flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all [Applause] than every whole family right there [Applause] buddy superintendent would you please introduce our Massachusetts Association of school superintendent certificate of academic Excellence award Award winners yes that's a mouthful yes um I'd be happy to I Really uh I would like to call up uh Mr Rich Bon the principal of meth high school we have some folks here who are going to read each one of these Award winners tonight um and I believe we're going to start with Ava Duffy if Ava wants to join us at the podium come on [Applause] AA good evening every good evening everyone it's with I have great pride in introducing Ava Duffy tonight um I'm going to read um a recommendation from uh her guidance counselor Jordan Hamilton so it's with great pleasure that I write this letter for Ava Duffy in recognition of the Massachusetts Association of school superintendent certificate of academic excellence I'll start again so uh I'm ex extremely excited to recognize Ava Duffy tonight I'm going to read a recommendation written by uh her guidance counselor Jordan Hamilton so it's with great pleasure that I write this letter of recommendation for Ava Duffy in recognition of the Massachusetts Association of school superintendents a certificate of academic Excellence Ava has demonstrated exceptional dedication leadership and a remarkable commitment to both her academics and extracurricular activities her accomplishments and contributions to our school Community are truly commendable throughout her high school years Ava has been a member of the national H Society where she has consistently excelled in her academics and completed numerous service hours her strong commitment to both academic excellence and community service exemplifies her character and her willingness to give back to her community Ava's passion for promoting mental health awareness led her to co-found and co-reside over the mental health awareness Club her dedication to this club has had a profound impact on our school Community providing support resources and a safe space for students to discuss mental health issues A's involvement in various other clubs including books and bagels sad and Stage Door 22 showcase her well-roundedness and her desire to engage with diverse interests her active participation in these clubs whether through Reading uh attending meetings or attending events highlights her commitment to personal growth and her willingness to contribute to the school community in various ways a isad dedication extends beyond the classroom and extracurriculars she has been recognized with numerous Awards notable among them are her achievements in tennis including the most improved in second Team all conference Awards during her sophomore year furthermore her recognition as an invite to the MVC sportsmanship Summit and her credit uh Union essay contest finalist status highlight her strong character and her ability to communicate effectively Ava Duffy is a truly exceptional student who consistently strives for excellence in every aspect of her life her dedication to academics extracurricular activities community service and her outstanding work ethic make her a standout individual I have no doubt that Ava will continue to Excel and positively impact any future endeavors she pursues Ava replied to and has been accepted to several schools and has decided to attend UMass Amherst so on a side note I want to recognize Ava for her outstanding work I'm singing the National Anthem recently at a hockey game and she's also uh playing a lead role in the play Shrek so she's going to have to head out right after this to to get to that activity so um congratulations AO very well deserved I would like to thank Mr Hamilton for that very nice recommendation and I would like to thank Dr Quang Mr Bon and Mrs Tatro for selecting me for this award I would like to thank all of my teachers especially U Mrs O Sullivan and Mr scaman for helping me in the class room and of course I would like to thank my family for always supporting me and rooting for me and being here tonight thank you [Applause] so do you want to get on the picture cheese say cheese so our next student to recognize this evening is um James lug so James why don't you come on up and recognizing him as associate principal Glend [Applause] Javier good evening it is my honor to present James with this recognition this evening and I'm going to be reading a letter of recognition written by his counselor Jennifer Orana James lug has a talent and passion for the Arts and Music He is a person who channels what he feels and puts it into Melody his multifaceted talents and interests allowed him to pursue many Performing Arts courses at the high school he demonstrated teamwork commitment and dedication through the years to his craft his musical talents are a big part of who he is but yet there is so much more to this young man before you James is competent and diligent personality displayed uh heavily in his academics by the time he graduates he will have completed 10 advanc placement courses including some of the most rigorous ones offered such as AP Physics AP Calculus BC and AP Spanish he has demonstrated intelligence in a variety of subjects particularly with research and formulations although he presents as a shy student don't let James fool you he is an exceptional student who is quite clever he has a terrific sense of humor loves to be challenged and enjoys being an active learner regardless of the subject his math teacher said James not only works very well in groups he enjoys helping others who are struggling with the material he has a very thoughtful and sensitive way of using precise mathematical vocabulary which benefits his classmates James's driven personality and talents have allowed him to be a part of many extracurricular activities throughout the high school since freshman year he has been involved in jazz band and played the clarinet and tenor saxophone for the high school's band he won the rookie Symphony band award his freshman year he is also involved in the dirty hands Inc Club where he played his instrument of choice and various percussion Parts he has been involved involved in the stage door 22 Club where he was part of the lighting and tech crew for show Productions James is also involved in the sad club students against destructive decisions which engages in Sharing Awareness on Mental Health and Drug use Solutions focused for teens he was a member of the GSA gender sexual sexuality Alliance club and this year joined the science club where he focused on building mini a mini hovercraft he recently won the Excellence in chemistry award at the 2023 science fair James is the type of student that makes Educators proud and hopeful he is well-rounded is internally driven and has taken advantage of every opportunity presented to him at MHS both academically and in music he has been accepted to um LEL and Berkeley College of Music and at this time will be attending UMass LEL in the fall it is with great pleasure that I present to you James lug as a recipient of the Massachusetts Association of school superintendent certificate of academic Excellence award I want to thank Miss Javier for presenting that for me and of course from my guidance counselor I also want to thank Mr Bon and Miss Tetro and I especially want to thank my teachers all of which have given me a wonderful time I want to give a special thanks to my band directors m Mr mcgonagal and Mr poster as well as the tech director and theater director um Miss Walsh and miss fisone and Stage Door 22 all of which they've made my time here much more enjoyable and I don't think I could have done it without them and then last but not least I would love to thank my parents and my family in general as theyve supported me through any academic achievement I've accomplished thank you for [Applause] m should superintendent would you please introduce our SAR award yes I'd like to um bring Mr Bon back up to to the podium and I believe we also have Mr shagu here as well right come on up we'll call the student up student up so uh the wellness sore wood recipient is Fernando Ramos so he's here and uh Mr shagu will recognize [Applause] Fernando he might also win best dress tonight we don't know yet I think I think so so the wellness Department proudly announces Fernando Ramos's as this year's PE and health so award recipient this student has faced personal challenges nearly the moment he entered the world at 5 months old Fernando was diagnosed with leukemia at this point in life you are basically unaware of the seriousness in our program to the default settings that you were born with well Fernando's default settings were programmed to make him a fighter and to persevere through any obstacle or challenge after a two-year battle Fernando emerged victorious in his fight with this illness I mention this story because it gives you a background of who the student is to the core I have had Fernando as a student along with many of the teachers within the PE and health department and everyone agrees that we have never seen the student not give 100% he is kind respectful and most likely has the greatest perspective for how important it is to live an active and healthy lifestyle outside of the classroom Fernando has aspirations to join City year an organization that is focused on building a more Equitable future for children and young adults he also has plans to one day join his mother Daisy working for the IRS like any young adult just graduating high school Fernando is unsure where his path will take him but as someone who has had the opportunity to see this young man in action he will be a valuable asset to any organization he joins I'm proud that I had the opportunity to teach Fernando and I look forward to seeing his success in the future this year's PE and health and wellness sword award Fernando [Applause] Ramos I just wanted to thank you um everyone that is here and I wanted to thank my teacher Mr shagu and many fellow PE um teachers and many of my fellow teachers that have given me many opportunities to learn at this school I also wanted to thank my family for being here and giving me support through my life there's many incredible people I met in my life and each person I meet gives me a wonderful experience that I will never forget in my life I thank thank you [Applause] all e superintendent would you please introduce our national school Development Council Award winners yes I'd be happy to bring up Mr Rich Bon one more time he's got a couple of people who's going to introduce to read our two award recipients tonight oh you have a so I'm excited to announce uh Kim narino Vasquez as one of our national school Development Council award for academic growth and student leadership in learning recipients so uh uh recognizing Kim tonight is her counselor uh Dave oarn [Applause] hello I am honored to recognize Kimberly Naro Vasquez with this prestigious Award of all the students I've worked with I think kimbery may be the most gracious and upbeat it is hard to capture her level of positivity with words it must be experienced firsthand she imbued her environment in her work with the same Focus positive in energy and it translate into strong peer and faculty relationships and high quality work kimbery loves to learn and this is obvious upon reviewing her academic record in the period of time I've had in the role of her guidance councel have come away impressed with her enthusiasm determination and her endearing personality academically Kimberly has done extremely well in our demanding honors and advanced placement curriculum Kim has tackled many challenging sub subjects and profess and Prof processes excuse me terrific interpersonal skills a very well respected student by her teachers because of her extraordinary attitude Kimberly does not get discouraged with academic obstacles but instead perseveres and Rises to the challenge Kimberly purs plans to pursue a degree in law and I have no doubt that she'll be successful in her academic Endeavors due to her strong and consistent work ethic one thing that stands out from all her other strengths as her love of learning kimy is Guided by an inner drive to know more and make sense of the world this characteristic is what makes her a solid and successful student in role model for others with Kimberly's busy schedule she has also covered out time for volunteer work with adopted grandparent Key Club film and video Club Spanish club and at St Mary's Church teaching CH teaching children compassionate and empathetic Kimberly received satisfaction from helping others and is driven towards making the world the more stable place this award could not have gone to a more qualified and deserving student than Kimberly nataro Vasquez she is a young woman whose character and personal decision-making skills are a bond reproach I'm confident she will continue to lead and Inspire others as she has here in the classroom and in student life [Applause] um thank you to Mr Oar for writing that really kind letter and a thank you to Mr Bon and Dr Kang for being here tonight and I also saw Mrs pretti in the crowd and I wanted to thank her too cuz she was my middle school and Elementary School um principal and she when I moved to the United States she was a very kind person who was there to help me throughout the way and and uh thank you to my mom for being here [Applause] tonight e our next recipient of the national school Development Council award for academic growth and student leadership and learning is Brook Susi and recognizing Brook tonight is uh school counselor Matha Tetro good evening where are you she's not allowed to hide mature intelligent and humble is how I would best describe Brook Susi it's been an honor to serve a sir School counsel the past four years having the opportunity to watch her grow and develop from the quiet but determined freshman into the confident an independent senior she has become has honestly been fun her passion lies in helping others which is why it's no surprise to me that she wishes to pursue a career in nursing she not only has the academic Foundation to be successful in a challenging nursing program she has the patience kindness and compassion needed when working with patients these qualities and more are who Brooke is which makes it a perfect fit for her to receive this award one thing that really stands out from all others is her true love of learning she is Guided by an inner drive to know more and to make sense of the world Brook's passionate approach to studies originates from a quiet and comfortable confidence in herself although at times it doesn't always show there have definitely been times when she second guessed herself or maybe didn't do well on an assignment or a test instead of letting it get her down she sought out teachers worked through through the difficulties and came out more knowledgeable and prepared Brooke is also methodical and attentive to details which bolds well for her in the Sciences she thinks deeply moves into action while figuring out how to make an assignment or a project her own she's always leaned towards the sciences and nursing but her junior year she took AP Psychology and that just opened her world up in terms of how these two fields are so connected the bottom line for Brooke is she wants to help people no matter what the venue and never expecting anything in return her energy in the classroom and approach to learning will serve her well in college and life outside of the classroom Brooke has been involved in a plethora of activities Athletics and somehow manag to find time to work as a member of our indoor and outdoor track teams Brooke is a leader she may not be in the times column as a leader but as a teammate she stands out she she recognizes that everyone has a role she does her best at all times and makes sure she's encouraging of others a member of our sad club she believes in leading a healthy lifestyle and making choices that sometimes go against the grain of many high school students but she is perfectly all right with that her Integrity is important she will not second guess her decisions even when others may pass judgment on her what matters most is that her small group of friends and her family support her and I admire her resolve Brook's ability to prioritize her time and find balance in her life is a strength she will carry with her at all times I am confident that Brook's passion for her work and determination to always do her best will set a standard for excellence in her classes next year she's a young woman whose character and personal decision-making skills are Beyond her reproach she is resilient young woman who has worked diligently in many areas and whose tremendous personal and academic growth is due to her determination and effort she's a student who takes her work very seriously and strives to develop herself in every step of the way Brooke truly understands life is all about learning every situation every involvement and every opportunity allows her to grow and become the best version of herself Brook sus is a positive self-disciplined thriving in the life she has created and will attend Westfield State University next year as a nursing student and will also be running track it is my absolute pleasure to present to you Brook Susi for the national school Development Council award for academic growth and student leadership in learning I would like to say thank you for all of you guys for being here i' like to say thank you to um Dr Quang and Mr bam for providing all the opportunities to be a leader in the school I'd like to thank Miss Tatro for her constant guidance and help and support I would like to thank all the teachers especially Mr scaman for um inspiring me in AP Psychology one of my favorite classes here and I would like to thank um my parents especially for all of their continuous support and encouragement not to always do well but to try my best my hardest and not putting all the pressure on me but having allowing me to do it myself so thank you you get this she's that's superintendent would you please introduce our Massachusetts poetry out loud State runner up I'm going to call up Mr Bon one more time with Miss Dumont and kalissa come on up so we're here this evening to recognize kalissa Alber and her outstanding achievement in the Poetry out loud competition at the state level so here to recognize kalissa and her outstanding achievement is uh our English department chair Christine Dumont hello I am extremely proud to present to you kalissa Azel Alba the Massachusetts poetry out loud runner up here is a bit about poetry out loud if you don't know already it is a national Arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students around the country this program helps students Master public speaking skills build self-confidence and learn about literary history and contemporary life at methan high school poetry out louded is a schoolwide effort where students select individual poems and English teachers hold classroom competitions the school then HS holds their own semi-finals to select winners from each block on Wednesday January 24th 2024 11 outstanding finalists competed in the eth annual methan High School poetry outloud final competition after two rounds of impressive performances senior kalissa Alba was named the MHS poetry out loud champion and represented methan High School school at the regional semi-finals in Newburyport on March 2nd kissa's first recitation was Love Song by Dorothy Parker and her second was figure by Robert Wrigley kalissa was one of two who earned a spot to advance to the Poetry out loud Massachusetts state finals the state finals were Sunday March 10th at the Old South Meeting House in Boston it was a hard-fought competition between 16 incredibly talented students from across the Commonwealth all 16 competitors performed two rounds of poems after break the top five were announced and they performed a third poem before the winners were determined kissa's third poem was Nathaniel Hawthorne's the ocean as the state runner up should anything happen to the state champion kalissa is next in line to represent the Massa represent Massachusetts at the Poetry out loud national competition in Washington DC this is mean's eth year participating in poetry out loud the sixth straight year methan has sent someone to the state finals and the highest an MHS student has ever played kissa's performances were special to witness we are all so proud of her and for all of our students for participating in poetry out loud this year next year kalissa plans to attend Emerson College in Boston and we are all incredibly lucky tonight because kalissa is going to Grace us with the performance of my personal favorite Love Song hi I'm kalissa Alba and I will be reciting Love Song by Dorothy Parker my own dear love love he is strong and bold and he cares not what comes after his words ring sweet as a chime of gold and his eyes are lit with laughter he is jubilant as a flag unfurled oh a girl she'd not forget him my own dear love he is all my world and I wish I'd never met him my love he's mad and my love he's Fleet and a wild Young Wood thing bore him him the ways are fair to his roaming feet and the skies are sunlit for him as sharply sweet to my heart he seems as the fragrance of Acasa my own dear love he is all my dreams and I wish he were in Asia my love runs by like a day in June and he makes no friends of Sorrows he'll tread his Galloping rigadoon in the pathway of the marrows he'll live his days where the sunbeams start nor could storm or wind uproot him my own dear love he is all my heart and I wish somebody shoot him thank [Applause] you superintendent would you please introduce our veteran essayist yes I'm going to call up uh Rebecca Gordon principal of the Marsh Grammar School and I believe we have Nicholas rafini here who is our award winning essayist sure and we have folks from the BFW here as well if they want to join yes I'd like to invite up danan O'Neal from the withu in BFW oh thank you very much good evening um Nicholas rafini oh that's okay um entered the VFW scholarship essay contest which is held annually um at the national level state level District level and post level Nicholas won the post level he won the district level and he came in third in the Massachusetts level um the VFW is proud to contribute to youngsters educational progress and I have applications for this year's contest that I'd like to hand out to everybody afterwards um and if Nicholas doesn't mind I would like to invite him to read his essay it's um very patriotic and it's very well written Nicholas hi I'm Nicholas rafini and I'm here to read my essay today I inspired by America's history and the amazing people who help shape today and will help shape tomorrow from the first pilgrims discovering America to the men and women who have defended our country across several Wars and battles I'm inspired to do my best and not take our freedom for granted there are three people in American history that have inspired me George Washington Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr George Washington was the first president of America but it's his leadership in battle that inspires me with his leadership our small militia Army was able to hold off a much larger British Army and secure our independence the history of Abraham Lincoln also inspires me where where he was a leader during the Civil War Between the northern and southern states fighting for the freedom of slaves he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery in America he led the north to a victory against the southern states the third person in American history that inspires me is Martin Luther King Jr Dr King fought for equal rights in America through several peace peaceful protests peaceful peaceful protest protest and won the Noble Peace pies I am also inspired by a great veterans from World from the world wars to those in to those in Korea and the Vietnam Wars to the to the Desert Storm War and the sacrifices those veterans have made for our freedom sadly several Americans lost their lives fighting for a freedom and others were badly wounded last year my dad volunteered to help set up the traveling version of the Vietnam memorial wall and we went and visited the wall and the display I was inspired by the stories and items on display and grateful for the sacrifices made by the people whose names are on the wall I also recently watched Band of Brothers and saw the inter interviews with actual soldiers during the episodes and was inspired by their stories and the sacrifices they made all these reasons are exactly why I'm inspired by our amazing country that I live in today thank you than uh thank you to all the veterans who showed here today and thank you to my mom and dad especially [Applause] today e superintendent would you please introduce the MHS booster representative yes so I have both Bill Bryant here and Tom Ryan from our uh athletics department and I also have Bill Bryant who runs the MHS boosters um and this actually there's a memo in your packet they they will both speak on behalf of the booster's donation and we will need a motion and approval of this donation tonight so hopefully that was clear I hope it was um but we will need that after they present uh the items tonight oh it's on there you go uh the Mau group was a group that was formed like 10 years ago a little bit longer than that who kind of purpose is to make athletes uh student athletes Buu High and the fuan community um have awesome opportunities financially by doing a lot of things raising money they're run a golf tournament uh concession stand they do a tremendous amount of work and over the years they've donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the athletes of uh of methan uh and just the kids of methan in general so I've been lucky to be part of that group since the since I came here 11 years ago they kind of wrote me in it's been an unbelievable uh education uh that I've received from a lot of these people I'm privileged uh tonight to uh announce Bill Bryant who's been the president of the M for the last several years to come and speak about the donation that they're going to give this year so without further Ado Mr Bill Bryant took the words right out of my mouth so with with a hardworking guy is always a great supportive wife so technically we have two groups the meic the the methu athletic Improvement committee is what I'm the president of and Pam is actually the president of the booster kind of two separate groups under one umbrella but we've definitely done the work um along with many many volunteers over the past 11 years as well as the community that continues to come out and support pretty much all of our endeavors all of our fundraising efforts and and things that that are really important to the uh to the athletes of methun high school as well as the digital sign out front the lights in the Fieldhouse so it's not just about uniforms it's about bettering the high school as well as the fields across the city um so I believe they have a packet with okay so just important to to run through um the first is a huddle live stream what that is is that allows the athletic teams the varsity teams to be filmed um for example the basketball coach in the past would spend hours after game basically breaking down the film huddle does that for the coaches now um but the the price has gone up incredibly so that's not the the full price that's just what we donate towards the high school but this allows the coaches to send send film out for the athletes for recruit recruiting and for colleges um obviously boys lacrosse uniforms home homeing away that's pretty self-explanatory uh girls and boys tennis Uniforms girls vcity and JV Basketball basetball uniforms football practice jerseys uh football practice equipment um and if you notice for football it's it's quite a bit of money but that's one of the teams that has probably the most players um and as a non-cut sport you want to make sure that you have all the equipment uniforms to outfit everybody uh girls volleyball Varsity JV and freshman golf uniforms and gymnastic uniforms so that's this year the past few years we've been fortunate to run pretty successful golf tournaments where we're raised anywhere between 20 and $30,000 that money immediately goes right back to the athletes um between Mr Curran and um what do you the the inum inim acting uh ad uh coach Ryan basically generate a list so the goal is to continue to supplement the athletic budget um to ensure that the student athletes continue to not only get gear but also uniforms that match the rest of the MVC uh throughout the conferences so questions Mia so Billy I mean you know I'm going to vote Yes on this but I have to ask because one of these has a 6000-7000 what are we voting on exactly so the the total amount so we've already either given the money to the athletic department so you have to vote in total so like last year the group donated a flag to the high school um Fieldhouse you have to basically approve that donation so you're approving the donation it's almost impossible to get an exact amount until we actually purchase the the different uniforms of the equipment so that's an estimated donation from the boosters to the athletic department to purchase that sometimes it comes in a little bit less sometimes it comes in a little bit more so so it's a reimbursement right that's how you're gonna run it essentially sure okay all right then that that works for me then thank you Mr golin yeah any other questions may I have a motion and a second to accept the MHS booster donation as presented so moved second motion by member shilia second by member dolio um we need a roll call vot please Martha Ryan daglio yes Mary Beth Donovan yes Lori Keegan yes Christen Maxwell yes Daniel shabila yes Kenneth wette yes may anneal Perry yes unanimous so as the wife just whispered I didn't say the total so the total was somewhere between 28 and $30,000 that were donated this year so thank you thank you um the student representative tonight is not here um is there an advis a student advisory committee is there any updates thank you hello we meet again my name is Maria Wen and I'm a senior here at methan high school student council purchased 40 Flags representing 40 different countries and finally received the order about 2 weeks ago the international flags are currently being de wrinkled by the student council student council adviser Miss spfs will be putting them ready for display immediately following April break the flags will be displayed in the main hallway for Prime visibility as for senior prom it's on Thursday May 23rd 2024 tickets are being sold for $90 if purchased before April 12th from then on tickets will be sold $95 the deadline for purchasing tickets is April 26th as for the location it's located at the a ainson resort and Country Club in the in ainson New Hampshire before February vacation seniors were able to attend the credit for life Fair it was about how every student's financial situation could possibly go after high school it was with a Twist students were able to apply for scholarships by spinning a wheel to see how much money they'd get financial plans were made through each student's decisions to going to all the stations and seeing if they will be in debt or not once the tis were done the center at the center was the financial help where they would check to see if you are in debt if you are in debt you would get sent off to find areas where you can spend less and get out of debt if you weren't in debt and once the people who weren in debt got out of debt got a raffle ticket as well as a methun Rangers water bottle along with a drawstring bag the raffle tickets was used for a chance to win chick-fil gift cards there was also a station to take pictures and a station where seniors were able to record thems for a short interview up next from student council is a freshman Laura Wen thank you good evening fun Lively enjoyable and extraordinary is what some Juniors that attended Junior Prom had said many students said it was fun it was a fun night to experience with friends as for jotc in the past few weeks jotc has participated in a number of events inside and outside of school they have finished their MP season and at their last competition The Varsity Marksmanship team played second at the varsity academic team plays third they have begun practicing for the Raiders competition which involve outdoor events such as first aid Lane Land Navigation one rope bridge and obstacle courses there are also starting archery in classes after spring break only murders is a mun winter Color Guard show this winter has been an amazing season for the winter guard it's been a season for the books due to the Excellence of placing yesterday the guard had placed second place for finals thank you for listening and have a great evening has anyone signed up for public participation at this time we will close public participation portion of this me of this meeting if you cannot make the meeting in person for public participation you can send an email to Martha sroy at maoy meu. k12.us before 3M on the day of the school committee meeting May I have a motion in a second to approve the minutes of March 11th 2024 so move second moved by member wette second by member dolio any discussion roll call Martha please Ryan dolio yes Mary Beth Donovan present Lori Keegan yes Krist Maxwell yes Daniel shilia yes Kenneth wette yes Mayan Neil Perry yes may I have may I have a motion and a second to approve the minutes of March 20th 2024 so mve second move by member doog Leo second by member wette discussion Martha may I have a roll call please Brian daglio yes Mary Beth denovan present Lorie Keegan yes Christen Maxwell yes Daniel shilia yes Kenneth wette yes may Neil Perry yes may I have a motion in a second to approve the minutes of March 25th 2024 so moved second moved by member dolio second by member wette discussion Martha may I please have a roll call Ran dolio yes Mary Beth Donovan present Lori Keegan yes Kristen Maxwell no Daniel shilia yes Kenneth yes Manel Perry yes passes for yes does the committee have any questions about the assistant superintendent of Services report okay um does the committee have any questions about the Director of Human Resources report okay does the committee have any questions about the facilities report does the committee have any questions of the out of school suspensions and other disciplinary actions report member shilia uh I thought we had discussed it last time but in the future is it possible to break these down by the related issue whether it's fighting related drug related and then to also break out kids that were suspended that were head servic whether they be IEPs 504s I don't need to know names or what just a number so yes this was part of the I I we wanted some clarity tonight so I did indicate that to the school committee so the out of are we talking about the out of school suspension breakdown by category yes yes so we can draft something to put together it's not as easy as one bucket or two buckets um just because of the nature of the way things are reported and the indication on the the reports for desie right some things get reported to Desi some things don't um so if if you just allow me some I'll draft something to work with like what those buckets look like it may not be the same language as those indicated but they'll be larger bu yeah you can use your creative Liberties and we'll we'll refine it over time are there any other questions or discussion okay superintendent will you please start the presentation of the fy2 proposed budget yes sorry did I miss something no I think that's after on the agenda I think that's coming the budget is first and then we have a couple other items to yes that's number two sorry so um you all have the budget binder in front of you um I have uh all the central office directors here and the principles are also here behind me for specific questions explanations I know it's a lot uh here and so I also uh gave you uh this evening um a few additional resources and I do hope that helps and I apologize it wasn't in the book but hopefully as we talk it'll become more second nature the special education programming uh can be very uh confusing in there's some in some buildings there in the grammar Schools they're split up they're not everywhere what does Pathways mean what does Junctions mean what does uh choices mean you know that can be um challenging those are all different special education districtwide program so um I did give you that tonight so hopefully that will be a helpful reference and I will note that next year we give that to you right up front so you have that as a reference point um but I think you can see from my executive summary um you know this is not a budget that we prepared on um you know just asking for wish items these are um any new positions that were asked were asked for uh came from either previous uh budget requests that that were deferred uh for several years you'll see a few of those um some of the items in the budget are uh are um requests due to you know required Service delivery so we have a challenge there that we have special education programming uh ESL increases especially at the Tenny and the high school this time around the last couple years it was the timy in the high school you know we're seeing those shifts throughout the district um you know we're we're also looking at um you know I know a big question the mayor has said it multiple times you know we did not put a lot of Staff in our sr3 grant uh for the reason that many districts are having more um you know issues at this point with a budget shortfall um we did have some and so you know hopefully I did explain that I'll be happy to explain it further by school if that should come up um but there were some positions in three we knew that were short-term positions um so so some of these aren't a surprise right they were meant to be positions to help us get back to a certain level post pandemic uh and they were not something that we were going to maintain or keep um some of the positions that we had in that uh in Esser were also only needed last year for class size issues right we had bubbles you'll see there are some bubbles that's how we refer to them when we have certain classes that that are larger you know but they're they're bookended by smaller classes so it's hard to plan for those classrooms and additional teachers sometimes year over-year so you'll see a few of those in the budget um contractual obligations those are you know almost 80% 75 to 80% of our budget is salary based right so so that that is what makes up the majority of our budget um which is why you know this this this process we we primarily focus on the Staffing because that's where um the amount of money that we are talking about really is it comes from um so there are contractual obligations here for sure that are really not within our perview to negotiate so we have out of District tuition costs which uh those of you who are on the committee last year know that the state allowed them they were at level funded during um covid uh and then last year the state allowed them to rise their tuitions up to 14% uh that was that was an enormous increase and so we're still feeling uh that increase because they continue to increase every year thereafter um but those are contractual obligations that we have as a district that is not a price I come up with or you come up with the out of District school that the student is placed in comes up with that and sends us the contract so we plan for that we project that that numberers in this budget um that is something that the stent student service offices do for us uh transportation is another one that is you it's a non-negotiable annual cost uh we have a contract with nrt trbl as you all are well aware uh and uh you know there is an increase that is automatic um from this year to next year we calculate our projections for special education tuition based on those costs that are in the contract and we project those that's also in this budget so there's a lot of contractual uh obligations that are part of the budget building process um and a lot of those as well are um we'll also see that in the technology budget there's not a lot of right those are those are three-year contracts we sign for our curriculum instruction assessment programs you know the 24 25 school year is this amount of money the following year is this amount of money that's that's what we roll over and project every year so that's how those sections are built right that other 20% of our budget um supplies you know Ian will be happy to go through how we budget for those as we roll over to the next school year um I think another thing uh that I just I wanted to make sure that was out there obviously we've had lots of conversations about reopening the media centers what does that look like um so this budget does include reopening the media centers and adding staff uh in those media centers so I'm I am assuming that will be a top topic of conversation from the committee um and then the other thing that we've talked a lot about um with the previous committee and this committee is you know one of the tasks I think that has been very challenging for uh especially our grammar schools is the increase in behavioral um referrals that we've had or our incidences events um all the way around whether the student is on an IEP or not uh we've been met with some significant challenges uh post pandemic and we we are not seeing that on the decline we're actually seeing that on the uh incline it's increasing um so we don't see the need for Behavioral support um going away and so a task that I set all of the principles to uh early in the year in fact probably last summer is this you know you need to have a good handle on what your school is experien and what support your school needs and so you'll see and hear as well uh there's two schools that are proposing sort of one uh model of behavior support and and they can talk about that uh if if desired and there's two schools looking for a different kind of support and they can talk about that why we chose those they're different and I think this is one of those times we've talked about here at the committee right we like to be consistent in our schools but there are times when one program is not going to work one support is not needed a different kind of level of support is needed because of the population The Experience um that the schools are are facing and so the principles have done a really thoughtful job in hopefully explaining that here but again they're all here tonight as well to explain further uh as needed or requested um so I think there's a lot here so it's probably best to um leave it open for question questions at this point we can go by School uh which might be the most helpful just to kind of keep ourselves organized if you want to start with the Early Childhood Center and transitions program so those two programs are currently housed at Branch Street and I think something that you'll see um which again going back and forth hopefully this will all make a little sense as we have these conversations but last year we did not have have all of the high school staff in the transitions program in the the Branch Street budget it was it remained in the high school so you'll see a large number of reduction at the high school and a higher number of positive requests at the Branch Street at the transitions program but they're not new requests right we're moving we're moving staff from one program at the high school to actually putting it where it belongs now right we didn't have um we didn't do that last spring as we were trying to make that transition we had to go through the budget process before all of that was decided so um all of those positions and programs are in the right place and so there's a couple places in here that we've done that and so we'll make that clear as we go through with the schools that there might have been a reduction in one school at the marsh but we moved those Physicians to another school where students are so it's not a new position request we're just we're moving things to make sure that we're being able to service the students so if we start with the um the preschool and transitions school um I will I there's some questions that you may have about the preschool and Transitions and then I think um there's probably more questions about the narrative regarding um the three options that we outlined for uh some of our preschool transitioning to kindergarten students that hopefully Gina between Gina and myself we can answer your questions about that so I'll stop talking and let the school committee go all right are there any questions on the Early Childhood our transitions program all right member of shilia so on the three options okay I mean option number three the two classrooms at Branch Street I agree is the best of the three but my concern is are we going to staff them I like the idea of keeping it in house but we can't fill the positions we have now yeah but we want to create more so great question um and I and I don't you know we don't have a perfect answer for that and I'm going to say and I give you know um Miss boak is the one who was having the ongoing conversations with our Crest collaborative peers to talk about what could this look like right we're at a point where we have 26 preschool kids entering kindergarten last year we had almost the same the last two years we've had almost the same exact number so we really have to think about our own capacity as a district to be able to service kids in our district in a subpar setting I hope that makes sense what I just said um and so you know we're really trying to thoughtfully think this out that we don't want to send kids out of the district and so we're trying to figure out who could help us with this um so with this plan there is one classroom going to the marsh for kindergarden so that's a new request that you saw in the marsh so there's this group of kids is all one group of kids one classroom goes to the marsh and two classrooms stay at at Branch Street and and the Staffing is certainly a concern for us but I have to say it's almost the same concern if not bigger for the collaborative so whether or not we choose and this is this is the just the the way of the business right now right we have kids currently here in Methuen and the the principles can attest to this as certainly can Gino right we have kids waiting for spots in out of district schools right now because they either don't have a spot or they don't have staff so so we we send 16 kids at a district not sure who could take that right who who could do that for us um and so you know we really went back and forth with the do we have a model where we have uh an outside School Crest collaborative is who we're working with because they are our collaborative uh being able to oversee and manage the two classrooms that we can house at bran Street um and just that wasn't uh as you can see here it wasn't going to be cost effective for the same product right we're looking for the same teachers with the same certifications um and you know we just we think at this point you know it's most advantageous for us to do that um I don't have a magic answer about how we're going to fill our positions you know I'm hopeful that with contract negotiations and different things happening in different districts right people are looking for changes um you know we we always have to be hopeful but these aren't positions that I I can not have right that I can do without so it's it's there's no magic answer to that question and I don't know if Miss boak wants to add anything but no she does not so I agree keeping keeping people in District is the best answer but my concern is we plan for three which is you know ballpark half a million bucks we can't hire and then we're stuck having to work with the collaborative and send them to the collaborative and hope they can take them and now we're not budgeted for that I can't this can't be a new problem for you guys it's a new problem for me yeah but so it's not a new problem for us two fronts so so we plan for the best option um and this is we we can go into this as well tonight in whatever venue I can start the conversation here but that's why we have the circuit breaker account so the revolving account that is circuit breaker uh we we will never I will never as long as I'm superintendent ever um uh allow that account to be depleted because we have to keep money in that account for these reasons when we have right our and and this is a perfect example is that when we first started talking about fy2 projections for out of District tuitions in November December right we were at one number and then when we did it a month ago to prepare for this we were at a totally different number right because we we had Movin we had uh just a whole lot of different situations right where we have kids that now need an out of District so we have to reject for that tuition right so that that changes over time which is why that circuit breaker account is so critical and is for that purpose to help offset the cost for special education tuitions and contracted services so not the best but we will always have money in that uh account to help offset those types of situations I've I this is year six for me as superintendent and and uh Ian is much more conservative about making sure that we have a good amount of money in that uh revolving account uh to make sure that we can offset a situation that like that that may arise um or others that arise during the school year that we can't project it is such a fluid um population and situation that's it for me thank you are there any other questions just curious it seems like Branch Street is pretty busy so 16 classrooms how many more um what else is available over there so we have four spaces available okay um that we can grow and based on the projections right now for preschool as it stands right now we're good to open with the classrooms that we have set right now um which allowed us Room to Grow for these two kindergarten classrooms and again this is one of those situations where we're looking at this to the superintendence point year to year to build our capacity um but we do we have four right now available spaces okay thank you member Doo thank you madam Vice chair um the question also I I want to U Know in this um if we were to do this plan is there any grants out there that we can apply for to helps us support that other than going for a circuit breaker uh not right now that we're aware of that doesn't mean that something couldn't you know come across our plates in the future but right right now there's no grant that would support this particular situation or work but good question thank you y member wet just a piggyback on what uh member dagio indicated it's 75% reimbursement from the state so let's say hypothetically we have inundated with dozens of students which could happen and the state will only reimburse 75% and these are medically involved deep uh cases and we only get 75% reimbursement from the state and it's it's a shame that it actually does impact regular education at times so in terms of talking about grants it really should be 100% reimbursement from the state and from the federal government um and that's something I've advocated for for a long period of time um and it's unfortunate that's only 75% reimbursement so that's my two cents thank you which we had to fight for that 75% at this point yes wasn't always 75% yeah so any other questions I thank you I have two um about Branch Street so my first is that if we keep our kindergarteners at Branch Street um how are we managing the integration For Recess lunch and specials that the students that go to the marsh would get um that's my first question so that's a great question um part of this is when we were looking at these two classrooms we looked at them strategically in the sense of um a population of students that may require more um intense Services um and that the the integration right now with peers would not be meaningful or beneficial to them they they need that one more little bit longer um of direct discret trial type of type of services um so we were really we weren't just saying here's a group of 26 27 students and we're we going to just randomly pick where we are strategically looking at the needs of the students that we're placing in those two classrooms thank you my second question is about the um secretary that you are asking for for special for special ed um my question is when you went to Branch Street and the preschools came from the lower schools at the other schools those students were supported by secretaries at those schools did you get a secretary to support preschool when you moved to Branch Street for that to replace the secretarial support that you had we did not so we we internally restructured um so one of one of the secretaries that always supports preschool special education as well as high school special education has taken on the additional components of managing attendance all all things that that you would see a building secretary do for the management of the students so you're in essence down a secretary not just asking for a new secretary you're in essence asking for a replacement of what you had we were looking to see how we could absorb this um but I will take this moment to say and you know superintendent um knows this as well we've we the Department's requested this additional secretary um for probably about six years now um um just given the growth and and um the increasing demands primarily of Transportation special education transportation and the communication and systems that we want to maintain um for our families great thank you member shilia sorry so to member Keegan's first question I I may not have caught the answer but my understanding of the question was for these kindergarteners who are staying at Branch Street how are they handling the specials and recess correct that's not what I got so okay so just no that's great NOP clarification so recess will still occur for the students we you know we have the outdoor space we we also have the indoor space that we utilize for a lot of our preschoolers um and that's on a schedule so there wouldn't be any integration of the preschool and kindergarten um for specials we have an Adaptive PE teacher we have two in the district so one would come over to provide the PE sessions with those students and then art I would be working with our Fine Arts dep Department to see how we can integrate the Arts and Music are you still doing the the peer model program for preschool yes what's the enrollment like right now I'd have to get you that number off the top of my head I don't have it okay and we can talk about that offline then sure thank you are there any other questions for Branch Street all right let's move to the CGS are there any questions specific to the CGS don't be shy like this is right I'm trying to see if anyone else wants to go first you want to take I'll take you can go around we've done it different ways in the past you can go right around the room and just start in one end and go to the other it really it really is what people have to ask I mean this is our opportunity and this is the meeting you have all the principles here as well all right I'm just going to go with that so there's clarification you know I'm just not you know we read this every day we know these acronyms so this is also a challenge and so we recognize that so anything that we myself the principles can explain further for clarification and reasoning we want to be able to do that tonight all right so I guess my first question starts around the is it the the Burt pilot bright pilot Bri um went through this a couple of times it's not clear who staffs this what licenses we're looking for and it is clear that it's a one-year Grant so I guess I'm trying to figure out what the cost to own on this thing is going to be for year two and year three yeah so I'm bringing up Miss pretti so I'll introduce it Miss proti and Mr Crocker has been way more involved in the planning process for this so we're looking it's called the bright program and we we have it at the high school and so we've been uh very interested in working with the folks at the Brookline Center and please just stop me if I start saying anything um who who helped us kick off the program at the high school what does it look like at a grammar school at a middle school and Elementary School for support for our students and so um the one thing that became more natural to us to Pilot it at the CGS is that uh we have a teacher who works with uh students currently and the case load is is getting smaller and so we want to be able to use that current staff member who's very interested in this work who works with challenging students um to be able to support this pilot and they it's actually a three-year commitment for money that they give us so it's three years that they'll give us money for support staff um for this classroom and so we're really looking at um what does it look like at a grammar school and and we don't it would it wouldn't be um reasonable for me to come to you uh to say we want this in all four schools this is what it's going to look like when we really don't know what it's going to look like um but I know that you guys are familiar with the work that John Crocker has done and I think Katie and John Crocker have worked uh together somewhat tirelessly to plan what this is going to look like at the CG GS and why the CGS is a good place to Pilot it so I'm going to stop talking because I'm going to start messing something up and let Miss pret talk but if you if if I wasn't clear or you have other questions that you want to ask Miss pretti that would be fantastic at this time of course sure so I'll start and thank you for the question it's I'm really excited about it and I think it's going to be super and I hope that at some point we have this in every grammar school so bright the acronym stands for bridging resilient youth together there's a very successful High School component here um and it started with our comprehensive student support team being reflective about what we're seeing in terms of behaviors at all the grammar schools um to Dr quang's point my situation is a little bit different and that I have a teacher that has a very strong skill set in the program for which she instructs the numbers in that program are going down a little bit so the grant is a three-year Grant um it's significant and the first year of the grant we are looking at just um you know they're they're going to support two staff members so a lower and an upper we're not sure we're we're still crafting that job description we're working with brigh to help do that um Mr Crocker and I went to a couple site visits to see what this looks like because it's very different from the high school component to the grammar school component at the high schools um it's you know it could be different categories of students returning from hospitalizations we might not have that to that degree in the grammar schools um but we do have students that are quite disregulated and have some other significant circumstances like that we went to Dover Sherborn which has a s just a lower school program and then we we went to um two schools in Framingham which have a middle and a lower we crafted what we think we could do here using those funds and uh from the brigh program to what we think it could look like at the CGS and I do have space for that um so it's a tier three intervention so and I think we can I don't know if you'll have other CR questions about crisis but this certainly lends to what we're seeing what it lends to what we're seeing in terms of disregulation in the grammar schools um so so a crisis if I can kind of explain briefly what a crisis is it's a student who is significantly disregulated with externalized behaviors for a significant amount of time so when I say a significant amount of time it might be that there's two administrators a bcba counselors working with this student for an hour an hour and a half to try to get them regulated so we're seeing a higher trend of that prior to this years before it we might see the sort of um externalized behaviors we're seeing we might see that level of disregulation Regulation maybe a handful of times per year we're seeing that handful now monthly so it's kind of a two-pronged approach in terms of the crisis interventionist who will Who will help support the student and the disregulation disregulation but also work to help us look at what happened what do we need to do next because when a crisis happens we're reacting to keep the student safe but that time to come back and work with teachers and look at general education and professional development about what do we need to do differently that time is short we don't we don't have a lot of time to do that so working with students being responsive for the daily any sort of daily crisis that happens that's kind of the first WR in terms of the crisis interventionist the bright program is going to work with students who are disengaged in the Upper School academic failures students who maybe have you know are not coming to school and students that might have hospitalizations as well as students that have significant trauma and maybe are just eloping in in going through the halls and not engaging in school so we feel at the CGS that two-pronged approach is going to help us find find the root cause work with families caregivers maybe outside providers but then use the bright program to work to get kids back to classrooms the funding part of that is a three-year Grant we're working to kind of make it so that it's sustainable by the third year of that obviously um but having Nicole having having a person in my building who already has that role is very helpful I don't know if that explains or may maybe gave you other questions question the bright program just so that because we're talking about money the bright program is not going to cost the district any money right the crisis intervention that she was talking about is a new request from the marsh and the CGS so that's she bridged those two conversations together so that you can understand the bigger picture but the bright program pilot right that's not it's positions which you also have to approve programmatically right which is why it's here but funding 's no funding in the operating budget for these positions we already have one that Services students currently that we still need I still need this person so it's not like if this doesn't happen that person is you know not needed we need that person to be uh at the CGS um but the the pilot here is no funding through our school money and operating budget for the next three years so if there are other questions for Miss pretti about the CGS or the crisis interventionist because I know she just started that question and member shilia if you have further questions for Miss pret so that was super helpful because it sheds a lot of light on what the roles are actually going to do and even with that now with that knowledge it even begs the question more what kind of license are you looking for so for the bright program yes so a special education teacher somebody that has some background may be working with other agencies like um dph and and things like that which the person that we're talking about holds that so an experienced educator who is done CPI training worked with deescalation um has some of those other things in terms of that role the the bright position um in terms of the two the two related service providers or I don't say that support staff support staff that we're looking for um somebody who has just shown a skill set in terms of being able to kind of deescalate and work with students part of this also though this is a very important feature part of what um Mr Crocker and I have worked with the bright program to fund is that during the summer we're hoping to have those people come in and do some specialized training because I think it takes a specialized person to be able to work in these situations so part of that Grant um is that we're going to use that money this summer to hopefully if everything is approved and goes well to get the people in talk about what you know really backfill some of the things if if somebody has a really good talent in this area but maybe needs a little bit more of that part of the training that we'll do this summer will help the staff member gain those skills and bright will pay for that all right yeah you're gonna you're going to hear me tonight A Lot ask about lure because you know after the conversation we had with John what two weeks ago when he stood at the podium it's just that's that's going to be a big focus on my my theme of the night so yeah so the support providers would not necessarily need to be licensed but the the there's a teacher who will you know work with the upper and lower children and that person would obviously be special education licensed and and carry all those Massachusetts requirements I just have a quick question about that um this is a general education program why are we having a special education teacher she's she the she already has that skill set and it just there's other trainings available so again to Dr quang's point it's we're not looking for a new ft e it's this is already a person whose program is dwindling it just happens that she has some some specific skills in that in that way um that help with those things so I guess it doesn't necessarily have to be we're fortunate that it is member Maxwell um so I have I think that the district as a whole has behavioral concerns um but I would be interested in knowing how many students actually will require these services or um and I know you have a a large need for it but so do the other three schools so I I'm curious to see how many students would actually benefit from these programs so when we think of that mtss pyramid we think of that tier three is like the top 10% um it it's very hard to say because a student could have a life event and then something happens in their life and you know we never see it coming if we could predict them all it would be very very different right so um I think what the CL I can give you the context of the classrooms that I saw right not having done it yet I'm not really 100% sure but in the classrooms that we saw in Framingham Framingham is the most comparable to us I think um and they serviced 12 kids um but when I say that these are significant the students who have a significant need um it's it's really a short-term kind of program um students have access to Bright for let's say a 10- we period but then they never really leave that program they're considered alumni so they have that support of that teacher should something in their life happen again right because the last thing we want to do is help them get back and re-engaged in classrooms and then say okay now you're gone right so the students May maintain on the case load but they may be alumni status where other students are actively in the bright classroom so the whole goal is to really help the student re-engage find the support they need work with the families the families are a huge part of this because families don't you know there there's often they need support too in what to do so families are a big part of it as well as well as working with maybe outside providers and hospitals and things like that so every every progam every the program and framing Hy really based it on like a 10-week period so the case load would be flexible but definitely a smaller case load because the need is so high so these aren't students that that are just naughty or this is this is a significant need we know the best place for the child's in the school we the other schools might be having trouble getting the student to come to school and because they need that maybe such a deep therapeutic support or things like that so this program also works in conjunction with the counseling department to really surround the student in that level of support so that they are engaged in school they attendance improves we get them in to get supports so it's there's so many layers to it but it's a smaller population that have the greater need does that make sense for the bright program yes yeah um as far as the um the other position okay so the crisis interventionist so and again to your point I think when we when my colleagues we all sit together we're all looking for some behavioral support you're right when Miss Gordon and I spoke our needs were very similar it just it doesn't always happen that way but it just happened for our schools and it's really the level of Readiness in terms of just behavioral and following directions and being able to really engage in school so that number um kids in crisis again it's it's that top of the pyramid it's it's a smaller number of students but again a smaller number of students with much bigger need so I mean it it's it's definitely hard to say but it's not going to be like a case load of a guidance counselor at all it's really going to be that very focused effort to try to get that student back to re-engage and then go through Maybe the other levels of support the student needs in terms of mental health and things like that so I couldn't give you a specific number but I would say you know maybe 15 20 students but not all 15 and 20 students have a crisis you know somebody can have a really off day and something can happen I still need help with that because any hour and a half crisis that's happening is is pulling all of our resources at that time so students can have any life events and they have a one-off event and we're scratching our heads wondering why but that happens that's not somebody that you know this this crisis interventionist would handle those blips on the radar but also the consistent issues or S consistent struggles that a student was having to really get to the root of it and then what are we going to do to intervene so now the student can be engaged so it's it's it's very hard to but it's multiple layers but they're all related in like significant crisis and dis regulation so I think I think the um one of the common topics of this committee has been student behavior and I think there are there are Miss pretti has said tier three probably 10 times during this conversation and I think it's really important to understand because the Tenny and timy are talking about a tier 2 need which is very different than a tier three need so tier one is everybody so if you the pyramid that she's referring to which you guys don't have in front of you which is just embedded in our brain because this is how we work right tier one is everybody everybody in every classroom general education whole school right we have rules in the whole school everybody has to follow them they pertain to everybody now 80% of those 80% of our kids get that and can follow the rules and now there's a next level of kids that struggle with that that's tier two right so when core plus more right when I said that they were they were staff when we were talking about with the principles uh early on and the associate principles that I've been a part of it's what level of need does your building need what level does consumes Katie P's time right is it the tier three need you have you have five kids who are in constant crisis that's a very different reaction in a school but you also have to understand I have one principal and two associate principles and at the Kenny and timony those single people are are trying to manage 700 students on each side of the building right so so when you have tier 2 kids who aren't behaving and following the rules they get sent to an office who who's going to do that because I have the AP who's responding to a crisis not in their office but I have 15 kids who've been sent from four different grade levels or five different grade levels to the office it's just it's a struggle and it's not this isn't um again I I I say this I've said it before right it's not going away it's clearly it's a topic of conversation in the schools and Community our teachers need support our students need more support our administrators need more support right my and the every principal behind you uh can say that I have been so clear from day one since last summer saying you have to tell me what you need and why I'm not going to sit in front of a school committee and say we need these positions and just say we need it to me it you have to tell me why you need it and what those positions are going to do so if if the tier three crisis interventionist can actually support a level of uh demand that can actually release time back to the associate principles and principal in the building to deal with the tier two everything starts to fall into place I'm not saying this is Magic but right that's our thinking when we're talking about this and when I was asking the principls for this task right so there's all different like the teachers hand behavior in their classroom right the the principal's handle Behavior we have tier three behaviors that we need to handle differently I have laws and regulations that I'm working with to be able to handle behaviors in a certain way so there's a lot coming at us in different different ways so I just I think that the way Katie explains that is is exceptional um but understanding where her and miss Gordon's need is is that highest level right because that the needs in those two buildings right now are exceptional at the highest level the tier three right not the tier two and when when Chris Chris reev and David Hill explain the need for the crisis coordinator right the the risk coordinator and the support that's a tier two that's a that's a that's a different expectation and level and our whole purpose is to get kids back to school right back to an academic setting and and both of them that that's the goal for both whether it's the crisis interventionist its support deescalate and try to get kids back into the classroom uh as is the risk coordinator and support staff deescalate manage right in a shorter period of time and be able to get back to the classroom that's our hope because right now kids are sitting or going back to class because we don't have the staff to be able to address that in an immediate time frame and I'm not talking about the egregious events that happen right one one event is a dayong event for our our administrators right so it this is the challenge that they've been faced with so I know that was long but I hope that explains a little bit a little bit I don't know so I I mean I would be interested in knowing how many what's the number of crises in the schools to be to start and then to see how many kids we actually service in tier two and tier three um because if there's a significant need then we need to look at you know alternative options because all of all of the students are affected by it so you know um I would like to know I would like to first know how many how many instances or or whatever weekly you're going through where you're needing a crisis interventionist and then I would also like to know the number of kids that are receiving tier two and tier three support so I could just tell you from this week so we had six crises this week that were Beyond an hour an hour and a half um and that's that's just student some of them are not known and it was just an odd thing for them and some of them it's it's a repeat event um I think the other important thing to what you just said is or the other point to make about what you said is that it does affect everyone and so the crisis intervention is one of the part pieces of the job description is working with general education teachers to build some of that trauma informed classroom instruction so that teachers now can be that first point of contact and say oo I noticed that Katie might be having a hard day what's my Approach going to be because like I said earlier we handle the crisis but then we move on to the next and so having that Crisis crisis interventionist to provide some level of oversight in terms of what did we do in that crisis what went well what didn't and then what do we need to do in terms of PE to work with teachers about trauma informed practices so that maybe the student doesn't end up leaving the classroom because we do things differently but we have to be able to look at those Trends and then over time look look at how are they different how are they similar what do we need to do just in that tier one that that regular tier one of everybody because it does affect everybody in in having the time to review our practices and go back and having that constant person to work with grade levels on classroom management and instruction in support practices is is really important and that's a piece we're not able to do right now so that's a really key part of why Miss Gordon and I felt like this crisis interventionist would be really good because it offers a level of consistency for everyone so that our ideas and our practices match with what we're trying to do with a CSS team with counseling and it becomes a really helpful cycle instead of a one-off event that we reacted to we're trying to be more proactive than reactive have we ever considered housing all of those supports in one school like I know that the timy houses the choices program and and another um the CGS houses the ESL program is would it would there be a consideration to house all of the um crisis interventions in one school rather than spread out across the district so that it is not impacting General Ed or whatever yeah so so the short answer is probably no because you're talking about students who are not identified necessarily with special education needs um we're seeing kids who are regular education kids who are having social emotional like Miss pretti said it may be a life event it may be they're coming to us with trauma and we have to regulate them um it's not automatically that they're identified uh and we can't just put kids all in one place where we think they might I'm not even sure how that would work you know K8 um to to to do that because I could probably ask all four Grammar School principles behind me is the number of the the list of kids that you are and I for lack of better term reacting to the same today as it was in September and I'm going to guess that everybody behind me right now is maybe and I'm prompting them to do this but is saying no because because that that the the students and their needs and the crisis change and I I I've been in education for 28 years I've never seen what has been happening over the past three you know we thought post pandemic we kind of get over this and it I don't want to say goes back to our typical place um we are not there and it is not going back to anything that we've experienced in our careers previous to this you know I don't know if I can blame postp pandemic uh on this but it it definitely has changed the needs of our students and so you know we we are trying to figure it out we don't have any magic answers I mean a few years ago uh you know we created a sub separate program the choices program at the the timy we never had a lower school program before two three years three years ago because we never needed it kids were not identified or diagnosed at six and seven years old and we had uh it was probably my first or second year superintendent we had we started to see waves of children who were coming in uh exhibiting behaviors that we typically would never see in education until kids were vastly older right 10 11 12 and so we're trying to adapt every district is trying to adapt and you know we have a capacity and I think that's a little bit different than some of our smaller District counterparts um so to support students in their neighborhood school with their friends and their peers is important to us uh but I'm not even sure how we would identify I totally understand what you're asking and it is much easier to do that with identifiable disabilities right to have those districtwide programs in different schools this what what we're talking about here is is a little bit different right you're not going to see kids this isn't just for kids on IEPs or have identified you know disabilities they might be students going through an evaluation or we're trying to figure out you know what their needs are uh and that's challenging as well so it's super it's challenging obviously I think we've made that point I don't know if I need to keep talking about how challenging it is I oh oh I'm sorry I'm not the chair can you can you guys hear me yeah can you guys hear me yes okay so um M pry thank you very much this is always for me the most um impactful part of uh the budget discussion and you know I I I stress a great deal over what we need what we want to do what we need to do and what we can afford to do and they're not always the same thing so I'm going to give you my first since you're the first you know school coming up this applies to all the schools but one of the things I was sitting there thinking um is we have been chasing the literacy rate for some almost four years now and we've made some modest gains and I know that's not through lack of effort on anybody's part but to me um you know when I stand back and look at it um after four years I I sit there and think okay it's time to change the methodology right because we're not getting to where we all want to get and that's all of us together so I look at something as simple as um I shouldn't say as simple as something like the media centers that are considering being reopened and so my mind goes to how have we given any thought to Greater integration with the nevens library system um including and I'm going to shock you here up to um you know have we ever thought of turning the media centers over to the library and having the library staff them now they would have to pay for help too just you know but um I guess you know I'm sitting here thinking um literacy rate is all about teaching our students to love to read to want to read right and um not forcing them to and so you know I'm I'm sitting here looking at you know we're going to add Media Center folks in each of the school if we're going to do it would we consider you know talking to the folks at nans and coming up with a program that drives greater integration between the media centus at the school of the library at at minimum or you know at the maximum allows you know enables the school to have you know um people that are working in the schools that work for the library that are home roomed you know Home Room to the library but working in the school uh because it's something that we've had to face across the city as as you know issues Chang and I I give the example that we have a human resource individual who sits at the police station now and the reason we did that is because some of the issues we had related to personel records um people in um you know the field if you will should not be handling their own HR records and that was that so I'm sitting here looking at you know the media centers and um have we and maybe it's not for you miss parade maybe it's for the superintendent for others have we ever thought of a different mannerism or approach to try to integrate with the libraries and kind of get that literacy rate up because to me until we get that literacy rate in the upper 70s we're going to be struggling so enough thank so I mayor I can answer a little bit of that I would say uh we have a great partnership with nans who I know Dr glassi has been working with to actually get our media centers like functional again with the books and the weeding and all the things she updated you uh we haven't had any conversations to my knowledge about Staffing with them at this time I mean it's certainly something that we can explore uh I would imagine that we would still pay salaries of those staff right okay I just want to make sure I understand what you're asking before we start opening a conversation with anybody yep M wette thank you um I'm going to open up the conversation and say that there's a disparity between what we're requesting at the local level and the lack of what the state provided to us and what we're expecting from the local taxpayers and I'm not begrudging the school department at all thank you regarding this situation every year they've deferred requests uh to the school committee and now we're faced with an assortment of requests many of them very valid but what the problem I'm revealing right now and what I'm seeing as a whole is that it's not a very optimistic situation we're dealing with and I wish because if we are dealing with the full economy why did the governor's budget short changes so we're going to be scrambling at the local level to try to make the need needs of The Crisis Intervention which I'm in agreement with and also the stem supervisors which have been deferred from years past the clerical logistical items which I support and then also some other items you know from a financial standpoint or like I said logistical clerical um academic Administration and it's like a wishlish for us but the problem is is at the state level they decimated Us in terms of the growth by about 50% and the last two years um it was roughly about an $8 million increase from the the state in Chapter 70 over the last two years and it whittel down to $3.8 million and with the problem I'm having from my perspective is that the highest level I think probably ever from the the local contribution in terms of an increase was back in fiscal year 22 where it was 3.2 million so if you add the 3.2 million plus the 3.8 million and you subtract that from the total requests of the school department there's a huge gap um so how we Rec recile that I'm not entirely sure um there's a lot of validity definitely to what has been requested but there also has to be a reality to the situation now the letter that I proposed um and we're doing Outreach to Beacon Hill and I'm encouraging all teachers all parents anybody with the vest in interest to approach Beacon Hill because it's still in a process of um drafting amendments and submitting amendments and over the course of the school vacation week they prepare amendments for the House of Representatives and I'm hoping someone will take a leadership at the state level because what I'm witnessing right now unfortunately from the speaker of the house is that he's more interested and focused on uh the tea as opposed to education and not local Aid and school aid so I'm witnessing a disconnect and it's very difficult for me as a school Committee Member and based on my prior years of service um like I said before to reconcile the highest city contribution in in one year plus what the Chapter 70 increase is going to be combine that versus what the ask is from the school department um so how we reconcile that Gap I have no idea so we can banter about as a school committee uh we can debate and engage in amendments um but let someone has a extra piggy bank I can't find out how we can uh handle that situation um and that's my two cents thank you so if I could just comment so thank you for bringing that up um that's why you have me and my team to present to you um I think the most important thing as a superintendent of schools of any District my job here is to advocate for the staff and the needs of the students here in methan um which is what I am presenting to you tonight um understanding that uh the the final number uh is not going to be feasible I I do fully understand that it would be not that is not my job is to present something to you that does not present the needs of our students our staff our administrators in this community so that's that's my job is to present that and to show you what we have right this is this is year to year these are the things we need right and I can say having been in this district for 22 years um I don't think I've ever been in the room as a principal assistant superintendent or superintendent and said let's put a whole bunch of stuff on this budget that we don't need and see what happens right I've never been in the room where that's happened I have never requested anything I didn't need as a principal as an assistant superintendent or as a superintendent we haven't allowed that to happen right we have we have really moved the needle on class sizes in this District we have done some great things um you know and and a lot of it is for the work of everybody sitting here tonight behind me and next to me and uh in front of me but um you know I I I recognize that uh member Willet and to all the other members and certainly the mayor you know we we are meeting with the mayor and the cafo regularly to talk about the budget um and how do we get closer and close the gap of what the city can afford and what the school department needs and it's never easy right this is the part that is never easy um and this is the first presentation right this is the first uh show of everything that we need my job after tonight when we go through all this is to uh say to you here's the next steps right and and those of you who have worked with me I I have already we're already thinking about what the next steps are right because these are positions that we believe in that we need to support our teachers who are struggling in the classroom to support our administrators to support our students to support our families I feel strongly about that I'm never going to present something to you that I don't believe in or uh you know would support so uh I want to do everything in my power to maintain what we currently have built right we again with the class sizes uh the service delivery there are some positions in this budget that are I'm not going to be able to just not include them I you know our special education uh staff I I don't know how to we we can't just say we won't include those in the budget um you know there's ESL staff in here that's also a compliance and Service delivery concern that I also don't want to lose uh that uh you know we're going to we're going to L so to member shila's question about how we going to staff all this I'm going to start losing more staff if I don't help some of the you know having our ESL teachers have a 1 to 50 ratio of kids is not also okay right and so how are we going to continue to ask teachers to do more and more uh because that's what's been happening when we don't fill these positions is we ask the staff to do more and more and that's not fair for our staff either um so you know I'm trying to think of all of those pieces when putting together this budget so to answer your question member wette that is of course our priority is to say next steps for us would be here are the steps we're going to take I can tell you right now we've already froze FY 24 because we need to see what we will have remaining in FY 24 uh that's been an ongoing conversation as well in years past if there's any money in professional salaries clerical salaries support staff we come to the committee in May and we ask those funds to go to the circuit breaker account right so we've already talked about that that's a revolving account that we can carry forward year toe to reduce the next year's budget and to to reduce the D the the added District costs and so you know those are things that we're already doing now we don't have numbers obviously because we're just the beginning of this process but those things have to happen in order for us to know what money we have that we can start taking more dollars off of fy2 to support what you just said get closer to not putting it all on the city to to fill that Gap but what can we do now in the district so so we will do all those things um but there there potentially may be the conversation of now what right that the school committee is going to have to help what you know if if there is uh a need to cut current positions what does that look like and you know what we would propose to cut what the school committee's vision would be um you know we're just not quite there in the process yet mam member Donovan okay oh member Zio um thank you madam Vice chair so I'm listening to everybody's input and hearing the D needs that we have um and off of memor uh point of view of talking to the delegation um the things that I'm focusing on right now and again um and I just wanted to give my two sets of going through the budget um right after La last year's budget that we cut uh the secretaries um I've talked to parents and I've talked to uh secretaries that we already have um and they are being overwhelmed um and also the importance is also getting these media centers up and up and running so I understand everybody's concerns too so I know the Madam superintendent will cut through this budget but also I feel like we're we're focusing on we we as a school committee we can't focus on what the delegation's doing right now our job is to go through what we need to get through and make sure the superintendent knows where our point of views are um but that I just wanted to give my two cents before we continue but the most important thing right now to me is making sure our secretaries are not being overwhelmed our parents could get a hold of the school that because especially with buses where their kids are that was a very concerned for the last year as M superintendent could defend me on that but also getting these media centers up and running so um just I wanted to give my two cents sure thank you sure member Donovan do you have anything to say this point no I'm looking forward to hearing from the other schools okay thanks um member Maxwell um I just have a question on I see that you are letting the teacher visually impaired um that's is that being relocated correct and then I know that they are sr3 funded but all of the schools are cutting their K through 8 literacy Pas correct are they I mean it says that there's three for instance at the CGS next year there will be zero in any of the schools why is that those positions were actually put in Sesser 2 initially as a um uh hope post pandemic mic to support our students and then so those positions were not longterm they were put in the budget for S 2 for two years last year at the end of the year we decided to put at least three of them in each building we had six six we had six previous to that um but the SR three we still had funding available and so we were able to carry K8 lit CPAs for one more year in the SR 3 fund so we don't have the operating budget funds for those staff thank you sorry Katie I want to go back to the bright [Applause] program so going through the line item budget I see down the bottom of page three here the two pilot support staff but I also see halfway down the page a crisis intervention person that is appears to be budgeted from our money versus their money yes yes is that different Gina you want to speak to that is what different is that Crisis Intervention person different than the bright it's not part of the bright program correct so we have eight school counselors granted one of them is vacant we're adding two support staff for brigh plus a crisis intervention I guess my big issue is I don't understand what these people are doing which people the the bright support staff no no the the the counselors for the lower and upper schools not to say that they're not doing anything because I know they're not sitting there twiddling their thumbs but I don't understand what their particular role an expectation is to Warrant using the pilot resources from this grant plus bringing on another Crisis Intervention person meanwhile we have our MCI partner which I believe is leat Lawrence that we could probably work with to embed someone in our facilities and then we wouldn't be out of pocket for it and that's literally what they're paying for in their insurance agnostic I mean I can't speak to that but I can tell you in terms of what the people are doing I can talk about what the councilors are doing so it goes back to that mtss triangle right so you have the first level which is general education that we consider the core level two is the core in more right then that tier three is what the bright program is going to really hopefully handle and and help those students get re-engaged in education what the counselors are doing is they're working with students in general education who do have identif a need um they have pretty pretty large case loads too but they're working with students who may have um other other like 504s or or social skill needs um they're doing classroom lessons so going in and working with students on you know maybe some calm down St strategies or um other other classroom lessons that other students need so that they can build their skills as well so General educa counselors are working with general education and special education students they provide services to students who have IEPs that have that need but they also provide by general education in terms ofal strategies um to promote just again to the point of everyone's affected when somebody in the classroom is having a hard time so councilors are really working on the core and then core plus more that's what councilors are working on and and have case loads as such my building is different and that I have a counselor who has to work with a bilingual counselor who works with the Excel program in addition so they're they're busy and on those crisis calls they're right beside us so that may throw their groups for the day that you know it's it's a it's a trickle down effect that you know when we have these crises and to to Dr CO's point it it wouldn't be there if it wasn't critical for us right now I guess I'm just having a hard time looking at where I know we need to be and then what's trying to understand what is I know it's all necessary fully acknowledge that but like what can we do to offset it like I do think MCI is something worth exploring absolutely and I mean I I know the old saying if it's free it's for me and the grant is great but now we have an extra Crisis Intervention person plus those two do we need both I don't know that I would say an extra crisis in I I think that's an additional a new it's in yellow yes yes um in in I I see your point for sure and we're always looking at again to that to that crisis interventionist part of that role is to look at root causes and what we're doing and why kids are having these sort of disregulated events and what do we need to do in general education to help build that right so so I agree with your point there's a lot of work we need to do to get to the root causes of those things um but I think it's also I've been at the CGS for 28 years and what I see before us is vastly different and it comes to being ready to learn and we have students that are coming that have significant life events the path that they took to get to the CGS or America for that for that note is treacherous and so you know it it speaks to the mayor's comment about literacy rates right we we have to get students in a position where they're ready to learn and that is a Herculean task at times so you know we we want to teach the whole student and make sure that we are embracing all of those things because when you're ready to learn the rates are much it's rapid um so I mean I I just can speak to that in terms of it's not as simple as learning your foundational literacy skills and then having some books to reads it's it's really being in a position where we're tackling food insecurity housing insecurity all of those things that you all know but all of those they're called adverse child effects they are impacting the rate of learning and so we seek these positions in terms of filling those gaps and voids and providing those those those empowerment strategies so that kids can do those things so if there is another partnership we can explore sure right now we're doing cartwheel um and we're doing care soless and we have a lot of takers on that um and that's great but you know there's there's just in the building there's more of a need so I mean Lisa and Brandy can probably talk to the Partnerships but yeah well we can get there I know we have we have time to explore but I have one last question um the Ka supervisors and I feel bad because you're the first school so you're getting the of it next year next year we should do make it nice for my colleagues you're Paving the way for your friends over there um reverse alphabet next year yeah for realbody sad A J yeah thanks guys none of them are jumping up to help though I've noticed that um I noticed that stem is that what you said no the humanities one is vacant which a retiree is is unfortunate well good for them but unfortunate for us and then we have the K8 stem one I guess for the benefit of the group and everybody else why are these so necessary especially if I'm noticing that some of them are vacant where other at other schools too yeah so mine hasn't been vacant it's just a retire so she's she's retiring and she will be slowely missed um I think part of that came from we had a review I think at one point I I don't remember the specific year and we talked about the need for curriculum supervision within the buildings and we were we were really behind in that um that's where we started looking at having curriculum leads in our building and worked with you know years ago we had coaches that went by the wayside we really looked at what would be a sustainable plan to really impact again to the greater to to all teachers and really building the capacity for all teachers um the humanity Supervisor has done that especially with the implementation of the new curriculum we put in I don't know how we would have effectively implemented that without somebody really focusing in that Avenue so it became the digital tools that we had never had before with imagine learning and the new curriculum getting people across the district to get on the same page we we were not on the same page across the district so if your child left me at the CGS and went to the timy they might be experiencing different things and we weren't okay with that so getting to a consistent place where curriculum was consistent rigorous and accessible to all was really what we needed um the stem I mean the humanities coordinators did that also tying in some of those new standards like Civics and looking at that program and what are we doing for that because that's a really important thing that our kids need so I mean I don't know if Brandy and Lisa want to talk about that but the need came from a review that we had that said well we were woful behind in terms of having curriculum leads within our building so we took action there and added the humanity supervisors in um the goal was always math I feel like poor math has been we've been really working to try to get some more math leads and some curriculum you know um Spotlight on Ma math um so that's the we're hoping to follow in that same footstep with stem so that math and sciences we have some amazing scientists and mathematicians in our schools and we need to really build the capacity for that and really focus on getting that same rigor and consistency across the board so from my lens that's where I see it I think that that's a really important need in terms of consistency um in making sure that we have high quality materials people are using them effectively if they don't they can ask questions to somebody who can get them that answer so it's a it's a department chair yes yes essentially it absolutely is and it did she's right it came from you know we knew we needed it but when we were reviewed and had the audit from Tessie in 2019 um which unfortunately we didn't get that re we had it in the 2018 19 school year but we didn't get the report from the outcome of that until the fall of the 1920 school year and then covid hit three months later like we had it was just a plan that we never could get off the ground until postco so um but it was it was I I did put a link people can get to it online it's a public document um but it it is it is it very clearly outlines the need at the grammar school because the only curriculum leads we had were the two APS and the supervising principle for 150 teachers and you know that when I was assistant superintendent just trying to get all those pieces we lost coaches you know there was just there's a disconnect we have not done a full math curriculum review view in far too long uh you know we need we need to do a math curriculum review just like we did for language arts it's time and are these chairs also taking on a course load no so they're administrative not okay is there a reason they couldn't be a stipended teacher who takes on the responsibility to manage that instead of someone who's I mean for lack of a the term writing a desk they're definitely not writing a desk yeah oh I I just wanted to add to the conversation that I I the stem supervisors are the last piece of the puzzle uh or one of the last pieces that we would need for True content specialist and oversight in the K schools especially with we talked a lot about it a few weeks ago with the S SOA plan with the mtss and our focus on supporting students in all areas and they'd be able to provide that direct content specialist feedback into what students need um and when I meet I'm the one that meets with the humanities um supervisors districtwide and the El supervisors districtwide and and to hear the Insight that they have as to what's going on in every classroom they know every teacher's instruction inside and out they know students and what they're lacking and where they're excelling and what talent needs to be developed that's something that um we wouldn't have a lens on otherwise and to have that complement in math and science I think would really Propel the district so another to get to your your question uh about um some of the other duties they have um the supervisors do uh fully evaluate teaching staff so um with loads of upwards of 20 sometimes and they're they're their direct supervisor so they're in charge of observations educator plans um um in addition to supervising the curriculum Randy can I also just add to that that the addition especially of the humanities supervisors has also been a great asset with special education because they've had a very directed lens and have collaborated with the special education um department so that we can make sure that curriculum's align Services align um it's been a really great addition and very meaningful and beneficial to the students specially needs I have hold on I have a question um so I feel like we're hearing a lot of um there's a lot of behaviors there's a lot of this there's a lot of that but you're not coming to us with some data and while I see the need for the crisis interventionist for sure um I feel like having data to support why you need it and in addition to that what you're going to track to tell us that it's making a difference in the school if you have it let something similar to the mental health um reports that we get showing hey look we've we've done these this data and look we're trending downward the way we're supposed to um I think that would be really helpful to to see the data that you think you would be tracking um so that we can see what the problems are in cold hard data as opposed to saying it's a lot because I believe that it's a lot but the data would help me a lot to to make this more concrete member too thank you madam Vice chair so um when it comes to the stem supervisor I I been on this now school committee for four years and I know this is have always been um the importance however when you look at the price tag for all four if I'm correct four it'll be four across when you have these other needs and I I was doing the numbers the question you have to ask yourself four people in the sake of in this case for me eight people what's more important and I get it um but especially with this budget it's unfortunate that again because I I've been strongly um for the um k through eight Stam supervisors I just I feel like that's going to be the first thing that we have to go through as a committee to say if we want especially the media centers and the secretaries if if people do support that or especially the media sectors that is a good chunk of change that will support that that's just my take on that yes well I first I'd like to commend Miss Paretti who has really taken it for the team and um thanks I I agree with you member daglio I think we have a very difficult year ahead and and coming from a seat where I sat not that long ago this is incredibly painful we know what the humanities supervisors did for our schools without them we would not have the literacy rates we have now which no one's happy with and we shouldn't be happy with them so that's very difficult but I agree we have to decide as a committee what are our priorities so we can direct Dr Quang and the principles is it safety is it literacy um so I I think we we need to really think long and hard about where we're going to spend the money we do have and that's where I feel I'm lacking a little bit of cohesiveness uh we have a lot to look at a lot of arguments I agree with you on the data bit but just looking at the out of school suspension and disciplinary reports is is pretty is pretty telling knowing what that takes out of a school Community every day so I would really love to hear from some of the other schools um I'm particularly interested in um and Katie paid me to say that but no but I'm really interested in hearing from the other schools about the um the RIS program as well so we can compare and maybe there's some way to put it all together um you know Katie you talked about um a lot of the kids that might be helped through this program are out for a long time for whatever reasons I'd be curious I don't know if we get this information now that I say it but I'm assuming a lot of support would go to those students who have been out because of long-term hospitalizations and I'm assuming there's a number of students in our district a record number who have been hospitalized for mental health concerns yes and I'm wondering if some way we could take that great idea that you know that has been born and somehow use it to help all the schools I don't know if it's feasible I don't know um and that's why I'd like to hear about the program um proposed at the Tenny and the timiny because I do have some questions we're talking about um a very different program but it's we're all coming from a place of love and how do we use those resources and save some money right thank you shall we let Miss Pro Off The Hook good night everybody at least get her a chair right and um alphabetically the marsh is up next does anyone have any Mar specific questions all right so then I guess we do need Miss Gordon I don't know I don't know if you're welcome to come up and use Katie's podium we'll get you one I'll have them print it no no well so my first question is I noticed for what is it second third fifth and seventh grade we're saying that the enrollment is down so those teachers so they're all being one staff person is being removed are those staff utilized somewhere else or when that next year when next year comes up and those bigger classes from below come up are we then having to go out and hire new teachers again great question member shilia so I will say to you that the and I'm Sorry Miss Gordon because you're gonna I know she's got the most uh reductions but the next couple have some reductions as well for class sizes so um if you look at the budget Pages we put the Excel part right um there's there's a column that says um projected average class size so these are to the current numbers we're looking at this is how we build this budget when we're looking at class sizes so again our goal was to stay within the the range of 18 to 22 which has always been our projected range uh the higher we go up in grade level we have those bubbles of classes that might be a little larger we still like to keep those below 25 so with what is presented to you tonight all the schools right uh each each staff member that is represented here we're not looking at layoffs of actual people so a reduction so so Force I'm reducing class I'm reducing four grade levels at the marsh right yep so there are people in those positions right now but because of the in the incredible work of again this whole team and sitting behind me um looking at attrition right who's moving who's staying who's resigned who's non-renewed who's retiring all of that we've already done that piece here so that we know with each principal if this is where we land which we haven't we're not having conversations with people because this is our first conversation we don't know if this is where we're going to land does that make sense everybody so we know that we can if this budget goes through this way with the classrooms that that we might be moving people to different grade levels or a different school perhaps to fill a retirement or something else but we're not laying somebody off because of these reductions in enrollment okay so that does that make sense that was the what I was hoping for I was hoping we were keeping our assets and moving we've already done that yes we've gone through that process with each principal and the HR Director we've looked at license share we've looked at everything so that we know with what we have in the district again through attrition various means of attrition right retirement non-renewals people have already resigned um and what we've presented here that everybody that we have would have a place um I wanted a gentle nod to make sure I oh yes not not from you from them I just from them make sure I got that right didn't mean that from you I just want to make sure that makes sense but yes the way it's presented and again right this is the first we know if land here what we need to do if this isn't where we land we have to have those conversations again right um there's a Koda here I wasn't sure what that meant and there was no code for it anyway certified occupational therapy assistant oh okay well it it's spelled out everywhere else this is the only one that got the abbreviation so I lost it in the in travel good question um I see the same Crisis Intervention spot yep with and I guess I I won't Reas the question but I do carry the same concern because there are seven school counselors plus it looks like a psychologist plus somehow you became the lucky winner of the districtwide psychologist as well so it's just I I feel like we're we have a lot of staff there I know we have a lot of need but I just I I need to confirm that we're properly utilizing so that's going to be my common concern throughout all all the rest of the remaining but yeah I see something about that of course intervention for the mar I want you to listen Okay so for the uh for the marsh specifically we are looking to actually repurpose one of our bcba positions that we currently have that's been vacant this year and change the title to the crisis interventionist after having many conversations with Miss pretti so we're not actually adding we're just repurposing the position to make it more of what we need that position's been vacant this year M of so so to go off of that yeah um so that is the unaffiliated bcba correct okay so if we were to we uh weed do that shouldn't that be scratched out or we still trying to get a bcba it is so there's one um there's one in page three that is has a strike through so that would be eliminated like said we're repurposing it right so it's not you can't just move that over to the need it's just a different potentially a different skill set all right similar but we may ask for some different things in a job description with the crisis interventionist all right so we are still looking for a bcba so there's there right now the marsh has two bcba positions that have been improved for years um both of them are vacant and we're we're using contracted services to fill both of those right now so what what she's saying is yeah strike one repurpose one M keep one we still have to find a qualified bcba for the marsh and then a crisis interventionist and superintendent can I just add because I think this I'm gonna project Mr shila's question that that second bcba has a very different purpose because it's assigned to the pathways program so it's specifically just for the pathways students at the marsh yep yep good yep thank you any more questions from Miss Gordon Max ma member Max um I was just curious as to the reading specialist I know that the other schools have three reading Specialists and the marsh only has one yeah why um so I can I can help I'm sorry I know you're asking M Gordon but so I mean if you can answer it yeah so the CGS and the and the marsh only have one reading specialist um the CGS has a very specific second reading specialist for S which is a which is a newcomer reading so put that one in a little bit of a different bucket um but each of those schools have one the other two have three uh for need and it's Title One supported great question Dr Quang may I just say one other thing about reping conditions okay because Mr shabil you asked about um the school psychologist like in relation to the bigger P package you know for who we have for support staff um the pathway school psychologist is also being repurposed to a schoolwide for a districtwide position um so it's not an extra that's it's a repurposing again because of programmatic changes you're welcome any more from Miss Gordon okay thank you all right ten specific questions Mr Hill you're up so would it would it help if Mr Hill and Mr reev share their Vision about the risk program first collectively or do you want huh yes so re why don't you join Mr Hill talk about the RIS program and then we'll go school spe specific after that great i' love to thank you are they trying to talk Katie into helping them is that what's happening over trying to talk Katie yeah it doesn't do you want to explain the rist oh let me both of you okay let me experience I feel service gets the podium first okay I feel for Katie I thank you uh principal pretti I was at the CGS for seven years and had to do that myself so I know how that is it's always first alphabetically I got I got I have to do something differently I think um so yeah we'll talk about I'm assuming that people were interested in seeing or hearing more about the risk uh coordinator um you know obviously it's in your packet so I'm going to hit the highlights um but whereas Katie was talking about that tier three um I think in our my conversations with David and our admin teams you know we the buildings are big um and I know um member Keegan you were talking about some numbers so I'll just give you some numbers then this is I was focusing mostly with Lisa derky in the upper school but just in the sample size that we were talking about when we were developing this just to give you an idea um you know there were about 200 197 I think RS which are office referrals at the time that we were doing this which was probably about a month ago and 70 of those were things that were bigger things fights things of that nature bullying that needed to be looked into those types harassments those types of things that take up a lot of time and when we actually calculated the hours based on a six-hour day that the students were there it was almost 50% of her time were spent on 70 incidents out of about 197 incidents so that can give you and it's never that cut and dry it's never that black and white because there's always an EB and a flow when it comes to things like this so I think I heard um Dr Quang say that it's like one or two things can happen in a day and that's your entire day and it's not just her entire day depending on what it is I'm involved with that there's a lot of resources that go to those things so that's just a little bit like a snippet of the of the sort of data I think I know that people would want want to see something a little bit more specific or maybe more of something like that but that's the data that we used when we looked uh you know what sort of Behavioral support that we we would like to see and ours lies more in that tier 2 area you know we have the choices program it's it's a special education program in the building so when it comes to things like Crisis it's like the building is sort of really attuned to that or maybe more attuned to that because we have a whole team of people that that work um with those particular students and that's an awesome program and I think you have a little bit of a spillover effect there where they help out um you know sometimes with the general education students when they reach that level of Crisis I think that when we looked at the time commitment of how much time the associates associate principles are dealing with those bigger things what we found is is that we're really losing sort of a grasp on that tier 2 kid those kids that have sort of moved up our um Behavior response system that we have in the building you know we have our tier ones where the teachers are putting those in for infractions they get involved with kids they're having conversation with with kids they're contacting home um and there's you know we run that data every two weeks to see how many tier one a student tier ones a student may have and then if they come up if they have three or more in a week um for uh two weeks or three weeks then they get sort of elevated to a um a a status where we have a an OD a non odr a non-office referral you know intervention team and that's comprised of people on our you know um student support team admin teachers that volunteer where you have sort of a conversation with the student about hey what's going on you know what's happening so it's like tier one and a half almost um and then you know if they if they keep on showing up on those tier one lists um that's when guidance gets more heavily involved um and that's when the behaviors start to escalate a little bit more potentially um and I think that's where this this um risk coordinator um would be most most effective for us just you know just with the sheer numbers of students that we have there's a lot we have a lot of kids in the building you know anywhere from you know 1,50 kids you know in and around that that number so um just the sheer number of it when you're working on when you're working on some of those those bigger things you have a lot of kids that are sort of sitting there at that tier 2 level so this person that we were thinking of the the restorative in school support coordinator or the risk coordinator I know that's a really um original acronym um for for the for the position um it's not a disciplinary position right all the referrals for discipline that that's all still handled um by the associate principle but you know we're spending a lot of time in this district and working with kids in different ways um collaborative problem solving is something you've probably heard um uh spoken about and it's really a skill-based you know if kids aren't behaving the way that we would expect them to behave it's because they lack certain skills they lack the skill to do that so um all of admin and and we're we're we're going through a lot of training on how to talk with kids about um you know what identifying what the problem is with the student and then identifying the skills that they need to be able to um live up to the behavioral expectations because it all really stems from if kids can do well they will right and that's the true that's the true in academics and it's true in Behavior as well um you know if they could if they could do well they would and something's getting in the way of that um so this position here it really is it really is getting at that tier 2 level of student and their behavior responses you know I I envisioned this person to be working closely with the APS and guidance um maintaining and being the keeper of that that data that I was talking about that was that's run every two weeks um um you know and to have those conversations with kids um that are that are re that in that tier 2 level um when when behaviors occur so you know again mostly upper school it could dip down into fourth grade and third grade we still firmly believe K1 and two are really guidance um really guidance centered um conversations with kids um but having this risk coordinator uh they're going to have the time if you need to put a kid if a kid needs a time out right it hasn't reached that level of suspension and we you know we're trying to work away from suspensions and give kids different options so that we're not putting kids out of school you know the risk coordinator could sit there and then that would be a space where a kid could go for that right so it's it's something that the teachers tried to address maybe they've had a couple conversations now it's starting to to to creep up to that level where they're really you know they're bigger infractions or it's sustained the same sort of thing and they're not they're not sort of internal izing um what that expected behavior is uh the risk coordinator could sit there and have that collaborative problem solving conversation with them in addition to providing a space where that kid can be out of the classroom if it's a disruption they're in with that person so they're so they're removed from the situation um which is better for that student and it's better for the rest of the classro and then the risk coordinator has the opportunity to have those conversations with that student coordinate with maybe it's a student that's already on a behavior plan um and have those opportunities to talk with those kids about their behaviors and help build that skill through that this collaborative problem solving that we're really getting into and it makes a lot of sense to me as somebody who's worked with kids for 207 years so um so that's really that was really the idea and the thought behind the risk coordinator but there's also there's other benefits um you know if if there's you opportunity for in school suspension um possibly that could be a place for that um and there was a I'm not going to say it's a typo it was probably me putting the wrong word in um after school detentions right this person also could be available for after school detentions on a more regular basis which again is another step um prior to getting to something like suspension um for students so that's the idea behind it um I'm sure there are questions so I'm happy to you know and in talking with David it's like the you know that's that's really where our our need is I think more than the tier three member do thank you madam Vice chair so um working in a middle school Lawrence um this coordinator is our de of students um they meet with us um and I'm assuming this person will meet with teams as well to go over the data within their grade or that would still be the role of the associate principal okay yeah and I and I and I understand your point I really do but I I want to make the clarification that this person is not responsible for is the the issuance of the discipline they're not issuing the discipline it's the associate principle that's doing that okay yeah so this because I want it to be a place I don't want them to associate the discipline it's almost like with your guidance staff you don't want guidance getting into discipline because you want the kids to be able to make that sort of separation between this is a place I have to go I mean I I have to do this thing but I have a support person there that can sort of help me work through the problem got to understandable thank you membership yeah so my my my first question which I advertised earlier what are the qualifications of this Riz coordinator I I'd like to see an adjustment counselor somebody with that sort of mental health background because I remember very vividly asking Mr Crocker that's if what an adjustment counselor was and how it was different two weeks ago and he told me they were all the same thing so that's where my my my angst is coming from on this sure no I can understand that um I just look at in in Prior work with adjustment counselors and I think with time you know titles change and things change but it's it's really to work with students on their behavior and uh developing um understanding what it is that they need to do to make those changes to to follow the expectations and helping them with that so I put adjustment counselor there because I I want somebody with that mental health background I like that yeah because that you know I want it to be a place it's a place where you can a kid can go right but also to give them that support and and helping giving them what they need because I mean I think that's a big and and and the thing is if you have the the associal principle that's tied up in something else you get you get like like somebody was saying earlier you get four kids that are sent down to the office right so they're being sent out of class because they need to be sent out of class um so what are we doing with those kids and this is what I'm talking about well hey what's going on what what what happened and and be able to work work through that with that kid how is that how are these Riz positions different than the RBT positions that you're well that the 10 oh yeah yeah so I I was just I don't know do we want to that's a that question is a tening question all right so I don't know now now I'm in Uncharted ter do we want to just stick with the timoy because I'm here and I'm on a roll I mean do we want to do that that's okay I mean can we put that one in your pocket for later go yeah we can go out of out of order it's fine no that's fine if you no it's all right I can I can I can put that one back and save it for later keep Mr ree up there and talk about the timy if you guys would like yeah um my only other concern for the Riz program is is in reading the narrative you're talking about a Riz room having been through both of your buildings yeah with you and having spent even more time in the Tenny over the last two year four years I mean the Tenny specifically I was once told you're you got people living in coat closets over there because you're so limited on Space where where are you guys going to put these people I have a space yeah yep all right I do I have I have a space for it um I don't know do you have a space David do you want to like you'll find one we're going to have to be creative but we will we will find one I definitely have a space identified for it um the only other thing I wanted to mention about the risk program is there is a program assistant there that's added for that room as well and that's specifically for to allow the coordinator to have those conversations with kids while the program assistant that's with that with that program can worry about making sure that um there's work from the teachers down there that the kids are getting lunch it impacts their lunchtime and monitor the students because obviously if there's any sort of conversation that's going on with the student that's a personal conversation um about their behavior choices and things that they need to do you don't necessarily want that in earshot and happening in the same room where other kids could be sitting there so that program assistant provides that supervision coverage while the risk coordinator can utilize a different space even to talk to the students about things that are that are more personal to them so I apologize I just wanted to interject that in there sorry member Donovan Mr re yes so as I read this and if I'm reading it correctly this would provide an opportunity for in school suspensions yes okay there has to be a lot of gatekeeping with that yeah oh and I think everyone understands that because you know nobody wants this to be taken advantage of but my question to you is and maybe Dr Quang so now you have two schools that provide in school suspensions and two that don't I I I just wonder how that all will shake out because obviously no one really wants to send kids out of school yeah um and I I just qu I just don't know how that will all shake out yeah if I were a someone at the CGS yeah and my child did something that would at the timony or Tenny results in an in school suspension but instead my my child's going home what do what do we do I don't know if there's an answer for that I just wanted to put that out there I don't want to put you on the spot right now you're not putting on the spot how do we address that I I don't I don't know how to reconcile that on a district level I just know that um when I was thinking about this position the real thought behind it is is that I was thinking about the laws around timeouts right right right and you if you figure that that's no no more than a half day then really you could have a bunch you could have a couple different groups of kids depending on whether it's the morning in the afternoon that was really the bigger thought behind it and then I was like well you know we I'm sure we could all think of those especially particular kids that you know I have students that are are currently in shelters and and and things like that so if ever one of those students were to have an infraction that was suspendable and it warranted that that the last thing maybe I'd want to do is send that child home send that send that kid to the shelter for the day when right their parents are working years ago years ago there was I think it was called the opportunity rooms and I think they were at all school it was a beautifully titled room yeah but there was always somebody in there yes and the beauty of that was kids were doing work they were doing work so there wasn't lost learning going on so I mean that's something I think we continue to worry about safety and following the state guidelines and doing what's right supporting teachers as well yes I think it would be wonderful to have something like this in every School Is it feasible I don't know how long with all the other stuff but yeah that said um given the curveballs that have been thrown To Us by the state in terms of how we discipline and suspend children and now the The Talk coming um that there is lobbying going on now to make it impossible or make it illegal to suspend our younger students in K K to 12 K I meant that wouldn't that be something 12 K to 2 you're right like where do we go with that it would this be something that you could utilize I don't know but I I just I just think there has to be potential I think there's potential there for that and I think as we continue to wonder how to keep our kids learning and on task and when you mentioned I don't know if you did it unconsciously or intentionally after school suspensions that's another alternative yeah yeah no and I I I meant to put detentions in there but you know I know what you meant I know what you meant and like that's something that's not used to we used to offer right just all of those things that you're trying to utilize I mean there there's definitely obviously there's the consequence aspect to it but like I think the the bigger value or at least an equal value is that it's an opportunity for someone to speak with that kid that's in that sort of tier 2 level where you know you have a couple conversations um with the student and they're able to they're able to make some changes you know it's that it's that teaching it's that reteaching and support of the of the behavior you know or the maybe you catch that child before it escalates before it gets before it gets to be something where it's an out of school suspension yeah but but seriously my big concern would be the equity piece yeah in in terms of how we would manage that any other uh any other timy questions before I turn it over to David Hill maxel um I have a question regarding the advanced math yes um um that one's crossed out and I know that you have a request for a new grade seven teacher and I'm assuming that that would be coming from the marsh since the marsh is getting rid of a seventh grade teacher but um my question is why are we getting rid of the advanced program um I looked at the data from the last three years and I did not see any significant gain either in the advance so the the whole reason that I asked for that position three years ago um obviously it was to give a place for the advanced math students um but you know there's a whole selection process for the for the advanced math classes um and we tended to see that our advanced math classes were smaller so in the old model um you would you would sort of divide the advanced math kids up into two different home rooms you schedule math at the same time and then they would sort of swap halves but you would have a smaller advanced math class by you know 10 like 10 or 11 kids and then you would overburden one of the general education sections like of the regular eighth grade math and that didn't make any sense to me because we had more kids that were in need of the you know support in the general um eighth grade math course or sixth grade math course or seventh grade math course because it was the same um first grade six seven and eight um so that's why I asked for the position because then if you added that teacher you could pull those kids out and the and the benefit would be is that the other CL the other sections of math would be smaller so that would give the teacher more time with a smaller class in mathematics which is an area of Need for us um but when I looked at when I looked at the um the numbers from the last three years both from the advanced math kids I looked at you know the kids are going on to do some some um nice courses over at the high school uh but that wasn't vastly different from what we had prior um you know and you know I I made that decision it wasn't easy um because I the teacher I have in that position she's you know she's a very good teacher but um if I'm having to prioritize what I need as a building um that's the type of decision but it that I need to make but it was really more so and I couldn't see any discernable difference in the in the general education classes either the or the regular grade level math class can I just make a comment because I want to make sure that this question was asked of me of this specific question nobody is is um we're not eliminating the advanced math program yeah at all in any school so it's just where the timy is going to go back to the model that all the other schools have where the advanced math class is taught by a team teacher on that team and the kids are divided so I I we realized that after we wrote that that might have been misinterpreted that one school's going to just not have advanced math that's not what that means we were actually the only school that had that Standalone advanced math teacher why wondering where it was going no we'll go back to the we'll go back to the model always before okay great question um I need a motion and a second to extend the meeting past 9:30 so moved yes second moved by member dolio second by member Donovan um can I get a roll call please Martha yes may Beth Donovan yes Lori Keegan yes Kristen Maxwell yes Daniel shabila yes Kenneth wette Mayan Neil Perry yes can I just remind you guys we only have the room until 10: um all custodians are off and we do have kids out back who should probably go home to sleep before they go to school tomorrow um so we have about a half an hour thank you all right members shilia what is a bump in this is grade three bump in and it's the only grade with one pumped in from another grade level oh grade six has it as well what was it pumped in from another grade level or from another school so it's one of the yep okay I didn't know what else to call it hey man as long as you can explain it I'll take it so you had mentioned adjustment counselors and that's your goal for the RIS coordinator how many adjustment counselors do you have on staff right now for your out of your seven or in actual like like one of my guidance counselors that has that background I believe I have one what is the general background of a guidance counselor what do you mean I guess and I I've asked a question seven different times over the last two sessions y I'm just trying to understand what the what their lure is what their qualification is cuz to me it sounds like the adjustment counselor like you discussed earlier is kind of the primary target for what seems to be the majority of our population in need right now versus what I think I experienced as a child where they guidance councel was more academic career focused yeah and I'm trying to make that distinction yeah I would say currently so and I would have to look uh I would have to look but school counselor it's a school counseling license and maybe Gina can help me out here while she has her computer open but so so it used to be different categories of School counseling licenses and now that is going away right so a school counselor is expected to have a degree in counseling that allows this the the counselor to actually work individually with students on Behavior and needs and Trauma and all the things that they are supposed to be trained to do so gone a little bit are the days where you have a academic counselor and a behavior counselor and right so all even at the high school we have all of our counselors service all of their kids' needs so I have one counselor that has however many kids on it right and they service the needs of the kids whether it's academic social emotional social skills class right so it's it's I don't really know how much more I want to say because I don't it is not my um you know point of expertise but I know that just in all of my years seeing the transition we used to have very specific like adjustment counselor um opportunity I don't know we had other titles for counselors in the past too when I was at the CGS and they kind of were targeted to do different things um that's not the case anymore right like it's it's just different so two things just to piggyback on that Mr reev I believe the adjustment counsel is assigned to a specialized program in your building I'm thinking yeah yes okay and then Tina Duan Tina duan's an adjustment counsel and then um to answer the question about lure for School counseling um they would have to have a master's degree in counseling major and then they would have to have additional cours work um for their master's program that could be in the following School counseling mental health counseling school psychology or Clinical Psychology so that's the background for School counseling okay I may have followup questions I'll email you all right good ones all right thank you everyone thank you none all right memb shilia just one in the narrative you say that you've got currently a 1 to 44 ratio for El and it's soon to be 54 and then it says wants to get to Optimal what is optimal I can help answer that so could Dr gsky it's it's not one to 50 or 1 to 44 or 1 to 44 no I believe that um El supervisor at the Tenny um had recommended that optimal would mean 1 to 35 or in in that range so um students that you're servicing in terms of the extra support they need in language development but also tracking their progress towards goals throughout the year um and collecting feedback from other Educators that work with that student making adjustments as necessary that's helpful thank you any other Tenny specific questions member do um this is more to Ian there's a vacant part for a lower school art teacher for $79,700 I'm saying no Mr I think no thank you all right Mr Bon is up next any high school specific questions so this is I I will say right this is where there was probably an initial like minus 13 right but hopefully the introduction you understand that that's where the positions were moved uh two transitions at Branch Street in the right Budget Building at this pointus 13 or minus three 13 where's that on his narrative oh the whole the whole sorry yeah yeah I'm sorry yeah I was just looking at the whole right with all the program assistance yep yep Y no are there any high school specific questions shilia anything he's coming up last everyone's heat for I have one remember Maxwell what is half a substance abuse counselor that says 0. five good question so are drug and alcohol resource coordinator is Dean Bruder and he's a 0.5 so he's not a full-time staff member um so it's based on the amount of time he'll spend in the district supporting students yep are there any other High School questions I think you're asking for the least so is you're the easiest all right I think you're okay I will just add nobody's asked this question so just to point it out since it's in all five narratives the special education um request for the stien it's not an it's not an additional FTE request which maybe is that's why it's not sparking the questions but it was important for us I think to have the conversation of the need for this and the building principles with the special education staff and the scas um felt that this would be um a needed addition to the amount of uh students and um you know the workload that is happening with our special education programs in the buildings with initial evaluations re-evaluations the specific wide programming parents curriculum you know all of it um so this would be an opportunity we not nobody's requesting an additional administrator uh but to have support and be able to build our pipeline for administrative staff that might be interested in administ cretive roles in the future so the narrative is exactly the same for each building that was purposeful so that it you know it's we're looking for the same support in each building and again it's not a FTE position it would be something that we would put in our stip in line under professional salaries I just wanted to say it because then nobody's asked just so you know why we put that in there are there any questions on the central Administration I Bo um mayor go ahead thank you mam Vice chair so Ian um talk to me about the Director of Finance there's an ad there and and and I preface that with the comment that um you know I love this discussion I think you guys know that um I'm going to be extremely hard to turn on administrative and Staffing positions so talk about what that position is in you got four bookkeepers and yourself and you're talking about there proposal to add a Director of Finance so what would that person do different sure um currently I'm kind of a jack of all trades last year when we restructured part of the restructuring was um adding some assistance into the assistant superintendent um to be you know on the ground in the trenches um and where we could kind of over see all of our departments equally right now I'm doing a lot of um training of training of my bookkeepers with munus and helping them with um um munus and transfers and I'm doing a lot of the data day Hands-On training which isn't necessarily bad however um it does leave little time to go out and supervise the maintenance and operations and Food Services um I am I I do spend a lot of time with the safety and busing as well um but this person would be able to work closely with payroll and you know put out little fires here and there and do school committee reports and give me the opportunity to um go around the district and um have a handle on both the finances as well as the operations I feel like uh a lot of my time right now I I could spend some more time on operations okay thank you you're welcome and then last so last year this one so last year we added an assistant um superintendent of Maintenance facilities and I thought maybe I was wrong I thought we did that because we had said that we were um pending a retirement and that this person would take over is that no longer the case I think you might be thinking of Bruce where we we had um changed Bruce's title to project manager so he could oversee a lot of those sr3 um projects we we did and he also oversees maintenance right on a day day-to-day basis we did hire a um and this I don't want to call him an assistant but an additional he's an assistant director and he focuses more on the custodial and the cleaning and not so much the projects and the maintenance so those are those two positions thank you yo um one question so who would be getting the new secretary there's a new secretary that's the special that's the special education secretary so that would be the four grammar schools were asking for and the special ed secretary that have been that were cut many years ago in the budget well the special ed secretary was never okay never existed remember will let huh I had a quick question um in terms of the supplies asking for an increase of $85,000 and yet in the current fiscal year we have still $1 million remaining that has not been encumbered and we have two months left in the school year so how can we justify increasing the dollar amount going into the next fiscal year whereby we still have $1 million that's not been incumbered and we have two months remaining in the school year I'm not sure what numbers you're looking at but um not it's not on Ian Ian your mic's not on under the general budget report it's showing about $496,000 left out of over a $2.1 million budget uh the vast majority of the increase in supplies would be for teacher supplies as well as custodial supplies the cost of custodial supplies have have gone through the roof and we've seen a significant increase in use people are cleaning which is I guess a good thing so that that's the vast majority of the supply increase give me a second I'll get back to you y any more Central while they looking remember Maxwell um I just have a question so for the key for the spreadsheet it's yellow blue green and then on central office different colors yeah did we put different colors they're highlighted yellow but we have a superintendent we have an assistant superintendent so I'm curious as to what the yellow means on your so the yellow so the the key is for the spreadsheet this one the one not the not the chart within the narrative okay the key is for this one which actually it's harder to it's by color strike out gray or green okay and blue so um the key yeah the key for uh the The Narrative chart um was just dividing it by departments I was trying to use the yellow as the Highlight for the the person who's in charge of that department I guess if that makes sense so yes we are there we do exist but just you know right superintendent my department assistant superintendent who's in her department just you can see all the positions under in Food Services okay I have one question but it needs Ian um all right I'm interested in understanding better the um insurance plan that you're requesting um versus a person to to fix stuff the Chromebooks in particular um can you explain that a little bit that's a that's a US question Dr glin I can explain that excellent so um so we we have currently been uh using one of our full-time staff who was not hired to fix Chromebooks fixing Chromebooks so this the purpose of one of our Tech staff was to actually be a systems administrator to to get all of our operations system systems in line so not instructional but operations right the heating the HVAC the security everything online and what it has turned into is he literally spends all day every day and he's the only person we have fixing Chromebooks and I know you guys have heard about the issues with Chromebooks it is daunting uh they are coming back to us uh many damaged in many different ways some just don't work you know there are warranties on some uh but not all of them and it's it's a daunting task and we we um we're not seeing that need Decline and so uh Nancy Lopez our director of technology I would say for the past three months Dr lsy and I have been having conversations with her about like we got to figure something else out and so uh she has gone to several and she actually did a site visit at at one of the public schools to see like how it worked um just what other school districts are doing for options for the onetoone programming um you know the high school is different we have the iPads we have Apple Care it's just different right the the iPads and the function work differently um so we're just we're looking at some support with the Chromebooks and um her recommendation after again meeting with Dr glovsky I many times from getting support from other school districts and actually me talking to colleagues too um having having an insurance policy is is means we send it out it's a guaranteed turn around time um and and the staff member I hired to do the work that he's supposed to be doing can actually do that work and not be trying to fix Chromebooks that is they are some of them take a long time to actually repair right that's not the skill that we hired him for he has a great skill but um and we're lucky but that's we just we need to move past that so there are options some school districts you know hail was one we looked at I think Salem Mass was another one um I think she did a site visit at one of those schools that opt for the parents pay for insurance um you know we just wanted to explain what our recommendation would be um that that uh for us having an $8,000 cost where we're buying the insurance and we guarantee the process of it the timing of it and we're the we're the ones who follow through with it um is just going to be more feasible here in methan than expecting parents to pay or not pay and then if they don't and something happens it's I mean we're still spending money on these devices and the kids need them so um that's that's we asked her to put that together um you know we have I think at this point 50 or 60 50 how many loaners do we have now 50 35 so 35 loners in each building um you know we just we can't we just don't have the finances to keep sustaining buying new Chromebooks for loners it's just it's a lot um so she has spent an enormous amount of time researching this so um we do think this would be a good option for us to be able to maintain the Chromebooks and own turning the time over faster without asking the parents to pay or not pay and have an option in opt in great thank you so thank you for that I'm sorry member Maxwell um so the Chromebooks were supposed to just be during covid and I'm wondering why we're concerned with maintaining them now that outside learning is not I mean the reason why we got them is so that we could have kids learning at home and have a hybrid model but now we're all back in school so why are we still maintaining the Chromebooks so before covid we actually had curl books we just weren't one to one we were close to one to one so this was a preo conversation about having digital resources right the high school already had it um we were up to because I know we handed out Chromebooks so we might have been very close to one to one even when Co happened we were far ahead of our colleagues um we just didn't have them going home back and forth um but but we have maintained pretty much most of our curriculum and resources is digital um the work that kids do with Google classroom and apple classroom is digital that's not going away right like that's that's pretty stable I mean I can I can six years ago when we bought our lure for our curriculum through Pearson which is now saas and our reading curriculum which is Wonder um it was cheaper to buy the licenses than the hard Cy cover books right so this is the way we're going it's you buy six years worth of licenses we leased all that we still have a year lease to go it was a it was a cost we knew kids have access to it it's not about lugging home books back and forth um you know it's it's just it's a cost that we're not looking to get rid of Chromebooks for sure I mean the kids need to have digital device devices and know how to use them but a lot of our curriculum software supports rely on a device at this time so yes the the going home and back and forth it was covid related and I I will share that we have some conversations right now about the going home back and forth and and should we uh and we haven't made any final decisions because we want to send some stuff to teachers we want to ask some questions um but you know options right kids don't want to take them home parents don't want their kids to take them home then they can stay in school and so we're just trying to explore some options like that as well remember Z thank you um Madam Vice chair so with with if I'm correct you said the with the insurance basically we have two options with the sense of having the kids parents pay for which we don't want to do but however my feeling about it is if we are allowing them to take it home it again going about it is well you don't want to take it home we have a cart you can put it in like a home room or whatever that's fine you don't need to pay for the insurance but if you are taking it home well if a child breaks it at home why is the school covering it when they the child should be responsible for their Chromebooks I'm just saying can can I throw an answer in here I'm I'm not saying second graders I'm saying like I'm talking about maybe 7th 8th 9th 10th 11 12th yeah go ahead Mr Mayor I won't answer for the superintendent but I guess you know and if I say this wrong superintendent something I think one of the reasons is because then the child would lose the learning right so if if the parent can't afford to pay for the fix now you're between a rock and a hard place anyways so the only thing I was going to suggest is I was just perusing digital Commonwealth has a whole series of Grants um you know we we got one in the city last year thank God uh because the schools showed me the way um that you know and we we have we have eliminated two of the five storage areas that were external to the Cs building with just paper and records and things like that and we did that through a digital Comm Grant I think maybe what we want to do here is not not attack the insurance the insurance makes sense to me but maybe funded differently either fund it through you know digital Comal if there's a grant there or you know have Verizon and Comcast who are picking up you know they're pushing towards this you know um greater technology infrastructure for municipalities right and maybe we just sit down with them and say we got we got a a small slice here that you know it greatly impacts because to to me you know once the student loses the Chromebook or the iPad I know you have looners in the buildings but it's gonna at some point it's going to delay the learning process right and that's really the I would I would assume we don't want to you know when the parent says I can't afford to fix this you right now we're you know okay so what do we do we're going to pay the 50 anyways right so my suggestion is let's look at the digital commonweal Grant let's look at the let's speak the Comcast and and Verizon I'll happily do that for you superintendent and say $80,000 is a drop in the bucket for comact Verizon right I won't go uper rail you know I switched a year ago to Comcast and now my Comcast bill is up to 350 bucks it's outrageous what we pay for cable so I think we've got to sit down with some of these folks and say okay we need your help here and here's how you could help 80,000 would not be a big hit to comest of horizon so that's my two cents yep thank you thank you for that all right are there any other questions remember what yeah I'm just I'm just going to go back to the supplies and I think thank you for the clarification about the food account but again still remaining within the last uh two months of the school year we have available funds of half a million dollars so instead of the $1 million that's aligned with the food department and that's a separate account anyways that the half a million dollars and supplies and then the next fiscal year we're asking for $85,000 increase I'm not seeing the justification for it I know in previous school department budgets during very difficult times uh we hoarded supplies we preserved supplies we extended supplies to the next fiscal year so the increase I'm not seeing a justification for it especially since we have only two months left in the the school year um so that's just my opinion on that um and I'm with you member uh because if you look at the last four years we have never we have never run out of uh Supply money right to the point where we sit in August and we talk about you know moving it around moving to Circuit Breaker move it here there right so um I I'm with you all right and I and again just to go back I know I know the federal government they call it aoba Madness of like spending money and I think if we just conserve money and even if we purchase to go into the next year if we're talking about positions versus supplies that's an easy argument and I think we should be conserving supplies and extending it into the next fiscal year especially since we're sitting on a kitty of uh half a million dollars in supplies just my opinion thank you um given the time we have literally five minutes left I think we need to move past the budget and get through some of these other things quickly yeah as best we can yes yeah I I do apologize you know we we do we're closing the building at 10: and and the students can't work past 10 o'clock so um we do have to WRA that up but thank you all right may I have a motion in a second to approve the state budget committee letter so second move by member second by member wette any discussion RP it in the Rock what did he say I don't know what did you say mayor we couldn't hear you I said wrap it in a rock wrap it in a rock all right um can I get a um roll call vote please Martha yes mayy Beth Donovan yes Lori Keegan yes Kristen Maxwell present Daniel chilia yes Kenneth wette yes Daniel Perry enthusiastically yes thank you Mr Mayor all right may I have a motion in a second to approve the last day of school as junee 14th 2024 so moved second moved by member dolio second by member shilia discussion roll call vote please Mo Ryan dolio yes may Beth denovan yes Lori Keegan yes Kristen Maxwell yes Daniel shilia yes Kenneth Willet yes may Neil Perry yes unanimous um does the committee have any questions on the expenditure report um member Maxwell no does the committee have any questions on the revolving funds I will let you know we're due the circuit breaker deposit should be coming any day if it hasn't already arrived go on next that statement okay should be about $1.3 million thank you are there any questions on the grant report right are there any questions on the Student Activities accounts all right are there any questions on the Food Services report all right may I have a a motion and a second to approve the Apple iPad 4year lease of 600 iPads 10th Generation with Apple Care Plus 550 STM Ducks Ox iPad cases from Apple Inc Finance through Apple Finance services for a total of $269,990 the payments will be 67,69 2, 99200 um 50 per year for four years so moved second moved by member Doo second by member shilia discussion question I just yeah I just want to um can I just say one thing so so the way that a lease works is that we bring this to you to approve and then Ian and I have to go to the city council because it's a recurring cost so any leases that we have we've done this every year for the iPad lease we've done it for the Chromebook leases in the past and we've also done it for our curriculum leases six-year leases so uh if approved tonight then we will work to get this on the uh next city council meeting that we can I'm not sure if you have a question member shilia if I just answered it or not I I do so somewhere in here it said something about they buyback so this is lease to own correct what are we getting for buyback and where's that money going well go through them to get it because we can get more money elsewhere we just we had some that were obsolete that we just went out and um we did an auction like an online auction and we ended up getting about 80 $880,000 which I'm hoping to use that to offset the cost of the insurance um so so we probably will not take that 37 because we can get more elsewhere okay good enough in my books remember Maxwell is this what's projected for incoming um ninth graders correct yes this would be freshman get a new one and then keep it for 4 years and when they leave we do you get it back they don't take correct we get it back and then we put it Al for auction well if it's still usable we will put it in Learning Centers and kindergarten preschool buters are up toite we auction them [Applause] off all right roll call please Ryan Is AO yes may Beth denovan yes Lori Keegan yes Kristen Maxwell yes Daniel shilia yes Kenneth Willet yes Mayan Neil Perry yes right may I have a motion in a second to approve the transportation subcommittee minutes for March 5th 2024 so moved second moved by member shilia second by member wette discussion roll call Martha please ran daglio yes mayor Beth Donan yes Lorie Keegan yes Kristen Maxwell yes Daniel shabila yes Kenneth wette yes may Neil Perry yes unanimous with no further business to discuss oh sorry um real quick now the rules have been applied that we need more than one member for a committee subcommittee I would be asking if anybody wants to join The Residency committee with me sub committee um that's not on the agenda for tonight we could it discuss it at next meeting sure can we put that on the agenda for next meeting perfect thank you but we do have one thing Madam Vice chair so we have joint meeting with City Council next week um and um I finished a draft of the RFP for the school audit and I will share that individually with you folks um M shil has already given me his inputs you're all welcome to take a look at it and provide inputs back to me um but just a reminder that next Tuesday night we are joint meeting with the city council mayor I'm not I'm not sure that we I have received any information or confirmation for that next Tuesday it's school vacation week too so I'm not sure okay where that came from if Martha we haven't had any the chair no but yeah I don't think they've had any contact with us so the committee here isn't aware of that and nor is office so we I'll have to reach out to the chair okay which I'll do tomorrow morning thank you y okay all right is there any other further business motion to ad second second no we need a roll call vote we we need a roll call vote please Martha Ryan dolio Yes Mar Beth Donovan Lori Keegan yes Kristen Maxwell yes Daniel shilia yes Kenneth wette yes Mayan Neil Perry yes unanimous all right the meeting is adjourned at 10:05 p.m. good night methan you know what on my [Music] last [Music]