##VIDEO ID:ERlv6wtYdxg## e e e e e e e e e e good evening everybody um we'll call to order the Milton school committee meeting for January 22nd 2025 and first we'll begin with the pledge of sorry I pledge allegiance to the 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 okay good evening everybody so um first we will approve our agenda for tonight um one suggestion has been to move we um we are joined this evening by one of our student representatives and we have the idea to move your report up within the superintendent report um before the Pierce site Council presentation all are there any other changes to the agenda as listed here all right so then uh we can go ahead and approve our agenda for tonight and the first item is public comment so just as a reminder um we include public comment on our agendas as an opportunity for us to hear from members of our community um whom we invite to share their perspectives with us for up to 3 minutes a piece and um we do not respond directly to individuals uh comments if um they are speaking to topics that we have listed on our agenda then we may be able to sort of respond to questions or concerns that have been raised in the course of our discussions do we have anybody present for public comment this evening either in person Andor online okay we have a couple of people in person um Mark can you see if we have anybody on if you're online and intending to uh speak in public comment please um raise your we'll go ahead and get started with our attendees who are uh joining us in person this evening um so if you would come just introduce yourself for the record and uh thank you so much for taking time to join us good evening my name is Karen fredman Hannah I am a town meeting member from Precinct 2 I'm a past president of congregation Beth Shalom of the Blue Hills I'm a mom of a teacher in the high school I'm a mom of kids who went through the programs here and are very proud of the school system very involved all along the way so I appreciate all the work that all of you do and are doing um I rise tonight to bring concern and um hopefully consideration for um viewing the topic about the holidays in the schools um considering um rather than removing some to make it more uh equal in um representation ation or maybe not as focused on uh the different holidays for different cultures I urge you to consider the opposite right now our country is very focused on becoming more of a Christ Christian Nation and those who practice Christianity may not feel it as much as those of us who don't um there has been a tremendous rise I think all of you know in anti-Semitism and anti- everything other than Christianity um different Faith groups have been persecuted differently um everything going on in Israel hasn't helped certainly the political Spectrum has changed considerably and there's been a tremendous amount of anti-Semitism which is what I can um relate to most um but I feel it and I've heard it from other people of other faiths how much um they feel um where they they feel that they have a lower standing in our country than than others um and that's really unfortunate in so many ways Milton has been a very diverse Community always we moved here our family moved here in 1994 because it was one of the more diverse communities around that's what we were looking for and we proudly have been a part of various Interfaith things and other things with our synagogue I worked closely with Rabbi Benjamin with superintendent gormal to get the policy in place that is currently in place with the holidays um with being able to have at least one of the high holy days it's not just any holiday it's the highest holy day um set of holidays that there are and um and especially I you may or may not know with yum kipor being the holiest of the days that's the one where where anybody over the age of bar mitzvah age or bot Mitzvah age are supposed to fast for the day um so it it's really um a a very poignant day of atonement a lot of of thought has to go into the day and and um it's very powerful and meaningful so the idea that it's being considered to be taken away when it's been basically recognized for 30 years now in some way or another is very upsetting and very concerning um rather I would suggest if possible to consider half days for some days that are already in the calendar and adding not only or keeping not only um the Jewish holiday the way it stands but considering adding um diali and Aid and the Lunar New Year um because those Faith groups deserve to have it recognized also and in a time when it's so contentious around faith in our country why don't we have Milton be a leader rather than not taking a stand in that way and I know it's not intentional to have it feel like it's not um it's not intentional to have it feel like there's uh that something is being taken away but Optics matter and the feeling of people who follow those faiths matter and so please consider it um to have half days in some ways day before Christmas does not need to be a full day um other days where it's professional development maybe could be half a day and make up the three days that way we can so much thank you very much for thank you letting us know your thoughts okay yes please thank you so much hi good evening uh my name is Rob Milt I am the parent of three Milton Public School students including a newly registered voter uh so uh who's here with me tonight um so as Karen mentioned every year since 1994 so for 30 years um yamor has been not a school day and since 2011 other yamor rashash sha has been observed um so you know what's really changed in those 30 years um the school age population has become sign become more diverse and I think that really requires you as Karen pointed out to work creatively um and expansively regarding the schedule as well as the curriculum so really why contract the calendar now um when it does not need to be as Karen mentioned so Pas School committees provided students and staff um the opportunity to participate in the holiest day the holiest days of Jewish calendar free of academic social and professional pressures these days provide uh our students with a critical emot and social BW work um these students have not needed to make the wrenching and frankly demoralizing decision whether to um attend class when their faith demands otherwise their faith Traditions so in these three decades um these students have not needed to ask themselves am I going to be perceived as too Jewish by my peers if I'm not going to go to school today am I not Jewish enough if I don't should I set aside to my commitments to my education to my labmates in biology or chemistry am I if I take take these two days off like students will need to if these days are uh take a remove from the calendar because both uh Yorn Rashana this coming school year fall during the school school um week not on the weekends while I get get behind my classes will it be more difficult for me to get into college will use my starting position on the team um additionally I think it's also a FY to suggest that if we remove the high these high holy days from the calendar we'll get a better sense of Jewish students are actually taking those days off um it is unfair to place this very adult burden on children by demanding that they take what essentially is a relig a deao religious litness test essentially the same burden that other students of other religions um are facing now including Muslim Students so I urge you to create a district calendar that is inclusive creates a sense of belonging in our increasingly diverse Community maintaining the current policies appropriate and fair and furthers these goals so I ask you to keep these days on the calendar I I encourage you to work with the bargaining units and parents because I understand that the majority would like to strike potentially strike these days from our calendar and having classes maybe PRI the PRI the prior PRI prior to Labor Day having half day classes on Wednesdays be creative find Solutions because I think the um the situation demands it so I understand these proposed changes involve sacrifice and change you know changes for parents and bargain un but I urge you to take these things on um to challenge these sort of secular uh sacred days like the day before like the Friday before Labor Day and in pursuit of equality amongst all the abrahamic faiths thank you thank you is there anybody online wishing to participate in public comment if so can you raise your hand at this time please okay don't see any hands raised online is there anyone else in person in the audience who would like to participate in public comment okay thank you very much so we will have the opportunity to members to the extent you want to continue um considering points that have just been raised obviously we are going to be uh discussing once again the calendar this evening um later on in our meeting so we'll have that opportunity but thank you very much to the members of our community who took time to come and share your perspective with us thank you um with that we'll uh turn to the superintendent thank you um a few things to report that we have been working on um I a couple events coming up so um a lot of people at this table and some over there um in attendance are going to be at the kindergarten information night which is tomorrow night we are welcoming all of our incoming kindergarten parents and going through all things NPS is it's uh um an hour long as mentioned it's virtual and um will be an exciting way to kind of talk about the things that we do to help people get a get accustomed to all the great things that are happening and as you all may remember as a kindergarten parent there is a lot of incredible excitement so we try to capitalize on that and and really kind of help people get off on their right foot um the teaching and learning sessions which um I I think were really really great uh finished last week so we had our final two last week um I I think as we go into this the spring and look at other ways to reach out to community we I'll be working with principles to think about kind of like where where do we go in terms of an a next conversation I I do think um as we work on the one of our action teams is working on parent and Community engagement and looking at not just kind of doing the same things every year but really looking at ways to engage in different kinds of ways um I want to kind of go from what we've learned from these teaching and learning sessions and and kind of build forward and and talk about other ways that we can kind of like make the make our interactions with the community different in ways that are are really affirming for everybody um I think we have kind of a prediliction in education to have a lot of content and then we want to just deliver the content as opposed to engaging together in in the content and and kind of building understanding together and I think that's um it's powerful and it has long lasting impacts in terms of like kind of a a joint um caring and support for students so that that will be kind of the intention that we'll be bringing as we look at the spring and the other kinds of Engagement we want to do um B and I met with some students the um Asian-American student group at the high school which was really fun last week um and they are going to be lead in the the Lunar New Year celebration which U is really cool that's on February 8th from 5: to 7: is that right yes at at Pierce Middle School and uh what was really cool about that was just how engaged the students were like and how much they really wanted to share and and be a part and lead and um just kind of made me realize how what an untapped resource I think our students are um in terms of giving them an opening they are totally ready to run y I know Selena does this in in her work outside of being a school Committee Member and probably knows exactly what I'm talking about okay um we are working with principles we're going to talk a little bit later about kind of where we are with our fy2 um financial situation um so we' have been spending over the last couple weeks we we've been um working with principles to share kind of where we are and what steps that we can take to to work on um some of the challenges we're facing with finances so there's more to come on that but I did want to share that that's been a focus since we last met um this week I met with superintendents from across the metro area uh everyone is comparing and contrasting how they're responding to the competency determination so that is the basically the mcast graduation requirement and it's written in the law is a competency determination so everyone is is comparing how they are locally meeting this requirement in a lot of ways I I think the reality for almost every District that I talked to was we're we're doubling down on our grad requirements so we're keeping our grad requirements as the competency determination and the the state is kind of continuing to look at now that um ballot two passed they're they're going back to the drawing board right now to figure out kind of what's next so I think for the for the the near term you know locally districts have set their graduation requirements as this is what we believe a student needs the competency determination was a state requirement um so I I think we're going to be working to make sure that you know obviously our competi will be the standards required by the state are matched in our curricula um and then we'll kind of be watching and waiting with the state to make sure um as they're working on developing whatever kind of 2.0 is of the the determination that we're kind of part of the development of that and there's a there's a team at the high school who I've been meeting with so there's there are lots of people with putting their heads on this and looking at some of the unique circumstances most districts yesterday in the meeting I was in we're talking about we have five or 10 students that you know with with the mcast going away if we go back to the grad requirements they actually had this other kind of circuitous path if we require like for example a lab science course and an English 10 course maybe some of our El students had a a different Pathway to graduation than specific courses articulated in that so um so we're we're talking about that just to make sure we're seeing seeing every single student and making sure that we don't create some some sort of new process that requires uh uh you know some of our students who would have been successful to all of a sudden hit hit a new roadblock um so that's St that date on that and that is my that's my report can I ask a question about that so um so the currently the only change for this year would be the mcast the comp so passing the mcast but the other graduation requirements remain the same so there's no other change other than not needing to pass that correct yeah okay I mean definitely there are districts that are concerned about you know where do we go from here with mcast and I think that was a concern that I shared with you all like in the absence of a better assessment which I think everyone agrees there could be a better more comprehensive multimodal type of assessment for students instead of just the mcast um but now we're kind of left with we're a little bit you know we don't quite know exactly where we are so I I I do think there's going to be a push from the superintendent Association at least with Desi and the state to respond to the the absence of an assessment with something something new in terms of this requirement but yeah there's but there's essentially no change for us here and there is concern that we're going to start to see mcast scores drop because it's no longer a requirement for graduation so that that that was voiced by a lot of districts too so is there a like a you might have just said this is there like a task for force or is it the superintendent like who's responsible for determining what the new competency requirement would be and what it looks like and then taking into account the the reasons why it was voted down like who's so that that would fall to desie okay um and I I heard Rumblings and it was in the globe like maybe three weeks ago there was an article about it U just kind of intimating that people were starting to talk about it but I don't think I don't think anything has formalized yet I think once a task force is put together they would bring in representatives from all the different bodies to to look at that and and kind of figure out a way forward okay yeah thanks any other questions or discussion on the report from Dr Bros I mean Massachusetts was seen I think the mcast was one of the things that kind of put Massachusetts on the map educationally nationally in terms of kind of this era of high standards so I I think it it's just it's interesting right now to to to kind of like figure out kind of like what is the it just keep what is the response to not having that assessment anymore in terms of making sure that we continue to have those high standards sor to ask our student to come up yeah sorry so um bow so thank you thank you for your report sorry for my technical issue here and B would you like to introduce the next part with our student representative report we're fortunate to be joined this evening by one of our student Representatives yes let we find my information on one second yes we have um Olivia wlson 10th grader um student representative from the Milton High School joining us tonight and she's going to bring us a short report from what they have done at the um student Advisory Group great thanks that's welcome Olivia thank you Olivia for coming hi um yeah so as bra said I'm Olivia Wolfson I'm represent the 10th graders along with Adam but it's just me here tonight um so like for the whole year probably like once a month me and all the other school committee members have been meeting with superintendent burough and member B to just to chat about the going Zone I guess and like make sure that we're connecting with you guys with issues that are relevant like to the student body as well and making sure that there's that connection there um in the past we like tackled like the calendar issues and we brought you guys that survey that once again like it got the student perspective as well which is I feel like our main thing like bringing that voice to you guys um now our like new our new thing is cell phone policy that's something that we're really trying to figure out and we're choosing that for a lot of reasons I mean I don't know if you guys have been keeping up with the news on it but like nationally it's a super big topic right now if you look across the school systems there's been like the range of ways of dealing with cell phones has been like immense so we're just trying to figure out for our system for our situation like what's the best move and I feel like it's an issue that students staff and parents all have incredibly strong opinions on so like if we can bring you that kind of perspective that's something we definitely want to do because whatever decision is made there's going to be feelings about it so if we can have like data that kind of thing to back that up that's something that we were into um so right now we're going to we're making a survey that we're going to send out to high school high school and middle school students staff and um parents and what we're really interested in looking at is how answers range from like middle school students to high school students because I'm not sure if you guys know all this stuff but the policies are slightly different from the Middle School to the high school and when kids come through the high school through that system there there's been talk about like that inconsistency so we want to see where is it working where is it not and like what's good and bad about both ways that we're doing things um so like we're going to gather that information we're also there's a lot of the parents we're going to have there's like safety con concerns with phones but then there's also like do we want to be offline and connected with our friends and stuff so it's just such a vast issue so we're going to like kind of bring you guys the data on that um so in the next few meetings whenever we get that whenever we can get that out we will someone else will be here to tell you about that but uh yeah we just letting you guys know like moving forward there's going to be one school committee representative at all these meetings and just kind of do what I did today and like give you a little little update on what we're up to and as we gather information on whatever we find relevant we will share it with you guys so that it can help you make informed decisions thank you Olivia quick question for you do you have a timeline for this uh survey or the Gathering of the data yeah so we're like nearing the end of a term right now in school so it's like pretty crazy so that ends January 27th so we're early February to get that out because it'll be hard for us to put it together but also kids are going to be so busy they won't be answering that kind of stuff so early February get that out there that's that's like our goal for sure great thank you thank you okay any other questions for Olivia I think it's a great topic to take on really be interested in y all's perspective the students perspective so thank you for leading on that okay and it's great to anticipate getting to see student representatives in our mix more consistently that will be really wonderful so thanks for thank you all for sort of sorting that out we know you're very busy and you have a lot keeping you um occupied in in the evening so yeah thanks for being here with us tonight we're I think we're really excited about it so should be good that's great thank you thank you thank you B for your work and cultivating these connections okay um so next under the superintendent report we're excited to have our Pierce Middle School site council with us this evening welcome to you all and um thank you for being here you can yep come on up I know my fifth grader is eagerly anticipating her visit to pierce tomorrow to see Annie Jor hopefully a lot of us are planning to go check it out ourselves but um yeah I think you're all going to have a very exciting day we're looking forward to welcoming 380 or so fifth graders for the morning um I'm glad I'm glad you brought that up Lizzie because some of what uh we wanted to cover as part of our presentation tonight is um some of the more deliberate work that we've been engaged in around um strengthening our structures and systems around the transition from from elementary to middle school so does somebody have the slides control step ahead of me go um well first of all it's it's we always welcome the opportunity to come to meet with the committee to share some updates uh and while we've been instructed by Dr burrow to keep our you know presentation about 15 minutes or so I will do I will do my best but uh it's it's not an easy ask given uh all the great things that are going on in our school and in our school Community um if uh just to to introduce our site counsel um in my now 14 years as a school principal I've never seen so much engagement from a site Council both from the numbers of U parents and family members who expressed interest in joining from the beginning to those who consistently attend our meetings on on a regular basis um I think it's it's it's uh it's exciting to often return uh bring back returning members but also to see the interest and the fortune that we've had in adding new members every year been incredibly lucky to have such a wealth of and diversity of experiences joined the council um and I want to thank and acknowledge Monique de baros who's here tonight in person Rachel posar who's here in person uh and I saw Dr idia thirst I think is still is still online so um we appreciate their engagement it's a it's a meeting I know we look forward to monthly um just to to dig in in both you know the the main charges of leading a school Improvement plan but also to engage in dialogue around uh our kids experiences at Pierce what what are we doing well and where our opportunities to continue to grow so our um we'll get to the school Improvement Plan Focus areas uh initiatives and and so on shortly um but at the end of the day our our students will always be the focus and the purpose of our work um and at Pierce as a school community were committed to um being there to support to lead and to guide our children through what is arguably one of the greatest times of development um from obviously the the physical development that we see that and the physical changes that happened during those ages of 11 to 14 um seeing students gain confidence as Learners um and also that that ever so delicate increase in knowledge and awareness of themselves as as people uh and and and as of others and um one of the things that as leader of the school that I'm most proud of is that that shared commitment that our faculty have for not just recognizing it but appreciating and celebrating that we have students coming we have a th6 students this year coming to us with all different you know from all different backgrounds experiences and values um but to be able to meet each of those students where they are when they come through our door and have a genuine sincere appreciation for where they are in their development as as early adolescence um I think it's something that has allowed us to really stand out as a school that does right by kids we'll take a a short look at our our school profile um and the story of enrollment is not one that's new to the to the school committee or to the community um our current and projection enrollments are going to have to be a substantive part of how we educate our community about our needs in the near future and while the um the prospect of a school building project um may eventually will eventually alleviate space space issues throughout the district uh the reality is that our enrollment continues to outpace um Staffing that we we've added and well we were incredibly fortunate to add to positions um for fy2 where we were able to make our fourth four teacher team in sixth grade um can talk tonight about the gains that we have seen there um it's it's easy to argue that we are still the middle school has historically been um underserved when it when it comes to uh addressing Personnel needs right and we we can see why that happens right with in Elementary uh Elementary School students are younger they're learning to read um they're learning how to be students and then in high school we're getting students ready for the transition to post AR uh and I think there have been times historically not just in Milton but everywhere where um where the Middle School can sometimes be an afterthought when we're thinking about about Personnel needs and um that it's something that in addition to navigating and negotiating the space issues that we sign ourselves in is really uh keeping the conversation about how our student enrollments are and how how our staffing is keeping up with our student enrollment needs and we'll we'll Circle back through to this throughout the presentation as we we talk about Pierce Middle School and what it means to be a student at Pierce Middle School one of the things that I think comes out of the words that come out of my mouth most often is is this commitment to creating a culture where students can Thrive um we've had an outstanding start of the school year it's really hard to believe we're at the halfway point already um but this year we've had a continued focus on creating experiences and structures to students that contribute to that thriving School culture we'll spend some time now sharing some of the specific moves we made to both complement the academic program uh and to continue to build a climate and atmosphere at school that is dynamic inclusive and supportive um some specific examples of uh of our work on school culture um we have uh that acronym our peerce values perseverance Integrity Equity responsibility community and Excellence um um the we over the course of the past few years as a faculty have developed those values um not just to have an a mission statement not just to you know hang in our handbooks um but to really have these uh values that we point to that we believe that um we want our kids to have we want to engender in them as a result of their experience and um you know it's one thing to say that we want our students to persevere that we want students to have integrity um but it's another to provide them with opportunities to practice that to grow that and um related to that one of the things I know Janice Matt and I are all committed to is catching kids doing the right thing and we've use those values um to celebrate achievements sometimes small sometimes large uh of students demonstration of these values so we start we start uh the school year for the past two years with uh a special schedule in which we explicitly teach students about these values what does perseverance look like in math what does integrity look like in social studies what does Excellence look like across the board in all content areas um and then throughout the year we hold uh Community meetings in collaboration with all of our grade level teachers and teams to celebrate students demonstration of these values and I know um Matt had his 7eventh grade community meeting yesterday Janice did hers today and and during these meetings it's an opportunity for teachers to call out their students for their demonstration of these values and uh it's important for students to to be recognized it's also important for other students to see their peers being recognized and um one of the things that I have find very heartwarming is seeing students be excited for their stud being excited for their peers to be recognized because they see them doing the right thing uh and it's important that when we have those opportunities with 325 a ERS or 341 7th graders and and all the their staff um to be able to really to to call them out and to um show our recognition and appreciation for what for what they're doing um we continue to have in this focus on building a culture where students Thrive and emphasis on belonging and connection um and the belief that both belonging are in connection are essential elements to a strong School culture um ways that we've continued to do that our sixth grade seminar class has continued to be one of the most um impactful experiences for many of our students having that touch Point throughout their day and school year where they're they come in from four unique Elementary communities um into this really large middle school and to have this opportunity for shared experiences to learn um what it's like to be a me a member of a community to explicitly learn executive functioning and organizational skills and then to eventually fold that into some more academic work where all students are reading for example all sixth grade students are reading restart right now so there's um the evolution of the course starts with bringing them in as young sixth graders and then helps to develop them helps to develop their identity through these shared experiences um and we believe we're seeing more gains in as it relates to that sense of connection and belonging that we we strive to to instill um and also Rel to connection and belonging and culture I know last year we highlighted our responding to bias series of lessons on responding to bias um for any of you who have you know paid attention in the community for you know years before the past two many schools Pierce included often found itself responding to unexpected or unwanted situations around racial aggression anti-Semitism hate speech uh and what we were often just trying to play catchup and say you know condemn the behavior condemn the action and then teach our students why that was wrong now over the course of the past two years we have taken a very proactive approach and we use our um the early many of the early release days to do schoolwide lessons that focus on uh equipping students and faculty for that matter members of our community with habits of mind language um that that help them to be better people and to be able to be upstanders and recognize um and to and to intervene when wrong is happening when harm is happening so this um you while they may seem um sometimes it's not easy to see how they're all related but at the end of the day they each of these moves is about Community climate Culture Connection and belonging um and we'll get we'll get into a few more of the specifics about what what our students have been experiencing throughout the year this year but uh but for now Mark if you and mind advance in the slide we'll zoom out and take a look at um the threeyear school Improvement plan that was recently authored uh through the leadership of oursite council uh our most our previous plan Sunset it at the end of the last school year um and where uh in in in looking at the development of this plan uh we looked at where were the where was some of the unfinished work from the previous School Improvement plan um what from data that we had collected through site Council through student stud learning achievement data through and through other um other sources where we're in in looking at in the context of the district's implementation plan where where are our opportunities over the next three years to continue to move the needle forward from Pierce Middle School um so we have the same four priority areas that were identified in the previous um School Improvement plan which are School culture student well-being and engagement teaching learning and academic Excellence data creating and sustaining a data culture and facility staff and enrollment so tonight we'll highlight some of the specific work that we've been engaged at throughout the year um but before we do I think it's important to explicate that that um connection between the school Improvement plan and the implementation plan so um you can see for yourself but uh it's important if we're going to we talk a lot about coherence in um our goals and our efforts and our priorities but to be able to crosswalk Pierce Middle Schools for um School Improvement goals in the context of the implementation plan you you see a lot of natural alignment this wasn't something where we were trying to fit uh you previous goal language into a new implementation plan and a lot of what we've learned through um the work that Dr burrow has led last year through the listening and learning tours and um engaging with our community um not surprisingly centered our work in these in these four identified areas I think it's just it's important to um to demonstrate that these Improvement plans don't operate in isolation right it's part of um it's our schools's specific moves strategies and efforts to move ourselves forward but also in with with a responsibility to the district so there um I believe you have a full copy of the plan but what I rather than going through that you know all whatever 11 pages of it what we wanted to do is highlight for the committee um some of the focus areas and highlights for this school year you know what is it that we're we're engaged in uh engage with on a day-to-day basis and um you'll see Mark if you don't mind advancing that the um three Focus areas that uh were born out of the the school improving plan that are of highest priority this year are highquality instructional practices getting to know our students to a data lens and establishing systems and structures that support students transition to middle school so when uh we start by looking we look at academic excellence and high quality instruction academic excellence and high quality instruction are at the Forefront of our work every day period we are a school that's what we are we are here for teaching and learning um so last spring uh as a faculty um um and in in reflecting on a lot of the conversations that had been had through um the work led by by Dr buros we pondered questions around you know what and thinking about what is academic Excellence you can ask everybody at this table and get a different answer right and and none of them is one is more right or wrong than the other um so we dug in a little bit and we asked our Educators what does high quality instruction look like in our day-to-day what is what what are are we doing as um classroom teachers service providers that are that is going to move the needle and raise the bar for all students learning and so we started we we engaged our Educators in a survey um around their practices we did some collaborative analysis of of educator feedback uh with the goal of reaching some consensus and what and that so you've seen through the slides um this commitment to high leverage moves so here enter High leverage moves through data collection conversation um and consensus building these high leverage moves were identified as a commitment by all Pierce Educators to the answer question what should every student expect every day in their classes regardless of grade level discipline um sort of agnostic of all that and and where we landed on with were these what we call our four high leverage moves so what does this look like in practice as I said a minute ago these are the aspects of teaching and learning that we say all students should should expect every day every in every class so we talk about learning object objectives making learning goals clear to students students need to know what they're learning not only what they're learning but why and have tools to measure progress uh and to self assess their progress have having routines we we know especially as young adolesents having a routine knowing what to expect and eliminating um as much as we can the unexpected puts us in a better position to learn um it's teachers's commitment to varying instructional practices right what um we spent two years ago a lot of time working with Novak on Universal Design for Learning bringing that what we know about udl into providing into our planning and into our instruction in providing students with multiple entry points for their learning and then ultimately the work of using data and feedback we're collecting to tailor learning opportunities and experiences to meet the needs of all of our students and that data piece of it um Segways nicely into if you don't mindan in the slide um the work around building and sustaining a data culture um that is focused on advancing outcomes for students so one of you may have heard from previous site Council presentations um the through line of our PD Focus this year with our unit a staff has been getting to know our students through the data lens and we throughout the fall um each of the um professional days focused on getting to know our kids through data lens in a different way uh in September we looked at we started by identifying and analyzing a variety of data sources um in in in identifying those sources looking for emerging Trends identifying prior priorities and identifying strategies um to fit to meet to ident to remediate gaps and then in October all of our staff were trained on the performance matter so that uh tool embedded in power school that has all of our warehouse data from historical mcast data to ir iate screeners and so on uh and using those data um to look at students trajectory over time with regard to uh mcast with regard to I screener data data looking back at at the data sources they they used previously in the fall uh and then fast forward to December where we used uh again performance matters to leverage the uh data that was collected through theal and deib screener data analysis and so the school the the culture and belonging data um and being able to look both that school level data where where were we doing more holistic how are we doing more holistically but then looking more closely as classroom teach at individual students um so having the um having those tools and having that focus in in having the professional development time to do that we have seen um some exciting gains in in getting at that goal of getting to know our students better through data another um spec specific move that worth highlighting um in in building and sustaining a data culture um catar Ro arc8 literacy director Brian cug Arcada 12 math director and I um have been working with our math the Pierce math and ELA teachers around looking at their teacher level mcast data it's you know Common to look at student level data it's common to look at um you know the whole grade data for in specific content areas but one thing we hadn't looked at was the teachers classroom data so how if I'm a seventh grade math teacher how are my students performing how are they achieving and how are they growing relative to the rest of the seventh grade and looking that over that over threeyear Trend um so in doing that um we wanted to provide teachers with that opportunity to do that analysis and to do that reflection um and we knew that for some for some staff it it would it might have you know it it could have pushed them a little in in ways maybe they weren't ready or they weren't comfortable doing um and for others they they do this as a matter of good practice um so what we did we created um we called all the data and we using a protocol that asked them just simple protocol what do you see what do the data suggest what are the implications we gave staff we took a udl approach we gave them the option of either doing the analysis independently or doing it collaboratively with Brian and me or collaboratively with cat and me um and what we have we have seen have been some really um exciting analysis and and some outcomes from that which we're already seeing teachers making adjustment to their practices um sharing successful practices you know some of our teachers who are consistently having mean student growth percentiles in the 60s and 70s being able to share with their colleagues who who may who are not whose students may not be growing at the same rate um teachers using analysis from this exercise to set goals for students particularly around their growth Right Moving those students who are vulnerable to either being partially meeting to meeting you know how do you move the 494 students from 494 to 504 and now from out of partially meeting and into meeting expectations so um that work paired with the getting to know students through the data lens has really um put a more individualized focus on using that data for for individual students um and now we also we have teachers now who are thinking about how can they use the data their teacher level data to inform their um their student learning goals throughout as part of the evaluation process moving forward so um I would say in terms of with my instructional leadership this has been a move for me this year that I have felt really connected to the um the teaching and learning the data analysis and and being able to work with and think closely and collaboratively with our staff to help to continue to to um move forward in in the spirit of continuous Improvement so uh just one final highlight um and this is something that in looking at the structures and systems that support the transition to Middle School uh Dr buros and I started this conversation probably what Peter last winter um and honestly it came out of I had initially requested that we make you the welcome to Middle School Camp which is was sort of like the universal intended to be the universal um strategy for um for orientation paid for by the district um and there were a variety of hurdles to that particularly specifically just to fund it um so we talk through how can we achieve the same goals that we that have equipped lots of students to be success successful in the transition but do it differently um and the the history of welome in the Middle School Camp it's a great it's a great experience for many students um but I'm going to emphasize many because it's not all uh it has students have option an option at the end of the school year an opt or an option at the end of the summer um the students who attended the data the feedback from students is always positive same from parent parents um but what we were finding is about only about 80% of our students were attending and the 20% that weren't attending were the ones that arguably needed it the most like some of our more vulnerable students who um not surprisingly struggled the most with the transition when school started back up were the ones who were not getting that three-day experience um so I've been working with um Adina sheer and I've been working with col mcmu a fifth grade teacher A Glover uh our sixth grade team with our site counsil with our deib committee and we are poised to uh very soon make an announcement about a significant shift in what the the um the orientation and and transition structures are going to look like um the sneak preview is that we will no longer do the summer camps we will no longer charge a fee uh and we will no longer have a significant and important subset of our kids not be able to participate um so we are looking at uh a two-day experience that would happen during the school starting with a two-day experience would happen during the school day in June we would do it during the um the days when our eighth graders are in Washington DC for their class trip so we've got a third of our students who be out of the building um leveraging a lot of the the same all the good things that have come from W with the middle school but embedding it being led by the sixth grade teachers in sixth grade classrooms um and in doing it over a two-day experience so um there's a lot of momentum there and I I'll be honest with you I was hesitant I wasn't hesitant I was curious to see how this shift would be received right from you know families who maybe their older children participated in the camp and it's natural to feel like maybe their younger kids are missing out on something uh to the teachers who work over work the camp over the summer and like you know it's a lost opportunity for income um to the people who have been had been previously instrumental in just creating it and feeling like something was you know being being taken away from them but every stakeholder group from our site Council our Deb committee uh our sixth grade team has been um unanimously enthusiastic about this shift which in working in schools for a long time I can say that that's not usually the case when you're making a change um so I think it speaks a lot to um to the community thinking about all students and what they all need and recogn izing the importance of this transition like this transition from elementary school to middle school is one that is almost entirely social emotional right the transition from 8th to 9th grade is almost entirely academic right and the two can't be looked at the same um so there's um you know we're going to um I will begin to start messaging this with fifth grade families so that um hopefully to get them excited and to be clear about what what they can expect um but the the the the future of this is is really exciting and um and I have all the faith that it's going to be highly successful because of the buying that we're seeing from from all our stakeholder groups um some additional work that has you know continue to be in place to facilitate the transition most of the work so far has been on what I just described to you but um we do see opportunities and interest from our fifth grade teams and our sixth grade teams to increase collaboration between that vertical articulation both around curriculum but also around fifth grade classrooms are organized differently than sixth grade classrooms um and vice versa and I don't know we whether there's Clarity there for for both of those teams and it doesn't mean that one's doing it better than the other um it just means it's different so having just increasing understanding and um from both ways I think will also help most importantly the students as in in facilitating that transition from elementary school to Middle School um and then there's also opportunities to increase coherence between the elementary and middle school special education teams to ensure that students when they're being when they're when a family has a transition meeting um and to discuss their their child's I AP that work crosswalking what does what does one program at Glover look like and how does it how does it transition at Pierce or how does another program at Tucker um what is what does that experience look like for a student when they're when they're in in in sixth grade so that work is you know Danielle has been an incredible partner in that um there's a lot that we've had to honestly you know unwind from past uh experiences and past history but um but I think that the right people are on the right seats to to continue to move this forward you and finally just a note about facilities operations and finance um we know from from our schools we know what our limitations are in terms of space we know what our challenges are um we will you know continue to be engaged in the in the school building project as it takes on its next iteration um but we need to continue to address needs in the interim um we were very fortunate to on board a fourth four teacher team this year um in in doing that we've reconfigured the layout of the building we have I we've we've tapped into I think as many Creative Solutions to to get a thousand students in a building that was not made for that many um do it in a way that that their day is organized um and smooth and safe but um we're running we're running out of options there and um and I don't think we're going to see much of a dip in enrollment anytime soon even with the pro the hopefully School building project moving forward um in terms of finance budget and Staffing um I know that the FY 26 requests are not going to be able to be funded um that was 2.0 FTE for exploratory teaching positions so our stem art music drama classes are going to continue to run 28 29 30 students um and um it it it that's a challenge that's where we are right now and you saw from the school the profile that the numbers are going to be about the same that that's hard it puts a strain on it puts a strain on those classes it puts a strain on on Educators but um that's something that we cannot let fall off our list of needs um and the other the other two FTE for instructional assistance where you know students who especially sixth grade students who have been receiving a lot of services in science and social studies as part of being a collaborative classroom those are lost when they come to us right um so there are definitely um there are things there are things are that are being lost by this by those budget requests not being funded and um just you urge all of us to continue to advocate for those in in subsequent years moving forward but just to to wrap up to close um there's a lot to celebrate a lot to be proud of um but we need to we need to even with all that we need to continue that to ensure that we're moving forward in the spirit of continuous Improvement um and to that end some identified opportunities for improvement that we can expect to be part of of uh our work going forward as it's already part of our school Improvement plan is maintaining that light that layser focus on academic excellence and raising the bar for all students um that is our work that that is our charge that is what we are a school um we are about about teaching and learning and we have spent you we're coming out on the right side of it but we had spent several pandemic ridden years just trying to get by then a few more trying to address un to to deal with un addressing unfinished learning um but we need to keep that focus on raising the bar for all students raising our expectations for all our students in um which are characterized by rigorous experiences throughout all grades and all dis um the school culture work and the culture and the belonging work has been I think one that um we've seen our staff continue to grow in their buy and for and they're seeing the gains in their classrooms right they're seeing how when the culture changes how that affects classroom climate and um you're never done that what we've made a lot of gains that um Pier feel is different now than it did five or six years ago I could tell you that but just because we've made a lot of progress as I mean we're done uh and I think that that that's always going to be that always has to be my message to our staff my message to our community um that that our kids are coming and they're getting an incredible experience but we have to continue to push it and make sure that all students are having the access to that incredible experience so I thank you for your interest I app appreciate the head nods and I suspect we'll probably have Matt Janice and I will probably have some some thoughtful questions to field thank you so much for your presentation and yeah U what questions or comments do members have well my son just experienced the sixth grade transition this year and he's loving it and the camp have make a huge differ in his life so he's been transitioning very well into sixth grade and thank you so much for all the hard work that you guys are doing at the Pierce Middle School um the seminar class is such a useful thing to teach the kids how to um be more organized and let all those study habits but also building a close Community within the groups so I I hope that it can be extended to the other grades but I have asked that question before and I already got the answer last year but I just want to praise how um awesome jobs that you guys did at Pier Middle School um um I I have a suggestion I have a question and a suggestion my question would be um do the staff who teaches the same subject get time to collaborate with each other by-weekly or weekly they within the talk about the the scheduling part of sure how the scheduling works so um we have a number of meetings so our our um by Department the student the they meet once a cycle right so like all all the e8th grade math teachers the grade math teachers and um our exploratory teachers we we do that with them as well and then we also meet as a grade level um once every other for in the e8th grade in the sixth grade I think they do it once once a cycle um and then we also meet with the teams so um the so in the eighth grade me and Miss veldrin because she's the eighth grade counselor we meet with each of the teams once every other cycle to talk about students so there's there are actually a lot of opportunities for our teachers to meet um you know with their teams with their grade levels and with their departments that's what's a cycle uh so we have a 7-Day rotating cycle yeah so that's so once a seven days once every seven days seven School Days Seven school days and each day has how many carriers so there are six perers in a day yep and then we drop one of those seven days right so it's got you so I I was thinking about the space issue and now that we know the budget is might not be fully funded for next year so I was just thinking about Creative Solutions to this space issue maybe it's a stupid idea um is it possible like we have departments for different subjects and the teacher would use that would be in the department office and then and the classrooms and teacher so the the clroom is available all the time and teachers will become they travel from classroom to classroom and student also travel from classroom to classrooms we have and Janice knows the numbers from being Janice holds responsibility for being the master scheduler U but when we look at from four or five years ago to now there used to be a handful of classrooms that were shared and now there's is it like there's a handful that don't yeah the majority so the idea of this is my classroom is gone um but you're you're right B and and that's where um that has been a shift in professional culture too right it's teachers can it's easy to get comfortable in your own classroom or feel put out when I need to go into a math classroom and when it's his off period and now he doesn't have a space to prep um I think the the the strengthening of the professional culture has made people more understanding and and and flexible but it is uh the most most of the classrooms are utilized yeah we're pretty tough every period yeah I have several comments that I'm trying to formulating so if it's okay to speak in draft I'm going to speak in draft um but just I think listening to the presentation I am um I could pick up on sort of the the progress that you've made from last year to this year and when I think about sort of the introduction of this um Peace around values and how you were starting to ensure that you were living those values right in every aspect so I was um heartened to hear sort of the progress that you continue to make around that um I do I'm a firm believer that you know when you start living those values the culture shift happens like you have to be intentional about shifting culture and not just sort of take it for granted that it will magically somehow um happen if you your intention is there you actually have to um put actions behind it and definitely heard throughout your presentation that you're doing that and also sort of love to see the I I love seeing the alignment between the implementation plan and your strategic you know School Improvement plan um I think that that makes a lot of sense and could see sort of where where you're going um I also I I had been hearing sort of over the course of our conversations with Dr burough in terms of moving to this effort to make sure that that percentage of the sixth graders who were not getting that um that the support that they need to transition as well as they can into what can be a a huge change developmentally sort of where young people are at that particular stage and I have a fifth grader that's getting ready and super excited and I think I want the camp for me not for her um but you know as she's you know talking about it it's like I feel like I have to shift right in the way I'm thinking about her developmentally and where she's at but it's such a big change for kids and I think sometimes we take it for granted but knowing that there is a group a subset of students that need it even more and so how do you make it sure that it's accessible to all and I I am just so glad to see that shift um because I think it's going to continue to get us closer to where we want where we see all of our students ready and able to to make that transition challenges will always be there but the more that we can do um to make sure that we're supporting all of our students is is great um so I'm just super I was sitting here just super excited and going like all right I want to be part of the site Council next year and you sign me up now uh and I'm very excited um to see that transition and I have heard so much from the community on how I think to your point that you made the peer feels different um and I think that speaks volumes to um your leadership and definitely the team and and and the culture that you're fostering for the adults um lastly I would say that your use of data I was very um again I think that um the way that you spoke about it in terms of not only focusing on okay what students need additional support but also how can then we use data to inform practice and shift practice and do it in a way that feels safe for teachers right it doesn't feel like you're singling folks out but this is an opportunity to continue to improve your craft and I think that's that's a that's a great great shift there and and glad that folks are taking advantage of it and doing it Brian and Cat deserve a lot of credit for that too I mean it's been a it's been a team effort but they are awesome thought partners and leaders as curriculum leaders and leaders in our school too so I just have comments and just feeling very positive about the shifts that you're making so thank you thanks let me just add one more question like how many days are the eighth graders is going to be in DC and so uh is it two days three days three days uh are the fifth graders going to be in PE for all three days two days we got the the blessing from the four Elementary principles this week that they I think that there was some massaging they had to do with their fifth grade team it's also it's it's the last full week of school so there's a there's I understand for fifth grade teachers that's that last full week with your your students before you send them on I know that I think it's kott and Glover maybe have their moving on ceremony schedule for that Friday and we don't want to step on the toes of that so uh it would be the day would look like 9:45 is till about two so two they'd have two days they they'd work through like a mock schedule they would change a few classes we would have lunch there there would it would be led by our sixth grade teachers in sixth grade classroom so a lot of the details and the design are still being flushed out but the structure is is Has Come Together great I would just like to piggyback on your comments Dr Miranda which were very articulate not drafty at all in my opinion um just to reinforce the same appreciation I think um you know this is my fourth year on school committee and I also you know have a rising sixth grader I first ran for school committee when she was in first grade and quite honestly one of my main motivations to even run for school committee at all was my concerns about Pierce and wanting to do anything I could to sort of help our district to move in a positive direction so that I would feel confident to send my own children to Pierce Middle School when that time came and so it is a good feeling to sit here conscious of the trajectory of these past several years and also to hear you continuing to um really talk candidly about the work you're still doing um towards clear and focused goals um of building on the progress you've been making um and so I'm also just excited honestly um because this to me does feel like a very tangible um sort of story of like the positive momentum that we have as a district um and as you said it's not perfect it's still there are definitely still challenges and at the same time like I am proud that I do intend to send my daughter to pierce next year and I'm actually really excited about it and she is really excited about it and we feel um like ready for this transition as a family and I think that's a lot credit to your leadership Dr fish but also the strong team that you have built in these past years um and and to all the work your teachers have been doing so um thank you and yeah we'll be seeing more of each other just a couple of questions so I am feeling super old because I do not have anybody going into Middle School they are all heading out of high school um so it's a very different experience but it does make me think about that piece where you were saying you know it's a very you know the welcome to middle school that program um and you're talking about like it's a really social emotional change from there there versus academic to high school I would I would maybe um say I think it's more emotional as well to high school and so I don't know if this would be if the high school has a program or if you guys do anything around that transition I think if you think about the ages for kids in high school a 14-year-old is very different than a 17-year-old and the things that they have to deal with in high school so I think you have you add a layer right you have that social emotional piece and then you're adding in there's a more academic rigor there there more uh consequences good and bad about you know if you're not doing well academically so I just don't know if there's the opportunity at Pierce to have something similar or work with the high school for some sort of similar transition support I think the executive function skills the need for those go up exponentially you know if you haven't figured out how to organize your work you know you you definitely need to by nth grade so I just would put that suggest that if there's a way to Implement something or do something with the high school I think that that would be really helpful I just I know I've seen my own kids struggle with that transition um I also had a question and um the the growth it's like 46 students in one school year which was you went from like 90 yeah yeah 964 to6 and you know one of the things and this is maybe just more anecdotal but I'd be curious about it anecdotally you begin to hear that a lot more people are not making the transition um to the private schools I think you know hear from friends in schools that you know for example BC high there aren't as many kids going there so have you guys seen that and if so I think it plays into some of what you guys are talking about which is this there's been a substantive change people are are eager to keep their kids in the district have you heard that and then do you see that impacting your enrollment we so yes I think so I think we're starting to see that um for me in my first four years in the district um they were the Pand pandemic ridden years and we were seeing an exodus after sixth grade for schools that that first year schools that were open five days a week or who you know had had iners instruction and so it was hard for me to get a measure of like the rate of how how was that rate of attrition going to be something that would was it a blip in the radar or is it a is it a sign of things to come but um when you look at for example our current 7th grade that's is usually the year when you see it they 341 is the current enrollment they were 352 in uh at sixth graders so to only lose 11 students out of 352 would suggest again it's a one data point but um we are seeing and even our school counselors do a great job of tracking just the number of applications they're they're the gatekeeper of all the transcripts and in uh discipline records and attendant and things like that they keep track of how many applications they're they're helping to quarterback the process for and they're seeing um a downturn in the year-over-year which which is which is awesome um that that there is this um surge enthusiasm about not going for a private option me I would argue I'll just say it fine may be unpopular I don't think many of the private options are better than they're going to get from their Public School experience but um but those are family choices and that's you know parents know their kids best but I don't I don't think that I think I don't think there's people are feeling they need to leave the district because of something that's you fundamentally missing or wrong that's great I would actually um piggy back of what you said um Amanda um I do think I love that you're you know creating a better transition between fifth and sixth I think that's you know I feel like fifth graders they babies still and then come to middle school and it's a whole new world and they're learning a lot of things and um I have to say that has been I've gotten great feedback from parents um of current sixth graders that that they that really is help helping so um I appreciate that um and I appreciate the efforts that are being made there um this is my third year at Pierce so I have seen in the last three years huge change Leaps and Bounds um I love seeing my seventh grader sit the kitchen table and read every night which is phenomenal um that didn't happen a couple of years ago so um I really really appreciate the work that the teachers are doing and the focus on academic in the focus on and all the things that you're doing in terms of you know how you're kind of bringing it together and aligning with the uh the implementation plan and the goals of the district so I appreciate that I also appreciate the anti-bias lessons I think those are you know just being proactive about those things because things come up all the time um I was curious like um you being proactive are you seeing less and less of those kind of um incidents as a result of being knock on wood right now we're seeing less of the some of the instance we had dealt with previously three and four years ago were significant in terms of um the type of language and the behaviors that were there I mean we have seen a we have we have not been seeing that um working with the population of students that we do and they're like there the um impulsivity that can sometimes overtake the rational thought we still see plenty of choices and choices of words and um comments intended to be jokes right that that that we still see U but what having the respond to bias lessons has done is when Matt Janice and I all have the same practice if if when one of us is intervening with an unexpected situation like that where students using hurtful hateful language we're able to when we work with them the old the old model was like you have detention like there was a punitive approach um we take that more restored approach them or we can still keep them after school or keep them during lunch but then we'll revisit the lesson that we did with them on microaggressions or we all use a lesson a reflection activity on hate speech um and just put putting the the punishment is the pun like if you go at things just with a punitive approach you're less likely to get the desired outcome of of extinguishing the behavior you're more likely to get a respon where where someone's going students going to learn rethink um and that has probably been the most noticeable shift um and we what's been interesting is we get kind of mixed results when we talk with parents about this too sometimes there's there's parents who are very supportive of like this is not how our family talks and we appreciate that you're going to that they're going to have another opportunity to learn um and sometimes we get the the the like they're you know kids being kids and that when we get those responses that's where it reminds us that why this work is so important because um there's messaging that kids are getting from everywhere that um we have whether it's a responsibility or an opportunity to interrupt that that that's where that's where our work Liv so and I have to say I think that is very effective I having having both of those you know where there's consequences for your actions but then having those conversations and getting them to understand is so so valuable and I've seen that and uh I think it's just very positive so I'm I'm glad that you're despite the the mixed feedback that you get that you're being consistent about how you're approaching that so we also we'd rather we'd rather you make a mistake in seventh grade than inth grade right the stakes right or Beyond right where the there more opportunity to learn when you're 12 uh and and and have an opportunity to come back from it too I think one of the biggest differences I've seen to particularly I work with closely with the eth grade um is students students response to those conversations I find that students are they are much quicker to own the mistakes that they have made and recognized that it was a mistake and willing to make amends for you know the impact that there Behavior has caused um and I think that those lessons that we've done have really kind of helped students with that I think that's one of the hardest things for middle school kids is to own their mistakes and to recognize when they make them um but I see a lot more of that now which is great and to that a little bit too I'm cut off Anna um a lot of our students now are even more willing to speak to the students that they have harm which for a middle school brain to be able to communicate that is really hard the have conversations and antias lessons in the past couple of years giving them the tool that they need to encounter that harm and express how that made them feel in that moment and to own it is really important too I think that yeah absolutely and I mean being a mom to middle schoolers I know how difficult that is so I appreciate all your efforts and your consistency um I do had I know um you know the transition from 8th to 9th has been kind of you know gotten a lot of back um last couple years are are students ready for nth grade and the greater that comes with it you know I mean obviously the emotional aspect but also the academic right um I know we there have been lots of like you know articles lately about leveling and deling and all of those things that have come up uh in the last several months um and I was curious if there is any like I I I appreciate that you're tailoring the academics I do have concerns in over over subscribed classes that students are getting the attention that they need because we don't have the staff resources um that we are still able to meet those needs and push the students that need to be push and offer the students that need support the additional support you know so I know funding is always a challenge but um I wanted to kind of get your take on what the realities of that are I mean I know everything is done with really great intentions but what is the reality of that and what are the shortcomings you know I was curious to understand from you um about those and then also maybe you know um understanding I know when the high school principal came in and she talked about having a lot of leveling in the classes and how important that was and and maybe not like just the like you know sixth seventh 8th grade maybe not you know just maturity wise or age- wise they might not be able to handle that kind of uh but I wanted to see like if there was a better transition from 8 to 9 so that they are prepared to take on the workload uh so I've just wanted to get your thoughts on that yeah I mean the leveling was a that was one of the first things that I encountered when I started a Pierce and and I was heard from a lot of our staff of a desire to move away from the practice of leveling um that it didn't work that it was it was more segregation than it was differentiation it was taking the kids with the highest mcast scores and putting them in one room um and that ultimately there the same curriculum was being delivered because I do believe as as a former High School principal I believe that High School offerings should be should be open enrollment there should be no prerequisites there should be I think that our high school does a really good job with um giving students the opportunity to move in and out of levels um I also think that high school students developmentally are more ready to navigate in and out and I think that as a parent of two high schoolers who are here and now who are having great experience is like there's choices you make as a family too am I going to take four AP four honors classes or am I going to try an AP class and um in my sophomore year whatever that might be but to go back to we we went our site Council quarterbacked almost year-long review of the leveling practices that were in the that were happening in Pierce this was during the 2020 20121 school year and we looked at um multiple data sources m M data uh teacher focus groups of some qualitative data um and a review of current literature on practice around leveling heterogeneous and homogeneous mixing um in all three of those there's there is a 70 70 slide PowerPoint that was presented at this table um that exists but at that time um all three of those data sources pointed toward the removal of leveling it that was not beneficial for kids um and the there has not been a teacher in our building who has said we need to bring it back and I'm not trying to be dismissive of because I hear I mean I read the same articles that you're referring to um but I think in in practice the curriculum that we have between illustrative math and the amplifi is rigorous enough and flexible enough to meet the needs of a wide swath of Learners in a heterogeneous classroom uh I think Brian C would say the same thing about math and Cat about Catos about Ela um does it mean that we should just say we're we're not going to go back and and everything we're doing is fine no I mean that's where the that focus on continuous Improvement has to happen and being able to continue to equip teachers with more um professional learning opportunities about differentiation within those classrooms and small group construction and there's there's a lot of that there but um I will at least once a year get a call from another local Middle School principal and they're typically from their principles in districts High performing districts similar to ours maybe maybe even more so um that said hey we we heard you got rid of leveling and I said yep and I sent them the slides and they're like no I know all the data like I they said how did you get it through your community because that has tended to be the barrier because it feels like something's being taken away but when um I have come to play as and again as a former High School principal like I had different feelings I think when I saw students coming in and a lot of them I think stand like probably in the same vein that you're asking the question of like these are these kids ready are they and um the answer is most of them are yes and um I think the damage that leveling and tracking does for lots of kids outweighs any benefit to the the alternative that's my that's my personal belief and that came a lot out of the that that year-long study that we did so if there are practices or there ideas that are better than what we're doing that look different like that I don't need I don't think we feel like we need to be right um but at the same time um it was it was pretty it was convincing looking came out of that that study from from four years ago when you talk about small group instruction like with larger classes is that still possible or is a teacher stretched to then to be able to provide that like that was no no it is still possible and I think our class sizes in our core content classes so math English science and social studies they're still manageable they're still average class size in sixth grade is like 1819 now it's 22 is in seventh and eighth grade so those are not astronomical because we've prioritized our resources in those content areas it's it's the art class with 32 it's the stem class with with 29 it's that's 35 and the hard part is for a lot of our students that is for many of them they pick that class like that's the best part of their day like in ter like in terms of like Choice um and now they're in there and they're one of 32 that that's where um that I think be impossible to really differentiate a stem lesson for that range um but I but in a class of if you walked into a sixth grade math class you would likely see a table in the back of room not very different than a fifth grade class where there's small group instruction happening in the back there's a majority of students working on one thing and then there might be the student or students who are ready for more who are doing that um so it um I'm not I tell from what my thinking is but I I'm not I'm not convinced that we need to to shift the the pendulum too far but at the same time if there are other if schools are doing other have other practices or other initiatives or other more different creative ways than what we're doing then we have a responsibility to to understand more about that but I think you guys are doing that to a level where every year you know this is my third year seeing your site Council presentation and you've evolved the way you're doing that and you know increasing rigor in a way that makes sense for you right like in in your school environment so I think I think you are evolving and you are making changes constantly and those are the improvements that we're seeing so appreciate I appreciate mention it and I have to say that course class my daughter's they were so excited about chorus and all their friends and it's it's a very big class but they do a really good job Don's amazing she's the only one who could handle that but she's amazing with those runs a tight ship she's like bring them on I'll take more she's awesome are forward seeing them sing in the tower Lobby because it's like a course of angels you walk with all way echo through the whole building it's pretty powerful great job um I I'll wrap up and I'll try and be quick because I know we've held y all for a long time uh I again appreciate all you're talking about I appreciate all the comments on and the focus on culture again I agree with many of the points made of just how that is foundational right in terms of improvement across all kinds of subjects as kids are like known and challenged and feel connected um and held to high expectations that's fantastic so really appreciate that appreciate hitting on the enrollment challenge fully you know I feel your pain again first time the building's ever been over a th000 kids uh you know about 15% bigger than it was you know over 140 kids more than kind of was when it was first built um those are real impacts to your spaces and how you're dealing with that so totally totally understand that and appreciate you raising it and again all the more reason we need to move with urgency within the msba process um I think your as I'm like looking at looked at your mcass Ela kind of just data things um I just I want to acknowledge like I think your Ela scores are seem to be like really strong um and actually like comparable to where we were back pre pandemic which is really uh impressive I think it took a slight dip from last year as the entire state did but not nearly what the state did essentially like level uh and again really really impressive um in terms of kind of what what we're doing uh especially achievement percentile ranks like you know High 80% uh compared to kind of other districts across state which again means like you're in the top 10% and so that's really really good obviously I had uh some questions on just math in terms of that looking like a little bit lower than Ela and wondering if that was a focus of yalls or if there's any particular like um thing yall are looking at as it relates to kind of the math instruction within within Pierce um or the I think we did a new math curriculum a couple years AG go if not mistaken so I think we're in are we in year three of it and so it's still fairly new but still fairly new but but not new enough that we should be saying that it's the the nness um I think that the curriculum like my response to an it's question before we believe that the curriculum is stands up on its own and is strong and is strong to meet the a range of Learners in in a heterogeneous classroom um but I do think that that there is some some work around the work that um looking more closely some of our instructional practices in that talking about the teacher level mcast data analysis there were some big um it was hard for some people to look and and see that their growth was less than you know trended as being less than the rest of their the grade um and that hap that seemed to happen uh a little bit more frequently in math than it did in ela I mean having said that we have a seventh grade math teacher who's consistently has an SGP averaging like 7172 so there's it's the work here I completely understand where the comments coming from and I think that the question's coming from is um a matter of practice in a matter of leveraging the strengths and the practices of that of some of the people that already exist and the curriculum has changed and so to do need so to to the instruction practices and I think that as ma as a forign math I I'll admit that we have a tendency to maintain sort of a traditional approach to math instruction even though our curriculum has um evolved into a more contemporary approach so I think Bridging the Gap between um historical practices and and newer curriculum um be that is a it is a point of emphasis for Brian and my work with with our teachers appreciate thank you for all the work you appreciate it thank you okay thank you all so much for great discussion and all the work you're doing and I think I look that I said these guys in the way and I was going to go for brevity I don't know I think I did right the discussion is worth it but like sincerely appreciate parent Representatives who have stayed I mean I think I might there's a chance I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure this was our final site Council presentation for this year um and so we do end up spending like a lot of time in our meetings that are fortunate to have site Council presentations but that's for an important purpose which is our opportunity to stay in touch with what is actually happening day in day out in our schools and um so thank you all for for being with us this evening and um keep up the good work thank you so much thank you so much for all your good work thank you um Okay so there's one more piece under your report and then um we'll move on but I want to I think acknowledge to the group here um this next agenda item is the FY 24 annual report which do you want to frame that or I just want to apologize because it was sent emailed to us but I didn't make sure that we had it in our folder as well um so hopefully people had had the opportunity to review that when we were that's under your report we're on the implementation plan report now sorry sorry never mind implementation plan sorry I can talk about little I will talk about that though no I apologize okay go ahead okay so um this is our quarter 2 report um as I as we talked about in our governance meetings and trying to bring a little bit more structure to how we share data and how we connect the data that we're reporting to actual work that we're doing so that we are in a reflective cycle together the the district is with the school committee and looking at how are our students doing what with the the time that we have collectively as a as a um teaching and learning community how how is our intent ality and all of the different initiatives that we have going impacting that data and what are we learning and how are we kind of growing from where we are to so we have as you know we've structured all of our work around our implementation plan this year um I've been giving you periodic updates on on the work of our action teams and that will be ongoing those updates also happen for example tomorrow we have a leadership meeting our curriculum leadership team meets tomorrow afternoon that's all of our coordinators directors principls central office administrators and we're doing a similar kind of thing where we're talking about how are we doing and all of our different action team work um assessing kind of where we are now and and looking at Targets to the end of the year uh that the school year is going by lingly fast right now um so tonight um in our first quarter we we have four quarters here in our first quarter we talked about our priority area two climate culture and wellbe and we had a presentation on that looking at some some data um yvs data and other data um tonight we're we're focusing on the most important um area of our work which Danielle is leading which is our mtss multi-tier systems of support this is in our implementation plan this is 1.2 and um as I've mentioned before this I I think our staff resoundingly saw this as a a need for us to to move away from being siloed at either a grade level or building level to really have a system that works at the district level and really you can't it's it's nearly impossible to do this work at the building level it really does have to be coordinated because there's so many shared services across the district that directly impact student support related to mtss so Danielle bmore who is our director of student services is here to share a little bit about the work that she's leading with with the group looking at at some data as well and and kind of bringing us on a journey of where we are right now and where we're headed thank you hi everyone how are you first I want to thank Regina and V for their help with Gathering the data and the materials with me um on this journey tonight um and I will make it efficient so that I can make sure I have time for questions um so um I'm going to talk about academic Excellence specific in the area of um our action team 1.2 which is multi-tiered systems of support so I'll talk a little bit about the the middle of the Year data that we've collected as it relates to special education um seeing our increase in numbers for special education 504 plans and our multilingual Learners um and just of how that ties to uh multi-tiered systems of supports um so that's what we'll talk about today so I just wanted to give a snapshot of our I ready and dibles data for our one to five our students in grades one through five um the window for completing the i in dibles closed today um for the middle of the year so there may be some scores that aren't reflective in this but generally um this um seems about accurate um and most students were finished finished uh late last week we just had a couple of um students who needed to finish this week um so the data that we have for our I ready in math is um our students with um disabilities um and um the over the last three years so since we've been doing the I data for math um as you can see some of the um scores have changed a little bit so we do have a reduction in students who were three plus grades below that has narrowed um uh a little bit and um we've increased in one grade below um I work with Brian and Cat pretty frequently to make sure that we're looking at this data figuring out what curriculum and supports our special Educators need to really align um the curriculum and help students make progress so that when they're taking these assessments we have an a reflection of where they where they're currently um sitting um they this is also an aggregate assessment from grades 1 through five so it's not disaggregated by level so this is all grade level so our non-readers to our readers our students who aren't fluent and for example math facts to all the way to through fifth grade um so if you go to the next slide this is the middle of the year I ready data for our non-sp special education students as you can see that um is pretty status quo year to year and then for our students in Reading um similarly that has not changed dramatically from the two years that we've been collecting this data for students with disabilities and students um who do not have disabilities um so if you see here that um it's approximately the same between um 2023 and 2024 middle of the Year assessments it is important to note that on all of these assessments the middle of the year um students shouldn't be proficient at their grade level so most of our students should be in about the yellows Zone um so that is I think an important notation for middle of the year I think the end of the year Ben benchmarks really reflect better how um how large the Gap is between our students with disabilities and our students without next slide please so one of the things I thought was really important to bring to um this team tonight is around our increase and our trending increase in students um qualifying for special education in Milton public school so we've had a large number of students um initially evaluated that has risen but if you can see here um we have had about 14% of our students in 2020 um who were um students with disabilities and currently um we have about 18.6% of our students who have disabilities so this is just students who require um specially designed instruction to be able to make progress so our students with 504s I'll show you um in a couple of slides this trend I think partially could be from covid and missing these students who have challenges learning virtually for a year um it's also I think a lot of our third graders have been uh making slower progress and struggling a little bit more because they didn't have that access to socialization in 2020 in the same same way that other students who were in third and fourth grade did preco next slide please um so this just also marks that in a different way um while we still continue to maintain a lower um number of students with disabilities um if you notice that we've actually risen um about 4.3% in our students with disabilities versus the state increase which is 2.8% so it's a significant difference in terms of um our increase next slide um and similarly with our students um who require um who have substantially limiting um Limited in one or more life activities uh their disability requires accommodations um that has also increased since 2020 um pretty significantly uh many of our students are now instead of you know historically 504s are generally for U medical needs um more more often than not now we're seeing students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety requiring they may not require um espcially design instruction but they definitely need accommodations to help meet their needs whether that's um extra time on evaluations or test or um coming to school a little bit later because it's really hard for them to get out of bed and and they struggle there so we've seen um quite a drastic increase in our students who require 504s and additionally we have seen um a pretty big increase in our uh students moving into town with who are multilingual Learners so um prior to 20 2122 um we don't have the data for that but it is my understanding through Dr pavich that we were probably at around 70 75 students in 2019 so from from 2019 to 20124 where we have close to 150 students um in the same number of faculty and know um El coordinator or someone overseeing it um those students um are getting the supports they need as best they can through the El teachers um but in terms of the multi-tiered systems of support this is going to be really beneficial for them to get the content area support that they need throughout um the school year so I thought those were important pieces to knowe as we start talking about mtss which is now um so we've really um I think as a leadership team really want to prioritize building a strong multi-tiered systems of support and I'll describe what that is as well um I do want to note that one of the sort of acronyms response to intervention I think that gets U muffled with mtss and um mtss is a is a more Global approach to learning um so it's not just academics so responsive intervention is students who are already struggling you're responding by inter intervening whereas for multi-tiered systems of support you're looking at academics attendance social emotional needs behavioral so your whole student approach um so that's the difference next slide um that describes that right here so with mtss we want to address the needs of all students in the least restrictive environment um and align our entire system across the district to together um we provide continuous Improvement um at all levels so um students are um are receiving the most intervention at the gened level and our more significant um needed students through a data process would require tier two or tier three next slide um and I will talk a little bit about this um so this is our multi-tier system of support so again at the tier one level that's your General Ed classroom level that's where students receive strategies and differentiate instruction um our Universal Design approach to help support as many students as possible in that classroom environment um through a data collection system um students would who need more targeted intervention would go through that's where they would go through our um student support team process um be identified as someone who needs six to eight weeks of intervention to see what's going on um if that's not working then they would step up to tier three which is a more individualized approach to um intervention prior to um prior to the special education process so by creating this system it it sort of lowers the the um the automaticity of saying oh this student isn't handling the general classroom let's let's refer them for special education this is just an example of uh the department of education's framework um that we are using so we use the department of education's blueprint um to help Drive some of our work with our mtss team so now for our action team members um right now um we have about 15 people on our action teamed um and I wanted to make sure to just acknowledge all of them it is a multidisiplinary group um plenty of teachers at every level we have um related service providers we purposely put our inclusion Specialists Who currently run our SST process administrators and um principles all part of our team so um it's also at every level so we have elementary middle and high school um folks on our team to help really build this system um this is our um this is our blueprint that we used and created last year through the implementation process this is our first year so our goal at the end of this year is really to develop that mtss framework for all of our students pre to 12 to make sure that we're aligned both vertically um so across grade levels and also horizontally so every student across um each grade level is getting the same intervention and support as needed and it's not by school or right now what we're finding is that different schools as we do our s of initial assessment we're finding that um different schools are providing different levels of intervention and support and there are different requirements so really aligning this is going to be probably the most vital tool that we have so in terms of the work that we've done so far our SS our mtss team um we reviewed um on November 5th during our first PD day we spent some time really reviewing what mtss was to all of our faculty we took um some feedback from them around what their perspective of mtss is what we're doing well what we're not doing well across the district um the Mt the action team 1.2 really uh analyzed it and really Dove deep into what people were um seeing as strengths and challenges what we were missing um additionally what we did at our most recent meeting was that we looked at um different mtss uh Frameworks across the country um so there were really some strong mtss in like Fairfax Virginia Chicago has a really strong mtss Portland Oregon has a really strong mtss so we really took a look at um multiple different approaches to mtss in different districts different Siz districts across the country um so we're going to take all that data um we took all that data we're now completing a self assessment so each of our team members is completing a self- assessment uh at our next meeting we'll look at each of those and come to consensus on where the district currently stands holistically and then start building our framework out from there using our strengths to um to drive some of our building of the framework I think I have that was the next slide um and then for more information on our special education profile um I just sent the link so that you all had it um it has some really useful data points that I wasn't going to uh bore everyone with tonight but I just thought there were there were some interesting information on that U website thank you so much sorry questions for I got a couple um thank you so much for the presentation really appreciate uh you coming um to jump back to the beginning kind of the Dibbles and I ready uh and again this is might not be I don't think it is a special education um specific goal so maybe it's more Regina Peter but uh you mentioned how the mid year is obviously only halfway through right the end of the year is the one that we really focus on but I assume we still have like a goal for midy year right to say hey this is really what we we're aiming for this percentage of our kids to be proficient at mid year because that sets us up to have this percentage to be proficient at end of year and we know that uh at least for I ready the percent that are mid or above like that is the percentage that highly correlated with mcast success uh and so like that's a percent that's really important to kind of get as high as possible um so I guess my question there is what is our midyear um middle of the Year kind of goal for both of those metrics as we are seeing those numbers because I think for me it's a little hard to say like yeah what you know we're at 47 30% whatever it is like what is that on Pace or is that are we off Pace a little bit like what's what's our that's a great question um I don't do you have a number that we I could I can get back to you with with Kat and Brian around what they're I don't know if you've Captain roach and Brian are planning to present the end of February in great detail all of that information um I do think the here here school committee um we we talked about this is the preview of it and I think they can probably answer that more clearly um and specifically than Daniel R I could um but I do think there is a discrepancy obviously between students with identified needs and there something they're working on and as as Danielle said they are trying to make different teaching programs and strategies available to the the students so we are going to spend some of our time um on March 4 coming up afternoon working on grade level teams talking and digging into that data too with students and I think traditional yeah and I think I think you're probably talking about all students um or you thinking specific to students with disabilities or just a general question of yeah I mean I think it's both I I think knowing you know what it is for for all students but then also for your like you know what we only have two years date obviously on on Dat so like what the historical per and like what we're trying to achieve I guess is is somewhat hard to to identify but yeah do any any goals as we look to like dissect the date ourselves and see it to say like hey is there you know are these things we should be celebrating are there places of concern that we should you know think about additional resources for I think what this is glaring for me in terms of the Special Education data specifically is around the need for more focused curriculum for our students who have um you know our our pullout services so that they need they require that smaller group setting in order you know historically and something I've been working with Pierce U but other other buildings as well is what kind of curriculum did those students need and how do we either supplement what we have or do we need something fresh and new for our students who are significantly behind so our foundations program for our students who um are cognitively below average that that um they may not be able to currently reach grade level material so how are we supplementing that in order for them to access uh what they need sorry I hit my goal thank you um so I think that became glaring for cat Brian and I so that's why we started putting together at least monthly meetings to try to figure out what kind of supports do we need how are we building these programs what do they need from this core content area specifically math and reading because that's where a lot of our goals are focused um because they hadn't teachers hadn't traditionally had that material and have had to sort of make stuff up and go on websites to find what they need so we've really made a concerted effort um so I think that's what the data is telling us now um and hopefully we'll be able to start to see as we build that curriculum for these teachers and even in the general education setting how does a teacher AE a general education teacher supplement material as needed how do they work in collaboration with the special education liaison to modify curriculum in the moment um or have readily avail ailable that to me is what I see out of this data is that they need more support MH um just two others and they're somewhat related in that uh I I see our elll numbers and they're 450% higher than we were many years ago because our numbers used to be so small um so they are high uh I had a question around our flep rate like what do you know what our current flep rate is and like what has historically been and like just because that's something I've that has shown itself post pandemic is kind of say there fewer students rolling off of that and moving out of ell services and I don't know how that exists within our our circumstance but obviously again that compounds year over year in terms of you more students to serve um and obviously the goal of any of these Services is to provide kids what they need in order to get them back down my perspective at least to like General um general education settings and especially our English language Learners get them back into English speaking um classrooms are main core content classrooms as quickly as possible to engage in that yeah I can find that information for you um I'm not sure what data was collected prior to my arrival here um and I um sort of took on um multilingual Learners um after our assistant superintendent last year left so I'm not sure sure what data he had uh but I can certainly our El teachers are phenomenal and they collect their own data so I can certainly reach out to them and see what they've collected over the years and they've all been here for quite a bit of time um but they are overloaded and they manage to make sure they see all of their students and it's pretty impressive um to meet with them monthly great um I guess a similar question just for sped is like do you have a sense of what percentage of our special ed students or number of our special ed students kind of you maybe only within the last year but on like a annual basis like roll off of IEP services and kind of back into it's a pretty um small number I would say less than less than 5% um I our Middle School actually has the highest rate out of all um out of all the elementary middle or high school um they tend to start they start to see um pretty great growth between sixth and seventh grade so um really we focus on um what does it look like in terms of reduction of of services as as they go how do they remediate um their their skills um but it's it's a pretty low number overall I think with mtss you'll see as we start to build that framework you'll start to see one the goal is to see less students referred for special education because they are getting what they need in that um less restrictive envir yeah um and then hopefully you'll start to see students come off of them because teachers will be trained and they'll understand you know and not that they don't now our teachers are wonderful but I think you know having to be to think about differentiating for all students without a ton of professional development around it and really honing in on the Simplicity of some of the the little tools or things that you can do it's an overwhelming thought planning curriculum all day and then how do I build in Social emotions supports how do I build in you know behavior intervention strategies it's it's a lot to take on so I think structuring it in a way that is going to be um easy for teachers I think is going to be a great driver and motivation um teaching and onboarding incredbly incredibly hard but yeah I think the the more we can provide the supports within the classroom setting by the teacher through the tier one and tier 2 interventions obviously reduces them case load for special ed and again provides kids kind of learning within their peer amongst their peers within kind of for Content classrooms and there's go there's a ton of research too around um uh self-esteem drivers and by not feeling isolated or singled out um around there's it's called academic self-esteem so there's a whole um there's a lot of research on that that's coming out in terms of how do evaluating students and that how that is uh makes them feel being pulled out of class to get tested um and just overall self-esteem being pulled into into um separate spaces throughout the day um and so by putting this framework together that may alleviate some of that stress thus kids might like school later in in middle and high school so thank I I also have a question um does this data reflect both um student like who who needs special help in the English pathway and the French immersion programs and what is the difference between these two tracks that we have um in in terms of number of students who who have who request special um attentions and how do we provide them um similarly or differently between these two tracks so they're provided as students need them so they're individualized so regardless if they're on the French immersion track or the English Innovation track they if they um require um intervention or evaluation they receive it um one of the one of the things that we're working on and I cat and I actually talked about it today was how do we help identify students um because I think one of the biggest challenges that have been ongoing that we found is our French immersion students who um are then diagnosed with dyslexia and they've missed two plus years of opportunity to learn english-based phonics um or you know english-based rules based reading um and so we were talking today about early indicators um and something we're building into our kindergarten screening this year is um it's called the shwit shaywitz um dyslexia screening and it's for kindergarten aged um and um by building that in kindergarten and then having that data point um and then potentially offering that before first grade for students who were flagged or are like through our through our dibles um we may be able to have that early indicator to then determine what's the next step if the student um if the family would like the student to go through French what does that look like in terms of services that that student might need because you know a student is dyslexic in any language so is it French and English um Services you know I think we're just sort of playing around with what that would look like for some of for some students with that need so that we're not waiting until third grade before identifying those students which makes them already two years behind grade level and now you're um starting you know at01 for them in English one thing about the midyear data and one of the reasons why we chose the midyear data is exactly what you were asking also is that the state um does not require that we do it at midy year um but we do do it with our English students and not our French immersion students so we do French immersion um or we do all students the English and the French immersion students in the fall and the spring the midyear data is only for our English students so that's one of the reasons we actually looked at that too because it pulls that out because it's obvious on the dibles which is a English language arts it's predominantly phonics based um it it impacts students score as if they're if they're immersed in French in kindergarten at first grade and second grade um they're not scoring as well but we do find by third grade they really pick up again um so as they're long as they're learning a phonemic system the ITI is all three times in all three group in all groups so the 's math the dibles is in ela other questions yeah if you remind me again sort of if you look at slide 19 uh which is the um implementation uh plan for the multi-tiered system of support in terms of the outcome column we um are hoping to have all of those accomplished by the close of the school year okay okay just I I was trying to remind myself that which for us you know for us is August right right right so I shouldn't expect a report you know to be ready I do have to say the team is absolutely wonderful and there's really great input and valuable our we make our meeting times really valuable and I think they're super motivated to get this off the ground too because I think there this is a huge missing piece to teaching and learning in the district um and and will help drive a lot of our curriculum um decision making and our data point decision making and do we need additional um tools to help identify data for students with disabilities like all of that will help um by having a strong framework that goes again both horizontally and vertically across the district great thank you um and I think the other thing that I would just Echo is um Mark's comment earlier around when we're looking at the data sorry um sort of thinking of what our targets are so it's looking at the data but in context of what those targets might be so we can assess you know how are we doing and if we haven't set those yet that we should consider sort of setting some of those so that reviewing the data from a school committee level we can sort of look at it from that perspective of how much you know how how on track are we completely agree and I think we we will rely on the expertise of cat Ryan on that it's super important Ian I would say like relative to that the grade level is and which is the metric on a number of these slides is what we are generally focused on so in terms of an outcome measure and what we're focused on is is kind of like every student is at grade level so when you walk into a data conversation they tend to be talking about grade level um so I think that is our kind of current practice in terms of you know assessing kind of like how many students especially with looking at mtss and providing supports potentially at tier two and tier three to bring students up to great little who have fallen behind um the percentage of students meeting you know at grade level at the end of the year um which is what the the expectation is is the is the focus I think one of the things we're working on relative to our yearly report is what kind of you know kind of like percentages or work currently right here how we want this many you know 10% more students at grade level next year like those are the kinds of things that I think once we have a system established then we can start setting those setting those yeah makes sense and I do to Regina's point I do think that um Kat and Brian will come in with much more disaggregated like this is I mean for um Diles you're talking about multiple different areas that we're sort of throwing together into one data point and so you know it's more helpful for someone like me to look at individual points of like where are our gaps um where are our strengths in our curriculum where are the challenges and so this sort of summary gives you a little bit but it doesn't give you actually what we what we really need and what we use to actually build our our programming and I don't have that yeah that was going to be my because that is the difficult part like specifically if we're talking about you know the reading and you have it for grades one to five a first grade reader is so different than a fifth grade reader and if the if they are significantly below grade level at fifth grade that's all those years that you've missed right that can bring them up I think that's where that data is helpful right and and you don't know in this right so we could have you know 39% of special ed students who are well below Benchmark if 33% of those students are in fourth or fifth grade that's Troublesome that's a very different story than first grade right right any other questions or comments for Danielle so thank you so much for giving us this overview and um and yeah we'll look forward to the next conversation but appreciate the work you're doing thank you appreciate it have a good night thank you okay so now I am back on track so this is the chair's report now but what I'm actually wondering um if you all would be okay with I can see that um we still have some community members who are here and I think they're patiently waiting to um for the calendar conversation I'm wondering is it okay if we can just transition to that item under the chair's report first um so um just the bit of framing um we have so obviously in December we uh had a step of taking a vote as a committee to provide some guidance to the Dr buroughs in developing a draft of the actual calendar for next year that would reflect the conversations to date at that point um that is what we have in our folder we have a draft calendar um we are hoping to vote to approve a calendar you know within these next couple meeting or two um so we have a vote on our um agenda for tonight if we through our discussion arrive at the place of voting to approve a calendar uh we have the option to do that um we also have the option to could just kind of continue the discussion um and we do not have to vote um to approve an actual calendar tonight if we don't feel ready to do that or if other questions come up I obviously we have continued to hear feedback I want to point out we did receive an email like moments before our meeting started we received another email earlier today so um I know that we're weighing different things as we consider on the options before us but um so that's that's just where we're at tonight uh we don't have motion language in our motions document because I I'm just you know I one one option for a motion would be to approve this draft calendar that has been presented to us as is to approve it with some recommended edits um or again to not take the step of approving an actual calendar uh tonight is also um one of the choices that we have um as we continue this um element of our responsibility so um I guess with that I'll just open up to uh where people are in our thinking sort of at this point in the conversation the inputs we've received and you know with an actual calendar to consider which is an important step thank you for taking the time to draft this because up until this point our conversations have remained rather abstract the last time we discussed this in December I had attempted to frame this through scenarios with actual implications from you know of dates um you know we um did receive a proposal of a scenario that was not among those we considered um and yet we haven't actually taken the step of looking at the um kind of how this would map onto FY 26 yet so here we have it and the graphic design template still looks amazing so thanks again to Anna for helping us improve that piece last year for this year um and was stolen by some independent districts as well really well um anyway so we'll open it up open it up there right perfectly legal I have a question about the calendar that is not related to the holidays great yeah that thank you because that's also like this is also our opportunity to respond to what we see before us here not not only the religious holiday days off not implications but also um the what's proposed for other things so yeah absolutely right uh one small thing I wouldn't call the 29th of August Labor Day observed what I get off um but uh I guess my quot my question was around the half days the early dismissal days right we got feedback from Community around those are disruptive I me I think they're incredibly vital in order to provide professional learning opportunities for for teachers understand they're disruptive but like were there ways in which we could make them more um anticipatable that's the word um for family members and I think most of these seem to fall on Thursdays with a few on Wednesdays so just really wanted to know I'm actually looking at this and we had actually moved these um I'm looking up above at the draft that was put in here which says scenario three y it looks to me like the edit we made to the half days wasn't carried over in this scenario because we had talked about I believe it was the second Tuesday it it was the second Tuesday or second Wednesday absolutely um so that that would be a change from what we have here in response to what you're talking about that it was hard for people to track yes like okay like it's in the third week it's in the second week it's on a Friday it's on a Tuesday um and so for this year taking that feedback we um and let me see while while we are talking while you all are talking I'll see if I can find the other version that has the correct um half days and I think also just like looking at when we look at when those half days fall um just being like mindful of like if it was a 4- day week the week before right could we potentially move it to like not do it the next week but maybe the week after or something just so that there's not interrupted learning every like not because like I think the one of the biggest feedback I get is like oh no full week of school this this month or whatever you know and just kind of like spacing it out thoughtfully so that it doesn't feel like every week is not a full week yeah November I there's no full week there yeah right and some you can't help but it's just like you know there are is flexibility I think well I I know sorry no go ahead November 4th is election day right is it yes the Tuesday right and then November 11th is is Veterans Day and then the 20th is early dismissal is it possible put that at 20th to November 10th the question later in the year there is no for that usually effect practices within the year roll it outad it more than backload it and then you have testing that occurs in April May more difficult and we have a early dismissal the Wednesday before February vacation could we just put that on Friday oh yeah I mean from those comments it sounds like there still needs to be some work around the py days the early dismissals and just making sure to look through that lens and incorporate the feedback that we got from the community which is one we want to have consistency around when those days are going to be and as much as possible you know make sure that there are full weeks of school um in in a month's time so I think that's and I'm just you know sort of broadly sum summarizing what we heard so that um I think says to me that we may not be ready to vote on the calendar today um but there is sort of the larger discussion I think around um you know our prior decision around um the religious holidays and um what we want to do and one of the biggest takeaways that I see from the current proposed the draft calendar for the following year is that even removing sort of going abiding by the decision that we that was made um it doesn't necessarily shorten the school year drastically so I just want to note that um that if sort of in that Spirit of listening or taking into account this desire for a shorter uh school year we haven't necessarily achieved that um and so that really for for me opens up the the the conversation of taking into account what we heard tonight and what we have heard over email um and how we can um push ourselves to continue to think through this more I think the other thing that and maybe I'm just not seeing it is like although this this version does not have Good Friday rajes on or yam kapor I think it still needs to be lifted listed on the column because I think it's completely removed and I don't think that was the intention mhm so um and I think also maybe you know we talk about being inclusive and representing the students in fact you know our our school community so it would be nice to kind of find out what holidays students and families celebrate and incorporate more of those because you know the way to recognize right like that we're physically and maybe that list will get longer but I think it's a nice gesture um Franklin was that Franklin yeah I think that might be nice and yeah also some just aren't you know like maybe we didn't you I thought you know like President's Day for example is always encompassed within our febru feary break but it's it's also not listed here so I do like I do think the important dates yeah like column is missing yeah um Patriots St a number of things that that need to be there but it is the opportunity as you're naming which we have discussed to fles it out even further um we had talked about that especially in the context of um not having days off for holidays knowing that we can't we are not have no matter what we're doing we're not having days off for all the holidays that are being celebrated so looking for that opportunity to acknowledge them and then separately from that build out the policy yep um and the procedures accordingly but um yeah that's an important point and I can like once you have collected all of those I can work with Charlene because I think it's going to be a lot of formatting so I will you know it it's one thing to you know like retype stuff but like when you're adding more it just completely um I don't think this version would be able to do that so I'll work with her on that [Music] so we've identified a couple of things that are still in progress here uh just naming obviously for this scenario that we're looking at it still assumes days off on August 29th and um let's see but not yeah sorry in November 26 um and you know we are still very early on in in bargaining but we had heard we heard the message um from the community and from this committee about opening a discussion about the prospect of you know exploring one or both of those days as school days um and you know that is still very early in the process so we we are not able at this time to um like make commitments to any changes on on either of those but just so just to name that I mean that makes sense for that reason that it's assumed in this scenario that we will have not have school on those days which has been our practice and which is in our contract currently yeah this is a perfect year though in my mind that you know removing one of those two days having the last day of school be on the 15th on that Monday I think it's not I understand that's why the calendar lies but I guess you know being able to push that to the Friday I just think you're going to have such low attendance on that Monday uh it's going to be not great uh and so I guess a question I'd have is is there I guess you can't add the there's no way to add the other day back to have it end on a Tuesday just ending on a Monday is never away I try and into school calendar because no probably a few days right like Monday Tuesday I don't think Monday Tuesday I think I mean you if you have a couple days they usually they'll still show up but um it's the Monday half day like am I going to delay my vacation to be at school for a single half day anyways and coming back for school for two days and then have another 4 days off is also very interesting in September talking about August in August the last we August after two months off for summer break you come back for two days have four days off yeah I think we've looked at districts that start after Labor Day right that was a big question and I was still trying to Advocate having those half days before a a long weekend or a weekend which one the PD days yeah the PD days like half days professional learning if you want teachers to focus on PD you're ask them do that on a Friday afternoon that was rough uh not that's not successful in my experience so I think we have to in my mind keep in mind what that half day is for and that half day is for again the teacher professional practice I want that to be as effective as possible obviously correct me I think consistency pieces that they one to than you on Wednesday if possible right in the middle of the week no one's getting anywhere so Peter you're taking notes of the questions and points that we're raising I guess I would like to return to something you raised Selena and just um just because I'm actually curious um and I'm this I'm I'm going to ask um what whether any of us are thinking differently or I'm just curious like how people are thinking because we have received some feedback um mostly from members of our Jewish Community but also from members of um add other Faith communities as well that we hadn't heard before our previous discussion when we voted to provide guidance and that was feedback we had heard through the survey MH but we had not heard it um I don't believe as clearly um in other ways and you know we have heard more of it now and we've um for me I think I was um I think the email we received that was signed by a number of individual clergy members in our community um had an impact on me so I guess I'm just wondering where we are as a group I want to acknowledge that Selena you raised this I'm sort of uplifting it also and you and I voted in the minority on that decision um and so that's you know important to acknowledge which leaves me though curious ious about the the rest of us and where we are with with this now in terms of how you're thinking about it the religious holiday piece I mean religious and cultural holiday day off question conversation if that wasn't clear but that's what I'm wondering about so I I thought the scenario 6 was a great like effort at trying to um come to kind of a middle ground right like in terms of like what can we do let's to accommodate with the holidays with the days that we can be flexible on so I thought that that was good I think my only um reservation with that is um I think you can get confusing for families every year right like oh and just because I think people get used to certain things things and like I thought it was you know this day was there and it's not there this year it's hard to keep track of and I think you're going to get a similar feedback as to like not having consistent half days right like hey why is that off this year but I you know so I think that's going to be an issue um and more room for error in terms of like scheduling tests sports activities all of those things I think it complicates that so uh but I thought it was um a good effort um when I was reading the the signatures at the bottom I I was curious about um you know the Catholic church and I was glad that um uh father Bennett wrote In from there because I thought that perspective was also helpful to have um so one thing I do appreciate is that you know there are many strong Fates in this community and um I appreciate their point of view on all of it and it's a lot for us to consider and I mean at this point I don't have a decision like in terms of which way to go because I think we don't have many days off that I mean many days to work with and I think a lot of it the two days that we have really are dependent on bargaining this year so um that's all I have I don't it's really just nothing useful to interated at this point basically I would say that since we are so data driven we we have surveyed the whole Community regarding this topic and I think we should respect the Democracy decision that collectively made together by the members of this community not just us sitting here we have heard from not just the current student body but also parents staff from all sex schools that we have in the district right and even um residents who are not affiliated with schools anymore so I feel like we have been trying to make this effort to collect voices and we should respect the voices that we have received but also like we we hear all the comments that coming up like after we collect the survey datas but is it we we can add those into the the data that we collected but that doesn't make a huge difference that's why I trying to say yeah I mean I agree with your point I thought the sixth I can really appreciate the group thinking creatively and outside the box I I think the six scenario is an outside box idea I would also be concerned about the consistency how you do that given the holidays rotate and so if it's one holiday's turn and it's on a Saturday where does that root to and again just from a consistency with with staff and I I think again it still has the long-term problem that we've raised when we talked about this last year even of just how do we how do we assess in in the future as a committee um what holidays to add right what holidays become a part of the rotation like what level of participation within our community for a particular holiday warrants being recognized within this two-day off rotation I think you know that that still then becomes a a math problem of what is the like again pure number of students or number of people within the town that that at that point we will respect um with the day off and to me also just as I still don't don't think that utilizing days off as a leverage for um highlighting diversity like to me that still from an educational lens is not like the way to highlight the diversity and to increase awareness within Town it really comes back to the work that needs to be done on the curriculum level and the like cultural celebration level within our schools and the communities we are building inside the schools to recognize this to make students feel good and celebrated about taking that time away from school right and not have the negative effects that one of the public um commenters talked about um which again is true for kind of lots of things that occur unfortunately within kind of student and adult peer groups but again we need to create strong communities that fight against those urges and and support people's identities uh and their decisions to take day off to for their religion or for other personal or cultural events within their lives I think what we've been hearing in and granted it's anecdotal and it's um you know from far fewer individuals than completed the survey though uh but I do think that an important theme of the feedback that we've received since our discussion and vote that we took is really amplifying a concern that was raised within our survey data which was that the survey data um really look different depending on how you broke it down and the feedback we've been receiving has been from members of our community who are asking to uh who are who are sharing a concern about feeling a sense of belonging and inclusion in our school Community as people who um identify with a what is essentially a religious minority in the town of Milton but a but a substantial and important population and so I to me that's where I have a a problem um just negating that feedback to me the concern I've really felt acutely over the past few weeks is that the personal anecdotal feedback that has been shared um and with me personally in addition to emails that we've received and conversations I've had with individuals is that uh what gave me pause from our survey data has been bearing out in the testimony basically of members of our community who are sharing like a reaction to the conversation we've been having so I just need to say that um and to me that does make me then curious about the value of even if it's a even if it's a symbolic gesture um like what that could actually represent as a possible like we swung a pendulum in our conversation toward um e equality essentially in how we treated holidays in that we're not taking days off with the exception of which was raised Christmas Eve which is not neither a Federal holiday but will as we see here continue to be represented you know continue to be honored as a day off within winter break I think um the idea of sort of continuing through this process to think about this idea that hadn't been on our radar it had not been some of the and I feel responsible because I workshopped those five scenarios that I you know we presented that was my personal attempt to support us in synthesizing the like large amount of information that had been brought forward and I did not think of that sixth scenario myself it it was not then one that was presented for us to consider I don't know if it would have made a difference like in the outcome of the guidance that we then provided to you um but I am thinking more and more about it in context of previous feedback and discussions um I remember the metaphor that was shared around like con you know going out of our way to be hospitable um hosts which ultimately that's what we're trying to do as a school district you know and so I don't know Mark like to the question the point about um like I think we are balancing and I don't think it's has to be all or nothing I you're Anna you articulated really important like concerns about Clarity consistency I do think for us to even entertain the six scenario which for anybody listening was um what that is was this idea that we would which was which has been proposed to us uh was that we would have two days we currently have two religious holidays as days off in our calendar historically for 30 years that has been y kapor if it's a weekday or rashash Shana if yapor is on a weekend and Good Friday uh what what was proposed as an different idea was that we would take two days that would essentially rotate through these holidays we've established it hard to add have five total days off that's too much anyway my point is like um if we were going to even entertain that idea it would have to me it would be a notation on our calendar a footnote that says Milton Public Schools you know celebrates cultural and religious holidays with two days off uh per year it could say this is to limit like this is to contain the amount of time time that we spend I don't know what the word would be the wording would be but the point could be articulated there that like we had this is an intentional practice of rotating through holidays um and it would totally create a burden on future School committees to follow through you know on um like implementing that yearly with you when you're building out the calendar you're we're always doing that because it depends even here you see January 2nd is a proposed as a day off next year because who's coming back for the Friday be you know that's the point about Monday June 15th like every year we're making choices based on how the calendar Falls anyway right um and we're being Guided by like reason and you know what we think of as what lets us meet our priorities the best we can so I don't know I'm sorry I feel like I'm a little bit all over the place but it is because I I feel really honestly uh I feel badly for where We've Ended up to continue receiving this heartfelt feedback that we've been getting I don't think it's I don't think we have um arrived yet at a place that fully like achieves what I think the intent was when we set out on this process um and maybe I you know because I have yeah I've been in this conversation for four years so I'm also probably you know a little bit tired of feeling like I haven't hit on it yet but um I think we've established already we're not able to vote on the calendar because there are other missing pieces that don't pertain to the holidays anyway which we have to continue to resolve so we've already at least we know that but I'm sorry I just had to say some of those things um so I was I've been thinking a lot about the the scenario and um I appreciate the thought and the creativity of it my my concern and this is somebody who's not invested in any NE of those holidays right that it feels a bit like we're not representing anything then do you know what I mean so if you have if you're float rotating two holidays do the people for whom yam kapor or rash Shana is very important and that and those aren't on there for three years are we really representing are we really representing their desire similarly somebody if it's like oh good for you know Good Friday is very important to me it sort of feels like you've lost the intent or the importance of all of them it feels just very watered down and now they're just to days as opposed to two specific days that represent the culture of the religion and so that's where I'm struggling because if it's a rotation of it then it sort of says I don't know that that answered any of the question like and for me coming in and hearing about it that it was important that the people's cultural religious holidays are represented but then it sort of feels like you're in no man's land with that for me and that's a it's just I I just don't know what that I understand it from a symbolic gesture but I'm not sure that everybody's intent for having those days on the calendar was necessarily just symbolic and so I don't and I'm I'm speaking for people who it's not me but that's just the the takeaway that I have is it doesn't feel I think that's like it's it's the idea of something symbolic rather than nothing like that something symbolic is Meaningful as an alternative too but if I played that out say theoretically if the if it's been you know that I or my child doesn't need to miss school on a particular holiday that's very important to us you haven't answered that like because the next year you are going to miss it like that that desire to be recognized or not or not be recognized or have to Proclaim anything or have that day off that all go that's not answered do you know what I mean that that that issue still is there and that's the piece that I that I struggle with it it's not there for a particular year but then for wherever you are in the cycle it is there you know what I mean like it's so that's the part that I'm it feels like now it's that scenario isn't dancer and really any of the any of the issues that seem to have been brought that seem to have been brought up for me at least in my head I'm not able to and I think all all the letters that we received and public comment I think all of them spoke from the importance of that holiday uh for the people that celebrate it um and I think you're right it misses the significance of it if I can't celebrate it this year and I have to wait till next year or the following year to celebrate then it kind of dilutes the importance of it um and I think the um I I I think it's a good suggestion to be inclusive but I think it kind of misses the the point because I'm going to speak for myself I grew up going to Good Friday service every as a kid I was in church all day um but you know so I can't imagine like one year I went and then the next year I was in school and then you know like so on and so forth so there was that consistency that that religious education that I had through my church community that I received so it's like you know or do do you take your kid out of school that following year and what if there's a test schedule that day or you know like it's hard to keep up with you know schedules and so on and so forth because we're already giving taking two days somewhere else off like I I don't know I think it gets really confusing and there's more room for error um I I do think like I think where members who wrote into us like they came at it I I just think it needs to if we're going to do it we have to give it the Imports that they're asking and I don't know if that solution does it for me there's so much I want to say on this point um I I think uh you know frankly I've been thinking about this from the first conversation we had and felt that I didn't perhaps do an adequate uh enough job at stating sort of my concern with the way we went um we started this conversation from a desire to be inclusive from a desire to have our students feel a greater sense of belonging all of our students and we ended in sort of a place where said no let's go back to the status quo that was 30 years ago and we're not going to celebrate you know holidays that have been voiced as being very important to members of our community and to say that we're going back to the status quo in the name of increasing right belonging and inclusivity um that felt to me like the easier decision to make uh one that did not allow us to wrestle and grapple with the issue you know that the ask that was made of us um rightly so and um I am so glad that members from the Jewish Community have articulated much better than I could have that impact that that's going to have on families on students of our decision it's a big decision that we made um and obviously I was part of the minority with with Lizzy on sort of not voting in favor of that decision um because sort of going for me going backwards doesn't me feel like it's the right way to go um we had the question before us years back was do we consider adding e as another holiday that was the question and from there we went way oh the other way of saying well let's include everything obviously that is not pragmatic we can't do it um in in a way that then satisfies and answers the concerns we heard from the survey when we went to the community and we surveyed people and we had conversations we were clear at least in the convers as I was part of that that was going to be one factor in our decision making but it wasn't going to be the the reason why we went a certain way it was just going to be one variable that we were going to consider in our decisions but along that I want us to make sure that we're also considering those voices that are coming forward now and letting us know the impact that that's going to have at the individual at the at the family level and at a community level and what does that say about Milton where we have been making progress and moving in the right dire Direction not only as a school district I would say as a community and so that I would encourage us to continue to think um outside of the box think about how we can be more inclusive and I would say rather than rotating holidays at this point can we go back and consider adding making the addition that was asked to us which was one additional holiday that was it for the time being it's not the permanent solution we can continue to then you know for 24 20 25 26 we can make that decision right now and then continue and you know sort of ask the school committee um to continue to think through this um with members of the Community to come up with a to arrive at a place that feels uh that it is more inclusive that it recognizes more of our community members but just the that decision of of going back and and just taking away because it seem feels like it's better to have this equal treatment um also assumes that sort of guiding ourselves by the federal holidays is the way to go um you know our nation by no means it has a sense of creates a sense of belonging and inclusivity for all um so that is not what I would um say that we need to do Milton had made progress in the right direction 30 years ago and now we're going back so I would encourage us to continue to think that through that um and but for the immediate term because we do need a calendar for the 25 26th year um make make add add the holiday that we were asked to add and and that will not you know impact too much in terms of lengthening the school year um and and then address the other concerns that we did hear in the survey around consistency of you know um uh professional professional days the half days and uh making sure that we have full School weeks um Etc um but I just uh you know I really do appreciate um the community members that have taken the time to write to us to come and speak um because I think we need to listen to those voices um and know that we we will be creating more harm than than not by trying to approach this by in the name of of being equal um and that doesn't uh align with our values I think as a district and what I hope we aspire to be as a town so just to acknowledge that what you're raising here was also not a scenario that I put brought forward you know because it is some while it's something we had discussed at length a year ago at we hit we hit a fork in a road based on Research we had done into other districts again you're right not based on any feedback we had received from Milton residents it was research on other districts that took us down the fork of adding three holidays not one and it was that that decision point that led us to this next several months of of the process during which quite honestly we never actually reconsidered that idea that original idea so that is actually you know that is um yeah well I think so the conversation we had again over a year ago at this point when we first brought this up like in October November of 2023 was again when the idea the public comment idea of adding Eid came in front of us and it was how do we create an equitable process and a clear process within the community to do this for any holiday and I think at at that point and maybe this has changed but it seemed that the consensus within the group was that yes a clear process would be helpful to make this like so that if any any can any person just show up at a school committee meeting to ask for a day off to be added to the calendar why would we prioritize one of those requests versus another why would we prioritize the particular religion right part of the language has been around treating the abrahamic religions similarly which this neily puts importance on the abrahamic religions above every other religion type uh which I think is problematic and like you know there plenty of people who don't celebrate abrahamic religion so I think that's ultimately from my perspective where it got to and then what led us to try and do research around like okay well as we think about again making this inclusive more broadly or think about a more clear process what have other communities done um so again I I think that that issue still holds for me as it relates to just adding eat as a one off like that that has not gone away of you know again why why would we add simply eat and not either of these other two and what would be the process where like we can be clear for the community in the future of why we would add one and not another and we've and then again the language got to well we can't add all of them and we haven't talked about even again we represent one Jewish holiday on the calendar and know it has not been asked of us there are two Jewish High holy days as was named next year both of those will hit the school calendar right there are two eids right and so like there are other things that even in addition to what we've already discussed like could potentially be asked and I just again to me it gets back to I think there's too much I I don't think the emphasis is right to say that the day off is the epitome of respect and acknowledgement of cultural differences and you know within a town or within our school community that like the way in which we most value you and recognize you as an individual is to say we're not going to have school because of your community like that that seems the opposite of again just what school is about which is about learning in community and bringing people together to learn together um so I just I still stay you just strongly against the idea that like we must have a day off in order to recognize these folks in order order to recognize any group uh and that that to me I'd rather have again people together our kids together our staff together celebrate together learn together about anything and everything that that comes up and like how do we integrate that more within the readings we are doing within schools the writing we are doing the lessons we are doing the celebrations and Community Building as like Pierce talked about right the the sense of belonging that you create within the school those those to me are the things that are much much more important than like sending kids home for the day and we have strong consensus on that and that will you know we've heard a commitment to that independent of the calendar so it's not I want to be careful I I personally think it's important to avoid a like any type of mutually exclusive like zero sum it's not like we can have a day off or we can do a better job of learning about one another's cultures I mean I think we have to do the we have to do the lad no matter what um and it becomes even more important obviously if we are not taking days off for holidays absolutely um because you know I I I I think this honestly like continuing on the path of not taking any of these holidays as days off it really it it increases the pressure and the stakes on the on the district to deliver on that in order to mitigate the harm that we are being told the the taking away of a day off or in the case of our Milton Muslim neighbors Community the the not um giving of a day off like you know we will have to work to make sure that we are um like really doing that really providing opportunities we haven't done before around learning curriculum celebration um but I do you know I think we we could still be doing that if we did have we could have been doing that this whole time better than we've been doing it right so that's been that's we all kind of I think understand that and I think the to me the the appeal of the six scenario is that it acknowledges a symbol a symbolic gesture within the limitations of reality um but I think you know we I we have other things on our agenda that we do have to get to I I do appreciate I continue to appreciate the thoughtfulness of everyone at this table I think um you know we all we actually are the only ones who know what it's like to have to sit here and think and um you know talk about this this way um with with the pressures that we all are under um since we're not voting tonight I guess my question is where we go from here um you will be bringing us another an a revised draft of the calendar that accurately reflects sort of response to the community's feedback and the committee's feedback regarding professional learning time and that side of things that can continue to like better represent the days um the holidays on the right hand side column so those are a couple of the things that have emerged from this discussion um I I'm from the like the you know we're not taking a vote but just like what I'm sensing as consensus of the group is that um there is not an app appetite from the majority of the committee to rethink the um approach to holidays is that accurate I mean I think I'm hearing strong ideas from similar breakdown um so if that's the way if that's the case then I think you know what the vote we took before was was guidance it was guidance to inform your process it seems like the guidance is not changing uh substantially um on the holiday front can I make a suggestion yeah I mean I know we have a lot of things to cover tonight I just want to be mindful of the time is this something that maybe we take on in policy and kind of taking all the feedback that was received here and kind of work through and hash out the different scenarios and Peter can take on the feedback that we gave on the actual calendar and the looking at the dates but I think that holiday piece and maybe we can look at maybe policy and procedure as well to like Mark's Point like if we are just adding one holiday what happens next year if another holiday needs to be added and so on and so forth so I think maybe T like bringing that because we're done with our policy so I think we have we could use that as an opportunity to kind of look at that in detail and just weigh all the pros and cons and maybe do a deep dive ourselves um and then bring it back here so we meet for policy next week okay and that would still be I me it's technically like we have like a future agendas and calendars on there based on your suggestion but I think that might be a good kind of where we can really do a deep dive okay you're not going to be able to be at that policy meeting correct but we can figure out how to convey the conversation of that which would be before our next school committee meeting anyway so I think that's a reasonable suggestion um but we can definitely expect no matter what obviously this is back before us that will be February 5th okay so thank you everybody um you know we will ultimately get to the point of a calendar I guess I just would say that I didn't hear necessarily that there we were on the same in the same place we were two weeks ago but there had been perhaps slight shift of thinking and I don't want to sort of assume Anna but I thought I heard you differently and Amanda I thought I heard your voice something that was a little bit different than two weeks ago in terms of you know even in in in sort of taking on that scenario six would that be sort of you know achieve what the intention of scenario 6 would be um but I don't know if you I don't know if I heard sort of that if you had landed if you have been swayed in either direction um I I haven't heard anything how do I put it snar 6 it it it was interesting and I appreciated it but I don't think that it answers anything for me it doesn't it it muddies it a bit more for me candidly um because it seems less clear as to the why we you know what's the I think to Anna's Point like at the I don't mean to make it sound so factual and and because I know that there's a lot of emotion involved in it but you know one of the things that I've recognized coming in here is this desire to have more policy and have more procedures in place and sort of have the the why for the decisions that are made and I think you know when you just said like bringing it to the policy um committee it it makes sense because it it's not taking the emotion out obviously it's taking in people's personal experience but it if there's a process by which days off are decided in a procedural way that helps me do you you know what I mean like if it's sort because I think for me it does become I kind of go back to where it started that we're still struggling because of contractual object obligations for days so we don't have extra days to add and then we're not answering the the request um for E being added in so right now I haven't nothing is presented an alternative for me that makes sense yet from our last discussion yeah I think that's where we like I mean I think all the like the feedback your point of view on is you know um I really appreciate it and obviously like the the letters and the community members speaking um I mean I I appreciate the importance and their point of view on it um and also hearing like I said hearing from father Bennett who wasn't part of the original micro group right getting that point of view too is was really important because you know it's like it's very strong they're making a strong case for those days that's right but I I think what I'm really struggling with I don't have a scenario that you know is working right that I feel like comfortable to vote on and I think that's where we need to come to like just really hash it out look at those days Mark point of you know do you want to end school on a Monday you know like all of those things should be looked at I think in tandem for us okay and just figure out and then hopefully we can come back here with you know we've taken all the survey data we've taken the the feedback from the community members and then come back and like take the time to discuss it and just figure out what the best you know and come back with like hey here are a couple options any of these you know resonate and hopefully also have a policy in place you know or procedure in place of in the future if we need to add days how do we go about doing that and at that point does it become an alternating you know maybe we end up going back to scenario six at that point I don't know I just I guess I just need more time to kind of talk through it okay thanks but all of this was very important for that yeah to happen okay for now all right thank you everybody the next couple items under my report are hopefully going to be very quick um the um Municipal energy manager Grant letter of support for the climate action planning committee um I want to apologize because I think it's been a little confusing and I just want to update you very quickly on some back and forth there's a letter template in our folder which is incomplete and I left it there to be able to explain to you that the reason I left it incomplete we are not we are not signing this letter we are not voting to approve that letter in working through it and doing some back and forth I think I've realized that the letter actually needs to be coming from the superintendent and the um Town Administrator to support the application um do you have anything you want to add to this well the other thing is just that it could potentially be a joint application with Randall so that could change the letter too the deadline is January 31st I do think what's important for us and the what I would like to offer as a motion is um rather than submitting a letter of support per se like on behalf of our committee um I do think what the um climate action planning committee had initially brought forward to us was the request just for our support of the choice to apply for this Grant and so that is what I've put as language a motion made to support so I I will make this motion and then we can if there are questions or discussion I would like to make a motion to support the town of Milton and Milton Public Schools application for the municipal energy manager Grant a second thank you uh I think that language should stand whether or not we pursue a joint application with Randolph uh the idea is to Simply Be able to lend our support to the um choice of seeking this funding for this position well and if need be you could sign off on behalf of the committee to support on a if we get a joint letter and you know they say hey it would be great to have your your signature my signature I think the support here would enable you to do that yes right so this is just hoping to capture whether we as a committee support uh moving forward with this application for this position which would help the town and the district better achieve our sustain which we know we can't we can get additional fun funding for resources within the town fantastic uh I know when we applied for like fire a fire particular fire Grant it then tied the town to say hey we provide this funding for these positions for three years and then youall have to pick them up as a requirement within the Grant application just wondering if there's anything here around that if there's like you know long-term Financial commitments that the town would need to pick up yeah that are required by this obviously we could opt to carry this forward position forward if we don't get the funding but that was sming question yeah I had the same question I hadn't heard that in the president presentation from the climate action committee nor from Nick so it's not usually standard but I again just from the fire department Federal application they were doing I mean it would be a it would it would be a town position not a school position right yeah so um I did not um I did not see anything language to that effect Mark it's noted in the Mass Save uh website linked in the um it says to take um this is a three-year Grant um um provides three years um to create up to a full-time energy manager role um I'm just scanning through this to see if um it says the municipal energy manager Grant helps municipalities hire a dedicated resource to manage their energy use become more energy efficient and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from facilities with a particular focus on K12 school buildings um so I I there's I don't see any reference here to that requirement that you're wondering about but is this funding the full position or is it a grant towards the funding of the position $120,000 okay cover where did you see that was on the website oh sorry was like did I miss a number well up to $120,000 a year toward salary benefits for full-time uh or 60,000 for a part time so if were going partnering with brand off then it would have be a parttime or maybe be a full-time between the two communities I think it would be a full-time position shared between the two I mean okay I mean obviously if the town as a whole needed additional allocation that would need to go through the budget process anyways outside of they have a certain amount of funding and I believe I heard something to the effect of if you ask for halftime you may be more likely to get it if they're trying to split the resource among more towns yeah so I think the real question for us here is you know in voting whether or not to support the application what we're part really what we're doing is to support the Judgment of you Tom McCarthy and Nick um who would be working together to determine what makes the most sense for Milton and in the application and then if funded the implementation of the position Nick Connor I think is is more essentially involved than Milana okay okay either way are people prepared to take a vote on this yeah I'm looking through the deliverables on the guide book and it's not yeah saying anything all right so we have a motion it's been made and seconded all in favor okay great thank you um try to uh the FY 24 annual report I'm sorry I got confused and was talking about this earlier but this is what we had received in our email this is what we have to approve annually uh this is actually much streamlined from previous versions that we've seen so thank you for that I hope that everyone had the opportunity to read it from our email and I'm sorry for the delay in getting it into our folder um Stephanie did great work on this and recognized that it needed an overhaul and spent a lot of time just bringing it down to to say something meaningful and not you know the other the report had become fairly sprawling yes yeah she did a great job yeah Nine Pages that's way better so this is a report that we submit to Desi um right annually and to 30 pages last year 30 y 103 this goes to the town too and yeah to the town published in the yeah in the book okay I haven't grammar checked it but I'll make a motion uh to approve the f24 annual report as submitted a second second all right all in favor great okay um I can save my other update for the uh Capital item that we have a little bit later and just move straight to finance I know we're already at 10:30 so uh want to keep this quick uh but we got important things to share uh FY 26 budget we are still working through budget conversations the last couple meetings we focused a little bit more on the Q2 fi25 Q2 report but we have talked about the FY 26 budget I think one of the things we started talking about today a bit is uh discussions around it it seems unlikely that the full list of needs that kind of came before this committee um will get support through select board warrant committee count all those entities so I think for our perspective we need to at least understand what the the ones we want to fight for if any are within the needs based budgeting uh I should be clear uh so we started having conversations around that of you know what with the district what are the highest leverage uh asks and then again what is kind of there's still ongoing conversation that needs to have be had between us and select board around what the number is going to be and that continues to be hard given we are not having any direct conversations with select board given they have no finance committee um so um that is a bit challenging uh and then we are still waiting to meet with the warrant committee as well so we have not yet we don't have any additional feedback from them either on kind of our budget at this point um so those are the high Lev kind of discussions we're still having and I think the other piece we started talking about today a bit is we just need to start crafting like what is our messaging around the ask because it's a big it's a big ask um it's going to be a big ask to a lot of different groups the town as a whole and obviously select board and so like why you know how do we make the most compelling case um for this and so I think that's something the finance committee we'll need to talk through and kind of create some proposals for but obviously this group will need to carry some of that a lot of that water and won't want y'all's input on like what the the messaging is ultimately so if youall have thoughts or ideas so is the select Bo like are they saying that it's just like what like are they saying this that I watch their meetings are they seeing this at their meetings or like are you is this like kind of n like meeting with you guys like how how was what kind of in terms of like the needs base yeah it's reading the Tea Leaves of Nick uh of the selectboard comments around the size of the level service ask Alone um uh you know we'll we'll have more information um the select board is meeting on Tuesday and they're bring in all departments to talk about their level service needs and really what they're talking about I believe is more level service and what are the cuts if you're not giving level service I don't know if they're talking about needs at all across any other department and so so are we going in front of Select board then when the other departments are going yeah next week um so again talk at at a high level but we haven't talked to we obviously don't have any direct Comm communication with any of the department folks just with Nick uh at this point Nick has not presented anything to us or to Let's like order around a needs based number so do you have to craft your message then before Tuesday or is it like kind of like are you just like I'm just well we're not going to have a final budget Tuesday because we won't have voted on it they're going to share think a version I'd assume and you can speak for yourself but assume a version of the presentation they've kind of given to us to like explain how we've gotten to that level service number like you know try to explain why it is so big I assume that is a question they will ask yeah uh and yes to your point kind of start having some of that messaging but I think we'll need to continue to refine that further again especially as we bring this to any override is going to require a wider wider audience and so how we talk about this set with the proper community so I think I guess the other thing I would add to um relative to next week is the thing we haven't shared as much here U which I think we will share next week is the the impact of you know percentages of of of level service not being met and what the impact is in terms of what what excuse me what kind of positions that would mean yeah do you mean if they meaning if we Lo if you know if we don't get one million of our level service if we have to cut a million that that equals this many teachers this many administrators class sizes cutting back on extracurriculars just those all those kinds of things yeah that's a a separate budget we will need to create and I assume again vote on as a school committee as a non override budget what what those cuts would result in because that will be part of the warrant for the town as well in case it doesn't pass the town vote I don't know if it's necessary if the town vote happens first so that's a question as some people talked about the town vote coming before the town meeting vote but I think in the short term it's first this immediately the select board next Tuesday and then the messaging will roll out town meeting voters of the town I mean to what you're saying the we can support the select board to have a constructive discussion of this challenge by helping them understand the concrete like cause and effect of different options that they might choose to take so the more concrete we can make it as far as like what we're actually talking about with cuts or needs left on The Cutting Room floor or what have you like I think that will be really important since you know we know how many things they're needing to consider all the time so just like cutting to the chase of the impacts of the of the decisions I think is something that we can be helpful in you know providing that um lenss and information for them so one I don't know if it was a scenario or feedback or comment that was made was if there was if there wasn't an appetite or a belief that the full amount for level service which would require an override would pass would they come back with a lower number and I guess my question is does that would that come from the select board if it was like well we think that we could go for X like and then would that come in that meeting and then you go back and do the okay yeah I don't know if they'll come out at Tuesday with an exact number they might but it certainly would come out of the select board a select board meeting and I assume sooner than later given where we're at within the calendar at their last meeting it was stated that they were Nick I believe was asked the question and answered that it would be important to arrive to the number by early February yeah that's what I heard him say I think right so they're meeting on January 28th they may or may not yeah vote on something um next week but if not next Tuesday it would be like shortly thereafter so would it be a number for the override or okay I have gone through overrides before um in a town but is it customary to like do an override with just a needs based versus I mean you mean just level service just level service that's what I mean yeah just level level service versus needs based um it seems to me that it's you're going to need an override right after [Laughter] if that's the lens that you take um to push an override it why would you do all that if you're not looking forward just and it might be just me not having gone through it before and but but I think my concern is and and I'm hoping maybe I misheard it but that this a conceivable scenario is not even leads based you mean not even level not even level service something less than something less than so which would still mean an override the cut but so that's a lot of energy and political Capital to use for something that's not even going to get us to where we need to be and even in terms of I think of our needs budget it's pretty tapered yes it's not even needs it's really I mean it was hard listening to Dr fish come in and say we're not getting any of our positions funded this year like I mean we we haven't even had this conversation and he's already saying that you know so it's like the start like it's just it's hard to hear those comments digging our whole deer and unfortunately I I know with like special ed a lot of those are mandated and you're required so you're cutting in General Ed right like because those are the only areas like you're going to have those classes of 29 and 32 kids right so because you don't you can't provide quity if we have to cut you know 2 million from our budget we're looking at class sizes of you know 35 I mean you're talking like a significant increase across the board at at all grade levels right and I and that's something that I just it's I think that's we we realize I think Katie and I recognize the need to really convey clearly what the impact is of the gradients of an override right as opposed to just focusing on level service and need space but really helping understand like it's it's obvious that with no override it's I think we we figured out it was 60 positions or something like that um but I think it's important to share what a million looks like or a million and a half or like what the impact is what it looks like um just so that the you know the has a full picture of what it looks like and then of course you know in terms of an override and it's my first time going through an override too um or the potential of an override but you know generally like in my understanding you Bank up some funding in the first years and then you have it for the following years as costs increase so if we start with a somewhat of a deficit not even getting to level service it just it it has a feeling to me of we're we're stuck in a vicious cycle um of you know kind of increasingly challenging year after year as opposed to kind of setting a a pathway to to to move towards stability so that that's a that's that's challenging and I don't think if you do an override and you know if you have to do one the next year because you can't like there's no appetite for that I think you're stuck with for 5 years but at least three to five years you know so um I think that's going to be really challenging yeah I mean I think the town has gotten away from doing regular overrides and you know Federal funding was a part of that and I think there's been this before like it feels like and again there's been turnover within the town Department right Nick's never done an override within this town within the school department Peter Katy have never done an override nobody at this table has done an override only Richard is the only one uh who I think I think he was on the life board when the last override happened but maybe not even that um maybe it was the police chief so there's there's not much experience there but we're we're going to need to build that muscle and have it more consistent at the end of the day there is a number that is going to be untenable for the town and I think the balance is is X doll amount you know better than zero right is getting like this amount for an override because the the alternative is you go for amount that's too big and brain tree obviously did this I think it was brain tree right did this and they were worried about if we go for the amount we really want it's going to fail and then we'll get nothing and so we'll we'll find it in the middle and maybe they they cut it too low and they could have asked for more and they could have gone for 10 million instead of the 8 million they went for but like at the end of the day the the calculation they made and the calculation we will need to make and is what is that level we can push to where it's worth it and we think people will pass it and we can again getting back to the messaging we can sell the message and make a compelling case of why it is needed and why people will reach into their pocket and pay more on a monthly basis in order to fund these services for the town um but I and that that is just again at the end of the day there is a a breaking point and I think nobody knows exactly what that breaking point is and that's just what we got to figure out what we want to advocate for and we need to align that number to what the Sight board wants to advocate for right I mean I know like last time we did an override it was like 3.7 or something like that so it was really low right like a number um so obviously there's sticker shock um but I also feel like if we go in with a number where we can't even have level service the quality is going to go down and then at that point invest $5 million and they're like okay and then all of a sudden you know scores everything goes down they're like wait I just gave you 5 million like what do you like so there's also you're going to charge me three times I totally agree and I totally agree with I totally agree with Selena's point that it's seems like a lot of work to go through to not even get any needs to not exp is in a classroom with 35 kids but you're just asking me to like it's not going to work you know that's just you're not going to give like and and that's going to be the thing too it's like if I'm not I think like voters you know taxpayers whoever like parents like I think when they see Improvement in the quality of Education as Dr fish said there is has been a drop of students private schools right it could be school's school is improving it's you know it's come a long way since in the last couple years you know also the factor of like the cost of everything is up right like people are trying to hold on to more of their money right um so there's that too so are people willing more into their student school to get high quality education right which would be overall cheaper right but but they also want to see the you know the schools are improving and they're doing great like this is great I'm making an investment in my town but if you don't see that then will people do it and we come back to I'm going to pull my kid out they're not getting and I think this is where gets back to the framing you're going to do next week and how important that is of the impact MH that um reductions would have on our overall I mean it comes back to like you know like when we did the budget close out last year um and we had the shortage in special ed like that's something that we had to pay so we have to take that that it could have been used right um so that's something that we're obligated to do no matter what so that's where it's like it's also concerning when we have to cut positions to cut in areas that are not mandated you know so I think that's where it gets really tricky too highlighting all the challenges great appreciate it I don't know I'm more on the boat of like you know go Bigg or go home but I don't know because I think we're in a tough spot either way we'll yeah put Katie we you'll thank you in advance for presenting next Tuesday I will be there any of us are welcome to attend you know that's a way to sort of stay stay up time on the discussion that is that unfolds and from there we will just definitely talk about this in further depth at our next meeting right absolutely a lot there's a lot that needs to be happening in these next couple weeks out we can move this up in the agenda at our next meeting also so that it is not something we have to get to so late you can consider doing that um second uh piece is the sy25 quter 2 budget uh folder believe people were able to take a a look at it the highlights of that is uh we have concerns uh the dep there is an ongoing kind of structural deficit within our budget which is part of the reason for the large FY 26 request in order to right siize that budget the reason we had the $4 million deficit coming out of last year that had to get closed with a lot of onetime funds um uh and so that is lingering it is smaller but it's lingering within this current Year's budget dollar deficit right now um which is large like that is not a small like cut around the edges kind of situation um so we have half the year left to try and work towards closing it so we have time but there's a lot that needs to be done to close it the primary areas in which that have been highlighted as um being part of the are utilities uh that's just a historically underfunded um structural deficit kind of within that line item special education uh broadly special educ transportation in particular is another one um and then substitute coverage those are ones that have been highlighted as um particularly kind of out of bounds and again those are also ones that are really difficult to stop because like as you said special a transportation that's one of those mandated ones utilities it kind of are what they are I mean there's some Capital Improvements that could be done to try and tighten up things but like those aren't those aren't things we're going to be able to change within this winter uh or school year likely uh and then subit coverage you know you got to have teachers in front of kids so um unless there's something else to reduce the number of absences which again that's really challenging that's not an easy thing to to change in terms um those are things um you know I think one piece that we've been concerned about in looking at this is what does this mean for FY 26 because obviously we don't want this this is a Contin last year and again it has shrunk but it's still continuing and so we don't want this to carry forward into future years especially if for going forward within override requests like let's solve these problems now should continues to feel about kind of where things are triming with kind of put within the FY 26 budget so I think that is good um uh and again we are meeting in a couple weeks of the February 5th and so at that time we'll have another conversation continue to talk internally uh around how to close this and they'll come back on that fifth with kind of a a plan of here the all the things that will need to happen in order to close size it is possible that the things necessary to close a gap of that size are so significant or so disruptive that you know this group they are not worth really enacting and doing and a better choice of action would be to go to the select board to or the Town Administrator to ask for additional allocation of funding within the current year and obviously I think within every other ask we are doing very challenging to do and certainly not something we want we are thinking of doing and we we need to do everything we can to close it within our own um but just think that needs to be said because that is that obviously was a a huge shock to everybody when that occurred last July for that the 4 million deficit um questions on the these are not fun updates here just do not today yeah um yeah again I think all these things are unfortunate uh unfortunately tied they're just tied together with how we have under our schools for the past several years and we need to make a big correction with with this I mean I personally I feel confident having you kind of leading this and Advising us as best as you know and how you you know you think it makes most sense I think the process that you've gone through of educating us very beginning with the basic terms of finance that I had no idea about which was really helpful so I I'm confident you know what you're doing so I think I mean I personally look to your guidance in terms of what the best way forward is and I think we as a committee should support that um you know in terms of fixing this once and for all and then moving forward so it's no longer this thing that we have to deal with every year yes and I think we have good line of sight right now so I I think we're in a tough place and we recognize that but I also think we have a you know you know I think Mark articulated a good plan and and I think if we can land into FY 26 strong I mean we're you know as Mark with our administrators to you know we're freezing everything we can right now we're meeting with all of our department heads to look at ways we can find Revenue that um need to be spent for this current year so we're you know we're doing everything we can to work with work within and then also save where we can um but it is a it is a big number and there are certain things that you know potentially are are not required but would be um so significantly impactful to students that um sense to do so um that's definitely a lens we're looking through too parents as volunteer to teachers turn down the heat next week don't turn on the lights no light candle light send kids home school with the flashlight if you keep your heat at 62 at your house you can't turn your office up to 72 no keep it at 62 here you know oh goodness yeah sad State of Affairs yes to be having to joke about that type of thing but it's true but and you know one thing that I like would like to say like in in this in the last four hours that we've been here um just kind of hearing the ways we're improving things and putting systems in place so that this is a nonissue forward I really appreciate that you know I think just hearing about the mtss presentation and the budget plan and the improvements at Pierce like it's it's very promising I know it like Bleak but it still feels prom promising you know and I'm like great at least we're like thinking about it we have a direction we we just now need to get the support that we need to go there good refrain yeah that's that's a that's a positive spin to kind of bring closure to this report but you have vendor warrants do we need to vote on those now uh yeah I sign both of these okay I'll make a motion to approve vendor warrant uh 27 in the amount of $81,300 all in favor much um for school building committee is there a report for tonight I mean I think there's a key update just regarding the warrant articles yeah School building met uh they met about uh public records um complaint violation um that they're dealing with that's from kind of years ago but uh yeah the update is that obviously one is ours not school building committee uh but also the school building committee W for the funding both went um at initial presentation by Peter um Lizzy uh and school committee one and then Sean oror uh I and um our OPM for the school building committee won for in front of the warrant committee so had initial question and answer session vote on it it's possible they'll vote on it at their meeting tomorrow CU I think they're going to probably have some more follow-up questions when we get to the next update uh where some folks are going in front of tomorrow so that's the only update on school building what date were you in front of the war commit remember what date were we in front of the Warren committee that last it was last Monday um okay 14th the 13th was it yeah yeah yeah because today's yeah 13th so we were so is that so is that all for I was in there so yeah that's it so just sort of segueing into the capital really quickly Improvement committee report just for you all to be up to speed um as Mark going actually back before cap um warrant committee tomorrow night um Peter and I and Anna will be there um on a separate article which is the one on the Cunningham kop project so the good news out of capital was actually that there was consensus there last week to move forward um and the warrant committee to consider an article for the February town meeting for that additional Capital request which we had proposed in October and so we don't need to um approve the particular language of that article which Nick was Nick Milano was going to be drafting because we already put forward the request through a formal vote that we took um just that will be sort of discussed tomorrow night we'll have the opportunity to answer the warrant committee's questions about it and then again on Tuesday when they'll also be talking about the FY 26 budget override they will also board be considering this article for February town meeting which is the request submitted by school committee for the um cyam cicott project the additional funding to complete that project so that does that mean you could they could start construction think over the yeah over the summer break um correct okay yeah things have to happen but yes and I have more likely if it doesn't happen in May yeah so we're not going to vote on this tonight I don't have the article warrant the language back yet from the town um we'll just stay in if it turns out to be a fluid situation where somehow we do have to um take an action just to make sure that this follows the process to get on that February warrant if anything happens I will definitely reach out keep you all updated and if we have to come together to address that we will um but that's kind of where it stands right now so that's a um all right it's it's 11:01 do we want to approve the minutes or should we just I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of January 8th 20 second there was a second yep B okay all in favor okay great so we'll talk about the next agenda uh if you have items to add we know clearly from this meeting we have FY 26 budget that's going to be our main one we will also be talking about the calendar again with a revised draft and uh other things you can just send to me so that I can make sure they get and thanks everybody sorry for the long meeting but appreciate everybody's engagement tonight I'll make a motion to a j second Anna all in favor okay thanks every still 11:01 good night e