##VIDEO ID:duENidDF5EI## [Music] f he good evening everybody happy New Year and um I'll call it meeting to order this evening for the Milton school committee January 8th 2025 uh 7M and we will begin with a pledge of allegiance I pledge allegiance to the 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 thank you so much um so the first thing to do is approve our agenda for this evening and I know of one change um which is that we will be postponing our vendor warrants approval to the next meeting um does anyone know of any other changes do we have student Representatives they're not coming tonight right yeah so that would be postponed okay so just make an um postpone the topic Al together to the next meeting or do you want to do you want to give an update or just I I I think maybe postponing it would be a good idea no problem recording in progress so um we'll postpone that topic under the chair report the report from student representatives to our next meeting as well okay um so the first um then item on our agenda as usual is our public comment portion of the meeting and this is the opportunity for us to hear directly from members of the community who would like to share a perspective with us and we welcome those comments either in person or online um is anyone in the audience I know we have cicott site Council present but um is anyone participating in public comment tonight okay if you're online and would like to participate in public comment can you please raise your hand at this time no hands No Hands raised okay just give another few seconds in case you would like to raise your hand if you're attending online still no hands yep all right thank you so we'll just move on straight to the superintendent report great thank you um we'll start just with some um not really sad news but um concerning news that we just shared with um Community we had a data breach um power school did actually we we didn't on any of our internal services but Power School had a I think kind of a n some kind of Nationwide breach um we found out this about this late yesterday um and they said you know hold tight we're going to share more information today so we um attended a webinar today got all the information um they believe it's contained and that none of the information has been shared um fortunately I think some districts have a lot of personal information um stored within Power School we don't have for example like Social Security n Resorts it's not something we generally store in in power schools so um we basically shared everything we know with the community U about an hour ago in an email so if you haven't had a chance to see that yet you'll see that um after the meeting and we'll be following up if we learn anything from power school about this that we need to share with the community um more broadly but they on in this communication this afternoon they shared as I mentioned that they feel that they've talked with they called it a threat actor um which is the person who took the the data so it sounded to me like there was some kind of ransomware type of thing where there was something paid to this person to um to delete the data so um unfortunate uh but we're so far in terms of what we've heard from Power School we're we're glad that it sounds like it's contained and and we will share whatever information we have um as Power School gives us more information um on more positive news uh we met I met today with Lisa Troy um who is our representative on the climate action committee in town um and Alexander hasha and they're working on a grant to it's a three-year grant to get a municipal energy manager hired for the town which would be awesome U this is obviously a position we don't currently have right now I think they mentioned 21 different towns and cities have this position in Massachusetts so not not very many uh the intention of this position would be to work both with schools so um Tom McCarthy our director of facilities was also present today so be working with Tom and also working with the town and exploring ways to address issues with our buildings um probably find ways to pay for this position itself once the grant is um expires after three years just given the the kind of work that can happen in this space um I think we spend a lot of time on on school committee talking about facilities and talking about planning ahead and I I see this position as a could be like a a really cool and and vital part of our our different committees that are looking at facilities where we're going what we're spending money on um and and like as all this technology um shifts and changes over time too someone who's helping to bring that into schools in a way that you know when when you give you know if we put this on Regina's job responsibilities and said and you're going to do energy management too just like a little bit gets done when someone is is just focused on that it's it's way more powerful so that's exciting we have uh preschool information night is tor night which is a virtual um welcome to families and that is at 6:30 um kindergarten information night's coming up on the 23rd that's also virtual uh on Monday we had a great we're going to hear from kott here momentarily we had a great teaching and learning event we had um lots of parents come and and hly did a great job of sharing the vision for teaching and learning at kott U it was actually really cool to to kind of be part of that conversation Glover is next week and Cunningham as well so th those events have been nice to have a kind of an informal forum for people to come in and and talk and engage and I think a lot of parents are used to coming into to school events and there's a kind of a big presentation and this has been more of a kind of sit in a circle kind of thing and just kind of talk about and engage and and vision together which is I think a neat opportunity to to partner together and and look ahead um that's my update okay great thanks any questions yeah questions for Peter okay thank you am my second so yeah that's the main event uh thank you all for coming to night thank you for having us nice to see you all I'll introduce everybody in just a moment do a big screen right here no I'm sorry yeah we're looking at the version that's not I put a shortcut wheel this over a little bit so you can see that better short yeah yeah exactly exactly yeah School Comm m is in your folders it's the shortcut I took the other one out of the folder and put a shortcut into the folder for this presentation okay because it's slightly updated it was updated so good evening uh thank you all for having us um my name is Holly con Canon I'm the principal of the kic Cott school and it's my pleasure to come present to you tonight again um for our with our School site council tonight uh I have a few of our team members here Katherine peralt is our kindergarten teacher and she'll speak to tonight about primary phonics Margot tany is our community representative and has been on the school side Council longer than I have we appreciate you um Ellen Lohan our assistant principal and curriculum coordinator and Olivia McGrath who is a French and English teacher um and you can talk more about yourself in a little bit but okay graduated Milton Public Schools French immersion and a current teacher with us so we're really proud of our staff so these are just some of our members here um we have a strong team we meet monthly and um with a lot of meetings in between as well and emails and communication but as a team we've come up with the mission statement and I know um you have it and you can project it and we shared this the other night at um the teaching and learning meeting and although I can't recite it word for word we know this Mission and we live by this Mission and it was something that was grafted by our school um site council with input from um many other subcommittee so we have a commitment to academic Excellence as all schools do we have high standards for ourselves for teachers and for students we have a dedicated and creative staff and they're committed to maximizing the individual potential of each child through a wide variety of challenging activities and experience we strive to provide a strong academic foundation and a love for learning in a secure safe and stimulating environment that values individual differences and we truly believe this encompasses academic Excellence personalized learning and of course Equity so I wanted to share a little bit about our school as we do every single year this year we um we put side by side the numbers from last year compared to the numbers from this year so last year we had a total of 584 students spread out over 29 classrooms this year we have 621 students spread out over 30 classrooms so we had an additional kindergarten classroom uh that we planned for in June of the summer um and luckily we have a very flexible staff member who Moved set up and got ready to teach kindergarten in a classroom that's not built for kindergarten but has definitely made it work um we have a 37 additional students so although we have one additional classroom we have 37 additional students which means that our class sizes have increased um this year we've received 15 new students in grades 1 through 5 and our K our kindergarten and third grade classes they have the large class sizes this is the first time in my career as a principal that we've had kindergarten numbers this large so we average um 23 or 24 per class um when all in all students are included so it is probably the highest in your career as a teacher um but it's we're handling it and children are learning and active each and every day so doing our best with um what we have we typically try to keep our classes to 22 can Garden first and second grade um and then you'll see them increase in the upper grades right now it's hard to Envision five and six year-olds moving into Milton and having a lot of choice in colic Cott because we are now at Max so we're currently um working together as a district all schools are packed in kind gard and so we're communicating all the time as new students come in we just got one yesterday um and feels like like he's been here forever it's been it was a great transition but he came yesterday so um children are ke are they're coming and we're happy to have them but we're working as a district all four principles talking about um best placements for students as they come in but the numbers in our our kindergarten class are um pretty high with little room to grow so um something we're thinking about and planning for so um I'm know that you know we have had a lot of success at cicott and um we still have tons of room to grow but people ask a lot about our success and um with without a doubt the number one piece of our success is our staff um so miss Lohan's going to talk to you a little bit about um some data about our quot staff so we are are very lucky to have a school with an excellent staff a veteran staff sorry a veteran staff so we wanted to think about our staff we feel as though we know everything about our staff but the best way to learn more is to ask so we sent out a survey just to learn a little bit more and to quantify what we know about our staff one of the most interesting things that we learned is our average unit a teacher has 19.7 years of experience so when you translate that into a classroom that is Bound for Success we have teachers who've taught different grade levels they know the end product we have kindergarten teachers who've taught fifth grade before we have fifth grade teachers who've taught kindergarten and everything in between So within our unit a we have an average of 19.7 years of experience so even some of our teachers that we think are newer now have eight years of experience and we don't know how that happened time is truly flying by um 100% of our unit a staff are highly qualified so this means that they have all of the certifications through desie even those hard to find licenses including um severe lure for special education we always seek out candidates that have the lure that's needed for the job and we're lucky to say 100% of our staff do we're also very lucky with our Unit D staff we have had a very very conscientious effort to recruit the best candidates we are lucky at kic Cott school to house our neck and partner program so with that program we have three classrooms when I started at kic Cott in 2012 we had one classroom so this program has grown and this partnership with the New England Center for Children keeps children who potentially would spend a lot of their day on a van or a bus traveling to South burrow Massachusetts here in Milton so we are very lucky to house this program that really works on specific skills including discret trial trial and ABA skills Associated mostly with autism but some other diagnoses at time as well so with this program we tally have about 21 additional unit D or educational assist assistant staff members and they have excellent credentials and this is one of the only positions we see turnover and we don't see turnover because they're unhappy we see turnover because they are becoming special Educators with that severe license they are becoming speech pathologists they're becoming board-certified Behavior analysts and we Holly and I have made a commitment along with Danielle Wetmore our director of special education to really Foster these individuals some of them are giving up they're not taking a lunch so at their lunch they can Shout a teacher that has the lure that they want some of them are staying after school and working with our bcba so they can get those supervision hours to obtain their license we learned through the numbers that 100% of our Unit D have participated in highquality professional development this year but 55% of our unit are currently working actively to pursue a higher degree so in the field of education so that's something we're really proud of and being flexible that we can help them to get to the next level of their career and and actually I see Katherine peral is here she was a Unity staff member she's now our kindergarten teacher she's a leader on her team our grade level facilitator I started as a substitute and a Unit D member so I really think there's a commitment to helping people who are interested and committed to doing the work which means at night they're going to take their masters they're doing classes coursework on nights and weekends but we're committed to helping people to advance their career and even with our um unit a staff 94% of our staff either want to remain in a their position currently and retire from that position or they're interested in continuing to advance their career so we have many people who are pursuing different certifications special Educators becoming reading Specialists classroom teachers interested in math specialist reading interventionists so we have a team with great experience as the data shows but they're also very committed to moving their careers to the next level and you'll be able to read I know you all have the presentation some of the things they shared personally in the survey and we just kind of asked the question anything else you'd like to share and people really opened up about how the people that they work with make their job a really special place to be they talked about how they're interested in additional certifications things of that nature so we learned a lot about our staff we thought we knew them well and then we asked and they answered so we learned a lot about our staff through our survey but I think we just feel increasingly lucky to have the staff that we have nobody is resting on their Laurels people are participating professional development and advanced degrees so we are very lucky and we want to continue to push our Unit D staff as we've have been to pursue the next step in their career we learned a lot about some staff members who have some aspirations we weren't even aware of so we're excited to continue this work so Margo um I was lucky enough to meet Margo a long time ago as a curriculum coordinator and I was supporting Janet Chan when she was the principal and I joined School Council and Margo hasn't left and we're not letting her so um Margo's going to talk to you a little bit about the kico community which we believe is is the second piece to the secret of our success um good evening everyone um I um taught myself for 35 years in situ um kindergarten in first grade and loved every day and I'm so glad to be here at colot and be involved in the community um we have uh I my husband and I have two children and Melissa and Jay and they both went to kic Cott and they loved loved loved kic Cott as we did so I'm going to share with you how kic cot's Community engagement Works um we start off with family in school Holly and Ellen have been an amazing partnership at kic Cott the way they strengthen the partnership is through um consistent monthly meetings and consistent weekly newsletters um deib um is the committee that meets monthly at 7M and it's a virtual meeting the monthly meetings create and sustain an educational opportunity in which all students are provided an inclusive challenging environment that enables them to achieve their fullest potential School site School site Council meets monthly after school the the monthly meetings planned for academic excellence and high standards for administrators teachers and students the unity project this used to be called meet the artist um and cicott caregivers who um are parents relatives or neighbors um enter the classroom to enhance student learning by providing a new providing New Perspectives opportunities um for reflection and Pathways to action and other activities are before and after school programs math leag science fair book fair digital citizenship and World read aloud day and we'd like to invite you all to World read aloud day to come read a book it's great more to come children love it it's perfect um cicott engages the community with these um activities so next thanks Marco um Olivia McGrath again um Milton public school graduate and a French immersion teacher is going to share a little bit about uh the way our systems and operations are working at kic Cott um it's my pleasure to be here tonight and I feel like kic Cott runs like a well oiled machine um just based on how highly communicative you've heard uh we are as a staff and administration um we have really an open door policy I feel like I can go in and speak to anyone about anything and I think that really speaks to who we are as a staff but within that we do have some school-based teams we have our student support team where we discuss academic um needs of students and how we can make them more successful in the classroom we also have the behavioral health Team which focuses on the social emotional component of the student so we really are always looking for ways to support the whole student um and even casually I know that we'll meet um just based on teams and uh as a staff and if I if we're having um any issues or any uh areas of focus we discuss it and we we want to know how we can improve with students so um we also have the Dei as you've heard and of course the site Council um meetings we have weekly um meetings for the lunch and recess teachers um who really know our students well and it's really nice to see when they can come into a classroom and support us and students know them and they know the students by name so there's a real Focus there on community not just in the school in the classroom but when they're on the recess yard when they're um in the halls of school so there is that really nice sense of everybody knowing the students um we have monthly PBIS meetings um to support students and positive reinforcement we have our colic Cott um Cardinal compliments which I think I might have given out like a hundred today you I have like a stack like this on my desk um and we meet weekly um uh for common planning time as uh staff team based uh staff and uh special education meetings as well um when it comes to hiring there's a really um important focus on a team-based approach so everyone's welcome to put their input in there's um there's a lot of respect for what the staff has to say and as you can see the staff likes to share how they feel and everyone has a lot of good things to say about kott um uh but there's a lot of uh for growth as well and um even like uh no matter what position you're in there's a opportunity for growth uh and within that there's professional development that's really targeted and focused on um areas of success for all staff um and within our own staff we have a focus on diversifying and diversity uh I work on the French em in the French immersion program and I can tell you that uh within that staff alone we have an extremely diverse cultural staff as well as life experience and within our school um we I could say the same thing so uh there's a lot of richness that that brings to our positions um and there's we also focus on um Community um partnership we have uh relationships with Milton high school and Milton Academy the Milton public public library has been a huge supporter um and they are always uh here showing our kids different ways to access books and opportunities we also have a therapy dog named Gracie who visits and um of course the CPAC special ed so um there are a lot of things happening at cicott but all of which are are great thanks Olivia so we want to talk to you tonight about goals that may sound a little bit familiar but we've tweaked uh them a little bit over the years according to our needs and our goals so of course with academic Excellence we will always work to strengthen our systems and supports for high quality teaching to support academic and social growth for all students with the focus on our lowest performing students but I will tell you that we also are consistently talking about how to enrich classrooms as well um our goal to colcot staff will continue to develop early literacy learning with the focus on Phonics through personalized learning and goal three our staff will uh maximize opportunities to engage students families and community members with the focus on Equity um an example of that today I just would like to thank uh the families who came out this morning we had a coffee for the unity project where we brought all the books the supplies the materials and people have signed up to do them had a chance to hold the books and um talk to our Equity lead about the project and just become more um familiar with the project before they come into the classroom we also have meeting tonight that's virtual it's being led by our art teacher and Equity lead Laurel granini so a morning in person and a nighttime virtual um so that we could offer support for all so the first goal academic Excellence um here you see a picture of a team Kramer grade 2 French working with a small group and our goal here is really um if we achieve this goal we'll see increased opportunities in school-based programs which will result in academic achievement and growth in some ways that we hope to do that will continue to increase opportunities for all student students right now we have a great participation in adaptive art adaptive music and adaptive physical education these are separate classes for children with significant need but also the same children will go to one of these classes for a second time during the week with their peers so having this adap adaptive opportunity prepares children gives them a preview of what's to come and many of them are able to access the gened EXP experience as well we continue with our positive behavior intervention systems we have monthly assemblies and we recognize students daily especially Olivia um with uh Cardinal compliments and those are given out by all of our staff including our lunch and recess teachers so there's consistent language and consistent recognition every Friday we announce the Cardinal of the week we pick right out of the envelope um and one lucky kcau Cardinal gets the Cardinal the week certificate for each grade level it's a big deal we continue to use the second step program for social emotional learning um this starts with our newsletter for language for all families and it's included in our morning announcements which we film typically the day before and um teachers can watch the announcements at a time that works for them and this is in addition to the classroom lessons that the teachers do again we talked about our therapy dog Gracie um we have a speech therapist named Katie Egan and her mother who is a retired teacher and a retired nurse nurse and she was my kindergart teacher um brings her dog to see the kids and this is happening Weekly right now so um we have a lot of children who really look forward to that visit we try to be timely and consistent with communication from myself and Ellen um also our curriculum coordinators are constantly in touch with us giving us information for our newsletters for our staff but also for our families um the col cot after school sessions um really build upon um lessons learned in school but also give children an opportunity to experience something that's might be non-school related um which might include pear beads or karate or nature walks or kickball um we hope to find a way to continue offering Beyond thebell uh programming for targeted students um so that's something that we're we're going to have to get creative with this year but it's something that we hope to continue to do we have a really strong grade five student council um with a really fabulous agenda this week with meeting with Natalia Perez from Food Services um they really want ice cream back I don't know that that's happening but it's the goal um so grade four and five um will continue to um Implement a model where students are able to visit other classrooms for um specific learning so in fifth grade all uh students will have at least two teachers so a Home Room teacher and then a science teacher and then if they have French immersion they'll also have a French immersion teacher um again the goal is to get ready for middle school but now that's trickled down to fourth grade where fourth grade teachers are they're really strong team they plan together not weekly they plan together daily and they share students now um so students are again getting the benefit of two teachers um we are doing our best at including children as much as possible some children in our substantially separate programs are more ready than others so they're included at their uh Readiness level and we're also um working on reverse inclusion where students from the Gen Ed classrooms are going to are substantial substantially separate classrooms um and we're at the point right now where I have to tell children no they all want to go especially for indoor recess um to work just I say no because it's a management thing that's all um but we're working on a systematic approach to that um we have all grade five students have applied for um and received a job these jobs include things like schools like uh student council classroom helpers recess helpers um custodial helpers so um we'll continue to do that because we believe it helps build uh their confidence which results in academic excellence and of course um I will continue this year as I started last year um working on students who are chronically absent and um you know we spent a good amount of time talking about that today and really thinking about why children are absent and how we can help them make up for any lost learning time this second goal around personalized learning again if we achieve this goal students will engage in educational experience that take into account the specific strengths interests and needs of each student um this picture here is our it's from our grade five toy fair and when we talk about personalized learning wow these children were if this was a stem Pro project using uh recycled materials and students were allowed to design a recycled toy and we had a toy fair right before the winter break um families came in and the rest of the school came to see the toys and the level of Engagement in this project was very impressive and fun so we will um continue using the new models for science and social studies in grades four and five that I just talked to you a little bit about we hope to increase support for stem and Project Lead the Way having um a coach for Project Lead the Way in Sarah Dy has been really helpful this is a very rigorous program it's a lot of material prep and um Sarah who's with us and Jen who's with Clover and Tucker have done an amazing job at preparing materials to make it more accessible for teachers but also pushing in and making it um less overwhelming for teachers who may be a little intimidated by it uh again we hope to continue beyond the bell as part of our cast program we do offer a homework club and we've really targeted students who would attend that and who would benefit from a teacher helping them with their homework rather than family members we'll continue working with Continental Math League this is an old school program that has been at colic Cott since I came um and it's something it's it's a great piece of enrichment for the for children who are ready for it it's a rigorous math um experience but we set it up in a way that all children can access Continental math so it's not not always like a meet um some children will do it in a small group with another teacher they'll do it in pairs but they're all accessing higher level math thinking again we continue with Ace our fifth graders give up recess once a week um they've applied to be in a an enrichment situation um and again our our teacher Laurel Bernini Bernini um Services those students there Laurel Bernini is also working on the unity project which I'll talk a little bit more um in the next slide and uh we'll continue with homework clubs science fairs art shows we'll continue celebrating our differences our fourth graders have a unit coming up soon we hope to continue with the field trips that we have been participating in for all of our K to5 students our assemblies um will again we use our student council they make some pretty big decisions in our school and they really uh tell us what the kids want and um so we're helping they're helping us make better decisions so that our children are more engaged and interested and um this year we're really focusing on uh phonics in our primary grades in a way that feels different than in previous years and Katherine's going to talk a little bit about that so um you know last year we highlighted our fifth grade model and this year we're going to talk in just a few minutes about the primary phonics Focus so our focus on Equity the result is students families and communities uh they'll feel and community members will feel more connected and have more opportunities to engage and particip ipate in school events I do want to take a minute to uh talk a little bit about the pictures here um here we see two staff members supporting adaptive art and um the first staff member on the left is Molly and Molly will be a candidate to be a bcba at the end of the school year but she's currently one of the unit DS that we spoke about and Grace Kennedy um is also supporting uh the second student and she is a newly certified teacher um finishing out the year with us but is now than what I mean the experiences she's had it depends what day you ask her what she wants to do she wants to do it all and she can do it all um but that's just highlights some of the things that we started to talk about with their staff so when we think about Equity um Laurel Bernini are our teacher in our Equity lead is making a difference this year it feels something is different this year and I think it's um Laurel being in the position and being supported U by fa by um Miss sheor and also by Cyrus Rivers I think there's a clear team approach to the equity work and um Laurel has really really taken a lead in our school with this um she is she took on the unity project as one of her pieces she is an artist but she also is very passionate about the materials in the books that have been chosen and um she's very willing to give her time to make sure that it's successful Laurel also is part of her Equity lead position started a new Instagram site for kic cot it's something that I honestly wanted to do for a long time and I would sometimes feel a little envious of other schools who were able to have these beautiful pages but I just didn't feel like it was something that I could manage or sustain and I was so afraid to start it and not do it right and then give it up so I never did and as it was Laurel's idea to start one and um if you follow us and you should um you'll see what's happening you'll understand what we're talking about because she has a lens of equity on for the Instagram page and um she's really highlighting some pretty magnificent things that are happening um I do think our diversity Equity inclusion and belonging committee is also um very strong and again very appreciative of Adena and Cyrus for coming to meetings um fa is a little bit busy right now but she was uh really helped us launch the school year and we felt a consistent presence on Thursdays from the whole team but could always talk to them throughout the week as well um We are continuing to plan what we hope our culturally competent assemblies um in communicating special things in our newsletter on a regular basis um we're really accessing our students in their families to help us with that so you may see students on the announcements um celebrate uh talking about a tradition that they have in their family you may see uh parents who send in video clips and we include those in our newsletters and in our newsletters we'll continue with our kindergarten in grade five boohoo yahoos we celebrate or we commiserate um either way it's something that we've been doing with kindergarten for a long time and we started to do with our grade five families um two years ago or three years ago and now it's a part of our moving on ceremony where we invite Pierce Middle School staff to come down greet the families have coffee um with the families before I'm moving on ceremony so it's just it's a nice transition activity um we have Spotlight months for traditions um and special cultural events to share um we'll continue with our Gatherings the way we meet at cicott really depends on the meetings that we have school site Council we always do right after school a lot of our teachers want to participate but have to go home to families in our dib meetings um the team agreed that at night virtual was best for them so we continue to do that um we have so many opportunities for families to come in and engage with our with our kids and you've heard about some of them already we have other things like mystery reader digital citizenship day in the past World read aloud again coming in February you're all invited and um using accessing volunteers from Milton high school and Milton Academy we have been working with Milton Academy since I've been at col c um and we have consistent volunteers come on a weekly basis um it was last year and the year before we're in Milton high school started to um give us a community service day and I know that's not easy to schedule but we've really found a way to maximize our Milton High School volunteers as well um and it's so great to see so many Milton high school students working at our after school program so um I've talked a lot about a lot of things and I tried to do that quickly but one thing uh we want to make sure to highlight this year is our focus on Phonics in um the primary grades because there does seem to be a little bit of um clear energy and Buzz around from our primary teachers both French and English so Katherine our kindergarten teacher is going to talk to you about that thanks olly um you know serving as a teacher rep at school state Council for the past five years has given me you know a lot of great Insight on the amazing things that go on within our school you know last year I know we highlighted the grade five model I'm happy to be here to share our focus on early literacy this year um this year feels different I agree you know I think there is a pivotal um difference happening within our primary grades specifically revolving around literacy and phonics um and I think recently you know with so much Focus behind the science of reading and how children learn how to read you know this year we have in kindergarten grades 1 and two implement mented the youly phonics program um which as a teacher can be scary you know when you're teaching new things um but when you come together as a team you really find a common ground and I think right now our teams have been so consistent in collaboration and working to grow whether it's learning together I mean we wouldn't be teachers if we didn't love learning right um so it's been great to see and I think you know we all know that early literacy is the foundation for a child's lifelong academic success and I think as a primary as primary grades we are focusing heavy on Phonics instruction um and our main goal is to use ufly in combination with our current reach for reading curriculum in order to develop some pretty strong skills in our youngest Learners um it's been great to see I'm looking at a lot of kindergarten friends on the screen right now but I think you know the secret to the success is the commitment from our staff um you know classroom teachers are collaborating with other classroom teachers we're collaborating with instructional assistants and reading Specialists and and early literacy coaches you know as a kindergarten teacher I work directly with Lauren vanor our early literacy coach and I'll tell you she never misses a common planning she is there to support and I know in grades one and two they feel the same about you know our reading Specialists and we are constantly working together in order to plan thoughtful lessons and you know we're analyzing data and and we're doing what we need to drive our instruction to best meet the needs of all of our students and you know with the help of of a great program like youly that's amazing but you know the commitment from our staff I think is is something to be celebrated and I feel really lucky to be here to explain that to you all today um you know the growth that we've seen in our students I think is tremendous you know since the beginning of the year I've seen increased confidence I've seen increased engagement and we're seeing measurable growth within reading itself you know um I have a lot of organic conversations with my friends in education but um I was actually thinking about some of the conversations that I was having with my friends in the corporate world you know when they always ask me you know how's work going and and I get to tell them all the amazing things we're doing and as I'm looking at these photos and I see my kids and and they're reading words they're writing words they're reading sentences and and writing sentences and when I have these conversations with my friends that aren't in education their immediate response is Katherine we we weren't reading in kindergarten and and it's true I was not reading in kindergarten and I think it just speaks volumes to what these students and um what these students are able to do when given the tools you know our staff is so committed to not only teaching these students how to read but also to provide them with the tools that they need to do so effectively and and I think that's really special you know I think we are all working to master a new program and uh within that Mastery you know I know multiple grade levels are focusing their professional practice goals around youly and phonics instruction um it just shows the commitment that our staff has to our students um so I think that's definitely something to be celebrated um and I'm I feel very lucky to be here today to explain that to you all I really do so you thank you and we know that everyone on this table has had the opportunity to look at Data before so we don't plan to go into everything but we are available for all questions um the first slide after the kic cut data slide is just our spring 2024 I ready data which makes me very happy when I see all of that green but when I see some of the red I'm actually excited about it too because those are students who may be typically we in our substantially separate programs and they weren't accessing I ready or assessments before on the computer and the amount of um teachers who will say let's get so and so working on I ready I think they could sustain doing this test that's really exciting to us and based on their IEP and where they're at they might be too levels below if they're in grade five but getting them on there getting exposure to grade level content and finding a great plan of what math skills we should be targeting using these same tools is really exciting we have more students um taking the mcast on the computer than ever before so we are having children who may be typically were taking the alt transition because they are ready because of experiences like this using the Chromebook to do I ready to do Dibbles and to practice using I ready not just the assessment and practice using boost through their clever account having this experience with technology it's been exciting and it's been exciting to see students who we may have thought the MCAS wasn't the best choice for them to take it in the same fashion as their peers but they're actually making great progress and we're getting great data from that so that has been something that's been exciting to see so our first slide shows how we ended the year last year which was very strong um you could see a lot of green and especially as students get older we see more green as they have more familiarity with the concepts and by using technology as a tool um then we go next to the fall I ready data and just so everybody I think most people here are aware but that's one of the major tools that we will use to see who is picked up by the math interventionist we're very lucky this year that we are supported by Kelly Merta um just at cicott last year we shared her with Tucker so the impact is that we have more math support this year than we did in the past so we're able to have more students receive this intervention and Kelly um has also been a strong member of our student support team which has been great she's been really being able to speak to the progress that children are making and more so than ever we're having conversations at SST saying students are getting great interventions let's give these interventions a little bit more time to work I don't think we need to assess for special education at this time and with more time in these interventions we're seeing less referrals to special education so that shows me that students are getting what they need especially when Miss Mera is working with students in grades one and two the impact is really strong I wish she had a classroom she's a great Sport and she works right out of the um little hallway by the photo copier sometimes but she doesn't complain and she's making great progress with students um we also have our Dibbles data for you in the same fashion we showed you where we ended um we see a lot of green and blue which means of on level and above level which is really great to see um in the fall the following slide kind of shows us where our work is cut out for us um I know that viu did a great presentation on the data for the mcast we have it available to you we are very proud of what we have done but even when we see little drops our teachers are not resting and saying oh okay you know that's really good or we outperform the state we expect to outperform the state because we do have a school where kids are getting what they need we have interventions we have a very veteran staff so we're always looking um down to using a stand standard analysis like for the science looking at oh okay which standards did we lose points on oh okay what that topic that's covered in third grade but comes up on the fifth grade mcast how can we creatively use that um as a review for the warm-up of our lesson things like that so just know that this is data that we look at we know it's one snapshot of a child mcast absolutely does not define a child or who they are but it's something that we look at thoughtfully when making planning for curriculum and maybe identifying any gaps in our curriculum and next steps so we can certainly speak to all of it but we know you've heard it before and on the last slide I just wanted to make sure that um we didn't forget to mention one of the most important people on our staff and that's our Administrative Assistant Miss Joanne Barker again she has been at colie cot longer than any of us maybe not you no she she so she's been um she's a you know she's an integral piece of our success um but I did want to highlight that she is someone who also consistently pursues learning um she has been really an amazing help with uh Power School also she maintains our website that's not something she went to school for that's something that she is um teaching herself uh she facilitates she's basically the principal of our cast program which is our after school sessions and she really um is consistently checking in in on um the way our school is represented by our website and she takes great pride in that and um we really appreciate her I also forgot to mention that she is the substitute coordinator for the district so her mornings start at 5:00 a.m. with every sick call from all elementary schools and she's in charge of finding substitutes so I don't know if that's a job I would enjoy but she does it and she does it well so um again just always learning and um being super helpful so just wanted to make sure that we mentioned her um and we already did mention um Miss Bernini as the equity lead we feel like these two positions are really helping our school grow so that's it in a nutshell hopefully um we didn't keep you too long but we are happy to be here we're happy to work with each other we're grateful for all of the supports the district has provided um and the thought that's gone into the positions that have been funded we appreciate that so thank you all and thank you for having us and we're here you have any questions thank you so much for wonderful presentation questions comments so you mentioned at some point that um you weren't sure about beyond the bell for targeted groups um so what is the sort of the uncertainty of what you're going to be able well I think we're hoping for funding for the program um and so that's the big piece for this school year M yeah thank you do that I had a question about um you were talking about enrollment enrollment increasing um and so for how does it work if there are say there are siblings in in in school and then there's a kindergartener that comes in and if you're AC P like how are those decisions made if there's because typically obviously we don't keep siblings in the same school is that a district level decision is that you know because I imagine that you're probably is that something you're running into now siblings are no it's not something I mean we have run into it with our French immersion seats when during years if there's a lottery um it's a true Lottery and so families may have been separated by choice if they chose to pursue French immersion um but families are typically kept together okay um and you know there are a lot of gray areas between um kie Cott and Cunningham and I actually live in one of those areas so when my children were placed they were placed in cicott but if it could have been a different year they might have been at Cunningham um and then there's also some gray areas with Cunningham and Glover and then Glover and Tucker so we do our best geographically um and that comes from central office but with the additional students who keep coming in um there's been a focus under the Le leadership of Danielle Wetmore to really look at the students the students needs and find the best placement for example if a student has English language learning needs that could be better suited at another school because there's a group that would provide really good support we have conversations like that and special education needs looking at IPS and then deciding what school might be able to offer them the the best possible um home but we are at the kindergarten um this year they just kept coming I mean September October it was a continual conversation and you know we all want to keep our class sizes low so you do your best to spread the weth so that everybody gets what they need but I believe every school might be at 22 2324 in kindergarten right now and I I know there's potential plans for next year too help out with that thanks yeah there's a there's a needs based position we just need to build on to the building we just don't have another classroom at colie cot anyway thanks I can go uh again thank you so much for uh being here for sharing all this uh fantastic I really love hearing about it um I just a couple things of note um I want to thank you now that we've got publicly the msba coming out I want to thank you particularly with all the help you did to help get us the msba kind of support from the state with hosting the tours and the walkthroughs so uh John unfortunately missed it because he came too early in the year but you were here and I just didn't want to miss this opportunity to just say you were a big big part of that I don't know if we would got without it so thank you hopefully this means your amount of building tours you have to do to to show people the challenges we're still going hopefully that stops so you can focus on on kids and learning but really appreciate all the work you do on that thank you uh I appreciate the highlighting a lot of the things you're talking about are highlighting for me at least a lot of the work we are trying to do around like the space issue and the work an has uh been Hing lead lately around the 44 Cunningham and you know the capital which we'll talk about later on and and just the real needs to kind of help improve space um and address the space challenges within your building so appreciate that um your attendance data I always appreciate you focusing on that but your attendance data is fantastic I mean it is like in the top you know in top 50 schools in the state and there's like 2,000 schools in the state for chronic apps andm and other things so you are just you're doing a great job uh really appreciate all that because we know how important all that is um a couple questions I had was you mentioned common planning time uh how much common planning time are teachers at each grade kind of able to get on a weekly basis so there's a contractual answer and then that's what's happening so do the teachers want to answer sure okay because these teams meet every day but go ahead um we meet every uh we my third grade meets for lunch every day so it kind of turns into a common planning for like 45 minutes um but we also just met today we meet weekly um for at least a half hour to 45 minute block contractually I think it's every other week yes um but we see each other much much more there are many more opportunities for common planning and I will just bring up that at kott we do have the challenge of having five classes at multiple grade levels which makes makes it more challenging to have common planning than at a school with four strands because what we're trying to do is kind of maneuver the schedule so every teacher has a specialist class at the same time however there aren't five specialty classes so the way that we've gotten creative with that at cicott has been leveraging our lunch and recess teachers our unit c teachers to cover classes and teachers will leave very targeted independent work that can be done during that time or some teachers might schedule snack time or a bathroom break or things of that nature during the time and that's the way we can get the five classes together ideally we would love all the kids to be engaged in a specialty class when this is happening but it's just not possible so the only way with five strands for this to happen outside of the lunch and recess block which we feel is really important for teachers although there are those informal touch points at lunch we want teachers to have a good quality of life and be able to have their lunch without it being a meeting time some grade level teams prefer to do it that way and we respect those wishes too but it is a challenge and scheduling is a challenge with five strands to make common planning time happen I just wanted to state that because each school has their own challenges and the schools with more strands aren't able to offer it as often if you have three strands or four strands at your school you can get a little bit more creative with it but with five strands we can only during the school day offer it that one time and that's kind of like with leveraging all of our resources we would love to have a schedule where teachers could have common planning time each and every day but with our size at this time it's just not possible I also want to mention um we have Unit C staff Unit C our lunch and recess a teachers and recess begins at 10:30 we have them come in at 10:00 and typically they'll offer coverage to mostly French teachers so that they can go to Common planning um and the thinking is you know French teachers have a little less prep time um not they all get contractually the same prep time and they get that um but our English Innovation pathway teachers get Spanish um and French immersion teachers don't get that so we we try to use our unit c aids to cover French teachers so they can attend common planning time that's very helpful um another question I had was just around um observation capacity the ability to get into classrooms and support teachers with uh their instruction and just like how many it's two administrators your school is getting bigger right you're adding more staff even and your Your Capacity is not necessarily changing and so just wondering how how many people each of you have on your kind of case load like your management in terms of supporting that many teachers and then like what does that mean in terms of like how often we are able to kind of get into classrooms to help teachers and help them kind of observe and provide feedback on their practice to help them grow so I think we both have probably about like 16 or 17 um and we are supported by other administrators in the district so some of our Special Education team members might be observed by Danielle Wetmore some of our teachers are observed by other curriculum coordinators including Christy chapeta Barbara Wright so it is a team approach um Holly and I do pride ourselves in being in and out of classrooms all the time and sometimes it's more of like an informal kind of coming in often times one of the biggest gift is we don't like when children are tardy but when kindergarten children are tardy we always walk them to the classroom because it's hard to find it when you're five so we walk them and I always find myself staying just to see what's happening and often I'll be like oh Katherine what was that opener you were doing with the kids and we can have those kind of informal conversations we have we do also have a contractual obligation to go in and do the more formal observations um and so we do those and we use Vector Solutions as our tool to give feedback there um typically before goals are we go to Common planning time so we can see what teachers are focusing on and thinking about what resources and connecting teachers to the resources that they need but I think the hardest part for us is we go and we observe and then finding a quiet time to write it up in a timely manner and give the feedback that can be a challenge but we are really on track and seeing everybody in the time that they need but it's definitely a challenge you can have the best laid plans and then you're called to support in another area so you have to observe on a different day but we're making it work and sometimes I'll be in a classroom and I go oh man I wish I brought my computer this could have been the observation because we're just in and out all the time I think what's been helpful is that we've been given the opportunity to look at the lists and strategically take on grade levels so it's more manageable when you're thinking about grade level goals and our teams have really worked hard on having common professional and student learning goals so that's been really helpful um I sat in on a common planning time with first grade and I watched teachers look at phonics data and so I was sitting in on common planning but it was a great opportunity opportunity for me to evaluate teachers based on a looking at student work session and so I just try to we try to maximize every moment we can IEP meetings data meetings common planning time in addition to classroom observations it is the most challenging part of my job to get that piece of it done and every single year I say I'm going to be better at this and it it is the follow through I find finishing that piece writing it up um that's the hardest part but we scramble and we do get it done I wish we had more time yeah I mean 17 is is a lot um in addition to all the operational and cultural and family engagement and communication pieces and everything else but I really appreciate thank you thank you great job thank you thank you yeah just one thing sorry I had forgotten my thought and it just came back no but I I wanted to just thank you for bringing in the uh data on the survey you administered um I think we often don't get to sort of get get that level of information in terms of even tenure how long your teachers have been there and that you know know sort of it's not then surprising that your results are what they are um so it's um it's great to have that snapshot of who's in the building and uh what they're pursuing right and this sort of hunger for continued growth and learning I think um speaks volumes to the culture you you've you've set and and the folks that are in the building um and so um I just wondered if you know there's an opportunity to share that survey across the different uh schools so maybe you know somebody doesn't have to recruit it's like you know there's a survey definitely um the four Elementary principles we do have our own little chat going constantly and tomorrow at 9:00 a. the four of us will meet together and I'll be sure to share it with them it was honestly something we did to get ready for our teaching and learning um meeting and it what I asked them to do it on a Friday at 2 o'clock and um like Friday by 5:00 we had most of what we needed and a few people asked if they could still do it and um when we share the data with the teachers at the staff meeting on Monday they began talking more and said oh I wish I said this but what I meant was this and um it was really really good talk and it helped us be ready to do the teaching and learning meeting on Monday night um so it was I mean things are going well at colcot and it definitely is connect connected to our low turnover rate is no mystery we're very lucky to have out great I feel like every site Council presentation is exciting because there's always something that I have that thought you know wow like this is something that would be really great if it could be shared if it could be expanded and I feel like it's an exciting time because we have this relatively newer Focus on systems districtwide so I actually feel like hopeful that there could be good opportunities to and I know with the um the focus on HR for the district um the you know I actually feel like that sounds like doable thing to do um and I was also going to highlight that piece that you raised Selena but also I was so um just admiring and appreciating of the data you're sharing around your Unit D um folks in your school and just not only retention but advancement and how sort of intentionally you're supporting their advancement I think that's awesome and that right there is like a needs to be a district-wide strategy if you know um more than it has been and hopefully as we have a full-time director of HR going forward that can become something that we are really investing in as a district and you're modeling for us like how that can really pay off so thank you so much that's really that is our summer work Unit D is our summer work so we may have the few hires that we do have to make over the summer for unit a they're very competitive and I know you've all served on a hiring committee or I've been on the other side um it's it is rigorous but we don't have as many unit A's um to fill but unities is always it's always something that we have to pursue and I think that we are have a very targeted eye um these are important jobs these aren't like let me try out education like these are some of the most important people in our building and they really make the day for many children so we take it seriously and I think we've learned from experience um and again we've been very grateful and I think finding and growing our staff is something we're really committed to yeah I completely agree with the points both you made around just the importance of the survey the connection of that to the again the HR director position to just build capacity to a point Peter you made earlier about the other position so that all these things are things we can just make sure we're putting more time into hear hear greater voice uh amongst our staff through some type of formalized survey the other piece is like the goal you mentioned around staff diversity because I think within the district that is definitely a place we are not we are not excelling at can do much much better and we know the impact that that can have on our students of color to have those experiences of educators of color within their building and so I think the goal for um kikot but also just for us and the district as a whole of how we do that and how we can leverage kind of the additional investment within an HR director position um as we kind of talk about the budget so the connection to all those things I think is really important thank thank you so thank you so much thank you for having us thank you amazing work and safe um is it Wednesday February 7th theth you'll hear from me we hope to see you it's it's definitely one of my favorite days at kic Cott and we have Wednesday the we try to um you've been there it's so amaz everybody needs to do it if you're available I I'll send a formal invite but it's just fun thank you good night thank you anything else under your report I think that's it all right yeah great thank you um okay so next will be the chair's report and I just have a couple of quick updates and then we'll move into um the midcycle evaluation conversation um so the first update that I just wanted to share uh um pertains to the article we submitted um about the school building committee roster um so that was at our last meeting that we um approved that article submitting that article um last night the select board had the opportunity to discuss it and I just wanted to share a quick update which is that they approved the uh they accepted the article they did offer an edit to the article which I take as a um sort of helpful clarification procedural edit um what they proposed doing was to add if you recall uh the way the article was listed which we had attempted to do um just really strictly with the language from msba to make sure that um the proposed additions to the school building committee would be aligned with what msba requires so if you recall we had added a number of non-voting positions who are staff positions that meet the requirements um the only suggestion from last night's select board meeting was that we also just add into the language of the article as written um the list of existing members on the school building committee who are or voting um the the voting members that's five appointed by the moderator two school committee and two select board appointed um and so it doesn't change the substance in any way of the article that we had proposed it it just sort of puts all the the list of all the members of the newly proposed School building committee like in one place in one list within the text of the article um so I don't um this I'm just sort of informing you that this was the discussion I don't believe that it requires us to revote um the article you know and accept that change in a formal sense because it as I'm saying it's um it's really procedural just a procedural sort of edit um that I think provides clarification um it doesn't actually change the roster does not change the recommendation that's being made is there a second also in a similar vein to that the 1.5 would be spent starting May one that wouldn't be spent prior to May they had a great they had more discussion of that article which the school building committee had presented um and I do think that was you know there seemed to be some um different understandings of the language and what's required um and they did discuss that one at more length to try to sort of bring Clarity to what msba actually requires um I I think especially because that is um my understanding from where that got left off in the discussion last night was that um there may be some um ideas about like the recommendation uh the way the recommendation uh would be worded but that's actually something the warrant committee produces not the select board um and so that was sort of where they came out on that the article that we had presented the discussion was very uh you know it was noncontroversial and it was a short sort of clarification just adding that um the existing roster to the newly proposed like um additions to the roster so um if that see if we accept that procedural edit you know generally speaking um certainly if any of you have like questions or concerns about that um then you can raise those but I don't think it requires us to um have a formal discussion or certainly not like a formal vote to accept the change does anyone have questions about that okay so I'll just follow up to let um Nick Milano know that you know we're moving forward as um with the um what was discussed last night and that seems reasonable and helpful um so that's one quick update um the other update that I just wanted to highlight I know that we all received an email um there is this Milton Health Department community health planning Forum taking place next Wednesday at the Council on Aging and we got an email from Lori Stillman who's a former school committee um now working with the um Health Department um it was inviting us as school committee members to part um attend that forum and and participate it will be um an opportunity to just hear updates from the work that's been happening um and also provide input is my understanding I am unfortunately unable to attend and have a a work conflict which was why we we were originally having our um governance Retreat that night if you recall we changed it because I have to do this other thing are you able to go I was just I was wondering if anybody is able to go and planning to go which would be great to be able to have the school committee represented there yeah I attended their meeting once during the campaign season to learn more about the town and it was great discussion so I'm they invited me to go of this year I say sure why not okay great so you're able to attend okay perfect and we bring back a report okay that's thank you B for doing that I'm glad someone is able to go and um represent us so thank you and you know certainly if anyone else wants to go you're you know we're all invited um but thank you B for being there so at least one of us will be in attendance that's great um okay so uh those are the only updates that I have under just the general treasure report um the main item that we have under here for this evening of course is the superintendent midcycle evaluation and we have in our folder a thorough um document thank you Peter for having prepared this and um shared it with us so just I guess to frame where we are um you know at this midpoint of the year so for anybody watching the meeting um you may recall that at the beginning of the school year um the school committee of course we set our goals the superintendent also sets goals for the year um it's uh helpfully framed sort of in the context of what will be the end of cycle summi of evaluation report using a framework that Desi provides um and Peter you had identified for us at that time what your various goals were in the context of focus indicators um that you would intend to to uh focus on this year so uh since you set those goals we really have not um you know we've you've been busy like doing the first half of the school year and now at the midyear point it's our opportunity to just just hear from you a check in about uh progress that you've been making as we hit this midpoint um and just for folks uh to understand sort of where this is situated in the larger process the subcommittee the evaluation subcommittee which is myself Anna and Mark uh will be meeting on February 3rd um sort of to kick off our work which will happen most in Earnest through the month of March um and that will drive towards an evaluation a final evaluation um Summit of discussion for hopefully slated for April 2nd and just a reminder um to everybody that the the reason for this this is not how we've always done it but we shifted to this last year in recognition of the timing with our elections in Milton and wanting to make sure we could could complete the evaluation cycle with the current school committee those of us who have had the opportunity to be working with you this year Peter um and that is why it's very early it's obviously uh I've had to do it in January before so this is not bad it's not the earliest but um it's helpful because it does allow all of us to be with you through the cycle from start to finish for this academic here even though it does mean your performance is being being evaluated on less than a full year um so that's also something we acknowledge but a lot more to come on that for right now we just get to hear from you um sort of where we are in the midpoint and if you want to just like walk us through this highlight anything and then um we'll have the opportunity to ask some questions I mean and it it does I mean my my vision of this is it kind of is a year of you know after town meeting is to me is kind of when it starts so when I come forward not necessarily these goals which we affirm in September but the assessment of the different standards are definitely will include all sorts of evidence from the summer from last summer in terms of work we did so just in terms of thinking about it I I think it's kind of thinking about the year starting in May and ending in April makes sense so I'm going to just go over the the different goals that we've established I'll talk a little bit about it and then um yeah happy to answer questions Etc um I can't believe we're already at mid year and uh I feel like we've done a lot and there's a lot left to do um so first goal student learning goal uh you know the really the main the main focus of the student learning goal is to put in the hands of all staff the ability to access data of all of our students to slice and dice data to be able to look at subgroup data um we talk a lot about closing the opportunity Gap and it's hard to do that when you don't really know in all the different assessments that we have where your students are in your class so one of the exciting things about um performance matters and why we we why I put this as a main goal um for me and for us this year was to is to enable our staff to to and our and our leadership as well to utilize this data dashboard and then have conversation about it as we look at all the systems change that we're making this is going to be a a a key piece of of moving us to where we want to go um so we had initial training U uh and we talked about this in a little bit in October when we talked about mcast um with and follow up um support to teachers to help them understand what the dashboard is how to use it there has been and you can chime in anytime you'd like to um guess Regina Works directly with v and and others on this um on performance batters a an immediate acknowledgement from staff that wow like this is something that is really powerful and I wish I had had this a long time ago um it has enabled conversation at the um at common planning time where grade level teams are meeting and talking about their data at department meetings where where people are looking at data across different courses that they're teaching we're both teaching calculus how are your students doing how are my students doing so it's it's enabling us to engage and design structures to because like a lot is going to happen on its own organic and then there's a lot of opportunity to build structures into something like this to be able to move even further so I think we're at the point right now where people it's exploratory people are are seeing what it can do um it's impacting intervention it's impacting how teachers are designing within their class um and helping to see different parts help help helping them to see their students differently too um your encouragement it's with Peter's encouragement it's really been a focus of our professional development too um many of the half days have been spent on performance matters and helping teachers as he said explore and use that data and and we've gotten excellent feedback um from about it and from it and we've done it at the school level um and in Department levels yeah so this feels like uh you know as I mentioned I I think we've done some initial work I think there's there's so much possibility with this in terms of as we build the different pieces of our instructional framework this will be this will continue to be a really kind of central part of it because we can't to to be in the process of continual Improvement all the time we need to know where we need to focus and we also need to have a better understanding of at a really as granular level as possible with all of our assessments kind of like what the what the patterns are and there are all sorts of patterns that you can see when you start looking at your data really closely um so I I feel like this goal is is going well and u a a lot of room to to to continue to grow with um with this um so the second one professional practice school is is continuing the work to bring kind of clarity to our central office team the beginning of the year we really spent a lot of time with our two new positions um splitting our our previous joint HR and curriculum position into two um trying to understand how those two positions would operate but there's also within the district there are so many well-worn Pathways of how things are done and they're not necessarily logical and and working to not just put things on paper and say here's our new procedure for this this and this but to engage people in understanding how it works and I think when I look at this goal and I you know you can see kind of what I wrote here in terms of the the different actions that I've taken and we've taken I think one of the big things that one of the big shifts we've made this year is putting forward the expectation that we're going to when when we're working on a problem we're trying to find a solution we're not just going to contact eight different people and hope that we get the right answer but we're going to collectively in a really professional way we're going to stop we're going to engage we're going to understand who's in charge of this thing and then we're going to like make our way through so in some ways I feel like a lot of this work is is slowing people down and helping people to see and with that obviously comes the building out procedures we're working on a administrative handbook so that any principle that comes into MPS or current principles as well understand how things are done and you know right now like one principle may do things this way another principle may have learned to do it a different way they both are working right now um it may be that that one principle is calling one person and get and working on something then someone's working with someone else so we still have a lot of that kind of um I think that kind of reality that we're we're continuing to talk about as a leadership team to to kind of piece through and and really see the need to formalize that so I think that is work that is um has been impactful I I it's a lot slower than you would expect it would be and I think some of that is just the the human nature of this work and the fact that as I said it's it's it's about helping people to to work together in certain ways it's not it's not a handbook alone will not will not shift this it's it's about culture um and so I I I put a lot of um emphasis on this and at when I step back and look and see where we are even now as compared to the beginning of the year I feel like we've been through a lot of of kind of little things not like big things but um as a professional team we've been through a lot and I think we've grown a lot and I I'm I feel good about where we're where we're headed um so the the the three District Improvement goals are um directly out of the implementation plan and the intention as I mentioned previously to doing this is to this is kind of this is the focus uh this is the action plan for this year and um so you can see in District Improvement goal one is academic Excellence two is climate culture and well-being and three is facilities Finance operations and the the different work that um our action teams have done that and that I've done in in in terms of directing that work the um one of the challenges of with school in session and a thousand things coming at you at once is is maintaining a real focus on this work because sometimes it just feels like success is keeping everything running smoothly and dealing with these kind of 18 fires that came up this week and these other issues uh and it's something that this year as as we've kind of as we've worked with our action teams and have come together as a central office group to to kind of Coes and see like you know how are you doing how is your group doing how is your group doing because we're all leading different action teams U I think we've made a lot of really strong progress and I would say every action team the report from every action team is that we're doing really well I think the next step for us and I would say we're we're we're poised as we look ahead to March which is our second full professional development day which is a a big day to bring staff together we spent this morning we were talking about this and Regina is spending a little bit of time thinking about this uh I I think the the piece that we're missing right now and it's planned it's intentional U is creating product to bring back to staff to get feedback the the work that we're doing is of a magnitude where we need ownership from as many people as possible and especially from all of our Educators um as we look at you know pretty big moves and we'll be sharing some of this next in our next meeting with our second quarterly report um but we need to we need to engage staff to kind of understand what we're working on in these action teams which you know while we're sharing some information out that really only gets you so far you know you can't send email updates out and expect people to feel really connected to something so that is something that as we you know in terms of an update on this body of work collectively I think I think we're in a really good place right now but we we do have to be very intentional around how we bring our staff who shared and talked about you know all the things in the priority report that they articulated that what they wanted to work on they wanted to see change we have to figure out how to bring them into this work to help shape it and then continue and moving that work forward and some of this work as you know as if you remember the timelines it's going to go over two or three years so it's not um the end of the year is not the the end for some of this work it it continues on so that's something that I'm thinking about right now um we are talking about we're we're working to plan to to make sure that we have enough to bring to staff when we can do this in person in March um it's March 4th is that March March 4th yeah um and that will kind of be the main the main focus of um of that professional development so that's kind of just a an overview of kind of mid year where where things are right now thank you yeah questions comments I just appreciate the the detail with which you're kind of filling this in and walking us through it great very very appreciative yeah I would also just add that I think a lot of this you see evidence of it here and there just having sat now through you know this is my third year of just listening to even site Council presentations you hear some of your language and sort of your approach starting to filter through which I think you you know it's um it's good um to see that that level of evidence um so early in the process because I mean I agree with you that this type of work doesn't happen in a year or two it takes time um but if done well it really sets the district up for Progress over time yeah um and so I really appreciate that as someone who cares about systems a lot and values process more than product um I really do um I've seen it and and it's it's it's working and I hope that as a as a committee we continue to be patient and supportive of that process because it will play it will pay dividends it just takes time yeah anyone else so Amanda just since this is your first time going through this and we all this is our second time through this version of this process um which is much more rist more clear and rigorous than previous iterations of the evaluation that I observed and participated in um what you can expect in the sort of coming months is or you know and really when you return Peter in in March to share with us evidence sort of concrete evidence specific um sort of artifacts data that builds upon the detail I agree mark this is a very detailed overview um but that's kind of where go from here is just you'll continue flushing out uh kind of pointing us I guess in the direction of where we can look to assess like the progress that has been made um on on the different indicator so this midyear piece is this kind of um summarizing the progress to date and then at the end of the process we re receive like a comprehensive set of um of evidence that we then have the opportunity to sort of provide our own analysis that feeds into a collective um evaluation tool so and as I mentioned earlier it includes the standards too so it's I have a self assessment of of the four standards how I feel like I performed and that's part of what the goals kind of support those standards too okay so thank you for yeah I mean you make our jobs easier I think by being so well organized with this and um and also you know I really appreciate what you just said Selena I think that's a an important reminder for all of us um and you know I think you're um something I'm reflecting on at this table now is the way in which you um prioritize distributed leadership is really valuable um and that is something that like you were talking you know we see anecdotal data in the ways your language and priorities sort of appear within um at the school level in the site Council presentations and also you are sort of you have built a team and you're you are developing a team that allows you to do a lot of this work which is more than one person can actually achieve on their own um and that's like um I think I'm a a facet of your leadership or characteristic of your leadership as well um which you you do deserve credit for even when you know it it might be like great work you're doing Regina to plan the professional development like it's it's happening in a in a shifting culture which is um something you're driving so it's exciting to see this laid out this way can I just add something and I think it and don't know like historically how it's been done but I think for me coming in there's and I think this has sort of been a consistent theme there's a lot this shows there's a level of transparency that I don't think I've seen before um and I think knowing sort of you know having people have access to the priority report knowing what the goals are I think there's it's just common it's sort of like do it say it show it you know that's like it there's a consistency to it but even looking through you know some of this around you know working with Katie on the budget like there's a pro there's there's just there's not there aren't questions you're not thinking like what am I missing what I just I keep coming back to transparency and I think that that comes through and even just saying here's what I'm doing here's how it's here's where I am so far and here's where I'm going um is just very helpful and I think it's you know especially for me coming in um as I said not knowing how it was done before um but appreciating that that it's um there's just a lot of clarity around it which I think is really helpful and I appreciate so thank you well to be continued yes yes absolutely thank you very much thank you I mean I do I know you said like other people's work reflects well on me or I mean that I should take credit for it but I do have a great team absolutely yeah it's like all true yeah right no ever accuse him of not collaborating always drawing people in really try to support people to do I think sometimes superintendant new superintendant come in they're hired they come in and they're like in a hurry to kind of um make their Mark you know and you see this happen over and over and we know like especially in more urban districts the average 10e of superintendent is like two years so then you can't waste any time you have to get to work you have to like produce you have to show your value um and you know you're reminding us Selena as school committee members that like patience is a virtue in our work but you have a way of like holding that for yourself which is not the norm you know I don't think in your role and that's because of the way that's the environment it's like incentivizing people to just dive in and kind of but you like last year you you slowed that down your entry was so methodical and it took time it took the whole year um you know and so I think I'm I appreciate that is um it's not it's it's it's honestly like not the way that a lot of superintendant operate um and I think you're modeling then for us like how to also try and um slow down and and appreciate that and that's what we can also support modeling for the community as well right that you know so many of us are very eager to see changes improvements like things that in some cases have been a long time coming and so it's not easy always to stay patient and to take into account that that change is happening so it's not that things are are stagnant they're not they're moving right so to know that sort of we're not sacrificing progress for process ex progress is happening but you know sometimes the pace of it might not be sort of there's a perfect alignment of the two you got and it changes cuz you like move forward and then it because then the the last thing we would want is for Progress to happen but then you know sort of shifts happen in whatever and so then you can't sustain the progress and so then you got to start over and so that's not where you want to be and I think so holding on to those two is not easy but it's important in order for sustainability and for um maintaining change and progress and growth over time um so I know it's it's not easy to do but it's very important and you do you buil you're building an excellent team around you and I think you're bringing out sort of the best in folks to be able to show up and and help move the vision forward because you can't do it alone so y great well thank you so much um and that's the chair's report so next is finance uh Finance we had uh first meeting with the warrant committee uh the a subcommittee of the warrant committee I should say um on Monday which is great uh Katie did a fantastic job as did Peter to a lesser extent hated to find this well uh presented the budget to the the committee um to the subcommittee for the first time so they got that we got some initial questions but not a lot so we're trying to schedule time to meet with them at least twice uh two more times before uh school committee kind of takes its its vote on the budget we come back uh K and Peter come back with a more kind of finalized budget uh hopefully some good feedback from the Warren committee I think that is right now in our calendar for like the beginning of February so trying to fit that in so the timeline is is very tight um obviously there's also been convers ations the select board around the override and the town's portion of that budget and the override as a whole and so it seems like there was General consensus around need to kind of work towards an override uh which is positive news I think now obviously the question is what is that number um and um you know trying to work collaboratively with the select board um and obviously the warrant committee as well on that piece um it does just update y'all it does appear and the select board talked about this at a meeting December that they they don't have a finance committee uh anymore so that like part of our path within the finance was to similar to what we're doing with Warren committee have like these conversations with select board it's what we did last year um that is not we're having conversations kind of with Nick um but not with select board directly so it seems like they're kind of taking that work and doing it as whole group um at least for this year I don't know if that's their long-term plan but anyways want to make you all aware of that I know obviously Peter and Katie are having lots of conversations with the Town Administrator and the treasurer and jimy Dexter um separate from us and then kind of coming back and keeping us informed um but that's the work we have another um we're trying to fit in other meetings beyond the warrant committee to talk about this uh and kind of further provide feedback and refine it before coming back to yall um so we'll have another meeting next next week but there's there's a lot to do in order to kind of get a number that we can come here and then talk about and hopefully agree to and then there will be a lot to do even after that to you know really make sure we're aligned with the town and then sell this to town meeting and the town as a whole given it looks like we're going to need to go to a townwide boat for an override that's kind of where the planning process for the budget currently stands any anything I missed s okay got it anything on y''s end um the only thing I would like to add is the information that we presented and shared with Warren committee on Monday morning um was just the initial presentation that was shared with school committee in November and then just a a very condensed version of the um needs Spas budget we are going to post a copy of the presentation on the school committee under the um presentation link so if anyone is interested anyone that may be um watching this meeting or listening to the meeting if they're interested in just seeing the information that was shared um that will be available to the public as well so and it just details more information about how we came up with the level service budget number for fiscal year 26 and then just some of the needs that we've been talking about that are currently unfunded um it would require additional funding any questions okay that's it thank you so that brings us to policy so um for policy we just have a second reading and vote on um um sections JK and L that we reviewed at our last meeting um so I can go ahead and make a motion did anyone have any questions before no on those okay go ahead and make a motion to um approve the second reading of sections JK and L of the Milton school committee policy and procedures manual do I have a second second thank you um all in favor thanks that's it thank you is that that's the end of the policy L is L the last one um yeah it the toast I don't think any other school committee has ever gotten through it couldn't have done it with that Ste and a no Mark that's that's huge it is important to take a step back pause and celebrate it and appreciate that you were able to lead us through accomplishing that because from last year through this year because what this means is no longer will we be referring to a policy and have to look at a date at the bottom of the policy that's anything other than 2024 2025 and seriously there have been policies sitting in our book for 20 plus years that have not been updated and in some cases they were really out of date and I mean look at how many we in Jay like we we just deleted 25 it's streamlining it's modernizing it's amazing it's great clarifying and we will have accomplished a lot of things this year but this right here is one like major one yeah and I appreciate you kind of directing us to go in you know that way and say hey let's kind of streamline this and then we can always go back and Tackle policies as they come up and EXA you know spend time reviewing them but to just clean up is like we've got a good slate now to yeah it's like a fresh start the foundation that's right yeah so thank you thank you for thank you guys persistence that was a lot of work thank you for not having letting you know making me like read each individual one given it's the last one maybe we should um and I wanted to mention this a little bit earlier I really appreciate you bringing the principal updates back oh yeah the monthly ones because I think to your point um from earlier it's also to like I know we see the site Council presentations and we get the updates from each schools but to get that like monthly snapshot is so important and it kind of Keeps Us kind of up to date and fresh and like okay look at all this progress that they're making from month to month and so I appreciate you bringing that back and being able to engage with Community too when people say hey and you're like oh yeah and you kind of an idea absolutely and I think that is huge for me because you know like again to Selena's Point earlier like change takes time but people get anxious because some of the things that they've been waiting on for so long so it helps to have that information to be able to share oh did you know that we're doing this and it's it's it's great so when we're out there in the community I think it also helps us get the message across so thank you yeah thank you okay so um the last item here is going to be quick but the capital Improvement um planning committee so as obviously I represent school committee on that um we did meet in December and uh that was a pretty brief meeting which was um mostly Nick Milano walking through a um an overview of the capital requests that have been submitted across departments within the town so that includes Council on Aging Cemetery DPW uh certainly Consolidated facilities including a lot of school projects as well as Town um fire department um Health Department Parks police and then technology appears sort of separately uh both for schools and for town with their own requests so um there are total of um about $13 million in requests um for FY 26 and um where things stand right now at at that meeting um you know obviously we know that um the um request we put forward for the for additional funds on that 3.4 million to complete the renovation at the colic cot Cunningham fourth floor and Library project that that is the largest single request um in this series of requests um and so from that initial overview meeting the plan be was that at subsequent meetings there would be the opportunity to like take a deep dive into some of these larger line item requests um you know there's also like a a new fire engine being requested for example so there will be opportunities for different departments um to come before the committee and like provide more detail to the request and be able to answer questions uh we have the opportunity to be um doing this first which is tomorrow at 7 AM um on zoom and um Tom McCarthy is going to take the lead on a presentation to the committee which will just provide more background and detail um to that Capital request for the Cunningham Kpop um renovation project um we will sort of be there as a team to answer questions that may come up from members of the of the capital committee um and there will also be um I think separate from the that request um given the the timeline of the February town meeting just sort of FYI there will also be um a discussion as well of the the warrant article with the 1.5 million request for feasibility study under msba that the school building committee had presented that we had recommended as well uh that will also be on the agenda tomorrow just because um timing wise it needs to be approved by the capital committee um or it needs to be um sort of capital has an opportunity to process and make a recommendation on that um heading to the February special town meeting obviously you know the bulk of these are intended for the Maytown meeting I did Express the you know desire that we have wished to expedite this um this particular request that it is uh it it would be very helpful um to be able to have have this or have had this you know at February town meeting as well just because timing wise realistically in order to complete the project you know the Maytown meeting in Practical terms delays it another year um with the timing of Summer being able to do the work and whatnot so um you know I I understand that at this point the timing is very tight um and it you you know that may be something that can come up tomorrow um but I think the expectation at this point you know is that this has been included in the FY 26 request um so that's that's kind of where where it stands at this point um so there I you know we will bring back another report at our next meeting uh sort of to share the outcome of tomorrow's meeting but um and I don't expect you know this tomorrow is really an informational like session to help members gain understanding and have that opportunity to answer questions and um that will as I said continue like with other departments and so forth so we're not being singled out per se we are just having this opportunity um to bring further information which I think is going to be helpful any questions no just a comment I appreciate you kind of you know kind of pushing that forward to try and the sense of urgency obviously we saw tonight when kie Cod came in and presented um and the need for not having any space if we get more kids as they're getting kids daily so um so thank you so much for and excited to join that meeting hopefully it's positive and it is I know we talk about the fourth floor it's the third and fourth floor Library so it's like that's just something people to understand yep yeah right yeah and thank you Anna for you know your leadership on facilities Mark you last year like this has been I think a really important collaborative effort and you know Tom obviously was not in that in the role of director of consolida facilities last year but he I think he's definitely stepping in to um be able to like provide good leadership in helping us to uh make clear the reasons for the needs and the costs and whatnot so that'll be good and um thank you all in advance for we're trying to wrap up this meeting so we can go get some sleep before we go on that meeting in the morning so um thank you [Music] um let's see so that is our last uh agenda item before approval of minutes I um I did have a couple of like quick edits that I would just was just going to point out um to the minutes these are the minutes of December 18th our meeting um our our last meeting before the winter break um and I was just suggesting um a little clarification in the portion of the minutes page three into page four which are discussing those waren articles about uh the two different articles on the msba um you know just to make clear like which part of the discussion was about which article um so I've I detailed a couple of those edits here to just avoid being redundant and also just um one was not a binding vote that was our recommendation on the school building committee article and then the other one was a a vote that we took to make our own article submission so just those were a couple clarifications that I had were there any other edits or changes to the minutes okay so in that case um I'll make a motion to approve the Milton school committee meeting minutes for December 18th 2024 second second okay all in favor okay great thank you um our next meeting is January 22nd um we'll have the peer site Council we'll also have um quarter 2 implementation Plan update from from you Peter we will have the student representative update um we will bring back the topic of the district calendar um as we continue the process there towards approving that um we will vote on the FY 26 budget talk about the FY 26 budget and on the 22nd yeah we'll talk about it we'll talk about it okay and another thing I've noted we will it sounds like we'll be um pulling together a letter of support which I think would be something we would vote on um for that Grant application for the municipal energy manager opportunity so that's something that we'll have on our agenda y um policy I'm not sure I thought we had moved the meeting to the 28th um I think we did I see we still have an okay so we need the updated invite but we're not meeting before the next school so we will not be doing policy at the next meeting will we be doing facilities or School bu School building committee yeah Monday okay all right any other things that come up just keep me posted so we can make sure those get on the agenda other wise um we didn't quite make it before nine but it's 9:07 okay so take a um I'll make a motion to adjourn is there a second second okay thank you all in favor great all right good night everybody thank you thank you in [Music] he [Music]