[15:00] Those are not going to be talked about in this presentation. Okay, so those are our context and limitations. And now I'm going to walk you through some of our general principles of how we came up with these scenarios. So, the first thing we wanted you to know is that we sat there and we played out so many things, but we automatically removed options that were not feasible based upon hard numbers. So, we looked at enrollment numbers. We looked at the facility usage in the square footage needed.

[15:28] we looked at projected NESTC future enrollment trends, and we removed things that were just not possible.

[15:36] Like, for example, the re-elementary schools we looked at the three older ones,

[15:41] and they do not currently fit into the current middle school building.

[15:44] And so that type of configuration we just ex-nade.

[15:48] Similarly, combining six through 12th grade is over capacity for the current high school building as it is.

[15:55] And so that was another one that we ex-nade.

[15:57] So, everything here is one that is within the realms of feasible data enrollment trends

[16:02] and numbers.

[16:05] Another principle I want you to know is that our time estimates are going to vary based

[16:10] upon the type of building.

[16:11] As you can imagine, an elementary, a middle or a high school take different time to construct.

[16:16] There's also different types of actions that we are going to explain in a second, so

[16:21] you'll see repair, rebuild, and replace, kind of put a pin in that because I will talk

[16:26] about that in a second, but essentially the type of actions that are going to affect the time,

[16:30] and the size of the building is also going to affect the time, longer for a larger elementary

[16:36] school versus a smaller elementary school. Everything given at this stage, I want to be really

[16:41] clear as a general principle and it will be finalized in the cost modeling process. You'll also see that

[16:48] we did not include estimates for a new early childhood or middle school because of those building

[16:54] conditions and a recency of their construction. Additionally, we want to be very clear for the

[17:01] purposes of this slide decking conversation. When we reference something, we are talking about

[17:06] the school building, not the school community. One of our driving factors is prioritizing

[17:13] equitable student experience. And so all of the facilities strategies are talking about the buildings

[17:19] themselves.

[17:22] The next slide is just a quick summary of the baseline data, which we pulled

[17:26] for all of our numbers and calculations to see what was feasible and what wasn't. So,

[17:31] this is just there for you all to look at. It's also publicly available online.

[17:37] A few more assumptions before we get to the fun part. The current facility conditions and the

[17:43] educational adequacy index have led us to a couple assumptions that hold true across all of the

[17:50] future possible nine configurations that Josh alluded to. So one of these

[17:57] assumptions that holds true is that the three older elementary schools, the

[18:02] Green Lodge, the Oakdale and the Riverdale, need at the very least extensive

[18:06] repairs. Another assumption that holds true, the high school will need some form

[18:13] of renovation, more than just minor repairs, which will come with a price tag.

[18:18] Assumption number three is that the current ECEC is not going to change under any of these

[18:23] scenarios.

[18:24] There are just some very real constraints about certain features of the facility, such

[18:28] as the bathroom sizes, being built for small children and being hard to repurpose for other

[18:35] age groups.

[18:37] And lastly, due to their current building conditions, the facility conditions, the Avery

[18:44] school and debt and middle school are not the priorities for renovation right now, although

[18:49] you'll see some scenario where some additions or things happen to them.

[18:55] Okay. So now that we have

[18:56] all that context framed, we're going to get into my fun icons, which is how I as a former elementary

[19:04] school teacher think about things. So I want to talk to you about how we've coded the options

[19:09] and how to read these visualizations, we are going to get into school types and action types.

[19:17] So if you look at the little icons, you'll see that there is a different icon for the early childhood

[19:24] and elementary school and middle school and high school. And then on all of these nine

[19:28] configurations, we've actually coded them about the action that would happen to them. And some of

[19:34] these action words are a little bit easier to understand than others, like keep or like replace

[19:39] new or add extension like those ones I'm not going to talk through with you, but I did want to clarify what

[19:45] repair meant and what renovate means because those are architect terms and I myself needed to make

[19:52] sure I understood them. So essentially a base repair is the term that MSBA uses to define work that's

[19:58] necessary to bring the building up to code and upgrade the system. So that does not necessarily involve

[20:04] of substantial educational improvements.

[20:07] It's things like exterior work, new roofs, new windows,

[20:11] repairs existing walls, insulation, HVAC systems,

[20:15] things like that.

[20:16] Whereas the word renovation, that can vary a lot,

[20:19] but it would typically also include educational improvements

[20:23] to meet the district's educational needs.

[20:25] So that might involve rearranging classrooms

[20:27] or creating new classrooms or adding a new lab space.

[20:30] So, this word renovation also typically includes the repairs listed above.

[20:37] So, it is like repairs and changes to make it more educationally appropriate.

[20:43] So, that's code number one.

[20:45] Key code number one.

[20:47] Key code number two is our little comparative rating scale.

[20:52] So, this is something that the Rennie Center created to try to help the Fed and community

[20:56] We think about these options in comparison to each other using a common set of criteria.

[21:03] So what we're about to walk through with you every single scenario is going to have its

[21:08] pros and its cons.

[21:10] And our goal here is to maximize the DPS students' learning experience while minimizing the

[21:17] time and the cost for data residents and the town at large.

[21:21] So in this comparative rating scale, you'll see it soon.

[21:25] We try to play out all of these different criteria.

[21:28] And we want to make sure we say up front.

[21:31] These ratings are preliminary.

[21:32] They're based upon currently available research,

[21:35] district data, and facilities information.

[21:37] And that they're comparative.

[21:39] Meaning that these ratings are designed to surface

[21:41] the trade-offs with comparison with each other.

[21:44] So this is not like at large in the United States.

[21:47] this is like a inside denim, this one would cost slightly more than this one, or this one would

[21:52] take slightly longer than this one. Okay, and so our little comparative rating scale with the

[22:00] educational side where we want to maximize the effects of academics, equity, and social

[22:06] emotional well game for denim students. We have a little hand icon for SEL and equity,

[22:13] and that's basically the section that asks to what extent an option supports a sense of belonging,

[22:20] equitable access to opportunities, and resources across student groups. And then we have a little

[22:27] apple for academics, which means the extent to which an option is likely to expand access to high

[22:33] quality educational experiences. So every scenario we present will give you a number of hands and a number

[22:40] of apples under the educational comparative side and you want more hands and more apples.

[22:47] Some examples of the things we took into play and tried to quantify so that we could calculate

[22:53] our ratings.

[22:54] This is non-exhausted, but an example of the SEL and equity side is that small to medium

[23:00] elementary schools promote strong relationships so that would give you more hands.

[23:05] Medium to large elementary schools, however, can offer a wider array of services.

[23:11] The three plus elementary schools can sometimes raise equity concerns about the distribution

[23:16] of resources, and middle school usually does better social emotionally, separate from high

[23:22] school.

[23:23] So that's like examples of our non-exhausted list.

[23:26] On the academic side, new elementary spaces and new secondary spaces, positively affect

[23:32] teaching and learning. A priority is getting all elementary students into a newer building in the

[23:37] next ten years or less. Another priority for academic spaces is that the elementary school

[23:44] students are not put into secondary spaces that don't facilitate their learning as well for their

[23:50] size and age. So those are SCL equity and academic considerations. And the next section is time and

[23:58] cost factors, so this part we want less because the goal is to minimize the time and cost for

[24:05] debt and residents. So time, I think that's pretty straightforward. It's how long it takes to plan,

[24:11] fund, design, construct, fully implement the option. Cost is the relative financial investment required

[24:18] to sustain this option. So this includes facilities, constructions, operations, all these things,

[24:24] And this is where we really lead on collaborating with arrows free and ask them to weigh in and give us their calculations on time and cost.

[24:32] So some examples of the factors, again, non-exhaustive that went into this system.

[24:38] Examples of time, things like replacing a new elementary or multiple elementaries or a full high school are going to be the most time intensive.

[24:48] is constructing a building extension, which you'll see in a little bit, adds time, but

[24:53] not as much as a full school.

[24:56] And then on the cost side, you'll see kind of our like ranked ratings for money, an

[25:03] extension, a small elementary, a large elementary, and a large high school are kind of ranked

[25:08] off of which one would cost the most.

[25:13] Okay, so one last thing I promise is the last bit before we get into the options.

[25:17] I want to be really clear about something that I think if I was a dead-imparent or a resident

[25:24] would come right to the top of my head.

[25:26] I think I would automatically wonder which one is the right or the best, like tell me

[25:31] what's the right thing.

[25:33] And unfortunately, I am here to tell you that there is no perfect unicorn in this world because

[25:39] every option were about to present, like we just talked about, balances multiple priorities

[25:44] and there are pros and cons to each scenario that we're about to present.

[25:49] The way I like to view it is thinking about it as strong horses.

[25:54] There is no unicorn, but there are strong horses that balance multiple priorities well

[25:59] for the denim community.

[26:02] And so, when we talk about this, we want you to keep that in mind.

[26:05] There are so many different options out there,

[26:08] and in fact, I added a note because I thought this was fascinating.

[26:11] When you look at DETEM and you look at the 13 most comparable towns across SES population

[26:17] in the Commonwealth, there are 12 different grade configurations across their schools.

[26:25] So everyone has kind of landed on something slightly different for that best fits their

[26:30] community.

[26:31] And what we're seeking to find is the best strong horse that fits the DETEM community because

[26:36] there is no unicorn.

[26:37] one. Okay, and this is where we get into the kind of fun parts where I actually get to

[26:44] tell you about the options. So the way we play the phrase. Yes, of course. Sorry, I don't

[26:49] like you. I'm just because that was a great overview and I know you have a lot more content

[26:55] to show us, but I thought this might be a good point. I just want to make sure that everybody

[27:00] is good on sort of that introduction, recognizing the icons. So I would just give a 30

[27:07] seconds if anybody has a question. Yes, please. Yes.

[27:17] Okay. I'm going to assume that we're all good

[27:19] with that setup, which was excellent and comfortable with those assumptions and the icons and everything

[27:25] else. So take it away. Thank you. Of course. Thank you for stopping me. I just got excited to get to

[27:31] this point because essentially we have four different strategies that we thought of to try to

[27:36] address these configurations. So strategy A is essentially keeping the current model,

[27:42] keeping one early childhood, four elementary, one middle school, and one high school.

[27:48] And we coded it as saying, all right, there is strategy A. Oh, can I go next? Are you all seeing next?

[27:55] Oh no. Are you seeing my screen? Is it going next for you all?

[28:01] We are seeing your, there you go. We do. Okay, great. Now we're at base line model.

[28:06] Strategy A. Perfect, baseline map. Okay, thank you so much. So, strategy A baseline model,

[28:10] thank you, Nan, is essentially exactly what DETEM has been trying to do so far, which is keep

[28:16] the ECEC, keep the Avery, repair the three older elementaries, keep the middle school,

[28:22] and in some ways try to renovate the high school. So that should not be that confusing,

[28:28] but here's where I wanted to explain the icons that we would give that strategy.

[28:34] So as you can see, we have given it one hand, one apple sign, three clocks and two dollar

[28:41] signs.

[28:42] And the reason behind that, we wanted to make sure we tried to give you like a primary

[28:46] reason that drove that rating.

[28:49] So the primary driver is essentially that these small elementary schools promote a sense

[28:53] of belonging, yes, but they have also led to inequitable resource distribution and more

[28:59] limited access to student services and supports.

[29:02] On top of that, these spaces are small.

[29:05] There are few places for students to do group work, breakout work, community spaces for learning activities,

[29:12] and on top of that, the high school has outdated amenities such as their science labs.

[29:17] The time, if we maintain the status quo, means that these repairs need to be phased out over time,

[29:23] extending the timeline for finishing the work in all these schools,

[29:25] and the cost of maintaining three

[29:28] elementary that are in a critical condition

[29:30] and renovating the high school

[29:31] is also going to cover the baseline cost

[29:34] and likely no MSBA funding.

[29:37] So that's strategy A1.

[29:41] Strategy A2 was okay,

[29:44] what if we keep that baseline

[29:46] but instead we replace the three elementary schools.

[29:51] And what we did with this rating

[29:53] is we said, okay, small elementary schools,

[29:55] Again, great for sense of belonging, but can lead to inequitable resource distribution.

[30:03] The new academic spaces would add an apple to this, and on top of that, the renovated high school would allow for more up-to-date learning environments. However, if you can see the time in the cost, building three new elementaries is going to be very time intensive, and it will need to happen in phases. And on top of that, it will cost quite a lot of money. So that's what we came up with strategy A.

[30:28] strategy B was, okay, what if we consolidated these elementary schools? And what we wanted

[30:38] to make sure we clarified is the data behind this. So we selected this strategy because

[30:44] there is general community support behind it. This is from that community survey that

[30:49] Renny had referenced earlier. We found general support for new consolidated elementary school

[30:55] buildings. In fact, when survey respondents were asked what are the most important elements

[31:00] of an elementary experience, the three most selected options were 52% saying up-to-date

[31:07] modern school buildings, and the next two saying access to a broad range of teachers and staff

[31:12] and a wide range of enrichment opportunities which happens through consolidation.

[31:19] The other piece of data is when we ask about strategies that people preferred to address

[31:25] educational models. Over 60% of the respondents supported, meaning they clicked, they preferred,

[31:31] or strongly preferred, large, consolidated schools. So that's how we came up with strategy B.

[31:39] And strategy B could look a couple different ways, which I will walk through.

[31:45] Oh, option one, strategy B, option three. I, elementary consolidation, where we keep the ECEC,

[31:53] We keep the Avery. We have to replace with a new big elementary school about 750 students

[32:00] to fit everyone that couldn't fit into the Avery building. We keep the middle school

[32:05] and we renovate the high school. So this is, I think of this as like big school, strategy

[32:11] B, big school. Here is our ratings. So we gave this two hands because a large elementary

[32:18] school makes it more difficult to establish that sense of belonging and to find all of

[32:23] those connections and supportive relationships that you could in a small to medium school.

[32:28] However, it does enable connections with more resources.

[32:33] Academically, up-to-date learning spaces, three apples.

[32:37] The time, we would only need to build out one new elementary, and so it would be relatively less time

[32:44] intensive than building multiple editions or multiple new schools. And as for the cost,

[32:50] building only one new elementary is less costly than funding multiple editions in schools,

[32:55] although a large school would cost more than a small or medium sized one.

[33:01] So that's B3. Here's B4. Keep the ECEC, keep the Avery, and build two small elementary schools,

[33:10] about 350 students each.

[33:13] Keep the middle, renovate the high.

[33:15] Very similar, but instead of having that one big one,

[33:17] we now have two mediums small.

[33:21] Here are the ratings.

[33:23] We said two hands, three apples, but three dollar signs

[33:27] and three clocks.

[33:29] The primary reasons behind that

[33:30] are that small elementary schools

[33:32] do promote a sense of belonging.

[33:33] However, we are again looking

[33:35] at that equitable distribution of resources

[33:37] and the more limited access that those smaller populations would have to

[33:42] student services and supports. However, it would be great academically. New

[33:47] spaces, a renovated high school building, up-to-date learning environments.

[33:51] The cons, building two new elementaries is time-intensive and quite costly.

[33:59] Strategy B, option 5, we said what if we added an extension to the Avery and then

[34:06] and built a medium sized new elementary school

[34:10] that was around 500 students,

[34:12] kept the middle renovated the high.

[34:15] So this one we said three hands,

[34:18] three apples, two clocks, two dollar signs.

[34:21] Essentially the medium sized school

[34:23] could help maintain that strong sense of belonging

[34:25] while also promoting equitable access to resources.

[34:29] We would give new spaces to everyone,

[34:31] which is a huge priority.

[34:33] the construction of an extension and a new middle school is time intensive but less so than

[34:40] multiple new schools and similarly for the cost.

[34:45] Okay, I'm going to keep going because there are

[34:47] other strategies and other things that we want to make sure we cover, but strategy C is thinking

[34:52] about the high school first and thinking about creative ways to cascade buildings and make sure that

[34:57] that they are used in other grade configurations.

[35:02] So the supporting data behind this, we looked at the DHS facilities, and we said, yes,

[35:07] they also need attention.

[35:08] We do not want to leave them behind either.

[35:11] They are poorly equipped to support 21st century learning experiences to prepare undergraduates

[35:16] for a global economy.

[35:18] They received a rating of poor on aerospace conditions, findings, and on the running debt

[35:24] and community survey.

[35:26] So that being said, here is the ways that we could see this playing out in strategy C.

[35:32] One option is we cascade everything down one level, meaning we keep the easy EC,

[35:38] we keep the Avery and add an extension, and we repurpose the middle school for an elementary school.

[35:45] So there would be about 630 kids there.

[35:48] Then that high school would get repurposed as a middle school and we would build a new high school.

[35:56] So I tried to keep those icons so you can kind of see what's happening, but that is strategy C, option 6.

[36:03] The ratings we gave it, medium sized elementary schools, they do help maintain a strong sense of belonging while promoting equitable access to resources.

[36:11] And we're maintaining the secondary grades in separate schools, the middle and the high.

[36:17] So three SEL hands, two apples for the elementary and middle school,

[36:23] because the elementary and middle schools would be in repurposed learning spaces

[36:27] instead of new ones that are specifically designed for that age range and that grade level.

[36:33] So the high school is new, but we would be putting elementary kids in a middle school space,

[36:37] and we would be putting middle school kids in a high school space.

[36:40] On top of that, a new high school and an elementary expansion would be

[36:45] time-intensive, although there would be fewer moving pieces, and a new high

[36:51] school plus an elementary expansion would be quite costly.

[36:56] Strategy C, option 7, we tried to get even more creative, we said, what if we keep

[37:02] the easy EC, we add an expansion to the Avery, we reuse the middle school, and then

[37:08] And this time, we added extension to the high school and combined the secondary grades.

[37:14] As it currently stands as you'll remember, the high school cannot fit the middle school

[37:18] also being added into, which is why we need that extension.

[37:23] So for this one, it scored really well on time, but we did not give it the highest ratings

[37:28] of SEL equity and apple signs for academics.

[37:32] Medium sized elementaries do help maintain that sense of belonging, promote equitable access

[37:37] us to resources, however, combining the secondary grades is not ideal for students in middle

[37:43] school. On top of that, they could have their academic learning affected when they are

[37:49] being combined into the high school. And while the elementary school would have a repurposed

[37:55] space, it would be the middle school one, which is, again, not exactly designed for elementary

[38:00] school kids. So while it scored well on the time, the cost, academics, and SEL, we gave two hands,

[38:11] one apple, two dollar signs.

[38:15] Okay, this one, we thought about another creative solution, which is

[38:19] we keep the easy easy, keep the Avery, no need for an extension, if we instead repurpose the high school,

[38:26] and now we use the high school for a big consolidated elementary space. We would then keep the middle

[38:31] school and replace the new high school. So this one we said, it's going to be really

[38:37] tough to give it high scores for SEL and equity and academics because there's A, a large

[38:42] elementary school, which is difficult to establish a sense of belonging and feel those supported

[38:47] relationships. And on top of that, they would be learning in a space that is an older, repurposed

[38:53] high school instead of one designed for kids their age. So the high school students would get a new

[38:59] space, but the elementary school students would be in a high school building. On top of that,

[39:04] a new high school and renovations to retrofit the existing high school for elementary grades

[39:09] would be time intensive and cost intensive. So arrows for you gave it three clocks and three

[39:15] dollar signs.

[39:18] Strategy D, our last one, was thinking around grade configurations and how we could

[39:30] the Avery building and replacing and building a new elementary, but transitioning those

[39:35] to grades 1 to 4 instead of 1 to 5, so both the Avery and the new elementary would have

[39:41] around 500 kids. We would then shift the fifth grade up to the middle school and we would

[39:50] renovate the high school.

[39:53] So this one involves playing with grade configurations and seeing

[39:56] if they could fit into other buildings if we shift fifth grade up.

[40:02] Here is our rating.

[40:03] So, medium-sized elementary schools, they do help maintain that strong sense of belonging

[40:08] while promoting equitable access to resources. However, research does suggest that it may

[40:13] be better to keep grade 5 with the elementary grades.

[40:18] Academically, all elementary students would have access to up-to-date learning spaces that

[40:22] are age-appropriate, although there may be some potential effects on grade 5.

[40:27] Time-wise, constructing an extension and a medium-sized elementary is time-intensive but less

[40:33] so than building multiple new schools and similarly cost-wise it's less so than building

[40:39] multiple new schools.

[40:42] And our last option, and then you will no longer have to listen to me narrate, is if we

[40:48] replaced with a new elementary one to four, we kept the middle school but shifted it to

[40:54] a 5 to 7 and then we renovated the high school and made it an 8 to 12. So this option, which

[41:01] is our last one that we thought of, is shifting both grades 8 and 5.

[41:07] So not ideal sections.

[41:10] One of the reasons we took one away is that both grade 8 and grade 5 might be affected

[41:15] if we did this. However, those medium elementary sizes would be preserved. Students would

[41:23] all have access to up-to-date spaces in elementary grades, and then building one medium elementary

[41:29] is actually relatively less time-intensive than other options, and building one medium elementary

[41:35] is less costly than the other options, although there would need to be high school renovations made

[41:42] to make this work, to fit the eighth grade over. So that is, I think, 35 minutes of you listening to me walk

[41:51] through all-time options, but that's where we landed and that's what we wanted to make

[41:56] sure we explained to you all today. I'll stop sharing. I think if anyone has questions,

[42:03] we are here, we are listening, but I also know there's another portion of this to get to.

[42:10] Thank you, Grace. Everybody, I'm sorry that my camera stopped working. Can't you see my picture

[42:17] on your end? No. All right so I'm sorry it stopped working. I've tried to fix it. So I would

[42:24] open this to questions if you have specific ones for Grace.

[42:35] If you don't just because I was trying

[42:36] to write these down. Do you mind putting the slides up again? I was able to get all the icons but if

[42:44] could just show the 10 options with the initial pictures and even 30 seconds per slide.

[42:51] Yes.

[42:52] A hundred percent.

[42:52] I want to make sure I wrote everything.

[42:54] And I know that we have these that I'm a writer.

[42:57] Oh, totally.

[42:58] I want to.

[42:59] Okay.

[43:00] So I will share screen and you should be able to see.

[43:02] Well, you can do it this way, actually.

[43:04] If everyone else can see it this way, that way.

[43:06] Yes.

[43:07] This is actually helpful.

[43:08] Because then you don't have to further one where it was just the slide.

[43:11] the slide. Oh, I didn't know that. Okay, well hopefully you can see it now. So this is strategy A

[43:18] option one and you let me know when to go next. If you take it off a slide show for you maybe that

[43:24] would. Oh, yeah, take it off a slide show for you and then you can see the slides along and you won't

[43:29] have to go. Oh, perfect. You don't have to get all dizzy. Oh my goodness genius. Okay.

[43:34] Okay,

[43:45] all right, strategy A, option 2,

[44:03] perfect, strategy B, option 3,

[44:15] strategy B, option

[44:19] 4,

[44:24] perfect, and strategy B, option 5, thank

[44:33] you, of course, okay, strategy C, option

[44:37] Good.

[44:51] Love it.

[44:53] Strategy C, option 7.

[45:06] Okay. Strategy C, option 8.

[45:26] Perfect. I think it was this next one that I didn't write all of it. Yeah, yeah. That makes sense because it's complicated. Yeah. So this is strategy D, option 9, where grade 5 would transition. So the elementary schools would become grades 1 to 4, and the fifth grade would move up to middle school.

[45:49] Okay. I forgot to add like the extension for middle school.

[45:53] and then renovate high school.

[45:55] Okay, totally.

[45:57] Of course.

[45:57] And then option 10 is even more complicated.

[46:02] It's one to four in elementary,

[46:05] five to seven in middle school,

[46:07] and eight to 12 in high school.

[46:11] Okay.

[46:11] And by doing that,

[46:12] we don't have to touch the middle school.

[46:14] The middle school has enough space for five to seven.

[46:16] Correct.

[46:17] That would make sense.

[46:18] It's the same number.

[46:19] Yep.

[46:19] Okay.

[46:20] Thank you.

[46:21] Sorry to get over. No, no, you're good. Okay, anything else? I will stop share if so.

[46:31] Yes, I think Ali raised a hand.

[46:34] That's good. Yeah, go ahead.

[46:37] Hi, it's Ali and Zach. I had a question. I was wondering if there was any consideration to the idea of a similar split of two medium sized elementary schools, but having an upper and lower.

[46:50] So, not having them both be like one through four would have a one through three and a four through six was that seen too many transitions.

[46:58] Yeah, there definitely was the short answer is there definitely was a consideration.

[47:03] The community survey indicated they preferred keeping the grade spans been separating into upper and lower.

[47:13] And then I think there were other questions.

[47:15] Sorry Dr. Glant, I'm going to jump in.

[47:18] And so Zach and Allie, thank you guys for asking the question.

[47:23] I do just, and I'm happy to deviate if necessary, but for folks on the line, I know we just

[47:31] got a question in the chat.

[47:33] I would ask for the public maybe to use the chat feature for questions and we'll take those

[47:39] only because this is not technically a community forum meeting.

[47:43] But we I know at the end of the next section I believe Josh is going to go through a timeline of when we're going to have those scheduled because that is one thing I will say that is extremely important to all of us on this call is that we allow all of you in the community and the public to ask questions and to go through options.

[48:04] I just want to make sure that we're being conscious at the time that we asked of grace

[48:11] and our partners at the Renny Center for tonight.

[48:14] So please put the questions in chat so that we capture them.

[48:19] And then we will also make sure that we follow up with anybody who does to make sure that

[48:23] you guys know when those forms are going to happen.

[48:28] Thank you guys.

[48:30] Okay, back to you Grace.

[48:34] We have a couple of questions from committee members.

[48:38] Yes, I figured she would add to a story.

[48:40] Oh, okay, gotcha.

[48:43] Go ahead, let's do Leah and Matt Rick.

[48:46] All right, we good?

[48:47] Okay.

[48:49] Educational reason.

[48:51] I would imagine for not putting K through two together.

[48:55] I'm sure that's similar to, or maybe their response might be similar.

[48:59] similar to what Ali and Zach were asking, but was that looked at? That frees up some

[49:04] space in the ECEC for preschool only. And it was kindergarten maybe one to two.

[49:10] Yeah, that was discussed. So one of the biggest things I actually, in transparency, came

[49:16] to that aerospace workshop and asked was, could we shift kindergarten out? Could we make

[49:21] that just a preschool? And essentially, we looked at enrollment trends and how many students

[49:27] correct me if I'm wrong to ignore because I know you're tighter with the numbers than I am.

[49:32] How many students would come into that preschool space and it wouldn't fill the ECEC effectively?

[49:41] Yeah, there were there are currently eight pre-k classes and 11 kindergarten classes

[49:46] and expanding that to 19 pre-k classes was just deemed not feasible from kind of an operational or

[49:54] or a logistical perspective, just given the numbers of classrooms there.

[49:59] I just want to make a point of clarification if I may.

[50:04] When you, if we're moving K to say like the April for the Avery building, for instance,

[50:12] we then have to put bathrooms in every classroom, which is a substantial cost.

[50:18] So that is also like taking an account for that as well.

[50:23] Thanks, Laura. Thanks, Anthony. Thank you.

[50:31] I appreciate all the all the information and also the

[50:35] community input as well. We're definitely paying attention. I wonder I know that we're we're talking

[50:40] pretty broad strokes here and that there's work to be done still by Arrow Street. I wonder if there

[50:46] is any more detail to be had on I know that you sort of painted some broad timelines in these slides.

[50:51] I wonder if you can give broad brushstrokes in finances as well, or if that's outside

[50:57] of your purview, but I do think concern from the community, and this committee will

[51:02] be at least partially focused on finances, if not, you know, majority, and getting any

[51:09] more clarification on, you know, what $1 sign versus 2 versus 3 might mean, even if it's

[51:14] just comparative, I think would be really helpful.

[51:21] It's a good question.

[51:23] I don't know, Laura, if you want to jump in.

[51:25] I was just going to say I agree.

[51:26] It's a good question.

[51:27] I think I would probably want to defer to airstreet and talk with them just to make sure

[51:31] before we throw any numbers out that we might end up having to walk back just because that's their

[51:36] purview more than hours in terms of what buildings cost these days.

[51:40] I know that there's also some just some complications even getting those initial

[51:43] estimates because it does factor in the time and the prioritization.

[51:47] So for instance a building that you're constructing now or next year is going to cost a lot different even if it's the same size building the same type of building for a building you're constructing 10 or 12 or 15 years from now.

[51:59] And so I think it has to account for that as well, which is just what makes it more they have told us it makes it more complicated than I think even Grace and I were aware when we started thinking of this.

[52:07] So, I appreciate the question we can certainly connect with them and try to get some of those

[52:12] kind of initial broad estimates and dollar ranges.

[52:15] I just don't want to put a number on it tonight because I don't want to be wrong and I have

[52:19] to change that later.

[52:22] Thanks.

[52:23] I'm not trying to get people to a place where we could pin anyone down to a thing, but I

[52:28] think even order of magnitude or the nearest whatever amounts of millions of dollars I think

[52:34] would go a long way in terms of how we frame this conversation and how we think about

[52:38] the decisions we're going to make.

[52:41] Totally.

[52:42] That makes a lot of sense.

[52:43] Chris, I see your handout.

[52:45] Yeah.

[52:46] Yeah.

[52:46] I just want to kind of piggyback off of that, is that so that when you have $1 sign that's

[52:52] going to get no real, uh, uh, attachment to any kind of number itself, it's that's,

[52:59] you know, $1 sign for $100 million.

[53:01] dollars. So if you have a comparison of $1 sign to $3 sign, it's more of, well, one is on the cheap,

[53:09] but once on the cheap side, I think it's going to be less expensive, and one is going to be

[53:13] really expensive, and then two is kind of like, nah, it's in the middle of summer, but we don't,

[53:17] but we don't really know, because we don't know a place and we don't know where it likes to eat in,

[53:23] so that's wrong. That's going to do a two-potter here. That's part why. Does that analysis make sense?

[53:29] Yes. Yes. Okay. And then I'm part two on any of these except for the ones where you're

[53:36] specifically saying like renovate the high school or renovate the middle school or renovate

[53:39] an Avery. If we combine schools, we don't know where they're going. There's no, you know, so that's

[53:46] not really taken. And then your dollar sign, the expense, that let's say on option two, there's the

[53:57] combined,

[54:01] no two is three new. Sorry, yeah, so option three, be three, I guess we'll

[54:07] call it. We're saying 750 and that's going to have two dollar signs to it. That does

[54:11] not take, I don't know what you want to normal. Does that take any consideration, a reuse

[54:16] of the existing properties? So, so you, you combine to one at hotel, green lodge note in

[54:22] Riviera gone, do your dollar signs take an effect, the reuse of those two properties?

[54:28] Yeah, it's a great question.

[54:30] So I think I'll answer.

[54:31] The first one was, everything is comparable, I think, is what you were trying to point

[54:35] out, which is yes.

[54:36] The second one was, is this strategy taking into account things like swing spaces, or building

[54:42] feasibility, or like slight feasibility, and the reuse of other spaces?

[54:49] That's correct, right?

[54:50] That's your second question?

[54:51] Yeah.

[54:52] Yeah.

[54:52] Okay.

[54:53] Okay.

[54:53] Also reuse of, if we like abandoned, like if we can buy in our hotel, we're abandoning

[54:58] green lodge to reuse of green lodge property.

[55:01] Yeah.

[55:02] So one of the things we wanted to set up very clearly is the reuse and repurposing of

[55:07] anything outside of dead in public schools will be with the facility master planning committee

[55:11] and will sit with Arrow Street.

[55:13] However, we did collaborate with them to say anything we throw up here is it feasible land-wise?

[55:20] Like, can you look at the lands? They have—they have—I didn't even know it existed.

[55:25] Like, a cool little architecture site where you can look up what's historic and what square

[55:28] footage is available for things, and so we sat with them and made sure that they

[55:32] had land for each of these scenarios that we presented today.

[55:37] Thank you.

[55:39] Of course. Dr. Kelly.

[55:46] Thanks, Grace. I don't want to confuse or make matters more complicated, but I may.

[55:55] We're looking at cost as far as capital investment is concerned, and we're not looking at operational cost savings associated with these models, which I think is really a critical consideration for our town.

[56:13] given the conversations that have, you know, percolated over the years around

[56:19] per pupil expenditures. So I'm, you know, I guess I'm trying to sort out how

[56:27] that gets blended into the equation here because I do think, you know, for the

[56:31] committee's decision-making purposes, it's important to understand which of these

[56:36] models, not only academically benefits children, and I think there are many

[56:41] models here that do, but also do so in a way that is physically responsible for the future,

[56:47] not just in capital savings or capital investment, but long-term operational savings,

[56:53] because that is the number one driver of our per-people expenditures in this town period.

[57:00] So I wanted to put that out there and just make sure it stays afloat in this conversation.

[57:08] I think it overlays directly into this, and what was so challenging is that we almost

[57:13] had to limit this to facilities first, but to your point, there is an overlaid benefit

[57:19] of operational costs and admin costs will decrease if you have consolidated schools.

[57:27] That is just a number of staff will get consolidated. So there is that layer to it, too.

[57:37] Dr.

[57:38] these costs since it was repressed from aerospace, specifically, and they were looking at square

[57:43] footage and that level of logistics and architecture.

[57:49] If I could add on to that, Dr. Kelly, I do.

[57:54] The Edmall subcommittee, it was briefly talked about in the next two months, and it proposed

[57:59] a community engagement that would be a part of the discussion, specifically tied in to hopefully

[58:06] the final report that we can get that together and because, as you said, it's a critical part

[58:14] of this overall conversation.

[58:19] Well, you said I talked over your seat.

[58:21] I am later and it is glitching. Sorry, can you all hear me? Yes, Laura.

[58:26] I think I'm a beat behind everyone else because it keeps jumping and stopping and starting,

[58:29] so sorry if I just interrupt it again. I was just going to say that's a really great point,

[58:34] Dr. Kellyanne, appreciate you bringing it up. And I think that's also the type of detail

[58:37] and new ones we can get into more in the final report. The slides I think it's just hard to capture.

[58:42] We're already trying to put so many variables into one place but completely agree and I think

[58:46] that's a really important piece that will be able to kind of both give the current and historical

[58:51] understanding of where that is. We have a lot of data, a lot of graphs on kind of comparative

[58:55] comparable costs with other communities as well as kind of historical costs and data.

[58:59] All of that we can bring in much more fully when there's kind of a longer report that we are

[59:03] to be able to present. But thank you for sharing it.

[59:06] Yes, and I'm sorry. I don't... I think so long as that report is coming prior to decisions being made.

[59:12] I think that's my only concern... Okay, cool. Just... That's awesome. Thank you.

[59:19] Um... Is there any other questions?

[59:25] I want to thank Grace and your team.

[59:28] Um... The initial presentation they received our feedback.

[59:31] And we really asked for some comparative data to help sort of give some parameters to this discussion.

[59:42] And I think you really took those ideas and really put it together and easily understand format.

[59:49] So I want to thank you for that. And I also just want to reiterate one of the slides, as Grace said, the idea about strong horses.

[59:58] I don't know.

[1:00:00] These nine options are not about picking your favorite right now. These nine options are about beginning a discussion on what's the best options to consider for the town of Dedem and the students in their education. And I think over the next two months, we as a community, we as a committee will be discussing this with ourselves and within the community so that when it's time to name the three preferred options to

[1:00:29] fully cost to analyze out and put in a facility's master plan that as again as a

[1:00:36] town that doesn't mean we are going with those three but just you know part of

[1:00:41] this whole process that was it. So I want to reiterate that point and I think

[1:00:46] I really appreciate you putting that slide in there as well Grace. Of course

[1:00:51] thanks for saying those things that. So with that I think it's time to transition

[1:00:56] to the second part of this meeting, which, so if everybody understands, the way these

[1:01:02] have worked is like there's an initial presentation from the Renny Center, and then they get feedback

[1:01:10] from the committee, and they look at how they can integrate that feedback into their reports,

[1:01:18] and then they come back with an updated or finalized report.

[1:01:22] And I think when we look at the town, it's sometimes the flash year conversation is the facilities.

[1:01:31] It's one that's really tangible to people.

[1:01:35] But I think the other part to it, that's really a critical part of what and why we did this educational model review is the teaching and learning part.

[1:01:45] And so I am just as excited to hear this initial.

[1:01:49] And I want to emphasize this initial as a subcommittee, we have not seen this presentation

[1:01:54] either.

[1:01:55] But we have brought the whole committee in so that, you know, the Running Center can get

[1:02:00] the full picture from the committee on their thoughts and thinking.

[1:02:05] And so again, I'm going to turn it over to Grace to go to the teaching and learning part.

[1:02:13] It's actually going to be Laura, so I'm going to turn it over to Laura.

[1:02:17] Yes.

[1:02:18] Thank you.

[1:02:18] We divided on this one.

[1:02:20] Oh, sorry, Christy.

[1:02:22] Yeah, I said a quick question.

[1:02:23] Do you have a slide deck that you could send us

[1:02:25] at some point, either whether it's,

[1:02:27] you know, we got to be the facilities part,

[1:02:30] but I didn't see it.

[1:02:31] That one can go.

[1:02:32] Yeah, absolutely.

[1:02:34] That'd be great.

[1:02:35] Well, yeah, I'm not on hand, my name is Paulina.

[1:02:45] So, great, I don't know if you're grace.

[1:02:46] You might pull sitting around the slide deck

[1:02:48] while I pull it up on the screen.

[1:02:49] All right, thank you.

[1:02:50] Sorry.

[1:02:52] But I hope that my internet I think I've also been able to hear but it has been

[1:03:00] a little

[1:03:00] glitchy so I apologize and it didn't work.

[1:03:05] You all see the slides, you should be able to now.

[1:03:09] So just a quick note of introduction because I really might have not met all of you in

[1:03:14] the past.

[1:03:15] So I'm Laura Senel,

[1:03:18] director of our team internally on a lot of the debt and work that we've been

[1:03:26] doing since January this year. So for about half a year now. And I want to just give a little bit of

[1:03:32] context as grace did before we dive into specifically what we see is some of the primary options for

[1:03:36] this teaching and learning educational model. So to start off, what we're going to be talking about

[1:03:42] today is that we're focusing on how debt and public schools can put out a future facing education

[1:03:46] model, setting schools and students up for success, not just now, but in the years.

[1:03:50] And ideally, decades to come.

[1:03:52] This isn't something that we hope or envision would be something to change kind of two years

[1:03:55] from now, five years from now.

[1:03:57] You know, ideally, this is something that I can set really the tone and priority for

[1:04:01] where the district is going for quite a long time.

[1:04:04] In terms of the elements of an educational model, this is something we outlined in

[1:04:08] earlier presentation.

[1:04:09] It contained four different areas.

[1:04:11] Essentially, it was facilities, great configurations, both of which were

[1:04:15] you talked about teaching and learning and use of resources. And so we worked just really looking

[1:04:20] much more closely at the facilities and the great configuration slash enrollment piece of the puzzle.

[1:04:27] This presentation is going to look at those other two, the teaching and learning piece as well as

[1:04:31] the use of resources. The options we're going to present today are not really directly tied to the

[1:04:36] either current facilities configuration or needs, but the intention of that is that these will

[1:04:42] informed future facilities design and planning. So as Adam is thinking about, say, what a

[1:04:47] potential new school could look like at whatever grade level that is, whatever grades are included

[1:04:52] in it, we hope that these educational models will help guide what that space looks like and how

[1:04:57] it is used in the future.

[1:05:01] I want to just start off as Grace did with some selected survey findings,

[1:05:05] noting that this is very, very much a very small slice of a much more larger and richer data set,

[1:05:10] data set that will be able to get into much more when we give a kind of more comprehensive report.

[1:05:15] So in terms of one of the first questions we asked, we said overall how satisfied are you

[1:05:19] with the quality of education in data and public schools? The response came back around 60,

[1:05:24] a little over 60% said somewhat or very satisfied or on 21% somewhat or very dissatisfied.

[1:05:31] The remainder were neutral, so there was kind of a middle option that's not captured here.

[1:05:34] And at first glance, I think that seems, you know, like 62% just over half saying that

[1:05:40] they're only somewhat of very satisfied.

[1:05:42] You might think, wow, we really need to make some drastic changes in terms of a educational

[1:05:45] model.

[1:05:46] I think the important piece to pull out is a lot of the dissatisfaction came from folks

[1:05:53] who do not currently have students in the system.

[1:05:56] And this, honestly, is something you see kind of across the board in educational research.

[1:06:00] When you just ask folks in general, are you happy with the state of schools?

[1:06:03] often the answer is no. If you ask people, are you happy with the state of your school or your

[1:06:09] child school? The answer is much more likely to be yes. And that is the same trend we saw here.

[1:06:14] So overall, we found about, again, 60% saying satisfied among families of current

[1:06:19] debt and public school students, nearly 80% so they were somewhat very satisfied with the quality

[1:06:24] of education. So we're really not talking about, I think, when you look at it from that perspective,

[1:06:29] a population that feels like there are major drastic changes that are needed as much as

[1:06:33] we need to make improvements in how things are done, but we're not talking about

[1:06:37] overhauling what's happening in the school system. And so I think, again, just to start off

[1:06:41] from a place that there are a lot of strengths to build on. I think you have a lot of families

[1:06:45] that are very satisfied with the way things are going. And you can see there also the number of

[1:06:49] families that reported some being somewhat or very dissatisfied was lower than the overall amount

[1:06:53] as well. So we've got a ton to really a really great things to talk about and I think what we're going

[1:06:58] to talk through today as we get into some of these options is how we can take some of those strengths

[1:07:02] and continue to build on them and grow and make things even better and more impactful in the future.

[1:07:10] In terms of what families are respondents to the survey said were some of the most important components of student learning.

[1:07:16] You can see overall overwhelmingly, the number one answer was a strong foundation in subjects like reading, writing, and math.

[1:07:22] Just as a note, this was a survey item where respondents could choose up to three responses.

[1:07:27] So they didn't just have to choose one, they could pick their top three options.

[1:07:31] Again, overwhelmingly, 87% strong foundation was number one.

[1:07:36] However, 62% nearly two-thirds pointed to hands-on real-world learning

[1:07:41] as being one of their priorities as well.

[1:07:43] Those two, I think, were very clearly the top choices.

[1:07:46] After that, you saw a bit more of a spread between the next three.

[1:07:49] Personalized learning, a wide range of electives, collaboration and teamwork.

[1:07:53] And then sort of pulling up the rear at the bottom of the bottom of the slide there.

[1:07:57] you can see use of technology was not a widely popular select didn't option for this.

[1:08:04] Similarly, we asked about what are the most important areas for

[1:08:07] denim public schools to invest in, and once again, respondents could choose up to three choices

[1:08:11] for this. Number one is school facilities. I'm not going to spend too much time on that because

[1:08:15] that's what we were just talking about. I think we all understand and agree where that's

[1:08:19] coming from, and that is obviously on the table as a potential response to what we're hearing

[1:08:23] from the survey. So in terms of the next batch, you can see that there was a fairly strong

[1:08:29] response rate for high-quality curriculum and professional development that got a plurality

[1:08:33] of responses in fact, so 51%.

[1:08:36] The next four options, they are all got between 25 and 36%.

[1:08:41] So we're all sort of in the same range, social and emotional learning slash mental health,

[1:08:46] career and technical education, advanced coursework, and the arts, visual and music and theater.

[1:08:50] Much lower responses for all of the other options on the list.

[1:08:54] So this starts to then in our minds to find what are the different priorities that folks are

[1:08:58] really pointing to as areas that they want them to work on and invest in and move forward in

[1:09:02] the future.

[1:09:05] The next two slides have a lot of information. I'm going to go fairly quickly through

[1:09:08] this. These were some of the findings that we shared when we presented on our interim findings

[1:09:12] from our data collection process back at the end of March. So this was the data collection process

[1:09:18] that we carried out where we visited every school. We did walkthroughs. We observed classes. We spoke

[1:09:22] with staff, with families, with school leaders, as well as with students, and came up, came

[1:09:28] out with a huge mass of data that we tried to then consolidate into kind of a handful

[1:09:33] of slightly more tangible takeaways. So on the teaching and learning side, some of the

[1:09:37] things that we saw coming out of that process were a focus on curriculum implementation,

[1:09:42] that there was real buy-in and consistency around the implementation of high-quality instructional

[1:09:46] materials across the elementary classrooms that we saw. Though the pace of learning could present

[1:09:51] challenges, meaning the curriculum that was chosen, particularly around ELA, a lot of teachers

[1:09:56] and students and families found that it was moving very quickly through the material.

[1:10:00] On the other hand, at the high school level, we saw less buy-in and consistency around the use

[1:10:04] of these high quality instructional materials, more as they teacher-creative materials are curriculum.

[1:10:10] There's also some consensus that there was tended to be more teacher-directed learning,

[1:10:16] especially when using those curricular materials, which led to this substantial focus on

[1:10:21] whole group content in some cases crowding out opportunities for hands on or kind of more applied learning.

[1:10:28] There were lots of changes happening simultaneously you might already have gotten the sense from

[1:10:31] the first two bullets that you know the use of new curricula can be a very time and resource

[1:10:35] intensive process to get teachers up to speed and using that and feel uncomfortable with it.

[1:10:40] And so the fact that there were lots of different types of changes happening sometimes felt like

[1:10:44] people were a little bit overwhelmed by that. On the positive side we heard good things about

[1:10:49] the availability of elective classes or options for students to take different courses of interest

[1:10:53] at the middle school and high school levels as well as opportunities for student leadership

[1:10:57] say through things like student government and other other opt-in opportunities that they could

[1:11:02] participate in. We heard about the availability of academic interventions both on the positive side

[1:11:08] where those existed in schools. We heard really great things about them whether literacy intervention

[1:11:13] is saying two of the elementary schools. On the other hand because there are only two of the elementary

[1:11:18] schools, those elementary interventionists are not universally available for students who

[1:11:22] are struggling to achieve on grade level.

[1:11:24] And similarly, there was really a need felt for consistent, non-ecademic student supports.

[1:11:30] Particularly, we heard a lot about the importance of a common language and curriculum or materials

[1:11:35] for sort of a tier one or universal level, social, emotional learning, curriculum or intervention

[1:11:40] across schools.

[1:11:42] Staff did express that they strongly valued the support provided by existing mental health

[1:11:46] staff, though there were kind of different numbers and configurations of staff across different schools.

[1:11:51] So that's all in the teaching and learning side. In terms of use of resources, which would be

[1:11:56] things like staffing schedules, the ways that those organized, not necessarily in this case kind of

[1:12:04] money going to different schools, but more about the people and the time and the way those are used.

[1:12:09] We did hear there was a real desire for more structured staff collaboration, particularly at the

[1:12:14] secondary levels, there's not currently opportunities for common planning time built

[1:12:19] into the current high school schedule. On the other hand, at the elementary level, staff

[1:12:22] did cite their appreciation for having those structured MTSS times, although they still

[1:12:28] wanted to be there to be some more teacher-determined or teacher-led common planning times, which are

[1:12:33] not currently widely available. There was an interest in more staffing to support non-economic

[1:12:39] academic interventions, as I just mentioned before.

[1:12:42] The School Adjustment Counselors and Psychologists

[1:12:45] are really valued in supporting social and emotional learning,

[1:12:49] but they face difficulty to address

[1:12:51] needs across a full school population.

[1:12:54] Formal professional development time is limited.

[1:12:56] There's little flexibility for schools

[1:12:58] to choose their own topics or areas of interest

[1:13:00] or areas of focus.

[1:13:02] These wind blocks, what I need blocks,

[1:13:04] where those exist, are cited as very useful and appreciated.

[1:13:08] But there is desire for some more flexible time, particularly at the high school level to allow for more options, more flexibility in meeting student needs.

[1:13:16] And finally, there are really valuable existing internship opportunities that are spoken very positively and interest in expanding more experiences.

[1:13:24] So again, I'm presenting a lot of information very quickly, but I wanted to just give a snapshot of kind of what are some of the big trends and themes that we were hearing.

[1:13:33] which might start to come into play as you then think about kind of where how did we generate the options that we came to when it comes to the different teaching and learning models.

[1:13:42] So to come back to this context of options one more time before I get into the exact options.

[1:13:48] These are meant to be priorities to drive future decision making.

[1:13:52] These are not meant to be say the only thing that the schools do and it's not meant to say that the school cannot the school is going to take on more than one of these at one time.

[1:14:01] Some of these do overlap. Some of them have some, you know, structures that could be repurposed for other and other areas.

[1:14:09] However, realistically we thought it was important to mention that it would not be possible for a district to do all of these at the same time.

[1:14:15] When I was talking about initiative overload before, that would be initiative overload to the next level.

[1:14:21] If you started to talk about let's take all of these different models and all of these really valuable worthwhile things and do them all.

[1:14:26] So I think what's going to come next in my mind is we will present the options we will hear from you what your thoughts are and then as we move toward the final report, it really for us is about how do we come up with set of recommendations around priorities or priority areas for improvement for the schools that again build on all the strengths we already know exist and address some of the areas of concern or some of the challenges that we've heard from from folks working in the schools as well as the families.

[1:14:54] Alright, so just like Grace said, we're going to break it down into three different buckets.

[1:14:58] It's three of this time instead of four.

[1:15:00] But we have a strategy A strategy B and strategy C just to make things a little bit more manageable to get our hands around. So, strategy A focuses on student support. And what do I mean by that? The goal of strategy A is to build a system that connects students with supports to proactively address their individual needs. Two of these, you'll see numbers one and two. Use this term MTSS that refers to a multi-tiered system of support. There's a lot more I could say about what that means and what that looks like.

[1:15:29] but essentially, if you've ever seen the tiered triangle with three different levels,

[1:15:33] that's kind of the core of a multi-tiered system of support system of support.

[1:15:37] All students are getting access to the supports and services and resources at the bottom of the

[1:15:42] pyramid. Students who need a little bit more, what we usually call it core plus more, so core support

[1:15:47] plus a little bit more, they would get some more intensive services at tier two. Those who need core

[1:15:52] plus more plus even more would get tier three. That kind of top of the pyramid, you're talking about

[1:15:56] a small number of students who need much more intensive resources.

[1:16:01] There's also, I should mention, that goes along with that it's not really just about

[1:16:04] what are the services.

[1:16:05] It's also about having the proper teams, data systems, processes to connect students with

[1:16:11] the rate resources at the right times, but again, that's a whole different presentation

[1:16:15] that I could spend another hour talking about when an MTSS is and in a different, a different

[1:16:21] hat I wear at the Renny Center, we often do that, so I'll try to keep myself a little

[1:16:25] bit more focused here. Essentially what we're saying for these different educational models is for

[1:16:30] option one, that denim could focus on building out a multi-tiered system of support, very much

[1:16:36] focused on academic supports. So looking for which students are in need of additional, say reading

[1:16:42] or math interventions, connecting them with services, students who need it would access core,

[1:16:47] core plus more or core plus more support as needed. A second priority, very closely related to the

[1:16:54] first but with a very different focus would be a non-academic focused MTSS.

[1:16:58] So you still have that same structure, you still have those tiers of support,

[1:17:01] you still have the systems that are put in place to help connect students with

[1:17:04] services and resources, but it would be in service and support of social,

[1:17:08] emotional, and mental health instead of potentially academics.

[1:17:12] Again, this is where I want to emphasize, these two are things are not not

[1:17:16] totally different. Obviously, if you're already building a lot of those systems

[1:17:18] and structures, they could be repurposed for both.

[1:17:21] but I think the initial prioritization would really need to be in one area or the other

[1:17:26] because you're going to be training staff and training folks in different ways based on which one you're looking at.

[1:17:32] Option three under this is slightly different.

[1:17:34] This would be more of a kind of community school type model.

[1:17:38] We do know that data has been working with the CityConnects program

[1:17:40] and so this would essentially build on some of the work that's happened through that.

[1:17:43] If you're familiar with that work at all, looking at this idea about wraparound supports.

[1:17:47] So designing a process by which each student is getting a individual review looking at what are the individual student in school and out of school needs they might have and then building processes to connect them as well as their families with providers who can help support those needs.

[1:18:03] So this could be say, you know, we understand that a student might need to be connected with some sort of food pantry or other.

[1:18:13] somewhere that does clothing donations or something like that could be part of a

[1:18:16] wraparound supports model that isn't necessarily part of one of those academic

[1:18:20] or non-ecademic and PSS models. So all three of those are very much focused

[1:18:26] again on student supports. Shifting over to strategy B, different key focus area

[1:18:33] and different goal. On this one strategy B, you're talking about educational models

[1:18:37] that look more at the staffing that's currently working in the schools. With the

[1:18:41] goal of addressing the needs of all students without putting that full responsibility on each individual educator.

[1:18:48] Now there's three different models again here. There's plenty more than this, but three that came to mind as we kind of thought through

[1:18:53] what are the options that might be worthwhile and relevant for debtum. One would be looking into more of a full inclusion model where

[1:19:00] students with IEPs are integrated within general education classes with dedicated supports. Often they're not always this does require

[1:19:08] or call upon a co-teaching model where you have classes that are led jointly by both general

[1:19:13] education and special education teachers. There's a second staffing model option here. Number two

[1:19:20] team teaching. This would be where multiple teachers are called upon to work with a larger class of

[1:19:25] students and allowing that group to be subdivided in different ways. So rather than say one teacher

[1:19:30] working with a class of 20 students, you might have two teachers who are jointly assigned to support

[1:19:35] a group of 40 students. Now that doesn't mean that you're always going to have two teachers and

[1:19:39] 40 students in the same room. Sometimes you might have one, two classes of 20, the same way that you

[1:19:45] would always, but at other times you might have say a small group and then a larger group working

[1:19:49] with teacher B supervising students working independently on groups. So it's just a much more flexible

[1:19:54] way for students to kind of flow between, between two different classrooms versus saying there's

[1:19:59] one teacher and one group of students who are always kind of put in the same spot at the same time.

[1:20:03] The third option that also is addressing staffing models would be more personalized learning.

[1:20:10] So in this option, you would see a variety of learning modalities, which could include

[1:20:14] group interventions, one-on-one tutoring, even virtual learning systems or tutors.

[1:20:19] And those would be all focused on addressing student needs that come up that are much more

[1:20:24] based on individual students' performance.

[1:20:27] And so you would have in this sense, there would be some need to create a, essentially, a

[1:20:33] a profile or learning profile for each student,

[1:20:35] and then they would get plugged into different services

[1:20:37] and supports based on what happens

[1:20:39] or what that learning profile says and what they're needed.

[1:20:42] Maybe you have a student who really doesn't need

[1:20:44] a whole lot of individual teacher guidance

[1:20:46] when it comes to math,

[1:20:47] because they're much stronger in math,

[1:20:48] but they need a lot more one-on-one teacher support

[1:20:50] when it comes to reading.

[1:20:52] You could then have say different modalities,

[1:20:54] different options for that student to access information

[1:20:56] in those two subjects in order to connect

[1:20:59] with the services that they need at each level.

[1:21:01] So those are kind of big picture strategy B staffing model choices for the educational model.

[1:21:11] Strategy C focus on learning experiences. What are students actually doing during the school day?

[1:21:17] And here the strategy C goal around learning experience is how are we using time during

[1:21:22] the school days strategically to offer an arrange of engaging and meaningful learning opportunities.

[1:21:27] For this number one would be something would be options related to project-based learning

[1:21:31] where there's time built into the either the daily schedule, individual classes, or both.

[1:21:36] For learning that allows students to explore new topics and apply what they're learning about core subject matter.

[1:21:42] So this is, you know, you can picture students getting out of their seats and working together to build inventions.

[1:21:47] Or maybe they're instead of building something they're working on writing letters to, you know,

[1:21:53] someone in a leadership role about their views on a particular issue, say, for a civics lesson.

[1:21:57] Something that allows them not just to learn about what the content is, but actually apply

[1:22:01] it, often through prioritizing relevant and real-world learning experiences.

[1:22:07] The second option under strategy C focuses on career exploration, so thinking through

[1:22:12] what are the pathways that students are getting connected to post their high school experience,

[1:22:17] also opportunities to learn about potential careers, and connect their learning to those careers

[1:22:22] through things like internships, job shadowing, and their work-based learning.

[1:22:25] Mostly, this one I will admit is focused on the secondary level, though there are certainly

[1:22:30] ways to embed more career exploration and career opportunities at the elementary level

[1:22:34] as well.

[1:22:34] But when it comes to things like internship jobs shadowing, you're really going to be focused

[1:22:38] more on the middle and high school level.

[1:22:41] And then finally, strategy C, advanced coursework, number three, offering opportunities for students

[1:22:46] to participate in more advanced courses, including through early college programming, which would

[1:22:51] be done in this case in partnership with an institution of higher education, this would

[1:22:55] also be mostly focused as you can imagine on the secondary level, though there are options

[1:22:59] so think about embedding advanced courses throughout different levels, should the district

[1:23:03] be interested in that option.

[1:23:08] Last thing that I'll say and then I'll stop, I know this is a lot

[1:23:10] of information I'm throwing at you. Those were all what I would call kind of big picture models,

[1:23:15] those are all very big priorities that would require a lot of moving pieces and really adaptive

[1:23:19] changes. We're also investigating additional strategies that can be implemented alongside

[1:23:25] really any of those. So these are things that can supplement the models, the big picture

[1:23:29] models that we recommend or we end up recommending. That would include things like what does

[1:23:34] high quality, what would it mean to implement and adopt high quality instructional materials

[1:23:38] across grade levels and subjects? What would it mean to think about different models for

[1:23:42] professional development or arts education? When it comes to the schedule, we could look into

[1:23:46] things like block scheduling at the middle school and high school level.

[1:23:49] So longer class periods, but having shorter fewer classes at a time or

[1:23:53] departmentalization where students are rotating between different subjects led

[1:23:58] by different teachers, even at the elementary level.

[1:24:00] Things like collaborative planning time and the use of wind blocks, we definitely

[1:24:04] noted that those were of interest when we did our initial data collection.

[1:24:08] So we want to help think through what to that look like and how to make those as

[1:24:11] strategic and meaningful as possible.

[1:24:13] And then finally we heard some feedback around kind of district and school communication and family engagement potentially being areas of interest for families that they would like to think more or they would like to have the schools potentially be more purposeful and strategic around.

[1:24:26] So we're going to include some recommendations on that front as well.

[1:24:30] So those are all not to say add-ons in the sense that they're any less important, but they are I would say let more technical and less adaptive when it comes to kind of the level and degree of change required to implement those.

[1:24:43] So our next steps we are going to gather feedback. We're really curious to hear your thoughts

[1:24:47] tonight. This is obviously a preliminary presentation. If there's anything that comes to mind that

[1:24:51] you feel like is really worth investigating further or things that you feel like are not worth

[1:24:57] investigating further, we would love to hear about any of that. We're also going to be setting

[1:25:01] up meetings with the district leadership to hear from them directly about all of these options

[1:25:05] and get their thoughts and feedback. We'll also continue to do additional data analysis

[1:25:11] of all these in light of the data we found through the survey as well as our prior data collection and then ultimately will be developing or report with our final recommendations to be shared in September.

[1:25:21] And that will include not only what are the kind of top options we see, but also what are some additional practices to consider those.

[1:25:27] I was going to go add-ons that I just mentioned, as well as what are some evidence-based considerations?

[1:25:32] How would you actually go about implementing these?

[1:25:34] What are some ways to make this more of a seamless or at least a more of a streamlined transition process

[1:25:41] as you consider moving it to some of these different priority areas?

[1:25:46] All right, I'm going to stop there.

[1:25:48] And we just look to open it up to you.

[1:25:50] Are there any strategies that jump out as preferences?

[1:25:52] Absolute no-goes?

[1:25:53] Anything we haven't thought of?

[1:25:54] Um, really, the, the floor is, I guess, open to all of you to share what your thoughts are.

[1:26:11] Mr. Pledo, who's like, you have your hand up.

[1:26:14] Yeah, I don't know. Okay. Um, thank you. That's a one quick question on strategy A.

[1:26:23] Let's let go. Uh, YouTube with this, the strategy A, you talk with the MTSS, uh, system of supports.

[1:26:30] How is the, maybe it's way too of this conversation. How does that differ or interact

[1:26:35] With the MTSS that we currently have in place that we've heard about for the last, I would say we want to at least see two years.

[1:26:43] Is that just a green forcing what we're doing is right? I guess I...

[1:26:47] Yeah, no, it's a great question. I think it's definitely, again, building on what's there was a key factor for us.

[1:26:54] We didn't want to necessarily come in and only produce things that were brand new.

[1:26:59] I think what I would say is this reflects some of the feedback we heard around that.

[1:27:03] the intervention question. So, you know, for instance, right now, what we heard from the elementary schools that did not have a dedicated, quote, reading interventionist was teachers saying, well, we don't have that so we don't really know we don't really have the ability to provide the dedicated interventions that students need when they need additional services.

[1:27:21] And I think our response to that is that's an area to build on because if we're hearing that from teachers that means that there's a need for more kind of dedicated targeted support and professional development and resources and potentially some thinking about staffing.

[1:27:34] differently when it comes to MTSS, the academic MTSS. So I think that's, it's more about

[1:27:40] taking that model and kind of bringing it to the next level of how are we actually making this

[1:27:45] more effective so that all teachers feel that buy in and feel that as a real throughline in their work

[1:27:51] versus saying this is something brand new, completely different. Does that make sense in grace?

[1:27:56] Please feel free to do anything else there.

[1:28:07] Okay, so in Laura, I'm happy to facilitate the

[1:28:11] questions for you, but I'm also completely comfortable as you want to call on people.

[1:28:15] Sure.

[1:28:16] Mr. Mahalka.

[1:28:17] Thank you.

[1:28:18] I think you were first and then Dr. Galon.

[1:28:21] Thank you.

[1:28:22] Again, I appreciate the information.

[1:28:25] I think is far as what I'm looking at tonight, I think I've got a sense in the facilities

[1:28:31] report of how much or at least that there was some weighting of like here is community

[1:28:38] response and here's how it reflects research and surrounding communities and sort of, you

[1:28:45] know, your broader sense as an organization of how the world works outside of them. I wonder

[1:28:51] what I didn't see in these slides is how either what community feedback looks like against that's

[1:29:00] kind of similar backdrop or what your potential recommendations are again against that backdrop.

[1:29:05] So I saw the community feedback and the input from our teachers and administrators and I wonder if that is reflected in your buckets. I think you understand where we're going to go.

[1:29:20] Yeah, definitely. I mean, what I would say is I think to some extent we didn't want to put our thumb on the scale too early, which is why we did intentionally go a bit lighter in terms of making the direct connection of like, here's what we heard and here's why this recommendation came up.

[1:29:36] Most we want to hear the feedback from you all of which, are there any that strike you

[1:29:40] as kind of really key directions to go and that might not have come to our minds earlier?

[1:29:45] You know, like just for instance, I can give the example when we did the initial presentation

[1:29:49] on all of those kind of 9 or 10 options of facilities, facilities to the smaller group, the subcommittee,

[1:29:56] I think there were just some really important considerations brought up that we hadn't necessarily

[1:29:59] Thank you very much.

[1:30:00] I've been thinking about and we were hoping to do the same thing here that would sort of inform our thinking as we go into that final recommendation stage. That's not to say that we certainly couldn't include additional feedback and considerations on where these come from and what some of the grounding is for them, but I can assure you, I would say the ones that we talked about that are presented here. For all nine of these, I could point to elements of the data elements of the surveys, elements of the data collection that led us to think that these are worth presenting.

[1:30:29] at the very least, if that makes sense.

[1:30:34] Great, thank you.

[1:30:39] Sorry.

[1:30:40] Thank you very much.

[1:30:42] You're welcome.

[1:30:43] Okay.

[1:30:44] Who's on first?

[1:30:46] Okay.

[1:30:47] This guy, this goes in line with two with what Mr.

[1:30:51] Toledo and Smolka said as well.

[1:30:55] Because when I picked up from the options,

[1:30:57] the three strategies you just presented Laura,

[1:31:00] thank you very much for that.

[1:31:01] Is that in fact,

[1:31:03] debtum does do pieces of this already.

[1:31:06] And what you said at the beginning, you know, based on the data,

[1:31:13] people don't want it

[1:31:15] drastically changed, seeing that the delivery of the instruction or the educational experience

[1:31:22] piece, people were overall majority was satisfied with.

[1:31:26] What's interesting is when you get to the part about the facilities and when you're thinking

[1:31:30] about equity and the equity of experience, are the parents that

[1:31:35] could respond it and maybe didn't agree with some of the pieces or wanted more of X,

[1:31:39] Y, and Z that fed into your three strategies, are they getting that equitable experience

[1:31:44] that perhaps some kids are at avery and they're not at updale, for example.

[1:31:49] And so that lends itself to the overall argument, what are we doing with the elementary schools

[1:31:55] and how are we staffing that as well.

[1:31:58] So, I was looking at all these. I'm like, we do this already and where do we want to decide to really invest further in and that will also be informed about what facilities is going to support that best. However, we invest.

[1:32:16] I'm probably saying things you already know, but I like to talk out loud about it and waste people's time.

[1:32:24] But I guess it's more of an affirmation on what I saw.

[1:32:29] No, not always the time it all I promised.

[1:32:32] No, that's really helpful to hear.

[1:32:33] And I think we're definitely keeping in mind.

[1:32:36] I think I mentioned it more in the like,

[1:32:38] which educational model you choose will influence facility design.

[1:32:43] But I think what I appreciate about your comment,

[1:32:45] you're also bringing out back to the big picture of it.

[1:32:46] It's not just about the design.

[1:32:48] It influences, you know, where students are enrolled.

[1:32:50] how many elementary schools we have say, you know, our students enrolled in a new space versus a,

[1:32:57] you know, a repurposed existing space. I think all of those pieces, I completely agree with you,

[1:33:01] come into play when you look at, you know, what is available, what are the resources,

[1:33:06] how are they distributed, who's getting access to them, etc. So yeah, thank you.

[1:33:12] Mr. Leighmeer?

[1:33:15] I appreciate the affirmation that we see here and that DPS in what we're doing is in

[1:33:22] a good direction.

[1:33:24] And these, I see these as ways that it's going to enhance our education.

[1:33:29] I appreciate the answer you just gave on how there is a tie-in to facilities, how our choices

[1:33:35] direct, how we build facilities or how they're designed and vice versa.

[1:33:40] I appreciate that. I guess my question is like looking at strategies B and C. I think

[1:33:49] these in particular B like my question is which strategies would be the biggest changes

[1:34:00] which would be like something that would be I don't say drastic nuance or something

[1:34:10] but in terms of we know change involves more communication, specific roll-up plans,

[1:34:18] really thoughtful thinking through to get the buy-in to make it successful.

[1:34:23] So I'm looking at the full inclusion team teaching and personalized learning.

[1:34:30] I think any of these could be done in different ways that it would be more or less intense,

[1:34:37] but I absolutely agree with I think where it sounds like you're pointing, which is I think those

[1:34:42] those three in particular would lead to bigger shifts in the culture and the way of thinking

[1:34:46] about schools and the role of educators than the rest of the options would.

[1:34:53] If you're really talking about, if you're talking about say personalized learning just

[1:34:58] to pick up on that one, what I mentioned again was essentially what that requires is every

[1:35:03] student would have a menu of options of how they're connecting with material and that looks

[1:35:08] different for every student.

[1:35:09] right? You really are shifting away from the mindset of a teacher being directing the learning of a whole class to

[1:35:15] teacher kind of being a navigator for how students are navigating across different sets of resources and services.

[1:35:22] Which is just a very different model for what education or what educators role is, right?

[1:35:27] Right? Educators. Absolutely.

[1:35:29] And I think the reason part of the reason we pointed to that is, again, both there's I think research backing that shows

[1:35:35] that it can be a really effective model and done well, there was some things we could point to in

[1:35:40] terms of the data and the survey and what we found from debtum that indicated there might be some

[1:35:44] value in that and I completely agree with you that would be a massive shift, right? So that I think

[1:35:50] we'll play into, as Grace is just saying, you know, some sense of comparative, you know, comparison

[1:35:58] across these different options is what is the degree to which this would look different and feel

[1:36:02] different for those who are experiencing the system would be something to consider for the

[1:36:08] school committee and for the community. Yeah and then with that I just think my feedback would

[1:36:12] be as you get to the refund report of how you communicate that and because it's not just in the

[1:36:19] it's not just with our educators it's also with the community too. You know like drastic changes can

[1:36:25] and sound like taking a chance or, you know,

[1:36:30] and so as you work with the superintendent and her office

[1:36:35] and their feedback and that, I think, you know,

[1:36:38] that type of messaging is going to be important

[1:36:41] to the success of this report.

[1:36:48] Great, Mr. Monser, just a quick other comment there

[1:36:51] and then I apologize.

[1:36:53] My starting point was I think it also depends on the way you implement, right?

[1:36:56] The way I was just describing personalized learning is one way.

[1:36:59] There's also a way where you could say, well, we need to sit down and have every student

[1:37:02] develop an individualized learning plan that's much more about, you know, let's have a

[1:37:06] conversation to make sure that we're connecting you with the different services and that becomes

[1:37:10] almost a little bit more like a one of the student support options.

[1:37:14] But it's a personalized learning method where you're still kind of personalizing what students

[1:37:18] are accessing and experiencing during the day.

[1:37:21] So there's different degrees, I would say, of implementation, but, anyway.

[1:37:31] It's sort of goes on the same lines and it is tied to the facilities question, like are some of these dependent on new facilities to be implemented?

[1:37:39] Like, you know, if we have, let's say whatever option but it leaves like Green, Long and Oakdale, let's say still as older schools.

[1:37:49] and are they capable of implementing a team teaching model,

[1:37:53] whereas is it like, oh, maybe in an Avery with an expansion on to Avery,

[1:37:58] it's possible there.

[1:38:01] Are we going to run into some of those issues when we talk about our plans for facilities?

[1:38:08] Yeah, it's a great question.

[1:38:10] I would say there's nothing in my mind that would immediately invalidate any of the options for being run,

[1:38:16] though there are definitely facilities configurations that would enable them more easily.

[1:38:22] If that makes sense, I think you could do it anywhere and any of the different schools as they

[1:38:26] currently stand. It might be more difficult with some of these, right? It might just make things

[1:38:31] harder to navigate having a lot more breakout space or a small group work when you don't have as

[1:38:38] many breakout spaces for one example. But it's doable.

[1:38:45] I'm sorry, apologies. I think I

[1:38:49] Talked over you a couple of times again there.

[1:38:51] No, not at all.

[1:38:52] All good questions and I'm going to piggyback on Mr. Lang-Meeds.

[1:38:57] I do think, you know, if I'm comparing the sort of three buckets here,

[1:39:03] certainly the first set of strategies seems like more like tweaking

[1:39:08] an existing system, improving an existing system and strategies B and C.

[1:39:13] If we're giving feedback, our larger shifts in mindset and model are, I think, worth

[1:39:21] considering, but sort of a bigger steps, which would maybe take more thoughtful planning

[1:39:31] in terms of rollout to community and to educators might be more time intensive as well, depending

[1:39:39] depending on when and how we might try and measure results or effect might be, especially

[1:39:45] strategy B, thinking about what staffing we have and how that's used sounds like could

[1:39:52] be some shifts in roles there or shifts in personnel potentially that, you know, there's

[1:39:58] some big pieces to consider there when we're thinking about how our educators used in

[1:40:04] building, even if it's potentially the same number of educators.

[1:40:08] And then as far as the learning experiences as well, those are giant shifts in terms

[1:40:14] of what a student's day looks like and whether that happens in the building or is facilitated

[1:40:21] from within the building and happens outside of the building or all of those things.

[1:40:25] So those are, I think, really interesting pieces to consider and it does sound like potentially

[1:40:31] a more modern take on education and also larger shifts.

[1:40:39] I also add, in the target strategies you said, these are sort of smaller pieces, I think

[1:40:46] potentially changing a schedule in a building is also kind of massive ripple effects, as

[1:40:53] someone who's gone through a schedule change in their own building, relatively recently,

[1:40:58] It can have sort of drastic effects there, so if that's also worth considering and not

[1:41:04] to be taken lightly.

[1:41:06] Of course.

[1:41:07] No.

[1:41:08] I completely agree.

[1:41:10] And that's why I think I was struggling not to bring these as small changes.

[1:41:13] It's more that I don't know that they have kind of, for that one in particular, say we

[1:41:18] wanted to emphasize there's this changing schedule and then there's the reason for the change

[1:41:21] in schedule.

[1:41:22] And those are two different things, right?

[1:41:23] you if we're talking maybe career-connected learning or more project-based learning time,

[1:41:27] that would necessitate some shifts in schedule. You could have the same set of core classes that

[1:41:32] students are taking and still have the schedule shift on top of that and it wouldn't necessarily be

[1:41:36] a change in focus or change in the model. It would really be more, this is a change in schedule.

[1:41:41] So I think the difference for us was the first kind of those big three chunks that we talked about,

[1:41:46] those three different big picture models. They are working toward a goal or working toward a

[1:41:50] mindset around we're changing the focus and the the priorities of the school system versus you can change the schedule and not change your priorities. If that makes sense, but I, but I hear you that is not a small thing at all.

[1:42:04] Thank you. That makes sense.

[1:42:07] Through the chair, I would like to make a comment. If I can, I apologize for not raising my hand. I don't know what's going on with our technology tonight, but my it's frozen. So you can do it this way too.

[1:42:26] I'm very encouraged and I feel that this is a really opportunity for us to discuss what

[1:42:36] we have been doing over the last three years.

[1:42:39] A lot of this foundation has been laid.

[1:42:42] We have done a lot of work with our educators around the multi-tiered systems of support.

[1:42:51] We helped that we are building the understanding that kids need personalized learning.

[1:42:56] They need texts that drive them, their own personal interest, that the win time that we have embedded in the elementary academic day

[1:43:09] is an opportunity for some of that work.

[1:43:12] It's not as deep as we want it to be,

[1:43:15] but we are trying for some students

[1:43:18] to have those project-based opportunities

[1:43:22] for kids embedded in the wind blocks.

[1:43:25] So I'm just really encouraged.

[1:43:28] I'm also encouraged that Dr. Stetson and Dr. Smith

[1:43:33] have spent the past year with our leadership team

[1:43:37] building an understanding of universally designed instruction which is kids working at their instructional

[1:43:45] interest and interest level. And so we started with the leadership team so being able to share

[1:43:51] with you all in our future conversations about that work that we've already started with adults

[1:43:58] and having you kind of tease through the next steps with us about how to what does that look like?

[1:44:04] what are next steps for the educators and for our staff, and our students is

[1:44:10] going to be, it's going to be very helpful. And I'm appreciative that a lot of

[1:44:15] the work is connected to what's already kind of in our strategic plan and in

[1:44:21] our PD planning and Dr. Stetson is working intentionally this year around

[1:44:29] inclusion practices. And again, like you said, Laura, it's not about having an inclusion

[1:44:38] happen. It's about implementing it with precision and fidelity and with educators that really

[1:44:48] understands specially designed instruction and what that looks like. So we're starting

[1:44:53] to think about professional development for our special educators so that when they are

[1:44:58] in classrooms.

[1:45:03] I'm really looking forward to our opportunity to meet with the Renny Center and go deeper into this work. So thank you very much.

[1:45:15] Yeah, if I could add to that, just real quickly, that was actually something I was thinking about, too, as we were going through this. I think one thing that will be really helpful. And obviously, as you just said, you guys are going to be meeting with them.

[1:45:30] and, you know, Josh is the chair of the subcommittee.

[1:45:34] I'm assuming you'll probably be in the loop as well,

[1:45:36] but I think what would be really helpful for us

[1:45:40] is starting to see like, as Superintendent Murphy just said,

[1:45:45] like she and her team have started to implement a lot of these things.

[1:45:50] But I know for myself sometimes when I'm in the middle

[1:45:53] of implementing things at work, and I'm so focused on that

[1:45:57] that, and I'm not saying you guys are doing this, so please do not take it this way.

[1:46:02] But having that external person come in and take a look can help us to identify opportunities

[1:46:08] that we may have missed because we're like in the trenches of implementation.

[1:46:13] So I would say I think that would be a great next step with this is to, you know, for all

[1:46:19] of you to have that conversation and to see what some of those opportunities are, you know,

[1:46:26] to expand on these options because I was listening to you Laura and I could truly visualize a lot

[1:46:36] of the presentations that Dr. Smith and Dr. Stetson and Superintendent Murphy have provided to us

[1:46:42] over the last couple of years. As Mr. Polito said too, you know, I was very pleasantly surprised to see

[1:46:50] the acronym, MTSS, and be like, I know what that means.

[1:46:54] And it's because we had seen it, so it's nice to know that it looks as though we're already in pretty locked step with some of these options.

[1:47:08] Any other thoughts, you know, Josh, I'm happy to turn it over to you, especially from the subcommittee perspective, if there is other feedback or things that you want from the committee that will help those additional conversations

[1:47:22] that you all are going to be having?

[1:47:25] No, I thank you, Lord Chair, to me.

[1:47:28] I just, I encourage the members of the school committee.

[1:47:33] If you sit with this presentation for, you know,

[1:47:37] a few days a week, you have thoughts.

[1:47:40] Go ahead and email Grace and Laura.

[1:47:45] It's, you know, it's a lot to get this presentation.

[1:47:48] And I really appreciate your comments today, but I know more will come.

[1:47:53] And they've been more than opening open to conversations and receptive to feedback and thoughts.

[1:48:01] So please continue to do that in the next, you know, a couple of weeks.

[1:48:07] And I think I also just want to, again, thank the Renny Center for this.

[1:48:15] This has been their work this spring and their data.

[1:48:20] I forget the number of graphs you guys made.

[1:48:22] Was it over 1,000 was it?

[1:48:24] It was not quite that many, 300.

[1:48:27] I think that's okay.

[1:48:28] Where we landed.

[1:48:29] That's still great.

[1:48:31] You know, and like just the depth

[1:48:32] and also the comparative for districts around the country

[1:48:36] and like using their knowledge.

[1:48:38] And there and as Mr. as Chair Jimmy said

[1:48:40] about bringing that outside eye

[1:48:42] and where they're able to look at schools

[1:48:44] from a totally different lens from people inside it.

[1:48:48] I think this is something that will really be a benefit to our district.

[1:48:51] So, with that, I just want to thank you for your presentation and everybody please, you

[1:48:57] know, feel free to reach out to them with further thoughts.

[1:49:12] Sorry, I'm just pulling up the agenda to see if it's new businesses next.

[1:49:17] Okay, thank you.

[1:49:18] All right, so with that, I think we'll close out on the Renany Center works.

[1:49:27] Thank you, as Josh said, that was extremely helpful.

[1:49:31] And then I will open it up to any old or new business from the committee.

[1:49:37] I have some new business.

[1:49:40] So, as a committee, right, like we did ask for a change in the process of how we were

[1:49:49] going about this.

[1:49:51] And over the last three weeks, the subcommittee has worked with the Renny Center, the town

[1:50:00] offices and our street to get approval that we could change the calendar and still

[1:50:09] will deliver the Facilities Master Plan report to their timeline.

[1:50:16] And we got confirmation today that that was definitely possible.

[1:50:20] So for new business for the school committee, I want to propose a timeline for us that

[1:50:26] brings us to the point where we are sitting down and making a decision about the three preferred

[1:50:31] choices that will be going into our history to do a cost analysis to be in the facilities

[1:50:39] master plan.

[1:50:42] So this is part of the draft engagement I gave you and I've made some changes to that

[1:50:47] and I really want to just focus on the timeline part if you give me a second and I'd like

[1:50:52] to work backwards on this document.

[1:50:55] So, you know, we, and we made a commitment that on, by September 29th, we will have made

[1:51:02] a decision on the three school facilities, great configuration in school facilities options.

[1:51:10] Now, that's a Tuesday.

[1:51:12] If we work backwards from there, the idea would be September 22nd, would be a community

[1:51:19] forum, where we get to engage the public with this discussion.

[1:51:23] Going back was a week from that would be an opportunity to have informational sessions with the public and outreach to ensure this information is reaching the very stakeholders in our town.

[1:51:38] The week before that on that Tuesday would be the delivery of the teaching on September 8, the final part of the teaching and learning report, which would be that would be the final part of all of the running centers delivery of their materials.

[1:51:55] and then going back about a month earlier, the week of, sorry, I think it's August 11th through 14th,

[1:52:06] some day that week having the great configuration in school facilities final report delivered.

[1:52:16] This timeline would ensure that as a committee, you are making decisions after receiving the final

[1:52:23] We don't add model report, both parts of it from the Renny Center.

[1:52:27] It would ensure that you have opportunities to have touch points with members of the community.

[1:52:34] And it would also start with Renny Center's three recommendations where we would be engaging the public to sort of test out those three recommendations to make sure those are what we feel are the three preferred choices.

[1:52:51] Again, we're not picking the final option that's going to be whenever we get to the next step in this process.

[1:52:59] I understand that we have committee members who are on vacation that week of the 10th, the 11th through the 15th.

[1:53:09] And I recognize that and I'm losing the word right now.

[1:53:17] But we felt it was important that grace be available for that meeting and knowing that it's going to be a presentation of a report and it will be recorded.

[1:53:30] And we can decide whether it becomes fully remote, hybrid or some combination so that if people are aware or able to attend.

[1:53:40] But that was sort of the takeaway from the subcommittee meeting yesterday.

[1:53:43] day.

[1:53:46] So those

[1:53:50] are big, the big touch points in that timeline. The key is, is to have us,

[1:53:55] it does, and then if you also add in the school committee meetings in September, as

[1:54:00] a school committee, everybody, this does mean we'll be meeting every Tuesday and September.

[1:54:05] I know that's not ideal. It's obviously for me. I personally, it's a challenge with my

[1:54:11] work schedule to start the school year like that.

[1:54:15] However, based on the delays

[1:54:18] that have come in the project and to get it out of the summer months, this

[1:54:24] is necessary.

[1:54:29] So, I just proposed that out to you. I think you all have the

[1:54:33] document I sent it to in your email. I can recent it if you want.

[1:54:39] And with that,

[1:54:41] Do you have any questions or discussion about that timeline?

[1:54:47] It'd be great if this was in an email or some kind of graphic, so.

[1:54:52] I sent you an email. I'll send it right now.

[1:54:55] Yeah, I think you sent it before, but just I'll send it right now.

[1:54:59] Yeah, it's a shared good.

[1:55:01] The shared Google stock, I word, the word, but the Google format.

[1:55:07] It was called the draft community engagement plan,

[1:55:14] sending it right now.

[1:55:15] But

[1:55:22] I'm kind of pulling out the timeline for a specific reason.

[1:55:26] I just thought it would be best to handle that separately.

[1:55:32] I mean, at the time I'm on, I can't do it Tuesday, September.

[1:55:35] I've got other obligations, I'm already going to pull away from them for our two main meetings.

[1:55:42] I can do it Wednesday because we have to do Tuesday.

[1:55:44] That would be my timeline.

[1:55:48] Okay.

[1:55:49] Yeah, I think we can look again at that for me the thought was so the couple of

[1:55:55] things that comes in there's a lot of beginning of the year things with the

[1:55:58] schools open houses and stuff dates that are taking and then my thought was if

[1:56:04] we keep everything on Tuesday it helps the public be aware so they don't have to

[1:56:08] think about oh this week is it Tuesday or this week is it Wednesday but if we look

[1:56:15] at that timeline more in terms of what's happening each week and then finding maybe finding

[1:56:22] times but I know from the dates I got from Superintendent Murphy I believe these are the

[1:56:27] ones that work best but we can revisit so maybe like you know the community forum maybe it's

[1:56:33] not the 20 second but the 23rd or something like that. I can ask a question on this yeah

[1:56:40] have much more on the REN-E team. So you're looking at September 8th, September 8th,

[1:56:45] teaching, learning, final report. That's when you're going to issue the final report. Is there also

[1:56:49] like a big presentation that goes with that? I guess, what is that entailed? And can we add that to our

[1:56:57] September, it'll be on the week after, so the 15th meeting? We'll be the people who worked, but

[1:57:10] I didn't, is it, like, I'm gonna stop.

[1:57:14] Re-rask.

[1:57:15] What does that actually entail from meaning perspective?

[1:57:19] What do you look forward for from us?

[1:57:23] I could take a stab at it,

[1:57:24] but Laura also correct me if I'm wrong.

[1:57:26] I think the way that we are thinking of this

[1:57:27] is there will be a giant document that is long and detailed

[1:57:32] and a public version,

[1:57:34] kind of similar to what happened tonight,

[1:57:37] where it is a little bit more visually appealing,

[1:57:39] voiceover and summarized. So, there would be both components, not just the here's a paper,

[1:57:48] I termed it my final. Good bye. Do you think that is like a 30 minute presentation? Because

[1:57:55] I think that the facility took a while longer tonight, but the teaching and learning side took

[1:58:03] about an hour, but probably 40 minutes and all that.

[1:58:08] So I guess my timing perspites that we're talking

[1:58:10] like a couple hours delivery of report,

[1:58:15] we took a 30 minute kind of executive summary presentation

[1:58:18] and here's a hundred pages, go read it, type mentality.

[1:58:26] You're on mute.

[1:58:26] I think we could do either.

[1:58:27] It's a little bit up to you all.

[1:58:28] I think what you have going on

[1:58:30] on your school committee agendas for that month

[1:58:33] because yeah, we'll have all the information like Ray said.

[1:58:36] we'll definitely present in a few different formats, not just the 100-page report that

[1:58:40] not everyone is interested to un-unread, and so it's yeah, we're pretty sorry, because

[1:58:46] I asked from perspective of that on the teaching learning side, there's no action required

[1:58:56] by the school committee for teaching and learning, unlike the facility assignments, we went

[1:58:59] to in a second.

[1:59:00] So the idea that we could throw that on the 15th meeting and then do a 30-minute executive

[1:59:06] summary and say, thanks for hiring us, because at that point you're done, right?

[1:59:13] And I don't mean that in a mean way at all.

[1:59:16] I would add Chris, that in my conversations with Chair Tim and Superintendent Murphy, our

[1:59:21] initial thought was that it would be best handled in a separate meeting, but I think that's

[1:59:27] something that could be revisited by the chair

[1:59:30] and the superintendent and what's, you know,

[1:59:35] I mean, I think it's, that was sort of the bottom line.

[1:59:40] What?

[1:59:41] What is the bottom line?

[1:59:41] What is the other five people?

[1:59:43] I mean, as you get along.

[1:59:44] Well, I just, I just, I just, I just, I just, I,

[1:59:47] no, I mean, that was, that was the,

[1:59:49] I was just throwing out why I chose that as a separate meeting

[1:59:54] because it was sort of to honor the work of the Rennie Center and the bulk of that...

[2:00:14] I'm happy to revisit that.

[2:00:23] Okay, so that was part one for that meeting. Then we meet the 15th of the regular meeting. But then the 22nd as a community forum for the facility side.

[2:00:35] We're

[2:00:38] getting that report in August, correct?

[2:00:41] So, I guess my, and this is on a, I'm going to hold that concept because we're just going

[2:00:47] for time.

[2:00:47] Right?

[2:00:47] You just want to take a time line for those views.

[2:00:49] Yep.

[2:00:51] Okay.

[2:00:51] So, I'll hold that.

[2:00:52] I'm going to hold on that on that 20 second comment.

[2:00:58] So the feedback is to look at the eighth and see if we can bed that into the 15th.

[2:01:03] So, we're not every Tuesday.

[2:01:05] I fully understand that.

[2:01:07] I don't disagree and I think that's something that can be worked at.

[2:01:13] Everybody, is there any other questions about the timeline or concerns that you want

[2:01:17] us to work out or look at?

[2:01:33] So I think with this, since we're going to be having a meeting in 2nd-meeting of August,

[2:01:40] I think this is something that can be further discussed between the—I'm sorry, Mr.

[2:01:46] and we go ahead.

[2:01:48] Yes, sorry.

[2:01:49] I couldn't get off mute fast enough, and I don't want to believe at the point of the timeline.

[2:01:54] But I do just want to clarify, or I guess confirm, that when I'm looking at your proposed timeline what you're referring to are opportunities for live engagement.

[2:02:08] Is that correct?

[2:02:09] Yes.

[2:02:10] Thank you.

[2:02:15] Yes, Mr. Rahulka.

[2:02:17] Yes, sorry, I was slow out of the gate as well.

[2:02:19] Well, I wanted to, so regardless of when we meet publicly with the Romney Center for

[2:02:26] them to give us a verbal overlay if that is what we decide to do, there's no reason

[2:02:33] we couldn't have a digital or physical copy of the report well beforehand so that we

[2:02:38] could analyze and ask questions and engage prior to.

[2:02:46] It's half a question.

[2:02:48] I'm sorry.

[2:02:48] I missed the question.

[2:02:49] Could you repeat that, Michael?

[2:02:50] The question is that we're not going to be receiving the report at meeting time regardless

[2:02:56] of when meeting time is we're going to get an email in our inbox saying this is the report

[2:03:00] and come with questions and so whether that's on the 8th or the 15th or any other time we can look

[2:03:07] at that ahead of time, not just delivered at the moment.

[2:03:16] Question? Yeah, I would hope so but I would

[2:03:18] like Grayson, I would like Grayson, Laura Chinman on that.

[2:03:25] Yes, I think that is my understanding of it as well,

[2:03:29] is if there is an in-person conversation

[2:03:32] and public facing report,

[2:03:34] we would make sure that you have the materials

[2:03:36] before that presentation happens.

[2:03:41] I think what I would love to talk offline about

[2:03:45] is what well before means,

[2:03:47] because I think if it's like a month,

[2:03:49] We are looking at not that much time to put together the report so I would love to discuss what the expectations are of like when we would submit.

[2:04:00] And the only other thing I would add to that is just having clarity on the date fairly far in advance so we will have a target to work towards would be really helpful.

[2:04:10] So, if it's going to be the eighth, if it's going to be the fifteenth, just knowing that

[2:04:14] sooner rather than later, I think would help kind of plan out our time for when we're

[2:04:19] going to be getting things done.

[2:04:30] Okay, so that's the timeline that we're proposing.

[2:04:37] I think this is for Chair Tumin and Superintendent Murphy to finalize and I'll chime in on

[2:04:46] conversation as the subcommittee chair and the vice chair about, you know, the best way

[2:04:52] to do that and we'll get that answer to you as soon as possible. I would hope by, before

[2:05:00] the end of next week. Is that enough time?

[2:05:08] Okay, so then.

[2:05:08] Yeah, sorry. I would just say that I don't want to belabor this, but, you know, to Mr. Polito's,

[2:05:15] I think it was your point or for comment about what the rest of the committee wants.

[2:05:22] I think what might be helpful, Josh, if you're open to it, as you said, you did send

[2:05:26] an email to all of us, so we've had a chance to look at it.

[2:05:31] If there are glaring conflicts that people have, please let Josh know if it's an opportunity

[2:05:42] need to meet on a Wednesday or something else, you know, this is a full committee decision.

[2:05:49] I personally just do think, I mean, we've talked about these two reports tonight and

[2:05:54] we're already over the two hour mark, that to try to add, you know, the reports to a school

[2:06:03] committee meeting, which we already know in September, those are pretty full.

[2:06:07] Like we're hearing how the first day of school went.

[2:06:10] we're hearing, you know, how things have been kicked off and where there's a lot of excitement

[2:06:14] about the current state that, in my personal opinion, to combine current state with future state

[2:06:20] and strategy is a lot in one meeting. But if folks do have conflicts or concerns,

[2:06:29] I think it's best to take them offline and to share them with Josh. And then Josh, you can just let

[2:06:34] us, though, if you're getting the sense that there's a majority feel one way or the other.

[2:06:42] I would say that as I do agree that we are over the two hour mark tonight, but we're

[2:06:47] also, you know, one, it's only one report, not two.

[2:06:51] The other side is that it's a presentation and that's already done, so there's not really

[2:06:55] a whole lot of feedback or the kind of act of what do you mean by this or what does this

[2:07:02] mean, but the report's done. Like it is, it's done. So you're literally talking about 30 minute,

[2:07:09] we get over 15 minute, like it's not, that doesn't have the opportunity to roll like this does.

[2:07:17] Does that make sense? Yep. Yes, but I also think that there have been times we put things on in

[2:07:22] the agenda thinking they would take seven to ten minutes and 45 and we're like, oh my god, we're still

[2:07:32] Also, this is one of the things that is, you know, under our purview, and it's very important work that we're doing, and maybe some of the other stuff that's not necessarily under our purview, or we don't have necessary control over might have to sit second fiddle to this, because this is important work, as we've said, we're meeting multiple times over.

[2:07:53] So that's my two cents.

[2:07:59] Okay, so give me send your feedback and I'll work with Chair Tumon and Superintendent

[2:08:05] Murphy on defining that timeline further.

[2:08:11] The second part of new business was this community outreach plan and I really, last

[2:08:20] night this morning I took a lot out of it, a lot of details out of it because what I want

[2:08:24] I'm going to propose to the committee now is that we rely on Superintendent Murphy and

[2:08:34] her team on developing the online component of engaging with the community.

[2:08:42] And this is specifically talking about the facility's portion, okay, is let Superintendent

[2:08:53] Murphy and her team take the lead in developing the communication strategy with getting the facilities

[2:09:06] options out and tying it to the report and going forth like that. I think in this and what I'm

[2:09:13] saying is take my draft as sort of like an idea of what it could be but really saying let's turn it

[2:09:20] over to the communication expert in DPS

[2:09:23] and working conjunction with the Ed subcommittee on this.

[2:09:28] And that's that part.

[2:09:31] Whereas the community information sessions

[2:09:33] and the community forum would be,

[2:09:37] again, working with DPS,

[2:09:41] but we would have a much more significant role

[2:09:43] in those two things because one of my goals

[2:09:47] is to try to get us face-to-face with people in the community to have these

[2:09:52] conversations with them in person. So I guess that's the next thing I'm trying

[2:09:58] to, I want to get out of new businesses kind of, you know, online

[2:10:03] communication, getting the report out there is through DPS and setting up these

[2:10:10] informational sessions. Community forms is through DPS in conjunction with the

[2:10:15] work of the school committee?

[2:10:20] I would agree with Josh.

[2:10:22] I think we should use the resources that we have

[2:10:26] in administration to do the bulk of the communication.

[2:10:31] And I would just ask from pass-learning

[2:10:33] experiences that both the communication and person,

[2:10:36] because this affects impacts the town too.

[2:10:40] In the town, the communication town person,

[2:10:42] and also DPS's communication staff work

[2:10:47] very closely together. There was some missed opportunities where that had

[2:10:51] not happened in the past, and I would hope that we've learned some lessons from that.

[2:11:02] So I, and yesterday, I thought that that pushback barely

[2:11:09] significantly, I think, on this, as putting in

[2:11:13] somewhat moderately, right, kind of. Yeah.

[2:11:15] I would say that's a very moderate way of saying it.

[2:11:19] And I do appreciate a lot of the absorption of some of that feedback, right?

[2:11:25] I do appreciate that on the original stuff.

[2:11:28] The one thing I, one of the things I did push back and where I was going with a lot of

[2:11:33] that was that maybe renaissance is better than we're here, is that when we go to public,

[2:11:40] so like when we go to the public, we're going to these community forums, these community sessions,

[2:11:44] and reach out to all these different people.

[2:11:46] What additional information are we going to have

[2:11:50] that's more than we have sitting here today on this?

[2:11:57] Because I know that the people who have questions

[2:11:58] that is going to be, well, if you do three, bring to school,

[2:12:01] what's that going to cost?

[2:12:02] If you do a good line of school, what's that going to cost?

[2:12:05] What's the high school going to cost?

[2:12:06] Where's the building going to go?

[2:12:08] The multitude of different questions

[2:12:09] that's going to come out of it.

[2:12:12] And I understand that that's further down the process.

[2:12:13] I'm aware of that. But like when I ask us questions, what more information are we going to have?

[2:12:20] They won't be having us sitting here today.

[2:12:24] You know, because I guess that's what I'm trying to figure out saying that

[2:12:27] if we do all these forms and we have all and we put ourselves out there with this,

[2:12:31] we don't we don't really have a lot of all the information. And I remember talking to somebody about

[2:12:38] and they said, yeah, like you're making this, you're making a built-in,

[2:12:41] So not this is from way, you're making a building decision that's going to go to the

[2:12:44] ad model, which may never put you on the ground based on emojis based on some of the

[2:12:49] opinion of emojis.

[2:12:49] And I like the emojis, I've been not criticizing you had to do something and I like what

[2:12:55] you did there, but that's, that's where I'm really struggling with this, of really putting

[2:13:00] ourselves out there, because we're going to stand and say, well, we don't know, well, that's

[2:13:05] down the line.

[2:13:06] Well, that's down the line.

[2:13:07] Well, that's down the line.

[2:13:07] We're living in kick that can.

[2:13:09] And I think that also turns why I originally voted against this kind of process of the

[2:13:18] school we did pick in the three and I recommendation was for the Renny who did all of the work and

[2:13:23] did all of the research and did all the communications and all the science and theoretical behind

[2:13:29] this for them to pick their three because they did it all.

[2:13:34] They have a little more idea than we do.

[2:13:36] And I guess that's my that's my worry. That's my hesitation about doing all this. Now with that said, I don't disagree with once we get the report, shove that report out there and send it out to everybody. I have no problem with that. I'm not.

[2:13:49] That is not my argument. But we start putting into these community sessions, putting ourselves out there. We're going to get asked the question. I'm going to say, I don't.

[2:13:57] I mean, unless there's going to be some wave of information coming out, is that somewhat

[2:14:03] make sense and understand where I'm coming from?

[2:14:06] Wouldn't we be in theory answering questions about the report that we've seen and be able

[2:14:14] to be conduits of that information?

[2:14:20] Like, I mean, it's the same report we have today.

[2:14:23] I guess that's what...

[2:14:24] Right, but look at how many people are not on this call.

[2:14:35] If I could give the office of point of view was, the office of point of view was lessons

[2:14:42] learned from the failed OTAIL project was that leadership in town should be out there

[2:14:51] connecting with residents, having these conversations, taking these questions, having

[2:14:58] discussions about what?

[2:15:00] They see, in debt and future, not just through slideshows and reports, but actual face-to-face conversations. I think there's a need to just have information sessions. And the more opportunities we give people to say here it is, the more people are brought into the project. And it's really just about sort of testing our thinking. You know, I'm going to have preferences. And I want to hear from people in public who have a different preference than me.

[2:15:28] And I want to test my thinking before I make a vote and I think that sort of the purpose

[2:15:37] of the community engagement is to develop that trust between us and the community.

[2:15:43] And if we just rely on a report, a slideshow, I think you don't build that trust the same

[2:15:50] way.

[2:15:53] But didn't, if we could let Mr. Mahal, can we let Mr. Mahal go chime in, Chris?

[2:15:59] Yeah, that's what, one quick second, we, if you really want, we paid running to do that for us,

[2:16:05] like literally running did all that. I just think we, from the past, we learned that when you don't

[2:16:16] don't involve the community in these types of decisions.

[2:16:19] It backfires against us.

[2:16:23] And I'm just saying like, I don't think it's the time to not do it.

[2:16:29] I think it's the time to try it and try to earn that trust.

[2:16:37] Yes, Mr. Rahulka.

[2:16:38] Please.

[2:16:38] Thank you.

[2:16:39] I take Mr. Brillieto's point that we've hired a consultant to recommend options for us,

[2:16:47] and I'm pleased that they are going to recommend those options prior to us making decisions for ourselves

[2:16:53] and whether those are the same or different. I think it's fine other way. I don't know that I

[2:16:59] will be in a better place in two months to answer questions about this report to the public,

[2:17:05] but I do think that I'm very interested as Mr. Langmead was suggesting of hearing what the community

[2:17:12] has to say. I think they had many, many chances to give input to what goes into the report,

[2:17:19] but more in terms of what their holistic needs are, what their general sense of what good education

[2:17:26] looks like, or what good facilities look like, and being presented with nine or ten or three very

[2:17:33] concrete options that very much narrows those choices. It's very specific things, I think, is really

[2:17:39] different and so asking them to select from sort of like a not what is what is my wish list of

[2:17:45] perfect education or perfect buildings but given this very limited sort of like prefix menus

[2:17:53] available to us what are the choices and how do I feel about them in particular I think is kind

[2:17:57] of a different a different opportunity for them to to provide input and so you know echo mr.

[2:18:05] delaying meetings, thoughts of not having been on the committee during some other school

[2:18:12] building conversations and wanting to fully engage the public in this and also even

[2:18:17] though they were engaged in the spring in different ways, this does feel like a distinctly

[2:18:23] separate opportunity.

[2:18:31] So I understand that we are where we are, right, so I'm not trying to rehash that conversation

[2:18:38] much more. But when I look at all these community engagements, like how is that going to work?

[2:18:45] How are we going to look? What are we looking for? Or is that what you're asking admins to do?

[2:18:52] It's to do all that work. So we have a community set. Yeah, yeah. So that's what I'm saying.

[2:18:56] I, again, I think you should look at the draft plan. It's just an idea sheet for you guys to say,

[2:19:02] Hey, there's a way for us to engage the community and Sarah has given me great feedback after

[2:19:11] being in on yesterday's meeting and it made me realize I should take out all specific

[2:19:15] ideas I had in there and go from scratch, but I do think we need a community forum.

[2:19:22] And I know, Mr. Toledo, you have like the information sessions are ones that are sticking points

[2:19:28] view and for me it's just about finding avenues to connect and get information to people

[2:19:34] and then to bring them back for a community forum.

[2:19:38] And so I guess really the decision for us tonight is like I think we've agreed that DPS

[2:19:45] is going to do the online engagement and pushing out this report.

[2:19:49] I think it's like as a committee do we want to host a community forum.

[2:19:54] And if so, then we should let DPS build a way to get us to that point and then they can work with the subcommittee on developing an idea for that community form for the school committee to approve.

[2:20:09] I don't know if that's something we should put a motion and vote on or like just to get a sense or I'm happy to, you know, I guess that's what I would say.

[2:20:21] is like I would put a motion for it that we should hold a community form prior to holding

[2:20:27] a configuration vote on September 29th.

[2:20:34] So I guess I'm going to ask two different things.

[2:20:37] One, is that a motion that you're making to hold a community form?

[2:20:41] Yeah, you're making that motion.

[2:20:42] So Chris, there's the idea of a two very different things, information sessions and community form.

[2:20:49] I consider two different things.

[2:20:50] One is an engagement process and like a conversation and one is simply like finding avenues

[2:20:57] to connect with different avenues in the community.

[2:21:01] So I guess my emotion is about hosting an event that you know is a like community forms

[2:21:10] are done with the town green, the depths of reduction work in committee, those type of

[2:21:15] community engagement things where there's a question and answer, there's a give and take,

[2:21:19] There's face-to-face contact between school community members and members of the community

[2:21:24] regarding the great configuration of facilities, options in that report.

[2:21:34] So I'm going to ask my question again, maybe a little bit more succinct this time.

[2:21:40] Are you making emotions at what you're doing to have hosting community forum on this?

[2:21:45] Will you ask me for a motion?

[2:21:47] No, I'm making it.

[2:21:49] Okay.

[2:21:49] Thank you.

[2:21:55] Is there a minute or second?

[2:21:56] So yeah, I just want to make sure I understand that that's something that's even warranted like I feel like this is just where.

[2:22:04] I feel like motion at I don't know.

[2:22:08] I'm not sure if we have to make motions to make these kinds of it.

[2:22:12] It just seems like we're trying you're asking us to tell you whether or not.

[2:22:18] There's a motion on the table about whether or not we agree with the plan that you have put forth.

[2:22:25] And so I go back to for the purposes of time, asking people, I don't know, I mean, I have

[2:22:36] the same concern.

[2:22:37] And I'm basically, I, so, because the last thing I'll say, Josh, is that I'm concerned

[2:22:43] that if we make a motion and it's written as a community forum, that means we have to

[2:22:50] make another motion if we decide to do two.

[2:22:52] so I think I would just like to ask that people send their feedback to Mr. Lane

[2:23:00] need letting them you know letting read through his proposal and let him know

[2:23:11] your thoughts. I mean if we if we have to do we're having another meeting in

[2:23:17] in August, which is before any of these other things that you propose would be scheduled.

[2:23:25] So there is an opportunity to finalize the feedback that people are going to provide

[2:23:30] you with.

[2:23:31] So then can I withdraw my motion?

[2:23:34] And I would also withdraw the draft plan, and I would ask Superintendent Murphy's Office

[2:23:41] to develop a draft plan and work with the Educational Subcommittee, the Educational

[2:23:49] Subcommittee, to get a plan that comes from, you know, the professionals at DPS and we'll

[2:23:58] present it, we'll add it to the agenda for that second week in August to finalize there

[2:24:06] because that should give us enough time to approve it and put it into action.

[2:24:11] That's emotional second that I agree with that plan that makes sense. So I'm not making

[2:24:15] an emotion withdrawing my motion. I would also listen send your feedback to me as well

[2:24:22] because I'll forward it to Sarah and like understand that I'm really this draft plan is just again as

[2:24:29] I said in my email it was about getting ideas on paper to see what's possible and we'll let DPS

[2:24:35] Yes, work out the details and bring it to the subcommittee and we'll bring it to the

[2:24:40] full committee.

[2:24:42] I'd like to make a motion to adjourn.

[2:24:45] Okay.

[2:24:45] I can't.

[2:24:46] There's no other business.

[2:24:49] Yeah.

[2:24:51] Any discussion?

[2:24:57] Great job.

[2:24:57] Leah.

[2:24:58] Thank you.

[2:25:01] Okay.

[2:25:02] Seeing no discussion except accolades from Mr. Polito.

[2:25:05] I'm going to do a roll call vote.

[2:25:10] Dr. Glant.

[2:25:11] Yes. Mr. Toledo? Yes. Mr. Langmead? Yes. Mr. Rodriguez? Yes. Mr. Mahalka? Yes.

[2:25:23] Here, are you Mrs. Stefano? There you are. Mrs. Stefano. You saved the best for last. Yes. I sure did.

[2:25:32] Okay. Well, not the best, but the chair also votes yes, so we'll let Mrs. Stefano be the

[2:25:38] You are the best.

[2:25:39] You are the best.

[2:25:40] Oh cool.

[2:25:40] Fight words.

[2:25:41] You are the best.

[2:25:43] All right.

[2:25:43] So, gavel, I guess, hit.

[2:25:48] Thank you all for joining.

SCHOOL COMMITTEE -July 16, 2026

Transcript