[0:21] Good evening everyone. Uh, welcome to

[0:23] the regularly scheduled Abington School

[0:25] Committee meeting. Today is Tuesday,

[0:27] September 1st at 6:30 in the Abington

[0:29] Middle High School Library. If I could

[0:31] ask everyone to stand to salute the

[0:33] flag.

[0:36] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[0:38] United States of America and to the

[0:40] republic for which it stands. One nation

[0:43] under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[0:45] justice for all.

[0:51] » Thank you. And at this time, uh, I will

[0:53] open the hearing of visitors. If anyone

[0:54] would like to speak, please come up to

[0:56] the podium, state your name and address

[0:57] for the records, please.

[1:00] >> Hi there, Mike McDonald 3 Pinerest Road.

[1:04] Um and um I want to start by thanking

[1:08] you. I believe I saw in the minutes that

[1:11] um Good Friday is going to be off this

[1:13] year. Um you know, and thank you and

[1:16] praise God for acknowledging, you know,

[1:19] um God, we need it. We need him more

[1:22] than ever. Our kids need him more than

[1:24] ever. And not to mention a historical um

[1:27] fact and as Lord and Savior. So um thank

[1:30] you for that. And but more on to um

[1:33] other issues that I'm concerned with uh

[1:35] and not unrelated. Um uh is the health

[1:39] uh education um the the I would like to

[1:43] request more transparency on the on the sexed side coming home to

[1:49] our to our families. Um,

[1:52] you know, I I've I've done a lot of work

[1:55] on this in the past and and a lot of it is what I think to be

[2:00] inappropriate. I I don't I don't think

[2:02] our our kids um need to be um taught a

[2:06] lot of the stuff that is being taught in

[2:08] this um and it kind of I just think it

[2:11] gets brushed over. So, I I really think

[2:14] this is something that we can, you know,

[2:17] um

[2:18] give more transparency to uh to our uh

[2:22] to families, especially to me. Um you

[2:25] know, but I mean to everybody in

[2:26] general. So, I don't know if there's any

[2:28] possibility how we can go about that. Uh

[2:31] but I just feel like um it's a really

[2:34] important issue. Um there's a lot of um

[2:37] things that I I don't think that in the

[2:39] end are you know sexual promiscuity

[2:41] things of that nature that go on not you

[2:44] know that that that are are taught

[2:47] indirectly within that health education

[2:49] that I I don't think most people would

[2:51] want. So that's that's my that's that's

[2:54] um what I'd like to see. Um and I'd like

[2:57] to see what's being taught pretty much

[2:59] exactly by by the lesson. Um, so that's where I what I wanted to bring

[3:05] forward and it's something that I I I'm

[3:07] want I'm going to monitor and I hope you

[3:09] do too and and um I think it's really

[3:12] important for for um parents to know.

[3:16] >> Thank you. Hear your concern.

[3:19] Um just to close the loop on that one.

[3:21] Um what is being taught is the standards

[3:25] that are mandated by the state, not

[3:27] necessarily Abington. Abington and feel

[3:29] free to jump in. Um uh so if there are

[3:33] questions on the state mandate that

[3:35] would be something that would need to be

[3:36] addressed to Desi, not to us. How it

[3:39] gets taught is part of what Abington

[3:41] will create. And we can certainly

[3:44] discuss the the information that's

[3:45] shared with parents. But I just wanted

[3:47] to clarify that

[3:49] >> it's not that Abington is changing, it's

[3:51] that the DESIE standards have been

[3:54] clarified.

[3:55] >> Understood. But that there there are

[3:58] gives and takes in that. Right. So, so

[4:00] we, you know, we can say I mean

[4:04] >> sometimes the state doesn't always do

[4:06] the right thing and we've seen a lot of

[4:08] that.

[4:09] >> But to be clear, this board like this

[4:11] board is policy and budget. This board

[4:13] is not here to to determine what is

[4:16] required. Residents can certainly

[4:17] advocate at the state level, but to

[4:20] clarify, our role in school committee is

[4:22] policy and budget of Abington schools.

[4:24] We can't um and correct me if I'm wrong

[4:27] here, but we can't do something that

[4:29] goes against the state regulations. That

[4:31] is our job as school committee to ensure

[4:33] we're in compliance with the state regs

[4:35] >> and state. So just I just wanted to

[4:37] clarify that our board is for Abington

[4:40] budget and policy. It's not for state

[4:42] advocacy on curriculum.

[4:45] >> Got it. So I'd go through Desi,

[4:48] but there there's no in there's no

[4:51] school way to there's no Abington way to

[4:55] change this change it is what you're

[4:58] saying right like we you couldn't go and

[5:00] say no Desi where we don't think this is

[5:02] what we want to teach here correct

[5:06] we follow the state standards what are

[5:08] pro which are provided by the department

[5:10] of elementary and secondary education

[5:13] okay all

[5:16] Thank you though. Hear your concerns.

[5:20] » Okay. Seeing no other visitors, close

[5:24] the hearing of visitors. Um at this

[5:26] time, two administrative items. Um due

[5:30] to the timing of posting this meeting.

[5:32] We will not be voting anything today. So

[5:34] I'm going to skip over number three. We

[5:37] will have a separate meeting via Zoom, a

[5:39] virtual meeting that we will share.

[5:41] >> Teams, sorry.

[5:42] >> Sorry. Teams meeting. uh a virtual teams

[5:45] meeting um on Friday at uh I believe

[5:49] it'll be 12:30, but the final details

[5:51] will be shared via constant contact

[5:52] tomorrow. That's when we will do the

[5:54] votes. The discussion will all still

[5:55] take place today. And I would quickly

[5:58] also like to introduce our new student

[6:01] representative, Cameron Mc McNeel Barry Barry. Um do you want to just give

[6:06] a brief intro on who you are and what

[6:10] you like about Abington or what what you

[6:12] seek to do? Um, my name is Cameron

[6:14] Mcnob. I have participated in the

[6:17] school, school government, music, all

[6:19] the departments you can think of for my

[6:22] entire high school career. And I'm

[6:23] excited to be a part of the school

[6:24] committee to hopefully shed light on

[6:26] student activities, student involvement,

[6:29] student questions, anything of that

[6:31] sort.

[6:32] >> Great. Wonderful.

[6:34] >> And you are a rising senior. Well, you

[6:36] won't be rising as of

[6:37] >> tomorrow,

[6:38] >> 10 12 hours. [laughter]

[6:41] >> Welcome. and we look forward to having

[6:42] you.

[6:44] >> Okay, so now we will move on to the

[6:46] report of the assistant superintendent.

[6:47] Turn it over to Dr. Ba.

[6:48] >> Hi, good evening everyone. Welcome back.

[6:51] I hope you had a great summer. Um today

[6:54] um our prek to 12 certified staff spent

[7:00] time uh developing as professionals um

[7:03] professional development, if you will.

[7:05] um focusing on strengthening

[7:08] instruction, supporting students, and

[7:11] key district priorities that are part of

[7:13] our strategic plan. Um kindergarten to

[7:16] grade six teachers received um further

[7:19] training related to I Ready. You'll

[7:22] remember we implement implemented that

[7:24] two years ago. So this is really our

[7:26] third year with I Ready. Um three times

[7:29] a year, benchmark assessment, literacy,

[7:31] and numeracy. the training that was

[7:33] delivered today by the I Ready folks

[7:36] focused on what do we do with the data

[7:38] now that we have it take the data and

[7:42] decide how does that inform the

[7:44] instruction um but not just how do we

[7:46] group students we're already doing that

[7:48] um how do we take it and deepen learning

[7:51] for kids who um can be stretched or

[7:54] support kids who need extra support so

[7:56] that was for K to 6 um

[8:00] from 7 to 12 and also some of our other

[8:04] departments that are K12. adult

[8:06] wellness, music, art, um our EL

[8:10] department, EL department, all of those

[8:12] departments and 7 to 12 um departments

[8:16] worked together on um curriculum topics

[8:20] specifically um looking to design a if

[8:24] there isn't already existence for a a

[8:27] department to design at least one common

[8:30] standardsbased unit that everyone who's

[8:34] teaching that particular

[8:36] um content area or that in that

[8:38] department will deliver. So all the

[8:40] students who are in nth grade ELA, their

[8:42] teachers, no matter who they are, would

[8:44] deliver this one particular unit in the

[8:47] way that it's designed using the

[8:49] preassessments and formative assessments

[8:51] and post assessments that are developed

[8:54] together so that we can compare apples

[8:56] to apples from one class to another

[8:58] despite who the teacher was. Um so that

[9:01] work was started today um for our 7-12

[9:05] uh teachers. And then also um there was

[9:08] some work that focused on starting to

[9:12] look at our existing vision of the

[9:14] graduate comparing it to the new

[9:16] portrait of a graduate that uh the state

[9:18] has released. So um we're very closely

[9:22] aligned with that already, but there are

[9:23] some tweaks that we'll need to make over

[9:25] the next couple of years. Um

[9:28] and then we're waiting to see what

[9:30] happens with graduation requirements and

[9:32] that will be folded into the work that

[9:34] those departments do during the year um

[9:37] the rest of the year. Does anybody have

[9:39] any questions about today first?

[9:42] >> Can I ask one question? Um on the 7th

[9:44] through 12th department the standard

[9:46] that they're working on is it intended

[9:47] that I know you said the work was

[9:49] started.

[9:50] >> Will that happen this year in the second

[9:53] half of the year?

[9:54] >> Yeah. Okay. So, um, Mr. Bourne, uh,

[9:57] could give you much more specific

[9:59] information about it, but I believe, um,

[10:03] they are designing a

[10:05] >> Thanks.

[10:06] They are designing um they're selecting

[10:09] a unit um focusing on one particular

[10:12] standard um designing the work to be um

[10:16] done towards the end of the first

[10:18] semester so that in the second semester

[10:20] there can be um uh post assessment to

[10:23] see what difference did it make for

[10:25] those students.

[10:26] >> Okay.

[10:26] >> So the goal is to use it this year. Um

[10:31] and there was something else I was going

[10:32] to say about it but it's gone. Can't

[10:34] remember now.

[10:35] >> Dr. is that

[10:37] >> and I was at his department heads

[10:39] meeting when he was talking about this

[10:40] and one of the pieces of the unit

[10:43] development was using our MTSS um

[10:47] multi-tered student system of supports

[10:50] to embed in each unit um activities or

[10:55] um things for the students to reach for

[10:58] those students who have already have

[11:00] skills in that area and also um

[11:03] activities are are less lessons to help

[11:06] those students who have not mastered

[11:07] that skill.

[11:10] >> Is the idea to expand it beyond like

[11:13] would you say like it was for one unit

[11:14] is the idea to expand it gradually

[11:16] beyond that?

[11:17] >> Yeah. Okay.

[11:17] >> So, we we have existing um units of

[11:21] study that are um common for each

[11:24] department that are based on the state

[11:26] standards that we were talking about a

[11:27] few minutes ago. Those already exist.

[11:30] This is more specifically drilling down

[11:32] to the standard level. So within that

[11:35] unit, what standard are we going to make

[11:36] sure we all focus on?

[11:39] >> But yes, the goal is over time to do

[11:41] that more and more.

[11:42] >> Thanks.

[11:44] >> Any other questions about today?

[11:48] >> No. Um and then just to give you a quick

[11:52] preview of the rest of the year. Um

[11:54] there'll be a lot of building based

[11:56] professional development which we uh try

[11:58] to do three or four times a year so that

[12:01] each building administr administrative

[12:04] team can focus the professional

[12:07] development based on the needs of the

[12:08] teachers in their building and the

[12:10] students that those teachers are working

[12:11] with. Um there will also be from K to 6

[12:15] related to um the I Ready work that they will be doing throughout the

[12:20] year data teams looking at that data

[12:23] three times during the year to see where

[12:25] students are, how we can uh change our

[12:28] instruction for those students and then

[12:30] also um what do we do next um as a as a

[12:34] team of teachers. And then at one point

[12:36] in the middle of the year, we've moved

[12:38] around a couple times, but for the last

[12:39] few years, we've used one of our

[12:41] half-day um early dismissals for um

[12:45] vertical articulation between grade

[12:47] levels to make sure that we are doing

[12:49] everything we can to support students

[12:51] and families as they transition from one

[12:53] grade to another, but more importantly

[12:54] from one school to another. Um we've

[12:57] done it in towards the end of the year,

[12:59] we've done it towards the beginning of

[13:00] the year. This year we're doing it in

[13:01] the middle sometime to try and find the

[13:03] sweet spot. um you don't want

[13:04] information about how kids are doing too

[13:07] early for uh the following year, but you

[13:09] also don't want it too late. Um and then

[13:12] there will also be as always um special

[13:15] education specific um professional

[13:18] development. And in addition to that, we

[13:21] will again have Abington Innovates on

[13:23] election day where teachers get to

[13:25] choose their own adventure and uh select

[13:28] out of three sessions um professional

[13:31] development that matches their needs.

[13:34] That's a a quick glance at the year in

[13:36] PD. Any questions about any of that or

[13:39] any other ideas or questions?

[13:41] >> I have a question. Um are you looking at

[13:44] any sort of um professional development

[13:47] for um to support mental health and

[13:50] well-being of the teachers

[13:52] um because I know that there's a lot of

[13:54] stresses going on.

[13:56] >> Mhm.

[13:57] >> Now and um there's a lot of burnout. So

[13:59] I wasn't sure if you were going to focus

[14:01] on maybe in the innovative class.

[14:04] >> Yeah. So Abington Innovates, this will

[14:06] be our third year. For the last two

[14:10] years, probably a quarter of the

[14:13] offerings are focused on teacher

[14:15] self-care and uh wellness.

[14:18] >> Perfect.

[14:18] >> And they're very popular those those

[14:20] sessions. So yes, that'll definitely be a part of um Abington Innovates

[14:24] again. And um if there's anybody in the

[14:27] community who wants to come in and

[14:29] volunteer their time and their expertise

[14:30] related to that and offer a session,

[14:32] just email me and I'll try to get you on

[14:35] the schedule.

[14:37] Other questions?

[14:40] No.

[14:41] My next topic um is an update on our K25

[14:47] ELA um program selection and adoption

[14:52] that's uh tied to the Prism 2 grant that

[14:56] we received last year. Um you'll

[15:00] remember at the end of the year last

[15:02] year, we sort of had to put a pin in our

[15:06] um selection process because of the

[15:08] report that came out late from DESIE

[15:10] about one of the programs we were um

[15:12] piloting. So we stopped the pilot and we

[15:16] need to regroup um this fall with

[15:18] teachers now that they're back. Um we

[15:21] have a few decisions to make as a

[15:24] committee of representatives from um

[15:27] each grade level K to uh six K to five

[15:30] sorry including um an EL teacher and

[15:34] special educators. we need to sort of

[15:38] look at the landscape of what's out

[15:39] there as far as K to5 um ELA programs

[15:44] that meet the needs of our students,

[15:46] match the Desi um curriculum frameworks

[15:49] and um also match the ma the other

[15:53] mandates that we have from the state

[15:55] that aren't necessarily in the

[15:56] standards. For example, um there is a

[16:00] mandate coming uh within the next year

[16:03] for districts to adopt high quality

[16:06] instructional materials as identified by

[16:09] DESIE. So in other words, you have to

[16:12] choose something off of their list.

[16:14] Right? So that's kind of where we are

[16:15] and what we're trying to um make some

[16:18] decisions about with the group of

[16:20] teachers that are involved and

[16:21] administrators. We will um most likely

[16:24] take a closer look at the um program

[16:26] that we piloted last year, CKLA you

[16:29] might remember, and then at the same

[16:31] time look for an another program or two

[16:34] that we could use um to compare and

[16:37] decide which is um best meeting the

[16:39] needs of our students and fitting our

[16:41] instructional vision that we worked on

[16:43] last year.

[16:44] Um

[16:46] so another piece related to that uh

[16:51] because of what happened with the

[16:53] piloting um we received permission I

[16:57] guess we were granted the ability to

[16:59] carry over um a portion of the prism 2

[17:02] grant that was supposed to be spent last

[17:04] year on this adoption into this fiscal

[17:07] year. So, I believe it was about

[17:09] $136,000

[17:11] um was carried for forward in the Prism

[17:13] 2 grant. In addition to that, another um

[17:19] $220ish,000

[17:22] I don't have the exact numbers right in

[17:24] front of me actually. Um

[17:27] yeah, another sum of money that's very

[17:30] significant um was given in a

[17:33] continuation grant from Prism 2. So this

[17:36] is separate from last year and it is for

[17:40] um professional development. It is for

[17:42] supporting the work that we're doing in

[17:44] the the schools with the teachers and

[17:47] then also anything um that we might need

[17:51] to fill the gap in the purchase of an

[17:54] adoption uh of a program in addition to

[17:58] the money that we have in Abington from

[18:01] an article from two years ago um for

[18:04] instructional materials that's been set

[18:05] aside for that purpose. So financially

[18:08] we're in good shape for an adoption.

[18:11] It's just finding the program that's

[18:12] right for Abington um and then providing

[18:15] the right training and professional

[18:17] development for staff and um rolling it

[18:20] out in uh the fall of 27.

[18:25] I think that's all of the update I have

[18:27] about that. Do you have any questions

[18:30] about the ELA project we're doing?

[18:34] >> Can't imagine why you're looking at me

[18:35] right now. [laughter]

[18:37] Um, now can you just go back to the

[18:40] thing about the adoption of high quality

[18:44] instructional materials?

[18:47] Um, when did this come down?

[18:50] >> It's been in the works for I think a

[18:54] >> talking

[18:55] >> Yeah, they've been talking about it for

[18:56] a while. Um, recently we saw it in

[19:00] writing with an actual year, you know,

[19:03] that it's by I think it's December of

[19:04] next year.

[19:06] >> So, December of 27, districts have to be

[19:09] using high quality instructional

[19:11] materials. And um,

[19:15] December,

[19:17] >> I can't remember. Sorry, it might not

[19:19] have been December. By December of this

[19:20] year, they're supposed to be completing

[19:22] the list um of here are the things you

[19:24] can choose from. and then we'll have

[19:27] it's actually not December, it's uh the

[19:29] fall of 27.

[19:30] >> So, we were kind of concerned about

[19:32] that. We said, "Okay, we're we're going

[19:33] to get a list and then in less than or

[19:36] in about 6 months after that um have to

[19:39] have everything in place."

[19:40] >> So, if they are intending to have the

[19:42] list out by December of 26, we can

[19:45] assume that there will be no movement on

[19:48] our end on adoption of anything until

[19:52] the new list comes out.

[19:53] >> Yeah.

[19:54] >> Except ELA. Yeah,

[19:55] >> possibly.

[19:56] >> Right.

[19:57] >> Because that's a

[19:59] they have a set

[20:02] they're working on an updated list for

[20:04] other content areas. There is a ELA,

[20:07] >> right?

[20:08] >> Curate list.

[20:09] >> Correct.

[20:10] >> Hopefully they include the same one.

[20:12] [laughter]

[20:12] >> Hopefully that's not going to fall.

[20:14] >> Correct.

[20:15] >> And I think I'm wondering if other

[20:17] people's brains go to the same place.

[20:18] Mine, which is of course all students

[20:21] deserve high quality instructional

[20:23] material regardless. Yep.

[20:25] >> But this seems to be yet another

[20:28] unfunded mandate.

[20:30] >> Correct. Correct.

[20:31] >> Just felt the need to say that out loud.

[20:33] >> And and

[20:35] who is determining what's high quality?

[20:37] >> Thank you. That is that's the other

[20:40] >> there is there's a group of people that

[20:42] are doing that based on a rubric and

[20:45] districts, you know, have to sort of

[20:47] follow the guidelines. There is,

[20:49] especially for us, I think we talked

[20:51] about this at some point last year,

[20:53] because of the prison 2 grant, we have

[20:56] to, we can only spend that money on um

[21:00] on a program that meets expectations as

[21:03] rated by curate and as a highquality

[21:05] instructional material rated by curate.

[21:07] Um, if you're a district that is looking

[21:09] to implement something not using state

[21:12] grant money, you can there there's a a

[21:16] way to apply for a waiver if it's

[21:18] something that's not on the state's

[21:20] list. You can apply for a waiver because

[21:22] you're saying we believe it is

[21:24] highquality instructional materials even

[21:26] though it's not on your list. And then I

[21:28] don't we don't know how that waiver

[21:30] process will go. Um that might be a

[21:33] question for us down the road with other

[21:35] content areas, but for ELA, as I just

[21:37] said, because of the Prism 2 grant,

[21:38] we're locked in to um not use a waiver.

[21:42] >> And what grades is this targeting?

[21:44] >> This for us

[21:45] >> at the state level,

[21:47] >> all grades

[21:47] >> prek to 12. So for example, if we have

[21:51] say high school departments that have

[21:53] been working diligently to create high

[21:58] quality rigorous curriculum

[21:59] independently of a program.

[22:02] >> Yeah.

[22:03] >> So we could be having

[22:04] >> that would be an example of an

[22:05] application to say this is what our

[22:08] teachers created

[22:10] based on the requirements of your

[22:13] highquality instructional material we

[22:16] >> Okay. And I would assume there'd be a

[22:18] review, right? We'd have an application

[22:20] for the waiver, but then they'd actually

[22:21] want to see samples of our work uh that

[22:25] our teachers have done,

[22:26] >> which isn't too unlike what our teachers

[22:29] currently have to do to prove dual

[22:31] enrollment.

[22:32] >> Right. Correct.

[22:33] >> Anyway, so Okay. All right. So, we might

[22:37] not have to buy a whole new curriculum

[22:39] at a secondary level if we Okay. Thank

[22:43] you for getting me there eventually.

[22:44] >> You're welcome.

[22:46] I would imagine with the cost

[22:49] of this that um it'll be something that

[22:53] will be rolled rolled out and there'll

[22:55] be as there is um the prison uh grants

[22:58] around ELA and literacy that I would

[23:01] imagine there's going to be additional

[23:03] funding for other content areas over the

[23:06] coming years. My other question is if

[23:09] we've already seen some of the the

[23:12] programs that have been looked at taken

[23:15] off the list, have they given any

[23:16] feedback as to what some of these

[23:20] factors are that are their kind of X

[23:21] factors for removing someone from a high

[23:23] quality list?

[23:26] >> So there's two things

[23:29] and I'm not super clear on the

[23:31] distinction between the two, but there

[23:33] are two things. Okay,

[23:34] >> there there's the curate list that says

[23:38] here are our um here are the indicators

[23:41] that we're looking for as far as student

[23:43] engagement, teacher usability, and

[23:46] content um knowledge and content um

[23:49] information, how accurate it is. Right?

[23:51] So, that's how you get a curate report

[23:53] of um either doesn't meet expectations,

[23:57] partially meets expectations, or meets

[23:59] expectations. And you can get you get a

[24:01] rating in each one of those sections.

[24:03] And then you also get an overall

[24:07] then there's separately this idea of

[24:09] highquality instructional materials.

[24:12] I think all all curate items that have

[24:17] been rated meets expectations are

[24:19] highquality instructional materials but

[24:21] not all high-quality instructional

[24:23] materials are on curate.

[24:26] >> Does that make sense?

[24:27] >> Yeah.

[24:28] >> Um [laughter]

[24:30] but yes but no. That is exactly yes but

[24:33] no.

[24:33] >> Every square is a rectangle but not

[24:35] every rectangle is a square.

[24:36] >> A square.

[24:37] >> Kleenex being tissues and vice versa.

[24:40] Yes. Um

[24:42] so we're basically playing a game of

[24:44] semantics at this point in time until

[24:46] someone can clear the fog

[24:50] >> maybe.

[24:51] >> And not related to ELA for us because

[24:55] like I said we have to choose off of

[24:57] curates list because of the prism 2

[24:59] grant. So it is high- quality

[25:02] instructional materials. It gets gray

[25:05] right now with other things. There are

[25:08] um math and science um and I think some

[25:11] social studies curriculum and programs

[25:13] on curate also. Um

[25:17] but there is that whole thing of if it's

[25:19] high quality materials in your opinion

[25:21] you can apply for a waiver. So we just

[25:23] don't know what that is.

[25:25] >> Okay.

[25:25] >> How are they going to measure that? So,

[25:28] we might be in that position at some

[25:29] point with some some program that we use

[25:32] or something we've created, but right

[25:33] now for ELA, we don't have to think

[25:35] about that waiver situation.

[25:39] >> More to come.

[25:40] >> Perfect. Thank you,

[25:41] >> Caroline. No.

[25:42] >> Yes. Um, so just backing up a little, I

[25:46] just want to make sure I have all the

[25:47] like the little flowchart correct. Um,

[25:50] very bumpy flowchart. So last year the

[25:55] team piloted two different curriculara,

[25:57] right? It was CK CKLA

[26:00] and the one that was voted off the

[26:03] island.

[26:04] >> That's right. Bye.

[26:05] >> Right. They started they were like a

[26:07] week into piloting into reading by HMH.

[26:11] >> Okay. And then but we don't yet know the

[26:14] status of CKLA for the upcoming list.

[26:18] CKLA is is actually CKLA is the only ELA

[26:24] program on the list that is K to5 and

[26:28] has incorporated into it foundational

[26:31] skills instruction.

[26:32] >> Okay,

[26:32] >> foundational skills being phonics

[26:34] essentially, right? Um learning how to

[26:37] read a lot of programs that's a separate

[26:39] component. M

[26:41] >> um so um CKLA is the only one that's

[26:44] comprehensive in that way that it also

[26:46] has the foundational skills and it's K

[26:49] to 5. There are other programs on there

[26:52] but they're K to3 and then there's four

[26:55] and six or something like that but so

[26:57] CKLA is and it's still on the list it I

[27:00] don't think it's going to change.

[27:01] >> It's okay but it

[27:02] >> yeah it's

[27:03] >> theoretically could Okay. All right. So

[27:06] are there any other are we just in a

[27:08] holding pattern until the le the next

[27:10] list comes out or are we piloting

[27:12] anything else in the meantime?

[27:13] >> So um we haven't met yet with the

[27:17] teachers um but there is

[27:20] >> the existing curate list has um programs

[27:24] that have been reviewed based on their

[27:27] criteria within the last few years.

[27:30] >> Okay.

[27:30] >> Some of them go back to 2017. I wouldn't

[27:34] suggest we pilot something that was

[27:36] meets expectations in 2017 because

[27:38] they're probably going to do another

[27:40] report on it based on the most recent

[27:42] edition and it might not be. So what we

[27:46] will look at with the committee is with

[27:48] the committee is probably anything from

[27:51] 2021 2022 forward. Okay,

[27:54] >> that's on the curate approved meets

[27:57] expectations list

[27:58] >> to determine what meets our needs, pilot

[28:01] that and then come back to the group and

[28:03] say, okay, do we want to pilot a third

[28:06] thing or do you feel like you have

[28:07] enough of a choice to make a good

[28:09] decision for the students?

[28:10] >> Okay. And what was one more time, what

[28:13] was the mandate about high quality

[28:15] instruction that was for for K to 12 and

[28:18] ELA or everything?

[28:19] >> That's for everything.

[28:20] >> Everything every subject. Okay.

[28:23] Which makes sense.

[28:24] >> It does. Yes.

[28:25] >> But what does that mean?

[28:27] >> Right.

[28:28] >> And what is the time frame and

[28:30] >> what is the pump

[28:31] >> and who absorbs the cost and how will

[28:33] right how will the state

[28:34] >> is it a fair statement

[28:37] that curate doesn't like December 1st

[28:41] put out a new list. It's a rolling

[28:44] >> as things are reviewed they're on or

[28:46] off. So yeah you don't wait for like the

[28:49] next list necessarily.

[28:51] you select a program that most likely

[28:56] has been more recently reviewed, you

[28:58] know. Well, and I think understanding

[29:00] that educational pendulums shift fairly

[29:04] consistently and right now

[29:07] the thought train seems to be more that

[29:09] foundational skills for a longer period

[29:13] of years does a better job at catching

[29:16] children at their readiness points

[29:20] and providing them a more solid

[29:22] foundation even if it looks like it's

[29:24] years of repetition. So I think that

[29:26] might be where some of these

[29:28] >> are going. Who okay is curate the just

[29:32] the name of the list or is that the

[29:34] organization and who

[29:36] >> it's a it's a part of DESIE. It's a

[29:37] department in

[29:38] >> it is a department. So we can find this

[29:40] bas

[29:40] >> stands for something and I can't

[29:42] remember what it stands for. Cur

[29:46] >> on my ride home. I'll remember it.

[29:48] >> So we can find it. Yeah.

[29:49] >> On the Desi website and I 100% just made

[29:52] up spelling of it. So, don't look. All

[29:56] right. Cool. Thank you.

[29:58] >> Thank you. Any other question?

[29:59] >> I have one followup. Um, because you

[30:02] said we were granted

[30:05] uh permission to carry over some of the

[30:07] funds. Just to be clear to taxpayers,

[30:10] it's not as if we were granted $200,000

[30:13] and poof, 80 of it went away because we

[30:16] didn't do it. We utilized some of the

[30:18] funding for last year's pilot. Correct.

[30:20] And assistance and we're carrying over

[30:22] the remainder. We didn't lose money

[30:23] correct in this delay, if you will.

[30:26] >> Correct. Um the funding that was used

[30:28] last year was to implement the pilot to

[30:30] do all of the pre-work ahead of that and

[30:33] to use the desi mandated coaching team,

[30:36] right? So, um a significant portion of

[30:40] last year's funding went towards that

[30:42] coaching. Um and that's sort of where we

[30:44] are right now in negotiations. So, we

[30:47] have two things going at the same time

[30:49] to wrap this up. Um we have two things

[30:51] going at the same time. Um what what's

[30:54] our path going to be for our committee

[30:56] and then at the same time uh a couple of

[30:58] the administrators and I are negotiating

[31:01] with uh this the consulting firm that we

[31:04] used last year and that we have to use

[31:05] again this year um to to make sure the

[31:10] uh the amount of support they give us

[31:12] this year matches where we are in the

[31:13] process. We shouldn't get the same

[31:15] amount of support that we got last year

[31:18] that cost a certain price tag. We

[31:20] shouldn't get that again because this

[31:22] isn't year two where we're implementing.

[31:24] This is year two, a continuation of last

[31:26] year. So that's what we're trying to

[31:28] work on right now with the um like I

[31:31] said with the consulting group to

[31:33] rightsize the amount of support that we

[31:35] get and the the funds that don't court

[31:37] go towards that will go towards the

[31:39] purchase.

[31:41] >> Thank you.

[31:43] All right, that's it for me. Thank you.

[31:46] >> Any ESL grant?

[31:48] >> Not not done for you yet.

[31:50] >> Um, is that Oh, yeah. ESL grant. That's

[31:53] not it for me. So, [laughter]

[31:57] um there is uh in the works right now um

[32:01] Dr. Robbins, myself, and Melissa Moore,

[32:04] our new ELE director, who was an ELEL uh

[32:07] educator at um Woodsdale in the past,

[32:10] but um she's now in the director's role.

[32:13] Uh the three of us have um completed the

[32:16] application for another grant um from

[32:18] through DESIE called the strengthening

[32:21] ESL programming and services grant. Um

[32:25] without going into too much detail

[32:27] because we haven't been awarded the

[32:28] grant yet. Um we do know that our uh

[32:33] curriculum the program that we use in K

[32:37] to

[32:39] six K to six um the publisher is suns

[32:43] setting that program. We've had it for a

[32:45] number of years and um it will no longer

[32:48] be published or supported at the end of

[32:52] >> 20.

[32:54] this this June. Yeah. Yeah. So, um so we

[32:58] know we have to do um some work related

[33:00] to our EL um programming and so we saw

[33:04] this uh opportunity. we've applied for

[33:06] it and and hopefully um we will uh be

[33:09] awarded that grant and if we are um just

[33:12] like most of the grants we receive from

[33:14] the state there I don't want to say

[33:16] hoops to jump through but there are some

[33:19] mandates that go along with the funding

[33:22] and part of it is and I think this is a

[33:24] good thing part of it is uh for this

[33:26] particular grant our team of EL teachers

[33:30] have to become part of a cohort around

[33:32] the state that are at the same place so

[33:34] they'll actually have colleagues in

[33:36] other districts who are going through

[33:37] the same process and be able to learn

[33:39] from them and share with them. So, um

[33:41] I'll keep you updated on that um when I

[33:44] hear back from the uh the grant arm of

[33:47] Desi.

[33:49] Any questions about that?

[33:51] >> Did they give you a estimate as to when?

[33:54] >> No.

[33:55] >> Question.

[33:58] » Thank you.

[34:00] very much. And at this point,

[34:02] I would like to welcome Dr. Robins up to

[34:04] talk about the report of the director of

[34:06] student services.

[34:13] » Um so the first item that I'm um

[34:15] reviewing with the committee tonight is

[34:16] just a review of our extended school

[34:18] year programming. Um this is the

[34:20] programming that we um provide to our

[34:23] students with disabilities who are at

[34:25] substantial risk for regression during

[34:27] the approximately 11 weeks of summer. Um

[34:30] these programs are designed to to ensure

[34:32] that um students retain the skills they

[34:34] learned during the previous school year

[34:36] so they're not at like a disadvantage at

[34:38] the start of the new school year. Um so

[34:40] this year we ran our program um from

[34:42] July 6th until July 30th. Um um we had

[34:46] students uh representing um the

[34:48] preschool level all the way up to grade

[34:50] 12. Um it's not every year that we have

[34:52] um uh us uh high school age students who

[34:55] participate, but we did this year. Um in

[34:57] total we had 108 students. Um uh we were

[35:01] joined again by our um um by our um ESY

[35:05] director um Carrie Higgins. This is her

[35:07] second year in the program. Um and with more experience she was able to

[35:11] find um efficiencies and and uh

[35:14] productive ways of um operating. um we

[35:17] were able to actually um reduce the um

[35:20] the amount of staff we were using while

[35:22] still feeling um very very effective. Um

[35:26] in in total this year we had 17 um

[35:28] special ed teachers and 24

[35:29] parrofessionals while servicing 108

[35:32] students and that is um that's

[35:34] approximately the number of students

[35:35] that we have been servicing for the past

[35:37] 3 years. Um we had a nurse present and

[35:40] we had um service providers including um

[35:42] speech language um physical therapy and

[35:45] occupational therapy. Um and um so at

[35:48] the end of the program um all all

[35:51] participants received a summary of their

[35:52] performance um um that their families

[35:55] received and those also uh also reside

[35:57] in the students cumulative special ed

[35:58] records. Um at the same time we had um a

[36:01] program for students who experienced

[36:02] significant um um educational

[36:05] discontinuity at the middle school

[36:07] level. Um so these are students who for

[36:09] reasons of um uh uh physical health or

[36:13] for reasons of attendance um in some

[36:15] instances behavior um just missed a

[36:18] significant amount of learning. Um so

[36:19] those students were invited to

[36:20] participate in a program that um runs

[36:22] the same duration as our special

[36:24] education program. Um and in this

[36:26] program there were 21 students served

[36:28] and um and there were um this was led by

[36:30] uh two teachers and um during that time

[36:32] the students were exposed to uh

[36:34] humanities instruction um and um uh

[36:37] science and mathematic instruction. And

[36:38] the idea is that um uh this program

[36:41] simulated um the educational experience that they

[36:45] likely missed during the school year so

[36:47] that they they like their uh students

[36:49] with disability counterparts would would

[36:51] not be at a disadvantage for the new

[36:52] school year. Um, so that's an overall

[36:54] summary. Happy to field any any

[36:56] questions that anyone might have.

[37:00] >> Dr. Robbins, how was um how was

[37:02] attendance this year based on like I

[37:04] guess just comparing it to previous

[37:05] years, was it still up? Was it still

[37:06] good? Did you get most of the people

[37:08] that you offered it to to accept it this

[37:10] year?

[37:11] >> Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Um I I can only off the

[37:14] top of my head and so we had 108

[37:15] students participate. I can only think

[37:17] of four who we were expecting who did not actually come. Um it's it's

[37:20] fairly customary for uh families to um

[37:22] miss a handful of days due to vacation

[37:24] or athletic commitments and things like

[37:25] that, but um but we we felt like we had

[37:28] just a really high uh amount of

[37:29] attendance just given who was invited.

[37:31] Um I think I think just each year we

[37:32] learn like we we we learn new methods

[37:34] and and just um uh identify just more

[37:38] effective ways of outreach. So this year

[37:39] just felt really solid in terms of that.

[37:41] >> Thanks for the question.

[37:45] >> Questions?

[37:46] just more the numbers. Again, I say this

[37:50] every year. I don't think people

[37:52] understand how extraordinary it is the

[37:55] amount of families that take the

[37:57] opportunity to continue the learning for

[37:59] their for their children. Um, having

[38:02] been in other districts and having first

[38:05] inside information on other districts,

[38:07] the numbers are incredible and I think

[38:09] it's a testament to the work that you

[38:11] guys do on this end and the staff and

[38:14] the families that really want to make it

[38:16] happen. So, thank you for that. The um

[38:19] the AMS numbers, is that a typical

[38:23] >> that that um uh that amount actually is relatively high if you compare it to

[38:27] the past um years.

[38:29] >> That's what I thought. Um um um but

[38:31] virtually every family that was invited

[38:33] um took took advantage of it.

[38:35] >> Amazing.

[38:35] >> So and um uh and I know that the staff

[38:38] conducted like thoughtful lessons

[38:39] through the process. But yeah, you're

[38:41] right. If you were to do year-by-year

[38:42] data that that is um that feels about,

[38:45] you know, 50% higher than the prior year

[38:48] at least.

[38:49] >> And do we happen to know offhand if we

[38:51] had many high school students who were

[38:53] able to go up for credit recovery in

[38:54] other areas?

[38:55] >> We do. Yay.

[38:56] >> 12 12 of our high school students um

[38:59] participated in Rockland's summer school

[39:02] >> for credit recovery.

[39:04] >> And then we also had You're probably

[39:06] going to talk about it next. Were you

[39:08] going to talk about the ESL?

[39:09] >> Oh, um uh yeah, I couldn't unless you

[39:12] had some prepared notes that you want to

[39:14] share.

[39:14] >> It was just uh six of our high school

[39:16] students were also part of an ESL

[39:18] program over the summer that Dr. Robin

[39:20] is probably going to talk a little bit

[39:21] about.

[39:22] >> Yep. Yeah. Thank you, Chris. Yeah, I'll

[39:23] just add a few sentences to that as

[39:24] well. Um so um at the at the tail end of

[39:26] the year um we we took a look at um um

[39:30] the progress of our English learners at

[39:31] the high school level and um what it

[39:34] appeared to be this year is that there

[39:35] were there were what felt like to us a

[39:37] significant number who had um failed

[39:39] their um ELA class and and to to fail

[39:42] that class is is especially troublesome

[39:43] as a student because you essentially

[39:45] fall off the diploma track because of

[39:47] distribution requirement is to pass four

[39:49] years of ELA. um some students in this

[39:52] situation will just double up on certain

[39:54] years, but we know English learners are

[39:55] just a v vulnerable population to begin

[39:57] with and um and are at a higher uh

[40:01] likelihood in order to drop out. And so

[40:04] as a as an initial step in order to uh

[40:06] reduce this likelihood, we uh we decided

[40:08] to invite all of this all all the

[40:10] students who had um failed an ELA class

[40:12] to join us for the summer. We had um um

[40:14] Beth Quinn as an enthusiastic volunteer

[40:16] to teach that. For those who don't know,

[40:17] she just happens to be a a current ESL

[40:20] teacher with also a substantial ELA

[40:22] background. Um, and she had worked with

[40:23] um retiring Dr. Gonzalz um to make sure

[40:26] that the uh that they would offer an

[40:27] enriched uh curriculum. So we extend so

[40:29] we extended the invite um uh to to all

[40:32] uh relevant families and we had six

[40:34] students take us up on on the offer and

[40:36] all those students did have um uh you

[40:38] know perfect attendance so that that we

[40:40] were able to um you know get them across

[40:41] the finish line and and work the

[40:43] credits. that felt like an effective use

[40:45] of of their time and and got them on

[40:47] just a more positive trajectory.

[40:49] >> And just if I could add one bit of

[40:50] information to that. Thank you, James.

[40:53] >> Um,

[40:55] this program was funded using our a part

[40:58] of the title three grant that Abington

[41:01] receives annually. It it varies the

[41:04] amount um based on our enrollment um and

[41:08] other factors in the town, but um there

[41:11] was there was enough that we could set

[41:13] aside a small amount of uh money to pay

[41:16] for uh the the L uh the LE teacher to do

[41:20] this work. We weren't able to fund

[41:22] transportation, but I'm glad to hear

[41:24] that families were able to get their

[41:26] kids here.

[41:30] » That's that's amazing.

[41:33] Can I ask one question on the 21 AMS

[41:36] students? You said that there were two

[41:37] educators. Were those two educators the

[41:39] only two that were working through four

[41:41] grades worth of three subjects for those

[41:43] students?

[41:44] >> Um uh yes. So essentially, so they um

[41:47] they specialized. So there was um so the

[41:49] way to think about is humanities and

[41:51] STEM. So um one teacher would focus on

[41:53] like um English uh English literature

[41:55] and and social studies and the other

[41:56] teacher would uh would focus on u

[41:58] mathematics and um in and in the

[42:01] sciences. And so um what the what the

[42:04] intent was was not to um not to be

[42:06] exhaustive. So off offer like a you know

[42:09] a seventh grade version of social

[42:10] studies, a sixth grade version and so

[42:11] on. Instead what they would do is kind

[42:13] of explore themes that had a bit of

[42:15] overlap. So they would do they would do

[42:16] a bit of um uh science learning that

[42:18] involved like quantitative reasoning and

[42:20] then differentiate for what um

[42:21] differentiate um based on based on your

[42:23] grade level. Okay.

[42:24] >> Um because I Yeah. Because the because

[42:25] the way the way you described it Yeah.

[42:28] It it seems like a lot for staff

[42:30] to absorb, but it's um but that's that's

[42:32] essentially our our approach. And one

[42:33] thing I'll mention too is that they did

[42:34] have a shared power professional um just

[42:36] to uh promote engagement and just make

[42:38] it so that if anyone needed review or or any level of management that they

[42:43] offered that. Great.

[42:46] And um the um the staff um the staff who

[42:50] we had teaching at one of one of whom

[42:52] was a returning teacher. So so she had

[42:53] kind of learned the art of this and the

[42:55] other of which is just um a teacher who

[42:57] just performs an exceptional level for

[42:59] us and we were lucky to have

[43:01] >> wonderful. Thank you.

[43:03] >> Thanks for the question.

[43:04] And then just um and and then I'll um

[43:07] the next item on my agenda um pertain to

[43:10] the home education programs and I and I

[43:12] believe that's something that we'll be

[43:13] reviewing in further detail on um

[43:14] Friday. Is that correct?

[43:16] >> Correct.

[43:17] >> Yeah. Great. So I think that concludes

[43:19] my time, right?

[43:20] >> Um partnership with Abington Copes.

[43:22] >> Okay, great. Yep. Um sorry, I just

[43:24] didn't have the agenda in front of me.

[43:25] [laughter]

[43:26] >> Um great. So um so this um this next bit

[43:29] of information is quite exciting and it

[43:30] kind of gets to a question Pam had asked

[43:32] earlier about mental health. Um so so

[43:34] we're really lucky this year to um

[43:36] partner with Abington Copes in order to

[43:40] um in order to obtain a contract with an

[43:42] agency called um Cartwheel which offers

[43:45] um virtual um mental health um services.

[43:48] So by partnering with Copes, we were

[43:50] able to get a contract that allowed us

[43:51] um uh uh 14 um counseling relationships.

[43:56] Um so um what what cartwheel does is um

[44:00] kind of similar to kerosololis it helps

[44:02] families and the school I identify

[44:05] counselors that are out there but it

[44:07] goes a step further than carousolus

[44:08] because it actually renders the service.

[44:10] So essentially, cartwheel has at their

[44:13] like at at their ready um um

[44:15] practitioners who will not only make

[44:18] appointments with students but will

[44:20] actually deliver those services and the services go the full range of um of

[44:25] meeting mental health needs. So they can

[44:27] start just in terms of uh in terms of

[44:28] counseling, you know, like motivational

[44:30] coaching and like um and reflection and just the typical things we associate

[44:34] with counseling, but it also spans to

[44:36] psychiatric level of care because

[44:38] sometimes our our referred students are

[44:39] at a place where the their emotional

[44:41] experience is so volatile that that the

[44:43] benefits they derive from counseling can

[44:45] just be minimal. Um so um so it feels

[44:48] like a full suite of mental health

[44:50] services. Um, so what this will look

[44:52] like is, like I said, we have um we we

[44:54] have the ability to access 15 counseling

[44:56] relationships. So we can we can make

[44:58] referrals starting at grade 2 all the

[45:01] way up to grade 12. So all of our school

[45:02] psychologists and school school

[45:04] adjustment counselors, guidance

[45:05] counselors, myself and the principles um

[45:07] will work to to identify what are what

[45:09] are the cases that are most in need of

[45:11] these services. And then what we'll do

[45:13] is we'll create the um we'll create the

[45:15] linkage between cartwheel and the

[45:17] family. Um something that's interesting

[45:19] is that the services can either be

[45:20] rendered during the school day or at

[45:23] home and that and that will and um that

[45:26] will meet various needs. It might be it

[45:28] might be the case that we have a a

[45:29] student who is who is in need of these

[45:31] services but whose parents really

[45:34] struggle to compel um the child to to

[45:36] partake in certain activities in which

[45:38] case in a in a case like that it might

[45:39] be more appropriate for that activity to

[45:41] occur during school where we're just

[45:43] where we might be more effective in

[45:44] having the child like participate. Um um

[45:46] but we might have another type of

[45:48] student who might experience let's just

[45:49] say like perfectionism and the the

[45:51] prospect of leaving class in order to

[45:53] participate in counseling is just you

[45:55] know causes a lot of anguish. So a

[45:57] student like that um they could

[45:58] participate in the counseling after

[46:00] school. Um and then um the uh counselors

[46:02] uh at cartwell will just um form uh

[46:05] relationships with our members of staff

[46:06] so that we we know you know essentially

[46:09] what is going on. Um, also the the

[46:11] counselors can serve as a little bit of

[46:12] a commu um can can serve entirely as

[46:15] like a community hub as well. So to make

[46:17] linkages with other services that might

[46:18] be needed such as like inhome family

[46:20] therapy or if um if a if a family is

[46:24] experiencing like food or housing

[46:26] instability, they can make linkages um

[46:28] there. So um we're really excited to um

[46:31] to have it. um a uh a community member

[46:34] named um Stacy Sees um resides in

[46:36] Abington and is also a representative of

[46:38] the um of the agency and she'll be

[46:42] partnering with our staff in order to

[46:43] ensure like smooth um smooth rollout and

[46:46] additionally and this gets to a question

[46:47] that Pam had asked earlier um what is

[46:50] helpful is that um [clears throat]

[46:52] cartwheel as an agency um essentially

[46:54] provides services with all things mental

[46:57] health oriented and part of that

[46:58] includes parent um parent and community

[47:00] training and so they offer um they offer

[47:02] monthly webinars on on topics of

[47:04] interest um pertaining to mental health.

[47:06] And just as a participating agency, our

[47:08] community members now have access to a

[47:11] uh to u monthly trainings pertaining to

[47:13] topics um that are important for parents

[47:15] to know about managing their children's

[47:16] mental health. So we'll be advertising

[47:18] those on a on a monthly basis. And so

[47:20] that'll um hopefully that'll be um

[47:22] helpful to the community. So that is just a really quick summary of

[47:25] the um cartwheel um agency and our

[47:29] relationship. and then um I'm happy to

[47:31] answer any questions

[47:34] >> questions on cartwheel.

[47:35] >> Um can just more of a comment as we're

[47:38] going into the school year? Um because I

[47:41] know a lot of people think mental health

[47:44] is a home thing and you know school is

[47:47] English, math, science, and at the end

[47:49] of the day if if mental health is

[47:53] getting in the way it's awfully hard for

[47:55] a child to learn. So really and for

[47:59] parents too if if they can't support the

[48:02] child the way they feel they need to.

[48:04] It's hard it's hard for a child to

[48:06] learn. So

[48:08] it is absolutely

[48:11] okay for people to reach out and ask for

[48:14] thoughts, ideas, services. You know that

[48:17] this is we have things available that I

[48:20] think a lot of people don't even

[48:21] realize. Um and sometimes it's not a

[48:25] huge thing. Sometimes it's the small

[48:27] little things that can help make big

[48:29] changes. So, thank you for this. But I

[48:32] hope that families really listen and

[48:34] hear that

[48:35] there are things out there. They are

[48:37] there are things available. And that

[48:39] older students, too, high school

[48:40] students, sometimes it's hard to get in

[48:42] the door. Just get in the door and tell

[48:46] someone how you're feeling and let's

[48:47] take it from there. I mean, if that's

[48:50] where we can start the school year,

[48:51] that's great.

[48:53] >> Great. Yeah, I think Yeah. Thank you. an

[48:56] agreed on long counsel. And just a a

[48:58] quick sentence or two that I'll add to

[48:59] that is I you know I think um that is um

[49:02] that's an important insight that a lot

[49:04] of our staff um um have become really in

[49:07] touch with over time. And so um in a lot

[49:09] of our activities pertaining to mental

[49:11] health training and um social emotional

[49:13] learning, a lot of teachers have like

[49:15] thrown themselves into that work and

[49:16] done a lot of personal research um just

[49:18] based on the idea that you know you have

[49:20] to feel um at ease with with yourself,

[49:24] at ease with the person teaching you and

[49:26] at ease in the larger class community in

[49:28] order to just absorb the information

[49:29] that's being taught and be willing to

[49:31] take academic risks. So kind of ju just

[49:33] to kind of your point like mental um

[49:36] like um secure secure and productive

[49:40] mental health is necess is a necessary

[49:41] component to learning and and I think

[49:43] our our teachers are are really in touch

[49:45] with that idea and doing a lot of

[49:46] personal work to to um help students

[49:48] with that.

[49:52] Um this is wonderful and um the

[49:55] educational webinars for everyone sound

[49:57] particularly helpful and I was wondering

[50:00] I know that um at the middle school

[50:03] level cuz that's where my own children

[50:05] are right now they do a lot of seal work

[50:08] in home rooms and has there been any

[50:12] talk of incorporating some of these

[50:14] tools from the cartwheel

[50:17] um the cartwheel system into like the

[50:20] home rooms or any of like the health

[50:21] classes.

[50:22] >> Um so so what I what I what I know is

[50:24] that the um the so what you're referring

[50:28] to is that the the advisory um approach

[50:31] that the middle school uses and so they do have a fairly active steering

[50:35] committee that includes the

[50:36] administrators, adjustment counselors

[50:38] and and um teachers to just reflect on what's included in that. So in

[50:43] previous years they um they had adapted

[50:45] a number of um uh they adapted a number

[50:48] of lessons and activities from the

[50:50] second step um curriculum and then

[50:52] realizing that a lot of their students

[50:54] were really struggling to keep up in

[50:55] terms of management and organization

[50:57] that they incorporated some executive

[50:59] functioning techniques and then and then

[51:01] I'm I'm sure as as we gather more

[51:04] information from cartwheel that I'm sure

[51:07] they'll take that information um

[51:08] seriously and see and see to what extent

[51:10] they can um incorporate into into class.

[51:13] I know that u um so Cartwell certainly

[51:16] has a lot of um concepts um to offer. I

[51:19] know that the f their focus isn't

[51:20] exactly social emotional instruction to

[51:22] a larger classroom, but I think they'll

[51:25] still have a lot of um um techniques and

[51:28] approaches to share. Okay.

[51:29] >> Um, so, so I think, um, so, um, your suggestion is a is is a good one,

[51:34] and I'll make sure to, um, to, um, speak

[51:37] with the AMS administration to, to, um,

[51:39] to just make sure that they're making

[51:40] the connection that you just made right

[51:42] there. Um, so that we're um, essent

[51:44] essentially getting all all the juice

[51:45] from the lemon, so to speak, so that we

[51:47] can kind of take all their ideas and put

[51:48] it to work.

[51:51] >> Can I ask one follow-up question? Um,

[51:54] you mentioned that there were 13, uh,

[51:56] sorry, 14 counseling relationships. Is

[51:58] that a branch of 14 connections or are

[52:02] you saying we have like 14 seats that we

[52:05] can refer in?

[52:06] >> Yep. And it's um and yeah, just it's 15. Yep. And essentially it's 15

[52:11] referrals. Okay. So essentially we we'll

[52:13] make a we'll make a referral and and

[52:16] through that referral um um cartwheel as

[52:18] an agency and their practitioners will

[52:20] decide with our input what the what that

[52:24] treatment plan will look like. In many cases it's the first thing that

[52:27] we visualize which is just like ongoing

[52:29] weekly counseling which involves some coaching some reflection um some

[52:34] education about how to better manage

[52:35] your emotions and so on. So that so

[52:37] that'll be the case in in in some cases

[52:39] but then but then some cases might be

[52:40] more um uh there might be a greater

[52:43] degree of challenge that the student's

[52:44] experiencing and it might need to reach

[52:45] a psychiatric level. So in that case and

[52:47] it's still one unit it would be that the

[52:49] student um may begin with counseling and

[52:52] that may be ongoing but that may also

[52:54] lead to a psychiatric referral and then just to kind of like wrap it

[52:58] all together there could be a third case

[52:59] where it starts as counseling it needs

[53:01] to go to psychiatric in order in order

[53:03] to um better manage the uh the emotional

[53:05] highs and lows so that they can gain

[53:07] more from counseling in their day-to-day

[53:09] life. But it also could be the case the

[53:10] family is struggling um um at some level

[53:13] let's just suppose with food food

[53:14] insecurity. So, um, Cartwood would would

[53:16] still provide services to the family to

[53:18] like have outreach to, um, food banks

[53:20] and things like that and that would

[53:22] still be one unit. So, it's essentially

[53:23] 15 referrals and that treatment plan can

[53:26] go in any different direction.

[53:27] >> Okay, great. Thank you to Abington Copes

[53:30] and thank you for working with them. Um,

[53:33] I think the one ask that I would make if

[53:35] possible is just to let us know partway

[53:38] through the year how that's going. I'd

[53:39] be curious to understand if there were

[53:42] 45 asks but we're like rationing these

[53:46] throughout the year so that we

[53:47] understand from a budgetary perspective

[53:49] if this is the gap that we look to fill

[53:51] and need to fill and I'd be curious to

[53:55] understand how the feedback is from

[53:58] those students who are participating if

[54:00] it feels effective. Um so if we could

[54:04] get an update maybe second half of the

[54:05] year I think that would be helpful for

[54:06] us.

[54:07] >> Oh certainly. Yep. Yep. Good work on on

[54:09] that. Absolutely.

[54:11] >> Great. Any other questions?

[54:14] >> All right. Thank you very much, Dr.

[54:15] Robbins.

[54:16] >> Yeah. Nice to see you all. Thank you.

[54:18] >> And now I'll turn it over to the third

[54:20] doctor, Dr. Michella.

[54:21] >> Thank you. [laughter]

[54:23] >> Uh thank you. 12 hours from now, we will

[54:27] have our first set of students walking

[54:29] through the door at Abington High

[54:31] School. Uh we're very excited um

[54:33] obviously to start the school year

[54:34] tomorrow. There's been um tons of prep

[54:37] work that's been done throughout the

[54:38] summer and uh to prepare us for

[54:40] tomorrow. So, I'd like to do a couple of

[54:42] thank yous and um I know I'm taking a

[54:44] little bit of Ser, but um thanking

[54:47] people twice is never a bad thing. So,

[54:49] um I'd like to thank our um

[54:52] administrators for the work they've done

[54:54] this summer, our administrative

[54:55] assistants, our central office staff,

[54:58] our custodians, maintenance and food

[55:00] service. um their behind-the-scenes work

[55:02] throughout since the day actually school

[55:04] got out in June until

[55:07] now um to prepare us for tomorrow uh has

[55:11] been unwavering in their support of our

[55:14] students um entering tomorrow. So, thank

[55:17] you to um to those folks. I'd also like

[55:20] to thank um the police department, fire

[55:22] department, department of public works,

[55:24] and our building department for their

[55:25] continued partnership. Um they've walked

[55:27] through our buildings with us. They've

[55:29] done trainings in our buildings. They've

[55:30] provided feedback on um on things that

[55:33] we can do better. And I'd like to thank

[55:35] them um for their continued support. And

[55:38] we'll see I know we'll see um the police

[55:40] department tomorrow out and about and um

[55:43] and helping get our students to school

[55:44] safely uh tomorrow and every day. Um, so

[55:48] yes, tomorrow we welcome our students in

[55:51] grades 1 through 12 with kindergarten

[55:54] and prek starting on Tuesday after Labor

[55:57] Day. Um, we had a great opening yes or

[56:00] at least I thought it was great opening

[56:02] yesterday uh welcoming our 350 plus

[56:05] employees um for a welcome and then they

[56:08] went back to their buildings for

[56:10] meetings yesterday also to prepare um

[56:13] everything for arrival tomorrow. Um

[56:16] yesterday I kicked off um our year with

[56:19] a little activity around um making a

[56:22] duck out of six Lego pieces. And so if

[56:25] people are interested, I'm happy to

[56:27] share that uh with with anyone who's

[56:29] interested. Um and then also kicked off

[56:31] our motto for the year that every piece

[56:34] matters, every person, every

[56:36] contribution, every student, every day.

[56:38] And you'll see that um on correspondents

[56:42] that are coming out of our office. Uh,

[56:44] and it's most important that every

[56:47] person and every piece makes up the

[56:49] Avenue Public Schools and everyone is

[56:52] important and the work that we do and

[56:54] the students that we serve are served

[56:56] the best by all of us and all of our

[56:59] contributions. So, thank you to

[57:00] everybody. Um, we're excited uh we're

[57:03] excited for um for tomorrow. A couple of

[57:07] um pieces or updates around staffing,

[57:09] which is always a question. Um we are I

[57:12] would say at this point 97%

[57:15] staffed. We have a few uh

[57:17] paraprofessional openings that we're

[57:19] still um interviewing for. Uh Chris had

[57:22] an interview this afternoon at 3:00. So

[57:24] um as applicants are coming in and

[57:26] interviews are happening at the building

[57:28] level, appropriate um uh um prospective

[57:32] employees are then moved over and meet

[57:35] with either curs or I. So, we anticipate

[57:37] we typically start the year um with a

[57:40] couple of paraprofessional openings and

[57:42] we'll continue to um to interview people

[57:44] and put them into those uh positions.

[57:46] I'm happy to report though that even

[57:49] short um a few paraprofessionals again

[57:52] which happens throughout the year, the

[57:54] student experience um should not be

[57:56] impacted by that. We currently have one

[58:00] teacher opening. Um we had a last minute

[58:03] resignation um last week and uh did a um

[58:07] shortened um advertisement for that

[58:10] position which was then filled by an

[58:12] internal candidate. So now we have that

[58:15] position open. Um it's a middle school

[58:18] special education teacher and uh we have

[58:21] someone who's retiring um in the middle

[58:24] of September. So they will be filling

[58:25] that position until their retirement. Um

[58:28] so we are looking for middle school

[58:30] special education teacher currently.

[58:33] I think that is that's it for our for

[58:36] our staffing updates. Um

[58:39] the uh our enrollment right now will

[58:42] have a better sense of enrollment um

[58:46] tomorrow at the end of the day. But um

[58:48] based on last week uh we have we are

[58:52] anticipating about 40 less students than

[58:56] we had last year. And that's across all

[58:59] grade levels. There's not one particular

[59:00] grade level that's much um that was a s

[59:04] significant. It wasn't 20 kids in third

[59:07] grade. It was um across all of our grade

[59:09] levels. But we also have had students

[59:12] moving in and out this week. So, we'll

[59:14] have a better idea tomorrow. Um but I am

[59:18] happy to report that we did not see any

[59:19] big spikes that'll significantly impact

[59:22] class sizes anywhere

[59:25] as of today.

[59:28] Um are there questions?

[59:31] >> What's the size of the incoming

[59:32] kindergarten class?

[59:35] We anticipated it was going to be quite

[59:37] large. Um we as of right now we're at um

[59:42] 167.

[59:43] >> Okay.

[59:44] >> Which is about 21 students in eight

[59:47] sections.

[59:48] >> Eight eight sections. Okay.

[59:50] >> The initial not initial the um

[59:54] enrollment prediction from NASDAQ uh was

[59:58] 17 more students than that. So that did

[1:00:01] not as of today materialize.

[1:00:03] >> Dr. Michelle, where's what's that

[1:00:04] compared to last year's kindergarten

[1:00:06] class?

[1:00:07] >> 168 last year.

[1:00:08] >> Okay.

[1:00:09] >> Yep.

[1:00:11] Um the most significant decrease from um

[1:00:16] from last year is actually seventh

[1:00:18] grade. So we'll try to get some more

[1:00:21] information on that. Was that students

[1:00:22] that moved out or is that students that

[1:00:24] went to other schools?

[1:00:25] >> Do you mean that class itself from

[1:00:28] >> So class going into eighth grade? the

[1:00:30] class going that's going to be in

[1:00:33] seventh grade this year.

[1:00:34] >> Oh yeah.

[1:00:36] >> And um again, we'll find out um

[1:00:41] try to get some information on those

[1:00:43] families, but um there like I there

[1:00:45] hasn't been any great um

[1:00:50] anecdotal evidence of a migration, if

[1:00:53] you will.

[1:00:54] But we um we are down like I said as of

[1:00:58] last Thursday down about 50 students

[1:01:00] from last year. So we'll see um how that plays.

[1:01:06] No a lot more tomorrow.

[1:01:10] Other questions on that?

[1:01:15] Couple policies.

[1:01:16] >> Yes.

[1:01:17] >> So we have a couple policies that I'd

[1:01:19] like to um present. I'm going to talk

[1:01:21] about the first one. James will uh talk

[1:01:24] about the second one. As um Melanie

[1:01:27] indicated at the beginning of the

[1:01:28] meeting, we won't looking for won't be

[1:01:30] looking for a vote tonight, but I did

[1:01:32] want to um describe or explain the two policies that you have in front

[1:01:37] of you. The first policy is um uh this

[1:01:42] is model policy from the Mass

[1:01:44] Association of School Committees and the

[1:01:47] Mass Association of uh school

[1:01:49] superintendent. It is a policy

[1:01:51] interacting with law enforcement

[1:01:52] officers engaged in civil law

[1:01:54] enforcement and it's based on the

[1:01:57] protect Act that was signed into law by

[1:02:00] Governor Healey on August uh 5th. So,

[1:02:05] this was signed into law and very

[1:02:06] quickly we got um guidance and model

[1:02:10] language uh for school uh for school

[1:02:12] committees to um to adopt um if they so

[1:02:18] well if they so choose. The law is that

[1:02:20] you have to adopt the policy. Um what

[1:02:22] this policy and I'm not going to go line

[1:02:25] by line but in general what this policy

[1:02:29] um does is it explicitly provides

[1:02:33] guidance um for schools around how to

[1:02:37] interact with CI with um federal law

[1:02:40] officials or ICE and it does not

[1:02:43] fundamentally change the guidance that

[1:02:45] was provided to schools in the last two

[1:02:48] years. What it does is codifies those

[1:02:51] recommendations into um a pol into a law

[1:02:54] and then into a policy. Um in addition

[1:02:58] to adopting a policy, schools are being

[1:03:00] asked to um to set up uh a set of

[1:03:04] procedures around who communicates with

[1:03:07] federal law enforcement, who

[1:03:09] communicates with local law enforcement,

[1:03:11] um who communicates with the district

[1:03:14] attorney to get information. We have all

[1:03:16] of we had all that in place based on

[1:03:19] guidance that was provided as I said

[1:03:21] earlier through the attorney general's

[1:03:23] office and um and the governor's office.

[1:03:26] So we have those in place. Um I can tell

[1:03:29] you that we are a small district.

[1:03:31] Everything comes through Chris and I and

[1:03:32] through our principles. So that has

[1:03:35] already been established. um and uh no

[1:03:39] change to the um the guidance from the

[1:03:43] over the last two years that um only

[1:03:46] judicial warrants or judicial orders are

[1:03:50] um acted upon in a school. So um we have

[1:03:54] to that that's our job with our

[1:03:56] attorneys to make sure that um that we

[1:03:58] hold that

[1:04:01] um once this is adopted the policy along

[1:04:03] with the procedures will constitute the

[1:04:05] written response uh the written plan as

[1:04:08] required by the protect act.

[1:04:13] Any questions?

[1:04:17] » This isn't this is a new brand new

[1:04:20] policy. This is a brand new policy. Yes.

[1:04:24] Based on the law signed on August 5th.

[1:04:29] And this again is model policy language

[1:04:32] provided by the Association of School

[1:04:34] Committees and Superintendent.

[1:04:40] So similarly to what we were discussing

[1:04:42] earlier, we don't really have a yes or

[1:04:45] no. This is this is the law. It's just a

[1:04:48] matter of the policy that we have

[1:04:50] adopted to fulfill

[1:04:52] >> the requirements requirements law.

[1:04:54] >> Yes.

[1:04:59] » The part

[1:05:02] Yes. Yes. Our procedures are what we

[1:05:06] have

[1:05:07] um authority over and the who fits the

[1:05:10] different positions within the

[1:05:12] procedures.

[1:05:17] And we won't be voting on this until

[1:05:19] Friday. So you can also we can have

[1:05:22] questions on Friday as well if people

[1:05:24] have questions.

[1:05:28] We ready for the second policy?

[1:05:31] Dr. Robbins is going to give a brief

[1:05:33] overview of the timeout seclusion and

[1:05:36] phys physical restraint policy. I'm also

[1:05:40] just going to give a caveat that this

[1:05:43] pol policy is also based on model

[1:05:46] language provided by the Mass

[1:05:47] Association of School Committees and

[1:05:49] Superintendent Association. Um this

[1:05:51] policy is also in um in response to a

[1:05:56] change in the law.

[1:05:58] >> Great. Thanks.

[1:05:59] >> Yeah. So um uh yeah, as Felicia

[1:06:02] explained, this is um um this is based

[1:06:04] on the um model language as proposed by

[1:06:06] the Massachusetts Association of School

[1:06:08] Committees. And um what it aims to do is

[1:06:11] really regulate the usage of of three um

[1:06:14] strategies that are that are believed to

[1:06:16] ultimately um um be at times harm uh at

[1:06:19] times harmful or counterproductive. So

[1:06:21] they want to make sure that these um

[1:06:23] practices are used as like absolute last

[1:06:25] resorts. Um so first um the first step

[1:06:27] the policy does is it aims to provide an

[1:06:29] updated definition of what we mean by

[1:06:31] timeout. Um and what it really clarifies

[1:06:34] is that timeout is a procedure that

[1:06:36] intends to calm and regulate um uh and

[1:06:40] students and is um and the arrangement

[1:06:42] is voluntary in nature and that a

[1:06:44] student can um leave the arrangement at

[1:06:46] any at any point. I had opened up these

[1:06:48] remarks by saying that these um that

[1:06:49] these methods um are sometimes

[1:06:52] considered um counterproductive for

[1:06:53] students. And so you might be

[1:06:55] questioning what well what could be

[1:06:56] counterproductive about timeout. Well

[1:06:58] the the idea is that it does remove

[1:06:59] students from learning um uh from the

[1:07:02] conventional classroom learning and from

[1:07:04] their peers and in general we want uh we

[1:07:06] want our students to be among their

[1:07:07] peers to the greatest extent possible so

[1:07:09] they can benefit from that modeling. Um,

[1:07:10] so that's component one of of this

[1:07:12] policy, which is just refining what we

[1:07:14] mean by timeout, but also say that that

[1:07:16] it's um uh what we mean by timeout and

[1:07:18] also say that it's a a practice that

[1:07:20] should be used um additionally as a last

[1:07:22] resort because it removes students from

[1:07:23] learning. Um um next up as a as a uh a

[1:07:27] procedure that's um should be regarded

[1:07:29] um as an absolute last resort is the

[1:07:31] practice of seclusion. So it provides

[1:07:33] for us an updated definition of what we

[1:07:35] mean um by seclusion and that is

[1:07:38] involuntary confinement of a student. Um

[1:07:42] so basically putting students in a

[1:07:44] designated space from which they are

[1:07:46] unallowed

[1:07:48] um from leaving and being confined to

[1:07:50] that space. And this can refer to um to

[1:07:53] um confinement with adult supervision or

[1:07:56] without supervision. And so the idea

[1:07:58] here is that seclusion should only be

[1:08:00] used when the child is um in imminent

[1:08:03] risk to others or to themselves and

[1:08:07] should certainly be regarded as a last

[1:08:09] resort. Um additionally, if the if a

[1:08:11] school district is to adopt uh to make

[1:08:15] use of seclusion in any given instance,

[1:08:17] there are certain safeguards that should

[1:08:19] be um uh considered um beforehand. And

[1:08:23] um some of these include that there is

[1:08:24] no like medical u medical situation the

[1:08:27] student might be experiencing um where

[1:08:29] seclusion might might lead to greater

[1:08:31] risk. Also um that um staff who were

[1:08:34] administering any instance of seclusion

[1:08:36] have been trained in alternative

[1:08:38] behavior deescalation methods um so that we can be assured that other

[1:08:43] techniques uh were used. Um also it

[1:08:46] should be the case that we have parent

[1:08:48] um permission um before making use of

[1:08:51] seclusion. Um and also in the instance

[1:08:53] that we in the in the instances that we

[1:08:56] do use seclusion, it asks us to have um

[1:08:59] uh procedures where whereby principles

[1:09:01] review the use of seclusion um on on a

[1:09:03] weekly basis and identify um ways that

[1:09:06] the usage could have been avoided. Um

[1:09:09] one thing I'll say just um from our

[1:09:10] district, this seclusion is not a is not

[1:09:12] a technique that we make use of. Um and

[1:09:16] um but but this policy provides just a

[1:09:18] clearer definition of what it is, what

[1:09:20] it means, and if [clears throat] we're

[1:09:22] using what criteria have to be in place.

[1:09:24] Um also, it just goes um it it uh

[1:09:28] reiterates the arrangements pertaining

[1:09:30] to um physical restraint that we already

[1:09:32] have embedded in policy, which again is

[1:09:35] just that it's an absolute um la uh last

[1:09:37] resort. um if we are if we are to use it

[1:09:39] has it has to be on a time limited basis

[1:09:41] by um by trained staff and the usage of

[1:09:44] it needs to be reported to the

[1:09:45] department and reviewed regularly by

[1:09:47] administration to um look to to see if

[1:09:49] we can identify ways of avoiding its

[1:09:51] usage altogether. Um so the the

[1:09:53] restraint language is very similar to

[1:09:55] what is essentially identical to what we

[1:09:57] have in place already. Um where this

[1:09:59] policy moves forward is just in in

[1:10:02] identifying the definition of timeout

[1:10:04] identifying the definition of seclusion

[1:10:05] and making sure we understand that

[1:10:06] they're restricted. absolute last resort

[1:10:08] approaches. Happy to answer any

[1:10:10] questions about that.

[1:10:15] » Dr. Robins, I think probably the key

[1:10:16] thing for me that you said is we don't

[1:10:18] we've don't haven't used it. Part of

[1:10:19] this is Dr. Michelle, like you

[1:10:21] mentioned, we have to develop part of

[1:10:23] our policy to include it type of thing.

[1:10:25] So,

[1:10:26] >> for anybody listening, just like to

[1:10:28] understand, I guess that we're not

[1:10:30] saying this is going to be done. It's

[1:10:31] saying that it we have to have this as

[1:10:33] part of our policy.

[1:10:34] >> Yep. That that's a great summary. Any

[1:10:39] other questions?

[1:10:42] Okay. So, um if you have further

[1:10:45] thoughts, we can certainly discuss them

[1:10:46] on Friday during our team's meeting.

[1:10:50] >> Thank you. And um last but definitely

[1:10:53] not least, I'd like to uh present my uh

[1:10:56] school year 2026 2027 goals. And just as

[1:11:01] a reminder, my goals are directly, it's

[1:11:04] like a triangle. My goals are directly

[1:11:06] related to the our strategic plan. Uh

[1:11:09] then you have my goals. Then principal's

[1:11:12] goals are related back to my goals and

[1:11:14] the strategic plan. And teachers goals

[1:11:17] are also aligned with um principal's

[1:11:20] goals, my goals and the strategic plan.

[1:11:23] And sitting alongside that is the school

[1:11:26] improvement plans which also are in

[1:11:28] alignment with our strategic plan, my

[1:11:30] goals, principal goals and um and

[1:11:32] teacher goals. So my student uh so I

[1:11:35] have a student learning goal uh my

[1:11:37] student learning goal or a student

[1:11:39] learning goal is around student

[1:11:40] achievement and it's to collaborate with

[1:11:43] district and building leadership to

[1:11:44] implement a comprehensive data-driven

[1:11:47] system of instruction and intervention

[1:11:50] that ensures MCCAST performance meets or

[1:11:52] exceeds the state average in ELA, math,

[1:11:56] science, and civics. strengthen uh

[1:11:59] instructional coherence, accelerate

[1:12:01] achievement growth, and reduce

[1:12:03] performance disparities among student

[1:12:05] subgroups through targeted supports,

[1:12:07] evidence-based instruction, and ongoing

[1:12:10] progress monitoring. And that's again uh

[1:12:13] directly related to our strategic plan.

[1:12:16] Um I I also think it's important or

[1:12:19] important caveat. Um but I'm not

[1:12:22] teaching um students how to read or um

[1:12:26] civics. But my job and our job is to

[1:12:29] support the learning. The most important

[1:12:31] thing that happens in any school is to

[1:12:34] support the learning that happens in the

[1:12:35] classroom between the student and the

[1:12:38] teacher. And so the ways that we support

[1:12:40] that is to ensure that our professional

[1:12:43] development is appropriate, to ensure

[1:12:45] that our um our uh curriculum and our

[1:12:49] curriculum materials are appropriate and

[1:12:53] uh support our student achievement that

[1:12:56] we have um that our that our um school

[1:12:59] calendar and our schedules support

[1:13:02] student achievement and um and that this

[1:13:05] is a goal across our district. So, it's

[1:13:09] not just something I say. This is

[1:13:11] becomes embedded in all of those things.

[1:13:17] And then, um, as part of my student

[1:13:20] achievement goal, I have indicators of

[1:13:21] accomplishment, which I I this is on our

[1:13:24] website. I'm not sure I need to, um,

[1:13:26] read all of those if that's okay with

[1:13:28] you.

[1:13:28] >> Yes. Unless anyone has questions, once

[1:13:29] you're done, we can bring it.

[1:13:30] >> Sure. Um, another uh student learning

[1:13:33] goal is around success for all learners

[1:13:35] in conjunction with the director of

[1:13:37] student services. Implement inclusive

[1:13:39] instructional strategies and MTSS

[1:13:42] practices to support diverse learners

[1:13:44] and improve outcomes across all

[1:13:45] subgroups.

[1:13:48] I have a professional uh my professional

[1:13:51] practice goal um is to conduct two

[1:13:54] learning walks in each building by May

[1:13:56] of 2027 using the department of um

[1:13:59] elementary and secondary education

[1:14:01] classroom observation tool which is new

[1:14:04] uh to the Abington public school and its

[1:14:06] uh schools and it's uh part of the

[1:14:08] accelerating achievement partnership

[1:14:10] with uh the department of education. So

[1:14:12] that's something that um for example uh

[1:14:16] Chris and Jonathan Bourne will be um

[1:14:19] providing professional development

[1:14:21] around this rubric for our

[1:14:22] administrative team uh so that we can

[1:14:25] then go and visit classrooms during our

[1:14:27] learning walks and um really calibrate

[1:14:31] what we're seeing and understanding what

[1:14:34] we're seeing um around instruction. And

[1:14:37] as a reminder, our learning walks are

[1:14:38] non evaluative um in nature. So we go

[1:14:42] into someone's classroom, we're looking

[1:14:44] at specific things or look fors and uh

[1:14:46] and provide feedback on the aggregate on

[1:14:49] the um overall what have we seen, what

[1:14:52] are the trends that we've seen in the

[1:14:53] buildings, not in a particular

[1:14:55] classroom. So, um, and also re when

[1:14:59] you're, um, an evaluator, when you're a

[1:15:01] principal or assistant principal and

[1:15:02] you're doing evaluations throughout the

[1:15:04] year, observations throughout the year,

[1:15:07] um, how do you know what you're seeing

[1:15:10] is um, is correct or what your um,

[1:15:14] judgment is on that. And to be able to

[1:15:16] speak with um, other evaluators and

[1:15:19] observers is very very helpful. And uh,

[1:15:22] we have found our learning walks to be

[1:15:24] very valuable. um for our for our

[1:15:28] professional development as a leadership

[1:15:29] team

[1:15:32] during the uh around this is around

[1:15:34] communication during the 2627 school

[1:15:37] year. Continue to enhance and

[1:15:39] standardize homeschool communication

[1:15:41] across the district by refining and

[1:15:43] centralizing communication system and

[1:15:46] ensuring consistent practices at the

[1:15:48] classroom, building and district levels.

[1:15:50] Uh this is a goal that you have seen

[1:15:52] over my this is the third time you've

[1:15:55] seen a goal around communication. Um I

[1:15:57] think we have come a long way in the

[1:16:00] last few years around communication

[1:16:02] tools and expectations around

[1:16:04] communication. But I I do believe and

[1:16:07] the feedback I continue to hear is

[1:16:09] around refining our communication and um

[1:16:12] and our expectations around

[1:16:13] communication. So I think it's something

[1:16:15] that um we need to keep as a um as a

[1:16:18] goal.

[1:16:21] And uh lastly uh to participate in the

[1:16:24] third and final year of the new

[1:16:26] superintendent induction program. I

[1:16:28] hardly feel new anymore. Um but uh the

[1:16:32] year three is a um is it is different

[1:16:35] than years one and two. It's more um uh

[1:16:38] it's more uh collaborative and um you

[1:16:43] talking about problems of practice

[1:16:44] within your district. not really looking

[1:16:46] at what do you do your first meeting and

[1:16:48] how do you do um how do you work with

[1:16:51] your school committee and those things

[1:16:52] it's much more um collaborative in

[1:16:54] nature and I am looking forward to um

[1:16:56] continuing through year three of uh NISP

[1:16:59] my Nissip program and um and also uh

[1:17:02] having worked with um with a different

[1:17:04] coach than I've worked with for the last

[1:17:06] two years.

[1:17:07] Um,

[1:17:09] those are my goals.

[1:17:13] >> Questions.

[1:17:15] >> You answer the first one that I had

[1:17:16] because it was how many years does the

[1:17:18] new superintendent? So, this isn't

[1:17:20] really a question and admittedly I don't

[1:17:22] know if I have the answer and um it go

[1:17:27] it dates to it talks it's about the

[1:17:29] student achievement piece of it

[1:17:32] I think because so will you lay out

[1:17:35] MCCAST scores as part of it. I don't

[1:17:38] know if there's a better way to do it,

[1:17:40] but I think because the state went from

[1:17:42] a way of where it mattered for

[1:17:44] graduation to not. So when I say that if

[1:17:46] it had never mattered for graduation, I

[1:17:48] think it would still be a great

[1:17:49] indicator. If it always mattered for ed

[1:17:52] graduation, I think it would be a great

[1:17:54] indicator. I think the drop of it and

[1:17:57] those students that know about the drop

[1:18:00] of it, I don't think they take it as

[1:18:02] seriously anymore based on what I've

[1:18:03] heard. So, I guess this is me saying I

[1:18:06] worry about you putting that as an

[1:18:07] indicator kind of to away.

[1:18:10] >> I I feel that I feel that way too. Um

[1:18:14] what's hard is that it kind of is the

[1:18:17] indicator and um if we're looking at

[1:18:21] across the state as um

[1:18:25] >> you know it's the same for every student

[1:18:27] across the state.

[1:18:28] >> Um

[1:18:29] >> okay. Yeah. State average. You're not

[1:18:31] comparing. Yeah. Comparing to the state

[1:18:32] average

[1:18:32] >> to the state average. Um that being

[1:18:34] said, we are also looking at I also um

[1:18:37] as part of the um indicators of

[1:18:39] accomplishment is looking at I Ready

[1:18:42] data, common formative assessments and

[1:18:44] subgroup performance trends. So it's it's um both larger and smaller

[1:18:50] than MCCAST. Um, I guess what I'm saying

[1:18:52] is maybe um the MCCAST the overall

[1:18:56] student achievement goal of um being

[1:18:59] above the average maybe we're not above

[1:19:02] the average but we are seeing growth in

[1:19:04] all of these areas as an indicator.

[1:19:06] >> Yep. No, I mean I was just it was more

[1:19:08] >> you sure you want to do this

[1:19:10] >> and it's based Yeah. Yeah. kind of

[1:19:12] [laughter] and it's uh I mean and part

[1:19:14] of that is based on just things that I

[1:19:15] hear kind of thing. So

[1:19:16] >> Yep.

[1:19:17] Well, and

[1:19:20] for me because I had a similar thought,

[1:19:22] but also uh going back to the ESY

[1:19:27] discussion we had earlier,

[1:19:30] I'm hoping that the pendulum is is

[1:19:32] shifting back again. Um seeing so many

[1:19:34] families take the opportunity,

[1:19:36] particularly for the middle school and

[1:19:38] the high school students. Um I you know

[1:19:42] we asked a lot of the town you know

[1:19:45] financially to trust us with an override

[1:19:48] and we want to see our students and our

[1:19:51] families take that to heart and embrace

[1:19:54] education as really the thing like that

[1:19:57] is what we need you to do and MCCAST

[1:20:00] although it's one snapshot it's one test

[1:20:02] it also tells us that you are taking

[1:20:06] your role as a a community member and

[1:20:09] the citizens of learning community to

[1:20:12] heart. So, I'm hoping that with the

[1:20:14] start of this school year, we will start

[1:20:16] to see students start to really look at

[1:20:18] it as an opportunity to show what they

[1:20:21] do know.

[1:20:22] >> Sure.

[1:20:24] And I, you know, just to kind of I agree

[1:20:27] with everything, Heidi, and I think that

[1:20:31] um kind of regardless of um

[1:20:36] MCCAST in general, I think we have to

[1:20:39] really look at um student growth in over

[1:20:42] a year or over multiple years. And

[1:20:44] whether that's through an MCCAST model,

[1:20:46] I ready data, common assessments, um

[1:20:49] that's really the the core of where

[1:20:52] we're at. Students start here, we want

[1:20:54] to get them to here. And how do we

[1:20:56] measure that and um you know, growth

[1:20:59] over time compared growth compared to

[1:21:01] our um to our uh students in in other

[1:21:05] districts. Um, but really drilling down

[1:21:08] into the data and that's what our K five

[1:21:12] six teachers did today with the I Ready

[1:21:14] data. That's what we're doing with

[1:21:16] developing common um units of study in

[1:21:19] the secondary uh to really look at being

[1:21:22] able to evaluate our students in a in a

[1:21:24] way that is reflective of what they're

[1:21:26] learning and then adapting our

[1:21:30] instruction to what they're learning

[1:21:34] or how they're learning.

[1:21:37] >> I have two questions.

[1:21:40] >> Sure. One is the term subgroup that is

[1:21:43] used a couple times. Can you expand a

[1:21:46] little bit on what you mean by

[1:21:47] subgroups?

[1:21:48] >> Sure. So if you look at subgroups in the

[1:21:51] um desi MCCAST world, that's 30 students

[1:21:57] in a grade, 20 students in a grade. Um

[1:22:00] so there are defined subgr defined by

[1:22:03] the department of elementary and

[1:22:04] secondary education. Okay.

[1:22:05] >> Um th that and those are the subgroups

[1:22:08] that we're that we're identifying here.

[1:22:10] Okay. All right. So, this is aligned

[1:22:12] with all the other metrics that we get

[1:22:13] with the different quarter subgroups.

[1:22:14] Okay.

[1:22:15] >> Um and then on the uh learning walks and

[1:22:20] um utilizing the accelerating

[1:22:22] achievement partnership.

[1:22:23] >> So, some of the tools that we're getting

[1:22:25] that is specific to the high school

[1:22:27] program, we're able to utilize in the

[1:22:30] learning walks from prek to 12 because

[1:22:32] it's not specific to high school. Is

[1:22:34] that what we're getting at? Okay. Yes.

[1:22:35] Yep.

[1:22:35] >> All right. Wonderful. That's fantastic

[1:22:37] that we can

[1:22:38] >> take something from that program and

[1:22:39] >> yeah, accelerating achievement is not a

[1:22:41] high school only program.

[1:22:43] >> Gotcha. Okay. All right. That's it.

[1:22:46] >> I have a question.

[1:22:48] >> The the first one, the data analysis, um

[1:22:50] the indicator with the action plans

[1:22:52] developed for each school. So, what is

[1:22:54] your vision for the action plans after

[1:22:56] they're made? Like, do you make them and

[1:22:58] then pass?

[1:22:59] >> Um I support the making of them. That's

[1:23:02] um that isn't something that would be something done at the

[1:23:06] school classroom teacher principal small

[1:23:10] group grade level um uh place and I

[1:23:14] would in in my work with principles

[1:23:18] supporting that happening.

[1:23:20] >> Okay. And is there like follow through

[1:23:22] or like action plans for the year or for

[1:23:25] two years?

[1:23:26] >> Yep. So I would envision again that

[1:23:28] those action plans would be based on the

[1:23:30] pre-assessment of the year what how are

[1:23:33] we moving throughout the year and doing

[1:23:35] mid mid assessments and then at the end.

[1:23:37] >> Okay.

[1:23:38] >> Yeah.

[1:23:39] >> Great. And um you know I think data

[1:23:43] analysis and um and uh differentiating

[1:23:47] instruction based on the data is

[1:23:49] something that our teachers um have been

[1:23:52] doing. Um it now we have more we get

[1:23:55] we're creating more and more data and

[1:23:58] how and really how are we using that

[1:24:00] data feedback that we got last year

[1:24:02] around I ready was okay we have all this

[1:24:05] now what are we doing with it um on a

[1:24:08] more um holistic how how are we using it

[1:24:10] holistically to impact the instruction

[1:24:13] at in the classroom level and so Chris

[1:24:16] um facilitated I ready to come back and

[1:24:18] provide PD today based on feedback that

[1:24:20] we got last year Any

[1:24:26] questions?

[1:24:28] Okay. So, again, we will bring this up

[1:24:30] on our meeting on Friday for a vote.

[1:24:33] >> Thank you.

[1:24:35] >> Wonderful. And

[1:24:36] >> ready or not, here they come.

[1:24:38] >> Last [laughter] but certainly not least,

[1:24:39] Miss Gy.

[1:24:41] >> Good evening, everyone. I hope everyone

[1:24:43] had a great summer. Um, back to school

[1:24:46] jitters are upon us. Um,

[1:24:50] so as Dr. Michella said, um, a lot

[1:24:53] happens behind the scenes. Um, as soon

[1:24:56] as this school year ends, um, our

[1:24:59] maintenance and custodial team and food

[1:25:01] service team are hopping into action,

[1:25:03] getting ready for the next school year.

[1:25:05] Um, so it was a very busy, productive

[1:25:07] summer um, across all of the buildings

[1:25:10] as maintenance and custodial prepared

[1:25:13] for the return of our staff and our

[1:25:15] students. Um, a tremendous amount of

[1:25:18] work is done to get everything safe,

[1:25:20] clean, welcoming, and ready. Um, and

[1:25:24] that ranges from deep cleaning and

[1:25:26] overall refreshing of our classrooms,

[1:25:29] our hallways, our common spaces, um, the

[1:25:32] cafeteria, etc. Um, as well as routine

[1:25:36] maintenance, repairs, improvements, um,

[1:25:40] all the all the good things. um

[1:25:41] lighting, filters, equipment updates um

[1:25:45] as well as our um safety inspections

[1:25:48] that we we must have um and any

[1:25:50] preventative maintenance that is um due

[1:25:53] upon us. Um so, as I said last year, um

[1:25:58] we really have one opportunity um to

[1:26:01] make that great first impression and I

[1:26:03] truly believe our team um delivers. Um I

[1:26:07] would also like to thank a few people.

[1:26:10] Um, I can't go without thanking uh Mr.

[1:26:14] Jason Lynn, Mr. Ed Belchure, our all of

[1:26:17] our head custodians and the entire

[1:26:19] custodial and maintenance staff um for

[1:26:22] the incredible amount of work that they

[1:26:24] accomplished this summer. Um, it truly

[1:26:28] is what makes it possible to have um a

[1:26:31] safe and smooth opening in our

[1:26:33] facilities.

[1:26:34] Um the last thing I just wanted to

[1:26:37] quickly mention that we were busy this

[1:26:40] summer um with our public procurement of

[1:26:43] our boiler at Beaverbrook. So a lot

[1:26:46] happened on that front. Um and I will

[1:26:49] just give you the ending that we have

[1:26:52] identified the lowest responsible and

[1:26:54] responsive bidder. Um, we are in those

[1:26:58] final stages where we are have a kickoff

[1:27:00] meeting next week to start that process

[1:27:03] and and get a new boiler in the

[1:27:05] Beaverbrook and replace boiler number

[1:27:07] one which is very exciting. Um, the

[1:27:10] timing will align um as the cold temps

[1:27:13] are are uh coming. Um we do have boiler

[1:27:17] number two still operational and um

[1:27:19] backup plans as needed, but it should

[1:27:22] the hope is that it all lines up when um

[1:27:25] mother nature says it's time to turn the

[1:27:27] heat on. So that's been exciting. More

[1:27:30] to come on that. That will be a fall

[1:27:32] project that's that's ongoing, but we're

[1:27:35] very excited to work with this this

[1:27:37] vendor. So that's what I have for um

[1:27:40] summer facility maintenance.

[1:27:43] one scale picture

[1:27:46] equipment.

[1:27:46] >> Oh yes. Um

[1:27:49] so

[1:27:51] Mrs. Jean Conan um she has made some

[1:27:54] great improvements in our kitchen over

[1:27:57] the last uh kitchens over the last um

[1:28:00] few years. And what she did this year as

[1:28:03] an allowable expense of our revenue um

[1:28:07] in the food service revolving account is

[1:28:09] she um we invested um in some great new

[1:28:14] equipment that uh cooking equipment that

[1:28:17] is going particularly in the Woodsdale

[1:28:19] school. Um the kitchen at the Woodsdale

[1:28:22] has a rather large footprint. So it's

[1:28:24] allow it's it allows for some some

[1:28:27] bigger more modern um equipment. So,

[1:28:31] we're able to kind of jazz up the menu

[1:28:34] at the Beaverbrook. Um, we're going to

[1:28:36] kind of get back into shipping food

[1:28:37] around the district. Um, and that is

[1:28:40] something that Jean takes, um, real

[1:28:43] pride in. She wants to offer a menu that

[1:28:46] kids are excited about. Um, and we

[1:28:49] really appreciate that about her. So,

[1:28:52] um, that all kind of went on this

[1:28:54] summer, the electrical, the plumbing,

[1:28:56] all that it took to to make that happen.

[1:28:59] um where Beaverbrook has a much smaller

[1:29:01] footprint in their kitchen. Um so yes,

[1:29:04] that happened as well this summer and it

[1:29:06] was very uh is always very excited to

[1:29:09] improve our kitchens.

[1:29:11] So that's what I have on updates on our

[1:29:14] facilities. Are there any questions?

[1:29:17] >> I have one question. Um can you just

[1:29:19] confirm with the boiler work that's

[1:29:20] happening at Beaver Burke this fall, no

[1:29:22] impact to the students? So for example,

[1:29:24] it's not like they're not going to be

[1:29:25] able to use the gym for gym for the

[1:29:27] month of November. Right. We are very

[1:29:29] fortunate that um our boiler room has an

[1:29:33] external door. Um so everything will

[1:29:36] happen through that door whenever

[1:29:38] possible. Um so there's there will be no

[1:29:42] disruption to students.

[1:29:43] >> Great. Thank you.

[1:29:45] >> Question.

[1:29:46] >> Um I was just going to say and there was

[1:29:48] no cost for the boiler, correct? We got

[1:29:51] like a grant or something for it. Yes,

[1:29:53] we um received a capital item from town

[1:29:57] meeting um which we are very thankful

[1:29:59] for um in the amount of $275,000

[1:30:05] um and that is is um adequate to cover

[1:30:09] the expense of replacing this boiler and

[1:30:12] the work that that um goes into it.

[1:30:19] So my next item is transportation. Um

[1:30:23] wheels will be rolling tomorrow morning.

[1:30:26] Um so I just want to provide a quick

[1:30:29] update. Um so we've been working all

[1:30:31] summer with our new vendor NRT. Um to

[1:30:36] really transition all of our services

[1:30:38] over to them, prepare for all things

[1:30:40] yellow buses. Um assign our students to

[1:30:43] buses, establish our roots. Um so again,

[1:30:46] this is another area that's buzzing all

[1:30:48] summer long. Um, I'm happy to report

[1:30:51] that many f familiar faces are going to

[1:30:54] be behind the wheel of NRT buses. So,

[1:30:57] that um is is really exciting and makes

[1:31:01] us all feel good that you know these are

[1:31:03] the folks that really know the

[1:31:04] community, the roads, the schools. Um

[1:31:07] so, we're excited about that. Um and it

[1:31:10] provides continuity for families. So um

[1:31:13] we have approximately 1,300 students on

[1:31:16] buses which is right in line with where

[1:31:19] we normally are. Um we feel good

[1:31:23] approaching tomorrow. Um you know of

[1:31:27] course with the opening of school and in

[1:31:30] you know we do have the new vendor but

[1:31:32] we expect that there may be some

[1:31:34] adjustments as um the days the first few

[1:31:37] days um go on but overall we're feeling

[1:31:40] good. I do need to thank someone. Um I I

[1:31:44] would like to thank Colleen Greenlaw.

[1:31:46] She has been um an incredible

[1:31:50] resource in the transition to NRT. All

[1:31:53] of her knowledge um her time, her

[1:31:55] dedication to making sure that, you

[1:31:58] know, NRT knows that so and so, you

[1:32:02] know, needs to be picked up here or

[1:32:04] there. She's just a wealth of knowledge

[1:32:06] and a a very caring, kind woman. So,

[1:32:08] we're very fortunate that she was able

[1:32:10] to participate in this implementation.

[1:32:13] So, thank you to Colleen. Um,

[1:32:16] as always, our top priority uh NRT for

[1:32:20] NRT and for for our transportation team

[1:32:22] is the safety of our students. Um, so I,

[1:32:26] you know, with that, I do want to say as

[1:32:28] the school year begins, families should

[1:32:30] expect delays tomorrow and Thursday. Um,

[1:32:34] drivers have done have done dry runs,

[1:32:37] but they're getting to know their roots.

[1:32:40] Um, we will have families taking photos

[1:32:43] and

[1:32:43] >> every kid on the bus takes a picture.

[1:32:46] >> Yes.

[1:32:46] >> 30 seconds.

[1:32:47] >> Yep. Yep.

[1:32:48] >> Times 50 kids right there. We're adding

[1:32:51] 25 minutes.

[1:32:52] >> So that, you know, we do expect those small things tomorrow. Um and then

[1:32:58] coming home, um especially at

[1:33:00] Beaverbrook, staff are checking checking

[1:33:02] bus tags. We're making sure that we have

[1:33:04] everybody and they're in the right place

[1:33:06] and that takes time. So parents should

[1:33:08] expect delays the next couple of days um

[1:33:11] for certain. Um all in the name of

[1:33:14] safety, of course. Um also families

[1:33:18] should anticipate delays on Tuesday,

[1:33:21] September 8th, which is our first day

[1:33:23] for our kindergarteners at Beaverbrook.

[1:33:25] So that will um that will also

[1:33:28] definitely we'll see some delays with

[1:33:30] that with our small our smallest

[1:33:31] friends. So um as always we ask for

[1:33:36] patience and understanding from our

[1:33:38] families in the community as we um go

[1:33:42] through these first few weeks of school.

[1:33:44] There will inevitably be things that we

[1:33:47] need to work out. Um, we will address

[1:33:49] any safety concerns and a major

[1:33:51] significant operational issues, but in

[1:33:54] general, we try to keep the roots pretty

[1:33:56] much the same for the first couple of

[1:33:58] weeks to kind of thing see how things

[1:34:00] shake out. Um, and that's really I mean

[1:34:04] that's really all. We're feeling good

[1:34:05] about it. We appreciate everyone's

[1:34:06] patience as the school year gets

[1:34:09] underway. Um, it will be a very busy

[1:34:12] morning with yellow buses and cars and

[1:34:16] all the like. So, um, with that, I'm

[1:34:18] happy to answer any questions.

[1:34:21] >> Um, I know that you did a pretty

[1:34:24] targeted outreach to get people to make

[1:34:27] sure. Did we see a decline in the number

[1:34:30] of late applicants this year?

[1:34:32] >> I'm happy to say that our um I I would

[1:34:36] definitely think we could say that our

[1:34:39] Thrillshare

[1:34:41] um text our text campaign was

[1:34:47] also known as Dr. Basta was very helpful

[1:34:50] in getting more families in and aware of

[1:34:53] the deadline. There are absolutely

[1:34:55] families that are still signing up and

[1:34:57] have been the last week or so. Um but

[1:35:00] overall, you know, have been very

[1:35:02] understanding of the fact that we will

[1:35:04] do another run of um another batch of

[1:35:09] additions next week once we get

[1:35:11] everything up and running. Um, but

[1:35:13] overall I would say yes, we saw an

[1:35:16] improvement and I do really attribute

[1:35:18] that to um, Thail and and and people's

[1:35:21] responsiveness to text messages. So So

[1:35:26] thank you.

[1:35:29] » I think as a number I heard today Yeah.

[1:35:32] >> since August 1st we've had about 120 bus

[1:35:35] applications. Yeah.

[1:35:36] >> Some of those are new students. some

[1:35:39] oftentimes it's that grade six to seven

[1:35:42] when you've never had to pay now you

[1:35:44] have to pay and sign up.

[1:35:45] >> Um and I would say that is

[1:35:48] >> well below half of what we typically get

[1:35:52] in August.

[1:35:52] >> I think that's fair.

[1:35:54] Um,

[1:35:56] it might also be worth mentioning that

[1:35:59] coming out of the summer, um, being

[1:36:02] particularly on this campus as much as I

[1:36:04] am, it I think people know that there

[1:36:06] are, um, creative cutthroughs that

[1:36:09] people like to use or um, signage that

[1:36:12] people like to maybe ignore during the

[1:36:14] summer months. And um, really we need to

[1:36:18] get back to correct operating driving

[1:36:20] procedures on campus. Um, we have a lot

[1:36:24] of new drivers out there. Um, a lot of

[1:36:26] busy drivers out there. Um, if people

[1:36:30] can lock in, slow down, be aware, and

[1:36:33] drive where they're supposed to, the way

[1:36:36] they're supposed to, that will make

[1:36:37] everyone's life a whole lot easier.

[1:36:42] » Please. And thank you.

[1:36:44] >> Thank you.

[1:36:48] » Great. Thank you very much, Miss Gayy.

[1:36:51] >> You're welcome. Um, so in your packets

[1:36:53] you'll see someformational items. Um, so

[1:36:56] just want to let everyone know those are

[1:36:57] there.

[1:36:58] >> May I take a second?

[1:36:59] >> Absolutely. Uh, so there are a couple of

[1:37:02] umformational items I just wanted to

[1:37:04] call your attention to. Um, we have a

[1:37:06] new uh, memorandum of understanding with

[1:37:08] the Amon Police Department. It is um

[1:37:11] again based on model language that we've

[1:37:13] received from the state and uh with some

[1:37:15] adaptations but this is it has not

[1:37:18] changed um over the uh last number of

[1:37:20] years with the Edmonton Police

[1:37:22] Department and um and theou has uh has

[1:37:25] worked. So thank you to Abington Police

[1:37:28] Department. Uh the second one is the

[1:37:30] FY25

[1:37:32] endofear fiscal report audit findings.

[1:37:35] And so, um,

[1:37:39] Sarah, in the coming weeks, we'll be

[1:37:41] preparing the FY26 end of the year

[1:37:43] report, which is an, um, a report of how

[1:37:47] we spent our money. It then gets audited

[1:37:49] by an outside firm. Happy to report in

[1:37:51] FY25. There were no findings, so

[1:37:53] congratulations, Sarah. Nicely done. Um,

[1:37:56] and then, uh, there's a Reed's quarterly

[1:37:58] report. And the last item is a

[1:38:00] correspondence from, um, Peter Shero.

[1:38:04] Did you want I'm happy to take it. Okay,

[1:38:06] great. Um that um our athletic

[1:38:09] department uh has won two awards and the

[1:38:12] first is a Southshore League

[1:38:13] sportsmanship award for the 2526 school

[1:38:16] year um which is awarded um as a

[1:38:19] reflection um sorry recipient for the

[1:38:22] each sport selects a sportsmanship

[1:38:24] winner throughout the school year whose

[1:38:27] results are then combined to determine

[1:38:29] the league's overall recipient. This

[1:38:31] award is a a reflection of the

[1:38:33] commitment of our coaches and student

[1:38:35] athletes to sportsmanship, character,

[1:38:37] respect, and fair play. It validates the

[1:38:40] efforts of our entire school and

[1:38:41] community to promote these values

[1:38:43] through athletics. So, congratulations

[1:38:46] to um to our athletic teams for the

[1:38:49] Southshore League Sportsmanship Award.

[1:38:52] And uh secondly, Alicia Barry, otherwise

[1:38:55] known as a um Alicia Reed, um has been

[1:38:59] uh named the secondary Massachusetts uh

[1:39:03] secondary school athletic director

[1:39:04] association district 9 athletic trainer

[1:39:07] of the year. This is in recognition of

[1:39:10] um Alicia's professionalism, dedication,

[1:39:13] commitment, and expertise in caring for

[1:39:15] our student athletes. Her work is an

[1:39:17] essential part of providing a safe and

[1:39:19] successful athletic experience for our

[1:39:21] students. And District 9 encompasses

[1:39:23] over 50 schools. As the MSSA

[1:39:28] District 9 Athletic Trainer of the Year,

[1:39:30] Alicia will now be considered as a

[1:39:32] finalist for the Massachusetts State

[1:39:34] Athletic Trainer of the Year. Uh we're

[1:39:37] extremely proud of these

[1:39:38] accomplishments. This is from Peter and

[1:39:40] grateful for the continued support of

[1:39:42] our athletic programs. Both recognitions

[1:39:44] reflect the outstanding people and

[1:39:46] strong culture that makes Abington High

[1:39:48] School special. And that's from Jonathan

[1:39:50] Bourne, principal, and Peter Shino,

[1:39:52] athletic director. So, congratulations

[1:39:54] to Alicia and congratulations to our

[1:39:57] athletic teams.

[1:40:02] >> Thank you.

[1:40:04] >> And now, uh, does anyone have anything

[1:40:06] else before we move on to dates to

[1:40:08] remember?

[1:40:10] Okay. So, dates to remember. Um, on the

[1:40:13] agenda, you see several here. I have a

[1:40:15] couple to add. Um, so Thursday,

[1:40:18] September 3rd, AE open house at 9:00

[1:40:21] a.m. here at Glenowitz. Friday,

[1:40:23] September 4th, no school for anyone in

[1:40:26] the district. Monday, September 7th,

[1:40:28] Labor Day, also no school for anyone in

[1:40:30] the district. At 6:30 at the Abington

[1:40:33] Police Department, there will be a 9/11

[1:40:35] memorial service.

[1:40:37] On Tuesday, this is not on the agenda,

[1:40:40] but on Tuesday, September 8th, at 7

[1:40:42] p.m., there's a Woodsdale PTO meeting.

[1:40:45] On Thursday, September 10th at 5:00

[1:40:48] p.m., there is an Abington High School

[1:40:50] open house here at Galenowitz. Um, also

[1:40:53] on Thursday, September 10th at 7 p.m.,

[1:40:55] the Beaverbrook PTO has their first

[1:40:57] meeting.

[1:40:59] On Sunday, September 13th at 7 a.m. at

[1:41:02] the Abington High School, there's the

[1:41:03] Music Parents Craft Fair.

[1:41:05] >> Is it really 7? I just looked it up.

[1:41:07] It's 10 to 1. I've got to think it's not

[1:41:10] 7 a.m.

[1:41:12] >> I've read the building is for 7 a.m.

[1:41:14] >> 10 to 1. 10 to one according to the

[1:41:18] Facebook post. Yeah.

[1:41:19] >> Okay.

[1:41:19] >> And it's two floors of vendors and a

[1:41:21] whole lot of amazing. So, come on out.

[1:41:24] >> Absolutely incredible vendors. And it is

[1:41:26] a huge community event for not only

[1:41:29] Abington but a lot of surrounding

[1:41:31] community members. Join us as well

[1:41:32] because it's fantastic. Um, Monday,

[1:41:35] September 14th at 7 p.m. in the Abington

[1:41:38] Middle School cafeteria is the AMS PTO,

[1:41:40] first meeting of the year. Uh, Thursday,

[1:41:43] September 24th is Beaverbrook Picture

[1:41:45] Day. And Friday, September 25th is

[1:41:47] Abington Middle School Picture Day. And

[1:41:50] we have Does anyone have more to add?

[1:41:53] Yes. Um, on

[1:41:56] Sunday, uh, September 20th is the

[1:41:58] Abington 5K, sorry, Abington Copes 5K.

[1:42:02] They do so much for this community.

[1:42:04] They're looking for 500 participants.

[1:42:06] So, um the deadline to register to get a

[1:42:10] t-shirt is uh September 8th. And then

[1:42:13] the sponsorship deadline is September

[1:42:16] 5th.

[1:42:17] >> And 9:00 a.m. Woodsdale.

[1:42:19] >> 9:00 a.m. Woodsdale. That might help.

[1:42:20] >> Okay. And how do they sign up?

[1:42:22] >> Uh they can go to www.abingtoncopes.org.

[1:42:26] » Fantastic. And thank you to Copes for

[1:42:28] our cartwheel participation.

[1:42:30] Um, anyone else have not that we're not

[1:42:33] all going to be really busy for the next

[1:42:34] three weeks given the length of this,

[1:42:36] but

[1:42:37] okay,

[1:42:39] great. So, I don't know if I can take a

[1:42:43] vote for a meeting to adjourn.

[1:42:44] >> Otherwise, we have to stay till

[1:42:45] tomorrow. [laughter]

[1:42:47] >> So, I'm going to look for a motion to

[1:42:49] adjurnn.

[1:42:50] >> I'll make the motion. I'll second. All

[1:42:52] in favor? I.

[1:42:54] >> Wonderful. Thank you all.

Abington School Committee; September 1, 2026

Transcript