1 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:46,060 Good evening, everybody. Welcome to our school committee meeting. It's October 22, 2025. We started to meeting, reading our vision statement. The Ashland Public Schools drives to be a model district that creates a culture of inclusivity for our diverse students and staff. Who feel safe and supported are empowered with the academic and social emotional skills to pursue their chosen path and embrace their roles as positive contributors to local and global communities. 2 00:00:46,060 --> 00:00:52,520 this meeting is being recorded by WACA Cable TV. Our order of business this 3 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:57,080 evening includes our opening procedures agenda review and adoption. We'll have 4 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:01,640 time for public participation and the reports and presentations include 5 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:05,960 National School Development Council awards for academic growth and student 6 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:10,860 leadership and learning. Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents 7 00:01:10,860 --> 00:01:18,540 Award, Ashlyn Middle School, Erin Leshapew, Warren Approvals, Superintendents Report, Assistant 8 00:01:18,540 --> 00:01:24,940 Superintendents Report. Our action items discussion updates and votes include information 9 00:01:24,940 --> 00:01:32,280 about the superintendent's evaluation, Joshua Gracias, grade 12 Eagle Scout Project Proposal, 10 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:39,980 AHS Environmental Club Stormdrain Project Proposal. Policies for a second reading vote include 11 00:01:39,980 --> 00:01:49,500 I-K-F, graduation requirements, I-K-F-E, competency determination, and our consent agenda includes, 12 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:51,300 did I miss one? 13 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:51,900 Thank you, Jim. 14 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:55,140 J-E-C, middle school pathway exploration. 15 00:01:55,800 --> 00:02:00,320 And our consent agenda includes approval of gifts and donations, minutes from September 16 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:06,920 24th, 2025, and minutes from October 8th, 2025, we'll have reports of school committee members, 17 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:13,260 and then we will adjourn. I will ask if everyone's okay with the order of 18 00:02:13,260 --> 00:02:22,680 business and take attendance, Marcy. Yes, Sina? Yes. All? Yes. Mark? Yeah. Trust me, 19 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:27,900 it's all good. It's all good. Okay. I'm going to ask if there's anybody in the 20 00:02:27,900 --> 00:02:31,520 either online or in the audience who wants to offer public comment. 21 00:02:35,220 --> 00:02:37,600 Sure. Okay. Seeing 22 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:42,300 Seeing none, we are going to move to our first item on the agenda, the National School 23 00:02:42,300 --> 00:02:46,440 Development Council Awards for Academic Growth and Student Leadership and Learning. 24 00:02:46,860 --> 00:02:47,280 Great. 25 00:02:47,460 --> 00:02:48,420 Thank you, Mrs. Tosty. 26 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:49,760 It's always a pleasure. 27 00:02:50,100 --> 00:02:55,560 Each year, as a superintendent, I get to offer three awards to student seniors. 28 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:03,360 Hopefully before they get all their college resumes and recommendations and everything in place. 29 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:12,060 So with the help of Miss St. Kerr as well as the counseling staff, I reach out and get a little bit of information on a number of students. 30 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:24,920 And the two awards we have tonight, Nestek, is a company that we utilize that helps us with our enrollment working with us on a close basis for professional development. 31 00:03:25,540 --> 00:03:29,680 So it's nice that they give us that opportunity. 32 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:34,420 So I'm just going to read a little bit here if you will indulge from here. 33 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:38,040 The Nesdeck Award is presented at a high school seniors who have consistently pursued 34 00:03:38,510 --> 00:03:43,320 a high level of academic effort and who have also served as positive role models for the 35 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:43,940 student body. 36 00:03:44,700 --> 00:03:49,220 Recipients of the award exemplify admirable character and accomplishment. 37 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:55,660 When I call your name and have you come up and Chair Tosty will present the award to you. 38 00:03:55,660 --> 00:03:59,520 So I'm proud to present the first Nesdaq Award to Maximo Gamboa. 39 00:04:04,020 --> 00:04:08,340 Maximo is not only one of our highest achieving students, but also an exceptional young man 40 00:04:08,340 --> 00:04:15,520 both inside and outside the classroom, as well as, yeah, get your accolades here, as well 41 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:16,180 as in the community. 42 00:04:16,540 --> 00:04:20,860 Academically, Maximo has been outstanding with an impressive 4.45 GPA. 43 00:04:20,860 --> 00:04:23,440 He ranks in the top 10% of this year's senior class. 44 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:28,640 He consistently challenges himself with a rigorous course load and was recommended by his teachers 45 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:33,820 for five advanced placement classes this year and endorsement of both is 46 00:04:33,820 --> 00:04:37,720 intellect and work ethic. A trial-ingual student, Maximo has earned the seal 47 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:42,660 of biliteracy in Spanish, is on track to earn it again in AP French. Maximo is 48 00:04:42,660 --> 00:04:45,800 also an ideal student athlete, dedicating himself to wrestling and especially 49 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:50,320 varsity tennis, where he served as team captain last year as a junior. He served on 50 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:54,000 the School Committee Advisory Council last year. Maximo plans to study mechanical 51 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,920 engineering in college and I'm confident he will excel in all his future endeavors. 52 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,100 It's my pleasure to present the Nesdaq Award to Maximil Gamma. 53 00:05:07,340 --> 00:05:10,080 Our second recipient of the Nesdaq Award goes to Taylor Koch. 54 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:23,800 Taylor is a respectful, passionate, empathetic, and highly motivated student who consistently 55 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:26,060 demonstrates exceptional collaboration skills. 56 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:31,520 Ranked among the top 10% of her class, she has maintained an impressive GPA while embracing 57 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:33,380 a rigorous course load throughout high school. 58 00:05:34,140 --> 00:05:38,060 Beyond the classroom, Taylor has been an active and engaged member of the school community. 59 00:05:38,060 --> 00:05:43,080 She is a member of the National Honor Society, an AP Scholar, and a service student representative 60 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:46,600 on both the Student Council, Site Council, and the Youth Advisory Council. 61 00:05:47,220 --> 00:05:51,460 She has contributed as a peer leader, participated in academic decathlon, joined the Make a 62 00:05:51,460 --> 00:05:55,740 Wish Club, taken part in a gift that gives the world trip, and written for the school newspaper. 63 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:00,960 As captain of the varsity softball team, she exemplifies dedication, compassion, and balance, 64 00:06:01,380 --> 00:06:03,260 making her a truly well-rounded individual. 65 00:06:04,020 --> 00:06:07,240 Taylor plans to study political science and college, and we're confident she'll continue 66 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,860 to excel. It's my pleasure to present the NSDEC Award at Taylor Clutch. 67 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,900 And our final award is the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Award. 68 00:06:21,140 --> 00:06:26,940 So it's an organization that Mr. Kaira and I belong to that really supports assistant 69 00:06:26,940 --> 00:06:29,100 superintendents and superintendents around the Commonwealth. 70 00:06:29,860 --> 00:06:35,660 So this award is presented at every school district, often in the fall, as I said before the 71 00:06:35,660 --> 00:06:41,320 senior year, to students who exemplify academic achievement and community contribution. 72 00:06:42,420 --> 00:06:45,960 I'm thrilled to announce the Academic Excellence Award to Zia Koshwan. 73 00:06:51,180 --> 00:06:55,720 A hard work and responsible and driven senior who ranks in the top 10% of a class 74 00:06:55,720 --> 00:07:01,840 with an impressive 4.62 GPA. Zia has continually challenged herself with a rigorous course load 75 00:07:01,840 --> 00:07:07,660 and is currently enrolled in six AP classes, reflecting her strong commitment to academic growth and excellence. 76 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:12,360 A member of the National Honor Society and recipient of the Dartmouth Alumni Book Club Award, 77 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:15,680 Zia is recognized for intellectual curiosity and leadership. 78 00:07:16,380 --> 00:07:20,980 Outside the classroom, she serves as president of the Biology Club, an officer of the Cares Club, 79 00:07:21,540 --> 00:07:26,640 an academic to Catherine competitor, a site council representative, and Coral P&S accompanist. 80 00:07:27,580 --> 00:07:28,560 It's a lot right there. 81 00:07:29,860 --> 00:07:35,240 Looking ahead, Zia plans to major in marine biology and college where we are confident she will continue to make a positive impact. 82 00:07:35,620 --> 00:07:39,880 Zia is a kind, motivated and well-rounded individual who truly embodies academic excellence. 83 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:42,320 congratulations to all three of you and 84 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:50,440 you don't need to stick around you're 85 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:55,120 welcome to go but we're very proud of all of you and that is an amazing list 86 00:07:55,120 --> 00:08:00,280 of accomplishments well done congratulations great job everybody 87 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:05,440 right 88 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:09,360 Congratulations. 89 00:08:10,020 --> 00:08:11,580 Your sophomore is only left. 90 00:08:12,100 --> 00:08:14,440 Okay, Ms. Lushapel, you're up. 91 00:08:15,180 --> 00:08:15,780 Already? 92 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:19,240 Hold on, Ms. Lushapel. 93 00:08:20,940 --> 00:08:22,700 No, I got it for you. 94 00:08:25,630 --> 00:08:26,510 I've got it. 95 00:08:35,260 --> 00:08:36,820 I can start before you get it up. 96 00:08:36,860 --> 00:08:37,340 Yeah, yeah, good. 97 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:39,720 Good evening. 98 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,780 I'm just here to provide a very brief overview 99 00:08:43,780 --> 00:08:48,020 view of kind of how the schedule roll out and changes have gone. 100 00:08:49,180 --> 00:08:55,360 As you know, I was here many times last year to talk about the changes that we were going 101 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,500 to make and now that we've started, I wanted to just give you a little bit of an update. 102 00:08:59,980 --> 00:09:06,860 I think important to note that the theme for the year at the middle school is positivity, 103 00:09:07,180 --> 00:09:08,440 flexibility and grace. 104 00:09:09,660 --> 00:09:19,860 We've had a lot of change, and it's important for me that the faculty realize that I'm acknowledging that it's a lot, and that we need to work through any difficulties together. 105 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:35,500 So just to summarize why we made a change, we were really looking at, are we meeting all students' needs coming in and looking at the discovery block, and if it was equitable for all students and meeting needs, and we did not feel that it was. 106 00:09:36,220 --> 00:09:50,300 The data, our data showed, we had pretty significant gaps in reading, and then our STEM data for the science standards, the way it was previously being taught was not allowing students to have exposure to the STEM standards by the time they took the eighth grade MCAS. 107 00:09:51,360 --> 00:10:03,660 Our Title I, EL and SPED services all previously were taught into one block which really made a compliance issue as well as not having the ability to divide students out based on student need and leveling. 108 00:10:03,660 --> 00:10:06,380 and then looking at an intervention block, 109 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:08,720 I'll get to it next. 110 00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:14,080 So if you remember, we made changes to each grade 111 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:15,520 by removing the discovery. 112 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:17,340 Students still have five core classes. 113 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:22,060 Sixth grade, we divided, sorry, seeing something to me. 114 00:10:22,380 --> 00:10:28,400 Oh, okay, I'm like, dividing ELA into reading. 115 00:10:29,300 --> 00:10:32,260 Okay, reading, a section of reading and writing, 116 00:10:32,860 --> 00:10:37,340 Adding an engineering class to the seventh grade core curriculum and putting Spanish on 117 00:10:37,340 --> 00:10:40,420 team for eighth grade students, 118 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:46,640 thank you. 119 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:52,480 So what students' schedules look like, they have five core classes on their team which 120 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:54,900 leaves two blocks for unified arts or wellness. 121 00:10:55,260 --> 00:11:00,860 It's also the block where students receive academic support or additional Title I support. 122 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:07,000 With these changes, we were also able to streamline and give a little more consistency 123 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:10,580 to how often wellness and unified arts were meeting. 124 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:16,900 So all students went from, excuse me, wellness meeting 60 times a year to 90 and unified 125 00:11:16,900 --> 00:11:20,100 arts from meeting 30 times a year to 45 classes a year. 126 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:23,180 Band is meeting all year long for all three grades. 127 00:11:23,820 --> 00:11:29,220 Our course numbers were happily so high for 7th and 8th grade, the original intent was course 128 00:11:29,220 --> 00:11:33,480 would meet all year as well. Sixth grade course is meeting all year long, 7th and 8th. 129 00:11:33,540 --> 00:11:37,740 We had to semesterize because the numbers were so high that we did not have one of space 130 00:11:37,740 --> 00:11:43,640 for them and needed students to have to put into all the other unified arts. So I think it's 131 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:48,160 going to work out really well for the 7th and 8th graders to have additional exposure 132 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:51,620 though and for them to solve the opportunity for a course in concerts and things like that. 133 00:11:52,540 --> 00:11:59,200 Support blocks are not limited to one block throughout the day now and we are able or we're 134 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:05,180 reading and our Title I math into leveled need, not just they need support and this is the block 135 00:12:05,180 --> 00:12:05,780 that works. 136 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:14,460 So how's it going? Overall, it's going really well. The first few weeks were definitely a big 137 00:12:14,460 --> 00:12:21,760 adjustment. I would say more so for staff than for students. Staff, well they core content teachers on 138 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:27,440 team had four classes in discovery, having that fifth core content class of saying kind of the same 139 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:32,640 thing the fifth time with another 20 you know 20 plus section of students 140 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:37,480 to grade and prepare for definitely was a shift discovery lots of them were 141 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:40,720 using it in different ways but it got them to do something different in that 142 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:45,040 block of the day so it's definitely an adjustment and a shift now that we've 143 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:48,620 settled in and we're almost done term one I think we've turned a corner on some of 144 00:12:48,620 --> 00:12:54,760 the stresses of it and we've really found our groove it was very evident in 145 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:59,480 the start of the year, though, the discrepancy and how discovery was being used, because some 146 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:04,640 people really felt the loss of that in a very tremendous way, and others did not, which 147 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:09,360 shows that it was not being used as an effective 45 minutes every day for all students. 148 00:13:10,300 --> 00:13:12,800 The new curriculum, I think, is the most exciting part. 149 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:17,880 The sixth grade reading and writing teachers, I think, if you got them up here, could go on 150 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:23,040 and on and on about what they've already seen for this and what we envisioned the long-term 151 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:25,980 from impacts of dividing, reading, writing out to be. 152 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:29,260 I've observed some reading and writing classes 153 00:13:29,260 --> 00:13:30,380 and just the depth. 154 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:34,420 They're able to go into, specifically with reading 155 00:13:34,420 --> 00:13:39,040 and being able to preview plot and character development 156 00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:40,980 and context and things like that. 157 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:43,600 And then writing, talking about the mechanics and the grammar. 158 00:13:44,140 --> 00:13:47,000 They're just really getting a double dose of it, 159 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:49,900 which not only did it as the data show that we need, 160 00:13:49,900 --> 00:13:58,360 but it's allowing both classes to take a pause and really enjoy the content instead of rushing to get through it. 161 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:12,680 I have, I think I had the most staff do summer curriculum work in the district and I, I can't shout them out all out, but I will shout out Chloe Dignacco and Caitlin Gentile who are the two teachers teaching engineering. 162 00:14:12,680 --> 00:14:19,260 engineering. They were a math and a science teacher on half teams. And Doven, when I said 163 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:25,560 this is what we're going to do, I'd love for you to do it. They spent, I don't know 164 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:29,260 how many days in the office this summer working on curriculum. And they have developed a course 165 00:14:29,260 --> 00:14:37,520 that is hands-on, project-based, critical thinking, application, kids just built dog houses 166 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:41,060 and had to come up with the whole design and materials 167 00:14:41,060 --> 00:14:45,420 and think about weather and sustainability 168 00:14:46,540 --> 00:14:50,160 and temperature factor and then build them. 169 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:52,580 And it's been really awesome to see 170 00:14:52,580 --> 00:14:54,900 and I'm excited to see what they're doing for the rest of the year. 171 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:58,700 And then for eighth grade putting Spanish on team, definitely for the students, 172 00:14:58,720 --> 00:14:59,580 is making it feel 173 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:27,320 Like a core class, whereas previously it was kind of considered their UA block. It's allowing those two Spanish teachers to have time with the core content teachers to talk about kids and make sure they're supporting kids in the way they need. We did learn early in the year. We had a little bit of a bigger gap than we expected with all of the staffing issues we had with Spanish last year, as you know, again a reason I was here a lot last year. 174 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:36,660 So they paused and reset and are really following the Spanish one curriculum to fidelity right now and 175 00:15:36,660 --> 00:15:42,820 feeling like even though some students had a good basis last year, all they're doing is getting more repetition of it. 176 00:15:42,900 --> 00:15:46,060 So hopefully ending the year with everyone feeling really prepared to go to the high school. 177 00:15:48,850 --> 00:15:55,370 Special education I will say has some really great positives and this is probably the area where we learn the most from right at the start of the year 178 00:15:55,370 --> 00:15:57,390 for things that we can do even better next year. 179 00:15:57,990 --> 00:16:00,790 From a compliance standpoint and grouping student standpoint, 180 00:16:01,050 --> 00:16:02,150 far improved. 181 00:16:02,730 --> 00:16:04,830 But specifically in grade seven and eight, 182 00:16:04,950 --> 00:16:07,230 where our inclusion teachers are not team-based, 183 00:16:07,550 --> 00:16:08,550 they are content-based. 184 00:16:09,070 --> 00:16:13,690 Making sure that we are pairing liaisons with students 185 00:16:13,690 --> 00:16:15,250 that they see the most often definitely 186 00:16:15,250 --> 00:16:18,690 needs some finagling for next year, which we can definitely do. 187 00:16:19,410 --> 00:16:22,030 Like I said, unified arts teachers are loving the consistency 188 00:16:22,030 --> 00:16:24,290 of seeing the students and being able to just 189 00:16:24,290 --> 00:16:30,450 continue with their curriculum versus like, what did we do five days ago? Something that 190 00:16:30,450 --> 00:16:35,590 is feeling a little bit lost for those that use it really well is that flex block or 191 00:16:35,590 --> 00:16:40,910 giving students that what I need time. While we don't have a formalized way to work it into 192 00:16:40,910 --> 00:16:46,990 the schedule right now, I have been transparent with teens that I want them to try things to see 193 00:16:46,990 --> 00:16:52,330 what works for them. So I have a variety of teens doing things in different ways. A couple of 194 00:16:52,330 --> 00:16:57,870 the 6th grade teens are using the last academic block every Friday as a catch-up block or 195 00:16:57,870 --> 00:17:02,930 what I need block. I have some 7th grade teens who are using the days they have 2nd lunch. 196 00:17:03,750 --> 00:17:07,950 They go to 30 minutes of the class, they go to lunch, they go back in the last 30 minutes 197 00:17:07,950 --> 00:17:12,430 is a flex or do I need to go see my science teacher instead of my math teacher. So we're 198 00:17:12,430 --> 00:17:15,310 modeling some different things out. I think it's probably the biggest discussion we're going 199 00:17:15,310 --> 00:17:19,910 to have this year if we look at making any significant change to blocks or timing and things 200 00:17:19,910 --> 00:17:24,350 things like that to add that in, not on a daily basis, but maybe a weekly or twice a week 201 00:17:24,350 --> 00:17:29,910 basis, just to address when students are neat. Students need a little bit more intervention 202 00:17:29,910 --> 00:17:36,230 time to work into the day. We started data teams, which is really exciting. Really looking 203 00:17:36,230 --> 00:17:43,430 at our data and the data itself as well as anecdotally what students need and we're starting a new 204 00:17:43,430 --> 00:17:47,110 tracking system of that to figure out what supports we're putting in place and how they're 205 00:17:47,110 --> 00:17:59,470 And then starting tomorrow, my ELA math science and then civic teachers are going to dive into our Mcastiated to look at the standards and questions to see what curriculum impacts or changes need to be made for this year's content. 206 00:18:02,650 --> 00:18:03,030 That's it. 207 00:18:05,460 --> 00:18:06,740 Does anybody have any questions? 208 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:12,840 So I'm curious, Sarah, the things that you're going to look at in the longer term, I 209 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:17,380 might not stop, so in a few weeks of this, that will be like the measures of success, 210 00:18:17,900 --> 00:18:22,160 you know, whether that's culture in the building, whether that's assessment of that, 211 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:25,980 there's specific things that you're looking for that are going to sort of be, 212 00:18:26,220 --> 00:18:29,300 okay, that confirms what we are thinking here in real terms. 213 00:18:29,500 --> 00:18:32,540 Yeah, and some of it's going to take a little while to play out data wise. 214 00:18:32,540 --> 00:18:38,780 I think we are optimistic, we'll see significant growth in our sixth grade eye-ready scores 215 00:18:38,780 --> 00:18:43,440 this year by the end of the year, even potentially the mid-year diagnostic based on the reading 216 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:43,900 and writing. 217 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:48,880 Our engineering class, it would be this seventh grader, so it'll be the end of their eighth 218 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:52,940 grade year that they'll test on the science standards that will have kind of that data 219 00:18:52,940 --> 00:18:53,320 piece. 220 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:58,240 But from an anecdotal, like, again, standpoint of how the building feels and how the teams 221 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:02,520 feel and things like that, I think we're really the thing we are most comfortable with 222 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:04,420 right now are the curriculum decisions we made 223 00:19:04,420 --> 00:19:05,520 for what to add each grade. 224 00:19:06,380 --> 00:19:08,980 If you ask my ELA teachers, they want reading 225 00:19:08,980 --> 00:19:10,380 and writing in all three grades. 226 00:19:10,900 --> 00:19:13,440 I don't think students would necessarily want that, 227 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:15,840 and they're really liking the engineering piece. 228 00:19:16,900 --> 00:19:19,180 But yeah, some of the data is gonna take some time 229 00:19:19,180 --> 00:19:21,880 to play out, but I think in regard 230 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:24,620 to the day-to-day logistics of the schedule, 231 00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:27,200 that's really all we're evaluating right now, 232 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:30,960 is are we gonna make any changes with that 233 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:33,100 that at the start of next year, 234 00:19:35,220 --> 00:19:37,900 and that's a 2B determined, it would be small, I think 235 00:19:37,900 --> 00:19:43,680 if we did, but it would be to fit in some more structured time, I think, for that intervention 236 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:45,200 or when type of block. 237 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:54,520 Do you get a feel yet on how any of the staffing implications of the changes are going to 238 00:19:54,520 --> 00:20:01,100 out, right? I know with what we had in place, any kind of eds and flows in student population 239 00:20:01,100 --> 00:20:06,220 was very challenging to staff. That's why we got to have teams and we did all that stuff and 240 00:20:06,220 --> 00:20:12,620 this was also supposed to help with some of that. Do you get a feel for whether that's playing out 241 00:20:12,620 --> 00:20:18,880 as we expected? We might need to just want to understand that potential implication down the line. 242 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:28,030 Yeah, right now, I mean, I think any principal would say we will always take more staff. 243 00:20:28,370 --> 00:20:33,890 I mean, but it's what we're able to, right now, our class numbers and things like that 244 00:20:33,890 --> 00:20:36,210 are really, really solid with what we have. 245 00:20:36,430 --> 00:20:41,690 It's our intervention supports, I think, would be where we're going to need potentially 246 00:20:41,690 --> 00:20:42,370 down the line. 247 00:20:42,930 --> 00:20:48,070 I have one Title I math teacher who is fully scheduled and could take more. 248 00:20:48,070 --> 00:20:53,770 I'm sure if we were able to give him more and then our reading specialist, Melissa Steinberg, 249 00:20:53,910 --> 00:20:58,430 switch from an eighth grade L.A. teacher to reading and she's done an amazing job with our data 250 00:20:58,430 --> 00:21:01,730 and making sure students are getting shorter term interventions in support. 251 00:21:03,050 --> 00:21:11,070 So right now with the staff we have, we're good. And the half teams, you know, the change of that, 252 00:21:11,270 --> 00:21:17,890 I think using the staff that I had to the ability I was able to use them, where they 253 00:21:17,890 --> 00:21:20,050 I think it was a good thing for them. 254 00:21:22,910 --> 00:21:28,490 So I just have a quick question to kind of visualize the change in special ed. 255 00:21:28,670 --> 00:21:31,570 And I'm thrilled to hear that you guys feel that it's working out really well. 256 00:21:31,690 --> 00:21:35,610 I would imagine with the leveling in math and ELA in particular, 257 00:21:35,610 --> 00:21:42,130 it's easier to deliver services to the kids who may have need in specific math instruction or reading instruction. 258 00:21:42,650 --> 00:21:47,530 Where I'm curious is where it fits in is there used to be and I may use the wrong term, 259 00:21:47,530 --> 00:21:51,430 but like an academic support book and I think a lot of kids got during that discovery time. 260 00:21:51,730 --> 00:21:52,830 So where does that fit in now? 261 00:21:52,990 --> 00:21:55,410 So that fits in depending on what grade they're in. 262 00:21:55,530 --> 00:22:02,490 So students have potentially two blocks that are not a core content class and they might have wellness one and art in the other. 263 00:22:03,070 --> 00:22:09,170 Students who need academic support would have art and academic support to the extent that they need it. 264 00:22:09,610 --> 00:22:13,950 So not every day for all students, students were scheduled based on their service delivery grid. 265 00:22:14,050 --> 00:22:16,750 So if they only require an academic support four times a rotation, 266 00:22:16,750 --> 00:22:19,770 They're in that four times, and then the other three times. 267 00:22:20,010 --> 00:22:25,290 So we really were able to tailor things to what the delivery grid said versus just, well, 268 00:22:25,370 --> 00:22:26,930 this is the block they have academic support. 269 00:22:27,030 --> 00:22:29,910 They're going to have it every single day because there's nowhere else for them to go. 270 00:22:30,730 --> 00:22:30,850 Yes. 271 00:22:31,310 --> 00:22:34,090 Are there some kids who are missing out on those unifies? 272 00:22:34,790 --> 00:22:36,250 So they might have less of them. 273 00:22:36,410 --> 00:22:38,270 No one has no unified arts or wellness. 274 00:22:38,470 --> 00:22:39,230 Everyone has wellness. 275 00:22:39,430 --> 00:22:43,650 Everyone has some level of unified arts and for students who did have academic support. 276 00:22:43,650 --> 00:22:49,730 There was some conversation of what might be your most interesting unified art to make sure that we're trying to tailor 277 00:22:49,730 --> 00:22:54,450 Student schedules to meet their needs since there is a limited time for them to attend. 278 00:22:55,130 --> 00:23:00,410 But a lot of discussions with the special education staff have been, do they need academic support every day? 279 00:23:00,870 --> 00:23:05,470 Because if not now that we have the ability to get them into a unified arts class in the same block. 280 00:23:05,470 --> 00:23:11,630 So, I don't know the exact data, but I would say it's probably close to 50% of our students 281 00:23:11,630 --> 00:23:16,270 who now have every other day alternating it with Unified Art, and then in their other 282 00:23:16,270 --> 00:23:18,790 block they have a full block of well-nustrated Unified Arts. 283 00:23:19,670 --> 00:23:19,810 Great. 284 00:23:20,090 --> 00:23:20,370 Thank you. 285 00:23:23,810 --> 00:23:24,110 Yes. 286 00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:27,700 You're up to hook. 287 00:23:28,740 --> 00:23:29,000 Hold up. 288 00:23:29,140 --> 00:23:29,280 Thank you. 289 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:29,880 Go while you can. 290 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:31,060 Thank you, Erin. 291 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:33,800 Good stuff. 292 00:23:34,300 --> 00:23:34,560 Okay. 293 00:23:35,740 --> 00:23:36,520 Next up. 294 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:39,120 Warren Provels. 295 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,520 Between, it doesn't have the first thing so I'll add it. 296 00:23:43,860 --> 00:23:46,040 I, Paul Kendall, authorized by my signature. 297 00:23:46,500 --> 00:23:48,940 Oh, it just changed the blurb's difference, right? 298 00:23:50,740 --> 00:23:58,600 Between October 9th, 2025 and October 22nd, I, Paul Kendall, authorized by my signature 299 00:23:58,600 --> 00:23:59,220 payables. 300 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:08,060 Payable in the amount of $470,000, $680,000 and $54 cents, this includes general fund expenses 301 00:24:08,060 --> 00:24:13,260 of $193,000, $416,000, and $62,000. 302 00:24:13,260 --> 00:24:21,080 Revolved in expenses of $273,000, $273,000, $189,000. 303 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:25,840 Great expenses of $5,290, and $37,000. 304 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:28,740 And the mail is tax expenses of $86,000, and $55,000. 305 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:30,040 Thank you. 306 00:24:31,380 --> 00:24:32,440 Superintendent, report. 307 00:24:33,340 --> 00:24:36,860 For time sakes, because we're going to be done by six for 308 00:24:36,860 --> 00:24:37,400 the next meeting. 309 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:41,100 and we have two student presentations, I have nothing to report tonight. 310 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:42,960 Okay, Mike. 311 00:24:45,620 --> 00:24:46,660 I think that's what he's saying. 312 00:24:47,700 --> 00:24:48,580 Mine's very quick. 313 00:24:49,500 --> 00:24:53,760 Just to echo what Aaron said about the ELA work at the middle school, 314 00:24:53,860 --> 00:24:57,380 I met with our ELA curriculum leadership team this week in Ryan Van Wai, 315 00:24:57,540 --> 00:25:02,000 who is representative from the middle school, had wonderful things to say about the change that was made in grade six, 316 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,260 and he actually said from his perspective, he's teaching the writing right now, 317 00:25:05,260 --> 00:25:15,500 And he has reached a point right now in writing where he normally wouldn't be getting to until December because of the fact that it's a standalone course. 318 00:25:15,860 --> 00:25:18,760 So he's very excited about what this can become. 319 00:25:19,540 --> 00:25:21,640 So I thought that would bring you that information. 320 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:27,680 Also, Minda has shared the work that they had completed during their data team meetings. 321 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:36,700 and I was blown away by the level of support that they are going to be providing to every student, 322 00:25:37,380 --> 00:25:39,460 targeted intervention for every student. 323 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:47,600 Each student has a specific targeted learning goal that they're going to be working on with dates attached to it, 324 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:52,480 and an action plan in place for all students to achieve that goal. 325 00:25:52,780 --> 00:25:54,920 And it's really impressive work that's being done there. 326 00:25:54,920 --> 00:26:01,360 And that is basically what Warren has been doing, and this has been our goal as a district 327 00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:06,060 to take it from Warren to Mendes and seeing the fruits of that. 328 00:26:06,620 --> 00:26:11,960 It was really exciting for me the other day when they presented an example of the different 329 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:14,680 plans that were put in place for a specific grade 3 classroom. 330 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:24,960 And the AHS, the LAT or the English department once again did a tremendous job each year 331 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:29,940 that they get together and they do a day-to-die day is what I sort of call it where they were 332 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:34,380 paying particular attention to the MCAS Open Response questions this year. 333 00:26:34,820 --> 00:26:40,760 They saw what we expected to see, a little dip in some of these scores based on non-responses 334 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:45,480 as well as off-topic responses in the state, the told us that that's what they saw overall. 335 00:26:45,980 --> 00:26:54,040 I'm sure directly related to question two. But they also saw some really strange discrepancies 336 00:26:56,320 --> 00:27:01,660 in scoring this year that they were concerned about. What they normally would think should have 337 00:27:01,660 --> 00:27:07,520 been a four was a three this year. And they're questioning a little bit what was happening at the 338 00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:12,660 state level in terms of how student responses were graded. And we're wondering if that has anything 339 00:27:12,660 --> 00:27:14,480 to do with the AI grading that happened. 340 00:27:15,420 --> 00:27:17,260 So we're taking a good hard look at that 341 00:27:17,260 --> 00:27:20,280 and using it to obviously inform their instructional practices, 342 00:27:20,540 --> 00:27:22,900 but also taking all that data with the green salt 343 00:27:22,900 --> 00:27:25,840 because it looks different than it used to look. 344 00:27:27,500 --> 00:27:29,920 Other than that, professional learning is going really well 345 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:30,300 this year. 346 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:33,380 I had an exciting day today, yesterday and tomorrow 347 00:27:33,380 --> 00:27:34,800 with our year two staff. 348 00:27:34,980 --> 00:27:36,860 One of the best things that we do is that partnership 349 00:27:36,860 --> 00:27:37,940 with many of them up to the Millford. 350 00:27:38,380 --> 00:27:40,640 All of our excellent year two folks at this point 351 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,700 have participated in their learning walks for getting great feedback. 352 00:27:44,300 --> 00:27:48,900 Tomorrow we are hosting thank you to all of our principals and our directors who make 353 00:27:48,900 --> 00:27:53,580 sure that they go smoothly by scheduling to have folks visit classrooms and a big thank 354 00:27:53,580 --> 00:27:57,640 you to all the teachers who are going to be inviting educators into their classrooms to learn 355 00:27:57,640 --> 00:27:59,600 about the wonderful things that we do here. 356 00:28:01,930 --> 00:28:02,450 Thanks Mike. 357 00:28:05,650 --> 00:28:08,870 Superintendent evaluation, we need to get that going. 358 00:28:10,490 --> 00:28:13,230 So all I'm doing tonight is just presenting a couple things. 359 00:28:13,230 --> 00:28:32,230 One, normally I would present the entire process that we go through and I will do that the next meeting we have but I did want to at least get on your radar opportunity for you to give me feedback over the next you know couple weeks before we we finalize the actual evaluation process. 360 00:28:33,150 --> 00:28:42,210 If you remember at the end of last year, we had a number of goals. We had seven goals total last year and we had four that we didn't fully complete and that we're rolling over into this year as well. 361 00:28:42,210 --> 00:28:49,430 So, those are from the district policies down, for instance, looking at actual policies, 362 00:28:50,030 --> 00:28:59,410 looking at our MTSS, educator evaluation, as well as more communication from the central 363 00:28:59,410 --> 00:29:00,470 office as well as the principals. 364 00:29:01,030 --> 00:29:09,010 The one that I did add, which I will have you review as well, deals with the schools and 365 00:29:09,010 --> 00:29:14,070 The field's working group, me working with representatives from local organizations, 366 00:29:14,470 --> 00:29:19,210 town of Ashland, school finance facilities, et cetera, to develop a framework and 367 00:29:19,210 --> 00:29:25,550 an outline in a process that allows the public schools to, by the beginning of next fiscal 368 00:29:25,550 --> 00:29:33,550 year, overtake our fields in terms of rental properties, as rental properties for us like 369 00:29:33,550 --> 00:29:36,250 we do our buildings, but also maintenance, et cetera. 370 00:29:36,250 --> 00:29:39,830 But there's a lot of work that has to be done in terms of developing that framework. 371 00:29:40,330 --> 00:29:46,030 But like Arbor and I had a conversation that I would hopefully, by April, have a framework 372 00:29:46,030 --> 00:29:49,550 that I can present knowledge of the school committee, but finance committee and select board. 373 00:29:50,170 --> 00:29:54,990 So that's a pretty heavy loop that I've added as one of the goals this year. 374 00:29:55,230 --> 00:29:56,310 So we've already begun the process. 375 00:29:56,310 --> 00:29:59,970 We've already met and doing a lot of data diving and I have to have... 376 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:28,280 Add some help from a number of folks, including Marcy around the table, looking at some of the data with me. So these are the goals that I want to focus on. If there's something else that you want to add, let me know, and I can craft that goal for the next time we actually have a meeting. So then you can approve the goals at the next meeting. That's all I'm doing today. That's good. Questions? Just to clarify, though, if Jim doesn't hear from anybody. 377 00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,880 I'm running with the five goals before from last year, 378 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:36,760 the one that you added, and it's just a question of whether 379 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:39,560 anybody feels like there's something missing from that lineup 380 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:41,640 or something that we should start focusing on 381 00:30:42,220 --> 00:30:44,380 that we're not already doing, but that's. 382 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:47,960 And there's still significant work to do on the four goals 383 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:51,980 that are rolling over, then that might just be enough 384 00:30:52,420 --> 00:30:53,400 the right where it is. 385 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:55,980 Yeah, sort of that conversation we've had here numerous times, 386 00:30:55,980 --> 00:30:58,180 I'm sorry, what is your normal day-to-day job? 387 00:30:58,560 --> 00:30:59,080 What are you doing? 388 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:04,840 As opposed to what should be highlighted in terms 389 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:06,580 of we want to focus as an organization. 390 00:31:07,300 --> 00:31:07,440 All right. 391 00:31:07,740 --> 00:31:07,820 So. 392 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:09,780 OK. 393 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:10,700 Thanks. 394 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:15,300 OK, next up, we have Joshua and Gracia's grade 12 395 00:31:15,300 --> 00:31:17,360 Eagle Scout project proposal. 396 00:31:19,540 --> 00:31:20,020 Hello. 397 00:31:21,020 --> 00:31:21,960 Let me pull it up. 398 00:31:25,260 --> 00:31:26,060 All right. 399 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:29,900 Hi, my name is Joshua and I'm a senior at Ashland High 400 00:31:29,900 --> 00:31:34,420 school if you don't know me. I'm here to talk about my EGLE Scout service 401 00:31:34,420 --> 00:31:39,900 project proposal today and pretty much what I'll be doing is I'm gonna be 402 00:31:39,900 --> 00:31:47,040 building a 4x4 tote rack for the storage room at Ashland High School. Right 403 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:51,660 now if you go into storage room actually it's extremely messy, there's stuff 404 00:31:51,660 --> 00:31:59,620 everywhere like uniforms on the ground and random shelving and it's kind of 405 00:31:59,620 --> 00:32:05,960 of insufficient ways of storing the items that are in the room and there's like floor 406 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:12,520 cabinets that aren't even being used and I'm pretty much going to take an initiative 407 00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:18,560 to organize that room by building this 4x4 storage tote rack in which there'll be 16 408 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:29,660 Rose or 16 toads that you can slide in to this shelf where you were and I'm gonna 409 00:32:29,660 --> 00:32:34,680 be also labeling all these toads with with like one being like Ashland Boy 410 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:40,880 Soccer one being like Ashland Girl Soccer and this way when any athletic staff 411 00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:46,560 needs to find like let's say like the Ashland Girl Soccer uniforms they 412 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:53,480 They can just pull out the tote right off the shelf because it'll be labeled and they can find it there rather than having to 413 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:58,480 show rummage through like a bunch of different items that are just randomly put in the room. 414 00:33:00,300 --> 00:33:03,480 Yeah, I'll be building it at my house and then installing it in the school. 415 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:08,920 Yeah, that's my project and I'm open to any questions if you guys have anything. 416 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:09,880 So 417 00:33:14,710 --> 00:33:20,850 in your description you talk about meeting with Mr. Anderson, have you met with the 418 00:33:20,850 --> 00:33:21,730 new athletic director? 419 00:33:21,910 --> 00:33:22,450 Yeah, yeah. 420 00:33:22,850 --> 00:33:29,570 Initially I met with Mr. Anderson and talked about it, but he obviously left, so I met 421 00:33:29,570 --> 00:33:32,830 with the new director and talked to him about it. 422 00:33:32,950 --> 00:33:33,050 Okay. 423 00:33:33,310 --> 00:33:36,330 And would there be any changes from this perspective or? 424 00:33:37,290 --> 00:33:40,210 No, I think we discussed pretty much the same thing. 425 00:33:41,310 --> 00:33:47,110 Yeah, and what other staff have you met with, have you met with, I'm assuming Mr. 426 00:33:47,470 --> 00:33:47,510 Moore? 427 00:33:47,870 --> 00:33:48,910 Yeah, I met with Miss St. 428 00:33:49,610 --> 00:33:50,050 Kerr. 429 00:33:50,870 --> 00:33:51,590 John Murray. 430 00:33:51,750 --> 00:33:56,930 Yeah, I also met with him, and we talked about the project, yeah. 431 00:34:01,140 --> 00:34:07,720 Oh yeah, he also, the new athletic director also did this very similar project that is good. 432 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:08,040 Oh wow. 433 00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:09,080 That's great. 434 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:13,260 And Mr. Murray, I mean, if you want to speak to him, I mean he's certainly in favor of 435 00:34:13,260 --> 00:34:19,960 this project so yeah yeah yeah yeah awesome 436 00:34:23,540 --> 00:34:25,440 is there work that needs to be done I 437 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:28,520 mean obviously it sounds like the the real problem is just lack of the 438 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:32,760 organizational system but is there some work that needs to be done with the 439 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:37,300 teams to make sure things end up in their proper place and not like back on the 440 00:34:37,300 --> 00:34:43,520 floor like are we working with with people to work with you and make good use of 441 00:34:45,020 --> 00:34:51,440 Yeah, obviously it should be like a group effort, but because everyone needs to kind 442 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:56,060 of pitch in, but this would kind of be easy because like if like I don't know like the 443 00:34:56,060 --> 00:35:01,800 boys that soccer coach comes in and needs to put the uniforms in, you'll be able to see 444 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:08,260 how this totes boys soccer and you can just put it in rather than having to just throw it 445 00:35:08,260 --> 00:35:10,260 somewhere, and then not know where it is the year after. 446 00:35:13,740 --> 00:35:20,300 And not familiar with the room itself, just from a capacity perspective, if you're building 447 00:35:20,300 --> 00:35:26,800 this, is there a room for another one should the need be and have you thought about whether 448 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:31,080 at some point in the future there's need for an additional capacity and how that would 449 00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:31,280 be. 450 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:31,480 Yeah. 451 00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:35,100 There would be a good amount of room after I built this. 452 00:35:35,240 --> 00:35:37,260 I mean, it would just be standing up on one wall. 453 00:35:37,260 --> 00:35:44,260 It's a relatively small room, but there'd be a lot of space to walk around and even store 454 00:35:44,260 --> 00:35:44,920 other things. 455 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:48,000 And if I need to be there, you could build another one. 456 00:35:49,220 --> 00:35:51,220 It's a narrow room for sure, right? 457 00:35:51,740 --> 00:35:52,940 I've been in there numerous times. 458 00:35:53,740 --> 00:35:53,860 Yeah. 459 00:35:54,380 --> 00:35:54,440 Yeah. 460 00:35:55,620 --> 00:36:00,040 So I'm also not familiar with this space, but the totes are already there. 461 00:36:00,240 --> 00:36:06,640 We just need a specific storage structure to hold them on, or the totes are part of what 462 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:12,440 You'll be. Yeah, the totes are also part of what I'll be putting into the room. Yeah. 463 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:19,100 Sounds wonderful. It sounds like you talk to everybody that you need to talk to on your end. 464 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:26,360 What's your time frame? I'm planning to start the project this week. I want to kind of get 465 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:32,740 things going because like I want to also use it for college and talk about it in my in my college 466 00:36:32,740 --> 00:36:38,460 application. Of course. Are you getting any like donations of supplies or anything? 467 00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:47,520 Or is it all on you? Right now, it's all on me, but yeah, but yeah, but anybody who's 468 00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:53,240 listening, want to donate? And Jim, I assume because this is a freestanding thing. There's 469 00:36:53,240 --> 00:36:57,340 nothing we need to do from that approval perspective. It's not a permanent structure of 470 00:36:57,340 --> 00:36:57,500 Correct. 471 00:36:57,700 --> 00:36:58,260 It could be moved. 472 00:36:58,400 --> 00:36:58,720 Yeah. 473 00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:01,280 Miss Sankar, did you have something you wanted? 474 00:37:01,500 --> 00:37:02,640 Yeah, I just want to share with you. 475 00:37:07,460 --> 00:37:07,760 Oh, really? 476 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:08,100 Yeah. 477 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:08,540 Yeah. 478 00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:10,040 It's ready for you, Josh. 479 00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:10,520 Yeah. 480 00:37:11,540 --> 00:37:11,600 Yeah. 481 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:12,760 Excellent. 482 00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:16,940 Well, that's like a wonderful project that everybody's on board with. 483 00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:20,240 So, if somebody has a motion to approve the project. 484 00:37:21,220 --> 00:37:24,360 Well, I think it's good to have it on record. 485 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:25,220 I think it's good. 486 00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:26,100 Yeah. 487 00:37:26,780 --> 00:37:28,960 So, I'll move to approve the project that's presented. 488 00:37:29,620 --> 00:37:29,940 One second. 489 00:37:30,240 --> 00:37:30,780 All in favor? 490 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:37,980 Excellent. Thank you guys for coming back. Next, be sure to come back with pictures. 491 00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:44,160 Yes, please come back. The AHS Environmental Club Stormdrain Project proposal. 492 00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:47,060 Hello, and welcome. 493 00:37:55,050 --> 00:37:58,770 Hello and good afternoon. My name is Kelly Danahee. 494 00:37:58,910 --> 00:38:05,170 I'm a junior at the Ashen High School, and I'm a president of the Environmental Action Club along with 495 00:38:05,170 --> 00:38:09,530 I'm Rhea Dubay, and I'm also president of the Environmental Action Club. 496 00:38:11,270 --> 00:38:15,530 Hi, I'm Raysha Murora. I'm the vice president of the Environmental Action Club. 497 00:38:16,110 --> 00:38:23,110 Welcome. Thank you. We are here as a group of students who are passionate about helping 498 00:38:23,110 --> 00:38:27,830 the environment and spreading awareness about sustainability. We have two 499 00:38:27,830 --> 00:38:32,170 environmentally inspired ideas and projects that we wanted to present today 500 00:38:32,170 --> 00:38:37,170 for the Ashland High School to promote both creativity and sustainability. 501 00:38:38,030 --> 00:38:44,890 So first starting with our storm drain art, we want to initiate a project that will further educate the community 502 00:38:44,890 --> 00:38:50,990 about how valuable and delicate storm drains are, especially during rainfall and intense storms. 503 00:38:51,810 --> 00:38:57,310 However, ways like trash, fertilizer, and even dog poop are littered into storm drains, 504 00:38:57,670 --> 00:38:59,970 which then wash into our local rivers and lakes. 505 00:39:03,340 --> 00:39:09,920 in order to promote this mindfulness, we have decided to create a project which is storm drain 506 00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:15,600 art. We would like to do it at the back of the high school, which is where parent pick up and 507 00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:20,940 drop off is, and we would like to promote a design, which is right behind you right on side, 508 00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:31,400 which is the action letter A, and it's draining into the storm drain. So our idea is to paint this 509 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:37,720 with the whole Environmental Action Club, all each helping to paint and to promote sustainability 510 00:39:38,410 --> 00:39:39,480 across the high school. 511 00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:46,360 And we would like to carry out this project on Saturday, November 8th, particularly 512 00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:48,020 in the afternoon because of sports. 513 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:57,920 And our rain day would be Sunday, November 9th, as an extra day in case November 8th does 514 00:39:57,920 --> 00:39:58,560 not work out. 515 00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:07,320 but it's an eye-catching design on the pavement surrounding the storm drain so we just want 516 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:13,020 to promote sustainability at the high school and hopefully we could do this at other 517 00:40:13,020 --> 00:40:14,060 public schools as well. 518 00:40:17,260 --> 00:40:21,540 And just to clarify, on the picture, the gray above the A would be the storm drain. 519 00:40:21,540 --> 00:40:24,440 It's those grates on the road and then the rest is our design. 520 00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:24,880 Thank you. 521 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:25,740 Thank you. 522 00:40:25,740 --> 00:40:32,760 Our second project that we're looking to do this year is create a plastic bottle cap mural. 523 00:40:34,460 --> 00:40:42,420 So the ash on high school uses a lot and disposes of a large amount of plastic water bottles every week. 524 00:40:42,700 --> 00:40:46,220 We do recycling around the high school and we can see it every week, every Monday. 525 00:40:47,260 --> 00:40:53,540 Therefore, we had the idea of making an art mural out of plastic bottle caps that we have recycled throughout the year. 526 00:40:55,040 --> 00:41:00,640 in like the Downstairs Science Hallway across from room B-133. 527 00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:04,500 Our ideas for the mural 528 00:41:04,500 --> 00:41:10,540 are centered around like environmental sceneries, sogans, or like the Ashtam Bogo. And we would 529 00:41:10,540 --> 00:41:15,780 like to carry this out anywhere from like late January to early February in 2026. 530 00:41:18,210 --> 00:41:25,450 I have some papers with like some design ideas that we wanted to look at. 531 00:41:25,750 --> 00:41:26,170 Can I pass? 532 00:41:26,250 --> 00:41:26,490 Awesome. 533 00:41:26,710 --> 00:41:27,210 Thank you, Sher. 534 00:41:27,510 --> 00:41:28,890 I'm going to pass them along here. 535 00:41:29,070 --> 00:41:32,530 Well, and you're doing that questions for the ladies. 536 00:41:33,330 --> 00:41:38,230 It sounds like maybe you've already thought about it because as you were talking 537 00:41:39,010 --> 00:41:41,470 once you do the storm ring, right? 538 00:41:41,790 --> 00:41:45,770 And you have done it and maybe you can kind of make it. 539 00:41:45,770 --> 00:41:48,030 So it's a potential teachable moment. 540 00:41:48,170 --> 00:41:51,130 You can go to other schools and work with the art teacher 541 00:41:51,130 --> 00:41:54,330 or the principals and they've been all doing, 542 00:41:54,770 --> 00:41:57,050 wanted to do community service and taking care of the schools 543 00:41:57,050 --> 00:41:57,970 and stuff like that. 544 00:41:58,290 --> 00:42:02,250 So, if you think about it from how do you package that up 545 00:42:02,250 --> 00:42:05,650 as a project that you could really do that. 546 00:42:05,770 --> 00:42:07,690 So it sounds like you're already thinking about doing that? 547 00:42:07,930 --> 00:42:09,990 Yeah, and we were already in contact 548 00:42:09,990 --> 00:42:12,590 with the Ashland Stormwater Advisory Committee 549 00:42:12,590 --> 00:42:15,390 about this project, and it was actually their idea. 550 00:42:15,390 --> 00:42:19,470 We are here just to carry it out and kind of organize it at the schools. 551 00:42:20,250 --> 00:42:24,210 But that's definitely one of our goals is to spread this project and this artwork 552 00:42:24,210 --> 00:42:30,450 to other schools and maybe other parts of town to raise awareness for storm water pollution. 553 00:42:30,990 --> 00:42:33,290 How many drains do you intend to do with high school? 554 00:42:33,930 --> 00:42:34,750 Just one. 555 00:42:35,390 --> 00:42:42,410 It is, there is a storm drain that's right by the like parent pick up and drop off area close to the crosswalk there. 556 00:42:42,410 --> 00:42:46,390 So we think that would be the best spot for visibility to put the artwork. 557 00:42:47,330 --> 00:42:52,810 So I love the idea of the visual because it gives people a reminder to be mindful of what's going down the drain. 558 00:42:53,270 --> 00:42:58,790 You guys did a great job at the beginning of your presentation of discussing why it's important to think about what's going in the drain. 559 00:42:58,970 --> 00:43:09,710 So have you thought about any kind of education campaign to share with your students or others in the community why this is important in addition to the visual reminder? 560 00:43:09,710 --> 00:43:22,990 Yes, we have talked about it, but we haven't put any plan in place, so with the Stormwater Advisory Committee, we also talked about maybe talking to the Waka TV and doing something with them. 561 00:43:23,890 --> 00:43:32,150 Also, we often do posters around the school, so that's another thing we do just at the high school, maybe possibly to other schools too. 562 00:43:33,570 --> 00:43:36,450 We know we could do the morning announcements. 563 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:52,300 Yes, that is also an option. 564 00:43:52,980 --> 00:43:59,040 So another option you could consider is, I think it's not close enough to the mic, but 565 00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:05,520 Michael Herbert sends out town newsletter that goes via e-mail and that might be a nice 566 00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:11,240 connection to the town and to spotlight the awareness you're raising, they love to highlight 567 00:44:11,650 --> 00:44:17,520 you know things going on in the community and this is a great one and I could see a lot 568 00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:23,820 of the Warren kids loving this and pit away. Like don't forget that preschool they would 569 00:44:23,820 --> 00:44:30,300 maybe glue in those bottle caps. Yeah no problem. Right and what a great way to educate 570 00:44:30,300 --> 00:44:35,400 the younger kids in our community especially if you guys do expand this and it goes 571 00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:40,260 to other schools, I think it would give you a great opportunity to have some time to teach 572 00:44:40,260 --> 00:44:41,860 them why you're doing it and what about that? 573 00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:42,740 Yeah, that would be awesome. 574 00:44:44,020 --> 00:44:50,080 The reminder to myself and WACCA is that we said last year that I would go periodically 575 00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:55,500 to share what's happening here on school committee, so I will spread the word there. 576 00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:56,420 Oh, thank you. 577 00:44:56,980 --> 00:44:58,520 It sounds like you've already talked to Miss St. 578 00:44:58,600 --> 00:44:58,680 Carr. 579 00:44:58,780 --> 00:44:59,200 I know everybody. 580 00:44:59,200 --> 00:44:59,980 we just want to 581 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:28,780 Make sure you've talked to everybody that you need to talk to about installing the art in the various places, but how many other students are working with you? Or is it just the three of you? We have a little less than 20 in the club. Awesome. So we know there are definitely probably not all members who are available to help us paint, but we know definitely that there is a good chunk willing to help us review. 582 00:45:28,780 --> 00:45:33,940 Yeah, it sounds like you've thought through your timing and all of that. So that's wonderful. 583 00:45:34,680 --> 00:45:38,620 How are you getting the paint? You're purchasing it purchasing yourself? 584 00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:45,900 Yes, and the stormwater advisory committee offered to put some of that. But for paint wise, 585 00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:51,240 Miss St. Courier said we could use the same brands of paint that the seniors used to paint the parking spots. 586 00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:56,280 You should survey those seniors who painted their parking spots having a senior. 587 00:45:56,280 --> 00:46:00,380 We have lots of kids at home so take a survey before you buy yeah 588 00:46:00,380 --> 00:46:04,880 They may be more than we like to donate it and you can probably use some of that. Yeah, the great idea 589 00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:05,260 Marcy 590 00:46:05,260 --> 00:46:10,680 Have you guys also thought about reaching out to other clubs and maybe having them volunteer with you guys? 591 00:46:10,960 --> 00:46:17,340 No, we have them. Oh, we definitely could I think student council would love to help out with credits or something like that 592 00:46:17,340 --> 00:46:23,180 And also if you want to maybe send it in the newsletter that's sent out every day at Miss Cheney sends out 593 00:46:23,180 --> 00:46:25,080 I think people would love to maybe 594 00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:27,520 Okay, yeah 595 00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:33,400 Awesome. Good stuff. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good luck. 596 00:46:37,760 --> 00:46:38,840 All right policies 597 00:46:39,540 --> 00:46:44,400 Fun stuff. I hate going to policy after all these great meetings with students 598 00:46:50,460 --> 00:46:54,960 So if you want to go in order, I mean the graduation requirements 599 00:46:55,760 --> 00:46:57,240 Nothing changed from the last 600 00:46:57,240 --> 00:47:01,860 conversation. The only one that had a change from the initial read was the 601 00:47:01,860 --> 00:47:07,900 competency determination. And as I stated before, all that is as we had to list out the 602 00:47:07,900 --> 00:47:14,480 courses. So Kelly, see if I pull it up properly here. 603 00:47:17,970 --> 00:47:19,330 Kelly went back and made 604 00:47:19,330 --> 00:47:24,270 sure that we had the courses so we could list them in the policy. This is what was 605 00:47:24,270 --> 00:47:29,230 missing. So that was the only thing that we added to the first read. 606 00:47:30,310 --> 00:47:36,490 And, you know, again, these have to be uploaded by November 1st, unless we seek an extension 607 00:47:36,490 --> 00:47:37,330 I don't think we will. 608 00:47:37,470 --> 00:47:40,690 That's sort of the reason why I wanted to be taken care of now. 609 00:47:41,450 --> 00:47:42,170 Center online. 610 00:47:43,550 --> 00:47:48,170 Well, they need to be in the desi portal by November 1. 611 00:47:48,370 --> 00:47:49,490 What is integrated? 612 00:47:51,290 --> 00:47:52,010 It's math. 613 00:47:52,590 --> 00:47:52,670 Yeah. 614 00:47:53,930 --> 00:47:54,190 The thought. 615 00:47:55,850 --> 00:47:58,130 Well, this is what you gave me, so I can change it. 616 00:47:58,130 --> 00:47:58,690 I 617 00:48:00,770 --> 00:48:01,650 will change it. 618 00:48:01,670 --> 00:48:01,770 Yeah. 619 00:48:02,330 --> 00:48:02,910 It is math. 620 00:48:03,110 --> 00:48:03,210 Correct. 621 00:48:07,500 --> 00:48:08,460 So that was the only one that has changed. 622 00:48:08,480 --> 00:48:12,120 We didn't hear from any members about reasons after a first week. 623 00:48:12,860 --> 00:48:14,060 So I think we're going to go through and vote. 624 00:48:14,900 --> 00:48:18,000 Who's got a motion on IKF, the graduation requirements? 625 00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:24,000 Move to approve policy IKF, graduation requirements as presented. 626 00:48:24,960 --> 00:48:25,280 Second. 627 00:48:25,660 --> 00:48:26,200 All in favor? 628 00:48:26,680 --> 00:48:26,840 Aye. 629 00:48:27,940 --> 00:48:31,960 And then the IKFE competency determination as amended. 630 00:48:32,620 --> 00:48:37,040 move to approve policy I.K.F.E. competency determination as presented. 631 00:48:37,660 --> 00:48:37,820 Second. 632 00:48:38,580 --> 00:48:39,120 All in favor? 633 00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:39,620 Aye. 634 00:48:39,700 --> 00:48:39,900 Aye. 635 00:48:40,380 --> 00:48:44,740 And then third, J.E.C. middle school pathway exploration. 636 00:48:45,860 --> 00:48:51,020 And move to approve policy J.E.C. middle school pathway exploration as presented. 637 00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:51,780 Second. 638 00:48:52,160 --> 00:48:52,660 All in favor? 639 00:48:53,120 --> 00:48:53,340 Aye. 640 00:48:53,540 --> 00:48:53,740 Aye. 641 00:48:54,720 --> 00:48:56,840 And do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda? 642 00:48:57,380 --> 00:48:57,740 So moved. 643 00:48:58,360 --> 00:48:58,620 Second. 644 00:48:58,940 --> 00:48:59,400 All in favor? 645 00:48:59,760 --> 00:48:59,980 Aye. 646 00:49:00,200 --> 00:49:00,400 Aye. 647 00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:03,060 All right, we're on reports. 648 00:49:04,820 --> 00:49:06,460 11 minutes to go, take your time. 649 00:49:09,140 --> 00:49:12,460 So this is a big weekend for Ashland High School. 650 00:49:12,620 --> 00:49:18,120 We have our homecoming game this Friday and the homecoming dance on Saturday. 651 00:49:18,840 --> 00:49:21,780 Tickets are for sale and you can look for that. 652 00:49:22,240 --> 00:49:23,520 It should be in the daily announcements. 653 00:49:26,340 --> 00:49:32,080 The seniors are starting to get into the thick of it with college applications, with the 654 00:49:32,080 --> 00:49:38,080 first round of early actions, do November 1st, so it's coming up, I've got to get on 655 00:49:38,080 --> 00:49:38,220 that. 656 00:49:38,260 --> 00:49:39,520 Within days, I'm sorry. 657 00:49:40,820 --> 00:49:43,140 Maybe you don't want to stay for this next meeting. 658 00:49:45,580 --> 00:49:49,060 Other than that, it's been pretty much mostly the same. 659 00:49:49,060 --> 00:49:57,060 Some seasons are starting to wrap up for sports, but other than that, good day at the 660 00:49:57,060 --> 00:49:57,460 edge of this. 661 00:49:58,200 --> 00:49:58,660 Awesome. 662 00:49:58,960 --> 00:49:59,180 Wonderful. 663 00:49:59,440 --> 00:49:59,820 Thank you. 664 00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:06,740 I attended the middle school site council and a lot of the discussion was the presentation 665 00:50:06,740 --> 00:50:13,100 that Erin made, but one thing to mention is the Keith Tech Showcase is tomorrow. 666 00:50:13,100 --> 00:50:20,540 So many people are attending that, and the way that you get into Keef Tech has changed. 667 00:50:20,860 --> 00:50:32,060 There's a state mandated lottery now, and you get certain, I don't know, you can get certain number of tickets to enter the lottery, depending on different criteria that the state has put in. 668 00:50:32,260 --> 00:50:40,800 So that's going to be a change, but going forward at the next meeting we're going to talk about greeting policies at the middle school, 669 00:50:40,800 --> 00:50:46,740 and how they're looking at that as a staff and working with both the high school 670 00:50:46,740 --> 00:50:51,680 and the Mendes on discussions about multi-tiered support. 671 00:50:52,900 --> 00:50:53,780 Good discussion. 672 00:50:54,700 --> 00:50:54,900 Awesome. 673 00:50:55,160 --> 00:50:55,700 Thanks, Marcy. 674 00:50:56,960 --> 00:51:01,040 I don't have a ton to report, but this afternoon I was able to go to the Unified Basketball 675 00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:03,260 game at the high school, which is always fun. 676 00:51:03,260 --> 00:51:11,520 Nation squeaked out of wind. I think the final score was 58 to 56 and I was just going to say 677 00:51:11,520 --> 00:51:14,020 I may be slightly off but they won the game. 678 00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:21,740 There was a lot of enthusiasm. The students were having a 679 00:51:21,740 --> 00:51:24,280 great time so there's always nice to be able to stop by that. 680 00:51:29,940 --> 00:51:32,540 We'll make sure they know you. 681 00:51:32,660 --> 00:51:32,800 Yes. 682 00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:34,800 This is on film. 683 00:51:36,060 --> 00:51:40,680 So, not much I did attend the Minda's site council. 684 00:51:41,060 --> 00:51:42,760 We have policies of committee meeting. 685 00:51:43,780 --> 00:51:46,690 I don't have anything for tonight. 686 00:51:47,750 --> 00:51:50,190 I did attend the Warren's site council. 687 00:51:50,610 --> 00:51:51,970 And we were focusing this time. 688 00:51:52,070 --> 00:51:55,090 First of all, there's a few extra new parent members this year. 689 00:51:55,090 --> 00:52:25,070 So it's great like we have really good participation and some new faces, but we all know I guess Warren is the building where there's the most need for volunteers and the most opportunities for volunteers right in that building they help the teachers a lot but since COVID though that looks a lot different than it used to and trying to re-engage people to come back and try to also better define like what a volunteer is like when the word goes out for 690 00:52:25,070 --> 00:52:29,090 volunteer, some people might be hesitant because like what are you asking me to commit to 691 00:52:29,090 --> 00:52:30,170 for the entire year? 692 00:52:31,270 --> 00:52:36,910 And so a better description of you know you can come in for one day on 20 minutes and read 693 00:52:36,910 --> 00:52:41,730 a story to one of the classes or you can do something more regular or different teachers 694 00:52:41,730 --> 00:52:46,530 might have different needs and maybe they could get organized and get their needs out. 695 00:52:46,890 --> 00:52:52,390 So it was really good conversation about how to re-engage and also just reflecting on you 696 00:52:52,390 --> 00:52:58,310 know we all went through that time together but something sort of like moved away from 697 00:52:58,310 --> 00:53:04,070 the line and then had to like bring them back now that we're now that we're moving through 698 00:53:04,070 --> 00:53:11,640 that so and policy subcommittee and that's it for me. Anybody else? No, we're all good. 699 00:53:12,060 --> 00:53:15,140 Okay, we'll take a motion to adjourn. We have another meeting following. 700 00:53:15,140 --> 00:53:15,960 So moved. 701 00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:16,580 Second. 702 00:53:16,920 --> 00:53:17,300 All in favor? 703 00:53:17,620 --> 00:53:18,580 Good night, everybody. 704 00:53:18,980 --> 00:53:19,400 Thank you.