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- Hey, how our hawks, you guys ready to get going here?

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Okay. Bear with us for a few minutes.

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We're gonna do some school committee business

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and then we'll get to you super quick, I promise.

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Ooh, do you guys wanna lead

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us in the Pledge of Allegiance tonight?

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You can do it right from there. Say

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- Yes. Just say

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- Yes.

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Okay. Alright.

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So good evening everyone,

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and welcome to the January 6th, 2026 meeting

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of the Bill Ricka School Committee.

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We have our hawks here to do a student spotlight for us, but

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before they do that, they're gonna lead

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us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

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And you can do it right from your seats right there.

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- All right, nice and loud. I pledge allegiance

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to the flag of the United States of America

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and to the republic for which it stands, one nation

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under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice.

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- Great job. Thank you. Well done.

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So much better than when we do it alone.

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Marian, would you mind reading the district norms for us? No

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- Problem.

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Be present, prepared and focused.

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Keep all students at the core of our work notice patterns

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of participation and support all members to be engaged.

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Have an open mind

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and agree, disagree with the idea,

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not the person as a listener.

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Assume positive intent as a speaker. Own your own impact.

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- Thank you for that. Next up is our consent agenda.

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Can I get a motion on the consent agenda, please?

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- Absolutely. I'd like to make a motion

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to approve the following items on tonight's consent

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agenda, the meeting minutes.

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Those are the regular meeting minutes from

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December 9th, 2025.

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We had a variety of bills to approve. Bill number 2 6 1 1.

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Bill number 2 6 1 2. Bill number 2 6 1 2 W.

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Bill number 2 6 1 3 W. And bill number two.

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6 1 3 V. There are no budget, actually, pardon me.

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There's some budget transfers

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that are in our packets that we reviewed.

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We have two field trips that we need to approve.

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The first one is A-B-M-H-S student field trip to Costa Rica.

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Sounds amazing. That's gonna happen on June 18th

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through June 28th, 2026.

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And there's another field trip for BMHS again.

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And that is a trip to Italy. Only gets better, right?

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The field trips. And that is from June 18th to June.

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June 28th, 2027.

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So good field trips for the next couple of years.

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We do have a donation to approve, that's A-B-M-H-S cheering

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team donation of $1,000 on behalf of Cummings

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Properties community giving in Matthew Sweeney,

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a combined donation there.

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And we also have a Dixon School Association approval

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that we have to make for $2,000.

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Again, on behalf of Cummings Properties community giving.

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And Brandon Adams

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- Second - Moved in.

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Seconded. Any questions, comments, discussion

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- On, can I just make one comment mark?

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Go ahead. So the Cummings properties thing,

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those are pretty regular every year?

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Yes, I've been on for several years

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and they do several every year.

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So special thanks to them

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and the advocates for those gifts.

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- Yes. - Great.

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And just one for me on the transfers, I saw

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that there were two for hvac, I'm assuming that's

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because we haven't hired, that's a position.

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There is a position to do HVAC work in the district.

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Correct. We haven't hired for

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that position, so that's right. We need to keep up with,

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- That's right.

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So we continue to advertise for

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- That.

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And will that, it's probably tough

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to answer this question at this point,

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but the assumption is that that will remain budget neutral

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- For next year - For, for I guess the current fiscal year.

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- Y Yes. So any, any overages in other lines, that's

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where an area that we would scrape.

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So for example, the, the additional hajjar first grade

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and Parker, it's, it's items like that in the budget

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that we are able to pull from in these scenarios

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when they're not filled yet. Great.

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- All right. That's it for me. Thank you.

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We have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Aye.

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Four zero. Okay.

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Public comment, nobody for public comment. All right.

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I will remind you all that.

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We do have an email address

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that you can reach out at any time.

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SC public comment@billk12.com.

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And with that, I will hand it over to Dr.

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Cleary to introduce our student spotlight tonight. Dr.

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- Cleary? Yes. I'm so excited

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to have the Haja Hawks here this evening.

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We have principal Ron Sanborn,

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and I'm not sure that you've officially met Mr.

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Sanborn yet.

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So he is the new principal at the Hajjar School

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and next to him is Mary Lee Herrera, the assistant principal

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who has been a f familiar face

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for many years here in Bill Ricka and at the hajjar.

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So I'm going to have Ron, Mr.

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Sanborn introduce his students.

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- Good, Good evening.

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Members of the school committee, superintendent Cleary,

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and Assistant Superintendent McDermott.

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On behalf of Ms. Herrera, our assistant principal

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and myself are Ron Sandborn.

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We thank you for the opportunity to highlight some

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of the great work involving students

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from the Hajja Elementary School.

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Tonight I'm proud to introduce members

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of our fourth grade student council for the Hajja School.

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Along with the advisors of the group, Ms. Andre and Ms.

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Souther. These students were elected by peers

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and have been working thoughtfully

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to represent student voice leadership

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and responsibility within our school.

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With the guidance of our staff,

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they have taken this role seriously

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and we are pleased to have them share their ideas

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and experiences with you this evening.

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Please note that members of the council, we will provide you

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with the information that coincides

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with the presentation slides that the students are about

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to share with you.

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- Good evening school committee members, Dr.

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Cleary and Assistant Superintendent McDermott.

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We are the members of the Hard Job Student Council.

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We are excited to share

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with you all the work we do throughout the year

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to build community with the Not School.

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The student council for fourth grade students at the

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beginning of the year

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and informational meeting is held to explain

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what the student council is

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and the qualities that we are looking

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for in classroom representatives.

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These include students who go above

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and beyond school-wide expectations each day.

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They're responsible learners, respectful students

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and peers are always safe and want to lead their school.

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Our positive role models

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and speak at different events like tonight.

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Hi, my name is Eva.

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If students are interested and able to come to the

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before school meetings, they add their name to the ballot,

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then the fourth grade, along with any haja staff,

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votes on students from each class.

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Typically, we have three

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to four student from each fourth grade class as members.

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Hi, my name's Brielle.

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Meetings are held two times a month before school.

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At these meetings, we discuss

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and plan upcoming school activities, fundraisers

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and spirit weeks, and other ideas brought by peers

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and admin administrators.

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Over the years, we have participated in food

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drives and sneaker drives.

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We have planned spirit weeks

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and school schoolwide activities such as guessing the number

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of acorns or cranberries in a jar.

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We have received student input on the types

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of items we would like

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to have available in the school apparel shop,

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please.

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We still have many fun things to look forward to

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for the remainder of the year.

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After the new year, we are holding a penguin

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classroom decorating contest.

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In the past, we have made snowman and snow globe.

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This has been a fun whole school activity

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that also decorated the halls for hard jar

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for winter classes.

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And other staff can take a gallery walk

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and vote on their favorite.

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The winning class earns a prize such as popsicles

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or extra recess time

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in, in February.

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We participate in the Great Kindness Challenge.

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The student council kicks off the week

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with the whole school morning meeting classes

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receive kindness checklist.

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Kindness activities take place during lunch.

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And we incorporate kindness throughout our February spirit.

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When spring arrives, we will be planning to create,

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creating the fourth grade memory book,

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additional Spirit Days, a new event, the Mass Reader

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and activities for the 2250th celebration.

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Hi, my name is Valentina.

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This idea, I've been in the works for a few years now,

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but we finally wanna host it this year.

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We'll be asking harder staff along

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with other community members like yourself

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to participate in a master reading.

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We still need to finalize this, we still need

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to finalize this, but the idea is to send us a video

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of you reading out loud while wearing a mask along

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with a still photo of yourself without the mask.

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We will compile the videos into a slide deck.

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Classrooms at the Hotjar will vote with a list

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of all participants on who they think each one is.

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We will post a, the review photos at the end.

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More information will be

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provided as we get closer to this event.

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This summer will be celebrating 200 years

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of independence.

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Student council will be thinking of ways

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to highlight our town within our school community.

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Thank you for spotlighting the HHI student council tonight.

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- Right? - Is that good? Great job everybody.

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Questions or comments for my colleagues, Marian? Sure.

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- First off, I'm very impressed. What a great job you did.

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Coming up here and speaking out.

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I even, I get nervous

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and looked like everyone did such a great job

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and it sounds exciting what you are planning

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and doing in your school

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and good luck with whatever programs that you decide to do.

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- Thanks Mion, Mike.

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- Sure. So I wanted

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to say public speaking is a difficult thing to do

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and you did an amazing job.

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So everybody came up and was prepared.

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You are an expert with the microphone, so I know that

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that microphone probably needs

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to be pushed forward about six more inches.

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But you didn't let that stop you.

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You stood right up and leaned right into the microphone.

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But I did appreciate the ideas

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and the work that you're doing representing

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your school community.

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I'm a principal in another district, so I'm always looking

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for different opportunities for my student council.

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That's fourth grade as well.

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And the thing that I may be borrowing is the mystery reader,

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but I might do it with my faculty instead of students

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or something similar to that.

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So great job

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and I can't wait to see how the second

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half of the year goes for you guys. Nice job.

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- Thanks Mike. Mark, - Thanks for volunteering

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and getting involved with your student council

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and thanks for coming here.

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And you can watch yourself on TV probably tomorrow, online.

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See how you look. But thanks for coming.

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- I know I felt bad. I saw parents taking

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videos from like behind.

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We'll, we'll make sure we get you some good shots.

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You all did a wonderful job. Your voices are so important.

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You're doing great work for the community

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and for your school.

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00:14:40,934 --> 00:14:42,000
You did a great job tonight.

263
00:14:42,133 --> 00:14:44,834
Now you get to go home, maybe have dinner and go relax.

264
00:14:45,100 --> 00:14:47,467
So thank you guys for coming out tonight. Great job.

265
00:14:48,066 --> 00:14:48,467
- Nice job.

266
00:14:55,433 --> 00:14:57,000
- All right, so we'll take a beat and let everybody

267
00:14:57,066 --> 00:14:58,300
who wants to get outta here,

268
00:14:58,300 --> 00:14:59,767
get outta here and then we'll continue on.

269
00:16:06,066 --> 00:16:06,867
- We'll wait till after.

270
00:16:14,133 --> 00:16:16,500
- I want the record to show the house is still packed.

271
00:16:16,500 --> 00:16:18,033
There's tons of people here watching.

272
00:16:19,033 --> 00:16:20,934
Thank you again to ther, Mr.

273
00:16:21,066 --> 00:16:23,700
Sanborn, Mr. Herrera, and everybody, all the students,

274
00:16:28,133 --> 00:16:29,033
- Those people

275
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:33,567
to you.

276
00:16:33,567 --> 00:16:37,934
- Ready to go? Okay, next up for us is our superintendent

277
00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:40,567
and assistant superintendent Update Dr. Cleary. Okay,

278
00:16:40,634 --> 00:16:42,567
- Well I hope everybody had an enjoyable

279
00:16:42,567 --> 00:16:43,834
break and a happy new year.

280
00:16:44,367 --> 00:16:47,867
We had a very smooth start back to school yesterday.

281
00:16:48,533 --> 00:16:51,634
I know the alarms in the early mornings can feel like this

282
00:16:51,667 --> 00:16:53,367
big heavy fog hanging over people,

283
00:16:53,634 --> 00:16:55,533
especially on that first day back.

284
00:16:55,934 --> 00:16:57,066
But it didn't take long before

285
00:16:57,066 --> 00:16:58,033
we were back in the swing of things.

286
00:16:59,033 --> 00:17:02,767
And I would just like to point out, in 27 days,

287
00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:04,934
the sun will set at 5:00 PM Good.

288
00:17:05,266 --> 00:17:07,133
So that's really exciting to look forward to.

289
00:17:09,634 --> 00:17:12,467
I wanna take a moment to highlight a significant achievement

290
00:17:12,567 --> 00:17:15,500
by Mindy Cripps, our Director of Student and Family Support.

291
00:17:16,433 --> 00:17:19,867
She has been nominated for the Mask a Social Justice Award.

292
00:17:20,433 --> 00:17:24,100
MASCO is the Massachusetts School Counseling Association.

293
00:17:25,133 --> 00:17:27,066
So this is an honor reserved for those

294
00:17:27,066 --> 00:17:29,700
who demonstrate transformative action in the areas

295
00:17:29,834 --> 00:17:31,567
of human rights and social justice.

296
00:17:32,333 --> 00:17:35,634
The nomination specifically highlights Mindy's leadership in

297
00:17:35,634 --> 00:17:39,767
advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.

298
00:17:40,166 --> 00:17:42,767
So we're so lucky to have Mindy as part of our team.

299
00:17:43,567 --> 00:17:46,767
She was nominated by the Masco Diversity Fellows

300
00:17:47,700 --> 00:17:50,567
and it certainly matches everything we see

301
00:17:50,567 --> 00:17:52,533
and feel in working with her every day.

302
00:17:52,667 --> 00:17:54,734
So she's such a strong advocate for students.

303
00:17:54,734 --> 00:17:56,066
So congratulations to Mindy.

304
00:17:56,066 --> 00:17:58,000
The winners will be determined in a few weeks.

305
00:18:00,100 --> 00:18:04,066
I also wanna mention that we have some new administrators

306
00:18:04,066 --> 00:18:05,934
that have started as of yesterday.

307
00:18:06,333 --> 00:18:08,233
We know that Christina Miza,

308
00:18:08,266 --> 00:18:11,000
who has been the assistant principal at the Marshall Middle,

309
00:18:11,634 --> 00:18:13,333
has taken over for Mike Rossi

310
00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,033
and she's the interim principal from now

311
00:18:17,033 --> 00:18:18,300
until the end of the school year.

312
00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,734
And she went through the search process actually

313
00:18:21,734 --> 00:18:23,100
with Lori McDermott

314
00:18:23,266 --> 00:18:26,834
to hire an interim assistant principal to take her place.

315
00:18:27,433 --> 00:18:29,500
And there was a successful hire there.

316
00:18:29,567 --> 00:18:32,367
Rick McElhanney actually retired from his position

317
00:18:32,700 --> 00:18:35,767
as a middle school assistant principal in September.

318
00:18:36,066 --> 00:18:39,333
So didn't take very long for him to get back into,

319
00:18:39,767 --> 00:18:42,700
into the swing of things as it typically goes in education.

320
00:18:43,433 --> 00:18:44,734
And I have total confidence

321
00:18:44,934 --> 00:18:46,934
that the Marshall is in great hands with the two of them.

322
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:48,000
And the official search

323
00:18:48,033 --> 00:18:50,533
for a new permanent principle will start

324
00:18:50,634 --> 00:18:51,634
at the end of February.

325
00:18:52,934 --> 00:18:57,100
I also want to remind you that Bernie McCann,

326
00:18:57,500 --> 00:18:59,000
our K to 12 health

327
00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:01,100
and wellness coordinator, headed off to the world

328
00:19:01,100 --> 00:19:03,233
of retirement right before break.

329
00:19:03,934 --> 00:19:08,367
And Kim Fika will have, has,

330
00:19:08,567 --> 00:19:09,700
has taken his position,

331
00:19:09,700 --> 00:19:11,767
but it's a modified version of his position.

332
00:19:11,767 --> 00:19:12,834
We've made some tweaks.

333
00:19:12,834 --> 00:19:17,000
So she is a 0.5 K to seven health

334
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,100
and wellness coordinator in a 0.5 assistant

335
00:19:19,100 --> 00:19:21,066
principal at the Dile.

336
00:19:22,467 --> 00:19:24,033
And Lori

337
00:19:24,233 --> 00:19:28,934
and Scott actually, Scott Middlemiss had done the search

338
00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:30,700
and, and because there's the two parts,

339
00:19:30,700 --> 00:19:33,233
there's the curriculum piece as well as the AP piece along

340
00:19:33,233 --> 00:19:35,567
with a team of people and ultimately selected her.

341
00:19:36,934 --> 00:19:39,100
I met her for the first time recently

342
00:19:39,233 --> 00:19:41,033
and she is a ball of energy

343
00:19:41,467 --> 00:19:45,567
and I think that she will be a valuable asset to our team.

344
00:19:47,500 --> 00:19:51,000
And then lastly, we are putting finishing touches on our FY

345
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:54,433
27 budget, the document, the budget book, as well

346
00:19:54,433 --> 00:19:55,667
as the actual budget itself

347
00:19:56,867 --> 00:20:00,000
and the presentation two that we will be presenting

348
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,867
to you at our next meeting on January 20th.

349
00:20:03,433 --> 00:20:06,166
So it's been a pleasure working with Michelle.

350
00:20:06,266 --> 00:20:08,133
This is our first go around at this

351
00:20:08,133 --> 00:20:09,266
because she's new this year

352
00:20:10,066 --> 00:20:14,767
and we've been behind closed doors, Lori and

353
00:20:14,900 --> 00:20:17,700
and Bob Bergeron for quite some time.

354
00:20:17,767 --> 00:20:20,266
And we're in a really good spot to be presenting that

355
00:20:20,266 --> 00:20:21,734
to you at our next meeting.

356
00:20:26,433 --> 00:20:28,033
- Happy New Year. Welcome back.

357
00:20:28,467 --> 00:20:29,533
I will just reiterate,

358
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:33,100
seeing Kim here in the district is exciting.

359
00:20:33,066 --> 00:20:36,266
Her positive energy is certainly palpable

360
00:20:36,333 --> 00:20:39,033
and I'm guessing pretty contagious.

361
00:20:39,133 --> 00:20:41,867
It certainly was for us when, when we got to welcome her.

362
00:20:42,100 --> 00:20:43,166
So happy she's here.

363
00:20:44,266 --> 00:20:48,333
I wanna remind families that access testing has begun,

364
00:20:48,834 --> 00:20:50,734
information has gone out to families.

365
00:20:51,100 --> 00:20:52,834
This is an assessment of listening,

366
00:20:53,033 --> 00:20:54,734
speaking, reading and writing.

367
00:20:55,767 --> 00:20:58,066
It's administered annually to all students

368
00:20:58,133 --> 00:20:59,700
who are receiving ELL support.

369
00:21:00,133 --> 00:21:04,066
Those results are used to measure progress in the program

370
00:21:04,266 --> 00:21:07,133
and also used to support

371
00:21:07,767 --> 00:21:10,300
targeted instruction moving forward based on those results.

372
00:21:10,934 --> 00:21:14,033
The window this year was extended, so it started January 5th

373
00:21:14,033 --> 00:21:16,934
and it runs through February 27th, which is awesome for us

374
00:21:16,934 --> 00:21:20,834
because we have more students than ever to, to assess

375
00:21:23,333 --> 00:21:25,033
and certainly more than in past years.

376
00:21:26,133 --> 00:21:28,033
And then I just have a quick reminder to families

377
00:21:28,033 --> 00:21:31,000
that already next week we have an elementary only

378
00:21:31,033 --> 00:21:32,066
early release day.

379
00:21:32,433 --> 00:21:34,567
January, Wednesday, January 14th.

380
00:21:35,033 --> 00:21:36,867
So that might not be on people's radar,

381
00:21:37,066 --> 00:21:40,467
but it is elementary only early release day next week.

382
00:21:40,500 --> 00:21:41,533
And I can't believe it's,

383
00:21:41,667 --> 00:21:43,700
we're already talking about January 14th.

384
00:21:44,266 --> 00:21:46,367
It's crazy going fast. Thank you.

385
00:21:48,567 --> 00:21:51,033
- Okay, questions, comments for the superintendent,

386
00:21:51,033 --> 00:21:52,033
assistant superintendent?

387
00:21:54,500 --> 00:21:57,867
- Just have one comment I just wanna throw out there

388
00:21:57,867 --> 00:22:00,266
that I think that's awesome about Mindy.

389
00:22:00,567 --> 00:22:02,233
I've worked with her for many years

390
00:22:02,634 --> 00:22:06,533
and she is someone that is very active in all of that

391
00:22:06,567 --> 00:22:09,000
and I'm thrilled that she was nominated.

392
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:12,066
So hopefully keeping our fingers crossed. Great thing.

393
00:22:12,266 --> 00:22:13,300
But that's it. Thank you.

394
00:22:17,100 --> 00:22:18,033
- I think the only thing for me is,

395
00:22:18,166 --> 00:22:19,734
is you know, we, we've sung Mr.

396
00:22:19,900 --> 00:22:22,000
Rossi's praises a couple of times now in this,

397
00:22:22,033 --> 00:22:23,333
in this space.

398
00:22:24,033 --> 00:22:27,133
I'll just say, you know, Christina's a welcome addition.

399
00:22:27,667 --> 00:22:28,867
She's already made some changes.

400
00:22:29,100 --> 00:22:32,066
She's much more digitally savvy than Mike ever was.

401
00:22:32,166 --> 00:22:34,533
And he knows that. He knows that, right?

402
00:22:35,900 --> 00:22:37,333
But, you know, she came in, we got our first,

403
00:22:38,100 --> 00:22:40,133
our first letter home yesterday, Sunday.

404
00:22:41,100 --> 00:22:42,133
I'm losing track of the days already.

405
00:22:42,266 --> 00:22:44,467
And she's already, you know, it's, it's such a beau.

406
00:22:44,467 --> 00:22:46,634
She's using a, a different platform than Mike was using.

407
00:22:46,634 --> 00:22:48,100
And it's, it's well organized

408
00:22:48,100 --> 00:22:49,867
and it's graphically kind of pleasing.

409
00:22:49,900 --> 00:22:51,867
So she's doing a great job and,

410
00:22:51,867 --> 00:22:52,934
and that's just a small piece.

411
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,266
So excited to, as a family, excited to have her

412
00:22:55,934 --> 00:22:57,233
in the, in the school.

413
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:00,700
And I think just looking forward

414
00:23:00,734 --> 00:23:03,100
to the budget presentation next week.

415
00:23:03,133 --> 00:23:07,000
So I'll leave it at that. Mark, anything? You good? Okay.

416
00:23:07,834 --> 00:23:09,100
We don't have a student government update,

417
00:23:09,100 --> 00:23:10,834
so we're into the business portion of the meeting

418
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:12,500
and we are a little ahead of schedule.

419
00:23:12,700 --> 00:23:16,934
So up next is our grade eight

420
00:23:17,066 --> 00:23:18,934
through 12 curriculum coordinator update.

421
00:23:19,500 --> 00:23:21,767
- Yes. So we're welcoming Mary Beth Velu.

422
00:23:22,433 --> 00:23:24,834
This is probably your first time meeting her as well,

423
00:23:24,834 --> 00:23:26,300
right? No,

424
00:23:26,333 --> 00:23:27,333
- Came to school.

425
00:23:27,367 --> 00:23:30,066
- Oh, right, that's right. We saw you saw her in action.

426
00:23:30,066 --> 00:23:32,867
That's great. So she's gonna give us an update on her

427
00:23:33,233 --> 00:23:36,000
enormous position of all things high

428
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:37,133
school and curriculum related.

429
00:23:37,233 --> 00:23:38,100
So thanks for being here,

430
00:23:38,100 --> 00:23:39,634
Mary Beth, I'll turn it over to you. Happy

431
00:23:39,634 --> 00:23:40,634
- New Year.

432
00:23:40,634 --> 00:23:44,166
Good to see everybody. This I'll wait for

433
00:23:48,266 --> 00:23:49,467
my slideshow to come up.

434
00:23:49,634 --> 00:23:52,834
Okay. So my position is the eight

435
00:23:52,834 --> 00:23:56,066
through 12 curriculum coordinator for just about everything.

436
00:23:56,467 --> 00:23:59,000
Everything except fine Arts, visual Arts

437
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:03,100
and Special Education and seventh through 12 world language.

438
00:24:03,100 --> 00:24:05,133
So, because it's just the, the seventh grade

439
00:24:05,934 --> 00:24:07,000
down at the middle schools.

440
00:24:07,033 --> 00:24:09,667
So I get to see everything, which is, which is amazing.

441
00:24:10,934 --> 00:24:12,100
So I'm excited to be here.

442
00:24:13,333 --> 00:24:15,433
I wanted to start by

443
00:24:16,033 --> 00:24:18,367
showing you all the curriculum support specialists.

444
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:20,467
These are the people. Without,

445
00:24:20,934 --> 00:24:22,166
without them I couldn't do my job.

446
00:24:23,066 --> 00:24:26,166
So I have Jessica Sick as my English CSS.

447
00:24:26,166 --> 00:24:28,467
So kind of like department heads they teach,

448
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,000
but they help lead department meetings.

449
00:24:31,266 --> 00:24:33,133
They answer questions when I need them.

450
00:24:33,133 --> 00:24:34,834
We talk budgeting, et cetera.

451
00:24:35,433 --> 00:24:38,133
We have Laura Sogan for history and social science.

452
00:24:38,166 --> 00:24:40,100
Christine Berry for mathematics.

453
00:24:41,066 --> 00:24:44,667
Liz Leonard for science, Ashley S for Wellness.

454
00:24:45,233 --> 00:24:47,867
And Zach Bernard for World Language.

455
00:24:48,834 --> 00:24:51,033
I meet with them all the time as a group,

456
00:24:51,300 --> 00:24:53,133
informally in the hallways, one-on-one.

457
00:24:54,033 --> 00:24:55,734
And they are amazing. I, like I said,

458
00:24:55,867 --> 00:24:57,567
I could not do my job without them.

459
00:24:57,567 --> 00:25:00,333
They're a tremendous help. Math is my background.

460
00:25:00,333 --> 00:25:02,433
Science is also a little bit of my background.

461
00:25:02,567 --> 00:25:07,100
So I especially lean on the subjects that I'm not as

462
00:25:08,100 --> 00:25:09,133
familiar with in the classroom.

463
00:25:11,166 --> 00:25:13,000
Okay. So I'm just gonna go through a run

464
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:14,100
through of each department.

465
00:25:14,500 --> 00:25:16,266
Can I tell you what we've been working on this year?

466
00:25:16,634 --> 00:25:18,233
So starting with the business department,

467
00:25:18,333 --> 00:25:19,567
I put these in alphabetical order.

468
00:25:19,567 --> 00:25:21,634
So no one felt that they were more or less important.

469
00:25:22,533 --> 00:25:24,433
So business department, they,

470
00:25:24,700 --> 00:25:26,100
and you're gonna notice a common theme here.

471
00:25:26,100 --> 00:25:27,634
We're working on common assessments.

472
00:25:28,133 --> 00:25:29,133
That's something that we need

473
00:25:29,133 --> 00:25:31,500
to do across the board in every department.

474
00:25:32,066 --> 00:25:34,266
I wrote as appropriate with the business department

475
00:25:34,266 --> 00:25:35,734
because a lot

476
00:25:35,734 --> 00:25:38,433
of the teachers are the only teacher of their course.

477
00:25:38,433 --> 00:25:40,100
There are a couple of shared ones.

478
00:25:40,867 --> 00:25:44,133
But you know, each of my business teachers is kind of a, a,

479
00:25:44,333 --> 00:25:47,166
a master of their particular course or courses.

480
00:25:47,867 --> 00:25:50,834
However, they are updating their assessments,

481
00:25:50,834 --> 00:25:52,166
they're updating their curriculum maps

482
00:25:52,433 --> 00:25:53,834
to make sure that everything is current.

483
00:25:54,634 --> 00:25:58,500
Something that we may look into, not for next school year,

484
00:25:58,567 --> 00:26:00,500
but for the school year after perhaps

485
00:26:01,734 --> 00:26:03,433
is there's a new AP course being

486
00:26:03,433 --> 00:26:04,500
put out by the college board.

487
00:26:04,533 --> 00:26:06,500
It's AP business with personal finance.

488
00:26:07,333 --> 00:26:09,233
I went to a college board presentation on it

489
00:26:09,367 --> 00:26:11,433
and I think it's really interesting.

490
00:26:11,433 --> 00:26:13,700
It's actually meant as an introductory business course.

491
00:26:13,700 --> 00:26:16,033
So it's actually meant for ninth graders to take ninth

492
00:26:16,033 --> 00:26:18,333
and 10th grade to get them into the business world.

493
00:26:19,133 --> 00:26:21,367
It's also a course that's meant to meet that

494
00:26:22,233 --> 00:26:24,133
personal finance requirement that we have.

495
00:26:25,100 --> 00:26:28,000
So it would give students two options at that point to take

496
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:29,133
that personal finance course.

497
00:26:29,133 --> 00:26:32,000
They could take it with this AP course

498
00:26:32,033 --> 00:26:34,000
or they could take our Managing Your Money course,

499
00:26:34,033 --> 00:26:36,033
which would be nice to give students options for

500
00:26:36,033 --> 00:26:40,233
that English.

501
00:26:41,033 --> 00:26:43,300
So we have a lot of clubs that are running in English

502
00:26:43,300 --> 00:26:44,533
that we're really excited about.

503
00:26:45,233 --> 00:26:48,333
We just announced the winner of our poetry contest today for

504
00:26:48,333 --> 00:26:49,333
that club, which was great.

505
00:26:51,066 --> 00:26:52,100
English is really excited

506
00:26:52,100 --> 00:26:54,567
to bring some new senior electives into

507
00:26:54,700 --> 00:26:55,767
the program of studies.

508
00:26:55,900 --> 00:26:57,033
They did it a while ago.

509
00:26:57,133 --> 00:27:00,533
The senior courses are run more like a seminar style versus

510
00:27:01,266 --> 00:27:04,066
a A through 11 is English eight, English nine,

511
00:27:04,066 --> 00:27:05,266
English 10, and English 11.

512
00:27:06,166 --> 00:27:07,533
Our current English courses

513
00:27:07,700 --> 00:27:10,066
for seniors are the adolescent in literature,

514
00:27:10,300 --> 00:27:13,634
archetypal literature, creative and expository writing

515
00:27:14,133 --> 00:27:16,333
and writing and rhetoric in the digital age.

516
00:27:16,900 --> 00:27:18,934
And we have a lot of teachers who are eager

517
00:27:18,934 --> 00:27:20,233
to bring in some new courses.

518
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:22,634
I know Mr. Gleason is excited

519
00:27:22,667 --> 00:27:25,266
to propose a graphic novel course, which would be great.

520
00:27:26,266 --> 00:27:29,767
So Ms. S sick and I are working on a way to, for,

521
00:27:30,100 --> 00:27:32,700
for teachers to propose it and to go through and,

522
00:27:32,700 --> 00:27:35,133
and fairly select instead of, you know, whoever comes

523
00:27:35,834 --> 00:27:37,100
down first with an idea.

524
00:27:39,333 --> 00:27:41,066
English is working on editing

525
00:27:41,133 --> 00:27:43,533
and revising their curriculum, making sure

526
00:27:43,533 --> 00:27:46,100
that we're selecting new grade appropriate texts.

527
00:27:46,734 --> 00:27:48,767
They're also working on common assessments.

528
00:27:49,367 --> 00:27:53,066
And this year we have implemented more MAP testing

529
00:27:53,100 --> 00:27:54,367
for progress monitoring.

530
00:27:55,634 --> 00:27:57,066
So English has been doing that.

531
00:27:57,066 --> 00:27:59,533
They're on a little bit of a sooner schedule than math

532
00:27:59,533 --> 00:28:00,567
because the,

533
00:28:01,467 --> 00:28:04,300
the MAP testing has a strong correlation to MCA scores.

534
00:28:05,100 --> 00:28:09,567
So with the English MCAS being the second half

535
00:28:09,634 --> 00:28:11,000
of March, we wanted to make sure

536
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,467
that we've got our progress monitoring and catch any gaps

537
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:15,367
before we get to that test.

538
00:28:19,033 --> 00:28:21,233
For our history and social sciences department,

539
00:28:21,500 --> 00:28:23,467
we are doing the civics MCAS review.

540
00:28:23,467 --> 00:28:25,500
So as you know, last year was the first year

541
00:28:25,500 --> 00:28:27,533
with the civics MCAS.

542
00:28:28,033 --> 00:28:30,300
So we have no one really to compare it to.

543
00:28:30,333 --> 00:28:32,000
We don't have our previous year's scores.

544
00:28:32,066 --> 00:28:33,533
The state didn't give us their scores.

545
00:28:34,567 --> 00:28:36,133
So we're just kind of comparing

546
00:28:36,133 --> 00:28:38,000
to ourselves and to the standards.

547
00:28:38,500 --> 00:28:40,066
Our teachers are really delving into

548
00:28:40,100 --> 00:28:42,166
how our students did on particular standards,

549
00:28:42,166 --> 00:28:45,166
what they did really well with what we needed some work on

550
00:28:45,834 --> 00:28:48,467
and revising their curriculum as necessary for that.

551
00:28:49,900 --> 00:28:51,133
The eighth grade is gearing up

552
00:28:51,033 --> 00:28:53,567
for the Massachusetts Civics Action Showcase.

553
00:28:54,133 --> 00:28:56,533
So it's like a science fair except for CVIC projects

554
00:28:57,767 --> 00:29:00,634
and community advisors come down to the State House,

555
00:29:00,667 --> 00:29:03,567
have conversations with students, give feedback

556
00:29:03,567 --> 00:29:05,433
for students on their projects, which is wonderful.

557
00:29:06,767 --> 00:29:10,066
We are working on our eight through 12 Washington DC trip,

558
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:14,133
so we're trying to get some more students excited for that.

559
00:29:14,133 --> 00:29:16,266
That's in April, during April vacation.

560
00:29:17,033 --> 00:29:20,634
And what's really wonderful about it is this being the 250th

561
00:29:20,634 --> 00:29:23,166
anniversary, go down, see the Declaration of Independence

562
00:29:23,166 --> 00:29:24,634
around, around that time.

563
00:29:24,900 --> 00:29:26,100
So they're excited.

564
00:29:26,133 --> 00:29:27,767
Mr. Carey is running that and he's very excited.

565
00:29:29,166 --> 00:29:33,066
We are launching a textbook search committee for civics

566
00:29:33,133 --> 00:29:34,667
and the US and the world courses.

567
00:29:34,934 --> 00:29:36,133
We don't really have anything for those,

568
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:39,734
especially since they restructured to the US

569
00:29:39,734 --> 00:29:41,133
and the world instead of a US

570
00:29:41,100 --> 00:29:42,567
history versus a world history.

571
00:29:43,233 --> 00:29:46,634
So we're working on that common assessments

572
00:29:47,233 --> 00:29:49,066
and then we're really excited.

573
00:29:49,667 --> 00:29:52,834
Mr. Lipsit is excited to add AP Human Geography

574
00:29:53,100 --> 00:29:54,700
to our program of studies for next year.

575
00:29:54,700 --> 00:29:57,000
So it follows human geography and the history of it.

576
00:29:57,567 --> 00:30:00,100
And that's gonna be open as low as sophomores.

577
00:30:00,100 --> 00:30:01,333
So it gives our sophomores a chance

578
00:30:01,333 --> 00:30:05,066
to get into an AP level class should they show the,

579
00:30:05,133 --> 00:30:07,000
the strength in area of history to do that.

580
00:30:10,100 --> 00:30:11,900
Here's our big one. Math has two slides

581
00:30:12,934 --> 00:30:14,133
'cause we've got so much to talk about.

582
00:30:16,033 --> 00:30:19,500
So we are spending a lot of our PD time

583
00:30:20,533 --> 00:30:24,367
working on MCAS analysis and MAP testing analysis.

584
00:30:25,867 --> 00:30:27,934
The teachers are not super pleased with

585
00:30:27,934 --> 00:30:29,867
what they saw last year on MCAS.

586
00:30:30,433 --> 00:30:32,367
I came in and said, we're gonna get to work.

587
00:30:32,867 --> 00:30:34,066
This is my area of expertise.

588
00:30:34,634 --> 00:30:37,533
And so we've been focusing on the math department this year.

589
00:30:37,567 --> 00:30:39,266
So they've been spending a lot of time on

590
00:30:39,266 --> 00:30:40,533
where did our students do well?

591
00:30:40,900 --> 00:30:43,300
Where do we need to improve, where are the gaps

592
00:30:43,300 --> 00:30:44,533
that we need to address.

593
00:30:46,033 --> 00:30:47,000
Like I said, with English,

594
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,367
we're doing MAP testing three times a year for

595
00:30:49,367 --> 00:30:51,867
that progress monitoring to give us an idea of

596
00:30:51,867 --> 00:30:53,266
where kids are all year long.

597
00:30:54,867 --> 00:30:57,500
We're really working hard on common assessments here.

598
00:30:57,567 --> 00:30:59,033
It wasn't really in place before.

599
00:30:59,834 --> 00:31:01,767
And so we've been able

600
00:31:01,867 --> 00:31:04,367
to make some PLCs like the eighth grade

601
00:31:04,867 --> 00:31:07,133
and my Algebra one teachers where they're able

602
00:31:07,133 --> 00:31:09,266
to work together during the school day, which I'd love

603
00:31:09,266 --> 00:31:11,100
to get everyone to do,

604
00:31:11,100 --> 00:31:12,533
but sometimes the schedule can be limiting.

605
00:31:13,367 --> 00:31:15,033
So teachers are really working together

606
00:31:15,066 --> 00:31:18,734
with common planning time to not only work on lessons

607
00:31:18,900 --> 00:31:20,100
but our common assessments

608
00:31:20,100 --> 00:31:22,100
and then analyzing those common assessments.

609
00:31:22,333 --> 00:31:24,867
What went well in your class, what went well in my class?

610
00:31:25,066 --> 00:31:27,767
How did you approach something differently so

611
00:31:27,767 --> 00:31:29,233
that we can improve our teaching

612
00:31:29,233 --> 00:31:30,233
and the learning of students.

613
00:31:32,734 --> 00:31:34,033
Something that some

614
00:31:34,033 --> 00:31:36,266
of you maybe got from me today in an email

615
00:31:37,066 --> 00:31:39,000
was our updated placement process

616
00:31:39,333 --> 00:31:42,233
for Math eight versus our math eight accelerated course,

617
00:31:42,233 --> 00:31:44,467
which is the equivalent of an algebra one course.

618
00:31:46,100 --> 00:31:48,300
While we're seeing an improvement this year in the

619
00:31:48,300 --> 00:31:50,233
appropriateness of where students were placed,

620
00:31:51,367 --> 00:31:53,500
there couldn't be some, we needed some refining,

621
00:31:53,500 --> 00:31:55,066
everything needs a little bit of refining.

622
00:31:55,567 --> 00:31:56,900
And I have a lot of experience

623
00:31:56,900 --> 00:31:58,166
with this in my previous district.

624
00:31:59,033 --> 00:32:00,734
So I sent out a letter.

625
00:32:00,867 --> 00:32:03,300
We are have five criteria that we're looking at.

626
00:32:03,300 --> 00:32:06,066
We're trying to make this decision really data driven

627
00:32:06,233 --> 00:32:07,934
instead of feelings driven.

628
00:32:09,667 --> 00:32:11,734
So we're looking at five criteria

629
00:32:12,033 --> 00:32:13,233
across the board for students.

630
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:15,734
MCA scores, their test

631
00:32:15,734 --> 00:32:20,033
and quiz averages, their iReady scores from January,

632
00:32:21,133 --> 00:32:22,300
teacher recommendation.

633
00:32:23,767 --> 00:32:25,133
And there's one more that I'm blanking on.

634
00:32:25,166 --> 00:32:26,300
Oh, we have a placement test.

635
00:32:27,166 --> 00:32:28,467
We placement test is going

636
00:32:28,467 --> 00:32:31,000
to be given in February after vacation.

637
00:32:31,667 --> 00:32:33,367
The high school teachers have come up with it.

638
00:32:34,333 --> 00:32:38,000
It is all material that students have covered before.

639
00:32:38,100 --> 00:32:40,066
So it's nothing new, there's no surprises.

640
00:32:40,634 --> 00:32:42,333
It's really to judge some basic skills.

641
00:32:43,033 --> 00:32:45,033
And there are some push there.

642
00:32:45,033 --> 00:32:47,500
There are some pushing questions where it's like, I need you

643
00:32:47,500 --> 00:32:48,834
to extend your thinking a little bit.

644
00:32:48,834 --> 00:32:52,266
Something that we're looking for in those algebra students.

645
00:32:53,634 --> 00:32:58,567
I'm trying to discuss with families and,

646
00:32:58,834 --> 00:33:03,000
and kind of reiterate that if you don't qualify

647
00:33:03,166 --> 00:33:05,233
for the accelerated course in eighth grade,

648
00:33:05,700 --> 00:33:07,700
you are not pigeonholed out of honors.

649
00:33:07,900 --> 00:33:09,100
That's not the case. You are not

650
00:33:09,100 --> 00:33:10,367
pigeonholed out of calculus.

651
00:33:11,133 --> 00:33:12,000
The eighth grade course

652
00:33:12,166 --> 00:33:15,066
and the Algebra one courses are the most important

653
00:33:15,066 --> 00:33:16,233
courses in mathematics.

654
00:33:17,066 --> 00:33:19,133
They are the foundation for every other course.

655
00:33:19,433 --> 00:33:21,467
The algebra is the foundation for geometry.

656
00:33:21,500 --> 00:33:23,500
It's obviously the foundation for algebra two.

657
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:26,333
And once we get to calculus, it's not the calculus

658
00:33:26,333 --> 00:33:28,000
that's hard, it's the algebra that's hard.

659
00:33:28,667 --> 00:33:30,066
So I would rather a student

660
00:33:30,934 --> 00:33:32,467
not be quite ready in eighth grade

661
00:33:32,700 --> 00:33:36,333
and stay in the grade eight grade level course.

662
00:33:37,100 --> 00:33:39,033
And we can, they can catch up at a later point.

663
00:33:39,033 --> 00:33:40,934
They will be able to get into honors

664
00:33:40,934 --> 00:33:44,500
and honors algebra class, their, so their ninth grade year,

665
00:33:45,734 --> 00:33:48,266
they will absolutely be able to get up to calculus.

666
00:33:48,767 --> 00:33:52,367
They have the opportunity to double up and take geometry

667
00:33:52,367 --> 00:33:54,934
and algebra two a little bit later.

668
00:33:55,834 --> 00:33:58,934
So I don't want it to become a, an end

669
00:33:58,934 --> 00:34:00,867
of the world situation with we didn't qualify.

670
00:34:01,100 --> 00:34:04,300
I need to qualify. I would rather the foundational skills be

671
00:34:04,300 --> 00:34:07,000
there, develop those really strong foundational skills in

672
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:08,333
eighth grade and algebra one

673
00:34:08,700 --> 00:34:10,100
and then we can worry about calculus.

674
00:34:10,767 --> 00:34:12,734
Everyone can get there and everyone can get

675
00:34:12,867 --> 00:34:14,033
to an honors level course.

676
00:34:15,367 --> 00:34:17,367
So I tried to reiterate that a few times

677
00:34:19,300 --> 00:34:20,467
and hopefully that gets across.

678
00:34:20,500 --> 00:34:21,934
I've asked that families reach out

679
00:34:21,934 --> 00:34:23,500
to me if they've got questions.

680
00:34:23,734 --> 00:34:26,166
My email and my direct liner are out there

681
00:34:26,166 --> 00:34:27,300
all over the place with the emails.

682
00:34:28,066 --> 00:34:30,700
Ms. Miza sent it out in her update. Mr.

683
00:34:30,834 --> 00:34:32,166
Garris sent it out in an email.

684
00:34:32,166 --> 00:34:34,500
And then I also sent it to the Marshall just in case parents

685
00:34:34,500 --> 00:34:37,700
missed it in in the Smore newsletter.

686
00:34:40,133 --> 00:34:43,533
My Algebra one teachers specifically have been focused on

687
00:34:44,133 --> 00:34:45,433
revising their curriculum

688
00:34:45,867 --> 00:34:47,000
and their teaching practices

689
00:34:47,033 --> 00:34:49,934
to incorporate more application instead

690
00:34:49,934 --> 00:34:51,000
of just rote practice.

691
00:34:51,867 --> 00:34:53,467
There was a lot of rote practice before

692
00:34:53,667 --> 00:34:57,166
and we, we found there's a lot of application

693
00:34:57,166 --> 00:34:59,133
of it on tests like MCAS

694
00:34:59,133 --> 00:35:00,934
and we don't want MCAS to be the end all be all,

695
00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:03,300
but it's a point of, it's a point of data for us.

696
00:35:04,066 --> 00:35:05,867
So we're looking at real world applications.

697
00:35:09,467 --> 00:35:13,133
We are also in the middle of a curriculum review for math,

698
00:35:14,100 --> 00:35:15,233
where in the past

699
00:35:15,834 --> 00:35:18,667
and in other districts, a lot of times you'll see

700
00:35:18,667 --> 00:35:21,100
that the math curriculum is homegrown.

701
00:35:22,533 --> 00:35:25,100
We really need a curriculum for our math program.

702
00:35:26,100 --> 00:35:27,433
So we've had success

703
00:35:27,433 --> 00:35:30,133
with Eureka Square down at the elementary school.

704
00:35:30,233 --> 00:35:31,266
I see it with my own kids.

705
00:35:32,567 --> 00:35:34,834
So we're looking to have something brought in.

706
00:35:35,133 --> 00:35:39,100
We, I have a team of 10 teachers, they're eight

707
00:35:39,100 --> 00:35:40,500
through 12 math teachers as well

708
00:35:40,500 --> 00:35:42,467
as special education teachers were brought in.

709
00:35:43,834 --> 00:35:45,700
We met, we identified our priorities

710
00:35:45,700 --> 00:35:47,000
and our non-negotiables.

711
00:35:47,900 --> 00:35:49,934
We reviewed a whole bunch of different curricula

712
00:35:49,934 --> 00:35:51,834
that's approved by CURATE and ED reports.

713
00:35:53,100 --> 00:35:55,934
And we are currently meeting with three vendors.

714
00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:57,333
So we met with one before break.

715
00:35:57,934 --> 00:35:59,934
We met with one today and we have one more tomorrow.

716
00:36:00,934 --> 00:36:03,300
And then we are going to meet as a team afterwards.

717
00:36:03,333 --> 00:36:05,300
We plan to pilot two in the spring

718
00:36:06,634 --> 00:36:09,934
and then make a decision to implement a curriculum

719
00:36:09,934 --> 00:36:13,100
for Math eight and Algebra one in the fall with geometry

720
00:36:13,100 --> 00:36:15,100
and Algebra two to follow the year

721
00:36:15,100 --> 00:36:17,533
after so that we can work that into the budget.

722
00:36:19,233 --> 00:36:22,467
And the math department wanted me to convey this evening

723
00:36:22,567 --> 00:36:26,233
that they are taking the data from MCAS very seriously.

724
00:36:26,700 --> 00:36:28,367
They're fully aware that a shift needs to happen.

725
00:36:29,367 --> 00:36:31,533
They're excited to bring in a new curriculum

726
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:33,767
'cause they've been without one for a number of years.

727
00:36:34,433 --> 00:36:36,100
So everyone seems to be on board.

728
00:36:36,333 --> 00:36:38,333
Everyone's excited to, to make some change

729
00:36:42,033 --> 00:36:44,133
For science and Project Lead the Way, which are the classes

730
00:36:44,333 --> 00:36:47,767
that you all came to see the Project Lead the Way classes.

731
00:36:48,266 --> 00:36:50,266
They're also working on common assessments.

732
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:56,066
We are looking to add PLTW medical interventions next year.

733
00:36:57,033 --> 00:36:58,533
We have the biomedical pathway.

734
00:36:59,066 --> 00:37:04,100
So we have human body systems and honors biomed.

735
00:37:05,300 --> 00:37:07,567
And so students have really been craving the next course,

736
00:37:07,567 --> 00:37:09,066
which is medical interventions.

737
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:13,066
This we also have a common capstone

738
00:37:13,066 --> 00:37:14,767
that Marian Dyer had applied for.

739
00:37:15,066 --> 00:37:17,133
And we have the training for is going to

740
00:37:18,033 --> 00:37:21,166
offer three complete PLTW pathways

741
00:37:21,166 --> 00:37:22,500
for our students to choose from.

742
00:37:22,934 --> 00:37:25,066
So we will have a complete computer science pathway,

743
00:37:25,166 --> 00:37:26,433
a complete engineering pathway,

744
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:30,066
and a complete biomed science with the, with the addition

745
00:37:30,066 --> 00:37:34,367
of medical interventions As a part

746
00:37:34,367 --> 00:37:37,834
of our grant funding with Mass Insight,

747
00:37:38,033 --> 00:37:39,033
the One eight Foundation

748
00:37:39,266 --> 00:37:43,133
and PLTW, we are required to submit work

749
00:37:43,033 --> 00:37:44,667
to the student industry connects.

750
00:37:45,066 --> 00:37:48,867
So coming up between January, middle of January

751
00:37:49,100 --> 00:37:50,066
and middle of February,

752
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:53,533
students submit work from specific projects within their

753
00:37:53,634 --> 00:37:57,100
PLTW courses and industry professionals review them

754
00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:00,100
and provide feedback for students, which is really nice.

755
00:38:01,133 --> 00:38:03,634
So that happens starting next week,

756
00:38:03,734 --> 00:38:05,066
I guess the 15th next week.

757
00:38:07,066 --> 00:38:10,100
So something that Liz Leonard

758
00:38:10,133 --> 00:38:13,033
and I also talked about potentially looking into is they

759
00:38:13,033 --> 00:38:15,100
just added an advanced manufacturing course,

760
00:38:15,367 --> 00:38:16,900
which goes along with engineering.

761
00:38:17,066 --> 00:38:18,467
So we might be looking into adding

762
00:38:18,467 --> 00:38:20,533
that if we can get the student interest behind it.

763
00:38:23,533 --> 00:38:24,767
Wellness is my shortest update.

764
00:38:25,166 --> 00:38:26,533
They have common assessments

765
00:38:26,533 --> 00:38:28,467
where needed in the, in the health classes.

766
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:30,734
They're updating their curriculum maps.

767
00:38:31,233 --> 00:38:33,100
Everything's pretty status quo there.

768
00:38:33,300 --> 00:38:35,300
Bernie McCann's been a great help in the

769
00:38:35,467 --> 00:38:36,533
first half of the year.

770
00:38:37,100 --> 00:38:39,000
I have his phone number. He told me to call him many times.

771
00:38:39,233 --> 00:38:41,066
So he's been a wonderful help

772
00:38:41,100 --> 00:38:45,767
for me in wellness World language.

773
00:38:46,133 --> 00:38:47,734
They're also working on common updates.

774
00:38:48,367 --> 00:38:50,066
As an update for you, this is the last year

775
00:38:50,066 --> 00:38:52,133
that we are offering Mandarin in the building.

776
00:38:52,433 --> 00:38:54,867
So this year we're just running a Mandarin four

777
00:38:54,867 --> 00:38:56,133
five course combined.

778
00:38:57,233 --> 00:38:59,367
And then Mr. Bernard wanted me

779
00:38:59,367 --> 00:39:01,066
to talk about the seal of Biliteracy.

780
00:39:01,233 --> 00:39:05,133
So it's a certification students can get on their diploma.

781
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:08,567
We have tested in the past two years,

782
00:39:08,567 --> 00:39:11,066
43 students in 16 different languages.

783
00:39:12,867 --> 00:39:16,433
Students can test in any language and they take it with us

784
00:39:17,266 --> 00:39:19,033
or any language that they take with us

785
00:39:19,634 --> 00:39:21,133
or in their native language at home.

786
00:39:22,100 --> 00:39:23,033
It's open to 11th

787
00:39:23,066 --> 00:39:25,133
and 12th graders who have met a minimum,

788
00:39:25,634 --> 00:39:28,000
met a minimum score on the E-L-A-M-C-A-S

789
00:39:29,700 --> 00:39:32,900
and we offer tests in 161 languages.

790
00:39:33,133 --> 00:39:37,333
And the test costs anywhere from 2250 to $150.

791
00:39:38,133 --> 00:39:40,634
Which makes my budgeting a little bit difficult

792
00:39:40,634 --> 00:39:44,567
because MGL states that we are required to pay for

793
00:39:45,367 --> 00:39:47,667
the seal of biliteracy tests for low income students.

794
00:39:48,667 --> 00:39:52,634
But where we don't know who is going to take what language

795
00:39:53,133 --> 00:39:54,133
and what it's going to cost,

796
00:39:55,100 --> 00:39:56,634
it can make budgeting a little bit difficult.

797
00:39:56,667 --> 00:39:58,834
So we did, we did budget for next year.

798
00:40:00,100 --> 00:40:04,934
We kinda had to guess. So early college,

799
00:40:05,867 --> 00:40:08,100
this is a program that I'm so excited about.

800
00:40:08,500 --> 00:40:12,000
It's formally known as Commonwealth Collegiate Academy

801
00:40:12,100 --> 00:40:14,033
or CCA, that's what everyone calls it in the building.

802
00:40:14,634 --> 00:40:17,000
They did rebrand over the summer though, so they're known

803
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:18,100
as early college now.

804
00:40:18,100 --> 00:40:19,333
Early college at UMass.

805
00:40:20,233 --> 00:40:22,133
We have wrapped up our semester one classes

806
00:40:23,333 --> 00:40:25,066
and we're gearing up for semester two.

807
00:40:25,066 --> 00:40:28,033
Our semester two teachers have met with their

808
00:40:28,734 --> 00:40:33,500
UML professors, stu, to just to

809
00:40:34,033 --> 00:40:37,000
remind folks at home and you all about this program

810
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:38,767
and why it is so awesome.

811
00:40:39,367 --> 00:40:41,033
Students can earn up

812
00:40:41,033 --> 00:40:44,000
to 24 college credits in our building for free.

813
00:40:44,867 --> 00:40:48,133
Fully transferable, especially if you go to UMass Lowell,

814
00:40:49,166 --> 00:40:51,300
they are taught by UMass Lowell professors.

815
00:40:52,500 --> 00:40:54,734
So sometimes we have the professors come in.

816
00:40:55,066 --> 00:40:57,934
Sometimes the professors like for next semester,

817
00:40:57,934 --> 00:41:00,700
our nutrition professor is out in New Mexico, so he,

818
00:41:00,734 --> 00:41:05,000
he is in remote, but we do have A-B-M-H-S staff in the room

819
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:06,033
to help facilitate.

820
00:41:07,667 --> 00:41:10,467
And then UML has summer programs

821
00:41:10,467 --> 00:41:12,000
that students can go to tied to this.

822
00:41:12,166 --> 00:41:15,066
So you can graduate BMHS with 30

823
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:17,367
UML credits for free.

824
00:41:18,433 --> 00:41:20,100
Unlike the AP tests, you don't need to pay for it.

825
00:41:20,100 --> 00:41:22,033
It's, it's, we have grants.

826
00:41:22,767 --> 00:41:24,467
It's, it's fully free to students.

827
00:41:24,467 --> 00:41:26,033
That's, that's an entire semester,

828
00:41:26,033 --> 00:41:27,066
which is a huge cost savings.

829
00:41:29,567 --> 00:41:33,066
In order for it to grow, I need to get the word out more

830
00:41:33,033 --> 00:41:35,734
to students and families on,

831
00:41:35,734 --> 00:41:37,734
especially on why the program is so beneficial.

832
00:41:39,100 --> 00:41:41,066
I also would like to more offer more courses.

833
00:41:41,467 --> 00:41:43,934
I'd love to offer a pre-calc or a calculus class,

834
00:41:45,700 --> 00:41:47,567
but I can't run more courses without the interest.

835
00:41:47,634 --> 00:41:49,734
And I need the interest by getting it out to families.

836
00:41:50,500 --> 00:41:52,033
And some, I think sometimes,

837
00:41:52,100 --> 00:41:54,100
and this is just my speculation, I think sometimes

838
00:41:54,934 --> 00:41:57,066
families go between, well, what's the difference between AP

839
00:41:57,066 --> 00:42:00,100
and why would I take a UMass calculus class when I could

840
00:42:00,100 --> 00:42:01,333
take an AP calculus class?

841
00:42:01,467 --> 00:42:03,533
And, and that's something that I need to work through.

842
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:06,467
But it's, it's such a good program.

843
00:42:06,634 --> 00:42:09,834
It's such a good program. And like I said,

844
00:42:09,834 --> 00:42:12,033
if you're gonna s law or any of the state schools, that's,

845
00:42:12,033 --> 00:42:13,700
that's an entire semester that we've,

846
00:42:13,700 --> 00:42:16,133
that you've taken in high school, which is amazing.

847
00:42:19,333 --> 00:42:24,000
So other updates. I am looking to apply for BMHS

848
00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:25,834
to receive the innovation career pathway

849
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:29,166
or ICP designation from DESI next year.

850
00:42:30,233 --> 00:42:31,834
I was gonna do it this year. I've done it

851
00:42:31,834 --> 00:42:34,133
before it, I just, I had too much on my plate,

852
00:42:34,100 --> 00:42:35,467
I needed to prioritize.

853
00:42:36,934 --> 00:42:40,166
So it's a, it's a way to provide students with coursework

854
00:42:40,300 --> 00:42:43,233
and career experience in high demand industries.

855
00:42:43,367 --> 00:42:45,867
So there are specific industries that you can apply into

856
00:42:46,734 --> 00:42:49,900
advanced manufacturing, business, computer science,

857
00:42:50,667 --> 00:42:53,100
environmental science, life science are some of them.

858
00:42:54,233 --> 00:42:57,000
We have the infrastructure to easily apply into

859
00:42:57,867 --> 00:42:59,467
computer science, life science, and business.

860
00:43:00,266 --> 00:43:02,634
We can easily add a course

861
00:43:03,033 --> 00:43:05,000
or an overlay to an existing course

862
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:08,934
to apply into advanced manufacturing and clean energy.

863
00:43:10,834 --> 00:43:13,700
I like to think of the ICP designation as like a,

864
00:43:13,934 --> 00:43:17,166
a mini minor or a little, a little mini high school major.

865
00:43:17,333 --> 00:43:18,667
Right? This is my pathway.

866
00:43:18,867 --> 00:43:21,166
I'm gonna take these courses and I have a designation from

867
00:43:21,166 --> 00:43:24,567
the state that I, that I had a focus in environmental

868
00:43:24,734 --> 00:43:26,934
science or in computer science in high school.

869
00:43:29,133 --> 00:43:31,100
They, this designation ties in really well

870
00:43:31,100 --> 00:43:32,867
with our PLTW pathways

871
00:43:33,100 --> 00:43:36,000
because a part of the designation is

872
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:38,433
that students complete either a 100 hour

873
00:43:39,133 --> 00:43:40,333
capstone or internship.

874
00:43:41,300 --> 00:43:44,500
In my previous district, we tossed all seniors out

875
00:43:44,834 --> 00:43:46,900
after April break and they all had to do an internship.

876
00:43:48,133 --> 00:43:51,500
And I'd love to get something like that going at at BMHS,

877
00:43:51,934 --> 00:43:55,133
but also the capstone courses, the PLTW capstone courses

878
00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:57,433
that we have will satisfy that.

879
00:43:58,900 --> 00:44:00,367
It provides us such an opportunity

880
00:44:00,367 --> 00:44:02,934
to have more students work with the community.

881
00:44:05,834 --> 00:44:08,266
And that's it. What questions

882
00:44:08,300 --> 00:44:09,500
can I answer for the committee?

883
00:44:10,567 --> 00:44:12,133
- That's - It. All of that information.

884
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:16,000
- Who wants to lead us off? Anybody ready? Mark?

885
00:44:17,166 --> 00:44:18,266
- So the first question is,

886
00:44:18,300 --> 00:44:20,100
why is this the last year for Mandarin?

887
00:44:20,634 --> 00:44:22,567
- Why is, sorry, - Why is this last year

888
00:44:22,634 --> 00:44:24,066
for Mandarin at BMHS

889
00:44:24,867 --> 00:44:26,066
- Last year for Mandarin last?

890
00:44:26,066 --> 00:44:27,900
Oh, I'm sure I came in,

891
00:44:28,100 --> 00:44:30,333
I'm gonna guess it was interest and law enrollment.

892
00:44:30,433 --> 00:44:31,433
It is my guess.

893
00:44:31,634 --> 00:44:33,467
- Okay. Yeah. I I, and I only asked that

894
00:44:33,467 --> 00:44:35,367
because we introduced that probably four or five years ago

895
00:44:35,367 --> 00:44:38,066
and I thought it was really cool, but I understand. Yeah.

896
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:39,533
- Why it wouldn't, I think, I think it was just an

897
00:44:39,533 --> 00:44:40,533
enrollment situation

898
00:44:42,367 --> 00:44:46,634
- As far as drumming up interest in the CCA,

899
00:44:46,634 --> 00:44:48,100
which I can't remember what it stands for.

900
00:44:48,100 --> 00:44:49,233
And I'm scrambling is

901
00:44:49,500 --> 00:44:50,500
- Early college.

902
00:44:50,500 --> 00:44:51,500
- Thank you. Early college. Yeah.

903
00:44:52,834 --> 00:44:55,634
Our most recent student rep and now a select board member.

904
00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:57,734
Yes. Took advantage of that. Yes, he did.

905
00:44:57,834 --> 00:44:59,367
And he bought himself either a half a

906
00:44:59,367 --> 00:45:00,467
year or a year of college.

907
00:45:00,500 --> 00:45:01,734
And he's at UMass Lowell.

908
00:45:02,133 --> 00:45:05,266
So you may want to talk to him about drumming up interest.

909
00:45:05,266 --> 00:45:06,934
And he could do it either here

910
00:45:07,066 --> 00:45:08,867
or he could do it at the select board. Yep.

911
00:45:09,533 --> 00:45:11,934
- We've got some grant money too that can help. Yep.

912
00:45:12,734 --> 00:45:14,533
I just, like I said, I've, I've come into a lot

913
00:45:14,533 --> 00:45:16,834
and I've tried to prioritize certain things.

914
00:45:16,900 --> 00:45:19,700
Yep. And so that's, that's my next big project is,

915
00:45:19,700 --> 00:45:21,266
is drumming up a lot of there.

916
00:45:21,266 --> 00:45:23,867
- Yep. And then as far as advanced manufacturing and,

917
00:45:23,867 --> 00:45:25,000
and you already have a connection

918
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:26,500
to UMass Lowell through the early college.

919
00:45:28,133 --> 00:45:30,700
UMass Lowell is developing this link corridor in Lowell.

920
00:45:30,834 --> 00:45:32,100
Okay. With several companies.

921
00:45:32,333 --> 00:45:35,500
I know one of them that does advanced manufacturing. Great.

922
00:45:36,567 --> 00:45:38,367
So that's really cool to see if we could

923
00:45:38,367 --> 00:45:39,533
like, get into that.

924
00:45:39,734 --> 00:45:43,033
Yeah. I know somebody like the assistant principal flood,

925
00:45:43,033 --> 00:45:45,734
like would roll the sleeves up

926
00:45:45,734 --> 00:45:47,300
and probably really wanna help with that kind of thing.

927
00:45:49,233 --> 00:45:52,367
So between that and computer science, like

928
00:45:54,333 --> 00:45:56,100
I think when they get out in the working world,

929
00:45:56,100 --> 00:45:57,300
they would never want for a job.

930
00:45:57,734 --> 00:46:00,066
Right. Or a really decent salary.

931
00:46:00,100 --> 00:46:01,100
So the, it's really great

932
00:46:01,100 --> 00:46:03,700
that you're looking into offering both of these.

933
00:46:06,133 --> 00:46:10,300
And, and as far as the math teachers in the eighth grade

934
00:46:13,100 --> 00:46:17,033
MCA scores, so we pointed it out when we visited

935
00:46:17,100 --> 00:46:18,333
because it was noticeable.

936
00:46:18,333 --> 00:46:19,867
But I I, when you think about it,

937
00:46:19,867 --> 00:46:21,266
it's really a challenge to them.

938
00:46:21,300 --> 00:46:23,500
Right. It's not, it shouldn't be an affront to them

939
00:46:23,767 --> 00:46:25,834
because I, I certainly didn't mean it that way,

940
00:46:25,934 --> 00:46:28,000
I don't think any of us that asked about it. Well,

941
00:46:28,100 --> 00:46:29,233
- I think that they saw the data

942
00:46:29,333 --> 00:46:31,467
and like they didn't like it themselves.

943
00:46:31,734 --> 00:46:33,066
- Oh yeah, yeah, - Yeah. So yeah,

944
00:46:33,066 --> 00:46:34,634
they're definitely taking it as a challenge. Yep.

945
00:46:34,767 --> 00:46:36,266
- Good. And really, and,

946
00:46:36,266 --> 00:46:38,000
and I appreciate the way that they're doing that

947
00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:39,734
and that's really what they should be doing.

948
00:46:39,867 --> 00:46:41,000
And I'm glad they are

949
00:46:41,033 --> 00:46:42,867
and like we should all take it as a challenge.

950
00:46:42,867 --> 00:46:43,867
- They're an amazing - Team as far

951
00:46:43,867 --> 00:46:44,867
as curriculum and everything else.

952
00:46:45,133 --> 00:46:46,233
- Wonderful. Okay. And they're,

953
00:46:46,233 --> 00:46:48,066
they're working really hard. Yep.

954
00:46:48,433 --> 00:46:49,867
- That's all for me. Thank you. Thank you.

955
00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:55,533
- Thank you. Mark Mion or Mike? Sure. Marian.

956
00:46:57,433 --> 00:47:01,033
- So the PLCs that you have, is

957
00:47:01,033 --> 00:47:03,467
that just the English department that's meeting like that?

958
00:47:03,467 --> 00:47:05,066
Or is it all the departments?

959
00:47:05,033 --> 00:47:06,567
- So all of the departments meet,

960
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:09,033
we have department time once a month.

961
00:47:09,266 --> 00:47:11,000
And then also on our early release days.

962
00:47:11,467 --> 00:47:14,100
The PLCs specifically that I'm, that I tried to get

963
00:47:14,500 --> 00:47:16,333
that Mr. Murphy and I worked hard to, to try

964
00:47:16,333 --> 00:47:19,300
and get, were our eighth grade and our Algebra one classes

965
00:47:19,333 --> 00:47:22,100
because we really needed them to dive into the curriculum

966
00:47:22,100 --> 00:47:24,000
to dive into that MCA data to,

967
00:47:24,567 --> 00:47:27,066
to dive into common assessment data.

968
00:47:27,133 --> 00:47:29,867
Right. And see what immediate shifts we could make.

969
00:47:30,834 --> 00:47:33,834
We would love to move to make our schedule so that

970
00:47:33,834 --> 00:47:36,033
as many teachers have common planning time

971
00:47:36,033 --> 00:47:37,333
and PLCs as possible.

972
00:47:38,133 --> 00:47:40,000
So we'll see what scheduling season brings us.

973
00:47:40,934 --> 00:47:42,867
- The only reason why I bring it up was that

974
00:47:43,667 --> 00:47:48,066
before I retired the PLCs at the high school, they met,

975
00:47:48,100 --> 00:47:52,500
we met twice a week in every department to kind

976
00:47:52,500 --> 00:47:55,033
of get together because we'd have go over common

977
00:47:55,033 --> 00:47:57,133
assessments, go over what was happening.

978
00:47:57,900 --> 00:48:00,867
I'm not sure where it kind of got lost in the shuffle

979
00:48:00,867 --> 00:48:02,033
with everything going on.

980
00:48:02,834 --> 00:48:06,100
But there used to be that during the day

981
00:48:06,667 --> 00:48:09,100
we would have at least two of those meetings to kind of,

982
00:48:09,166 --> 00:48:11,033
at least in the English department.

983
00:48:11,100 --> 00:48:13,867
But they did it in other areas too.

984
00:48:13,867 --> 00:48:15,233
- Yeah. Every department and, and yeah.

985
00:48:15,266 --> 00:48:16,333
Asked me to bring it back.

986
00:48:16,467 --> 00:48:19,500
So once scheduling season hits, I'm gonna see what I can do

987
00:48:19,500 --> 00:48:22,834
and fit in what, what powers I can. Yeah. And angle

988
00:48:23,266 --> 00:48:26,467
- And what you're doing with the math is great.

989
00:48:26,767 --> 00:48:30,066
I know that that eighth grade math wise

990
00:48:30,700 --> 00:48:34,500
has always been an issue with kind of like that higher math

991
00:48:34,634 --> 00:48:36,533
to how the kids got tested in

992
00:48:36,634 --> 00:48:39,066
and how they'd follow and all of that.

993
00:48:39,133 --> 00:48:41,000
So that's always been an

994
00:48:41,533 --> 00:48:44,033
interesting placement.

995
00:48:44,133 --> 00:48:45,367
Let's, let's put it that way.

996
00:48:45,834 --> 00:48:47,634
So I'm glad there's some work being done.

997
00:48:48,033 --> 00:48:51,000
What I'd really like to see down the line is something

998
00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:53,767
with the English, I think that they're another area

999
00:48:54,066 --> 00:48:56,934
that curriculum wise, at least

1000
00:48:56,934 --> 00:48:58,700
with the eighth grade has always been a struggle.

1001
00:48:58,867 --> 00:49:02,333
Yeah. I mean, I'm hoping, but it's gonna take a few years

1002
00:49:02,634 --> 00:49:06,066
before what we just implemented at the elementary

1003
00:49:06,333 --> 00:49:08,533
and then the middle and then moving up.

1004
00:49:09,100 --> 00:49:12,333
But I think that there is a struggle with the reading

1005
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:14,100
at in the high school.

1006
00:49:14,266 --> 00:49:16,033
Yeah. I think that I agree. Yeah.

1007
00:49:16,133 --> 00:49:17,734
That that's something that really,

1008
00:49:18,266 --> 00:49:21,033
and I know with everything going on, you can only do

1009
00:49:21,133 --> 00:49:22,934
so much in one year.

1010
00:49:23,433 --> 00:49:26,033
But I feel like that needs to be our focus.

1011
00:49:26,266 --> 00:49:29,734
Also, I think a part of, with the math, with the science,

1012
00:49:30,066 --> 00:49:32,100
whatever, across the board, if they're struggling

1013
00:49:32,100 --> 00:49:34,000
with reading and with literacy,

1014
00:49:34,233 --> 00:49:37,100
that's gonna impact everything that they do.

1015
00:49:37,133 --> 00:49:42,033
So I'd really like to see a little bit more in that area

1016
00:49:42,567 --> 00:49:44,834
to kind of work with some of the teachers,

1017
00:49:44,900 --> 00:49:48,000
the students just trying to work with what they,

1018
00:49:48,467 --> 00:49:50,100
you know, to improve that. Yeah,

1019
00:49:50,233 --> 00:49:51,233
- I agree.

1020
00:49:51,233 --> 00:49:53,700
We've had some conversations around literacy. Yeah.

1021
00:49:53,867 --> 00:49:57,033
Across all grades. And so I'm excited to see

1022
00:49:57,033 --> 00:49:58,700
what comes up with the new program.

1023
00:49:59,066 --> 00:50:01,066
Yeah. Both the elementary

1024
00:50:01,066 --> 00:50:02,700
and that, that we're implementing in middle. So,

1025
00:50:03,133 --> 00:50:06,133
- So, but I'm hoping that when you get a chance that you,

1026
00:50:06,367 --> 00:50:10,233
they can be a little bit more focused on that literacy.

1027
00:50:10,867 --> 00:50:13,567
But, and I think it's awesome about the early college

1028
00:50:14,066 --> 00:50:17,300
and the pathways and everything that these students have,

1029
00:50:18,867 --> 00:50:21,934
what changes since my kids were at that high school

1030
00:50:22,066 --> 00:50:24,734
and what they're offering now is amazing.

1031
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:27,500
So what opportunities to get it out there

1032
00:50:27,567 --> 00:50:29,133
to let people know and be aware of.

1033
00:50:29,133 --> 00:50:31,066
That's great. So thank you. Thank

1034
00:50:31,066 --> 00:50:32,066
- You.

1035
00:50:32,634 --> 00:50:33,700
- Thank you Marian. Mike.

1036
00:50:34,667 --> 00:50:36,066
- So I won't, I think Mark

1037
00:50:36,100 --> 00:50:38,300
and Marian brought up some of the points

1038
00:50:38,300 --> 00:50:40,500
that I was gonna bring up, but I think we observed a,

1039
00:50:40,567 --> 00:50:42,133
an early college class, correct.

1040
00:50:42,367 --> 00:50:45,100
With a UML professor that was in person Yes.

1041
00:50:45,033 --> 00:50:47,333
That was there did to science classes. Yes, that's right.

1042
00:50:47,367 --> 00:50:50,033
Yep. That was, that was a really cool opportunity

1043
00:50:50,100 --> 00:50:52,333
and cool experience for us to be able to see that.

1044
00:50:52,834 --> 00:50:55,567
So that obviously there's every, I think every slide,

1045
00:50:55,667 --> 00:50:58,033
the first bullet point is common assessments, right.

1046
00:50:58,133 --> 00:51:01,033
So I was are we looking, are we, so there's a theme there.

1047
00:51:01,066 --> 00:51:03,000
So I, I want you to maybe if you have a chance

1048
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:06,000
to expand upon that a little bit, just around kind of

1049
00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:08,333
what the purpose of a common assessment would be.

1050
00:51:08,533 --> 00:51:12,567
What the kind of the development of those would be

1051
00:51:12,567 --> 00:51:14,133
and how that information would be utilized

1052
00:51:14,166 --> 00:51:15,500
to kind of shift instruction.

1053
00:51:15,834 --> 00:51:17,266
- Yeah. So we wanna have common

1054
00:51:17,266 --> 00:51:18,467
assessments for a whole bunch of reasons.

1055
00:51:19,133 --> 00:51:20,934
One being we want to make sure that

1056
00:51:22,567 --> 00:51:24,533
everyone's getting a similar experience in high school.

1057
00:51:25,266 --> 00:51:28,033
That no one student is getting a more rigorous

1058
00:51:28,266 --> 00:51:30,567
or an easier course than others.

1059
00:51:31,066 --> 00:51:33,333
We wanna make sure that we are meeting all of the standards,

1060
00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:35,767
meeting or exceeding all of the standards

1061
00:51:36,367 --> 00:51:37,767
by all teachers in all of our classes.

1062
00:51:38,934 --> 00:51:42,133
So that's one reason. Another reason is we want to be able

1063
00:51:42,166 --> 00:51:44,367
to sit down and analyze our teaching

1064
00:51:44,567 --> 00:51:46,000
and analyze our students where,

1065
00:51:46,533 --> 00:51:48,000
what are we doing well in our classes?

1066
00:51:48,567 --> 00:51:50,934
What do we need to adjust?

1067
00:51:51,133 --> 00:51:53,333
Is the person next to me teaching the same course?

1068
00:51:54,000 --> 00:51:55,700
Are they getting through to their students a little bit

1069
00:51:55,700 --> 00:51:57,000
better on this topic?

1070
00:51:58,500 --> 00:52:00,066
I love it when teachers go in

1071
00:52:00,066 --> 00:52:01,000
and observe each other's classes.

1072
00:52:01,734 --> 00:52:04,567
So if we see that maybe we, you know, have some,

1073
00:52:04,667 --> 00:52:07,634
some instructional rounds when we've got teachers going

1074
00:52:07,634 --> 00:52:08,834
and, and observing each other.

1075
00:52:10,133 --> 00:52:12,066
And also just to kind of follow our students and,

1076
00:52:12,066 --> 00:52:13,467
and what gaps are we noticing?

1077
00:52:13,467 --> 00:52:15,133
What trends might we be noticing, not just

1078
00:52:15,133 --> 00:52:16,934
with a particular class, but with a,

1079
00:52:16,934 --> 00:52:18,066
with a particular grade.

1080
00:52:19,567 --> 00:52:20,734
And so kind of moving forward,

1081
00:52:20,734 --> 00:52:22,266
they're always working on our teaching,

1082
00:52:22,266 --> 00:52:23,734
always revising our curriculum.

1083
00:52:24,767 --> 00:52:28,333
- Great. 'cause I, I think for, you know, I think a lot of,

1084
00:52:28,634 --> 00:52:29,634
you know, the general public

1085
00:52:29,867 --> 00:52:32,100
or parents of students that are at the high school

1086
00:52:33,033 --> 00:52:36,233
when we're really focusing on MCAS for instance, really the,

1087
00:52:36,233 --> 00:52:38,500
that's an end, end of the year

1088
00:52:38,567 --> 00:52:40,500
or end of an opportunity result.

1089
00:52:40,500 --> 00:52:43,133
Yep. But it's the path to that point, right?

1090
00:52:43,233 --> 00:52:44,767
How are we adjusting instruction?

1091
00:52:44,867 --> 00:52:47,767
How are we intervening with kids that might be struggling

1092
00:52:47,767 --> 00:52:48,834
with a particular concept?

1093
00:52:49,166 --> 00:52:51,500
So those common assessments become critically important.

1094
00:52:51,500 --> 00:52:53,500
Right. And it also levels the playing field, right?

1095
00:52:53,934 --> 00:52:56,500
So you get, you lose that the, the notion

1096
00:52:56,500 --> 00:52:58,533
of I have the difficult teacher

1097
00:52:59,100 --> 00:53:00,834
and I have the easier teacher where all

1098
00:53:00,834 --> 00:53:02,834
of a sudden a teacher, one teacher has, you know,

1099
00:53:02,834 --> 00:53:05,233
teacher X has a higher standard than teacher Y

1100
00:53:05,233 --> 00:53:06,333
even though that might not be true.

1101
00:53:06,367 --> 00:53:09,000
Right. And it's based upon how are we assessing

1102
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:10,033
and how are we pushing the kids.

1103
00:53:10,033 --> 00:53:11,834
So I think leveling the playing field

1104
00:53:11,834 --> 00:53:13,100
and developing some of those common

1105
00:53:13,100 --> 00:53:14,567
assessments, I think would be helpful.

1106
00:53:14,834 --> 00:53:17,333
So I appreciate the extra information. Thank you.

1107
00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:21,066
- Thank you, Mike. Just a couple for me.

1108
00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:24,634
Curious how many students ballpark in the, the,

1109
00:53:24,867 --> 00:53:27,000
the Lead the Way program, the Project Lead the Way right

1110
00:53:27,000 --> 00:53:28,000
- Now?

1111
00:53:28,000 --> 00:53:28,634
Oh, project Lead The Way. I couldn't even count.

1112
00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:30,266
We have a ton. A ton. I can tell you.

1113
00:53:30,734 --> 00:53:33,033
I know the CCA number off the top of my head is 33.

1114
00:53:34,667 --> 00:53:37,467
But the PLTW is, we have so many sections

1115
00:53:37,467 --> 00:53:38,834
and all of our sections fill up.

1116
00:53:38,834 --> 00:53:43,066
Okay, great. I've got two biomed courses at 25.

1117
00:53:44,100 --> 00:53:46,033
I've got two human body systems at 25.

1118
00:53:46,500 --> 00:53:49,100
And then I have all of my engineering classes as well.

1119
00:53:49,133 --> 00:53:50,333
So in the hundreds.

1120
00:53:50,333 --> 00:53:52,133
- Significant. Yeah. That's awesome. Significant.

1121
00:53:53,533 --> 00:53:55,066
I am curious and,

1122
00:53:55,066 --> 00:53:56,333
and this isn't a criticism, it's,

1123
00:53:56,333 --> 00:53:59,567
it's sincerely a just curious, the, the proposed plan

1124
00:53:59,567 --> 00:54:01,767
with the math curriculum is much more accelerated than

1125
00:54:01,767 --> 00:54:04,233
what we did with reading. It's

1126
00:54:04,266 --> 00:54:06,033
- Much more accelerated than I normally do.

1127
00:54:06,100 --> 00:54:08,834
Okay. Normally I do this process over an entire school year

1128
00:54:10,233 --> 00:54:13,734
and we, I sat down, I've been talking with Dr.

1129
00:54:13,767 --> 00:54:15,100
Clary and, and Ms. McDermott,

1130
00:54:15,133 --> 00:54:18,500
and we need something, we, these teachers need resources.

1131
00:54:18,500 --> 00:54:19,734
They haven't had resources.

1132
00:54:20,667 --> 00:54:23,000
They're asking for resource resources.

1133
00:54:23,133 --> 00:54:25,767
One of the first things I did when I came in is I found

1134
00:54:25,767 --> 00:54:29,066
money and I got them a, a resource for worksheets

1135
00:54:29,066 --> 00:54:31,700
because they were, you know, as, as, as awesome

1136
00:54:31,734 --> 00:54:33,300
as my teachers are like making up

1137
00:54:33,300 --> 00:54:34,834
worksheet after worksheet after worksheet.

1138
00:54:34,834 --> 00:54:37,634
Like it's, they might not be hitting all the standards.

1139
00:54:37,834 --> 00:54:39,133
Like while we're a content expert,

1140
00:54:39,367 --> 00:54:41,100
we're not a cur, we're not curriculum writers.

1141
00:54:42,634 --> 00:54:44,700
And so, you know, I've been

1142
00:54:44,700 --> 00:54:47,000
through this process enough in previous districts

1143
00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:48,700
that I felt confident in being able

1144
00:54:48,700 --> 00:54:50,367
to do this in an accelerated timeline.

1145
00:54:51,333 --> 00:54:54,300
It's also kind of the reason I want to do just math eight

1146
00:54:54,300 --> 00:54:57,100
and algebra one next year and not an entire department.

1147
00:54:57,133 --> 00:54:59,100
So that we can see how it goes with two,

1148
00:54:59,667 --> 00:55:01,767
and then we can roll the rest of the department in.

1149
00:55:02,367 --> 00:55:03,867
And if we need to make adjustments,

1150
00:55:03,867 --> 00:55:05,000
then we make adjustments.

1151
00:55:05,700 --> 00:55:07,233
- Great. Thank you. And

1152
00:55:07,233 --> 00:55:10,033
- If I could just add to that, and then the other piece too

1153
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:12,333
is that these are curriculum

1154
00:55:12,634 --> 00:55:16,700
or content experts, unlike at the elementary level, it,

1155
00:55:16,700 --> 00:55:18,133
they're more generalists

1156
00:55:18,133 --> 00:55:19,734
because they're teaching all of the content.

1157
00:55:20,433 --> 00:55:24,266
So although you're right that it's an expedited approach,

1158
00:55:24,834 --> 00:55:26,634
it is typical that the,

1159
00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:29,066
the process looks different from elementary

1160
00:55:29,834 --> 00:55:31,066
versus secondary for that reason.

1161
00:55:31,333 --> 00:55:34,867
And I also appreciate the emphasis on the fact that

1162
00:55:35,834 --> 00:55:39,033
accelerated math or Algebra one is not the goal.

1163
00:55:39,333 --> 00:55:42,567
I mean, we, the goal is eighth grade standards,

1164
00:55:42,567 --> 00:55:45,066
just like in seventh grade math, seventh grade standards,

1165
00:55:45,066 --> 00:55:48,834
they're rigorous, they're relatively newer in that they're,

1166
00:55:48,834 --> 00:55:50,500
they're up to date, they're conceptual.

1167
00:55:51,100 --> 00:55:54,700
We know, you know, parents often complain starting in first

1168
00:55:54,700 --> 00:55:56,767
and second grade that it's very difficult for them

1169
00:55:56,834 --> 00:55:59,000
to support their students and their homework

1170
00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:00,533
because it's a different type of thinking.

1171
00:56:00,667 --> 00:56:04,233
So it, the expectation

1172
00:56:04,266 --> 00:56:07,333
for success is regular eighth grade math.

1173
00:56:07,467 --> 00:56:10,100
And then there's this opportunity for people

1174
00:56:10,367 --> 00:56:12,133
who need something more.

1175
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:16,266
And I, I just think we cannot drive that home hard enough.

1176
00:56:16,300 --> 00:56:20,567
- Something else I like to share with families at home is,

1177
00:56:20,734 --> 00:56:22,033
is the jump in the number

1178
00:56:22,033 --> 00:56:24,700
of standards we expect students at grade level.

1179
00:56:25,100 --> 00:56:26,500
So if I remember correctly,

1180
00:56:26,734 --> 00:56:29,100
sixth grade is 28 standards for math.

1181
00:56:29,367 --> 00:56:33,533
Seventh grade is 35 to 40. Eighth grade is 54.

1182
00:56:34,066 --> 00:56:36,734
Geez. There's a lot. There is a huge jump.

1183
00:56:36,734 --> 00:56:38,567
It also jumps from very concrete

1184
00:56:38,567 --> 00:56:40,500
to very abstract, very quickly.

1185
00:56:41,133 --> 00:56:42,467
And while a student

1186
00:56:43,700 --> 00:56:45,834
absolutely could be excelling all the way

1187
00:56:45,834 --> 00:56:47,767
through sixth grade and even to seventh grade,

1188
00:56:48,166 --> 00:56:51,834
it is not uncommon to see a pause

1189
00:56:52,700 --> 00:56:55,066
or a struggle once a student hits eighth grade.

1190
00:56:56,100 --> 00:56:58,100
And like I said, I can't drive home enough

1191
00:56:58,233 --> 00:57:00,133
how important eighth grade is.

1192
00:57:00,900 --> 00:57:04,634
And if you, if your student truly desires getting

1193
00:57:04,634 --> 00:57:07,100
to calculus by senior year, they can do it.

1194
00:57:07,500 --> 00:57:10,767
But I would rather focus on the foundations in eighth grade

1195
00:57:10,834 --> 00:57:12,834
and in Algebra one first.

1196
00:57:13,066 --> 00:57:15,367
That should be the goal. We have the accelerated option,

1197
00:57:16,000 --> 00:57:18,500
but it's, it's the, I can't stress

1198
00:57:18,567 --> 00:57:21,066
how important those standards are

1199
00:57:21,133 --> 00:57:23,767
and how big of a jump it is in the number of standards

1200
00:57:23,767 --> 00:57:26,300
that we expect students to do just on grade level,

1201
00:57:26,567 --> 00:57:28,233
nevermind the accelerated course,

1202
00:57:28,233 --> 00:57:29,834
which is over 60 standards.

1203
00:57:31,934 --> 00:57:35,934
- Great. Thank you for that. World languages.

1204
00:57:36,066 --> 00:57:37,700
And I know you, you spoke a little bit about this

1205
00:57:37,700 --> 00:57:40,033
and Mark had asked why, why Mandarin was being dropped.

1206
00:57:40,567 --> 00:57:42,734
I'm curious, how do we determine what we're going to offer?

1207
00:57:42,934 --> 00:57:43,834
I guess that's sort of flipping,

1208
00:57:44,367 --> 00:57:45,133
flipping the question a little.

1209
00:57:45,133 --> 00:57:47,033
- That's a good question. Mr. Bernard

1210
00:57:47,033 --> 00:57:48,266
and I have had some conversations.

1211
00:57:48,367 --> 00:57:50,066
He really wants to bring Portuguese in.

1212
00:57:50,500 --> 00:57:52,333
He's very passionate about Portuguese.

1213
00:57:53,634 --> 00:57:55,300
I think that it would be like any other course

1214
00:57:55,367 --> 00:57:57,266
where we would have to put it out to students

1215
00:57:58,000 --> 00:57:59,700
and see where the interest lies.

1216
00:58:00,634 --> 00:58:02,467
You know, just going to the, to the history,

1217
00:58:02,467 --> 00:58:04,834
because we, we did that, Mr.

1218
00:58:05,033 --> 00:58:08,000
Lipset put out a survey to his students, you know,

1219
00:58:08,066 --> 00:58:10,000
if we were to offer this AP course,

1220
00:58:10,066 --> 00:58:11,033
how many of you would take it?

1221
00:58:11,033 --> 00:58:12,367
How many of you would've taken it?

1222
00:58:12,433 --> 00:58:15,066
How many of you plan to register for this course?

1223
00:58:15,033 --> 00:58:17,266
And we were able to gauge, okay,

1224
00:58:17,266 --> 00:58:18,634
we're gonna put it in the program of studies

1225
00:58:18,667 --> 00:58:21,100
because he had enough interest in front of him.

1226
00:58:22,133 --> 00:58:24,133
Whether or not it runs, we'll have to see with,

1227
00:58:24,133 --> 00:58:26,767
with real time enrollment data, real,

1228
00:58:27,000 --> 00:58:28,100
you know, enrollment requests.

1229
00:58:28,433 --> 00:58:30,233
But I would imagine that we could do the same thing.

1230
00:58:31,333 --> 00:58:33,100
We'd also have to find certified teachers

1231
00:58:33,634 --> 00:58:34,634
to, to teach the courses.

1232
00:58:34,734 --> 00:58:39,000
And I'm not sure what the outlook is for Portuguese

1233
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:40,567
or German or any other language.

1234
00:58:40,734 --> 00:58:42,333
I think German used to be taught here years ago.

1235
00:58:42,367 --> 00:58:43,867
Used to be, yeah. It was a big program.

1236
00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:46,000
It was a big program. I love German.

1237
00:58:46,000 --> 00:58:51,066
- The German. But two of the German teachers retired. Yeah.

1238
00:58:51,233 --> 00:58:55,734
And then once they retired, they had one German teacher,

1239
00:58:55,734 --> 00:58:58,100
there was a issue with certification.

1240
00:58:58,867 --> 00:59:02,300
She was let go and then it kind of fell apart from

1241
00:59:02,300 --> 00:59:04,333
that point, trying to get a new teacher in.

1242
00:59:04,867 --> 00:59:08,266
But it used to be started a little bit.

1243
00:59:08,533 --> 00:59:10,467
'cause they used to give a sampling at the middle school.

1244
00:59:10,567 --> 00:59:12,867
Yep. And then it went in up to the high school,

1245
00:59:13,000 --> 00:59:15,100
and then eventually they got rid of it in the middle school

1246
00:59:15,133 --> 00:59:16,467
and it was just at the high school

1247
00:59:16,567 --> 00:59:19,066
and then it just kind of disappeared.

1248
00:59:19,567 --> 00:59:20,567
Yeah.

1249
00:59:21,266 --> 00:59:23,934
- So, I mean, I would imagine that we could put out a survey

1250
00:59:24,066 --> 00:59:26,700
to students, perhaps even middle school students too.

1251
00:59:27,166 --> 00:59:29,634
But right now it's, I don't think it's on our radar to add

1252
00:59:30,300 --> 00:59:31,500
a fourth language back in,

1253
00:59:31,734 --> 00:59:33,767
but we can see, we'll see what the future holds.

1254
00:59:34,100 --> 00:59:36,734
- Okay. Wanna go back to one of the points

1255
00:59:36,734 --> 00:59:39,367
that you made about the early college courses in AP courses?

1256
00:59:40,734 --> 00:59:43,100
Are they competing for the same group of students?

1257
00:59:43,333 --> 00:59:45,500
I think so. How do we navigate that?

1258
00:59:45,500 --> 00:59:47,000
That's a, that's a great question. Interesting.

1259
00:59:47,266 --> 00:59:50,333
- It's a great question. I mean, AP has been along around

1260
00:59:50,467 --> 00:59:53,367
for so long and everybody knows ap

1261
00:59:55,233 --> 00:59:57,066
and I think just people just don't know about

1262
00:59:57,000 --> 00:59:58,266
the early college course.

1263
00:59:59,934 --> 01:00:02,500
And you know, ap, they are wonderful.

1264
01:00:02,700 --> 01:00:04,834
I love the AP courses that we offer.

1265
01:00:04,867 --> 01:00:06,000
We offer some great ones,

1266
01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:08,567
but scores aren't accepted everywhere.

1267
01:00:08,834 --> 01:00:10,033
You know, you could pass with a three

1268
01:00:10,033 --> 01:00:11,567
and it's not accepted in a lot of schools.

1269
01:00:12,266 --> 01:00:13,300
Versus you pass at

1270
01:00:13,433 --> 01:00:14,734
UMass Lowell, you're getting that full credit.

1271
01:00:14,734 --> 01:00:17,100
Doesn't matter if you have an A, B, C, whatever.

1272
01:00:17,100 --> 01:00:18,767
You pass the course, you pass the course. Yeah.

1273
01:00:20,100 --> 01:00:22,033
So I think we really just need to get it out there.

1274
01:00:22,867 --> 01:00:24,834
You know, do I wanna take away from our AP courses?

1275
01:00:25,133 --> 01:00:26,700
No, because I think something

1276
01:00:26,700 --> 01:00:29,467
that's really wonderful about our high school is

1277
01:00:29,500 --> 01:00:31,300
how many AP courses we offer

1278
01:00:31,300 --> 01:00:33,133
and the variety of AP courses that we offer.

1279
01:00:34,000 --> 01:00:37,033
But at the same time, I wanna give this opportunity

1280
01:00:37,066 --> 01:00:39,066
to students that, that's amazing.

1281
01:00:40,233 --> 01:00:42,100
So it's a, it's, it's tricky.

1282
01:00:42,066 --> 01:00:43,433
We need to figure out how to, how

1283
01:00:43,433 --> 01:00:44,634
to balance it and navigate it.

1284
01:00:44,867 --> 01:00:46,333
- Can I just say one thing on that? John? Go ahead. Mark.

1285
01:00:46,467 --> 01:00:48,667
So, so just from my point of view

1286
01:00:48,667 --> 01:00:50,033
and my experience a long time ago,

1287
01:00:50,767 --> 01:00:53,266
I think it's a great thing to expose high school students

1288
01:00:53,266 --> 01:00:54,433
to college professors.

1289
01:00:55,000 --> 01:00:58,767
Because in my mind there's a pretty big difference between

1290
01:00:59,367 --> 01:01:00,667
how high school teachers teach

1291
01:01:01,066 --> 01:01:03,066
and K through 12 teaches for that matter.

1292
01:01:03,667 --> 01:01:05,066
And college professors teach.

1293
01:01:06,133 --> 01:01:07,533
I'm not saying one's better than the other.

1294
01:01:08,033 --> 01:01:10,834
I might be saying that, that when you get to college,

1295
01:01:11,133 --> 01:01:13,900
you kind of realize I'm not in high school anymore

1296
01:01:14,333 --> 01:01:17,166
because, you know, there, there's less

1297
01:01:19,567 --> 01:01:21,900
from my, again, from my experience, there's less kind

1298
01:01:21,900 --> 01:01:23,133
of prodding.

1299
01:01:23,033 --> 01:01:25,367
It's it, it's more, hey,

1300
01:01:25,367 --> 01:01:26,900
you either do the work, you don't do the work.

1301
01:01:26,934 --> 01:01:29,467
Right. Right. So to get some, I'll call it attitude

1302
01:01:29,467 --> 01:01:30,700
and I don't really mean attitude.

1303
01:01:30,900 --> 01:01:33,934
So to get some of that attitude in high school,

1304
01:01:34,634 --> 01:01:35,867
I think would actually help the kids.

1305
01:01:36,000 --> 01:01:39,433
Yeah. Right. To, so they're not going at the college cold

1306
01:01:39,433 --> 01:01:41,133
and realizing while they're in college.

1307
01:01:41,667 --> 01:01:44,233
Oh, you know what I mean? Yep. Absolutely. That's

1308
01:01:44,233 --> 01:01:45,233
- All.

1309
01:01:45,233 --> 01:01:47,467
Great point. And I would just add, I, I think, you know,

1310
01:01:47,467 --> 01:01:49,700
there's a lot of discussion about affordability in this

1311
01:01:49,700 --> 01:01:50,900
community broadly,

1312
01:01:51,100 --> 01:01:52,266
but there's also this, this kind

1313
01:01:52,266 --> 01:01:54,166
of national conversation about college affordability

1314
01:01:54,166 --> 01:01:57,433
and to be able to give students and families what amount.

1315
01:01:57,500 --> 01:01:59,233
I think 30 credits is a whole year, if you take,

1316
01:01:59,266 --> 01:02:02,700
if you're able to fit it all in, what an incredible savings

1317
01:02:02,900 --> 01:02:04,533
for, for families and incredible opportunity.

1318
01:02:04,533 --> 01:02:07,000
- And they fit it in two, two courses per semester,

1319
01:02:07,033 --> 01:02:08,433
junior year and senior year.

1320
01:02:09,066 --> 01:02:10,266
It, it's, it's amazing.

1321
01:02:10,266 --> 01:02:11,433
And they meet every other day

1322
01:02:11,433 --> 01:02:12,934
that you have a Monday Wednesday course

1323
01:02:13,033 --> 01:02:14,300
or a Tuesday Thursday course.

1324
01:02:15,166 --> 01:02:16,934
And then on Fridays the teachers,

1325
01:02:17,033 --> 01:02:18,367
so you, you take them in a pair.

1326
01:02:19,266 --> 01:02:23,100
And so the, the BMHS teachers on Fridays alternate

1327
01:02:23,033 --> 01:02:24,133
who has the group of kids

1328
01:02:24,934 --> 01:02:26,634
and they'll work through study, they'll work through,

1329
01:02:26,700 --> 01:02:29,734
you know, helping them make up assignments,

1330
01:02:29,734 --> 01:02:31,066
work on assignments, that sort of thing.

1331
01:02:31,066 --> 01:02:33,033
So they've got that, that added bonus

1332
01:02:33,033 --> 01:02:35,066
of having A-B-M-H-S teacher to help them

1333
01:02:35,066 --> 01:02:38,133
through the content while getting that college exposure.

1334
01:02:39,000 --> 01:02:41,066
- That's awesome. Last one for me.

1335
01:02:41,734 --> 01:02:43,367
Going back to common assessments. Yep.

1336
01:02:44,634 --> 01:02:46,533
I, I'm curious, I, I think I know the answer,

1337
01:02:46,867 --> 01:02:48,700
so forgive me if I'm leading the witness.

1338
01:02:49,734 --> 01:02:52,033
Do common assessments relate to some of the proposed changes

1339
01:02:52,033 --> 01:02:53,467
that we're gonna see tonight as it relates

1340
01:02:53,467 --> 01:02:57,033
to state requirements on competency now?

1341
01:02:58,000 --> 01:03:01,266
Not at all. Okay, great. And that's it for me.

1342
01:03:01,266 --> 01:03:02,867
Thank you so much for coming out tonight. Thank you.

1343
01:03:02,867 --> 01:03:04,033
Appreciate the presentation. Thank.

1344
01:03:04,266 --> 01:03:05,367
- Alright, - Have a good night.

1345
01:03:05,700 --> 01:03:10,266
- You too. All right,

1346
01:03:10,767 --> 01:03:14,634
next up for us is our Valley Collaborative report

1347
01:03:15,066 --> 01:03:16,734
and annual report and Audit. Dr.

1348
01:03:16,734 --> 01:03:18,166
- Cleary. Yes. So there's not

1349
01:03:18,166 --> 01:03:19,266
a whole lot to present on this.

1350
01:03:19,467 --> 01:03:21,300
I just wanted to make you aware of it.

1351
01:03:21,333 --> 01:03:25,133
We are required to ha make sure this is on the agenda

1352
01:03:25,367 --> 01:03:28,233
so there's no vote needed in your packets,

1353
01:03:28,233 --> 01:03:30,634
you will see two documents from Valley Collaborative.

1354
01:03:30,634 --> 01:03:33,700
It's the annual report as well as the annual audit.

1355
01:03:35,166 --> 01:03:39,033
We met as a board of directors about a month ago,

1356
01:03:39,300 --> 01:03:41,100
and this was introduced to us

1357
01:03:41,266 --> 01:03:46,133
and the administration over there was very pleased to share

1358
01:03:46,000 --> 01:03:48,100
that everything came out very clean.

1359
01:03:48,433 --> 01:03:51,500
There was no managerial issues with the budget.

1360
01:03:51,500 --> 01:03:53,233
There were no budget discrepancies.

1361
01:03:53,433 --> 01:03:55,934
So congratulations to Valley Collaborative.

1362
01:03:56,900 --> 01:03:59,767
So if you take a look at those at some point

1363
01:04:00,066 --> 01:04:01,500
and then have specific questions,

1364
01:04:01,634 --> 01:04:04,700
then Dr. Scott is more than ha the executive director there

1365
01:04:04,734 --> 01:04:07,233
is more than happy to come in and answer any questions.

1366
01:04:08,700 --> 01:04:11,467
- Great. Okay.

1367
01:04:12,000 --> 01:04:15,133
Move on to school committee subcommittee updates.

1368
01:04:16,266 --> 01:04:17,734
This is the highlight of every meeting.

1369
01:04:17,900 --> 01:04:19,467
I know you guys have been missing this agenda item.

1370
01:04:21,133 --> 01:04:22,867
We are gonna do things a little bit differently tonight.

1371
01:04:23,000 --> 01:04:26,000
We have the first two policies are IKF and IKFE.

1372
01:04:27,266 --> 01:04:29,100
The district has led a lot

1373
01:04:29,000 --> 01:04:30,900
of the edits in these two policies.

1374
01:04:31,000 --> 01:04:33,000
So I've asked Lori McDermott to kind

1375
01:04:33,000 --> 01:04:35,667
of lead kinda a high level discussion for us on,

1376
01:04:35,734 --> 01:04:37,100
on both of those policies.

1377
01:04:37,667 --> 01:04:39,467
And then we'll, we'll keep an eye on the time

1378
01:04:40,166 --> 01:04:42,500
and see what other policies we wanna take up tonight

1379
01:04:42,500 --> 01:04:45,500
or punt to the next meeting. Sure, Lori.

1380
01:04:46,033 --> 01:04:48,000
- Okay. So we're first gonna talk about

1381
01:04:48,000 --> 01:04:49,033
graduation requirements.

1382
01:04:50,867 --> 01:04:54,000
So we're talking about two, two different things tonight.

1383
01:04:54,266 --> 01:04:56,100
The first is graduation requirements.

1384
01:04:56,367 --> 01:04:58,266
The second is competency determination.

1385
01:04:59,033 --> 01:05:00,533
They are, they,

1386
01:05:00,533 --> 01:05:02,667
they're dependent on each other, but also different.

1387
01:05:03,100 --> 01:05:06,033
So if you can just think about the, you know,

1388
01:05:06,033 --> 01:05:07,700
we've had graduation requirements.

1389
01:05:08,033 --> 01:05:09,900
The state is not looking for us

1390
01:05:10,000 --> 01:05:12,100
to change our graduation requirements.

1391
01:05:12,300 --> 01:05:15,433
This is just the first time that they're collecting them.

1392
01:05:16,433 --> 01:05:19,133
So we started looking at them.

1393
01:05:20,367 --> 01:05:22,333
Mary Beth and I happened to go through

1394
01:05:23,066 --> 01:05:26,100
the Merrimack Valley's graduation requirements, sort

1395
01:05:26,100 --> 01:05:28,000
of compared where, where Loca was

1396
01:05:28,934 --> 01:05:31,000
and considered making some changes.

1397
01:05:31,734 --> 01:05:34,834
Met with the high school leadership team,

1398
01:05:35,100 --> 01:05:36,367
the other curriculum coordinators.

1399
01:05:37,033 --> 01:05:41,567
And what we would like to do, the, I think the first and

1400
01:05:41,567 --> 01:05:43,033
and biggest change would be

1401
01:05:43,634 --> 01:05:48,033
change the three year mathematic course requirement to four

1402
01:05:50,367 --> 01:05:52,700
that would align us with Mass core.

1403
01:05:53,100 --> 01:05:55,000
And it also aligns us a little more

1404
01:05:55,000 --> 01:05:56,333
with our surrounding districts.

1405
01:05:57,667 --> 01:06:01,100
The other changes we would take away that one

1406
01:06:01,667 --> 01:06:04,300
full year in a STEM course requirement.

1407
01:06:04,300 --> 01:06:06,567
It doesn't prohibit students from taking it,

1408
01:06:07,033 --> 01:06:09,333
it's just would no longer be a requirement.

1409
01:06:11,533 --> 01:06:13,367
Then three full year history

1410
01:06:13,367 --> 01:06:16,367
and social science courses, including US and world history.

1411
01:06:16,567 --> 01:06:17,867
And that is going

1412
01:06:17,867 --> 01:06:22,767
to be an FY 27 requirement change.

1413
01:06:23,467 --> 01:06:25,033
That's, it's expected that we are,

1414
01:06:25,467 --> 01:06:29,066
we're adding US History.

1415
01:06:31,066 --> 01:06:33,834
Two full year world language courses. It's the same.

1416
01:06:36,133 --> 01:06:37,634
The wellness, we kept the same.

1417
01:06:39,166 --> 01:06:42,700
The the next one is just the, a little grammatical.

1418
01:06:42,700 --> 01:06:44,100
We just changed it across our find

1419
01:06:44,100 --> 01:06:45,266
and practical and just said the arts.

1420
01:06:47,033 --> 01:06:51,533
And then one half year course in digital literacy is,

1421
01:06:52,166 --> 01:06:54,100
we took that out as a requirement.

1422
01:06:54,667 --> 01:06:58,100
It through conversations, it's very much built into a lot

1423
01:06:58,100 --> 01:07:01,734
of the courses that are offered now

1424
01:07:02,100 --> 01:07:04,333
and certainly available still.

1425
01:07:05,433 --> 01:07:06,700
And then we kept the one half,

1426
01:07:07,033 --> 01:07:09,867
half year course in business financial literacy.

1427
01:07:12,266 --> 01:07:15,100
And those are really the only, only changes.

1428
01:07:17,467 --> 01:07:18,900
- Okay. Any questions

1429
01:07:18,900 --> 01:07:21,500
or comments from school committee members? Marion?

1430
01:07:21,734 --> 01:07:25,900
- So this would just be from nine to 12, is that correct?

1431
01:07:26,033 --> 01:07:28,467
- Nine to 12 and it would start with the class

1432
01:07:28,500 --> 01:07:30,667
of 2028 and beyond. Okay.

1433
01:07:30,667 --> 01:07:32,900
- Alright. Thank you. - So it wouldn't hinder anybody

1434
01:07:33,734 --> 01:07:34,934
who's graduating this year,

1435
01:07:37,867 --> 01:07:38,900
- Mark or Mike, anything?

1436
01:07:39,900 --> 01:07:41,066
- So I, I have a couple.

1437
01:07:44,066 --> 01:07:45,000
So it's the sophomore class

1438
01:07:45,000 --> 01:07:46,667
that would be the first affected class.

1439
01:07:46,834 --> 01:07:50,133
Right. Do they have, do they have time to, I'll,

1440
01:07:50,133 --> 01:07:52,133
I'll say catch up, but Yeah, I dunno if I really mean,

1441
01:07:52,133 --> 01:07:54,166
do they have time to catch up to meet this requirement?

1442
01:07:54,266 --> 01:07:58,100
- They do. And, and the high school leadership team, like

1443
01:07:58,734 --> 01:07:59,767
over and overstated,

1444
01:08:00,100 --> 01:08:03,300
most kids do take four full years of math.

1445
01:08:03,467 --> 01:08:05,700
Yeah. It's really, it would be a very

1446
01:08:05,700 --> 01:08:07,166
minimal, minimal change.

1447
01:08:08,100 --> 01:08:10,500
- So the extra year of math is really the biggest change.

1448
01:08:10,533 --> 01:08:14,066
Yeah, sure. What, what's, how do they do that?

1449
01:08:14,500 --> 01:08:16,634
Would, would they typically lose a

1450
01:08:16,634 --> 01:08:18,000
study for lack of a better term?

1451
01:08:18,000 --> 01:08:20,100
Or is it just shing

1452
01:08:20,100 --> 01:08:21,100
- Around co courses?

1453
01:08:21,100 --> 01:08:22,266
No, it's just, just, just shuffling it around.

1454
01:08:22,533 --> 01:08:24,066
Okay. Yep. Alright.

1455
01:08:24,066 --> 01:08:26,934
- That's it for me. - Thanks Mark. Mike, anything?

1456
01:08:27,467 --> 01:08:30,000
- So I just wanted to get a little bit more clarification.

1457
01:08:30,000 --> 01:08:34,066
So the one full year in a STEM course would be eliminated.

1458
01:08:34,066 --> 01:08:36,333
That's worth one credit. So what would some examples

1459
01:08:36,333 --> 01:08:37,734
of like a STEM course be?

1460
01:08:40,100 --> 01:08:43,033
- I'm not really sure what they have in the program

1461
01:08:43,133 --> 01:08:44,333
of studies in terms of

1462
01:08:45,000 --> 01:08:46,500
what they've had as their requirement.

1463
01:08:46,867 --> 01:08:49,300
I do know that they have a full load of,

1464
01:08:50,066 --> 01:08:52,367
of science, computer science classes.

1465
01:08:53,066 --> 01:08:54,834
And I believe that's really has been

1466
01:08:54,934 --> 01:08:56,033
a computer science focus.

1467
01:08:56,066 --> 01:08:59,533
And I think it's why the originally,

1468
01:08:59,634 --> 01:09:03,867
and you might remember why the, the four year went

1469
01:09:03,867 --> 01:09:06,934
to three year was to, I think there was some concern

1470
01:09:06,934 --> 01:09:09,367
that they really wanted to, to kind of

1471
01:09:10,133 --> 01:09:11,300
reinforce the opportunity

1472
01:09:12,000 --> 01:09:14,000
to take a computer science course Yep.

1473
01:09:14,133 --> 01:09:15,300
Is my understanding from what,

1474
01:09:15,333 --> 01:09:16,767
what the leadership team explained.

1475
01:09:17,333 --> 01:09:19,500
- But there's a lot of overlap - There is

1476
01:09:19,734 --> 01:09:22,100
- Between math and computer science. So I, I get it.

1477
01:09:22,166 --> 01:09:24,133
- Yeah. That's, that's assumption

1478
01:09:24,133 --> 01:09:26,567
that I would make just only because if I'm looking at like

1479
01:09:26,667 --> 01:09:29,367
the 0.5 credit for digital literacy, it's kind

1480
01:09:29,500 --> 01:09:30,934
of embedded in a lot of other classes.

1481
01:09:31,634 --> 01:09:34,634
I would, as, it would be safe to assume that some of the,

1482
01:09:34,700 --> 01:09:37,266
the STEM coursework is probably embedded in some

1483
01:09:37,266 --> 01:09:38,467
of the other classes as well.

1484
01:09:38,834 --> 01:09:41,266
So, okay. That's all that's, I was just asking it

1485
01:09:41,266 --> 01:09:42,266
for a little clarification.

1486
01:09:42,266 --> 01:09:43,266
Yeah, I appreciate that.

1487
01:09:45,000 --> 01:09:47,300
- Yeah. And I'll say from from our subcommittee discussion,

1488
01:09:47,300 --> 01:09:48,700
I think one of that was one of the things

1489
01:09:48,700 --> 01:09:51,100
that we had flagged, well first of all, it, it took us of,

1490
01:09:51,133 --> 01:09:52,834
of like 15 minutes to wrap our heads

1491
01:09:52,834 --> 01:09:54,367
around the grad graduation requirements

1492
01:09:54,367 --> 01:09:56,500
and the competencies we got through that.

1493
01:09:56,767 --> 01:09:59,000
I wish you had been there to provide some of that clarity.

1494
01:10:00,500 --> 01:10:02,000
And then I think the other thing that,

1495
01:10:02,033 --> 01:10:03,767
that Annette had brought up in that was the,

1496
01:10:03,934 --> 01:10:05,333
the half year of digital literacy.

1497
01:10:05,333 --> 01:10:06,767
So I think she'll be, she's not here,

1498
01:10:06,767 --> 01:10:08,066
but I think she'll be happy to hear that

1499
01:10:08,066 --> 01:10:09,700
that's incorporated in other spaces.

1500
01:10:10,033 --> 01:10:11,500
'cause she was concerned about losing that.

1501
01:10:12,834 --> 01:10:16,100
But otherwise I I, we didn't have a lot of feedback.

1502
01:10:17,433 --> 01:10:19,867
- Yeah. I think the math is the biggest change process

1503
01:10:20,133 --> 01:10:21,133
- Question.

1504
01:10:21,133 --> 01:10:22,533
Moving, moving out of the, the policy specifics

1505
01:10:23,333 --> 01:10:24,567
for us tonight.

1506
01:10:24,667 --> 01:10:25,934
Do you need a vote tonight?

1507
01:10:26,333 --> 01:10:27,700
'cause typically what we've done is we've

1508
01:10:27,767 --> 01:10:28,867
reviewed it, we brought it back.

1509
01:10:29,333 --> 01:10:31,033
We don't have any changes on this one.

1510
01:10:31,033 --> 01:10:32,834
So we could vote on this one tonight and,

1511
01:10:32,834 --> 01:10:34,233
and potentially the next one, depending on

1512
01:10:34,233 --> 01:10:36,066
how the discussion goes, is your preference

1513
01:10:36,066 --> 01:10:38,000
that you get a vote on this tonight? I would

1514
01:10:38,133 --> 01:10:39,567
- Love and appreciate that if

1515
01:10:39,867 --> 01:10:41,000
possible, if you're comfortable with that.

1516
01:10:41,033 --> 01:10:43,000
If not, we can certainly kick it to the next meeting.

1517
01:10:43,100 --> 01:10:44,266
- Does it make your life easier?

1518
01:10:45,567 --> 01:10:48,233
- Yeah, I mean, it, it just gets the ball rolling. Okay.

1519
01:10:49,834 --> 01:10:50,834
Sooner.

1520
01:10:52,867 --> 01:10:54,233
- Do you wanna, should we, let's do that now.

1521
01:10:54,367 --> 01:10:56,133
If, if everybody's comfortable with it. I'm ready.

1522
01:10:56,133 --> 01:10:57,133
Okay, great.

1523
01:10:57,934 --> 01:11:01,100
- I'd like to make a motion to approve policy

1524
01:11:02,000 --> 01:11:05,033
IKF graduation requirements.

1525
01:11:05,000 --> 01:11:08,266
- Second - Moved and seconded. All in favor? Aye. Aye.

1526
01:11:08,567 --> 01:11:09,567
Four zero.

1527
01:11:10,300 --> 01:11:13,467
- Okay. Thank you. - With that, we will move over to the

1528
01:11:14,367 --> 01:11:18,467
IKFE policy, which is

1529
01:11:19,066 --> 01:11:20,066
- Alright.

1530
01:11:20,066 --> 01:11:21,467
This one might make your head hurt a little bit.

1531
01:11:22,667 --> 01:11:27,233
So this is separate from graduation requirements.

1532
01:11:27,233 --> 01:11:29,133
These are graduation requirements.

1533
01:11:30,467 --> 01:11:34,300
Our competency determination used to be MCAS, you had to,

1534
01:11:34,333 --> 01:11:36,500
you had to pass MCAS to graduate.

1535
01:11:37,000 --> 01:11:38,000
- Can I stop you right there? Yes.

1536
01:11:38,000 --> 01:11:39,467
Because I was going to jump in

1537
01:11:40,133 --> 01:11:43,233
between graduation requirement and competency determination.

1538
01:11:43,233 --> 01:11:45,300
Yep. DESI is doing stuff at the state level.

1539
01:11:45,700 --> 01:11:47,233
Apparently people aren't thrilled about. Right.

1540
01:11:47,567 --> 01:11:50,100
So can you kinda like maybe weave that in

1541
01:11:50,100 --> 01:11:51,300
or explain it after?

1542
01:11:51,867 --> 01:11:53,700
- Sure. Alright. Thank you. I can tell you there's

1543
01:11:53,700 --> 01:11:54,834
no need to worry right now.

1544
01:11:55,033 --> 01:11:57,767
Okay. Yeah. It's very much in the works

1545
01:11:58,467 --> 01:12:02,500
and still going out for public comment and feedback and,

1546
01:12:02,867 --> 01:12:06,066
and even if it all was to come to fruition, it wouldn't be

1547
01:12:06,133 --> 01:12:07,266
for a few years down the road.

1548
01:12:07,867 --> 01:12:11,033
Possibly 28, 29 I even heard 30. Got it. Okay.

1549
01:12:11,000 --> 01:12:15,100
So, but these, so, so we were encouraged

1550
01:12:15,100 --> 01:12:18,467
because we, we being Bill Ricka, were kind of waiting

1551
01:12:18,567 --> 01:12:20,634
to see, okay, this stuff is going on at the state level.

1552
01:12:20,634 --> 01:12:21,734
We're not going to jump in

1553
01:12:22,133 --> 01:12:23,500
and then just have to change it later.

1554
01:12:23,734 --> 01:12:26,233
And we were given direction when I was at

1555
01:12:26,233 --> 01:12:29,100
that conference in the fall to say, Nope, move forward

1556
01:12:29,367 --> 01:12:32,033
because we've got a long, a long way to go

1557
01:12:33,100 --> 01:12:34,867
before those graduation requirements

1558
01:12:34,867 --> 01:12:36,734
that are happening at the state level would, would

1559
01:12:38,133 --> 01:12:41,133
become implemented.

1560
01:12:41,700 --> 01:12:43,133
Okay. So

1561
01:12:44,300 --> 01:12:48,233
before you had to meet all of the graduation requirements

1562
01:12:48,634 --> 01:12:51,066
and in addition, pass MCAS

1563
01:12:54,133 --> 01:12:56,867
Because that is no longer a requirement.

1564
01:12:58,266 --> 01:13:02,266
The state has said they've left it up to the districts

1565
01:13:02,333 --> 01:13:04,333
to determine competency.

1566
01:13:05,500 --> 01:13:10,033
And so MASC developed a

1567
01:13:11,300 --> 01:13:15,433
policy draft for districts, a template for districts to use.

1568
01:13:16,066 --> 01:13:19,367
And so superintendents all across the state,

1569
01:13:19,367 --> 01:13:22,000
and certainly in the Merrimack Valley collaborated to,

1570
01:13:23,033 --> 01:13:25,667
to do this work together so that it would, we would be able

1571
01:13:25,667 --> 01:13:27,700
to provide students with a similar experience.

1572
01:13:28,100 --> 01:13:30,266
If you're coming to school in, in Ricca

1573
01:13:30,300 --> 01:13:32,233
and you happen to move to Chelmsford

1574
01:13:32,467 --> 01:13:36,634
or you know, tbo it, it would, you would not be

1575
01:13:37,867 --> 01:13:40,266
unable to meet the competency determination.

1576
01:13:42,533 --> 01:13:46,900
So in terms of requirements, one of the things

1577
01:13:46,900 --> 01:13:49,166
that I think you, you might have been thinking about John,

1578
01:13:49,467 --> 01:13:50,867
is to show mastery.

1579
01:13:51,000 --> 01:13:55,433
So what they're asking us to, to consider is MCAS tested

1580
01:13:56,634 --> 01:13:58,700
math, ELA

1581
01:13:59,000 --> 01:14:02,867
and science, so up through 10th grade.

1582
01:14:03,367 --> 01:14:06,233
And so they want us to have a, a measure

1583
01:14:07,066 --> 01:14:10,100
to determine whether students can meet competency

1584
01:14:10,100 --> 01:14:13,533
and demonstrate mastery in at the same level Right.

1585
01:14:13,567 --> 01:14:15,367
In those courses. And so

1586
01:14:16,066 --> 01:14:17,934
they've definitely given some leeway,

1587
01:14:17,934 --> 01:14:20,567
which we appreciate in terms of being able to show that,

1588
01:14:21,066 --> 01:14:23,500
that demonstration, that competency, competency

1589
01:14:23,500 --> 01:14:26,066
through a final assessment for a course, a capstone

1590
01:14:26,100 --> 01:14:31,033
or a portfolio or an equivalent measure identified in,

1591
01:14:31,100 --> 01:14:34,700
in our policy that was really important to, to most of us,

1592
01:14:35,133 --> 01:14:37,066
that we weren't falling back on.

1593
01:14:37,066 --> 01:14:39,567
You have to pass this test that there are many ways

1594
01:14:39,700 --> 01:14:41,700
for students to demonstrate competency.

1595
01:14:42,100 --> 01:14:46,867
And that can be left up to the, the instructors as long

1596
01:14:46,867 --> 01:14:49,100
as they're using one of these or,

1597
01:14:49,166 --> 01:14:51,934
or any of these three things. Yeah. Go ahead. So

1598
01:14:51,934 --> 01:14:54,000
- Yeah, back to the point I was trying to make, right?

1599
01:14:54,000 --> 01:14:57,300
Maybe I wasn't clear, was, I guess I was wondering if,

1600
01:14:57,634 --> 01:15:00,333
wouldn't it be helpful and, and it's certainly beneficial

1601
01:15:00,500 --> 01:15:02,266
and for, from an equity standpoint, for students

1602
01:15:02,500 --> 01:15:05,700
to have a consistent common final assessment if the course

1603
01:15:05,700 --> 01:15:07,133
is being taught by multiple teachers.

1604
01:15:08,166 --> 01:15:10,066
And so that's what I thought this was tying in with,

1605
01:15:10,066 --> 01:15:13,033
with this particular piece here, that outta fairness

1606
01:15:13,100 --> 01:15:14,500
to students, you'd have a common assessment

1607
01:15:15,000 --> 01:15:16,233
that would be one of the three ways

1608
01:15:16,233 --> 01:15:17,367
that you could show mastery.

1609
01:15:18,567 --> 01:15:22,333
- Yes, sure. Except what we wanted to make sure we had open

1610
01:15:22,467 --> 01:15:26,300
to students is that a test isn't always the best way

1611
01:15:26,700 --> 01:15:29,066
for all students to demonstrate their understanding.

1612
01:15:29,734 --> 01:15:32,100
And so, especially with a lot of the work we're doing

1613
01:15:32,100 --> 01:15:35,100
around universal Design for learning, there are many ways

1614
01:15:35,100 --> 01:15:37,634
that students can demonstrate their understanding

1615
01:15:37,667 --> 01:15:40,066
and a test may not be there their most preferred way.

1616
01:15:40,567 --> 01:15:43,100
So we wanted to make sure that, that there was some,

1617
01:15:43,567 --> 01:15:44,567
some room there.

1618
01:15:49,333 --> 01:15:53,634
Okay. So what we did was we took the MASC policy, we met

1619
01:15:53,634 --> 01:15:57,133
as a team and created a draft.

1620
01:15:57,233 --> 01:15:59,066
We sent that draft to Michael Joyce.

1621
01:15:59,066 --> 01:16:01,333
And you're seeing, seeing the red lines here.

1622
01:16:02,934 --> 01:16:05,033
So moving down just a little bit to the section,

1623
01:16:05,233 --> 01:16:07,500
A student enrolled in the Bill Brook of Public schools

1624
01:16:08,033 --> 01:16:11,033
will be determined to have satisfactory completed coursework

1625
01:16:11,066 --> 01:16:13,066
and earn full credit in accordance

1626
01:16:13,066 --> 01:16:14,233
with the district grading policy.

1627
01:16:14,700 --> 01:16:16,000
And that's in our student handbook.

1628
01:16:16,166 --> 01:16:19,100
And then the following requirements that are outlined below.

1629
01:16:20,000 --> 01:16:24,333
So if you go down, it will show you

1630
01:16:24,367 --> 01:16:27,333
to our bill ricka aligned courses.

1631
01:16:28,233 --> 01:16:32,000
So this first chart was just the,

1632
01:16:33,500 --> 01:16:34,533
we didn't keep this chart.

1633
01:16:34,567 --> 01:16:37,900
This chart was just the draft that MASC gave us.

1634
01:16:38,734 --> 01:16:42,166
And then the state asked us to align our own courses.

1635
01:16:43,100 --> 01:16:45,333
And so we did that. So if you go to Yep.

1636
01:16:45,333 --> 01:16:49,567
To content area and course offerings.

1637
01:16:49,567 --> 01:16:52,767
So what we did here is we listed the course offerings

1638
01:16:53,033 --> 01:16:57,166
that would meet the competency determination for ELA,

1639
01:16:58,000 --> 01:17:00,900
any of these courses, mathematics,

1640
01:17:02,834 --> 01:17:07,767
science, and US history, beginning with the graduating class

1641
01:17:07,767 --> 01:17:11,567
of 2027, any of these courses

1642
01:17:14,500 --> 01:17:15,567
in each subject area.

1643
01:17:19,634 --> 01:17:22,000
Then we had to consider students with disabilities

1644
01:17:22,934 --> 01:17:25,233
and students who are English learners.

1645
01:17:27,133 --> 01:17:30,867
So this next section talks about offering a free

1646
01:17:30,867 --> 01:17:32,100
and appropriate public education,

1647
01:17:32,634 --> 01:17:35,533
talks about students in out of district placements,

1648
01:17:40,867 --> 01:17:42,834
and then looking at English language learners.

1649
01:17:46,333 --> 01:17:49,066
This just explains how we would make sure that any

1650
01:17:49,066 --> 01:17:51,000
of our English language learners would have equal

1651
01:17:51,000 --> 01:17:53,467
opportunity to meet the CD requirements,

1652
01:17:53,667 --> 01:17:55,433
having appropriate language supports

1653
01:17:55,433 --> 01:17:57,433
and scaffolds extended time for assessments

1654
01:17:57,433 --> 01:17:59,266
and projects, alternative demonstration methods

1655
01:17:59,700 --> 01:18:01,533
that accommodate language proficiency levels.

1656
01:18:02,133 --> 01:18:05,166
And then we have specific E ES ESL courses

1657
01:18:06,700 --> 01:18:09,767
that students can take that would meet the competency.

1658
01:18:11,900 --> 01:18:14,233
And then there's a section for late enrolling students.

1659
01:18:15,266 --> 01:18:19,934
So students who enroll here in Bill Ricka from another

1660
01:18:20,000 --> 01:18:22,433
after ninth grade who are coming from a different district.

1661
01:18:23,533 --> 01:18:27,900
And if you scroll down, you'll see the bullets. Yep. Good.

1662
01:18:28,133 --> 01:18:32,100
The bullets for transcript review course completion

1663
01:18:33,000 --> 01:18:35,033
and MCAS exception.

1664
01:18:39,300 --> 01:18:43,166
So if for some reason extenuating circumstance

1665
01:18:45,033 --> 01:18:47,133
their through their transcript review

1666
01:18:47,133 --> 01:18:49,834
or their course completion, it, it didn't align,

1667
01:18:50,000 --> 01:18:53,266
we could offer them to take MCAS obviously.

1668
01:18:53,533 --> 01:18:56,500
So everybody understands MCAS is still a requirement.

1669
01:18:56,500 --> 01:18:58,500
We still do need to take, it's just not a requirement

1670
01:18:58,500 --> 01:18:59,867
for graduation.

1671
01:19:03,333 --> 01:19:04,567
And then there's an appeal process.

1672
01:19:06,000 --> 01:19:07,734
So any current students

1673
01:19:09,033 --> 01:19:11,667
can appeal the determination of competency.

1674
01:19:12,467 --> 01:19:14,333
And in this way with an initial review,

1675
01:19:14,533 --> 01:19:17,066
the principal review can also also make

1676
01:19:17,066 --> 01:19:18,000
its way up to the superintendent.

1677
01:19:18,533 --> 01:19:21,066
And then a final decision will be mond.

1678
01:19:25,467 --> 01:19:27,133
And then the other consideration,

1679
01:19:28,100 --> 01:19:30,700
which is the most interesting of all, is those

1680
01:19:30,700 --> 01:19:34,166
that were in the classes of 2003 to 2024,

1681
01:19:35,100 --> 01:19:37,133
- Who - Possibly didn't earn a diploma

1682
01:19:38,367 --> 01:19:40,634
because they didn't pass MCAS.

1683
01:19:41,634 --> 01:19:45,266
We needed to identify how they could appeal

1684
01:19:46,100 --> 01:19:47,266
to get their diploma.

1685
01:19:48,100 --> 01:19:50,133
And that's also outlined here.

1686
01:19:50,900 --> 01:19:52,233
They have to meet these requirements.

1687
01:19:52,233 --> 01:19:54,867
They have to obviously previously been enrolled in the

1688
01:19:55,066 --> 01:19:58,433
district, met the criteria for certificate of attainment

1689
01:19:59,000 --> 01:20:02,634
and was not previously reported in any

1690
01:20:03,100 --> 01:20:04,033
as a graduated in,

1691
01:20:04,233 --> 01:20:06,700
in any District Sims submission, obviously.

1692
01:20:07,367 --> 01:20:11,634
And then there's a similar review process for that.

1693
01:20:13,333 --> 01:20:17,300
Mr. Murphy doesn't see that as, you know, most

1694
01:20:17,300 --> 01:20:20,033
of our students have have graduated.

1695
01:20:21,066 --> 01:20:25,634
He doesn't see there being a huge influx of people who are,

1696
01:20:25,734 --> 01:20:29,300
are looking to and have that reviewed.

1697
01:20:29,367 --> 01:20:30,367
But it could happen.

1698
01:20:36,433 --> 01:20:37,900
- Are we into the questions? We

1699
01:20:37,900 --> 01:20:38,900
- Are ready for questions.

1700
01:20:38,900 --> 01:20:41,100
- Okay. I I will just say on, on the appeals process.

1701
01:20:41,367 --> 01:20:43,000
I remember that was a big topic

1702
01:20:43,000 --> 01:20:45,133
of discussion at Mae's conference last year.

1703
01:20:45,133 --> 01:20:47,000
Yeah. Because I think that was when that ruling or,

1704
01:20:47,000 --> 01:20:48,667
or some of the decisions had started to come out

1705
01:20:48,667 --> 01:20:50,734
and everybody was very excited that that opportunity

1706
01:20:51,300 --> 01:20:53,667
would then open up for, for previous students.

1707
01:20:55,066 --> 01:20:56,300
All right. I'll leave any questions

1708
01:20:56,300 --> 01:20:58,033
or comments I have for later.

1709
01:20:59,033 --> 01:21:01,133
The one I did want to flag from the subcommittee's

1710
01:21:01,133 --> 01:21:03,066
discussion was at the end as it relates

1711
01:21:03,066 --> 01:21:05,734
to the appeals process for, for previous students.

1712
01:21:08,634 --> 01:21:11,166
I not, I noted above in the, in the appeals process

1713
01:21:11,266 --> 01:21:14,133
for current students, we list which specific roles will be

1714
01:21:14,133 --> 01:21:15,133
responsible for those reviews.

1715
01:21:16,500 --> 01:21:18,266
So the principal will do the initial review

1716
01:21:18,266 --> 01:21:20,567
and then the superintendent has an opportunity

1717
01:21:20,567 --> 01:21:24,066
for review if, if students', families are, are unhappy

1718
01:21:24,100 --> 01:21:27,066
or unsatisfied with the principal's decision down below.

1719
01:21:27,533 --> 01:21:30,000
And again, like you just said there, you don't expect a lot

1720
01:21:30,000 --> 01:21:32,000
of former students to come forward,

1721
01:21:33,000 --> 01:21:34,634
but it just says that the district reviews it.

1722
01:21:34,634 --> 01:21:36,767
And I thought it would be helpful to list out who's

1723
01:21:37,000 --> 01:21:38,667
who exactly is responsible for that review.

1724
01:21:42,133 --> 01:21:43,900
And I didn't know if that was something we could figure out

1725
01:21:43,900 --> 01:21:45,133
tonight so we could get this voted on

1726
01:21:45,166 --> 01:21:47,000
or if you, if the district needed a little

1727
01:21:47,000 --> 01:21:48,066
bit of time to think that through.

1728
01:21:51,900 --> 01:21:54,033
So that was one. And while you're thinking about that,

1729
01:21:54,000 --> 01:21:55,266
the other thing I wanted to flag.

1730
01:21:55,266 --> 01:21:57,266
Yeah. And maybe I'll wait just

1731
01:21:57,934 --> 01:21:59,734
'cause I don't wanna, it's a question for you guys

1732
01:21:59,734 --> 01:22:03,066
and I don't want to do that while you're trying page Yeah.

1733
01:22:03,066 --> 01:22:05,133
That is the right page. Yeah. So it's the second set

1734
01:22:05,133 --> 01:22:06,233
of of, of, okay.

1735
01:22:06,266 --> 01:22:07,367
Yeah, you are.

1736
01:22:08,233 --> 01:22:10,133
The second question from the committee was, was

1737
01:22:10,133 --> 01:22:11,133
that last note there,

1738
01:22:11,166 --> 01:22:13,033
the district's comp competency

1739
01:22:13,300 --> 01:22:14,634
determination policies required?

1740
01:22:14,934 --> 01:22:16,867
Was that a note for us? And can we remove

1741
01:22:16,867 --> 01:22:19,000
that from the final draft before we approve it?

1742
01:22:20,500 --> 01:22:22,133
It's the, the last two paragraphs

1743
01:22:22,133 --> 01:22:23,133
before the legal references.

1744
01:22:28,533 --> 01:22:29,700
- This paragraph here.

1745
01:22:30,100 --> 01:22:34,667
- Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think we can, yeah, I think we can.

1746
01:22:34,734 --> 01:22:36,033
I mean he didn't, he didn't take it out.

1747
01:22:36,100 --> 01:22:37,133
I think Manny did leave it

1748
01:22:37,133 --> 01:22:38,900
in, but we can certainly take it out. Okay. Because

1749
01:22:38,900 --> 01:22:41,767
- The, the first part I think is, is really for us.

1750
01:22:41,834 --> 01:22:44,100
And then the second part about being posted is something

1751
01:22:44,100 --> 01:22:46,700
that we do consistently with, with all

1752
01:22:46,700 --> 01:22:47,867
of our documentation already.

1753
01:22:48,000 --> 01:22:51,033
So, yep. Okay. That was it from the subcommittee.

1754
01:22:51,033 --> 01:22:52,667
So with that, I'll open it up to committee members

1755
01:22:52,667 --> 01:22:53,867
who might have questions or comments.

1756
01:22:53,867 --> 01:22:56,767
Does anybody wanna lead us off? Oh, I'll do Marian.

1757
01:22:59,867 --> 01:23:02,066
- I'm assuming that if you're putting all of this together,

1758
01:23:02,700 --> 01:23:06,700
that every time a kid sets up their schedule that

1759
01:23:06,767 --> 01:23:10,100
with guidance that they'll be guided to what they need.

1760
01:23:10,333 --> 01:23:13,867
- Exactly. We talked a lot about that to make sure. Yes.

1761
01:23:14,033 --> 01:23:17,300
- Because I know as a parent we used to go through the book

1762
01:23:17,333 --> 01:23:20,834
and most of the time you don't really pay attention to

1763
01:23:20,834 --> 01:23:23,100
what those kids really need for graduation.

1764
01:23:23,033 --> 01:23:25,767
You are just, oh, okay, this is the course you wanna take.

1765
01:23:26,367 --> 01:23:29,000
But I think there is need of guidance to make sure

1766
01:23:29,834 --> 01:23:32,533
that whatever we are proposing that right along.

1767
01:23:33,333 --> 01:23:35,700
And then the same thing with these competencies

1768
01:23:35,867 --> 01:23:38,767
to have them be aware that this is important. Yeah.

1769
01:23:38,767 --> 01:23:40,066
- That's definitely where our counseling

1770
01:23:40,066 --> 01:23:41,000
department comes in for sure.

1771
01:23:41,433 --> 01:23:44,066
- Okay. So they'll definitely be on top.

1772
01:23:44,000 --> 01:23:47,100
That's my only concern, is I hate to see that get lost. Yep.

1773
01:23:47,367 --> 01:23:48,367
- Okay. - Thank you.

1774
01:23:49,634 --> 01:23:54,066
- Thanks, Marion, Mike or Mark? Mike. I

1775
01:23:54,066 --> 01:23:56,533
- Think I, I'll just piggyback John's commentary

1776
01:23:56,533 --> 01:23:57,767
around the appeals process.

1777
01:23:58,066 --> 01:24:01,166
I mean, if it makes sense to keep it for the kids

1778
01:24:01,166 --> 01:24:06,033
that graduated 2020, what, three 20 2023, 2024

1779
01:24:06,367 --> 01:24:08,367
to try to keep it as consistent as possible

1780
01:24:08,367 --> 01:24:10,567
with the review process, if that makes the most sense.

1781
01:24:10,734 --> 01:24:12,100
I mean, it seems logical, right.

1782
01:24:12,133 --> 01:24:14,367
Initial review, principal does a deeper dive,

1783
01:24:14,367 --> 01:24:16,500
superintendent review, then a final decision.

1784
01:24:16,667 --> 01:24:19,066
So that would be my recommendation just to move

1785
01:24:19,066 --> 01:24:21,000
that part down so it stays consistent.

1786
01:24:24,000 --> 01:24:26,033
- Thank you, Mike. Nothing else? Okay. Mark.

1787
01:24:26,634 --> 01:24:30,433
- So on the students from 2003 through 2024,

1788
01:24:31,100 --> 01:24:34,033
even if there's one student that comes back to appeal.

1789
01:24:34,100 --> 01:24:35,533
Yeah. How long do we keep student records?

1790
01:24:38,233 --> 01:24:40,333
- 60 - Years? Yeah. I mean, it's six zero.

1791
01:24:41,500 --> 01:24:43,000
- Okay then well good. 60 years.

1792
01:24:43,100 --> 01:24:47,033
- Yeah. So it it, it's absolutely possible.

1793
01:24:48,100 --> 01:24:50,166
- Although there's a bunch in the basement here probably.

1794
01:24:50,166 --> 01:24:51,166
Right.

1795
01:24:52,033 --> 01:24:53,266
- Know where they are? Yeah.

1796
01:24:53,266 --> 01:24:55,133
- They're all over the place. Okay. Yeah. But

1797
01:24:55,567 --> 01:24:57,266
- It's, no, - No, I wasn't being funny.

1798
01:24:57,500 --> 01:24:59,166
I think they really were electronic

1799
01:24:59,266 --> 01:25:00,266
- At - This point.

1800
01:25:00,266 --> 01:25:01,767
Okay. Good. Yeah. And then this,

1801
01:25:01,767 --> 01:25:04,000
this is truly a corner case.

1802
01:25:04,166 --> 01:25:05,500
When MCM CAS was a grad,

1803
01:25:05,533 --> 01:25:07,033
and this just came into my mind,

1804
01:25:07,500 --> 01:25:09,500
when mcm CAS was a graduation requirement,

1805
01:25:10,000 --> 01:25:13,000
what would happen if a kid moved in to town

1806
01:25:13,000 --> 01:25:16,367
or any district in, in Massachusetts as a junior,

1807
01:25:17,700 --> 01:25:18,700
- They would take it.

1808
01:25:18,734 --> 01:25:20,033
- They would have to take the 10th grade

1809
01:25:20,033 --> 01:25:21,567
and mass. Yes. In Massachusetts.

1810
01:25:21,934 --> 01:25:24,767
- Yes. Even students, ELL students who come

1811
01:25:24,867 --> 01:25:26,166
to this country Yep.

1812
01:25:27,133 --> 01:25:31,867
As seniors have to take it. Okay. Or had to take it. Good

1813
01:25:31,867 --> 01:25:32,867
- To know.

1814
01:25:32,867 --> 01:25:34,900
Yeah. All right. That's all for me. That's it.

1815
01:25:34,900 --> 01:25:36,634
- Okay. Yeah. Alright.

1816
01:25:36,634 --> 01:25:37,367
So we've had a little bit of

1817
01:25:37,367 --> 01:25:38,634
discussion about that review process.

1818
01:25:38,900 --> 01:25:40,300
Is there anything Yep. The district wants

1819
01:25:40,367 --> 01:25:42,333
to say at this point?

1820
01:25:42,367 --> 01:25:44,166
Are we prepared to make some revisions or do

1821
01:25:44,166 --> 01:25:45,667
- You need Yeah, I think, I think we

1822
01:25:45,667 --> 01:25:47,767
could, we could certainly do that.

1823
01:25:47,900 --> 01:25:50,100
I, the only, the timeline I would like to keep,

1824
01:25:51,100 --> 01:25:53,000
I just think it could take more time.

1825
01:25:53,433 --> 01:25:57,433
The, the timeline for the, the current students is,

1826
01:25:57,634 --> 01:25:59,133
is it's a brief window

1827
01:25:59,634 --> 01:26:01,300
and you'll notice that the timeline

1828
01:26:01,300 --> 01:26:03,033
for the previous students is longer.

1829
01:26:03,667 --> 01:26:06,567
And I think that might be necessary to get to the basement.

1830
01:26:09,500 --> 01:26:13,066
Okay. So I would like to keep that extended timeframe,

1831
01:26:13,100 --> 01:26:15,734
but we could, I could certainly make it

1832
01:26:18,100 --> 01:26:19,100
more outlined in terms

1833
01:26:19,100 --> 01:26:21,033
of more descriptive in terms of who's doing what.

1834
01:26:22,934 --> 01:26:27,533
- Okay. I, I mean I'm, I'm fine with all of that.

1835
01:26:27,900 --> 01:26:29,066
I appreciate you all taking that,

1836
01:26:29,066 --> 01:26:30,767
that friendly amendment there on that,

1837
01:26:32,567 --> 01:26:34,033
do we have enough to vote on this tonight?

1838
01:26:34,066 --> 01:26:36,133
Is everybody comfortable with approving it?

1839
01:26:37,066 --> 01:26:38,700
With the edits that we spoke about? Okay, great.

1840
01:26:39,734 --> 01:26:41,300
Then with that, I will accept a motion.

1841
01:26:42,033 --> 01:26:45,634
- I'd like to make a motion to approve policy

1842
01:26:46,233 --> 01:26:50,000
IKFE competency determination.

1843
01:26:50,266 --> 01:26:52,900
- Second. - As amended.

1844
01:26:53,066 --> 01:26:55,667
- As amended. - That's probably a not needed,

1845
01:26:55,667 --> 01:26:56,900
but just to be, cover ourselves.

1846
01:26:57,634 --> 01:27:00,100
Okay. We get a motion. Is there a second?

1847
01:27:00,066 --> 01:27:02,000
Was there a second mark? Yep. Alright, move. Seconded.

1848
01:27:02,000 --> 01:27:05,367
All in favor? Aye. Aye. Four zero. Alright. Thank you all.

1849
01:27:05,367 --> 01:27:10,000
- Great. Thank you so much. - Okay.

1850
01:27:15,233 --> 01:27:17,300
- I think what I'm gonna do if you're all comfortable is we

1851
01:27:17,300 --> 01:27:19,367
are gonna table the rest of these for the next meeting.

1852
01:27:20,734 --> 01:27:22,500
Are we good with that? Yep. Yes. Okay.

1853
01:27:23,767 --> 01:27:26,734
We did, just to give you all,

1854
01:27:26,734 --> 01:27:28,634
just a quick update from the policy subcommittee.

1855
01:27:28,767 --> 01:27:32,133
We did meet twice. We're not giving ourselves any pats on

1856
01:27:32,133 --> 01:27:34,100
the back because I think it's been almost 10 months since

1857
01:27:34,100 --> 01:27:37,867
we've met after our marathon sessions last year.

1858
01:27:38,066 --> 01:27:40,867
So we did get through, I wanna say in addition to these two,

1859
01:27:41,367 --> 01:27:43,233
which is what we spent, I think the bulk

1860
01:27:43,233 --> 01:27:44,934
of our time on this, the second night,

1861
01:27:45,734 --> 01:27:47,266
I wanna say about 17 policies.

1862
01:27:47,300 --> 01:27:49,033
So we do have a little bit of a bank here

1863
01:27:49,066 --> 01:27:51,433
that we can go over over the next few meetings.

1864
01:27:52,133 --> 01:27:55,133
And then we are planning to meet again in January.

1865
01:27:56,100 --> 01:27:57,100
Action items.

1866
01:27:58,834 --> 01:28:00,433
- John, do you wanna go through the rest

1867
01:28:00,433 --> 01:28:03,266
of the subcommittees besides for

1868
01:28:03,266 --> 01:28:04,266
- An update?

1869
01:28:04,266 --> 01:28:05,233
Oh, forgive me. Yes. Just in case they're,

1870
01:28:05,233 --> 01:28:07,300
they're not listed but yes, that, that wasn't agenda item

1871
01:28:08,033 --> 01:28:09,033
subcommittee updates.

1872
01:28:09,433 --> 01:28:13,000
- So finance subcommittee we meeting

1873
01:28:13,700 --> 01:28:17,300
this Thursday at two 30 to kind of go over some

1874
01:28:17,300 --> 01:28:19,000
of the budget items and so forth.

1875
01:28:19,867 --> 01:28:24,533
And then the long range master plan, I will have

1876
01:28:24,533 --> 01:28:27,000
to say has been kind of a disaster.

1877
01:28:28,934 --> 01:28:33,634
Meetings have been planned, canceled, planned again.

1878
01:28:33,900 --> 01:28:37,233
But so far they have made sure that I have not attended

1879
01:28:37,233 --> 01:28:39,533
because they've been on every school committee night.

1880
01:28:39,900 --> 01:28:42,700
So I'm not quite sure how

1881
01:28:42,700 --> 01:28:44,500
that will be working out in the future.

1882
01:28:44,767 --> 01:28:47,634
But just letting you know that I've been attempting

1883
01:28:48,033 --> 01:28:50,634
that, that committee there.

1884
01:28:50,667 --> 01:28:53,533
But it's been a little bit that we've had some,

1885
01:28:53,900 --> 01:28:56,000
we've had dates, things were canceled,

1886
01:28:56,900 --> 01:28:58,634
we got zoomed out one night.

1887
01:28:58,867 --> 01:29:01,166
There's just been a a little bit of confusion.

1888
01:29:01,433 --> 01:29:04,100
So I'm not quite sure how much

1889
01:29:04,867 --> 01:29:06,500
we'll be working on that committee.

1890
01:29:07,133 --> 01:29:08,333
So just letting you know.

1891
01:29:09,233 --> 01:29:11,266
- So if I could just really on that one,

1892
01:29:14,300 --> 01:29:16,333
I do remember I spoke

1893
01:29:16,333 --> 01:29:17,934
with Catherine when she was looking for somebody.

1894
01:29:18,133 --> 01:29:21,066
Yes. One of the offers was you can just go

1895
01:29:21,066 --> 01:29:22,100
through the document and start

1896
01:29:22,133 --> 01:29:23,867
providing updates electronically.

1897
01:29:23,867 --> 01:29:25,300
Have we, have you been able to go

1898
01:29:25,300 --> 01:29:26,367
through it and try to provide

1899
01:29:27,133 --> 01:29:29,867
- Or, so there's been a little confusion with that also.

1900
01:29:29,867 --> 01:29:31,634
Okay. So I do have the document,

1901
01:29:32,667 --> 01:29:37,333
but it was, some of it basically most of it was sent over

1902
01:29:37,433 --> 01:29:39,333
to the planning board.

1903
01:29:40,000 --> 01:29:43,300
We were supposed to be starting with kind

1904
01:29:43,300 --> 01:29:47,000
of doing a new update and working on a new document.

1905
01:29:47,433 --> 01:29:50,133
But since all of that came about,

1906
01:29:52,767 --> 01:29:55,367
we haven't been able to meet as a whole group at all.

1907
01:29:55,867 --> 01:29:59,700
Okay. So it's been kind of a miss.

1908
01:30:00,700 --> 01:30:03,433
Somebody can't make it. We got bumped outta Zoom at one

1909
01:30:03,433 --> 01:30:06,433
of our meetings, then we had a meeting

1910
01:30:06,634 --> 01:30:09,100
and somebody else said, well we need to cancel it.

1911
01:30:09,166 --> 01:30:10,500
'cause I had something that came up

1912
01:30:11,000 --> 01:30:12,500
and then a la couple

1913
01:30:12,567 --> 01:30:14,900
of them have been on school committee nights.

1914
01:30:15,033 --> 01:30:17,000
So I have not been able to attend.

1915
01:30:17,066 --> 01:30:18,000
But from what I heard,

1916
01:30:18,934 --> 01:30:21,433
not much much has been accomplished as of yet.

1917
01:30:21,867 --> 01:30:24,233
Okay. So I'm ho I, I don't know.

1918
01:30:24,500 --> 01:30:28,500
I think it's just been very slow, slow process

1919
01:30:29,033 --> 01:30:31,266
and everyone that's on there is on a committee

1920
01:30:32,300 --> 01:30:34,100
that meets a certain night.

1921
01:30:34,767 --> 01:30:38,166
So it makes it a little bit difficult to find a time

1922
01:30:38,367 --> 01:30:40,000
that we can all meet.

1923
01:30:41,000 --> 01:30:44,467
I had heard that they did have a certain date

1924
01:30:45,000 --> 01:30:49,467
that they would meet on like a fifth time in the month

1925
01:30:49,533 --> 01:30:51,100
or something that was in between all

1926
01:30:51,100 --> 01:30:52,567
of the committee meetings.

1927
01:30:53,367 --> 01:30:55,133
But we do have a chairperson

1928
01:30:55,066 --> 01:30:57,467
that has not followed that routine.

1929
01:30:57,767 --> 01:30:59,634
So it's been a little bit confusing.

1930
01:30:59,767 --> 01:31:03,066
So there's not been a lot accomplished as of

1931
01:31:03,066 --> 01:31:05,033
yet since I started on this group.

1932
01:31:06,066 --> 01:31:08,900
- And one more for me. On, on, on the long range plan,

1933
01:31:09,500 --> 01:31:10,667
master plan committee.

1934
01:31:11,033 --> 01:31:12,734
I'm probably butchering the name and I apologize. That's

1935
01:31:12,734 --> 01:31:13,233
- Okay. I do it

1936
01:31:13,233 --> 01:31:14,233
- Every time.

1937
01:31:14,567 --> 01:31:16,233
Do you have a full contingent at this point?

1938
01:31:16,266 --> 01:31:17,433
Is everybody that has,

1939
01:31:17,767 --> 01:31:20,734
- So everybody that is supposed to be on this team,

1940
01:31:21,133 --> 01:31:24,333
the problem is there's never been except

1941
01:31:24,333 --> 01:31:26,166
for I think one meeting that we've all been able

1942
01:31:26,166 --> 01:31:27,467
to get together.

1943
01:31:28,133 --> 01:31:29,233
- Well I appreciate you trying,

1944
01:31:29,767 --> 01:31:30,934
- So I keep on trying.

1945
01:31:31,033 --> 01:31:35,133
We'll see what happens. It's just been very

1946
01:31:36,033 --> 01:31:37,433
interesting is all I'm gonna say.

1947
01:31:37,700 --> 01:31:40,467
Okay. But just to let you know, that's it

1948
01:31:40,467 --> 01:31:41,634
for me for subcommittees

1949
01:31:41,834 --> 01:31:43,233
- A little spicy for subcommittee update.

1950
01:31:43,934 --> 01:31:46,100
I, I mean, I honestly appreciate it. I appreciate it.

1951
01:31:46,333 --> 01:31:48,433
I have another quick question on, I wanted

1952
01:31:48,500 --> 01:31:50,066
- To say somebody else needs to

1953
01:31:50,066 --> 01:31:51,066
- Try you.

1954
01:31:51,066 --> 01:31:54,066
Okay. We appreciate you so much.

1955
01:31:54,133 --> 01:31:56,834
Maybe we need to start bringing you baked goods on the,

1956
01:31:56,834 --> 01:31:58,033
on the finance subcommittee.

1957
01:31:58,734 --> 01:31:59,567
I'm just curious, how many

1958
01:31:59,567 --> 01:32:01,000
meetings have you all had this season?

1959
01:32:01,567 --> 01:32:06,066
- So we, we, we've actually had one. Okay.

1960
01:32:07,033 --> 01:32:11,233
And Michelle and I had a great meeting for that first one.

1961
01:32:11,233 --> 01:32:13,000
We did talk over a few things

1962
01:32:13,433 --> 01:32:15,834
and now we have the second meeting just

1963
01:32:15,834 --> 01:32:18,934
because of scheduling and all of that coming up this week.

1964
01:32:19,000 --> 01:32:20,033
Great. At two 30.

1965
01:32:21,367 --> 01:32:24,266
- All right. Any other subcommittee updates from anyone? No.

1966
01:32:24,500 --> 01:32:27,100
Okay. Then we will move to action items.

1967
01:32:28,567 --> 01:32:29,734
I know Marian

1968
01:32:29,734 --> 01:32:32,367
and I have started discussing getting the cell phone

1969
01:32:32,367 --> 01:32:33,834
subcommittee meeting going.

1970
01:32:34,634 --> 01:32:38,000
We haven't, we both have some, some scheduling.

1971
01:32:38,266 --> 01:32:40,533
Speaking of scheduling conflicts, it's been challenging.

1972
01:32:40,533 --> 01:32:44,066
But we will, we're gonna get it done in January. Yeah.

1973
01:32:44,133 --> 01:32:46,000
I'm, I'm hopeful we can get it done this week or next.

1974
01:32:46,133 --> 01:32:47,133
It'll probably be next just

1975
01:32:47,133 --> 01:32:49,266
because we have to post it with 48 hours notice.

1976
01:32:49,467 --> 01:32:50,700
But we're working on it.

1977
01:32:50,700 --> 01:32:53,500
We did, we did converse back and forth on some dates

1978
01:32:55,100 --> 01:32:56,834
- Just to add a little something.

1979
01:32:57,000 --> 01:33:00,100
I do have a high school representatives

1980
01:33:00,100 --> 01:33:01,734
who are interested in serving on that.

1981
01:33:01,734 --> 01:33:03,033
When you are, when you're ready.

1982
01:33:03,100 --> 01:33:04,266
I have some volunteers already

1983
01:33:04,266 --> 01:33:05,867
who have reached out Fantastic.

1984
01:33:05,867 --> 01:33:07,500
And said that they would love to be a part of it.

1985
01:33:11,033 --> 01:33:13,867
- Thank you for that. So we'll need to connect

1986
01:33:13,867 --> 01:33:15,066
with Lori and Yep.

1987
01:33:15,233 --> 01:33:17,567
Expand our, our network here on, on availability.

1988
01:33:17,667 --> 01:33:19,634
But that's, that's awesome. That's, that's some of

1989
01:33:19,634 --> 01:33:20,834
who we need to hear from on this.

1990
01:33:22,000 --> 01:33:23,333
Any other action items for anyone?

1991
01:33:24,333 --> 01:33:26,767
- I think just Mike and I have to get together on dates

1992
01:33:26,867 --> 01:33:28,867
to try to clear, you know, get everything on goals.

1993
01:33:29,133 --> 01:33:31,634
On goals so we can get that started. Great.

1994
01:33:33,166 --> 01:33:36,300
- Okay. And before I adjourned, caught myself tonight

1995
01:33:36,300 --> 01:33:38,500
before I did that, we do have some upcoming events.

1996
01:33:40,133 --> 01:33:43,433
Just one I got ahead of myself.

1997
01:33:43,734 --> 01:33:45,567
I knew there was writing on the back. I did the same thing.

1998
01:33:45,634 --> 01:33:49,000
I looked on the back high school musical six, January 22nd,

1999
01:33:49,000 --> 01:33:50,300
23rd and 24th.

2000
01:33:50,367 --> 01:33:52,033
Tickets are available. It's from eight

2001
01:33:52,033 --> 01:33:53,634
to nine 30 on each of those nights.

2002
01:33:54,667 --> 01:33:56,567
Come join us. I'm sure many of us will be there.

2003
01:33:57,266 --> 01:34:00,100
And with that I'll accept a motion to adjourn.

2004
01:34:01,533 --> 01:34:03,033
I would like to make a motion to adjourn.

2005
01:34:03,033 --> 01:34:05,734
Second move, seconded. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye.

2006
01:34:05,934 --> 01:34:08,166
We are adjourned. Goodnight everyone. Thank you.