[0:05] The Monday, September 14th, 2026 meeting of the Fitchburg school committee. I
[0:11] now call this meeting to order.
[0:13] Please be advised that FATV is conducting an audio and
[0:15] video recording of this meeting for public broadcast. If anyone
[0:19] in the audience is recording, I ask you.
[0:21] To identify yourself at this time.
[0:24] Seeing none.
[0:26] Now I ask if you can place all your electronic
[0:28] devices into silent mode.
[0:32] On our agenda. Next, we will do this Salute to
[0:35] the Flag.
[0:36] Is Deb Jeffries, would you please lead us? Sure.
[0:43] Hi pleasure of the United States of America. And.
[1:01] All right. Thank you.
[1:03] Up next on our agenda. We have school committee members
[1:06] and student reports.
[1:08] School committee chair report. I will report that we have
[1:11] just successfully conducted a joint convention of the city council
[1:15] and the school committee.
[1:16] Of which our new member to replace.
[1:19] Our former member that has resigned. Dr. Meritz Knight is
[1:22] Steffani Santiago.
[1:24] Congratulations. Thank you very much.
[1:29] Now to inform Ms. Santiago of our committee structure.
[1:34] So we have the resource subcommittee.
[1:37] That consists of Pete Stevens as chair.
[1:40] With Deb Jeffries and Jim Walsh.
[1:43] Now, now I'm going to name all these, but you
[1:45] are welcome to attend any meeting of, and if any,
[1:48] one of these subcommittees as well.
[1:51] The school building needs. Subcommittee is currently Pete Stevens as
[1:54] chair.
[1:55] With Deb Jeffries and Jim Walsh.
[1:58] The policy subcommittees has dubbed Jeffries as chair.
[2:01] Lindsey Englund and Bob Campbell.
[2:04] The student support subcommittee.
[2:07] Lindsey Englund as chair.
[2:09] Bob Campbell and Steffani Santiago.
[2:12] The school personnel subcommittee.
[2:14] Is myself mayor Squailia with Pete Stevens and Jim Walsh.
[2:20] And then we have the student.
[2:22] Advisory committee, which consists of the entirety.
[2:26] Of the school committee, all.
[2:28] Right. And then we have the Student Representative.
[2:31] Okay. So coming up of our reports, school committee, chair
[2:34] report, I just gave that the resource subcommittee we'll meet.
[2:39] On September 29th.
[2:42] Great. That's 5:00 PM.
[2:44] At the, where is it at school department school at
[2:47] south street, south street, south 3 76 south street. Wonderful. And
[2:50] school building needs will follow that. Yes.
[2:53] Same night, September 29th.
[2:55] Thank you. Policy subcommittee.
[2:58] We are meeting Wednesday night at five o'clock central office.
[3:02] On the third floor that has superintendent's conference room.
[3:11] This, this Wednesday, this Wednesday. Yeah, Wednesday the 16th. Thankyou.
[3:12] Students support subcommittee.
[3:15] The meeting was scheduled for today at five o'clock, but
[3:18] was canceled with interest of time due to the joint
[3:20] convention.
[3:22] So we will now be meeting on October 5th.
[3:25] At 5:00 PM right here.
[3:27] Right here at the legislative building right here at the
[3:29] legislative building. Perfect. Is that right before a meeting? Yes.
[3:31] Before our next sub school committee meeting.
[3:34] Wonderful. And then school personnel, subcommittee. There is no report.
[3:39] Student advisory committee.
[3:42] Our next meeting of the student advisory committee will meet
[3:45] on October.
[3:47] 19th here at the legislative building.
[3:50] At 5:00 PM that consists of the school committee.
[3:53] And all, all of our student representatives.
[3:55] Representatives and we have the Student Representative for report.
[4:00] Welcome to our new Student Representative Mave McGinnis.
[4:04] McGinnis Dave. Hi. Hi. Hello.
[4:07] Now Mave, I would just like to also preface this
[4:09] with you'll give your report and you are welcome to
[4:13] stay for the duration of the meeting and you are
[4:15] welcome.
[4:16] To ask questions also for, you know, any, any of
[4:20] our meetings at all, ask questions, bring up concerns.
[4:24] Concerns, you know, address the council, just motion to me
[4:26] and, and I will, you know, make it known that
[4:29] it is your term speak. Okay. Awesome.
[4:33] Well,
[4:36] I think
[4:37] God I've noticed is that the dormant app has been
[4:39] working well.
[4:40] But there are some trouble.
[4:43] That kids were worried about not reaching their families, which
[4:45] I know you said they could reach the office, but
[4:47] I was just talking to some people and they were
[4:50] like, they had struggles with.
[4:51] That not communicating for the first time ever.
[4:55] Girl soccer team won against Leominster first time ever.
[5:00] For nine 11 Fitchburg girls field hockey team wore commandment
[5:05] shirts to honor all victims of the nine 11 attacks.
[5:08] Attacks kids. What I we've noticed is that kids are
[5:14] very like,
[5:16] hesitant to join after school.
[5:18] Extracurriculars cuz you're worried about rides home. So I was
[5:20] thinking maybe advertising the Mart bus a little bit more.
[5:24] Because we've noticed that, especially with the class of 2030,
[5:28] a lot of kids haven't.
[5:31] Hesitant to join in with extracurriculars.
[5:33] Extracurriculars AP money has also been raised, which I know
[5:38] a lot of kids were upset about.
[5:40] Cuz it's gone from $15 to $20, which it's not
[5:44] like a big raise.
[5:46] But if kids are taking more than one APS, then
[5:48] that adds up pretty quick and can't get pretty expensive.
[5:51] Yeah, it's pretty much all so far.
[5:54] All right. Thank you. Thanks Superintendent Thompson. What is AP
[5:57] money?
[5:58] The cost to take AP tests, correct? Yeah. So that's
[6:00] from the AP board. They increase the rates again.
[6:04] To what? 15 to $20. You said it was last
[6:06] year. It was 15 this year. It was 20 it's.
[6:08] 20.
[6:10] Now there were grants several years ago for us to
[6:12] apply for. I mean, so the cost of an AP
[6:15] test, I believe is $92.
[6:18] A test, the students contribute.
[6:21] 20 there's an offsetting grant.
[6:25] That ranges in the 35 to 40 range. And then
[6:27] the school district picks up the remainder. Okay.
[6:30] In discussions with Ms. Robeson, who's the testing coordinator in
[6:34] the guidance department.
[6:36] At Fitchburg high school.
[6:39] We had talked last year about the possibility of increasing
[6:41] it to 20, because the cost have been challenging.
[6:45] I think for everybody, you know, for the schools, certainly.
[6:47] And.
[6:49] And, and some of those mass insight grants, state offsets,
[6:53] there's been a little bit of that. That's been a
[6:55] bit of a struggle in terms of knowing.
[6:58] What it's gonna be. So hopefully we're able to, you
[7:01] know, even if there's more money that comes in, you
[7:03] know, keep it at 15 or make it nothing.
[7:06] If possible, if, if the whole test.
[7:09] Is covered, but Fitchburg high school typically does somewhere in
[7:12] the range of 500 tests. Yep. A year in that,
[7:16] you know, five.
[7:17] Five 50, somewhere around there. So that's kind of.
[7:20] What, you know, the general update on that. And that's
[7:22] a test that you take in order to take an
[7:24] AP class, correct? Mm-hmm that's the test at the
[7:27] end of the course. Oh,
[7:29] two weeks in may. Oh. To get the credit, the
[7:31] credit, the class, and then they don't have to take
[7:34] the college course, cuz they'll get the credit up.
[7:37] Upon the score score. It's a three, four or five
[7:40] as a qualifying score.
[7:43] Some colleges accept a three.
[7:45] Many don't some accept fours.
[7:48] Fours. It really varies. Some don't accept them at all.
[7:51] You know, like Harvard, for example, .
[7:55] So, which, you know, I mean, I think that just
[7:57] so many students would have so many of those that
[7:59] they don't accept them. So right now, what I'm hearing
[8:01] is there could be an opportunity for.
[8:03] The test to be $15 again.
[8:06] Potentially potentially depend upon or nothing. Yeah. Well that would
[8:09] be the goal. The ideal scenario would always be that
[8:13] the students don't have to.
[8:14] Pay at all right. Would love that.
[8:17] If you look at the total cost being about $50,000,
[8:20] we have to see how much comes in from.
[8:23] Some of these grantors in, in the state subsidy. Yep.
[8:27] And then, and then figure out what we can.
[8:30] Provide which we have a certain amount that we have
[8:32] been, we've been producing. We've been contributing about 20 to
[8:35] 30. When do we usually hear back from them? So,
[8:37] so we can get.
[8:38] Students. So probably the next couple weeks we'll be able
[8:40] to let you know, I would say so. Okay.
[8:43] Awesome. All right. Thank you. Any, any further comments or
[8:45] good? If we could pick up the whole cost?
[8:48] Yeah, that would be ideal. Even the increase $2,500.
[8:53] Yeah, further comments or questions.
[8:57] Thank you very much. Mav. Great job. And Mr. Mav.
[8:59] All right.
[9:01] So next up on our agenda.
[9:03] We have the approval of the regular school committee meeting.
[9:07] From the minutes from June 15th.
[9:11] Second approved the June 15th meeting.
[9:14] Second motion. And second to approve the minutes of the
[9:16] school committee meeting from June 15th.
[9:19] Any questions or comments?
[9:22] Comments all in favor. Aye. Aye. Aye. Be opposed.
[9:24] That's unanimous. Thank you.
[9:28] Next up, we have
[9:31] Communications. Do we have any Communications superintendent? No Communications public.
[9:36] Comment. Did anyone email any Public comments to you?
[9:41] All right. Anyone in the audience that would wish to
[9:45] speak? You have two minutes to give a Public Comment.
[9:50] Seeing none.
[9:51] We'll move on in our agenda.
[9:55] Superintendent's Report. Thank you, Matt Lamey mayor. Good evening, everyone.
[9:58] Welcome back. I hope everyone enjoyed their summer. This evening.
[10:01] We.
[10:02] Have a few items for you on the Superintendent's Report.
[10:05] The first item is permission to plan the eighth grade
[10:09] trip overnight to Washington DC.
[10:12] I'd like to invite Sarah Kana Bucci and Maggie Durando.
[10:16] It's like groundhogs day again, most by so quickly. I
[10:19] just told, so Lindsay Connors will be joining us planning
[10:23] for Memorial this year.
[10:24] She, she has been on the trip every year. Pretty
[10:27] much.
[10:28] And then this year she's actually coordinating. And I told
[10:30] her that you say that every time, every time. So
[10:32] every fifth. Yes. Yep, absolutely. And then we also have
[10:35] Lauren dooby from.
[10:37] Long show. So there's two from each school.
[10:41] This year, our trip is May 25th to the 28th, which
[10:44] is very early cuz of the school calendar. So it
[10:47] was a little bit tricky.
[10:48] To figure out
[10:51] because of the MCAST testing. And then we also try
[10:53] to make sure we are not gone the week of
[10:54] graduation for Goodrich or FHS.
[10:58] FHS. We know students have siblings and also parents trying
[11:00] to get back for pickup in the middle of this
[11:01] ceremony.
[11:03] Ceremony. So it is the 25th to the 28th this
[11:05] year.
[11:06] The cost is 982 that's. If the buses are the,
[11:12] on the students.
[11:14] Students. We have been very, very fortunate.
[11:16] That our central office has been able to cover the
[11:19] buses for students.
[11:21] Students. So the buses are 12,300 each. If one bus
[11:24] is covered, it would drop the price to 900. So
[11:26] students will save $82 each.
[11:29] If two buses are covered, it would be $818. So
[11:33] each student would save 164.
[11:36] If all buses are covered, it would be $736.
[11:40] And that saves 246 per student.
[11:43] The 736 is only a 20.
[11:47] Dollar increase in the price from the prior years that
[11:49] we've had.
[11:51] Which is really great, cuz they've been able to keep
[11:52] the cost of everything else. Pretty.
[11:55] Even for us. So the really only thing that's been
[11:58] increasing has been the bus cost and there are three
[12:00] buses. Yes, we, we reserve.
[12:04] Three off the bat, but if we had more and
[12:06] it was like approved, then we could add more students.
[12:09] Students, we haven't had more than that. We've had, I
[12:12] think 1 47 I believe was our highest. So it's usually
[12:15] about three buses.
[12:17] Buses. We do use Wilson. They can be more expensive,
[12:19] but the reason we use them is they have the
[12:22] ADA buses already available. So we don't have to contract.
[12:25] Or do anything else? It doesn't cost any extra. They
[12:28] just say, yep. We'll just switch it over.
[12:31] And then the other thing is they do a lot
[12:33] of the extensive federal background checks as well. So I
[12:36] know there's the additional one that we had to deal
[12:38] with last year. Yeah. I.
[12:39] Know, Jeremy, you helped with that, but they do their
[12:41] own as well, which is really great.
[12:43] What did, what did you say the price was per
[12:45] bus?
[12:46] 12,300. Wow. Okay. So 36 9? Yep. All three. Yes.
[12:52] We have our first parent meeting on the 24th. At
[12:55] five 30. We run all parent meetings together.
[12:59] For the schools, we keep it consistent. The kids have
[13:01] all the same access to fundraisers and everything.
[13:04] We use email, Google classroom. We have a Facebook page.
[13:09] That was created through the central office. So it's us
[13:11] all, a school based Facebook.
[13:14] And then we have paper copies of everything.
[13:17] We translate every email, every post on classroom, Facebook pages,
[13:21] paper copies.
[13:23] We use the school tools.
[13:25] Google translate, things like that. So we also put a
[13:27] disclaimer saying like this was translated using Google translate, just
[13:31] so families, if there's any like MIS.
[13:33] Miscommunications or things they understand.
[13:36] That we aren't the ones actually translating.
[13:40] Our fundraisers. We already have scheduled. We have cookie dough
[13:44] from September 25th to October 16th.
[13:47] Penny wars on November 16th.
[13:50] To the 20th, we have our double good popcorn fundraiser
[13:53] on February 5th to the 12th.
[13:56] 12th. We have the giving bean, which is coffee and
[13:58] tea on March 1st to the 16th. And then we actually
[14:02] do a semi-formal for both eighth grades.
[14:04] We let them combine and we do it at Memorial.
[14:07] We usually do like a red carpet and we have
[14:10] a photo booth and stuff. And our AV club who's
[14:12] phenomenal over at Memorial shout out to them. They always
[14:15] do like.
[14:16] The lights and the music, and we have games and
[14:18] prizes.
[14:19] Prizes. It doesn't always raise a lot. It's more for
[14:21] the kids to have something fun for the two schools
[14:24] together, but it does raise some money. So we still
[14:26] do that every year.
[14:28] We are always looking to add them, but those are
[14:30] the ones we have scheduled so far. Mm-hmm can
[14:33] you let us.
[14:34] Know about this. Oh yeah. Email us, you know, especially
[14:36] the . Oh, the cookie dough was pretty frozen or
[14:41] cooked. Just, just take it.
[14:43] Pre portion, you eat 'em as you walk by just
[14:45] know we all wanna support you. Yes. Mr. Camp, that's
[14:48] a lot of fundraisers. What, what.
[14:51] Much. Do you usually generate from that? Just estimating or
[14:55] so it actually depends. So what we do as a
[14:57] variety of different fundraisers,
[14:59] so we will do individual based fundraisers. So the cookie
[15:02] dough, the popcorn.
[15:04] And the coffee and tea fundraiser.
[15:07] Those are all individual based. So every student can raise
[15:09] as much as they want towards their own trip. And
[15:12] it goes directly to them.
[15:14] So some kids don't partake at all. Some kids raise
[15:17] enough that they have even extra money. So if they
[15:19] raise over it,
[15:21] any money they already paid. They get refunded by the
[15:23] tour company.
[15:25] They take fundraising money over their whole money. So we've
[15:27] had plenty of kids refunded.
[15:31] So I know back in the day when I was
[15:32] an advisor, we did chocolate.
[15:35] Sell the chocolate for a dollar. You split 50 50.
[15:37] Yep. I'm sure it's no 50 50 anymore. No, so
[15:40] it, they do that the only.
[15:43] Problem with some of the fundraisers that we have to
[15:45] be careful with is they ask you to pay money
[15:48] up front.
[15:49] So for the chocolates, we would have to pay whether
[15:51] it's like us or the district or someone.
[15:54] You order the boxes of chocolates and then you reimburse
[15:57] after. So if you have a ton of boxes that
[15:59] don't get sold,
[16:01] you now have all of that, like chocolate sitting there
[16:03] too. And.
[16:04] Sometime trying to get the money ahead of time to
[16:06] buy everything. Like we don't have the money to put
[16:09] up for that. And we know there's budgets and all
[16:10] sorts of things that go into it. So.
[16:13] Chocolate was one of the ones I used to do
[16:14] for our AMC trip when I was at McKay.
[16:18] But they stopped doing that. Cuz of trying to pay
[16:19] ahead of time. It left with a lot of chocolate,
[16:22] just.
[16:23] Sitting there. Interesting. Thank you. What's a total number of
[16:26] students that we anticipate will join.
[16:28] We'll join. We've always had between like one.
[16:31] 20 to one 50. We've never, it was like 1 47
[16:35] was our most, but we're usually in that like one
[16:36] 30 range.
[16:38] Some years, less than others. There's just.
[16:41] Some not as much interest sometimes.
[16:43] But we've never had less than 120. So actually 1 22,
[16:46] I think last year was our smallest was 1 22. So.
[16:51] So I do wanna let you know that we will
[16:53] be able to take care of the buses again this
[16:54] morning. Hey, it honestly, it means a huge.
[16:59] Difference for the kids. Yep. 246 is a lot for
[17:02] them. I mean the 7 36 is a lot, so.
[17:05] We're really appreciative. And I know the kids are too,
[17:07] cuz we do worry about the costs kind of.
[17:11] Eliminating some of the kids. We also tell them all
[17:14] the time. It doesn't.
[17:16] Doesn't require money to actually register and hold their spot.
[17:19] So that's another big thing that we push.
[17:21] Is I tell the kids all the time, do not
[17:23] let money be the reason you don't go. I'm like
[17:25] we have so many people who wanna support you guys.
[17:29] We're both schools have teachers who have sponsored kids straight
[17:32] out of their own pockets.
[17:34] Pockets. So we've really tried to make.
[17:37] That the money. Isn't what keeps 'em from going. Yeah.
[17:39] It's either their interest or sometimes parents aren't comfortable with
[17:42] them going outta state, which we understand too. Mm-hmm
[17:44] yeah. So.
[17:45] So that means the cost will be 7 36. Yeah. Yes.
[17:48] That's awesome. I'm so excited. And then can you send
[17:51] to me.
[17:52] Just all your fundraising information and I'll make sure that
[17:54] gets out district wide. Yes, absolutely. And also to the
[17:56] school community members. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. And thank you.
[18:00] All right. If you just wanna make a donation, how
[18:03] do, how would somebody do that? We can do a
[18:04] link last year for that. Yeah, there was the go
[18:07] fan link for that. And we can.
[18:09] Send that out and you it online with a yep.
[18:10] Okay. Okay. Yep. We need to generate a new one
[18:12] for this one. Yeah. We have to, Todd Robbins will
[18:15] help us. He generates the.
[18:17] Go fan links cuz they use it for the tickets
[18:19] for games. So that's why they've used it for that.
[18:22] Okay. I get that.
[18:25] Any other questions. Good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[18:28] Thank you lot. I'll make it. I'll do like I
[18:31] did last year. Yeah. Oh, awesome.
[18:33] Thank you. Thank you. Do we don't have to take
[18:36] a vote to oh, yes, it is. I'm sorry. Okay.
[18:38] Oh, do you wanna, my apologies. It is the last
[18:40] action item.
[18:41] 26, 6 59. Would you like to take that out of order?
[18:45] Oh, take it out order in my defense. I knew
[18:47] to sit until the boat happened. I.
[18:51] Do you have a second? Yes. Motion and second to
[18:53] take 26, 659 to approve superintendent's recommendation to allow the.
[18:58] Eighth grade team to plan the annual out-of-state overnight field
[19:01] trip to Washington, DC. To take that out of order.
[19:04] All in favor. Aye. Aye. Okay. Thank you. That's unanimous.
[19:07] Okay. The items before us.
[19:10] Motion to approve action item 26 dash 6 59.
[19:15] Second motion. And second to approve the action item. I
[19:18] just read off any questions or comments.
[19:21] Comments all in favor. Aye. Aye. All right. That is
[19:23] unanimous. That's approved. Thank you. We'll see you in the
[19:26] spring. Thank you. Let us know if you need.
[19:29] Anything else? Yeah. I'll get the emails. Yeah. Get 'em
[19:32] to me. And I'll send 'em out. Thank you, Sarah.
[19:34] Thank you Maggie.
[19:39] All right. Our next agenda item is I asked Lauren
[19:42] mountain, who is our director of 20.
[19:45] First century after school programming to come and give you
[19:47] an update of our summer programs. So you had an
[19:51] idea of what happened over the summer.
[19:53] For our students. So Lauren is here and Lauren, Lauren,
[19:57] you're gonna drive.
[19:59] Yeah, I can drive PowerPoint. Okay.
[20:02] I also have, oh, you have some friends with you
[20:03] today? I do. Oh, I have Franny Conti and Paula
[20:06] Carr joining me.
[20:08] Thank you for coming. Thank you. Hmm. Welcome goods. So
[20:11] nice to see you all again. Well, and welcome congrat
[20:14] much. Congratulations. Thank you.
[20:16] So I'm Paula and Franny are, are summer coordinators. And
[20:21] so I thought it would be helpful if you guys
[20:22] have questions that they should.
[20:25] Share some time in the hot seat, if you will.
[20:27] And also kind of be part of the celebration for
[20:29] an awesome summer that we've had together.
[20:31] So just to remind you guys, the 21st century grant
[20:35] is a major funding source.
[20:37] For our after school and summer program.
[20:39] But that's not the only source the district kicks in
[20:42] some, and we have a number of other grants.
[20:45] Grants, but because of that grant, that 21st century grant,
[20:48] that's really what drives a lot of our goals and
[20:50] things like that.
[20:52] So our focus while we want the summer to be
[20:55] fun and safe and adventurous, we also have learning occurring.
[20:59] And that's why we have two very.
[21:00] Skilled teachers leading our summer program.
[21:03] Our focus continues to be on ELA, verbal communication.
[21:07] And then for social emotional learning outcomes, we focus on
[21:10] relations with peers and relations with adults.
[21:14] So this summer we operated for 16 days. Over four
[21:17] weeks, Monday through Thursday, we had 405 students.
[21:21] Students in grades one through nine.
[21:24] And we also had 25 high school interns and they
[21:28] were the lifeblood of our program for sure.
[21:31] So some of the highlights.
[21:33] In addition to what you're about to see.
[21:36] Is that we, we also had two additional programs, both
[21:40] kind of like pilots.
[21:42] Pilots one was to work with students who had failed
[21:45] English or math during the middle school year to give
[21:47] them an optional opportunity to add an extra two weeks.
[21:51] Onto their summer program to really focus their mindset, to
[21:53] have a more positive outcome this year. And so that
[21:55] was something we tried and we'll be looking to see
[21:57] how they do this fall.
[21:59] We also had a partnership with the Fitchburg art museum.
[22:03] So if you happen to drive by pleasant street, long
[22:06] show and take a peek in, there are some new
[22:09] benches there that main entrance is being cleaned up.
[22:11] And there are some they're actually, I don't have to
[22:15] say, I'd say maybe like a third of the way
[22:16] through painting a mural on the gym doors.
[22:19] Yeah. Nice. So it's coming along. Hmm.
[22:22] We also had a youth center internship, so we were
[22:24] able to employ.
[22:26] 10 high school students with wages for the four weeks.
[22:29] Nice to be able to make a difference. That was
[22:31] awesome too. Nice.
[22:33] So it's much more interesting to watch the video and
[22:36] see the photo. So I'm gonna do that and I'll
[22:38] just warn you now. It's gonna be such a tease
[22:40] because.
[22:41] I'm gonna stop before the video's over, but you all
[22:43] have the link. It's a 12 minute video.
[22:47] What it, it can be. It can be a tear
[22:49] jerker. It's pretty good. So without further ado,
[22:52] let me pull this up for you all.
[22:56] I would describe the energy of this program.
[22:59] Has positive and enthusiastic.
[23:03] And engaging.
[23:07] And important against kids, a sense of belonging and also
[23:10] provides enriching activities.
[23:18] The summer program is an enrichment program.
[23:21] For our students all across Pittsburgh.
[23:24] All summer, we hope to bring them away from electronics
[23:27] and into.
[23:29] Enrichment and creative play while also.
[23:31] Enforcing some academic skills.
[23:34] And having them make connections.
[23:37] Learn social skills. You're working with others and working with
[23:41] students all across the cities.
[23:43] There are about 400 students participating this summer, our age
[23:46] groups for the summer program. We have students that are
[23:49] rising first graders.
[23:51] Graders through a rising ninth graders.
[23:54] The summer program is unique because we have a great
[23:56] mixture of kids from different surrounding schools in the district.
[23:59] As a teacher at Illinois middle school, I tend to.
[24:02] Those kids that attend Memorial, but even involved with the
[24:05] summer program to connect with kids that attending other schools
[24:09] in the district, which.
[24:11] I love cause some of them eventually see that Memorial.
[24:14] I get to connect to all of 'em. So that's
[24:15] really nice. I think that.
[24:18] We do a really nice job of blending.
[24:22] Fun and mind there's something for everybody. There's.
[24:27] There's physical activity. There's physical play. There's outdoor time. There's
[24:30] arts and crafts. And.
[24:33] Play-Doh art projects and songs.
[24:36] But there's also a lot of learning. They don't really
[24:38] realize that they're learning, they're writing, they're working on their
[24:41] names. They're working on sentence structure.
[24:44] Their counting, finding patterns.
[24:47] Patterns. They're doing a lot of academics without realizing they're
[24:50] doing the academics. It's.
[24:52] Learning, but it's also a chance to.
[24:56] Opportunity to have fun here in the different projects and
[24:59] field trips and activities that we get to do.
[25:03] Shall you sprinkle in learning while we're having fun?
[25:07] But it's just a chance so I can enjoy.
[25:10] Kids do wanna learn. They really do.
[25:13] And I just think you get excited about everything. You
[25:15] know, you make it fun. I make learning fun by
[25:18] getting them different opportunities.
[25:20] To try new things and to make their own creations
[25:23] unique. I think that's what it's about taking a risk,
[25:26] trying something new learning.
[25:28] Something different and realizing that you can do it. It's
[25:31] not gonna first person to like go after an activity
[25:35] that he's not already.
[25:37] Familiar with, I think his willingness to try to convince
[25:39] has definitely charge don't have my children is cause they.
[25:45] Ask they wanna keep coming back. They enjoy it. I
[25:48] see their faces. They're always so happy.
[25:51] And so they have fun throughout the day. They keeps
[25:53] them busy. I've never seen kids work eager to learn,
[25:56] and they're so excited to come in every day.
[25:58] I tell kids get off the bus in the morning
[26:00] and they're just so excited to come in and.
[26:03] Join the program at the.
[26:06] Work that the teachers and the committee puts into it
[26:08] is insane. Like I've never seen people care more about
[26:11] these students. So that really stuck out to me as
[26:13] well.
[26:14] Kids really have a voice and a choice of.
[26:18] What we are doing and you get to see a
[26:21] different side of kids than you do from the regular
[26:24] school year. You get to do all those project.
[26:27] Projects that you don't normally have time to do. You
[26:29] get to actually get to know these kids personally, we've
[26:32] learned about loud nature.
[26:36] Animals.
[26:37] Honestly, my favorite thing I learned this year.
[26:41] Is engineering.
[26:43] Because in this damn causes class.
[26:46] We made normal rooms.
[26:51] New stuff. Robotic class money, full store.
[26:55] Fencing.
[26:59] This program.
[27:00] Prepare students for the upcoming school year.
[27:03] By helping bridge the gap. The summer slide is so,
[27:06] so real. And we're not just talking about academics.
[27:09] I really focused on the social, emotional component of it.
[27:13] And kids need to spend time with each other away
[27:15] from screens away from devices and with each other.
[27:19] The classroom setting can be super rigid for, for some
[27:22] students.
[27:23] Students. And so this allows them to have more.
[27:26] Laid back learning experience.
[27:28] And, and so win-win so like our kids go to
[27:30] three different classrooms for the day. So each teacher offers
[27:33] something different. So they are doing, going on hikes when
[27:35] mom, they wouldn't.
[27:36] Wouldn't make us explore the outdoors here. I'm working on
[27:38] math and doing different center activities with them. And then
[27:41] another classroom on our grade doing literacy.
[27:45] Movement, which sounds like it's just games and it's really
[27:47] team building.
[27:49] A critical how to solve problems, how to work together.
[27:52] I feel like they were learning like project based learning
[27:55] in our program specifically.
[27:57] But there were different groups that focused on stem and
[27:59] engineering.
[28:01] And play in money.
[28:03] I'm gonna skip to the very end.
[28:08] I know it's torture because.
[28:11] It's so good. It's so good. But, but I, I
[28:13] wanna give some, a shout of recognition here at the
[28:15] very end.
[28:17] Best summer ever. .
[28:25] So we, we took over crocker elementary, this summer, a
[28:29] brand new school. It's it's still standing everyone, but.
[28:33] We had a tremendous amount of support in patients from
[28:35] the whole team there. So we just really wanted to
[28:37] thank.
[28:38] All the staff there. We also had some incredible partners.
[28:43] Partners. So this next slide that's coming up shows.
[28:46] The ver the vast variety of partners we had, who
[28:48] either contributed.
[28:50] In-kind at cost, their talent and time with our students.
[28:53] It was such a collaborative effort.
[28:57] Yay.
[29:02] We get that video and promoted everywhere. Yeah. I'm we're
[29:04] gonna see if we can put it out on Fitchburg.
[29:07] Access television.
[29:09] But if you have any questions about the summer program,
[29:11] that's why these ladies are here.
[29:13] Ah, and then I have just a couple other things
[29:17] to share with you about the school year.
[29:19] So I, I had mentioned to you the SAYO.
[29:23] SAYO earlier. I talked about the.
[29:26] Academic and social-emotional outcomes. This is how Desi measures it
[29:29] with this SAYO tool, the survey of academic and youth
[29:32] outcomes. So you can see.
[29:34] These are our summer outcomes.
[29:36] Outcomes. We see improvement across the board. And that's really
[29:38] what we're trying to do is to bridge that gap.
[29:40] So we're not seeing the slumber slump and learning, and
[29:43] by the way, that's the same.
[29:45] Charge that our after school staff have for the fall
[29:47] and this school year is to keep things positive and
[29:49] happy and exciting, and to continue to support the school
[29:52] day.
[29:53] We have another large high school internship program this year.
[29:58] I lost the count. I think we're at like 13
[30:00] interns right now, which is fantastic.
[30:03] And then just so you have it at a glance.
[30:05] This is our plan for programming this year. We're gonna
[30:08] try to get as close as we can to about
[30:10] 10% per.
[30:11] Site, we have funding from 21st century, as well as
[30:14] some of the titles of local funds.
[30:17] But we are operating at the same six sites that
[30:19] we were at last year.
[30:22] So, oh, in one other thing was.
[30:26] We had our own homegrown.
[30:28] Homegrown professional development around project-based learning. We really wanted to
[30:31] increase the quality of what was offered and the rigor
[30:33] of the learning.
[30:35] So we had 11 teachers go through.
[30:38] A three month long process where they learned how to
[30:43] create their own units, either adapting from something colleagues from
[30:46] across the state.
[30:47] Had created, but to create their own project-based learning units
[30:49] based on things that they were excited about. So these
[30:52] two slides here.
[30:54] Kind of summarize those ideas.
[30:58] Ideas and what our students will be experiencing this year.
[31:03] Any questions.
[31:05] Questions Lauren who helped with the video is that our
[31:07] friends at a creative eye production, creative eye production. Yep.
[31:10] We've got another one to show you guys in October.
[31:13] October. Yeah. Ooh. The links in her email.
[31:18] yes.
[31:20] So impressive.
[31:23] And I really liked hearing.
[31:25] This summer slide also with the social emotion I love.
[31:30] Because it's not just the academics. It is the whole.
[31:33] Child. Yeah. Great, great job.
[31:37] Really thank you. These, these two are at the front
[31:39] lines every single day.
[31:41] And they can tell you too. I mean, it's a
[31:43] lot of work to basically set up an entire school,
[31:46] like a pop-up school in four weeks. but.
[31:49] We also had, I think we had one behavioral incident.
[31:53] The entire four weeks, if you could imagine with over
[31:55] 400 students, 400 students, that's impressive. Yeah, it really is.
[32:00] Yeah.
[32:01] I've worked with, worked with Paula for years and it
[32:04] doesn't surprise me.
[32:06] No, because I know what you're capable of, what you've
[32:09] always been. Thank you.
[32:12] So do you guys give like a report back to
[32:14] the parents, like a, a progress, you know, what they
[32:17] did, how they did and you know, or is it.
[32:20] Too much communication. They came in, we had a showcase
[32:23] day.
[32:24] Where they could come in and they could go to
[32:26] all the classrooms that they.
[32:29] Had activities in, so the teachers held on to a
[32:32] lot of those projects. He saw mm-hmm mm-hmm
[32:33] and they came in for that showcase day. We also
[32:36] had, it was rain.
[32:37] Raining. It would've been an outdoor barbecue, but we had
[32:40] an inside type of cookout type thing. So they were
[32:43] able to eat with their.
[32:45] Students and talk to the teachers and see how.
[32:49] See a middle school play that they were put they
[32:51] had put on also. Great. Mm-hmm good. And that's
[32:53] part of the grant, correct? Having a culminating activity at
[32:56] the end of the summer to showcase.
[32:58] Yeah. They, they wanna see that we're engaging the families
[33:00] and it's not just like ad hoc. That really needs
[33:02] to be intentional. Mm-hmm so yeah, we had a
[33:04] seven person, Barb, 700 person.
[33:06] Barbecue. No big deal inside.
[33:08] Inside, right? Yes, Joe. Thank you. Yeah.
[33:12] Last thing. I know when I was here last time
[33:14] you had approved us to plan for the international travel
[33:16] program. Wanted to give you an update that actually, as
[33:19] of this afternoon, we have.
[33:21] 40 students who are signed up and have been making
[33:24] payments already.
[33:25] We have another information night happening on Wednesday. So if
[33:29] any other people want to come and join us, they
[33:31] still can.
[33:33] We have like 10 more spots to fit on this
[33:35] bus. If we, if we go over that we can
[33:37] open up another bus, but I just wanted to let
[33:39] you know that things are crank.
[33:41] Cranking along with that and we'll start fundraising. It's the
[33:42] one to like,
[33:43] Europe or something? Yes. And like London, Paris and Barcelona,
[33:47] April 20, 28, 20 28.
[33:50] Yes. Awesome London. And so this group for 2028 is
[33:55] for that whole.
[33:57] Age range that we had talked about last year. Yeah.
[33:59] So, so this year, now they're grades seven through 11
[34:02] are eligible. Okay. Yep.
[34:05] Wow. Okay. Great. All right, well, thank you everyone.
[34:09] Thank you very much. You. Thank you. I like blended
[34:12] just to share one important piece. I know we hear
[34:14] a lot.
[34:16] Out there in the community that we do not have
[34:17] enough seats for our afterschool program. Mm-hmm right. That's
[34:21] always an issue we don't, but we are able to
[34:23] actually find additional.
[34:24] Seats and we'll have Glenda share about some of the
[34:26] work that she's been doing to do that.
[34:29] Yep. So one of the things I've really tried to
[34:32] do is think about how we can also partner with
[34:36] some of our.
[34:38] Community partners, boys and girls being one of them I've
[34:41] really.
[34:42] Fostered a partnership with them since last year. And so.
[34:46] We have really talked about how do we open up
[34:50] some seats that are also.
[34:52] No cost or low cost to our families.
[34:56] So we
[34:58] have set aside some title, one funding.
[35:01] To prioritize and
[35:03] pay for, you know, I, I think roughly about a
[35:08] hundred seats uni.
[35:11] Additional outside.
[35:14] Of the 21st century.
[35:16] Seats. Wow. We are really trying to support some of
[35:20] our.
[35:23] Schools.
[35:24] Who might not necessarily have an afterschool program.
[35:29] Or some of our schools.
[35:31] Who, you know, we might not have as many spots
[35:34] available. So like crocker isn't part of 21st century yet
[35:37] that is a program that.
[35:39] We are trying to
[35:42] do an application for
[35:45] and so McKay also is one that we prioritize for
[35:48] the boys and girls club as well.
[35:51] So, you know, I think it's really exciting that there
[35:54] are families who, even if they don't.
[35:57] Don't get in to 21st century.
[35:59] There is an opportunity and buses actually already go to.
[36:04] The boys and girls club. So it, it really is
[36:07] just a nice effort and support. And we started doing
[36:11] that last year.
[36:13] So this is a continuation of that.
[36:17] Support great because we really wanna make sure that we
[36:19] are able to provide as many.
[36:21] After school seats for our families as possible.
[36:26] Okay, thank you, Lauren. We appreciate you. Thank you. Thank
[36:29] you, Lauren. And thank you team.
[36:38] All right.
[36:41] So the next presentation that we'll be talking about is
[36:45] an update on the beginning of the school year.
[36:48] We put together some slides for you to talk a
[36:51] little bit about.
[36:52] Opening days, what we did with the, our ad administrators,
[36:56] the new teachers.
[36:58] Teachers in addition to some of the new teacher professional
[37:01] development that was launched the first few days.
[37:04] Then I did have a brief, some brief survey results
[37:09] from staff.
[37:11] Last week, I sent a survey to staff to figure
[37:13] out how the cellphone.
[37:15] Phone policy being implemented in the schools, especially at the
[37:17] middle and high school. And I do have some feedback
[37:20] to share with you.
[37:21] And then also tonight Cari Fabale is here.
[37:26] Our director of human resources. She's going to talk a
[37:29] little bit about.
[37:31] Some, some of the summer hiring and unfilled positions.
[37:34] Positions. And then Mr. Roach will talk about the.
[37:39] Extensive capital projects that we had throughout the district over
[37:41] the summer to give you an update on those.
[37:43] And then we'll end off our presentation with Glenda talking
[37:46] a little bit about a health curriculum pilot that we're
[37:49] gonna be interacting in.
[37:51] This year. Okay.
[37:54] Ms. Phillip Doley would you like to come up to
[37:55] the front, have a seat.
[37:59] All right.
[38:01] So you do have this in front of you.
[38:05] So the first
[38:07] piece I'd like to share with you is.
[38:10] Admin retreat. So we began this year.
[38:13] On August 17th and 18th with our first ad.
[38:18] Admin meetings of the year.
[38:20] You can see that we're kind of dressed in festive
[38:23] clothing on the 17th. Try to have a little bit
[38:26] of fun on the 17th. We had tropical day.
[38:28] So while our administrators dressed in their best tropical dress.
[38:32] And then on August 18th, we had sports day. So all
[38:36] the administrators.
[38:37] Dressed up. So we try to add some fun to
[38:39] the day.
[38:40] Knowing that we're, you know, getting back in mid August
[38:43] is, is difficult. And Carrie who did ended up winning.
[38:47] Our competitions on those days. Was it Reinold one won
[38:50] day, correct? Oh, no, mm-hmm that's that's sorry. Long Joe,
[38:53] one long Joe won the Tiki.
[38:55] On the first day and.
[38:58] South street won the sports day. Yeah. So not misrepresent.
[39:02] They worked hard for that. They worked there. Sorry. Reinold
[39:05] did too, but.
[39:06] They showed up. So he had a little bit of
[39:08] fun on those two days, but I did wanna share
[39:10] with you the actual meet and potatoes of the admin.
[39:15] Retreat. So on day one, we started off, I L
[39:18] started off by launching the year.
[39:20] One of the books that I had, all the administrators.
[39:23] Read over the summit was high conflict by Amanda Ripley.
[39:27] Amanda talks about how high conflict can actually be used
[39:29] as a good thing and how conflict isn't always have
[39:32] to be a bad thing. And you really have to
[39:34] actually find out.
[39:35] The root cause of the conflict and about where people
[39:37] are coming from and hear their, you know,
[39:40] point of view before kind of making a determination on
[39:44] next steps.
[39:45] So we thought it was a really good book for
[39:47] our administrators to read because they do deal with such
[39:49] high conflict day-to-day so that was something that we all.
[39:53] Started off reading, kind of doing a book discussion about
[39:56] that.
[39:57] Then we all went into.
[39:59] I started rolling out our.
[40:03] Second year of our strategic plan.
[40:05] In addition to also launching our new vision of a
[40:09] graduate. So we tied our vision of the graduate to
[40:11] our school, our new.
[40:14] Our second year of our.
[40:16] Strategic plan. So we did that work and on day
[40:20] one, and then.
[40:21] In the afternoon. I'm sorry. After that.
[40:25] Our administrators had a chance to look at the vision
[40:27] of the graduate.
[40:29] Our strategic plan and work on their school improvement plans.
[40:32] Cuz one of the big pieces is that we want
[40:33] all our documents and all our plans to align. So
[40:36] there's one.
[40:37] Clear through line between the district.
[40:39] Between what we want students to exit our school district
[40:42] with. And then what are all our other schools are
[40:45] working on together?
[40:47] So again, we have this cohesion of a plan for
[40:50] Fitchburg public schools.
[40:52] Then we had lunch and then in the afternoon, pretty
[40:55] much what happened is we had different rotations.
[40:59] Rotations all my administrators at central office Cari. Fabale.
[41:04] Glenda Colon Jeremy Roach. Myself. Is there one more?
[41:09] What I miss 1, 2, 3, 4. I think there was a special
[41:12] ed one. Oh, in special education we rotated, we all
[41:15] rotated. So all of us gave.
[41:17] The important updates and our departments that all our administrators
[41:20] needed to know. So we had.
[41:24] You know, different stations that they all worked through for
[41:27] the rest of the day, that day. So that was
[41:28] on day one.
[41:30] On day two, we came back again.
[41:33] Started the day two off with kind of reviewing what
[41:35] we learned yesterday.
[41:36] And then our special education department put on a really
[41:39] great presentation on the new timeout and seclusion laws that
[41:43] were went into the.
[41:45] Effect on August 17th. So we spent a lot of time
[41:47] on that.
[41:49] And then for the remainder of the morning, our curriculum
[41:52] directors presented the changes in our curriculum and pacing guides.
[41:57] Guides to all different levels at the elementary, middle, and
[41:58] high school.
[42:00] And then we also had time to work on the
[42:03] new cell phone policy in addition to.
[42:06] The technology piece.
[42:08] Doorman came and did technology training for our Middleland high
[42:11] school.
[42:12] Administrators. And then finally we had lunch at the end
[42:15] of the day was.
[42:17] Our attorney, our law update for the year.
[42:20] So we had our annual update on the discipline laws.
[42:25] Bullying title IX.
[42:27] IX. So those were our first two days for admin
[42:30] retreat.
[42:35] Then the next day on August 19th and 20th, Glenda, myself,
[42:40] Mr. Roach. And.
[42:42] Our administrators led a two day.
[42:45] New teacher orientation and
[42:48] overall, I wanted to quickly share with you our new,
[42:51] how many new teachers and staff hired over the summer.
[42:55] So we hired 64 teachers, three nurses.
[42:59] 20 chains or transfers with through in the district and
[43:02] then nine rehires who came back, like we say,
[43:06] sometimes Fitchburg is like the Bermuda triangle you leave and
[43:08] you always come back. Yeah. I call it a boomerang.
[43:11] It is it's the truth. So Cari Fabale.
[43:15] Is here later on. She has a lot more in-depth
[43:17] information that she's gonna be presenting, but I just wanted
[43:20] to give you a sense of how many new staff
[43:22] that we hired over.
[43:23] Over the summer.
[43:25] And Carrie, we'll talk a little bit more about that
[43:26] in a minute. I'm just curious. What's the, yeah. Do
[43:28] you have a quick breakdown of.
[43:30] 64 going what to high school grammar school, blah, blah,
[43:32] blah, blah. That's in my primary. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay.
[43:34] That's okay. I jumped the gun. That's okay. he
[43:36] won't let me, so I.
[43:38] Gotcha. It's coming.
[43:40] Thank you, Carrie. All right. What I did want to
[43:43] talk to you a little bit about is what we
[43:44] covered on the new teacher orientation days.
[43:48] Again, we talked a lot about our district vision and
[43:51] our strategic plan, really unpacking that, making sure they understood,
[43:54] understand.
[43:56] Who, who we are as a school district and what
[43:59] our priorities are and our expectations.
[44:02] Then we spent some time with our curriculum directors.
[44:06] Directors had all the new teachers go through, depending on
[44:09] what level and what they teach. They had explicit.
[44:13] Training on all our curriculum and our specialized tools that
[44:16] we use. So that took up, you know, a bulk
[44:19] of the two days.
[44:20] We also had our director of social-emotional learning Brandon Keenan.
[44:24] He talked about why it's important to establish clear routines
[44:28] and.
[44:29] Build relationships with students, you know, the first six weeks
[44:31] of school and then embedded some of that into our
[44:34] castle.
[44:37] SEL priorities.
[44:39] We also had onboarding around technology and data systems to
[44:42] making sure our staff all knew.
[44:45] New, you know how to check their email.
[44:47] Where do you go? When you have problems with your
[44:49] technology, how do you use our data management system, Aspen?
[44:55] Now, when do you pick up your laptop? Things like
[44:57] that. So tho those.
[44:59] Systems for around technology were discussed.
[45:02] And then finally
[45:04] are a new teachers, all were assigned a mentor. They
[45:07] had a, a chance to get to know their mentor.
[45:09] In addition to knowing the kind of.
[45:12] The structure of what our mentoring looks like here in
[45:15] Fitchburg, Becky Mackey, and Brennan Keenan also talked to them
[45:18] about that. So,
[45:20] Linda, anything that I missed that you wanted to add?
[45:23] Just that I think one of the things that's really
[45:25] helpful.
[45:26] You know, is
[45:29] teachers come, come in or staff members come in, they
[45:32] have a lot of.
[45:35] Questions around logistics before.
[45:38] Getting into curriculum. And I think one of the things
[45:41] that I really appreciate is that.
[45:44] Our HR team is always there to answer any questions
[45:47] all day long.
[45:49] Are it department is there to take pictures, get ID
[45:52] badges. Ready.
[45:54] Make sure to get their computers set and ready to
[45:57] go.
[45:59] And then we really focus on that first day.
[46:02] On just those technology needs.
[46:05] So that then they can focus day two on really
[46:08] the heavy content and the work that they'll be doing.
[46:11] So I just wanted to.
[46:13] Shout out and appreciate everyone who supports that day. Cause
[46:15] it is the, or those two days it's a lot.
[46:18] And we, we we've done a better job onboarding every.
[46:22] Year, when I first took this position, it was only
[46:24] a one day.
[46:26] The teachers gave me feedback right away. That's not enough.
[46:28] So we moved it to two day.
[46:31] And overall they're really our new, our new staff that
[46:35] we do have that have been in other districts to.
[46:39] Said we really do a good job getting 'em ready
[46:41] and, you know, sending 'em up for success here in
[46:43] Fitchburg. So it's good to hear that, especially, you know,
[46:46] when the new.
[46:47] Teachers are coming in and telling you that. So it's
[46:49] nice to hear, obviously it's always, we always try to.
[46:52] Improve every year, but it's good to hear that we're
[46:54] getting some positive feedback. So.
[46:58] That was teacher orientation.
[47:00] And the next piece we wanted, Glen is gonna share
[47:03] a little bit about our two professional development days this
[47:06] year. So this year.
[47:08] We started teachers started on August 24th and then we started
[47:12] school on August 25th, that Tuesday. So it was a quick
[47:14] turnaround. We only had one day.
[47:17] Because the following week that Tuesday was the election day.
[47:20] So we had another professional development day. So Glenda is
[47:23] gonna talk a little bit about August.
[47:25] 24th and September 1st. And what the schools did.
[47:30] For their professional development days, those two days.
[47:33] The slide looks kind of funny, but, well, we're gonna
[47:35] go with it. I think you have to scroll
[47:37] over a little bit. There you go. Okay. I think
[47:39] that may have worked a little bit.
[47:41] Better. Yeah, you can see it now a little bit
[47:42] better.
[47:43] So, you know, one of the things I, I want
[47:46] to.
[47:47] Really just
[47:50] announce and share and communicate is that.
[47:53] A lot of the work that happened in August leadership
[47:55] Institute, we really saw it being applied at the school-based
[48:00] professional development.
[48:01] We always hope that that happens, right? Like that is
[48:03] the intention of August leadership is to.
[48:06] Really start the year off strong.
[48:10] And with kind of the goals and vision that we
[48:12] have for the year. I think what's really great is
[48:15] the screenshots that are on.
[48:18] There are actual screenshots from some of the resources that
[48:22] were then.
[48:24] Brought over from the August leadership Institute.
[48:28] Right into school-based professional development. So it's really great to
[48:33] show that there was a lot of calibration.
[48:36] Between, you know, what our principles were doing and then
[48:39] what our educators were doing right. In their own buildings.
[48:43] So some of that is the vision.
[48:44] Of a graduate work that, you know, started last year.
[48:47] And was presented at August leadership that also really carried
[48:51] through.
[48:53] We talked about this at the end of last year,
[48:56] but really can, are continuing the work on that theory
[48:59] of action in.
[49:01] Our curriculum department. And so.
[49:03] Where we want to lean. All of our professional learning
[49:06] is really on the belief that all of our students
[49:08] are capable.
[49:10] And so
[49:12] this is really a focus for us this year to
[49:15] also make sure that we are.
[49:18] Thinking about that theory of action, but also.
[49:21] Really considering that our students are able to.
[49:25] Achieve ambitious growth, not only in their academics, but also
[49:29] in social, emotional learning behaviors. And I think that's one.
[49:34] Of the things that we are really focused on this
[49:36] year is that.
[49:38] You can't have strong academic.
[49:42] Without also considering the social emotional needs of students, they
[49:45] have to work together. So that's part of the work
[49:47] that we'll be doing this year. And then the.
[49:50] Other thing is really, there's been a focus.
[49:53] On starting off teams really strong within the school and
[49:57] thinking about the tiered supports. So.
[50:00] We also saw a lot of focus on what the
[50:02] attendance teams are gonna look like at schools. What the.
[50:06] Start teams are going to look like and what student
[50:08] support teams looks like too. So.
[50:11] You know, I think very calibrated to.
[50:14] What the district professional development was.
[50:18] That's it for me.
[50:20] Any questions on professional development.
[50:23] Okay. All right. Then the best day happened. First day
[50:27] of school grades one to 12 came back on August 25th.
[50:31] Our kindergartners started on September 2nd.
[50:35] And then our littlest learners, our pre-K students started on
[50:37] September 8th.
[50:39] Overall, I'm gonna be, I'm gonna knock on wood somewhere.
[50:42] We're having a really great start to here. I've gone
[50:46] into every school now.
[50:47] I think at least twice.
[50:50] And feedback that I'm getting from.
[50:53] Teachers is that it's like they never stopped for summer
[50:56] break this year. They're not sure if it was cuz
[50:57] it was a shortened break.
[50:59] Or a, because we had so many kids at summer
[51:02] programming, but kids came in remembering what the expectations are.
[51:07] Which teachers were like, oh, okay. So we don't have
[51:09] to spend so much time going over the expectations.
[51:12] Sec second week of school, teachers were already doing curriculum
[51:14] already, which was great, and also setting the expectations, but
[51:18] they didn't have to spend so much.
[51:20] Time on that. So
[51:23] it's good to hear so far. Some things that we
[51:26] do have to work on, you know, kindergarten started.
[51:30] And we do have a few students that.
[51:32] Showed up and it was their first time in school.
[51:35] And they have some, some needs that we need to
[51:37] address students that were never tested or identified.
[51:42] And it looks like that they need some extensive support.
[51:44] So we're gonna need to look at how we're going
[51:46] to be able to service these kids.
[51:49] At the same time is getting them tested.
[51:52] So we're gonna have to look at our programming cuz
[51:54] our programs right now.
[51:56] We had three sub-separate programs at south street. And right
[52:01] now they're almost all of them are filled almost.
[52:04] And it's only
[52:06] September 14th. So we may have to look at that. We
[52:10] may be able to transition some kids into some different
[52:12] programming.
[52:14] But we do have a significant amount of special ed
[52:16] kids that showed up that we, we didn't know about.
[52:19] So again, this is typically does what hap.
[52:22] Is what happens in pre-K and kindergarten.
[52:26] But we'll continue to address that and look at that
[52:27] as.
[52:28] The the year progresses. So I'll update you if it
[52:31] does become a concern and we need additional resources, I'll
[52:34] bring that to the committee. But right now we're looking
[52:36] at.
[52:37] Some different opportunities to service these students. Do we have
[52:39] any space?
[52:41] Right now. Yeah. So there's a, we have a readiness
[52:44] room at south street that some of those kids may
[52:46] be able to transition back into some, I.
[52:49] Inclusion opportunities and move some students around. So I think.
[52:52] We'll be able to handle what we have, I, you
[52:53] know, in front of us right now, but we'll probably
[52:56] have to talk about if all of a sudden we
[52:59] have some movements come in.
[53:00] We'll have to go back and talk about that. Yep.
[53:02] But.
[53:03] Right now. I think we're okay. But.
[53:06] We never know who will come in and, and move
[53:09] in. So.
[53:10] But otherwise it's going great. Everyone's happy to be back.
[53:13] Kids are happy to be back.
[53:15] And staff are too.
[53:18] One thing I wanted to share this year, we're trying
[53:20] to really build a strong.
[53:23] Culture throughout Fitchburg.
[53:25] And one of the things that we're working on is
[53:27] a monthly mindset goal for the district.
[53:32] And in September where we're gonna be working on building
[53:34] community and what our director of social-emotional learning, Brendan Keenan
[53:38] did is.
[53:39] He worked with counselors and he put together a kind
[53:42] of a mindset.
[53:45] Focus for every month. So each month students will be
[53:48] learning a se different set of mindset.
[53:51] Skills this month is going to be building a community.
[53:54] We thrive when we belong.
[53:57] And this is something that each teacher will be able
[53:58] to look at, look at core values and how they
[54:01] connect to our strategic plan.
[54:04] They'll look at related vocabulary.
[54:06] Around our goal of, you know, creating a really welcoming
[54:09] and belonging culture for our students.
[54:12] Students, they have a little bit of blurb about what
[54:14] we'll like to see. So in the month of September,
[54:16] we are focusing on a community, a building, a community
[54:18] across a district in Fitchburg.
[54:20] Building a community means making our school a kind and
[54:24] welcoming place where everyone belongs.
[54:26] Belongs when we help each other, celebrate our differences and
[54:29] work as a team, we make our family stronger together.
[54:32] We can use our words and actions to bring out.
[54:35] The best in everyone every single day.
[54:37] So we have a little message. Then we have the
[54:39] targeted skills that'll be focusing on.
[54:42] Again for this it's X with integrity, demonstrates empathy and
[54:46] respect and contributes to community.
[54:49] And then we have some classroom strategies differentiated at the
[54:52] elementary, middle, and high school level for Stu teachers to
[54:55] use with their students.
[54:56] Students. So all students are aware. Sorry, all teachers have
[55:00] access to these materials. I talk about it in my
[55:03] Friday newsletter.
[55:04] To continue to promote that the principals also promote it
[55:07] during.
[55:08] Announcements in, you know, their meetings with staff and students.
[55:13] Students. So this is something that I will bring to
[55:14] your attention once a month when we meet just so
[55:16] you know what that focus is each month. Okay.
[55:22] All right. Just a few other housekeeping issues.
[55:25] Issues this week starts our open house.
[55:29] So you can see, we have open houses.
[55:31] Scheduled this week for our two middle schools.
[55:34] In addition to our three elementary schools.
[55:38] And then next week we have Fitchburg high school Goodrich
[55:42] in south street. So those are our open house times.
[55:46] Again, these are the times where parents can go.
[55:49] Get a tour of the school. They get to meet
[55:51] the classroom teacher, the administrators, the other staff members in
[55:54] the building. It's just a really great night.
[55:56] So we hope to see everyone there.
[55:59] Hi, John. Yes. Oh.
[56:02] I remember a lot of open houses with like six
[56:05] to eight. Why, why are they now? Like.
[56:09] Four 30 to
[56:11] six 30 does that
[56:13] so these times were voted on by the staff members
[56:16] of each school.
[56:18] And this is what they have recommended.
[56:21] To their principles for the times that they would like
[56:24] to have open houses.
[56:29] Question. So is that something that is typically done where
[56:32] we.
[56:34] Focus group, the staff, the focus group is the staff.
[56:36] Yep.
[56:38] Yep. So in their contract, it says that they have,
[56:40] I think for open house it's two hour window.
[56:43] But they get to choose the time they get to
[56:45] choose the times as staff members.
[56:47] We don't compare that against, like when we have student
[56:49] teacher conferences and the parents.
[56:52] Have timing and we usually see 'em later in the
[56:54] day. Yeah. So we try to have different.
[56:58] Time sections. So because our early release days, now we
[57:02] have.
[57:04] A section in the afternoon. Mm-hmm for early release.
[57:07] And then parents can come during that time. And then
[57:09] usually there's a type of, a little break for parent
[57:12] teachers. And then they come back from like five to
[57:14] seven in the evening.
[57:15] Okay. Yep. Thank you.
[57:18] And that comes out.
[57:20] Parents actually will probably be signing up for those conferences
[57:23] during open house times. That's typically how it's done.
[57:29] Hmm. And then just so you know, this is year
[57:31] two of our strategic plan.
[57:34] We started our strategic plan last year.
[57:37] In October, I will be providing you with an update
[57:39] on our strategic plan.
[57:42] With very clear action steps for this year and what
[57:44] we hope to accomplish. So I'll be going over that.
[57:47] I think it's our next October meeting on the fifth.
[57:49] So.
[57:50] You'll be having that information for you, then we're gonna
[57:53] have more acronyms.
[57:55] Acronyms I'm trying to think. No, I don't think
[57:58] so. No more acronyms. We love acronyms. No more acronyms.
[58:01] Great. Just a quick question, John.
[58:04] What Pete was asking.
[58:07] I'm always remembering the old days when he hit this.
[58:10] Parent. Oh, this is an open house.
[58:13] So even if they have open house,
[58:16] some parent. I mean, they come, they get outta work
[58:18] at five o'clock mm-hmm .
[58:20] That that means, like, if I have to go to
[58:21] soft street, I get home at five. I gotta rush
[58:23] and make a mad dash through south street. That type
[58:26] of deal or.
[58:27] You know, I know it's not a parent student conference,
[58:29] but.
[58:30] Especially south street. Yeah. There should be a little leeway.
[58:33] Maybe, you know, sometimes this is good for the teachers.
[58:36] They don't have to go home and come back, which
[58:37] is understandable.
[58:39] I think you got accommodate some of the parents that
[58:41] can't, and this is only, so are you asking me
[58:43] to ask the, you know, the.
[58:46] Teachers moving forward. If you can look at off half.
[58:49] So what would you.
[58:50] Recommend would be an appropriate time for open houses. Let's
[58:53] say.
[58:54] For the elementary level.
[58:56] Five to seven, six to eight. More like that. We.
[59:00] To me. It's like, Bob's the old school.
[59:03] When I was teaching, it was like six to eight.
[59:05] Yeah. No parents would come. Yes. After dinner.
[59:10] You know,
[59:11] it so we could meet 'em halfway, so to speak.
[59:13] They could, you know, I could see maybe south street
[59:15] being, you know,
[59:18] kindergarten pre-kindergarten that's fine. But high school.
[59:21] Got four to six. I mean, that should be lease.
[59:25] In my opinion, like, you know, if lease five to
[59:27] seven,
[59:28] you know, and that would be a good opportunity.
[59:31] Cuz by the time
[59:34] I'm not gonna have a good turnout.
[59:37] I will share your thoughts with the administrators and the
[59:40] teachers, and mostly what we can do to help support
[59:43] families, right. To.
[59:44] Sell street, not have to be two, a two hour
[59:45] window.
[59:47] They did a half hour.
[59:49] For their
[59:53] ice cream, barbecue.
[59:55] So they, all the teachers came in half hour and
[59:57] met the parents. So that's why their time gets cut
[59:58] a little bit, cuz it's two hours. Okay. Time. So.
[1:00:02] They're they already did a half hour.
[1:00:04] So they'll do their other hour and a half here,
[1:00:07] the rest of their contracted time. So like Rengel did.
[1:00:11] Something similar. So CELT street just used that time and
[1:00:14] backed it into this, correct? Yep. Okay. Yep. Interesting. Especially
[1:00:18] in middle science.
[1:00:19] We done a survey, the family. Yep. We can definitely
[1:00:23] do a survey to families.
[1:00:25] This has been like this for several years now.
[1:00:27] But I can definitely put a survey out to families
[1:00:30] to see what they think. We get any numbers on
[1:00:34] turnout with.
[1:00:35] This early.
[1:00:38] That's wicked early. Yeah, I haven't. You haven't received any.
[1:00:43] I, I haven't received any, you know, negative.
[1:00:47] Feedback from any parents about times.
[1:00:51] I can definitely have them tell you how many parents
[1:00:53] come.
[1:00:54] Yeah, just, I just wanna make sure parents get the
[1:00:58] opportunity to, yes.
[1:01:00] Get to an open house.
[1:01:05] Okay. I can get that to you. Thank.
[1:01:11] Hours, right. Open house.
[1:01:13] All set. Any other questions on open house?
[1:01:17] Strategic plan.
[1:01:19] We'll give you a update and kind of an overview
[1:01:21] for the year in October.
[1:01:24] And then just a quick update. I pulled this this
[1:01:27] morning. These are our current numbers.
[1:01:30] For our buildings. So currently south street is at 566
[1:01:34] students.
[1:01:36] Students crocker is at 749.
[1:01:39] McKay is at 717.
[1:01:41] Ryan gold is at 606.
[1:01:43] Long show 561.
[1:01:46] Memorial 611.
[1:01:49] In Fitchburg high school, 1,223.
[1:01:53] And Goodrich is 125 and we currently have 151 out
[1:01:57] of district placements for a total of 5,000. Good.
[1:02:02] Thousand 309. Is that 200?
[1:02:05] Minus the
[1:02:07] last school year.
[1:02:10] This time. We do get a lot of this year.
[1:02:12] It's this time, this year.
[1:02:14] So this time, this year, where 200 less, however.
[1:02:19] We have until October 1st. So we're still going through X
[1:02:22] two, making sure our kids are withdrawn.
[1:02:25] Making sure that we have the kids that are enrolled
[1:02:28] are in their accurately.
[1:02:30] So we have now until October 1st to make sure we
[1:02:31] get this right. Jeremy, what does this put us up
[1:02:34] for?
[1:02:35] Funding? Well, it depends. I did mean with Caleb data.
[1:02:39] District data specialists about this today.
[1:02:41] He has as Superintendent Thompson know that we have till
[1:02:45] October 1st, they'll really probably meet October to, to cert.
[1:02:50] Certify our, our enrollment.
[1:02:52] Keeping in mind that our enrollment towards the foundation budget
[1:02:54] does include school choice out.
[1:02:57] Does include charter.
[1:02:59] So what we were looking at, in addition to the
[1:03:02] enrollees, the enrollees are about the same.
[1:03:05] Is 813 have enrolled O over the course of the
[1:03:09] summer. That includes kindergarten and pre-K.
[1:03:12] pre-K so he kind of did have.
[1:03:15] He speculated that we should land about the same.
[1:03:21] One thing that we did see was the eighth grade
[1:03:23] was relatively small.
[1:03:25] Cohort. So the current ninth is, is smaller than it's
[1:03:28] been. It's about 2 83 at Fitchburg high right now where
[1:03:32] it's been like three 50.
[1:03:33] In, in previous years more, more recently.
[1:03:38] We were 58, 26 for our foundation budget last year.
[1:03:43] So, what we're gonna look at very carefully is to
[1:03:46] try to be at 58, 26, at least.
[1:03:49] You know, and if not higher, and, and again, we
[1:03:51] go with what we have in terms of the students
[1:03:53] that we are currently enrolled in all of our schools
[1:03:55] and those, and out of.
[1:03:57] District placements in those students who are.
[1:04:01] School choice out and as well as.
[1:04:05] Charter, what we saw on.
[1:04:07] The security portal.
[1:04:10] Is the school choice out is.
[1:04:12] Incredibly low right now.
[1:04:14] Because they just, haven't been quantified by districts where they've,
[1:04:17] the students are attending, it's showing like a hundred something.
[1:04:21] Which is very low in contrast to what we've previously
[1:04:24] been seeing, which is like 3 50, 360.
[1:04:28] So it, it really it's in the next month is
[1:04:30] kind of how this all fleshes out. I'm not super
[1:04:33] worried about that, honestly.
[1:04:36] Taco. I still think our own internal is being fleshed
[1:04:39] out too. Yeah. So just speaking to enrollment, she's still
[1:04:43] processing.
[1:04:44] Students parents, haven't got certain pieces of paperwork in that
[1:04:47] they need to get in in time. So there's still
[1:04:50] students that are over there that need to be processed.
[1:04:52] So.
[1:04:52] We're not, we're not worried at this time. Oh, good.
[1:04:55] Okay. Because a gardener last.
[1:04:58] Gardener. Oh yeah, it was hit with like a two
[1:05:00] and a half million dollar.
[1:05:02] So remember when I said this last year or probably
[1:05:06] in November.
[1:05:07] We were looking at this. We were one of.
[1:05:10] Of small handful of districts that actually had more students.
[1:05:13] Yeah. So we had 35 additional students in our October 1st
[1:05:18] report.
[1:05:19] And everyone else around us.
[1:05:22] Had fewer students. So that was a big budget hit.
[1:05:25] Yeah, definitely. For a lot of other districts, I'm hoping
[1:05:28] that doesn't happen to us this year. I don't.
[1:05:30] Don't think it will, but we'll continue to update you
[1:05:34] on this.
[1:05:35] As we continue to enroll kids.
[1:05:38] And exit kids too. So John, we I'm.
[1:05:42] Out of district students, we opened up classrooms. Yep. How
[1:05:46] many of those do you like? pre-K to eight.
[1:05:49] On those new students. Do you know? I don't know.
[1:05:52] Off the top of my head. She's still calculating all
[1:05:54] that for me.
[1:05:55] So she's gonna have that for us on our, is
[1:05:56] it September 29th is our meeting.
[1:05:59] Yeah, yeah. September 29th. Yep. You'll have a better.
[1:06:03] Sense of this, once everything is, is crunched. He's like
[1:06:05] we may, we send out to special schools. No, no.
[1:06:08] We're no, no. We're we opened up, we opened up
[1:06:10] school.
[1:06:11] Chair seats opened up school choice to take in students.
[1:06:13] Right. So we take, we have 12 more school choice
[1:06:16] in than we did. Yeah. I'm looking to see how
[1:06:19] many of.
[1:06:19] Those resourced. I, well, I don't know in the count,
[1:06:22] how many are might be new, how or new our
[1:06:25] opening up room make any difference? Well,
[1:06:28] yeah, well, yes, absolutely. There are people who are taking
[1:06:29] those seats. Yeah. Luisa will be able to give that
[1:06:32] to us at the resource subcommittee meeting. Okay. She'll tell
[1:06:34] you how many seats we have available to update.
[1:06:36] Us there may be some.
[1:06:39] Schools that are very, very close that we may need
[1:06:41] to school close off school choice off. Yep. taking
[1:06:45] it. She's she's updating me weekly on where.
[1:06:47] We're at nothing yet, but we're getting close. I mean,
[1:06:50] Cocker's getting crackers. Yes. That's pretty close. We didn't have
[1:06:53] any seats open at crocker. Not before. No, no. At.
[1:06:55] All and I mean right now, what, what is the
[1:06:57] capacity like 800.
[1:06:59] 8 8 36, 6 8 31. Okay. Yep.
[1:07:03] No, it'll be exact we get a few shoe
[1:07:07] horns. And so this is where we currently are. We're
[1:07:11] still moving. Go.
[1:07:11] Ahead. So two, two questions. So the other district line,
[1:07:14] these are students from other districts who are going to
[1:07:17] school here in Fitchburg. It's the other way around those.
[1:07:19] Are students with specific, special IEPs. Okay. That are.
[1:07:26] Actually have to be serviced at a different stretch place.
[1:07:29] So that's 150, whether it's a collaborative or, or private,
[1:07:32] you know,
[1:07:34] type of, and you said that the numbers may change
[1:07:36] because there's a lot of paperwork that isn't finished. Does
[1:07:38] that mean.
[1:07:39] That at Fitchburg high, where it's minus a hundred, there
[1:07:43] could be 50 kids there who.
[1:07:45] Are in classes, but the paperwork hasn't been sent? No,
[1:07:47] no, no, no. That could be kids still out, down
[1:07:50] here that they, their parents are missing certain specific.
[1:07:54] Items that they need. So they're not enrolled yet. So
[1:07:55] they're not enrolled yet enrolled. Those kids are like, they're
[1:07:57] in the queue, but they're not counting on here yet.
[1:07:59] Gotcha. Because they're not, and they're not.
[1:08:02] In, they're not in classes yet. They're not in classes
[1:08:04] yet either. No. Thank you.
[1:08:06] Lindsay very quickly on this.
[1:08:09] Chart you have PK KF.
[1:08:12] K F one through 12. And what is SP stand
[1:08:13] for?
[1:08:15] Special special relations populations. Yep. Special populations. It's typically students
[1:08:20] who are 19 to 22. It actually is.
[1:08:23] Exactly that it's the 19 to 22 program. That's at
[1:08:26] McKay that's at McKay or other kids that are out
[1:08:29] of district.
[1:08:30] Good. Thank you. Yep.
[1:08:32] So again, we'll continue to update. You you'll have a
[1:08:34] better update and we'll have a better sense on September 29th
[1:08:37] at the resource subcommittee meeting. Okay. Okay.
[1:08:40] All right. What you've been waiting for is our cell
[1:08:43] phone policy. What is going on?
[1:08:46] You hear all that great feedback out there in the
[1:08:48] community, what is happening, right. That largely.
[1:08:51] Bad. Not largely bad. Right? Right. So again,
[1:08:55] brief survey I sent out last week.
[1:08:57] I asked teachers to gimme some feedback on how it's
[1:08:59] going.
[1:09:00] Again, today's day 13, right?
[1:09:02] So I sent it out. We have over a thousand
[1:09:05] staff. We only had 164 responses.
[1:09:08] Responses. Okay. Elementary. We had about 22% of those responses.
[1:09:12] This is all staff. This is all staff. Okay. All
[1:09:15] staff, no students, just staff.
[1:09:17] Feedback middle school we had about 28.7%. And then at
[1:09:21] the high school we had 49.4% answer the survey.
[1:09:25] Again, the biggest is at the high school because it's
[1:09:27] the biggest population that this.
[1:09:29] Policy is affecting, right. So what did we learn?
[1:09:34] So overall the first question, how would you rate the
[1:09:37] implementation of the cell phone policy so far on a
[1:09:40] scale to one to five, one.
[1:09:42] Being horrible, five being the best. Right.
[1:09:45] So, if you look on the left, we broke those
[1:09:47] down for you. So about 84.9%.
[1:09:51] So it's neutral to positive. So about rating of the
[1:09:53] three to five.
[1:09:55] An overwhelming majority of staff rated the policy and implementation
[1:10:00] at three or higher.
[1:10:02] Okay, so that's pretty good. Mm-hmm all right.
[1:10:06] So 50% of those.
[1:10:09] Rated at a four or five, which is positive.
[1:10:12] We had 83 respondents rated implementation as highly effective.
[1:10:17] We had 42 rate of four and 41 rate of
[1:10:19] five.
[1:10:22] For
[1:10:23] the moderate in the middle of a three, we had
[1:10:26] 34.9%.
[1:10:28] Which was about 58 respondents rated implementation as neutral or
[1:10:32] moderate.
[1:10:33] And then lastly, we had about 15.1% rated at a
[1:10:36] one or two.
[1:10:38] So we had 25 response rate implantation, low. We had
[1:10:42] 21 rate, two and four rated one.
[1:10:46] Okay. Mm-hmm so overall we.
[1:10:49] We're doing okay. It's going okay.
[1:10:51] All right. Was there any specific feedback with the.
[1:10:55] 15.1%.
[1:10:57] So at the end, I had two open response questions.
[1:11:01] Questions. They told me like, what's really working well with
[1:11:03] students and what are things we need to improve on.
[1:11:05] So I'll share that. That's the last two questions you'll
[1:11:07] see at the end. Thank you. And they.
[1:11:09] Were weren't afraid to share with us what needs to
[1:11:11] be improved. so I, and I appreciate that, cuz
[1:11:13] I, we need the feedback quick, quick question. And I,
[1:11:17] I.
[1:11:17] Know Deb and the committee.
[1:11:20] Covered this, the cell phone policy.
[1:11:23] Also applies to teachers at the schools. Is that correct?
[1:11:25] Correct. Yep.
[1:11:28] So the next question we asked since implementation of the
[1:11:31] cell phone policy, student discipline issues related to cell phones
[1:11:34] have.
[1:11:36] So overall.
[1:11:38] 80.2 S percent.
[1:11:41] We said had a combined decrease, an overwhelming majority of
[1:11:45] educators observed a reduction in cell phone related disciplinary.
[1:11:49] Issues following the policy implementation, which was great. Hmm. Yeah.
[1:11:53] 42.2%.
[1:11:55] Said they decreased significantly.
[1:11:57] Made your reduction in cell phone, discipline violations and classroom
[1:12:00] disruptions.
[1:12:02] 38%.
[1:12:04] Decreased, somewhat notable decreases in overall phone related disciplinary incidences.
[1:12:11] Incidences. And then lastly, 13.9% state about the same.
[1:12:15] Discipline levels remain consistent with previous baselines.
[1:12:19] Baselines. So as you can see, we did, we do
[1:12:21] seem to have some decreases in some phone related behaviors.
[1:12:25] Behaviors the next question.
[1:12:32] What impact, if any, has the cell phone policy had
[1:12:35] on student?
[1:12:37] Engagement during class. So if students actually engage now in
[1:12:41] learning.
[1:12:42] So overwhelmingly we had 82.1%.
[1:12:47] Positive impact.
[1:12:49] An overwhelming majority of education educators observed improved student engagement
[1:12:53] and attentiveness following the policy implementation.
[1:12:57] Mm-hmm 36.4%.
[1:12:59] Significantly improved, substantial increase in classroom participation, focused and task
[1:13:04] completion.
[1:13:06] 45.7, somewhat improved.
[1:13:09] Improved noticeable reductions in cell phone distractions during instruction.
[1:13:12] And then lastly, 16%.
[1:13:15] No noticeable change. Students' engagement levels.
[1:13:17] Remain consistent with pre policy baselines.
[1:13:20] Baselines. So overwhelmingly, we have about 82.1% who felt that
[1:13:24] they've seen a positive moving.
[1:13:27] Impact. So kind of like a summary of the things
[1:13:30] positives and things that we need to continue working on.
[1:13:32] Mm-hmm so positives so far right now.
[1:13:35] There's three of 'em that came up. And again, this
[1:13:37] was all the information that we received, and these are
[1:13:40] the.
[1:13:41] Trends that we saw.
[1:13:43] Educators. Tell us mm-hmm first one was.
[1:13:47] Increased student engagement and focus.
[1:13:50] Students are paying closer attention, participating more actively in lessons.
[1:13:54] And producing higher quality work with fewer distractions during instructional
[1:13:58] time.
[1:13:59] That's what we wanted. Yep.
[1:14:03] Improved.
[1:14:04] Improved social interactions. Students are communicating more. Face-to-face collaborative collaborating
[1:14:10] and engaging in positive peer-to-peer convers.
[1:14:13] Conversations during class transitions and lunch.
[1:14:16] A lot more improved social interactions. And I see this
[1:14:18] at lunch.
[1:14:20] The most when I visit and I also can see
[1:14:22] the cameras in my office. I pull 'em up during
[1:14:25] lunchtime there's kids sitting at tables, talking.
[1:14:28] Again, they're not just all, like, they're not just on
[1:14:30] their, they're not on their phones anymore. They're talking.
[1:14:33] They're saying hello to one another. It's awesome to see.
[1:14:36] Oh my God. So great. It's great. That's the old
[1:14:38] days. Yep. And then lastly, reduce.
[1:14:41] Classroom disruptions. There are significantly fewer visible cell phones.
[1:14:45] Decrease in power struggles and open policy violations in less
[1:14:48] drama related to social media or texting. That's a big
[1:14:51] one. Mm-hmm a lot less.
[1:14:53] Drama with the social media. I agree. So.
[1:14:56] Again, those are kind of the positives, but obviously there's
[1:14:59] some barriers, some challenges that we still have to work
[1:15:02] through.
[1:15:03] So
[1:15:05] the first one that came up was student non-compliance in
[1:15:08] misrepresentation.
[1:15:10] Staff are saying students frequently refuse to use the doorman
[1:15:13] app.
[1:15:15] Falsely claiming they do not have their phones.
[1:15:17] Leaving devices in lockers or backpacks or having secondary phones
[1:15:22] while hiding their primary.
[1:15:24] Devices, my kids trick trick.
[1:15:28] Students. Right. So that's what, what I would do. That's
[1:15:31] one of the issues.
[1:15:33] Issues again, the technology app, the technology hasn't been the
[1:15:36] best.
[1:15:38] Unfortunately, so two things
[1:15:40] glitches battery drain and compatibility.
[1:15:44] Errors persisted, meaning that
[1:15:47] some kids can't download the app because they haven't paid
[1:15:49] their apple bill.
[1:15:51] So they're not able to download that.
[1:15:54] So that's one of the things I don't think we've
[1:15:55] thought of. Like, what if they had a large balance
[1:15:58] on their apple bill students can't download their app.
[1:16:02] So that's one thing where up against, or working against.
[1:16:07] The other thing is we also.
[1:16:10] Have to look at the glitches in the doorman app.
[1:16:13] There were a few glitches here and there. One of
[1:16:16] it was our rostering of our.
[1:16:18] Students into the system for some reason.
[1:16:20] Our eighth graders, we're appearing both at the middle.
[1:16:24] As our ninth graders were appearing at the high school
[1:16:27] as ninth graders, but they were still on the eighth
[1:16:29] grade.
[1:16:30] Roster. So they had two spots that they were showing
[1:16:33] up at. So.
[1:16:35] That is something that Dorian is still trying to fix.
[1:16:37] So there's been some glitches there with the technology. Mm-hmm
[1:16:40] .
[1:16:43] Lack of admin enforcement, administrative enforcement. This one's interesting.
[1:16:48] Teachers report minimal follow through and.
[1:16:51] Inconsistent support from administration on violations.
[1:16:55] The lack of meaningful consequences, confiscation.
[1:16:59] Leaving educators unsupported in which undermines the compliance piece.
[1:17:04] So some educators are feeling that they're not being supported
[1:17:06] by their administrators.
[1:17:10] In con you know, taking phones away.
[1:17:13] So that's something that we're, we're trying to figure out.
[1:17:16] One of the things that we, we are working on
[1:17:18] is we don't wanna make this, you know, right away.
[1:17:20] Your first thing is we're taking your cell phone, right?
[1:17:23] If kids have their cell phones out,
[1:17:25] they're not tapped in. We are taking those phones. If
[1:17:27] they're not tapped in, if they're out for a reason.
[1:17:31] I know we're checking in. Maybe they have an app
[1:17:33] that's available and they're using it.
[1:17:35] But if not, we're telling them to put it away
[1:17:36] and we're giving them a reminders. If kids are constantly
[1:17:39] being reminded.
[1:17:41] Time after time and after time.
[1:17:43] That's when we're asking administrators, you call the parents in,
[1:17:46] you call the student in and you have that meeting.
[1:17:49] And review the policy and let them know this is
[1:17:51] the expectations we need you to partner with us.
[1:17:54] Okay. Mm-hmm
[1:17:56] so those are the things and, and again, some, some
[1:17:59] people want very strict, like you do this, you bring
[1:18:01] your phone it's it's ours, or you bring your phone.
[1:18:05] We're taken away forever. We're trying to teach kids the
[1:18:07] habits and remind them.
[1:18:09] We will have to get there if it continues being
[1:18:11] a problem after the first six weeks. But right now
[1:18:13] we're still trying to make sure we're, we're teaching the
[1:18:16] kids how to be respect.
[1:18:18] Respectful and responsible with their phones and use them the
[1:18:20] correct way. Reasonable. Yep. I think you're gonna have to
[1:18:23] get to a point this.
[1:18:25] That's it. Give it to me. Yeah. Mm-hmm yep. It
[1:18:26] goes home. It doesn't come back. Third time a check.
[1:18:29] Third time's a mm-hmm. yep. Mm-hmm .
[1:18:32] Stephanie. Go ahead. Yeah. I had three questions. Yep. You
[1:18:36] noted that there wasn't a lot of.
[1:18:39] Staff that participated in the survey. Was it confidential? Yes,
[1:18:41] it was. Yep. Is there any way.
[1:18:44] To repeat this and then have it broken out where
[1:18:46] we don't know who it is, but we know what
[1:18:48] school's coming from. Yes, we can do that. That's actually
[1:18:50] probably what we'll do for the second time.
[1:18:52] We'll find out exactly, exactly what school, what I'll do.
[1:18:56] I think next time is I'll have each principal send
[1:18:58] the survey out. Same survey to this school.
[1:19:00] So they actually have that information. Perfect. Yep.
[1:19:03] But that's a good idea.
[1:19:06] And then the last piece is the opt out policy.
[1:19:10] Widespread confusion remains around the opt-out provision.
[1:19:14] Students and parents frequently misinterpret opt-out status as blanket permission
[1:19:19] for unrestricted cell phone use during.
[1:19:22] Instructional and passing periods. And this has been a conversation
[1:19:24] that our administrators have been having.
[1:19:27] So some parents say, okay, I don't, some parents don't
[1:19:30] want their students coming in and scanning their phone.
[1:19:33] They feel that it's an invasion of their privacy.
[1:19:36] That's fine. You don't have to do that, but your
[1:19:39] phone.
[1:19:40] Is away or it doesn't come into school.
[1:19:42] We're telling parents that really don't bring your phone in.
[1:19:44] Obviously if kids can keep it in their bag and
[1:19:46] it's off and it's not a problem.
[1:19:48] That's great, but the second that they do pull out
[1:19:51] that phone and they're not tapped in, we are taking
[1:19:54] those phones and we do have good.
[1:19:57] Locations where we stored those phones. The kids will get
[1:19:59] those phones at back at the end of the day.
[1:20:01] But we're starting to implement those.
[1:20:04] Pieces to this, this P the policy. Yeah. Question. If
[1:20:07] we take that phone.
[1:20:09] Yep. We don't maintain liability.
[1:20:12] Right.
[1:20:16] You know, I mean, so I'm gonna, I don't wanna
[1:20:18] get to the situation where I'm reliable. We're not gonna
[1:20:21] be liable.
[1:20:22] Because we are having the kid place it in a
[1:20:24] secured locked location.
[1:20:27] Okay. Okay. So
[1:20:29] right now. And I I'll tell you this in a
[1:20:32] second. When I get to the, the grants, we did
[1:20:34] get that implementation grant. We found out last week.
[1:20:38] For the cell phones and in there.
[1:20:41] We purchased every well we'll, we'll be purchasing.
[1:20:45] Every school, if they don't have one already a secured
[1:20:47] locking device where kids can put those in there, if
[1:20:50] they are not choosing not to use their, the app.
[1:20:53] For sure. Okay. Good.
[1:20:58] That's where we are right now on the cell phone
[1:21:00] app. Any questions? Yes. Just a comment. I mean, you.
[1:21:03] Know, you could see just the.
[1:21:06] What you were saying about.
[1:21:08] The response of opportunity for some of these kids are
[1:21:11] now they're talking to each other in the cafeteria, they're
[1:21:13] engaging in the hallways last visit.
[1:21:17] To my, when I, I went to the high school,
[1:21:19] you.
[1:21:21] Know, kids are just walk in the hallway, looking at
[1:21:22] the phone, don't even talk to each other. Yep. So
[1:21:25] even if it's a small percentage right now, it's a
[1:21:27] way to start. Yep. It's a great.
[1:21:29] Opportunity. Our kids can be engaged and learn more.
[1:21:32] You know, lessons they needed to learn.
[1:21:37] So, you know, overall
[1:21:39] it's going well, we still have things to clean up.
[1:21:41] Sure. I'll continue bringing you updates. As we, you know,
[1:21:44] implement the policy. I like to get some feedback from
[1:21:46] the kids.
[1:21:47] And see what they think. I like the idea of
[1:21:50] individual schools to find out what they're saying.
[1:21:53] So we have some more concrete data for each individual
[1:21:55] school. And I'd like to hear from families too, you
[1:21:58] know, how are things going?
[1:21:59] After the first six weeks at home with the cell
[1:22:02] phone piece? Yes. So.
[1:22:04] All right. Good.
[1:22:06] Cell phone, cell phone, cell phones.
[1:22:09] It's gonna pay off in the long one. It will
[1:22:11] popular topic in our house. Yep. .
[1:22:15] All right, moving on, Carrie, you are up and Carrie
[1:22:18] will bring.
[1:22:20] Bring us up to speed on our new hires and
[1:22:23] our summer hires.
[1:22:25] Hires back to our new hires.
[1:22:27] Hires in answer to your question, Mr. Campbell.
[1:22:31] We had the most hires at the elementary only because
[1:22:34] wrold had so many, so they did win something. It
[1:22:37] wasn't spirit day.
[1:22:38] They had the most hires they had 19 currently our
[1:22:42] vacancies are, and this is amazing because in all the
[1:22:45] years that I've done this.
[1:22:47] Right now we have a stem position at long show.
[1:22:51] A world language Spanish at high school.
[1:22:55] One inclusion.
[1:22:57] School psychologist and S L P.
[1:23:00] I don't think we've ever been this.
[1:23:03] Fully staffed, even substitute teachers.
[1:23:06] Teachers? No. Oh, no, we.
[1:23:09] Fully staff fully staffed means the primary person in the
[1:23:17] classroom. Still pretty awesome. That, that, yeah, please don't stealmy.
[1:23:17] Fender cuz that was when I was looking at this,
[1:23:18] I was like, wow. I was just checking. I think
[1:23:21] we have two custodian positions available.
[1:23:24] And we're working on paraprofessionals. So we'll get an update
[1:23:27] on that. That's.
[1:23:28] That's paraprofessionals and nutritional services are always an ongoing.
[1:23:33] Revolving door, unfortunately. And I did wanna say when Lauren
[1:23:38] was here, not only.
[1:23:40] Did they have an
[1:23:42] amazing summer, but HR also processed 114 of their staff.
[1:23:47] So.
[1:23:49] While doing the new hires for the schools.
[1:23:51] We were processing that we had 82 for.
[1:23:54] Extended school year for the special ed program.
[1:23:57] And
[1:23:59] 90 plus coming for the fall for 21st century. So
[1:24:03] that's a lot of movement.
[1:24:06] Some of these
[1:24:08] I did write some notes.
[1:24:10] On our next page, the job category by distribution, our
[1:24:13] boomerang.
[1:24:15] District. We had five before you go to this page,
[1:24:17] can you go back to the previous page?
[1:24:20] I guess I might unclear on how this, you have
[1:24:23] primary school locations.
[1:24:25] Locations then district and secondary, but under district and secondary,
[1:24:29] you have Memorial middle it, ranked it by how many
[1:24:32] at each school. So.
[1:24:34] 19 at Ryan gold crocker and long Jo both had
[1:24:36] 8 76 and then Memorial only had three. So they pushed
[1:24:39] Memorial over to in auxiliary. All right.
[1:24:42] Just confusing. I knowing with this titles on the two
[1:24:44] columns, are you.
[1:24:46] I saw that too. I okay. Okay. Thank you. You're
[1:24:47] welcome.
[1:24:52] Okay, so our next one.
[1:24:54] Our administrators, we had five new administrators this year. We
[1:24:57] didn't get a chance to talk about that.
[1:24:59] Two or promotions were from within.
[1:25:02] To, and two were returnee from out. They left the
[1:25:05] district for a while and came back and now they
[1:25:07] are.
[1:25:08] Our administrators for us. And then one brand new.
[1:25:13] Again, the 64 teachers that 12 paraprofessional, we have a
[1:25:17] lot of interdistrict transfers for paraprofessionals. So that number always
[1:25:20] looks.
[1:25:21] Old low by next week. It'll be higher because we
[1:25:25] are processing people as we go.
[1:25:30] Questions about that one and that nutrition services one is
[1:25:33] low because.
[1:25:35] I have to run the data for today.
[1:25:37] On the administrators. Do you have a breakdown for that?
[1:25:39] What schools.
[1:25:43] Two at the high school.
[1:25:46] No three at the high school, three at the high
[1:25:48] school, three at the high school, one at crocker.
[1:25:51] One at crocker is brand new. And then Mark Minucci,
[1:25:54] recount that, even though that was last year, it's this
[1:25:56] year in Goodrich though? Yes. Yep. The principal.
[1:26:00] So two promotions and two.
[1:26:03] People returning and then one out of district.
[1:26:05] Thank you.
[1:26:07] I
[1:26:11] did wanna give you the gender if and ethnicity, demographics.
[1:26:16] Demographics 39.
[1:26:18] Female 13 male. This is for the teachers only.
[1:26:23] We're getting better.
[1:26:25] Our Hispanic, Latino is up to 19.6% of our new
[1:26:27] hires.
[1:26:29] Hires 5.94.
[1:26:33] Asian, and this is all the self-reporting on the beginning.
[1:26:36] So I actually have to get them.
[1:26:38] Enrolled in and into our Aspen system. And then I
[1:26:41] can actually pull data, but this is all self-reporting.
[1:26:49] And this is another win for us.
[1:26:55] So school spring has always, and traditionally been the place
[1:26:57] where educators in Massachusetts and our surrounding states look for
[1:27:01] jobs.
[1:27:02] That's not stopping. That's good.
[1:27:05] We have a 25.8% employee referral. So they're gathering friends.
[1:27:10] We like that. I also wanna say that the, that
[1:27:13] the principles did a fantastic.
[1:27:16] Job really posting their positions early.
[1:27:19] And hiring
[1:27:22] and doing their own recruiting.
[1:27:24] And I think that speaks to why we only have
[1:27:27] a few vacancies right now. I mean, we're always gonna
[1:27:29] get those last minute.
[1:27:31] Someone came and decided they got a better offer somewhere
[1:27:33] else. We don't.
[1:27:35] Don't happens very rarely, but it does.
[1:27:37] So having as low
[1:27:40] a vacancy rate right now is huge and hats off
[1:27:42] to the district and all of our principals and APS
[1:27:45] and S PSAs who really.
[1:27:48] Really did all that work this year.
[1:27:50] Hosting early, making sure that they were doing the interviews
[1:27:53] and really getting the good candidates.
[1:27:55] And some of our principles went to career fairs too,
[1:27:59] for the Princip. Well, we held a career. We, we
[1:28:01] did hold a hiring.
[1:28:04] Fair. We will market that a little bit better this
[1:28:07] year.
[1:28:08] But they were there and they were excited.
[1:28:10] And that is a lot more than we've had in
[1:28:12] the past. We never really did that before.
[1:28:15] So we'll probably do a new venue this year, maybe
[1:28:17] up at the high school.
[1:28:19] Or at Memorial
[1:28:21] centrally located. And then we did have a couple of
[1:28:24] them join me at recruitment fairs. Recruitment fairs are difficult.
[1:28:27] They're usually held in places like Boston. And so.
[1:28:30] We kind of stand there and think, think.
[1:28:32] Know, you're looking at all the kids come from local
[1:28:36] schools, although Worcester and Clark university really.
[1:28:39] Stepped up and we got some people from there and
[1:28:41] I'm making it have a new connection at UMass Lowell.
[1:28:47] Any other questions?
[1:28:50] Questions? Nope. So I had a question you had mentioned
[1:28:52] that.
[1:28:53] Para as a nutrition services staff seem to.
[1:28:56] Fluctuate. Do you have an idea why.
[1:28:59] We keep seeing high trauma nutrition services is they have
[1:29:03] the part-time and the full-time and oftentimes they move up
[1:29:06] and it.
[1:29:07] It's kind of the first pass at being a district
[1:29:10] employee.
[1:29:11] Paraprofessionals.
[1:29:14] Knows. Some of our paraprofessionals grow into teachers.
[1:29:17] Teachers. So mid-year, I can have a paraprofessional.
[1:29:19] Graduate and get a teaching job.
[1:29:23] That's always been our most.
[1:29:26] Transient populations. Okay.
[1:29:30] I don't wanna say that they.
[1:29:33] They're entry level, but for some of our.
[1:29:36] Our staff, they are entry level positions, so they move
[1:29:37] up and some have been there for years. And so
[1:29:40] we have a healthy mix of the two.
[1:29:42] But lately it's been more of a turnover.
[1:29:46] But mostly to move up.
[1:29:48] When you do your new hire orientation or the orientation
[1:29:50] that you do for staff, do you guys do surveys
[1:29:52] for that as well? Mm-hmm so you to inquire,
[1:29:55] can we see a copy of what the.
[1:29:56] Questions are that are asked. Yeah. Perfect.
[1:30:01] Another quick thing. Are you also responsible?
[1:30:04] Bringing on substitute teachers. Yes.
[1:30:07] That has proven
[1:30:09] problematic for years, we have a lot of issues with,
[1:30:14] we have to discuss the pay.
[1:30:18] A lot of them have a lot of movement aswell.
[1:30:19] So why I noticed
[1:30:22] noticed some school districts they're competing right now to get
[1:30:24] good substitute teachers.
[1:30:27] Teachers, especially some of the recent.
[1:30:29] Retired teachers mm-hmm they'd like to maybe come back
[1:30:31] and.
[1:30:32] A few days here and there.
[1:30:35] I know, and I see that you got, well, if
[1:30:36] you're certified, you'll get X more, a dollar. If you're
[1:30:39] just a knot, you're not.
[1:30:41] Is there any way you could.
[1:30:43] Up the ante in terms of, do you have a
[1:30:44] what's? I mean, do we budget a certain amount of
[1:30:46] money just for the subs? Yeah. Yeah. That's question surrounding.
[1:30:51] Area to see what the rates are.
[1:30:54] Yeah. So, yes, we're, we're one of the highest rates
[1:30:57] in the location and our sub budget last year was
[1:31:00] 1.2 million.
[1:31:01] Well, that's what we spent. 1.2 budget was nine that's
[1:31:04] how much it was 900,000. But at the end it
[1:31:06] was 1.2 million.
[1:31:08] For subs, I'm not talking about permanent sub I'm talking
[1:31:11] about day-to-day calls. Yep. That's that's the whole that's, that's
[1:31:13] the whole thing. Data, everything, everything was at.
[1:31:16] $1.2 million in subs last year.
[1:31:19] And is that a result of.
[1:31:21] People using time? Yes. Okay. Or vacancies for teachers? Yep.
[1:31:25] Do we have a breakout? We actually have a lot
[1:31:26] of staff members too. Who also use other time.
[1:31:29] Mm-hmm and then will decide to go for days
[1:31:32] unpaid, too.
[1:31:33] I'm paid too interesting. Yep.
[1:31:36] Do you, is there something in their contracts and forgive
[1:31:38] me, cause I'm gonna familiarize myself with them, but are
[1:31:40] there's something in the contracts that they're out for X
[1:31:42] amount of period of time that.
[1:31:45] I mean, you have your FMLA leaf, but then thereafter,
[1:31:47] the job is not filled. Is there action taken then?
[1:31:52] Yes. yes. Well, yeah. Yes, it's there's the FMLA
[1:31:56] piece. And then there are various reasons people are out.
[1:31:59] So if it's.
[1:31:59] It's illegal reason to be out or.
[1:32:02] A contractually approved reason.
[1:32:05] We hold a position.
[1:32:07] Okay. We don't have many people just walk off the
[1:32:10] job.
[1:32:12] But some of them have spotty attendance. And so it's
[1:32:15] not.
[1:32:17] It's not, there's a pattern, perhaps, but we, we are
[1:32:21] looking at the patterns this year.
[1:32:23] Okay. What just an anecdotal note you asked about.
[1:32:27] Para turnover. And do we have data about why people
[1:32:29] are leaving or.
[1:32:31] Yes today. Actually I was at south street and two
[1:32:33] paras gave their notice today at south street.
[1:32:36] They're going to a local.
[1:32:39] I think it's like new Englund center for autism or
[1:32:41] something. Mm-hmm like some of those centers.
[1:32:44] And they'll get an increase in pay.
[1:32:47] But then they're also getting their bachelor's degree paid for.
[1:32:50] That makes sense. So we can't, which we offer don't
[1:32:52] we offer, we offer some help, but we can't pay
[1:32:55] for a full bachelor's degree. So there's those.
[1:32:59] Incentives that, you know, the private.
[1:33:01] Organizations, whether they're collaboratives or they're, you know, centers they
[1:33:05] can offer.
[1:33:07] These different, you know, in, you know,
[1:33:10] incentives for them to, to come on. So they're going
[1:33:12] because they get to finish their degree for free.
[1:33:15] When you look at things like time for Paris, do
[1:33:18] they have vacation and personal time they accrue that or
[1:33:21] not vacation? They don't have vacation. No, they have.
[1:33:24] Personal time and sick time.
[1:33:26] Which we're very . Mm-hmm we're, we're always on
[1:33:31] that one.
[1:33:33] To your
[1:33:34] to your point though, is that.
[1:33:37] They may be paying for.
[1:33:39] The bachelor's degree.
[1:33:41] But we do pay, we, we did bring up our
[1:33:44] para pay significantly in the last negotiation. Significant. Yeah. Mm-hmm
[1:33:48] so the only one.
[1:33:50] Us one, the toss, the, the only, the only way
[1:33:52] it sounds different is that.
[1:33:55] Partnership with whichever university that they can get that. So
[1:33:57] that's something that we need to work on. Yep.
[1:34:00] Because the, the union is very.
[1:34:03] Keen on us.
[1:34:05] Promoting our pairs from within. So it's can I add
[1:34:08] one anecdote too? Just because it, it came.
[1:34:11] Up earlier. So the pro pupil expenditure for our.
[1:34:15] Students based on our foundation budget this year is 20,
[1:34:18] just over 20,000.
[1:34:20] You just did a purchase order for, we have one
[1:34:23] student attending the new Englund center.
[1:34:26] It's 450,000.
[1:34:28] So it is a challenge. Like it's hard to compete
[1:34:30] with that, you know, in terms of what they could
[1:34:32] then offer. And I know that's.
[1:34:35] That's multiple staff. Mm-hmm for, for very highly specialized.
[1:34:39] Needs that the student would, would have no question about
[1:34:42] it, but I mean, that is one.
[1:34:44] Difference right there. Mm-hmm so I would imagine you
[1:34:46] conduct exit interviews and mm-hmm, the majority of what
[1:34:49] you're seeing then is because there's better benefits in some
[1:34:52] of these.
[1:34:53] Other places is what you're saying.
[1:34:55] Sometimes, sometimes people just move. Sometimes people want something different.
[1:35:01] Being a paraprofessional is not what it used to be.
[1:35:02] Mm-hmm when I was a paraprofessional a hundred years
[1:35:05] ago, being a teacher, isn't what it used to be.
[1:35:07] And so you do.
[1:35:09] Get a certain amount of attrition because of that. Yeah.
[1:35:15] Okay. Any
[1:35:17] questions for Carrie. And this is the platform that we
[1:35:20] use.
[1:35:21] Our school spring platform.
[1:35:24] And these are our current postings that are available.
[1:35:28] Kind of I'm switching back to what you had mentioned
[1:35:30] before about the.
[1:35:32] Educational job fairs. You were mentioning.
[1:35:35] In Boston is typically kind of where that happens.
[1:35:38] Do they not have educational job fairs in Worcester, which
[1:35:41] is kind of more centrally located.
[1:35:43] There's a huge one in Boston and it's called Merck,
[1:35:46] Massachusetts educational recruitment consortium. I got a ring. more
[1:35:51] acronym.
[1:35:51] Acronyms that's been around for years and it kind of,
[1:35:54] you know, went by the wayside during COVID and now
[1:35:57] it's growing again and growing again.
[1:35:59] Last year was a little small, but it's all the
[1:36:01] universities in that local area. So I only got a
[1:36:05] handful of UMass Lowell, kids and a handful.
[1:36:07] Of Worcester state, right?
[1:36:12] Local districts around here for the last few years, we've
[1:36:16] done one up at Oakmont. They.
[1:36:19] Hosted for us. And that was really great. And so
[1:36:20] all the local districts, we all knew and we took
[1:36:22] care of each other last year.
[1:36:25] All the surrounding districts didn't have the budget.
[1:36:28] And I was like, am I the only one who
[1:36:29] wants one?
[1:36:31] So we brought our principals out and we did it
[1:36:33] at the welcome center and it was kind of hard
[1:36:36] to get the word out. So we have to do
[1:36:38] a better job marketing.
[1:36:39] On that, but I think having our own.
[1:36:43] And making it more accessible.
[1:36:46] Would would really be helpful.
[1:36:48] We do have contacts at some of the local universities.
[1:36:51] We hired quite a few out of one particular university
[1:36:55] that.
[1:36:56] I need to get in touch with them because they're,
[1:36:58] they're phenomenally well trained.
[1:37:00] Fitchburg also does have a small.
[1:37:03] I don't know how you weren't there last year.
[1:37:07] Maybe about 20 students.
[1:37:09] Students, and it has all the locals vine for those
[1:37:12] 20 students.
[1:37:13] Students there just aren't the kids going to school for
[1:37:15] it. Like there used to be. Yeah.
[1:37:18] Okay, thank you. Do you wanna help volunteer and, and
[1:37:22] man on the table, it's fun. it is. I
[1:37:25] like to give out the.
[1:37:26] Candy. All right. Thank you, Carrie. Thanks. Thank you. Thank
[1:37:29] you. Thank you. And then.
[1:37:32] The last big update that we wanted to provide. I
[1:37:35] asked Jeremy to put together an update on all the
[1:37:37] building projects over the summer.
[1:37:40] So Mr. Roach, you wanna dive into that for us?
[1:37:43] Yeah, the first two slides are just overview slides.
[1:37:46] It shows you by school, the number of projects that
[1:37:50] the, the.
[1:37:51] Number, but also the type of project that.
[1:37:55] Has been going on, we cover most of these in,
[1:37:58] in the subsequent slides, but a lot happening about 6 million
[1:38:02] in.
[1:38:03] In projects just under
[1:38:06] and with nearly four covered with grants or.
[1:38:10] Outside funding sources.
[1:38:12] That have helped supplement the cost. So we can go
[1:38:15] to the next slide. Yeah. So these get into the,
[1:38:19] the actual larger project.
[1:38:21] Projects largest is the HVAC overhaul.
[1:38:24] At wrold, it was also a significantly challenging project this
[1:38:27] summer. Wow.
[1:38:29] Just due to a few different things that, that arose
[1:38:33] with part of the asbestos abatement in particular.
[1:38:37] But this is a gonna be the same kind of
[1:38:40] electrified system that is currently.
[1:38:43] Was installed at south street last summer.
[1:38:47] Meaning 20, 25 as well as in the new crocker elementary
[1:38:51] school, I believe it's the same system that is at
[1:38:54] city hall as well.
[1:38:56] It's a great system.
[1:38:57] We've really been fortunate to have it in the two
[1:39:00] buildings that currently do the.
[1:39:02] The project is a two year project. So they did
[1:39:05] a fair amount of work this summer. They, they did
[1:39:07] the abatement.
[1:39:08] They completed the ceiling work, the new lights.
[1:39:11] And then next summer they'll come in and do a
[1:39:14] lot of the actual, a track work.
[1:39:17] With the goal to have it fully installed by the
[1:39:19] end of next summer.
[1:39:21] So that in the fall we'll be up and running
[1:39:23] with that variable refrigerant flow, but you can see the
[1:39:27] funding breakdown there. This was a big grant.
[1:39:30] From the mass climate energy council.
[1:39:32] In addition to significant contribution from the city. Thank you.
[1:39:35] As well as the schools picking up the remainder. So
[1:39:39] that's.
[1:39:40] That's HVAC project at Ryan gold.
[1:39:43] Teamwork. Mm-hmm good question.
[1:39:47] Rangal would the asbestos abatement was there a.
[1:39:52] An issue or a problem.
[1:39:54] Where that
[1:39:56] the asbestos abatement wasn't abated. I mean, yes. Yes. That
[1:39:59] was the problem in a one. And did, did that.
[1:40:02] Cause a major delay in what was hoped to be.
[1:40:04] Yes, absolutely. Yes. Pleaded this summer. Yes. Yep. A hundred
[1:40:07] percent. The people who messed up the abatement is that
[1:40:09] something that will be.
[1:40:11] Working on that. We're working on that, on that right
[1:40:13] now? Yeah. Yes. Working on that right now. Alright, thank
[1:40:16] you. Okay. Yeah. All, yeah, all of the above. Okay.
[1:40:19] It happened the very first week.
[1:40:21] And required a significant, yeah, it's leading to a significant
[1:40:26] delay. It was still gonna be a two summer project.
[1:40:28] Okay. Gotcha. Okay.
[1:40:30] That that part.
[1:40:32] Was established in the contract, but.
[1:40:34] It was definitely not as planned. Yeah.
[1:40:38] It was every day through the summer, Saturdays and Sundays,
[1:40:42] Saturdays, we spent a lot of time on Saturdays and
[1:40:44] Sundays figuring out what was going on right through the.
[1:40:46] Whole summer. Sorry, I'm just curious about the, with the
[1:40:50] funding, the breakdown.
[1:40:52] Where it's two summers.
[1:40:55] Summers. Yes. Do you get to pay part of it?
[1:40:57] And then.
[1:40:58] The rest the next year. So the nice part is
[1:41:00] with that grant we have until 20, 29 to draw down.
[1:41:05] Okay. Which is great.
[1:41:07] With the city funds, we'll use those out of a
[1:41:10] revolving account.
[1:41:12] The school choice line.
[1:41:14] And then again with general, we can budget a certain
[1:41:17] amount.
[1:41:18] Each year, only up to one 50 due to the
[1:41:20] one 50 E regulations about capital.
[1:41:23] Projects, you know, we can only do 150,000 per capital
[1:41:27] project.
[1:41:28] In the general fund.
[1:41:35] I'll set with the HVAC at wrangled. Any other questions
[1:41:37] on that? Okay.
[1:41:40] The next, this finishes off the lobby bathrooms at wrangle.
[1:41:43] You can see the before and after photo there.
[1:41:47] It was a $42,000 renovation.
[1:41:51] Really stem stern in that restaurant, we had done the.
[1:41:54] The boys' bathroom the first summer, last summer, and then
[1:41:58] finished up with the girls' summer. The girls' restroom, I
[1:42:01] should say this summer.
[1:42:02] So it looks a lot better and smells. It smells
[1:42:05] a lot better summer. .
[1:42:07] I used it. It was great. .
[1:42:10] The long show gymnasium is a pretty significant project. Impressed
[1:42:15] by beautiful picture. This is so good. No.
[1:42:18] It's great. The bleachers will be delivered next Monday, brand
[1:42:22] new bleachers, brand new bleachers. Yep. New floor, new bleachers.
[1:42:26] We.
[1:42:27] Will we did remove the existing.
[1:42:29] Original bleachers. All of the metal apparatus above those.
[1:42:35] You know the floor as you see just some.
[1:42:39] Timeline photos there of how it was built on top
[1:42:42] of the existing floor.
[1:42:44] To get into removal was a, was a.
[1:42:47] A challenge. So in older buildings, like long show,
[1:42:51] these type of companies typically build right on top of
[1:42:54] the existing. So we do have to adjust the baskets.
[1:42:56] That's our next. Yeah, I think, oh, they gotta go
[1:42:59] up.
[1:43:00] Like two inches. Yeah. Yeah. It's about three. The baskets.
[1:43:04] Yeah. We might have some ums.
[1:43:10] It now. Yeah.
[1:43:12] I like to see that. Yeah, yeah. The floor, it,
[1:43:16] it, so the gym class got in about a week
[1:43:18] into the school year and, and as I.
[1:43:21] Said the bleachers will be installed. The 22nd takes about
[1:43:23] a week to install those. They will be the electrified
[1:43:27] unit. So you can just, you know, move them in.
[1:43:29] And out with the flip flip of a switch, which
[1:43:31] is great. Looks beautiful. Yeah, it looks tremendous. Yeah. Mm-hmm
[1:43:34] and that's a $400,000 project.
[1:43:39] The long Joe cafeteria was, was overhauled this summer as
[1:43:42] well.
[1:43:43] You can see some before and after. I think one
[1:43:45] of the, the most challenging aspects of that cafeteria was
[1:43:49] the ceiling condition. Mm-hmm , as you can see the
[1:43:51] top.
[1:43:52] Picture was the, you know, original ceiling, I guess. And
[1:43:55] then the new ceiling, new lights.
[1:43:58] New pain done. Yeah. Oh, I haven't seen here. Yep.
[1:44:00] I haven't seen it. Yep.
[1:44:02] We incorporated the teacher's room into that. You can see
[1:44:05] what the teacher's room condition was prior. It was back
[1:44:08] and what it looks like now, it would be nice
[1:44:10] to have a.
[1:44:11] Resource building needs meeting there. Yeah, I think at some
[1:44:14] point in the year, but Sodexo as part of their
[1:44:17] guaranteed price.
[1:44:19] Return in their food service management contract.
[1:44:22] Owes us a million a year to put back into.
[1:44:26] Various projects. So we've done. Walk-in freezers, we've done other
[1:44:30] types of renovations like this. They're gonna do the serving
[1:44:33] line at.
[1:44:35] Memorial cafeteria tables, things like this. So they paid for
[1:44:38] this project, which is about 900,000. Thank you so much.
[1:44:42] Yeah.
[1:44:43] This is great. Next year, another walk-in freezer. Bob has
[1:44:45] a question, just a quick question, reference to it because
[1:44:48] you're on loan, Joe. I was just curious that, you
[1:44:51] know,
[1:44:51] when I had the big tour.
[1:44:55] Auditorium. Is there a plan for that or is that
[1:44:57] way down the road way down? We've certainly done quite
[1:45:00] a bit with a.
[1:45:02] Architects. We have, you know, architectural designs and costs and
[1:45:05] everything, but just money wise. We're ready right now. It
[1:45:09] was like 7 million.
[1:45:10] It's four to 10, four to 10, depending upon the
[1:45:13] level to which we, you know, renovate it. So we're
[1:45:16] trying to game it out so that we can.
[1:45:18] Phase in the approach. Cause we don't have four to
[1:45:20] 10 million right now, but we're looking at ways that we
[1:45:23] can structure it so we can afford to.
[1:45:27] Demo some portion and you know, do do things in
[1:45:30] phases. Oh, it looks great. The improvements, you know, here,
[1:45:33] but.
[1:45:34] Okay. Yeah. Let, let, but that's really the last thing.
[1:45:36] Big one. Yeah, there will be that good thing takes
[1:45:38] time. It's bigger than Fitchburg high school auditorium. It's.
[1:45:42] It's the largest one, one in city, 1,503 seats versus.
[1:45:47] Fitchburg highs, which is 7 32. Yeah. So it's, it's a
[1:45:49] lot bigger, more than double that includes the balcony seating,
[1:45:52] but which we've probably be afraid.
[1:45:55] Yeah, any plans they said to, we could remove it,
[1:45:58] but right. Who knows what we would do? Yeah, Jeremy,
[1:46:01] I was looking out well and.
[1:46:03] I September 29th meeting, but let's look at what we did
[1:46:06] last year. Moving our resource.
[1:46:09] And building needs meetings to the different, oh, you want
[1:46:12] to go to the yes. Buildings, some of the, that
[1:46:14] doesn't have to be, but right. We can plan all
[1:46:16] the meetings. It'd.
[1:46:18] It'd be great to get, you can see some of
[1:46:18] these, some of the projects. Yeah. That's a great idea.
[1:46:22] All right. I like that one last year, 29th.
[1:46:26] Yes. I wanna take a look at that. Crocker's next?
[1:46:28] Huh? Yeah. Crocker panel.
[1:46:30] Pride solar panel project is just about complete.
[1:46:35] And this is a great one because it is a
[1:46:37] gold lead building already. Woo. It's established that way. Yeah,
[1:46:40] that's exciting.
[1:46:42] Just yeah, just recently. Just need it too. Yeah. Yeah,
[1:46:44] it did. Yep.
[1:46:47] And that student to a lot of different, it is
[1:46:49] first gold in the city. I think the first. Oh,
[1:46:51] is it? I don't even know. That's great. No, is
[1:46:53] it? No, we don't.
[1:46:54] Don't silver. The Fitchburg state university is a couple, but
[1:46:57] I don't think, I think we're the first goal. I
[1:46:59] don't, I think we're the first goal. Oh, that's great.
[1:47:00] I didn't know that new building. Yeah, it.
[1:47:03] It's certainly in the district, in the school district, it
[1:47:04] is that's for sure.
[1:47:07] The solar panels will, will be at 400,000 kilowatt.
[1:47:11] Kilowatt project with about $31,000 estimated annual savings.
[1:47:16] Savings in about 620 over the 20 years. So, yeah,
[1:47:19] it's great. I mean, they're just about done and that'll
[1:47:22] help offset some of that VRF.
[1:47:25] R F we did get the, the north building at
[1:47:29] south street abated this summer.
[1:47:32] As you can see it before and after of a
[1:47:34] classroom.
[1:47:35] In that closed off wing of the south street building.
[1:47:40] You know, we, we had.
[1:47:42] A significant, I mean, it was an entire classroom.
[1:47:45] Full of asbestos containing material that was sealed like that
[1:47:49] took them about two days to remove it all.
[1:47:52] But that's great because now we can get in with
[1:47:54] an architect and determine is there, is there a possibility
[1:47:57] of future use?
[1:48:00] Can we, can we do something it's great space. Mm-hmm
[1:48:03] yeah. Mm-hmm I mean, it's tremendous space. It's,
[1:48:05] it's a, it is just a matter of, you know,
[1:48:07] it's.
[1:48:08] It's, this has been a lot of damage done too
[1:48:09] over the years. And if we are not able.
[1:48:13] To save the building. Then at least we have removed
[1:48:17] any asbestos containing materials. Absolutely. Which will remove the uncertainty
[1:48:21] when we have D.
[1:48:22] Bidding. Yep. Yep. Which will significantly be curious the cost
[1:48:24] mm-hmm for sure. Like 17 rooms in that building
[1:48:28] is, yeah, it's a.
[1:48:30] It's a thing, at least the great in their big
[1:48:31] classrooms too. Yeah, it's good. It's old in gym, Jim.
[1:48:36] Jim. Yep. Yep. Jim's cleaned out now, which is great.
[1:48:39] That was 160, 2000. So Jeremy and I are getting
[1:48:42] in contact with the architect. Yeah. And we're gonna have
[1:48:45] him come in and hopefully give.
[1:48:47] Us an idea of what it would take to get
[1:48:48] that building back up and running.
[1:48:50] So we'll keep you updated.
[1:48:52] Updated. Okay. Okay. A couple smaller ones. We fixed the
[1:48:56] back of the Goodrich roof now.
[1:48:58] It did include quite a bit of.
[1:49:01] Sheathing repair in addition to the roof being stripped. But
[1:49:05] that was great because it was a roof where you
[1:49:07] could actually see some.
[1:49:09] Sunlight if you're in the attic. Oh, great. So glad
[1:49:12] to report you don't, you won't get, you won't need
[1:49:15] sunscreen when you're in the attic anymore. .
[1:49:18] And then this was a nice project here that was
[1:49:21] not.
[1:49:22] Funded by any of the schools, it was funded by
[1:49:24] the family. And I know they had come and presented
[1:49:26] last year. So.
[1:49:28] It came out. I think the Michael J. Burke gymnasium.
[1:49:32] Naming the, the actual lettering came out really well.
[1:49:36] And I think we're planning a, an event, you know,
[1:49:38] to give some recognition to the family we're meeting this
[1:49:41] week, Wednesday or tomorrow, are we meeting tomorrow?
[1:49:45] I think we're meeting tomorrow.
[1:49:47] Nope. We'll we'll check. Cut. Yeah. If we can confirm,
[1:49:50] I.
[1:49:51] Thought you said maybe this Thursday.
[1:49:54] Thirsty anyways, we are meeting this week to talk about
[1:49:56] yes, planning.
[1:49:58] For that.
[1:50:02] And then I only had, well there's other.
[1:50:05] Many other projects that we're doing in endeavoring upon like
[1:50:08] concrete stairs at Memorial and.
[1:50:11] A few other things, but a nice event.
[1:50:14] Was, you know, proposed
[1:50:16] you know, Memorial benches at crocker field finally came to
[1:50:19] fruition.
[1:50:21] With three benches that had been installed and.
[1:50:24] No, the mirror was down there on August 23rd. When.
[1:50:29] You know, we did a nice, or August 21st, I should
[1:50:30] say when a nice, probably 50 or 60 folks came
[1:50:34] out. It was a lot for the, yeah. For.
[1:50:37] Dan Flynn and, and Dave Buckley, both class of 69.
[1:50:42] The way this works is the families commission. It.
[1:50:45] In a donation of 750.
[1:50:47] Dollars goes to the crocker field restoration committee.
[1:50:50] Certainly there's a link there for anyone who does want
[1:50:52] to donate. They, they did a number of projects themselves
[1:50:56] this summer, including concrete stair.
[1:50:59] Stairs into the clubhouse and.
[1:51:01] Some seating, repairs and so forth, but we do plan
[1:51:04] to highlight Jeff Steven Jeffrey Stevens. Next.
[1:51:08] At a time when it's appropriate. Yeah. We're planning when
[1:51:11] my wife is available, whenever that's appropriate.
[1:51:15] Is is when we'll set it up. You just let
[1:51:16] us know.
[1:51:18] But they came out really well. And, and as the
[1:51:19] mayor said, it was a nice, nice turn up. That's
[1:51:22] awesome.
[1:51:23] All right. Any questions on the capital projects? Nope.
[1:51:28] All right. We have one more piece for you and
[1:51:31] Glen is going to.
[1:51:33] Talk a little bit about the curriculum.
[1:51:36] Pilot regarding health? Yes.
[1:51:38] So this year I wanted to let everyone know that
[1:51:42] we are looking.
[1:51:43] At an adoption.
[1:51:46] Of a new health curriculum. It's come up multiple times
[1:51:49] in the past. We know that this there's been interest
[1:51:52] from our teachers and.
[1:51:55] Community members to update our health curriculum.
[1:51:58] We are still keeping
[1:52:00] Michigan model as a potential pilot, because I do want
[1:52:04] to share.
[1:52:05] That Michigan model is still recognized by Dessie as a
[1:52:09] high quality resource. That is our current resource.
[1:52:13] So a couple of things just to share in, in
[1:52:15] terms of the Michigan model.
[1:52:17] Every single educator health educator in the district.
[1:52:22] Has an online
[1:52:24] platform to utilize. There are also physical binders, but anytime
[1:52:29] there's an update to.
[1:52:31] A law or health policy.
[1:52:33] Typically Michigan model.
[1:52:36] We'll update their lessons and that's why we also have
[1:52:39] a digital platform.
[1:52:40] So just to let you know, because I know some
[1:52:42] of you might be interested in being part of the
[1:52:44] pilot process. I welcome.
[1:52:47] You to that process, but I wanted to give you
[1:52:49] an overview of what that timeline looks like and what
[1:52:53] in.
[1:52:54] Entails when we do a curriculum adoption.
[1:52:57] So from September to may.
[1:52:59] It is required by Desi.
[1:53:02] Dessie that a, that curriculums are piloted.
[1:53:06] And tested out.
[1:53:07] Before we actually adopt them.
[1:53:10] So this year is a pilot year.
[1:53:12] Which means we are still utilizing Michigan model.
[1:53:16] For our main curriculum, however,
[1:53:20] you know, we are asking some schools to test out,
[1:53:23] maybe.
[1:53:25] A few lessons or a unit on a particular.
[1:53:28] Area. And so that's gonna be happening from September.
[1:53:33] Until may from September, until may. We're also, and I've
[1:53:37] already started to kind of gather.
[1:53:40] A way for teachers to provide feedback and a way
[1:53:43] for students to provide feedback.
[1:53:45] On the curriculum that they have for health. So we
[1:53:49] will be collecting that data throughout the year, whenever a
[1:53:53] pilot.
[1:53:54] Is implemented.
[1:53:57] And then from December to January.
[1:53:59] I am going to open up some office hours.
[1:54:02] To share with school committee members and any other F
[1:54:06] P S staff that are interested and want to preview
[1:54:09] physical materials.
[1:54:11] Materials. I've already had some delivered to.
[1:54:14] My office a couple more on the way summer are.
[1:54:19] Just digital materials. So those will also be available for
[1:54:22] preview.
[1:54:23] But I will share very specific office hours so that
[1:54:26] I'm available.
[1:54:27] And you can come in and view them.
[1:54:30] At our offices.
[1:54:32] And then in may, my hope is to.
[1:54:37] Have the
[1:54:39] curriculum team members that have been piloting or a group
[1:54:41] of staff members.
[1:54:44] From the health department.
[1:54:46] Formally look and review.
[1:54:48] The curriculum with the
[1:54:51] a re rubric similar to the way that Dessie.
[1:54:54] Follows adoption.
[1:54:57] You know, or the way that they really categorize something
[1:55:00] to be high quality, they use a rubric.
[1:55:02] With different ratings. Some of the things we'll be looking
[1:55:05] at is of course, alignment to our standards.
[1:55:09] Standards, usability student.
[1:55:11] Response, you know, and just overall engagement with the resource.
[1:55:16] And then also cultural responsiveness, cuz we, you know,
[1:55:20] that is really important. And our curriculum.
[1:55:22] And so once all of that information and that data
[1:55:25] is presented.
[1:55:28] We will, I will come back with any member who
[1:55:32] has actually.
[1:55:33] Done a pilot. I will invite them to come back,
[1:55:36] share their experience about that pilot.
[1:55:39] And then we will provide and share which one of
[1:55:43] these curricula.
[1:55:44] We have decided that we would adopt, but that way
[1:55:48] you'll have the full.
[1:55:50] You know, spectrum.
[1:55:52] Of all of the data that we collect.
[1:55:55] Why we chose the particular resource that we did.
[1:55:58] And, you know, answer any questions that you have.
[1:56:02] So I did want to put on here. I have
[1:56:04] pictures of the actual curricular resources that are.
[1:56:08] Being piloted. This was actually chosen last year by our
[1:56:12] health teachers. So this has already been reviewed. There have
[1:56:16] been a number.
[1:56:16] Of things. These are also resources that have been presented
[1:56:20] as well.
[1:56:22] By Desi. So again, we have Michigan model is still
[1:56:25] on there. Currently. UN hushed is one of the curricula.
[1:56:30] That is being piloted right now.
[1:56:32] At the high school we have.
[1:56:36] Teen health and the, and that is.
[1:56:40] By a curriculum resource that we already have within the.
[1:56:46] District. And then
[1:56:48] we have comprehensive health for.
[1:56:52] High school and middle schools.
[1:56:54] And I believe
[1:56:57] teen health is also
[1:57:00] running an elementary.
[1:57:02] Program as well. They are also in their pilot year,
[1:57:05] so they were very excited to be able to have
[1:57:08] an opportunity of an elementary school.
[1:57:11] Who would be willing to pilot. So just to share,
[1:57:13] we already have some potential pilots and some administrators and
[1:57:16] educators who have reached out.
[1:57:19] We have Rhine gold who would be willing to test.
[1:57:24] And pilot the elementary, we have Memorial who is interested
[1:57:28] in piloting.
[1:57:29] Some of the middle school resources. And then we have
[1:57:33] our health educator at Fitchburg high school who has been
[1:57:36] talking to me all summer long.
[1:57:38] About piloting, cuz she's very interested in.
[1:57:42] New curriculum. So
[1:57:44] do you have any questions for me about this?
[1:57:47] So you'll say in may, they'll be back here to
[1:57:49] kind of present to school committee.
[1:57:52] Yep. Okay. Definitely. And I will give you a heads
[1:57:54] up on the office hours ahead of time. So if
[1:57:56] you wanna come and check out the curriculum resources, you.
[1:58:00] Can see the physical copies.
[1:58:03] Won't be the change because didn't, we've already adopted.
[1:58:07] The school committee's already adopted the Michigan model in the
[1:58:10] past.
[1:58:11] Yep. That's already a curriculum that is currently our curriculum.
[1:58:14] We are not gonna have to vote on a new
[1:58:17] curriculum if Michigan model.
[1:58:19] Is the one chosen.
[1:58:21] No. Yeah. And also
[1:58:24] we make the decision on the curriculum. That's going to
[1:58:27] be adopted. We present it to you and then you
[1:58:30] give feedback.
[1:58:32] Throughout the process. So it's not a voting.
[1:58:36] Matter. It's just a presentation matter and we walk you
[1:58:39] through the process.
[1:58:40] But in terms of Michigan model, if that's what the,
[1:58:44] you know,
[1:58:46] district decides then
[1:58:48] there's not a formal adoption process. We've done it right.
[1:58:52] So I think
[1:58:55] we'd be all set there, but to your point, if
[1:58:57] you're wondering, Hey, why are we, you know, making a
[1:59:00] decision to.
[1:59:02] Update. There has been a lot of feedback from people
[1:59:04] who, who feel that Michigan model might not necessarily be
[1:59:08] completely aligned with.
[1:59:11] Kind of mass.
[1:59:13] Health curriculum, Massachusetts.
[1:59:17] Is definitely a more progressive.
[1:59:20] State. And so our standards are different.
[1:59:24] Than many other states in terms of.
[1:59:27] Health and sex education. And so I think it's a
[1:59:30] really big conversation.
[1:59:32] For our health educators, they definitely feel like there's opportunity
[1:59:37] for us to expand what our resources are.
[1:59:41] Based on that. I do know that Michigan model has
[1:59:43] been working on.
[1:59:45] Being a little bit more aligned. So we'll see.
[1:59:48] Where we are once we Michigan man's new resources too,
[1:59:52] Michigan. Yeah. That's why it's really important. I know we
[1:59:54] started from a physical.
[1:59:57] Binder and curriculum, but the digital resources have all been
[2:00:00] updated year to year.
[2:00:02] So they have been updating their digital resources. That's why
[2:00:04] I shared.
[2:00:06] I made sure that every single one of our health
[2:00:07] teachers had those resources. So.
[2:00:10] They have them in their hands, the digital platform. And
[2:00:14] so, you know, we'll definitely make an informed decision.
[2:00:17] And I just really wanna highlight that we'll.
[2:00:20] You know, collect teacher voice in there, but I also
[2:00:24] think it's really important to collect student voice. So that
[2:00:28] is going.
[2:00:29] To be an important part of this process.
[2:00:32] Thank you, Glenda. You're welcome. Thank you. Thanks. All right.
[2:00:36] All right. Last items I have for you are under
[2:00:39] budget. I also do donations to go over and to
[2:00:42] ask for you to accept.
[2:00:44] The first donation is for the welcome center.
[2:00:48] From the British American club.
[2:00:50] They donated 70 backpacks with school supplies and an estimated
[2:00:54] value of $2,100.
[2:00:57] The next donation is for Fitchburg high school from all
[2:01:00] in one credit union.
[2:01:02] They donated Kleenex, snacks, notebooks, pencils, highlighters, and pens, and
[2:01:06] the amount of $72.
[2:01:10] The next donation is for wrold elementary school from the
[2:01:13] mass youth soccer.
[2:01:15] Association, they donated donated crayons, markers, and paint in the
[2:01:20] amount of $400.
[2:01:22] These will be distributed to students at.
[2:01:24] First grade students at Reinold.
[2:01:27] The next one is for the welcome.
[2:01:30] Center from a, I S they donated.
[2:01:33] 20 red stools in the amount of $4,000.
[2:01:37] And we'll be sending these throughout the district to our
[2:01:40] schools to help support students. Mm-hmm .
[2:01:44] Next donation is for a crocker elementary school from the
[2:01:48] Subaru adopt the classroom.org.
[2:01:51] North end Subaru would like to donate $3,000 to crocker
[2:01:54] elementary schools and teachers.
[2:01:57] Teachers this money will be divided up by 500.
[2:02:02] Dollars each to six classrooms, one at each grade level
[2:02:05] in one sub-separate.
[2:02:07] And these gifts will be.
[2:02:10] Items will be selected by teaching staff to spend in
[2:02:12] that classroom. Wow, good. That makes sense.
[2:02:16] That's nice. Next one is for the welcome center again.
[2:02:19] From let's just, Steven says the question. Yes. Oh, I'll
[2:02:22] I'll ask it up. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
[2:02:24] From cough, 33 corporation and a check from the amount
[2:02:29] of $100 to be used for food pantries.
[2:02:32] In the district. And last, the last donation is for
[2:02:36] Ryan gold elementary school from the Masonic angel fun.
[2:02:40] 600 pairs of those Bombas socks. We can't get enough
[2:02:43] of those Bombas socks here. .
[2:02:46] And those will be given to students in need. Yes,
[2:02:48] Mr.
[2:02:52] Mr. Roger, our 40 students from Fitchburg high school for
[2:02:54] the hall of fame.
[2:02:56] I thought that might be on.
[2:02:58] Tonight, we were gonna put that on resource resource. Okay.
[2:03:02] And then bring it to the October meeting, but okay.
[2:03:05] So I have it on that agenda already.
[2:03:07] What that is. We send.
[2:03:09] We've done. We invite 40 students currently at Fitchburg high
[2:03:13] school to the hall of fame.
[2:03:15] Meeting up in November 1st.
[2:03:18] In where we're honoring.
[2:03:20] Our inductees into the hall of fame at Fitchburg high
[2:03:23] school.
[2:03:24] So we employed students from.
[2:03:27] All the different teams it's selected by.
[2:03:30] Athletic director, department and so forth.
[2:03:33] So we've done that. The last two.
[2:03:36] Inductions into the hall of fame and it gives the
[2:03:39] kids a chance to.
[2:03:41] See the history of Pittsburgh high school. Yeah.
[2:03:44] You know, I will say too, that one of the
[2:03:47] induces this year is the former school committee member.
[2:03:50] Jean Bell Pierce. Oh, is she? Yes. Oh three sport athletes.
[2:03:54] Oh, wow. Great. That's good. Jean LeBell Pierce. Oh, yes.
[2:03:57] That's right. So nice.
[2:03:58] Yeah, that's great. And my niece, Megan. Oh really? Oh,
[2:04:01] wow. Yeah. Great.
[2:04:04] All right. The next section is grants to submit and
[2:04:07] grants to accept. We'll go over the submit first.
[2:04:11] First grant we'd like to submit is the increasing access
[2:04:14] to dual language bilingual education.
[2:04:16] This is a state grant and the amount of $25,320.
[2:04:20] This will help us.
[2:04:22] Develop and expand bilingual education.
[2:04:26] Pretty much dueling or education, which we're this, this is
[2:04:28] the day the dual deal with there language. These funds
[2:04:32] would help that so much. So.
[2:04:34] Those funds will be used to, to help us develop
[2:04:36] our programming.
[2:04:38] The next one is the strengthening ESL programming and services.
[2:04:41] That's another mass DSE grant in the amount of $51,800.
[2:04:46] And again, this will support English language learners, and high
[2:04:50] quality English as a second language curriculum.
[2:04:54] Throughout the district.
[2:04:56] Next grant is the career technical education partnership grant again,
[2:04:59] another state mass ESC grant.
[2:05:03] And the amount of $290,000.
[2:05:05] If we do get this grant, it will help us
[2:05:07] support.
[2:05:08] Implementation of new and existing career technical education. Our CTE
[2:05:12] programming.
[2:05:14] That the MVP CT. Yep. Yep.
[2:05:18] Organizational grant.
[2:05:20] This is from music, drives us in the amount of
[2:05:23] $10,000. This will help support the instrumental instruction.
[2:05:27] Happening at our elementary schools. And then the additional grant
[2:05:31] is the instrument grant from music drives us in ano
[2:05:34] another.
[2:05:35] $10,000, which will help us purchase.
[2:05:38] New musical instruments for our elementary school students.
[2:05:42] Students and then last but not least the community foundation.
[2:05:46] They, the amount is $10,000 and this will provide support
[2:05:50] to our afterschool programs.
[2:05:52] Programs. So those are the grants we'd like to submit.
[2:05:55] And the grants to accept. First one is our annual.
[2:05:59] Fresh fruits and vegetables program grant.
[2:06:02] Again, this is another mass ESC grant in the amount
[2:06:04] of $106,127.
[2:06:07] This will help support fresh fruit sampling and program at
[2:06:10] crocker rein golden McKay.
[2:06:13] The MCC creative experiences grant, and this is a match
[2:06:16] cultural council grant and the amount of $20,000.
[2:06:20] $5,000 for each school at south street, Renold McKay and
[2:06:23] crocker, and this will help us fund a scientist in
[2:06:27] resident program.
[2:06:28] In partnership with the mass Audubon society.
[2:06:31] I'm cute allowing kindergarten and second grade students, the opportunity
[2:06:33] to participate in science of Massachusetts program.
[2:06:38] Another grant that we like to accept this evening is
[2:06:40] the MLA grant. This is the Massachusetts English learner community
[2:06:44] foundation.
[2:06:45] Grant and the amount of $12,000.
[2:06:47] This also will also help us support dual language implementation
[2:06:51] throughout the district.
[2:06:54] Next grant is the high dose tutoring grant from the
[2:06:57] department of education. We were awarded this grant recently. There
[2:07:00] is no cost tutoring.
[2:07:01] Services we'll provide 150 elementary students with in grades one
[2:07:06] and two with small.
[2:07:08] Reading instruction ready? That's done virtually.
[2:07:12] Phone free.
[2:07:13] School support grant. We just found out last week that
[2:07:15] we did get this from the attorney General's office. This
[2:07:18] is the $50,000 grant.
[2:07:20] That will help us pay for the doorman app.
[2:07:22] Different committees to get together and look at the policy
[2:07:25] and see if we need to put any changes into
[2:07:27] the policy. And also those storage solutions.
[2:07:30] And the schools to lock up the phones. We'll use
[2:07:32] that money to pay for that.
[2:07:34] And then lastly, the as O S T outta school
[2:07:37] time United way grant.
[2:07:39] And the amount of $21,500. This will help support afterschool
[2:07:43] programming throughout the district. Serious grant.
[2:07:46] Mayor. That's all I have. That's it. That's it. Luck
[2:07:49] to you was approve it. I wanna get outta it.
[2:07:51] Thank you, Superintendent Thompson.
[2:07:54] Any further comments or questions for Superintendent Thompson.
[2:07:58] All right. Then we have a number of.
[2:08:02] Action Items.
[2:08:04] Before us, if someone would like to make a motion
[2:08:06] to bundle.
[2:08:07] Item number.
[2:08:09] 26,650.
[2:08:11] Through
[2:08:14] 26, 6 58.
[2:08:16] I'm second, the motion bundle motion at second to bundle.
[2:08:20] And that is to take up all.
[2:08:23] Action Items before us questions or comments.
[2:08:25] Comments all in favor. Aye. That is unanimously approved. We
[2:08:29] have the bundle of Action Items before us motion to
[2:08:32] approve the bundle.
[2:08:34] Second motion and second to approve the full action item
[2:08:37] bundle.
[2:08:38] Comments or questions all in favor. Aye. Aye. That is
[2:08:42] unanimously approved.
[2:08:45] Thank you guys. Thank you.
[2:08:47] And next we have other business, nothing, no executive session.
[2:08:50] We have adjournment motion to adjourn, second motion and second
[2:08:54] to adjourn. And I'll just take that.
[2:08:56] By unanimous consent. Yes. Thank you. We are adjourned. Thank
[2:08:58] you everyone.