[0:00] Okay, good evening everyone. It is September 10th at 7 o'clock. Um, welcome

[0:05] to this board retreat for the Greenidge Board of Education. Please join me in

[0:10] rising for the pledge of allegiance

[0:16] to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it

[0:21] stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice

[0:27] for all.

[0:32] Okay. Well, I think we should just dive right in and thank you so much for

[0:36] providing the materials in advance and the videos. We had a little bit of a

[0:40] snafu with some of the technology because we've moved over to Diligent.

[0:44] Um, so it's a little tricky loading some of the videos, but I was able to do it.

[0:48] So, just in case the public actually if anyone is trying to do it that way, you

[0:52] know, they should reach out to Michael and Tonachio if they have trouble

[0:55] loading the videos. Well, well, I'm confident that of the 12 views,

[1:03] » mine's not. >> Oh, no. I'm confident of the 12 views

[1:08] that we had as of 2:30 that each one of you is one of those views. So, uh, as

[1:13] long as you've had an opportunity, I think we can engage in a meaningful

[1:16] dialogue. Uh, welcome. Thank you so much for having us this evening. Obviously,

[1:21] this is not just my presentation, but uh, it's the hard work of everyone

[1:25] seated. not only next to me but behind me and in the schools. So, it's a

[1:29] privilege to be able to represent all of our educators in the Greenwich Public

[1:32] Schools and our administrators. Um, tonight I'm here to talk to you about

[1:35] the assessment report and the assessment calendar which is located on our website

[1:40] under teaching and learning and assessment. Um, there's four key

[1:43] highlights that I would like to bring to your attention. And then if you'd like

[1:47] to go into detail on any single uh item that I raise, uh we have the entire team

[1:52] here that can go into a little bit more depth for you. So four things that I

[1:56] think the public should know and the board should know. Uh and I'm excited to

[2:00] share. The first one is that we're finishing our three-year transition

[2:04] where we have been phasing in the NWA assessment and phasing out the link

[2:10] assessment which was our Greenwich benchmark assessment. And the reason why

[2:14] we've moved to NWA map is because we get much more actionable data at the teacher

[2:20] level and the alignment to the SBA is is much more um specific and uh reliable.

[2:27] So the NWA transition is going to be complete at the end of this year. It was

[2:32] a three-year phase in. I believe when we when we transition that you should

[2:37] always kind of scale up and so we started slow to make sure that we

[2:41] monitored whether or not we were going to have any hiccups or issues and then

[2:44] we slowly scaled on and brought more schools on board and uh received

[2:49] feedback from those teachers and administrators and really uh this was a

[2:52] no-brainer for us. The second thing that I wanted to bring to your attention

[2:56] again is we're expanding our use of dibbles. Currently, we have it in place

[3:01] at K 1, 2, and three. We're expanding that into grades four, and five this

[3:06] year. This particularly reinforces the district's multi-tered support system of

[3:11] support, and it ensures a better progress monitoring of foundational

[3:16] literacy skills. And that leads us into um the third highlight, which is one I'm

[3:22] really happy to share. Because we have a robust assessment system that includes

[3:27] the NWA map and the unit assessments and dibbles, we're able to eliminate running

[3:33] records in grades 2 through five. And anytime we can eliminate or have uh a

[3:39] chance of eliminating testing redundancy, we certainly take advantage

[3:43] of that because we want to be sensitive to the fact that, you know, there's only

[3:46] so many school days and we don't want kids to always feel like they're being

[3:50] tested. So, that's a that's a positive right there. And then the final thing,

[3:55] and um I'm sure Dr. Mike is listening at home. This was something he pushed for

[3:59] for a couple of years. We now have a universal reading screener in grade

[4:03] nine. and that is the uh educational vista's degree of reading power power

[4:09] and so that's being implemented to all 9th graders and that's to provide early

[4:14] identification and support for students performing below grade level and so

[4:18] we're really excited about that. So those are my four big takeaways from the

[4:22] assessment uh report and uh presentation. Everything else is pretty

[4:27] much status quo uh and a carryover from last year. Um, can you talk about the

[4:34] last one first? I'm really interested. I I know I know it's too bad that uh Dr.

[4:39] Mackant Anthony is not here for this because I know he was super passionate

[4:42] about it, but can you sort of give us an overview of how does it work and what

[4:45] are you seeing? >> Yeah, I don't want to steal Bridget's

[4:47] thunder because she really did all of the hard work on researching this. So,

[4:50] I'm going to have Bridget come up. >> Great.

[4:57] So when we met last year, we were tasked with finding a reading screening for nth

[5:02] graders and um we do have when we have nth graders coming in, we do have lots

[5:07] of data on them as you've just heard and we have all the SBA scores etc. But we

[5:12] wanted a universal screener to give us another angle on just make sure there's

[5:18] there's no student who's not been identified who is going to have reading

[5:21] struggles. and I worked with Jocelyn Buckman who's our K12 reading specialist

[5:26] and the reading specialists at the high school and we talked to a number of

[5:30] purveyors of universal screeners and what came out to us and a couple other

[5:35] districts in our area using was the DRP degrees of reading powder was a um good

[5:40] measure. It's not uh lengthy 45 minutes the kids can do it. It's online. It's

[5:46] quick and it should reveal. What we liked about it was it's going to tell

[5:50] you a student's comprehension level. And if you're an English teacher or a

[5:56] science teacher and you have a text that's at this level of difficulty and

[6:00] you're asking a student to read that, it's going to be valuable to realize for

[6:05] for that student, you're going to need a lot of scaffolding and a lot of help.

[6:09] Other texts they can read completely independently and do very well. most

[6:14] comprehension. So there it's it's going to give us good information. When I get

[6:19] um those scores quickly, the turnaround's digital, so I'll quick turn

[6:23] around and can see the scores. When I see students who are low, I will um look

[6:28] at the other scores we have on those students. By then we'll have the ninth

[6:32] grade PSAT. We'll we'll have the still the eighth grade data. And a student

[6:37] could have one bad day on any of those tests. But if there's a pattern of this

[6:41] is a student who's scoring low across the board, then we're going to target

[6:44] those students. Teachers will work on that. We'll see what else we need to

[6:48] know. We'll let the house teams know and then we will test them again mid year

[6:52] and see the score gone up. Was that an aberration? What's it what's the

[6:58] situation? >> And when is this assessment happening in

[7:01] the school year? >> Should be very soon. We're still we just

[7:05] we picked it. We select, we put the order in, and I'm in um and I'm in

[7:11] communication with them. So soon as we have the goal, we will do it. Teachers

[7:14] are ready and to know >> and all ninth graders are doing it,

[7:19] right? All nth graders. So that's kind of also really interesting data set to

[7:23] have of all ninth graders. So we can see sort of the whole range of

[7:28] comprehension. And this year, for the first time, we're going to give the

[7:31] ninth graders have taken in the fall for years a um PSAT when the when the um

[7:38] juniors take it, for them it's the critical thing. And it's great great

[7:41] practice. And anybody who knows SAT PSAT stuff knows the more you take it, the

[7:46] more accustom you are to it, the the better off you are. And we're going to

[7:51] also the ninth graders in the spring didn't take it again. They we did tasks.

[7:55] They did activities. this year. They're going to take it again in the spring,

[7:59] the full um test. It's shorter now. It's not the fourhour operation it used to

[8:05] be. So, we're going to give it again in the spring for those kids. Teachers will

[8:08] compare how they did in the beginning, how they did at the end. And so, we're

[8:12] happy to have that as a as a real benchmark. It's objective. It's

[8:16] interesting. And that just gives us another data set.

[8:19] » Thank you. That's so great. And while you're here, could we talk about the

[8:23] freshman English a little bit because that was also a new

[8:25] » Oh, sure. change. >> So, um, this year is our first year. We

[8:29] had three levels in the past. The 113A, 113, 112. We moved, um, last year we

[8:36] moved to having two levels. We have nine, English nine. We got rid of

[8:40] numbers. We're humans. And we went to English 9 and English 9A, which is

[8:45] accelerated. And, um, teachers spent some summer work to differentiate a bit,

[8:50] realize where they have to scaffold, really have to pace. And so far from

[8:55] what we had PLC's yesterday and we went around to the PLC's to hear how's it

[8:59] going and all the nines for English sat together all the nine A and I said how's

[9:04] it going and the um re reaction is is good so far the um students who may have

[9:10] been in the lower level who were a little less

[9:13] didn't have maybe the scholarly attitude are seeing oh get our homework out oh no

[9:18] so the it's been good and I think they're really finding ways together in

[9:22] the PLC's How do you differentiate? How do you scaffold? How do you make sure

[9:25] you're still challenging students but also holding those kids that are so so

[9:30] far so good. >> And what's the split like in terms of

[9:33] the freshman class? What's what percentage are in nine and what

[9:37] percentage are in 9A do you think? >> I think it's 58%. Is that right, Lucy?

[9:42] » Yes. >> Like 58% are in nine.

[9:46] » Okay. Thank you. Thanks. Um Karen, did you have a question?

[9:49] » I did. >> Uh yes, I did. Um first of all um great

[9:53] news on the NWA roll out. Uh congratulations and thank you on that.

[9:58] On the assessments I wanted to see if two things were possible. One about um

[10:04] the speed at which we get back to parents and and two the granularity that

[10:09] we provide. So on the SBA tests I had heard the schools had the results in

[10:14] July. I think I saw an article in one of the local papers last month. Um, as a

[10:21] parent of of two kids, I'm still waiting for the results. And if they were

[10:26] available in July, I would have loved to and I'm sure other parents and I've

[10:29] talked to other parents would have loved to have seen that because there's all

[10:32] that time over the summer if there are any gaps to remediate. We could have

[10:35] done things at home. Um, it feels a little late. Uh and then on the

[10:39] granularity, my understanding is there's really rich

[10:43] data from the NWA. And I think as a parent, I just see some

[10:49] pretty summary level scores. I mean, maybe it's because I'm a data geek, but

[10:53] I I think other parents too would like to see more if we're allowed to provide

[10:57] that to parents. >> Well, let me let me start with the first

[11:00] question and I want to clarify this for for all of you and who might be

[11:03] listening in as well. We did not have the scores that um in July for for

[11:09] release. Uh we wait until the state actually lifts the embargo.

[11:14] Internally we have the ability to see results and we start building internal

[11:19] data charts so that we can get ahead of the achievement report but they're not

[11:24] released until what is it almost >> the 31st of August.

[11:30] » Released when we're at leadership. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, late August and then

[11:34] there's a a mailing when when we are allowed to release the letters and and

[11:39] scores to parents. So, definitely not July. Not sure where you heard that.

[11:43] » I heard the schools had them in July. >> Um,

[11:46] » they're embargoed. What does that mean? >> They have them and they just don't want

[11:51] to give them to us. Is there some sort of Are they checking to make sure some

[11:55] of the questions were correct? What What's going on there?

[11:57] » Because took the exams in May. >> Yes.

[12:00] » So, it's four months. That's a long time for a test that's electronic.

[12:04] » Yeah. Yeah. >> So, to be honest, getting them in August

[12:07] is a real celebration. They used to come in like October. I mean, it's it's

[12:12] earlier than normal. Well, you've got to remember though, they're doing the whole

[12:15] state. And so, they're looking at cut scores. They're making sure there's not

[12:20] an error on the assessment. They're uh they want people to verify data. Do we

[12:24] see something like did they miss a whole subset of students? I mean, and and with

[12:28] the testing process, it they can it can be long. I mean, I think about the one

[12:33] year they lost our AP scores. Um, [laughter]

[12:35] you know, and that went on for a couple months trying to figure that out.

[12:39] » So, it is hard. So, we can see behind the dashboard like and we think we know

[12:45] where we're going to fall because we can see it as we can see when kids are

[12:49] completing tests. We can see the data. So, we can start planning like, wow,

[12:53] what happened here? even though we may not know the score exactly, we kind of

[12:57] know where it's going to fall. But until they put the scores up, it we can't do

[13:01] anything. And they email us and let us know. They give us the first look. And

[13:05] that's just because all the superintendents complained a couple

[13:08] years ago that we did not want it to be in the paper and we haven't even seen

[13:12] them. So now they embargo them and it's usually a very short window where

[13:16] they're embargoed and then they give it to all the press.

[13:19] » Yeah. >> And then the granular data on NWA. Yeah,

[13:24] I I think we would have to go back and talk to NWA, but but Tara, in terms of

[13:28] what we can turn on at this point, >> yeah, our ability to share parent

[13:32] reports via NWA, now that we're districtwide, will be able to upload

[13:36] parent reports to the parent portal. So, parents will be able to log in and see

[13:41] the basic family report. any uh parent who did want more detailed information

[13:46] about skills or topics where students could either reinforce or continue to

[13:50] develop, we do have another layer of granularity that we can provide to

[13:55] parents. That data upload is not something we would do for the entire

[13:59] district because it is you're looking at 30 to 40 page PDFs depending on the

[14:03] assessment. But the general parent report we do go ahead and upload into

[14:07] our uh link parent portal. So you will see that this year

[14:15] Jeff, go ahead. >> Just real quick, uh the GHS reading

[14:18] screener, how are parents notified and when are they notified of those results?

[14:23] » There is a parent um there is a parent report. So once the screenings happened,

[14:28] the report will go out and I'll put out my information. Someone could easily

[14:32] contact me and I can explain them. But the handbook will have pretty clear um

[14:36] definition for the parents. Paul,

[14:40] » just housekeeping. It goes along with Jeff when we can expect stuff, but uh

[14:45] now that I understand the um PSATs for the ninth graders are going to be in the

[14:50] spring. I don't think that's on the um assessment calendar. So, housekeeping

[14:54] will get that on the calendar and people will know when those come out.

[14:58] » Yeah, we just we just finalized the date for that on Tuesday. So, we'll go ahead

[15:03] and add that into that spring window. It's a March date.

[15:08] Bob, >> I'm sorry you're getting a lot of

[15:11] questions today. That's okay. Okay. Um, how exactly does the midyear follow-up

[15:15] work? And if you do find a student uh that might have to be moved somewhere,

[15:20] » how uh what are what are the steps in place to avoid embarrassment and avoid

[15:23] like kind of keep anonymity of the child?

[15:26] » We won't have to move any child. So, if they need followup, it's we'll see if

[15:31] they need to go to more extensive MTSS. Um, they may need to have a reading

[15:36] class. We have really great reading teachers. Maybe they need just to take a

[15:39] fluency class in reading. Maybe they need to get something more intensive,

[15:43] but we we would never single out a kid and you're over there. So, but um and

[15:47] for for the most part, our reading classes are enjoyable. Kids don't have

[15:51] to take them. They take them. And so, I think no, we'll follow up and just the

[15:57] house will know if this student is and then we'll move in on it.

[16:00] » That was the answer I hope to hear. Thank you.

[16:04] On that same note, um you know the sort of through line here that I'm I'm

[16:10] sensing is how is communication to the parents as you collect each you know

[16:16] sort of element of this data um being delivered in an actionable way so that

[16:21] parents can be responsive to it provided they so desire to.

[16:27] Our primary mode of communication is going to be that parent portal and we do

[16:31] have updated links for the parent portal, how to sign up for your account,

[16:34] how to log in on the Greenwich Public Schools website under the parent portal.

[16:38] I think that's what the tab is actually called. And what we do is as soon as

[16:42] those reports are available and into link it, we'll send information via

[16:46] school newsletter s'mores or even Dr. Jones's Friday note when information is

[16:50] available. So we do attempt to be as transparent as possible.

[16:55] I guess I'm curious, you know, where's like the big big red flag that sort of

[17:00] says, hey, you know, parent, you want to jump on this?

[17:04] » Yes. When a student is flagged for a concern that would require an MTSS

[17:08] process, meaning an additional level of support, there is a parent letter that

[17:12] is triggered within the process that does get sent home immediately and then

[17:16] parents are engaged in that process and get to um be updated every 6 to 8 weeks

[17:20] on progress monitoring. So that information is also shared within the

[17:23] MTSS process.

[17:30] » Um can I ask about Dibbels now? >> Sure. Miss Paladino.

[17:34] » So thank you Bridget.

[17:39] » Hi everyone. I'm Kim Paladino. I'm the Ka coordinator. Nice to meet you.

[17:45] » Hi. Thank you. Um so just if you could describe a little bit more about rolling

[17:49] it out. sounds like the fourth, fourth and fifth grade like what is that going

[17:53] to look like and sort of what is the support that like we're hoping to

[17:58] achieve by having the dibbles in there and how frequently are we using them?

[18:01] Can you just describe it a little? >> Sure.

[18:03] » Before Kim answers that, Kim, maybe I think it might be helpful because we

[18:07] keep talking about MTSS and it's an acronym

[18:10] » and I don't like when we use educational jargon because a lot of people don't

[18:13] know what it means. So, do you want to talk a little bit about our multi-tered

[18:16] system of support >> and what that really is in layman's

[18:19] terms? >> Sure. So, a multi-tered system of

[18:22] support is a way for us to identify students that are in need of extra

[18:27] support academically, socially, behaviorally, speech and language, um

[18:32] any area in which is getting in the way of performing academically. So, we have

[18:37] a district-wide MTSS handbook that outlines all of um our mission

[18:43] statement. It's available online for parents and for the board. Um that

[18:48] outlines our process of first identifying students. How do we identify

[18:53] a student that's at risk? Um so, our reading screener in high school is our

[18:57] one for for 9th graders. Dibbles, which we'll talk about in a second, is our

[19:01] universal screener for elementary. Um, and once we identify a student that

[19:07] might be in need of support, um, our teachers, our classroom teachers are our

[19:12] first line of defense. They are the first ones to see that universal

[19:15] screening data and they start thinking about, well, what is going on with this

[19:20] student and develop like a plan within the classroom to target that area that

[19:25] has come out as a need. and the teacher will work um with that student whether

[19:31] small group one-on-one or within the the general classroom targeting that

[19:35] specific skill with that student and then we'll take progress monitoring in

[19:39] tier one a tier one intervention like we're talking in the classroom once

[19:43] about every 3 weeks if a student isn't making progress on that skill that the

[19:48] classroom teacher has identified they will request a meeting um at their

[19:52] building level or their house um to talk more about the student and um the areas

[19:59] in which they're concerned about that is a a bigger team that's usually has an

[20:03] administrator. It has usually whatever a specialist that is involved in that area

[20:09] of concern. Um uh and so other people that can speak to that and then we look

[20:17] as a team together to decide do we need to up the level of support and maybe the

[20:22] frequency of support. So, in addition to whole class instruction, they're getting

[20:26] some specialized instruction from their their um classroom teacher, but maybe we

[20:31] need a literacy specialist to get involved or a math interventionist to

[20:34] get involved or we need a consult from a speech and language pathologist or we

[20:38] might need some support from a social worker um at the school level and then

[20:43] that would they would also have a plan with that student and potentially see

[20:47] that student at a higher frequency and also progress monitor. The idea is that

[20:51] we're trying to identify early and close gaps um so we can get kids back into a

[20:58] grade level kind of scenario. Everyone Anyone have any questions about

[21:03] MTSS? So, Dibbles is um one of our pieces of

[21:09] our MTSS program. It is it's considered a universal screener. It's this

[21:14] assessment, a quick reading assessment that we give to all students so that we

[21:19] can compare across. Um we implemented it three, we've just finished our third

[21:24] year um in K3. Um the K3 portion is a requirement by the state of Connecticut.

[21:30] We had a various number of assessments we could choose from, but we had a

[21:34] committee 3 years ago that chose Dibbles as our as the best one um in different

[21:39] grade levels that identifies target key foundational literacy skills that that

[21:45] we want to see if our kids have. And if our kids are missing some of those

[21:48] skills, we want to identify them as soon as we can and go through that MTSS

[21:52] intervention process to close those gaps and to fill those holes as as early as

[21:56] possible. Um, so we've been screening K through three. In the last couple years,

[22:03] we've had um our fourth and fifth, our fourth through 8th grade students that

[22:08] have IEPs that have reading goals have had that screening and progress

[22:13] monitoring available. Um, the last two years we've included our students in

[22:17] MTSS in that process, but now we want to just have all of our fourth and fifth

[22:22] grade teach uh students screened. In fourth and fifth grade, there's two

[22:26] subtests. One is oral reading fluency, which is a 60-second probe where kids

[22:30] are reading a grade level passage and we want to see what their risk factor is

[22:34] for fluency. And then there's a threeinut on the computerized maze

[22:39] assessment which basically sees how a student can silently read

[22:45] uh look at semantics of a sentence, fill in vocabulary words. It is a quick these

[22:51] are two evidence-based subtests that really give us a high predictability of

[22:56] risk. It doesn't diagnose anything but it tells us who out of the whole

[23:01] population we need to like maybe get some more information on and who could

[23:05] be struggling. So we want to give that to it. It's a easy lift for really nice

[23:10] information that and then the nice part about dibbles is we can progress monitor

[23:14] with those quick dipst sticks in specific um target areas so that we can

[23:19] see progress and close gaps quicker. >> How how frequently would you be doing

[23:26] the dles? >> So in um we use our universal screener

[23:29] is three times a year. beginning of year, we're in the window now, middle of

[23:33] the year around January, and then end of the year, end of May, June, and then

[23:38] teachers or interventionists have the option if we're instructing in an

[23:42] intervention and we want to progress monitor, we could use one sub like all

[23:46] the subtests are about 60 seconds, we would give a 60-second subtest um to

[23:51] that student to see how are we doing? How is our instruction meeting the

[23:56] child's needs? and we want to see that that that that target line is going up

[24:00] like they are making progress. >> Got it. Thank you so much. You're

[24:04] welcome. >> Bob,

[24:07] » I just wanted to say that we were lucky enough uh the newer board members to get

[24:10] into the schools at the beginning of the year and see some of this in real time

[24:13] for the K through three. So, I'm really excited. It's going to be in fourth and

[24:16] fifth grade and perhaps we could do it again with Mr. Soka and uh and John as

[24:22] well. I hate to take up your time. I know your time is for the students, but

[24:26] um I guess I just really want to get back in the school. So [laughter]

[24:29] guilty. >> Thank you.

[24:34] » Does anyone else have any other questions on the assessments?

[24:42] » Can move on to >> Okay. So, we'll switch gears and and go

[24:46] to the summer uh curriculum institute. And uh Miss Fogle, you might have

[24:51] noticed, narrated this uh video for you. I thought I'd give you a break from just

[24:55] listening to me all the time. And and and since I gave her the power of

[24:59] narrating the video, she actually said before the meeting, um I don't think I

[25:02] need you at the table for this one because I really want to be able to

[25:05] bring up the coordinators and showcase the work that they did this summer. So,

[25:09] I'm actually going to step aside, let Miss Fogle uh run the show and bring up

[25:14] each coordinator as you see fit to ask questions about the work they were able

[25:17] to accomplish this summer. And and it really is um it's it's it's a testament

[25:23] to how uh how dedicated they are to get teachers and and I'm speaking about our

[25:27] administrators and our teachers that they give up summer time to come in and

[25:31] do this work because I I'm a firm believer that I want teachers in front

[25:35] of kids as much as possible. There are days when teachers are sick and they're

[25:40] not going to be in front of kids and a substitute is just not the same as a

[25:44] teacher. And in years past, uh, before I took this position, we used to pull

[25:48] teachers out a lot to do curriculum work and I just never felt comfortable doing

[25:53] that. When I was a principal, I saw the impact. And so my motto has always been,

[25:58] we will address this in the summer. So they have aggressive timelines, but they

[26:03] get very dedicated teachers to work alongside them to get quite a bit

[26:07] accomplished as you can see uh in the presentation and the report that we've

[26:11] prepared for you. So um I think you'll be happy to hear all that we were able

[26:15] to do. So Tara, I'll let you take >> Yeah, thank you. I think um Mr. Demo

[26:20] summarized that pretty well. What we want to shout out first and foremost is

[26:23] the teachers who work 187 days during the year and then do dedicate their time

[26:28] during the summer to continue to tweak and modify curriculum as necessary to

[26:32] meet the needs of students. I know Miss Cross, you spoke a little bit about

[26:35] those scores that are available internally to staff early on. And what

[26:39] that allows us to do is use those internal preliminary metrics to support

[26:44] some of the summer curriculum work that we do. And while the assessment calendar

[26:47] only had 12 views, I believe at 2:30, we had about 18 on the summer curriculum

[26:52] work. So perhaps we are quite well verssed in that information today. So I

[26:56] thought it was a best use of our time to start with each content area and just

[26:59] bring up the coordinators and house administrators and facilitators who led

[27:04] that work and we can go question answer style. I'd like to start with ELA and

[27:08] welcome up um introducing to some of you Miss Kimberly Paladino, Miss Bridgette

[27:13] Barry, and ALP facilitator Bonnie Orian who supported some of our advanced

[27:17] learning work from the ELA standpoint. Perhaps we'll start at the K5 and if you

[27:23] have any elementary ELA questions, we can go there.

[27:30] [snorts] >> Great. Does anyone have a question? I

[27:33] don't have one right now. Are you present? Are you going to do any

[27:38] kind of presentation or >> We recorded the video, but I'm happy to

[27:41] summarize some of those slides if you'd like.

[27:44] » Yes. >> General question more about everything.

[27:47] » Okay, >> we can start with that.

[27:49] » Um, first of all, uh, you you've clearly been incredibly busy um, this summer. I

[27:55] see a ton of activity. Um I'm quite interested to hear how you will

[28:01] assess the effectiveness of these changes on educational outcomes. Are

[28:06] there particular metrics that you'll look back at say a year, two years from

[28:11] now to determine whether these changes had the desired impact on students?

[28:17] » Yeah, I think that's a great question and some of our most clear metrics are

[28:21] be will be the ones that we present to you on October 8th in our achievement

[28:24] report. And when we're looking at sustained growth of students and the

[28:29] need for tweaking curriculum, we look at the curriculum management plan as our

[28:33] north star. So all of the materials that you watched in the video or read in the

[28:37] report that we worked on today are aligned to needs with the curriculum

[28:41] management plan. And our curriculum management plan helps us to understand

[28:46] where we can implement resources, both personnel and financial resources to

[28:50] support any sort of shifts that we need to do in our curriculum. what you may

[28:54] have seen on the curriculum management plan last year with some of this three

[28:57] through five reading for example. So we did uh invest a large amount of

[29:01] professional learning time for this school year and then the need for

[29:04] teachers to come in over the summer and support their colleagues with materials

[29:08] that would help them implement those resources over the next 2 three years.

[29:13] We hope to see the continued growth we've seen in English language arts as

[29:17] evidenced by results on the SBA to continue to grow. So, I'd say our

[29:21] standardized tests are metrics, but we also collect feedback from our staff,

[29:25] from parents. We're constantly surveying, you know, you see our survey

[29:28] goals as our strategic plan. So, those are all metrics to evaluate the

[29:33] effectiveness of our curriculum and our instruction as is and then providing us

[29:38] more detailed information about changes that may need to be made.

[29:43] I'm wondering if um Bonnie could talk a little bit about the ALP science um and

[29:48] like the changes you're making there and the enhancements you're making there.

[29:52] » Actually, I want to >> Yeah, perfect. We'll bring up uh Dr.

[29:55] Beckley. >> Yes.

[29:57] » Yeah. >> He led that over here.

[30:00] » Okay. Sorry. Thank you. >> No, that's okay. We can do musical

[30:03] chairs for a bit.

[30:12] Good evening. So the could you repeat the question

[30:15] again please? >> I just I was you know in the

[30:18] presentation in the video they talked about sort of enhancing the ALP science

[30:22] in the elementary schools and I'm just wondering if you could talk a little bit

[30:24] about what does that look like like give if you could provide some examples.

[30:29] » Sure that's a great question. So for our students who are in the ALP program uh

[30:33] heading out for science instruction, one of the things that we do in the ALP

[30:36] program is we compact the curriculum and so they have a um the ability to you

[30:40] know take on extensions or other activities. We had some ALP teachers

[30:44] engage this summer and the work and they worked on designing activities for

[30:49] students. For example, um our first unit is the view from Earth and we're dealing

[30:54] with the brightness of the sun being the closest star to Earth. They designed a

[30:58] very unique opportunity for students to test using their iPhone and a tool on

[31:02] the iPhone to pick up the uh brightness of flashlights at different distances.

[31:08] So, they're actually able to use tools in real time, which goes well beyond

[31:11] what they would do in the normal classroom. Um another example would be

[31:14] at our second unit this year we have um our ALP students building a terrarium to

[31:19] basically take a look at how the interacting sphere so the hydrosphere

[31:23] and the atmosphere and the geosphere how they all interact and basically they're

[31:27] running through a water cycle as one of the activities as well. Um so students

[31:30] get a chance to have more in-depth conversations they're doing more

[31:34] investigations uh and they're doing more complicated modeling.

[31:39] » Thank you. You're welcome. And is there an opportunity to kind of take the

[31:42] what's really successful in ALP and then feed it back, you know, so that there's

[31:47] that it's iterative between like the general classroom and ALP and like oh

[31:50] that worked really well. Let's do it for everybody or you know I'm just curious

[31:55] about I hope they're not too siloed. >> So um the science curriculum in general

[32:02] runs parallel and so what ends up happening is every single student is

[32:05] entitled to their general curriculum first. So everyone has an opportunity to

[32:09] have high quality instruction. What the ALP does differently is that they

[32:14] sometimes are accelerated in how fast they attain the standards and so we give

[32:19] them the opportunity to uh explore further and go deeper at their grade

[32:22] level to um be able to again engage in sometimes the students even come up with

[32:28] some of their own learning. It's great. Um they suggest things to their

[32:30] teachers, but that's the outside of it. In the classroom, we're still engaging

[32:35] in the science and engineering practices. students are still

[32:37] investigating. They're still doing modeling. They're still engaging in um

[32:42] uh they're engaging in arguments for evidence. All the practices that we have

[32:45] to do, they're doing in both the main classroom as well as the out classroom.

[32:50] » Thank you. >> You're welcome,

[32:53] » Bob. >> Yeah, I had a question going back to

[32:55] ELA. Uh sorry. >> Thank you.

[32:58] » When the music stops. Um just about the student resources uh the the grade six

[33:03] to eight grammar the creation of studentf facing grammar materials and

[33:06] assessments. It sounds so interesting. Could someone talk a little?

[33:10] » Well, I have to say that Bridget was here a couple two summers ago now

[33:15] talking about um summer work that they had done in the in terms of grammar.

[33:20] They were seeing some holes that needed to be filled at the high school um in

[33:25] terms of language standards. And so they created um a robust um resource for for

[33:31] teachers in order to and a progression of skills that they wanted to make sure

[33:36] kids were solid on before they left high school. At the same time she was doing

[33:40] that work, we were working at the K5 level and really looking at what our

[33:45] grammar progression looked like um from foundations. There's grammar embedded in

[33:50] foundations. There's grammar embedded in our writing units of study in starting

[33:54] in second grade. Um our we just um last year implemented new 3 through five

[34:00] writing units that have grammar like more grammar embedded. In addition to

[34:05] grade four and five, we have grammar workshop for sadlier. So, we were

[34:11] finding and fine-tuning each summer as we got new resources to make it work for

[34:16] teachers to make sure our students are getting the best um lessons and hitting

[34:21] all of the important skills. So, high school was filling. We're building

[34:26] from the ground up and now we had six through eight. And I keep, you know, in

[34:30] in going into my fifth year in this role, we've had lots of conversations

[34:35] with our middle school teachers about grammar and about the importance of it.

[34:40] And what we found is we needed um teacher clarity about what skills to

[34:45] teach in what grades and which skills to hold kids accountable. We did a lot of

[34:50] work this summer to look at our state standards, look at the SBA assessment,

[34:56] look at um some of the sample assessments that we that we get for the

[35:00] SBA like our IABS or our FIABs and see what those assessments are asking of our

[35:05] students and then think about how do we put that in a progression and how do we

[35:09] hold kids accountable. So the work that we did this summer was to create the

[35:13] progression. We we used a lot of the work that the high school had done um

[35:17] and brought it to middle school. We created resources, teaching resources

[35:22] for our teachers. How like how do we teach this skill? What are some

[35:27] resources I can use to teach this skill? We came up with student um practice

[35:33] opportunities. I'm really leveraging our platform that has all of that already

[35:39] embedded for teachers and students. And we created a pre and post assessment on

[35:44] EXL which teachers can disagregate the data really quickly to know what skills

[35:49] do kids already know or what skills do we need to teach. And so they're in that

[35:53] they're doing that assessment right now. Our program meeting next week is to

[35:56] disagregate that data and use it to inform instruction. So we're really

[35:59] trying to target those really important skills so that our kids can be not only

[36:04] great oral communicators but great written communicators. and we know how

[36:07] important it is for our standardized assessments not only in middle school

[36:10] but the SAT as well. So, um we're really excited about it and um we'll see how it

[36:15] goes this year. >> And we're very excited at the high

[36:17] school because we know when there is consistent work there that we can see

[36:22] the framework of then we can take ours where we are starting from and move our

[36:26] goal post a little bit further along. So, we're we're happy about this.

[36:30] » So, I can't remember with the PSAT do they have a grammar section? Um the PSAT

[36:38] um English part is called evidence-based reading and writing. Well, there's no

[36:43] essay. When we took the SAT, well, I [snorts] don't know some of you

[36:46] youngsters, but when we took the SAT, you wrote you wrote an essay. There's no

[36:51] writing. How are they calling it writing? Because there are many

[36:55] questions threaded through that test a student's

[36:58] grammar. And if you don't understand how a sentence works, you can't answer it.

[37:03] And we we really um we are spending time as you'll see our summer work at the

[37:07] high school on the SAT not just because that's a an objective test that the

[37:11] state looks at. But you won't find a teacher that doesn't recognize it's a

[37:16] it's measuring something real. It it's measuring reading close reading. And if

[37:21] you don't follow the sentence that has a transition and you think that sentence

[37:25] meant this and you're duped by the sentence. So it really does help build

[37:29] close reading skills. So we realized as we looked closer that if you don't

[37:34] understand the grammar of it you can't you you can't compete. So that has

[37:38] infused our work and once we found the Khan Academy which was gamified and

[37:43] interesting and individualized we thought we can make this not the tired

[37:47] stuff of the past grammar we understood we could teach grammar in a more in a in

[37:51] a you know more efficient way and better for students and so that took us off.

[37:56] » Okay that sounds great. Thank you Karen. Yeah, sorry. Just one more

[38:01] question on ELA. I mean, great to see the focus on on grammar, on vocabulary,

[38:06] reading, writing. The one thing that I don't see in here is spelling.

[38:11] » And I remember studying my vocab, my spelling lists and then having a weekly

[38:16] spelling test. Neither of my kids who are both in elementary school have ever

[38:20] brought home a spelling list and it shows. [laughter]

[38:25] Is is that a not a thing anymore? So spelling is actually embedded within our

[38:30] foundations phonics systematic approach to teaching reading. So not only are

[38:35] kids learning to decode words like learn letters and sounds and blend them

[38:39] together to read words, they are also expected to encode words. So how do I

[38:43] take that word separate it by by phone and and and match the graph theme to

[38:49] them. Um there are assessments embedded within foundations in which we are um

[38:55] especially at the first through third grade level the assessment is a spelling

[39:00] and coding assessment. It it impacts the the

[39:05] if kids can write the word they can read it. So we test them on you're not going

[39:10] to see a spelling list in which you're memorizing words. um those kind of

[39:15] processes have been a little debunked over the years because we remember we

[39:18] studied those words and then you ask them to spell them two weeks later and

[39:23] they can't remember. We take a really systematic approach looking at different

[39:27] syllable types, different spelling patterns and that's how we're um

[39:31] assessing spelling within the thing. Um, so if and you you can see the home

[39:37] letters that come home if there's if there's there's opportunities if you

[39:41] want to see it in action in your own house. Um, the foundations has parent

[39:45] letters that go home at the end the beginning and beginning of each unit.

[39:49] And there's opportunities for you to see what spelling patterns are being covered

[39:53] in your class. Um, there are opportunities for dictation at home and

[39:56] different practices at home. Um, kids are learning words that are regularly

[40:01] spelled. They're also learning words that are irregularly spelled. So, um

[40:05] that is and and kids that um you'll see some of that flag on Dibbles, too. If a

[40:13] kid is is struggling, you're going to see it come out there, too. So, um it is

[40:18] embedded within our systematic phonics program. We could talk later though. If

[40:23] you have a specific if [laughter] you have a specific question, I see the

[40:25] faces. We can talk and I'll give you more details or specifics if you if you

[40:31] [laughter] >> Jonathan, I will not embarrass my

[40:33] children further. >> Jonathan, [clears throat] you have a

[40:35] question? >> Yeah. Um, I have a child in second grade

[40:39] and uh I hear endlessly about Lexica. Lexia Lex Lexia. Um, and it's it's

[40:46] created a little bit of tension at home where there's way more enthusiasm for

[40:50] the iPad Lexia learning experience than for, you know, the reading. Um, and I'm

[40:57] sort of curious as we've been talking about like reductions in phone use and

[41:01] screen time sort of where does that fit into the, you know, sort of forward

[41:07] path? Is that is that a long-term commitment? Is that something that is

[41:11] being traded back with iPad reduction? Are you talking about Lexia in general

[41:17] or are you thinking are you talking about screen time in general?

[41:20] » Both. Yeah. Like the gamification, the Khan Academy, you know, reference sort

[41:25] of and fine at the high school level. I think that that

[41:30] » the attentions really need to be competed for more. But um

[41:35] » yeah, it it the screen time reduction. I'm interested in hearing like the

[41:39] roadmap for that and also how Lexia and those sorts of I hear popular programs

[41:45] but the students are built into it. >> So so Lexia it's an interesting to

[41:50] understand what the platform does and why um it's part of our comprehensive

[41:54] approach is Lexia is a um adaptive computer program which will meet kids

[42:04] right where they are. So, if your kid is having struggles with phonics or FMIC

[42:10] awareness or vocabulary or any of the five pillars of reading, it's going to

[42:14] identify that and scaffold them. Um, every move, every every move they make

[42:19] on it, it will give corrective feedback. It will help teach and it will trigger

[42:23] to a teacher if they're having some some trouble. Lexia is an at inschool

[42:27] program. It's not an atome program. Um the typical um recommended time for

[42:34] Lexia is 20 minutes a week. So it is not um and and that recommended time equates

[42:40] to a certain number of units that we want kids to get um per week. So some

[42:46] kids finish it earlier, some kids um you know maybe take a little bit longer, but

[42:51] typically it is finished in that 20 minutes a week. And what we do say is

[42:54] like when they meet their minutes for the week or their units for the week

[42:57] that they're not going they're not doing more. It's not a more is better thing.

[43:02] But the the beauty of Lexia is that it it will take our some of our even our

[43:08] top students and give them the next level of instruction that they may not

[43:12] be getting in their core curriculum. I remember sitting with my own daughter a

[43:16] couple years ago and she was she was telling me about, oh, you know, bio

[43:20] means blah blah. I'm like, where did you learn that? because I know you haven't

[43:24] done that yet. And she was like, "Oh, I learned it in Lexia." So, we have an

[43:28] opportunity to meet kids where they are um and really use it as an intervention

[43:32] um and an acceleration. And we get a lot of good data on the back end. Um so,

[43:36] we're not we're not pushing them to use it outside of school. We're not pushing

[43:40] them to use it more than they need to. Um it is a very systematic way of of

[43:46] prescribing an additional level of support for students.

[43:50] » Um well, I appreciate that. Um, I'm curious because

[43:55] on the subject of gamification, um, my daughter comes home with those fullcolor

[44:00] certificates, uh, you know, from her Lexia accomplishments and I have to

[44:04] assume she's doing quite well, maybe relative to the class with it. It does

[44:09] seem like it's teaching her to value and be excited for a gamified learning

[44:14] experience over the pleasure of reading. Um, and so I'm curious about balancing

[44:20] that, but I don't need to put you on the spot. I'm just

[44:23] » No, it's fine. I think I what I will say is Lexia is the only digital platform

[44:27] that we have in ELA at the elementary level that is a required part of our or

[44:32] like a part of our comprehensive approach. Our kids have real books in

[44:36] their hands. They have real pen and paper. Pen and some of our kindergarters

[44:41] like to use flares. Um, but they have real writing instruments and real paper.

[44:46] We um have invested [snorts] a ton of money in real books. Um it is not

[44:52] replacing that instruction, but there are certain basic skills that are

[44:58] necessary in order to read those books that we're trying to build um from both

[45:03] ends, right? And so um I I think if you asked most teachers in

[45:10] our district, they would they would say Lexia is a really important part. It's

[45:15] not a babysitter. It is not something that we just put kids on. There is real

[45:19] value in it and and and and they see that that progress. So, um I think

[45:26] there's a balance. Um but that is the only digital thing that we have as part

[45:31] of our approach in K5. >> Paul, you had a question.

[45:35] » Thank you. >> I had a question, but I think it's so

[45:37] far back that we're Maybe we'll just skip it. Maybe not though. I was

[45:41] interested in knowing what

[45:45] um what criteria gets something into that summer program um to be reviewed.

[45:50] Is it uh you know among the teachers? Is it databased? Things like that. Um but

[45:56] she went on to explain how you um uh Karen had asked about the back end of

[46:02] that, how you you uh measure that and its successes. I have to suspect that

[46:07] those same measurements um are based on other things. But that's the question I

[46:12] had. I think I I had enough answers. But what I wanted to do was more of a

[46:15] statement. You had said something that was very interesting. Um and there's a

[46:20] lot of people very critical about it and I'm one of them. And it was teaching to

[46:25] the test. And the way you you um uh expressed it was uh refreshing. I mean,

[46:34] I can't tell you how many um parents and I mean, just everyone is told, "Oh, the

[46:40] they're just teaching at these tests and you know, we're wasting this time and

[46:45] we're taking a classroom time out of it." And by the and I I feel that way as

[46:50] well, but what you're saying about the SATs as it relates to these are really

[46:54] good measurements and I have to expect now that that can touch other tests and

[47:01] teaching to these tests might actually be, you know, milestones that are that

[47:08] are important. And I just wanted to say that again because there are it's a it's

[47:14] said a lot. it comes to me a lot and I am critical of it and your statement

[47:19] related to it made me feel a little bit better about it.

[47:22] » Well, thank you and I couldn't agree more. A test is one day and it's

[47:26] something the school is measured by, but for the student, what's the what's the

[47:29] meaning and the value? And I think we we believe that there's meaning and value

[47:33] in in reading closely and understanding what you read, communicating well, and

[47:38] the SAT is a measure of that. And therefore, we feel the same way about

[47:41] our AP courses. The test is one day. We want them to do well, but those AP

[47:46] courses are rich in content. And there's real learning that you're going to need

[47:50] for the test, for college, for your career, for life. So, we we do believe

[47:56] that because some of the criticisms I I get, and I imagine the other boards and

[48:00] maybe even you, Tony, as well, is, oh yeah, we got, you know, number one at

[48:05] this and blue ribbon at this, but well, we teach to the test. And um I think

[48:10] that we've got a amazing staff and what I'm hearing right now um uh speaks more

[48:16] to uh educating our our our students. So thank you. I

[48:20] » I couldn't stay away because Paul, you mentioned something that's so critically

[48:26] important that we talk about for a couple of minutes. there is so much

[48:29] misinformation that floats out there in the public that

[48:34] um it really is important and and I'm glad you you you took it head on and I

[48:40] hope we answered it well enough that it kind of demystifies any misconceptions.

[48:44] Um you know earlier Karen thought that I was hiding the uh results in my office

[48:50] since July. Um, [laughter] and she really thought that, right? You

[48:53] did. And >> a lot of parents do.

[48:54] » And a lot of parents do, but I had no idea that that was out there until you

[48:59] brought it up tonight. And so I think, you know, you're the conduit from the,

[49:04] you know, from the public to us. And if you hear things that just don't seem

[49:08] right, please either email the superintendent who will get in touch

[49:13] with one of us um or bring it up at a board meeting because um misinformation

[49:18] sets us back. And we are trying very diligently to not only educate our

[49:24] students but educate our families. And so we want to make sure that um what

[49:29] we're saying is conveyed in a very transparent manner. Uh we try to put as

[49:34] much information on the website as possible so that parents can feel like

[49:38] they're part of their child's education. Um I was incredibly happy to hear uh

[49:44] that our new board members want to get out and into the schools. um you make

[49:47] very important decisions and your decisions need to be informed decisions

[49:52] and if you don't spend any time in the schools um then the only time you hear

[49:57] about things is either in the public which it could be misinformation or you

[50:02] hear it at board meetings and we don't have enough right I mean we could have a

[50:04] board meeting every night on a topic not that anybody wants to but there's so

[50:09] much breath and depth to what we do and so um I welcome the opportunity uh to

[50:15] answer any questions or if you hear something out in the public, let us know

[50:20] so that we can we can you know uh put it in our newsletter and say this has been

[50:24] this has been brought to our attention and here's the truth on on that

[50:28] particular situation. So um this has been very helpful. I apologize Tara for

[50:33] coming back to the table. I like being at the table. Uh but but I think I we

[50:38] can move on now but thank you Paul for bringing that up.

[50:40] » Thank you for bringing it up. Oh. >> Oh, Veronica.

[50:48] » Thank you. I'm so sorry to miss you guys and thank you so much for the

[50:51] presentation. Mark, I just want to piggyback on what you said and I was

[50:54] even thinking actually about what Karen said also with her earlier question

[50:57] about spelling. Um, and and I know that uh Dr. Jones knows this really well, but

[51:02] a lot of the work that you guys are doing is

[51:06] significantly better than what is in many of the private schools. It's more

[51:10] consistent than what we're seeing in a lot of the private schools. A lot of

[51:13] times they're modeling off what we're doing. I don't think there's any of the

[51:16] the schools are teaching explicit spelling anymore the way that we used

[51:20] to. I'm using that as an example. Um they're now just beginning to use more

[51:24] data driven approaches, which obviously GPS has been doing for a long time. So,

[51:28] I just want to um from even looking at at other schools, just commend um how

[51:33] well our curriculum team is doing um both in their work this past summer, but

[51:38] also really all the time. Um because it it we really are an example for for the

[51:43] district and how learning should be happening. And I just I'm so much kudos

[51:48] to you guys with all that work.

[51:54] » Great. Um, yeah, I I did want to just say something. I agree. Like it's very

[51:59] helpful having curriculum and a system together this way because then it really

[52:02] feels like the the point of the assessments is to think about how to

[52:05] improve the curriculum >> rather than like giving a student a

[52:09] grade, right? Which is how a lot of times the parents feel or the students

[52:12] feel like how did I do? But this is like okay well if you look at an entire you

[52:17] know grade of fourth graders and you think okay we can see we need to be you

[52:21] know improve the curriculum in a certain way so they can be more successful next

[52:25] year and that's just such a much more collaborative positive approach and and

[52:29] so I echo everyone's comments. I had a specific interest I want to hear more

[52:34] about um the outsiders a new program for the seventh graders the page to stage

[52:40] I'm so excited. So can someone talk about it? Yes, I'm we're really excited

[52:44] about it. Uh we uh in our ELA curriculum, we have two in seventh

[52:50] grade, we have two narrative units. Um they um they're the kind of units that

[52:56] we're teaching our ELA standards. They can be uh taught with any mentor text,

[53:02] right? Like so in in ELA, we don't teach the text, we teach the standards, and we

[53:06] pick a a strong article, novel, non-fiction,

[53:11] um piece to teach those standards. Um a lot a couple of our seventh grade teams

[53:17] have used the Outsiders within our units. Um a couple years ago, uh The

[53:22] Outsiders came on Broadway. Um I think it's been this is the third year, I

[53:25] believe. It's won a lot of awards. Um Eastern started taking their students,

[53:30] um the first year, I think it came out. Um, I got to go with them and see it all

[53:34] in action. Um, and we thought, well, wow, what a great opportunity. Last

[53:39] year, Western um, like really fundraised and like really scraped together. They

[53:46] really wanted their kids to go, so we got an opportunity. They they they made

[53:50] it happen, but it was it was like borrowing and stealing to get the money.

[53:55] The buses alone are are very very expensive. Um and

[54:00] Central was like, "Well, we want to do it, too." And so we knew that we needed

[54:05] some extra funding support for for um some of our schools. So we went to the

[54:10] Grunch Alliance and they generously um offered to make it so that all of our

[54:15] seventh graders could go this year. Um so that you asked like some why does

[54:20] some summer work come to be? Well, this was an opportunity for us for all

[54:25] seventh graders to go on this trip, which means this book is going to be in

[54:30] one of the narrative units at each school. Um, and we wanted some extra

[54:35] resources for for teachers that were specific to this book. Now, while we

[54:40] don't teach the book, we know that when we put a uh a book that's set in 1950

[54:48] in front of our students, there are some background knowledge and vocabulary that

[54:52] we need to get them ready for. Um, and there are um some some key things that

[54:59] would be helpful to have before, during, and after reading that text that are

[55:04] specific to that text. So, we had um a seventh grade teacher. We had four

[55:09] teachers, but one at least from each school that have used this book as a as

[55:14] a as a a trade book um before and they kind of created things, pulled their

[55:19] resources. We also um consulted with Leah Stillman of how we can really

[55:25] integrate the arts into it. We made some lessons for before going to a Broadway

[55:30] play. Like what are some things that you should be looking like what lenses

[55:34] should you be looking for about staging and blocking and choice of costume and

[55:39] choice of music and let's look at the lyrics. Um if you've never been to a

[55:43] Broadway play before, how should like what's it going to be like? Like giving

[55:46] them the layout, what kind of like what are theater etiquette rules, that kind

[55:50] of thing. And then afterwards, how do we now compare the book to the to the play,

[55:56] which is in the theater standards, it's in our ELA standards. So, what an

[55:59] amazing opportunity for all of our students to to be able to go right in

[56:04] our backyard to New York City to experience live theater. And so, we're

[56:09] really grateful for that opportunity. And that kind of sparked this summer

[56:12] work because we hadn't had that opportunity for all of our kids to go.

[56:15] So, we needed to upgrade our curriculum a little bit to meet the needs so that

[56:19] our teachers could be prepared and our kids could um have a really great

[56:22] experience. >> That's really exciting and I think it's

[56:26] great and I feel like it get it gets some kids who maybe are more interested

[56:29] in the arts could get excited about English, right? And kids who are

[56:32] interested in ELA are get excited about the arts. Like, it's it's really

[56:36] exciting and I'm thrilled that they all have that common experience going into

[56:40] the high school is fun. I'm sure they'll be able to draw on it and their work

[56:44] that they do in the high school. Thank you.

[56:46] » Thank you to the Greenwich Alliance. >> All right, we have six other groups of

[56:51] people. So, if it's okay with you, are we ready to pivot to social studies?

[56:54] » Thank you. >> All right. Uh when Principal Healey is

[56:56] not busy opening a building, he is overseeing some social studies work

[57:01] » and uh oversees our middle school social studies. And then we'll also bring up

[57:05] Miss Lucia Reco. And together they'll answer any questions you may have about

[57:08] the social studies work that occurred over the course of this summer.

[57:15] » [snorts]

[57:22] » Bob, >> do you have a question?

[57:23] » I was just curious about the revolutionary America uh in that you

[57:27] were doing in eighth grade. Was that was that already established or you you were

[57:31] you building upon something that was already there or is it something brand

[57:34] new? >> You mean I I didn't hear the first part.

[57:36] I'm sorry. >> I apologize. The revolutionary American

[57:38] unit. >> Yeah.

[57:39] » Yeah. So th that all is part of the standard US history curriculum in eighth

[57:44] grade. Um specifically what we were really targeting was um all of this I'll

[57:51] kind of back up for a second. All of this work really what's embedded in it

[57:53] is um how we are tracking student um skills more so than just reading for

[58:00] information or gathering evidence and things like that. So, we're reusing the

[58:04] um four dimensions from the um state of Connecticut and taking um out those

[58:10] inquiry dimensions. How are students thinking about history, thinking about

[58:13] the social studies, thinking about geography? Um and and what should they

[58:17] be doing through grade six or be able to do through sixth, seventh, and eighth

[58:21] grade? Um that was work we started last year. And then basically what we um

[58:26] jumped on this year was how do we align that a little bit better across the

[58:29] three schools so we can make sure those students are having common experiences.

[58:33] So specifically for eighth grade it came down to um something important which in

[58:38] our conversations with the high school folks much like you heard with the

[58:41] grammar and English working backward is um engaging with and analyzing

[58:46] primary sources. So, how uh did we how can we make sure that all of our eighth

[58:51] graders are engaging deeply with primary sources before they get to the high

[58:54] school? And so, what we ended up doing was looking at certain units,

[58:58] specifically the revolutionary unit and others to say, what are

[59:03] the primary sources that our students are typically looking at or being asked

[59:08] to analyze. So, for example, one of the most famous ones is um Paul River's

[59:12] engraving of the Boston Massacre, right? You probably all looked at it too cuz it

[59:17] happened prior to you going to school as well. Um so um

[59:22] most um but the idea being um are all kids getting that experience uh and if

[59:30] so what does that experience look like in terms of the depth of their analysis

[59:34] or how do we scaffold that for the level of the learner? Um so what happened over

[59:38] the summer was um teachers got together and they basically brainstormed and they

[59:42] said let's come up with say five or six common primary sources that we all have

[59:46] been using and we brought that back to um the whole group on that you know

[59:51] first PD day back before school started um and said from these let's pick three

[59:56] and they did that for every unit so that in every single unit of 8th grade there

[1:00:00] are three primary sources that we know every child is going to engage with in

[1:00:05] their American history class at some level in terms of a depth of analysis um

[1:00:10] and how to draw conclusions from that, look at perspective, um think about

[1:00:15] varying points of view, whatever the case might be. Um now teachers can bring

[1:00:20] in a lot more and they do bring in a lot more, but we felt it was important that

[1:00:23] there was some level of consistency to say every student that's leaving 8th

[1:00:26] grade in the Greenwich public schools and most of them do go on to the high

[1:00:29] school have this same experience and we know are practicing this critical skill.

[1:00:34] So how different were the primary sources? Like did you find

[1:00:38] » Not really. So most of them were using some of the same common ones. So there

[1:00:43] really wasn't any vast difference. But I think it was it's more about the

[1:00:49] consistency with which we are having kids engage with them. So when we know

[1:00:53] we're looking at the same one, teachers started talking about well how do you

[1:00:57] use it? What questions do you ask? What do you have the students do with it? And

[1:01:01] how deep can we get? So we started looking back at some of those skills and

[1:01:04] standards for inquiry and saying how can we push that further. So for example,

[1:01:09] one of the things that we want to have students do, right, are are um is to

[1:01:13] become very good at asking deep questions, right? That's a part of

[1:01:17] inquiry. So, can we use some of these primary sources to help students learn

[1:01:21] how to develop really deep questions to think about what this source meant at

[1:01:25] the time and what was the perspective and what would the impact be and who was

[1:01:28] the audience and all those different things to facilitate their own

[1:01:31] discussion amongst each other as opposed to having be the teacher telling them

[1:01:35] this is what happened and this is how people reacted. So, I think it was just

[1:01:39] more the consistency with how we were putting that onto the students and

[1:01:42] engaging with those materials over with each other. So, um, everyone was using

[1:01:47] some of the same common ones. You know, everyone used the engraving. That wasn't

[1:01:52] an argument. But again, I just think it was important because now they can speak

[1:01:56] to each other about what they're seeing in terms of the level of what kids are

[1:02:00] able to do. And then more importantly for our learners for whom um this is a

[1:02:06] challenge, how can you help them overcome that hump of you know I don't

[1:02:11] understand what they're saying because that word is funny or whatever the case

[1:02:15] might be right and then they're sharing those strategies as well because they

[1:02:17] can break down in those core resources or primary sources um what to expect

[1:02:22] from kids.

[1:02:26] Um, I had a question about learning geography

[1:02:30] [laughter] because it was I have a seventh grader.

[1:02:33] Um, and he was doing like learning Europe, you know, the map of Europe last

[1:02:38] year. And it was interesting because it was different from when I was in sixth

[1:02:42] grade in the sense of just that there's the computer and you can kind of click

[1:02:45] on it and see if you got it right or wrong and you can do it over and over

[1:02:48] and over again. But it was actually quite similar in a way to to how I

[1:02:53] learned it. And I was like, what where are the advances in that? And how can we

[1:02:57] be better at learning that? Because >> I I'm just curious. I feel like, you

[1:03:02] know, there must be better ways to learn geography than trying to memorize the

[1:03:06] map. And and I actually was thinking of it when you're talking about spelling

[1:03:08] because it feels like the same thing where you memorize the map of Europe and

[1:03:13] then a month later someone asks you and you can't remember anything at all

[1:03:16] because you just you learned it for the test,

[1:03:18] » right? So I I think you know that that is sort of the pendulum if you will um

[1:03:24] that we've seen across many disciplines with this idea of memorization right

[1:03:28] like how much are we doing drill and kill not not as much anymore. So when it

[1:03:32] comes to geography, the pendulum definitely had gone more over to which

[1:03:37] is important as well and really what the the curriculum is is based on is you

[1:03:41] know something more like how does a region impact how people live? Right? So

[1:03:46] what is your geography? Is it dry and aid? Right? Is is there a lot of water?

[1:03:51] Is it coastal? Um is it rainforest? Do you have rainy seasons? So, it's really

[1:03:56] more looking at the element of what's the area and how does that change the

[1:04:00] way people live, interact, their economy, their politics, and everything.

[1:04:05] Um, but I think we had kind of gotten away, you know, every once in a while

[1:04:09] I'm still seeing some maps being colored by region and things like that just to

[1:04:13] get them a sense. But this idea of really being able to identify where

[1:04:16] countries are hasn't been necessarily the the focus or where they spent the

[1:04:21] time. What I think we're kind of seeing

[1:04:25] somewhere come back to the middle is this understanding that knowing where it

[1:04:29] is especially in relation to other places is also really important. Right?

[1:04:33] So it's like seeing the forest through the trees, right? Like you need to know

[1:04:36] where it is. So interestingly enough that you asked this and and I get a

[1:04:40] chance to highlight the structure of my new building in this story. So this is

[1:04:44] like thank you for laying this one up for me. Um, so for those of you who are

[1:04:47] aware, right, our new building not only um has these grade level areas, but in

[1:04:52] those areas, right outside the classroom, it's a common learning space.

[1:04:56] So my seventh grade social studies teacher actually uh let's see, today's

[1:05:00] Thursday. So this was on Tuesday, uh came up to me and said, um, do you

[1:05:06] have painters tape? A normal question you get from a seventh grade social

[1:05:10] studies teacher, right? And I was like, uh, no, but I can find you some cuz

[1:05:13] there's a lot of painters around here, which is great. Um, so we got her some

[1:05:16] painters tape and and you know, she was like, "Come by tomorrow if you want to

[1:05:21] see something." So I was like, "Okay." So that afternoon I saw her and a couple

[1:05:25] colleagues. They had pushed all the furniture to the side and she was taping

[1:05:28] a giant rectangle on the ground in the common area. So the next morning I went

[1:05:32] up there and the place was buzzing. She was sitting back like this and you just

[1:05:37] saw kids running around with 8 1/2 by 11 pieces of paper. And I'm trying to look

[1:05:41] what was going on. She had printed out the entire world map in eight and a half

[1:05:46] by 11 pieces of paper and she had just scattered it around and given it to the

[1:05:51] kids the entire class >> and said m make the map and she had a

[1:05:57] map up in her room and she could see through cuz we have these wonderful

[1:06:01] windows onto the common areas but basically the kids had to figure out

[1:06:05] where everything went with nothing else. She just said that's all you have. So

[1:06:09] they started putting things together but what was magical about it was the way in

[1:06:13] which they would have conversations with each other right they were like you know

[1:06:17] we know China's over here and we know Japan is close to here and then it was

[1:06:21] sort of like well you know this has a lot of water it's got to be over here

[1:06:26] and then there was also a legend so they were trying to figure out they're like

[1:06:29] start from the corner right so they're like oh like like the legend needs to be

[1:06:32] in the corner because whenever you look at a map that's where it is so anyway it

[1:06:35] was really interesting because it became this beautiful collaborative

[1:06:38] conversation where they were pulling in background knowledge. They were using

[1:06:41] each other as resources to go back and look and see what was near each other.

[1:06:44] And that's what she started with. And it wasn't like just, you know, let's

[1:06:49] memorize, you know, an acronym for the countries of Europe. It was something a

[1:06:53] little more engaging where the kids were actually laying everything out. And then

[1:06:56] she was able to take that and start to have conversations about climate and

[1:07:00] zones and things like that, which now will then feed their discussion about

[1:07:03] how that impacts the people who live there and the civilizations and the

[1:07:06] cultures. So, I don't know if that totally answered your question, but it

[1:07:09] was just a little more engaging off the computer, which I loved. Um, it was

[1:07:14] literally all kids just talking to each other with paper and pencil and like

[1:07:18] kneeling on the floor. It almost kind of looked like Twister in a way cuz they

[1:07:21] were like leaning over each other. It was very cool.

[1:07:24] » That that completely answers my question and also makes me feel really good about

[1:07:28] the new Central Middle School building and the new use of that space, which is

[1:07:32] great. Thank you so much. Of >> course.

[1:07:37] I commend that teacher. Uh and uh also um that does lead me to inquire about

[1:07:44] this uh go guardian implementation which I see am I am I asking the right group?

[1:07:50] » So that's been implemented at Greenwich High School this year.

[1:07:54] um that is um a platform that allows uh teachers to um on their screen see all

[1:08:05] of the screens of their students basically to asssure they're on uh the

[1:08:10] tab that they should be on um and staying focused. It also acts as a

[1:08:16] lockdown browser during an assessment provided every student is on a

[1:08:21] schoolisssued device because the lockdown browser is Chromebased. Uh so

[1:08:26] if a student is using a MacBook the lockdown browser is not going to be

[1:08:30] effective.

[1:08:36] Um can you just give me like a quick assessment of you know sort of what are

[1:08:42] the circumstances in which um GoG Guardian is used? You mentioned like

[1:08:46] lockdown for like I imagine an exam or you know something like that and this

[1:08:50] general general monitoring uh makes sense but but what is that time that the

[1:08:56] kids are on their Chromebooks? >> Are you asking how much time are they on

[1:09:02] their Chromebooks? I'm saying like when is this? Is this like like study hall

[1:09:05] time? Is this like midclass time? Is this like throughout the day?

[1:09:09] Everybody's on their Chromebooks. I I'm not I don't yet have a student in the

[1:09:12] high school. So >> So it's our our first year with it. I

[1:09:15] think uh the different programs are um using it differently. Um and some

[1:09:22] programs might be using it more than others. Um in a social studies class, I

[1:09:28] I have seen it used for instance during an assessment.

[1:09:32] um in order to uh maintain academic integrity during the assessment. Um also

[1:09:39] uh it has been used for instance if students are working on uh a research

[1:09:43] paper. So during class to make sure students are uh solely on you know

[1:09:48] websites being used for research and that they are um only on a Google doc

[1:09:54] and and uh their writing is authentic as opposed to uh using AI or um you know

[1:10:03] another website like AI to help them write their paper.

[1:10:07] This sort of leads me into my next inquiry. I was curious and maybe this is

[1:10:12] outside the scope of this meeting, but how are we responding to sort of AI use

[1:10:18] in uh you know in these situations by students? I mean I don't even know if

[1:10:23] chat is blocked in the school system. >> It is I I can take this one. Um we do

[1:10:29] have a staff facing regulation regarding AI use for staff. We have segmented

[1:10:34] Wi-Fi where staff have access to certain um AI based web browsers and then we do

[1:10:41] uh this year we offered a studentf facing AI platform just at the high

[1:10:44] school. So we do have a um school AI is the platform that we're we're working

[1:10:50] with within GHS and our regulation segments the use cases for uh students

[1:10:57] in grades 6 through 8 as well as students in grade 9 through 12. So that

[1:11:00] regulation outlines exactly how teachers support students in making good

[1:11:04] decisions about using AI as a thought partner as opposed to a creator of

[1:11:10] content. And we also um have supporting structures worked into the library media

[1:11:16] specialists at the uh 6 through8 level and supporting middle schools

[1:11:19] specifically in better understanding what AI can do, when there are

[1:11:24] appropriate times to use AI and what different AI engines could support. Um,

[1:11:29] we have really worked with teachers to better understand the best ways to

[1:11:34] support students in emerging technology. And I think software such as GoG

[1:11:39] Guardian is more of a deterrent from ineffective or inappropriate technology

[1:11:44] use, less of a big brother watching, more of a supporting structure where

[1:11:49] while our teachers are fantastic monitors of student um support student

[1:11:54] behavior and classroom management, when you have 20 devices open on all

[1:11:58] different tabs, sometimes it's nice to have your main screen just checking in

[1:12:01] while you can do some small group work. Um, so AI is constantly changing and we

[1:12:06] have regulations that are keeping up with it and we have the teachers and the

[1:12:09] administrators doing that work to support them.

[1:12:13] » Thank you. >> I had a question about the AP geography

[1:12:19] » class. Um, are students taking that instead of like another AP or an

[1:12:24] addition? And how many students do we have enrolled in it this year and kind

[1:12:28] of how is it going? I know it's early days. Um so there are about 20 students

[1:12:34] enrolled in the c in the class. Um you know how it fits in the schedule really

[1:12:39] depends on the student. It's available for juniors and seniors to take. Um so

[1:12:47] uh if you are a junior you certainly could take AP human geography along with

[1:12:52] for instance our civics requirement or um the AP government class. It really

[1:12:58] really depends on what else the student is trying to um accommodate in their in

[1:13:03] their schedule. >> So and this year we have basic so we

[1:13:07] have one section >> one section okay and it's going well.

[1:13:09] The um the teacher actually attended um an AP institute in the summer um that

[1:13:16] was uh project based learning essentially for AP human geography. So,

[1:13:21] I know she's trying to implement more um projects in the class. Um and uh she's

[1:13:28] very excited about that. >> Great. Thank you so much.

[1:13:34] » Okay. And with that lull, perhaps we'll shift to math. I know usually um Mike

[1:13:39] and Bonnie are so excited to share what they're doing in the K through 8

[1:13:42] landscape, but this summer we only had math work going in grades 9 through 12.

[1:13:46] So, I'm going to invite Mr. Andrew Burn up to share what the high school worked

[1:13:50] on both in math and computer science.

[1:13:56] [clears throat] And this is page five in your report or slide 10 on your slides.

[1:14:08] [snorts]

[1:14:20] While everyone else is looking, do you mind if I Okay,

[1:14:22] » go ahead. >> Just curious about the AP cyber

[1:14:24] security. >> Yeah, it's uh it's really exciting. I

[1:14:28] think um I just want to give a shout out to all our teachers. You know,

[1:14:31] curriculum institute is a wonderful way for us to refresh and renew our

[1:14:34] curriculum um in all our courses. Um but this year was particularly exciting for

[1:14:39] me uh with the ability to uh see over oversee the launch of two new courses uh

[1:14:46] this year at Granch High School. Uh one of them was approved by this board many

[1:14:49] years ago with the support of Dr. Jones and we were unfortunately not able to

[1:14:53] run it for a number of years and that is honors linear algebra. Um but some of

[1:14:57] you that were with us last spring uh approved uh AP cyber security which is

[1:15:01] equally exciting. Um, so we also had some teachers uh participate in or one

[1:15:07] teacher in this case participate in a AP curriculum institute, Mr. David Angelo.

[1:15:11] Um, he was able to go over the summer and and learn more about the AP cyber

[1:15:15] security and uh it's really been a a great start thus far. Um, the kids are

[1:15:20] very excited. We have about uh 17 kids in that class this year. um and uh you

[1:15:26] know they're they're really invigorated by all that's happening uh in in our

[1:15:29] world and and learning more about uh AP cyber security. So I I do applaud the

[1:15:34] work of this board to make this a possibility for our students and I think

[1:15:38] that in years to come we'll actually see the uh enrollment grow because it is

[1:15:42] such a a timely important course um uh for our students in their future.

[1:15:48] » Yeah.

[1:15:54] Okay. I'm wondering if you could just like for especially for our two new

[1:15:59] board members if you could talk about like the breadth of the math program at

[1:16:02] the high school because I think a lot of people are not aware of of how

[1:16:06] differentiated math becomes at the high school level. I know that's not part of

[1:16:11] this, but I just I think it might be helpful because a lot of people don't

[1:16:14] know if they have elementary school students.

[1:16:16] » Sure. Um, you know, we're fortunate enough to have about 30 different

[1:16:19] courses on the books at at Crunch High School. We have about 115 sections that

[1:16:23] are run every year. Um, and it really does cover the breath of of all levels

[1:16:27] of math, which is really exciting. And we do do a great job um, meeting the

[1:16:32] students where they are. And I I want to give just a quick shout out to Mr. Reid

[1:16:35] and and all the uh, KA teachers that prepare the students so well u for us at

[1:16:40] Greenwich High School. We are certainly fortunate to um, get kids who are

[1:16:44] excited about learning math and and really have the foundational skills uh,

[1:16:48] to do it at such great levels. And so um really as you mentioned you know there

[1:16:53] is a quite a breath. We have everything from uh skills-based courses in

[1:16:57] mathematics all the way through uh now honors linear algebra um and uh a number

[1:17:03] of AP uh computer science and mathematics courses that would be

[1:17:07] traditionally at any other school. Um but really I think the other piece of

[1:17:12] this all is um the work that Dr. Jones has done along with this board to uh

[1:17:17] really help our students um early on uh who are I you know showing a proclivity

[1:17:23] for for math uh inspiring them and and providing them with uh opportunities to

[1:17:28] to grow and and so um one of the things that's I think is is unique uh to Granch

[1:17:34] High School or to Granch Public Schools that is is our block zero. Um, so we we

[1:17:38] could have students who um are as young I believe as uh sixth grade um all the

[1:17:43] way through eighth grade that could be taking courses um in everything from

[1:17:47] algebra 2 to uh AP pre-calculus or even we've had some kids take advanced

[1:17:52] calculus which is after BC calculus um before they come to us at at GR High

[1:17:56] School. So uh that alone has really um done amazing things for for us as as a

[1:18:02] as a district as a town and uh certainly as a department. So um thank you u I I

[1:18:08] want to say thank you to all of you uh for making these things possible for our

[1:18:11] students and for you know giving our opportunities to our teachers to really

[1:18:15] um you know teach in a district where um you know math is valued and and that we

[1:18:20] are able to provide our students with those exceptional opportunities and um

[1:18:24] encouraging us as as new opportunities come about to uh ensure that we're

[1:18:29] planning and preparing um to to meet those students needs.

[1:18:34] Well, thank you for all of your hard work, but and I commend you. I mean, it

[1:18:38] is unbelievable the level of work that the students are

[1:18:41] doing at the high school, I really do think it's unmatched.

[1:18:45] It's just incredible.

[1:18:49] » Jonathan, >> yeah. Um, since you gave us that

[1:18:53] assessment, one thing I'm actually very curious about is, you know, data science

[1:18:57] programs. One thing that absolutely drives me nuts hiring, you know, young

[1:19:02] people out of high school and college is their absolute inability to navigate

[1:19:06] Excel and large data sets. [laughter] It it is it seems like such a

[1:19:11] fundamental skill set in our modern era that uh I I don't know how it isn't uh

[1:19:17] just core basic curricula. So, if you could speak [laughter] to that.

[1:19:21] » I don't I don't know if I have a great answer for you, Mr. Katz. I will say my

[1:19:24] daughter is a Granch High School grad and she is a data scientist. uh

[1:19:27] [laughter] uh right now and she would concur with you. Um but um I do think

[1:19:32] there are courses within our course of study that um students who have that

[1:19:36] interest um will certainly um be exposed to it. I I don't know um from a

[1:19:42] traditional math point perspective how we could do better with that but that is

[1:19:46] something that I do struggle with as well. I I will say uh courses like AP

[1:19:49] statistics and honors linear algebra um you know we're really u manipulation of

[1:19:55] data large data sets um are you know things that students enjoy and that we

[1:20:00] need to do and find more ways to infuse them into maybe some of our uh lower

[1:20:05] level math classes. But uh your point is well made and I think um you know just

[1:20:09] like we're talking about cyber security earlier it is something that um is uh a

[1:20:14] need and uh I don't know where we'll do it but it is it is on my radar to to

[1:20:19] take a look at that in the coming years. I would happily trade away [laughter]

[1:20:22] all the calculus that you're teaching for the ability to manage piv pivot

[1:20:27] tables and like just in terms of like being integrated in the workforce and

[1:20:32] and especially now with AI helping students supplement their Excel

[1:20:37] knowledge by being able to give them formulas and you know but they still

[1:20:40] fundamentally have to be familiar and comfortable working with those data sets

[1:20:44] in order to take advantage of that. And on a workforce level it's something I

[1:20:49] care about a lot. I I do as well and and I I think the the folks that we need to

[1:20:54] uh kind of sway more are the colleges and universities. They um you know are

[1:20:59] even though perhaps I I would argue that uh AP statistics is more of a valuable

[1:21:04] course in the long run um they are looking for AP Calculus BC [laughter] as

[1:21:09] part of the the uh admittance process. So you know I think we have to you know

[1:21:14] um uh support both ends of those those competing demands.

[1:21:20] Thank you. Yeah, >> Mr. Catz, I think that actually might be

[1:21:23] a perfect segue because we do start with spreadsheets as early as third grade in

[1:21:28] our science classes. And that will bring us back up to Dr. Beckley and

[1:21:32] introducing Miss Amy Farnum officially in her role as science program

[1:21:36] administrator at Greenidge High School. So, thank you Amy and Dr. Beckley for

[1:21:41] being up here. and they'll take a moment to answer any

[1:21:46] questions you may have about the K through 12 science work that went on

[1:21:49] this summer and perhaps share a little bit about our um goals around data

[1:21:54] literacy, data manipulation, data showcasing and data communication from

[1:21:58] the science perspective. Maybe Amy, you want to start with that?

[1:22:03] » Sure. So, um data literacy is actually one of the found one of the foundational

[1:22:08] pieces of our MDSS standards. to practice that. We we start [snorts] all

[1:22:13] the way in kindergarten. Um we have programs where they get on the computer

[1:22:18] and begin to manipulate spreadsheets, as Terra said, as early as third grade with

[1:22:23] Tuva where they're learning to use data sets and manipulate variables to make

[1:22:28] the types of graphs that make sense. Um, and that grows all the way through to

[1:22:33] the high school level where um, one of the things that I have here that we did

[1:22:38] this summer was to create physics labs using um, pocket lab technology and

[1:22:44] veneer technology where they're graphing real-time data to solve challenges. So,

[1:22:50] um, they're taking their own data. Um, one of the the really cool challenges

[1:22:54] they were making is something called an Atwood cart where you have a string in a

[1:22:58] car and it's it's going to fall down with a pale at the other side. And so

[1:23:03] what they need to do is try to make it move exactly 1 meter per second. And

[1:23:07] what they're going to do is they're going to take candy corn out of one side

[1:23:09] and put it on the other. But they have to do at the exact rate and with the

[1:23:12] exact amount. So if it means you take off that white little tip, you may get

[1:23:16] it perfect. And it's a challenge to see who could get it the best. But the way

[1:23:20] that they're doing that is they're looking at their data. They're analyzing

[1:23:22] the data and they're seeing um their accuracy because we actually know how

[1:23:28] much a Newton weighs. So at the end we could test it. Um so we have we have

[1:23:34] those programs all the way through. I know in um my science class I I taught

[1:23:39] AP environmental and environmental science. Um I'm constantly using

[1:23:44] spreadsheets and uploading it um everywhere from local data. um we can

[1:23:48] get real live data. Um I'm going to circle back to the maps um question. Um

[1:23:53] we can get real-time data today um on computer programs that will show you

[1:23:58] exactly what the weather is like. Um and we can use that to make predictions. So

[1:24:02] we could track hurricanes in real time and we could turn off layers and have

[1:24:06] students predict exactly where it's raining just by looking at pressure. Um,

[1:24:10] [snorts] so we use technology constantly and we're constantly pushing our

[1:24:14] students to answer questions that um that they're going to use data to find

[1:24:20] answers to. Um, we make them manipulate um data in spreadsheets as well. And

[1:24:25] that gets increasingly more complex as they go through the years. So we start

[1:24:30] with just finding an average. But by the time they get up to high school, we're

[1:24:33] looking at um trends and trend lines and um deciding whether it's linear or

[1:24:41] exponential, right? And our our students are trained to do that um early on.

[1:24:48] » Thanks.

[1:24:51] » And also just to say this is my my first board meeting. See everybody's all we

[1:24:54] have some new faces. So I just want to say hi to all the board members. Madam

[1:24:57] Chair, Dr. Jones. Uh my name is Jeff Beckley and I was a newly appointed uh

[1:25:01] member of the team back in April. So um as far as again data literacy goes since

[1:25:05] we're talking about Tuva, we do use Tuva in grades 3, four, five and of course

[1:25:08] the middle schools this summer heading into some of the work that we did um

[1:25:12] getting ready for grade five. So grade 5 has four brand new science units this

[1:25:16] this school year. Um we're very excited. Um, a big huge shout out to the team of

[1:25:21] teachers who spent their summer with me. Um, going through and agonizing and

[1:25:26] making really tough decisions, but also having a lot of fun. And again, half of

[1:25:29] the fun of science is is, you know, experiencing science, doing the work,

[1:25:32] doing the science. And so, um, for example, the tub of the stuff that we're

[1:25:35] doing in fifth grade, students are looking at the hours of daylight on

[1:25:39] their birthday, and do all children have the same amount of playtime on their

[1:25:42] birthdays? So, that's one fun activity we're going to look at, and we can

[1:25:45] manipulate that data set. So, um, again, uh, super proud, um, of the work that

[1:25:50] was done this summer and looking forward to. Again, grade two was another grade

[1:25:53] level that we spent some time doing, another, um, development of of the first

[1:25:57] unit for them. And that that was part of, again, I have the very lucky

[1:26:02] position to inherit the work that Mrs. Fogle, to my right, um, did for the last

[1:26:06] two years in terms of a spiraling redesign. Uh, the kindergarten who are

[1:26:10] now second graders have had all the realigned uh, science work up to now.

[1:26:16] So, the second graders are the benefactors of that just like the fifth

[1:26:19] graders are the benefactors of the third, fourth, and now the fifth grade.

[1:26:24] » Jonathan, >> uh I'm excited about the uh the new

[1:26:28] grade 5 curriculum, especially because my daughters aren't there yet. So, you

[1:26:32] know, hopefully it'll all get ironed out by then. Um, and it's killing me because

[1:26:36] I'm forgetting what district uh locally uh has been doing it, but there is a new

[1:26:42] planetarium in Stamford uh which I'm taking my daughters to almost at least

[1:26:48] monthly since January when it opened and it's fantastic and any way it can be

[1:26:54] incorporated is very exciting and you by your smiles I suspect you have something

[1:26:58] to share with me. >> So I'll go first and then I'll turn over

[1:27:00] to Amy who has something also exciting to tell you. Uh the first thing is the

[1:27:03] Stanford Museum and Nature Center uh in Stanford, Connecticut uh did open their

[1:27:07] astronomy center uh recently and one of the great things that Greenwich does uh

[1:27:12] better than maybe any other district is they provide assured experiences to

[1:27:15] students that every child no matter what school you go to gets to partake in an

[1:27:18] experience. Grade five students this year are all going and after the first

[1:27:23] unit is complete to the Stanford Museum and Nature Center to partake in the

[1:27:26] planetarium on Greenwich skies. They're going to have their school logos posted

[1:27:29] up in the planetarium when they get there. So they're going to be all jacked

[1:27:32] up and excited. Um but also um it's a way to cement what they just learned by

[1:27:37] looking at it in real time. The second part of that is that they will also be

[1:27:42] pre-learning and getting some preexposure to looking at our watershed

[1:27:45] because in the second unit they're looking at our inter interacting spheres

[1:27:49] and again um being able to understand how towns you know clean their water.

[1:27:55] The the phenomenon is how does it go from a a raindrop to your cup? like how

[1:27:59] would it even do that? Um and so that's really exciting as well. Um and

[1:28:03] additionally um I was asked to serve as a member of the board for the Stanford

[1:28:08] Museum and Nature Cent's Astronomy Center. So I will serve as a grant

[1:28:10] representative to be able to help represent our district with them.

[1:28:16] » If we're talking and oh sorry >> if we're going to talk about experiences

[1:28:20] outside I'm just wondering do we partner with Soundwaters for all fifth graders

[1:28:24] or is that some of the fifth graders that do that experience?

[1:28:28] So, the Soundwaters experience is a grade four possibility. I think Leah

[1:28:31] might be able to talk about it more when she gets up here, but that's typically

[1:28:34] an art experience even though it seems sciency. Um, it is typically fourth

[1:28:38] grade. They have a choice. Soundwaters is one of those choices and it's under

[1:28:41] the art umbrella for a short experiences.

[1:28:43] » Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. And here's Amy on Star.

[1:28:46] » Oh, how'd you get that? >> Um, also I want to share that uh Tara

[1:28:53] actually was able to purchase uh two planetariums. We actually have two

[1:28:57] planetariums in our district and we did not have to compromise the pool which is

[1:29:01] what happened when we paid into that as a swimming coach. Um so we actually have

[1:29:05] both. We have two planetariums that we can bring around two schools. Um I

[1:29:09] brought it to summer school which you'll hear about in two weeks with me. Um and

[1:29:13] it's it's really an incredible opportunity because we get to choose

[1:29:17] exactly what we present and what the students are learning and we can make

[1:29:20] our own shows. Um, in one of the courses that I wrote um, with the team this

[1:29:25] summer, we actually incorporated designing your own planetarian show for

[1:29:29] younger grades into it. So, we're hoping that that can be an ass shared

[1:29:32] experience where our students are leaders and could go present to other

[1:29:35] students um, based on what they're learning.

[1:29:39] » Great. Thank you, >> Bob.

[1:29:41] » You just want to take us out of outer space and bring us back to planet Earth.

[1:29:44] [laughter] >> Ask you questions about the horiculture

[1:29:47] and animal behavior. It sounds pretty fascinating.

[1:29:52] Yeah, the team that um that wrote this um this was right before I came on um is

[1:29:58] extremely excited to write these courses with NGSS standards. So this summer we

[1:30:06] were able to finally focus on our elective courses which didn't get the

[1:30:10] same amount of attention as our core courses because we had taken senior year

[1:30:15] after the NGSS test. So our focus is really on strong um instruction in our

[1:30:21] uh freshman and software engineer classes. So having the opportunity to

[1:30:25] take teachers who are incredibly passionate about these courses and and

[1:30:29] have the chance to um actually incorporate NGSS um teaching styles into

[1:30:36] it, project based. Um, I know they have plans in horiculture to kind of to do

[1:30:43] what New Lebanon did and bring a bring a garden and have the students take care

[1:30:47] of the garden and and partner. Um, and I know that we're also interested in

[1:30:51] looking into CTE opportunities um for this course. Um, we're not running this

[1:30:57] course this year. The hope is that we can sell what we did to students and get

[1:31:01] a group of students excited to take this course next year. But we were able to

[1:31:06] strengthen the curriculum. the curriculum really did need a lot more

[1:31:09] science and and a lot more opportunities for students to be leaders and to to use

[1:31:13] the science and engineering um practices. And so we're we're incredibly

[1:31:18] excited and this is going to continue the work over the year and make sure

[1:31:21] that this class would be ready um and we we are able to sell it to students and

[1:31:25] fill this class. >> That's great. I'm sure if you showed

[1:31:28] them uh all the amazing things that happened at New Lebanon, that might help

[1:31:31] them help inspire them. I I happened to be at New Lebanon this summer and

[1:31:34] brought the team over and uh they cannot wait to sleep to write the grants to

[1:31:39] hopefully get it in action at our school.

[1:31:47] » Okay. Uh I'd like to bring up the World Languages Program team, uh Christina

[1:31:53] Shaw and Dr. Jeffrey Shaker.

[1:32:19] So, Christina and Jeff had a team of uh teachers looking at flesh for grades

[1:32:23] three through five and then some work at the middle school level as well as GHS

[1:32:27] courses in Spanish 1 through 4, native Spanish 356, and all AP world language

[1:32:33] courses as well as Italian 1 and 2. This is on slide 17 of your packet.

[1:32:40] Can you like how how what sort of percentage of the Spanish courses are

[1:32:45] native like native Spanish? I know obviously it changes from depends school

[1:32:50] to school but just overall >> do you want to take for the younger

[1:32:54] grades and then >> so for younger grades we have native

[1:32:57] Spanish at our bilingual schools. So that's um at New Lebanon and at um

[1:33:05] Hamilton Avenue. Um in the middle school we have it at all three levels. So we

[1:33:09] have Spanish for native 6, native 7 and native 8. At the high school, I would

[1:33:14] say about 20% of our Spanish classes would be native Spanish classes.

[1:33:26] » Sure. >> Do you want to do the

[1:33:29] » Yes, that's okay. So, uh, two things. I think one thing that's interesting to

[1:33:34] mention is, uh, in with regard to the fact that we're talking about what is

[1:33:38] the value of teaching to a test, right? And that comes into play when you are

[1:33:43] teaching advanced placement courses because the curriculum is set by the

[1:33:48] college board and the idea is that you want to prepare the students for the

[1:33:52] test so that they score well. With that in mind though, it was refreshing to see

[1:33:57] that the college board changed the advanced placement test for world

[1:34:02] languages to really represent what we want, which is students who can use

[1:34:07] their language proficiency in the real world. And so they added a project that

[1:34:12] the students need to complete. And the idea of the project is that the students

[1:34:17] would do research and then make a proposal to the AP board and then they

[1:34:24] would create authentic speaking tasks for the students. And then the day of

[1:34:29] the exam, which they haven't done yet, they will do for the first time this

[1:34:32] year in 2027. The students will have to give a presentation. and then they will

[1:34:38] have to answer questions that are impromptu

[1:34:42] by some you know uh system through a digital platform that the AP provides.

[1:34:48] So it's very exciting and our focus this year for our AP teachers was preparing

[1:34:52] the students for that. But we are really excited number one they got rid of all

[1:34:58] of these antiquated ways of testing our students. If you can believe it, we were

[1:35:02] still using CDs given to us by, you know, the testing board to put into boom

[1:35:09] boxes. You can imagine it was actually really hard to find [laughter] the boom

[1:35:12] boxes and there were some glitches that uh created problems for our students.

[1:35:18] So, I'm glad that they're bringing it up to [laughter] the what what is, you

[1:35:24] know, what they're used to, which is modern Thank you. modern teaching and

[1:35:29] technology and uh it will be fully digital and we will have our students um

[1:35:36] working on platforms that more represent what they will be using in the

[1:35:41] workforce. >> So with that description so is it there

[1:35:45] it's weighted some of it is weighted then on being a practical communicator

[1:35:49] as opposed to like pure grammar right if you can convey an idea. Okay.

[1:35:55] » Exactly. And but they'll be talking to a computer or something like like

[1:35:59] » right >> it will be right because I mean

[1:36:01] otherwise it would be hard to scale something like that I would imagine.

[1:36:05] Yeah.

[1:36:08] » Are they graded on their ability to use a CD in a boom box? [laughter]

[1:36:16] » Just stick them in a room with those and see what

[1:36:17] » Most of them don't know what a CD is. They just they just hear it coming out

[1:36:22] of the the box. Um, additionally, we were able to finish our alignment 6

[1:36:26] through 8 of our new Spanish um, curriculum with the K chevet book that

[1:36:32] we adopted two years ago. So, we um, started with six and seven last year and

[1:36:37] then we finished with 8th grade this year. So, now we have alignment also

[1:36:40] working with the high school to make sure that we have alignment with our

[1:36:44] levels at the high school that are also using the resource and our Italian book

[1:36:48] which we adopted in the spring. Uh we wrote our curriculum for levels one and

[1:36:53] two to be used this year as well. >> How how many [clears throat] students go

[1:36:58] on to do like AP foreign language sort of I don't know percentage of like the

[1:37:04] high schoolers. >> We have a probably last year about 200

[1:37:09] students taking AP classes uh in world languages. So, uh quite a bit

[1:37:17] » and we also have some students who are able to a lot of our students take it in

[1:37:21] their junior year um which is actually quite advanced. Most students take

[1:37:26] language in their senior year just based on where language typically starts in a

[1:37:29] district. So, we do have some students who are actually able to take two

[1:37:33] language APs in Spanish because we offer both um language and culture and lang.

[1:37:40] Another thing that we're excited about is that we're providing rigor for the

[1:37:43] students not through only advanced placement but Dr. Jones did give us

[1:37:48] funding so that we could have studentu uh students have rigor in different ways

[1:37:53] and we are providing dual enrollment for many of our world language classes and

[1:37:57] this was always really a goal of mine to open doors for all kinds of students.

[1:38:02] Not all students want to take advanced placement courses, but this is a new way

[1:38:07] for them to explore rigor. For example, our French program is going to now have

[1:38:13] a Quinnipiac college course that they are taking at

[1:38:18] our high school this year through our uh French six honors program. So, that's

[1:38:24] very exciting. And we also have an advanced Latin America course taught for

[1:38:30] the Spanish students who don't want to take advanced placement, but they can

[1:38:34] still earn a Quinnipic course credit. So that's three credits at a very

[1:38:39] inexpensive rate. So again, I see that as opening doors for our students for

[1:38:44] whom college may be an expensive fee. So it's fairly exciting.

[1:38:53] » Exactly. [laughter]

[1:38:57] Okay, >> thank you.

[1:38:59] » Thank you. Thank you so much. I'd like to bring up Miss Leah Stillman, who is

[1:39:03] here to talk a little bit about some exciting things that happened in the

[1:39:06] world of visual and performing arts, including some um exciting prek work

[1:39:12] that I was quite excited about with a three-year-old at home myself.

[1:39:15] [clears throat] >> Hi, nice to see all of you. Um before

[1:39:20] you field some questions, I'll just kind of after finishing year one in district

[1:39:25] and taking I can kind of give you my thought process and my think process

[1:39:28] behind my two departments that I oversee, which is visual art and

[1:39:32] performing art, music. Um coming into the district last year, I really just

[1:39:36] looked at across the board where our curriculum is and really worked hard. I

[1:39:42] have a wonderful team of teachers, but really on the vertical alignment of our

[1:39:45] curriculum, where are we going from our foundation up to our rigorous high

[1:39:50] school courses and what's in between? And I saw some holes that we had. Um, if

[1:39:55] you don't know, my background is in curriculum in addition to teaching and

[1:39:59] other things. But, um, that's a big piece of where I come from. So, I really

[1:40:03] kind of look at that lens of curriculum and and what that looks like, how we fit

[1:40:09] our arts curriculum in the box of sometimes what a core curriculum might

[1:40:13] look like, but how we how we fit into that and really teaching my teachers how

[1:40:19] to write curriculum from the lens of a whole education, but within our our

[1:40:26] coursework. So, a lot of the work was focused this summer on the middle. So,

[1:40:33] um, we looked at or I looked at what was kind of missing in terms of documents

[1:40:38] and and and real curriculum that the teachers were pulling from and it was

[1:40:43] really at the middle school level. So, um, we started to build

[1:40:48] or rebuild or look at um, share documents that look similar across all

[1:40:54] our courses now. So, we're using one document for each course that we build,

[1:40:58] whether it be prek or high school. But we looked at our 67, we started with 67

[1:41:03] band this summer and then we'll continue with eighth grade next year. Um, looking

[1:41:08] at funding and then 67 general music and then we'll continue into ETH next year.

[1:41:15] With our general music curriculum, we looked at almost a a grabag of units. So

[1:41:23] if you're looking at what was developed, it's more we don't we have requirements

[1:41:28] up to fifth grade after that we have kids that are taking courses maybe

[1:41:32] they're eighth graders haven't taken a musical art course in sixth or seventh.

[1:41:35] So, how do you scaffold a curriculum that really has access to all students?

[1:41:40] And the decision that I made, and I think the teachers really leaned into

[1:41:44] it, was, let's create units that the teacher can pick, a basket of sixth

[1:41:51] grade units, seventh grade units, eighth grade units that they can pick out and

[1:41:56] any student up to having their fifth grade experience in music will be able

[1:42:01] to learn at their level. whatever that looks like, a ukulele unit or whether

[1:42:06] it's a history or a history of rock unit or a keyboarding unit. Those sorts of

[1:42:10] things. Some are more hands-on and and others are a little more I won't say a

[1:42:16] little more not as hands-on, but I don't know what the right word is. I'm last.

[1:42:20] I've been you [laughter] my thought process. So, that's where we

[1:42:24] went with the with the middle school curriculum and in in terms of general

[1:42:28] music. And then this I won't I won't give away my next month's presentation

[1:42:32] but we'll look at art in the same way moving forward with that. So we built

[1:42:37] that and then the the really exciting part was we have a lot of teachers pre

[1:42:41] teaching prek um as our pre-k programs grow and we have extended day in those

[1:42:45] extended day schools uh for prek. My teachers are teaching prek students and

[1:42:52] they don't have a curriculum. So, I had such a dynamic, awesome team this summer

[1:42:57] of um of elementary educators and we developed a really robust prek music

[1:43:04] curriculum and art will be next. and um to really

[1:43:09] touch our youngest learners and it's all play-based movement using your bodies

[1:43:14] all the things that um they intrinsically have to use to really

[1:43:22] build a foundation musically. So, and then the other piece was of course our

[1:43:26] favorite um art history. Um, we built uh the um Liz Vasquez uh from GHS art

[1:43:35] department wrote an incredible five unit honors art history uh curriculum which

[1:43:40] is a one semester course and we have one section running this first semester. So

[1:43:45] um really rich in um hands-on work from the and this will feed into our AP

[1:43:52] course will give them a foundation. So >> can you talk a little about like the

[1:43:57] difference between that then? So, sort of like the the AP art history and the

[1:44:01] honors art history >> without getting into too much detail. I

[1:44:05] mean, I know that this that's always been a super challenging AP and we want

[1:44:08] to provide more support for our students so they can be more successful in the

[1:44:11] class, but like what does that look like so you're not repeating right

[1:44:15] curriculum? >> That's a great question. So

[1:44:18] a few years ago we had they had changed the AP curriculum to not be a

[1:44:24] lecture-based but more a uh presentation based where the students were

[1:44:32] working on presentations and learning about different eras in history of art.

[1:44:38] Right? And now we've kind of pivoted and now that's what the honors course looks

[1:44:43] like. So, the honors course looks like more hands-on presentationbased

[1:44:50] um more like a dip into each uh each area of art going through the ages. And

[1:44:58] now the AP has almost gone back to a more I won't say college level format

[1:45:04] but a more format more of a format that is

[1:45:09] not completely lecture style because that's not always engaging to kids but

[1:45:13] more of that college level classroom style. So they're getting yeah they're

[1:45:18] getting the kind of the hands-on dip their toes in and then they get to that

[1:45:22] AP and they can really dive in deeper. The AP art history is one of the hardest

[1:45:26] AP exams out there because the content is so diverse. You're talking about

[1:45:32] early early art all the way up until modern art and there's so much in there

[1:45:36] and to be able to cover all that is hard. So this gives them a basis to go

[1:45:40] in there and and is a lot of like memorization the AP the I mean I just I

[1:45:46] I didn't take AP art history in high school but I took art history in college

[1:45:49] and I mean I just remember having to memorize you know like 600 slides,

[1:45:53] right? Like that's what you had to do. >> Similar. It's exactly

[1:45:56] » Okay. Okay. So, it hasn't changed. >> Yeah. It's [laughter]

[1:45:59] similar map. I don't know. >> Maybe cassette tape. I don't know.

[1:46:04] [laughter]

[1:46:07] » Anyone have questions? >> Thank you.

[1:46:11] » Okay. Thank you. >> Great. Absolutely.

[1:46:13] » And last but not least, I'm going to invite back up Dr. Jeff Beckley. In

[1:46:17] addition to what he does for K science, he also oversees our K through2 library

[1:46:22] media specialists, a group of certified staff educators who are quite important

[1:46:28] in the in our media centers and throughout our buildings and a and a

[1:46:31] group of teachers who haven't had uh dedicated coordinator support in quite

[1:46:36] some time and who squeezed every ounce out of Dr. Beckley's stone this summer

[1:46:40] to get a lot of parent facing documents done that he'll tell you a little bit

[1:46:43] about. >> All right. So, I feel like I've been up

[1:46:47] here a lot tonight. Um, this summer, uh, I had again a wonderful

[1:46:52] opportunity to sit down with some of our very, very dedicated library media

[1:46:57] specialists. And one of the things that we wanted to do was take all of the

[1:47:01] things that they're doing and make sure that everyone knows what they're doing.

[1:47:05] Um, and so what we put together this summer was a K2, a 35, a 6, and an 8,

[1:47:13] uh, library media parent or public facing document. So you can see what

[1:47:17] your children are learning when they are in school at those particular uh bands.

[1:47:23] Uh aside from that, um any questions on any of that material that you guys had a

[1:47:27] chance hopefully to look at prior.

[1:47:35] » Go ahead. >> I'm just wondering how the media staff

[1:47:40] um [clears throat] how you're feeling about it. What's um do you have adequate

[1:47:45] staff? What's the feedback on that? >> So the question is how have the media

[1:47:53] staff responded about staffing for running the media centers in general?

[1:48:00] » No, we had an issue last year where we got a lot of feedback related to

[1:48:05] staffing cuts in the media center. Um, and I just want to I just want to find

[1:48:11] out from a fresh perspective if we think we are uh staffed appropriately.

[1:48:17] » I I think I'll take this one just with the historical and kind of um

[1:48:20] institutional knowledge about the reduction of our media assistance, I

[1:48:23] think, is what you're speaking to. I do want to clarify that we do have 1.0 FTE

[1:48:28] library media specialists in the certified staff position across all of

[1:48:32] our K through8 schools and three of them at the high school. Our media

[1:48:35] assistants, however, were cut through a series of uh budget discussions and we

[1:48:40] went through all of 2526 with that cut. I think as a new coordinator overseeing

[1:48:46] that group, Dr. Beckley is continuing to kind of partner with our library media

[1:48:50] specialists to continue to understand the impact of that. That means getting

[1:48:54] into our media center looking at our circulation count of books and better

[1:48:58] understanding whether or not that has had a an overall impact. I think from a

[1:49:03] principal perspective and the feedback we get from our administrator group,

[1:49:06] it's that our libraries continue continue to be bustling hubs of

[1:49:10] communication, of innovation and collaboration in our buildings despite

[1:49:15] that unfortunate but necessary budget cut throughout the course of that

[1:49:19] process last year. Um, I think some of the work that happened this summer was

[1:49:24] uh not only providing more concrete information for our parent community,

[1:49:28] but also aligning our library media specialists about the core uh most

[1:49:32] important buckets of work that they're doing in grade bands, allowing

[1:49:36] flexibility across the instruction across those grade bands. I think it's

[1:49:39] important for everyone to know that students in grades K through 1 visit the

[1:49:43] library media center twice per week at 30 minutes per session and in grades 3

[1:49:48] through 5 once per week at 30 minutes per session within their specials block.

[1:49:52] We do have some buildings with um smaller sections of students who have

[1:49:57] more opportunities to visit the library just based on the number of sections in

[1:50:00] that rotation. And we also partner with library media specialists and our core

[1:50:05] academic teachers to uh facilitate work in our in our maker spaces. Um library

[1:50:11] media specialists have dedicated time in their schedule to work on what we call

[1:50:15] medium management which is time in their schedule to think about book

[1:50:19] circulation, ordering, etc. Um in addition to some time to perform their

[1:50:23] uh general job responsibilities outside of their planning or lunchtime. So we're

[1:50:27] doing our best to support that sta these staff despite those cuts. um and

[1:50:31] continuing to solicit feedback and support wherever we can.

[1:50:36] » Thank you for that feedback.

[1:50:40] » I'm tempted to engage in in this conversation, but I if we took a step

[1:50:45] back, you know, because that's really a trap door and I know I'm I'm going to

[1:50:48] fall right through it if I go in one direction, but I'm going to go in a

[1:50:51] different direction, Paul, and to the rest of the board. Um, I've been around

[1:50:55] a long time and I can think back to when I was the lead principal for the

[1:50:59] elementary group and I received an email from Dr. Jones saying, "I need you to

[1:51:03] pull the elementary principles." Um, we had instructional coaches at the time

[1:51:08] and we were identifying and we try to make datadriven decisions. We I we were

[1:51:14] um concerned about math performance at the elementary level. And so uh there

[1:51:20] was an opportunity for elementary principles to give feedback to the

[1:51:23] superintendent about whether or not we should uh transition from having

[1:51:27] instructional coaches to math interventionists. Um, and I don't want

[1:51:31] to give away too much information about what you're going to hear next month,

[1:51:34] but those math interventionists have been pivotal in uh our mathematics uh

[1:51:40] success over the last uh several years. Now, I want to stress that doesn't in

[1:51:45] any way devalue uh the merits of having instructional coaches. And the reason

[1:51:50] I'm bringing that up now is because Paul um and other members of the board um

[1:51:56] when you ask the question, do we have enough staff? My answer will always be

[1:52:00] no. Um I would like to have instructional coaches and math

[1:52:04] interventionists because I think that they're very different and distinct

[1:52:07] roles. And I think when you um when you talk about the 900 teachers that we

[1:52:12] served and the sophistication to to which our curriculum has grown and when

[1:52:18] you think about the data analysts that teachers have become um having

[1:52:23] instructional coaches to be able to provide them um ondemand support would

[1:52:29] be incredibly beneficial. But if I had to make a choice between instructional

[1:52:33] coaches and math interventionists, um, you know, sometimes you have to make

[1:52:37] tough decisions and I understand that you can't have everything that you want.

[1:52:41] So, um, would I love to have full-time media assistants? Of course I would. Do

[1:52:46] I think the uh, library media specialists miss having their partner?

[1:52:50] Of course they do. Uh, in the absence of having a library media coordinator, they

[1:52:56] actually worked directly with me for several years. I don't know if they

[1:52:59] enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed it, but I got to hear from them about um how

[1:53:04] they felt um underappreciated in the sense that the community really didn't

[1:53:10] understand what their role their role was. And we actually spent me and the

[1:53:15] group several years rewriting their job description so that it better uh suited

[1:53:21] um the skills and uh talents that they possess and and the ways in which they

[1:53:27] support classroom instruction. And so in that process I think uh providing the

[1:53:33] parentf facing documents gives you now again uh a look behind the curtain as to

[1:53:38] what they actually do during the course of the day because if you think a

[1:53:41] library media specialist is just helping kids check out books you're sorely

[1:53:46] mistaken. Um, but again to answer your question, yeah, I I wish we had

[1:53:52] full-time uh media assistants, but then I'm going to add I also wish we had

[1:53:56] instructional coaches and I also wish we had one start and end time for all of

[1:54:01] our elementary schools because having five tiered start and end times is

[1:54:05] decimating to professional learning opportunities for our teachers. And I've

[1:54:09] said it publicly and I will continue to say that publicly.

[1:54:14] » Veronica has her hand up, so I'm going to Hey, Veronica. Do you still have your

[1:54:18] question? >> I do and I'm going to happily change the

[1:54:21] subject for everyone that they don't have to.

[1:54:23] » All right. >> Um, doc, no, that was a great answer.

[1:54:25] But, um, Dr. Beckley, are you in charge of or is, uh, there anything to be in

[1:54:30] charge of um, in relation to summer reading uh, for students uh, when they

[1:54:36] go over when they go home over the summer? Whether it's uh, I don't think

[1:54:40] we require any reading. So any recommended

[1:54:44] [snorts] >> the media specialists typically will

[1:54:47] work to put together lists for summer reading

[1:54:50] » and those are by school or um is that something that

[1:54:55] » district [laughter] wide? >> It's it's district wide.

[1:54:57] » Yep. >> It's districtwide. Okay, perfect. Thank

[1:55:00] you so much. >> You're welcome.

[1:55:02] I actually I have a question about um when you were saying teachers have to do

[1:55:06] so much more and I was thinking we looking at this with sort of my old

[1:55:11] school perception of like a librarian right and then I see digital citizenship

[1:55:16] and that feels like a whole different world and I'm wondering how are we

[1:55:23] helping students not just like think about how they present themselves

[1:55:28] online to the extent that they're doing that but also how are they discerning

[1:55:32] discerning learning to discern information because there's so much

[1:55:36] information out there that's inaccurate and you know like if you're doing a you

[1:55:41] know when they search it up right and then they find out all this information

[1:55:44] you're like where did that come from you know and I I know they are working on it

[1:55:48] because I've heard my kids talk about it but if you could talk about it a little

[1:55:51] bit because it's like there's a universe of information out there but maybe 90%

[1:55:56] of it is it doesn't have a lot of value and how are we helping them learn Sure.

[1:56:01] So at the at the K5 level um and actually at the K8 level we use um

[1:56:06] actually now 18 level we use uh common sense media's curriculum for digital uh

[1:56:12] wellness and well-being uh and citizenship. And so essentially students

[1:56:17] you you probably have noticed in the parentf facing documents there are now

[1:56:19] like five topics that media specialists are covering. One of those topics out of

[1:56:23] the five is on the digital citizenship piece and the well-being part of it. In

[1:56:27] addition to information literacy, essentially learning how to and what

[1:56:32] what information is valuable and what is not. They learn how to integrate

[1:56:36] technology as part of their journey. They also learn how to plan and innovate

[1:56:40] in our maker spaces. And they also learn to love the library. I think one of the

[1:56:44] challenges and and again being new to the district and hearing this past

[1:56:48] summer about the sensible screen use um I think we've all heard that we wanted

[1:56:52] to try to come back to books and so I think there's a huge opportunity this

[1:56:57] year for our our media specialists to continue to teach our students our

[1:57:01] youngest children our second graders uh to be lovers of literature lovers of the

[1:57:07] library and what that space means. However, you are correct that there is

[1:57:10] still a digital world. It's basically an unlimited world of information that they

[1:57:15] have to learn how to navigate. And so part of their journey when they're in

[1:57:19] elementary school starting um in in grade 1 is they have to learn how to be

[1:57:25] digital citizens, how to maintain safety, how to discern information, um

[1:57:32] whether a source is is good or not, how to uh take how to behave. I mean, let's

[1:57:37] be clear there, some of the biggest challenges we have are how people behave

[1:57:40] on the internet. And so, they're working on those skills in K5. In the middle

[1:57:44] school, it goes a step further. Um, they actually get into cyber bullying,

[1:57:50] harassment, other issues that could be negative, but also continues to open the

[1:57:53] doors for positive things, how they can be crosscurricular. They partner with

[1:57:56] their science and social studies teams to work on research and information

[1:58:01] gathering. Um and then also the last part of it is in this past year and I

[1:58:06] know this is this is hot button but um the common sense media is has recently

[1:58:11] released information specifically about how to be a citizen with AI and that

[1:58:15] talks about how to understand your presence on on the internet and what

[1:58:18] that means and and what AI literacy looks like. It also is um how to

[1:58:23] recognize deep fakes and things like that in addition to being able to

[1:58:27] understand chat bots and relationships. And we have that curriculum that's in

[1:58:31] there for our eighth graders to leave middle school prepared. And that is kind

[1:58:34] of the major jobs of the K8 media team. >> Yeah. And I I think this is going to be

[1:58:40] a subject that we continually revisit. When you think about AI and appropriate

[1:58:45] uses in schools, I think our I believe that our thinking on that is continually

[1:58:50] evolving and how we will address that with students needs to be at the

[1:58:54] forefront of a lot of our decision-m. Um, my biggest concern with AI in

[1:59:00] schools is the cognitive offloading. You know, we really have to be able to teach

[1:59:05] our kids to be critical thinkers and how to use it as an appropriate resource,

[1:59:11] but not a uh, you know, a substitute for uh, their own thinking. And so that's,

[1:59:18] you know, we're at a very interesting time in education right now. And it can

[1:59:23] be very exciting, but it also could be very scary. And we we recognize that and

[1:59:27] I think I felt that in the room when we presented to parents last spring about

[1:59:31] the sensible use of screen time. Um we need to be able to um narrow um the

[1:59:40] variances that we have in our classrooms. We we certainly had teachers

[1:59:43] who were much more uh technologically dominant in their delivery and then we

[1:59:48] had teachers who were very technologically sparse and then we had a

[1:59:52] majority of our teachers who live somewhere happily in the middle and it's

[1:59:55] trying to find that sweet spot for everyone and so again it comes back to

[1:59:59] providing professional learning opportunities for teachers. So for

[2:00:02] teachers who didn't use technology at all, where's our entry point in helping

[2:00:07] them understand the importance and value of having integration of technology into

[2:00:11] instruction? And I think uh you know Kim talked a lot about how we have one tool,

[2:00:15] Lexia, and it's critically important that teachers are using that tool

[2:00:20] because it is um you know, highly evidence-based in that it will support

[2:00:25] um reading instruction. Um but at the same time, when you have teachers who

[2:00:29] are too technically um emergent into their um style. Um have to

[2:00:36] teach them ways to present information in in in in a more traditional uh

[2:00:42] format. So uh we're working with teachers on that.

[2:00:49] » I I had a quick question about you you mentioned research. I'm interested in

[2:00:53] how we are teaching students how to do research. What are appropriate sources

[2:00:59] to reference? Uh, I mean there's there's so many sources out there now that, you

[2:01:04] know, everything from Wikipedia to AI that are probably not good uh, reference

[2:01:10] material for research. And so, how are we setting those guidelines and and and

[2:01:14] shaping where students are going uh, to get source material to write papers and

[2:01:20] do research? >> Yeah, I think

[2:01:22] » definitely a team answer. >> Yeah, I think this is Mr. Healey, this

[2:01:24] is up your wheelhouse. Yeah, I I think we're all very excited that you brought

[2:01:27] up this question because we understand district-wide K through 12 across

[2:01:30] disciplines, research is a skill that needs to be explicitly taught,

[2:01:35] reinforced, and given students an opportunity to try it out and then get

[2:01:39] better at that skill. I think Mr. Healey and I, in addition to our fellow

[2:01:43] coordinator Kim, and and some of our learning facilitators, we are quite

[2:01:47] fortunate that we have learning facilitators in the library media

[2:01:50] specialist crew. We all came together and we identified the pain points of

[2:01:54] research as a area where we have dedicated time to teach and a pipeline

[2:02:02] or a pathway for who teaches what because it touches every area and every

[2:02:06] different discipline within a student's instructional day. So, I'll let Tom

[2:02:10] share a little bit about the pathway that we're on and how we're continuing

[2:02:12] to put time, energy, and invest um personnel and and funds there.

[2:02:17] » Yeah. But even before uh I I I turn it over to Tom. Real world example from

[2:02:22] earlier this evening. John Jonathan Sopranoitz and I were going to Paty's

[2:02:26] for dinner. We got up to Paty's. I don't know if any of you have been up there.

[2:02:30] And he said, you know, Mark, does this have any affiliation with the Pats

[2:02:33] restaurant in New York City? And I said, I think it does because it says 1933 on

[2:02:37] on the signage. And he said, well, Google says it doesn't. So then we went

[2:02:41] inside and I asked the the gentleman inside and he said, oh yeah, we have an

[2:02:44] affiliation. Jonathan checked Google again and it actually this time said yes

[2:02:48] there was an affiliation. So I'm telling you it's very interesting.

[2:02:54] » It's very interesting the times we live in and that that's a true story and it

[2:02:58] happened less than two two hours ago. Uh so Tom go ahead.

[2:03:02] » So again just just quickly to address uh your uh question. So last year actually

[2:03:08] the summer work um was a partnership between the media specialists and the so

[2:03:13] six or eight um social studies teachers where um the media specialist took the

[2:03:20] research progression that they typically lived in their realm and integrated it

[2:03:27] directly into the units of social studies um 67 and 8. So basically uh

[2:03:33] what we have now is a more embedded sort of authentic experience where kids are

[2:03:38] going through the entire research process from developing questions to

[2:03:42] finding sources to evaluating sources, taking notes on those sources and then

[2:03:46] coming to some sort of conclusion, thesis, claim, whatever you want to say.

[2:03:49] Um one of the things that um the social studies teachers use that's out there

[2:03:55] is, you know, we as Mark mentioned earlier love our acronyms. Um so there

[2:03:59] is something that of course in middle school they love as well and it is

[2:04:02] called the crap test. Um that is C R A P. Um and basically we are teaching kids

[2:04:09] how to evaluate sources by using that acronym. And so it stands for currency.

[2:04:14] So how current is the actual source you're looking at? Um relevancy, how

[2:04:18] relevant is the information in it? Um authority, how much is the author an

[2:04:23] actual authority on this topic? um accuracy. Is the entire piece accurate

[2:04:28] to your knowledge? Um and then purpose. What is the author intending to do? So

[2:04:33] um you can walk through a lot of uh social studies classrooms in the middle

[2:04:37] schools and you can hear um the teacher say something like um we're going to put

[2:04:41] this through the crap test or when in 8th grade they get to the um their

[2:04:47] capstone where they're doing their own kind of research and they have to they

[2:04:50] have a little more freedom in terms of the sources they're looking at. That's

[2:04:53] something that they're constantly pushed back into is show me that you've

[2:04:56] actually evaluated the source through those mechanisms to ensure what you're

[2:05:01] using is um accurate and relevant and purposeful and everything else. So um

[2:05:06] these are things that really are essentially embedded again speaking

[2:05:10] specifically to the middle schools um but again having come from the high

[2:05:14] school in my earlier days very much the same process and and heavy in social

[2:05:18] studies but I know in other content areas they're also doing similar things

[2:05:22] especially with the amount of information you can find now.

[2:05:24] » That's great. And and how young are we start being able to teach these skills?

[2:05:29] » So again >> you left me up here. Um the they go back

[2:05:34] to the elementary school. So, so historically

[2:05:38] part of what was happening when kids were going to the media center was they

[2:05:42] were learning research skills and they were going through the research cycle.

[2:05:45] So, I can still actually envision the the visual that this media center group

[2:05:50] had created years ago. Um, but again, um, best practice and where this becomes

[2:05:58] way more, um, authentic and meaningful for kids is when it's embedded in

[2:06:02] something they're doing, right? leaving the classroom to go to the media center

[2:06:05] to learn a cycle of research isn't as real as actually engaging in what you're

[2:06:09] doing. So, so that was really where this was generated was number one um trying

[2:06:13] to keep up with the times. We realized that research was kind of happening and

[2:06:16] we were sort of like putting out fires as they came along and this new group of

[2:06:20] media specialists um really came together and said I think it would be

[2:06:24] important to embed these more. So, so again, I know it was happening at the

[2:06:28] elementary level through uh language arts and and obviously social studies

[2:06:32] and science lessons, but specifically for us, we went right into social

[2:06:35] studies and just said where can we integrate these directly? And then the

[2:06:38] goal really is um how can we have the media specialist become somewhat of a

[2:06:45] co-teer to that? Is there opportunities where you know they don't have to be in

[2:06:49] the media center for a period where the class could come down to the media

[2:06:52] center and you have one content area specialist working on one side and one

[2:06:56] skill area specialist of research working on the other and showing the

[2:06:59] kids how they work in conjunction with each other but I know it goes all the

[2:07:02] way back down >> from the elementary perspective um our

[2:07:05] research starts in grade two um at the last unit of the year. It's an

[2:07:10] integrated unit for writing and reading where kids um which is also kind of

[2:07:14] associated with the science unit at the time. So, it's a really

[2:07:17] interdisciplinary unit where kids are learning about insects, reading about

[2:07:20] insects, studying about insects, learning how to read a piece of

[2:07:25] information, possibly do some sketch noting, some note takingaking, how do I

[2:07:30] find key words and vocabulary, main idea in detail, and then how do I turn that

[2:07:34] into an information piece that I'm going to write in our new 345 reading units.

[2:07:39] Um the second unit of the year is an integrated research unit using NGSS

[2:07:45] science standards. So um we're really excited about that. Our team this summer

[2:07:50] spent some time creating um we created some hard copy tech sets. So we ordered

[2:07:56] I've been a book warehouse in the warehouse sorting books and packing

[2:08:00] books. Um our team created some vetted resources on a Padlet. So getting an

[2:08:04] opportunity to have some vetted articles that they can access digitally or be

[2:08:09] printed out um including some videos and things multimedia sources that kids are

[2:08:15] using their ELA skills of reading for gist summarizing synthesizing how do I

[2:08:23] take notes how to identify main idea and detail. So we're using ELA skills with

[2:08:28] science content. So it is this rich experience. Um we are also um finding

[2:08:35] ways to partner with our media specialists in order to do some of those

[2:08:39] kind of research questions. So that was something we've even just as early as

[2:08:43] last week said, "Hey, we have this unit coming up. Jeff, we're going to talk to

[2:08:47] the media specialists. I've already spoken to the medf of like how can we

[2:08:51] get at least let's get a lesson or two in the media center. number one, how do

[2:08:55] we pick a topic? How do we make what is our question? And then using some of

[2:09:01] their media time to find books on that topic. Um the third bend of each of

[2:09:08] those units is a self- selected topic versus the other two are preparing them

[2:09:12] and and and given a a little bit less choice for that. So, we're finding ways

[2:09:17] to do that important work. But second grade through through 12th grade, um

[2:09:22] they're using all their ELA skills and inquiry skills uh to go through the

[2:09:25] research process.

[2:09:30] » Bob, >> I just wanted to say some of us uh some

[2:09:33] of the BOE members were lucky enough to be in New Lebanon and watch that in real

[2:09:36] time with the garden and how it was it was amazing to see how you can take

[2:09:40] something uh that the students are really invested in and turn it into

[2:09:45] trick them into learning, so to speak. And I also wanted to mention this isn't

[2:09:49] this is kind of like side side related. Brent Reeves also who's the director of

[2:09:53] security for GPS does offer uh hold cyber bullying presentations having seen

[2:10:00] one at the elementary school and at at the middle school as well. He caters

[2:10:03] them to each grade. So if anybody's listening to the recording or one of the

[2:10:07] 15 people watching uh reach out to your PTA and maybe Brent Reeves can come uh

[2:10:13] come speak as well. >> Great. Thank you so much. I have a

[2:10:17] question. Our our title one students uh traditionally they have less books in

[2:10:24] their hands, you know, less availability for that. Is there anything that we're

[2:10:28] doing to address maybe uh I false uh we have uh title one

[2:10:35] funding that I work very uh thoughtfully with our title one principles on

[2:10:40] identifying uh needs. So, whatever can't be furnished through the ELA budget, and

[2:10:47] Kim does an incredible job of making sure there's equity across all of our

[2:10:51] schools, um there's additional funding sources for resources like additional

[2:10:56] books in our title one schools. >> So, what you're saying is true, but

[2:11:00] you've met that. >> Sure. Okay.

[2:11:05] » Well, I thank you. Fair. Because you know, we have traditionally those

[2:11:09] » Well, that's exactly why Title One funding exists. Thank you.

[2:11:13] » Yeah. >> The other thing that's important to note

[2:11:14] is we have an online book resource that we that we pay for the unlimited version

[2:11:20] of called Epic Books, which allows our students to to have access to a library

[2:11:25] of over 40,000 ebooks um and uh like uh audio books um at home. So, it can be on

[2:11:33] a parent's cell phone while they're waiting for their dentist appointment.

[2:11:36] It can be on an iPad or a school-based device that gets taken home. So all of

[2:11:41] our students have access to books um at their house um and in their schools.

[2:11:50] » All students. >> Yeah. Yeah. We have it for all students

[2:11:53] and we pay for the premium membership so that we can create equity um for

[2:11:57] students inside school and outside of school.

[2:12:02] » All summer long. >> Oh yeah. And all summer long too as

[2:12:05] well. And we we have it as a resource. And that's an a web uh site or an app.

[2:12:12] It >> it's a it's both.

[2:12:14] » Yes, it's both. And it is and and there are books that are, you know, like

[2:12:18] widely known. Like you're going to find books that you'd find at Greenwich

[2:12:21] Library or in your media center. So um it's a great resource for the families

[2:12:24] that that that want to have that um and that that portability um of books

[2:12:30] without maybe necessarily needing to go buy a whole bookshelf of books.

[2:12:34] » So I sense we're closing. Uh we're really excited to come back next month

[2:12:38] to present present the curriculum management plan, but even more excited

[2:12:41] to come back and share the achievement report. And I just want it noted uh

[2:12:45] madame chair uh that Mr. Reid didn't get asked any difficult questions tonight.

[2:12:50] So I want everybody to come with math questions based on the achievement

[2:12:54] report and really put him through the ringer next month because he's really

[2:12:57] enjoying himself back there. >> Okay, we'll be ready. We'll be ready.

[2:13:01] Thank you so much everyone and yeah, thank you so much.

[2:13:12] » All right, now we're going to move to the enrollment um update. Dr. Jones,

[2:13:17] so I I will Is this on?

[2:13:23] » Can you Is this one on? >> Hear you, Dr. Jones? If that works.

[2:13:28] » Okay, can you hear me now? Okay, >> it's better.

[2:13:32] So with this just as a reminder this is not the annual enrollment report which

[2:13:37] is very thorough um that happens after our October one which is our official

[2:13:43] date um when we have to give the count to the state and then we collate all of

[2:13:48] that data um that goes to the state and we have a very thorough report that

[2:13:51] you'll hear. This is just an update coming back to school. So what do we

[2:13:55] look like uh compared to our projections? We were projected to be at

[2:13:59] 8,270 students. We are at 8,140.

[2:14:06] So basically we're right at 98.42% um of accuracy for our projection which

[2:14:14] is within that 1.58%. It's so our projections are very accurate but on any

[2:14:20] on any given year you have shifts from one building to the other and that's

[2:14:25] sometimes what you really you can't gauge um and for instance this year and

[2:14:31] and I'm happy to read each school or I can just give you a couple highlights.

[2:14:34] Would you like to hear the schools where they ended? I mean it's very quick but

[2:14:38] » um sure. Yeah. Okay. >> Why not? Um,

[2:14:43] » you get the data though afterwards. Not tonight because this will actually right

[2:14:48] now what they're still doing I'm giving you as of this was on uh 98 September

[2:14:52] the 8th and right now what we're trying to do is we have to kind of go through a

[2:14:56] cleanup process because we do have parents that move and they just don't

[2:15:01] withdraw their students and by law we have to number one make sure we know if

[2:15:05] a student didn't show up that's enrolled with us are they safe and okay and where

[2:15:10] are they and that takes several weeks and that's the process we're in right

[2:15:14] now. I don't expect this to change um a whole lot, but I'll just give you I can

[2:15:18] give you some highlights if you'd rather have that. Um we were projected to be at

[2:15:22] 194 sections for our elementary schools, we are at 192.

[2:15:29] Um when we look across the buildings, probably some of the ones where it was a

[2:15:35] little bit lower, um Glennville is an example where we were projected to be

[2:15:40] 460, they're at 434. So, um, and that's mainly been in K and

[2:15:46] K and one. Um, and but that's actually a great problem for us. Um, that's good

[2:15:53] because they are bursting at the seams. Um, they are our largest elementary

[2:15:57] school and we literally are out of space there. Um, most of the buildings are

[2:16:02] within, you know, anywhere from two to five students um, different. Um the

[2:16:07] other building would probably be North Miamiis was projected to be just over

[2:16:12] 400 at 401. They're at 379. Again, not a huge swing. And usually

[2:16:18] what happens is it's either kindergarten because we are still struggling getting

[2:16:22] good kindergarten projections. And that is because again this year um the way

[2:16:27] the legislation was written, if they did not if they didn't really want to go to

[2:16:32] kindergarten, they didn't. So we had 20 odd kids that didn't. But then we also

[2:16:36] had the waiver where we had families that wanted to start early next year.

[2:16:41] That completely goes away. There is no early start to kindergarten. So it'll be

[2:16:45] a hard date. Um so hopefully that part will settle down. Um can I just I'm just

[2:16:51] going to interject for one second just for Jeff and Jonathan. I don't know if

[2:16:54] you followed this but that at the state level um historically you have to be

[2:17:00] five by >> December

[2:17:02] » December 31 right? So, but but we had a lot of variation in our schools. So,

[2:17:08] some schools the kids, you know, went when they're four and other schools they

[2:17:12] didn't and you just don't know what parents are going to decide. And so, the

[2:17:15] state has initially said it was going to be September one then gave sort of a

[2:17:20] reprieve that they said the parents could still decide whatever. So, it's

[2:17:23] been shaking it's been shaking out I guess is the long way of saying it. We

[2:17:26] did our

[2:17:33] » Yeah, we did that exact process where we had to decide whether to hold back or

[2:17:38] move forward. >> So I think the other the other points

[2:17:43] that you might be interested in is central as you know opening the brand

[2:17:47] new building we did the open enrollment um this year which was new for us. We

[2:17:51] were originally at around right around 131 students. Then we did open

[2:17:56] enrollment and then we also had some students that um either came back to the

[2:18:02] district because they were in like a private school or outplacement or

[2:18:07] something of that nature. So now their sixth grade is at 173 students. So that

[2:18:12] that was a a pretty big gain. Um when we look at middle school, the good thing

[2:18:17] is, as you know, we had some students from Western who went open enrollment to

[2:18:22] Central, but um Western still opened with or they're at as of right now 517

[2:18:28] students, which is right about where they were supposed to be. So even though

[2:18:32] they lost students, that was actually very helpful for their building because

[2:18:37] they still started where they were projected to be because they had new

[2:18:40] enrollment. And that's that's that impact of the Glennville corridor that

[2:18:44] we're seeing at elementary. >> Can you just explain to me because I'm

[2:18:47] what open enrollment is? Are you saying that students from

[2:18:53] outside of district are going to a different school or what is open

[2:18:55] enrollment? >> They're all um they're all students who

[2:18:58] live in Greenwich and they're going into sixth grade. Generally, they go to their

[2:19:04] home school where they live and opening a larger brand new elementary school. um

[2:19:10] central had very small numbers um for their school, so there was room for

[2:19:14] other students to go, which could be helpful even for the other buildings

[2:19:18] because it if some students transfer, it takes pressure off our larger

[2:19:21] enrollment. And they did. They chose to actually um to to ask to be um in open

[2:19:28] enrollment to attend central instead of Western or Eastern.

[2:19:32] » And and how do we manage that with busing? And I mean, does that create

[2:19:35] chaos on buses that have to go from >> this? No, that was part of the open

[2:19:41] enrollment is that you have to be able to drop your child off,

[2:19:45] » but it's worked really well and and it's been a bonus, I think, for all three of

[2:19:49] the schools. >> That's great.

[2:19:53] » Um, yeah. Question related to Central. Uh, given the the the uh the increase in

[2:19:58] sixth graders. Back when we were first talking about this, you had mentioned

[2:20:02] you had the ability to flex to two sections if the numbers did increase.

[2:20:07] And it sounds like we're now pretty close to where Western is and I think

[2:20:09] Western has two sections. Did we go up to two sections uh sorry two teams

[2:20:14] rather uh in uh at Central yet they are still at two teams. There's a little bit

[2:20:19] of cross teaming because 7th grade is still very small in the 130s um because

[2:20:24] we only had a few students who wanted to move. Obviously they had already started

[2:20:28] in middle school. Um but that's at all three of our middle schools. It's not

[2:20:32] we're not doing anything different. We did not reduce originally because we do

[2:20:36] the budget so early and the numbers that we had last November, we would have

[2:20:41] reduced four positions in the middle school. So it ended up impacting a

[2:20:46] little bit of that. Uh where we ended up I think reducing like 2 something. Um

[2:20:50] but we still needed for instance like it was either art or music a little bit

[2:20:54] more because there were more sixth graders. So but that's just normal that

[2:20:58] shakes out across the diff district every year.

[2:21:01] » Veronica. Veronica. >> Yes. Sorry. Um c do you mind backing up?

[2:21:06] Sorry. Um to the elementary schools and letting um us know what Riverside is. Um

[2:21:11] and I'm just asking because we are working on that project.

[2:21:18] » Numbers have come out. But >> Riverside was projected to be 423 and

[2:21:23] they are 425. >> Oh great. [laughter]

[2:21:28] » There are no houses for sale there. I mean, that really is part of it.

[2:21:32] » Yeah, [laughter] >> they're pretty stable most almost every

[2:21:37] year because the housing market, there's not a lot of housing, not a lot of

[2:21:40] rental. Where we have rental property is where we tend to see more shifts. Condos

[2:21:46] and different types of housing. >> Wonderful. Thank you.

[2:21:51] » You're welcome.

[2:21:54] » I don't think there's any more questions on this, right? Are we good? Okay. All

[2:21:59] right. Then we're going to move on um to superintendent goals for 2026 2027.

[2:22:04] First read.

[2:22:09] Okay. So you you have a copy of the draft goals um in your packet. I'm just

[2:22:14] going to walk you through what some of these are. Um so the number one thing at

[2:22:19] the top um in that first box and this is really about all of our curriculum

[2:22:24] alignment and all the work that we've been doing. But the thoughtful use of

[2:22:27] technology regulation is very important. I think you heard the heard us reference

[2:22:32] it tonight. There's a lot of work going on across the district. And I will just

[2:22:36] tell you as we implement this for the first time, I'm already getting great

[2:22:40] feedback um from our PTA and and from parents who are seeing homework shifts

[2:22:45] and what their students are doing at home. So, I'm very excited about that.

[2:22:48] But it's sustainability. You know, we we've got to really stay on it all year.

[2:22:53] um the implementation of the no sale build to bell there's that sounds so

[2:22:58] simple and to be honest I think people were very concerned like how were we

[2:23:03] going to pull it off is it going to be a huge shift it's gone beautifully again

[2:23:07] it's going to be all about followup and follow through um and so we're meeting

[2:23:12] on that regularly and again right now it's going great um the secondary

[2:23:16] schedules was a huge task and again what you're seeing in goals tonight I had to

[2:23:22] start working on these like last year. Um because these things if you're going

[2:23:25] to be ready to start school, I start working with all of our team very early

[2:23:29] on. Um so with the schedules, um I work very closely with Dana Tada at the high

[2:23:35] school who does their master scheduling and we really set a goal. We did it at

[2:23:39] the middle schools as well, but high school it's it's challenging and it was

[2:23:44] to set a goal to have classes at 24. If we needed to go to 25, that's okay for

[2:23:48] core classes. And when you look across the high school, that is primarily what

[2:23:53] you see. Um, in the past, I actually had pulled my notes out from like the last

[2:23:58] two years. We would have class sizes of 14 and then you would have 28, 29, 30,

[2:24:04] and we would have 30s in core classes. And what I'm trying to work on as a goal

[2:24:10] and I think it'll be helpful for the board is we are so well defined on what

[2:24:15] reasonable class size is um in K5 and we've kind of had this mentality in

[2:24:21] Greenwich for many years that well we just it's whatever the students choose

[2:24:26] and that's how we actually staff but that really isn't a good model and so

[2:24:30] I'm very very focused on the high school right now. um in secondary, I should

[2:24:34] say. All three middle school principles actually went back in and worked on

[2:24:38] their schedules as well. Um so we're we're very balanced right now going into

[2:24:42] the year. Um we're very focused on access to the art uh arts at GHS. So you

[2:24:48] heard Leah mention a little bit of that and edict at middle school and this is

[2:24:54] because we're going to do a lot of work this year on our career tech is what CTE

[2:24:59] means uh pathway. And again, you heard Andrew talk about cyber security. That's

[2:25:04] a CTE pathway. And you know, they have what are the AP is actually calling

[2:25:10] Kickstarter course and that is where you're pairing up like the AP business

[2:25:15] and finance course that's new for us this year along with cyber security. Um,

[2:25:20] so we're we're looking at all those different pathways and what do we need

[2:25:24] to get better at because um, CTE has not been a focus for us um, at all for the

[2:25:30] most part. Not not a real focus um, for the arts at GHS. This year we added um

[2:25:38] over the summer another um component that the students really wanted and

[2:25:44] that's more ceramics because as I was working closely uh with Dana on the

[2:25:49] schedule you know we recognized that you have students who are wanting to take

[2:25:54] art but we didn't have enough of the classes that they wanted. So we added a

[2:25:59] whole another ceramics um component and we're working on that this year. So now

[2:26:04] we have another 100 200 students that are actually able to take art and we are

[2:26:09] very it's very strange for Greenwich. We are actually very low enrollment in high

[2:26:14] school for the arts if you actually look at the report and it's because of

[2:26:19] aspects like that. We just couldn't fit the kids in. Um so we're very focused on

[2:26:23] that right now as well. Um and then focusing on high high uh level

[2:26:27] professional development. This has been this was a goal last year. It's a goal

[2:26:30] again. And at the beginning of this year, we had fantastic feedback from our

[2:26:36] teachers where several of them wrote just wonderful notes to the curriculum

[2:26:40] team about what great professional development was going on. So, I want us

[2:26:44] to be able to do that again this year. Um, we still our PCG special education

[2:26:49] action plan was just updated again in August. So, it's on the web and all

[2:26:54] updated. This is only the second year of positive pathways and so that is a needs

[2:27:00] to be a focus. We are also with our co-taught. Um this is the first year

[2:27:05] where we've compete uh completed the multi-year plan at costub so that we

[2:27:10] have every grade level has co-taught but we also this year made some uh changes

[2:27:15] at the high school where we implemented co-taught for instance in chemistry.

[2:27:20] Last year we had done biology. It's brand new in chemistry. This year we

[2:27:24] have four sections. Um and that will probably continue to grow as well. Um,

[2:27:30] we also have that second bullet, a hybrid learning center. So, last year we

[2:27:36] built hybrid learning at the high school as a space. We started very small. Uh,

[2:27:41] Christina Shaw is the one that leads on that. And this year, we've really

[2:27:47] expanded where kids can roster in high se. You'll learn more about that as we

[2:27:52] talk more about the curriculum um because it's hard for a lot of people to

[2:27:56] imagine, but it's the way that we actually operate summer school for high

[2:27:59] school. And some of you that were on the board last year may remember in the

[2:28:03] summer school report, we went from, you know, 50 students taking summer school

[2:28:07] with us to, you know, 300 and 400. Um, and what it does is give a student total

[2:28:14] flexibility in their schedule. It's not for everybody, but it's a it's it's a

[2:28:18] big implementation this year. Um we are also working on the English language

[2:28:23] immersion solution. Uh we worked on it last year. I want to see us continue to

[2:28:27] do a lot more with that. Um and then last year we did the first presentation

[2:28:32] ever for the board uh about the case load and the hours. That has to be

[2:28:37] another focus for us because people are coming to the board meeting talking

[2:28:42] about how huge case loads are and that we're not actually thoughtful in the

[2:28:46] process. And I think it was great for the board last spring to actually hear

[2:28:50] that it is a very very thoughtful process. Um and then of course um the

[2:28:56] student wellness and supports down on the bottom. And as I'm looking at this

[2:29:00] one, I'm hoping that this is actually the right one, but I'm going to go back

[2:29:03] and check that. Um because this middle section, we had trouble and um Mike had

[2:29:09] switched it out. So I don't know when this one was printed, but I'll go double

[2:29:13] check that. Um so on the bottom again onboarding of new board members I would

[2:29:18] have taken off but that is very important for us now because we have new

[2:29:23] board members and we want to make sure that they do have an opportunity to get

[2:29:26] to the schools and you know all the things that we try to do. um the legal

[2:29:30] briefings last year was the that was revived again after not being able to do

[2:29:35] that for a year or two and that's why it's a goal we it's so helpful for the

[2:29:40] board um to have a a session on what are the legal issues in an exe executive

[2:29:46] session but also it is incredibly eye opening to learn about how outplacements

[2:29:51] and settlements um work um from a legal perspective and then

[2:29:57] » when you say outplacements and settlements. I know we were talking

[2:30:00] earlier about like um out of [clears throat] district placements, but

[2:30:05] then we were also talking about things like uh parents individual decision to

[2:30:10] place. What where's the distinction there?

[2:30:14] » So, um a settlement is when a parent moves into Greenwich, they may never

[2:30:19] enroll their child here and they go and put them in a private school and then

[2:30:23] they want to come back and have the district pay uh for that. And sometimes

[2:30:27] it's a parent who really wants one setting and it's not state approved.

[2:30:32] That's going to be a settlement. Um the do the students that we outplace because

[2:30:37] we we don't have the capacity to provide what the student needs, those are

[2:30:42] outplacements and they are only in state approved schools. and those situations

[2:30:48] where um the student never enters our system is in a private school setting

[2:30:54] and then would move into our system but there is a dispute. How does that

[2:30:59] dispute get determined like whether our facilities are adequate to you know meet

[2:31:05] the parents needs and therefore you know >> yeah they they they let us we end up

[2:31:11] going to mediation is what happens. Um, and it all depends. You have mediation,

[2:31:16] then you also can go to a due process hearing. Um, which we try to avoid those

[2:31:21] in the sense that they're very long. Um, you know, we would like to be able to

[2:31:25] mediate, you know, with a family. Sometimes you just can't. Um, but there

[2:31:29] is an actual process that you have to use in Connecticut.

[2:31:33] Um, and then again, monthly check-ins. And you know, this last one is really

[2:31:39] important. I mean, I was on the call today with Veronica for Riverside um

[2:31:44] really being able to support in the building committee work and um because

[2:31:49] most of you are serving now on building committees and those of you that you

[2:31:54] know as you serve on them, they require not only a lot of time but a lot of

[2:31:57] knowledge um and there are things that pop up where I have to be available as

[2:32:03] as a goal like sometimes you need the answer in the same day. Um, and I'm also

[2:32:08] responsible from a goal standpoint. We've got a lot of committees going

[2:32:12] right now and nobody can communicate with the Department of Administrative

[2:32:15] Services except the superintendent. Um, it's not hard when you have one building

[2:32:20] committee, but when you get multiple, it is. And so I want to make sure that I'm,

[2:32:24] you know, providing what the board members need there as well.

[2:32:28] » And you had accidentally skipped over the uh 15 schools. The over

[2:32:32] » Oh, all 15 schools. Yes. Making sure the visits are there. Absolutely.

[2:32:39] » Thank you, Karen. Uh, yes, Dr. Jones. So, thank you for sharing the first

[2:32:44] draft of your goals. I did have a couple of recommendations that I'd like to

[2:32:48] share. One is on the the balance, the relative

[2:32:53] emphasis. Uh, you know, we've got a third of the goals are focused on

[2:32:59] special eds and other special ed and other high needs populations. I don't

[2:33:04] see a lot here on the other call it 70 80% of our students. I think it's

[2:33:09] incredibly important that all students receive appropriate challenge

[2:33:14] year-over-year growth uh across our you know our sped our struggling populations

[2:33:20] are on track and are advanced. When I look at our uh strategic plan for the

[2:33:27] seven goals are about uh academic achievement. And so I'd like to see more

[2:33:31] of a a balance so that all of our students see themselves represented in

[2:33:35] these goals. Um the other is about a third of the bullet points on here are

[2:33:40] about supporting the board of ed. Um and although it probably feels that way, we

[2:33:43] we aren't that high maintenance. Um and and we really would rather your time be

[2:33:48] focused on students and staff. Uh, no, but look, if you know, in in all

[2:33:53] seriousness, no, I mean, a lot of these are are quite tactical, so maybe we can

[2:33:56] condense some of those so there's just a little less little little less weight on

[2:34:00] the on the board of ed. Um, two, would like to see how uh would like to see

[2:34:06] metrics. How do we measure how are we going to measure the achievement of of

[2:34:10] these goals? So, for example, you know, we talk about the Bell uh cell phone

[2:34:14] ban. Are we measuring um incidents of bullying? Are we

[2:34:19] measuring some sort of mental health? Are we measuring

[2:34:23] uh uh surveys from teachers of of how much class time they've hopefully gotten

[2:34:28] back by not having to police this uh at the beginning and end of every class? Um

[2:34:33] and then the third one I would say my third one would be I'd like to see a

[2:34:37] goal around culture. Um our strategic plan goal number seven is focused on uh

[2:34:44] increasing a positive working environment for teachers and staff. Um

[2:34:48] and I do want to acknowledge I understand this job involves hard

[2:34:51] decisions. Not everyone will be happy. Um work climate matters and it does uh

[2:34:57] you know ultimately in the long term affects our ability to attract and

[2:35:00] retain talent and you know it seeps into interactions with students. So I'd like

[2:35:05] to find an objective way to to assess that that climate um you know under some

[2:35:13] sort of you know third party to to ensure neutrality rigor foster trust.

[2:35:26] Jeff. >> Yeah. I I'd just like to add it's it's

[2:35:30] looking at these goals. It's hard for me to understand.

[2:35:36] » What is success mean? What does that mean in I see we have you know as

[2:35:41] measured by what does that mean? What in that measurement are we looking for? You

[2:35:46] know in in I go back to my my military we write in order we write commander

[2:35:51] intent and then we have an end state. That end state is how we know we achieve

[2:35:55] success. How do we how do we know we're we're meeting the end state? We're

[2:36:01] achieving success in these goals.

[2:36:06] » So when you look at that far right hand

[2:36:09] side, it again looks much more simplistic. I think when you go through

[2:36:13] the district annual achievement report, you will see the amount of data that we

[2:36:17] actually collect that supports all of these goals. Um and and that goes back

[2:36:22] to even our strategic plan survey um that we give. We survey parents, we

[2:36:27] survey students, we survey our teachers. And if you ask me, and I I probably

[2:36:31] wouldn't do it in a meeting, but if somebody called and said, "Why did this

[2:36:35] school drop and why did this one go up?" I can pretty well tell you exactly why

[2:36:39] and what was going on in the building. And you can see it actually in the

[2:36:42] metrics that we collect. But now, let me just say because this is my eighth year

[2:36:46] here. every board seems to want different goals. So, the first year or

[2:36:50] two I was here, I I bet I had if I went back and pulled it, I probably had 60

[2:36:55] items. And it was like, you know, if I'm going to put it on here, I'll get it

[2:36:58] done. Um, and then the board was like, I think it was you even you might have

[2:37:02] been on the board when it's like, this is like way too much. You're giving us

[2:37:05] like three pages. Well, I was giving you three pages because that's what the

[2:37:07] board at the time wanted to see. Um, so it's very simplistic right now because

[2:37:12] this current last year's board didn't did not want it to be super long.

[2:37:17] » I don't disagree with that, but I'm just like as if I'm looking at the district.

[2:37:23] » If if I'm looking at the district annual achievement report, what am I looking

[2:37:26] for in that? Because it's going to have a lot of data in there and I'm not sure

[2:37:31] what you know what I'm looking at that's going to indicate that we've achieved

[2:37:36] success. Well, it's going to be it's going to be a mixture between I will

[2:37:39] update you on the cell bell to bell for instance and we'll talk about for

[2:37:44] instance I was in a conversation I think it was with PTA um this this week they

[2:37:51] confiscated like five phones like it was very minimal and so we're keeping track

[2:37:56] of all that type of data now I can expand this and put all the different

[2:38:00] metrics and things that we're going to do but generally again like recent

[2:38:06] years. That's not what the board has wanted. And quite frankly, one year the

[2:38:11] board was like all over the place and we just didn't put on the agenda again

[2:38:14] because you don't even have to approve my goals. So, I mean, it really depends

[2:38:18] if if you're wanting it to look like something different than, you know, you

[2:38:24] just have to share what you are wanting. >> I think Oh, sorry. Jonathan, do you want

[2:38:30] to go ahead? No, I think that um you know, I'm sure that there's a happy

[2:38:34] middle in the three pages and the one page. Um and and I think that you know,

[2:38:39] echoing what Jeff was saying just a moment ago, I think we're excited to

[2:38:44] have a better sense of what data is collected and how especially as we do

[2:38:49] novel things like no sell belltobell um we get to capture, you know, the

[2:38:54] tangible results that we can report back to parents. Um I'll gave an anecdote

[2:39:00] recently um of a a child passing out at a private

[2:39:06] school recently and teachers simply knew that when that happened in the era, you

[2:39:11] know, where cell phones were popular in school that that young woman's photo

[2:39:15] would have been passed around among the students. And that didn't happen this

[2:39:19] [clears throat] time because there's no cell phones in the school. And so, you

[2:39:23] know, but that's like those sorts of incident reports. I don't know that

[2:39:26] they're captured or aggregated or like you know displayed and and presented in

[2:39:32] a way that has the meaningful impact that you know we could we that we want

[2:39:38] to capture for the sake of showing the positive achievement uh that is deserved

[2:39:42] by the initiatives that are being tackled.

[2:39:46] So, no, I just um I think it's challenging doing these goals without

[2:39:52] especially for for the two new board members without having seen like the

[2:39:56] tremendous amount of educational attainment data that we're about to see,

[2:40:00] you know, in the next month because you see how metrics driven the school

[2:40:05] district is. And so then it's really clear like are these scores going up?

[2:40:10] Are these scores going down? you're looking across 15 schools. You're

[2:40:14] looking across different disciplines. So, in my experience as a board member,

[2:40:20] there's a lot of accountability throughout the year of getting this

[2:40:24] information back. And I think the challenge is, and I don't know what the

[2:40:29] right answer is to this, but it's like you could populate this with a bunch of

[2:40:35] data, you know, saying looking at SBA scores, looking at PSAT scores, looking

[2:40:40] at SAT scores, looking at whatever, you know, but you don't necessarily need to

[2:40:45] list all that because we know we're going to see it and that is how we judge

[2:40:51] the performance of our schools. So I think it's, you know, we that could be a

[2:40:54] way to address that concern a little bit of like and it having been on the board

[2:40:59] now I guess I'm almost for 3 years you you start to see all of the information

[2:41:04] that is fed to us all the time. I think like the bell-to-bell thing is a little

[2:41:07] more challenging because it's going to be anecdotal right now. So like for

[2:41:11] example that you know Dr. Jones saying okay so you have 2700 students and

[2:41:15] you've only confiscated four phones. It sounds like, you know, this is being

[2:41:20] enforced pretty, you know, it's going pretty well and then you get to hear

[2:41:23] sort, >> right? Well, I guess that's another way,

[2:41:26] you know, but whatever. So, we'll see. You know, I think it's like you're going

[2:41:29] to hear stories. I guess the question would be at the end of the school year,

[2:41:34] is there a way to measure, you know, are our educational outcomes better because

[2:41:39] this the phones are away? I don't really know. I feel like because then it's like

[2:41:43] how do you control for that of saying okay that are the test numbers up

[2:41:47] because the phones are away or the test numbers up because we've done all these

[2:41:50] curricular enhancements or you know whatever it is like you never you never

[2:41:54] have perfect information. Um which isn't to say that we shouldn't pull certain

[2:41:59] metrics and say these are ones that we think are really important and we think

[2:42:03] tell a story but we will be getting a huge amount of information. So just for

[2:42:08] the two of you to know you will be inundated with data soon. I have no

[2:42:13] doubt and I I think you know while academic performance is obviously a

[2:42:19] central focus um I think that disciplinary issues uh in you know

[2:42:24] incidents of violence you know uh you know um you know even just the presence

[2:42:30] of you know phones and how they can be weaponized from one student to another

[2:42:34] like uh or used for cyber bullying things like that um these are a reality

[2:42:39] it's like I'm sure part of what influenced us to do the cell phone bl

[2:42:43] band bands. And so I I just I I appreciate the opportunity to air a

[2:42:48] desire for maybe some more novel or creative approaches to data collection

[2:42:53] um so that uh the great signals don't get lost in the noise.

[2:43:00] » Yeah. what I was hearing from you sounds like

[2:43:04] a a districtwide like um

[2:43:09] evaluation. Um and I think that what we what we're trying to look at here is how

[2:43:16] to how to evaluate the superintendent on a on a more, you know, administrative

[2:43:22] level. Like all of that data that you're talking about is something that we're

[2:43:26] we're looking at, you know, every year. And I recognize that everything that Dr.

[2:43:30] Jones does it such a top level is going to affect everything um from from you

[2:43:34] know from top to bottom. But if we're going to have goals, you know,

[2:43:41] they should be defined and measurable. I I think that's what I'm hearing.

[2:43:48] » Yeah. I mean, if you want metrics with them and I'll give you like even in the

[2:43:51] second section is measured by the threat assessment data. That's exactly what

[2:43:55] Jonathan was talking about. Um the 504 data. Um, there are all types of metrics

[2:44:00] that I don't list all of them on here, but certainly as we go through the year,

[2:44:05] you I I will make sure that what's on the goal sheet gets done. And if it's

[2:44:10] not if I'm not going to do it, I'm not putting it on here. I I just don't

[2:44:13] because, you know, we have a very robust strategic plan. We are performing better

[2:44:19] than we have even precoid. And so, you know, I I want to be sure that whatever

[2:44:24] goals I'm presenting, I want, you know, I want the board to support them. And

[2:44:28] certainly, I don't mind tying the metrics. We can expand this um and go

[2:44:34] back to what we used to do. It's again, this is guidance from the board at the

[2:44:38] time that wanted it like this on one page. Um, you know, when I look at like

[2:44:43] the culture goal that you're mentioning, Karen, to me, that is the strategic

[2:44:47] plan. We spent two years putting the survey together so that we were

[2:44:52] surveying staff, parents, and students. We want the same metric year overyear so

[2:44:57] we have a benchmark to compare. Now, this year and next year at whatever

[2:45:01] point the board starts again, we've got to get ready to have a brand new

[2:45:04] strategic plan. That's when you would change the metric because you don't do

[2:45:08] that in the middle of a strategic plan and especially when we're getting really

[2:45:12] good data.

[2:45:16] Um, I'm wondering if we could maybe since this is the first read, if there's

[2:45:21] an opportunity for you to make some suggestions of like, okay, here are a

[2:45:25] couple measurable data points that I could, you know, provide to the board

[2:45:30] underneath like sort of in your third column. Do you see what I'm saying? And

[2:45:34] I know I mean I feel like maybe with my first year on the board that we had a

[2:45:38] goal for a a better graduation rate for Greenwich High School, right? So that's

[2:45:43] like a very clear measurable thing of like, okay, we're at 96%, we want to be

[2:45:47] at 98%. >> But it's in our strategic plan,

[2:45:49] » right? No, and I know it's in the strategic plan. So I I'm wondering if we

[2:45:52] could just pull some of those across from the strategic plan to put it in

[2:45:56] this. And I I do appreciate like the culture of the board shifts continually

[2:46:00] as we have new members on. But it sounds like there's an appetite with the

[2:46:04] current membership that we would like to have a you know maybe I don't know three

[2:46:09] three metrics per cell or something like that that we're saying these are the

[2:46:13] ones that we want to track. >> Yeah. And I I would say you know I do I

[2:46:17] I this is pretty but I wouldn't let PowerPoint constrain you. I think if

[2:46:22] look if a word document and Excel whatever works you know let's whatever

[2:46:27] works for the content let's not constrain ourselves to that. I I

[2:46:31] appreciate that you got very different guidance in the past. Um but I I just

[2:46:35] wanted to reiterate I really want to make sure that there are goals aligned

[2:46:40] to all of our student populations.

[2:46:47] » Do is there something that we should be take responsibility for? I mean it

[2:46:51] sounds like the feedback I'm getting from Dr. Jones is that she's had you

[2:46:55] know this been all over the place, right? doesn't really know what to

[2:46:59] present because she doesn't know what we want as individuals and she set up so

[2:47:03] many different you know boards but sounds very open to you know like tell

[2:47:07] me what you want and we'll talk about it. So what I would say the

[2:47:11] responsibility of the board is you have board goals and the eight years I've

[2:47:14] been on the board I'm not sure we've actually met them maybe once like often

[2:47:20] we don't even review them and and there's a lot of thought that goes into

[2:47:24] those um because we have to work together my goals don't work if I don't

[2:47:29] have support of the board >> and you guys went

[2:47:32] » we're working finance board goals >> yeah yeah

[2:47:35] » so I mean and this this is just a challenge of a of a changeover right And

[2:47:39] I I think it's true like I'm sitting here and I'm thinking I'm actually the

[2:47:43] only person who was here last year when we did this process of of of the people

[2:47:47] in this meeting. Um so who participated in last time with the superintendent's

[2:47:52] goals. So um that's part of the challenge, right? So this is really like

[2:47:57] a fresh a fresh look at them. And we did do the board goals in the spring, but

[2:48:02] again we have two new members. So and they're I'm sure not familiar with them

[2:48:07] at all. So, I'm happy to circulate those as well. And um certainly the board

[2:48:12] goals need to align with the superintendent's goals which need to

[2:48:14] align with the strategic plan, right? So, all of those three things have to

[2:48:18] match up so that we're all marching in the same direction. Karen

[2:48:24] » Yeah. I just wanted to >> Karen Karen

[2:48:28] » Karen Karen Veronica. Okay. Yeah. I look I just wanted to echo I under I

[2:48:33] understand the challenge. I mean, you know, certainly we've all had situations

[2:48:36] where we get a new boss with different expectations. Uh, you know, the

[2:48:38] superintendent has eight bosses um who who think differently and those bosses

[2:48:43] change every couple years. So, I I do recognize that uh you know, it's an

[2:48:47] unusual situation. It's also kind of an unusual situation for an employee to be

[2:48:52] asked to propose goals as opposed to an employer to set goals and is an unusual

[2:48:56] setup that we >> that we have here at the moment.

[2:49:00] [snorts] >> Yeah,

[2:49:01] » totally agree, Veronica. Um I Sophie if you circulate the board

[2:49:07] goals I remember that in the spring um and I don't know if it was ever finalist

[2:49:10] you and I think it was with Dr. Jones and maybe Michael Joseph were working on

[2:49:15] um like people who are sort of going to target different goals based on our own

[2:49:20] areas of expertise and experience let's call it um and so would we be able to

[2:49:27] see that so then as board members we knew what we should be working on and

[2:49:32] Jeff to answer your question you can search um for old documents and old

[2:49:36] board meetings um in what's now diligent what was board docs and you can find

[2:49:41] them Okay, great.

[2:49:43] » Okay. >> Yeah, I I'll recirculate it, Veronica. I

[2:49:47] think Yeah, Michael Joseph was going to be sort of assigning people. So, we can

[2:49:53] go back and take a fresh look at that now that we have two new board members.

[2:49:58] » Thank you. >> Everything Everything from board docs

[2:50:01] moved over to Diligent. So, it's it's from a couple meetings ago. It's on

[2:50:04] there. >> Um All right. Thank you. Does anyone

[2:50:08] else have anything else? Nope. Okay. So, we're going to move on to the calendar.

[2:50:14] Um, school year calendar first read. Dr. Jones.

[2:50:21] So, this is the proposed 2027 2028 calendar. It is very similar to the

[2:50:27] calendar um that we have this year. It was a little bit easier actually just

[2:50:31] because there weren't as many holidays that fell. And if you look at like

[2:50:35] October, you know, we're only it's there's one day there where schools are

[2:50:38] closed. and we put our professional learning day there which is a little bit

[2:50:42] different. Um that full professional learning day what Mark was referencing

[2:50:47] today is when everybody does professional learning on the same day

[2:50:51] they can all start at the same time and so it really becomes a very valuable

[2:50:55] opportunity for us. Um what you'll notice is where February break falls

[2:51:00] again it's that's not highly unusual for us. We usually back up to President's

[2:51:05] Day which gives that extra kind of long weekend. the community likes that. Um,

[2:51:10] in April again, it's falling where it generally has. If you remember last

[2:51:14] year, we either moved it earlier or it was later and then the board ended up

[2:51:18] changing it back. Yeah. And we didn't get good feedback from the community.

[2:51:22] Um, so what happens is when you get into June, like the last day for staff, if we

[2:51:29] didn't have any snow days, and to be honest, after this summer and all the

[2:51:34] rain and the crazy weather across the United States, I'm very concerned about

[2:51:37] snow days this year. Um, so if our last day with staff and students could be the

[2:51:43] 22nd, 23rd, if it if we ended up using five snow days, um, and we always look

[2:51:49] at that. So, we're already into that very end of June, which is can be

[2:51:54] challenging. It's challenging for, you know, families that are going on

[2:51:57] vacation. It's challenging for summer camps, uh, because we get out later and

[2:52:02] so some students can't go off to their, you know, summer course. They're a

[2:52:06] sophomore and they're taking a summer class at Harvard or wherever. Um, so we

[2:52:10] try to be thoughtful about when we are ending. Um, so, and you will have

[2:52:16] requests, um, for sure. You know, we hear from the community every year. We

[2:52:20] we don't have the day off for religious holidays, say like to Wall-E, uh, which

[2:52:25] I know the board heard from a community member. We're not off for Veterans Day.

[2:52:29] We haven't been in Greenwich like for years. And to be honest, our veterans, I

[2:52:34] think, are very supportive of what we do because we make it so important. And

[2:52:38] it's our kids probably get way more being in school than they would if they

[2:52:42] were out. We had to make a decision uh several years ago that if we're in

[2:52:46] school on Junth, are we going to have school or are we going to push back

[2:52:51] again to that last week into June? And we chose that we we're going to have

[2:52:55] school and we're going to approach it in the same way like we do Veterans Day.

[2:52:59] And we have slides, we have it as a teaching opportunity so all of our kids

[2:53:04] learn about Junth. And generally when when our community realizes that if I

[2:53:09] get an email and I let them know what we do, they're actually happy with that

[2:53:13] because they know that the vast majority of our students probably wouldn't go to

[2:53:18] like a ceremony, the vast majority where this way all of our students are having

[2:53:22] some really great um learning opportunities. So because we have a full

[2:53:27] February and we have a full April, our our calendar becomes challenging. The

[2:53:32] other thing you will hear from, especially new board members, is

[2:53:35] generally why do you start on Thursday or Friday? That's annoying. And but if

[2:53:39] you push back again, you're pushing two days somewhere else back in the

[2:53:44] calendar. Um because we have the orientation day, which is on a Thursday,

[2:53:49] and that's for transitional years. Your kindergarteners uh come in and visit.

[2:53:53] Sixth graders have their first day of school at 9th grade, so that they can be

[2:53:57] in the buildings when nobody else is there. and it's, you know, just really

[2:54:00] helps with their transition. Friday, we bring everybody in which is actually

[2:54:05] very helpful because like in secondary for instance, they get to run their

[2:54:09] schedules on a Friday. They come back and they're ready to go. Um, so

[2:54:16] we're happy to take feedback on it or if you have questions about why we do

[2:54:20] certain things on certain times of the year.

[2:54:25] » Karen, uh, yeah, a couple things. So, one, I

[2:54:29] really like what you did with the end of the school year. I think that's really

[2:54:32] clear. I hope that we'll say we'll have the room on the page to do that, showing

[2:54:35] the last day and the last day with snow days. Um I would suggest that as we've

[2:54:40] done for uh Veterans Day and a number of the holidays that we also write schools

[2:54:45] open on June 19th, Junth to to acknowledge uh to avoid the confusion

[2:54:50] and acknowledge that we'll have a program that day uh for that holiday. um

[2:54:56] on the K through8 conferences. It was a couple of years ago that we switched

[2:55:01] from having written comments in the report cards to having I think twice a

[2:55:05] year uh 15minute parent conferences. So I've uh

[2:55:11] are we are we locked into that based on the latest GA contract or do we have

[2:55:18] some flexibility there? Uh, and the reason I ask is that I I've spoken with

[2:55:22] some parents and there's a little bit of a question of whether is the is the

[2:55:28] trade-off worth it. So, we're we're losing two half days in December, two

[2:55:33] half days of learning in March. Um, and the and and you know, which is which is

[2:55:38] a loss of learning of of two days, but it's also uh it's also hard for parents

[2:55:44] uh who work and they're getting a 15minute conference twice. Um, is it

[2:55:50] worth it? >> Well, let me say when we first put the

[2:55:54] second conference in, it was feedback from our parents um that wanted it. So,

[2:55:58] when we put middle school conferences in, it was feedback from our parents who

[2:56:03] also wanted the middle school conferences. So, you know, that it it

[2:56:07] was driven by parents. Certainly, we can always survey our parents again. Now,

[2:56:11] we've lived through it for probably I think about four years. you know, if

[2:56:15] they don't want the second conference, but would we need to work with GA on

[2:56:19] what comments would look like? We have a brand new report card. I'm not sure.

[2:56:24] You're never going to get a narrative like you would like when I was I was in

[2:56:27] private for five, six years. We just did a whole narrative. You didn't get any

[2:56:31] grades and it was all narrative. That would never get through here. Um, yeah.

[2:56:37] So, it would be a matter of you would have to probably give them more time to

[2:56:42] write the comments than what it takes to actually have it on the calendar here.

[2:56:47] » Got it. >> Yeah.

[2:56:52] » Any other comments? Anyone? >> Can I um I do have a quick question.

[2:56:57] Sorry, but I I would I already asked this to Dr. Jones and I said it's sort

[2:57:00] of in passing, but I would actually like to defer to other board members and hear

[2:57:04] their thoughts and opinions. But um we I thought that maybe and also having just

[2:57:11] lived it that the Friday before Labor Day weekend, which would be the end of

[2:57:16] that first full week of school uh that the kids have uh be a half day. Um and I

[2:57:22] brought it up with Dr. Jones and she made a great point and she said, "Well,

[2:57:25] it's like our first full week of school," which I appreciate because the

[2:57:30] following week's only a 4-day week and then we fall into some of the holidays

[2:57:33] where there's no school. Um, but my thought was actually that, you know,

[2:57:38] after an entire full week of school, granted my kids were little, they're

[2:57:42] exhausted, the teachers are exhausted just coming back in, you know, energyy's

[2:57:46] high in the building. Um, that maybe, you know, to to settle into the weekend,

[2:57:50] and I know that the Friday afternoon of Labor Day weekend is not always a super

[2:57:55] busy time um in uh for for people, you know, a lot of people have that time off

[2:58:01] or leave early. So anyways, that was my only um thought on the calendar that I

[2:58:06] would I don't feel that strongly about it. I would just defer to everyone else

[2:58:10] having just experienced it.

[2:58:18] » Crickets. Okay. >> Yeah. Sorry. I I don't think there's a

[2:58:21] lot of support for that. I hear what you're saying, Veronica. I feel like I

[2:58:24] think it probably is different when you have older kids. And Frankly, my concern

[2:58:28] would be if you give people a half day, then you're going to have a lot of

[2:58:32] they're going to just not go to school. >> And yeah, and and honestly, like I

[2:58:37] always find September to be tricky anyway because there tends to be like,

[2:58:41] you know, we have two days like you have Labor Day, then you have Yonapore, like

[2:58:45] you know, and so it's like you're trying to get into a rhythm.

[2:58:48] » Um, and anything that breaks up the rhythm, I I don't know. I'm just, this

[2:58:52] is me speaking as a parent, but I, you know, as a board member, I feel like if

[2:58:55] you do a half day, you'd have a lot of kids not show up, and that probably

[2:58:58] wouldn't be great. >> No, I was wondering on the um attendance

[2:59:02] if there was any appetite for the idea. I was just wondering on the attendance,

[2:59:05] but if if it's not a if it's, you know, not going to land, then, you know, don't

[2:59:10] pull it. It's not worth it. >> Yeah. I think going [clears throat] back

[2:59:15] to the comment about the the half days for the 15-minute conferences, I think

[2:59:20] that, you know, my wife and I have shown up for each of those conferences. Uh I

[2:59:25] do appreciate the sort of frank nature in which people can just speak freely

[2:59:29] about what's going on. Haven't found them to be like too very substantive. Uh

[2:59:35] but but at the same hand, you know, there's this part of me that would just

[2:59:39] love to figure out a way to have the kids playing in the the recess for the

[2:59:43] back half of that day and then still get on their buses and, you know, not create

[2:59:47] child care problems for those who it's a real burden for. I'm not sure that

[2:59:51] there's a practical solution for how to do that, but you know, uh, you know, put

[2:59:56] [clears throat] a big fence around them and just let them go.

[3:00:00] » Yeah. it what what really the problem is again it's it's they have to be where

[3:00:06] they're not supervising children and you can't getting that many subs for 11

[3:00:11] elementary schools to cover even if you tried to kind of spread it out number

[3:00:15] one it would be expensive um for us you know to add sub coverage but you just

[3:00:20] couldn't get the subs I mean it's hard to cover subs as it is

[3:00:28] » just on that point though just on that point though I we it is a financial

[3:00:32] burden on on families as well. >> Well, you know, this is the first read,

[3:00:38] so I feel like that maybe that's something that we can all think about

[3:00:41] and and try and problem solve for because I think

[3:00:44] » Yeah. Go ahead, Dr. >> Yeah. And I do just want to add there's

[3:00:47] there's a couple of early releases that are on here that previously we didn't

[3:00:51] necessarily have like the collab time that and again it's very difficult to

[3:00:58] try to meet the expectations of everybody. So our teachers say all the

[3:01:02] time they don't have enough time. They don't have enough time to meet together,

[3:01:07] you know. So that's why we've added those collab days on here. Um but we

[3:01:12] haven't had those in the past. So, you know, that's where we have to analyze.

[3:01:16] If parents think there are too many early releases, then maybe we can't do

[3:01:21] that even though we want to do it. And I think the board has to to weigh that.

[3:01:25] And in the past, we have sent out a survey, you know, um, you know, to

[3:01:29] parents like, do you support this time and see what they say? And it can be

[3:01:34] very helpful. >> Yeah. I'd love to get the data so it's

[3:01:37] not anecdotal. >> Didn't we we did we pull a day from um,

[3:01:41] vacation last year?

[3:01:46] Yeah, we did. It was like March 8th or something. We pulled one. We pulled one

[3:01:49] back because we had we had so many snowtorms.

[3:01:51] » Professional learning day. >> We moved it to the very end of the year.

[3:01:55] So, we took when we had bad snowfalls last year. That was that was me. Um but

[3:02:01] » yeah. No, no, but it's like, you know, you get these bad snowfall and you don't

[3:02:04] know if there's more coming. So, it's a it's a hard thing. So, I think the point

[3:02:07] I was making when I asked it is this is a really tight schedule. I mean, it's a

[3:02:11] it's a it's a tight schedule. It's hard to manage and I think, you know, looking

[3:02:15] to put anything else in there, time off, unless there's a holiday that that

[3:02:22] presents itself that that causes the Greenwich public school

[3:02:28] system not to be able to operate, right? Like we have so many of our of our

[3:02:34] teachers or students that just aren't going to show show up. They're going to

[3:02:38] take uh that holiday. That's the barrier. You know, I I I don't want to

[3:02:42] be insensitive to to the other holidays. So, I want to take a very practical look

[3:02:46] at this. This is a this is, you know, holidays are based on when they really

[3:02:52] interrupt the ability to to to to run the system.

[3:02:57] » Yeah. And and again, we've talked about this, I think, you know, every year that

[3:03:00] I've been here. It's hard putting a calendar together that meets the needs

[3:03:03] of everybody. And one of the, you know, the statements the board has tried to be

[3:03:08] responsive to is how do we run the schools safely? And there are holidays

[3:03:13] where it's a smaller smaller minority of of individuals and they get the day off.

[3:03:19] We honor that for them. But then we also have some holidays that it's a large

[3:03:24] portion of our staff and our parent community. And that's why our calendar

[3:03:30] doesn't necessarily look like, you know, another region even of Connecticut. They

[3:03:35] may have a different holiday um based on what their community looks like. And we

[3:03:39] also have to look at it from the staff perspective.

[3:03:46] All right. I think if there's no further comments, then are we done with the

[3:03:50] calendar first reading? Okay, great. Um can I

[3:03:55] » Okay. Okay. So, send comments to Dr. Jones. Um, can I entertain another

[3:04:00] motion? >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn.

[3:04:03] » Okay. Would anyone like to second? >> I'll second.

[3:04:09] » Okay. >> All right. All in favor?

[3:04:12] Okay. Meeting adjourned. Thank you everyone. Good night.

[3:04:15] » Thank you. Good night.

Board Retreat - Sep 10 2026

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