[0:02] okay

[0:03] um so welcome to the september 21st 2020

[0:07] meeting of the north texas

[0:16] here we go

[0:33] sorry but we're doing it for you at home

[0:37] okay

[0:38] trying to keep the remote access going

[0:40] so um welcome to the

[0:42] september 21st 2020 meeting of the north

[0:44] brookfield school committee

[0:45] this meeting is being recorded by north

[0:47] brookfield elpac

[0:48] uh if there is anyone present who is

[0:50] also recording this meeting please raise

[0:52] your hand so others are aware

[0:53] this meeting is also being broadcast via

[0:55] zoom and we do have um

[0:58] our zoom requirements

[1:03] um i'm just i sent a message to

[1:05] everybody saying can they hear us

[1:07] and i think we're a little muffled so i

[1:10] don't know if it's the mics that they

[1:12] need to hear

[1:13] or it's just the masks it might be a

[1:15] little bit of both but

[1:17] um we're working through the lpac sound

[1:19] so i'm hoping

[1:21] um i'm hoping that it it gets better

[1:26] i'm getting a lot of very staticky

[1:30] is this better

[1:33] any better that's better okay all right

[1:37] so when we're speaking speak into our

[1:40] microphones

[1:44] all right cool um

[1:48] so the biggest thing is um

[1:56] all right it is as follows

[2:00] let's see find my thing

[2:04] all right so we're now going to begin a

[2:06] remote meeting through the use of video

[2:07] communication it's important that we

[2:09] continue to respect the privacy and

[2:11] confidentiality

[2:12] of members of our school community

[2:14] including our teachers and staff

[2:16] and our students and their families by

[2:17] participating in this remote meeting

[2:19] today you agree that you will not save

[2:21] record share or post this session or any

[2:22] photos from this session

[2:25] i will not be recording this session for

[2:28] uh any reason and

[2:31] it will be as mrs tucker said be

[2:33] recorded and reposted by elpac if you do

[2:36] not agree to these rules or don't want

[2:37] to participate in a recorded meeting

[2:39] that will be posted and shared

[2:41] uh please disconnect from this session

[2:44] now

[2:47] all right um so i just let people know i

[2:50] brought a

[2:51] lapbook laptop from home so we can keep

[2:53] an eye on the chat here and

[2:55] uh i'm signed in under my husband's name

[2:57] so if you see kevin tucker there that he

[2:59] is actually

[3:00] not here

[3:04] i just wanted to start i did ask um

[3:06] anybody if they had any words of appreciation for any of our

[3:11] staff so i have a few things i want to

[3:12] start with a little bit of recognition

[3:14] um thanks to the fifth grade teachers

[3:16] for constantly answering my frantic

[3:18] emails last week when things were just

[3:20] not working right technology wise

[3:22] while you were trying to teach in your

[3:24] classroom students as well

[3:26] i seriously don't know how you do it

[3:27] thanks to mr manucci for always

[3:29] answering my phone calls returning my

[3:31] messages emails all summer long

[3:33] and into the first few weeks of school i

[3:35] know it has been so busy for him but you

[3:37] would never know

[3:38] beckett comes home and can't wait to

[3:40] tell me he got a lot of air high fives

[3:42] for mrs tarantino for being such a good

[3:43] reader

[3:44] thanks to mrs priestley and all the

[3:46] staff for just making the first week so

[3:48] welcoming for kids and for myself as a

[3:50] parent

[3:50] i was so nervous to send my kids back

[3:52] but i knew they needed to be there and

[3:53] my nerves were instantly settled on that

[3:55] first day

[3:56] seeing everyone so happy my kids come

[3:58] home every day so excited to tell me

[4:00] about being at school it's still a warm

[4:01] fun clean place to learn

[4:04] i'd like to give a big shout out to mrs

[4:06] servant and mrs martin

[4:08] for being so organized and attentive

[4:10] with digital learning so far

[4:12] academic assignments are for the most

[4:14] part accessible and not overwhelming

[4:16] these teachers respond to emails in a

[4:18] timely fashion focus on

[4:20] academic and social emotional education

[4:22] during this unprecedented time

[4:24] they've also offered to put better hard

[4:26] copy pick pickup

[4:28] bags for the students which is going

[4:30] above and beyond our expectations

[4:32] we've had some technology hiccups but

[4:33] they've been great at troubleshooting

[4:35] and trying to eradicate the issues

[4:36] quickly

[4:37] i'd also like to thank the school

[4:39] secretary dresden renault

[4:40] for being so helpful with this

[4:42] transition the food services and

[4:43] cafeteria staff

[4:45] have also been exceptional with

[4:46] adjusting to the new lunch routine and

[4:48] pick-up meals

[4:49] the school psychologists tyler petrus

[4:51] and mr manucci have also been responsive

[4:53] to emails and scheduling meetings

[4:54] assessments

[4:55] it takes a team and this team that my

[4:57] girls have at nbes has blown me away

[4:59] thus far

[5:00] um this is pratt my kids love seeing her

[5:03] at drop off

[5:05] i'd like to shout out mrs martin for

[5:07] remote teaching

[5:08] four grades of students she has been

[5:10] patient and strength based and positive

[5:13] as always please shout out allison

[5:15] bulger her job is often overlooked and

[5:17] sometimes thankless

[5:18] lol but in our current environment her

[5:21] task is even harder

[5:22] i always appreciate her diligence and

[5:24] her humor especially in a combat opening

[5:27] also thanks to dresden sheila and mary

[5:29] beth

[5:30] i'm not done yet thank you for being

[5:33] patient

[5:36] um

[5:40] to all the teachers out there we know

[5:41] you do so much more than just teach

[5:43] thank you

[5:44] i was concerned as most parents how my

[5:46] children would react to the changes in

[5:47] the new look of things at school

[5:49] on the bus etc but when they got home

[5:51] that first day i was pleasantly relieved

[5:53] that they were just so happy to be back

[5:54] they didn't really seem to notice or

[5:56] didn't mind the changes

[5:57] i know how hard it is and an adjustment

[5:59] for everyone involved in this new world

[6:01] we are navigating

[6:02] however the job of school systems must

[6:04] be one of the most challenging i

[6:05] appreciate everyone's efforts teachers

[6:07] support staff nursing

[6:08] culinary janitorial grounds crew buses

[6:10] transportation and anyone else i may

[6:12] have left out

[6:14] as a mom and a teacher i could not be

[6:15] more happy with how the elementary

[6:17] school has turned out for my daughter

[6:18] the building is bright warm and

[6:20] welcoming

[6:21] i took a peek into her classroom and

[6:23] found a beautiful room that was inviting

[6:25] and just like a third grade classroom

[6:26] should be

[6:28] my heart is happy that my child can

[6:29] attend school in person thank you to

[6:30] everyone who has a part in this north

[6:32] brookfield elementary school is a

[6:33] magical place

[6:35] where learning smiles and laughter still

[6:36] exists shout out to mr stanley

[6:39] at the high school for his postcards and

[6:40] ongoing communication with his students

[6:42] during covet in the summer

[6:44] plus the birthday greeting he sent for

[6:45] my daughter we truly appreciate you and

[6:47] your effort

[6:49] and then just for myself um we had a

[6:51] technical technological

[6:53] glitch last wednesday and my daughter

[6:56] got

[6:56] kicked off a zoom before she got to

[6:59] share and mr cervelo

[7:01] called us up and jumped back on zoom

[7:03] with her so she could

[7:05] let him know how she was doing so i

[7:06] appreciate that very much

[7:09] all right can i add one thing

[7:12] i really enjoyed the the videos made

[7:16] for the introduction to the school and

[7:18] the covid procedures

[7:19] because you know obviously kids can come

[7:21] in ahead of time and learn what was

[7:22] going on so

[7:24] i enjoyed the cut out buses and the

[7:27] production value was was commendable so

[7:29] it was a really nice thing to see and it

[7:32] was fun it was a fun watch and i think

[7:34] it showed them what to expect when they

[7:35] got here so thank you guys for doing

[7:37] that

[7:40] um so now we just we have two minutes

[7:42] that we need to approve the regular

[7:44] meeting of august 17th

[7:45] 2020 and the special meeting of

[7:47] september 8th 2020.

[7:49] does anyone have any comments on the

[7:50] meeting minutes

[7:52] corrections or anything

[7:56] all right i need a motion to approve i

[7:59] move to approve the meeting minutes

[8:01] from uh regular meeting of august 17th

[8:06] and a second

[8:14] who said that okay elizabeth sorry i saw her saying i'm all in favor

[8:22] hi i

[8:29] um in the uh

[8:32] special meeting of september 8th need a

[8:35] motion for that one too

[8:36] the move to accept the minutes of the

[8:39] special meeting of september 8th

[8:43] that was first all in favor

[8:47] all right so we have megan bogus yep i

[8:54] see her there

[8:56] so megan uh bogus is the student representative so um hi megan

[9:01] why don't you tell us what's been going

[9:02] on

[9:04] okay yes we can

[9:11] okay so we had a

[9:14] few things going on

[9:26] [Music]

[9:47] um we're having a fundraiser

[9:51] for chromebook coverage and

[9:55] they'll be sold for 15 dollars

[9:59] and we come up with qr codes around the

[10:01] high schools and even standard was

[10:03] responsible to

[10:05] purchase one and then see

[10:08] new students or like

[10:11] the blue silver well we want to plan at

[10:13] first student council

[10:15] we also have qr codes for that around

[10:18] the

[10:18] school so you could just turn on their

[10:20] phone and

[10:21] send in a google doc with like 20

[10:24] signatures and then

[10:26] they'll be picked up again and then

[10:29] we're supposed

[10:39] fair coming up we are planning on having

[10:42] this

[10:43] virtually we'll send out a google form

[10:46] for each student to fill out and they

[10:47] can select

[10:48] what that could be assigned for

[10:53] and then they will be added to a google

[10:55] classroom and

[10:56] post it and check those

[11:05] so we're going to be meeting with the

[11:07] student council

[11:08] um e-board i believe

[11:12] beginning thursday on a regular basis so

[11:15] some of those topics that megan covered

[11:17] are part of that meeting like typically

[11:20] they've had an activities fair where

[11:22] students where student groups are out in

[11:24] the hallways and

[11:26] kids come up and uh find out a little

[11:28] bit more about that club

[11:30] or activity obviously we can't do it in

[11:32] the

[11:33] traditional way so we're gonna explore

[11:35] some alternative ways to be able to

[11:38] have an activities fair so kids can see

[11:40] what types of

[11:42] options are available so if i understood

[11:44] correctly

[11:45] every activity i'll have a google

[11:46] classroom and you can sign up to go

[11:48] check it out yeah we gotta just finalize

[11:51] the details to make it work for everyone

[11:55] all right thanks megan thank you megan

[12:01] so we actually did have correspondence

[12:03] to the school committee

[12:04] uh from the commissioner reilly yeah um which we're

[12:10] gonna address that

[12:12] actually two letters one from what about

[12:14] actually no it's just one letter with two pieces two pieces um

[12:18] and we're gonna

[12:20] move things around just a little bit so

[12:22] um

[12:24] in mr lin's report later on he's going

[12:28] to discuss

[12:29] what we what's called the phases of

[12:31] learning

[12:32] so that's when we make decisions about

[12:34] switching from

[12:35] one mode of learning to another so we're

[12:38] going to bring that and

[12:39] discuss that real quickly right now and

[12:41] then we'll have some time for public

[12:43] participation

[12:45] and the letter from the commissioner

[12:46] actually is part of that

[12:51] so mr lin if you want to just go over

[12:54] the uh phases of learning yeah so

[12:58] the commissioner's letter there's two

[13:00] parts the first part is

[13:03] the department of public health website

[13:05] their color-coded health metric

[13:08] for every town in the state

[13:11] and the whole idea was to provide

[13:12] districts with information

[13:16] about the general level of coveted

[13:19] health for lack of a better term within

[13:21] their community

[13:23] so that they could make decisions and

[13:25] part of those decisions are obviously

[13:27] around

[13:27] school so we've been working

[13:30] in the superintendent's association to

[13:33] sort of

[13:34] try to parse that out and one of the

[13:37] challenges i think as i explained in the

[13:39] last meeting is

[13:40] that every community is so individual

[13:43] you know a community like north

[13:44] brookfield is a small

[13:46] rural community having a

[13:49] one-size-fits-all approach to

[13:50] closing versus opening versus a

[13:53] community like worcester

[13:55] probably doesn't make sense

[13:58] so so what we've worked on is a general

[14:03] sort of guideline to follow

[14:07] where based on the total number of

[14:10] confirmed cases

[14:11] in the state of massachusetts positivity

[14:14] rate

[14:14] would be two metrics that we would use

[14:16] as kind of a guiding light

[14:19] and then use local context with the

[14:21] school committee the board of health

[14:24] and other local officials to make

[14:26] decisions about

[14:27] whether we should be in remote learning

[14:30] hybrid learning or

[14:32] move to all-in-person learning

[14:35] i think we all understand at this point

[14:38] all in person learning

[14:39] is we're not ready for that probably

[14:42] in the short term i don't know what

[14:44] short how to define short term or long

[14:46] term anymore based on

[14:48] uh what you hear in the news but um

[14:52] but i think really for us it's whether

[14:53] we should be in hybrid or

[14:55] remote at this point and that's what we

[14:58] tried to

[14:59] pull together as a superintendent's

[15:01] association was

[15:04] you know the whole idea of looking at

[15:06] the number of confirmed cases

[15:09] within a community and the state

[15:11] positivity rate

[15:14] and then work together with

[15:17] you know board of health or the local

[15:19] officials school committee to say

[15:21] what's right for our community given the

[15:23] current

[15:24] conditions and all the local context

[15:28] that goes into that

[15:31] so forwarded this to the board of health

[15:33] um and actually had a conversation today

[15:36] with

[15:36] mr brusso and he um he indicated

[15:40] they're looking at that uh and would get

[15:42] back to me

[15:43] with some feedback uh i also went back

[15:46] to our superintendent's association and

[15:47] asked for more

[15:49] uh if there could be more and i think

[15:52] that's where we're running

[15:54] i'm sorry um i i don't mean to cut in

[15:57] i'm just this is nearly impossible to

[15:59] hear

[16:00] and i think you're going over probably a

[16:02] lot of the really important information

[16:03] that people

[16:04] came to hear so you know we're

[16:14] [Music]

[16:21] but not go through the alpac sound

[16:23] system

[16:24] well the problem with that is then it

[16:26] there won't be any sound on the lpac

[16:28] so rich can you take your i mean we are

[16:30] six feet away so

[16:32] if he takes his mask off see if this is

[16:34] any better elizabeth is this better

[16:38] i don't know it's hard to tell it seemed

[16:40] like it seemed better initially and then

[16:42] just it's yeah i don't know i think we

[16:46] have to talk a little more so you can't

[16:48] just do the meetings that the people who

[16:50] are remote can hear you through the zoom

[16:52] and then alpac can film it separately so

[16:54] that

[16:55] or is that united well i think that's

[16:58] the problem we ran into last time which

[17:00] was

[17:00] elpac you know was recording us but we

[17:03] didn't have a way to

[17:04] record the sound so you you know

[17:09] yeah okay so last time

[17:12] the sound was bad because we had the mic

[17:15] in the room

[17:16] and trying to have it on the web so you

[17:18] guys at home you were telling me the

[17:20] sound was bad is it any can you hear me

[17:21] better now

[17:24] not really not really okay

[17:28] um you know what let's take a break

[17:32] here in the meeting okay so we're gonna

[17:34] uh can i get a motion to

[17:36] temporarily adjourn here i'll make a

[17:39] motion to temporarily adjourn

[17:41] we'll be back we'll try to be back in

[17:42] like 10 minutes

[17:53] so we can see if we can make this better

[18:02] although does he can he see us

[26:01] be able to hear us talking on youtube

[26:03] they'll post their comments

[26:06] well what you're going to do is

[26:12] can you guys hear me now

[26:18] no not yet hello what am i gonna do so

[26:21] type

[26:22] hello public participation

[26:44] like a

[26:51] i'm wrap listening

[27:10] [Music]

[27:15] star trek

[27:21] [Music]

[27:27] the

[27:32] don't know window that didn't work

[27:38] i don't know

[27:51] that's what the problem is there people

[27:53] who are on zoom in

[27:55] youtube okay so the sound up

[27:59] is so we can't have horrible

[28:02] can we have people on youtube watching

[28:04] and then chatting on zoom but they have

[28:05] to be

[28:06] muted on zoom i i think so but i think

[28:08] there's a delay

[28:11] okay there's a delay to youtube yeah i think

[28:28] stupid i don't know what to do

[28:33] can we just have a go full on well then

[28:36] they can't

[28:37] should we just like try this again

[28:42] next monday

[28:46] [Music]

[28:57] yeah your computer yep

[29:04] but it's it's the delay so

[29:08] maria said oh i have it on my phone like

[29:11] whatever 30 seconds ago and then it just

[29:13] came out

[29:14] so okay can we just do a zoom meeting

[29:18] and

[29:18] they can record us on zoom right can we

[29:20] just do that for this

[29:24] evening

[29:31] yeah these people are all on zoom yep

[29:34] the only difference was the live

[29:36] piece um yeah i mean the problem is of

[29:40] course then when we

[29:42] you know we unmute ourselves is that

[29:43] going to be a feedback for you

[29:45] it's going to be a nightmare so i guess

[29:48] can we use the microphone of the speaker

[29:50] and plug this plug it into

[29:51] the computer like what did we do last

[29:54] time

[29:54] where we had the microphone we had the

[29:56] microphone plugged in but people

[29:58] complained they couldn't hear

[29:59] very well but that was working and that

[30:03] stopped me

[30:04] i mean they can't hear at all now it's

[30:07] right in the chat if you go

[30:08] up it says you know they said they

[30:10] couldn't hear right

[30:17] um so i mean honestly the easiest thing

[30:19] to do so we can actually have a meeting

[30:20] tonight is to

[30:22] just do a zoom meeting yeah and we would

[30:24] just have to go to

[30:25] separate rooms okay because when we're

[30:28] in the same room we get all the feedback

[30:30] you can use this i'll use my phone okay

[30:33] then um hopefully i don't run out of

[30:36] don't have an iphone charger

[30:42] do you want to use this and i can go get

[30:43] my computer

[30:45] otherwise we're gonna

[31:01] do you want to go to my office

[31:05] i got to take this to another room too

[31:06] right feedback with

[31:08] rich's computer yeah

[31:22] so i think we have to set maria and tim

[31:25] up in separate rooms there

[31:26] okay yeah i just need a i need to try

[31:29] this on my phone

[31:30] because

[31:34] um where do you want to go

[31:38] i don't have to go far like one room

[31:40] over or something

[31:41] here i'll sit in the hallway if i need

[31:43] to this

[31:44] the next one right there is yeah

[31:47] whatever it's pretty nice

[31:50] it's on this decline our destiny concert

[31:52] do you want to go there

[32:12] comfy

[32:26] oh

[32:30] uh it's on the uh

[32:33] agenda i'll forward it to you thank you

[35:48] [Music]

[35:56] so

[36:04] [Music]

[36:24] um

[36:30] in going over what you were talking

[36:32] about the commissioner's letter and the

[36:38] phase

[36:46] would it help if people still muted

[36:48] themselves that are nearby

[36:53] well i just it's because i'm right next

[36:54] to the um

[36:57] school committee room that's all other

[36:59] than that it's fine

[37:16] all right i'm back can you hear me yes

[37:20] so it took me a minute

[37:23] all right so we're all zoom now and lpac

[37:26] is recording

[37:27] through zoom so

[37:31] we're still working on the technology

[37:33] end i guess it's the best way to

[37:35] describe this

[37:38] all right um do you want me to try to

[37:40] pick up where we left off

[37:42] in some way shape or form

[37:53] okay i will um rich um yeah if you want

[37:57] to uh succinctly go over the phases of

[38:01] learning please

[38:03] okay so the phases of learning in the

[38:05] last school committee meeting

[38:07] a special meeting on september 8th it

[38:10] was

[38:11] i think as i said then a

[38:15] compilation of work done at the

[38:17] superintendent's association

[38:19] to try to help districts with

[38:22] identifying when it's time to ship

[38:24] from either remote to a hybrid hybrid

[38:27] just

[38:28] in person or to remote whatever

[38:32] uh it might be the challenge that we've

[38:35] had

[38:35] putting together something is is uh

[38:38] that's acceptable to all is the

[38:40] one-size-fits-all approach

[38:42] the idea that every community is the

[38:44] same

[38:45] just doesn't exist worcester is

[38:46] different from north brookfield that's

[38:48] different from

[38:50] um you know a vocational school that

[38:53] serves

[38:54] whatever 10 12 15 communities so there's

[38:57] no

[38:58] good one model that says this is when

[39:01] you should switch from one

[39:03] to the other so uh what we did was we

[39:06] put together

[39:07] two pieces of information one is uh

[39:11] confirmed cases per hundred in the state

[39:14] of massachusetts positivity rate as a

[39:17] guide

[39:19] to assist in making transition decisions

[39:22] uh the cases per 100 000 is that

[39:25] color-coded map that you see

[39:27] on the dph website of red yellow green

[39:30] or gray i guess is the best way to

[39:32] describe

[39:33] the color that sort of outlines and

[39:36] defines

[39:37] how many cases per hundred thousand your

[39:39] town has

[39:41] and then the state of positive state of

[39:42] massachusetts positivity rate

[39:45] has been essentially

[39:52] sort of sent out on a daily basis as

[39:54] well

[39:57] the number of people who tested how many

[39:59] are positive

[40:01] and they're shooting for less than two

[40:03] percent is what their real

[40:05] their biggest goal is uh

[40:09] and obviously their biggest goal was to

[40:10] have it zero but

[40:12] they they like to see it below two

[40:14] percent so

[40:15] um so at the last meeting uh the

[40:18] committee asked me to forward this to

[40:20] the board of health and back the

[40:21] superintendents association for some

[40:23] more help

[40:24] i've done both um i spoke to

[40:27] trevor brucho from the board of health

[40:29] today he said

[40:30] he's not ignoring us they are looking at

[40:33] it we've got to give us some feedback on

[40:35] it

[40:36] and uh the superintendent's association

[40:39] is sort of

[40:41] stuck because you have this um

[40:44] so many school districts are different

[40:46] because as i

[40:47] said earlier that no school district is

[40:50] alike to others they solve this local

[40:53] context that plays into

[40:56] the decision making so i don't know

[40:59] what we're going to get from the superintendents and from the

[41:05] department of elementary and secondary

[41:07] education i

[41:08] keep hearing that dph might come up with

[41:10] some more guidance on this

[41:12] but we haven't seen it yet and i think

[41:15] that's probably partly what the board of

[41:17] health would be waiting for is they work

[41:20] under the you know the local boy health

[41:22] works under the mass department of

[41:24] public health so

[41:27] this sort of stuck in waiting to see

[41:29] what tph might come up with so

[41:32] i don't have a lot more information from

[41:34] the last meeting to share about those

[41:35] phases of learning

[41:37] peace other than the feedback continues

[41:40] to be

[41:41] that they are asking us when i say they

[41:47] the department of dph and secondary

[41:48] education are

[41:50] encouraging districts to use multiple

[41:54] weeks of data

[41:55] to not as the commissioner has stated

[41:59] ping-pong between learning models based

[42:02] on

[42:03] a day or a week's worth of data because

[42:07] it could change

[42:08] [Music]

[42:10] between yellow and green or

[42:13] gray on some to some degree of

[42:16] regularity and if every day that it

[42:18] changes

[42:19] you're moving your learning model then

[42:22] you have this huge

[42:24] sort of constant change that you never

[42:27] really get anywhere

[42:28] so they're really encouraging uh three

[42:31] weeks of data it was

[42:32] is what they're really sort of the

[42:35] number they're pushing

[42:37] but again it's it's it's up to us as a

[42:39] community to decide what's right

[42:42] because it may be cases where three

[42:44] weeks doesn't make sense

[42:45] uh we've seen other communities where

[42:47] there's a huge number of people who are

[42:50] positive in a short period of time

[42:53] they need to make quick decisions and

[42:55] that's not

[42:56] three weeks and there's other situations

[42:59] where

[43:00] making a quick decision isn't the right

[43:02] decision

[43:03] based on whatever the context of those

[43:05] individual

[43:06] circumstances are so that's kind of the

[43:09] phases of learning document i think dph

[43:12] and ultimately a local boy hell we

[43:14] really do need to weigh

[43:16] in and i think again i know i said it

[43:18] probably two or three weeks ago that

[43:20] there was information that they would be

[43:22] coming out with something to help us

[43:23] but it hasn't come yet so

[43:27] um so that's where that's happened

[43:43] maria maria you were muted

[43:51] sorry um so

[43:54] just uh wrap up dph and

[43:58] dsc their advice is in is to

[44:01] in most cases use three weeks of data so

[44:04] um

[44:06] and also with the the

[44:09] going between the phases of learning

[44:11] models so to not make a rapid decision

[44:14] unless

[44:14] there's a large outbreak and that is the

[44:17] advice that we have thus far the board

[44:19] of health is looking at it and hasn't gotten back to us just

[44:23] yet

[44:24] so right now we're going to do public

[44:26] participation

[44:28] and because we do have other things we

[44:30] need to cover we're going to set the

[44:31] public participation at

[44:32] 20 minutes if you have a question about

[44:36] the

[44:36] situation that mr lind um

[44:39] sent home a letter about today and i'll

[44:41] ask him real quickly to just go over

[44:42] that again

[44:44] um if you in the chat put type your name

[44:46] and then type your question

[44:48] and we will um spend about 15 to 20

[44:50] minutes uh going over those questions

[44:52] and then if you have further

[44:54] questions um you can email me at mtucker

[44:58] um at nbschools.org and we'll try to get

[45:00] back to you

[45:01] so rich can you just go over the real

[45:04] quickly the situation that you um

[45:06] shared with um the school community

[45:08] today

[45:09] yeah so uh we were informed that

[45:12] we had a member of our school community

[45:15] test positive

[45:17] after going through kind of the contact tracing

[45:21] process

[45:23] [Music]

[45:24] determined that this person was

[45:27] out of school when they had contact and

[45:30] were tested

[45:32] so the person was at home essentially

[45:35] when this all came down so no members

[45:39] staff or students would be considered

[45:42] having close

[45:43] contact but that's with that individual

[45:47] so i know that lots of folks are

[45:50] concerned and want more information

[45:54] there's not a lot more to share other

[45:56] than that the person who

[45:58] is positive has not been in the building

[46:01] essentially um from the time

[46:05] of um exposure and testing

[46:09] to now

[46:12] um can you can you clarify the content

[46:15] of the letter because it sounded as

[46:17] though

[46:18] um it sounded as though

[46:23] they were exposed to someone who tested

[46:24] positive on wednesday

[46:27] yeah so so they were exposed to someone

[46:30] who tested positive on wednesday and

[46:32] they saw them after they tested positive

[46:35] they saw them and then the person has

[46:37] been paused right

[46:39] so they would have seen them before

[46:40] wednesday

[46:42] uh no

[46:47] that's not that's not no that's not the

[46:50] way it occurred

[46:51] oh it's not okay because i would think

[46:53] that if someone tested positive on

[46:54] wednesday

[46:56] so they saw them on wednesday i mean i'm

[46:59] just because if i tested positive i

[47:00] wouldn't come in contact but i'm trying

[47:02] to understand

[47:03] if they saw them and then the test

[47:05] occurred

[47:07] right okay so they were since they are

[47:09] symptomatic they were likely symptomatic

[47:11] on monday or tuesday

[47:14] i'm not sure i'm not privy to that my

[47:17] understanding is that um

[47:24] they saw the person then the person was

[47:26] tested was positive

[47:30] they were informed of that they went to

[47:32] get tested and they were positive

[47:39] so this all this all happened after

[47:42] their time uh in the school buildings

[47:46] the testing no the testing everything

[47:52] like after they left on tuesday

[47:55] they saw the person after that

[48:01] yes oh okay

[48:04] so that is the case i just want people

[48:07] to understand i have to be very careful

[48:09] here

[48:09] i totally understand i totally

[48:10] understand it's just the way the letter

[48:12] reads

[48:13] i'm trying not to be avoid questions but

[48:15] i

[48:16] also have to maintain some level of

[48:18] confidentiality absolutely

[48:21] that every time i answer a question that

[48:23] gives a

[48:24] further insight i'm trying i guess

[48:29] no one here staff a student

[48:32] was a close contact to the student i

[48:35] feel like

[48:36] is pretty direct and people are asking

[48:40] well when well i'm telling you there was

[48:42] no one here who's a close contact

[48:45] every time i answer a question okay okay

[48:48] i think what people understand no i'm

[48:51] glad i think that's good clarification

[48:52] because i think there was something

[48:56] it says no one here

[48:59] no staff of students we're a close

[49:01] contact

[49:03] so i i'm trying to answer questions

[49:06] because i know they're out there and i

[49:07] want to

[49:09] provide that but i i want people to

[49:11] understand i'm not avoiding questions

[49:13] because i'm trying to hide something

[49:14] other than ensuring the confidentiality

[49:18] of

[49:18] students and staff and families because

[49:21] if it was any of our families we

[49:23] wouldn't want that share

[49:25] necessarily i don't think anyone's

[49:28] asking for the school's name or anything

[49:29] like that but just clarification

[49:31] that that because i know these questions

[49:33] have come up so that's helpful thank you

[49:36] in the letter i thought i could put it

[49:38] clearly apparently i didn't but

[49:40] i thought it said you know no staff the

[49:42] students were

[49:44] close contacts so essentially that

[49:48] i'm sorry um i think

[49:51] i understand the need to be paid

[49:54] but you know obviously when you're when

[49:56] you're

[50:00] i think this is an opportunity maybe if

[50:02] you could just briefly discuss

[50:04] um how that contact process

[50:08] without getting into the details of who

[50:10] i think

[50:17] today that there was a positive

[50:20] interaction maybe you can just walk us

[50:24] through that really

[50:28] [Music]

[50:35] so we actually got a call from the

[50:37] family

[50:38] about the positive test

[50:42] we then report it to both the department

[50:44] of education

[50:45] and to the local board of health

[50:49] the board of health checks through the

[50:52] dph

[50:52] site to make sure that they're aware of

[50:55] it and they were

[50:57] because a positive test from wherever

[51:00] they went

[51:00] to get tested gets reported to dph so

[51:04] it's trying to tie up all the loose ends

[51:06] my report to the department of

[51:08] elementary and secondary education again

[51:10] is not

[51:11] specific to any person it's specific to

[51:15] a situation

[51:16] they want to make sure that they're

[51:18] available to help us with tracking or

[51:20] rapid unit if there's a larger outbreak

[51:24] and double back as they meet with dph so

[51:28] um the whole idea

[51:31] is that when cross-referencing between

[51:34] school

[51:36] healthcare providers and state and local

[51:40] health agencies that they're all in the

[51:43] loop and they understand

[51:44] the exact situation

[51:48] i'm not sure i answered your question if

[51:49] that would that answer though

[51:51] could i i was just

[51:55] you know so you when you first got the

[51:58] protocol

[51:59] the information you need to give before

[52:10] [Music]

[52:14] right so yeah we find out

[52:19] sort of when and where everybody's been

[52:20] our nurse did that

[52:22] and based on the timing the student

[52:26] wasn't in the building

[52:27] from the time of contact to the time of

[52:30] a positive test so whenever they had a

[52:33] close contact

[52:35] to which was wednesday to the time they

[52:38] were tested which was

[52:39] thursday i'm sorry which was uh

[52:42] friday they got the results

[52:47] right we're not in the building at any

[52:48] point and

[52:50] uh you know we follow up with questions

[52:53] like have they been in contact with

[52:54] anybody

[52:56] um have they seen you know any other

[52:59] people that are would have been in the

[53:01] building

[53:02] um and according to the family

[53:06] so had it happened or had the videos

[53:09] there would have been a different sort

[53:10] of letter more information based on

[53:12] communicative

[53:15] say the person who tested positive had

[53:18] been in school

[53:19] the communication that we have and it's

[53:21] in the protocols but

[53:23] we have a series of letters uh would

[53:26] have been

[53:27] you know for example if it was in your

[53:29] child's i don't know third grade

[53:30] classroom

[53:31] i don't need to pick up third grade so

[53:34] don't be worried

[53:35] um it would have been a letter to the

[53:38] students in that third grade classroom

[53:40] saying your child was a close

[53:42] contact they need to quarantine

[53:46] we encourage you to see your physician

[53:48] it would have been a very different

[53:50] letter

[53:50] because at the junior senior high where

[53:53] kids do move about

[53:55] aren't necessarily cohorted all day um

[53:59] at the senior high particularly again

[54:02] we would have had to go through all the

[54:05] classes

[54:06] say a student or a staff person was in

[54:09] and all those people would get a letter

[54:11] saying they were a close contact

[54:13] others would get a letter saying there

[54:16] was a situation but your child was not a

[54:18] close contact

[54:22] so it depends on the situation of what

[54:25] the communication

[54:26] will be if that makes sense yes

[54:29] we actually got a comment in the chat

[54:41] my intention was not to make it uh

[54:44] confusing and apparently i did and i

[54:46] apologize for that

[54:48] uh everyone's conditioned to go

[54:50] independent

[54:56] [Music]

[55:03] absolutely thank you for getting

[55:07] so if you couldn't understand tim he was

[55:09] saying someone in the chat

[55:10] said that um that explanation was much

[55:13] clearer than the

[55:15] email and then just

[55:18] that this is a new situation for

[55:20] everybody and we're all trying to

[55:22] manage it so is there any um in the chat

[55:26] are there any questions about anything

[55:28] any

[55:28] anything else besides

[55:32] does anyone have any comments or

[55:34] questions about this that particular

[55:36] situation

[55:37] nope just hope everyone's well yes

[55:42] agreed um

[55:45] all right so before i move on i just

[55:47] want to make sure anyone have any of our listeners any comments or

[55:54] questions

[55:57] i don't see anything in the chat so i'm

[55:58] going to move on

[56:00] all right um so

[56:04] financial report and again i'm gonna ask

[56:06] you to be succinct

[56:07] please okay so no major changes the only

[56:10] big change that i can see coming is some

[56:13] um

[56:14] amendments to our um coronavirus

[56:18] the various coronavirus relief grants

[56:21] that we have

[56:22] um you know there are some things we

[56:24] planned on that we don't necessarily or

[56:26] will not do

[56:29] and there are some things that we

[56:30] planned a certain amount of money for

[56:32] and we need more

[56:33] or less so we want to adjust it

[56:36] accordingly

[56:37] uh for example we have some final

[56:39] repairs at the junior senior hive

[56:41] the hvac system some dampers and

[56:44] programming needs to happen

[56:47] we thought we were good there um it's

[56:49] there's some additional expense with

[56:50] that

[56:51] so we do need to move a little bit

[56:53] around on that

[56:55] and we have a couple of other items so

[56:57] that's the major piece that you'll see

[56:59] next time in our although you don't see

[57:01] that specifically you see the

[57:03] total expenditure uh but just so you

[57:06] know

[57:06] uh we are going to amend those grants

[57:09] and that's a pretty regular practice

[57:11] with our grants is

[57:12] to make some amendments to move things

[57:15] around as

[57:17] often those are written weeks months

[57:20] even a year in advance of actually

[57:22] spending the money so

[57:23] we often are estimating what something

[57:26] might cost or

[57:28] guessing what we might need it's

[57:30] educated guessing but

[57:32] sometimes it turns out to be a little

[57:33] different

[57:35] in terms of the

[57:40] district budget i think we're very much

[57:42] on track

[57:43] we've updated um with the approval of

[57:46] the

[57:47] esp's one-year contract

[57:50] salaries have been updated so there'll

[57:52] be a bit of a change

[57:54] there in terms of the percentage

[57:56] obviously it will increase a bit

[57:58] but we're in good shape with that

[58:02] and just so you know i can check off

[58:05] another thing

[58:06] from my report all positions have now

[58:09] been filled we don't have any open

[58:11] positions i believe

[58:12] for the entire district we had a couple

[58:15] of

[58:15] instructional assistant positions that

[58:18] we've filled in

[58:19] so um there are no open positions which

[58:22] is great

[58:24] so our our budget is very much on track

[58:27] um not a lot to report i think we're

[58:30] still at the beginning and

[58:32] in a lot of ways teachers and

[58:34] administrators are figuring out what

[58:36] they do need

[58:37] uh to to effectively do what we need to

[58:41] do this year

[58:42] um now that they have a full week in

[58:45] there

[58:46] under their belt and we're into the

[58:48] second week i think we'll start to see

[58:49] some of those expenditures

[58:51] creep back up for supplies and materials

[58:55] that there's

[58:56] you know that they really want to

[59:00] get to support students so um

[59:04] not a lot to report other than we're

[59:05] very much on track for where we should

[59:07] be

[59:10] all right great

[59:13] um so moving on to the administrators

[59:16] reports um ms

[59:17] powers and um mr lind if you want to

[59:19] give us the high school report it's

[59:21] middle school high school

[59:23] sure thank you um so the first

[59:26] couple days of school have been great

[59:28] and you know i wanted to shout out and

[59:30] thank

[59:30] all of the staff the faculty the staff

[59:32] the support staff

[59:33] custodians um allison bulger

[59:36] and as secretary just everyone's really

[59:39] stepped up to make it

[59:40] a positive and

[59:43] very efficient couple days of school so

[59:46] far and like

[59:47] mr lynn said we're into our second week

[59:48] so we're definitely starting to get a

[59:50] groove

[59:51] almost every junior senior high student

[59:53] has picked up their chromebook

[59:55] and teachers have been using chromebooks

[59:57] in and out of the classroom so when

[59:58] students are at home for the hybrid

[1:00:00] model and also

[1:00:01] in the classroom so it's been great to

[1:00:02] walk around and see a lot of technology

[1:00:04] in action

[1:00:05] and then the other thing i wanted to

[1:00:07] just say is that our parent teacher

[1:00:08] conferences for the fall

[1:00:10] is going to be wednesday october 14th we

[1:00:13] will send more communication out about

[1:00:14] that but

[1:00:15] um just so everyone can kind of put it

[1:00:16] on their calendar for the 14th

[1:00:18] in the in the evening from 6 to 8 p.m we

[1:00:21] were going to have virtual

[1:00:22] uh parent-teacher conferences so more

[1:00:24] information to come on that

[1:00:30] um mrs priestley

[1:00:34] hi everyone can you hear me okay yes

[1:00:37] so i just wanted to echo what miss power

[1:00:39] said about the

[1:00:41] um coming back and it's been amazing the

[1:00:43] kids having them here

[1:00:45] seeing them on their remote classrooms

[1:00:48] with mrs martin and mrs servant

[1:00:50] um it's just been really great to be

[1:00:52] with kids again

[1:00:54] so it's a huge thank you to all the

[1:00:56] staff that's been

[1:00:57] able to make that possible um we are

[1:01:00] working on

[1:01:01] a back-to-school night virtual style

[1:01:05] it's gonna be kind of a bitmoji style so

[1:01:07] stay tuned as we work out the details on

[1:01:09] that but i think it's going to be really

[1:01:11] cool

[1:01:12] uh kind of a neat format for uh all the

[1:01:15] families to meet our teachers

[1:01:17] and kind of make it a little fun so

[1:01:20] uh we do a picture day this week oh

[1:01:22] sorry mr linda

[1:01:24] what's the what's your projected date

[1:01:25] for that

[1:01:27] we are um scheduled to have our back to

[1:01:29] school night on september 30th so it's a

[1:01:31] week from wednesday we pushed it back a

[1:01:33] week just to give us more time to put

[1:01:35] the digital

[1:01:36] uh format together and also because it

[1:01:38] feels like we just started since we got

[1:01:40] the late star with kids so

[1:01:42] um it made sense to push it back uh we

[1:01:45] do have picture day this week so

[1:01:46] tomorrow is for our cohort a and c

[1:01:48] students so a and then the c who are

[1:01:50] here four days a week

[1:01:52] and then on thursday for our cohort b

[1:01:55] students and also our remote students

[1:01:57] have the opportunity to come in

[1:01:59] anytime between nine and two to get

[1:02:02] their

[1:02:03] picture taken that's it for me

[1:02:08] all right great mr manucci

[1:02:11] to be real brief um starting next month

[1:02:14] i'm going to have a

[1:02:15] bi-weekly communication call on

[1:02:18] wednesday evenings

[1:02:20] um kind of a take off from donuts with

[1:02:23] the director

[1:02:23] from last year um and i'll be sending

[1:02:26] out an email to the whole community to

[1:02:28] do that

[1:02:30] also the the cpac has been reorganized

[1:02:34] and we will be starting up in october

[1:02:36] and we will be starting those meetings

[1:02:38] off as zoom meetings

[1:02:39] um and again i'll send out an email to

[1:02:41] the entire uh school community for that and that's

[1:02:46] all i have for today

[1:02:48] um actually i want to mention something

[1:02:50] about um something uh project mr manucci

[1:02:53] spearheaded um with money and materials

[1:02:57] donated by the rotary club

[1:02:59] the brookfield's angels backpacks

[1:03:01] country auto bottom

[1:03:02] body and community members the student

[1:03:05] services department at north brookfield

[1:03:06] public school has

[1:03:07] over 30 desk shields built and

[1:03:09] distributed to teachers and staff at all

[1:03:11] the schools in the district

[1:03:13] the shields have given students and

[1:03:14] staff protection and added peace of mind

[1:03:16] in delivering services to students

[1:03:18] the initiative has spread and at least

[1:03:20] seven neighboring districts have started

[1:03:22] their own initiative

[1:03:23] and surrounding rotary clubs including

[1:03:24] sturbridge rotary are helping in the

[1:03:26] challenge

[1:03:27] so we did share some pictures there

[1:03:29] basically they go on top of a desk

[1:03:31] or a table and they're plexiglass and

[1:03:33] they're held together they have

[1:03:34] i don't know pipes or something pvc

[1:03:36] pipes for the sides but it was really

[1:03:38] wonderful um

[1:03:40] yeah we get donations and help from

[1:03:43] country auto

[1:03:44] and uh i know also from the

[1:03:48] rotary club and some other groups so

[1:03:50] it's really a great uh

[1:03:51] thing for the the kids and the teachers

[1:03:54] to have

[1:03:56] so thanks mr manucci you're welcome

[1:03:58] thank you maria

[1:04:00] all right um so uh

[1:04:04] the curriculum mrs powers again

[1:04:07] back to me thanks um so i just wanted to

[1:04:10] touch base

[1:04:11] since the last time we had our school

[1:04:12] committee meeting we did have our

[1:04:13] professional development days at the

[1:04:14] beginning of the school year

[1:04:16] i think over the summer we thought what

[1:04:17] are we going to do there's 12 days

[1:04:19] we got to plan it and we did a really

[1:04:21] great job

[1:04:22] as administrative team putting together

[1:04:24] things that fit under

[1:04:26] our topics which was technology

[1:04:27] integration

[1:04:29] looking at diversity equity and

[1:04:31] inclusion safety

[1:04:33] and building relationships with students

[1:04:35] so it was a very successful 12 days i

[1:04:37] really think

[1:04:37] that it was beneficial for us to use

[1:04:40] those days to get ready

[1:04:42] for this unique year and i would love to

[1:04:44] actually have more days before school

[1:04:46] starts in the future

[1:04:47] maybe not 12 but i do think having a few

[1:04:49] more really allowed staff to

[1:04:52] build on some of the things that they've

[1:04:53] been working on over the past few years

[1:04:56] and then just lastly a shout out to mrs

[1:04:59] dubuque who is running our mentoring program our

[1:05:02] new teachers all have a mentor

[1:05:04] and they've been starting to meet

[1:05:06] regularly and really getting

[1:05:08] that program off the ground so thank you

[1:05:10] to her for making those connections and

[1:05:12] allowing

[1:05:13] our new staff to get the support they

[1:05:15] need um this year especially so

[1:05:18] that's all thank you awesome thank you

[1:05:21] um so mrs o'hara has a

[1:05:23] short report that uh chromebook

[1:05:26] distribution started for the junior

[1:05:28] senior high school

[1:05:29] last week um and they have loaned

[1:05:33] also 32 ipads to students in pre-k first

[1:05:36] grade

[1:05:37] for students since second through six

[1:05:39] they've loaned about 65 chromebooks to

[1:05:41] students

[1:05:43] there's a new tech assistant who has

[1:05:45] been a great help justin hatkinson

[1:05:48] the infrastructure upgrade has been

[1:05:50] completed uh there is an access point in

[1:05:52] 95

[1:05:53] of the classrooms in the district um and

[1:05:55] then last but

[1:05:56] not least for me anyway the google app

[1:05:58] issues with

[1:05:59] the google suite for education has been

[1:06:02] resolved

[1:06:03] which makes my daughter really happy so

[1:06:06] i had a question on cindy's report

[1:06:07] i saw that the eight chromebooks that

[1:06:11] haven't been

[1:06:11] passed out yet do we know if that's a

[1:06:13] transportation or a timing or a

[1:06:16] financial with the insurance is it no

[1:06:19] big deal or is it something that people

[1:06:21] that i can help with um and i know i'm

[1:06:24] not trying to get

[1:06:25] into privacy but is it something that i

[1:06:27] can drop off at night

[1:06:28] like everyone needs one

[1:06:32] um so i i think

[1:06:35] it varies for the reasons some some

[1:06:38] students

[1:06:40] are working remotely and they have a

[1:06:41] device at home and we've told them

[1:06:43] when you come back they do need a

[1:06:45] chromebook because they're trying to

[1:06:47] eliminate the personal devices on our

[1:06:49] network

[1:06:51] there's a security issue with that with

[1:06:53] malware and spyware and all that

[1:06:55] so we're trying to eliminate the idea of

[1:06:57] personal

[1:06:58] uh you know kids and staff personal

[1:07:01] devices on our network

[1:07:03] but since you know some some are working

[1:07:05] remotely they don't need the chromebook

[1:07:07] right away

[1:07:10] others it's just connecting with the

[1:07:13] parent

[1:07:14] and you know figuring out a time and

[1:07:16] those kinds of things we've made

[1:07:18] accommodations

[1:07:19] uh i don't think we need to drive to

[1:07:21] homes we've asked them

[1:07:22] to just fill up the paperwork and email

[1:07:24] it or send it in

[1:07:25] and we'll we'll just

[1:07:38] chromebook any student that doesn't have

[1:07:39] a chromebook we give them a daily loader

[1:07:42] they do need it at home but we're in

[1:07:45] pretty good shape right now but if we do

[1:07:47] need help i'll keep you in mind

[1:07:49] okay just curious if there is a place to

[1:07:51] step in

[1:07:52] yeah i'm pretty happy with the number

[1:07:54] like

[1:07:56] we're almost completely handed out it's

[1:07:58] great uh

[1:08:00] really super uh we did have a question

[1:08:03] on chat

[1:08:05] um sorry am i am i muted

[1:08:08] nope you're good okay um the insurance

[1:08:11] cost is prohibitive to many families who

[1:08:13] are struggling right now

[1:08:14] are there accommodations for families

[1:08:16] who can't afford to pay the insurance

[1:08:17] for the chromebook

[1:08:19] yeah we've made a combination of

[1:08:20] families

[1:08:23] because they um them for three years and

[1:08:25] we're self-insuring

[1:08:27] so we've been working with a company

[1:08:30] called

[1:08:31] worth the worth group

[1:08:34] and so we need to pay the insurance bill

[1:08:37] so that if anything happens to them over

[1:08:39] those three years we can get them

[1:08:41] repaired or replaced where we're working

[1:08:44] with families when they need

[1:08:46] assistance to try to try to

[1:08:50] figure out how we can move forward but

[1:08:52] yes we are making accommodations

[1:08:55] okay any other

[1:08:58] questions or any about that

[1:09:02] um so last is mr shaw's report

[1:09:07] and he says school started and it's

[1:09:08] great to see staff and students in the

[1:09:10] building

[1:09:12] um they've done all their yearly

[1:09:13] inspections of the fire alarm system

[1:09:15] generators elevators and had our

[1:09:17] walkthrough with the fire department and

[1:09:18] the building inspectors

[1:09:21] and the board of health also did a walk

[1:09:23] through

[1:09:24] the air the hvac systems and equipment

[1:09:28] has been tested and they are still in

[1:09:30] the process of getting the vendors in

[1:09:32] as you can imagine all schools are doing

[1:09:33] the same thing and these vendors are

[1:09:34] doing all they can to get to each of us

[1:09:37] uh schneider electric has evaluated our

[1:09:39] elementary system and they are working

[1:09:41] on programming to update the system for

[1:09:43] more outside air changes

[1:09:44] they have gone through the system that

[1:09:46] they have control in the high school and

[1:09:47] i will be meeting with them next week to

[1:09:48] review things

[1:09:50] um they're going uh there's another

[1:09:53] company that is going through all the

[1:09:54] individual classroom universe in the

[1:09:56] high school and have a couple more days

[1:09:57] of testing to complete

[1:10:00] um the elementary school has a different

[1:10:04] system so

[1:10:05] uh should be less of an issue

[1:10:09] and they conducted air quality testing

[1:10:12] and it

[1:10:12] uh inspected the hvac systems and there

[1:10:15] will be a

[1:10:16] report issued which will be a baseline

[1:10:18] for ongoing testings

[1:10:19] his initial findings are that we are in

[1:10:21] good shape

[1:10:23] and also that they're staying busy

[1:10:25] getting ready for fall storms

[1:10:27] sports and as always he thanks the staff

[1:10:29] for their hard work

[1:10:31] all right any other any questions about

[1:10:35] the

[1:10:36] reports

[1:10:41] nope all right um so

[1:10:46] we do have to do a final approval of

[1:10:48] inter-class interscholastic athletics

[1:10:50] before they can begin

[1:10:55] so there is uh information if you want

[1:10:57] to give it to us really quickly

[1:10:59] um what the how it's going to be

[1:11:03] set up i provided you the

[1:11:06] memo and it's essentially what we've got

[1:11:09] last time except for some bullet points

[1:11:12] on the top of page two

[1:11:15] mr sloan our athletic director who is

[1:11:18] part of these meetings

[1:11:19] essentially everybody in central mass is

[1:11:21] playing as long as they're not in red

[1:11:24] and the other ones that are not read

[1:11:26] that i'm playing are the vocational

[1:11:28] schools because there's just

[1:11:29] too many communities that are involved

[1:11:32] they can't

[1:11:33] manage all those different uh possible

[1:11:37] community outbreaks that might happen

[1:11:40] they put us in in pods here

[1:11:44] we're in pot number two with bay path

[1:11:46] prouty

[1:11:47] leicester uh quavong shepard hill

[1:11:50] south bridge and kantasqua they tried to

[1:11:53] do it geographically to keep people

[1:11:55] closer together

[1:11:59] we're going to play everybody at least

[1:12:00] once with the season ending

[1:12:02] in mid-november

[1:12:05] and they tried to set up the meets so that it would be spaced out

[1:12:11] so for example cross country there means

[1:12:13] we are tuesdays and fridays field hockey

[1:12:15] tuesdays and thursdays

[1:12:17] and soccer will be mondays wednesdays

[1:12:19] and fridays so

[1:12:20] they're just trying to move things

[1:12:22] around

[1:12:24] we've gone through sign ups to try to be

[1:12:26] ahead of the curve

[1:12:29] we could definitely

[1:12:32] have teams out there for each sport

[1:12:35] there is a drop in in participation as

[1:12:38] you might imagine

[1:12:40] some of that has been people who have

[1:12:43] are just concerned about the health and

[1:12:45] wellness

[1:12:47] and some is folks that have opted for

[1:12:50] other auctions like playing aau

[1:12:53] or club or some other thing because

[1:12:56] uh they feel the

[1:13:00] regulations the guidelines are too

[1:13:03] strict

[1:13:05] so it's across the board from two-string

[1:13:07] to not strict enough i guess so

[1:13:09] uh it's all individual i do think it's

[1:13:12] um

[1:13:13] it's it would be great if we can do it i

[1:13:15] would recommend that the school can

[1:13:17] approve athletics we will be working

[1:13:20] diligently

[1:13:21] not only internally but with other

[1:13:24] schools and communities to make sure

[1:13:26] their

[1:13:27] schools and communities don't have

[1:13:31] significant outbreaks so to speak

[1:13:34] but um i think what they put into place

[1:13:38] uh is really strong and i know we did

[1:13:41] have

[1:13:41] mr sloan on here earlier i don't know if

[1:13:44] we

[1:13:53] uh no you seem to cover everything um

[1:13:56] like you said we're in the pods it's

[1:13:58] based on geography

[1:14:00] it cuts travel down by like 20 miles or

[1:14:04] close to 20 miles on average less time

[1:14:07] on the buses for the kids who have to

[1:14:08] wear the masks

[1:14:10] and limited amount of games just to get

[1:14:13] everybody out there and

[1:14:15] all the ads are in agreement that it's

[1:14:17] just kind of

[1:14:18] let's just get them out there have some

[1:14:19] fun there's no playoffs there's no

[1:14:22] tournaments to worry about or any of

[1:14:23] that

[1:14:25] so in terms of the buses is the it's i

[1:14:27] assume the setup is the same as the

[1:14:30] when they're coming to and from school

[1:14:33] yes absolutely

[1:14:36] will there be spectators allowed at the

[1:14:38] games

[1:14:39] so the central mass athletic association

[1:14:41] has decided that

[1:14:43] there will be one spectator per player

[1:14:47] for both for home and away games so like

[1:14:50] you could go watch tyler play

[1:14:52] or you could pass it off to his aunt but

[1:14:55] it's only one spectator per

[1:14:56] event

[1:15:06] all right so if there's no other

[1:15:08] comments or questions

[1:15:10] for mr sloane or mr linde about the

[1:15:14] athletics we have to vote on it

[1:15:18] we would have to vote to approve it

[1:15:22] i move we approve

[1:15:27] uh all in favor who was the second i'm

[1:15:30] sorry

[1:15:31] i was elizabeth thanks elizabeth sorry i

[1:15:34] missed it

[1:15:37] all right we'll go out there and uh have

[1:15:39] fun

[1:15:40] kids thank you

[1:15:44] and just a side note have fun parents

[1:15:47] and

[1:15:47] others but please remember that when

[1:15:50] we're on campus we have

[1:15:52] a mass policy we have requirements and

[1:15:54] the only way we're going to be able to

[1:15:55] keep having gains

[1:15:57] and activities like this is if we all

[1:15:59] follow those guidelines and rules

[1:16:01] uh it's really important i know it's

[1:16:05] times and uncomfortable at times but to

[1:16:08] be able to keep having school to be able

[1:16:10] to keep having athletics we really need

[1:16:11] people to adhere to those

[1:16:13] uh guidelines if people aren't we just

[1:16:16] can't have them

[1:16:18] and you know i'll make that call

[1:16:22] if i need to i know the school committee

[1:16:24] will as well they want to make sure

[1:16:25] school opens as i do um we really just

[1:16:28] need your help whether it's students

[1:16:30] student athletes coaches parents

[1:16:33] spectators fans etc we just need

[1:16:36] everybody's help

[1:16:37] with this to have it work

[1:16:43] all right if you want to play follow the

[1:16:45] rules then please

[1:16:48] um so moving on to um

[1:16:51] we have to update a policy is this the

[1:16:54] first reading

[1:16:55] um it doesn't need to be the first

[1:16:58] reading

[1:16:58] okay the policy subcommittee

[1:17:02] this is um tonight we're going through

[1:17:06] um some of the graduation requirements

[1:17:09] that existed in the past

[1:17:10] and some of the things that we've

[1:17:12] adjusted over time

[1:17:15] also the idea of having a digital

[1:17:17] citizenship course as a graduation

[1:17:19] requirement

[1:17:20] is something that we really think is

[1:17:23] important

[1:17:24] we also have had in my

[1:17:27] three years a number of times where a

[1:17:30] student has transferred into their

[1:17:32] senior year for example

[1:17:34] and they can't meet a graduation

[1:17:36] requirement because it's just not enough

[1:17:38] time

[1:17:39] because their previous school didn't

[1:17:40] have that graduation requirement

[1:17:43] when we have to waive it it's just one

[1:17:45] of those

[1:17:46] i think this is just clean up uh but i'd

[1:17:49] certainly like the policy subcommittee

[1:17:51] to look at it maybe bring it to

[1:17:53] the next meeting for a reading and we

[1:17:55] can go through the three readings

[1:18:00] all right just to give you a heads up

[1:18:02] that and

[1:18:03] to remind mrs and i to keep this moving

[1:18:06] forward

[1:18:09] who's sorry i should know this who's our

[1:18:11] policy subcommittee

[1:18:13] so it's maria and tim

[1:18:16] okay so if i would like to make a

[1:18:19] suggestion to community service

[1:18:21] paragraph do i just email them yeah

[1:18:26] you can send it to me and we'll when we

[1:18:27] have our meeting i think we're going to

[1:18:29] do one

[1:18:30] in october uh we'll put it on there

[1:18:33] okay thank you

[1:18:37] um so we have several items in new

[1:18:39] business that we have to vote on

[1:18:41] um before we vote on the elementary

[1:18:43] school handbooks

[1:18:44] is there anything significantly

[1:18:45] different that we need to know about

[1:18:47] the either the elementary or the junior

[1:18:49] senior high school handbooks

[1:18:55] um i'll turn it over to mrs priestley

[1:18:57] for the elementary

[1:19:00] um i put in the changes the

[1:19:03] biggest change which is our inclusion of

[1:19:05] the restorative practices language

[1:19:07] so that we are recognizing that we're

[1:19:10] not focusing just solely on punitive

[1:19:12] the you know um infraction and

[1:19:15] consequence system but also

[1:19:17] um realizing that behavior is a form of

[1:19:20] communication and that we want to

[1:19:22] work with students and work with their

[1:19:24] families to try to

[1:19:25] get at the root of the behaviors um so

[1:19:28] that we can

[1:19:28] teach them how to just be better people

[1:19:30] so that's our that's in there now

[1:19:32] um so if you have any questions about

[1:19:34] that you can let me know

[1:19:38] all right does anyone have any questions

[1:19:41] about

[1:19:42] the handbook before we vote to approve

[1:19:44] it

[1:19:48] all right so we need a motion to approve

[1:19:50] the elementary school handbook

[1:19:58] um i can move that we approve the

[1:20:01] elementary school handbook and do we

[1:20:04] have a second

[1:20:06] wait a second

[1:20:12] all right all in favor aye

[1:20:18] just so you know tim is not doing

[1:20:20] motions because the audio on the

[1:20:21] computer he's using right now

[1:20:23] which is mine is really bad so

[1:20:27] yes so

[1:20:30] um all right so uh the heist junior

[1:20:34] senior high school

[1:20:34] uh handbook are there any significant

[1:20:36] changes nothing major we

[1:20:38] obviously updated all the names and

[1:20:40] dates we updated the

[1:20:42] school committee policies and that goes

[1:20:43] for the elementary one as well

[1:20:46] we adjusted the handbook with some of

[1:20:48] the important changes based on the

[1:20:50] reopening plan

[1:20:53] but the great majority is similar to

[1:20:56] last year when

[1:20:58] we um we unified them all last year was

[1:21:02] the first

[1:21:02] year we had unified so there wasn't a

[1:21:05] lot of

[1:21:06] work that needed to be done mostly

[1:21:07] updating

[1:21:10] anyone have any questions or anything

[1:21:15] all right so we need a motion to approve

[1:21:17] the junior senior high school

[1:21:19] handbook motion to approve the handbook

[1:21:25] second all in favor

[1:21:29] hi great thank you

[1:21:40] all right so next we have the

[1:21:43] improvement plans for both the

[1:21:45] elementary school

[1:21:46] and uh the junior senior high

[1:21:50] this is pretty you want to hit the goals

[1:21:52] really quickly

[1:21:54] for the elementary school

[1:22:04] sorry i was just pulling it up um yes so

[1:22:07] goal one

[1:22:09] if we provide more opportunities for

[1:22:11] families to engage with teachers and

[1:22:12] staff then we will be more equipped to

[1:22:14] provide what students need resulting in

[1:22:16] improved student outcomes

[1:22:17] uh it's our belief that we really want

[1:22:19] to engage families in what we do here at

[1:22:22] school that's very important to us the

[1:22:24] second goal

[1:22:25] if we implement a multi-tiered system of

[1:22:27] support we can better address students

[1:22:29] academic behavioral and social and

[1:22:31] emotional needs resulting in every

[1:22:33] student reaching his or her fullest

[1:22:34] potential

[1:22:34] so taking a multi-tiered approach

[1:22:38] to address student needs is

[1:22:41] in all areas academic behavioral and

[1:22:44] emotional so that's

[1:22:46] something that encompasses our pbis work

[1:22:49] our intervention work or academic

[1:22:51] intervention work

[1:22:53] the restorative practices all of those

[1:22:55] elements

[1:22:56] really fit there and then the last one

[1:22:59] is specifically focused on restorative

[1:23:01] practices

[1:23:02] as this is a relatively new shift for us

[1:23:06] if we implement restorative practices

[1:23:08] that promote inclusiveness relationship

[1:23:10] building and problem solving in an

[1:23:11] effort to reduce disciplinary problems

[1:23:13] then children will be involved and

[1:23:14] committed to their schooling

[1:23:16] resulting in improved student

[1:23:19] there any outcomes

[1:23:26] does anyone have any questions if not we

[1:23:28] need to a motion to

[1:23:30] a vote on the school improvement plan

[1:23:34] i make a motion to approve the school

[1:23:36] improvement plan

[1:23:42] i have a second i second the school

[1:23:44] improvement plan

[1:23:50] all in favor

[1:24:01] all right so the junior senior high

[1:24:03] school

[1:24:05] we have the go over that one real

[1:24:06] quickly too so

[1:24:08] um the the junior high improvement plan

[1:24:12] uh goal number one is if we build strong

[1:24:14] relationships with

[1:24:15] and families and students and families

[1:24:16] will feel more connected to our school

[1:24:18] our district

[1:24:19] community resulting in improved student

[1:24:21] outcomes

[1:24:24] interestingly enough both schools are

[1:24:25] working on building relationships

[1:24:28] and as a matter of fact that will be a

[1:24:30] professional practice goal for every

[1:24:32] educator

[1:24:33] in the district teachers

[1:24:37] uh we'll all be working on building

[1:24:38] relationships

[1:24:40] we think it's particularly important

[1:24:42] this year with six months out of school

[1:24:45] um bill number two also addresses the

[1:24:47] multi-tiered system of support

[1:24:49] if we implement that we can better

[1:24:52] address students academic behavioral

[1:24:53] social emotional needs resulting in

[1:24:55] every student reaching his or her

[1:24:56] fullest potential

[1:24:58] again the idea is that we've been

[1:25:00] working with the department of

[1:25:01] development

[1:25:02] and secondary education on a

[1:25:03] multi-tiered system of support

[1:25:06] we've been working on pbis working on a

[1:25:09] student assistance team trying to

[1:25:13] increase academic supports for all

[1:25:15] students

[1:25:16] we've done a number of different things

[1:25:17] but we're trying to pull them all into

[1:25:19] together to one

[1:25:20] sort of goal to move things forward

[1:25:24] and then the last goal if we effectively

[1:25:26] integrate technology into

[1:25:27] teaching and learning student outcomes

[1:25:29] will be improved obviously we have some

[1:25:32] huge technology initiatives going on

[1:25:35] the one to one chromebook initiative for

[1:25:37] one

[1:25:38] you know we implemented edge annuity

[1:25:40] last year i think very successfully for

[1:25:42] you

[1:25:43] really a full first year we hope to

[1:25:45] expand that

[1:25:48] and we really want to move technology

[1:25:52] from just a get information thing

[1:25:55] to a two-way communication piece where

[1:25:58] teachers

[1:25:59] students and parents can communicate

[1:26:01] with each other effectively so

[1:26:03] those are the goals around that uh

[1:26:12] so now any questions

[1:26:17] then we need a motion to approve the

[1:26:19] junior senior high school improvement plan

[1:26:24] i can move that we approve

[1:26:27] the junior seniors

[1:26:34] all in favor hi

[1:26:38] thank you so the next item is a request

[1:26:42] for

[1:26:43] transportation from a family of a grade

[1:26:45] 11 student

[1:26:47] yeah so i don't know what the policy was

[1:26:51] years ago how the school district

[1:26:53] handled that but i couldn't say that it didn't happen

[1:26:57] this way but

[1:26:58] uh student has been writing the books

[1:27:00] for 12 years and they are school choice

[1:27:04] my mother says they're not supposed to

[1:27:06] but i was informed that

[1:27:08] in the past this may have occurred where

[1:27:10] administrators actually set that up

[1:27:13] i have no documentation of that that's

[1:27:15] just from the parent and from some

[1:27:17] staff that have been around saying yeah

[1:27:20] i think that may have happened

[1:27:22] none of the administrators here were

[1:27:24] here during those that time

[1:27:29] i think based on what the parent is

[1:27:31] telling me

[1:27:33] it sounds like it was set up obviously

[1:27:36] this came to light for us

[1:27:38] as we did in this

[1:27:42] pandemic world where we had to limit the

[1:27:45] number of kids on the bus so we actually

[1:27:48] sent invites to people that's what the

[1:27:50] parent reached out and said what my

[1:27:51] child can't ride the bus how are they

[1:27:53] going to get to school we

[1:27:55] have been in this school field

[1:27:58] for 12 years now this is that 12th year

[1:28:00] kindergarten through

[1:28:02] uh now into 11th grade is it possible

[1:28:05] i said i cannot waive the policy that is

[1:28:08] a school committee policy and that's

[1:28:12] something that i could bring into you as

[1:28:14] a committee and he asked that i do so i am bringing it to you i think

[1:28:19] there's two things to consider here one

[1:28:21] is

[1:28:22] the needs of that student and

[1:28:25] second is the impact that it potentially

[1:28:28] could have

[1:28:29] that if other school choice families

[1:28:33] can if that school choice family can

[1:28:35] have transportation why can't they all

[1:28:39] and i'm not sure what um

[1:28:48] so i i guess at this point i would

[1:28:50] recommend that we approve it

[1:28:52] and take up any other requests

[1:28:55] individually i think based on longevity

[1:28:58] i can make the argument that this

[1:28:59] student has been

[1:29:00] taking transportation forever since i

[1:29:04] came here

[1:29:04] 12 years of transportation

[1:29:08] and if uh you know if others wouldn't

[1:29:11] would want that then i i think we could

[1:29:14] take it up

[1:29:15] uh in general the policy is no

[1:29:19] take transportation so it's a tough call

[1:29:22] i totally understand you know where the

[1:29:26] parent is coming from

[1:29:27] but i also know that transporting school

[1:29:30] choice students gets very difficult

[1:29:32] and may have an impact ultimately

[1:29:36] so just just so people are clear um

[1:29:39] this student takes he gets the bus at

[1:29:43] an established north brookfield route so

[1:29:45] it's not like a bus

[1:29:46] is going out of town to pick him up so

[1:29:48] obviously he's brought to a bus stop in

[1:29:51] north brookfield

[1:29:52] um you know i i see the the issue

[1:29:56] that you know potentially people might

[1:29:59] bring this

[1:30:00] up again but since you know this has

[1:30:03] been going on for so many years and the student is in you know 11th grade i personally don't have an issue with

[1:30:10] allowing this one

[1:30:11] student to continue doing this until

[1:30:13] they finish

[1:30:16] yeah it would seem to me that you know

[1:30:18] unless there was a situation where

[1:30:20] um a school choice student were

[1:30:23] pushing the number of students over the

[1:30:25] limit where we needed to then get more

[1:30:26] buses

[1:30:27] i mean that could be a situation where

[1:30:29] we crossed that bridge when we came to

[1:30:31] it

[1:30:31] but assuming that that's not the case

[1:30:34] i feel really comfortable with just

[1:30:37] allowing it to continue

[1:30:38] based on past precedent yeah right now

[1:30:40] that is not the case we're not

[1:30:42] in danger of going over the 25 students

[1:30:46] okay

[1:30:50] any other comments or questions

[1:30:59] um tim it's it's not real great do you

[1:31:02] want to uh just text me

[1:31:04] and i'll i'll read your comment

[1:31:07] or question

[1:31:14] so we're just gonna wait for tim here to

[1:31:17] let us know what he wants to say

[1:31:34] it actually probably be quicker for me

[1:31:35] to like walk oh there we go all right

[1:31:38] um so we are voting to approve this one

[1:31:41] student

[1:31:42] not voting to change the policy we're

[1:31:44] going to keep the policy in place

[1:31:46] and yes

[1:31:52] so the policy will continue to exist we

[1:31:54] are waiving it for this one

[1:31:56] student in this situation

[1:32:01] is that hey tim give me a thumbs up

[1:32:03] where are you

[1:32:05] okay all right

[1:32:08] um does anyone else have any questions

[1:32:10] or comments

[1:32:14] all right i need a motion to approve the

[1:32:16] uh

[1:32:17] waiving the policy the school choice uh

[1:32:20] the

[1:32:23] policy for this student

[1:32:32] i make a motion to approve the policy

[1:32:34] for that said student

[1:32:37] second thank you

[1:32:44] all right um so last we have a

[1:32:50] number of donations from the pto um

[1:32:54] and so i'll just read them off real

[1:32:55] quickly and then if i could ask one of

[1:32:57] the

[1:32:57] other school committee members to um ask

[1:33:00] for a motion to approve them so the pto

[1:33:04] approved

[1:33:04] 210 dollars for mrs marr for a

[1:33:07] scholastic subscription

[1:33:09] 151.58 for miss lacoy for classroom

[1:33:11] library books

[1:33:13] 60 dollars for grade 5 for chair bands

[1:33:16] uh up to 165 dollars for

[1:33:19] wiggle seats for grade 165

[1:33:22] mrs martin for a scholastic subscription

[1:33:25] and 125

[1:33:26] for mrs martin for generation genius

[1:33:29] so just a motion to approve all of the

[1:33:31] pto donations

[1:33:37] [Music]

[1:33:46] um my understanding is a wiggle seat is

[1:33:48] something that actually mrs priestley

[1:33:50] you know what it is don't you

[1:33:53] um the wiggle seats the ones that you

[1:33:55] sit on and they wobble yeah they're for

[1:33:57] fidgety students so it's

[1:34:02] so tim wants one so we'll uh we'll send

[1:34:05] information so you can get one for your office all right i'm sure your

[1:34:09] supervisor will pay for it all right so

[1:34:13] um any other questions so we need a

[1:34:16] motion to approve the pto

[1:34:18] donations i make a motion to approve the

[1:34:21] pto donations

[1:34:23] a second all in favor

[1:34:26] aye all right thank you so much

[1:34:32] all right if there's no no other

[1:34:34] comments or questions in the chat then

[1:34:36] we're going to

[1:34:36] have a move to adjourn second

[1:34:47] all right all in favor

[1:34:50] hi thank you thank you everyone i am

[1:34:54] going to continue to work to try to

[1:34:55] figure out the technology but there's no

[1:34:57] easy answer out there we've asked a lot

[1:34:59] of different people

[1:35:02] yeah we'll we'll keep trying

[1:35:06] all right bye have a good night everyone

[1:35:59] you

North Brookfield School Committee Meeting September 21st, 2020

Transcript