[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