Brookline School Committee Meeting - October 14, 2026
2026-10-14

[18:21] turned it into a moment of genuine
[18:23] connection.
[18:24] There was no audience, no recognition,
[18:27] just a principal and his child and a few
[18:30] minutes in which that child had his
[18:31] principal's complete attention.
[18:34] When I sat down to write my moment of
[18:36] inspiration and thought about how to
[18:38] describe it, I thought of a verse in
[18:40] Proverbs from the Hebrew Bible about
[18:42] righteousness, integrity, and what we
[18:45] pass from one generation to the next. In
[18:48] Hebrew, it reads
[18:50] a
[18:53] righteous person walks in his integrity
[18:55] and fortunate are his children after
[18:57] him.
[18:59] I think sometimes people of
[19:00] extraordinary character are recognized
[19:02] not through grand acts, but through the
[19:05] small things they do when they think
[19:07] they have when they have no idea anyone
[19:09] is watching. Rick Rogers probably had
[19:12] hundreds of moments like that with
[19:14] hundreds of children. I happen to
[19:15] witness one. How fortunate all those
[19:18] children were to have been touched by
[19:20] this extraordinary and yet ordinary man.
[19:24] More than a decade later, I still
[19:25] remember a little boy who likely
[19:26] struggled in his classroom running
[19:28] around the Lawrence field and a
[19:30] principal standing there watching every
[19:32] step. Thank you.
[19:36] Thank you, Donna.
[19:39] Next up, we have the
[19:40] [clears throat and cough] Excuse me.
[19:42] Next up, we have the consent agenda.
[19:44] Fairly long. Are there any comments
[19:45] before we vote to accept the consent
[19:48] agenda? Yes, Carolyn. Um I think I have
[19:51] a question and this is bringing forward
[19:53] something that came up in finance when
[19:55] we looked at that. Um so in 2H the um
[20:00] prism grant for beep um
[20:06] literacy
[20:07] curriculum I think like study and
[20:11] purchase. So um
[20:14] I think there was just curiosity be
[20:17] curiosity given that we've been engaged
[20:20] in purchasing and rolling out a new
[20:22] curriculum literacy curriculum just like
[20:25] how does this align with
[20:29] fish tank and that work?
[20:34] Okay, great. Thank you.
[20:36] Thank you Carolyn. Thank you Robin.
[20:45] Hi. Um, so I I watched the subcommittee.
[20:48] I know you had some questions about the
[20:50] Prism 2 grant. So, this is a sim we had
[20:54] a similar grant for part of our fish
[20:56] tank um adoption that supported some
[20:59] professional learning and supported the
[21:01] purchase of some of the materials. Um,
[21:04] for this Prism 2 grant, it's specific to
[21:07] um preschool. So it's only a preschool
[21:10] grant. It's a in a preschool cohort. And
[21:13] so what they are going through, they
[21:15] already use some materials that are
[21:16] aligned with what we use at the K8. Um
[21:20] but they do not have they're looking
[21:22] for, you know, to make a more robust
[21:24] literacy curriculum for our our beep
[21:27] students. Um so part of the grant funds
[21:30] the work of the committee through their
[21:32] se their selection. They are part of the
[21:36] Massachusetts implement
[21:38] um cohort for imp uh for for the um
[21:43] selection for the investigate and
[21:44] selection as well, but it's one that's
[21:46] targeted again specifically to
[21:48] preschool, but it follows the same
[21:49] framework. Um so this fall they'll be
[21:52] engaged in some vision setting with
[21:54] their committee um which includes um a
[21:57] number of stakeholders on educators.
[22:00] around February, they'll be um reviewing
[22:04] curriculum and beginning to look at
[22:05] that. At that point, they'll also bring
[22:07] in Kristen Gray, who's our K8 literacy
[22:10] coordinator to help with that alignment
[22:12] and also to be another member of that um
[22:15] of that committee after they've created
[22:17] their vision. Um really what they're
[22:19] looking at think they are looking at
[22:21] materials are based on playful learning.
[22:23] So, it's it's age appropriate. It's it's
[22:25] aimed at middle at preschool students.
[22:28] Um it's really to provide tier one
[22:30] instruction for all students involved
[22:31] that are participate in BEEP. Um I think
[22:34] one of the questions you had because it
[22:36] does support the purchase um the
[22:38] potential purchase of curricular
[22:40] materials and it covers a portion of it.
[22:42] So I think you asked the question around
[22:43] like what would be the um what PSB would
[22:46] have to contribute. Um my understanding
[22:48] from talking with Margaret um our
[22:50] principal and you'll hear from her
[22:52] tonight as well for her school
[22:53] improvement plan um potential to be f
[22:56] what the the gap between what is funded
[22:59] by the um grant and what might need to
[23:02] be provided for purchase could
[23:04] potentially be [clears throat] part of
[23:06] the paid for out of the revolving fund.
[23:09] It may require some thoughtful you know
[23:11] planning for us as part of the budget
[23:13] process but that um that's something
[23:16] that It's it's a small amount. It's
[23:18] really it's not as uh as large a
[23:20] purchase obviously as a as a K literacy
[23:23] program. We're talking about a much
[23:24] smaller um ask from the from the get-go.
[23:28] Um and the grant does cover a good
[23:30] portion of that. So um it's to yeah so
[23:34] it's to to support beep with early
[23:37] literacy to build on resources and align
[23:39] with ones that we already have and also
[23:41] bring coherence with the K8 selection.
[23:44] Thank you Robin. Any other questions on
[23:46] the consent agenda?
[23:49] By the way, is Val online?
[23:52] Okay.
[23:54] If there are no further questions on the
[23:56] consent agenda, I ask for a motion to
[23:59] accept the consent agenda. Suzanne makes
[24:02] the motion. We have a second.
[24:04] Seconded.
[24:05] Jesse seconds it. Laura, how do you
[24:06] vote?
[24:07] Yes.
[24:07] Sarah, how do you vote?
[24:10] Yes.
[24:10] Carolyn, how do you vote?
[24:11] Yes.
[24:12] Donna, how do you vote?
[24:13] Yes.
[24:13] Liza, how do you vote?
[24:14] Yes.
[24:16] Yes. [clears throat]
[24:16] Suzanne,
[24:17] yes.
[24:17] Val,
[24:19] yes.
[24:19] Bob, yes. Unanimously approved the
[24:21] consent agenda. Thank you very much.
[24:25] Item [clears throat] number three, on
[24:27] November 5th, the Brookline High School
[24:29] Innovation Fund will have their annual
[24:32] Gailorama fundraiser at the high school.
[24:35] And so I need to entertain a vote to
[24:37] authorize Brooklyn High School the
[24:39] innovation fund to serve beer, wine, and
[24:42] hard seltzers during the annual gayama
[24:45] on November 5th. Um to be held in the
[24:48] STEM wing lobby from 7 o'clock in the
[24:51] evening until 10 o'clock in the evening.
[24:53] Do I have a motion?
[24:54] So move that. Jesse moves it. Suzanne
[24:57] seconds it
[24:59] yes
[25:00] Jesse
[25:01] yes
[25:05] Sarah
[25:06] yes
[25:06] Laura
[25:07] yes
[25:07] Val
[25:08] yes
[25:09] Bob yes unanimously approved
[25:11] congratulations Brooklyn High School
[25:13] have an amazing gayama on the 5th of
[25:16] November okay moving right along we have
[25:19] a student report let's go
[25:22] hi everyone I hope everyone's doing well
[25:25] I think if you asked most to the
[25:27] students at the high school, they would
[25:28] say they're doing really busy. Um, but
[25:32] we started off the month with our annual
[25:34] back to school night, which was guided
[25:36] by the Brooklyn High School Ambassadors
[25:38] program, which is the student body who
[25:41] assists in helping parents find their
[25:43] students classrooms and get to meet and
[25:45] greet the teachers and also the advisory
[25:49] junior and senior keepers acted as
[25:51] guides during this night. It was really
[25:54] great as I heard from my mom as well as
[25:56] many of my teachers. Um, a couple other
[25:59] things. Uh, the interim progress reports
[26:02] were released on October 8th and that um
[26:06] is a normal occurrence halfway through
[26:08] each quarter and the only change is that
[26:11] attendance this year has been slightly
[26:13] shifted due to the new schedule. we have
[26:15] longer class periods and as a result um
[26:18] there is a lower quota for um the amount
[26:21] of attendance that you have to fulfill.
[26:24] Um so you cannot be absent um as many
[26:26] days as you could in the past and if you
[26:29] did um exceed those absences that would
[26:32] have been mentioned on your IPR.
[26:35] Um, as for this week, we began the week
[26:38] with the day off for Indigenous People's
[26:39] Day, and there was a celebration that
[26:42] was hosted at FRR that several high
[26:44] school students attended. Um, and this
[26:47] Saturday at 7:45 a.m. there will be the
[26:51] PSAT administered at the high school,
[26:54] which I will be in attendance for. Um,
[26:58] in other note, student government has
[27:00] officially began its year at the high
[27:02] school with legislature, our student and
[27:04] faculty branch hosting the elections for
[27:07] a student and faculty chair as well as
[27:09] student council elections being
[27:11] completed. We now have a full student
[27:13] council and we'll be proceeding with
[27:16] student council business very soon. Um,
[27:19] and lastly, on a very positive note for
[27:21] both the staff and the students of the
[27:23] high school, our studentr run
[27:25] restaurant, the Tap and Green, is
[27:26] officially in operation for the school
[27:28] year.
[27:29] Thank you,
[27:30] Anukica. Great job. Does anybody have
[27:32] any questions for Anukica Bonerjee, the
[27:34] amazing student rep. We do have some
[27:37] questions. Sarah,
[27:39] mine's a comment. Um, I wanted to say
[27:41] that this year when I went to back to
[27:42] school night at the high school, there
[27:43] were a couple of teachers that decided
[27:45] to not only present who they were and
[27:46] their backgrounds, but they also sort of
[27:49] unveiled a little bit the way that they
[27:50] teach by sharing something that they
[27:52] taught with the parents and it really
[27:55] felt to me like a highlevel conversation
[27:58] about how they approach education and I
[28:01] really enjoyed that. So,
[28:03] thank you Sarah. that Caroline,
[28:06] I just have to do my annual I love back
[28:09] to school night. I guess this was my
[28:11] seventh. Um, it's talk about
[28:14] inspiration.
[28:17] It's just amazing. Um, and my husband
[28:20] feels the same way. We just leave
[28:23] pinching ourselves saying, "How could we
[28:26] be so lucky to be able to have our
[28:30] children at a school with teachers who
[28:33] are so dedicated, so smart,
[28:37] so enthusiastic,
[28:39] um so love last one and I will also say
[28:44] a couple of the teachers um commented
[28:47] specifically that they're really liking
[28:50] the 70 minute period. period. They
[28:52] really are feeling like that's giving
[28:54] them an opportunity to like switch up
[28:57] what they're doing, really dig into the
[28:59] material. Um, so that was a positive
[29:02] note, too.
[29:03] Thank you very much, Laura.
[29:06] As the mother of a ninth grader, this
[29:08] was my first VHS back to school night,
[29:10] and I want to echo what was said. I was
[29:12] incredibly impressed by the passion and
[29:15] intelligence of the educators, the the
[29:18] care they put in into how well-run it
[29:20] was. In addition to giving shoutouts to
[29:23] high school for back to school net, I
[29:24] also want to give shoutouts to our uh
[29:26] middle schools that are also welcoming
[29:29] parents in as well. I had the
[29:30] opportunity to attend uh the parent
[29:33] openhouse at Driscoll, which was also it
[29:37] I left feeling very confident about my
[29:39] son's education and knowing that the
[29:41] students were in very capable hands and
[29:44] I think that was a really lovely thing
[29:46] to be able to attend as well.
[29:53] Anukica, thank you so much for your
[29:54] student report. I was hoping you might
[29:56] um give some feedback on this on the new
[29:59] six day schedule and if you feel like
[30:01] you're falling into a routine and how
[30:04] others are experiencing that.
[30:06] Absolutely. So, I'll speak for myself. I
[30:08] do really enjoy it. I think the idea of
[30:10] having fewer classes in a day is really
[30:12] beneficial especially given the homework
[30:14] load and that just allows students who
[30:17] play sports and have other
[30:18] extracurricular activities to balance
[30:20] their life slightly better. I think the
[30:22] key challenge is just planning out.
[30:24] Normally you would say on Mondays I
[30:26] would have this activity on Tuesdays I
[30:28] would have this activity and the idea of
[30:30] there being a day one through six does
[30:32] challenge that slightly. And I think for
[30:34] teachers as well, I've talked to a
[30:35] couple and just being able to set office
[30:37] hours on a consistent schedule. I think
[30:40] that's the the main difficulty with the
[30:43] schedule, but otherwise people are
[30:44] adjusting. And originally we they tried
[30:48] to introduce brain breaks, which is a
[30:51] middle school concept that many of you
[30:52] might be familiar with. Um, and I think
[30:55] we've slowly been weaned off of those,
[30:57] so I think we're getting somewhere. But
[30:59] yeah, overall pretty great.
[31:01] Thank you.
[31:03] Okay, I just [clears throat] want to say
[31:05] I I fondly remember back to school night
[31:08] at Brooklyn High School and when we were
[31:10] lucky enough to have the Red Sox in the
[31:12] playoffs during that time. You know, the
[31:15] format is the parents come and they
[31:17] follow their students schedules
[31:18] throughout the throughout the night. And
[31:20] during passing time, I would announce
[31:22] the Red Sox scores
[31:25] and cheer the Red Sox on when they were
[31:27] doing really well. Anyway, thank you
[31:29] Anukica very much. Thank you everybody.
[31:33] Okay, public comment. We have four four
[31:37] people making public comment tonight.
[31:38] You have three minutes. Betsy is the
[31:40] timekeeper. She's brutal.
[31:44] So take take your take your three
[31:47] minutes and let's get going.
[31:49] Uh Yasmin Sharif, you're first. Got to
[31:52] hold it right up to you.
[31:54] Hold it right up. Okay. Good evening.
[31:56] How are you? Uh, my name is Yasmine
[31:58] Sharif and I'm a sixth grade teacher at
[32:00] Baker School and I'm here to share my
[32:02] concerns about how recent changes to the
[32:04] library program are affecting our middle
[32:06] school students and their access to
[32:08] books. In previous years, sixth graders
[32:11] had a bi-weekly library period that
[32:12] included a short lesson and an
[32:14] opportunities to select books. Between
[32:16] scheduled visits, students could also
[32:18] stop by the library during the school
[32:20] day as their schedules allowed to return
[32:22] or exchange books. Last year, our sixth
[32:25] graders checked out more books than any
[32:27] other grade at Baker School. Many of our
[32:29] students are enthusiastic, voracious
[32:31] readers who genuinely love books.
[32:34] Fostering that enthusiasm is something
[32:36] we should be actively encouraging,
[32:37] especially as students get older and
[32:39] develop lifelong reading habits. Within
[32:42] days of the school year beginning, my
[32:44] new group of sixth graders were already
[32:45] eagerly asking when they could go to the
[32:47] library to get new books. I had to
[32:50] explain that access to the library would
[32:51] look very different this year. Under the
[32:53] current program, there are no
[32:55] opportunities for students to
[32:56] independently visit the library during
[32:58] the school day to select or exchange
[33:00] books. Instead, they will have access to
[33:02] the library just 15 times over the
[33:04] entire school year. For many students,
[33:07] this is a significant disappointment and
[33:09] a real barrier to their reading habits.
[33:11] Some devour books at a rate of one per
[33:13] day, meaning they may finish several
[33:15] books. Oh, sorry. My phone just rang and
[33:18] then it disappeared. Oh no, my time.
[33:20] Hold on.
[33:21] [laughter]
[33:22] Um,
[33:24] instead they will have access to type
[33:25] 15. Okay. For many students is a
[33:27] significant disappointment and a real
[33:29] barrier to their reading habits. Oh no,
[33:30] I read that. Shoot, hold on. Although
[33:32] the library is open for 10 minutes
[33:34] before school and 10 minutes after
[33:35] dismissal, these brief windows are not
[33:37] practical for many middle schoolers who
[33:39] need time to prepare for the school day
[33:40] or have family responsibilities and
[33:42] other commitments after school. These
[33:44] limited hours are not an adequate
[33:46] substitute for access during the school
[33:47] day. The school committee policy itself
[33:50] supports the importance of providing
[33:51] students with flexible needs-based
[33:53] access to library resources. With only
[33:56] 15 20-minute periods available to my
[33:58] sixth graders for this entire school
[33:59] year, they should at minimum be
[34:01] permitted to visit the library during
[34:03] the school day to return books and
[34:05] select new ones when they finish
[34:06] reading, provided their schedules allow.
[34:09] Unfortunately, due to changes in the
[34:10] library program this year, this is not
[34:12] possible. At a time when children are
[34:14] spending increasing amounts of time on
[34:16] technology and screens, we should be
[34:18] creating more opportunities for them to
[34:19] engage with books, not fewer. Unlike
[34:22] many elementary classrooms, middle
[34:24] school classrooms typically do not have
[34:26] extensive classroom libraries. For many
[34:28] students, the school library is their
[34:30] primary source of books, and restricting
[34:32] access makes it harder for them to
[34:33] sustain their reading habits. If our
[34:36] goal is to foster a schoolwide culture
[34:38] of reading, reducing access to books,
[34:40] particularly for students who are
[34:41] motivated and eager to read, is
[34:43] counterproductive, a more flexible
[34:45] library schedule would also benefit
[34:47] teachers and students who need library
[34:49] resources for research assignments and
[34:51] special projects. I respectfully ask
[34:53] that the current library program be
[34:55] reconsidered and that middle school
[34:57] students at minimum be given
[34:58] opportunities to access the library
[35:00] during the school day on an as-needed
[35:02] basis. Our students have demonstrated
[35:04] that they want to read and we should do
[35:06] everything we can to support their
[35:07] interest by ensuring they have
[35:08] meaningful, consistent access to books.
[35:10] Thank you for your time and
[35:11] consideration. [applause]
[35:14] Thank you.
[35:16] Next up,
[35:19] Amanda.
[35:22] Hi, Amanda.
[35:28] Good evening. My name is Amanda Crutchar
[35:31] and I am here speaking tonight on behalf
[35:33] of our K8 school librarians. I have been
[35:36] the Pierce K8 School Librarian for the
[35:39] past 17 years. Just one year ago, I
[35:42] stood up here as your CVLY award-winning
[35:45] teacher. I spoke of the power of books,
[35:48] the joy and effectiveness of true
[35:50] collaboration between school librarians
[35:52] and teachers, and the value of our
[35:55] school libraries as the hearts of our
[35:57] schools. Unfortunately, I am standing
[36:00] here tonight just one year later,
[36:02] reeling from the cuts that were made
[36:04] last year to our educational technology
[36:07] teachers, our high school librarian, and
[36:09] the 50% budget cuts to our school
[36:12] libraries. Now, I am asking you to
[36:15] reconsider our district's decision to
[36:18] use our K8 school libraries as K8
[36:21] teacher drop off specials like art,
[36:24] music, or PE. This K5 dropoff model will
[36:28] not only deprive students of their
[36:30] access to information and books, but
[36:33] erode our school's cultures of reading
[36:35] that the public schools of Brooklyn has
[36:37] always valued. Historically, our school
[36:40] libraries have had flexible schedules
[36:42] where teachers attended library class
[36:44] with their students so we can
[36:46] collaborate, co-e, provide readers
[36:48] guidance together with the teachers
[36:51] knowledge of student needs and the
[36:53] librarian's knowledge of books. Students
[36:55] could come to the library whenever they
[36:57] needed a book, even when we were
[36:58] teaching a class since there was always
[37:01] multiple adults in that space to assist.
[37:05] We could reschedule missed classes,
[37:07] manage our fabulous collections, and
[37:09] developing program, develop programming
[37:11] and instruction based on student and
[37:13] teacher needs. This flexibility is what
[37:16] made our school library programs so
[37:18] successful. We were told that this
[37:21] disruptive change to our school library
[37:23] programs was due to the need for the
[37:24] implementation of the multi-tered system
[37:26] of supports model known as MTSS.
[37:30] The district's response to DESIE
[37:32] directives instead of thoughtfully
[37:35] strategizing how to find time for
[37:37] teachers to do this work, hiring
[37:39] additional staff to implement this model
[37:41] effectively or implementing a slow roll
[37:44] out to determine the value of this
[37:45] model. The district has instead rushed
[37:48] through a major shift in our already
[37:50] understaffed and underfunded K8 school
[37:52] libraries
[37:54] without even officially telling us.
[37:57] There were no department meetings where
[37:59] we could strategize there plan a
[38:03] schedule that made sense that could work
[38:05] well. None of that. Our neighboring
[38:08] school districts who use this model of
[38:10] library as a drop off schedule are K5
[38:14] schools with separate middle school
[38:16] buildings that have full-time certified
[38:18] school librarians and flexibly scheduled
[38:20] library programs. in Brooklyn. This
[38:23] fixed drop off model will not only take
[38:25] away from all K8 students ability to
[38:28] access library resources on an as-needed
[38:30] basis, but it'll obliterate our middle
[38:33] school library programs since the focus
[38:36] has to be on those K5 fixed classes.
[38:40] While most of our schools have multiple
[38:42] art, music, and PE teachers to provide
[38:44] services to all KA classes, we continue
[38:47] to be the only school librarian in each
[38:49] building. Whether our enrollment is at
[38:51] 400 or 900, teaching all KA classes,
[38:55] working with every teacher, managing our
[38:57] wonderful school libraries that are
[38:59] resources for all becomes impossible.
[39:02] Decades of research across more than 30
[39:04] states link strong library programs to
[39:07] higher reading and math and writing
[39:09] scores with the largest benefits for
[39:12] low-income students, English language
[39:14] learners, and students from historically
[39:17] marginalized identities. Those are the
[39:19] very groups this district has publicly
[39:22] committed to serving better. The drop
[39:24] off model removes every one of those
[39:26] researchbacked ingredients at once in
[39:28] exchange for a cheap scheduling
[39:31] convenience.
[39:32] I understand the goal. Teachers need
[39:35] time to review data and the district
[39:37] wants instructional consistency. Those
[39:39] are legitimate goals, but this
[39:42] particular solution was designed for a
[39:44] district structure that we don't have.
[39:47] and it quietly closes the school library
[39:50] to the students who need it most. Thank
[39:52] you.
[39:54] [applause]
[39:59] Thank you, Amanda. Next.
[40:11] Uh, good evening. Uh, my name is Eric
[40:14] Lauraniano and I live next to Potterham
[40:16] uh, golf course and I want to speak a
[40:19] little bit aside from education about
[40:21] the proposed lighting bylaw coming up
[40:24] for a vote. The proposed lighting bylaw
[40:27] specifically names Potterham and
[40:28] Potterham Woods as sensitive areas and
[40:32] where lighting will not be permitted.
[40:35] We're asking the school committee and
[40:36] town meeting members to request an
[40:38] amendment to the bylaw to remove
[40:40] Potterham and Potterham Woods from that
[40:43] list or vote no on the proposal
[40:45] altogether. As written, the bylaws will
[40:48] prevent prevent Potterham from adding
[40:51] compliant shielded uh lights to the
[40:54] driving range. Without these lights, the
[40:56] driving range cannot operate during the
[40:58] fall and the spring days of daylight
[41:01] savings time. It just gets dark very,
[41:03] very early. We can operate from 4 to
[41:06] about 8:00 PM at night. Those few hours
[41:10] will mean about $160,000
[41:13] in lost revenue to the golf course,
[41:16] which is important to maintain and
[41:18] improve the golf course. Butam is more
[41:22] than just golf. We have October Fest. We
[41:25] offer a sprint festival. We do uh movies
[41:28] for families on the fairway. We um also
[41:31] have um concerts and many other
[41:34] activities. Uh not to mention Potterham
[41:37] Woods, which is a great walking trail.
[41:40] The driving range and golf course
[41:42] welcomes people from everywhere. I've
[41:44] met people there who are retirees,
[41:46] firefighters, police officers, students,
[41:49] uh kids from the neighborhood, dads and
[41:51] moms with their kids. It's just a great
[41:54] diverse place and we need places like
[41:56] this in the growing uh communities of
[42:00] Brooklyn and I think it's so important.
[42:02] We do have to be aware of the
[42:05] environment and sensitive to uh wild uh
[42:08] to wildlife. The proposed lights are
[42:11] very modern. They're very limited in
[42:13] where they shine. They will be directed
[42:16] directly on the um driving range. So,
[42:20] they're not going to be lighting up and
[42:22] they're going to be very, very minimal
[42:24] where the golfer stands and up to 150
[42:28] yards where they can see the ball
[42:29] flight. Beyond that, there will be no
[42:32] lights and the driving range is 250
[42:35] yards. All of that other area will be
[42:37] entirely dark. I have here
[42:41] [clears throat] a map that I um gave to
[42:44] the committee where it shows that
[42:46] Putterham is not itself a wetland. There
[42:50] are several small wetland in and around
[42:54] Putterham and those orange areas there
[42:57] are the ones that are wetlands.
[43:00] This map also shows that there will be
[43:04] lights added to West Roxbury Parkway to
[43:08] light the new bike path and road. Um,
[43:12] also we have lights across the street um
[43:15] at night at Skyline Park. The fire
[43:18] station is lighted. The parking lot for
[43:21] Potterham is lighted. There is a deck in
[43:24] the patio that is lighted. The public
[43:27] works building is lighted. So, we think
[43:30] we can just add a little bit of lighting
[43:33] to the beginning of the driving range so
[43:35] that Potterham can continue to flourish.
[43:38] Thank you very much.
[43:41] Thank you very Next up,
[43:45] Andrew Porter, please.
[43:53] Good evening. My name is Andrew Porter.
[43:55] I live on Waverly Street and my daughter
[43:57] Sophia attends Driscoll. I'm here today
[44:00] to ask you to reinstate a flexible
[44:02] schedule at the Driscoll Library that
[44:04] affords middle schoolers the opportunity
[44:05] to visit the library throughout the day
[44:07] throughout the week. I understand that
[44:09] K5 teachers need planning time, but
[44:11] meeting this requirement should not
[44:13] compromise Driscoll Middle School
[44:14] library access or special programs. This
[44:17] is the second year I have volunteered
[44:19] weekly in the library, and I'm
[44:20] witnessing the effects of the current
[44:22] policy. What was once a community space
[44:24] is now a room with books in it that
[44:26] students must now enter like any other
[44:28] classroom. I grew up in Florida in a
[44:31] working-class family with a father and a
[44:33] big brother who both failed fourth grade
[44:40] and a grandfather who held only a sixth
[44:43] grade education, which is the grade my
[44:45] daughter Sophia is now enrolled in at
[44:47] Driscoll.
[44:48] I knew that if I was going to get out of
[44:50] Florida, education would be my way out.
[44:52] My high school did not offer an advanced
[44:54] placement curriculum. So when I entered
[44:57] 11th grade, I made an arrangement with
[44:58] my teachers. Instead of attending class,
[45:01] I went to the school's library and
[45:03] taught myself AP.
[45:05] Sorry, [laughter] sorry.
[45:08] I [clears throat] scored high on three
[45:10] tests, went to college and graduate
[45:11] school, and now my daughter Sophia
[45:13] attends Driscoll. If my school had a
[45:15] policy like the one now in place at
[45:17] Driscoll, I and my daughter Sophia would
[45:19] not be here. I know the comparison is
[45:22] not exact, but the stakes, I would
[45:24] argue, are no lower for our middle
[45:25] schoolers. Middle school means more
[45:27] independence and responsibility.
[45:29] Restricting library access robs
[45:31] Driscoll's middle schoolers of a space
[45:33] to exercise that newfound freedom and to
[45:35] access that part of learning that is not
[45:37] about instruction and fact retention,
[45:39] but curiosity and discovery. Driscoll
[45:42] students need an open library in a way
[45:44] that your spreadsheets and schedules
[45:45] cannot quantify or capture. An example
[45:48] of the loss that results from the
[45:50] recently adopted schedule is the end of
[45:52] the library's participation in the Zoo
[45:54] New England hatchling turtle program.
[45:56] For the last two years, Driscoll
[45:58] students had the awesome responsibility
[45:59] of raising
[46:01] threatened turtles over the course of
[46:03] the school year. The Turtles brought
[46:05] together students from across the
[46:07] student body, from kindergarteners to
[46:09] almost freshmen, from avid readers to
[46:10] self-p profofessed non-readers, with the
[46:13] library serving as the nexus for this
[46:14] shared obsession with these tiny,
[46:16] adorable, utterly dependent creatures.
[46:19] If you want to understand what you lose
[46:20] when you adopt a fixed schedule for the
[46:22] library, the next time you see a
[46:24] Driscoll dragon, ask them about the
[46:26] turtles.
[46:28] The school library should be open always
[46:30] for everyone. The current fixed schedule
[46:32] means that this is not the case,
[46:34] especially for Driscoll's middle
[46:35] schoolers, and I urge you to find a way
[46:37] to correct that. Thank you for hearing
[46:38] from me. Good luck.
[46:41] [applause]
[46:47] Thank you very much. That concludes
[46:49] public comment for tonight. Next up,
[46:52] exactly on time, 6:40 according to the
[46:55] agenda,
[46:57] Superintendent Bella Wong will have her
[46:59] superintendent report. Thank you, Hash.
[47:01] So, pressure pressure to stay on time.
[47:04] Anyway, thank you. Um, so I want to
[47:08] thank the committee um for for
[47:12] approving um last week's leave to be
[47:14] able to go to Heleni um Talon and Tartu.
[47:18] So I returned um from Estonia on Monday
[47:23] evening and so this is probably my 12th
[47:26] experience of being part of an educator
[47:29] tour to other places to visit for the
[47:32] purpose of visiting schools. This is the
[47:34] fourth tour that I've led and um and so
[47:37] we we spent some time in in Helsinki. We
[47:41] visited two schools there, one school in
[47:44] Talon and then three schools in TU.
[47:47] Well, in Tartu, we were 25 kilometers
[47:50] from the Russian border. Um, Finland
[47:53] also has the largest shared border of
[47:56] any other European country with Russia.
[47:58] And so, geopolitically, it's a very
[48:00] interesting place to be and to visit.
[48:03] Um, we had 18 educators visiting the
[48:08] schools and I feel we had some really
[48:10] important takeaways, a very productive
[48:12] trip. um just and so Finland has been
[48:17] well known for their PISA scores.
[48:19] They're not as high as they were before,
[48:21] but interesting with Finland, they never
[48:23] thought it was about their PISA scores.
[48:25] Um what's appealing about Finland is um
[48:29] the schools across the country have very
[48:32] narrow gaps from each other. So they
[48:34] have this equity across the way. Um and
[48:37] there's a strong focus on students,
[48:39] whole child and support, social
[48:41] emotional supports. Um and also in
[48:44] Estonia. Estonia interesting is now
[48:47] number one and two in their PISO scores.
[48:50] um they are ahead of us in technology
[48:53] and we um we learned we were exposed to
[48:57] a lot of frameworks about AI that might
[49:00] be helpful for us and um and also their
[49:03] personalization their strong sense of
[49:05] social emotional supports and their
[49:08] focus on students being able to be
[49:10] comfortable in their environment and
[49:12] thriving. We also visited so we visited
[49:15] K12 schools and vocational schools. So,
[49:19] um, hopefully we might be able to share
[49:21] some of those takeaways later al
[49:23] together.
[49:25] Um, the other thing I'd wanted, so I was
[49:28] asked to update on where we are on my
[49:30] superintendent's goals. Betsy might be
[49:33] able to put the goals up on the screen.
[49:35] Thank you. And so, just as um, just as a
[49:39] reminder. So the first was that is the
[49:41] student learning goal decreases
[49:43] disproportionality for PSB students so
[49:46] as to no longer be identified by DESIE
[49:48] as dis disproportionate. And so that is
[49:51] tied um to our our goals around MTSS.
[49:56] So MTSS launched last year but really
[49:59] more robustly this year and across the
[50:02] K5 and also um also in our middle
[50:07] school. And so where we are right I said
[50:09] all these schools have their MTSS teams.
[50:12] Um there have been a couple faculty
[50:14] meetings focused on the implementation
[50:16] of MTSS.
[50:18] I would say just about now teachers are
[50:22] being able to look at um data um al
[50:25] together. So it took a little while for
[50:27] us to um get our systems up and rolling
[50:31] to be able to do that. I think next year
[50:32] we'll be able to start sooner, but I
[50:34] would say it wasn't until October that
[50:36] we were be able to really have the data
[50:38] to look at. Um, so that's where we are
[50:41] right now. Um, I've talked with the
[50:44] leadership team about making sure we
[50:46] establish our base metrics um to be able
[50:50] to measure growth and so to select what
[50:52] what metrics that we'll be looking at.
[50:55] The second goal, professional practice
[50:57] goal was is working towards achieving
[51:00] 100% EV valuation of all unit AB and
[51:04] unaligned administrators to sustain high
[51:06] quality instruction
[51:08] um and implement an evaluation system
[51:11] for a pair of professionals. This work
[51:13] actually began um in the summer and um
[51:18] as the district review report notes that
[51:20] when Robin Benoy presented at the last
[51:23] meeting um the district had been on the
[51:27] 2012 rubrics for teacher evaluation and
[51:30] so through summer. Um, and also in in
[51:33] communication with um, BEu leadership,
[51:36] we asked if maybe we could look at the
[51:39] 2024 standards, but um, narrowing and
[51:42] focusing on the critical indicators that
[51:45] we wanted everyone to focus on as
[51:47] opposed to just adopting all of the all
[51:50] of the um, 2024 standards. and we picked
[51:54] the ones that were tailored to support
[51:56] our work around MTSS and supporting high
[51:59] quality instruction. Um, so I am very
[52:03] appreciative in the communication we had
[52:06] with principles and all our
[52:08] administrators and also with the
[52:10] leadership to support this entry to 2024
[52:13] standards. So we are well underway on
[52:17] that. At this time is when educators are
[52:21] doing their self assessments to pick
[52:22] their goals for the year. So they also
[52:24] will be picking professional goals,
[52:26] student learning goal and also other
[52:29] goals that they might that will be
[52:32] aligned to the SIPs of which you're
[52:34] going to hear two tonight and you're
[52:36] going to hear more of the um reports on
[52:38] the SIPs through December
[52:42] um to align with the SIPs which are also
[52:44] aligned with our priority district goals
[52:47] which are aligned actually with the
[52:48] goals that I set out um for um 2627.
[52:53] So I think we we've made um a really
[52:56] good start and we're well underway on
[52:59] that goal.
[53:01] The other So then there are four
[53:02] district improvement goals. The first
[53:04] one evaluating the grade configurations
[53:07] to improve scheduling and staff equity
[53:09] across the K8 schools. You will receive
[53:12] an enrollment report um in no I could be
[53:16] the end of October or the start of
[53:19] November. We we're still working on that
[53:21] timing. Once we have our enrollment set,
[53:24] we will we will lean into looking at the
[53:27] grade configurations moving forward. Um
[53:30] so that's that's where that is. So we're
[53:32] just waiting for enrollment numbers
[53:35] updated and then we'll so we haven't
[53:37] started looking at we haven't done any
[53:39] work looking at grade configurations um
[53:43] yet.
[53:44] The next district improvement goal is
[53:46] establish equity leadership team and
[53:48] develop a strategic equity plan as
[53:50] required by the state. Um so the state
[53:56] um has had a diversity educator act but
[53:59] it's been updated to be the leads leads
[54:02] act and that was um signed in
[54:08] I should say so it's not this year but
[54:10] actually before this year and part of
[54:12] the there are many parts to the leads
[54:14] act and one part is to ensure that every
[54:18] district has a plan for recruiting ing,
[54:22] hiring, retaining um diversity of staff
[54:26] um within the schools. And so that has
[54:30] also um been extended to make sure that
[54:34] there is training for to ensure cultural
[54:38] proficiency um for staff and also it is
[54:42] now just generally being expanded to
[54:45] ensure that we have um practices of
[54:49] antibias and um
[54:52] to support belonging inclusion in our
[54:54] schools. And where we are on on this is
[55:00] um over the summer just to determining
[55:04] how we were going to build the plan. And
[55:06] um the state requires that you either
[55:08] have a
[55:10] DEI officer or you have a team
[55:13] designated. The SLT senior leadership
[55:16] team is assuming the responsibility of
[55:18] being that equity team. So, it's on top
[55:21] of the other things that we're doing for
[55:22] the district. Um, we also engaged um
[55:28] Darnisa Amma Jackson to be um consultant
[55:32] with us in building this. And so, she
[55:35] actually worked um with us and was
[55:37] introduced to the administrators on
[55:40] August 28th. So, the admin the larger
[55:43] group of administrators, so six between
[55:45] 60 and 70 educators for the district.
[55:48] And um so we'll be working with her on
[55:51] creating the plan. So that's where we're
[55:52] at where we um have identified this as a
[55:56] priority goal and we have engaged with a
[56:00] consultant who will be working with us.
[56:02] The next step is the selection of a
[56:04] screening committee um that will work
[56:07] with SLT and also just laying out some
[56:10] of the professional development. We have
[56:13] already done some professional de
[56:15] development during the summer
[56:17] particularly on the August 28th date and
[56:19] we have also plans for the PD day um for
[56:23] in November and um and so we just and
[56:26] then we also continue to be a member of
[56:29] ideas and so there's a conference coming
[56:32] up and actually we're really excited
[56:34] because um when we've made the offerings
[56:37] the number of people who are asking to
[56:39] be um part of the that are offered
[56:42] through ideas has exceeded the a lotment
[56:45] that we had set aside. So, we're going
[56:47] to see if we can do some more funding um
[56:50] through our title two grant. So, but
[56:52] that's great because we we were within
[56:55] our spots last year and we've exceeded
[56:58] just for the interest um in the
[57:00] district. So, so that's where we stand
[57:02] on on um district improvement goal
[57:06] number two. The third district
[57:09] improvement goal was a placeholder to
[57:11] address concerns identified by the
[57:13] district curriculum assessment report,
[57:15] the district review report which Robin
[57:17] presented. And so they highlighted for
[57:20] us concerns around supervision
[57:22] evaluation
[57:24] um development of a articulating a
[57:26] professional development plan um also
[57:30] MTSS
[57:31] and the development of an equity plan.
[57:33] So actually those things are already
[57:35] incorporated in the goals and the
[57:37] priorities that we had set for
[57:38] ourselves. I do want to say that even
[57:41] though MTSS is encouraged by the
[57:44] district report, we actually believe in
[57:48] the premise of MTSS and what it wants to
[57:51] do. It's not merely a mandate. It's
[57:53] something that we endorse as good for
[57:55] all students in the district. The fourth
[57:58] district improvement goal was sort of a
[58:00] compendium. Um so it's about related to
[58:04] use of facilities, maintenance and
[58:06] repairs, work order systems, emergency
[58:08] response, security and safety and
[58:10] transportation practices. So there are
[58:12] bits and pieces of this that we've been
[58:15] addressing. Um so I checked in with um
[58:19] is it Anakah? Anukica Anuka because the
[58:22] high school had a major
[58:25] yes evacuation drill and so the district
[58:29] really wasn't doing the drills. um prior
[58:32] to last year and we started doing them
[58:34] last year. Um the high school is is our
[58:38] most complex evacuation drill. Um there
[58:41] are several buildings that are involved
[58:43] and um and the area is quite tight and
[58:46] so I know I don't know if they timed
[58:49] your evacuation drill.
[58:52] Okay. So that's kind of a theme where we
[58:54] do we time and see how we got everyone
[58:56] out. So um anyway, so so I'm really glad
[59:00] to hear that. I heard it went well and
[59:02] that there were also some takeaways. So
[59:04] doing the drills is really important
[59:06] because you find out
[59:08] obstacles to getting out of the building
[59:10] and how how you deal with that. Um so
[59:13] that so I just want to give kudos to um
[59:16] Joe Albuquerque who's been lead working
[59:19] with the town in working with um each of
[59:21] our schools and in improving our drills
[59:24] and evacuation.
[59:25] Um so we are still in evaluation process
[59:29] um related to the use of the facilities
[59:32] um just just um collecting information
[59:36] about who's using the buildings whether
[59:38] they're renting the buildings or they're
[59:40] not renting the buildings but they're in
[59:41] the buildings. So that's still in
[59:43] process the collection of that data. Um
[59:47] and I I think that's that's just where
[59:49] we stand right now. So, so even though I
[59:52] guess we're we're in the second month of
[59:54] school and so I think making good
[59:56] progress. Um the other thing I just
[1:00:00] wanted to highlight before um going on
[1:00:04] to the next topic is we did send out um
[1:00:08] a school calendar survey or a survey on
[1:00:11] school calendar. It went out to all our
[1:00:12] families and it's gone out to all our
[1:00:15] staff. That survey will close on Monday
[1:00:18] and so we'll send another out um on on
[1:00:22] the school calendar and so we're seeking
[1:00:24] input on what we will recommend for the
[1:00:27] year forward and for for perhaps years
[1:00:30] after that. um
[1:00:34] just and so
[1:00:37] I I I think it's okay to share um
[1:00:42] very early even on the weekend we had
[1:00:45] already achieved 50% rate of return from
[1:00:48] staff and so we're going to hopefully
[1:00:51] get more and more but that actually is a
[1:00:53] really positive beginning and um for
[1:00:56] families it was um at 17% on the weekend
[1:01:01] which may sound low but actually for
[1:01:03] family surveys that sometimes 17% is
[1:01:06] where you are at the end. So there's
[1:01:08] high interest and so my saying this is
[1:01:11] to encourage everyone who got a link to
[1:01:13] to do that survey. It's really important
[1:01:16] I think um school calendars are
[1:01:19] different by community and it should
[1:01:21] reflect um input from the community on
[1:01:24] on on that. And that's it for my report
[1:01:29] today. Thank you.
[1:01:31] I don't know if you have questions.
[1:01:33] Oh, questions. Sarah,
[1:01:36] are we open to discussing the um goals
[1:01:39] or do we want to kind of is that a
[1:01:41] presentation this time and we'll discuss
[1:01:43] them more later?
[1:01:45] I think it was an update. So, it's just
[1:01:47] giving you a snapshot, but definitely I
[1:01:50] don't
[1:01:50] at a later date we'll have more of a
[1:01:51] discussion.
[1:01:53] I I don't think it precludes a
[1:01:54] discussion. I'm guess I'm looking to the
[1:01:56] chair. I It's an update and you can
[1:01:59] Tonight was an update and of course
[1:02:02] there are possible questions that you
[1:02:03] might have. Go.
[1:02:06] I would go. Okay. All right. Um the
[1:02:09] first one isn't really about you. It's
[1:02:11] just about any new superintendent. Um
[1:02:13] I'm surprised in the setting of goals
[1:02:16] not to see a real emphasis on getting
[1:02:18] out into schools. And so I would love to
[1:02:21] I think that your your goals are great
[1:02:22] as they are. I would love you to flesh
[1:02:24] out in some way um you know more time
[1:02:28] with people in the buildings to know the
[1:02:30] programs to know the educators to
[1:02:32] especially know the K to8 um buildings
[1:02:34] absolutely so these are the goals that
[1:02:36] were presented in June at a group by
[1:02:38] school committee um but I am I've
[1:02:41] actually cycling into two schools a week
[1:02:44] right
[1:02:44] and so I'm cycling through schools I
[1:02:46] think I'm actually starting my second
[1:02:48] round already
[1:02:50] okay so I guess what I'm saying is I
[1:02:52] would love to see that somewhere written
[1:02:54] in just because I think it's so
[1:02:56] important is is knowing the schools. But
[1:02:59] um but we're not updating these at this
[1:03:01] point. So maybe maybe my
[1:03:02] but I guess I'm saying that actually
[1:03:04] that that I'm
[1:03:05] that goal of yours.
[1:03:07] Yes, it's happening and and and sort of
[1:03:10] I don't know if it's um it should just
[1:03:13] be part of regular practice and so last
[1:03:15] year was difficult for me um to get out
[1:03:18] into schools and so um
[1:03:22] last year was just difficult. Yeah.
[1:03:24] And so it should be actually part of
[1:03:26] one's regular practice. So again, I'm
[1:03:28] already starting the second cycle.
[1:03:30] That's great.
[1:03:31] Yeah. I had I had more. Um I was also
[1:03:35] wondering um when I hear you speak about
[1:03:38] so where you said evaluation of grade
[1:03:40] configuration to improve scheduling and
[1:03:41] staff equity across the K to8 schools. I
[1:03:45] feel like as I hear you talk in these
[1:03:46] meetings that idea has um become more
[1:03:51] and more about the overenrollment of our
[1:03:53] largest K to8 school. And so I wondered
[1:03:55] if that might be something to rewrite at
[1:03:58] some point is it seems to be a goal of
[1:04:01] yours to address.
[1:04:03] Um, it is not the primary reason for for
[1:04:09] that goal.
[1:04:10] Okay.
[1:04:10] Um, when I arrived when I arrived in
[1:04:13] Brooklyn, there had been a middle school
[1:04:15] study on the concern about the 8 to9
[1:04:19] transition. Um, that students in the 8
[1:04:22] to9 transition were getting different
[1:04:25] minutes of instruction per subject. And
[1:04:28] so that's really what that is
[1:04:30] addressing. Um,
[1:04:33] the we have 8K8 schools and we have
[1:04:36] schools that are sectioned from two to
[1:04:38] five and um practically speaking when we
[1:04:41] allocate staffing particularly around
[1:04:44] specials it's really challenging to um
[1:04:49] it's really challenging to schedule them
[1:04:51] across schools in a in a way that's
[1:04:53] equitable and it's fair that when
[1:04:56] teachers need to go from one school to
[1:04:58] another that there hasn't been an
[1:05:01] allowance travel. So I don't know if
[1:05:03] people realize it's a generally a 0.1
[1:05:05] FTE. So if a teacher is already
[1:05:08] scheduled
[1:05:10] to point 8 and they need and they tr
[1:05:13] it's they almost can't travel because by
[1:05:15] the time they get to the other school
[1:05:17] the allocation of time they can teach is
[1:05:20] is not what is needed. So then we have
[1:05:23] teachers who are assigned.8
[1:05:26] but they are 1.0 know and that's not
[1:05:30] necessarily fair across all staff that
[1:05:34] situation. So um and then also the way
[1:05:38] scheduling is happening when students
[1:05:41] graduate
[1:05:42] from grade eight and enter grade nine
[1:05:45] the difference of minutes. So it's so
[1:05:47] they're looking is there a way we can
[1:05:49] look at our grade configurations to
[1:05:51] alleviate that disparity when they go to
[1:05:54] 8 to 9. It's not about one one school.
[1:05:59] It's about how all the schools the the
[1:06:02] allocation of minutes
[1:06:04] are are different.
[1:06:07] Understood.
[1:06:08] Yeah. But it's good to ask the question.
[1:06:11] Yeah.
[1:06:13] Carolyn, do you have any
[1:06:16] Thank you. Just super quick, when we did
[1:06:18] the um when we pushed out the calendar
[1:06:21] survey, I just want to ensure it went
[1:06:22] out to out of district families because
[1:06:24] I know sometimes
[1:06:26] they're not always that there's certain
[1:06:28] hiccups in in some of our um platforms
[1:06:31] and pushing information out to them.
[1:06:34] Absolutely. I'll have to double check
[1:06:38] um because it would affect it would
[1:06:40] affect them as well.
[1:06:43] Suzanne, thank you. Thank you, Bella. I
[1:06:46] wonder if Bella if you could just spend
[1:06:47] a few minutes talking about the work
[1:06:48] that you envision for Denisa and the
[1:06:51] equity plan. Um can you tell me a little
[1:06:54] bit about what what her goals might be
[1:06:57] or what your goals with her are or
[1:06:59] what's the work?
[1:07:01] So we so administratively we're lean I
[1:07:05] so we have three deputies and and myself
[1:07:08] and then there's not that much
[1:07:10] infrastructure in the next level. So um
[1:07:13] it's so having engaging Darnisa is to
[1:07:17] help supplement
[1:07:19] um and based on her experience with
[1:07:21] other districts and her work. So she is
[1:07:23] ex she's been part of she's has been and
[1:07:27] still part of Harvard Graduate School of
[1:07:28] Education. She's been part of different
[1:07:32] um
[1:07:33] means of organization to work with
[1:07:35] schools. She has um she's worked with
[1:07:38] the MECO program. She's presented to the
[1:07:41] superintendents through the MASS
[1:07:42] conference several times. Um and so and
[1:07:46] she's worked with other districts. I
[1:07:48] have known her over time. So we're
[1:07:50] somewhat familiar. I she actually was
[1:07:53] she actually had a contact with NAK. So
[1:07:56] when I was in NATC, I got to work with
[1:07:58] Disa then. Um, so it's really having her
[1:08:03] holding us to like a to to start to
[1:08:07] finish and um and then also consulting
[1:08:12] with our steering committee on ideas
[1:08:14] around how to do training and um
[1:08:18] challenges overcoming obstacles getting
[1:08:21] like how do you how do you get people to
[1:08:24] be able to do this with limited time on
[1:08:27] on other things?
[1:08:29] Um, but it's really leaning in on her
[1:08:33] experience.
[1:08:36] So, I have worked with her in the past
[1:08:38] as well. Um, and uh, but that was a
[1:08:42] while ago. So, I don't I don't quite
[1:08:43] know where she is today in her thinking.
[1:08:45] And is it a a lot around cultural
[1:08:47] competence or we're
[1:08:50] going beyond that now? No, she so um
[1:08:53] when she presented at MISS um her focus
[1:08:58] is partly on academic
[1:08:59] okay
[1:09:00] and so driving educational equity
[1:09:02] through academics. Um so she so she in
[1:09:07] with in terms of um inclusion and
[1:09:10] belonging. She would say that diversity,
[1:09:14] inclusion and belonging are building
[1:09:16] blocks to equity that you have to master
[1:09:18] those building blocks to be able to
[1:09:20] achieve equity. And so I really like the
[1:09:22] idea that she considers building toward
[1:09:24] equity a developmental process like
[1:09:27] organizationally.
[1:09:29] And um so sometimes I think that
[1:09:32] it can be it's like sort of um one time
[1:09:35] things and so she really emphasizes um
[1:09:41] how these are discrete things that you
[1:09:43] need to master to be able to get to
[1:09:45] equity. Where she's where she has now
[1:09:49] evolved um with that still in place is
[1:09:52] saying that um
[1:09:56] tiered intervention supports must be in
[1:09:59] place. So, MTSS, but she also advocates
[1:10:02] for UDL un Yes, universal design. And
[1:10:06] so, she leads with um making sure that
[1:10:10] all students are getting what they need
[1:10:11] academically
[1:10:13] within
[1:10:15] an environment that's culturally
[1:10:17] supportive. Right? So she leads with the
[1:10:21] academic part um but also within a
[1:10:25] environ if a student doesn't feel safe
[1:10:27] to learn they're not going to learn as
[1:10:28] well but she feels um that anyway so
[1:10:33] that's that's Disa so she's a good
[1:10:36] partner for us um and working with MTSS
[1:10:40] we have introduced we've mentioned UDL
[1:10:43] but you know UDL will come but we're
[1:10:46] focused right now on MTSS
[1:10:49] Okay, thank you. I appreciate
[1:10:51] anybody else.
[1:10:54] So,
[1:10:56] I want to commend Superintendent Wong
[1:10:58] for being a really longtime leader in
[1:11:00] organizing these international trips for
[1:11:03] educators where they visit places that
[1:11:06] do things perhaps differently um and
[1:11:09] well and learn from the international
[1:11:12] community of educators and um the fact
[1:11:15] that that Superintendent Wong leader in
[1:11:18] this and has been for a while. To me,
[1:11:20] that polishes the mystique of Brooklyn
[1:11:21] public schools as because she's a leader
[1:11:24] way beyond Brooklyn and I just want to
[1:11:26] commend you for that. You use some
[1:11:28] terminology like Pisa that we well some
[1:11:31] of us know but I think the the viewing
[1:11:34] audience probably doesn't know some of
[1:11:36] these terms. PE is like the
[1:11:37] international achievement test um that
[1:11:40] measures achievement in reading and
[1:11:42] writing and mathematics internationally
[1:11:45] and then they rank nations on how well
[1:11:48] they're doing. So Bella went to Finland
[1:11:51] and other and Estonia. Finland was
[1:11:54] historically the highest PISA scorer in
[1:11:57] the world as she said. and now they're
[1:11:59] probably number five, but Estonia, where
[1:12:01] she visited, is now the number one PISA
[1:12:05] nation in the world. So, I just want to
[1:12:07] commend you on being a part of that um
[1:12:10] international exploration of education
[1:12:13] throughout the world. Thank you.
[1:12:16] Also, the term SIP, which we're going to
[1:12:18] learn more about tonight, school
[1:12:20] improvement plan. So, we're going to
[1:12:21] have every school leader present their
[1:12:24] school improvement plan, which is an
[1:12:26] annual thing, but Sometimes we use
[1:12:28] acronyms that that viewing audience
[1:12:31] probably doesn't know. So I'm going to
[1:12:32] try to do the best I can to clarify what
[1:12:34] these things mean. MTSS, we've talked
[1:12:37] about that. Okay. So having said that
[1:12:42] and having no more questions, we move on
[1:12:45] to the first SIP, school improvement
[1:12:48] plan presentation by Lawrence School
[1:12:50] Principal, Vanessa Bale. Vanessa,
[1:12:52] welcome to the podium. Thank you.
[1:13:15] You can if there's an error, you can
[1:13:16] just let us know.
[1:13:17] Okay. Sure.
[1:13:18] Yeah.
[1:13:19] Okay. Um, hello.
[1:13:24] Sorry, I'm so used to not using a mic
[1:13:26] even at Lawrence. Greetings. Nice to see
[1:13:28] all of you. I'm Vanessa Bellow. I'm the
[1:13:30] principal at the Lawrence School. This
[1:13:31] is my fourth year in Brooklyn. Um, after
[1:13:35] quite some time away. I started here as
[1:13:37] a special ed per many, many moons ago at
[1:13:40] Lawrence School and have returned to
[1:13:42] hopefully stay and finish my career here
[1:13:44] in Brooklyn. So, I'm very happy to be
[1:13:47] joining you all today. Um, my school
[1:13:50] improvement plan is in a little bit of a
[1:13:52] different place than some of my
[1:13:53] colleagues because we are finishing out
[1:13:55] our plan this year. So, this is the last
[1:13:56] year of our plan. Um, the districts that
[1:13:59] I've worked in, unlike um,
[1:14:01] Superintendent Wong, I come from
[1:14:03] districts where most plans are two or
[1:14:05] three-year plans mirroring a strategic
[1:14:07] plan cycle. And so, we are just wrapping
[1:14:10] up our plan this year. Um, what right,
[1:14:13] I'd like to give thanks to our new
[1:14:16] school council. We've just started with
[1:14:18] our new school council team who's up
[1:14:20] there on um the slide right now and I
[1:14:24] believe you've all seen our school
[1:14:25] improvement plan. So you've seen how
[1:14:27] that iteration is that this is the final
[1:14:30] year of our plan. So what this school
[1:14:32] council will be doing this year is
[1:14:34] monitoring our goals how we do in this
[1:14:36] last year of this cycle and we are going
[1:14:39] to be working on crafting our next goal
[1:14:42] um as a one-year goal per superintendent
[1:14:45] Wong's um direction. So starting next
[1:14:48] year we will be in a one-year plan
[1:14:49] cycle. All right. So thank you to my
[1:14:52] former team who helped me develop this.
[1:14:55] our previous school council just rolled
[1:14:57] off after two years and so that is a new
[1:14:59] team that's joining us. Um we always
[1:15:02] like to put down what our budgetary
[1:15:04] impact is. We are a public school and we
[1:15:06] are thankful to the Brookline um
[1:15:08] taxpayers who have done so much to
[1:15:10] support our schools over the years which
[1:15:12] is why we have the high performing
[1:15:14] schools we do. certainly our parents and
[1:15:16] caregiver community, um dedicated
[1:15:19] educators, and when I think about our
[1:15:21] budgetary impact at at Lawrence, um it's
[1:15:24] certainly our highnee students that
[1:15:25] drive our needs. Um there's no doubt
[1:15:28] about that. Right now, we are sitting
[1:15:30] around 44% high need students at
[1:15:33] Lawrence School. What we have seen is a
[1:15:36] little drop in our population. I talked
[1:15:37] about this last year. We've seen
[1:15:39] international students at Lawrence go
[1:15:41] down. We've actually see seen our
[1:15:43] lowincome students um rise quite
[1:15:46] significantly and you won't see this yet
[1:15:48] until SIMS projections I believe that
[1:15:51] will come out in the next month or so.
[1:15:53] Um but we've always sat around 11%
[1:15:56] low-inccome at Lawrence and this year I
[1:15:58] believe we're running closer to 15 or
[1:16:00] 16%. So we've seen less international
[1:16:02] students. Um but our EL population still
[1:16:04] continues to drive a lot of our
[1:16:06] conversations as well. We sit around 16%
[1:16:08] of our students that are EL at Lawrence.
[1:16:11] Um, one of the numbers that's actually
[1:16:13] dropped in addition to our overall
[1:16:15] population is our percentage of special
[1:16:16] education students. We have been working
[1:16:19] really hard on MTSS already at Lawrence
[1:16:22] and we have seen a shift in um, as we've
[1:16:25] implemented those initiatives in MTSS.
[1:16:28] We've actually seen our population of
[1:16:31] special education qualifying students go
[1:16:33] down. So, we are sitting right now um,
[1:16:36] around 13 and a half% special ed. when I
[1:16:40] came in um three and a half years three
[1:16:42] a little over three years ago now we
[1:16:44] were sitting closer to 17% which is
[1:16:46] about what a lot of the schools in
[1:16:47] Brooklyn are at but we are we have
[1:16:49] dropped down in that special education
[1:16:51] um eligibility area but overall we
[1:16:54] continue to be about 44% high need so
[1:16:56] when we're talking about MTSS and you
[1:16:58] see these um threads of MTSS and equity
[1:17:02] throughout my plan and um that's because
[1:17:05] as the Lawrence team likes to think
[1:17:07] about it we see that as embedded in the
[1:17:09] work. MTSS is at the heart of what we
[1:17:11] are doing and have been doing. So, we
[1:17:13] started really um as I came in focused
[1:17:16] on PBIS, positive behavior intervention
[1:17:19] systems and supports. And that was our
[1:17:22] precursor to preparing Lawrence for MTSS
[1:17:25] work. And over the last year and a half,
[1:17:27] we've really been already forging ahead
[1:17:29] with that work, believing that um as we
[1:17:32] were implementing our new literacy work
[1:17:34] that all of this was the heart of the
[1:17:36] work that we need to do as educators.
[1:17:38] All right. So um I know you've had a
[1:17:41] chance to look at our goals already.
[1:17:43] What I'd really like to focus on and so
[1:17:45] is sort of telling the story of where we
[1:17:46] are sitting right now and what we see
[1:17:48] the work to do if that makes sense to
[1:17:50] all of you. All right. So our first we
[1:17:52] have three SIP goals. Our first is
[1:17:53] literacy. Our second is math based and
[1:17:56] our third is social emotional learning.
[1:17:59] And um so in terms of our literacy goal,
[1:18:03] we're really looking to use our um
[1:18:06] strong highquality instructional
[1:18:08] practices and our curriculum it woven in
[1:18:12] with our MTSS framework to meet the
[1:18:15] needs of all students. And when I look
[1:18:17] when you look at the overall goals that
[1:18:19] we've set, you'll see that I use that
[1:18:22] percentage of 85%. 85% of our students
[1:18:25] meeting or exceeding. And this is this
[1:18:27] runs through all of those goals in terms
[1:18:30] of what we're looking for. We always
[1:18:32] know we're going to have outlier
[1:18:34] students at Lawrence. One of the big
[1:18:35] drivers we have is an incredibly
[1:18:38] transient population. And so I did the
[1:18:41] math. Um, you know, in the last year,
[1:18:43] last year we had 91 students unenroll
[1:18:46] from Lawrence. So we have about 17 to
[1:18:48] 20% turnover of students at Lawrence in
[1:18:51] a given year. That's not counting
[1:18:52] kindergarten. That's not counting 8th
[1:18:54] grade. Um, and so that's an incredibly
[1:18:56] high number for a school. That makes it
[1:18:58] really challenging to set goals because
[1:19:00] the students you're looking at in the
[1:19:01] fall and our cycle at Lawrence is
[1:19:04] unusual. Um, partially driven by our
[1:19:07] international population. We have a huge
[1:19:09] influx of students usually February to
[1:19:13] May. And that's very unusual to from
[1:19:15] most schools. And then we also have our
[1:19:18] apartments that lead to a lot of
[1:19:20] enrollment very late into the summer and
[1:19:22] into September and October. So our
[1:19:24] numbers are a little different in that
[1:19:25] way. Um but so we have seen a as I
[1:19:29] mentioned a drop in a little bit in our
[1:19:32] special education population. Our high
[1:19:34] needs have stayed the same but our e
[1:19:37] population continues to be one of the
[1:19:39] populations we really want to focus on
[1:19:41] as well as looking at our
[1:19:42] disproportionality.
[1:19:44] Um and so that would be our students of
[1:19:46] color and then also how of our how are
[1:19:49] our special education students doing?
[1:19:51] So, as we go into these goals, you'll
[1:19:53] see that we have goals. Um, the
[1:19:56] benchmarks and objectives are really
[1:19:58] looking to see, can we hit 85% of our
[1:20:02] students at Lawrence, meeting and
[1:20:03] exceeding, and that includes our EL
[1:20:05] students, our special education
[1:20:06] students. And we're also always looking
[1:20:09] for growth percentiles in the average
[1:20:12] range, which is 40 to 60 for all of our
[1:20:14] measures. I know you've heard this if
[1:20:16] you've heard presentations on MCCAST. I
[1:20:18] know there's going to be an MCAST
[1:20:19] presentation. I'd actually like to focus
[1:20:21] on some of the other data and I know
[1:20:23] I've put all of them in here, but I know
[1:20:25] there's going to be an MCAST
[1:20:26] presentation soon. So, I'm going to
[1:20:27] focus on some of our other data sets um
[1:20:30] so that you can see those. So, if we can
[1:20:32] skip ahead, Betsy, to a couple. Um, so
[1:20:35] when we're talking about our goals, so
[1:20:37] we're talking about SGPS on things like
[1:20:40] um both STAR and MCCAST, but also for
[1:20:43] our earliest learners, our foundational
[1:20:45] literacy skills with M Mc Mlass, also
[1:20:47] the Dibbles assessment, which we know is
[1:20:49] a mandated one from the state. So those
[1:20:52] are our K3 students. And woven through
[1:20:54] all of this work, so my initiatives are
[1:20:56] all in there. I know you've had a chance
[1:20:58] to read those. Um, we are mid work here.
[1:21:01] And how are we doing? Well, the MTSS
[1:21:04] work, as I mentioned, last year,
[1:21:06] Lawrence really embarked on this journey
[1:21:09] already. We started having regular data
[1:21:11] conversations that were driving
[1:21:12] instructional changes. Um, Betsy, if you
[1:21:15] can flip to the next one. If um, sorry,
[1:21:18] two more. So, we're really thinking
[1:21:20] about tier one and tier two. I'm sorry,
[1:21:21] two slides back. Sorry, little too fast.
[1:21:25] I'm looking for the MTSS one. It's in
[1:21:28] there. There we go. Okay. So, as I
[1:21:31] mentioned, we're in year two of
[1:21:33] implementing MTSS at Lawrence, and these
[1:21:37] are the areas that we're really thinking
[1:21:38] about. One, articulating our tier one
[1:21:41] instruction and ensuring that all
[1:21:42] students at Lawrence are receiving that.
[1:21:45] And also defining designing tier 2 and
[1:21:49] tier three interventions that will
[1:21:50] support all of our student learners,
[1:21:51] whether they're an EL student, special
[1:21:53] education student, or not yet um
[1:21:56] identified, or students who just require
[1:21:59] a little more support. Again, lots of
[1:22:00] high need students. How do we meet those
[1:22:02] needs? Um, and using data to inform our
[1:22:06] decisions, decision-m has been integral
[1:22:09] to everything that we do. We are having
[1:22:11] regular professional learning
[1:22:13] communities, we call them CPTs here in
[1:22:15] Brooklyn. Um, especially K through five
[1:22:18] that's focused on this. Our literacy
[1:22:20] specialists, our math specialists at
[1:22:21] Lawrence have been integral to this
[1:22:23] work. And as a leadership team, we meet
[1:22:25] with them regularly to plan this work.
[1:22:28] and what are our data cycles going to
[1:22:30] look like using now the um district data
[1:22:34] protocol.
[1:22:36] All right. So now we can skip ahead.
[1:22:38] Let's look at some data. So how are we
[1:22:40] doing at Lawrence? I mentioned that we
[1:22:42] are really looking to see 85% of our
[1:22:45] students meeting exceeding
[1:22:47] on different assessments. and I talk
[1:22:49] about our subgroups and again our L's at
[1:22:51] Lawrence are a really important um group
[1:22:54] for us to identify and look at and in
[1:22:57] depth and the first part here what
[1:22:59] you'll see is um Desi's reporting in
[1:23:03] terms of how are our students who take
[1:23:05] access testing which is the EL
[1:23:07] assessment doing in terms of moving
[1:23:10] towards um flap status which would mean
[1:23:14] that they have left EL services and as
[1:23:17] you can see we are exceeding meeting our
[1:23:19] targets in this way. How are we doing
[1:23:21] that? Especially with such turnover of
[1:23:23] students coming in, newcomers all the
[1:23:26] time. We have made an incredible effort
[1:23:29] and if you look back into those goals is
[1:23:32] ensuring that every student sitting in
[1:23:34] tier one instruction. So, Heaggerty
[1:23:37] Foundations, every single single student
[1:23:40] at Lawrence has been in those classrooms
[1:23:43] and we have put an incredible emphasis
[1:23:45] on co-eing e teachers pushing into
[1:23:48] classrooms, special educators pushing
[1:23:50] into tier one instruction and then
[1:23:52] figuring out what are the additional
[1:23:54] supports above and beyond that. We've
[1:23:56] also implemented a win model all um from
[1:23:59] last year. Scheduling is essential with
[1:24:01] an MTSS framework. And so those graphs
[1:24:05] which are hard to see on the screen
[1:24:07] here, but I know you have the
[1:24:08] presentation, we have seen really
[1:24:11] dramatic growth of our ELS over the last
[1:24:13] couple of years at Lawrence um since we
[1:24:16] have made this move to say we're not
[1:24:18] going to pull L students out of that
[1:24:20] quality um tier one instruction. They
[1:24:23] need to be in the classroom. And so if
[1:24:26] you look at where our students have
[1:24:28] started and um so in terms of the dots
[1:24:31] here, we have made over the last two
[1:24:34] years dramatic growth of our L students
[1:24:38] and particularly the the second column
[1:24:40] and the third column are in decoding and
[1:24:42] phmic awareness. Decoding is directly
[1:24:44] tied to foundations. Phemic awareness is
[1:24:47] directly tied to Hegrity. And if you
[1:24:49] look at those charts, it's hard to tell
[1:24:51] right here in the colors. Um, but over
[1:24:53] the last three years, we've seen
[1:24:54] phenomenal growth in this area, which
[1:24:57] really sets our students up for success
[1:24:59] in terms of literacy. So, if you go to
[1:25:01] the next slide, Betsy, on this slide,
[1:25:03] what you'll see is our overall student
[1:25:06] percentage on Dibbles. So, kindergarten
[1:25:08] through third grade students take
[1:25:09] Dibbles three times a year in Brooklyn.
[1:25:12] As I mentioned, we were looking to shoot
[1:25:14] for 85% by the end of these goals. We
[1:25:17] hit um 87 two years ago and we just hit
[1:25:20] almost 90% for our kindergarten through
[1:25:22] third graders at Lawrence. That includes
[1:25:24] every single L student. That includes
[1:25:26] every single every single special
[1:25:28] education student. As a matter of fact,
[1:25:30] at first grade, we didn't have a single
[1:25:32] student, including first including
[1:25:34] special ed or EL that was below grade
[1:25:37] level on Dibbles. That sets us up for
[1:25:39] tremendous success. So, we've actually
[1:25:41] already met that goal. We have to
[1:25:43] maintain it. Um um but we are
[1:25:46] tremendously proud of that work and um
[1:25:50] again literacy specialists, our K3
[1:25:53] educators, all of them have been deeply
[1:25:55] involved in this work and we're really
[1:25:56] proud of it. So I wanted to highlight
[1:25:58] that because that really is the building
[1:26:00] blocks of all of the rest of our work at
[1:26:02] Lawrence. All right. So um I also wanted
[1:26:08] to put in a few slides about those
[1:26:09] subgroups. And so while we're not there
[1:26:12] yet, as you can see, we've really had
[1:26:15] some tremendous grow growth in our
[1:26:17] subgroups as well. And this is something
[1:26:18] we monitor carefully as well. So two
[1:26:20] years ago, we were at 69% for our black
[1:26:23] and Hispanic subgroup K through three.
[1:26:26] And that has risen to almost 74% now um
[1:26:30] as of the end of last year. So we are
[1:26:32] again, we need to monitor our overall
[1:26:34] student growth and achievement. We also
[1:26:37] need to look at that subgroup really
[1:26:38] carefully and dive into where are the
[1:26:41] students that need a little bit more.
[1:26:43] All right. And same thing, the next
[1:26:45] slide shows our special education
[1:26:46] subgroup. And again, you can see there's
[1:26:49] been tremendous work by my team. Um, we
[1:26:52] are fully committed in special education
[1:26:54] at Lawrence to do as much co-eing as
[1:26:56] possible. And I believe that is a huge
[1:26:58] part of this. But we've also invested a
[1:27:00] lot of work to um look at interventions
[1:27:03] and match what we're giving each student
[1:27:06] in terms of their specially designed
[1:27:07] instruction in special education with
[1:27:09] what their needs are. And I think we are
[1:27:13] um we're really proud of the progress
[1:27:15] that we've made in special education at
[1:27:16] Lawrence.
[1:27:18] All right. So, the next two, and I'm
[1:27:20] going to go through these quickly, but
[1:27:21] what I do want to point out is in STAR
[1:27:24] and MCCAST, where we're really looking
[1:27:25] third um for MCCAST 3 through 8, and for
[1:27:30] STAR, we're looking at fourth through
[1:27:31] 8th. I wanted everybody to see the real
[1:27:35] close alignment between STAR and MCCAST
[1:27:37] data. So, this is our fourth through 8th
[1:27:40] grade STAR from the spring. You can see
[1:27:41] we were sitting at about 73 74% of our
[1:27:45] students meeting and exceeding on STAR.
[1:27:47] So again, this is higher level literacy.
[1:27:50] We still have some work to do in the
[1:27:51] comprehension. Fish tank just rolled out
[1:27:53] last year. Um, so that's where we're
[1:27:55] sitting. If you see that's at 73.5%.
[1:27:59] Next slide, Betsy. So this looks at how
[1:28:02] are our students doing MCCAST in the
[1:28:06] spring. So third through 8th grade, we
[1:28:07] hit 73%. Um, which again is the highest
[1:28:10] that we've been at Lawrence. So we're
[1:28:12] proud of that. We still have a lot of
[1:28:14] work to go when you think of that 85%.
[1:28:16] The part that I really wanted to
[1:28:18] highlight though is, you know, we've
[1:28:20] talked about fish tank. I know you've
[1:28:22] heard presentations on it. There's a lot
[1:28:23] of questions about what that does. What
[1:28:25] I saw that being incredibly important
[1:28:27] for is our writing instruction. And if
[1:28:30] you look at um so that 2023 spring data,
[1:28:33] so that's right before I arrived at
[1:28:34] Lawrence. And then our data from this
[1:28:37] last spring, where you will see the
[1:28:39] largest growth is in essay and writing.
[1:28:43] And to me, that right there is the story
[1:28:46] of the power of fish tank. And it is
[1:28:48] already showing to be a pretty
[1:28:50] significant boost in our students
[1:28:52] writing. We've seen that. We have, as I
[1:28:55] mentioned, piloted the district data
[1:28:57] protocol. We actually did that with some
[1:28:59] of the writing assessments from fish
[1:29:00] tank last year. But when you look at
[1:29:02] those essay and writing scores from 2023
[1:29:06] at Lawrence to 2026 and again this
[1:29:08] includes most of our L students do take
[1:29:10] that um pretty significant growth in
[1:29:13] those two areas of MCCAST. Great to see.
[1:29:16] All right. So that's goal number one.
[1:29:18] You can flip through.
[1:29:21] Um our next goal is in math and um
[1:29:25] Lawrence we've been working hard on math
[1:29:27] since for many many years. You know that
[1:29:29] math our adoption is a little ahead of
[1:29:32] ELA, right? Fishtank is a newer
[1:29:33] adoption. Foundations has been here a
[1:29:35] couple more years. Heard is a couple
[1:29:37] years in, but our math adoption was
[1:29:39] several years before that in terms of
[1:29:41] investigations and Desmos and um but we
[1:29:46] still are hit we were setting that goal
[1:29:48] again of 85% recognizing we have
[1:29:50] different learners. If you flip through
[1:29:53] our goal in this area has been really to
[1:29:56] work on differentiation. So how are we
[1:29:58] meeting the needs of our highest
[1:30:00] students through our math workshops and
[1:30:02] how are we meeting the needs of the
[1:30:04] students who need a bit more. So you'll
[1:30:06] see similarly we're looking for our
[1:30:09] subgroups to have growths in star and on
[1:30:13] MCCAST of at least 55. So remember we're
[1:30:16] looking for 40 to 60 but if we need to
[1:30:18] close gaps we need to be above that
[1:30:20] average of 50. Um
[1:30:23] so similar types of goals. Let's go
[1:30:26] right to how are we doing?
[1:30:30] Um, again, we've had a lot of an a work
[1:30:32] to create a model over the last couple
[1:30:36] of years and schedules drive all of that
[1:30:39] work. A model of math instruction again
[1:30:42] that's tier one. Our math specialists
[1:30:44] are pushing into classrooms. They are
[1:30:45] pulling out almost no students. Our
[1:30:48] special educators are pushing in. So
[1:30:49] this allows us to really create a true
[1:30:52] workshop model where we are
[1:30:54] differentiating and we are continuing to
[1:30:56] work on that. So again I like to point
[1:30:59] out how star really is very good
[1:31:02] indicator of how we're going to do on
[1:31:04] MCCAST. This year you can see over the
[1:31:06] last couple of years on that right how
[1:31:08] we have steadily gone up and we just hit
[1:31:11] 80% third to 8th grade in terms of
[1:31:14] students at Lawrence meeting or
[1:31:15] exceeding in math MCCAST which is um
[1:31:19] really exciting to see. The other thing
[1:31:21] I like to point out about this is if you
[1:31:24] look at that graph you will see that
[1:31:25] exceeding group continue to grow. So if
[1:31:29] you look all the way over on the MCCAST
[1:31:31] and you look at the dark blue bands
[1:31:34] continue to grow. Again, this is the
[1:31:37] power of really having a differentiated
[1:31:40] classroom supported by our math
[1:31:41] specialists. Thinking about what every
[1:31:43] child needs in that classroom and that's
[1:31:45] the heart of MTSS.
[1:31:47] All right, you want to hit go ahead to
[1:31:49] the next one? Okay, so how are our
[1:31:52] subgroups doing? Well, we still have
[1:31:54] growth to make. as you can see um our
[1:31:57] special educ special education subgroup
[1:31:59] and our black and Hispanic subgroup but
[1:32:01] again we have some really good trends in
[1:32:04] the right direction. If you look at that
[1:32:06] our number of students who are well
[1:32:08] below has gone down pretty significantly
[1:32:10] as we've done this work to improve um
[1:32:15] how we deliver math instruction and what
[1:32:17] it looks like. All right.
[1:32:21] All right. So, um, this is just
[1:32:24] something from Desessie as they're
[1:32:25] putting together and we did
[1:32:27] exceptionally well this year in our
[1:32:29] accountability from the state. We hit
[1:32:32] 98% and our math growth over these last
[1:32:35] couple years is certainly driving some
[1:32:38] of that um, performance because as you
[1:32:41] can see we are exceeding that typical
[1:32:42] growth across the board in almost every
[1:32:44] single subgroup at Lawrence. Thank you
[1:32:48] Betsy. You can go on. Okay. Our last
[1:32:49] goal is really our social emotional
[1:32:52] learning goal and this is really
[1:32:53] thinking about student belonging and
[1:32:55] this is a really tricky one in a school
[1:32:56] with so much turnover um in terms of
[1:32:59] students. We have students arriving
[1:33:01] every single day from different
[1:33:02] countries um newcomers with very little
[1:33:05] English or no English and helping our
[1:33:08] students that come in throughout the
[1:33:10] year feel part of belonging of our
[1:33:12] community has been an important part of
[1:33:14] our work. I mentioned we started with
[1:33:16] PBIS a couple years ago. We've really
[1:33:18] moved our work in terms of belonging
[1:33:20] into our middle school setting. Um
[1:33:22] really taking to heart a lot of the
[1:33:24] things that our middle schoolers need to
[1:33:26] have a robust opportunity at Lawrence to
[1:33:29] be school leaders and really building on
[1:33:32] the idea of the K8 model and how we use
[1:33:34] our students there. So a lot of our work
[1:33:36] here is two-prong. One, making sure our
[1:33:39] students feel like they belong in our
[1:33:41] community through PBIS and our middle
[1:33:43] school initiatives. And the other part
[1:33:45] is really close monitoring of our
[1:33:47] attendance data. Attendance, I know Dr.
[1:33:49] Dubois comes and talks to you about
[1:33:50] attendance data, but it is something we
[1:33:52] regularly look at. So our goals in this
[1:33:54] area are those two areas.
[1:33:57] Um, in terms of how are we doing, we saw
[1:34:01] tremendous growth last year in our
[1:34:03] attendance data and this year it's
[1:34:05] stagnanted a little. And so as an admin
[1:34:08] clinical team, which includes our
[1:34:10] counselors, um our special education
[1:34:12] team facilitator, the building
[1:34:14] administrators, and our school nursing
[1:34:16] team, we are looking at attendance data
[1:34:20] every single week. Who are our students
[1:34:22] coming to school who are not? It is
[1:34:24] really challenging to hit benchmarks in
[1:34:27] terms of students coming to school
[1:34:28] regularly in such an international area.
[1:34:30] We have a lot of students who struggle
[1:34:33] with coming to school regularly for a
[1:34:34] variety of reasons, mental health, um we
[1:34:37] have students who travel regularly, but
[1:34:39] all of those really do hit in terms of
[1:34:42] our ability to get school regularly and
[1:34:45] that impacts learning. We know that. And
[1:34:47] so, how do we help families understand
[1:34:50] that importance of getting to school
[1:34:51] regularly? Um they have to feel like
[1:34:54] they belong in order to want to come to
[1:34:56] school. Number one. Number two, we have
[1:34:58] to work with families regularly. K
[1:35:00] through eight, it's really a family
[1:35:02] dynamic often and that's a big part of
[1:35:05] our work. And again, our subgroups are
[1:35:07] the ones that we're most concerned with
[1:35:09] when we look at some of this attendance
[1:35:11] data. So, if we go a little bit further,
[1:35:13] Betsy,
[1:35:15] we have several areas and ways of
[1:35:17] measuring how our students feeling in
[1:35:20] terms of culture. We have our panorama
[1:35:22] data, which again, I know Dr. Dubois
[1:35:24] comes in and talks you through. Um, and
[1:35:27] we also, as I mentioned, have attendance
[1:35:29] data. So, we can just flip ahead. So,
[1:35:33] our belonging data as a as a school has
[1:35:36] grown a little bit over time. As you can
[1:35:37] see, we've continued to rise up in that
[1:35:40] area. We do see a lot of those students
[1:35:43] who are new to our school struggling.
[1:35:45] And so, thinking about ways to make them
[1:35:48] feel that they belong and integrate in
[1:35:50] the community as quick as possible is
[1:35:51] one of our biggest goals. I did want to
[1:35:53] highlight if we skip ahead Betsy to the
[1:35:56] next I'm sorry flip keep going one more
[1:35:59] oh this is oh okay there sorry these are
[1:36:01] the ones I did add some in terms of some
[1:36:04] of our subgroups what I did want to
[1:36:06] point out is um I did do a little bit of
[1:36:09] dive into two subgroups that are
[1:36:11] important um in terms of struggling with
[1:36:13] attendance we have our steps to success
[1:36:16] program which is a pretty large program
[1:36:18] at Lawrence and a couple of years ago we
[1:36:20] were hovering really around 50% % of our
[1:36:23] students feeling a high level of
[1:36:24] belonging in that subgroup. We have hit
[1:36:26] 80% this last year. So we have seen some
[1:36:29] really tremendous growth in that. The
[1:36:31] other one that's even more striking um
[1:36:33] the year before I arrived so 22 23 our
[1:36:36] MECO student sense of belonging was at
[1:36:38] 42% which is really concerning. Um we
[1:36:42] hit 85% in the spring. So this focus
[1:36:46] that we've had on building a sense of
[1:36:49] community that goes from everything from
[1:36:50] us being now the Lawrence Leopards and
[1:36:53] having an identity, the PBIS work, we
[1:36:55] have a spotted ticket program. Um we
[1:36:58] have we have students who earn spotted
[1:37:01] tickets and you can see the one on the
[1:37:02] left there, principal of the day with
[1:37:04] me, principal Khloe. Um, we also have
[1:37:06] started a leopard pack, the principal's
[1:37:08] advisory council, which is our version
[1:37:11] of a student council and students are
[1:37:13] selected to be on that for sixth or
[1:37:15] eighth grade. They serve on a term and
[1:37:18] we launched that in the spring and it's
[1:37:20] been a tremendous um boon for our middle
[1:37:22] school. So, those are some of the things
[1:37:23] we're really working on building overall
[1:37:25] belonging at Lawrence School. But um we
[1:37:28] have our new leopard mascot. That's Lori
[1:37:31] there in the middle um with one of our
[1:37:33] pack members in the spring, our
[1:37:34] inaugural pack. So that was an eighth
[1:37:36] grade student now at BHS, but he was our
[1:37:39] leopard at our last community meeting in
[1:37:42] the spring. So wanted to end on some
[1:37:44] happy leopard smiles and open it up for
[1:37:47] any questions you have.
[1:37:49] Thank you, Vanessa. That was great. Um
[1:37:52] questions go.
[1:37:53] Hard to be the first one, you know. I
[1:37:54] was just going to congratulate Vanessa
[1:37:56] on being the first one. So So um
[1:37:59] traditionally the SI SIPs have been
[1:38:02] presented to curriculum subcommittee and
[1:38:05] and so I ask that the principles come to
[1:38:07] the school committee as a whole. So
[1:38:09] because everyone in the community can
[1:38:11] see and also while I think the most
[1:38:14] important interaction is between teacher
[1:38:17] and student um in the district that the
[1:38:20] the next most important um educator is
[1:38:23] the building principal and you can see
[1:38:25] they're the ones that make it happen.
[1:38:26] Anyway, so Vanessa,
[1:38:28] any questions? Happy to take them. I
[1:38:30] know Margaret's waiting patiently at
[1:38:31] home. Hi Margaret.
[1:38:34] I'm sorry.
[1:38:37] Um, hi Margaret. We'll get to you. Donna
[1:38:41] question.
[1:38:42] Thank you. First of all, I want to say
[1:38:43] thank you so much. That's an incredibly
[1:38:45] impressive presentation, but more so the
[1:38:47] work that you've undertaken
[1:38:50] is just is is um
[1:38:53] incredible. I had a couple of a couple
[1:38:55] of questions. First of all, a really
[1:38:56] quick one. Is there a space at Lawrence
[1:38:59] where the K8
[1:39:01] um community can come together or No,
[1:39:04] we're too big. Okay, that's what
[1:39:05] so we do K through five meetings. Um the
[1:39:08] other part of having this the pack the
[1:39:10] leopard pack um though they're not pack
[1:39:12] animals which is ironic but the the pack
[1:39:15] they really said we needed to have
[1:39:17] community meetings for the middle
[1:39:18] school. So we just started those this
[1:39:20] fall. We've already done our first
[1:39:21] cycle. We do we did grade level meetings
[1:39:23] and so we're starting to do middle
[1:39:25] school meetings as well. But we do not
[1:39:26] have a space as you all know we have the
[1:39:28] smallest cafeteria so we this year we're
[1:39:30] running five lunches. Last year we had
[1:39:32] to run six. Um, so space is always a
[1:39:35] challenge at Lawrence. Some of those
[1:39:36] other spaces didn't expand when they
[1:39:38] added those extra classrooms. So, yeah,
[1:39:40] we do not have a space that's large
[1:39:42] enough. The one um time when we do all
[1:39:45] come together is um Dr. Dominique, our
[1:39:48] K3 princip assistant principal, she
[1:39:51] helps organize our annual Halloween
[1:39:52] parade. And um starting last year, we
[1:39:55] did come all together for a community
[1:39:57] meeting out on the tennis courts
[1:39:59] outside. So, as long as we can do it
[1:40:01] outside, we did actually have everybody
[1:40:02] come together. And that was a really
[1:40:04] special time that hasn't happened since
[1:40:06] Lawrence was much, much smaller.
[1:40:08] I was lucky enough to see your first
[1:40:10] my K5 one.
[1:40:11] It was pretty amazing because it was
[1:40:13] early in the year.
[1:40:14] Yeah.
[1:40:14] It was
[1:40:15] our our PBIS work has really like we our
[1:40:18] students understand, be safe, be
[1:40:20] respectful, be responsible. The
[1:40:21] kindergarteners can um name it. We give
[1:40:24] out spotted tickets. When I have a
[1:40:25] principal of the day, they I had one
[1:40:27] today. she was out giving out those
[1:40:29] spotted tickets. So, there really has
[1:40:30] been that community sense. We started
[1:40:32] with K5, the pack, and all of these
[1:40:35] efforts with our middle school has been
[1:40:37] this second leg. And I'm really excited.
[1:40:39] It's it was great to have our first
[1:40:40] meeting with the pack. And um you know,
[1:40:43] they're focused on service
[1:40:45] um spirit. So, they pick our spirit
[1:40:47] days, they're picking our service
[1:40:48] projects for the year, and they also are
[1:40:50] going to be coming and help run the K5
[1:40:52] meetings and um showing up as Lori. So,
[1:40:55] it's really exciting. So, we are finding
[1:40:56] other ways to infuse that cross.
[1:40:59] Thank you. That's really great to hear.
[1:41:01] And I just think that's actually another
[1:41:03] another um it even makes it even more
[1:41:06] impressive that you're able to build
[1:41:07] this sense of, you know, the sense of
[1:41:09] community in a space that doesn't even
[1:41:11] have a a community space. I wanted to
[1:41:14] ask about one of something you mentioned
[1:41:17] um around pullouts. Um, am I did I hear
[1:41:21] you correctly when you said this isn't
[1:41:23] my question, but did I hear you
[1:41:24] correctly when you said tier 2 happens
[1:41:27] in the classroom or maybe
[1:41:29] for the most part? Yes. Okay.
[1:41:30] So, when we were working with our
[1:41:32] educators last year and rolling out the
[1:41:33] MTSS framework, um, we really have to
[1:41:36] think flexibly. But even in terms of
[1:41:38] specially designed instruction for
[1:41:40] special education students,
[1:41:41] traditionally there's always been in
[1:41:43] Brooklyn a learning center model or our
[1:41:46] intensive programs and um even those
[1:41:50] students really should be in. So we have
[1:41:52] students who are working on specially
[1:41:53] designed instruction for math which
[1:41:55] would be or or reading and that's above
[1:41:58] you know even beyond if they're already
[1:42:00] on an IEP but we see those students are
[1:42:02] in the classroom. They might be looking
[1:42:04] doing something slightly different or
[1:42:06] they might be doing exactly what their
[1:42:07] peers are doing. But this is the power
[1:42:10] of co-eing and it's the same thing. We
[1:42:12] have foundational L's now that are
[1:42:14] sitting in fish tank and um Mari Kale,
[1:42:17] one of our educators, is pushing in as
[1:42:19] an EL educator into the classrooms and
[1:42:22] and we're seeing some pretty phenomenal
[1:42:24] growth in those students because they're
[1:42:27] getting that exposure to that rich
[1:42:29] high-quality instructional materials
[1:42:31] with the supports to ensure that that
[1:42:34] they can access it. That's really
[1:42:36] incredible, Vanessa, and I want to
[1:42:37] commend you on that because I do think
[1:42:39] that um our I mean, our learning centers
[1:42:42] are invaluable, but I do agree that like
[1:42:44] missing out on tier one instruction is
[1:42:47] really tough for students and um
[1:42:50] sometimes um that creates an additional
[1:42:52] deficit. And so I wonder when you were
[1:42:55] talking about the the the shift in the
[1:42:57] numbers for special ed students. I'm
[1:42:59] wondering if some of that is coming just
[1:43:01] from the fact that um they're in the
[1:43:03] room for the tier one instruction.
[1:43:05] Absolutely. And sometimes it's looking
[1:43:06] and seeing okay these children are
[1:43:08] rolling around during heity and so we
[1:43:10] need to find and that this would be a
[1:43:11] tier 2. This kid needs a double dose of
[1:43:14] heity. So we're going to have a parah
[1:43:15] pull them so they get it a second time
[1:43:17] later in the day oneonone but they are
[1:43:19] then getting it twice. That's a good
[1:43:21] example of a tier 2 intervention that
[1:43:23] can happen right in the classroom.
[1:43:25] Doesn't need to happen somewhere in a
[1:43:26] literacy room. Um, but it also, I am
[1:43:30] hopeful, will help with our sense of
[1:43:31] belonging for our special education
[1:43:33] students because if you are constantly
[1:43:35] going into the learning center for every
[1:43:37] instructional block, you cannot bond
[1:43:40] with your classmates. In the same way,
[1:43:42] if we have our L's sitting in an L
[1:43:45] classroom all day, they don't get to
[1:43:47] build those relationships with their
[1:43:48] peers. So I mean that's the other piece
[1:43:50] that I do hope will go up as we really
[1:43:53] continue this effort to do as much as
[1:43:56] possible in a workshop model in the
[1:43:58] classroom.
[1:43:59] Thank you.
[1:43:59] Y
[1:44:02] Suzanne,
[1:44:05] thank you Vanessa. I know how much hard
[1:44:07] work this is to even go up a couple of
[1:44:09] percentage points. So you've made
[1:44:10] terrific progress in many areas. it it
[1:44:13] is the educators at Lawrence and they've
[1:44:15] been committed as I said even before our
[1:44:17] district really um was able to have the
[1:44:19] structures in place to support MTSS. Um
[1:44:22] Joel Peterson and Dr. Matt Dubois have
[1:44:25] really supported me in this drive to
[1:44:28] really um forge forward with this work
[1:44:31] and I am hopeful that it'll help build
[1:44:32] some structures now that we have we
[1:44:34] tried the data protocols last year at
[1:44:36] Lawrence and now all of the schools are
[1:44:38] rolling them out. So, I'm really hopeful
[1:44:40] that um the willingness of Lauren's team
[1:44:44] to trial this and get a little messy
[1:44:46] this last year is hopefully going to
[1:44:48] benefit all Brooklyn,
[1:44:49] but we know without strong leadership it
[1:44:51] wouldn't h happen as well. So,
[1:44:53] congratulations on that work. I wonder
[1:44:55] if you could talk for just a minute
[1:44:57] about um this is your goal three. You
[1:44:59] were doing early on some good
[1:45:01] educational equity work. Yep. And a
[1:45:04] number of times you have office of
[1:45:06] educational equity was closed. We know
[1:45:08] that because of budget cuts. I wonder if
[1:45:10] you could talk about how your work is
[1:45:12] continuing. Sure.
[1:45:13] How you're doing that without the
[1:45:14] budget, I mean with with the cuts. So, a
[1:45:17] lot of the work we did um alongside with
[1:45:19] Christy Hernandez, who originally was
[1:45:21] part of the Office of Educational
[1:45:22] Equity, and she's obviously now an
[1:45:24] assistant principal over at um Pierce,
[1:45:27] but she worked with our middle school
[1:45:29] team a lot in terms of improving our
[1:45:32] advisory program and looking at
[1:45:34] incidents of harassment and hate speech
[1:45:37] and how do we address those period
[1:45:39] places of harm in our communities and
[1:45:41] using our advisory better in the middle
[1:45:44] school setting. So we did all of that
[1:45:46] work with her. Um in addition to that,
[1:45:50] we had a culture and climate team at
[1:45:52] middle school level. So one of the
[1:45:53] things that you all fund is stipens for
[1:45:56] what's called our culture and climate
[1:45:57] teams, our student intervention teams,
[1:45:59] and MTSS teams. This is critical work
[1:46:02] for educators. And our culture and
[1:46:04] climate team at the middle school was
[1:46:06] really looking at our grading for equity
[1:46:08] practices, which um predated me at
[1:46:10] Lawrence, but that's an integral part of
[1:46:12] our grading practices. and we wanted to
[1:46:14] look at that in terms of our grading.
[1:46:16] And so if you look at some of these um
[1:46:19] strategic initiatives that we have in
[1:46:21] here, it is looking at our grading
[1:46:23] practices specifically at middle school.
[1:46:25] One of the things that they did when we
[1:46:27] moved away from um moving into grading
[1:46:30] for equity is we stopped using the old
[1:46:33] um behavior and effort codes for middle
[1:46:36] school on reporting. However, what we
[1:46:38] saw is we still have a lot of students
[1:46:39] in middle school who parents are looking
[1:46:41] for that information. How are my kids
[1:46:43] doing? We're looking to transform and
[1:46:45] use both grading for equity language and
[1:46:48] the resources from there and also castle
[1:46:50] language. I believe Dr. Dubois has
[1:46:52] talked to you about castle um frameworks
[1:46:54] for social emotional learning. There are
[1:46:56] whole rubrics that we can look at which
[1:46:58] are much more strategic and designed to
[1:47:01] measure specific areas of competencies
[1:47:04] for social emotional learning in a way
[1:47:07] that effort and behavior grades can
[1:47:09] become biased. And so this is again this
[1:47:12] is a way of equity being embedded in the
[1:47:14] work. It's um and the other piece of
[1:47:17] this is obviously this push for co-eing
[1:47:19] and making sure highquality um
[1:47:22] instruction is available to all students
[1:47:24] in the classroom. So I hope that answers
[1:47:26] your question. Yeah,
[1:47:30] Carolyn,
[1:47:33] thank you for this Vanessa. Um I have a
[1:47:36] quick question.
[1:47:36] Sure.
[1:47:37] And then a question.
[1:47:40] Well, it might be for Bella and maybe
[1:47:43] it's for to to sort of flag for later.
[1:47:46] Um, and it's not directly from your
[1:47:49] presentation, which I super enjoyed and
[1:47:52] studied before the meeting. Um, you
[1:47:54] mentioned that you it is necessary for
[1:47:56] you at this time to be running five
[1:47:58] lunches.
[1:47:59] Yes.
[1:47:59] Can you please tell us what your first
[1:48:02] lunch?
[1:48:03] We start at 10:30 in the morning. We
[1:48:05] finish at about 1:40. So our seventh and
[1:48:09] eighth grade that has to tie to the end
[1:48:11] of the day because again we have a lot
[1:48:12] of short you know school days and since
[1:48:15] seventh and eighth grade have less of
[1:48:17] those. So our schedule at Lawrence is
[1:48:19] 100% driven by conservatory when we have
[1:48:23] that and also the lunch schedule and
[1:48:26] because of how big our school is like
[1:48:29] again we talk about that enrollment we
[1:48:30] dropped a little and it was really down
[1:48:33] in June and so I was able to do five
[1:48:35] lunches. we have been creeping creeping
[1:48:37] up and so it it's a little tight in some
[1:48:40] of those lunches at five. We really
[1:48:41] should be at six but staffing it's very
[1:48:44] challenging. Um
[1:48:46] so yes, it's a real it is a real
[1:48:49] challenge as I mentioned they they added
[1:48:51] on to the school classrooms but that did
[1:48:54] not add well parking spaces. We've been
[1:48:57] working on parking over in the Lawrence
[1:48:58] region. Um they it did not add to our
[1:49:01] cafeteria size. It did not add to our
[1:49:03] music or gym spaces. So, we have to get
[1:49:05] really creative as you've seen coming
[1:49:07] over to tour where we're doing art in an
[1:49:09] extended day classroom where we're doing
[1:49:11] music. We have to be really creative
[1:49:13] thinking about spaces for sure, but the
[1:49:15] cafeteria is the biggest challenge for
[1:49:17] sure.
[1:49:18] Thank you. Yep. Um,
[1:49:23] and then my other question,
[1:49:26] I think I don't want to put you on the
[1:49:27] spot, but maybe so you were talking
[1:49:29] about grading practices in middle
[1:49:31] school. You're using a model called
[1:49:33] grading for equity.
[1:49:35] Yep.
[1:49:35] Um I guess I want to maybe I don't know
[1:49:39] if you need to answer, but I'm wondering
[1:49:41] if as we're are do we have
[1:49:46] consistent
[1:49:48] grading practices across our middle
[1:49:51] schools? Like do we have districtwide?
[1:49:54] I can share a little bit if you want.
[1:49:57] Um so in terms of common assessments,
[1:50:01] they're moving towards that. So in fish
[1:50:02] tank, we're moving towards that. Desmos
[1:50:04] and math have common assessments. So
[1:50:06] students are graded on a percentage
[1:50:08] basis in middle school. So from that
[1:50:10] perspective, yes, we have common
[1:50:11] practices. Grading for equity um is
[1:50:14] really looking at proficiency based. So
[1:50:17] we look at our standards. And so it is
[1:50:19] taking a standardsbased approach and
[1:50:22] establishing that through really strong
[1:50:24] rubrics. And I mentioned that we've been
[1:50:27] really examining this over the last year
[1:50:29] because what we wanted to look at were
[1:50:31] our grades aligned with MCCAST's
[1:50:35] indicators. And what we actually found
[1:50:37] is there was very good consistency. So
[1:50:39] concerns about grading for equity maybe
[1:50:42] elevating student um performance and not
[1:50:45] being in line with where they actually
[1:50:47] perform. We are actually seeing very
[1:50:49] tight alignment. So that was part of our
[1:50:51] work on our culture and climate team.
[1:50:53] And what we saw was actually our
[1:50:55] students performance academically again
[1:50:57] we've been sitting at 80 up to 90% in
[1:51:00] terms of our eighth graders meeting or
[1:51:02] exceeding on MCCAST and our grading
[1:51:05] practices are aligned. So we have been
[1:51:07] doing that work to ensure that part. The
[1:51:10] part that's been missing in middle
[1:51:11] school as I mentioned is really those
[1:51:13] other competencies that are tied into
[1:51:15] how students do. And again, so a
[1:51:18] homework is not counted quite as much in
[1:51:21] a grading for equity, but if you're not
[1:51:23] getting that practice work in math, you
[1:51:25] are not going to be as proficient as
[1:51:26] your peers. So, how do we communicate
[1:51:28] that necessity to parents while not
[1:51:31] penalizing a student who may not have
[1:51:33] the resources and supports at home? That
[1:51:35] is really the basis of grading for
[1:51:36] equity. I I don't know if that fully
[1:51:39] answers it, but I I'm happy to talk
[1:51:41] offline or in another time because I
[1:51:43] think there is um a really strong need
[1:51:46] for this in terms of our equitable
[1:51:48] practices. Grading at middle school
[1:51:50] there's a lot and high school can be
[1:51:52] very um
[1:51:56] not as discreetly based other than math
[1:51:58] on how a student's doing. There's a lot
[1:52:00] of subjectivity to it, right? And so the
[1:52:03] better and more clear your rubrics are
[1:52:05] and defined the better it will be
[1:52:08] aligned with learning outcomes.
[1:52:10] So also um you asked you were asking
[1:52:12] about middle school but I believe our
[1:52:14] progress reports were just updated for a
[1:52:17] K K5 right. So there so yes so we always
[1:52:21] have a mind for alignment. Um, but I
[1:52:24] will also say that Vanessa in terms of
[1:52:28] her adoption of MTSS and Fish Tank is
[1:52:30] ahead of some of the other schools
[1:52:32] because she was piloting and so so the
[1:52:35] reflection of the data is is actually
[1:52:38] not just um from one or two years like
[1:52:40] she's they've embraced it there. Um any
[1:52:44] but that's good because it's something
[1:52:45] that can be modeled for the other
[1:52:47] schools.
[1:52:48] Thank you
[1:52:49] Laura.
[1:52:51] Hi
[1:52:52] this is really impressive. So, thank you
[1:52:53] and congratulations to you and your team
[1:52:56] at Lawrence. Um, one of the questions I
[1:52:58] had, so I know that I think it was your
[1:53:00] second uh goal had to do with
[1:53:02] mathematics and and trying to, you know,
[1:53:05] get all of your students up to was the
[1:53:07] 85% proficiency rate.
[1:53:08] Correct.
[1:53:09] And I believe you mentioned that one of
[1:53:10] the programs that you rolled out as part
[1:53:12] of this was Desmos. Am I remembering
[1:53:13] that right?
[1:53:14] Desmos is the sixth to eighth grade
[1:53:15] math. Yes. So, I guess one of the
[1:53:16] questions that that I have about Desmos
[1:53:19] is, you know, there's so much that's
[1:53:20] good about it, but one of the things
[1:53:22] that I've noticed as as a parent is that
[1:53:24] it's computer- based. And so, now my kid
[1:53:26] is doing mathematics on the computer as
[1:53:29] opposed to, you know, taking notes on
[1:53:31] paper. And so, I'm wondering like have
[1:53:34] you noticed any
[1:53:37] is it is it more difficult for students
[1:53:39] to sort of show their work to find their
[1:53:41] errors? I mean, it's wonderful having
[1:53:43] edtech, but there's downsides, too. and
[1:53:45] I was wondering if if you had
[1:53:46] experienced some of that.
[1:53:48] Um, so I think Desmos is incredible and
[1:53:52] it's not just the program, it's the
[1:53:54] educators doing it. And I know prior to
[1:53:56] my time here, I've talked to Charles Dy
[1:53:58] who is one of our seventh grade but our
[1:54:00] eighth grade math teacher and um, we've
[1:54:03] had a lot of conversations back in the
[1:54:05] day before a lot of budget cuts. There
[1:54:07] were math coaches in the district and he
[1:54:09] talks about the math coach working with
[1:54:10] him in terms of individual conferencing
[1:54:12] and working with students. Um, I would
[1:54:15] urge any of you to come and watch some
[1:54:17] math lessons in the classroom because
[1:54:20] yes, it is computer-based, but it is
[1:54:22] also incredibly differentiated which
[1:54:25] allows students who are ready to again
[1:54:27] have extension enrichment um in a way
[1:54:31] that another program cannot. And so I
[1:54:33] think there's incredible advantages. Um
[1:54:36] I happen to have a child who just
[1:54:37] graduated from um Cornell in STEM and I
[1:54:40] have another one at Harvey Mud who's
[1:54:42] embedded in engineering right now. And
[1:54:44] so as you know they've gone through
[1:54:46] schools recently very heavily
[1:54:48] computer-based middle school and high
[1:54:50] school programs. And they said this is
[1:54:53] what's prepared them for that STEM
[1:54:55] setting in college. Um what it looks
[1:54:57] like now as an engineering student. Um
[1:55:00] my youngest says, you know, she
[1:55:02] constantly says a lot of people my age
[1:55:05] because I'm old of course at 51. Um
[1:55:08] really think that everything has to be
[1:55:10] pencil paper. Um but she said we're
[1:55:12] really embedded in the mathematical
[1:55:14] thinking and you can do that through
[1:55:17] computer-based. It's they're they're
[1:55:19] just wired differently than our
[1:55:20] generations were. I think most of most
[1:55:22] of us sitting in the room and how we
[1:55:24] learned math. That being said, there is
[1:55:27] still an incredible amount of
[1:55:29] manipulatives
[1:55:31] in the middle school level Desmos. You
[1:55:33] see those digital manipulatives, but I
[1:55:35] was just in a kindergarten classroom
[1:55:37] today. They were counting actual bags of
[1:55:39] materials, right? So, it has to be a
[1:55:42] balance and um and there will always be
[1:55:45] a balance. So, I don't think it's
[1:55:46] impacting our students. I think they are
[1:55:49] growing up as digital natives and so
[1:55:52] it's just a different way of learning.
[1:55:53] But I think it's allowing them to focus
[1:55:55] on the mathematical thinking and the
[1:55:57] processes and the problem solving.
[1:55:59] Okay. Sorry.
[1:56:00] Looking at the clock and Vanessa,
[1:56:02] I could talk about these things forever.
[1:56:04] I'm happy to come back.
[1:56:06] I I loved reading
[1:56:07] or come come visit come see math at
[1:56:10] Lawrence.
[1:56:10] Your report was amazing. The data was
[1:56:12] amazing. The progress is amazing. That's
[1:56:14] a reflection on you as as well as your
[1:56:17] team. Thank you very much. Let's move on
[1:56:18] to
[1:56:19] Margaret. Margaret Beep. Margaret um
[1:56:22] from beep. I Margaret correct me if I'm
[1:56:25] wrong. I think beep is perhaps the
[1:56:27] earliest the first early school systems
[1:56:31] early childhood education program in the
[1:56:34] country. Maybe BT White.
[1:56:35] It's one of the oldest ones. That's
[1:56:37] correct. It's from 1972. So it's you
[1:56:39] know um a lot of years old now. And it's
[1:56:43] one of the most early inclusive early
[1:56:45] childhood programs certainly in the
[1:56:46] Commonwealth for sure.
[1:56:47] Yeah. Okay. Margaret Everheart peep go.
[1:56:49] Well, I want just want to say thank you
[1:56:51] to Vanessa for her presentation. Um, I
[1:56:54] work with the most amazing principal
[1:56:55] group. I work with the most amazing
[1:56:57] administrators in the Commonwealth and I
[1:56:59] feel very honored to be a part of this
[1:57:01] school district and the public schools
[1:57:02] of Brooklyn and I just wanted to cong
[1:57:04] congratulate Vanessa on her presentation
[1:57:06] and the hard work at at her school. I've
[1:57:08] spent some time there. I've I've
[1:57:10] actually witnessed that co-eing fish
[1:57:12] tank um uh lessons and they're pretty
[1:57:15] amazing and powerful. So, thank you
[1:57:17] Vanessa for the presentation. Thank you
[1:57:18] to the school committee for inviting me
[1:57:19] this evening to talk a little bit about
[1:57:21] beep. You will see that our school
[1:57:23] improvement plan looks very different in
[1:57:26] some ways from the school improvement
[1:57:27] plans that you will see from the
[1:57:29] elementary schools and from the high
[1:57:30] school. So I'm happy to start going.
[1:57:35] Yeah, I love there's we don't have a
[1:57:37] mascot and be
[1:57:40] um these are just some pictures from the
[1:57:42] classroom some of the um the posters
[1:57:44] that um teachers have done. Um I don't
[1:57:47] think know if this is the most updated
[1:57:49] version um Betsy since the slide in the
[1:57:51] front looks a little different but we
[1:57:52] can go ahead and see. Okay. So I want
[1:57:55] you all to know that our first BEP
[1:57:56] school council membership meeting is on
[1:57:58] October 22nd. You will know that a half
[1:58:01] a beep rolls over every year and we have
[1:58:03] all new students and all new families
[1:58:05] that start with us. And getting our site
[1:58:07] council up and running takes a little
[1:58:08] bit longer because half of the school is
[1:58:10] new and we have to recruit new families
[1:58:12] to be on the site council. So we will
[1:58:14] have our first meeting on the 22nd and
[1:58:16] this proposed school improvement plan I
[1:58:18] will present to them and we will work on
[1:58:20] it based on some of the work we've done
[1:58:22] in the last few years and we will at the
[1:58:24] first site come up council meeting elect
[1:58:25] a chair and a co-chair and then begin to
[1:58:27] approve the um school improvement plan.
[1:58:31] So anytime that I start this work,
[1:58:34] anytime that I come before the school
[1:58:35] committee and the community, I start
[1:58:36] with gratitude because I am extremely
[1:58:38] fortunate to be the principal of this
[1:58:40] incredible program and as I said to work
[1:58:42] in this incredible district. And so I
[1:58:44] have to give thanks to the beep
[1:58:45] educators, the teachers, the par
[1:58:47] professionals, the specialists, the
[1:58:48] nurses, the social workers, the team
[1:58:50] facilitators, everyone in the program
[1:58:52] who works daily on behalf of students
[1:58:54] and families. They are an amazing staff
[1:58:56] of humans and as Vanessa pointed out,
[1:58:58] they are the boots on the ground as the
[1:59:00] term used today. They do the work hands
[1:59:02] in the in the in the actual work. I have
[1:59:04] to thank the people at the Driscoll
[1:59:06] School, Gabby and her team. They make
[1:59:08] the breakfast and the lunches for all of
[1:59:10] the be classrooms at Lynch Beacon at
[1:59:12] Potterham every single day and it is a
[1:59:14] quite a task. So I I much appreciate her
[1:59:17] and a lot of thanks to both Aaron and
[1:59:18] Rachel for for our collaborative work
[1:59:20] together for our distributive leadership
[1:59:22] which I could not do without them. 23
[1:59:24] classrooms across across seven locations
[1:59:26] is sometimes an impossible feat and
[1:59:28] without them it would not be possible.
[1:59:30] And thanks to Stacy and Saladine and of
[1:59:33] course always to the parents who share
[1:59:35] their children with me.
[1:59:38] Okay, so you all have to come over to
[1:59:40] the Lynch Center because by some miracle
[1:59:43] um we had a renovation over the summer
[1:59:45] and in three months from June, July and
[1:59:46] August the place was completely
[1:59:48] transformed. New floors, new carpets,
[1:59:50] new walls, um new sinks, new cabinets,
[1:59:53] new new um new countertops. It looks
[1:59:56] utterly amazing. And I have to thank the
[1:59:58] people that are listed here, Charlie
[1:59:59] Simmons and Karen King and Ed Clancy and
[2:00:01] Joe Albuquerque and Andrea Shutler who
[2:00:04] was the SLP who worked on an internship
[2:00:06] with me and created the capital
[2:00:08] improvement plan that led to the
[2:00:10] improvements at Lynch. So, please come
[2:00:11] over and see the building. You won't
[2:00:13] believe it if you have been there most
[2:00:15] recently.
[2:00:18] Okay, so these are just a couple of the
[2:00:19] highlights. I'm not going to go over all
[2:00:20] of them, but I wanted to just focus
[2:00:22] really on two of them. Last year, if you
[2:00:24] recall, we did some rearranging and some
[2:00:26] um redistributing of staff and we had a
[2:00:29] new teaching model in beak. We had a
[2:00:31] combined rise prek rise preschool
[2:00:33] teaching model where we were doing much
[2:00:35] more inclus inclusion by sharing staff
[2:00:37] in a different way. That first year is
[2:00:39] behind us. That first year was extremely
[2:00:42] successful led to an incredible amount
[2:00:44] of inclusion, a lot of reverse
[2:00:45] inclusion, very intentional work around
[2:00:47] that piece. And I am extremely proud of
[2:00:49] the educators who made that model work
[2:00:52] and happen. So I just wanted to point
[2:00:54] that out and I wanted to point out that
[2:00:55] we had a professional learning community
[2:00:57] which we called grow the good and there
[2:00:59] were six educators that joined me once a
[2:01:01] month to work on the social emotional
[2:01:03] well-being of adults because one of the
[2:01:05] things that we know in education
[2:01:07] particularly in early childhood is the
[2:01:09] well-being of adults matters
[2:01:10] tremendously for the outcomes for
[2:01:12] students in the future. And so we worked
[2:01:14] monthly on different topics around
[2:01:16] well-being in the classroom, outside of
[2:01:18] the classroom and how to take care of
[2:01:20] themselves as educated. It was very
[2:01:22] successful and we're trying to figure
[2:01:24] out how to make it go happen this year
[2:01:26] again and to grow that capacity and
[2:01:28] other educators as well.
[2:01:32] Always budgetary considerations are
[2:01:34] extremely important part for us at beep.
[2:01:36] These are the things that we think about
[2:01:37] a lot. We look at the revolving fund. We
[2:01:39] can moni constantly monitor the revenue
[2:01:41] and the expenses. We're considering the
[2:01:43] cost of being part of this prism 2 and
[2:01:45] what will that mean for us as we if we
[2:01:46] want to purchase new curriculum. We're
[2:01:48] always looking at the leases and trying
[2:01:50] to bring beep classrooms back into PSB
[2:01:53] spaces, public school or Brooklyn
[2:01:54] spaces. And so what does that look like
[2:01:56] and what is that going to take? And then
[2:01:58] also we're looking at our technology
[2:01:59] needs because we do need to upgrade some
[2:02:00] of our iPads and computers that we use
[2:02:03] to track data for our students that are
[2:02:04] in the RISE program. So those are some
[2:02:06] of the things that we're thinking about
[2:02:07] for the upcoming school year.
[2:02:11] Okay. So, as Bella indicated, we we were
[2:02:14] we we've been thinking a lot as a
[2:02:15] district about our school improvement
[2:02:16] plans and aligning them with the goals
[2:02:18] of the district and the and the
[2:02:20] superintendent schools. And so, you'll
[2:02:22] see three goals here in our in our BEP
[2:02:24] school improvement plan. The first run
[2:02:25] around MTSS.
[2:02:27] The second one is not about culture and
[2:02:29] climate, but about spaces and and and
[2:02:31] facilities because I I felt we cannot
[2:02:33] have a school improvement plan for BEP
[2:02:34] without talking about spaces and
[2:02:36] facilities. And the last one will be
[2:02:38] about equity. And so we are really going
[2:02:40] to focus this year in beep as we have
[2:02:41] for the last couple of years on tier one
[2:02:43] instruction because when you think about
[2:02:45] multiple multi multiple tiered systems
[2:02:48] of support that's really just a fancy
[2:02:50] way of saying how do students get what
[2:02:51] they need every day in the way that they
[2:02:53] need it right and that means really
[2:02:56] solid really impactful tier one
[2:02:58] instruction right so over the next year
[2:03:00] we are going to spend that year really
[2:03:02] continuing to strengthen our tier one
[2:03:04] instruction and in beep that is very
[2:03:06] specific it means a high quality
[2:03:08] nurtured in classrooms, researchbased
[2:03:11] core curriculum. What is the content
[2:03:12] that you're teaching students and
[2:03:14] positive supportive relationship
[2:03:16] building? Our data will look very
[2:03:19] different than the data that you see in
[2:03:21] the elementary schools, but it will
[2:03:23] drive the conversations of about what
[2:03:26] our tier one instruction looks like.
[2:03:30] I just threw this slide in because I
[2:03:32] felt it was really important to point
[2:03:34] out the ways that MTSS is a little bit
[2:03:36] different in early childhood in preK and
[2:03:38] really you should think about
[2:03:39] kindergarten as well, right? Universal
[2:03:41] design for learning, developmentally
[2:03:43] appropriate practices and diversity,
[2:03:45] equity, inclusion, culturally responsive
[2:03:47] practices are at the core of MTSS and
[2:03:50] early childhood. And so you should keep
[2:03:52] that in mind as we think about what this
[2:03:53] looks like for us in the early childhood
[2:03:56] sphere of the public schools of
[2:03:57] Brooklyn.
[2:03:59] So, our first goal is around tier one
[2:04:01] instruction and these are the these are
[2:04:03] the the desired outcomes for us as a as
[2:04:05] a school and how we're going to monitor
[2:04:07] them and and follow along as students
[2:04:09] do. And one of the things that that is
[2:04:11] challenging for us being spread out over
[2:04:13] 23 classrooms um in seven different
[2:04:16] locations is creating a master schedule
[2:04:18] that allows teachers to have
[2:04:20] collaboration time, consultation time,
[2:04:22] and time with supervisors and
[2:04:23] evaluators. And then when you do the
[2:04:25] research on on MTSS and on the
[2:04:28] implementation of it, you have to have a
[2:04:30] solid master schedule. So we have been
[2:04:33] working really hard to figure that out
[2:04:35] and to build in capacity for us to do
[2:04:38] the things that need to get done. And so
[2:04:40] you will see that we created a sort of a
[2:04:41] time on learning in the classrooms and
[2:04:43] that we are going to adapt the data
[2:04:45] protocols that um Joelle and Matt um and
[2:04:49] the rest of the MCSS district team made
[2:04:51] to fit BEEP so that we can use those
[2:04:54] data protocols in our classroom
[2:04:56] consultation meetings to fit for the
[2:04:58] data that we that we collect in BEAP.
[2:05:00] Data around social emotional learning,
[2:05:02] data around the pyramid model, and data
[2:05:05] around inclusive practices. And as
[2:05:07] Superintendent Wong um said before,
[2:05:09] having a clear professional development
[2:05:11] plan around that is very important. So
[2:05:13] we are looking at this professional
[2:05:15] development plan that's actually from
[2:05:16] Desi and it's around job embedded
[2:05:19] inclusive practice professional
[2:05:20] development and we're going to work on
[2:05:23] that for this year hoping to get through
[2:05:24] the first two modules as we continue to
[2:05:27] build the capacity of educators in that
[2:05:29] regard.
[2:05:31] Okay, our favorite conversation around
[2:05:34] be always involves facilities and space.
[2:05:36] And so we in 2022 we did a presentation
[2:05:39] to the school committee. Some of you
[2:05:40] were on the school committee then many
[2:05:41] of you were not. I included a link to
[2:05:43] that presentation here in the slides
[2:05:45] tonight. We are at that final slide that
[2:05:47] 2027 slide where we're talking about
[2:05:49] moving into Pierce and thinking about
[2:05:51] the future. And our goal is to
[2:05:53] reestablish our beep inclusive
[2:05:55] classrooms in public school spaces. We
[2:05:57] have loved our partnership with the um
[2:05:59] Trust Center for Early Learning. We love
[2:06:01] our partnership out at Temple EMTTH and
[2:06:03] we know that those leases are costly and
[2:06:06] impactful to the budget across the town.
[2:06:08] And we are working to figure out how to
[2:06:10] reestablish our classrooms in public
[2:06:12] school spaces.
[2:06:16] And so here's just that goal sort of
[2:06:18] outlined in your very two simple terms.
[2:06:20] Those conversations will begin this week
[2:06:22] when I meet with superintendent um Karen
[2:06:24] Schmuckler and with Aaron Osborne to
[2:06:27] talk about what we're going to think
[2:06:28] about as we move towards opening pier
[2:06:30] Pierce in 2027 and what else where can
[2:06:33] we find other spaces within our public
[2:06:36] schools for other beef classrooms.
[2:06:38] Right? So this is going to be a big part
[2:06:39] of our conversation over the next couple
[2:06:41] of years. It was part of that original
[2:06:43] plan. I think we probably need a new
[2:06:44] five-year plan for beep spaces as well.
[2:06:50] And then as um Superintendent Wong um
[2:06:52] shared and as as um as Vanessa shared
[2:06:55] like equity is at the heart of
[2:06:56] everything [snorts] that we do, right?
[2:06:58] Equitable outcomes for all students,
[2:07:00] universal design for learning, providing
[2:07:02] different means of representation,
[2:07:04] expression, and access. That is what
[2:07:06] equity is about in early childhood,
[2:07:07] right? It is grounded in playful
[2:07:09] learning. It is grounded in
[2:07:10] developmentally appropriate practice. It
[2:07:12] is grounded in in the in the principles
[2:07:14] of the National Association for the
[2:07:16] Education of Young Children. If you have
[2:07:19] solid core tier one instruction, you
[2:07:22] know what everyone's getting across the
[2:07:24] board in your school, it is based, it is
[2:07:26] antibbias, based in research, based in
[2:07:29] standards, that you're going to have
[2:07:30] more equitable outcomes for students.
[2:07:32] Right? So, one of the goals that we have
[2:07:34] this year is to participate in this
[2:07:35] curriculum council through DESIE to do a
[2:07:38] real look at our curriculum, not just in
[2:07:40] literacy, because an early childhood
[2:07:42] curriculum is not just about literacy.
[2:07:43] It's the whole child. It's about it's
[2:07:45] about literacy. It's about math. It's
[2:07:47] about social studies. It's about
[2:07:49] science. And it's about social and
[2:07:50] emotional learning, which is really at
[2:07:52] the core of everything that we do in
[2:07:54] BEAP and in early child education.
[2:07:58] So, you'll see on this slide, I've put
[2:08:00] some links and re um and resources
[2:08:02] connected to the curriculum council,
[2:08:04] right? We are going to through our work
[2:08:06] with our curriculum council, through the
[2:08:08] work with DESIE and the Prism Grant, we
[2:08:10] are going to create a shared
[2:08:11] instructional vision for BEA that is
[2:08:13] grounded in these principles outlined
[2:08:15] here because we know that shared
[2:08:17] visions, right, common language, common
[2:08:19] practices, equitable practices, and
[2:08:21] measurable outcomes lead for long-term
[2:08:24] out better outcomes for students and
[2:08:26] really for families as well because you
[2:08:28] engage families in the process early
[2:08:30] enough and they have a better
[2:08:31] understanding of what their children are
[2:08:33] learning and how they're learning. in
[2:08:34] that this prism prism grant opportunity
[2:08:36] is one that I did not actually think we
[2:08:38] would get. I didn't think they would
[2:08:40] actually give us the grant. Um it was a
[2:08:41] very late submission. I was surprised
[2:08:43] and happy. We spent three hours on the
[2:08:45] highquality instructional material
[2:08:47] network meeting today. So if my brain
[2:08:49] seems a little frazzled, probably it is.
[2:08:51] But it was it was wonderful. There were
[2:08:52] so many districts there and we learned a
[2:08:54] lot about really thinking about what the
[2:08:56] next steps are in this process. So, it's
[2:08:58] a great opportunity for the district.
[2:08:59] And I will say that if there was a fish
[2:09:01] tank in prek, we would look for that,
[2:09:04] but they don't offer that. So, we'll
[2:09:05] work with Kristen and we'll work with um
[2:09:08] with Robin and with Joelle to really
[2:09:10] think about which of the curriculums
[2:09:11] that we might choose align best with the
[2:09:14] practices of the district because for
[2:09:15] the last few years, we've been doing
[2:09:16] that Foundation's second step. Those are
[2:09:19] all fully implemented in all BE
[2:09:21] classrooms and they carry over into the
[2:09:24] elementary schools as well.
[2:09:28] And this is just a great um bulletin
[2:09:30] board that was out at our Partan
[2:09:31] location last year. Mayor Rousin's class
[2:09:33] did this. Thank you, Amu. Is a wonderful
[2:09:35] book. If you don't know it, you should
[2:09:36] definitely go get it and read it. It is
[2:09:38] a terrific book for pre-K, but it's also
[2:09:40] part of the fish tank um curriculum and
[2:09:42] they you read it in kindergarten. And I
[2:09:44] was present last year a couple of times
[2:09:45] when kids were exploring the topics in
[2:09:47] this book, the vocabulary in this book,
[2:09:48] and the ideas of community that it
[2:09:50] represents. So
[2:09:54] there you go. There you go. Um, if I
[2:09:57] might, so you have a presentation from
[2:09:59] another excellent educator in the
[2:10:01] district. Um, I just want to point out
[2:10:04] that Margaret is a singleton um, as the
[2:10:07] principal of our preschool and she I've
[2:10:10] had the privilege of working with many
[2:10:13] talented preschool educators who take
[2:10:16] what the district goals are and they
[2:10:18] make them developmentally appropriate
[2:10:20] for their students. And you've just seen
[2:10:22] a really compelling argument for
[2:10:24] Universal PreK. Can you imagine if there
[2:10:27] were Margaret's multiplied
[2:10:30] and
[2:10:31] or Rachel or Eron? Yeah.
[2:10:32] Yeah. And so students would be able to
[2:10:35] have this. So one of the things about
[2:10:36] the learnings from Finland and Estonia
[2:10:38] is the investment in early childhood.
[2:10:41] Students don't actually start formal
[2:10:43] education until first grade. But many of
[2:10:45] them are reading and they're starting
[2:10:46] with a level playing ground. And that is
[2:10:48] the notion. But if you can imagine
[2:10:50] Margaret multiplied over and over. Um
[2:10:53] but she's amazing um member of the team
[2:10:57] and anyway but just
[2:10:59] that's kind of you. Thank you. It's kind
[2:11:01] of you.
[2:11:02] Thank you. Thank you. Are there any
[2:11:04] questions
[2:11:05] we have?
[2:11:06] Please I'm happy to answer any questions
[2:11:08] about the grant if you had any more. I
[2:11:09] knew you had some questions about
[2:11:10] I was just going to comment and
[2:11:12] congratulate you and thank you for that.
[2:11:14] like I love which was why I was asking
[2:11:17] about it in finance and I was grateful
[2:11:20] to hear about it from Robin today just
[2:11:23] to hear
[2:11:24] that you had like the the the initiative
[2:11:29] to apply for this grant and to you know
[2:11:32] be so um enthusiastic about tying in
[2:11:36] what BEP is doing to this initiative
[2:11:38] that's so important to the district
[2:11:40] right now. So um thank you for applying
[2:11:43] and congratulations on getting it and um
[2:11:46] that's just really great. Um um
[2:11:50] and
[2:11:52] yeah, that's it. That's just a comment.
[2:11:54] Thank you.
[2:11:54] Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, I
[2:11:56] appreciate the the support of Ashley uh
[2:11:58] Sullivan in the um finance office. She
[2:12:00] really helped me get it going because we
[2:12:02] only had like two days to submit it when
[2:12:04] we finally realized we could. So, I was
[2:12:07] grateful for the support of the district
[2:12:08] and getting that work done as well.
[2:12:10] Suzanne Feders,
[2:12:12] thank you Margaret. Thank you for all
[2:12:13] your work. I'm so glad that the Lynch
[2:12:16] Center got [laughter] an upgrade.
[2:12:17] Oh my god. It doesn't It doesn't It's
[2:12:19] the You You have to come. All of you who
[2:12:21] came last year, you must come.
[2:12:22] Yeah. I'm looking forward to that.
[2:12:24] It's amazing. I am so appreciative of
[2:12:26] it. And so are the families where kids
[2:12:28] are going to make notes for everybody
[2:12:29] and send it to the building commission.
[2:12:31] Oh, that's great.
[2:12:32] Well, it's an old building, so it needed
[2:12:34] a little love. [laughter]
[2:12:36] It got a lot of love.
[2:12:38] Great. I noticed that you mentioned in
[2:12:40] facilities perhaps going to the high
[2:12:41] school with the classroom. I believe we
[2:12:43] had
[2:12:44] She didn't mention high school. She said
[2:12:46] we were going to find places in the
[2:12:48] schools.
[2:12:49] So, she isn't No, it says something
[2:12:51] about high school.
[2:12:52] Oh, okay.
[2:12:53] Yeah. I think I think you know that's
[2:12:55] always my hope, right? That we would
[2:12:57] have high school spaces mostly. I have
[2:12:59] to tell you because of the opportunity
[2:13:01] to work with the high schoolers,
[2:13:03] right? like not only that is it
[2:13:06] wonderful but the opportunity to work
[2:13:07] with high schoolers they come to our
[2:13:08] program they interned all year last year
[2:13:11] um the A students come at the and they
[2:13:14] do community service and it's a great
[2:13:16] pathway and it's not a pathway that
[2:13:18] involves you know it's a human pathway
[2:13:20] it's human intelligence at its best um
[2:13:23] I think we were at the high school at
[2:13:25] one point weren't we or was
[2:13:26] yes we for a long time we had thought
[2:13:28] that's what I thought now
[2:13:29] we'll see what happens I'm going to work
[2:13:31] with the superintendent
[2:13:32] takes a lot with facilities I vote for
[2:13:34] it. So, uh,
[2:13:35] it's not the superintendent you have to
[2:13:36] worry about.
[2:13:40] I had one more uh question. Could you
[2:13:42] just talk a little bit about your
[2:13:43] curriculum council?
[2:13:45] Yeah. So, I um I'm happy to share I'm
[2:13:47] not sure if I put the link in this in
[2:13:48] the slides, but the curriculum council
[2:13:50] is composed of the word stakeholders in
[2:13:53] the process. So, there's teachers,
[2:13:55] there's specialists, there's par
[2:13:57] profofessionals, there's administrators.
[2:13:59] Right now the only thing the only per
[2:14:01] the only member that we don't really
[2:14:02] have is like a parent or and or and or a
[2:14:04] community member and we meet monthly and
[2:14:07] review um what is curriculum, what is
[2:14:09] high quality in instructional materials,
[2:14:12] what is our vision and be what are we
[2:14:13] currently doing, how does it align with
[2:14:15] the district and then once a month four
[2:14:18] or three or four of us meet with the
[2:14:20] high quality instructional material
[2:14:21] network that is run by Desi and that was
[2:14:23] the first meeting that we had. Um today
[2:14:25] that was three hours. So it's once a
[2:14:27] month for three hours on on a Wednesday,
[2:14:29] but the curriculum council will meet.
[2:14:31] We'll look we'll break up into small
[2:14:32] groups. We'll it requires around 10
[2:14:35] additional hours of work per month to
[2:14:37] look at the different components of the
[2:14:39] implement MA process. But it really you
[2:14:42] need to have a diverse set of voices
[2:14:43] involved in the curriculum council. And
[2:14:46] Kristen Gray is going to join us in the
[2:14:48] second phase of the curriculum council
[2:14:50] um when we're looking at we're actually
[2:14:51] exploring that different curriculum. So,
[2:14:53] we're still working on composing some of
[2:14:55] the elements of the council, but we have
[2:14:56] a good solid council right now of
[2:14:58] educators, par professionals,
[2:15:00] specialists, and administrators.
[2:15:02] So, Margaret, I noticed the word play on
[2:15:05] one of your
[2:15:06] slides. I just want you to say it again
[2:15:08] how play is so important for
[2:15:10] preschoolers.
[2:15:11] And when when um when Karen Schmuckler
[2:15:13] came to visit and she and I toured a
[2:15:15] couple of the beep classrooms recently,
[2:15:17] we talked about the importance of that
[2:15:18] piece and all of the curriculums for the
[2:15:21] high quality instructional material
[2:15:23] network. They're based in play based in
[2:15:26] play that with measurable outcomes. And
[2:15:27] I think that's the hardest part for for
[2:15:29] some people to wrap their head around.
[2:15:31] But the play is the work of children.
[2:15:33] Children learn through play. They learn
[2:15:35] through manipulating material. They
[2:15:36] learn through trial and error. And they
[2:15:38] learn through guided play. And the
[2:15:40] guided play is the key. Teachers putting
[2:15:42] out intentional material, really
[2:15:44] thinking about what am I trying to get
[2:15:45] the kids to think about here and then
[2:15:47] guiding them to to learn from that and
[2:15:49] then following up with some from
[2:15:51] conversations and some post assessments
[2:15:53] as well. But play is the is the work of
[2:15:55] children. And I think, you know, I think
[2:15:57] that we've moved away from that in some
[2:15:59] of our um upper younger grades, but it
[2:16:02] is essentially the work of early
[2:16:03] childhood.
[2:16:04] Thank you. I really appreciate it's like
[2:16:06] music to my ears. Thank you.
[2:16:08] Me too. Me too.
[2:16:09] Margaret, how hard is it to supervise
[2:16:10] multiple sites?
[2:16:12] So, the hardest part for me is that I
[2:16:14] have to know everyone and then and like
[2:16:16] I must know all 250 students and beep
[2:16:19] like I need to know them for my own
[2:16:21] sanity because they're they're beep
[2:16:23] students. They're beepers as I call to
[2:16:25] them. And so, you have to really be
[2:16:26] intentional in planning and thinking
[2:16:28] about who you're when you're going to
[2:16:30] visit, how you're going to go, how
[2:16:31] you're going to interact with the
[2:16:33] teachers, with the par professionals,
[2:16:34] with the specialists. It's hard, but you
[2:16:37] know, I will say it's there's a there's
[2:16:38] a real momentum to the work. You get you
[2:16:40] get to move around a lot. You get to see
[2:16:42] a lot of different I get to go to
[2:16:44] Driscoll, Ridley, Wrl, and Hayes. I
[2:16:47] mean, that's pretty amazing, right? That
[2:16:48] I get to go to all those places and
[2:16:50] interact with all those principles and
[2:16:51] all the different people that work in
[2:16:52] those schools. Sometimes it's tiring,
[2:16:55] but um it's worth it every minute of it.
[2:16:57] And Rachel and Erin are amazing. We
[2:16:58] split the responsibility of supervision
[2:17:00] and evaluation and we meet once a once a
[2:17:03] week as an administrative team and then
[2:17:05] another time with our team facilitators
[2:17:07] um to make sure that we're really
[2:17:08] capturing all the things that we need to
[2:17:10] capture.
[2:17:11] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
[2:17:13] you.
[2:17:13] Thank you so much. I had a lovely time.
[2:17:14] Thank you for inviting me.
[2:17:16] You're welcome. Come back.
[2:17:18] I will. Thank you so much.
[2:17:19] Okay. Moving along. So in November t at
[2:17:24] November town meeting there will be two
[2:17:26] warrant articles 12 and 13 that have to
[2:17:28] do with lighting in the town and we've
[2:17:33] David Pollock is here who is uh the
[2:17:35] former chair of the school committee I
[2:17:37] believe.
[2:17:38] Yeah among his other accomplishments
[2:17:43] stresses. So David you're the sponsor I
[2:17:46] think or co-sponsor
[2:17:48] of the articles. Come on up and talk
[2:17:50] about them. So the school committee will
[2:17:53] only make a decision if there's an
[2:17:56] impact of these two warrant articles on
[2:17:59] the public schools of Brooklyn. So we'll
[2:18:01] pay attention to you and then Kyle
[2:18:03] Williams is here who's the athletic
[2:18:04] director at the high school and maybe he
[2:18:07] can make some comments about the impact
[2:18:09] of these two articles on the public
[2:18:12] schools. Okay, David.
[2:18:15] Yes. Hello. Uh hello school committee
[2:18:18] members. Um yeah, uh fun to be back in
[2:18:21] in um uh the uh James Walsh uh school
[2:18:26] committee room. David Pollock, uh town
[2:18:29] meeting member from precinct 11, member
[2:18:31] of the uh Brooklyn uh advisory committee
[2:18:35] to town meeting. I chair the land use
[2:18:38] zoning and sustainability subcommittee
[2:18:40] of town meetings advisory committee and
[2:18:43] I also have chaired since um last year
[2:18:47] the moderators committee on outdoor
[2:18:49] lighting and I'm joined by Julie Jetty.
[2:18:52] Come on up Julie. Uh and Alisa Plazanda.
[2:18:55] Uh we are three of the nine members of
[2:18:58] the moderators committee that has worked
[2:19:00] since January to uh bring to town
[2:19:03] meeting two warrant articles that will
[2:19:06] uh regulate and improve outdoor lighting
[2:19:09] only outdoor lighting in Brooklyn. And
[2:19:12] uh I spoke with the chair uh a month or
[2:19:15] so ago and we both agreed that it would
[2:19:17] be good for school committee at least
[2:19:18] have a high level understanding of these
[2:19:21] articles and their fiscal impact or or
[2:19:24] you know not so much fiscal impact on
[2:19:27] the school facilities uh as a you know a
[2:19:30] matter of of uh information. So we're
[2:19:33] going to start with Alisa who's going to
[2:19:35] you know quickly run us through our
[2:19:36] highle slide deck.
[2:19:39] Yeah. Um thank you David. So, um I I
[2:19:42] know you had the deck. So, uh David
[2:19:45] mentioned we had nine members of the
[2:19:46] committee, very diverse committee, and
[2:19:48] we've been working for the past 10
[2:19:50] months to develop the articles that are
[2:19:51] before you now. So, light pollution is a
[2:19:54] growing issue with a lot of negative
[2:19:56] impacts. And while Brooklyn has made
[2:19:59] some progress towards trying to address
[2:20:01] light pollution, the most recent two
[2:20:04] efforts stalled, which brings us to
[2:20:06] where we are today. Um, so in brief, a
[2:20:09] light pollution is bad for humans, even
[2:20:12] worse for wildlife, and it unnecessarily
[2:20:15] contributes to climate change. If you're
[2:20:17] interested in the science behind um the,
[2:20:20] you know, the negative impacts here, we
[2:20:22] provided links in the explanation
[2:20:24] section of article 12.
[2:20:27] So through our research, walking tours,
[2:20:30] and testimony from a range of
[2:20:31] stakeholders, we identified four
[2:20:34] categories of excessive lighting in
[2:20:35] Brooklyn, and they're shown here. So,
[2:20:37] poorly shielded and poorly aimed
[2:20:39] fixtures, bright white or blue white
[2:20:42] LEDs that are particularly disruptive to
[2:20:44] both humans and wildlife, lights that
[2:20:47] aren't, um, serving a a use, and light
[2:20:51] that is left on when it's no longer
[2:20:52] needed.
[2:20:54] So, um, what we're proposing are two
[2:20:56] articles to address these issues. One is
[2:20:59] a slight revision to the existing
[2:21:00] regulations of glare and light trespass
[2:21:03] in the zoning code. And these are
[2:21:05] largely clarifications. That's warrant
[2:21:07] article 13 and a new general bylaw
[2:21:11] section under part 8 of public health
[2:21:13] and safety that sets out the five
[2:21:16] guiding principles that you see listed
[2:21:18] here and provides corresponding outdoor
[2:21:20] lighting standards in line with these
[2:21:23] principles. So the requirements and
[2:21:25] standards are straightforward extensions
[2:21:27] of the guiding principles. You know in a
[2:21:30] nutshell fixtures need to be shielded.
[2:21:32] Lights should be turned off when they're
[2:21:34] not um you know when they're not in use.
[2:21:36] Um so we have curfews and with some
[2:21:39] exceptions bulbs should be warm white in
[2:21:42] color of having a color corrected
[2:21:44] temperature of 3,000 Kelvin or less.
[2:21:47] There are a range of exemptions um you
[2:21:49] know for safety and and and and so there
[2:21:52] as well. So, for the curfews, these
[2:21:55] curfews um align with existing town
[2:21:58] curfews, uh including the signed bylaw,
[2:22:02] and and they're not absolute. There are
[2:22:03] there are exceptions. So, businesses can
[2:22:05] have their lights on if they're open
[2:22:07] later than the 11 p.m. curfew, and
[2:22:09] residents can continue to use their
[2:22:11] outdoor lighting if they're outside
[2:22:13] late. So, that's not an issue. And then
[2:22:16] for recreation use for both town fields
[2:22:18] and private fields, uh lights have to be
[2:22:21] off by 10 pm unless there's an earlier
[2:22:24] cut off that's um dictated by existing
[2:22:26] policy. And this is consistent with
[2:22:28] what's already in place um with the
[2:22:30] town. So these requirements would phase
[2:22:33] in over time with a compliance time
[2:22:36] frame tiered according to the cost and
[2:22:38] difficulty of making the indicated
[2:22:41] changes. So easy fixes need to be
[2:22:44] completed within a year. More complex
[2:22:46] changes, complicated changes need to
[2:22:48] happen within 5 years. So that's for
[2:22:51] private property. For the town, the town
[2:22:54] needs to have a plan and be underway
[2:22:56] starting to come into compliance by year
[2:22:59] five and then be fully compliant by year
[2:23:02] 10.
[2:23:04] So, the town also has uh excuse me, the
[2:23:06] the bylaw also has uh additional uh
[2:23:09] restrictions on outdoor lighting for six
[2:23:11] key wildlife habitat areas while
[2:23:14] allowing uh safety lighting around
[2:23:16] buildings, parking lots, and walkways
[2:23:19] and paths. And all of the properties
[2:23:21] that are listed here are cited for their
[2:23:23] habitat value in the 2025 open space and
[2:23:26] recreation plan. So, the reason that um
[2:23:29] protecting these nighttime habitats from
[2:23:32] light pollution is so critical is
[2:23:34] because while some wildlife has adapted
[2:23:37] to human presence and our lights that
[2:23:40] come with humans, many species have not.
[2:23:43] And for them, even low levels of
[2:23:45] artificial light disrupts the cycles
[2:23:48] that they depend on for survival, for
[2:23:50] reproduction, for feeding and
[2:23:52] navigation. So it's um extremely
[2:23:55] detrimental
[2:23:57] from a cost perspective. Um in crafting
[2:23:59] our article, we were trying to get the
[2:24:00] most bang for the buck. So focused on
[2:24:03] you know the changes that would have
[2:24:06] more impact um and trying to you know uh
[2:24:09] make it very economic.
[2:24:12] So also avoiding the fiscal shock to
[2:24:15] both property owners and the town. So
[2:24:17] that's the reason for you know the one
[2:24:19] year versus 5year for private property
[2:24:21] and then the five to 10year for town
[2:24:24] owned property. So this shows this slide
[2:24:27] shows um potential costs for different
[2:24:29] types of things that might need to be
[2:24:31] corrected. And as far as the schools are
[2:24:34] concerned, we think that the newer
[2:24:35] schools are likely to already be in in
[2:24:39] compliance because the requirements of
[2:24:41] this article are completely consistent
[2:24:43] with current best practice lighting
[2:24:45] standards. Um, and for those lights that
[2:24:47] don't conform, having that 10-year
[2:24:49] compliance time horizon would allow
[2:24:51] changes to be made as part of the
[2:24:53] regular CIP process. So, I'm going to
[2:24:56] flip it back to David to add anything
[2:24:58] further and then happy to take your
[2:25:00] questions.
[2:25:05] Um, are there any questions? Sarah?
[2:25:08] Um, well, I did want to have the
[2:25:10] opportunity to ask Kyle if he thinks
[2:25:11] that this impacts um, sports in any way.
[2:25:14] Kyle, there's a request for you to come
[2:25:16] on up and respond to that question. Will
[2:25:19] there be an impact on our school
[2:25:20] programs?
[2:25:22] And thank you for being here.
[2:25:26] Thank you for having me. I'm Kyle
[2:25:28] Williams, director of athletics at the
[2:25:29] high school. Um, I also started my
[2:25:32] career as a pair professional at
[2:25:33] Lawrence like Vanessa. Um, and as it
[2:25:36] relates to the War Articles, I want to
[2:25:37] thank the moderators committee, uh, Mr.
[2:25:39] Pollic for it seems like they've been
[2:25:41] responsive to some of the feedback
[2:25:42] throughout the process in terms of the
[2:25:44] sites that were originally excluded or
[2:25:46] or protected areas um as they might
[2:25:49] impact recreational users. So, I
[2:25:50] appreciate that. Uh the 10pm cutoff is
[2:25:53] not an issue. It's consistent with
[2:25:54] current practice. It's consistent with
[2:25:56] trying to get kids home to their
[2:25:57] families and to do homework. We're we're
[2:25:59] happy with that. Um where I wanted to
[2:26:02] present today was about capacity as a
[2:26:03] whole. Um and so we've grown uh prior to
[2:26:07] my coming group about 25% and then the
[2:26:09] 10 years before that we've grown another
[2:26:10] 30% in the past um four years. And so
[2:26:14] that's great and our facilities are our
[2:26:16] biggest constraint at this point. Um and
[2:26:18] we have plenty of partnerships with
[2:26:20] recreation, with private schools, with
[2:26:21] everybody uh in the area that we can. Um
[2:26:24] but we see there are four ways to
[2:26:26] increase capacity. um that's acquiring
[2:26:28] acres of land, which um I don't think is
[2:26:31] something that necessarily the town is
[2:26:32] going to be doing anytime soon to push
[2:26:34] towards recreational athletics. Um
[2:26:36] there's lights, synthetic turf, and uh
[2:26:39] partnerships and pilots. And so lights
[2:26:41] being one of those, I just wanted the
[2:26:43] committee to understand that as we think
[2:26:45] about future capacity for athletic
[2:26:47] growth, active recreation growth, that
[2:26:50] um
[2:26:51] facilities, in this case, the one
[2:26:53] facility that's still included would be
[2:26:54] the golf course. how that impacts the
[2:26:56] high school is uh through boys golf in
[2:26:59] the fall, girls golf in the spring, and
[2:27:01] potentially Nordic skiing in the winter.
[2:27:02] And again, this is forward thinking.
[2:27:04] Currently, our Nordic ski group goes to
[2:27:07] Western, the Western Ski Track. Um, and
[2:27:09] that's a bit of a limiting factor in
[2:27:10] terms of access and equity. That group
[2:27:12] has grown from seven students uh pre-
[2:27:15] pandemic to 21. Now, we see it as one of
[2:27:17] our biggest growth opportunities of a
[2:27:18] low skill, low commitment um to continue
[2:27:21] getting kids engaged in sports. Um, golf
[2:27:24] has grown from 33 students pre- pandemic
[2:27:26] to 64. Um, and we're really starting to
[2:27:28] stress the um, relationship with
[2:27:31] recreation, relationship with the folks
[2:27:32] who are there in that 3 to five window.
[2:27:35] Um, and so the golf course is is one
[2:27:38] area where having additional capacity,
[2:27:42] what that looks like, what they would do
[2:27:43] with lights, I don't I'm not necessarily
[2:27:45] aware of specific plans, but additional
[2:27:47] capacity for high school use would be
[2:27:48] beneficial. The other area where lights
[2:27:50] are particularly impactful on high
[2:27:52] school users is this time of year. Um I
[2:27:54] just left the high school and uh our
[2:27:57] permit goes till 5:30. At 5:15 there
[2:27:59] were seven youth soccer teams, probably
[2:28:01] about 80 students ready to get on the
[2:28:04] fields uh using the fields, the lit
[2:28:06] fields. And when we get to next week, we
[2:28:09] start having games that are impacted,
[2:28:11] experiences that are impacted because of
[2:28:13] darkness. Um we're not able to host
[2:28:15] playoff games in on Brookline
[2:28:17] facilities. soap soccer, boys soccer,
[2:28:19] girls soccer, football, field hockey, we
[2:28:21] can't necessarily host. If we do, we
[2:28:23] have to host at 2 p.m. Uh we have to get
[2:28:25] kids out of class to be able to host
[2:28:26] before darkness. Um and so it's not
[2:28:29] necessarily about the warn article
[2:28:30] itself. Um except beyond perhaps the
[2:28:33] golf course. Um but it's about future
[2:28:35] capacity and making you aware of the
[2:28:36] impact of those potential those four
[2:28:38] growth areas, the acquisition of land,
[2:28:40] lights, synthetic turf, and uh
[2:28:42] partnerships and pilots. and the
[2:28:44] partnerships and pilots. One to mention
[2:28:46] um I haven't spoken with them but is uh
[2:28:49] Northeastern uh specifically because
[2:28:51] they are our partner they're our venue
[2:28:53] that does have lights so we try to use
[2:28:55] them. We've rented from BEu but they're
[2:28:57] not uh in Brooklyn so this wouldn't
[2:28:58] apply to them but Nor Eastern's impact
[2:29:01] and on that 5-year horizon of upgrading
[2:29:03] their lights. I don't know exactly
[2:29:04] whether that would be required of them
[2:29:06] if they could be expanded out or if
[2:29:07] they're even aware necessarily of this
[2:29:09] work. Um so I would just name that as
[2:29:11] one of our partners that might be
[2:29:12] impacted. That was all super helpful.
[2:29:14] But can you just be very clear? Um if
[2:29:17] this were to pass this um not thinking
[2:29:20] about the future, just thinking about
[2:29:21] current, it wouldn't change anything
[2:29:23] that you're able to run currently.
[2:29:25] Uh it it should not. No.
[2:29:27] Okay. And one more thing because you
[2:29:29] might be more in touch with this than I
[2:29:30] am or maybe somebody else around the
[2:29:31] room is. Um, what do we think about just
[2:29:34] lighting and or might be for you guys
[2:29:36] for kids that kind of congregate
[2:29:39] different places that aren't necessarily
[2:29:41] playing sports but you know might go
[2:29:43] find a basketball court or someplace to
[2:29:46] see each other? I'm not really in touch
[2:29:48] with that population myself. So, is
[2:29:51] anybody around the table think that
[2:29:53] we're going to be turning off lights
[2:29:54] that would offer an opportunity for
[2:29:56] people to get together safely?
[2:29:58] No, because Oh, yeah. Sorry. I guess
[2:30:02] that question is for David and Julie,
[2:30:05] but my understanding I think from the
[2:30:07] presentation is that the curfew is 11
[2:30:11] p.m. So I mean after 11 p.m.
[2:30:17] And I guess that's always kind of the
[2:30:22] Thank you, Julie Jetty, town meeting
[2:30:24] member, precinct 16 drilled into my
[2:30:26] head. Um I um [clears throat] Thanks. Um
[2:30:31] the uh parks and wreck has its own um
[2:30:35] curfews for park
[2:30:38] locations and those are usually dusk. Um
[2:30:40] parks are most of our parks that are not
[2:30:42] already lit are closed from dawn to
[2:30:44] dusk. So that's um the case already
[2:30:47] there. And uh one of the exceptions that
[2:30:50] we uh made sure to make in the art in
[2:30:52] the article was um lighting of pathway
[2:30:55] allowing lighting of pathways um for
[2:30:58] walking or cycling. So those are other
[2:31:01] areas maybe kids would be hanging out,
[2:31:03] but I don't think this is this affects
[2:31:06] that.
[2:31:07] Laura,
[2:31:09] kind of building off of Sarah's question
[2:31:12] and and sort of building off um your
[2:31:14] presentation, Mr. Williams, you know,
[2:31:16] thinking about play future capacity. If
[2:31:18] there was a park in Brooklyn that we
[2:31:20] wanted to light a field so that we could
[2:31:22] play soccer later into the evening,
[2:31:25] assuming it wasn't one of the places
[2:31:27] that was listed here, like Horse
[2:31:29] Sanctuary, there wouldn't be anything to
[2:31:31] preclude putting in lights as long as it
[2:31:33] complied with the new regulations.
[2:31:36] Correct,
[2:31:38] Ella?
[2:31:39] Um, this is a followup to Sarah's
[2:31:43] question. It it it has actually been on
[2:31:46] my mind if there could be maybe a
[2:31:48] catchall exception
[2:31:51] if an if lighting would improve safety
[2:31:54] in a certain area
[2:31:57] if if if something
[2:32:00] like we don't not about current but if
[2:32:03] if something were I don't know factors
[2:32:06] can change and maybe
[2:32:09] yeah there's there's very little
[2:32:11] prohibition of lighting
[2:32:14] anywhere in the articles. What it really
[2:32:18] says is light should be shielded.
[2:32:21] Uh so dark sky and also not shedding,
[2:32:24] you know, away from where they're
[2:32:26] supposed to light. They should be no
[2:32:28] brighter than necessary for the task.
[2:32:31] And um they should be turned off when
[2:32:34] not needed. And then except perhaps for
[2:32:38] sports lighting they should be maximum
[2:32:42] warm white. Uh but there are the um the
[2:32:48] general bylaw also references
[2:32:51] uh the uh illumination engineers
[2:32:54] society's
[2:32:55] uh best practice publications which
[2:32:57] there are many of for different kinds of
[2:33:00] uses. And so, for instance, when you
[2:33:02] look at the sports field lighting um
[2:33:05] recommended practice document, it says
[2:33:07] that it's better to have uh somewhat
[2:33:10] higher color temperatures because you
[2:33:12] get better color rendition and so you
[2:33:14] get better visibility and when you have
[2:33:16] large people racing around uh running
[2:33:19] into each other, increasing visibility
[2:33:22] is good for that use. So, even that is
[2:33:24] allowed as an exception. So, you can put
[2:33:27] lights basically wherever you want. They
[2:33:29] just need to be according to current
[2:33:32] best practice of how we want to light
[2:33:35] our environment and not light the night
[2:33:36] sky.
[2:33:38] Right. And and if I can just add and I I
[2:33:39] I pulled this slide up and I I went
[2:33:41] through it very quickly just in the
[2:33:43] interest of I know your meeting is
[2:33:44] running long. Um but we do have a number
[2:33:46] of exceptions for the curfew. So
[2:33:48] entryway and egress lighting. Um safety
[2:33:50] lighting is allowed to be on whenever
[2:33:53] it's needed. So um
[2:33:55] yes, I see that. I I missed it before.
[2:33:58] Thank you. The safety lighting. Yeah.
[2:34:01] Yeah. Sorry I went very quickly.
[2:34:04] Um Carolyn,
[2:34:06] um thanks for this and as a town meeting
[2:34:10] member
[2:34:11] it's helpful that we're talking about
[2:34:13] the buildings. um
[2:34:17] this kind of I I appreciate I think also
[2:34:20] for our purposes as a school committee
[2:34:22] um the environmental impacts of lighting
[2:34:24] are really was sort of the genesis of
[2:34:27] this um and in other presentations we've
[2:34:30] heard about the impacts on wildlife and
[2:34:34] reproduction and habits. So, um, really
[2:34:38] important for us, um, from an
[2:34:41] environmental perspective. Um, and just
[2:34:44] for context, David or Julie, can you
[2:34:46] just quickly tell us like other boards
[2:34:49] and commissions that have heard this and
[2:34:53] what the
[2:34:53] So, four boards have already uh had
[2:34:57] public hearings and voted. Um, the
[2:34:59] advisory committee met last night and
[2:35:02] there was a couple of abstensions. Um
[2:35:05] otherwise it was 20 whatever in favor
[2:35:08] and none opposed. The select board
[2:35:10] unanimously supported. Uh and then
[2:35:13] yesterday morning or Tuesday yesterday
[2:35:15] yesterday morning the small business um
[2:35:19] uh uh
[2:35:20] oh okay
[2:35:22] uh uh de development committee uh voted
[2:35:26] to recommend and also the economic
[2:35:28] development advisory board recommended
[2:35:30] to. So on all four votes there there
[2:35:32] hasn't been a single uh negative uh
[2:35:35] voice.
[2:35:36] Great.
[2:35:36] So far. So
[2:35:38] awesome. Thank you,
[2:35:39] Suzanne.
[2:35:42] I'm just curious about the MBTA the
[2:35:46] stops.
[2:35:46] They're the the the state uh properties
[2:35:50] are just exempted,
[2:35:52] right? They're they're very bright.
[2:35:54] [laughter]
[2:35:54] I'll say that. But
[2:35:55] we also can't really make rules for
[2:35:57] them, so we didn't try.
[2:35:58] Just thought I'd check. Thanks
[2:35:59] Jesse.
[2:36:01] Yeah. Um my question has to do with the
[2:36:04] regulation. So what is your thinking
[2:36:07] about how to follow up assuming that we
[2:36:10] in town meeting precinct 14? Um um uh
[2:36:16] past the two warrant articles. What
[2:36:18] would the towns uh what's the setup for
[2:36:21] the town to go you know what block by
[2:36:23] block, street by street? what how how in
[2:36:26] the long term similarly to how trees
[2:36:28] have sort of maybe worked maybe not
[2:36:30] worked with for preservation um for
[2:36:32] protecting the lighting outdoors very
[2:36:35] important to all of us how would that be
[2:36:37] regulated and you know I know I know I
[2:36:39] read through the entire presentation
[2:36:40] there might be some fines if people
[2:36:42] don't do it over a long period of time
[2:36:44] but what is the plan I mean so that it's
[2:36:46] equitably administered across the entire
[2:36:49] town
[2:36:49] it's completely complaintbased okay
[2:36:53] and on a broad spectrum across the town.
[2:36:55] So if your lights aren't maybe your
[2:36:58] light isn't strictly compliant, but if
[2:37:01] nobody, you know, uh calls the building
[2:37:04] department, there is going to be no
[2:37:06] surveys, no going block by block looking
[2:37:09] for lights that aren't compliant.
[2:37:11] Perfect.
[2:37:12] Up until this point, uh complaints about
[2:37:14] lighting have always gone to the
[2:37:16] building commissioner. Um and going
[2:37:19] forward the general bylaw actually um
[2:37:23] also brings in the uh uh commissioner of
[2:37:26] public health the director of public
[2:37:29] health. So it's sort of both andor their
[2:37:32] design.
[2:37:33] Thank you.
[2:37:33] To do uh to do compliance to
[2:37:36] Donna. So, I want to um like hone back
[2:37:40] in on the um impact this might have on
[2:37:44] the schools since that's the only thing
[2:37:46] within our jurisdiction. And so, Kyle,
[2:37:49] can you first of all, I want to I want
[2:37:51] to say that I appreciate your sort of
[2:37:53] forward thinking. And could you say a
[2:37:56] little more about the northeastern part
[2:37:58] of it? Your concern. I want to make sure
[2:38:00] I'm understanding what your concern
[2:38:02] might be. Is it accurate to say that
[2:38:04] you're thinking that if they have to
[2:38:07] comply with this regulation, they might
[2:38:09] no long
[2:38:12] offer the field anymore? Like they might
[2:38:14] not even use the field or is that sort
[2:38:16] of what you're thinking and then we
[2:38:17] wouldn't have access to it.
[2:38:20] Um I don't want to speculate necessarily
[2:38:23] on what Nor Eastern might do or not do.
[2:38:25] I don't even know about their awareness
[2:38:26] level of this warrant article or its
[2:38:28] impacts on their property. What I'll
[2:38:30] share is that our usage there is um
[2:38:34] we're we're very grateful for it and
[2:38:36] it's really limited. Um they rightfully
[2:38:39] prioritize their usages and their usage
[2:38:41] has grown um in years as NCA uh
[2:38:44] compliance has grown the number of out
[2:38:46] ofseason hours they could participate.
[2:38:48] And so um the short answer is yes. I
[2:38:50] worry about it damaging the relationship
[2:38:53] um and then impacting our access there.
[2:38:55] Um, and our access there is already
[2:38:56] limited in such a way that each of the
[2:38:58] last five years we've had to lose uh or
[2:39:01] move uh to another facility, a football
[2:39:03] game each year. So 10% of our our
[2:39:05] football games have had to go to uh
[2:39:07] either an away venue. So we've gone to
[2:39:08] Newton South, we've gone to Watertown,
[2:39:10] we've played a home game at Newton
[2:39:12] North. And so it's in a difficult
[2:39:15] situation as it is. Um, and so any sort
[2:39:18] of um
[2:39:21] any sort of negative uh impact on them
[2:39:23] would be I worry about the downstream
[2:39:25] effect.
[2:39:25] Okay, I think I understand that better.
[2:39:26] But they can sorry but they can light
[2:39:28] the field until 9:00 p.m. 10 p.m. 11
[2:39:33] p.m.
[2:39:34] Consistent with the bylaws, I think it
[2:39:36] they actually the they actually have an
[2:39:38] agreement with the town to uh turn off
[2:39:40] the lights at 9:00 p.m. Nor Eastern does
[2:39:42] for the field just because it's so
[2:39:44] embedded in the neighborhood. That's
[2:39:46] idiosyncratic. But the way this general
[2:39:48] bylaw is written, it's 1000 p.m. or if
[2:39:52] there's [clears throat] something else
[2:39:53] in place, which would be 9:00 p.m. for
[2:39:54] So it doesn't sound like this would
[2:39:56] impact.
[2:40:00] I guess the lights that are there are
[2:40:03] not compliant.
[2:40:04] Okay. So over the course of 10 years,
[2:40:07] they might have to
[2:40:08] five I think would be for the private
[2:40:09] property.
[2:40:10] Okay. And then sorry could you just say
[2:40:13] a little on the for the golf course
[2:40:16] the students would be more limited in
[2:40:19] their access or they would not?
[2:40:21] No the golf course um point was twofold.
[2:40:24] one around golf is that there's a lot of
[2:40:28] it's a it's a very busy time in the
[2:40:29] afternoon and so any capacity that the
[2:40:31] golf course can expand into the evening
[2:40:33] uh the driving range especially would
[2:40:35] open up opportunities for our students
[2:40:36] in the afternoons because you wouldn't
[2:40:38] see that that uh concentration of users
[2:40:40] right after school
[2:40:41] uh right before dark uh and then the
[2:40:43] Nordic ski was just I think wishful
[2:40:45] thinking the the golf course the
[2:40:46] recreation department's been done an
[2:40:48] awesome job working towards that they
[2:40:49] don't have and I don't have know any
[2:40:51] plans that they have for snow making or
[2:40:52] otherwise Um, but where we compete now
[2:40:54] is on a golf course. It's in in Weston.
[2:40:57] Um, and so the opportunity to maybe do
[2:40:59] that in the future um in Brooklyn would
[2:41:01] be great.
[2:41:02] Okay, that makes sense. Thank you.
[2:41:04] Let me say something first, Carolyn.
[2:41:05] Okay.
[2:41:06] Um, so I'm [clears throat] trying to
[2:41:08] understand if it my understanding is
[2:41:11] that with the curfews,
[2:41:13] the nine, the 10, the 11, um, it doesn't
[2:41:17] feel like there's any impact on the
[2:41:19] athletic program or recreational
[2:41:20] programs for the school system. Is that
[2:41:22] true? I mean,
[2:41:25] nobody's we're not we're not practicing
[2:41:26] at 10 o'clock at night.
[2:41:29] Um, it's the the backing up of
[2:41:32] programming. So, if if we didn't have
[2:41:34] users stacked one after the other, um, I
[2:41:37] could expand and and go, you know, a
[2:41:38] varsity practice at 3:30 and a JV
[2:41:41] practice at 5:30 and go to 7:30, but
[2:41:43] right now there's youth teams coming on
[2:41:45] and then adult teams until the lights go
[2:41:47] off. Another example is we're hoping to
[2:41:49] implement uh inter mural programming.
[2:41:51] And it would be great to be able to have
[2:41:52] the inter murals go from 3:15 when
[2:41:54] school gets out to 4:30 and then run
[2:41:56] varsity practices, but our permits need
[2:41:58] to end at 5:30 because we're working
[2:42:00] backwards off of constrained capacity
[2:42:02] due to darkness or due to uh 10 p.m.
[2:42:05] which I think is totally reasonable. I'm
[2:42:06] not asking for that to go later.
[2:42:09] So, I still need clarification. Will
[2:42:11] there be an impact on our athletic and
[2:42:13] recreational programs through this
[2:42:16] warrant these two warrant articles?
[2:42:17] I think there'll be a future impact at
[2:42:19] the golf course because I think of in
[2:42:21] terms of their uh revolving fund and and
[2:42:24] the amount of use that gets there and
[2:42:26] our desire to grow our use there. So I
[2:42:29] think I think there'll be an impact
[2:42:30] there and I think there will be an
[2:42:32] impact on our partnerships. So
[2:42:34] specifically Nor Eastern and the cost
[2:42:35] that will be required for them to
[2:42:36] upgrade their lights. So, the golf
[2:42:38] course, they they want to they propose
[2:42:40] to put lighting on the driving range.
[2:42:42] We're not playing golf at 9:00 at night.
[2:42:44] They're not putting lights on the golf
[2:42:45] course,
[2:42:46] right? But the drive the driving range
[2:42:48] is is one of our big teaching tools. Uh
[2:42:50] it's where we can actually find
[2:42:51] capacity. We're not getting for our
[2:42:53] girls JVB golf team. We're not getting
[2:42:56] uh you know, eight more tea times at
[2:42:58] 3:15.
[2:42:58] So, we're at the potentially the golf
[2:43:00] course at 9:00 at night.
[2:43:02] No, it would be pushing users. It would
[2:43:03] spread the users out. Uh
[2:43:05] okay. We are we're playing hockey till
[2:43:07] 11 o'clock at night, so it's not
[2:43:08] unreasonable, but no, I don't plan on
[2:43:10] putting girls JV golf at 9:00 p.m. at
[2:43:12] the golf course.
[2:43:13] Do you support these two warrant
[2:43:15] articles?
[2:43:16] Um, that's a loaded question. Uh, as as
[2:43:20] written, it would be help. Go ahead.
[2:43:24] I'm just
[2:43:27] um I'm gonna run cover for Kyle. I I
[2:43:30] appreciate that Kyle's here and um that
[2:43:34] that the articles as written doesn't
[2:43:38] directly impact um our athletic program,
[2:43:42] but he but we by the nature of where we
[2:43:47] are and we're in a concentrated space.
[2:43:50] We are dependent on partners and so
[2:43:52] Kyle's just making us aware that there
[2:43:55] that there's that I appreciate. Yeah.
[2:43:57] Yeah. Okay. Carolyn,
[2:44:00] thank you.
[2:44:03] This is the toughest issue we've ever
[2:44:04] had.
[2:44:05] It's it actually I don't think it's that
[2:44:07] tough based on my under knowledge of it
[2:44:10] from sort of where it started. So I
[2:44:12] would like to move for all of the
[2:44:14] reasons that David and Julie and Alisa
[2:44:17] explained. I would like to move for us
[2:44:19] to support this these two warrant
[2:44:22] articles as written.
[2:44:25] Seconded.
[2:44:28] conversation.
[2:44:32] I'm conf Go ahead.
[2:44:34] Oh, thank you. Sorry. I'm going to be
[2:44:36] honest. I'm a little bit confused about
[2:44:37] why we need a motion if it doesn't have
[2:44:39] a direct impact on the schools. So,
[2:44:42] um,
[2:44:44] well, Kyle said there might be an
[2:44:45] impact. Well, not it's not only on
[2:44:47] athletics, but if there were any school
[2:44:49] buildings through a survey that had
[2:44:51] poorly shielded lights or too cool a
[2:44:53] temperature or were left on
[2:44:55] indiscriminately without timers,
[2:44:57] eventually we would have to uh do that
[2:45:01] R&M work maybe with Charlie Simmons's
[2:45:03] group in order to remedy those things.
[2:45:05] So we don't know at the moment
[2:45:08] necessarily that there are any buildings
[2:45:10] the school buildings which are really
[2:45:11] town buildings but school buildings that
[2:45:14] don't meet the requirements already but
[2:45:16] if there are this this is why we want to
[2:45:20] adopt these best practices.
[2:45:24] Thank you.
[2:45:26] I just I had
[2:45:27] I had a process question. I'm sorry. So,
[2:45:30] is are these the only two articles we're
[2:45:32] looking at for the upcoming
[2:45:34] um town meeting?
[2:45:36] The only two that were proposed.
[2:45:38] Okay. Okay.
[2:45:39] That have an impact on this.
[2:45:41] Okay. Because that was that was vetted
[2:45:43] by a group a sub government relations
[2:45:47] subcommittee or
[2:45:48] Well, there's been a lot of discussion.
[2:45:50] I reached out to David because I thought
[2:45:52] that and Kyle because I thought there
[2:45:54] might be an impact on the schools. So, I
[2:45:56] thought it was important for us to talk
[2:45:57] about it. um wasn't committed to making
[2:46:00] any motion, but there now is a motion on
[2:46:01] the floor and it's seconded. We're in
[2:46:04] the middle of a conversation and we have
[2:46:06] to vote at some point
[2:46:07] and it does sound like it has impact on
[2:46:09] our athletic pro programs. I mean um so
[2:46:13] I I kind of um didn't think that I would
[2:46:16] be at this place in this conversation,
[2:46:18] but I am hearing Kyle say that you know
[2:46:21] football plays already um in you know in
[2:46:25] Newton instead of in Brooklyn. I we you
[2:46:27] know um we do have to think about what
[2:46:30] we're able to offer.
[2:46:31] Football doesn't play in Newton.
[2:46:34] Occasionally games are in other
[2:46:37] locations um across different sports for
[2:46:41] the reasons that we don't have a lot of
[2:46:43] fields and we rent our fields to private
[2:46:46] schools.
[2:46:49] Okay. Um I personally am a little
[2:46:52] confused about what how to vote here,
[2:46:54] but we have a motion. We have it
[2:46:56] seconded. And so I'm going to call the
[2:46:58] question and let's vote starting with
[2:47:00] Laura.
[2:47:01] Uh, yes.
[2:47:03] Sarah,
[2:47:03] no.
[2:47:05] Carolyn,
[2:47:06] yes.
[2:47:06] Anna,
[2:47:07] no.
[2:47:08] Liza,
[2:47:09] no.
[2:47:10] Jesse,
[2:47:11] yes.
[2:47:11] Suzanne,
[2:47:12] yes.
[2:47:13] Val,
[2:47:14] yes.
[2:47:16] Bob,
[2:47:17] no.
[2:47:22] Counted.
[2:47:23] I think it's 54.
[2:47:25] 54. What?
[2:47:26] 54. Yes.
[2:47:29] Okay. 54. So, the school committee
[2:47:32] supports both 12 warrant article 12 and
[2:47:35] 13 for town meeting. Okay. Thank you
[2:47:36] very much.
[2:47:37] Thank you.
[2:47:39] Thank you for your patience too.
[2:47:42] Uh remember I sat in this room for a lot
[2:47:45] of years.
[2:47:46] Um I just want to you know put the word
[2:47:49] out. I I totally agree with the four uh
[2:47:52] opportunity d you know uh vectors for
[2:47:55] expanded capac field field capacity and
[2:47:58] in my own personal analysis lighting is
[2:48:01] the least costly to get more hours of
[2:48:04] you well turf maybe but turf's a maybe a
[2:48:07] more difficult uh in Brooklyn um you
[2:48:11] know uh political issue but I just want
[2:48:14] to sort of either reassure remind you
[2:48:17] all that there isn't and um anything
[2:48:21] anywhere in these articles that would
[2:48:23] prevent uh any existing ball field of
[2:48:27] any kind from having lighting to have
[2:48:30] extended hours. So then that's an
[2:48:33] advocacy opportunity for you to try to
[2:48:35] get into this pick the fielder hill or
[2:48:39] any other of the unlit fields and start
[2:48:42] trying to get lighting on those fields
[2:48:43] into the um into the CIP because there's
[2:48:46] there's nothing against that in these
[2:48:48] articles.
[2:48:49] Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you.
[2:48:55] Okay.
[2:48:57] That scrambled my brain.
[2:49:00] All right. Turn the lights off.
[2:49:04] We are now on budget development
[2:49:05] guidelines discussion and possible vote.
[2:49:09] Who's up for this?
[2:49:15] Well, I I I will start Yeah, I'll just
[2:49:16] start off by saying that we reviewed
[2:49:18] this document that was um um scheduled
[2:49:21] by the superintendent to be ready in
[2:49:24] early October and we we thank her for
[2:49:26] having her and her team for doing that.
[2:49:29] uh when we discussed it at finance and
[2:49:30] capital um we felt that it first of all
[2:49:33] as a one-pager it really captures a lot
[2:49:36] of information and signals a um a real
[2:49:41] um the sort of dedication to the core
[2:49:43] principles that we're guiding towards
[2:49:45] and we um unanimously unanimously
[2:49:48] recommended that it brought be brought
[2:49:50] to the next school committee meeting for
[2:49:52] you know a discussion.
[2:49:57] So who's presenting these budget
[2:49:59] guidelines?
[2:50:05] Who's Erin?
[2:50:06] Are you presenting?
[2:50:10] Someone [snorts] should present.
[2:50:10] It is it is
[2:50:26] Yes.
[2:50:36] mic. Yeah. Thank you. Is it on?
[2:50:38] Yeah.
[2:50:40] So, these come directly from uh the
[2:50:43] superintendent's priorities to enact her
[2:50:46] vision. Um the notes at the bottom come
[2:50:50] down there. We felt that these were
[2:50:52] simple enough that we could work
[2:50:54] together and um meet all of these. Um
[2:50:58] they also focus on uh the work that that
[2:51:01] I believe we're already doing. So around
[2:51:04] MTSS equity um ensuring that class sizes
[2:51:08] are reasonable um and consistent with um
[2:51:13] uh with history and uh school committee
[2:51:16] guidance. So fairly simple one page as
[2:51:20] Jesse shared
[2:51:22] and uh yeah that's it.
[2:51:25] Donna questions comments. Donna
[2:51:28] I just want to say thank you um for this
[2:51:30] work. I think um actually this one pager
[2:51:32] does um it resonates for me and I
[2:51:36] appreciate the sort of like more
[2:51:38] simplified structure or architecture of
[2:51:40] the document. Um, and I'm happy I if we
[2:51:45] were to take a vote and make a motion, I
[2:51:48] would make a motion to approve this. But
[2:51:52] I can wait.
[2:51:53] I'm going to make that motion then.
[2:51:54] Let's go.
[2:51:55] What's your motion?
[2:51:57] To adopt the the draft budget. Hold on.
[2:52:02] FY28 budget development guidelines.
[2:52:05] Is there a second?
[2:52:06] A second.
[2:52:07] Carolyn seconds. Carolyn. But I do have
[2:52:10] one little comment which I expressed at
[2:52:12] finance too. So this great I love it.
[2:52:15] This is just like I just like feel the
[2:52:17] need to put this out into the atmosphere
[2:52:22] on the B ensure class sizes at the high
[2:52:25] school support equitable access to
[2:52:27] academically rigorous program lots of
[2:52:29] words. Um we talk a lot with our K8
[2:52:34] about sort of specific number
[2:52:36] guidelines. I know the high school's
[2:52:38] much more complicated because it's like
[2:52:40] a whole district within just as a
[2:52:45] I would love us to I would like us or
[2:52:48] the district over time to sort of maybe
[2:52:51] talk in more numbers and real guidelines
[2:52:54] which might even actually be in the
[2:52:56] country I don't know um about the high
[2:52:58] school because we all love to keep our
[2:53:01] classes as small as possible but um
[2:53:03] that's just like a a wish. Thank you,
[2:53:06] Carolyn.
[2:53:08] No further comments. Let's take a vote
[2:53:09] on develop on approving the budget
[2:53:12] development guidelines. Laura,
[2:53:13] yes.
[2:53:14] Sarah,
[2:53:15] yes.
[2:53:16] Val,
[2:53:17] yes.
[2:53:18] Um, Carolyn,
[2:53:19] yes.
[2:53:20] Donna,
[2:53:20] yes.
[2:53:21] Liza,
[2:53:21] yes.
[2:53:22] Jesse,
[2:53:23] yes.
[2:53:23] Suzanne,
[2:53:24] yes.
[2:53:24] Bob, yes. Unanimously approves
[2:53:27] budget guidelines. Thank you.
[2:53:28] Thank you, Erin.
[2:53:29] Thank you. Um, next up, uh, removal of
[2:53:33] philosophy statements section 14 except
[2:53:36] for 4B and 4E1.
[2:53:39] Second reading, possible vote. Suzanne,
[2:53:46] we had the conversation in our last
[2:53:47] meeting. That was first reading. I think
[2:53:49] we had a discussion at least some point.
[2:53:51] So, um yes, I would uh move to uh remove
[2:53:58] the philosophy statements
[2:54:00] uh
[2:54:02] except for 4B and 4E1.
[2:54:06] Is that right?
[2:54:07] There a second.
[2:54:07] I would second.
[2:54:08] Okay. Can you briefly describe what
[2:54:11] we're doing? Well, so the in instruction
[2:54:16] and teaching and learning there's an
[2:54:17] instruction section of the policy state
[2:54:20] policies um there are a number of
[2:54:24] philosophy statements
[2:54:26] before particular sections and they tend
[2:54:30] to be very old. 1960s is the and and
[2:54:34] some have been updated a little bit but
[2:54:37] it's not really the place to put them.
[2:54:39] It's it's a philosophy not a policy. And
[2:54:42] so we are suggested we meaning the
[2:54:45] policy subcommittee voted 4 to zero to
[2:54:48] bring this to the full committee and
[2:54:50] recommend that um we remove these these
[2:54:54] philosophy statements.
[2:54:57] Jesse, just as a um clarity for me, what
[2:55:01] we have in printed copy here has no
[2:55:04] philosophy statements in it, right? Or
[2:55:06] are these the only two that still have
[2:55:07] it and everything else?
[2:55:09] No section.
[2:55:09] No, they've been taken out except for
[2:55:11] these little subsections,
[2:55:14] right? Okay.
[2:55:15] Yeah.
[2:55:16] So,
[2:55:17] so there is no there is no philosophy
[2:55:19] statement for uh student school
[2:55:21] technology.
[2:55:24] Say that again.
[2:55:24] No, I thought that this was an exception
[2:55:26] and that this is a philosophy philosophy
[2:55:28] paragraph and that everything else in I4
[2:55:31] doesn't have it.
[2:55:33] Yeah, I know. This is what we had left.
[2:55:34] Well, this is the section. Thank you
[2:55:35] very much. This is great. So, so you're
[2:55:38] saying for example, Suzanne, that 4A,
[2:55:40] computer education,
[2:55:42] right,
[2:55:42] or gifted and talented, those philosophy
[2:55:44] statements are all going away and the
[2:55:46] only ones that'll be left are I4B and I4
[2:55:50] E1.
[2:55:51] Correct.
[2:55:52] Okay.
[2:55:52] And the reason they're going away is
[2:55:54] they are very very old and outdated.
[2:55:57] They're outdated. They say things that
[2:55:59] and they aren't even up to the standards
[2:56:01] from 1993.
[2:56:03] Okay.
[2:56:04] Okay. If may I speak? I also want to
[2:56:07] just add on to another reason that I
[2:56:10] believe they need to go away and I think
[2:56:11] I touched on this last time. Um, as an
[2:56:15] avid user of the policy manual, it
[2:56:17] actually um adds to the confusion when
[2:56:21] you have philosophy statements sort of
[2:56:23] scattered throughout the the policy
[2:56:26] manual because um as a user you're
[2:56:29] thinking that that's going to live in
[2:56:31] one specific section. And so sometimes
[2:56:34] when I would go through the policy
[2:56:36] manual to look things up, you might have
[2:56:39] sort of like an alternate sort of
[2:56:41] philosophy later in the section or
[2:56:43] scattered in different places and it's
[2:56:45] hard to
[2:56:46] um when you're trying to research an
[2:56:48] issue or whatnot. Sometimes you're
[2:56:50] getting it's it makes it a little bit
[2:56:52] more difficult to compile
[2:56:55] um the information you need in one
[2:56:57] place.
[2:56:57] Right. And what you're saying is the
[2:56:59] philosophy statements from the 1960s
[2:57:02] um are in the context of a very very
[2:57:04] different technological technical
[2:57:07] environment and they have very little to
[2:57:09] do with what's going on today. That's
[2:57:11] why we're doing this.
[2:57:12] Correct.
[2:57:13] Okay, that's good.
[2:57:15] Oh, hi.
[2:57:16] Hi. Yes. So to me the way it works is
[2:57:20] that we have a philosophy then that
[2:57:22] leads to a policy and the policy leads
[2:57:25] to action plan. So to me it's like if we
[2:57:28] are putting philosophy there that means
[2:57:31] we have tied our policy and our action
[2:57:34] to that philosophy
[2:57:36] and and so my philosophy could differ
[2:57:39] from yours but we may have the same
[2:57:41] policy and I think when we have the same
[2:57:44] policy uh that that brings people
[2:57:46] together. Uh philosophy is usually is
[2:57:49] where people differ from each other. So
[2:57:52] I think having a policy manual just
[2:57:53] stick to policy is a better approach
[2:57:57] than having philosophies embedded. So
[2:57:59] that would be my reasoning.
[2:58:00] Okay. Any other comments?
[2:58:03] Jesse.
[2:58:03] So I guess in I4E1
[2:58:06] selection of books and AV equipment
[2:58:07] under library you're saying that Roman
[2:58:11] numeral one here. You can just look here
[2:58:12] if you want. Ro Roman numeral one is
[2:58:15] like a philosophy statement that's being
[2:58:17] kept where it's being removed from all
[2:58:19] the other I4s as Betsy noted in here.
[2:58:24] Yeah. I don't believe this is a
[2:58:26] philosophy statement. This is
[2:58:27] okay.
[2:58:28] Uh this is a separate
[2:58:31] uh piece about selection but it's not
[2:58:33] about
[2:58:34] okay great
[2:58:34] the philosophy
[2:58:35] of how we're going to select how we're
[2:58:37] going to
[2:58:38] select books.
[2:58:39] So those items
[2:58:41] you need a policy on. So you wouldn't
[2:58:44] want to exclude the whole thing. And so
[2:58:46] Oh, I'm not I'm not saying to do that. I
[2:58:48] just wondered whether
[2:58:49] there's there's another whole section
[2:58:51] just on philosophy.
[2:58:53] Perfect. Okay, great. I got it. Thank
[2:58:54] you.
[2:58:54] We're trying to
[2:58:55] Okay, so we have a motion and a second
[2:58:57] to remove the philosophy statement
[2:58:59] sections I4 except for 4B or E1.
[2:59:03] Fisa, how do you vote?
[2:59:08] Yes.
[2:59:10] Thank you, Jesse.
[2:59:11] Yes. Suzanne,
[2:59:12] yes.
[2:59:13] Uh, Donna,
[2:59:14] yes.
[2:59:15] Caroline,
[2:59:15] yes.
[2:59:16] Sarah,
[2:59:16] yes.
[2:59:17] Laura,
[2:59:18] yes.
[2:59:18] Bel,
[2:59:19] yes.
[2:59:19] Bob, yes. Unanimously approved that.
[2:59:22] Yay.
[2:59:23] Okay. Um,
[2:59:26] we're actually doing okay on time. Not
[2:59:28] disastrous. Um, we have, what do we have
[2:59:32] now? Uh, subcommittee and liaison
[2:59:34] reports. And I want to announce first of
[2:59:36] all that Jesse who's on finance and
[2:59:38] capital is now our liaison to the
[2:59:40] building commission. So I want everybody
[2:59:43] to know that. Thank Jesse. Thank you so
[2:59:44] much.
[2:59:45] Thank you.
[2:59:46] Important. So do we have anything from
[2:59:47] curriculum Carolyn?
[2:59:50] No we have not met and we have not been
[2:59:52] able to um schedule a meeting yet but
[2:59:55] hopefully we will.
[2:59:56] Okay. Uh Sarah diversity equity
[2:59:58] inclusion justice.
[2:59:59] No we haven't met again.
[3:00:01] Finance capital projects. Jesse.
[3:00:03] Uh yes. Do you want to build commission
[3:00:05] one at the same time or you want to
[3:00:06] go for?
[3:00:07] I'll go for both. Okay. So, um, finance
[3:00:09] and capital met. We had a very extended
[3:00:12] discussion about the juris school
[3:00:14] playground. Um, it ended basically with
[3:00:18] a um the fact that there's a $200,000
[3:00:22] plus dollar option and a $300,000
[3:00:25] option and no money at the current time.
[3:00:29] Um, so there's going to be more work
[3:00:32] done and more discussions. Um, we we got
[3:00:36] a great uh report update from Aaron on
[3:00:40] the mini CIP. One of the things that our
[3:00:43] committee had asked was that we add
[3:00:44] another column that tells us just the
[3:00:46] simple status. Is it in play? Is it
[3:00:49] complete? Is it not going to get done?
[3:00:51] And that was added and just about
[3:00:53] everything is was complete over the
[3:00:54] summer. So like huge win for for
[3:00:56] everyone. Um you saw the grants and
[3:00:58] gifts that came through our consent
[3:01:01] agenda today. Budget guidelines came
[3:01:03] through and in new business there were
[3:01:06] two items that came up. One was that um
[3:01:09] we would like the subcommittee to get a
[3:01:12] future presentation about projected and
[3:01:14] actual operating expenses for the newer
[3:01:16] buildings. That would be like FRR
[3:01:18] Driscoll and then looking ahead at
[3:01:20] Pierce in terms of what the actual
[3:01:22] operating expenses are. Um um and so
[3:01:26] that was a uh a new business item. We
[3:01:28] haven't moved past it yet, but uh it's
[3:01:31] something that it's not in in in the
[3:01:33] long-term view for us. And u Okay. And
[3:01:35] then that led to the building commission
[3:01:37] part. Um actually I was at the meeting
[3:01:39] yesterday and the um besides all the
[3:01:42] stuff about the fire stations on the
[3:01:44] pier school side, um there's we're about
[3:01:48] 52 53% through the budget. um of the 211
[3:01:52] million for the project, there's 103
[3:01:54] left. And so um they're completely on
[3:01:57] track, actually a little bit under
[3:01:58] budget, but completely on track to um
[3:02:02] get a certificate of occupancy by
[3:02:04] October 29th, 2027. So that would be,
[3:02:08] you know, moving things in and then
[3:02:09] starting in, you know, after in summer
[3:02:11] 28, which is which is which is really
[3:02:13] good. Um the um the the other thing that
[3:02:17] I wanted to talk about just very briefly
[3:02:18] then is that um or two things. One is
[3:02:20] that
[3:02:22] Helen brought up the the fact that um
[3:02:26] based on our experiences now with
[3:02:27] Driscoll, the Pierce folks are going
[3:02:30] back to left field and Sasaki to talk
[3:02:32] about shading in advance for the lower
[3:02:35] age students at the new Pierce outdoor
[3:02:37] playground. This is not the one on
[3:02:40] Harvard uh Harvard Harvard out. This is
[3:02:42] the one that's in the nook of the
[3:02:44] building. You can look at it outside in
[3:02:45] the in the uh architect model. And so,
[3:02:49] um, interestingly enough, there was a
[3:02:53] part of the presentation that, um, MDS
[3:02:55] did last night was that they went out,
[3:02:59] uh, into, um, Waltham. And in Waltham,
[3:03:03] they were able to put up um,
[3:03:05] cantalievered sun shade umbrella systems
[3:03:09] that rely only on one pole. So, the pole
[3:03:12] is there and then the shade sits out.
[3:03:14] They are removable in the case of an
[3:03:15] oricer or heavy snows or in the cold
[3:03:18] weather. Um the pricing they're going to
[3:03:21] be working on right now it's just around
[3:03:23] $90,000 for three of them. So these are
[3:03:26] really expensive umbrellas. Um and you
[3:03:28] know wow. So, um, but and they they
[3:03:30] actually showed, which was sort of
[3:03:32] convincing actually, a, um, a shade
[3:03:35] model in 3D animation that showed as the
[3:03:38] day moves on what the um, three shades
[3:03:41] over three of the key playground
[3:03:43] elements would be. And for most for the
[3:03:45] most part of the hotter part of the day,
[3:03:47] they would be um, they would be shaded.
[3:03:50] Um, I did discuss with them and ask a
[3:03:53] question of but what about getting from
[3:03:54] the building through the door to the
[3:03:56] playground structures if it's 10 and
[3:03:58] something degrees out there and they
[3:04:00] agreed that that's hot. I mean, you
[3:04:02] know, we're not looking if we're going
[3:04:04] to shade the entire playground at the
[3:04:05] Pierce outdoor one near the
[3:04:07] amphitheater. It's going to be, you
[3:04:09] know, a huge huge a huge project. And
[3:04:11] so, um, there's going to be I'm gonna
[3:04:14] see if I can actually get out to Waltham
[3:04:15] at some point and see what it looks like
[3:04:17] just to get a sense of the actual
[3:04:19] structure because it's in place right
[3:04:20] now. Um, and, um, they're going to
[3:04:23] they're going to continue to work with
[3:04:25] LAP on, you know, in on on capital
[3:04:28] projects to ensure that, um, that's sort
[3:04:31] of a one possibility for us. They're
[3:04:34] because the project is under budget
[3:04:36] right now. In theory, this money could
[3:04:38] come out of the building budget as a
[3:04:40] change order and so it would go in and
[3:04:43] so um we the the building commission
[3:04:44] meets once a month and um uh moved
[3:04:47] through a lot of items last night. Um,
[3:04:50] one thing I didn't notice and one thing
[3:04:51] I didn't fully appreciate is fixing the
[3:04:55] fire station on Babcock Street requires
[3:04:57] the building of a temporary fire station
[3:04:59] in that area like a block away because
[3:05:03] residents of that area of North Brooklyn
[3:05:05] would need to have um emergency response
[3:05:08] commenurate with their with the distance
[3:05:09] and the density. So, there's actually a
[3:05:12] plan to put uh a fiveperson single
[3:05:15] engine temporary fire station either in
[3:05:19] a portion of the John Street parking lot
[3:05:22] or another portion of the Babcock Street
[3:05:24] parking lot and that would provide
[3:05:26] parking spaces for the firefighters that
[3:05:28] are assigned to those to one of those
[3:05:30] two buildings. So, that's a that's a
[3:05:31] work in progress, but um uh it was you
[3:05:34] know it was just something I didn't
[3:05:36] really consider. I I asked like why are
[3:05:37] you putting another fire station up and
[3:05:39] it this is temporary housing to provide
[3:05:41] safety for residents in Northwork line.
[3:05:43] So yeah, and it and it's funded by the
[3:05:45] project under the bond that we took out
[3:05:47] for the um in in the uh in what was it a
[3:05:52] uh a bond two years ago or something
[3:05:54] like that for the fire station. So it's
[3:05:56] within budget.
[3:05:58] Thank you Jesse for all that work.
[3:05:59] Appreciate it. Negotiations. We have our
[3:06:02] next negotiations meeting with BEu
[3:06:05] tomorrow five o'clock and making
[3:06:09] progress, you know, making progress.
[3:06:13] We'll see how long it takes, but we'll
[3:06:15] get there, right? Yeah. Okay. Uh policy
[3:06:19] Suzanne.
[3:06:20] Yeah. We have our next meeting Tuesday
[3:06:22] the 20th and um our field director from
[3:06:26] MASC Alicia is coming and she's going to
[3:06:28] give us an overview and help us figure
[3:06:30] out how we're moving forward. So stay
[3:06:33] tuned.
[3:06:34] Thank you Suzan. Um any reports from any
[3:06:36] additional liaison shifts? Sarah.
[3:06:39] So um Jesse did part of Pierce and I'll
[3:06:41] do the rest. I'll skip over the part
[3:06:43] that overlaps. Um
[3:06:45] Pierce rep. So, um, they have started
[3:06:47] drywalling the hallways and glazing the
[3:06:49] library since I went on my last tour
[3:06:51] there. Um, there's some covering the the
[3:06:54] glazing on the library windows. There's
[3:06:55] some covering on it that's like little
[3:06:56] dots. And what that does is it reduces
[3:06:59] the solar heat gain. Um, MSBA will come
[3:07:02] through the toilet project tomorrow at
[3:07:04] at 11 a.m. And Conley um plans to do a
[3:07:08] mockup of a room to show the teachers
[3:07:10] and the principal what it will be like
[3:07:12] to be in the space. and the path to the
[3:07:14] park will open up um and the rest of the
[3:07:16] park excluding the baseball fields will
[3:07:18] be open by November 11th.
[3:07:21] I was just going to add that I'm going
[3:07:22] to um Helen and I both be at that MSBA
[3:07:25] meeting tomorrow for the tour of the
[3:07:27] building. Great status update.
[3:07:28] Great.
[3:07:31] Um I'm just this is maybe it's sort of
[3:07:34] curriculum adjacent. I just want to um
[3:07:37] announce and plug that tomorrow evening
[3:07:41] at 7 PM at the high school in the MLK
[3:07:45] room is the um reading event of the
[3:07:49] Whipple Fellows. Um and I don't know if
[3:07:53] we got an email from Evan
[3:07:56] um but I saw it on Facebook.
[3:07:59] I think it was in our email actually
[3:08:01] because that's how I found out about it.
[3:08:02] Okay, good. Okay. the went to school
[3:08:04] committee from uh someone who runs the
[3:08:06] program. I don't remember his hand. I'm
[3:08:08] sorry.
[3:08:08] And I I missed the email, but I'm going
[3:08:10] to try and get over there. It's a really
[3:08:12] great event. The Whipple Fellowship um
[3:08:14] is a program um that's sponsored by um
[3:08:19] um some parents in honor of their late
[3:08:22] son. Um, and it gives an opportunity to
[3:08:25] BHS students to do a really in-depth um
[3:08:29] very special writing project um with
[3:08:33] with guidance from some of our teachers.
[3:08:36] Um, and so then at this event they they
[3:08:38] read and it's just one of those BHS
[3:08:42] awesome things that makes Brookline
[3:08:44] great. So,
[3:08:45] thank you Carolyn. That's true. Um, any
[3:08:48] other leazison reports?
[3:08:51] Yes. you.
[3:08:52] Yes, me. Um, I am the school committee
[3:08:56] liaison to METCO. So, I have um just a
[3:08:58] few announcements. One is um MECO just
[3:09:01] published or Brookline Mechco just
[3:09:03] published their annual report. So,
[3:09:05] that's available as school committee
[3:09:06] members. We all have it in our inbox. I
[3:09:08] also want to say that a week from
[3:09:11] Saturday, which is the 24th, um Metco is
[3:09:14] hosting its career day at BHS. It
[3:09:17] starts, I think, at 8 a.m. and they're
[3:09:19] always looking for volunteers. Um I will
[3:09:22] be there in case anyone wants to join
[3:09:23] me. And then Saturday night is the um it
[3:09:28] takes the village event um that is also
[3:09:32] hosted by Brooklyn MCO. It traditionally
[3:09:35] was in the um Golden Temple space. Yes.
[3:09:38] So it's in a new location this year. Um
[3:09:40] I'm also going to try to make it to that
[3:09:42] if I can survive from 8 am to whatever
[3:09:46] the start time is. Um, so if anyone is
[3:09:49] interested in joining me, you're
[3:09:50] welcome.
[3:09:52] Thank you, Karen. Thank you, Donna. Um,
[3:09:55] any other liazison reports?
[3:09:58] Okay.
[3:10:00] Oh, new business. I'm sorry. New
[3:10:02] business. Any new business?
[3:10:06] Any new business? Anything new? No,
[3:10:09] nothing new. Okay. Then
[3:10:14] I need a motion to I need a motion to
[3:10:17] meet in executive session pursuant to
[3:10:19] mass mass general law chapter 30A
[3:10:21] section 21A for the following purposes.
[3:10:24] Purpose three to discuss strategy with
[3:10:27] respect to collective bargaining with
[3:10:28] the Brooklyn Educators Union unit A unit
[3:10:30] B parrofessional unit because an open
[3:10:33] meeting will have a detrimental effect
[3:10:34] on the bargaining position of the school
[3:10:36] committee and the chair so declares.
[3:10:38] Purpose three to discuss strategy with
[3:10:40] respect to collective bargaining with
[3:10:42] the Brooklyn Educators Union unit A on a
[3:10:45] grievance because an open meeting will
[3:10:47] have a detrimental effect on the
[3:10:49] bargaining position of the committee and
[3:10:51] the chair so declares. And purpose seven
[3:10:53] to approve the minutes from the
[3:10:54] September 30th, 2026 executive session
[3:10:58] meeting. Is there a motion to move into
[3:11:00] executive session?
[3:11:03] Seconded.
[3:11:03] I move. Oh, second it. Um,
[3:11:06] you move it.
[3:11:07] We will vote. Fisa,
[3:11:09] it's gonna be good.
[3:11:11] Yes.
[3:11:11] Come on, Fisa. Get off.
[3:11:13] Jesse,
[3:11:14] yes.
[3:11:14] Suzanne,
[3:11:15] yes.
[3:11:16] Donna,
[3:11:17] yes.
[3:11:17] Carolyn,
[3:11:17] yes.
[3:11:18] Sarah,
[3:11:18] yes.
[3:11:19] Laura,
[3:11:20] yes.
[3:11:20] Val,
[3:11:21] yes.
[3:11:21] Bob, yes. And we are not returning to an
[3:11:25] open session. Thank you very much. I
[3:11:27] hope the audience appreciated this
[3:11:28] exciting meeting. Check in next time,
[3:11:31] October 28th, for another exciting
[3:11:34] school committee meeting.
[3:11:36] Good night. shed light on things.
[3:11:38] Yeah.