Brookline School Committee Meeting - September 30, 2026

2:32 [music]

8:50 Hey,

9:02 hey, hey.

9:22 [music]

9:59 Recording

10:15 in progress.

10:16 All right. Welcome everybody.

10:18 [clears throat] I here hereby convene

10:20 the September 30, 2026 Brookline School

10:24 Committee meeting, regular meeting.

10:27 um [clears throat] try to make it short

10:29 tonight so people can get back to watch

10:31 the Red Sox Yankees perhaps.

10:35 No, come on Carolyn.

10:38 Anyway, okay, we begin with um public

10:42 school of Brooklyn moments of

10:43 inspiration and I have the honor and

10:46 pleasure to do that right now. And

10:50 so [clears throat] when I was the head

10:51 of Brookline High School

10:53 on at the first MA faculty meeting of

10:55 the year, uh we had um teachers and

11:00 administrators and custodians and

11:02 secretaries and counselors um present

11:05 their stories that would hopefully

11:07 inspire the entire faculty and staff.

11:11 And so what I'm going to read tonight is

11:15 a story told by Gretchen Tucker

11:17 Underwood who was a teacher and a metco

11:20 director dean of students um at Brooklyn

11:23 High School from 1971

11:26 to 2007

11:29 29th

11:30 30 something years. Okay. So this is

11:33 this is the story that she told to the

11:35 entire faculty and staff.

11:38 Josiah had the kind of eyes that made

11:40 you wonder whether he was just waking up

11:42 or ready to take a nap. And just under

11:45 them was a smile that could light up any

11:48 room. He [snorts] was the kind of

11:50 student who just brightened your day,

11:52 not by anything extraordinary, but

11:54 through his day-to-day attention to his

11:57 surroundings. A selfless student athlete

12:01 who deeply believed in team. A student

12:04 with some learning deficiencies and a

12:06 strong work ethic. A gentleman with

12:08 students and faculty alike. This was

12:12 Josiah.

12:14 I had been a high school teacher and

12:16 administrator for several decades.

12:18 Students like Josiah would reappear

12:20 years after graduation just to check in,

12:23 telling us about their accomplishments

12:25 or seeking some help from a familiar

12:27 school figure from the past. As dean of

12:30 students, my days were busy responding

12:33 to the complex lives of 800 adolescents,

12:36 their sometimes demanding parents, and

12:39 their hard-working teachers. The day

12:41 that Josiah appeared was a particularly

12:44 hectic day for me. I had finished one

12:47 stressful conference and was preparing

12:49 for another stressful conference. I

12:51 stepped out of my office to catch some

12:53 air and there he was, Josiah.

12:56 [clears throat]

12:58 Of course, I was glad to see him. We had

13:00 some predictable banter. I stretched to

13:03 remember which college he attended, what

13:06 major, his siblings. He gave me that

13:09 trademark smile and proceeded to tell me

13:12 what was going on in his life. I thought

13:15 about the meeting to come. I wondered

13:18 how much time I could give him and still

13:21 remain on schedule.

13:23 He began a story about going to a night

13:26 spot just outside of Boston. As he was

13:30 leaving, some thugs jumped him and beat

13:34 him senseless as they robbed him of his

13:37 possessions.

13:39 I looked closely at Josiah.

13:42 No visible injuries, so I assumed this

13:45 story had to have a happy ending. "Did

13:48 they catch them?" I asked Josiah.

13:50 "Yeah." "Are you okay?" I continued.

13:54 Josiah paused and said he couldn't

13:56 remember a whole lot about that night

13:59 because he had been in a coma for

14:01 several weeks after the incident.

14:04 Josiah now had my full attention. He

14:07 said he had remained hospitalized for

14:09 over a month, then to rehab and finally

14:13 home. Home was not what his parents had

14:17 expected. Josiah was bedridden due to

14:20 his physical condition and he was in a

14:22 deep depression.

14:24 He couldn't get himself to leave his

14:26 room or his bed. Finally, after

14:28 extensive treatment, he was able to

14:30 leave his room and walk around his

14:33 house. But his recovery came to an end

14:36 there. His body had healed with no

14:39 significant medical issues. His mind and

14:42 spirit, however, would not allow him to

14:44 continue with his life.

14:47 So then what? I asked. My mother found a

14:51 psychiatrist who was willing to work

14:52 with me at home. I made some progress. I

14:56 could get to the door of my house but go

14:58 no farther. After many weeks, my doctor

15:02 said to me, "I want you to visualize a

15:05 place where you feel where you felt

15:07 safe, a place where you have good

15:10 memories, a place where you were

15:12 valued." Can you picture that in your

15:15 mind?

15:16 Josiah spent cons considerable time

15:19 working on his image on this image he

15:21 told me. So what happened next? I asked

15:25 him. He said simply I went to that place

15:29 and here I am.

15:33 I still get emotional about this. There

15:35 were so many things I had to do that

15:37 day. I almost missed this encounter. Yet

15:40 it is the single most compelling reason

15:42 I stayed in education for 40 years.

15:45 Josiah, this gem of a person, this

15:47 ordinary manchild, to find what it is

15:50 that we can only hope to achieve with

15:53 each of our students. Create an

15:56 environment within which every student

15:58 can feel safe to grow and to learn.

16:04 Thank you.

16:06 [snorts]

16:07 I cried then, I started crying now.

16:11 Uh it's an amazing story.

16:13 Okay, we have a consent agenda. Past

16:17 records, past records, accounts payable.

16:19 Are there any questions on the consent

16:22 agenda?

16:25 Can I have a motion to accept the

16:26 consent agenda? Suzanne,

16:28 so move.

16:29 Jesse second.

16:30 Seconds it.

16:31 FISA, how do you vote?

16:34 Yes.

16:34 Jesse, how do you vote?

16:35 Yes.

16:36 Suzanne,

16:37 yes.

16:38 Um, Donna,

16:39 yes.

16:40 Carolyn,

16:40 yes. Laura.

16:42 Yes.

16:43 Is anybody online?

16:44 Val.

16:45 Yes. Yes.

16:46 And I vote yes. Consent agenda is

16:49 approved.

16:50 And now we have public comment. As you

16:53 probably know, community members are

16:55 invited to be here. Comment about

16:58 whatever um whatever you're concerned

17:00 about, whatever you're happy about,

17:02 whatever. You have three minutes at the

17:04 most. Betsy will keep track of the time.

17:08 And our first speaker is

17:10 uh Mike Lions.

17:11 Mike Lions.

17:12 First speaker.

17:12 Thank you. Welcome.

17:13 Try to keep it real.

17:17 Okay. Can you hear me? Okay.

17:19 Yeah.

17:20 Hi, I'm Mike Lions, parents of two kids

17:22 at FRR. I spoke here in June and I'm

17:26 also one of the people who organized the

17:27 petition about the F FR kindergarten cut

17:30 signed by roughly 175 members of the

17:32 community or approximately 20% of FRR

17:35 parents. This was one of many goodfaith

17:38 attempts by parents to reverse an

17:40 inequitable cut or at least to get some

17:43 data that would support the decision. As

17:45 of yet, Superintendent Wong has yet to

17:47 respond to the specific questions we've

17:49 asked while responding to several we

17:51 haven't at the last school committee

17:53 meeting. I'm here tonight to discuss

17:55 several things said that I found

17:57 surprising.

17:59 I was surprised when Superintendent Wong

18:01 justified the decision to cut an F FR

18:03 section by framing it as a decision

18:05 between FR and Baker and Hayes, two

18:08 sections that clearly or sorry, two

18:10 schools that clearly could not weather a

18:11 cut and remain under the 22 line while

18:14 omitting any mention of the schools that

18:16 could and that we have been asking

18:18 about. I found this surprising given

18:20 that the district's own data in June

18:23 showed that if this cut was made to

18:24 Lawrence, for example, three other

18:27 schools in the district would still have

18:29 larger classes. And today, even after

18:32 relocating out of zone families out of

18:34 FRR, Lawrence would still have lower

18:36 class sizes if they had lost the section

18:39 than FRR kindergarteners have today.

18:42 I was also surprised when Superintendent

18:44 Wong claimed that she had added a new

18:46 fifth grade section to FRR when that

18:48 same section had been cut only a few

18:50 months earlier.

18:51 But I was most surprised by what I

18:53 didn't hear. Any mention of the data 175

18:56 members of the community have asked for.

18:59 I heard no mention of how many out of

19:01 zone families were silently displaced

19:02 from FR by forced transfers in order to

19:05 keep the F FR section sizes narrowly

19:07 below the 22 guidance.

19:10 I heard no mention of why Lawrence was

19:12 not considered by for the cut. And to be

19:15 clear, I'm sincerely not suggesting we

19:17 go cut Lawrence instead. In fact, I was

19:19 surprised to hear no mention of why this

19:21 cut was necessary given that it was made

19:23 after the budget was set, the override

19:26 passed, and now that $350,000 of

19:29 additional Title One funds has been

19:31 obtained by BPS.

19:34 But I shouldn't I suppose I shouldn't be

19:35 surprised that the district continues

19:37 ignoring parents, ignoring our

19:39 reasonable and respectful questions

19:41 since June, ignoring our pleas for

19:43 response at the latter June school

19:45 committee meeting, ignoring our

19:47 petition, ignoring our freedom of

19:49 information request to see the data that

19:51 might explain these cuts, and ignoring

19:54 an order from the Secretary of the

19:55 Commonwealth to respond to the foyer

19:57 request.

19:58 So tonight, I suppose the people I'm

20:01 trying to reach are my fellow parents.

20:04 Regardless of which schools your

20:05 children go to, if we as parents do not

20:08 push back on these cuts made purely for

20:10 austerity's sake, they will continue and

20:12 they will affect you. You'll learn what

20:15 me and many FR parents have learned over

20:17 the past few months. Decisions that

20:19 affect your child will be made quietly

20:21 in private. They very well may

20:23 contradict the district's own data. And

20:25 when you ask in good faith why, you will

20:27 be ignored with the hope that you give

20:29 up.

20:30 Thanks.

20:33 Thank you.

20:35 Next [clears throat] up,

20:36 uh, next up is Nicole Mlullen.

20:38 Welcome, Nicole.

20:50 Hi everyone. I'm Nicole Mlen. I'm a

20:53 Driscoll parent and site council member.

20:55 Thanks for your time today. Um I'm here

20:58 to talk about the Driscoll playground

20:59 and shade issue which I know has been

21:01 making progress. Um I want to start by

21:04 thanking you, Superintendent Wong, for

21:06 taking this up and this current school

21:08 committee. I know this is a problem you

21:10 all inherited, which is never fun. Um

21:14 but it's really important. It's going to

21:15 continue to be a problem. So I

21:16 appreciate the work you're doing and

21:17 other town departments and I want to

21:19 start with that. Um, just a reminder to

21:23 set the context, our playgrounds at

21:25 Driscoll, we have an upper rooftop

21:27 playground that serves the little kids,

21:29 beep, and sometimes kindergarten, and

21:31 then a lower playground that serves the

21:33 rest of the school. And both of these

21:35 playgrounds are exceedingly hot when

21:38 it's warm and sunny outside. Um, even

21:41 some days in April on the rooftop

21:43 playground were too warm for the kids,

21:45 believe it or not. If it's 72 degrees on

21:48 the upper playground, it can be close to

21:50 100 degrees on the rooftop playground.

21:52 So, you've probably seen the pictures of

21:54 the temperatures I've taken, but just to

21:56 remind everyone just how warm it is.

21:58 It's pretty uh unusable for a lot of the

22:01 school year. Um,

22:04 I appreciate that we're focused on the

22:07 upper playground, but I want to keep the

22:08 lower main playground in focus as well.

22:11 It's also very, very hot for the kids. I

22:14 was there um at the in June and on the

22:18 playing field it was about 125° when the

22:20 kids were out at recess.

22:23 Um parents have been raising this issue

22:26 for about four maybe five years now when

22:29 the site was still under construction.

22:32 So while it's kind of a new pro issue

22:35 you all have inherited for the Driscoll

22:37 community, it's been ongoing for quite a

22:39 long time. So I'm here for two reasons

22:42 tonight. Um, one is to request that a

22:46 school committee subcommittee, probably

22:48 the capital subcommittee, take this up

22:51 sort of as a charge to ensure that we're

22:55 figuring out what happened. Um, I think

22:56 that's very important. Following the

22:59 process, keeping the process moving,

23:01 helping, you know, facilitate a solution

23:04 and an implementation timeline because

23:06 it's just been dragging on so long. I

23:08 think if we can officially have a

23:10 subcommittee charged with that, that

23:11 would be really helpful. Um, and I also

23:14 think it's very important to understand

23:17 more of how this happened. Like we've

23:19 talked about, it shouldn't have happened

23:21 this way. I think there's a flaw in the

23:24 process and understanding that could go

23:27 a long way to sort of rebuilding

23:29 community trust. you know, we need the

23:31 community to believe us when we tell

23:33 them to vote for overrides and debt

23:34 exclusions because we're going to

23:36 responsibly spend their money. And I

23:39 think figuring out what happened and

23:41 being able to reure the reassure the

23:42 public that we have a sound process is

23:44 really important. Uh my second ask is

23:48 for the school committee to consider

23:50 helping oversee the development of a

23:52 heat safety policy. I don't think we

23:55 have that as far as I could tell in

23:56 Brooklyn. we've asked many many times

23:58 and none has been articulated. So I'm

24:01 assuming we don't have a policy on heat

24:04 safety for school use. Um can I have 30

24:07 more seconds? Thank you.

24:09 So you know it's 2026. Our playgrounds

24:12 are hot. We have hot school days. We're

24:16 building playgrounds that have um a lot

24:19 of plastic and rubber, not a lot of

24:20 shade. I think we need a heat safety

24:22 policy. Kids are especially vulnerable

24:25 to heat exhaustion, heat effects. Um, we

24:29 have policies on when it's too cold,

24:31 what we do, but not when it's too hot,

24:33 and it really is often too hot, and

24:35 that's actually arguably more dangerous

24:37 for these kids. So, I'd also love to see

24:39 the school committee take this up as an

24:41 issue. Can we have a heat safety policy

24:44 districtwide?

24:46 Um, that's all. I just wanted to keep

24:49 this on the radar. Thank you all for

24:50 everyone who has, you know, kept us at

24:53 the forefront and I hope we can see

24:55 progress while it is cool in time to

24:58 have usable, safe playgrounds in April.

25:01 Thank you.

25:03 Thank you, Nicole.

25:05 [clears throat]

25:06 Okay, moving right along.

25:07 Superintendent's report.

25:08 Thank you. Um, I have just a few short

25:12 updates and um, comment. One is a

25:15 statement of appreciation.

25:17 Um, last week we had a student that um

25:21 that we reported missing and I my

25:24 appreciation is for the response of all

25:27 the safety officers in town,

25:29 particularly the police department. I

25:32 know um police cars were were driving

25:36 through the neighborhoods. I know a lot

25:38 of community members and appreciation

25:40 for community members that reached out

25:42 were also um out in the neighborhoods

25:45 and just with tremendous relief that um

25:48 our student was was found and returned

25:51 home. Um but it was really the it was in

25:54 addition to all the local support but

25:56 the extensive network of police

25:59 departments across many towns and the

26:01 MBTA

26:02 and um it was I will say um it was

26:06 scary. Um and and um but we but we

26:12 remained hopeful um that Amber Alert did

26:14 work and um and just everyone being out

26:17 there and and finding him. So just thank

26:19 you. Um I did have a brief mention for

26:24 the disco play structure. There was

26:27 another meeting today with some of um an

26:29 appreciation with the building

26:31 department with parks um and also with

26:35 our deputy superintendent Erin Osborne

26:38 um working together on this. So, I just

26:40 want to remind everyone on 107 there

26:43 will be a presentation to the capital

26:45 finance subcommittee

26:47 um the cost is refined

26:51 um but with still an assurance that

26:53 what's being proposed um will be

26:56 effective, more costefficient and still

26:59 safe. Um and so what remains a challenge

27:03 for us to see if we can find funding

27:05 this year or if we're going to have to

27:06 put it through a process to right. So

27:10 it'll go to the subcommittee for you to

27:12 consider and make a recommendation. I'm

27:14 looking at you Jesse, but who else is on

27:16 the committee?

27:17 FISA and Carol.

27:18 Okay. So So it'll go to you and um and

27:23 just a just acknowledgement that MCCAST

27:26 data is out public. Um it's out there

27:28 and we are we're still we're still

27:32 analyzing it by school. So, right now,

27:36 um it's scheduled for presentation in

27:38 December. We're going to see if we can

27:39 push it earlier. Um if we can that our

27:42 agendas, the school committee agendas

27:44 are really full for this first half of

27:47 the year and that's without the budget

27:48 process starting. So, we're going to try

27:51 to see if we can move it forward. Um but

27:53 just to let you know that we're not

27:54 really ready to make any statements

27:56 about any particular part of it until we

27:59 finish um looking at the data all

28:01 together. So, thank you. And then Then

28:04 last thing, science and technology

28:07 curricular review. Our deputy

28:09 superintendent for teaching and

28:10 learning, Roboy, is just going to give a

28:14 just like a brief overview. Yeah.

28:17 Update.

28:23 Hi. So, um, this was mentioned last

28:26 spring kind of as we were building the

28:28 the budget for the year and some of the

28:30 things that we may need. So, we are

28:32 starting a K12 science review. And so,

28:35 you know, that's a that's a pretty big

28:37 deal for us. I don't know how many um

28:39 curriculum reviews that we've done in

28:41 recent years that have spanned the K12

28:44 um process. The we have a steering

28:47 committee that has met a couple weeks

28:49 ago for the first time. Um we put out

28:52 interest to educators for different

28:54 levels of involvement in the spring. So

28:57 we know we'll have we have some interest

28:58 in people wanting to look at different

29:00 programs and give feedback. We have um

29:03 potential to pilot some programs

29:04 particularly at the K5. So different

29:07 levels um of teacher engagement. And I

29:10 think really the goal for us in this

29:12 work is thinking about

29:14 both cohesion and consistency. So what's

29:17 the cohesion of our K12 science program?

29:20 So what is the journey of a student um

29:22 throughout our district in terms of

29:24 science education and that consistency

29:27 across the grade level and across

29:28 classrooms to make sure that we are

29:31 working toward equitable outcomes for

29:33 our students. Um there's particular

29:34 attention in some of the goals that

29:37 we're looking at at that transition from

29:39 8th to 9th grade because we know that

29:41 that's been a particularly challenging

29:43 transition for our students. So we're

29:44 we're looking to make that um a little

29:47 more seamless. Um so we will be engaging

29:50 K5 starting to think about um curriculum

29:54 that aligns with the 2016 standards

29:56 because that is not necessarily um the

29:59 case for all of our units within K5 at

30:02 the moment. Um 68 has begun um scope and

30:07 sequence work and so they they had

30:09 started that so they're going to

30:10 continue with that work. Part of that

30:12 might be considering new materials or

30:13 new units as part of that um scope and

30:16 sequence work and the high school will

30:18 be enga start by engaging in a

30:20 self-study and looking for some peer

30:21 review and looking at their courses

30:23 holistically. Um so it's really exciting

30:25 work. It's going to be led by our two

30:27 coordinators um Emily Spec who is our

30:31 coordinator and Briana Brown who is our

30:32 912 coordinator along with myself and

30:35 Joel Peterson is our senior director of

30:38 teaching and learning. So we will we'll

30:40 be kind of guiding that work. Um as part

30:42 of it we're also participating in um an

30:46 implement network through DESIE and so

30:48 that is part of their curriculum review

30:51 process and um it will allow us to

30:55 access resources and other districts

30:57 that might also be going through the

30:59 same process that we are at the same

31:00 time for science. So some of that peer

31:03 um thinking as we go through our

31:04 process. So we'll be updating throughout

31:07 the year. Um, but just wanted to put

31:08 that on your radar that it started and

31:10 we're really excited about the work and

31:12 we have a great group of educators that

31:14 are going to help us lead our steering

31:15 committee that represent elementary,

31:18 middle, high school and across um a

31:21 number of our other educators getting

31:22 input. So very excited.

31:24 Thank you, Robin. Are there any comments

31:26 or questions for Robin?

31:28 Donna,

31:29 um, thank you so much, Robin. You might

31:31 have mentioned this. Um can you talk a

31:34 little bit about the timeline and and

31:36 what what the deliverables might be at

31:39 the at the end?

31:40 Um yes. So there the deliverables may

31:42 deliverables may look a little bit

31:44 different at each level just because

31:45 they're in different stages of where

31:47 their curriculum at is at currently and

31:49 the resources they're using. Um so a

31:51 goal would be for us by the end of the

31:53 year in K5 to be able to recommend um a

31:57 core science curriculum for our K5

32:00 classrooms. So, um, we'll be looking at

32:03 that, um, for R 68 because they're in a

32:06 little bit of a different place. They've

32:07 been doing some work. We're going to

32:08 continue the scope and sequence work and

32:10 look for places where there are gaps

32:12 where we might need to update a unit or

32:14 make sure that we have consistency. Um,

32:16 and then at the 912, we're going to be

32:19 really looking at our courses

32:21 holistically. What is the program at the

32:22 high school? And from that, we'll be

32:24 thinking about an action plan of of, you

32:27 know, are there courses that have been

32:29 more recently reviewed? and our um

32:32 materials are up to date. Are there

32:33 courses that we want to be taking a look

32:35 at that might need new materials or or

32:38 redesign? So

32:39 Carolyn,

32:42 um so is it correct that the current

32:45 curriculum is open sigh ed? Not

32:48 consistent. We don't use a single

32:50 consistent um curriculum across our K8s.

32:54 So we have some units that I think that

32:57 we're using for open sed. I have some

32:59 that we're using amplify some that are

33:02 self-created. Um when you were talking

33:05 about amplify or open sad, those are

33:07 more recent units and so those are in

33:09 alignment with the current state

33:10 standards. Some of our self-designed

33:12 ones may not be. And so thank you.

33:15 That's I understand what you're saying.

33:17 And so I just given what you just said I

33:22 think what you're saying is that the you

33:25 the anticipated result will be the

33:31 adoption of some new

33:35 curriculum

33:36 that's out there.

33:38 Yes. and then the the

33:42 implementation hopefully would be would

33:45 begin

33:45 cohesive and consistent.

33:47 Yes. And

33:48 that's that's what you're looking at.

33:50 I understand. And

33:54 do we currently currently like I guess

33:59 the answer is unknown like what

34:02 mechanisms do we have as a district to

34:05 try to ensure consistency

34:09 if we don't have consistency but we want

34:12 it are you thinking about in the

34:13 implementation I think one of or the

34:16 now

34:17 I mean if there's

34:20 well

34:20 I think that's one of the things that we

34:22 need to work towards as a district and

34:25 science is one of those areas that we're

34:28 just not there at the moment.

34:29 Okay. Thank So I think in our work with

34:32 MTSS, we are we're we're putting

34:35 structures in place to

34:38 to support um consistency across the

34:42 grade levels across the K8 schools and

34:45 um and science and technology is the

34:48 first next curriculum that we are taking

34:51 to review

34:53 and and that is part of the purpose of

34:55 the review as well. So I think we are

34:58 we're moving through

35:01 subject by subject.

35:04 Welcome Sarah. Nice to see you. Laura,

35:06 and then FISA.

35:08 Thank you. And I'm excited about the

35:09 work that's about to be done. And you

35:11 know, you talked about trying to create

35:13 sort of consistency and cohesion across

35:15 all of our especially our K to8s. And so

35:18 I guess when we're thinking about the

35:19 science curriculum and creating that

35:20 cohesion, are we also thinking about

35:22 opportunities like science fair, which

35:24 some schools have and some don't, but

35:26 are really important in energizing young

35:28 scientists? Is that part of the

35:29 conversation?

35:30 That's not necessarily part of the

35:31 review because it's not but it might be

35:34 a discussion of what opportunities do

35:35 our students have beyond the classroom

35:37 to engage in science.

35:40 FISA,

35:41 thank you. So it so happens that I was

35:44 at the Desi meeting today all day uh you

35:48 know hearing about many different

35:50 aspects. There was one I'm sure you know

35:52 about it and um today they talked about

35:55 implement. So I I'm definitely here to

35:59 admit that science is one of the tougher

36:02 curriculums to get a handle on because

36:05 there is like so many open you know

36:08 resources out there and teachers tend to

36:10 use it to make sure that they do the

36:12 best in the classroom. Um so that's

36:14 number one. Um it's going to be a lot of

36:17 work. Thank you for taking it on. And

36:20 the other thing is that once I'm

36:22 thinking once you um you know go through

36:25 that ladder of K through 12 or that

36:27 progression uh and you use implement

36:30 then that will bring cohesion to

36:33 everything because everything will

36:35 comply with that five um step cycle that

36:38 is listed in implement.

36:40 Yes. So we are we have um articulated as

36:43 we've articulated our process we've

36:44 aligned it with the implement framework

36:46 which is a really a leadership framework

36:48 for thinking about um curriculum review

36:51 and implementation and selection of

36:53 resources that are of high quality. Um

36:56 and so that is part of the network that

36:58 we're participating in. We're in their

37:00 um evaluate and select network which

37:01 [clears throat] is the first part of the

37:02 framework. um we could choose to

37:05 continue on in the um implement and moni

37:09 monitoring cohort next year.

37:11 Right. Thank you. And also you'll be

37:13 using curate probably to look at that.

37:15 So yes. So thank you. Thank you for all

37:17 this work

37:20 Carolyn.

37:22 I meant to ask before. Um, so I notice

37:26 and Bella reminded me that this has

37:29 science and technology and I'm not sure

37:32 that's how it's framed currently. So I'm

37:35 interested in that and maybe it's too

37:38 early but like can you just talk a

37:40 little bit about how you're envisioning

37:42 those together? So I can talk a little

37:45 bit about it from the standpoint of the

37:46 framework and so the framework is the

37:48 science and technology engineering

37:50 framework. Okay. Um, so that technology

37:52 piece is focused on that, but we've also

37:54 had conversation about we really need to

37:56 be thinking about our computer science

37:58 offerings, our robotics offerings. And

38:00 so I I would imagine that some of that

38:02 will be an outcropping of thinking about

38:04 how what else we need for our students.

38:06 Um, because

38:08 that that is something that we we don't

38:10 see consistently. But to your point

38:11 about the engineering piece that that

38:14 technology engineering piece is a

38:16 question that I have about how are we

38:18 making sure that those components of the

38:20 standards are being you know implemented

38:22 within our classrooms because those

38:24 standards do run K through 12. So it's

38:27 not just about offering computer science

38:29 courses.

38:30 So that's what's special about the 2016

38:32 standards is the engineering component.

38:35 So I think this is so this is it's

38:38 pretty exciting to see what we could do

38:40 and um the engineering part will

38:44 probably affect more um middle school

38:46 and high school.

38:51 Awesome.

38:52 Anything else? If not, we move on to

38:55 item number five, presentations and

38:58 discussions of current issues and 5A,

39:01 Department of Elementary and Secondary

39:02 Education District Report presentation

39:06 and discussion. Superintendent one.

39:08 So, actually Robin is going to take this

39:11 one as well. Um, [clears throat]

39:15 there was a team that came in and they

39:17 they actually gave Robin and myself and

39:19 Kieran a lot of time to work with them.

39:21 And so Robin's gonna go ahead and

39:23 present on our behalf.

39:25 Okay, here we go. Here you get double

39:27 dose. Um, all right. So again, I I'm

39:30 going to repeat some things that I

39:32 shared with you last year earlier in the

39:35 year when we first announced that we

39:36 would be going through this review when

39:38 we have new members of our committee and

39:40 also just kind of remembering, you know,

39:43 why what this is and why it was done. So

39:46 um this first slide is really an

39:48 overview and really thinking about what

39:51 the Desi review is and this was a

39:53 comprehensive review that we went

39:55 through. There are a couple of different

39:56 kinds. It's one that we didn't it's not

39:58 one that's done on a cycle like some of

40:00 our tiered focus monitoring is done on a

40:02 cycle. Um we were selected and it was

40:04 one that we didn't get to say no.

40:06 [laughter] Um so we didn't so if you

40:08 remember Superintendent Wong asked could

40:10 we wait till a year when we're settled a

40:14 little bit.

40:15 um and um that was not an option. So we

40:19 prepared throughout the fall for this

40:21 review. It's um it's an external review.

40:24 It's conducted through Desi um and then

40:26 outside they use an outside um research

40:29 firm to help with the interviews and the

40:31 structure of it. Um it is grounded in

40:34 the district standards. So there are

40:35 standards and indic indicators that

40:37 really focus on all um elements of the

40:40 school district and really the focus is

40:43 on ensuring equitable outcomes and

40:45 continuous improvement. So right

40:47 thinking about is your system how are

40:49 your systems working together to think

40:51 about how we support students. So it's

40:53 not just about curriculum although

40:55 curriculum and teaching and learning is

40:56 obviously a large part of it. It's also

40:59 thinking about your finances and your

41:01 policies and how your you know the parts

41:03 of your system work together. So in that

41:05 way it's this kind of 360 review. Um

41:08 some of you participated in a focus

41:10 group as did some of our parents and

41:12 many of our teachers and various focus

41:13 groups throughout. Um why it matters is

41:17 it does give us a snapshot of that that

41:19 systems view and help us think about it

41:21 all together. Um what I would say is it

41:24 is a snapshot of our district as we were

41:27 leading up to the review and then the

41:29 on-site portion in March. So it's it's

41:32 capturing if you remember many of the

41:34 documents and things might have been

41:36 even from the 2024 or 25 they might have

41:40 even been older. They ask for documents

41:41 over the past number of years. There

41:44 specific things they ask us to so that

41:45 they can review and look at. Um the

41:47 on-site portion of our review happened

41:50 in late March. Um and they were on on

41:55 campus on our campuses for about a week.

41:58 Um we did have I think our parent forum

42:01 was about a week later so it it bridged

42:03 the end of March, beginning of April. Um

42:05 and really the you know it can help us

42:09 think about district planning

42:12 improvement really kind of aligning our

42:14 efforts the how it's different than say

42:16 a tiered focus monitoring where you're

42:18 looking for compliance and then there

42:20 might be action items that you you know

42:23 there that you you need to do to bring

42:25 yourself into compliance. This is really

42:28 um thinking about our current strengths

42:30 as a district, some places to grow and

42:32 some recommendations. Now, some of those

42:34 may have compliance elements of it, but

42:36 it's a little bit different than that

42:37 tiered focus monitoring piece. So,

42:40 thinking about things we should be doing

42:41 and making sure that we're doing some of

42:43 our how our systems work. The next

42:45 slide.

42:49 So, this is just a slide that shows the

42:51 six areas of standards. And I I'm not

42:53 going to read through all of the bullets

42:55 underneath, but again, it's just to

42:56 emphasize that it really looked at

42:58 leadership and government, our finance

43:00 and asset management, curriculum and

43:02 instruction, student supports, and so

43:05 they, you know, that covers a lot of

43:06 things. Assessment, what are assessment

43:08 practices, how are we using them, and

43:10 then human resources and professional

43:12 development. So if we think about these

43:14 in terms of the structure of our

43:17 district and the way that that we're set

43:18 up, it really crosses,

43:21 you know, all of these kind of cross

43:22 many of the four corners and our

43:24 relationship with the town and with the

43:25 community um and our parent community.

43:28 Okay, next slide, please.

43:33 And the other thing I just wanted to

43:35 remind people of is as the data was

43:38 collected. It wasn't, you know, like

43:40 people tended to, you know, you remember

43:41 the part that maybe you participated in.

43:43 So for many of our teachers, that might

43:45 have been a focus group that was geared

43:47 toward, you know, the grade level they

43:49 teach or the content area or their role

43:51 within the district. Our parents

43:54 participated in a focus group. There

43:56 were interviews with a number of people

43:58 within the district. school committee

43:59 was a focus group or subset of school

44:01 committee. Um but alongside that there

44:05 were a number of it was a a huge amount

44:07 of documents actually that we had to

44:09 provide ahead of time and think about

44:11 and actually in a I mean it was a lot to

44:13 compile but in some ways it also was

44:17 helpful to me as a first year person of

44:20 kind of bringing all of these things

44:21 together for my own information as well.

44:24 So in in a strange way it was actually

44:26 kind of helpful um in gathering all of

44:28 those pieces. So you know they looked at

44:30 our strategic plan, they looked at

44:32 meeting agendas and organizational

44:34 charts, our budgets over many years, our

44:36 capital planning, um any audits that

44:39 have been done of the district. They had

44:41 reports of those. um any of our

44:44 evaluation documents and this was a you

44:46 know so thinking about what are we using

44:48 to evaluate our teachers what are our

44:50 practices around evaluation how

44:51 consistently is that happening and so

44:54 they um our PD plans our mentoring

44:56 program and our mentor you know like how

44:58 we mentor new teachers into our district

45:00 and support them um they looked at how

45:03 we review curriculum NEAS reports

45:06 classroom observations they did 94

45:08 classroom observations in every school

45:11 in our district the lens was primarily

45:14 on ELA and math. So that you know when

45:17 they went in to look at at um classrooms

45:21 and again when they visited classrooms

45:22 they weren't looking to see you know how

45:25 is Dr. Dr. Benoy doing in her classroom

45:28 and I'm going to they're looking

45:30 consistently for what are the practice

45:31 there practices they're seeing across

45:33 grade bands right so they're not they

45:35 weren't like noting teacher names but

45:37 they're what does instruction look like

45:39 at different in across different

45:41 buildings in different grade bands so K2

45:44 35 68 912 so patterns of what they were

45:47 seeing

45:49 um student supports so they're looking

45:51 they were looking at our documents

45:52 related to MTSS which you've heard a lot

45:55 about in the last year and we were you

45:57 really in the process of building. They

45:58 looked at our DECAP um which is our

46:01 district curriculum accommodation plan

46:03 we should be using to guide some of our

46:05 work with students um climate surveys,

46:08 family engagement reviews, reviews, any

46:11 reviews that we've done and classroom um

46:14 observations also looked at student

46:16 support um and then when they looked at

46:18 assessment was another major area for

46:20 them. They're looking at assessment

46:21 structures like what are the structures

46:23 we have in place? what are the

46:24 structures and practices we have to look

46:26 at data um and um you know anything that

46:31 we had in writing along those lines.

46:33 They also looked at anything publicly

46:34 available

46:37 through Desi. So any of our

46:38 accountability data and things like that

46:41 that were that are part of the DESIE

46:42 site. Um and then just that last piece,

46:45 questionnaires, observations, district

46:48 documents, desi data and stakeholder

46:50 interviews were a large part of the la

46:52 the last part of the review.

46:56 Okay, so next slide. So

47:00 as promised in our review and it was

47:02 quite lengthy. I know you guys got a

47:03 full report of it. Um I don't know if

47:06 you were able to get through all of it

47:07 before this meeting but thinking about

47:09 there were there was some recogni

47:10 recognition of strengths and so the

47:13 report is really written from the

47:15 perspective of the six

47:17 um the six elements that they're looking

47:19 those six strands and in each one

47:21 they're thinking about what are their

47:22 strengths what are some areas for growth

47:24 and what are some recommendations that

47:26 they might have for how we approach

47:28 those areas of growth. So really under a

47:31 number of different places they you know

47:33 the the progress toward rebuilding trust

47:35 and strengthening relationships during a

47:37 period of leadership transition came out

47:40 across many interviews across the

47:43 district. So that idea that there's been

47:45 leadership turnover for a number of

47:46 years. We were in a year of a new

47:49 leadership team and that rebuilding of

47:52 trust and um consistency.

47:55 Um in terms of curriculum and

47:58 instruction, it was a strength that we

48:00 are we were in the process of

48:01 implementing a new ELA curriculum K8

48:06 um and that we were in the development

48:08 of a consistent district curriculum

48:10 review process. So we are in we we have

48:12 that at this point and then um

48:17 rigorous academic opportunities,

48:19 comprehensive supports um we h the our

48:23 mentoring program. So despite turnover

48:26 and change that's happened over a number

48:27 of years, our mentoring program has

48:29 remained consistent and strong and that

48:32 was an area of commenation. So the way

48:34 that we support new teachers as they

48:35 come into the district. Um and I would

48:38 agree with that. Um and then we have

48:41 growing district capacity for data

48:43 collection and benchmark assessments. So

48:45 it's a place where we are they saw it as

48:47 a strength that we were growing in that

48:49 area and we had a commitment to it. Um,

48:51 we were building common assessment

48:53 practices across grade bands and grade

48:55 levels and across classrooms. Um, we

48:59 have a commitment to safe and supportive

49:00 and inclusive learning environments and

49:02 certainly that's something that you have

49:04 heard a lot about in the last year.

49:06 Certainly as Matt Matt Dubois presents

49:08 our data that we're on belonging and

49:10 some of the the work we've done toward

49:13 um supporting students and then renewed

49:16 communication and collaboration with the

49:18 town. So just that idea that there seems

49:21 to be greater communication that's

49:22 happening and collaboration

49:25 um in terms of areas for growth. So the

49:29 next slide. So as we looked at these

49:32 instead of going you know strand by

49:35 strand standard by standard I decided to

49:38 take them in terms of looking at three

49:40 major themes and some of the findings

49:42 the places where we can grow really are

49:45 across a number of of those strands. So

49:48 at the bottom of each of these slides

49:49 you'll see related strands and some of

49:52 the um recommendations here some of the

49:54 things that we're looking at really

49:56 cross a number of places. So in terms of

49:59 building organizational capacity that's

50:01 a place of growth for us. So thinking

50:04 about the capacity that we have to

50:06 actually implement district priorities.

50:09 Um dedicated time for district and

50:12 school leaders to collaborate around

50:13 teaching and learning. That was a necess

50:16 that was a place where we um were

50:17 looking to strengthen. They recommended

50:19 we strengthen um monitor our progress

50:22 towards district goals. So not just

50:23 setting district goals, but how are we

50:25 thinking about the work we're doing

50:27 towards them? And then systematic review

50:30 and use of district-wide data. So while

50:32 it's a strength that we're building that

50:34 capacity, we have a commitment to it,

50:36 just making it systematic, thinking

50:38 about the structures that we put in

50:40 place and the systems that we put in

50:41 place to be able to use it um and review

50:44 it. So next slide.

50:48 Strengthening teaching and learning. So

50:50 again, you know, there's a strength here

50:53 in that there's this commitment to

50:55 rigorous ac academics and supportive

50:57 classrooms. You can see that um in can

51:01 be seen in our classroom observations

51:03 and in our documents, but there are

51:05 places to grow and strengthen within our

51:07 teaching and learning. And so thinking

51:09 about how we develop a shared

51:10 instructional vision. So really it it it

51:14 comes across in a number of ways as we

51:16 start to think about you'll hear us say

51:18 cohesion and that consistency like how

51:21 do we work together? How do we make sure

51:23 our K8s are working together as part of

51:26 a system and along with our high school

51:28 um for students that we're all working

51:30 as one? Um curriculum alignment and

51:33 implementation across the K8. So that

51:35 recognition that um it our while we may

51:41 have strong teaching and learning

51:42 happening, it's not consistent across

51:44 our classrooms. The same um curriculum

51:46 isn't being used, the same things may

51:48 not being taught at the same time. And

51:50 so thinking about um what that means in

51:53 terms of our K8s and as they transition

51:55 to our high school. So when we call out

51:57 in the science review, we really want to

51:58 look at that 8 to ninth grade

52:00 transition. We want to make sure that

52:02 that it's not just about science. It's

52:03 really about how do we as a system

52:06 support our students through strong

52:07 learning experiences. Um regular

52:10 instructional observation and meaningful

52:12 feedback. So, our administrators in

52:17 classrooms seeing teaching and learning

52:19 and giving feedback to teachers. Um, so

52:22 that's that's really twofold. That's

52:23 like thinking about evaluation, but

52:25 that's also just thinking about the

52:26 instructional practice of instructional

52:28 walks and things like that. How are we

52:30 how are we engaging in conversation

52:31 about teaching and learning? Um, the

52:34 timeliness, quality, and alignment of

52:36 educator evaluation. So, this was I I

52:39 call this out specifically because it

52:41 was an area was one of the areas that

52:44 they said very pointedly that um we were

52:48 still using the 2012 rubric in our

52:51 evaluation practices and our systems

52:54 weren't really aligned um well,

52:57 consistent practices. So, you know, that

53:00 is something that um we knew a lot of

53:02 these were things we know we know we

53:03 need to strengthen and work on. Um but

53:05 they also echoed that back to us. Um,

53:08 and we'll talk a little bit about that

53:09 when we talk about what's next and what

53:11 we're in the process of. And then

53:14 coherent district informed data wide

53:16 professional learning plan. So thinking

53:18 about

53:19 um

53:21 the development of our like a holistic

53:23 professional learning plan. We hear a

53:24 lot about professional development. Um

53:27 certainly it's happening in places. I

53:29 would say we have a number of people

53:32 committed to thinking about professional

53:34 learning and for their pockets. Um, but

53:38 we are we haven't been really thinking

53:40 cohesively about like what's the plan?

53:42 How are we capturing it all? How are we

53:44 thinking about professional learning as

53:45 a way to move toward our district goals

53:47 and support teachers um as we're, you

53:51 know, working together. So, it's that

53:53 cohesion of it and that comprehensive

53:55 plan as a district. Um, all right, next

53:59 slide. Um, and the last is using

54:01 evidence to improve student outcome. So

54:04 really thinking about building a shared

54:06 understanding in the of and

54:08 implementation of MTSS.

54:10 So we've been working towards that.

54:13 You'll hear throughout the year like

54:14 this is our you know we're launching

54:15 across the district. We've been doing a

54:17 lot of work over the last number of

54:18 years and it is exciting to be at the

54:20 point where we are moving forward um

54:22 with it. Um but it's this recognition of

54:24 needing to build make sure that we're

54:26 building a shared shared understanding

54:28 of that um intervention systems.

54:33 Oh, district-wide collection, review,

54:34 and use of student data to inform

54:36 instruction. So, again, like this comes

54:38 up in a number of places. It's a place

54:39 we're on the road with. There's

54:41 recognition of that and that commitment

54:43 to it, but it's also a place that we

54:45 need to continue to do work um

54:48 intervention systems and expectations

54:49 for the differentiation of instruction.

54:51 So what does that look like for students

54:53 and making sure that that is um

54:55 something that we can provide with

54:57 consistency

54:59 um across our schools assessment

55:01 practices that support the monitoring of

55:03 student progress. So how are we again

55:05 it's like how are we using assessment to

55:07 think about informing instruction and

55:09 thinking about the progress our students

55:11 are making. So it's it's targeted. It's

55:13 from that lens of how can we use that to

55:15 support the work that we're doing. Um

55:18 and then communication with families

55:19 about student progress. So this is just

55:21 a place I think is always a good one for

55:23 for growth of thinking about the ways in

55:25 which we communicate with families about

55:28 how their students are um how they're

55:30 doing how they're um and making sure

55:33 that our communications with families

55:35 are accessible to families. Okay, so

55:37 those are our three large buckets. So

55:39 thinking about building organizational

55:40 capacity, strengthening teaching and

55:42 learning and using evidence to improve

55:44 student student outcomes. So our last

55:46 slide um is really thinking about the

55:48 work that's underway and this was just

55:50 capturing in these areas that related to

55:53 growth were work we were in many ways

55:57 already like projecting and beginning to

55:59 work on. So again this is a snapshot you

56:02 know of what was happening in March and

56:05 leading up to March of last year. Um and

56:08 so it does give us the opportunity to

56:10 think about how the work we are already

56:12 engaged in really aligns with the work

56:15 that um we've received feedback on

56:17 because feedback is always an

56:18 opportunity for reflection right and so

56:21 um so in terms of building

56:23 organizational capacity. So two you know

56:26 big things and these were on the horizon

56:28 as we were meeting because they were

56:30 part of our budgeting process was the

56:32 reorganization of administration and

56:34 finance. So that was underway in the

56:36 spring. So thinking about who's doing

56:38 what like the roles within

56:39 administration and finance that

56:41 reorganization was already happening. Um

56:43 the restoration of our data director. So

56:45 we had been without a data director. Um

56:48 and so we have now hired a new data

56:51 director and I'm very glad that she is

56:53 here um and to be working with her as a

56:56 partner as we think about particularly

56:58 data from the perspective of teaching

56:59 and learning and the addition of the um

57:02 information systems manager. So that was

57:04 another position that we were able to

57:07 construct within our data team and

57:10 really that position has helped us think

57:11 about the integration of our technical

57:14 systems making sure that they're

57:16 speaking to each other right like that

57:18 you know that our that Aspen is pulling

57:21 from the right places that we're

57:22 reporting the correct data that our you

57:24 know our teachoint systems are aligning

57:27 and up to date and all of those things.

57:28 It helps helps bring all of those things

57:30 together. Um and so we are very

57:33 fortunate to have those two positions

57:34 and we are already seeing the impact of

57:36 that and the work that we're able to do

57:38 in terms of strengthening teaching and

57:40 learning. So the development of a

57:42 curriculum review process aligned with

57:44 DESIE guidance as Fazia said is really

57:47 aligned with that implement framework

57:49 and with our policies um that we have in

57:52 Brookline and practices that we've used

57:53 in the past. We've pulled from a number

57:55 of places to think about these are the

57:56 steps that we go through. These are the

57:58 kinds of information we look at. this is

58:00 how we involve others in our process. Um

58:03 curriculum areas in various stages of re

58:05 review and so this is work that was is

58:08 you know we're still trying to capture

58:11 all of it. Um we have a draft of

58:13 thinking about where everything is. So

58:15 if you think about like that nice neat

58:17 curriculum review cycle that you

58:19 sometimes see like science goes this

58:21 year, math goes this year and we're

58:22 going to project it out. Um, like a lot

58:25 of districts, cycles were thrown off by

58:28 COVID in one thing. You know, like that

58:30 just threw everybody for a loop for a

58:31 while. New information comes into play.

58:33 We look at ELA before we had

58:35 anticipated. So, another area gets moved

58:38 to a little bit later. Those types of

58:40 things. So, it's really kind of

58:41 recapturing where are we kind of like

58:43 taking stock and where do we need to

58:45 think about work we need to do next?

58:48 What work is on the road? What do we

58:50 need to be monitoring? And so thinking

58:52 specifically about not just our core

58:55 academic areas but also within

58:57 performing and visual arts and are we

58:59 looking at you know what our experiences

59:00 are for students in computer science and

59:03 robotics and our CTE programming like so

59:05 how are we looking at our programs um

59:07 and do we have a way of capturing that

59:09 so just getting back on the same page

59:11 around some of those things that's work

59:13 that we've been doing we have updated

59:16 all of our evaluation plans um which has

59:19 been a huge huge undertaking over the

59:22 last couple of years and certainly

59:24 having um the information systems

59:27 manager join us um because for a variety

59:31 of reasons our teach point wasn't always

59:34 accurately updated in terms of and

59:36 that's the system that helps guide the

59:38 PRA our practice like where we um and

59:40 then also transition to the 2024

59:43 rubrics. So, this is a place that we

59:45 were able to partner with the BEu and

59:47 really think about like we we need we

59:50 need to, you know, update to the most

59:52 recent rubric. How do we do that? What

59:54 are some focus indicators that we're

59:56 really going to look at as a district to

59:57 help our transition to that new rubric?

59:59 How do we support evaluators and

1:00:01 educators in that transition? Um, so

1:00:03 that's been great to have that

1:00:04 partnership and that work is underway.

1:00:06 So, we're using those updated rubrics.

1:00:08 Um, and then development of a district

1:00:10 professional learning plan. And so

1:00:12 thinking about a comprehensive plan for

1:00:14 the district and where are we capturing

1:00:16 all the places that we are providing

1:00:17 professional learning and how do we

1:00:20 think about that systemically to move

1:00:22 toward our goals. So that is a it's a in

1:00:25 progress. Um

1:00:28 I was gonna just stay on this one before

1:00:30 you go to the next one.

1:00:32 So um we've Oh thank you.

1:00:36 Um we've

1:00:38 it was not a surprise that we would be

1:00:41 highlighted on supervision evaluation

1:00:43 the fact that we were not at the 2024

1:00:45 rubrics. Um I just say that actually

1:00:48 last year we attempted to move to the

1:00:51 2024 rubrics and we engaged um an

1:00:55 outside party to help us do that

1:00:58 transition. Honestly it didn't gain

1:01:00 traction. So and also our our teachoint

1:01:04 system was um

1:01:07 made it cumbersome. So

1:01:11 so we revisited the process this year in

1:01:14 anticipation of so everything they

1:01:17 highlighted isn't anything we disagreed

1:01:20 with. Um but this year what we did is we

1:01:22 looked at the 2024 rubrics and we said

1:01:26 let's just agree on focus indicators

1:01:29 like not the whole thing but let's agree

1:01:32 on pieces that we want to focus on

1:01:34 because there's a there's there's a

1:01:36 gazillion indicators and we wanted to

1:01:39 highlight the ones that would support

1:01:40 the MTSS implementation.

1:01:43 So going into this year, it was an

1:01:46 effort to integrate these different

1:01:49 lines of things that we wanted to do so

1:01:52 it would feel redundant but also not on

1:01:55 top of each other but actually

1:01:57 interwoven.

1:01:59 And so I do appreciate that when we

1:02:02 shared the focus indicators with the BEu

1:02:05 leadership what they thought they were

1:02:07 supportive. Right. So this feels

1:02:10 different than our attempt the year

1:02:12 before when we said here's the 2024

1:02:15 Rubik's. Let's go and it was too

1:02:17 overwhelming. It didn't work. So it I

1:02:20 just want to say we it's not we did try

1:02:23 before and I just want to site that

1:02:25 sometimes it doesn't work and so this is

1:02:27 coming back at it in in a different way.

1:02:30 Um, so what so I'm really excited

1:02:33 because it's together we worked on what

1:02:37 those indicators might be and came to an

1:02:39 agreement on that and that's that will

1:02:42 be the focus of supervision and

1:02:44 evaluation this year.

1:02:46 Yes. So that is something we're all

1:02:48 working on together. Um, and

1:02:51 you want

1:02:53 what is Teach Point? So, Teach Point is

1:02:56 this, it's the basically the storage

1:02:59 system for all of the parts of the

1:03:01 evaluation. So, when you write an

1:03:02 observation, it goes in, it's part of an

1:03:05 educator's file.

1:03:07 It's really [clears throat] the it's the

1:03:09 holding system for it.

1:03:15 You've mentioned rubrics whether it's

1:03:17 2012, 2016, 2024 a couple of times and

1:03:20 I'm just thinking about the people who

1:03:21 are watching at home not knowing exactly

1:03:23 what that means or understanding why

1:03:25 it's crucial to move to a 2024 rubric or

1:03:28 like what are some of the key

1:03:29 differences that we're hoping to see. So

1:03:31 just I'm thinking about the folks at

1:03:32 home making sure that they know.

1:03:34 So um within the rubrics there are four

1:03:36 standards four standards. The first one

1:03:39 is um is is instructional practice. So

1:03:43 all the elements of instructional

1:03:44 practice. Standard two is teaching to

1:03:46 all students. The third standard is um

1:03:51 engagement with families.

1:03:53 And then the fourth one is professional

1:03:55 culture. So four standards. Within each

1:03:58 standard there's a part a sometimes

1:04:01 there's a part ABC. Sometimes there's a

1:04:03 A and B and sometimes there's just an A.

1:04:05 And with each of those subsets there are

1:04:08 sometimes just a one or a two or a

1:04:10 three. So there's so it multiplies and

1:04:13 and those are um the indicators um

1:04:17 within. So we agreed to focus on

1:04:20 standards one and two instructional

1:04:23 practice teaching all students which is

1:04:25 what MTS is all students. We agreed on

1:04:29 focusing on some within that and um so

1:04:32 that we narrowed it down. And the

1:04:35 significant thing about moving from the

1:04:38 2012 every updated rubrics after 2012

1:04:43 2015 is the first major one um really

1:04:47 integrated elements for cultural

1:04:49 proficiency.

1:04:50 2012 it 2015 is when it starts. So I

1:04:54 think everyone realized that it was

1:04:56 important to move to the next set of

1:05:00 rubrics because of the cultural

1:05:02 proficiency elements. they are not in

1:05:04 the 2012 they start with 2015

1:05:08 and I and I think just to add to that

1:05:11 even in that progression what's most

1:05:14 it's more integrated in terms of that

1:05:16 it's not like standalone and called out

1:05:17 it's really thinking about um the

1:05:20 instructional moves that we make the way

1:05:22 our classrooms are structured and the

1:05:23 way we communicate with families and

1:05:24 each other right so that's integrated

1:05:27 within the indicators of those standards

1:05:29 of professional practice which is you

1:05:31 know how we refer would refer to them.

1:05:33 So really, as I look at it, like the

1:05:36 2024 for me is very aligned with our

1:05:39 values. And so to me, it's a it's a

1:05:42 rubric that is more aligned with what we

1:05:44 say our values are as a district and

1:05:46 what we're working toward.

1:05:52 Sarah, you have a question.

1:05:54 So are you done and we're one last part,

1:05:57 but my question?

1:05:58 Yeah. Okay. Um the last part is using

1:06:01 evidence to improve student outcomes. So

1:06:02 some of the things that we've been

1:06:04 working toward and again these are just

1:06:06 representatives some of the places that

1:06:08 we are we're on the road we are already

1:06:10 doing work um you'll hear about

1:06:12 throughout the year. So our continued

1:06:14 focus on our district MTSS

1:06:16 implementation across all schools. So if

1:06:19 you remember last year we presented our

1:06:21 framework the work we've been doing as a

1:06:23 district. We had a focus launch at one

1:06:24 of our schools. This year we've done a

1:06:27 lot of work think working with our

1:06:28 principles and working with our district

1:06:30 MTSS team um to think about what are the

1:06:33 conditions they need they need to

1:06:35 support this work in their schools and

1:06:37 how do they build teams within their

1:06:38 schools and because each school is a

1:06:40 little bit different and they're in

1:06:41 different places of um you know

1:06:43 readiness and also that's about building

1:06:45 that shared understanding

1:06:47 right so when we talk about that um that

1:06:51 that piece one of the pieces in in um

1:06:54 surveys that we did with teachers as we

1:06:56 were kind of thinking about what they

1:06:57 needed, um, a survey question was like,

1:07:00 "Oh, yeah, I understand it." Right? Like

1:07:02 through the roof. Everybody's like,

1:07:03 "Yeah, I understand it. Do I think my

1:07:05 colleagues do?" No, I'm not so sure they

1:07:07 do. But so like that's that idea that

1:07:09 like I'm sure I do, but I'm not sure

1:07:10 others do, but everybody thinks they

1:07:12 understand it themselves. So that might

1:07:15 building a shared understanding. So we

1:07:16 all know that we understand what we're

1:07:17 talking about and what are the

1:07:18 structures and practices we should have

1:07:20 in our classrooms and across our schools

1:07:22 to support students.

1:07:24 Um we have an updated district

1:07:26 curriculum accommodation plan. So that

1:07:28 is now on our website. Um so that is

1:07:31 thinking about a plan. The curriculum

1:07:34 accommodation plan is something that we

1:07:35 use as we think about like how we

1:07:37 support students in our classrooms. It's

1:07:39 not tied to special education. It's tied

1:07:41 to general practice and thinking about

1:07:44 um things we can offer students even

1:07:45 within a general ed setting. Um, so our

1:07:48 last district curriculum accommodation

1:07:50 plan,

1:07:52 Karen may know, I think I think it was

1:07:54 it was like 2014, 2015. It was it was

1:07:57 Yes. So over a decade. And I want to

1:07:59 shout out to to Joelle.

1:08:01 Joel and Matt Dwis. Matt Duba had been

1:08:03 doing a number of had been doing work on

1:08:06 this over a number of years. Um, and

1:08:08 Matt and Joelle together as part of

1:08:10 their work with the MTSS team was ready

1:08:12 to bring that to publication. So it is

1:08:14 now live on our website. is updated and

1:08:16 aligned with the work that we're doing.

1:08:18 Um

1:08:18 something like that also supported by

1:08:21 our our um improved data team.

1:08:23 Yeah.

1:08:23 To facilitate that.

1:08:25 Yes.

1:08:26 Um continued focus on common

1:08:29 assessments. So thinking about not just

1:08:32 our you know our MCCAST data, our

1:08:35 Dibbles data, that benchmarking data,

1:08:36 but what are the assessments that we're

1:08:38 using organically in our classrooms and

1:08:40 are there places that we are using

1:08:41 shared shared um assessments that we can

1:08:44 then look at student work together. Um

1:08:46 and that's happening across

1:08:48 K8s and at the high school. The high

1:08:50 school has been within their courses

1:08:52 looking at common assessments um so that

1:08:55 they can look at student work and

1:08:56 outcomes together. Um and that's been

1:08:59 work that's been ongoing. Um it's not

1:09:01 brand brand new. Um and then the

1:09:04 implementation of structures and

1:09:06 building capacity for reviewing st

1:09:08 student data that informs our

1:09:09 instruction. So part of that is making

1:09:11 sure that we have times that teachers

1:09:14 can um collaborate with one another

1:09:17 around student data and student work and

1:09:19 think about what it means next for that

1:09:22 particular student or for a group of

1:09:23 students or for their class together. um

1:09:26 to think about what our instruction is,

1:09:28 but it's about building the time within

1:09:29 our schedule and the structures, the

1:09:31 protocols for them to do that and the

1:09:32 capacity to look at that together in a

1:09:34 systematic way. So,

1:09:36 so if I could um extend what Robin said

1:09:40 before the district was limited, we had

1:09:43 open architect but we're limited in

1:09:45 capacity to go beyond

1:09:48 maybe dis like group data and so what

1:09:52 the big change will be able to look at

1:09:55 indep individual student data better and

1:09:58 being able to talk in teams about

1:10:00 individual student data and about

1:10:02 interventions and and whether we you

1:10:05 know we do something different. So this

1:10:08 so this is this is the personalization

1:10:11 that looking at data utilizing your

1:10:14 technology that enables us to do that.

1:10:17 So, this is this is a really significant

1:10:20 step forward.

1:10:23 More to come as we go through the year,

1:10:24 but um

1:10:26 that's our review. Um and where we're

1:10:28 where we're going now. I don't know if

1:10:29 there are any other questions. I know

1:10:31 some of you asked questions along the

1:10:32 way.

1:10:32 I know Sarah has a question. I before we

1:10:34 entertain other questions and comments,

1:10:36 uh I just want to add a little context

1:10:38 to this report.

1:10:39 I remember last f fall a year ago,

1:10:43 Bella had just arrived. She was just in

1:10:45 the early stages of building her

1:10:47 leadership team and we got notice from

1:10:50 the state that they wanted to do this

1:10:53 evaluation of of the system and so

1:10:57 superintendent Wong said not the

1:10:59 greatest not the greatest moment as we

1:11:02 you know are in a transitional period

1:11:04 here. Um but

1:11:07 having been on the receiving end of

1:11:10 these kind of visits, evaluation visits

1:11:13 and also been being on the visiting

1:11:15 teams um number of times in my career.

1:11:19 Um I know how intense this is and I know

1:11:22 how challenging it is to bring all the

1:11:24 people together and arrange you know the

1:11:27 logistics of of these kinds of visits.

1:11:30 um visiting classrooms, visiting

1:11:32 meetings, v you know meeting with

1:11:34 parents. It's really an intense process.

1:11:37 And so I just want to start out by

1:11:39 commending

1:11:40 Superintendent Wong and her team for

1:11:43 actually getting this done and Robin.

1:11:46 The presentation tonight is impressive

1:11:49 in terms of elucidating what what has

1:11:52 been done, what needs to be done, and

1:11:54 there's real clarity here. And so I'm

1:11:56 just I'm impressed and I want to thank

1:11:58 you for the work in the context of how

1:12:02 challenging it actually was. So thank

1:12:04 you.

1:12:04 Thank you.

1:12:05 Sarah, you have a question.

1:12:07 And I'll add to that that um I'm also

1:12:10 impressed by the decision to of your

1:12:13 outlook that you've decided that okay,

1:12:14 we have to do this work. So how can we

1:12:17 benefit from it? And so that was that's

1:12:19 the for me the most impressive part is

1:12:21 that you just took it on as something

1:12:22 that could benefit the system. So that

1:12:25 was great. Um my question has to do with

1:12:28 u professional learning

1:12:29 and budget implications about that. I've

1:12:32 kind of lost my way in terms of keeping

1:12:35 track of um if you are going to continue

1:12:38 to develop a district professional

1:12:40 learning plan. Um do you already have

1:12:44 the budget for that? So basically you

1:12:45 have some learning going on already.

1:12:47 when the budget renews for the following

1:12:49 year, you can reallocate it to something

1:12:51 else or to what degree do we need to um

1:12:55 add to the budget in order to make that

1:12:57 happen?

1:12:58 I don't have the exact answer for that

1:13:00 right now, but I will say that having a

1:13:03 like a comprehensive view of it, a clear

1:13:05 view of the plan helps us think about

1:13:07 what we may need, where we can use our

1:13:09 grant funding, where we maybe need to

1:13:11 ask for um funds within the budget

1:13:14 itself. And so it it just it helps us

1:13:16 with that that forecasting that planning

1:13:20 for um to look ahead in that way. And

1:13:23 also so that we're not scrambling to put

1:13:25 things in place. And what I have come to

1:13:27 find out is over the last year is you

1:13:29 know there are these pockets there, you

1:13:31 know, like a coordinator might be

1:13:32 arranging something for their department

1:13:35 and they might have gotten a grant

1:13:37 somewhere and something else is

1:13:39 happening over the here. the high school

1:13:40 might be working on a plan on their own

1:13:43 and they're chugging along and they're,

1:13:44 you know, like they might be using funds

1:13:46 from the budget, but they also might be

1:13:47 getting grant funding. And so it's kind

1:13:48 of bringing all that together, thinking

1:13:50 about what we have, what we need to move

1:13:53 forward to, you know, with our goals and

1:13:55 also thinking about what are the funds

1:13:56 we need to pay for it, like where does

1:13:57 that come from? Sometimes it does come

1:13:59 from grant funding and sometime and so

1:14:01 we're using it effectively and then also

1:14:02 thinking about what additional funds do

1:14:04 we need in the budget to support the

1:14:05 work we need to do. And when you set the

1:14:08 um you know when you're thinking that

1:14:10 through do you set bench benchmarks like

1:14:12 we would like x percentage of our

1:14:14 overall professional learning to address

1:14:17 MTSS and x percent like is is that the

1:14:20 way that we think about it or

1:14:21 I think we're we're not there yet. So

1:14:23 the the

1:14:25 we're required to have a professional

1:14:28 district learning plan and PSB doesn't

1:14:31 and so when we arrived it didn't. It

1:14:33 still doesn't. So, we are right now

1:14:37 we're sort of building our transition

1:14:40 from the strategic plan that's in place

1:14:43 to building a new one. And um we

1:14:47 determined that we weren't going to

1:14:48 launch into building a strategic plan

1:14:50 because there were too many systems.

1:14:54 It takes a lot of energy to put the

1:14:55 systems in place. So, this year we're

1:14:57 putting So, last year it was finances.

1:15:00 This year it's our systems of support

1:15:03 teaching and learning. And so while

1:15:06 we're doing like just getting everyone

1:15:07 to agree to move toward the new rubrics,

1:15:11 um implementation of systems like MTSS,

1:15:14 being able to look at student data to

1:15:16 inform our practice. So getting those

1:15:18 systems in place and then in the spring

1:15:22 we're planning to re-engage

1:15:25 um with

1:15:27 uh Ruth

1:15:29 Whitner and I'm I can't remember the

1:15:31 last part of her name. Um she worked

1:15:33 with PSP before to transition to a new

1:15:36 plan. All right. So a professional

1:15:39 development plan should be informed by

1:15:43 the strategic plan but there are things

1:15:46 that are happening that are going to

1:15:47 inform that strategic plan. The vision

1:15:49 of a learner. We had always said you

1:15:52 know do the vision of a learner and when

1:15:54 upon that adoption will be the grounds

1:15:57 for how do you make that happen. All

1:15:59 right. So that will be part of the

1:16:01 premise for the strategic plan. Okay. Is

1:16:04 this what we want kids to be able to do?

1:16:06 How are we going to do that? How are we

1:16:07 going to build that? There is a

1:16:09 curriculum and tech science curriculum

1:16:11 and technology review going underway

1:16:15 that will likely lead to some new ideas

1:16:19 and need for professional development

1:16:22 and it will be so that's how like when

1:16:24 you do those cyclical goal reviews they

1:16:26 kind of enter into your professional

1:16:28 development plan and you go you go

1:16:31 through the other um curriculum reviews.

1:16:35 One thing that we did not

1:16:37 identify

1:16:39 um in the goal setting um but we intend

1:16:42 to look at is um curriculum for our

1:16:45 libraries and curriculum for our

1:16:48 instructional technology. So digital

1:16:50 literacy and informationational

1:16:52 literacy. So those are things I think

1:16:54 that will also inform what should go

1:16:57 into the plan. Um, so we don't have we

1:17:01 don't have the district professional

1:17:02 development plan yet and so that has to

1:17:05 be vetted out. So the questions that you

1:17:07 have about how much will be dedicated to

1:17:10 this or that it's we

1:17:14 we still have to figure it out

1:17:16 and I really I really like the way of

1:17:18 thinking about the systems. I think that

1:17:19 that's that's what it was apparent that

1:17:22 we lost with the turn such frequent

1:17:24 turnover in leadership. And I I hear you

1:17:27 talking about that all the time. So, I

1:17:28 really think it's very smart that you

1:17:30 set a goal of a system that you're going

1:17:32 to put in place. You match the year.

1:17:34 That works for me. Um, but I don't want

1:17:36 to assume that during this time when

1:17:38 we're trying to answer these questions,

1:17:40 we've left left aside completely

1:17:43 professional development. And so I guess

1:17:45 I'd go back to your answer before where

1:17:47 you're saying that professional

1:17:48 development lives in different people's

1:17:50 budgets and sometimes it's grant funded

1:17:52 and it might be a little bit hard to

1:17:54 capture at the you know central office

1:17:57 level but I think that I can assume that

1:18:00 we're still doing professional

1:18:01 development. It just might not have a

1:18:04 systemic goal at this point. Is would

1:18:06 that be accurate? So the district um PS

1:18:10 so the school committee committed to the

1:18:12 support of the literacy implementation.

1:18:15 So that's their MTSS. We've been

1:18:17 cobbling together

1:18:19 through um grant funding

1:18:21 at what level?

1:18:22 Well, it could be BEF that helps support

1:18:25 at some of the title two

1:18:27 and title two

1:18:28 but is that throughout K to 8 or is that

1:18:30 K to five or

1:18:31 it's throughout? Yes.

1:18:34 Okay.

1:18:34 Yes. So BEF was a big help and the title

1:18:38 two funding and and we were quite

1:18:39 worried because there was a time when it

1:18:41 looked like title two was going away but

1:18:43 they restored that so that was critical

1:18:45 for us. It's not I will say a lot of

1:18:48 it's not built into the budget

1:18:51 right so we have been drawing from

1:18:53 available grant funding and so sometimes

1:18:56 I do feel we're scrambling a little bit

1:18:59 and that was this body that cut some of

1:19:02 that prof professional development so

1:19:04 I'm not surprised by that. Right. I I

1:19:06 think that um we saw that cut happen.

1:19:08 So with the override we restored

1:19:11 you restored.

1:19:12 Yes, we restored but really more in the

1:19:14 departmental budget. So what was cut was

1:19:17 everything

1:19:18 right. So the departments lost their

1:19:20 regular sort of training. Um that was

1:19:24 cut and so we restored it in the FY27

1:19:28 budget to the levels that were there

1:19:30 before. But those are the departmental

1:19:33 budgets. That should not be for system

1:19:38 implementations like literacy and also

1:19:41 MTSS and again um this this body

1:19:45 protected the money for the literacy

1:19:46 implementation but the MTSS we've drawn

1:19:49 from other grant funding

1:19:51 Bella can I ask you a favor there are

1:19:54 [clears throat] probably thousands and

1:19:55 thousands of people watching us

1:19:57 yes so MTSS um is used all the time so

1:20:00 just explain that quickly please

1:20:02 I'm going to let you do it

1:20:03 multi-tered systems of support.

1:20:05 So, it's really thinking about our whole

1:20:07 instructional,

1:20:09 you know, ecosystem for students, right?

1:20:12 So, thinking about what happens for all

1:20:15 students, what happens for some students

1:20:18 at tier two,

1:20:19 tier one, tier three,

1:20:20 tier one is really what's happening for

1:20:21 all students

1:20:22 in the classroom.

1:20:22 In the classroom, okay, um

1:20:24 just people

1:20:25 and that they have access to. Tier two

1:20:26 might be in the classroom, might be out

1:20:28 of the classroom, but thinking about

1:20:30 either support or extension. It could be

1:20:32 both, right? like what does a child need

1:20:34 that might be slightly different than

1:20:36 that could be a small group within a

1:20:37 classroom that could be pulling on

1:20:38 something and then tier three thinking

1:20:40 about more intensive support that a

1:20:42 child might need. Um

1:20:44 thank you Suzanne.

1:20:47 Thank you. Thank you Robert for this.

1:20:49 Um, so I kind of want to continue a

1:20:51 little bit with Sarah on this

1:20:52 professional um, district professional

1:20:55 learning plan and and I'm also thinking

1:20:58 about our new data uh, people, our data

1:21:01 director and our systems manager. But so

1:21:06 I'm wondering how the data So the data

1:21:08 director is going to have all this data,

1:21:10 right? That's how they he or she spends

1:21:12 the time.

1:21:13 They they create the systems for us to

1:21:15 be able to look at the data. Yes. So I'm

1:21:17 wondering if when we talk about funding

1:21:19 for this if if that department the data

1:21:24 department which is two people is it are

1:21:26 the two four

1:21:27 four

1:21:30 well there because there were two people

1:21:32 there were two that were

1:21:34 so you lost your data director but there

1:21:36 were two supports okay

1:21:38 yes and so they're still there but they

1:21:41 didn't have a data director

1:21:43 well I'm thinking again uh that

1:21:45 I'm sorry so they're the ones that

1:21:47 continued to submit our SIMS, our

1:21:49 student information system, and our

1:21:51 staff. Like, we still had to do those.

1:21:53 So, they

1:21:53 they're the the ones we've kept. And

1:21:55 then we added

1:21:56 two additional people to

1:21:59 Well, we added a data director and we

1:22:01 carved out um information systems from

1:22:04 other information manager.

1:22:07 Yes.

1:22:08 So my thoughts are [laughter]

1:22:11 uh that we have the staff who's really

1:22:15 looking at the data and can they not

1:22:18 then be a part of that kind of a

1:22:21 district professional learning plan

1:22:22 which we don't have yet but we will it

1:22:25 in a sense that they could share what is

1:22:27 necessary for our planning our common

1:22:30 planning teams professional learning

1:22:32 teams whichever we're calling them to

1:22:34 focus on the MTSS so that they could

1:22:36 actually go to the schools sit with the

1:22:39 principles administration meet with

1:22:42 different grade level teams and say this

1:22:45 is what we found here's some data here's

1:22:48 what you know I have to present and then

1:22:52 and then the teachers that's not their

1:22:54 role

1:22:55 their skill set is more creating the

1:22:56 systems

1:22:57 yeah it's more that we can access the

1:22:59 data

1:23:00 but they but you know to that point they

1:23:02 are able to help us think about um how

1:23:06 do we build a dashboard board like that

1:23:08 looks at what we want to look at, right?

1:23:09 How could they help in educators that

1:23:13 can look at the data and then use that

1:23:16 to decide what the intervention should

1:23:18 be?

1:23:19 That's what I'm wondering. Who's going

1:23:20 to help the educators look at that data?

1:23:23 That's what we're That's

1:23:24 that's the system and that's really

1:23:26 thinking about the work of our um

1:23:28 student intervention teams and our MTSS

1:23:30 teams at the building. That's a lot of

1:23:32 the work that we've been doing with our

1:23:33 district team to think about the the

1:23:35 leadership of that and how do we build

1:23:37 capacity to to do that data review in

1:23:40 those groups, how to use a protocol and

1:23:44 teach it to others. So it becomes a

1:23:45 practice. So that's capacity we're

1:23:48 building within our staff.

1:23:49 Yeah. I mean that capacity is really

1:23:50 important. Without that um MTSS won't

1:23:54 fly.

1:23:54 So the faculty meetings have been mapped

1:23:57 out for the year.

1:23:58 Yes.

1:23:59 Okay.

1:23:59 Yes.

1:24:01 FISA and then Carolyn.

1:24:09 Thank you. Um it's definitely a very

1:24:12 lengthy report 16ome pages, right? Yeah.

1:24:16 And that air air report, right? That's

1:24:18 the that's what the

1:24:19 that's the that's from Jessie.

1:24:21 Yes. So I uh I guess uh Suzanne I think

1:24:25 kind of touched upon my question is that

1:24:28 um how are we going to share this this

1:24:30 report and the findings of this report

1:24:33 with our educators because I think

1:24:35 that's sometimes a major leverage um is

1:24:39 like we can we can discuss this with

1:24:41 them talk to them about it. So I'm sure

1:24:44 um you have a plan and so would love to

1:24:47 hear more about that and that's my one

1:24:50 question. So I said how are we going to

1:24:52 share with the with our teachers um who

1:24:55 and when and yes that this can be part

1:24:57 of the feedback you know non-evaluative

1:25:00 feedback um that already you know the

1:25:02 the company has done for us and the

1:25:05 other one is a question is basically are

1:25:08 we still using open architects I'm

1:25:10 assuming we still have it so open

1:25:12 architects has this new feature that I'm

1:25:14 sure we are very familiar with the key

1:25:16 insights

1:25:18 so you know the I think that can be used

1:25:21 in your meetings if if you are not

1:25:23 already using that feature. So I I'm not

1:25:27 sure if the if the the district's uh

1:25:29 data uh director will help you know uh

1:25:34 identify those key insights so that we

1:25:36 can do it or that will fall under you

1:25:39 Robin. Just some more clarity would be

1:25:41 great. I think it's shared work, right?

1:25:43 Like it's shared work together

1:25:45 um across all of our departments and

1:25:47 it's also about building the capacity of

1:25:49 our teachers. So they need opportunity

1:25:51 to learn and practice and use various

1:25:54 dashboards um to think about how they

1:25:56 can how it can be a tool for them.

1:25:58 Right? So I think that's the the next

1:26:00 step alongside some of this is that

1:26:03 while we've had open architects in the

1:26:05 district and we've had some folks know

1:26:07 how to use it. We haven't necessarily

1:26:10 built that capacity across all of our

1:26:12 teachers and I think that is part of the

1:26:14 next step as we work together around

1:26:16 looking going through a data protocol

1:26:18 looking at some of the data that we have

1:26:19 together and acquainting ourselves with

1:26:21 that tool. So it's it's about it'll be

1:26:23 building capacity.

1:26:24 Perfect. Thank you. And this report that

1:26:26 you presented, will that be shared with

1:26:28 the teachers or the data from the air

1:26:30 report?

1:26:30 It's um it's out.

1:26:32 It's a public report.

1:26:33 It's published. And so we've been

1:26:34 talking about we've talked about the

1:26:36 report since opening day.

1:26:39 Um and it's been part of our summer work

1:26:41 because even though it wasn't in final

1:26:43 form, we had seen the draft. We knew the

1:26:45 gist of it, but the gist of it was what

1:26:49 we already knew. So it just affirmed

1:26:52 it just affirmed that these were things

1:26:54 that we had to work on. So the summer

1:26:56 work with the principles and then the

1:26:58 summer work with all the administrators

1:27:00 and then the opening day message

1:27:03 um highlighted that these would be the

1:27:05 priorities for the year. So my district

1:27:08 goals actually said I did a placeholder

1:27:12 but it was pretty much stuff that we had

1:27:14 identified which was supervision and

1:27:16 evaluation looking at data MTSS. So it

1:27:20 just it's it's good. It wasn't something

1:27:23 new. It was already there but we we set

1:27:26 it on opening day and then now we are

1:27:29 we're implementing it across the board.

1:27:32 And as I all the faculty meetings have

1:27:34 been

1:27:36 committed.

1:27:37 So it's [clears throat]

1:27:40 Yes. Do and and they're welcome to read

1:27:42 the report. It's not a requirement they

1:27:44 read the report. They can but it's it's

1:27:47 a it's a hard read.

1:27:48 It is.

1:27:49 Yes. Because it's really long.

1:27:51 Yes.

1:27:52 and and is there any cohesion between uh

1:27:55 the department meetings and the school

1:27:57 meetings to be everybody focusing in on

1:28:00 the data that's coming uh through this

1:28:03 report like all these findings

1:28:06 it's uh trainings and how to in the

1:28:09 first faculty meetings um but this is

1:28:11 why we're looking for more time for

1:28:14 teachers to be able to look at the data

1:28:16 but you can

1:28:17 and I think it's also about how we we're

1:28:19 trying to articulate our Tuesday times

1:28:21 for teachers um and ensure that how

1:28:24 we're using those at different grade

1:28:26 levels um and grade bands and so it's

1:28:28 both faculty meeting it's the department

1:28:30 meetings it's the grade band work that

1:28:32 happens and that's part of building that

1:28:34 that plan so right now we're in the

1:28:36 process of capturing it all

1:28:38 okay thank you Suzanne thank you FISA

1:28:40 thank you Robin thank you Bella Carolyn

1:28:45 um [clears throat] thank you this is

1:28:48 this is great because we're really

1:28:49 covering a lot of sort of nuts and bolts

1:28:52 and um

1:28:55 so I think what you're this wasn't my

1:28:57 question but I'm just going to quickly

1:28:59 touch on Bella you were just saying the

1:29:01 Tuesday faculty meetings are mapped out

1:29:04 so I think you're saying to sort of be

1:29:06 responsive to this and all of your goals

1:29:08 so um that's great and it's great that

1:29:12 our professionals have the opportunity

1:29:15 um to engage um as a group in those

1:29:19 Tuesday faculty meetings. Um, so thanks

1:29:21 for working on that.

1:29:24 Quickly, just again another acronym or

1:29:27 maybe you didn't use the acronym,

1:29:29 student intervention teams. Um I just

1:29:32 would learn love to learn briefly a

1:29:35 little more about sort of what those

1:29:38 teams are and am I remembering right

1:29:40 like is that is that are those teams

1:29:44 that are teachers engage in voluntarily

1:29:48 and they're stipended?

1:29:51 Um, and is there a way

1:29:55 um that the district is able to like

1:29:58 ensure that each school uh that there's

1:30:02 consistency across schools in terms of

1:30:05 those and what they do and I don't want

1:30:06 to digress a ton, but that sounds

1:30:08 important and I'd love

1:30:09 you can take it or you can punt to car.

1:30:11 Well, I I think we can both we do have

1:30:13 student intervention teams at each of

1:30:15 our schools. Um, they generally meet on

1:30:18 one end of the school day. Um, and those

1:30:21 that do are, you know, like there's

1:30:23 stipens for that time

1:30:24 every day.

1:30:25 No, not every day. So, it's on a on a

1:30:27 cycle. And when we think about the

1:30:28 intervention team, it might be that a

1:30:31 student has been talked about at their

1:30:33 grade level team and they're bringing

1:30:34 them forward because they need

1:30:36 additional problem solving of the

1:30:37 intervention team to think about what

1:30:39 what other supports we could put in

1:30:41 place or try out for the student, what

1:30:42 comes next, right? So, that's really

1:30:44 what that is. And part of our MTSS

1:30:46 framework and the work that we've been

1:30:48 doing um as a district is bringing

1:30:50 consistency to the practices of all of

1:30:52 those systems and those teams that exist

1:30:54 in our schools. So, and I don't know if

1:30:56 Karen wants to say anything else.

1:30:58 I also can I just mention that the the

1:31:00 the intervention teams were formerly

1:31:03 known as child study team.

1:31:04 Okay. Okay. Okay. That's a term that's a

1:31:08 little more familiar.

1:31:09 Just to speak to your question about

1:31:10 consistency. So there's a student

1:31:12 intervention team lead and those team

1:31:14 leads meet monthly um with both Matt

1:31:17 Dwis and Joel and have met for many many

1:31:20 years with Matt in terms of training

1:31:22 consistency protocols for those

1:31:24 meetings. Um, so that's that's another

1:31:27 part of it. And those leads are also are

1:31:28 all staffended roles.

1:31:31 And is it usually

1:31:33 are the student intervention teams

1:31:35 usually addressing

1:31:38 um the needs of students who

1:31:42 um are don't seem to be performing and

1:31:46 and learning the way that we hope they

1:31:50 would? Are there also interventions

1:31:53 around students who need more who are

1:31:56 demonstrating such high performance that

1:31:59 we say like we got to do more for these

1:32:01 kids? Just curious.

1:32:05 I think more often than not they're

1:32:07 they're looking at students that need

1:32:09 yeah

1:32:09 additional intervention. But as we think

1:32:11 about FTSS, we we just want to stress

1:32:13 that it's really not thinking about just

1:32:15 interventions for students. But it's

1:32:17 also thinking about extensions for

1:32:18 students and where are the opportunities

1:32:19 that those can happen as well.

1:32:21 In our in our conversations with um the

1:32:24 administrators this summer, we we

1:32:26 acknowledge that it's the full scope of

1:32:28 it and um and I'm listening to FISA say,

1:32:32 you know, did you know about this and

1:32:34 that um some of our

1:32:37 it's not part of our culture across the

1:32:40 board in an even way the way you can

1:32:42 look at data and use it. what Karen

1:32:45 described those are established teams

1:32:47 those those have been in place but this

1:32:50 stage where all teachers are going to be

1:32:53 they couldn't do it before because it

1:32:55 wasn't easy there wasn't a way to do it

1:32:58 and that's where having a data team

1:33:01 creates the way so it's now easy to

1:33:03 access it um we've always had open

1:33:06 architect but it was clunky for people

1:33:09 to find time to make that work for them

1:33:13 so that So [clears throat]

1:33:18 there people are going to need to

1:33:19 practice this before they become experts

1:33:23 at it. And so I think to realize the

1:33:26 full scope of MTSS

1:33:29 will will at least take more like maybe

1:33:33 more toward the end of the year to see

1:33:35 the potential for what you just asked

1:33:37 for. But I would say in the beginning

1:33:39 it's it people are going to have to get

1:33:41 into the practice of doing it.

1:33:44 And sorry, just to be super clear, I

1:33:47 wasn't necessarily asking for it, but

1:33:50 just whether that's sort of part of,

1:33:52 but that would be great. I'd love your

1:33:54 answer.

1:33:54 Scope of it. Yes.

1:34:01 Anything else,

1:34:02 Jesse?

1:34:04 Sarah. So, um, when teachers get

1:34:06 together, we usually have this piece of

1:34:08 chart paper on the wall that says

1:34:10 parking lot, and it's for something that

1:34:11 we need to come back to. And I really

1:34:13 need a parking lot right now. Um,

1:34:15 because I'm having a little bit of

1:34:16 trouble. We often say data, and we use

1:34:20 it interchangeably between looking at

1:34:22 student data, which to me is like

1:34:25 student work performance, and then we

1:34:27 talk about having teachers look at data.

1:34:30 And I um try to follow the the thread

1:34:33 when we talk about it, but I thought

1:34:35 that we held the value that we didn't

1:34:37 want teachers to get together and look

1:34:39 at like reports and data that the data

1:34:43 that we talked about having teachers

1:34:45 look at is usually how their students

1:34:47 are performing and how they can change

1:34:49 their practices to better help students.

1:34:52 So could we put that into the parking

1:34:53 lot as something to

1:34:54 it's

1:34:55 so we we often have been saying student

1:34:58 work. So you say student student work

1:35:00 when you mean that

1:35:00 student work it could be their essays

1:35:02 it's the right

1:35:03 right whatever

1:35:04 yeah it's it is student work

1:35:06 and so that's that will as a body we'll

1:35:08 try to refer to as student works

1:35:10 separately from having teachers look at

1:35:13 data because I don't really understand

1:35:15 well that's to that's the data they're

1:35:17 looking at

1:35:18 yeah is always it's always student work

1:35:20 when we're talking about teachers

1:35:21 not always but it's both and because

1:35:23 right like so if you're a second grade

1:35:26 you know teacher and you've just given

1:35:29 dibbles and you want to look at how

1:35:30 second graders are doing or the students

1:35:31 in your class. You might be looking at a

1:35:34 data report, right? That helps you

1:35:36 understand that and you might be looking

1:35:38 at their most recent essay like and

1:35:41 looking at that together.

1:35:42 That's the way I understand.

1:35:43 So, it's it's a both and and I think

1:35:44 that sometimes we get stuck on like the

1:35:46 quantitative or the number, but like I

1:35:48 think there's there are many types of

1:35:49 student data that we talk about like we

1:35:52 talk about anecdotal data, right? Like

1:35:53 what do we know about the student's

1:35:54 history? What do we like? So, it's it's

1:35:56 it's broader. So, but but to your point,

1:35:59 it's important to acknowledge that we're

1:36:02 not just talking about looking at MCCAST

1:36:03 data or test scores or, you know, end of

1:36:06 unit things. We're talking about

1:36:07 formative work and student work samples

1:36:10 and the broad, you know,

1:36:13 yeah. Okay.

1:36:13 Thank you.

1:36:15 Anything else? This is good.

1:36:17 Thank you, Robin.

1:36:19 You okay? Okay. Um,

1:36:24 we're about 15 minutes ahead of

1:36:26 schedule.

1:36:28 We need to be more than 15 minutes ahead

1:36:30 of schedule. Who's pitching for the Red

1:36:32 Sox tonight?

1:36:35 Nobody here knows who's pitching.

1:36:38 I didn't know there was a guy.

1:36:40 Who are you? Who are you people?

1:36:43 Okay. Okay. We're now going to um maybe

1:36:46 take some action. school committee is

1:36:48 gonna perhaps take some votes um on some

1:36:51 on stuff from the policy manual and

1:36:54 Suzanne is going to be chairing this

1:36:56 part of the meeting.

1:36:57 Well, I don't not necessarily chairing

1:36:58 this part of the meeting, but I did if

1:37:00 it's okay, I'd like to take a few

1:37:01 minutes just to put a little context

1:37:02 around what we're doing so that people

1:37:05 understand.

1:37:06 So, there's four items, right?

1:37:08 There four items. Um and uh three of

1:37:11 them are definitely time urgent,

1:37:13 timesensitive. So we actually are going

1:37:15 to ask possibly uh that this will be the

1:37:18 first reading and then we will vote and

1:37:20 I will tell you that the subcommittee

1:37:22 voted on all four to zero to bring to

1:37:25 the full committee.

1:37:26 Okay.

1:37:27 Okay. Okay, so you've got that

1:37:28 background, but I want to give you

1:37:29 another little piece of the background,

1:37:30 which is to say that several years ago,

1:37:33 Stephen Arinberg tried really hard as

1:37:35 policy chair to get through that policy

1:37:38 manual and he worked with MASC,

1:37:41 Massachusetts Association of School

1:37:43 Committees, and they did a little bit of

1:37:45 work and then they suspended it and MASC

1:37:49 said to us, "Let us know when you want

1:37:52 to kick it in again and we'll do that.

1:37:53 We'll we'll we'll continue the work."

1:37:55 And so we've been in touch with them and

1:37:58 we heard today in fact that they could

1:38:01 just set it up again. They've got some

1:38:03 of the work already uh and we can

1:38:06 continue on our way for at least another

1:38:08 two years. I mean that's kind of the

1:38:10 agreement. It's a three-year deal. So

1:38:13 all that to say is that many of our

1:38:15 policies are from the late 70s. 1981

1:38:20 seemed to be a really big year for

1:38:21 policies. Some are back as far as 67,

1:38:25 1967. So, they're a little old and some

1:38:28 of them are outdated. Some of them are

1:38:30 probably not in alignment or following

1:38:33 the guidance or even the laws of the

1:38:35 1993

1:38:37 uh ed reform act. All again to say that

1:38:40 we need to do this work.

1:38:41 There were no cell phones.

1:38:42 Yeah, no cell they didn't have any of

1:38:45 that. Um, so, uh, just to let you know

1:38:49 that, um, MASC often provides model

1:38:54 policies. And so that's what you're

1:38:56 going to hear tonight. We, they are

1:38:58 vetted. They write them. They're vetted.

1:39:00 We know that they have been seen by the

1:39:03 people who need to see them to say

1:39:04 they're okay. They follow the

1:39:06 guidelines, the regulations, the law.

1:39:08 And so, you'll hear some of that

1:39:09 tonight. And uh just to let you know,

1:39:12 we'll probably be back a lot this year

1:39:14 because we're really going to try and

1:39:16 see what we can do with that policy

1:39:18 manual. So I just ask everyone's

1:39:20 indulgence and patience and um we'll try

1:39:24 and try our best to to do what we can

1:39:26 do. Okay. I just

1:39:28 And now we I just wanted to set that see

1:39:30 if there were any questions about that

1:39:32 piece.

1:39:32 Great explanation. Thank you,

1:39:34 Donna. It's it's not a question,

1:39:36 but I'll say as somebody who has read

1:39:39 the PSB policy manual probably over the

1:39:43 past decade like three times from cover

1:39:46 to cover, I refer to it often like I and

1:39:50 I have for a decade. I um want to

1:39:53 commend you on this work and I I I do

1:39:56 think it's really important um that we

1:39:59 start to like move into the

1:40:01 [clears throat] at least like 2020s.

1:40:03 Yes. So, thank you.

1:40:07 Okay. You want to do the you gonna do

1:40:09 the first one?

1:40:10 Um, so I've been asked to present the

1:40:12 first one on behalf of the policy

1:40:15 subcommittee. The first one interacting

1:40:17 with law enforcement officers engaged in

1:40:19 civil law enforcement. This is

1:40:22 responsive to the Protect Act. So, the

1:40:25 Protect Act. On August 5th, 2026,

1:40:28 Governor Mora Healey signed the Protect

1:40:31 Act. It is now the law in Massachusetts

1:40:33 that except as required by state or

1:40:36 federal law or as required for the

1:40:38 Commonwealth or its subdivisions to

1:40:40 administer a state or federally support

1:40:42 funded program, civil arrests, including

1:40:44 for federal immigration enforcement are

1:40:47 not allowed in the following non-public

1:40:51 areas. School grounds during operating

1:40:53 hours without a judicial warrant or

1:40:56 judicial order. Right? So, this policy

1:41:00 that you're being asked to um this is a

1:41:03 first reading and for a possible vote as

1:41:05 Suzanne described that there are some

1:41:08 here that you're to go um to go ahead

1:41:11 and and and vote support even though

1:41:13 it's a first reading. This went into

1:41:15 effect in August. There was a request

1:41:18 that all districts enact a policy. So

1:41:21 this act requires that school committees

1:41:24 enact a policy with this required seven

1:41:27 elements and um the recommendation was

1:41:30 to do it by September one. So I don't

1:41:32 think any most districts were not able

1:41:35 to meet that deadline but I think they

1:41:37 were just establishing a target date for

1:41:39 all districts. So um so while it's

1:41:42 urgent just for people to understand

1:41:44 it's because it's a new law that went

1:41:45 into effect. So, it's not anyone's fault

1:41:48 that we're hearing this now and that

1:41:50 we're also requesting um if if you're

1:41:53 okay with it to vote. Um you are asked

1:41:57 to adopt the MASC um response to the

1:42:02 Protect Act that embeds the seven um

1:42:04 required elements. And so that that was

1:42:08 all I was going to say. But but these um

1:42:10 protocols or procedures or

1:42:13 recommendations for protocols are

1:42:14 actually consistent with what we were

1:42:16 already doing in the town of Brooklyn.

1:42:19 in collaboration with legal counsel, the

1:42:22 um town council's advice, and with our

1:42:25 police department, we were already in

1:42:28 agreement that if um if if officers

1:42:31 showed up on campus that they would call

1:42:34 the district offices and police and that

1:42:38 district offices would call legal

1:42:39 counsel. So, that that was already our

1:42:42 practice. Um but we still but we still

1:42:45 need to establish the written procedures

1:42:48 and when you vote the policy, we will

1:42:50 make sure to do that to follow with

1:42:52 that.

1:42:56 Carolyn, excuse me, Carolyn,

1:42:59 um, thank you for pushing this forward.

1:43:02 Um, bringing this forward. Um,

1:43:06 in our town, some of our school grounds

1:43:11 are also playgrounds. So, I'm wondering

1:43:13 how broadly can we

1:43:18 define school grounds?

1:43:20 So, that's a good question. I'm going to

1:43:22 need to consult with council about um

1:43:26 so we don't get into trouble that we

1:43:27 know exactly

1:43:29 what what constitutes school grounds

1:43:31 because

1:43:33 some of our school grounds here are

1:43:35 really t not school.

1:43:37 Val, you have a question?

1:43:40 uh sort of Bella when we talked about

1:43:42 this at um policy the um our our piece

1:43:47 of this is actually rather limited the

1:43:49 school committee piece it's yes it's

1:43:51 this policy but um what the act requires

1:43:54 are for the district to do many things

1:43:57 and then for the policy that school

1:44:00 committee votes and those many

1:44:02 procedures

1:44:04 um to become the emergency plan and so I

1:44:08 I guess I'm wondering

1:44:09 where um the district is and what you

1:44:12 think the roll out is for things like

1:44:15 asking for uh additional contacts for

1:44:18 students and identifying the building

1:44:20 leads and and that I'm I'm thinking

1:44:24 particularly about the IT

1:44:26 um pieces given that we have so many

1:44:28 students and figuring out how we're

1:44:30 going to capture and where we're going

1:44:32 to keep those additional um contacts,

1:44:36 emergency contacts. So, um, most of the

1:44:39 items here I said are consistent with

1:44:42 what we've been doing and in agreement

1:44:44 with the police department.

1:44:46 [clears throat] What Val is highlighting

1:44:47 is something that it's a good thing.

1:44:50 It's great. I'm so grateful that we have

1:44:52 a data team. So, it says uh a plan to

1:44:56 confirm and update students emergency

1:44:59 contacts and allow for more than one

1:45:01 person to be listed.

1:45:04 most many of the information that we

1:45:07 have is one person and so this is so

1:45:11 this has been a focus on how we're going

1:45:13 to be able to do that and it's a

1:45:15 communication with families and also

1:45:17 making sure there's a field for it and

1:45:20 so we've been working with McKenna about

1:45:22 how to make that happen so so that

1:45:26 you're right that is a that has been

1:45:29 that's a technical thing that we've been

1:45:31 focused on um and we haven't started

1:45:34 collecting it yet. We're still working

1:45:36 on how to make that work.

1:45:39 I look up because Val's voice is up

1:45:41 there.

1:45:42 Thank Thank you. Thank you.

1:45:45 Oh, and sorry. And we have d we started

1:45:47 drafting the [clears throat] procedures

1:45:49 and we're that's where we're at. We're

1:45:51 at the draft stage, but we've been

1:45:52 focusing on um that that specific item.

1:45:58 Jesse?

1:45:59 Yes. on I was going to ask the question

1:46:01 about the procedures and my question was

1:46:03 the way that the policyy's written

1:46:04 there's no hook to the procedures it

1:46:06 just says no timeline no milestones so

1:46:10 I'm just wondering if we were to vote

1:46:11 this now the first seven talk about

1:46:14 procedures but we don't know as a

1:46:15 committee which ones we have now which

1:46:18 ones we're working on and we plan to

1:46:21 have and which ones we're not haven't we

1:46:22 haven't even started on yet unless

1:46:24 they exist already. Yeah, I think that's

1:46:26 okay because it's your it's the

1:46:28 committee's job to vote the policy that

1:46:30 authorizes us or compels us to do it and

1:46:33 then we will follow through. Um

1:46:37 like some of this is what are the

1:46:40 procedures like who who's who's the

1:46:43 building person and if the principal is

1:46:46 not there who else is next and so forth.

1:46:49 Who's the district person they call?

1:46:51 Who's who's town council? like what

1:46:54 which one of town council is designated.

1:46:57 So it's those kinds of things that you

1:46:59 have to they're saying you need to spell

1:47:01 it out.

1:47:02 Right. So my question like on number

1:47:03 five procedures for documenting all

1:47:05 interactions with law enforcement agents

1:47:07 engaged in civil law enforcement while

1:47:09 on school grounds that needs an

1:47:11 architecture

1:47:13 you know in McKenna's group. It needs an

1:47:15 implementation building design

1:47:17 implementation and then a way to look at

1:47:19 it and do are we doing it in a Google

1:47:21 sheet right now? I is are we compliant

1:47:24 at this point or we're

1:47:25 or we're hope you know we have it in a

1:47:27 plan to do in the future.

1:47:28 We have a plan to put it in place.

1:47:30 Thank you.

1:47:30 So um so the seven elements it's part of

1:47:34 it is like who's identified the building

1:47:36 administrator district and town council

1:47:39 have all the contact information

1:47:41 available. The next part of it is like

1:47:44 um communication. Who are you telling in

1:47:46 what order? and then communication to um

1:47:51 to the school. Yes. And so in that order

1:47:55 and then the thing that that um that Val

1:47:58 highlighted is um the emergency contact

1:48:00 information.

1:48:03 So I have my my understanding of this

1:48:07 which I strongly support um is that we

1:48:12 are protecting our students during the

1:48:14 school hours. Is that what I heard?

1:48:17 First of all,

1:48:18 they're not allowed to be on campus um

1:48:21 during when school is in operation.

1:48:23 And what if they have a warrant?

1:48:26 Yes. So, we have to have a pro we even

1:48:29 if they have a warrant um or a judicial

1:48:32 order, we're going to still say you need

1:48:34 to do all those contacts. Um and we're

1:48:37 not going to expect the principal to

1:48:39 interface with the um the officers that

1:48:43 show up. And so, so district office,

1:48:46 police, everyone will come. So whether

1:48:48 they have an order or not, everyone will

1:48:51 come.

1:48:51 So I'm just trying to envision

1:48:53 [clears throat] how this thing looks on

1:48:54 the ground. So it's 1:00 in the

1:48:57 afternoon. All of a sudden, a black van

1:49:00 shows up at the school.

1:49:02 They ring the bell, come into the if

1:49:06 they're allowed to come into the school,

1:49:08 and they

1:49:10 they don't have a warrant. What do we

1:49:12 do?

1:49:14 You mean if they claim to be there as a

1:49:17 federal officer to

1:49:18 Yeah.

1:49:19 So we would we would keep them up front.

1:49:21 They would call us.

1:49:23 So the the building would call district

1:49:25 offices. We would call council.

1:49:26 So they they're not allowed to just show

1:49:28 up and look for a child.

1:49:31 No. No. No. No.

1:49:33 Okay.

1:49:33 No. So Okay.

1:49:36 They would also have to identify

1:49:37 themselves.

1:49:39 Yeah.

1:49:40 Um

1:49:44 This is um just technically what do you

1:49:46 are you looking for can you remind me

1:49:49 we're looking to do a are we going to go

1:49:53 policy by policy and vote or you want us

1:49:55 to policy yeah they're quite different

1:49:58 so when we're ready

1:50:00 so I can move I can move this

1:50:02 yes

1:50:03 and so I will move this

1:50:04 okay

1:50:05 sorry can I just answer Caroline's

1:50:07 question before we move it

1:50:09 Carolyn

1:50:10 yeah her question earlier about

1:50:11 playgrounds I meant to raise my hand.

1:50:14 Okay. Yeah.

1:50:14 The guidance that Desi put out does

1:50:16 include playgrounds, fields, parking

1:50:18 lots, wreck areas, athletic fields,

1:50:20 courts, competition areas, and other

1:50:23 locations owned or controlled and used

1:50:25 for school related purposes whether or

1:50:26 not physically connected to the main

1:50:28 school building.

1:50:29 Owned or controlled.

1:50:31 So hopefully we can define

1:50:34 we use them.

1:50:34 We control them. Sidewalks. Val,

1:50:40 does it end? Uh it doesn't say sidewalk,

1:50:43 but

1:50:44 Okay. Thank you so much.

1:50:45 Yeah.

1:50:48 So, I'll move that uh we vote for the uh

1:50:52 MASC uh draft model policy for um

1:50:57 interacting with law enforcement

1:50:58 officers engaged in civil law

1:51:00 enforcement.

1:51:01 Is there a second to the motion?

1:51:03 I'll second.

1:51:04 Who Laura?

1:51:05 I'll second. Yeah. Sorry. Can you

1:51:06 clarify? We're [clears throat] voting on

1:51:08 adoption.

1:51:09 Yes. Got it.

1:51:11 So, we're voting in support of the pro

1:51:13 of the protect Act.

1:51:15 Correct.

1:51:15 You are voting in support of the policy

1:51:18 responsive to the Protect Act.

1:51:20 Okay. Are there any comments before we

1:51:21 vote?

1:51:23 Visa, how do you vote?

1:51:25 Yes.

1:51:25 Jesse, how do you vote?

1:51:26 Yes.

1:51:27 Suzanne,

1:51:27 yes.

1:51:28 Donna,

1:51:29 yes.

1:51:30 Sarah,

1:51:30 yes.

1:51:31 Carolyn,

1:51:32 yes.

1:51:32 Laura,

1:51:32 yes.

1:51:33 Val,

1:51:34 yes.

1:51:34 Bob, [clears throat] yes. Unanimously

1:51:36 passes. Thank you.

1:51:38 Okay, now we're going to um time out

1:51:41 seclusion and Karen's gonna help us with

1:51:43 this one.

1:51:43 Great.

1:51:49 Okay. Um so, as uh Suzanne set the stage

1:51:53 for um so as many of you know because we

1:51:57 did look at this in the spring um there

1:51:59 is a new there are new restraint

1:52:01 guidelines that are in effect as of

1:52:04 August the 17th. Um, at the time that we

1:52:07 looked at our policy, um, we looked at

1:52:10 the seclusion criteria that were in a in

1:52:12 our policy and we updated them. Mask had

1:52:15 not come out with a policy, um, at that

1:52:18 point. They did come out with a policy

1:52:20 over the summer. Um and so we're

1:52:23 recommending that in um and this is

1:52:26 actually the the DESIE policy is a very

1:52:29 straightforward comprehensive policy in

1:52:31 terms of looking at both the um new

1:52:33 seclusion rags. Um the restraint regs

1:52:35 were not um altered. There was one word

1:52:37 changed in the definition. Um there's no

1:52:40 change to the restraint regs but there

1:52:42 are changes to um seclusion

1:52:45 um or emergency seclusion. And so the

1:52:48 recommendation is that we adopt um the

1:52:52 the mask policy in its totality uh in

1:52:56 terms of um this [clears throat] new

1:52:58 regulation by Desi that is already in

1:53:01 effect and I'm happy to take question

1:53:02 Karen can you give a quick summary of it

1:53:04 can you is that possible

1:53:06 yeah sure um so seclusion has actually

1:53:09 been prohibited in the state uh since

1:53:12 2014 but it it it had no oversight or

1:53:15 accountability and so this was over a

1:53:17 period period. Um Desi met with parents

1:53:20 and community members and over a period

1:53:23 of about 18 months um brought in the new

1:53:27 regulation around seclusion which says

1:53:29 seclusion is still prohibited except in

1:53:32 emergency circumstances where there's

1:53:34 imminent threat. All other interventions

1:53:37 have failed and there are a number of

1:53:39 emergency provisions that need to be in

1:53:41 place in order for a school to use

1:53:43 seclusion. And the emergency uh

1:53:46 provisions that need to be in place is

1:53:48 the child's pediatrician has to have

1:53:50 signed off on it. A mental health

1:53:52 clinician has to have signed off on it.

1:53:54 A parent, the child's parent or parents

1:53:57 have had have to have signed off on it.

1:53:58 And the principal has had to sign off on

1:54:01 it. Desi's intent is to phase out

1:54:04 seclusion completely. Um but but again

1:54:07 it is only

1:54:09 allowed to be used in these emergency

1:54:11 circumstances and only if all of those

1:54:14 four consents have been provided. So

1:54:17 that was really the most substantial

1:54:19 change. And I think in the in the former

1:54:22 um regulations there was something

1:54:24 called exclusionary timeout. And I think

1:54:27 what the state realized is that

1:54:30 exclusionary timeouts were become were

1:54:33 de facto seclusion which is why they

1:54:36 then um brought in these new

1:54:38 regulations. It is very much in keeping

1:54:41 with um what's happening at the federal

1:54:43 level and the department of justice in

1:54:45 terms of the definition of seclusion um

1:54:48 and the amount of seclusion that's that

1:54:51 has happened in many states across the

1:54:53 country. Um certainly you know I think

1:54:55 Massachusetts has always had very um

1:54:58 strict regulations. We've you've always

1:55:00 had to report restraints. So none of

1:55:02 that's changed and the reporting

1:55:04 requirements for emergency seclusion are

1:55:06 the same as those for restraint which

1:55:08 hadn't been. So actually the most

1:55:10 prohibited

1:55:12 thing up until this point actually had

1:55:14 no regulatory or accountability

1:55:16 component to it and so that was De's

1:55:18 intent was to change that.

1:55:22 questions, comments. Karen,

1:55:26 Carolyn,

1:55:28 sorry, I always have a lot of questions

1:55:30 [clears throat] because I like to

1:55:31 understand this. Um,

1:55:34 so one is just sort of speaking also to

1:55:38 one of the other ones we're going to

1:55:39 look at where we're taking out

1:55:41 philosophy statements.

1:55:43 This is the mass policy

1:55:46 with no additions from us. This is Okay.

1:55:49 Thank you. Y

1:55:50 and

1:55:52 Um

1:55:54 I'm not trying to be controversial or

1:55:56 but I sometimes this has come up and I

1:55:59 don't really understand it. Um,

1:56:02 so

1:56:05 for example, when the new Driscoll

1:56:07 School was built,

1:56:09 some community members were surprised to

1:56:12 learn that there was a room

1:56:16 built

1:56:18 for what appeared

1:56:21 um to be like a seclusion kind of room.

1:56:25 Um, so is that

1:56:29 a timeout room?

1:56:31 And are we going to continue to create

1:56:34 those kinds of spaces because that's

1:56:37 time out which which it looks from here

1:56:41 is

1:56:42 is a support strategy.

1:56:46 Yep.

1:56:46 Yeah.

1:56:48 That's actually a really good question

1:56:49 because one of the one of the

1:56:50 definitions and the change in the

1:56:52 division definition of seclusion which

1:56:54 is different from timeout

1:56:56 is that seclusion is when a student is

1:56:59 not permitted to leave the space right

1:57:02 and so one of the things is in in terms

1:57:05 of timeout. So to your question, yes, we

1:57:07 have timeout spaces or reset spaces in

1:57:10 our buildings. Um, but students can

1:57:13 voluntarily use a space. They might be

1:57:16 directed to the space. It is considered

1:57:17 a timeout, right? So not students may

1:57:21 move it to the back of the classroom and

1:57:23 take a break with a per or take a break

1:57:25 with a group of students. That would not

1:57:27 be considered timeout, but the student

1:57:29 using the timeout space. Students have

1:57:31 to be in a space in which they are

1:57:33 permitted to leave. And so that's really

1:57:35 the

1:57:36 between timeout and emergency seclusion.

1:57:39 Emergency seclusion, if you use it and

1:57:41 it's an emergency and you have all those

1:57:43 permissions, it would be a space in

1:57:45 which a student is so disregulated that

1:57:48 they're at imminent risk of harm to

1:57:50 themselves or other and they're not

1:57:52 permitted to leave. So that's really the

1:57:54 critical difference. So yes, we would

1:57:56 still um we would still have timeout

1:57:59 spaces. There is in the new regulation a

1:58:02 requirement for weekly checks. So, I

1:58:04 think I mentioned to you in the spring,

1:58:06 um, our operations director met with all

1:58:09 our principles and our special air

1:58:11 directors. They walked through all of

1:58:12 the buildings, timeout spaces, making

1:58:14 sure that they were compliant with all

1:58:17 of the regulations. Um, there's still

1:58:19 work on two of these spaces in two of

1:58:21 our buildings. Um, and then principles

1:58:24 and teams have to do a weekly check on

1:58:27 the timeout space, just making sure

1:58:28 everything's safe, nothing's broken,

1:58:31 there's nothing in there. um and as well

1:58:34 as weekly reviews of restraint um which

1:58:37 principles are required to do and weekly

1:58:39 reviews of seclusion.

1:58:41 Thank you. Um and just to clarify about

1:58:44 the question I asked I'm not an expert

1:58:49 at all and and to be clear the kinds of

1:58:51 questions that the conversation at that

1:58:54 time was some people saying like oh

1:58:55 what's this and other people saying this

1:58:57 is something that my child needs and I

1:58:59 welcome this space. So I was not being

1:59:02 implicitly critical. But I am curious

1:59:05 too where you're talking about the

1:59:06 emergency and the four people who need

1:59:10 to sign off. Do you mean in real time or

1:59:13 that's a standing?

1:59:14 It's a standing.

1:59:15 Okay. Thank you.

1:59:16 Standing.

1:59:22 Donna,

1:59:24 thank you. Um Karen, can you talk a

1:59:26 little bit about the um training that we

1:59:29 do for restraint? Sure. Um so we use QBS

1:59:33 safety care uh which is a the initial

1:59:36 training is a nineh hour training three

1:59:38 of it is uh you can we can do virtually

1:59:41 we've just started to do that and then

1:59:43 six [clears throat] hour six hours of it

1:59:44 is in person um and and then everyone

1:59:49 needs to get trained and then people who

1:59:50 are trained also have to get reertified

1:59:53 um and that's a six-hour training and so

1:59:55 we train um all of our staff and

1:59:58 educators uh certainly in our

2:00:00 specialized programs um as well as

2:00:03 student staff and educators who might be

2:00:05 working onetoone with students where

2:00:07 there's a history of behavioral

2:00:09 dysregulation. Um we also have safety

2:00:11 care teams in our buildings and so the

2:00:14 goal is that every building has a safety

2:00:16 care team and everyone is required to be

2:00:19 trained using QBS

2:00:22 and we have it's a train the trainer

2:00:23 model. Um, so we have a a group of

2:00:27 educators who are trained to be trainers

2:00:29 and then they train fellow educators.

2:00:32 I'm surprised I didn't hear you say that

2:00:33 it's a preventative

2:00:35 um

2:00:37 yes

2:00:37 approach.

2:00:38 Yes. So restraint is always the very

2:00:40 last end of when all else all other

2:00:43 prevention thank you Sarah all other

2:00:45 prevention and inter measures have

2:00:46 failed. So the majority of the training

2:00:49 is around all of the ways that you can

2:00:51 prevent a student or a student is

2:00:52 starting to disregulate. What are all of

2:00:55 the things that we can do to deescalate

2:00:57 to stabilize? Restraint is also only to

2:01:00 be used in an emergency when all other

2:01:02 measures have failed.

2:01:04 So this recommendation from the policy

2:01:06 commit subcommittee is basically

2:01:07 adopting state-of-the-art Massachusetts

2:01:10 Association of School Committee reh

2:01:12 policy and

2:01:14 substituting that for the one that's in

2:01:16 our policy manual. Okay.

2:01:20 Any f final questions?

2:01:23 You have a question?

2:01:24 No, I'm I'm prepared to move this. You

2:01:26 can move it

2:01:27 um for

2:01:28 for adoption if I have a second.

2:01:30 Is there a second, Josie? Okay. Laura,

2:01:33 how do you vote?

2:01:35 Yes. [clears throat]

2:01:36 Carolyn,

2:01:36 yes.

2:01:37 Sarah,

2:01:38 yes.

2:01:38 Val,

2:01:40 yes.

2:01:40 FISA,

2:01:42 yes.

2:01:42 Jesse,

2:01:43 yes.

2:01:44 Suzanne,

2:01:44 yes.

2:01:45 Did I call on you?

2:01:46 No.

2:01:46 Donna,

2:01:47 yes.

2:01:48 Bob, yes. Passes unanimously. Thank you

2:01:50 very much.

2:01:51 Thank you.

2:01:52 Next one.

2:01:53 Okay. And Suzanne, jump in. So, the next

2:01:56 one's a little more complicated. Um, so

2:01:59 let me give you some context as to why

2:02:01 you're looking at it and then I'll talk

2:02:03 through why you're looking at a um a

2:02:06 track edited version of it versus the

2:02:09 potential to move to mask. So um we've

2:02:12 been doing a lot of work looking at our

2:02:14 processes and procedures and looking at

2:02:16 our handbooks which we which we revise

2:02:19 annually and as we've been looking

2:02:21 through handbooks we did a parallel look

2:02:23 at well what's our what's our policy

2:02:25 right and uh to Donna's point many

2:02:27 parents this is one of the policies that

2:02:29 parents look at frequently because it's

2:02:32 regards discipline and so when we went

2:02:35 and looked at the policy um there were a

2:02:37 number of things that are actually not

2:02:39 current and not in line with the current

2:02:41 regulations um particularly in the

2:02:43 discipline section um and also that are

2:02:46 not aligned with current practices in

2:02:48 our schools and with our handbooks. And

2:02:50 so obviously it's really important that

2:02:52 our handbooks are in line with the

2:02:54 policy and the policy is in line with

2:02:56 the law and we're all we're all aligned

2:02:58 in terms of regulatory frameworks. So

2:03:01 that was that was the so that's the

2:03:03 context for why we're looking at the

2:03:05 student code of conduct. Um obviously

2:03:08 from a time perspective it's very

2:03:10 important that it does align because our

2:03:12 principles use our handbooks and the

2:03:14 code of conduct. Our parents use the

2:03:17 handbooks and our code of conduct. Um so

2:03:19 that's sort of the timesensitive piece

2:03:21 to it. When we looked at it our policy

2:03:25 actually covers three separate mask

2:03:27 policies. So it felt as the policy

2:03:31 subcommittee is embarking on this shift

2:03:33 to mask and certainly the question came

2:03:35 up in the policy subcommittee meeting as

2:03:38 to why we don't just adopt the three

2:03:42 mask policies

2:03:44 um that would be in place of this one

2:03:47 policy. Uh there were two reasons. One,

2:03:49 it felt like maybe a bit of a too much

2:03:51 of a leap right now in this process. But

2:03:54 also there is a section in the code of

2:03:56 conduct with the levels um which is not

2:03:59 part of any of the mask policies and we

2:04:02 could certainly take that section and

2:04:04 put it in the mass policies but the

2:04:07 level the level systems that are laid

2:04:09 out in terms of level one level two

2:04:11 level three level four and five and what

2:04:13 interventions is something that our

2:04:16 principles use because it's been in the

2:04:18 policy. So, so that's really why at this

2:04:21 point it was felt we should do this

2:04:24 track edited. So, not change not change

2:04:28 this policy and move it to the three

2:04:29 separate mass policies. Now, it's only a

2:04:33 recommendation to do that in the future

2:04:35 potentially this year or beyond when you

2:04:37 tackle um some of the most you know

2:04:40 pressing policies when you do do the

2:04:42 mask work. So, I'm going to pause just

2:04:44 if there are any questions on process

2:04:46 and procedure.

2:04:54 Okay. Yes.

2:04:57 Um

2:04:59 is

2:05:01 is there anywhere in this policy where

2:05:04 we're departing from current

2:05:07 policy

2:05:10 current

2:05:12 current? I was going to say practice,

2:05:13 but is there anything

2:05:16 that's a change? That's a change.

2:05:19 Um, yes, there there are a couple of

2:05:20 things. I mean, a lot of the track edits

2:05:22 are actually just corrections to

2:05:24 regulations. Um, so that's what you're

2:05:26 seeing. And as you can see, for those of

2:05:28 you who are looking at the track edited

2:05:30 version, we worked with our council.

2:05:33 Oh, sorry.

2:05:36 Sorry. Yeah, it's hard. Yeah,

2:05:38 it would.

2:05:40 It was sent to us, but I couldn't open

2:05:42 it.

2:05:44 Do you mind putting it up on the screen?

2:05:46 Okay. Sorry about that.

2:05:52 So what we have is just is the current

2:05:56 Yeah. Is the propos

2:06:00 the clean version, right? And so I can

2:06:03 walk you through but to your to your

2:06:05 question um so a lot of the track edits

2:06:07 are just um I have

2:06:09 Yeah. Yeah. I have it I have it on on

2:06:11 the computer. Um the track edits are

2:06:14 corrections. So for example, if you can

2:06:15 see the first one there, it says prek

2:06:17 through two and actually the regulation

2:06:18 is prek through three.

2:06:20 Yeah. I don't need you to walk us

2:06:21 through everything.

2:06:22 No, no, no. Just as an example, the the

2:06:24 most substantive change is the entire

2:06:27 discipline section was replaced with an

2:06:30 insert that is also an insert that's

2:06:33 going into the handbooks. And that's

2:06:35 because the three discipline frameworks

2:06:37 37H, 37H and a half and 37H and

2:06:41 threequarters were actually confused and

2:06:44 were not correct. And those are really

2:06:46 the things particularly at the high

2:06:48 school around discipline that it's

2:06:50 critical that that's correct. So that's

2:06:52 the most substantive change is this

2:06:54 entire discipline section is a

2:06:57 replacement of the prior discipline

2:06:59 section.

2:07:01 And given that, sorry, I'm just going to

2:07:02 jump in.

2:07:03 No, go ahead. Given that

2:07:06 it sounds like the subcommittee

2:07:09 determined

2:07:11 at least for now to retain this piece

2:07:16 that is not part of mass.

2:07:19 Is this piece consistent with

2:07:23 these levels of discipline

2:07:27 or are we going to have inconsistency

2:07:30 well

2:07:30 within the policy?

2:07:31 Yeah, we so we haven't done that yet.

2:07:33 We're gonna ask our field director to

2:07:35 help us because again, this refers to

2:07:37 three different policies from MASC.

2:07:40 Okay.

2:07:40 So, it's it's a little it's a little

2:07:43 hard to know.

2:07:43 So, this this one's been reviewed by

2:07:45 council. It might feel you might feel

2:07:48 okay to just say this one's done.

2:07:50 Yeah. Yeah. So in in terms of from a

2:07:53 regulatory perspective, no, there would

2:07:54 not be inconsistencies now with the new

2:07:57 clean version of our student code of

2:08:00 conduct and the mask policy which

2:08:04 follows the regs and this policy will

2:08:06 now follow the regs as well.

2:08:08 Okay, that part I get that this brings

2:08:11 us into consistency with the

2:08:13 regulations, but I my question and I'm

2:08:16 I'm revealing that I didn't read this in

2:08:18 enough detail before the meeting. My

2:08:21 question is whether the thing that we're

2:08:23 retaining that isn't mask recommended is

2:08:27 consistent with

2:08:31 what's

2:08:32 being inserted like by not taking

2:08:36 something out and inserting something do

2:08:39 we now have inconsistency within

2:08:42 I don't think it's it's not inconsistent

2:08:44 it's you for example this this piece is

2:08:46 really the piece that is not in any of

2:08:48 the mass policies this would be

2:08:50 something that you know even when

2:08:52 districts sometimes adopt the mass

2:08:54 policy you might insert something that's

2:08:56 not there but that you particularly want

2:08:58 right so this might be one of those

2:09:00 areas so you wouldn't find this in the

2:09:02 mass policy but there's nothing

2:09:03 inconsistent

2:09:06 it would be more of a choice

2:09:08 okay and and can anybody talk a little

2:09:13 bit about what the conversation was

2:09:15 around the desire to potentially

2:09:19 not [clears throat]

2:09:21 take out this piece. And also, is it is

2:09:26 it just these two sheets that are level

2:09:29 one through five, or is it also this

2:09:32 table with check [clears throat] marks?

2:09:34 That's that's PSB and not mass.

2:09:39 Those are both PSB.

2:09:41 Okay.

2:09:41 Yeah.

2:09:42 So, so it's on these one, two, three,

2:09:46 four and a half pages. Okay. Thank you.

2:09:53 Um

2:09:55 so in

2:09:58 what the policy subcommittee is

2:10:00 recommending are we keeping these this

2:10:03 chart? Okay.

2:10:04 Um

2:10:06 I'm just going to go on record as saying

2:10:08 I would like to move to the mask

2:10:10 policies. I was actually part of

2:10:14 like I was I was involved in the

2:10:16 creation of the code of conduct and I

2:10:19 remember

2:10:20 Yeah. Yeah. And I remember when our we

2:10:22 did this work um with Casey No Miller.

2:10:25 Um,

2:10:27 but it's

2:10:29 really um

2:10:32 sort of dense and I'm and and I agree

2:10:34 there's a lot of inconsistencies and I

2:10:37 would rather have a policy that's

2:10:39 accurate and that we're able to

2:10:42 follow

2:10:43 um throughout our buildings than have

2:10:46 one that's I mean this is this is there

2:10:50 was a tremendous amount of work that

2:10:51 went into this but there's a lot here

2:10:53 and it doesn't belong in the policy in

2:10:55 my opinion.

2:10:56 So, I'm I just want to I will I'm happy

2:10:58 to I would [clears throat] be happy to

2:11:00 vote for whatever the policy

2:11:01 subcommittee recommended, but in an

2:11:04 ideal world, I would my my I I I would

2:11:07 um have loved to just move to the mask

2:11:09 policy

2:11:10 and we had that conversation in the

2:11:11 subcommittee. We that and and there was

2:11:14 some different thoughts about it, but we

2:11:16 thought we needed to go with this right

2:11:19 now because we need it's it's timely. So

2:11:22 we need to have something that is

2:11:23 consistent right now and then we can go

2:11:26 back and revisit.

2:11:27 Is it possible that we would consider

2:11:28 taking out that

2:11:30 this chart or you feel strongly that it

2:11:33 needs to stay in for the time being?

2:11:36 Um so I think it was one of the reasons

2:11:39 why we went with this version in that it

2:11:42 is currently used. Okay. Um Okay. And so

2:11:44 yeah, that was one of the reasons I, you

2:11:47 know, I don't feel strongly. I think we

2:11:49 could,

2:11:50 you know, we could do something

2:11:51 different and train people and, you

2:11:53 know, do all of that. Um, but

2:11:57 yeah,

2:11:58 but operationally it makes more sense to

2:12:00 keep this

2:12:01 operate from a time perspective. I mean,

2:12:02 I think the going through three mass

2:12:04 policies might have taken multiple. So I

2:12:07 think that was really the discussion at

2:12:08 I think everyone's in agreement we

2:12:10 should move to the mass policies. It was

2:12:12 very much more both a a time frame

2:12:15 perspective.

2:12:17 For me, it was really that it's being

2:12:19 used, that the levels are being used,

2:12:20 and I was relying on Karen for that

2:12:22 information. I don't have that

2:12:23 information myself.

2:12:25 Um, but I felt like I didn't want to

2:12:27 take something away that was a tool that

2:12:29 educators

2:12:31 um rely on. Um, but I'm, you know, open

2:12:34 to hearing otherwise if we find out

2:12:36 otherwise.

2:12:40 I agree. I had a similar reaction during

2:12:41 our sub policy committee meeting.

2:12:46 So I mean just to let you know I should

2:12:47 have said this earlier, Lauren, Sarah

2:12:49 and Val were also on the subcommittee so

2:12:52 they were part of that discussion.

2:12:54 I guess my question on on this given

2:12:57 that it sounds like there was sort of

2:13:00 like oh maybe we should revisit this and

2:13:02 Donna is saying I think what you're

2:13:04 saying Donna is that your preference

2:13:06 would be to remove

2:13:09 the when you say I want to go to the

2:13:11 mask you mean exclusive of these parts

2:13:15 that are being proposed to stay in

2:13:18 I I'm I'm not sure I'm understanding you

2:13:21 correctly my preference as someone who's

2:13:24 much more focused on like efficiency and

2:13:26 like

2:13:27 y

2:13:27 I'm kind of transactional in that way.

2:13:29 Um

2:13:30 I would have I would like to like skip

2:13:32 ahead to the part where we just do the

2:13:34 mask policies, but I also understand

2:13:36 that we need to be incredibly thoughtful

2:13:38 and maybe there's some utility in in a

2:13:42 lot of this and whether or not it

2:13:44 belongs in a policy.

2:13:46 So,

2:13:47 um I'm happy to

2:13:49 Suzanne,

2:13:50 sorry just for people to

2:13:54 policy

2:13:57 student

2:14:00 conduct policy, the student discipline

2:14:01 policy and the student rights policy. So

2:14:04 our policy, it would require adopting

2:14:06 three mask policies

2:14:09 in place of this policy just so people

2:14:11 have sort of the the mask framework.

2:14:15 And would the levels rem you're

2:14:18 suggesting the levels would remain in

2:14:19 the policy.

2:14:21 Is there an option if there was

2:14:23 discomfort

2:14:25 or conversation leads [clears throat] to

2:14:27 the conclusion that these could remain

2:14:30 useful in handbooks but the policy might

2:14:34 not be

2:14:34 correct.

2:14:35 Yeah.

2:14:36 And I'm not against that. I'm just want

2:14:38 to understand sort of the full

2:14:39 conversation. And then my other question

2:14:42 is so I hear you saying this is what's

2:14:44 being used. Do we feel this is does this

2:14:47 work? like is this working well for our

2:14:51 building leaders, teachers? That might

2:14:54 be a bigger question. Um maybe that's a

2:14:56 rhetorical question, so no pressure to

2:14:58 answer right now.

2:15:00 Um

2:15:03 yeah, I mean I think I think it's being

2:15:05 used. Is it, you know, is it the best

2:15:08 level system? Probably not. Um but it is

2:15:11 it is being used and it is it is a

2:15:13 guideline and it is a

2:15:14 it's so simple. It is a framework that

2:15:17 um it is helpful and clear for both

2:15:20 families and and principles in terms of

2:15:23 this is an offense and here's why it's

2:15:25 over here. So it it does provide that

2:15:27 clarity in a area that's you know is

2:15:30 often very seems very subjective and

2:15:33 nuanced. Um so I think that's where it's

2:15:35 helpful. Um would it have to remain no

2:15:38 because to your point it could be in a

2:15:39 procedural guideline right in terms of

2:15:42 should it be in it's the question I

2:15:44 think a lot of our policies have a lot

2:15:45 of process and procedure in them I think

2:15:48 that's pretty much across the board and

2:15:50 so to the point of efficiency it doesn't

2:15:52 need to be in the policy

2:15:55 thanks

2:15:58 so again [clears throat] the policy

2:16:01 subcommittee unanimously voted to

2:16:03 support this

2:16:04 yes

2:16:04 I think we may be ready for a motion.

2:16:08 Do you want to move?

2:16:10 I'll move it.

2:16:10 Okay.

2:16:11 Jesse moves it. Laura seconds it.

2:16:12 Sure. [laughter]

2:16:14 Exactly.

2:16:15 Okay.

2:16:16 Uh Val, how do you vote?

2:16:19 Yes.

2:16:19 Laura,

2:16:20 yes.

2:16:21 Carolyn,

2:16:22 yes.

2:16:22 Sarah,

2:16:23 yes.

2:16:23 Donna,

2:16:24 yes.

2:16:24 Fisa,

2:16:25 yes.

2:16:26 Jesse,

2:16:26 yes.

2:16:26 Suzanne,

2:16:27 yes.

2:16:28 Bob, yes. Unanimously approved that new

2:16:30 policy. Thank you very much. Actually,

2:16:33 Val,

2:16:33 thank you. Val texted me something I

2:16:35 want to share with you. Hold on.

2:16:37 Okay,

2:16:38 one second.

2:16:41 Um,

2:16:43 breaking news.

2:16:44 So, Val Val said that um, Sunny Gay is

2:16:47 pitching for the Red Sox [laughter] and

2:16:49 Max Freed is pitching for the Yankees.

2:16:52 Just want everybody to know that.

2:16:56 Okay.

2:16:57 So, that means you have one normal

2:16:58 member in your definition of normal.

2:17:00 You've got one friend here.

2:17:05 Okay. Um,

2:17:08 la dah.

2:17:09 We're on 6D.

2:17:10 We're on 6D. Remove.

2:17:12 We are. So, we're going to talk about

2:17:13 removal of philosophy statements. Uh,

2:17:15 this isn't quite as urgent. So, we could

2:17:18 do this as a first reading if we so

2:17:20 desire and do a second reading next

2:17:22 meeting if it works that way.

2:17:24 So, um, as you if you noticed on, um,

2:17:29 the student code of conduct. So, it

2:17:31 turns out there these long philosophy

2:17:33 statements in front of many sections and

2:17:37 they're old, really old um and uh old

2:17:42 English.

2:17:42 They just uh it's not necessary. Masc

2:17:46 [clears throat] does not have any

2:17:47 philosophy statements in front of theirs

2:17:49 uh sections. And so um we would suggest

2:17:53 removing the philosophy statements

2:17:55 except for two that you have here which

2:17:59 is 4B on um student school technology

2:18:03 use policy and the other one is um

2:18:08 what's the other one?

2:18:10 The selection of books.

2:18:12 Yeah, that was the for the selection of

2:18:13 books.

2:18:16 Yeah.

2:18:17 Selection of books. So, we could keep

2:18:21 those. That's not quite the same as

2:18:22 philosophy, but um that's what we would

2:18:26 keep in those sections. Otherwise, we

2:18:28 would say we're not going to have

2:18:30 philosophy sections.

2:18:32 Donna.

2:18:33 Okay. So, again, as an avid reader of

2:18:36 our policy manual,

2:18:38 I love that. Um are we thinking that

2:18:41 that entire sort of like first section

2:18:44 of the policy manual where we talk about

2:18:46 our core values and um some of that is

2:18:49 that so to me like

2:18:51 that's what I'm thinking. We haven't had

2:18:53 that conversation as a subcommittee yet

2:18:56 what the whole package will look like

2:18:58 but I would expect that that would be

2:19:00 the case.

2:19:00 Okay. So you'd have a core values,

2:19:02 vision, mission,

2:19:04 what you know the stuff we usually have,

2:19:06 right? And then so

2:19:07 so that drives the whole

2:19:09 Exactly. I was just going to say when

2:19:10 you're thinking about it that way, like

2:19:12 these individual philosophy statements

2:19:14 on the policies

2:19:15 are sort of superfluous, right? Because

2:19:18 we've already mapped out what our core

2:19:20 values are as a district.

2:19:24 Laura,

2:19:24 and I would kind of jump on that and say

2:19:26 a lot of the information, and I think

2:19:27 Suzanne prefaced this, was out of date.

2:19:30 There's a whole sent there's a whole

2:19:31 thing about how computers were no longer

2:19:33 the size of rooms

2:19:35 anymore. There was points about girls

2:19:38 should play sports too. Um there was,

2:19:41 you know, a reference to a specific

2:19:43 grammar book that ninth graders use that

2:19:45 nth graders do not use. So a lot of

2:19:48 these philosophy statements were my age

2:19:50 or older. So it's it's probably time to

2:19:53 clean house a little bit and and not

2:19:56 have that as part of our manual.

2:19:59 Yeah. And if I can just like piggy back

2:20:02 on what you said again as someone who

2:20:04 read the policy manual as a parent, it

2:20:08 actually is a little bit more confusing

2:20:10 because then you if you're finding

2:20:12 philosophy statements in front of each

2:20:15 individual policy.

2:20:17 They like may or may not represent the

2:20:19 core values and it just be it just is

2:20:22 it's it just it's too much.

2:20:26 Jessie

2:20:26 Jesse Yeah. I just wanted to understand

2:20:29 the fourth line at the top says removal

2:20:32 of philosophy statements section I4

2:20:34 except for I4B and I41.

2:20:38 So,

2:20:40 are you saying that there's going to be

2:20:42 a philosophy statement in I4B

2:20:44 because you're saying accept?

2:20:45 No, this would be.

2:20:46 So, yeah. No, what I'm saying is I don't

2:20:49 this little piece here that talks about

2:20:51 except these guys, but Okay. All right.

2:20:54 I got it. So, it'll be as it's it'll be

2:20:57 as it's written here on the left without

2:20:59 the tracking. Perfect. So this

2:21:04 would wipe out this would just if we

2:21:07 vote this then anything that says

2:21:09 philosophy statement will be removed.

2:21:13 Are there preamles that don't have the

2:21:16 title philosophy statement?

2:21:20 I read this section experience there are

2:21:22 there are where it's like oh my god when

2:21:25 are we going to get to

2:21:26 well in the code of in the student code

2:21:28 of conduct there's guiding principles

2:21:30 which is essentially

2:21:32 so a whole section

2:21:33 I mean I'm all for

2:21:35 but we're starting

2:21:36 start here

2:21:37 we're starting here

2:21:38 got it [laughter]

2:21:39 because this manual is this thick and

2:21:42 they're just going to be chunks at a

2:21:44 time. So

2:21:45 you know we can vote on this tonight if

2:21:46 you want. Uh

2:21:48 um I'm sorry I only posted as a first

2:21:50 reading. So think that that may have

2:21:52 been my error. I apologize.

2:21:54 Okay, then that's

2:21:54 again again I'm just still asking the

2:21:56 question. I mean why does it say except

2:21:58 for I4B? That that suggests that we're

2:22:01 keeping the philosophy statement for

2:22:02 I4B.

2:22:03 Well, I I'll just interject. So um

2:22:05 sometimes it helps to look here at the

2:22:07 table of context contents for a section

2:22:09 I. So I4B, the student school technology

2:22:13 use form got plunked in here at some

2:22:16 point. We need to keep that. It's

2:22:18 actually going to be revised for MASC

2:22:20 and it'll be in section J, but we didn't

2:22:22 want to lose it for now. Um, and the

2:22:24 same with the selection of books and AV

2:22:26 equipment. There are MASC policies, but

2:22:29 so we're keeping it there pending

2:22:31 additional policy subcommittee work, but

2:22:33 that that 4E1 got plunked in here. It

2:22:36 really is it's not a philosophy

2:22:39 statement. It's

2:22:40 right. So that's why I don't understand

2:22:42 the word except. Uh, well, we're

2:22:44 removing everything except for those

2:22:47 except for those numbers. Except for

2:22:48 those items.

2:22:49 Got it.

2:22:50 So, we're getting rid of like 4 A, but

2:22:52 not for B.

2:22:53 It has nothing to do with philosophy

2:22:54 statements,

2:22:55 right? They got put in there, but

2:22:57 they're really not philosophy

2:22:58 statements.

2:22:59 Thank you.

2:23:01 So,

2:23:02 oh,

2:23:05 I was done. Um I was going to say that

2:23:09 um I think it's really important work

2:23:11 that we remove the philosophy statements

2:23:14 from there uh because less is more and

2:23:19 sometimes we try to explain things too

2:23:21 much and it really kind of you know

2:23:25 takes away from the gist of the policy.

2:23:28 So take out the extra words from it

2:23:31 which is philosophy. let people figure

2:23:33 it out themselves as well as to which

2:23:36 philosophy will apply to what policy. So

2:23:39 I'm in favor of removing the philosophy

2:23:42 statements and happy to vote when when

2:23:44 we are ready. Sorry.

2:23:45 Thank you FISA.

2:23:47 Anything else? Anybody any other

2:23:49 comments, questions? It feels like we're

2:23:52 in favor of this. So let's have a motion

2:23:54 to vote.

2:23:55 No, we can't.

2:23:56 It's not.

2:23:57 It wasn't posted as a vote.

2:23:58 Oh,

2:24:00 just as a first reading. this first

2:24:01 reading impossible vote.

2:24:02 Oh, on your note, but on this one

2:24:04 Oh, they changed it. Okay.

2:24:05 Well, on this one it doesn't.

2:24:07 Okay. I'm sorry.

2:24:07 So, we'll come back to

2:24:08 So, okay. So, we just had a first

2:24:10 reading conversation.

2:24:13 We will move on and we'll get back to

2:24:16 that on September on October 14th.

2:24:21 Okay.

2:24:23 [clears throat]

2:24:24 How we doing?

2:24:26 Great.

2:24:26 Everybody okay?

2:24:27 We are 30 minutes ahead. Even better

2:24:31 started.

2:24:32 Yeah, I'm not worried.

2:24:33 I mean, yeah. Okay. Now, we have

2:24:36 subcommittee and liaison reports. I know

2:24:38 that FISA has a liazison report on EL.

2:24:41 So, you can go first.

2:24:45 Thank you.

2:24:45 Yes.

2:24:46 I don't want to forget.

2:24:47 Yeah. No, thank you, Dr. Bob. So, uh,

2:24:49 today I attended the EL, uh, picnic for

2:24:53 English language education. I'm assuming

2:24:56 E, the last E is for education.

2:24:58 um u picnic and I saw Mindy Paulo, the

2:25:03 EL director for uh from preK through 12

2:25:06 and Betsy Davis um uh who is the family

2:25:09 and community engagement coordinator

2:25:12 again prek through um 12. It was really

2:25:16 a wonderful place to be. I enjoyed my 45

2:25:19 minutes before I headed here. Uh many

2:25:22 parents and families and and kids showed

2:25:24 up. Um the BHS um ambassadors were

2:25:28 helping out and it was good to see the

2:25:30 high schoolers there. Um and um there

2:25:34 was face painting happening, tattoos,

2:25:36 games and the ambassadors were helping

2:25:38 with all of that. I had a brief

2:25:40 conversation with Mindy Paulo who um uh

2:25:44 mentioned that um the star academy that

2:25:47 uh eel and metco um in partnership with

2:25:50 each other ran over the summer. It was a

2:25:53 3-week in intensive program. 318

2:25:56 students attended. Um it basically

2:25:58 replicated a school day. There was um

2:26:02 academics um during the day and uh they

2:26:06 provided breakfast and lunch. Um and

2:26:08 there's a huge weight list every year.

2:26:10 So it's a very popular program star

2:26:13 academy over the summer. So I want to

2:26:16 say thank you to the staff for that. I

2:26:18 met um with some EL teachers from FRR

2:26:22 Pierce Lincoln and it was a pleasure.

2:26:24 So,

2:26:25 thank you very much. Are there any other

2:26:27 liazison reports? As long as we're on

2:26:28 that.

2:26:32 Yes. I'd like to remind everybody that

2:26:33 the innovation fund is having their

2:26:35 Galarama um uh celebration on November

2:26:40 5th at 7 from 7 to 10 p.m. So, look out

2:26:43 for that.

2:26:45 Thank you, Sarah.

2:26:49 Okay. Curriculum Carolyn

2:26:54 curriculum subcommittee um did not have

2:26:56 a meeting in September. Um but Robin and

2:27:01 I have started putting our heads

2:27:02 together about potential um agenda items

2:27:07 for the future. I'll leave everybody

2:27:09 wondering for now um some of the

2:27:12 wonderful and interesting topics we're

2:27:14 going to cover. Um, we'll see whether

2:27:16 our next meeting is in October or

2:27:18 November. Um, and I'll have more then.

2:27:23 Thank you, Carolyn. Diversity, equity,

2:27:25 inclusion, justice Sarah.

2:27:26 We met on Monday the 28th. Um, of

2:27:29 course, all of those materials are

2:27:30 online, so you can watch the video, but

2:27:33 um the reporting of the annual civil

2:27:36 rights um is online from connected to

2:27:40 that date and so I encourage people to

2:27:42 read it.

2:27:44 Thank you, Sarah. Finance, capital,

2:27:46 Jesse.

2:27:47 Uh, we haven't met since my report at

2:27:49 the last meeting. We are going to be

2:27:50 meeting before the next school committee

2:27:52 meeting.

2:27:53 Uh, we are we're meeting October 7th.

2:27:55 Yes.

2:27:57 Thank you. Negotiations.

2:28:00 I'm chairing that. Um, we're going back

2:28:03 and forth. We've agreed on some language

2:28:05 issues and we've exchanged finance

2:28:09 proposals.

2:28:11 I'm feeling I'm feeling pretty good

2:28:13 about where we're headed and um

2:28:16 optimistic that we'll have a contract

2:28:19 one of these days.

2:28:21 Bella, what do you think?

2:28:22 Yeah, I hope so.

2:28:24 We hope so. No, it's been I mean it's

2:28:26 been productive. Very It's complicated

2:28:28 as everybody knows, but um we're meeting

2:28:32 again next week, I believe. So, we'll

2:28:35 keep you up to date.

2:28:36 Next week after

2:28:38 week after

2:28:38 October 15th.

2:28:40 15th. That's right. Yeah. Week after

2:28:43 and policy. Suzanne.

2:28:46 Uh we talk about all these four

2:28:48 policies. [laughter]

2:28:50 We did a lot of work. Again, a shout out

2:28:52 to Val and Laura and Sarah for great

2:28:55 serving on the committee.

2:28:56 No, that's incredible what we just did.

2:28:58 That's great. Okay. Um

2:29:01 new business. Anybody have some new

2:29:02 business?

2:29:06 No new business. Okay, then I need a

2:29:09 motion for an executive session. I need

2:29:12 a motion to meet in executive session

2:29:13 pursuant to Massachusetts General Law,

2:29:16 Chapter 3A, Section 21A, for the

2:29:19 following purposes. Purpose three, to

2:29:20 discuss strategy with respect to

2:29:23 collective bargaining with the Brooklyn

2:29:25 Educators Union. Unit A, unit B, pair of

2:29:29 professionals.

2:29:31 Hold on.

2:29:35 I got

2:29:38 par professionals because an open

2:29:40 meeting will have a detrimental effect

2:29:41 on the bargaining position of the

2:29:42 committee and the chair so declares and

2:29:45 purpose seven to review and approve

2:29:46 minutes from the September 16th, 2026

2:29:50 executive session meeting. Do I have a

2:29:52 motion?

2:29:53 Uh can I just interject? There's one

2:29:55 more reason. Um uh purpose three to

2:29:57 discuss strategy with respect to

2:29:58 collective bargaining with ask me food

2:30:01 services because an open meeting will

2:30:03 have a detrimental effect on the

2:30:04 bargaining position of the committee and

2:30:06 the chair so declares.

2:30:07 Thank you Betsy. Do I have a motion?

2:30:09 So moved.

2:30:10 Jesse moves it.

2:30:11 Second.

2:30:12 Suzanne and Donna share the seconding.

2:30:14 Thirding.

2:30:15 Laura, how do you vote?

2:30:18 Yes.

2:30:19 Carolyn, how do you vote?

2:30:20 Yes.

2:30:20 Val, how do you vote?

2:30:22 Yes.

2:30:23 Sarah, how do you vote?

2:30:24 Yes. Yes.

2:30:24 Donna, how do you vote?

2:30:25 Yes.

2:30:26 Fisa, how do you vote?

2:30:27 Yes.

2:30:27 Jesse, how do you vote?

2:30:28 Yes.

2:30:28 Suzanne,

2:30:29 yes.

2:30:30 Bob, yes. Unanimously. And we will not

2:30:32 be coming back to um public.

2:30:34 I found this on the web.

2:30:48 [music]