Brookline School Committee Meeting - September 30, 2026
2026-09-30

[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]