Welcome to the November 8th meeting of the Sharon School Committee.

This meeting will be conducted remotely over Zoom. Attendance by board and commission members will be remote. Remote attendance shall count towards a quorum.

The meeting will be broadcast live and recorded by Sharon TV.

If you would like to enable your webcam, your image and background may be broadcast with or without sound. As always, we will begin with public comments, two minute time limit.

I will have the stopwatch set.

Remember, these comments can be about anything.

It doesn't have to be on the agenda.

And I guess we will kick that off.

I'm seeing if I see any hint. I do see Judy Crosby.

Thanks, Avi. My question is whether the school committee would consider joining the town of Sharon's decision to display blue ribbons on its property to bring the Israeli hostages home.

Back in 1980, 1979, when the hostages were taken by Iran, everybody put yellow ribbons up. It wasn't considered political.

It was considered a sign of support for citizens, some of whom in this case are American and are being held hostage.

The town voted at its last select board meeting to display blue ribbons.

So I wanted to make that request of the school committee.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much, Judy.

Seeing no more hands up, I will throw it to our secretary for correspondence.

Oh. It looks like Casey McLaughlin got in in time.

So I will take Casey McLaughlin for two minutes.

Go ahead, Casey.

Hi there.

Sorry.

So we just got out of a meeting, a bunch of parents and I with Dr. Botello, which was very insightful.

And we were expressing ourselves as a collective on how we feel about the gender ideology being promoted in schools.

And what we agreed on as a consensus, I believe, is that it's a policy that parents should be able to opt out of.

You can teach whatever you want. However, it's not fair for other parents who do not agree with this type of ideology to have to be, to have to have their children exposed when there's an option for them not to. And I think that respectfully, it's not a big ask to have children be able to be guided by their parents and for that not to be in conflict with what the school is promoting.

And so what we're asking for is for the curriculum to be clear, for the materials to be vetted properly.

And we asked Dr. Botello to maybe take a look at, with the department heads at each school to kind of vet the materials that are being presented to our children.

And again, I think that that's something that is reasonable and really should be considered going forward when you decide on the school improvement plan.

Thank you.

All right.

Mayor Belenke.

Hi, members of the school committee.

Thank you.

So this past month has been a time of reflection for me. And one of the things I was reflecting is what would happen if our school supported our Jewish students during this difficult time as much as you supported the LGBT students.

So first of all, we need to have a Jewish flag in every single classroom.

We need posters on all the walls saying, Am Israel Chai. We need to have a Jewish star sticker on every single bathroom stall so that kids know that this is a safe space.

We need to have a Jewish star sticker on every single school.

We need to have a Jewish star flag over the entrance of every single elementary school. We need to have a Jewish star flag over every single elementary school. So when every single child enters, they get to see a giant Israeli flag to know that they are safe and supported in the schools.

So last month, one of the speakers said that there are 36 holidays when teachers are encouraged to spontaneously stop the regular lessons and instead talk about LGBT.

So let's do this for Jews. We need to have a Jewish star flag over the years.

We need to have a Jewish Safari as they have theirARD.

Thank you more standing next year.

Asking kids, do you have a Hebrew name you want to use in school instead. Read books to kids about Muslims and Christians coming out as Jewish to their families and discovering their real identity?

Mayor, that's two minutes.

Thank you. Thank you for comments. Khaled Ayesha?

Yes, you can hear me? Yes, we can hear you. First, I'd like to thank the school committee members for all the work they're doing.

And it was mentioned here before that one of the goals is to make every student feel welcomed at the school.

We're a Muslim family. We live in Sharon since 2017.

And we want to pass our faith and religion to our kids.

In our faith, issues related to sex and gender, and I always would like to put them together, are guided with very clear morals and guidance in our religion.

In the past, we were able to opt out from sex and gender education.

However, now these teachings are bleeding into many subjects and many activities in the school.

When my eight-year-old son, elementary school student, hears from his teacher what contradicts his beliefs, he will either have to confront his teacher in the class or come back home or confront us, or just keep it inside himself.

which would lead him to confusion, stress, and isolation from his support circle around him.

This does not just mean many families with the same position, that actually end up keeping our kids away from the Sharon Popper School, that they do not want their kids in their position.

So just keep it two minutes. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Seeing no more hands, I will pass it to our secretary for correspondence.

Thank you, Avi. The school committee has received nine pieces of correspondence between October 25th, 2023, at 9 a.m.

and November 8th, 2023, at 9 a.m.

We received two editions of Millie's METCO Monday newsletter.

Highlights include METCO Presents Performance of the Book of Life with Arts Emerson, Events and Activities to Honor Hispanic Heritage Month, the METCO Showcase, which is scheduled for November 18th, 2023, and a Professional Development Opportunity, Hiring and Sustaining Black Teachers Workshop.

The school committee was CC'd on an email to the district athletic director that was requesting information on the availability of AED machines for events not taking place in the gymnasium.

A parent wrote to inquire about third-party flags.

We received a letter to express appreciation for the school committee meeting held on October 25th, 2023.

The meeting was cited as efficient and respectful.

There were several letters that suggested the school district consider no school on November 1st for the school calendar.

This would allow students to more fully participate in and enjoy Halloween.

And as we always say, we love hearing from our students.

Jane, thank you for putting all of this together.

And that's it.

Thanks, Julie.

Do we have an update from a student representative?

So just raise your hand. I didn't see anybody on the list to participate that I knew was a student rep. But all right.

It doesn't look like we have a student rep update. So in that case, I'll pass it to Dr. Botello for superintendent general updates.

Thank you.

At first, I do want to kind of mention, I did meet with a really great group of parents tonight.

What I was impressed with, although we didn't agree on, you know, on a lot of things, the conversation was incredibly kind of civil, you know.

And so it's and I think people spoke from their convictions, whether it was religious convictions or others, and were able to do so in an open way.

And I think still maybe disagreeing with me, appreciate my role in trying to, yeah, make sure that they feel welcome, but also that all kids feel welcome in our community.

So it was always appreciated.

And I look forward to continued conversations throughout the community.

As far as our some updates.

Yes, we had a change of time this weekend, which everyone is adjusting to. And that kind of gets into, you know, with adjustments, you know, getting into issues of attendance.

The state is really kind of trying to share with us some best practices about helping students and families whose kids are struggling with attendance.

And so we just really encourage all families to, you know, partner with the schools to try to help us to understand, you know, what may be getting in the way of tardies or absences so that we can support you and your children.

Thank you.

So weather, winter weather is upon us.

And so, you know, we'll be, I'll be following normal protocols about consulting with area superintendents, as well as district staff and key town departments.

We also have connections with our superintendents to some really top-notch weather people in the area. And so we'll be looking at a variety of factors, trying to get to school each day, but also making sure that we do so safely.

The goal will be to make a call by 5 a.m. to provide adequate notice.

And we'll get that, those notifications out in a number of ways so that everyone will know about them. Some upcoming dates.

We've got early release day tomorrow, no schooling on Friday, early release on the 14th, and then for elementary and ECC on the 16th. And then Thanksgiving recess already upon us, and our next school community meeting will be the week after Thanksgiving.

I had the pleasure of attending Unified Basketball Games on, first on Monday in Foxborough, which they had a pretty good crowd out there, but then we had an even better crowd here for the last game of the season against Mansfield.

Our team came out victorious in both games and played both with heart and sportsmanship, but also a ton of skill, you know, the number of the percentage, I think, as far as shooting percentage was amazing by some of the kids, how they've been practicing.

Also great, some great passing going on as well. It was, it was really an awesome season for them.

And they had great support from their fellow peers and other community members.

And so it was a great season.

I also want to thank Cassie Regan and Jen Collado for coaching and leading the kids to a great season.

We also have a bunch of different events coming up, including a food drive on November 12th, a give back program.

And we also encourage people to look at the dispatch.

There's lots of ways that you can really help out families, not only during this upcoming time in November, December, but throughout the year.

And also there's a MASC conference.

It started today and tomorrow and Friday.

And I'll be heading down for tomorrow's events.

And I believe some of our members will be as well.

And then finally, just look to recognize my father who was on the Ariskini in Vietnam and all of our fellow veterans throughout our community and throughout the nation for their dedication to our country and to keeping us safe.

So I want to recognize that for Monday or Saturday.

Excellent.

All right. Thank you.

Does anybody from the table have any questions on the general update before I move to discussion items?

All right.

Seeing no hands, we move to discussion item A, school improvement plan, Sharon Middle School.

I believe that Kevin O'Rourke is here.

And I know we do have a possible vote. So I will turn it over to Kevin.

Hi.

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you for having me. I apologize I was not able to be here with you the last time when other schools presented.

I appreciate you allowing me to go to senior night for my daughters.

So I have two seniors this year.

So lots of senior events to keep me busy.

But I appreciate your time tonight.

So Sharon Middle School plan, we have four goals that align with our district goals.

I'm going to go through them fairly briefly and then answer any questions you may have. Our first goal is around that school culture.

And the goal is really reinforcing the core values that we've set forth as a building.

And honesty, equity, acceptance, respect, kindness, and teamwork.

We want to look at, as the district's looking at mission, vision, and values, artifacts that we can generate and have authentic examples of these core values in action in our school.

As a school council, we talked a lot about qualitative ways of measuring school culture versus trying to do some compliance-based quiz or test if the kids know these terms.

But we want to see the terms really living in action in the school.

And working with our advisory leaders and some of the school-wide community days that we do, we think we can find really true examples of these core values in action in our school.

So that's our first goal is really focusing on those core values as a school.

Our second goal is the innovative student-centered learning goal area.

And this, we worked with Dr. Bartello this summer as an administrative team looking at defining that work and expanding upon it.

As a school, we're looking, and middle school is fertile ground for interdisciplinary work, where we have our teams that work together across disciplines and share the same group of kids. We have a few examples. We have a few examples.

One of which comes to mind for our faculty in our eighth grade is the Civic Action Project, where kids are collaboratively working on a long-term project that they have a lot of voice in developing.

And having opportunity to work on that project across disciplines and have a broader audience than just their teachers to share this project and get out within the community to present and to do some powerful things.

So as a school, we want to support that work and look to expand upon it.

One of the things in year one is for us to really clearly define what are these student-centered cross-disciplinary opportunities that exist currently and where can we expand on them and defining them for us as a faculty and looking for those opportunities to grow this work. So that is our second goal.

Our third goal is under the meeting of needs of all students.

And in this area, we're looking at evaluating and expanding our Tier 1 and Tier 2 instructional support.

So Tier 1 supports are in the regular A classroom for the most part.

Some Tier 2 can exist within the regular A classroom.

Some are branching across into some other areas.

Some are branching across the program.

Some are branching across the school. Some are branching across the school. And as a school council, we look at, we believe there's terrific interventions that teachers do when kids aren't learning.

But we need to improve upon our consistency across implementation across our building.

That they may be it may exist in silos in particular teachers classrooms.

And we want to work with coordinators to ensure that those practices are being used universally across the various content areas in each classroom in a grade level and across departments within our building.

But we do want to look also at connecting families to those supports within the community as we look into the further consistent implementation.

And then the more significant supports needed by kids and looking at working for family support across those spaces.

I think that is it on our third goal.

The last goal is the DEI goal.

And this is one that our faculty and school council talks a lot about as well.

And one of the things we believe for middle school kids.

Sorry.

Is that connections to co-curricular and extracurricular activities are a huge driving force for kids in school.

And our belief is that we want to ensure that we don't have barriers preventing populations of our kids to being involved in some of those extracurricular and co-curricular clubs and activities.

Whether it be theater or arts or athletics.

Whatever it is, we feel like those are our ways that kids become connected and have a sense of belonging and participation within a school.

So we're looking to identify any barriers that exist.

Also to get student feedback on expansion of offerings for kids at the middle level.

So we have opportunities for kids to feel connected and involved in Sharon Middle School.

So that's the four goals for Sharon Middle School.

Are there any questions?

All right.

Thank you, Mr. O'Rourke. Do we have any questions from the table?

Julie Rowe. Thanks, Avi.

Hi, Mr. O'Rourke.

It's good to see you again.

I just have a few questions.

And I apologize if it sounds like I'm cross-examining you because I'm really not. I'm genuinely curious.

And I'm also, would you rather I just ask them all at once or one at a time?

Go for it. I can try to keep track of them all.

Okay. We'll play a little badminton.

Okay. Great.

Okay. I think he said go for it.

Ask them all.

Oh, okay.

Sorry.

Okay.

So the first thing, we've had a lot of discussions about the middle school tip, about talking about, like, the differentiated learning.

And now it's not in there. So I was wondering, first of all, if you could just say, like, what happened with that.

Second, the student-centered learning sounds really cool.

I think, like, multidisciplinary things are great. It says that you're measured by feedback.

So I don't know exactly what that means.

And I'm wondering what coursework these projects would cover.

And, like, if, like, sort of feedback is the right measurement.

I just don't know what – I don't understand what that means. And then the third thing is I noticed that there were a couple of things that I felt like were missing that maybe are necessary.

And so one is just something that I hear people batting about, which is, you know, more financial education, like, in terms of personal finance.

I think they do a little bit, but I think that, you know, there's a feeling that a lot of students don't really know, like, anything about loans and paying rent and that kind of thing.

And I know we're doing a financial fair on the 17th in the high school, but I think some people would be interested in talking about what's going on at the middle school.

And then another thing that I've noticed is that I think that the jump from eighth to ninth grade is really hard.

For a lot of students, because, like, adjusting to the schedule and the amount of work. And I was wondering if you discussed maybe, like, transitioning, like, to high school, like, maybe in a more fulsome way.

Sure.

So let me back up and start with your first question.

The differentiation at work.

We are thrilled this year to have a new math coordinator.

Tina Kelly is on board and working with our math department.

It is not something that's identified in our school improvement plan at this time.

It's our school improvement plan is more in line, frankly, with the district plan.

So that's one of the reasons it's no longer there is the four district goals is really where these goals are driven from. But it is the math department is still certainly in the works around differentiated instruction and meeting the needs of all kids in the math department.

And Tina Kelly has been a really a boost of energy to that department and a really insightful, experienced educator to help that group.

So we're thrilled to have Tina on board and working with the math department this year.

As far as the student centered learning.

So one of the pieces in interdisciplinary learning is it's really an open space that it can be a project that is science based and connected across a discipline to mathematics and language arts.

Or it could be more of a social studies based project that also connects across a discipline and connects to the language arts and the writing and the reading elements and potentially incorporates math.

There there is not a fixed space on those.

They are somewhat wide open. But as Dr. Botello is a former middle school guy can attest is they're they're best done with lots of front end planning and tied to standards.

So that's part of the the the the the work is to make these projects meaningful and engaging and high interest across those disciplines, but tie the work directly to the standards for the kids so that while they're doing these projects, they're they're attaining work in the standards that were were were were charged to bring forth for all those kids. What we mean by gaining feedback is broadening the audience to beyond just the teacher.

But in in some cases, like we did with civic action, we brought in the community members to give feedback to students on their work and got a much higher level of commitment from kids to make sure their projects were done in an exemplary way because they were very excited to have the community viewing their work.

And giving them feedback on on its high quality.

So we feel like that's a strong element of getting community members at a broader group, giving kids feedback on this on their project based work and giving and engaging some of the success of this work by by connecting there.

I think I've hit the start of those.

You talked about adding some work around financial literacy.

That is something that is a part I know in Miss Trails life skills class.

And I know we've worked in the past with with groups around that topic.

And it's certainly something we always look to incorporate and expand for kids. So it's absolutely a valuable life skill to to have. And I'm not sure I got all of them.

What did I miss?

I was just about the life skills.

So if just on that, if there was a there's a citizen, I think it was a kid in the school system who's very interested in this. So if somebody was interested in working on this or had some thoughts, should I just direct him to you or?

Yeah, that would be great.

Yeah. And I can connect to Miss Trails.

One of our teachers that I would probably work to partner with. OK.

And then the last question is about getting ready for high school.

Correct.

And that's something absolutely are. We have done a fair amount, but I agree with you.

The more we can do to prepare our kids and work with the high school.

I'm thrilled to have Kristen Keenan on board at the high school and building a collaborative work connection with her and getting her counseling staff down to the middle school and working with our eighth grade teachers.

The department coordinators.

As I said, Tina Kelly has been a terrific addition to that group.

Amy, our new social studies coordinator, also has been a really strong addition.

So I think that that vertical alignment and a vertical connection across departments.

We had Emily Burke, you know, jumping in as a principal and lost her as a coordinator.

We're thrilled to have her back in those roles. So, you know, that using the coordinators to really look at that eight to nine shift for kids and working with eighth grade teachers, I think is a great idea. And it's really something we can do.

Well, that's good. And obviously, I may just one quick follow up. So just to clarify on the math, you still intend to explore de-leveling in the seventh and eighth grade.

What is the intention here?

Or seventh grade, at least. Is that what you're saying? But it's just not on the SIP because it's not, you're trying to match it to the district plan. I just want to be sure because, you know, I think this is a big concern in the community and I think you should be clear about it.

That's fair. It's not a part of the SIP, but it is something that I know Tina Kelly is having dialogue with teachers about meeting the needs of all kids and what best practices are out there. And the research is showing for kids. So it's something that is something that she's working with the department on ongoing.

Thank you.

Sure.

Adam.

Hey, Mr. Ork. Just a really quick question.

On the fourth goal, it said by June 2025.

Was that a typo or is this a two-year goal?

No, I think we look at that goal as something that will take us a couple of years to really fully expand our offerings.

We have some hopes to really develop more program and have proposals for Dr.

Botello and you all to expand some of those things.

So we understand that it may take some time to build the case to build all of what we want to do in that area.

So it is looking like a two-year goal.

Thank you. I guess my only feedback would be if there is something that we can identify as a milestone on the way to that goal that we hope to accomplish within kind of this school year.

That would just help us, I think, in evaluating how we're doing in terms of progress towards that goal. Absolutely.

Thank you.

Thanks, Adam.

All right.

And thank you, Mr. Ork. If people are comfortable, I would entertain a motion to approve the middle school improvement plan.

So moved.

Second.

Veronica.

Yes.

When.

Yes.

Chris. Now.

Yes.

Julie.

Yes.

Adam.

Yes.

And I'm a yes.

Motion carries 6-0.

Thanks, Mr. Ork.

Thank you very much.

All right. Next up, we've got our superintendent goals for 2023-2024.

Discussion impossible vote to approve.

Dr. Botello, back to you.

Great.

Thank you.

You'll see that these goals are, again, very much, you know, strongly aligned to our district plan as well. As far as process, similar to previous years, I'll present the goals that will be either approved during this meeting or the meeting in late November or early December.

Mid-cycle progress update in March and then NVIDIA progress update and then formal evaluation in June.

My first goal kind of mirrors the goal around district and school culture.

And the goal in this stage is where ultimately trying to improve the school culture and have it be alive and well throughout the district is to begin to revise the district vision, mission, and values and enhance its alignment to the district plan.

As evidenced by a digital compilation of examples and artifacts in a draft revised document.

So what we're planning to do is to really both in organic ways, but also through learning walks throughout the year, try to capture what is happening on a regular basis in our school and how does that align to our mission, vision, and values.

And are there things that are happening that aren't articulated strongly enough in our mission, vision, and values, which would lead us to kind of revise that.

So we're looking towards having this kind of digital compilation of the things that, first of all, are happening and are alive and well that we want to expand upon. We'll also have some aspirational examples that might come from other schools or might be just kind of capturing some things that we don't see frequently that we want to have in our school and use that to continue to revise our mission, vision, and values.

And again, the goal over the next five years is when people walk in our schools in four years from now, five years from now, they will be able to pretty much tell you what we value as a district by just experiencing the school.

That it will become more and more obvious of what we value and that the mission, vision, and value statement will be just a way of kind of capturing that in writing versus it being something that just exists and sits on the shelf.

The second one is around the elementary master plan.

So this is really, you know, taking, you know, began with, you know, selecting the engineering design firm and having them do their initial work. And now the next steps will be around creating a committee of diverse stakeholders and developing a short-term plan that will involve, you know, FY25 and FY26 capital, but then also taking that committee and really analyzing various options and making recommendations for long-term options for the elementary schools.

So that whole process by which we'll end up with recommendations and next steps for elementary facilities.

And then this goal around instructional leadership is really continuing to work with our building leaders to positively impact student achievement and growth.

One of the things, one of the things, this is kind of building on some of the work we did last year, where last year I started to work with principals about really capturing the instructional strengths and needs of our staff in each of the schools.

And now this year is going to be really trying to use that information to support teachers in differentiated ways. I look at this as kind of being multi-tiered system supports for staff.

So we might have some staff that really need support in a certain area so we can provide, you know, targeted professional development for them.

While others might be needing something different or more advanced, you know, especially when we think about our younger teachers.

They might need some really key work in, you know, structuring a lesson and in developing clear goals or in orchestrating group work, you know, making sure that we try to provide, you know, what we provide to all teachers is something that universally they all need.

And what we provide to small groups of teachers in order to improve their instruction is something that's really geared to that group of teachers.

And part of the way that we'll measure this is through using that, you know, system, but also by looking at the school and administrator goals at the end of the year and seeing that they've met or made significant progress on those goals. And then as far as diversity, equity inclusion, this will be really to take steps along with the schools to improve students' sense of belonging and students' equitable access.

So part of that will be, you know, working together with our new DEI director, Hina Treviti, also working to develop school-based DEI teams to really look at data and look at sense of belonging in each of our schools.

That will be partly looking at survey data that we're using, but also looking at equity data similar to what Kevin O'Rourke was talking about, about kids' participation, whether it's in AP classes or in extracurricular activities or in other programming that we have, as well as their performance in various areas. And so looking at that data and creating, you know, having both looking for improvement in the sense of belonging this year, but also starting to uncover what are some of the places where we're targeting for improvement so that we can create a long-term, short and a long-term plan to increase student sense of belonging and equitable access to various parts of our program, as well as to post-secondary education.

And then this, this one around professional practices, continuing to work with my new superintendent's induction program.

This year, it's really regional consultancy that's meeting with a team of superintendents with a coach.

I still have my same coach, Maureen LeRoy, and it's really around problems of practice and leadership dilemmas.

So continuing with that work, as well as attending professional developments, including the ideas training that I attended recently, sessions through the Mass Superintendents Association.

Tomorrow, I'll attend sessions with the Mass School Committees, as well as other roundtables and organizations, including Medco, run some great sessions around belonging and diversity and equity inclusion.

Thank you.

Great.

Did you skip one?

No, no, I'm sorry. That's it.

Yeah, so that's a fifth goal. So there were five goals this year instead of four that I added a fifth one.

And so, yeah, this goes back to the timeline.

So I'm welcome to answer any questions.

All right.

Does anybody have to take up questions? I see Adam does.

Go ahead, Adam.

Yeah, thank you. And thank you, Dr. Patello.

I just had two cool questions.

For the first goal for the MVV, is that something that we would vote on at the end of the year?

Or is that something we, I just, I don't actually know, kind of within the context of a strategic plan, I think we would vote. But I don't know about just that statement.

It would be something I think we would vote on eventually.

It still might be in an evolving part where it's still a working document.

Because I'm really trying to get over the course of this next several years that, you know, it's kind of, it's, I'm not using a linear process.

Usually, sometimes you might create the vision, mission, vision, values, and then you're trying to realize it. But what we, we have a solid mission, vision, value system.

Now we're going to analyze what's going on in our schools, as well as look at, reflect upon our district plan, especially areas like student-centered innovative learning and making sure that that reflects it. So it might be that we have some suggestions for revisions and not be at the point where we have an official new statement.

Even then, I think it is healthy to continue to have a statement like that evolve.

If not, it becomes kind of a static thing.

So it might be, but it's certainly at some point.

Yeah. When we have something that we feel like is, you know, a solid revision, we would have that voted upon.

Gotcha.

Yeah. I didn't know if that could be kind of an objective for the end of the year that like, great, we have what we presented and we approved it. But it sounds like we won't be necessarily at that point.

It's hard to tell. We could be, or it could be perhaps the second year.

Okay. Thank you.

And then the other question I had was just around goal number two for the elementary ed plan.

I just wanted to confirm the timing. Because I think originally, almost last year, we had talked about kind of coming back to the town in late 2023 with a proposal or ask.

And I think that has now changed based on that goal.

So I just wanted to confirm if that were the case and kind of that that was the new plan.

Yeah. What we discovered through the process is there are some ways to gain some space in the short term, even for next year, with little to no cost.

And so that was what we would be concentrating on for the fall of 2024, if enrollment shows that it's necessary.

Then there are some short term options that we would be looking at putting into the capital requests for FY25.

So I'll bring those to the table next meeting for that. And so that's where we're at with that.

There's no need for, you know, kind of a special request to be expedited because we have found some creative options.

And we're also trying to like the master plan is encouraging based upon the age of our buildings, the conditions of our buildings, as well as enrollment projections, looking towards some more substantial long term plans.

And so we're trying to make the short term options, you know, financially as as small as possible.

Yeah, I know that we had even the short term plans had carried a large price tag previously.

So that's tremendous news.

Thank you.

Yep.

Thanks, Prisna.

Yes, thank you. So I just wanted to touch base on goal number three.

Dr. Tola, I think you termed it NTSS for stuff.

I guess the one point of feedback I would share is that I feel like over the course of the year, this year, and I think a little bit last year, whenever we would get data updates from Dr. Burke, we would typically have meaningful, robust discussion.

But I almost think, well, I would say the majority of school committee members would often comment around wanting to have these conversations more frequently over time. So for me, it would be helpful for you to consider explicitly adding some increased frequency around when we have the conversations and when data and information is brought to the table, providing updates on where we stand.

I think that would be helpful because we have robust conversations, but once a year does not seem like it's sufficient.

That's it. Thanks.

Yep. Sounds good. Great.

All right.

If people are ready and comfortable, I would entertain a motion to approve the superintendent's goals.

So moved.

Second.

Adam.

Sorry, just a quick question, if that's okay.

I know Prisna had just made a request.

Is that to approve kind of pending incorporation of that request?

If Dr. Patel, if that's okay with you? That's up to Dr. Patel.

If he wants to make that change, you can, if he doesn't, we can, you know, people can certainly vote it down.

I guess so. I'm asking now just of Dr. Patel, if he's comfortable with that change and if we would be voting kind of pending inclusion.

Yeah.

I mean, if that's desired, I could work with Prisna to add some language, add a bullet point for kind of adding more discussions and presentations on academic progress.

Great.

That sounds good, Prisna. It's weird.

Yes. I appreciate that. Dr. Patel is in agreement.

I don't know what the vote is now, I guess.

Well, so let's table that initial vote. I would entertain a motion to approve the superintendent's goals with the change made to include a bullet point around increased presentations at the school committee table about academic progress that includes data.

Does that sound right?

Prisna?

Thank you. Is that an amendment or like a friendly amendment?

I think he tabled it and created a new motion. Oh, oh, then I, I, um, I move it.

I second it.

All right. Adam.

Yes.

Veronica.

Yes.

When.

Yes.

Prisna.

Yes. And thank you. Julie.

Yes.

And I'm a yes. Motion carries six. So thanks, Dr. Patel.

All right. Next item.

We have the school committee goals, 2023 and 2024.

I know Jane put into the drive last year's final goals.

We, this is really our first discussion around this year's goals. Uh, I don't know if folks have thoughts around goals they'd like to see, uh, be our goals for this year.

If not, I'm certainly comfortable having everybody send like we did last year, send in, uh, items you think are important to include in our goals to Jane.

She can keep track of them. Um, and on the 29th, we can, uh, try to nail all that down.

It's up to you guys. Just feeling you out. Are people at a position right now where they have something in front of mind they want to throw out or you guys just want to throw stuff, uh, to Jane and we'll have the discussion.

Yeah, I'll just, um, I think it would be helpful to at least speak to what goals we had that we might want to keep and or add to, or at least I think, I think that would be helpful.

But to your point about new goals, that might be more helpful to email those in.

Sure.

Julie.

Uh, in the spirit of continuous improvement, I think that, um, a lot of these, you know, can always, um, are like kind of evergreen, like, so I think that we can take out the free full day K, um, since that's, that's good.

That's a goal achieved.

And, um, I think we can update the negotiations and I would probably want to add something about the, um, process of, um, uh, doing the elementary school evaluations.

Like the, uh, class size.

I mean, the class, the buildings, the evaluations that, um, were mentioned before.

Building project.

I can't talk today.

So those are, those are, those are, I would keep most of these and I would, I would just get rid of free full day K and I would, um, talk about, you know, like a, uh, the elementary master plan. Thank you.

Okay. That's the word I'm looking for. Thank you. Elementary, you know, supporting or something like that. Um, the process. And I just remind you, cause I think I, I vividly remember this discussion last year and I remember there being sort of a misunderstanding.

So let me catch that in the bud. It's really important for school committee goals to be school committee goals. So like the elementary master plan, for example, belongs to administration.

Um, it, it's definitely something that this school district should do, but it isn't something that the school committee does. And so like setting it as our goal, um, it isn't, it, it's something that is handled on an operational level, certainly presented to us. So if it's something like keep apprised of, then I guess that could be a goal, but the elementary master plan is not a school committee item. And I remember last year, I think we had a hard time sort of sorting those two things out.

No, I totally agree. And I didn't mean that we would, I said, I just meant like support the administration in however they need to, to move forward with that.

I think that's a good goal. Yeah. I think that's a good goal, especially around like understanding the financial ramifications short-term, long-term.

I think that's certainly something that would be a great goal for this group.

Personally, I'd support that.

If that's, if I just misunderstood it, that what you meant, I'm, I agree with that.

No, I can't talk today, but you can, yours is much better.

Personnel, go ahead. Personnel, go ahead. Yes. I like what both of you were saying.

So I'm supportive and I would also, I guess I would support keeping the equity and inclusivity goal and maybe adding to it. I think there's alignment there with one of Dr. Vitello's goals, if I'm not mistaken, and trying to add some language around, again, more consistent and regular updates around either incidents in the schools and other DEI updates that we used to get from Carol Sparrow. And I think there's also some commitment from the SC on SC member attendance at various DEI-related events. Again, going back to Carol Sparrow used to have the belonging circles. So these are some of the ways that we can directly and practically support that goal.

Sure.

Adam.

Oh, sorry.

Adam, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Adam. Yeah.

Thank you. So I just wanted to chime in around the policy goal, which is there. So I think last year we had a specific policy, BGC.