It is 7-0-1.

All right, welcome to the May 8th, 2024 meeting of the Sharon School Committee.

This meeting will be conducted remotely over Zoom. Attendance by board members will be remote, and 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, maybe broadcast with or without sound.

As always, our first item is public comments.

We will allow two minutes per speaker.

Is there anybody on the committee willing to keep time?

I will.

Okay, thank you, Veronica.

All right, without further ado, I see Judy Crosby's hand.

Thank you. On April 24th, at the end of the meeting, I filed a public records request.

It said, please consider this a records request for a copy of the newly approved contract between the school committee and the school assistants announced in the meeting tonight, April 24th, 2024. At the top of the 830 portion of the meeting, there was a very proud announcement by the chair and by Jeff Mahoney about the wonderful work to get this contract done.

Today, I received a response to my records request telling me there is no such document.

So here's my new records request.

You've all received it. Please consider this an updated public records request for the following.

To be clear.

To be clear.

The name assigned to the document is irrelevant to this request, as is whether the document discusses only one aspect of such employment or is intended to be a comprehensive employment agreement.

For further clarity, this request is to be read in the broadest possible terms and may include but is not limited to writings on napkins, post-it notes, toilet paper, text messages, instant messages, writings made with lipstick, blood, ink, pencil, chalk, an old-fashioned typewriter, and any other substance one can ever imagine to commit a thought to any surface, including caves. For the record, the public records law requires that a request be read broadly and that if and to the extent you have the document, you turn it over.

So do you actually expect this community to believe that you announced an agreement with one of your unions and you only have a verbal agreement for a district that has a $54 million budget?

Or are you just that afraid to let people see what you agreed to?

So I'm looking forward to receiving a response to this request.

I know there are written documents in effect that cover some or all. That's your two minutes, Crosby.

Thank you. Very much. Dan Newman.

Hi, everyone.

I see the policy on public gifts is on the agenda.

It's wonderful whenever people give gifts to our school.

Thank you to everyone who's donated to our district. Really, I love whenever I see that on the agenda.

I think all you do, too.

As I understand it, the policy discussion would be about whether to allow people to attach conditions to their gifts to our school.

Like specifying, I want this money to go to a new playground, for example.

I could see why that might be attractive.

Maybe it will incentivize people to give more gifts to the district.

That would be great.

A word of caution, though. When you allow that, you're allowing what are called conditional gifts. If you crack open a contract's textbook, half the court cases in it are about conditional gifts.

Conditional gifts are lawsuit factories.

You can imagine why.

A conditional gift reverts back to the giver. If you don't meet all the conditions, they might disagree about how you met the conditions.

Maybe you built it with the wrong materials of its playground. Maybe something changed and you can't do the project anymore.

This happens all the time with conditional gifts, which is why most districts prohibit them.

It's why we've always prohibited them. People get angry and they want their money back, right?

So even just talking about an intended purpose for a gift can push you into that conditional gift territory.

Whatever policy you adopt, please just be wary of creating conditional gifts. It's much cleaner if everybody just gives a gift without conditions to our schools. And we don't want to be in complex with our donors who are so generous with their money.

Thank you.

Thank you, everybody, who's given gifts to our district in the past.

Thank you for your time.

Seeing no further hands, I'll throw it to our secretary for correspondence.

I'm going to do that tonight for Julie.

Thank you. The school committee has received 31 pieces of correspondence between April 24th, 2024 at 9 a.m.

and May 7th, 2024 at 4 p.m.

We received many letters from parents and community members who expressed their concerns regarding the decision to combine the positions of Sharon Public Schools Athletic Director and Sharon High School Assistant Principal.

A parent wrote to volunteer to participate in the search for a new high school football coach. Several community members wrote to express their support for the Sharon Outdoor Athletic Facility naming recognition to honor Gary Hall.

The committee also received a copy of the PowerPoint presentation to support this proposal.

A parent wrote to express their concerns regarding the fees for full-day kindergarten and for the structure of the half-day kindergarten program.

The school committee received a reference request for a company that worked on a Sharon Public Schools project. A parent wrote to inquire why the district celebrates Pride Month in the schools.

We received a letter that noted the current 24-25 school year calendar includes both December 23rd and 24th as days off and that neither of those dates are federal holidays.

A parent wrote to inquire about the educational cooperative membership that was discussed at a previous meeting. In particular, this parent wanted more information on the cost savings that could be realized from this membership.

METCO provided several updates via their regular newsletters, which continue to highlight the grant, professional development, and student achievements of the METCO program.

A community member wrote to inquire about access to the environmental studies that were completed during the Sharon High School Building Project. And finally, we received the monthly newsletter of the Sharon High School Library.

Thank you.

Thanks, Veronica.

Do we have an update from a student representative?

If so, please raise your hand.

All right.

Seeing none, I will turn it over to Superintendent Dr. Botello for his update.

Great.

Let me share my screen.

Let's see. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay.

Okay.

First of all, we want to, you know, recognize Teacher Appreciation Week.

We have an extraordinary group of teachers in Sharon, and we thank them deeply for their dedication, skill, care, and service to the students and families of Sharon. And they're just an incredibly special group. I got to work with our PD committee today, and they're just so devoted to learning and service to students and just very, very proud of our teachers.

And we want to, you know, we want to, you know, give them words of thanks and, you know, thank them in any way we can.

As we mentioned last meeting, their end-year activities and field trips and events are in full swing. So, please, you know, check your individual school newsletters to stay informed. As far as our seniors, we have numerous events.

We have the, on May 23rd class night, May 24th, last day of classes on the 28th, senior class trip to Boston, prom on the 29th, field day, yearbook distribution and senior recognition night on the 30th, graduation rehearsal, and senior sunset barbecue, graciously sponsored by IPTSO on Friday the 31st, and then graduation on June 2nd. So, it's right around the corner. So, continue to support our seniors going down the homestretch.

I had the pleasure last Friday of going downstairs in the cafeteria, in the library, in the gym, as students in eighth grade presented their civic showcases.

They did really in-depth projects about numerous issues, both school-related and world-related, whether they be environmental or around social-emotional needs or various things.

It was just a great opportunity for kids to showcase their really live action work. Every group of kids that I spoke to could really speak in-depth about their project, about what they learned, and about how they wanted to help their community going forward.

In addition, I had the opportunity to meet with Ashita Jaswal, grade 11, who, on her own, is doing a civics project called Project ADAPT.

So, this is not part of our school curriculum, but it's something that really benefits our kids. And I'm going to turn it over to her right now and allow her to share her screen so she can share a little bit about her project.

But I had the opportunity to meet with her, and she, as you will see, she has done some very impressive, thoughtful work. So, Ashita, if you're able, you can share your screen and introduce yourself.

Okay, great. Thank you so much.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Ashita Jaswal.

I'm a junior at Sharon High School.

And I'm doing a project, which is to help middle school students, well, fifth graders transition to middle school.

And I helped a lot of fifth graders this year, but I also wanted to help students in other communities and students in the coming years.

So, I put everything that I did in my project in this booklet, which I wanted to share to the community.

So, I'll share that with you guys now.

Dr. Patel, I think your screen is still being shared.

Oh, let me stop sharing. Thank you.

There we go. Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay, so this is my booklet for fifth graders.

This is just some background about where I got this information, which was through research and events that I did this year, as well as professionals that I've talked to.

So, I basically just put in some of the skills that students need to have in middle school.

And I gave some resources for them in this booklet.

So, I talked about how checklists and timetables can be really helpful for kids.

And I explained here why they're helpful and how it can help the students make their lives easier.

And then I also talked about meditation and stress management.

And I explained it here how students can do it.

And as well as like deep breathing.

And yoga and yoga and yoga nidra.

And so, that was just some examples and some resources that students can use.

And then this was also another skill was to maintain happiness.

And this can be done through exercise and development of hobbies.

So, I gave some hobbies over here and I explained on the bottom why these are helpful for students.

And then also a big problem in middle school is the bullying.

And so, I gave some tips to both the parents as well as the students on how they can help themselves with this challenge in middle school.

And so, here were also some frequently asked questions.

And basically, what I wanted from the community was to ask if you guys could, you know, spread awareness of this booklet.

I find it to be very helpful for kids.

And I had gotten a lot of feedback from fifth graders that I worked with this year.

And they said that this project and the skills that they developed made them feel more comfortable with the transition.

And so, if the community can help spread awareness of this booklet and share it to your friends, I will be creating a QR code and posting it around different websites in the community.

I feel like it would be very helpful for everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Ishida.

Could you unshare your screen?

Yes. Sorry.

No, thank you so much. Well, so, Ishida is an awesome kid.

Thank you so much for presenting, but also just for your contributions with thinking about what I was speaking with. Ishida, she talked about, you know, she had experiences in middle school and she thought, what could kids use and parents use in order to navigate their experience more?

And then went out and did like 12 different sessions with kids and parents in order to help them. So, Ishida is going to make a little pamphlet with a QR code.

We'll send it out in the dispatch, but we'll also ask people to promote her work as well.

Okay, so I'm going to jump back on. What's going on?

Okay.

Sorry. I see Shauna has her hand up.

Is that right, Dr. Tulloch?

Oh, yeah, sure.

I know you're looking for something. All right, go ahead, Shauna.

I just wanted to comment to say that that was an absolutely incredible presentation.

I can say as a high school teacher, I think that that would also benefit lots of kids transitioning to ninth grade from middle school.

So, phenomenal job and certainly a resource that many, many kids will benefit from.

Thank you for your hard work.

Thank you. Yeah, we learned so much from her, the work that she shared with me that we're looking to create some modules, you know, in the middle, you know, coming into middle school.

But also, yeah, it's a good idea coming into high school that reflects some of her work.

Okay, so next.

I just want to give some updates on athletics hiring.

So, the athletic director assistant principal position has been posted and a screening committee has been formed.

Initial interviews will begin next week while continuing to accept applications until the position is filled.

The position will need to strongly focus on the athletic director portion of the role in order to ensure that our athletic program is strongly managed and supported.

Yeah, I recognize and appreciate letters of concern regarding the joint position. Certainly, it is not something that we wanted to do, but considering our budget limitations, we needed to make some difficult decisions.

But we'll certainly make sure that our athletics, you know, have a strong leader who will also take on some logical assistant principal responsibilities as well. As far as the high school football coach, the position has been posted and the screening committee has just been formed.

Individuals were actually contacted today.

Interviews will begin after the first round of athletic director interviews, either late next week or early the week of May 20th. The high school administration had met with captains and select parents recently, but, you know, we heard that there was still a lot of parents who, you know, in kids who did not get word through that small meeting.

So, they met with the entire team today to discuss upcoming interview process as well as weight room access. And in that regard, all the waiver forms for well parents and students have been sent out to athletes as well.

As far as the Heights principal hiring process, the screening committee earlier this week met with seven candidates.

The committee is comprised of six teachers, an administrative assistant, assistant principal, special education administrator, and three parents from Heights.

It also has the East Elementary Principal Reynolds, Assistant Superintendent Wittemore, and school committee member Wenteano.

The committee has recommended three candidates for further consideration.

So, the next step, so the candidates will be invited to visit with myself and other members of our leadership team and other key stakeholders next week.

Concurrently, we've already informed them when we'll begin to do some reference checks to speak to people in their districts.

Following these meetings and discussions, my intention is to invite two or all three of the finalists to spend the day in district to visit Heights Elementary School and meet with staff, students, and families in the upcoming weeks.

There will be a mechanism when they do those visits, and those will likely happen the week of May 20th, where stakeholders can share their feedback so we can really, you know, go through that and understand what various stakeholders are thinking.

And the hope is to announce the name of a new principal by Memorial Day week. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

entire year, whether it's for a semester, whether it's for a unit. So they'll have different options to kind of get exposed to the various programs so we can really learn about them firsthand.

We're hoping to have people in all three schools do some piloting of all three programs.

So not only are we doing it throughout the district, but actually within a school, we'll have that perspective.

We also plan to set up some visits to schools already using materials as part of our consideration.

So, you know, these programs, again, highly regarded both with Curate by the department as well as ed reports.

But those mechanisms are important to consider because they do some work. But as I've learned, there are some materials that have been, you know, recommended both by both of those groups that, you know, really have some significant weaknesses.

So we're not just relying just upon kind of a simplistic score by Curate or ed reports.

We're using those as, you know, one factor in our decision, but wanting to really, you know, go through the materials, use them, and evaluate them carefully to make sure that they are the best possible materials to complement our instructional approach to reach higher levels of literacy for all students.

And I think, yeah, that is it for my general updates.

All right, moving right along, still sticking with you here, Dr. Botello.

I think we're at the FY24 Q3 update.

Okay.

Yeah, I'm going to turn that over to Ellen to review that.

Okay, thank you. Can I share my screen?

So the third quarter financial report goes from July 1st, 2023, through March 30th of 2024.

The FY24 appropriated budget at the Springtown meeting of 2023 was $52,405,604.

The FY23 Q3 expended is $33,002,982.

We have encumbered year to date, July 1st, 2023 through March 30th, 2024.

We have an amount of $18,382,477 remaining, and an unencumbered balance of $1,020,145.

As I've cautioned in previous quarter updates, this is not a projected surplus.

These funds will be used to pay substitutes, van drivers, and additional expenses related to district operations that have not already been encumbered.

The general fund expenditure report includes spending through March 30th, 2024.

The year-to-date budget report is generated from our accounting system, Munis. The original appropriation is the approved budget that school committee had voted.

Transfers include any transfers made.

The revised budget is some of the original appropriation and the transfers that have taken place.

The year-to-date expended is actual expenditures posted in Munis, our financial system, through March 30th, 2024.

The encumbrances are actual encumbrances posted in the financial system as of March 30th, 2024. The available budget, again, is the total remaining funds at the time the reports were generated.

And again, the unencumbered balance does not mean that this is a projected surplus.

So when we look at the report by location, cottage has a revised budget of $5,468,726.

Expended year-to-date is $3,327,057, with $2,106,242 encumbered, with a remaining balance of $35,426.

District-wide revised budget was $8,285,499.

We've expended fiscal year-to-date, $5,868,196.

Encumbrance remaining is $1,894,966, with a remaining balance of $522,337.

The revised budget for East Elementary is $5,831,339.

The year-to-date expended is $3,567,438.

We have an encumbrance remaining of $2,228,166, and a remaining balance of $35,735.

At Heights Elementary, the revised budget is $6,718,041.

Year-to-date expended, $4,167,929.

We have a remaining encumbrance amount of $2,478,484, with a remaining balance of $71,628.

At the high school, the revised budget is $14,519,046.

Year-to-date expended is $9,115,819.

The encumbrance remaining is $5,150,555, with a remaining balance of $252,672.

At the middle school, we have a revised budget of $10,550,507, a year-to-date expenditure of $6,345,131, an encumbrance of $4,103,029, and a remaining balance of $102,347.

Our early childhood center has a revised budget of $1,031,941.

Year-to-date expended is $611,192.

The remaining encumbrance is $420,748.

In the elementary district-wide revised budget, there was $505.

Expended was $219.

And there's an encumbrance remaining of $286.

The total revised budget matches our appropriation of $52,405,604.

Year-to-date expended, $33,002,982.

Our encumbrance remaining is $18,382,477.

And our remaining budget balance is $1,020,145.

The next pages in your packet include the detail by department.

Which brings us to the final totals.

For the original appropriation, the revised budget, the year-to-date expended, the encumbrance, and the available budget. As we move towards the close of the fiscal year, we are reviewing all open purchase orders and looking at all the line items in the budget on a weekly basis to ensure that we have all the purchase orders either closed or amended as needed, as well as ensuring that our current expenditures, excuse me, our current encumbrances will meet the projected expenditures for the end of the year.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Are there any questions from the table?

I see Veronica's hand is up. Go ahead, Veronica.

Thanks, Avi. Thank you, Ellen. And thanks, Dr. Botello.

Ellen, could you just explain how that million dollars that's unencumbered, that extra expenditures?

How typical is that for this time in the year? We've got about 90 days left, right, until you close the books on June 30th or July 1st, right? Is that typical, that number?

Is that how you look at that?

Thanks. That number is typical.

When I did the quarter two report, it was right around where I thought it would be and also doing a look back of where we were last year. So this is in line with where I had anticipated we would be this time of year, because as we look forward to the final quarter of the fiscal year, we have school all the way until halfway through June. This amount of money does, you know, is intended for, you know, salaries and payments to employees who are not encumbered.

And those would be our, the van drivers, the substitutes who are in our buildings every day, as well as additional expenditures that the district will need to make related to operations between now and June 30th.

Any other questions from the table? Yes.

All right.

I think the next item, yep, is budget transfers and then a vote to approve budget transfers.

So in your packet was also the transfers for quarter three?

Yep.

Did anybody see any transfers they have a question on?

An issue with?

Go ahead, Veronica. I didn't really have any questions, but I wonder, Ellen, would you mind sharing that page so the community could see the transfers just so that we have, they know what we're voting? Sure.

Thanks.

I think she's been helping. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: I think she's been awake the whole time.

SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Oh, gosh.

Have you just been awake the whole time? Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you.

SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you, Ellen.

I just wanted folks to get a sense of mostly that's a salary and it's a snapshot over the course of time, but it's very typical that these are part of your day-to-day working of our budget document.

So thank you for sharing that. Sure.

Ellen, can you just explain really, really briefly what the biggest driver, like behind why things move and what the biggest, you know, some of those numbers are tiny, some of those numbers are big. Sure. So as the year progresses, we have changes in staffing.

We have IAs that may have transferred programs or left the district.

We have individuals who are out on unpaid leaves of absences.

So there would be salary savings through that as well. We do have professional staff that leave the district during the year as well. And then those offsets and those savings are used to fund the substitute lines as well as other needs. There's movement between, you know, supply lines within maintenance and operations.

We've had some, some custodial staffing changes this year and some positions within maintenance that have, that have gone without being filled.

We've had some movement amongst some teachers and just program to program and just making sure that people are being, you know, paid for out of the appropriate lines and the appropriate places.

Thank you very much. Appreciate that. You're welcome.

All right.

All right. Can I get a motion to approve these budget transfers?

So moved.

Second.

Second.

All right. Shawna?

Yes.

Adam?

Yes.

Gwen?

Yes.

Julie?

Yes.

Veronica?

Yes.

And I'm a yes. Motion carries 6-0. Thank you, Ellen. Thank you, Dr. Botello.

Next up. First discussion item. We have a proposal to dedicate Sharon High School football outdoor athletic facility in honor of Mr. Gary W. Hall. This is a public comment period after which there will be a possible vote to approve the proposal to honor Gary W. Hall.

Are there any public comments?

Any members of the public who wish to comment on this proposal?

I see a handout.

I see a manual hand up. I'm going to go to the manual hand first, and I'm going to come to you, Donald William.

I see a manual hand first, and I'm going to go to the manual hand first, and I'm going to go to the manual hand first, and I'm going to go to the manual hand first. So the screen under George, please start with your first and last name.

George McCall.

Yes, Abby.

I think I've already provided enough for how I feel about this, and I promise not to take up too much time. So obviously I'm for it for all the aforementioned reasons.

Do you have any questions for me at this time?

I do not have any questions.

I will share that one of the correspondents that you had sent was in particular very moving when you shared an experience.

When you were serving and defending our country and had a moment where you credit Mr. Hall and the physical fitness regimen that he had put you through with your ability to save multiple other young men.

So that was particularly touching to me. And again, I know I thanked you last time, but we all thank you for your service.

Thank you much, sir.

Of course.

Did you have something also, sir? I don't, but Mr. Bergeron, the Veterans Administration does. Paul Bergeron, if I may.

Yes.

It's obvious that I am supporting it, but I don't know what the procedure is, nor do I know how it could be accomplished.

But I feel that if you could authorize the placement of this documentation in the Sharon High School Library so that future students and others could be aware of what a prior staff member, teacher accomplished for the community as well as the school.

I feel it's a great resource for somebody in the future to be able to access it.

Thank you.

Absolutely. So that isn't within the authority of this body, but certainly we can connect you and work with you to communicate with building administration.

I'm sure Principal Keenan and Superintendent Dr. Botello will be more than interested in having that conversation and figuring out how that can be accommodated.

Thank you, sir. Absolutely. Absolutely.

All right.

Seeing no more public comment.

Do I have a motion?

So moved.

Yep.

Just to be clear, a motion to approve the dedication of Sharon High School Football Outdoor Athletic Facility in honor of former Sharon educator, Mr. Gary W. Hall.

Second.

All right. Veronica.

Yes.

Shauna.

Yes.

Adam.

Yes.

When.

Yes.

Yes.

Julie.

Yes.

And I'm a yes. Motion carries 6-0.

Thank you all very much for your hard work on this proposal.

Thank you to the committee for honoring Mr. Hall.

Thank you. Thank you most importantly to Mr. Hall and his family for their dedication to Sharon Public Schools.

It's an honor for us to honor him.

Thank you.

All right. Next up, we have special education and student services update and discussion.

Yeah, we're going to turn it over to Jessica Murphy, who's going to present this.

Thank you, Jessica. You are welcome.

Let me just share my screen. Thank you. Thank you so much. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you.

Hi, everybody.

Thanks for having me.

And I'm going to apologize in advance for any yelling and swearing that might go on in the background at my house, because there's some playoff something going on in the other room. So I'm not quite sure what the large adult men in my house are going to be yelling.

So I'm sorry.

So student services update.

I'm going to preface this with the vast majority, if not all of it, is related to special education, which is really the bulk of what I do. But for those of you who don't know me, I am the student services director.

I oversee counseling, nursing, and special education.

So when I sat down to look at where we're at in special education, I really felt like I had to look at the current trends and really share those with all of you.

Things I see every day still continue to astound me following the pandemic.

It's not all pandemic related, but doing this job for 20 years, it is really that line in the sand for me of this big shift in special education needs.

There was already a rise of mental health needs, as well as students with complex medical and cognitive needs coming into schools that we might not have seen 20 years ago, which is so great.

But the face of special ed is changing.

So here in Sharon, as well as nationally, we do see a high number of referrals.

They continued last year and over the past couple of years, we've seen them rise. I will share that in a later slide.

We also see a high number of students unable to attend school for a variety of reasons, but mostly due to social emotional needs that were probably already something that kids were dealing with. But then the isolation and the separation from school really exacerbated it. And there's kids that we have not been able to get back into our buildings because of it.

Students nationally are still impacted by the learning loss from the COVID-19 pandemic.

And we've seen an increase in behavioral and social emotional needs at all levels, even with our littlest, cutest little buttons of learners down at the ECC. We have seen a tremendous, and I can't emphasize this enough, a tremendous increase in students at ECC in general, compounded with students with significant needs.

Just to shed some light to it, our ECC referrals have more than tripled from pre-pandemic numbers.

So before I got here, I think our three-year average of referrals was somewhere around 30 a year.

If you average three years, we're well up into the 80s and 90s when we look at kids that are being referred.

And like other districts, both in Massachusetts and nationally, we are still having ongoing staffing difficulties district-wide, both with finding candidates and keeping candidates for whatever reason.

It's not just a Sharon thing.

It is really an education-wide issue.

One of the, an article I read, and unfortunately I couldn't go find it again when I went back to make this presentation, was in Massachusetts in, I think it was in 2019, 20 school year. There were 21,000 college-age students in teacher education prep programs, and last year there was 8,900.

So there's less people going into the field and more people leaving the field earlier than they expected.

But going back to really looking at the impact of COVID-19 and on special ed, I came across an article in EdWeek that looked at the data that really, really emphasizes that the interrupted learning time in that initial time of school shutdowns, which seems so long ago, but was only just a couple of years ago, has become what they're considering compounding debt. We haven't been able to close that gap of what was missed and the learning progress that kids should or would have made had we not had those initial shutdowns and closures and creating gaps that have made it even harder for these students to move forward.

One of the quotes that, there's two quotes this slide and the next slide that were, that really stuck out to me. Now, looking back, I think it was naive to expect to have seen large increases this year.

Referring to 2023, Lewis said, one of the authors, there's been this rush to return to normal, and I wonder if we've returned to normal too quickly and if classroom instruction has not adapted.

Meaning, we've gone from pandemic to where we thought we should be without addressing a lot of the learning need.

And it's not a criticism, it's really just an is, and we've seen that impact on special ed tremendously.

So, I can read it all out loud to you, but basically, they talked about how the manifestation of COVID as enduring health complications, it's also shown that the pandemic continues to impact students' academic progress, even three years later now after the initial onset of COVID-19.

And that achievement gains in the 2020 school year lagged pre-pandemic trends, but the youngest cohort of students.

So, we're just now getting students that were born after the initial closures because we start public school at age three.

But what I really found and really stuck out to me and I bolded it, the average student will require 4.1 months of additional schooling to catch up to pre-COVID levels of reading and 4.5 months in math. So, it's just a way to lay sort of the tablecloth, if you will, of what special ed is dealing with.

Because as the gaps widen, students' needs are increasing.

So, looking at the trajectory of referrals for special education and eligibility, they're on the rise.

And if you look at, you can't see my hand, but I'm pointing to my screen.

The ones up top from 2018-19, those were, in 2018-19, we had approximately 87, I'm sorry, 57 referrals during 19-20.

I started in July 2019, but we closed in March 13th of 2020.

We had 48 referrals.

The following year, our hybrid year, we jumped up by about 30 to approximately 72 referrals.

And these numbers are all approximate.

They're numbers I pulled out of our special ed information system.

And they might be off by some here or there, depending how things were coded when a finding was made.

But it gives you a good sense of it. In 2021, our first full year return, we jumped up to 114 referrals.

This does not include re-evaluations.

This is purely initial referrals.

Last year, we were at 146 referrals.

And this year, and this number is accurate, as of May 2nd, when I ran the number, we were at 147.

The referrals keep coming.

They won't all get finished this year.

But at the end of the year, I expect that we will be probably at about 170 referrals.

Again, that isn't all students that are eligible, but purely students that are referred for special ed eligibility.

So those are students that have been evaluated or are in the process of being evaluated right now for this 147 number.

So the numbers by year for IEPs.

And this year, Sharon worked with NASDAQ.

Each year puts together a special ed trend report for each district.

And we worked and provided a five-year set of data points that they asked for. And I'll share some of those so that we can track them. And each year, we just add, we'll add the new numbers.

So everything is based on one data point in time.

And typically, everything that we report is based on our October 1 report.

So keep in mind, the first numbers I'm sharing are earlier in the school year than the actual number as of today.

But in the 2019-20 school year, as of October 1, we had 484 students.

We've gone up by, with the exception of the 2021 school year, we've gone up by 30 kids in jumps.

And as of May 5, 2024, when I ran the number, we were at 688 IEPs.

We will not be at 688 come October 1 because we have students that move.

We have all of our graduating class, all of those numbers come out.

Students that leave and go to the tech schools.

So that number does drop drastically.

But it will be higher than 562. So when we look at the breakdown of the types of disabilities and the numbers that were percentages that we're dealing with in Sharon, we have 16.7%

of our students on IEPs have their primary disability listed as autism.

9% are listed with their primary disability as communication.

They might also have autism, but their primary identifying disability would be communication.

developmental delay is 13.1%.

And it's important to note that developmental delay is not the medical developmental delay.

It is purely for students ages 3 through 9 that are lagging behind their peers.

Once a student turns 9, they must be classified in another one of the disability categories or they're no longer eligible for special education.

The number that jumped out at me the most is our health impairments, which is what ADHD falls under.

And we're at 21.1%

of our students on IEPs fall under what we call an other health impairment.

Our specific learning disability is at 19%. And our lower disability areas are deaf and hard of hearing are at 0.3%.

A neurological impairment, 6.7%.

Multiple disabilities, 0.7%.

Intellectual impairments, 1.9%.

And our emotional impairment, again, as a primary disability is at 11.3%.

But often they don't act in silence.

So a student with emotional impairment may also have a communication impairment and a specific learning disability.

But it's really looking at what their primary disability area is. One of the things that I wanted to point out for everybody, because it is a national conversation, is that the number of students with disabilities that have autism has jumped dramatically from just shy of 5% in 2008, 2009 to 13% nationally in 22, 23. And the CDC data shows that one in about every 36 children has been identified with an autism spectrum disorder.

So in looking at our special education enrollment by school, SWD stands for students with disabilities.

One of the best resources, if you ever want to compare sharing to other districts or like districts or looking at our own data, you can find it all on DESE School Profiles.

I do have a link on it, but it's profiles.doe.mass.edu.

And it has a plethora of information.

But it's all based on our SIMS information.

So it's information that we have provided to the state that they publish in their district profile.

So again, it is typically done based on the October 1 report.

So please take some of these numbers with a grain of salt.

But at Early Childhood Center, at the time we had 56 total enrollment with 64.5% of students with disabilities.

Typically, Early Childhood Centers are a 50-50 split based on community peers, students that enroll as community peers, students without disabilities, and students that are there on their IEP.

And Cod Street School at the time of this report had 440 students enrolled with 18.2% of students with disabilities.

Cod Street School does house our DLP program.

But that number of students would not make a huge significant percentage change in the number of students with disabilities at that school.

East Elementary, at the time of the report, had 485 total enrollment with 12.7% of students with disabilities.

Again, each school does house at least one program elementary-wise.

And the LEAP program grades 2 to 5 is at least.

And that is also factored into that percentage.

Heights Elementary, at the time of this report, had 542 total enrollment and was at 17.5% of students with disabilities.

And they house two of our programs. They house our Autism SOAR program, which is a two-class K-5 program, as well as our team-based learning, TBL, which is also a two-class program, which is also K-5. Sharon Middle School houses all of our programs at that level.

Well, because it's our only middle school.

And at the time of the report, there was 807 students with 16.1% of students with disabilities.

Sharon High School had 1,132 with 14.4%

of students with disabilities.

When all is said and done, at the time of report, the district had 3,436 students totally enrolled with, excuse me, students with disabilities at 17.4%.

So looking at our out-of-district placements, they do change the two different charts.

They are from the NASDAQ report. NASDAQ breaks it out as they call out-of-outplaced students, students that are in approved day or residential programs, and they separate collaboratives from that.

As a district, we see that all as one number.

Anyone that's in a collaborative or an approved 766 school is considered an out-of-district placement.

As of May 5th, 2024, we have 55 students.

Again, that number does change.

Each year, based on graduation, moving, and kids that might come back to the district.

So based on the October 1st report from 2019-20, when we had 37 students out of district, and on October 1st, 2023, for the 23-24 school year, we had 48.

This is just a reminder of all of our programs.

The early childhood center meets the needs of all disabilities.

Children, regardless of disability, are eligible to attend there.

The SOAR program at Heights works with students with autism spectrum disorders and related disabilities.

TBL, the team-based learning program, works with mental health disorders, emotional impairments, and generally externalizing behaviors.

And we have a K-5 program, a K-5 program, a K-5 program, a K-5 program, a K-6 program, and a K-9 program. And a K-12 program.

Bridges is a program that joins two elementary programs.

It is for students with autism spectrum disorders and related disabilities, intellectual impairments, and global delays.

Students from the DLP, which I'll talk about in one second, and SOAR feed into Bridges.

And it's run by two teachers.

And that's how it's solely at Sharon Middle School.

The LEAP program is a district-wide program.

It's for students with language-based learning needs and disabilities.

We have a 2-5 program at EAST, 6-8 at the middle school, and 9-12 at the high school.

The developmental learning program at EAST is for students with intellectual impairments and global delays.

And it's a K-5 program.

Again, it feeds into the Bridges program.

At the high school level, we have our RISE program, which is on the continuum of our autism spectrum disorder and related disability strand.

It is for students that are on an MCAS track that take the on-demand test.

We also have the Pathways program, which also works with students coming up. Both RISE and Pathways are students that come out of Bridges at the high school level.