School Committee - October 09, 2024
School Committee, 10/9/24 - Meeting Summary
Date: 10/9/2024
Type: School Committee
Generated: September 13, 2025 at 06:08 PM
AI Model: Perplexity
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Meeting Metadata
- Date & time: October 9, 2024; remote meeting conducted via video teleconferencing (Zoom)
- Location / format: Remote via Zoom consistent with COVID-19 remote meeting laws
- Attendees (by role; absences not stated):
• Avi Shemtov, Chair
• Dan Newman, Vice Chair
• Allan Motenko, Secretary
• Jeremy Kay, Member
• Georgeann Lewis, Member (no remarks recorded)
• Julie Rowe, Member (no remarks recorded)
• Adam Shain, Member
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Agenda Overview
- Superintendent’s opening remarks regarding October 7, 2023 message
- Community comments on various topics including gender identity policy, curriculum content, and staffing shortages in the Developmental Learning Program (DLP)
- Correspondence summary since last meeting
- Student representative update on school events and activities
- Superintendent’s update including MCAS results, enrollment data, substitute teacher proposal, bullying prevention efforts, and upcoming calendar dates
- Subcommittee questions and discussion of substitute teacher proposal
- Presentation of early childhood and elementary school improvement plans
- Presentation on professional development landscape by Dr. Jocelyn
- Presentation of FY26 budget calendar and capital outlay requests by Assistant Superintendent Ellen Winmore
- Questions and discussion about budget calendar and capital plan
- Policy subcommittee chair resignation and re-appointment
- Executive session on collective bargaining and related votes (cafeteria workers, custodial staff, administrative assistants)
- Adjournment
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Major Discussions
Topic: Superintendent’s October 7 Message and Community Feedback What triggered the discussion: Superintendent’s opening comments addressing feedback on his October 7, 2023 communication. Key points debated:
- Superintendent expressed appreciation for feedback and pledged to learn and improve communication.
- Emphasized care for all students and families; acknowledged impact of message regardless of intent. Member Contributions & Stances:
- All members present listened during opening; no debate recorded. Areas of Agreement/Disagreement:
- General acknowledgment of the importance of thoughtful communication and community listening. Outcome / Next steps:
- Superintendent to continue seeking trusted diverse perspectives in future communications.
Topic: Community Comments on District Issues What triggered the discussion: Public comment period. Key points debated:
- Concerns about school policies on withholding student gender identity information from parents and related parental rights and mandated reporting procedures.
- Criticism of 9th-grade novel selections and curriculum choices, questioning literary quality and equity goals.
- Serious concerns about staffing shortages in the Developmental Learning Program, including violation of special education laws and unmet student needs. Member Contributions & Stances:
- Committee members did not respond directly during comments but Superintendent and Chair responded with staffing update (teacher candidate interviewed).
- Some acknowledgement that staffing shortages are a systemic issue needing immediate attention. Areas of Agreement/Disagreement:
- Agreement on urgency to fill DLP positions, though systemic challenges remain. Outcome / Next steps:
- Staffing position posted and candidate promising; ongoing efforts to resolve shortages.
Topic: Substitute Teacher Proposal What triggered the discussion: Superintendent’s report with a proposal to raise substitute pay rates and add building substitutes. Key points debated:
- Proposal to increase daily substitute rate from $100 to $110 and building substitute rate from $120 to $125.
- Add one building sub at middle school and two at high school.
- National shortage of substitutes impacting district.
- Discussion about cost offsets, budget impact, and alternative staffing plans including full-time building-based substitutes.
- Clarity provided on substitute work expectations (mostly daily but not full-time benefits-eligible). Member Contributions & Stances:
- Avi raised concerns about overall budget prioritization and need for transparency on total sub budget and usage.
- Shauna sought clarifications on substitute role and pay structure.
- Adam supported proposal and requested data on sub gaps and coverage.
- Alan emphasized budget trade-offs and suggested full-time substitutes for each school level as a long-term goal.
- Jeremy and Dan participated with questions; no opposition voiced. Areas of Agreement/Disagreement:
- Agreement to address sub shortage and consider proposal.
- Avi concerned about prioritization within budget limits; others focused on urgent need for subs. Outcome / Next steps:
- Proposal to be formally presented at next meeting; further data to be provided.
Topic: Early Childhood and Elementary School Improvement Plans What triggered the discussion: Scheduled school improvement plan presentations. Key points debated:
- Goals focused on academic excellence, social-emotional learning (SEL), diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), and family engagement.
- Emphasis on student-centered learning, social-emotional behavioral multi-tiered system of support, and inclusion practices.
- Use of data (Indicator 7 for SEL) and ongoing parent involvement efforts.
- Discussion on measurement of progress and challenges particularly in culture and belonging. Member Contributions & Stances:
- Stacia Lamond presented ECC goals and progress.
- Elementary principals (Dr. Reynolds, Mr. Madden, Ms. Farrell) presented goals and strategies.
- Avi urged the need for deeper look into culture issues beyond surface presentations, referencing past complaints.
- Alan asked about measuring parental involvement and data used.
- Jeremy requested clearer metrics and strategic objective review.
- Adam supported data-driven improvements and tracking both macro and micro indicators. Areas of Agreement/Disagreement:
- Broad agreement on value of goals; Avi stressed need to address underlying cultural issues seriously. Outcome / Next steps:
- Plans to use more explicit survey tools for measuring belonging; school committee to revisit progress later.
Topic: Professional Development Landscape What triggered the discussion: Presentation by Dr. Jocelyn on early release day PD plan. Key points debated:
- Framework aligns PD with district and school improvement plans with specific adult learning goals.
- PD content is practical and relevant, targeted to multiple staff roles.
- Continuous feedback to improve sessions; PD points offered to staff.
- Focus on literacy, student-centered learning; potential training on curriculum once selected. Member Contributions & Stances:
- Dan inquired if focus includes certification supports; presenter described reimbursement and PD points aiding certification maintenance.
- Adam praised the approach for strategic capacity building. Areas of Agreement/Disagreement:
- Agreement on value of thoughtful, aligned PD approach. Outcome / Next steps:
- PD landscape to be distributed to staff; periodic updates to committee promised.
Topic: FY26 Budget Calendar and Capital Outlay Request What triggered the discussion: Presentation of draft budget calendar and capital requests by Assistant Superintendent Ellen Winmore. Key points debated:
- Calendar aligns budget process milestones with town administrator.
- Capital requests include technology replacements (devices, projectors), facilities maintenance (ceilings, walls, fire alarm, HVAC), security enhancements, vehicles replacement, athletic equipment.
- Discussion on planning for curriculum material purchases with possible capital funding in future years.
- Proposal discussed to shift special education vans fleet replacement to a more regular schedule to reduce repair costs.
- Clarifications on wireless access points replacement and stadium netting provided. Member Contributions & Stances:
- Avi urged earlier sharing of initial budget before priorities for better public understanding.
- Alan and Avi shared support for fleet replacement plan and curriculum capital funding discussion.
- Adam asked clarifying questions on technology and facilities items. Areas of Agreement/Disagreement:
- General agreement on need for strategic capital planning and transparency. Outcome / Next steps:
- Feedback on calendar requested before next meeting.
- Updated capital requests to be presented October 30.
- Discussion about curriculum and fleet replacement to continue in capital outlay meetings.
Topic: Policy Subcommittee Chair Resignation and Replacement What triggered the discussion: Shauna’s request to step down as chair. Key points debated:
- Shauna to remain as a member but not chair due to personal reasons.
- Dan volunteered to serve as new chair; Alan supported. Member Contributions & Stances:
- Shauna requested stepping down.
- Dan and Alan offered support. Areas of Agreement/Disagreement:
- Agreement to accept Dan as chair. Outcome / Next steps:
- Dan appointed policy subcommittee chair by committee vote.
Topic: Collective Bargaining and Contract Approvals (Executive Session Follow-up) What triggered the discussion: Executive session on labor negotiations and contracts. Key points debated:
- Motions to approve contracts with cafeteria workers, custodial staff, administrative assistants.
- Authorization to begin negotiations with food service workers. Member Contributions & Stances:
- All members voted unanimously in favor of motions. Areas of Agreement/Disagreement:
- Unanimous agreement. Outcome / Next steps:
- Contracts approved; negotiations authorized.
- Votes (Substantive items only)
Motion: Approve minutes of September 11, 2024 meeting
Result: Passed unanimously (7-0)
Roll-call by member:
- Avi — Yes
- Alan — Yes
- Julie — Not stated (no roll call recorded)
- Jeremy — Yes
- Georgeann — Not stated (no roll call recorded)
- Adam — Yes
- Dan — Yes
(Note: Only six roll calls recorded; Julie and Georgeann’s recorded votes not stated in transcript.)
Motion: Approve High School Honors Select Choir Festival of Music trip (New Jersey, April, overnight)
Result: Passed unanimously (7-0)
Roll-call by member:
- Avi — Yes
- Alan — Yes
- Jeremy — Yes
- Adam — Yes
- Dan — Yes
- Shauna — Yes
- Julie — Not stated (no roll call recorded)
Motion: Approve High School Student Television Network national convention trip (February–March, out of state)
Result: Passed unanimously (7-0)
Roll-call by member:
- Avi — Yes
- Alan — Yes
- Jeremy — Yes
- Adam — Yes
- Dan — Yes
- Shauna — Yes
- Julie — Not stated
Motion: Approve High School Model United Nations Conference trip at Brown University (November)
Result: Passed unanimously (7-0)
Roll-call by member:
- Avi — Yes
- Alan — Yes
- Jeremy — Yes
- Adam — Yes
- Dan — Yes
- Shauna — Yes
- Julie — Not stated
Motion: Approve Photography Students’ trip to RISD Art Museum (October, out of state overnight)
Result: Passed unanimously (7-0)
Roll-call by member:
- Avi — Yes
- Alan — Yes
- Jeremy — Yes
- Adam — Yes
- Dan — Yes
- Shauna — Yes
- Julie — Not stated
Motion: Approve cafeteria workers contract as presented
Result: Passed unanimously (7-0)
Roll-call by member:
- Avi — Yes
- Alan — Not stated
- Jeremy — Yes
- Adam — Yes
- Dan — Yes
- Shauna — Yes
- Julie — Not stated
Motion: Approve custodial staff contract as presented
Result: Passed unanimously (7-0)
Roll-call by member:
- Avi — Yes
- Alan — Yes
- Jeremy — Yes
- Adam — Yes
- Dan — Yes
- Shauna — Yes
- Julie — Not stated
Motion: Approve Memorandum of Agreement with administrative assistants
Result: Passed unanimously (7-0)
Roll-call by member:
- Avi — Yes
- Alan — Yes
- Jeremy — Yes
- Adam — Yes
- Dan — Yes
- Shauna — Yes
- Julie — Not stated
Motion: Authorize administration to begin negotiations with food service workers (ASME)
Result: Passed unanimously (7-0)
Roll-call by member:
- Avi — Yes
- Alan — Yes
- Jeremy — Yes
- Adam — Yes
- Dan — Yes
- Shauna — Not stated
- Julie — Not stated
Motion: Approve Dan as chair of policy subcommittee
Result: Passed unanimously (7-0)
Roll-call by member:
- Avi — Yes
- Alan — Yes
- Jeremy — Yes
- Adam — Yes
- Dan — Yes
- Shauna — Yes
- Julie — Not stated
Motion: Adjourn meeting
Result: Passed unanimously (7-0)
Roll-call by member:
- Avi — Yes
- Alan — Yes
- Jeremy — Yes
- Adam — Yes
- Dan — Yes
- Shauna — Yes
- Julie — Not stated
- Presentations Without Discussion (Brief)
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Early Childhood Center (ECC) School Improvement Plan: Goals on letter ID mastery, number sense, social-emotional growth (Indicator 7), diversity, equity, inclusion, and parent involvement; use of progress monitoring and data collection.
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Elementary Schools (Cottage, East, Heights) Improvement Plans: Focus on student-centered learning with piloted ELA curricula, social-emotional behavioral multi-tiered support, and DEI to improve school climate and parental involvement; implementation of restorative justice pilot.
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Professional Development Landscape by Dr. Jocelyn: Outline of planned early release PD sessions aligned to district goals with adult learning objectives; emphasis on literacy and student-centered learning; use of staff feedback and PD points for licensure.
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FY26 Budget Calendar and Capital Outlay Requests by Assistant Superintendent Ellen Winmore: Presentation of budget milestone timeline aligned with town; technology and facilities capital needs; proposed gradual vehicle fleet replacement plan; preliminary capital requests at $1.8 million scale.
- Action Items & Follow-Ups
- Superintendent to provide formal substitute teacher pay increase proposal with detailed budget impact at the next meeting.
- School committee to review and provide feedback on draft FY26 budget calendar by next meeting.
- Administration to continue refining FY26 capital outlay requests and present updated data on October 30.
- Policy subcommittee chair role transitioned to Dan Newman.
- Open Questions / Items Deferred
- Discussion on expanding building-based substitutes to full-time benefit-eligible roles deferred to future budget discussions.
- Further review of parental involvement data and district strategic objectives to be scheduled.
- Monitoring of bullying reports and strategies to continue through the year with data shared with committee.
- Future discussion on potential capital outlay funding for large curriculum purchases.
- Fleet replacement plan discussions to continue with town capital outlay committee.
- Appendices (Optional)
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Glossary:
• ECC: Early Childhood Center
• DLP: Developmental Learning Program
• SEL: Social Emotional Learning
• DEI: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
• PD: Professional Development
• FY26: Fiscal Year 2026
• MCAS: Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System -
Referenced documents: Draft FY26 budget calendar; FY26 capital request slides; school improvement plans for ECC and elementary schools; professional development landscape document (all embedded in meeting materials).
Document Metadata
- Original Transcript Length: 108,280 characters
- Summary Word Count: 2,227 words
- Compression Ratio: 7.1:1
- Transcript File:
School-Committee_10-9-2024_e97bce9b.wav
Transcript and Video
Welcome to the October 9th, 2024 School Committee Meeting.
This open meeting of the Sharon School Committee is being conducted remotely, consistent with an act relative to extending certain COVID-19 measures adapted during the state of emergency signed into law on June 16, 2021, as amended and extended through March of 2025.
These provisions allow public bodies to meet remotely as long as reasonable public access is afforded so the public can follow along with the deliberations of the meeting.
For this meeting, the school committee of the school committee, we are convening by video teleconferencing via Zoom.
Members of the public have been provided with access information so that they can follow the meeting remotely.
All votes will be conducted via roll call.
So typically, we begin with community comment, but I would like Peter Vitello, our superintendent, would like to say a few words first.
Thank you, Julie.
I just want to make a comment on the message that I sent out on Monday regarding October 7, 2023.
I received some feedback from members of the community and had lots of conversations with both colleagues, family members, friends, and just wanted to comment, especially on the feedback that I received.
I very much appreciate and accept totally the constructive, heartfelt feedback that I have received from several members of the community, as well as the grace extended by some, including some of those who know me well and also some who do not. As a superintendent who earnestly cares for all of our students and families, a father of two children, a son of a Jewish descent, and a person with close friends and family connected to and living in Israel, I did not intend the message the way it was felt by many. However, I understand the impact.
That impact is more important than intent, and I regret the impact that it had.
I appreciate the feedback and perspective I've received and pledge to learn from it. I, too, when I think back to last year, was saddened and outraged by the horrific attacks on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and do not in any way mean to diminish how that day, in particular, and its memory has caused pain for the Jewish members of our Sharon Public Schools community.
In future communications, I will continue to attempt to demonstrate love and empathy for all in our community, while working to analyze the impact of my words more carefully, and widening my net of trusted folks of varying perspectives that I rely on to discuss and grapple with the topics that affect all of us in our community.
Again, I thank people for their feedback, and definitely pledge to learn from it.
So I just wanted to start with that.
Thank you, Peter.
And that was very well said.
I'm going to take a little bit out of order.
I'm going to call on David Baskin for our first community comment.
You have two minutes, David.
Thank you, Julie.
Dr. Patello, I just wanted to say thank you.
I think that this is sorely needed, and I appreciate your ability to listen and understand our feedback.
So I just wanted to say from my perspective, gratitude and thanks.
That's it. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you, David.
Casey McLaughlin.
Casey.
Can you hear me?
There you go. I can't start my video.
Okay.
I wanted to say, I wanted to ask, actually, what is our current policy regarding school personnel who feel entitled to hide a student's gender identity from their parents?
There is a safe schools program for LGBTQ on the DOE website.
But it's pretty vague. Let me be clear.
If you're withholding information from parents regarding the mental health of their own children, you're violating their parental rights.
A 2015 NIH report shows dramatically elevated rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidality among transgender people. Autism and past sexual trauma are also frequent comorbidities.
This is not as simple as Johnny is Jane now, but don't tell mom and dad.
Let's break it down. Who determines that the child's home is an unsafe space?
Should schools screen parents to make sure that they're in line with the current LGBTQ dogma and push to remove that child from the harm of that home environment?
If a child admits that they're exploring their newfound sexuality in an online chat forum with potential predators, is that also withheld?
What about the disclosure of past sexual trauma or current abuse?
Is that withheld from the parent?
If the suicidality is connected to this new gender identity, is that withheld?
Who does the mandated reporter report to? Another administrator?
DCF?
Is this all behind the parent's back?
Gender dysphoria is a psychiatric condition.
On what grounds are school personnel allowed to diagnose a child? If a child experiences body dysmorphia and develops anorexia or bulimia, the parent would be notified to get medical treatment for that child.
But gender dysphoria is okay to keep hidden from that same parent?
Make it make sense.
The bottom line is this. If you don't appear on the birth certificate or in my divorce agreement, and you're not paying your portion of all of their expenses, and if you're not authorized to see, diagnose, and treat my child, then you have no right to play make pretend co-parent.
I suggest you make this very clear to the entire staff at Sharon Public Schools and the entire community at large.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Ms.
McLaughlin.
And that was a nice flourish, Adam, wherever that came from. So next we have Mira Belenke.
Hi, thank you.
And I want to start by thanking Dr. Botello for his very nice message.
It was very heartfelt, and I really appreciate that. I'm here to actually talk about a slightly different issue.
Sharon, ninth graders, will read five novels this year.
One is a graphic novel by Star Trek actor George Takei that Amazon advertises for nine-year-olds.
So that leaves four novels.
Another one of them is up on the screen as my virtual background.
Oh.
Can you please start my video?
Because I can't start, turn on my camera. All right, so while you're doing that.
So the official goal of the English department is to introduce students to a diverse array of texts.
These book choices send...
Oh, sorry. Sorry.
Can you restart my timer?
Because I just lost half my time.
But being muted.
Give her another minute.
So Sharon, ninth graders, will read five novels this year. As I said, one is a graphic novel by Star Trek actor George Takei that Amazon advertises for nine-year-olds.
Another one is up on the screen. The official goal of the English department is to introduce students to a diverse array of texts.
These books' choices send kids a very strong message about diversity.
They say that out of all the books written by or about minorities, this is the best we found.
So according to our English department, the best book about autism follows the main character to the bathroom at every opportunity.
Was this really the best choice?
I thought about reading it out loud to you, but I decided I have a little too much self-respect for that. Instead, I'm going to read you an excerpt of a different book, an autobiography by an autistic woman named Temple Grandin, who revolutionized the livestock industry.
I think in pictures.
When somebody speaks to me, his words are instantly translated into pictures.
Language-based thinkers often find this phenomenon difficult to understand.
But in my job as an equipment designer for the livestock industry, visual thinking is a tremendous advantage.
We all have choices. This committee has the power to approve and reject the curriculum.
You can't choose individual books, but you can take a look at the syllabus as a whole and say whether there's grade level and meets district goals.
You set those goals.
Reading a diverse array of texts is a really low bar. You're out of time, Mira.
Thank you.
Okay.
Allison Sobel. Okay. Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Alright. Okay.
Thank you. Alright. Okay. Alright. Okay. Karen. Hi. Sorry, I'm on someone else's computer. This is Beth Anne Durrell.
I have a fourth grader in the developmental learning program at Cottage and a first grader and I wanted to share a letter on behalf of all of the parents from the DLP program.
We hope that you are aware of the staffing shortage in the DLP classroom.
Currently, the DLP classroom serves 11 students ranging in age from 5 to 10 years of age and is staffed by a single special education teacher.
As far as we are aware, eligible students assigned to instructional groupings outside of the general education classroom should have groupings that do not exceed eight students to one certified special education teacher.
And the ages of the youngest and oldest student in any instructional grouping should not differ by more than 48 months.
We believe that the DLP classroom is not in compliance with the special education laws.
The school has been aware of this problem since mid-August of this year and sent out first written communication of the staffing shortage on September 12th.
Not only is the program missing a full-time SPED teacher, the program was missing two instructional assistants, which could be partially due to the contract issues or pay.
Almost four weeks later, we have been provided with no updates and no viable solutions for our children who are being under-deserved.
The parents of this classroom have written emails to the superintendent, school principal, and director of student services with limited communication.
In a letter from the director of student services on September 12th, we were assured that the individual needs of the children in the DLP program are being met. We have not been provided with any objective data to support this claim.
We are increasingly concerned that the staffing shortage is leading to violations of individual IEP mandates and that the individual needs of these students are not being met.
Many of us moved to Sharon for the educational services.
However, the school system is failing its most vulnerable students.
We are disappointed that the school committee has not made this a priority, and we ask that the staffing shortage at the DLP be added to the agenda at school committee meetings until a solution is provided.
We're pretty frustrated. Bethann, Bethann, thank you. I'm very sorry to interrupt you. No, I'm done.
I'm done.
Okay, I just, we actually have some news for you, and I'll let Peter tell you the news.
Peter, if you want to. Yeah, we posted the position when the opening occurred and have been seeking candidates and had a candidate in today that was, did very, very well, and I've already checked references.
So we're hopeful as far as the teacher opening that we'll have that filled, you know, very, very quickly.
Yeah, I think that's fantastic.
I know we need to fill these positions.
I'm just going to say it, that this is a systemic issue.
I know I have a child in a sub-separate program.
Bethann, I'm sorry, Bethann.
You can't, we can't go back and forth. Okay.
I apologize.
I'm sorry.
Okay.
Are there any other public comments?
Nope. Okay.
Shauna, are you ready to do the correspondence?
Yep.
All right.
All right. So, the school committee has received 36 pieces of correspondence between September 11th, 2024 at 9 a.m. and October 9th, 2024 at 9 a.m.
A parent wrote to acquire about the room assignments for non-binary students who may be attending the Thompson Island field trip.
A parent wrote to share information with the school committee regarding the implementation of the new Title IX regulations in light of recent court case and injunction.
A representative from Massachusetts State DCF shared information with the school committee regarding Stryer Academy.
A community member wrote to share information on a program that provides opportunities to create healthier food choices for students.
The high school library media specialist shared two editions of the Sharon High School Library newsletter in the school committee.
The newsletter highlighted featured library acquisitions, statistics on SHS library services, and introduced the library interns. The school committee was copied on a letter sent to Fred Turkington, town administrator from the MSBA, which summarized information on the SHS building project construction change orders. We received several updates and newsletters from METCO.
These updates highlighted a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, promoted free forums for the history of busing and desegregation in Boston, identified grants available to educators to support equity in schools, celebrated METCO board members recognized in the Boys and Girls Club of America alumni Hall of Fame, parents and students who wrote to school committee to share their concerns regarding staffing and vacancies in the DLP program at Cottage Elementary School.
The letter requested that the district focus on the urgency of the matter to ensure that students in the DLTP program can be appropriately supported with staffing and proper coverage.
A parent wrote to request that the school committee share information regarding the 25-26 school year calendar as soon as possible.
The League of Women Voters wrote to share information on student membership and provide resources on high school voter registration drives. Several families wrote to provide feedback on Sharon High School's updated absence procedures.
This feedback focused on college visit protocols and nursing staff protocols for students who become sick during the day.
A parent wrote to share information with the school committee on the sex ed opt-out regulations.
The school committee was copied on an email sent to Dr. Votelo and the SHS principal that shared information on a situation regarding verbal harassment of students.
The school committee received a request to share more detailed information on the METCO updates that are received by the school committee, which, thank you, Jane, I think that we just hit that up above.
A parent wrote to ask for additional clarification regarding the certification of halal meals that are being offered through the food service department.
The school committee was copied on an email sent to the principal of Sharon High School regarding the school council ballots and election timing.
The Sharon committee, the school committee was copied on an email.
Oh, sorry.
The Sharon community has provided considerable feedback regarding the superintendent's message that was sent out on October 7th.
Highlights of the feedback included the message failed to focus on specific events of October 7th and the impact to the Jewish community.
The suggestion that it may have been better not to send out any message at all. The acknowledgement that was a sincere message with good intentions, but that it left out portions of the Sharon community feeling unseen and unheard.
Concerns with the letter reflects a sense of equivocation and erodes the sense of safety for Jewish students in the district.
Examples of possible alternative message, including one sent out by congressman, I can never say his name, Jake Auchenkloss.
Auchenkloss.
Yep, him.
Yep.
We received information on the Sharon High School Financial Reality Fair that is scheduled for November 15th, 2024.
The school committee members were invited to volunteer for the fair and email included information on a volunteer orientation session.
A parent wrote to remind the school committee that this is National Bullying Prevention Month.
The Norfolk County Sheriff's Department shared information on several events that they are sponsoring, including a winter coat drive.
That's it. Thank you, Shawna.
Thank you. Thank you. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes.
Hi. Hi.
Great.
Thank you. Welcome.
SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you. So, you know, we're one month into the school year, and, you know, we've already had a bunch of great events and happenings.
So, I do have sort of a lengthy update to give all of you.
Eagles have had an amazing homecoming weekend on September 27th with a packed Eagles stadium for the first home football game against Owlboro, followed by a dance that featured music by our own radio club. The sports have been exciting with the girls' field hockey team nailing their first victory of the season. And the Unified basketball team has its home opening this Friday at 3. And we hope to have a packed nest for the game.
Many of our basketball team players are also helping to coach Unified, so we hope to see many Eagles cheering them on. The class of 28 student government elections are going to happen over the next week or so. And we are seeing upwards of around 60 candidates submitting their paperwork for various positions.
So, you know, that's very exciting to have a lot of activity in student government.
We do have planning for Powder Puff that's going to be class of 2025 against 26 on Thursday, November 21st at night under the lights of the stadium.
And, you know, we're encouraging everyone to come. There's going to be cheerleaders and hot chocolate for everyone. The class of 25 kicked off their senior year with Senior Sunrise near the lake with hot chocolate and donuts and getting their class t-shirts. And so far we've sold as much as 100 pies as part of the Humble Pie Thanksgiving fundraiser.
And we are working diligently on senior superlatives and lift up. The atmosphere has been electric with the highly anticipated club fair, which took place today, right around after school.
And we were able to feature an amazing 80 clubs with a bunch of music, lots of sound as students were enticed to join new clubs, as well as check out the established ones. And clubs, you know, have already been full swing in terms of service and competitions.
Notice that with the bunch of field trip approval forms.
And then student council leaders also offered a presentation last week to over 60 club leaders about the updated club structures and application forms, as well as information about fundraising.
The school has had a few very important assemblies for Suicide Prevention Month, Mental Health Awareness and Bullying Prevention.
A Sharon alum, Wes Woodson, visited us and shared his experience with mental health and ways that students are able to seek help if they are facing similar struggles.
The No Hate High School Tour also visited us to educate students on the importance of anti-bullying, which was accompanied by a BMX bike performance.
The students responded enthusiastically and enjoyed the assembly.
The student council is preparing to celebrate Halloween Spirit Week with creative spooky festivities.
And our music department proudly received the Tri-M Music Honor Society banner, recognizing SHS as the 23-24 Tri-M Chapter of the Year.
The Key Club led tours on Sharon Day at the high school.
The student council members gave tours to the class of 74 members as a reunion activity.
Both events gave current eagles a chance to connect with alum and alum family members who loved seeing the new school and reminiscing about how their own SHS experiences were. The high school parking lot is having painted lines added to help people navigate, drop off and pick up and appears to be much more efficient with fewer delays and traffic jams. And just to recap everything, we're hoping that you guys follow all this excitement and eagle impact along with action photos by following our school Instagram at Sharon.hi.eagles.
Thank you. Thank you, Brendan. Thank you, Brendan.
And I do commend the video of the bikes jumping over Principal Keenan as a huge highlight.
So, go Eagles.
And now it is time for the superintendent update.
Great.
SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you. Jean is going to put up the presentation and I will begin.
Yeah, as our student representative noted, it's been a great start to the school year and lots of great energy.
Just got a bunch of announcements.
First of all, MCAS distribution will be, the results will be sent home to families early next week. And then we're looking forward to in December, providing a presentation to the school community and the community to kind of analyze the results.
There's definitely been some positive developments in aggregate, but we're also digging deeper into the data to understand strengths and areas of need to learn from them and use them to help inform improvement efforts. And especially looking at, you know, various subgroups and seeing how they performed or various grade levels and how they performed.
Enrollment figures, you know, we're very at the elementary level, you know, kind of been able to have much more kind of even class sizes across schools this year in the ranges from any place from 16 to 23 and staying below 22 and 20 in the lower grades.
And this was helped by the opening of an additional section at Heights where we were able to move all of the students really who are Heights members of the Heights region back to their home school unless they were in fourth or fifth grade in, you know, had been in cottage or East for multiple years.
And then secondary numbers are pretty steady in aggregate across the middle school and high school.
Those are our tools for a total of 3,476 kids, which is very similar to last year. I wanted to give a preview of a kind of more performable proposal that I'll put forth at the next meeting, but I wanted you guys to be able to think about it. Think about it. We're definitely having like, like across the, the region, state and nation, there's a, there's a national substitute shortage.
And so definitely having difficulty having a good pool of substitutes in. So I am proposing that we.
Well, no, currently our rate is a hundred dollars per day and a rate for building substitutes that are typically in every day. The regular building substitutes are pretty much in every day is $120 per day. You know, because of the holes where, you know, sometimes having to pull individuals coverage, you know, have, you know, high school folks substituting in classes, which also costs money as well as in, in, you know, really extreme circumstances, having students in the library and auditorium and bigger groups.
So my proposal is going to be, well, first of all, here's some, some comparisons, you know, so Shrewsbury, like us, it is a hundred dollars per day. But Duxbury, Mansfield and Millis are $110 per day. Medway and Marshfield are 115 to 125. And Canton has a, a dual thing.
110 for not, for individuals who are not certified and 125 for those who are certified.
And this is for like their daily substitute rate. So what I'm proposing is beginning with a modest increase of increasing our daily rate from 100 to 110 and increasing our regular building sub rate from 120 to 125. I'm also proposing that we add an additional kind of regular building sub at the middle school and two more at the high school.
The, the cost at the high school for the additional building sub will end up being just about $18 per day, or actually, you know, 18, $23 per day more than if we were able to fill it. Fill it all those with teachers because they get paid $17 per class.
We have six classes a day. So it's pretty nominal.
Also, as far as the increases at, at, at other places, because we're not able to build, bring in subs, we're not using our full sub budget.
And the, the reality is anything we can do to have more subs available will just benefit our kids in our classrooms.
And, you know, the, the reality is that we're, we're still going to have some holes, but this will help to lessen the holes that we have and keep a little more on par with other districts.
So again, the summary is to increase our daily sub from 100 to 110 and increase our regular building sub from 120 to 125 and hire three additional regular building subs, two at the high school and one at the middle school for the remainder of the year to help alleviate critical substitute needs.
So I just wanted you guys to mull on that, just know about the sub shortage and mull on that between now and the next meeting and then we can discuss further then. Um, it's a national building awareness month.
And so we really try to work hard to, um, dig into situations of, of bullying, as well as really doing everything we can to prevent, um, bullying.
Um, you know, in addition to kind of work that's being done in classrooms and advisory, um, in other forums at the high school, we also had a, um, um, an anti hate, um, uh, bullying assembly.
Uh, which was very, um, dynamic with, uh, you know, um, uh, folks on, um, bikes and, and, and they actually, um, did a, uh, jump over, um, uh, principal Keenan's head, uh, as part of it, but also sent, uh, very, very strong messages around inclusion and, uh, positive relationships and anti-bullying.
Some other, uh, uh, dates that are coming up. We have early release on, um, October, uh, 16th, November 1st, and November 5th. November's, uh, coincides with Diwali.
So allowing for families to have at least a half day in order to have more times with their families or those who, um, um, don't go to school for the day will only be missing a half day. And then we have the federal holiday of indigenous people say, uh, next, uh, Monday the 14th. And some other, um, dates as far as school committee items coming up. We have, uh, school improvement plans, uh, for the elementary today. And then secondary will be our next meeting, um, approvals, um, during the next, uh, meetings.
And then, um, some budget reports, including FY24 final budget report, FY25, uh, quarter one week report with realignments.
Our capital submissions.
We'll start to review that today and continue over the next several meetings.
And then my goals as well as, uh, diversity, equity, inclusion update.
And then going into December, as we mentioned, uh, some, um, updates around, um, teaching and learning and especially looking at MCAS results.
Um, so today you're gonna see the, uh, early childhood and elementary schools will present their school improvement plans tonight.
We decided to delay the middle school and the high school because they've had some changes, especially at the high school. Um, they were having, uh, elections for school council representatives.
Um, so they wanted to be able to, uh, you know, share those, uh, with their new members prior to the presentation.
Um, and then, um, we'll vote on all SIPs on November 6th. Um, the school improvement plans continue to be really strongly tethered to our, um, district plan and strategic objectives initiatives, as well as show a strong alignment between schools and even levels. Um, also today, um, Dr. Jocelyn is gonna present our professional development landscape.
He has done a wonderful job working with our principals and our, uh, teacher leaders in order to map out our professional development, um, half days for the, for the year. And really grounding those on what are our learning goals for adults and how will we know if we reach them? Uh, something that, you know, we've been, uh, you know, you know, discussing and very much aligned to. So it's a great, um, work that's being done, um, on professional development this year.
All right.
Uh, thank you, Peter. And, um, the first hand, I see we have several hands up already.
So the first hand that I saw up was, um, from Shauna.
Um, thank you.
Um, I just had a point of clarification, Dr. Botello.
Um, the substitute, the, um, building-based subs that you're looking to hire.
Yeah.
Are those, are those full-time positions?
Are those, uh, benefits eligible positions?
They're not benefit eligible positions, but they are ones that we, um, will typically be in, you know, most every day. Um, you know, most every day, but not necessarily every day during the year. Um, so it's, it's some people that we, when we hire, we, um, tell them that we expect, uh, to have a need every day. We'll, we'll, we'll still kind of, um, you know, contact them, um, on a regular basis saying, okay, come in next week. Um, but there's a possibility of them, you know, not necessarily working every day. Okay.
Okay.
I only ask because, um, like other school districts have full-time building-based subs. So I just wanted to make sure that we have that distinction that this is not a dedicated sub that is coming to work every day and then it is assigned, um, as needed.
This is still part of a sub-tool.
It's very close to that, but it's, it's someone who's committing to being available every day and based upon our needs, we expect to come in, you know, most every day. But if there's a certain day when either they cannot come in or when we do not need them, we still, that still is, you know, still is a possibility.
So then can I, so then, okay, so if that's the case, it seems like we're walking a kind of a tight rope between what would be a full-time staff member.
Would it behoove us to invest in another building-based sub so that each elementary school, each middle school and, and the high school has a full-time building-based sub that is available to be met as needed?
Um, like how, how, how, uh, uh, uh, a possibility of, uh, the cost at the town level for, you know, kind of, uh, a, um, a full staff member with benefits eligible is certainly, uh, a different cost than the increase that we're, you know, kind of proposing, but it's certainly.
Okay.
For consideration.
And the increase, uh, okay. Uh, okay.
And then, I mean, that, that might be something that we just want to put in the back of our minds as we're building out the budget next year. Um, because I know that, um, the district where I work in several other districts, they use that model. Um, you know, granted subs are hard to find anywhere.
Um, but at least it helps alleviate a little bit of the pressure.
Um, and then you, you mentioned a rate of $17.
Is that the ST, um, is that the STA ST, uh, is that the contracted rate for teachers covering for one another at the high school?
At the high school level for teaching, uh, for yeah, covering a, a, a class at $17 per class.
And there are six classes in the day for a total of $112. Okay.
Okay.
All right.
Thank you. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: All right. Uh, thank you, Shauna.
And I, I saw Avi next.
Thanks, Julie. Uh, thanks Dr. Pelo for the updates.
Um, I have a couple of questions or perhaps.
Two questions and a point to make, um, the questions on the sub rate. I think I'd go the opposite way, perhaps.
From what Shauna was, was saying. And my, my concern, what I'd like to see in a part of the presentation, when you do make the formal ask. Is what the total budget for subs is and how much of that has actually been spent.
I think if we're, if we're just putting our cards face up, which I believe philosophically is the best way, um, to handle issues like this. We, we know that we're not going to use our whole sub budget.
Um, and so while we certainly never, I believe, aim to not fill sub spots.
When we build that budget out, there's an understanding that. Financially, the, the offset is that you should not be able to fill certain spots. So, a, um, although your presentation said that one offset was the teacher.
Teachers not having to teach those classes.
The reality is if teachers, and I'm not suggesting just as to be clear for our educators.
That it's a good situation or that we should want teachers picking up those extra classes.
But we're just speaking from a budget perspective.
That $17 times six classes is $102.
So that's actually, it does not offset that. Um, if anything, we're still talking about an increase.
And that increase is 10% on one of the line items and four, four, four and a half percent on the other. So I just think those sound like really small numbers.
And to some degree, maybe they are, uh, depending on how many subs and how many sub hours we actually fill. And I think that we need to be speaking honestly about that earlier tonight. We heard a letter read from multiple parents about an issue where, um, some of our most in need from an education, you know, from an educational support standpoint, some of our most in need students have gone without a needed support for a year. And I don't believe that that's hopefully a budget issue. I think that that's finding a qualified person issue, but never, nevertheless, I think that if we're going to talk about filling these sub spots, which I support.
We need to speak holistically about the other holes in our district and be prioritizing that. I don't think we should simply discuss fixing this issue without recognizing that there are other issues throughout the district that would require money. And if we're making a decision that says, say cost 10 grand or cost 40 grand, we should weigh out what that is. I know that there are folks on this committee that are working hard as a budget subcommittee to try to look at every single line item for this upcoming budget. But one thing I would remind the rest of the committee is within the actual year, there's so much fungibility that these budget decisions are made throughout the year. And we put so much effort in during budget cycle and our admin certainly does to make all these prioritization decisions within the year, though, this committee sometimes has asks made and we don't weigh them against everything else that that dollar could be used for. So what sounds very little and it might be very little adding $10 a day to fill sub holes in aggregate might end up being a number of large enough to fix another hole that we currently think we can't afford to fix. So I just want to make sure that when that presentation comes forward, all those numbers are available and we have the opportunity as a committee to discuss what our priority is. You know, is it filling these sub holes or is it X, Y and Z thing that our district currently needs?
I'll certainly provide those numbers.
I want to explain what I meant by offset. I mean, I thought I said partially offset, but there's still a $23 difference.
The reality is that's also when we can have teachers available.
Teachers only have to do that a limited amount where we can require it. And so the assumption that they're going to voluntarily do it in times where we don't have another sub available.
Is is is is is again is not based upon something we can require in addition, just knowing that, especially at the high school level, when we have these holes, if we were deciding to not try to entice folks with additional funding, it results in, you know, numbers of classes being sent to the auditorium or to the cafeteria.
So that's something we have to go in with eyes wide open about that. Yeah, absolutely.
And then switching gears, another thing that was in your update, and I know I'm going to start to sound like a broken record on this topic, but I think it's important to be a broken record on this topic. You mentioned the assembly on bullying, and then we put up our bullying policy.
I just want to be a voice for the kids in this district who are being bullied, who we investigate the bullying.
We do not end up finding it in their favor, so to speak.
And the bullying continues.
We have reports that we deal with of child to child bullying, adult to child bullying, adult to adult bullying.
And I can't imagine how painful it is to see our district put up graphics that look like, hey, look at this great thing that we're doing and how aligned we are against bullying, when in reality there are kids throughout our district who are dealing with bullying every day. And I've come to understand that due to state regulations and other tough situations, a lot of times our administrators' hands are tied.
And so I don't want it to sound like I'm saying our administration is failing on that or placing blame, but I just want us to be careful when we put things like that up. So it feels, it sends a message at this table in public that I don't think is always the reality for kids in our district.
And I don't think that putting, I don't think it's fair to those kids who are dealing with that and we're not able to protect them to then have to see us sort of in public talk about bullying as though we have a zero-tons policy that we actually enforce.
And then we're actually always standing up for those kids.
No, I think that's very important. And I think, you know, I in no way believe that we have solved the issue of bullying in our schools.
We work hard to try to combat it and, you know, being a superintendent but also a child who's experienced it, a father of a child, you know.
I appreciated the work that was done by the school of my child, but I also, you know, it's a very painful situation.
So I appreciate your acknowledgement of that. And I think it's important that we will share over the course of the year some of the data around bullying reports and, you know, kind of what we're doing to combat it and knowing that it's a problem in our schools and a problem in schools throughout the country.
And that, you know, we can always get better at, you know, helping families and kids through these situations.
I appreciate that.
Okay.
Thank you, Avi.
Adam. Adam.
SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you, Dr. Tellin.
Thank you, Dr. Tellin.
Avi raised a lot of points that I think were on my mind as well.
But I do want to thank you for bringing forward the issue related to the substitutes.
I think it's super important and it's the right forum for us to know.
And thank you for putting the school committee in a position where we can hopefully help solve the district's needs in that regard.
And I'm very supportive to doing what we can to get more subs in the building so that we don't, to your point, have kids kind of going to the auditorium or cafeterias often. One question that I did have, and I don't know if you know this now or can include it in the subsequent presentation.
But I'm curious if we are seeing, is it harder for us to get subs?
Like, is it that we have the same number of gaps of coverage but have had more difficulty getting subs? Or are we seeing more gaps in the coverage and kind of more, a need for a greater number of subs?
Yeah, I can bring some more.
I'm definitely monitoring kind of staff attendance in sub gaps so I can share some of that data.
Yeah, I'd say over the last, you know, several years, both in Sharon and across the Commonwealth, across the nation, you know, there's been a higher rate of absenteeism from staff.
Not dramatic, but definitely higher as well as students.
And also, between now and 10 years ago, the sub pool, but especially the last five years, has dwindled tremendously.
Again, you'll see articles, you know, that are nationwide about that issue.
So it's a combination of both, but I would say it's mostly an issue of less people who are available to sub. You know, we used to have, you know, as schools used to have like five or six people who we had on a regular basis who were in, you know, almost every day. And then you had another, you know, pool that were less frequent.
And then you also have, we still have the college kids, which is great.
But it's a, the sub shortage is a kind of nationwide phenomenon.
Thank you.
Thank you, Adam.
Shauna?
Thanks. I just had another question. Um, so Dr.
Patel, can you just clarify for me?
Um, sorry.
Um, my understanding was that you had said that if we have teachers pick up, it would be at a rate of $17.
And then there was a differential that you mentioned between if the teachers were to pick up six classes, it wouldn't be one teacher picking up six classes.
It would be conceivably two, if not more teachers picking up those classes, correct?
It would likely be six different teachers teaching up, you know, teaching one. Right. So it's not that we have one person who can cover all the classes because then we would need them to cover.
So I just, I just want to make sure that people also like kind of in the public understand that.
Um, that, you know, it's, it's during the preparation period. It's part of a larger puzzle, right?
Um, that if we can help alleviate that in some capacity, um, with that building sub, I am, I am completely for it because I, I see it. I, I live it every day, um, when I'm called to sub for my prep blocks and, you know, you naturally have a guilt that you want to be able to help, but you can't because you need that.
You need your own time.
Um, so I just wanted to make sure that, um, I clarified that for other people.
Thank you. Yeah.
Um, thank you, Shauna.
Um, anything from Dan, Jeremy or Alan?
Yes. Okay.
Um, I feel like that was a really good discussion and any questions I had were already addressed.
So, um, I think it is time to thank Peter and then move on to our discussion items.
So we have the school improvement plans, um, right now. And, um, Peter, are you going to introduce?
Yeah, we're going to start with, uh, ECC and, uh, Stacia Lamond is going to, uh, check, uh, kick us off.
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Has someone tried to unmute her?
I think I unmuted her.
Hi, everybody.
My video is not on.
Sorry.
Is that okay?
Yes.
Okay.
All right. So at the ECC, oh, there I am.
At the ECC, we've built upon our goals that we started working on last year.
As we presented the data of what we achieved with all of our students, we're building on letter ID was our one goal.
That was standards aligned learning and meeting the needs of all students.
This year, we're adding number sense, as well as name writing, which we will use progress monitoring three times this year to collect the data and present it at the end of the year.
The actions that we are going to use are daily Hagerty letter ID word study practice.
The students will have daily practice and exposure to learning the letters of their name. Oh, and a variety of.
They use different venues and strategies and materials to actually build those letters.
I'm sorry that came up. That's not included. We also are going to use daily mathematic exploration where the students are using one-to-one correspondence to count totals.
And our outcomes hopefully will be 85% of our four-year-olds will be able to identify 15 uppercase letters.
90% of our students moving to K will be able to write their names successfully and legibly by June. And 90% of our students moving to K will be able to count from one to 10 concrete objects up to using one-to-one correspondence.
Our second goal is student-centered learning and social emotional growth of all students.
We are going, all the adults in, at the ECC are prompting students to express their interpersonal understanding, social emotional development and growth by focusing on connections to the world around them and the relationships built at the ECC.
We are again going to use the indicator seven data to show the growth in the areas of social emotional learning.
And this is the data that we need to input to DESE every August.
The teachers will guide students to express their understandings through language and play.
And again, we're going to use Dr. Chad Ryan to implement the SEL curriculum, the second step, and social skills group.
He's going to be doing the second step lessons once a week in all classrooms.
The outcomes will be evident growth through student oral adaptive and observed responses, as well as all of the ending data that we collect for DESE.
We only collect data, the end data, when a student is moving out of the ECC or they stop receiving services.
We'll show that all of our students will show significant growth, moving up at least two to three levels of advancement in all seven of the areas of social emotional growth within the indicator seven data pool.
And our last goal is going to be diversity, equity, inclusion, and parent involvement, the pillars to building our school culture.
We are again asking parents to come in and be mystery readers, celebrate, show their celebrations, their traditions.
As it's Hispanic heritage month.
We've asked some of our parents that fall under that umbrella to come in and read to our kiddos.
Also share some of the traditions, the dance, the music that they celebrate within their culture.
So positive parent communication and partnering through trusted relationships.
And we're also increasing the frequency for inclusion and reverse inclusion with the students in the subseparate class going into the integrated classes, as well as some of the students from the integrated classes coming into the subseparate class, as well as shared experiences.
We had Joe's crazy critters come.
We had a petting zoo.
We are doing trunk or treat again on October 25th. All of these shared experiences help to build the community, gets parents involved, and lets every child feel like they belong at the ECC. And we will again collect pictorial data and we will observe the learned tolerance, acceptance, and celebration of each other's differences in June.
And that is our goal.
So we've taken the goals from last year and we built on them and made them a little more robust.
Thank you, Ms.
Lamond.
That was very nice.
Are there any questions on the ECC program?
I actually just, it doesn't look like we have any questions, but I just was wondering what indicator 7 meant.
Indicator 7 is a, I showed the data from it last year.
It is a kind of a gauge that shows social emotional growth for all students.
As they enter the ECC, we take data on all of them, where they are in, you know, let's see, one of them is communicating their needs, you know, regulating themselves.
There's a variety.
So we take beginning data when they enter the ECC.
Then we don't take the data, the ending data until they leave the ECC.
So, and it goes from one to seven.
That's what the, the, the kind of the, the rate, the gauge goes.
So we have seen a lot of like the, the social emotional development for kiddos that are three, four and five are what we're really targeting.
Cause we really want them to, you know, go to kindergarten, knowing some academics, but also being really secure in themselves and kind.
Good friends.
You know, everybody's our friend at the ECC. So we, we, we kind of really focus on the social emotional as well as play.
Wow.
Thank you so much. That was great.
Any, any other questions?
Okay.
Then we can move on.
You want to thank Stacia for her presentation.
It's really, it's impressive how she aligns it, not only to her district plan, but to the early childhood standards in a real concrete way with great data to, to show the growth.
So that's, it's also awesome.
So now I'm going to turn it over to our elementary principals to present together. All right.
So we're excited to present our school improvement and I'm excited to present the first goal. It's a great segue coming from ECC because we've partnered with ECC on our first goal, at least East has.
But what we'll do is we'll share our strategic objective from the district plan. Then we'll share our goal and then we'll share as evidenced by, and we'll share a couple of highlights of our action steps as we move through.
So we see our first goal will be focused on educational excellence, really innovative student centered learning.
This is one I'm super excited about.
We can move to the goal.
So with student centered learning, what we're really targeting here is building that student voice, student engagement in our classes.
And we're doing that a few ways, particularly throughout the, throughout the three schools, we are piloting new curriculum for ELA.
So we have CKLA, my view, wit and wisdom, and we have a really talented team working on that.
I want to give a shout out to Sarah Clem for really being the glue there for that team and really doing some really challenging work. And then coupling that work, Dr. Jocelyn planning the professional development for our team, our elementary team this year, really zeroed in on ELA.
So it's a really great focus, but it's also bringing together the three schools. And so as we talk about student centered learning, I want to just highlight some of the work of EAST because we are in our second year of the Playful Learning Institute.
What that means is we're one of five schools in the entire state who have been given this grant. And in the action steps, you'll see some of our grant work that we've done. We've been very successful with securing grants.
In part, that should be the continuation grant.
A big kudos goes to the EAST second grade team who went to DESE headquarters last June and presented about the work and the impact that our Playful Learning is having.
And really around student centered engagement.
And we're seeing really great things from community meeting, thinking and feedback, storytelling, story acting centers and studios.
We're regularly getting requests for visitors.
Next week, I'll be talking with DESE and a team from Nevada about the playful learning work that we've been doing. So it's been really exciting stuff.
It's really exciting to see how engaged our teachers and staff are.
And so, yeah, I could talk about playful learning all night long, but we're going to move on to our second goal.
And Kevin Madden is going to take that for us.
All right. Thank you, Dr. Reynolds.
Thanks.
Similar to what Darren was saying, it's great to see.
It's kind of a well-planned timing where the early childhood talked about the importance of social emotional learning.
The elementary, all three, have an equal amount of emphasis on social emotional learning.
So when you look at the strategic initiative or the objective, it's meeting the needs of all students. So that talks about the academic needs, but also just as important, the social emotional needs.
And that talks about a multi-tiered system of support.
And I know over the years we've talked about our DCMs and providing tier one and tier two and tier three instruction.
We're now focusing what does social emotional interventions look like at those different tiers. So the goal is, you know, at all three elementary schools, begin to build an integrated social emotional behavioral multi-tiered system of support to focus on specific SEL goals to improve learning experience and outcomes for students.
This will be demonstrated through the documented work of Social Emotional Behavioral Academy.
I'll talk more about that in a moment, including detailed results from self-assessment, which will inform the work of the SEB, Social Emotional Behavioral Academy, for the following two years. Where that came from was last year, we started with the Social Emotional Behavioral Academy, where a team of staff members met throughout the year and conducted a needs assessment.
It's basically saying, what do we feel the district did well in social emotional?
Where do we think some areas of growth are? And we came up with three goals.
And those goals, we're hoping, are going to continue into this year.
You know, goals of, you know, how do we assess students in the social emotional realm?
You know, we have the Dessa Mini Screener now.
Is that the best tool? Or do we find something else that gets us better data? Also, what training do staff need so that we all use the common language, common strategies?
And a great piece of that, where we're already seeing this year, and I have to credit Hina Trivedi, where she started over the summer putting together a restorative justice training.
And she invited the elementary principals.
We have assistant principals.
And we have the fifth grade team as kind of that pilot group to start working on restorative justice.
And the hope is that we had those initial meetings.
And now there is some coaching sessions happening throughout the year.
And it's been exciting seeing the teachers think through, you know, how do we have these meetings with our students?
You know, what questions? And I know other buildings are growing it beyond the fifth grade of, you know, how do we have conversations with our students so they learn how to, you know, make amends, repair relationships, and just build stronger connections with one another.
So that's what we're looking at this year. We're looking at what professional development are we offering?
How do we make sure that the SEL and the multi-tiered system of support are really linked together?
So it's not just, oh, MTSS is reading and math and writing.
It's how do we help with the social-emotional needs of students?
And then looking at, we all love data.
We're in education.
We're data-driven people.
And social motion is so hard to, you know, quantify that. So we're looking for this year those tools.
So we're starting up that kind of phase two.
And Darren and Lisa have already gone, we've gone to the kickoff meeting for the Social-Emotional Behavior Academy.
So we're really excited about how we pull this all together.
Because I always feel strongly that, you know, kids need to feel comfortable.
They need to feel safe. They need to feel supported and ready for the school day to even start to access all the other academic pieces. So I'm excited that as an elementary team, we have a social-emotional goal.
We have a very academic goal.
We're kind of covering all the bases.
So after that, I will turn it over to Lisa Farrell for her first Sharon School Committee presentation.
Take it away, Lisa.
All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate that, Kevin. I did want to begin by saying thank you so much to my colleagues, Dr. Reynolds and Mr. Madden and Dr. Jocelyn for helping me get to know a little bit more about the presentation this evening.
We have been talking about the schools, aligning the schools together.
And that's been really exciting, particularly for a new principal coming into the district.
It's nice to have the support. So thank you.
Goal three, diversity and equity and inclusion.
By June, 2028, student sense of belonging will have improved significantly, keyword being significantly, and students will have equitable access to learning opportunities and extracurricular experiences, as evidenced by improvements on the school climate surveys and improved presentations, performance across a variety of indicators among diverse economic, cultural, ability, and learning profile groups.
The school goal.
By 2025, the Cottage, East, and Heights Elementary Schools will continue to foster a positive, inclusive, and equitable educational environment where all students, regardless of their economic, cultural, or ability, learning profiles, feel a strong sense of belonging.
We've been talking this evening.
Quite a few of the conversations have been about students feeling as if they belong and actually belonging in the community with whatever their profile looks like and how we need to make sure that everybody sees themselves in the classroom and they see themselves and images of themselves throughout the school.
And then finally, as evidenced by improved school climate survey results and focus group feedback.
I'm excited to see the climate survey that goes out this year. As I've mentioned, being a new principal at Heights, I'm working with the teachers to implement and just kind of get to know a little bit about myself, me getting to know them, and really improve the climate and have a joy brought into the school.
The joy will also then go right back into the academic piece.
If you're happy when you're working, you get a lot more accomplished.
If you feel as if you belong to the group, you get a lot more accomplished.
We'll be reflecting on a greater sense of belonging and inclusion among all students.
And also, increased participation in school events, such as parent-teacher conferences, open houses, and demonstrating a stronger connection to the school community and a greater sense of belonging.
Some of the items that have been mentioned, and I know that at the Heights, we've been talking about families being more part of the community.
We just finished today was the fun run.
It was nice to see all parents, many parents from grades K through five, showing up and cheering on their students.
We have had PTO, wonderful events, movie night.
We have had, on Monday, I had a principal coffee to get to know the community members, get to know the parents.
And just as in the other schools, making sure that parents know and family members know that the school is for everyone.
And parents and family members should feel comfortable coming into the school and having ownership of their child's education.
So I think I've wrapped that part up.
And again, thank you to the team for making me feel so comfortable from central administration to my colleague principals.
And I have met a couple of school committee members.
So thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. And if I could just add in a little summary where across all three goals, this is kind of the first year where we're really tying it together, such an ownership that students have of their learning.
Whether it's the academic goal, you know, we're seeing kids in classrooms, leading conversations, sharing strategies, working in groups, talking about focus groups.
You know, it's really kids now are starting to drive their own education and come up with goals and talk and work through problems.
So it's a really nice shift I'm seeing in education where kids are, you know, seeing the why they're learning things, how they're learning things.
So it's a really great, it's been encouraging to see. And let me, I just want to make another comment.
So as you look at the details of the action steps, you'll see a lot of action steps across the schools that are similar and then some that are different.
Regardless of, you know, the few that are different, the theory is if we do all these action steps, then we will reach this goal. So, for example, in goal number one around student-centered learning, that we will see increased choice, collaborative learning, peer-to-peer discourse, demonstration of learning in multiple ways. And we'll be able to monitor that when I work with the principals and Dr. Jocelyn does and when principals do their own walkthroughs as well as time in collaborative meetings with teachers.
They'll be seeing not only a greater quantity of these types of practices, you know, whether it's kind of students interacting to share something that they've read and share their analysis of it and ask each other questions like that peer-to-peer discourse.
They'll see it regularly. They'll see it regularly. They'll see it being done at higher levels of effectiveness because of all the professional development and focus that has been given to it through our PD days as well as our faculty meetings and other venues.
Great.
Thank you, principals.
It looks like we have some questions.
Avi.
Thanks, Julie. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you all for joining us. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thanks, Julie. Thank you all for that presentation. That was really informative. And I really appreciate those goals. I think they're all really worthwhile goals. I do just want to impress upon you. And this obviously goes for all three elementary schools, but I know, Ms. Farrell, you're new to heights. And to be honest with you, I don't know. I personally, in my time on school committee and in my time as chair was not privy to any complaints that involved heights families. But I have been privy to all those families, but I have been for those families. I know.
I don't know. I have a lot of people of the families, but I have a lot of people of the families. And I'm very aware of those families. I think they're all very worthwhile goals, but I think they're all really worthwhile goals. And I do just want to impress upon you. And this obviously goes for all three elementary schools, but I know, Ms. Farrell, you're new to heights. And to be honest with you, I don't know.
I personally, in my time on school committee and in my time as chair, was not privy to any complaints that involved Heights families.
But I have been privy to, and obviously we can't get into details, serious complaints about both cottage culture and East culture.
And I do think that it's worth it. I'm not saying that they're credible or not credible.
I'm not saying that they are or not anybody's fault.
And at what level they fall. But when we put things on screens talking about belonging and we write the word all students, I do want to press upon you because I know we come back and revisit these tips at the end of the year.
And sometimes it feels, and I say this with the intent of being respectful, it feels a little bit surface or sort of performative when we circle back. And it's always hard when you're sitting in our seats here to be involved in things throughout the year where you know about students who are having a hard time, families that are experiencing real pain. You know, when your kid is struggling in their school, whether that's academic, but especially as Mr. Madden mentioned, social emotional.
This is, it, it tears that family, right?
It affects your day to day. It affects your life. You watch your own children be afraid to go to school.
And so it's hard for me when we see these goals put up on a screen and then having seen things like this come forward in past years and we sort of, we talk about measurement to, to, to let this slide without saying like, I just, I'd like a really in-depth look at these goals with, with some real seriousness.
And when we come back and look at how, how they performed, I hope that we can have a really below, below the surface conversation about acknowledging that these things have been things we've all dealt with and how much better they can get.
Did, did we address those things? How did we address those things? And, you know, meetings like this, we can't talk about the specifics of individuals, but we can talk about like, look in past years, there were families that felt X, Y, and Z. And here's something that we changed within the school to address that so that all kids felt well. Or anecdotally, here's a situation where a family came to us and said, my kid doesn't feel like they belong because of blank.
And this is how we tried to change that.
To me, that would be meaningful.
I don't want, similar to my comments about the bullying stuff earlier, I don't want us just putting stuff on a screen like, like it's all sunshine and rainbows.
And then knowing that, you know, the families watch this and feel like this board is, is sort of complicit in those happenings.
I can mention one thing as far as the goal around belonging, we are planning to use a more explicit kind of survey tool that will allow us to get more granular in seeing where we're improving and where we're not. Because it's such an important goal and it is a difficult thing to monitor, to, to, to, to measure that we're going to use a tool that's, you know, kind of used it in many schools throughout the state to try to get to, to, to a greater sense of, you know, whether we're working in the right direction or not. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you. Thank you. I think.
I'm sorry.
It was, um, Jeremy, were you next? Were you up second?
Adam was Adam. Alan.
SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: I think Alan's next. We're all going to get there eventually. Sorry.
That's okay. Thank you for the presentation. Um, uh, I want to mention or, or ask something about the, uh, last goal that, um, that's okay. Um, you know, I think there's a perception, I, I, I don't know if this is accurate.
And so this is what I want to ask. There's a perception that Sharon parents are, uh, exceptionally involved and perhaps at times too much involved.
So I'm wondering, um, you know, what kind of data we have currently on parental involvement, what we're trying to, what our goal is for parental involvement, really like what the fundamental goal is beyond just increased participation.
And then, um, how we're going to measure that.
Um, and, and what we're looking for with regard to that, because I think, um, you know, if that's something that is in some way deficient, I think we'd like to, I'd like to, I would like to better understand where we think it's currently deficient.
Or where we think there's room for growth, maybe is a better way to say it. Um, and what we're hoping to really close the gap on. Okay.
Um, so thank you for the question in the comment.
One of the things that I know, excuse me, in my past, what we've done when we're looking at, um, family involvement is taking data data as far as when it's very important when the information goes out about a specific event evening.
How many people attend the evening?
Um, is there in, again, in my past, are people not attending an event because there's no babysitting or daycare provided?
That's another important event. Um, the timing of the event is extremely important.
Uh, a lot of times when we look at families, if we go back 10 years, we'd say, okay, we'll have a night event because that's when most families can attend.
What is our, even with PTO meetings, what is our number of parents that come and family members that come to an evening event?
Now let's look and have that same PTO event in the morning after drop off. How many parents do we reach then? Um, the family unit is so different that I think we need to really look at when do people, when can people come in? When do people feel comfortable coming in? And all that data can be collected through attendance, questions people ask. Um, again, mentioning the principal's coffee that I held the other evening.
The next one will be in the morning.
How many, what will be the number of people that come during that time? I think people, parents, family members have excellent intent and want to be part of the schools.
And in the schools, we run typically on a certain schedule, whether it's, um, eight to three, eight 30 to three 30. And I think that that sometimes isolates parents that are working specifically in the area or sharing.
They work in Providence.
They work in Boston. They're trying to get back for an event.
How, how are we making that event available to everyone?
I'm not quite sure if that answers some of your question, but that's data that can be collected in very important data. And we, I would just add to that, Lisa, that, uh, for us, some of the feedback we got around our PTO time, uh, it, um, shall we say, uh, collided with the kickball league that's going on. Uh, so a lot of the moms asked if we could move the time. So we, we pushed back our time so that we're not competing against kickball.
And that's just like one of the little things, you know, how are we accommodating our families to make sure that we're making things available to them. Right.
And I think similar, um, something we started last year in, in the hope it would be an easier event for parents.
We used to have open house on two nights and we realized it's sometimes difficult for parents who have maybe a first grader and a third grader to have to attend and coordinate babysitting for two nights. So we worked out a schedule for one evening.
Um, they have to kind of stagger the times a bit, but it's still helping families plan for one evening and have better access accessibility to our staff. So we're, we're looking for events. Now we need to start to, I think, digging a little deeper. I mean, my, my feeling is, you know, we, we do have people that volunteer, but are there people out there that don't feel comfortable coming in and how can we help them, um, either attend events or, or feel comfortable.
Okay.
SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you, Alan. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Adam, right? Is it Adam?
Jeremy is there. Oh, Jeremy.
I'm sorry.
Thank you for that presentation.
Um, my comments were similar to Alan's, except, uh, more focused on goal one.
So I like how the ECC put target metrics in here and their presentation.
So any target red metrics that you guys could include in these plans would be fantastic specifically where it's somewhat measurable, like the MCAS or feedback on surveys.
Um, and potentially targeted at some of these sub goals around ELA and ELA improvement.
Um, and then I did have a broader question around, um, I'm a relatively new member, but the district strategic objectives, how frequently do we review those?
And kind of, it would be good to go through a summary of that to understand kind of what's driving these improvement plans.
Sure.
I could, you know, if, if the committee wants a summary, I could do that or, and, or we could, uh, if you want to come in at some point and we could, uh, I could go over that with you, uh, individually as well. Uh, individually as well, as it's fine as well.
Okay.
Uh, is that, that's it, Jeremy?
And now Adam, Adam now.
All good.
Um, so, so thank you all. You know, as, as Avi was asking his question, particularly around kind of the social emotional, I know in the past, I've been a big proponent for data. And I think we've done a really good job over the years of trying to capture more data. Um, and beginning of school year data, end of school year data, and kind of comparing how we have, uh, kind of grown or, or improved over the course of the year. Um, I think one thing I thought of while Avi was talking is if we're looking at averages, kind of average of where we started, average of where we ended, um, that may cause us to miss some of the specific instances.
Where we have students who are, who are very uncomfortable, but that number kind of gets lost in an average.
And so as we put together our, our metrics and our tracking tools, um, I would love if in addition to capturing the overall kind of scores of social emotional wellness and inclusion and whatnot.
Um, if we could also note the specific number of students who are, um, in particular, uh, uncomfortable and focus on that metric as well. So, so kind of two different success criteria, one kind of at the macro level and one at the micro level, looking at specific instances, um, where students may be, uh, kind of having more difficulty.
Um, if, um, if, does anyone else have any other questions, Dan, do you have anything?
I think my, my questions were all about, um, literacy, but I think that's what's coming up next. So I will be quiet and, um, we can now hear discussion on professional development.
It's time to talk about professional development.
Dr. Jocelyn is going to, um, share the work that he's been doing with our, uh, principals and teacher leaders around professional development.
So turn it over to him. Dr. Jocelyn is going to be a part of the school. Thank you, Dr. Botello. Good evening school community members and members of the community.
So I'm really pleased to share with you the district's early release professional development landscape for the entire school year. So the idea behind this work is that there is just the same way there's a through line between the district improvement plan and the school improvement plan. So the district improvement plan informed the development of the school improvement plans. When Dr. Botello and I spoke, when I first started, the goal was to really develop the landscape for professional development to build the capacity of our staff to implement the specific action steps that outline in, in those school improvements.
And, in those school improvement plans. And we actually started that work, um, really as in July, uh, the week of July 21st, I believe as part of our, uh, our, um, admin, uh, retreat.
And that PD professional development landscape was developed collaboratively with, um, significant contribution from, uh, our curriculum coordinators.
We did a really good job, a lot of work on this throughout the summer and in September.
And then there was also significant contribution from the principals, the assistant principals and other members of the administrative team, such as special ed. So their efforts essentially helped us shape a framework that make, uh, professional development, um, more, uh, cohesive, purposeful, and, and impactful.
When I first spoke with Dr. Botello, he kind of outlined the vision that he had for that professional development landscape.
And his vision really emphasized adult learning that focuses on specific learning goals during the early release days. So for every session that we have to answer the question, what is the adult learning?
So that each PD session is guided by the set of learning objectives, meaning adult learning objectives tied to the overarching, uh, district, um, learning goals.
So the professional development landscape, we developed it. So as a way to provide coherence, uh, predictability and consistency to the professional development, um, offerings that we provide during the early release days. We also wanted to make sure that the content that is delivered during those, uh, PD early release days are relevant and practical and also supportive of the work of the staff.
So in terms of, if you look at the, uh, that PD landscape, basically the way it works is, uh, each PD session includes clear learning goals.
The target audience, the target audience, specific topics, facilitators, and location.
So all of that information is outlined for everyone to see. And we target every constituency from, you know, general ed teachers to special ed teachers, to instructional assistants, to psychologists, to, uh, to the, the whole, um, the whole nine yard. And the idea, as you could see, like from, you know, either the elementary or the middle school, the goal is to really have an overarching kind of like core learning that every single, uh, sharing staff will, will know. So for, at the elementary level, for example, we, because we are, uh, piloting three different, um, uh, desi validated, uh, uh, reading curriculum.
So the focus of our first two, uh, sessions is really so everyone, including special ed, gen ed teachers, an understanding of the principles of what makes good reading instruction.
And then the next one ends up being, um, what, what is, what do we mean by, uh, student centered learning?
So that across all of the elementary schools, all of the staffs, um, we, we, we come to a common understanding of what students centered learning is. So that we, we are not, everyone is having their own version or definition of what, of what it is.
So the, um, so basically those, those PD sessions kind of like, and then as you move further out, it becomes more differentiated.
And you will see, for example, in the elementary one, uh, toward like March, it's to be determined.
And that's purposefully because that piece is going to be, those sessions are going to be reserved to build the capacity of our elementary staff.
Once we identify and select a validated desi, empirically validated desi reading curriculum.
So we know what we're going to be using. So we'll spend the second half of the year training our entire staff on those particular curriculums.
So that by the time they go over the summer and come back in September, everyone will be, will be proficient in the particular, uh, reading program that we end up selecting.
Um, that being said that PD landscape is also, is really a dynamic document also, because we don't want to be rigid so that it allows for adjustment based on feedback in the evolving, um, needs of the staff.
Um, the, um, so we'll continue to gather after each, um, session.
We'll send out professional development survey to the staff to really get feedback and continuously improve the quality and effectiveness of the next, um, early release professional development.
So now what are the benefits for the staff in taking that approach?
And that was a vision that Dr. Botello outlined for me at the moment that I started.
So the first benefit is really clarity and predictability for the staff. So the staff will know in advance the specific learning goals, the topics, the expectations for each session.
So no one will be scrambling two or three days before, you know, the next early release date to say, okay, oh my gosh, what are we doing?
Where are we going to be? All that stuff is already outlined.
And then the second benefit is the practical application.
So the focus is, again, as I said before, is really providing practical hands-on learning that can be immediately applied to the classroom.
So we take the, we take the, the, the, the approach of conceptual learning.
And then that conceptual learning feeds into the practical application of strategies and approaches that teachers are going to be using with our students.
And then we also include in there almost like an iterative process of feedback and growth.
So feedback will be collected after each session to refine and enhance the PD offering.
And then one additional important component of this is that we are going to be providing PDPs, professional development points, to staff, to teachers and staff members for their participation in the early release PD sessions.
And they can use those PDPs for license renewal, all kinds of other, other things.
So, so the next step is going to be, so like tomorrow, I wanted to wait out of deference to the school committee before sending the PD landscape to the entire staff.
So tomorrow that will go out of the staff.
There's a lot of people in the classroom.
We are going to taketalking school committee. And we're going to be doing a quick through certification build and grow, build the capacity of our staff so that in turn they can do, continue to do a great job really teaching the children and students in the Sherwin Public Schools.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Are there any questions from the committee?
Anyone?
I saw Dan's hand first.
Thanks, Julie.
This presentation looks like we're focused on what you might call in-house trainings or sort of across the district trainings like within our schools.
Is that right?
Yes.
I'm sorry.
Yes, these are for specifically targeting the early release days.
And I think it averages like one early release day for some schools.
I think like it would be two in November or something.
But that's basically for that purpose, to make sure that it is as meaningful as possible and beneficial.
But that's basically the specific target, those early release PD days.
Okay.
Yeah, I see that on the agenda now. I don't want to exceed the scope of this discussion, but I'm curious about the topic of things like certifications.
I hear a lot about that issue from parents, from talking with people on CPAC in particular, special education, that it can be very hard for staff to get those certifications, and they want to get them, and that our schools heart for people who are certified in all the right things, especially in special education.
Is that something we can do in-house?
Is that something that we can help our own people in their professional development journey by investing in those in-house?
Again, I don't want to exceed the scope of the presentation, so just let me know if that's too far beyond.
But I just was hoping somebody could speak a little bit.
Is that part of the budget discussion later?
We can start bringing those needs?
I can say generally people come to us with the certifications, and we hire based upon them. As far as maintaining the certifications, both the professional development points that are earned through the professional development that we provide, along with we also have teachers who request reimbursement for courses or workshops that they take, and we've pretty much not said no to anyone.
So those also allow them to get the necessary work to maintain certifications or get additional certification.
So yeah, it all kind of works together.
All right.
Thank you.
Adam.
Thanks. No question.
I just wanted to say that I love the approach that we're taking in terms of trying to identify the areas where we want to improve and then plotting out a course to create that improvement.
So I think this is just a really big step forward and love the approach.
So thank you.
Thank you.
And I do have to say, you know, credit to whom credit is due.
This was the first, one of the first things that Dr. Botello brought to my attention, like that should be an area of focus, and then we work collaboratively, and the curriculum coordinators did a ton of work, making sure that this process is as thoughtful as possible, and I do think it's going to definitely pay off.
Thank you. Great.
And all I'll add to this is thank you, Dr. Jocelyn, and hopefully we can get some periodic reports about how this is going.
Just fill us in if that's possible.
Definitely.
Yes.
Okay.
Awesome.
Thank you.
Okay.
The next item on the agenda is the budget calendar.
I'll turn it over to our other assistant superintendent, Ellen Winmore.
Thank you. Good evening, everyone.
So Jane is going to put up the draft budget calendar.
So what I would ask is that this was in your folder at the last meeting.
I have made a couple modifications to it.
We have had some leadership team meetings.
We've had discussions with principals, directors, coordinators, about the budget process for FY26. I have distributed budget workbooks and have reviewed with all of our stakeholders the directions for them. I've met with all of principals, directors, regarding the capital process and the capital budget that I'll be presenting shortly.
I've also lined up the draft budget calendar in terms of milestone dates with the town administrator's budget calendar as well.
And once I receive feedback from the committee and the committee is in agreement on the budget calendar, then I will incorporate it into Mr. Turkington's budget calendar and then distribute that to the committee.
So if there's feedback already or if individuals haven't had the opportunity to review the calendar, if they could give feedback before the next meeting to Julie, I would appreciate it.
Thank you, Ellen.
Avi has a question.
I do.
And I feel awkward about the fact that here I am, my first meeting, where I'm not sitting at the center and I'm going to be the person that asked the pain in the butt question.
Is it possible?
And I don't know if it is or isn't. So just chew on it. You don't have to answer now.
To present your calendar has you presenting the budget for the first time on December 18th. And though Adam and I going to priorities about almost 10 days earlier, for me, I feel like a lot of times folks that are outside of sort of the select board, FIMCOM school committee membership.
So the general public, folks that sort of follow casually outside this, misunderstand our budget process because of the timing.
So a lot of folks don't understand that the superintendent's responsibility is to bring an initial budget that he believes in from an academic and operational standpoint.
Separately, our town administrator is bringing revenues that he projects and believes are responsible from a raising tax dollars standpoint and what it looks like is coming from state funding.
And then those two things sort of adjust over time as they meet towards the end of priorities and then eventually our budget process.
I find that if we could at least see an initial budget, and again, I don't know if this is possible, prior to going to priorities, it would be easier for, especially in a tough budget year, for folks that don't necessarily fully understand the process to see really clearly that the first job that the superintendent does is, and obviously yourself as our finance lead, is put together a budget they believe in is in the best interest of all of our students.
We then go to priorities, and that's a time where six elected officials can have a conversation about, look, what does the picture look like financially?
How is that going to look for DPW? How is that going to look for police, for fire, and for the schools?
And that's sort of the beginning of that conversation.
It's an easier thing for folks to follow if we know what our numbers are in a magical world, and then we start to go look and see what the revenues look like.
I don't know if that's too much of a pain, but that would be helpful, I think, for me. So I plan on having as much of the budget done as possible for that first meeting in December.
In terms of the December 18th date being the formal presentation, we will be having, of course, between now and December 18th, many conversations at the table regarding elements of the FY26 budget.
So my intention is to have as much information and hard numbers for the committee, as well as much of the presentation done for December 4th as possible.
All right.
Thank you. Sorry, BPA.
Nope. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Thank you. Thank you. Avi. Does anyone else have any questions or comments about the budget calendar?
On the topic of that, should we?
Okay.
Thank you, Ellen.
We'll move on. And we will go to capital outlay requests.
Great.
So as I stated a few minutes ago, I have met with principals, district-wide leadership, Dr. Patello, Dr. Jocelyn, regarding the FY26 capital budget requests that we received and have reviewed the process.
If I could have the next slide, please. So our capital budget process, although we don't get the packets from the town administrator's office until September, I start talking about capital over the summer with principals, as well as district-wide leadership, so we can start getting a sense of what the needs are.
Tonight, you're getting the preliminary FY26 capital requests to review, and over the next few weeks, provide feedback.
We'll present our updated capital request to school committee for a discussion and vote on October 30th. That'll be followed by submission of the five-year capital plan and the FY26 requests on October 31st.
During the months of October and November, we'll continue as a leadership team to review, refine, and adjust our requests for capital and bring that back to school committee for approval as necessary.
The capital outlay committee will be reviewing school department requests on December 9th, and they will be voting their recommendations on February 3rd. And then the finance committee will review the capital outlay committee's recommendations on February 10th, and they will be voting the FY26 capital budget either on March 24th or March 31st.
Just if I could have the next slide, please.
So our budget process included a review of our previous five-year submission, validating and updating information for needs that had been projected for FY26 with, again, district-level leadership, the director of technology systems, director of instructional technology, Dr. Jocelyn, Ms. Murphy, Ken Wurtz, who is our interim director of facilities, Mr. Vitelli, the high school assistant principal and athletic director, all five of the principals, as well as contacting outside consultants for information on pricing and additional ongoing projects that we've had. So we've continued to gather information, explore options, and we'll continue to make adjustments right through to the end of November.
We'll bring back, again, additional information to the committee in terms of numbers and items that need to be adjusted or refined during our process.
Can I have the next slide, please? Our technology requests are very similar to last year.
Our rationale for the current requests remain similar. We have a goal annually of replenishing about 20 to 25 percent of our device inventory each year, typically as they age out. So we are not in a position where we have to replenish everything at once. We do have some significant changes for FY26.
In regards to staff device replacement and project replacement, we're able to decrease the staff device replacement by $30,000.
This reduction is attributed mainly to the high school project providing new teacher devices to faculty at the high school.
The district was also able to reduce the capital request for classroom projector replacement by $50,000.
We have been able to, over the past couple of years, as well as with the new high school project, make great headway in our projector replacement cycles.
We also were able to decrease the funding for to replace aging Chromebooks and elementary iPads. The district is requesting $10,000 to replace approximately 50 percent of the district document cameras.
Our existing document cameras are between 8 and 10 years old and are in desperate need of being replaced.
We also are requesting $12,000 to replace about 30 outdated and obsolete iPads for the special education department. Next slide, please.
The technology summary requests for FY26 include the annual wireless access points that we replace, the Chromebook renewal program, the staff device replacements projectors.
We do annually replace desktop computers throughout the district.
We do have a $25,000 budgeted requested for classroom audio systems.
This is to continue making sure that all of the audio upgrades that had taken place in our classrooms with sound lift, etc. are continuing to be maintained.
And then the iPad replacement for the elementary schools, the special ed iPad replacements, as well as the document cameras and those total $591,000.
Next slide.
Next slide.
We do have a heavy facilities focus for our FY26 capital.
We continue to review the facilities assessment that was conducted approximately three years ago. We look at all buildings and systems for the elementary school and the middle school.
This assessment also identifies and concerns, confirms priority facility needs and provides an initial cost estimate for the projects and needs. We also this year focused on safety and security.
Dr. Patel and I met with Chief Kofi several times and engaged in additional conversations with him during the capital process as well as over the summer.
Through these conversations, the importance of a risk assessment study of our school buildings, replacing outdated radios that are not functioning correctly or are at risk of becoming obsolete, as well as purchasing personal panic buttons for staff were identified as needs for the capital process.
The district is requesting funding for these and those will be delineated on the next slide. We also were fortunate to have the draft master plan completed during FY25.
I'm sorry, during FY24.
In the draft plan, it includes recommendations for space reconfiguration to gain much needed classroom space. Over the summer, we were able to implement some of the recommendations to gain classroom space, especially at Heights.
The additional recommendations for gaining space back, specifically at Heights, does require renovation and construction costs. So those are also included in our request.
Next slide, please.
The facility summary for FY26 includes requests for cottage for the ceiling finishes, replacing the suspended acoustical ceiling tile due to the condition and age of it. Floor finishes over at East. Also, the wall finishes at East and Heights, as well as the middle school. The middle school is now, it's been online approximately 14 to 15 years.
So we are now in the position where we do need to start making investments in the middle school with interior finishes, replacing also acoustical tile and painted ceilings.
Next slide, please.
The fire protection, the fire alarm system at the middle school is also at end of useful life. We are working with vendors right now to obtain very solid pricing on replacement of the system.
Also, with regards to the elementary master plan recommendations for gaining space back at Heights, the construction costs are listed here, as are the three areas pertaining to school safety and security, the risk assessment study, the staff panic buttons, as well as the radios.
We also have the replacement of HVAC equipment request, which has been in our past several capital requests.
We continuously are chasing HVAC equipment that is coming to end of useful life, compressors and fans, as well as our annual request for replacement furniture and furnishings.
And this is specifically important as we start to bring additional classrooms online.
So the subtotal for facilities is $1.2 million.
We have additional requests for capital.
This includes our year two of the music replacement for the instruments over at the middle school of $15,000.
Our annual request for two vehicles for special education.
The athletic department, their golf cart is in very poor condition.
They are requesting a new one given the size of the campus and distance between fields.
We also need to have a golf cart that will afford the athletic trainer the ability to go from site to site as well as transport a student that needs to be brought back up to the high school. The athletic department also is requesting a replacement of the stadium safety netting.
And we are also requesting an activity minibus to be used throughout the district for groups of students to go on field trips for our special education programs to access the community, community as well as the athletic department to use when taking small groups of students to matches and meets throughout the commonwealth.
So are this point, are there any questions regarding the presentation?
That was a really big presentation, Ellen. Thank you. You are welcome.
I see Ellen. Ellen, thank you for the presentation and thank you for the work that you've done with everyone in the leadership team of the district over the last couple of months.
Curriculum.
Yes. You know, it came up last year that we were sought to set additional funds for curriculum and there was discussion about whether we could or should at some points in the future use capital outlay funding. Is there any discussion going on relative to the creation of this plan for use of or requesting capital outlay funding for additional anticipated curriculum needs? So I'm going to ask Dr. Patelow if he would help me with the this question, because I know that we do have an appropriation from capital to continue the curriculum purchases that we will be doing during FY25. And then we also in terms of where we are with the curriculum reviews.
Yeah. So the the the additional appropriation we had for curriculum materials will be able to cover, in addition to some funding from the operation budget, our literacy and math replacements that we asked for last spring.
As far as we don't have other other big ticket curriculum material purchases in the works for this year, though we will in future years. And so I think the question will be in future years whether or not we you know whether in the whether or not the committee and then the capital outlay wants to entertain curriculum materials as is an item.
I know for some cap some members of capital outlay in the town, they had voiced that that had not been a past practice.
And I know in Halston, we had periodically done that for very large things. So I know that there are other towns who do to do that if it's you know because it's clearly over the limited the amount and as well as lasting you know over five years. So I think it'd be a good to have both a discussion among school committee members, but also have some you know kind of discussions with capital outlay to see whether in the future that would be a vehicle for for large you know large purchases.
Okay, thanks.
Thank you Alan Avi.
Thanks Julie.
Um Ellen, I um asked I I did some legwork last year that you're aware of you because I say I did some legwork you did some legwork for me and um and we had some lengthy conversations just for everyone else's benefit with uh Fran Derry who who does a terrific job I think of running our transportation um about the special education vans. Um it's not really a secret here in town that there's a ton of them essentially all broken down on our property and um in doing that that legwork what I what I found was that Fran spends an inordinate amount of time and energy and frankly money um trying very hard to repair these vehicles we essentially our current plan with those with those vehicles as we purchase them as Alan said here's the same these are the two we replace every year and then we run we run them until we can't run them anymore and the truth is they essentially have no value at that point.
I would love if as part of our capital outlay this year we also put on the table um the pot the ask and an explanation to capital outlay who very well is may think may choose this year or or maybe every year but at least this year to just purchase the two as usual but I would at least I would just ask that we at least put it on the table that maybe perhaps we replace our 35 vehicle fleet on a seven year rotation um and replace five per year therefore leaving our vehicles with some value after seven years and sell them off it won't be a lot of money and again we've done some of this legwork but I do think it will cut down on a lot of the repair money which you know we end up spending out of operating and a lot of Fran's time which we all every parent in this district knows how valuable Fran's time is um because everyone needs her and is dealing with transportation issues at all times so to me I would imagine if we were to model that out we will find that my my rough numbers on the back of a napkin when I looked at it all said somewhere in the five to seven years I don't know that capital outlay is going to have the appetite to replace seven vehicles a year um but five feels like a reasonable ask and I think over time we will see a savings and and again the tax revenue for capital outlay which we often borrow etc so but the point is it's all coming from one copper and they will find the savings in operating I believe for us and in a tough budget year I think if we can start trying to look at how to save that operating repair money and have newer vehicles it'll be it's worth the ask in my opinion of capital outlay absolutely I will make that modification and I'll include that thank you thank you thank you Avi and um Adam thank you um and thank you for the presentation Ellen I think to the point that Avi just raised and the question about the curriculum as well um when we deliver the the five-year plan right we we were just reviewing all of our kind of current year capital outlay requests um but we do present that five-year kind of forward-looking um series of projections and I think that's where you know if we have curriculum that we know is not for now but will be within the next five years that's where we can start introducing um and raising that question at capital to either prepare them or start having the discussion and that's actually I think what capital had requested last year and I think we can do the same thing in terms of um fleet replacement if we're trying to change how we replace the fleet that I mean can be a this year thing but could also just be a hey here's when we we would like to start transitioning this next year or the year after or whatever it is and start kind of preparing town finances if that's a plan that that we believe in and that the town believes in no absolutely we are in the process right now of reviewing the the current five-year plan as well as add you know because we're adding on a new year um with that as well so there are um a number of things that we are still looking at to incorporate in the um in the long-term plan so that will come back to school committee um on august on october 30th for your review as well that's great and then I just two small line item questions sure um I love that you called out that we were able to effectively realize some cost savings on some of these annual replacements due to the fact that the high school is so new um are there also cost savings on the wireless access points um is that an area where I assume they were all replaced although I don't I don't know if we were able to repurpose or reuse some of the the older access points or not but yeah so we have looked at access points um I actually had a conversation um not too long ago uh with Mr. Farah about our access points and just given um the life expectancy of access points and the sheer number of access points we have we have throughout the district we are using the money annually um you know we like to have you know a couple of access access points right on the shelf in case something happens so we don't have anything catastrophic happen or any outages in our buildings um but um he has you know been going through and diligently um making sure that you know that what we are requesting um is appropriate awesome and then kind of similar-ish question just for the the stadium safety netting I was wondering if you could just share where I guess where where is that which netting is that so that would be um at the stadium my understanding is that it is the netting um that was it was temporary netting that was put up um it was not to to redo the netting was not part of um the project um and uh Mr. Vitelli um has significant concerns because it is um now be because of the elements it is becoming uh ripped and torn and really isn't you know functioning the way it should be so it would be the end result would be netting similar to what is over um at the Ames field that rec did within the past few years okay and so to clarify this is not it's not new netting that we had put into the high school that's already in need of repair this feels like a a completely new right right it was not part of the project so just temporary netting had been put up um and it had been the cost of putting up the actual real safety netting had been excluded from the project wonderful all right thank you so much for the clarifications no problem thank you all right are there any other questions no okay uh thank you so much Ellen um and we are going to move on to some decision items so hold on to your hats um the first decision item is a vote to approve the minutes of September 11th 2024 um has so moved second thank you Avi thank you Avi okay uh Dan yes Jeremy yes Avi yes Allen yes Adam yes yes Shauna yes and I'm a yes okay next a vote to approve the high school honors select choir festival of music out of state overnight field trip to be held in New Jersey at um in April is there a motion second thank you so much okay so moved okay thank you okay Dan yes Jeremy yes Jeremy yes Avi yes Allen yes Adam yes Shauna yes and I'm a yes okay how about a vote to approve the high school trip student television television network student television television network's national student television network's national convention that's an out of state field trip in February 8th to March is there a motion motion so moved so moved thank you Dan yes Jeremy yes Avi yes Allen yes Adam yes Shauna yes and I'm a yes okay a vote to approve the high school model united nations conference that is to be held at brown university in a few weeks in November okay a vote to approve the high school model united nations conference that is to be held at brown university in a few weeks in November can I have a motion can I have a motion so moved so moved second Dan yes Jeremy yes Jeremy yes Avi yes Alan yes Adam yes yes yes yes yes yes okay oh and I'm a yes so the motion passes all right uh finally a vote to approve the um photography students trip to the RISD Art Museum uh out of state overnight field trip in October is there a motion I thank you thank you thank you SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Dan yes Jeremy yes Jeremy yes Adi yes Alan yes yes Shana yes and I'm a yes so that is seven um that's all of them um announcements and updates anybody Shana yeah go ahead I had something that I wanted to share um to put it out there is now an okay time yes okay um um um so this wasn't kind of anticipated within the last 48 hours which was why i didn't make it onto the agenda but um I respectfully would like to um step down as my a role of subcommittee chair of the policy subcommittee I'd like to remain an active member on it um but right now due to various reasons um I need to ask the committee to support me with the need it for me to try to say on the past on it. But right now, due to various reasons, I need to ask the committee to support me in stepping down from this role. Of course, Shauna.
So I had wondered if Dan or Alan, who are currently the other members, had any thoughts?
Dan?
Dan. Yeah, certainly I would support Shauna's request to step down if that's right for her right now. I also support her staying on the subcommittee if she chooses to do so. I was looking forward to working together with the other members, regardless of our roles.
If there is a need as a result for a chair of the subcommittee, I would volunteer to do that.
But we can open it for a discussion as well.
Alan, sorry.
Alan, what do you think?
I would echo Dan's sentiments across the board, both with respect to Shauna, and I'm happy to support Dan's taking over the chairmanship of that committee.
And Shauna, I kept cutting you off. I'm so sorry.
I just wanted to think both Dan and Alan and certainly not an easy decision or thing to do, but right now kind of what's needed.
So I'm still going to remain on. You're still stuck with me, guys. But I just can't take the lead. Okay.
And I think it's really important for all of us to recognize our personal limitations.
So I certainly respect that.
So Dan has volunteered to be the committee, the subcommittee chair.
Is there any discussion on that?
Any thoughts?
Any thoughts?
Okay.
Then I will accept a nomination for Dan to be the subcommittee chair.
So moved. Second.
Okay.
Dan, I'll ask you last.
Jeremy.
Yes.
Avi.
Yeah.
Yes.
Alan.
Yes.
Adam.
Yes.
Yes.
Shauna.
Yes.
Dan.
Yes.
And I'm yes.
Thank you so much, Dan, for stepping up. And so we look forward to what happens on policy.
So that's it for this.
And unless there's any other announcements, we do have to move into executive session.
Pursuant to MGL C30AS21A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation with the STAIA unit, administrative systems, cafeteria, and custodial units if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigation position of the Sharon School committee and the chair so declares.
And this is the possibility that we might return to an open session.
So I will take a motion.
So moved.
So moved.
I moved. Second. Okay.
Thank you. Dan. Yes.
Jeremy.
Yes.
Avi.
Yes.
Alan.
Alan.
Sorry, I thought I unmuted.
Yes.
Adam.
Adam. Yes.
Shauna.
Yes.
And I am a yes.
So we will move into our executive session and hopefully we will, if we come back to open session, it should hopefully not be in too many, too long.
Okay. So see you in the other, in the other room. Thanks.
Okay.
Welcome back to the October 9th meeting of the school committee.
We are returning from executive session.
And right now I'm going to turn this over to Avi.
Oh, I was just going to make the mo I was just going to make the motions. Oh, okay.
So don't turn it over and I'll make motions.
I want to make a motion to approve the contract as presented between the Sharon public schools and our cafeteria workers.
Okay. Okay.
Dan.
Yes.
Avi.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yes.
Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. And I'm a yes.
All right. I would like to make a motion to approve the contract as presented between our custodial staff and the Sharon public schools.
Second.
Okay.
Dan.
Yes.
Avi.
Yes.
Alan.
Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
And I'm a yes. Yes. I would like to make a motion to approve the MOA as presented between Sharon public schools and our administrative assistants.
Yes.
Yes. No second. Dan. Yes.
Yes.
Yes. Avi.
Yes.
Alan.
Yes.
Yes. Adam.
Yes.
Jeremy.
Yes.
And I'm a yes.
And I would like to make a motion to authorize administration to begin negotiations with ASME on behalf of the food service workers on a side agreement.
Second.
Dan.
Yes.
Avi.
Yes.
Alan.
Yes.
Adam.
Yes.
Jeremy. Yes.
And I'm a yes.
And I'd like to make a motion to adjourn.
Second.
Dan.
Yes.
Avi.
Yes.
Alan.
Yes.
Adam.
Yes.
Jeremy.
Yes.
And I'm a yes. Thank you, everybody.
Have a good night. Bye-bye.