 school committee and tonight is Thursday January 9th 2014 and it is 6 30 p.m Happy New Year everyone. I hope y'all had a very very nice holiday and a good break I know the Pierce family household was very excited for school to start again this week How any New Year's resolutions that the school committee would like to offer in public? You get you on the record and talk about it at the end of the year. No none. I have none Okay, and no opening remarks, but that is not a New Year's resolution. I will come back with opening remarks. Hopefully on the 23rd Unfortunately, we also don't have the happenings around the Arlington Public Schools this evening We were going to hear presentation from our math director Matthew Coleman and Some math coaches, but unfortunately there were some conflicts that arose and they could not be with us tonight But they will be back he's very eager to inform us about what the math coaches are doing with the schools and we're We're going to have him back here. I Do not see any public participation So already the first meeting of the year in 2014 is running to a rolling start We're going to ask Miss Leilani D'Agostino to come join us here for a presentation on our buffer zone analysis Elementary central registration which I know had been worked on so hard last year. Good evening Leilani good to see you again But for those that are watching this evening Leilani is sister of data integration and has been The architect along with Adam Krosky for the central registration Which and as has been the person because she's been central registration to work very closely with me on the Implementation of the buffer zone policy So I'm going to let Leilani is going to do most presentation But we're both going to be available for questions through we've worked very closely on this over the over the past year and We I know there's been some questions from members of the committee and hopefully those questions will get answered this evening So anyway Leilani I'm here to tell you what we actually did and I'd like to start out by just by telling you that it is a success So no matter what the data and the numbers are looking at we have seen positive things in our presentation And I know that term drowned them in data I've been told I might have done that a little bit So I apologize up front if I send too many numbers and I'll try to explain them And I will try to answer all the questions that were put before me I think I hope I have but if I have not please feel free to ask the questions Hopefully I have the data if I do not I will get it to you as soon as possible if there's anything further that I didn't cover my presentation but so starting with the original goal that was presented to me was to develop centralized registration Including the restricting guidelines and so we really tried to work on that So the first question was how do we do it? We have to centralize everything so I have to start by telling you that there's a zillion people to thank Dr. Bode gave me great credit Thank you very much, but obviously to thank her because our partnership is very tight for this project and we meet Regularly in addition to her Adam created all of our screens So he took paper and he put them online And so when a parent goes to register they are not spending hours filling out papers They're doing it right online and we are always tweaking actually I'll be meeting with Adam at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning for our final revisions for the next cycle of central registration starting in March Every single school secretary has jumped on board with this when a parent walks into the school and says I want to register They are sending them to central registration. So that's a big thing and we appreciate all of their dedication in this project All of dr. Bode's secretaries I think I call up there a hundred times a day sometimes they answering all my questions the two Karen's Marie I want to thank them my data assistant Kathy Meehan has been plowing through data with me for a year So I'm sure I forgot somebody so whoever it is. I forgot out there. Thank you so much for all your help So we centralized it and then we said well, what does that mean? What you know, how is this going to affect our buffer zones? What are we going to do with this and we found a location and that location is my office Isn't it beautiful? I have the most beautiful office in the system. I think 676 people total are registered into the Arlington Public Schools. I think that number somewhere in this presentation 401 of them registered between the beginning of March and the end of March last year So that leaves another 275 who sat in that office to register so it's it's a nice place to go. It's a welcoming place It's a place that they know how to get to so we have passed almost 300 people through that office so that's that's fun that's unlike a fun piece of data and That's all I'm going to say about that I'm going to move right to the buffer zone because I know that's what you're interested in talking about tonight So I'll move right to the information on the buffer zone The buffer zone came with two big goals that we had to keep in mind the whole time we were doing central registration One of them was that we wanted to try to increase the Thompson elementary school enrollment to 380 because that was the design number and We are pretty close to that 380. I believe we're at 362 I'm gonna have to put on my glasses for the first time ever in my 19 years in the Arlington Public Schools That I need to put on reading glasses to see what it is that I'm talking to you about But I believe it's 362 we didn't get to the 380 but that might be a good thing because the school opened this year and the growing capacity in Arlington is huge so We're 20 students under that accurate dr. Bodie say 362 and The second was to create mechanisms to equalize class sizes to the best of our abilities in the elementary schools And I'm gonna say that we we have seen a lot of of shifting making classes more equal and you'll see a lot of the numbers so Whatever we're looking at in numbers We have seen positive results in both of those areas, so we are pleased with those results We can always be moving forward and doing a little more, but we are pleased with where we have started and where we've gone thus far Some information on the buffer zones. It's just kind of interesting to to to keep in mind while we're talking about them is that buffer zones are students in grades K through 5 and It started in March of last year and it ran to June If a student walked in the door that needed to be placed in a school immediately Those children are counted as well as the students who are registering beginning this academic year So it really was a large number of children 23% of the land area of the town accounts for these buffer zones. So that's that's good. That's a nice That's nice Our registration dates went from 3 7 2013 until October 31st We could have cut it off at the beginning of the school year But I wanted to give you the most data that we could so we just extended it a little further There were no registrations in the month of November this year And the total number of students who registered was six seventy six mentioned that before and the number of students who Registered that are in a buffer zone was one forty five So of the six hundred and seventy six hundred and forty five were these buffer zone children And then I just broke it down for you if you add up those numbers they might not equal 145 I know they don't and I put that on their purpose because I wanted you to see how dynamic It is with with registration in general we think of numbers But these are children and so kids are passing in and out So when we first started we did have a hundred and forty six and then that person left our school system But I counted that in there because when we were looking at the numbers that were in the buffer zones in kindergarten There were 97, but one person did leave so that was not a math error knock on wood This is this is a picture that I thought I could use to help you better understand What some of the things were that we took into account when we were doing buffer zones Can I get up or do I have to stay here? Can I go to the Bring the mic with you Okay, well, maybe I'll you can take the mic with you I can take the mic with me All right, so What you're looking at here if you look at that first line and these are people who've come through the door this week It's Thursday. So these are our registrations from Monday till today. So that's pretty cool We're always getting registrations But if you look at the one that says stratton HP and then it says pierce stratton That represents someone coming in the pierce stratton buffers on how do we make that decision? To put the child into the stratton we looked at the numbers And we said well, there's only 42 students at the pierce school, but if you look at those numbers There's only two classrooms and there's three classes at the stratton. It's 59 kids, but there's three classes So we really do take each case and look at them very very individually. We did the same thing for the Bishop Stratton the kindergarten The numbers aren't that different However, the brother was entering second grade and if you look at the numbers for the second grade 25 25 26 versus 21 20 21 and we always keep the siblings together So that's how we made that decision. So it's one by one. We don't just ever make a decision quick We take a look at the numbers poor dr. Bote is usually bothered by me. What should I do? So so just for confirmation. So I just wanted to show you that I thought that was a nice thing to start to keep in Mind when we're looking at the numbers and how we made these decisions. It's not just a quick decision We are thinking it's so so to be to clarify that a little bit what the process is that all the registrations goes into Leilani, but then She brings up the list of decisions to me. And so I think we've spent Hours doing this since since this started But I think that our process has become a little bit more clear so then I I make the decision and then the letters are sent out from my office and Then Leilani enters that data into the computer Thank you continuing on with our little tidbits Buffer's own students who were immediately placed in their preferred school is 120. That's excellent Remember there were a hundred and forty five so 120 of them right away We've placed them exactly where they wanted to go not counting wait list just placing them on their preferred school So we really did try very hard to be placing children or parents and children where they where they wanted to be Buffer students initially not placed in their preferred school. There were 25 and of those 25 17 did say yes, I'd like to be on a wait list. So if there's an opening I'd like to be able to go in there Students initially not placed in their preferred school and did not get requested beyond the wait list were eight so they said, you know place us where you wish and Students who did not get preferred school, but did not request a wait list But a decision was made by weighing something was one There was a situation in the town where we really need to look at the child look at our facilities Which facility could handle the needs of this child? So like dr. Bode had said a few minutes ago. Nothing was a rushed decision. Everything was really weighed out thought thought through You skip the very top one that was like a repeat by mistake. That's a typographical error. I apologize for that in presentation It should have been 17 and it's the same thing that was on the previous page Buffer zone students who preferred school was not honored But wait list request was was for out of those 11 kids and those who were not on it was 11 children That's not that's not such a bad number 11 out of all the buffer zones children all the And the buffer zone students whose wait list request could not be honored because they left the district was two So by the start of the 2013 14 year 124 out of 145 students were placed in their preferred school. I Think that that's a that's a great stat. I think it's like 86 percent of something So we really did make lots of effort and I think that Even the children who were not placed those 11 children a lot of conversation went into these people We did not just say oh, sorry didn't get what you wanted. We actually spoke with parents We explained the situation we helped them understand what a buffer zone was about that slide I showed you at the beginning. We're replacing someone even though I use January data We still have that on a slide for parents when they come into my office so that we can explain to them how our decisions are made and most parents can't I don't know if all but most parents Agree with it in the end. They said I do want my child in a smaller class. I understand what you're working for what you're striving for So this is my drowning you in data slide I know it was extremely difficult to even comprehend what it was. I was trying to do with the slide I wanted us to be able to take a look and see with these buffer zones. It's important for us What would happen if we didn't have the buffer zone? How did these buffer zones affect things? Did did it make the class size is smaller? Did it make the school size is smaller and sometimes the answers know for the school total? But for the class totals were they smaller were they more equal and the answer in most cases is yes So I took this slide just to throw it in there and you know make everybody be like what and I broke it down for you So I'm gonna get up again Again, this is kind of a neat thing, but I promise this is the last time I'll get up I just wanted you to understand what you're looking at this I pulled just the fourth grade and I kind of color-coded it for you so at the Bishop school The Bishop Stratton in grade four if we did not have a buffer zone We would have one increase in fourth grade and we would have one decrease in Stratton school because the Stratton child went The buffer Stratton child went to the Stratton and not the buffer a bracket. I'm sorry Bishop. Does that make sense? And that's true for the bracket down bracket We placed the child Originally into the bracket So if I took that child out and put them back into the down down numbers would go up by two and the bracket numbers Would go down by two So this is one of those slides that if you have nothing else to do you want to really Challenge your mind feel free to look at this slide and I'd be happy to re-explain this again If you look at it and have any questions But what it what it was designed for is to let you see where are the impacts from one year to the next? Yes, so I had Okay, so the one you talked about with the bracket So if there wasn't a buffer zone then the bracket cohort would be up Would be down by two so there would be two less students I'm sorry If If yes, so there are 75 children Today, and if we didn't have the bracket the buffer there would be 73 So that is it that is a smaller class size But it's it's it's balancing out another class size another school in another class What complicates this a little bit is that almost all the schools Have two buffer zones and so for bracket bracket has a buffer zone with down and it also has one with Bishop So the while these individual decisions are made individually There is a holistic look at what's happening in the trends, so The only way we thought that made any sense to capture this a little bit was just to show the total net effect When you when you account for both buffer zones and in some cases. Yes, the total number went Went, you know, maybe a little counter-intuitive But the decision wasn't made on the total number of students in the school but rather What effect a particular student had on class sizes at a particular grade level and so when we actually assembled the data it was a little Was a little surprising to see that actually if we had no buffer zones in a couple of cases the school numbers would be actually lower But that wasn't the that wasn't the primary goal. I'm still just a little confused so the numbers the Up means what it would I mean that the ones with the arrows are what it would have been if you didn't have the buffer zone And so the Bishop strat in that first one If that Bishop strat and we placed the child into the stratton and so that number 64 Represents that child at the stratton if we didn't put that child in the stratton a child would have been in the Bishop which would have increased that class size by one So right now they have 58 children Okay, and if we didn't put that one buffer zone student into the strat in school and we left that child in the Bishop school There would be 59 children in the Bishop fourth grade Okay, I know it's like overwhelmingly But but we just wanted you to be able to see in some cases it is plus in some case It is minus, but we just wanted you to be able to see the numbers and how they are affected And then what I did for the rest of this presentation I know you've seen this in in in your packets But for the people watching is we kind of broke down one just to show you what does is what did a buffer zone look like? So at the Bishop bracket buffer zone there were 15 children of those 15 Nine of them preferred Bishop and six preferred bracket 12 were placed at Bishop and three were placed at Bracket, but Everybody got what they wanted in that we that the people on the waitlist did not get placed into requested school was zero So even with those we are honoring the request because remember there are our children who didn't have a waitlist request Put us wherever wherever you feel fit So even though you look at those numbers and it says six preferred the bracket and three were placed those remaining people said I don't I don't care we put me put put us wherever is best We like all the schools in the town and I think that was a really good thing to having being the director of data I'm always looking at the numbers and a lot of our schools are very comparable to one another And so this was a nice opportunity to say it's okay not to be in this school to be in that school and parents And you know what it really is our data is good. We had we have a lot of strong data I'll just go through these quickly. I don't have to spend a lot of time on this But the same idea as that first slide there were 25 students in the Bishop Stratton and And in the end 17 were placed in the Bishop 8 in the Stratton and only once Family or student did not get their request Bishop Thompson Nine were at the Bishop one was at the Thompson and zero children of it our families did not get their request So we're always happy when that number zero Bracket Bishop you'll notice a couple slides before was the Bishop Bracket now we're at the Bracket Bishop They are two different buffer zones So those these children would have been at the Bracket But now we have a choice to put them in the Bracket or the Bishop and again only one student wasn't able to be satisfied with our with our waitlist requests The Bracket Dallon Only now no students were left unrequested the Dallon Bracket Ten places Dallon five at Bracket with one student not getting their request The Dallon Pierce Fort Dallon zero at Pierce With one student not being able to get the request Hardy Thompson 17 at Hardy wanted Thompson with zero And then one that fight there. I wanted to show you sometimes where these numbers are coming from that they didn't request anything Pierce Dallon Pierce Stratton I'm just not going to read them all because people watching it's even seeing this too I don't want to be too repetitious because I only have a 30-minute limit. I think right Stratton Bishop Stratton Pierce Thompson Hardy and Then that and then I just total on this screen for you I want to let you know what waitlist students were not placed and requested schools I just displayed that for you so you could see our total numbers is 11 So it really is a very small number when we're looking at 145 children being in the buffers and 25 not getting placed so we're looking at some small numbers This puts it in a chart some people enjoy watching the pretty pictures. I like the pictures I was all proud when I could find all seven elementary schools in a picture But the reality is some people would rather just see a chart so there it is in chart form and that concludes my presentation I did take a look at the questions that were asked. I hope in in different ways. They were answered again If there's anything I haven't answered I'd be happy to answer I know there was a question about the average number of students in a class and We did put that into into into the slide we did add the average So some of the data has been put in different in places opposed to just one slide for it just for itself Thank you Questions from the committee I did want to just ask about the Thompson because one of the decisions that drove this was the desire to increase the Thompson's enrollment and When I see that there were four students that wanted to be at the Thompson That were not That wasn't able to be honored. It does make me wonder What drove that was it that it did? It was grade-level specific and that's why it couldn't be honored or And I realized if you need time to research that specifically that is a specific question I remember this very clearly I'm didn't interrupt my lines answer because yes saying it was There was there were a couple of times when we didn't place a student at Thompson And you would think that we would find it up that number But what would it what would have happened is that if you look in the Thompson numbers You'll see some very large class sizes that occur certain grades. In fact, if you look at grade three It is particularly large and it turns out I think two of those students were at grade three And we just didn't want to get class size up into 28 and 29 range So that was the that was the issue and I remember having that discussion with lay line I say and this is counterintuitive that here we're trying to get the numbers up for Thompson But we just couldn't do because of class sizes and that's why I was Assuming had happened, but I really wanted to make sure and it's like just a tag on what she said two of them were Absolutely that second grade so you see there's 25 already in that class and one was third grade Which again has those those numbers of 26 27 and the other one was kindergarten So if we you know that was 20 to 23 but the definitely the second and third were driven totally by the numbers in the classes Okay, and then My understanding is as well having worked on the redistrict plan is that if there's no room for one child at a certain level We try to keep families together in the same building so that might impact another child in a grade where there is space And we honored every single family has been kept together. There was there was no separations at all Thank you. Thank you Yeah, the numbers were interesting. I like the last slide. I knew you would And that wasn't in the handout Oh on the purple I've got a yellow. Okay, so I was okay. That's that's that's why I hate the paper, you know Counter to it, but that really tells the story I think I think that first of all when we went into the buffer zones It was sort of uncharted territory We didn't know what we were going to get and it really confirms it as a committee We made the right decision and came up with a working model that actually had some flexibility and The one summary statistic that we got was the place of people more people wanted to go and got bounced out of was the Thompson so we were you know, it became a very highly desired school, which is one of the things that we Have been working on in that new building It's just put such a spin on the place that people want to go there in that It's just very heartening because if ten years ago before we started our rebuild and before people knew how good the Thompson was That wouldn't be the case. So congratulations to everybody the Thompson who's made that a really desirable school and Just this was better than we could have hoped for I Also like this chart, but I think maybe you want to go back and double. I like the one that was there before it's disappeared The averages I think some of them are not correct For example the Dolan at third grade It's the other one. I think the Division was done by a three instead of a four four classes. Okay, so we will definitely go back and check Yeah, so we need to get that and just speaking for myself I would have liked to have seen both the people who come in and who go out not just the net Because I'd like to know how much how many people are being affected not just the total Well now that we have like the template sheet I can do that very easily for you Yeah, so it could just be you know an up going in or out and a down going in or whatever, but both numbers not just a net Thank you. We have that sheet already I just want to say that's not the summary chart. I like the other one. The one you showed at the very end. Can we flip To the end of all your pretty pictures. That's well done, too. I that one that's that's the one I'd like to get a copy of Okay, yeah, that's the one I want that really tells the story Yeah Any other questions for mr. Agustin? Can you talk about there were deadlines set for when people had to be notified for when they would be moved in Where they would be placed where all the deadlines met or what happened with that? So this is this is an area All the deadlines were met in the sense that all children were in classes for the first day of school But I'm gonna say this is one of the areas that we have talked a lot about and what what we find and even Dr Chesson and I were talking about that even today is I'm a Make an exaggerated example not picking on any school I'm a parent at the Pierce school and I go away for the summer and I know I'm a Pierce parent I'm not in a buffer zone. I can register anytime I want Because I'm in the pier school. I'm not in a buffer zone So that parent not walking through the door ties up all of our interactions because we can't work on these buffer zones until we know So we have talked about either way Should we be doing ways to do incentives to get to get registration done for people who are not in the buffer zones? I can tell you those buffer zone parents. They were in immediately Those dates date stamped every person that walks through the door and though they want to wait at lists by the date stamp They were in these buildings immediately for our registration days So there was a lag We were able to get them. We were on the phone with people Mailing to people so we did all kinds of things to get them in but that was that was something that we did struggle with Okay, because I'm thinking about the policy had some deadlines when we would notify people of their assignment So it sounds like we weren't meeting those deadlines. No, we did meet the deadlines in terms of when Absolutely met those deadlines What what Leilani is referring to It's it's that There's constant stream and of course the volume of the stream was was very significant this year so we would make a Decision based on the best information we had but then that there were some people that we just said, you know We this is where your placement is going to be do you want to be in a waitlist for your preferred? And we did got we got back to a number of people in August on that and I forget what the actual numbers were I don't know that I have that number handy But we did we did we told people that we'd get back But even then even after August we had a Continuous through September We and October really you were almost having people daily Multiple people daily as we were registering students. So that is the part that's a little there was a little bit difficult is that You didn't have the complete didn't have the complete picture and in fact, I think there was one case where we And I won't mention the school or the buffer zone where we actually went back to a family and said This really isn't going to work out How about if we just move you back to this other school and they were fine with it So but that happened because the numbers just became too skewed too large as we went through the summer And dr. Bode we had 34 people registered between September and October So that that's a significant number of people to be registering during this during the school year. So great This is something for consideration not for response, but when you were talking about Incentivizing people that know that they're not in the buffers I Would wonder if there could be some sort of special arrangement for children that are assigned by a certain day to have like an over-the-summer reading opportunity, but they're building principle or something like that which You know like would mean that people would have to have their kids name on the list and they could like do some sort of social event for the incoming kindergarten classrooms and that way it would certainly be beneficial for them to give it wouldn't more timely manner because It seems like part of the meeting versus nebulousness around the deadlines is we're meeting the deadlines, but if we had more Accurate information up front. We might actually be able to better honor parental preferences And so, you know, I would hope that I'm sure with the elementary principles that there could be other ideas that would be generated to Pretty much make it beneficial But that's happened soon. We will think we will work on that We've been doing some brainstorming too on that on that issue because it it is an important way We it's it's also helpful in terms of class lists You know that the principles will start out with trying to keep everything very even and they and in fact Again, I won't mention the school, you know, some of the registrations that came in had we known Some of the needs of these students prior to later in the summer There may have been a Different configuration of those classrooms. So I mean those are all issues as well But, you know, we're learning from this and I think there's some factors that we won't entirely be able to control certainly the number of students that are enrolling here, but As far as the process one is my memo to you on this It actually other than being time-consuming was very straightforward and we followed to a T the date stamps so when we had an opportunity to Go back and see there's a possibility somebody getting off the wait list We absolutely followed the order in which they Registered which was what we had said we would do And we didn't skip over unless the person said they didn't want to do it and there was a couple of cases like that too I just have a question on the central registration Can you tell us if there are benefits financially for the district to have the central registration and what you found? By by experiencing it firsthand. Is it is it more streamlined for the parents as well as the administration? What are some of the benefits to having it this way? I? Think the parents enjoyed it your office is lovely knock on wood. I didn't have any parents like mad at me in the office I think that Really what it's done is it's made it very effective For for us opposed to the secretary. There are seven elementary school secretaries. There's a busy women they are very busy and When the parents were coming in before with a hand filled out eight page Registration that data has to get entered into the computer So what we've been doing because it is online now is we download that data and we clean it up There is changing the headers and all different things and then we are importing the six fields that go directly to the state for our state Reporting we are importing those so we're actually kind of doing two things at the same time because we're preparing our data for state reporting While we're importing the children and registering them into the student information system, so that's like a huge thing I know how valuable time is my brother has six children So my brother goes from school to school to school and he's always telling me this so I am listening a little bit and so I I have really worked on on what it takes to get a parent in the door and out the door quickly and We can if a parent has printed the material and signed it We can get a parent in my office and out the door in less than 10 minutes So there's there's work to be done once they leave in terms of registering the child into the computer But there is no parent in my office for more than 10 minutes if they come in with their materials So that I think is is a good thing Central registration those kindergarten nights. Yes, sometimes you are kind of waiting in a little bit of a line But I think that we really got that down to by the second or third You know visit we really had a process for them to move pretty quickly So that's that's a nice that's a nice plus when I'm on the phone with someone and they say to me I work and I said can you come and see me at 730? I can have you in and out less than 10 minutes We do we do keep that promise to them. So those are some pluses. Did you want more and I don't know the financial part of it Well, there's there's some other pluses too Right now in the kindergarten and the elementary the building secretaries do not work in the summer They may come in for a couple of days more time than not that they use the days toward the end of the school year So we can wait until August to sometimes get these numbers in and given the enrollment growth We've been seeing that would have been really a very difficult thing to be scrambling at the end of the summer Trying to hire teachers remember last year. We hired five teachers Before I think it was only one but still if we were trying to do that in August when we're finally getting all the data Because sometimes it could sit on people's desk for a month and we wouldn't even know that these children they send them in and It could sit there. So in terms of managing just classroom numbers The the policy also took a little bit of an edge off of class sizes. I wouldn't say it did major You know changes you'll you look at the data here. You can see we still have large class sizes and in some schools They're larger than others But it helped a little bit and sometimes it's that little bit that can make it make a difference But I think of the two things knowing where we stood in enrollment as We went through the summer. We were able to make very important decisions giving principles time to Go through a hiring process that we would not have been able to do without central registration Can I tag off of her on that too because it made me think of something another thing? I think it's a big plus is is the communication piece piece once you leave my office It it starts a whole other process getting the child into the computer We take that information and we can pass it to the principal But we are also passing it to the ELL director if needed We're passing it to special education. We're passing it to the head nurse So they are receiving that information within 24 hours of someone leaving my office So lots of people are touching the information and and is certainly for special education and ELL It's good to have those numbers and those heads up ahead of time So But it's it's it's within my packet So I am checking to see that the parent has filled out that information and that we do have the information to get there Are there any plans for rolling central registration out towards middle school high school So that's dr. Bodie's decision. However, what we have done is we have taken The registration packet and we have created it so that we could now go k to 12 across the entire district So there would be one k to 5 There would be one 6 to 8 and there would be one 9 to 12 So now and that can begin whenever whenever I think we were talking about it We're not sure what we're gonna do with it But even if we don't have central registration parents can then have the same format in the same packet straight across our district Well, I'd like to thank you very very much for coming tonight and explaining some of this kind of complex data to us and in a very Understandable way. Thank you. Well, mr. Thieman. I'll tell you I love to I love talking to school committee I do so thank you and happy new year to all of you. Thank you Moving on then We are up to the part of the evening special education budget and program update We have our interim director of special education here tonight. Ms. Kathleen Locke. You're welcome and Jill Parkin. Yes And Jill is one of the Coordinators in special Coordinators before Kathleen begins. I just want to Explain why she's here one of the things that you've heard from the principles over in December were The needs in their building they included special education needs, but there are also global needs that that have been identified K-12 which some of you've heard already, but Some of them the building principles may not have identified and so that's the purpose tonight Is to give you an overview of all of it K-12 actually pre-k-12 really correct, right? So good evening everybody nice to see you And nice to be back to school as everybody said after our two-week absence So I'm starting actually this The document that we gave you is by levels and we'll start with the preschool for those of you who May not know on the school committee. We've been doing quite a bit of work with our preschool program as a team we've been meeting and really looking at programming Looking at philosophy and looking at program quality So some of at least one of the recommendation comes out of that work that we've been doing together The first on the list is there this is actually Moving what is now a point eight position to be a full-time position that was changed for really the request of a Staff member But we find just in trying to really think about program options just that little bit of time causes some Exceptions that we just we think are not helpful to the program planning. So that's that request the next request for a BSP has to do with our our autism program at the preschool we have a Substantially separate supportive learning classroom for students on the spectrum and We anticipate an increase in staff in student body there And that's to really plan for that so that we have sufficient staffing for students who would be coming into the program The next recommendation is the one that came out of our work together At the preschool. We're actually running a little school We have over a hundred students by the end of the year if you don't know it our special education students All come in on their third birthday. So the population changes during the course of the year and Obviously our largest numbers are by the time we get to June So there's a lot of needs like there are for school secretaries at the other buildings if we're intake for communication, so I really see this request for clerical Assistance is to really free up a professional staff member who is doing that now And part of that rationale is that we do expect to be serving more students We're doing more With more program options that we have initiated this year and intend to we I know that things will expand because that's what we hear from every community So in anticipation of that I'd like professional staff to be available for education And so I'm asking for a clerical position to be established to do a lot of the other things that need to happen And also parent outreach is a piece of that And moving on to We have the middle school listed next the middle school I do believe that both Ben Hellfatt and Mr. Brigieri the principal of the school Talked about many of the things on this list, but I'll probably just give a slightly different spin to them Under the first request is for a teacher Who would be in the? SLC B program and that's based on increase in student population it's also in it's also aimed at Retaining students in the general ed who may need some temporary support and Outreach to general ed classrooms That's how that has been described the need so that not to maintain students who may need some temporary support But also for not increasing numbers of referrals for those students the next request is a Social worker or guidance counselor. It's it's actually a guidance counselor at the at the middle school, but All of the many of the guidance counselors are social workers and that's How this this position seen this is actually? Again, we're doing a lot of work on social emotional issues across the district And one of the things that the middle school has worked on is having their guidance staff be the first the first people that intervene with students who have are exhibiting social emotional issues are requesting services for that are identified needing them and We feel that It is felt and it's been communicated to me that if we had another point five social worker That would be very helpful so that that can Those issues can be responded to I think it's an expansion of a current person who is point five to one point Oh is what is intended? And then the request for teaching assistance is We have a number of small group sessions at the middle school small classroom sessions for the SLC students and This would be to expand Inclusionary support for students who are leaving those smaller classrooms and transitioning into the larger classrooms based on progress That was the request for another TA who could work with the students particularly in the inclusionary environments The substitute teacher Request is one that I believe was discussed, but it's related to the fact that we need to have a general education teacher at every IEP meeting and the challenges of Covering classrooms to have that happen has been articulated both at the middle school and the high school So that request is directly related to having flexibility within The school to be able to cover those classrooms effectively For attendance at IEP meetings Moving on to the high school The first request is for a point five team chair with the rationale for that is we've had one point five team chairs at the middle school and We see that as an effective model and for a number of reasons at the high school because of the population because of Some transient needs We no longer see see a 1.0 team chair being sufficient for the needs there It's it's taking it's a lot of stress and strain on the staff Relate all service staff to respond to the needs of the team chair So we're looking to move our team chair staffing at the high school to be Replicate that at the middle school the related service the SLCB social worker there's This would be within the SLCB program But that also is where many of the students who from programs from Residences in the district Come and enter that program from the transition program that we run and that is requiring a great deal of Assistance now, and we feel we're understaffed in that area The other The other request the fault next request and related services is for a speech and language therapist The speech and language therapist at the high school we've really done a study of what the needs are for speech and language therapy at the high school and in fact We've identified is a fairly high level of need within the autism program the SLC a program for Social thinking social language Which is done both by social workers and speech and language therapists and Also within our language based program our language based program Primarily works with students who have a specific learning disability and a language related disability and Brian Sylvester's the teacher of that program and we We see that it would be very beneficial to be able to have a language therapist working or co-teaching with him I shouldn't mention that we're doing quite a bit of co-teaching across All the schools, but in particular the middle school and the high school is doing a lot of co-teaching special education and related service Staff special education and general education teachers both kinds of models of co-teaching are happening So so we see a speech and language therapist point five Needed at the high school and we've really targeted what the need was Previous to this we have split a position between the middle school and the high school There's actually We're doing some co-teaching with the speech and language therapist at the middle school. She's working in the academic classrooms with teachers Working on building language related to curriculum We're having a lot of success with that and one of the other reasons why it didn't work to try to have One person at the secondary fill all the needs is because the difference difference in schedules You with a differing schedule at the high school and the middle school It just there was incongruity and caused a lot of difficulty and really having a kind of very sane program for students So that's another rationale for that request The next two teaching assistants a teacher assistant and a BSP is Restoring staffing that we previously head to the SLCB It's a pretty strong request from staff that they need the flexibility of those staff members The Request for teaching assistants. I know came from the high school administrator There's been a great deal of difficulty in hiring and retaining teacher assistants at the high school level and That we I see those teacher assistants as being people who can support curriculum in in classrooms with the students support the students within the curriculum of general education and So their request is to move them up to a higher level Ta and to increase their their salary My notation refers to the fact that I think it's it's a district-wide need to look at the salaries of the teaching assistants and For retention purposes and recruitment purposes, but this is In a special need that we've had this year is hiring at the high school level and retaining those that we do hire And then the the last item under the high school has to do with that language-based classroom that I mentioned before Brian Sylvester is doing an excellent job he's but he has a very high caseload and We anticipate a number of students moving in from the middle school So just in anticipation of those needs increasing I have asked for consideration over another teacher for the language-based classroom at the high school that is by the way one of the populations that We unfortunately see a number of people students leave the district for support in that area the specific learning disability program and language related language-based learning For students who have difficulties keeping up with the curriculum and need some specialized approaches and teaching in those areas the The next items are system-wide and Positions and programs and the first one relates to the BCBA I do know that this is an identified need that the elementary principles made in their presentation I was told it was their primary need We certainly can support that and agree that that is That is You know a need system-wide How we do work with the BCBAs and the BSPs to whom The BSPs that appeared with them Jill is Jill Park and is the person who oversees it And oversees where they're going to be working so they're not placed in different schools It really is responding to the needs of students and she really organizes that piece of it So we would see that being done the same way I know Jill spoke to this at the the night of the elementary Presentation and should be glad to speak to it further, but we've worked out a model where a BCBA and a BSP are paired and They respond on short term and sometimes a little bit longer term basis To students based on referrals from the schools across the district Yeah the the two OT positions are both currently the need that's identified is at the elementary level and OTs have been Occupational therapists really provide excellent services to the students in our in our schools But they have been particularly helpful in response to intervention or it our TI services because they really know a lot about the environment of the classroom and Some novel ways to present information to students and help them Really perform the kinds of tasks that they need to within the curriculum on the classroom So the requests there are particularly in the area of our TI support Which I know has been articulated to you previously as a method that we We hold referrals down because the students can have different settings different environments different methodology of support And start doing well without addition leaving their classroom. That's beneficial to all That's the nature of that request and the last is reserved for teaching assistance Which is something we have had in the budget and used sparingly this year And but it's been Important to have the flexibility so those that's kind of an overview of the requests and I'm glad to answer questions on anything Why so hot You know is I assumed a 12 month it might be a 10 month You know, I think it's a 12 because pre-school is more 12 than 10 Just off the top of my head even We can discuss it the substitute teacher one was left It does that come under the general ed budget or I'd like us to consider extrapolated put it in this budget What you did last year we'll talk The professional staff one was left blank is the reason for that down under the high school Actually The reason for it is that it is anticipated SLD needs and at the time that we drew this up It was just a matter of really getting more data about numbers from the middle school I continue to see it as a need So I think we can add some Figure One thing I'd like to request is if we can break out of these positions that are basically Basically going to be required to us Well, that's a good point to bring up with the fact that we haven't you know really detailed that the number there Because as of right now we can fulfill all IEP needs I want to make sure that you know everybody knows that without any of this addition. Well, we As as we we are delivering services now Things will be there is enhancements here that we feel like we need But we are delivering services for all students But the issue is then for for instance with this teacher is how many of the Specific learning disability students at the middle school will need this level of service and that's what we're still teasing out right, I Guess it's important for us that have to crunch numbers to understand What what flexibility we still have? Yes for a better phrase. Yes Yes, thank you, and that's what I think you know at our cabinet meeting tomorrow That's you know a piece of what we're going to be discussing among all of us in the district And the only thing other thing I'd say is when you start thinking about this in October We're now in January. I know the needs a whole lot better in April than I do in October So I think I have similar you know not Not necessarily what's required versus what's nice to have but obviously prioritized of These of course if we couldn't grant all wishes, you know, what would be the but I'm sure I know that that's something that Everybody's going through with all their requests. So just kind of putting it out there When the elementary principal spoke to us and they talked about the need for more behavioral specialists My understanding was that we needed Like four more Right and I thought they wanted one in each school Because the BCBA is remember Are not just direct interventionists with the children. They're also training the staff in the schools to better Manage the situation. They're not they're not like a speech therapist or an OT where they're embedded in the infrastructure To make sure that they respond to what needs to happen at a given time and it was felt that another one Wouldn't spread them so thin that they're providing necessary training not just to the kids But to the teachers and that a third would really aid if I misspoken or is that No, you know, I don't I don't know that if there was a presentation for a higher number The number that came to me was you know, not one more would certainly help So I'd like Jill to speak to it Hi, thank you. I Hear what you're saying and I do understand where your question comes from because I was at the other meeting, okay? I think one of the Things to look at is the difference between the BSPs and the BCBA's Okay, and if you had I think the one option that I think that was on the table was looking at the number of BSPs which is a higher-level teaching assistant and Is it possible to put more of the that personnel in The elementary schools and so how many of so right now we have two BCBAs and Two floating district-wide BSPs and two BSPs Okay, and so this would increase both of those by one correct But I think that's where your question came from and it's a relevant question. Okay. Yeah, cuz I'm my understanding When I was on my notes or that they wanted one in each school So if I can speak to that a little bit, yeah We had the the really good experience to have Jessica Menehan who is a BCBA And has written a very popular book the name of which is the behavior code She actually is a colleague of Jill's and also of Chris Carlson Who's one of the other coordinators and she? Through the success grant. We were able to have her come in and she has she's going to do some more training for us and The reason that we had her come was as we have seen in Arlington As I know in interacting with other people in other towns We've had pretty much an explosion of the The needs there's needs of students in the social emotional and behavior realm. It's not just in this community It's across this country for sure Jessica is a national trainer and she Has she has found some ways to work within the educational system nothing really fancy, but very effective and and so she has come in and She actually did a training with our cabinet so principles and other administrators heard from her and One of the things that one of the premises she starts with is we all need to become behavior savvy teachers and educators and That is part of the premise is that the ability to respond to children with behavioral or social emotional needs Anxiety the kinds of things that we're seeing across the country not just in children But in many other people, but certainly we need to respond to those needs with children in schools what we've seen is Something that we need to become more adept at responding to And not see it as such a huge difference because we're going to see it every day in our classroom so part of our Effort with the BCBAs and BSPs the system-wide are to bring some of those techniques to the schools really provide some Models demonstration hand-on support so that we can replicate some of those techniques that have been Successful not just in Jessica's experience, but with the many people. She's worked with across the country Jill has a lot of the same kind of capabilities as Jessica She happens to have a pretty successful book and she's a great trainer She also just brings in that experience from so many different settings. So she's going to continue She has gone to the Thompson and to the Hardy school and done some consult he and She's you know done observation and done some hand-on training She our plans are for her to be training the general ed staff through the success grant We also have booked her for next November for all of our training so that people at different levels And there was some real interest from for instance secondary Coordinators and having their staff here from her perspective It's just kind of foundational to think about this is a part of the landscape of schools now so While it would be perhaps You know wonderful to have a BCBA in each school We're trying to do you know train the trainers Train the staff support people and and recognize that we have a common Issue here, and we need to work together to respond to it. That's kind of the foundational piece here I think that that helps in trying to think about How we need to try to gradually respond to the need that we say Okay More math So according to my math, so these asks are about 525,000 dollars I Actually redid the math with the new numbers for the TAs and the BSPs And I also added fifty five thousand dollars for the language-based teacher. I assumed one FTE there That's what comes to about five eighty five five eighty five Okay, and right now if I look at the money that I know that we will get from the town for special ed Going from FY 14 to FY 15 is one million 70,000 This is about half of that if you look at just the seven percent that we go from in special ed If I do my subtraction correctly So that leaves us a little less than half a million for The rest of everything else that has to go on in special ed, which is you know rolling up the salaries And taking care of the district tuition the out of district tuition that we know we're getting hit with so And I know that You guys are this is all still preliminary But and I just want to make sure that we've all kind of got those numbers and I think that it's probably going to mean that some piece of this Doesn't happen. So again prioritizing it is just going to be you know It's very important for us so that we know Going forward. What is the really where where where do we get the most impact and where will we see the most? Not that they aren't all important. I'm sure they are but you know, where will we get the most? You know bang for our buck as we should say I guess but you know it just it's all numbers unfortunately in the end sometimes Correct, I you know I certainly and the coordinates myself have actually done some of that talking We'll be doing some more with our colleagues tomorrow about that I think you know the exercise as I understand it from the superintendent is to really look carefully at the needs and Articulate them because whether they are able to be responded to immediately It helps us understand when issues come up next year where they may be coming from There's nothing really extra on our list here. There's nothing. There's no big huge initiative. It's more filling in it's more bolstering up and You know the the biggest expansion is probably adding the BCBA which you know I think everybody's articulated those needs, but we're certainly prepared that we need to You know strategize and try to think about how to make more out of less Right, so I appreciate all the all the thinking on this. This is great. Thank you so much Will Is one of the objectives of these additional hires to That's certainly our hope the hope for three years has been to firm up and to expand Improve to articulate our response to Disabilities so that parents can understand what's available for them that certainly is The hope and I would say there's certain things on here that are definitely targeted that way There's other There's other positions here. They're a target to support general ed students Staying in general ed and getting the kind of support they need in that setting And When you do the budget presentation to us, are you planning on doing I mean, I think it would be helpful To help for me, and I think for lots of people in the community to have kind of a cost analysis of special education that looks at you know All direct costs to support students and IEP's involved before plans out of district placements Is detailed of a cost analysis is possible so that the public understands What we face? Have you but I but I've made in previous years. There's always been a pull-out section on special education Yes, and I need to look at it in a while Okay, because if I mean that really does detail everything that is specifically to special ed But what it doesn't detail are those interventionist services? Yeah, that that dance on that middle ground Remember when I did the bar chart and I showed General ed special ed and interventions like an interventional RTI. I mean or reading ELL services things that aren't technically sped aren't technically IEP driven Yeah, I mean I can think there's a quick example right here Increasing the OT time which is technically in this case a special ed request right is really targeted at an intervention to prevent more Children going into right, you know IV because they're an OT and they're generally living in the special ed budget I'd be more inclined to classify them as a special ed expense, but they are not in the strictest sense IEP driven They are actually more of an interventionist service So I think it's important not to look just strictly at sped but also to look at those interventionist services and if you think it's some of the other requests we've seen that the math coaching and The reading specialist and things like that those are direct interventionist services and where we're looking for enhancements to ELL Intervention services, and I think those are those are the really tricky area because those are always the low-hanging fruit when you're trying to reduce the budget They don't increase class size There you know that those are the easy cuts because they tend to be pricey people, right? But they're the worst thing to do in terms of really providing good differentiated instruction and Containing special ed costs, so they're tempting cuts, but they're not good cuts. I think that's a good point Diane I think highlighting those in a presentation to illustrate Educate the public on the fact that keeping these programs in tax supporting these programs is critical to reducing the number of students we have And to better differentiate instruction for all better. Yeah, better. Yeah, better difference instruction the The other thing is that it The question often comes up in the public is how how do we how do our how does a percentage of special education cost in Arlington? Compared to other districts comparative districts have weird Do we have that kind of data or is it possible to get that kind of data? I suspect sort of okay The way the state defines special education not the way we necessarily define special education But the way the state defines special education You can look at what percentage of per pupil from district to district a special ed according to the way the state calls it The state doesn't look at grants as being regular or special ed It only looks at special ed is carried in the general fund, so it's a smaller number Than what we consider special ed because we include grants that directly fund special ed services, so But you can look across districts and see you know for a district as high performing as we are our special ed costs I you know our percentage of special ed and our special ed costs are relatively on the modest side You know if you look at it in terms of our academic performance because in very high achieving districts You tend to see commensurately pretty high special ed costs and in other high poverty districts You'll see high special ed costs for an entirely different set of reasons Okay, am I am I mean that that I don't have to take a look at the desi site and see what's there, but that Data may be helpful in our conversations of the town about trying to get more money for the schools because there's really two things driving that Conversation was mostly enrollment, but it's also ours are challenges and meeting all the needs of students and what's a special need so I'm thinking I don't know as I as I saw this presentation This is very helpful and it gives me a sense and I and I didn't do my homework I didn't go back and look at last year's special education section in the budget that would have been helpful to do But it's I think we need a good Presentation that does the cost analysis of special education and places us it tells the public where we are in the spectrum In the in the you know and how we compare to other districts Stay I don't know that kind of data. I think it's important. It's especially important in the conversation. We're having on a long-range Planning committee That some of us are not may I ask when we want to compare ourselves to other districts when we did the salary study Yeah, we comp communities not on educational criteria, but on socio-economic criteria That's comparable communities in terms of their economic abilities. I would use is a rational basis I my inclination would be to compare us to other districts like that But when you think educationally we you know we Prop we might want to look at us more in comparison with people of similar MCAS pedigree So I'm not I'm you know, I'm not sure which would be the more fruitful analysis. Honestly Do you have feelings? I gotta think about that. I don't know. I mean that the group might have a better idea I mean, I I don't know you guys I Think about it. I mean either way it would be yeah either way. I don't know Both seems like overkill. I'd love to compare us into Lexington and Concord and see how we do well But then that's the MCAS comparisons. Well, and then we just look at per people and know that they're way out spending Yeah, so I don't know. I don't know. I'd have to think about it. I Whatever you guys make a recommendation. Okay, but I think that so anyway, I think that we need a Better cost analysis would help answer a lot of questions in the community Especially among the people we're into a dialoguing right now with about more revenue. Thanks Mr. Slick I'd say that I the what mr. Thielman is just said resonates with me tremendously Because you know one of the things that you have to do is a school committee member Is to go out in the community and sell the school system sell the budget you talked to 10 meeting members you talked to the finance committee you talked to neighbors and You want to be able to walk out of the meeting and say okay, what's the story? This is the story and I don't feel like I'm in a position where I can tell a story right now I Feel like the the story that was put before me today is well We sort of like what we're doing now, but we'd like another five hundred eighty thousand dollars to add to it. Thank you very much So we're not dealing with context. We're not dealing with needs statements. We're not really You know getting getting the context together so we can have an effective story and mr. Thielman is absolutely right We're taking a look at what's happening in our district with the increasing enrollment. We're saying that the Current formula isn't working because the include increasing enrollment So that every time we talk about budgets and every time we talk about the need to increase the budget for certain areas the context in that really needs to be clear and it has to be something that is relatively Understandable when you're going out in the community and making a comment in their statement and So that it's that sort of Context and clarity not knowing the number I mean five hundred eighty five thousand dollars is a nice number. It seems reasonable given the growth rate in the district But I have no way of telling the story that our current budget plus five hundred eighty five thousand is where we want to be and This is the priority that we have to add in Especially because last year we got into trouble because of the way we balanced the budget Some of the money that was really a sped cost Maybe wasn't in the sped bucket and that was difficult talking to the finance committee About the way we were allocating sped versus non-sped within the context of the agreement in the multi-year plan. So I Hope when we get to this Statement next year that we don't have to go back to last year's budget and look for the comparison Because you know, we don't want to keep last year's paper We'd want to have the context of where we were and why What we're doing is on the right track Why these specific additions are the right things to do and what the priorities are Vis-a-vis all the other priorities we're doing in terms of serving special needs and regular ed students in the district Yeah, I think that's what we do in the superintendent's budget message When we've refined it to that point, but we're not there yet I mean we're we've basically provided The opportunity for you to hear directly from the people the things they that they're identifying is needs And we haven't yet gotten to the point that this is our ask So I think I think when you're absolutely right and that's what we do when we get to the ask phase But we aren't quite there and because of the timing of long-range planning and the town budget We've got a little cart before the horse this year going on. Yeah, I know but the thing is now I've got a list and I don't know what to do with the list nothing yet Yeah, so why am I listening to the list if I don't have the ability to Opportunity to answer you ask the people who are bringing forward the request so you For my way of thinking if I'm going to be able to ask an intelligent question about what's before me I need to eat night. I really need to be able to look at it in the context and I really don't feel I You know, okay, I was presented a nice list of things that are going to add to the budget That they're probably the next steps we want to do in the minds of the people working in the district That's valuable information to have and That's a good exercise But when he gets to our level that you're talking to somebody who's got an oversight role who was not in the district Day-to-day and understands what the real world is For a special ed teacher and the oddison You know just We need to be able to tell the story in every time that we're sitting sitting here before the cameras Talking to the committee. We need to have an experience where that story is clearly communicated So that we understand and the community understands the overall context, and I just don't feel like I have it right now piggyback a little bit on Mr. Thielman and Mr. Schlichman were doing but from the user end Working in the school myself Ico t I have the image in my head of Somebody teaching a child the appropriate grip working with those fine motor skills helping them right learn how to capture their thoughts put it on paper When we show this to the community They see alphabet soup They see a bunch of varying salaries and don't necessarily Understand the difference in why a BCBA Gets one salary a a Special ed teacher gets a different salary of BSP gets a different one and a TA gets yet another one There's also not the reflection of what is the difference between a TA and a BSP and Even from our level here I know in the district in which I work you say TA and I'm thinking that's the person that takes a child I cannot toilet themselves to the bathroom and is attending to those very basic physical needs so it's more of a nursing assistant type of position and that's why as opposed to a learning type of position and that's why there's a certain salary but I Arlington does use their TAs in different ways at different levels. So having that overview as We look at these positions in terms of what are the tasks associated with these positions that need to occur and a little bit back to a Different take on what mr. Heiner said in terms of which of these people are providing direct student IEP service hours and Which of these positions are actually part of our pre-referral program or our You know assistance with behavior plans which not are not necessarily Going to be direct student hours servicing an IEP but are directly special ed department costs and and having that just that delineation is helpful because Without that knowledge. I look and I see oh a TA is only You know X amount and the BCA is this amount so why not get five TAs instead of one BCBA and You know, but when I'm like, oh, it's a board certified behavior analyst That's going to go in and has the ability to assess a child has the ability to pretty much Create a behavior a tiered behavior intervention plan that a teacher can utilize So that child does not require to be pulled out of the regular ed setting and has the ability to access the curriculum with their peers I'm like, oh that makes sense then and that person can impact a lot more classrooms, but without that that vision This really makes no sense. And so I would like to see that However, you want to get it for those of us that are more visual learners Displayed there so that as we're looking at these. They're not just numbers. They are either Without defying any confidentiality, of course, but they are students and how this impacts student learning You know, I I appreciate all of their those recommendations And it may be my misunderstanding of where we are in the process But one of the things I've learned in life is don't put something up there that you're going to take away And I feel like that's where we're at because you know this I don't want Every one of these things is necessary But I do realize that there's going to need to be a winnowing down and one's going to be more vital than another I think when we're ready to come back with you know our program and the budget I would welcome the opportunity to exactly talk about the BCBA program Which we initiated last year and did discuss but talk about how it actually has worked And I think giving you that information Would be helpful what have we been able to do this year with BCBA and what do we need to do with the additional person? And I'm going to push a little bit back where there is I understand about not wanting to get so much community investment that We can't make a choice about what to give up right but there needs to be some foundation for the initial sell because While Arlington as I've said many times we do a lot with a little mm-hmm I might really have tremendous staff that exceed suit in student performance what they have compared to other communities and I've appreciated that perspective right But you know if we're fighting for something I want to fight for a Cambridge budget so I can offer You know, it's like and I know I'm not going to get it, but if I aim here I'd rather aim here and end up here the name here and end up here Helpful to know your perspective and what you feel you need. It's helpful to me. Thank you. Can I make a couple comments? Good suggestions, I think that we have in the past and will continue to do so is to get more rational for What will be our our ass as we go through this process because we're going to have to look at this as we've done At least I feel is a good way of doing is looking at in terms of tears We actually do have a number that the town manager was able to give me late this afternoon in terms of what? We will be able to have as a budget number from the town contribution next year, which we'll talk a little bit later but that number in combination with the Growth plan that we are we've all agreed to as a community the three and a half on general Budget seven and a half percent a seven percent on special Ed Does not cover what all the all of the needs that you've heard over the last month you heard from Preschool elementary middle and high school in terms of the staffing in the last Two years alone. We've had roughly a little over 280 students enroll in our district K-12 that in our in our preschool is growing as well In fact, we're probably have to add in some extra times next year So if you apply even the same percentage of what our ratio is for Students that have an IEP we're looking at in district another 50 to 60 students that we have and may actually be higher How it actually have that particular group plays out But we've been seeing that we've been doing what we need to do with this additional staff with the staff We have and what you're hearing from all the different levels is we don't have The staffing that we need to keep class sizes where they need to be to keep To keep caseloads where they need to be To meet the the learning needs of students and we probably need to do a little bit better job of explaining that as we go forward But a lot of this is really driven by enrollment It's driven by also the kinds of Needs that we're starting to see we're not starting but really have seen a growing in the last few years and Kathleen is right I've been is that a meeting earlier this morning and with some other districts and Everyone is seeing the same thing everyone being in the edco community. So it is We are we are responding to a number of fact another number of forces that ours our school system Has but you may want to hear feedback from dr. Snampy though before you expand beyond that because I think she hasn't had her chance Um, I actually had a question more for my fellow committee members I appreciate what mr. Thelman mr. Shortman miss. I am said and wonder if part of the presentation if it had an org chart of before and then an org chart of after with These are the specific tasks that the new people are doing if that wouldn't answer a lot of what you're asking for thinking so That's I Think that was my main contribution. Oh And for talking about the analysis I think thinking about the groups that were look this is going back to mr. Thelman's idea thinking about the groups that We're presenting to I think we really do end up with two we end up with the new town 12 and then I think an MCAS Even would be a good group to look at also, but they're gonna want They're gonna I think they're we're gonna want the one for us, and they're gonna want the other so Y'all had a chance, okay Couple quick things. Thank you Jill. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your attention and questions couple Yeah, that's what I was gonna get to Part of the agenda item was budget and program update, right? So dovetailing a little bit on what mr. Schlickman so eloquently put out there was just like tell us a story Tell us what is going on every day. Tell us what your team chairs are coming to you with saying scratching their head saying oh my god or Wonderful or no that today was awful. Just tell us a little bit of a day in the life. I Hope I didn't put you on the spot here, but oh you did. Oh great I mean, I think I interwoven some of the things I think some of the work we're doing at the preschool is very exciting because You know, that's the first place where we meet parents who have children with a known disability at that early age Who tend to be students that we really need to help support during the early intervening years? And we have been able to at the preschool start some groups for students that there's When we have done the intake for them the students may not qualify for special education But they are seen as students who could benefit from support they may be in a more at-risk category or Questionable relative to their the level of need as far as a disability So we've been able to run this year on six of those groups for Community students and and parents and that's been very well received by the staff and that is run by speech and language therapists that the social worker And educators and so that's been an addition that we've made this year We also have been able to have some of our in the world of Child find which is something that we're charged with in special education is finding students who need Services We have started Screening advertised screening groups that will happen quarterly is pretty much kind of a general call But we also have had staff going out to preschools To visit when just on a consult basis when they've called us Those are some things the preschool used to do but hasn't done for a period of time So we're really getting back into doing some of that work and it's been very well received by the community So that that's at the preschool level at the elementary level I think I've commented before and I don't have probably probably this Specificity that you'd like tonight, but our learning specialists are the programs are doing really well if I were to highlight this in the storytelling is The Dalin School, which I think has you know really done a fabulous job of Articulating their learning specialist role they talk about it as a coaching model and They're two learning specialists with their their assistants. They're assigned to them work within classrooms and are really Working with teachers as well as modeling with students in a coaching way and helping people Understand the children's learning challenges Showing how they can scaffold and how things can Be done when they're not in the room. They really have a real Orientation towards the coaching perspective and not to service delivery During the period of time that they're there and they had a great parents meeting that I attended where they explained this model and One of the learning specialists explained the difference in working in this district Which he articulated that he came here to work from another district because of the model Because previously in the district he came from he was doing a kind of a straight tutorial model And what happened for him was he articulated to the group You know the time lost in going and picking up a child bringing them somewhere else to work with them and Then needing to bring them back and not having the time to interface So the model that they've developed really makes them much more a part of the classroom I'd say that that's a story from the elementary level the middle school I Have had the opportunity through our teacher evaluation system to see more in classrooms and what I'm a really following with with two staff members is Is their efforts to as a speech and language therapist and then a special education classroom teacher teaching English co-teaching English and history together and That is related to one of their requests in the budget and they do co-planning which is extremely important if you're going to be teaching together And just the energy and effort they bring to that the co-planning they're finding it They're finding their own time to do that And they are working with students. They're coming back together Evaluating how it went and then in trying to improve on the profile on you know What happened with for the students that day and increase it so that co-teaching is alive And well at the middle school for that a group of students who were in the SLC that really didn't have the benefit of that kind of model before If I moved on to the high school Gosh, I don't know what to say about the high school There's so many different things happening But I would really say the change and schedule at the high school where there is that the blocks at the end of the day for students to get academic support and for the academic support teaches to specialize in looking at executive function skills Being able to have speech and language Support during those times so they're not being taken out of their curriculum courses For those kinds of supports. It's built into their day, and it's not just Tracting from the day. I guess that that's a highlight. I would say at the secondary level And that does speak to some of that the requests at the high school so that we can continue some of that We have some great new teachers who've joined our faculty at the high school and Just to see one of one of those teachers who I kind of My walk-in in the morning passes one of his classrooms, so I often get a chance to Stop in and see it and just to see how he's actually using all of the high school to work in executive function skills He makes appointments with the students to meet them down in the in the Media center and they have an assignment and so he they start it and he goes down and meets with them Which just is such an innovative way to start the class Join them and really start help helping them utilize a Facility that they may not have been able to utilize before So that's just kind of off the top of my head just kind of telling a story It's great kind of just went from one level to another But I'm really glad to answer questions if you have them. Yeah, how about your? Your interactions with CPAC so far this year. I have those gone. What can you tell us? Well CPAC itself is kind of a very small group this this year, but I think that we've been working hard Oh, and I'm so glad you brought it up Tomorrow on next Monday night as many parents will hear in a robo call tonight We are having a long-planned transition Workshop this transition workshop actually will be going from preschool to high school So there will be It's it's really planned for students who have special education needs However, I've encouraged all parents to join us if they have questions of what happens But it does cover preschool into elementary elementary into middle and middle into high school and then there will be a presentation for Students as they're leaving the high school what kinds of transition planning happens for them So that's Monday night at the audison school 630 to 830 And we're it's a focus on transition within the district Now, I know we've had a lot of snowy days and goodness gracious if we got snow There could be a snow day or I don't want to put that out there, but it could be But it's also comp Monday night could conflict with other parent schedules or what I have you Is it possibility that we can talk about having another one of these sooner rather than later? There's this academic school year. We'd be glad to do that because I was made aware of the is a sophomore activity at the high school As far as I know the only there was on the the calendar at the beginning of the year thing and There is the conflict and if we could plan on having a second one I think it would be in with better better better communication. I think I It would be very beneficial for all of us to have it So if I could just add this is one of a number of transition activities The middle school does run their own high school night as do some of the other level schools But you know, we're happy to consider doing another transition this kind of preschool through high school We also heard from you know, some of the out-of-district parents about the other this kind of another transition Model, which I think you've heard about what mr. Dempsey talks about at the high school So that's been a request to from some out-of-district parents to Have a forum to talk about that I just spoke with a parent about that and so we'll probably be having a forum for out-of-district students as well But I'm glad to consider that I got an email. I can't remember which source that came from about this But the text of the email didn't actually make it very clear Who would be interested in and so if you do another one you may as you do your announcements you may want to make it Flesh it out a little bit that this is intended for special eds to talk about especially didn't want to exclude anybody So but but it would be helpful if you have more. Yeah, it really didn't I had no idea what? Was gonna it just says transition, okay, and I mean it says transition from here to here, but It doesn't give a sense of what topics you're talking about here that sound like Okay, so all right. Yeah, take it to get some more information Thank you very very much for coming tonight and helping thanks for must for our budget planning process Thank you very much All right moving on Sticking with numbers monthly financial report We are moving right along in the fiscal year there have been no There have been no expensive there's no no surprising expenses that have hit the books But the full impact of the snow hasn't fully rolled through So as so far the financial reports for this month are fairly quiet and doing about what we expect At this point we have no no additional bad news from special ed Which is always good Real nice that just to The first one number 83 807 insurance Yep, is this our total insurance for the district? Yes, that's both the insurance we have in athletics and the insurance we have for the school committee Okay, and Right now we're projecting We're done, I mean that those are the policies for the year We won't be spending more the policy so higher than we budgeted Okay, so we'll be in the budget. We'll be increasing it Okay, and the other one is eight one excuse me eight three one or two legal services It's just above that. Mm-hmm. Does that cover all our legal services expenditures? Yes, both both Sped and When we do the budgeting and stuff I Know when we get the breakdowns They were able to determine which services are being put out Is there a legal expense under the special education budget? Do we budget it separately? Yes, okay Would it be possible when you do this breakout just the separated for us? Yes, thank you Looking at the revenue tracking the building rentals right now. It says revenues received are 88,000 of 300 I'm just is that a lot of the a lot of the payments particularly the after-school come in at the end of the year Okay, so it doesn't it doesn't run in a steady way. No, just like the the foreign visas also don't run steadily That hasn't really ramped up yet. Okay pensions Confused about why that's an item. Oh Pensions we have to pay for some grant expenditures. We have to pay a portion and So which which report are you looking at? 730 Yep, we sometimes pick up little dribbly drably expenses If we were a little off in our salary when we close out a grant that we owed a little bit more or a little less I would take it out of the general fund to to get the grant. I Mean you only have a certain amount of money in the grant And if in fact the salary was slightly higher than you originally budgeted in the grant You have to have a contribution that's commensurate and I may not have enough money left in the grant So this would be like little dribs and drabs of those kind of matchings that we have to send off on the grants So maybe okay, so I was just confused of the word It's not actually a retirement it is because when In the state when you pay into the pension the state matches it just like with Social Security the employer pays a piece the employee pays The state pays that piece on behalf of municipal employees But when you have a federally fund when you have a certain kind of grant You have to pay The employer share because the state's not going to play the employer stare because the state isn't hiring the employee if they're in a Grant so that's where you're picking up these little extra pension things. It feels like you're double paying the pension But you're not because in this in the state of Massachusetts There's no employer share for municipality goes straight from the state house to the pension fund Any other questions Thank you Discussion on the FY 15 budget Yeah, I Thought could this be the part where we talk where we put you on center stage We get we get to say some good news. Okay. Yeah, so we would like to deliver that news I So we did get a number from Adam today and the town is willing to add to our Normal three and a half and seven percent a total of eight hundred and eighty-five thousand One hundred and fifty dollars The way they came to that number for people who want to know is they took and I really appreciate that they did this they took the FY 13 and the FY 14 Increase in student enrollment and added them together knowing kind of that were behind And if you add those together right now, they're 281 additional students over the course of those two years and What they did was they agreed to give us 25 percent of the per pupil cost For each of those additional students and the per pupil cost that they used was the twelve thousand six hundred dollars Which I believe is 12s per pupil cost So when you do all that math out it comes out to eight hundred and eighty five thousand one hundred and fifty dollars of additional so on top of the three and a half and The seven percent on general ed and special ed as well as we also have that kindergarten offset So we now have also have that additional money, which I Personally want to say thank you so much to the town the finance committee. It was Wonder they have been wonderful and helpful in having us in thinking this through with us and I Really appreciate the fact we all kind of I think made it very clear That the more money we could get this year was really going to make a big difference moving forward given that we've kind of fallen behind Given the enrollment pressures that we've seen And so this really will allow us and then moving forward the plan is that we will get 25 percent Every year on the enrollment of the previous year Right, yeah, that's correct. And if enrollment goes down unlikely Then then we would not get that right now We would that actually in fact that would get subtracted from so this is going to be a separate line item Because there was really strong unanimity The school committee board select when financed capital that we we want to adhere to the plan Even though we are close to the end of the plan That had been operational for the override, which was the three and a half percent growth on the operating budget Except for in the school department budget seven percent of special education. So We're maintaining that it's just that when you have that kind of enrollment, which actually is Getting close to the size of one of our smallest elementary schools. That's a lot of students to absorb in the district Throughout this is the K-12 piece of it not even preschool I Want to share my gratitude about it too because it really will make a Big difference. I will say and it's just the reality of it Is that the if you were to put a bottom line number to all that you heard tonight and in December? We're actually approaching more like two million but we we know that So it's important to see what we need from the administrators And and teachers and principles point of view But we know that that's not possible and we're going to prioritize that as we go through and so you'll be getting the budget subcommittee We'll get our first our first draft of that next week Members I would like to move that the school committee approves the town contribution the total contribution will be 50 729 968 dollars for the FY 15 budget Discussion I said one question just just to clarify Is this is a three and a half percent increase plus the seven percent special ed plus the 885 150 and the continuation of the $970,000 kindergarten fee offset. Yeah, right. Yeah, okay Just and and the the additional 885 150 will be folded into the three and a half percent base for next year And I didn't introduce miss Hansen. She is with us a ea rep. Hello. Happy new year Mr. Schlegner. I just want to say how important it is to do this And also that in the context that as our enrollment is driven up the chapter 70 So that we're not really costing the town The way it would sound just by getting an additional appropriation. There's additional state aid to back this up In other words Chapter 78 is based on the enrollment the previous October 1 so that if your enrollment goes up The foundation budget goes up Foundation budget goes up the amount The state needs to contribute to meet its share of the foundation budget goes up because our local Contribution is capped so that that that was what enabled us to go to a free kindergarten is the enrollment increase was above the cap on our Minimum contribution so that as our enrollment goes up It will be above our minimum contribution so that the additional funding to meet foundation needs to be contributed by the state So that as the increased enrollment is generating An increased foundation budget thus increased chapter 78 under the formula that's sort of where this money is coming from that the town isn't taking money from from taxing local citizens and diverting it to the school system This is a function that it also includes the fact that our increased enrollment is generating increased state support Okay This was not a quick request by the school committee and a quick Agreement by the town and just getting bang bang boom was done. This was after quite a few meetings a lot of good questions a lot of good dialogue a lot of information going back and forth and a lot of Good sincere inquiries made by the finance committee the select man and the long-term planning and Mistak, Mr. Thielman and the other members of the board responding in a way and I Just want to come in to everybody father said was it well thought out well worked out and Thank you. Yeah, I really want to echo. Mr. Hanner's comments on that Miss Johnson, yes, but Cheson and certainly miss darks chair of our budget subcommittee I'm just really really happy to hear this news and that we can we can vote on this tonight And thank thank you. Mr. Fanning out there and your brethren and I think it is really It's an wonderful demonstration of how Everyone is working together and you've said that but it really was a here's the problem Mm-hmm, and everyone talked about it. It's like how are we going to deal with this problem? everybody acknowledged it was a problem and so then it was Problem-solving it and it is exactly right when time manager I'm Anna Chaplain and and the assistant time manager and Andrew Flanagan worked on this they They talked to the Department of Education They looked at what our chapter 70 was expected to go and did a lot of modeling with this just to see where how this would affect the plan going out to The FY 19 budget, so it was a great effort a collective effort to deal with a problem that Is something that we did not anticipate when we created this plan for the override Comments questions okay all those in favor say aye. All right all those against All right anything yes Yes 50 million 729,000 968 yep Long try to make it sharp, but we're gonna begin this evening With the the pledge some of you Approved and were participated in the development of about five years ago with with Joe Curell One of the things that Arlington really stands out as being a very very warm and welcoming committee But sometimes there have been over the years evidence of intelligence or even Even hate crimes or very serious things that have happened and one of the responses To that was an initiative by the Human Rights Commission to put together a response Coordination team that has made up a lot of the key people in various groups that she find for example myself There's somebody from the town Town manager Joan Roman there's a whole bunch of people that are on this on this group And we have worked out a protocol in terms of communication protocol when An incident such as this might happen. What would be our response? But part of that work also Evolved into creating a resolution That I believe it's been about five years ago that that resolution was affirmed by the school committee and the board of select men and Now that we are approaching the Martin Luther King So holiday the the remembrance thought this would be an appropriate time since it's been quite a few years to Revisit that and the board of select men is going are going to do the same thing on Monday evening So this is what the resolution Sounds like human rights resolution Whereas our nation was founded on the fundamental conviction that all persons are entitled to equal protection Equal opportunity and the enjoyment of civil rights and whereas the strength of our nation is derived from the growing diversity of our communities And whereas thousands of people of diverse backgrounds live work study and worship in Arlington Visit our towns businesses and enjoy our recreational opportunities and whereas all acts of subtle and overt discrimination against people protected under federal State and local laws Substantially undermine our communities schools in the promise of equal justice and whereas violations of human rights occur in our town And whereas we can begin to solve the problem of hate by taking strategic and specific actions To promote a sense of welcome and inclusion and whereas Coordinating efforts to combat and respond to such acts of hate and human rights violations Continue through the response coordination team Comprised the public officials Arlington Human Rights Commission vision 2020 diversity task group and members of the clergy Now therefore be it resolved that the town of Arlington does endorse the efforts of the aforementioned response coordination team and Pledges its support for rapidly addressing violations of human rights in our community and be it further resolved that we the Elected leadership bodies of the town of Arlington will maintain a policy of publicly addressing human rights violations And those who perpetrate them and be it further resolved that we will unite against prejudice and support those who are harassed Or have their human rights violated and be it further resolved that we will support town and community groups in their endeavors to creatively recognize and promote diversity And I'd like to make a motion that we vote to reaffirm this resolution tonight Discussion all those in favor say aye all those against Reaffirmed thank you. That's great And I didn't mention that on the on this particular Team of people there are also members of the clergy from a couple of the churches So that is a very inclusive group of people Well, where to start I Know that there might have been some questions about last week snow days I Actually had only one question from parents on it I know that it was it's what people have to understand is that you make the best decision You can with the information that you have The night before or the day before and it appeared that on Friday I'm sorry on Thursday that we were gonna have continuous snow through the day with as much as five inches of accumulation by the close of school and You know a couple of inches Might be felt we could deal with but when you're starting to deal with bus schedules and long-distance driving from staff But the hills in Arlington I Just felt that the right decision was to not have school for that day. I seriously considered a half day But half days are hard to institute the day before One of our contingent our contiguous communities already had a half-day schedule So it worked out quite well, but the elementary principal is affirmed that putting half days in the day before can be problematic because sometimes parents don't get there to pick up their children and You know they've gone to work and it's just often a much longer day than than you would expect So that's that's that's the reasoning in general. It's it's very it's very difficult Certainly a lot of people were consulted in that decision But I have to say when I was driving in that morning myself I didn't come I came from mid-morning the roads were so slippery. I It was actually quite affirming that there probably was the right decision and when if I had done a half day The the the strength of the snow was actually right around then too So we what this does in terms of looking forward to the last day of school. It brings us to a Friday No pressure going over that weekend, but that's where we will be so we still have Well, we still have three more days on our calendar with this year by starting before school We actually have six days before the last day in June which and we can't go past the last day in June So Barring a blizzard of 78. I think will probably be fine in terms of going through the year I obviously would like to not have to get into the last week of June I think that everyone felt that it was It was made a very short summer, but in but it was also problematic in terms of our professional and development The it for parents It was difficult in terms of camps and our own summer programs were affected by it as well We had to change a couple of things so We're hoping that we won't have any more but one of the other things with regard to this that was Was concerning and I because I did drive a little bit around the areas around Pearson stratton And there in some cases aren't sidewalks, but what you see and now it's better because we've had a flaw That you'll have a couple of sidewalks in front of houses Shoveled, but then somebody hasn't so or what happens and the DPW really tries not you know Try to fix this, but we've got a lot of corners You know your big piles in a corner and then see so children are out in the street often walking and that's really very Concerning and very dangerous and particularly on slippery days if children have been out in the street that that day with Those streets the way they were it could have been very dangerous So I think our sidewalks generally are pretty clear right now, and I would just implore people in town that when we do have It's more snow, which is likely that you that you clear the sidewalks just if no other reason for the children in your neighborhood, so they're not having to be out on the street and I think that we there are Groups in town that if you're you can't for some reason get out and shovel yourself that There are groups in town that are willing to volunteer certainly Community service here at the high school. We probably should get that list out of students who would be willing to do that Well one of the other surprises over the weekend was of course the cold snap and fortunate well Fortunately only one building in all of the town buildings experienced frozen pipes, and that was Pierce and Probably what happened was to the best of our knowledge. I'll know more after maybe by the next the next meeting as we Figure out exactly what happened unless Diana Has learned more That the first there are two systems in of these new schools, and they're all these all these systems are computer controlled and The first system broke down and the second system should have automatically Jumped in and started the heat, but that didn't happen and so we've we're right now the diagnosis is that there was a Software problem, and we're working with the heating company right now It's just really to get the heat back on but then after all that's taken care of which I think it we're at that point We'll have to go back and really diagnose what happened Unfortunately what that meant was that we had water Cascading down Into the library and by the way the reason we were able to discover this on Sunday was due to a Neighbor who was walking by Notice that there was a Wall of ice coming down from the third, you know the top floor all the way down and water coming down that so they called the fire department The fire department then in turn called Martmiano who is our director facilities and then everything started to to spring into action So I want to thank mark had that gone and Particularly the neighbor who caught this had this gone on 24 more hours We would have had a lot of damage in Pierce and in fact enough so that we may not We may not have been able to open that day and possibly have to relocate students for a while where we cleaned it up But there was water. There was heat that was often some rooms There was water damage. I know I was in some rooms on Sunday seeing you know pencil holders filled with water and number of books were Were destroyed Right now the estimate is somewhere between three and four hundred books in the library because what happened when the water came down The rug was soaking wet and of course everything on top of the bookcases were destroyed But then the water started started to be absorbed by the bookcases and so the bottom rose All the books became soggy So we're in the we're at the stage where we're evaluating whether we need to replace the rug And certainly we're taking care of all of what all the amassing all the cost How this works in the town is this we do have an insurance policy, but it has a very high deductible And hundreds of thousands kind of deductibles really for catastrophic Damage But there is a fund that has been created It's a hundred thousand dollar fund that is for damage due to these types of things and I Believe that I don't know exactly so I Probably shouldn't say how it gets replenished if it's used but we had to use that fund for the high school We had a similar thing happen a number of years ago. So we're We're doing spreadsheets to find out, you know what the total costs are and it won't It probably will be I Don't really want to say right now, but it probably is in the 50,000 range. I'm not really sure I'll tell you the next meeting moments once we get the final total because I don't know what the heating contractors have charged us yet It'll be everything Can I ask at what point it seems to me that this has now happened twice in the tenure that I've been on school committee Here in the high school and now at Pierce It seems like it would be helpful Especially on these really cold days to have someone whose job is to come into the schools Check that the heating system are working check for open, you know, just do a walk around so that things are found So we're not dependent on neighbors I mean, that's great that they saw something reported it But if it could have been reported if it could have been caught when the heating system failed instead of just assuming everything's working because The building is closed Well, I think that's a good suggestion and I believe that that's probably what's going to happen going forward with the high school It wasn't What happened was a window hadn't been closed tightly and it blew open It just so happened that the pipes were at right next to that particular window So it wasn't an abnormally cold day. It was just a winter night This wasn't abnormally cold Friday and Saturday. And yes, we probably we probably need to make sure that happens All the buildings were checked on Sunday to make sure there wasn't any other other problems Unfortunately, we're able to open the school on Monday and Pierce is certainly had its share of Trials and tribulations over the last Last couple of years, but they really rallied and did a did a great job There's still a lot of materials that had to be thrown out. So those are also our reading room There were a reading teacher and our EL reading coach Evelyn de Rosa and our ELL Teacher came in on Sunday to start taking the soggy materials and throwing them in barrels So I was unfortunate to have that much loss of you know carefully Carefully gathered materials just to be just to be clear. We have during school vacations We have people walking the buildings. Yes Monitoring seeing things. Does that happen daily during school vacation week? Yes, it does and He's part of the problem getting more Oversight there and over supervision when there aren't people in the building because we don't directly employ Well, our custodians generally Don't work on Saturdays and Sundays and then of course there was the large snowstorm on Friday that that pretty much kept everybody home, but they're So, yes, the buildings are monitored during the weekend because our custodians Do not they do not Participate in the school. They're an entirely. They're in a town union Yes, and is it a similar software might when I spoke to mark the other night he said Two systems and trying to make that software Do we have a similar problem in any similar set up in any of the other buildings or is it unique to Pierce? I think the two different Systems trying to be coordinated by software is unique to Pierce, but that doesn't mean that there haven't been Issues at others the newer schools because these schools are so high-tech Doesn't take much to break it All right, any other questions on Pierce? I'll get you the final number once I know it One of them when we alternate some of these because there's some really some nice news, too Let me give you another a good good news We have a Our librarian here at the high school Stacy Kitzis has done a lot I don't know if you've you've been in the media center over the last couple years in terms of how she's Reorganized it and then we've created as a learning commons. It's very inviting To have that kind of an atmosphere there, but it's really just the way she's organized and She has she involved a lot of people a lot of students to help in this effort well her efforts in really Completely changing around what had been probably a space. It wasn't used very well to a space that's being used very all the time was spotlighted in the Massachusetts Library Associates And I think I sent you that link to that, but anyway I want to congratulate Stacy Kitzis and the library assistant at the library in the high school Barbara Slade for all the work they've done on that Um we We had a successful first semester with teachers taking the retail course and we have another group of teachers beginning in late late January the next set of retail and I think we have The count I had in mind was I think higher that's be reconciled But let's just say it's between 30 and 40 teachers that will be taking this course the number I had on my list was 40 So we have a lot of teachers that are committing to doing this work, which is a significant graduate level course What percentage of the staff completed by the end of the next term All together we probably will have had about 70 teachers complete this These are all elementary teachers. So I would say it's about 40% maybe we still have elementary we still have a way to go but of classroom teachers The number that sticks out in my head was I think we had about 280 teachers to train all together so classroom teachers and content area teachers at the secondary level and I think you're right 60 or 70 will have completed it after this year Laura might actually have The numbers we're talking about the number of teachers that need to take the retail class all together Do you remember? 286 that's secondary and elementary correct Right and then next year a focus on secondary Still getting state money or are we now is it now on our That teachers the cost for the teacher is paid by the state Structure salary is paid by the state instructor. Okay. That's it Will that continue out through the whole 280 no they will pay for a hundred and eighty teachers So we will okay Thank you There'll be more on retail another time. I just gave me an update that we're moving forward. That's all There was a survey that Department of Education sent out and I forwarded it to all parents You have a copy so they're asking for People to give feedback on a number of things particularly the impact of Common Core So I've actually had a number of emails from parents wanting more information about Common Core or why they're doing the survey and And it may be that the parents just honestly say I don't really know how this is impacting Because that in and of itself would be very good information But I've only had a couple of parents contact me about that so I have to make the assumption that that People at least understand what the survey is asking of them. We're also expected to do it as well You were expected to do it as well I would like to urge everyone to in the section where it asks, you know If there's anything else you can add that it does actually have an impact on our budget and That it is yet again another unfam mandate. It is one that I agree with. I am As a teacher and a school committee member the Common Core I find very I like it I think it is a good thing, but You know the requirements that it puts on Us are not a Zero dollar any change always costs and I just I would I would Request if everyone would just put that in there so that they hear from enough of us But I mean I when I filled it out that was one thing that I I definitely wanted to make sure we mentioned There are costs and The costs involve materials. Yeah, that's a professional development and Yeah, it has an effect on class sizes because the kind of work that you're doing with Common Core requires Class sizes that are not Large, I mean you really if you're gonna really be able to attend to all the differentiated needs of your students in a classroom and and have the level of writing the level of Communication whether it's oral or written is and feedback on on Students performance This is the this that takes a lot more time on the part of teachers So yes, it does have it does have an attendant cost to it We are doing more going to probably do more surveys as we go along But we have a survey that's gone out. I think Linda the op the survey For for parents for oddison conferences has gone out has the survey gone out for elementary yet Not yet, but soon we're asking we're sending surveys out. I think the high school's already done it Asking parents to give feedback on the conferences whether they felt that There was an essentially where there's enough time that they've met the time and the structure met their needs We're also asking questions about the ease in which they were able to Actually register the students and we're also looking to see At different levels. What is the best time to have a conference? We've we found that the elementary is still parents want to do a morning. That was a very popular and that wasn't necessarily What in our conference schedule this year we Agreed that we would have two evening conferences at each level But we want to find out is whether that really is a true need of parents And one of the reasons why we wondered that is that the elementary level The evening conferences were not filled Yeah, and more parents wanted to have morning conferences they would call up and ask teachers So we want to just have a sense of this because it may be that when we look at the school calendar Which we're going to need to do fairly soon that we may want to change the recommendation And how many elementary evening conferences are they may be the two is fine for the secondary level But it may be that we should do a different kind kind of conference structure at the elementary That only go out to people who had parent conferences No, we're not it's going out to everybody. I did not Did you get it from the high school? I did not get it from the high school and I could not get in to see one of my son's teachers by the time I got online the day after it opened Every single teacher was already booked Yeah, so I would love to give some feedback. Oh, well I am I'm fairly certain and went out like almost right after Conferences were over at the high school. So probably went out and went out in December It was the week it was the week before December vacation and I know because I got it as a high school parent. So it was that week I actually got it. Yeah, I Just wondered because I wasn't able to make a conference if maybe I didn't get the the survey but Okay, but the one for the oddest and parents just went out early part of this week this week And we're just about ready with the elementary one to send that one out Probably when do you think we'll send out? I don't have spam Next week we want to get this information right away so that we it informs how we do the calendar next year on this It may be that there's such a desire for early morning conferences that we think about Late start you could have kids coming in at noon Let's wait and see what the I know But we do want to reach out more and just get it To see what parents or parents are thinking on this Talking about the high school One of I had mentioned to you back in December that that one of the things that Was thinking of doing was hiring an architect to look at this building from a programmatic point of view We already have now the onsite insight report which outlines the mechanical envelope Electrical needs, but they but it does it really toward the level of maintenance You know you need to do this right now Of course if you remember that onsite insight report everything was in the first year because it's so needed But it's really a maintenance schedule in terms of the high school so doesn't address anything else that doesn't address security or technology or the flexibility of the rooms to the program and so or the the building in terms of MSBA requirements state requirements on class sizes and science from science rooms, so The onsite insight report is complete. You've had that we have we have secured the Services of an architect who was the architect on the Thompson building for a month-long project in which we will we will be looking at the programmatic Needs of the high school So today was the day that that she was here and we had to her we had meetings with with faculty members If just absolutely none dated her with data maps So that that so the plan is That probably it will be the first meeting in February that she will come and do a presentation here at the committee Okay, and then we will also then schedule a board of selection meeting now whether they want to jointly come here and do it I don't know we'll talk about that Can you tell us where we are on the statement of interest? We're in the process of writing it it's due April 11th, but keep in mind We all have to be in agreement on this and I mean we all this committee certainly is but the town The board of selectmen and all of the The people involved in you know Key roles They involved in the actual state creating the statement interest or do we send it to them and then bring it back for tweaking? We're going to send it to them and and get their input, but they have to sign it. I understand that I'm just April 11th is that the date It's it's three months away, but at the same time It could be a very short amount of time with everything else going on in the town with the town meeting coming up the law and articles and I Just don't want us to miss the window We're not gonna miss the window, but we might not have control of certain parts of this That's one of it. I guess what I'm saying is get it to them as quick as we can So that if they have things that we have to change we're going we're far I just don't want any stalling down the line. I don't mean stalling. I know they care about it They of course they do but they also want to understand About the programmatic part of this and that was the feedback that we received they understand the nuts and bolts part But how does how the configuration of the high school actually meets the needs of the educational program? That's the part that needs More explanation for them as well as how the building actually conforms to Some some things with ADA, but certainly things with with guidelines around space Just to clarify. This is a statement of interest I think they need to be signed by the superintendent the town manager the board of selectmen and the school committee Yes So I think we're just it's a statement of interest We're not it. We're not in a disc. It's not like the conversation we had several years ago about the size of the About the feasibility study options with the Thompson. It's we're not at that level. We're not at that level So it's it's I don't I think they give us some feedback The town manager will give us some feedback. I don't I don't think it's going to be that complex I mean, I think it's a complicated thing to write I don't think it's to become that complex in terms of getting the board of selectmen and the town manager to agree to it. I think you can I mean They they requested more data around this and we're we're getting that data and we will present it to them But we're not but I guess the point I'm trying to make not well I realize is we're not in a discussion at this point about the size of the building or the size of the project So that's where you really just about the needs that yeah, the needs of the building. Yeah There is no solutions at this point. That's what a feasibility stays all about Yeah, and I you know when you talk with people about it they quickly want to jump from need to solution But that is a whole other piece here. That's a different debate. That's a different. That's entirely different So I just wanted to be aware that was happening and on that topic Have there been discussions further discussions about the Odyssey and it's spatial limitations And Because of all the elementary bump that we're expecting Well for next year there's going to be an analysis and that's already begun of space there in terms of perhaps Moving some programs around moving some programs. Maybe one of the programs moving here To the high school Reconfiguring perhaps with some walls some of the space so I think that certainly next year and possibly to even to the following year we The changes that will make and will make a difference there. We need to free up some classrooms Now that we we know that we have this enrollment growth We have we're going to need to hire some more classroom teachers And so in hiring those teachers we need to have a room for them Rooms for them. Yes So that's that's the work that's going on right now, and we will what once we have More information about that. I'll certainly share it with you. All right We are moving forward with the searches we have a search for a down and elementary principal and director of special education in for both searches the organizational meeting is happening next week and More than likely there'll be some interviews beginning the week after that We re-advertised in the newspaper last Sunday not because we don't have applications, but There might be there might be someone who was just starting to look so it Until we actually have finalists. We will keep the searches open For any anybody who applies and be evaluating those applications as they come in there will come a point where it will be a cutoff However, and that will be when ready to make a selection of finalists I just wanted you to know that was happening and we had Good responses from parents who wanted to be on the committee and all of those parents have been notified this week The December newsletter was out. I hope you all had a chance to look at it because really it when you when you get it gets all Put together. It's really quite amazing all the wonderful things that are going on in this district. Let me just check my List here think that covers it. Did you have anything that you needed to mention? That's all I have tonight Seeing that there's really nothing to approve in the consent agenda, right? There's Skip over that Subcommittee reports policies and procedures. Mr. Thielman. We meet on January 27th at 7 p.m. With Rebecca Bryant our attorney who is going through policies. What time is that? 7 p.m. I Will be posted so Thank you We had a budget subcommittee meeting this week Let's see we heard from traffic supervisors on their requests for the budget coming up We also heard and you guys have at your desks the pink paper From Mary Vellano who has been organizing the international students They are requesting a fee increase tuition increase so the proposal kind of shows you and Mary Talked us through these but if you look at the very last sheet I think what we the budget subcommittee recommend is option B and so the Total tuition that they're requesting is that the yearly tuition for international students be raised to $15,936 and you can see the breakout in fees there is the per pupil cost Plus some administration costs plus a cultural enrichment fee and that fee would actually be used so that all students would actually be signed up and go to a series of social gatherings to try to make sure that they are being social and So that was our Recommendation and so I would like to make a motion that the Arlington school committee Raise the fee for international students to $15,936 Do I know this is not a common practice among other districts, but we ever since any other districts would do this and where their fees are Yes, I asked Mary the same question She said that we are right in the middle of where Most of those are most of them are based on their per pupil cost And the reason actually that they added the cultural enrichment fee was because they found out that other districts were doing that Right now we do have a Bunch of social gatherings that happen, but because they're optional They feel like that's why kids don't do it But if we built it in that more of them might come because they can just you know It would be easier to just go and so that was the only real you know We just had to increase it one for You know for that and for some more administration the administration fee actually allows us to have a Person who's handling it because we do have 25 to 30 she said There are other school systems that are able to issue a J1 visa which is essential to have international students Most and there's quite a few around the Boston area increasingly for a while there was very few school districts that did it Arlington was one of them but they often have only a few students and What we have been finding with having the number that we do have of 2025 sometimes as high as 28 through the education program. We we actually have Other students besides through education, which I'll talk about in a second has all it puts a lot of strain on a number of People in the district in the in the school certainly guidance Administration because there are a lot of there are a lot of work to register an international student There's a tremendous benefit But one of the things that's also unique about Arlington high school which is not true in all the schools that have the education program is That if a student comes here and wants to get a diploma from Arlington high school It is possible to do that provided that They pass MCAS of course and meet all of the the course requirements that are necessary That is actually one of the major strains and it's actually one of the reasons why a lot of kids want to come here Because we do do that but we when we sat back and looked at it. We realized that this was a A real benefit and was also very taxing not only in my office But also on miss high school administration and high school guidance There's also have been some issues with ELL as well And students come that this they're supposed to have passed a language exam And most of the time that they have come with a working knowledge of the language, but not all the time We required to provide ELL students for foreign students. No, we're not But we do do some We do do some and but again that that we've increased a little bit through the the tuition They give we've increased a little bit of time there We've added you know sections here and there because when you have that many students Enrolling in courses it just it raises it raises the numbers It's also been a benefit to Arlington students because when you add a section it takes the pressure off of The lock on the schedule and they are able to have a little more flexibility in taking that art course of that history Course whatever it might be so there are a lot of benefits to being able to do this But it it just was clear that the way we were doing it was Needed a lot more centrality to it and fortunately by having Mary's done it on a consultant basis this year But we're gonna move it into a position for next year and you can start to Rob will put it into a job description But we needed some relief in my office from all the J ones All of it and all the phone calls and the parents it's just it's a lot of work I think I've talked to the principal of the high school He still thinks it's a very valuable thing to do and certainly the feedback we get from the students is that it's so it's a Very special and memorable experience in their life Will the state allow us to increase our fees because I thought there was a cap Yeah, I asked the same question like is you know Is there any kind of but there isn't through this? Actually is Educatious this suggested that we increase them That said most of the schools that they deal with have a separate administrative fee. I think it was public schools Have pretty much traditionally just stayed with their per pupil a sort of a rationale for what to charge But if the private schools They've been charging, you know 30,000 35,000 This is no There's nothing in the state nothing. Yeah, no, so there's nothing there isn't no I know I asked the same question. I was like there is they're outside That's why I asked about ELL It's not a requirement. Okay, so it's not have to meet they have if they go for the diploma They have to meet the state requirements for the diploma the MCAS and things of that nature, but the other aspects We're not required to provide She's talking about the cost talking about the cost. I mean what we can charge because I know there is a Okay, I'll see if I can find it Yeah I know because I asked there's the same question. Yeah, okay No, so I think what we're doing at the rash We're backing into the number when we started looking at what our extra costs would be. I'm not questioning that I'm just saying I thought there was a cap set by the state And I think we're above it We also had at the budget meeting we had a couple of parents come I actually see Mr. Downing in the crowd there he and another Parent and community member came and told us about They are interested in investigating ways to get the town to actually Help us cover athletic and music fees. So we talked to them a little bit about that process So we'll see how that goes moving forward So with any luck, we'll have more of that. Thank you Just add to that they're contemplating Warrant article yeah, and if they if it if they do that they may come back and ask us to Do a presentation and ask for our support on the warrant article at a lady date, but it's on their shoulders right now Let's see we also Spoke about how parents can have input into the school budget, which I know Miss Ampe has been Bugging me about and I have been trying to in my head trying to figure out like how can we do that in a way that you know Is valid and here's what they have to say and and yet doesn't Have us plan lots of nights out where no one shows up. So we did a couple of things. We came up with kind of ways that parents Can do that one of course you can always come to a budget subcommittee meeting and obviously our next one I will tell everybody is next Wednesday the 15th at 5 p.m. And at that one is when we're actually going to start talking about prioritizing and Starting to kind of mold that budget, you know, actually take that number that we have and decide where it's all going to go To they can come to any school committee meeting and talk during public participation And what we did decide to do is that next week specifically we would If enough people wanted to we would make sure that public participation was expanded. So we would make it longer Next week specifically for people who wanted to come and speak on budget items And just give us their input there Next next school next school committee meeting so So they can come to the budget subcommittee meeting next week the school committee meeting the following week They can always submit written budget Requests or information to myself and or Karen and we can you know make sure that everybody gets those and I know that our emails are up on the website and the third the last thing is that of course there's the budget hearing and Karen and I actually already emailed today and we're going to make sure that that is In the paper three times and really make sure that we try to really publicize the public hearing and make sure people know when and where that is in addition The email will go out to kind of through the principles with all of these things to parents and kind of say Hey, you know if you want to have some input here are the ways you can do that so that So they do know that there are ways I mean they can always talk to their principal talk to their you know Anyone else who also obviously comes and speaks to us about budget But we really did want to make sure that people knew kind of what the what the right process was and and that we were Here to listen to whatever budget ideas or requests they had so I thought that was a good discussion and I you know wanted to thank People who are there because I know that I was having a hard time trying to figure out how we could best do that And I thought that that was really good kind of Way to do that so and I already said the meeting time, so I appreciate that you address or tried to address my concerns Big picture is just that I feel that we do need to be doing open-ended asks to parents to understand what Their concerns are even if we can't meet those needs It informs budgets for prior for for subsequent years or it can shape how we how we do different things And I just want to point out I understand that you've come up with some ways that kind of streamline into what we've already got planned but what we've lost with this is The the Meetings, although perhaps not as well attended as we would have liked did have some Communication outward to the parents about what the budget was it wasn't just talking it wasn't just them talking to us There was also presentation outward talking about this is what the state of the budget is this is kind of what we're thinking about and things and and also it was more of a dialogue whereas Having people at her public participation. We can't we're forbidden from dialoguing with them So I just I reiterate that I think it's important that people participate Budget subcommittee would be a good better place to get dialogue. I mean that's great if people come to public participation but I think we should be thinking in the future for somehow doing something like a forum or Doing a bigger ask because I worry that we are So concerned that we're we are constrained by our budget that we can't fix anything that we're not asking and That we still need to know what people think even if we can't fix it We need to know because partly that's how we communicate to the select man and everyone that we're not doing everything We need to do so That's I appreciate what you did. I still feel there's room to go I think it's important to get parent input as well, but I think there's also another source that Is important and is part of the process that's our school councils and I know the principals do have Conversations about the budget in fact that's part of the mandate of a school council We have done these in the past and we've had Unfortunately, not very many people show up Sometimes more school committee people than people that actually Come so we're trying to figure out a way. Maybe we need to do at some point is also think of a survey Maybe that's a so it's hard for parents to get out But I suspect that the main concern of most parents is class size and being able to have the At the secondary level of the choices that at the high school I should say the choices in electives but class size is the resounding thing that we've heard in this what I've heard from people and other kind of conversations so to the extent that I think most of our efforts in trying to prioritize the budget this year is really gonna focus around staffing and To meet the needs that we've been particularly the secondary level But but I also wanted to add to Cindy's comments about the budget meetings We did talk with mr. Downing about That it's important as the town manager has been working on developing this With with many people, but this multi-year plan that that kind of conversation also occurs with him and the deputy town manager because you know any kind of Allocation to the school budget has an effect on the plan and has an effect on Certainly all of the other costs that the town faces so and I think there was an openness to do that as well But it certainly the sentiment is very appreciated. We none of us would like to have fees for High school, but as we also said it's awfully hard to not hire a teacher instead of lowering the fees and I think that's the kind of discussion we've had At this table many times Cia has met twice we met on December 19th and then again on January 6th at both meetings We had a good discussion about the tools of the mine curriculum and we heard from a number of Parents who voice their opinions on the 6th we The final Thing that came together is that Ms. Donovan is going to be going back to the steering committee to discuss Approaches and some other specific requests, and then she's going to be reporting back to our committee about Ways that some of the concerns can be addressed We also heard about a new athletic handbook, which has been created by the new athletic director And that'll be coming to the full school committee once we've got one legal question current cleared up and then finally we heard from a newly reconformed Reconstituted vision 2020 education task force Facilities, Mr. Nothing at this time from that committee, but I would like to share that Dr. Ampe and I attended the Edco school committee roundtable yesterday and it was very informative discussion on Negotiations and from my perspective and you may add I felt good about where we are on Negotiations and again what said there stays there, but I think Dr. Ampe Gave him a good response and it was very helpful to some of the other people that that Way to solve some of their issues and negotiations. Yeah, and I actually went Edco has a policy committee and I went to that today and They will be I was looking for ways of addressing the unfunded mandate kind of thing and they will be having a Legislative forum in either late March or early April At which we can invite our legislators and they'll have a slate of People to discuss and it's going to address things like the unfunded mandates And I made sure that the concerns that we have are on that And added a few So I think that will be one way that we can try and communicate Our concerns outward and maybe a little bit louder voice than just us talking to them So dovetailing and that my my chair report is that I was at the state house this afternoon met with Met with shot garbally about where things stood in terms of the state's revenue picture and he said positive things They're expecting I think a 5% increase in tax revenues that they were not anticipating you know he He expressed an interest in coming to the school committee in a future meeting and I said that that would be a great great thing to answer our questions and and hear our concerns so That would that's definitely in the future and in the future for us. I would also like to see maybe a Retreat if we could get together and talk about a couple of topics that are pending and percolating and So I'll be sending out a doodle for a retreat Um, secretaries report this starts all right, uh correspondence for the school committee Since our last meeting Letter from dr. Bodie to dalin parents regarding the search for a new principal An email from davardito about a free public screening of the award-winning film all me the life and times of win for Rembert on thursday january 9th That would be today 2014 at 7 p.m in the ahs auditorium Email forwarded by me from judy parodies president of the massachusetts school library association that ahs was featured in the mass school library association's monthly newsletter Email forwarded from masc asking stakeholders to take their survey Email from jill fakit Sorry, if I have slaughtered that name parent of a bishop kindergartner with concerns About the tools of the mind curriculum Superintendent bodys december newsletter email follow-up from a parent regarding the cia meeting on the tools of the mind curriculum A seasons greeting card from sheriff katoosian and his family Email from a kindergarten parent in support of the tools of the mind curriculum Letter from a parent of a special education student regarding issues with the special education department and handling of her student's case And to save the date for academic internship expo to be held on january 14th 2014 from 7 30 to 9 That's it We have no need for executive session tonight It'd be a remiss in not mentioning that uh We we lost a Amazing person in our community dick smith Yes, he supported our schools. He supported our dogs. He supported our veterans He supported just about everyone you could ever want to meet and he was an amazing man Um, we're gonna miss him and I know there's gonna be a memorial service in his Honor and saturday morning at the masonic temple of 11 a.m I'm gonna be there and uh, just like to ask for a moment of silence for mr. Smith. Thank you All right, uh All those in favor say aye. All right. We are adjourned. See you in a couple of weeks