 Okay, so we'll call the meeting to order of the School Safety and Police Relations Committee. And I will open it up to public comment, but I do not see any public here. We are joined by Orca Media, but I don't see anyone else here, but Zoom works in mysterious ways. I suppose there could be somebody listening. So, okay. So the first thing on the agenda, I actually have an addition to the agenda as well, and I think we're supposed to talk about that at the beginning, yeah. I wanted to just add somewhere, I mean, I guess it can be put under the review of the School Board decision, but we've also had a request from a committee at the city to help them with some of their work. So I just wanted to touch on that. So if there's no opposition to me slipping that in, then we'll just plan on going for that. And then at 540, I was very scatterbrained when I put together this agenda. So I wrote preparation, I had the old agenda and it says preparation for presentation, but it's actually the consent agenda. So we need to approve the minutes from January 26th. Would anybody like to make a motion to do so? I'll make a motion to approve the minutes. Thank you. Second. Great. Edie? Aye. Eliana? Aye. Amanda? Oh, I don't like the way Zoom works. It's like you guys shift around, why does it happen? Will? Aye. Susan? Aye. Jen? Aye. Catherine? Aye. Nia? Aye. And Zach? Aye. Okay, I think that's everybody. Great. Okay, so tonight on the agenda, we have reviewing the school board decision for those of you who were not able to be there or I think that's only Jen and Amanda? You were, Amanda? You were there. Okay, so just Jen, and I guess just for the record, because Orca's here, we'll review the decision of the school board and then we'll talk about that city committee that is interested in our help. And then I wanted to take some time to review our charge. So go through the language of the charge and sort of see where we're at and what we need to accomplish. And then take a closer look at the diversity, equity and inclusion policies since that's listed in the charge and we're supposed to be using that to frame our work. And then I wanted to do some breakout rooms to sort of get your pulse on how you see that work happening and sort of try to do like a backwards lesson design for those of us who work that way, but come up with a goal. What is the end goal? What do we wanna see? What are the products that we want coming out of this at the end of March or beginning of April whenever we're finished with this work? And then sort of we can start working backwards from there. And then I wanted help, I've been feeling a little just stretched thin, I guess. I've been working hard and got a lot going on in my work life and home life. So I just wanna leave room at the end of each committee for time for us to talk about the next meeting's agenda and have some input from the committee on what that should look like. And then I can kind of use that as a guide. And then while we're all together, we can also talk about our meeting schedule because of the February break. There's a couple of Tuesdays embedded in that February break. So we might need to be looking at the second week of March. Okay, so is there any discussion on the agenda? Anything that anyone would like to add? Okay, so review the school board decision. Does anyone want to, I mean, I wanna just first say thank you to everyone who put so much work into that presentation and in particular, Eliana and Zach and Edie. I just think you three did an incredible job of presenting in a really thoughtful, articulate way all of the work that we've done over the past few months and it was really fabulous to see it sort of come to life. And I was getting a little emotional actually towards the end. I don't know if anyone noticed but my forehead started to do strange things. I was like, uh-oh, I'm being recorded and I'm in a meeting but yeah, it just felt like everyone did a lot of work and it was nice to see sort of the fruits of the labor be presented in such a great way. So thank you to everybody. Does anyone wanna give a summary from their perspective of what happened at the board meeting? From my perspective, so Edie and Eliana and Zach gave a wonderful presentation that really encapsulated all the work that this committee has done, including our values and really presenting the data that everybody collected from stakeholders in I think a way that folks could hear and was quite important and relevant. And I think it was just received. It was, I don't think I, it's not that I think it was received really well by the board. There were no real, there was no real pushback. There was just, there were some clarifying questions but overall it was just a lot of validation and support for the work we did. So that's, I don't know, that's, that was my observation. I will just add like sort of the spoiler alert is that the school board ended up unanimously voting to remove the SRO position. And I don't have the wording of the motion that was approved right in front of me. But I did want to say, I think it was a thanks to you, Emma or Mia, I can't remember who it was, but at one point they weren't gonna vote on it cause they were like, oh yeah, we already voted. And I was feeling a little bit like, well then what was the point of what we've done? And I think it was you, Emma, who really came out and said, well, I think we really, you know you really advocated for that. And then I think Amanda Garza's also advocated for the fact that they could put it back in with the language like next year. So it's really important to have that officially removed. So I thought that was a really important moment and I wanted to just express gratitude for that. Yeah, there was a moment where I was kind of nervous like, wait a second, this was not the plan. We were supposed to be getting an official vote. So yeah, it was, I did receive feedback from some of the board members saying like that wasn't their intent. They were just sort of trying to clarify process around it. So they weren't trying to like infer that maybe a decision wouldn't be made but just has a decision already been made. So I, but I thought it was good to for the community and for everybody that's put all the work into into this process for that decision to be sort of officially articulated. Did anyone else hear the radio story yesterday or on lunchtime? I'm sorry, losing my voice. The really the like Vermont's edition did a story mostly on the legislation that's just got introduced that would prohibit SROs statewide. But it was a really good group of speakers. What was especially gratifying was hearing sort of their main guest was a Libby Bone Steel. And so hearing our superintendent summarize the work that we just finished was nice. I wasn't able to hop on and I haven't gone back and listened but I did know that it was happening and then I was able to hop on for like the last 10 minutes but Libby's portion was already finished. So that's great. Sorry, I am eating dinner so I was chewing but I wanted to just say Will is selling himself short. He sent an email to Vermont edition and his email was read on the air. And essentially I think Will, you did an excellent job summarizing our findings. So in such a way that it was a beautiful soundbite but a very rich and thorough soundbite captured on Vermont edition and really set the tone I think then Jane Lindholm's conversation with Libby directly followed Jane reading Will's email. And so Will, your email, I think really set the tone for that conversation. And I also wanna echo it was gratifying to me to hear Libby gave this committee some props and some gratitude for the work that we've done. And then also went on to summarize how it, how our work was a thorough sort of investigation isn't the right word but the research and the conversations that we had all throughout the committee through this process really brought to light the realities of having police in schools that were not as apparent to all of us before we started this process. So yeah, just plussing one to hearing all of that on statewide radio yesterday. Nice, Will, that's awesome. Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to listening fully. The bit I really wanted to hit there was something that I think surprised a lot of us that in the course of this research was that impact is not necessarily does necessarily hinge on officer conduct that. And so a sort of hurdle to get over at least here in Montpelier was, but our officer conduct was exemplary. So what's the problem exactly? And the way those are two different things was what I tried to hit in that soundbite. So I'm glad it sounded good. I wanted to share with the committee something that happened to me as well. So I think I shared with you early in the process. One of the custodians had shared his concerns with me and I shared it with you. And he approached me the other day at school and he was very grateful. He wanted me again to share with the committee that he's grateful for the work we did. And he was unaware of the sort of the negative impact that some SRO experiences had had on kids. And he just wasn't aware of that. And so he appreciated the work that we had done and he's very eager to see our next steps. But I did get feedback from different people on that way. And I really felt like I wanted the committee to know that people were happy to understand the process more and are eager to know where we're going. I wasn't clear on where we're going but I told them where we're working together. Yeah, that's so great. I had sort of a similar experience on social media. I was just excited about the decision. So I just said what the decision was. And there were just a few kids that slid up on my story that I never would have expected to be curious or interested and they were like, oh my gosh, what's happening now? I didn't know about this and what's an SRO and what's the plan moving forward? And it just opened up a lot of conversations that I wasn't expecting to have but that I was really excited to have. It was just like, it felt very like full circle vibes because just of the amount of input that was put into the surveys that we sent out and just having a lot of interactions with kids, this was really awesome. That's fantastic. I'm glad that you're... I'm hoping that the students, all three of you, are sort of recognizable as the committee members and that if other students have any thoughts to share on our process that they would feel comfortable approaching you. So that's good. And I learned some new terminology just now. Sliding up on my story. Okay. That's great. I've been hearing a lot of... I've been getting a lot of feedback from board members and community members to just sort of reaffirming the accolades to the three student representatives on our committee, like just blown away by what a great presentation you did. So it's not just us on the committee that see it and understand it, but yeah, you three have been doing an amazing job. Any other thoughts before we move on to the next, the review, the committee charge part of the agenda? So before we read the committee charge, which I'll just share my screen and we can read through it together. I wanted to talk about a question that came up. I think it was at the last board meeting around sort of the purview of this committee. And so there are some limits on like what our authority is to the school district. You know, we're a committee that's been appointed by the school board. We've been appointed to make recommendations to the school board and to the school administration. And then it will be in their hands after that. It will be in the school board's hands to decide if they wanna do anything around. You know, if the school board was gonna do anything with our recommendations, it would be perhaps implementing policy or adding language to an existing policy or something like that. And then the school admin team, they'll take a look at the recommendations and sort of make decisions on their own about when and how to move forward with those recommendations. But they are just recommendations. It's not, you know, we can't, I'm not sure where everyone's head is, but it's not like we can say like, hire a 0.5, you know, community liaison position next year and expect that to be set in stone because we're not a decision-making body. We could recommend something like that, but that's not under, you know, that's not our purview. Does that make sense? Does anyone have questions about sort of like the role of the committee, the role of the board, the role of the admin team? Yeah, Susan. So the question I have is, let's say we come up with some recommendations and let's just say the board goes in a completely different direction, you know, like, then where does that leave us? I'm just kind of curious about that. I mean, I don't see our board doing that, first of all. I think the board is like, like everyone has sort of mentioned about the last meeting. The board is invested in this committee and the work that the committee is doing. And I think they've bought into the process and they're, you know, ready with open ears and open hearts for what we come up with. But the board also only has so much control over what happens next. So the board is a policy governance board. So they operate with basically like they oversee policy of the district. We write it and revise it and edit it and vote on things and remove policies. And then we also oversee the budget. So like budget decisions, like removing the budget for the SRO, like that is a budgetary decision that could be made unilaterally by the board. The board and Libby work really well together. And so the board is, you know, as far as the way that I see it anyway, it's not like the board is gonna make some executive decision without having her input and vice versa. And then we oversee, you know, we directly oversee Libby Bone Steel. We are Libby Bone Steals, what is the word? Supervisors, but not really. Awesome, yeah. Collectively, collectively we are. So we... Accountability. We oversee her work and hold her accountable to the policies and such. And so... Yeah, so the reason I brought it up is just because when I heard those statements at the end of our last meeting about how like, oh, we took the financial aspect out already, I was like, okay, so you already made some significant, you know, decisions. So I guess I just, it's good to remember that we're making a recommendation and the board and the admin can take it or leave it, but... Yeah, and I imagine that both the admin team and the board are pretty open and willing and wanting to hear from this committee about which direction they should be moving in. I mean, yeah, they could take it or leave it. I think if they left it, that would be sort of a bad public relations move. And I'm sure there would be community outcry around that. And that's how democracy works. And then people would attend the board meetings and say, you're not following the recommendations and why? And they would be held accountable that way. Will. Oh, Mia, sorry, you have your virtual hand up, the blue hand. So, Mia and then Will. I was just gonna say just along these lines a little bit, what I am thinking about is how we as a committee can use our own selves as a resource and an asset to what the direction that the board in the administration is already going. So for example, one of the questions that has come up throughout this whole process is, if we aren't gonna spend that money on the SRO, could we put it toward more actual staffing that is geared toward mental health and trauma informed practices, et cetera? And what we learned was, well, the district already invests more than a million dollars on mental health. In terms of largely staffing, but not entirely. And so to me, then the next, the follow-up question is, how can this committee do what we have already done really well, which is like the research and the conversations to help the district see, okay, how, if that's the money that we're spending, is it going to the right places or are there more gaps? Do we actually need more money, so that we can kind of help fill in any gaps that help with where the administration and the district or the board are already going? So that's the kind of exciting thing that for me is that how can we be an asset to what's already happening? And in some cases say, actually, maybe it won't land quite as, oh, that's an asset or a value add because we'll have maybe a critique about a process, but even that it can be useful for the administration and the board to use. So that's where my mind is at within this context of what our actual role is. And just the final thought I have on that is, one of the reasons I think we are an asset is because we have a rich source of data in our teachers on the committee and our actual guidance counters on the committee and an administrator's run. You are in the schools on the daily and how can we use what your daily experiences are to help us answer those questions? And the students, of course, as well. So Will and then Jen. Emma, you touched on this at the end already, but I just wanted to add that I would think if whatever recommendations we came up with and anything that we make a really good case for, if that ultimately doesn't happen, I would think and hope that at the very least, we would get an explanation that there would be, that just by virtue of making these public recommendations and that if they don't happen, someone would hopefully have a pretty good answer as to why. And then the conversation would continue, I suppose. Yeah. So just a point of clarity. So when you say, I hear what Mia is saying, but are we still looking through the lens of policy? So we are looking at a certain policy in our district and then are there holes or needs there that would need more development? So the charge, I guess now might be a good time to read the charge, but the charge asks us to examine our systems of sort of justice, discipline in the district through the lens of the diversity, equity, inclusion policy to make sure that whatever we're doing currently is held accountable to that policy. So it's not like the charge is to revise that policy. The charge is to examine our practices around justice and discipline in schools through the lens of that policy. And to be honest and sort of fair, Libby in her policy monitoring report of that policy reported in compliance, which she almost never does. Non-compliance. Non-compliance. So the thinking there, and it makes sense, is just sort of like there's always more work to be done when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion. It's not like you can say, oh, we're good. We're done. We've finished our work there. You can always be more inclusive. You can always be more mindful of a variety of people's perspectives and infuse your work with that better than you have in years prior. So I think that was her thinking on why she was reporting non-compliance on that. So I'm guessing, you know, we'll probably find that there's room for improvement just because there always is. Do we feel ready? Do you want me to screen share and read it? Does anyone else want to say anything else before we get started with that? We can always come back to the questions around our purview. One agenda question, did you, earlier it seemed like you wanted to put the request from the city into this part, but should we talk about that later instead or? I can, we can talk about it now. I think it'll be brief and then we can sort of be thinking about it for the rest of the process. So basically, Alyssa Shuren, is that how we pronounce her? Okay. She is the chair of a committee that was appointed by the city of Montpelier, I believe. And let me share, let me share my screen so that I can pop up with her notes. Okay, so this was a document shared. So they're the police review committee. That's what they're called. And these topics on the left-hand side are all of the topics that their committee is going to take the time to examine more closely, like our practices within our city. So arrests, budget, fair and impartial policing, ICE engagement, migrant justice, mental health, militarization, police union, policies, race identity, restorative justice, social worker, training, trauma, youths of force, youth. And in here, you see schools slash SRO. And they were also thinking maybe youth belongs in this category of sort of how did the police engage with the youth of Montpelier? And that can be in schools or outside of schools. So they're using this template. Let me try to, I wanna move my zoom controls down. And I don't remember how to do that. So they're using this template for, so for each of those topics, they're gonna be filling out this template. So they've assigned a couple of people from their committee to each topic. And then they're gonna be, you know, going off and doing a bunch of research. And then they're gonna come back with this template filled out. So the topic would be schools, youth, and then the state of the state. So sort of where are we at right now? How do we see police engaging in our schools? What are some of the legal standards that the parameters that we're working within or what is sort of held up as the standard of practice? Best practices indicate your reference points for best practices. So she gave a couple of examples. You know, there's organizations out there that are doing a lot of work around best practices and policing in all of those categories. And so they've been drawing from those resources and sort of plopping them in as the best practices. The desired state by the Montpelier Police Department, stakeholder perspective, gaps, potential recommendations, and resources referenced. So Alyssa, the chair of this committee, felt like it didn't really make sense to duplicate the work that this committee is doing and that the work that we're doing probably could answer most of, if not all of these questions and was hoping that we as a committee would sort of take this on for that one topic. And I told her that we probably would be willing to do that, but I wanted to run it by you guys first. There's also she, you know, at the end of our conversation was like, and if any of your committee members are interested in continuing their work after you're finished, because they just started, their committee is willing and open and would love to have you join their committee. So you could potentially continue the work after we do this as, as part of our committee. Does this sound good? Can I hear some feedback? I think it really does make sense in some areas, but I think that there's a whole police interaction with youth that is not school related that we might not be able to speak to. So I'm not sure, I feel comfortable taking on that part of the work as a committee, but I do think the work we have done would fit the two categories other than the youth category. Yeah, we did. I think I don't know if I'm still muted. Am I still muted? No. Sorry, it's I always find screen sharing and zoom a little complex. So, yeah, we talked about that a little bit. And we could, there is a potential to sort of keep those two separate. I also mentioned some of the conversations that we've had in this committee around sort of, there should be sort of a standard of how the police department is trained to work with juveniles in the district and that that shouldn't necessarily change because they are a student at Montpelier Rocksbury school district or because they are a U32 student, like living in the Montpelier district, right? So could there be sort of standards of practice of how, like for example, the referring to the community justice center as sort of like the first step when you, when a juvenile is sent their way. So a juvenile commits some sort of infraction and they're sent to the police. And could it be standard of practice? It was for our SRO, the standard of practice for our SRO was to try to navigate those children through the community justice center and restorative justice practices rather than the court system. And could that become sort of a broader standard of practice for the Montpelier police department for all juveniles in their jurisdiction and not be, you know, that maybe Montpelier kids are getting special treatment and somebody who goes to Orcher Valley or somewhere else might not get that same treatment because they aren't flagged, you know, as a Montpelier Roxbury kid. So can I ask, we'll go with Jen first, but can I ask Eliana or Edie to monitor the questions in the hand raising because I can't see easily the list of participants. Yeah, I can do that. Thank you. So Jen, you can go ahead. Yeah, I think I agree with Susan. I, you know, as far as at the high school level, the kids that, I mean, what I have seen is the, the resource officer has very little to do with students. I mean, it's, I think most of their work is not, is more in the community. I have not, I think that youth that might affect our students as well, you know, like friends or visitors or anything like that. I think that it should be a blanket for all, all youth, not just our students, like you were just saying, Emma, as well. Okay. I've got one quick question. Mia had her hand up, but you can go after beat you to it again. Well, it's sounding like what I'm hearing from what Susan and Jen just said and kind of where my head is at on the, so it looks like the city committee has asked us to essentially own two of the topics. One is SRO slash schools and the other one is youth. And what I'm hearing and also I think where my head is at is that we feel more confident and able to really own SRO slash schools, given what we have just, the process we've just done and what we're about to do, but that we don't feel like maybe we could consult on the youth one and we could say, this is what we have seen or here's like where some of the, what some of our recommendations for what, what should or could happen in a school kind of translate into any, you know, interacting with any youth, but that maybe we don't own that one. And we say, you know, go back to Alyssa and say, we could share, you know, what we have, but don't, don't like delegate this one to us. I just want to do looking at the categories on the shared screen. The one thing I'd also really like a little guidance on is the legal standard that, I mean, I think pretty much everything else we could theoretically answer now from what, from the research that we've already done. We have the resources, the one thing, but what is the current legal standard? I would want to at least briefly consult with a lawyer to find out, to get a good legal summary of what that is. There. Okay. Well, I mean, I can go back to Alyssa and explain, you know, sort of where we're at. We did not, she didn't like officially merge the two categories. She just wanted to hear our feedback. And to clarify, I mean, now that the SRO is removed from our district, we're not going to be giving them any feedback around that specific position. We would be giving them feedback around, you know, how to, how, what does the relationship look like between police and the schools? And part of that is that we don't know yet. I'm just going to say, that's sort of like this territory that we're, we're uncertain of. I think that this year is such a hard year to gauge by too. Good. Good. But yeah. Okay. Okay, so let me get to our proposed charge. Can everybody see this school safety and police relations committee. Yep. Yeah. Okay. Does anyone want to be the reader? I just feel like I get bored of hearing my own voice. Or we could take turns. We could popcorn. Mia, you want to get us started or Catherine, I saw you. Yay. Thanks Catherine. Okay. School safety and police relations committee on September 16th after being briefed by the superintendent hearing public comment and input over the last several meetings and receiving multiple communications from members of the public, the board unanimously passed the following resolution instructing that the board form a study committee to complete a thorough analysis of the intended. You want me to read all of it, right? Or do you just want me to read the charge? Go through and then at any point, if you get tired, you just give it to someone else and they'll start. Okay. And they have to because you tell them that you have to. All right. The board form a study committee to complete a thorough analysis of the intended and unintended impacts that the presence of police officers in the SRO position has on our community and in our schools. This community committee will gather public input and use it to define aims and expectations for school safety, justice and the role and conduct of police in and around schools. In the interim, we direct the superintendent to limit the physical presence of the school resource officer and other police officers whenever possible. Three board members, Emma B. Hansen, Mara Iverson and Jim Murphy were tasked with putting together a charge for that committee. On September 29, 2020, the committee met and proposed the following charge. Proposed charge, the committee will conduct a thorough analysis of the intended and unintended impacts that the presence of police officers in the SRO position has on our community and in our schools. In order to conduct this analysis, it will define aims and expectations for school safety, evaluating the district's primary safety concerns, the historic role and duties of the security resource officer SRO, the major successes of the SRO position since its inception, challenges or other concerns that have arisen around the position since its inception. How the SRO position and district safety being evaluated and accounted for. Define aims and expectations of justice in our schools, evaluating the impacts of the current and historic system on all of our students, in particular BIPOC, LBGTI, QA, disabled and other students of historically marginalized groups. Define aims and expectations of the role and conduct of the police in our schools given safety justice and DEI concerns and values as well as the desire to have a productive and trusted relationship between a school district and the police department that works to ensure the safety and well-being of all the district's students and staff. To evaluate this, the committee will survey stakeholders for perspectives on the SRO and the role of police in achieving safety and DEI school goals. This will include district administrators, city officials, police officers, teachers, guidance officers. Anybody else want to read? I can go. Proposed committee composition. The three board members. Oh, whoa. That's cool. We lost Emma. Damn. Internet probably snapped. I could pull it up somewhere else, maybe. I have it. Oh yeah. I'm not able to share my screen. Eliana, are you the host now or who's the host? I'll make you a host. Okay. Because I have it on my screen right here. Oh, cool. I dropped the link in the chat. Okay. I'll try to share my screen. That sounded so cool. You were the way you said that, Will. Okay. I'll make you a chat. I think. Okay. Can you see my screen? Yes. Okay. Let's go again. Okay. Proposed committee composition. The three board members recommend that the committee have the following composition to students and or alumni, to faculty and staff, to administrators, faculty, community members, three board members, the council member, one member of the NPD. Efforts will be made to include 50% BIPOC, LGBTQIA plus, and representatives of disability justice advocates to elevate perspectives of marginalized groups. Yes. Efforts will be made to represent all four schools in our district, as well as both towns in our district. And faculty members, the committee will meet the following timeline. The committee will meet the following timeline. Make a recommendation to the board on how to proceed with the student resource officer position by December, 2020. And provide a broader report on safety through the lens of our district diversity, equity, and inclusion policy by March, 2021. I'm glad that just says proposed timeline. I know, right. Maybe while we wait for her, we could review. I don't know if we'll read out loud if that was her plan, but review the district's DEI policy. Oh, yeah. Okay. I'm not sure where that is. Is that in the email that she sent to us? It is. Oh, she's back. Oh, cool. Sorry about that. Welcome back. So did we finish reading the charge? Okay. My computer battery just died and it just shut down. I was plugged in and everything, but the power strip wasn't turned on. So note to self. Okay. So I can share again and share the DEI policy and have this one open. I don't believe. Oh, nice. That's terrible. Okay. Well, we can get it. I should have this book marked by now. I'm on the policy committee. I think it's in here. So any thoughts on the, on the language of the charge? Was there anything that sort of stood out to you guys about, you know, the second part of the charge? I'll have to have Ellie on it. Call people because I can't see really. I'm pretty on track for everything that we did for the first part of the charge. If you see it, call it out. I'm just scanning through these are all. I did drop the link in the chat. Okay. That might be faster. Maybe I just struggle with the screen sharing. The link on the document actually did work. So maybe it was something about the copying or whatever. That you sent us in the agenda does actually work. Just as to know. Okay. So this isn't terribly long. I can get started and then bounce it off to somebody else. So in 2018, Montpelier public schools became the first public school in the district, public school district in the nation to raise the black lives matter flag on its high school campus, which was the first public school in the nation to raise the black lives matter flag on its high school campus. Students by the Montpelier board to fly the black lives matter flag followed an extraordinary period of student activism and leadership. Students of color in particular work to educate their peers, their teachers and district leadership about systemic racism and injustice and their unequal experiences as Montpelier students. Flying the black lives matter flag as important as it was for the Montpelier public schools. The district must take affirmative steps to recognize and eliminate the biases, conscious or unconscious, and behaviors purposeful or not that harm students and impair their education. The Montpelier Roxbury school board commits to district commits this district to concrete action to provide a barrier free and safe and supportive learning environment for students. The district must take affirmative steps to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for all our students. One that affirms the identity of each student and acknowledges and celebrates differences to create a sense of belonging for each child. The district will counteract the presence of historical impact of bias, prejudice, and discrimination that for generations across our nation's nation has blocked access to truly equitable education opportunities for all students. In particular, those who are marginalized. This policy arose in the context of our intentional support of our students of color, but it extends to all students and represents a commitment within our district to ending discrimination based on race, color, religion, creed, national origin, ethnicity, marital status, family composition, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic background, or disability. Somebody else like to take over? I'll go. I'll go. Expectations for district administration. The superintendent's obligation. The superintendent has primary responsibility for assuring compliance with this policy and must ensure that the district takes affirmative steps to achieve consistent and substantial progress toward the objectives of this policy. Assessment. To the extent consistent with law and best practices, the district will systematically gather and use data to assess ethnicity, language, special education, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic background to inform district decision making. Reporting. At least annually the superintendent will report to the board on the district's compliance with this policy. Board expectations. Policy review. At least annually the board will review and examine district policies and board action to consider their effect on district policies and outcomes including the achievement gap. Board education and training. At least annually board members will participate in trainings related to diversity, equity and inclusion in education or otherwise relevant to the objectives of this policy. Concerted action. The board will promote and support regional and statewide actions that support the objectives of this policy. I'll kick it to Amanda. Expectations for recruitment practices and professional development. Recruitment and hiring. The superintendent will develop recruitment and hiring procedures to ensure the district follows best practices to promote diverse and inclusive applicant pools and ensure bias free hiring practices. Professional development. The district strives to have a workforce that is capable of eliminating achievement and access disparities for students and fostering an inclusive learning environment both in the district and the greater school community. To support the MRPS staff in their work, the district will provide professional development for its staff. This is specifically designed to strengthen the knowledge and skills needed to identify and counteract one's own biases. Counter bias practices that perpetuate disparities and achievement and access and support inclusive teaching and learning practices to ensure that all students learn at high levels. Number four, expectations for curriculum. The district will continually evaluate the delivery of its curriculum and other educational resources to ensure that all students have equitable access to high quality and culturally relevant instruction. The district will ensure that the curriculum incorporates the voice, culture and perspectives of all students, particularly students from communities that have been marginalized. I'll kick it to Edie. I'm eating a sandwich right now. I'll kick it to someone else. Sorry. Number five, conflict resolution. The district will educate all students and staff about the significance of what they say and do affects others. The educational resources provided will particularly address impacts on students from marginalized communities. The district will regularly provide education and training about hazing, harassment and bullying including information outlining potential consequences for students who engage in the conduct and the resources available for students who are targets of that conduct. Thank you. So that's a lot to absorb and then to try to transfer on to our work. But I think maybe the place that makes the most sense to do that is to start with the charge. So the next part of our work is going to be to break up and sort of discuss in smaller groups. These two documents, our work and then sort of what we see as individuals an outcome, possible outcome, of our committee work. So I just want to go back to this charge. Hey, Emma. Susan's got her hand up just because you probably can't see that. Yes, thank you. I need help with monitoring questions. I just wanted to inform this group because I'm not sure people know that there's a district-wide equity committee working on some of the goals that were mentioned. And Libby's taking the work really seriously as is the committee. So the area about recruitment and hiring and the area about PD is really a big focus this year. And the committee is working on that. So just, I didn't know if you all knew that. And I feel like that's something that we don't have to worry about at this moment. So I just want to let you all know it's good work that's happening. And it's impressive. Thank you. Yeah, that's the kind of like insider intel that we need from from those of you who work in the district. Mia and I had a short meeting with Libby Bonesdale and just sort of to review like, well, what's happening? What can the committee, where do you see the committee's role? How do you see us being helpful to your work? And she mentioned a lot of that too. So I think there's definitely going to be areas of real strength in our district as we start to examine some of the stuff and consider possible recommendations to the board and the admin team. And I definitely want to be like educated and mindful of what the district is already doing really well so that we're not making recommendations that are repetitive of what's already being done, you know. So that's great. Thank you, Susan. So I was sort of honing in on these two bullet points as I was reading the charge because it feels like this is the best place where it sort of like defines what the board was looking for from this committee. So define aims and expectations of justice in our schools. Some of that work I feel like we did with our values around safety and sort of defining how different people view safety in our schools and the different priorities from different stakeholder groups and then the work that we did with Sue and Keisha to sort of boil that down to some common themes. So I definitely think we have a good head start on this part of it. Evaluating the impacts of the current and historic systems on all of our students in particular BIPOC, LBGTIQA, disabled and other students of historically marginalized groups. So yeah, we've done some of that, but I feel like we could probably do more of that. I think that Eliana and Zach and Edie did a great survey of students and I think maybe we could do delve into that work more directly. And then define aims and expectations of the role and conduct of the police in our schools, given safety, justice and DEI concerns and values, as well as the desire to have a productive and trusting relationship with the school district and the police department that works to ensure the safety and well-being of all the district students and staff to evaluate this, the committee will. And then a lot of this work, in this bullet point, we pretty much already did that, I feel, surveying the stakeholders. But I do feel like we could delve into the work of talking about what does the future relationship between the police department and the district, what does it look like? Any other thoughts before we break up into smaller groups to discuss this at greater length and depth? Will? Oh, and Catherine, I see your hand up now that I'm back. Catherine, you go first. Okay. I would just like us to have a definition of what justice means, because that's a big word, just like safety is a big word. So that's just my question. What does justice mean? Yeah, we could talk about that. I mean, to me, the themes that came up for me in this process were mostly around discipline. So it's, you know, for me when I think about justice within schools, primarily for me, it came up around discipline in schools, you know. So what happens when rules are broken? You know, codes of conduct are broken. Oh, Joan is here. And then there's sort of the broader, like sort of a broader definition of justice where it's like, whose voices are we listening to? Whose voices are being amplified? Whose perspectives are being taken into consideration when making, when implementing systems, making and implementing systems. So Will and then Mia. So that definition is just my own thoughts. And I think as a, as a committee, we could definitely try to flesh that out a little more. I'm curious, I mean, something our work has, has tangentially touched on. How much we should research, evaluate, find out what the, what the anti-bullying policies and practices are just because there's a fair bit of overlap in the things we're looking at and, and those policies. And it was also a big concern in our very first survey that bullying particularly as experienced by students in the same three disproportionately affected demographics we've been looking at all along. Thoughts? I think it's, it's actually bullying is like, it has a real definition, like a statewide definition. So we have that. And I like the idea of looking at it closely. But then I think the response can vary. And so I think that's what you're saying is sort of, once we've defined the problem, is there a consistent response or is that something that we want to include when we talk about justice? Right. So I'm with you. Yeah, there are, we do have a district policy on harassment, hazing and bullying that I can link and we can take a closer look at. I think Susan's right around sort of like there's law, state and federal laws to follow. And so a lot of the policy is sort of rooted in that. And many of our policies are mandated policies. So it's not like the district chose like, oh, should we have one or should we not have one? Like we have to have one. So, and then it's about more like values of this community. Like that's what, that's where I see our work coming in is more like stating values of how we want our systems to be developed. The responses to be developed. And then the big word that I heard Susan mentioned was consistency. So is there sort of consistency around best practices within the district? And that was something that came up in some of our survey work. So I'm going to go Mia and then Jen. I had a different topic. So if Jen, if you're still in the, in this little discourse that's happening here, you can go ahead of me. No, I think Emma, I think Emma said it, we do have policy on bullying, harassment, hazing, and it's very, it's very laid out on how we need to go through the process of it. And process of an investigation and all that. The response, however, can be different. And, you know, I mean, around, we are an educational facility. So we do go to toward the education of as much as we can, but it's, we have to still hold students accountable to their behavior. So, and if they're hurting others, we also, also try to go towards the restorative area if people are willing, but that's, but there is a policy that we can look at. Great. Thank you, Jen. Mia. I was first going to just ask like what, what is our, what are we hoping to like come back to the big group with after we, when we break into these small groups, like what are we, what is there a specific question we're answering right now that would help focus our conversation in our small groups. And then I really appreciate Catherine raising the question of like, could we have a definition of justice? And given that our role is to look at all this through the DEI lens, I just wanted to layer that in that as we are defining justice, that it goes through that lens. Yes. Thank you for rooting our work with that lens of the diversity, equity, inclusion policy. So I have a document that I've started that's just a real basic table with notes. And I was thinking of just keeping it pretty broad. I think we actually, we might, it might only make sense to do three groups and not four, but keeping it pretty broad. What I'm trying to get, get at is like a brainstorm of what each of you as an individual sort of sees the outcome of this process. What do you see? Do you want it to be, you know, a broad value statement that they will, that the district and the board will then take and, you know, consider policy through that value statement, or do you want more specific recommendations and what types of recommendations came to mind throughout the first part of our charge and all that work that we did. I'm sure some of you are bubbling over with a couple of ideas anyway of like, oh, you know, this came up a few times and maybe that could be part of our recommendation. And then just come back to the bigger group. And then I'm hoping through that process that we can at least have a starting point. But if you have an idea, Mia, of like a guiding question that can get us to do that brainstorm work, I am open. Emma, we need access to the document. Okay. I think that's great. Like just starting with fairly broadly, what is it that we would like to we imagine knowing what we already know now and realizing we don't know there's stuff we're going to learn by continuing the process, but what would we like to see at the end of this? I like that. Thanks. Okay. So let's just go into breakout rooms for, does everyone want to take a five minute break before we go into breakout rooms? Yeah. Yeah. I've heard of a protocol. It's called back to the future and it's basically like we're transported to the future. Right. So maybe today we kind of want to think about that. Like we're transported in the future. The process is finished next year's starting. What would we like it to look like? Do you think that might help us with our work right now? Like what would we want? Yeah, I like that. I'll write that into the document. Oh, maybe one of our techie students can get that logo and just put it in the back to the future logo. Okay. Let's it is almost 640. So let's come back at 645 and we'll do breakout groups then. I'm looking to thinking. We're in group one, right? I think we're just, oh, I don't know what group we are. We are group two, actually. Oh, yeah. All right, our names in there. Thank you. Sorry. I already started. I'll get, I'll get rid of that too late. I'll get rid of, no, I mean, I already started. I heard your name twice. That's okay. Okay. All right. What are we thinking? I have a personal bias of the work that I've been doing. At the high school and I know that the district is doing is really trying to strengthen. Restorative. Restorative practices across the board and there's just been a lot of work, beginning work towards that, but I really hope to see that continue. I know it isn't evolving. Yeah. But it. I think it's really important that we have that embedded in our school, but also. I don't know. I'm really curious this conversation about what our relationship looks like with the police. That's something I would like us to talk about somehow or. Yeah. How other schools are doing that who don't have SROs. I'm curious about that. So I think I also think in that, in those lines, if a resource, if a officer, no, the resource officer has to respond to our school, I would like somehow that people are comfortable with that response. So, and I think the only way that happens is if. Students and staff and community members know our police officers well, just in general know our police officers. So I think the police officers in our town need to reach out more and to become more thoughtful of just getting to know people. So if around, you know, if there has to be a response, so it feels more like, like a fireman's responding, you know, they're there for our safety and we feel comfortable with that. They're not there to hurt us or be, you know, hurtful to us in any way. So I would hope we can figure that out because sooner or later someone's going to have to respond to our school in some way. Hopefully not, but you never know, you know, the same, I would like that to happen. So, and I agree with you also with the restorative piece. We've been trying to get that off the ground in a consistent way for years. So I think that that's important as well. And I see. Our SEL work also. For all students. So I wrote in the thing, just how do we want the relationship between the school and police department to be? I don't know. That's if I'm even right, right? Not correctly. Jenna's just trying to. Yeah. Encapsulate what you were just saying. And then restorative. And I don't know what that is. I guess if we're going from the end goal. I want it to be what? Respectful and equitable. What were you? I also think like just best practices like defined and articulated and. And public and. You know, there being like some sort of community process around. Making sure that our best practices are reflective of the values of this community. So. One thing that came up was sort of. I don't know if this is more for me personally, but sort of as part of the process. It occurred to me that it doesn't seem like people are very clear on sort of what the protocols are. You know, in, you know, one example is what, what is the threshold? When is the threshold reached for calling the police? You know, who and who decides? So like, obviously to me, there's some obvious times where you would need to call the police, you know, in an emergency. And that is more clear in some ways with like a fire department, Jen, like you said, you know, if an alarm goes off or if there's a fire in the building or if there's a fire, you know, we're being threatened, you know, in some way. Right. So, so apart from those like emergency level, like where there's, you know, an obvious need for the police department, other cases, when is the threshold met for involving the police? So a couple of examples came up around kids doing senior pranks and stuff like that. Like when, when do we refer kids to our own sort of internal systems of justice? And when do we decide that the threshold has been met to refer them out? And, and who makes those decisions? Yeah, we also have to decide, you know, if there's a break in in the school, which alarms the police, they're already called without even knowing what's going on. So are we saying our building is different from a business downtown? You know, I mean, that, that sort of thing. Yeah, because they don't, we don't know when the alarm goes off, we don't know who's in the building even, like the police come in and we, I mean, and usually that's at night in the middle of the night or after school hours. So the response though, can be a restorative response once that is determined who that is, if it's a senior prank, or if it's something like that. And if there's anyway, we can talk about that. Yeah. We're not problem solving here. We're just getting some. Right. I would just like to see more clearly best practices, I guess, like articulated by the district of like, here's our vision within the district of how we interact with the police or how we, what, what are the best practices around restorative justice internally? Um, when do kid, when our kids offered a restorative justice option versus other options, and is there a difference, you know, school to school? So I just got a sense of like more clear communication around, you know, what we're doing, why we're doing it. And I think we should look at the policies around that, you know, I mean, if we are going to be doing that, I mean, there's some policies that say if you, if a happens, this happens. And sometimes the B that happens is the police have to be informed. So I think that the policies have to also be looked at if we're going to be, you know, thinking about that. Yeah. And some of the stuff doesn't rise to the level of being included in a policy, you know, like if a kid swears, you know, like in the hallway, I don't know if that's currently addressed. Like PDAs. I hear a lot about PDAs in the hallways. You know, police are not called for anything that has to do with this. So I felt like our group could probably use a few more minutes. How did other people feel? Good. Okay. So we can report back and our group can just. And I was giving thumbs up that we could use more time. Oh, that you could use more time. Okay. So let's just go back for a couple of more minutes. What did we have in our notes so far, Amanda? I wrote, how do we want the relationship between the school and police department to be? Hear me? Am I muted? No, you're good. Okay. Best practices clearly articulated for using police in schools. Example, when do we call the police and who decides? When do we use internal systems for justice? Or when do we decide to refer out? And best practices for using restorative practices. And I guess my point we were talking about, like, well, the police aren't called for PDA, obviously. But that wasn't my point. Like my point is that I think the charge is broader than just police. It's about sort of our systems of justice within the school. Yeah. I think that's what I was going. I wasn't like insinuating the police would be calling for that. But it may be that it's an infraction possibly whatever, you know, how to deal with. I think one thing I wrote down was just to ensure that any gaps that the SRO not being there make are filled, you know, such as like going on visits to homes with social workers or whatever, you know, that was one thing came up. Will social workers feel comfortable doing that without an officer? You know, just those kind of things that the SRO did that now that they're gone. Who does those things? And, you know, just so we, you know, one of our concerns was that we had a plan in place going forward if this SRO position is removed. So that safety was insured. I'm really curious. I used to work in Essex and I'm really curious to reach out to the school counselors I know there and ask how it's going this year with this new model they're using with the district liaison. It's one of the things I don't know if that's the direction we're going, but I have some close contacts and I'm just really curious, like, is that a model? Is that a district liaison? Is that an officer or is that a person that liaisons with the police department? I guess it's an officer, isn't it, Emma? I know Susan, it might be someone who works for the police department, but I'm not sure. I know that Susan read a lot about that and was very keyed into that model, so she could probably answer that. I am just curious what other models schools use or if anything. Okay, so let's do a report out for each group. Does somebody from group number one want to report out? I guess I could. I will just read what's there. So Susan and Eliana and I were in group one. We thought that specific recommendations should include some systemic standards. It should, recommendations should address relationship building with community resources, for example, specifically the community justice center and thinking about, you know, what is the community, the broader communities role in safety and justice in our schools, you know, who are other community experts that could be involved. Our recommendation might include taking more of a team approach to these issues. We especially lifted up the example of the liaison officer model from the S6 Westford school district. And, you know, more practices around restorative justice. You know, we highlighted, I think others did too, that we need to evaluate the specific responsibilities of the Montpelier police department and what the district's relationship with them will be. And the last thing, I think Susan, you either got it wrong or you got it wrong. I was talking about this. Just lifting up the idea that, you know, it feels important to engage in a conversation with our broader community around the school board's decision and to remain, and that the broader community remains in dialogue around these issues and that there's just more broader just understanding and conversation that continues to happen. Thank you. Amanda, do you want to take on group two? Absolutely. You guys can fill in what I leave out. We talked about how, kind of brought up questions like how do we want the relationship between the school and police department to be a little bit like what Joan was saying above. And then really articulating what are best practices. So what are best practices and having those practices and having those practices articulated for when schools use the police and who decides or when we use internal systems for justice and how those are implemented. Best practices for using restorative practices and using them in our schools with fidelity. And then lastly, ensuring that gaps left by the SRO absence are filled. So example, like there was talk about how we do home visits. The social workers typically went with the SRO. So things like that. Anything to add group two? Can I ask a clarifying question? So restorative practices used with fidelity. Do you all just mean like faithfully consistently? Yeah. Yeah, I put that down. Yeah, because I've been personally thinking about restorative practices and variety of schools. I've been part of teams that have been doing that. And they can be really effective, but they also can not be if they're not used with fidelity, like effect, you know, best practices. And so schools can say we're a restorative school, but they're really not a restorative school. Thanks. Yeah, it does. Thank you. And even the districts that are sort of held up as examples of that. It's a tough model to do really well. Yeah. It takes a lot of time and laying a lot of groundwork to do it well. Yeah. So will someone from group three summarize? Let's see, we started really broad. Like, okay, what is our goal to have a recommendation and to establish a good relationship? And so forth. Yeah. Yeah. We wondered, we wondered a little bit of the very end. I'm sorry. I'm up. You mentioned that. Libby marked us in non-compliance. And I was wondering if there was a, there was any text, if there was a written, there was any specificity to that lack of compliance that might guide us. And what the future looked like. Strong conflict resolution skills practices for all staff and staff. Yeah. This bit, who advocates for students in conflict resolution? That came from a lot of descriptions of. Positive SRO impact that turned out to be not necessarily consistent, but in terms of like the trusted face or the, who is holding the hand of the student through. Through a difficult. Disciplinary process. Whether that be with law enforcement or is there, a way to take that role of student advocates, student guide, trusted, Confidant. While going through a difficult process. And, and what would that look like if someone on school staff were to take that role? And this was a wacky idea. Oh, we also lifted up the Essex, West, the school liaison. Role. As a, as a, as a. Good model. And we've talked a lot about the restorative justice practices. And some of us. Have no direct experience. With that. And I was wondering. I'm I, we, all of us. Wondered if the, um, if the center, if the justice center might. If the justice center might go through an imaginary mock incident with us. If, if, if one or two of us might. Um, Pretend to be in meshed in an actual incident and then go through the justice center to see what, what that would actually look like in practice. Anything. Great. I mean, I think what I'm seeing here is that we're not on. Totally different pages. Um, Um, You know, we're, how we're envisioning this process going. And what might be some of our end products. Um, One of the things that comes to mind is sort of how granular does this committee get. In our recommendations. Um, so some of the stuff. Even just the conversation we had in my small group, um, was about how the school involves the police. Um, you know, those types of conversations can go very deep and, and there can be a lot of research involved in finding out what should be done or what is currently done and, Um, you know, interviewing the schools and you can get very granular in each of these conversations. And so I wonder where people's heads are at in terms of sort of. You know. Um, What are the recommendations are if it's, if it's more of a broad umbrella of like, please use these values, you know, to consider your practices of justice. Um, and then down, and then down the line into more specificity of, you know, please create. Uh, A flow chart of when, um, police are involved in incidences. Um, and then there's other, you know, diversity, equity, inclusion. So it starts to feel very big really quick. And I'm just wondering where people's heads are at with that question of sort of how broad do we go? How granular do we go as a committee? I was in my group. We were sort of Susan and Joe and I were sort of talking about this, um, because it can sort of get overwhelming if we try to do that. Um, I also feel like as a sort of like research committee that we've kind of been, I think we can sort of do that again and find like specific experts in the community. Um, to like have a more specific recommendation. And I think that those can be backed by values, but I feel like the values piece was kind of the product of the first part of our work. I guess in terms of like using our time, I think that we were really good at doing specific research and just like keeping it limited, like so it can be reasonable, but also specific enough that the board has like some meat to work with. I feel like it's really important. Joan. I think for me, I'm not to answer your question. I need a little more information about what next steps are for, and I, and I don't, and I'll admit to not knowing or understanding completely how the, um, board and superintendent kind of work together to craft policy. Um, because, um, I'm wondering if now that, you know, the board's made its decision, does, does there need to be some actual new policies put in place that aren't in place? And if that's the case, you know, who's actually charged with making those policies, like are we doing, are we going to end up doing some work even before that train gets moving? That, that kind of shapes how I'm, I would think about what we're trying to put together in our time frame. So Joan, we did talk about that. Okay, sorry. Whatever I've missed. No, it's okay. It's okay. And I mean, luckily Orca is here. So you can always go back and like watch the first hour or whatever. Yeah, great. But I will briefly say that, um, you know, basically we talked about exactly that, like the relationship between sort of the scope and purview and capabilities of the committee versus the board versus the admin team and how they all interact. And we talked about the board being a policy governance board. So the, the board's job is to write policy and then to hold the, um, superintendent accountable to those policies. And the committee's job would be to wreck, make recommendations. And then there is this curiosity about like how seriously does the board or, you know, superintendent take those recommendations? And I have, you know, I have faith that they will take them seriously and that they will act. Um, but one of the recommendations that we could make is we really believe that there should be a policy around XYZ, you know, and, and without that policy, you know, maybe it's a police relations policy. Um, and maybe without that policy, it's going to be hard for us to move forward, something like that. So there has not yet been a decision made by the board to craft some kind of policy that, okay. Yeah. No, I think the board is really waiting to see what comes out of this committee work, um, over the next month and a half or two. Okay. So, and I think if we were to recommend a policy, I don't, I wouldn't see us getting into the details of how that policy should be written, though there could be model policies that we, um, submit and put forward and say, you know, we really like this policy and we'd like you to have something like this on, on file for the district. Um, yeah. I just wanted to add, you were already going there, Emma, but that the board has a, a policy committee. So we wouldn't have to write an actual policy if we didn't feel like we wanted to get to that level of granular detail, but we could just as Emma said, say the, the committee would think it would be very beneficial to the district if we had a police relations policy, just as an example. Susan. I feel like from the interviews with, um, admin teachers, counselors, nurses, there was a request for somewhat granular on the recommendations. There was sort of this feeling of like, well, if we don't have the SRL, what are we going to have? So I think our, our big task is to kind of find that happy media, right? To like kind of recommend something broad with some specifics. And, and like Eliana said, um, it's out there. Like we don't have to reinvent the wheel. Like maybe we can get some expert advice and do some research and find models that are currently working. Great. Yeah. Yeah, I definitely want to make sure that we, um, you know, that whatever we do as a committee over the next few weeks, that we choose things where we can really make impact and, and don't get bogged down into work that is going to be hard, if not impossible for us to complete within our timeframe. So it's, it's exactly what Eliana said and what you just said is sort of like finding that, that happy medium, that sweet spot of like broad based recommendations and granular recommendations. Okay. So I think this is a good time to talk about. So here, so here we are, we have some ideas. We have a brainstorm of what, what we picture our work looking like and the types of things that might come out of this work. Um, how, what might we best proceed in our next meeting, next few meetings? And we might want to take a look at calendars too and see how many meetings we're talking about. Um, because in the language of the charge, it said by the end of March. Um, and I'm not sure. So here we are now in mid-February. And then next Tuesday, we are in the middle of February vacation. Um, and then the Tuesday after that is town meeting day. So also part of the winter break. Um, so the Tuesday after that would be the ninth. And then we would have four, four Tuesdays. We've been meeting every other Tuesday. We would have four Tuesdays in March. Um, if we wanted to meet every Tuesday and see what we could accomplish in March and try to shoot for being finished by the end of March. Um, or we could ask for an extension, which I'm sure the board would grant. Um, and go into April and stick with the every other week, um, model. How are people's schedules and bandwidth? How are you feeling? You can be honest. This is a safe space. Um, either. I am okay with either. Um, so that's why I wasn't saying anything. I really am okay with either. It does feel to me like, especially at one of the things that seems sort of like. The special sauce of our committee for this, for the first part of it was that there was, we did. A lot of work in between meetings. Um, and having a couple of weeks between meetings allows for that to happen. So that's just. One factor. Um, To consider. I definitely like the special sauce analogy because I do think there's something very special about what this committee has been able to do. And the dynamic that we formed as a committee is great. And I don't want to lose momentum, but I also don't want to burn people out. And I kind of feel like this, this, um, The next set of recommendations that we're going to make are, it's really important. It's almost more important to me as a board member and community member. Um, then the first part of our charge in a way. So. I'm really invested in the outcomes of the second part of our charge. And I don't want to rush it. Um, but I also know that, you know, everybody has. Really busy lives. And so I want to make sure that we're sort of doing it in a manageable way for people. To me, it seems like doing every week and trying to be done by the end of March feels like warp speed. And probably too fast to actually accomplish what we want to do. Um, so I think I would be in favor of spreading it out and going every other week. Um, I agree, Emma, and, and maybe asking for an extension so that we're not rushed. I'm really excited about this work. I've been waiting to do it. Um, no kind of knowing this is where we're going. So I really want to get into the meat of this and spend some quality time and not rush it like you were saying. I was wondering if maybe we, we could meet on town meeting day. That way we wouldn't, we could stay on the every other week. But I think we should be more gradual. And also originally we had conflicts with every other Tuesdays. And so I just, we worst, we, we are off our original. Every other Tuesday, Amanda, does this now? I mean, you're here this week, but you have a conflict every other Tuesday. I do, but I can, I can talk with. It's actually, I volunteer for my community justice center. But I can figure that out. Emma, you don't need to go around me. Um, so that was one thing that I was considering in terms of, um, you know, which Tuesday we start back up on and we were supposed to meet last Tuesday, but the meeting didn't get warned in time. So, um, well, how are, I mean, I feel like that's the last day of winter break. I think that's the last day of the year. But I think that's the last day of the year. I mean, are people feeling like they just want to keep that time to themselves and their families. And not. Commit to this. Work or. I don't think a lot of us are going to be traveling. No. I think I'd rather have one like. At the end of vacation than the middle of it. Like I'd rather just like that back to work life. So, um, I think we're just going to be like school life, but without the school. Um, Oh, that's terrible. That's a really nice sort of symmetry or no, that's not the right word, but if we do meet on the second, then we can squeeze three meetings into March. Even if, even by going every other week. It's somehow satisfying. So here's another possible proposal. That we meet on the second. And then again on the ninth. And then we get resume every other Tuesday from there. So we do two weeks in a row, but then get back on the, the right Tuesday. I think that's a good idea, especially. Since we don't actually know what we're going to be researching yet, like having to back to back might be helpful in terms of like planning what we're going to find. And then having enough time to find it. And then I wonder if we can have a goal to, to maybe be finished by the April break, which I think is April 18th. I don't actually even know what I think it is. Okay. I'm looking at my April calendar now. It is that's the court. That's the week of April break. Okay. So that would mean a meeting on the second, a meeting on the ninth, a meeting on the 23rd, a meeting on the sixth, and then potentially being finished. Probably some sort of presentation to the board, right? So maybe like another double meeting where a meeting on the 13th. And then the school board is meeting two weeks in a row. They're meeting on the seventh and the 14th. So we might be able to go sixth and 14th or something like that. Yeah. Okay. Well, maybe we won't be finished. I don't know. It just feels helpful to have an end state. It does have something. It feels nice to have something to work towards a goal. So I think that sounds good. So right now I'll plan on. A meeting on the second, the ninth, the 23rd, April 6th, and then prior to the board meeting on the 14th. And, you know, we'll still have our meetings in between. One thing came up for me in a conversation with Anna. It's a HIPCO. Okay. I feel like there's another last name circulating. I'll call her. Around the quorum of this committee. So I was assuming that the quorum of this committee was three, because that is the quorum of the school board. But if you actually look at it as a math problem. problem. Our committee is bigger than the school board. So she was saying that three people can meet without publicly warning a meeting of this committee. So three, I mean, still you're not supposed to be like making substantive decisions of the committee work. But for the purposes of like gathering feedback, conduct, you know, creating a survey, those types of things can happen outside of the committee time and three people could get on a call and talk about that type of stuff. So that's more just like neither here nor there for now, but it might help in our work moving forward between committee meetings. Okay, so, so any great ideas for our agenda next week? How to proceed and move us forward? Jen? I have just a quick question. Looking at the makeup, the original makeup of the group, do we need to invite anyone else to this committee? That's a good question. And we can the so the Tony Faco stepped down. And then there was a conversation at the board level about whether to fill that vacancy or not. And during that board meeting, it was decided not to fill it. I've had conversations with Chief Pete, and it does seem like he's willing to come and be representative of the Montpelier Police Department, but that he's very, very busy. And it's going to be hard for him to commit to coming to every meeting. So there was a conversation around like, Well, maybe he comes when he's needed to consult, and maybe doesn't sit on the committee as an as an active committee member. And then Jim Murphy also stepped down. And he was a board member. And that also was discussed at the board level when he stepped down of, you know, do we feel like we need three board members? Should we appoint another board member to the committee? And at that time, the board decided that it would be okay for the committee to move forward without a third board member. So I think we can have a conversation right now if we feel like we need more people on the committee. Pierre, Pierre Cotton, I reached out to him, he is moving on from the district starting next year. So this is his last year in the district. And so he has a lot going on in terms of like that career transition and family life. He said that he was going to be able to make tonight's meeting in that he wanted to continue. So he indicated a desire to continue with the work. And of course, he's welcome to. I guess I'll reach out to him again and just confirm that he's actually able to come and participate in the 10 meetings. So I think, you know, how are people feeling? So we have the loss of those three committee members right now. Pierre has confirmed that he wants to be part of it but hasn't been able to make a few meetings now. I think I'd like, you know, I think what I'm thinking is that would be nice to have someone from the other schools here that can can speak to, you know, how they do things because I'm not familiar with that. Yeah. We did talk, oh, go ahead. I thought that Mara Iverson was a really great resource since she's like the director of outright Vermont just has a really great, like speaking from marginalized group. And I think keep keeping that in consideration if we were going to, I know it's like the charge anyway, but like just a reminder of that stood out to me when I was reading over the charge that like, it's still like kind of kind of like, not doing that. You mean like a whole, Eliana? Like we need to invite Mara back? Oh, I just meant like keeping that lens, that lens in mind, that goal in mind of having like marginalized groups represented within this committee, like not necessarily having her back, but just like now that she's gone just a whole that is that is there. So I'm hearing maybe we need representation from the middle school and I'm hearing that we're looking for representation for marginalized folks or someone who's able to articulate. Yeah, and I guess I'm just wondering at this stage of the process, does it make sense to bring new committee members in? Or does it make sense to bring people like someone like Mara could come back and do a half a meeting with us and guide us through a process, or somebody like Mr. Herity could come in and speak to us as a committee about Union Elementary School or Katie Berea could come in and talk to the committee or we could go out to them to and report back. So Mia and I, when we met with Superintendent Bones Deal, she was saying, yeah, like maybe it's maybe it's about going out to these people and making sure to tap them as a resource and then bring that back to the committee. So I think those are the two ways that we look at it. Do we want to actively recruit new committee members? Or do we want to just be mindful of bringing those perspectives into our process as we move forward? And right on top of that question, like if Mara Iverson, for example, was a was an expert that we consulted and reported back, just looking at the process that we used a few months ago, would it make sense to accept another form for us to brainstorm some more specific questions for experts? That if if one or more of us were to meet with Mara, for example, and then report back, what would we ask her? If we could if we could generate some of those specific things we want to know? Or that's how we did it before? Yeah, I did enjoy that process of sort of generating questions and then going out and bringing answers back. There's also Laura Merchant and Mary Zintara who have a second half of their presentation on trauma informed practices and restorative justice. So we are at 730. And I want to try to be respectful people's time and end on time. So what what I'll do now is I'm just going to do a quick go around. And it's not very glamorous or touching. But if there's one thing that you want to see on the next agenda, could you please we'll do one go around and something an item that you would like to see on the next agenda or a process that you'd like to see us embark on to move us forward during our next meeting? So I'll just go based on I'm going to start with the people who have their video off. Because I usually start with people that have video on. So, Zach, are you around? Can you speak to what you might want to see on the agenda for next time? Um, I definitely think more time like devoted to even if it's like a larger group conversation on like what we might have some research to do, obviously, but like what the defining how we want to approach what like what problems problems there are any problems have been or what spots need to be filled by the SRO that are not filled now. And how what our model of doing this that can look like if that makes sense. Yes, like identifying the areas where we need someone. Yeah. Okay. Um, and, Edie? Um, I don't personally have like something specific that I I mean, the way I feel like I was about to say this, I think makes it sound like I'm saying I don't need to see anything on the agenda. And that is not what I'm saying. Um, but I'm saying that I haven't come up with something specific that I really want to see on the agenda, partly because I trust everyone else to come up with that. And I'm tired. So that's, that's my piece. Totally fair. And we can always circle back to you. So if you if, as other people are speaking, an idea pops into your mind, just let us know. Um, Eliana? Um, I, I just really liked the activity that we did earlier in groups. And I think we can use those questions that we were asking to make next, like action steps, like, I think Zach's point was just like, one of these, like the gaps left by the SRO, and I think we could either stay in groups in those groups, or just like, I don't know, just thinking more about the questions and putting them into action steps, maybe. Great idea. Um, Amanda? Yeah, I think Eliana, I like your idea. I was thinking specifically about one of them, you know, like looking thinking about what the relationship with the school district and the police school could potentially look like. And I just want to add, Amanda, I think at this point, I, I feel like asking more people to join the committee feels like a big ask. And I, I'd really support maybe us going out to and bringing in experts. That's where I'm leaning to, unless there was, you know, I'm happy to defer to the committee as a whole. If we really want more people on the committee, we can make that happen. It is a process because it has to be approved by the board. And then after it's approved by the board, we have to have an open, you know, application process. And then we have to like, choose who goes on. I think the board might be able to appoint people if they are willing. Okay, Nia's shaking her head. Yes. So maybe we don't need to do the full process like we did originally with everyone here. We might be able to just go in and appoint. So if there was a big call from the committee to do that, I think we would do that. But I'm sort of leaning in that same direction of going out and making sure that we bring that perspective in, but that it might be too much to onboard new committee members at this point. Will mine dovetails nicely with that actually, that mine was just the word experts. I that was a fun part of the research that we did before. And so either whether it's we start to bring in some of some of those some of that knowledge in the very next meeting, or come up with a plan and divvy up the work in the next meeting to go out to see who who do we really want to hear from? Who do we really need to include? Um, and, um, divvy that up. Well, Okay, Joan, um, I think for me, I need for I need for our committees work to feel a little more tangible and experiential to it's just hard for me at the end of a like long day to be really in my head and like talk about these things so abstractly. And I someone mentioned earlier, like, I could be do a case study role play, like, what does what does a restorative practice actually look like feel like? Like, what would that mean for anyone, a student, a staff member in one of our school? Like, I feel like I need to actually understand that more. And whatever it was some kind of exercise we could do together or something to make it less like words on a screen and more like, Oh, I get it. I have an understanding. I feel like I can like in my body feel like what we're talking about. And I know that's different because like I some of our, you know, you committee members are your students, your state, your administrators, your teacher, you're like in the school or with working with students. And, you know, I just don't have, and I feel like I need to have that to be a little more engaged and understand where we're headed with our work. And are you mostly talking about restorative justice practices? Or is there I think so, but maybe it's like, at some point, it doesn't have to be the next meeting, like what, I don't know, like, maybe there is some kind of roleplay or just even just talking through a scenario, where it's like, Okay, like, let's get really real about like, when we make a recommendation, what is that actually mean on the ground? Yeah. So just some food for that. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, there's, there's two different restorative practices that happen. There's the restorative practices that happen internally in our district, so that teachers would run or administrators would run. And then there's also been a lot of talk around the Community Justice Center, which is, you know, an arm of the city, and that the police use that resource to divert people away from court system and more into a restorative justice practice through that center. And I think they operate on grant funding and some city funding. But I do, it sounds like Amanda has a lot of experience with restorative justice, and I'm sure you would be willing to do a little mock restorative circle and sort of explain, I think, Jen, I'm sure you too could really help with that. So maybe the two of you could have like a special meeting. That's not one of the meetings that we just penciled in, where you kind of delve into what does the restorative practices look like at the school? Or maybe we put it as part of the bigger committee. We can definitely talk about that. Mia. I really liked how group one in the notes phrased it like a system wide standards. And what that made me think of is that we have, we have these values that we came up with from the work that we did in the first part of the charge. And I wonder if it's worthwhile spending some time saying, Okay, if these are the values, what do they look like in practice, which could help inform any recommendations we have around standards? And maybe then we say, you know, okay, some of these standards are already being met, or and some of them as we look at what, like as Joan just said, like, what does it really mean on the ground? They're not. So I think it would be a good use of our time at the next meeting to, to return to our values and say, How does this look or feel in practice, maybe make them a little bit more tangible, hitting on a lot of points there. Susan. Yeah, I put one idea in the chat, because I noticed each group mentioned the Westford Essex model. And I thought maybe we should really look at what it is we like about that model. Like, is it just that it is a model, and they're trying something, are there specific things that we like? So that might be interesting. And I know it's a new model for them. So maybe also check on how it's going for them. Okay, great. I'm in my mind. I'm already like, assigning homework. So you might get an email. Catherine, I think this goes along with what Mia was saying, maybe, but you know, Jen had mentioned there are policies in place. Maybe they're already like on paper in the school handbooks, you know, regarding bullying, maybe like disciplinary actions, that thing. So maybe between now and the next meeting, you know, somebody or a group of people could look for those things, or maybe Jen could help with that if she has certain ones she's thinking about. Just to go ahead and read through and see, you know, where our committee could expand upon those or, I don't know, seems like part of what we're doing is looking at what's already on the books and seeing where we can improve or. Yeah, great. Yeah, I could definitely help with that, too. Jen. Yeah, I was going to say something similar to Catherine. I'd like to take some time to identify the policies that we're going to be looking at and working on. The handbook is also a good place to look at responses sometimes for all the schools, you know, the district handbook. So and the policies are on our website. So you can look at those too, all the adopted policies. Yeah, that sort of goes back to the conversation that me and I had with the superintendent, which was sort of like, what is our starting point? What are our strengths as a district? Where are our weaknesses? And committees like the equity, the district equity committee has already identified a lot of those strengths and weaknesses. So there are starting points that exist out there for us. Did I skip over anybody? Okay. So I have a lot of notes, and I'm going to sort of ruminate, think and get back to you via email, potentially with a little bit of homework to bring to our next meeting. And we'll see you soon. Does anyone Oh, we should we should make a motion to adjourn? I move to adjourn. Second. Amanda. No, I was just saying goodbye. No, I mean, I Oh, I forgot. Sorry, I will I, Joan, I, yeah, I, Susan, I, Catherine, I, Jen, I, Edie, I, Eliana, I, Zach, I, okay, we're adjourning and eating and Eliana as the co-chairs I had asked if you have a little bit of time to stay on but now we're running late. So stay on. If you can, if you can't, that's okay. Bye, everybody.