 I hear by call the Organizational meeting of the school committee to order. I'm Paul Schlichtman I am the chairperson pro tem So I have the gavel for about five minutes while we elect officers and I am so pleased to be back and I congratulate my friends Bill and Jennifer and on your election It's going to be great working with you I Have now opened the floor for the nomination for the office of chair Mr. Thielman I nominate mr. Heiner second Moved in second and any other nominations hearing none all in favor. Hi post Congratulations. Thank you. I now open the floor for nominations to the office of vice chair. Mr. Heiner I nominate mr. Thielman second any other nominations hearing none All in favor I Opposed it's a unanimous vote. Congratulations. Mr. Thielman. Thank you. I now open the floor For the nominations to the office of secretary any nominations. I nominate dr. Chrissy Allison Ampey second, okay any other nominations Hearing none all in favor. Hi. I opposed unanimous vote I'm now looking for a vote to authorize the chair to sign the payroll warrant. So moved by Miss Starks seconded by dr. Allison Ampey all in favor I opposed unanimous vote Per policy Bda the new chair can read the committee the standards and norms of the Arlington school committee which will then be signed by all seven members We the Arlington school committee Acknowledge that a school committee meeting is a meeting of the school committee members that is held in public and not a public meeting And that we will make every effort to ensure that meetings are effective and efficient to that end We acknowledge the importance of subcommittees and we and the superintendent agree to utilize them to focus on specific topics in depth and to prepare for presentations Deliberation and possible action by the school committee We the Arlington school committee set forth these standards and norms that we will all commit to abide by as individuals and as a committee Number one Represent the needs and interests of all students in the district number two exercise leadership in vision planning Policymaking Evaluation and advocacy on behalf of the students and district not in managing the day-to-day operations of the district Three conduct our business through a set agenda emerging items will be addressed in subsequent meetings through agenda items For provide full disclosure each member will provide input encouragement express concerns and positions Rather than withhold information from other members when a committee member feels that there has not been full disclosure An objective process for revisiting the issue will be used five Maintain an open environment where each member is empowered to freely express opinions concerns and ideas Committee members will work together to clarify and restate Restate discussions in order to strive for full understanding Six keep an open mind and accept that they can change their opinions by recognizing that they are not locked into their initial stated positions Seven make decisions on information and not on personalities Committee members will act with the best information available at that time Considering data the superintendent's recommendations proposals and suggestions Committee members will strive to make the best decisions at that time Eight debate the issues not one another the committee will engage in critical thinking Expecting all committee members to freely offer different points of view as part of the discussion prior to making a board decision nine Not take unilateral action committee members authority is derived only through a majority decision of the committee Acting as a whole during an open public meeting 10 10 meetings well prepared to discuss issues on the agenda and will be prepared to make decisions Striving for efficient decision-making 11 strive to have no surprises for the committee or superintendent all members will receive the same information on topics in a timely manner 12 strive to reach decisions by consensus discuss with respect Disagree without acrimony and consensus is not possible all members will publicly abide by the majority decision 13 understand and respect the chain to come in as it concerns roles and responsibilities and direct others to do the same 14 review and revise our standards and norms as needed as part of the committee self-evaluation This time I would ask all committee members to sign a copy of these standards and norms Thank You mr. Heyner And congratulations to mr. Heyner mr. Thielman and doctors Allison ampey on your election as officers of the committee for this next year With that I'd like to hear a motion to adjourn this meeting some old by mr. Thielman seconded by dr. Allison ampey all in favor I oppose that's unanimous and this meeting is adjourned Good evening. My name is William Heyner. I am the new chair of the Allington school committee and this is Thursday April 10th First off, I would like to share with you That mrs. Mary J. Perla Tondo was a retiree of our cafeteria She served She passed away on March 31st 2014. I'd like us to moment of silence, please Thank you, I Cannot compete With my former colleague with regard to the opening mark remarks that he always did He was eloquent and I cannot match it so my little endeavor I will each meeting I would like to share a bit of Arlington school history In 1693 the people of monotony built a one-room schoolhouse on ground now inside the burial grounds between What is now the first parish church in the library? It was bare and hard to heed students were expected to bring this year award The school day was from 6 a.m.. To 6 p.m.. The school year began after the crops were picked in the fall And the school year ended when it was time for planting in the spring 221 years later we have grown beyond that one-room schoolhouse It is my hope that our collaboration and collegiality that was so evident this year's budget process will continue in all our endeavors Thank you At this time, I would like to welcome our new school committee member The Seuss and By her coming here. I've lost one of my Pieces of status. I am no longer the new member of the school committee. I still hold the other one I think I will keep it forever. I'm the oldest Physically person on the committee and I would invite anyone else that would like to welcome the Seuss at this time Jennifer we're very glad you're here Come on in Get to sit up here at this time, I would like to welcome miss Hansen the EA representative and Invite Rebecca Steinitz to the table Participation I feel like I was just here and this time unfortunately nobody has hats with Squawking Welcome to the committee Jennifer congratulations So I am here on behalf of Arlington education foundation again with my trusty notes in my phone and this time Well, actually let me start over mr. Hainor began by talking about the origins of the Arlington schools And I'm here to invite you to a vision of the future of the Arlington schools as I think Many of you know the Arlington education foundation in close cooperation with Laura and her vast number of technologically genius people is Has embarked on a technology initiative where we are raising funds to Enhance enrich and help nudge forward Technology in Arlington schools with a real focus on teaching and learning so last year our focus was the stem lab at the high school which has been a Really exciting program enabled us to expand Computer science and many more applications and our focus this year is the odyssey where we're working to Support the technology literacy curriculum, and I'm sure I said that wrong. Is that is that correct? Okay? and from everything from teacher training to iPads to Arlington's First new era digital printer we have a very old slow on I believe and this is the first new one Which I'm kind of excited because they're using it in seventh grade in tech tech classes where I have a daughter So um, but what I want to invite you to is on Monday, March 5th, which I know is a month away But this is the last May 5th. Thank you Monday May 5th Which I know is a month away, but I believe you don't have a meeting between now and then From six to eight downstairs in the media center. We're going to have a technology showcase Which is going to highlight exciting things that are happening with technology in Arlington schools Many of which have been funded by AEF Innovations development and expansion grants as well as the technology initiative, and now I need to go to my notes Laura will speak speaking about the Arlington public schools technology vision Matt Coleman will be speaking about code org. I think that's um The code for an hour which again my seventh grade daughter came home and coded for a week a child who had never coded before and still Has like says things like coding forever like things I don't understand in tech speak that combined coding and seventh grade and I don't get it one of the oddison teachers will be speaking and That's all fantastic, but I have to say I'm most excited about is we're going to have students there demonstrating what they've been doing including Advanced computer science students will be demonstrating the games they've been developing Students from the bracket We'll be doing something. Do you know what Anita Christina's students are going to be doing? They're demonstrating a project the using technology demonstrating a project using technology and the Tech spurts from Thompson school where as you know It's our first full-on one-to-one school where all the kids have iPads and they've become Tech spurts, so I do hope you will join us I hope you'll all be there because it's going to be a great evening and thank you for having me This time I would like to represent Welcome our student representative, and I apologize if I mispronounce your first name Dangle He is an 11th grade student junior class vice president soccer team wrestling team and science Olympiad welcome We now are going to have tools of the mind update Thank you There's two members of the committee here So my My goal this evening is to give you my Recommendation as to where we're moving forward with respect to tools of the mind But there's probably a fair number of people who have listening in tonight That probably does not understand what we're referring to I just I want to give a little bit of history and explain What the tools of the mind program is about and then talk about the work of the committee that? Has recently been looking at a particular complaint from from some parents the history of the program Actually dates back to the early 2000s Arlington was one of the very first schools in the Commonwealth to be the recipient of the kindergarten grant and as a Requirement of that grant we have to go through a certification process every five years and we have and we've and each time we've done that through the NEA YC, which is a the National Association for Education of Young Children, I believe The we have passive flying colors the only time we ever had a little a little bit of a suggestion What we needed to improve us in the facilities at Thompson, which we have certainly done It was after the second round of Cert of accreditation that the teachers the kindergarten teachers Who met regulars part of a kindergarten screening committee felt that we really need to look to see if there was something as an alternative to the Accreditation process that we were going through and for the first ten years that we had the grant That was not the case, but after but the Department of Education expanded what the opportunities would be and To include a couple of things one of which was the tools of the mind program, which is a program that Has as its goal to help young students be able to Access the curriculum by learning These the social pragmatics of being in school and to be able to self-regulate their own behavior It is a it is a curriculum that is aligned with This the Massachusetts state standards and has been very consistent very aligned with our own kindergarten program here We at the time that teachers were looking to see it as an alternative the It happened to be that NYU was also looking to pilot the program because they were doing a study to see how the program did relative to student achievement and some of the other goals of the program and We we applied to be a pilot and In that pilot we had three schools that actually piloted the program and we had one school bracket that was the control In other words what that meant was the bracket continued having the same academic program That we had had for the years. We were had gone through accreditation as Principal Zershikov is here this evening Can talk to you a little bit about that experience if you'd like to have any If you have any questions about it at the end it so we the last two years we have been in the pilot and We knew that we had to make a decision as to whether we were going to go forward with adopting this curriculum District-wide Normally we don't bring a curriculum to the school committee. It's for any type of adoption That's that's generally something that we it's done internally. Certainly. We talked to you about it But in terms of approval We haven't done that. I made the exception this time because of the link to accreditation I didn't win if we were going down this pathway I wanted to be able to say the Department of Education that the school committee Approved the adoption of this program. So that's the reason why we we had that discussion actually many discussions last year at this table Looking at the program school committee did vote to it adopt the program. It was unanimously supported by the principles and This year we adopted it across all seven elementary schools During the two years of the pilot. We really did not have any Complaints from parents. In fact quite the opposite. We had a lot of compliments about the program this year However, we had several parents one family in particular who felt that the the the curriculum the literacy curriculum which includes the Magic treehouse series the first eight books of it They found that that that that was a frightening The stories in the the magic treehouse were too frightening for their child One parent said that some parents said that they just the children felt uncomfortable So as part of the process What was put into place this year was the the committee that is Described in one of the policies of the school committee which has a curriculum review and we went through the formal process of which the parents Fill out the paperwork to initiate that committee dr. Chesson Chared the committee and it was made up of teachers in the district It actually is very prescribed in the policy as to who's on the committee. It's a it's a prince It's a principal teachers in the district the library media specialists for the district and We also had a community member that were allowed to have other people besides those who are prescribed So this committee met They also had two evenings of hearings on this and what the first evening was for the parents That had initiated the complaint at any other parents that had concerns about the the magic treehouse series there was a second night in which Parents and teachers who support the pro support the use of that that series also came to the committee and Testified the committee then put together a Recommendation to superintendent which is per policy Explaining their reasoning what their recommendations are going forward with respect to the use of This series in the curriculum You have a copy of that report that was put into your Packet and I want to just go over some of the highlights of this because what The term but the policy asked for is the committee to make a recommendation for the To the superintendent and the superintendent make a decision as to where we're going with their recommendation Or if I have an alternate recommendation and that's what I'm doing tonight is to give you an update Am I thinking on this and where we're going forward with? the magic treehouse Use of I should say the use of the magic treehouse books in our tools of the mind curriculum so I Told you what the process I'm going to what the process of the committee was let me tell you what their recommendations are The review committee recommends that the magic treehouse series should remain in the kindergarten curriculum Teachers should continue to employ strategies to alleviate student fears that arise in their classrooms Training and mentoring efforts should disseminate and support those strategies The tools of the mind committee should compile and share a list of sensitive passages in the books that teachers may want To admit or reword at their discretion So those are the main main recommendations of this committee after a thorough review of reading the material Hearing the different points of view and I concur with their recommendations. I Will say that this year I have been in every single kindergarten classroom And in many of them more than once to look at the programs see how it's being implemented talk to the teachers and I will say that some of the passages and I've said this before at this table But it bears being said again is that when I have talked to teachers as to whether they had Actually read the passages that were of concern. I Didn't have one teacher tell me that they did they may have they may have paraphrased it or skipped it or just Yes Put the key information in so that there'll be some consistency in the story But on the other hand while I believe that that was the case I think that as a district since this is part of our program that we should be more explicit about What passages? Should be considered to be either skipped or paraphrased giving giving supplemental Suggestions to teachers and I think that the best people to make those recommendations Would be the teachers themselves we have a standing steering committee for the kindergarten program and in fact that steering committee has been in place since we went since we We were able to to have the grant and So the plan will be to have the teachers meet We may need to have some summer curriculum work on this because I'm not sure that we'll be able to accomplish it During the course the end of this year, but certainly having very explicit Suggestions in terms of where of What passages we might want to skip over in those eight books now there are still going to be as parents some parents point out still going to be some students who may be uncomfortable and in the report they had said that in Talking with the teachers in the program that this was a very rare situation and in fact In the law and the two years of the pilot the teachers that were that testified said that that was not their experience and That when they did have children that Well, what they have what they have suggested when they felt that children might have been uncomfortable this year is to suggest that parents Perhaps pre-read or have the teachers themselves would It sort of explain a little bit more clearly what was happening and you know that The characters in this story are going to be fine. They're gonna be safe So to to allay a lot of those worries they had a whole list and it's in your report of possible suggestions of what Could be some strategies that teachers could use Next year of this matter this year and I can tell you that I know the teachers are doing this but It I think again it goes to we need to be explicit and have this information Available for teachers because we are probably going to have some new teachers next year in our kindergarten program In fact later on it will talk a little bit about kindergarten numbers. I know we're gonna have at least one more kindergarten teacher and That we're going to be hiring so we need to make sure that Our teachers current teachers and future teachers have those guidelines in terms of the books But also available to them some strategies in which how they can handle handle any kind of situation that could arise I will also say that One of the one of the recommendations that I have made to all principals next year is That the half-time TA that we have for the kindergarten program Be in the morning, which is when we do our literacy In some schools right now we might hire a full-time TA and that TA may spend the morning in one kindergarten class but the afternoon and another and That arrangement has not worked out well, and it doesn't work out well with this particular program So next year we're going to change people's schedules and so that that can be accomplished in all the schools that way when that is When you have an extra support in the classroom when you're doing the the literacy block the opportunity to You know if a student was uncomfortable to take the student away from the the group that that possibility exists then I think that Teachers that have felt that need this year And they might have been the person that would get the afternoon TA has found that It's been a little bit difficult to manage the literacy program without a teaching assistant there But one of the other things I think it's very important to say that the report also talked about is that there wasn't there was a misconception that the Magic Treehouse series was the only literacy the only books that were being read in the in the Kindergarten's and that is not the case at all they have a very rich career They have a very rich curriculum that's supplemented by lots of books And if you go into any class any kindergarten classroom, you will see shelves of books What they what they do with the themes that? From the Magic Treehouse books they use that to launch the different kinds of books that they might have for that unit if they're they're looking at the Amazon they're going to have a lot of books about perhaps South America that launches into Discussions about different cultures in South America they they can they can they can branch into Animal life there are there's a lot of richness that the that the teachers are actually doing and As I said you're any of you are most welcome to come visit a kindergarten classroom The other important priesthood wasn't touched on as much in this report But I want to also talk about and that is the professional development that we have given and we will continue to give And I think that it's in the course of that that we will Provide teachers with more more explicit directions when we began this full district adoption We started last year and I think you remembered this when we had the two days where the teachers out of their classrooms And we started the professional development that that was That was for all of the new teachers to the program this year We've continued the professional development all the early release days have been devoted to this All the kindergarten teachers have go to a mentor program just like we do with the reading and math programs and We also had coach a coach now There was a little bit of a controversy about that, but that has all been smoothed out so there we will continue that and Talk to the kindergarten committee in ways that we might want to expand even what we have been doing so my recommendation this program is an amazing program and I think and just talking to teachers just recently You get finally to January and February and you see the fruits of what? what the program does and We I would say now from the report that I have from Sherry Denovan who is the kindergarten coordinator is that there is There is widespread stronger support for the program. In fact, I was just at a meeting this morning With a number of superintendents and one person mentioned to me that how this particular program tools of the mind along with the kips academics are being Referred to as the as the premier Programs right now in terms of how you help young children to Develop those kinds of habits of mind around being able to be a learner in school So it we are in some ways very much on the cutting edge of something very important in education And it's really a major paradigm shift and what I mean by that is that in the in this program we have young Young children thinking about their their responsibility for their own learning and that is Something that's when I say it's a really major paradigm shift that they have learning goals And they need to they need to figure out that week how they're going to achieve their goal It is education is not something that you Give to someone it is not something that they are passive receivers of it is something that they are active participants in and Not only active participants in but much more determinative of what they need to learn So our hope really is that the Important lessons that they will learn will be something that we are going to be able to continue on in as they move through our school system And to that end we will be you know first grade teachers are this spring are going into the kindergarten classes To observe we're going to be you know We're not changing the kid at first grade curriculum, but there are changes in how in the pedagogy perhaps of how a classroom is organized So we're doing a lot of I think really great work there. We also have the responsive classroom, which is Something that we can talk more about at this table, but it again is looking at ways that the children Become better learners by being more responsible and be more connected to their peers as well as to the school So we are doing a lot of work there, but I do think that this was a very good I think this was a very good process I think it gave us an opportunity to think about what we're doing even more than we had been and Realizing that that we probably didn't communicate and well enough this year with parents About what this program was there. We made some assumptions that we shouldn't have made In the pilot there was because it was a pilot we were communicating and teachers were in Constant communication with parents and so their parents felt very comfortable that didn't happen as well as it should have happened this year and So you know this was clearly what one of the outcomes of that, but I think there's it's a It was positive as because I think that we really had to look and say how valuable is this to us as a school system and The end of the day I say it's I want to continue this program I know I have the support of all the principles in wanting to continue this as well as the vast majority of the kindergarten teachers and I have been out and about for for a number of principal searches as you know, and I Can't tell you the number of people who've Mentioned this to me the number of emails I've had the people want this program And so I think we'll just get better at it And I just think that also this this being able to take a look at the explicitness of what we're doing is it's good It's very positive, and that's what we will do But I also want to ask Laura and in fact, Rebecca Stein that's who was on the committee was here as well And we have Stephanie's urge to call the principal bracket and Laura I don't want to put you all on spot But I don't know if there's anything that you would want to add to what I've said about where we are right now I think we were very Touched by those parents who came and spoke In support of the program There were many parents who came and talked about very personal experiences that their children had had with the program and Parents who's some there were a few parents who had one child that had participated in the program and read the books and Another one who didn't and I think there was actually a parent who said in my older daughter or son Is jealous that her younger sibling gets to read these books as part of the school program So I think it was a very thoughtful process. I want to thank everybody who participated whether they were For the use of the books or against but I think the committee felt To a person that this was a unanimous decision that we had given Did you want to say anything? Stephanie you're welcome to you don't have to though I Think one of the real challenges of public education is Balancing the needs of the many and the few like everything in a democracy and I think You know, it was very clear from and we asked specific Databased questions we asked teachers for numbers of students who had been fearful of the books And we also asked student teachers for number of students who they thought may have been Fearful but not felt comfortable saying that because peer pressure is operative in kindergarten as it is for the rest of our lives And they were just Absolutely clear that it was a very small number and at the same time It's very clear that there are children who are fearful of these books And it was really important to listen to the parents who spoke out on behalf of their children And to take those children seriously and that's why we felt like one of the most important pieces of The report was to emphasize the strategies that teachers are using To alleviate children's fears proactively and when they see that they're happening And I think that we really want every child to feel comfortable in their classrooms in Arlington And that was really the thrust of our report was to make sure that the benefits that these books are bringing to so many children Are maintained while at the same time meeting the needs of all children Any members have questions Question on the letter at the very bottom last paragraph It says the committee believes the kindergarten steering committee which has teacher reps from all seven elementary schools Is the appropriate body to review the books and compile a list of these passages on the first page on the recommendations It says the tools of the mind competition. What is it the same? Is it different? It's the same. Okay, probably should have made that yeah, okay So they're not is it no tools of the mind committee. It is the steering committee. It is the steering committee, okay? Unless you've been something no, no, it is the steering steering committee Follow up Not on the books but on the curriculum itself with the pilot program have you Have there been any studies research done with the students who are now first graders or perhaps even second graders Having had the program in the pilot schools in terms of how they are in comparison to the peers who didn't have it And and what is that shown well where they are? I think at this point it's anecdotal the first grade teachers will say that the students know how to work together and Better than they've ever seen other students do it before they that has been an amazing difference they're able to Plan Regulate themselves more they if they have disagreements. This is one. I've heard several times if they have disagreements with someone else They they've worked it out. They know they know the they know the tools. That's what's called to them they know the tools in terms of how to deal with conflict or It's my turn. No, it's not, you know, sometimes those can escalate to the teacher not All of those interactions work out perfectly. No, of course, you know, that's that's with kids but what they're seeing is a difference in terms of the reading which is of course all our concern is that When we did the analysis and we'll continue to do analysis which the report you had last year We did not see any significant difference between the the achievement of students in the tools program as compared to past past Achievement and I would say that in the study there was no difference between the the bracket students and the other students as well in terms of Reading achievement We've been doing in the tools curriculum our own math We are not doing we do some of their there are games in fact some of their math games are actually quite good And we've we've incorporated them, but we pretty much stick to what has been our kindergarten curriculum for math for the last couple years We will continue to look at that data But I do think you have a very good point and we just haven't done that, but I think that we will do that and Perhaps so we can do it Vis-a-vis a survey because I'd like to have more first grade teachers participate in in getting sharing their opinions about it But our challenge is that if once they've learned how to do learning goals We need to keep having them do learning goals and when they have learned to work in groups We need to continue these are the kinds of skills that Our children need to have and whatever thing whatever they do in school for that matter But also just in work and life how many we all work in teams of some sort and Those those behaviors have to be learned young I'd like to suggest I realize that the list of paragraphs that are sensitive Hasn't hasn't been compiled yet, but if we're expecting the parents to potentially be pre-reading books They're going to need access to that list too because they need to know okay. This is one We can just skip we don't need to try and explain that because that would be really important for I agree people so Somehow that needs to be available right good suggestion, and we actually had talked about that too. Okay, great on That's definitely in the works I can tell you more information on that later fine the other one and My memory is that when we Talked about this earlier in the year. I asked about assessment And what I just heard correct me if I'm wrong we're talking anecdotal and I thought I heard back then That we were going to be able we're very gated driven In all our curricula and and we need we're spending a considerable amount of money I'm not saying it's not worth it or anything But to continue this in future budgets and stuff we need to know what gains again I thought I heard you say anecdotally I was just more in terms of the behaviors in terms of in terms of achievement in academics We definitely track all of that so we bring My understanding was I asked for it at the beginning from the previous year We talked about it having by the end of the years. That's something you could bring back They do in fact miss Hansen was does they do that all they do a compilation of reading scores for all the grades Every year. Okay. I guess what I'm looking at or asking for is something that would be unique to tools as opposed to Well we're spending this money we made a shift to go to this program and I'm not I Guess I am judging I want to see that we're getting our bank for a buck That's all I'm saying and as we've done in math and the other thing We had a brand new math program and things of that nature and I'd just like to see that If it's possible to do if it's not I'd like us to look forward in doing it in the future Could let me let me see if I can Now this time. Are you looking for student achievement? Or are you looking for behavioral? I guess at the beginning when we talked about tools initially. I Asked is there an assessment? Component on this to show gains and I guess We bought this program for a particular goal We've changed it. We changed we dropped a kindergarten program and read and such my understanding and Implemented this program. So maybe that's an area. I thought we were also doing the math No Okay Can I I was also under mr. Hanner's impression that there was going to be some assessment and I thought it was in the behavioral issue to give some Some idea of how things are going. So yes, I would also be interested and that's something that we can look as how we're going to Maybe tools would have Well, actually we were part of this study that the develop actually an independent study that was Okayed by the developers so they didn't do the study We were part of an independent study and the data from that study is is about to become public that that data Will include and by about we were told some time before the end of the school year That that study looks not only at student achievement, but looks at behavioral outcomes And so we'll have some of that data, but that will only be of our pilot schools comparison to our test control test schools so Um in terms of once we look at that and we look at the measurements that they're getting then we'll be able to take those I think it would be a good baseline to go look at measurements for the other schools It may be this day that you're talking about that both mr. Heiner and I are waiting. We're waiting. There wasn't there's an outside organization that did a study And that's a two-year contract. Yes, so I think it would be important for us meeting opposite share responsibility to have Solid information before we go forward to another year another two-year contract. Sure Maybe give us the end of course assessment. See if we pass it see if the school committee passes it Don't go there Yes, I am all for gathering data. I am not for testing our students So if we can gather data and it doesn't include any more testing of kindergartners, which I just find absolutely abhorrent I'm all for it, but I I think that unfortunately a lot of the data is going to have to be What we observe and not not anything that we can test other I mean we already test them in math and reading And so we have that but I there's I don't think there's a test for behavior I would agree with you a hundred percent, but my experience and goes back 20 years kindergarten teachers are constantly gathering data from observation, but it is empirical data. It is not Anecdotal some of its anecdotal, but it can be applied there. They have It's part of the program. I don't want to believe this too much The other thing that might help and and actually will answer your concern is that As also as a requirement for the state next year all kindergartens across the state will have to use it a Method of observational collection of data called teaching strategies gold We will only be using two facets of that. That's all we're required to do one of those facets is the social emotional And then we will be able to collect data and then compare it against other districts So that's a way for us to do something that we already have to do without putting any extra burden on the student You know We're not gonna really know the impact of the curriculum for a few years. I mean, so I think that's just that's just the I mean we'll see you the results in second grade third grade fourth grade So I think you know, let's I think we have to get be patient and give ourselves four or five years You're here. We'll see I've asked mr. Schlickman to check. Yeah, I'm wondering when the kindergarten website is going to be updated The teachers have done portions of it and the literacy people and the math people and Social studies and science people are each working on it. I would say within the next month to six weeks With MCAS going with park going With you know, all the other initiatives that we have going a while I agree. It's important We also have to balance that out. So they have I know works on going but getting it up I believe that there was the overall Description of the kindergarten curriculum there that has already been put up there Not under the teaching and learning but under the kindergarten Okay, let me let me double let me double check why that wasn't put up because I know that's written right I will double that was my just I think I understand that there's a lot going on But also kindergarten is not doing MCAS and they're not doing no But the curriculum coordinators for the district have to check over those things and they are involved in those other things Unfortunately, we don't we don't have control over all those webpages that for the individual schools They're done by volunteers, but I will check into that Reflect us. I hear you. I know and someday maybe love Was there any discussion during the two meetings the public hearings of Possibly accepting some of the books in the program, but saying no entirely to a couple of them Was there any discussion about whether or not it would be Violet of our contract or our curriculum as a whole Being that they're so intertwined with with the program In other words, I want to know if it was even possible to even Balance the interests of those who felt affected by them in a way such as to minimize the impact of the books that were most worrisome I'm not Laura speak to what happened in the committee. I can answer from another point of view that I This question was put to the tools coordinators through misdemeanors and This is this is the curriculum and We there are not let's say you take one of the books out. There is not a corresponding You can plug in something else into that unit, but we're doing that with math I mean we that's we have a blend we use a lot of their games and and they they themselves admitted when we talked to them about it that Our math program was more rigorous than theirs They admitted it and but they're working on theirs, but we didn't we weren't going to wait so but on the other hand The there their literacy program is Is not that dissimilar? I don't know I'm saying that here with Linda Hansen who is one of our literacy coaches for the district and she might be able to talk a little bit more about that but certainly our results in terms of the DRA are Pretty consistent. I may be a little bit not at the the number that we might have seen But I don't even think that's the case because we're actually we're upping what we think should be the benchmark number for kindergarten Do you want to talk a little bit about that? About changing the end of year benchmark level Just very briefly and I feel like this is kind of a side topic But because of the new Common Core standards and as things have evolved over time the big names and researchers and Program people who write their reading programs have increased the end of year benchmarks for kindergarten first and second grade really in an effort to get to kind of get things jump started a little earlier on so that everyone reaches Reading levels at the end of third grade so where B3 used to be our end of year benchmark for kindergarten C and even D is now often used as end of kindergarten Correspondingly in first grade it's been raised a little bit and in second grade it's been raised a little bit But the interesting part is at the end of third grade still really is being maintained fairly consistent So it's really just to kind of get things get everyone light a fire under everybody early around to get more kids kind of over that mark sooner And I think and I don't want to say a lot about the tools reading program because honestly my counterpart Evelyn DeRosa Who was a kindergarten teacher for 15 years is the one that's more well-versed and is kind of more integrated now with the tools program And learning more about it so that we can better support it in literacy But I will say that you know I think what we've seen overall is that the writing is there's a lot more of it and kids come out of it That writing program is very engaged writers who aren't afraid to write who enjoy writing and are motivated to write and the reading scores as Dr. Chesson and Dr. Buddy have said there's been some variability But really kind of within the norms that you might expect not not a big not a big difference Between the tools and non-tools classrooms to date anyway I'm upset And we're going to move on to a warranted for town meeting and The first one is an article 28 appropriations town budgets. I guess I would ask the group here historically We discussed the ones that we're supporting Ones that we're directly involved in let me rephrase it like that because The first one is the part of the Corporation I assume is our school budget. We've talked about that quite extensively This is actually want to add anything new or more. I think we should Move in favor of it. Although. I'm not sure that they need that I mean and I don't know is it always been I mean I asked this question earlier But neither build nor I knew is it always true that all of the budgets are lumped into one? Article like that and then they're pulled out at town meeting to okay Yeah, the budgets are done in an omnibus fashion where people can come down the line and hold the But any budget they want to question now The town meeting has the ability to question specific line items in every other budget except ours For us, it's the one line item that we voted already So we don't need to take any further action on this and seeing the finance committee is supporting our number We should be in good shape going into town meeting I would I think that Finance committee on all money items Usually makes a recommendation to support or no action and if it's no action that we give any other thing is going to happen It requires substitute substitute motion made but that it's not going to happen with us So any other discussion on that particular one the second one article 38 appropriations elimination of extracurricular programs fee in in public schools. This was a taxpayer initiative The finance committee and the selectmen both voted no action on this Correct me if I'm wrong, but we Budget subcommittee Suggested that they go through those other boards and discuss with them that because And we had not taken any stance on that at that time, right? So I mean Anybody want to add anything beyond what I said on that one. I Think that they're probably going to ask us our Recommendation on it and so I feel that you know, we probably should have a recommendation on it. I mean I have a Very hard time being against anybody who wants to give money to the schools, but The method in which This kind of doesn't end run around for two reasons one doing an end run kind of around the budget process But to the fact that we have already gone to the town and gotten Fairly extensive money to help us with the you know issue with enrollment I I feel like I can't support it and I just that like totally my heart is in my throat saying that but I Just I I have a hard time asking the town when I know that you know, this you know, hasn't been Approved by the other boards and I understand that but I think it's important Because they will be if they if these folks bring it forward right now There's no the recommendation is no action take place if they don't become active during town meeting it dies on the floor Mm-hmm as is I a substitute motion To my feeling is if we make a statement tonight Mm-hmm Do we automatically transfer that statement to whatever substitute motion comes forward? Okay, I know we can't I that's what I guess that's what I'm what I'm saying is For us to take an action tonight. Well, we need I think we need to take an action on the way It's it is as is right. I mean yes, it's true Someone could amend it in which case what we say has you know I'm coming from is I'm going to have to make the statement and I just want to clarify what the board is looking at So there's like man Okay, I think that Failing a positive recommendation from the finance committee, but we need to work as a team in this town So we need to work with the select women the finance committee In order to craft a budget and to have an appropriate share for our purposes We have built a very strong relationship now When the proponent was here before I remarked this is a very admirable thing But if you were to go and take a one-time appropriation to add to our budget for the purpose of Eliminating fees one the town meeting can't direct us how to spend it legally So all we do is get extra money and we could do with it what we please Legally Because town meeting can't earmark money to the school committee Secondly, it's a one-time only fix and we'd be back in the same spot. We are next year. I expressed the last time that perhaps an Override for the specific purposes of eliminating all fees might be a direction to take Later on but that's my personal opinion at this time I think the school committee needs to be a partner with the finance committee in the select men Going forward and support a no-action vote I'm questioning whether we have to take a position on this at all given that it is something You'd be nice to have money for the schools, but we want to be a team member and so I'm thinking I think we should just be silent Yeah, I would agree with Chrissy the There's there's a vote of note. There's a recommendation of no action on the article So the only way it can be presented is if there's a substitute motion We don't know the wording out of the substitute motion. So we can't really We can't really comment on it now if we get a substitute motion and you're concerned about it You can call a meeting emergency meeting the school committee or just schedule the meeting of the school committee during that week And we can talk about so I think we just have to wait If the proposed Publish it ahead of time and that's the will of the body. I didn't know problem I just got to be frank usually substitute motions come up that night and stuff like well They're supposed to sometimes while they're supposed to I agree It's supposed to be written out. I don't know right. Yes, so it's written out and on the chair The meeting before something like that. So so we should have some Warning we should have a 48-hour. We should have a 48-hour warning. Is there is that the Will of the body to call an emergency meeting? That's fine. Yeah, except if a substitute motion is presented We already have to be there today We could we could Schedule a meeting 30 minutes before every Call it now that we just automatically have it cancel it if you don't need it Right. Yeah, so that you have a meeting that's already posted before every Tom meeting But and then you can cancel it Well, I mean the what so the reality is it's article 38, so it won't be the first night The second night is the special town meeting but that's all the fairly quickly So the question is if it would I don't but So we wouldn't need the special for the 28th, but we might need it for the 30th Before the special special before the special special special squared I Would just I think the 30-minute prior posting all those ahead of times means that at least four of us have to be available for that all those meetings We have trouble getting a doodle only only if we actually have business conduct We'll settle on that. Yeah, this time we're taking no action to take no action at this time. No action Moving on to the warrant for special town meeting Wednesday, April 3rd of 2014 Article 6 appropriation PS elementary school repair How does that go as far as I know correct me if I'm wrong that's just paying the bill It's actually We've paid the bills and it would be seeking reimbursement from the emergency funds of the town to reimburse the school department for the expenses We took because of the flooding that occurred because of a boiler pipe freeze Boil a failure pipe freeze very cold day Bad things flooding and the finance committee said yes Do we need to vote on it though? We don't okay. They've already Unless you plan on voting against it. I don't get to vote Will we want to article 7 transfer or funds special education stabilization fund? That's the that is the request to the special town meeting to remove the $500,000 from the special ed stabilization and bring it back into our budget to close the gap for this year to help Close the gap for this year. Do we have a specific number or 500,000? We're gonna. We're gonna drain it Any discussion of that Yes I'm just concerned that we do our best to keep the conversation that issues from this coming up in town meeting At a level that respects all of our students and does not denigrate anyone And no, I'm saying because I've heard other people in town and and I want we need to be really clear about our messaging and that this is Guarantee that try to coming on the committee. I would every time those issues would come up. I get up and Put it to bed very quickly. That's wonderful Okay I'm just a couple of things on the warrants Yes, I wanted to bring to the committee's attention warn article number wasn't on our agenda tonight. I apologize Article 13 is on page 5 Inserted by the board of select men by law amendment poet laureate See if the town will vote to approve a by-law creating the honorary position of poet laureate of Arlington or take any action Related there, too. I understand that this would require of the school committee an appointment of That we make similar to making an appointment to the Human Rights Commission, for example to select a Poet laureate who would actually the hope is that person would work In conjunction with the school department for the purposes of educating our children So I would like to move that we support Make a make a motion to support article 13 Is there a second second any further discussion all those Oh, I think this sounds like a wonderful idea Here's is adding more to my table. Thank you All those in favor. Hi Thank you One other item while we're talking about town meeting before us is likely to be or certain to be the revised minute man regional agreement and the issue of minute man does play into The town's finances in a way that could be very taxing when we're trying to go and build a high school the regional agreement before us was watered down as far as we're concerned the The wait the vote will be waited half Waited in half not as opposed to a fully waited vote, which is the original proposal. It was coming down for a minute man It's not an ideal agreement. I don't think this is an agreement from which we can Authorized expenditures for a new school because the district still isn't viable But it is an improvement over the current agreement where we're stuck at 1 16th of a vote It's going to give other towns Particularly small towns like Dover which sends one student the opportunity to relinquish their vote and leave the district I don't think that the committee should be Taking a position on it per se, but it's something that we need to be aware of and I would ask Those folks here at the table who are members of town meeting to support the regional agreement because it's not The agreement we need but it is an improvement over what we currently have I would like to bring up article 28 again I think that we as a body probably should take a vote on supporting it. I know it's our budget I know it came from the superintendent and that we we support it and I Think that we should just formally say that we support article 28 I would ask That we support that part of article 28, which is the Budget all right, so moved Second any further discussion on that with the friendly amendment all those in favor Yes, okay, so I just want to be clear that we need to be at both of these meetings on Monday April 28 They start at what time 8 o'clock 8 p.m. And the same with the special time you know at the same time mr. Schlickman yes as the dean do you think it's necessary for non members to be there for the special town meeting no No, I you know the items on the you may want to be there for the special, but it's not necessary as You have The chair will be there. I think that one two three Four town meeting members out of the seven The only reason I say that is because really Is there any dissension over the special town meeting articles? They usually understood they're paying bills or reimbursing in our case things of this nature It's already done. It doesn't serve any purpose for people to argue against them Where the regulates on meeting there is discussion and just for the purposes of identification the members of the committee that are also town meeting members are Myself But I would say the night the budgets voted on yes, and usually no day or two in advance That's we should all try to have that date. No, we won't but we'll know in a few weeks Soon as we wrote the ones that I'm eating as we'll pass it on to the rest of me Thank you. It looks like a thin warrant. So that might come up pretty quickly. It might Yes, thank you Just want to give you a brief update on the educator evaluation system that we have in place Just to sort of give you an idea of the Enormity of the task that we had this year We have a hundred and fifty four teachers that are non-professionally Statused and those teachers are on a one-year plan, which means halfway through the year. This is on a blue piece of paper. I believe They're on a one-year plan that means halfway through the year they get a formative evaluation And then at the end of the year they get a summative evaluation We have 86 teachers who are also professional status to were also on a one-year plan These teachers were chosen at random to be on a one-year plan and the effort was to create a balance of workload for those Folks that are evaluating they again will have a formative assessment report in the middle of the year Which they've already had and we'll have a summative at the end of the year And then we have 201 teachers that are on a professional status two-year plan Which means they'll get a formative at the end of this year and then at the end of next year They'll get a summative To let you know we've done an excellent job Meeting the dates pretty much across the board The big dates that are coming up ahead of time in the future on April 30th All the educators will provide evidence to their evaluators if they're on a one-year plan They'll be providing three years three pieces of evidence on standard one and standard two Which are the standards are around curriculum and instruction and meeting the needs of all students as well as Some evidence regarding their professional practice goal and the student achievement goal, which each teacher has Each educator on a two-year plan needs to provide some evidence To their evaluator to be considered with the final evidence due of the same amounts in April of to 2015 at that time the evaluators will also have concluded the last final observation of the year and the feedback sessions by that date and this will prepare them to go into the Assessment reports whether it be a formative assessment report or a summative assessment report which are due to each educator by May 15th And then we'll go into our final cycle of meetings for the year. So there's a there's a great deal ahead of us in the next Two months or so in terms of the new teacher evaluation system You earlier this year you saw the data that we had from teachers regarding Their feedback on the the system as we have done so far We have had a number of help sessions could because the number one Concern that was raised was the baseline edge system that we used and teachers feeling that they needed some more additional training Susan Bisson who part of her job is to go around and do instructional Technology support in the district has set up times and send emails to teachers I'm going to be at the high school Wednesday afternoon from two to three in the media center if you need any help come on by But in addition in a reminder notice that I just sent out to the staff She will also make personal appointments with teachers and set up time at their convenience to go and sit with them and help them Should they need any assistance? We'll also be doing the same survey that we did mid-year at the end of the year and be able to compare the data questions There's so many observations that have to be tracked and I'm just wondering I know you said that the software is capable of looking and making sure that things are Going preceding a corny of time or is that being checked and is that happening? I mean, yes, yes I'm checking those on a regular basis The evaluators of as a whole meet four times a year And so we have discussions about reminders When we have administrator meetings they get reminders of when the next upcoming dates are I also meet with the special education evaluators every other week and We have had a study group going on with evaluation with the special education evaluators And I meet with the audits and evaluators every other week And we again do a study group on evaluation as part of our meeting and then I meet with the curriculum coordinators Also every other week. So those in those meetings we discuss where I've already checked and if there's anything that looks like it might be behind Which we check into it. Okay, so most people are on track or I would say 99.9 percent Of the No, this all we do is send a file at the end of the school year Which will give the overall rating for the teacher plus the rating on each standard No, no text rating. That's it Is that all for the most part, yes Part of it the part of the problems that we're still having is that we have which hopefully will be resolved Come the next school year is that we have teachers that are using very old equipment So no matter how good the software is if the Everything that we've reported to them has been fixed Absolutely If I could want to mention We're going to be getting to that point. We do put in ratings We have an agreement that we are not doing exemplary ratings even though that is an option And I think that the collective thought on that is until we really understand more clearly what that means the and the impact of that as well, but even what that means we Are choosing not to do that so when people because they're I understand that this is will be public information and how they aggregate the data but that is a that is a a well thought out decision Moving on to the monthly financial report We're closing in on the end of the year the final Requisitions for FY 14 budget will be due into the business office Shortly before the spring break and then we'll have a sense of where we are with final requests for expenditures this year and Based on where that comes out with the 500,000 coming from town meeting We'll see how far into our other reserves. We have to dip to close out the budget On an even keel for the end of the year, so we're getting closer We're we're zeroing in on our final numbers for the year at this point next month Hopefully we'll have time to process all the requisitions and time for it. Yes, the the reports The next meeting is May 8th, so I I hope that we'll be able to have everything in place at that point And I'll have a closer view I also hope that our fuel bills that now that spring is finally upon us We'll be closing out the cost of the winter and see where we end with our utility bills or close to where we're going Monday Well, hey, I heard 80 a month Then we get to try out our new air conditioning. Yeah energy efficient It's a quick question. What are gray bills gray bills are okay gray bills are the methodology by which expenses are Transferred between different departments within the town since the maintenance people and the custodial people live in our budget When they perform services for other departments in the town There's a gray billing process So for example a maintenance a maintenance worker is going to go work on the plumber is going to go work on the plumbing at the Public safety building his overtime or his time would be charged to the gray bill account instead of to the usual school account and Then we would rebuild we would gray bill the police department who would accept the bill a lot of paperwork They would accept the charge and so we would be credited in the gray bill line And they would be debited in their lines So the expense would move from our budget to their budget because these people live in our budget and we know the expenses are going To be moved we put them in the gray bill account conversely for example until very recently Fuel for our trucks for DPW or for trans for buses and transportation would come from the DPW to our gray So we had expenses both coming and going and it was used kind of as a pool You know that it generally ended up with about a balance of this and that's how we budgeted But now I'm trying to parse that out more and I'm trying to put fuel for trip for the buses and transportation and I'm putting fuel for maintenance in maintenance, so It's the expenses that are sliding back and forth among the different departments in town predominantly DPW But whenever our maintenance or custodial people perform functions in other places bottom line it's still your tax Any other questions? Yeah, I didn't bring my last week's or last month's budget thing with me, but I Didn't understand I understand that we even with the higher amount that it looks like we're in deficit for this year with With the special education stuff. I I Understand we have reserves to cover that But I didn't understand why there was such an uptick last month The things that were listed or that I heard at the meeting seemed like things that we would have known about for a while And so I didn't see where that why all of a sudden it wasn't And maybe this is something should be answered the next meeting or it wasn't it was a gradual escalation You know, sometimes it looks like the expenses are going to level out You know that you could expect sort of ripples in the year And what was very different this year that really caught my eye in January and February is they weren't leveling out They were continuing to expand hospitalizations leading to out-of-district placements and and there was you know, we knew that we were Seven seven hundred thousand dollars bad in the fall. We knew that and Typically, there's some up and then there's some down and this sort of flattening out But in special ed that didn't happen this year it continued to escalate and that was the point when I was really able to see No, this isn't going to level out. This is really escalating. Okay, so that it had been up for a while But you were thinking it was going to do that again. I did I thought it was you know, it was okay Yeah, there's always a there's a fair amount of Up and down and sped and you know under my direction the special ed financial manager I always want her to over encumber. I want her to worst case it I want her to put it in the budget as bad as it can get and typically then there's a rollback Then we go back and say, oh, you know kid moves from this placement to that placement I want that one encumbered before this one necessarily gets lowered because I want to know how bad it can get and So I'm expecting okay, you know, all right. It's looking a little high Well, let's go ask and then well gee it's staying high and well, have we done the rollbacks? So that's kind of what happened. That was the timing of that and you know My ability to concentrate on it kind of came after I was doing all the scramble in January to get the budget together Okay, thank you Thank you Superintendents report a number of things. Well, first of all, we're in a another principal search and at the moment I don't have a recommend appointment But I just do want you to know that we had a parent evening the other night at Thompson. It was very well attended great questions We have three very good candidates and I'm in the stage of doing extensive reference checking And probably additional interviews. So that's where we are with that This yesterday Secretary of Education Matt Malone was here He has been tasked with the by the governor to to look to to make recommendations about school safety and This committee was formed. It has about 35 members from all different groups and they had been meeting in different places around the state and Asked that they could meet here in Arlington for this meeting which they did and They met at Thompson The meeting went very well They said it was actually the very best place that they have actually been him and I heard first show It was gonna be in a gym. They were a little bit nervous about that being in a gym But it turned out the acoustics were terrific. In fact so much so that these speakers did not need to use the microphone And and mr. Heiner was here and it did it worked out very well They had one of the speakers the first speaker is dr. Berkowitz from Riverside This is a resource that Arlington has used quite a bit when we had the REMS grant We had dr. Berkowitz come in and do some professional development some recommendations on our processes and procedures Post trauma so we have we have been using him quite a bit and Riverside over the years. They also had State police speak about the different different recommendations. They have around school safety one of which was an interesting one and I talked to principles about this The actually that was yesterday and that is we do fire drills and course by state law you have to do five a year But we also do lockdowns Practices because you do need to practice these things, but they also suggested doing evacuations So that's something that we will be considering doing then the last speaker was part of the NEMLAC group who does training in the stars Group actually beyond the stars group on Alice training and we this year We've talked to the staff at least I talked to the staff and then Steve Porcello Who's a school resource officer talked to the the staff on professional day about? the some of the the the main points of Alice which basically is not much different than lockdown but but one of the the The main differences is that when the opportunity is there That students and faculty should Evacuate the building and another really important piece and this is the state police also said as well Is don't speak in code over the light over the intercoms? Say it as it is you're you know, you're in lockdown or we know that there is someone in The gym area of the high school or whatever so that people know exactly where the intrusion is Our plan here in Arlington is to move forward and do more training and and getting We certainly have a lot of new teachers. We have new principles and it's time again to renew The the protocols that we have and so we're going to be spending more time on that. It's just that this year It was a little bit of an intense year and so that that'll be coming up One of the things that struck me I substitute in conch and in Lexington and they have two different systems and putting when the substitute goes in one system has color cards encoded the other one has the booklet and They're looking for consistency in another aspect that they mentioned last night just common sense Especially in new schools a lot of the rooms are connected Like that when the teacher leaves his or her room and I'm sorry to say the state is there Lock the door because of six teachers lock the door and one teacher in the middle or in the end leaves They adore open all classrooms become vulnerable by an intruder and things of that nature Consistency the two state troopers were talking about it. They deal with 28 school systems in the western part of the state and They look at it Requires training, but I can tell you it's very important Just as a resource It's not a conch. It does evacuation. I spent third of the day. We evacuated three blocks up the street The whole school walked out. Yeah, and I need that we don't do it every year But I think we do it every other year, but we do yeah practice where we're going so that the mostly for the teachers because Well, it's true. You need to know where you're going, right? So it's mostly for the teachers is not I mean the kids yes But to them it's just like any other Just that they happen to be going further away. It's like a fire drill, but further But I think it's good to know as teachers Well, it's also another part of the evacuations the reunification because if a school can't go back to their school Where do parents come and get them and how do we notify them? And you know we we have the alert now, which is certainly The way we would notify them, but we do need to make it very explicit to parents that please do not go to the school Please do this please do not do that, you know, and that needs to happen And so we're going to be working on those very specific instructions So it was good, but I was also because it actually gets into One of the people that was there was mr. Jack McCarthy who is the executive director of MSBA Well, you should have the meeting here Show them how weak are Yeah, I saw it on the next day. I talked with him too after He knows that we put our SOI in that's good that the executive director knows and I asked him well I said well, you know, can you shed some light on? How many submissions there have been and he was very very coy about that in party said the deadline is tomorrow the 11th and He said People just submit at the last possible minute. I happened to be it and with one superintendent today said yes But they were submitting today. So it's hard to know really How many will be out there? But one thing he said that was very interesting is they have almost twice the many requests for major repair This year than they had last year and so since it is one pool of money I think a policy decision on their part is going to be well What piece of the pie are we gonna go to major repairs on versus school renovations and that is going to affect? You know, how many schools they take When I was at a meeting with mr. McCarthy back in the fall In roughs in rough numbers they only take one or two high schools a year Just because of the cost of it because when they when they sort of accept and know that basically the ballpark idea that They already sort of put that and encumber that money and So there's a guarantee that you're gonna if you go forward and all the different procedural steps as you will have That money when you need it So we collectively cross our fingers on this But I was glad to know that he knew that we had submitted that's good We we've had two schools Participate in the new park assessments and I'll give a lot of credit to Lauren to actually our whole IT team This has been quite Quite an endeavor really to get ourselves ready for this and if you could just talk a little bit about Maybe the preparation and then how it all went Everybody on the IT team and also in the data team played a part in this earlier this year We had to take files that came down from the state that had all of our students and then delete everybody That wasn't going to be taking the pilot version and then upload them Just to make life interesting to Pearson The people at Pearson Hardworking as they may be are almost just about one step in front of us so when one would call for to get assistance from the Customer helpline Oftentimes I was put on hold while the person that answered the phone went to go find somebody else that was more experienced than they were We did two classes at Dallin on the iPads and two classes at Audison in the computer labs The staff did a lot of preparation up front We actually did a test and when we did the test we found many problems That took three to four hours for each lab to resolve We had to test out a variety of keyboards to make sure that there were because even though with an iPad You need to use a keyboard so that because you need the full screen of the iPad We actually found that the iPads were easier to use and had less problems than to use the labs The it's interesting to note that when you go for trainings They tell you that you can either run live which means every time a student asks for the next question It goes up to the internet takes the question down Student gives the answer and then sends the answer back up or you can do what's called caching where you download the entire test All the student answers are kept there and when the test is completed all the student Answers are set up The state will tell you that you may do it either way But they sort of recommend that you cash and we found out by accident That you absolutely need to cash We ran odyssey and cashed the entire time and the second day of the testing requires students to watch Video and listen to audio and look at a number of reading sources They need to take notes on those Sections and then they need to compile the information from those sections to create one simulated research paper or paragraph at Dalen we thought we had cashed it and found out after the fact that no in fact we hadn't and had Major problems on Wednesday, and we're getting really worried about it until we realized that we hadn't actually cashed it There was one button that actually hadn't gotten pressed, which is good because it says that if you have it cashed the amount of video There is no problem the students took it very very seriously unlike their counterparts in New York City that were reported in the paper They You know tried their hardest. They really responded well to the technology I saw students highlighting things and using the cross-out feature where you can sort of eliminate answers Most of the students that I talked to really preferred taking it on the computer But did comment on how the test was much more difficult than it had been And when they took MCAS recently Ms. Hansen and Mr. Rosa both Train our in the process of training third and fifth grade teachers to see what the park experience looks like and They were quite surprised I think the teachers at how difficult and what a daunting task it will be for students And it will require us to make additional changes to our instruction to provide students with the skills that are necessary to be successful I think possibly As the children seem to reflect their ability and technology They were totally non-plussed about it. We were way more worried than they were I think I think and again, it's going to cost us some money and stuff, but more we go to technology and the actual Assessment of students on a regular daily basis. I think this will be just one other aspect Coming during the year at the end of the year or whenever they get it So I think MCAS has always been in isolation and Park would be too, but I think the technology aspect is the thing that draws kids more today than anything else I sent around an email about the fact that the Peabody School Committee has voted to send a Letter They are saying that Mitchell Chester being head of park and Secretary of Education is a conflict of interest and Want to force a cease and desist on park? Until either he steps down or at least slow it down until we can all figure it out and I think that I Don't know what we think about this As a teacher, I have to say that the rush and the push is Overwhelming given everything else that we're doing And so I can only imagine that the same is true of the teachers here in Arlington And so I really want us to have a conversation about what we think It's very interesting to me that you know When I hear of school committees doing things like that, you know Sometimes I feel like it didn't even dawn on me that we could say no like and and I feel like we need to do that More often that we really are we are one of the you know places where we can say no this stops here This is crazy and we're not going to do it and that sometimes we need to Stand up and say those things and whether or not we decide to Make that statement. I think it's worthwhile of having those conversations. I'm not Whether or not it's a good or bad. I am not an anti testing person, you know as a general rule I think it it gives us some good information I think that you know moving to the common core is a good thing And I think that obviously if we have a new curriculum, we're going to need a new test I don't know if it needs to be park or new MCAS or whatever But so I don't want people to think like oh, you know, I'm just against it because I'm against it But I do think that you know, it really made me stop and think You know, is it a conflict of interest do we agree with that? Do we also there are lots of school committees? This is up on the MASC, you know email system that are saying Hey, that's a great idea or hey, we're gonna start talking about that too. And you know, we need to start It's like I feel like sometimes I forget that part of our role is also to be a gate to Allow our schools to breathe and do things and and say, you know, hey as a school committee We need to we need to you know stop and think about that and I don't know I know it's not on the agenda and I'm more than willing to not have discussion tonight But I would like us to be thinking about that and and what we think about it and potentially put it on a agenda for future I think we're developing an agenda for the round table. I mean the retreat Excuse me not round table. I think that's one of the items you and I talked about another item Yeah, besides the goals and stuff this nature, which We'll talk a little more about that later in the meeting. I Don't know if I'd want that in the retreat. I think that's something that should be done We can talk about it out front, but it's an appropriate thing to put on the agenda. I don't My gut instinct is that, you know, I don't have enough information about Park to know whether or not It's going to be an improvement or not as we go through the pilots will have a little better idea But I think the point that Peabody is making that the Commissioner of Education is also the head of the park unit it does raise some questions about The the state's pushed in that direction The other thing the other thing is is that We are another committee may want to go and craft a resolution for the MASC General Assembly and that resolution would be due in June So that we should be alert as that conversation goes out to see if somebody else is crafting a Resolution that we'd sign on to I also read the Email from Peabody and or their statements or letter My sense of it was that they were asking the question, you know that this should be evaluated Whether there is a conflict of interest and I thought that was certainly a very reasonable question to bring up They weren't stating that it was they were saying this needs to be And and I think that so I would certainly support further discussion and possibly doing a letter Maybe we could come up someone could come up with the draft Something for us to talk about for our next meeting I'd like to take a stab at that So Cindy raised a question are you getting pushed back from the teachers in the park pilot from the teachers? Yeah No, I we didn't we really no we didn't we didn't I mean I mean just a small number of teeth the sample size is very small. Mm-hmm So I might let's let me there's one one English teacher at the middle school Because we to put all the English sections in a hat pulled out to English sections happen to happen to be the same teacher So we had one teacher affected at the middle school and we have two teachers affected at Dallin As I said the teachers were concerned They want their students to do well. They want it to not be an uncomfortable experience for the students But in reality this we were way more worried about it than the students were I mean while they took it seriously. I saw no stress The fact maybe because it was done on a computer And so it was sort of game-like to them All I can tell you is that in the end teachers kind of looked back afterwards and said not really sure Why we were as concerned as we did I know at Odyssey and the the students that participated were told that they were Explorers and adventurers and they were providing Feedback to the state so that next year the exam would be better for their colleagues and they took that very seriously Our concern was when we saw the example the third grade We thought oh my goodness. There are some skills that Our children would have and so we actually did some preparation on that but It turned out Yeah, very very well. Yeah, it went well. I didn't see students stressed I do believe though, you know There's a there's a positive and negative to everything and I think sometimes by seeing that it makes it very real as to what is Required by the Common Core and we've discussed this as a committee But you know what the committee before that it's one thing to align your curriculum It's another thing to realize what type of instruction is necessary in order to help students achieve The Common Core and the kind of 21st century education that we're looking for and I think that the test though Daunting really brings it home for teachers as to how their Instruction has to change and while the elementary school has been moving to that they started last summer talking about it There was been less movement at the middle school and certainly much less movement at the high school So as a result, I think teachers are seeing oh This is why this would be necessary and sometimes that's a motivator to make changes that one might not naturally take I guess my reaction was less on the children just There's so many things that we're asking of the teachers the staff and everything Cumulative thing and I guess my thing is if this was only just the conflict between the Mr.. Dr.. Chester and stuff I'm just looking to find a way to alleviate some of the burden I think children are very adaptive Except for proctoring and we did not ask our teachers to do anything We've got the new evaluation we got the Common Core we've got this we got retail it's just it still sits there even if you're not part of this Practice thing it's still sitting out there waiting to happen Yes, and I would just add that as a teacher When you tell me it's my job to do something I am going to smile and say yes, ma'am And I'm going to do it because I'm a professional But does it bother me? Yes, because I know that the kids who took park had to be excused from classes in the morning to take it Which means that they missed my class when when they would have been in my class and You know I'm trying to get them ready for MCAS which is coming up in math and on top of that Yes, I am doing the new teacher evaluation and I am trying to get into retail And I am trying to do these 47 other things and yes I do them and I smile and I don't complain because I'm a professional But it is not that it is not a pain and it is not that it is not a stress on teachers And so I don't think that we can necessarily say oh, yeah, no one complained at all. It was fine Well because they're professionals and they're gonna do what you tell them because that's what they do So I you know I just want to make sure that I think that you know I think it's sometimes that we don't we don't think about Being protectors of our teachers enough and I I'm realizing more and more that that's This is these things are coming down that we need to be kind of holding that at bay sometimes And that really needs to be part of our role as school committee and and I'm starting to really feel that at both ends So I just I support this as an agenda topic for a future meeting Mr. Chair And perhaps we borrow a line from NBC if it's recreational we call it park and recreation You know that's the way we we implement As the new chair I designate you put something together and tell me how many minutes you Yes We go here we go past our projections and we're past the number we have this year. Oh, this is April How many I think we're at 469 maybe it's 470 right now We have 468 but that was at the end of the summer so I Would say that about 23% of the enough vicinity of the Students are in buffer zones, which is sort of exactly as last year sort of mimics the amount of The area that's of the town that's in a buffer zone And it's going to actually be very helpful It's gonna involves some strategic decisions that I'll fill you in with later after I really have to dig into this but we have a number of siblings and Those children of course will stay in their school with their brothers and brother and our sisters But we will see We certainly are going to see bracket and down keeping for the question is how do we How do we manage not to have five? So those are issues that are facing us. We just have a we have a lot of a lot of kids in It's not just Registrations for kindergarten. We're seeing more and more registrations for other grades as well going going forward So there'll be more on that as we go along One of the things it's just your that was at your place is the program descriptions for special ed I know that many of you have asked for this and The committee has the the special ed department has been working on it To give much more clarity to what each one of the programs are in the in the special ed department and and We it's been read by multiple readers and hopefully any typos have gone But we will also be Putting this on our website as well Thank you, so I Want to I Don't know if you're aware of this, but we know what a fabulous music department. We do have but I This particular Congratulations goes to Jenna Haviland and Jen way way their conductors of the Arlington treble chorus and oddison orchestra respectively and they were both ordered awarded silver metals at the Massachusetts instrumental and choral conductors Association Festival this past week and It's a very demanding competition that attracts the very best ensembles in Massachusetts schools While being separate from the all-state activities. I Understand from this way that we were the orchestra was one point from guilt gold And in fact one of the judges said to her after said are you sure this is a middle school orchestra? Congratulations to them also Congratulations to the Performing arts department the high school great production of footloose. What talent these it's amazing, isn't it? And that's a that's a tough Repertoire of singing and they did a fabulous job and then of course the art exhibit. There'll be some more art exhibits coming to spring at Town Hall The I don't know if you've had a chance to look at the March newsletter, but it is much longer than past But honestly the the range of things they're going on this district is just amazing and a lot of Congratulations goes to our teachers, and I say this over and over but really they are amazing in terms of the ways They they stretch their students the ways they Participate and inspire our students and you can see that when you you take a look at all the different Both curricular and non-curricular activities going on. So I think That is it Yeah Moving on to the consent consent agenda all items listed with an asterisk I consider to be routine and will be enacted by one motion There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the committee so request in which event the item will be considered in its normal sequence approval of warrant warrant number 1 4 1 4 1 dated March 27th 2014 in the amount of $754,961 and 32 cents approval of draft minutes school committee meeting of March 13th 2014 Do we need to pull the minutes because Jennifer wasn't here or can she just just to stay just just to stay All right, so let's pull any this all those in favor hi all those opposed extensions one Subcommittee and liaison reports I Putments of the island to the school committee Did I read the wrong one? You didn't read March 27th? I apologize. May I borrow yours? Yeah, I uploaded the wrong one okay, it Prove of draft minutes school committee meeting of March 27th as well 2014 all those in favor post Extensions one. Thank you. My vice-chair is keeping me honest. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. I Need to look to the vice-chair. Do I just read these? Well, you know what? I'll make a motion that we approve the the appointments of the chair of the subcommittees and committee liaisons and maybe you should speak to who's going to be the Chair because it's not clear on the budget. It will be the Starks Under policies and procedures it will be missed appears Under district accountability curriculum instruction assessment will be docking empty and the community relations Mr. Schlikman facilities, mr. Thielman and Special study group on superintendent evaluations. Mr. Hainer. I hear a second second any discussion All those in favor Oh May I just make the comment that it's really good for the committee to have this ready to go the first meeting? And I appreciate the chairs efforts to do so. Well, I would like to thank Miss Fitzgerald who has prodded me religiously and Mr. Thielman for helping me finish it I Decollected that at the beginning. I will need the old man will leave as much help as he can throughout the year It's coming forward policies committee reports at this time policies and procedures Okay, so we have second meetings on a bunch of policies that were Were for first reading or the last meeting so I think we can do AC ACA and ACA dash R as one Motion so moved second All those in favor excuse me any discussion You know what's going on? I just think yeah, okay. Yeah, okay, so well it was back up so we were working with attorney Rebecca Bryant and AC there was a policy which is AC ACA and Rebecca Bryant said these policies need to be separate And she wanted to have one policy which is AC which is a non-discrimination statement that's updated with Language that's consistent with our contracts and with language that the US Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education recommends a separate policy ACA on harassment And then a separate policy ACA dash R On procedures for addressing complaints so her recommendation was you can't you shouldn't have it all in one big policy It should be three separate policies so we're basically Eliminating the old AC Slash ACA with this motion and adopting these new policies Any other discussion all those in favor Okay, now and I'm conscious of what Jed recommended that which I agree with it's better to redline the policies And so now you're gonna be the chair so you can manage this And you will so it's no longer my problem You know Rebecca's preference was to delete a policy and just rewrite it so that's So the new okay the proposed policy KAA Codifies the current practice of having correspondence sent to the administrative secretary and then forwarded the chair and all school committee members It adds a requirement the administrative secretary attach a list of correspondence to the agenda and The codiff and it codifies the current practice of detailing the options the chair has with correspondence The new policy also states that the administrative secretary will respond to the Correspondent with information on any steps the chair has taken regarding the inquiry so really the only thing that's different from our current practice is that instead of the secretary reading all of the letters that Information about the letters that come in Karen would attach to the agenda that sent out to the public to the media and everyone else a list of Dr. Vody and Karen and I guess Work out of structure, but basically it would be who wrote the letter what the theme what the what the topic was and the data was sent Does this also Pass out I then would ask all committee members get something individually when they sentence the rest of us, please That you have to So if it's something that's just between you and someone that's different, but if it's something that you think Make sure you include Karen so we have it right right right or if someone also the other thing is oftentimes And you'll get this a lot someone will send it to the committee And not send it to Karen So oftentimes you have to catch that and kind of just send it to Karen or if anybody does I'm sure Karen Who doesn't mind if she gets multiples, but that does happen occasionally When I've gotten things in the past that have gone to me But I really think she'd go to the committee I'll ask the person who's sending it to to send it on to Karen because that way it's it's clear. It's coming It's just sometimes Karen here's things we assume that she's got On our website that Miss Fitzgerald should be included in any and all Correspondence with school committee because it might be useful just to put that up there I mean all of how to contact us is up there, but it might be really good Oh, I'll check into that would be great because if it's the if the information is up there No, that's So there's a so I move approval pay AA second All those in favor I So Ijj No one really cares about the letters. I'm looking at your gender for your being. Oh my god I joined a really weird group of people This adds reference to electronic instructional materials It deletes the establishment of a review committee by the principal because this is in our current practice textbooks selections by the district and The consideration section the bottom two-thirds of the policies updated to report to include more current non-discrimination language I move approval second Yeah, I just had a quick question Between the difference between our current and the suggested In the top of the suggested language It says responsibility for the review and selection of textbooks and electronic Instructional materials to be purchased or leased rests with the superintendent Now they're administrative staffs subject to budgetary parameters established by the school committee in our current one It talks about how the school committee Is encouraged to establish a committee to assist in the process to determine the textbooks The best meet the curriculum guidelines of the district It really leaves the school committee as a partner in this mix And I think it comports very well with KAA, which is what we were discussing tonight with regard to the process of Reviewing books that might come to us as by a complainant And that rests with the school committee is the ultimate arbiter of you know If they're not satisfied with the superintendent's recommendation So I think that taking the school committee out of the process Entirely except for budgetary parameters sort of doesn't comport well with Am I missing something? I think the problem was that the law doesn't back up the school committee being involved So that's where the change was was that the the legal basis of that first thing doesn't exist or at least it doesn't exist now All things were approved by the body Our only big our only entrance into that is what you just stated We don't have to if they decide Administration decides to purchase a book or a series of books. We don't fund it But just because it the law doesn't require us to do it doesn't mean that we I think we're they were conflating to things Say that we want to so I think working The the the right of the public to complain about a textbook hasn't been taken away by this power He's talking about adoption of a new textbook Yeah, I mean my 11 years in the committee would never been involved in a conversation with the superintendent About the adoption of a textbook This is different from magic treehouse books. Well, those aren't considered textbooks for this discussion that am I right or well that so that I think it's Kathy was explaining earlier the the adoption of the of the of the Magic Treehouse Siri or the adoption the tools of the mind was done for accreditation purposes, right? So that was different than anything we've ever done. We've never done that before at least my 11 years here So we never get involved in a conversation about a textbook. Yeah, he's never come to us and said I'm thinking of buying these new Drawhill they're really cool to get nice pictures in the front. What do you think? We've never been involved in that We've never gotten that granular. Mm-hmm, and I don't want to get I mean, I don't want to get on that Yeah, we don't get that granular and if we're going to sit here and determine which social studies book We're going to use in seventh grade That that's really out of the bounds of what we do But you know, obviously if we're doing a major adoption say if we go to a Math series in K to 4 which requires a major expenditure That's certainly going to be budgeted because we need to look at the cost of the new materials the cost of the professional development So something it's major is going to end up on our plates somehow But you know day-to-day stuff of what we are going to be using to teach Is really best done either at the superintendent level the building level and the series of policies Granulates it down so that we're talking about textbook selection and I JJ followed by supplementary materials, which is more building based in IJK and On through we're taking a look at different categories and assigning the Decision to make purchases in those categories in a little different places based on what they are the basic thing is that we have the authority and responsibility To judge the superintendent's decisions. That still stays within us The as I read tonight We all agree not to be into this aspect of the day-to-day education aspect We do have the authority under the budget. We do have the right to question expenditures and if a program I think the superintendent other good superintendents always inform the committee of what's going on and We can ask questions of things of that nature. How much does it cost and things of that nature? But the bottom up tonight I Think talked about it was sharing the information that had to do with the public and that had come forward before us Legally, it wasn't required. It was just good policy. I think I thank you Mr. Yeah, I just I just want to restate the ideal that is in our IJJ now Is really what I have is an ideal personally, which is that we encourage a review Committee to assist in the process of determining what books might be best meeting the curriculum guidelines in the district so that we don't Possibly get complaints like we we got over the last six months So that there's more of a of an input into the decision-making process about what books might be best for our kids And that's what we've had in this policy for for a long time that if legally We can't have this language in it anymore than obviously I'm I can't support it But that that ideal is is is what I have I think we should vote it because I think that first of all This is consistent with ed reform for us to be review setting up a committee You're revolt review all textbooks is inconsistent with ed reform And the second thing is is what our goal is and our job is to say the superintendent We want our kids to be able to do this. We want this These standards met And hold the superintendent accountable for the standards now if we then go and say we want you to buy these books To teach this we're now handcuffing the superintendent so that it becomes almost an unfair situation our job is to set goals and to Ask the superintendent to achieve them not to get involved in the path She is using to achieve those goals The other thing is you know that the selection of textbooks in any school district is that there's a shift a lot of people have a Saiyan so the superintendent the assistant superintendent the special education director the principal's teachers department these are people with the years of expertise in this stuff and They you know, they have a lot of conversations and they come to consensus. They look at a budget and they make a decision well I'm glad you clarified that for me because it does say that in the in the in the new one that you're proposing which is That it rests with the superintendent and other administrative sat staff So I mean the ideal of having some assistance in the decision-making process is still here It might not be assistance from us which I grant you that's not our place But it as long as there's a team approach to it and I think that's that could only help You make your decision in a better way No superintendent last in office if they just sit in their office and just It is definitely a team and in fact when I've been involved very directly in textbook adoptions I had a very a very set protocol and things that you hear the thing here is what we want to be able to Students to know and be able to do and we started aligning looking at the textbooks to see which ones work the best it's a very time-consuming process and my hats off to all the teachers that are usually involved in this because it's There's a lot out there and and I know that I've just been with Linda at conferences and they just go through Mm-hmm everything that's out there. They still you know, it's quite a process So nothing is not done unilaterally in this district. It is very much a team effort and tremendous amount of input Okay, I jk refers to the district of policy I jj for Factors that should be considered when making textbook selection. So it's for supplementary materials So move second I jl Deletes the phrase curriculum approved by the school committee because we can't do that and adds subject to review by the superintendent and the budgetary Parameters of the school committee which is consistent with mass general laws and it adds a catch-all phrase Library media staff specialists are urged to consult reputable unbiased professional Prepared selection aids and hear the following goals and then it adds a statement about receipt of Library books as gifts and it clarifies That the policy is rooted in the United States Constitution Especially the first amendment And the final one I jm selection and adoption of materials offered by special interest groups When you have a space between offered and by I guess, okay So changes the title to selection adoption materials offered by special interest groups and codifies the current practice Which is that a faculty or staff member may use such materials only with the approval of the principal or department head So these are supplemental materials that people use and needs to be approved by your boss So moved All those in favor, I guess it should be approved by the your director So now Karen Karen was just said to me before the meeting is this going to end is it going to slow down so Judd's taken over it's going to be a more practical pace I And I have to say the addition this year of having attorney Bryant at our meetings was huge Yeah, I mean it was a big and I know I know sense of the budget with this thing I thought that was a little problem because I didn't know what we could spend with her enough But when she was there it was huge help Nope, we have not met community relations As the chair for the past two hours I don't think we we've done No, but if there's anything Pending that we haven't touched yet Miss Fitzgerald would pass it on to to me. I'd appreciate that. I don't think there is curriculum instruction and assessment and accountability Nothing to report Facilities nothing at this time Nothing nothing at this time As the chair I would like To remind us all that we talked about having a retreat we've got goals and I would ask Superintendent to set out a doodle as soon as possible right, but I wanted some direction from the committee as to whether You would prefer to look at some Saturdays Or would you prefer to try some late afternoon into the evening or do a mix and just see what happens? Do a mix and see what's there? How much time do we need? Like four hours or I would say I would say that that would be I would request that if you're looking at afternoon like a five to nine. I'd like that better Five to nine or five day Weekend can we not start at eight? Really like nine nine to one begins to be tough I'll put that together We need to talk maybe yeah, maybe one other item. Yeah, we might want to add okay. I have nothing else at this time Does anyone else? Secretary's report. I don't think there is one now. Okay. It's all over. Okay. I didn't make one Let it go. We weren't gonna read it anymore So just for clarification that this item on the agenda regular item we would remove it or Yeah, I'll just put it as to refer to the addendum to the To the agenda or does it go on I think she can refer to the addendum and just say You know, there's an agenda. I can say I can list anything I can talk about anything else And and also I was going to say mr. Stroud I can help you come up with what the blurbs should be for the different items of The template well the template and also sometimes it's hard to figure out how did this Okay, this time we will be entering executive session We don't need it, okay, I move adjournment with just a second Well, there's it the chair There is nothing to go for executive At this time this the film and I will entertain a motion of adjournment I want to cover with the chair in a great first meeting It's a new record for first-time chair, it's a new the former chairs and all the other chairs have informed me that I can't talk except I move adjournment second all those in favor